Interlude: The Elders

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Elder Dang, head of Internal Disputes, is not a physically imposing man. He is not ugly—such a thing is usually impossible for high-level cultivators. However, neither is he what one would call particularly striking. Elder Dang is average of height, slim in build, and has a face that is always a little too sly. His goatee is well-groomed, and his black hair is tied in a topknot.

He is a man known for his calm temper and great discipline.

Even if one would find that hard to believe from looking at him now.

“Outrageous!”

His normally calm face is now a mask of carefully crafted fury. His nostrils flare as he glares at Elder Xue, who meets his loathing with barely concealed amusement.

“Absolutely outrageous!”

Elder Dang slams his fist against the armrest of his seat. It is not the first time he has done so today. That his chair hasn’t broken yet is either a testament to its quality or a sign of how badly he is overplaying his reaction.

It is most definitely the latter, Elder Xue decides.

Elder Dang is nowhere near as outraged as he pretends to be. He is simply using anger to overemphasize his point, a good strategy if he were dealing with easily cowed disciples. However, these are the Elders of the Eternal Flame Clan he is addressing.

Elder Ju of Exploration.

Elder Fa of External Relations.

Elder Geng, Armmaster of the Armory.

Elder Chang, Warden of the Punishment House.

Elder Bi, Overseer of the Sparring Hall.

All of them and more are in this room. Almost all the Elders of the Eternal Flame Clan have gathered in the main house. They all sit in a circular red room, their golden seats raised high above the floor. The higher the seat, the more important the person sitting there.

No servants are allowed in the red room, for they would not be able to withstand being here.

“How is this not a vast overreach of authority by Elder Xue?” Elder Dang shouts, waving his hand at her with all the disdain he can muster. “Internal problems are to be handled by Internal Disputes! This is something even a new disciple would know! If there truly is any grain of truth to Elder Xue’s accusations, it should have been our duty to investigate them. Instead, Elder Xue took up duties that were not hers and acted without consulting with anyone!”

“Internal problems are to be handled by Internal Disputes?” Elder Xue echoes, a lovely smile on her face. “Certainly, Elder Dang speaks true. A new disciple would say that. However, an old disciple will warn them against such optimistic notions, for by the time Internal Disputes has solved one problem, a hundred more will have taken its place.”

A few Elders chuckle at that. The anger on Elder Dang’s face becomes a little more genuine.

“Do not misunderstand,” Elder Xue continues. Calmly. Soothingly. “I am, by no means, trying to insult Elder Dang, merely his insinuations. He says I should have gone to Internal Disputes, but that was a risk far too great for me to take. Had I done that, Elder Cheung could have caught wind of my findings and fled.”

Elder Dang scoffs. “What a ridiculous claim!”

“Ridiculous? Perhaps Elder Dang only thinks so because he has never had to deal with his own division,” Elder Geng says. Unlike the slim Elder Dang, Elder Geng is a mountain of a man. The sleeves of his robes are ripped, showing off his powerful arms, as befitting of the one in charge of the Armory. He has no hair on his face, and the one on top of his head is white and short. He claims having too much hair is a hassle when forging.

“If Elder Dang wishes, we can spend the next several hours discussing all the occasions in which the slowness of Internal Disputes has caused the Armory to lose valuable time.” Although Elder Geng’s seat is lower, he has no issue glaring at Elder Dang.

“We are not here to discuss my Division,” Elder Dang fires back, his voice colder now.

“Indeed, we aren’t. We are here to discuss Elder Cheung’s horrible crimes,” Elder Xue says before Elder Dang can keep going. “You must understand how thoroughly shocked I was when a disciple showed me evidence of Elder Cheung’s wrongdoings. To think one of ours could perform such vile research! How could I afford to waste any time when our disciples were in danger? How could I possibly risk alerting Elder Cheung? Despite what Elder Dang may believe, I simply acted in the way that was necessary.”

“Is that so?” This time, it is Elder Fa who speaks, his golden eyes looking at her with doubt. His dark hair is elegantly styled, his mustache neatly trimmed. As the one in charge of External Relations, he always puts more effort than others into his appearance. “If Elder Xue merely acted to quickly catch Elder Cheung, why do your disciples now patrol the halls of the Medical Pavilion?”

“How could I leave the Medical Pavilion in a state of chaos?” Elder Xue replies, her voice perfectly innocent. “Had I done that, I surely would have failed as an Elder.”

“Do you expect us to be deceived by such petty sentimentality?” Elder Dang says, exasperated. He might have said more if not for the loud yawn that cut its way across the room.

“Do you all not get tired of arguing such pointless things?”

All eyes turn to the one who just spoke. Unlike Elder Dang and Elder Fa, this Elder looks relatively young and rather… undignified. His robes are not fastened properly and even his hair is unkempt. He does not sit with his back straight but rather lets his body sprawl all over his seat, looking at the rest of the room with bored, brown eyes.

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He is Elder Ju of the Division of Exploration, a man on the Sixth Level of the Emperor Realm.

“In the first place—” He stops to yawn once more. “Elder Xue’s actions are not what we should be talking about.”

“Elder Xue did cause much chaos with her recklessness. We are not gathered here because Elder Xue came to us with this information. We are gathered because we could not ignore Elder Xue’s actions,” protests Elder Chang, Warden of the Punishment House.

As soon as he says that, he finds himself silenced by a look from Elder Ju. Even though they are both Elders, Elder Ju looks at him as though he were trash stuck on the back of his shoes.

“Elder Cheung experimented on our disciples,” Elder Ju says, his voice nothing short of irritated, one hand rising to scratch his head. “He was going to turn them into cultivation pills. He was going to harvest their dantian.”

His hand stops scratching. His bored gaze sweeps over the room, looking at the Elders one by one.

“Surely, all my esteemed companions can see why that should take priority over your bruised egos and sudden love of protocol. It is not Elder Xue we should be discussing. It is Elder Cheung.”