Khang Phi is a large monastery and library in the world of Hsien. It is built into the face of a mountain rising a thousand whitewashed feet into the bellies of permanent clouds (this mountain corresponds to the Dandha Presh in Croaker's homeworld). Soil has been painstakingly hauled up a long staircase to Khang Phi for generations to create tiered farms from which the monks subsist.
Khang Phi has existed for centuries and is a repository for knowledge and wisdom from all of that time. Children are often donated to the monks and raised to be part of the order. Those who join the order rarely leave Khang Phi. The monks shave their heads completely, wear brown robes, swear vows of chastity, and some even make themselves eunuchs. The four or five eldest monks wear special robes of dark orange edged with black.
During the reign of the Shadowmasters[]
The monks do not defy those who seek to be their overlords, but rather slowly try to wear them down with wisdom and reason. It is mentioned in the Annals that the monks of Khang Phi had collaborated on some level with the Shadowmasters (Longshadow and his student Shadowspinner) when Hsien was under their rule. This embarrassing fact was being expunged by relentless lie.
Meeting place of the File of Nine[]
The File of Nine, which maintains peace in the aftermath of the Shadowmasters' exile, meets at Khang Phi as a neutral ground. The File's warlords issue their edicts from there, with the monks' encouragement, who hope that the File members will absorb some wisdom while they are there.
Water Sleeps[]
At the end of Water Sleeps, a group of 5 watchful monks from the monastery at Khang Phi met Sleepy, Uncle Doj, Ky Gota, and the other members and allies of the Black Company as they descended from the glittering plain into Hsien. Speaking a dialect that was understandable to Uncle Doj, they immediately clamored for answers about "that devil-dog Merika Montera" (Longshadow) and his pupil Achoes Tosiak-shah (Shadowspinner)... the pair of Shadowmaster tyrants who had been exiled from Hsien several decades ago. Sleepy instructed Doj to inform them of the truth, namely, that Shadowspinner was dead and that Longshadow was their prisoner. The monks were unsettled by Willow Swan because of his pale skin, as the Shadowmasters were also white men, albeit from some other world entirely.
The monks of Khang Phi immediately granted the Black Company permission to establish themselves anywhere in the valley they desired. Sleepy chose a spot, and construction of the Abode of Ravens began. Surendranath Santaraksita, the former Master of the library in faraway Taglios, became one of the monks of Khang Phi and fully integrated with them.
Soldiers Live[]
The knowledge to repair the Shadowgates was kept in tomes at the library of Khang Phi. But access was forbidden throughout all 4 years between Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live. The knowledge was finally stolen by Tobo with the help of Master Santaraksita, while Sleepy distracted the File of Nine. Tobo used the information to manufacture 10 new Shadowgate keys, and later, to extensively repair the homeworld Shadowgate.