Chapter 139: Incompatible Visions

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The Technique Hall is full of rows upon rows of shelves. Some are so tall they touch the ceiling. Others do not even reach Lu Mei’s waist. They are all full of books, pamphlets, and scrolls, all piled on top of each other and covered in dust. There is not even the slightest semblance of order in this place.

No order. No cleanliness. No elegance.

Only power.

The entire building drips with it. The things stored here are not plain paper and ink. They are the results of over a thousand years of exploration, innovation, and experimentation. Certainly, the more mundane techniques are fairly innocuous, but others…

Others yearn to be used, and their presence fills the rooms of the Technique Hall.

“The path to Master Xun should be fairly obvious.”

That is what Mud told them, and he had not lied. A long red carpet stretches without end. It curves left and right. It goes up a set of stairs, then comes back down and up again. It is the only path there is to follow. Dim flames float at its sides while the rest of the Technique Hall is left in the darkness.

It is a test.

It has to be.

No one watches over them. However, if they were to try to take even a single technique without permission, they’d surely be expelled from the Technique Hall without ever laying eyes on Elder Xun. They both realize that.

And yet, knowing does not make the task easy.

Liu Jin and Lu Mei hold hands, drawing strength from each other and ensuring neither steps away from the path. Much like the entrance exam, this test is one of endurance. The path to Elder Xun is long and sinuous, but that is not a problem. Distance cannot tire them. Darkness cannot impede them.

The whispers, however, cannot go ignored.

The echo of thousands of whispers follows their every step. At first, they are quiet enough to be dismissed as their minds playing tricks on them, but they grow in volume as the Technique Hall grows darker and full of cobwebs.

Eventually, some voices start prevailing over the others. It is no longer a matter of volume but of authority.

I am what you need, they say.

The solution. The answer. The key.

Take me and know glory.

They cannot be ignored. They will not be ignored. They have lain in wait for hundreds of years and yearn to be used. To be tools of glory and conquest.

Lu Mei stops.

It happens gradually. Her eyes begin darting to the left, then her whole head. Her pace is no longer as brisk as before, slowing down until both her legs stop moving.

“Lu Mei?”

His voice seems to bring her back. She blinks and shakes her head. Her free hand moving towards her face.

“I am sorry,” she says, turning away from the bookshelves. “I was caught by surprise… It’s just… It told me it knew how to control the Eternal Flame.”

Oh.

“I know,” she interrupts before Liu Jin can say anything. “There is no point in taking it since I won’t be able to keep it. I know that”

But knowing is not enough.

“Let’s…” Lu Mei forces herself to take a step forward. “Let’s just keep going.”

“Of course,” he says without any judgment in his thoughts or voice. “Let’s go.”

The two keep walking, pulling each other along as they continue on the red road, leaving countless ancient techniques behind in the darkness.

~~~

Elder Xun’s chamber is not full of various projects like Elder Xue’s office, nor does it brim with opulence like Lady Ling’s room or Ruan Goutin’s throne room.

It is empty.

The room is the size of a house, with only a single door leading to it. There are no tapestries on the walls or carpets on the floor. No furniture or ornaments of any kind. The walls are not even painted. Only two orbs of fire float just below the ceiling, casting the room in dim light.

However, Elder Xun is a cultivator in the Ninth Level of the Emperor Realm. His presence gives the room all the grandeur it needs. He sits on the floor at the far end of the room with a pipe in his hand. During the trial, Elder Xun had looked stern and dignified.

Now, he just looks… bored.

“Why is the Technique Hall so disordered?”

Without waiting for them to introduce themselves. Without asking why they are there, Elder Xun fires a question whose answer they have no reason to know. It is not their job to keep the Technique Hall clean and ordered. They are visitors, not disciples affiliated with the Technique Hall.

Yet, Liu Jin and Lu Mei both feel that if they chose to answer like that, they will be thrown out.

“To test the disciples who come here looking for power,” Liu Jin replies. “Only those who push their senses to the limit will be able to discern the technique that best suits them, honored Elder.”

“A partial answer, one that misses the most important criteria.” Elder Xun locks Liu Jin in place with a simple glance. “A cultivator is one that goes against the Will of Heaven. Things die. That is the natural order. We who cultivate struggle against that fate. Thus, the most valuable attribute for a cultivator is not the quality of their meridians, the depth of their knowledge, or the ambient Qi available to them. Rather, a cultivator is someone who can repeatedly and continuously overturn providence. The Technique Hall is a disordered place because only those who can prevail over its randomness have any right to call themselves cultivators.”

Elder Xun takes a drag from his pipe and blows a ring of purple smoke into the air. It neither expands nor loses its shape. The smoke keeps going until it reaches the flames in the ceiling and joins them, casting the room in purple light.

“You came neither bearing gifts nor seeking shelter. What purpose drives you?”

Lu Mei and Liu Jin trade another look. In the end, there is no need for them to deliberate. It is Liu Jin’s idea that has brought them here. What point is there if he does not speak now?

“I came here to seek Elder Xun’s wisdom.”

“As you have already received it, you can leave.”

Liu Jin does not frown, but the muscles of his face tense ever so slightly.

“I came to seek Elder Xun’s knowledge on a specific subject,” he rephrases his request. “Right now, Patriarch Feng Zhang’s sons are fighting over who will be the one to succeed him.”

“And you wish to know why I do not take a side? Is that it?”

Something dangerous enters Elder Xun’s voice. Even though he does not make a single movement, the aura of boredom about him completely evaporates. Liu Jin can feel the pressure pushing against his head, threatening to drive him to the ground if he lowers his guard even for an instant.

“In a way,” He admits, managing to keep his back straight despite the pressure. “This one came here to understand just what exactly does it mean for either of them to become the next Patriarch, honored Elder.”

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“Oh?”

The pressure vanishes. A light exhale from Lu Mei reveals to Liu Jin she had been under it as well.

“This disciple supports Lord Feng Gui because that was the choice most suitable for my goals. However, this disciple knows neither Lord Feng Gui nor Lord Feng Shang… I know of their goals only as far as they relate to my own.”

Lord Feng Shang will keep the stalemate in the Storm Dragon Empire as is. Lord Feng Gui is more amenable towards change. That is all he knows about them.

“Lately, I have started wondering if maybe I have kept my vision too narrow.”

The words of Elder Chang in the Punishment House have left their mark. When he described Lord Feng Gui, Liu Jin did not get the sense he was lying. Elder Chang is someone who came to the conclusion that Lord Feng Shang is the best for the Eternal Flame Clan. Similarly, Elder Xue is someone who came to the exact opposite conclusion.

Elder Xun is someone who decided against joining either side.

Just what is it that motivates those choices? What criteria did each Elder use to make their judgment?

“Oh? Why not ask Elder Xue? She certainly prizes you enough to humor such a question. Why come here, most likely without her permission, to ask me?”

“If I were to ask Elder Xue, I do not believe she would lie to me about her reasons, but her perspective would naturally be a biased one. I came here because Elder Xun is the only neutral party in the Eternal Flame Clan.”

Elder Xun judges him in silence.

“I can hardly be said to be the only one, though I suppose it is easy to put Feng Zhang out of mind when he is so often out of sight. That will not be the case for much longer, but very well.” Another ring of smoke joins the flames. This one turns them blue. “First, let us speak of goals. You joined Little Gui’s side because it is through him that you believe your goals can be realized.”

Little Gui.

Elder Xun calls one of the strongest persons in the Eternal Flame Clan that without batting an eye.

“That is not uncommon. In fact, it is the most common of all things. Everyone seeks their own betterment. Those willing to completely sacrifice their goals for the sake of another are a rarity. Whether they are Elders or disciples, all who have picked a side have done so because they believe they stand to gain something.”

An image of his fight with Huang Shing flashes through Liu Jin’s mind as Elder Xun speaks.

“However, as everyone races for their own gain, it becomes easy to lose sight of one simple truth. They are all simply using the path carved by those greater than themselves. Little Gui and Little Shang each have something they want. Think carefully. Why do they wish to become Patriarch? What is it about the position that attracts them?”