Interlude: Commonalities

Interlude: Commonalities

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Loathsome though it is to admit it, violence has become a commonality in his life.

Perhaps Khong Hu should not judge himself harshly for it. After all, violence is a commonality in every cultivators life. People wiser than he have said so, so it must be true. Nonetheless, Khong Hu must question why it is so. Why must tribulation be placed on such a high altar when isolation is just as capable of producing results? Are the wisest of sages not the ones who seclude themselves from the world so they may seek Eternity in solitude?

Look at the Endlessly Raging Valleys Wandering Wind. She is the wind, and the wind goes where it pleases. A member of the Endlessly Raging Valley in name and little else. They can no more command her than a farmer can command the rain or the storm. It is not through the affairs of the Sect that she seeks enlightenment.

They are beneath her.

Patriarch Feng is another example. One far closer to Khong Hu than the Wandering Wind will ever be. Even as the feud between his sons viciously escalates, Patriarch Feng Zhang remains perfectly content in isolation. What do the affairs of the Eternal Flame Clan matter when one has left the Human Realms of cultivation and stepped into the Divine? Clearly, the Eternal Flame Clan can not offer him any tribulation that surpasses solitude. And whod dare try to prove him otherwise?

Whod dare disturb the Patriarchs peace?

Whod dare interrupt the Patriarchs cultivation?

Truly, solitude is the privilege of the mighty. Khong Hu can feel nothing but admiration for those who are free to enjoy it. Even the Elders of the Eternal Flame Clan, powerful as they are, cannot fully remove themselves from the vicissitudes of life. Unlike Patriarch Feng, they cannot afford to take their attention away from the simmering tensions within the sect. Rather, the Elders are forced to judge which matters require their attention and which can be safely delegated.

Khong Hu has often wondered if that is why high-level cultivators have so many people beneath them. Is their purpose to be nothing more than a barrier against the mundane in the way one steps into a house to protect himself from the elements? Are they ultimately no different from a wall of mud?

If so, he is grateful.

After all, how could disciples like him ever distinguish themselves if that was not the case?

It is unlikely someone as great as Elder Xue would have called upon his services otherwise.

The brawl in the Sparring Hall forced the Internal Force to reveal what the wise and venerable Elder Xue already suspected. Someone had managed to find a way to shut down the bracelets.

It is now Khong Hus job to discover how it was done.

Hes hardly the only one who has been assigned to this duty. Perish the thought. Cases where an Elder entrusts an important task to a mere Inner Disciple are fairly rare. Khong Hu is just one of the many disciples with some skill in aura reading whom Elder Xue chose. It is precisely for that reason that Khong Hu fully intends to distinguish himself here. Already he has an advantage over the other disciples chosen.

He is in the Medical Pavilion as opposed to the Sparring Hall.

It is already well into the night. Not many people are present, and the few who are look at Khong Hu weirdly as he paces around the lobby with no clear goal in sight. That is fine. Khong Hu is fully aware of how odd he must look to them. Regardless, he does not hurry to explain himself. Khong Hu neither needs nor cares for their approval or opinion.

He only cares for the job Elder Xue has given him.

The art of aura reading is one that requires peace and tranquility. The actions of cultivators are like footprints in the sand. The stronger the cultivator, the deeper the footprint. The more time passes, the more likely it is for it to be erased. If there are too many energies, it is no different from dozens of people moving about. One footprint stepping over the other until all that is left is a misshapen mess.

Khong Hu had taken one look at the Sparring Pavillion and walked away.

Too much fighting was done there. Too many techniques with too many emotions behind them. It muddied everything up. Maybe some people can sift through all those energies, but Khong Hu is not one of them.

Khong Hu is also not one of those who were present in the Sparring Hall when the brawl began. Those people are no doubt reviewing their memories through talismans and meditation to see the room as it was when the bracelets had been disabled.

Khong Hu inhales sharply and steps out of the lobby. Two jumps take him to the top of the Medical Pavilion. He looks up, but it is not the starry sky that captures his attention. Rather, he focuses on the barrier that surrounds the entirety of the compound. Invisible to normal eyes, but Khong Hu can feel how Qi flows and creates a dome over them all.

It is intact.

There are no holes or weak spots to be seen. No signs of brute force tampering. However, that does not mean his thinking is necessarily wrong.

The bracelets had not recorded infractions, but that wasnt the only problem.

The bracelets had shut down.

There is meaning in that. Even if one is outside the compound, the bracelets should still work, if in a limited capacity. They possess many small features most disciples never bother with.

In summary, the barriers could not possibly have been shut down because everyone would have felt that. Similarly, simply creating a blind spot within the barrier wouldnt have caused the bracelets to completely shut down as they did during the fight in the Sparring Pavilion.

Then perhaps could it be the barrier that was making the bracelets shut down then?

A thought strikes Khong Hu like lightning.

Yes!

Thats it!

But If that is the case, then thatd mean Elder Dang had given the Internal Force the means of altering the barrier No. Elder Dang, no matter how furious, would not give such a large group of disciples the means of altering the barrier to that extent. Khong Hu has seen the caliber of disciples Elder Dang has allowed into the Internal Force. Strong, yes. But largely blunt instruments. It is rather doubtful more than a handful among them is truly in Elder Dangs confidence.

In other words, they are not the ones altering the barrier.

They are just notifying when it should be altered, which means what he should have been looking at from the start is

There!

Something raw engulfs his chest. The elation of a puzzle one piece away from being solved. There is nothing Khong Hu wants more than to immediately rush to the Apothecary and let Elder Xue know about this.

That would be foolish, however.

Cultivators have to be smarter than that.

Sighing, Khong Hu hops down and enters the Medical Pavilion once more. Hell wait until the morning to make the journey, preferably with at least six other disciples to help him in the event of an attack. Potentially relevant as his theory is, he needs to be alive to deliver the information.

In the meantime, there is probably a book he can read.

And tea.

One can never forget the tea.

~~~