Director Lei walked over to the desk, picked up the chess-like pieces arranged on top, and set them out in an expanding pattern.
He turned to Chen Chuan and explained, "Look, let's assume these pieces represent the rituals of the old era. In that case..."
He took out a pen and drew several lines between them. It wasn't a simple series of connections; different lines linked pieces at varying distances, and no two connections were the same.
Chen Chuan looked at the assorted pieces and the lines drawn beneath them, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Do you see it now?"
Director Lei tapped the lines with his finger. "Because his rituals were never a single, unified whole, linking them together is incredibly difficult. I suspect he spent a great deal of time connecting them and patching the gaps. But a ritual constructed this way can't possibly respond in unison. It has to be activated section by section."
