Hestia
April 29
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After understanding the knowledge related to the Seven Chakras, Kahn officially began his training.
Alongside learning the practical techniques of spiritbending, he also focused on tempering his mind.
However, while his study of practical techniques progressed smoothly, the cultivation of his mind proved deeply torturous.
Opening the Seven Chakras had a profound effect on the mind, and once the process began, it could not be stopped lightly.
Because of that, one had to be fully prepared before attempting it.
Preparation, in other words, ant constantly confronting the shadows within one's own heart.
It was an extrely painful process.
After all, inner demons beca inner demons precisely because people found them difficult to face and impossible to release.
The difficulty of reconciling with them could easily be imagined.
Fortunately, Kahn himself had a relatively open-minded nature.
He dared to face problems directly, admit mistakes, and accept his own flaws.
Those traits alone already placed him far above most people.
During this process, Kahn recalled many events from the past.
For example, the anger he had felt upon learning that Zuko had been burned and banished.
The guilt he felt for using Kori's trust and unknowingly placing her in danger.
The fear of his true origin being exposed.
So of these things he could now laugh off.
So he could face calmly.
But so still made him uneasy whenever he thought of them.
Moreover, he felt that many of these matters could not be resolved through self-reflection alone.
To truly settle them, he would eventually have to return to reality.
Even though Kahn himself found the process of cultivation torturous, Guru Pathik considered him quite perceptive.
"Generally speaking, Air Nomads are naturally the most suited to spiritbending cultivation."
"Benders of other elents all have their own difficulties, more or less."
"Firebenders are especially prominent in that regard."
Air was the elent of freedom.
Because of that, Air Nomads were detached from worldly affairs, pursuing freedom, peace, and spiritual harmony.
That temperant naturally aligned with the pursuit of spiritbending.
Fire, on the other hand, was the elent of energy.
It gave people drive and passion on the path toward their ideals and desires.
Because of that, firebenders were often energetic, clear in their goals, firm in their convictions, and strong in execution.
But viewed from another angle, firebenders were also often impatient and stubborn by nature.
They could easily beco trapped in their own thinking and struggle to change their original views.
Those negative traits were highly detrintal to spiritbending cultivation.
Kahn's personality, however, had clearly broken free from that stereotype.
In addition, Guru Pathik advised him to complete this stage of cultivation as soon as possible.
As his experiences increased and more emotions accumulated from future events, opening the Seven Chakras would only beco more difficult.
Moreover, opening the Seven Chakras did not an everything was permanently resolved.
If the cultivator later developed certain emotions because of future events, the chakras could beco blocked again.
At that ti, they would have to undergo the trial of the mind once more.
Because of this, it was not difficult to understand why Air Nomads and cultivators like Guru Pathik preferred secluded lives, detached from worldly affairs.
As long as one did not enter the world too deeply or form too many attachnts, new troubles would not easily arise.
It was indeed an effective way to preserve clarity of mind.
Unfortunately, Kahn's current situation did not allow him to do that.
Nor did he wish to.
But that also ant his path of spiritual cultivation would be far more difficult.
"So why exactly do we cultivate the mind?"
"And what is the use of opening the Seven Chakras?"
Kahn asked.
"Good question."
Guru Pathik smiled as he explained,
"In the simplest terms, cultivating the mind is the pursuit of inner peace."
"Life is filled with disturbances, and too many things affect the heart."
"Whenever we recall them, we cannot find peace."
"Cultivating the mind is the process of removing that unrest."
"At a higher level, the reasons differ from person to person."
"As for what happens after the Seven Chakras are opened…"
"You will feel a lightness unlike anything before."
"All things will suddenly beco clear and refreshing."
"The mist before your eyes will scatter, and the world will appear more vivid than ever."
Kahn nodded, half-understanding.
Just hearing it, opening all Seven Chakras sounded like entering so mysterious state.
At that mont, a spark suddenly flashed through his mind, and a phrase leapt from his mory.
He blurted it out instinctively.
"Returning to the original state?!"
The original state was a concept from his forr world.
He had most often encountered it in martial-arts novels, where there was frequently a realm called the original state, and those who reached it were called perfected masters.
In that type of concept, the world was believed to be filled with impure, turbid energy that gradually corrupted the human body.
Only during the period from conception to before birth was a person theoretically in their most perfect and unblemished condition.
That flawless condition was called the original state.
Human cultivation, then, was the process of removing the impurities acquired after birth and returning to that original state.
The process Guru Pathik described—unblocking the Seven Chakras and entering a mysterious clarity afterward—did sound quite similar to returning to that original state.
"Returning to the original state?"
"What is that?"
Guru Pathik was curious about the unfamiliar term, so Kahn excitedly explained the concept and his own conjecture.
"It is indeed very similar."
"In that case, let us call it the original state."
Guru Pathik smiled in surprise after hearing him out.
While affirming Kahn's conjecture, he also accepted Kahn's suggestion and nad the mysterious state reached after opening the Seven Chakras the original state.
Seeing this, Kahn felt both happy and excited.
He was happy because Guru Pathik had recognized the concept.
And he was excited because—
If that was the case, did that an he might truly have a chance to beco a perfected master in the future?
Training motivation increased.
And so, in such fulfilling cultivation, ten days passed quickly.
For Kahn, this period was pleasant, but not entirely so.
The pleasant part needed no explanation.
But tempering the mind was indeed extrely difficult.
The mont he temporarily stopped training and prepared to return, Kahn even felt a sense of relief.
On the other hand, East, South, West, and North had a wonderful ti.
Kahn sotis could not understand what was so fun about an empty place filled with nothing but scenery, or how they could enjoy themselves so much.
Still, it was best that they were having fun.
Seeing that they still had no intention of returning to the Spirit World, Kahn was equally pleased.
After temporarily bidding farewell to Guru Pathik, Kahn rode back toward the Fire Nation capital on Four Directions' back.
His next visit would depend on the situation.
But Guru Pathik would remain at the Eastern Air Temple, so there was no need to worry about
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