CHAPTER 53 — The Isolation of Neutrality
Part One
Neutrality is never neutral.
By choosing not to elevate him, the elders believed they had preserved balance.
They were wrong.
Balance had already shifted.
The outer disciples did not treat him the same.
They did not avoid him.
They orbited him.
Conversations stopped when he approached.
Training circles subtly widened to include him—or exclude him.
He had not become leader.
He had not become pariah.
He had become center.
And centers distort movement.
During sparring drills, no one struck at him directly.
Blows slowed half a breath before impact.
Not out of mercy.
Out of hesitation.
Was striking him disrespectful to Heaven?
Was losing to him symbolic?
Uncertainty eroded natural interaction.
After the third interrupted match, he stepped back.
"You are thinking too much," he said calmly.
The disciple flushed.
"Senior… I—"
"I am still at your level."
That was technically true.
But psychologically false.
By dusk, the courtyard felt unfamiliar.
Not hostile.
But fragile.
As if one wrong gesture would confirm something irreversible.
He left early.