《Unintended Cultivator - A Xianxia-inspired Cultivation Novel》


 Chapter 1 – The Escape

    As he ran, Sen felt the burn deep in his legs and in his lungs. He could hear the shouts of the noble boys behind him, close, always too close, and tried to run even faster. Sometimes, he could get away. He hoped that today would be one of those days. He clutched the precious burden in his arms as tight as he dared. Not too tightly, or he might damage it, but tight enough not to drop it. His long hair whipped into his eyes for a moment, obscuring his vision. He prayed that no one would step in front of him. Another moment and the wind carried that offending hair out of his eyes. He dodged around a corner, put on a last burst of speed, and cut down a particularly dark passageway between a noodle shop and a merchant¡¯s shop.


    It wouldn¡¯t have worked during the full light of day, but it might be dark enough with dusk settling over the town. He crouched behind a pile of trash and ignored the baleful look that a rat gave him. He tried to still his breathing and slow his heart, sure that everyone could hear that thunderous pounding clear from the street. The moments passed with agonizing slowness. He could hear the people on the street, talking, bartering, or simply making their way home after the day¡¯s work. Those lucky, respectable people who could get work. People who could buy their food instead of stealing it to avoid starving. People who proudly bore a family name.


    The shouting of the other boys drew near. He heard them out there, confused by his sudden disappearance. They searched up and down the street for a seeming eternity, one even took a few steps down the passage before the others called him back. Sen didn¡¯t trust it. Didn¡¯t trust them. They¡¯d tricked him before. Tricked him, and then beat him senseless for offending his betters. Offending my betters, he thought with a burst of rage. I offend them by existing. So, he remained crouched in that dark passage, fending off the ever more aggressive rats that could smell what he had clutched in his hand. He waited there in the growing darkness for more than an hour before he finally, cautiously, made his way out. He peeked around the corners, searching the street for his tormentors, but they had apparently given up on him.


    He wouldn¡¯t pretend that he didn¡¯t take some slim satisfaction in foiling their instruction of their inferior. Although, it meant that he would need to remain even more vigilant in the days to come. Those vicious, noble bastards had a long memory for perceived slights. He might not get away next time. This time, though, this time he had gotten away. He trudged away from the meager protection of the passageway and headed to the closest thing he had to a home. His legs ached terribly from the desperate, panicked flight, but at least his lungs didn¡¯t hurt anymore. He¡¯d learned to take his blessings, few though they were, where he could find them. Still, it was a long walk back. He sighed, said a quiet prayer to whatever gods took pity on children and thieves, and set out.


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    ***


    Full night had settled over the town of Orchard¡¯s Reach by the time Sen arrived. He could even see the moon rising over the mountain that cast its long shadow over the population, day in and day out, year after year. Sen wasn¡¯t given to deep thoughts, usually reserving his mental energy for survival, but he paused there for a moment. The moon was full and hung there, like a great luminous fruit that had blossomed from the rocky soil of the mountain. Something twinged in him then, as he gazed at that vast, distant orb that some thought was a goddess. He yearned, just for a moment, to hang there in the sky as the moon did, to cast a light over all, a lesser light than the sun, but perhaps a kinder one as well.


    Then, he shook himself. Foolish thoughts. He¡¯d never leave this place. Never assume a different station. Oh, there were stories of mighty cultivators who rose to greatness from humble beginnings, but those were just stories. Those things didn¡¯t happen to real people. Real people lived the life that fate had cast for them, some prospering, and all too many worn away by too much need and not enough coin.


    He reached out and knocked on the door. Then, he waited. There was no point in being impatient. He watched the moon in the relative silence. He listened as the night insects made their own strange music. He used to count the seconds and minutes, but he¡¯d grown at least a little wise in his short years. She would arrive when she arrived. After a minute, or ten, the door cracked open. A dark, piercing eye glared out at him.


    ¡°What do you want, boy?¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t say anything, simply uncovered his hard-won treasure. She understood what he was offering. She opened the door enough for him to scurry inside before she closed the door firmly behind him. Grandmother Lu gave him a suspicious look, but she didn¡¯t ask any questions. He handed her the loaf of bread. She took the food with care. Sen knew that her hands hurt her more days than they didn¡¯t. She gestured with her head, and he joined her at the table. She carefully cut part of the loaf into slices with a knife that looked as old and worn as Grandmother Lu herself. She took two slices and handed him two. She conjured a small orange from somewhere. She regarded the fruit for a long moment before handing it to him.


    ¡°Peel this,¡± she ordered.


    He took great care in peeling the orange as he didn¡¯t wish to damage the precious flesh inside. He handed it back to the old woman. She took equal care in dividing the fruit into its individual segments before carefully pushing half to him. They ate slowly. Grandmother Lu had been of a different station, once, Sen was sure of that. He wasn¡¯t sure if tragedy or dishonor had left her in her current circumstances, but she clung to a few ideals. Eating should be done with at least a little dignity. Sen wasn¡¯t sure if he felt the same way about it, but he respected her wishes.


    After they ate, Sen collapsed onto a small pad that just happened to always be empty when he came by. He didn¡¯t sleep there every night. In fact, he almost never visited Grandmother Lu unless he had some morsel to share, but on those few, terrible, icy nights when he had shown up empty-handed, she¡¯d simply gestured to the little pad without comment. Sen had no family, no blood, but he did have Grandmother Lu. That one, tiny comfort was enough that he drifted off to sleep and did not dream.

 Chapter 2 – The Cultivator

    Grandmother Lu woke him early the next day. Very early. The sun wasn¡¯t even really up yet, just the barest suggestion of light on the horizon, but Sen didn¡¯t really mind. He had been given shelter for a night. That was more fortune than most of his ilk enjoyed. He simply bowed to Grandmother Lu and took his leave. There were places where he might find food if he was quick enough. Not the kind of food that would stay good until night, but something that might keep his stomach from aching until he thought it would drive him mad. So, Sen ventured forth. It was early enough that none of the noble brats would hassle him. They didn¡¯t rise this early. He might run afoul of a shopkeeper or half-wild dog, though. Both things had happened before and he had the scars to prove it.


    Still, some risks were worth the payoff. You simply could not survive without food. He knew that there were other ways. There were hunters who ventured outside of the town into the largely untamed wilderness beyond the walls. There were animals there that you could hunt or capture in clever snares. Sen knew this, but it meant little to him. He had no bow, no spear, and no snares. Even if he had those things, he didn¡¯t know how to use them. Staying in the town was dangerous. It would become more dangerous for him in time. He was old enough now that one of the gangs would press him into service if he wasn¡¯t very careful. That was a life almost sure to see him dead, eventually. Yet, leaving would mean truly courting death.


    In town, he risked the wrath of noble children, the town guard, and gangs. Beyond those walls, he risked the ire of spirit animals that even the unearthly cultivators feared. If those heaven-defying figures of legend tread with care in the wilds, what hope did he have of surviving? One day, if he became desperate enough, he might make the journey beyond the walls, but it would be a day of true desperation indeed. For now, he would simply take his steps with care, and keep a sharp eye out. For the next hour or two, though, he largely had the town to himself.


    He took full advantage of that fact, making his way to the Song Wu Dumpling shop. He lucked out and found a few dumplings that the rats and other vermin hadn¡¯t found in the trash. He wondered sometimes what they would taste like fresh. Most days he was simply grateful if there was something to eat at all. After he¡¯d eaten something, he went to the central market. There were shadowed corners where he could hide all day, free from the sight of the guard and his own enemies. Although, when he was honest with himself, he was getting a little too big for them. Another year, maybe less, and he¡¯d have to find a new way to stay out of sight.


    For now, though, he could watch as people opened their shops and set up stands. He could see the mayor¡¯s mansion from his secluded little perch. He was willing to bet nobody there was ever hungry. Even the servants probably ate like nobles there. Not that he could ever dream of even being a servant in such a place. Not without a family name to open doors for him. A part of him that he kept buried deep most of the time seethed at the unfairness of it all. He knew that he should accept his fate, accept the lot that life had handed to him, but it burned all the same. He didn¡¯t dream of riches or of glory.


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    Those things were fantasies without depth or true meaning to him. He simply dreamed of honest work, a safe home, and maybe, one day, a family. Yet, even those modest dreams were out of his reach. No one would hire him. Most people would barely look at him. All he could do was hide in the shadows and watch as other people lived the kinds of lives that he wished he could have. The morning passed slowly. Sen watched for opportunities. He also watched for threats. For some reason, there were more guards around than usual. He also noticed more of the noble brats hanging around the market than usual. Was there some kind of festival happening soon? Sen wasn¡¯t sure. He measured time in hours, days, and seasons. Anything in between was lost on him. He knew that there were holidays and festivals but not when or why. Mostly, he didn¡¯t care. They didn¡¯t mean anything to him. Except, he admitted, when they set off the fireworks. That was something everyone got to enjoy, even him.


    It wasn¡¯t until the afternoon that things changed. Sen almost felt the change, like a current that swept through the marketplace. The change was defined by a single word. Cultivator. There was a cultivator in town. Sen didn¡¯t believe it, at first. Why would there be a cultivator in Orchard¡¯s Reach? Even Sen knew that they were a small place in an unimportant province. Yet, for all of that, he was curious. He¡¯d never seen a cultivator before. Were they really ten feet tall? Did they really have lightning for eyes? A part of him wanted to go and find the cultivator, but good sense prevailed. If he went wandering around and looking for them, his tormentors would have a far easier time finding him. No, far safer to stay quiet, stay hidden.


    It turned out that Sen¡¯s caution proved the wiser course, for the cultivator came to him. At first, Sen just thought he was another man. He was taller than most people with gray eyes and gray hair to match, but it wasn¡¯t his appearance that really gave him away. His robes were finer than most people¡¯s. Yet, they were not so much finer that anyone would consider him more than a noble. No, it was something that Sen couldn¡¯t name, couldn¡¯t see, but he could feel it. So could everyone else. The man strode through the market in a bubble that no one invaded. The crowds parted around the man. Sen shuddered at the invisible pressure that radiated from the man. He¡¯d felt pressure like that, well not exactly like that, but similar enough. He¡¯d learned how to hide from it. So, he did.


    Then, the cultivator stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes swept across the marketplace. It looked to Sen like the man meant to bore a hole through the world with his gaze. Sen shuddered as the man fixed on his hiding spot and then took a step in his direction. Cold sweat ran down Sen¡¯s back, but then a miracle occurred. At any other time, Sen would have considered the arrival of the mayor and the other local nobles as a dark sign. Today, it was reprieve given human form. The mayor strode up and bowed deeply.


    ¡°The mayor of Orchard¡¯s Reach bids the mighty cultivator welcome.¡±


    The rest of the nobles bowed as well and murmured their welcomes. The cultivator looked, at least to Sen¡¯s eyes, like the whole spectacle annoyed him. The cultivator gave one last look at where Sen was hiding, then turned his attention to the nobles. He bowed to them.


    ¡°Cultivator Feng greets the mayor.¡±

 Chapter 3 - Luck?

    The mayor and all of the nobles stood straight again. Sen found a bit of grim amusement in their looks of discomfort. The mayor was fat, his belly straining the confines of the robes he wore. Supposedly, he¡¯d been some kind of a warrior in his youth, but Sen found it hard to believe based on the sweat trickling down his face. Yet, all of the nobles looked strained, like they expected a disaster to fall on them at any moment. He decided that he couldn¡¯t fault them for that. Cultivators could come as a blessing or a curse, so the stories said. Please a cultivator and they might rain down blessings on your house. Displease a cultivator and they might scour your entire line from the face of existence. You just never knew.


    The mayor roused his courage enough to ask, ¡°What brings you to our insignificant town, Cultivator Feng? Perhaps we could be of some service to you in fulfilling your goals.¡±


    The cultivator just stared at the mayor for a long moment. ¡°I come to take up residence on the mountain. Closed door cultivation.¡±


    The mayor seemed to brighten at that. Sen reasoned that he was relieved that the cultivator planned on leaving soon and shutting himself away.


    ¡°I see,¡± said the mayor. ¡°Do you require supplies? We will, of course, provide anything you need within our power.¡±


    The cultivator appeared unmoved by the mayor¡¯s words. Sen had a hard time keeping himself from laughing as the sweat running down the mayor¡¯s face grew heavier. It was nice to see someone else so nervous. The cultivator finally sighed and nodded.


    ¡°Yes, I will take a disciple with me. Someone to attend to matters beneath me and, when I¡¯m feeling generous, to receive my instruction. I¡¯ll take someone from here.¡±


    The mayor and all of the nobles started falling over themselves offering up their children. While no one wanted the cultivator to stay, they all wanted their children to benefit from attending to the cultivator. In the end, the cultivator ordered that all of the young men and women be brought before him so that he might choose the best from among them. Sen relaxed from his hiding. There were plenty of other distractions in the market to keep the cultivator occupied. The mayor tried to convince the cultivator to go to the palace and choose from the young nobles, but Cultivator Feng would have none of it. He asked that all of the youth of the town be brought before him in the market.


    So, Sen watched in interest as the word went out. Young men and women from all over the town were rounded up by parents, by aunts and uncles, by teachers, and even by guards. The children of the nobles were given pride of place and paraded before the impassive cultivator. Their parents spoke of their many virtues. Sen snorted at that. Those brats wouldn¡¯t know virtues if they fell over them in the bath. Once the nobles finished, things relaxed a little. Young men and women were marched in front of the cultivator. Half of them seemed confused, and the other half looked downright terrified. Sen wondered what their parents had said to them. It took a couple of hours before the last stragglers were set before the cultivator.


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    Cultivator Feng looked to the mayor. ¡°Is this all of them?¡±


    ¡°Yes, honorable cultivator,¡± the mayor lied.


    Sen knew for a fact that there were plenty of children from the poorest parts of town that had not found their way into the marketplace. He wasn¡¯t surprised. He couldn¡¯t even find it in himself to be annoyed. The cultivator frightened him. That focused, piercing gaze and that invisible presence, like a burden on Sen¡¯s heart, had unnerved him. He knew that he didn¡¯t want any part of whatever the cultivator had planned for his disciple. The cultivator nodded.


    ¡°Very well. I have made my choice.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m very pleased to hear that, Cultivator Feng,¡± said the mayor. ¡°Which of our worthy youths will accompany you.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t see it. He barely felt it. One second, he was hiding in the shadows. The next, he was dangling from the cultivator¡¯s hand. Sen didn¡¯t think. He just struck. His small fist crashed into the cultivator¡¯s nose¡­and did nothing. More accurately, it did nothing to the cultivator. Sen felt like he¡¯d punched a stone. His hand hurt so much that he wondered if he¡¯d broken bones. The cultivator actually smiled at him.


    ¡°This one will do nicely,¡± said Cultivator Feng.


    There was absolute silence in the marketplace for the space of three heartbeats. Then, the mayor exploded with rage.


    ¡°You mean to take this street trash over one of our children?¡± The mayor demanded.


    ¡°Why should I prefer noble trash over street trash? After all, I did ask that all of the youths be presented to me, did I not? Why was this boy not presented? For that matter, if I were to walk in that direction,¡± the cultivator pointed in the direction where Grandmother Lu lived, ¡°how many more youths would I find that you conveniently forgot existed?¡±


    ¡°I, I...¡± the mayor stuttered, eyes darting around as if to find some escape.


    Sen didn¡¯t see it happen. He only saw the aftermath. The mayor went from standing there, red-faced and enraged, to sprawled out on the ground, spitting shattered teeth and blood from his destroyed mouth. The cultivator glared at the rest of the nobles.


    ¡°Leave my sight before I decide the rest of you deserve the same.¡±


    The nobles ran away. If Sen¡¯s hand had hurt less, he might have even enjoyed the sight. Mostly, though, he was desperately trying to figure out how he was going to run away from the cultivator. He¡¯d been scared when the cultivator first seemed to notice him. Now, having been plucked from hiding in a move so fast he couldn¡¯t even remember the details, he was positively terrified. Sen ran through his options. There were none. Unless the cultivator decided to let him go, Sen sincerely doubted he could escape. The cultivator looked over at him like he could read Sen¡¯s mind.


    ¡°You don¡¯t want me,¡± said Sen. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to do anything.¡±


    If he could convince the cultivator, then maybe things would turn out alright. The cultivator snorted.


    ¡°You should call me master. Besides, you¡¯re stuck with me now. If I left you here, one of those nobles would hunt you down and kill you. If not them, then one of their children would.¡±


    Sen went very still. He hadn¡¯t thought it all the way through. The cultivator was right. If he stayed, he was as good as dead. But, he couldn¡¯t leave. Grandmother Lu might well starve if he just up and vanished. They¡¯d never talked about it, but he suspected she depended on him at least a little to help her eat.


    ¡°I can¡¯t leave,¡± Sen said, his voice firmer than he expected.


    ¡°Master,¡± corrected Cultivator Feng.


    ¡°I can¡¯t leave, master,¡± said Sen.


    The cultivator seemed to grow bored with holding Sen up and set him back on the ground. Those gray eyes bore down on Sen.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    Sen took a deep breath and then explained.

 Chapter 4 - Leavetaking

    It took a couple of days before Sen found himself once more at Grandmother Lu¡¯s door. He never came during the day, so even he was a little shocked at how run down her little hut looked in the sunlight. At an impatient noise from Cultivator Feng, Sen roused himself, reached out a hand, and knocked on the door. Then, he stepped back and waited. Sen worried that the cultivator might grow impatient, but the man seemed content to simply stand there at the door for however long it took. After several minutes, the door cracked open enough that Sen could see Grandmother Lu peering out suspiciously at them. Before either Sen or Grandmother Lu could speak, the cultivator stepped forward. He gave a gracious bow.


    ¡°Honored Grandmother,¡± he said, ¡°may we please come in to speak with you? I promise, we will not waste your time.¡±


    Grandmother Lu looked to Sen and he gave her an emphatic nod. She heaved a great sigh and opened the door enough to let us in.


    ¡°Well, I suppose you better,¡± she muttered.


    ¡°Gratitude,¡± said Feng.


    Sen followed Feng into Grandmother Lu¡¯s. He worried what the cultivator¡¯s reaction might be, but the man didn¡¯t twitch so much as an eyelash at the humble little home. Instead, he bade Grandmother Lu sit and then, seemingly from nowhere, he produced a teapot and cups. Sen had no idea how he did it, but the man produced steaming tea and poured cups for himself, Grandmother Lu, and Sen. The boy awkwardly toyed with his cup but didn¡¯t actually drink any. Instead, he looked nervously between Grandmother Lu and Cultivator Feng. Sen had to admit that Grandmother Lu took it all in stride, as though she hosted strangers who performed minor miracles on a daily basis. She waited quietly until the tea was cool enough, then sipped. She closed her eyes and made appreciative noises. Only then did she fix Sen with a stern look.


    ¡°Where have you been boy? You don¡¯t usually disappear for so long.¡±


    ¡°Forgive me, honored grandmother,¡± said Feng. ¡°I fear that his long absence was my doing. I will be taking Sen as my disciple. There were matters that needed resolution before we could leave.¡±


    ¡°Disciple,¡± muttered Grandmother Lu. ¡°What sort of disciple?¡±


    ¡°Ah, I failed to introduce myself. I am Cultivator Feng Ming.¡±


    Grandmother Lu¡¯s eyes went a little wide, but it was the only hint of surprise that she showed. ¡°A cultivator. I see. So, you intend to make Sen a cultivator?¡±


    Feng inclined his head. ¡°I will be entering into secluded cultivation for a time. I need someone to attend to those occasional worldly matters that might intrude on me during this time. In exchange, Sen will receive some small instruction from me.¡±


    ¡°A worthy exchange,¡± said Grandmother Lu in a soft voice. ¡°But why have you sought me out?¡±


    ¡°A trifling matter, I assure you. Sen expressed some minor concerns about your disposition while he is away. I cannot have him distracted, so I fear I must impose on your good nature to ease his mind. After all, it is often difficult to focus when one worries for family.¡±


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    ¡°Oh,¡± said Grandmother Lu. ¡°Yes, he is a distractable boy. I wouldn¡¯t want him to fail in his duties out of concern for me.¡±


    Cultivator Feng beamed at Grandmother Lu. ¡°Exactly. As such, I have made some small arrangements on your behalf. If you¡¯ll allow me, I¡¯d be most pleased to escort you to a modestly more comfortable place for you to stay.¡±


    Grandmother Lu gave Sen another inquisitive look. He nodded his head in the affirmative.


    ¡°Very well, Cultivator Feng. Since it¡¯s for the boy¡¯s benefit, how could I refuse?¡±


    After everyone finished their tea, Cultivator Feng made the tea set disappear. Grandmother Lu took a few minutes to gather up a few treasures she couldn¡¯t part with and then stepped out of her little hut for the last time. Cultivator Feng took up station at her elbow and walked along at the pace she set, only occasionally directing her down one street or another. He engaged Grandmother Lu in light conversation about things that happened long before Sen was born. If Grandmother Lu found the topics odd, she showed no sign of it. She held up her end of the conversation and, save for the occasional stop so she could briefly rest, the small group made steady progress across town.


    When Cultivator Feng led Grandmother Lu up to a finely appointed home, she shot Sen an incredulous look. When a servant opened the door and gave her a deep bow, she finally seemed at a loss. Cultivator Feng greeted the servant and ushered Grandmother Lu into the house. She looked around in pure wonder at the decorative scrolls that hung on the walls and the carefully polished wooden floors. Finally, she turned and gave Cultivator Feng as deep a bow as she could manage. Cultivator Feng gave her one in return. As a final gesture, he handed over a small jade box.


    ¡°What is this?¡± She asked.


    ¡°A few medicinal pills,¡± said Cultivator Feng. ¡°They are reputed to provide some minor relief to the joints. One every six months should suffice. Now, I¡¯ll leave you to say goodbye to your grandson.¡±


    With that, Feng left through the front door. Grandmother Lu looked at Sen with equal parts gratitude and disbelief on her face.


    Sen smiled and spoke. ¡°There¡¯s money to see you through. I didn¡¯t ask for details, but he promised it would be enough that you wouldn¡¯t have to worry about things.¡±


    ¡°Why would you do this for me?¡± She asked.


    ¡°You helped me when you couldn¡¯t really afford it. I¡¯ll never forget that. Plus, I don¡¯t know how long I¡¯ll be gone. I really would have worried. I want you to be here when I get back.¡±


    Grandmother Lu didn¡¯t cry, but she did pull Sen into an unexpected hug.


    ¡°You be careful, boy. Cultivators are fickle and dangerous. You do your best to come back alive. I¡¯ll do my best to still be here when you do.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a deal to me, Grandmother Lu.¡±


    Grandmother Lu took a moment to straighten Sen''s robes, a thoughtful look on her face. ¡°You¡¯ve been family to me more than mine ever was. From now on, if anyone asks you your name, you tell them that it¡¯s Lu Sen. And you just call me grandmother.¡±


    It took Sen a long time to find his voice again after that declaration. When he did, all he said was, ¡°Yes, grandmother.¡±


    Grandmother Lu gave him a little smile. ¡°All right, boy. I suppose it¡¯s time for you to go hold up your end of things with the cultivator. May blessings find you.¡±


    Sen walked over to the door and gave her a bow. ¡°And you, grandmother. Oh, make sure you take those pills.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not senile, boy. I¡¯ll remember.¡±


    He smiled and slipped out the door. Cultivator Feng was waiting in the yard. He appeared to be in deep contemplation of a small maple tree. Yet, as Sen approached, the cultivator turned and gave him an appraising look.


    ¡°I believe I¡¯ve done my part,¡± said Feng.


    ¡°You have, master,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have your undivided focus?¡±


    ¡°You will, master.¡±


    ¡°Good. Now, let¡¯s be on our way. I don¡¯t particularly enjoy this town.¡±

 Chapter 5 - The Wilds, Part 1

    Cultivator Feng wasted no time, walking directly to the town¡¯s western gate. It wasn¡¯t a direct path to the mountain, which Sen knew to sit north of the town. Yet, there was no Northern gate. East or West, those were the only choices. For all that Sen spent most days on his feet, and all that the cultivator looked to be keeping an easy pace, the young man struggled to keep up. He found himself almost running in the cultivator¡¯s wake. He worried about what might happen once they left the safety of the town and entered the wilds. There were no roads to the mountain, no paths, at least none that Sen had ever heard about. He supposed that there might be one that the cultivator knew of, but he suspected that normal things wouldn¡¯t pose much trouble for the man.


    As they approached the Western gate, though, the older man slowed and let Sen catch up. Not sure what he was supposed to do, Sen walked a pace or two behind the cultivator. He¡¯d seen servants act that way, so maybe that was what his new master expected. Feng glanced over his shoulder and gestured to his side. Sen hurriedly stepped up next to the man.


    ¡°Observe, disciple,¡± ordered Feng.


    Sen wasn¡¯t sure what he was supposed to observe, but he nodded. ¡°Yes, master.¡±


    They were nearly at the gate before Sen finally saw what his master had, apparently, expected. They were at a distance, but he saw the faces of the noble brats who had troubled him so often. They looked angry, violent, and vengeful. Exactly the kind of looks that someone of Sen¡¯s station desperately wanted to avoid. Yet, there they were, blithely uncaring of the fact that Sen wanted no conflict with them. He didn¡¯t want conflict with anyone. A boy from the streets always lost that kind of fight. On bad days, boys like him lost their lives in the process.


    He also saw faces he only knew vaguely. Still, he marked them with care. There was the mayor¡¯s son, Jiang Hao. He was lean with an almost fox-like face. Sen wondered if that was what the mayor had looked like as a young man. There was Wu Gang. He was a bulky boy that had often held Sen¡¯s arms while Jiang Hao beat him. There was a pale beauty that Sen had never seen before, slender and poised, but her expression twisted with fury. There had to be a dozen of them. Each and every one of them rejected by the cultivator and blaming Sen for that disaster.


    ¡°Do you see?¡± Cultivator Feng asked.


    ¡°I do, master.¡±


    ¡°Do you understand?¡±


    He did. Sen would likely return to the town, one day. He didn¡¯t know how long it would take, but probably not that soon. Years, probably. Yet, these were the people who would hold that grudge. They would secret it away in their hearts, feeding that private flame with their resentment and frustration. Then, they would seek to vent that bitter flame on him if they discovered his return. Sen wondered if, perhaps, he should simply never come back to the town. Even as he thought it, he knew that was an empty idea. He would come back if only once. He would seek out Grandmother Lu, or her grave, and pay his respects.


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    ¡°I think I do. They¡¯ll seek vengeance on me for taking what they think was theirs.¡±


    Feng gave Sen an appraising look. The answer, it seemed, was more insightful than the cultivator expected.


    ¡°Half right,¡± Feng announced.


    ¡°Master?¡±


    ¡°You understand half of the lesson. The part you neglected, possibly the more important part, is that those people are why you should attend most closely to what you will learn.¡±


    Sen thought that over for a moment. He didn¡¯t know what he would learn, so it was hard to understand where it would fit into things. Still, if Feng was so certain, Sen would take it at face value. At least, he would until or if he learned better.


    ¡°I see. Thank you for the lesson, Master.¡±


    Feng made a noise that could mean anything. Then, ignoring the guards and whatever procedure was normal, he strode through the gate with Sen close behind. As soon as they cleared the gate, the cultivator turned almost immediately North, walking along the town wall. That wall seemed terribly high to Sen, towering at three times his own height. He¡¯d stared at that wall from the inside a thousand times and couldn¡¯t imagine anything breaching it. Now that he was outside, though, he could see trees not too far away that were easily higher than that wall. Trees with trunks thicker than he was. Trees that could hide anything.


    All too soon, the wall was left behind and they were among those trees. Much to Sen¡¯s horror, but not his surprise, there was no road. The cultivator simply walked. It was during that march that Sen started to grasp the difference between a cultivator and a normal man. While Feng was normally content to walk around most obstacles, he would occasionally push boulders out of his way with a casual motion or leap dozens of feet into the air and latch onto a tree to get a view of what was ahead. Even when he walked, it was with a speed that Sen couldn¡¯t match. He spent most of the day alternating between a jog and a full run.


    As the sun rose into the sky and began to fall again, the hunger began to gnaw at Sen. It was a mild annoyance at first. He had lots of practice at ignoring hunger. Yet, the later it got, the worse that hunger became. It became a persistent ache in his middle. Then, the ache gave way to actual pain. His head started pounding. He struggled to keep his balance. It became an all-consuming act to just keep jogging behind the cultivator. Yet, every time Sen looked up, Feng was farther away. Sen would try to close the gap, only to have his vision go blurry or dark around the edges. Finally, inevitably, Sen tripped over a root and crashed to the ground. He tried to rise. There was a desperate fear in him of being left behind in this wild place he didn¡¯t know. Yet, his will faltered and darkness closed over him.

 Chapter 6 - The Wilds, Part 2

    Something warm and wet splashed over Sen¡¯s face, rousing him from unconsciousness. It smelled wrong, almost like metal, but then a noise washed over Sen, freezing him in place. No, he realized, not a noise. It was a roar. His eyes snapped open. He looked up and saw, he didn¡¯t know what he saw. It looked a bit like a boar, but no boar had ever been that big. It was as large as a horse, with tusks nearly as long as a sword. Blood was leaking from a slash across its face. It''s injured, Sen thought. What happened? A moment later something blurred through the air and struck the beast. It vanished from Sen¡¯s sight, apparently carried away by the force of whatever had struck it.


    The disorientation and fear that had kept Sen rooted in place snapped as he realized that he was in immediate, terrible danger. He shot to his feet and almost collapsed again as his stomach tried to eat its way out from inside him. The headache that he¡¯d forgotten about reasserted itself, like thunder inside his head. Still, he was in danger. He stumbled away from the beast. He didn¡¯t pay attention to where he was going. Anywhere, anywhere that was away was good enough. It was just a blur of greens and browns and the occasional flashes of a sunset-colored sky. He careened off of trees and fell over rocks, leaving bruises and bloody gashes on his body. Yet, he ignored the pain, ignored his stomach, and pushed himself back up. He had to get away.


    He didn¡¯t stop moving until a hand seized the back of his robes and brought him up short. His head hurt. His hands hurt. His knees hurt. Sen''s stomach hurt so much he could barely think. Yet, that abrupt stop shocked him enough that he looked around. He stood on the edge of a gully. It wasn¡¯t very deep, but deep enough that Sen might have broken his neck falling into it. Sen let out a belated, startled shout and tried to back away from the edge. The hand that had grabbed him kept him in place. It took a moment to calm down enough to look around. Cultivator Feng stood over him, a splash of crimson across his face. Yet, the man looked calm enough.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go that way,¡± said Feng, releasing Sen¡¯s robe.


    ¡°No, master. Thank you for stopping me,¡± said Sen.


    He tried to bow to Feng, but it proved too much for the screaming, painful hunger inside him. Sen collapsed, clutching at his stomach.


    ¡°Were you injured?¡± Feng asked.


    ¡°No,¡± Sen gasped. ¡°So hungry.¡±


    Feng was silent for a long moment before he spoke. ¡°Oh. Food. Right.¡±


    Sen only half noticed, so preoccupied was he with his stomach, but it only took Feng a matter of minutes to carry Sen away from the gully, set up camp, and start a fire. With Sen by the fire, Feng made a pile of jerky appear from nowhere and pushed it into the boy¡¯s hands. Sen didn¡¯t say anything, just started eating as fast as he could chew the dried meat and choke it down. When he looked up from the much smaller pile of jerky, Feng was just outside of the camp. He was cutting up the enormous boar. With the howling inside him finally gone and the wretched headache going away, Sen was finally able to appreciate the speed with which the cultivator worked. The man¡¯s hand moved in a pair of blurs. It wasn¡¯t instant, but soon the boar was a pile of discarded parts. What Sen couldn¡¯t work out was where all the meat went.


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    Then, Feng made a shovel appear and started digging. It was the biggest hole that Sen had ever personally seen, nearly as deep as a man is tall. Feng hopped out of the hole, shoved the remains into the hole, and then covered it up. He rinsed something off with a water skin and dried it on his robes as he walked over to the fire. Once Feng settled on the other side of the fire, he tossed the object over to Sen. Sen caught the object and looked down at it curiously. It was an orb as big as an apple. It was a deep green shot through with lines of dark brown. It felt heavier than Sen thought it should. He looked over at Feng.


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Asked Sen.


    Feng looked incredulous for a moment before he burst into laughter. ¡°A keepsake. You should have something to remember this by. It¡¯s your first near-death experience with a spirit beast, I expect.¡±


    Sen shuddered as he imagined what the beast might have done to him. Sen looked down at the rock for a moment before he slipped it into an inner pocket of the robes Feng had given him after bandaging the boy''s wounds. While he was busy with that, Feng had set up a makeshift spit. A piece of what Sen assumed was the boar slowly started dripping over the fire. Feng sprinkled herbs and spices over the meat and then settled back, only moving to turn the spit occasionally. Sen finally worked up the nerve to ask a question that had been steadily growing in his mind.


    ¡°Where did it all go? The rest of the meat, I mean.¡±


    Feng just held up a hand and gestured at it. Sen looked at the hand briefly before returning his gaze to Feng¡¯s face. His lack of comprehension must have shown on his face because Feng tapped a ring.


    Sen frowned. ¡°Is it magic?¡±


    ¡°No, of course, it¡¯s not,¡± said Feng. Then, he seemed to think it through. ¡°Well, I suppose it is a bit like magic. It¡¯s a storage ring. Easier than carrying a pack everywhere. Keeps things fresh too. You¡¯ve never heard of them before.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°Do you think I could get one someday?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s possible. Probably not like this one, though. It can hold quite a lot. They can get expensive. For what this one cost, I could probably buy that town we just left.¡±


    Sen¡¯s eyes went wide. He decided that a storage ring probably wasn¡¯t something he would ever own. He¡¯d just appreciate Master Feng¡¯s ring while he could. While a thousand other questions rolled through his mind, he decided not to test the cultivator¡¯s patience. Grandmother had warned him that cultivators were fickle. So far, this one seemed mostly amused by Sen. He didn¡¯t want to damage that. After a while, the cultivator produced a couple of plates and carved pieces off the meat over the fire. He dropped a peach onto the plate that he handed to Sen. Sen made himself wait to eat this time. He didn¡¯t want to burn himself.


    ¡°If you get hungry, you have to tell me. When you get as far along with cultivation as I have, you can go for weeks, months even, without eating. I won¡¯t remember, so you have to remind me to feed you.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°Yes, master.¡±


    ¡°Good, now eat. I don¡¯t want you passing out first thing tomorrow.¡±


    Sen ate the meat and peach but did his best to do it with a little dignity, the way Grandmother Lu had taught him. After he ate, Sen felt an odd surge of energy. It seemed to pulse through him in waves. He was sure he imagined that the energy seemed to gather around his hands, knees, and feet. Part of him felt like he could walk for miles, while the rest of him demanded rest. Sen took a final look at the cultivator who was reading a book that had come out of that miraculous storage ring. Sen wrapped himself up in a blanket. He didn¡¯t think he would be able to sleep, but it swooped down on him in moments.

 Chapter 7 – The Wilds, Part 3

    Morning came all too early for Sen¡¯s tastes. The sun wasn¡¯t even up yet. Instead, there was a kind of gray, pre-dawn illumination that made it just possible to see. Despite the early wakeup, though, Sen felt good. In fact, he felt better than good. It was like energy was bursting from his entire body. Sen felt ready, if not enthusiastic, for walking all day. A quick peek under the bandages on his hands showed that the cuts from the previous day¡¯s mad flight were healed. The skin looked healthy and perfect. Stunned, Sen looked around the campsite. Cultivator Feng had let the fire die down to a small bed of coals. It was enough for Sen to warm his hands over, but looked like it would be easy to put out. The cultivator himself was sitting a little way off from the campsite in a cross-legged position. Sen studied the motionless man for a while. He decided that Feng must be meditating. He¡¯d seen monks sitting like that before to meditate. Or is it cultivating, he wondered. What¡¯s the difference?


    The longer he studied the sitting cultivator, the less comfortable Sen felt. It was almost like he could feel the man doing, well, doing something. It wasn¡¯t anything he could see or hear. It was more like something underneath his senses. Like a current in all of nature itself. Something that made his very soul shiver. It wasn¡¯t that the man was acting hostile. He was just sitting there. Yet, Sen couldn¡¯t shake the sensation that something was wrong. It was like he was under observation. Sen froze. He¡¯d felt that sensation before, all too often, right before something awful happened. He slowly turned and looked over his shoulder. A lightning bolt of fear left him fixed in place, mouth open, and staring.


    Not three feet away was the biggest cat Sen had ever seen. It was massive, bigger than the biggest dogs in town. Much like the cultivator, it wasn¡¯t doing anything specific to threaten Sen. Its mere existence was more than enough for that. Even worse, Sen felt his eyes trying to slide away from the beast as it almost seemed to disappear into the foliage behind it. The cat eyed him curiously for a moment, then stood, and stepped forward into a stretch that nearly brought its massive front paws, paws big enough to crush him, to Sen¡¯s feet. It was the motion of the cat that forced a strangled cry from Sen¡¯s throat. The beast¡¯s eyes snapped up, and then to Sen¡¯s right.


    ¡°Easy little brother,¡± said Cultivator Feng.


    Relief washed over Sen. He hadn¡¯t heard the cultivator move, but his presence was a comfort in that terrible place. The cultivator would no doubt slay the beast as he had done with the boar. Except, nothing happened. Sen glanced at Feng. The man stood next to him. His posture was relaxed and the cultivator¡¯s face serene as he gave the big cat a nod. It was only then that Sen finally realized that the cultivator had been talking to the beast.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to kill it?¡± Demanded Sen, his voice cracking.


    ¡°Why?¡± Feng asked. ¡°It¡¯s been here for an hour. It would have done something by now if it planned to.¡±


    As if to prove that it was somehow friendly and harmless, the beast slumped onto its side and began licking one of its paws. Sen was not tricked. Anything that big with paws, claws, and teeth was not to be trusted. He glared his distrust down at the massive cat. Once again, his eyes tried to look somewhere else as the cat seemed to almost fade into the ground.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Sen asked, forcing his eyes to stay fixed on the beast.


    ¡°Ghost panther,¡± murmured Feng. ¡°You don¡¯t see many of those.¡±


    The cultivator chuckled to himself like he¡¯d told some particularly amusing joke. Sen didn¡¯t laugh. He didn¡¯t see anything funny about a giant predator lounging in their campsite. Then, Feng¡¯s words finally struck home in Sen¡¯s mind.


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    ¡°It¡¯s a ghost,¡± Sen yelled as he stumbled backward and promptly fell over his own discarded blankets.


    Sen knew better than to treat ghosts lightly. He¡¯d heard stories about hungry ghosts. What could be hungrier than a ghost panther? Feng let out of derisive snort and shook his head, almost like he couldn¡¯t believe Sen had actually asked him that.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a ghost. It¡¯s a ghost panther. Look at it.¡±


    Sen studied the beast with wary, distrustful eyes. It only took him a moment to make the connection. The cat clearly had a physical body, demonstrated by the fact that it idly batted a small stone into the underbrush. Somehow, some way, the animal could fade into the background. Then, finally, he understood the joke that Feng had made. In spite of himself, Sen sighed at the terrible humor. Through all of that, the cat watched him. Sen was certain that he saw laughter in its huge, feline eyes.


    Sen got to his feet and muttered under his breath, ¡°How was I supposed to know?¡±


    Feng seemed ready to get moving, stopping only long enough to give Sen some leftover boar meat and another peach. After a moment of thought, Feng tossed the big cat a piece of meat. The cat went from casually lounging to pouncing toward the meat almost instantly, catching it in mid-air. Then, the cat went back to lounging while it chewed on the meat. Sen did his best not to imagine the cat doing that to his leg. Instead, he turned his attention to his own breakfast. For a boy who had gotten most of his meals from the trash for years, sometimes forcing down food that was only questionably safe, the boar tasted heavenly.


    It was fresh. Fresh enough that not even a hit of rotten sourness marred the experience. He¡¯d been too hungry and distracted by pain the night before to enjoy the food. With those impediments out of the way, he was free to relish in the flavors of the food. Free to bask in the fact that he didn¡¯t need to fight off rats or dogs to get it. Meat in any quantity was a rare treat in Sen¡¯s world, so he didn¡¯t take it for granted. He lingered over it, chewing slowly and deliberately. It wasn¡¯t juicy in the same way it had been when it was hot. It was still tender, though. The spices were unfamiliar, but they gave the meat an almost sweet crust with a hint of spiciness. After he slowly, but inevitably, finished the boar¡¯s meat, he turned his attention to the peach.


    Fruit wasn¡¯t quite as rare as meat. There were orchards outside the town, after all. Yet, rarely had Sen enjoyed fresh fruit. The peach was firm. Its sweet juice was almost an assault on Sen¡¯s untrained palate. He found himself letting out a little moan in pleasure. Once again, he found himself feeling almost overfull with energy. It roiled inside him, the energy washing out from his stomach into his chest. Then, it expanded out into his limbs and head. The energy left him with the sense that he had woken up a second time. Everything around him seemed sharper, clearer, and it was all he could do to sit still. By the time the peach was half gone, Sen felt like he might vibrate apart.


    Abruptly, he became aware of the fact that the cat was so close that he could feel its hot breath on his face. He forced himself to move slowly as he turned his head. The cat was so close that he could make out the individual hairs on its face. At that distance, the cat¡¯s whiskers no longer looked delicate, but like tiny spears that jutted from around its fearsome maw. If the cat had actually been looking at him, Sen might have screamed. Only, it wasn¡¯t looking at him. Its eyes were fixed on the half of the peach in his hand. Sen looked closely at the beast. It wasn¡¯t hostile. It didn¡¯t even look hungry. If anything, there was an expression of yearning in the cat¡¯s eyes.


    Sen sighed. He supposed that he owed the beast something for not murdering him in his sleep. He lifted the rest of the fruit toward the beast. It sniffed at the fruit but didn¡¯t take it. Sen frowned.


    ¡°You want it, don¡¯t you?¡± He asked, lifting the fruit a little closer. ¡°Go on. Take it.¡±


    The cat¡¯s eyes flicked to his face for just a moment, as though it was trying to weigh his sincerity. Then, the cat lowered its mouth toward his hand. Sen steeled himself for the betrayal. At this range, the massive beast could take his arm off and flee into the forest with it before anyone could do anything. It turned out that Sen¡¯s fears were misplaced. The beast picked the fruit up so gently that all Sen felt was the barest brush of fine, soft fur against his palm. The cat backed off a few steps, as though it could sense Sen¡¯s apprehension. It didn¡¯t immediately swallow the fruit like Sen thought it would. It seemed to take its time with peach in the same way Sen had, savoring the sweetness of the flesh, before it finally let the fruit slide down its throat.

 V2 Chapter 1 - Contempt

    Zhu Fen was stunned by pure disbelief. She had done as her senior sister had recommended. She waited by the gates for a wandering cultivator of an appropriate cultivation level and, after weeks of wasted time, finally found one. Only to have the man somehow elude her spiritual sense and disappear into the city. It had only been pure luck that she was close enough to sense him again when he finally unveiled himself. When she found him standing on the beach wearing a serene expression that rivaled some monks she¡¯d seen, Zhu Fen had issued a perfectly appropriate challenge to him. Then, he had, she still couldn¡¯t believe it, said no. He hadn¡¯t just said no but leveled that denial at her with absolute conviction. Her. Zhu Fen. Of the mighty and respected Stormy Ocean sect. Who did that wandering cultivator think he was to turn down her honorable challenge? He should be honored that someone of her sect would even deign to look at him. He should, in a panic, Zhu Fen realized that the man was walking away while she was busy thinking.


    ¡°Stop!¡± she commanded, only to watch him continue to retreat toward the city.


    What should she do? No one ever turned down a challenge. It was unheard of, unthinkable, and it was happening to her right now. She couldn¡¯t go back to the sect like that. She¡¯d never live down the shame of it. The only member of the Stormy Ocean sect ever to be denied a duel by a wandering cultivator. Oh no, she decided, he will fight. She would make him fight. Clenching her fists, she called out again.


    ¡°Stop, or I¡¯ll-,¡± she never got another word out.


    The wandering cultivator whirled on her. ¡°You¡¯ll what? Tell lies about me? Leverage the power of your sect to make my life hard? Send others from your sect to hound me until I agree?¡±


    The words themselves meant little to her. Of course, that was what she had meant to do. Except, she knew the appropriate words for it. They weren¡¯t lies, just inducements for wandering cultivators to accept their places as useful, but disposable tools for more honorable sect members. It wasn¡¯t leverage, just the fine art of persuasion. Her sect brothers and sisters wouldn¡¯t hound, simply encourage. Yet, it wasn¡¯t the words he said that pinned her in place. It was the look on his face. She had never, in her entire life, had anyone look at her with such contempt. That contempt for her, her sect, for everything she held dear, burned in him with such purity that it was a wonder to her that his glare didn¡¯t reduce her to cinders where she stood. Before she could muster her defense, he carried on, the contempt for her growing even more vivid.


    ¡°And then there¡¯s the matter of your friend who thinks I didn¡¯t notice her. I expect she¡¯s here to make sure that I die of my wounds in the event that your challenge fails. Right? After all, you must ensure that the pretend honor of the Rippling Mud Puddle sect cannot be sullied by a mere wandering cultivator.¡±


    The wandering cultivator pointed to the exact spot where Sun Xue was hiding. Fen watched as her very sheepish-looking friend stepped out from behind a small sand dune. Although, Fen thought, she should be sheepish getting caught out by a mere wandering cultivator like that. When they¡¯d discussed this plan, it was perfectly reasonable. They had to protect the reputation of the sect. It was their duty. It was the honorable thing to do. Of course, she couldn¡¯t expect this farmer or merchant and whatever he really was to understand anything about real honor.


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    ¡°All of this,¡± he continued, ¡°despite the fact that I went out of my way to avoid you. Traveled across an entire city and came to a place where I clearly meant to be alone. All so you could have a challenge that didn¡¯t mean anything.¡±


    ¡°How dare you-,¡± she began, only to be cut off again.


    ¡°Because, after all, the only thing that really matters is what you want. What you need. Right? Well, just so we¡¯re clear, let me tell you what you just cost me.¡±


    ¡°Cost?¡± Zhu Fen repeated.


    Where all of the man¡¯s other words failed to make so much as a mark on her cold, precise reasoning, that lone word sank home. Cost. A horrible, sick feeling bloomed in Zhu Fen¡¯s stomach. She thought back to the way that he had been standing there, his face so calm, so at peace, and she knew. It had been obvious if she¡¯d been paying attention. She¡¯d seen it often enough in the sect and even experienced it herself on two memorable occasions. In hindsight, she recognized that sense of calm in moments before¡­


    ¡°I was seconds away from a moment of enlightenment,¡± he said in a voice devoid of any emotion.


    Sun Xue had the good grace to gasp. In the sect, to interrupt such a moment was a taboo of the highest order. One could be banished from the sect for it. One could be executed for it. While Fen didn¡¯t think they would actually execute her for interrupting the enlightenment of a wandering cultivator, there would be punishments if they learned the truth. Dire punishments. Zhu Fen tried to rally. Tried to defend herself.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know,¡± she said.


    Then it was back, that contempt for her, even more potent than before. Except, this time, the wandering cultivator had honed its edge razor fine.


    ¡°No. You simply didn¡¯t care.¡±


    Zhu Fen searched for the words, but none came. She looked at Sun Xue, but the other girl was staring resolutely at the ground, her cheeks bright red with shame. When Zhu Fen looked back at the wandering cultivator, she couldn¡¯t meet his gaze for more than a moment. He was right. She hadn¡¯t cared what business he¡¯d been about. She hadn¡¯t cared that he took a great deal of trouble to avoid her. She had only cared about herself. The man only spoke one more time.


    ¡°So, understand me when I say this. If either of you draws a weapon, I will end you both.¡±


    Zhu Fen had been on the receiving end of killing intent before. At least, she thought she had. The sect had all their disciples train against it with those of a higher cultivation stage, just to prepare them for the possibility. The sheer weight of the killing intent that landed on her in that moment wasn¡¯t simply vast, it was beyond overwhelming. By itself, that would have been enough. Of course, that wasn¡¯t how it worked. The dread was already coursing through her when the sense of his killing intent blazed through her mind. And it was terrifying. It was a world of shadow, flame, towering edifices of stone, and blades so sharp that they could cleave mind from body or soul from fate.


    Zhu Fen wasn¡¯t sure how long that sense of destruction cascaded through her mind before she finally found her sense of self again. When she did, the wandering cultivator was gone. Zhu Fen thought that she had never been so relieved to see someone leave. It was only then that she realized that she was crouched on the ground and her blood had darkened a patch of sand beneath her. She reached up to wipe the blood away from her nose. Looking around, she saw Sun Xue sprawled on the ground. Zhu Fen scrambled over to the other girl. Even as she did, a part of her mind told her that she should be very grateful that the wandering cultivator had chosen not to take her up on her offer to duel. By refusing her challenge, he had spared her from his wrath. She did not think she would have, even could have, done the same in his position. When she got to Sun Xue, the other girl was barely coherent. She looked up at Zhu Fen, confusion on her face, and asked a question that seemed all too obvious in retrospect.


    ¡°Was that a hidden master?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Xue,¡± Zhu Fen admitted. ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know what he was.¡±

 V2 Chapter 2 – Frustration and Uncertainty

    A seething mass of frustration shuddered and thrashed inside Sen¡¯s chest. He had been so close. All he had needed was a few more seconds and then it would have been obvious to any cultivator what was happening. As far as Sen was concerned, that gathering mass of qi should have been enough to alert that stupid girl that she shouldn¡¯t interfere.


    ¡°Damn her!¡± he raged.


    A pressing desire to go find that girl and trade pointers until she was bloody and unconscious took hold of Sen for a moment. He indulged the fantasy, ever so briefly, then ruthlessly suppressed it. If something like that was going to happen, he would have done it in the moment. Yet, while he could suppress the impulsive desire to act, he couldn¡¯t suppress the anger, not entirely. It just sat there inside of him with nowhere to go, and no convenient targets on which to vent it. If he¡¯d still been on the mountain or even out on the road, he could have gone out and simply found some big rock to destroy. This close to the city, he didn¡¯t expect that the guards would look fondly on him destroying things. Besides, something like that might draw more attention he didn¡¯t want.


    As he considered it, if he¡¯d gone out into the wilds, it was possible that some spirit beast in an equally foul mood might have tracked him down. He found that idea less palatable. He¡¯d let the sect girl, both of those sect girls go, precisely because he didn¡¯t want to kill without a clear and pressing need. Monumental frustration, while certainly compelling in its own way, wasn¡¯t actually a reason to kill a person or a spirit beast. So, he simply had to bear it until the anger and frustration died away or a situation where he truly had no choice but to fight presented itself.


    Part of Sen knew that the frustration wasn¡¯t just from the initial interruption. After he¡¯d rendered them both all but unconscious, he¡¯d hidden himself a short distance away and waited for them to leave. When he was sure that they were gone for good, he approached the ocean again. He had hoped that he might be able to glean that insight even with the disruption. Yet, whatever combination of factors that made it possible the first time was gone. He feared that the problem was inside of him. He¡¯d been in a very specific frame of mind when first arrived on that beach. He had been calm, ready to greet whatever information or experience the world had sent him there to learn. After the confrontations with the cursed sect girl, he was leery and hyper-aware. It was not the right mental space for a moment of enlightenment.


    As much as he was willing to shoulder that blame, though, he thought that something had changed in the environment as well. There had been an intangible something in the air, a feeling, a sense of expectation, and that was gone as well. Sen had one through the oddity of enlightenment often enough that he¡¯d developed at least a few nascent ideas about the process. He¡¯d also spent enough time with Auntie Caihong that he often fell back on plants as a lens through which to understand things. Plants didn¡¯t spring from just anywhere. They needed just the right conditions. They needed the right kind of soil, the right amount of light, and water in just the right quantities and at just the right times. Oh, there was some give and take, plants could often survive a particularly dry or wet season, but they didn¡¯t thrive.


    Sen thought that moments of enlightenment were a bit like that. You could get close, maybe even achieve a semblance of true insight, even if the conditions were only fair. For the true experience, the qi-summoning, worldview-changing experience, though, it had to be perfect. He had had that perfect moment within reach and lost it. Perhaps, if he was very lucky, a similar moment might present itself to him in the future. In the meantime, though, Sen felt a little lost. Everything he¡¯d done recently had been toward getting to that moment of understanding. He¡¯d been relying on it to guide his next steps, to point toward the path that would let him grow in the ways he needed to grow. He hadn¡¯t made a backup plan. It just hadn¡¯t occurred to him that he might reach the ocean and fail.


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    Sen stood on that beach for a long time, listening to the waves and watching the occasional boat pass by. Are they boats or ships, he wondered. Uncle Kho had said that those were different things. When Sen asked how they were different, Uncle Kho said it mostly seemed to be a matter of size. Bigger boats were usually called ships. The vessels out on the water were far enough away that Sen couldn¡¯t discern their size. His experience with things that floated on the water was limited to having occasionally seen the rowboats that some of the townspeople had used near the river. He¡¯d heard kids talking about something called rafts, but he hadn¡¯t ever seen one. At least, he didn¡¯t think he had seen one. There were still strange gaps in his knowledge of the world. He would sometimes discover that he had seen things before and called them by the wrong name or just hadn¡¯t ever learned a word for them.


    As he gazed out over the water, he wondered about the people on those boats. Were they fishing? Were they traveling? Sen considered the idea of finding a boat to take him somewhere else. The continent was vast after all. He could simply leave this place and find somewhere wholly new to explore. The idea had a certain appeal to it. There was a kind of adventure baked into doing something like that. Yet, Sen struggled to see himself going on such an adventure. What resources he had, what support he could potentially muster in an emergency, were all located nearby. While he might one day travel to the distant reaches of the continent and visit that pastry shop that Master Feng had bought on a whim, Sen knew he wasn¡¯t ready for that. He didn¡¯t know enough about how the world worked or what waited for him in distant places.


    In the area, at least, he had a working knowledge of the threats out in nature. He might not enjoy it, but he could reasonably survive in the wilds for a long time. What he did know about those kinds of threats elsewhere was theoretical and based on conversations with people who could, quite frankly, shrug off things that would crush Sen with ease. No, without a good working knowledge of those threats as they applied to himself, or a guide he could trust, Sen couldn¡¯t know if he was advanced enough in his cultivation to even survive the experience of traveling elsewhere. Given that Sen¡¯s supply of trust was running especially low, that left him operating in the general area for the time being.


    ¡°Where should I go? What should I do?¡± he asked the expanse of water before him.


    The enormity of it all finally settled on Sen. He was out in the world. He was alone. More importantly, this is what his life would be for centuries to come. While cultivation mattered to him, he¡¯d recognized that it wasn¡¯t truly an end in itself. It was a process, a journey, to get someone to somewhere else. More importantly, it was a very long process. Sen needed to find something else, some other goal, or purpose, or even just a list of random tasks to give his day-to-day life some kind of focus. Just as importantly, he needed to decide where he would do those tasks or pursue that purpose. He looked over his shoulder at the walls of Tide¡¯s Rest and actually felt the snarl that twisted his lips. It might not be the fault of the city itself, but Sen¡¯s experience with the local sect had soured him on the place. It seemed almost inevitable that he would bump into other sect members, and he, unfairly or not, didn¡¯t trust any of them to behave like people he wanted to know. Having decided that staying in Tide¡¯s Reach wasn¡¯t an option helped give Sen a feeling of momentum.


    ¡°If not here, then where?¡± he mused.


    Pulling out the map that he had so carefully marked and the notebook with all those names in it, Sen focused on finding the next place he would go.

 V2 Chapter 3 - A Simple Meal

    It was either late afternoon or early evening, depending on how generous one felt, when Sen finally settled on his next destination. As he considered the position of the sun in the sky, he decided that he simply wasn¡¯t in the mood to spend yet another night camping. Sen didn¡¯t have the natural aversion to camping that some people possessed and took a little quiet comfort in being away from the ever-present smell of garbage that came with town life. Yet, even in the caravan that he¡¯d traveled to the city with, some of the people seemed to detest being outdoors once night fell. He¡¯d found himself wondering why they¡¯d chosen a life that required it of them so much of the time and almost asked a few of them. Then, he reconsidered.


    They may have simply been born into it and found themselves trapped in a life they largely disliked but couldn¡¯t escape. After that, Sen took a care to not forget that, despite the many pitfalls of the cultivation lifestyle, it also came with the benefit of substantially more choices. He could take a job as a farmhand or a caravan guard if he so chose. He could also seek a position as a scribe or even train to be a scholar, and no one would question it because he was a cultivator. Cultivators pursued strange interests for even stranger reasons, or so the general public seemed to think. It was in that very gap between the reality of cultivation and the perception of it that Sen intended to live, at least for a while.


    Before any of that, though, Sen intended to find a place to get a meal and a decent night of uninterrupted sleep. Even as he walked back toward the city, though, he couldn¡¯t help but stare back at the ocean with regret. He tried to convince himself that he could always go back the next day and see if the heavens favored him. Before the thought had fully formed, though, instinct told him that whatever opportunity had been here would not return. He wondered about what he might have learned and where it might have taken him, but quickly cut off that line of thought. It wouldn¡¯t do to dwell on it. He couldn¡¯t expect every opportunity or possibility to yield results for him. All he could do was make the best use he could of the ones that did work out.


    Passing through the gate, he found the same guard on the inside. The man looked tired, but he mustered the energy to smile at Sen. Sen smiled back and, after a moment of thought, walked over to the guard.


    ¡°It seems as though the ocean cast a bit of spell on you. Most folks don¡¯t spend quite that long looking at it,¡± said the guard.


    ¡°Yes, I guess it did capture my attention there for a while. I was wondering if I could ask you something.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± asked the guard, perking up with curiosity.


    ¡°I¡¯m looking for a place to stay for the night. I¡¯d prefer a place that¡¯s quiet, but mostly what I want is to avoid trouble. If I can get a decent meal there, as well, that¡¯d be great.¡±


    The guard idly scratched his chin while he thought it over. ¡°Well, there¡¯s The Crow¡¯s Nest. It¡¯s not too far from here. Popular with the sailors. It¡¯s not too quiet, but the worst trouble you usually see there is a couple of drunken idiots blowing off steam with a fight outside. Food isn¡¯t bad. There¡¯s also the Sunset Inn. It¡¯s more expensive, but the food there is good and the owner doesn¡¯t tolerate no foolishness.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like the place for me. Where I can find it?¡±


    The guard provided Sen with surprisingly detailed instructions to find the place. It made Sen suspicious that the man was getting some kind of a fee for steering people that way. Still, he decided to take his chances and go there. When he arrived at the Sunset Inn, Sen started feeling a bit more charitable toward the guard if he was getting a cut. The place was clean and looked to have been built to withstand some truly terrible weather. It was made almost entirely of stone, with only the occasional wood highlight here and there. Even the roof was covered in clay tiles. Those had been exceptionally rare back in Orchard¡¯s Reach, but even in the bigger and presumably richer Tide¡¯s rest, thatch was still more common than tile. Inside, there was a steady murmur of noise from the ground floor, where people sat around small tables eating meals or occasionally nursing a glass of something. The sense that Sen got from the place was that it existed in a bubble of strenuously enforced calm.


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    The curt woman who checked him in relayed the rules of the inn in a no-nonsense or else tone. He was told that they would not tolerate fighting, shouting, or, if Sen planned on personal company in his room, loud nighttime activities. Sen shook his head and told the woman that all he planned on was a meal, a bath, and a full night of sleep. She gave him an approving nod at that, as though she thought he uttered truly profound wisdom. He showed him to his room, gave him a key, and told him that he could get a meal downstairs as part of the not-insubstantial fee he¡¯d paid for the night. He thanked the woman and headed downstairs.


    It took him a little while to understand how ordering was done in the place. He was used to cooking his own food or at least assisting with the preparation and serving. Here, it seemed he was expected to sit, and someone would come to him. He found an empty table away from the other guests and waited. A bare minute or so later, a pretty young woman came over to his table. He listened as she started to tell him what food was available, but her words just sort of trailed off in the middle of telling him about some kind of pork dish. He looked at her, only to find her staring at him, her mouth slightly open, and her cheeks turning pink. He suppressed a sigh. At least she wasn¡¯t turning bright red. He gave her a smile and immediately regretted it as the pink turned into that tomato color he¡¯d hoped to avoid. He mentally ran through the list of food she¡¯d managed to mention before going mute.


    ¡°Chicken and broccoli, please. Rice wine, as well,¡± said Sen.


    She continued to stare at him for an overly long moment before years of experience seemed to trigger her into motion. Her head jerked a little, then she offered him a smile so big it looked painful to Sen. Then, she was gone. He hoped that they¡¯d send a boy out with his food. Sen didn¡¯t mind that women found him attractive. He actually rather enjoyed it, although he didn¡¯t plan on doing anything about it with anyone anytime soon. There were plenty of pitfalls to being careless in those ways that he knew he was ill-prepared to face.


    He would make a terrible father, with no skills to pass on save the sword and cultivation. He suspected he¡¯d be an even worse husband. What woman would want to compete with the promise of immortality for a man¡¯s attention? He supposed those women existed, in the way that he supposed dragons existed. They were out there in the world, somewhere, rarely, and only found at great difficulty and through great peril. Of course, the thing he truly minded was the idea of that girl bringing his food back, and then just standing there with it in her hands while she stared at him. She could stand and stare if she really wanted to, but he wanted his food. Fortunately, she seemed to have mastered herself by the time she got back. She deposited his food and wine on the table and only stared for a few seconds before hurrying away.


    Sen settled in to enjoy his food and sip his wine. Sen found the food passable, but he knew that wasn¡¯t really fair. He¡¯d simply been corrupted by years of truly magnificent food made by Auntie Caihong. He¡¯d caught himself daydreaming about her food more than once since he¡¯d left the mountain. He sighed, resigning himself to the dread fate of not eating her food for several years. He was about halfway through his meal when a man sat down across from him. Sen thought the man looked to be about his age, but he was finding that to be the case with almost every cultivator that reached foundation formation or higher. The man gave Sen a bright smile, which Sen very pointedly did not return. Instead, Sen stared at the man while sipping the wine. The wine he made no offer to share with the unwanted guest at his table.


    ¡°My name is Cai Yuze,¡± said the man.


    Sen did not introduce himself. He said nothing, looked at the man, and then looked over at the door. The man¡¯s smile turned a little brittle, but he ignored Sen¡¯s silent invitation to go away. Sen felt his expression go harder, and the other man winced, but he did not leave.


    ¡°I can see you¡¯re not much of a talker.¡±


    Sen lost what little patience he had left. ¡°Leave.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be hasty, friend.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not interested.¡±


    ¡°You haven¡¯t even heard what I¡¯m here about. As I said, my name is Cai Yuze of the Stormy Ocean sect.¡±


    For a moment, rage welled inside of Sen, and then, just as quickly, it receded into an icy, deadly calm. The man seemed to realize he¡¯d made a terrible mistake when Sen stood. Sen never broke eye contact while his hand dropped his jian. All Sen had wanted was a simple meal. That was all. Yet, it seemed that this sect could not leave well enough alone. He had tried to walk the better road before, sparing not one but two of their murderous disciples. If mercy wasn¡¯t sufficient incentive to leave him be, perhaps death was the only language they understood.


    ¡°Just wait,¡± said the man. ¡°I only want to talk.¡±


    ¡°Everyone from your sect is the same. All that matters is what you want.¡±


    Sen heard Cai Yuze mutter under his breath. ¡°Damn that girl.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t blame her. She only did what you taught her,¡± Sen said, baring an inch of the jian¡¯s steel blade. ¡°Now, for the last time, leave.¡±

 V2 Chapter 4 - Heavens Rebuke

    While the man didn¡¯t speak or leave, just sat there looking annoyed and put upon, Sen hovered on the very cusp of violence. He ached to just draw his jian and put an end to one of his frustrations in the fastest, deadliest way possible. Then, his eyes flicked around the room. He saw the genuine fear on the faces of the other customers. He saw the disapproving gaze of the owner fixed on him and his guest. Then, he saw how it would play out. A fight between him and Cai Yuze wouldn¡¯t necessarily bring the building down, but it would do tremendous damage. Sen also couldn¡¯t guarantee that all of the other customers would walk away unhurt. In fact, he found it far too probable that some of them would get injured by flying pieces of debris that were dislodged and hurled by stray qi techniques. Worse still, Sen didn¡¯t believe for a moment that Cai Yuze cared about that at all. Taking a stranglehold on his anger, Sen let his jian drop back into its scabbard.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re finally seeing-,¡± started Cai Yuze, only to shout at Sen¡¯s back. ¡°Hey, where are you going?¡±


    Looking over his shoulder, Sen said, ¡°Away.¡±


    ¡°We aren¡¯t done talking,¡± said Cai Yuze, no longer even pretending to be friendly.


    ¡°I was done talking before you even sat down,¡± retorted Sen.


    Sen strode up to the owner and held out the key to his room. ¡°I apologize. It seems that I likely will have to fight. I¡¯ll take it elsewhere.¡±


    With a surprised and deeply grateful look, the inn¡¯s owner took the key from his hand. ¡°I¡¯ll refund your money.¡±


    Sen waved it off. ¡°Just remember me if I ever come back.¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± said the stern woman before she whispered, ¡°Take care, young master. That sect isn¡¯t known for its patience.¡±


    Giving the woman a wan smile, he simply turned and walked out the door. Taking a moment to orient himself, he turned toward the gate where he¡¯d entered the city. He could follow the road south from there. He was not surprised when he heard the door of the inn burst open behind him. Cai Yuze stormed out into the street with his qi flaring. Sen made note of the fact that the man preferred wind qi. That would make things trickier. Still, tricky wasn¡¯t impossible.


    ¡°You insignificant little worm!¡± shouted Cai Yuze. ¡°How dare you ignore your betters?¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t even break his stride when he answered. ¡°My betters? Better at what?¡±


    Then, Sen went with his strong hand. He cycled shadow qi and cast the already murky street into absolute darkness. Then, he started a second pattern, a wind pattern. There had been a time when running two cycling techniques had strained the absolute limits of his concentration, his body, and his qi channels. Now, it was becoming as simple as walking and talking. He sent the wind on a wild chaotic course through the street. He didn¡¯t want it to do anything special. He didn¡¯t need it to. Its only purpose was to prevent Cai Yuze from using his wind affinity to physically locate Sen after he hid. That did strain Sen¡¯s concentration a bit. Working with qi techniques while using that seemingly unique talent felt like straining a muscle in two different directions. Sen could do it for a while, but there was a definite limit.


    Sen wasn¡¯t surprised when he felt a little hole open up in the middle of the shadow technique. Cai Yuze was a foundation formation stage cultivator, after all. While he didn¡¯t have the natural affinities to dispel Sen¡¯s shadow techniques, he could exert some control over the environment immediately around him. The fool probably thought it gave him an advantage. All it really did was tell Sen exactly where the man was. It told him even more effectively than the near omniscience that the shadow technique provided of the physical world, at least within the limits of the technique¡¯s range.


    ¡°What is this?¡± demanded Cai Yuze. ¡°Where are you? Who¡¯s with you?¡±


    Sen let out a malicious little laugh and let his wind technique carry it to the sect cultivator from every direction. Of course, the man thought Sen must have someone with him. Cai Yuze had likely never met anyone who took the time to learn how to use multiple types of qi at the same time. If Sen were inclined to betting, he would have bet that the Stormy Ocean sect member was about to¡­ and there it was. Sen felt the man¡¯s spiritual sense wash through the area and pass over him without so much as a moment of hesitation.


    ¡°My betters,¡± he whispered. ¡°You lost track of me in less than five seconds. Yet, you imagine yourself my better.¡±


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    ¡°This is impossible!¡± raged Cai Yuze. ¡°Who are you? I demand you tell me who you are?¡±


    Sen let the wind carry another mocking laugh over the entire area. ¡°You demand? And who are you to demand things from your betters?¡±


    On the one hand, Sen thought that being this showy and, he admitted it himself, over the top was probably a waste of perfectly good qi. There was a fair chance that he could have simply taken the other man in a regular duel. Although, that approach always carried a certain amount of risk. Master Feng and Uncle Kho had warned him that you never knew when you might run across a sword genius or spear genius. They weren¡¯t common, but they were around. Sen was very sure that he wasn¡¯t one of them. He¡¯d made up for that lack of genius with extensive, borderline ruthless amounts of practice to bring his skills up to levels that Master Feng, Uncle Kho, and Auntie Caihong found acceptable.


    On the other hand, Sen found the increasingly frantic scanning of the other man¡¯s spiritual sense, the panic it showed, to be immensely satisfying. That sect had been nothing but trouble for him all day. It felt good to be able to vent his frustrations on one of its members, especially since the man had been all geared up to feign friendship in a bid to get what he wanted. Sen didn¡¯t really believe that every member of every sect would behave in the ways the people from this sect had. Some sects undoubtedly had elders with more honor or simply adhered to different principles. Beyond that, he had to imagine that there were exceptions in every sect. People who simply held themselves to a higher standard because they found it to be the right thing for them. Still, Sen found himself feeling a lot more sympathetic to Uncle Kho¡¯s kill them all and let reincarnation sort them out approach.


    He also understood the risks of enjoying things like Cai Yuze¡¯s panic and fear too much. It was an all too short step from enjoying the well-earned suffering of those who had actively wronged you to simply enjoying the suffering of others. With Cai Yuze, though, he was willing to indulge in that enjoyment just a little. When the sect cultivator began simply hurling wind blades in random directions, though, Sen knew that he had to bring the whole thing to a close. He could hear windows shattering and stone breaking under the strength of those qi attacks. He just hoped that no poor mortal had been struck by the flying glass or stone. Sen drew his jian and truly focused all of his attention. He started a third qi cycling pattern and immediately felt a headache start building. He doubted there would be a headache if he weren¡¯t also hiding, but he was and accepted the headache as the price for his current strategy.


    He let the lightning qi cycling pattern build up slowly while he contemplated his next move. He¡¯d had some time to think about that fight he¡¯d had with that strange bear-cat spirit beast. He¡¯d specifically spent his time thinking about the final technique he¡¯d done to end the fight. It had very nearly been a disaster at the time, but he understood better what had gone wrong and what had worked. The problem hadn¡¯t been the idea, merely the execution. He¡¯d crammed way too much power and killing intent into the technique. It had been too much for him to constrain. Sen thought that about half the amount of each would let him direct it, rather than have it simply detonate on contact.


    So, he let the lightning qi build up in strength until it was where he wanted it and let it seep into the jian blade. While he couldn¡¯t see in the blanket of shadow, he could feel it, could hear that subtle crackling around the blade. Then, he slowly started fusing his killing intent into the technique. Sen assumed that he¡¯d need about half of his killing intent, enough to balance the lightning. Yet, it took far, far less than that before he felt the technique lock together into something he could control and direct. Up until that moment, he¡¯d largely shared Master Feng¡¯s belief that giving everything a name was absurd. Yet, this felt different, special somehow. Sen had no intention of yelling the name at every opponent he met as though he was a toddler who needed a reminder of what he was doing. But it was something he could call the technique in his own head. Heavens¡¯ Rebuke.


    He pointed the jian at the spot where Cai Yuze¡¯s personal bubble of control sat. Then, Sen let the shadow technique drop. Cai Yuze was facing in the opposite direction, his head whipping back and forth to try to find Sen. When Sen used lightning, it usually had a blue-white color or, occasionally, a yellowish cast. The lightning arcing around his blade this time was pitch black. Sen couldn¡¯t be entirely sure, but he thought it gave off a kind of purple tinge around the edges. Cai Yuze finally spun to face Sen. The man¡¯s eyes locked on Sen¡¯s jian, on the technique that crackled around it, and he started to say or scream something. Sen never did learn what. He launched the attack. A beam of darkness shot from the end of Sen¡¯s jian toward the other man. Cai Yuze raised his own jian as though to deflect the strike. He summoned wind to try to shield himself.


    It didn¡¯t matter. The beam punctured the wind shield like a hot needle passing through a soap bubble. The beam connected with the man¡¯s jian. It exploded into thousands of sparkling metal fragments that reflected the purple glow that Sen had not been sure existed anywhere but his own mind. Then, the beam sank into Cai Yuze¡¯s chest, and it did what lightning always does. It forked through the man¡¯s entire body, looking for a way to find the ground. Sen wasn¡¯t entirely certain what happened in the next instant or two. Cia Yuze did die. That much was obvious. Yet, there wasn¡¯t really a body left afterward, either. It was as if he¡¯d exploded and all the bits of the man burned away before they could land. Sen let himself stand there for a moment, stunned by the result of Heavens¡¯ Rebuke. Then, because the work was done, he released the wind and lightning qi cycling patterns, sheathed his jian, and walked away. He did not, however, stop hiding as he headed for the city gate. It was time to leave, and Sen didn¡¯t plan on any more distractions.

 V2 Chapter 5 - Misdirection

    It took a little convincing at the gate for the guards to let him out. In the end, Sen made up a story about his sick grandmother, silently praying that Grandmother Lu never caught wind of the tale, and pressed a piece of silver into each man¡¯s hand. Sen wasn¡¯t sure if it was the story, the bribe, or some combination of the two, but the guards relented and opened a small door enough for Sen to slip out. Once he was actually outside of the wall, he paused before he turned north and started walking. As much trouble as the splashy mud puddle sect had been so far, he suspected that they wouldn¡¯t simply ignore the death of one of their foundation formation stage cultivators. Sen had gotten the very clear impression that sects saw the rules of the Jianghu as something that only applied when it benefited them.


    He did hope that the nature of the man¡¯s death would make it look like a disappearance, at least for a little while. Sen could cover a lot of ground in a few hours. He could cover a ridiculous amount of ground in a day. Still, he expected that they would send someone to look for the man, and then send four or five people for him to take honorable vengeance. That silver he¡¯d handed over to the guards might be enough to get them to look the other way while he left, but Sen didn¡¯t expect it would buy their silence if sect cultivators came asking hard questions about him. No reason to make it easy for them to find him. If he could confuse the issue a little more by laying down a false trail, that would be all the better. Leaving at night made it easier. He didn¡¯t need to travel for more than a mile before the curve of the road and the surrounding forests obscured him from any normal observation.


    He went another mile before he decided it was time to get creative. While he had never gone hunting with Falling Leaf, she had imparted a fair amount of working knowledge to him about how tracking worked. First, he channeled wind qi and let it slowly whirl around him, picking up his scent. Then, he sent that wind qi down the road for as far as he could control it, before having it veer off the road on the opposite side of where he planned to go. He made sure that it compressed some grass and broke some twigs. Sure signs that he¡¯d left the road there. Then, using a bit more wind qi, he compressed the air around his body enough to keep his scent contained. He cycled up his shadow qi for a few moments and sent his shadows into the wooded area to judge the best place. Then, he got a running start and launched himself off the road into the forest.


    It was only in those kinds of moments that Sen truly appreciated the advantages that body cultivation had provided him. He cut through the air, passing cleanly between trees and over bushes before landing nearly thirty feet away from the road. Granted, it wasn¡¯t a perfect solution. If anyone spent enough time, energy, and resources, they would eventually figure out that he¡¯d come this way. He was just betting that he¡¯d be far enough away by then that he could vanish into the population of another town or city. Just one more wandering cultivator passing through. Or, he thought, I could pass myself off as a mortal instead. Nonstop hiding would be taxing, probably impossible. Still, if he could keep it up for a day or two in the next place he stopped, that would help muddy the waters even more.


    Sen pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on what was before him. He planned to move through the forest for the next several hours, running parallel to the southern road. He checked his dantian and sighed. Doing all of those techniques earlier had been effective, but it had also put a serious dent in his qi reserves. The qi gathering method that was always on in the background was doing its part to refill those reserves, but it was slower than Sen would like. He had never appreciated Uncle Kho¡¯s formations properly until he left the mountain. There had always been abundant qi at that house up on the mountain. Even away from the house, the mountain was still rich in qi. In these tamer locations, the qi was thinner and less potent. When he could find the time and safe location, Sen resolved to set up his own temporary qi gathering formation.


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    ¡°Sure, safe,¡± he grumbled to himself. ¡°Maybe just when I¡¯m not in immediate danger.¡±


    Still, while his reserves were lower than he¡¯d like, he wasn¡¯t out of qi by any means. He cycled a little bit of shadow qi to let him get a clear sense of what was in front of him for the next twenty or thirty feet, activated his qinggong technique, and started running. Much as he had when running all of those laps around Uncle Kho¡¯s home, Sen fell into an almost meditative state. He reflexively adjusted course to avoid large obstacles and often went straight over small obstacles. He sensed spirit beasts a few times, but they seemed content to let him pass by unchallenged. When he knew that he¡¯d left the city far, far behind, he edged his way over to the road proper. Checking that there was no one on the road, he stepped out to get a look at the sky. The canopy in the forest had largely obscured it, making it difficult for Sen to track the time. He grimaced at what he saw. He only had an hour or two before dawn.


    While Sen¡¯s body was keeping up with the demands just fine, constantly using qi techniques for that long wore the mind down. He needed sleep. He checked his dantian again. He needed more qi. Muttering under his breath about the angry swamp sect, Sen trudged back into the forest, well beyond the sight of anyone looking from the road. He almost mechanically put up his tent. Then, he rallied enough to concentrate on setting up a two-layer formation. The inner formation was a qi gathering formation. It wasn¡¯t too powerful, but it ought to cut down on his recovery time a bit. The outer formation was an obscuring formation. Even someone using their spiritual sense would just see this little patch of ground as more forest unless they were dramatically more powerful and skilled than Sen. It would also encourage any spirit beasts to ignore this spot in the forest. It wasn¡¯t perfect protection, but it was the best he could reasonably do with the resources he had to hand.


    Sen took a few minutes to eat some of the rations he kept in his storage ring. He felt a surge of renewed anger at Cai Yuze, while also fully aware of the futility of that anger. Still, he hadn¡¯t even gotten to finish his chicken and broccoli. It hadn¡¯t been Auntie Caihong good, but it had been a lot better than the simple meals he¡¯d eaten most nights while traveling with the caravan. He may not feel the need to eat quite so acutely or as often as he once had, but he was a long way away from Master Feng¡¯s ability to completely disregard food for long stretches of time. He also wasn¡¯t beyond the basic pleasures that sitting and eating provided. There was something intrinsically, Sen considered the right word, human about it. While all living things ate, only human beings took the time to prepare their food in such complicated ways. At least, Sen wasn¡¯t aware of anything else that did so. It transformed eating from a function that one had to do for survival, into an experience that one could enjoy in solitude or with others. Sighing in regret as he finished his rations, Sen settled down on his blankets. Satisfied that he¡¯d done what he could to make himself safe, he let himself drift off into sleep.

 V2 Chapter 6 - The Road South, Part 1

    Despite his intention to simply sleep until he woke up, it was barely mid-morning when angry shouting brought him to full consciousness. For a moment, he thought that someone had discovered his location. Then, he realized that the shouting was coming from the direction of the road. It wasn¡¯t even really that close. He¡¯d just unwittingly slipped back into the state of heightened awareness he¡¯d all but lived in during those terrible days he spent forming his killing intent on the mountain. He rolled over and pulled a bit of blanket over his face. There was a chance he could still get a couple more hours of sleep. Frequently, it was simple heat that woke him when sleeping in a tent. Yet, while it was likely getting warm out on the road, he could tell that it was still fairly cool beneath the shadow of the forest canopy. He heard more shouting from the road and resisted the urge to go investigate.


    ¡°It¡¯s not your business,¡± he muttered to himself. ¡°Let those people sort out their own problems.¡±


    Then, he started to imagine bandits killing off innocent caravan drivers and guards or kidnapping people. He countered his imagined scenarios by saying that people hired guards exactly because of the possibility of bandits. No one was paying him to intervene. Then, he imagined Grandmother Lu traveling down this exact road. While he knew she could take care of herself, it would only take one bandit with a crossbow getting lucky to kill her. Sen snarled at his own imagination for playing dirty. Then, grumbling to himself, he pushed the blankets off and slipped out of the tent. He felt a bit more moisture in the air than he expected and sighed. It was probably going to rain later that day. The rain itself wasn¡¯t a problem. Sen was pretty certain that no amount of rain could actually make him sick anymore. He just didn¡¯t enjoy getting soaked while walking.


    Sen made sure that he hid before exiting the relative safety of his obscuring formation. His woodcraft was good enough that it wasn¡¯t a real challenge to get close to the road without being seen. While he half-expected to see bandits or some other kind of life-or-death situation, what he found was far more mundane. While he wouldn¡¯t classify the small collection of wagons as a caravan, they were clearly carrying goods from somewhere to somewhere else. One of the wagons had a damaged wheel. Two men were standing by it, arguing with each other about what to do next. The younger of the pair was arguing that they should all stay until they had a chance to repair the wheel. The older man, a tall, gaunt figure who gave off an air of authority, was shaking his head.


    ¡°We can¡¯t be late again, Bigan,¡± said the older man. ¡°If we show up with most of the goods, they¡¯ll likely accept the story that we had to leave a wagon behind to do repairs. If we all show up late, we could lose this contract. We can¡¯t afford that.¡±


    ¡°If you leave me here, Uncle, you know I¡¯ll get attacked on the road.¡±


    ¡°Then maybe you should have gotten that wheel fixed the way I told you to,¡± snapped the older man.


    ¡°I was just trying to save money,¡± said Bigan, his face going red.


    ¡°No, you were trying to keep the difference so you can marry that girl sooner. How well is that working out now? Maybe next time, if you survive, you¡¯ll do as you¡¯re told.¡±


    The older man stormed away while the younger man spluttered ineffectual protests. Sen watched with a kind of stunned curiosity. He wondered if the others would really abandon the young man to his fate. They did. With barely a glance at the young man, the older man ordered the rest of the wagon to go around. Bigan stared forlornly after the other wagons as they slowly rolled away down the road. Sen considered what he had just witnessed. He did feel a little sympathy for the young man, but it also sounded like this was a disaster of his own making. It most certainly wasn¡¯t Sen¡¯s problem. Shrugging to himself, Sen returned to his tent and managed to drop off for a few more hours of sleep.


    ***


    Feeling much better after that extra sleep, Sen packed up his tent and took down his formations. He checked his dantian and was much happier with the amount of qi he found there. It wasn¡¯t full by any stretch of the imagination, but Sen had enough that he could likely fight his way out of a bad situation if he had to. Still, he was starting to question the wisdom of increasing his dantian¡¯s size the way he had. With the thinner qi in the area, he¡¯d need to set up a formation nearly every night if he ever wanted to compress more liquid qi again. He hoped that the thin qi was just something natural to this area and not how things were across the continent. While advancing his cultivation level wasn¡¯t at the top of his list of things to do, it was on the list. He didn¡¯t want to stay a foundation formation stage cultivator forever. Maybe this was why people went into closed-door cultivation, he thought.


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    With that thought rolling around in his head, he made his way back out of the trees toward the road. He paused when he got close to the road. Initially, he only meant to check and make sure that no one was coming in either direction, but he saw that the wagon with the damaged wheel was exactly where it had been several hours before. The young man, Bigan, was just sitting on the road and staring at the wheel, as though he could will it back into working order if he tried hard enough. Sen honestly didn¡¯t know what to make of the absurd sight. He had imagined that the young man would have made some effort to repair the wheel, or at least move the wagon. The ox that was still hitched to the wagon was giving the grass by the side of the road a longing look. Sen frowned. It really wasn¡¯t his problem. Still, he didn¡¯t suppose it was right to leave the ox to suffer. While the young man may have brought this down on his own head, the ox didn¡¯t have any say in the matter. Letting out an exasperated breath, Sen stepped out of the forest and walked up next to the young man.


    ¡°You should at least let that ox eat something,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Yahhhhhh,¡± cried Bigan, falling over and scrambling away on all fours. ¡°Where in all the hells did you come from? Are you a devil?¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at the young man. Did this guy actually convince some girl to marry him, thought Sen. As unlikely as it seemed, the uncle had seemed quite certain about it. When the young man just kept staring at him with half-terrified eyes, Sen walked over to the ox. The beast noticed him, and Sen watched as the sad look was replaced with a more hopeful one. He didn¡¯t know a lot about oxen, but he¡¯d paid attention while he¡¯d been with the caravan. He had the harness untied and nearly off the beast before the kid found his voice.


    ¡°Hey, what are you doing?¡±


    Sen gave Bigan a look, finished removing the harness, and then slowly led the ox over to the side of the road. He used a bit of rope to tie the ox to a nearby tree. The ox made a noise that Sen interpreted as happy before the beast lowered its head and began chewing on the long grass there.


    ¡°That ox isn¡¯t yours,¡± said Bigan, pointing an accusing finger at Sen.


    Sen frowned at the kid. ¡°You¡¯re not very bright, are you?¡±


    Anger flashed across the kid¡¯s face. ¡°I¡¯m smart enough not to let you steal my ox.¡±


    ¡°Steal,¡± repeated Sen.


    He looked from the kid over to the ox that was tied to a tree, then back at the kid. When the kid just kept giving him an angry look, Sen repeated the motion, more slowly and deliberately. Bigan finally seemed to realize what an absurd comment it had been. If Sen had been stealing the animal, he probably wouldn¡¯t have tied it up to graze. An embarrassed look crossed the kid¡¯s face as Sen wandered over and took a closer look at the wheel. He could see where two of the spokes had broken, but replacing those probably should have been something the kid could accomplish.


    Then, Sen saw the real problem. Part of the outer wheel had been damaged, which bent the iron tread inward. Without some basic woodworking and blacksmithing tools or, Sen sighed, cultivator strength, repairing the wheel would be all but impossible. Sen again gave serious consideration to just walking away. He¡¯d only intended to get the ox something to eat. He¡¯d accomplished that goal. He had not signed on to help this kid fix his mistakes. Considering what he¡¯d seen so far, though, he expected that leaving the kid to his own devices was tantamount to a death sentence.


    ¡°Do you at least have some tools?¡± Sen asked, almost against his will.


    ¡°A few,¡± the kid admitted. ¡°I have a small hammer and an axe.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t much, but it was something.


    ¡°Camping gear?¡± Sen asked.


    If the kid had camping gear, at least there was a chance he¡¯d survive. Bigan shook his head.


    ¡°It¡¯s all with Uncle Chao.¡±


    Sen considered the wheel again. He wasn¡¯t much of a craftsman, but it wasn¡¯t much of a wheel. If he actually tried, he suspected he could get the kid moving again in an hour or two. If Bigan was right, though, there would be bandits on the road ahead. Would helping him get the wagon moving be a genuine kindness if it just meant sending the kid straight into danger? The more Sen thought about it, the more work it sounded like a good deed would become. He¡¯d end up having to escort the kid at least far enough that he could get a proper repair done on the wheel. Even then, unless they made very good time, it seemed unlikely that they would catch up with the other wagons. With an internal groan, Sen made his decision.


    ¡°Well, get your axe and hammer. This wheel won¡¯t fix itself."

 V3 Chapter 1 – The Storm

    Sen sat cross-legged on the deck of the ship with his senses and qi extended. The ship had many excellent qualities, or so Sen had told himself, but speed wasn¡¯t one of them. Lo Meifeng admitted that the journey was moving slowly, even by the standards of sea travel. She also assured him that wasn¡¯t entirely a bad thing. The longer they spent wholly unfindable, the more likely the demonic cultivators were to assume they¡¯d made a mistake and redirect their forces elsewhere. The demonic cultivators weren¡¯t a government or even a sect that could deploy vast resources to track them down. They didn¡¯t have huge numbers. They could hire people, she¡¯d admitted, but hired help was always of questionable value and loyalty. So, despite having grown a little tired of the slow-moving ship, Sen had tried to make the best of it.


    With so much water qi available, he¡¯d started to make a study of it. It wasn¡¯t his strongest qi affinity, but it didn¡¯t need to be when there was an endless supply of the qi type. He¡¯d started small, just trying to make water do simply simple things. He¡¯d made balls of water appear over his hands. Then, he¡¯d moved on to trying to make other shapes. While balls of water were easy, other geometric shapes proved much more difficult. The water didn¡¯t like hard corners and straight lines. He learned how to force the water into shapes like squares, rectangles, and pyramids, but he¡¯d also learned that the energy and effort necessary to do it was much more than would be practical literally anywhere except on the endless water qi supply of the ocean.


    The only benefit of those exercises was that they improved his overall control over water qi. So, when he tried to adapt the idea of wind blades into water blades, it was much easier than he thought it would be. Some of it was the curved nature of the blades. The water didn¡¯t resist that shape and all but lovingly embraced it. He also discovered that it was both easier and more difficult than expected to give those water blades a hard edge. When he tried to simply make the edge hard and sharp, the water resisted.


    Of course, it took days to figure out how to actually do it. Once he mastered that, though, he found it was a snap to make devastatingly effective water whips. He even tested out running across the top of the water. It was a little like using a qinggong technique, except he was hardening the water, rather than pooling qi. While it worked, he very quickly decided that it wasn¡¯t something he wanted to try in rough seas. Running across water with comparatively gently rising and falling waves was one thing, but the sailors had spent some of their time telling him tales of their narrow escapes in bad weather. He did not want to try running up a wave that was three times higher than the main mast.


    While getting those techniques under his belt was satisfying, Sen spent most of his time simply observing how the water moved in the ocean. He was far less interested in the way the surface moved than the way the water moved beneath the surface. The surface conditions seemed to mostly depend on the surface weather. If the weather was nice, the waters tended to be calmer. If the weather was stormy or extremely windy, the surface was choppy. Yet, Sen could feel water moving beneath the surface on a scale that simply left him speechless. He didn¡¯t even have words to describe the amount of water that moved in a specific direction, regardless of surface conditions. The qi that moved in those vast currents was simply frightening. Sen couldn¡¯t even imagine trying to wrestle that much qi under his control. He wasn¡¯t sure anyone could. Maybe a god or one of the greater immortals could do it, but someone still locked into the mortal realm? Sen had his doubts.


    Sen understood, on some level, that he was still looking for that last bit of enlightenment from the beach. He didn¡¯t think that this was it, but there was something to learn from those massive qi flows deep beneath the water. So much of what he did with qi was, by comparison, quick and dirty. It was here one moment and gone the next. He¡¯d never even considered what a sustained qi flow might accomplish for him. Of course, he¡¯d also rarely been in a position where he could set up a sustained qi flow in advance of his need for it. Still, it was something to consider. He had a hard time imagining what a sustained flow of earth might do for him, so he wasn¡¯t eager to experiment with it. He had a far too clear picture of what a sustained flow of fire qi might do. Air, though, might have some potential. It didn¡¯t move exactly like water, but there were some similarities there. If he started setting up a sustained qi airflow fifty miles away from somewhere and built it as he went, could he hurl some kind of massive windstorm at his enemies?


    Sen was annoyed as he tucked that idea away in a corner of his mind for later consideration. His deep communion with the ocean had revealed that there was a storm coming. If he was reading the water right, it was going to be one of those bad ones that didn¡¯t treat seagoing vessels kindly. He went to the captain and let the man know about the oncoming storm and its severity. The first couple of times Sen had warned the man, the captain had dismissed it as nonsense. Now, though, the captain listened. He frowned and consulted with several maps. He frowned even more deeply as he pointed at a spot.


    ¡°There¡¯s a cove there where we could probably ride out a storm safely,¡± said the captain, ¡°but it¡¯s at least another six hours of sailing away. Do we have that long?¡±


    Sen reflected on what he¡¯d been getting from the water. It was hard for him to estimate things like distance and time. He simply didn¡¯t have enough experience on the water. In the end, he gave a half-shrug.


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    ¡°I really don¡¯t know. My instinct is to say no, but I can¡¯t say for sure.¡±


    ¡°Damn. There are a few other places we could stop before then, but they don¡¯t offer good protection from storms.¡±


    Sen knew he had nothing to contribute to that discussion. ¡°I¡¯ll leave that in your hands.¡±


    Sen withdrew from the deck and went to find Lifen and Lo Meifeng. They were both in the small galley, drinking tea, but not with each other. Sen wanted to give them both a slap to the back of the head. He wouldn¡¯t actually do it, but only because he was certain it wouldn¡¯t actually change anything. The two women simply didn¡¯t like each other. Sen didn¡¯t fully understand the reasons why. Lo Meifeng seemed annoyed by the fact the Lifen would potentially slow them down. Lifen seemed annoyed by Lo Meifeng¡¯s annoyance that she hadn¡¯t progressed farther in her cultivation. Yet, he got the distinct impression that those were reasons they were telling him, rather than the actual problem. Whatever was really bothering the women about each other, he was out of the loop. A place both Lifen and Lo Meifeng seemed determined to keep him.


    Most of the time, he didn¡¯t really care. It wasn¡¯t like they¡¯d ever been friends to begin with. There was no relationship to repair. On occasions where there might be danger approaching, though, he found their squabbling obnoxious. It made him either have the same conversation twice or made him force the women to interact with each other. He didn¡¯t enjoy either option. Today, he wasn¡¯t in the mood to have duplicate conversations.


    ¡°Lo Meifeng. Lifen. Would you join me please?¡±


    The two women gave each other opaque looks before truculently rising to their feet and coming over to him. He glared at both of them. ¡°Knock it off for the next two minutes.¡±


    ¡°But-,¡± Lifen started to object.


    Sen held up a hand. ¡°Listen. There¡¯s a storm coming.¡±


    Both women stopped giving each other catty looks and focused entirely on him.


    ¡°How bad?¡± asked Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Bad. The captain knows about a sheltered cove, but we may not make it there before the storm hits. I don¡¯t know if he¡¯ll try to make it there or look for somewhere closer, but it¡¯s going to get rough before the day is out.¡±


    There were several more questions from both women, most of which Sen answered with a shrug or a simple, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Once they got tired of asking him questions that he couldn¡¯t really answer, the women went back to their cabins to do, well, Sen didn¡¯t really know what. Put away breakable items, maybe? For his part, Sen returned to the deck and kept his eyes on the horizon. He saw the first edges of the storm in the distance and glanced over at the captain. The captain grimaced.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to have to ride out part of that storm if we want to make it that cove,¡± said the captain. ¡°She¡¯s a sturdy ship. As long as the seas don¡¯t get too bad, we should be fine.¡±


    After weeks aboard the ship, Sen knew where he could stand and not get in the way. So, he took up station there and just watched as those ominous black clouds got closer and closer. He eyed the surface as the waves grew larger and more hostile. The edge of the storm caught them. Sen watched as a hazy wall grew closer and then rain was crashing down on the ship. Sen¡¯s mastery over water qi was good enough that he thought he could probably divert the rain away from the ship, for a while at least, but he didn¡¯t want to burn through his available qi when some more desperate moment might arrive later. Instead, he limited himself to keeping the rain off of him. It would have been a taxing exercise a few weeks earlier. After all of his practice with water qi, it was a casual effort. Even so, he watched the growing size of the waves and the ever-heavier rain with growing alarm. If this was the edge of the storm, he didn¡¯t even want to imagine what the inner storm might look like.


    He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what alerted him to it, but something inside Sen warned him that there was danger nearby. He felt around with his all of his senses, all of his qi, and his blood ran cold. There was foreign qi out there in the storm, part of the storm. Someone was making this storm happen. Worse still, he could feel them pushing the worst of the storm at the ship he was on. Then, his vague sense of alarm became a blaring beacon of alarm. There was a wave, if anything that big could be called a wave, heading their way. If it crashed down on them, the ship wouldn¡¯t survive. Hell, he¡¯d be surprised if anyone aboard survived. Sen didn¡¯t think about it. There was no time to warn anyone. He leapt to the center of the deck, threw his hands out to either side, and cycled for water qi. It rushed into him, unbalanced his dantian almost immediately, but he¡¯d have to worry about that later.


    Uncertain that he¡¯d have the strength to do what needed to be done, he sacrificed a drop of his liquid qi to the effort. Then, he hardened a shell of water around the ship. For a brief moment, there was quiet and calm as his technique cut off the fury of the storm. Then, there was screaming as sailors saw the colossal wave that was about to crash down on them. Sen gritted his teeth in preparation, but the true force of that wave crashing down on them very nearly made Sen lose his grip on the technique. He felt blood spurt from his nose, and he crashed to his knees. He was vaguely aware that the ship had been pushed beneath the surface of the ocean. The crushing pressure that now bore down on the fragile shell around them was proof enough of that. Darkness clouded the edges of Sen¡¯s vision as he fought to hold the technique, to hold back the ocean itself. He could feel blood trickling from his eyes and ears now. Then, blessed relief, the pressure vanished from around the ship. Sen let the technique go before it failed on its own and hit him with a backlash. The last thing he remembered was a deluge of rainwater driving him to the deck and the captain screaming for someone to, ¡°Grab that man!¡±

 V3 Chapter 2 – Shelter

    There were blurry spots of semi-conscious, semi-lucid understanding in Sen¡¯s memory. He vaguely remembered being thrown over a shoulder. He recalled someone throwing him into a bunk. Then, it was just intermittent flashes of storm noises and people yelling about things. Mostly, though, it was darkness and pain. He¡¯d hurt himself with that stunt on the deck. It had been necessary to save everyone, to save the ship, but he was paying a price for it. Flashes of agony would tear across his skull. Pain would shoot out into his body from his dantian. In his occasional lucid moments, Sen wondered if he¡¯d finally pushed too hard, too far, and permanently injured himself. It would be terrible timing if he had. He had far too many people looking for him. Then, those thoughts would slip beneath the still waters of unconsciousness.


    When he finally woke up, really woke up, Sen found himself curled up on a bunk, his cheek wet from a puddle of drool that formed on the pillow from his partially open mouth. Nothing like waking up with a bit of dignity, he thought. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, then grimaced as he tried to wipe his cheek clean. His head still hurt and his dantian was still sending out stabbing reminders that something was off there, but he pushed those concerns aside for a moment. The cabin was still intact, which meant that the ship was likely still intact. There were none of the sounds he associated with a storm. The ship also wasn¡¯t bucking and heaving. It seemed they had found shelter, or the captain truly proved his superior skill and kept them afloat in the full fury of the storm. Satisfied that nothing in the outside world required his immediate attention, Sen tried to reassert normality in his personal world. He retrieved some water, soap, and a cloth from his storage ring. Then he stripped out of the robes that smelled none-too-fresh to his nose and washed himself down. He felt the hard brush of stubble on his face but didn¡¯t plan on putting anything razor sharp that close to his skin until he felt a little better.


    Satisfied that he no longer stank like a goat, Sen sat down on the bunk and did what he¡¯d been avoiding. He looked inward. He wasn¡¯t terribly surprised by what he saw. The qi in his dantian was completely out of balance. Water qi took up nearly half the available space for the misty environmental qi he typically used. Some of that would need to go and be replaced by other qi. Slowly, he bled some of that water qi away, letting it drift back out into the environment. Once the balance of qi types was restored, or mostly restored, he noticed something odd. There was something new floating around in his dantian.


    It wasn¡¯t compressed liquid qi, nor was it pure, differentiated environmental qi. Instead, it was a ribbon of something else, some other kind of qi he didn¡¯t recognize. It floated in a ring around the outer edges of his dantian. He gently, oh so very gently, poked at it. The ring of new qi vibrated gently at his prodding, but it didn¡¯t otherwise do anything. Sen let out the breath he¡¯d been holding. He¡¯d have to spend more time investigating that strange ribbon of qi, but it didn¡¯t seem like it represented a problem that needed immediate attention. Simply offloading some of that water qi had made him feel a lot better, but he wasn¡¯t healed by any stretch of the imagination. He could see that he¡¯d strained his qi channels. He could also see spots in his body that had been damaged by his hastily constructed technique.


    It seems like I get injured every time I need to do something new in a hurry, he complained to himself. He wanted to tell himself that the answer was to stop throwing techniques together at the last second, but life didn¡¯t seem to work that way. He was depressingly certain that he would keep having to do similar things unless he decided to go into secluded cultivation. The idea was more tempting than he¡¯d admit out loud to anyone. The closer he got to core formation, the more difficult it became to avoid using liquid qi for techniques. Simply finding his own mountain to retreat to, as Uncle Kho had done, would solve the one problem. He¡¯d be able to focus on his cultivation until he reached core formation. Of course, if he did that, he had the uncomfortable feeling that he¡¯d be sacrificing any possibility of moments of enlightenment for the duration. He couldn¡¯t figure out how he knew that it would go that way, but he knew it all the same.


    Deciding that was a problem for another day, Sen headed to the galley. There were a few sailors there, and Sen studiously ignored the awed looks they gave him when he walked in. He didn¡¯t want their awe, or their adoration, or anything else from them. He just wanted tea. The cook saw him and started to offer a bow, but Sen waved that off. He¡¯d helped the man out enough times at the stoves that Sen had hoped they¡¯d moved beyond such things, but he¡¯d been wrong, apparently. The cook looked uncomfortable but stopped bowing. Sen asked for tea, and the cook immediately set about making a fresh pot. While he was tempted to stop him, Sen decided that fresh tea wasn¡¯t too much of a reward for his stupidity. Once the cook brought the tea over, Sen sat in contemplative silence for a time. He didn¡¯t try to solve any problems or work out the secrets of the universe. He just drank tea and let himself be for a little while. He might have also done a bit of quiet cultivation and soaked up some of the fire qi from the stove in the room, along with other bits of environmental qi. With healing to do, he¡¯d need those later. Feeling more fortified and ready to face the trial of dealing with other people, Sen returned the teapot to the cook and went up on deck.


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    While things had been almost calm below decks, things were a flurry of activity on deck. After squinting for a moment in the bright sunlight, Sen could see that the ship was anchored. Walls of rock stretched high overhead on two sides, while a pleasant-looking beach backed by thick forest was off to a third. There was a narrow opening in the rock walls that faced out to the ocean. I guess we made it to that cove, after all, thought Sen. It was actually a rather beautiful little spot. Sen put the cove on the new mental list he¡¯d started of places to consider building a little retreat from the world. After a few moments, Sen noticed that all the noise on deck had ground down to a heavy silence. Looking around, he saw that everyone was staring at him. That was something he found deeply uncomfortable, so he looked around for someone, anyone, he knew. He noticed Lo Meifeng, who had a hand on her hip.


    ¡°Well, look who finally decided to stop napping,¡± she said with a bit of a smirk.


    ¡°Everything was so calm and quiet. It seemed like a good time for one,¡± he answered.


    ¡°Get back to work!¡± bellowed the captain.


    All of the sailors flinched as though they¡¯d been hit and returned to their work, although more than a few kept giving Sen surreptitious glances. Sen sighed. He supposed that was what happened when cultivators did things that looked impressive. Considering that he¡¯d collapsed immediately after, he was a little perplexed by their reactions. If he¡¯d thrown up that water bubble and then casually walked away from it, that might have warranted the looks. Lo Meifeng had started to walk over to him but veered off when she saw the captain doing the same thing. The older man approached Sen like he wasn¡¯t entirely sure how he should act around the cultivator. Rather than wait around for the captain to find something awkward to say, Sen gestured around them.


    ¡°I see you managed to bring us to safety. Is this the cove you were talking about?¡±


    The captain looked around and seemed to relax. ¡°Yes, it is. It was a close thing, but we got here. Though, as you can see, there was some damage.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I noticed that,¡± said Sen, frowning around at the men.


    Some of the sailors were sewing what Sen assumed was the sail. Others were removing or replacing damaged pieces of wood from the deck itself. Still, the repairs seemed to be moving along smoothly to Sen¡¯s admittedly untrained eyes.


    ¡°We¡¯ll be underway again soon,¡± said the captain, a little nervously.


    Sen shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re the captain here. We¡¯ll go when you say the ship is safe to go.¡±


    A bit more of the nervous tension drained away from the captain¡¯s face.


    ¡°I appreciate that. I also wanted to thank you for what you did. I¡¯ve never, well, I¡¯ve never seen the like before. I didn¡¯t even know that something like that was even possible.¡±


    ¡°To be honest, captain, neither did I. Not that I¡¯m in a rush to try it again.¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t suppose you would be. Seemed to take a lot out of you. Still, you saved my men, you saved my ship. Plus, your,¡± the captain seemed to think hard before he discreetly gestured to Lo Meifeng, ¡°companion stepped in after your collapsed. Fought off something out in the storm. I don¡¯t know what it was, but things got a lot easier after she did. I don¡¯t know how I can ever repay that debt to you, to either of you.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°You don¡¯t owe me anything, captain. I was standing on this ship when I helped out. It was as much for my own benefit as anyone else¡¯s.¡±


    The captain snorted at that. ¡°Somehow, I think you¡¯d have found it easier to just make one of those bubbles around yourself, instead of the whole ship. Even so, I thank you.¡±


    The captain gave Sen one of those deep bows that always left him feeling like he should be looking over his shoulder for someone more important than him. He pushed that discomfort down and gave the captain a shallower bow in return, the way the man expected. Glancing at the beach, Sen gave the captain a speculative look.


    ¡°Just how long do you think repairs will take, captain?¡±


    ¡°Another day or two, I expect,¡± said the captain.


    ¡°Very well. Then, I think I may take a short trip to that beach over there.¡±

 V3 Chapter 3 – Moon Cakes

    Of course, it wasn¡¯t that simple. No sooner had the captain walked away than Lifen appeared. She smiled at him, clearly happy to see him up and about, but there was a line of worry between her eyes. Sen gave a quick, longing glance at the beach before giving Lifen his full attention.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad to see that you¡¯re awake, but should you be up and about? Lo Meifeng seemed,¡± Lifen frowned a little, ¡°concerned that you might have damaged yourself.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at that. After a moment of consideration, though, he supposed that Lo Meifeng wouldn¡¯t have needed any kind of special knowledge to develop that concern. Bleeding from the eyes, ears, and nose, followed by unconsciousness rarely heralded good things for most people. She wasn¡¯t even wrong. Sen had damaged himself. It just wasn¡¯t the permanent kind of damage. At least, he didn¡¯t think it was. He supposed that you never knew for sure until you tried to heal from something. He did his best to give Lifen a reassuring smile.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± he said.


    The skepticism on her face was so profound that it almost looked like parody to Sen.


    ¡°Fine? Really? So, if a giant wave came crashing into the cove, you¡¯re all ready to protect us in another one of those bubbles?¡±


    Sen coughed a little sheepishly. ¡°No. I wouldn¡¯t want to do that again. Not right now, at any rate.¡±


    ¡°Mmmm hmmmm,¡± said Lifen.


    Sen held up a hand. ¡°But, I¡¯m not hurt in a way that needs bed rest. It¡¯s nothing a bit of alchemy and a steady supply of qi won¡¯t solve.¡±


    Lifen looked dubious but relented. ¡°Fine. It¡¯s not like I could really stop you, anyway. How about you just try to not injure yourself any more for the next day or two.¡±


    ¡°I will do my utmost to avoid more injuries for at least a day or two,¡± said Sen, giving Lifen a little bow.


    ¡°Yeah, right,¡± she sighed.


    ¡°What are you doing up on deck, anyway?¡± asked Sen. ¡°I figured you¡¯d be tucked away somewhere with your cultivation manuals.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m helping.¡±


    She said the words slowly, as though she might be speaking to a particularly dense horse.


    ¡°And that¡¯s good, but why?¡±


    Lifen rolled her eyes. ¡°I might not be the cultivator Lo Meifeng is, or stack up against the might of Judgement¡¯s Gale, but even my level of cultivation makes me stronger than most of the people on this ship. It gives me more endurance too.¡±


    Sen blinked a couple of times in surprise. She wasn¡¯t wrong. Somehow, he¡¯d fallen into the trap of thinking of her as physically weak. And in comparison to a core cultivator or an advanced body cultivator, she was. Relative to mortals, though, she¡¯d seem just as superhuman as Sen did. Just maybe a touch less flashy. Sen only had experience dealing with mortals as a foundation formation cultivator. He knew that even a casual blow from him could end a mortal life in a snap. He''d never dealt with mortals as a qi condensing cultivator. He¡¯d never had to consider their relative strength levels or relative durability. Yet, he supposed the gulf between mortals and qi condensing cultivators must look about as wide as the gulf between foundation formation cultivators and core cultivators. Right up until you were closing in on bridging that divide, the gulf was vast.


    Sen nodded. ¡°That makes sense. I wasn¡¯t thinking about it in those terms.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because you, at times, are ridiculously bad at considering the practicalities.¡±


    Sen laughed. ¡°My grandmother would agree with you.¡±


    Lifen stiffened and then let out an exasperated breath. ¡°Honestly, I hate that woman sometimes. I can feel her glaring at me.¡±


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    Sen looked over Lifen¡¯s shoulder and saw Lo Meifeng standing there, tapping her foot impatiently. A familiar impish feeling swelled in Sen¡¯s chest. He was careful to keep it off his face as he leaned down and whispered in Lifen¡¯s ear.


    ¡°Want to have a bit of fun at her expense?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Lifen, suddenly enthused. ¡°What will we do?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s pretend that we¡¯re going to head back to the cabin and do some of that pillow biting she recommended.¡±


    A tiny giggle escaped from Lifen¡¯s mouth before she pressed her lips together and nodded. Standing back up straight, Sen offered Lifen his arm. She slipped her arm through his and directed such a lust-filled stare up at him that Sen found it so distracting he nearly tripped. They¡¯d made it all of three steps before Lo Meifeng appeared before them in a burst of speed and wind.


    ¡°Oh no, you don¡¯t,¡± the woman declared.


    Sen and Lifen kept straight faces for about three seconds before a snort escaped Sen. Then, a giggle slipped through Lifen¡¯s tightly compressed lips. Then, they were both laughing uproariously at the increasingly unamused Lo Meifeng. The woman glared at both of them before she realized that she¡¯d been the butt of their joke. Then, she just looked exasperated.


    ¡°Children,¡± she muttered to herself. ¡°Lifen, go back to being helpful if you please. I need a word with the young hero.¡±


    Lifen looked like she might protest, but the young woman just couldn¡¯t seem to sustain the annoyance through her mirth. She patted Sen¡¯s arm before she wandered off to find some way to put her more-than-human strength to good use. Sen watched her go, appreciating the young woman¡¯s curves. An annoyed cough brought his attention back to Lo Meifeng. She was glaring at him again.


    ¡°What?¡± he demanded. ¡°She¡¯s nice to look at.¡±


    Lo Meifeng opened her mouth, thought for a moment, then sighed. ¡°Fine. I suppose she is. If you¡¯re done leering, though, we do need to talk.¡±


    Sen groaned out loud. ¡°Really? I¡¯ve been out of bed for all of half an hour. Is this something that we need to discuss right now? Or is this just something that you¡¯ve been chewing on for the last day or two that you want to unload on me now that I¡¯m back on two feet?¡±


    Without missing a beat, Lo Meifeng said, ¡°Both.¡±


    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s have it.¡±


    ¡°Did you think that I was joking when I said that it was my job to keep you alive?¡±


    Sen frowned at her. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Okay. So, at what point did you decide that you¡¯d take on a core cultivator in a monsoon?¡±


    Sen snorted. ¡°What makes you think I had a chance to decide any such thing?¡±


    That seemed to throw Lo Meifeng off. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The amount of time between when I realized that there was another cultivator out there and when there was a giant wave about to drive us to the bottom of the sea could be measured in seconds. I didn¡¯t decide anything. I just acted. What happened to that other cultivator anyway?¡±


    Lo Meifeng processed his words in silence for a moment before her lips turned up into a smug little smile. ¡°He won¡¯t be bothering us again.¡±


    ¡°Was it a demonic cultivator?¡± Sen asked in a hushed tone.


    ¡°No,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°Not that I could tell anyway. Still, it¡¯d be awfully coincidental if he was just out here whipping up storms and trying to sink ships for fun.¡±


    ¡°Possibly. Unless he was out here trying to sink ships for profit. Most ships carry cargo. It¡¯s easier to take if all those pesky crew members are dead.¡±


    ¡°There are easier targets than a ship with three cultivators on it.¡±


    Sen sighed. ¡°So, are we assuming they know where we are?¡±


    Lo Meifeng paused then to consider her answer. Ultimately, she shook her head. ¡°They may have suspected we left by ship, but I imagine whatever orders they handed out were something along the lines of sink any ship you find with cultivators aboard.¡±


    ¡°What if he reported back?¡±


    ¡°Unlikely. There aren¡¯t that many long-distance communication treasures out there. Certainly not enough to hand them out to every would-be assassin. When he doesn¡¯t report back in, they¡¯ll know something happened, but even that¡¯s not really proof it was us. Plus, we¡¯ll be long gone by the time anyone comes looking.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t really like it, but there also wasn¡¯t much to be done about it. He might feel comfortable about hopping off the ship right then and there and taking his chances in the wilds, where no one was likely to find him. He¡¯d only given Lo Meifeng even odds of surviving it. Lifen wouldn¡¯t make it. That meant that they were stuck with the ship until they at least reached some kind of civilization and roads. He didn¡¯t love the idea of traveling openly on the roads either, but they¡¯d come a very long way from Emperor¡¯s Bay. The demonic cultivators might have a long reach, but they couldn¡¯t be everywhere, couldn¡¯t watch every mile of road, every stretch of river, every possible means of travel.


    ¡°Very well,¡± said Sen, not doing much to hide his lack of enthusiasm for the plan.


    Lo Meifeng arched an eyebrow at him. ¡°I suppose you have a better solution.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t. It doesn¡¯t mean I love the one we have. If that¡¯s all, I have some things I need to go and do.¡±


    ¡°Go?¡±


    ¡°To the beach. I need access to a steadier supply of all the types of qi than I can get out here on the water. Otherwise, it¡¯ll take me five times as long to heal.¡±


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll get a boat ready.¡±


    ¡°No need,¡± said Sen, and leapt over the side of the ship.


    Even as he fell toward the water below, he could hear Lo Meifeng shouting after him.


    ¡°Damn it! I have to come with you!¡±


    Feeling another surge of impishness, Sen shouted back a bunch of garbled nonsense with only one understandable phrase in the middle. ¡°Moon cakes.¡±

 V3 Chapter 4 – Elder Bo

    Sen found that the water-stepping technique came easier to him than ever as he dashed from the side of the ship toward the beach. He didn¡¯t think he¡¯d broken through in any meaningful way, but it was still easier. Maybe he¡¯d just reached an accommodation with water qi after that using that technique to save the ship. The explanation sounded weak, even inside his own head, but it was the best he could come up with in the moment. He supposed he¡¯d have plenty of time to think about it on the next leg of their journey. It wasn¡¯t like the ship moved fast, even in the best conditions. Once he stepped off the water and onto the sand of the beach, he felt a little surge of relief. The qi balance on the beach still heavily favored water, but he could feel that the other four qi types were readily available. He let his passive qi-gathering technique get started while he went to work.


    The first order of business was to gather some new ingredients. He¡¯d never gotten a chance to bolster his stock of medicinal plants and alchemical agents back on the beach at Emperor¡¯s Bay, so this was the next best thing. He let his spiritual sense sweep around him in the nearby forest. He found a few spiritual beasts nearby, but none that felt strong enough to pose a serious threat. More importantly, he could feel the presence of several qi-laden components out there. Smiling a little to himself, Sen set off into the trees. Gathering ingredients there was similar enough to gathering them on the mountain that Sen found himself smiling. Some of the things he found, he recognized. While others were a bit mysterious to him. Yet, he was experienced enough to identify the uses of some of the ones he didn¡¯t recognize by the feel of the plants or their similarity to ones he did know. Others he could recognize as poisonous on sight. He gathered a few of those as well. They were mostly curiosities to study later but might prove helpful someday.


    While he hadn¡¯t fully restored what he¡¯d used up from his rings by any stretch of the imagination, he¡¯d made a strong start. He made a mental note to be more proactive about gathering medicinal plants and reagents as he went. Although, even he was willing to recognize that he¡¯d had a lot on his plate just recently. Satisfied with his efforts, Sen made his way back down to the beach. He was a little surprised that Lo Meifeng wasn¡¯t waiting for him there. He glanced out over the water to make sure that the ship hadn¡¯t spontaneously burst into flame or sailed off without him. A little part of him was disappointed to see the ship there. It would have solved a lot of his problems if they¡¯d just left, but Sen didn¡¯t think that the captain would actually do that except under dire threat. Sen spent a little time walking up and down the beach gathering driftwood for the fire he would need.


    It also gave him a little time to do some active cultivation, rather than depending on his passive cultivation technique to do all of the work. While the passive technique was adequate to draw in balanced amounts of the qi types, it was slower. Sen could gather more in an hour of active cultivation than he could normally get from three hours of passive cultivation. There was also something that was just satisfying about active cultivation in a place where, compared to the ship, all the qi types were readily available. He was even able to get some shadow qi from the nearby forest. Not that he planned to rely entirely on what he got from his own efforts. Once he had his small fire up and burning and got some water heating over it, he built a small qi gathering formation. The sharp increase in the available qi around him almost made Sen feel a bit giddy. He¡¯d tried something similar on the ship, but water qi simply overwhelmed everything else.


    With everything prepared, Sen spent some time really examining his own condition. There really was less damage to his qi channels than he¡¯d initially feared. He supposed that he might chalk that up to having done some healing already while he slept. Still, it seemed less than it ought to be given how desperately he¡¯d shoved as much qi as he could into that water shell. There was plenty of minor damage all over his body, though. The strain of the technique had burst blood vessels in more than just his nose and eyes. There was deep tissue damage in almost every part of his body. He even noticed nearly invisible fractures in most of his bones. He couldn¡¯t be certain about the source, but he had the feeling that some part of the force of that wave crashing down on them, or the unspeakable pressure on the ship while it was under the water, had been transferred directly onto him. If not for his body cultivation, Sen wondered if that stunt might have killed him.


    He did take a moment to study his dantian and the odd ribbon of new qi but left off almost immediately. There was no obvious damage to the dantian. Figuring out that new qi was important. He knew it. He also knew that it was something that he wasn¡¯t going to understand with five minutes of casual study. Even so, it was an effort to turn his attention away from it. Any change in his dantian that he hadn¡¯t initiated was a cause for concern. Changes could mean unexpected results, which he¡¯d learned was almost always problematic. Still, he had pressing medical needs that required much more immediate attention. Turning to the problem at hand, he let his mind slip into that hazy place of unfocused focus that let him pick the right ingredients for the problem at hand. He started with the base ingredients, wood-aligned ginseng for general-purpose healing, wind-aligned five-flavor fruit for the blood, and sunflower root as a general reagent for the other ingredients.


    After that, the ingredients became more specific to his needs. He used earth-aligned crown flower to help repair and reinforce his bones. Metal-aligned serpent weed would help balance the elixir. Ingredient after ingredient went into the pot until it felt right. Sen had been so consumed by the process that it took him completely off-guard when a deep voice addressed him from a few feet away.


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    ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    Sen tried to spin, jump up, and raise his hands into a defensive gesture all at the same time. All he accomplished was falling onto his backside. He did, however, manage to bring the source of the voice into view. Standing just outside the formation was the biggest turtle Sen had ever seen. The turtle was nearly as large as a horse. How in the hells did it get so close without making any noise, Sen wondered. Yet, for all of its size, it didn¡¯t seem threatening. It simply regarded him with liquid black eyes that conveyed, if anything, some amusement. Trying to regain some dignity, Sen stood, brushed himself off, and offered the spirit beast a formal bow. Now that the turtle had come to his attention, he could feel its strength, its great age, radiating from the beast.


    ¡°Hello, Elder. I am merely making a healing elixir. If this is your beach, I didn¡¯t mean to intrude.¡±


    The turtle looked from Sen to the pot and back again. Sen felt the turtle¡¯s spiritual sense crash down on him. It was all he could do to stay on his feet beneath its weight. A moment of alarm shot through Sen as he realized that this might be one of the mythical, ancient, divine turtles. Encounters with them were exceedingly rare. While the divine turtles were generally benevolent, it was unwise to test their patience.


    ¡°Oh, I see,¡± said the turtle, the weight vanishing. ¡°Hmmmm. It seems a wasted opportunity to me.¡±


    ¡°A wasted opportunity, elder? I¡¯m, that is-,¡± Sen hesitated, not entirely sure about the protocol in that situation. ¡°I¡¯m not sure that I understand. What opportunity?¡±


    ¡°Call me Bo,¡± said the turtle.


    ¡°Of course, Elder Bo.¡±


    ¡°Your body is already injured and many steps into body refinement. Why not take the opportunity to push your body cultivation forward again?¡±


    Sen thought hard for a moment about how to answer. ¡°I lack the expertise.¡±


    ¡°Nonsense. You¡¯re most of the way there with your elixir already. You need but two or three more ingredients.¡±


    ¡°What ingredients, if I might beg the Elder¡¯s indulgence?¡±


    The turtle¡¯s gaze fell on Sen¡¯s hand and its immense spiritual sense bore down on his storage rings. There was a brief pause before Elder Bo nodded his head in seeming understanding.


    ¡°Ah, you do not have what you need.¡±


    A moment of disappointment flooded through Sen, but he suppressed it. While he might not turn down the opportunity to improve his body cultivation, it wasn¡¯t actually what he¡¯d come to the beach to do. If all he managed to do was heal himself, though, then he¡¯d accomplished his goals. Sen was about to say as much when the divine turtle¡¯s gaze moved off of him and onto the forest. Sen felt a surge of qi and then a root he didn¡¯t recognize floated out of the forest and landed near him on the sand. A few moments and another surge of qi later, Sen watched as a flower floated out of the water of the cove and landed next to the root. Both root and flower radiated so much qi that they were very nearly divine treasures in their own right. Elder Bo nodded at the root and still dripping flower.


    ¡°Place a single petal from the flower in the pot. Shred some of the root into the mixture as well.¡±


    ¡°How much of the root?¡±


    ¡°Oh, about as much as one of your thumb claws,¡± said the turtle, before he muttered to himself, ¡°such odd things, thumbs.¡±


    Sen did as he was instructed because one did not decline gifts or advice from divine turtles. Sen felt the very nature of the elixir change as soon as the new ingredients began to incorporate themselves into the mixture. Up until that moment, Sen had thought that he was making something fairly potent. Now, the elixir radiated qi and transformative power like a mystical bonfire. Sen glanced down at the remainder of the root and the sea flower and tried to resist the surge of greed that he felt deep in his soul. Suppressing that greed with a supreme effort of will, he gathered the plants up and held them out to the divine turtle. The turtle gave the plants a curious look.


    ¡°I do not require those,¡± said the turtle, before it turned its gaze back on the pot.


    Sen didn¡¯t need another invitation. He immediately put the unspeakably valuable plants in his storage ring. Then, he turned his own attention back to the pot, mixing it occasionally to ensure full distribution of the new ingredients.


    ¡°Elder Bo, if I might ask,¡± said Sen, curiosity getting the best of him, ¡°why are helping me?¡±


    The divine turtle was quiet for a time, as befitted its nature, before answering. ¡°I was curious about you.¡±


    ¡°About me?¡±


    ¡°After you saved that boat out there. I¡¯d never seen a technique quite like the one you used. So, I followed you. Then, you came here and started making something interesting. I decided to indulge my curiosity.¡±


    ¡°I am humbled by your interest.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s ready,¡± said Elder Bo, nodding at the pot.


    Sen removed the pot from the fire and let it cool for a time. There were so many questions he wanted to ask the elder spirit beast, but respect and fear kept his lips closed. If the turtle wanted to talk, Sen expected it would be talking. Once the elixir cooled enough, Sen filtered the liquid through a cheesecloth and into a bottle. He studied the bottle and everything he felt radiating from it. He felt a mixture of excitement and trepidation.


    ¡°Should I drink all of it?¡± Sen asked.


    ¡°I would,¡± answered the turtle, sounding amused.


    So, Sen tipped the bottle into his mouth and swallowed the still-warm elixir.

 V3 Chapter 5 – Tribulation

    Sen¡¯s first thought after the elixir went to work on him was, ¡°I¡¯ve made a terrible mistake.¡±


    No matter how powerful he¡¯d thought those extra ingredients were, it had been a pale, pale shadow of the truth. His previous body advancement had refined the tissues, the organs, even the bones. This refinement went so much further. He felt like it was ripping apart every cell in his body and rebuilding it from the ground up to be something better, more powerful, more efficient. While Sen was all for greater strength, power, and efficiency, he was less impressed with the pure physical torment of the process. The pain he had suffered before was a gentle breeze compared with this fresh hurricane of affliction. It felt like his eyes exploded and his fingernails ripped free from his fingers. His teeth actually shattered, although he couldn¡¯t tell if that was from him clenching his jaw or was a byproduct of the elixir. For those first few instances, Sen thought he was going to die.


    Yet, slowly, he managed to claw his way back to some semblance of sanity. He started by focusing on just one bone in his arm, forced himself to watch what was happening, and made himself understand. It didn¡¯t just feel like the elixir was rebuilding his cells from the ground up, it really was rebuilding them from the ground up. Even as he observed, barely clinging to some tiny shred of rational thought, the bone transformed. It had been a serviceable bone before. If it was one vastly stronger than a mortal bone, it had been one made of essentially the same material. Now, it was becoming something else altogether. He didn¡¯t even have a name for the new material.


    It reminded him of stone or some kind of crystal construction. It drew heavily from the earth qi of the root the divine turtle provided, but also from the water qi of the ocean flower. What might have become something strong, but brittle, instead became something just as strong but flexible. Sen struggled to imagine the kind of force necessary to break that bone now. He let his awareness widen a little. He saw tiny threads of that strange new qi in his dantian flickering from cell to cell, igniting them to life. He didn¡¯t see it, but he could sense some kind of similar transformation taking place in his marrow. Then, a new peak of agony washed over him, and he was lost in the pain again. Unable to focus on anything but a single thought, a single word.


    ¡°Survive.¡±


    It was, in so many ways, the word that had defined his existence. Even when he¡¯d been powerless, scavenging for food, it had all been in the service of survival. His almost obsessive practice on the mountain had, in the back of his mind, been about making sure that he wasn¡¯t cast out to die on the mountain. He had known that Master Feng wouldn¡¯t really do that, that Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong would have forbidden it, but he¡¯d been abandoned before. That fear had still lived inside of him long after his mind knew it wasn¡¯t going to happen. So, he had worked, ceaselessly, relentlessly, all to survive. Even his reticence about engaging in lethal combat was at least partially driven by that basic need to survive. After all, he was much less likely to die if he didn¡¯t fight other people and spirit beasts than if he did. It hadn¡¯t worked out for him the way he hoped, but he understood where it came from. So, in the face of an agony that threatened to consume his sanity whole, he dug into that basic need, the primal urge, and made it his all-consuming goal. Survive.


    Even by the standards of his own hellish experiences with body cultivation, the process seemed long to Sen. Maybe it was because the elixir was rebuilding so much of what he was. Maybe it was the pain distorting any understanding of the passage of time. He discarded worrying about the why because it wouldn¡¯t help. He needed to keep his mind focused on the immediate need to keep going for another second, another minute, another hour, however long it took to survive. After a week or year or ten thousand years, Sen slowly became aware that the pain was receding. Not nearly fast enough, oh it could never be fast enough, but it was slowly ebbing to a level where he could put three or four words together in a row and have them make sense.


    He focused on breathing at first. He forced himself to breathe in steady rhythm, drawing the air deep inside his lungs, and then releasing it just as slowly. When he could maintain that steady breathing without having to give it his entire attention, he let a little piece of his mind start the process of cultivating. No matter how powerful or balanced that elixir had been, the body always drew on its own resources to drive advancement. He felt the environmental qi start to fill the empty space in dantian, only for it to be immediately sucked away by everything. Every part of his body was desperate for qi, for all five kinds of qi. As fast as he drew it in, his body ate it up. Sen found that disconcerting given that his body had never behaved that way before. Plus, he¡¯d set up a qi gathering formation, which meant his body was soaking in qi at an accelerated rate. Just as Sen started to worry that he¡¯d need to provide his body with a constant supply of qi at that level, the demand started to fall off. Then, he was just filling his dantian. Somewhere in the midst of all of that, the last lingering vestiges of pain had slipped away.


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    Sen opened his eyes to find the turtle still sitting where he¡¯d last seen it. The turtle was looking at him.


    ¡°That really hurt,¡± complained Sen, his mind veering away from even trying to remember the details.


    ¡°I expect it did. The Five-Fold Body Transformation isn¡¯t for the weak. It is where your body transformation was headed, though. I just helped ensure that you made the last few steps. Although, speaking of pain, you should brace yourself,¡± warned Elder Bo.


    ¡°Brace myself? For what?¡± Sen asked, sitting up in alarm.


    ¡°Tribulation,¡± said the divine turtle.


    Sen remembered Master Feng talking about tribulations. What had he said they usually were?


    ¡°Oh no,¡± said Sen, looking up at thick, dark clouds overhead. ¡°Not lightning.¡±


    As though his very words had triggered the event, Sen felt heavenly qi coalescing around him. He idly noted that his passive cultivation technique was greedily drawing that divine qi into his dantian as fast as it could. Sen couldn¡¯t decide if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. Tribulations were supposed to be some kind of punishment. Would stealing some of that divine qi make it worse? Was it really stealing if they were just throwing it around in the environment? Sen wanted to think that it wasn¡¯t, but he wasn¡¯t a god or an immortal. He expected they made their own decisions about things like that. Even so, he started cycling earth qi. He reached down into the earth, beneath the sand and the soil, down to the rock below. He dragged it up and around himself, then slumped to his knees, exhausted by the effort.


    He felt as much as heard the first lightning strike on his tiny makeshift fortress. All of the hair on his body tried to stand up straight, and he could smell the ozone. Then, there was a terrible crash as the lightning obliterated part of the stone. A second strike, and then third carved pieces away from his protection. The stone wasn¡¯t going to last much longer, so Sen cycled up his own lightning and called out the spear he¡¯d gotten from the Soaring Skies sect. He knew he couldn¡¯t defeat heavenly lightning in a direct confrontation, but he might be able to redirect it using his own. When another strike ripped a giant hole in the stone around him, Sen didn¡¯t wait around for another. He dove through the hole and rolled away, thanking Uncle Kho for all those lessons about how to handle a spear when in motion. He felt and heard another strike on the rock before there was a slight pause.


    ¡°Here it comes,¡± he whispered to himself.


    Sen pushed lightning qi in the spearhead and held that spear so that the tip was a little over his head. Then, he got creative. He let the lightning in the spearhead seek the ground around him. It was more than a little unsettling for Sen to see a veritable curtain of lightning form a kind of curtain around him. Then, he was done being interested in his own technique as the first bolt of heavenly lightning crashed down onto his curtain. The idea worked, partially. The lightning from above did tend to follow his own lightning down to the ground. Yet, it was so powerful that parts of it still arced into him, searing skin and scorching flesh. He didn¡¯t have a better idea though, so he pushed harder and tried to reinforce the lightning curtain as much as he could, shamelessly burning liquid qi to keep it going. For the next minute or two, lightning bolts fell on Sen like rain. By the end, he wasn¡¯t standing anymore. He was on his knees, clutching the haft of the spear in a death grip meant as much to support himself as to keep it aimed upward. Eventually, he realized that there was no more lightning trying to end his life and let go of his own technique.


    Sen collapsed sideways. He could smell the burned cloth, and his own charred body. Yet, as much as it hurt, he could feel his newly advanced body knitting itself back together. Not wanting to overtax it, he fumbled one of Auntie Caihong¡¯s healing pills from his storage ring and choked it down. He was surprised to discover that his qi gathering formation had survived the tribulation, so he crawled inside of it, and just cultivated while his body put itself back together. Sen was really, really tired of pain. He decided that he could wait a while to advance his cultivation again, demonic cultivators be damned. When Sen made himself sit back up, the turtle was looking out at the cove, where Sen could see a small boat approaching fast.


    ¡°That woman needs another hobby,¡± muttered Sen.


    The turtle snorted and turned back to Sen. ¡°You survived your tribulation. Well done.¡±


    ¡°They say the first one is the hardest.¡±


    Elder Bo gave Sen a sharp look, or what Sen felt must be a sharp look when coming from a leathery, black-eyed face.


    ¡°First,¡± said Elder Bo. ¡°That was your first tribulation?¡±


    Sen gave a tired nod. ¡°It was.¡±


    ¡°What a very peculiar young cultivator. You¡¯ll have to come back and visit me once you¡¯ve reached core formation, so I can see how it went.¡±


    ¡°How will I find you?¡±


    ¡°Just come back here. I¡¯ll know it¡¯s you.¡±


    With that, the turtle turned and walked into the ocean, not even leaving a ripple in his wake. Sen lay back in the sand, closed his eyes, and pretended he couldn¡¯t hear Lo Meifeng shouting obscenities at him from the water.

 V3 Chapter 6 – Cultivation Mysteries

    Sen tried to get what rest he could while Lo Meifeng¡¯s boat approached, because he suspected there would be little enough rest after she arrived. He made a point to commit the name Elder Bo had given him for the body cultivation technique he¡¯d, almost accidentally, used. Five-Fold Body Transformation. Sen didn¡¯t really understand what that meant, or even what it entailed for his current level of body cultivation. For that matter, he didn¡¯t even know what relative stage of body cultivation he was in anymore. He had been in the body cultivation equivalent to foundation formation, but he¡¯d also never faced a tribulation before. Master Feng hadn¡¯t been terribly specific about them, other than to say that they could happen at any advancement, but they almost always happened between major stages of cultivation advancement.


    Given that it had been Sen¡¯s first tribulation ever, he suspected that his body cultivation was now the equivalent to core formation. It did make him wonder what that actually meant, though. With core formation, there was a fundamental change in how the dantian operated, how one processed qi and used it. With body cultivation, though, it likely meant a similarly fundamental change in how the body worked. Of course, the only real way to understand any changes to his body would be to perform tests. With Lo Meifeng bearing down on him like an angry mother hen, he didn¡¯t expect he¡¯d get much opportunity for that. She¡¯d want to stick him on the boat and take him back to the ship as soon as possible. He did try to take advantage of the few precious minutes of solitude he had available to him. One of the mysteries that had vexed Sen was why body cultivation and spirit cultivation operated separately. Granted, they had only diverged for him very recently, but for most cultivators following both paths, the advancements came entirely independently.


    None of his teachers had a good explanation for why that was. Sure, the body and spirit were different, but they were also connected to each other in profound ways. That the entire cultivation world took it for granted that they should be developed independently bothered him. It seemed irrational to him. If anything, it seemed to him that every cultivator would want a cultivation development technique that helped them develop both simultaneously. Again, his own experiences with simultaneous advancement hadn¡¯t been terribly pleasant, but he¡¯d been doing it by accident. It seemed to him that a well-developed cultivation system would account for those realities and develop cultivation aids and resources to help limit the negative side effects. The longer Sen lay there pondering the oddities of cultivation, the more he found himself frowning over something Elder Bo had said in passing. As though elder divine spirit animals said anything in passing.


    ¡°Why was that my first tribulation?¡± Sen asked himself out loud.


    He had passed from qi condensing to foundation formation without a hint of heavenly lightning or any other kind of tribulation. What had been the difference? He¡¯d had a divine turtle baby-stepping him through this advancement. If anything should have shielded him from heavenly retribution, it seemed that the presence of the turtle would have done it. Yet, it hadn¡¯t seemed to slow down the tribulation at all. Unless, he thought, it did. It wasn¡¯t like he had another tribulation to compare it to. Maybe that had been the heavens version of a light rebuke to acknowledge the turtle¡¯s participation. That was an idea that put a chill in Sen¡¯s soul. He¡¯d survived the tribulation, but he thought it only would have taken another minute or two of those lightning strikes to kill him. His makeshift protection was on the verge of collapse at the end.


    Still, none of that explained why he hadn¡¯t suffered under the heavens lash before this advancement. What had been different about those advancements? What had been different about this one? Sen hadn¡¯t landed on a complete answer to that question by the time Lo Meifeng arrived, although he had an inkling about it. Once she arrived, though, he had to put those thoughts away. It was too hard to concentrate on them around all of her shouting. He let it go on for about five minutes before he lost his patience.


    ¡°Enough,¡± he commanded.


    Lo Meifeng was so shocked by either the command or his tone that she fell silent. Instead, she just stared at him with an incredulous expression.


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    Sen took a breath and continued. ¡°At no point did an older, more experienced cultivator warn me that there was an elder divine turtle following us around. Then again, I might have been even more eager to go if I¡¯d known. You know that cultivation has risks. Some of those risks are bad, like offending demonic cultivators. Some of those risks are necessary, like following through on fortuitous encounters. If I was anyone else, would you really have discouraged me from taking the advice of a divine turtle?¡±


    Lo Meifeng¡¯s cheeks turned a little red in embarrassment when Sen pointed out that she should have known there was a vastly powerful spirit beast trailing them. When he asked flat out about taking the turtle¡¯s advice, she sighed.


    ¡°No. I wouldn¡¯t have. Only a fool ignores a divine turtle.¡±


    ¡°So, beyond that, what would have changed if you¡¯d come along? Would you have prevented me from gathering medicinal plants? Refused to let me make a healing elixir?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she admitted. ¡°But that¡¯s not the point. It¡¯s my job to protect you. I can¡¯t do that if you run off by yourself all the time. Especially when a divine turtle is going to trap us all on the damn ship.¡±


    ¡°Wait. What?¡±


    ¡°The turtle sealed us up on the ship for the entire duration of your little date on the beach. Now, imagine how that might have gone if it had been something less friendly and benevolent than a turtle. What if you¡¯d caught the attention of a sea dragon instead?¡±


    Sen really stopped to consider that possibility. Dragons weren¡¯t innately hostile to humans, but they weren¡¯t especially predisposed to like humans either. Dragons were proud, arrogant, and terrifyingly powerful by nature. In most myths and tales, encounters with dragons ended badly for the humans involved. Sen was good at some things, but he didn¡¯t expect that he would have fared much better at keeping a dragon happy than the people in those stories.


    ¡°That would have been bad, probably,¡± he admitted. ¡°But do you really think you could have protected me from a sea dragon?¡±


    ¡°Not a chance. Not for long anyway. But I could have bought you time to run away, to escape, to do that hiding thing that you do so well. I know you hate having me watching you all the time. I really do understand why it¡¯s frustrating for you. But until something changes in the situation or my orders, it¡¯s the reality for now. I¡¯m not asking you to like it. I¡¯m just asking that you don¡¯t actively work against me doing my job.¡±


    ¡°I really don¡¯t most of the time,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I recognize and appreciate that. I just need you to recognize and appreciate that we assess risk differently. I have to think about the worst possible version of events. So, while something like this beach looks harmless enough to you, I see it as a pit filled with potential disaster and hordes of rampaging spirit beasts.¡±


    There was a time, not that long ago, when Sen would have snickered at the idea of a horde of rampaging spirit beasts. After his experiences in that town that had been stripped of all human life, the possibility seemed all too real. Sen rubbed his eyes. His body had mostly finished healing, which was truly amazing and remarkable, but he¡¯d been through a lot that day. He felt wrung out. He just wanted to sleep for a while and maybe roast an entire cow to eat. Maybe a boar would be good as well. Oh, and some ducks would be delicious. Sen forced his mind away from food with an effort. He couldn¡¯t remember the last time he¡¯d felt so hungry. He¡¯d gotten very used to being able to skip meals without consequence when necessary. At that moment, though, he felt like he could eat through everything in his storage ring. He made himself focus on Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°I will try to not make your job harder. I can¡¯t promise I¡¯ll succeed all the time, but I really will try.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s all I ask, that you try.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough. Now, seriously though, how did you miss that turtle?¡±


    He¡¯d meant it to poke a little fun at the woman, but he was also curious what she¡¯d say. Instead of answering, she just lifted an eyebrow at him.


    ¡°How did you?¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t have an answer for that. True, he hadn¡¯t been actively looking for spirit beasts, but he had been keeping a pretty close watch on the surrounding area. He supposed that the turtle must have been using some kind of technique like the one that Sen himself used. The turtle was, no doubt, a master of water qi. So, maybe there was some version of the technique that used water to blend a person into the background. Sen looked out at the ship and sighed. He¡¯d have plenty of opportunity to try to work out how something like that might work. On the bright side, he should also have some time to try to decide just where and how enlightenment fit into the cultivation puzzle. If there was a reason that he hadn¡¯t been suffering from tribulations so far, he thought that it was probably tied up with his active pursuit of moments of enlightenment.

 V4 Chapter 1 - Progress at Last

    Sen had thought he¡¯d be happy to leave the valley of the fire cultivators behind, and he was¡­mostly. The only real downside was that one of the fire cultivators, Shi Ping, had come with them. Sen had gotten a heaven-chasing realm spear for taking on the task of bringing Shi Ping along and thought it was worth it. He had swiftly come to realize that it most certainly had not been worth it. Sen had known the man was lazy because Shi Ping had admitted it to him, openly, unashamedly, without hesitation, the very first time they met. What Sen hadn¡¯t realized was that all of that laziness came with a nearly unbearable amount of whining. That whining had crescendoed to hitherto unseen heights in the last day or two. It had reached the point that Sen was giving serious consideration to just killing the man.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it time for lunch?¡± complained Shi Ping. ¡°We¡¯ve been walking for hours.¡±


    Sen stopped in his tracks, turned, and glared at the man. Shi Ping jerked to a stop and went several shades paler. He seemed to recognize that he had, finally, come up against the absolute farthest reaches of Sen¡¯s patience and was now in legitimate, mortal peril.


    Sen growled two words through hard clenched teeth. ¡°Stop. Whining.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I just-,¡± started Shi Ping.


    ¡°No more justs, no more buts, no more excuses,¡± said Sen. ¡°You will stop whining, or I will kill you.¡±


    Shi Ping seemed to find his backbone, or maybe it was his anger, because he glared right back at Sen. ¡°This isn¡¯t fair. I didn¡¯t ask to come on this trip. I shouldn¡¯t have to suffer because you made a deal with the matriarch.¡±


    Sen grew unnaturally calm and still at those words before he said in a very soft voice. ¡°Suffering? You think this is suffering?¡±


    Shi Ping¡¯s eyes went wide as Sen drew his jian and advanced on him.


    ¡°No, I just-,¡± Shi Ping started to say.


    In a move the fire cultivator never even saw, Sen drove his jian through the man¡¯s leg. Shi Ping howled in pain as Sen calmly pulled the sword free.


    ¡°Now, you¡¯re suffering,¡± said Sen, wiping the blade clean on Shi Ping¡¯s robe. ¡°I suggest you bandage that quickly or something will come looking for an easy meal.¡±


    ¡°You bastard!¡±


    Sen sheathed his sword and gave Shi Ping a flat look. ¡°Don¡¯t fall behind.¡±


    ¡°I can turn around and go back any time I want,¡± shouted Shi Ping.


    ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± asked Shi Ping, looking a little shocked and nervous, even as he hastily bandaged the wound.


    ¡°I said, go ahead. Go back. What do you really think is waiting for you there? If I read these tea leaves correctly, you¡¯re on your absolute last chance with the matriarch. I think you know it, too. If you go back, I bet that all you¡¯ll get is a swift death or expulsion from the order. For someone like you, expulsion is just a slow execution because you will not survive alone in the world. So, you can either quit whining all of the time, or you can go back. I really don¡¯t care which you pick.¡±


    Sen stalked away from Shi Ping and didn¡¯t even bother looking back to see what the man did. A little farther up the road, Lo Meifeng slowed down to walk next to him. She eyed him curiously but didn¡¯t ask whatever question was obviously on her mind. Sen rolled his eyes and looked at her.


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just a little surprised at you. I mean, sure, I¡¯d have stabbed him yesterday or possibly after the first hour. You¡¯re usually a little more patient than this.¡±


    ¡°Patience is for people who deserve it.¡±


    ¡°And he doesn¡¯t?¡±


    Sen gave her a sharp look. ¡°Are you saying that you do think he deserves it?¡±


    Lo Meifeng laughed. ¡°Not in the slightest, but I¡¯m not really known for my kindly feelings toward others. I¡¯m curious why you think he doesn¡¯t.¡±


    Sen reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. It didn¡¯t provide any physical relief. Sen didn¡¯t really experience physical pain any longer unless he was injured in some grievous way, but the action did provide a bit of a psychological balm. He glanced up at the sky and debated whether or not to tell her. There was a time not very long in the past when he would have opened up to her about it without hesitation. Now, though, everything to do with her was passed through a filter of distrust. He found himself wondering how she¡¯d use whatever information he gave her to manipulate him again. He hated thinking and feeling that way, yet he couldn¡¯t shake it either. He also knew there was some value in forgiveness, but she¡¯d cut that path off when she told him she didn¡¯t regret it. Part of him just wanted to forget the whole thing, while part of him wished he¡¯d left her behind. In the end, though, he had to talk to someone.


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    ¡°Ever since I formed my core, my anger has been harder to control. Well, no, that¡¯s not exactly right. It¡¯s like it¡¯s been amplified, which has made it harder to control. Shi Ping just pushed on that anger until I couldn¡¯t keep a leash on it anymore.¡±


    Lo Meifeng frowned at that and fell silent for a while. Much to Sen¡¯s disappointment, she didn¡¯t have much to offer by way of encouragement.


    ¡°That¡¯s a new one on me. I have a theory or two, but nothing solid. It could be something to do with the nascent soul that should be developing in your core. It¡¯s connected to you, to your experiences, and you¡¯ve had a rough year. It may have soaked in some of the anger you¡¯ve experienced and, now, it¡¯s reflecting that anger back to you.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s say that¡¯s true, how do I get a grip on it? I can¡¯t just go around stabbing everyone who gets on my nerves.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s not true. You absolutely can go around stabbing everyone who annoys you.¡±


    ¡°Ha. Oh, ha. You are so funny,¡± said Sen in his driest deadpan.


    ¡°Like I said, this is a new one for me. That nascent soul theory is the best I¡¯ve got for the why, but it might not even be true. If it is true, I honestly have no idea how you¡¯d deal with it. I supposed you could look for happier, less stressful things to do. Look for moments of enlightenment about the nature of calm.¡±


    ¡°Balance,¡± said Sen. ¡°If I¡¯ve been giving that nascent soul nothing but anger and stress, I need to give it something to balance those influences.¡±


    Lo Meifeng shrugged. ¡°It can¡¯t hurt.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Sen, and almost managed to not sound grudging about it.


    Lo Meifeng almost managed to look like it didn¡¯t bother her. ¡°Sure. I hope it helps.¡±


    After a while, Shi Ping came limping up behind them. Sen looked back at the man and raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°Any comments to share about the conditions?¡±


    Shi Ping just shook his head and said, ¡°No.¡±


    Progress at last, thought Sen. Now, let¡¯s see how long Shi Ping can keep it up. I give him until dinner. Yet, the man surprised Sen. Dinner came and went without more complaints or incessant whining. When the man refrained from moaning about everything the next morning, Sen found a little pity inside himself and made the man a healing elixir. Sen thought about making it weak enough that it wouldn¡¯t heal the leg injury all the way, but Shi Ping¡¯s limping really had slowed them down the day before. Sen hoped that the long afternoon and evening of pain would stick with the man for a while. He knew there were no guarantees, but Sen reasoned that he could always stab the other leg if the man got excessively obnoxious again.


    In the meantime, Sen tried to reflect on things like the nature of calm and the feeling of peace. He didn¡¯t experience any moments of enlightenment, but he hadn¡¯t really expected to be blessed that way. He did draw some conclusions, though. Anger and violence were, in his experience, abrupt things. They usually came and went in a flash. His own experiences with them were unusual. Being hunted by demonic cultivators for all those months had kept his anger on a constant low simmer, and forced him to be ready for violence at the drop of a hat. Those kinds of things could take root in the heart if a person wasn¡¯t careful, and Sen feared he hadn¡¯t been careful enough.


    On the flip side, he thought that things like calm and peace were more of a process. They were things a person had to strive for and actively cultivate, just like they cultivated qi. Starve a dantian of qi, and a person would have very few options available the next time they needed to perform a technique. He¡¯d been starving himself of calm and peace, if not by intention, so did that make him more prone to anger and violence? Sen thought that it almost certainly did. He just wasn¡¯t sure how to break those habits yet. Sen looked around and realized something. He caught up with Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Have you seen Falling Leaf recently?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Not since this morning. She said she was going to scout ahead, didn¡¯t she?¡±


    ¡°She did,¡± admitted Sen, ¡°but that was almost six hours ago. It seems like she¡¯d have come back by now.¡±


    ¡°You know her better than I do. Is this unusual for her?¡±


    Sen had very intentionally withheld Falling Leaf¡¯s true nature as a transformed spirit beast from Lo Meifeng. That meant that he couldn¡¯t explain to Lo Meifeng that he really didn¡¯t know what was normal for human Falling Leaf. She could be in trouble, or she could just be reveling in being free to come and go as she pleased. Still, if she had carried over most of her personality in the change, then a long absence like the one he¡¯d noticed wouldn¡¯t be out of character for her. He thought that he was probably just carrying some leftover paranoia from the days of being hunted.


    ¡°I guess not,¡± he said. ¡°I should probably talk with her about making regular check-ins, though.¡±


    It was maybe all of ten minutes later when Sen spotted Falling Leaf not just running but sprinting toward them down the road. Her face was locked into an expression of grim determination. Sen sighed.


    ¡°Oh, what now?¡± he said.


    Then, he saw the bear-cat spirit beast that was chasing her, and whatever tiny bit of progress he¡¯d made with his anger disappeared. Lo Meifeng also noticed the approaching girl and spirit beast.


    ¡°What is it with us and these bear-cat things?¡± she asked.


    ¡°What is that thing?¡± shouted Shi Ping, drawing his jian almost reflexively.


    ¡°It¡¯s a spirit beast,¡± said Sen, ¡°and I¡¯m about done with this particular species of them.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like they¡¯re done with you,¡± muttered Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Yeah, I noticed that. Maybe it¡¯s time that I send a stronger message,¡± said Sen.

 V4 Chapter 2 - Messages

    Falling Leaf was closing on them fast, which meant that Sen had a limited amount of time to decide what he wanted to do. Of course, those limits weren¡¯t quite as limiting as they had once been. Much as advancements in the formation foundation stage had refined his brain and improved the speed and clarity of his thinking, the transition into the core formation stage had done the same and benefited from a similar advancement in his body cultivation. That meant that decisions that would have once seemed absolutely rushed and been made on instinct more than reason were now things that he could approach with almost clinical detachment. He let his spiritual sense wash over the spirit beast and estimated that it was probably the approximate equal of an early or middle-core formation cultivator. That put it at least one solid step above him on the power scale.


    Of course, raw power wasn¡¯t everything, and the beast was coming at them in a very convenient straight line. Maybe it thought that brute strength would get the job done. Maybe it just wasn¡¯t that smart. Either way, Sen meant to take advantage of that fact. He cycled for a variation of earth qi, metal qi, and what had become his go-to for most combat situations, lightning. Then, he drove that qi down, deep inside the world, searching for what he wanted and what he needed. He started walking toward Falling Leaf and the bear-cat spirit beast. It was the calm, measured walk of a man about to deal with an unpleasant task, but not shirking from it. As fleeing Falling Leaf saw him, she got a mildly concerned look, but he just bobbed his head to the left a little, indicating which way she should go. Once the bear-cat spotted him, it lost all interest in Falling Leaf and adjusted its course toward Sen. It was big enough that Sen guessed it probably weighed close to seven hundred pounds. Not that it would matter much with what he was planning.


    Sen closed his fist and started hauling the combination technique up from the earth. It felt like it took the technique a long time to build up momentum, although he understood that it was really only a second or so. It just seemed like a long time because there was a bloodthirsty spirit animal bearing down on him with a jaw full of rending, tearing death at its disposal. Yes, thought Sen, it really does think that brute force will get the job done. Oh well. When the beast got within ten feet of him, it did what so many beasts seemed to do when they closed in on a kill. It leapt at him.


    ¡°Mistake,¡± said Sen, and let his fist launch up into the air like he was trying to deliver an uppercut to the sky.


    A vaguely fist-shaped mass of stone and metal that had lightning coursing through the metal shot up from the ground. It took the bear-cat in its unprotected belly. The spirit beast that had been flying through the air with claws extended folded over that stone and metal fist like a limp doll. Sen heard as much as saw the lightning seek a home in the flesh and blood of the spirit beast. Then, the giant fist stopped moving. Of course, momentum had the spirit beast by then. It was thrown a good fifteen feet in the air. Sen took that opportunity to take a handful of steps forward to position himself for his next attack. There wasn¡¯t going to be anything fancy with the second attack. As the smoking form of the bear-cat fell out of the air and came level with Sen, he simply hit it with every ounce of strength he could wring out of his body cultivation-enhanced muscles and bones. He even used a bit of core qi to enhance and reinforce his entire system. There was a noise like dry twigs being stepped on by something heavy, and then the bear-cat¡¯s direction was altered again as the full force of Sen¡¯s blow was transferred into its body. It flew back in the direction it had come from for nearly five feet before it dropped to the ground and commenced a tumbling roll that Sen thought would be really painful for anything with bones.


    While Sen didn¡¯t actually want the spirit beast dead, he wasn¡¯t willing to give anything a full step more powerful than he was time to muster their resources. Letting his earth qi fall away, he seized the metal that had been in the fist and sent it flying toward the spirit beast. Some of it wrapped around the spirit beast¡¯s throat. Sen made that metal grow spikes that drove threateningly inward. Even something that wasn¡¯t very bright could get that message. If you make me mad again, I¡¯ll just kill you now. The rest of the metal formed a web of strands that locked the beast¡¯s legs into place. Given some time and effort, Sen expected the bear-cat could break free from all of that, so he gave it something else to worry about and hit it with another bolt of lightning. All of that metal touching the beast¡¯s body made sure that the lightning went everywhere, rather than just driving into one spot. The desperate noise the spirit beast made at that point left Sen relatively sure that he had the thing¡¯s attention. Sen walked over to where the bear-cat could see him. It thrashed weakly a few times but got exactly nowhere.


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    ¡°Can you talk?¡± Sen asked.


    The spirit beast didn¡¯t say anything, but Sen was pretty confident he caught the spark of comprehension in its eyes. That was all he really needed.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to assume that you understand me well enough to pass on a message. I¡¯m tired of this. I¡¯m tired of having to fight one of you every time I walk into the wilds or even into a forest. I¡¯m tired of you targeting the people I know. So, it will end. Yeah, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re thinking all about the revenge you¡¯re going to take and how your kind will hunt me down. So, this is the message,¡± said Sen cycling up several kinds of qi, ¡°I¡¯ve done my best to steer clear of you for the last year. You have not extended me the same courtesy. So, it¡¯s war now. Starting today, if I see one of you, you die. If I hear about one of you, I will hunt you. I will burn down your forests. I will flood your dens. I will bury you beneath mountains of stone and darkness until there is nothing left of your kind but stories and bad dreams.¡±


    As he spoke to the immobilized bear-cat, he summoned rings of fire, stone, water, and the deepest shadow. He let them spin in circles above his head like halos of destruction and wrath. The bear-cat stared up at those halos like it was seeing the annihilation of its entire race given tangible form. Its fear was so palpable that Sen could actually smell the change in the spirit beast. Certain, for once, that he had gotten his message across loud and clear, he released the metal restraints and pointed out at the forest.


    ¡°Go, before I decide to start with you.¡±


    The spirit beast stumbled to its feet and hobbled off into the forest as fast as its injured body would allow. When it passed beyond the range of Sen¡¯s spiritual sense. He finally released the halos above him. He took several deep breaths, trying to calm the anger, no, the rage that was festering inside of him. When Sen turned back to the others, he was met with three very different expressions. Shi Ping looked like any loud noise would turn his bowels to water. Falling Leaf looked surprised and sad. Lo Meifeng had put on the rigidly neutral mask she wore when she didn¡¯t want anyone to know exactly what she was feeling. She was the one who finally broke the silence.


    ¡°That conversation we had about you finding a way to temper your anger. Finding a way should move right up to the very, very top of your to-do list.¡±


    ¡°Oh, come on,¡± said Sen. ¡°It wasn¡¯t that scary.¡±


    ¡°The hells it wasn¡¯t,¡± Shi Ping almost screamed. ¡°You didn¡¯t see yourself. With the fire, lightning, summoning a giant, and issuing genocidal threats. Oh, and casually punching that thing out of the air hard enough that I felt it inside my chest. Just what do you imagine scary looks like!¡±


    Sen hadn¡¯t really intended to send that particular message to Shi Ping, but maybe it was ultimately for the best. Sen sincerely doubted that the man was going to complain to him about anything short of an imminent threat of death any time in the near future. However unintentional it had been, Sen wasn¡¯t too good to reap secondary benefits. In his recent frame of mind, he really was worried he might murder Shi Ping just to shut the guy up. With his enhanced senses, he could hear Shi Ping muttering under his breath.


    ¡°I thought that stunt back in the valley was a one-time thing, but no. Apparently, that was just another day of the week for this guy.¡±


    Realizing that Shi Ping was probably going to continue in that vein for as long as they stood around, Sen decided to put a stop to it immediately.


    ¡°There¡¯s still plenty of daylight left. Let¡¯s keep moving,¡± he said.

 V4 Chapter 3 – One Day

    Everyone let Sen be for the rest of the day, which suited him just fine. He had plenty to think about. It wasn¡¯t until later in the evening that Falling Leaf pulled him aside and led him away from the camp a short distance. It probably wasn¡¯t far enough to keep people from listening if they really wanted to, but it was far enough that no one would casually overhear their conversation. She stared at him for a long moment with those odd, green eyes before she spoke.


    ¡°The things you said to that spirit beast, did you mean it? Would you really do all of those things?¡±


    Sen supposed he should have expected something like this, but it still caught him a little flat-footed. He really thought about it for a little while.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t burn down their forests. That would be punishing every living thing that lived or grew there. That wouldn¡¯t be fair or right. As for the rest, yes, I meant it.¡±


    Falling Leaf immediately relaxed. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s fine then.¡±


    ¡°Wait. What? You don¡¯t care if I hunt those things to extinction?¡±


    She tilted her head a little to one side as if considering his words. ¡°No. Why would I? They are no kin of mine. They chose their enemy poorly. Cubs should not tempt the wrath of dragons. All know this.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m no dragon,¡± said Sen, snorting a little.


    ¡°Not yet, but your teachers might as well be. The Feng most of all. You follow in their footsteps.¡±


    Sen chewed on that for a minute. ¡°Yeah, I suppose I do. Listen, there¡¯s something I¡¯ve been meaning to talk to you about.¡±


    Falling Leaf stared at him for an uncomfortably long time before she jerked a little, seemed to remember something, and said, ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s your name. We really need to change it to something more,¡± Sen thought about how to phrase it, ¡°human-like. It will help keep people from paying extra attention to you.¡±


    Falling Leaf looked deeply unhappy about that idea. ¡°Change it to what?¡±


    ¡°I was thinking something like Fa Ling Li.¡±


    On hearing the name Sen came up with, most of the unhappiness drained out of Falling Leaf. ¡°That¡¯s not so different.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not. I tried to keep it as close to your real name as I could.¡±


    She paced a little bit, thinking about it, before she finally nodded. ¡°If I must.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s mostly to protect you from people who might wish to¡­experiment on you.¡±


    ¡°Experiment?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Spirit beasts that transform the way you have are very rare. Very, very rare. There are sects that would want to study you. They¡¯d lock you up at best. Some would want to dissect you, just to see how you work.¡±


    ¡°Dissect? What is that?¡±


    Sen sighed. Of course, she wouldn¡¯t know that word. ¡°They¡¯d cut you open, maybe even cut you up into little pieces. Hopefully, you¡¯d be dead before they started. When you were with Auntie Caihong, well, there wasn¡¯t much chance of anyone grabbing you. They just wouldn¡¯t have dared. I can¡¯t offer that kind of protection. So, whatever little things we can do to make you seem more like a human being, the less chance of someone trying to drag you off.¡±


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    ¡°Fa Ling Li,¡± said Falling Leaf, like she was trying to get used to it. ¡°It will have to do.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. I much prefer you alive and healthy.¡±


    ¡°You know, I might still die. Anyone can die. Life is uncertain.¡±


    ¡°I know, but we don¡¯t have to make it easy on people.¡±


    Falling Leaf gave Sen a look that he couldn¡¯t quite parse. ¡°What would you do if someone killed me?¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t even need to think about it. ¡°I¡¯d take a page out of Lo Meifeng¡¯s book. Everyone involved, everyone I even thought might have been involved, would die.¡±


    ¡°What if it was a sect?¡±


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t change anything, except that I¡¯d probably burn the place to the ground and salt the earth when I was done.¡±


    She made an unhappy noise. ¡°You weren¡¯t always so quick to hurt others.¡±


    ¡°You asked me what I would do if someone killed you. You¡¯re my best friend. My chosen family. If someone took you from me, stole you from me like that,¡± Sen took a shuddering breath, ¡°there are no words for the ways I would make them suffer for that. But, yes, I am quicker to hurt than I was. The world is full of people who will kill you for bad reasons, or no reason at all, if you let them. People who hurt others for sport. People who see kindness as weakness. I have no mercy for those people. No compassion. If people come looking to harm me and mine, and they have, then I act.¡±


    ¡°You should protect what is yours, but don¡¯t grow too fond of the killing. There is a kind of madness, a blood madness, down that path. It can consume your heart and your soul. I¡¯ve seen it before. I would not wish that for you.¡±


    Sen nodded in understanding. He¡¯d seen it before in some of the bandits he¡¯d killed. They had reveled in the violence. They killed because they liked it, because they needed it on some level. They took a kind of sick joy in watching the life leave someone¡¯s eyes. No one could truly see into his heart, so they had no way of knowing just how far away from that Sen truly was. He¡¯d never stopped hating all of the violence and the killing. He just didn¡¯t try to run away from it the way he used to do. It was everywhere, inescapable, and running from it in one place inevitably meant finding it somewhere else. One could only face it or become a victim of it. Sen chose to face it. If that meant doing things he hated, he could at least take some tiny shred of comfort in knowing he hated it. It also gave him a way to monitor himself. If the day came when he didn¡¯t hate it anymore, that was the day he¡¯d have to start to worry. That might even be the day he¡¯d have to seek out a fight he couldn¡¯t win.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. I don¡¯t like killing now any better than I liked it on the day we met. I¡¯m just better at it.¡±


    ¡°It is easy to grow to like the things we are good at.¡±


    That gave Sen a moment of pause. She wasn¡¯t wrong.


    ¡°Then, I will rely on you to remind me from time to time not to enjoy it too much.¡±


    Falling Leaf shrugged. ¡°If you wish.¡±


    ¡°I wish it wasn¡¯t necessary at all, but I don¡¯t expect that the world will grant me that wish. You know, sometimes, I wish that we¡¯d just gone off and found a mountain of our own.¡±


    ¡°Really? Why?¡±


    ¡°Then, none of this would have been necessary. You could have stayed as you were. I wouldn¡¯t be constantly getting into bad situations. It¡¯d be peaceful. Maybe, we still could.¡±


    Falling Leaf grew quiet and her eyes were far away. ¡°There are many mountains. As strong as you are now, you could likely claim one. Build a Sen den for yourself.¡±


    Sen snorted. ¡°A Sen den? I like it. What about you? Would you build a den for yourself, or stay in mine?¡±


    Falling Leaf shrugged. ¡°Either. Both. Shelter is shelter.¡±


    ¡°We could go now if you want.¡±


    There was a look of yearning Falling Leaf¡¯s eyes. She wanted to go back to the wilds, back to her mountain or, barring that, a mountain they picked. In the end, though, she shook her head.


    ¡°We can¡¯t. Not yet. You need that,¡± she thought hard, ¡°teaching book.¡±


    ¡°Manual?¡±


    ¡°Yes! You need that manual for your cultivation.¡±


    ¡°Maybe I don¡¯t.¡±


    Falling Leaf shook her head emphatically. ¡°You need it. Your body change is incomplete. Unbalanced. It will serve for a time, but it will harm you if you leave it like this for too long.¡±


    That was news to Sen and unwelcome news at that.


    ¡°How do you know?¡±


    Falling Leaf shrugged. ¡°How do you not know?¡±


    Sen opened his mouth to answer, but he didn¡¯t have an answer to give. It was his body. Shouldn¡¯t he know? If he didn¡¯t even know why he didn¡¯t know, it probably wasn¡¯t reasonable to expect Falling Leaf to know why she did know. The important part was that he was on a clock now.


    ¡°Do you know how long? Are we talking weeks or decades?¡±


    Falling Leaf frowned. ¡°A cycle of seasons? Maybe two? It¡¯s hard to know for sure.¡±


    ¡°So, no mountain for us.¡±


    ¡°Not yet. One day, though, we can claim a mountain as the Kho has done and forbid it to all.¡±


    ¡°One day,¡± murmured Sen.

 V4 Chapter 4 – Clear Spring

    As they drew ever closer to the Clear Spring sect, Shi Ping grew increasingly nervous. He never said anything directly to anyone. It seemed that the combination of getting stabbed in the leg and witnessing Sen¡¯s impromptu declaration of war against an entire species had buried fear firmly in his soul. Instead, the man grew jumpier and jumpier, twitching at any unexpected sound, and eyeing the occasional passing traveler with open concern. Sen let that play out until he was certain they were less than a day out. He could have talked to the man about it sooner, but Sen was honest with himself. He just didn¡¯t want to do it. Shi Ping annoyed him and watching the man squirm had been amusing. Plus, Sen had other things on his mind.


    Right at the top of his list, as Lo Meifeng had astutely advised, was the problem of his anger. As often as he turned the problem over in his head, though, he didn¡¯t see any easy solution. Sure, he could keep a tight grip on it, but that wasn¡¯t the same as a solution. He¡¯d never had anger like that before, not even toward those awful noble brats who used to beat him for fun. Oh, he had hated them, but his hate had been almost as impersonal as their beatings. They had seen him as an object to be loathed, and he saw them as objects to be despised. He didn¡¯t think that anyone involved had really seen the others as people until the very end. That meant he had limited experience in controlling the kind of towering anger that sprang up inside him at the snap of his fingers or anyone else¡¯s. If not for all those years of personal discipline, he worried that anger would have turned him into a true monster long since.


    Even worse, that was just the anger as he was currently experiencing it. If it got worse, which seemed all too plausible and even likely given his track record, discipline simply wouldn¡¯t be enough. He could learn more control, but everything had limits. He needed to address the root of the problem, and that was the real crux of his problem. He didn¡¯t know what the root cause actually was. Lo Meifeng¡¯s theory might hold water, but it might be wrong. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have a better theory to work off at the moment. If the nascent soul growing in his core was the problem, though, it was a big problem. Sen couldn¡¯t command enlightenment on whatever topic he wanted, regardless of how badly he might need it.


    And, if Lo Meifeng had the right of it, that was exactly what he needed. He needed enlightenment about something¡­peace, joy, something. He saw that as the secondary problem. He wasn¡¯t sure what the proper counterbalance to his anger would be. That made looking for it just a touch more complex. Maybe I need to find some of those monks that pursue inner peace and enlightenment, Sen thought. That path isn¡¯t the path for me, but they might be able to help pin down what would help me get this under control. Sen reasoned that he didn¡¯t need to embrace their way of life to glean a bit of insight from them. Who knew, helping him might even help them find their own way somehow. Although, that sounded a lot like wishful thinking to Sen.


    His other major problem was the one he hadn¡¯t even known about until Falling Leaf told him about it. His body cultivation was going to kill him if he didn¡¯t complete the whole thing. Sen paused at that idea. Falling Leaf hadn¡¯t said he¡¯d die, just that the incomplete transformation would harm him. Still, given the reputation the body cultivation method had, it seemed reasonable to him to assume it would, in fact, kill him. A year, maybe two, and then things would start to go wrong. Sen was no longer part of that group of people who thought a year was a long time. With so much distance between cities in the kingdom alone, let alone across the continent, he could burn up months just traveling. That was before taking into consideration what any of the sects might want from him, or want him to do, in exchange for the manual. Depending on how difficult the task was, he could very well die before completing it. Or, worse still, complete it and then die before he could get back to claim his prize.


    With all of those cheerful thoughts weighing him down, he decided that dealing with Shi Ping would probably turn out to be something of a relief. So, he walked over to the man and gave him an unamused look.


    ¡°Spit it out,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Spit what out?¡± asked Shi Ping, feigning ignorance.


    ¡°Whatever it is that has you eyeballing every shadow like a demon is about to jump out of it and eat your soul.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to the Clear Spring sect.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°The sect that my order was at war with less than a week ago.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen through gritted teeth. ¡°I recall. I was there, after all.¡±


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    ¡°I just don¡¯t think that it¡¯s a good idea for me to go there. Your prohibition on fighting doesn¡¯t extend to individuals. I¡¯ll be challenged on constantly.¡±


    ¡°Then, don¡¯t go.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll release me?¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t a prisoner. I didn¡¯t drag you along in chains. If you sneak off in the night like a coward to avoid doing things that will help your advancement, it¡¯s not my job to stop you.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care for your phrasing,¡± said Shi Ping.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care for your personality, your ethics, your attitude, or your unwillingness to do anything hard,¡± said Sen, and then he smiled. ¡°Well, I feel better now that we¡¯ve shared. How about you?¡±


    Sen doubted that Shi Ping could have looked more stunned if a moon cake the size of an ox cart had fallen out of the sky and landed in front of him. The man even had the nerve to look a little hurt by Sen¡¯s words.


    ¡°Not everyone can be like you,¡± said Shi Ping.


    ¡°Like me? What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡±


    ¡°Not all of us can be fearless heroes who face down armies without flinching and crush spirit beasts with brute force.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t expect you to be that. I¡¯m not that, not really. I just expect you to be a cultivator. You faced down tribulations before, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± admitted Shi Ping.


    ¡°Then how hard is it to simply face the things that are in front of you? How hard is it, really, to simply try?¡±


    With that, Sen walked away. He wasn¡¯t interested in hearing the man¡¯s excuses. Any insights the man had wouldn¡¯t be fast in coming if they came at all. Sen knew all too well that personal change didn¡¯t happen overnight. He was living proof of that. Much to his relief, he saw Falling Leaf appear on the road ahead of them. It gave him an excuse to ignore Shi Ping for a while. While she had laughed at his insistence that she come back every few hours to check in with them, she had ultimately agreed to humor his, as she put it, silly human boy concerns. He was going to have to remind her not to say things like that around other people too often. As he, Lo Meifeng, and Shi Ping came up to her, Falling Leaf fell into step next to him. He¡¯d noticed that she never willingly interacted with Shi Ping or Lo Meifeng. Shi Ping seemed to actively aggravate her simply by breathing in her general vicinity. As for Lo Meifeng, he¡¯d asked about it when they¡¯d had a moment alone.


    Falling Leaf had just shrugged at him and said, ¡°You don¡¯t trust her.¡±


    She¡¯d said it like his judgment about the other woman was as absolute as disapproval from the heavens. That was all it had taken for Falling Leaf to simply discard an entire person from her world as not worth the time. Sen realized then that he was going to have to be very careful what kind of opinions he expressed to her about other people. The heavens alone knew what the transformed ghost panther might do to someone if Sen said he thought they were an active threat. Still, for all the complications, there was a real comfort in having her with the group. He didn¡¯t question her loyalty or her motives. He also trusted her to speak directly to him about whatever was on her mind. If she wanted to do something or felt she needed to do something, there would be no games. She¡¯d just tell him what it was, why she thought she needed to do it, and let it land however it landed. Given his experiences over the last year, that kind of straightforwardness was appealing to him on a lot of levels.


    ¡°Anything interesting ahead?¡± Sen asked Falling Leaf.


    ¡°No,¡± she answered and then seemed to think it over. ¡°Well, there were a lot of buildings and a bunch of water cultivators a few miles ahead, but they weren¡¯t interesting.¡±


    Sen chuckled. ¡°You do realize that¡¯s where we¡¯re going, right?¡±


    ¡°I do.¡±


    ¡°And that didn¡¯t seem interesting to you?¡±


    ¡°Hum-,¡± she started to say before she corrected herself, ¡°people go boring places all the time. Ma Caihong took me to a lot of boring places. This place seems like more of the same.¡±


    ¡°Well, hopefully, you¡¯ll find something of interest there. If it helps, I don¡¯t expect we¡¯ll stay long.¡±


    Falling Leaf made a noncommittal noise. ¡°There are things to hunt nearby. I can amuse myself if the¡­if you do not.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough. I didn¡¯t realize you knew how to use a bow.¡±


    ¡°Bow? Why would I use a bow?¡±


    That comment made Sen all kinds of curious and he was about to ask a lot of questions when he saw a group of water cultivators approaching. He eyed Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Were the people headed our way boring as well?¡±


    Falling Leaf gave him an emphatic nod. ¡°Yes. They were very boring. They didn¡¯t even notice me. I was barely hiding at all.¡±


    Sen gave Falling Leaf a sharp look. The way she had said the word hiding, it almost sounded like she was putting special emphasis on it. Another question for later, he thought.


    ¡°Are any of the water cultivators dangerous?¡±


    She gave him a curious look. ¡°Compared to you?¡±


    Sen sighed. ¡°Sure. Compared to me.¡±


    ¡°No, but most things aren¡¯t anymore.¡±


    Sen resisted the urge to roll his eyes. ¡°Alright, how about compared to you?¡±


    ¡°Oh, then yes, almost all of them are stronger than I am,¡± she said with a frown. ¡°I need to advance again.¡±


    Sen was about to ask how she went about that now that she was human, but one of the water cultivators broke away and closed with them fast. Sen recognized her well before she reached them. Chan Yu Ming shot Sen a wicked smile and held out her wrists, as though she expected him to shackle her then and there.


    ¡°I¡¯m ready for my abduction, you dastardly rogue.¡±


    Then, Falling Leaf and Chan Yu Ming locked eyes and a feeling of dread took up root in Sen¡¯s stomach. He just knew that nothing good was about to happen. In unison, the two women spoke the same words.


    ¡°Who is she?¡±

 V4 Chapter 5 – Reception

    For a long moment, Sen wondered about his own reaction. Why was he nervous about this meeting? As far as he knew, Falling Leaf and Chan Yu Ming had never met, let alone had any bad blood between them. There was no reason why they should be at odds with each other. If anything, Falling Leaf would likely just decide that she didn¡¯t care about Chan Yu Ming at all and not interact with the woman. As for Chan Yu Ming, he didn¡¯t really know her well enough to guess at her thoughts, but she hadn¡¯t seemed insane to him. He suspected she¡¯d be fine as well. So, pushing that dread back into whatever place of false fear it had crawled out of, Sen got on with the introductions.


    ¡°Chan Yu Ming, this is Fa Ling Li, my oldest friend. She and my teachers all caught up with me after you and your sect had already gone.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± said Chan Yu Ming, seizing Sen¡¯s arm. ¡°Feng Ming was there? And I missed it!¡±


    ¡°Along with Ma Caihong and Kho Jaw-Long, yes,¡± said Sen with a nod.


    Chan Yu Ming looked like Sen had taken away her favorite holiday, announced that her favorite food no longer existed, and maybe killed her pet all at the same time. Sighing, she shook her head a little.


    ¡°Well, I guess I wasn¡¯t likely to ever meet any of them anyway.¡±


    Sen took the opportunity to continue the introductions.


    ¡°Fa Ling Li, this is Chan Yu Ming, my¡­,¡± Sen paused then, not entirely sure how he should finish that statement.


    Chan Yu Ming looked deeply amused. She lifted an eyebrow, smirked, and said in a honey-sweet tone, ¡°Your what?¡±


    ¡°My recent sparring partner,¡± Sen deadpanned.


    Chan Yu Ming laughed before she turned a bright smile on Falling Leaf and gave her a very formal bow. ¡°Fa Ling Li, it is very nice to meet you. I¡¯m sure we¡¯re going to be very good friends.¡±


    Falling Leaf seemed a little startled by Chan Yu Ming¡¯s almost aggressive cheerfulness. The panther-girl shot Sen an uncertain look as if asking his opinion. He smiled and gave her a half-shrug with one shoulder. She was going to have to decide for herself how friendly she wanted to be with the young woman from the sect. Falling Leaf hesitated for a moment before she returned the bow.


    ¡°It is nice to meet you, Chan Yu Ming,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Good, now that we¡¯re friends,¡± said Chan Yu Ming, ¡°you must know some embarrassing stories about this unreasonably tall man.¡±


    Falling Leaf hesitated again, casting an uncertain look at Sen, before she finally said, ¡°Not many.¡±


    ¡°Really? How much of his time did he spend training for there not to be embarrassing stories?¡±


    Falling Leaf looked much more confident when she answered that. ¡°All of it.¡±


    It was Chan Yu Ming¡¯s turn to look a little uncertain before she nodded. ¡°I suppose he must have to be as good with the jian as he is.¡±


    Sen took that moment to break back into the conversation and take the attention off of Falling Leaf, who was starting to get a vaguely panicked look in her eye. Sen gestured to Lo Meifeng, who had been unusually quiet for the entire exchange.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you met Lo Meifeng,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± said Chan Yu Ming. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you, Lo Meifeng. Are you also an old friend?¡±


    ¡°A pleasure,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°And, no, more of a recent acquaintance.¡±


    Before Chan Yu Ming could ask the question that Sen saw forming in her head, he reached back, seized Shi Ping¡¯s robe, and dragged the man forward. He gestured at the very nervous fire cultivator.


    ¡°This is the infamous fire cultivator, Shi Ping the Lazy.¡±


    Shi Ping heaved an enormous sigh. ¡°Is that really how you¡¯re going to introduce me?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen without reservation.


    ¡°I have other qualities you could point out.¡±


    Sen considered for a moment and then said, ¡°Some also call him Shi Ping the Gluttonous.¡±


    Shi Ping glared at Sen. ¡°No one calls me that!¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


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    ¡°You see,¡± said Sen, ¡°I didn¡¯t just make it up.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming looked like it was taking a huge effort not to laugh at the man, which had sort of been the point. The less seriously people took him, the less perceived honor there would be in fighting him. The less honor there was in it, the less likely it would be that people would come out of the woodwork looking to fight him. Some still would, Sen knew, but not nearly so many. Shi Ping noticed the look on Chan Yu Ming¡¯s face and, after a moment, seemed to understand the backhanded kindness that Sen was offering him. Shi Ping took a deep breath.


    ¡°Yes, I am Shi Ping the Lazy and Gluttonous. No bed is safe from my naps, no dinner table free from the fury of my stomach.¡±


    Whatever tenuous control Chan Yu Ming had over her laughter vanished. Her peals of laughter echoed out into the forest. Before long, she was holding her stomach and shaking her head. Sen wasn¡¯t sure how long it might have lasted, but the rest of the water cultivators arrived shortly after that. They cast stern looks at Chan Yu Ming, who wrestled her amusement back under control. After a moment, she inclined her head to the group of core formation water cultivators. Then, she gestured to each of the people in Sen¡¯s party in turn.


    ¡°Elders, allow me to introduce Lu Sen, Fa Ling Li, Lo Meifeng, and,¡± she smirked, ¡°the infamous fire cultivator, Shi Ping the Lazy and Gluttonous.¡±


    The four Clear Spring sect elders went from doing their best to look stern and imposing to hiding smiles and snickers behind hastily raised hands. Chan Yu Ming introduced the four elders, but Sen didn¡¯t do much to make note of them. It wasn¡¯t that they weren¡¯t important, in their way, but rather that he doubted he¡¯d interact much with them beyond this initial meeting. What he wanted from the Clear Spring sect, he¡¯d have to get from the sect patriarch, assuming they had it at all. Sen went through the motions, offering bows and semi-formal greetings. Falling Leaf did her best to not get noticed, which was thankfully easier than Sen might have expected. The core formation elders didn¡¯t seem to care much about the peak foundation formation girl. They gave her a cursory look and then dismissed her from their minds. One problem solved for the moment, thought Sen. They paid a little more attention to Shi Ping, but Sen suspected that had more to do with his absurd introduction than anything else. They were all warily polite to Lo Meifeng, who was on the same cultivation level with two of the elders, and not far behind the other two. Yet, the sect elders reserved most of their attention for Sen. They kept looking at him expectantly, as though they expected him to do something scary or demand something outrageous. The longer he kept not doing anything scary or making absurd demands, the more nervous they seemed to get. When it got to the point that they all looked ready to explode from unmet anticipation, Sen finally relented and asked them to do something.


    ¡°Elders, it¡¯s been a long journey. Could I trouble you to guide us to your sect compound?¡±


    With a task finally at hand, the elders all but fell over each other for the chance to lead them to the sect compound. Each of the elders made not very thinly veiled attempts to glean information from Sen about what he wanted at the sect. He deflected most of the questions with vague comments about merely passing through and having one or two minor matters to discuss with the sect patriarch. In fact, when he thought about it, Sen realized he wasn¡¯t even being that deceptive. He didn¡¯t plan to stay very long at the Clear Spring sect and, while gaining the manual was of utmost importance to him, it probably would be a comparatively minor matter to the sect patriarch. The patriarch was directly or indirectly responsible for the lives of hundreds or maybe even thousands of people. What were the needs, however unique, of one man in the face of all of that?


    It didn¡¯t take very long for the elders to realize that Sen was either being intentionally cagey about his motives, or there was no inside information of value for them to capitalize on. They all seemed very disappointed by that, but Sen put that firmly in the category of a them problem. It wasn¡¯t his responsibility to meet their expectations or help them jockey for position in their sect. After all, he¡¯d already messed with the politics of the Clear Spring sect far more than he¡¯d ever wanted to do. So, any opportunity he could take to not do more of the same felt like a serious win in his book. When the elders finally gave up on him, Chan Yu Ming slipped into place beside him. He glanced over at her.


    ¡°How have you been? Was the trip back uneventful?¡± he asked.


    ¡°The trip back was tedious. It really was like herding cats. About half of the people that I was bringing back almost never leave the sect. So, once they were outside,¡± she trailed off.


    ¡°They weren¡¯t in a hurry to go back,¡± finished Sen.


    ¡°Exactly. In some cases, I could understand it. We were a relatively long way from home, so to speak, so the healers were eager to snatch up some plants that we don¡¯t see around here as much. As for the rest, they wanted to treat it like some kind of vacation.¡±


    ¡°So, you had to keep on them constantly.¡±


    ¡°I did. As for me, I¡¯ve had pleasant thoughts of my impending abduction to keep me entertained. Did you bring rope?¡±


    Sen eyed the smirking woman for a moment. ¡°You do know that I¡¯m not actually going to abduct you, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to pretend I didn¡¯t just hear you trampling my hopes with your negative thoughts.¡±


    Sen laughed but continued with his point. ¡°I¡¯m serious, though. I don¡¯t need an entire sect hunting me for kidnapping one of their core cultivators. Plus, I have no idea who you actually are. You could have some big, violent family that would come looking for us if I did that. That¡¯s a kind of trouble I don¡¯t really need.¡±


    ¡°Well, you certainly know how to suck all of the joy out of a fantasy. Are you saying you don¡¯t think I¡¯m pretty enough to fight for?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m saying there¡¯s absolutely nothing erotic about killing a bunch of people.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming frowned at that. ¡°Well, you have me there. As for the sect, they wouldn¡¯t do anything. I¡¯m not really one of them. I come and go as I please, which frustrates the elders to no end. As for my family, they would come looking for me, and it would be¡­tense when they finally caught up with us.¡±


    ¡°How tense?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Tenser than either of us would want to deal with.¡±


    Sen nodded. It wasn¡¯t exactly what he¡¯d expected, but he wasn¡¯t entirely surprised. He¡¯d thought that there was a high probability that someone would come looking for her.


    ¡°That¡¯s too bad,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°I do have a rope.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming looked at him blankly for a few seconds before she laughed. ¡°That¡¯s just mean.¡±

 V4 Chapter 6 – Karma

    Their first day at the sect was both calmer and more tedious than Sen had expected. He¡¯d planned for more than a little burning resentment from the water cultivators over his interference with their little war. In fact, he¡¯d expected a lot of that. Either those people had been ordered to stay away from him or there just hadn¡¯t been time for it to build up to the level that people were bursting with active hatred for him yet. That wasn¡¯t to say that it was nonexistent. He caught glares from a few people and one man stared at him with eyes that blazed with fury. Sen made a point to burn that face into his memory since he expected that guy was one who would do something stupid. That, in turn, would force Sen to do something dramatic and permanent. On the whole, though, the people seemed more stunned that he was there or even mildly grateful that he¡¯d done what he¡¯d done.


    Sen wished that he¡¯d had nobler reasons for what he¡¯d done, as he feared he was getting a kind of perceived credit for being better than he actually was. He hadn¡¯t put a stop to the battle for their sakes, not really. Oh, he had wanted to put a stop to killing and death because it was such a hideous waste. He¡¯d also wanted it to stop because an active battlefield was an ongoing threat to everyone on it, and he¡¯d been on it. In the end, though, it hadn¡¯t been especially heroic on his part. After all, he¡¯d threatened death on an even bigger scale if they didn¡¯t do what he told them to do. He certainly hadn¡¯t cared about all of those people individually, or been worried about their karma, or even especially worried about their souls. It had been a practical choice on his part, not a moral one.


    Then again, maybe that didn¡¯t matter to the people on the other end of that bargain he¡¯d shoved down everyone¡¯s throats. He supposed for the people who had been out there fighting, bleeding, and dying, why he¡¯d put a stop to it mattered a whole lot less than the fact that he¡¯d put a stop to it before they died. He knew from personal experience that unexpected improvements in your survival odds had a way of improving your opinion of others. For that matter, he wasn¡¯t even sure how much his intentions mattered to Karma in general. It was one of those topics that he¡¯d touched on briefly with Uncle Kho and meant to circle back to, but had never found the time.


    ¡°That¡¯s a terribly serious face,¡± said Chan Yu Ming.


    Sen looked up from the plate of food that he¡¯d been ignoring for at least ten minutes. ¡°Is it?¡±


    She nodded with a bemused look. ¡°Whatever could you have been thinking about to create such a frown.¡±


    ¡°Karma,¡± said Sen. ¡°I was wondering about how much intention matters to it.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming looked a little surprised at him. ¡°What an odd thing to not know.¡±


    ¡°Indeed, a very odd thing indeed for someone at your level of cultivation to be ignorant of,¡± said the elder sitting on his other side.


    Sen turned to look at the man. ¡°I didn¡¯t benefit from religious education as a child or any education for that matter. What education I did receive on the topic came around my other training. There were bound to be gaps. This is one of them.¡±


    The elder seemed taken aback, realizing that he had, however unintentionally, been insulting. ¡°My apologies. I suppose most of us do take that knowledge for granted.¡±


    Sen inclined his head to the elder. ¡°You couldn¡¯t have known.¡±


    ¡°The answer to your question is complicated. In fact, people have spent entire lifetimes on it. At the most basic level, though, your intentions are at the heart of your karma. Let us say that you are walking down the street and something distracts you. You bump into someone. They fall down and break their arm. You didn¡¯t intend to knock them over. You didn¡¯t intend to do anything to them. So, in that sense, you don¡¯t incur substantial karma.¡±


    Sen frowned. ¡°Substantial karma?¡±


    ¡°Harm was still done, so there is a karmic debt there. But, it¡¯s far less than if you had picked that person out of the crowd, targeted them, and pushed them over maliciously with the intent to do harm. If you do something like that, then you incur a much deeper karmic debt.¡±


    ¡°It gets even more complicated than that, though,¡± said a woman from across the table.


    Sen looked at her, she was a slender, pale woman with a heart-shaped face and inky black hair. He supposed she was what people meant when they said jade beauty.


    ¡°How so?¡± asked Sen, engaging for the first time with the people around him.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the original example. Let¡¯s say that you¡¯re distracted and you bump into someone. Instead of falling down, they drop the food they were carrying. On the surface, even less harm is done. It¡¯s simply food and easily replaced, correct?¡±


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    Sen frowned at that. He knew very well how hard food was to come by for some people. Still, he could tell that the woman was trying to make a point, so he played along.


    ¡°In theory,¡± he allowed.


    ¡°Now, what if that was all the food that person could afford for the week to keep herself and her children alive? If her baby then dies because they did not eat, your karmic debt is far, far deeper than it might otherwise have been.¡±


    Sen thought that over for a moment. ¡°You can¡¯t realistically expect to know things like that in every situation. How can you possibly judge the karmic consequences for actions under those conditions.¡±


    The woman smiled at him, and Sen felt his heart flutter a little bit. He felt a bit of abrupt sympathy for all of those blushing mortal girls he¡¯d encountered over the years. It must have shown on his face a little because Chan Yu Ming kicked his ankle hard enough to hurt.


    ¡°You can¡¯t know,¡± said the jade beauty, ¡°which is the point. There are some few who can actually see the web of karma around us and, with great effort and insight, influence it. For most of us, though, it¡¯s a mystery. The best we can do is to avoid intentionally doing harm and to put right those harms we do as best we can. However, even that is an imperfect solution. One can never truly avoid karmic entanglements, unless you become some kind of ascetic, shunning all contact with others.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a terribly empty life,¡± observed Sen.


    ¡°It is, and an impractical one for cultivators. Too much of what we learn, we learn through¡­experience,¡± she said, giving Sen a thoughtful look that made him unaccountably nervous. ¡°Although, even cultivators can benefit from periods of seclusion and solitary cultivation.¡±


    ¡°Liang Daiyu is, technically, correct,¡± said the man Sen was originally talking to, ¡°but she paints an unnecessarily bleak picture. Remember, intentions matter, not just consequences.¡±


    ¡°But can¡¯t you intend to do something good and still cause harm?¡± asked Sen. ¡°How does Karma account for that?¡±


    Liang Daiyu sat up a little straighter. ¡°That¡¯s an excellent question. And one without a straightforward answer. Obviously, it must account for such things, but there is no formula for understanding it. After all, none of us can truly know how good, how pure, our intentions are, so we can¡¯t determine how deep or shallow of a debt we incur when the intentions go wrong.¡±


    ¡°It almost sounds like the universe doesn¡¯t want us to know.¡±


    Liang Daiyu nodded. ¡°That is one theory. Another theory is that, with sufficient self-knowledge, one actually could gauge those debts.¡±


    ¡°Who could ever know themselves that well?¡± asked Chan Yu Ming. ¡°It sounds like it would take perfect self-knowledge to gauge one¡¯s karmic debts. Perfect self-knowledge sounds like the kind of thing that would trigger a kind of immediate transcendence.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps, but that¡¯s beyond the question of karma and intentions,¡± said Liang Daiyu. ¡°That¡¯s a matter of enlightenment.¡±


    ¡°So, are karma and enlightenment linked?¡± asked Sen.


    Liang Daiyu looked like she was going to speak, but Chan Yu Ming beat her to it. ¡°Yes. How could they not be?¡±


    ¡°I only have my own experiences to judge by,¡± said Sen. ¡°I can see how they might be linked, but I could just as easily see them being independent things.¡±


    ¡°Think of it this way. Karma will, in one way or another, influence the kinds of experiences you have, the people you meet, the situations you find yourself in. All of that will, in one way or another, drive the opportunities for enlightenment that you experience. Let¡¯s say, for example, that you¡¯re a wandering cultivator,¡± said Chan Yu Ming with a gleam in her eye.


    Sen didn¡¯t expect he¡¯d love where things were about to go, but he played along. ¡°Sure. Let¡¯s say that.¡±


    ¡°Now, if you¡¯re a normal wandering cultivator with basically neutral karma, the odds are good that you¡¯ll experience normal things. You have some fights, some you¡¯ll have good fortune, and you¡¯ll have some bad fortune. All very boring and mundane for a wandering cultivator. Now, let¡¯s say that you have extreme karma, good or bad, then you might find yourself in extraordinary situations. The kind of situations where you¡¯d, for example, expose a demonic cultivator cabal, or bless an entire village with miraculous healing, or drive back a beast tide, or¡­,¡±


    ¡°We understand,¡± said Sen, giving Chan Yu Ming a stern look. ¡°Your point?¡±


    Chan Yu Ming gave him a bright smile. ¡°The point is that extreme situations are going to give you very different opportunities for enlightenment than regular situations. The kinds of enlightenment you might receive in those extreme situations are potentially going to be more extraordinary simply because your experiences are so different. Hence, you cannot disconnect karma from enlightenment.¡±


    ¡°Crudely put,¡± said Liang Daiyu, drawing Sen¡¯s attention again, ¡°but she has the crux of the matter surrounded. You say that you¡¯ve experienced moments of enlightenment before. Do you recall how many?¡±


    Sen thought back about it. ¡°I don¡¯t know the exact number offhand. Maybe two dozen.¡±


    Silence fell all around the table, which made Sen glance around at the dumbstruck faces of the water cultivators around him. Liang Daiyu seemed to recover first.


    ¡°Two dozen? In how many years?¡±


    ¡°At this point, six or seven I guess.¡±


    Liang Daiyu¡¯s mouth worked a few times without any noises coming out. Chan Yu Ming was staring at him like he¡¯d casually announced that he was going to break through to the nascent soul stage in precisely three minutes and forty-seven seconds. The man who had originally answered his karma question broke the silence.


    ¡°You¡¯re averaging three to four moments of true enlightenment per year?¡±


    Sen found himself wishing that he¡¯d asked other people a lot more questions about their experiences with enlightenment. It had just never occurred to him to ask about how often they¡¯d had them. Still, he was already committed to answering. He nodded a little self-consciously.


    ¡°Um, yeah. Why? Is that not normal?¡±


    Then, everyone was yelling questions at him.

 V4 Chapter 7 – Illusion

    For the first minute or so, Sen tried to answer questions. Unfortunately, everyone was so busy yelling at him or each other that his attempts at answering went unheard. For the next minute or so, he just gave everyone a generally annoyed look. That didn¡¯t seem to dampen their enthusiasm at all. Sen¡¯s frustration swelled as they continued their verbal assault and he cycled up air qi. When it became clear that no one planned to stop anytime soon, Sen wove air qi through the entire room, stood abruptly, and spoke.


    ¡°Enough.¡±


    The air qi he¡¯d woven throughout the room amplified his voice so much that it shook tables, not to mention rib cages, and brought the entire room to silence. He looked around at the stunned group of water cultivators. They seemed to realize what they had been doing and a few even had the wherewithal to look embarrassed. The rest, however, looked like they planned to pick up right where they left off if at a lower volume. Sen had no interest in that. He gave the room a bow.


    ¡°Thank you for the meal and the interesting conversation,¡± he said.


    Then, with a burst of his qinggong technique, he was out of the room, down the hallway, and out the nearest door to the outside. It was late evening by then, so most of the sect members were holed up inside by then, which Sen saw as a small blessing. He¡¯d had enough of other people for a while. Unfortunately, he also didn¡¯t know the layout of the sect very well. That made finding a place to be alone a bit more. He wandered around for a bit, offering casual greetings to the handful of people who greeted him first. Eventually, he found himself out of a small walled-off area in the middle of the compound. He recalled that Chan Yu Ming had pointed it out and said something about the spring the sect was named for being in there. Shrugging to himself, Sen walked around the wall looking for a door or an entrance. He didn¡¯t find one.


    That struck Sen as very odd. He could understand why the sect might want to limit how exposure the spring got to the outside world, but cutting it off completely seemed like overkill to him. He supposed he could just fly over the wall. That would be a little ostentatious. Although, he supposed that would be one way to limit easy access to those who were core formation and above. He expected that only upper-tier inner sect members and elders could pull it off with ease. Still, he suspected that there was some other ploy at work. He walked another circuit around the wall, letting his hand trail against the rock. He let a bit of earth qi sink into the wall and had it follow him as he walked. If the wall really was solid, his earth qi shouldn¡¯t disrupt it at all. He felt it the moment his earth qi slapped up against water qi. He stopped and considered the spot in the wall where he felt water qi. It looked like stone. It felt like stone. Yet, he was confident that his qi wasn¡¯t deceiving him. If so, then that was a kind of illusion he¡¯d never seen or heard about. He was impressed with how completely it mimicked the appearance of the rest of the wall.


    He thought about it for a moment. This had to be some kind of test for the water cultivators. Given the illusion felt solid to his hand, he didn¡¯t think he could simply walk through it. That was too simple if this was meant as a test for advanced cultivators. No, he suspected that he would need to manipulate the water qi. He sat down by the wall and cycled for water qi. He let tendrils of that water qi explore the boundaries of the illusion. There was an arched opening hiding behind it that would get him access to the clear spring itself. That left the question of how best to deal with the illusion. He was a guest here, so he didn¡¯t think they¡¯d appreciate him damaging their carefully constructed test. Nor did he think that a brute force approach was the intent of the illusion. The illusion was no doubt designed to test someone¡¯s ability to manipulate water.


    He understood at least some of what was happening with the illusion. He had experience hardening water with his own techniques, so he knew that it could be done. He¡¯d just never expected anyone to do anything with this level of permanence or detail. It was one thing to harden an edge. It was another thing entirely, probably a whole order of magnitude more difficult, to shape and harden water into something that felt like stone. Of course, he didn¡¯t need to replicate the complexity. This was a master-level work, so master water cultivators would maintain it. The part he didn¡¯t understand was the illusion. Making the water feel like stone was accomplishment enough, but making it look like stone? How? The longer Sen sat there, the deeper his concentration grew.


    He spent hours exploring the illusion, and then those hours turned into days. He was vaguely aware that people came and went around him. He dimly perceived that people spoke to him, a few jeered at him, but he didn¡¯t react. He was too deep inside his own concentration. After three days of focused attention, the answer finally became apparent to him. He¡¯d figured out how to pass through the illusion after the first few hours, but he didn¡¯t care as much about that. With little to no training in illusions, this was a golden opportunity to study how one kind of illusion worked while not under stress or duress. Sen didn¡¯t fully understand the mechanics of the technique, but he worked out that the water was capturing and reflecting light in some way. He expected that there was probably some bit of enlightenment he hadn¡¯t gained about water qi and water cultivation that would make that part clear. Still, he understood the illusion well enough now that he thought he¡¯d be able to spot a similar illusion in the future without much effort. Satisfied with his efforts, he finally stood up.


    ¡°Finally ready to admit defeat,¡± said someone from behind him.


    Sen looked over his shoulder and saw the same man who¡¯d been glaring with hateful eyes when Sen¡¯s group had arrived. The man had a sneer of utter contempt on his face. Sen wondered at the fact that the water cultivator had been so consumed with trying to get some reaction out of him that he had seemingly ignored any and all other responsibilities. With his attention no longer being almost wholly consumed with the study of the illusion, Sen had time to review some of what had been said to him during the last three days. This man had been particularly obnoxious, if not very original, in his insults. Sen considered the man for a moment.


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    ¡°If your insults weren¡¯t as weak and trivial as your cultivation, I might be forced to do something about them,¡± observed Sen.


    The water cultivator¡¯s face went red with rage as nearby people laughed at him. Before the angry man could think of something to say, Sen turned and, to any outside observer, appeared to walk straight through a solid rock wall. Sen heard gasps from some of the nearby people, and the despairing scream from the angry water cultivator.


    ¡°No!¡±


    There was an impact and a cry of pain as the man threw himself against the stone-hard illusion Sen had so casually walked through. What a fool, thought Sen. If he¡¯d spent all that time and energy on studying the illusion instead of insulting me, he might have figured it out for himself. Sen could hear a rhythmic sort of pounding as the furious water cultivator beat on the outside of the illusion. Sen ignored the noise and the man making it. If that guy didn¡¯t have the sense to take advantage of all the information Sen had provided, such as the exact location of the illusion, and the fact that it took water qi to pierce it, there was probably nothing that would help him save a lot of time. A slap or ten to the back of his head might save his life, though, thought Sen. Turning his attention forward, Sen walked through an impossibly long tunnel. The tunnel was longer than the walls could possibly contain. Sen thought it was interesting that some kind of spatial manipulation was happening because that was well outside the domain of water cultivation. He wondered if the sect had changed over the long years since it was founded. He would have liked to study it, but he didn¡¯t even have the rudimentary understanding necessary to glean anything of use.


    After nearly ten minutes of walking, Sen finally emerged from the tunnel into a brightly lit expanse of meticulously tended grass and flower gardens. For a moment, he thought he might be in the middle of another illusion, but a quick examination with his earth, wood, and water qi revealed that where he was standing, it was all quite real. Sen found himself glad that he hadn¡¯t simply tried to fly over the wall. He was willing to bet that there was a deeply unpleasant surprise waiting for any water cultivator who thought they could skip over the work of finding their way through the door. After taking a moment to examine his surroundings, the alchemist in Sen started frothing at the mouth in naked greed. Nearly everything in the gardens was useful in alchemy in one way or another, assuming you needed water-attributed ingredients. Sen¡¯s hands twitched toward a flower before he stilled them. He wasn¡¯t there to steal from this sect. He was there to see the spring.


    Sen walked through the gardens for several hours -- constantly reminding himself that the plants weren¡¯t there for him to harvest -- before he finally found the spring. It was massive. More like a large pond or small lake than what Sen typically thought of as a spring. It was also impossibly clear. He could see every rock and plant at the bottom of the spring. Most of all, he felt the qi of the spring. He hadn¡¯t felt such intense levels of water qi since he was on the ocean. Yet, this qi was different, cleaner somehow, and he could swear that there was a kind of sentience at work. He couldn¡¯t tell if there was something living in the spring, or if the spring itself had experienced some kind of an advancement. He wasn¡¯t even sure if an advancement like that could happen. Spirit beasts advanced, so maybe springs could.


    ¡°Impressive, is it not?¡± asked someone who had stepped up beside Sen.


    ¡°Yes,¡± answered Sen absently. ¡°It¡¯s very impressive.¡±


    ¡°Almost as impressive as your own performance,¡± said the man.


    Sen finally turned a suspicious eye on the man. He was a short man with a shaved head, some obvious lines around his eyes and mouth, and Sen couldn¡¯t sense anything from him. The deeply suspicious part of Sen drew an immediate conclusion.


    He offered the man a bow. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you, patriarch.¡±


    The older cultivator smiled at Sen like he¡¯d been caught out in a little prank. ¡°It¡¯s interesting to meet you, Lu Sen. Or, is it Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡±


    Sen winced. ¡°Lu Sen is fine.¡±


    ¡°Very interesting. So, you draw a distinction? You don¡¯t see yourself as this Judgement¡¯s Gale character?¡±


    ¡°Not all the time, certainly. That name, that man, is a story that¡¯s mostly been made up by other people. You can¡¯t live up to other people¡¯s expectations all the time.¡±


    ¡°Very true. Still, some of it must be true. Very few people pass the tests.¡±


    ¡°Tests? Plural?¡±


    ¡°Oh yes. The door is the first test. The gardens are the second test. Anyone who knows anything about plants, and you most certainly do if the stories of your alchemy are at all accurate, would find those gardens almost irresistible.¡±


    Sen shrugged and admitted, ¡°I was tempted.¡±


    ¡°But you didn¡¯t take anything. Why?¡±


    ¡°None of this is mine. These aren¡¯t the wilds where you can take what you wish if you have the skills to get it and the means to keep it.¡±


    ¡°One might argue that our sect owes you a rather substantial gift of medicinal plants and alchemical reagents for your services after the battle.¡±


    ¡°One might,¡± said Sen, ¡°and I¡¯ll gladly take anything you choose to give me. But it isn¡¯t up to me to decide what those gifts should be. It most certainly isn¡¯t for me to steal those things from this place.¡±


    The patriarch nodded in approval. ¡°So, you¡¯ve simply come to abduct the lovely Chan Yu Ming and be on your way?¡±


    Sen¡¯s jaw dropped for a moment before he stuttered, ¡°No, I, of course not.¡±


    The patriarch let out a gentle laugh and patted Sen¡¯s arm. ¡°I know. You¡¯ll have to forgive me. My position doesn¡¯t allow me to play jokes very often.¡±


    A wave of relief passed through Sen. ¡°Of course, patriarch. But, how did you even know about that?¡±


    ¡°She might have made a few indiscreet comments where she shouldn¡¯t have,¡± observed the patriarch with a bemused expression. ¡°She seems rather taken with you.¡±


    ¡°I suppose she is.¡±


    ¡°And what about you?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m rather taken with me as well.¡±


    The patriarch snorted. ¡°Well played. It¡¯s none of my business, really. Still, getting involved with her will inevitably mean getting involved with her family. That¡¯s a complicated matter at the best of times.¡±


    Sen frowned. ¡°She hasn¡¯t told me much about them. Just some implications that they¡¯re powerful or important somehow.¡±


    ¡°They are, but I won¡¯t speak of them beyond that. Those are her secrets to share, not mine. So, if you¡¯re not here for her, what has brought you here?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m seeking a manual.¡±


    ¡°We have many manuals.¡±


    ¡°This one is special, rare. The Five-Fold Body Transformation manual.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said the patriarch, looking startled. ¡°I see. Hmmmm. Well, that is complicated.¡±


    Sen felt his shoulders slump. ¡°You don¡¯t have it.¡±


    ¡°We do have it,¡± admitted the patriarch. ¡°We just don¡¯t have access to it.¡±

 V4 Chapter 8 – Sealed

    Sen tried to make sense of the patriarch¡¯s words. How can they have it, but not have access to it, he wondered. His mind tried to come up with scenarios that might provide sense to the words, but he didn¡¯t have much luck. The few things he did come up with were, even on casual inspection, absurd. Accepting that he wasn¡¯t going to get anywhere without more information, he eyed the patriarch. The older cultivator was frowning out over the spring.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, patriarch,¡± said Sen, ¡°I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    ¡°You strike me as a bright enough boy. Didn¡¯t you wonder how a sect of water cultivators managed such a complex spatial treasure?¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°I did wonder. I suppose I just assumed that you hired a specialist,¡± he paused and looked around, ¡°or maybe a sect of specialists to do it for you.¡±


    The patriarch laughed a little. ¡°A reasonable supposition, but no. Long before my time, all of this belonged to one cultivator. She was a specialist, well, the phrase unparalleled genius is probably a better description, in spatial constructions. Our sect took this place over after her death.¡±


    Sen frowned hard at that description. ¡°Your sect didn¡¯t help her along to that death, did you?¡±


    ¡°Rather an impolite question, don¡¯t you think?¡±


    ¡°Your sect members were assaulting those fire cultivators over exactly nothing, as near as I could tell. So, no, the question doesn¡¯t seem especially impolite to me.¡±


    The patriarch frowned but nodded. ¡°Given your experience, I suppose it was a logical question. We didn¡¯t kill her. She died fighting another cultivator. Some kind of rival, if our records are at all accurate. They killed each other. Mind you, this is all practically a legend even for us.¡±


    ¡°How long ago are we talking?¡±


    ¡°Twenty thousand years? More? Long enough ago that we can¡¯t be certain that we even understand the calendar our own progenitors were using.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough and, I¡¯ll admit, interesting. I¡¯m just not sure I see the relevance.¡±


    ¡°Space and time are inextricably linked. If someone works with spatial qi and spatial formations, they are almost always well-versed in time-related matters as well. Among the various things we inherited from her were several time treasures.¡±


    ¡°Time treasures?¡± asked Sen with a bit of awe in his voice.


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t sound so impressed. One of those storage rings of yours is technically a time treasure. How do you think it manages to keep things fresh or alive? It slows down the passage of time inside the ring.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Exactly. It¡¯s always less impressive when you realize that they¡¯re relatively common. Except, in this case, we come back to that unparalleled genius part. One of the time treasures we have is room, a pocket dimension, none of us really understands it, but it essentially speeds up time for whoever is inside of it.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t have to think very hard to imagine all of the ways that something like that would be useful to cultivators. He could have gotten in twice as much practice, or five times as much practice, in the same amount of time in the outside world. With the right resources on hand, you could jump from an initial core formation cultivator to a peak core cultivator in a matter of years. However, if they had such a thing, why wasn¡¯t the Clear Spring sect absolutely overflowing with powerful core formation cultivators or even nascent soul cultivators?


    ¡°I notice a distinct lack of peak core formation cultivators in your ranks, so I have to assume that the treasure isn¡¯t as great as it sounds on the surface,¡± observed Sen.


    ¡°Young man, I think that you drastically underestimate the talent required to reach peak core cultivation. It¡¯s not just a matter of having the right natural treasures on hand. Those can only push you so far. Do you think so many people bottleneck because sects want low-powered cultivators on the rolls?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen. ¡°I think that¡¯s exactly what happens.¡±


    The patriarch gave Sen a stunned look. ¡°If you believe that, then someone has told you lies, or you¡¯ve been particularly unlucky in your experiences with sects.¡±


    ¡°Really? Just with what you have in these gardens, I could probably personally advance most of your sect by as much as half a major stage of advancement. Some of them, I could move an entire stage. I could probably start most of your qi-condensing cultivators on a road to body cultivation as well. Yet, here these natural treasures sit, unused, unharvested. But, sects fight, and fights do need bodies. Expendable bodies, most of all, and who could be more expendable than hundreds of qi-condensing cultivators.¡±


    For a moment, Sen thought that the patriarch was going to strike him down, then and there, as a look of cold anger crossed the man¡¯s face. Then, the older cultivator visibly forced that anger under control.


    ¡°So, you believe that sects intentionally withhold cultivation materials to keep people trapped at lower levels of advancement. All so they¡¯ll have bodies to throw at their enemies.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the only reason sects do it, but I¡¯d be willing to bet it¡¯s one of them. Then, there¡¯s just plain old human favoritism. Do you honestly expect me to believe that you and your elders don¡¯t pick favorites and funnel opportunities and resources to them?¡±


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    The patriarch looked like he very much wanted to protest, but he just shook his head in the end. ¡°No, I don¡¯t expect you to believe that. You have, however, credited me with a callousness that I do not possess. I have no desire to see the youngest members of this sect killed in useless conflicts with other sects. I certainly wouldn¡¯t condone intentionally slowing their progress just to use them for that purpose. Sects can be impersonal, but most of them aren¡¯t heartless or mindlessly cruel.¡±


    ¡°That has not been my experience.¡±


    ¡°Then, what has been your experience?¡±


    Sen gave the patriarch a searching look. ¡°Do you really want to know?¡±


    ¡°I do.¡±


    ¡°In that case, my experience is that sects are arrogant, malicious, and only care about what benefits the sect, unless they¡¯re pushed into a very tiny corner.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t believe sects do any purposeful good?¡±


    ¡°No. I think whatever good they do is either incidental or designed to benefit themselves more than it benefits anyone else.¡±


    ¡°By that reasoning, why would we help you?¡±


    ¡°Because you want me to leave.¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be easier to simply kill you?¡±


    ¡°You might find it easy enough to kill me, but I doubt anyone else in your sect would. And, I suspect, you know what would happen afterward.¡±


    ¡°That much is true. Killing you would doom this entire sect. Still, it¡¯s very obvious to me that you¡¯ve only ever dealt with sects from the outside.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d contend that¡¯s where you get the clearest picture of a thing.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps, but there is also much you do not see from the outside. You say that you could likely advance nearly the entire sect with the treasures found in these gardens. Yet, you overlooked a few things in that assertion.¡±


    Sen had grown weary of the discussion, but he did want something from these people. So, he played along. ¡°What are those things?¡±


    ¡°For one, you overlook the question of talent. Regardless of how you may view yourself, I have it on the authority of people I have learned to trust that your alchemical talents are unique.¡±


    Sen tried to brush that off. ¡°I¡¯m not that special.¡±


    ¡°Even I can see that you don¡¯t believe that, as much as you might want to. Yet, it seems that it has truly never occurred to you that other alchemists simply cannot do what you find so simple. Our alchemists are very talented and very well trained, but even they would struggle to convert much of what is in these gardens into something useful. I wonder, is there anything in range of your senses here that you couldn¡¯t find a use for, right now?¡±


    Sen let his senses sweep the surrounding area, soaking up information about the many potent medicinal plants and herbs in the area. He ran across a few things that left him uncertain. So, he pointed them out.


    ¡°I¡¯m not saying they can¡¯t be used, but I¡¯d need to study them more before I¡¯d want to try it.¡±


    The patriarch nodded. Apparently, he¡¯d expected that answer from Sen.


    ¡°The other thing you overlooked is readiness. Just because someone can advance, it¡¯s not a foregone conclusion that they should advance.¡±


    ¡°That sounds a lot like a justification for playing favorites.¡±


    ¡°It is, sometimes, but it doesn¡¯t make it any less true. Take that foolish boy who tried to pick a fight with you outside. Could you help him advance?¡±


    Sen hadn¡¯t studied the boy all that closely, but Sen reluctantly nodded. ¡°Yes, I could.¡±


    ¡°Should you?¡±


    That brought Sen up short. It had been easy to make his case when he was talking in generalities. Applied to that specific case, though, Sen had a hard time convincing himself about that particular guy. In fact, he thought that more power was probably the very worst thing that could happen to that boy for a lot of reasons.


    ¡°No,¡± sighed Sen. ¡°He¡¯s already got all the makings of a bully. He probably is one to his juniors. Giving him more power would just make the problem worse.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. We¡¯ve intentionally slowed his progress in the hopes that he¡¯ll learn some compassion, if not some humility.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t bother,¡± said Sen without thinking.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Bullies like being bullies. They like holding power over other people. They don¡¯t want to change. No amount of time will fix that.¡±


    ¡°Alright, then. Imagine that you¡¯re a sect elder. How would you handle it?¡±


    ¡°Kill him. Barring that. Break his cultivation and cast him out.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t strike you as unnecessarily harsh, callous even?¡±


    Sen snorted. ¡°It¡¯s clear that no one has bullied you in a long time, or you wouldn¡¯t have asked me that.¡±


    ¡°A fair point. I would ask that you please refrain from killing him.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°What?¡± demanded the patriarch, losing some of his friendliness.


    ¡°I said no. I won¡¯t seek him out. But if he comes looking for me the way that you know he¡¯s going to do, I¡¯m not going to let him off with a warning. Because we both know that won¡¯t be the end of it. If he can¡¯t kill me in a straight fight, he¡¯ll try to ambush me somewhere, or poison me, or send someone else to do it. That is his nature. You only have to take one look at him to see the hate burning in his heart. I have no reason to invite all of those future headaches because he¡¯s, what, the son of someone important?¡±


    ¡°Something like that,¡± admitted the patriarch, before he very obviously changed the subject. ¡°It seems we have rather drifted off of the subject of the manual you want.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°You said something about a time treasure. I assume that¡¯s related.¡±


    ¡°It is. The reason we can¡¯t access the manual is because one of our elders was attempting the method. They took the manual into the time treasure with them. I didn¡¯t object because very few people are willing to attempt the Five-Fold Body Transformation, so it wasn¡¯t as though the manual was in particular demand. Also, the time treasure is in the sect.¡±


    ¡°I still don¡¯t see the problem. Just send someone in to get the manual. I don¡¯t need it forever. I don¡¯t even need the original. A copy would be enough for my needs.¡±


    ¡°Honestly, I would have let you have the manual. It¡¯s not something that I want to encourage people to try. The problem is that we can¡¯t enter the time treasure. It¡¯s been sealed, somehow, from the inside.¡±


    Sen felt the sting of his own ignorance. ¡°What does that mean, in practical terms?¡±


    ¡°It means we can¡¯t even see how it was sealed, so we have no idea how to break the seal. The only other option is to find someone with the right knowledge of time and space techniques.¡±


    ¡°Where do I find someone like that?¡± Sen asked.


    If he could get an expert, then he could get at the manual. That sounded a lot easier than trying to negotiate with some sect in the capital.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. We¡¯ve had nearly a dozen people in to examine the treasure, the best and most experienced time and space cultivators this side of the Mountains of Sorrow. They don¡¯t know how to get into it either. There may be some hidden master out there, or someone beyond the mountains with the right knowledge, but I don¡¯t know how to find the former, and negotiating with the latter is a time-consuming process given the distances involved.¡±


    Sen felt his hopes collapse. He doubted he¡¯d have much better luck than the patriarch. He could, of course, send a letter back to Master Feng, Uncle Kho, and Auntie Caihong. They might know about someone that the patriarch didn¡¯t, but he couldn¡¯t wait around for their answer. He didn¡¯t have that kind of time. It was made all the more frustrating because the manual was actually there, at the sect, but it might as well be at the bottom of the ocean. Much as he wanted to avoid the capital and all of the frustrating nonsense that would be waiting for him there, that was where he was going.

 V4 Chapter 9 – Good for More than One Thing

    Sen considered everything that had just happened, nodded to the patriarch, and turned to walk away.


    ¡°Is that it?¡± asked the patriarch. ¡°No questions? No demands?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have what I need, no way to give it to me, or no intention of giving it to me. Regardless of the reason, my business here is done,¡± said Sen. ¡°I don¡¯t have the interest or the time to waste on figuring out which reason it is.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a core cultivator. You have nothing but time. Besides, simply because we don¡¯t have what you came for, it doesn¡¯t mean there is nothing here that you need.¡±


    Sen hesitated at that, his eyes flickering to the spring. The longer he¡¯d been there, the more certain he¡¯d become that the spring was alive. Not merely in the sense that life pervaded all nature, but in the singular, self-aware sense. He was deeply, terribly curious about that spring, but he¡¯d already wasted days learning about the water illusion. It had been a self-indulgence, although one with some practical applications, but he couldn¡¯t afford those kinds of distractions anymore. Sen shook his head.


    ¡°Other core cultivators may have nothing but time, but I do not.¡±


    The patriarch gave Sen a searching look then. Then, the older cultivator¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°Oh, I see. You don¡¯t just want the manual. You literally need the manual. I don¡¯t understand, though. How did you end up on the path of the Five-Fold Body Transformation without the manual in the first place? It¡¯s not the kind of thing that people stumble onto by accident.¡±


    ¡°I had an encounter with a divine turtle. He,¡± Sen considered how best to describe the encounter, ¡°nudged me in that direction with some very specific advice about an elixir I was making. He gave me the name of the method, and not much else. I don¡¯t suppose you read the manual or know of anyone else in the sect that did?¡±


    ¡°I did not. Body cultivation wasn¡¯t an interest of mine when I was young enough for it to matter. By the time I really understood the advantages, well, it was too late to glean much benefit from it. Qi reinforcement helps me achieve some of the same results, if only temporarily. As for anyone else, it¡¯s a body cultivation method with a very specific reputation for killing people. Not the sort of thing that piques most people¡¯s interest.¡±


    Sen sighed, nodded, and cast one last look at the spring. He so badly wanted to stay and examine that spring. I wonder if I could talk to it, thought Sen. The patriarch¡¯s eyes tracked Sen¡¯s gaze.


    ¡°You can feel it, can¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Patriarch?¡±


    ¡°You can tell that the spring is alive and sentient. I can see it on your face. Take a day, just one day, and spend it here. You may discover something else that you need. Something to help with that anger I can see inside of you.¡±


    Sen jerked at that. ¡°Is it so obvious?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a very old man who has spent most of his life dealing with younger cultivators. You¡¯re clearly working very, very hard to contain it. Still, it¡¯s hard to keep things like that hidden from someone like me. After you¡¯ve seen a few hundred angry young cultivators, the signs aren¡¯t difficult to pick out.¡±


    The part of Sen that was deeply mistrustful of sects narrowed his eyes at the patriarch. ¡°Why? Why encourage me to stay? You don¡¯t really want me here.¡±


    ¡°An angry, sect-hating, core cultivator that very clearly punches above his cultivation level? Why in the world wouldn¡¯t I want someone like that hanging around in our most sacred place?¡±


    Sen blinked a few times. ¡°I think you just made my point for me.¡±


    ¡°No. All of that is, believe it or not, besides the point. I¡¯ve seen angry young cultivators before. More importantly, I¡¯ve seen what angry young cultivators turn into when they don¡¯t find ways to cope with that anger. You possess a frankly frightening amount of power already. If you do succeed in finding a copy of that manual, and I strongly suspect you¡¯ll find a way to make it happen, you¡¯ll become even more powerful. That kind of anger and that kind of power are a recipe for terrible things.¡±


    Sen hadn¡¯t thought about it in quite those terms before, but the patriarch had given voice to Sen¡¯s own deepest fears about his anger. Yet, that perceptiveness alone didn¡¯t account for the patriarch encouraging Sen to stay. Sure, he might become a danger someday, but it wasn¡¯t even close to a foregone conclusion that he¡¯d come back to the Clear Spring sect looking for some long-delayed and nebulous payback. In fact, the odds were against it. With the way he accumulated problems and enemies, he''d likely have far more pressing problems down the road than making an example of a sect that had, in the end, not done anything to him.


    ¡°It still doesn¡¯t explain why. I¡¯m not a disciple here. You¡¯ll probably never even see me again.¡±


    ¡°Is it really so hard to imagine that I just see a young man who is struggling and wish to help? It¡¯s not as though it¡¯s the first time that happened to you, is it?¡±


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    Sen opened his mouth to say something he¡¯d probably regret, then forcibly made himself shut up and just think for a second. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time a nascent soul cultivator went out of their way to help him. He just didn¡¯t expect it from a sect patriarch. The patriarch clearly read the wariness on Sen¡¯s face, so he continued.


    ¡°The other thing that being very old and very experienced teaches you is how to spot the people who will make it. While ascension is always a gamble, I can usually tell who will make it to core formation and who will break into the nascent soul stage. Assuming that you don¡¯t get yourself killed or your body cultivation method doesn¡¯t do you in, you will become a nascent soul cultivator. If you¡¯re looking for a self-interested reason from me, perhaps I¡¯d prefer it if you had some reason to think kindly of us when you reach that threshold.¡±


    That was exactly the kind of pragmatic thinking that Sen expected from a sect, but he had the distinct impression that the patriarch had made it up on the spot. He¡¯s giving me a reason I¡¯ll accept, thought Sen. Sen found himself once again staring at the spring. It¡¯s just a day, Sen justified to himself. I¡¯m in a hurry, but I can spare one day. Especially if it will help me get this anger even a little more under control. Sen decided that the patriarch¡¯s motives didn¡¯t matter. Maybe he was just someone trying to do something kind for Sen. Maybe he felt like the sect owed Sen something stopping the fighting or helping out after. Maybe it was just some kind of consolation prize since the manual Sen wanted was out of reach. Sen nodded.


    ¡°All right. I suppose one day won¡¯t hurt.¡±


    The patriarch looked both pleased and a little relieved at Sen¡¯s words. The older cultivator gestured that Sen should join him. The two men walked along the edge of the spring in silence for a time. The patriarch looked over Sen and, after a moment of thought, he asked a question.


    ¡°You cultivate more than one kind of qi?¡±


    ¡°I do.¡±


    ¡°What do you do with them? What kind of techniques do you use?¡±


    Sen frowned at the question. He wasn¡¯t sure he even understood what the patriarch was getting at.


    ¡°I defend myself,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°So, combat techniques?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Nothing else?¡±


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s the alchemy. I use qi for that.¡±


    ¡°Ah, of course. I meant techniques that you control directly.¡±


    Sen thought it over. ¡°I made a house once.¡±


    The patriarch stumbled at that. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Did you say you made a house?¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°Yeah, it took a lot of earth qi, but I made a house. It had rooms and furniture, even a well.¡±


    ¡°Anything else?¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°Not really.¡±


    ¡°So, you never try to use your qi to create?¡±


    ¡°Create what?¡±


    ¡°Beauty,¡± said the patriarch. ¡°We all learn to fight. We must, but there¡¯s more to life than violence. Qi has more than one use.¡±


    With that, the patriarch gestured at the spring, and Sen felt the surge of water qi from the man. Sen braced himself for the attack, but it never came. Instead, water flowed out of the spring and floated over the patriarch¡¯s hand. As Sen watched, the water swiftly reshaped itself into the shape of a blooming rose. Then, it changed into a tiny, translucent horse that appeared to gallop on the patriarch¡¯s hand. Then, it was a falcon that swooped and dove around the patriarch. Sen was amazed that he could pick out individual feathers on the falcon¡¯s watery body. The patriarch made a gentle gesture and the water returned to the spring. Sen was stunned at the patriarch¡¯s casual mastery over water, but equally stunned that it had never occurred to him to try to make anything other than that house with qi. Sen knew he wasn¡¯t particularly artistic, but it could have been a hobby, a way to give his mind a break. And he¡¯d never thought of it. Sen offered the patriarch a bow.


    ¡°Your mastery is extraordinary,¡± said Sen, not knowing what else to say.


    ¡°You can get good at anything if you practice it for a thousand years,¡± said the patriarch with a smile. ¡°Although, that wasn¡¯t really the point.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°I think I understood.¡±


    ¡°Good. Here we are,¡± said the patriarch.


    Sen looked around, but it was just a patch of ground more or less identical to all of the other ground they¡¯d walked over to get to the spot. He lifted an eyebrow at the patriarch, who just gave Sen an amused, benign smile.


    ¡°I¡¯ve found that contemplation in this spot has the best results,¡± offered the patriarch.


    Sen sighed a little inside at the cryptic words, but he doubted the older cultivator had brought him to that exact spot as a joke. Sen settled on the ground. The patriarch looked out over the spring. The patriarch looked conflicted for a moment before he shook his head and turned his attention back to Sen.


    ¡°I hope your time here will be as beneficial for you as it has been for me over the years.¡±


    With that, the patriarch walked away, leaving Sen alone with the crystal-clear water of the spring and his own thoughts. As eager as Sen had been to examine the spring, he found himself hesitating now that he was on the cusp of it. It was one thing to believe that the spring was sentient and capable of communicating. It was something else to actually try to do it. Rather than jump right in, Sen let his mind drift back to his time on the mountain. He recalled the days when he''d been trying to understand why different kinds of qi appeared in different places. There had been a moment when Sen had felt something, something just beyond his reach, a kind of active force at work in the world. Sen let himself breathe, slow, controlled breaths. He didn¡¯t look for the life in the water. Instead, he looked for that force he¡¯d so briefly brushed against on the mountain. He couldn¡¯t even explain to himself why he was doing that, except that he had an intuition that he should, that he¡¯d learn something if he did it in this place.


    At first, he struggled to remember how he¡¯d done it that first time. He tried to remember what he¡¯d been thinking and how it had felt. He¡¯d come so far since then, learned so much, but all of that accumulated experience was of limited value. After all, he hadn¡¯t really been trying to do anything back then. He¡¯d just been looking and exploring. He¡¯d had a sense of wonder about the world then that had slowly been eaten away by killing, death, and fear. He searched inside himself, questing for that sense of wonder that he¡¯d once had in such abundance. It was still there, still inside him, but buried deep, so much deeper than he would have expected. It was a miracle that it hadn¡¯t been snuffed out completely.


    He let that sense of wonder breathe, let it draw strength from him, let it fill him as it once had. And then, as it had done once before, the world revealed itself to him.

 V4 Chapter 10 – Will and Water

    Sen had been through a lot in his time off the mountain. Enough that it was easy for him to forget that he¡¯d seen very little of the world. For all the intensity of his experiences, though, they were limited in scope. As a veil was pulled back before him, Sen was given an acute reminder that he was very, very young. He didn¡¯t see anything, at least nothing that he could recall later, but rather he felt something. It was a presence, something so vast that it reduced the unleashed presence of a nascent soul cultivator to nothing. Yet, so very unlike the presence of those often-terrible elder cultivators, this presence wasn¡¯t harsh, oppressive, or crushing. It didn¡¯t need to be. It was old, so old, so far beyond ancient that Sen could sense that it didn¡¯t have secrets as he understood the term. To something as young as him, all of its shallowest knowledge was transcendent beyond the scope of human comprehension and its wisdom fell beyond the dreams of devils.


    Sen trembled in naked fear before this presence, fearing he had transgressed across some indelible line in the universe, that he had wandered in his childlike innocence into a place where only gods should tread. Yet, the punishment he expected never came. That vast will was aware of him. Sen was certain of that much. Yet, it paid him scant attention. I¡¯m such a tiny thing, Sen thought. Why would it care? When the initial panic left him, Sen found himself trying to understand what this thing could be. For a time, he just observed in whatever way the knowledge was being carried to him. There wasn¡¯t motion, precisely, but that will did act. He could feel its tendrils stretching out across the face of the world, moving qi, moving mountains, moving people, and, in another panic-inducing moment, Sen realized it had been moving him. Its touch was gentle, but behind that surface gentility there was an obdurate strength that would challenge the ravages of time, challenge the destruction of the void, and persevere in the face of all threats.


    Is this the will of the world, wondered Sen. Yet, even that seemed insufficient a description. This was more than the world, more the sun and the moon, this was the will of something deeper, something more profound. For a brief moment, Sen sensed the size of it, sensed just how far its reach truly extended, and his mind recoiled in simple horror. It was too much, far too much, for his mind to understand or even want to understand. Sen retreated out of deeply rooted concern for his own sanity. That single touch, brief as it had been, had very nearly been more than he could bear. He still felt parts of his mind shrieking and wailing, strained by merely brushing against that awful expanse. He pulled himself close, tightened his will and discipline around his own mind, and commanded calm where chaos reigned.


    It was a slow process, but this was something he had practice doing. He knew how to endure pain and assert his will over it. Bit by bit, he pitted his will against the insanity that gnawed at the edges of his consciousness. Inch by agonizing inch, he clawed those wayward pieces of his mind back into place. A sarcastic little piece of him that wasn¡¯t even trying to be helpful observed that people wouldn¡¯t think he was such a genius if they could see him now. What kind of fool encountered something that vast and went sightseeing? It would serve him right if he went insane after a stunt like that. Yet, despite that naysaying part of his soul, Sen understood that he was being given some kind of opportunity. There was wisdom to find in this moment if he could locate it.


    Sen tried posing questions to that vast will but received no answers. He wasn¡¯t disappointed. He suspected that any answer he got would likely be so profound that it would crack his sanity like a fragile eggshell. Then, he invited that will to show him what it would, and nothing happened. Sen considered the problem. Was he missing the obvious? Sen suspected he was. Maybe the opportunity was right in front of him. He was getting to see how something far beyond the concerns of cultivators managed power and will. So, Sen simply watched for a time. At first, it just looked like chaos to him. There was so much happening. He tried focusing in, but that only made the chaos worse. He couldn¡¯t see how things connected. With that failure out of the way, he tried pulling back and getting a broader picture.


    That was when things began to make sense. He didn¡¯t understand all of what he was seeing, that was beyond him, but he understood pieces. He began to see that his sense of how qi should work was simplistic in the extreme. He watched as that will encouraged wind qi to gather in a secluded spot on a mountain. Taken in isolation, it seemed random. Yet, he could sense how that extra bit of qi in that exact spot provided a balance to a dense spot of earth qi hundreds of miles away in a parched place he assumed was a desert. That earth qi was there to help balance out an especially thick concentration of fire qi in an all-too-familiar valley. And all of those individual spots of qi made the sentient spring he was sitting next to possible. Yet, even that was in the service of creating what Sen was able to recognize as a natural formation that would help to stave off¡­something.


    When Sen tried to reach out for that knowledge, he instantly withdrew. He could learn what it was, but it was another one of those things that was so vast and intricate that his flimsy mind couldn¡¯t contain it. That was the tiniest shred of what was happening at any given moment. Yet, Sen thought he had learned the lesson he was best equipped for, or at least touched it enough to piece together what he¡¯d need later. There were other ways of using qi than what Sen had learned, and his particular method of cultivating qi would let him explore those possibilities. He could build techniques the same way he built alchemical elixirs and, if he understood what he was seeing correctly, generate similarly outsized results. It would probably take him years to really work out the intricacies. If he could make it work, though, he might actually be able to create the kinds of miracles people thought he was creating now. Of course, he had to survive long enough to do it.


    That jarring thought shattered whatever state of mind had granted him access to that look at the mechanics behind the world. Sen¡¯s eyes snapped open, and it took him a moment to understand what he was seeing. While he had started out sitting on the ground next to the spring, he wasn¡¯t there any longer. Instead, he was floating on a platform of qi he didn¡¯t recall summoning, hovering over the very center of the spring. As if that wasn¡¯t strange enough, the water of the spring had risen up around him, as if to shelter him in a bowl. Sen debated about whether to return to shore but decided against it. He had a feeling that if the spring didn¡¯t want him right where he was, he wouldn¡¯t be there. Sen still felt a bit wobbly from what he¡¯d just experienced, but he wasn¡¯t about to pass up the chance to see if he could talk with the spring.


    Sen took most of a minute to try to calm and center himself. He didn¡¯t want to mess up whatever chance he might have at communicating with the spring because he was too rattled and rushed things. He brought the passive cultivation he did all the time under conscious control, not because it needed his help, but because the action was familiar. He felt the qi from the environment slide into him, move through his channels, and take up residence in his dantian. From there, he felt most of that qi pulled into that strange double helix formation and another drop or two of liquid qi was added to the substantial pool that had collected. As he kept that process moving, he felt his racing heart slow, and with that slowly coming under control, his thoughts slowed as well. He was careful to store away the insights he¡¯d gathered, and just as careful to push away those thoughts that might all too easily drag him into madness. Only then, with his body and mind restored to something like equilibrium, did he release conscious control of his cultivation and turn his focus to the spring.


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    It was only then that Sen ran up against the very obvious problem that he didn¡¯t have the first idea about how he might communicate with the spring. He could try talking to it, but it wasn¡¯t like the spring was a spirit beast. It didn¡¯t have any obvious way of listening to his voice, like a convenient set of watery ears. Then again, Sen thought, what do I know? Maybe it can hear. Deciding there was no harm in trying the obvious, he spoke.


    ¡°Can you understand me?¡±


    Sen gave it thirty seconds before he concluded that, if the spring could communicate, it wasn¡¯t going to be through anything so simple as speaking and listening. He considered what something like water would recognize and understand. Sen cycled for water qi and, unlike his usual directed approach, just sort of spread it around inside the water bowl the spring had formed. That got a reaction. Sen immediately felt an outside force of water qi press against his own.


    ¡°Okay,¡± said Sen. ¡°I got your attention. Now what?¡±


    Committing himself to trying anything that came to mind, Sen tried pushing a sense of his curiosity about the spring into the qi he had spread out. Again, there was nothing. Well, it was worth a try, he thought. With no better ideas to hand, Sen tried to push his consciousness out toward the spring. It was an odd experience, like how he imagined moving an organ to somewhere else in the body might feel, if less painful. He once more tried to infuse his curiosity in the presence of his expanded consciousness. That worked. It worked too well. His mind was immediately overwhelmed with thousands, maybe tens of thousands of impressions, images, and bright little gemstones of knowledge about using water qi. Unfortunately, that massive rush of information was too much for him. He felt hot blood splash across his lips from his nose before he lost consciousness.


    When things started making sense again, Sen had the impression that more than a little time had passed. He wasn¡¯t sitting anymore. He was sprawled out on something that was firm but had some give to it. Had someone found him and brought him back to the sect compound? The pounding in his head made him not want to open his eyes, but his training was ingrained too deeply to give up such easy knowledge. He forced his eyes open and, again, had to take a moment to understand what he was seeing. He appeared to be in some kind of water cocoon that had been hardened to keep everyone and everything out. He looked down and realized that the spring had created a platform of hardened water for him to lay on while he was being useless and unconscious.


    Sen pushed himself back up into a sitting position and reestablished his qi platform. The water beneath him dropped away, but the cocoon remained firmly in place. Sen reasoned that the spring was trying to protect him until it was sure he could protect himself. Nice of it, he thought. Sen once again pushed his consciousness out. This time, he thought he caught a sense of mild pushback, so he stopped there and just tried sending out a gentle hello. What he got back was tentative, hesitant, and vaguely apologetic. He got a trickle of images of jumping fish and swiftly moving water insects. It took a second, but he managed to interpret the message. It had gotten excited.


    Sen lost track of time as he and the spring worked out a kind of shorthand language of images and impressions. Once they did that, though, and fine-tuned how much information Sen could handle at any given moment, things smoothed out. It wasn¡¯t talking, precisely. Sen didn¡¯t know if the spring couldn¡¯t do that or simply hadn¡¯t learned how. Still, it was good enough. Having achieved his initial goal of communicating with the spring, though, Sen wasn¡¯t sure where to take things. He was confident that he could push his understanding of water qi by leaps and bounds if he provided the right prompts. He just didn¡¯t know what those prompts might be. In the end, he settled on simply showing the spring his techniques or toned-down versions of them.


    That was when things got interesting from Sen¡¯s point of view. In some cases, he got the impression that the spring found what he was doing hilariously inept. In other cases, he got vague approval. Yet, inevitably, he would get shown something that clarified what he was doing wrong or how he might do it better. After a few hours, he started to understand that with water qi techniques, it almost always came down to some combination of hardness, softness, and flow. To Sen, ideas of hard and soft had always been fairly absolute. To the spring, though, these ideas came in so many variations that Sen had trouble distinguishing them. He spent hours simply trying to mimic the varieties of hard and soft that the spring showed him. Often with the spring providing a perfect example right in front of him.


    The idea of flow was both familiar and foreign to Sen. He was used to the idea of qi flowing, but the spring once again dissuaded him from the notion that he should think of flow as one thing. The flow of a gentle creek, for example, was nothing at all like the flow of a river during a torrential downpour. While he could execute different kinds of flow, he knew there was more there to understand that he simply wasn¡¯t grasping. He decided that was alright. He didn¡¯t need to learn everything now. He had the rest of his life, however long or short it might be, to expand on what he''d been shown. Yet, it seemed the spring wasn¡¯t quite done with him yet.


    Sen felt a pressure on his heart and his soul. It wasn¡¯t so much in a specific place, as it was touching a specific thing. Something he¡¯d been trying not to think about while communicating with the spring. Yet, the spring had spotted his anger just like the patriarch had. Sen did his best to communicate a sense of helplessness about the anger. Sure, he knew it was there. It didn¡¯t mean he could do anything about it. The spring applied a little gentle pressure again, and then it sent Sen images and impressions of water in varying states of hardness. Then, it followed that up with images of soft, flowing water. Sen frowned. The spring repeated the same cycle of pressure and images several times. Sen thought he had an idea of what the spring was getting at, so he pressed a sense of understanding at the spring.


    He wasn¡¯t dealing with his anger. He was caging it. Useful in the moment perhaps, but not a long-term fix. He thought the spring was telling him that if he continued on as he was, that anger would harden into something permanent that would become far more difficult or even impossible to dislodge. The spring was telling him that he needed to let that anger flow or his heart would never soften again. It was probably right, except that wasn¡¯t a practical solution for him. He had to deal with people, which meant keeping a tight leash on that anger. Still, there might be other ways to purge that anger without simply killing everyone who bothered him. Sen hoped there was. Realizing that he had spent far more than the one day he had meant to at the spring, Sen did his best to communicate his gratitude to the sentient body of water. He struggled to interpret what he got back, but he thought it amounted to an invitation to visit.


    ¡°If I live long enough,¡± he said quietly. ¡°Maybe, if I live long enough.¡±

 V4 Chapter 11 – You Peasant

    Exiting from the odd enclosure that held the spring and the gardens, Sen was relieved that he didn¡¯t find anyone waiting for him. At the same time, though, that lack of a friendly or hostile welcome from anyone left him even more concerned about just how long he¡¯d spent communing with the spirit of spring. Days probably, but it could easily be longer than that. The patriarch would probably be happy about that, even though Sen wasn¡¯t really sure he¡¯d gotten anything he truly needed. He¡¯d learned a lot of things that were interesting, but that wasn¡¯t the same as necessary. Sen supposed that only time would really tell on that account. It only took Sen a minute or two of walking to realize that he didn¡¯t remember where to go. He¡¯d only been shown where his quarters were located once and hadn¡¯t even bothered to go inside of them. He stood on one of the stone paths that crisscrossed the sect compound and peered at the buildings, hoping that he¡¯d spot something that would give him the right idea.


    It seemed that his exit hadn¡¯t gone as unnoticed as he might have hoped. He felt the presence of the angry water cultivator without even bothering to turn around. Sen truly did not have the patience to deal with an idiot at that moment. Closing his eyes and taking a soothing breath, Sen spoke.


    ¡°Your sect patriarch specifically asked me not to kill you. What do you imagine that means about how he judges your odds?¡±


    ¡°That old fool just knows not to cross my family.¡±


    Sen turned and settled an icy gaze on the water cultivator. ¡°Do you think that I care about your family?¡±


    That seemed to give the man pause, but he kept approaching. ¡°You would, if you were smart.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m in no mood for this nonsense. If you leave now, I¡¯ll forget that I saw you.¡±


    ¡°Leave? But why would I leave? The show is about to start.¡±


    ¡°Really? You skipped right to hiring people?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re beneath me. I¡¯d never sully myself by dealing with you personally.¡±


    Sen let his senses drift out and found the people the idiot had hired. At least he¡¯d been smart enough to hire core cultivators.


    ¡°That¡¯s interesting,¡± said Sen, ¡°because I very much intend to deal with you personally. Out of idle curiosity, just so I know, what¡¯s your name?¡±


    ¡°I am Gong Jun De,¡± he sneered.


    ¡°Thank you. By the way, if you¡¯re smart, you¡¯ll be long gone by the time I finish killing your men.¡±


    ¡°I doubt that will happen. They¡¯re professionals, and they have very specific orders. They¡¯re not going to kill you. Just cripple you. We¡¯ll see what kind of hero you are after that.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at that as he cycled up a few different kinds of qi. ¡°That was stupid.¡±


    ¡°Did you just call me stupid?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t call you anything. You are stupid if you hired people to try to do anything but kill me.¡±


    ¡°How dare you speak to me that way, you peasant! Do you know who I am?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen.


    Before the noble could blather anything else, Sen sent a couple of metal-fused shadow spears hurtling at him. Sen didn¡¯t really try that hard to hit the man, as he was far more concerned with the three other cultivators who were now closing fast on him. One of them was a water cultivator, one a fire cultivator, and the third was a wind cultivator. Sen suspected that Gong Jun De hadn¡¯t been exaggerating about them being professionals. For most cultivators, fighting three other cultivators at a similar level of advancement with different qi specialties would be next to impossible. Most qi types just didn¡¯t have the flexibility necessary. Sen expected it would be difficult. While he briefly considered summoning the heaven-chasing level spear that the fire cultivators had gifted him, he settled on the one that the Soaring Skies sect had provided. No reason to show all his cards unless it became necessary.


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    Since the water qi specialist would prove particularly weak to lightning, he started with her. He leveled his spear at her and unleashed a bolt of lightning as thick as his wrist. She managed to put up a shield that deflected part of it, but enough got through that it stopped her dead in her tracks. Sen was experienced enough not to gloat or stand still. He dodged to one side, narrowly avoiding a wind blade, and sent three in return with a sweep of the spear. He didn¡¯t expect the wind blades to accomplish much except distract the wind and fire cultivators, but it worked. That was how the wind cultivator wound up with a badly seared leg from the fireball Sen had sent flying his way immediately after the wind blade. Sen saw the look of rage on the fire cultivator¡¯s face, so he activated his qinggong technique.


    Rather than head directly for the fire cultivator or simply dodge, Sen aimed for the water cultivator who seemed to be regaining her feet. It was a good thing he moved, though, because the fire cultivator used a technique Sen had never seen before. The fire cultivator called it a meteor something or other. But several dozen white-hot pellets rained down where Sen had been standing. He wasn¡¯t entirely certain he could have blocked that attack with no warning, based on the way those pellets all but evaporated the soil and stone they hit. As for the water cultivator, she spotted him coming and started to summon something, so Sen hid and threw up a dome of shadow that shrouded the water cultivator in utter darkness.


    Then, Sen launched himself into the air. The pseudo-omniscience he enjoyed inside the shadow let him keep himself on target for her, while she had to guess at where he¡¯d gone. Sen pushed fire qi into the spearhead. When he all but fell out of the sky on top of the water cultivator, she wasn¡¯t ready for the aerial assault. The spearhead was so hot and being driven with so much force that it nearly split the woman in half. Sen could hear the other two cultivators shouting for the woman, and he let them wonder. It seemed that neither of the other cultivators was willing to risk hitting their teammate by launching a qi technique blindly into that oppressive darkness.


    That was just fine as far as Sen was concerned. Working with earth qi was taxing at the best of times, but doing it while hiding was something Sen hadn¡¯t practiced. He felt that lack of practice acutely as sweat beaded on his forehead. Still, he persevered as he pushed his qi down into the soil and rock beneath all of their feet. With his qi touching the earth, it was easy enough to pinpoint the general location of the other cultivators. They had taken up station just outside the dome of darkness, no doubt debating whether they should enter it to find their lost teammate. Sen pushed himself a little harder and launched two water blades at the cultivators. He felt them react to the distraction, felt the sudden burst of qi, and then launched his real attack. There was brief screaming as the razor-edged stone spikes drove up into the cultivators. Then, there was silence. Sen stopped hiding and let his spiritual sense sweep the area. The fire cultivator was dead, or the next best thing to it, but the wind cultivator had managed to get clear.


    Sen dropped the dome of shadow and saw the wind cultivator perhaps twenty feet away. He hadn¡¯t gotten away cleanly. The man was hunched to one side with a hand pressed to his stomach. Sen could see the blood welling between the man¡¯s fingers. He also noted that Gong Jun De was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he wasn¡¯t as stupid as Sen originally suspected if he had the good sense to run away. The wind cultivator forced himself to stand up straight as he glared at Sen.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± demanded the wind cultivator.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you ask before you took the job?¡±


    ¡°He said you were some trumped-up wannabe hero who needed to be taught a lesson.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°So, he left out some details?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± snarled the wind cultivator. ¡°Details. So, are you going to finish what you started?¡±


    Sen eyed the man. ¡°Only if you make me. I didn¡¯t come looking for this fight. Although, I have no idea what this sect will do with you if they take you alive. Did you hurt anyone on your way in?¡±


    The wind cultivator shook his head. ¡°Not how we¡­how I work.¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s up to you, I guess.¡±


    Sen waited as the wind cultivator seemed to go back and forth. Twice, the man gathered what Sen suspected was as much qi as he could muster before he shook his head.


    ¡°No. I¡¯ll take my chances with the sect. They might kill me, but they probably won¡¯t. They¡¯ll probably just put me to work for a while. I know you¡¯ll kill me. Hells, now I know what it must have been like fighting us. All those different types of qi flying around. Honestly, who are you?¡±


    ¡°Judgment¡¯s Gale,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°He damn sure didn¡¯t mention that name.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow in surprise. ¡°Do you recognize it?¡±


    ¡°No, but would you go start a fight with someone called something like that? For no extra pay?¡±


    Sen gave it a moment of thought. ¡°No, I don¡¯t imagine I would. You didn¡¯t happen to see which way he ran, did you?¡±


    ¡°No, but you never see weasels move, do you?¡±


    Sen was trying to think of something witty to say when water cultivators started appearing from everywhere. It seemed like they had taken a really long time to Sen, but the fight hadn¡¯t really lasted that long in retrospect. Then, Lo Meifeng and Falling Leaf were there, yelling questions at him like this had all been his fault. It hit Sen right at that moment that he could really use a nap.

 V4 Chapter 12 – Consequences

    Lan Zi Rui was frustrated. He had been frustrated and growing ever more frustrated for the last two months. Ever since that wretched boy and that awful woman had left. Oh, he had been secretly relieved when they left. He still didn¡¯t know how that boy had done what he¡¯d done. He¡¯d had no food for almost half a year. He¡¯d spent most of that time in some kind of a cultivation trance. Lan Zi Rui hadn¡¯t been concerned about it. People almost never came out of those trances. The people who did were almost never whole again, as though they left part of their minds in whatever place they had gone. If anything, he¡¯d expected the boy to be more docile, more manageable, after the trance than before. It was why he hadn¡¯t interfered with the trance in the first place. Oh, how he came to regret that choice.


    Instead of losing pieces of himself, the damnable child came out of the trance more focused and powerful than when he¡¯d sunk himself into it. Then, the boy had used some technique Lan Zi Rui had never seen before. The casual ease with which the boy had shattered Lan Zi Rui¡¯s wall of force had frankly terrified the older cultivator. The older cultivator had spent entire days trying to piece together how an initial core cultivator had accomplished such a feat. Then that business with damaging the formation. The damage itself had been difficult enough to repair, as formations were not Lan Zi Rui¡¯s strong hand, but the real difficulty had been trying to explain the formation to the less committed members of the cult. There had been endless questions that he¡¯d never imagined he¡¯d need to answer. He¡¯d had to scramble to explain it all away.


    The questions eventually died down, although he still saw people staring at the place where they knew that invisible wall stood around the compound. He saw their uncertainty, their doubt, and it ignited his rage at that boy all over again. Yet, even that wasn¡¯t the source of his true frustration. It was the girl. Oh, she had been coming along so nicely. She¡¯d been so desperate for someone to offer her safety and certainty. Lan Zi Rui had become a master at playing on exactly that kind of desperation. She¡¯d been almost entirely bought in, almost ready to do anything he wanted. And he wanted so many things from her. He¡¯d dreamed about her body. Yet, that boy had planted seeds of doubt in her mind that had grown in the months since he left. Oh, she still did her part, working in the fields and helping with the other tasks that accumulated in a large compound. What she didn¡¯t do was seek him out for his sage wisdom anymore. In fact, she made a point to never let herself be alone with him.


    Not that he couldn¡¯t overcome that problem with a simple word or two. No, what stayed his hand was the boy¡¯s final threat. The way he¡¯d delivered it had chilled Lan Zi Rui¡¯s soul. There had been no bluster or bravado to it. He had been calm, deliberate, and utterly certain. Not only had the boy meant it, but Lan Zi Rui had been sure that, given a bit of time, the boy could do it. If he could come out of that trance unscathed and apparently having mastered new power and skills, the cult leader wasn¡¯t sure that there was anything that child couldn¡¯t do if he set his mind to it. It was the mental image of Lu Sen returning as a nascent soul cultivator, shattering the protective formation, and taking his vengeance that haunted Lan Zi Rui. So, he looked for other ways to sate his needs. Hence the young man and woman he¡¯d taken to his bed the night before who were dressing across the room.


    It hadn¡¯t helped. They¡¯d been enthusiastic and entertaining, which had distracted him briefly, but he knew that would only work for so long. Sooner or later, he¡¯d either have to give in to his lust, or he¡¯d need to send that girl away. While his reason told him that the smart move was simply to send her away, his lust for her wouldn¡¯t let him do it. He¡¯d sought her out more than once to send her away and far from his sight, but then he¡¯d see her and those plans would evaporate in a haze of unfilled desire. That push and pull between what he wanted and what he feared left him constantly on edge and bursting with frustration he couldn¡¯t remedy. He¡¯d even started convincing himself that the boy wouldn¡¯t return for years, maybe even decades. Lan Zi Rui could have the girl all he wanted before then. The boy would never need to know. Yet, the cult leader was certain that the boy would know, somehow, someway, he would just know.


    With those thoughts in mind, a spike of raw panic and terror drove itself into Lan Zi Rui¡¯s soul when the presence of a nascent soul cultivator bore down on the entire compound. A moment later, he felt it as the protective formation was simply shredded with nothing more than brute force. No, no, he can¡¯t be back already, thought Lan Zi Rui. No one can advance that fast. Then, he heard the sounds of panicked yelling and people running. Shaking himself free of the paralysis that had temporarily gripped his body and soul, Lan Zi Rui felt fury course through him. It wasn¡¯t the boy. There simply hadn¡¯t been enough time. That meant they were under attack from someone else. The cult leader threw on his robes in a flash and went out to meet the threat.


    When he burst from his quarters, he scanned the compound and found nothing. Then, he looked up. Hovering over the compound like an imperious herald of doom, Lan Zi Rui saw death herself, and he knew her name.


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    ¡°Ma Caihong,¡± he said.


    He was stunned. He had met her once, long ago, and she had made it very clear to him how much he did not impress her. It had taken nearly a month to heal from her expression of displeasure at his suggestions. She had been a core formation cultivator then, more or less matched with him. Now, though, she was a peak nascent soul cultivator, and he was not. He had stalled at the initial nascent soul stage and was a very weak one, little better than a strong peak core formation cultivator. It was more than enough to keep his followers in line and deal with most spirit beasts, but a threat like Ma Caihong was fundamentally beyond him. Even worse, he didn¡¯t know why she had come or even how she knew he was here. Then, a terrible, bowel-loosening thought struck him. That boy, that impossibly powerful and gifted boy, had to have a teacher.


    Summoning what courage he had, Lan Zi Rui summoned a jian from a storage ring. He stepped onto a platform of qi and rose to face Ma Caihong. She let him rise so he could look directly at her. Terror tried to eat its way through his insides as he looked at her. She might as well have been carved from stone or ice there was so little expression on her face. He pointed his jian and did his best to put on a good front.


    ¡°Why have you disturbed the peace of my sect?¡± he demanded.


    When she spoke, Ma Caihong¡¯s words carried to every corner of the compound. ¡°Sect? I see your understanding of the meaning of words hasn¡¯t improved. This is not a sect. This is a cult.¡±


    Lan Zi Rui ground his teeth in frustration. ¡°Why are you here?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve come to retrieve someone,¡± she said before a momentary look of consideration crossed her face. ¡°Well, more accurately, I¡¯ve come to retrieve everyone here.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t make them leave against their will.¡±


    She smiled at him then, and whatever tiny shred of hope he¡¯d had that he might be able to talk his way out of this disaster died a whimpering, pathetic death inside him.


    ¡°I most certainly could, but they won¡¯t have a reason to stay in a minute or two. Cults rarely survive the death of their founders.¡±


    ¡°Kill her,¡± screamed Lan Zi Rui.


    While he hadn¡¯t ever planned for this particular contingency, he had planned for the possibility that someone might come looking for him or a missing loved one. The place where Ma Caihong floated disappeared in a flurry of techniques. Fireballs, windblades, boulders, ice spears, and even a stray bolt of lightning all concentrated on the place where she floated. Lan Zi Rui didn¡¯t really think that they would succeed in killing her, but the distraction should be enough for him to escape. He spun around on his qi platform and flew away. At least, he tried to. A hand seized the back of his neck in a grip that felt like it was forged of cold steel. Then, the next thing he knew, Lan Zi Rui was crashing into the ground. The earth cratered around him, both compressing down and exploding outward.


    Even with qi reinforcement running through his entire body, he felt bones breaking and muscles tearing. The pain was monumental. He hadn¡¯t felt any real pain in hundreds of years, let alone anything on the level of what he was experiencing now. It burned away any rational thought. He just needed to get away. He staggered to his feet and swayed like a drunkard. He took two steps, then realized that he was in a hole. He looked up and up. The crater his body had made was nearly twenty feet deep. If he¡¯d been thinking clearly, and not wracked with pain that screamed for attention, the distance would have seemed trivial. In his current state, though, that distance looked insurmountable.


    ¡°You know,¡± said a woman standing right behind him, ¡°I don¡¯t usually go in for this kind of fighting. But you¡¯ve angered me, Lan Zi Rui.¡±


    The pure contempt in that voice when she said his name felt like the kiss of death. Somehow, he¡¯d kept hold of his jian. There was nothing left to do but fight. He spun toward Ma Caihong¡¯s voice and drove a thrust at where her heart should have been. Except the thrust only met open air. Then, the cult leader watched in horror as something he barely even registered as a blur in the air passed through his wrist. The jian and his hand fell to the ground. He instinctively grabbed his wrist, but it did precious little to stem the blood spurting from his wrist. He realized that he needed to do something to stop her, and do it now, or she was going to cut him into tiny pieces. He summoned his own qi. He remembered that she was a water cultivator. He had always had an unusual qi affinity, force, so she should still be weak to it, even if it was coming from a weaker cultivator. The loss of the hand disrupted his cycling, but he had enough stored to send a wall of force to where she stood, glaring at him like he was a particularly unsavory insect. Then, she was simply gone. He¡¯d never seen anyone move that fast. The world went white as her fist crashed into the side of his head like the world¡¯s most delicate mace.


    What followed was just one explosion of pain after the next as Ma Caihong beat him with a kind of icy savagery. He was vaguely aware of it when his legs were shattered. He only realized his arms were broken when he stopped being able to move them in useless attempts to fend off her blows. The pure devastation of his body in combination with the blood loss made putting thoughts together in any kind of order almost impossible. He did eventually register that he wasn¡¯t being hit anymore. He managed to open one eye. Ma Caihong was looming over him with his blood dripping from her hands, not that she seemed to care.


    ¡°In case you¡¯re wondering why this has happened,¡± she said, ¡°I don¡¯t want you to die confused. Lu Sen sends his regards.¡±


    The last thing Lan Zi Rui saw in that life was the bottom of a shockingly small shoe descending toward his face.

 V4 Chapter 13 – Karmic Considerations

    Once Sen got Lo Meifeng and Falling Leaf to calm down enough to let him get a word in edgewise, their ire swiftly transferred from him to the Clear Spring sect. As far as they were concerned, it had been the sect¡¯s job, in general, and the patriarch¡¯s job, specifically, to see to their safety. Letting a three-person team of hired killers get into the sect to injure or kill Sen was an epic failure on all fronts. While Lo Meifeng stormed off to find someone official to scream at for a while, Falling Leaf never let him stray more than two feet from her side.


    ¡°You know, the danger is over now,¡± observed Sen.


    ¡°Only the danger you know about,¡± she said, while her eyes never stopped searching the surrounding area.


    Sen almost objected, but she did have a point. Instead, he changed the subject.


    ¡°How long was I in there?¡± he asked.


    She paused long enough to give him an irritated look. ¡°Don¡¯t you know?¡±


    ¡°No. Things in there got¡­weird.¡±


    She sniffed at him, using that single noise to convey a host of things to him. First and foremost, it told him exactly how disappointed she was in him for losing track of something so basic as the passage of time. It also conveyed to him that he should expect to be explaining to her, in detail, why it was he thought it was a great idea to run off somewhere without her to watch out for him. It also, somehow, conveyed to him that she thought he was far overdue for a bath and some basic grooming. Lastly, but not even close to the least important, that sniff informed him that she was very angry with him for making her worry. Sen was truly baffled about how she had managed to cram all of that into one noise, but there it was. Maybe it¡¯s some kind of special qi technique, he thought. After a moment of thought, she finally answered.


    ¡°Three weeks.¡±


    She¡¯d hesitated a bit on term weeks like she wasn¡¯t entirely sure it was the right word, but Sen was still stunned.


    ¡°I was in there most of a month?¡±


    She frowned but nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±


    No wonder he was so tired and out of sorts. That was a long time to go without sleep, even for him. Although, he also had no idea how long he¡¯d been knocked unconscious by the spring. He wasn¡¯t sure that really counted as rest, though. Knocking out a body cultivator at his level of development probably meant that he¡¯d taken some kind of injury to his brain that had needed to heal. Still, it would probably help explain why he¡¯d defaulted to basic fighting with the core cultivators instead of using any of the other options available to him. Fighting was second nature and barely took any consideration, while almost everything else required him to make some conscious decisions. While that might be a good thing to know about himself, it wasn¡¯t something he was especially happy about.


    The only upside to the whole experience was that the fight had seemed to let him bleed off some of that anger he¡¯d been bottling up for a while now. It wasn¡¯t gone, but it wasn¡¯t waiting to jump out at anything or anyone who crossed his path. Even temporary relief from that anger was like taking a drink of cool water on a hot summer day. Still, he was none too pleased to learn that he had burned nearly a month of his limited time on sitting around and talking with a sentient spring, no matter how interesting it had all been. He¡¯d expected to be in or at least near the capital by now. Sighing, Sen let it go. The time was already gone, and he couldn¡¯t get it back. They¡¯d just have to try to make up some time as they traveled.


    Sen watched with some amusement as the water cultivators debated about what to do with the wind cultivator who had survived the fight. That reminded Sen about something, and he sent his spiritual sense over to the fire cultivator that he¡¯d impaled. He did a double-take when he realized that tough bastard was still clinging to life if just barely. If the fire cultivator didn¡¯t get attention in the immediate future, he¡¯d die. Sen strongly considered not saying anything. The man had come to main or cripple him in some way. If that decision led to his death, maybe it was his karma to die. The conversation about karma came floating back up into his mind, particularly the part about not being able to judge the full impact of any given choice. Sen didn¡¯t want to accidentally condemn some kid to starvation and death by letting the fire cultivator die. Sen grabbed one of the water cultivators who didn¡¯t look like he had an actual purpose in the area.


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    ¡°Just so you know, that guy,¡± said Sen, pointing at the impaled fire cultivator, ¡°is still alive. You might want to tell whoever is in charge.¡±


    The young man¡¯s eyes went wide, and he took off at a run yelling for some elder or another. Falling Leaf gave him a strange look.


    ¡°What?¡± he asked.


    ¡°He came to harm you. Why help him?¡±


    ¡°Karma,¡± muttered Sen. ¡°I don¡¯t need any extra bad karma.¡±


    A moment later, the jade beauty from the dinner literally flew past Sen and landed next to the impaled man. She frowned for a moment, shook her head, and then pointed at Sen without ever looking his way.


    ¡°You. Come here.¡±


    Sen traded a glance with Falling Leaf before he walked over to where she stood.


    ¡°Yes?¡± he asked.


    ¡°You did this?¡± she asked, waving at the stone spikes.


    ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°Can you undo it?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I can, assuming you can treat him right here. Otherwise, the shock alone will kill him.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, ¡°I am aware of that fact.¡±


    ¡°Have you accounted for the fact that he¡¯s a fire cultivator?¡±


    She frowned and a line appeared between her eyes at that. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at that. Then, he started asking her about exactly how she planned to treat him and with what. The conversation threatened to implode into an argument until Sen started countering with a list of alternate ingredients that would work better for the fire cultivator. Then, he wished he hadn¡¯t brought it up because they didn¡¯t have any of them on hand. Of course, they don¡¯t have them on hand, thought Sen, because they¡¯re all water cultivators. They¡¯d never need them. In the end, Sen found himself forced to make something on the spot. It was ugly work, carried out almost entirely inside the stone vial with Sen applying heat and cold as necessary to cook the ingredients down to something useful. It wasn¡¯t as good as it could have been or should have been, but there just wasn¡¯t time to do anything better.


    When the ¨C Sen couldn¡¯t bring himself to call it an elixir ¨C concoction was done, he handed it over to the jade beauty. He positioned himself so he had a solid grip on the fire cultivator¡¯s robes. He looked over at the woman. She gave him a nod. Cycling up earth qi, he almost yanked the spikes free, but then thought better of it. Instead, he did a kind of controlled erosion that wouldn¡¯t do as much immediate damage. No way of removing the spikes was going to be damage free, but he didn¡¯t have to make things worse than necessary. As soon as the stone spikes were gone, the jade beauty tilted the man¡¯s head back, poured the concoction into his mouth, and then massaged his throat until he swallowed. With a gesture, she scooped the fire cultivator onto a qi platform and walked away with him.


    ¡°Well, Karma,¡± said Sen under his breath, ¡°you better be nice to me for that one.¡±


    Sen felt the approach of the patriarch before he ever saw the man. Unless they really worked at it, nascent soul cultivators were always obvious. Sen felt his anger start to bubble up again and pressed it back down hard. The last thing he needed to do was start an argument with the patriarch. Still, he had a question he needed to ask the man, and Sen was confident he wasn¡¯t going to like the answer. When the patriarch stepped up next to him, Sen didn¡¯t even look at the man. He just asked the question as politely as he could.


    ¡°Patriarch, where is Gong Jun De?¡±


    ¡°He has fled the sect,¡± said the patriarch.


    ¡°I was aware of that much. I assume that you dispatched people to retrieve him.¡±


    There was a very long, very awkward silence before the patriarch spoke. ¡°I did not.¡±


    Sen¡¯s anger tried to flare, but he kept his cool on the surface. ¡°The man hired people to, by his own admission, cripple me. He got them into this compound, past your security, and in position to execute a not very impressive ambush. My experience with sects is limited, but I have to assume that this violates at least some of your rules and traditions.¡±


    The patriarch sighed. ¡°It does. Several, in fact.¡±


    ¡°Then, I¡¯m forced to ask, why isn¡¯t he being hunted down and brought back here?¡±


    ¡°His family is very powerful. They could cause the sect considerable trouble.¡±


    Sen took several deep breaths and did his best not to clench his fists. ¡°Patriarch, I may only be an unimportant wandering cultivator, but even I know what guest rights are. I also know what the obligations of the host are. If I know these things, I have to assume that you know them.¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± admitted the patriarch.


    Sen let that hang in the air for nearly half a minute before he broke the silence. ¡°And you wonder why I hate sects.¡±


    ¡°Please,¡± pleaded the patriarch. ¡°Wait. Let me explain.¡±


    Sen walked away from the man and bellowed. ¡°Lo Meifeng. Fa Ling Li. We¡¯re leaving. Now. Where is Shi Ping? He didn¡¯t get himself killed did he?¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t,¡± said Lo Meifeng, after she hurried over to join him. ¡°He¡¯s probably still asleep. Without you around to enforce shame and discipline, he¡¯s fallen back to form.¡±


    ¡°What a shock,¡± said Sen. ¡°Fine. Take me to him. I¡¯ll wake him up. I¡¯ve got a silver tael that says he won¡¯t like it.¡±


    Lo Meifeng barked out a short laugh and shook her head. ¡°Pass. That¡¯s a sucker¡¯s bet.¡±


    Falling Leaf, who had put some distance between herself and the sect¡¯s leader when he arrived, joined the small group. She gave Sen a questioning look.


    ¡°Why are we leaving now?¡± she asked.


    Sen turned and stared at the patriarch. He was confident that the man could hear every word they were saying, so Sen didn¡¯t raise his voice.


    ¡°There is no honor in this place.¡±

 V4 Chapter 14 – Travel Preparations

    While most of the water cultivators didn¡¯t know the details, everyone knew that something had happened by the way that Sen swept through their compound like a tidal wave looking for something to crash down on. Those who saw him coming made a point to be urgently needed in some other direction. The impression he made was not helped by the coldly neutral expression on the face of Lo Meifeng as she led him toward Shi Ping¡¯s room, nor the oddly placid expression of Falling Leaf, who had seemingly accepted the turn of events as just one more strange thing the humans were doing. When they reached the right room, Lo Meifeng merely pointed at the door. Sen didn¡¯t even break stride as he kicked the door open and started shouting.


    ¡°Shi Ping get your lazy ass out of that bed! We¡¯re leaving!¡±


    The fire cultivators shouted a couple of inarticulate noises while he thrashed in shock and then fell onto the floor. He stared up at Sen with an expression that couldn¡¯t decide if it was furious, annoyed, or terrified. Sen gave him five seconds to decide before he bellowed a single word.


    ¡°Now!¡±


    That seemed to snap the fire cultivator into full consciousness. He pushed himself up to his feet and, drawing himself up to his full height, he started to give Sen a defiant look. Then, he really looked at Sen¡¯s expression. His eyes drifted over Lo Meifeng, who gave him nothing. Then, he glanced over at Falling Leaf. She cocked her head to one side before she said.


    ¡°I think he¡¯s going to stab you again. I missed it last time.¡±


    Lowering his eyes, Shi Ping grumbled something about needing time to pack. Sen glared at the man like he meant to punch holes through the fire cultivator¡¯s forehead with his gaze alone.


    ¡°You have two minutes.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not enough time!¡± complained Shi Ping.


    Sen gave Shi Ping a smile that was all teeth and no friendliness. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m so sorry. Let me help you.¡±


    With a gesture and flaring of wind qi, Sen dragged everything in the room other than the bed into one of his storage rings. Shi Ping¡¯s eyes went a little wide.


    ¡°I¡¯ll need my robes,¡± said the fire cultivator weakly.


    Sen considered forcing the man to walk out of the Clear Spring sect as he was, but that was just the anger talking. Discipline and shaming were not the same things. Shaming the man publicly would accomplish nothing useful, and more than likely turn a grudging companion into an active enemy. Sen didn¡¯t need one of those sleeping in the same campsites as him. Sen mentally searched through the storage ring, pulled out some robes, and threw them to the man. He fixed Shi Ping with a look.


    ¡°Two. Minutes.¡± Sen reiterated before he stepped back out into the hallway.


    Falling Leaf and Lo Meifeng joined him. It was Falling Leaf who broke the thick silence.


    ¡°No stabbing?¡± she asked, sounding a little disappointed.


    Sen didn¡¯t even get a chance to answer before Lo Meifeng laughed. She clamped a hand over her own mouth, but even Sen let out a brief chuckle.


    ¡°Not today,¡± he said. ¡°At least, not if he gets out here in the next minute or so. Why? Do you want me to stab him?¡±


    Falling Leaf thought about it before she said, ¡°No. I would like to see you stab him, though. Tell me the next time you¡¯re going to do that.¡±


    Sen nodded and manfully resisted the urge to chuckle. Lo Meifeng¡¯s shoulders, on the other hand, were hitching wildly as she tried to contain her laughter. Sen looked over at her.


    ¡°Is there anyone that you want to see me stab?¡±


    Lo Meifeng gasped the words out between fits of laughter. ¡°So¡­many¡­people.¡±


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    Sen rolled his eyes. ¡°I probably should have known that.¡±


    Lo Meifeng nodded, finally getting her laughter under some semblance of control. ¡°You really should have.¡±


    Sen might have responded, but Shi Ping burst through the door still adjusting his robes. Sen briefly considered messing with the man¡¯s head but decided that it wasn¡¯t worth the hassle. Besides, it would just make getting away from the sect an even longer process. That was something that Sen wanted to avoid. He looked over at Lo Meifeng and then at Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Do either of you need to pack anything?¡±


    Lo Meifeng shook her head.


    ¡°One or two things I left in my room,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    ¡°You should go attend to that. We¡¯ll meet you outside.¡±


    ¡°How long do I have?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    ¡°As long as you need,¡± said Sen.


    As Falling Leaf dashed off down the hall, Sen could hear the spluttering from Shi Ping. Sen looked at the man and lifted an eyebrow, inviting the question.


    ¡°Why does she get as long as she needs, but I only got two minutes?¡± demanded the fire cultivator.


    ¡°Because I know she¡¯ll go to her room, grab her things, and meet us outside. She won¡¯t decide to take a nap or go get a meal.¡±


    ¡°I know how to be quick when it¡¯s important,¡± said Shi Ping, sounding affronted.


    ¡°Well,¡± said Sen, ¡°there¡¯s also that whole part about me actually liking her.¡±


    ¡°You were a lot nicer to me back at the Order of the Celestial Flame.¡±


    ¡°You whined a lot less back there, too. I even saw you put in an occasional effort. Something to consider moving forward.¡±


    Before Shi Ping could think up some new complaint, Sen led them all back outside. They stood in a small group near the door, but not so near it that it would invite people to engage with them. Sen had had enough engagement with the Clear Spring sect to last him a good, long time. He was mentally reviewing a map when he felt the presence of a core cultivator he recognized racing toward him. Oh yeah, he thought, I probably should have expected this. A moment later, Chan Yu Ming came to an abrupt stop right in front of him. He offered her a bland sort of smile. It was the best he could manage under the circumstances.


    ¡°You¡¯re leaving?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I am.¡±


    ¡°Right now?¡±


    Sen glanced toward the door, and then back to Chan Yu Ming. ¡°Essentially. As soon as Fa Ling Li joins us.¡±


    ¡°But-,¡± Chan Yu Ming started before she caught the intensely curious stare of Shi Ping and the benignly disinterested look that Lo Meifeng offered. ¡°Can I talk to you in private?¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t have any particular desire to have the kind of private discussion that the young woman clearly had in mind, but he nodded. It wasn¡¯t like he¡¯d avoid having the conversation if he told her no. They¡¯d just have it in front of an audience instead of without the audience. He followed her a short distance away from Shi Ping and Lo Meifeng. He waited in silence while she gathered her thoughts. Her expression firmed up into certainty when she settled on what she wanted to say.


    ¡°I heard about what happened. I¡¯m sorry. That never should have been allowed.¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°Did you help him?¡±


    ¡°What? No, of course, I didn¡¯t help him.¡±


    ¡°Then you don¡¯t really have anything to apologize about.¡±


    ¡°Maybe not, but someone should do it. I doubt the patriarch did, the old coward.¡±


    Sen sniffed. ¡°He did not.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming seemed to struggle for a moment. ¡°Damn it, I thought I¡¯d have more time for this.¡±


    ¡°For what?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to the capital, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I am. The Golden Phoenix sect may have what I need. That¡¯s assuming I can come to an arrangement with them.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t be cheap if you can do it at all. They might refuse to even speak to you about it,¡± she said, although it sounded more like something she was telling herself.


    ¡°Then they¡¯ll refuse. I can¡¯t help what they¡¯ll do.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve never been there before, the capital. I can tell. You wouldn¡¯t be so casual about all of this if you had, if you understood the dangers there.¡±


    ¡°I take it you have.¡±


    ¡°You could put it that way.¡±


    ¡°How would you put it?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I grew up there. It¡¯s where my family¡­lives.¡±


    Sen would have loved to know what word she discarded in favor of the word lives.


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t change anything if I did know. I still have to go there.¡±


    ¡°What could that sect possibly have that you need so badly that you¡¯d go to the capital?¡±


    ¡°A manual. A very rare manual. One I can¡¯t do without.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t there anywhere else you can get a copy?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a literally insane nascent soul cultivator with a copy who might give it to me, or kill me, or enslave me. That¡¯s option two at this point.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Chan Yu Ming. ¡°Well, I see. Yes, I guess the capital probably is a better choice than that. Barely. Still, you need to be careful there. There will be people who know who you are. They¡¯ll try to use you.¡±


    Sen shrugged again. ¡°Like I said, I can¡¯t help what other people do.¡±


    He glanced over at a movement in the corner of his eye. Falling Leaf was coming out of the building. Chan Yu Ming followed his gaze to the door and grimaced.


    ¡°Why the hells did Gong Jun De have to be such a fool?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s his nature,¡± said Sen, although he thought she probably wasn¡¯t directing the question to him.


    ¡°That¡¯s certainly the truth.¡±


    Sen offered Chan Yu Ming another of his half-smiles and a respectful bow. ¡°It¡¯s time for us to go. I¡¯ve wasted enough time in this place. Goodbye, Chan Yu Ming. I hope fortune smiles more on you here than it did on me.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming hesitated for another second before she blurted out, ¡°Let me come with you.¡±

 V4 Chapter 15 – Dubious Kindness

    The question hung in the air between them like an awkwardly placed holiday decoration. With the question asked and Sen¡¯s silence stretching out longer and longer, Chan Yu Ming looked increasingly uncomfortable and nervous. For his part, Sen¡¯s initial instinct was to flatly refuse her. Sen liked Chan Yu Ming. He had deep respect for her martial skills. He enjoyed flirting with her and suspected that, if things continued on as they had been, the two would probably enjoy each other in bed as well. Yet, exactly none of that mattered to the decision in front of him. What mattered was his safety and the safety of those around him. He was acutely aware that he knew next to nothing about the young woman. She had been secretive about her past. He, of all people, could appreciate that someone might have information about their past that they didn¡¯t want to share. He certainly kept plenty back. Even so, he wasn¡¯t asking her to take him along. His secrets weren¡¯t going to prove a threat to her.


    Still, she might be useful. Anyone who could stand toe-to-toe with him while wielding a jian was a potentially valuable asset that he wasn¡¯t in a great hurry to throw away. She was another core cultivator, which could help secure their safety in a bad situation. In the end, though, he didn¡¯t understand her motives. Why was she so eager to come along? So, he just looked at her while trying to decide what he should say. More specifically, he was trying to decide what he should ask. When it became obvious that she was getting ready to simply flee to escape the shame or awkwardness, he relented.


    ¡°What could possibly make you want to come with me? There¡¯s no treasure or secret knowledge waiting for you at the end of this journey. No promise of advancement or enlightenment. I¡¯m the only person who stands to get any real benefit from going to the capital. Plus, that¡¯s not a guarantee. I¡¯ve mostly resigned myself to the idea that I¡¯m going to have to go and bargain with a mad demi-god, which doesn¡¯t stand to benefit anyone else either. Even I¡¯m not good-looking enough for that to be a sufficient reason to face all of that. So, what¡¯s your angle?¡±


    It was Chan Yu Ming¡¯s turn to be quiet for a long time. Sen got the impression that she was hoping that he¡¯d just move on from the question, but he waited her out. It wasn¡¯t a question he could just ignore. Maybe, if it had just been his life on the line, he might have been willing to just go with it the way he had with Lifen. Things had changed a lot since then. He might have his issues with Lo Meifeng and dislike Shi Ping, but that was miles away from being ready to risk their lives by making stupid, uninformed choices when he didn¡¯t have to do so. Much more importantly to him personally, Falling Leaf¡¯s life was in the balance. Bringing someone along without knowing what they wanted could put her in jeopardy. That was simply unacceptable. He couldn¡¯t protect her from every danger, but he could damn well protect her from him being a moron.


    The irony was that he didn¡¯t need Chan Yu Ming to have some noble reason for wanting to come along. It just needed to be a reason that made sense, something that could compel someone to want to face those risks. In anything, he¡¯d be more comfortable if she had some wildly selfish purpose for wanting to come along. If it was all about her, she¡¯d be more likely to act for their common good until she got what she wanted. Granted, it¡¯d be anyone¡¯s guess what she¡¯d do after that, but selfishness was reassuringly predictable up until people reached their goals. Chan Yu Ming seemed to accept that he wasn¡¯t just going to breeze past the question if she said nothing for long enough.


    ¡°Does it matter?¡± she asked.


    ¡°You know it matters. You¡¯re smart enough to know why it matters, too.¡±


    Heaving a sigh and never quite meeting his eyes, she whispered, ¡°I think you¡¯re going to change the world.¡±


    Of all the words that might have fallen out of her mouth, those words had not been anywhere on Sen¡¯s list of predictions. He¡¯d thought she was going to say something like she wanted to meet Feng Ming or that she expected that he would, in fact, lead her to a treasure or secret knowledge. Her actual reason sounded¡­absurd. It wasn¡¯t that he thought she was lying. She¡¯d looked far too embarrassed for that. It was that he knew that he wasn¡¯t going to change the world. No one could do that. He honestly had his doubts that he¡¯d survive this world long enough to possibly ascend to something better. He considered her words for a moment longer before he nodded.


    ¡°Then, the answer is no.¡±


    At that, Sen made to walk away, but she grabbed his arm.


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    ¡°What? Why? I told you the truth.¡±


    ¡°I believe you, and that¡¯s the problem. That¡¯s a terrible reason because it can only end in one way.¡±


    ¡°What way?¡± she demanded, anger and hurt making her voice husky.


    ¡°It¡¯ll end in disappointment. I¡¯m not some hero out of legend or some destined king. I¡¯m a wandering cultivator who can¡¯t stay out of trouble even when I¡¯m trying. I won¡¯t change the world. Eventually, you¡¯ll realize that, and you¡¯ll be disappointed. Maybe you¡¯ll be disappointed in yourself for ever thinking it. You¡¯ll definitely be disappointed in me for not living up to your expectations,¡± said Sen, and then he softened his voice. ¡°It probably doesn¡¯t look like it, but you should consider this a kindness, Yu Ming. I¡¯m sparing you from all of that.¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t your place to decide what I¡¯ll believe.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± agreed Sen. ¡°It isn¡¯t, and I¡¯m not telling you what to believe. But it is my place to make the best choices I can with everyone¡¯s best interests in mind. It¡¯s not in everyone¡¯s best interests to let you come along if that¡¯s why you want to come. What happens if, in the middle of a fight, you see me do something that shakes that belief? How would you react?¡±


    Chan Yu Ming pursed her lips before she said, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Neither do I. Would you want me along if you had that kind of uncertainty?¡±


    She lowered her gaze to the ground and said, ¡°No. I wouldn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Look, I¡¯m not saying that I want you to avoid me forever. I¡¯d actually be really disappointed if you did.¡±


    She looked up at that. ¡°Oh, why is that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not often I can find someone who can push me to improve my jian skills.¡±


    ¡°Is that it?¡±


    ¡°And,¡± said Sen, dragging out the word, ¡°we never did have that abduction.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Chan Yu Ming wistfully, ¡°we didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°So, we¡¯ll have to take care of that at some point.¡±


    She gave him a small smile. He could tell that she was still angry and hurt, but not quite as angry or hurt as she had been. Sen supposed that only time would smooth those troubled waters. He gave her another bow.


    ¡°Be well, Chan Yu Ming.¡±


    ¡°Be well,¡± she said, returning the bow and smirking, ¡°Judgment¡¯s Gale.¡±


    Sen repressed his urge to beg her not to call him that. He suspected it wouldn¡¯t help. He walked back over to the group, where everyone gave him curious looks.


    ¡°I expected her to ask to come along,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°She did.¡±


    ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°I said no.¡±


    Lo Meifeng and Shi Ping both looked a little shocked, while Falling Leaf looked untroubled. Sen waited to see if there would be more questions, but no one asked any. He didn¡¯t expect that would last for long. So, he took advantage of the moment and started walking toward the compound gate. He wanted to put some figurative and literal distance between them and this place. Once that was done, he could finally get some sleep. Even if qi reinforcement and body cultivation could keep him going, even now, he still needed real rest on occasion. Falling Leaf fell into step beside him, looking at the water cultivators and their compound with her ever-curious eyes as they walked past them. Shi Ping and Lo Meifeng fell in behind them a moment or two later as their surprise wore off.


    Sen didn¡¯t bother looking at or speaking with anyone as marched through the heart of the Clear Spring sect. He¡¯d already said everything he meant to say. He thought there might be trouble at the gate when he saw the patriarch standing there. Sen didn¡¯t really want to do it. He didn¡¯t think the man deserved it, but there were proprieties to be observed. He paused just long enough to give the patriarch the bow his position demanded. The man looked a little mournful, but he just returned the bow and gestured. The guards opened the gates and let them pass. The small group marched out of the sect compound without a backward glance and set off on the road headed north.


    Sen kept them moving at a fast pace for nearly six hours before he finally called a halt. He¡¯d noticed a spot with an abundance of earth qi, and he wanted something a little more solid than a tent around him while he slept. Much as he had done back in the fire cultivator valley, Sen pushed his own qi down into the earth. All of the extra earth qi in the area made the work much simpler this time and soon a stone building with formations embedded in its walls emerged from the ground. While Lo Meifeng and Falling Leaf had seen him do such a thing before, Shi Ping gaped at the feat of crafting.


    ¡°Did you just¡­,¡± Shi Ping began.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen, cutting off the question. ¡°I just made this. Now, I¡¯m probably going to sleep for the next day or two. Wake me up if the end of the world happens.¡±


    ¡°What if there are more assassins?¡± asked Falling Leaf with brutal practicality.


    ¡°Yeah, then too,¡± answered Sen around a yawn.


    At that, Sen opened the heavy stone door to the house and walked in to pick a room for himself. I should give these stone houses a name if I¡¯m going to keep making them, Sen thought. What was that funny term that Falling Leaf used? Sen den? He considered that as he threw blankets onto the stone bed before rejecting the idea. It wouldn¡¯t make sense to anyone except him and her. He flopped onto the blankets, and his eyes started closing of their own volition almost immediately. Something with house in the name, he wondered. I¡¯ll ask the others. Maybe they¡¯ll have an idea. Then, unconsciousness came to claim him and fill his mind with dreams of water, stone houses, and the hurt expression on Chan Yu Ming¡¯s face.

 V4 Chapter 16 – Problems and Plans

    Sen didn¡¯t sleep straight through for a whole day the way he imagined he might. Instead, he found himself getting up periodically to make food, chat a little, and then go back to bed. As the hours of sleep slowly accumulated, though, Sen started to understand just how bone tired he had truly been. After the first day of sleeping way more than he was awake, he was finally rested enough to really feel how utterly exhausted he still was. Sen wanted to chalk it all up to his experience with the spring, but he didn¡¯t really believe that. The kind of tired he was didn¡¯t happen overnight or even over a few weeks. Now that he was clear of most of the threats he¡¯d been under, he was sleeping off a year¡¯s worth of stress and worry. Thankfully, the other three didn¡¯t pester him about when they were leaving. Shi Ping seemed ecstatic that they¡¯d only walked for part of a day. Then again, none of them were under pressure to find a fix to a problem that would kill them. Sen supposed that made doing nothing for a few days something that sat easier in their minds.


    He had eventually remembered to ask the three for ideas about what to call the stone houses. Shi Ping, expressing his native laziness suggested that they call them stone houses. Falling Leaf had shrugged. When pressed, she said to call it shelter. It was Lo Meifeng who finally came up with a name that Sen hated, which he was sure meant that it was also going to be the one that stuck.


    ¡°You should call them galehouses,¡± she said.


    He¡¯d given her a flat look that had made her giggle.


    ¡°Galehouses,¡± said Sen in his least amused voice. ¡°Really?¡±


    She¡¯d nodded enthusiastically. ¡°It¡¯s distinctive, which makes it easy to remember. Plus, it ties them to you. You might as well get credit for putting up very sturdy shelter in places that people might otherwise have to fight off spirit beasts with nowhere to run.¡±


    Rather than respond to that, which would surely have involved yelling and possibly throwing things at Lo Meifeng, Sen rubbed his face with his hands and then went back to bed. They ultimately spent three days in the galehouse before Sen decided that he¡¯d gotten enough sleep that he almost felt human again. Even that awful anger seemed to have receded or at least grown less insistent. As they walked away from the stone building, Shi Ping looked from Sen to the galehouse and back again.


    ¡°What is it, Shi Ping?¡± demanded Sen.


    ¡°You¡¯re just going to leave it?¡±


    ¡°What else am I going to do? It¡¯s not like I can take it with us. Do you want to try cramming that thing into a storage ring?¡±


    ¡°I just thought you might dismantle it,¡± said Shi Ping a little defensively.


    Sen gave the man an odd look. ¡°Why would I do that? It¡¯s not hurting anything. It¡¯s not disrupted the local environment.¡±


    ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you worried that someone will come along and, I don¡¯t know, keep it?¡±


    ¡°Not really,¡± said Sen. ¡°Not this far out from civilization. I expect people will use it the exact same way we did. They¡¯ll take shelter for a short while, catch up on some rest, and then move on.¡±


    Shi Ping frowned, and Sen waited for the man to say something else, but the fire cultivator seemed lost in his own thoughts after that. Maybe he just can¡¯t wrap his head around putting in all that work and leaving it for someone else to use, thought Sen. Whatever the reason, Sen just soaked up the blissful lack of Shi Ping moaning about everything. When they stopped to eat lunch, which consisted of cold leftovers, Lo Meifeng gestured in a vaguely northern direction.


    ¡°Have you thought about how you¡¯re going to approach the Golden Phoenix sect?¡± she asked.


    Sen eyed her dubiously. That sounded like the kind of conversation starter that was going to end with her making a suggestion. They¡¯d almost entirely avoided that kind of conversation up until now, and he¡¯d been perfectly happy with that arrangement. He was tempted to tell her to mind her own business, but the answer actually was kind of her business. If he was going to do something stupid, like try to steal the manual, then she¡¯d have to make one kind of plan. If he was going to do things in a less violence-inducing way, she¡¯d make different kinds of contingency plans. Trying to push his knee-jerk disagreeableness away, he nodded.


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    ¡°I¡¯m going to try to treat it more like a business transaction than anything else. I¡¯ll find someone in the city to serve as a kind of envoy for me, and inquire about what they want in exchange for the manual or a copy. If I¡¯m very lucky, they¡¯ll be willing to sell me a copy at only vaguely extortionate rates and we can all call it a day.¡±


    Lo Meifeng looked a little startled, but she nodded along. ¡°That¡¯s probably the best way to handle it. Using a middleman helps keep them from focusing on what they might be able to get from you personally. In fact, if they think it¡¯s another sect or a powerful independent cultivator, that¡¯s for the best. They¡¯ll just ask for resources. They¡¯ll ask for a lot. You know that, right?¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°I assumed they would. Why settle for a little when you can make a tidy profit?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure you really understand what I mean. A lot to you is a very different thing than a lot to a sect. Even small sects control a lot of financial and cultivation resources. For most people, five hundred gold tael is an almost unthinkable sum of money. For a sect like the Golden Phoenix sect, that¡¯s nothing. They spend that much on an order of rice. They¡¯ll make that much carrying out one mission for the government.¡±


    Somewhere along the line, Sen had gotten used to the idea that he had money. By most people¡¯s standards, he supposed he probably looked rich. When he needed to buy things, as a rule, he could afford them without needing to do a lot of thinking about whether he could afford them. Yet, if what Lo Meifeng was saying was true, he might well be out of his financial depth with the Golden Phoenix sect. He almost certainly had more money waiting for him back on the coast. That money wasn¡¯t going to be easily accessible unless Grandmother Lu had a shop in the capital. He didn¡¯t know if she did, but he¡¯d have to ask around. They might be able to extend him a line of credit and recoup the funds from whatever the business at large was holding for him. Even then, there would be practical limits. While the business in general might have a couple hundred gold pieces for him, somewhere, it didn¡¯t mean that a particular branch of the business could get him that much.


    ¡°Well,¡± he said, ¡°there isn¡¯t much use speculating about the costs before I make contact with them. I can either afford it or I can¡¯t.¡±


    Lo Meifeng hesitated for longer than was normal for her before she said, ¡°Feng Ming can afford it.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen. ¡°I can¡¯t lean on my teachers to solve every problem for me. It made sense with the demonic cultivators. They hate demonic cultivators. I knew that was something they¡¯d want to do. This isn¡¯t their problem.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t pretend that I know Feng Ming¡¯s mind, but I have to imagine that he¡¯d prefer it if you got the resources you need. Even if it means leaning on him financially.¡±


    ¡°I said no. If I can¡¯t secure a simple manual from a sect, I have no business being out in the world.¡±


    ¡°You have secured simple manuals from sects, which is the point. It isn¡¯t a simple manual, and this isn¡¯t some small sect. It¡¯s a very rare manual and a very powerful sect. People get very strange about rare things, even when those rare things are stupidly dangerous. Maybe even especially when those things are stupidly dangerous. On top of that, you¡¯ll be dealing with a sect that is absolutely steeped in its own arrogance. I know how you feel about that when it comes to sects. Even if everything goes smoothly, this is going to be expensive and personally challenging. You should use the resources you have available.¡±


    ¡°By resources, I assume that you mean yourself.¡±


    Lo Meifeng took a deep breath. ¡°By resources, I mean all of the resources you have available. Yes, I¡¯m one of those resources, but I¡¯m not the only one. When we get to the city, at least let me reach out to my contact there. Let me find out what, if any, financial support can be secured.¡±


    Despite his misgivings about taking any advice from Lo Meifeng, Sen was tempted. If he could get that damned manual from the sect, even if it meant leaning on his master¡¯s finances, it would solve so many problems. In the end, though, he¡¯d meant what he said to Lo Meifeng. He could keep expecting his teachers to solve every big problem he ran across. At some point, he had to start taking responsibility for himself, and for fixing the problems that would inevitably crop up in his life and cultivation. He shook his head.


    ¡°No. I understand what you¡¯re saying, but the answer is still no. I got myself into this particular mess with my body cultivation. It¡¯s on me to get myself out of it.¡±


    Lo Meifeng looked ready to yank out her own hair at those words, but she didn¡¯t say anything else. He was grateful for that. He didn¡¯t really want to have an argument with her about the subject. Before either of them could stumble into another difficult topic, Falling Leaf returned from one of her extended scouting adventures. Sen fixed her a plate of food, which the ghost panther-turned-young woman happily accepted. She didn¡¯t immediately report anything, which Sen took to mean that they¡¯d only face the usual assortment of dangers that she considered boring, such as low-level spirit beasts and possibly some bandits. After she finished eating her food, she looked at Sen.


    ¡°We¡¯re being followed.¡±


    For a few seconds, Sen¡¯s mind went into full paranoia. Had the demonic cultivators found him after all? Then, a much more reasonable, if no less troubling thought occurred to him.


    ¡°Oh no, please tell me it¡¯s not¡­,¡± started Sen.


    ¡°It¡¯s the sect girl,¡± said Falling Leaf.

 V4 Chapter 17 – Where’s the Snake?

    Sen rolled his eyes and gave serious thought to going and yelling at Chan Yu Ming. Then, he thought about it a little harder. There was no upside to going back and yelling at her. It likely wouldn¡¯t change anything. At best, she¡¯d probably just follow them more discreetly. Plus, even if he knew she was following him, and she knew she was following him, he couldn¡¯t actually tell her not to travel in the same direction as them. So, all a confrontation would accomplish would be that he got to yell at someone. That sounded like a terrible use of his time and energy. So, he shrugged.


    ¡°That¡¯s her business. It¡¯s not an us problem unless she makes it one.¡±


    ¡°You really don¡¯t care that she¡¯s following you?¡± asked Lo Meifeng with a troubled expression. ¡°And, let¡¯s be clear here, it¡¯s you she¡¯s following around, not us.¡±


    ¡°Of course, I care that she¡¯s following us around,¡± said Sen. ¡°But what do you suggest I do about it?¡±


    Lo Meifeng immediately opened her mouth and then hesitated. Then, she frowned. ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you see my problem. There¡¯s basically nothing I can do to make her stop, other than killing her. Do you think I should kill her, Lo Meifeng?¡±


    ¡°Of course, you shouldn¡¯t kill her,¡± said Lo Meifeng, which surprised Sen until she spoke again. ¡°We don¡¯t know who her family is.¡±


    ¡°It disturbs me that you came up with the right answer for completely the wrong reason.¡±


    Lo Meifeng shot him a less-than-amused look. ¡°Obviously, she hasn¡¯t actually done anything that warrants such an action. But, even if we were inclined to take that approach, it¡¯d be foolish without knowing who else we¡¯d be picking a fight with.¡±


    ¡°That is also true,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°For now, I¡¯m just going to leave her alone. Traveling between cities by yourself isn¡¯t fun, and I would know. I¡¯m hoping she¡¯ll get tired of it and turn back.¡±


    Lo Meifeng looked profoundly skeptical about that but kept her opinion to herself. Falling Leaf met Sen¡¯s dark eyes with her green ones.


    ¡°Why is the sect girl following you?¡± she asked. ¡°You told her she couldn¡¯t come with us.¡±


    Sen hemmed and hawed for a moment, not really wanting to get into it, but Falling Leaf deserved some kind of an answer.


    ¡°She¡¯s got this idea into her head that I¡¯m going to change the world,¡± said Sen. ¡°So, she wants to be around for when it happens.¡±


    Falling Leaf looked very confused for a moment. ¡°You mean, she isn¡¯t in heat?¡±


    Lo Meifeng burst into laughter and Shi Ping, who had been unusually quiet throughout the conversation, snickered. Falling Leaf gave the pair a perplexed look.


    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s definitely in heat,¡± said Lo Meifeng, before she added, ¡°although, that other stuff she told Sen might be true too.¡±


    Falling Leaf considered those words for a moment before she looked at Sen again. ¡°You should go bed her.¡±


    Shi Ping looked like his eyes might fall out of his head when he said, ¡°What?¡±


    She gave the fire cultivator an inscrutable look. ¡°If he beds her, it may cure her lust. Then, she might lose interest and return to her own place.¡±


    After a brief moment of being startled, Sen realized that this solution would make perfect sense to spirit beasts. He¡¯d never discussed the topic of sex among the spirit beasts with her in any kind of depth, but he¡¯d gleaned enough to know that, for them, it was an overwhelming imperative. He¡¯d have to explain to her, in private, far away from Shi Ping and Lo Meifeng, that it didn¡¯t quite work that way with humans. Instead, he just smiled at her.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we save that as plan b,¡± said Sen. ¡°If the misery of traveling alone isn¡¯t enough to drive her away, I can always try that.¡±


    After a moment, Sen heard Shi Ping muttering under his breath. ¡°Why doesn¡¯t anyone give that kind of advice to the women I know?¡±


    After that unfortunate peak into Shi Ping¡¯s private affairs, Sen wasn¡¯t going to say anything. It seemed that everyone¡¯s hearing was acute enough to catch the complaint, though.


    Falling Leaf gave the man a guileless look and said, ¡°Maybe they don¡¯t like you.¡±


    Lo Meifeng added, ¡°Or they have better taste.¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡± shouted Shi Ping. ¡°I¡¯m not that bad.¡±


    Lo Meifeng didn¡¯t even say anything in response to that. She just gestured toward Shi Ping, then she turned and gestured to Sen. Resignation settled on Shi Ping¡¯s face.


    ¡°Okay, fine, but is that really a fair comparison? Nobody looks good standing next to him.¡±


    That impishness in his heart that Sen hadn¡¯t seen in a while took that opportunity to make an appearance.


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    ¡°They do,¡± said Sen, pointing at Falling Leaf and Lo Meifeng.


    Shi Ping stared at Sen for five full seconds before he said, ¡°You¡¯re an ass.¡±


    Without another word, the fire cultivator started walking down the road at a brisk pace. Sen stared thoughtfully after the man.


    ¡°Did he just leave a meal first?¡± Sen asked.


    Lo Meifeng looked a little startled. ¡°I think he did.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re never going to be able to replicate that outcome, are we?¡±


    ¡°No, probably not.¡±


    ¡°I thought so. Pity. Oh well, we should get moving.¡±


    Sen took a moment to use his fire qi to scorch the food remnants off the plates and utensils before returning them to his storage ring. Falling Leaf swiftly disappeared into the surrounding forest to resume her scouting activities, as Sen and Lo Meifeng soon overtook the grumpy fire cultivator. Sen kept them moving until nearly nightfall before he found a spot. Shi Ping looked very disappointed when Sen started putting up a tent and formation flags.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t going to make a galehouse?¡± the fire cultivator asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s not as easy as I make it look,¡± said Sen. ¡°Besides, it¡¯s a pleasant night out. It¡¯s not going to rain. And I haven¡¯t sensed anything even remotely strong enough to see through my formations, let alone cause the four of us any trouble. Spending a night in a tent won¡¯t kill you. I did this on a daily basis for months at a time.¡±


    ¡°I like walls around me,¡± said Shi Ping. ¡°Nice, thick walls that keep out snakes and predators and snakes.¡±


    ¡°You said snakes twice,¡± observed Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°It¡¯s worth saying twice. They¡¯re awful things. Just awful. I can¡¯t stand them.¡±


    ¡°You realize that, as a peak formation foundation cultivator, there are only about five kinds of snake venom on the whole continent that could actually hurt you, right?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°And what about the huge spirit snakes that can just swallow you whole or squeeze you to death?¡±


    ¡°How many of those do you imagine there are?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°One is enough.¡±


    ¡°Let me rephrase. How many of those do you imagine there are casually hanging around by human roads?¡±


    Shi Ping narrowed his eyes at that. ¡°You never know. They¡¯re sneaky things.¡±


    ¡°Well, I promise, if one of those snakes shows up, I¡¯ll make sure it gets you first.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a terrible person,¡± said Shi Ping. ¡°I¡¯m telling you about a real, legitimate fear, and you¡¯re mocking me.¡±


    Sen held up a hand. ¡°I¡¯m not mocking your fear. I¡¯m mocking your paranoia. Those kinds of spirit beasts live in the deep, deep wilds. We aren¡¯t anywhere near the deep wilds. So, take a breath and enjoy the cool night air. I might even make some hot food.¡±


    Shi Ping perked up at that. Since he felt a little guilty about making fun of the man¡¯s fear of snakes, Sen actually followed through and cooked a bigger and more complicated meal than he normally would, including rice, vegetables, pork, and even dumplings. Everyone seemed a little happier after the meal. Shi Ping, perhaps in a gracious mood, took out an erhu from a storage ring and played quiet music for them. For all the man¡¯s faults, even Sen¡¯s inexperienced ears could tell that man was an unusually gifted musician. After that, everyone else went to bed, while Sen stood watch. He wasn¡¯t worried the way he had once been, but he and Lo Meifeng had agreed that they would split the nightly watch, as they were the least likely to be affected by short nights of sleep.


    Sen relished the quiet time by himself. While Shi Ping¡¯s whining had tapered off a lot since those first days out of the fire cultivator¡¯s valley, it wasn¡¯t gone by any means. It grated on him because, all things considered, they had enjoyed a relatively problem-free trip so far. It made Sen wonder if sect cultivators spent too much time safely holed up in their compounds. Maybe it skews their perspective, thought Sen. He was also a little relieved to be free of Lo Meifeng for a few hours. Aside from that one conversation, she¡¯d been making an effort not to push him too hard about anything. He appreciated it, but there was a part of him constantly waiting for her to try to convince him to do something she knew he¡¯d hate. It was tiring and frustrating. He reminded himself, again, that she was still preferable to some new person who he wouldn¡¯t know at all.


    Of course, as much as he¡¯d tried to downplay it, the fact that Chan Yu Ming was trailing them worried him. Not so much that he thought she was going to try to do something to them, but rather that she¡¯d get into some kind of trouble she wasn¡¯t ready to handle. He didn¡¯t know what kind of woodcraft she had, or even if she had any. For all he knew, she was doing all the wrong things that would attract spirit beasts to her location. Except, he reminded himself, that isn¡¯t your problem. If she¡¯d listened to you, there wouldn¡¯t be any danger to worry about. She got herself into this, she can deal with the consequences by herself.


    Even in his own head, the words lacked the ring of conviction. Sure, ignorance probably killed a lot of people, but this was one case where he could intervene. He was choosing not to. If she got hurt or killed, he wasn¡¯t sure what kind of responsibility he¡¯d have for that. It didn¡¯t help that he had no desire for her to get hurt or killed. He just didn¡¯t want her tagging along, looking at him with all those expectations he couldn¡¯t possibly meet in her eyes. He was still trying to sort that out when Lo Meifeng got up to relieve him. He threw another piece of wood on the fire and encouraged it a little bit with fire qi. His night vision was better than hers, so a bit of extra firelight was a courtesy.


    ¡°Anything interesting happen?¡± Lo Meifeng asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s an owl about a quarter mile that way,¡± said Sen, pointing in the right direction. ¡°Aside from that, I haven¡¯t noticed anything.¡±


    ¡°Good. I like it when things are quiet on the road,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    Sen glared at her. ¡°You just had to say it, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Oh, come on, that¡¯s a complete myth,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    No sooner were the words out of her mouth than they both heard a loud boom in the near distance.


    ¡°Myth, huh? You stay here. I¡¯ll go check it out.¡±


    ¡°Why you?¡±


    ¡°Because you know it¡¯s Chan Yu Ming. So, I might as well be the one to go deal with it.¡±


    ¡°What do you think she¡¯s fighting.¡±


    ¡°Since the universe is mocking us, it¡¯s probably a giant snake,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Why a giant snake?¡±


    ¡°Because Shi Ping was complaining about them earlier. Honestly, I¡¯d be a little disappointed if it wasn¡¯t a giant snake. It¡¯d feel like the universe wasn¡¯t really trying.¡±


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll watch the kids.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Sen.


    He took off back the way they had come earlier, moving as fast as his qinggong technique would carry him. It didn¡¯t take him long to find Chan Yu Ming. She wasn¡¯t being subtle. Sen was so certain that he¡¯d find a giant snake when he arrived that it caught him off guard when he found her in a big clearing fending off half a dozen spiders that were as big as horses. He just stared at the big, creepy things for a long moment before Chan Yu Ming noticed him.


    ¡°Are you going to help or just stand there?¡±


    ¡°But where¡¯s the snake?¡±


    ¡°What snake?!¡± she yelled at him while lopping off part of a spider leg that got too close.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± he half-complained to no one. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll help.¡±

 V4 Chapter 18 – So, What Was the Plan?

    At the sound of his voice, two of the giant spiders whirled to face him. Sen had never particularly liked spiders. They were always a threat to anyone looking for somewhere cozy and dry to sleep on cold or wet nights. While most of their bites would just leave someone itching for a day or two, there was always the chance of running across one of the more dangerous spiders. While adults could sometimes survive one of their bites, kids never did. The venom was too toxic and their bodies too small, or so Sen came to understand later under Auntie Caihong¡¯s instruction. Unlike Shi Ping, though, Sen¡¯s dislike had manifested as a low-burning hate, rather than some kind of primal fear. So, the idea of helping Chan Yu Ming kill several oversized examples of a much-loathed childhood threat suited Sen just fine. What he hadn¡¯t expected was for the spiders to have the faces of human beings. He¡¯d never read or even heard about anything like them.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter,¡± he muttered, summoning a spear from his storage ring. ¡°Fire and lightning kill most things.¡±


    Cycling for those two qi types, he sent a bolt of lightning toward one of the spiders from the spear. Yanking the lightning qi out of the spear, he used it as the focal point to send a whip of white-hot fire crashing down on the other. Part of him expected that to be that. Yet, much to his surprise, the lightning simply played over the carapace of the first spider. That isn¡¯t to say that the spider liked it very much. It opened its human mouth and let out a wholly inhuman shriek of pain and rage. Fantastic, thought Sen. Things worked out a little better with the second spider. While the spider dodged to one side faster than anything that big should be able to move, the whip of fire neatly removed two of the creature¡¯s legs. That sent it lurching in an unbalanced stumble. Sen didn¡¯t get any time to enjoy that minor victory.


    The spider he¡¯d hit with the lightning was racing toward him with its mouth open far too wide for a human being. Sen could see weirdly misshapen fangs in its mouth dripping with venom. A year ago, that sight might have made him pause in fear or horror, but he¡¯d been through too many fights. He¡¯d learned to push those things aside. He could be horrified after the fight was done. Instead, he broke Uncle Kho¡¯s cardinal rule and let go of the spear with one of his hands. He stabbed two fingers at the spider and sent a compressed lance of blue fire right into that horrifying maw. The creature¡¯s head simply vanished in an explosion of heat. Unfortunately, the spider¡¯s body went mad at that point, crashing and thrashing all over the clearing, a threat to friend and foe alike.


    Sen caught sight of the one he¡¯d injured trying to flank him, but he had a second or two before it was going to attack. So, he surveyed the situation. Chan Yu Ming had managed to put down one as well. He hadn¡¯t seen the technique she used, but the large puddle of water around the spider''s corpse told him there had been a technique involved. Unfortunately, three of the creatures had backed her up nearly into the forest. Sen decided that killing them one at a time wasn¡¯t getting the job done fast enough. He suspected that if the spiders managed to push either Chan Yu Ming or him into the forest proper, it was going to turn into a very different kind of fight. One where the spiders would have a lot more advantages.


    Instead, Sen took a page out of his own book and started cycling earth qi. He¡¯d been using it more and more often and, while it still wasn¡¯t easy, it was getting easier. He plunged his qi down into the soil. He wasn¡¯t sure why that mattered, but all of the spiders suddenly turned their full attention on him. There was a heartbeat where nothing moved, then huge black bodies were racing toward him. Even Sen¡¯s calm threatened to crack for a moment, but then he felt his technique finish taking shape.


    ¡°Too late,¡± he said.


    What had been a forest clearing became a small sea of stone spikes and impaled spider bodies. There was silence all around them, except for the spasmodic crack of a spider leg slapping against stone. Sen just stood there for a moment, letting the fear and excitement he felt in every fight fade away. Then, with a gesture, he sent the spikes back down into the earth where they¡¯d come from. He walked over to Chan Yu Ming, who was staring at the carnage with wide eyes. Now that he¡¯d had a few seconds to think about the fight, he was feeling a lot more in a mood for that yelling match he¡¯d taken a pass on earlier. Still, there were priorities to take care of first.


    ¡°Are you hurt?¡± Sen asked her.


    Chan Yu Ming didn¡¯t say anything for long enough that Sen wondered if she¡¯d even heard the question. Then, she shook herself and turned her eyes toward him.


    ¡°No,¡± she said, her voice a little shaky. ¡°Nothing serious anyway.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± said Sen in a particularly dry voice.


    ¡°Thank you for helping.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh. You do remember that I¡¯ve actually seen you fight before, right?¡±


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    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean,¡± she said, fixing her gaze on the spider corpses.


    ¡°I mean that I know, for a fact, that killing these things wouldn¡¯t have been hard for you. That they were giant spiders and had those creepy human faces sort of threw me off my game for a minute, but this fight should have been over before I got here.¡±


    ¡°Maybe you overestimated me. Not all of us can throw around fire and lightning and stone spikes the way you do.¡±


    ¡°Those were convenient and faster options for me, but I could have taken them all using nothing but a jian. That means that you could have taken them all using nothing but a jian. So, what was the plan? Let me play the hero, fall into my arms in a completely spontaneous outpouring of gratitude, and then I¡¯d take you with me?¡±


    Chan Yu Ming didn¡¯t say anything, but Sen¡¯s night vision was sharp enough that he saw her cheeks get subtly darker.


    ¡°Seriously?¡± he asked, seeing he¡¯d at least gotten pretty close to the mark. ¡°That was the plan?¡±


    ¡°It would have worked on most men,¡± she said.


    At first, Sen thought that she was underestimating men. Then, he thought about Shi Ping¡¯s mild or maybe not-so-mild desperation for attention from women. Hells, thought Sen, maybe it would have worked on most men.


    ¡°At least tell me you didn¡¯t bait the creepy spider things to attack you.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she sighed. ¡°That part was real.¡±


    ¡°So, you just made sure to make a lot of noise, assuming I¡¯d come and see what was happening?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re here, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    Sen felt a stab of annoyance. She was right. He had come running. Although, he probably would have done the same thing even if he hadn¡¯t known she was the one who was back here. What he did when he arrived, though, would have depended a lot on what he found. Sen decided to take a moment to gather his thoughts and deal with the spider corpses. He walked over to them and split them open using wind blades. He dug around inside of them until he found their cores and pulled them free. He dropped those on the ground next to him. Then, calling up earth qi, he loosened and parted the soil under the spider corpses. He let them sink deep into the ground, then, for good measure, he crushed them. He figured that they¡¯d probably help the plant growth in the area. He took a minute or two to smooth out the surface soil and used some wind qi to gather up seeds. He spread those out over the clearing. A minor application of wood qi got them sprouting, which should help reinforce and stabilize the soil. Then, he pulled out a water gourd and washed off the cores. Picking them up, he walked over and held them out to Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°You did most of the actual killing,¡± she said. ¡°You should keep them.¡±


    ¡°We both know that you would have done it if I hadn¡¯t shown up,¡± he answered.


    Rolling her eyes, she took the cores and made them disappear into a storage treasure. That was followed by some awkward silence.


    ¡°So, now what?¡± she asked.


    ¡°You should go back to the Clear Spring sect. We¡¯re not that far away yet.¡±


    ¡°Why won¡¯t you let me come with you?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°I told you why.¡±


    ¡°That wasn¡¯t a good reason to say no.¡±


    ¡°It was, in fact, an excellent reason to say no. The real question is, why do you want this so badly? I know why you said you did, and I¡¯m sure that¡¯s part of the reason, but that¡¯s not enough to turn your life upside down,¡± said Sen, until a thought struck him. ¡°Not unless there¡¯s some specific thing in the world you think I¡¯m going to change. Or maybe it¡¯s that there¡¯s something that you want to change that you were hoping to point me at. Is that it?¡±


    Chan Yu Ming nodded. ¡°Sort of.¡±


    All of that anger that Sen had been keeping at bay rushed to the front of his consciousness.


    ¡°Hard. Pass.¡± said Sen in a tone that made the young woman flinch. ¡°I¡¯ve been used enough for one year.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like that,¡± said Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s never like that, except for the part when I get a world of trouble dumped on my head because someone else decided that I was the fix for their problem.¡±


    ¡°Sen, please, just hear me out.¡±


    ¡°Answer me one question first. Let¡¯s say I play along. Let¡¯s say I go to wherever it is that you want to go and we manage to change whatever it is that you want to change. Is it going to make me powerful, dangerous enemies who will probably try to murder me or have me murdered?¡±


    Sen watched Chan Yu Ming close her eyes and take a breath. ¡°Yes.¡±


    Sen pinched the bridge of his nose. ¡°At least you told the truth about it. The answer is still no.¡±


    ¡°Sen.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m dying,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, my body cultivation is killing me. Or it will be very soon. That¡¯s why I¡¯m going to the capital. That¡¯s why I need that manual. If I don¡¯t complete this cultivation method, I die. I have a little bit of time to work with, and I have to spend that time trying to fix my problems. I can¡¯t spend the next year on the run from assassins. If my situation were different, maybe I¡¯d consider helping you. If the thing you wanted changed was important enough. As it stands now, I can¡¯t afford the distraction.¡±


    ¡°What if I could help you get the manual? Would you help me then?¡±


    Sen narrowed his eyes. ¡°Can you help me get the manual?¡±


    ¡°Maybe. It¡¯s possible, yeah.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to need something a lot more definitive than it¡¯s possible before I gamble my life on this.¡±


    ¡°My family could probably get it if I involved them. But, if I¡¯m going to involve them, I need you to do your part first.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve respected that you don¡¯t want to talk about your family up until now because it really wasn¡¯t my business. As of this moment, it¡¯s my business. What is the story with your family?¡±


    Chan Yu Ming was quiet for a long moment before she said. ¡°We¡¯re nobles.¡±


    ¡°Now, I know for sure that I don¡¯t want any part of your problem.¡±


    ¡°Just because we¡¯re nobles?¡±


    ¡°Yes, just because you¡¯re nobles seems like a perfectly good reason to me. Because the last time I interacted with a noble family, I had to kill all of them.¡±

 V4 Chapter 19 – Anger Management

    ¡°You what?¡±


    ¡°I killed them. That entire branch of their family. Gone. Doing that once was enough for me. I¡¯ve no interest in going down that road again. And from what you said, it could come to precisely that.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming scowled at Sen so hard that he could see it quite clearly even in the minimal light. ¡°You didn¡¯t care that I was a noble before.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you were a noble before. You didn¡¯t tell me.¡±


    ¡°Like you really didn¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know. I suspected. But as long as you kept things on the level of cultivators, it didn¡¯t matter. Jianghu rules applied. Will the same be true in the capital? Will the same thing apply to your entire family?¡±


    ¡°No. Most of them aren¡¯t cultivators.¡±


    ¡°That means mortal politics. I don¡¯t involve myself that way. Cultivators are just,¡± Sen struggled to find the exact right word for what he wanted to say. ¡°We¡¯re just visitors in the mortal world. It¡¯s not for us to interfere in their politics.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s easy for you to say. You¡¯re a wandering cultivator. It¡¯s no challenge for you to stay above it all. If you think you¡¯re getting too involved, you just pick up and move on. As near as I can tell, your only family are old monsters that only someone with a suicide wish would challenge. It¡¯s different for me. My family lives in that mortal world you occasionally deign to visit. They face real threats. They have expectations of me, and I have obligations to them. If I don¡¯t interfere, my brothers could die, or my sisters could get forced into bad marriages. I can¡¯t stay above it all.¡±


    There it was, again. That world of family that Sen only understood in the most abstract ways. She might be right that she couldn¡¯t stay above it all, but she might not. Sen honestly didn¡¯t know because he didn¡¯t have any context for what having a family like hers meant in practice. Even Grandmother Lu wasn¡¯t truly mortal anymore. Although he worried about her more than ever now that he¡¯d seen how so many cultivators treated those in the qi-gathering and early foundation formation stages.


    ¡°That may be true. You¡¯re right. It is easy for me to be above it all because I don¡¯t have any family. I never did.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. What does that mean? That you never had any family.¡±


    ¡°I grew up living on the streets. I must have had parents at some point, but I don¡¯t remember them. If I had brothers or sisters, I never met them. So, I have no idea what responsibilities or obligations you feel you have toward your family or even why you feel you have them. It¡¯s also clear that you take those things very seriously. Maybe that makes you a, what¡¯s the word, oh, a filial daughter or sister. I suppose there¡¯s nothing you can do about the fact that your family business is all tied up in mortal politics. You don¡¯t choose what family you¡¯re born into, at least, I don¡¯t think you do.¡±


    ¡°I can see how that might make it hard for you to understand where I¡¯m coming from.¡±


    ¡°It does. I¡¯m also sure that I must look terribly callous to you. But I also hope that you can understand where I¡¯m coming from. No matter how strongly you feel about things with your family, it doesn¡¯t change anything for me. I have no business meddling in mortal politics, especially mortal politics I know nothing about, most especially in the capital.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not all of it, though, is it? You were at least considering helping me until you found out I was a noble. Then, all of a sudden, you didn¡¯t want to know anything about anything. I know you said you had a bad experience with one family, but that¡¯s one family.¡±


    Sen took a breath. ¡°Who said it was just one family I had a bad experience with? I didn¡¯t have a bad experience with one noble or one family. I¡¯ve had bad experiences with every noble I¡¯ve ever met. When I was a child, all of the local noble brats took turns beating me for fun. Then, later, several of those same nobles tried to ambush and kill me. They tried to kill the closest thing I had to family, the woman I call my grandmother, even if we¡¯re family by choice rather than blood. Then there¡¯s Gong Jun De. He had noble written all over him, particularly when he called me a peasant. He said the word the word the way I might say rotting corpse. He is, isn¡¯t he?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she admitted. ¡°He¡¯s a noble, though not a particularly good example of one.¡±


    ¡°He tried to have me crippled. Even you tried to pull me into some political game that would most likely end with violence and possibly even my death. So, given all of that, can you honestly blame me for not being interested in your problem?¡±


    ¡°No, I guess I can''t. Yet, you clearly expect this kind of behavior from nobles. So, why are you so angry with me, personally?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Oh really? You seem pretty angry.¡±


    ¡°I said I¡¯m not angry with you, personally. And I¡¯m not. I¡¯m angry with everyone, constantly. It just came out a bit more because you gave me a reason to be angry with you. That poor fire cultivator I have traveling with me catches way more of it than he deserves because he aggravates me.¡±


    ¡°Why are you so angry with everyone?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s way too much to get into right now. I¡¯ll give you a few of the highlights from the last year. Being hunted by demonic cultivators. Imprisonment by an insane cult leader. Betrayal. And, of course, killing a whole bunch of people that I never wanted to kill.¡±


    ¡°Okay, that is a lot.¡±


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    ¡°Yeah,¡± muttered Sen. ¡°It¡¯s a lot.¡±


    ¡°You were imprisoned by an insane cult leader?¡±


    ¡°For about six months. It¡¯s,¡± Sen had to push down another surge of anger, ¡°a story for another time.¡±


    ¡°Then, after all that, I come along and try to trick you. You know, I wasn¡¯t going to do it that way. I was going to explain everything, all of it, back at the sect. Then, I was going to ask for your help.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°When? After the dinner you stormed out of? During the three days you were in a cultivation trance? During the three weeks you spent locked up with the sacred spring where I couldn¡¯t get to you? After that, you were leaving in a rage. I had maybe five minutes to convince you of something, and that wasn¡¯t enough time to give you all of the details. So, I tried to convince you to take me with you. At which point, I could have explained everything.¡±


    Sen went to object, but he couldn¡¯t find a way to fault her logic. He couldn¡¯t think of a time when she would have had a good opportunity to talk with him privately. Certainly not a time when he was in one of his better states of mind. He¡¯d kept himself very busy during that visit to the sect, if not entirely by design. And, everything she¡¯d done since did have the feel of things she was making up as she went along. Sen had been through enough disasters of his own making to recognize the signs. He knew he should just hear her out. It was the reasonable thing to do, the rational thing to do, and probably even the polite thing to do. But his anger just kept getting in the way.


    It was getting in the way of everything, and he couldn¡¯t keep going on the way he had been. At the rate Sen was going, Shi Ping was going to try to murder him in his sleep and be entirely justified in doing it. Sen also knew that while he could get away with that anger out in the middle of nowhere, he couldn¡¯t go to the capital with that anger still burning hot inside of him. It would get him killed. He¡¯d overreact to something someone said. It would spiral or escalate, and there would be a war in the streets. He¡¯d no doubt take a lot of people with him, but he was certain that there would be nascent soul cultivators in the city. If things got bad enough, the royal family would ask one of those nascent soul cultivators and their entire sect to deal with him. Sen knew he was stronger than he should be, but he wasn¡¯t deluded enough to think he could survive a confrontation like that. Those were the kinds of people who would know how to fight someone like him.


    Then, the real horror would start. He knew perfectly well that if he died in the streets of the capital, his teachers would descend on that city like the avatars of cataclysm. Maybe the sects in the city could fight them off if they all banded together immediately, but Sen doubted the sects would do that. Cooperation wasn¡¯t really the sect way. Some would abstain, thinking it wasn¡¯t their problem. Some would refuse to get involved if one of their rival sects was taking a stand, seeing it as a convenient way to rid themselves of some hated competition. By the time they realized that Feng Ming, Kho Jaw-Long, and Ma Caihong intended to raze the city down to scorched and poisoned soil, it¡¯d be too late. No, he needed to find a way to purge this anger, and he needed to do it now. He looked at the clearing where they¡¯d fought those terrible spiders and a terrible idea came to him.


    ¡°Come with me,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Where?¡± asked the suddenly nervous Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°To shelter,¡± said Sen, keeping an iron fist wrapped around his anger.


    Then, Sen set off toward the camp. Chan Yu Ming didn¡¯t seem to have any trouble keeping up, so they made the trip back swiftly. Shi Ping stared at Sen and Chan Yu Ming like he expected someone to hit him. Lo Meifeng sighed and muttered something about another one. Falling Leaf just eyed the girl.


    ¡°Did you bed her?¡± the transformed ghost panther asked.


    Chan Yu Ming looked shocked, but Sen just snorted. ¡°No. We fought some spiders. Well, they were sort of spiders. Spiders with human faces. They were creepy.¡±


    Falling Leaf nodded in recognition. ¡°Yes, they are vile things. Did you kill them all?¡±


    ¡°All the ones I saw.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡±


    ¡°Spiders with human faces?¡± asked Shi Ping. ¡°How big were they?¡±


    Sen looked at Chan Yu Ming. ¡°Horse-sized, do you think?¡±


    ¡°Ox-sized maybe,¡± she offered.


    Sen looked at Shi Ping, ¡°As big as horses or oxen.¡±


    The man shuddered. ¡°That¡¯s almost as bad as snakes.¡±


    Sen had several things to do and he wasn¡¯t sure where the best place to start was. He looked around the campsite and finally decided.


    ¡°Pack up the tents. I¡¯m going to make a galehouse.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s a galehouse?¡± asked Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°Don¡¯t distract him,¡± cried Shi Ping.


    ¡°You¡¯ll see in a few minutes,¡± said Sen, walking over to his tent and taking it down.


    There wasn''t as much earth qi concentrated at this location as the last one, so it took Sen a little longer. It also didn¡¯t help that he was making it a bit bigger and more complex. He wasn¡¯t sure what his exact timetable was going to be, so he wanted to make sure that the place had some conveniences built in. When he finally pulled the completed galehouse up out of the ground, Chan Yu Ming couldn¡¯t seem to decide if she should stare at the stone structure or him. Shi Ping wasted no time hurrying inside to claim a room for himself. Sen extinguished the campfire that they¡¯d been using for light and followed the fire cultivator inside. Sen immediately sat down at the table he¡¯d made in the common area, pulled out the kit that Auntie Caihong had given him, and wrote a letter to his teachers that explained what he¡¯d done and why. He didn¡¯t know how much cover it would give Lo Meifeng, but it was the best he could do. He walked over and handed her the sealed letter. She eyed it and then lifted her gaze to him.


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s to keep you out of trouble if things go wrong.¡±


    ¡°What could go wrong?¡± demanded Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°My anger it¡¯s¡­it¡¯s out of control or so close to out of control as to make almost no difference. I can¡¯t go off and sit by a river for years or join one of those monasteries where people meditate to find peace. I don¡¯t have enough time for those things to work. So, I have to deal with it a different way.¡±


    ¡°What way?¡± asked a very unhappy-looking Falling Leaf.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to burn it out.¡±


    ¡°How?¡± asked Lo Miefeng, Shi Ping, and Chan Yu Ming at the same time.


    ¡°I¡¯m going out into the wilds. Deeper than I¡¯ve ever been. Maybe deeper than anyone has ever been. I¡¯m going to fight. I¡¯m going to find something that can actually kill me, and I¡¯m going to fight it. And then, if necessary, I¡¯ll do it again. You can find enlightenment on the edge of death. So, I¡¯ll fight until there¡¯s no anger left in me, no rage left to sate, or I find the enlightenment I need to understand how to live with it.¡±


    Everyone started saying or yelling things.


    ¡°This is not a discussion,¡± roared Sen, bringing the room to immediate silence. ¡°The problem is getting worse, not better. I don¡¯t expect anyone to like this, but you do understand it. I need to fix this problem, and the slow way isn¡¯t an option. So, unless one of you has a better idea that I can do right now, this is how it has to be. And no,¡± said Sen, pointing at Lo Meifeng, ¡°you aren¡¯t coming along. This is so ridiculously beyond any orders you might have gotten that it¡¯s almost funny. I¡¯m not getting you killed for this.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m coming,¡± said Falling Leaf, her gaze steady on Sen¡¯s face.


    ¡°I know.¡±


    Lo Meifeng seemed to bite back a lot of words and instead opted for one brief question. ¡°How long should we wait?¡±


    Sen thought about it for a few seconds, then transferred what he estimated was a month¡¯s supply of food into a spare storage ring he¡¯d gotten from somewhere. He tossed Lo Meifeng the ring.


    ¡°If we¡¯re not back in a month, I doubt we¡¯re coming back.¡±

 V4 Chapter 20 – Morning Matters

    While Sen was ready to leave right that minute, he realized it wasn¡¯t practical. It was still dark out for one. Even though Falling Leaf was probably better equipped to travel under those conditions than any of his other traveling companions, it was an unnecessary risk. One that could be easily avoided with a delay of nothing more than a handful of hours. Beyond that, Sen reasoned he might as well sleep for a few hours before they left. While he didn¡¯t necessarily need the sleep, it wouldn¡¯t hurt him to get that sleep. No reason to skip sleep when I don¡¯t have to, thought Sen. Then, there was the problem of Chan Yu Ming. It seemed she wasn¡¯t ready to just let things go. She pulled him aside.


    ¡°Do you really expect me to just wait for you, here, for a month?¡±


    Sen gave her a startled look. ¡°No. I expect Lo Meifeng to wait because it¡¯s literally her job. I expect Shi Ping to wait because he¡¯s lazy. Plus, if I don¡¯t come back, he can go home and no one will bother him about it. I expected you to leave once the sun comes up. I only brought you here so you¡¯d have somewhere relatively safe to sleep.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Chan Yu Ming, looking like she wasn¡¯t quite sure how to feel. ¡°That was thoughtful.¡±


    Sen shrugged it off. ¡°So, you¡¯ll be returning to the Clear Spring sect?¡±


    ¡°I,¡± she hesitated, ¡°I¡¯ll decide in the morning.¡±


    ¡°As you wish,¡± said Sen, walking over to a room and looking in.


    Seeing that it was empty, he stepped into the room. Feeling a prickling between his shoulder blades, he looked over his shoulder to see Chan Yu Ming staring after him. She immediately looked away, but not before he caught her. Sen couldn¡¯t decide whether to be amused or annoyed and settled on neither. He closed the door behind him and, after throwing some blankets on the stone bed, stretched out to get what sleep he could. For once, he wasn¡¯t plagued with bad dreams. As had become normal for him, though, he only managed to sleep for about three hours or, rather, he slept for two hours and then dozed for an hour while he obstinately refused to get out of bed. It was the need for tea that ultimately drove him to get up.


    As usual, he took a little comfort in the familiar routine of brewing the tea. He also enjoyed that he could have a cup or two in relative peace. When he was drinking tea by himself, there was nothing to rouse his anger or steal his attention from the process. He could just breathe in the steam and smell of the tea, let the cup''s warmth seep into his hands, and then, when the moment was perfect, tip the cup against his lips and let a sip of tea slip into his mouth. That ritual of morning tea had been all but sacrosanct on the mountain, a moment of calm before the demands of the day bore down on him, and Sen had found that returning to that ritual eased something inside of him. Maybe it was nothing more than the comfort of the familiar, or maybe it was that the process reminded him of a time when things had been less complicated. He could never decide and wasn¡¯t even sure that it mattered. What mattered to him was that it helped him maintain control.


    Of course, if his plan worked, he wouldn¡¯t need to lean on every crutch he could find to keep from incinerating everyone around him with white-hot rage. Even so, he thought he¡¯d still prefer days that began with quiet tea over those that didn¡¯t. He was firmly of the opinion that one could not have too many moments of peace and thoughtful calm in a life. Yet, he knew that moment couldn¡¯t last. No one else was in the common area, yet, but he did hear the noises of someone stirring in one of the rooms. It would soon be time to go and finally come to some kind of terms with his anger. He didn¡¯t necessarily need his anger to be entirely gone, as anger could serve a purpose. If burning it out of himself was what it took to resolve this issue, though, he would do what needed to be done. He didn¡¯t need to be angry to fight the way some men did. He hadn¡¯t been trained that way. Stripping that well of anger out of himself wouldn¡¯t make him less effective. If anything, he hoped it would make him more effective, more coolly calculating in the face of enemies with less control.


    It was less than a minute later that Falling Leaf joined him at the stone table. He gestured at the tea, silently asking if she wanted any. She stared at the teapot with resignation and nodded. Sen poured her a cup and watched with a sort of detached curiosity as she consciously forced herself to drink the liquid. It was very clear she didn¡¯t enjoy it, so wondered why she insisted on drinking it. He¡¯d have to ask her about it later when there were fewer prying ears around. Sen realized, after glancing around at the otherwise empty common area, that the best time to leave was right then. There would be no awkward or insincere goodbyes, and no last-second attempts to talk him out of this course of action. Sen quickly cleaned up the tea set and stored it in his ring. Then, he gestured to the front door. Falling Leaf looked at closed doors to the other rooms, and nodded thoughtfully. They slipped outside as dawn was sliding inexorably toward morning.


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    Sen paused for a moment to consider which direction to go. After thinking back about the map, he opted to take them west. There was almost nothing but unbroken wilderness in that direction all the way to the Mountains of Sorrow. Sen reasoned that would dramatically improve his odds of finding something that could realistically kill him. Falling Leaf, who had rarely chosen to speak to him directly as a panther, seemed equally reticent as a human girl. At least, she was once she was away from other people who talked all the time. Sen quickly realized that, cultivation level differences aside, Falling Leaf was still very much his superior in the art of moving through the wilderness. They soon fell into old habits with her drifting out and around him, looking for threats. The only difference was that, now, he wanted to find those threats. Yet, threats were in annoyingly short supply. Not that Sen had truly believed he could solve the problem his first day out, but it would have been nice. It wasn¡¯t until they stopped to eat something that either Sen or Falling Leaf spoke.


    ¡°Is it normal for there to be so few spirit beasts?¡± Sen asked.


    Falling Leaf considered the question while she finished chewing and swallowing some rice. It was something else she didn¡¯t seem to enjoy. She shook her head.


    ¡°No. We should have seen something by now.¡±


    ¡°Have you sensed anything? Smelled anything?¡±


    Falling Leaf sighed. ¡°I barely smell anything at all with this nose. But, no, I haven¡¯t smelled or felt anything.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s good or bad.¡±


    ¡°Why would it be good?¡±


    ¡°Well, if there¡¯s something really dangerous out here scaring everything else away, that¡¯s good for me. If everything is gone because something called them away, that¡¯s bad.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re thinking about that other ghost panther you met. The things he said.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°If the spirit beasts aren¡¯t here, they¡¯re somewhere else and in greater than normal numbers. I¡¯m worried there might be another mass slaughter in a town or village.¡±


    ¡°If there were going to be, would you abandon what you¡¯re doing now to try to stop it?¡±


    That brought Sen up short. Would he abandon this quest in an attempt to stop another slaughter like that? He probably would, under the right conditions. Of course, he wasn¡¯t in the right conditions or anything close to them.


    ¡°Possibly. If I knew exactly where they were headed, or at least had a reasonably good idea of where they might be going, yes. But I don¡¯t know those things. We could spend weeks just trying to track them. I don¡¯t have that kind of time to waste on a guess. I barely have the time to spend on this. If it wasn¡¯t as important as it is, we¡¯d already be back on the road to the capital.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± said Falling Leaf, seeming satisfied.


    Sen thought about trying to get a bit more out of her about what that good had meant, but she¡¯d probably just say she was glad he had his priorities in order. Instead, he asked about something else.


    ¡°You don¡¯t like tea, do you?¡±


    Falling Leaf shook her hard. ¡°I do not. It¡¯s bitter.¡±


    ¡°Then, why drink it?¡±


    ¡°The Caihong told me that everyone drinks it. That, to fit in, I would have to learn to drink it. So, I do.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s not wrong. Very nearly everyone does drink tea.¡±


    Sen supposed that answered his question about rice, as well. Falling Leaf had no doubt been told that everyone eats rice and it might draw suspicion if she didn¡¯t eat it as well. Then, she surprised him with a question of her own.


    ¡°Will the sect girl leave?¡±


    Sen thought it over. ¡°You know, I don¡¯t think she will. She wants something from me. Or, she wants me to do something for her. Something she seems to think I¡¯m uniquely suited to do. If she thinks she can¡¯t find someone else to do it, she¡¯ll be waiting when we get back. Why?¡±


    Falling Leaf was quiet for a time before she finally spoke. ¡°She was kind to me when you were locked away with the spring spirit. She kept others from bothering me. I¡¯m¡­fond of her.¡±


    Sen mulled those words over before he said, ¡°You made a friend.¡±


    Falling Leaf shook her head. ¡°That word is¡­empty.¡±


    ¡°Empty?¡±


    ¡°It has no meaning. Humans use it to mean too many things. So, the word means nothing.¡±


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s true enough.¡±


    ¡°I would not be angry if she came with us,¡± said Falling Leaf, almost hesitantly.


    Sen was surprised, happy, and frustrated all at the same time. He was surprised because it was the first time that he¡¯d heard Falling Leaf express a preference for anything not food-related since she¡¯d become human. He was happy because she volunteered it with no prompting from him. He was frustrated because this would just have to be the thing that she had a preference about. Fortunately, the situation was murky enough that he didn¡¯t have to commit to anything right then and there.


    ¡°We¡¯ll have to see if she¡¯s waiting when we get back. We can decide then what to do.¡±


    Sen was relieved that Falling Leaf didn¡¯t seem to pick up on his shameless hedging. He didn¡¯t know what he¡¯d think about Chan Yu Ming when this mad experiment was over. He might still want nothing to do with her problem, which would become a sticking point. At the same time, he didn¡¯t want to torpedo whatever tenuous friendship Falling Leaf was developing with someone other than him. She¡¯d been almost militantly disinterested in human beings other than him since they¡¯d reconnected. He thought it was probably healthy for her to have at least one person beyond him that she actually liked on a personal level. I just wish it was someone other than Chan Yu Ming, he thought.


    ¡°We should get moving,¡± he said. ¡°If there¡¯s no spirit beasts anywhere nearby, we¡¯ve got a long journey ahead of us.¡±

 V4 Chapter 21 – Repaying Favors

    Sen landed next to Falling Leaf and slammed a lightning-wrapped fist into the face of a demon ape-lizard. The creature was hurled back from the panther girl with its jaw hanging at an odd angle and much of its skull caved in. Whatever the raw force of the blow hadn¡¯t done to kill it, the web of lighting that pounded its brain had finished. Part of Sen was simply revolted by the massive things. While they had the heavily muscled build of apes, most of their bodies were covered in dark green scales. As if that wasn¡¯t bad enough, they had long tails with barbed, bone spikes on the end. He had an ugly puncture wound in the back of one shoulder to prove it.


    Falling Leaf had been distracted by her own fight with a different ape-lizard and hadn¡¯t seen the one coming up behind her. Or, she¡¯d taken for granted that Sen would intervene. It was a safe assumption. She had tried to yell at him for interfering in one of her fights a few days earlier. He had answered in a tone that brooked no arguments that he wasn¡¯t going to let her die just to protect her pride or for any other reason. Not that she needed a lot of help. As the equivalent of a peak foundation formation cultivator, the transformed ghost panther wasn¡¯t quite on a level playing field with him, but she was close. What she didn¡¯t have that he did was half a decade of some of the best weapons training in the world.


    She fought hand-to-hand, which meant she had to get close and stay focused on her opponent, while Sen could engage three or four enemies at a time with his jian or a spear, depending on the situation. While he couldn¡¯t generally beat that many opponents all at once, he could keep them occupied. That, in turn, let Falling Leaf peel them away one at a time until Sen could finish off the rest. While Sen had privately had his doubts about this plan, it seemed to be working. He was slowly, but surely, purging that anger out of his soul one fight at a time. What he hadn¡¯t found was the right epiphany that would let him manage his anger. So, two weeks in, they kept pushing deeper into the wilds, looking for more dangerous spirit animals to fight. It had been quiet for the first few days. Then, things had gotten more exciting.


    They¡¯d fought increasingly strange spirit beasts. In some cases, they were like the ape-lizards, bizarre amalgam beasts that always looked wrong to Sen¡¯s eyes. They¡¯d found more of the disgusting spider things on two occasions. Falling Leaf had assured him, after the first fight, that those human faces were just there to distract and confuse their human victims. They would still liquefy his insides and leave him an empty husk if he let them. In the second fight, Sen had simply cut them all into pieces with an incredibly thin stream of water under intense pressure. In other cases, they found spirit beasts that looked like their mortal counterparts but inevitably wielded some terrifying qi technique. They¡¯d run across a couple of bears that had looked normal enough right up until they roared and revealed the metal teeth in their jaws. Those had seemed to make Falling Leaf unusually nervous. She¡¯d also beaten one of them to death with a wild, almost barbaric ferocity, screaming incoherently the entire time she¡¯d done it.


    ¡°What was that all about?¡± he¡¯d asked her afterward.


    ¡°I ran into one of these when I was very young. Not even half-grown yet. It would have killed me if an older member of the pride hadn¡¯t saved me. I¡¯ve always been afraid of them.¡±


    ¡°And now?¡± He¡¯d asked.


    In answer, she reached into the bear¡¯s mouth and tore one of its teeth out in a shocking display of raw physical strength. She held it out to Sen.


    ¡°Put a hole in that.¡±


    Sen took the tooth and did as she asked, using metal qi to manipulate the tooth. He handed it back. She passed a heavy cord through the tooth and tied it around her upper arm with the tooth prominently displayed. She looked at it in satisfaction before turning her attention back to him.


    ¡°Now,¡± she said, ¡°they can be afraid of me.¡±


    After the bears, there had been the lightning cranes. Then, there had been one of those snakes that Shi Ping had been so afraid would come and eat him. It had been particularly difficult to fight because it constantly emitted a toxic, venomous cloud of gas. Sen had finally been forced to pin it to the ground using a combination of shadow-metal fused spears and stone spikes. After which, he cooked it to death using a stream of liquid flame. Once the toxic cloud had cleared, though, they discovered that meat was safe to eat. It seemed the giant snake¡¯s venom was confined to its bite and that cloud. Then, Sen finally got the opportunity to do something he¡¯d been wanting to do for some time. They had come across a small stream and found a small group of spirit oxen who were being harassed by stone tigers.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you let me handle this one,¡± Sen said to Falling Leaf. ¡°I owe the spirit oxen a favor or three.¡±


    He might have left out that he was worried that Falling Leaf¡¯s up-close fighting style wouldn¡¯t work particularly well against tigers that could manipulate stone qi. For that matter, most of his own preferred methods of dealing with spirit beasts weren¡¯t going to work very well against them. This was going to boil down to a contest of their brute force against his brute force and skill. He unsheathed his jian and sprinted toward the nearest stone tiger. He didn¡¯t really think he could get the drop on anything that skilled at stalking and hunting, but he gave it his best shot anyway. He started by hiding. Everything else would be useless if they felt his core-level qi. He used wind qi to carry his scent away and dampen the sound of his footfalls. Earth qi dampened the vibrations of his feet against the ground. Finally, he burned a bit of the liquid qi in his dantian to add extra reinforcement to his body cultivation-enhanced muscles, bones, and organs. Working all of those separate kinds of qi was an awful strain beneath the hiding technique, but it would be worth it if it got him close enough to launch an attack.


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    Yet, after all that effort, it still wasn¡¯t enough. The tiger still sensed his approach somehow. The only good news was that Sen had gotten within about ten feet of the tiger. He dropped his hiding technique and cycled metal qi to reinforce his jian. The tiger whirled to face him, crouching a bit to protect its belly and possibly prepare to spring at him. When he got within range it swiped at him with a paw that could have covered his chest. In the heightened battle state he was in, Sen could see the shiny, black claws extend. They looked like polished obsidian. Given that it was a stone tiger, the claws probably were obsidian. Sen¡¯s jian moved almost of its own volition in a blindingly fast parry. Of course, at those speeds and backed with his strength, he supposed it was probably like getting hit with a ballista bolt. He heard a noise like stone shattering as the paw was slapped aside. Before the beast could so much as roar in pain or defiance, Sen had brought the jian back on line and driven the full length of the blade into the tiger¡¯s eye and out the back of its skull. He twisted the blade to help ensure that the beast was dead and pulled the jian free.


    He would have liked to enjoy that fast victory, but fate wasn¡¯t going to smile on him that way. He¡¯d had it easy once. He wouldn¡¯t enjoy that luxury a second time. Then again, things weren¡¯t as one-sided as they might have looked from the outside. Where there had been five tigers harassing the pair of spirit oxen, there were now only two. The other two had focused on Sen, clearly seeing him as the bigger threat. While Sen didn¡¯t know that the oxen could kill two stone tigers, he was pretty confident that they could fend them off for a while. Now, all he had to do was survive. He glanced over at the stream and considered how he¡¯d killed those ghastly spider things. He¡¯d only used one thread of water with them because there hadn¡¯t been much water qi handy at the time. Here, there was water qi for the taking.


    As the tigers started trying to flank him, water whips with edges as hard as diamonds started lashing them. They would have been lethal strikes on almost anything else. On the stone tigers, they opened wounds that bled freely enough but didn¡¯t come close to cutting the beasts into pieces. Once Sen saw that, though, he reassessed his initial evaluation of the situation. He didn¡¯t need to personally brute force them to death. Instead, he took a bit of inspiration from the spirit of the water spring. He called water to himself and hardened most of it around him in a sphere. It might not stop the tigers, but it would certainly slow them down enough for him to change tactics. The water that he didn¡¯t turn into a sphere, he used as whips. He was perfectly willing to engage in the death of a thousand cuts. The tigers were fast and managed to dodge some of his blows. He also couldn¡¯t keep track of them as well through the visual distortion of the water sphere. Still, enough blows landed that he could see the blood discoloring the ground.


    During that moment of distraction, something slammed into the water sphere from behind. The sphere held, barely, but it went careening away and Sen found himself bouncing around inside of it. The hardened interior was no more forgiving with his body than the exterior had likely been to the tiger that slammed into it. When his momentum slowed, Sen changed tactics. If he was the tiger, he¡¯d only be a second or two behind, getting ready to bring down as much crushing force as he could. Sen took the idea of the water whip and expanded on it. Instead of a few whips with razor-sharp, hardened edges, he created a spinning mass of hundreds of tiny water wires that were razor sharp and diamond hard. There was an almighty howl of agony as one of the tigers was caught in that trap. Sen let his earth qi drop into the ground and looked around for the presence of something getting ready to pounce. He didn¡¯t feel anything, so he retracted those water wires and let the technique drop. It was useful, but that technique had been mentally draining.


    There wasn¡¯t an identifiable body left of the tiger that had gotten caught. There was just a spray of shredded flesh, blood, and stone fragments that were probably the tiger¡¯s bones in a circle around him. Sen couldn¡¯t have named the primal instinct that warned him, but he dove forward. It almost worked. The second stone tiger had dropped onto him from above, no doubt using the heavy branches as a means to escape his wheel of watery death. Sen bellowed in pain as the tiger¡¯s jaws clamped down on his calf. Its stone teeth punched straight through the muscle, but then they hit his bones. Much like the tigers themselves, his bones had been transformed and transmuted. It seemed that his bones had done better than theirs because the tiger¡¯s teeth met the bones in his leg and shattered. In the back of his mind, the healer in Sen was already wincing at the thought of having to pull those stone fragments out of his leg. The rest of Sen was very fixated on surviving the next five or six seconds.


    The tiger jerked its head away, shredding muscle and pretty much anything else those shattered stone teeth came in contact with. The fresh burst of agony drew another roar pain and a swell of vicious anger. Sen did something he hadn¡¯t tried, hadn¡¯t dared try, since Emperor¡¯s Bay. He tried to fuse two of his qi types. He was surprised to discover that, unlike shadow and metal, fire and earth qi didn¡¯t fight him very hard. It wasn¡¯t so much that they wanted to be together, but they didn¡¯t really mind either. Sen used his good leg to push him a little farther away from the tiger. Then, he unleashed the technique. A massive hand of molten stone shot out of the ground and seized the tiger. The sounds the tiger made were things that Sen knew would haunt him, but he didn¡¯t relent.


    The hand dragged the tiger down into the ground where Sen had prepared a small, molten pool. He didn¡¯t imagine the tiger would survive long in that environment, but he gave it thirty seconds anyway. That gave him a chance to pull out some old cloth he hadn¡¯t gotten rid of and wrap it around his calf. He knew that wound would need proper attention, very soon, but the fight wasn¡¯t over. With a gesture and a careful application of qi, he turned the molten pool into a block of stone with whatever was left of the tiger inside of it. Groaning, Sen pushed himself up to his feet and started limping toward where he¡¯d last seen the tigers pestering the oxen. It turned out the oxen didn¡¯t need his help once he drew off the other two tigers. They had killed one and run the other off. The oxen walked over to him and offered gentle moos. Sen gave them a formal bow, or as close as he could manage on his very unsteady leg.


    ¡°A small gesture of thanks, for the benevolence the spirit oxen have shown me.¡±

 V4 Chapter 22 – Herd Mother

    Sen thought that it wasn¡¯t really necessary, but the oxen insisted on taking him and Falling Leaf back to their herd. They spent two days sheltering beneath the considerable protection of the spirit oxen. Individually, a spirit ox was potent and formidable, although slow to rouse to action. As a group, few predators of any stripe were likely to tempt the wrath of the entire herd. Necessary or not, Sen was grateful for the opportunity to extract the stone teeth shards from his calf without worrying about something finding or attacking them. It was delicate work made more difficult by the excruciating pain involved. Falling Leaf tried to do it for him, but quickly bowed out when she realized that her qi and spiritual sense weren¡¯t as finely-tuned for the work as Sen¡¯s. The task was made slower and even more difficult by the fact that he had to do most of the work blind. Still, he eventually extracted the last fragment and managed to cook himself a healing elixir before passing out.


    Even with the aid of the elixir and the abundant qi resources available in the wilds, it took his leg most of a day to finish healing. Sen learned that most of the oxen could talk in the same way that Falling Leaf could talk before her transformation. They just didn¡¯t bother with it unless they had something very important to say that they didn¡¯t want to be misinterpreted. Since almost nothing rose to that level of importance, they spoke infrequently. He had been a little worried that there might be some friction between Falling Leaf and the oxen. She would have been a natural predator for them in her original form. She had waved off that concern.


    ¡°I like them,¡± she had said, as though that settled everything.


    After a little thought, Sen supposed it did. It was on the second day, when his leg was mostly finished healing that Sen had drifted a little apart from the herd, walking up to the top of a small hill to get a look at the surrounding area. They were so far away from anything like civilization that he thought there was a good chance that he might be one of the only human beings alive to have seen the area. It was mostly forest, although not quite the same kind of forest he had gotten accustomed to on the mountain. Up there, it had mostly been evergreens of one kind or another with their needles and sticky sap. Down in the lowlands where he was now, there was much more variety. There were ginkgo trees, pagoda trees, and even the occasional dawn redwood. He thought he even spotted a grove of plum trees in the distance. This was a wild, savage place, but there was also a kind of peace to be found in it.


    For every fight they were in, he found half a dozen incredibly old and powerful medicinal herbs or alchemical reagents that were five times as potent as anything he had worked with. He suspected that many of them had made the transition from mere ingredients into legitimate natural treasures. They were all so powerful, in fact, that he hadn¡¯t dared to use any of them in his healing elixir. He wanted an absolutely clear head when he worked with those plants and reagents. He knew perfectly well that more powerful herbs weren¡¯t always a good thing. If a plant was too potent, it could end up doing more harm than good. And isn¡¯t that why you¡¯re out here, he thought a little grimly. Some anger is useful, even a good thing in the right context, but you nurtured that plant a little too well.


    ¡°I wished to thank you for intervening on behalf of the young ones,¡± said a female voice behind him.


    Sen turned and faced the largest spirit ox he had ever seen. The cow was so large that she could look him directly in the eye. Sen had seen her moving among the other oxen, and they showed her tremendous deference. He bowed to her.


    ¡°I greet you, herd mother, and thank you for your hospitality. I was happy to help. Your people have done me more kindnesses than I deserved.¡±


    ¡°I greet you, Judgment¡¯s Gale.¡±


    Sen¡¯s eyes snapped up in surprise. How did she even know that name, he wondered. He saw a light of placid amusement in her eyes.


    ¡°Our mortal cousins are everywhere. They hear much, and we all have an¡­interest in you. The cultivator who showed kindness. The cultivator who brings judgment. The cultivator who burns the sky and speaks to the water. We mark your passage, your comings and goings, and your absences.¡±


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    Sen grimaced at that reminder but didn¡¯t comment on it. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize I was so interesting.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps not to others, but you are to us. I wondered why you were here, so far from your natural places. Yet, I see now that you are troubled. You came here looking for something. Tell me, child of the mountain, what do you seek so far from your own kind?¡±


    Sen considered best how to explain it. ¡°I require a kind of purification. Or enlightenment. There is an anger in me that has grown beyond control.¡±


    ¡°And you would spend it against spirit beasts?¡±


    ¡°Not all of them. Not even most of them. Those that attack mindlessly. Those that hate humans blindly.¡±


    The spirit ox regarded him with eyes like pools of starless night. ¡°If you travel much farther, you will find neither purification nor enlightenment, only death. Strong as you are, there are dangers ahead that will overmatch you.¡±


    ¡°Sometimes, enlightenment can only be found on the edge of death.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps, but what value is that enlightenment if you die immediately after you find it?¡±


    Sen stared out over the wilds. Part of him knew he didn¡¯t belong here, that he was intruding on a world that wasn¡¯t his own. Yet, part of him felt like he could stay there and be content with the daily fight to survive and thrive. Much like with his unquenchable anger and his desire for peace, he was a man divided in himself. And, young as he was, he knew that a man divided wouldn¡¯t be long for this or any other world. He pondered how to answer the cow, or if there was an answer.


    ¡°Perhaps it is of no value. Perhaps it smooths the way in the next life. Who can know? What I do know is that if I can¡¯t find a way to tame this anger, it will mean death all the same. I will challenge those I should not. Offend those I should not. And my death will set in motion even more death.¡±


    ¡°So, not mere anger, but a madness of it.¡±


    Sen considered those words and nodded. ¡°Yes. I think so.¡±


    ¡°When you leave here, travel directly west. In a day or two of travel, you will find a barren, rocky place there. In it, you will find what you seek, or you will find your death.¡±


    Sen let those words settle into him. Resolution or death. He wasn¡¯t eager for death, but death was seeking him out all the same. If it happened out here, while he sought a solution, he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d carry much regret into the next life. If he could come to a resolution, that was just the first step in solving a much more complicated problem, but it was an absolutely necessary first step. He faced the spirit ox again and offered her another deep bow.


    ¡°I thank the herd mother for her guidance in this matter.¡±


    The great spirit beast inclined her head to him and started to turn away, but seemed to reconsider. ¡°Try to survive. Rare are those among your kind with regard for my kind. Having found you, we would prefer not to lose you.¡±


    ¡°My kind? Humans or cultivators?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    With that, the herd mother plodded away. Sen watched her go and, with a bit of amusement, realized that even a slow plod for the giant ox covered a lot of ground in a hurry. Within a minute or two, she down the hill and back among her herd. Sen turned his eyes west, straining to see this barren, rocky place, but it was beyond even his enhanced vision. A day or two, he thought, and then it will be done. One way or the other. Sen stayed up on the hill for a time and just cultivated. He knew that his passive cultivation would likely keep him well-supplied with qi, but much like making tea, the ritual of cultivation helped him keep steady and stay in control. As the afternoon began to inevitably fade toward evening, Sen came down off the hill and looked for Falling Leaf. He found her gleefully playing with the ox calves, who were far more rambunctious than their elders. She dashed between them or away from them. The calves, joyously unaware of the dangers that life had in store, thundered after her under the watchful gazes of older, more seasoned members of the herd.


    He couldn¡¯t help but notice the uncomplicated joy in both Falling Leaf and the calves as they played. He knew that Falling Leaf was aware of the complexities and dangers in the world, yet she had managed to cling tight to this one little bit of innocence. He envied her a tiny bit for that. He was also happy for her that she could still feel that way. She noticed him standing there after a time and jogged over to him, a big smile on her face.


    ¡°Have fun?¡± he asked, smiling back.


    ¡°I did,¡± she declared.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re leaving, aren¡¯t we?¡± she asked.


    There was no chastisement or bitterness in the words, just a kind of quiet sadness that this peaceful interlude would soon end. Something in him broke open a little bit at that expression, and his vague intention to get a few hours of travel in that day died inside of him. He looked over at the calves, who were staring mournfully at Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Tomorrow,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯ll leave tomorrow. Why don¡¯t you introduce me to your new playmates.¡±


    Falling Leaf beamed up at him, grabbed his hand, and dragged him over to meet the calves.

 V4 Chapter 23 – You Will Stay

    Leaving the next day turned out to be substantially more difficult than Sen expected. Every ox in the herd had to take a moment to come and, well, he wasn¡¯t quite sure what they were doing. Offering their blessings? Wishing him good fortune? He didn¡¯t know, but he smiled and bowed to each in turn. When that was finally done, he had thought they could go, but then the calves charged up and encircled Falling Leaf like she was their favorite big sister. All but one. Sen sighed as a lone calf came over and regarded him with big, serious eyes. That one had latched onto him for some reason the previous evening. It let out a gentle, sad moo at him that tugged at his heart.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s just playing dirty,¡± he complained.


    The calf just kept staring at him until he rested a hand on -- Sen realized he didn¡¯t even know if the calf was male or female -- its head. The hair felt soft and warm beneath his hand, although, he wasn¡¯t sure that would be true for someone without his body cultivation. He gave the calf a mildly reproachful look.


    ¡°I¡¯ll come back and visit one day if I can.¡±


    Sen was racking up more of those promises than he felt entirely comfortable with. Granted, he wasn¡¯t promising that he¡¯d come back no matter what, only if he could, but that list was growing. The calf turned its head up and pressed a soft nose into his palm before it turned and made its way back to the older oxen. He wanted to be annoyed, but it took Falling Leaf almost an hour to finish all her goodbyes to the rest of the calves. He was pretty sure they each got at least three personal goodbyes from her before the herd mother let out a single snort. The calves immediately fell back into the herd. Sen wondered if he should say something, but he settled on offering the entire herd one last bow. Falling Leaf jogged over to him and then waved to the herd. With that, they set off again. They¡¯d been moving west for most of an hour before Falling Leaf spoke up.


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    He looked over at her. ¡°For what?¡±


    ¡°For waiting. For letting me have that extra time with the calves. I know you were ready to go last night.¡±


    ¡°We couldn¡¯t have gotten that far anyways,¡± Sen justified. ¡°It made more sense to start fresh in the morning.¡±


    Sen caught her amused smile out of the corner of his eye.


    ¡°As you say,¡± she said and left it at that.


    Contrary to Sen¡¯s expectations, they met no resistance as they made their way west. He had assumed that it would be non-stop fighting. While he had benefited from all of the earlier fighting, it had been taxing. Even with confining the violence to those things that intentionally sought them out, Sen had what he suspected was another small fortune¡¯s worth of rare beast cores in a storage ring. He¡¯d offered half of them to Falling Leaf, but she¡¯d declined. Instead, she¡¯d picked out a small handful.


    ¡°Why those ones?¡± he asked when his curiosity got the better of him.


    ¡°I can eat these,¡± she¡¯d said as if it had been obvious. ¡°For my advancement.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen. ¡°You¡¯re still advancing that way?¡±


    ¡°Of course. Why wouldn¡¯t I?¡±


    Sen realized that he¡¯d simply assumed that when she transformed into a human form that her cultivation advancement would become more like his. Yet, he hadn¡¯t had any evidence to support that assumption. Of course, eating the cores wasn¡¯t quite as simple for her as it had been before. She had to grind them up and swallow the powder. Sen had watched the first time she did it and immediately realized that as much as half of the qi was lost by the time she could actually consume the powder. That would slow down her advancement for no good reason. The second time he saw that she was about to grind the core with a mortar and pestle, he just held out his hand. She eyed him dubiously but handed the core over. He poured a big cup of water for her and simply crushed the core with main strength. He dropped the powder and a few larger pieces into the cup and held it out to her. There was still some qi loss, but it was more like five or ten percent instead of half.


    She''d stared at him in shock until he put the cup into her line of sight. Then, she¡¯d snatched the cup from him and downed the mixture in a few big gulps. Sen didn¡¯t really understand spirit beast advancement, so he wasn¡¯t sure what to expect. She didn¡¯t seem to experience any immediate boost in power the way that Sen would with a breakthrough. Yet, over the course of the trip, he¡¯d felt the gap between them steadily shrink. Where he¡¯d once needed to moderate his pace to keep things comfortable for her, she could now move at the pace he preferred. He¡¯d grown more confident in his ability to judge the cultivation levels of human cultivators, but he was much less certain with spirit beasts. Still, if he had to make a guess, his best guess was that she was operating at around the level of an initial core formation cultivator. If she kept going at her current pace, she¡¯d soon be stronger than him again. When he¡¯d mentioned that thought to her, she¡¯d given him a strange look.


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    ¡°Would that bother you?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Why would it bother me? Once you¡¯re stronger than me, I can let you do all the fighting. That sounds like a win to me.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not that lazy,¡± she said.


    ¡°Maybe I could learn,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Don¡¯t. Shi Ping is lazy enough for all of us.¡±


    Sen laughed at that. ¡°Yes, he certainly is. Although, he makes up for some of that by playing the erhu well.¡±


    ¡°Does he?¡±


    ¡°Most humans would think so.¡±


    Falling Leaf thought about it and shrugged. ¡°It all sounds like noise to me.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm. I¡¯ll have to find someone who plays one badly, so you can see the difference.¡±


    ¡°If you must.¡±


    Right around the time that Sen was ready to call a halt for the day, they abruptly stepped clear of the forest into a landscape that could only be described as barren and rocky. While Sen was a tiny bit pleased and relieved to have arrived, he was also a little put off by the abrupt change in the landscape. If for no other reason, he didn¡¯t understand why the landscape was so different. Changes like that didn¡¯t happen naturally. Natural changes happened gradually, over dozens or even hundreds of miles. The absence of life before him, Sen realized that something or someone had done this on purpose. Someone had wanted it to be that way. Falling Leaf was looking around with her usual curiosity, but Sen could see that she was tense and ready for something bad to happen. Sen frowned around them. Evening was nearly on them, and night would soon follow. One look was all Sen needed for him to know that he did not want to be in that place when darkness fell. He made a very easy decision.


    ¡°We should go back for the night. We can head in there in the morning.¡±


    ¡°Leave? Now? After you¡¯ve come all this way to see me? No, that won¡¯t do at all.¡±


    The voice seemingly came from everywhere. Sen searched the area around them frantically, looking for any sign. He tried to extend his qi and spiritual sense, only to have them batted aside by some qi and a force of will that dwarfed his own. Sen hadn¡¯t faced down power like that since back on the mountain with Master Feng. He managed to keep his feet, but Falling Leaf was driven down to the ground. She looked up at him with terrified eyes. She started to say something, but Sen¡¯s throat was seized in a hand that came out of nowhere. A figure emerged from some kind of concealment technique. Sen was stunned. He hadn¡¯t even felt a whisper of that technique. The man was taller than Sen, although lighter in build, and his pure black eyes burned with some inner fire that made Sen¡¯s blood run cold.


    ¡°No,¡± said the man, ¡°You¡¯ll be staying.¡±


    ¡°Sen,¡± gasped Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Silence, kit. This fight is not for you. It is for him. I¡¯ve watched this one. The foundling. The tool. The pet of chaos and the favorite of the heavens,¡± growled the man, jerking Sen closer. ¡°You will stay. You will learn. Then, you will die.¡±


    At that, the figure turned and hurled Sen over that dead landscape. Even as Sen desperately tried to draw in air and gain control over his flight, he heard Falling Leaf scream something at him.


    ¡°He¡¯s a dragon!¡±


    That revelation shook Sen so much that he lost control of the qinggong technique he¡¯d been using to get control of his impromptu airborne careening. So, instead of touching down softly on the rocky soil, he slammed into, bounced, and rolled. He felt sharp stones driven into his flesh by the force of his landing and felt lucky that was as bad as it got. If he hadn¡¯t slowed his flight, he expected that landing would have broken half of even his reinforced bones. Yet, the landing, the injuries, all of it paled in the face of that one word. Dragon. Sen had spent most of his life coming up against people or things that were stronger than he was. But he¡¯d also had options. He could flee or rely on allies to help him balance the field. Against a dragon, though, one of the true myths, a being both primordial and eternal, there was no hope of victory. No true chance of escape. As a spirit beast, Falling Leaf would almost instinctually defer to the dragon¡¯s wishes. The herd mother had warned him that traveling farther west would place him in conflict with things that would overmatch him, but he had never dreamed it would mean something like this.


    He had been looking for something that could push him to the brink of death, something that might open a door that would allow a moment of enlightenment to slip through. He might well have found it, he just wished that there was some sliver of hope for survival. Against something like this, there wasn¡¯t. Yet, for all that, this was an opportunity. This was an opponent on which Sen could truly unburden himself of his anger. He could unleash the fullness of that fury without hesitation because it didn¡¯t matter if he lost control. Death might be all that awaited him, but he could still use these moments before death to cleanse his soul before he passed once more into the cycle of reincarnation.


    So, Sen unshackled his rage. He felt it course through him like fire. He felt the madness of it, embraced it, let it flow. He let it flow like water to every fiber of his being. He pushed himself up, felt the blood running down his body from the many open wounds, and roared his defiance. Sen drew his jian, knowing how pointless it was and not caring at all. He pointed the jian at the dragon who was a tiny figure in the distance.


    ¡°Come on, then! You say I¡¯m here to learn! Then come and teach!¡±

 V4 Chapter 24 – The Lesson

    In the back of his mind, behind the rage-induced madness, a little part of Sen knew that provoking the dragon was foolish. Yet, that tiny voice of warning was lost in the need to hurt. Whatever constraints, conscious or unconscious, that had held Sen in check in the past fell away. He cycled for what had become his go-to weapon. The dragon was far, far faster than Sen physically, but it wasn¡¯t quite faster than thought. So, in the fractions of a second that it took for the dragon to flash from it had been standing to where Sen stood, Sen had erected a a solid wall of lightning. The ancient reptile wasn¡¯t slowed much by it, but it was enough for Sen to sidestep out of the way. Of course, not being slowed and not being affected were two different things. The dragon roared in pain and the sound was so much more than anything with a human form ought to be able to produce.


    Sen felt his eardrums rupture with a stab of white-hot agony that drove him to his knees. Even as he felt the ground beneath him, intuition drove him to slump to one side. The dragon¡¯s foot slammed into the ground where Sen had been a moment before. A small crater came into existence in that spot. Ignoring the pain as well as he could, Sen cycled for earth. He closed his hand into a fist and the earth around the dragon¡¯s foot clamped down and hardened into stone. Sen didn¡¯t even know how he¡¯d done that. He didn¡¯t even care. He knew that it would only hold for a second or two. He activated his qinggong technique and blindly hurled himself away from the enraged dragon. Fighting up close with something that powerful was an instant death sentence. He had to keep his distance. With his eardrums ruptured though, his sense of balance was off. He lost his balance and toppled off the qi platform, only to feel a wind blade obliterate the qi platform and then detonate. He was driven hard into the ground, but he was still alive. It had been, what, five seconds of active combat with the dragon. He might have just set some kind of record by living for that long.


    Realizing how irrational that thought was drove home to Sen just how broken and unbalanced he¡¯d become. The pain in his ears was another misery and distraction that flared anytime he fell into something, or moved, or breathed. Of course, that pain just sent his rage escalating to entirely new levels. It¡¯s a wind dragon, he thought. It¡¯ll be weak against metal. Cycling for shadow and metal, he crushed them together with a kind of ruthlessly absolute will that would tolerate no dissent. The usual resistances either meant less to him now or were absent altogether, because he sent two dozen metal-infused shadow spears rocketing toward the wind dragon. To Sen¡¯s surprise, the dragon chose to dodge. Sen used that moment to pick himself up on another platform of qi and fly in a different direction. Not wanting the dragon to feel like Sen wasn¡¯t paying it enough attention, he sent half a dozen massive fireballs shooting toward the general area where he thought the dragon would end up.


    Fearing that the dragon would cut him out of the air with another wind blade, Sen let himself drop back to the ground behind a rock. He spent an infinitely precious second or two to retrieve and down the most potent healing elixir he had in his storage ring. Hearing was too important in a fight for him to continue on in a deaf state. It had been a hard choice between one of his own elixirs and one of the powerful healing pills that Auntie Caihong had given him, but the pills always hit him hard. He couldn¡¯t afford a wave of crippling fatigue as the pill restored him. Beyond that, there was precious little environmental qi in this little patch of deadness that the dragon apparently called home. Why it, or anything, would choose to live there Sen couldn¡¯t imagine. Or, maybe, it was the dragon itself. Perhaps its mere presence was enough to do this to the place. Yet, that lack of readily available environmental qi meant his healing would rely on whatever qi he had stored away.


    Fortunately, it only took a few drops of that pool of liquid qi to restore his hearing. Realizing he¡¯d been stationary for three or four seconds. Sen rolled away to one side, got his feet under him, and simply launched himself through the air. The benefits of his body cultivation really paid off then, as his leap carried him nearly twenty feet. Or, it would have if a shock wave of force from the place where he¡¯d been hiding hadn¡¯t caught him and flung head over heels for nearly fifty feet. He managed to control his landing better with his balance more or less restored. Yet, the rage inside of him demanded that he act, that he attack. He drew on the qi in his core and sent a water blade nearly ten feet across at the dragon. The dragon sent a wind blade to meet it. The techniques met in the air and held there for a long moment. Sen couldn¡¯t believe it. He was matching the dragon¡¯s strength. That elation cracked at the same time his technique broke. It felt like something inside him tore in half when that technique broke. He coughed up blood, and almost went down again, but anger and fear kept him standing. If he was the dragon, this is the moment he would close the range.


    Sen cycled metal qi, choking back the bile that rose in his throat, pushing past the stabbing agony in his head, and he drove his jian forward. He filled the thrust with all the metal qi he could muster. He was as stunned as the dragon looked when the blade met resistance. Sen realized that he¡¯d had his eyes squeezed shut against the agony that still tore at his guts and clawed at the inside of his skull. He forced his eyes open, blinking away the red haze from the blood tears that were leaking from his eyes. The dragon was staring down at the jian that Sen had managed to bury in his chest. Sen felt ice stab into his soul when the dragon raised its gaze to meet Sen¡¯s.


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    ¡°Ouch,¡± said the dragon.


    The dragon nonchalantly reached up, wrapped a hand around the blade, and pulled it free from his own chest. With an equally casual movement, he tore the blade from Sen¡¯s grip and broke it in half. Sen watched, half in disbelief, half in horror, as the broken pieces fell from the dragon¡¯s hand to the ground. Sen looked back up and saw, of all things, disappointment in the dragon¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°You really don¡¯t live up to your reputation,¡± said the dragon. ¡°I expected you to call down the wrath of the heavens on me.¡±


    Then, the dragon hit him. Sen felt half of his ribs buckle under that blow before momentum caught up and sent him bouncing over dirt and rocks. Blood sprayed from his mouth and every time he tried to breathe, it became a battle to stay conscious. If not for the elixir that was already in his system, he¡¯s not sure he could have stayed conscious. It was already working to repair the damage and restore his ability to breathe. Yet, the elixir was designed to heal, not to blunt pain, and there was so much pain. While his enhanced body could take a lot more punishment, when things did break, the agony of it was amplified. He couldn¡¯t think. He couldn¡¯t even remember what he¡¯d last been trying to cycle, let alone actually cycling for anything. Another blow, this one to his stomach, sent him on another flopping, rolling, tumble over the rocky ground. At least, that¡¯s what happened when he finally touched the ground again. Sen was certain that at least some of his organs had ruptured with that blow.


    Realizing that he likely only had seconds to live, Sen decided that he was going to make the dragon pay in blood for this kill. He ignored the pain because it didn¡¯t matter anymore. He ignored the way his body wouldn¡¯t respond to half his commands because that didn¡¯t matter anymore either. Those were only problems if he had plans for tomorrow. Tomorrow wasn¡¯t coming, not for him, so he could put that all away. He felt a momentary pang of concern for Falling Leaf, but the dragon had very explicitly told her to stay out of it. He suspected that meant that the vicious old reptile planned to let her go. He thought about Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong. He wondered if they would be disappointed by this death or consider it a fair way for a cultivator to go out. He thought they might be okay with it. After all, how many cultivators ever even saw a dragon, let alone fought one? He flashed for a moment on Grandmother Lu, but he had asked his teachers to keep an eye on her and, if necessary, to help her. It was a minor request, all things considered, and he thought they¡¯d honor it.


    Then, he thought of Master Feng. There were questions that Sen had always meant to ask the old man, about why he¡¯d picked Sen, about why he¡¯d never tried to ascend, but it had always seemed like there was more than enough time. Most of all, though, he asked himself what Master Feng would do in a situation like this. Sen smiled then. He felt bloody spittle drip from his bottom lip. He knew exactly what Master Feng would do. He¡¯d make a statement. He would burn this moment into the dragon¡¯s memory forever. So, that¡¯s what Sen would do. He started cycling for everything. Splitting his attention that many ways hurt, but what was pain in the face of death but a minor, very temporary, inconvenience? It wasn¡¯t like he needed to worry about healing from it. He pushed his qi channels to their limits, feeding each cycling pattern as much qi from his core as they could handle.


    Then, he started layering it all together. Weaving it all together like a rope. Forcing the strands to merge, to fuse, to become something else, something more, something terrible. He wrapped that hideous, monstrous energy around his fist. Then, he fed it his pain, his anguish, and his regrets. So many regrets. How could anyone my age have so many? He fed it his killing intent, every last scrap of it, because why hold back in the last moments? Then, he fed it his rage. He pulled on that anger that had haunted him and hounded him. He drew on that inferno of fury until it was nothing but embers inside him, and then he drew on those. Hold nothing back, he thought. Nothing at all. While all of that felt like it had taken forever to his battered mind, he dimly realized that he¡¯d been in the middle of that odd, almost accelerated state of mind he fell into sometimes when fighting. He lifted his eyes and saw the dragon bearing down on him, moving almost impossibly fast even to Sen¡¯s enhanced eyes and thoughts. Then he let his gaze drop down to the hand where he¡¯d summed up everything he had to fight with, everything he¡¯d had left to give, or borrow, or spend.


    He couldn¡¯t even see his hand anymore. He didn¡¯t even think that there was a human word for the color of that mass of qi around his fist. It didn¡¯t look like a technique. It wasn¡¯t a thing of beauty or balance. If hate could look like something, if it could take color, form, and shape, that was what was wrapped around his hand. Personified hate. More blood dripped from Sen¡¯s lip. Sen didn¡¯t look up at the dragon¡¯s steps carried doom ever closer to him. He wasn¡¯t calculating anything. He was too far gone for that, too deep into some other kind of relationship with the world around him. He was waiting until it felt right. He gathered himself. Tensed the muscles in his legs. He even tilted his head a little, as though it would help him hear the unseen moment when he should act. Then, it clicked. Whatever decided such things, whatever those perfect moments to act were, it had arrived. Sen drove himself upward, uncoiling like a spring, he felt more of his bones break under the force he exerted, but he did it anyway. He sent his fist lashing forward to meet the dragon¡¯s. When their fists collided, Sen unleashed the hellish qi construction he¡¯d forced into existence.


    There was an explosion. Wind, metal, and earth ripped at him. Force and shadow buffeted his body. Water threatened to drown him or perhaps it was simply blood in his throat. There was a noise like the earth itself was wailing in agony. Then, there was nothing but silence and pain. Then, there was nothing at all.

 V4 Chapter 25 – Heart Demon

    Sen became aware that he was aware again. The last thing that he could recall was setting off that thing he¡¯d made in what he¡¯d assumed were his last moments in life. Thinking back, it looked like insanity to him. Maybe it had been insanity, but he thought, maybe, it was an insanity he¡¯d finally, mercifully, purged from himself. He hadn¡¯t felt so calm, so centered in a long, long time. Although, he supposed that being dead probably had that effect on people. Well, if he was dead and in Diyu, he supposed he should get on with the process. There was probably some forgetting soup on a bridge in his very near future. Opening his eyes, he didn¡¯t see what he expected. There was no river, no bridge, and definitely no soup. There was nothing or almost nothing. Of course, the one thing he could see was the one thing he really didn¡¯t want to see. The damnable dragon was there. Sen wondered if they had both died.


    It didn¡¯t seem likely. He expected that last technique had probably hurt the dragon, but he doubted he could have mustered anything dangerous enough to kill it. Thankfully, the dragon seemed to have gotten over his killing fury. The ancient creature was sitting on a chair, sipping what smelled like jasmine tea, and reading a book. There was some kind of writing on the cover. Sen squinted at it, but the characters, or whatever they were, refused to come into focus. More importantly, even trying to read them made his head hurt. That gave Sen pause. Can souls get headaches? Sen¡¯s teachers hadn¡¯t spent much time on what happened when someone died or what it meant for souls, other than saying that people reincarnate, which even he had picked up simply from listening to people talk. Since it didn¡¯t seem like he or the dragon were going anywhere anytime soon, he stopped procrastinating. Sen sat up and eyed the dragon warily. The dragon immediately closed his book and gave Sen an amused look.


    ¡°Damn,¡± said the dragon, ¡°I bet myself that you¡¯d pretend to be asleep for at least five minutes.¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t sure what a proper response to that would look like, so he hazarded a guess. ¡°Sorry?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Oh, do get up off the floor. You look ridiculous sitting down there.¡±


    The dragon waved a hand and another chair appeared. Sen didn¡¯t know how to feel about this turn of events. He was happy that the fight hadn¡¯t picked up where it left off, but that didn¡¯t mean he felt safe or comfortable. He hesitantly went over to the chair the dragon had manifested and sat down. He glanced around again, but there was still nothing but a vast expanse of darkness all around them.


    ¡°Tea?¡± asked the dragon, drawing Sen¡¯s attention.


    The book had vanished entirely and there was now a small table with a tea set sitting between them. Sen¡¯s own experiences with storage treasures meant that the appearance and disappearance of things didn¡¯t surprise him much, but something was off. He hadn¡¯t felt even the barest movement of qi. In fact, he realized, he couldn¡¯t feel any qi at all. Knowledge about the state of qi around him had become so ingrained in his world that its loss left Sen feeling like he¡¯d lost one of his senses.


    ¡°Am I dead?¡± Sen asked.


    ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want tea? It¡¯s really quite good.¡±


    Sen decided that if he played along, the dragon might be more inclined to answer his question. ¡°Sure. Why not?¡±


    The dragon smiled, poured a cup, and handed it to Sen. They sat in silence while Sen waited long enough for the tea to cool a little. Then, he sipped. Okay, he thought, the dragon wasn¡¯t lying. The tea is good. Sen inclined his head to the dragon in acknowledgment.


    ¡°Now, since you¡¯re asking if you¡¯re dead, I assume you noticed the lack of qi here.¡±


    ¡°I did,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°You¡¯re not dead,¡± said the dragon.


    Relief exploded inside of Sen¡¯s chest but was immediately followed by confusion and concern. The dragon seemed to intuit the deluge of questions that were about to pour out of Sen because it held up a hand to stall those questions.


    ¡°You¡¯re not dead,¡± the dragon repeated, ¡°but you certainly deserve to be after that last stunt. I swear that the heavens and chaos colluded to keep you alive if only just.¡±


    ¡°Then why can¡¯t I sense any qi?¡± Sen asked.


    ¡°Technically speaking, there is no qi here. Right now, we¡¯re having this conversation inside of my mind. I supposed we could have tried to do it in your mind, but even your reinforced brain matter would have melted into something rather unpleasant after a few seconds. Plus, human minds are such messy, disorganized places. So full of memories and emotions that other things are constantly intruding. Honestly, I don¡¯t know how you people get anything done. But this,¡± he said, smiling around at the empty space, ¡°is clean, orderly, the perfect setting for a discussion.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t seem terribly interested in talking before.¡±


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    ¡°You didn¡¯t come to talk. You were also in no fit state to talk. I¡¯m stunned you didn¡¯t murder your feline companion at the first moment of disagreement.¡±


    ¡°I would never hurt her.¡±


    A sound like a bell, pure, high, and sweet echoed around them and, for a brief moment, golden light flooded the space. It was bright enough that Sen had to close his eyes against it. When it faded, Sen found the dragon staring at him with an eyebrow lifted.


    ¡°Apparently not,¡± observed the ancient reptile. ¡°I¡¯ve seen holy vows with less weight and truth in them. It certainly explains why she¡¯s so utterly fearless around you. What about the others you were traveling with? The smart one, the lazy musician, and that infatuated girl? Did they survive?¡±


    ¡°Of course, they survived. Why wouldn¡¯t they have survived? Wait, what infatuated girl? Lifen?¡±


    ¡°No, the one that¡¯s hiding from herself.¡±


    ¡°Chan Yu Ming?¡±


    ¡°Is that her name?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that is her name.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t kill her? I was certain you would.¡±


    ¡°Why do you keep saying things like that? Yes, I¡¯ve been angry, but I can keep my temper if I have to.¡±


    ¡°My dear boy, you weren¡¯t angry. You were mad with a heart demon. Mad with paranoia, rage, and a fear so deep that I never thought you¡¯d escape it. Although, it¡¯s nice to be wrong every once in a while.¡±


    ¡°A heart demon,¡± muttered Sen. ¡°It never even occurred to me.¡±


    ¡°Of course not. By the time something like that takes hold, you¡¯re generally beyond the point where you can see it clearly.¡±


    ¡°So, you helped me?¡±


    The dragon snorted. ¡°Help is a strong word. I mostly just entertained myself by throwing you around for a few minutes. It¡¯s what you expected. It¡¯s what you wanted. Actually, no, that¡¯s not entirely true. I don¡¯t think you even knew it, but you ventured so far out into the wilds to commit suicide. You couldn¡¯t bring yourself to do it, but you knew something was wrong. So, you came out here to get something else to do it for you. It seems your master trained you a little too well, though. You kept winning.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t win against you. You could have killed me.¡±


    ¡°I suppose I could have.¡±


    Sen rolled his eyes a little. The dragon clearly wanted Sen to ask why it didn¡¯t go down like that. He decided it didn¡¯t hurt to play the game a little bit.


    ¡°So, why didn¡¯t you?¡±


    The dragon smirked when he answered. ¡°Killing you when you were insane and dangerous would have been a kindness of sorts. Your teachers wouldn¡¯t have liked it, but they would have understood. Killing you after you purged the heart demon would have just been pitiful.¡±


    ¡°Pitiful?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Pitiful, for me. What honor is there for a dragon of my age and power in killing a core formation welp? And a human one at that. It¡¯d be like you crushing an ant.¡±


    Sen couldn¡¯t quite make the words he was hearing correspond to the amused gleam in the dragon¡¯s eyes. Sen got the impression that the dragon was playing some kind of game, but not one specifically for Sen¡¯s benefit. It was more like a show for the benefit of some audience Sen couldn¡¯t see or sense.


    ¡°Well,¡± said Sen slowly, ¡°I appreciate your restraint.¡±


    ¡°As you should,¡± said the dragon. ¡°Moon cake?¡±


    Sen blinked in surprise as the dragon was suddenly holding a tray piled high with moon cakes. He thought about declining, then thought better of it. Why not have the moon cake? When he couldn¡¯t come up with a good reason to refuse, he reached out and took one. As he bit into it, his eyes went wide in shock and delight.


    ¡°Good, aren¡¯t they?¡± said the dragon a little wistfully.


    ¡°They¡¯re amazing.¡±


    ¡°Sadly, they only exist in my mind anymore. The woman who made them died a very, very long time ago.¡±


    ¡°She didn¡¯t pass the recipe down?¡±


    ¡°Oh no, she did. I even have it. I worked for her for almost half a year.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I thought that there must be some secret ingredient she was using or some unique family technique. There wasn¡¯t. It was just her. Food is a magic all its own, which I suspect you know. She just understood that magic better than anyone else.¡±


    As Sen chewed contemplatively on the treat, something occurred to him. ¡°Why are we having this meeting in your mind? Not that these aren¡¯t delicious, but why can¡¯t I go back to my body.¡±


    ¡°You certainly can, if you want to. I don¡¯t think you¡¯d enjoy it very much. Oh, unless you¡¯re one of those people who really enjoy pain.¡±


    Sen thought about how injured he¡¯d been at the end of that fight. Then he thought about how much more injured he must have been after that technique exploded everywhere. Those were not thoughts to inspire happiness or comfort.


    ¡°I am not one of those people,¡± said Sen. ¡°So, should I assume that my body is tucked away somewhere healing right now?¡±


    ¡°It is. I did pull a few pills out of your storage ring to help things along. That ghost panther kit is watching over your body.¡±


    ¡°Kit? You know, she¡¯s hundreds of years old.¡±


    The dragon nodded. ¡°I do. She¡¯s so young. It¡¯s probably why she followed you out into the human world. The young are always so impatient, so impetuous. Also, I assume she didn¡¯t have any elders around to forbid it. Not many of her kind left in the world.¡±


    ¡°No, not many. I¡¯ve only met one other.¡±


    The pair fell into their own thoughts for a time before Sen spoke up again. ¡°Not to belabor a point, but you did tell me that after I learned, I was going to die.¡±


    The dragon gave a serious nod. ¡°Indeed.¡±


    ¡°So, you¡¯re going to kill me?¡±


    ¡°What? No, we¡¯ve been over that. You humans don¡¯t need any help dying. You¡¯ll die any time now. You, in particular, with that bizarre, incomplete body cultivation you have. Why in the world would you stop in the middle like that?¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± said Sen, sitting up straight. ¡°Do you know about the Five-Fold Body Transformation?¡±


    ¡°Is that what it¡¯s called? No. My kind doesn¡¯t use those methods. I can see what you¡¯ve done. I can tell it¡¯s incomplete. I know that leaving it that way will kill you. But I cannot guide your steps in that matter.¡±


    Sen sighed. ¡°That damn turtle.¡±


    The dragon perked up. ¡°Turtle? What turtle?¡±


    ¡°He called himself Elder Bo.¡±


    ¡°Bo put you on that mad body cultivation path? Well, he always did like to meddle. I remember, this one time, it must have been eight, no, nine thousand years back,¡± said the dragon, ¡°he decided he was going to help this crane he just found on a beach.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡± asked Sen, morbidly curious.


    ¡°It ascended! Can you believe it?¡±


    Sen leaned back in his chair and, understanding that he wasn¡¯t going anywhere for a while, just listened as the dragon talked about the divine turtle that had, perhaps intentionally, set his life on such a different trajectory.

 V4 Chapter 26 – Almost Free

    Shi Ping was happy. He was so happy he could barely contain it. That damnable man had gone off into the wild with that beautiful, but deeply unsettling, young woman. He¡¯d said if they weren¡¯t back in a month, they wouldn¡¯t be back. It was the last day, and there was no sign of them. He¡¯d actually liked Lu Sen right at first, which made him an exception among the members of the Order of the Celestial Flame. Almost everyone else was terrified of, as one person had put it to Shi Ping, the multiple qi-wielding madman. Of course, it probably helped that Shi Ping had missed the demonstration of sky-searing power and impossible killing intent. He¡¯d been injured and unconscious by the time all of that had happened. The young man had seemed alright and his swordsmanship was positively unnatural. Shi Ping had learned a lot in a very short time from the madman¡¯s instruction.


    Of course, that had all been before Shi Ping had been voluntold that he was going with the young man or else. He hadn¡¯t been surprised, not really. He¡¯d been expecting to get kicked out of the order for a while. He was an adequate fire cultivator and a better-than-average swordsman, but he didn¡¯t like doing actual work. He never had. In an order that large, though, work was the way that you got by. It was how you paid your way. Of course, he¡¯d thought that they¡¯d just ask him to leave. That was something he¡¯d dreaded. He¡¯d had, all things considered, a cushy life in the quiet valley. Being thrown out would have meant returning to the regular world. He was a peak foundation formation cultivator, so there was always the possibility of getting into a sect, but that would have meant a likely repetition of the same process. The other possibility was becoming a wandering cultivator, but he¡¯d seen those people. Most of them led violent and, usually, short lives, falling victim to sect members, other wandering cultivators, or even spirit beasts. It did not appeal to his laziness.


    So, the order to accompany Lu Sen had come as an unwelcome surprise. Rather than deciding whether he¡¯d become a wandering cultivator, it was decided for him. He didn¡¯t understand why. There was nothing to gain from the arrangement. It wasn¡¯t as though the madman was teaching him anything useful about fire cultivation, despite claims that he¡¯d worked fire on a scale that dwarfed what nearly anyone else in the order could accomplish. No, instead, it had been endless days of walking through incredibly hostile environments with barely any breaks, endless insults, and even being stabbed. Shi Ping really wanted to hold that one against Lu Sen, but he¡¯d been provoking the volatile young man. He counted himself lucky that he¡¯d just been stabbed in the leg, instead of getting his head cut off.


    He¡¯d given serious consideration to leaving. He¡¯d even planned how he¡¯d just slip away one night. None of them really liked him, and he didn¡¯t think they¡¯d make any effort to find him. He didn¡¯t know where he¡¯d go, exactly. If he walked away from the order to travel with Lu Sen, he really couldn¡¯t go back to the order. They¡¯d very likely would kill him, as the frustratingly self-righteous young man had predicted they would. Still, he¡¯d entertained that idea of leaving right up until he¡¯d seen a little piece of what everyone on that battlefield must have seen. Watching that young man summon a giant fist of stone from the earth in mere seconds had been, even Shi Ping could admit it, it had been awe-inspiring. Watching him punch that spirit beast out of the middle of the air and send it flying, as though gravity was a mere suggestion, had shaken Shi Ping to the core.


    He was aware of body cultivation, but it just wasn¡¯t that common of a practice. Most people went through the initial steps because it was practical and universal. It was more of a body cleansing and perfecting process in the initial stage. After that, though, it got increasingly complex and personal with a high likelihood of failure. That meant that the people who did body cultivation typically did it exclusively, while the majority of cultivators focused on spirit cultivation techniques. Dual-cultivators like Lu Sen weren¡¯t common. Ones operating at the core formation stage were even less common. Shi Ping had not appreciated, had never even imagined, the kind of raw force that a core-equivalent body cultivator could generate until that fateful moment.


    Yet, even that hadn¡¯t been the worst of it. The way that young man had casually declared a genocidal war against an entire species of spirit beasts had birthed a cold terror in Shi Ping. He¡¯d abandoned any thoughts of just leaving in that moment because he was convinced that Lu Sen was actually, legitimately insane. While a normal person might just shrug off Shi Ping¡¯s disappearance one night, there was no telling what a crazy person might do. Lu Sen might shrug it off, or he might take it personally and hunt Shi Ping down. The very idea of that man hunting him had cost Shi Ping a lot of lost sleep. Shi Ping had been making a concerted effort not to aggravate the man recently. While the insults had still flowed pretty freely, Shi Ping hadn¡¯t again felt like he was under the immediate threat of violence. At least, he hadn¡¯t felt that from Lu Sen.


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    The women, though, were another story. Lo Meifeng put him into a cold sweat any time she focused her attention on him. He didn¡¯t know how she and the Lu Sen had connected, or why they stayed together, but Shi Ping could see what she was after five minutes in her presence. She was an assassin. Even in a world where killing was common, she was far too calm about it and far too comfortable with it. Given her late core formation advancement, he assumed she was very, very good at being an assassin. He¡¯d gotten the impression more than once that the only reason she hadn¡¯t simply disposed of him in the woods somewhere was because Lu Sen had told her not to. Given how erratic that man was, that wasn¡¯t safety so much as standing on the edge of a crumbling cliff and praying that it didn¡¯t collapse beneath you.


    The girl wasn¡¯t much better. His only consolation with her was that she didn¡¯t seem to care about him at all. Granted, that meant that she wasn¡¯t going to go out of her way to help him if trouble arose, but it also gave Shi Ping the tiny comfort of knowing that she probably wasn¡¯t thinking up a range of deadly ¡°accidents¡± that he could have on the road. Of course, he could see on her face that she was absolutely devoted to Lu Sen. If he ever asked her to kill him, Shi Ping doubted he¡¯d last long enough to be surprised. He¡¯d gotten a similar impression from the man. Maybe even a bit more from Lu Sen. May the heavens help the fool that thought to do her harm. Shi Ping believed right to his core that Lu Sen would make the death of that person a thing of dark legend.


    Yet, despite the intensity of their bond, that relationship was deeply odd. He would have expected there to be something romantic or sexual there, and there just wasn¡¯t. It was as if the two of them were simply oblivious to even the existence of such possibilities. Then again, when Lu Sen had women like Chan Yu Ming following him around, maybe he didn¡¯t need to think about those things. The attraction between those two burned so hot it was a miracle they didn¡¯t set fire to the forest every time they got within five feet of each other. Of course, some damn thing or another had made that situation all tense and complicated. At least that one didn¡¯t seem like she¡¯d kill him at the drop of a hat.


    He¡¯d thought that she would leave after the madman went on his mad quest into the wilds to purge his anger. Yet, she¡¯d stayed, and that had become uncomfortable very quickly. It seemed that she and Lo Meifeng didn¡¯t get on all that well. He hadn¡¯t been able to pin down any specific reason for it. He wasn¡¯t even sure that there was one. Some people just didn¡¯t like each other, and Lo Meifeng didn¡¯t seem to like anyone. Shi Ping sighed a contented sigh, though. One more night and none of these things would be his problem anymore. He was almost free. He could return to the Order of the Celestial Flame with neither shame nor dishonor. He couldn¡¯t be blamed for Lu Sen running off to die somewhere. Shi Ping estimated that they¡¯d probably let him stay for another year or two since he¡¯d willingly followed the madman as instructed. That wasn¡¯t a lot of time, but it ought to be enough to firm up some kind of plan for what to do after they kicked him out.


    Shi Ping felt his heart leap into his throat when the door to the weird stone house opened. Then, his heart sank into the floor as the tall figure of Lu Sen stepped inside, followed immediately by the girl. They both looked different. Lu Sen looked a touch leaner and maybe a bit older. Yet, that wasn¡¯t what gave Shi Ping pause. He¡¯d seen a lot of expressions on that young man¡¯s face, but there had always been a tension beneath them, as though the young man was locked in a constant struggle against pain or some inner conflict. All of that tension was gone, and so was all the anger. Lu Sen looked like a man in perfect, absolute control of himself. While Shi Ping would have thought that would be a relief, it wasn¡¯t. Lu Sen had been dangerous before, but this new, calm, controlled version of him looked lethal.


    The girl with her strange green eyes was different too. She¡¯d always been strange, and more than a little protective of Lu Sen, but now it was as if she didn¡¯t dare go more than a few seconds without looking at him. It was as though she needed reassurance that he was still there and still alive. Shi Ping had no idea what the two had gone through out in the wilds, but it had clearly been bad and affected both of them deeply. Lo Meifeng and Chan Yu Ming had risen from the table where they had been pretending their game of Xiangqi was a friendly one. Shi Ping had never cared for the strategy game, but they had all gotten a little desperate for distraction as the days bled away. Sen eyed them each in turn, but Shi Ping could read nothing from the look.


    ¡°The holiday is over,¡± said Sen. ¡°We leave for the capital tomorrow.¡±

 V4 Chapter 27 – Let’s Talk

    That first night back, there had been a lot of questions about what he and Falling Leaf had done and seen. Sen offered them a very abbreviated story where he left out the sensitive parts, such as their encounter with the spirit oxen. As far as Sen was concerned, that wasn¡¯t information anyone else needed. For her part, Falling Leaf said almost nothing, except to offer the occasional detail that Sen had neglected to mention or simply hadn¡¯t seen during some fight. Of course, the question they all really wanted an answer to was whether or not he¡¯d succeeded in purging his anger.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± asked Chan Yu Ming. ¡°Just, yes, with no explanation about how.¡±


    Sen mulled it over for a moment before he relented a tiny bit. ¡°I fought a dragon.¡±


    ¡°You won?¡± asked an incredulous Shi Ping.


    Sen looked over at the man and gave him a bemused smile. ¡°No.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming was leaning forward, her eyes wide, clearly expecting a detailed description of the fight and the aftermath. When Sen didn¡¯t elaborate on any of it, frustration and disappointment had a short, brutal battle on her face before exasperation made a surprise entry to the field and stole victory. She glared at him. He met her glare with calm eyes. He had missed that calm so much.


    ¡°You know, it¡¯s traditional to share the details of these experiences,¡± complained Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen, his calm expression never twitching, ¡°with trusted friends.¡±


    Sen noted that Shi Ping absorbed that quiet admonishment without any real feelings about the matter. Wang Yu Ming and Lo Meifeng both flinched. He got the impression that they both thought, or maybe had just privately hoped, that all would be forgiven once his anger problem was resolved. With the reflexive, overwhelming anger out of the picture, he¡¯d been able to think about what they¡¯d done with a cooler eye. He could understand why they had both done what they had done. It wasn¡¯t even that hard to see the situations through their eyes. That had softened him a little toward Lo Meifeng. It had been an extreme situation, and she had family involved. He''d justified enough irrational things in the last year to see how she could have justified it. He could even see why she was unrepentant about it. Yet, the fundamental betrayal and breach of trust remained.


    As for Chan Yu Ming, well, he didn¡¯t know why he¡¯d expected anything else from her. She was a noble, and she wanted something. At the end of the day, she had no real investment in him as a person. He was a tool of the, apparently, right make for accomplishing whatever her end goal looked like. Using him to reach that end she wanted no doubt seemed practical and reasonable. For all he knew, it was practical and reasonable. He¡¯d discovered that he found such a mercenary mindset less¡­offensive, now that anger wasn¡¯t clouding everything. He¡¯d probably even be willing to play along. But she couldn¡¯t reasonably expect him to trust her at a personal level if that was the case. The best-case scenario there was a mutually beneficial business relationship. He turned his eyes from Chan Yu Ming to Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk,¡± he said and gestured to the door leading outside.


    She¡¯d followed him out of the house, where he¡¯d erected a little twist of wind to keep their conversation private. Lo Meifeng met his gaze confidently enough, but he could see uncertainty swimming in her eyes behind the confidence.


    ¡°You¡¯re still angry,¡± she said.


    ¡°No, not like I was. I understand why you did it, and even how you justified using me the way you did. I¡¯m not feeling paranoid anymore that you¡¯re going to betray me again at any and every opportunity. The situation was, if not unique, then not all that likely to repeat itself.¡±


    Lo Meifeng looked genuinely relieved. ¡°So, what now?¡±


    ¡°The first problem I have now is that I know you will betray me under the right conditions. With a clearer head, I realized that could be a manageable problem, except for the other problem I have now.¡±


    Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°Which is?¡± asked Lo Meifeng, her brow furrowed.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that either of us actually know what those betrayal conditions are.¡±


    Lo Meifeng was silent for several minutes. Sen would have been very interested in knowing what she was thinking about and how she was processing the situation.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t plan it,¡± she said. ¡°I knew there was a bad blood between the order and the Clear Spring sect. But I thought the worst thing we¡¯d run across would be a couple of idiots settling some private grudge. I could have dealt with that. I would have dealt with it. Taking you there really was just an excuse to see my brother with a convenient side benefit that you could learn something about fire cultivation. I just wanted to make amends.¡±


    ¡°I just realized that I never asked. Did you?¡±


    ¡°What? Make amends with him?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Lo Meifeng let out a particularly bitter laugh. ¡°You know, that¡¯s the worst part of it. No. I didn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t even want to be in the same room as me, let alone talk things out. He didn¡¯t care that I risked my life, your life, to get to him. He didn¡¯t care that bringing you there probably saved a lot of lives. The only thing he wanted to discuss was how fast I could leave and never come back. He told me that, as far as he¡¯s concerned, his sister is dead. Betraying you, fighting in that battle, it was all, literally, for nothing.¡±


    Sen had never known Lo Meifeng to be a particularly expressive person. Her reactions were typically confined to sardonic amusement, detached indifference, or icy deadliness. So, the unalloyed pain and grief on her face startled Sen. Then, he realized that she¡¯d been carrying all of that around in silence since they¡¯d left the fire cultivator¡¯s valley. She wouldn¡¯t have talked about it with Falling Leaf or Chan Yu Ming, who she didn¡¯t know, let alone Shi Ping, a person she actively disliked. When it came to talking anything out, Sen was it for her. The literal only option, and he¡¯d shut her out completely. He¡¯d had his reasons, some of them justifiable, some of them even good, but it didn¡¯t change the end result for her. She¡¯d been suffering alone.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± said Sen. ¡°About your brother, I mean. That he was so, well, I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Lo Meifeng turned away at that point and did her best to wipe tears away from her eyes without him seeing.


    ¡°Thanks. I was so stupid. I should have known it would go like that. He was always unforgiving. I just hoped that with so much time since we last saw each other that he might have,¡± she sighed, ¡°it doesn¡¯t matter. I should¡­I should never have taken you there. It was selfish. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Sen had truly never expected her to apologize in any fashion for any of what had happened. So, he¡¯d never considered what he¡¯d say. At the same time, he had an intuition that Lo Meifeng didn¡¯t want him to say anything about it. Realizing that nothing was going to smoothly transition them to something else, he went for the obvious subject change.


    ¡°I do believe that you didn¡¯t plan that situation. Ironically, that makes dealing with my two now problems harder.¡±


    ¡°How¡¯s that?¡± she asked, her back still to him.


    ¡°If there had been a plan, I could have had you explain the plan to me. What drove it? When you made the decisions. How you made the decisions. I could have gleaned a lot from that about what might prompt similar choices in the future. In this case, you just reacted to the situation. I can glean a little, but not enough to make predictions.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t imagine me simply saying it won¡¯t happen again would make a difference,¡± she said, turning around to face him.


    ¡°Would it make a difference to you, if you were in my place?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she said, some of that sardonic amusement back in place. ¡°It probably wouldn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°So, here¡¯s how this is going to go. Since I can¡¯t make accurate predictions, and you¡¯re just too capable to cut loose, we¡¯re both going to have to go about this the hardest way possible. I¡¯m going to have to simply extend you a little trust. You¡¯re going to have to earn the rest of it back. And I expect that will prove damned uncomfortable for us both for a while.¡±


    ¡°What if I fail?¡± she asked. ¡°Will you kill me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not entirely certain I can kill you. But, no, I won¡¯t try to kill you. I won¡¯t do anything to you. You will simply cease to exist for me.¡±


    Lo Meifeng¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly at that last. As the implications really sank home, though, her face became ever paler and increasingly drawn. Sen was glad that he¡¯d guessed right. Lo Meifeng had made her accommodations with death long ago. Killing her would be within her expectations. Reflecting on what she¡¯d done with her brother, though, had given him a brief look at what mattered to her. No, she didn¡¯t fear death. She feared being disregarded by those who somehow mattered to her. Sen didn¡¯t know exactly where he fit in that, presumably, very small group of people, but he had managed to land there somehow.


    He continued. ¡°You understand my meaning?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she whispered.


    ¡°Good. Let¡¯s both hope it never comes to that. Now, let¡¯s go back inside. I¡¯m tired and really would like a bit of sleep before we set off in the morning.¡±

 V4 Chapter 28 – Let’s Talk, Part 2

    Just as he¡¯d indicated in his initial statement to everyone, Sen had them up and on the road at first light the next day. He kept them moving too, stopping only briefly for meals. Most nights they camped. Shi Ping had complained, once. Sen hadn¡¯t said a word to the man, simply looked at him with newly calm eyes. Yet, that look had stopped Shi Ping cold. It had stopped everyone cold. It wasn¡¯t just a look or an expression. It had a weight that hadn¡¯t been there before, as though Sen was physically pushing down on the other man with an invisible hand the size of a building. Later that night, after everyone else had taken to their blankets, Lo Meifeng had hesitantly approached Sen. He just gestured to a nearby rock. Once she¡¯d settled down into place, he spoke.


    ¡°I spent a week with that dragon. It was educational. I learned some things.¡±


    ¡°Clearly.¡±


    Sen smiled a little. ¡°One of the things that I learned is why fortunate encounters happen.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Lo Meifeng with unfeigned curiosity. ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°It turns out that very old, very powerful things get very bored. All of them, apparently. I was the first thing that dragon had a conversation with in a long time. It decided that, since I was something of a captive audience, I might as well learn something. Honestly, though, it wasn¡¯t about me. I was just a novel distraction. I think it probably would have taught anyone who had enough power to find it.¡±


    Lo Meifeng snorted at that. ¡°I doubt that.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯ve seen you operate. I expect that before this boredom-induced learning experience that had nothing to do with you, you did something that was spectacular, stupid, and nigh-impossible.¡±


    Sen stared into the campfire for a little while before he said, ¡°There might be a sliver of truth in there somewhere.¡±


    ¡°You should just go ahead and add this to the list of things that make you ridiculous.¡±


    A soft chuckle escaped Sen. ¡°Probably so.


    ¡°A divine turtle and now a dragon. I¡¯m starting to wonder what god¡¯s life you saved in your last life.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t as great as you might think. I had to practically die before all that special instruction happened.¡±


    ¡°How close was it?¡±


    ¡°Close. Honestly, I think I might have actually been dead there for a moment or two.¡±


    ¡°No wonder she¡¯s acting the way she is.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t need Lo Meifeng to tell him which she.


    ¡°It was bad enough for me, but you know how battles are. It¡¯s all speed and fury and chaos. Everything is happening all at once, and there¡¯s no time to think about anything but what you¡¯re doing to do in the next two seconds. She had to watch it happen.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s always worse.¡±


    ¡°Exactly.¡±


    ¡°She didn¡¯t get included with the extra training.¡±


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t say.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Lo Meifeng, her face moving into an expressionless mask. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to pry.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t. I can¡¯t say because I don¡¯t know. I think the dragon might have, but she didn¡¯t bring it up.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t ask?¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t my business. If she wants me to know, she¡¯ll tell me.¡±


    ¡°Did you ask the dragon about your body cultivation?¡±


    Sen laughed. ¡°It was just about the first thing I asked. The dragon was magnificently useless on that topic.¡±


    ¡°So, there¡¯s really no getting around going to the capital.¡±


    ¡°Not that I can see. Which will probably mean cutting some kind of deal with Chan Yu Ming.¡±


    ¡°Do you think you can trust her? Sorry, that was a stupid question. Do you think you can trust her to hold up her end of the bargain?¡±


    ¡°Probably,¡± hedged Sen, ¡°since she wants something in return. But that¡¯s not the real issue. The real issue is whether I can trust her family to come through. They¡¯re the ones who will, in theory, get me the manual.¡±


    ¡°Be careful with her.¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll be as careful as I can be. A lot of this will depend on what she wants in return. The price may well be too high. I¡¯ll find out for sure tomorrow.¡±


    Lo Meifeng nodded and got up. ¡°Wake me when it¡¯s my turn.¡±


    ¡°I will.¡±


    ***


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    Sen waited until they¡¯d been on the road for a couple of hours before he fell back to walk beside Chan Yu Ming. She eyed him cautiously. He kept his eyes forward.


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°You¡¯re different.¡±


    ¡°I am,¡± he admitted.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think you were ever going to talk to me.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll admit, that was a possibility.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re certainly colder than you were.¡±


    ¡°That isn¡¯t a bad thing. Considering where we¡¯re going and the number of people there I¡¯m bound to dislike, it¡¯s an advantage.¡±


    ¡°You mean nobles,¡± said Chan Yu Ming with a sigh.


    ¡°I mean nobles. I also mean people from sects.¡±


    ¡°I thought you went out into the wilds to purge your anger,¡± she said.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to be angry not to like nobles and sects. They make it easy not to like them.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming shot him a hot glare, but then looked away. ¡°I can understand why you think that.¡±


    ¡°I truly hope you¡¯re not convincing yourself that I¡¯m some exception and that most people don¡¯t think that way. Not saying something and not thinking something are very different.¡±


    ¡°Not every noble or sect member is a terrible person.¡±


    ¡°How many peasants and wandering cultivators have you asked about that?¡±


    Sen could sense the growing frustration in the woman when she answered.


    ¡°None.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not what either of us wants to discuss, so let¡¯s just drop it. We can argue about it some other time if you really want to,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I think that¡¯s for the best.¡±


    ¡°Alright. So, explain this scheme of yours.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a scheme!¡±


    Sen just gave her a flat look. ¡°Then what do you call it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a,¡± she paused and thought, ¡°plan. A clever plan that will get us both what we want.¡±


    ¡°Fine. Then please explain this plan of yours. What is it, specifically, that you¡¯re trying to accomplish? And what role could I possibly play in it?¡±


    Sen had expected her to jump all over this chance to explain things. She¡¯d waited for more than a month to do just that. So, when Chan Yu Ming didn¡¯t say anything, he turned to look at her. Her cheeks were bright pink, and she was looking everywhere but at him. What in the world is happening right now, thought Sen. Sen gave the silence another minute before he mentally gave up.


    ¡°Okay. It seems that, somehow, you¡¯re not ready to have this discussion. So, when you are, come find me.¡±


    Sen picked up his pace to walk away when she called after him in a harsh whisper.


    ¡°Wait!¡±


    He slowed down until they were walking next to each other again. ¡°So, you are ready?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think it¡¯d be quite this embarrassing. What do you know about how nobles handle marriage?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t even know how peasants handle marriage. So, you should assume I know nothing.¡±


    ¡°Most marriages are arranged. It¡¯s how most peasant families handle it, but it¡¯s how all noble families deal with the problem of their daughters. They pick another family they want to ally themselves with and marry their daughters off to one of that family''s sons.¡±


    ¡°It seems to me that seeing daughters as problems is the real problem, but I guess that¡¯s not a popular position.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming shook her head. ¡°No, unfortunately, it¡¯s not a popular position. The exception to that rule, though, is when daughters go off and become cultivators. Generally, families put a stop to any talk of marrying their daughters off once they reach a certain stage of advancement.¡±


    ¡°What stage?¡±


    ¡°Core formation. At that point, you¡¯re going to live so much longer than any mortal that marrying you off is, frankly, cruel.¡±


    ¡°Okay. That¡¯s an interesting and disturbing peek into noble culture, but I¡¯m not sure I see the point.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because I haven¡¯t reached the point, yet. Releasing daughters is the custom, but it¡¯s not the law. Families can still insist you come home and marry.¡±


    ¡°Can they, though? I mean, I can maybe see them making the demand, but can they enforce it at that point? How would they enforce it? It¡¯s not like they can drag you off by force.¡±


    ¡°There are other kinds of pressure they can bring to bear. For example, they can disown you. Refuse to see you. Deny you access to the rest of your family. I realize that doesn¡¯t mean much to you, but you¡¯ll have to trust me when I tell you that other people do care about those things.¡±


    ¡®Okay, I believe you. I still don¡¯t get what¡­,¡± Sen trailed off as it came together. ¡°Your family has arranged a marriage for you.¡±


    ¡°They have.¡±


    ¡°Then, I don¡¯t see what I can do for you if you¡¯re not willing to accept those unpleasant consequences you were talking about.¡±


    ¡°They arranged it because they think it¡¯s what''s best for me and the family. I need to present them with an alternative that looks more advantageous,¡± said Chan Yu Ming, giving him a significant look.


    Sen stared blankly at her until he understood her meaning, then he burst into laughter. She put up with the laughter for almost half a minute before she lost her temper and hit him.


    ¡°Stop laughing! It¡¯s not funny.¡±


    ¡°Yes, it is. Not the plan itself. That has a certain sort of logic to it. The idea that I have any role to play in it is hilarious. You just said it yourself. You need a better, more advantageous alternative. Your family will take one look at me and wonder if you¡¯ve lost your mind. I¡¯m not going to look like a better option to anyone. I¡¯m nobody, from nowhere.¡±


    ¡°You only think that because you haven¡¯t thought it through. You¡¯re not some qi-condensing cultivator I found in some third-rate sect. You¡¯re a core-formation dual cultivator. That alone makes you an almost mythological creature. Beyond that, you were trained by legends. Cultivators so powerful that even mortals know and care about them. Or a certain group of mortals at any rate. Along the way, you exposed a demonic cultivator cabal and ended a sect war. You¡¯re well on your way to being a legend in your own right. Judgment¡¯s Gale.¡±


    Sen went to make his usual denials, but they rang hollow to him. She wasn¡¯t wrong, exactly. He might know how flimsy all of those ¡°accomplishments¡± were, but that didn¡¯t mean they¡¯d look flimsy to other people, especially non-cultivators.


    ¡°How would this even work? You¡¯re going to show up and do what? It¡¯s not like you can just introduce me as your betrothed. I¡¯m very certain I remember hearing something about how I¡¯d have needed to talk with your father about that.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that part. That¡¯s my headache to deal with.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sure. We¡¯ll see. Okay, let¡¯s say that you, by some miracle, actually talk them into this madness. What happens next? Have you really thought about it? What are they going to expect from me? Or maybe I should ask, what favors will they expect me to fulfill for them? For that matter, what if they insist that we get married, I don¡¯t know, now?¡±


    The embarrassed blush that had faded as Sen started raising objections suddenly flooded back into Chan Yu Ming¡¯s cheeks.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that they¡¯d do that,¡± she said hurriedly. ¡°It¡¯s not how noble marriages are done.¡±


    ¡°Except, I¡¯m not a noble. Who knows how they¡¯ll react? If they take leave of their senses and decide it¡¯s a good idea, they might decide they need to lock this deal in as fast as possible.¡±


    ¡°So, you¡¯re saying you won¡¯t do it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m saying that you haven¡¯t thought it through. I need that manual, but you can¡¯t even guarantee me that your family can get it. I¡¯m not going through with a charade like this on the off-chance that maybe I¡¯ll get the manual at the end. I don¡¯t have that kind of time to waste. So, if you want me to even consider this absurd idea, you¡¯re going to need way better answers to all of those questions I asked you. More importantly, you¡¯re going to have to convince me that, at the end of all of it, regardless of the outcome, I¡¯m going to have that manual in my hands.¡±

 V4 Chapter 29 – Let’s Talk, Part 3

    Sen¡¯s chat with Chan Yu Ming seemed to shatter a number of illusions she¡¯d had about her clever plan because she almost entirely withdrew from everyone else. He¡¯d see her staring hard at nothing, shaking her head, and even occasionally muttering to herself. He assumed that she was trying to rethink her plan in a way that would actually have some chance of working, but he wasn¡¯t holding out much hope. The young woman¡¯s muttering got so frequent at one point that Lo Meifeng commented on it.


    ¡°I think you broke the princess.¡±


    ¡°She should have taken that month I provided to think up a better plan,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°That¡¯s true enough. What about the other one?¡±


    ¡°What other one?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°You talked to me. You talked to Chan Yu Ming. Are you planning a similar conversation with Shi Ping?¡±


    ¡°About what?¡±


    ¡°I have no idea. Maybe why the Order of the Celestial Flame sent him along with you.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that. I assume he knows already. It¡¯s pretty obvious when you think about it.¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s obvious to you and me, but I don¡¯t think he knows,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°How could he not?¡±


    ¡°Maybe he was too lazy to think about it.¡±


    Sen wanted to dismiss that idea, but it was all too plausible. At the same time, it wasn¡¯t really his problem. If Shi Ping didn¡¯t want to reflect on his life circumstances, it wasn¡¯t Sen¡¯s place to do it for him.


    ¡°I could tell him, but what would that accomplish?¡±


    ¡°Maybe it would inspire something other than apathy in him.¡±


    ¡°Doubtful,¡± said Sen. ¡°Don¡¯t you think that all of his seniors tried that already?¡±


    ¡°Probably, but I find that certain realities tend to focus the mind, don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I still don¡¯t see the point.¡±


    ¡°Maybe there isn¡¯t one, but he¡¯s not terrible with that jian. With some motivation and training, he could be useful.¡±


    ¡°All right, I¡¯ll talk to him. If it doesn¡¯t change anything, it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll lose anything.¡±


    Sen thought about the best way to approach the fire cultivator but couldn¡¯t think of a good one. If Shi Ping had already figured it out, then the conversation wasn¡¯t likely to go anywhere. If he hadn¡¯t, the conversation wasn¡¯t likely to go well. Since he didn¡¯t really want to have that conversation with Shi Ping, Sen put it off for several more days. Eventually, he got tired of the annoyed looks he was getting from Lo Meifeng and went over to walk by the fire cultivator. Shi Ping looked immediately nervous and got even more nervous at Sen¡¯s words.


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk.¡±


    ¡°About what?¡± asked the supremely cautious Shi Ping.


    ¡°About why you¡¯re really here,¡± said Sen. ¡°Do you know?¡±


    Shi Ping was quiet for a few moments, before he ventured, ¡°As punishment.¡±


    Sen was honestly surprised that the fire cultivator hadn¡¯t figured it out. He didn¡¯t relish being the bearer of bad news, but Sen pressed onward. He shook his head and gave Shi Ping a significant look.


    ¡°That¡¯s not why you¡¯re here. They sent you with me to get rid of you. Permanently.¡±


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    ¡°Permanently. I¡¯m not traveling with you forever. I can tell you that right now.¡±


    ¡°Are you being intentionally blind to this? They sent you with me because they expected to you die.¡±


    Shi Ping rolled his eyes. ¡°What are you talking about that? That¡¯s completely¡­utterly¡­damn.¡±


    Sen had watched as the realization had settled over the man. It seemed that Shi Ping really hadn¡¯t put the pieces together or had been working very hard to ignore the evidence. Sen felt a small pang of sympathy for the man. It was one thing to know that your superiors didn¡¯t particularly care for you. It was something else entirely to realize that they¡¯d purposefully sent you with a man who routinely drew the kind of violence that would crush you. Shi Ping alternated between looking sick and looking hurt before his expression settled on fury. He whirled toward Sen.


    ¡°You knew!¡± Shi Ping shouted. ¡°You knew and you let me come along anyway!¡±


    Sen maintained his placid expression in the face of Shi Ping¡¯s anger. ¡°And? I¡¯m not a member of your order. I certainly haven¡¯t taken any oaths to protect and preserve your life. I agreed to take you along in exchange for that spear. I took you along. My only obligation has been fulfilled.¡±


    Shi Ping tried to attack Sen at that point, forcing Sen to brush aside punches and kicks as Shi Ping vented his anger on the only target he could reach. Sen let that go on for a while because he thought it would probably help Shi Ping¡¯s state of mind in the long run. When the fire cultivator reached for his jian, though, Sen fixed him with a hard look.


    ¡°If you try to draw that blade, you won¡¯t even see the blow that kills you.¡±


    Shi Ping released the hilt of the jian, but he never stopped glaring at Sen. ¡°So, why bother telling me?¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯m tired of you, Shi Ping.¡±


    ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    ¡°It means that it¡¯s time for one of two things to happen. The first option, and my personal preference, is that you simply go away. I don¡¯t care where you go, although I wouldn¡¯t show your face back at the Order of the Celestial Flame if I were you. But we¡¯ve passed some villages. You could go back to one of those and stay until they ask you to leave as well. If you keep heading the direction we¡¯re heading, you¡¯ll get to the capital, although I doubt you have the money or ambition to survive there for long on your own. At this point, though, you can consider yourself well and truly discharged from your former order. They don¡¯t want you back. That means you can go wherever you want and become whoever you want.¡±


    Sen let Shi Ping process all of that.


    ¡°You said one of two things. What¡¯s the other thing?¡±


    ¡°You keep traveling with us.¡±


    ¡°I thought you said¡­,¡± began Shi Ping.


    ¡°You should really let me finish because there are several important details to that course of action. If you decide that you¡¯re going to keep traveling with us, you bury this useless person you are now. All of the laziness, the whining, the overeating, it all dies right here, at this very spot in the road. You will find whatever spark of ambition let you reach peak foundation formation and breathe life back into it. You will train with me daily, without exception and without complaint. You will participate in every fight we face. And, no, you don¡¯t get a week to think about it. You have one minute. I suggest that you think very hard about what kind of person you want to be, and make your decision based on that.¡±


    Sen walked down the road and stood next to Falling Leaf. The two of them watched the fire cultivator mull over his choice.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just send him away?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    ¡°To keep my conscience and karma clear. If I tell him to go and some spirit beast kills him two miles down the road, then I bear a lot of responsibility for that.¡±


    ¡°But you don¡¯t like him.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t like him as he is now, but he couldn¡¯t have always been this way. He never would have reached the peak of foundation formation if he was. At some point in the past, he worked hard at being a successful cultivator. I don¡¯t know if I would have liked that version of him any better, but I might have respected him. The way he is now, I don¡¯t like or respect him. As for giving him the choice, if he decides that he¡¯d rather be lazy and useless and goes by his own choice, then that karma is all on him. If he stays, then maybe we¡¯ll meet someone who will be more helpful and that we¡¯ll all like a little more.¡±


    ¡°What if he stays and doesn¡¯t change?¡±


    ¡°Then I expect Lo Meifeng will probably kill him.¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± said Lo Meifeng, stepping up next to the pair. ¡°That wasn¡¯t quite what I expected from that conversation.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s an inconvenience for us now. I imagine he¡¯d be a full-blown anchor for us in the capital.¡±


    ¡°More than likely,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°So, we deal with the problem now. If he leaves, problem solved. If he stays and actually changes, the problem is mostly likely solved. If he stays and doesn¡¯t change, the problem gets solved another way.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t enforce the one-minute deadline he¡¯d set. It was a potentially life-changing decision. He gave Shi Ping five minutes before he walked back over to the fire cultivator.


    ¡°Well?¡± Sen asked.


    There was a moment of hesitation and Sen was certain that Shi Ping was going to leave. Then, the fire cultivator looked at Sen.


    ¡°We¡¯re wasting time,¡± said Shi Ping and started heading down the road.


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at Shi Ping¡¯s back and said, ¡°So, we are.¡±

 V4 Chapter 30 – Practicing

    As a general rule, Sen found the huge distances between locations on the continent to be irksome. Given the time constraints he was under, that was still true on some level. Yet, for once, he saw the weeks they still had left to travel before they reached the capital as something of a blessing. One, it gave him some time to start processing the truly staggering number of things the dragon had tried to teach him. He¡¯d only barely gotten a handle on the tiniest fraction of those things. Some of that was simply the lack of practice. He also had the sneaking suspicion that the dragon had been teaching him techniques and information meant for nascent soul cultivators. He fully expected that he would spend years unraveling all of that knowledge into practical skills he could use. Yet, that was little more than a background benefit.


    The real reason he was happy for that time was because it gave him a chance to help reinforce Shi Ping¡¯s new outlook on life. Sen had seen the man fall back into bad habits at the drop of a hat, so he didn¡¯t give the fire cultivator any opportunity for it. Almost without meaning to do it, Sen put the entire group on a training regimen. In the morning, they all took an hour for dedicated cultivation. While Sen had his moving cultivation technique, he didn¡¯t think that any of the others had anything similar. While an hour each morning wasn¡¯t a lot, it was an opportunity for everyone to focus exclusively on their cultivation with no distractions. Sen did his best to explain his moving cultivation technique to all of them, but it was ultimately something they¡¯d have to experiment with until they either found something that worked for them, or they gave up on it as a lost cause.


    Then, they¡¯d travel for most of the day. Shi Ping couldn¡¯t keep up with the non-stop qinggong techniques that Sen, Lo Meifeng, and even, much to Sen¡¯s surprise, Falling Leaf could maintain. Still, the walking pace of a peak foundation formation cultivator was a ground-eating thing, and they made decent time. Late in the afternoon, Sen would stop them for the day. Depending on what kind of weather he expected or the spirit beasts he sensed in the area, Sen would either put up a galehouse or tell everyone to set up camp. Then, the training began. The first couple of days, it was just Sen and Shi Ping. Sen could feel the frustration radiating off of Shi Ping as he corrected a hundred minor defects in the man¡¯s stance and techniques. He kept waiting for the fire cultivator to explode in a rage, but it never happened. As much as he disliked the constant correction, it seemed that even Shi Ping could recognize that his sword work was being slowly transformed from competent to something better.


    It seemed that Lo Meifeng and even the perpetually distracted Chan Yu Ming had recognized the same thing because they started joining in on the lessons. Sen didn¡¯t try to teach them his styles of fighting. They didn¡¯t really have the time for that and, on reflection, he wasn¡¯t entirely comfortable sharing that much information with people he might, if things went terribly wrong, have to fight one day. Instead, he focused on helping them improve on what they did know. That was relatively easy with Chan Yu Ming because her style shared a lot of commonalities with Auntie Caihong¡¯s style. They weren¡¯t identical by any means, but sound principles always applied. Helping Lo Meifeng was a bit more challenging. Her style was sufficiently different from everyone else¡¯s that Sen wondered where it had come from. He ended up needing to spar with her several times before he got the necessary insights he needed. Fortunately, Chan Yu Ming was his equal with the jian for all practical purposes, so he¡¯d often turn Shi Ping over to her while he worked with Lo Meifeng.


    After the first week of that, he noticed that Falling Leaf would always hover nearby and watch. She didn¡¯t use weapons or have any real interest in learning one, which wasn¡¯t a problem most of the time. When the rest of the group was practicing with them, though, it left her utterly excluded. She never complained about it, but Sen racked his brain for a way to include her that wasn¡¯t just patronizing in appearance or reality. Then, he struck on the obvious. Weapon training was all well and good, but he¡¯d spent almost as much time learning to fight without weapons as with them. He decided they could all use a bit more practice with that. He discovered it was a good decision for a lot of reasons.


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    Most importantly for his primary goal, it was something that Falling Leaf could meaningfully participate in, benefit from, and provide benefit to the others. He knew firsthand from their time in the wilds just how effective she was at close combat. The others didn¡¯t. Even better, her style of fighting was fundamentally different than everyone else¡¯s. It was clear that Auntie Caihong had spent more than a little time working with her, teaching her some core principles, but it seemed that they had spent most of their time working on ways to adapt her natural inclinations into a method that worked for her. Sen had gotten more than a little amusement out of pairing up Shi Ping and Falling Leaf to spar. The fire cultivator had been quietly, but obviously, dismissive of Falling Leaf. That had disappeared in a hurry when her feline-inspired attacks left him bloody and bruised, while she remained untouched by his counterattacks.


    Lo Meifeng, not surprisingly, turned out to be the best unarmed combatant out of the entire group. Sen chalked some of that up to sheer volume of experience. Still, it was a valuable experience for all of them to face off against someone with superior skills. Sen was surprised to find out that Chan Yu Ming¡¯s unarmed combat skills were worse than Shi Ping¡¯s. She made up for some of those deficiencies with superior speed and strength, but the skill gap was still evident. He¡¯d been so surprised by it that he pulled her aside to discuss it one night.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± said Sen. ¡°You clearly had outstanding jian instructors. Were your unarmed combat instructors bad?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she admitted, only ever half-meeting his eyes.


    ¡°Then, what happened?¡±


    ¡°I liked the jian, and I had a lot of natural talent with it. So, they let me focus on that once they pounded the basics of unarmed combat into me.¡±


    ¡°What happens if you lose your jian?¡±


    ¡°It hasn¡¯t happened yet,¡± she said, a defiant look on her face.


    ¡°The fact that it hasn¡¯t happened yet doesn¡¯t mean it never will. This is foundational stuff. Master Feng spent years on this with me before he ever even let me touch a jian. Did no one ever suggest that you hone those skills after you mastered the jian?¡±


    ¡°Some people might have said something about that.¡±


    ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°I always meant to get around to it. It just didn¡¯t seem like that much of a priority.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Sen said in his very best unimpressed tone.


    ¡°I know. I know it¡¯s important, but I didn¡¯t have the time.¡±


    ¡°You do now.¡±


    She blinked at him a few times before she said, ¡°No, I don¡¯t. I need to¡­¡±


    ¡°Keep trying to make a bad plan work?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a bad plan,¡± she insisted before grudgingly amending that statement. ¡°It¡¯s not an entirely bad plan.¡±


    ¡°Well, you can work on your not-entirely-bad plan the other twenty-two hours of the day. Obviously, a couple weeks of training can¡¯t replace years of practice, but maybe we can shore up the worst weaknesses that years of neglect have created.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not in charge of me,¡± she said.


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen. ¡°So, you don¡¯t want to sleep in the galehouse and eat dinner with the rest of us, because you¡¯re not really part of the group. You just happen to be traveling at the exact same time and in the exact same direction as the rest of us.¡±


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare,¡± she said, her eyes going wide with outrage.


    ¡°Dare what? You said it yourself. I¡¯m not in charge of you. Of course, the house is mine.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re actually blackmailing me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m encouraging you to do the thing you know you should be doing,¡± said Sen, before he grinned at her. ¡°Also, yes, I¡¯m blackmailing you.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I see. First, it¡¯s blackmail. What¡¯s next?¡±


    Sen just looked at her for a moment before he stepped so close to her that he could feel the heat coming off her body. He smiled at her again, but this one was entirely wolfish in nature.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll think of something,¡± he said, casually pushing a bit of loose hair behind one of her ears.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure we will,¡± she said, her voice a little breathy.


    Sen leaned his head in and Chan Yu Ming closed her eyes. Only for them to go wide with barely suppressed fury when Sen whispered in her ear.


    ¡°You should be practicing.¡±


    ¡°Practicing!¡± she shouted, only to realize she was shouting at an empty space.


    Sen was already standing with the others, grinning at her again. His grin just got bigger as she stalked across the campsite with murder in her eyes.

 V4 Chapter 31 – Venting

    ¡°Shi Ping, come with me,¡± said Sen, striding down the road ahead of the others.


    Shi Ping fell in next to him without a word. The man had become a functional mute since making the choice to come with them. He¡¯d answer questions directly put to him, but rarely volunteered to contribute to any conversation, even the most casual and frivolous conversations. Sen wished that he didn¡¯t enjoy the man¡¯s silence so much, because it made him inclined to just let the fire cultivator not participate in conversations. He knew some of that was just an overreaction to all the complaining and whining Shi Ping had done before. Sen also knew he was going to have to get over it. Letting Shi Ping self-isolate wasn¡¯t going to end well, because it meant the man was bottling everything up. That could work for a while, but would eventually lead to an explosion. They walked for a good five minutes, leaving the others well behind, before Sen stepped off the road and leaned against a tree. Shi Ping eyed him.


    Bracing himself internally, Sen said, ¡°For the next ten minutes, you¡¯re allowed to say anything you want without retribution from me or anyone else.¡±


    Shi Ping jerked at those words. For a several seconds, he didn¡¯t say anything. His eyes were wide and confused, probably looking for some kind of trap. He glanced around them. It took Sen a minute to realize that the man was probably looking for Lo Meifeng. It had become apparent during training that the woman frightened Shi Ping in some intangible way that Sen did not. Once he¡¯d reassured himself that no one was waiting around to behead him at the first negative word, Shi Ping took a breath and glared at Sen. Then, a wellspring of anger and misery exploded from Shi Ping¡¯s mouth. The words came so fast and were often so garbled that Sen only caught about half of what the man said, but it was enough to get the gist.


    Shi Ping had a lot to say about Sen, his character, his training methods, and the brutal pace of travel. Yet, the litany of complaints that Sen been expecting about things like food and being forced to sleep in tents never appeared. Toward the end, when the torrent had slowed, Shi Ping became more understandable.


    ¡°You¡¯re such a self-righteous prick. You know that? It¡¯s like you think that because you think something, that¡¯s the moral high ground. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve ever thought that you were wrong about anything! Let me tell you, you¡¯re not so clean and pure as you think. You¡¯re not always right!


    ¡°And who raised you, anyway? The way you treat people is unbelievable. It¡¯s obvious that Lo Meifeng would do just about anything to get back into your good graces. What do you do? You give her just enough hope that it might happen, one day, that she keeps following you around. That¡¯s not just callous, it¡¯s monumentally stupid with someone that damn dangerous. One day, she¡¯s going to wake up and realize what you¡¯re doing. When that happens, you¡¯re going to wake up dead.


    ¡°And the way you¡¯re stringing along that girl from Clear Spring sect is just cruel, or sick, or both. She¡¯s so infatuated with you that she hasn¡¯t figured out that you don¡¯t intend for it to go anywhere. Although, I cannot for the life of me figure out why you¡¯re not going to let it go anywhere. When I decided to stay, I knew what I was signing on for. I knew it was going to be miserable. Can you say the same thing for them?¡±


    Shi Ping¡¯s chest was heaving from the non-stop rant he¡¯d just gone on. Sen waited to see if the man had anything else he wanted to get off his chest.


    ¡°Anything else?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°It¡¯s an injustice on a cosmic scale that you¡¯re that much better looking than me.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s probably fair. Feel better?¡±


    Shi Ping¡¯s shoulders slumped in weariness, although Sen suspected it more emotional than physical. ¡°A little. Was there a point to all of this?¡±


    ¡°I wanted the whining and petty complaining to stop. It did, and I appreciate that. I also realize that not every complaint is petty and things build up. Everyone needs ways of venting their frustrations and anger. I learned that the hard way. If you don¡¯t, you end up with a heart demon. Not an experience I recommend, by the way.¡±


    ¡°A heart demon?¡± asked Shi Ping.


    Sen hadn¡¯t explained many of the specifics of his trip out into the wilds, but he thought there might be some benefit to sharing that tidbit with Shi Ping. Sen nodded.


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    ¡°What? You didn¡¯t think I was naturally that angry and volatile, did you?¡±


    ¡°Actually, I did,¡± said Shi Ping, looking a little pale.


    ¡°You were just wondering how close I came to killing you under its influence, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    Shi Ping reluctantly nodded. ¡°I was.¡±


    ¡°Closer than you¡¯d like to know,¡± said Sen. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad that that¡¯s all out of the way.¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t going to respond to any of that rant?¡±


    ¡°Do you really want me to?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t understand you. Maybe it will help.¡±


    Sen thought it over. Shi Ping hadn¡¯t been completely wrong about any of it, but he hadn¡¯t been completely right about almost anything. Sen sorted through his thoughts and nodded.


    ¡°Alright. First, the training I¡¯m putting you through is a very watered-down version of a tiny piece of the training I went through. I used to train like that every day, except I did it ten to twelve hours a day. So, anytime you think I¡¯m pushing you hard, imagine going for another eight to ten hours. Next, everyone always thinks they¡¯re right and in the right. So, there¡¯s nothing special or unusual about me thinking the same thing. I¡¯m also well aware that I¡¯m no beacon of righteousness. I¡¯ve compromised, and I know exactly what I compromised.


    ¡°As for who raised me, it was no one. No one at all raised me. I grew up living on the streets. So, I guess you could say that I raised myself. As for Lo Meifeng and Chan Yu Ming, there is a lot of context to those situations that you don¡¯t know about. No, I don¡¯t intend to explain that context. Suffice it to say that none of what I¡¯m doing is quite as callous or as cruel as you imagine. I¡¯ll also remind you that I declined to bring Chan Yu Ming along when we first set out. She came looking for me, not the other way around. ¡°


    Shi Ping straightened a little at that last part. ¡°I forgot about that.¡±


    ¡°I thought you might have. So, feel like you understand me a little better?¡±


    With a sigh, Shi Ping shook his head. ¡°No. Not even a little. But I can¡¯t say that you didn¡¯t try. So, back to the others?¡±


    ¡°Oh, we¡¯re not done with the venting part of the day yet.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not?¡±


    ¡°Nope. Those spirit beasts you weren¡¯t paying attention to are going to attack us in about five seconds.¡±


    ¡°Spirit beasts? What spirit beasts?¡±


    Sen felt Shi Ping start to unfurl his spiritual sense, but it was too late. A massive snake with a body as thick around as Sen¡¯s leg shot out of the trees toward Shi Ping. With its jaw stretched wide open, even Sen found the sight of it a bit unsettling. Of course, Sen wasn¡¯t saddled with a crippling fear of snakes either. He closed the distance and batted the snake to one side before it could clamp its jaws around the petrified Shi Ping. The fire cultivator was standing there, his eyes wide, body trembling. Sen slapped him across the face.


    ¡°Fight or die, Shi Ping.¡±


    The slap seemed to rouse Shi Ping, who glared first at Sen, and then at the snake that had almost ambushed the fire cultivator. Shi Ping drew his jian and started cycling up fire qi. Sen left Shi Ping to his fight, and went off to delay the rest of the spirit snakes. Sen could have simply killed them all, but he¡¯d thought that would prove a wasted opportunity when he realized that snakes were trying to sneak up on them. So, Sen danced between the snakes¡¯ striking bites as he used wind and water qi to redirect their venom qi techniques. Each time Shi Ping managed to kill one, Sen would let one or two more slip in that direction. Sen observed the fire cultivator closely, watching to see if the new training was taking or not as the man fought. He saw some progress. Shi Ping¡¯s control was better, his form tighter, and he was incorporating fire qi techniques to distract or kill.


    All in all, Sen was satisfied with the progress he was seeing. It wasn¡¯t transformative progress, but it didn¡¯t need to be. Even if Shi Ping wasn¡¯t experiencing any moments of enlightenment about combat or the jian, he was at least better prepared to survive future fights. And, as much as Sen wished there wouldn¡¯t be future fights, he knew those were useless wishes. Cycling up metal qi, Sen gestured. The head of every remaining snake separated from its body. Shi Ping stared at the sudden appearance of snake corpses and then turned burning eyes on Sen.


    ¡°You could have done that for the beginning?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Because there was nothing for me to learn by doing that. Letting you fight them gave you ample opportunities to learn.¡±


    ¡°Am I still allowed to complain?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Sen in amusement.


    ¡°I hate you.¡±


    ¡°Was I wrong?¡±


    ¡°No, which is why I hate you.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°Well, hate me while you collect the beast cores.¡±


    ¡°Why am I,¡± started Shi Ping before he visibly stopped himself. ¡°Fine.¡±


    Sen waited to see if Shi Ping would fall back and start complaining anyway. When he didn¡¯t, Sen decided that a reward might be order.


    ¡°It¡¯s not all bad. If you collect the cores, you get to keep them.¡±


    Shi Ping brightened up at that. Every cultivator knew that there was a bit of money to be made from beast cores. ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Really. Besides, are you really going to tell me you won¡¯t take some pleasure in cutting these things up?¡±


    Shi Ping got a contemplative look on his face. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of it that way.¡±


    ¡°Well, get to it. The sooner you¡¯re done, the sooner we get back and I start dinner.¡±


    At the mention of the word dinner, Shi Ping all but pounced on the nearest snake corpse. Sen smiled inside a little. While the fire cultivator might refrain from complaining about food all the time, he still enjoyed it a great deal. And, when it came to motivation, Sen used what he had.

 V4 Chapter 32 – Trust

    While villages and towns pockmarked the countryside along the road, even the fast-traveling cultivators might only see one every other day out in the vast stretches of land between major cities. As the distance to the capital dwindled down to the point where they were only a few days out, the density of villages and towns increased substantially. This conformed to Sen¡¯s experiences with other cities, where the city proper was supported by a network of nearby farming villages and towns that specialized in raw material production, such as mining or milling. Yet, he''d never seen that sharp spike in supporting villages and towns begin so far out from a city before. He eventually pulled Chan Yu Ming aside.


    ¡°You said you grew up in the capital.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming, who had grown even more withdrawn as they approached the city, gave him a wary look. ¡°I did. Why?¡±


    ¡°How big is the capital? I mean, how many people live there?¡±


    ¡°The capital is huge. It covers a dozen miles in any direction. There are millions of people living there.¡±


    Sen shook his head as he tried to imagine a city that large and so many people crammed into it.


    ¡°How do people navigate something like that?¡± he asked.


    Chan Yu Ming visibly relaxed when she realized that Sen was looking for the kind of prosaic information that any new visitor to the capital might want. She got a reflective look on her face, then she started speaking.


    ¡°Most of them don¡¯t. The capital is one city in name only. It wasn¡¯t always this big, but it swallowed up the surrounding towns and communities as it grew. That¡¯s the way most people identify themselves. They don¡¯t say, I¡¯m from the capital. They say that they¡¯re from Mist Hill or Clover Vale or any of a dozen other sections of the city that used to be a separate town or village. Most people never really leave the part of the city where they¡¯re born. They spend their entire lives in that one small part of the city.¡±


    ¡°That sounds restrictive,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t. They can find everything they need or want from food to work to what passes for luxuries without leaving. Think about it. If everyone and everything you¡¯ve ever known, understood, or loved, can be found within ten minutes of walking from your home, why would you leave?¡±


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s fair.¡±


    ¡°They aren¡¯t forbidden from leaving, either. They just don¡¯t. At any rate, the true capital is at the heart of the city, where the royal palace and noble houses are located. Outside of that, you¡¯ll find a ring of government buildings where the bureaucracy operates. Once you move beyond that ring of bureaucrats, the city starts to divide itself into distinct areas. Most of the city is fairly safe, especially for a core formation cultivator like you. The only people likely to start trouble with you are sect members, and even most of those will tread carefully with wandering cultivators who are at core formation.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s surprising. I¡¯ve come to expect a lack of restraint from sects in their dealings with wandering cultivators.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a delicate balance. Cultivators are often dismissive of mortal governments and their affairs, but they can¡¯t do that in the capital,¡± she said, giving him a pointed look. ¡°Imagine the kind of damage that an unrestrained fight between two core cultivators could do in a place where buildings are four stories high and right on top of each other. It would only take a handful of mishandled techniques to kill hundreds of people, destroy dozens of buildings, and disrupt the local economy for a generation. While the government can¡¯t directly penalize the sect without an even greater loss of life, it can make life exceedingly difficult for the cultivators.


    ¡°After all, you must import everything you use in the city. That¡¯s as true for a sect as for a merchant. Now, imagine if everything you try to bring into the city gets held up at the gates for two months. Sects can find themselves suddenly paying a fifty percent import tax. Merchants can suddenly become unwilling to do business with them unless they pay outrageous service fees. Any one of those things might not inconvenience a sect too much, but if you pile them all up, all at the same time, life becomes very hard, very fast, even for cultivators.¡±


    ¡°So, the sects keep their people in line better to avoid all of those inconveniences and greater expenses.¡±


    ¡°They do. It doesn¡¯t entirely stop young cultivators from making foolish choices, but the threat of those sanctions makes sects very strict with their younger members. You should make a point of staying away from the part of the city called Crane¡¯s Rise, though.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± said Sen. ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s where the criminal element in the city operates from. They more or less control that area.¡±


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    ¡°Criminals control an entire part of the city? In the capital? Why doesn¡¯t the government just, I don¡¯t know, clean them out.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s been tried. Dozens of times over the history of the kingdom. It doesn¡¯t work.¡±


    ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    Chan Yu Ming gave Sen one of those looks that very much made him feel his actual age. ¡°You can¡¯t end crime. As long as there are things that people want that they aren¡¯t supposed to have or simply don¡¯t belong to them, there will be crime. Sweeping out the organized power structures just opens the door for chaos as new would-be crime bosses vie for power. Instead, the government tolerates their nominal control of that one area, in exchange for them operating very quietly everywhere else in the city.¡±


    ¡°What happens if some criminal group ignores that rule.¡±


    ¡°Then, the government steps in and destroys that organization, usually with help from one or more sects.¡±


    ¡°Why would the sects get involved?¡±


    ¡°Cultivators become criminals, sometimes. It takes a cultivator to stop a cultivator unless you want a street full of dead city guards or soldiers.¡±


    Sen nodded his understanding. ¡°Thanks for your explanation. I don¡¯t suppose you have a map of the capital, do you?¡±


    ¡°I never thought to get one. It wasn¡¯t really like I needed a map. Besides, they¡¯re not that reliable anyway.¡±


    ¡°True. Alright, I¡¯ll leave you to your plotting.¡±


    The tiny bit of calm that had come over Chan Yu Ming vanished in an instant. She gave Sen a smile that she probably thought looked cheerful, but came across as sickly. He almost felt bad for her. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that she didn¡¯t want to get married, or at least she didn¡¯t want to get married to whoever her family had picked out. It was equally clear that she hadn¡¯t figured out a way to make her plan work and conform to Sen¡¯s expectations. The part of him that took a bit of joy out of acting against expectations almost wanted to help her. If he was being honest with himself and he didn¡¯t have the certainty of death looming over him, he probably would have played along for his own amusement. Ever since Falling Leaf had informed him of the literal deadline he was working under, though, he hadn¡¯t been indulging those impish impulses the way he might do in other circumstances. So, instead of asking her about her clearly failed planning efforts, he fell back to walk with Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been to the capital before?¡±


    ¡°I have.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll need somewhere to stay while we¡¯re there. I¡¯ll also need somewhere to offload some beast cores that won¡¯t get me robbed the second I leave the place.¡±


    Lo Meifeng thought for a moment. ¡°Finding lodging isn¡¯t that difficult. Finding good lodging at reasonable prices, and I¡¯m talking reasonable for the capital, is something else. It all really depends on how high your standards are and how much risk you want to take on.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d prefer somewhere we won¡¯t be sharing our accommodations with rats and insects, can get baths, and where they make decent food. Not having people try to rob us in the middle of the night would also be nice.¡±


    She nodded, ¡°So, basically, anywhere that I¡¯d willingly stay.¡±


    Sen looked over at her and offered a half smile. ¡°Yeah, pretty much.¡±


    ¡°There are plenty of those places in the city, but it¡¯s always an open question about whether they¡¯ll have open rooms. You can waste a lot of time going from place to place to find accommodations. It¡¯ll take less time to find you alchemy shops where you can sell those cores. Most alchemists keep their mouths shut when people come in selling good beast cores. They want you to come back with more cores.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good to know,¡± said Sen, thinking hard.


    Sen knew what the obvious solution to the lodging problem was, he just didn¡¯t love it. The obvious solution was to let Lo Meifeng travel ahead of them and make arrangements. There was still a part of him that thought that was a great way to get set up for some kind of betrayal. Still, he supposed he had to start extending trust somewhere. If he couldn¡¯t trust her to find them rooms, the whole experiment was going to collapse in no time.


    Sen didn¡¯t let himself sigh before he said, ¡°I assume you know the places with the best odds of meeting our needs.¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± said Lo Meifeng cautiously.


    ¡°Then, you should go ahead to the city first and make arrangements.¡±


    Lo Meifeng¡¯s face was frozen for a moment before she said, ¡°I can do that.¡±


    Sen extracted a bag of coins from his storage ring that had a mix of different types of taels and handed it to her. ¡°Is that enough to get started?¡±


    She briefly opened the bag, tilted it back and forth to get a sense of what it contained, and then closed it. ¡°Yes, that should be more than sufficient.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got, what, about three more days to get there at this pace?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Lo Meifeng, ¡°something like that. Assuming you don¡¯t run into some kind of trouble you can¡¯t get yourself out of.¡±


    ¡°Hopefully, we won¡¯t run into that kind of trouble. Is that enough time?¡±


    ¡°It should be more than enough. I can meet you or have someone meet you at the southern gate three days from now.¡±


    A bit of the old paranoia spiked inside of Sen, and he ruthlessly beat it down. ¡°That sounds like a workable plan.¡±


    Lo Meifeng glanced up at the sky, judging how many hours of travel she could reasonably complete before it got dark enough to make travel inconvenient. ¡°I should leave now. If I make decent time, I could be in the capital by tomorrow evening.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t hold you up then,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Three days, then,¡± she said and started to move away at a significantly faster pace.


    ¡°Lo Meifeng,¡± he called after her.


    She looked back over her shoulder, her face devoid of expression. ¡°Yes?¡±


    Sen had intended to issue a threat or a warning but changed his mind. ¡°We likely have enemies there already. Be cautious.¡±


    Her fixed expression softened into one of muted surprise and relief. ¡°I will.¡±


    Then, she was gone done the road, making liberal use of her qinggong technique. Sen stared down the road after her as his concern over whether he¡¯d made a mistake warred his determination to at least try to repair that relationship. He felt more than heard or saw Falling Leaf come to walk by him.


    ¡°That was hard for you,¡± she said.


    ¡°It was,¡± he admitted.


    ¡°Good,¡± she said.


    ¡°Good? Why is that a good thing?¡±


    ¡°Doing the difficult things refines your will and resolve.¡±


    ¡°Do you feel like I¡¯m lacking in those areas?¡± he asked with a bemused smile.


    Falling Leaf tilted her head to one side and said, ¡°No, but you can¡¯t have too much will or resolve.¡±


    ¡°No, I guess you can¡¯t.¡±

 V4 Chapter 33 – The Capital, Part 1

    For all that Sen had thought about it, imagined it, and tried to mentally prepare for it, the capital still stunned him. It was just so damned big. When he¡¯d imagined it, he¡¯d imagined something like Emperor¡¯s Bay, just more of it. The reality of miles upon miles of buildings and roads ground that feeble image to dust. He literally couldn¡¯t see the far side of the city even with his enhanced sight. Smells that had been unpleasantly present in the heart of Emperor¡¯s Bay were strong on the air miles from their destination. As his eyes tracked over the sprawling mass, he could make out movement on the roads. The part of the city closest to him was near enough that he could see down into those streets and he felt a moment of mild panic.


    There were people everywhere, moving back and forth, stopping, talking, arguing, and laughing. There were people leading carts and vendors selling food. There were more people in one stretch of road than the entire population of the Orchard¡¯s Reach. Sen felt an almost irresistible urge to turn around and go looking for the mad nascent soul cultivator who might have a copy of the manual. Sure, she might be crazy, but that was far better than a place that was insanity incarnate. Sen couldn¡¯t imagine wanting to be in that place, wanting to be around so many others, to be constantly confronted by other human beings. There would be no silence in a place like that. There could be no peace. The longer he stood there staring down at the city, the more Sen realized that he hated it.


    ¡°Sen?¡± asked Chan Yu Ming.


    He turned to look at her, to say that he wasn¡¯t going down into that madness, but he stopped short. The young woman had barely spoken for the last few days, and Sen had left her mostly to her own devices. Looking at her now, though, he wondered when she had last slept. Short of being injured badly, it took a lot for core formation cultivators to actually look bad. Their recovery rate from pretty much every kind of normal affliction was stupendous. Yet, Chan Yu Ming looked¡­sick. There were dark bags beneath her eyes, and there was so little color in her skin that she almost looked like a corpse. There was even a bit of gauntness to her face that added to that impression.


    ¡°Are you feeling well?¡± asked Sen in genuine concern.


    Chan Yu Ming abruptly looked away. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t look fine,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing you need to concern yourself with.¡±


    Sen stared at her and kept staring at her until she looked at him again.


    ¡°What is going on?¡±


    Chan Yu Ming looked like she wanted to get angry, but then she just looked tired and resigned. ¡°I thought that I¡¯d be able to think of a way to convince you, but I can¡¯t promise you that manual. I¡¯m relatively confident I can get it, but you want a guarantee. I can¡¯t give it. I even thought about lying, but you¡¯d have figured that out soon enough. If I did that, I doubt you¡¯d ever speak to me again.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s probably true, but how is that connected to this?¡±


    ¡°Once I enter the city again, I¡¯ll have to present myself to my father. Then, the preparations will begin for the wedding. I know who I¡¯m to marry. It,¡± she sighed, ¡°it will not be a harmonious marriage.¡±


    ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    ¡°Just let it lie, Sen,¡± she said in a tired voice.


    ¡°The man you¡¯re supposed to marry, he¡¯s that bad?¡±


    The look that crossed her face in that moment was more telling than any words. There was a contempt on her face that only undiluted hatred could fuel.


    ¡°He is evil. He enjoys inflicting pain. He enjoys the suffering of others. He especially enjoys the pain and suffering of those who cannot threaten or harm him. The poor. The young. Everyone knows it, but his house is powerful, and they¡¯re all just like him. So, it¡¯s ignored or covered up. Admittedly, he couldn¡¯t harm me even if he wanted to, but there are expectations of every bride,¡± she said with visible shudder.


    ¡°I see,¡± said Sen, feeling like he needed to acknowledge her words in some way.


    ¡°I intend to murder him on our wedding night. There will be consequences for my family, for me, but I will not subject myself to his touch, or carry his seed, or raise a child tainted by his family line. If I could, I would scourge his house from the world. Every last one of them, man, woman, and child,¡± she said, before she offered Sen the bleakest smile he¡¯d ever seen. ¡°Have I disappointed you? I remember it so clearly. You towering over that battlefield with the sky on fire. It really did feel like the heavens had sent you there, and that all it would take was a single word from you to see us all swept away in a divine inferno. So, tell me, what is your sentence on me, Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡±


    Sen forced himself to remain silent. For a moment, he jumped to the thought that this was another attempt to manipulate him. And maybe it even was, but he didn¡¯t think she was doing it on purpose. All he saw in her, all he sensed from her, was hopelessness. As for him, if anything, it felt like she meant to provoke him somehow. Although, he couldn¡¯t imagine what that would accomplish. At least, he tried to tell himself that. If she could provoke him and start a real fight, there was one other way out of her predicament. He¡¯d already proven he could defeat her. So, there was a story there already. Chan Yu Ming couldn¡¯t accept her defeat at his hands and pursued him across the country. Then, very nearly at the gates of the capital itself, she fought him again, only to fall beneath his blade. It was very neat and tidy, for her. Someone might even turn it into a tragic play. She would get to flee into death, escaping a marriage she didn¡¯t want and a murder that would harm her family¡¯s interests.


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    There was even some mild protection built in for Sen, as it would be a matter under the Jianghu. However, he suspected that would prove flimsy protection from the wrath of a powerful noble family. Still, they were largely a mortal house, which meant they would need to arrange for other cultivators to hunt him. He¡¯d have some time to put distance between himself and the capital. Except, he wasn¡¯t going to let himself be provoked into a fight where he¡¯d have to kill her. Sen wasn¡¯t even sure he could make himself do it. Sen recognized that part of what allowed him to kill when anger wasn¡¯t involved was a certain indifference to the people he fought. He wasn¡¯t indifferent to Chan Yu Ming. He hated that she¡¯d tried to trick him into doing what she wanted, but he didn¡¯t hate her. That would have made life so much easier.


    ¡°I have no judgment on you,¡± he finally said. ¡°You plan to kill one evil man. I don¡¯t even know anymore how many people I¡¯ve killed. I do know they didn¡¯t all deserve it. How could I stand in judgment of you?¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t have a clear expectation for what her reaction to those words would be, but looking like he¡¯d personally doomed her hadn¡¯t been it. He saw her hand twitch toward her jian, but that was as far as it got. Maybe she¡¯d simply recognized that he wasn¡¯t going to give her what she wanted, even if she did start a fight with him. Instead, she lowered her head.


    ¡°I understand,¡± she whispered.


    Sen went to turn away when a thought struck him. There was another way out that he hadn¡¯t considered, mostly because he wouldn¡¯t have expected it from Chan Yu Ming. But, if her family forced her to marry, and she carried out her plan to murder the groom, and she was hopeless enough, that might be enough to make that option look palatable, even preferable. Of course, he didn¡¯t know that she¡¯d do that, and he didn¡¯t think that simply asking would get an answer he could trust. All he had to go on was his instincts about her and the situation. His instincts told him that if she walked down the path in front of her without some kind of outside intervention, it would end in her death. In the face of that, his arguments about staying out of mortal politics and uncertainties about what her family might expect felt, not untrue, but weak.


    Yet, he wasn¡¯t confident that he could or should intervene in what might well be her fate. Just as importantly, nothing had changed about his situation. He was still racing against his own death. Intervening would no doubt create problems and enemies that he might find it impossible to extricate himself from or avoid. He didn¡¯t know what he should do. He only had his judgment to go on, and that was something he had more than a few doubts about. Sen turned away so he wasn¡¯t looking at Chan Yu Ming, but he didn¡¯t walk away. Instead, he looked to where he might get sounder judgment than his own. He looked to the heavens. I could use some guidance, he thought. If this is her karma, her fate, I¡¯ll leave it alone. Then, he waited. He stood there in silence, listening, feeling, looking for anything that might point the right way. Just when he was certain that silence was the answer, he felt a tug on his soul. It was the lightest of things, and would likely have gone unnoticed if he wasn¡¯t looking for guidance, but there it was.


    Sen stood silently for a long moment before he spoke. ¡°I need you to understand something. My priorities haven¡¯t changed because my situation hasn¡¯t changed. I¡¯ll expect you to devote every resource, leverage every favor you¡¯re owed, and enlist your family in getting me that manual.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m saying I¡¯ll help you, but there is a time limit. I can¡¯t still be here in six months if I don¡¯t have that manual. If I can¡¯t get it, and you can¡¯t get it for me, I will leave. I¡¯ll have to.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± said Chan Yu Ming. ¡°How long?¡±


    To Sen, it sounded like she was having a hard time breathing. Since he suspected she didn¡¯t really want him to see her that way, he didn¡¯t turn around. Sen honestly didn¡¯t know how long, but he understood that she needed some kind of time frame to work in.


    ¡°Three months.¡±


    ¡°That is, it¡¯s not a lot of time for nobles,¡± she said, sounding very hesitant.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have a lot of time left,¡± said Sen. ¡°Now, let¡¯s go. I want to see what kind of rooms Lo Meifeng got for us.¡±


    Sen started down the road, no longer considering the size of the city. He didn¡¯t look back to see if the others were following. He could hear their footfalls. Sen hoped that he hadn¡¯t just made another terrible decision, but he¡¯d committed himself to that path. He¡¯d have to walk down it and hope that he was strong enough to bear the consequences. They passed through ever denser areas of buildings and ever denser throngs of people until Sen felt like they might as well be in the capital. He did, however, fall back to walk beside Falling Leaf. They¡¯d known each other for so long that they almost didn¡¯t need words. He had felt her growing apprehension as they closed in on the city proper. She shot him a grateful look and stepped closer. When the wall and southern gate to the city came into view, Sen grudgingly took his place at the back of the line, preparing for an extended wait.


    Yet, they hadn¡¯t been there for more than five minutes when they became the center of a lot of activity. Within moments of each other, a man who looked like he was some kind of messenger, a group of men in some manner of uniform led by a woman a few years older than Sen, and a group of city guards all strode up to them. The city guards immediately dropped to their knees and kowtowed. The woman leading the other group of uniformed men looked at Sen, and then her eyes drifted over to Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°Princess,¡± said the woman, dropping her eyes respectfully. ¡°We didn¡¯t know you were returning.¡±


    Sen turned toward Chan Yu Ming very slowly and fixed her with a flat stare. ¡°Princess?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Chan Yu Ming weakly. ¡°I swear I was going to tell you.¡±


    ¡°We are going to have to have a long talk about this,¡± said Sen through clenched teeth.

 V4 Chapter 34 – The Capital, Part 2

    Sen mentally throttled the urge to yell at Chan Yu Ming. Of course, she¡¯d left out that trivial detail of being royalty. Much as he might like to, though, he couldn¡¯t really blame her for not bringing it up. Sen had his prejudices, and she knew about them. He didn¡¯t like nobles. From her point of view, it would be an all too easy leap to make to assume that he¡¯d see royalty as nobility, only worse, and she¡¯d have been right. That was something they¡¯d have to deal with later, though, because there was still a bunch of people standing there and staring at him instead of Chan Yu Ming, which did not make Sen expect that good things were about to happen. Taking a soothing breath, Sen turned back to the seemingly random assortment of people arrayed before him. He picked the person who looked the least like they were attached to some powerful governmental body. He was an excessively lean man with deep-set, nervous eyes and more silver than black left in his hair.


    ¡°How can I help you?¡± Sen asked the man, ignoring the affronted looks from all of the other people.


    The man silently held out a sealed envelope. Sen took it, broke the seal, and slid a folded sheet of paper out. He glanced over it, then pulled a silver tael from a storage ring and tossed it to the man. The lean man deftly snatched the money from the air, only for his eyes to go a little wide. He offered Sen a deep bow.


    ¡°My gratitude,¡± said the man.


    ¡°Do you know where the person who sent the note is?¡± asked Sen.


    The man nodded. ¡°I do.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d take it as a kindness if you¡¯d let her know we¡¯ve been,¡± Sen looked at the other people waiting on him, ¡°delayed.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    Sen offered the man a shallow bow. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    The lean man disappeared back toward the gate. Sen next turned his attention to the city guard. He pointed at the one in front, assuming he was the one in charge, and asked, ¡°Me or her?¡±


    The guard looked up at Sen. ¡°I do not understand.¡±


    ¡°Are you here for me or for her?¡± he asked again, hiking a thumb at Chan Yu Ming.


    The man slammed his forehead into the ground. ¡°We were sent to greet the princess.¡±


    A little bit of relief passed through Sen as he looked at Chan Yu Ming. ¡°They¡¯re your headache.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming looked frustrated, but she stepped apart from the group. At a gesture from her, the city guards sprang to their feet and trailed after the princess like ducklings after their mother. Sen finally turned his attention back to the one person who was apparently there to talk to him. He studied the woman for a moment. She looked caught between amusement and annoyance for a moment before she smoothed her features into a neutral expression.


    ¡°You are the one called Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡± she asked Sen.


    Sen said nothing for several moments before he ignored the question entirely and asked one of his own. ¡°Who are you?¡±


    The woman seemed startled that Sen hadn¡¯t simply jumped to answer her question, which told Sen that the woman expected people to obey when she spoke. Her expression didn¡¯t change, but Sen could see in the woman¡¯s eyes that she was reassessing him in some way. He supposed he might have been more worried, but the woman and the men she¡¯d brought with her were all mortals. So, any threat they posed was more likely political than physical. That didn¡¯t mean he should antagonize her needlessly. Sen had been reflecting on some of the things he¡¯d done under the influence of his heart demon. While some of the more objectively insane things he¡¯d done could be laid directly at its feet, many of the simply offensive things he¡¯d done had been driven primarily by his basic dislike of certain groups of people. Automatically taking a hostile stance hadn¡¯t served him especially well, but he hadn¡¯t gone looking for this woman either. She¡¯d come looking for him. He didn¡¯t think it was too much to expect her to identify herself or at least identify whoever had sent her before hiding demands for information in the form of a question.


    ¡°Do you always answer questions with questions?¡±


    ¡°Do you?¡± asked Sen with an amused smile.


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    The woman paused and seemed to realize that she¡¯d done exactly what she was implicitly complaining that he¡¯d done. A hint of a rueful smile ghosted across her face, and Sen sensed an inner rigidity bleed away from the woman.


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s fair. My name is Tiu Li-Mei.¡±


    ¡°Lu Sen.¡±


    ¡°Not Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡± asked the woman, a little twinkle in her eyes.


    ¡°Only on the truly bad days. I¡¯m hoping today isn¡¯t going to be one of those.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t really help with that. I was instructed to bring you this,¡± she said, holding out an ornately carved scroll case.


    Sen stared at the proffered case without reaching for it. The case alone was probably worth more than everything Lu Sen had to his name. That meant it came from someone extremely rich, extremely powerful, and probably both. The exact people Sen didn¡¯t want to be drawing attention from. Yet, the messenger had recognized Chan Yu Ming on sight, which meant that whoever sent this was probably someone he was going to have to deal with at some point. The appearance of the woman and the case before he¡¯d so much as set foot inside the capital raised some serious questions, though. Unless the Clear Water sect or the Order of the Celestial Flame had sent word ahead about him, and why would they, no one should know he was coming. Yet, someone clearly had known. The question was how they had known. More importantly, how had they known the timing so exactly? Unless this poor woman had been sent to wait by the gate day after day, it seemed that someone had access to information they shouldn¡¯t. That also likely meant that Sen couldn¡¯t simply escape this problem by disappearing into the city. He¡¯d no doubt find Tiu Li-Mei or someone very much like her waiting for him within a day or so.


    Tiu Li-Mei frowned at Sen¡¯s obvious reluctance to even touch the scroll case. ¡°Is something wrong?¡±


    ¡°Who is that from?¡± asked Sen.


    The woman¡¯s eyes went a little wide at some thought. ¡°Prince Zhang Jing. I apologize. I¡¯m used to people knowing who I represent.¡±


    Sen grudgingly took the case, opened it, and slid out the scroll inside. His eyes skimmed over the introduction and got to the meat of the missive. It was a casual invitation to visit with the prince. Sen schooled his expression to neutrality, rolled the scroll up, and slid it back into the case. Then, he handed it back to the Tiu Li-Mei. He inclined his head to her.


    ¡°Thank you for delivering the message,¡± he said.


    The woman looked down at the case in her hand like she wasn¡¯t sure why she was holding it. She turned confused eyes on Sen.


    ¡°I was told that I should wait for an answer.¡±


    Sen had worried about that. He understood exactly nothing about the local political situation and, loathe as he was to admit it, that a problem entirely of his own making. He could have spent the weeks on the road at least getting a basic handle on those matters with nothing more than some simple conversations with Chan Yu Ming. He hadn¡¯t bothered with it because he hadn¡¯t expected to need the information after turning down her ill-conceived plan. Also, she¡¯d turned largely inward during that time. More damning, though, was that he¡¯d avoided it because he just didn¡¯t want to deal with it. Even Sen could recognize that as a lousy reason to avoid gleaning potentially useful information, even if the recognition came too late.


    If he knew the local political situation, even in general terms, he¡¯d probably have a sense of who this prince was and whether he was someone Sen was willing to have himself tied to, however casually. Granted, that information would have been filtered through Chan Yu Ming¡¯s biases, but even biased information would be worlds better than the big, fat nothing he had to go on. He couldn¡¯t see all the potential ramifications of his two options, but he didn¡¯t like them. If he said yes and the prince was an awful human being, that reputation would very likely stain Sen. If he said no, he could very well make an enemy of Chan Yu Ming¡¯s brother. While he didn¡¯t know how bad that would be, he didn¡¯t imagine it would be a good thing. There was potential disaster down either path, but declining ultimately provided him with more options. If it came down to it, he could always fall back on the truth and say his commoner upbringing left him ill-equipped to respond to an unexpected invitation.


    ¡°Please convey my regrets to the prince,¡± said Sen. ¡°I fear my existing obligations will likely leave me little time to socialize.¡±


    Sen could tell that he¡¯d shocked Tiu Li-Mei, even if she covered it well. Most people in the capital would probably commit murder for an invitation like the one Sen had just turned down. Of course, most people in the capital would likely have known what they would have been getting into by going. At the very least, he needed to talk to Chan Yu Ming about her family before he started accepting invitations to meet them privately, although he feared such invitations would soon become an impossible-to-avoid feature of his life. Tiu Li-Mei offered him a bow.


    ¡°I will convey your words to the prince,¡± she said.


    ¡°I am grateful,¡± said Sen, offering her a polite nod.


    Sen watched the woman and her guards walk back toward the gate. Not too long after, he saw the city guards heading the same way. Chan Yu Ming came over to him.


    ¡°What did Li-Mei want?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Zhang Jing invited me over for a visit,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°He did? Why would he do that?¡± She mused out loud.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was hoping you could explain it to me.¡±


    ¡°What did you say?¡±


    ¡°I said no.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm,¡± said Chan Yu Ming, her face thoughtful.


    Sen sighed. ¡°You do realize that I don¡¯t have any of the information you¡¯re considering right now. I¡¯m really going to need you to do some of that thinking out loud.¡±


    ¡°What? Oh,¡± she said, then her eyes went a little wide. ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Sen. ¡°Now, we¡¯re reading from the same scroll.¡±

 V4 Chapter 35 – The Capital, Part 3

    Shi Ping and Falling Leaf had both stayed back while Sen and Chan Yu Ming dealt with their respective welcoming parties, but Sen could tell they were both curious. Falling Leaf¡¯s curiosity was either casual or dampened by her apprehension at the city looming over them. Shi Ping¡¯s curiosity, on the other hand, was burning bright. Sen had ignored it while they dealt with the minor hassle of getting through the gate. Not that the actual passage through was a problem. That had gone very smoothly. It was that the city guards had sent someone back to lead them past the very long line of people who were waiting to get into the city. While Sen could appreciate the amount of time they had just saved, it had also made them very visible.


    Then again, the spectacle they had been with messengers and city guards descending on them had probably dropped their chances of entering the city quietly down to zero. Worse, Tiu Li-Mei had dropped the name Judgment¡¯s Gale right out in the open. He¡¯d been hoping that name wouldn¡¯t have reached as far as the capital, yet. With a known representative of a prince saying it, there would be talk and questions. Even if no one asked him directly about it, Sen expected people to start searching for stories. If they went searching, they would undoubtedly find them, or people would just make them up. Once they¡¯d cleared the gate, Chan Yu Ming set them in the right direction to the get to right part of the city to find the inn specified in Lo Meifeng¡¯s message. With fewer eyes glaring at them, Sen looked over at the pensive Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°What did those city guards want? For that matter, how did they even know you were here? I mean, I get Tiu Li-Mei recognizing you, but random city guards?¡±


    She sighed, ¡°I suspect that the Clear Spring sect informed my father that I had left the sect, presumably on route to the capital.¡±


    ¡°Then, he¡¯s probably going to be expecting you to, how did you put it, present yourself to him sooner than later?¡±


    ¡°Yes, which is a problem. I almost wish you¡¯d accepted that invitation from Jing.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because he could help tell you all the things that I¡¯m not going to get a chance to tell you.¡±


    ¡°Do you trust him?¡±


    Chan Yu Ming hesitated before she said, ¡°Jing is complicated and ambitious, but he¡¯s also smart. If he didn¡¯t know already, he soon will know that you arrived with me. He¡¯ll probably see you as an opportunity, which means he¡¯ll want to stay on friendly terms with you.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t answer the question.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a more complicated question than you might think. I love Jing. I even like him. But trust is a different animal when you¡¯re dealing with royal politics. I trust Jing not to act stupidly. I trust him to work toward his own best interests. If his interests align with your interests, I trust him to honor his agreements. But there is no such thing as total trust at this level. Everyone has too much to lose and too much to gain for that.¡±


    ¡°So, he¡¯d stab me in the back the second it became more profitable for him to do that?¡±


    ¡°No. He¡¯d tell you that whatever alliance or agreements you were operating under were concluded. Then, he¡¯d stab you in the chest.¡±


    Sen snorted. ¡°Well, I guess that there¡¯s a certain kind of honor in that. Still, how did he even know about me? Do you think the patriarch told your father about me?¡±


    ¡°I doubt it. He doesn¡¯t want an angry visit from any of your teachers. Let alone all of them. Jing took in a man who specializes in divination cultivation when my father released him from service. The information probably came from him.¡±


    ¡°Why would a divination cultivator work for mortal royalty?¡±


    ¡°Why not? It¡¯s an easy enough way to secure a very comfortable lifestyle and money. It also put him at a remove from the Jianghu.¡±


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    Sen frowned. ¡°I can¡¯t say I approve of meddling that way.¡±


    ¡°Not every cultivator shares your distaste for getting involved in mortal politics.¡±


    Sen went to defend himself, but a few realizations kept him silent. However reluctantly, he had decided to get involved in mortal politics, at least peripherally. He wasn¡¯t really in a good moral position to judge others making a similar choice. More relevant for the immediate conversation, he was implicitly criticizing Chan Yu Ming for her choice not to simply discard her entire family in favor of the cultivation life. It also wasn¡¯t the first time he¡¯d done it. He wasn¡¯t really in a good position to take that stance, either, since it was a choice that he had never faced and likely never would face. It was an easy position to take when it didn¡¯t cost anything, but not everyone was spared those costs.


    ¡°I suppose they don¡¯t,¡± he said.


    Sen and Chan Yu Ming fell into an awkward silence, but Shi Ping chose to break into the conversation at that point.


    ¡°So, let me see if I understand what¡¯s happening here. You,¡± he said, pointing at Chan Yu Ming, ¡°are a princess. And you,¡± he pointed at Sen, ¡°are getting invitations to visit with princes. And the two of you have hatched some plan to get the princess out of something.¡±


    Sen and Chan Yu Ming shared a look.


    ¡°Something like that,¡± said Sen, before he very obviously looked around at all the people. ¡°And I suggest you make that the very last time you use a word like plan, or plot, or scheme unless you want to ensure the whole thing collapses.¡±


    Shi Ping glanced around before he seemed to grasp Sen¡¯s meaning.


    ¡°That¡¯s fair,¡± he said before he focused his attention on Sen. ¡°So, that brings me to my next question. Who are you? Seriously. What kind of person accidentally stumbles into a sect war, and follows that up by stumbling into the affairs of a royal family?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m nobody,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯m not important at all.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sure. Her family clearly doesn¡¯t think so, or at least one of them doesn¡¯t. How many people who aren¡¯t important at all do you think get invitations to meet with a prince?¡±


    ¡°Why does nobody believe me when I say that,¡± complained Sen.


    ¡°Probably because all of the evidence suggests that you¡¯re telling outrageous lies,¡± said Shi Ping without a trace of humor. ¡°You pal around with sect patriarchs and matriarchs, princesses, and mythological nascent soul cultivators. You expose secret cabals and, if the stories are true, heal the sick, punish the wicked, and slap down sects that make you mad. Does that sound like someone who isn¡¯t important at all?¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a story that someone made up in a winehouse,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°So, you don¡¯t do all those things?¡± asked Shi Ping.


    Sen closed his eyes and took a breath. ¡°I liked it better when you didn¡¯t talk so much.¡±


    Both Chan Yu Ming and Shi Ping laughed at that. As the group moved through the city, Sen did his best to ignore how oppressive it felt to be surrounded by so many people. He couldn¡¯t shake the impression that he was under constant observation. That wasn¡¯t helped by the streetside vendors constantly shouting for attention as they tried to sell the little group food, clothes, and a hundred other things that Sen had little use for. Sen was also very wary. He could feel other cultivators wandering around in the same general vicinity, although none of them had come looking to start trouble. It seemed that Chan Yu Ming was right that the local sects kept a much tighter grip on their inner and outer sect disciples. Even though the cultivators made up a tiny percentage of the people moving through the streets, there were still more of them than Sen would have believed if he wasn¡¯t sensing them himself.


    Sen was also left unhappy with the muted levels of qi in the city. He supposed it was inevitable. With so many cultivators, there would be a high demand on environmental qi. Still, he didn¡¯t like having to work quite so hard to maintain his own qi levels. Despite his expectations to the contrary, though, no one made trouble for them as they wound through the city. Still, he was very happy when, after getting some directions from someone, they found themselves at the inn. The attendant had been expecting them and passed out room keys in an efficient manner. When Sen inquired after Lo Meifeng, he was told that she left earlier, but the attendant didn¡¯t know where she had gone. Trudging up the stairs, Sen let himself into his room and dropped onto the bed. There was a fatigue running through him that had nothing to do with his body, and he just wanted a few minutes of quiet and solitude. Without quite realizing it was happening, Sen drifted off to sleep.


    He was brought back to consciousness when he heard a sharp rapping on his door. Sen was on his feet with his jian half-drawn before he recognized the noise as someone knocking. Sen took a moment to assess himself. He felt like he¡¯d slept for a couple of hours. He took a moment to straighten his robes, before he walked over to the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open. Lo Meifeng was standing outside his door, looking down the hall nervously. As soon he opened the door, she planted a hand on his chest and pushed him back into the room, swiftly closing the door behind her.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Sen asked, sitting on the bed.


    Lo Meifeng glared at him. ¡°Why is there a prince downstairs asking about you and Chan Yu Ming?¡±


    Sen groaned.

 V4 Chapter 36 – The Prince

    ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± asked Sen. ¡°He¡¯s here?¡±


    Lo Meifeng narrowed her eyes at him. ¡°Explain.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right, you weren¡¯t there for that part. Short version is that Chan Yu Ming is a princess. She¡¯s got at least one brother who, somehow, knew I was coming. He sent me an invitation to visit, which I, and I cannot stress this part enough, politely declined.¡±


    Lo Meifeng was perfectly still for most of a minute. Sen became oddly fascinated as the woman didn¡¯t even so much as blink. Then, she blinked, let out a low moan, and buried her face in her hands. When she finally let her hands drop, she looked at Sen as though she¡¯d very much like to punch him. Sen lifted his hands defensively.


    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s not like I knew about any of this. The prince¡¯s people ambushed me when we were in line at the gate. That¡¯s when I found out she was a princess. I would have told you about that if I knew. Just as a defensive precaution if nothing else.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± said Lo Meifeng, sounding drained. ¡°These are complications we, you, don¡¯t need.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like I anticipated the whole prince thing. How could I have?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a fair point. Listen, we¡¯re going to have to talk about all of this later, but, for right now, you have to meet with him.¡±


    ¡°Do I?¡± asked Sen. ¡°I mean, really, what reason would I have to do that?¡±


    ¡°Because he came to you. Declining when a messenger comes around is one thing. Especially if you really were polite. When royalty shows up in person to meet you, you meet with them. Otherwise, you create a political incident because you¡¯re essentially saying he¡¯s not important enough for you to waste your time on him.¡±


    ¡°I thought cultivators didn¡¯t do that kind of thing.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not usually an issue. For the most part, mortal royalty don¡¯t care to involve themselves with cultivators. You¡¯re just going to have to take my word for it that you must meet with this man. And, in the name of all that is sacred, don¡¯t agree to anything. If he asks you to do something, say that you need to meditate on it.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± said Sen, standing up and stepping toward the door.


    ¡°Wait. Are you going dressed like that?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to¡­,¡± she started saying before giving him an amused look. ¡°No, actually, this is better.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you approve. You should probably go tell Chan Yu Ming that her brother is downstairs if she doesn¡¯t already know.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    Sen eyed her suspiciously but left his room and walked downstairs. When they had come in, the bottom floor of the inn had been noisy with activity and guests. Now, there was nothing but silence. As Sen reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw the staff all kowtowing near the common area. There wasn¡¯t a guest to be seen. He carefully threaded his way through the bowing staff until he saw a tall figure in extremely fine robes of deep blue with complex embroidery on it. Sen abruptly understood Lo Meifeng¡¯s amused advice. Sen¡¯s robes were meant for hard travel. While the material was high-quality and comfortable, it wasn¡¯t fine. The man was curiously studying a painting on the wall. Sen glanced at it. It appeared to be a river with trees overhanging it painted in muted shades of blue and green, with occasional flashes of bright red flowers that drew the eye. Sen liked it, but he wasn¡¯t sure if it was a good painting or not. Art wasn¡¯t one of the things that his teachers had spent much time discussing with him.


    The man finally noticed Sen standing there and turned to look at him. He had the same dark eyes as Chan Yu Ming, although his features weren¡¯t quite as fine as hers. There was a very faint scar above one of his eyes and his nose was a little too narrow for his face, but Sen could almost feel the intelligence radiating off the man. Sen tried to remember if Master Feng had ever discussed the proper protocol for a cultivator meeting someone of a high mortal station and came up empty. With nothing to go on, Sen offered the man a formal bow, but not an especially deep one. He certainly didn¡¯t drop to the floor. He saw an amused glimmer in the prince¡¯s eyes as he returned the bow to precisely the same level as the one Sen had offered. Rather than speak, the man returned to his study of the painting. Not sure what else to do, Sen walked over and stood next to him.


    ¡°What do you think of it?¡± asked the prince.


    ¡°The painting? I like it.¡±


    The prince laughed. ¡°No thoughts on the composition or the use of color?¡±


    ¡°I have no training or experience in such matters. The only measurement I have for art is simple. Do I like it, or do I not like it? I like this painting.¡±


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    ¡°If I asked that question of a noble, they would have spoken to me for an hour about it without ever actually telling me what they think. They would be afraid to say they liked it, for fear that I would not like it.¡±


    ¡°Do you like it?¡±


    The prince laughed again. ¡°And they never would have dared ask me that question. I do, in point of fact, like it.¡±


    Sen glanced over at the staff who were still crouched on the floor, including a few elderly men and women. Sen recalled all too well how much Grandmother Lu¡¯s joints had pained her before Master Feng had intervened with his pills.


    ¡°Do you mean to leave them like that?¡± asked Sen, gesturing at the inn¡¯s staff.


    The prince followed the direction of Sen¡¯s gesture. He looked a little surprised, although Sen couldn¡¯t tell if it was by Sen¡¯s question or the fact that the staff were still there.


    ¡°You may go,¡± the prince said to the staff.


    Sen walked over to the oldest-looking woman, who appeared to be in intense pain.


    ¡°Let me assist you, grandmother,¡± said Sen, offering her his hands.


    He gently helped the woman rise to her feet. A quick scan with his qi told him a lot about what was ailing her. Sen didn¡¯t have exactly what she needed on hand, but he had something that should help alleviate some of her worst ailments. He summoned a stone vial from his ring and closed her hand around it.


    ¡°This should help,¡± he told her. ¡°Take it before you sleep tonight.¡±


    The old woman looked at him with wide eyes. She nodded and then retreated from the room, clutching the vial to her chest. Once the staff were gone, Sen turned back to the prince, only to find the man studying him. It wasn¡¯t a hostile gaze. It was more that the man couldn¡¯t seem to decide what he was looking at.


    ¡°What did you give her?¡± the prince finally asked.


    ¡°A minor elixir. She¡¯s very old and suffers great pain in her joints. It should help with that.¡±


    A series of emotions played across the prince¡¯s features before he schooled his expression back into a studious neutrality. Still, Sen had seen quick flashes of understanding, then guilt, and something else that Sen couldn¡¯t quite identify.


    ¡°You could sense all of that with your qi techniques?¡± the prince asked.


    ¡°Yes, although it didn¡¯t take any special knowledge. It¡¯s a common enough affliction in the elderly. I could see the pain in her face.¡±


    The prince nodded. ¡°That was thoughtless of me. I shall have to make amends to her.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll be,¡± Sen paused, ¡°overwhelmed.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps so.¡±


    When the prince didn¡¯t speak again, Sen let the silence play out. He had spent long hours on the mountain, sometimes entire days without speaking. Silence didn¡¯t bother him. Instead, he let his eyes go back to the painting. He tried to figure out what it was that he liked about it and came up empty. He knew that he liked it, but couldn¡¯t figure out why. It was something below the level of consciousness. The silence stretched out several minutes before the prince spoke again.


    ¡°You are an unusually disciplined man,¡± said the prince.


    Sen glanced back at the prince. ¡°Am I?¡±


    ¡°I have known people who have learned to endure such silences, but you are indifferent to it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a cultivator. Silence is nothing new to me. If anything, I prefer it to the constant noise of this city.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t like it here.¡±


    ¡°I do not.¡±


    ¡°You are not like other cultivators I¡¯ve met.¡±


    ¡°In what way?¡±


    ¡°You declined my invitation. Might I inquire as to why?¡±


    ¡°My teachers advised me to steer clear of mortal politics. I¡¯ve found it sound advice.¡±


    ¡°Yet, you arrived at this city in the company of my sister, a princess. Many would interpret that as a political act.¡±


    ¡°She did not see fit to inform me that she was a princess. Your messenger let that secret slip.¡±


    The man threw back his head in laughter. ¡°Of course, she didn¡¯t. Oh, Yu Ming. I presume you asked her about me.¡±


    ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°What did she tell you?¡±


    ¡°That she loves you.¡±


    There was another momentary crack in the prince¡¯s control. That time, he looked shocked.


    ¡°I see,¡± said the prince, catching his equilibrium. ¡°I expect she told you other things.¡±


    ¡°She did. She said that you¡¯re complicated and smart.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d ask if she told you not to trust me, but I doubt you¡¯d answer.¡±


    ¡°I would not. Since you¡¯ve gone to all of this effort to meet me, I¡¯m curious as to why. I¡¯m more curious to know how you knew about me in the first place.¡±


    ¡°Would you believe that I¡¯d heard the tales of the legendary Judgment¡¯s Gale and wanted to meet the legend?¡± asked the prince.


    ¡°Probably not. We¡¯re at too far of a remove for those stories to have spread this far, I think.¡±


    ¡°You might be surprised. In any event, though, I was told you were coming. I was also told that you have little love for nobility.¡±


    ¡°A very accurate statement,¡± said Sen, unable to bury the ice that crept into his voice.


    ¡°Ah, so not just disdain, but earned disdain.¡±


    ¡°I think so. Others might see it differently.¡±


    The prince returned to his quiet contemplation of the painting. He spoke without looking at Sen.


    ¡°I was told that your entry into my life could harbor great fortune or great disaster. I, of course, prefer the former. So, I wished to start us out on friendly terms. Assuming such a thing is possible.¡±


    Sen took a firm grip on his knee-jerk reaction. He was determined to learn from past mistakes. ¡°So, you want something from me? Need me to do something?¡±


    The prince frowned. ¡°No. At least, I wasn¡¯t told of anything specific. I was simply warned, repeatedly, not to make you my enemy. Given your feelings about the nobility, I hoped that simply telling you what was happening might help us avoid misunderstandings. Beyond that, I was curious about you. You have been traveling with my sister, after all.¡±


    Sen made a valiant effort to suppress a sigh and failed. ¡°I wish she¡¯d been this straightforward.¡±


    The prince made a sympathetic noise. ¡°Yu Ming has always been¡­¡±


    ¡°Always been what, Jing?¡± said Yu Ming.


    Sen and the prince turned to face Yu Ming, who apparently had made an effort to look the part. She was wearing ornate red robes. Sen didn¡¯t think the color flattered her particularly well, but he kept that thought to himself. She was giving her brother a challenging look as if daring him to say something negative.


    ¡°Lovely,¡± said the prince smoothly.


    ¡°I thought so,¡± she said before turning her gaze on Sen. ¡°Well?¡±


    ¡°Well, what?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think I look lovely?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s always true.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming beamed at Sen, who felt like there was some undercurrent at play he didn¡¯t understand. That feeling turned into certainty as the prince looked first at her, and then at Sen, and then lifted a hand to cover his eyes.


    ¡°Oh, Yu Ming. Tell me you didn¡¯t go falling in love.¡±

 V4 Chapter 37 – Royals

    Sen eyed Chan Yu Ming carefully. He was relieved to see that she gave her brother an exasperated look. He also took the precaution of cycling up some air qi and closing the room to listeners.


    ¡°Of course, I didn¡¯t go falling in love. I just went looking for a better option.¡±


    ¡°A better option?¡± asked the prince. ¡°What do you mean a better option?¡±


    Before Chan Yu Ming could say anything, the prince held up a hand to stop her. He eyed Sen, frowned, and then turned his attention back to Chan Yu Ming. He studied her thoughtfully, then nodded.


    ¡°I see,¡± he said. ¡°It could work. Maybe. It will require more than your usual level of subtlety.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± Chan Yu Ming demanded.


    ¡°I mean that this will require some subtlety. As a general rule, you don¡¯t have any,¡± said the prince, giving his sister a smirk.


    ¡°I have plenty of subtlety. Don¡¯t I, Sen?¡±


    Chan Yu Ming and the prince both turned and looked at him. Chan Yu Ming stared at him expectantly, and the prince gave him an amused look. Sen looked from one to the other before he turned and gestured at the painting.


    ¡°Have you seen this painting, Chan Yu Ming? I rather like it. What do you think?¡±


    The prince howled with laughter while Chan Yu Ming glared at him.


    ¡°So, you think I¡¯m not subtle?¡± she said.


    ¡°I think we met because you challenged me on a battlefield. Then, you followed me when I left the Clear Spring sect. We haven¡¯t been in subtle situations, so I lack the information to judge.¡±


    ¡°Battlefield?¡± asked the prince, all the humor gone in a flash.


    ¡°It was fine,¡± said Chan Yu Ming. ¡°He only stabbed me a little.¡±


    The prince turned a fierce look on Sen. ¡°Stabbed?¡±


    ¡°In my defense, she challenged me.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± said Chan Yu Ming. ¡°I sought him out.¡±


    The prince frowned unhappily before curiosity seemed to win out.


    ¡°And you won?¡± the prince asked Sen.


    Sen nodded. ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°He was trained by Feng Ming,¡± added Chan Yu Ming. ¡°I couldn¡¯t pass up that opportunity.¡±


    That got the prince¡¯s attention, and he gave Sen another appraising look. ¡°I suppose I should have guessed. It would have taken training like that to beat my sister, at least if what her teachers say is true.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± said Sen. ¡°She¡¯s very, very good.¡±


    ¡°I was under the impression that ancient cultivators like that don¡¯t usually take students.¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°They don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Then, why you?¡±


    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know. If I had to guess, I think I was just in the right place at the right time.¡±


    ¡°So, mere luck?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Chan Yu Ming. ¡°It wasn¡¯t mere luck.¡±


    Sen and the prince both looked to Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°How so?¡± asked the prince.


    ¡°I saw what he could do. The part he conveniently left of that story about the battle was how it ended.¡±


    ¡°We really don¡¯t need to talk about that,¡± said Sen in a pained voice.


    ¡°We do,¡± said Chan Yu Ming. ¡°He stopped it, Jing. Personally. It was one of the most terrifying, awe-inspiring things I¡¯ve ever seen.¡±


    The prince gave his sister a penetrating look. ¡°How does one man, even one cultivator, stop a battle by himself.¡±


    ¡°He made a technique that covered the sky in darkness and fire, suppressed everyone on the field with a killing intent like nothing I¡¯ve ever seen or felt before, and threatened to put a stop to the battle by simply killing everyone there.¡±


    The prince was silent for a long moment as he stared at Sen. ¡°And that worked? They believed him? They believed he could do it?¡±


    ¡°They didn¡¯t believe anything, Jing. He could have done it.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t oversell it,¡± said Sen hastily, before he turned his gaze on the prince. ¡°I could not have killed everyone on that battlefield. There were at least a thousand cultivators fighting, and several of them were of a higher cultivation level than me.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said the prince. ¡°So, you could only have killed almost everyone on the field.¡±


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    ¡°There¡¯s no way to be sure,¡± Sen hedged. ¡°A lot of people would have died if I¡¯d used the technique I made. More than any sane person would want on their conscience.¡±


    ¡°Would you have done it, if they didn¡¯t capitulate?¡±


    ¡°Capitulate?¡± asked Sen, glancing at Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°Surrender,¡± she said.


    Sen let that question hang for a moment before he said in a very quiet voice, ¡°Yes.¡±


    The prince nodded before he clasped his hands behind his back. He went back to studying the painting for a time. Sen suspected the man wasn¡¯t really looking at it, so much as using it as an excuse not to speak until he¡¯d finished thinking something through. It was a good tactic, and Sen tucked it away for later use.


    ¡°You know,¡± said the prince, ¡°I really do like this painting. Do you think the proprietors will sell it to me?¡±


    ¡°You know they will,¡± said Chan Yu Ming dismissively. ¡°Who would say no to you?¡±


    ¡°Him, for one,¡± said the prince, waving a hand at Sen. ¡°Although, Tiu Li-Mei said he was very polite about it.¡±


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t count.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± asked the prince. ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a wandering cultivator, for one. They only have a vague relationship with mortal power structures at the best of times. Beyond that, he spent years training with not just one, but three nascent soul cultivators. His perspective on power is skewed.¡±


    Sen opened his mouth to object, considered it, and then said, ¡°She¡¯s probably right.¡±


    The prince nodded in acknowledgment before he looked at Chan Yu Ming. ¡°It can work, but you¡¯ll need assistance. Minimally, you¡¯ll need mother.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming grimaced. ¡°She won¡¯t help.¡±


    The prince rolled his eyes. ¡°You always think the worst of her.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s given me plenty of reasons.¡±


    ¡°Regardless, you¡¯ll need her help. I suspect you¡¯ll find her more, let us say, open to helping you in these circumstances. You aren¡¯t the only one who has strong feelings regarding the house of Choi.¡±


    Seething hatred radiated off of Chan Yu Ming as the mention of the house of Choi. ¡°They make it easy to have strong feelings about them.¡±


    ¡°That much is certainly true,¡± said the prince, before he abruptly turned to Sen. ¡°I apologize. I took your participation for granted. Do you understand what she intends?¡±


    ¡°I do.¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯re inclined to participate?¡±


    ¡°I agreed before I was fully aware of her status,¡± said Sen, shooting Chan Yu Ming a hard look that made her blush, ¡°but yes.¡±


    ¡°Have you prepared him?¡± asked the prince.


    Chan Yu Ming blushed a little more and said, ¡°About that. I could use your help as well.¡±


    The prince gave his sister a disapproving look that was profoundly paternal in nature before he shook his head. ¡°I suppose it doesn¡¯t interfere with my existing plans.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming¡¯s shoulders slumped in relief. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Prepare?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°There are things you need to know about,¡± she thought carefully, ¡°the local situation. I can¡¯t tell you because I don¡¯t have the time. I should have already arrived at the palace. Jing can explain them to you. He can probably do it better than I can since I¡¯ve been away the last few years.¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t sure how he felt about getting foisted off onto the prince for some kind of rushed training on local politics. It wasn¡¯t any doubts about the prince¡¯s ability to provide the information, but the prince clearly had his own agenda regarding Sen. Still, he had squandered his opportunity to get that information from Chan Yu Ming, now he¡¯d just have to make do with the resources available to him.


    ¡°Very well,¡± said Sen.


    The prince nodded to him before he walked over to Chan Yu Ming. ¡°It is good to see you again, Yu Ming. Even if it must be under these trying circumstances. I¡¯ve missed you. You always keep things interesting.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming smiled up at her brother. ¡°I missed you, as well. Even if you do insist on being painfully boring.¡±


    The pair laughed at what Sen realized must have been some inside joke.


    ¡°You should go,¡± said the prince. ¡°You know how father will be if you take too long, and I need to speak with Lu Sen on a few matters.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming nodded and looked at Sen. ¡°Try not to do any you things before we get this all settled.¡±


    ¡°Me things? What do you mean, me things?¡±


    ¡°You know exactly what I mean,¡± she said. ¡°No exposing demonic cabals. No infuriating sects. No terrifying acts of qi mastery.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not saying that I agree with any of that, but I¡¯ll try.¡±


    Rolling her eyes, Chan Yu Ming left the two men alone in the room again. Once they were both sure she was gone, the prince turned another of those assessing looks on Sen.


    ¡°You like her,¡± said the prince.


    ¡°We¡¯ve had some differences of opinion but yes, I guess I do.¡±


    ¡°Do you plan to marry her?¡±


    Sen gave the prince a shocked look. ¡°No. Not before we get to know each other a lot better than we do, at any rate. Plus, there¡¯s the whole politics thing. I wasn¡¯t lying when I said I try to keep out of it. I don¡¯t think that cultivators should interfere. Like I told your sister, we¡¯re just visitors in your world.¡±


    ¡°Visitors? What an odd way to describe it.¡±


    ¡°We aren¡¯t really part of your world. Cultivators live by different rules. We have different expectations of each other. The entire goal of cultivation is ascension, to leave this world behind for another. How could we be anything but visitors?¡±


    ¡°A perspective I hadn¡¯t considered, but fitting. As for marriage, don¡¯t place too high a value on knowing the other person.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°Familiarity is no guarantee of success. My wife and I were barely acquaintances when we wed. Now, I wouldn¡¯t give her up for anything. I don¡¯t mean to encourage you specifically with Chan Yu Ming. I just mean that a decision to make a marriage succeed is often more meaningful than attraction or knowledge about each other.¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t entirely sure why the prince was sharing marriage tips with him, but he seemed to mean well. So, Sen tucked the tip away for later reflection.


    ¡°There were matters you wanted to discuss with me?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Yes. I understand what Chan Yu Ming stands to gain from all of this. I don¡¯t understand what you stand to gain.¡±


    Sen regarded the prince in silence before he made a decision. ¡°There¡¯s a cultivation resource I need, a manual, and she agreed to try and help me get it.¡±


    ¡°Try? You¡¯re taking on a lot of personal trouble for something as intangible as someone trying to help you get what you need.¡±


    ¡°The manual is exceedingly rare. One of the sects in the city has a copy. I¡¯m not confident I have the influence or resources to secure it on my own. I suspect a princess who is also a cultivator trying will go a lot farther than me trying.¡±


    ¡°Likely true, although the sects can be unpredictable in what they will and won¡¯t do.¡±


    ¡°I know. They have their own politics.¡±


    ¡°Indeed. I cannot come to you every time we meet. Doing so once is explainable. You are, after all, a folk hero. I can claim curiosity. Doing so repeatedly will draw attention that neither of us would particularly enjoy. You will need to come to me at my home.¡±


    ¡°I can do that. How often?¡±


    ¡°For the moment, daily. It would be easier if you simply stayed there, but we need people to see you coming and going regularly for a time before that becomes practical. Arrive at midday. I¡¯ll see to it that the guards know to let you in.¡±


    Sen asked a few pertinent questions about where the prince¡¯s home was located and how to get there. Then, stopping only long enough to buy the painting by dropping an obscene number of gold tael into the hands of the inn¡¯s owner, the prince left. Sen stared at the empty spot on the wall where the painting had been. He felt Lo Meifeng come into the room behind him.


    ¡°So, how did that go?¡± she asked. ¡°You didn¡¯t start a war or anything, did you?¡±


    Sen could see her smirk out of the corner of his eye. ¡°No, I didn¡¯t start a war. I¡¯m just worried I¡¯m in over my head with this.¡±


    ¡°Oh, now you¡¯re worried about being in over your head. Well, I guess some progress is better than no progress.¡±

 V4 Chapter 38 – Speculation

    Prince Jing was usually a reserved man. He had taken to heart the admonition from both of his parents that you could learn more by listening than by speaking. Yet, on the way back to his home, the prince was all but silent. He kept thinking over his odd meeting with the cultivator Lu Sen. His visit had multiple purposes. On one level, he had simply been curious about the man who had so firmly declined his invitation. It was such an infrequent event in his life that he¡¯d taken for granted that the man would come to him. When Tiu Li-Mei had informed him that the cultivator had declined in very firm terms, it had come as a legitimate shock. On further questioning, the woman who had served him for nearly ten years in increasingly important positions had become reticent. Beyond saying that the man was unorthodox but ultimately polite, she hadn¡¯t wanted to speculate. When he pressed for her opinion, what she had to say had also surprised him.


    ¡°My prince, I don¡¯t have an opinion about him that I trust.¡±


    ¡°Really? I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ve ever heard you say something like that before.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s strange. One minute, he comes across like a young man. The next, he¡¯s like one of those old generals who seem like they can tell everything about you with a glance. And, there is something else there, something almost unnatural.¡±


    ¡°He is a cultivator. They can be that way sometimes.¡±


    ¡°I thought that, at first, but I don¡¯t think that was it. At least, not entirely. I can¡¯t think of a better way to explain it.¡±


    That uncertainty on the usually unflappable Tiu Li-Mei¡¯s part had intrigued him. Of course, there had also been the Diviner¡¯s predictions that Lu Sen could be the making of him. That had been a powerful motivation all on its own. The revelation that the cultivator had arrived at the city in the company of his younger sister had been a surprise. He¡¯d been aware that his parents had agreed to an ill-conceived marriage between her and Choi Zhi Peng, and that signaled her imminent and likely unhappy return to the city. To have her arrive in the company of the man the Diviner had singled out felt like a sign to him. In the end, he¡¯d decided that, if Lu Sen wouldn¡¯t come to him, he would go to Lu Sen.


    Yet, for all that he¡¯d tried to imagine what their first meeting might be like, none of it had gone to Zing¡¯s expectations. The young cultivator was deeply wary of him, as was to be expected, but Zing had underestimated just how deeply the young man loathed the nobility. The prince had expected dislike and been prepared to counter it. Despite the cultivator¡¯s impressive self-control, he hadn¡¯t been able to hide that loathing. It was so intense that it bordered on hatred. That the man had been willing to speak to Zing at all had been shocking in the wake of that discovery. Yet, for all of that, Lu Sen had been willing to speak to him. It made Zing wonder if he¡¯d been advised by someone that not speaking to the prince was a potentially disastrous move. Zing wouldn¡¯t have done anything if Lu Sen had refused him a second time, but he knew that some of his brothers would have taken foolish actions in the wake of the perceived slight.


    He had wondered, briefly, if Yu Ming had advised the cultivator, but he¡¯d rejected that thought almost immediately. Whatever that relationship was, and it was a tangled mess from what he¡¯d seen, it wasn¡¯t the kind of relationship that involved Lu Sen taking advice from Yu Ming. That was probably for the best, in Zing¡¯s opinion. Yu Ming had many admirable qualities, but she was also prone to the errors in judgment common to all young people. Decisions driven more by passion than reason. Not that Zing himself was immune to such decisions. After all, he¡¯d begun a very serious exploration of the options available to ensure that Choi Zhi Peng missed his wedding day courtesy of a hideously painful death. If the Choi family thought they were going to saddle his sister with that travesty of a person, they were both deeply and sadly mistaken. Not that Yu Ming would be in any real danger from the man, but Zing saw no reason that she should have to spend decades of her life dealing with him. Still, it was evidence that young people with strong feelings made poor choices.


    No, Zing suspected that there had been an invisible hand at work in the background with Lu Sen, guiding the young cultivator toward the path of least trouble. Tiu Li-Mei had said another messenger had been waiting for the cultivator, which suggested that Lu Sen either had a contact in the city or someone had traveled in advance to make some kind of preparation. An older cultivator, perhaps, offering guidance to an inexperienced young cultivation genius? And Zing was confident that Lu Sen was exactly that, a cultivation genius. Yu Ming¡¯s teachers had thrown that term around often enough when she was growing up and training. A sword genius, they had called her, and this Lu Sen had beaten her. Although, it was her description of how the man had ended that battle that cemented that impression in his mind.


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    He knew that cultivators aged differently from other people, but he was convinced that Lu Sen was likely the age he looked, or something very close to it. While Zing himself wasn¡¯t a cultivator, every kingdom had to deal with the presence of cultivators. He had a good working knowledge of the stages of cultivation and what kind of power those stages conferred. If this Lu Sen had done what Yu Ming said he did, and Zing had no reason to doubt her description, that was a kind of power usually reserved for much, much older cultivators at very levels of cultivation advancement. That would normally have been enough to give him pause. Massive power in the hands of someone that young was almost always a recipe for disaster.


    Yet, almost in spite of himself, he liked the young man. Lu Sen lacked polish, certainly, but he also possessed a kind of straightforward indifference to rank that appealed to Zing. Lu Sen had spoken to him like a person, not a position. When he¡¯d asked the young man what he thought of the painting, Lu Sen had simply answered him, rather than wasting time trying to decipher what the prince thought of it. In fact, the cultivator had been surprisingly honest about just about everything as near as Zing could tell, which wasn¡¯t to say that the young man didn¡¯t have secrets. It was very clear that Lu Sen was stuffed full of secrets, just not the kind of secrets that nobles were interested in.


    Of course, as always, Tiu Li-Mei had been right. There was something unnatural about that man that went beyond the usual strangeness that surrounded cultivators. Zing had found himself equally unable to identify what it was. It was that lack of insight that kept Zing almost entirely silent on the way home. Yet, unnatural or not, he would help the man because Lu Sen represented a legitimate chance to extract Yu Ming from what would be a disastrous marriage. He found himself sitting in his private study, drinking tea he didn¡¯t remember asking for, when his wife found him. She closed the door behind her and took a seat opposite of him.


    ¡°You met the cultivator?¡± Jao Chan-Juan asked.


    ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°And what do you think?¡±


    Zing paused and gathered his thoughts. ¡°I like him.¡±


    ¡°But?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I think that he might well be the single most dangerous person I¡¯ve ever personally encountered.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t all cultivators dangerous?¡± asked Jao Chan-Juan.


    ¡°They are,¡± he agreed. ¡°Still, this Judgment¡¯s Gale is something new. I just can¡¯t put my finger on how or why. Perhaps it was simply his training.¡±


    ¡°Was there something special about it?¡±


    ¡°Yu Ming says that he trained with three nascent soul cultivators, and one name Feng Ming in particular.¡±


    ¡°Fate¡¯s Razor?¡±


    ¡°I assume so. One might infer that he was selected specifically because there was something different about him.¡±


    ¡°Will he be of use to you?¡±


    ¡°No. At least, not in any traditional sense. I got the distinct impression that he isn¡¯t terribly interested in the mortal world or its problems. He¡¯s actively disinterested in mortal politics.¡±


    ¡°Really? Don¡¯t most cultivators take at least a passing interest in the mortal political situation?¡±


    ¡°The ones who live here do, but he¡¯s a wandering cultivator. They tend to spend less time in cities and pay less attention to mortal politics, but it goes beyond that with him. He told me that cultivators are just visitors. As such, they shouldn¡¯t interfere with mortal politics. He seemed very sincere about it. Yet, despite that, he¡¯s going to interfere anyway.¡±


    ¡°In what way?¡±


    ¡°Somehow, Yu Ming convinced him to play the part of a suitor.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s going to use him as a wedge to break herself free of the Choi engagement.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°And he agreed to do that? Why?¡±


    ¡°He gave me a reason. He said that he¡¯s looking for a particular cultivation resource. A manual held by one of the sects here.¡±


    ¡°Do you think he was lying?¡±


    ¡°No. I think he was deadly serious about getting that manual. He seems to be hoping that Yu Ming and, presumably, the family will be able to help him secure it.¡±


    ¡°You think there¡¯s something else to it, though.¡±


    Zing nodded. ¡°I saw him and Yu Ming together. There¡¯s clearly something there, although Yu Ming seems to have done something to muddy the waters.¡±


    ¡°You always assume she causes the problems.¡±


    ¡°She usually does.¡±


    ¡°She is headstrong sometimes,¡± said Jao Chan-Juan. ¡°Still, you must be happy.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m happy there¡¯s another option on the table, but I¡¯m not altering my plans until I see how things play out.¡±


    ¡°Any insights into how the cultivator will affect your future?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Zing, ¡°which worries me. I fear that I¡¯m going to be a spectator to whatever happens.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps he¡¯s going to draw attention away from you and your own plans. There are worse things than a good distraction.¡±


    ¡°Will I be meeting this cultivator?¡±


    ¡°If you wish to. He¡¯ll be visiting tomorrow. Yu Ming asked me to talk him through what he¡¯ll need to know.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t really have that kind of time.¡±


    ¡°True, but I can at least point out where the traps are. He is a cultivator after all. That¡¯s going to insulate him in many ways. He can ignore a great deal of etiquette that other people can¡¯t and get away with it. After all, it¡¯s not like someone can simply have him killed.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not true. Cultivators can die.¡±


    ¡°They can, but not without making a great deal of noise. I think that¡¯s particularly true of this one. No, I expect that any would-be assassins are going to find that they¡¯ve taken the wrong job if they go hunting for him.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s hope that the Choi family wastes a fortune discovering that.¡±


    ¡°That would be nice.¡±

 V4 Chapter 39 – Fatal Mistake

    Sen was disheartened to discover that news of the prince¡¯s visit to him, as well as Sen¡¯s identity as a kind of folk hero and sect bogeyman, had spread through the city like wildfire. He supposed it had been predictable but it didn¡¯t make him happy. It had drawn attention down on him that was, in turns, frustrating and anger-inducing. Messengers had started arriving within hours from what Sen assumed were minor political houses trying to edge some kind of advantage. He grudgingly accepted the messages but did not read or respond to any of them. There was no point until he could get some insights from the prince about which houses were actually important and which were not. Those continuous interruptions in his day were simply frustrating.


    The reaction of the local sects to his presence had ignited his anger. He had felt the arrival of several cultivators who positioned themselves nearby and, between them, took to examining the inn with their qi and spiritual sense almost continuously. It was a constant distraction and annoyance. Sen might have tried to ignore it, but Falling Leaf had been feeling cooped up. Sen understood that feeling. After so much time spent out on the road, the city was stifling. She had gone for a walk. Under normal circumstances, Sen wouldn¡¯t have worried about her. In the foreign environment of the capital, he kept an eye on her from a distance with his own spiritual sense. That was how he knew almost the instant that things started to go wrong. He felt qi flare from half a dozen cultivators who closed on her fast.


    Sen didn¡¯t bother with trying to navigate through the inn. He launched himself out of his open window, cycling wind qi to help him manage the rotation of his midair somersault, planted a foot on the wall of the next building, and launched himself upwards with his qinggong technique. He was hurtling over rooftops, even as he felt the fight happening. Falling Leaf hadn¡¯t been caught too off-guard, because he felt her distinctive qi flare several times. Then, the life of one of the people who was attacking her blinked out of Sen¡¯s spiritual sense. On the one hand, Sen was thrilled. On the other, he knew he needed to hurry. With one of her attackers dead, the rest were likely to escalate things to a lethal level. He pushed himself harder, shattering roof tiles and, at one point, buckling a wall between buildings. Sen could feel the other cultivators hurling techniques at Falling Leaf and desperate concern exploded into incandescent rage. Sen didn¡¯t know who they were and did not care. They had attacked Falling Leaf. It would be the final, fatal mistake of their lives. Sen planted his foot one last time and launched himself into the sky.


    As he flew through the air, Sen summoned the heaven chasing spear from his storage ring and cycled lightning. He pressed that lightning into the spearhead until it blazed like a miniature sun. As he cleared the building, he felt the life of another attacker wink out of his senses. He took in the scene in a glance. Falling Leaf was bleeding from dozens of shallow cuts and half a dozen deeper ones. One of her wrists was locked into a shackle, but she¡¯d buried her teeth in the throat of the person trying to shackle her and torn it out. Then, Sen descended on them like the hammer of a god. The spearhead dropped through the skull of one of the attackers and passed cleanly into her chest before the lightning detonated inside them. The cultivator¡¯s body was shredded and flew in every direction. Sen felt the hot spray of blood across his face, but it was just a fact that his mind casually noted before dismissing it for more important tasks. The last three attackers stared at Sen with a mixture of terror and horror. The closest attacker, a muscular man, recovered first.


    ¡°You¡¯re dare! You¡¯re courting-,¡± was as far as he got.


    A razor-edged spike of stone shot up from the ground, punched into the man¡¯s groin, drove up through his chest, and exploded from the top of his skull in a shower of blood and brain. The last two, both core formation cultivators that were at least theoretically of a higher in-stage cultivation level than Sen, started launching their attacks. Sen had felt himself pass beyond the rage state and into that place of total, emotionless focus. He had enough time to identify the woman on the left as a fire cultivator, and the man on the right as a metal cultivator. Sen dismissed the man for the moment, knowing from experience and discussions with Lo Meifeng that metal cultivators struggled with ranged attacks.


    Instead, he focused his attention on the woman. She tried launching wind blades at him. Sen had felt her cycling wind qi and momentarily devoted the entirety of his channels to wind qi as well, burning liquid qi to fuel his own strength. He felt it when her techniques were ready to coalesce. He reached out with his own wind qi and ruthlessly crushed the techniques at very nearly the moment they formed. The backlash from having half a dozen techniques broken almost simultaneously sent the woman into convulsions but that didn¡¯t last long. Sen switched to cycling shadow and metal, driving them together with the force of his will. A web of metal-fused shadow strings burst from every shadow in the surrounding area and wrapped around her. Then, Sen pulled. Those strings cut through the woman, leaving nothing but a ragged pile of bloody meat that most people would have struggled to identify as having ever been human.


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    Sen didn¡¯t know if the metal cultivator had felt the last of his companions die, or if he¡¯d simply heard the sickly, wet plopping noises that the falling pieces of her body made when they hit the ground. But he¡¯d arrested his charge at Sen and was just staring at that bloody pile. Sen dismissed the spear back into his storage ring and drew his jian. He cycled metal qi and reinforced the blade. There was no reason to risk potential damage to the edge when he could avoid it altogether. The metal cultivator turned to face Sen. The man¡¯s face was ghostly pale and fear radiated off him, but so did anger.


    ¡°I have questions for you,¡± said Sen. ¡°You will answer them.¡±


    ¡°Or what? You¡¯ll kill me?¡± demanded the terrified man.


    ¡°No. Every time you don¡¯t answer, I¡¯m going to cut a piece off of you. Who sent you?¡±


    The metal cultivator didn¡¯t say anything, just lifted his dao and raced toward Sen. For all his fear, the man didn¡¯t let it dampen the skills that had been drilled into him through what had clearly been countless hours of training. Unfortunately for that man, Sen had trained with far better and more dangerous people. Even more unfortunately for that man, anything resembling compassion had fled from Sen¡¯s heart when he saw Falling Leaf bleeding with someone trying to chain her. Sen sent more liquid qi coursing through his channels and let it seep out into his body, boosting the already enhanced strength of his body cultivation-transformed muscles. When the metal cultivator came in for a slashing attack, Sen¡¯s jian flicked out to parry the blow with all of that strength behind it. The dao shot out of the man¡¯s hand to the sound of snapping bones and buried itself in a wall. The metal cultivator didn¡¯t scream, but he jerked his injured hand back to cradle it. Sen felt nothing as his jian flicked out and severed one of the man¡¯s ears. The metal cultivator did scream that time. Sen waited until the wailing cultivator managed to stifle his agony before speaking again.


    ¡°Who do you represent?¡±


    The man stared murder at Sen but said nothing. The jian blurred through the air faster than sight and removed the thumb from the man¡¯s sword hand. Sen regarded the man with a cool, indifferent face.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to take a foot next,¡± said Sen, letting a little of his killing intent free.


    The combination of pain, Sen¡¯s killing intent, and the cold reality that he was about to lose a foot broke the man.


    ¡°The Steel Gryphon sect.¡±


    ¡°Why did you try to take my friend?¡±


    ¡°Leverage. We wanted leverage over you.¡±


    ¡°For what?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said the man.


    Sen contemplated taking the man¡¯s foot. It must have shown on his face because the man lifted his uninjured hand in a pleading gesture.


    ¡°I swear I don¡¯t know!¡± the man screamed.


    ¡°Who sent you to do this?¡±


    ¡°Elder Tang,¡± said the man, bowing his head in shame. ¡°Tang Ehuang.¡±


    Falling Leaf came over to stand next to Sen. He looked at her, saw the shackle still on her wrist, and a bit of the rage bled back through. He drove his metal qi into the shackle and felt the crude suppression formation in it trying to block him. It took him less than a second to shred the formation. The shackle bent away from her wrist with a shriek and dropped to the ground. Falling Leaf let out a gasp of relief before she fixed her eyes on the metal cultivator. The man tried to stumble backward, only to realize he was in a fist of hardened air.


    ¡°Do you want him?¡± Sen asked, ignoring the burgeoning dread on the metal cultivator¡¯s face.


    Falling Leaf never took her eyes off the man when she answered. ¡°Yes.¡±


    Sen released the air qi he¡¯d held the man with, and Falling Leaf pounced. Sen swiftly erected a kind of air shield in the immediate area so the man¡¯s screaming wouldn¡¯t carry to everyone in the nearby area. That screaming went on for a long, long time. When Falling Leaf was finally done venting her rage, Sen gave what was left of the metal cultivator a considering look. Then, he dismissed the man from his mind. Sen hadn¡¯t wanted conflict with the local sects, but he wasn¡¯t about to let them take Falling Leaf to prove it.


    ¡°Come on,¡± he said. ¡°We both need to get cleaned up, and I need to take a look at those wounds.¡±


    ¡°They tried to cage me,¡± she said, the fury still hot in her voice.


    ¡°I know.¡±


    ¡°We should kill them all.¡±


    ¡°We did,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Their entire pride.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s hope it doesn¡¯t come to that.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± demanded Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Because that would take a war. They have an army. We don¡¯t. Plus, it would put all of these mortals in harm¡¯s way. The people here don¡¯t deserve to die because they got in the crossfire of a cultivator war. More importantly, I don¡¯t want you to die fighting that war.¡±


    Falling Leaf took a steadying breath, winced, and then nodded. ¡°This is wisdom.¡±


    ¡°That being said, if they try something this stupid again, I will bring them a war.¡±

 V4 Chapter 40 – Blame

    As he¡¯d been directed, Sen presented himself at the home of the prince. Although, words like palace and fortress sprang to mind a Sen stood at the gate of the walled compound. It seemed the guards had been expecting him because he was ushered inside quickly and shown to some kind of sitting room. He was given tea and a plate of some kind of elegantly decorated pastries that Sen couldn¡¯t immediately identify, although the red bean paste filling was familiar. He wasn¡¯t left waiting for long before a Tiu Li-Mei entered the sitting room. Sen went to stand, but she waved him back to his seat. She glanced at one of the other chairs, then at him, and seemed resigned to standing.


    ¡°Sit, if you wish,¡± said Sen. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know or care if you were breaking etiquette.¡±


    The woman inclined her head to him and sat. Sen poured her a cup of tea, waving away her frantic protests, and handed it to her. She reluctantly took the cup and waited for him to sip before she sipped her own. She hid it well, but Sen could sense that he made the woman nervous. He did his best not to focus on her too much. When she didn¡¯t say anything for several minutes, Sen finally lifted an eyebrow at her.


    ¡°Were you sent simply to keep me company?¡± he asked.


    ¡°No,¡± she admitted. ¡°I came to ask you a question.¡±


    Sen thought he had a pretty good idea what question was coming, but he played along. ¡°Of course. Please, proceed.¡±


    ¡°Were you involved in an altercation last evening?¡±


    Sen took a moment to sip his tea. ¡°I was.¡±


    ¡°May I ask what happened?¡±


    Sen looked at her for long enough that the woman began to shift uncomfortably. ¡°Several people tried to abduct my friend and wounded her severely in the process.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± she said, her brow furrowed.


    ¡°What happened then?¡±


    ¡°I slaughtered them,¡± said Sen in a conversational voice. ¡°This tea is excellent, by the way. Do you know where I can acquire some?¡±


    Tiu Li-Mei was staring at him with wide eyes. ¡°You killed them?¡±


    ¡°I take those kinds of attacks on my people very personally.¡±


    The woman looked a little pale to Sen¡¯s eyes, but it didn¡¯t bleed into her voice. ¡°I see. Do you know who they were?¡±


    ¡°I do. One of them survived long enough to answer my questions. They were from the Steel Gryphon sect.¡±


    Tiu Li-Mei¡¯s mouth tightened at the name. ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±


    ¡°Very sure.¡±


    Sen watched her for a moment before nodding. After he¡¯d gotten Falling Leaf back to the inn, dressed her wounds, and forced several custom elixirs into her, he¡¯d left her to sleep it off. Then, he¡¯d gone to find Lo Meifeng. He¡¯d found her pacing in her room. He¡¯d leaned against the wall, arms folded over his chest, and just watched her pace for a while. Eventually, she turned an annoyed look on him.


    ¡°Could you not stand and stare that way? It¡¯s creepy. It¡¯s like having a statue glare at you.¡±


    Sen snorted. ¡°Sorry.¡±


    ¡°Walk me through what happened.¡±


    Sen gave her an accounting of the earlier events. He skipped past some of the more colorful moments in the name of brevity. She had closed her eyes and let one of her hands clench into a fist when she heard the name Steel Gryphon sect.


    ¡°And then what?¡±


    ¡°Then I gave him to Falling Leaf.¡±


    Lo Meifeng looked startled. ¡°What did she do?¡±


    ¡°She expressed the depths of her displeasure.¡±


    ¡°She killed him?¡±


    Sen frowned. ¡°Yes, I guess that¡¯s a way to describe it.¡±


    ¡°Why would they do something this stupid?¡±


    ¡°You know why,¡± said Sen.


    It had taken him a little while to figure it out, but that had mostly been because he¡¯d been so angry at first. Then, he¡¯d been distracted with tending to Falling Leaf. Once the fury had burned off and the healing was tended to, he¡¯d been able to turn his mind to the more immediate problem. He¡¯d been confused, at first. What the Steel Gryphon sect had done ran contrary to everything he¡¯d heard about how sects operated in the capital. Blithely grabbing people off the streets, or trying to, was not a good show of sect discipline. Sen acknowledged that it was possible that they had tried to grab her strictly because of him. On balance, though, there weren¡¯t a lot of good reasons for them to do it.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    He supposed that the list of demonic cultivators probably hadn¡¯t included people in the capital, given that he hadn¡¯t heard any stories that involved it. That suggested that any demonic cultivators located in the capital had escaped the recent purge. Of course, that was an incentive for them to avoid Sen at all costs. Drawing his attention that way was just begging for nascent soul-fueled destruction to reign down from the sky. No, the more likely scenario was that they had tried to get to him in order to get to someone else. Someone local. And the only local people he knew that mattered were Chan Yu Ming and her brother. Since Chan Yu Ming had been out of the picture for years while she was training at the Clear Water sect, that only left one real candidate.


    ¡°The prince,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°The prince,¡± agreed Sen. ¡°I have to assume that they offended him in some way and that he¡¯s putting some manner of pressure on them. I assume it¡¯s economic pressure.¡±


    ¡°Why would you assume that?¡±


    ¡°Chan Yu Ming talked about it. She said it¡¯s how her family punishes sects in the city when they act out in ways that the government doesn¡¯t like. Higher taxes, delaying shipments, encouraging merchants to decline to work with the sect, that kind of thing.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a smart move. Sects are expensive. Drive their costs up enough, and they can collapse under their own weight. Still, this wasn¡¯t a good move on their part. It¡¯s too blatant. They don¡¯t even know what your relationship with the prince is. Beyond that, they clearly didn¡¯t understand who they were dealing with when it came to you. If they¡¯d looked into you at all, they would have known that a move like that could only end with a lot of dead people.¡±


    ¡°Loathe as I am to say it, I¡¯m going to work from the assumption that the entire sect isn¡¯t to blame for this. I think that this was just one overambitious elder being profoundly short-sighted. Probably whoever it was that pissed off the prince in the first place. I think Falling Leaf was just a target of opportunity. I¡¯d bet that those idiots we killed were under orders to grab whoever they could get alone.¡±


    ¡°Well, you should be sure to thank your new friend for all the trouble he caused us. We have exactly zero chance of keeping anything even remotely like a low profile now.¡±


    Those were the words in the back of Sen¡¯s mind as he watched flickers of frustration and anger flit across Tiu Li-Mei¡¯s face. She saw him studying her and closed her eyes for a moment. Then, she stood from the chair.


    ¡°You should come with me.¡±


    Sen rose from his own chair and followed the woman deep into the heart of the building. He saw servants calmly but diligently going about their work. There was art placed in what Sen assumed were strategic positions. It was mostly paintings, but he also saw small sculptures and even vases set carefully on tables. They were obviously there to be looked at, rather than used. For all that, though, the decorations were understated, adding a sense of quiet dignity to the palace. Tiu Li-Mei asked Sen to wait, while she disappeared behind a heavy wooden door. He stood there in patient silence for several minutes, before a Tiu Li-Mei came back out. Sen didn¡¯t comment on it, but he could see that her hands were trembling slightly.


    ¡°The prince will see you.¡±


    As Sen went to walk past the woman, he could hear her heart beating much too fast. He paused and looked at her. Then, he gently laid a hand on her arm and a little of his qi passed into her. He adjusted the biological reactions that were driving what he recognized as a panic response.


    ¡°Peace,¡± he said, and then went in to see the prince.


    The prince was standing by a window and, much like Tiu Li-Mei, Sen could see the signs of a strong emotional reaction. While the man looked calm enough, the hand the man held at the small of his own back was clenched so tightly that the knuckles were white. His posture was too rigid. Sen¡¯s enhanced hearing caught the rasp of harsh breaths being taken in through clenched teeth. Sen decided that waiting until the prince was ready to talk was probably the best move at this point. Instead, he glanced around what he assumed was the man¡¯s office. Sen let a small smile cross his lips when he saw that someone had placed the painting from the inn on a wall in the room. It would be easy to look at from the heavy and scroll-covered table.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t happen often,¡± said the prince without looking away from the window, ¡°but it seems that I owe you an apology. It wasn¡¯t my intention, but it seems I¡¯ve dragged you into my conflict with the Steel Gryphon sect. I¡¯ve brought trouble to you, and I sense that trouble was the last thing you wanted in coming to this city. For that, I am truly sorry. I understand that your companion was injured. Is she well?¡±


    ¡°I tended her wounds myself. I expect that she¡¯s all but healed by now, given how healthy her appetite was this morning.¡±


    A sliver of the tension that was keeping the prince fixed in place seemed to bleed away. He turned to look at Sen.


    ¡°You¡¯re a healer?¡±


    ¡°An alchemist, of sorts. The line between healer and alchemist can grow very blurry. Healers can do things that I¡¯d never attempt, but the reverse is also true.¡±


    ¡°You told me that you came here in search of a manual and that one of the sects in the city held a copy. Is it the Steel Gryphon sect?¡±


    Sen considered drawing it out but that felt a bit too much like punishing the wrong person. ¡°No. It¡¯s the Golden Phoenix sect.¡±


    A wave of tension left the prince at those words. ¡°At least there was some tiny shred of good fortune in this disaster. Still, since I brought this ill luck onto you, I wish to make amends. Tell me what you seek, and I will do what I can to acquire the manual.¡±


    Part of Sen wanted to jump on the opportunity, no questions asked. Yet, Sen didn¡¯t want to take advantage of the man¡¯s guilt. The prince may have caused the situation, but only inadvertently. He hadn¡¯t come to the inn with malicious intent.


    ¡°The manual might prove excessively expensive. I don¡¯t know what the relationship between the sect and the government is, but they may ask for things you can¡¯t or won¡¯t want to give.¡±


    ¡°There are limits to my wealth and influence, promises I cannot make, but I would still like to try.¡±


    Sen let that rest for a moment before he spoke. ¡°The manual I need is the Five-Fold Body Transformation.¡±

 V4 Chapter 41 – Politics

    With the immediate source of potential tension between them at least nominally resolved, Sen and the prince settled into a more relaxed conversation that focused on the reason that Sen had actually been meant to visit. The prince started by giving Sen a general overview of the local political scene.


    ¡°Should I assume that your working knowledge of the government in general is thin?¡±


    ¡°You should. You might even say that it''s nonexistent. I knew that this was a kingdom and that there was theoretically a government. That¡¯s as far as it goes.¡±


    ¡°Theoretically?¡±


    ¡°I grew up on the streets,¡± said Sen. ¡°There wasn¡¯t much interaction with the government. I have some working knowledge about types of governments, but my teachers warned me that the reality is always a fundamentally different thing.¡±


    ¡°That is certainly true. Very well. There is a lot happening in the kingdom at any given time, so I¡¯ll stick with what you need to know to survive here.¡±


    ¡°That sounds practical.¡±


    ¡°In theory, the royal family, my family, has uncontested authority over the kingdom. That is largely a fiction. There are a number of powerful noble houses that control a wide range of territories and resources that the kingdom needs to survive. That means that the royal house must often negotiate with these houses in order to keep the kingdom from simply collapsing. While there are dozens of minor noble houses that are little more than merchants with titles, there are perhaps a dozen major houses that hold substantial sway, and what you might call four great houses. For your purposes, you need to know about those four houses, because you¡¯re about to infuriate one of them.¡±


    ¡°The house of Choi,¡± said Sen, nodding in understanding.


    ¡°Precisely. The house of Choi has always been problematic. They ruled briefly and badly for a short time early in the kingdom¡¯s history. They were removed from the throne and replaced by my family. They¡¯ve never forgotten that they once ruled, and unsurprisingly yearn to return their house to that position. In retrospect, we should have simply destroyed them at the time, but my ancestors feared the chaos that would ensue, so most of them were spared. Ever since, they have been a source of plots, insurrections, assassination attempts, successful assassinations, and general discord, but always at just enough of a remove that we cannot move against them.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Evidence. Politics is a game and a lethal game for those who play it. Yet, it''s also a sad kind of farcical theater, where we must put on a show to placate lesser houses. Without evidence, irrefutable proof, of their involvement, destroying the house of Choi truly would create the chaos my ancestors feared. It could ignite a civil war.¡±


    ¡°And even I know that those are bad for everyone.¡±


    ¡°Very much so. While your experience stands as evidence of a certain level of neglect on the part of the government, the situation as it stands is better than civil war or pure anarchy.¡±


    ¡°The neglected might not see it that way,¡± said Sen, his voice going a little cold.


    The prince gave Sen a considering look before he nodded. ¡°No, I don¡¯t imagine they do. Yet, no government thinks in terms of the individual. It can¡¯t. Governments think in terms of overall security, borders, and, when the time and resources can be spared, what will benefit the most people. For someone who grew up without a home or family, you would likely see charitable donations of food as an important and worthwhile investment. You¡¯d even be right, at some level. Yet, if the choice is between making the donations or building and repairing the roads that connect our cities, where should the money go? Ensuring that goods and people can move from place to place helps more people. It lets us get soldiers where they need to be. It allows food to move from places where harvests were good to places where harvests were poor. Those might seem unimportant to a homeless child, but they prevent invasion and much greater starvation.¡±


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Sen ground his teeth. ¡°I won¡¯t pretend that I understand all of the intricacies or that I think I¡¯d do better, in principle. However, none of that helps the starving child on the streets.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± said the prince. ¡°And that is the burden. We know that our choices save some and condemn others, and then we must make the choices anyway. Can you truly tell me that you¡¯ve never made choices where there was no best outcome, only less terrible outcomes?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°And I¡¯ll admit that I¡¯d prefer rulers who are at least troubled by those matters to those who simply don¡¯t care.¡±


    ¡°A practical position, I suspect. We¡¯ve drifted off the main topic. The house of Choi is problematic, and they hate my family. A feeling that we return in kind and depth.¡±


    ¡°This is what I don¡¯t understand. If you hate them, why would your family ever agree to marry Chan Yu Ming to one of them? Setting aside the hate, she¡¯s a cultivator. She was as removed from all of this as a person can be.¡±


    The prince bought himself a few moments by sipping at his tea. He frowned down at it.


    ¡°Cold,¡± he muttered.


    Sen cycled for fire qi and waved a hand at the cup. Steam started rising from the liquid.


    ¡°Better?¡± asked Sen.


    Sen had to resist the urge to laugh at the startled look on the prince¡¯s face. The prince lifted the cup to his lips and took another sip.


    ¡°Much better. Thank you. I¡¯d never really considered that cultivators could use their powers for anything so mundane.¡±


    ¡°No one likes cold tea,¡± said Sen.


    The prince nodded. ¡°In answer to your question, I don¡¯t know. And it wasn¡¯t for a lack of trying to find out. My father made the decision, and now he refused to discuss it.¡±


    ¡°Is that unusual?¡±


    ¡°It is. I¡¯m the most likely to succeed him. So, he shares his thoughts on most decisions with me, if for no other reason than to help prepare me for the role. Yet, on this topic, he remains adamantly mute.¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, do you really think Chan Yu Ming¡¯s plan can work?¡±


    ¡°It can. I know that Chan Yu Ming would never truly consider it, but she can always simply decide to walk away.¡±


    ¡°The price is too high for her,¡± said Sen. ¡°I suggested as much to her. She¡¯d rather go through with the marriage than pay that price.¡±


    ¡°You may know that, and I may know that, but the possibility exists. As long as the possibility exists, it¡¯s leverage.¡±


    Sen considered his next words with much greater care than he usually would before he said them. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t life be easier for everyone if this Choi Zhi Peng just died?¡±


    ¡°It would,¡± said the prince. ¡°Yet, it¡¯s not enough that he die. If that were enough, I¡¯d have invented an excuse to have him cut down in the streets by well-paid cultivator mercenaries. He¡¯d need to disappear without a witness and, in doing so, abandon the wedding. That would become an affront to the royal family, and we could forever close the door to any future prospects of a marriage between their house and ours.¡±


    ¡°Do you think that¡¯s what your father intends?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve considered the possibility.¡±


    Sen leaned back in this chair and closed his eyes for a moment. He¡¯d been right. He was in over his head. He didn¡¯t envy the prince the chore of trying to decipher the king¡¯s intentions. While Sen could just cut his way out of most problems, the prince was swimming in deeper and murkier waters. Sen had no clue what a wrong choice in this situation would cost the prince. Sen supposed it would probably derail any plan for the prince to take the throne. Yet, Sen suspected that the consequences could be far worse.


    ¡°So, tell me about these other great houses I need to know about.¡±


    The other three houses, the house of Xie, the house of Wu, and the house of Fong, were less actively hostile to the royal family. From what the prince told him the house of Fong was more often an ally than an enemy, while the house of Wu and Xie were decidedly neutral about the current situation. Sen didn¡¯t immediately comment, just considered what that might mean in practice.


    ¡°Are they actually neutral, or are they just biding their time, hoping that you and the house of Choi destroy each other?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure they¡¯re just biding their time. If my family fell, I¡¯m sure one or both would challenge for control of the country. For the moment, though, they¡¯re content to leave things as they stand.¡±


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s better than open hostility.¡±


    ¡°It actually is. The house of Choi has tried to enlist help from both at various points and been rebuffed in no uncertain terms. While they might take advantage of the situation if the throne were up for grabs, they¡¯re no more interested in seeing the Choi on the throne than my family is.¡±


    ¡°Makes sense.¡±


    The prince glanced out the window and sighed. ¡°That will have to be enough for today. I have duties that, sadly, require my personal attention.¡±


    Sen rose from his chair and gave the prince a bow. ¡°Thank you for your instruction.¡±


    The prince rose and gave Sen a similar bow. ¡°Until tomorrow.¡±

 V4 Chapter 42 – I’d Do It Gladly

    The prince summoned a servant to lead him back out to the gate. Sen was pretty sure he could have found his own way, but he supposed that the prince and his guards weren¡¯t comfortable having a stranger wandering around the building. Sen knew that he wouldn¡¯t want strangers roaming his home if he had one. He¡¯d barely left the prince¡¯s compound before he sensed the cultivators start following him. Sen briefly wondered if they intended for him to notice, then realized that he was holding them to his standards of evasion and hiding. While he could debate his skill level in most things, he knew that his ability to go unseen was, if not unmatched, the next best thing to it. Sen devised a quick plan. He kept close track of the cultivators so he could time it properly. He waited until he rounded a corner, then he hid, and used his qinggong technique to reach a nearby alley. He wrapped himself in shadow and waited.


    The cultivators who had been following him didn¡¯t waste any time. He saw a very confused-looking man with an unfortunately patchy beard round the corner. His eyes swept the entire area frantically. Sen was most interested in the uniform he wore. It was the same as the ones worn by Falling Leaf¡¯s attackers. A moment later, three more cultivators converged on the man. There was enough environmental noise that Sen couldn¡¯t make out what they were saying, but they all looked agitated and nervous. After another nervous exchange, the group split up. Some of them went into nearby buildings, while others started searching the foot traffic and peering down alleys. Sen smiled as he watched one of the cultivator¡¯s eyes pass right over where he was standing. He waited until the cultivator turned away to look somewhere else, then grabbed the man and threw him deeper into the alley. Sen stalked toward the man, his body still wreathed in shadow. The cultivator thrashed around in the garbage pile Sen had thrown him into before he realized that a large shadowy figure was closing the distance.


    ¡°You¡¯re courting death,¡± the man said, although there was no conviction in his voice. ¡°The Steel Gryphon sect will see you dead for this.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t care about that yesterday. Why would I care now?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s you,¡± said the cultivator.


    ¡°Yes. Why are you following me?¡±


    ¡°We were sent with a message.¡±


    Sen drew his jian and cycled for lightning. ¡°I¡¯m sure you were.¡±


    ¡°Not that kind of message!¡± the man shrieked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you,¡± said Sen, looming over the man and pressing the tip of his jian into the hollow at the base of the other cultivator¡¯s throat. ¡°If your friends come any closer, I¡¯m going to kill all of you.¡±


    ¡°We really were sent with a message,¡± said a woman from behind Sen.


    ¡°You don¡¯t stalk people you have messages for. Everyone in this damn city knows where I¡¯m staying. You could have gone there.¡±


    ¡°Let the others go,¡± said the woman. ¡°I¡¯ll stay.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll stay anyway,¡± said Sen, pressing the jian in enough to draw blood.


    ¡°Please,¡± said the woman. ¡°This was my idea. They shouldn¡¯t pay the price for it.¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t particularly inclined to let any of them go. He didn¡¯t believe the woman, but the other option was another bloodbath. There had been so much blood and death in the last year that it made Sen tired every time he considered it. In the end, though, it was the woman¡¯s use of the word please that tipped the scale. He pulled the jian away from the throat of the man on the ground.


    ¡°If the other three aren¡¯t gone in the next five seconds,¡± Sen said over his shoulder to the woman, ¡°I¡¯m going to send your sect another message.¡±


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    When no one moved for a moment, the woman snapped out an order. ¡°Go!¡±


    There was a scramble of footsteps and the other three cultivators raced away, no doubt to get more help. Sen didn¡¯t even bother turning around.


    ¡°So, are you going to stall for time, or we should get right to it?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t come to fight,¡± she said.


    ¡°Assassins never do.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not an assassin!¡±


    ¡°That would be more convincing if you hadn¡¯t acted like an assassin,¡± said Sen.


    Sen activated his qinggong technique and launched himself into the air. He tapped a foot against a wall and launched himself onto the rooftops. Unlike his rooftop trip the day before, he took more care not to leave a trail of architectural carnage in his wake. While he fully expected to run into more Steel Gryphon sect members, no one got in his way. The cultivators he did identify were always at a sufficient distance that he was relatively confident they weren¡¯t looking for him. Still, he was aggravated when he got back to the inn. He wordlessly collected the pile of scrolls and letters that were waiting for him and went upstairs. Sen had barely gotten back to his room when he heard a knock. A quick scan told him it was Falling Leaf, and he suppressed the urge to tell her to go away. It wasn¡¯t her fault that other people had put him in a bad mood. He went over and let her in. She eyed him for a moment.


    ¡°What happened?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I ran into some Steel Gryphon sect members.¡±


    Her eyes went hard. Then, she was scanning him, looking for damage. ¡°What did they do?¡±


    ¡°Nothing. Although, I have no idea if that¡¯s how they expected it to go. I caught them off guard.¡±


    ¡°You let them live?¡±


    Her tone told him all he needed to know about her thoughts on that matter. Sen couldn¡¯t really blame her. She¡¯d taken the brunt of the abuse from them. If he was in her position, he¡¯d probably want them all dead, too.


    ¡°I did. I don¡¯t want to develop a reputation,¡± Sen sighed, ¡°more of a reputation for leaving piles of dead bodies behind me. That kind of reputation can attract a lot of attention, most of it of the kind none of us want.¡±


    ¡°They should know better, now.¡±


    ¡°You would think. At any rate, nothing happened, so we don¡¯t need to do anything about it. I¡¯m taking that as a good thing for the moment.¡±


    Based on the smoldering fury he saw in her eyes, Falling Leaf clearly didn¡¯t share that opinion. Still, she hadn¡¯t gone out looking for trouble. Sen had half expected to come back and find her gone.


    ¡°Did you learn anything from the prince?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I did. He thinks that they attacked us because of him. He¡¯s involved in some kind of ongoing conflict with them. I didn¡¯t ask for details, although I probably should have. I¡¯ll ask him about it tomorrow. Beyond that, he just gave me a general picture of the local political situation.¡±


    Falling Leaf frowned a little. ¡°That will be helpful for you?¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°I expect it will.¡±


    Falling Leaf fell silent for long enough that Sen wondered if she was still feeling the effects of the injuries she¡¯d taken.


    ¡°You came to help me,¡± said Falling Leaf. ¡°I didn¡¯t thank you.¡±


    Sen stood up and walked over to Falling Leaf. He looked her in the eyes.


    ¡°You don¡¯t ever have to thank me for something like that. I will never knowingly leave you in danger.¡±


    Falling Leaf smiled, but there was something sad in it. ¡°You may have to one day. None of us know what the future will bring. When I was young, I thought I would live with my pride for my whole life. Then, they were gone. You are my pride now. Even the Feng, the Kho, and the Caihong are my pride. Sometimes, you must sacrifice yourself. Sometimes, you must let others sacrifice for you.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°No. I won¡¯t sacrifice you. If that means we fall together, then we fall together. If that means I die so you can live, then I¡¯ll die, and I¡¯d do it gladly.¡±


    ¡°My life is not worth more than yours.¡±


    It was Sen¡¯s turn to smile if with less sadness. ¡°Yes, it is. It is to me.¡±


    Falling Leaf fell silent, her eyes distant. ¡°I don¡¯t like this place. This city. I can¡¯t see the dangers here.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t like it either. I promise we¡¯ll leave as soon as we can.¡±


    Falling Leaf never got the chance to answer as there was another knock on the door. Sen lowered his head, heaved a breath, and answered it. One of the inn¡¯s staff was standing there and looking profoundly nervous.


    ¡°Yes?¡± Sen asked with an extra helping of weariness in his voice.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to disturb you. There is someone asking for you. They were very insistent.¡±


    ¡°Did they say who they were?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re from the Steel Gryphon sect.¡±


    Sen felt Falling Leaf start getting her qi ready for violence behind him. He felt his own expression harden.


    ¡°I see,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll be right down.¡±


    The inn employee read the mood in the room, offered a hasty bow, and disappeared. Sen felt his anger bubble up in a way that had been almost entirely absent since his time with the dragon. He let his eyes drift over to where Falling Leaf stood. Her expression was openly murderous. Sen had no idea what his expression looked like, but he expected it was much the same.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go greet our visitor,¡± he said.

 V4 Chapter 43 – Making a Deal

    Sen and Falling Leaf descended the stairs into the common area. While it wasn¡¯t quite as empty as it had been when the prince had been there and the employees weren¡¯t kowtowing, the common area was silent. The people who were there were hurriedly finishing meals or drinks and exiting. The cause for that reaction stood in the center of the room, projecting arrogance in every direction. The woman was tall and, like so many cultivators, unnaturally attractive, with sleek black hair and catlike eyes. But there was also a cruelty about her that bled through and marred the image of beauty. Sen made note of the Steel Gryphon sect patch on her fine silk robes. When Sen and the glowering Falling Leaf entered the common area, the last of the holdouts simply fled the space. The woman turned an imperious gaze on the two of them.


    ¡°I am Elder Tang Ehuang of the Steel Gryphon sect,¡± said the woman, giving the pair an expectant look.


    When the only reaction she got was Sen placing a restraining hand on Falling Leaf¡¯s arm, Elder Tang glared at the two of them. When all that got was a look of cool disdain from Sen and one of barely controlled rage from Falling Leaf, the woman lost whatever patience she had.


    ¡°It seems that the two of you don¡¯t know your place. Did no one teach you to show due deference to your betters?¡±


    Sen rolled his eyes and turned to Falling Leaf. ¡°Let¡¯s go. We¡¯re wasting our time here.¡±


    As the two of them turned to leave, the sect cultivator abandoned any pretense of civility. ¡°Don¡¯t you turn your backs on me you pathetic wandering cultivators.¡±


    Sen felt the woman cycling qi and sighed. First, he slammed the full weight of his killing intent down on her. Then, he turned back to look at her. She was near the peak of core cultivation, so she wasn¡¯t screaming and convulsing the way he¡¯d seen some cultivators do under a similar attack. She had dropped her cycling. To Sen¡¯s eyes, it looked like she was bending everything into staying on her feet. He saw a trickle of blood leak from her nose. Then, he applied the technique that the dragon had taught him. Sen still wasn¡¯t certain exactly what it was. The way he applied it shared some resemblances to dropping his killing intent on someone, but its source was fundamentally different. The dragon had called it an auric imposition and seemed ecstatic that Sen had an intuitive grasp of the process that let them bypass, as the dragon put it, all those tedious details.


    Unlike killing intent, which Sen had come to understand was derived from a very specific set of experiences and conditions, the auric imposition was more like a combination of cultivation strength and personality. The stronger the cultivation, the personality, and the will of the person, the stronger the auric imposition. Sen was still trying to piece together the details, but he could make the technique work, which was all that mattered to him in that moment. When his auric imposition crashed down on Tang Ehuang, she dropped to the floor. Sen walked toward her, mentally squeezing the woman with his killing intent and auric imposition. The blood started running freely from her nose and the corners of her eyes.


    ¡°You should choose your words with more care, elder,¡± said Sen, drawing his jian.


    The Steel Gryphon sect elder made feeble attempts to push herself away from Sen and the almost physical terror he was inflicting on her. She held up a hand, as though she could ward away the suppressive force bearing down on her with it.


    ¡°Wait,¡± she gasped.


    ¡°Otherwise, some pathetic wandering cultivator might take offense and remove your tongue. Well, I suppose that warning came a little too late. Perhaps you¡¯ll be more polite in your future written correspondences,¡± continued Sen, turning his eyes to Falling Leaf. ¡°Would you care to do the honors?¡±


    ¡°I would,¡± said Falling Leaf with a malevolent glee in her eyes.


    Falling Leaf had only managed to take two steps before a weight of power and presence the likes of which Sen had only felt from his teachers bore down on the room. The effect was immediate. Falling Leaf staggered and Tang Ehuang let out a pained cry as the pressure on her increased from the second presence. Sen understood what was happening and reshaped his auric imposition into a kind of makeshift shield for him and Falling Leaf. It wasn¡¯t perfect. He didn¡¯t even think it was meant to be used that way, but it did shunt aside enough of the pressure that Falling Leaf wasn¡¯t driven to the floor. Sen, who had far more experience dealing with those kinds of pressures, plunged his jian into Tang Ehuang¡¯s chest. That drew another cry of pain from the woman. He hadn¡¯t driven it deep enough to kill her, but it was deep enough that he could kill her before even a nascent soul cultivator would be able to stop him.


    ¡°That will be enough, young man,¡± said a deep, rich voice from the doorway.


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    The pressure on him increased enough that Sen grunted and felt his auric imposition trembling on the edge of collapse. In response, he pressed his jian a quarter inch deeper. That was deep enough to damage Tang Ehuang¡¯s heart every time it beat. Given that he was still doing everything in his power to drive his killing intent into every inch of the woman¡¯s body and soul, the damage was racking up fast.


    Sen growled from between firmly clenched teeth. ¡°We aren¡¯t doing it that way.¡±


    The stalemate continued like that until Tang Ehuang spasmed beneath the combined pressures on her. That very nearly ended her life then and there, as her own motion pushed the jian deeper into her heart. The nascent soul cultivator seemed to recognize that because he sighed and lifted the pressure he was exerting. Sen straightened up from the crouch he¡¯d assumed over Tang Ehuang and turned to look at the newest addition to the little drama they were all playing out. What Sen didn¡¯t do was ease up on the killing intent or the jian he¡¯d driven into her chest. The man staring at Sen from across the room looked to be in his middle years, although that could well be an affectation. Having seen Uncle Kho transform from an old man into a young man had taught Sen exactly how unreliable the appearances of nascent soul cultivators were in judging their ages.


    The man frowned at Sen. ¡°You will release her to me.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen.


    His tone wasn¡¯t rude or obnoxious, just committed.


    ¡°You don¡¯t really have a choice,¡± said a man Sen assumed was one of the top members of the Steel Gryphon sect.


    ¡°There¡¯s always a choice,¡± said Sen. ¡°You just have to be willing to accept the consequences. This woman interfered with my business. Her actions saw my companion injured. She insulted us. Then, she meant to attack us for not being as impressed with her as she is with herself. There will be a price for that.¡±


    ¡°She will be punished,¡± said the man. ¡°You have my word.¡±


    ¡°Not good enough.¡±


    ¡°My word isn¡¯t good enough for you?¡± demanded the man, his face going stony.


    Sen gave the man an incredulous look, then pointedly looked down at Tang Ehuang. ¡°Why would it be? Especially given that your interest is almost certainly in making sure that a sect asset remains useful, not in actually punishing her.¡±


    The nascent soul cultivator gave Sen an appraising look. ¡°You say that there is always a choice if you¡¯re willing to accept the consequences. Are you?¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t even need to think about the answer. ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°You really are Feng Ming¡¯s student, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I am.¡±


    ¡°It shows. There¡¯s no compromise in that man¡¯s soul either. Frankly, it¡¯s a trait that most people could do without. We both know you can kill her before I can get to you, even if it means your death immediately after. So, what do you suggest?¡±


    ¡°You want her alive and whole, I assume.¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± said the nascent soul cultivator.


    ¡°I want her crippled or dead. I¡¯m not sure that there is a middle ground to be found here.¡±


    The nascent soul cultivator considered first Sen, then Falling Leaf, who had regained her feet and was glaring at him, and finally Tang Ehuang. The sect elder on the floor was barely conscious.


    ¡°All of her assets will be forfeited to you, including any sect treasures that have been given to her. We will also imprison her.¡±


    ¡°For how long?¡± Sen asked, letting nothing show on his face.


    The nascent soul cultivator, who Sen was starting to suspect might actually be the sect patriarch, gave him another long, assessing look. Sen was sure that the man was trying to gauge the shortest period of time that Sen would find acceptable. The man opened his mouth, closed it after another look at Sen, and finally spoke.


    ¡°A century. She¡¯ll be kept in a qi-suppressed cell for one hundred years.¡±


    Sen gave the woman whose life he held in his hands a long look. Then, he pulled the jian free and withdrew his killing intent. ¡°Done.¡±


    The removal of the blade from her chest and sudden withdrawal of Sen¡¯s killing intent seemed to be the final blows that Tang Ehuang could take, and her eyes rolled up into the back of her head. The nascent soul cultivator walked over and gave the woman a frustrated look. Sen had the impression that this wasn¡¯t the first time that this man had dug the woman out of one kind of trouble or another. The nascent soul cultivator reached down, grabbed Tang Ehuang, and unceremoniously threw her over his shoulder. He started to walk away before he stopped and lifted an eyebrow at Sen.


    ¡°Would you have really killed her if we didn¡¯t come to terms?¡±


    ¡°Without hesitation.¡±


    The man nodded. ¡°I thought as much.¡±


    ¡°If I can ask,¡± said Sen, ¡°who are you?¡±


    The man gave Sen a surprised look. ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡±


    Sen frowned and gave the man a hard look, wondering if they¡¯d encountered each other somewhere along the way. He didn¡¯t look familiar to Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. No. I don¡¯t believe we¡¯ve met.¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t even mention me. Typical. My name is Feng Bai. I¡¯m your master¡¯s brother.¡±


    Sen stared at the man for a long moment, trying to process this new information, before he offered the man a respectful bow. ¡°I am honored to meet you.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose that information would have changed the negotiations?¡± asked Feng Bai.


    Sen gave that a moment of very serious consideration before he shook his head. ¡°No. It wouldn¡¯t have changed anything that she did.¡±


    ¡°No, I guess it wouldn¡¯t have. Is he well?¡± asked Feng Bai.


    ¡°He spent most of the last year hunting demonic cultivators. He seemed to be in good spirits afterward.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I expect he would be after that. The next time you see my brother, tell him I said,¡± Feng Bai sighed and shook his head. ¡°Just tell him I said hello.¡±


    Sen could almost visualize the mountain of unsaid words in the air around them, but he just nodded. ¡°I will tell him.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± said Feng Bai, and then he was gone in a burst of qi and displaced air.


    ¡°Do you think they will do as he said?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    Sen shrugged. ¡°Probably. At the very least, I expect he¡¯ll make sure that absolutely no one else from that sect bothers us. I sincerely doubt he wants Master Feng showing up with a mind for vengeance. If anyone knows what that means, I bet it¡¯s his brother.¡±

 V4 Chapter 44 – The Concerns of Cultivators

    ¡°You did what?¡± asked the horrified prince.


    Sen didn¡¯t think that the prince was actually asking him since Lo Meifeng had reacted in exactly the same way the evening before. On the one hand, he understood their reactions. Core formation cultivators didn¡¯t usually stare down nascent soul cultivators and then, essentially, blackmail them. On the other hand, Sen hadn¡¯t gone looking for that confrontation, let alone planned it. He had been reacting on instinct, rather than some well-thought-out strategy. It was something that he felt he did too often, but it was hard to have a well-thought-out strategy for things you didn¡¯t expect. Sen supposed that he could spend more of his time thinking up the least likely events he could expect to have happen to him, and then plan as though they were certainties. That idea didn¡¯t appeal very much to Sen. He thought that would mostly result in him having a lot of plans that he never used while still making things up as he went.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± he finally said to the flabbergasted prince. ¡°I pretty much backed him into a corner. Incidentally, if your main problem was with Elder Tang Ehuang, she¡¯s going to be locked up for the next century.¡±


    ¡°How far along is your cultivation?¡±


    Sen thought about it. ¡°I¡¯m initial core formation. Although, I¡¯m probably not too far off from adding a layer to my core. I¡¯m a little farther along with my body cultivation.¡±


    ¡°How powerful are you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not bad, but it¡¯s not always about direct combat power. In a straight-up qi technique fight, either Tang Ehuang or Feng Bai could have beaten me. I might have made it a bit of a challenge with Elder Tang, but she¡¯d have probably won in the end. With Feng Bai, he¡¯d have destroyed me. So, I made those fights about something else.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°With Tang Ehuang, I made it a literal battle of wills. That wouldn¡¯t have worked with everyone, but she made it clear that her ego was fragile. Fragile egos don¡¯t make for strong wills. With Feng Bai, I made it a metaphoric battle of wills. I was willing to commit to an extreme outcome. He wasn¡¯t for several reasons. That gave me the better bargaining position.¡±


    ¡°I doubt I would have had the nerve to try a gambit like that.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect you to try something like that. You have a lot more to lose than I do.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that.¡±


    ¡°I do. You have a family, rank, wealth, a home, and the rest of your life. You have an entire kingdom to lose if you make a bad bet. I have a few close friends. I have some wealth, but that doesn¡¯t matter as much to cultivators as you might think. That¡¯s it for me. If I died today, it would hurt the people I¡¯m close to, but there wouldn¡¯t be many ripples in the pond of life. If you died today, it would cause a much more serious upheaval.¡±


    The prince studied Sen for a moment before he said, ¡°You say I have the rest of my life, but you didn¡¯t mention that for yourself. As I understand it, cultivators at your level of development have nothing but time. Centuries and centuries of it.¡±


    Sen froze. He hadn¡¯t meant to reveal that particular bit of information to the prince. It wasn¡¯t that he necessarily didn¡¯t trust the prince with it, but it wasn¡¯t information that the prince needed. It wasn¡¯t information that anyone outside of his core circle needed to know. Still, he¡¯d let it slip, no matter how inadvertently. The question was how best to deal with it. He could brush it off, saying that cultivators saw life and death differently. It was true enough that he could probably get away with it. He could also just ignore the implied question. It would still give the prince information, but the man would have to draw his own conclusions. Of course, Sen wasn¡¯t sure he wanted the man drawing uninformed conclusions. Sen could also just come clean about it. The information would likely make Sen seem more dangerous and even less risk-averse than his reputation would suggest. The silence had apparently dragged on for long enough that the prince had gotten nervous or uncomfortable.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to pry,¡± said the prince.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± said Sen, not thinking it was fine at all.


    ¡°If it¡¯s a private matter, I understand.¡±


    Sen ultimately decided that he¡¯d rather seem more dangerous to his enemies than less. It might take a little of the pressure off as well. If people thought he was going to die all on his own soon without any need for outside help, they might just decide it was more practical to wait it out and see what happened than commit resources to the task of killing him.


    ¡°There¡¯s a problem with my body cultivation. If I don¡¯t fix it, I¡¯ll probably be dead within two years.¡±


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    Prince Jing considered that statement and said, ¡°I can see why you say you have less to lose. Is that why you need the manual?¡±


    Sen snorted. ¡°It¡¯s not the only reason, but it¡¯s certainly the most pressing reason.¡±


    ¡°You seem remarkably healthy for a dying man.¡±


    ¡°The real dying part hasn¡¯t started yet,¡± said Sen in answer to the prince¡¯s mild skepticism. ¡°But it is coming. Soon.¡±


    ¡°Does Yu Ming know?¡±


    ¡°She does. It probably makes me even more appealing for her plan. If I don¡¯t deal with this problem, she won¡¯t have to worry about me for long.¡±


    The prince shook his head. ¡°She doesn¡¯t think that way. She never has. Yu Ming has always been more passion than cold logic. It¡¯s why she makes such terrible plans.¡±


    ¡°She does make terrible plans,¡± said Sen, ¡°but she isn¡¯t stupid.¡±


    The prince nodded. ¡°That¡¯s true. She¡¯s foolish, at times, but not stupid. More than one person has mistaken the one for the other, though. It was a relief to me when she became a cultivator. It¡¯s a remarkably good shield for someone like her. Most people aren¡¯t willing to try to take advantage of someone who can literally bring down the walls of their house.¡±


    ¡°What is she doing right now? She only gave me a vague sense of what to expect next.¡±


    The prince¡¯s brow furrowed. ¡°I¡¯m not entirely sure. I expected to be summoned after she returned, but that hasn¡¯t happened yet. If I had to guess, though, I assume that she¡¯s negotiating with our mother.¡±


    ¡°Negotiating? I never had parents, so I¡¯m sure I missed a few things, but is negotiating something children normally do with their parents?¡±


    The prince chuckled. ¡°I don¡¯t believe so. Yu Ming¡¯s relationship with our parents is complicated. She¡¯s willful, and our mother expected obedience. Needless to say, there is tension there. If she wants her plan to work, though, she needs mother to help bring father around. Mother will want things from her that Yu Ming will flatly refuse to do or that are simply impractical for a young cultivator. So, they¡¯ll need to bargain for what they want.¡±


    ¡°What kind of impractical thing?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to know for sure. She might demand that Yu Ming settle in the city. She might demand that Yu Ming marry immediately and start producing children. Since that¡¯s not something you¡¯ll be willing to do, it¡¯s off the table. But there will be some kind of concession involved.¡±


    Sen shuddered. ¡°No offense, but that sounds like someone who wants to control her children.¡±


    The prince hesitated but nodded. ¡°That is a fair assessment.¡±


    ¡°I sincerely hope that she understands that I will not be making any such bargains, and Yu Ming can¡¯t commit me to one.¡±


    The prince smiled at that. ¡°My mother is formidable, but you stared down a nascent soul cultivator. I think even she will recognize the folly in trying to bring you to heel.¡±


    ¡°Good. As for the Steel Gryphon sect, I don¡¯t know the details of your conflict with them. If the source of that conflict was Tang Ehuang, though, you may find them more tractable now.¡±


    Prince Jing nodded. ¡°Perhaps. Time will tell on that account. I¡¯m curious, though. Assuming you get everything that you came here for, the manual, freeing Yu Ming, what will you do then?¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m a wandering cultivator. I expect I¡¯ll go back to wandering. I may find a mountain to claim at some point and just become a story that people tell. In the end, though, ascension is the goal for every cultivator.¡±


    ¡°Ascension,¡± said the prince. ¡°You leave the world behind and become a god?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the theory, but it¡¯s a bit of an open mystery. We know that ascending cultivators go somewhere. Personally, I¡¯m not sold on the idea that we ascend to the heavens.¡±


    ¡°No? Why is that?¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯d make a terrible god. Most cultivators would make terrible gods. We¡¯re all selfish. Most of us are petty and prone to violence. Being a cultivator doesn¡¯t stamp out human failings. As often as not, it seems to amplify those failings. Maybe the universe really is so badly made that we ascend to godhood, but I hope that isn¡¯t the case.¡±


    ¡°Then, what do you hope will happen on ascension?¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°That we go somewhere else. That it¡¯s a place that helps us correct our failings, rather than making them worse. I doubt that¡¯s what happens either, though. I expect that what actually happens is that we go somewhere else, and that nothing is really different except the stakes.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°Because people are people. Do you think that being born somewhere else is really going to make them less flawed?¡±


    The prince frowned at that. ¡°No. If you think that, though, then why do it?¡±


    ¡°Once you step onto the path of cultivation, it¡¯s very difficult to step off. The concerns of cultivators are very different from the concerns of mortals. You build everything in your life around cultivation. It changes the way you think, the way you behave, the way you assess risk and reward. In my case, it even changed my body in fundamental ways. It¡¯s also nearly impossible to avoid making enemies, which means stopping is a good way to get killed by those enemies. If you can get to the point of ascension, you¡¯ve become so powerful that staying is, in many ways, pointless. You can do anything you want. Have anything you want. You¡¯ve literally met every challenge along the way and succeeded. I expect that by the time a person reaches that point, they¡¯re ready to go somewhere else, for new challenges if nothing else.¡±


    ¡°When you talk about it like that, it makes the politics of the kingdom seem very small and inconsequential. Is that why you don¡¯t like getting involved?¡±


    ¡°Well, involving cultivators in mortal politics is a bit like killing a fly with a hammer. We¡¯re the wrong tools for the job. I don¡¯t think your concerns are inconsequential. They certainly aren¡¯t inconsequential for all of the mortals who live here. They¡¯re just not particularly relevant to me.¡±


    ¡°Yet, you involved yourself anyway. I know that you¡¯re after that manual, but it sounds like that¡¯s something that you could have gotten on your own if you tried hard enough.¡±


    While Sen liked the prince and even trusted him to a certain extent, he wasn¡¯t willing to divulge the existence of those soul tugs to him. Instead, he offered a nonchalant shrug.


    ¡°She asked me to,¡± he said.


    ¡°And that was enough?¡±


    ¡°It was on the day I decided.¡±

 V4 Chapter 45 – Legend

    For the next few weeks, Sen found that his life took on a disquietingly calm quality. He wasn¡¯t attacked or even accosted by anyone. However, the pile of scrolls and letters he¡¯d been ignoring were replaced by newer versions of the same ones. He¡¯d consulted with the prince on what to do about them, and the prince had said that simply ignoring them was the best course of action in this case. It would help reinforce the idea that Sen was a cultivator first and foremost. That would help him later when and if things with Yu Ming¡¯s plan progressed. As for the princess herself, Sen hadn¡¯t heard anything directly from her since they first arrived in the city. The prince said that he had seen her, briefly, but she hadn¡¯t sent along any messages.


    Lo Meifeng had found them someone to act as a representative for them to the Golden Phoenix sect. While Sen would have liked to take a more active hand in picking the person, he knew he lacked the experience to know who would have the best chances of succeeding. He still struggled with trusting Lo Meifeng, but it was that or find someone himself. So, he grudgingly accepted her recommendation. Yet, beyond that first meeting with their new representative, Sen hadn¡¯t heard a word about the sect or manual, let alone seen the man again. Sen had still been making daily trips to the prince¡¯s home. The two men had struck up something of a friendship, much to Sen¡¯s amazement. Still, those meetings were comparatively short, rarely lasting more than an hour or two to accommodate the prince¡¯s other responsibilities, which Sen had slowly learned were many.


    That left Sen to his own devices for most of the day, every day. Sen had spent the first few days exploring the surrounding area. While the city had seemed like nothing but an unbroken stretch of buildings and roads from a distance, there were actually small parks scattered across the city. Sen had found one that wasn¡¯t too far from the inn, or at least not too far for cultivators. He¡¯d taken to dragging Shi Ping out there at dawn most days to continue the man¡¯s jian training. While Sen could see the annoyance in the fire cultivator, the man did not revert to his old habits of complaining. Sen wasn¡¯t sure if it was progress, or if the man simply viewed the process as beneficial training that was worth the hassle. As long as the whining didn¡¯t resume, though, it was good enough for Sen. It was during one of those morning practices that Shi Ping disengaged and cast an aggravated look around the park.


    ¡°You know we¡¯re being watched, don¡¯t you?¡± asked Shi Ping.


    Using his practice jian, Sen pointed to four different spots in the park where trees offered cover that someone could use to covertly observe them. ¡°Yes, I know.¡±


    Sen had long since sensed the presence of the observing cultivators. As long as they were willing to keep their interference to observation, he was willing to let them do it. He didn¡¯t see any gain in provoking a fight with them if they hadn¡¯t come looking for one. He also didn¡¯t care if they watched. It wasn¡¯t as though they were going to learn anything that meaningful about him by watching him make minor adjustments to Shi Ping¡¯s sword style. At best, they could report that he had a better-than-average understanding of the weapon. After he pointed to their hiding spots, Sen felt the quiet observers scatter, each going in a different direction. He didn¡¯t know, for sure, that they were all from the same sect, but Sen suspected they were. The question he couldn¡¯t answer without going to more trouble than he thought it was worth was precisely which sect they came from. He supposed he should make the time and expend the effort to find out. It just hadn¡¯t felt like a priority.


    Sen had also noticed that mortals would gather to watch them train. Most of them looked like off-duty city guards and house guards. Much like the cultivators, they kept their distance. Unlike the mysterious cultivator observers, these people didn¡¯t take any steps to hide their observation. Instead, they watched openly and discussed what they were seeing. A normal person wouldn¡¯t have been able to hear what they were saying, but Sen¡¯s enhanced senses let him pick up their quiet conversations. Most of them drew absurd conclusions, which told Sen everything he needed to know about the quality of their training. A few of them, though, made observations that told Sen that they knew what they were doing. He was tempted to invite that small handful to join him and Shi Ping for some training, but he¡¯d been holding off. If some of them were guards for local noble houses, he didn¡¯t want anyone to think he was showing favoritism or support for those houses. That felt like a quick and easy way to make trouble for himself, the prince, and Chan Yu Ming.


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    Sen noticed Shi Ping frowning at one of the spots that Sen had been pointing to, seemingly surprised by the revelation. The fire cultivator gave Sen a curious expression before he shook his head.


    ¡°I guess they count, but that isn¡¯t who I was talking about.¡±


    Sen thought he knew what the other man was getting at, but he¡¯d been trying to ignore them for a week now. ¡°Oh? Who were you talking about?¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Shi Ping. ¡°You spotted four cultivators hiding in the trees, but you¡¯re going to pretend you don¡¯t see that small crowd of women over there mooning over you?¡±


    Sen looked over his shoulder at the group that Shi Ping was talking about. Technically, there were two groups. There was a small group of women that Sen was pretty sure were nobles, and then there was a bigger cluster made up of what Sen assumed were peasants and the noble¡¯s servants. Both groups included women that Sen considered far too old for him. When they saw him looking their way, many of the women looked away demurely, as though it was pure happenstance that they were there. Some of them didn¡¯t look away at all, though, and it didn¡¯t take any kind of genius to figure out what their expressions suggested. Sen sighed.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not going to pretend. I¡¯m also not planning on doing anything about them unless they come over here and bother us.¡±


    Shi Ping shook his head. ¡°Only you would think of that cluster of opportunities over there as a bother.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re more trouble than they¡¯re worth,¡± said Sen. ¡°You have to realize that.¡±


    ¡°The nobles? Sure, they¡¯re nothing but trouble. But the rest of them? I expect they have very realistic expectations. Peasants usually do, unless they¡¯re crazed cultivation overachievers like you.¡±


    ¡°I am not a crazed cultivation overachiever.¡±


    Shi Ping smirked. ¡°It is extraordinary to me that you actually managed to find your way to the end of that statement with a straight face. Honestly, your control over your expression is unnerving at times.¡±


    ¡°Or, maybe it¡¯s just true.¡±


    ¡°Well, since that¡¯s obviously not the case, I¡¯m going to stick with the extraordinary control explanation. Still, I am curious why you haven¡¯t talked with any of those women.¡±


    ¡°You do realize that Chan Yu Ming is going to try to convince people that we¡¯re together, right? How is that going to work if I¡¯m off seducing half the noble girls in the city, or their servants for that matter?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just saying that it¡¯s a missed opportunity.¡±


    ¡°Then why don¡¯t you go talk to them? It¡¯s not like I¡¯m keeping you here all day,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Because they aren¡¯t here for me. And any of them that said they were would be lying or trying to use me to find out more about you for their mistresses. Thanks, but no thanks. I¡¯ll just keep looking for friendly young women who haven¡¯t met you and don¡¯t know that you exist.¡±


    ¡°They shouldn¡¯t be that hard to find in a city this size.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not impossible, but it¡¯s not as easy as it should be. You made a big splash killing all those cultivators. Your legend is growing.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not a good thing. I never wanted a legend in the first place.¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s a bit late for that kind of thinking. You¡¯re stuck with it, now.¡±


    ¡°I could just change my name.¡±


    Shi Ping rolled his eyes. ¡°That wouldn¡¯t help. You¡¯d have to change your behavior for that to do any good. As long as you keep doing things like picking fights with sect elders and challenging the wills of nascent soul cultivators, the name isn¡¯t going to matter. People will put the pieces together.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t pick a fight with a sect elder. She came looking for me.¡±


    ¡°You and I may know that, but stories take on a life of their own. As far as the people of this city are concerned, you picked a fight with a sect elder and crushed her.¡±


    ¡°That isn¡¯t what happened,¡± said Sen.


    Shi Ping shrugged. ¡°Maybe not, but it is what people think happened. Or, it¡¯s what they want to think happened. That distinction doesn¡¯t make much difference when it comes to legend building.¡±


    ¡°That legend is going to get me killed. Sooner or later, someone is going to show up looking to kill the man behind the legend.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised it hasn¡¯t happened already,¡± said Shi Ping with a bit too much cheerfulness in his voice.


    ¡°You should at least pretend that idea doesn¡¯t make you so happy.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡± asked a grinning Shi Ping.


    ¡°Because if Fa Ling Li sees you acting that way, she¡¯ll probably kill you.¡±


    The grin immediately vanished from Shi Ping¡¯s face. ¡°Oh, yeah, you¡¯re right. I was just giving you a hard time.¡±


    ¡°I know, but she doesn¡¯t really understand that kind of humor. It¡¯s up to you, but you¡¯ve survived this long. It¡¯d be a pity to die over a joke.¡±


    ¡°Sometimes, I think she¡¯s even scarier than you.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°No. Not really. Not even a little bit. You¡¯re terrifying.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not that bad.¡±


    ¡°You once stabbed me because I annoyed you.¡±


    ¡°Right. I forgot about that.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t. Anyway, my suggestion to you is to get comfortable with that legend, because it isn¡¯t going anywhere.¡±

 V4 Chapter 46 – Heavenly Shadow

    The other thing that Sen spent his time on was something that he¡¯d been neglecting at least partially on purpose. He¡¯d return to the park each afternoon and sit on a large rock by a small pond. Sen suspected the pond was artificial, but he decided that didn¡¯t bother him. The spot was shaded and buried in a well-maintained but densely packed group of trees. It was nearly a forest in miniature. While it didn¡¯t fully dampen the constant noise of the city, it muffled it enough that Sen could relax a little. With a relatively secluded, quiet spot, and his heart demon seemingly well and truly behind him, Sen was reexamining an idea that had come to him in the wake of his core formation. It was an idea that he had avoided because he¡¯d been too angry or simply too busy desperately trying to survive.


    ¡°Heavenly shadow,¡± he said aloud, as he¡¯d done on a day that seemed so very long ago.


    The words had come to him then unbidden, but carrying a spiritual weight that he¡¯d recognized immediately. That they had accompanied his core formation suggested that they were inextricably tied up with his future, although he had no true sense of how. For the moment, he was simply trying to understand if the words were meant to, however obliquely, inform him that there was a technique to learn, or if they had been intended to alert him of something else. He even had to acknowledge the possibility that both things might be true. A part of him wished that these kinds of things were more straightforward. The rest of him understood that the obscurity and accompanying struggle to understand were purposeful. The harder he had to work to grasp the meaning, the more he would value it. Unfortunately, that understanding didn¡¯t make the process less frustrating. He¡¯d found that particularly true in this case because he had so little information to work from in his exploration.


    There was the obvious. The first layer of his core had been formed largely using the shadow-dominant pill Auntie Caihong had given him and that flood of heavenly qi that triggered his advancement. Beyond that, though, he had precious little to guide him. More to the point, he suspected that, if he wasn¡¯t on completely uncharted ground, there were likely very few people with the expertise to guide him, and none that he knew. Nor did he intend to spread around the exact nature of his core. While some might be able to get a general sense of it, he had too many enemies or potential enemies to go handing out the details. That meant that, like so much else about his cultivation, he had to figure it out on his own.


    He couldn¡¯t help a little twinge of resentment toward Master Feng. The elder cultivator explicitly said that Sen was an experiment in cultivation. That was all well and good looking down from the peak of the nascent soul stage, but it made life at the beginning of core formation damnably difficult. Sen could admit to himself that, given the choice, he might have picked a cultivation path with a bit more certainty, even if it did come with less flexibility. He let himself wallow in those feelings for a while before he shook it off. Wondering what he might have picked if he¡¯d known what was ahead wasn¡¯t a productive avenue. He didn¡¯t pick those other things. He¡¯d picked a path with maximum flexibility. If that meant he had to work harder than literally everyone else in the world to survive and thrive on his path, then that¡¯s what he would do. He just needed to stop moping about the work and get on with doing the work. Otherwise, he¡¯d start sounding like the Shi Ping of the not-so-distant past.


    Sen let his vision turn inward toward his dantian. He felt more than saw his core because it was completely submerged in a pool of liquid qi that was putting pressure on the boundaries of his dantian. Sen knew he was going to have to do something about that and soon. The problem was that he wasn¡¯t sure about the nature of his core, so he was hesitant to add a layer on top of it. It was the same reason he so rarely drew on his core for qi techniques. Without a full understanding of his core, he was gambling anytime he used the qi in it. He¡¯d gotten lucky so far, but luck was the ficklest of friends. It was as likely to abandon him as help him the next time he drew on his core.


    If push came to shove, though, there were things that Sen could do to at least partially replicate the process that produced his first core layer. He still had spirit beast cores that he¡¯d poured heavenly qi into that he could draw on. The time he and Falling Leaf had spent out in the wild had yielded a few shadow-attributed cores. He¡¯d claimed those specifically because he thought he might need them and because Falling Leaf had shown zero interest in them. While he couldn¡¯t be sure that he¡¯d get the exact same results under different conditions and a vastly altered mindset, he thought he could probably get close enough that the layers would bond without issue. Of course, that was a patch, not a solution. It might work, would probably work, once, but that could leave him with an unstable or fragile core.


    The necessity of a stable core had been drilled into him by Master Feng, as well as the consequences of a fragile core. If it cracked before he reached the initial nascent core stage, he¡¯d never get there. Of course, even if he got a fragile core all the way to the tribulation that everyone faced when transitioning to the nascent soul stage, the core wouldn¡¯t protect the nascent soul. In short, Sen was very, very motivated to avoid patches and quick fixes when it came to adding layers to his core. What he needed was the right insight.  Yet, all of his poking and prodding at his core hadn¡¯t provided one. It was what it had always been to him. A mystery that he didn¡¯t have the information to unravel. Yet, he persevered because it was either that or go with other options that he felt certain would prove disastrous in the long run.


    For a time, Sen simply sat and considered the core in that pool of liquid qi. He observed that odd double helix that kept adding to the pool of liquid qi. That had been a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it was pushing him toward another advancement years faster than he would otherwise have been able to get there. It had automated a process to which most people had to devote substantial time, energy, and conscious thought. Granted, he had suffered in ways that he expected most other people avoided along the way to get that shortcut, but it was still a shortcut. Of course, that shortcut had also deprived him of the years that let most other people come to a clear understanding of their core and its capacities. It felt to him, as his cultivation journey so often did, like running through a forest in total darkness, always praying that lightning would strike and illuminate his surroundings enough to keep him from racing off of a cliff. The lightning did seem to keep coming but how long could that last? It was luck again, and he didn¡¯t dare rely on it.


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    Sen had spent weeks beating his intellect against this problem and gotten nowhere. To him, it seemed like the entire thing had been specifically designed to thwart any attempt to reason his way through it. Yet, for all that the heavens might challenge cultivators, there was always a path to success. The path was often as narrow as a jian¡¯s edge, but it always existed. If reason couldn¡¯t show him the way, a painful revelation given all that he¡¯d done and risked to quell his anger, that only left him with feelings and intuition. While marginally more reliable than luck, Sen struggled to trust them. It was all too easy to mistake what you wanted for an intuition, and feelings could lie. His had for a long time. With the necessity of adding another layer to his core looming, though, he¡¯d have to set aside those concerns, those fears, and trust that he could tell the difference between wishful thinking and truth.


    Then, as he had done once before, he let himself slip down inside of himself. He projected himself into his dantian as something less than a body, but more than a shadow. Once more, the liquid qi suffused this alternate form, strengthening something in him he couldn¡¯t name, only sense. He basked in the warmth of that strength and the support of the liquid qi before he pushed forward to see his core up close. The liquid qi parted before him, pulling back from his core, and he saw once more what he had seen before. The sphere of his core still looked like it was made of dark gray liquid. Yet, to his ephemeral touch, it felt as solid as stone or steel or perhaps his own will. Stop trying to think your way through it, he admonished himself. You know that it won¡¯t work. If it was going to, you¡¯d have gotten a hint of it by now. With a sigh, Sen pushed back the part of him that wanted to think through every decision, every choice, and let that instinctual part of him that had given him the idea to widen his channels and expand his dantian move forward.


    Sen extended his senses, letting them explore the core, not as a thing that must be analyzed, but as a cultivation mystery that needed to be understood. He let himself drift in that place, waiting to be shown what he needed, rather than trying to interrogate the insight out of his own body. He tried to grasp how the core felt and what it wanted. It was there, hiding at the edge of consciousness, almost in that place where vast and terrible powers adjusted existence to preserve balance and order. Sen resisted the urge to reach out for the answer, understanding that it wouldn¡¯t work. He couldn¡¯t take this answer, only experience it. Bit by bit, the comprehension dripped into him. Not something that could be formulated into words, not yet. It was too fundamental, too foundational, for that. If there were words for it, they could only be spoken in the language of stone and the crash of the wave.


    Still, the knowledge passed into him. It was a visceral understanding of what his core was, and what it wanted. There were things that needed to happen, actions that had to be taken, and those things couldn¡¯t always happen in open conflict. Some things happened in the shadows, literally and figurately, and he had been pushed along a path to let him do those things. For one terrible moment, he thought he was being primed as an assassin, but he felt the quiet revolt in his soul, his body, and his core at the idea. He wasn¡¯t sure what that ultimately meant for him, but his relief was nonetheless palpable. He also came to understand that the nature of his core and his capacity to hide were connected. However, the nature of that connection proved elusive. He felt it swimming deep in the depths of his soul, but that knowledge wouldn¡¯t rise into view for a time yet. He would have to be patient.


    While his conscious understanding of his core and the idea of heavenly shadow remained woefully incomplete, the presence of that knowledge on a visceral level seemed to unlock something. He felt the shift in his dantian, felt the surge in the draw on environmental qi. He was also aware that he was doing something in the real world that was pushing this process along. He pulled back from his dantian out of a concern that he might somehow cause the process of adding a new layer to his core to fail. The last thing Sen saw inside his own spiritual space was a mass influx of heavenly and shadow qi. This time, though, he saw all of the other elements twisting together and fusing with those two elements to make something more complex. Then, he rose out of himself and took stock of his surroundings.


    Without even realizing it, he had withdrawn cores filled with shadow and heavenly qi from his storage ring. They orbited around him in mid-air as qi rushed out of them and into him. Yet, that was probably the least interesting thing that was happening. It seemed he¡¯d intuited that he might face some kind of opposition and erected a cage of lightning, fire, shadow, earth, and metal that spun around him like a vortex. Beyond the bounds of that vortex, he could feel other cultivators trying to force their way inside, to reach him before he added another layer to his core. They shouldn¡¯t have wasted their time. It was too late the moment he¡¯d erected those protections. Even as they struggled against his power, he lashed out at them with killing intent and whips made of the multiple types of qi in the vortex. While his conscious mind dealt with that problem, the rest of him bent itself on squeezing together all of that qi inside of his dantian. Keeping himself safe and forming another layer to his core taxed the limits of his mental resources, but he didn¡¯t relent.


    He didn¡¯t try to keep track of how long he held those other cultivators at bay. It didn¡¯t matter. He¡¯d keep going until the work was done, or he failed. When he could sense that the new layer of his core was ready to solidify, he started making modifications to the qi vortex around him. It wasn¡¯t anything immediately apparent to the outside observer, but they¡¯d know about it soon enough. As the second layer of his core locked into place around his first core, doubling the protection around the nascent soul growing inside, Sen was able to redirect all his attention to the people who had violated that most sacred of cultivation traditions. They had tried to interrupt his advancement. Sen had no sympathy for anyone who would do that. He activated the modifications. One moment, there was a vortex of death around him. The next, all of the qi and force that vortex had contained was compressed down into four beams of destruction no bigger around than Sen¡¯s pinky. Four bodies dropped with holes through their brains. Sen cautiously eyed the sky, waiting for a tribulation, but none arrived. Then, he waited to lose consciousness, because that happened to him all too often after an advancement. After a minute, Sen realized that he was just a man sitting on a rock with an expectant look on his face¡­and four dead bodies around him.

 V4 Chapter 47 – Investigative Endeavors

    Sen made an unhappy noise as he jumped down off the rock. It seemed like he was always surrounded by corpses of one kind or another. He knew that cultivators lived violent lives, but he couldn¡¯t help but wonder if these kinds of things happened to other cultivators as often as they seemed to happen to him. Yet, for once, he couldn¡¯t help but feel like this one truly hadn¡¯t been his fault. The only way he could have been less actively pursuing conflict would have been if he were sleeping. With a gesture, he gathered up the now empty beast cores and placed them back into his storage ring. He wasn¡¯t sure if he could use them the same way again to store qi, but it was worth the experiment to find out. After all, if he could fill them with whatever kinds of qi he wanted, that would make things like fueling formations a lot easier in the future. He¡¯d become far less dependent on natural environmental features to determine what kinds of protections he could realistically put in place at any given location.


    Granted, there were still practical limits. No amount of fire qi was going to make fire formations practical in a swamp, in much the same way that no amount of water qi was going to make water formations practical in excessively dry locations. Still, more flexibility was almost always a good thing when it came to protecting yourself. Still cycling the air qi he¡¯d used to pick up the depleted cores, he searched the bodies of the dead cultivators for anything of interest. All he found were the usual assortment of pouches, minor storage treasures, and weapons he¡¯d come to expect from cultivators. He claimed those for himself, storing the weapons and pouches for later examination and pocketing the storage treasures.


    What he hadn¡¯t expected was not recognizing any of them. It would have been odd if he knew all of them, but he¡¯d assumed that at least one of them would be familiar. That was how those sorts of things usually worked. Were these people some kind of assassination team? Had they not been given an explanation of his abilities? Were they just opportunists looking to rob him? He supposed a moment of advancement might have looked like the ideal moment to rob or kill him. People were usually distracted during advancements. Of course, if a tribulation had struck, he suspected that they would have gotten caught up in it. More importantly, as cultivators, they should have known that. It wasn¡¯t just courtesy that kept most cultivators from interfering with advancements and moments of enlightenment. There was the possibility of legitimate danger dropping on your head from on high.


    Sen considered the possibility that they¡¯d been sent by people unhappy with his involvement with the wholesale destruction of demonic cultivation on this part of the continent and all of that lost revenue. He supposed that other cultivators, ones with more greed than scruples, were probably the source of most of those demonic cultivation resources. These people might have been some of those less-than-ethical cultivators, or at least worked for some of them. Still, the whole thing had been poorly executed. He hadn¡¯t gotten much time to get a read on them, but they had only been on par with his cultivation. Anyone who knew what they were doing and knew anything about him would have known that was a losing bet. That suggested either a lack of information or a lack of understanding.


    ¡°Seriously,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°More corpses?¡±


    Sen turned to look at Lo Meifeng, who was standing by the rock and giving the bodies an annoyed look. He shrugged.


    ¡°They came after me.¡±


    ¡°Did you do something to them to set them off?¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Did you speak?¡±


    ¡°Very droll. While I appreciate your faith in my ability to trigger homicidal rage with nothing but my words, no, I did not speak to them.¡±


    ¡°Did they say anything?¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t remember them saying anything, but I was a bit distracted at the time with advancing.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°Half the city knows that someone advanced.¡±


    ¡°How did you know it was me? Or to come here?¡±


    ¡°When people started talking about a pillar of fire and lightning and half a dozen other things, you were pretty much the only option.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s fair.¡±


    ¡°As for knowing to come here, I just assumed I¡¯d find you unconscious and probably in a ridiculous position.¡±


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    ¡°Such as?¡±


    ¡°Drowning in the pond. Twenty feet up a tree. Riding an ox. It could have been anything, really.¡±


    Sen almost objected, thought it over, and sighed. ¡°No, that¡¯s fair too.¡±


    Lo Meifeng nudged one of the corpses with her foot. ¡°You figure out anything about these geniuses?¡±


    ¡°No. I grabbed their stuff, but I didn¡¯t see anything offhand that would tell me who they were or where they came from. It doesn¡¯t look like they¡¯re from a sect, but that¡¯s easy enough to hide. Once they take off their sect uniforms, they could be anyone.¡±


    Lo Meifeng nodded, wandered away for a moment, and came back with a stick. She used it to push up the sleeves of their robes. Then she used it to drag the robes away from their necks.


    ¡°What are you looking for?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Tattoos, brands, or some other kind of distinguishing marks. Some sects use them. So do some criminal organizations.¡±


    Sen hadn¡¯t noticed marks like that, but he hadn¡¯t been looking for them either.


    ¡°Anything like that?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Not that I saw. But I¡¯m also not willing to undress them to look for marks in less usual locations. We¡¯ll have to go through their things later. See if they were stupid enough to hang on to something incriminating.¡±


    Sen considered for a moment. He was tired, and most of his qi had gone into the advancement, but he thought he had enough for a few more tricks. He waved Lo Meifeng back from the body she was examining and cycled up some wind qi. It took a few tries to get it right, but he managed to use it to cut away the attackers¡¯ clothing. That finally revealed what Lo Meifeng had been looking for. Every one of them had a tattoo on their back of a large black talon from some kind of bird of prey. Lo Meifeng eyed the tattoos for a long moment before shaking her head.


    ¡°Well, I guess that explains part of it.¡±


    ¡°Care to enlighten me?¡±


    ¡°They are criminals. Cultivator criminals. Muscle for hire. They call themselves the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate, although that¡¯s a really overblown name.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°They only exist in the capital. They¡¯ve tried expanding to other places, but it hasn¡¯t gone well for them. Still, one thing is pretty clear.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Someone doesn¡¯t like you.¡±


    Sen laughed. ¡°I wish that narrowed things down a little more.¡±


    ¡°So do I,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they¡¯ve been watching me recently.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°I noticed four cultivators keeping tabs on me. They kept their distance. Since I was trying to avoid trouble, I was willing to leave them be.¡±


    ¡°It didn¡¯t work out that well this time, mostly for them, but that was probably the right call. If you notice cultivators keeping tabs on you again, though, you could think about mentioning it to me.¡±


    Sen kept it off his face, but he was grimacing inside. He¡¯d known he should tell her as soon as he noticed the cultivators watching him, but he¡¯d kept it to himself out of distrust. If he had just told her, she might have grabbed one of them. Then, they would have had someone to question, instead of four dead bodies that couldn¡¯t tell them much more than they already had. He nodded.


    ¡°I will.¡±


    Lo Meifeng took the win for what it was and said, ¡°Good. Now, are you planning on leaving these here like you did with those other cultivators?¡±


    Sen thought it over and then shook his head. ¡°No. I left those sect cultivators where they were to send a message. I¡¯m pretty sure that when these four don¡¯t come back, the Murky Pigeon Foot Company will understand what happened.¡±


    ¡°Murky Pigeon Foot Company?¡± Lo Meifeng laughed.


    Sen smirked. ¡°It¡¯s my little way of expressing exactly how not impressed I am with them.¡±


    ¡°Well, don¡¯t be too dismissive. There are people in that group who really could be dangerous to you.¡±


    ¡°Duly noted,¡± said Sen.


    Sen gestured and air qi lifted the bodies off the ground. It took a lot more effort and concentration than usual, but Sen cycled for fire and incinerated the bodies. Releasing his fire qi, he used a bit of earth qi to open a hole and dropped the ashes into it. He smoothed the ground. Then, he realized that there was still blood and other, less pleasant things staining the ground. Grumbling to himself, he spent the next few minutes cleaning up the area. He saw Lo Meifeng giving him a quizzical look.


    ¡°Families come here. Children. The last thing they need is to find a bunch of blood and human waste all over the ground.¡±


    ¡°Most cultivators wouldn¡¯t have thought of that. I wouldn¡¯t have thought of it.¡±


    ¡°Most cultivators didn¡¯t grow up spending half their time in alleys. I know what happens when things like that sit around in the open. It¡¯s not pretty. It¡¯s not really a problem for us, but it can make mortals sick. Now, let¡¯s get out of here. I may not have been knocked unconscious this time, but I am still tired. I need to find a bed.¡±


    As they made their way out of the park, Sen saw Lo Meifeng paying close attention to everyone they passed. He even felt her spiritual sense sweep the area a few times as they went. It seemed that she was still taking her bodyguarding seriously. As he¡¯d become increasingly capable, Sen had thought less and less about it. Yet, in moments like this, moments when he was low on qi and exhausted, he could see the benefits. Still, it wouldn¡¯t do to grow too reliant on that kind of protection. There would come a day when Lo Meifeng wasn¡¯t around to watch things for him. Focusing his mind, he started doing his part to keep an eye on what was going on around them. He didn¡¯t notice anything, and she didn¡¯t mention anything to him. Sen took that as a good sign that he was probably safe for the moment. Once they got back to the inn, he took just long enough to explain to Falling Leaf and Shi Ping what had happened, suggested very strongly that no one leave the inn by themselves for a while, and then crawled into bed for some much-needed rest.

 V4 Chapter 48 – Genius

    ¡°So, let me get this straight. He just went to the park, sat on a rock, and, since he wasn¡¯t busy or anything, decided to advance his cultivation. Just like that. Oh, and, incidentally, he also fended off and then killed four other cultivators while advancing.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°That¡¯s about the size of it.¡±


    Shi Ping was certain that, if he wasn¡¯t a cultivator, he¡¯d be getting a terrible, terrible headache. Every time he thought he was getting a bit of a handle on Sen, the guy went off and did something impossible, or stupid, or impossibly stupid. Advancements of any kind were a hideously dangerous time for any cultivator. They sapped a person of practically every bit of qi in their bodies and routinely left a person unconscious. So, of course, Sen decided to go off and do it in public, knowing full well that people were watching him. Then again, thought Shi Ping, no one expects other cultivators to try to interrupt an advancement. It was the casually killing those cultivators part that made Shi Ping¡¯s blood run cold, though. Normal cultivators didn¡¯t have the qi reserves or the mental agility to manage advancing and fighting at the same time.


    ¡°And then he cleaned everything up afterward?¡±


    ¡°He did. He was worried about the mortal children that might stumble onto the area. It was a little endearing, really.¡±


    ¡°Endearing? That¡¯s your takeaway from all of that? Endearing?¡±


    Lo Meifeng shrugged at Shi Ping. ¡°What should I take away from it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe that we should all be very afraid of the guy who makes the impossible commonplace.¡±


    Lo Meifeng rolled her eyes. ¡°If you hadn¡¯t figured that much out already, I don¡¯t know why this would be the thing that made it clear.¡±


    Shi Ping wanted to be frustrated with the annoyingly self-possessed, annoyingly gorgeous, annoyingly disinterested in him woman, but she had a point. It wasn¡¯t like this was the most frightening thing that Sen had done. Yet, somehow, it had hit home in a way that other things hadn¡¯t. A lot of the frightening things that Sen did were psychologically distant for Shi Ping because no one could do them. Watching the guy throw around four of five different types of qi gave the whole thing an air of unreality. It was like watching a miracle or seeing a character from a story come to life. You never quite felt certain about it after the fact. Advancing, though, was something every cultivator went through. Shi Ping knew exactly what it was like, exactly how hard it was, and exactly how dead he would be if someone interrupted him in an attempt at advancement. He would be very dead.


    From Lo Meifeng¡¯s description, Sen had seemed almost bored by the whole situation. He wasn¡¯t even angry that someone had tried to kill him. It was like he¡¯d just come to expect these kinds of things. Shi Ping couldn¡¯t decide if that was an improvement from the rage-filled Sen or even worse. For all that angry Sen had scared Shi Ping, there had been a certain predictability to that guy. The calm Sen that they¡¯d gotten after he¡¯d wandered off into the wilds with the green-eyed girl was a whole new animal. The calm version might let something roll off his back, or he might slaughter half a dozen sect members and leave the pieces of their bodies lying around in the street.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried about what he¡¯s going to do when he wakes up?¡± asked Shi Ping.


    ¡°I worry about what he¡¯s going to do all of the time, awake or asleep.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡±


    ¡°He once put himself into a cultivation trance for nearly six months. The person who came out of that trance was vastly more powerful than the person who went into it.¡±


    Shi Ping realized he was just staring at Lo Meifeng with his mouth hanging open. ¡°What? Nobody comes out of a cultivation trance after that long.¡±


    ¡°He did. I¡¯ve just learned to accept that whatever we think of as the normal, fixed rules of cultivation are just very loose guidelines. I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s true for everyone, but it¡¯s absolutely true for him. It also seems to be true for the people around him, on a limited basis.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


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    ¡°I¡¯d bottlenecked. I hadn¡¯t advanced for decades and didn¡¯t see any sign that it was ever going to happen again. I¡¯d come to terms with it or thought I had anyway. Bottlenecks have happened to people a lot more talented than me. You always know it¡¯s a possibility. Hells, it¡¯s actually pretty probable. I figured that I¡¯d gotten lucky, all things considered. I was in the upper middle of core formation, which isn¡¯t bad. I¡¯d get a ridiculously long life, and I¡¯d have enough power that most people were never going to bother me.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sensing a but,¡± said Shi Ping.


    ¡°But Sen broke that bottleneck for me.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡±


    Lo Meifeng just lifted an eyebrow at him. ¡°Is it?¡±


    Shi Ping shook his head. Of course, that rule didn¡¯t apply to Sen any more than all of the other rules seemed to apply to him. Of course, he¡¯d just nonchalantly pushed someone else through a bottleneck because why not? It wasn¡¯t like sects had been desperately searching for a way to do exactly that for tens of thousands of years and been met with universal failure.


    ¡°Well,¡± said Shi Ping, ¡°I haven¡¯t noticed any particular progress on my part.¡±


    ¡°Then you aren¡¯t paying attention.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I understand what you¡¯re getting at.¡±


    ¡°That kid is a full-blown sword genius. I think maybe you haven¡¯t understood the true depths of it because he treats it like it¡¯s nothing. Well, no, he doesn¡¯t see it at all because his frame of reference is one of the greatest swordsmen in history. But that¡¯s not my point. He¡¯s been working with you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. So?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s been helping you with your style.¡±


    Shi Ping nodded. ¡°He has.¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t train in your style.¡±


    Shi Ping felt all of his thoughts grind to a halt at those words. He had known it, but only in a background way. Something vaguely acknowledged, but never directly considered. Once he did consider it, though, a lot of nagging feelings that had dogged him became instantly clear. The kind of corrections and insights that Sen had been offhandedly tossing out to him were the kinds of things that only someone who had trained in the style for years should have understood. It went well beyond the kind of corrections that anyone with good fundamentals could have offered. Shi Ping had known it, but he hadn¡¯t seen it.


    Lo Meifeng nodded. ¡°There it is. He¡¯s been doing the same thing with me and shrugging it off like it¡¯s no big deal. Yet, I¡¯ve seen how much you¡¯ve improved. You probably haven¡¯t seen it yet because I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve been in a serious fight in a while. The next time you are, I think you¡¯ll be surprised. Frankly, I¡¯m stunned that enlightenment and heavenly qi don¡¯t rain down on him every time he deigns to pick up a blade.¡±


    ¡°If he¡¯s really that talented, then why isn¡¯t he getting enlightenment from learning and training with the jian?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a question for the heavens, but I have my theory.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s your theory?¡± asked Shi Ping.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t want it.¡±


    ¡°What? He doesn¡¯t want enlightenment?¡±


    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s like every cultivator that way. He wants enlightenment and what it offers. He just doesn¡¯t want enlightenment from using the sword. It¡¯s not always obvious, but he hates violence. He hates killing.¡±


    ¡°He seems just fine with it to me.¡±


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t shirk it. There is a difference between being willing to do something and wanting to do something. I think if he could go the rest of his life without ever doing violence again, he would. After all, how often have you seen him initiate violence?¡±


    Shi Ping rubbed the spot on his leg that Sen had stabbed. He knew that event had colored his view of Sen. Thinking back, though, Sen generally waited until violence found him.


    ¡°Not that often.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. So, I think that he rejects the idea of getting enlightenment from things he associates strictly with violence. The heavens could force it on him, I suppose, but I suspect that¡¯s counterproductive to their ends. So, he wanders around bestowing insights and training that are fundamentally better than either of us deserves. Once you grasp all the things he¡¯s showing you, I think you¡¯ll find that your cultivation is going to advance faster than you expect. Maybe even faster than you want.¡±


    ¡°Faster than I want? Is that even possible?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Just ask Lu Sen. He was weaker than you a year ago. Look at him now. Do you think he¡¯s happy to be crashing through advancement after advancement? He barely has time to get acquainted with a cultivation level, let alone understand the nuances, before he¡¯s starting over again. How long did it take you to really master your current level?¡±


    ¡°Years,¡± admitted Shi Ping.


    ¡°Now, imagine that you raced through three or four advancements in the same period of time. How confident would you feel about your mastery and control?¡±


    ¡°Not confident at all.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s getting by with a lot of raw talent and not nearly enough guidance. Mostly because there¡¯s no one who can guide him. You or I could show him things with fire cultivation, tricks we know, insights we¡¯ve had, but he¡¯d need another seven or eight people like us or better than us to even start rounding out his education. And it still wouldn¡¯t be enough.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡±


    ¡°Because we can only show him what he can do with one type of qi. You¡¯ve seen him throw together multiple qi types into one technique. Who can teach him about that? And that was before that dragon filled his head with the gods only know what kind of secret knowledge.¡±


    ¡°So, what are you saying?¡±


    Lo Meifeng shrugged. ¡°That we all better hope he¡¯s a genius at more than just the sword. Because if he tries something that really is impossible with the kind of power he¡¯s been throwing around, I don¡¯t even want to imagine what it will look like when that fails.¡±


    Shi Ping sat with that idea for a long moment before he shuddered.

 V4 Chapter 49 – The Need of the Moment

    Sen resisted the urge to roll his eyes and darted into a narrow space between buildings. It wasn¡¯t even really wide enough to qualify as an alley, but it was big enough for him to fit and wrap himself up in shadows. Then, he climbed the wall and rolled over the edge of the roof. He waited there as people frantically searched the alley below. Sen had grown increasingly tired of this nonsense. Ever since he¡¯d killed the four cultivators in the park, the Shadow Eagle Claw Syndicate had been making attempts on his life. They ranged from the serious to the stupid, but they were all aggravating. There was a part of him that was tempted to simply kill them all, but the very idea made him feel tired. On the other hand, he thought, these people aren¡¯t any better than bandits on the road. If I keep letting them go without consequences, any harm they do from here on out is at least partially on my hands.


    Sen tried to weigh the karmic consequences. Was killing them worse than letting them go? Would their cumulative harm over the course of their lives ultimately be a greater karmic debt than the karma he would accrue by ending them now? As always, the truth of Karma was beyond him or likely anyone to fully measure. He could only make the best choices with the knowledge and insight he possessed. On balance, anyone willing to try to murder someone on nothing but orders was probably a terrible person. More to the point, they would try to murder him if they got the chance. His ability to escape didn¡¯t make them any less guilty of their intention to murder him. With a little huff of resignation, Sen cycled for earth qi and let it slowly filter into the stone of the buildings. With a wave of Sen¡¯s hand, the people in the narrow alley below were pierced with dozens of narrow, razor-edged spikes of stone that they could not avoid or flee from.


    He extended his senses just long enough to confirm that no one had survived. He absently used wind qi to retrieve anything of value from them before he sank their bodies into the ground and sealed them in rock. He let his head drop back against the roof and took a breath.


    ¡°You¡¯re not as sneaky as you think you are,¡± said Sen.


    When no answer was forthcoming, Sen threw a small pebble at the woman hiding a roof over from him. It landed less than an inch from her foot.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen. ¡°You.¡±


    He heard a sharp intake of breath before the woman stood up.


    ¡°How did you know?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°I never didn¡¯t know,¡± said Sen, opting to keep the answer obscure and as frustrating as possible.


    ¡°You killed them,¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m going to kill you too,¡± said Sen from his sprawled-out position.


    He supposed he couldn¡¯t look any less threatening. Of course, not looking like a threat and not being a threat were wholly different propositions.


    ¡°You weren¡¯t killing everyone before.¡±


    ¡°You all clearly didn¡¯t appreciate that mercy. You kept coming. So, now, I¡¯m just going to kill all of you.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to kill everyone we send after you?¡±


    ¡°No. You don¡¯t understand.¡±


    Sen heard the woman¡¯s feet shuffle a little. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to kill everyone you send. I¡¯m going to kill everyone in your ridiculous little group. Eventually, one of you will tell me who made you my problem to begin with. Whoever gives up that information, I might let them live. Is that going to be you?¡±


    Sen grabbed the crossbow bolt out of the air without even looking. Sen looked over the woman who was standing there with the crossbow hanging limply from her hands.


    ¡°How?¡±


    Sen slowly got up and examined the bolt. There was a residue on the blade. He shook his head. He didn¡¯t know precisely what the poison was, but he was a poor candidate for poison under the best of circumstances. His body cultivation had fundamentally altered all of the normal processes that allow poison to work. Beyond that, with his alchemical knowledge and experience, he suspected he had a better-than-average chance of finding a fix before whatever it was killed him. He doubted the same was true for the woman who had fired the crossbow. A flick of his wrist buried the bolt in the woman¡¯s stomach. While she was staring in horror at the projectile that was feeding poison into her body, Sen had cleared the distance from one rooftop to the next. He batted the crossbow out of the woman¡¯s hands, shattering it into about a dozen pieces.


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    She reached for something on her belt, so Sen kicked her legs out from under her. When she kept fumbling for something on it, Sen realized that she must have the antidote. It made sense. The last thing an assassin would want is to die from their own poisons. Sen used his wind qi to rip the belt off the woman and deposit it in his hand. She stared at the belt for a stunned second and then lunged toward it. Sen backhanded her. She stared up at him in shock, blood dripping from a split lip. There were a dozen small vials arrayed on the belt. Sen pulled one out at random and incinerated it.


    ¡°Stop!¡± the woman screamed, before doubling over and clutching at her stomach.


    Sen couldn¡¯t tell if it was the crossbow bolt or the poison. He decided that it was probably both. He waited until she¡¯d recovered enough that she could look up at him again. He picked another vial off the belt and bounced it in his hand.


    ¡°You¡¯re a core formation cultivator, so you can probably survive whatever damage the bolt did. Assuming, of course, that you can get the antidote.¡±


    ¡°What do you want?¡± she asked in a gasp.


    Sen ignored her. ¡°I¡¯m assuming that the antidote is hard to get or hard to make. Otherwise, your best bet would have simply been jumping off the building and making a run for it. So, that poison must work pretty quick, be excruciatingly painful, or both.¡±


    The woman curled up around her stomach, while her breathing came in short, ragged bursts.


    Sen continued. ¡°I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s both.¡±


    ¡°What do you want?¡±


    Sen waited until she looked at him again before he incinerated the vial in his hand. Her eyes never left his hand as he plucked a third vial from the belt.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to tell me everything about your organization. How it¡¯s structured. Who¡¯s in charge. Where you keep things. Everything.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be dead before we get through all of that.¡±


    Sen destroyed the third vial and plucked another one from the belt. ¡°You¡¯re assuming that I care if you die. I don¡¯t. If you don¡¯t tell me what I want to know, there will just be more lackeys tomorrow. In short, right now, the only person on this roof who cares if you die is you. So, I suggest you talk quickly.¡±


    The woman¡¯s words came haltingly at first, like she was having to force them out. As the pain from the poison ramped up, though, the words started pouring out of her. The only interruptions came when she spasmed in pain and seemed to lose track of everything else in the world. Sen encouraged the outpouring of speech by occasionally destroying another vial. He¡¯d figured out which one was the antidote based on small changes in her expression every time his hand got near it or hovered over it. Still, she didn¡¯t know that he knew, so it worked pretty well as an encouragement. Sen learned a lot in a very short period of time, even if it was a struggle for him to maintain his indifferent demeanor. He didn¡¯t usually go in for torture and, whatever he might have thought at first, the amount of pain that the woman was in amounted to torture.


    When it got bad enough that the woman simply couldn¡¯t string sentences together anymore, Sen dropped the belt onto her. She fumbled at it until she got the right vial and tipped it into her mouth. Sen understood how such things worked well enough to know that she wasn¡¯t going to be useful again for a while. Instead, he crouched down next to her. He waited until she met his gaze with her bloodshot eyes.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want you to mistake this for mercy. You¡¯re going to take a message back to your masters for me. Pack up and leave. The Slovenly Chicken Foot Gang is done in this city, one way or the other. If they make me do it, I¡¯m adopting a scorched earth policy. As for you, if you think what you just went through was bad, I have things lying around that would make that seem like a restful nap. If I ever see you again, I¡¯ll make you eat one of those things. Then, I¡¯ll hang your blackened, rotting corpse from a wall as a warning to everyone you know and love. Do you understand me?¡±


    The woman was shaking, and Sen didn¡¯t think that it had anything to do with the residual poison. He gave her a smile that would offer no comfort.


    ¡°You can just nod,¡± he said.


    The woman¡¯s head started bobbing up and down so fast that it looked almost comical. Sen stood up and walked over to the edge of the roof. As he was getting ready to make the leap back to ground level, the woman worked up the nerve to speak.


    ¡°Who are you? Who are you really?¡±


    Sen paused. He¡¯d been resisting it for a while, but the world had a way of making you do things you didn¡¯t want to do, become things you didn¡¯t want to become. Sen decided this was just one more of those things. However much he tried to resist it, he kept finding himself drawn into situations that called for him to be something, if not precisely better, than more than Lu Sen could be on his own. He kept needing to be the kind of larger-than-life person that only existed in a story. He supposed that it was convenient that he had just such a story right at hand. It wasn¡¯t really relevant that he was learning to hate that persona as much as he hated killing. It was the need of the moment.


    ¡°Judgment¡¯s Gale,¡± said Sen, and then dropped from the roof.

 V4 Chapter 50 – Dirty Tricks

    ¡°So,¡± said Sen, ¡°how do you feel about helping me burn a criminal organization to the ground?¡±


    Lo Meifeng gave him a narrow-eyed look. ¡°What did you do?¡±


    ¡°I told the Foggy Falcon Toe Club to get out of the city or else.¡±


    Lo Meifeng closed her eyes and took three deep breaths before she spoke again. ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because they keep sending people to kill me, obviously.¡±


    ¡°How long has that been going on?¡±


    ¡°Pretty much since I woke up and started appearing in public again. They¡¯ve been really persistent about it.¡±


    Lo Meifeng looked like she wanted to strangle Sen. ¡°And why didn¡¯t you mention it?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve mostly just been disappearing and making them look stupid. But they just keep showing up. So, I decided to take a different tack today.¡±


    ¡°I know I¡¯m going to hate the answer to this, but what tack did you take today, Sen?¡±


    ¡°I killed most of them, tortured a bunch of information out of one of them, well, I say torture. It was her poison. She tried to shoot me with a poisoned crossbow bolt. I caught it out of the air, which just doesn¡¯t get old. Anyways, I threw it back at her and, she was slow, so it took her in the gut. That poison must have been nasty stuff because she was writhing and moaning. I wonder what it was. I should have asked,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Focus!¡± barked Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Right. Sorry. So, long story short, bunch of dead people, torture, information, and then I issued threats of doom and destruction if they don¡¯t clear out. I may have said something about a scorched earth policy.¡±


    ¡°Did it never occur to you to talk to me about this before you declared war?¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a plan. I just ran out of patience with them. You can only let people go so many times before you just, you know, stop letting them go.¡±


    Sen could see that Lo Meifeng was making a monumental effort to stay calm. He suspected that she was making that effort because the ground was still so very shaky between them. While he would have understood if she¡¯d just yelled at him, there was no way for her to know that. Much like his efforts at trying to assess karmic consequences, she could only work with the knowledge and insights she had on hand, and he hadn¡¯t been sharing many of his thoughts were her in the last few months. Beyond that, much of the information that she¡¯d likely once taken for granted about him and his behavior was outdated or wholly inaccurate, thanks to him purging the heart demon. While she likely understood it as a good thing, generally speaking, she probably also saw it as a major hindrance to predicting him and his reactions to things. She gave him what she probably thought was an understanding expression, but looked more like someone ready to bend a piece of steel into a knot.


    ¡°I understand what you¡¯re saying. I¡¯m just saying that if I¡¯d known something like this was coming, I could have planned some things that would have smoothed the way a great deal. Dirty tricks are my wheelhouse.¡±


    ¡°Dirty tricks?¡± asked Sen, not quite sure what to make of the unfamiliar phrase.


    ¡°Lethal tactics done in secret.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± said Sen, finally understanding.


    It wasn¡¯t even really a surprise. There had been plenty of hints along the way that her job involved some of the less savory elements of keeping a far-flung enterprise whole and functional. They¡¯d just never discussed it. She hadn¡¯t seemed to want to talk about it, and he hadn¡¯t seen a need to pry. Now, though, it was relevant, which Sen took as the reason for her suddenly bringing it up. He also understood it for the gentle chiding that it was. If he¡¯d trusted her enough to just tell her what was going on, she could have taken steps. And, she was right. There was nothing secret about the attempted assassinations. They¡¯d been happening right out in public. The only reason she didn¡¯t know about it was because the attempts had failed, and he¡¯d intentionally withheld the information. It seemed especially petty in that moment because, like it or not, she had been assigned to protect him. He should have told her.


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    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he said. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have kept this from you. I made it impossible for you to do your job here. Our issues notwithstanding, it was childish and petty of me.¡±


    Lo Meifeng froze in place for several seconds, like she was afraid she¡¯d startle him into some rash behavior like a skittish animal. Then, she slumped a little.


    ¡°I know why you did it. I even understand it. If you can¡¯t trust me, why would you tell me about a situation where it would be so ridiculously easy to betray you?¡±


    Sen never would have said those words out loud to her, but that had been in the back of his head when he decided not to tell her. Yet, of all people, it was Shi Ping¡¯s words that kept coming back and eroding Sen¡¯s sense of righteous indignation over what she¡¯d done. It¡¯s obvious that Lo Meifeng would do just about anything to get back into your good graces. Sen hadn¡¯t seen that, or maybe he just hadn¡¯t wanted to see it. There had been conviction in Shi Ping¡¯s words, though. He believed it, which had somehow translated into Sen believing it on some level. That left him feeling vaguely guilty and more than a little like an ass every time he made an arbitrary choice to keep Lo Meifeng in the dark about something. In the end, it was just getting harder and harder to stay mad at her. It had been simplicity itself when his anger was only ever a breath away from exploding all over everyone around him. He¡¯d been furious at everyone, all the time. With anything even remotely like an actual reason to be mad at someone, he could have kept the distrustful anger burning forever.


    With the heart demon gone, he¡¯d had to spend more and more time working at keeping it going. And that seemed like a lot of effort to put into something that was, most of the time, wholly unproductive. Yet, he wasn¡¯t ready to simply forgive and move on. He¡¯d done things on that battlefield that he regretted. Granted, he¡¯d been the one who ultimately chose to step into that fight, but it hadn¡¯t been an informed choice. That piece of his distrust was legitimate, and the anger he felt about it was legitimate as well. He knew that, at some point, he would have to come to terms with that and either let it go or send Lo Meifeng away. He also knew he wasn¡¯t ready to do either of those things. As long as she was going to be around, though, he couldn¡¯t expect the trust to only run in one direction. He needed to include her at some level or she just became someone he bantered with on occasion. That wasn¡¯t viable for either of them. He didn¡¯t need a witty ornament, and she wouldn¡¯t stand for it. Not for much longer, at any rate.


    ¡°Yeah, I probably thought something like that,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°I¡¯m not sure that I was entirely wrong to think it. But it¡¯s not useful, especially not in the current circumstances. If things proceed the way I think we both expect they will, I¡¯m going to need you to do things other than be pretty and lob sarcasm at Shi Ping. No matter how much I may appreciate that sarcasm thing. I¡¯m going to need you to deploy your actual skills. For that to work, you need to be in the loop and part of the planning, which means I have to at least shelve that distrust for a while.¡±


    Lo Meifeng got a thoughtful look on her face.


    ¡°Be pretty?¡± she asked. ¡°I know your burning lust for me must be distracting, but you¡¯ll just have to learn to look past my incomparable beauty.¡±


    ¡°I appreciate your sarcasm less when you lob it at me,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Too late. You¡¯ve revealed your soul to me, Lu Sen. You can never take that knowledge back. Tell me, was it my eyes you fell in love with?¡±


    ¡°How is it that pretty and sarcasm are the things that you¡¯re taking away from everything I just said?¡±


    ¡°Because those are things that maximize my amusement, and I¡¯ve had very few opportunities to glean amusement from you lately.¡±


    ¡°You feel like that¡¯s what we should be focused on right now? Your amusement? Not the sect of criminal cultivators I just threatened.¡±


    ¡°Oh, we both know you¡¯ll get yourself into some absurd situation with them, do something impossible, then probably kill one of them in some very public and terrifying way. Then, if they¡¯re really stupid, they¡¯ll send more people after you. If you¡¯re true to form, you¡¯ll probably just make a big pile of their corpses in the middle of the street. All very predictable. My amusement at your expense, on the other hand, must be seized in the moment because it might be six months before I get another chance.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t say anything for ten seconds as he thought over everything she¡¯d just said. Is she right, Sen wondered.


    Lowering his head a little and sighing, Sen said, ¡°Proceed.¡±


    ¡°As I was saying, was it my eyes, or the unmatched feminine allure of my body? It¡¯s alright, you can tell me the truth. I won¡¯t clue in the princess.¡±


    ¡°If I just say it was your body, will this stop?¡±


    Lo Meifeng threw back her head and cackled. ¡°Not on your life.¡±

 V4 Chapter 51 – Relative Positions

    For all that Sen was braced for near-immediate retaliation from the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate, it didn¡¯t happen. In fact, as near as he could tell, every cultivator in the city that he didn¡¯t know personally was doing their level best to stay at least half a mile away from him. Sen didn¡¯t necessarily consider that a bad thing, but it did run counter to expectations. He got nervous when bad things didn¡¯t happen the way he expected, which was how he ended up getting a murderous look from Shi Ping and a mildly uncertain one from Falling Leaf.


    ¡°What is it with you?¡± demanded Shi Ping. ¡°Yeah, there was that bit of trouble with the Steel Gryphon sect, but things had calmed down since then. Were you just bored? You felt like you needed a war to keep from getting sleepy?¡±


    ¡°I would like to note that I didn¡¯t actually do anything to make these people angry. I even made a point to stay out of their part of the city. They came after me, repeatedly, which means that someone sent them after me.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± said Shi Ping. ¡°I¡¯ve just really been enjoying how nobody was trying to do anything terrible to me.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand, though,¡± said Falling Leaf. ¡°I know why they¡¯re going to be a problem now. But why would anyone send them after you in the first place? We don¡¯t know anyone here. Aside from those sect people we killed, we haven¡¯t done anything.¡±


    ¡°Just because I haven¡¯t done anything specific here, I¡¯ve done plenty in other places. I¡¯ve also caused plenty to happen. If you think all those demonic cultivators and their allies have forgotten about me, think again,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t they all dead?¡± asked Shi Ping.


    ¡°The ones we knew about,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°Just the ones we knew about. Plus, whatever names they coughed up. Do you really think we got all of them? The continent is a big place. The recent purge certainly reduced the problem in this region, but I guarantee you that some got missed because they were more cautious or just luckier. Beyond this region, there are going to be plenty of them left. Some won¡¯t care about what happened here, but others will have lost useful allies or access to resources. They¡¯ll be angry about that. Don¡¯t deceive yourselves, Sen has plenty of enemies out there, and we don¡¯t know most of them.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Shi Ping, ¡°and don¡¯t forget that he agreed to disrupt what is likely to be a very lucrative marriage for, well, whoever the princess is supposed to marry. I doubt they¡¯re going to like that very much.¡±


    Sen gave Shi Ping a thoughtful look. ¡°How would they know?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure by now that your princess has talked with at least one of her parents about it.¡±


    Sen gave Shi Ping an unamused look. ¡°She isn¡¯t my princess.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± laughed Shi Ping. ¡°Sure. You keep telling yourself that. When you get stuck having to marry her, remember this conversation. Anyway, my point is that she¡¯s talked to someone. And in a place like a royal palace, there¡¯s no such thing as a secret. Not for long, anyway. A servant heard them talking, or one of her parents said something where they shouldn¡¯t have. The word is out or it will be very, very soon. I expect those people would like to see you dead, and they¡¯d have the money to hire a group like the¡­what did you call them Sen?¡±


    ¡°The Disjointed Robin¡¯s Toe Clan,¡± supplied Sen.


    ¡°Seriously?¡± asked Lo Meifeng. ¡°How do you keep coming up with these things?¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a talent. Shi Ping has a point. We can¡¯t assume we know who set this in motion or even why it¡¯s happening. There are too many options, which means we¡¯ll have to get it out of one of them.¡±


    ¡°You mean, before you exterminate them all, burn down everything they own, and salt the earth behind you?¡± asked Shi Ping.


    Sen gave Shi Ping a look and said, ¡°Yes, before all of that. Obviously, I can¡¯t do it afterward. But we¡¯ve gotten way off the topic I wanted to discuss with all of you. The biggest thing right now is making sure that nobody gets caught alone.¡±


    Three pairs of eyes locked on Shi Ping. He tried to put on a brave face but wilted under the combined stares of the more powerful cultivators.


    ¡°I¡¯m careful,¡± he said.


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    ¡°You¡¯re going out whoring,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°You say that like I¡¯m setting children on fire. I go to reputable places.¡±


    Lo Meifeng shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t care that you¡¯re doing it. I care that it makes it difficult and inconvenient for us to find or help you if something goes wrong.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Shi Ping. ¡°I see your point. Well, what if someone went with me?¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at the man. ¡°Who?¡±


    Shi Ping looked from Sen to Lo Meifeng and then to Falling Leaf. ¡°Yeah, I didn¡¯t think that one through.¡±


    ¡°Look, you¡¯re just going to have to put your carnal pleasures on hold for a while,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t. You don¡¯t get to decide those things on my behalf. They¡¯re not after me. And I doubt they''re going to storm a building full of courtesans to get me or try to snatch me in public. I¡¯m not important enough.¡±


    Sen had been casually watching Falling Leaf throughout the conversation. Some of it was just passive interest, but he was also looking for areas where she was confused. While he wouldn¡¯t necessarily explain more in the moment, he could always talk with her privately after the fact to clear up any misconceptions. For the part of the conversation involving danger and tactics, she seemed attentive and focused. When the conversation had drifted into the realm of social acceptability, she¡¯d started to look a little perplexed. What hadn¡¯t changed was her natural instinct for danger. She had clearly felt the mood shift when Sen did because they both took an automatic step back from Shi Ping. Lo Meifeng, on the other hand, was giving Shi Ping such an artificially sweet smile that it made Sen wonder if the man was going to survive the next minute or two.


    ¡°I don¡¯t get to decide,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°That¡¯s extraordinary. When was it that you raced past me in your cultivation?¡±


    Shi Ping¡¯s eyes darted over to Sen, who just shook his head sadly at the poor, doomed fool.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Shi Ping.


    ¡°Well, the last time I checked, you were a peak foundation formation cultivator. However did you manage to jump all the way to peak core formation?¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°I only ask because the last time I checked,¡± said Lo Meifeng, the sweet smile dropping away to reveal an expression as hard as granite, ¡°peak foundation formation cultivators didn¡¯t mouth off to late-stage core formation cultivators unless they were desperate for a painful lesson in how the world works.¡±


    Shi Ping paled at those words. Sen felt at least partially responsible for the existence of this situation. His complicated relationship with Lo Meifeng had likely sent a lot of very wrong messages to Shi Ping. Beyond that, Lo Meifeng didn¡¯t spend a lot of time worrying about formalities. All in all, the atmosphere of casual equality pervaded everything. Yet, Sen knew it for the illusion it was. At the end of the day, Lo Meifeng could crush Shi Ping in any confrontation between the two that didn¡¯t involve her being completely out of qi and mortally wounded. Shi Ping should also have known better, having spent way more time in sect or sect-like environments where people obsessed about relative rank. Sen had the impression that, in the Order of the Celestial Flame, Shi Ping probably wouldn¡¯t have interacted with someone of Lo Meifeng¡¯s rank very often. Sen watched as Shi Ping clasped his hands in front of him and offered Lo Meifeng a very deep bow.


    ¡°I apologize, senior. I forgot myself. It will be as you say.¡±


    Lo Meifeng nodded. ¡°Good.¡±


    The group covered a few more things, mostly about keeping each other informed about their plans and schedules. The abrupt conflict between Lo Meifeng and Shi Ping, however necessary it might have been, had ground everything to a halt. After that, no one wanted to engage in casual conversation, guess about who wanted Sen dead, or anything that might keep them in each other¡¯s company a second longer. Shi Ping left the room the second it was clear they were done. Falling Leaf said something about being hungry and headed downstairs. Lo Meifeng was standing by the window and glaring down at the street like it owed her something.


    ¡°Are you going to tell me I was too hard on him?¡± she asked.


    Sen walked over and leaned against the wall on the other side of the window. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Really? I¡¯d have thought you, of all people, would think it was some kind of stupid power play.¡±


    ¡°It is what it is. He¡¯s foundation formation and your core formation. He forgot that. Like it or not, foundation formation cultivators do whatever the core formation cultivators tell them to do. That is how the world works. You were going to have to put him back in his place at some point.¡±


    Lo Meifeng smirked at him. ¡°You never do what more advanced cultivators tell you to do.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, no one ever said I was smart.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± agreed Lo Meifeng.


    Sen snorted. ¡°Nice. By the way, I¡¯m going to have to explain what whoring means to Falling Leaf thanks to you.¡±


    Lo Meifeng laughed. ¡°She doesn¡¯t know?¡±


    ¡°No. It¡¯s not something that would have come up in her education.¡±


    ¡°She was a bit sheltered, wasn¡¯t she?¡±


    ¡°From some things,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I can explain it to her if you want.¡±


    Sen thought it over. ¡°Patiently, Lo Meifeng. She¡¯s used to me explaining things to her that she doesn¡¯t understand, and I¡¯m very patient with her.¡±


    ¡°I remember what happened to the last cultivators who did something to her you didn¡¯t like. I¡¯ll be as patient as she needs me to be.¡±


    ¡°Good, because I have something to do.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been doing casual patrols in the nearby area. Keeping an eye on things. Looking for people who aren¡¯t cultivators who might be aiming to cause trouble for us.¡±


    ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of that,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t take a cultivator to burn down a building or poison food. Cultivators may be faster at killing people, but mortals are perfectly capable of doing it.¡±


    ¡°So, you¡¯re just going to go on a patrol? Nothing special to do?¡±


    Sen sighed. ¡°Nothing but go fight those three cultivators who are waiting for me.¡±


    ¡°Us, Sen,¡± said Lo Meifeng in a tired voice. ¡°Waiting for us.¡±

 V4 Chapter 52 – Waiting for a Stupid Mistake

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do this,¡± said Sen.


    Lo Meifeng shook her head. ¡°I realize that, by and large, you¡¯ve done most of your fighting alone. That¡¯s probably skewed your perspective a bit. Helping you fight is actually what I¡¯m supposed to be doing.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s just three of them,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°You do realize that Shi Ping would probably spit blood if he realized that you were talking about two middle-stage core cultivators and a late-stage core cultivator. Honestly, it troubles me that you take them so lightly. You aren¡¯t going to catch everyone off-guard and unawares. If they¡¯re better trained than the people you¡¯ve fought before, they¡¯re a real threat. Even if they aren¡¯t better trained, you should still treat them as a real threat. Being dismissive is exactly how most of the people you killed wound up dead.¡±


    That brought Sen up short. He had been treating them dismissively. Lo Meifeng was right. That was a good way to get himself killed. Just as importantly, it wasn¡¯t how he¡¯d been trained. Master Feng had always told him to take every fight as deadly serious until he had a very good reason not to do so. He didn¡¯t have a good reason to treat three core formation cultivators who were more advanced than he was lightly. They could be a deadly threat, particularly if they worked together in coordinated attacks. True, he¡¯d been trained to deal with that, but that was no excuse to be stupid. He¡¯d been letting his successes cloud his judgment, but they weren¡¯t all combat successes. He hadn¡¯t outfought everyone he¡¯d faced. He¡¯d out-thought several of them, and that was how he¡¯d been trained.


    Using brute force to solve every problem was a sucker¡¯s bet because there was always something stronger out there. That was true even for peak nascent soul cultivators. Master Feng had pointed out that, if the heavens really wanted to kill him, they could do it. He¡¯d also pointed out there were ancient spirit beasts wandering around that could probably do the same. He didn¡¯t think that there were really that many of them, but that any existed served as a warning against too much hubris. Yet, he¡¯d been ready to charge right into this situation and try to use brute force to deal with the problem.


    ¡°You have a point,¡± said Sen. ¡°What do you suggest?¡±


    Lo Meifeng cocked her head to one side and then smiled. ¡°Let them stew.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°They probably know that you¡¯ve been making the rounds. So, they¡¯re waiting for you to go out and do them today. I say we let them stew until they¡¯re ready to do something stupid.¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡±


    Lo Meifeng shrugged. ¡°Could be anything. Maybe they¡¯ll send someone in to see if you¡¯re really here. Maybe they¡¯ll send someone back to get new orders. We¡¯ll know it when we see it.¡±


    ¡°So, just do nothing?¡±


    ¡°Well, Falling Leaf had the right idea. One of us should go get some food. We might be here a while.¡±


    ¡°What if they all leave?¡±


    ¡°Then, we win for the day.¡±


    ¡°How¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Not every victory needs a body count, Sen. If they leave without us having to do anything, then they wasted time and resources while we had dinner. That¡¯s a win.¡±


    Sen thought about that for a while before he nodded. ¡°Alright. How likely do you think that is?¡±


    Lo Meifeng shook her head. ¡°Not very likely. I expect they¡¯ll push for a fight.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough. In that case, I¡¯ll go get us some food. Do you want anything in particular?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    Sen went downstairs and waited around while the staff prepared a tray of food for him. He saw Shi Ping sitting with Falling Leaf. He was glowering at nothing and occasionally sipping at a cup of something. Fallin Leaf was cheerfully devouring plates of food and seemingly ignoring the man. It was probably the best strategy on her part. Plus, Sen suspected that she legitimately didn¡¯t care what Shi Ping¡¯s problem was or have any desire to talk about it with him. As long as he was willing to sit there and sulk in silence, though, she¡¯d probably let him. Sen supposed that was better than the man going off to some brothel in an act of foolish defiance. Lo Meifeng wasn¡¯t the kind to make idle threats. If Shi Ping tested her resolve, he¡¯d come up on the wrong side of a deeply painful lesson. Whether he truly understood that fact was an open question that only time could answer.


    Sen took the food back upstairs. He and Lo Meifeng ate a leisurely meal while the three cultivators who were waiting for Sen grew increasingly restless. They moved around more and more as time went by, as though they were worried that they¡¯d missed him somehow. Sen pointed that out to Lo Meifeng, who nodded in agreement.


    ¡°If they¡¯re going to make a stupid mistake, it¡¯ll happen soon.¡±


    ¡°I kind of just want them to get on with whatever they¡¯re going to do. I mean, sure, we¡¯re well fed and not tired, but this waiting around stuff gets boring after a while.¡±


    Lo Meifeng lifted an eyebrow at me. ¡°Is that a commentary on the quality of my company?¡±


    ¡°I mean, you¡¯re no Chan Yu Ming, but you¡¯re alright.¡±


    Lo Meifeng¡¯s eyes went wide for a moment before they narrowed into dangerous slits. ¡°Oh, there will be suffering in your future.¡±


    Sen went to say something that would dig the hole a little deeper, but one of the middle-stage core cultivators bounding away over the rooftops caught his attention.


    ¡°Well, I guess you called it,¡± said Sen. ¡°Do you think they went to get new orders or more people?¡±


    Lo Meifeng frowned. ¡°It could go either way. Regardless, now we should go say hello.¡±


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    ¡°Divide and conquer?¡± Sen asked.


    ¡°Something along those lines.¡±


    ¡°Which one do you want?¡±


    ¡°I suppose I should take the late-stage core cultivator. It¡¯ll seem strange if I leave him to you.¡±


    ¡°Do we care about that?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Just because there aren¡¯t other cultivators that we can sense, it doesn¡¯t mean there aren¡¯t any others who can sense us. There are at least a few nascent soul cultivators here who can probably sense everything that happens inside the city walls.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll follow your lead.¡±


    ¡°I doubt it, but we¡¯ll pretend that¡¯s what¡¯s happening.¡±


    Lo Meifeng, much as Sen had done once before, eschewed the front door in favor of the window. The pair of them made casual use of their qinggong techniques to get up to the rooftops and close with the pair of cultivators who had stayed behind. Sen made sure that he kept himself a little behind Lo Meifeng in a show of deference. Let everyone make what they will of that, he thought. Sen wasn¡¯t above helping to muddy the waters where information about him was concerned. In fact, the less certain everyone was about the hierarchy in their group, the happier he would be. Lo Meifeng and Sen stopped on a rooftop and stared across a narrow alley at the cultivators who had been waiting for them. The late-stage core cultivator was a woman who, despite all of the beautification that cultivation provided during advancement, still managed to look unpleasant.


    Sen couldn¡¯t tell if it was just the way she was twisting her face up, or if she really was ugly. He supposed it wasn¡¯t going to matter in a few minutes. The remaining middle-stage cultivator was, much to Sen¡¯s surprise, a man who looked to be in his middle years. Either he had advanced incredibly slowly over the years, or he¡¯d started exceptionally late and advanced very slowly. While the woman looked angry, the man looked grim, as though he expected everything to go terribly wrong for him in the immediate future. Sen thought that he was probably right to think that. Lo Meifeng inspected them both, gave the impression that she was wholly dismissing the man, and gave the woman a flat look.


    ¡°You think you¡¯re clever, don¡¯t you? Waiting until we sent someone away before you came out,¡± snarled the woman.


    ¡°Clever?¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°If you think that¡¯s clever, you¡¯re in the wrong line of work. While you were out here doing¡­whatever useless things you were doing, we ate a nice meal and relaxed.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t remember me, do you?¡± the woman asked in tones of pure venom. ¡°I am Li Hua.¡±


    Sen glanced over at the woman, but her eyes were fixed on Lo Meifeng. Sen was relieved that, for once, the personal grudge was aimed at someone other than him. Lo Meifeng gave the woman a harder look and frowned.


    ¡°You must have found it a much more memorable night than I did. It¡¯s just so difficult to find good lovers, be they men or women. Rest assured, the problem was you, not me.¡±


    While Li Hua spluttered in shock or outrage at Lo Meifeng¡¯s words, Sen took the opportunity to start applying subtle pressure on the man. He¡¯d gotten used to using his killing intent like a club, but he wanted to see if he could use it in other ways. The man just standing there seemed like a golden opportunity. Sen started with the tiniest sliver of killing intent he could manage and slowly, ever so slowly, started to build it up. Meanwhile, the woman had found her voice again.


    ¡°How dare you imply that I would sully myself that way?¡± Li Hua almost shrieked.


    ¡°Why are you offended? You did such a poor job of pleasuring me that I don¡¯t even remember you. It seems as though I¡¯m the one who was sullied in the affair.¡±


    ¡°You murdered my husband!¡±


    ¡°And you still went to bed with me?¡± asked Lo Meifeng, feigning shock. ¡°You weren¡¯t very loyal, were you?¡±


    Whatever tiny shreds of self-control Li Hua possessed disappeared as rage overtook her. ¡°Kill them!¡±


    Li Hua was so enraged, that she didn¡¯t even attack Lo Meifeng with qi. Instead, she simply threw herself across the alley, drawing a pair of war fans from a storage treasure. So livid was the woman, that she didn¡¯t even notice that the man hadn¡¯t moved. He was fixed in place, shuddering uncontrollably, the whites showing around his eyes, and his gaze fixed on Sen. Lo Meifeng, who had apparently been waiting for Li Hua to do something stupid, lifted a hand and thrust it toward the woman. A web of white-hot strands launched from Lo Meifeng¡¯s palm and wrapped around Li Hua¡¯s entire body. The move had been so swift that Li Hua didn¡¯t have time to prepare a defense.


    Even if Li Hua hadn¡¯t been screaming in agony, Sen would have smelled the scorching clothes, charring flesh, and burning hair. Yet, as easy as it would have been for that to distract him, Sen remained focused. He continued to increase the pressure on the man, whose mouth had opened in a silent scream of terror. Sen started cycling for water, fire, and wind. A part of him noted that there had been a time when doing that would have been difficult. He also would have been awed at even being able to manage the cycling, let alone doing anything with the qi. Now, it was just one more thing. Sen recalled that Lo Meifeng had once told him that he set his bar for excellence too high. He wondered if his bar for wonder was getting too high as well.


    In a process that probably would have looked almost instantaneous to anyone watching, Sen condensed water from the air and shaped it into six-inch spikes. He used his fire qi to bleed off the heat in the water and form ice spikes. Then, with a thought, he sent those dozens of ice spikes hurtling over the alley and into the body of the middle-stage core cultivator. In a reflective moment, he realized that he could probably have just used one ice spike and sent it through the man¡¯s eye and into his brain. Still, he supposed it was better to be certain his enemy was dead than to be overconfident about how well a single attack would work.


    Sen heard the sound of metal-on-metal and glanced over. It seemed that Li Hua had survived that initial attack of Lo Meifeng¡¯s, although not without consequence. Most of the hair on her head had been burned away, and the rest of her was a hideous crosshatch of marred flesh and clothing. Despite the terrible pain she must have been in, though, she moved with the speed and grace of someone who had endured the kinds of countless hours of training Sen himself had endured. She was also using wind qi to lob wind blades at Lo Meifeng, and sprinkling in attacks using hardened whips of air. Lo Meifeng danced and dodged around these qi attacks, and sent small fireballs at Li Hua, who flinched away from them. After that fire web attack, though, Sen imagined he¡¯d be wary of fire as well.


    He considered intervening but decided that wasn¡¯t appropriate. Especially if there were unseen observers. Whatever else had brought Li Hua to this place, there was something personal between her and Lo Meifeng. He¡¯d let them settle it unless Lo Meifeng got into real trouble. Instead, he used his qi to loot the body of the man on the other roof, snagging the usual assortment of goods. However, he also got a necklace made of jade that had a staggering amount of qi stored in it. Since he wasn¡¯t entirely certain what it was, though, he simply put it into a pocket for later examination. He kept half an eye on the fight between Li Hua and Lo Meifeng, but it became clear which way that fight was going to end when Li Hua stumbled. Lo Meifeng capitalized ruthlessly on it, severing the tendons in the back of one of Li Hua¡¯s knees. The woman screamed, staggered, and fell. By the time Li Hua managed to get oriented, Lo Meifeng had conjured a blade made of pure fire and driven it into Li Hua¡¯s heart.


    Sen pretended he didn¡¯t hear Li Hua¡¯s final declaration of hatred as the life drained from her eyes.


    ¡°You stole everything from me.¡±


    Sen was going to give Lo Meifeng a moment to herself, but an intuition sent him sprinting toward her. He didn¡¯t have time to explain, so he simply lowered a shoulder, caught her in the middle, and swept her over a shoulder. He activated his qinggong technique, fueling it with core qi, and launched them into the sky. He felt the building they¡¯d been standing on explode behind them. Having been in a situation like this before, he knew better than to ignore that explosion. He cycled hard and created a dome of hardened air behind them. He wasn¡¯t looking in that direction, so he didn¡¯t know exactly what hit the dome, but it was big enough and moving fast enough that it strained Sen¡¯s limits to keep the dome intact. Unfortunately, the impact also added to their velocity and altered their trajectory. Unless Sen was badly misjudging, they were going to crash into the thick city wall at a speed that would probably be enough to kill them both.

 V4 Chapter 53 – Hiding from the Man

    Sen was vaguely aware that this situation would have sent him into a panic not so long ago. Before Emperor¡¯s Bay and before the beast tide he¡¯d faced in that abandoned town, the idea of careening toward a wall at high speed would have seemed like an insurmountable obstacle. Now, having passed through one crucible after another, those situational factors were just information. He was moving faster than he wanted to be moving toward something that would injure him and Lo Meifeng badly if he didn¡¯t find a way to slow them down. Yet, that problem wasn¡¯t occupying most of his attention, since he was already taking steps to deal with it. His mind was largely occupied with trying to discern how and why that building had exploded the way it did. He¡¯d felt the surge of qi a second or two in advance, which he¡¯d used to get them off the roof. The question was, where had it come from?


    The most obvious answer was that it had come from another cultivator. Except, he hadn¡¯t sensed anyone else nearby. That didn¡¯t mean that there hadn¡¯t been one. He could hide from other cultivators. While he hadn¡¯t seen or felt anyone else do it, it stood to reason that the ability couldn¡¯t be wholly unique to him. If he could hide from everyone, someone else could do the same thing to him. Yet, his teachers had always told him to look for the simplest explanations first before looking for some exotic explanation. Someone else with a hiding ability identical to his own sounded like an exotic answer to the problem. Had Li Hua done something? It was the simplest answer. One final attempt at revenge on Lo Meifeng made sense. Of course, that did leave the how of it unclear.


    If the woman had triggered a technique powerful enough to destroy an entire building, he should have sensed something from her. Beyond that, the woman was either an air qi specialist or a wind qi specialist. There was a lot of overlap there, but neither type of qi should have been able to create devastation on that scale. At least, Sen didn¡¯t think they should at the late core formation level. Maybe in the nascent soul stage, where he was pretty sure that summoning wind storms that were powerful enough to topple stone walls would prove entirely feasible. Then again, Sen could generate a lot of destruction when he was trying or being careless. Maybe Li Hua had tried to get creative in her last desperate moments. That explanation would fit most of the facts he had to hand, but it didn¡¯t fit those facts well.


    Li Hua hadn¡¯t simply been on the edge of death at the end. She had been in the process of actually dying. Having been there himself, Sen knew what it took to pull off one last big technique. He had gone into the situation looking for that outcome or something similar and prepared himself mentally for it. While preparation wasn¡¯t an absolute requirement, it did a lot to keep the mind headed in the right direction. He had also been angry, probably as filled with rage as Li Hua had been, with one key difference. He¡¯d been finding ways to work past that rage for months. Her rage had been both blind and of the moment. Thinking past that kind of thing was, while technically possible, not very plausible. He had to admit that she might have set up some kind of formation as a fail-safe, but he hadn¡¯t spotted anything out of the ordinary. An effect that big would have taken a powerful formation, and he was well-equipped to spot a formation like that.


    No, the best explanation for what had happened was that some powerful third party saw Li Hua fail and tried to take advantage of the moment. If that was the case, then he and Lo Meifeng had more problems coming their way than just crashing into a wall. Having come that close to either killing or badly injuring them, Sen doubted that whoever it was would simply shrug and think, Oh well. Odds were good that something or someone was already coming. So, Sen needed to deal with the immediate problem of falling out of the sky at speed, and prepare, as well as he could, for whatever was going to follow in the wake of that event. He was already using that dome of hardened air he¡¯d formed to create some drag that had slowed them to a less destructive speed, but the real problem was where to land. It wasn¡¯t enough to just settle onto some rooftop. He¡¯d be putting everyone in the immediate vicinity in danger if someone arrived immediately after to pick a fight.


    His eyes scanned the area below, looking for anywhere he could direct them that would at least limit the mortal casualties. In the end, though, there was no helping it. He saw a park area, but it was both too far away and at a severe angle from their current direction. He might be able to redirect them there, but not without blowing through a lot of qi he suspected he was going to need very soon. Instead, he aimed for the roof of what looked like some kind of warehouse. He started summoning qi platforms that they crashed through, but each platform slowed their descent even more. By the time they touched down on the roof, they were floating more than they were falling. Sen leaned over and planted Lo Meifeng on her feet. She glared at him.


    ¡°What did you do?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Saved your life. You¡¯re welcome, by the way.¡±


    ¡°I meant to that building.¡±


    ¡°Me? That wasn¡¯t me. I was just waiting around for you to finish up your personal business. Someone else turned that building into a crater.¡±


    Lo Meifeng paused, cast a dubious look back the way they had come, and then shook her head. ¡°Then, we need to get moving, because someone is probably already coming.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s how I read the situation. Split up or stay together?¡±


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    ¡°Stay together, at least for the moment. We should drop down to street level. It may not slow them down much, but it might make tracking us harder. We need to put eyes on whoever this is.¡±


    Sen nodded and they jogged over to the edge of the building. Sen felt another twinge in his intuition, grabbed Lo Meifeng¡¯s robe, and dragged her over the side with him. As they dropped through the air, Sen looked up and saw a big chunk of the roof and wall above them explode into rubble. He formed a vertical qi platform. He planted his foot against the platform and launched them away from the falling rubble. A few pieces still clipped him, but they were mostly annoyances that hurt, rather injured. He used air qi to cushion them as they dropped into a nearby alley. Sen immediately hid. Then, he looked at Lo Meifeng, who didn¡¯t enjoy that same protection. Master Feng had said that he thought Sen might be able to do something similar for someone else eventually. Sen decided that this was the moment to find out if he could.


    ¡°Come here,¡± he ordered Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Why?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Because I want to try something and you need to be close for it.¡±


    ¡°Even if I were interested, this is hardly the right moment.¡±


    ¡°Even I know that this isn¡¯t the time for jokes.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± said Lo Meifeng, walking over until she was almost pressed up against him. ¡°Close enough?¡±


    ¡°I hope so. Now, let me concentrate.¡±


    Of all the things that Sen could do, his ability to hide was his oldest. Yet, for all the time he¡¯d been able to do it, it was all the ability he understood the least. His teachers hadn¡¯t understood how it worked. Lo Meifeng hadn¡¯t understood how it worked. Without guidance, Sen had been left to his own devices to comprehend it. Despite having spent a lot of time thinking about it, he¡¯d never gotten anywhere. Some of it was simple hesitation to experiment with something that even nascent soul cultivators didn¡¯t understand. Mostly, though, he was simply blocked by his own ignorance. Sen was keenly aware that there was so much he didn¡¯t know. His recent time with the dragon and learning about auric impositions was just the most recent case in point.


    Now, though, he didn¡¯t have the luxury of being afraid to experiment. Whoever was out there, Sen hadn¡¯t caught so much as a hint of their presence. That meant they were doing what he could do, or they were launching attacks from beyond a distance that he could sense them. Either way, he needed an edge here, and needed Lo Meifeng alive to help him. Setting aside his reservations and his almost superstitious fears about his own ability, Sen got down to the hard business of trying to make it do something he¡¯d never made it do before. Since he couldn¡¯t rely on knowledge to guide him, he¡¯d try to do it the same way he¡¯d done so many other things. He¡¯d try to feel his way through it.


    Ignoring the information his mind kept trying to force into the center of the process, Sen focused on the literal, visceral feel of the technique. There were layers and layers to it, but he refused to get lost in all of those nuances. There would be a time to explore those later. For the moment, he just needed to pin down the general sense of the ability. Sen didn¡¯t think that it was exactly the right word, but it felt as though he was folding something inside of himself and around himself. It created an overwhelming sense that there was precisely nothing in the space he occupied. The exact what he was folding was, for his immediate purposes, almost irrelevant. He just needed to replicate that feeling to include an area that extended past his own skin. His first few attempts failed miserably, but he kept after it. Kept pushing himself harder, willing that sense of nothing to push outward.


    Every step of the way, it felt like the ability itself was fighting him. Like it didn¡¯t want to do what he wanted it to do. He ignored that resistance, ignored his own mounting sense of urgency, ignored the trickle of blood he felt from his nose, and pushed harder. Inch by inch, he pushed it outward, forcing the area immediately around him to conform to his will. It felt like it took hours, but eventually Lo Meifeng was inside a small bubble that told everyone and everything around them that nothing was there. With an effort of will that felt laughably easy in comparison, Sen cycled shadow qi and cloaked them in darkness. Despite his belief that a ridiculously long amount of time had past, he suspected that had mostly been inside his own mind. Lo Meifeng was staring off toward the warehouse that they had been standing on.


    For a minute or two, nothing happened. Sen gritted his teeth and kept that bubble in place around them. Then, a figure appeared on the rooftop. He was a bulky man with a thick beard, although one he kept trimmed short. Sen could sense nothing about him. With all of his own senses dulled by the hiding technique, the man was simply too far away. Sen watched as the man glared around the area, and then felt it as the man swept the area with his spiritual sense. Sen worried that his altered use of the hiding ability might not work as effectively, but the man¡¯s spiritual sense brushed passed them without a pause. The strength of that spiritual sense gave Sen pause, though. Whoever the man was, he was either an overwhelmingly powerful peak core cultivator or a formidable early nascent soul stage cultivator. Sen found himself leaning in the direction of the latter. The sheer force and range of the man¡¯s attacks suggested something that went beyond core cultivation to Sen.


    The man jumped down from the roof and began searching the area. However, the search was a half-hearted thing that the man soon abandoned with a muttered curse. Sen hadn¡¯t realized she was doing it, but he heard Lo Meifeng release a breath she¡¯d apparently been holding. She went to say something, but Sen waved her off.


    ¡°Once we¡¯re back at the inn,¡± he said, the strain evident in his voice.


    The pair kept mostly to the shadows, but Lo Meifeng kept shooting worried glances at Sen. Keeping that ability up and running was taking a toll on him that he wasn¡¯t going to be able to just shrug off with a night of sleep. Yet, he didn¡¯t dare drop it until they were somewhere he could put up obscenely overpowered protective and offensive formations. Eventually, they scaled the wall of the inn and went back in through the same window they¡¯d left from. Sen didn¡¯t say anything. He just started assembling formations around the room, forcing Lo Meifeng to stay within arm¡¯s reach of him at all times. He dropped a small fortune of spirit beast cores on the ground to fuel those formations at need. Only when he felt the formations lock into place did he release the hiding ability. Then, he slumped to the floor, every last bit of his mental energy and formidable willpower spent.

 V4 Chapter 54 – Problems and Solutions

    ¡°You not going to pass out again, are you?¡± asked Lo Meifeng in an extra-dry tone.


    Sen gave her a death glare from where he lay sprawled out on the floor. ¡°Just give me a minute. That wasn¡¯t as easy as I made it look.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t make it look that easy.¡±


    ¡°Exactly! And I¡¯m telling you, it still wasn¡¯t as easy as I made it look.¡±


    Lo Meifeng frowned and a sliver of genuine concern crossed her face. ¡°Are you alright?¡±


    ¡°No. Not really. There might be a right way to do what I did, but I didn¡¯t find it. I just brute-forced it the whole way. As you can see,¡± he said, wiping some of the blood off his face and holding up his hand, ¡°there were some consequences.¡±


    Sen let his head drop back against the floor and just reveled in the wonderful feeling of not having to do anything. To Lo Meifeng¡¯s credit, she let him, choosing to sit down on her bed. While she wasn¡¯t putting any overt pressure on him to talk or act, Sen could almost hear her thinking hard. He ignored that, and everything else in the known universe, for five glorious minutes. He wasn¡¯t even close to recovered. He was pretty sure he was going to have to go digging around inside his own body and make an elixir or five to make that happen. But he was pretty sure he could manage a conversation. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and scooted until he could rest his back against the wall. Lo Meifeng gave him another concerned look that didn¡¯t fade entirely.


    ¡°How much damage did you do to yourself back there?¡± she asked in a no-nonsense, don¡¯t-you-lie-to-me voice.


    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know. I¡¯d have to use qi to examine myself, and I¡¯m not doing anything with qi for at least another half an hour. Otherwise, I actually might pass out,¡± said Sen, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. ¡°So, that bearded guy we saw. Thoughts?¡±


    ¡°Powerful. Dangerous.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I sort of got those things from the building exploding underneath of us. I was hoping that you might have more specific insights.¡±


    ¡°Nothing more than suspicions. I mean, by the time he was close enough that I might have sensed anything, you¡¯d already done whatever it was you did. After that, I was basically blind spiritually. It was horrible, by the way. How do you put up with it?¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t love it, but most of the time I don¡¯t need to sense anything farther away than fifty feet.¡±


    ¡°Fifty feet? You can still sense things that far away when you¡¯re doing that technique?¡±


    Sen opened an eye and looked at Lo Meifeng. ¡°Yeah. Why?¡±


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t sense anything, at all, at any range.¡±


    ¡°Huh. I didn¡¯t expect that. That¡¯s what I get for messing with something I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    Sen closed his eyes again. He heard Lo Meifeng shuffling around for a few moments. Then, something damped was wiped across his face. His eyes snapped open and his hand shot out, wrapping around Lo Meifeng¡¯s wrist. It took him a second to realize that she was just holding a damp cloth. He could see a smear of red on it from where she¡¯d wiped it against his face. She looked startled and almost afraid. That expression faded when he let go of her wrist and closed his eyes again. For the next minute or two, she silently cleaned the blood off his face.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± she said.


    ¡°For what?¡±


    ¡°You had three chances to let me die back there. You didn¡¯t. I¡¯m in your debt.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t have the energy to think about that, so he just said the first thing that came to mind. ¡°Don¡¯t say stupid things. I wasn¡¯t going to leave you there to die. Like I told you before, I need live allies, not dead friends.¡±


    ¡°Would we be friends if I were dead?¡±


    ¡°Grievances are for the living because the living can make amends. Death washes all sins clean.¡±


    ¡°Do you really believe that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s what Master Feng taught me. I think I believe it. Once someone is gone, there¡¯s no point in holding grudges. Even if you somehow managed to find them again in their next life, it¡¯s not like they¡¯ll remember. At that point, the only person you¡¯re punishing by hanging on to your grievances is yourself.¡±


    Sen shifted around, looking for a position that felt better to his back. After ten seconds of useless adjustments, he gave up. He opened his eyes and looked at Lo Meifeng, who was pointedly looking away. He smirked and continued.


    ¡°I will say that if leaving you behind would have caused you horrible embarrassment, I¡¯d have abandoned you immediately.¡±


    Lo Meifeng burst into laughter and the somber mood in the room was broken.


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    ¡°I believe that,¡± she said. ¡°Whoever that cultivator was, I think we¡¯ve just seen the face of the enemy.¡±


    ¡°Do you think he¡¯s nascent soul level?¡±


    Lo Meifeng seemed to give that question a lot of thought before she answered. ¡°It¡¯s hard to know for sure. Some peak core cultivators are absurdly powerful. They might as well be initial nascent soul cultivators for the sheer force they can unleash. If you survive that long, I expect you¡¯ll be one of those people.¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°Maybe. It doesn¡¯t make much difference now.¡±


    ¡°I guess it doesn¡¯t. Still, core cultivators do have some limitations that nascent soul cultivators don¡¯t, specifically on range. If he was a core cultivator, he should have been close enough that I would have felt him preparing those attacks. I didn¡¯t. That doesn¡¯t automatically make him a nascent soul cultivator. Just because I haven¡¯t seen something before, it doesn¡¯t make that impossible. It is suggestive, though. How did you sense those attacks?¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say I sensed them. I mean, I did, but not until they were right on top of us. It was just an intuition.¡±


    ¡°One time, maybe. Two times that close together, it wasn¡¯t just intuition. It might not have been as obvious as seeing something in your spiritual sense, but you picked up on something. You should try to figure out what it was. If you can figure that out, you might be able to hone it a little finer. Make it something more dependable. That reminds me. I¡¯ve been meaning to ask. What¡¯s the range of your spiritual sense.¡±


    ¡°I never really thought about it. Why?¡±


    ¡°Sometimes, I think you¡¯re seeing farther than I am. I¡¯m just trying to satisfy my curiosity.¡±


    ¡°Well, I never really tested it with another person. My best guess is a mile, maybe two.¡±


    ¡°A mile! Are you serious?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I think so. Give or take,¡± said Sen. ¡°Let me guess. That¡¯s more than it should be?¡±


    Lo Meifeng didn¡¯t exactly sulk, but she didn¡¯t look happy. ¡°It¡¯s not¡­wholly unprecedented, but it¡¯s not usual for someone at your stage of development. For most people at your development level, it¡¯s about half that. Assuming it¡¯s not closer to two miles than one mile.¡±


    ¡°Does it matter?¡± Sen asked.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re sensing at about the same range as I am. So, if we both didn¡¯t sense that guy, it makes it more likely that he¡¯s a nascent soul cultivator.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°I was leaning in that direction myself, but I wanted to hear what you thought.¡±


    ¡°You realize that it¡¯s a massive problem if he really is a nascent soul cultivator, right?¡±


    Sen looked from Lo Meifeng to the formations around the room and then back. ¡°It did not escape my attention.¡±


    ¡°Okay, you clearly realized that he was an immediate danger, but it goes beyond that. We can only hide in this room for so long. The minute either of us goes outside or even leaves this room, we¡¯re vulnerable to attacks that we¡¯ll barely see coming.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s less of a problem for me. He couldn¡¯t see through that technique, or ability, or whatever the hells it is. Granted, that only helps me, but it¡¯s also something I can keep up all day. At least, it is as long as I¡¯m just hiding myself. And, if he can¡¯t see me, there¡¯s a good chance that nobody else can either. But my being able to come and go as I please doesn¡¯t help the rest of you. On the flip side, though, it may be less of a problem than you think.¡±


    ¡°How¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve dealt with a few nascent soul cultivators and they are, if nothing else, territorial. I watched Uncle Kho kill a handful of cultivators for having the nerve to simply step onto his mountain. There are a handful of big sects here and at least a few nascent soul cultivators. Obviously, they can¡¯t be going around killing every cultivator who intrudes on their territory. I suspect the tradeoff is that the nascent soul cultivators agreed not to do anything in someone else¡¯s territory. I¡¯d be willing to bet that guy just stepped all over someone else¡¯s territory throwing around power like that and doing massive damage to buildings. Setting aside how much that¡¯s going to infuriate the mortal government, those areas are almost certainly under the nominal control of a sect. I¡¯m sure you noticed that he didn¡¯t hang around to look for us.¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t, did he?¡±


    ¡°I bet he was running home before someone showed up to complain with a nascent soul-powered groin kick.¡±


    ¡°So, you think we¡¯re, what, safe to move around?¡±


    ¡°Safe? Not even slightly. Safe from being attacked by a nascent soul cultivator every time we stick our heads up? Yeah, probably.¡±


    Lo Meifeng was nodding along. ¡°It makes sense. People that powerful living in such close proximity would have to have very strict rules about how they behave. Otherwise, this city wouldn¡¯t still be here. If some nascent soul cultivator keeps attacking us everywhere we go, he¡¯s likely to make some equally powerful people very angry, very fast.¡±


    ¡°Plus, I have to imagine that part of the deal the sects made to set up shop in the capital is that the most powerful cultivators would keep each other in line. While it¡¯s probably too much to hope that the sects will do our work for us and just kill him, it¡¯s probably not too much to hope that they¡¯ll keep that guy pinned down hard for the foreseeable future. That little display isn¡¯t just bad for him, it¡¯s bad for all the sects. They aren¡¯t going to want a lot of repeat performances.¡±


    ¡°So, who do you think he is?¡± asked Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Exactly the same person you think he is. I think he¡¯s the person in charge of the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t take him in a straight fight,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°Not unless we can get up close to him, and work together, and I¡¯m not sure we could kill him even then.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t say anything for a while because he wasn¡¯t entirely comfortable with his own line of thinking. In the end, though, he didn¡¯t see a better way.


    ¡°I don¡¯t intend for us to fight him directly. Like you said, it''s really risky and there¡¯s a lousy chance we¡¯d win. What was it you said, something about lists, patience, and poison? Well,¡± said Sen holding up a hand with a storage ring on it, ¡°I¡¯ve got poison. Probably even something that can kill a nascent soul cultivator.¡±


    ¡°Just to be clear, you¡¯re saying that you think we should assassinate him?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what I¡¯m saying.¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯re comfortable with that solution?¡± asked a clearly dubious Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Gods, no. I¡¯m not comfortable with it at all. But he¡¯s not going to stop being a problem for us, even if he can¡¯t come at us directly. I don¡¯t feel like spending every minute I¡¯m in this city looking over my shoulder for the next attack. Some problems, you can ignore. Some you can walk away from. Some problems, you just have to deal with or they¡¯ll get worse and worse. I¡¯m pretty sure that this is one of those. I wish there was a better solution, but assassination is the solution at hand.¡±


    Lo Meifeng came over and sat next to Sen. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯ll hold until tomorrow. Tonight, you need to get some sleep and make yourself one of those absurd elixirs of yours.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re not absurd.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know who told you that lie, because they are absurd. Just like you, they are absolutely, utterly ridiculous.¡±


    Sen thought of about ten things to say but settled on, ¡°I¡¯m not going to win this one, am I?¡±


    ¡°You are not.¡±

 V4 Chapter 55 – What Honor?

    Two days, several healing elixirs, and a lot of sleep later, Sen felt more like himself again. Shi Ping seemed horrified at even the possibility that a nascent soul cultivator might attack them, while Falling Leaf seemed ready to storm out of the inn to find someone to kill. Sen told them both to just sit tight while he ran an experiment or two. His first stop was to see the prince. He was, not surprisingly, aware of Sen¡¯s recent adventures and not particularly pleased.


    ¡°Do you know how many people died during that little escapade of yours?¡± demanded Prince Jing.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Thirty-seven people. Those are just the ones we know about.¡±


    ¡°I am sorry about that, but I was only involved directly in two of those deaths. Both of those people were cultivators who came to attack us. I wasn¡¯t the one knocking down buildings.¡±


    ¡°I know. That was Tong Guanting.¡±


    ¡°Is that his name? Burly cultivator with a beard.¡±


    ¡°Yes. He¡¯s the head of the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°I thought he might be, but I didn¡¯t know for sure.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t know!¡± shouted the prince. ¡°Do you routinely get attacked by people you haven¡¯t met?¡±


    Sen thought for a second. ¡°Actually¡­ Yes. It happens with an almost dreary regularity.¡±


    The prince had seemed to be building up to what he probably meant to be an extended screaming or lecture session. That admission on Sen¡¯s part seemed to bring that all to a crashing halt as the prince just stared at him.


    ¡°That really happens to you? Random people just attack you?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how random they are, but people I don¡¯t know or haven¡¯t met before do attack me all the time. Some of that just goes with being a cultivator but not all of it. I¡¯ve made some enemies.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t say,¡± said the prince, rolling his eyes with theatrical flair. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, did you feel that you didn¡¯t have enough of them here? Decided to make a few more?¡±


    ¡°This one isn¡¯t on me. They attacked me first, unprovoked, while I was having a breakthrough in my cultivation. Then, they attacked me again with no provocation. At that point, I told them to get out of the city or I¡¯d do it for them.¡±


    ¡°That seemed like a good idea to you? You didn¡¯t think there might be repercussions?¡±


    ¡°I assumed there would be repercussions. I obviously didn¡¯t expect them to knock down a building and kill a bunch of mortals.¡±


    ¡°So, now that you have their attention, why in the hells did you come here?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m testing a theory. I think Tong Guanting overstepped his bounds the other day. If I¡¯m right, he won¡¯t lift so much as a finger in my direction.¡±


    ¡°What if you¡¯re wrong?¡±


    ¡°Then, he¡¯ll probably kill me the minute I leave this place. I doubt he¡¯d dare level your home just to get at me. No cultivator wants an all-out war with a mortal army. It¡¯s worse for him because he has an organization.¡±


    ¡°Why does that matter?¡±


    ¡°For someone like me, I can just grab my people and slip away into the night. Sure, an army could chase me, maybe even catch me, but I¡¯d have a lot of advantages. You can¡¯t do that with an organization. Plus, once word got out that the mortal authorities were moving against him, every cultivator with a grudge would come out to take their vengeance. It¡¯d be a bloodbath.¡±


    ¡°Why did they attack you in the first place?¡±


    ¡°I assume someone pointed them at me. I only had the one chance to ask, and I was so busy making threats that I forgot about it.¡±


    ¡°You said you were attacked more than once. Why did you only have one chance to ask?¡±


    Sen tilted his head a little to one side as he studied the prince. For a second or two, he thought the royal was mocking him. Then, Sen realized that the prince probably hadn¡¯t done that much of his own fighting over the years.


    ¡°Because everyone else was usually dead by the time it was over.¡±


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    It was the prince¡¯s turn to study Sen for a moment. ¡°How many people have you killed since you¡¯ve been here.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t count them. I can tell you it¡¯s been more than I wanted to kill when I came here.¡±


    ¡°How many did you want to kill?¡±


    ¡°None. I came here to get that manual, not get into fights to the death or start a feud with a criminal sect. I was hoping to avoid killing anyone while I was here.¡±


    ¡°So, that¡¯s not really something you¡¯re good at?¡± the prince asked.


    ¡°Apparently not. I did have other reasons for coming here.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t risk the lives of everyone here just to satisfy your curiosity. I think I¡¯d have to be very angry with you if you did something like that.¡±


    ¡°No, if I just wanted to satisfy my curiosity, I¡¯d have found some open-air market and done some shopping. Right out in the open, but also an easy place to run away from.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t running away dishonorable?¡±


    ¡°Probably. Honor isn¡¯t usually at the top of my list of concerns when people come looking to kill me. If I need to run away to find myself an advantage, I¡¯m perfectly willing to do it. Generals do it all the time, except they call it a strategic retreat or a tactical withdrawal. I guess it sounds better than, we ran away and will try again later when the odds favor us more.¡±


    The prince laughed a little at that. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard it described quite that way before.¡±


    ¡°My teachers didn¡¯t really believe in pretending one thing was something else.¡±


    ¡°So, you won¡¯t die to preserve your honor?¡±


    ¡°What honor?¡± asked Sen. ¡°I don¡¯t have to worry about reflecting badly on a great house or noble family. One of the privileges of being an unimportant orphan is that I can ignore all of that. I don¡¯t have to stand and fight against impossible odds just because someone will say nasty things about me if I refuse.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not worried you¡¯ll get an inaccurate reputation?¡±


    ¡°I already have an inaccurate reputation. If someone wants to publicly announce that I¡¯m a coward or an honorless dog, I¡¯d welcome it. Anything that blunts that Judgment¡¯s Gale reputation is a good thing in my mind.¡±


    The prince raised an eyebrow at Sen. ¡°You don¡¯t enjoy being a noble folk hero?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t. It¡¯s occasionally useful, but no one can ever really live up to those stories, can they? No one is ever as wise, noble, generous, or kind as the stories would make them out to be. I¡¯m certainly not.¡±


    ¡°Is that what they say about you?¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t, but the point stands. People tell those stories because they need or want something to believe in. So, they make their heroes into an ideal. The thing they¡¯d want their hero to be, instead of whatever they actually are.¡±


    ¡°What do people say about you?¡± asked the prince.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t checked in on it recently. The last time I did, they were talking some kind of nonsense about how the heavens sent me to be some kind of righteous wind that scours away the wicked.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said the prince with a sour expression. ¡°I can see why you wouldn¡¯t enjoy that kind of reputation. It¡¯s almost a foregone conclusion that you¡¯ll fail to live up to it.¡±


    ¡°Exactly.¡±


    ¡°Very well. What did you come here to discuss.¡±


    Sen opened his mouth to speak, and then really thought about what he was going to say in context. He shook his head and changed his mind, deciding to start with the second thing.


    ¡°Have you heard anything from or about your sister?¡±


    Prince Jing winced. ¡°I have, and it¡¯s not good news. My father has decreed that her wedding will move forward.¡±


    Sen sighed. ¡°I guess it was too much to hope that little project would go smoothly. I can¡¯t imagine that Chan Yu Ming took it well.¡±


    ¡°She did not,¡± said the prince with an amused smile. ¡°As I understand it, there was massive water damage to a large portion of the palace. It¡¯s going to cost my father a fortune to have it all repaired in time for the ceremony.¡±


    ¡°I take it your mother declined to help?¡±


    ¡°No. In point of fact, the word is that she made a very strong, very pointed argument in support of Chan Yu Ming marrying literally anyone except someone from the house of Choi. Some of the options she offered as better than a Choi included a goat, a toothless beggar, a piece of driftwood, and a random houseplant that she pointed at.¡±


    ¡°A houseplant?¡± snickered Sen.


    The prince nodded. ¡°Yes, by all accounts, she was in fine form that day.¡±


    ¡°And your father didn¡¯t want to hear it?¡±


    The prince shook his head, although Sen read it more as disbelief than anything else.


    ¡°He just told mother that the matter was settled. She was none too pleased by that.¡±


    ¡°So, this is going to be harder than everyone expected,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°It appears that way. Although, honestly, I¡¯m not sure what could change father¡¯s mind at this point. It might be better if Yu Ming were to simply be, let¡¯s say, carried away by a roguish cultivator hero.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not kidnapping your sister, even if I¡¯m pretty sure she¡¯d love it.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Nothing. The point is, I don¡¯t want a mortal army chasing me halfway across the kingdom. When¡¯s the ceremony happening? I need to know how long I¡¯ve got to work with.¡±


    ¡°Six weeks.¡±


    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll see what I can come up with on my end after I deal with my current crisis and, hopefully, after I get that damn manual.¡±


    ¡°On that subject, I have inquired with the Golden Phoenix sect about the manual. They¡¯re being unusually reticent about it. I assumed they¡¯d simply come back with a list of demands. Instead, it¡¯s like they don¡¯t even want to acknowledge it exists.¡±


    Sen frowned. ¡°The person we sent to approach them about it has, as near as I can tell, been getting the same treatment. I wonder what the issue is?¡±


    ¡°That, I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°I appreciate you making the effort.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome. So, what was the other thing you wanted to talk about?¡±


    Sen took a deep breath and plunged forward. ¡°I¡¯m planning to kill everyone in the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate and assassinate Tong Guanting.¡±


    At first, the prince just looked flabbergasted. His eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open. After a little while, though, Sen saw the spark of amusement in the man¡¯s eyes. Then, the laughing started. Sen just nodded. He understood.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Sen. ¡°I know.¡±


    ¡°That certainly won¡¯t do anything to reinforce your reputation as a merciless divine wind sent to cleanse away the wicked.¡±


    ¡°The irony isn¡¯t lost on me, your royalness.¡±


    ¡°Your royalness,¡± he wheezed between fits of laughter. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to use that. Yu Ming will hate it.¡±


    ¡°Just don¡¯t tell her you got it from me.¡±

 Unintended Cultivator Vol. 1 Publication and Chapter Takedown

    The official publication date of Unintended Cultivator Vol 1 is almost upon us. So, that sadly means that most of Volume 1 will need to come down off of Royal Road per Amazon exclusivity rules. A stub will remain in place so people can at least get a look at the first handful of chapters.


    Right now, I''m planning on taking those chapters down on either Sunday the 17th or Monday the 18th barring some other advice from my publisher. It''s been a wild ride here on Royal Road so far and I will continue to publish new chapters of Unintended Cultivator for the foreseeable future. I''m currently about 40,000 words (that''s probably about 35-40%) into Volume 6 with solid ideas to take me out to Volumes 10 or 12, and probably quite a few beyond that. So, I hope you stick around for it.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    You are all awesome, and I appreciate the love and support you''ve shown this little cultivation story!

 V4 Chapter 56 – Keeping Promises

    Sen considered the wreckage of what had once been a gambling den run by the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate. In the wake of his interrogation of... Sen thought back. He hadn¡¯t bothered to get her name. He reminded himself that he really needed to do a better job of covering the essentials when he was asking people questions. In the wake of that interrogation, the group had done its best to move the operations they could. Unfortunately for them, there were just a limited number of available spaces, even in a city as big as the capital. Under the protection of his hiding ability, Sen had simply walked into the part of the city controlled by the criminal element and asked a few questions. Everyone there knew where the Syndicate had their businesses. Sen had made a mental list. He¡¯d still visited the spots the Syndicate woman had told him about, but most had been abandoned. There had been traps set at a few of those places, but traps were hard to spring on someone you couldn¡¯t see or feel coming. Sen had just left bodies in those locations.


    As for the rest of the places he¡¯d visited over the last few days, he¡¯d all but filled his storage rings to capacity with stolen goods, cultivation resources, and money. A lot of money. He¡¯d done his best to return the stolen goods, but it wasn¡¯t always clear where they had come from in the first place. He kept some of the things he was certain he could use. The things he couldn¡¯t return and had no use for, he left at City Guard stations around the city. It was possible that they¡¯d have better luck than he did at getting those things back to their rightful owners. He¡¯d gone through the cultivation resources with Lo Meifeng. He¡¯d been worried that it might include demonic cultivation materials that he just hadn¡¯t sensed. Most of it was, according to her, standard fare for formation foundation cultivators and useless for her or him. Sen knew that Falling Leaf didn¡¯t advance the same way they did, but he let her look through them anyway. She¡¯d poked at a few things and promptly announced that she didn¡¯t want any of it. Then, Sen had let Shi Ping go through them.


    ¡°So, what can I have?¡± asked Shi Ping.


    ¡°Take whatever you can use,¡± said Sen waving at the pile on the floor.


    Shi Ping had gone a little bug-eyed at those words. ¡°I can just have whatever I want.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have to pay for it?¡±


    ¡°Shi Ping, I don¡¯t know how to say this any more clearly. Take. What. You. Want.¡±


    Sen had half-expected Shi Ping to grab all of it. Instead, the man methodically went through the pills, natural treasures, and a small collection of elixirs. He picked out about ten things and set them aside. Shi Ping seemed to waver over a few more but ultimately decided against them. In the small pile of things that Shi Ping had decided to keep, there was an elixir vial. Sen walked over, picked it up, and used his qi to scan it. Sen could tell that it was designed to help someone break into the core formation stage, but he was appalled at the elixir itself. It had clearly been made using substandard ingredients by an alchemist who had only been half-trained at best. He looked from the bottle to Shi Ping.


    ¡°Why would you use this? It¡¯s garbage.¡±


    Lo Meifeng came over and plucked the vial from Sen¡¯s hand. He felt her qi examine it. She gave him a quizzical look.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it?¡± she asked. ¡°This is better than most of the elixirs that people use.¡±


    Sen stared at her in horror.


    ¡°That¡¯s appalling,¡± said Sen before he looked over at Shi Ping. ¡°Do not use that elixir. I¡¯ll make you one that doesn¡¯t look like it was made by a monkey and a child throwing things at a cauldron.¡±


    Shi Ping frowned a little and glanced at Lo Meifeng, who was nodding furiously at him.


    ¡°Alright,¡± he said and gathered up the rest of the things he¡¯d picked out.


    ¡°And don¡¯t try to break through to core formation here,¡± said Sen. ¡°When you¡¯re ready, tell me. We¡¯ll go outside of the city.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not that irresponsible,¡± said Shi Ping, glaring at Sen. ¡°I know there¡¯s a tribulation coming my way. I wouldn¡¯t do that in a city.¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯m a little sensitive about mortal bystanders at the moment.¡±


    Shi Ping straightened a little and his expression softened. ¡°That makes sense. I guess it is good to keep safety in mind.¡±


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    ¡°Speaking of which,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯s high time we found new lodgings. I consider it nothing short of heavenly intercession that this place hasn¡¯t been burned to the ground, flattened by an earth qi attack, or otherwise destroyed.¡±


    Lo Meifeng sighed but nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right. I just like this place. It¡¯s clean, comfortable, and the owners don¡¯t spy on their guests. That combination of things is hard to come by.¡±


    Sen gestured at the bed and summoned some of his recently acquired wealth. Bags and bags of taels appeared on the bed. ¡°Then go buy us somewhere to live. That might even be better. I can set up permanent or at least semi-permanent protections in a place like that. Certainly better than what I can do here.¡±


    Shi Ping and Lo Meifeng stared open-mouthed at the bags.


    ¡°Where did all of that come from?¡± asked Shi Ping in awe.


    ¡°It was a donation from our friendly Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate neighbors.¡±


    ¡°They just let you walk away with all of that?¡± asked Shi Ping.


    ¡°Let?¡± asked Sen. ¡°What makes you think that there was anyone left to object?¡±


    ¡°You know that they¡¯re going to come looking for all of this at some point,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°I do. All the more reason to spend a bunch of it on something expensive they can¡¯t just steal back. Also, a good reason for us to relocate sooner rather than later. We all knew there were risks to becoming cultivators, but I don¡¯t want mortals getting stuck in the middle again.¡±


    ¡°I never signed on to fight a nascent soul cultivator,¡± said Shi Ping.


    ¡°Has one been bothering you?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I, well, no.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. I was pretty sure the rest of the nascent soul cultivators in the city were going to back Tong Guanting up hard into a corner, and it seems they have. Don¡¯t get me wrong. If he can lay hands on me in his own territory, I¡¯m a dead man. But out in the rest of the city, he¡¯ll have to send lackeys. Lackeys we can deal with if need be.¡±


    ¡°Speak for yourself,¡± said Shi Ping. ¡°You and Lo Meifeng can take care of yourselves just fine because she¡¯s a late-stage core cultivator and you¡¯re some kind of freakish cosmic anomaly. I¡¯m pretty sure that Fa Ling Li can handle most people one-on-one, at least well enough to get away. I¡¯m not like the three of you. If a core cultivator comes looking for me, I¡¯m a dead man.¡±


    ¡°Why do you think we told you not to wander off by yourself?¡± asked Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°That¡¯s not really my point,¡± said Shi Ping.


    Sen looked at the pile of cultivation resources that Shi Ping still held in his hands. ¡°Why do you think I let you take all of that? I¡¯m not blind to the fact that you¡¯re the person who¡¯s the least equipped to face our current situation.¡±


    Shi Ping stared down at the resources in his hands. ¡°There¡¯s no guarantee I¡¯ll succeed at breaking through. What happens if I try and fail?¡±


    Sen almost said something flippant, but there was genuine fear on Shi Ping¡¯s face. He wasn¡¯t just worried about the threats around them, or about not breaking through, he was terrified. It was a stark change from the man who had said Lo Meifeng couldn¡¯t order him around. It seemed that Tong Guanting¡¯s attack had rattled Shi Ping more than Sen would have credited. So, Sen pushed down the glib remark and really thought it over.


    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll send you on your way with my blessings.¡±


    ¡°Just like that?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the alternative? If you weren¡¯t on the cusp of breaking through now, I¡¯d have already done it. As an initial core cultivator, you¡¯ll have a fighting chance in most situations. It¡¯s not ideal, but it¡¯s not an obscene level of risk. As you are now, it¡¯s less a question of if than when you¡¯ll get killed. And you¡¯re right, you didn¡¯t sign on for that.¡±


    Seeming deeply relieved that there was an out for him if he utterly failed to break through to core formation, Shi Ping retreated from the room. Lo Meifeng gave Sen a curious look.


    ¡°Why not just send him away now?¡±


    ¡°Because he¡¯s made actual progress. If I let him go now, I expect he¡¯d be right back where he started in six months. That¡¯s a lot of my time, energy, and training wasted. But I¡¯m not going to make him stay just to die. Especially if things play out the way I¡¯m starting to think that they will.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s just a suspicion right now. There¡¯s no point in spreading it around until I¡¯m more sure about it.¡±


    ¡°So, what¡¯s next on your agenda?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s another gambling den I¡¯m going to wreck.¡±


    The Syndicate had tightened up their security a lot since Sen began his one-man war of annihilation against them, but he¡¯d been expecting that. He¡¯d started by eliminating the people set to watch, the hidden ones, and then moved on to the ones who were theoretically guarding the place out in the open. All it had taken to clear out the customers was him dragging two corpses through the door and throwing them onto nearby tables. The staff were either more afraid of their boss or more confident than they should have been in their skills. Not that Sen had come out of the fight unscathed. He was sporting a deep gash in his side, several burns, and more superficial cuts than he could count. Still, they were all dead, and he wasn¡¯t. That was the part that counted. He used his wind qi to gather up all of the loose money and direct it into his storage rings, stripped the staff of any valuables, and then took a moment to let his wind qi explore the building.


    The discovery that these businesses were using empty walls and hidden spaces to store their money had been the real turning point for Sen. Not that he cared that much about the money, but he did care about hurting the Syndicate. He dashed through the building, scooping up the hidden riches, and anything else of value he saw. He didn¡¯t waste time going through everything, though. Nascent soul cultivators could move very fast. So, he grabbed what he could. Then, he slipped out of the back and into the shadows. He moved away as fast as stealth would allow, but he didn¡¯t go too far. He saw what he expected to see a couple of minutes later. A burly, bearded figure dropped out of the sky almost into what was left of the gambling den. The man stormed inside. There was a moment of silence, and then bellows of rage as the man destroyed the building with nothing but brute strength. Satisfied that he¡¯d accomplished his goal, Sen slipped away into the night.

 V4 Chapter 57 – Nothing But Bad Choices

    Tong Guanting hadn¡¯t felt this kind of rage in centuries. It was one thing to, however unwillingly, accept the demands put on him by other nascent soul cultivators. That was a matter of mutual survival if nothing else. He had seen nascent soul cultivators battle once, nearly a thousand years before. It had leveled a kingdom. Not a city but an entire kingdom. That event had left an indelible mark on his soul and guided his actions. He was aware of just how dangerous it was for nascent soul cultivators to lose control. Not that he particularly cared if a bunch of mortals died, but too much death was bad for business. And if Tong Guanting loved one thing in the world, it was money. He was also aware that money was largely meaningless for someone like him. He didn¡¯t need it to buy food or shelter. He doubted there was an environment anywhere in the world that could actually kill him. He only ate food because he wanted to. What few cultivation resources that existed for someone at his stage couldn¡¯t be bought. Even so, he still loved money. He loved the way it looked. He loved the heft of it in his hands when he scooped up golden taels. He loved that it could buy him anything he wanted if he decided that he wanted something.


    Somehow, that damnable boy had figured that out and seemingly made it his purpose to steal every last tael that Tong Guanting had worked so hard to get. He wasn¡¯t hypocrite enough to say earned. He didn¡¯t earn money. Earning money was for peasants, not cultivators. What was even worse was that the kid was good at it. He¡¯d been systematically killing all of Tong Guanting¡¯s employees, stealing everything that was worth more than a copper tael, and vanishing. No, that wasn¡¯t the right word for it. He¡¯d have to be able to be sensed to vanish. It was like that kid was made of smoke. He came and went and no one felt him. The very worst part was that the boy was doing it in Tong Guanting¡¯s own territory. Not that he could act against the kid even there. The other nascent soul cultivators in the city had told him, in no uncertain terms, that they weren¡¯t going to let him kill someone who was barely into core formation in a fit of pique.


    He''d known when he tried to kill the kid out in the open that would probably happen. It had been a calculated risk and, like it or not, sometimes they didn¡¯t pay off. He¡¯d run enough gambling dens in his time to understand that sometimes the other people won, even if you thought you had the game fixed. Of course, when the other powerhouses in the city laid down that decree, Tong Guanting had never imagined the river of money that the kid was going to siphon away, to say nothing of the small mountain of corpses he was leaving in his wake. That name, the one that had sounded so ridiculous at first, didn¡¯t sound ridiculous to Tong Guanting anymore. He felt like he¡¯d slapped a giant, and the giant was slapping him back¡­much, much harder. If he¡¯d had any inkling of the trouble he¡¯d be bringing down on his own head when he originally agreed to kill that kid, he¡¯d have never taken the job in the first place. With everything the kid was doing, he¡¯d gone back to the other nascent soul cultivators to complain about the restriction. It was not going the way he expected.


    Feng Bai laughed. ¡°You want us to let you turn your power against that boy because he¡¯s costing you money?¡±


    Tong Guanting glared at the patriarch of the Steel Gryphon sect. ¡°It¡¯s not a joke. He¡¯s bleeding me dry. He''s killing my people by the score.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s one man,¡± said a sweet voice.


    Tong Guanting turned his eyes on Lai Dongmei, hot words ready to spill from his lips, only for those words to catch in his throat. He had to look away from her almost immediately. Lai Dongmei, the matriarch of the Golden Phoenix sect, was so beautiful that it was physically painful for most people to spend more than a moment looking at her. It was unnatural to such a degree that even nascent soul minds rebelled at the very sight of it. Tong Guanting had often thought that she must have been heartrendingly beautiful even before she was a cultivator for what she became to be the end result. He expected that she was as close as he was ever going to get to looking at a goddess.


    Lai Dongmei continued, ¡°He¡¯s a lone core cultivator, and barely that, against your entire organization. If he¡¯s such a threat, send peak core cultivators after him.¡±


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    ¡°I did!¡±


    ¡°And?¡± she asked.


    ¡°He hung them up on a wall like they were art.¡±


    ¡°In that case,¡± mused Lai Dongmei, with a cruel edge in her voice, ¡°perhaps you shouldn¡¯t have chosen a fight with someone you didn¡¯t understand. Do you think a man gets a name like Judgment¡¯s Gale because of his forgiving nature? As I understand it, he did give you a choice.¡±


    ¡°A choice? He told me to leave the city or else. I¡¯m not going to let some core cultivator order me around.¡±


    A slender, elegant man lifted a hand. Tong Guanting grudgingly turned to face the man. He hated Jin Bohai almost as much as he hated the boy. Jin Bohai had made his feelings about Tong Guanting perfectly clear several centuries earlier. The slender man had stated outright that the only reason he didn¡¯t simply kill Tong Guanting was because Jin Bohai considered it beneath him.


    ¡°And we¡¯re not going to let you take petty vengeance on a man more than a full stage below your cultivation because you were stupid. You¡¯ve made half a dozen attempts on his life already. At this point, as far as I¡¯m concerned, this is a disaster of your own making.¡±


    ¡°Then I intend to go and clean it up, personally.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Lai Dongmei. ¡°We have been abundantly clear on this matter.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯ll destroy everything I built.¡±


    Tong Guanting couldn¡¯t see it, but he could feel the smile on her face when she spoke.


    ¡°Yes, and won¡¯t that be such a pity.¡±


    ¡°You intend for the boy to do what you cannot or would not,¡± snarled Tong Guanting.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Lai Dongmei. ¡°You are a cancer on the body of this city. If the boy can cut you out, all the better.¡±


    ¡°Besides,¡± said Feng Bai, ¡°even if we¡¯d allow it, you pathetic piece of trash, you can barely handle the student. You are in no way prepared to handle the storm of his masters. And they would come.¡±


    For the first time in weeks, something other than rage filled Tong Guanting. ¡°You mean, those stories are true?¡±


    Feng Bai nodded. ¡°They are. Do you think you¡¯re ready to face down the wrath of my brother, the Living Spear, and Alchemy¡¯s Handmaiden?¡±


    It galled him to let the word slip between his lips, but he did it anyway. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°So,¡± said Jin Bohai, ¡°sense has not abandoned you entirely. You have three choices. You can continue hurling your men against this Judgement¡¯s Gale until he has killed them all. An eventuality that seems increasingly likely regardless of your choices. You can try to act against the boy directly, in which case we will stop you. Rather, they will stop you. I¡¯ll simply kill you. Or, you can do as the boy demanded and run away with what¡¯s left of your people. Personally, I hope you try to attack him again yourself.¡±


    ¡°So, I¡¯m to have nothing but bad choices?¡±


    ¡°You speak as though you are due something more,¡± said Lai Dongmei. ¡°You seek mortal riches above all other things. You built an organization that brings nothing but suffering to others. You are barely better than a demonic cultivator. I find it utterly mysterious how you ever managed to break into the nascent soul stage in the first place without becoming a demonic cultivator. Yet, it is that single bit of difference that has preserved your life and nothing more. You should take your life and be grateful.¡±


    The ocean of loathing and contempt that Lai Dongmei poured into those words made Tong Guanting flinch. He knew better than to expect respect from these three. They had no more use for him than they did for a roach. They tolerated him, barely, only out of some vague acknowledgment of his cultivation stage. If they could be rid of him, though, they¡¯d be happy to see it. If they could set the stage for someone else to destroy him, they were perfectly happy to do so. And even if they weren¡¯t an immediate threat and deterrent to his desire to destroy the boy, the threat posed by the likes of Fate¡¯s Razor, the Living Spear, and Alchemy¡¯s Handmaiden was all but incalculable. He could run from them, but not forever. Still, if the boy died by someone else¡¯s hand, or as part of a robbery gone wrong, that might be enough wiggle room to get everything that Tong Guanting wanted.


    Before that, though, he needed to pay someone a visit and thank them for setting this catastrophe in motion in the first place. He couldn¡¯t simply obliterate their holdings with a massive qi technique. The other people in the room with him would stop that. Still, he didn¡¯t see any reason why he couldn¡¯t just take a sword and kill everyone in their bloodline the old-fashioned way. He might not get them all before Feng Bai, Lai Dongmei, and Jin Bohai intervened, but he was pretty sure he could get most of them. Yes, it had been far too long since he exacted terrible retribution on someone. If he couldn¡¯t get at Lu Sen, he could get at those who put Lu Sen in his path.

 V4 Chapter 58 – Necessary, Difficult Things

    ¡°Did you do something?¡± demanded the prince.


    Sen squinted at the man. The prince was agitated, frightened, and gesturing wildly. Sen had never seen the man like that before. What he couldn¡¯t understand was what could have possibly left the usually calm and collected man in such a state. Nor could he understand why the prince thought that Sen had done whatever it was. Sen had certainly done plenty in recent weeks, but nothing he hadn¡¯t explicitly told the prince he planned to do.


    ¡°Yes?¡± Sen ventured. ¡°Maybe. I think it kind of depends.¡±


    ¡°Did you kill them?¡±


    Sen frowned. That was a very vague question considering what Sen had been up to.


    ¡°Yes? Maybe? It depends. Who are we talking about?¡±


    ¡°The house of Choi,¡± said the prince, his gaze trying to bore a hole through Sen¡¯s forehead.


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen, relaxing. ¡°Then, no. I mean, I might have gotten around to them eventually if there wasn¡¯t some other fix for Chan Yu Ming. But I¡¯ve been focused on the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate.¡±


    ¡°It really wasn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I honestly had nothing to do with that. I assume it was a massacre, or I doubt I¡¯d be here answering questions.¡±


    The prince pressed two fingers to his left temple and began rubbing it in a circular motion. Sen wasn¡¯t sure if the man was thinking or trying to encourage a headache to go away.


    ¡°Yes, it was a massacre if an incomplete one. One man walked into their compound, drew a sword, and killed his way through most of their family. Sound familiar?¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°Yeah, that sounds like some of the things I¡¯ve done recently. Still, not me.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡±


    ¡°How?¡± asked Sen in genuine curiosity.


    ¡°Because you have no incentive to lie to me. If you did it, there isn¡¯t anything we can do to you. We can¡¯t even keep you in the city against your will without involving the sects, and I get the impression that they aren¡¯t inclined to bother you at the moment.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°Because most of them have said that they aren¡¯t inclined to bother you at the moment.¡±


    Sen laughed. ¡°You actually asked?¡±


    The prince gave Sen a cool look. ¡°You¡¯re an extraordinarily dangerous and powerful man. If I¡¯d been wrong about you, and you turned out to simply be a wanton killer, I wanted a contingency in place.¡±


    Sen wanted to feel offended, but he couldn¡¯t quite dredge up the emotional energy for it. In the prince¡¯s place, Sen would probably have wanted some kind of backup plan to deal with a powerful, crazy cultivator. He nodded.


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s fair. Since it wasn¡¯t me, do we have any idea who¡­,¡± Sen trailed off. ¡°Was it Tong Guanting?¡±


    The prince sighed. ¡°We don¡¯t know for sure. The handful of people who survived the attack weren¡¯t really in a state to give a coherent account of events. The descriptions we got of the attacker could have been him, or you, or my mother, or a flying cart. Since it was just one person and the number of deaths was, let¡¯s say, excessive, I¡¯m tentatively concluding it was a powerful cultivator. The sects don¡¯t go in for killing local nobility for obvious reasons. That limits the pool of candidates.¡±


    ¡°And, since it wasn¡¯t me, that doesn¡¯t leave a lot of options. Still, who other than me has a reason to go after the Choi?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what makes the timing suspicious. You¡¯ve been putting a great deal of pressure on Tong Guanting¡¯s organization. With you ripping apart his organization at the seams, we know he wants to kill you. Although, it seems you¡¯ve found a fix for that problem.¡±


    ¡°Not me, although someone has clearly intervened to keep him from just wiping me off the face of the world. I¡¯ll have to send them a gift of some kind.¡±


    ¡°My guess is that the Choi were the ones who aimed him at you in the first place. If he¡¯s a bitter man, he may well have decided to blame them for his current situation and took action.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°It sounds plausible. He¡¯s certainly angry enough to make those kinds of rash choices. I don¡¯t suppose he did us all a favor and killed Choi Zhi Peng, did he?¡±


    The prince grimaced. ¡°He didn¡¯t. Choi Zhi Peng wasn¡¯t there when the attack happened.¡±


    ¡°Seriously? That lucky bastard,¡± muttered Sen. ¡°What in the hells was he doing while his family was getting slaughtered?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not entirely sure, although I can make some educated guesses. All of them are¡­off-putting.¡±


    ¡°Sounds about right, at least if what Chan Yu Ming told me is true.¡±


    The prince gave Sen an odd look. ¡°You always refer to her so formally. If you¡¯re going to try and sell yourself as a rival suitor, you¡¯re going to need to break yourself of that.¡±


    ¡°Chalk it up to the fact that I don¡¯t really know her that well. Besides, with the house of Choi in shambles, I have to assume the wedding is off.¡±


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    The prince closed his eyes and leaned his head back. ¡°It isn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± demanded Sen.


    ¡°Father is adamant that the wedding move forward.¡±


    ¡°Why? It was one thing when the house of Choi was strong and powerful. Now, though, won¡¯t the other houses just swoop in and take all of their holdings?¡±


    ¡°That seems the most likely scenario. As for why? I don¡¯t know, and father refuses to disclose his thoughts on the matter,¡± said the prince, lifting a hand to stop Sen¡¯s next words. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s suspicious.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s more than just suspicious. It sounds like your father is trying to buy them off with Chan Yu Ming.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡±


    ¡°And what do you plan to do about it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Without understanding what¡¯s driving father¡¯s decision, I can¡¯t make an appropriate plan.¡±


    Sen gave the prince a narrow-eyed look and then stood. He offered the prince a bow. ¡°Thank you for your teachings, Prince Zhang Jing. They were very enlightening, but I don¡¯t believe it¡¯s necessary for me to take up any more of your time.¡±


    Sen turned and walked toward the door. The prince called out after him.


    ¡°I failed your test, didn¡¯t I?¡±


    Sen paused with his hand on the handle of the door. ¡°I¡¯m sure I don¡¯t know what you mean.¡±


    ¡°The Diviner warned me. He told me that you had no use for nobles. That you think we¡¯re all selfish and stupid.¡±


    When Sen said nothing, the prince carried on.


    ¡°You¡¯ve decided that I¡¯m one of those, haven¡¯t you?¡±


    Sen considered it for a moment. ¡°Are you still breathing?¡±


    ¡°What? Of course, I¡¯m still breathing. Why?¡±


    ¡°Because that¡¯s how you know that I haven¡¯t decided that you¡¯re one of those.¡±


    ¡°But you did decide something?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°May I ask what you decided?¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t look back when he answered. ¡°No.¡±


    Then, he left the prince¡¯s home.


    ***


    Despite what the prince clearly thought, Sen wasn¡¯t angry with him. He¡¯d just realized something that he thought the prince was choosing to overlook. Sen could come and go from this situation with the royal family as he saw fit. The prince couldn¡¯t. For Jing, that situation was permanent, and he needed to operate within its established rules. His association with Sen was, more likely than not, the kind of thing that would harm him more than help him. Especially with the things that Sen expected he was going to have to do next. By walking away in a fashion that convinced the prince that Sen was done with him, it offered the royal a kind of insulation. No one would call the prince to account for the things that Sen did if that relationship was fractured.


    It had stung more than Sen had expected. He genuinely liked the prince, seeing in him the flicker of possibility of what nobles could be but so rarely were. Feigning that he¡¯d found the prince wanting in some way had been trying, but he¡¯d done hard things before. He was quite certain he would have to do them again. He couldn¡¯t skip the necessary things just because they were difficult or painful. He hoped that he¡¯d get the opportunity to explain the situation later, but he knew better than most that the world often got in the way of what people wanted. Still, better by far to leave the prince with the wrong impression and a level of protection, than leave him an obvious target of retribution for those who couldn¡¯t get at Sen.


    What Sen found at least a little bit amusing was the idea that Tong Guanting had largely solved a problem for him. Oh, the man certainly hadn¡¯t intended to help Sen. Odds were good that he was just lashing out at whoever he could reasonably get his hands on. Still, he had, however obliquely, done Sen a service. With so much of the house of Choi dead, he suspected that it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to solve Chan Yu Ming¡¯s problem permanently. Lo Meifeng had been getting more and more restless recently, forbidden as she was to accompany him on his excursions into the criminal part of the city. It wasn¡¯t that he doubted her skills or her usefulness. He''d have been happy to take her along, but he couldn¡¯t realistically hide her and him the way he¡¯d need to that deep into Tong Guanting¡¯s territory. Something like this, though, was something she¡¯d probably find interesting. He¡¯d have to bring it up with her and see what she thought.


    Even as he was thinking all of that, Sen had summoned a spear to his hand. He¡¯d felt the group of cultivators approaching him in a clump and, by the time they came into sight, lightning was already crackling around the head of the spear. The entire group came to a dead stop when they saw the spear leveled at them. Sen had schooled his expression into an emotionless mask. A few weeks ago, these same cultivators might have sneered or called out taunts. They were, after all, all of a higher cultivation level than Sen. Yet, every last man and woman paled at the sight of him standing there, clearly prepared to fight with them. It wasn¡¯t an idle threat, either. He had cut, stabbed, burned, crushed, and eviscerated his way through people just as strong as them and under much worse conditions. The apparent leader of the group waved a hand at the rest, who all backed off. Then, he stepped forward and offered Sen a bow.


    ¡°I am Chin Hao-Yu of the Golden Phoenix sect.¡±


    When Sen didn¡¯t so much as twitch, the man seemed perplexed about what to do next.


    ¡°Are you the one they call Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡±


    Sen provided only the most infinitesimal nod.


    ¡°The matriarch of our sect wishes to speak with you regarding the request you submitted to us.¡±


    ¡°I have an agent for these matters. Speak with him.¡±


    Chin Hao-Yu got an affronted look. ¡°It is a great honor to be invited to speak with the matriarch.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps, but that assumes that you are who you say are. I don¡¯t trust you. I don¡¯t trust anyone who shows up in force to deliver a message. It rather suggests that you mean to take me somewhere regardless of what I say.¡±


    Chin Hao-Yu¡¯s face darkened. ¡°You dare question the honor of the Golden Phoenix sect?¡±


    Sen felt torn between utter weariness and the urge to laugh. ¡°In my experience, those words are almost immediately followed by someone doing something incredibly dishonorable.¡±


    Sen had the feeling that the situation was about to devolve into violence when he felt the presence of a nascent soul cultivator approaching. He let his killing intent fill the spearhead until the lightning turned void black and gave off the hazy purple afterglow he¡¯d come to associate with Heavens¡¯ Rebuke. He didn¡¯t know if it would do anything to a nascent soul cultivator, but he wasn¡¯t about to let any nascent soul cultivator get that close to him without at least preparing. The group of cultivators were all staring at his spear with looks of such deep fear that Sen felt like he might as well have summoned a devil up from the hells. Chin Hao-Yu even took a stumbling step backward. When the nascent soul cultivator descended on them, the group of Golden Phoenix sect cultivators dropped to their knees. Sen glanced around and realized that all of the mortals had simply fled. Sen gawked for a moment as the single most beautiful person he¡¯d ever seen landed on the street between him and the other cultivators. She gave his spear a speculative look, which gave Sen enough time to regain his mental equilibrium.


    ¡°I am Lai Dongmei, matriarch of the Golden Phoenix sect,¡± she said, giving Sen a small smile.


    Sen considered the situation objectively. While he might have stood a chance against the core cultivators, he didn¡¯t stand a chance against them and the nascent soul cultivator. With nothing better on offer, he just offered the woman a smile in return.


    ¡°Hello,¡± said Sen, giving the sky a curious look. ¡°The weather in the capital is very strange.¡±


    The woman seemed taken aback by his words. ¡°How so?¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°It doesn¡¯t normally rain beautiful women with sad smiles where I come from.¡±

 V4 Chapter 59 – What Makes You Think I’m Playing

    It took every last bit of Sen¡¯s considerable self-control not to burst into laughter at what followed those words. Every last one of the cultivators who had originally approached Sen was staring at him with expressions that ranged from simply aghast to, in the case of the leader, furious and aghast. It was like they couldn¡¯t comprehend how he had dared to utter such words to their honored matriarch. As for the matriarch herself, her mouth moved soundlessly once or twice before she seemed to remember herself. She turned and gave the kneeling cultivators a look of mock surprise. She waved a negligent hand in their direction.


    ¡°Leave us,¡± she ordered.


    Their looks of shock, horror, and anger almost instantly converted into ones of surprise and, in the case of the leader, hurt. Oh, so that¡¯s how it is, thought Sen. I wonder how long he¡¯s been carrying around that doomed and unrequited love? Yet, none of the cultivators dared to defy their matriarch. They rose and started to shuffle away, although most of them took the time to shoot dirty looks his way. Chin Hao-Yu looked like he was ready to rush over and stab Sen in the eye. Sen didn¡¯t bother looking at them. He simply looked through them, as though they had ceased to exist the second that Lai Dongmei dismissed them. For all practical purposes, they had. While they were taking their time in leaving, Sen let his killing intent and lightning qi drain out of the spear before he stored it. Once Lai Dongmei seemed satisfied that her minions were out of earshot, she turned an amused look on Sen.


    ¡°Were you trying to put me off balance?¡± she asked.


    Sen cocked his head to one side for a moment before he casually walked closer to the woman. Once he was close enough that both of them could theoretically do something drastic to the other, he gave her a half-smile.


    ¡°Would you like me to put you off balance? I could always catch you if you fall.¡±


    There was another moment where she looked like she didn¡¯t quite know what to do before she finally spoke in an almost disbelieving tone, ¡°Are you flirting with me?¡±


    Sen clasped his hands behind his back and took another step toward the woman. He gazed into her dark eyes for a long moment.


    ¡°Yes,¡± he said in a low voice. ¡°Would you like me to stop?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m the matriarch of a sect,¡± she said.


    ¡°So you are. Fortunately for me, it¡¯s not my sect. That leaves me free to simply appreciate you. After all, how often does a man have the opportunity to stand in the presence of perfection?¡±


    If Sen hadn¡¯t been standing so close to her, even he might not have spotted it, but a faint blush appeared on Lai Dongmei¡¯s cheeks.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried that I might strike you dead for daring to speak to me this way?¡±


    Sen let a thoughtful expression settle over his features before he shook his head. ¡°No, I¡¯m not worried.¡±


    Lai Dongmei lifted an eyebrow at him. ¡°And what makes you so confident?¡±


    Sen leaned in a little and Lai Dongmei did the same. Sen let his voice drop to nearly a whisper.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t ask me to stop.¡±


    ¡°No. I didn¡¯t,¡± she admitted with a small smile.


    ¡°It must be terribly lonely. Always the matriarch. Always the nascent soul cultivator. Always the impossible ideal in someone¡¯s eyes. How long has it been since someone looked at you and just saw¡­you?¡±


    There was a look on the woman¡¯s face that Sen couldn¡¯t entirely understand, but he recognized parts of it. There was need there. There was also a hunger.


    ¡°A very long time,¡± she said, before lifting a finger and trailing a fingertip along Sen¡¯s jaw. ¡°A loneliness of which I expect you have some small understanding.¡±


    ¡°A little. People who spend enough time with me get used to it, eventually. I doubt the same is true for you. Of course, I¡¯m spared the burden of position.¡±


    The matriarch walked a slow circle around Sen. ¡°Are you, though? I am merely a matriarch, while you, well, you¡¯re a story. A folk hero. Almost a legend in your own right. What burdens does that carry?¡±


    Sen smiled at her. ¡°More than I¡¯d like. Are you trying to put me off balance?¡±


    ¡°No. Although, I have the sneaking suspicion that very few things can put you off balance. I¡¯d just like to understand the man who means to seduce me.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t imagine that will pose much of a challenge. I¡¯m a simple creature.¡±


    The matriarch laughed. ¡°Oh, I know that¡¯s not true. You¡¯re a series of masks, all of them interesting. With that fool Tong Guanting, you¡¯re the ruthless killer and thief. With those you don¡¯t trust, you¡¯re cold and imperious. With the prince, you¡¯re approachable and friendly. With me, you play at seduction.¡±


    Sen let his eyes trail the length of Lai Dongmei¡¯s body before he met her gaze. He let some of his very real desire for her show through, not on his face, just in his eyes.


    ¡°What makes you think I¡¯m playing at seduction?¡±


    Lai Dongmei froze in place. Sen couldn¡¯t describe exactly what the difference was, but it felt as though that look from him had stripped away some kind of pretense from their interaction. The faint blush that had appeared on the woman¡¯s cheeks came back and much more visibly.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    ¡°If we¡¯re to continue this conversation,¡± said Lai Dongmei, ¡°I think it should probably be somewhere more private.¡±


    ¡°Somewhere with a door,¡± Sen offered helpfully.


    ¡°Somewhere with a bed,¡± countered Lai Dongmei.


    ¡°I suddenly find myself with no pressing engagements,¡± said Sen. ¡°Lead the way.¡±


    ***


    Three days later, as Sen lay in Lai Dongmei¡¯s bed, the woman herself sprawled on top of him, he realized that he was probably going to get an earful from just about everyone. He considered that prospect for a moment and decided that it was completely worth it. Lai Dongmei made an inarticulate noise of quiet rage when someone with a death wish knocked on her door. She didn¡¯t actually scream go away at the person, but that feeling radiated off of her in almost tangible waves. Sighing, she rolled off of Sen, rose, put on a robe, and answered the door.


    ¡°What?¡± she demanded of whoever was out there.


    The tone she used was hard enough that it could have shattered steel. So, Sen wasn¡¯t surprised when he heard a hasty bevy of words issued in an extremely nervous voice. Then, Lai Dongmei nodded and promptly slammed the door in the person¡¯s face.


    ¡°Is the real world intruding?¡± Sen asked.


    ¡°It is,¡± she said before turning around and looking at him.


    Sen expected that she¡¯d tell him that some sect crisis or another was demanding her attention. Instead, she just stared at him for a long moment. Then, she took her robe back off and climbed on top of him again.


    ¡°It¡¯ll wait until tomorrow,¡± she said in the voice of someone who had just decided something very, very firmly.


    ***


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t there something you wanted to talk about?¡± Sen asked. ¡°I mean, before all of this.¡±


    While he waited for an answer, he lowered his mouth and ate one of the berries that Lai Dongmei had put out on her smooth, taut stomach. She shivered as he did, and then sighed discontentedly.


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s about that manual you want so badly.¡±


    Sen ran a finger along her inner thigh, causing more shivers. ¡°You don¡¯t have it.¡±


    Lai Dongmei sat straight up, sending the berries in every direction. ¡°You knew?¡±


    Sen gently pushed her back down onto the bed and began placing the berries back on her stomach. ¡°I suspected. It was one thing when your people were giving the person I sent the runaround. When the prince¡¯s people were getting the same treatment, I figured that there had to be a pretty compelling reason for it. You could have extracted a lot of advantages by giving him the manual. The simplest answer was that you didn¡¯t have it to give.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I would have given it to you or to the prince. Well, maybe not give. I¡¯d have charged either of you outrageously for it.¡±


    Sen nodded. He¡¯d been slowly learning how sects handled things like selling cultivation resources. With rare cultivation manuals, outrageous pricing was the norm, regardless of how bad a reputation the actual techniques in the manual had. He¡¯d been prepared to pay just about any price they asked for it and pay it gladly. After all, it was mostly going to be Tong Guanting¡¯s money and resources funding the purchase.


    ¡°Did you ever have it?¡±


    ¡°Not since I assumed the role of matriarch. We supposedly had a copy at some point, but it was gifted or stolen. The records are hazy about it. Intentionally, I suspect.¡±


    Sen couldn¡¯t hold back his sigh. He¡¯d suspected something like this was coming, but it was still a disappointment. He wasn¡¯t looking forward to tracking down Fu Ruolan, the probably crazy nascent soul cultivator.  He ate another berry off of Lai Dongmei and let the happy little noises she made distract him. If the manual wasn¡¯t in the capital, it wasn¡¯t in the capital. Being frustrated about it wouldn¡¯t help matters. He¡¯d just have to settle his business in the city and be on his way.


    ¡°Is there something else you want? Something we might actually have?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s less that I want the manual, than that I need the manual. I was nudged onto that body cultivation path by a smug turtle that I¡¯m starting to think wants me dead.¡±


    ¡°You met Elder Bo?¡± asked Lai Dongmei.


    ¡°Does everyone know that stupid turtle?¡±


    Lai Dongmei laughed. ¡°Only if they¡¯re nascent soul cultivators. Most of us have had at least one encounter with him.¡±


    ¡°And no one decided to make him into soup? I¡¯m surprised.¡±


    ¡°I wonder why he pushed you onto a body cultivation path that would be so difficult to complete,¡± mused Lai Dongmei as she picked up one of the berries and popped it into her mouth.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. If I¡¯d realized what a monumental pain the ass it was going to be, I might have asked a few more questions. Although, the tribulation was a pretty big distraction.¡±


    ¡°I imagine so. They just get worse and worse as you go along. I¡¯ve been putting off advancing again for a long time because of that.¡±


    Sen was about to ask her more about tribulations, but someone knocked on the door. That time, Lai Dongmei was less restrained.


    ¡°Go away!¡± she yelled, before grabbing a pillow and hurling it at the door.


    In the hands of a mortal, a pillow was a fairly safe object. In the hands of a furious nascent soul cultivator, it hit the door hard enough to send a crack right down the middle. There was a terrified yelp from the other side of the door and the sound of someone running away. Sen tried not to laugh and almost succeeded.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to have to go back out there at some point,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I know,¡± she said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t mean I have to be in a hurry for it. I don¡¯t get to be Dongmei very often. Once I go back out there, I have to be the matriarch again. It¡¯s tedious.¡±


    ¡°Then, leave.¡±


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll just up and quit being the matriarch of the Golden Phoenix sect. Nobody does that.¡±


    ¡°Why? You¡¯re a nascent soul cultivator. You can do whatever you want. It¡¯s not like anyone can make you stay.¡±


    ***


    The next morning, after a ridiculously long and vigorous bath he¡¯d shared with Lai Dongmei, Sen was getting dressed.


    ¡°It¡¯s a little depressing watching you put your clothes back on,¡± the woman observed from across the room. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose I can¡¯t tempt you to stay.¡±


    Sen shamelessly stared at the still-naked Lai Dongmei and smiled. ¡°You know you can. But I¡¯m pretty sure that your sect thinks I¡¯m holding you hostage in here. I keep waiting for them to break down the door to rescue you from that worthless peasant of a wandering cultivator.¡±


    Lai Dongmei snorted and started getting dressed. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t dare. So, what¡¯s next for you?¡±


    ¡°I still have one or two things to take care of here before I go looking for that manual. I¡¯m not quite done with Tong Guanting, yet. And there¡¯s that nonsense with the royal family.¡±


    ¡°Yes, the wedding. The word is that you¡¯re her true love and will disrupt the proceedings somehow. Won¡¯t all of this complicate that?¡±


    ¡°It might, except everyone knows that it¡¯s all made up. In the end, I¡¯ll just kill Choi Zhi Peng if he¡¯s too much trouble.¡±


    Lai Dongmei gave him a troubled look. ¡°It might be made up for you, but it may not be as made up for Chan Yu Ming. She may be more invested in the idea than you are.¡±


    Sen nodded in acknowledgment of the point. ¡°Maybe, but my agreement with her was to get her out of the wedding. Beyond that, she knows my priorities.¡±


    ¡°What about Tong Guanting? You¡¯ve practically bankrupted him. You¡¯ve killed most of his people. What¡¯s left?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m going to murder that man.¡±


    A very profound silence settled over the room. Sen glanced over to see Lai Dongmei staring at him.


    ¡°I know you¡¯re absurdly powerful for your advancement, Sen, but you can¡¯t beat him in a fight.¡±


    ¡°Who said anything about fighting? I said murder. I don¡¯t need to put a sword in his eye to kill him. There are other ways.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re serious? You really think you have a method that will kill him.¡±


    ¡°I know I do.¡±


    Lai Dongmei considered those words for a moment before she nodded. ¡°Once you wrap up your murdering and wedding disruption, you should come back here. I thought of some other things we should try.¡±


    ¡°Well, how can I turn down an offer like that?¡±

 V4 Chapter 60 – Actions and Consequences

    Sen made sure that he kept a neutral expression as he walked through the Golden Phoenix sect compound. He didn¡¯t imagine for one minute that anyone in the place was ignorant of how he¡¯d spent his time there. Still, he thought sauntering around was bad form. Plus, it seemed likely to trigger an act of violence from at least one of the dozens of angry, heartbroken men and women who glared at him as the matriarch of their sect escorted him to the gate. While Sen was working hard to not offend people he¡¯d rather not fight, the matriarch looked positively smug about the whole thing. When Sen had asked about it in a hushed tone, she¡¯d just smiled at him.


    ¡°What are they going to do about it? As you said, I¡¯m a nascent soul cultivator. They can¡¯t make me do anything. All they can do is talk about me, and that will only happen once.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s fine for you, but they might attack me in a murderous rage.¡±


    She let out a light laugh. ¡°No. They¡¯ll think about it. A few of them will fantasize about it, but none of them will actually do it.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°Because none of them want to find out what I might do about it. Not everyone is as cavalier as you are about nascent soul cultivators.¡±


    Sen nodded. She probably had a point. Not that he was actually cavalier about them. After all, Sen worked very hard to not get seen anytime he invaded the territory of the of one who wanted him dead. He doubted he¡¯d be in any more of a rush to tempt the anger of someone who was the absolute final authority in his own organization if he was part of one at any rate.


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± he agreed.


    ¡°Then why do you look nervous.¡±


    ¡°I just know what¡¯s waiting for me. There¡¯s going to be yelling. I might get hit a few dozen times by my friend.¡±


    ¡°Not much of a friend.¡±


    ¡°She truly is,¡± said Sen. ¡°She¡¯s just very protective about my general health and well-being, and I¡¯ve been going off and doing dangerous things by myself a lot lately. She wasn¡¯t happy before I disappeared for the five days.¡±


    ¡°A lover?¡± asked Lai Dongmei in a too-casual tone.


    ¡°Would it matter if she were?¡± Sen asked, just as casually.


    The matriarch¡¯s expression soured briefly before she huffed a little sigh. ¡°No. I don¡¯t suppose it would matter if she were.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if all those ridiculous stories about me cover this ground, but I don¡¯t take many lovers.¡±


    Lai Dongmei glanced at him before she shook her head. ¡°None of the stories I heard mentioned it one way or the other. Fawning, unrequited adoration comes up a lot, but nothing about you actually doing anything about it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you of all people understand exactly how off-putting that kind of attention can be.¡±


    ¡°Some men, most men, would love it.¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t. I gave serious consideration to giving myself a scar on my face for a while. Then, I realized that it¡¯d probably just go away the next time I advanced my cultivation.¡±


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t have helped,¡± said Lai Dongmei. ¡°In fact, it probably would have made it worse. You¡¯d have looked dangerous, mysterious, and still been absurdly attractive.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s not rational but that doesn¡¯t make it any less true.¡±


    ¡°Good to know.¡±


    They came to a stop just before the gate. The often elusive but never quite gone mischievousness in Sen¡¯s soul came out for a moment. He offered Lai Dongmei a deep, formal bow. She rolled her eyes before offering him a shallower one.


    ¡°Do come back before you leave the city. I don¡¯t know exactly where Fu Ruolan is, but I may be able to help you narrow down where to look.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d appreciate that,¡± said Sen, before he added, ¡°but I¡¯ll come back regardless. Assuming the gate guards will let me in.¡±


    Lai Dongmei cast an imperious glare at the gate guards who were pretending not to be listening in on the conversation.


    ¡°They will,¡± she stated in the tones of an absolute command.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°Then, I look forward to our next meeting.¡±


    ¡°As do I.¡±


    With a wink and a smile, Sen walked through the gate and back out into the city. While his little interlude of relative safety had worn some of the razor edges off of Sen¡¯s paranoia, it only took a couple of minutes of walking before he was on high alert again. He didn¡¯t really expect an attack, but he didn¡¯t see that as a good reason to invite one by being negligent about his own safety. He did take his time about making his way to the house that Lo Meifeng had acquired for them with a suspicious speed. She¡¯d announced that purchase less than a day after he¡¯d loaded her down with money. Sen had almost made the mistake of asking her about the details of the purchase, then better sense had taken hold. He was certain that he didn¡¯t want to know the details.


    Sen had spent the better part of two full days reinforcing the walls around that relatively modest structure. He¡¯d applied everything he¡¯d learned about formations in his time away from the mountain making that place both as secure as he possibly could. He¡¯d also taken a cue from Uncle Kho and set up formations to help concentrate the environmental qi on that property. His formations weren¡¯t nearly as efficient as the ones Uncle Kho might have done, but they almost tripled the qi density in that small area. Given how thin the qi in the city was, it was like walking into a wall of qi every time he set foot on the property. If he hadn¡¯t known all of those protections were in place, and seen plenty of evidence that Tong Guanting was limited to sending underlings to bother people outside his territory, he doubted he¡¯d have gone with Lai Dongmei. There would have been too much danger for everyone.


    Of course, danger came in lots of forms, which was why Sen was dragging his feet on the way back. He didn¡¯t normally avoid the consequences of his actions, but he didn¡¯t normally do things that were quite as selfish as having a tryst in the middle of a crisis. And it had been selfish, something that was just for him. He¡¯d wondered briefly why he¡¯d done it in the first place, but the answer was obvious. He¡¯d been pushed onto a body cultivation path that put a very firm cap on his life if he didn¡¯t complete it. He¡¯d been pushed into intervening between the fire cultivators and the water cultivators. He¡¯d been pushed into fleeing for his life from vengeful demonic cultivators and their minions. While he recognized that he had to own some of the responsibility for all of those situations, outside forces had been acting on him, driving his choices, and he¡¯d been tired of it. Going off with Lai Dongmei had been, in some small way, an act of rebellion on his part.


    It hadn¡¯t been the responsible thing to do. It certainly hadn¡¯t been the smart thing to do. It had simply been the thing that he wanted to do, instead of the thing that he needed to do, and that had been enough in that moment. Of course, he¡¯d also left everyone else to wonder what had become of him. They had probably worried. Then, they¡¯d probably gotten angry, and rightfully so. And he¡¯d left them to stew in that worry and anger for days. Sen knew that what was about to happen wasn¡¯t going to be pretty, and he¡¯d brought it all down on his own head. Taking a breath to fortify himself, Sen stepped through the formations that guarded their temporary home.


    He hadn¡¯t known quite what to expect, but the punch that took him across the face hadn¡¯t been the first thing he¡¯d expected. It wasn¡¯t a tap to get his attention either. Someone had put their all into it. His body had been sufficiently hardened by his cultivation practices over the years that it didn¡¯t break his jaw, but it did hurt. It also flung him across the small courtyard. Sen looked back to where he had been standing and saw Falling Leaf standing there, fists clenched, and eyes alight with fury. Sen considered her briefly before he pushed himself up to his feet. Once he was upright, she stalked over to him and punched again. They repeated that process enough times that Sen stopped counting. When it seemed that she¡¯d finally vented enough of her anger, she spun away and walked back inside without a word. Sen stood up, brushed off his robes, and went inside. Lo Meifeng and Shi Ping were waiting for him. Neither looked happy to see him.


    ¡°So, not dead,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Pity,¡± said Shi Ping.


    It was a little surreal for Sen to see those two as a united front, but he supposed that stranger things had probably happened¡­at some point¡­maybe.


    ¡°Not dead,¡± Sen agreed. ¡°Do you two want to tell me all the things you have to say together or take turns.¡±


    ¡°I want to know what in the hells you¡¯ve been doing for the last five days at the Golden Phoenix sect,¡± said Shi Ping.


    Sen looked at the man and shook his head. ¡°You really don¡¯t.¡±


    Shi Ping didn¡¯t pick up on it, but Lo Meifeng did. This time, it was her eyes that lit up with fury.


    ¡°Unbelievable. You just wandered off without a word for five days so that you could have sex?¡±


    Shi Ping¡¯s head whipped around to look at Lo Meifeng. ¡°Wait. What? He was off having sex? With who?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Sen, do tell? Who was so intriguing that you decided that it was fine to abandon us in the middle of everything that¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not an appropriate question,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°If you didn¡¯t want inappropriate questions,¡± said Shi Ping, ¡°maybe you shouldn¡¯t have acted like an ass. I want to know, too.¡±


    Sen thought about digging his heels in, but he supposed it was going to end up being an open secret, if not public knowledge, very soon. Sighing, he lifted his hands in surrender.


    ¡°Lai Dongmei.¡±


    Sen watched as that information reached their minds and slowly sank in. Shi Ping¡¯s mouth sort of fell open, and the man stared at Sen like he was some kind of strange, mythical animal that appeared in front of him. Lo Meifeng¡¯s reaction was less amusing, but probably more appropriate. She buried her face in her hands for a moment before she gave Sen a look of defeated weariness.


    ¡°I just wish that I thought you were lying,¡± she said, before turning and walking away.


    Sen could hear her muttering under breath and he was sure he heard her say ridiculous, impossible, and pain in my ass at least three times each. Sen looked at Shi Ping who had recovered from his initial shock. The man was shaking his head and clenching his jaw.


    ¡°I just,¡± started Shi Ping. ¡°You. It wasn¡¯t enough that you had beautiful women chasing after you and helping you. No, that wasn¡¯t good enough for the great Judgment¡¯s Gale. You decided that you needed to go out and find the literal most beautiful woman alive and go to bed with her?¡±


    Sen tilted his head to one side. ¡°Is that a rhetorical question?¡±


    ¡°I hate you so much.¡±

 V4 Chapter 61 – Back to Business

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying that you could have sent a message,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    Sen held his tongue for three seconds to make sure he wasn¡¯t about to make things worse before he answered. ¡°And what should I have said in the message?¡±


    ¡°That you hadn¡¯t been kidnapped. That you were fine. That you were,¡± Lo Meifeng trailed off.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Sen, ¡°that was the part that tripped me up. I wasn¡¯t going to tell you what I was really doing in a message that anyone could intercept. And realistically, after five days, would it have really changed anything? I get what you¡¯re saying. I should have let you all know that I was okay. I knew you were going to worry. I am sorry about that part. But I also know you. You would never have just accepted some vague assurance that I wasn¡¯t under duress. And, frankly, it wasn¡¯t anyone else¡¯s business.¡±


    ¡°I know you haven¡¯t figured this part out yet,¡± said Lo Meifeng with an unusual chill in her voice, ¡°but every damn thing you do is our business.¡±


    ¡°No, it isn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°It is because we¡¯re the ones it¡¯s most likely to blow back on. Every time you pick a fight with a sect, take sides in some political situation, or decide to bed the nascent soul matriarch of the biggest sect in the city, it puts us in the line of fire. By the way, I hope you haven¡¯t deluded yourself into thinking there won¡¯t be any fallout from the last one.¡±


    ¡°What? Why would there be?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not that stupid. Na?ve sometimes, but not stupid. Not unless you¡¯ve decided to be. Her list of would-be suitors and lovers could stretch from here to the ocean. So, naturally, you wander into the situation, ignore the existence of all of those people who would now gladly murder you, and spend most of a week locked in a bedroom with her. And you think nothing is going to come of that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like I married her,¡± said Sen, feeling a little defensive.


    ¡°A fact that I¡¯m certain calls for offerings to at least one god or goddess that has more wisdom than you. Also, not really relevant. What is relevant is that, as usual, you¡¯ve made enemies you won¡¯t know until they decide to act.¡±


    At that, Sen¡¯s patience ran out. He stood up from the chair he¡¯d been sitting in for his lecture.


    ¡°Enough! I understand that you¡¯re angry with me. But I am not going to apologize for the time I took for myself. Two years. Not even two years. That¡¯s what I have left at the rate we¡¯re going. So, if I decided that I could take a handful of those days and forget about the fact that I¡¯m dying, forget about all of the killing, forget about stupid mortal political situations, I will not let you try to make me feel ashamed about that. You don¡¯t have the right. You can complain to me all you want about how badly I failed at communicating what was going on. I have that coming. You don¡¯t get to judge how I choose to spend what little time I have left.¡±


    Lo Meifeng¡¯s face had gone ashen beneath Sen¡¯s abrupt tirade. Sen turned and started to leave the room.


    ¡°Where are you going?¡± she asked in a weak voice.


    Sen looked over his shoulder at her. ¡°To do what everyone seemingly wants me to do. I¡¯m getting back to business as usual. I still have a nascent soul cultivator to murder.¡±


    ¡°Sen,¡± said Lo Meifeng, ¡°that isn¡¯t what I meant.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it?¡± asked Sen, before he left the room.


    ***


    While Sen was at the house at times over the next few days, he wasn¡¯t present in any meaningful way. When he was there, he kept himself locked away in a room that he was using as a makeshift bedroom and alchemy laboratory, only occasionally coming out to eat something. When he wasn¡¯t sleeping or working on alchemical projects that he refused to discuss with anyone, he was gone. When the others offered to go with him, he refused them all with a flat expression and said that they couldn¡¯t go where he was going. It was true, as far as it went. Only Sen could hide from the normally all-seeing spiritual sense of a nascent soul cultivator, but he could tell that his coldness and withdrawal from the group had them all worried. Yet, he didn¡¯t see another way.


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    If he really was going to have to go and find Fu Ruolan, that was a danger he refused to drag others into. It was one thing to risk himself on a quest to find a mad cultivator when he was already dying. It was something else entirely to ask people who weren¡¯t dying to face a situation where their deaths weren¡¯t just possible, but probable. Beyond that, he had taken Falling Leaf with him once before where his death had almost occurred. It had changed her. He refused to take her with him when his death was a near certainty. Sen refused to have that be her final memory of him. He also knew that there was an element of cowardice in it. He didn¡¯t have it in him to watch her die. It would be too much. It would break him. So, when he left the city, he planned on leaving it by himself.


    Still, leaving by himself didn¡¯t mean that he had to leave them all in a terrible situation. He could resolve some of the problems and dangers he¡¯d created for them in the city before he did. To that end, he¡¯d been plotting Tong Guanting¡¯s entry into his next incarnation. The cultivator criminal had been busy during Sen¡¯s brief break. He¡¯d consolidated what was left of his men into one location. Sen assumed it was meant as either a threat or a lure, but that wasn¡¯t the building that interested him. The building that Sen was interested in was the one that Tong Guanting had tried to keep hidden. It had taken a while to find it. The nascent soul cultivator had hired someone to put up misdirection formations. They didn¡¯t hide the building so much as make people want to focus their attention on other nearby places. Sen had also identified a number of nasty defensive formations.


    Whoever Tong Guanting had found for the work had been good, but Sen had spent countless hours working with formations while his life and the lives of others hung in the balance. It had propelled his knowledge forward in ways that only life-or-death scenarios can. It took a little mental effort, but he figured out how to bypass those formations one by one without setting them off. That was important. He needed those formations to look like they were still active and working properly until he was ready for them to alert Tong Guanting that something was wrong. Sen couldn¡¯t be entirely sure that the building contained the remains of the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate¡¯s fortunes, but all the precautions suggested that¡¯s what it meant. He¡¯d also spent more than a little time tracking Tong Guanting¡¯s movements. Sen wanted at least a general sense of where the man usually was at any given time, so he could make his move at the most opportune moment.


    For all the complaining that the others had done about his little vacation, Sen had the sneaking suspicion that it was ultimately going to benefit this particular project. Sen understood just how hard it was to maintain constant vigilance. If he¡¯d attempted what he was planning a week earlier, it might have failed. He suspected that everyone would have been too vigilant. With Sen¡¯s reappearance in the city, he expected that everyone in Tong Guanting¡¯s employ had been very vigilant for a couple of days, yet Sen hadn¡¯t acted. He was able to very nearly watch the apathy start to set in. Guards paid less attention. Patrols happened less frequently. In the end, too much time had passed since the last attack. He imagined that they were all thinking that Sen had finally gotten tired of persecuting their entire organization.


    He supposed they were even right about that in some ways. If they were just a gang of formation foundation cultivators and core cultivators, he probably would have just tracked down their leadership from the get-go and killed them. A power struggle would have taken place and the group might have simply fallen apart from the internal strife. Even if it didn¡¯t, it would have been a long time before they were as organized and functional as they had been. Sen hadn¡¯t spared anyone and the ranks of the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate had dropped precipitously. Just as importantly, unlike a regular gang, those people were more difficult to replace. The number of cultivators looking to become full-time criminals was exceedingly low. Cultivators were, as a rule, spoiled for options that didn¡¯t involve crime if they spent even a little time looking.


    In the end, though, Tong Guanting was simply too much of a danger for Sen to leave the man alive behind him. That was especially true if he planned to leave Falling Leaf, Lo Meifeng, and Shi Ping behind when he left. Tong Guanting was exactly the sort of man to take out his anger on the people he could reach. As long as Sen was in the city, being visible and interesting, the other nascent soul cultivators would keep a close watch on Tong Guanting. Once Sen left, he suspected that their interest would swiftly wane. That is when the man would strike out at the people Sen cared about. Since Sen couldn¡¯t be sure that they¡¯d leave the city to protect themselves, he¡¯d just have to take a little some preventative measures.


    Still, he didn¡¯t rush things. He took his time. He watched. He waited. He developed countermeasures to things he suspected that Tong Guanting might try. Most importantly of all, he worked on the alchemical surprises he was cooking up just for the nascent soul cultivator. It turned out that making things that hurt people was infinitely easier than making things that helped them. Still, Sen didn¡¯t just need things that could hurt a person. He needed something that could hurt a nascent soul cultivator. So, he worked and refined his elixirs until he was almost afraid to get near his own creations. It was only when he¡¯d perfected the deadly little gifts that Sen decided it was time to make the final move in his war on Tong Guanting.

 V4 Chapter 62 – The Trap

    For all that Tong Guanting was doing to keep that one building out of mind for everyone, Sen didn¡¯t believe for a moment that it wouldn¡¯t be defended. In fact, he expected heavy resistance. That meant that he needed to either work very quickly or very quietly once he got inside. Otherwise, he ran the risk of someone getting away to warn Tong Guanting. While Sen was confident that he could kill the man, he had zero confidence that he could accomplish that goal while also trying to avoid getting crushed into a bloody paste by the nascent soul cultivator. His plan depended on surprise, not direct force. The main advantage he had was that no one was going to know he was inside until after it was far too late to stop him. The subtle apathy his extended break had prompted would help as well.


    Still, Sen didn¡¯t want to assume that everything was going to go according to plan. So, when the true dark of night fell, he spent a little time setting up a backup option in the form of a formation of his own. It wouldn¡¯t necessarily save him, but it might give him enough breathing room to get away if everything went tragically, horribly wrong. With the formation in place, he scaled the back wall wrapped in shadows. While hiding was limiting his senses, he was still getting enough information to understand where people were inside the building. He picked a window on the second floor, away from the main concentration of people, and used that as his way in. He did need to remove boards that someone had put on the inside of the window to keep anyone from doing exactly what he meant to do. It wasn¡¯t that the boards could really stop anyone who wasn¡¯t mortal, but that it would be difficult to do it quietly.


    Fortunately, Sen had some extra advantages. His metal qi let him liquefy the nails that held the boards in place. Then, it was simple enough to move them out of his way with a gentle application of wind qi. With that accomplished, he slipped inside. Once he was inside, he took his time again. Listening and sensing what he could. The information wasn¡¯t as perfect as it could have been, but it was enough to tell him there were twelve core formation cultivators in the building with him. Three of them were on the top floor with him, while the rest were clumped together on the first floor. He waited for nearly thirty minutes, just to see what people would do. The cultivators on the first floor moved around occasionally, but the three on the second floor hadn¡¯t moved at all. Sen suspected that meant they were asleep.


    Satisfied that he had learned what he could by waiting, he opened the door to the room he was in, using a little strategic air qi to ensure that no sounds would escape from the hinges. He crept down a spacious hallway to the first room where he sensed life. Using the same air qi trick, he opened the door a little and stole into the room. There were a pair of beds in the room, although only one was occupied. He observed the pair briefly before he summoned a jian from his storage ring. He reinforced the blade with metal qi, which also helped ensure that the edge was sharper than any metal could normally hold. When he¡¯d first begun this campaign against Tong Guanting, he¡¯d found himself hesitating in moments like this.


    He didn¡¯t know anything about these cultivators or why they were part of the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate. He¡¯d rationalized that maybe they¡¯d been forced into the group by some desperate need. Then, once they were in the group, they couldn¡¯t get out. But those had been the fantasies of a child, desperate to avoid grisly work. Hard experience had taught him that. These weren¡¯t qi-condensing cultivators who had no choice but to follow the instructions of their elders. The cultivators in that bed were late-stage core cultivators. They had choices and options. They had chosen to keep doing this when they could have chosen to do something else. Maybe being criminals wasn¡¯t all they were, but it was the only part that mattered to Sen. If he let them wake up, they would attack him. So, he didn¡¯t let them wake up. After his jian passed cleanly through their necks, he wiped the blade down on a blanket and left them where they lay.


    Sen returned to the hall and pushed his senses hard. If the cultivators downstairs had been paying attention, they¡¯d have felt the lives of those two cultivators wink out of existence. It would have altered them to his presence. Instead of feeling a rush of cultivators headed his way, he heard the sound of laughter coming up a short stairwell. Sen wasn¡¯t worried about the people downstairs discovering his presence. That was inevitable. He just wanted them to discover it on his schedule. Sen walked farther down the hall. He noted a door that was sealed with a formation but chose to ignore it for the moment. He snuck into another room and, a few moments later, he left a corpse behind him. Only then did he return to the room that had been sealed with a formation.


    Sen was impressed. While the work on the formations protecting the building had been good, the work around the door was excellent. He thought it might even be good enough that Uncle Kho wouldn¡¯t have sniffed in derision. Well, he thought, maybe not quite that good. To call Uncle Kho¡¯s standards exacting was a profound understatement. Sen did think that Uncle Kho might have said that the person who put the formation around the door wasn¡¯t entirely hopeless. As with the formations outside, Sen didn¡¯t just want to get through it. Breaking a formation wasn¡¯t easy, exactly, but it was straightforward. The problem with breaking it was that it tended to set off anything in the formation designed to alert someone to tampering. Sen wanted to go through the formation without breaking it.


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    Keeping an ear open and his senses open as much as he could to alert him to anyone approaching, he put most of his mind to work mentally disassembling the formation. It was actually cunning with those alerts he¡¯d been worried about looped back into the areas that Sen would normally have used to bypass the formation. In the end, rather than try to work around the formation, he ended up adding to it to redirect the alerts to endlessly cycle back on themselves. Then, he opened the door and walked in. Much as he¡¯d suspected, the room was full of money, natural treasures, and cultivation resources. While Sen thought that the formation on the door had been reasonably challenging, he doubted that was the last trap in the room. He spent another ten minutes identifying all the things in the room that were cursed in some way or intended as tracking devices. He was careful to leave all of those things untouched in exactly the places they had been left. Everything else, he stole.


    He took the time to look in the rest of the rooms on the second floor but didn¡¯t find anything of note. Accepting that he¡¯d done all the damage he could upstairs, he made his way over to the short set of stairs that led downstairs. Once he got closer, he could smell the wine and hear the raucous calls between the men. Shaking his head, Sen fed lightning qi and killing intent into his jian. He¡¯d discovered in one of his recent fights with Tong Guanting¡¯s people that just leaving the technique in the sword was more devastating against a group than unleashing it. As Heavens¡¯ Rebuke coalesced in the blade, Sen walked down the stairs. Everyone was so distracted with their drinking and joking that they didn¡¯t even notice Sen. He just walked over to the nearest man and beheaded him. Everyone was so shocked that he¡¯d driven his blade through a second man and nearly cut a third in half across the belly before anyone reacted.


    The terrible destructive power of Heavens¡¯ Rebuke was muted when it kept it contained to the sword, but only until the jian came into contact with something. One of the more sober ones managed to pull a dao and attack, only to see the blade sheared clearly into two pieces. She died a moment later with the same corrosive force chewing away at the wound across her neck. It was only then that someone thought to try a qi attack. Sen felt someone cycle for fire qi. He didn¡¯t even bother cycling anything. He just grabbed the nearest person and threw them into the path of the fireball. The fire qi wielder stared in shocked horror as his attack set his companion on fire. Sen briefly ignited his qinggong technique, shot across the intervening space, and bisected the fire cultivator with a vicious upward slash.


    Sen finally cycled for something other than lightning. The remaining cultivators, who had already been verging on panic at the ruthless slaughter that had seemingly come upon them from nowhere, tried to flee. Sen had been cycling for water and fire, turning all of the wine in the room into makeshift ice spears. Those frozen wine spears launched themselves at the disorganized and frightened core cultivators. Sen didn¡¯t particularly need the spears to do any damage, although he was pleasantly surprised when the spears lanced through two of his less attentive enemies. What he needed them to do was hold the cultivators in place for a moment to divert the attacks. In that critical moment when they couldn¡¯t flee, he landed in the middle of them. The ones he could kill immediately, he maimed. Cultivators lost arms or legs and kept screaming as Heavens¡¯ Rebuke stripped away flesh and bone as it worked its way inside of them. Sen didn¡¯t especially feel like a warrior in that moment, although he supposed some fool would probably have described him that way. He simply continued moving and cutting until he was the only thing left alive in the room.


    He took a long moment to look around at what he¡¯d done. Remembering the cultivator he¡¯d thrown in the path of the fireball, Sen walked over to the man who had struggled to his feet and found a spear somewhere. It was clear that the man had taken some damage to his eyes by the way he kept squinting and blinking in Sen¡¯s general direction.


    ¡°Who are you? Why are you doing this?¡± demanded the burned cultivator.


    Sen didn¡¯t say anything. There was no point. He didn¡¯t draw things out. He wasn¡¯t there to torture people or get information. Sen sidestepped a half-blind thrust and cut the spear in half. Then, he closed the distance and took the man¡¯s head. It was as quick and clean as he could make it. Then, he got to work. One by one, he pulled vials from his storage ring and placed them around the building. He put them on the floor, on shelves, and on tables. He put them on the beds in the room upstairs. He even left a few in the room that had been sealed. Each one was linked to the rest by tiny formation plates that Sen had been making while he waited for alchemical solutions to boil down or mix properly. Once he¡¯d put the last vial and its hideously dangerous contents in place, he checked the formation one last time.


    With that done, he just stood there for a few seconds and looked around. He felt like he was waiting for something. Then, he realized that what he was waiting for was for things to go wrong. He really hadn¡¯t expected the plan to go off without a hitch. They almost never did. Almost isn¡¯t always, he told himself. There¡¯s nothing to do now but see if it works. Sen went out the same way he¡¯d gone in. Once he was a relatively safe distance away, he intentionally activated the defensive formations around the building. He leaned back against an alley wall and waited. If Tong Guanting was true to form, he¡¯d arrive within two minutes. It was barely a minute later when the nascent soul cultivator crashed down through the roof of the building. Sen gave it five seconds, then activated the formation attached to the vials. It took about ten more seconds, but then Sen heard Tong Guanting start screaming in agony.

 V4 Chapter 63 – Conversing with the Dead

    The first few moments of screaming were so loud that Sen suspected that anything made of glass or fine pottery in the immediate area probably broke. Even at a bit of distance, the sound hurt Sen¡¯s ears. He was just glad that there weren¡¯t many people living nearby. Bit by bit the screaming reduced in volume to something more like what a normal human being would do. When Sen heard a noise that was probably something breaking through a door or a wall, he made his way back over to the building. He found Tong Guanting sprawled out on the street. There was already a stink of rot coming off the man. Sen focused for a moment, cycled earth qi, and shaped two stone chairs that rose out of the street facing one another. Sen sat down in one. He briefly cycled air qi, lifted Tong Guanting, and dumped him in the other chair. The nascent soul cultivator forced his eyes open. The whites of the man¡¯s eyes were bloodshot and yellowing, while there was a milky film obscuring his irises. He still saw well enough to recognize Sen.


    ¡°Poison,¡± coughed Tong Guanting. ¡°Tell me what it is.¡±


    Sen regarded the man with a calm expression. ¡°I didn¡¯t dose you with one poison. I dosed you with twelve. Honestly, I don¡¯t even think any of them have names. I made them for you.¡±


    ¡°Damn you.¡±


    ¡°I expect you¡¯re wondering why you can¡¯t do anything with your qi right now. If I were you, I¡¯d want my last act in this world to be taking me with you. I suspect you¡¯re trying right now.¡±


    Tong Guanting sat up a little straighter, fury giving him a moment of strength. ¡°What did you do!¡±


    ¡°I destroyed your qi channels.¡±


    A look of unadulterated horror spread across Tong Guanting¡¯s face. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I spent some time in Inferno¡¯s Vale a while back. Are you familiar with it?¡±


    The nascent soul cultivator slumped back down in his chair, no longer able to support himself. When he didn¡¯t answer, Sen continued.


    ¡°It¡¯s a strange place, but it is just overflowing with fire qi. I did something scary while I was visiting, so no one complained when I went and took a bunch of natural treasures from the parts of the valley they didn¡¯t go to very often. In fact, I¡¯ve spent a lot of time in places where people don¡¯t normally go. I collected a lot of dangerous things. I used some of them to make something very specifically designed to burn your channels to nothing. I wasn¡¯t sure how strong it needed to be, though, so it¡¯s entirely possible that it burned up your dantian along with your channels. The point is that, even if you still have qi, you can¡¯t do anything with it. I wasn¡¯t going to let you take half the city with you when you die.¡±


    Tong Guanting started shaking his head. ¡°Impossible. It¡¯s impossible. You¡¯re just a core cultivator.¡±


    ¡°I get that a lot. Here¡¯s the thing. I¡¯m pretty sure that I¡¯m not supposed to be here.¡±


    The dying cultivator in the other chair started coughing so hard that blood dribbled out of his mouth and down over his chin. When he finally managed to catch a little breath, he glared at Sen.


    ¡°What¡¯s that mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean, I don¡¯t think I was supposed to end up here. Not if things went the way they¡¯re supposed to with reincarnation. It took me a while to figure it out. I didn¡¯t know any better for a long time. It wasn¡¯t until I got out into the world that I started to see it. I¡¯ve got way more power than I should for my cultivation stage. I mean, I did some things to help that along, but those aren¡¯t enough to explain it. I¡¯m also advancing too fast. So fast that we actually have something in common. We¡¯re both dying. It¡¯s ironic really. All anyone needed to do if they wanted to be rid of me was wait a little while. None of this needed to happen. You¡¯re dying for nothing.¡±


    ¡°Why tell me this?¡± wheezed Tong Guanting.


    ¡°Because you¡¯re going to be dead very soon, and I wanted to tell someone. I know you¡¯ll keep the secret because you won¡¯t have a choice. Plus, since I made you my victim, it only seemed fair.¡±


    ¡°Fair,¡± sneered Tong Guanting. ¡°When has fair ever meant anything.¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°Maybe it doesn¡¯t mean anything. It¡¯s probably not fair that you got killed by someone a full cultivation stage behind you. Then again, I expect that your gang has probably killed a bunch of people who didn¡¯t have it coming. Maybe this is just Karma coming around on you.¡±


    ¡°You talk too much.¡±


    ¡°Alright. I don¡¯t mind if you die in silence.¡±


    Sen sat and patiently watched as Tong Guanting slowly deteriorated. He saw the veins and arteries darken until they were plainly visible through the man¡¯s skin. The muscle beneath the man¡¯s skin started wasting away, and his head started to loll to one side. While Sen was content to ride out the rest of Tong Guanting¡¯s life without speaking again, it seemed the cultivator criminal wasn¡¯t.


    ¡°Where should¡­you have gone?¡± the man asked in a choked whisper.


    Sen thought about it. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. A higher plane, maybe. A different world. Some place where my advancement would have been more natural. I guess that didn¡¯t fit in with someone¡¯s plans.¡±


    ¡°Plans?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just a guess. Things have been arranged a little too neatly for me here. I think someone is trying to race me through advancement so I¡¯ll ascend. Then, I expect I¡¯ll find someone waiting for me, expecting me to do their bidding.¡±


    Tong Guanting let out a choking, wheezing laugh at that. ¡°Won¡¯t¡­they¡­be surprised.¡±


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    Sen got half a smile that he was sure the other man wasn¡¯t physically capable of seeing.


    ¡°Maybe. Not if they¡¯re paying attention, though,¡± said Sen.


    He could feel the nascent soul cultivator teetering right on the edge of life and death. So, he asked the last questions that Tong Guanting would ever hear.


    ¡°Are you leaving anyone behind? Family? Children?¡±


    ¡°Why? Want to¡­kill them¡­too?¡±


    ¡°No. I have no quarrel with them. I¡¯d just rather not see them left destitute and without a home.¡±


    Sen thought that the man wouldn¡¯t answer or maybe even couldn¡¯t answer, but the criminal cultivator managed to gasp out a few last words.


    ¡°No family. No one.¡±


    Then, the last flickering remnants of life drained out of Tong Guanting. Sen wondered if a death like the one he¡¯d just witnessed was waiting for him if he failed to complete his body cultivation path. He found the idea painfully plausible, so he tried not to dwell on it. He still had a little bit of time left to work with. Not all hope was lost, yet. Sen pushed himself out of the chair and considered the body before him, and the building behind that corpse. Neither was safe for anyone to get near in their current states. The poisons Sen had used were so deadly and unique that even he only partially understood them. Fortunately, he had some options to work with. He started by cycling up some fire qi and burning the body and everything flammable in the building to ashes.


    He was very careful to keep those ashes contained with a combination of wind and earth qi. Once he couldn¡¯t burn the body or building any more than he already had, he stopped cycling for fire and focused most of his attention on earth qi. He drove that qi deep, deep beneath the city until he could feel the very bones of the world beneath him. He slowly turned that stone to liquid and pulled it up to the surface. He encased the ashes and what was left of the building in that liquid stone, sealing away any remnant poison in an impermeable stone cocoon. Then, he pushed that cocoon back down into the earth, so deep that no one could possibly get at it by accident. And even those who might, in some fit of madness, try to get at it on purpose would struggle to bring it back to the surface. Where the building had once stood, Sen summoned fresh soil. He used his wind qi to gather seeds and sprinkle them over the soil, and then wood qi to encourage their initial growth. It wasn¡¯t much, in Sen¡¯s opinion, but a small oasis of plants sprung up where so much death had happened.


    Sen felt them coming long before they arrived. When the three nascent soul cultivators touched down behind him, Sen didn¡¯t look at them. He really wasn¡¯t in a mood to talk to anyone.


    ¡°You actually killed him?¡± asked Lai Dongmei.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen, feeling very vulnerable.


    He had considered the very real possibility that if he successfully killed Tong Guanting, the other nascent soul cultivators in the city might decide he was a threat that needed to be eliminated. Their immediate arrival gave some credence to that suspicion.


    ¡°How?¡± asked Feng Bai.


    Sen ignored the question. ¡°I¡¯ve had more than enough killing to last me a long time. I¡¯d appreciate it if someone could be sent to tell what¡¯s left of the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate that it¡¯s time to find a new line of work. I¡¯d do it, but I think it¡¯d just turn into a massacre.¡±


    ¡°I asked you a question, boy,¡± said Feng Bai, his voice cold and demanding.


    Sen took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. This had been his other fear. That they would demand information or that he provide them with the poisons he¡¯d used. He had no intention of doing either. Sen felt that no one, including him, should know how to do what he¡¯d just done. He slowly turned and looked at his master¡¯s brother. Sen didn¡¯t have a good sense of his own emotional state, so he wasn¡¯t sure about his expression. He decided that it must have been fairly ghastly because Feng Bai¡¯s imperious glare almost immediately cracked into uncertainty. When Sen answered, his voice was utterly flat, emotionless, like the voice of a dead man who never quite made it to his grave.


    ¡°Would you like me to show you?¡±


    Feng Bai seemed to realize that he¡¯d crossed a line that he shouldn¡¯t have because he took on a more conciliatory tone.


    ¡°You¡¯ve had a difficult day. We¡¯ll discuss this at a more¡­,¡± he started to say only for Sen to cut him off.


    ¡°We won¡¯t. I have no intention of sharing the means or the methods I employed. That knowledge is mine. If you want it, earn it for yourself.¡±


    ¡°You need to learn your place, boy,¡± said Feng Bai. ¡°My brother obviously didn¡¯t do a good enough job teaching you that.¡±


    ¡°Spare me your posturing. Do you think I¡¯m too stupid to realize that the three of you let me deal with the Tong Guanting problem for you? I don¡¯t owe you anything. You owe me.¡±


    Feng Bai was trembling with rage. He drew a fist back.


    ¡°Enough,¡± said the man Sen didn¡¯t know. ¡°That isn¡¯t going to work, Bai. Look at him. Really look at him. He¡¯s not afraid of you. He¡¯s not afraid of any of us. Even if he didn¡¯t have the power to destroy us, which he apparently does, what happens if you injure him or kill him? You¡¯ll just draw the wrath of your brother down on us all.¡±


    ¡°To say nothing of Kho Jaw-Long,¡± added Lai Dongmei.


    ¡°And Ma Caihong,¡± said Sen.


    Sen found it deeply amusing that while the threat of Master Feng and Uncle Kho hadn¡¯t appreciably moved Feng Bai, the mention of Auntie Caihong made the man flinch. The angry nascent soul cultivator lowered his fist, took a shuddering breath, and shook his head.


    ¡°Ming always warned me about my temper,¡± said Feng Bai. ¡°I overstepped. I apologize.¡±


    Sen just wanted the frustrating conversation to be over, so he offered Feng Bai a bow. It was just barely deep enough to suggest that Sen acknowledged Feng Bai as a superior, but it was deep enough. Face was saved. Catastrophe was averted. Sen decided to take his wins where he could find them. Feng Bai was savvy enough to see the out that Sen was offering and accepted it, immediately taking his leave and flying away on a qi platform. The man Sen didn¡¯t know gave him a long, contemplative look.


    ¡°You have ice water in your veins, I think,¡± said the man, giving Sen a faint smile. ¡°I am Jin Bohai. When you reach the nascent soul stage, seek me out. I suspect that there will be things we could learn from each other.¡±


    With that, he too ascended into the air on a qi platform, leaving Sen along with Lai Dongmei. She gave him an uncertain look.


    ¡°I thought you were boasting when you said you had a way to kill him.¡±


    Sen sighed. ¡°I wasn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°You knew we were using you?¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that hard to figure out. All three of you are more powerful than Tong Guanting was. Any of you could probably have driven him out or killed him. As a group, he wouldn¡¯t have stood a chance against you. I presume you all had some obscure reason for not doing it, but you weren¡¯t going to pass up an opportunity for someone else to deal with him.¡±


    ¡°I thought you¡¯d be angrier about it.¡±


    Sen rubbed his face with his hands. ¡°What would that accomplish? I¡¯d be angry, and the three of you wouldn¡¯t care. I¡¯ve spent the last few days being angry with my friend and that didn¡¯t accomplish anything either.¡±


    Lai Dongmei studied him briefly and seemed to be weighing something before she said, ¡°I¡¯d care.¡±


    Sen studied her back. She could be lying to him, but he didn¡¯t think she was. There wasn¡¯t really anything to gain from it. He¡¯d already done what they wanted him to do. He felt some of the numbness inside of him recede and something rose up to take its place. It wasn¡¯t affection, but it might have been affection¡¯s cousin.


    He gave her a small smile. ¡°Okay. Maybe you would have cared.¡±


    She smiled back before her eyes looked off into the distance. ¡°I¡¯ll see to it that the rest of Tong Guanting¡¯s people get your message.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. I''m honestly too tired to go and deal with them.¡±


    ¡°You should get some rest. You look tired, which you really shouldn¡¯t as a core cultivator.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll need it. This was just one of the problems on my plate.¡±

 V4 Chapter 64 – Ruminations

    Sen trudged through the door of the house in the middle of the night. It was blessedly quiet. He found his way into the kitchen and made tea. He took his time with it, making it the way he had once done when he lived with Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong. Then, he sat down and simply held the cup in his hand for most of a minute. He didn¡¯t experience the warmth of it the same way he once had, which sapped some of the pleasure from the experience. Yet, the ritual and the smell of the tea still soothed him. He lifted the cup to his lips and took a sip, savored the subtle mix of flavors, and then swallowed. He hadn¡¯t bought the tea, but it was very good. He¡¯d have to ask the others where they got it.


    Sen¡¯s body felt heavy, and it was like his mind was stuffed full of loose material. It had been a long time since he¡¯d felt a tiredness like that, and he knew it wasn¡¯t just from pushing his body too hard. His physical resilience was still as potent as ever. He was tired in places that had nothing to do with the body. He hadn¡¯t killed a few of Tong Guanting¡¯s people or even dozens of them. He¡¯d killed hundreds. It hadn¡¯t even been fighting really. For all intents and purposes, Sen had gone on a rampage as bad as any spirit beast attack and figurately bathed himself in a river of blood. He''d only gotten away with it because they were all cultivator criminals, and anyone who might have stopped him had turned a blind eye.


    The civilian government probably couldn¡¯t have stopped him, but they could have made life impossibly difficult for him. Yet, they¡¯d probably been overjoyed to have someone slaughtering semi-immortal criminals who were beyond their normal reach. The other sects in the city had likely seen Tong Guanting and his people as a blight but didn¡¯t want to start a cultivator war in the streets. He still wasn¡¯t sure why the other nascent soul cultivators had tolerated the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate and its leader, but he suspected their answer wouldn¡¯t make sense to him. He supposed he could always ask Lai Dongmei if he really wanted to know, but he didn¡¯t suppose he cared that much or even thought that it mattered.


    Now that it was over, though, all of those people got to just move on. Sen was the one with all that blood on his hands. He could admit to himself that he didn¡¯t feel the kind of overwhelming guilt he had thought he might. They were all criminals. He¡¯d had personally witnessed some of them threatening and even harming mortals, then watched them laugh about it after. Those kinds of things had gone a long way to assuage his conscience. Yet, he wasn¡¯t na?ve enough to think that every person he¡¯d killed had been irredeemably evil. With so many deaths on his hands, it only stood to reason that some of those people might have been redeemed. Of course, the problem he¡¯d faced was the same problem that soldiers faced on the battlefield. Knowing that some of the people on the other side probably didn¡¯t deserve to die was something wholly different than being able to know them on sight.


    For all his strength and all his gifts, Sen couldn¡¯t see into the minds and souls of others to judge them in an instant. Whatever cultivators liked to tell themselves, and whatever mortals might think about them, cultivators weren¡¯t gods. Not until they ascended, at least, and Sen suspected not even then. He had fragmentary memories of seeing other worlds while he was recovering from Lan Zi Rui¡¯s vicious attack all those months ago. Worlds where cultivators had truly godlike powers, yet even there they hadn¡¯t been true gods. He was willing to admit that those might have been hallucinations his consciousness generated to help protect him from the pain of massive trauma. They hadn¡¯t felt like hallucinations, though. He¡¯d had plenty of those too, and the hallucinations had, for lack of a better word, a spongy quality to them. Those visions of other worlds had had a quality of depth to them, as though they were underpinned by something more substantial than Sen¡¯s meager imagination.


    He had much clearer memories of brushing up against that organizing power that seemed to permeate all of reality and the vast reaches of its domain. His mind wisely shied away from Sen¡¯s direct memories and experiences of the unspeakable distances contained in that domain, but it couldn¡¯t wholly lock away the overwhelming sense of the gulfs of space so grand that Sen had no vocabulary to describe them. Those experiences had been sitting in the back of his head for a while now, and he¡¯d considered them in idle moments, trying to soak meaning and understanding from them. While he hadn¡¯t gotten any specific enlightenment from those ruminations, they had led him to the inevitable conclusion that the reality was a dramatically more complex affair than most people credited. Yet, recognizing that complexity had in many ways made things harder for him.


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    As troubling as karmic consequences had seemed before, they seemed vastly more mysterious and difficult to assess with the sense that people didn¡¯t just live on this one world. While Sen suspected that most people¡¯s karma didn¡¯t extend beyond this one world, that was no guarantee. For all he knew, he had unintentionally influenced the karma of people beyond this world with his slaughter. Maybe it had been for the better, but maybe it had been for the worse. It had been that troubling line of thoughts that had ultimately taken him to the idea that maybe he didn¡¯t belong on this world. He¡¯d rejected it at first. It had sounded silly and far-fetched. Yet, that made more sense to him than the idea that he was just some kind of unparalleled, once-in-history cultivation genius. Even among genius cultivators, simply getting to core cultivation was normally the work of decades and that was considered meteorically fast. Moving through the stages of core cultivation could take someone centuries.


    Sen could recognize that he was relatively intelligent and had more than a little natural aptitude for the cultivation. He was also willing to work brutally hard to make gains. But he knew in his heart that he wasn¡¯t a genius. He wasn¡¯t crashing through advancement after advancement on his own merits and vast insights. He didn¡¯t think for a moment that he was better at fire cultivation than Shi Ping or Lo Meifeng. He doubted he could hold a candle to Chan Yu Ming¡¯s understanding of water cultivation. He kept surviving through a combination of excessive qi reserves, brute force, superior training, cultivation flexibility, and a kind of ruthlessness that made him feel like a stranger in his own skin at times. Those things made him seem more capable than he actually was in objective terms.


    If he was advancing on his own merits and relative understanding of cultivation, Sen estimated that he should probably still be somewhere in the low end of foundation formation. The irony was that he¡¯d probably still be considered a unique talent in any sect, at least if he was operating in anything like normal circumstances. Yet, looking back, he could see moments where he¡¯d accomplished things that only made sense if he¡¯d gotten profoundly lucky or had some instinct that he couldn¡¯t have gotten by being born on this world. Any time he considered that frankly insane experiment he¡¯d done to expand and reinforce his qi channels and dantian, he¡¯d marveled that he hadn¡¯t simply killed himself. He should have died. It shouldn¡¯t have worked. Not doing it the way he¡¯d done, in a mad rush to finish with advancement bearing down on him. The creation of Heavens¡¯ Rebuke was another moment where he¡¯d done something that no one had ever told him to do or even described. It had just felt like the thing to do.


    He suspected that somewhere deep in his soul, he carried some kind of instincts with him from wherever he¡¯d been before or maybe from wherever he was supposed to be. He didn¡¯t really understand the ins and outs of reincarnation, so there was more guesswork there than he¡¯d like. Looking beyond that, though, he could almost feel an invisible hand at work, arranging situations for him. Creating encounters that would rush him forward in one way or another. Encountering Master Feng alone was so unlikely that, considering it in hindsight, it strained Sen¡¯s sense of credulity. Of course, lucky encounters did happen, but they were rare. They kept happening to him. Unlikely situations, unlikely encounters, unlikely moments of enlightenment, and all of them racing him toward ascension. He could dismiss some of these things, but not all of them.


    Even if he was supposed to be where he was, someone or something was taking a hand in his life. Arranging things to ensure that Sen wrung the maximum cultivation value out of his time. Yet, those same situations were also pushing Sen to become a more effective weapon. While even he still struggled to accept it, he had killed a nascent soul cultivator. It should have been impossible at his level of development. Sen doubted that anyone else in the early stages of core cultivation had the exact right combination of talents, skills, and experiences to replicate that feat. He cringed inwardly at what he might be capable of if he survived to become a nascent soul cultivator. He suspected it would be equal parts awe-inspiring and terrifying. And Sen had become too jaded to believe for a moment that someone was going to all of the trouble to help make that happen out of some altruistic impulse. If or when he ascended, someone was going to want a return on their investment. And Sen feared that they were going to be the exact kind of people that he would feel compelled to tell no.


    Sighing, Sen lifted the cup to his lips again, only to discover the tea had gotten cold. Frowning, he cycled fire qi and warmed the liquid in his cup and the teapot. Hours later, when the others got up, Sen was still sitting at that table, a cup of cold tea held forgotten in his hand.

 V4 Chapter 65 – There’s Always a Next Step

    ¡°You should be able to move freely in the city again,¡± said Sen, ¡°Although, I recommend being a little cautious. There are a few Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate members floating around. If they¡¯re smart, they¡¯ll pack up and go or work very hard to find something else to do. But people aren¡¯t always smart.¡±


    Lo Meifeng gave him a searching look. ¡°You really pulled it off.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Shi Ping caught up with the conversation then. ¡°You killed that nascent soul cultivator?¡±


    ¡°I did.¡±


    Lo Meifeng and Falling Leaf seemed to take that in stride. Shi Ping looked like he thought I was flat-out lying to him.


    ¡°How?¡± demanded Shi Ping.


    Sen gave the man a wan smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t answer when three nascent soul cultivators put that question to me, so I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll tell you either.¡±


    Shi Ping frowned, eyed Sen, and asked, ¡°It¡¯s really safe to go back out?¡±


    This time, it took Sen a moment to catch up. He rolled his eyes. ¡°Yes, you can go back to the brothels if you really must.¡±


    Shi Ping gave Sen an assessing look.


    ¡°You went off for a five-day vacation with Lai Dongmei. You don¡¯t get to judge me.¡±


    Sen¡¯s immediate reaction was to tell the man off, but he didn¡¯t feel like he had a lot of room to criticize. Especially not after he¡¯d taken Lo Meifeng to task for judging how he spent his time. He felt like there was a difference between what he¡¯d done and what Shi Ping planned to do, but it would just start a fight that Sen didn¡¯t feel like having.


    ¡°Alright. I hear you,¡± said Sen, trying to be conciliatory.


    ¡°Good,¡± said Shi Ping, who sounded more surprised than pleased. ¡°Now, hand over some of that money you stole.¡±


    ¡°Why would I do that?¡±


    ¡°Because we were the ones who had to hide in this house, praying that your insanity was going to work, with no way to even keep tabs on what was happening. I think that deserves some compensation. Plus, are you really going to pretend that you need all of it?¡±


    Again, Sen felt like there was probably a principle that he could cower behind to avoid paying for Shi Ping¡¯s time in a brothel. Again, he recognized it as a fight that he might be able to win, but one that he just didn¡¯t want to have. Waving a hand over the table, Sen extracted half a dozen bags of taels from one of his storage rings. They made heavy thumping noises as they dropped onto the table. The wood of the table actually groaned a little beneath the weight.


    ¡°Divide it up as you see fit,¡± said Sen.


    Lo Meifeng and Shi Ping took an active interest in inspecting the bags and moving some of the taels around. Falling Leaf only gave the bags a cursory look, then just waited for the other two to finish. They each made two bags disappear into storage treasures. Shi Ping beamed at everyone.


    ¡°I¡¯ll see you all eventually,¡± he announced, and promptly left the house.


    Lo Meifeng shook her head. ¡°You realize he has enough money now to basically live in one of those brothels for about a year.¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s his life. I keep trying to make him into someone more like, well, us. It¡¯s clearly not working. Honestly, I¡¯m not even sure why I thought it would. You can brute force change in yourself if you want it badly enough, but you can¡¯t force that kind of change on someone else. At the very least, I won¡¯t keep pouring time and energy into him if he¡¯d rather go whoring. I don¡¯t have the time for that. I¡¯ll do one last thing for him that I¡¯d said I do, but then he¡¯ll have to decide who he wants to be.¡±


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    ¡°Then, we¡¯ll leave this terrible place soon?¡± asked Falling Leaf, hope burning hot in her eyes.


    It was the most life Sen had seen in her in weeks. He¡¯d been distracted, but he¡¯d noticed the listlessness of the transformed spirit animal. It was only a theory, but he was starting to think that she needed to be somewhere that the land hadn¡¯t been quite so thoroughly civilized. He nodded.


    ¡°Yes, we¡¯ll leave this awful place very soon. I only have two things left to do here, and then we¡¯ll go.¡±


    Shame burned in his stomach at the lie, but he kept it off his face and out of his voice. It¡¯s for the best, he reminded himself. She may hate you for it, but it¡¯s for the best. He summoned another bag of taels and deposited it in front of Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you get us some provisions.¡±


    It only occurred to Sen after he¡¯d thrown the money on the table that it was a ridiculous sum for provisions. Falling Leaf could probably buy out entire warehouses of food with what he¡¯d just offered her.


    ¡°And anything else you think we need or that you want,¡± he added.


    Falling Leaf eyed the bag dubiously, but it seemed the promise of imminent departure was enough to get her excited. She grabbed the bag, stored it, and announced that she was going to get them everything they¡¯d need. Lo Meifeng gave Falling Leaf a bemused look as the former ghost panther headed for the door.


    ¡°She seems happy,¡± noted Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°That¡¯s not very surprising. She hates it here even more than I do,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Do you? I wouldn¡¯t have guessed it.¡±


    ¡°Very much so. I only really came here for one thing, which I didn¡¯t get. The rest of it was just,¡± Sen searched for the right word, ¡°incidental. Now that I know the manual isn¡¯t here, I can¡¯t wait to leave. The people, the sects, the politics, all of it brings out the worst in me. There are just too many things here I don¡¯t like, which makes it very easy for me to make bad choices.¡±


    ¡°Like fighting with nascent soul cultivators?¡±


    ¡°For example. Or picking fights with people who are trying to talk sense to me.¡±


    ¡°Listen, Sen, I was,¡± Lo Meifeng began.


    ¡°Right. You were right. I didn¡¯t think it through. I didn¡¯t think about how it might affect the rest of you, or how many enemies I might make. At the time, I don¡¯t even think I cared. I just saw something that I wanted, and I acted. It was the same with Tong Guanting. The only difference there was that I saw something I wanted gone.¡±


    ¡°Those weren¡¯t exactly the same kind of situations. Tong Guanting was sending people to kill you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, there was that little detail.¡±


    Lo Meifeng¡¯s expression looked like she was biting into something sour. ¡°I may have been a little judgmental about the Lai Dongmei situation.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± agreed Sen with an emphatic nod.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be an ass.¡±


    Sen smiled and held up his hands in surrender. ¡°Sorry.¡±


    ¡°So,¡± said Lo Meifeng, ¡°I assume you¡¯re ready to do whatever it is you¡¯re planning to do about the Chan Yu Ming situation.¡±


    ¡°I do need to do something about it, but I¡¯m not sure what. I thought that Tong Guanting butchering the house of Choi would have put a stop to the wedding. I¡¯d also thought about asking you to help me make Choi Zhi Peng just disappear one night.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s certainly a workable plan,¡± said Lo Meifeng, perking up. ¡°Quiet and low risk. Who gave you that idea?¡±


    Sen rolled his eyes at her. ¡°Very funny. I thought it was a workable plan, too, until the wedding was still on after Tong Guanting paid them a little visit.¡±


    Lo Meifeng frowned. ¡°That is strange. The house of Choi doesn¡¯t exist anymore in any meaningful way. There¡¯s no good reason for the royal family to marry anyone to that family now.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I thought, but they¡¯re moving forward anyway.¡±


    ¡°Well, if there isn¡¯t a good reason, that just means that there¡¯s a bad reason we haven¡¯t seen. Probably some kind of indiscretion that no one wants made public.¡±


    ¡°You really think it¡¯s blackmail? I thought about it, but blackmailing a royal family seems like a huge risk for a noble house.¡±


    ¡°Not really. The royal house could probably have crushed the house of Choi in a straight military conflict, but they weren¡¯t in a military conflict. If the royal family decided to purge the house of Choi that way, they¡¯d have to explain it. If one of them did something that they don¡¯t want anyone to know about, they might decide that it¡¯s more practical to just buy the Choi family off with whatever they¡¯re asking for.¡±


    Sen thought it over for a while. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯m not sure there is a next step to take. Short of finishing the house of Choi off, which is a step I¡¯m not prepared to take.¡±


    Lo Meifeng laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous. There¡¯s always a next step to take. You even had the right idea.¡±


    ¡°Which was?¡±


    ¡°We start by taking Choi Zhi Peng. We just have a nice, long talk with him before he discovers exciting new opportunities in his next life.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve done this sort of thing before?¡±


    ¡°Lots of times. This won¡¯t even be that hard. I¡¯m usually up against cultivators, not mortals.¡±


    ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll leave the planning in your hands. Otherwise, it¡¯ll turn into some kind of catastrophe.¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. The earth will probably open up beneath us, and we¡¯ll find ourselves stuck in some outer region of the hells with no way to escape.¡±


    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s just a ridiculous-,¡± Lo Meifeng trailed off as she gave Sen a strange look. ¡°No. You¡¯re right. I¡¯ll handle the planning.¡±

 V4 Chapter 66 - Choi Zhi Peng

    A murderous headache was pounding in time with the increasing pace of Choi Zhi Peng¡¯s heart rate. He did his best to maintain a calm fa?ade, but the headache had been a constant companion ever since that bastard Tong Guanting had shown up and murdered nearly everyone. In doing that, Tong Guanting had accidentally elevated him to the role of house patriarch. House patriarch, sneered Choi Zhi Peng internally, what a joke. He had always assumed that he¡¯d assume that role one day, enjoying all of the status and luxury that came with being the patriarch of a major noble house. The problem was that there had to be a house for there to be a patriarch. Nearly every close blood relative Choi Zhi Peng had ever had was dead. All of their most knowledgeable and valuable servants were dead. Even the servants who had worked in the kitchen were dead. Not that Choi Zhi Peng really cared about any of those dead, but that one cook had always made pork fried rice just the way he liked it. That man¡¯s loss was a true tragedy.


    The only thing that had kept the house even nominally functional had been Choi Zhi Peng working nearly around the clock and massive outlays of money. He¡¯d needed to hire mercenaries to guard his home because that damnable Tong Guanting had killed most of the house guards as well. He¡¯d also needed to hire extra security for all of their holdings and businesses or the other houses would gleefully seize them. The costs were enormous and, he knew, unsustainable. Choi Zhi Peng had given brief consideration to grabbing whatever taels he could lay his hands on and simply running. Yet, not everything was as hopeless as it had seemed at first. He¡¯d made it clear to the king what would happen if the man tried to back out of their deal. The fact that the royal house hadn¡¯t moved against him had seemed to have a chilling effect on the enthusiasm of the other houses to finish the work that Tong Guanting had begun.


    The thought of having Chan Yu Ming in his power, finally, was enough to bring a smile to his face even through the headache. He¡¯d tried to court her when they were younger and the full extent of her cultivation prowess wasn¡¯t clear yet. He¡¯d been shocked when she didn¡¯t even try to hide her loathing. It wasn¡¯t just loathing for his house, which was commonplace enough, but for him personally. She had told him that, as far as she was concerned, he had less value than rat droppings. Those words had burned themselves into his mind. He hadn¡¯t been able to do anything to her then, because of her station and because she was a cultivator. He suspected that she thought being a cultivator would let her deny him. She was wrong. He had what he needed to bring her to heel. Won¡¯t she be surprised, he thought. Then, she¡¯ll find out what it means to be lower than rat droppings.


    As the pain in his head grew even worse, Choi Zhi Peng accepted that he wasn¡¯t going to get any more work done. He thought about going to bed, but he knew that he¡¯d just toss and turn if he didn¡¯t do something to relax. Fortunately, he had just the thing for that. Pushing away from the financial scrolls that continued to assure him that he couldn¡¯t keep spending the way he had been, he made his way to a particular panel on a particular wall that, with the deaths of so many in the family, only he knew about. He checked the hallway, making sure that none of the new and wholly untrustworthy servants were lurking, and opened the panel. He slipped inside the narrow, hidden stairwell and closed the panel behind him. The stairwell was a cramped thing with stone steps and wooden walls, but he didn¡¯t care about that. All he cared about was the peasant that was waiting for him at the bottom of those stairs.


    The foolish boy had dared to glare at him after Choi Zhi Peng had allowed his parents the honor of providing him with a free meal. The parents had known their place, at least, but the boy didn¡¯t. As it had done so often in the past, the duty to instruct the boy until he learned manners fell on Choi Zhi Peng. Of course, the boy¡¯s parents had begged and pleaded for the boy. He had enjoyed the sight of them on their knees, kowtowing to him as all peasants should. Still, that wouldn¡¯t teach the boy his place. That¡¯s what whips, knives, and broken bones were for, after all, to educate the ignorant. He just hoped the whelp didn¡¯t die before he was done with his instruction. Choi Zhi Peng felt a stirring in his groin just thinking about it. Yes, he decided, this will be exactly what I need. He didn¡¯t let himself rush down the stairs. He took the steps at a measured pace, let his anticipation build, and savored the prospect of whimpering cries of pain.


    As he entered the special room that his family had used for such activities for generations, he called out.


    ¡°It¡¯s time for you to learn your proper place, boy.¡±


    ¡°Funny,¡± said a woman who standing right behind him. ¡°I was thinking something remarkably like that about you.¡±


    No matter how startled he was, or how impossible it was that a stranger could be in this place, he¡¯d been trained to defend himself. Choi Zhi Peng spun around and sent a fist lashing out. A smirking woman dodged the blow like it was nothing. Then, as if to drive home to him just how little respect she had for him, the woman slapped him across the face. Choi Zhi Peng¡¯s world exploded into shades of white and red. When he could put thoughts into order again, he realized that casual blow had knocked him off his feet. He could taste blood in his mouth and he was having trouble opening one of his eyes. His thoughts were so muddled that it took him almost half a minute to realize the obvious.


    ¡°Cultivator,¡± he slurred.


    ¡°Oh, look who¡¯s back,¡± said the woman.


    Her tone was cheerful, but there was something in it that turned Choi Zhi Peng¡¯s blood to ice. All in a rush, clarity returned and the true horror of the situation dawned on him. He was in a place that no one else knew about with a cultivator who clearly meant to do him harm. Worse still, even if he screamed for his mercenary guards, no one would hear him. That was the whole point of this room. Desperate to escape, Choi Zhi Peng scrambled toward the stairs on his hands and knees. That lasted until someone grabbed the back of his robes and threw him across the room. He collided with a wall. After that, he drifted in and out of consciousness. He was vaguely aware that he was being moved. It wasn¡¯t until he was being hoisted into the air that he snapped back into awareness.


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    He¡¯d been suspended from the ceiling. He looked up and saw the manacles on his wrists, which were connected to hooks on the ceiling meant for that express purpose. He¡¯d planned on doing this exact thing to that boy. Hope sprang to life in his chest. The boy can run for help, he thought. Choi Zhi Peng looked around wildly, but all he saw was the woman who slapped him and a green-eyed girl. Even knowing that the woman was a cultivator, the look the green-eyed girl gave him sent lightning bolts of terror through him. There was nothing in those eyes that suggested she saw a person when she looked at him. It was like she saw a collection of things that she thought it would be interesting to take apart. The woman was looking around the room as if she was trying to understand what he was looking for.


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said. ¡°Wondering where that poor kid went? I expect he¡¯s been returned to his family by now. There wasn¡¯t any need for him to witness this.¡±


    Her tone was casual, nonchalant even, but that just made it worse. He was helpless here and they were going to hurt him. No, he finally admitted to himself, they¡¯re going to kill me.


    ¡°I can pay you!¡± he shrieked. ¡°I¡¯ll double what you¡¯re being paid. I¡¯ll triple it. I¡¯ll get you anything you want.¡±


    The woman gave him a pitying look. He turned his gaze on the girl only to feel his bladder let go. She had wandered over to one of the tables, picked up a barbed hook, and was giving him a speculative look while she hefted it.


    ¡°Please. Please don¡¯t do this,¡± he begged.


    He felt a hot stab of shame as he felt the tears rolling down his cheeks. This wasn¡¯t how things were supposed to be. He was the patriarch of the house of Choi. He felt anger welling up in him. He screamed and thrashed while the woman and girl mostly ignored him. As time ticked away, he started to think that this was all some elaborate joke or hoax. If they were going to torture him, they should have started. Choi Zhi Peng felt his own eyes go wide as the wall opposite him, a wall carved out of bedrock, seemed to turn to liquid and pull away. A tall, obscenely handsome man stepped out of that darkness. He nodded to the woman and the girl, then turned his gaze on Choi Zhi Peng. However frightening that girl was, she was nothing, nothing, compared with that man. His dark eyes might as well have been chiseled out of black ice. All of Choi Zhi Peng''s hopes that this had been some mistake or joke died the moment that his eyes met those of the cultivator who had stepped through solid rock. Those eyes, those pitiless eyes, belonged to the kind of man who was capable of anything.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± whispered Choi Zhi Peng.


    ¡°My name is Lu Sen. I¡¯m the man your family tried to have assassinated by Tong Guanting and his little band of helpers. I¡¯m also an acquaintance of Chan Yu Ming.¡±


    ¡°Oh gods,¡± whimpered Choi Zhi Peng.


    ¡°Not yet,¡± said Lu Sen. ¡°But maybe one day. I¡¯m going to explain to you what¡¯s about to happen here. Somehow, you¡¯ve managed to convince the king to give Chan Yu Ming to you. This, in spite of the fact that your house is in shambles and being reincarnated as pig feces would be too good a fate for you. Now, clearly, I¡¯m never going to let you have her, but I do want to know how you¡¯ve made that deal with the king stick. So, I¡¯m going to leave you to the tender care of these two fine ladies for a while.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you,¡± screeched Choi Zhi Peng.


    Lu Sen stared at him for five full seconds which felt like five hours to Choi Zhi Peng before the man said, ¡°I¡¯m not feeling patient today. Talk quickly.¡±


    Choi Zhi Peng explained everything his family had learned about the king and how they leveraged that information to arrange the marriage. Lu Sen said nothing, but his expression grew even colder and less forgiving with each passing word.


    ¡°Is that everything?¡± asked Lu Sen.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Choi Zhi Peng, nodding as hard as he could. ¡°Will you let me go now?¡±


    Lu Sen just lifted an eyebrow. ¡°I see you didn¡¯t understand. Regardless of whether you told me anything or not, I was always going to leave you with them.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± asked Choi Zhi Peng, his heart pounding in his throat.


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry. They aren¡¯t going to kill you. I¡¯m going to kill you. I¡¯m just going to wait until they¡¯re done.¡±


    ¡°No!¡± shouted Choi Zhi Peng as Lu Sen walked over to the woman and the girl.


    ¡°How long do you think?¡± Lu Sen asked the woman.


    ¡°Two hours should do it,¡± said the woman.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be back then,¡± he said.


    Choi Zhi Peng screamed at Lu Sen as the man disappeared back through that solid rock of the wall. The screams choked off as the woman walked over to him with a long narrow blade in her hand. She looked up at him with an all-too-familiar loathing on her face.


    ¡°A child,¡± she said, then drove the blade into his kneecap.


    It didn¡¯t last forever. On some level, Choi Zhi Peng knew that it didn¡¯t. It just felt like forever. Yet, for all the suffering, all the mutilation, all of his pleas for death, they didn¡¯t kill him. When they finally stopped doing things to him, it didn¡¯t matter anymore. The pain just kept going. There wasn¡¯t a part of him, what was left of him, that wasn¡¯t sending waves of agony to his mind. A voice reached that part of him that was still a little sane. He managed to open the one eye he had left and saw Lu Sen staring down at him with that same implacable expression.


    ¡°You know what the sad part is? I sincerely doubt that you¡¯ve suffered enough, but you¡¯ve cost me enough time. I will leave you with a parting gift, though.¡±


    Choi Zhi Peng didn¡¯t really understand what was happening until his body fell. When he struck the bottom of the hole that Lu Sen had made, he screamed as all of his injuries lit up with the fresh trauma.


    Lu Sen spoke down to him. ¡°No one will ever know what became of you. You¡¯ll just disappear.¡±


    ¡°End this,¡± wheezed Choi Zhi Peng, desperate for it just to be over. ¡°Just kill me.¡±


    ¡°I am killing you. The way you killed. I¡¯m killing you slowly. You will die alone, afraid, sealed away in the darkness.¡±


    It took Choi Zhi Peng a long moment to understand what the man intended. As the rock at the top of the hole started to run back together, Choi Zhi Peng screamed one last time.


    ¡°Kill me!¡±

 V4 Chapter 67 – Courtyard Chat

    Sen stood outside in the small courtyard of the house that was theoretically his. He mostly thought of it as Lo Meifeng¡¯s house. It wasn¡¯t a home he¡¯d have chosen. It was just a place to sleep and work while he was stuck in the capital. He intended to give it to Lo Meifeng when he left. She seemed comfortable in the city and, Sen presumed, that her work would bring her back to the city in the future. It would be convenient for her to have a place that was legitimately hers. He supposed that he would need to leave some money so she could hire servants to maintain the place when she wasn¡¯t around. She could probably afford it herself, but she¡¯d only bought the place at his request. No reason to burden her with financial problems when it wasn¡¯t necessary. Plus, he doubted he¡¯d ever return to this city after he left. Nor, he imagined, would he be especially welcome after he did what was necessary.


    Sighing a little to himself, Sen peered up at the sky but found it frustrating. Something about being in the city obscured the sky, reducing the number of stars he could see. Still, he persisted, quietly cultivating and considering his next steps. He¡¯d been standing there like that for almost an hour when he sensed something. He didn¡¯t hear her, so much as felt Falling Leaf approaching. She certainly hadn¡¯t lost all of her stealthiness in the transformation from ghost panther to human form. He¡¯d been surprised, at first, when she¡¯d decided to go along with him and Lo Meifeng to deal with the Choi Zhi Peng problem. When he considered how little she¡¯d had to do and how often he¡¯d gone off without her recently, the choice had made more sense. She had come all this way to watch out for him. Plus, he had the distinct impression that Falling Leaf¡¯s world was divided into two very distinct categories.


    There were the people she liked or at least tolerated. That was an exceedingly short list that mostly consisted of Sen himself, followed distantly by Auntie Caihong, Uncle Kho, and Master Feng, and followed even more distantly by Lo Meifeng and Chan Yu Ming. Then, there was everyone else. In the case of someone like Shi Ping, she seemed to put up with him because Sen put up with him. Beyond that, though, Sen didn¡¯t think that Falling Leaf cared at all about human beings. That seemed to give her a disturbingly casual attitude about whether any specific person lived or died. Not that she¡¯d go out of her way to hurt anyone. She¡¯d never been malicious. But once it became clear to her that Sen intended for Choi Zhi Peng to suffer and die, though, she¡¯d accepted it the same way she might accept that it was raining that day or that they¡¯d be eating chicken for dinner.


    The recognition that, when it came to humans, Falling Leaf was disinterested at best had brought up some old guilt for Sen. He¡¯d worried that this transformation had taken her away from everything she cared about and replaced it with things she didn¡¯t. That might have been okay in the short term because she¡¯d had a lot of distractions in the last six months or so. In the long term, though, he worried that she¡¯d regret that choice to change herself more and more. He feared that she¡¯d learn to resent him for it. Especially if he left her behind to go face the danger of Fu Ruolan by himself. Forcing a smile onto his face, he spoke before he could see her.


    ¡°Did you get everything we¡¯ll need?¡± he asked.


    Falling Leaf made an annoyed huffing sound. ¡°I miss being able to sneak up on you. It was funny.¡±


    ¡°Sorry. Should I pretend to be startled next time?¡±


    Falling Leaf stepped up next to him, gave the sky a quizzical look, and shook her head. ¡°No. It¡¯s not the same. What are you looking at?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not really looking at anything. The sky is just slightly more interesting than the walls around us.¡±


    Falling Leaf considered that for a moment, then nodded. ¡°True. I got everything we¡¯ll need for now. Lots of food. I¡¯d have gotten more, but my storage ring is full.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen. ¡°I can help with that.¡±


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    He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small handful of storage rings he¡¯d emptied recently. He¡¯d been accumulating them at an almost appalling rate during his conflict with the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate. It was only in the last day or so that he¡¯d finally had the time to start looking at them. He hadn¡¯t even gotten around to looking in the storage ring the Steel Gryphon sect had sent him after his confrontation with Tang Ehuang. Sen idly wondered if they really had imprisoned her or just told her to stay out of sight until after he left the city. He hoped that they had locked her up. He didn¡¯t need yet another person sending killers after him. Looking over at Falling Leaf, he took her hand and emptied that pile of storage rings into it. He found it a little sad how commonplace the storage treasures had become to him. Once, they had seemed like a miracle. Now, he handed them out like they weren¡¯t really valuable at all.


    He supposed the wonder he¡¯d once felt about them had simply been extinguished by knowledge and exposure. Even if he couldn¡¯t make one himself, he had at least a working understanding of the kinds of qi manipulation it took to make one. That had bled away most of his wonder at them. Looting them from the corpses of dead enemies had soaked up the rest. There was nothing miraculous or wondrous about that. Falling Leaf gave the storage rings a happy smile and put them into a pocket.


    ¡°Now, I¡¯ll be able to get enough food to last for years.¡±


    ¡°Did you get anything other than food?¡±


    She squinted at him in confusion. ¡°Like what?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Did you get anything for yourself?¡±


    She looked even more confused. ¡°I got food.¡±


    It took Sen a moment to reorganize his thinking. As much as she looked like a young woman, Falling Leaf was still a ghost panther in her thinking. She didn¡¯t care about things that normal people cared about. Fine clothes meant nothing to her, save that the material might be a little more comfortable. Money meant nothing to her, save that it could get her the things she wanted. And, for a ghost panther, wants were basic in the extreme. She cared about food and water. She cared about shelter. Anything beyond that just wasn¡¯t important to her. She already had a tent, so shelter wasn¡¯t a concern. All that left was food.


    ¡°Well, if you see something you think is nice or pretty, you should get it.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°So, you can have it later to look at or enjoy.¡±


    Falling Leaf frowned at me, then shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t need to buy things to look at.¡±


    ¡°As you say.¡±


    ¡°When we go, we¡¯ll seek the mad one?¡±


    Sen nodded, keeping an iron grip on his guilt. ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°The mad are dangerous. Unpredictable.¡±


    ¡°They are.¡±


    ¡°How will you convince her to give you what you need?¡±


    Sen had given that problem some thought and come up with exactly nothing. Saying something was insane was like saying that a plant was green. It told you something, but it didn¡¯t really give you any context. After all, there were a lot of different kinds of green out in nature. By the same token, there were different kinds of madness. Sen had asked some questions about her on the off chance he was forced to seek out Fu Ruolan, but the best anyone had come up with was that she was erratic. That put Sen in the worst possible position. He couldn¡¯t plan. He just had to wait and see what he got when, or rather if, he managed to find her.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he admitted. ¡°I don¡¯t even know that I can convince her or that it will even be necessary. Do you remember what Uncle Kho said about her? He said that, if I catch her in the right frame of mind, she might just give it to me, pat me on the head, and send me on my way.¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t say she¡¯d pat you on the head,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    ¡°He implied it.¡±


    ¡°He also said she might just kill you for bothering her.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°He did. At this point, though, it doesn¡¯t change anything. I need that manual, and she¡¯s the last person who might have it.¡±


    ¡°We hope.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°We hope.¡±


    ¡°What will you do about the king?¡± asked Falling Leaf in a tone that suggested she was only mildly curious.


    If it had been anyone else in the entire world, he would have thought that this whole conversation had been about getting to that question. With Falling Leaf, he believed that she really was only mildly curious.


    ¡°About what you¡¯d expect.¡±


    A faint line appeared on Falling Leaf¡¯s forehead as she thought about those words. ¡°If you kill him, won¡¯t Chan Yu Ming be angry with you?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I expect that she¡¯ll be very angry with me.¡±


    ¡°Maybe you should get someone else to do it.¡±


    ¡°Like who?¡±


    ¡°One of the other royal people? He has sons, doesn¡¯t he? Let one of them challenge to be pride leader.¡±


    While Sen knew that things didn¡¯t work quite that way, it did give him an idea.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± he said.


    ¡°For what?¡±


    ¡°Being you.¡±

 V4 Chapter 68 – Hello, Your Majesty

    Sen lounged on the throne, feeling both bored and uncomfortable. While security around the royal palace was probably very tight for any malicious mortal trying to find a way in, it had been stupidly easy for him to infiltrate the place. It had also been absurdly easy for him to subdue the various guards and servants who found their way into the throne room. He¡¯d made a pile of them in a corner. Sadly, at least one of them was snoring loudly, which was aggravating at the best of times. Yet, it was the throne itself that Sen found the most annoying part. It was a big, ornate thing with lots of gilding. It looked expensive and impressive, yet had seemingly been designed by someone who didn¡¯t care about the way that a human body actually worked. The corners of everything were too sharp as if to cut into the flesh of anyone that moved too fast. If he wasn¡¯t a body cultivator, he didn¡¯t think he could tolerate sitting on it for hours on end. If he was the king, he¡¯d make someone build him a better throne.


    When he¡¯d first thought this idea up, it had seemed like a good one. After an hour of waiting, though, he was wishing that he¡¯d come up with something else. He¡¯d assumed that the disappearance of so many guards and servants would have caused more of a stir, especially around the throne room. Yet, no one had come to investigate. Sen considered going and looking for his quarry when he heard the sounds of lots of footsteps rushing toward the throne room. He sat up straight and adopted a disdainful air. He summoned a jian from his storage ring and casually rested it across his knees. When the doors burst and palace guards poured in, he knew that he was finally making progress. The armored guards lined up in two rows on the far side of the room. Behind them, he saw an older man with long gray hair pulled back into a topknot with golden rings. At the sight of Sen sitting on the throne, the older man¡¯s eyes filled with fury.


    ¡°How dare you?¡± the man roared.


    ¡°Hello, your majesty.¡±


    ¡°Seize him!¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow as he reached out to all of the guards with his killing intent. Compared to cultivators, the mortal guards had no defenses against such an attack. Sen waved a hand.


    ¡°Sit.¡±


    Every single guard was driven to the floor in a crash of weapons and armor. A brief application of wind qi slammed the doors closed behind the king.


    ¡°That is my throne. You will remove yourself from it!¡±


    Sen had to give the man credit. He knew he was facing off against a cultivator, but he hadn¡¯t descended into fear or blubbering.


    ¡°No. It was your throne. Now, it¡¯s my throne until I decide what I¡¯m going to do with it.¡±


    ¡°This isn¡¯t how things are done. I am the-,¡± the king started.


    ¡°Silence,¡± ordered Sen, letting some of his auric imposition settle on the king.


    The older man¡¯s words choked off into spluttering. With another gesture, Sen seized the older man in a fist of air qi and dragged him across the room. While it was a trivial display of power on Sen¡¯s part, the King¡¯s eyes finally went wide with fear. Sen dropped the man in front of the throne. The king started to stand, only for Sen to drive him to his knees with a burst of air qi. Rage contorted the king¡¯s expression as he started bellowing.


    ¡°I will not be treated this way in my own palace. I will have you killed, you worthless cultivator dog.¡±


    Sen backhanded the man. He was careful to restrain his strength. He didn¡¯t want to kill the king before the show was over. Even so, the king was knocked over. The king glared up at Sen from the floor.


    ¡°I know,¡± said Sen, before the king could work himself up into any more bluster.


    That was all it took. The king went from trying to put on a show of imperious self-assurance to begging through bloodied lips.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you whatever you want. Just tell me what it is, and I¡¯ll give it to you. Money. Lands. Women. Anything you want.¡±


    ¡°I want you to be silent. Don¡¯t worry, your family will be here soon. Then, you can explain to all of them why I¡¯m here.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t even know who you are, let alone why you¡¯re here.¡±


    Sen feigned an expression of chagrined horror.


    ¡°Did I not introduce myself? Oh, what terrible manners on my part. My name is Lu Sen. I¡¯m acquainted with your daughter. She might have mentioned me. Oh,¡± said Sen, ¡°she might have called me by this silly little title that¡¯s been going around in some stories recently.¡±


    The king had gone perfectly still at the mention of Sen¡¯s name. He¡¯d grown paler and paler with each passing word.


    ¡°What title?¡± whispered the king


    ¡°Judgment¡¯s Gale. Apparently, I¡¯ve developed this reputation for blowing through places and destroying the wicked. Especially those who have abused their power. I can¡¯t imagine why.¡±


    ¡°You have to understand,¡± said the king.


    Sen fixed the king with a look and let the tiniest sliver of his killing intent slip free. The king¡¯s jaw snapped shut, and he refused to meet Sen¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°Do not speak again until you are bid to do so. Now,¡± said Sen, pointing to a spot in front of the throne, ¡°kneel.¡±


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    The pair of them sat there in utter silence for almost half an hour before Prince Jing ushered the rest of the royal family into the throne room. Chan Yu Ming¡¯s eyes met Sen¡¯s and a bright smile started to form before she fully took in the state of the throne room. She looked briefly confused before anger took root. The rest of the royal family wore stunned expressions. Even Prince Jing, who had known that something was going to happen, seemed to be struggling to take in the sight before his eyes. The room remained locked in that state for a moment before the guards who had come in behind the royals came to their senses. They surged forward, only to be driven into unconsciousness by Sen¡¯s auric imposition. The sudden collapse of the guards shocked even Chan Yu Ming. She took a step forward.


    ¡°Sen, what is the meaning of this?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°Choi Zhi Peng is dead,¡± Sen announced. ¡°They won¡¯t find his body, but I assure you that he is quite dead.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming¡¯s face couldn¡¯t seem to settle into any one expression. There was hope, fear, more confusion, more anger, and then it cycled back to hope again.


    ¡°He¡¯s really dead?¡± she asked.


    ¡°He is.¡±


    ¡°How?¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at her. He¡¯d thought that the answer was pretty obvious, but he answered anyway.


    ¡°I executed him.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming¡¯s expression finally settled on one emotion. Relief.


    ¡°I thought,¡± she started. ¡°I hadn¡¯t heard from you. I thought you changed your mind.¡±


    ¡°I said I¡¯d help you. I hadn¡¯t planned on it happening this way, but I adapted to the circumstances. Still, that isn¡¯t why we¡¯re all here.¡±


    An older woman stepped forward, casting a baleful look at Sen. ¡°Who do you think you are to treat the royalty this way?¡±


    Sen met the woman¡¯s eyes. ¡°I would take great care in the words you choose to utter in this room. I haven¡¯t decided how many of you are going to survive the next hour.¡±


    ¡°Sen!¡± shouted Chan Yu Ming, appalled at his words.


    A hard look from Sen brought her up short.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t bring you here to talk to me. I brought you here to listen,¡± said Sen. ¡°Your honorable king is going to explain to you why I¡¯m here. Why he was going to trade Chan Yu Ming to the Choi family. He¡¯s going to tell you everything. Isn¡¯t that right, your majesty?¡±


    When the king didn¡¯t say anything, Sen unleashed a little more of his killing intent. The king flinched and then cried out.


    ¡°Yes! I¡¯ll tell them.¡±


    ¡°Excellent. Face them. Look them in the eyes while you tell them what you traded away your honor for. What you were willing to sell your daughter to keep secret.¡±


    The king slowly pushed himself up off the floor. He stared up at Sen with a naked plea for mercy in his eyes. Sen looked back at the man with nothing but cold resolve on his face. Not finding what he wanted in Sen, the king turned to face his family. He opened his mouth and froze, feeling the point of a blade on the back of his neck.


    ¡°If you lie,¡± said Sen, ¡°I will make you suffer in ways you cannot imagine.¡±


    Sen heard the king swallow. Then, the king started speaking in a halting burst.


    ¡°I sold people,¡± he said. ¡°I sold people to demonic cultivators.¡±


    ¡°What people?¡± demanded Prince Jing.


    ¡°Yes, your majesty,¡± added Sen, ¡°what people?¡±


    ¡°Men. Women. Children. Whatever they asked for. Whatever they needed for their rituals.¡±


    While the king was speaking, Sen was studying the faces of the royal family. It was clear from the distress on Chan Yu Ming¡¯s face that she hadn¡¯t known. The blind fury on Prince Jing¡¯s face suggested that he hadn¡¯t known either. The other prince, who Sen didn¡¯t even have a name for, looked guilty. Sen hadn¡¯t expected that. The other princesses looked too stunned to get a clear read on them. The queen had better control over her expression than her children, but Sen could see it in her eyes. She had known.


    ¡°Father, how could you?¡± shouted Prince Jing.


    Sen held up a hand to stop any more outbursts and poked the back of the king¡¯s neck with his jian. ¡°Tell them the rest.¡±


    ¡°I kept some people for myself,¡± he said through clenched teeth.


    ¡°Remember that suffering we talked about,¡± said Sen. ¡°The time for that is rapidly approaching. Explain it to them in plain terms. Who did you keep?¡±


    ¡°Boys.¡±


    ¡°What did you do to them?¡±


    ¡°I made them pleasure me.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t give any more warnings. He grabbed the king¡¯s left elbow and squeezed until the bones shattered. The king screamed. Chan Yu Ming lurched toward them, only to stumble to a stop as Sen let some of his killing intent loose on her. She stared at him with a dumbfounded expression on her face. She¡¯d never been on the receiving end of his killing intent, not even during their duel on the battlefield in Inferno¡¯s Vale. No one moved as the king¡¯s screaming slowly ebbed away to choked sobs.


    ¡°Try again,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I raped them.¡±


    ¡°How often?¡±


    The king¡¯s face turned down toward the floor until Sen screamed at him.


    ¡°Look at your family!¡±


    The King forced his head back up to look at his wife and children, most of whom were staring at him in disgust.


    ¡°Now,¡± said Sen. ¡°Tell them how often.¡±


    ¡°Over and over and over.¡±


    ¡°For how long?¡±


    ¡°Years.¡±


    ¡°And when you were done with them,¡± said Sen in a voice that felt like it was made from gravel, ¡°what did you do? Be. Specific.¡±


    ¡°I choked them to death while I pleasured myself.¡±


    Sen grabbed the king by the shoulder and drove him back to his knees, eliciting another scream of agony from the man. Sen gave the rest of the royal family a hard look.


    ¡°Your king. How noble he is. And how noble you two are,¡± said Sen, looking first at the queen and then at the other prince. ¡°Knowing, and bravely doing nothing.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming whirled on her mother.


    ¡°You knew!¡±


    Chan Yu Ming¡¯s mother lifted her chin. ¡°He is the king.¡±


    ¡°He was,¡± said Prince Jing.


    The prince stormed over to his father with a jian in hand. Sen could see the prince gripping the hilt so tightly that his knuckles were white. There was no art to it or delicate maneuvering of the blade. The prince drove his jian through his father¡¯s heart with nothing but main force. Sen heard the ribs break in the king¡¯s chest.


    ¡°No!¡± screamed the queen. ¡°Jing, how could you?¡±


    ¡°How could I?¡± he roared, ripping his jian out of the king¡¯s chest and spinning toward his family. ¡°How could I? How could you not?¡±


    Prince Jing started walking toward his mother, his chest heaving, the sword trembling in his hand. Sen could feel the murderous rage boiling off of the prince. Chan Yu Ming was staring at her father¡¯s corpse like she was in a daze. Her sisters were screaming and wailing. The queen was slowly backing away from her apoplectic son. She looked to the other prince.


    ¡°Liwei,¡± she shrieked, ¡°help me.¡±


    The other prince gave Jing a malicious sneer. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for this for a long time. After I cut you down, I¡¯ll sit on that throne.¡±


    Liwei drew his own jian and advanced on Jing. It was a shockingly brief fight, even by Sen¡¯s estimation. Jing barely broke his stride toward his mother. He took a half-second pause during which he parried a clumsy thrust by Liwei and then opened his brother¡¯s throat. As Liwei choked and gurgled his last on the floor amid the hysterical reactions of his sisters, Jing closed on his mother. Chan Yu Ming came out of her daze at that point.


    ¡°Jing!¡± she screamed.


    Where all else had failed to cut through the prince¡¯s incandescent fury, Chan Yu Ming screaming his name seemed to bring the man back to sanity. He paused.


    ¡°Jing, please don¡¯t,¡± begged Chan Yu Ming.


    That moment seemed to stretch out as Jing stared at his terrified, sobbing mother, and Chan Yu Ming stared at her brother. Finally, Jing spoke.


    ¡°Find a guard. Have them bring chains.¡±

 V4 Chapter 69 – Mirror

    There was chaos in the throne room after the prince¡¯s rather decisive to, in effect, claim the throne. Guards and servants were summoned. The guards took the queen away in chains, cursing her unfilial child all the way. The servants were tasked with taking away Chan Yu Ming¡¯s hysterical sisters and rousing all the people Sen rendered unconscious. In the midst of all of that, Sen tried to fade away into the background. It was almost a successful venture. He¡¯d gotten as far as a side door before the prince called out after him.


    ¡°So, is that it? You send the kingdom into chaos and turmoil, and then you leave without a word.¡±


    Sen turned and met the prince¡¯s angry eyes. ¡°The kingdom was already in chaos and turmoil. All that¡¯s changed is that now you know about it.¡±


    ¡°You planned all of this, didn¡¯t you? You expected me to kill him.¡±


    ¡°He needed to die. I knew that much. It was better for the kingdom if someone in your family did it. Yes, it was also better for me if someone in your family did it. If one of you hadn¡¯t killed him, though, I would have.¡±


    ¡°And what if we¡¯d closed ranks to protect him.¡±


    Sen let the silence linger between them for several seconds. ¡°What do you imagine I would have done?¡±


    ¡°The person who visited my home and discussed politics with me? I think that man would have left in disgust. Except, you aren¡¯t that man. This is who you really are. If we¡¯d chosen to protect him, I think the man standing in front of me would have slain us all.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s an answer. You were wrong about two things, though.¡±


    ¡°Was I?¡± asked the prince.


    ¡°Yes. First, I am both of those men. I lesson I had to learn the hardest possible way is that I can be more than one thing. The second thing,¡± said Sen, ¡°is that you didn¡¯t fail my test.¡±


    Jing was caught so off-guard by that statement that it seemed to disrupt the not entirely unreasonable anger he was feeling at Sen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    ¡°You are, against all odds, a decent man. The fight I was in at the time was no place for a decent man. A break with me was the surest protection you could get. As my ally, you were a target with no real defense against the people who would have come for you.¡±


    ¡°Do you even recognize how patronizing that is?¡±


    ¡°I¡­what?¡±


    ¡°Your excuse is that it was all for my own good. You made that decision like I wasn¡¯t intelligent enough to understand the dangers inherent in the situation. Do I strike you as stupid?¡±


    ¡°No. You do not.¡±


    A wearying realization that he¡¯d been here before settled over Sen. Hadn¡¯t he done the same thing with Lifen? Withheld information because he didn¡¯t think it would benefit her to know it. He remembered how angry she¡¯d been when she found out. He thought she¡¯d been almost as angry as the prince was with him now.


    ¡°It probably never even occurred to you that I could have helped you. The same way that I could have helped you do this,¡± he swept his hand around the room, ¡°in a way that wouldn¡¯t require my sisters to live with the memory of me butchering our father and brother.¡±


    ¡°This needed to happen,¡± said Sen, anger bleeding into his voice.


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    ¡°Of course, this needed to happen. I knew it. You knew it. Everyone in this room knew it. But there were other ways to do it! And if you would have just talked to me, like a friend, I would have told you that! Instead, you forced my hand and put me in a position where I had to act.¡±


    Sen felt like his heart stopped. He remembered hurling nearly identical words at Lo Meifeng. He¡¯d felt so sure about those words. He¡¯d been so certain that he was in the right. Yet, here he was doing the same thing to someone else. The scale wasn¡¯t quite the same. The prince had only killed two people, and Sen was very confident they¡¯d both had it coming. The offense itself, though? That was close enough that it was all but indistinguishable save for some details. No, thought Sen, it isn¡¯t the same. In a grim moment of realization, he saw that what he¡¯d done was worse. Lo Meifeng had acted in a moment of desperation. She had stumbled onto a full-scale cultivator battle and reacted.


    He had engineered the confrontation. He¡¯d ensured that everyone would be present. He¡¯d taken his assessment of the prince¡¯s character and judged that the prince would likely do what Sen wanted him to do. Sure, it was almost certainly for the greater good. The kingdom would probably be better off for it in the long run. Sen truly believed that anyone who was so fundamentally broken as a person that they could do the things the king had done was likely a terrible ruler. And exactly none of that mattered to the prince, or likely to Chan Yu Ming, or their sisters. Just like none of Lo Meifeng¡¯s reasons had mattered to him because the pain wasn¡¯t measured in abstractions like the greater good. Pain was fundamentally a personal experience, and he had caused all of these people pain. He suspected much of it had been unavoidable pain, but he also thought that he¡¯d made it worse than it needed to be. Sen had manipulated someone he thought of as a friend to get the result he wanted. When it was all said and done, that was what the prince would take away from the situation because it was the truth. Sen was so caught up in his thoughts that it startled him when the prince spoke again.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have anything to say?¡±


    Sen hesitated and then spoke. ¡°If it¡¯s a consolation to you, there is a very good chance I¡¯ll be dead inside of two years.¡±


    ¡°Why would that be a consolation to me? You being dead doesn¡¯t solve anything.¡±


    ¡°I just meant that it¡¯s unlikely that I¡¯ll trouble your kingdom again.¡±


    ¡°Is that what you think I care about?¡±


    ¡°No. I expect you want an apology.¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you?¡±


    Sen suppressed the urge to laugh at the bitter irony of it all. ¡°I would. I¡¯d also want the person to mean it.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying that a simple apology is beyond you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about the pain I¡¯ve caused all of you,¡± said Sen. ¡°But I made what I thought were the best choices based on what I knew and believed at the time. Put in the same position with the same information and beliefs, though, I¡¯d make the same choices. I¡¯m sure that isn¡¯t what you want to hear, because it wasn¡¯t what I wanted to hear when I was on the other side of this conversation.¡±


    The prince¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°If you¡¯ve been on my side of this conversation, why would you ever do that to someone?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t always see ourselves clearly. At least, I don¡¯t. You don¡¯t always recognize when you¡¯re walking down the path to a bad decision,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°That¡¯s an easy excuse.¡±


    ¡°You know that it¡¯s not an excuse. It¡¯s a truth. One I hope you avoid when you¡¯re sitting on that profoundly uncomfortable throne.¡±


    The prince turned away with his fists clenched. Sen remembered that anger and the hurt that drove it so well. Sen consoled himself with the knowledge that the prince could at least send him away. He could even banish me, thought Sen. He is the king or just a hair¡¯s breadth away from it. Although, the prince probably recognized how futile it would be to try to banish a cultivator like Sen. And, the prince was also savvy enough to know that, if Sen lived, he would be good for a favor or three down the road. Favors from higher-level cultivators weren¡¯t something that smart rulers threw away on a whim or in a fit of pique. It took a little while, but the prince¡¯s fists eventually unclenched. Sen watched as the prince frowned at the throne.


    ¡°It really is absurdly uncomfortable, isn¡¯t it?¡± said the prince.


    ¡°You should get a new one,¡± said Sen, taking a few steps so he stood beside the prince.


    ¡°I think I will,¡± said the prince. ¡°You realize that it¡¯s going to be a while before I stop being angry about all of this.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I know it better than anyone.¡±


    ¡°Will you speak with Yu Ming before you leave?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    The prince eyed him. ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s the best course of action?¡±


    Sen offered the other man a half-shrug. ¡°If I was her, I¡¯d probably blame me for all of this. She won¡¯t want to see me. Or, she¡¯ll definitely want to see me, just so she can try to put a jian through me. Either way, better for everyone if I¡¯m just not here.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps so. I take it you¡¯re leaving the city.¡±


    ¡°I am. Soon.¡±


    ¡°In that case, travel safely if you can.¡±


    ¡°Rule well, your majesty.¡±

 V4 Chapter 70 – Hey!

    Feeling more than a little conflicted about what had happened, Sen managed to escape the throne room without any more encounters with people he really didn¡¯t want to talk to for so many reasons. Yet, it seemed that fate or Karma or luck was feeling particularly unkind toward Sen that day because he¡¯d barely made it two dozen steps before there was an enormous crash and the sound of water splashing behind him. Sen took two deep breaths to steady himself, certain that he was going to regret his choice to walk instead of run or even fly away from that room. That certainty was validated when a woman yelled at him in cold fury.


    ¡°Hey! You don¡¯t get to just walk away from me after that.¡±


    Sen turned around to see Chan Yu Ming storming toward him, almost glowing with all the qi she was cycling. He considered his options, then drew his jian and leveled it at her. Regardless of how angry she might be, he wasn¡¯t simply going to let her kill him. She almost stumbled to a stop at the sight of the unsheathed blade before directing an incredulous look at him.


    ¡°What?¡± she demanded. ¡°Did you think I was going to attack you?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen, pushing lighting qi into the jian.


    His answer and the sight of lightning crackling around the sword appeared to give the woman pause. She didn¡¯t stop glaring at him, but she did stop cycling qi like she intended to drown him in it. Sen released his own qi cycling and, almost against his better judgment, sheathed his jian. He didn¡¯t let go of his hyper-alertness, though.


    ¡°You look like you still think I¡¯m going to attack you,¡± she accused.


    ¡°You still look like you¡¯re going to attack me.¡±


    ¡°And why wouldn¡¯t I? You killed,¡± she started.


    ¡°Stop!¡± Sen ordered in a voice that could shatter stone. ¡°Stop right there. This is why I was leaving. You¡¯re angry. You¡¯re hurting. You want a fight. And if we fight in here, we¡¯ll leave this place in ruins.¡±


    ¡°Or you think I¡¯ll kill you, you coward.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°That isn¡¯t going to get you what you want.¡±


    ¡°No?¡±


    ¡°No. Because even if I was stupid enough to let you goad me into a real fight, at the end of it, we¡¯d still be right here. And you¡¯d still be angry.¡±


    ¡°You think you know me that well?¡±


    ¡°I know anger that well,¡± said Sen, walking toward her. ¡°Or have you forgotten why it was I went and found that dragon in the first place?¡±


    As he narrowed the distance between himself and her, something clicked in his head. He tapped into the part of him that created the auric imposition. Instead of directing it at her, he let the auric imposition swell around him. While he no longer felt driven by the anger that had fueled the heart demon, he remembered how it had felt inside of him to be that angry. He let that feeling suffuse the auric imposition. As he moved toward her, tiles shattered beneath his feet. Stones in the walls around them broke or burst into dust. Small pieces of furniture simply exploded. He started speaking, although it struck Sen more like something or someone else was using him to convey those words.


    ¡°I know what it is to feel rage inside of you. To feel like you can never break enough things or hurt enough people to ever make it go away. To look around and want to see everything burning. To want to leave nothing in your wake.¡±


    He stopped when Chan Yu Ming was at the very edge of that field of auric pressure and anger. Then, he let it fall away.


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    He took a breath and then continued. ¡°Even if we fought. Even if I let you kill me, it still wouldn¡¯t make that anger go away.¡±


    ¡°You killed my father! My brother! It¡¯s your fault!¡±


    ¡°Is it?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°I made your father sell people to demonic cultivators? I made him murder children? I made your brother keep quiet about it?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re twisting it all around! You decided that you just had to do something about it when you found out. You couldn¡¯t just leave it alone! Not you. Not the great and wise Judgment¡¯s Gale. Except, it wasn¡¯t your place!¡±


    The hold on reasonableness that Sen had been desperately clinging to slipped from his grasp at the words it wasn¡¯t your place. Abruptly, Chan Yu Ming was transformed from being someone that Sen was trying to not hurt into another noble looking down on him. Something very cold was born in the center of Sen¡¯s chest and it shot through every part of him.


    ¡°Not my place,¡± said Sen in a tone that reflected the ice inside of him. ¡°I am, after all, just a peasant.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming stepped back from him, her belligerence displaced by sudden fear. ¡°That isn¡¯t what I said.¡±


    ¡°Of course, you didn¡¯t say it. Nobles never say anything directly. It¡¯s just what you meant. Well, let me ask you this, your most honorable and noble princess. Where do you think those children came from? The homes of your noble friends? The well-to-do merchants?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t talk to me like that,¡± shouted Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°Or what? You¡¯ll look down on me? Oh, we did that already. I guess that means we¡¯ll move on to the threats to let me know my place. Then again, maybe you¡¯ll just try to put me in my place by force. After all, I am just a peasant. How hard could it be? Well, go ahead, princess. Try to put me in my place. See how well it works out for you. I¡¯ll tell you this much, though. I won¡¯t miss this time.¡±


    A voice in the back of Sen¡¯s head was screaming at him to stop talking, to stop hurting her, to stop trying to make her into one of those nobles he¡¯d hated as a child. He could see the tears in the corners of her eyes. He could see that she was shaking. He might not have stabbed her, but he knew he was drawing blood. He was piling emotional injuries on top of fresh wounds. He knew he should stop. Yet, despite that voice trying to warn him that he was making things worse, again, the words kept coming.


    ¡°Since you apparently don¡¯t care where the children that your father was raping and murdering came from, let me clue you in, your highness,¡± he said with scorn dripping from the last two words. ¡°I¡¯ll bet you a thousand gold tael that they were taken from the streets. Where I grew up. I could have been one of those children. So, don¡¯t you dare talk to me about my place! As far as I¡¯m concerned, those walking piles of shit you called a father and brother got off easy!¡±


    Sen opened his mouth to say one more thing, but the words caught in his throat. As angry as she¡¯d made him, if he said what he was going to say next, he really would be a monster. He¡¯d be giving voice to what was probably her worst fear. It might even be enough to break her. And the cruelest irony of all was that every word of it would be true. All I have to say, he thought, is that none of this would have happened if she¡¯d just left me alone. Sen felt like time slowed and stretched. He could see two roads in front of him. Down one of those roads, he said the words. Down the other road, he didn¡¯t. If he picked the road where he said the words, he had the sense that life would become easier for him in some ways. The catch was that it would get easier largely because he would stop caring about anyone.


    The other road would definitely be harder because it meant giving a damn. And, as much as he wanted things to be easier, he did give a damn. He lost sight of that sometimes when he got angry, but he didn¡¯t want to hurt Chan Yu Ming that profoundly. So, Sen swallowed the words. They felt like a burning coal in his throat, but he swallowed them anyway. That suspended moment popped like a bubble and everything started moving again. He was still filled with that icy anger, but it wasn¡¯t quite as uncontrolled as it had been. Chan Yu Ming was staring at him with wide eyes, her face utterly devoid of blood, and tears streaming freely down her cheeks.


    ¡°Get out,¡± she whispered.


    Sen didn¡¯t do anything for a moment before he turned and started walking away. He tried to ignore all of the damage he¡¯d done to the hallway. He consoled himself with the idea that it wasn¡¯t quite a ruin. He was about to round a corner when Chan Yu Ming tossed off a parting shot at him.


    ¡°I never want to see you again. Do you hear me, Judgement¡¯s Gale? Never again!¡±


    He knew that he should just keep walking. It wouldn¡¯t cost him anything to let her get a last dig in to salve her wounded pride if nothing else. It was the smart thing to do. It was the right thing to do. It was the kind thing to do. And if Sen had been less angry, it was the thing he would have done. Instead, he turned and gave her a mocking bow.


    ¡°As you command, your highness.¡±

 V4 Chapter 71 – Knowing the Risks

    Absolutely no one tried to stop Sen as he stormed through the palace halls looking for an exit. Servants fled at the mere sight of him. Guards pretended that they didn¡¯t see him. Briefly, he worried that he¡¯d somehow reignited that heart demon, but there was a difference between getting angry at something and being angry at everything for no reason. He wasn¡¯t angry at everything. He¡¯d gotten angry at the king for things the man had actually done. He¡¯d gotten angry at Chan Yu Ming for acting like he should have just turned a blind eye and taking that attitude of unearned superiority. Yet, Sen recognized the problem. Whether the anger was blind or felt justified, it was still a very short route to doing things you¡¯d almost instantly regret. So, he went from being angry with Chan Yu Ming to being angry with himself. He could see that there had never been a good way to handle that confrontation. She¡¯d been in too much pain for that, but he¡¯d taken, almost on reflex, the path to the worst way to handle it.


    ¡°And there¡¯s no taking that back,¡± he muttered as he used air qi to blast open doors that mercifully led outside.


    He stepped through the doors and onto a qi platform that lifted him into the air. He flew up and over the palace walls. The cool morning air washed over his face and helped him loosen his grip on anger. It was replaced, as it had been so often of late, with an emotional fatigue he couldn¡¯t seem to shake. He looked out over the city and into the countryside that he could barely see in the distance. I could leave right now, he thought. There¡¯s nothing to stop me. He could literally just fly away from politics, death, and all of those decisions he¡¯d never wanted any part of. The temptation was potent and seductive. No more having to answer to people, justify anything, or worry about anyone but himself. The allure of that possibility was so strong that it took Sen a moment to realize that he¡¯d started aiming the qi platform at the edge of the city. He let himself indulge in the fantasy for a few moments before he closed the door on that idea. He¡¯d made enough things worse already. No need to add that pile. Plus, he did still have one last thing to do.


    He flew over the city for a while before descending to street level. He didn¡¯t want to get back to the house too quickly. He needed to organize his thoughts and let his emotions settle a little more. So, for the first time since he¡¯d arrived, Sen just walked around. He stopped and bought food from streetside vendors. He found a teahouse and engaged an elderly woman in conversation. He learned about her children, who had made places for themselves as bureaucrats and soldiers. She talked about how much the city had changed since she was a young woman, both for the better and the worse. To the good, food shortages had been common in her youth but had become quite rare. To the bad, crime had become more common. When the woman asked about him, he passed himself off as a caravan guard. When she said that sounded dangerous, he regaled her to some very toned-down tales of frightening off spirit beasts to keep a caravan safe. She gasped at all the right places with a merry gleam in her eye, both of them in on the secret of his poorly concealed fibbing.


    He spent most of his day out in the city, meeting strangers and eating foods he¡¯d never seen before. From time to time, he¡¯d cross paths with other cultivators, but they all decided to mind their own business. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was because they recognized him or simply because they had better sense than most of the sect cultivators he met. Either way, he was grateful that they chose not to start any problems. He ended his day by sitting and listening to a busker play the erhu. The man was acceptably skilled, but Sen was a little startled to realize that Shi Ping was actually the better musician despite only playing the instrument rarely. Feeling more like a human being and with sunset approaching, Sen finally returned to the house. While Lo Meifeng and Falling Leaf were both there, there was still no sign of Shi Ping. Sen shook his head at that.


    ¡°So, what happened?¡± asked Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°There¡¯s been a change in leadership in the kingdom,¡± answered Sen.


    ¡°Did you do it?¡±


    ¡°No. Prince Jing was the one who struck the final blow. He killed the king and his brother.¡±


    ¡°What about Chan Yu Ming?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    Sen shrugged. ¡°She blames me. Hates me. Never wants to see me again.¡±


    Falling Leaf frowned at that. Lo Meifeng just nodded along.


    ¡°Well,¡± said Lo Meifeng, ¡°that¡¯s not entirely surprising, is it?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± admitted Sen, ¡°I guess it isn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°So, off to find the manual, then?¡± asked Lo Meifeng.


    Sen knew that it would be so easy to just nod and then vanish into the night. The idea of having the argument that he knew would come if he told them his intentions very nearly convinced him to just go with that disappearing plan. It was the original plan. It had the elegance of simplicity. Instead, he gestured at some chairs.


    ¡°Yeah, we should talk about that,¡± he said, dropping into one of the chairs.


    Sen was vaguely amused to see both of the women giving him narrow-eyed looks. They both settled into chairs and then Lo Meifeng spoke first. It was about how he¡¯d expected it to go.


    ¡°So, what is there to talk about?¡±


    Sen had been thinking about how to have this fight all day. He¡¯d toyed with the notion of easing into it, but that just seemed likely to make the conversation longer. That idea hadn¡¯t appealed to him. So, he¡¯d settled on being direct about it and getting right to the fighting.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want you to come with me,¡± he announced. ¡°Either of you.¡±


    There was yelling and shouting after that, most of which boiled down to the single sentiment of you¡¯re being stupid. He simply endured it until both of them had gotten it out of their systems or at least gotten tired of shouting at him with no response on Sen¡¯s part. When Falling Leaf and Lo Meifeng were both seated again and just glaring at him, he sighed.


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    ¡°I know what I get from having you along for this stupid stunt. I get some company. I¡¯ll admit, that¡¯s probably not a bad thing for my frame of mind on a long journey. It would probably be safer in some respects. But that¡¯s only true right up until we actually find Fu Ruolan. At that point, there¡¯s nothing either of you can realistically do to protect me. More importantly, there¡¯s nothing I¡¯ll be able to do to protect you. The only reason I was able to kill Tong Guanting was because I had time to prepare the ground. We won¡¯t have that advantage with Fu Ruolan because we can¡¯t know when we¡¯ll find her or when she¡¯ll find us.


    ¡°If she was like other nascent soul cultivators, that wouldn¡¯t be a concern. They¡¯d probably just tell us to go away as long we¡¯re polite, but she¡¯s insane. She¡¯s as likely to kill us all on sight, as she is to speak to us. That¡¯s a level of danger I¡¯m not willing to put either of you in. Lo Meifeng, I don¡¯t know exactly what kind of arrangement you have with Master Feng, but I doubt he¡¯d consign you to certain death as part of a babysitting job,¡± said Sen before he turned his gaze on Falling Leaf. ¡°I¡¯ve already cost you enough. I don¡¯t think I can live with the prospect of costing you your life, which seems an all too likely outcome here.¡±


    Sen could see that both of them were about to explode with words, so many more words. He lifted a hand to stall them.


    ¡°What benefit will either of you get out of coming with me?¡± asked Sen. ¡°That¡¯s a serious question that I want you to really think about. What will you actually get out of it? I¡¯ve been thinking about this for weeks, and I can¡¯t think of a single advantage for you in coming with me. The other possibility, arguably the worse possibility, is that we won¡¯t find her at all. If it goes down like that, anyone who¡¯s with me will get to watch me die. I suspect that it won¡¯t be a good death. It¡¯ll probably be painful and slower than anyone would want. And I doubt either of you is in a hurry to see that. I know that I¡¯m not in a hurry for you to see that or get stuck as my caretakers in the last few months of my life. So, that¡¯s the future as I see it. A fifty-fifty chance of certain death for everyone on one side, and my slow lingering death on the other.¡±


    Sen braced himself for the explosion of words, but it didn¡¯t come. Falling Leaf looked troubled. Lo Meifeng looked thoughtful. At least they¡¯re thinking about it, thought Sen. That¡¯s probably as close to a win as I¡¯m going to get here. He gave them a few minutes to think about it. He didn¡¯t usually talk that directly or that much about anything, so he figured it would take a bit before the shock wore off.


    ¡°I have my orders,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°I¡¯ll write to Master Feng,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯ll explain the situation and that I told you, point blank, not to come along. He¡¯ll understand.¡±


    Lo Meifeng looked like she wanted to say something, but also like she didn¡¯t quite know what she should say. In the end, she just stayed silent. Sen looked at Falling Leaf to see if she wanted to say anything, but her expression remained clouded and uncertain. Sen considered the situation and what he¡¯d want to hear if someone had just given him that speech.


    ¡°Look. I¡¯m not going to forbid you to come along or try to ditch you, tempting as that might be. You¡¯d just follow me or try to, and I don¡¯t want you scouring the wilds from here to the Mountains of Sorrow looking for me. That¡¯s just as likely to get you killed as coming along. I¡¯ve got a few things to wrap up here. So, take the next couple of days and think about it.¡±


    Sen retreated to the room he¡¯d been using as a bedroom and lab and got to work. It would have been better to have Shi Ping around for the process, but Sen had interacted enough with him to have a pretty clear picture of the man¡¯s cultivation. He started sorting through his storage ring, looking for the right components. He¡¯d been working for about an hour when someone knocked. He gave the door an annoyed look but pushed the annoyance down.


    ¡°Come in,¡± he said.


    He continued to adjust the heat he was applying to the pot he¡¯d come to think of as his alchemy pot. Lo Meifeng came into the room and just watched for a while as Sen added things to the pot, stirred it occasionally, and fine-tuned the elixir he was making. When the silence started bothering him, Sen spoke.


    ¡°I owe you an apology.¡±


    He saw Lo Meifeng¡¯s expression become guarded from the corner of his eye.


    ¡°How¡¯s that?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I was very hard on you for using me like you did back in Inferno¡¯s Vale. I couldn¡¯t imagine how you could do that to a friend. So, I was¡­ I was cruel to you, at times. I¡¯d convinced myself that you deserved it. It turns out, it was a damn sight easier than I thought to do something like that. I did it to Prince Jing without even recognizing I was doing it. I set him up to kill his own father. Even got him to help arrange it. All I could see was what I thought needed to happen. I didn¡¯t even consider what it might mean for Jing or Chan Yu Ming at a personal level. Not sure what that says about me as a person. Nothing good, I think. Do you know what the worst part is?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°He was furious with me for using him that way. Furious that I hadn¡¯t trusted him or talked to him. Yet, he took it with a lot more grace than I did. He could see that there was a kind of necessity to his father¡¯s death. I never even gave you that courtesy. I understand now, though, what you said then. About being sorry about the pain you caused me, but not being sorry you did it. So, for whatever it may be worth to you, I¡¯m sorry. I was pretty self-righteous about the whole thing. I treated you badly because of it. I can¡¯t say you didn¡¯t deserve any of it, because I¡¯m pretty sure I deserve some of it, but you certainly didn¡¯t deserve everything I dished out to you.¡±


    Lo Meifeng didn¡¯t say anything for long enough that Sen looked up from the pot. She looked fragile. When their eyes met, it seemed to jar her out of some kind of reverie.


    ¡°I,¡± she hesitated. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°It¡¯s awkward now, isn¡¯t it? I made it awkward.¡±


    She laughed.


    ¡°Yes. You made it awkward, you ass,¡± she said while giving the pot a curious look. ¡°What in the world are you making?¡±


    ¡°This?¡± asked Sen, gesturing at the pot. ¡°This is for Shi Ping¡¯s advancement. Otherwise, he¡¯ll use that garbage we found earlier.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you care.¡±


    ¡°I said I¡¯d do it, so I¡¯m doing it. Caring doesn¡¯t come into the equation.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh.¡±


    Sen sighed. ¡°Fine. I don¡¯t find him entirely objectionable anymore. And, if he¡¯s going to advance, he might as well do it with a quality elixir. This can¡¯t be what you came up here for.¡±


    ¡°Did you mean what you said, about writing to Feng Ming?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that? Yeah, I meant it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d appreciate it if you wrote that letter.¡±


    Sen nodded, feeling a wave of relief pass through him, even as Lo Meifeng looked entirely miserable.


    ¡°It¡¯s the right call,¡± said Sen. ¡°You probably think it isn¡¯t, but it is. There¡¯s just nothing in it for you.¡±


    ¡°That isn¡¯t why. I mean, you¡¯re right. I wouldn¡¯t stand to gain anything, probably, but that¡¯s not why. It¡¯s the other part. I don¡¯t want to watch you dying slowly if you can¡¯t find Fu Ruolan.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d be worried about your mind if you did want to watch that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m being serious.¡±


    ¡°So am I.¡±


    Lo Meifeng studied his face. ¡°You know that she¡¯s going to go with you, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m hoping she¡¯ll make the smart choice at the last minute. But¡­ Yeah, I know.¡±


    ¡°You mean to let her?¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°I keep trying to make choices for other people. It keeps turning into a disaster for me at a personal level. I can¡¯t keep doing that. I can¡¯t keep carrying that kind of weight around. It¡¯s grinding me down. I made my arguments. She knows the risks. If she decides that going with me is more valuable to her than all of the other options, then that¡¯s her call. Even if I think it¡¯s the wrong one.¡±


    ¡°As long as you¡¯ve thought it through.¡±

 V4 Chapter 72 – Departure

    ¡°Just the one night?¡± asked Lai Dongmei.


    Sen gave her an amused smile as he adjusted his robes. ¡°Oh, come on. It¡¯s not like you¡¯re suffering for options. The only reason you picked me was because you knew I was safely temporary. A wandering cultivator with a reputation for moving on to the next disaster. No real strings attached. I suspect that made me just about the ideal distraction.¡±


    She snorted and stretched. ¡°I won¡¯t deny that those considerations may have crossed my mind. Those weren¡¯t the only reasons. You are very, very easy on the eyes. And you do have a certain wolfish charm about you.¡±


    ¡°So, I¡¯m told. Assuming I survive the next few years, I may even find myself here again. Assuming you¡¯re not otherwise engaged, I expect I could distract you again for a little while.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d like that. You know, there are all sorts of rumors flying around about you at the moment.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s nothing new. What are they saying about me now?¡±


    ¡°All kinds of deliciously absurd things. They¡¯re saying that you were the one who destroyed the house of Choi. You supposedly stormed the palace and killed the king. You¡¯re planning on seizing the throne for yourself. My favorite one is that you¡¯re not really even a man, but a holy spirit sent to cleanse the wicked from our midst.¡±


    ¡°Dear gods, it just gets worse and worse. Nobody would think I was a holy spirit if they¡¯d seen all the bloody clothes I¡¯ve thrown away in the last year or so.¡±


    ¡°The wandering cultivator¡¯s lament. Clothing costs.¡±


    Sen laughed softly at that while belting on his jian. He thought about leaving it alone, but lingering guilt pushed him to say what was on his mind.


    ¡°I was wondering if you¡¯d do me a favor,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°You don¡¯t sound enthusiastic about this favor.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not, mostly because it involves breaking my own rules about getting involved with politics. But I figure that I¡¯ve already crossed that line here.¡±


    ¡°And you want to drag me into it, now?¡±


    ¡°No, not particularly, and not overtly, but I can¡¯t really fix what I broke here. Any more involvement on my part would just add to the chaos. So, I¡¯m trying to do what I can to quell the problems from the shadows.¡±


    ¡°Understandable, all things considered. I can¡¯t say that I¡¯m thrilled with the idea of involving myself or my sect in most of that, though. I don¡¯t get to just move on. We have to live here.¡±


    ¡°I can see that which is why I¡¯m not asking for anything too public. I would appreciate it if you would have your people whisper in the right ears that your sect is favorably disposed toward Prince Jing. In case you¡¯re wondering, I put the same request to Feng Bai.¡±


    ¡°Ha! I bet he loved that after you flatly refused to tell him how you killed Tong Guanting.¡±


    ¡°He was not particularly receptive when I first broached the idea. There was grumbling and complaining. He said something about overly lucky core cultivators who have inflated ideas about themselves. In the end, though, he grudgingly agreed that stabilizing the local political situation was ultimately a benefit to his sect.¡±


    Lai Dongmei sat in pensive silence for several seconds before she sighed. ¡°Bai can be a blunt instrument at times. If even he can see the benefits, I can hardly pretend they don¡¯t exist. Very well, I¡¯ll do as you ask.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m grateful. Thank you.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like it¡¯s just for your benefit,¡± said Lia Dongmei. ¡°Be careful, Sen. Where you¡¯re headed is poorly explored, at best, and the true wilds at worst. Fu Ruolan has earned her reputation. I¡¯d be disappointed if you never came back to distract me again.¡±


    Sen considered the woman for a long moment and then smirked. ¡°You and me, both.¡±


    ***


    ¡°Are you serious? He¡¯s still at a brothel?¡± demanded Sen.


    Lo Meifeng gave him a put-upon look. ¡°I assume so. And don¡¯t look at me like it¡¯s my fault. It¡¯s not like I told him to go. You¡¯re the one who gave him the bags of money.¡±


    ¡°Alright, that¡¯s fair,¡± said Sen, rubbing a spot between his eyes. ¡°I guess there¡¯s nothing for it.¡±


    Sen pulled out the elixir he¡¯d crafted for Shi Peng¡¯s advancement and held it out to Lo Meifeng. She rolled her eyes but took the vial from his hand.


    ¡°I¡¯ll see that he gets this. Well, I will if he ever gets tired of whoring. Since you¡¯re leaving, though, what do you want me to do with this house?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s up to you. It¡¯s yours.¡±


    ¡°What? What am I supposed to do with a house?¡±


    ¡°Historically, people have chosen to live in them. Madness, I know, but you can¡¯t fight history.¡±


    ¡°Very funny,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    Sen gave her a bright smile. ¡°You can always sell it. I assume that before all this craziness started your work brought you here from time to time. It might be nice to have somewhere to stay that you know is relatively secure. I mean, I did put in all those formations. They should last for decades just soaking up the environmental qi. You shouldn¡¯t even need anyone to look at them.¡±


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    ¡°That¡¯s true. I wasn¡¯t thinking about it like that.¡±


    ¡°Plus, if you do decide to keep it, and Falling Leaf and I beat the odds and survive this little excursion, it¡¯ll give us a place to start looking for you. Or leave you a message if nothing else. Food for thought.¡±


    Lo Meifeng opened her mouth, then shook her head. Sen lifted an eyebrow in her direction.


    ¡°I was going to ask how long you think you¡¯ll be gone, but there¡¯s no way to know. Do you at least know where you¡¯re going?¡±


    ¡°I have a general location. Very general,¡± said Sen, pulling out his horribly inaccurate map.


    He ran his finger in a circle in an area that was probably hundreds of miles to the northwest of the capital.


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of ground to cover by yourself,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°I know. I thought about asking Master Feng, Uncle Kho, and Auntie Caihong to help me look, but I¡¯m worried that it¡¯s a terrible idea.¡±


    ¡°They aren¡¯t very¡­subtle. Well, I don¡¯t know about Ma Caihong, but I¡¯ve heard the stories about Feng Ming and Kho Jaw-long.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. I¡¯m worried they¡¯d go in with the best of intentions and end up getting into a fight with Fu Ruolan over the manual. If that happens, she might never give it to me.¡±


    ¡°You should at least tell them where you¡¯re going.¡±


    Sen smirked at her and pulled out two envelopes from his storage ring. ¡°The letter I promised you, and one telling them where I¡¯m going.¡±


    Lo Meifeng gave Sen a skeptical look. ¡°Did you really tell them where you¡¯re going? Or did you say that just so I¡¯d stop talking about it?¡±


    ¡°I actually told them.¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t usually that-,¡± Lo Meifeng searched for the right word.


    ¡°Reasonable? Rational?¡±


    ¡°I was going to say practical.¡±


    Sen felt his expression going a little blank. ¡°I want them to know where to go to find the body if things go badly.¡±


    Lo Meifeng let that grim statement hang in the air before she said, ¡°That makes sense.¡±


    Sen made himself put a happier expression on. ¡°Anyway, enjoy your house if you keep it. Tell Shi Ping¡­hells, tell him not to slack off with his jian practice.¡±


    Lo Meifeng burst into laughter. ¡°I¡¯ll pass that along.¡±


    ¡°If I don¡¯t see you again,¡± said Sen, ¡°live well, Lo Meifeng.¡±


    Not for the first time, Sen had the impression that Lo Meifeng was going to say one thing to him, only to change her mind. She gave him a sad smile instead.


    ¡°Good luck, Sen.¡±


    Sen took a few steps away so that Lo Meifeng and Falling Leaf could say their goodbyes in private. The women exchanged a few earnest-looking words with each other, and that was it. Falling Leaf walked over to Sen and gave him an expectant, happy look.


    ¡°Shall we?¡± he asked.


    ***


    They managed to pass through the city without attracting either notice or trouble. Falling Leaf looked happier and happier the closer they got to the gates. Sen had mixed feelings as they joined the line to leave the city. He¡¯d come to the capital hoping to find his personal salvation, only to fail utterly in that pursuit. Instead, he¡¯d caused upheaval for the royal family, the sects, and probably the criminal underworld as well. He¡¯d left a river of blood and a small mountain of corpses in his wake. No matter how deserving most of those people had been, that wasn¡¯t what he¡¯d left the mountain to do. He¡¯d never meant to become the kind of person who could do those things, but it had happened anyway. He feared some of it was a failure of character on his part, but he also feared that the world was simply too broken for the kind of life he wanted to lead. Unless he was willing to learn how to turn a blind eye, he worried that his road would remain one of violence. Sen was so caught up in those thoughts that he was startled when the guards at the gate stopped them.


    ¡°You said that your name was Lu Sen?¡± the guard asked.


    Sen thought back. He had answered the question about his name without even realizing he¡¯d done it.


    ¡°Yes,¡± he admitted.


    ¡°Wait here,¡± said the guard.


    Sen felt Falling Leaf tense beside him. He put a reassuring, and possibly restraining, hand on her arm. The guard disappeared for several minutes before he returned with an older man who carried an air of authority. The old man eyed him critically.


    ¡°You¡¯re Lu Sen? The one they call Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡±


    Sen cast a wary eye around them, looking for some kind of trap. He didn¡¯t see one, but that didn¡¯t make him feel better. Just because he couldn¡¯t see it, that was no assurance that a trap wasn¡¯t there.


    ¡°I am,¡± he said cautiously.


    The older guard nodded and extended a scroll. ¡°I was bid deliver this to you when left the city.¡±


    ¡°What if I¡¯d left from another gate?¡± Sen asked, taking the scroll.


    ¡°I¡¯m given to understand that there is a copy of that scroll at every gate.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said Sen. ¡°Is that all?¡±


    ¡°It is,¡± said the older guard. ¡°You¡¯re free to be on your way.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± said Sen.


    He didn¡¯t relax until they were several hours away from the city wall. They weren¡¯t clear of all the surrounding towns and villages, but Sen no longer worried that a trap was waiting for them.


    ¡°What does it say?¡± Falling Leaf eventually asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s find out,¡± said Sen, breaking the seal and opening the scroll.


    Sen,


    I¡¯m writing this without fully understanding my own motives for doing so. On the one hand, you have undoubtedly rendered a service to this kingdom. My father¡¯s depravities were a blight not only on this house, not only on this kingdom, but on decency itself. His removal was a terrible necessity. Yet, in achieving that goal, you have left my family in tatters. My mother remains a prisoner, as I suspect she will for the remainder of her life. Of my sisters, only Yu Ming will speak to me, and then only to curse me and you for our respective roles in the deaths of our father and Liwei. She seems to have forgotten entirely that you freed her from the plans of Choi Zhi Peng. In one fell moment, you became both benefactor and bane to me and my family.


    I am also aware of your efforts to ensure that the throne remains in my hands. Word has trickled back to me that several of the most powerful sects in the city have informed the other noble houses that they are content with me on the throne. While your name was never mentioned, it seems highly unlikely that those sects acted in a spontaneous outpouring of affection for me. The far more plausible conclusion, I think, is that you acted in some way to encourage those sects to quietly endorse me. While I have concerns about what kind of precedent may have been set, I cannot argue with the results. The quiet rumblings that perhaps another house should lead have been utterly silenced.


    I honestly cannot say whether I am awed or terrified by how easily you affected such change in my nation, to say nothing of the influence you exert on the sects. Nor can I pretend that I do not worry what greater changes you might achieve if or when you return. Wisdom tells me that I should ask you to stay away. My advisors begged me to banish you. I had to point out to them that we have no way to enforce such an edict, even if I were to banish you. In the end, though, I will not banish you or even ask you to stay away. Instead, I hope that you find success on your journey. One day, if you return, perhaps we will speak of what has happened here in recent days with calmer minds and the perspective that only time provides. I know you did what you thought was right. While I may wish you had done it another way, I don¡¯t think I can ask anyone for more than that they do what they believe is right.


    Jing


    It took Sen a long time to realize that he¡¯d stopped walking. He finally looked up to see Falling Leaf staring at him with both concern and annoyance in her eyes.


    ¡°What does it say?¡±


    Sen looked back down at the scroll. ¡°It says that Prince Jing, King Jing now, is a better man than I will ever be.¡±


    Falling Leaf eyed the scroll and Sen with a dubious expression. Apparently losing interest in the conversation, she looked up at the sky and sniffed at the air.


    ¡°We should go,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s going to rain later. I wish to be well away from this city by then.¡±


    Sen rolled up the scroll and stored it in his storage ring. ¡°Me too.¡±

 V4 Bloopers

    ¡°Crudely put,¡± said Liang Daiyu, drawing Sen¡¯s attention again, ¡°but she has the crux of the matter surrounded. You say that you¡¯ve experienced moments of enlightenment before. Do you recall how many?¡±


    Sen thought back about it. ¡°I don¡¯t know the exact number offhand. Maybe two dozen.¡±


    Silence fell all around the table, which made Sen glance around at the dumbstruck faces of the water cultivators around him. Liang Daiyu seemed to recover first.


    ¡°Two dozen? In how many years?¡±


    ¡°At this point, six or seven I guess.¡±


    Liang Daiyu¡¯s mouth worked a few times without any noises coming out. Chan Yu Ming was staring at him like he¡¯d casually announced that he was going to break through to the nascent soul stage in precisely three minutes and forty-seven seconds. The man who had originally answered his karma question broke the silence.


    ¡°You¡¯re averaging three to four moments of true enlightenment per year?¡±


    Sen found himself wishing that he¡¯d asked other people a lot more questions about their experiences with enlightenment. It had just never occurred to him to ask about how often they¡¯d had them. Still, he was already committed to answering. He nodded a little self-consciously.


    ¡°I am,¡± he said.


    ¡°How?¡± demanded Liang Daiyu.


    ¡°I¡¯m on a plan.¡±


    Confusion crossed the jade beauty¡¯s face. ¡°A¡­plan? What do you mean?¡±


    Sen knew an opportunity when he saw it. ¡°I just went to enlightenment.com. They offer all these plans. They were running a sale, so I got the deluxe package. If you go, say that I referred you. Ten percent off.¡±


    As everyone started shouting questions at him, Sen rubbed his mental hands together in greed. Ten more referrals and he¡¯d get an enlightenment for free.


    ***


    After nearly ten minutes of walking, Sen finally emerged from the tunnel into a brightly lit expanse of meticulously tended grass and flower gardens. For a moment, he thought he might be in the middle of another illusion, but a quick examination with his earth, wood, and water qi revealed that where he was standing, it was all quite real. Sen found himself glad that he hadn¡¯t simply tried to fly over the wall. He was willing to bet that there was some kind of deeply unpleasant surprise waiting for any water cultivator that thought they could skip over the work of finding their way through the door. After taking a moment to examine his surroundings, the alchemist in Sen started frothing at the mouth in naked greed. Nearly everything in the gardens was useful in alchemy in one way or another, assuming you needed water-attributed ingredients. Sen¡¯s hands twitched toward a flower before he stilled them. He wasn¡¯t there to steal from this sect. He was there to see the spring.


    That good intention lasted for almost ten minutes before he came across an incredibly powerful water-attributed sparkling dew flower. Sen stared at it, then down at his storage ring. Then he looked around at all of the alchemical resources that abounded around him.


    ¡°On second thought,¡± said Sen, ¡°I¡¯m going to rob these people blind.¡±


    ***


    Sen rolled his eyes and gave serious thought to going and yelling at Chan Yu Ming. Then, he thought about it a little harder. There was no upside to going back and yelling at her. It likely wouldn¡¯t change anything. At best, she¡¯d probably just follow them more discreetly. Plus, even if he knew she was following him, and she knew she was following him, he couldn¡¯t actually tell her not to travel in the same direction as them. So, all a confrontation would accomplish would be that he got to yell at someone. That sounded like a terrible use of his time and energy. So, he shrugged.


    ¡°That¡¯s her business. It¡¯s not an us problem unless she makes it one.¡±


    ¡°You really don¡¯t care that she¡¯s following you?¡± asked Lo Meifeng with a troubled expression. ¡°And, let¡¯s be clear here, it¡¯s you she¡¯s following around, not us.¡±


    ¡°Of course, I care that she¡¯s following us around,¡± said Sen. ¡°But what do you suggest I do about it?¡±


    Lo Meifeng immediately opened her mouth and then hesitated. Then, she frowned. ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you see my problem. There¡¯s basically nothing I can do to make her stop, other than killing her. Do you think I should kill her, Lo Meifeng?¡±


    Lo Meifeng sat in thoughtful silence for a moment before she nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What? Why?¡± demanded Sen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just have this feeling that she¡¯s going to be more trouble than she¡¯s worth. We already have Shi Ping for that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sitting right here,¡± said Shi Ping.


    ¡°I know,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°So irritating.¡±


    Sen just stared at Lo Meifeng for a second before he said, ¡°So, you want me to kill her because she might be irritating later.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, pretty much.¡±


    Sen thought it over for a moment. ¡°Well, I¡¯m not going to kill her for that, but you do you.¡±


    Lo Meifeng immediately stood up. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back.¡±


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    ***


    ¡°Anything interesting happen?¡± Lo Meifeng asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s an owl about a quarter mile that way,¡± said Sen, pointing in the right direction. ¡°Aside from that, I haven¡¯t noticed anything.¡±


    ¡°Good. I like it when things are quiet on the road,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    Sen glared at her. ¡°You just had to say it, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Oh, come on, that¡¯s a complete myth,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    No sooner were the words out of her mouth than they both heard a loud boom in the near distance.


    ¡°Myth, huh? You stay here. I¡¯ll go check it out.¡±


    ¡°Why you?¡±


    ¡°Because you know it¡¯s Chan Yu Ming. So, I might as well be the one to go deal with it.¡±


    ¡°What do you think she¡¯s fighting.¡±


    ¡°Since the universe is mocking us, it¡¯s probably a giant snake,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Why a giant snake?¡±


    ¡°Because Shi Ping was complaining about them earlier. Honestly, I¡¯d be a little disappointed if it wasn¡¯t a giant snake. It¡¯d feel like the universe wasn¡¯t really trying.¡±


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll watch the kids.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Sen.


    He took off back the way they had come earlier, moving as fast as his qinggong technique would carry him. It didn¡¯t take him long to find Chan Yu Ming. She wasn¡¯t being subtle. Sen was so certain that he¡¯d find a giant snake when he arrived that it caught him off guard when he found her in a big clearing fending off half a dozen spiders that were as big as horses. He just stared at the big, creepy things for a long moment before Chan Yu Ming noticed him.


    ¡°Are you going to help or just stand there?¡±


    ¡°But where¡¯s the snake?¡±


    Chan Yu Ming lopped off part of a spider leg that got too close before gesturing with her jian. ¡°It¡¯s over there.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± shouted Sen before he charged at the ridiculously huge snake.


    ***


    Then, he thought of Master Feng. There were questions that Sen had always meant to ask the old man, about why he¡¯d picked Sen, about why he¡¯d never tried to ascend, but it had always seemed like there was more than enough time. Most of all, though, he asked himself what Master Feng would do in a situation like this. Sen smiled then. He felt bloody spittle drip from his bottom lip. He knew exactly what Master Feng would do. He¡¯d make a statement. He would burn this moment into the dragon¡¯s memory forever. So, that¡¯s what Sen would do. He started cycling for everything. It hurt, splitting his attention that many ways, but what was pain in the face of death but a minor, very temporary, inconvenience? It wasn¡¯t like he needed to worry about healing from it. He pushed his qi channels to their limits, feeding each cycling pattern as much qi from his core as they could handle.


    Then, he started layering it all together. Weaving it all together like a rope. Forcing the strands to merge, to fuse, to become something else, something more, something terrible. He wrapped that hideous, monstrous energy around his fist. Then, he fed it his pain, his anguish, and his regrets. So many regrets. How could anyone my age have so many, he wondered. He fed it his killing intent, every last scrap of it, because why hold back in the last moments? Then, he fed it his rage. He pulled on that anger that had haunted him and hounded him. He drew on that inferno of fury until it was nothing but embers inside him, and then he drew on those. Hold nothing back, he thought. Nothing at all. While all of that had felt like it had taken forever to his battered mind, he dimly realized that he¡¯d been in the middle of that odd, almost accelerated state of mind he fell into sometimes when fighting. He lifted his eyes and saw the dragon bearing down on him, moving almost impossibly fast even to Sen¡¯s enhanced eyes and thoughts. Then he let his gaze drop down to the hand where he¡¯d summed up everything he had to fight with, everything he¡¯d had left to give, or borrow, or spend.


    He couldn¡¯t even see his hand anymore. He didn¡¯t even think that there was a human word for the color of it. It didn¡¯t look like a technique. It wasn¡¯t a thing of beauty or balance. If hate could look like something, if it could take color, form, and shape, that was what was in his hand. Personified hate. Sitting in his palm was a kitten¡­if one that only the hells could spawn. It looked at him, fury and malicious intent in its eyes. Sen looked at that hate-kitten for the briefest of moments, and then he threw it at the dragon. The kitten yowled in rage as it hurtled toward the ancient spirit beast.


    ¡°Oh crap,¡± said the dragon, his eyes going wide at the sight of a technique he hadn¡¯t seen since before the age of mankind.


    The name of the technique filled Sen¡¯s Mind. Ruination Kitten.


    ***


    ¡°I don¡¯t want you to mistake this for mercy. You¡¯re going to take a message back to your masters for me. Pack up and leave. The Slovenly Chicken Foot Gang is done in this city, one way or the other. If they make me do it, I¡¯m adopting a scorched earth policy. As for you, if you think what you just went through was bad, I have things lying around that would make that seem like a restful nap. If I ever see you again, I¡¯ll make you eat one of those things. Then, I¡¯ll hang your blackened, rotting corpse from a wall as a warning to everyone you know and love. Do you understand me?¡±


    The woman was shaking, and Sen didn¡¯t think that it had anything to do with the residual poison. He gave her a smile that would offer no comfort.


    ¡°You can just nod,¡± he said.


    The woman¡¯s head started bobbing up and down so fast that it looked almost comical. Sen stood up and walked over to the edge of the roof. As he was getting ready to make the leap back to ground level, the woman worked up the nerve to speak.


    ¡°Who are you? Who are you really?¡±


    Sen paused. He¡¯d been resisting it for a while, but the world had a way of making you do things you didn¡¯t want to do, become things you didn¡¯t want to become. Sen decided this was just one more of those things. However much he tried to resist it, he kept finding himself drawn into situations that called for him to be something, if not precisely better, than more than Lu Sen could be on his own. He kept needing to be the kind of larger-than-life person that only existed in a story. He supposed that it was convenient that he had just such a story right at hand. It wasn¡¯t really relevant that he was learning to hate that persona as much as he hated killing. It was the need of the moment.


    ¡°I am Bat-,¡± Sen cut himself off and looked around with a deeply suspicious expression before continuing. ¡°I am a generic and wholly uncopyrighted cowled vigilante.¡±


    Sen immediately started looking around again.


    ¡°What are you looking for?¡± asked the completely baffled woman.


    ¡°The most dangerous enemy of all. Intellectual property lawyers.¡±


    ***


    ¡°I didn¡¯t bring you here to talk to me. I brought you here to listen,¡± said Sen. ¡°Your honorable king is going to explain to you why I¡¯m here. Why he was going to trade Chan Yu Ming to the Choi family. He¡¯s going to tell you everything. Isn¡¯t that right, your majesty?¡±


    When the king didn¡¯t say anything, Sen unleashed a little more of his killing intent. The king flinched and then cried out.


    ¡°Yes! I¡¯ll tell them.¡±


    ¡°Excellent. Face them. Look them in the eyes while you tell them what you traded away your honor for. What you were willing to sell your daughter to keep secret.¡±


    The king slowly pushed himself up off the floor. He stared up at Sen with a naked plea for mercy in his eyes. Sen looked back at the man with nothing but cold resolve on his face. Not finding what he wanted in Sen, the king turned to face his family. He opened his mouth and froze, feeling the point of a blade on the back of his neck.


    ¡°If you lie,¡± said Sen, ¡°I will make you suffer in ways you cannot imagine.¡±


    Sen heard the king swallow. Then, the king started speaking in a halting burst.


    ¡°I¡­I served red wine with fish.¡±


    Looks of abject horror crossed the faces of the royal family. The queen¡¯s face remained stoic, but she paled at this revelation.


    ¡°Go on,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I play games on my phone instead of paying attention during meetings.¡±


    ¡°Father!¡± cried Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°Tell them the worst thing,¡± ordered Sen. ¡°Be specific.¡±


    A look of pure and well-deserved shame crossed the king¡¯s face. ¡°I cut in line at the amusement park.¡±


    Sen just shook his head. ¡°Despicable.¡±


    Unable to restrain his fury at the king¡¯s deplorable behaviors, Prince Jing summoned forth the greatest punishment of all. Storming over to his father, the prince dropped the links of the chain around his father¡¯s neck.


    ¡°Guards!¡± shouted the prince.


    Guards marched into the room. Jing pointed at that former king.


    ¡°Take that thing away and cast it out of the palace.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t quite know what to make of the happenings, so he turned to the prince. ¡°I don¡¯t get it. What¡¯s a big red letter U mean?¡±


    ¡°Unworthy.¡±

 V5 Chapter 1 – The Power Over Life and Death

    Falling Leaf dove through the narrow space between two intertwined trees. Her palm pressed down on the cold snow. She felt the strength in her arm as she used it to drive herself back up into the air. She twisted, spun, and landed on her feet just in time to knock aside the blast of fire that chased her through the tree. She exulted in the feeling of danger, the perilous game of hunter and prey, and dancing in the hazy space where the difference between hunter and hunted could turn on a moment, a thought, a mistake. She knew her human boy didn¡¯t like it when she danced along that edge of oblivion, but he hadn¡¯t been raised as she had. She snorted in amusement. That one hadn¡¯t been raised at all. His pride had cast him aside, the mad fools. If they had known what he could become, they never would have done so. Then again, if they hadn¡¯t cast him aside, he might never have become what he did. With a burst of qi, Falling Leaf shot back through that narrow gap, her hand extended, wreathed in shadows made harder than steel. The foolish bear-cat tried to stop its forward momentum, but it was too late. A bare movement of her hand and the creature¡¯s vile head was removed from its equally vile body.


    Falling Leaf felt no sympathy for it, not even an echo of the empathy she might feel for other spirit beasts caught beneath her killing claws. The reason was simple. They had been warned. Sen had told them that it was war between him and them, and his wars were her wars. Most of their kind fled before them like birds before the great wind storms. Every once in a while, though, one of them was brave, foolhardy, or suicidal, and it came for her human boy. She took it upon herself to deal with the minor annoyances like the corpse that lay before her. Yet, Falling Leaf also understood her limitations. As strong as she had become, as theoretically equal to Sen as she was, she knew better. In some ways, she had always known better. She knew the ways of the spirit beasts were not the ways of the humans. The ways they learned were different. But all must train. That was when she knew he was different. She had trained with her kind as a kit, learning to stalk, to move among the shadows. She had been diligent and talented.


    Her human boy, though, for him training had been a kind of madness. He had pushed himself like no creature she had ever seen. Ceaselessly, season after season, never giving himself the luxury of rest unless driven to it by the ravages of advancement or commanded to do so by the Kho, or the Feng, or the Caihong. She had thought it would wear him away to nothing, as the water wears away the stone. Yet, she had misunderstood. He had not been the rock. He had not been the water. He had been the sun. She saw it best when she saw him fight. And there had been so much fighting in the last year. Their journey to the north in search of the mad one with the manual Sen so desperately needed, a journey deep into the truly untamed wilds had been almost relentless battles. Sometimes against other cultivators who had not understood that they faced something beyond their understanding. More often, though, they had fought against the spirit beasts who hated all humans. Those fights had been hard on Sen, but they had also benefited him in ways that she was sure he didn¡¯t see. They had perfected him. She only needed to look to the sky to see that.


    Her human boy stood there on his platform of qi, face calm, body relaxed, and jian held almost negligently at his side. Opposite him flew a wyvern, pale blue scales looking nearly translucent in the afternoon sunlight. It screeched its fury at Sen, casting lances of hardened air at him by the dozens. His expression never changed. His posture never stiffened. She watched as he lifted his jian and, so casually it looked like he didn¡¯t even know he was in a fight, he swept the blade in front of him. She heard it and felt it as those lances of air shattered against the terrible strength Sen wielded against them. She saw his expression change into a look that was sad and almost pitying. She felt the swell of qi that he summoned. So fast. It was also so fast. Yet, this was different. This was the sort of power that could rend mountains.


    The wyvern clearly felt it too, because the beast tried to flee. Yet, once committed to the fight, Sen would not let the enemy escape. She felt the qi condense around the jian into something impossibly dense and infinitely sharp. He swept the blade in an upward arc and a blade of something that Falling Leaf couldn¡¯t even name swept across the sky. The wyvern tried to defend itself, but that blade was as implacable as gravity. It shattered the wyvern¡¯s meager defenses. At least, they looked meager in the face of that technique. Falling Leaf was quite certain that she would have found those defenses all but impossible to breach. With a final screech of pure terror, the wyvern was split in half. Falling Leaf watched with a kind of grim fascination as the two pieces of the beast fell away from each other and showered the trees below with blood.


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    She looked back to her human boy. His face looked briefly regretful before it returned to its normal calm. A very small part of her feared him. It wasn¡¯t fear that he might hurt her. She knew with absolute certainty that he would never harm her, nor willingly let harm befall her. No, what she feared was something else, something more specific than Sen. She feared the power he held. Power like that, it was truly the power over life and death, as so many spirit beasts had learned in their final moments. It would be foolish not to fear that. Her human boy sheathed his jian and flew off in the direction of the fallen wyvern. She turned her attention to the piles of bear-cat corpses that surrounded her. She began removing their cores. This deep into the wilds, nearly everything had a core, and Sen could use some of them. She assumed that was why he had gone off to investigate the wyvern¡¯s body. It had been powerful in its own right, which meant its core should be potent. Perhaps, she fervently hoped, potent enough to do something to help Sen. It took her a few minutes of work to remove all of those cores. By the time she looked up again, Sen was standing there giving her a curious look.


    ¡°You know, I could have done that for you. Spared you from getting your clothes all bloody,¡± he said.


    ¡°It washes out,¡± she answered, not really seeing the problem.


    She watched in amusement as he looked for something to say, almost said something twice, and then just gave a resigned shake of his head. It made her happy that he was as baffled by her as she was so often baffled by him.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go home,¡± he said.


    She nodded her agreement and the pair dashed off through the woods at speeds that would have made them all but invisible to mortal eyes. She felt it the moment they passed into Sen¡¯s domain. He would have said it was their domain, but he was silly about many things. He had done as the Kho had done and set up powerful formations. It was his qi and his presence that permeated the area. Eventually, they reached the stone den that he had made for them. He had crafted it for them when they arrived in the area where the mad one supposedly resided. She thought it was much larger than they truly needed, but she would never tell him that. He seemed to take a childlike delight in the place that he had made, and there was so little left in him that was childlike or took delight in anything. She understood why that was, but she mourned every day as his very real worries stole those things from him piece by piece. They went inside the stone den and Sen waved his hand around the room. She watched with a wistful sigh as logs burst into flames in the fireplace, and orbs of fire appeared in the many nooks in the walls that he had apparently put there for that purpose.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to take a bath,¡± said Sen.


    She glanced over at him, judging his face. Sometimes, when he was in one of his sillier moods, she would join him in the bath to watch him splutter and be embarrassed. She still didn¡¯t understand that reaction, but it was terribly funny to see it. Today, though, she could tell that he wasn¡¯t in that kind of silly mood. Much like his delight, his silliness had become rarer and rarer. Something else she mourned, although she took great pains to make sure he never saw it. Instead of looking for ways to make her human boy make hilarious expressions, she wandered into the room where he did his alchemy. She had watched him often enough to know what she could safely touch and what she should never touch for any reason. That day, though, she simply deposited the cores she had collected on a table before she went to wash the blood off her hands and arms. She might have claimed the bath first, but the truth was that she didn¡¯t particularly enjoy them. They were useful enough for staying clean, but something inside of her found the immersion in the water unnatural. By the time she had cleaned herself up and changed into clothes that weren¡¯t charred, ripped, and bloody, Sen had come back and started making food.


    They ate a quiet meal together before Sen announced that he was going to go sleep. Falling Leaf just nodded as though it didn¡¯t mean anything, but a sliver of ice in her soul grew a little larger. There had been a time when he could go for weeks on end with barely any sleep. Now, he could barely go a day or two without it. His incomplete body cultivation was catching up with him, as she had known it must. She spared a moment to curse that damnable turtle as she did every day, hoping that some deity of vengeance would visit a thousand plagues on the old creature that had set her human boy on this path. For all that Sen¡¯s power had grown, for all that he held the power over life and death for others, he was dying. It wouldn¡¯t get better. It would only get worse. She had known that when she came with him. She also knew that he did his best to hide any symptoms from her. But he couldn¡¯t hide his need for ever-increasing amounts of sleep. It burned inside of her that she couldn¡¯t help him. All she could do was hope. Hope that they found the mad cultivator. Hope that this Fu Ruolan was feeling less insane on the day they found her. Hope that the woman would give Sen the manual. Hope that it all happened in time to save him.

 v5 Chapter 2 – Searching

    Sen¡¯s eyes cracked open. He sat up on the bed and sighed. The sleep had helped, sort of. While he¡¯d felt fine during the fight with the wyvern, the cost of that fight had hit him hard in the aftermath. Everything was hitting him hard lately. No, it wasn¡¯t just hitting him hard. It was hitting him and sticking with him. He could feel it even now. Things were going wrong deep inside of him. It had been accumulating for months. He¡¯d been able to ignore it at first and just power through. That wasn¡¯t true anymore. He was tired all of the time now. It was a tiredness that kept building day by day, and no amount of sleep could fix it. He could just tell that things that once had been smooth, efficient processes in his body were breaking down. They weren¡¯t broken yet, but he¡¯d been forced to grow ever more efficient with his qi control. He couldn¡¯t rely on his body to support him through a sustained fight.


    There was a certain irony to it. His mastery over qi, his ability to exercise power in the world, was probably at the very zenith that it had ever been. He¡¯d become an expert in overwhelming, single-strike techniques. It wasn¡¯t that he¡¯d particularly wanted to master such skills. With the certainty that his body would fail him more and more, it was a necessity for survival. Sen tried to push those thoughts away, knowing they would only lead him through a mental spiral that would make it hard to convince himself to even get out of bed, and he needed to get out of bed. They needed to resume the search. After the previous day¡¯s fight with the spirit beasts, it was highly unlikely that anything would bother them for a few days. He wasn¡¯t entirely sure why that was, though.


    Part of him thought that the spirit beasts were temporarily frightened, but he and Falling Leaf had slowly accumulated a small mountain of spirit beast corpses since they¡¯d set up at their current location. If the sheer volume or frequency of death was going to inspire fear, he suspected that the spirit beasts would have abandoned attacking them altogether. There was something else at work there. He also suspected that he wouldn¡¯t solve that mystery any time soon. It wasn¡¯t a lack of interest, so much as a recognition of his need for singular focus. He had one all-consuming goal. Find Fu Ruolan. Unless or until that happened, he didn¡¯t dare spare any of his focus for anything else.


    Sen just let himself sit on the bed for a few moments to gather himself for the day. They had spent months traveling to the area where Fu Ruolan was supposedly located. They had spent months systematically searching the area since then. He would occasionally move the location of their temporary home when travel times became too unwieldy. He¡¯d done so recently and hoped that it would be the last time. He didn¡¯t believe it would be, but how he hoped. Having allowed himself to briefly wallow, he put on a more upbeat attitude along with his robes. He walked out of the room that served as his bedroom and gave Falling Leaf a smile. She¡¯d cobbled together something that vaguely resembled breakfast. She hadn¡¯t really mastered cooking but had taken more of an interest lately, so he did what he could to encourage her. He ate the very basic fare she had prepared, a basic rice porridge and some fruit she¡¯d no doubt conjured from the literal warehouses of food she had in her storage rings.


    ¡°Thank you for making breakfast,¡± said Sen.


    Falling Leaf shrugged it off. ¡°You were asleep.¡±


    ¡°True enough,¡± said Sen.


    He waved his hand over the dishes and used a combination of techniques to render them clean and safe to use again. He noticed Falling Leaf staring at what he¡¯d done with an expression that wasn¡¯t quite envious but came close. He supposed he had started taking his ability to use multiple types of qi a little too much for granted. Then again, he was taking almost everything not related to finding Fu Ruolan for granted. He studied the transformed spirit beast for a moment and decided that distraction was the best medicine for what ailed her.


    ¡°We went north yesterday. Shall we go south or west today?¡±


    Falling Leaf pondered that question with far more seriousness than Sen thought was really justified, but he kept his mouth shut. Better that she takes it too seriously than not seriously enough, he thought. Although, taking it seriously had never really been a problem for Falling Leaf. She knew the stakes as well as he did.


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    ¡°South,¡± she finally declared.


    ¡°South it is,¡± agreed Sen.


    With nothing left to do at the galehouse, the pair set off to the south. They didn¡¯t follow a straight line. Instead, they moved back and forth with the limits of Sen¡¯s spiritual sense as the border. He always made sure it overlapped a little with each pass. They had discussed different ways to do it. Falling Leaf had even suggested that they separate to cover more ground. Sen had rejected that idea with what might well have been the firmest ¡°no¡± in all of recorded history. When the sheer panic that the idea induced in him wore off, he explained that he didn¡¯t want to chance her coming face-to-face with the mad cultivator while alone and at a distance. He¡¯d left out that he planned to use himself as a human shield to buy her time to flee if it became necessary. It might have been her choice to come along, but he¡¯d concluded long ago that she would live if it came down to a choice between his life and hers.


    After all, she could live for centuries, possibly even for millennia more if things cut her way. That made it a simple math problem to Sen. If Fu Ruolan reacted badly to them, he was a dead man anyway. The difference was that he¡¯d be sacrificing a year to possibly buy her thousands of years of life. As far as Sen was concerned, some trades were so obviously right that even he could see it. Of course, as the weeks had turned into months, Sen had grown increasingly more certain that they weren¡¯t going to find her. He was ever more certain that she simply didn¡¯t wish to be found. And if a nascent soul cultivator decided that core cultivators weren¡¯t going to find them, they didn¡¯t get found. That didn¡¯t stop him from searching relentlessly, day after day, because there was nothing else to do. So, they worked their way south, flitting through the heavily forested area at absurd speeds. When they reached the absolute outer limits of where people thought Fu Ruolan might be found, they traveled west for a time and ran the same pattern moving north again.


    Sen was glad to discover that he¡¯d been right that the spirit beasts had decided not to bother them that day. What spirit beasts he sensed either ran away or hunkered down. As long as they were willing to pretend that they didn¡¯t see him, Sen was perfectly happy to pretend that he didn¡¯t see them. He hadn¡¯t come out to the wilds to fight spirit beasts, no matter how often they pushed the issue. To him, it was just time wasted that he¡¯d much rather be spending on other things. He figured that they¡¯d get at least one more day without interference. If they were lucky, they¡¯d get two days. Another attack would come the day after. It always did.


    Not for the first time, Sen wondered if he could figure out how to advance in Five-Fold Body Transformation by himself. It sounded good, in theory. With his alchemy knowledge, he was confident that he could make anything he needed to do the job. The problem was figuring out what to make. Knowing, in general, what elements he needed to focus on just wasn¡¯t a good enough starting point. There were simply too many possible routes to take, too many possible ingredients to use, and if he got it wrong, his life was reduced from a year or so to minutes. All too likely, minutes defined by unspeakable agony. Yet, as the time available to him dwindled, he found himself returning to that possibility more and more often. He also had to admit to himself that a time would come when this approach to searching would simply be too much for him. He feared that time was coming sooner than later.


    Once that happened, he would have to turn to a desperate measure like trying to stumble his way through the dangerous body cultivation method. He didn¡¯t even necessarily need to figure it out. Even if he could simply stabilize his body cultivation, that could buy him some time. He knew that wasn¡¯t a real fix, but it would be a vast improvement over the certainty of death. By the time they were ready to call it off for the day, the afternoon had bled away into evening. Sen had been trying to wring as much value out of each day as he could, and that day had been no exception. Still, he felt the ache in his eyes as that persistent tiredness clawed at him, sapping his endurance and making him crave the comforts of sleep. The disappointment of yet another failure added to that desire to slip into the oblivion of unconsciousness or at least the surreal landscapes of dreams.


    When they returned to the galehouse, Sen made himself stay awake and cook a real meal for them. He knew it wasn¡¯t strictly necessary. Neither of them really needed food the same way they once had. Even in his current state, he rarely experienced hunger. Still, it was one of the only things he could do for Falling Leaf as a wholly inadequate gesture of gratitude for her continued company. He didn¡¯t deceive himself. If she hadn¡¯t been there, he might well have crawled into bed one day and simply not gotten back up for days or even weeks. He was, however, grateful that Falling Leaf was comfortable in silence. He didn¡¯t have much to say about anything not directly related to their search anymore. So, he cooked, and they ate in silence. When the meal was over, he did his trick to clean their plates and utensils. That last necessary task completed, he shambled to his room and collapsed into bed. Then, he did his best not to dwell on the very real possibility of his death.

 V5 Chapter 3 – Symptom

    As the weeks bled into each other and the last remnants of winter faded away, Sen found himself having to work harder and harder to keep up the pace of their search. At first, he simply supplemented his body with some of that liquid qi that was constantly forming in his dantian. It worked, for a while. Yet, he could feel it growing a little less effective each day. Finally, he started making excuses to take breaks during the day just so he could rest for a few minutes. The true seriousness of the problem became apparent to him in the middle of a cool spring afternoon. Sen had his spiritual sense spread, scanning the area for anything that might even hint that a nascent soul cultivator had been there. He was searching for any trace of the kind of overwhelming qi that he¡¯d felt so often from Master Feng. He was so focused on his spiritual sense that it caught him wholly unprepared when a pain exploded in his stomach. Sen jerked attention back to his body, but it was too late.


    He''d been running at a ridiculous pace through the trees and that pain had interrupted his stride. The next thing Sen knew, he was crashing and bouncing along the ground. He tried to summon air qi to halt the wild tumble, but more pain made his vision go white. It felt like someone was shredding his organs from the inside while simultaneously setting fire to them. Sen was only vaguely aware of it as his body slammed against a tree. The pure momentum of his body shattered the trunk and barely slowed him. He was pretty sure that he hit more trees, but that pain inside of him was simply overwhelming. Sen had been hurt before. He¡¯d learned to cope with pain under the tutelage of Master Feng and Uncle Kho, or so he¡¯d thought. This agony was something altogether new. It had come on him so fast and with such strength that he simply hadn¡¯t had any time to prepare himself for it.


    In the end, all Sen could do was curl in on himself and endure. He clenched his jaws so hard against the screams that wanted to escape his lips that he was shocked his teeth didn¡¯t shatter, again. Bit by bit he pushed the pain away from the center of his consciousness. It wasn¡¯t gone, but he carved out a space in his mind where he at least had a chance to put one thought in front of another. Bit by bit, he reclaimed reason from the howling insanity of pain. When he finally managed to secure enough control that he could open his eyes, he found Falling Leaf crouched over him. Her face looked drawn like she thought he might die right then and there. Sen forced himself to sit up. He went to give her a wan smile but realized he could taste blood in his mouth.


    ¡°What happened?¡± she asked.


    Sen looked down at his stomach. He didn¡¯t know what to tell her. He didn¡¯t know what specifically had happened. Then again, he supposed he didn¡¯t need to know specifically what had gone wrong. He did know what was happening. He offered Falling Leaf a shrug.


    ¡°What we knew would happen,¡± he said. ¡°My body is starting to fail.¡±


    ¡°We should go back,¡± she said. ¡°You should rest.¡±


    Sen shook his head and spat out the blood that was still in his mouth. ¡°This won¡¯t get better. We have to use the time we have. While I can still move.¡±


    Falling Leaf glared at him. ¡°We won¡¯t find anyone if you kill yourself today.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t die today,¡± said Sen, not sure he really believed it.


    ¡°Then,¡± she hesitated, clearly uncertain what she could say, ¡°then you will rest here. For a little while.¡±


    Sen wanted to protest but the very idea of standing up, let alone running again, made him want to whimper.


    ¡°Alright,¡± he said, giving in to her demands and his own deepest desire. ¡°For a little while.¡±


    Sen let himself sink back down to the ground. After a moment, he pulled a blanket out of a storage ring and used it as a makeshift pillow. He let his eyes close and went back to reclaiming control of himself. It was harder than he thought it would be and took almost half an hour of focused effort, but Sen managed to push the pain away enough that he felt almost normal. The pain wasn¡¯t gone, but it wasn¡¯t the center of Sen¡¯s universe anymore. Finally able to think again, he went looking for the cause of the pain. He cast his senses inside of his body. His first thought was that something had gone wrong with his dantian or core, but those both looked perfectly intact and healthy. He turned to his organs next. They seemed fine, as did his muscles, and the nearby bones.


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    Sen couldn¡¯t understand what was happening. The pain didn¡¯t come from nowhere. He knew that much. Perplexed, Sen just hovered for a moment before he decided to try to look or at least sense deeper. He plunged his awareness down into the tissues of his muscles and organs. There, he finally found the problem. The tissues themselves were starting to break down. He just didn¡¯t understand the mechanism. They weren¡¯t decaying. It was more like they were fraying and unraveling. Despite all of his attempts to understand what the problem was, Sen couldn¡¯t find an insight that would explain it to him. Without that insight, he didn¡¯t have any chance of coming up with any fix for the problem that would be more than a temporary measure. He knew he could shore up his body for a while with elixirs and pills. Yet, that wasn¡¯t a fix for something like this. Those elixirs and pills were meant to work with a body that was, for the most part, functioning as it should. His body clearly wasn¡¯t. Without that damn manual, he couldn¡¯t even be sure what was supposed to be happening with his body.


    Sighing to himself, Sen withdrew his awareness from inside his body. He took out a general healing elixir and drank it. He waited until it hit his stomach and then did his best to direct its healing properties to the tissues in his body. The pain he¡¯d kept shunted to the side started to fade, but it didn¡¯t go away entirely. I guess this is the new normal, thought Sen. Constant pain. Not letting himself groan the way he really wanted to, Sen got up from the ground and stowed the blanket back in his storage ring. He felt Falling Leaf watching him from nearby. After it was clear he meant to resume their search, she came over to him.


    Sen spoke before she could. ¡°I know. You think I should rest. There isn¡¯t time for that. At some point, I won¡¯t be able to do any of this. That means, pain or not, we have to keep going while I still can.¡±


    While Sen had learned to read Falling Leaf¡¯s expressions more accurately over the last several seasons, there was still something fundamentally alien about how she thought and reacted to some things. In those moments, her expressions were often an opaque mystery to Sen. It seemed that she was in full-blown panther mode in that moment because he had no idea what her expression meant. In the end, she simply nodded.


    ¡°It is your life, Sen. I cannot tell you how to spend it.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for understanding.¡±


    Falling Leaf gave him a much easier-to-read expression of pure frustration. ¡°I didn¡¯t say I understand. I just know that you will ignore me if I insist. There is no benefit in that for either of us. If you¡¯re going to spend your energy, you should spend it searching. Not wasting it in a pointless argument.¡±


    Sen wanted to feel a little offended. He wanted to, but he didn¡¯t. She was right. He was going to proceed whether she wanted him to or not. Even if she¡¯d decided to scream at him for an hour, he would still continue the search. It was his life, and it was also becoming very clear to him that he was running out of chances to save it. He would keep going until he literally couldn¡¯t drag himself out of bed. A fate he feared would arrive far sooner than he would like. Yet, despite Sen¡¯s intentions, there was a part of him that thought that this was a doomed venture. For all the method he was putting into the search, it didn¡¯t mean much. Unless he literally stumbled over the woman¡¯s home, Sen knew that it would just be a matter of pure luck to find Fu Ruolan or for her to find them. As the afternoon wore on, Sen could also feel the elixir slowly losing the battle. If he had done as Falling Leaf suggested and rested for the rest of the day, it might have helped more.


    Unfortunately, even if he¡¯d been willing, they were miles and miles from the galehouse. In fact, they probably should have moved to a new one already, but he¡¯d been putting it off. Now, he wished that he¡¯d done it sooner so they wouldn¡¯t have as far to travel at the end of the day. Even worse, he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d have the focus necessary to make another one. Plus, there were things he¡¯d left in the last one that they¡¯d need to collect. He also knew that he was going to have to start pouring time into making the elixirs he¡¯d need to stumble his way through the next month or two. If the pain he¡¯d experienced that day was any kind of indication of what he could expect in the future, there would come a point where he wouldn¡¯t be able to push the pain away. When that dark day arrived, it was over.

 V5 Chapter 4 – Final Act

    Sen had been ignoring his symptoms for the better part of two months. He masked the symptoms with an ever-increasing number of healing elixirs, core qi spread through his body, and one of his dwindling supply of Auntie Caihong¡¯s healing pills in moments of true desperation. The knowledge that he was fighting a losing battle was something he pushed to the back of his mind in the same place he pushed the mounting pain. All he thought about was covering more ground in his search for Fu Ruolan. I can keep going, thought Sen. Just one more day. He told himself so often that he even started to believe it. Right up until the moment when the pain cracked through the walls of barriers he¡¯d put up in his mind. One moment he was forcing himself to run and sweep the forest around them with his spiritual sense. In the next moment, he was on the ground screaming and vomiting up blood. The only mercy was that pain drove him into unconsciousness in a matter of moments.


    The next thing he remembered was being driven back out of that sweet, black nothingness by the same pain. He managed to stifle his screams and in an act of will that left him pale, sweaty, and trembling, he painstakingly rebuilt the walls in his mind that held back the pain. Yet, the moment he tried to stand up, the walls threatened to collapse on him. No, he thought. No, not yet. For a time, he just lay there and only slowly realized that he was back in the galehouse. He couldn¡¯t remember how he¡¯d gotten there. They¡¯d been a long way off from the place. He tried to dredge up some kind of memory from that missing, in-between time, but there was nothing to find, no knowledge to glean, just a hole in his mind where knowledge usually lived.


    Eventually, when the barrier between him and the pain felt a little more stable, Sen managed to sit up. He looked down at himself and grimaced. Where there had once been abundant muscle, he could see bones pressing against the skin. Whatever damage the body cultivation was doing to him, it was speeding up. The simple thought of standing felt like a goal beyond reach. As much as he wanted to get up, as much as he needed to get up, his body wouldn¡¯t have it. He¡¯d pushed it as far as he could, and it would be pushed no more. Yet, stopping meant giving in to inescapable death. Sen sat there, gathering what meager fragments of willpower he could muster, and prepared to make the attempt at standing anyway. After all, he wondered, what else is there to do? Yet, before he could summon the courage to try, the door to the room opened. Falling Leaf came in, stared at him with a blank expression, and spoke a single word.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°I need to-,¡± started Sen.


    ¡°No.¡±


    Sen had never heard her speak that way before. Her tone was flat and absolute. She hadn¡¯t spoken a word or made a mutable statement. It was a decree with the force of divine law.


    ¡°Then, what am supposed to do?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°You will rest,¡± she said, making those words another irrevocable command from on high.


    There was no give in her. He could see it in her eyes. If she had to hold him down in that bed to make him rest, she would do it. He realized with a start that, in his current condition, she could do it. Everything in him wanted to ignore her, to rise from that bed, to keep searching. Yet, just as far out of reach as standing had felt, getting past her was just an empty wish. He didn¡¯t just lack the strength of body. He lacked the strength of will to defy her. She had done everything he¡¯d asked of her. She had traveled thousands of miles. She had searched with him from dawn to dusk and never uttered a word of complaint for months. In all of that time, she had never asked him for anything. She had let him pretend that he could keep going forever, even though she must have known he was burning through what little remained of his life. Now, she had gone along as far as she was willing to go. She had made her first demand on him. He couldn¡¯t fight that or deny her. He didn¡¯t have the right. Sen watched her for a time, looking for any crack in her resolve and he found none.


    ¡°Alright,¡± he said and let himself mostly fall back into the bed.


    Only then did her expression soften. She came over and sat on the bed next to him. Her expression was grave.


    ¡°It will happen soon,¡± she said.


    ¡°I know,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I dragged you out here. I never wanted you to see this.¡±


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    She gave him a small smile that he couldn¡¯t interpret. ¡°Foolish human boy. Thinking you could tell me where I can go. I would never willingly let you die alone. Now, rest.¡±


    Sen nodded and, for the first time in the better part of a year, he gave himself permission to just rest for a time. Sen¡¯s dreams were chaotic things. He saw disjointed images and landscapes where everything looked as if it was half melted, as though the world was made of wax and had been subjected to excessive heat. He saw fragments of memory from his time on the streets. Fights with the noble brats, sharing bits of stolen food with Grandmother Lu, and even the occasional moments of serenity. Then, there were flashes of his fights with spirit beasts. There had been so many of them, most of which he hadn¡¯t wanted to kill but there had been no other choice. He had to fight. It was the only way to survive. Yet, even as he drifted up from those dreams, the sounds of fighting persisted.


    Once more, he lay on that bed and tried to understand what had happened. Was he still asleep? Was he hallucinating? It took Sen most of a minute to understand what his senses were telling him. Falling Leaf was outside, fighting the spirit beasts who had never stopped coming. The realization snapped him fully into waking reality. The once impossible feat of standing simply became a mountain of effort that he needed to scale. It felt like it took forever, but inch by inch, he forced his body to move. He flooded his body with qi, and even that was barely enough, but it was enough. I can¡¯t let her fight them alone, he thought. She¡¯ll die. Sen had promised himself that he wouldn¡¯t let her die in the service of this mad quest. He had made that vow, and Sen was a man who kept his promises. Staggering and stumbling, he made his way to the door. He stopped, just for a moment, letting his head rest against the door, gathering what little remained of his strength. I promised, he thought. If it¡¯s my final act in life, I will see her safe. Sen opened the door and stepped out.


    When he saw what Falling Leaf standing alone not against an attack, but a tide of enemies. He didn¡¯t know how long she¡¯d been fighting, but there were corpses everywhere. He could see that she was fighting a battle she couldn¡¯t win. She was already injured. He could tell by the way that she was moving. He saw that it would happen before it did, and the thought paralyzed him. Some massive insect thing took advantage of a moment of distraction and clamped down on her leg with massive mandibles. He heard her cry out and then a bear-cat lashed out at her. There was a spray of blood in the air and everything else in the world fell away, washed from Sen¡¯s consciousness by a tide of wrath.


    Sen was nominally aware that he activated his qinggong technique, but all he cared about was the fact that the distance between him and Falling Leaf vanished. The insect that had clamped onto her leg was converted to ash as he drove a pillar of fire through it. Simultaneously, the bear-cat was reduced to little more than a meat hash by a tornado of wind and metal qi. Stone spikes shot up out of the ground in a semicircle around him and Falling Leaf killing dozens of the attacking creatures. With a wave of his hand, he scooped her up and sent her back toward the house. A little part of him could hear her calling out to him, telling him not to do anything, but the situation had gone beyond that now. All that remained in Sen was the need to murder everything that stood before him.


    He summoned every last drop of killing intent he possessed and slammed it down on that horde of spirit beasts. Some died instantly, and some were less fortunate as that killing intent shredded whatever passed for their minds, burst blood vessels and arteries inside of them, and left them mindlessly lashing out at anything near them. Sen was aware of the blood pouring from his nose and building in his mouth. He knew it was bad, lethal probably, but he just didn¡¯t care. He couldn¡¯t fight this horde with fists or jian. He didn¡¯t have that kind of strength anymore. What he did have was a core and dantian bursting with qi and the foundation of a technique that was very good at destroying things. Sen cycled for everything and used himself as the medium. He twisted and fused all of that qi together. It was ripping him apart, but that wasn¡¯t a concern anymore. One final act, he thought. Why not?


    He recalled his killing intent. The withdrawal stunned the horde of beasts almost as badly as having the killing intent crash down on them. Sen forced his killing intent into that unspeakable mass of qi inside of him. Then, he drove the unbridled hatred he felt for anything that would harm his friend into the heart of that technique. He looked out over that mass of spirit beasts and smiled at them with bloody teeth. With a thought, he unleashed what he had wrought. A wave of destruction rolled out of Sen, and it spared nothing. The spirit beasts, the trees, the grass, and the very soil itself were simply annihilated from existence as though they had never existed. The destruction didn¡¯t stop at the end of the spirit beasts. That wave traveled for miles and where there had once been life, the fruit of Sen¡¯s wrath wiped it away. The most profound silence that Sen would ever experience happened in that moment, as though even the heavens were rendered mute by what he had done. Sen stood there for a moment, gazing on what he had done but lacking the energy to even have a thought about it. He was spent and, with the threat gone, the pain came for him again. As he collapsed and darkness closed in on him for what he expected would be the last time, he heard Falling Leaf screaming his name.

 V5 Chapter 5 – Fu Ruolan

    Sen¡¯s eyes fluttered open. An act which, on balance, he found absurdly unlikely. The last thing he remembered was the beast tide. He¡¯d been in so much pain that the memories were blurry, but something had happened. No, he had done¡­ He had done something. Then, it flooded back. Falling Leaf being injured and, then, his mind wanted to shy away from that last part. What have I done? He remembered it, but it felt like he¡¯d watched someone else doing it. Someone filled with so much murderous wrath that it was a miracle it didn¡¯t kill them. He remembered that wave of destruction and that it had just consumed everything. He could understand why he¡¯d done it. He wasn¡¯t sure that anything less than that would have been enough to keep Falling Leaf safe. But the sheer scale and scope of the ruination that technique had left in its wake, the land scoured clean of life, was something that Sen feared would haunt his nightmares.


    It was only after all of those thoughts had passed through Sen¡¯s weary mind that he realized he wasn¡¯t in the galehouse. The walls around him were made of wood. The blankets covering him were not his own. The smell of the place was, while not unpleasant, wholly unfamiliar. Without really thinking about it, Sen sat up¡­and froze. There had been so much to process that he hadn¡¯t noted the absence of pain. He looked down. He was still emaciated, but the constellation of stabbing, throbbing, aching miseries that had afflicted him for months was just absent. He took a shuddering breath. He didn¡¯t know what intervention had been performed on his behalf to achieve that miracle. He only had one guess about the who. There was only one option. Fu Ruolan.


    He supposed that his little fit of boundless fury must have gotten her attention. As well it might, considering the amount of qi he had poured into that final attack. He¡¯d been sure it would kill him. So, he¡¯d dragged every bit of core qi and liquid qi in his dantian and shoved it into that mad, half-understood technique. He suspected anything and anyone possessed of cultivation within a few hundred miles had felt that. Of course, it could have drawn the attention of many powerful cultivators, but only she possessed the manual. That meant that only she possessed the necessary knowledge of the body cultivation method to intervene. He wanted to take that as a good sign, but he remembered well the warnings he¡¯d received. She was fickle, eccentric, or insane. That she had helped him survive didn¡¯t mean that he was out of danger. It just meant that the mercurial winds in her mind had been blowing the right direction when she decided.


    Still, Sen had to take his victories where he found them. He had survived doing something that should have killed him. He was no longer in constant agony. If he was right about who had acted to save him, he might finally be within reach of the manual. Damn that turtle and damn that manual, thought Sen. If I get through this, I¡¯m going to personally see to it that there is a copy of that stupid thing delivered to every sect this side of the Mountains of Sorrow. He was fairly certain he could do it, too. He could think of few better uses for all of that money he¡¯d stolen from the Murky Magpie Hangnail Syndicate.


    Sen recognized that part of him was stalling. A quick look around the sparsely decorated room had revealed that he was alone, which worried him. Just because Fu Ruolan had helped him, it didn¡¯t mean she¡¯d left Falling Leaf intact. The part of him that was looking for excuses to not leave the room was terrified that he¡¯d discover that the nascent soul cultivator had simply killed Falling Leaf out of hand. If that had happened, well, Sen would join her in death soon enough. As much as he wanted to prolong this unexpected extension of his life, he knew that he was fundamentally incapable of letting that go. Even if it would mean challenging and being killed by Fu Ruolan. He knew it wasn¡¯t rational or smart, but that didn¡¯t make it any less true.


    Taking a steadying breath, he summoned clean robes from a storage ring. He dressed slowly, luxuriating in the ability to move without feeling like he had red hot knives in every joint. He suspected that seeing pain-free movement as a luxury was a testament to exactly how much damage his body had suffered from the incomplete body cultivation method. Yet, despite taking his time with dressing, the moment came when he simply had no excuse left for procrastinating. He did everything he could to marshal his mental energies and checked his dantian. Despite the persistent activities of that strange double helix formation in his dantian, there was a mere puddle of the liquid qi at the bottom. A quick check of his core showed an equally limited level of core qi. Sen desperately hoped that he wouldn¡¯t be pushed into a fight because he had no resources for one. Feeling wholly unprepared for what came next, Sen opened the door and stepped out of the room. He found himself almost immediately eye-to-eye with a wild-eyed woman who gave off the oppressive pressure of a nascent soul cultivator.


    ¡°Oh, the sleepy sleepy boy is awake. Sleeps too much, too much, too much!¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I¡­,¡± said Sen, taken off-guard by her appearance and odd speech.


    ¡°And he stutters!¡± shouted the woman, pointing an accusatory finger at him. ¡°Why does he stutter? Why? Why? Why?¡±


    Even having been warned about her nature, Sen found himself flummoxed by the actual experience of meeting this odd woman. He shook his head a little and tried to regroup.


    ¡°Are you Fu Ruolan?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Are you Fu Ruolan?¡± she asked.


    Sen blinked at her a few times, trying to decide if she was asking a real question or not, before he finally said, ¡°No. How could I be?¡±


    ¡°How could you be? Existence is a multiplex of overlapping and collapsing probabilities. That chair could be Fu Ruolan in the right universe,¡± she declared swinging her finger to point at, of all things, a table. ¡°Foolish boy. Foolish. Foolish.¡±


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    Sen tried again. ¡°In this universe, are you Fu Ruolan?¡±


    ¡°Dull question. Boring question!¡± shouted the manic woman. ¡°Ask an interesting question!¡±


    ¡°Where is my friend? Where is Falling Leaf?¡±


    ¡°Good question! Better question,¡± said the woman, devolving into an exuberant little dance. ¡°Pretty cat girl was angry. She was afraid. So, I made pretty cat girl sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.¡±


    ¡°Where?¡±


    The mania seemed to drain out of the woman as she gave him a look of utter bewilderment.


    ¡°In a bed,¡± she said. ¡°Where else would pretty cat girls sleep?¡±


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s fair,¡± said Sen.


    A fresh burst of madness seemed to overcome the woman. ¡°Ask more good better questions!¡±


    Sen had had a few moments to gather himself and the longer he interacted with the woman, the more suspicious he became. Whatever she had done to help him would have been complex, difficult in the extreme, even for someone who knew what they were doing. It was not a task that could have been accomplished by a mind as disjointed as the one on display before him. He smiled at her.


    ¡°Does this act really work on people?¡±


    The change was instantaneous. From one second to the next, she went from a wild-eyed madwoman to an almost overbearing presence of calm, cool consideration.


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°Wasn¡¯t that what you were told to expect? Did I not conform to your assumptions?¡±


    Having expected something along these lines, Sen wasn¡¯t thrown as badly as he had been by her insane playacting. ¡°Oh, it dovetailed rather nicely with what I was told to expect.¡±


    ¡°Yet, you were not fooled?¡±


    Sen considered his words for a moment. ¡°I get the feeling that you didn¡¯t really expect me to be fooled. Or, barring that, you hoped I wouldn¡¯t be.¡±


    A faint smile crossed her lips. ¡°Hoped. What gave it away?¡±


    ¡°Me. The whole standing here not screaming in pain part.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°I thought that might ruin the illusion. Still, I couldn¡¯t have that tiresome old man you call a master coming here to bother me if you die. And he would.¡±


    Sen felt caught between a rock and a hard place. He needed something from this woman, so his best interests were served by playing along. Yet, his loyalty to his master was a powerful thing. He didn¡¯t have a good sense for Fu Ruolan or how she thought. Her face was an unreadable mask to him. He did the only thing that felt right to him.¡±


    ¡°Master Feng is a great man. A genius.¡±


    Fu Ruolan waved that off with a negligent gesture. ¡°Of course, he¡¯s a great man and a genius. He wouldn¡¯t have risen to such heights if he wasn¡¯t a great man and a genius. Here¡¯s the catch. Those things and being tiresome are not mutually exclusive categories. All he really cares about is swordsmanship, forging, and you, apparently. It doesn¡¯t make for good conversation. I mean, honestly, he¡¯s been wandering around on this planet for longer than any of us and he doesn¡¯t even have a hobby.¡±


    Sen heaved a sigh. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that I¡¯m his hobby.¡±


    That sentiment seemed to strike the woman funny because she threw back her head and laughed.


    ¡°Maybe so. Maybe you are his hobby, but that¡¯s not all you are to him. No, he takes his duties and responsibilities to his students very seriously. That¡¯s why I was surprised that he didn¡¯t come here to get the manual. Why didn¡¯t he?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask him to.¡±


    She gave Sen a speculative look. ¡°And why not?¡±


    ¡°Because I didn¡¯t know what he would do or what you would do in response. And I need something from you, as you are clearly aware. I couldn¡¯t risk it devolving into a fight.¡±


    ¡°Ah yes, now we come to it. The manual.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°The manual.¡±


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re certainly right that you need it. You¡¯re also right that I do have it. I suppose the real question is, why would I give it to you?¡±


    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t you? I can¡¯t see why you would need it. As I understand things, it¡¯s a method for core cultivators. That makes it useless to you. So, unless you have a sentimental attachment to it for some reason, it seems like it should mostly be a question of price.¡±


    Fu Ruolan smiled. ¡°That¡¯s a very well-reasoned argument. I can see Caihong¡¯s influence on you there. Of course, that does overlook a couple of possibilities. One, do you honestly think you can afford it?¡±


    Sen snorted. ¡°I am surprisingly well-funded at present.¡±


    ¡°Interesting. The other possibility you¡¯ve overlooked is that maybe I simply don¡¯t want to.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°It¡¯s possible, but then why bother to save me? You¡¯d just end up in the same position as if you¡¯d let me die without ever finding you. A tiresome old man would come sniffing around to find out why you didn¡¯t just let me have the damn thing.¡±


    ¡°True enough,¡± said Fu Ruolan with amusement in her voice. ¡°Well, at least your brain functions.¡±


    ¡°Was that a matter of debate?¡±


    ¡°That is always a matter of debate with cultivators.¡±


    It was Sen¡¯s turn to laugh. ¡°So, it¡¯s just a question of price, then?¡±


    ¡°Indeed,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°What is your price? Gold? Natural treasures?¡±


    ¡°Time.¡±


    Sen frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    ¡°I want time. Five years of it.¡±


    ¡°From me?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because Ming, Jaw-Long, and Caihong got five years with you, give or take. They saw something in you that made them think you were worth investing their time and effort. I want my five years to see what they saw. From you and your little cat friend.¡±


    Sen had been prepared to agree to almost anything, right up until that last. When she demanded that Falling Leaf commit that way, though, everything in Sen hardened.


    ¡°No.¡±


    Fu Ruolan looked genuinely startled. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll stay and do as you wish. But I will not impose that on her.¡±


    ¡°But you know she¡¯s going to stay.¡±


    ¡°Maybe she will, but it will be by choice. And if she decides that she wants to leave, that will be her choice as well.¡±


    Fu Ruolan narrowed her eyes at him. ¡°And what if I say that it¡¯s non-negotiable?¡±


    Sen met her eyes. ¡°Then, I think our negotiations have come to an end. Please point me to my friend and we¡¯ll trouble you no more.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re serious? It¡¯d be a death sentence for you.¡±


    ¡°I murdered an entire beast tide to protect her life, knowing it would likely kill me. What could have given you the mad idea that I¡¯d commit her to slavery?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t think that I just could make you both stay, regardless of what you want?¡±


    ¡°You could, but it wouldn¡¯t get you what you want. You can force compliance, but not cooperation. You could threaten to hurt her to get me to do what you want. If you do that, though, you¡¯d just have to kill me anyway, because I¡¯d make it my life¡¯s work to end your life.¡±


    Fu Ruolan beamed at him. ¡°Oh, you do not disappoint. You are everything your reputation makes you out to be. Very well, then. Five years from you. Your cat friend can come and go as she pleases with one caveat.¡±


    ¡°Which is?¡±


    ¡°She never says a word to anyone about me, ever.¡±


    ¡°Fine, with one caveat.¡±


    Fu Ruolan lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Which is?¡±


    ¡°She can talk to Master Feng, Uncle Kho, and Auntie Caihong. She has relationships with them already. It¡¯s unreasonable to ask her to deny them answers.¡±


    Fu Ruolan scowled a bit but eventually nodded. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s fair. The bargain is struck.¡±

 V5 Chapter 6 – The Forge of Practice

    For all her talk of finding out what made other nascent soul cultivators find him so interesting, Fu Ruolan took very little notice of Sen during his first few months there. Her only instructions to him were to heal and cultivate. A very small part of him felt annoyed with the woman for a couple of reasons. Some of it was simple ego. He didn¡¯t like that she was functionally ignoring him while she did¡­whatever it was that she did with her time. He was also annoyed with her because she¡¯d told him flat out that she wouldn¡¯t give him the manual until she was satisfied that he was at least mostly recovered. Sen felt like that was a basic betrayal of their agreement and had complained to Falling Leaf about it. She was less than sympathetic.


    ¡°It sounds to me like she saw your basic nature,¡± said Falling Leaf while they ate dinner together.


    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± asked Sen.


    He felt mildly offended but struggled to put his finger on exactly what he felt offended about. She had given him a look that suggested he was being intentionally obtuse about something very obvious.


    ¡°If she had given it to you, what would you have done?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d have read it,¡± he said.


    ¡°Of course, and then what?¡±


    Sen couldn¡¯t believe he¡¯d walked right into it. The very first thing he would have done if Fu Ruolan had given him the manual would have been to try to take his body cultivation to the next step. Falling Leaf had clearly discerned that, and it seemed Fu Ruolan pegged him for that sort as well.


    ¡°I¡¯d have tried to advance,¡± he said in a sulky voice.


    ¡°Naturally, and killed yourself doing it. If you survived the advancement, which you wouldn¡¯t, the tribulation would kill you.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not¡­completely certain,¡± Sen objected with zero conviction.


    ¡°You should be grateful that she didn¡¯t let you kill yourself being foolish.¡±


    ¡°I liked it better when you didn¡¯t like to talk.¡±


    It took Sen a moment to realize that he¡¯d actually said those words out loud instead of just thinking them. He¡¯d tried to apologize immediately, but the damage had been done. Her furious expression had told him that. The full month of total silence on her part that followed that ill-conceived statement convinced Sen that he did not, in fact, like it better when she refused to speak to him. That silence took on a life of its own. It loomed like some kind of unwanted guest in the galehouse he¡¯d constructed for them to live in during Sen¡¯s semi-unwilling apprenticeship to Fu Ruolon. At least, that was how Sen felt about the silence. It became ever more oppressive as time went on. Sen discovered that he had a burning need to be outside practicing a lot during those deeply uncomfortable weeks.


    He did discover that one upside of proximity to the nascent soul cultivator was that no spirit beasts dared to come within a mile of her. While he hadn¡¯t tested it, Sen had a suspicion that the local spirit beast population would likely avoid him moving forward as well. It had been one thing when he was killing them off a few at a time. Killing off a few hundred in one fell blow, well, that sent a message on an entirely different level. Still, Sen appreciated that he could go outside and walk in relative safety during those first few weeks when his body was truly too weak to help him do anything and his qi reserves were still so low. Over time, though, he found that his body was gradually putting muscle back on. Even though the memory of his pain woke Sen up in cold sweats at times, his fear that it would return was proved mercifully unfounded.


    So, he did as he¡¯d been told. He cultivated. He slept. He returned to his roots. Once more, he took to unarmed combat training and running. Once more, it was like being tortured on a daily basis. Despite the increasing reserves of liquid qi and core qi available to him, though, he didn¡¯t fall back on them. For all the temptation they provided, they wouldn¡¯t provide growth. Sen found himself understanding what he¡¯d been taught in new ways. When he¡¯d been initially learning, everything had been about comprehending the moves and mastering the forms. Yet, he could see how shallow his understanding had been. Even when he¡¯d moved beyond the stage of thinking his way through every attack and defense to responding on instinct and muscle memory, he hadn¡¯t had the experience or the mental bandwidth to see anything deeper. Nor had he understood himself well enough to know why he¡¯d liked some approaches better than others.


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    Now, with far more experience than he¡¯d ever desired under his belt and a clearer sense of who he was, Sen could see those approaches to fighting in a broader context. He could recognize those hard forms not just as a channel for aggression, but as a kind of philosophy about the world. They saw the world as an inherently dangerous and violent place that must be met with aggression in return. It wasn¡¯t a cheerful philosophy of life, but it did conform with Sen¡¯s experiences. The systems that adopted that philosophy were fundamentally focused outward. The softer forms, the ones that Sen had always found more appealing in the early days, were fundamentally focused inward. It wasn¡¯t so much that they saw the world differently, but that they saw an individual¡¯s relationship to that world differently. The softer forms looked for ways to keep the individual in balance not only with the world but with themselves.


    Sen supposed that he had, even then, recognized his failure to find balance. It had been a problem then, and it remained a problem. His attempts to fix it had been universal failures. Some of that rested on his own shoulders, if for no other reason than he couldn¡¯t see a clear path to fix it. Yet, it wasn¡¯t entirely a problem of his own making nor was it entirely a personal failure to resolve it. Every time he tried to fix it, the world seemed to throw him into some new conflict that ended in a massacre and set him back again. He acknowledged that avoiding those situations could, in theory, give him the space to find a more permanent solution. Of course, avoiding those situations almost always meant compromising things he was apparently incapable of compromising. As long as that was the case, Sen feared that a lack of balance would remain a fact of his existence.


    Yet, for all that such thoughts troubled him, the practice itself reminded him of his time on the mountain. It had been a hard place in many ways, but it had also been a place of relative safety for him as well. He¡¯d been pulled away from a life that was likely to be violent and all too short. Granted, his new life had been violent as well, but the violence was different. Everyone who became a cultivator understood to one degree or another that they were accepting that violence, maybe even embracing it. More importantly, to Sen¡¯s way of thinking, it was something that they accepted as part of the price for striving for something more than mere survival. Cultivators might have to fight each other, but they also got to travel as they wished with virtually no interference from local governments. Cultivators were largely freed from any concerns about class or rank. As a mere core cultivator, Sen had reshaped the political landscape in the capital. The fact that he¡¯d grown up poor and without so much as a family name simply did not matter. All that mattered was that he was a comparatively strong cultivator.


    The kind of freedom was a prize in itself. Yet, the true prize was the possibility of ascension to immortality or godhood. At least, Sen thought that it was. He still hadn¡¯t made up his mind that ascension, immortality, and godhood were actually good things for cultivators. His own failings made him doubt that anyone would benefit from him ascending to such a lofty station. As much as he respected Master Feng, Sen struggled to imagine what kind of god he would be or make. Would he become a god of the blade? One of overwhelming force? While Sen saw the possibility of his ascension as something that might happen at some point, Master Feng was much closer to that possibility. That proximity made the question of what he would become a much more pressing matter in Sen¡¯s mind, although he didn¡¯t think his input actually mattered all that much. Master Feng would become what he would become, and Sen just had to hope it would be a good thing.


    While Sen believed that all the reflecting he was doing would ultimately benefit him, the moment he relished the most was when he felt ready to once again resume his jian practice. While he found himself using the spear more often, he¡¯d spent more time with the sword than anything else. He had trained with it relentlessly on the mountain and diligently since he¡¯d left. During the months of searching, though, he¡¯d abandoned practicing anything. He cultivated because it was necessary and unavoidable. Yet, the pain he¡¯d been in had precluded anything as demanding as daily jian practice. That loss had, he realized in hindsight, unbalanced him even more than usual by depriving him of an important outlet and routine. While too many routines weren¡¯t necessarily a good thing, Sen took comfort in the ones he allowed into his life. They gave him time in every day to consider his situation and evaluate options. Removing even one of those opportunities to evaluate his choices in any given day inevitably made him more reactive. It also made him unpredictable even to himself because he made more decisions based on instincts in the moment.


    So, it was with a deep sigh of relief that he drew a jian and began to rebuild the fluid grace and muscle memory he had once taken for granted. His form was rough, but that was something he knew he could repair in the forge of practice. What mattered in that moment was the simple act of having the sword in his hand and repeating motions that he had carried out thousands of times before. It soothed something that had been unsettled in him for a long time and let him focus his emotions. While it wasn¡¯t a cure-all for everything that ailed him, it was a step in the right direction.

 V5 Chapter 7 – Absences

    It took around four months, but Sen eventually reached a plateau in his recuperation. While his muscles had filled out and his flexibility had returned, he was not what he had been. He could feel it. His strength and speed, while formidable again, had been reduced by as much as twenty percent. He struggled to pin it down to an exact amount, but it was enough that he noticed. He could use qi to offset that loss a bit by reinforcing his body, but there was no getting around the fact that he was both slower and weaker. He continued to practice and to cultivate, but all he managed was to maintain the gains he had made. If Chan Yu Ming found and challenged me now, he thought, she¡¯d have a real chance to kill me. That loss frustrated Sen. He had worked hard to get where he was, endured suffering, endured tribulations, and to have that progress turned back with no immediate way to fix it left him angry. He sulked for a few days, but Falling Leaf grew tired of that quickly.


    ¡°Would you like me to end your suffering?¡± she asked in a tone that suggested it wasn¡¯t really a joke.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen, shocked and appalled at the question.


    ¡°You¡¯re acting like it¡¯s the end of your life. I just wondered if you wanted me to make it permanent.¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t fair. I didn¡¯t make any mistakes with my cultivation. I shouldn¡¯t have to suffer because some stupid turtle sent me down a path I couldn¡¯t complete.¡±


    ¡°So?¡± asked Falling Leaf in a confused tone.


    Sen¡¯s mouth dropped open in shock. ¡°How can you say that?¡±


    Falling Leaf shrugged. ¡°Life is unfairness. You knew that once.¡±


    Her words fell on Sen like a hammer blow to the head. He had known that once. There was a time when he would have simply accepted that loss in strength and moved on, looking for a different path forward. Hells, he had a path forward. Fu Ruolan hadn¡¯t given him the manual, yet, but he was relatively certain she was going to do it. He would be able to reclaim that lost strength in time. He was just annoyed because he couldn¡¯t do it on his own schedule. That made his anger seem petulant, even to himself. Somewhere along the line, he had gotten used to always moving forward with his cultivation. He¡¯d come to see it as almost a right, but advancement wasn¡¯t a guarantee. He¡¯d known that once, too. Embarrassed by his childishness and pettiness, he turned his mind to something productive. It was something he hadn¡¯t done in a long time. Refining his sword skills.


    His months of practice had brought him back up to a level where he could perform at more or less the same skill level, minus a bit of strength and speed. Yet, he hadn¡¯t tried to improve on those skills. It would have been, if not pointless, then largely wasted effort before he plateaued. Every increase in strength and speed called for minor adjustments. With those settled for now, he could focus entirely on improving his form and his precision. While he had initially harbored some doubts about how much room for improvement there really was, he was soon stripped of that fantasy. Some of his flaws he could rightly attribute to the changes in his own body, but not all of them. While he could recognize that someone else might still see him as possessing mastery, he did not. He had achieved competence, nothing more. It was plainly evident to him that he¡¯d been getting by on superior strength and speed for a while.


    Sen decided to start over at the beginning. He took each thrust, parry, block, and slash and analyzed it. He practiced each one, searching for inefficiencies, searching for imperfections, and slowly correcting them. Only then, when he had perfected each move individually, did he move on to stringing them together into forms. Again, he sought anything in his execution that wasted motion or wasted energy. He reclaimed that relentless focus he had enjoyed on the mountain and drove himself as hard as he had then. No longer did he concern himself with his blade being fractions of an inch out of place. He concerned himself with the blade being a hair¡¯s breadth out of place. He trained until he could find nothing left to fix.


    Throughout it all, though, Fu Ruolan was more like a ghost than an active presence. Sometimes, Sen would feel her spiritual sense wash over him. Sometimes, she would simply stand and watch him train for hours, her face betraying nothing of her thoughts. At other times, she would vanish for days or even weeks at a time. She offered no explanations for these absences, and Sen didn¡¯t ask. Her instructions had been simple, and he followed them. For six months, he didn¡¯t exchange more than two dozen words with the woman. Yet, he knew that everything he did was under scrutiny. It was all a test of some kind, even if he didn¡¯t understand the nature or purpose of the test. All he knew was that she was evaluating him.


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    As agreed, Falling Leaf could come and go as she pleased, and she did. Unlike Fu Ruolan, however, she told Sen where she was going and why. In most cases, she was hunting. While he could advance through the accumulation of qi, enlightenment, and the right body cultivation method, she still needed to consume the cores of other spirit beasts. As she¡¯d grown stronger, she had to find increasingly powerful spirit beasts that also used shadow qi. When he¡¯d grown stronger, Sen offered to go with her, but she always refused. She told him that she got more growth out of it when she was the one who killed the spirit beast. Sen didn¡¯t fully comprehend the why of that, but he trusted that she knew what she was talking about. Other times, she simply grew bored with the galehouse and went off to find, as she put it, something interesting.


    ¡°I¡¯m not interesting to watch anymore?¡± he asked, putting on an exaggerated air of hurt.


    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve seen you train like this before. When you were learning new things all the time and pretend fighting with the Feng, it was interesting. Now, it¡¯s just boring.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± said Sen, laughing a little, ¡°when you put it like that, I can¡¯t really disagree.¡±


    Then, for no reason Sen could ever discern, things changed. He was outside of the galehouse refining his spear forms when Fu Ruolan showed up. Sen assumed that she was going to watch him train again, which she briefly did. He had just started to find a rhythm when she called out.


    ¡°Enough of that. You¡¯ve regained your strength, or at least as much of it as you¡¯re going to.¡±


    ¡°Thanks. I think.¡±


    ¡°Tell me about your qi specialization.¡±


    Sen frowned at her. Did she not know? Had his use of multiple kinds of qi not been apparent after the incident with the beast tide? Was this some kind of a test? He struggled to imagine that she couldn¡¯t sense the different kinds of qi in his core.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really have one,¡± he said.


    ¡°No?¡±


    Fu Ruolan gave him a frown in response to that. ¡°Explain.¡±


    So, he did. He gave her a stripped-down explanation of Master Feng and Uncle Kho¡¯s choice to treat his cultivation experience as something of an experiment. He told her that, as a result, he hadn¡¯t developed a specialization in any one kind of qi.


    ¡°Foolishness,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯d waste too much time switching between qi types.¡±


    ¡°I did, for a while. Now, I just cycle for them simultaneously.¡±


    ¡°How many can you cycle for at the same time?¡±


    ¡°All of them. If I¡¯m going to cycle and use them for separate techniques, though, I usually try to keep it limited to two or three. Otherwise, my channels become a bottleneck. At two or three, I can still use enough qi to generate some serious results.¡±


    That seemed to give the nascent soul cultivator pause because she just looked at him for a time. It felt like she was waiting for him to say it was all a joke. When he just looked back at her, the woman frowned again.


    ¡°Show me,¡± she demanded. ¡°Three qi types.¡±


    Sen felt like he was putting on a show for her, but he reasoned that was more or less what he¡¯d signed on for in the first place. Since he was already holding a spear, he cycled for lightning. Then, on a whim, he picked earth and wind qi. Once they were all up and running for long enough that she¡¯d be able to tell, he looked over at her. She gestured impatiently. He supposed the gesture could have meant a lot of things, but he took it to mean that she wanted some kind of demonstration. After a moment of concentration, he made a slender spear of stone shoot up from the ground. He sliced a foot off the top of it with a wind blade that went spinning through the air. Then, he sent lightning from the tip of the spear to strike that still airborne piece of stone. It wasn¡¯t the most impressive display of his abilities, but it seemed to at least convince her that he had more than a rudimentary understanding of how to use different kinds of qi effectively. He spent the next several hours demonstrating every technique he was willing to share with her. However, he withheld Heavens¡¯ Rebuke and he didn¡¯t even attempt the technique he¡¯d used on the beast tide. There were some things he didn¡¯t care to explain. Just as importantly, he had the feeling that she¡¯d want much more in-depth explanations about those techniques than he would care to give her.


    While he was confident that she knew he wasn¡¯t showing her his most powerful techniques, she didn¡¯t seem to care. She focused on his ability to wield multiple qi types. After that, she grilled him on how he achieved these feats. He gave her another run down on how he¡¯d learned to cycle more than one kind of qi at a time, along with a very vague explanation of his channel-widening experiment. While he could see the curiosity burning in her eyes at that last, she didn¡¯t press the issue. He supposed she didn¡¯t need to do it right then. She still had him for years to come. Plenty of time to extract secrets, assuming she wanted them. Instead, she just nodded.


    ¡°Very well, then. I¡¯m satisfied for the moment. I have a task for you.¡±

 V5 Chapter 8 – Cabinet of Wonders

    ¡°What kind of task?¡± asked Sen.


    While there had been no overt change in Fu Ruolan, Sen felt a subtle, gnawing apprehension go to work on him. It felt like his intuition had noticed something that had escaped his conscious understanding. He eyed the woman warily, expecting some kind of hideously impossible demand.


    ¡°I require three superior quality, air-attributed dusk mushrooms,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    Sen waited to see if there was more to it, but the nascent soul cultivator said nothing. After a few moments, her expression started growing bored. Realizing that only questions would secure him more information, Sen thought hard about how to phrase them.


    ¡°Why do you need them?¡±


    Fu Ruolan glanced skyward for a moment before asking in a casual tone, ¡°Does it matter? Are you saying that you¡¯d refuse to do it if I told you this was a pointless task?¡±


    Sen considered those questions. ¡°No. I suppose it wouldn¡¯t matter. I said I¡¯d do what you asked of me.¡±


    ¡°Good. Ming may have tolerated unchecked curiosity about his motives,¡± she paused. ¡°Knowing him, he encouraged it. We do not share that approach. My motives are my own to keep or share as I see fit.¡±


    Sen couldn¡¯t say he liked having that knowledge gap imposed on him, but he also knew that there was precious little he could do about it. Even if her motives were off the table, he hoped she might be willing to share more practical information with him.


    ¡°I¡¯m not familiar with dusk mushrooms,¡± said Sen. ¡°We didn¡¯t have them where I was, and Auntie Caihong never mentioned them.¡±


    Fu Ruolan pursed her lips for a moment before she nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you would have had them on that mountain of Jaw-Long¡¯s. Too far south. Too close to the ocean. You¡¯ll need to head north to Mt. Solace. You¡¯ll find them on the upper slopes if you look hard enough.¡±


    ¡°What do they look like? There are a lot of mushrooms in the world.¡±


    Fu Ruolan snickered. ¡°Well, that¡¯s certainly true. Follow me.¡±


    Sen fell in behind the woman as she led them back to the house she called her own. It was a strange building, constructed of wood, rather than stone or brick. It also lacked the formations that Sen would have expected from the home of a nascent cultivator. He would have thought it was a terrible security risk. Then again, any cultivator with even a scrap of sense would detect the residual qi of a nascent soul cultivator all over the place and flee at the first opportunity. Anyone not smart enough to run away got whatever they deserved as far as Sen was concerned. While he wasn¡¯t a great example of knowing one¡¯s limits, even he knew that there were some mountains you simply didn¡¯t try to climb. Invading the home of a nascent soul cultivator was one of those mountains. Even if you did manage to steal something and escape with it, that was a profoundly temporary situation. More to the point, you¡¯d anger someone with all of the time in the world to hunt you down and turn you into a cautionary tale used to terrify the qi-condensing cultivators.


    After all, Sen had seen just a little bit of what nascent soul cultivators were capable of doing. It had painted a very stark picture He remembered very, very clearly the way that Uncle Kho had killed those core cultivators who had so foolishly intruded on his mountain. It had been a terrifyingly casual act on his part that didn¡¯t seem to strain the man at all. While Sen could do something similar, it wasn¡¯t easy. It also wasn¡¯t something he wanted to try to do to more than one person at a time. At least not until he reached peak core cultivation. He had a feeling that when he got that far along, he¡¯d find it a much more manageable task to call down lightning from a clear sky that resulted in total annihilation. Until then, he was content to leave such feats of strength to the nascent soul cultivators unless absolutely necessary.


    Fu Ruolan took Sen inside her house. They passed through what would have been the public area if the woman ever had visitors, which she hadn¡¯t to Sen¡¯s knowledge, and into a room he hadn¡¯t been in before. He glanced around curiously, but the room was as sparse as the rest of the house. There was a table and chair, although nothing so pedestrian as papers, books, or writing implements marred the pristine surface of that table. The only other thing in the room was a wide, shallow wooden cabinet that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Sen¡¯s eyes went wide when he got a familiar feeling from the cabinet. A feeling very much like the one he got from his own storage rings. That cabinet was a storage treasure. Fu Ruolan noticed him noticing and smirked.


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    ¡°One of the benefits of age, young Lu Sen, is that it lets you acquire interesting things.¡±


    ¡°Apparently so,¡± murmured Sen.


    Sen felt an incredibly complicated interaction of qi between Fu Ruolan and the cabinet. She¡¯s unlocking it, he realized. That process had been so complicated that Sen hadn¡¯t even been able to follow a tenth of it, and those were just the pieces he recognized. With the storage treasure unlocked, Fu Ruolon pulled open the doors to reveal a truly cavernous space inside. With a cry of dismay from Sen, she stepped inside the storage treasure. While Sen knew that certain storage treasures could preserve things like food and plants, he¡¯d been warned, repeatedly, that it was a death sentence to try to enter a storage treasure. Yet, Fu Ruolan had done it without even a pause and to no ill effect, as far as Sen could tell. She just looked back at him with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°Are you coming?¡± she asked.


    Gritting his teeth a little against the expectation that he would die if he entered the storage treasure, he stepped through the door. When he wasn¡¯t struck dead immediately, he heaved a sigh of relief. Fu Ruolan shook her head in mild exasperation and started walking. Sen trailed along behind her and tried to drink in everything he was seeing. The storage treasure stretched beyond even his keen eyesight¡¯s reach. It was loosely divided into areas. In one part, he saw rack after rack of weapons, many of them giving off potent qi signatures of their own. They had to be heaven chasing grade weapons or better to do that. In another section, he saw countless storage containers filled with plants, herbs, and alchemical reagents. He stumbled to a stop and just gaped in complete awe of the collection. He could craft elixirs all day, every day, for the next thousand years and not burn through everything she had.


    A sharp sound of snapping fingers that sounded more like thunder brought him back to reality and he ran to keep up only to stop moving again when they approached row after row of shelving containing scrolls, books, and manuals. There had to be thousands of them, maybe even tens of thousands, just sitting there, waiting to be read. Sen realized with a start that the Five-Fold Body Transformation manual was almost certainly stored there. With a sinking feeling, he realized that even if he had unrestricted access to that wealth of knowledge, it would take him years of searching to find the manual without help. That was not a problem shared by Fu Ruolan as she confidently blew past shelf after shelf. Once more, Sen jogged to catch up with her. When they reached the right place, she stopped, reached out with delicate fingers, and plucked a scroll off the shelf.


    She turned and held it out to Sen. He hesitantly took the scroll from her and, after an impatient gesture from the woman, he unrolled it to see what it contained. There were several carefully drawn pictures of the mushroom which he studied until he was sure that he¡¯d committed the image to memory. With that done, he started reading. He got an overview of what conditions allowed the mushrooms to grow, the general medicinal and alchemical uses of the mushroom ¨C poisons, mostly ¨C and three locations where one might find them. Mt. Solace was the third choice and the closest, based on Sen¡¯s map. There was also some basic advice and tips for harvesting them. Sen took careful note of that information as well. While he was an experienced harvester of wild plants and fungus, it never paid to take for granted that you knew how to harvest a plant you¡¯d never seen before. Auntie Caihong had warned him not to be overconfident and that more than one cultivator had died by harvesting something the wrong way. Like almost everything she¡¯d ever told him, he¡¯d taken that advice to heart. Once he was confident that he¡¯d retain everything long enough to write down the important parts, he rolled the scroll back up and handed it back to Fu Ruolan. She returned the scroll to its place on the shelf and then shepherded him back out of the storage treasure.


    He looked back in yearning more than once at the places where she had stored the scrolls, the plants, and even the weapons. Sen only had a good working knowledge of what the plants, herbs, and alchemical reagents were worth. Fu Ruolan could likely buy a kingdom based on the value of what he had seen with his own eyes in that one section. It made the riches in his storage rings seem paltry. Once she had resealed the cabinet with another of those complex qi interactions, she turned to him.


    ¡°Are you sufficiently educated on the mushroom now?¡±


    ¡°I am.¡±


    ¡°Anything other pressing concerns?¡± asked Fu Ruolan, with humor sparking in her eyes.


    Sen sighed, knowing full well that he would not be given access to anything in that storage treasure even if he asked.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Not even going to ask?¡± she prompted.


    ¡°I suppose I could, but only someone who was actually insane would give another cultivator access to something like that. I know that I wouldn¡¯t. So, why bother asking when I know the answer.¡±


    ¡°So, they did manage to beat some wisdom into you. That¡¯s encouraging.¡±


    ¡°Thank you?¡± asked Sen, not sure if there had been a backhanded compliment in there.


    Fu Ruolan didn¡¯t answer, choosing to refocus on the matter at hand. ¡°You have three months to accomplish your task.¡±


    Sen almost asked why but managed to hold the useless question back. He was certain that there was a reason, maybe profound, maybe prosaic, but certain to be withheld. He¡¯d operated under a cloud of ignorance before. He could do so again.


    ¡°I understand,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°When will you leave?¡±


    ¡°Tomorrow. At dawn.¡±


    ¡°Will you take your cat friend with you?¡± asked Fu Ruolan, ushering Sen toward the door.


    Sen shrugged. ¡°I will if she wants to go.¡±


    ¡°Well then, good luck to you and her if she elects to go along. I¡¯ll see you in three months.¡±

 V5 Chapter 9 – Bonding

    For all of the fighting they had to do against spirit beasts to find Fu Ruolan, there was virtually none as Sen and Falling Leaf began their journey toward Mt. Solace. This went a long way toward making Sen feel better about his absolute annihilation of that beast tide. He wished it hadn¡¯t been necessary, but it seemed that the spirit beasts in the surrounding area had decided that he was a harder target than they wanted to take on. Still, it surprised him a little. He had thought for sure that the spirit beasts would come at them in numbers again. As the days turned into weeks with only the very occasional attack by a lone spirit beast here and there, though, his paranoia settled down into something that Sen considered manageable. Still, he thought some insight might be beneficial. So, one night after he¡¯d put up a galehouse for them to stay in, he asked Falling Leaf about it.


    ¡°Why do you think that the local spirit beasts aren¡¯t attacking more often?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re afraid of you.¡±


    ¡°That didn¡¯t stop them before.¡±


    ¡°No, you made them cautious before. Now, they¡¯re afraid.¡±


    Sen frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t remember much that makes sense after I set off that technique. Just fragmented images and impressions of destruction. I didn¡¯t want to think about it afterward, but I guess I need to know now. Was it as bad as I think it was?¡±


    Falling Leaf became very still as she looked at him. ¡°Yes. It was terrifying. I¡¯ve never seen anything like it. What you did¡­ What you made¡­ It was hungry.¡±


    Sen tilted his head a little. ¡°Hungry? What do you mean? Techniques don¡¯t work that way. They just do what they¡¯re designed to do.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Usually, but not that one. It was,¡± she seemed to search for a word, ¡°more. It was just more, and it was hungry. It didn¡¯t just destroy. It consumed everything.¡±


    Sen leaned back and tried to process those words. ¡°Well, that¡¯s certainly ominous.¡±


    Falling Leaf shrugged. ¡°It was for that spirit beast tide.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just glad it happened out in the wilds. I can¡¯t even imagine how many people something like that would kill inside a city.¡±


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have used it in a city.¡±


    Sen gave Falling Leaf a serious look. ¡°Yes, I would have. If you¡¯d been in that kind of danger in a city, I wouldn¡¯t have thought twice. Consequences be damned.¡±


    She smiled at him. ¡°No, you wouldn¡¯t have. You¡¯d have done something else.¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Something just as terrifying but smaller.¡±


    Sen had mixed feelings about that reply. On the one hand, he was happy that Falling Leaf thought he had enough restraint not to unleash a technique like that in place with lots of non-cultivators around. On the other hand, it was a little sad that she just assumed he¡¯d find something equally terrible to replace it with. He didn¡¯t think she was necessarily wrong, but it was a sobering thing to hear. He¡¯d never set out to be terrifying. He¡¯d just done the things that seemed necessary to him in the moment. That those things often seemed to leave other people chilled to the core was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because it seemed to encourage most people to think twice before they came after him. It was a curse because enough people didn¡¯t believe the stories that he kept needing to do awful but necessary things, which no doubt reinforced Falling Leaf¡¯s perception. Still, there was precious little to be done about it while they traveled, so he let it go. He just wanted to get to the mountain, get the mushrooms, and get back. He could worry about how to adjust people¡¯s perceptions of him after that.


    Sen decided that a topic change was in order. ¡°So, we haven¡¯t talked about this in a while, but how are you handling the transition to being human?¡±


    Falling Leaf was quiet for a time as she ate some rice without enthusiasm. When she finally answered, it wasn¡¯t what Sen expected to hear.


    ¡°I¡¯m not human. I look human, but I don¡¯t think like humans. I don¡¯t think I ever will. Too many years thinking like a ghost panther. I can pass among the humans without drawing too much attention to myself. That is enough.¡±


    ¡°So, you don¡¯t think you¡¯ll live among them?¡±


    ¡°I might if you did. But I wouldn¡¯t pick that. I might live near them. There are conveniences it¡¯s hard to find in the wild. Easy access to food, for one.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have much use for humans, do you?¡±


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    ¡°No. They are loud. Their cities smell. They¡¯re petty and divided. No pride could survive living as they do. I believe it is only by the heavens¡¯ grace that any of you survive to become adults.¡±


    ¡°Were things truly so different with your people?¡±


    ¡°Things were more direct. You always knew your place in the pride. Leadership had to be won through strength and cunning. Humans are always lost.¡±


    ¡°Lost? In what way?¡± asked a perplexed Sen.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know where you stand. In theory, a king holds power over everyone, except you proved that isn¡¯t true very directly. That means that cultivators are really in charge, except you pretend that you¡¯re not. For humans who don¡¯t cultivate, they don¡¯t know who to fear or who to fear most. They don¡¯t know their places in the world. Some of you run toward things. Some of you run from them. Yet, none of you seem to know why. It is madness.¡±


    No wonder she doesn¡¯t care for humans, thought Sen. Everything about our lives seems foolish or bizarre to her. Worse, Sen couldn¡¯t think of a good rebuttal to her arguments. He thought that she was oversimplifying things. Then again, he expected that he wouldn¡¯t understand the nuances if he ever ran across an intact pride of ghost panthers. He expected that much of what he saw would strike him as madness as well. He¡¯d just have to hope that, with time, Falling Leaf would become more comfortable with the intricacies of human interactions. It wasn¡¯t as though she could go back to living the way she used to. Then again, maybe she could in time. If she gathered enough strength, she could do whatever she wanted and no one would say a word about it. She may just claim a mountain for herself one day, the way Sen had suggested they do.


    Of course, Sen wasn¡¯t all that certain about his own grasp on human interactions. He was good at some parts of it, but others left him baffled. He might be better off just finding some place that was human-adjacent to live and work on his cultivation. It wasn¡¯t as though his history with other people was a glowing list of successes. By his reckoning, he¡¯d left a lot of wreckage in his wake and a fair bit of it was personal. He¡¯d largely been a disaster for Wu Meng Yao and the other Soaring Skies sect members he¡¯d met on the road. He¡¯d been, at the very best, a mixed blessing for Lifen. On balance, he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d done Lo Meifeng any favors. That was to say nothing of the tatters he¡¯d left the royal family in when he¡¯d left. There had been a few bright spots in there, as well, but far too few.


    ¡°Well,¡± Sen finally said, ¡°you¡¯re not entirely wrong about any of that. Humanity is a muddled mess a lot of the time. But some people do know where they stand. Some people know what they¡¯re running from or to. It sounds like it¡¯s much rarer for us than it was for you, but those people do exist.¡±


    Falling Leaf made a noise that Sen could have interpreted to mean just about anything. He chose to take it as her reserving judgment. They lapsed into a comfortable silence while they sat by a not-entirely-necessary fire. It took the chill off inside the structure, but neither of them really felt the cold the same way anymore. Sen had built it more because he enjoyed the light and crackling sounds of the wood burning. The fireplace was also more useful now than it had been in his early versions of the galehouses. Uncle Kho had given him some tips on how they were designed with smoke chambers and dampers. It had been a little tricky to make dampers completely out of stone, but he¡¯d worked it out. He¡¯d been amazed at how much control he had over the fire once he sorted all of that out. It turned out that he¡¯d been overbuilding the walls of those early versions, but he¡¯d largely hung on to that element. He¡¯d intended for them to help provide protection. Foot-thick slabs of unbroken stone were a fairly sound basic defense against most mortal threats and lower-tier cultivator and spirit beast threats.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to intersect with a road again, soon,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯ll speed things up, obviously, but it¡¯ll mean we¡¯ll start running into humans and cultivators again.¡±


    ¡°That was inevitable. I¡¯ll admit that I don¡¯t mind inns. They¡¯re very convenient.¡±


    Sen smiled. ¡°That¡¯s certainly true. It¡¯s nice to leave things like making food to other people.¡±


    Falling Leaf made a sour expression like she didn¡¯t enjoy what she was thinking about. She glanced his way before she asked him something he suspected had been on her mind for a while.


    ¡°Do you trust Fu Ruolan?¡±


    ¡°Trust? No, not particularly. But I don¡¯t actively distrust her either. She could have killed us or let me die. She didn¡¯t. That earned her a little credit in my book, but I¡¯m taking a wait-and-see approach. Why? Do you not trust her?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think she may pretend sanity more than she pretends madness.¡±


    ¡°What makes you think that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just an instinct.¡±


    Sen idly drummed his fingers against the stone floor as he thought about that. ¡°Well, I hope you won¡¯t take it personally if I hope you¡¯re wrong. I¡¯m stuck with that woman for now. All I can really do is stay vigilant.¡±


    ¡°A wise course of action at all times,¡± said Falling Leaf before she changed the subject. ¡°When this is done and you complete your body cultivation, what will you do?¡±


    ¡°I was thinking about that earlier. When I left the mountain, I wanted to see the world. Now, I mostly want the people in the world to not see me. Everywhere I go, I end up doing things that just make me more recognizable. I¡¯m thinking more and more that I should go into some kind of seclusion. Give people time to forget about me. We talked before about claiming a mountain of our own. Maybe I¡¯ll find myself a mountain by some little village and make it my own. Or, I could pull a Fu Ruolan and build a house out in the wilds. Except, maybe not so deep. Close enough to enjoy the conveniences of civilization, but not so close that people will bother me.¡±


    ¡°Do you think that will work?¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯m being honest, no. All of the evidence suggests that something will happen to drag me away from that seclusion. But even if it only lasts for a few years, it might still be worth it. This time at Fu Ruolan¡¯s has been nice. No sects. No politics. No demonic cultivators. No running for my life. I¡¯ve really benefitted from that, mentally at least.¡±


    ¡°You have,¡± agreed Falling Leaf. ¡°You¡¯re calmer now.¡±


    ¡°What about you? You going to come along with me or go find a mountain of your own?¡±


    ¡°That depends on whether you pick a bad mountain. You make poor decisions sometimes.¡±


    Sen squinted his eyes at Falling Leaf. ¡°Did you just tell a joke?¡±


    Falling Leaf squirmed a little before she said, ¡°Maybe.¡±


    Sen chuckled a little and said, ¡°Good for you. That was funny.¡±

 V5 Chapter 10 – Dinner and a Tale

    While it had been a while since Sen was fleeing for his life, he couldn¡¯t help be feel a little anxious when they finally stepped out of the wilds and onto a road. Yet, all that happened was that a passing farmer pulling a small cart behind him gave them a disbelieving look before hurrying away. Sen supposed he couldn¡¯t blame the man for that. Nothing good ever came out of the wilds. For an hour or two, they just walked, but both soon grew bored with that and started to put on some speed. They¡¯d been traveling through the wilds for weeks and, despite the rare spirit beast attacks, it had still slowed them down. While Sen had three months to complete the task, he didn¡¯t want to assume that everything would go smoothly on Mt. Solace. He wanted to create a buffer so that they could get back with time to spare. Soon, they blew past that first farmer they¡¯d seen. Sen had to suppress a laugh at the startled look on the man¡¯s face.


    They swiftly found a small village but decided to keep going after a brief discussion. There were still several hours of daylight left, and they could go a long way at the speed they traveled. It turned out to be a good decision because they saw town walls in the distance well before sunset. Granted, no mortal could have made that journey in a day, let alone an afternoon, but cultivation did have its benefits. While they just barely got there before the gates were locked, two cultivators practically appearing out of nowhere startled the two guards so much that one of them actually dropped their spear. Sen snatched it out of the air.


    ¡°Here you go,¡± said Sen, handing the guard the spear.


    ¡°Th¡­ Thank you,¡± stammered the man.


    ¡°Are there any decent inns in town?¡± Sen asked.


    The two guards exchanged a look. The one who dropped his spear gave Sen a very uncertain look.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure we have anything that will meet your standards, honored cultivator.¡±


    It took Sen a moment to understand what was happening before he realized he was back out in a fairly rural area. While cultivators weren¡¯t unknown, they were rare by comparison to a place like the capital or even a larger city like Emperor¡¯s Bay. These guards were basing their responses as much on stories of vengeful cultivators as they were on any direct experience. Sen was sympathetic. He remembered all too well how afraid he¡¯d been of Master Feng those first few days. He imagined these guards thought that Sen and Falling Leaf might destroy the town if they weren¡¯t happy with the available accommodations.


    ¡°We only require clean beds, a bath, and perhaps a meal. No luxury required.¡±


    Relief that bordered on the palpable flowed out of the two men.


    ¡°Of course, honored cultivator,¡± said the second guard. ¡°There is the Blue Lotus Inn or the Restful Tiger Inn.¡±


    ¡°Which is closer?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    ¡°The Restful Tiger,¡± answered the guard.


    ¡°Where is that?¡± she asked.


    The man who had mostly been paying attention to Sen had turned to give Falling Leaf his full attention. His eyes had gone a little wide and his mouth was hanging slightly open. Shaking his head a little, Sen reached out and closed the man¡¯s mouth with a finger before he turned his eyes on the first guard.


    ¡°Directions?¡± he asked.


    ¡°What?¡± said the first guard, his eyes shifting back to Sen.


    ¡°Directions,¡± repeated Sen. ¡°To the inn.¡±


    ¡°Oh, of course, honored cultivator. Please forgive his stupidity,¡± said the first guard, stamping down hard on the second guard¡¯s foot. ¡°I beg you to spare his life.¡±


    Sen waved it off and assured the men that he had no intention of killing them. They finally got the directions they needed and walked into the town. Falling Leaf cast a curious look back at the men.


    ¡°Why did they think you were going to kill them?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Because the one guard was staring at you.¡±


    ¡°I saw that. Why was he doing that?¡±


    ¡°Because he thought you were beautiful.¡±


    ¡°Foolishness," said Falling Leaf. "He should have seen me before. Then, I was beautiful.¡±


    ¡°You were. But to human eyes, you are beautiful now.¡±


    Stolen novel; please report.


    ¡°And they thought you would kill them for that?¡±


    ¡°They worried I would take offense," said Sen.


    ¡°They weren¡¯t worried I would take offense and kill them?¡± Asked Falling Leaf as she cast a hard look back in the direction of the gate.


    ¡°They would have if they were smart.¡±


    Falling Leaf seemed mollified by that answer and they found the inn with little trouble. After getting rooms, Sen went off to get a bath while Falling Leaf went in search of something hot to eat. As he lay in the water, Sen used his water qi and tried to make shapes with it. While he still harbored more than a little resentment toward the patriarch of the Clear Spring sect, he had never forgotten the display of mastery the man had put on with his water qi. It was something that Sen played with in idle moments. While he couldn¡¯t make birds with individual feathers or a running horse, he had gotten far enough along that he could consistently make something vaguely horse-like in shape. He could also make spheres of water and even hold something that looked a bit like a house if he really concentrated. While he expected it would take him a thousand years to reach the kind of mastery the patriarch had shown, that wasn¡¯t what he was after. For Sen, it was one little corner of cultivation that he just did for fun. It would never be something he could use in combat. It had nothing to do with alchemy. It was just a calming pastime.


    When he felt he¡¯d gotten all he could out of the bath, he climbed out of the bath and dried himself off. He even used a bit of air qi to help dry his long hair before dressing in clean robes. Feeling much more human after nearly a month in the wilds, he finally felt ready to share space with other human beings for a while. He found Falling Leaf in the common area sitting at a table absolutely covered with food. He sat down across from her and gave the table a bemused smile. While Sen had moved beyond the need for food entirely during his captivity at that cult, he was unusual. However, most core cultivators needed very little in the way of food, and Falling Leaf was a core equivalent spirit beast.


    ¡°Do you even need food anymore?¡± he asked in curiosity.


    Falling Leaf looked over at him and shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t really need it. But I enjoy food. I got enough for both of us.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. That was thoughtful.¡±


    The two of them shared food and wine for a time. Sen half-listened to a man telling well-known stories of heroes and legends. Sen¡¯s blood ran a little cold when the man started telling stories about Judgment¡¯s Gale. Sen sighed at just how inaccurate they were. Some of the things were vaguely familiar but not at all as he remembered them. Others seemed to have been conjured from whole cloth. He¡¯d never even heard of, let alone visited, half of the places the man talked about. He certainly hadn¡¯t saved all of the villagers he was supposed to have saved. And, somehow, oxen kept finding their way into the stories. While there had been oxen along the way, they hadn¡¯t taken a direct hand in most of his misadventures. He had no clue what the man was talking about when he spoke of a pair of wandering women on an eternal search to find him. Falling Leaf seemed to find the stories equal parts fascinating and hilarious.


    ¡°Did that really happen?¡± she asked him for at least the tenth time.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Who cares about that guy,¡± someone shouted.


    ¡°Fine, fine,¡± said the storyteller. ¡°Perhaps you¡¯ll like this story better. It¡¯s a tale of Righteous Wu Gang.¡±


    Sen¡¯s head snapped around, and he focused on the man. Wu Gang had said he would continue his good works. While Sen doubted that this story would actually be true, it was a sign that Wu Gang was out there doing something. Falling Leaf noticed his attention and focused on the storyteller.


    ¡°There is a village to the south called Monk¡¯s Bluff. You may know it, for it is famous for its many plum trees and the beauty of its plum blossoms. It is a peaceful place. Many go there simply to meditate on beauty. Yet, not all respect the peace of Monk¡¯s Bluff, and bandits had begun making raids upon the village. The men there tried to fight back, but most were farmers or tended to the plum trees. They were not accustomed to fighting and had no skill in it. Then, one terrible day the bandits came again, intent on destroying the town and all who lived there. They meant to slay every man, woman, and child. They meant to burn down the trees. All in punishment for the minor resistance the villagers put up against them. When all hope seemed lost, a wind blew from the east and carried a storm over the village. And from the heart of that storm stepped Righteous Wu Gang. He commanded the bandits to leave the village and never return. The bandit leader laughed and jeered.


    ¡°¡®You are a fool. You have no weapons.¡¯"


    ¡°It was true, for Righteous Wu Gang carries no blade and no spear. Yet, he was not daunted. He simply shook his head and once more commanded the bandits to leave. He implored them to save their own lives. But the bandit leader would not listen. He drew his dao and tried to cleave Righteous Wu Gang¡¯s head from his body. With great sadness in his heart, Righteous Wu Gang delivered a swift and mighty blow against the bandit leader. The bandit leader was struck dead from that lone strike. A final time, Righteous Wu Gang commanded the bandits to leave that place and never return. They did not heed his words. Instead, they attacked. One by one or in groups howling with mad rage, it did not matter. Righteous Wu Gang struck them down until none remained.


    ¡°When his terrible work was done, the storm passed and villagers rejoiced for they had been saved. The villagers wished to shower what small treasures they had on him, but Righteous Wu Gang would accept no reward for his deeds. He stayed in the village for three days, asking only lodging and food. And each morning he would rise, and work the fields and tend the trees with the villagers, doing the work of ten ordinary men. On the fourth day, he took only fruit, bread, and rice. With a small smile for the villagers he had saved, he disappeared into the mists.¡±


    ¡°Where did he go?¡± demanded one of the other patrons.


    ¡°They say,¡± said the storyteller, pausing to sip from his wine cup, ¡°that he goes where the need is great. Beyond that, I cannot say.¡±


    Sen couldn¡¯t help but smile.


    ¡°Why did that story interest you so much?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Because I know Righteous Wu Gang. I¡¯m sure that story is mostly made up, but I expect there is a sliver of truth in its heart. It pleases me to know that he¡¯s still doing good works.¡±


    ¡°Who is he?¡±


    ¡°A man I probably should have killed and didn¡¯t. And I don¡¯t regret it.¡±

 V5 Chapter 11 – Shadow

    Traveling by road proved much faster for them as they headed north since it let Sen and Falling Leaf more than double their traveling time. Some of it was a simple lack of obstructions. While they encountered people, wagons, and the occasional farm animal, they weren¡¯t constantly having to navigate around, over, or through natural obstacles. While no single change in navigation cost that much time, a hundred minor alterations in their direction every single day added up. The other part was that they weren¡¯t required to set up camp and protections every single night. Sen didn¡¯t begrudge that time because he knew how important shelter and protection were in the wilds, but it did cost time. On the road and at the speeds they were moving, they could usually find an inn or a farmer happy to have some extra taels.


    The constant change in location also let them narrow down where Mt. Solace was actually located, rather than a general area indicated on inaccurate maps. That, more than anything else, served to ease Sen¡¯s mind. The distances between locations on the continent had left Sen feeling ill at ease at the start of their journey. He had wondered more than once if they would have the time to get to the mountain and back again before the deadline ran out. Granted, Fu Ruolan had never actually said it was a deadline, but Sen had walked away with the distinct impression that he would find Fu Ruolan much less accommodating if he wasn¡¯t back in three months. Much to Sen¡¯s displeasure, though, they would run across other cultivators from time to time. Some of them had the good sense to steer clear, but some were like the ones in front of Sen who were working very hard to test his limited patience.


    ¡°You should be happy to exchange pointers with someone from the¡­¡± said a puffed-up fool with too much muscle and not enough sense.


    ¡°If you utter your sect¡¯s name one more time,¡± said Sen, ¡°I will beat you unconscious, strip you naked, and tie you to a tree for the nearest spirit beasts to eat.¡±


    ¡°I would think that a wandering cultivator would know their place better,¡± said the over-muscled sect cultivator.


    ¡°You know,¡± mused Sen, ¡°I can¡¯t actually remember anymore, but I¡¯m fairly confident that I¡¯ve killed just about everyone who ever uttered a sentence like that to me.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re very confident.¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯m just running out of tolerance. So, let me be clear. If you make me draw this blade, I¡¯m going to use it to kill you and your lackeys.¡±


    ¡°The Swift River Sect will never allow such an affront to pass.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t listen well,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°What?¡± asked the sect cultivator.


    Sen didn¡¯t bother to answer. He just activated his qinggong technique and shot across the intervening space. The other cultivator seemed to realize what was about to happen a split second before it did because his eyes went wide. He¡¯d just started to move his hand toward his sword when Sen¡¯s fist crashed into the man¡¯s face. He pulled the punch enough so that he was relatively confident it wouldn¡¯t kill the man. It did, however, send the man flying through the air. As Sen casually ducked beneath a hasty blow from one of the other cultivators, he decided that it was better this way. No one would die, probably, and he could be on his way. He lashed out with a kick that drove all the air out of the second man¡¯s lungs and sent the other sect cultivator tumbling away. He felt Falling Leaf behind him and heard the rain of blows she was landing on the other cultivators. He also heard their cries of pain. He looked over and saw a look of pure glee on Falling Leaf¡¯s face as she danced between their hasty attacks. It was pretty clear she didn¡¯t need his help, so he took a few moments to gather the unconscious and semi-conscious cultivators he fought.


    He kept half an eye on Falling Leaf as she toyed with her opponents, but mostly just focused on stripping the two men of everything they had on them. It turned out not to be that much. They had one minor storage treasure between them and some weapons that Sen wouldn¡¯t have bothered with in any other circumstances. But he couldn¡¯t back off now. He summoned some rope from one of his storage rings and bound the men at the hands and ankles before propping them up against a tree. The semi-conscious cultivator started to regain his wits, so Sen hit him again for good measure. Then, he leaned against a tree for a while as Falling Leaf made the sect cultivators look stupid. Even if Falling Leaf hadn¡¯t had his training, she had watched him train for years. She had listened to many of the lessons. She¡¯d also survived in the wilds for years. Anything she lacked in training, she more than made up for with pure, savage instincts. By the time she got bored with the cultivators, one of them was bent over at the waist, hands on their knees, and heaving for breath. The other looked like she was barely managing to stay on her feet.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°I think they¡¯ve probably had enough,¡± said Sen.


    He made sure to use a tone that said he was only making a suggestion. He had zero intentions of coming between Falling Leaf and something she saw as her prey. That would be a great way to have her turn her fury on him. Thanks, but no thanks, thought Sen. Falling Leaf considered the two sect cultivators, sniffed, and looked over at Sen.


    ¡°I think you¡¯re right,¡± agreed Falling Leaf.


    The one who was heaving for breath just collapsed onto the ground. The woman looked from Falling Leaf to Sen and relaxed a little.


    ¡°Thank the heavens,¡± she whispered.


    Sen smirked at her and gave the musclebound cultivator who¡¯d set all the stupidity in motion a light kick. ¡°Don¡¯t be so nervous. I didn¡¯t kill this idiot. Why would we kill you?¡±


    ¡°Why aren¡¯t we killing them?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    Sen shrugged. ¡°There¡¯s no point. I doubt they¡¯re actually evil, and I can¡¯t go around killing everyone who annoys me. Well, I definitely shouldn¡¯t do that at any rate. Creates more problems than it solves. Embarrassing them, though? That¡¯s always on the table. Speaking of which, if you two will come over and join your friends.¡±


    The pair of sect cultivators reluctantly trudged over to Sen. The guy was covered with shallow cuts and bruises. It seemed the woman was a little more skilled because she had way fewer obvious injuries. He saw her look at the two propped up against the tree and her face went scarlet.


    ¡°Are you going to make me strip?¡± she asked, trying to sound haughty but mostly coming across as scared.


    Sen considered that for a moment. ¡°I guess not. I really only threatened your leader over there with that. I will be taking any weapons and storage treasures the two of you have, though. I don¡¯t expect the rope to hold you for long, so I need to drive the lesson home another way. Come on. Hand them over.¡±


    The cultivators grudgingly handed over another storage ring and their weapons. Sen deposited the weapons in one of his own storage rings and dropped their storage ring into a pocket. He¡¯d look inside it later. He proceeded to tie their hands and ankles before he tied them all around the tree. After a moment of thought, he reinforced the ropes with qi. Again, it wouldn¡¯t hold them forever, but it would probably keep them occupied for a few hours. More than long enough for Sen and Falling Leaf to put some distance between themselves and the sect cultivators. As he was getting ready to walk away and rejoin an impatient Falling Leaf on the road, the woman called out after him.


    ¡°Who are you?¡±


    Sen gave her what he hoped looked like an enigmatic smile. ¡°Me? I¡¯m nobody. Just a shadow passing through.¡±


    The woman looked wholly unsatisfied with the answer, which made Sen supremely happy with it. The less he spread his name or his stupid, stupid title around, the better. The last thing he wanted to do was start even more rumors about himself. Although, he supposed that this was probably a story that wouldn¡¯t cause that many headaches. Sure, there was some embarrassment, but it was the middle of the day and the nearest town wasn¡¯t that far off. Odds were good that they¡¯d get free and run home to their sect, complaining about those mean wandering cultivators. Unless the higher-ups in that sect were complete morons, though, they¡¯d recognize this mercy for what it was and let it go. That made Sen frown, though. Just because recognizing it as a mercy was the smart thing to do, it didn¡¯t mean that the sect would behave that way.


    Sen¡¯s experiences with sect elders were a mixed bag. Some of them were reasonable. Some of them were stupid. Some of them were prideful to the point of madness. And some of them were unadulterated evil. As much as Sen hated to lean on that reputation he¡¯d been building, it was the smart play for him if it could save him trouble. The problem was that he couldn¡¯t be sure it would save him trouble. It might make trouble for him just as easily. That was assuming his reputation had spread this far north. Although, it seemed like his reputation always arrived before he did. He should have asked Master Feng about leveraging an increasingly fearsome reputation. Sighing a little to himself, he turned back to the woman.


    ¡°If your elders become insistent on a name, tell them it was Judgment¡¯s Gale.¡±


    The woman jerked at that, as did the one man who was still conscious. Damn, thought Sen. It did beat me here. They both stared at Sen with expressions that went back and forth from excitement to fear.


    ¡°You¡¯re Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡± asked the man. ¡°Truly?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what they tell me.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say so?¡± asked the woman.


    ¡°Because I was trying to avoid a fight,¡± said Sen as he turned and walked away. ¡°Not that it did me any good.¡±

 V5 Chapter 12 – A Politically Convenient Solution

    ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll leave us alone?¡± asked Falling Leaf after they¡¯d traveled several miles down the road.


    ¡°Maybe,¡± said Sen. ¡°I hope so. I really don¡¯t want to kill them. We gain nothing from it.¡±


    ¡°And if they come looking for us? Will you just let them go again?¡±


    ¡°I might let them go. But I won¡¯t let them go unscathed. All mercy has limits.¡±


    Falling Leaf nodded as if that was what she expected. The pair fell back into their usual companionable silence and a comfortable pace as the miles disappeared behind them. As the sun started to vanish over the horizon, Sen decided that they weren¡¯t going to find a town. He scouted some nearby areas with his spiritual sense and picked a promising location. He went about the usual tasks of erecting a galehouse, shaking his head a little as he realized he¡¯d just accepted that name for the stone structures. As he was setting up the formation to disguise their presence at the location, he felt something out on the very edges of his spiritual sense. And I was just thinking that those sect cultivators had made the smart choice, thought Sen. He stuck his head into the galehouse. Falling Leaf was poking at the beginnings of a fire.


    ¡°I need to go deal with something on the road,¡± said Sen.


    Falling Leaf eyed him. ¡°What kind of thing?¡±


    ¡°Four pesky cultivators who don¡¯t know when to leave well enough alone.¡±


    Falling Leaf sniffed her indifference. ¡°Do you want any help?¡±


    ¡°Not unless you¡¯re bored.¡±


    ¡°Not that bored,¡± she said. ¡°I may come and watch.¡±


    ¡°Suit yourself,¡± said Sen.


    He made his way back out to the road and admired some of the nearby trees. There were maples in the area. While Sen had more familiarity with evergreens, he had always appreciated the look of maple trees. It was a pity that they were passing through in summer. Maple leaves always turned spectacular colors in autumn, and Sen thought that he¡¯d appreciate that all the more with his enhanced vision. He held out hope that the trees might start turning before they made it back to Fu Ruolan. There were some maples near where she lived, but not as many as there were in this part of the country. He was still contemplating the trees when the four cultivators arrived. Sen ignored them as he stepped closer and picked up a maple leaf that had fallen to the ground. It must have fallen recently because it was still green and looked healthy. It had seven points, which Sen hadn¡¯t been aware that maple leaves could do.


    The musclebound leader of the group started to bellow something about Sen paying for some dishonor or another. That got old almost immediately. Sen dropped his auric imposition on the leader of the group like a hammer. The man crumpled to the ground with a strangled cry of surprise and pain. The other three cultivators all took a step back, their eyes moving back and forth from Sen to the writhing man on the ground. Sen finally turned his eyes to meet theirs, and the group took another step back. The woman looked especially miserable and guilty. She had clearly told them who he was and that it was stupid to follow them. The other two looked like they wished that were exactly anywhere else in the world. Anywhere at all.


    ¡°You¡¯ve put me in a bind here,¡± said Sen. ¡°I already took whatever wealth and weapons you had. So, I can¡¯t punish you that way again. Not that I would, since it obviously didn¡¯t work the first time. Shame didn¡¯t work either, so that¡¯s out. That doesn¡¯t leave me with a lot of options other than simply killing you or maiming you.¡±


    At the mention of maiming, the three cultivators he hadn¡¯t crushed to the ground looked ill. Sen drew his jian. He made a show of it, adding unnecessary flourishes to the motion. As he ambled toward the cultivators who kept trying to creep farther and farther back, he paused to look down at the leader. He continued speaking.


    ¡°I can see from your expressions that you understand what maiming means. It will very likely end your dreams of cultivation. It might be a mercy to simply end you all right here. I¡¯ve maimed people before and, frankly, it left a sour taste in my mouth. It¡¯s permanent suffering unless you can find a miracle, and I understand those are in very short supply. It¡¯s also more punishment than you deserve. Of course, all of this also means that I¡¯m going to have to deal with your sect. They won¡¯t be happy that I¡¯ve killed or impaired their people. That¡¯s a hassle I went out of my way to avoid that the four of you have forced onto me. That¡¯s put me in an unforgiving mood. So, maybe maiming you all is the way to go.¡±


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Sen glared at the three cultivators who were still on their feet. They were pale and trembling. It seemed that they, at least, were finally starting to understand the depth of their folly. Sen walked a slow circle around the cultivator on the ground. When he could find the focus for it, the cultivator glared at Sen with hate and tried to say something. Sen assumed they were threats or comments on Sen¡¯s character. He didn¡¯t really care, so he kicked the man in the face hard enough to send a spray of blood flying. Sen resumed his slow circle around the man and made the occasional unhappy noise. He focused on the other three for a moment.


    ¡°I just don¡¯t know what I should do to you.¡±


    It was a complete lie. Sen did know what he wanted to have happen. He¡¯d even instigate it if the other three were too squeamish to suggest it themselves. He was genuinely curious to see if they¡¯d make the suggestion or not. He lifted an eyebrow at them.


    ¡°What would you do if you were in my place?¡±


    The three cultivators traded frightened looks. The other one Sen had stripped naked tried to make a run for it. Sen sighed and sent a pillar of air after the guy. It hit the man square in the back and knocked him down. Sen wrapped air around the man¡¯s ankle and dragged him so he was prone on the ground by the two still on their feet. Sen shook his head.


    ¡°No. You had your chance to run away. Now, you are in the time of consequences. So, what would you do?¡±


    The one Sen had just dragged back thrust an accusing finger at the musclebound cultivator. ¡°This is his fault. We didn¡¯t want to come. He made us.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°Throwing your leader under the cart. The time-honored move of a coward. The problem is that you came. Are you trying to tell me that if, for example, you¡¯d caught me unawares, you would have simply stood back? I don¡¯t think that¡¯s very likely.¡±


    The pointing cultivator let his hand drop. He opened his mouth a few times but apparently couldn¡¯t find anything worthwhile to say. He averted his eyes when Sen focused on him. Shaking his head a little, Sen turned his attention to the two he had interacted with back at the tree.


    ¡°How about you two?¡± he asked. ¡°Anything to say in your defense? Any suggestions to make?¡±


    Both shook their heads, either unable to think of something or unwilling to put it to voice. Sen heaved a dramatic sigh. With a flick of his wrist, Sen beheaded the musclebound cultivator. The other three stared in shocked horror. Sen supposed that this wasn¡¯t what they thought of as honorable conduct. An honorable man would have let the idiot try to defend him in combat and then killed him. Sen wiped his jian clean on the dead man¡¯s robe before he spoke again.


    ¡°You have a few options available to you. First option, you can try to avenge your friend here. Any takers?¡±


    The three remaining sect cultivators shook their heads or murmured, ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Option two is that you go back to your sect and cause me more headaches by telling them what happened here. Then, I¡¯ll do what people increasingly expect me to do. I¡¯ll kill everyone and save the three of you for last. Any takers?¡±


    There were much more fervent shaking heads that time.


    Sen nodded. ¡°Option three, and this is the one that I recommend you take. You go back to your sect. You tell them all about how this idiot died heroically facing off against a surprise spirit beast attack. Tell them it was a pack of those bear-cat looking things. Those assholes are aggressive as hell.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ll know we¡¯re lying,¡± said the woman.


    ¡°Of course, they¡¯ll know you¡¯re lying. This moron wasn¡¯t brave or honorable, but they won¡¯t give a damn. They¡¯ll have a nice, face-saving story to tell anyone who might care about him enough to ask. Those people will also know it¡¯s a lie if they knew him at all, but they¡¯ll have a nice face-saving story to tell anyone who asks about him. Most importantly, it spares me from having to deal with your sect. So, any takers?¡±


    The three cultivators traded on brief look before they all started nodding. Sen figured there was about a ninety percent chance that their sect would jump on the story and never give it another thought. He also got to take a pass on doing something awful to the rest of them. That was very appealing to him. He offloaded everything he''d taken from them from his storage ring. He tossed the woman the storage ring he took from her. They at least needed to look the part when they got back to their sect. As the trio started to move away, Sen spoke again.


    ¡°You understand, I hope, that this kind of mercy will not be granted to you a third time.¡±


    The men flinched and took off running. The woman turned and gave him a formal bow.


    ¡°I will see to it that they understand,¡± she said.


    ¡°Please do.¡±


    The woman turned and dashed off after her companions using a qinggong technique of her own. Falling Leaf stepped out of the shadows of the surrounding forest. She stared after the three fleeing cultivators.


    ¡°I thought you were going to kill them all,¡± observed Falling Leaf.


    ¡°I considered it. I think this is better, though. It gives the sect an excuse not to start a fight they probably don¡¯t want. We avoid unwanted hassles. It¡¯s a politically convenient solution.¡±


    ¡°If the sect does what you want,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Yes. If they do what I want. I think they will, though.¡±


    ¡°What if they talk about what really happened?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s not an if. They will talk about it to someone, at some point. The story will get out. But, by then, hopefully, it will be far enough in the past that no one will care enough to try to do anything about it. It¡¯s just easier for most people to stick with the official story.¡±


    Falling Leaf lost interest at that point. ¡°We should make dinner.¡±


    ¡°We? I think you meant me.¡±


    ¡°I made the fire. I participated.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°Let¡¯s go make dinner.¡±

 V5 Chapter 13 – Authority

    The closer that they got to Mt. Solace, the clearer it became to Sen that they had entered the true hinterlands of the kingdom. In fact, he wasn¡¯t even sure they were still in the kingdom proper. The borders got hazy this far north. Yet, it was the growing distance between settlements that told the real story. True towns all but ceased to exist and the villages were small, even by Sen¡¯s forgiving standards. Most nights, they slept in the wilds in the cool embrace of Sen¡¯s mini-fortresses. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly when he¡¯d started to think of them that way, but that¡¯s what they were. Tiny stone citadels to ward off those that stole through the dark with ill intent. He¡¯d even taken to sealing off the door at night simply to ensure that nothing with above-average strength could knock it down while they were unaware. As for anything that could put a hole through one of his walls with one blow, well, that was something that was probably going to be able to kill them no matter what. The first time he¡¯d sealed the door, Falling Leaf had given him an odd look.


    ¡°Why did you do that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just a feeling. I¡¯ve felt like something was watching us.¡±


    ¡°Did you sense anything out in the forest?¡±


    ¡°No, but my spiritual sense isn¡¯t perfect. Something more powerful than me could theoretically block or trick it. I prefer not to take a foolish chance when it¡¯s so easy to just seal the door. I opened up a few narrow air slits to ensure we maintain good airflow.¡±


    Falling Leaf frowned for a moment, then shrugged. It seemed she was willing to indulge his silly human concerns as long as they didn¡¯t inconvenience her too much. Despite that precaution, the feeling of being observed persisted for several days. Sen started to range out away from the road in both directions, just to see if his spiritual sense could pick up on something that might be keeping its distance. It didn¡¯t turn up anything, which actually made him feel worse instead of better. He¡¯d learned a long time ago to give his intuitions the benefit of the doubt. They were certain that something was observing him and Falling Leaf. When he poked at that intuition to see if it might cough up some more information, such as if they were in actual danger, his intuition remained silent. He interpreted that to mean that whatever signals he was picking up on weren¡¯t clear enough to indicate danger or a lack thereof.


    He felt a little bad that his paranoia was infectious. He saw Falling Leaf start to watch the forest around them with more vigilant eyes, which was saying something. She relied far more on her natural senses than he did and tended to be more guarded about potential dangers than he was most of the time. So, she spent far more of her time watching the trees than she did watching the road. Not that it really mattered much. She moved along the road with a grace that almost matched what she had been able to achieve in her ghost panther form. She navigated over loose stones and uneven spots as though they didn¡¯t exist. Yet, nothing appeared. At least, nothing appeared from the forest. Instead, the lurking watcher appeared in the middle of the road ahead of them. Sen recognized the figure, so he was just aggravated. Falling Leaf, on the other hand, was so stunned that she tripped. Sen caught her arm to prevent any unfortunate tumbles. The three eyed each other in silence for almost a minute. Sen could see that Falling Leaf¡¯s eyes were wide and her breathing was too fast. He intentionally put his body between her and the figure. He kept his tone neutral when he spoke, but he also kept his hand on the hilt of his jian.


    ¡°Hello, Boulder¡¯s Shadow. This is an unexpected meeting.¡±


    The panther man considered Sen¡¯s face before his feline eyes traveled down to where Sen¡¯s hand was obviously ready to draw the blade.


    ¡°Unexpected and, it seems, unwelcome.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°The circumstances of our last meeting were not what you might describe as ideal.¡±


    The evolved spirit animal inclined his head in acknowledgment of the point. ¡°They were not, but I kept our bargain.¡±


    This time it was Sen who was forced to incline his head in acknowledgment of the point. ¡°And I repaid that kindness.¡±


    ¡°Did you?¡± asked Boulder¡¯s Shadow.


    ¡°Have you seen Feng Ming recently?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I have not.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome. I very specifically asked him not to hunt you down. He agreed. I think he was more intrigued by the novelty of your existence than he was infuriated by the actions you and yours took. But do not mistake me. It was a close thing.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it was. I knew Feng Ming long ago. He was not a man to be trifled with even then. I do not imagine his temper has grown less powerful.¡±


    ¡°It has not,¡± agreed Sen. ¡°Fortunately for you, I think it does take more to rouse it.¡±


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    ¡°A true mercy then. Still, that complicates matters. I had hoped to leverage your debt to me. Now, it seems my position is weakened. Still, we have a matter to discuss.¡±


    Sen had been watching for it, so he saw the panther man¡¯s eyes flick behind him for just a moment. Right to where Falling Leaf was peeking around him. Sen closed his eyes and took three deep breaths. He supposed he knew that something like this was bound to happen eventually. He had revealed too much in that first meeting, however unintentional that revelation had been. Sen¡¯s simple knowledge of ghost panthers had said too much. He¡¯d been worried that the transformed panther man would come looking for where or how Sen had learned about ghost panthers. The fact that Boulder¡¯s Shadow was here, now, meant that he had likely put two and two together. It also likely meant that the spirit beast meant to take Falling Leaf away with him. When Sen opened his eyes, Boulder¡¯s Shadow flinched at what he saw in them.


    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± said Sen. ¡°Don¡¯t even suggest it. If you do, it¡¯ll become a fight. So, don¡¯t even put it in the air.¡±


    ¡°You interfere in matters you do not understand, boy,¡± growled Boulder¡¯s Shadow. ¡°This is pride business.¡±


    Sen drew his jian.


    ¡°Matters I don¡¯t understand. Pride business. Do you hear yourself? I don¡¯t understand. You mean to take my family. And for what? To participate in your dirty little war? Die in it? If you think I¡¯ll let that happen, you have sorely misjudged me,¡± said Sen.


    Almost as if summoned by Sen¡¯s rage, black lightning that emitted a purple hue started crackling around his jian. Boulder¡¯s Shadow didn¡¯t step back, but everything about his posture went from aggressive to defensive in a moment.


    ¡°Do you even know what that is?¡± asked the panther man, his eyes locked on the blade.


    ¡°No. But I do know what it does. Would you care to find out?¡±


    Boulder¡¯s Shadow shook his head. ¡°You speak as though you have a voice in this matter. You do not. She will come because she must. I am the pride father, perhaps the last in the world. She is a cub. It is her duty to obey. The authority is mine.¡±


    Sen considered that for a moment before he shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡±


    Sen could feel the moment build toward an explosion of violence. He was ready for it. Sen didn¡¯t think he could actually defeat Boulder¡¯s Shadow. Then again, he didn¡¯t need to beat the spirit beast. He just needed to drive the panther man off. If Sen inflicted enough damage, the cost of trying to take Falling Leaf away would be too high. And if there was one thing that Heavens¡¯ Rebuke excelled at doing, it was inflicting damage. Sen lifted the jian and pointed it at Boulder¡¯s Shadow. When Sen was sure that the tension had reached its peak and violence would ensue, Falling Leaf spoke.


    ¡°He¡¯s right, Sen.¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± demanded Sen.


    ¡°He has the right to command. I must obey.¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t sure exactly how he pulled it off, but Boulder¡¯s Shadow managed to look smug. Sen¡¯s mind raced. He was fighting a battle he only vaguely understood. In fact, all he really understood was the cost of failure. He knew with utter certainty that if he let her be taken away here, he would never see her again. He hazarded a glance at Falling Leaf. His oldest friend looked¡­ She looked lost. He said that it was about authority, thought Sen. Authority had to come from somewhere. In the case of the ghost panthers, it was about a social order. Sen had pieced together that much at least, but that social order was gone. It was as dead as all of those ghost panthers who had been purged by other spirit beasts. Boulder¡¯s Shadow was leaning on authority that just didn¡¯t matter anymore.


    Sen had a different kind of authority. Their family, their pride, was about as bizarre as it came. A street rat, three quasi-immortals, and one stray ghost panther, but they were a family. It wasn¡¯t just Sen who had included Falling Leaf. Uncle Kho and Master Feng had gone out of their way to be kind to her and include her. Auntie Caihong had taken months to teach her and included her in their search for Sen. Sen didn¡¯t imagine for one moment that they would all just shrug it off if they found out that some spirit beast waltzed in and took her. If Boulder¡¯s Shadow wanted to take her away, he wasn¡¯t just challenging Sen¡¯s authority. He was challenging the collective authority of Sen¡¯s entire pride. And he knows it, thought Sen. Otherwise, he would have simply killed me in an ambush and taken her away. This only works if she goes of her own free will, and I let her do it. Sen was deeply grateful for the vastly improved speed of thought that came with his cultivation level because Falling Leaf had only taken one step toward Boulder¡¯s Shadow when his hand landed on her shoulder. He felt the tension leave her body like an explosion.


    ¡°You can¡¯t have her,¡± said Sen. ¡°She¡¯s of my pride now. If you take her, it will mean a war that you know you cannot win.¡±


    Boulder¡¯s Shadow ground his teeth, but Sen could feel the sense of defeat in the panther man. The spirit beast tried one last gambit. He turned his eyes on Falling Leaf.


    ¡°To my knowledge, we are the last. They will never understand you. They cannot understand you. I know who you are. I know what you are and what you need. Come with me,¡± he said, holding out a hand.


    Falling Leaf was silent for a very long time before she spoke.


    ¡°Where were you? When I was fleeing death at every turn, where were you? When I carved a place for myself in blood, where were you? When I found a family, where were you? You may be a pride father, but my pride father is a dragon named Feng Ming. My pride sister is a queen of poisons named Ma Caihong. My pride brother is the very lightning itself, and his name is Kho Jaw-Long. And he,¡± said Falling Leaf, pointing at Sen, ¡°he is the storm that scours away the unworthy. The storm that comes in judgment and in wrath. He is my storm.¡±


    Sen knew a cue when he heard one. He had to work fast, but at least it wasn¡¯t on quite the same scale. He wove qi in a mad frenzy before lifting his jian toward the sky. He unleashed the same technique he¡¯d used over Inferno¡¯s Vale. Boulder¡¯s Shadow stared up at the growing mass of death above them. When it had grown big enough, Sen called down pillars of fire, shadow, and lightning in a ring around them. Boulder¡¯s Shadow slowly lowered his eyes to look at Falling Leaf. He turned his gaze to Sen and found nothing there but the implacable stare of a man on an immutable course of destruction and, if need be, mutual destruction. Shoulders slumping a little, Boulder¡¯s Shadow turned and walked away without another word.

 V5 Chapter 14 – Observers

    ¡°Where is he?¡± demanded Feng Ming.


    Fu Ruolan just lifted an eyebrow. It wasn¡¯t nearly as nonchalant as she made it look. No one with a functional survival instinct took Feng Ming lightly, not even other nascent soul cultivators. But she also knew that she couldn¡¯t simply acquiesce to his demands the moment he made them. If she did that, he wouldn¡¯t respect her. That would be catastrophic in the long run. Feng Ming had built his entirely deserved reputation on two pillars: strength and strategic ruthlessness. While he wasn¡¯t necessarily as flexible with his power as Fu Ruolan or even Sen, he didn¡¯t need to be. In a straight fight, she would lose to him. It would take a while and cost him more than a little, but he would win unless she got some kind of divine assistance. She understood that when a man built his world around strength, there came a point where only strength would garner his respect. It didn¡¯t necessarily need to be strength of arms. Strength of character would do in a pinch, and Fu Ruolan had lots of character. So, she leaned into that.


    ¡°You told him I was crazy,¡± huffed Fu Ruolan. ¡°I don¡¯t see why I should tell you anything after you spoke ill of me, you sour old goat.¡±


    ¡°You are crazy,¡± growled Feng Ming. ¡°You always were.¡±


    ¡°There is a difference between being eccentric and being insane,¡± she shouted at him.


    Most days, she thought she was past those old hurts. She¡¯d always been different. She saw the world differently and often more deeply than others. Her methods of cultivation were different and took her down strange paths. It was why she¡¯d gone looking for the Five-Fold Body Transformation manual in the first place. She hadn¡¯t thought she could use it herself, but that it might provide insights that could help advance her actual cultivation methods. Yet, those very differences had left her largely cut off from other cultivators. She had been mocked, ignored, and even attacked in the early days. That was how she had met Feng Ming in the first place.


    She¡¯d been in a bad spot. A group of traditional cultivators had cornered her, determined to put her in her place. They had thought that place was in the ground. Feng Ming, the arrogant bastard, had been sauntered by like nothing in the world could touch him. He¡¯d seen what was happening, and Fu Ruolan had gotten a very up-close look at why he thought nothing in the world could touch him. He¡¯d been like an unstoppable force, casually batting away lethal techniques with his jian that would have felled her in an instant. He shattered swords, spears, and bones with negligent movements of his blade. Then, he cut them down like they were nothing because, to him, they were nothing. It had been humbling. It had been terrifying. She had never been so grateful to another person in her life. That very, very old debt was a big part of why she¡¯d eventually decided to help young Lu Sen. That, and a curiosity that she¡¯d always known was unhealthy for her.


    Of course, she had also known that helping the boy would mean carefully controlling the dissemination of information. The boy had the same kind of curiosity she did and, she suspected, a little bit of that same insight she had always harbored. There was a feeling about him, as though he had touched on things much, much larger than himself. Someone like that would often rush headlong into danger out of curiosity, seeing only the potential benefits and none of the pitfalls. The problem was that controlling the flow of information also meant keeping the kid around. Doing that meant that, sooner or later, Feng Ming would show up. It had taken him a while. She¡¯d done a very good job of hiding herself out in the wilds when it was no longer suicidal to do so. Even someone as powerful as Feng Ming couldn¡¯t casually brush aside the obfuscations that she¡¯d put in place. That was why it had taken him months of dedicated searching to find her. Of course, by then, she¡¯d sent Sen and his interesting cat friend off to look for the mushrooms. She had been ready to just tell the man what he wanted to know, but his demanding tone had rubbed her the wrong way. That had inevitably spiraled into their current argument.


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± said Feng Ming. ¡°There is a difference, and you fall definitively on the side of crazy.¡±


    Fu Ruolan¡¯s eyes narrowed, and then she let them go wild and unfocused and spoke in a sing-song voice.


    ¡°Oh, where is the boy? Where is the boy? Maybe I sent him off to fetch me snacks. Maybe I sent him off to die. Maybe I put him in a pot to be my supper. Who knows? Who knows?¡± She said before she went back to her former expression and tone. ¡°I just can¡¯t seem to remember. After all, I am crazy. Us crazy people have such poor memories.¡±


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    Feng Ming¡¯s hand twitched toward his jian before the man made what was clearly a tremendous effort to stay calm.


    ¡°We both know you don¡¯t want to fight me. So, why are you making this difficult?¡±


    ¡°Why? Because he¡¯s mine for now. Because you were rude to me. Because I¡¯m crazy. Pick whichever reason makes you feel most like an ass.¡±


    Feng Ming stood perfectly still for almost ten seconds while Fu Ruolan glared at him. Then, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He took two or three more before he finally opened his eyes again. She could see that he¡¯d buried whatever anger had been bubbling up inside of him. He offered her a shallow bow.


    ¡°You¡¯re right. I came to your home, uninvited, and I was rude to you. I let my concerns for the boy displace my manners. I apologize, Fu Ruolan.¡±


    It took Fu Ruolan a moment to realize that her mouth hanging open. She shut it before her shock became any more obvious. She¡¯d thought he¡¯d simply back off a little. A full-blown apology had not been on the list of reactions she¡¯d expected. It finally occurred to her that she¡¯d let the stories about the man infiltrate her expectations of him, much like he¡¯d let very old impressions and stories about her set his expectations. It seemed that they¡¯d both gotten a lesson that day.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± she managed to get out before heaving a sigh. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you imagined I was doing to him. I just sent him off to get an ingredient for that absurd body cultivation method that Bo set him up for.¡±


    ¡°Was he strong enough for that?¡±


    ¡°I stabilized his condition and let him recover what strength he could. I have no specific knowledge about where his capacities were before he came here, but he seemed capable enough to me. You only missed him by a few weeks.¡±


    Feng Ming¡¯s brow furrowed and he muttered. ¡°I¡¯m going to have words for that turtle the next time I see him.¡±


    ¡°A common sentiment,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    Feng Ming snorted a little before he asked, ¡°Where did you send him?¡±


    ¡°Mt. Solace. There¡¯s a mushroom that grows there that he needs. There were substitutes that we could have used, but that¡¯s the best one. Given how far gone he was when he got here, I thought using the best options where possible was the best course of action.¡±


    Feng Ming nodded and hummed quietly. ¡°Very well, then. I¡¯ll be on my way.¡±


    Fu Ruolan rolled her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re going to go check on him, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Why?¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t always going to be there to clean up after him.¡±


    Feng Ming laughed. ¡°I¡¯m almost never there to clean up after him. The only thing he ever intentionally brought me in on was that situation with the demonic cultivators.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Fu Ruolan in surprise. ¡°Even so, it won¡¯t help him if he thinks you¡¯re going to swoop in when things get too difficult.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just going to peek in on him. I won¡¯t even say hello.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve never excelled in stealth.¡±


    ¡°Well, what do you suggest?¡±


    Fu Ruolan thought it over and repressed another sigh. She knew what she was going to have to do. She just didn¡¯t want to do it. Still, she supposed it was better than letting Feng Ming ruin everything by hovering like a nervous parent. She gave him an annoyed look.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you. I can keep us out of sight.¡±


    ¡°You sure you want to bother with it?¡± asked Feng Ming.


    ¡°Of course, I don¡¯t want to bother with it. It¡¯s just better than him knowing you¡¯re interfering.¡±


    Feng Ming raised his hands in surrender. Fu Ruolon took a few minutes to gather the necessities, and then the two of them started the long journey to catch up. Even traveling at nascent soul speeds, it took them days to finally pin down Lu Sen and Falling Leaf, mostly because the boy was using absurdly effective masking formations to keep them off of everyone¡¯s radar. Once the upper-tier cultivators found their quarry, they kept themselves out of sight. Fu Ruolan was ready to leave immediately, but Feng Ming wanted to stay for a while.


    ¡°Why would you want to watch them walking and camping?¡±


    ¡°How many chances am I going to get to see the boy operate without him knowing I¡¯m there? Besides, I have an inkling that something interesting might happen in the next day or two.¡±


    ¡°You never struck me as a divination cultivator,¡± observed Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°I¡¯m not, but we¡¯re all surprisingly well-tuned to the world. It¡¯s just a gut feeling that I should stick around for a little while.¡±


    Fu Ruolan grumbled about it for a while but ultimately agreed to stay. She was happy she¡¯d done so when the elder ghost panther turned up. He was transformed, but she could tell what he was. She watched in fascination as Lu Sen refused to back down an inch. It wasn¡¯t the kind of reckless fearlessness she¡¯d half expected based on the stories. He was just¡­resolved. Resolved to a degree that was probably bad for him. Yet, it was a resolve he was willing to take right to the bitter end. She was even more surprised that the cat girl accepted it. No, she didn¡¯t just accept it, she was completely bought in to it. More than once she assumed that she or Feng Ming would need to step in but it never happened. The elder ghost panther backed down.


    ¡°Well, well, well,¡± said Fu Ruolan, as she watched the elder ghost panther trudge away in defeat. ¡°I certainly never saw that coming.¡±


    When Feng Ming didn¡¯t reply, she glanced over at the man. The sight that greeted her there was possibly even more startling than the one she¡¯d witnessed below. Feng Ming, a man she rightly feared, quite possibly the most powerful and dangerous being on the planet, had tears streaming down his ancient cheeks.

 V5 Chapter 15 – Standing Aside

    Despite his many attempts to draw Falling Leaf into a conversation during the last week of their trip to Mt. Solace, Sen met with abject failure. She would answer questions with a lone syllable or a shrug. While he recognized the root cause of it, Sen didn¡¯t believe for a moment that he understood it. She had rejected what might well be the only other one of her kind in the world in favor of him, Master Feng, Uncle Kho, and Auntie Caihong. He knew that had to have cost her something, probably something very dear, but he didn¡¯t know what it had been. The ignorance frustrated him because he had the feeling that someone else, someone who had grown up in something more like normal circumstances would have known, would have understood, would have been able to help. All he could do was just sort of be around on the off chance that she decided to unburden herself to him. After a week, though, he was starting to think that she wasn¡¯t going to do that. Or, at least, she wouldn¡¯t do that with him.


    Yet, for all his concern over her well-being, Sen couldn¡¯t simply abandon the task they were on. He needed to get those mushrooms, which meant they needed to keep pressing forward. He was relieved that Falling Leaf seemed eager to leave behind the scene of that confrontation with Boulder¡¯s Shadow. If anything, she was pushing harder than he was, which was part of what had him concerned. Still, he couldn¡¯t do anything if she didn¡¯t want him to do anything. He understood that much. At the end of the day, he could only wait for her to decide that she wanted to tell him and focus on the task at hand. And he did need to focus on the task at hand. The journey to the mountain had taken six weeks, which meant that they were already behind schedule. Of course, they hadn¡¯t known exactly how far they needed to go when they set out. Their initial pace through the wilds had been brisk, but they hadn¡¯t been pushing hard. They¡¯d often called it a day early when they came across a convenient inn. They would have to forego most luxuries and a leisurely pace back once they had the mushroom, assuming they could find them in the first place.


    Sen was surprised to discover that there was some civilization at the base of the mountain. It wasn¡¯t a city as he understood the word, but it was probably the closest thing this far north. Sen would have called it a town anywhere else. He¡¯d had a few days to consider whether to bother with the place and decided to simply bypass it altogether. He didn¡¯t have the time and wasn¡¯t in the mood to get caught up in any nonsense. He also knew that simply setting foot inside those walls was like sending out an open invitation to all of the local nonsense. So, he and Falling Leaf took a course that would send them wide around the town. It would cost them a little time but better a little wasted time outside the town than a lot of wasted time inside the town. Yet, it seemed the heavens were determined to make this part of the journey difficult for him. He¡¯d felt them approaching long before they arrived, so it was exactly no surprise when a dozen people stepped out of the surrounding cover of the forest to surround them.


    A quick sweep of his spiritual sense told him that most of them were regular mortals armed with crossbows. There were a few upper-tier foundation formation cultivators and one core formation cultivator. Part of Sen told him that it would be better to talk this out. Surely, there was some peaceful solution to this problem. Yet, the rest of him knew that it wasn¡¯t going to play out that way. These people had come out here to ambush them. Sen supposed it was his own fault. He¡¯d been experimenting on the trip with tamping down the expression of his cultivation level. The goal was simply to make himself less obvious without going in for full-on hiding. Hiding was helpful, but it limited his senses in ways that he didn¡¯t like in the wild. It was the only thing that Falling Leaf had shown an interest in during the whole last week, so he¡¯d explained it as well as he could and she¡¯d figured out her own version of the tamping-down technique.


    Of course, it also came with the problem of making him and her look like easier targets than they were in truth. The population had been so sparse on their way to the mountain that it hadn¡¯t resulted in any incidents, but he supposed his luck had been bound to run out. Sen debated with himself briefly before he looked at Falling Leaf. She looked angry and eager. Well, I guess that decides that, thought Sen.


    ¡°Which ones do you want?¡± he asked her before anyone else could say anything.


    His tone was so, so very casual that he saw a lot of alarmed looks exchanged among the would-be robbers. The core cultivator stepped forward. She was a tall woman with a piercing gaze. Her skin was pale and her features refined through the magic of advancement. Yet, her lips were pressed into a hard line as she glared at the pair of them. She had an expensive spear in her hands and handled it with the casual air of someone who knew its use. The woman opened her mouth to say something when Falling Leaf¡¯s furious, bloodthirsty eyes met hers and the words died. Falling Leaf sniffed and gestured at the woman.


    ¡°She likes pointy sticks. Show her what the Kho taught you. I¡¯ll deal with the rest of them.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at her and then shrugged. Sometimes, the best thing a person could do for their friends was simply standing aside.


    ¡°As you say,¡± offered Sen.


    The woman with the spear finally found her voice.


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    ¡°You will¡­¡± she started.


    ¡°It¡¯s too late,¡± said Sen, summoning a spear from his storage ring.


    She opened her mouth again when, in a move that might have been choreographed, Sen and Falling Leaf both dropped the techniques tamping down their cultivation levels. The woman with the spear went pale.


    ¡°Run,¡± she ordered.


    Sen doubted anyone heard the order, though, because Falling Leaf was already among the mortals and the foundation formation cultivators and the screaming had started. Sen started walking toward the other core cultivator. She held her ground, but it looked like she would have far preferred to take her own order.


    ¡°Did someone send you?¡± asked Sen, reaching out and plucking a stray crossbow from the air.


    That move seemed to frighten the woman more than all of the bloody carnage that Falling Leaf was inflicting on the rest of the group. He saw her lips compress into that line again before she spoke.


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to tell you anything.¡±


    Sen just shook his head. ¡°You will. Because I¡¯m not going to let you die until you do.¡±


    Sen felt one of the foundation formation cultivators cycling for fire. That fool launched a fireball at Sen who rolled his eyes, cycled for fire, and ripped the technique away from the man. There was a cry of pain, although Sen wasn¡¯t sure if was from the loss of the technique or Falling Leaf doing something painful to the man. Sen dismissed the concern and split the fireball into half a dozen smaller fireballs that he made burn hotter and hotter until they turned blue. The other core cultivator seemed to find her balance then and sneered.


    ¡°A fire cultivator. You¡¯re all so easy to beat.¡±


    The woman started cycling for earth. Sen didn¡¯t do anything to disrupt her cycling. He just waited to see what she would do. And he waited. And waited. Sen didn¡¯t know who had taught this woman, but she had clearly not benefited from superior training. She also didn¡¯t seem to think that this long pause was unusual. Well, thought Sen, if her training was this poor, it probably stands to reason that most people around here received similarly poor training. When she finally managed to pull together her technique, Sen was disappointed. He had been expecting something massive, something unique, and what he got was a technique that he could probably deploy while half-unconscious. He felt a handful of earth spears forming around him. Sighing to himself, Sen cycled for earth and stamped his foot down once, driving his qi down into the ground and disrupting the woman¡¯s technique. She staggered to one side as the backlash made blood leak from her eyes. Sen shook his head again.


    ¡°I guess this is what they mean by a teachable moment,¡± said Sen after sense returned to the woman¡¯s face.


    He cycled for earth qi again and drove it into the ground. A heartbeat later, the woman was staring with huge eyes at the dozens of razor-tipped earthen spears that sprang up around her.


    ¡°So fast,¡± she breathed in awe.


    Sen waved a hand and the spears collapsed back into the earth. He gave the woman a hard look.


    ¡°Who sent you?¡± asked Sen before he shook his head. ¡°On second thought, I don¡¯t actually care who sent you. Are they going to be stupid enough to send anyone else to interfere in my business? Do I need to go to town and make an example of someone?¡±


    The woman looked around at the suddenly silent woods around them. Sen followed suit and realized that Falling Leaf had apparently finished her work. There was¡­ There was a lot of blood and limbs littering the surrounding area. Just as Sen was about to prod the woman for an answer a bloodcurdling scream cut through the silence. The woman stared in the direction that barely human noise had come from before she turned a ghastly expression on Sen.


    ¡°No. No one will bother you. Now, kill me. Kill me before she comes back.¡±


    ¡°Before who comes back?¡± asked Falling Leaf, seeming to materialize out of nowhere no more than a few feet from the woman.


    ¡°Stay back!¡± shouted the woman as she stumbled away.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t kill her?¡± Falling Leaf directed at Sen.


    ¡°I just wanted to know how much of a hassle this is going to cause us. She says that no one will bother us after this.¡±


    ¡°Do you believe her?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    ¡°I think she was probably too frightened to lie.¡±


    ¡°Do you want to let her go?¡±


    Sen looked inside himself and realized that he honestly didn¡¯t care. ¡°Up to you. I don¡¯t have an opinion.¡±


    Sen watched as shadows hardened around the ends of Falling Leaf¡¯s fingers into a very frightening set of claws. She advanced on the other core cultivator, who swung her spear almost reflexively. A blurred movement on Falling Leaf¡¯s part and the spear was sheared into two pieces. Falling Leaf had those claws sunk into the skin of the other cultivator¡¯s neck before the severed part of the spear hit the ground.


    ¡°Did you lie to him?¡± she asked.


    Sen could feel the earth cultivator trying to cycle, but her terror overrode her concentration. The woman finally spoke.


    ¡°No.¡±


    Falling Leaf seemed to weigh that word. ¡°I believe you. So, I won¡¯t make you suffer.¡±


    There was another fast motion, and the cultivator¡¯s head was separated from her body as neatly as the spear had been divided into two. Falling Leaf turned to face him, as though expecting him to say something. Sen glanced at the dead core cultivator. He felt like he ought to feel something about all of this, but it was pretty clear that all of these people had come out here looking for easy victims. He was very confident that if he and Falling Leaf had been as weak as they were pretending to be that they wouldn¡¯t have survived. He didn¡¯t have any empathy to spare for people who operated like that. He¡¯d killed plenty of people in his life, but he tried not to victimize people who stood no chance against him.


    Instead of commenting, he pulled out a container of water and a cloth. He walked over and gestured at Falling Leaf¡¯s hands as he took the stopper out of the container of water. He poured clean water over her hands and then handed her the cloth. Once she finished wiping her hands, she gave him an uncertain look.


    ¡°Did it help?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I¡­ It did.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± said Sen, glancing upwards and judging how much time they had left until sunset. ¡°We should get moving. Unless you want anything from these people.¡±


    Falling Leaf shook her head, and the two set off leaving the remains of the bandits to the mercies of nature.

 V5 Chapter 16 – Guest

    One of the lessons that Sen learned from collecting plants and alchemical reagents on Uncle Kho¡¯s mountain was that the finding all too often proved easier than the actual harvesting. Many of those plants had powerful defenses that could prove downright lethal to the careful cultivator. Beyond that, humans weren¡¯t the only ones who found those plants and reagents useful. While spirit beasts did not practice alchemy, at least not to Sen¡¯s knowledge, they could often consume those reagents for benefits. The more potent the plants and reagents, the more powerful the spirit beasts who would guard them. That had been at least part of the reason that Uncle Kho¡¯s mountain had been such a dangerous place. There were many very useful things on that mountain, and many spirit beasts had moved in to take advantage. That was something that Sen reminded himself about again as he pulled his spear free from the body of some kind of bird of prey with a metal beak, talons, and even eyes.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t actually malicious,¡± Sen muttered. ¡°They aren¡¯t intentionally trying to stall you.¡±


    Of course, saying it and believing it were two different matters. Yes, Mt. Solace was even more remote than Uncle Kho¡¯s mountain. Yes, Sen strongly suspected that it had been harvested from even less frequently. So, he should have expected unhappy spirit beasts to slow him down. He¡¯d even blown off the first few attacks. What he had not expected was the constant stream of them. He¡¯d been awake and fighting for nearly three straight days as they crawled their way up the mountain. He knew he could keep going for a while, but there were limits. Going without sleep generally meant toning down the combat activities as much as possible. It freed up the qi for things like reinforcing the body as necessary. When combat was nearly relentless, the body only got reinforced here and there. Given that Sen didn¡¯t understand how Fu Ruolan had stabilized his condition, he was not particularly keen on the idea of pushing his body to its limits for extended periods of time.


    It wasn¡¯t even that any given confrontation was that difficult. With lone spirit beasts, Sen could often immobilize them with his auric imposition or slow them down enough with it to get off other attacks. For attacks by groups, he¡¯d often deployed his killing intent like a blanket over the area. That was often sufficient to end the threat by itself. But those tactics required concentration and, because Falling Leaf was nearby, a degree of precision. Using those tactics over and over and over again had worn him down mentally. He was still thinking far faster than any mortal, but the spirit beasts were only growing more powerful and faster the higher they went up the mountain. If things kept up the way they had been, Sen knew that he was going to make a mistake that would get him or Falling Leaf badly injured or killed. He leaned on the spear and gave Falling Leaf a grim look.


    ¡°We can¡¯t keep going on like this,¡± he said. ¡°I think we need to hole up for a night.¡±


    Falling Leaf stared up toward the peak of the mountain. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what she was feeling at the moment, but he was deeply relieved that she was pointing it at something other than him. Making a frustrated sound that never quite became a word, she gave him a questioning look.


    ¡°Do we have the time for that?¡±


    She was as aware of the schedule they were on as he was, and it was clearly on her mind. Sen considered it as he too stared up toward the peak. He had a vague idea of where on the mountain to look, but he didn¡¯t know how much farther they had to go to reach it. The mountain was vast. While they¡¯d gotten a goodly way up it, the peak vanished into the cloud cover overhead. It could still be days before they reached the right spot.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°I do know that we can¡¯t afford for either of us to make a bad choice because we were too tired to make a good one.¡±


    Falling Leaf frowned at that before she finally nodded. ¡°Agreed.¡±


    Sen gave serious consideration to just throwing up a galehouse right there, but they had made a lot of noise and spilled blood. While the noise and fighting would keep other things away for a time, the smell of blood would draw attention to their location sooner than later. Rubbing at his face with the hand that wasn¡¯t holding on to his spear, he looked down at the three dead birds on the ground. Loathing the lost time, he still stopped to remove their cores, beaks, talons, and eyes. He didn¡¯t need anyone to tell him that they would prove useful, valuable, or both. While he wasn¡¯t that worried about money, it was still stupid to just leave resources sitting around on the ground. Staring down at the remains of the dead birds, a random thought hit him.


    ¡°Do you think these things are edible?¡± he asked Falling Leaf.


    She shrugged. ¡°Most birds are.¡±


    Sen stored the corpses in a storage ring, then headed off looking for a better spot to put up a galehouse. It took about an hour that was mercifully free from any additional attacks before Sen found a place that he considered acceptable. Even after letting Falling Leaf grab whatever cores she wanted, Sen was still freshly stocked on a wide variety of them. He even had enough metal-attributed cores to set up his nasty spike formation. While he took the extra time to set up several formations outside of the galehouse, Falling Leaf took the birds and finished cleaning them. Not that Sen was especially worried that they would make him sick. Auntie Caihong had told him that core cultivators and dual cultivators like him could theoretically eat just about anything without suffering any ill effects from things that weren¡¯t specifically poisons and venoms. He was more worried that the birds just wouldn¡¯t taste good. Once he finished putting up the formations, which went much faster than he expected, he walked over to where Falling Leaf was considering the plucked birds. He eyed them, and then her.


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    ¡°Is there a problem?¡± he asked.


    ¡°We can¡¯t cook them all inside,¡± she said. ¡°The fireplace isn¡¯t big enough.¡±


    Sen covered his eyes with his hands. Of course, the fireplace was fine for cooking in pots and pans, but these things needed to roast. He thought about it for a few minutes before he took a few steps away. Compared with the galehouse, what he made was simplicity itself. It was really just a shallow stone ring with raised sections where the ends of spits could rest. He took a moment to focus and cycle metal qi. It involved some effort, but he managed to dredge up enough metal from the ground to form three metal spits that should be able to hold the large birds. He gathered up some firewood while Falling Leaf got the birds onto the narrow metal rods. It only took a few minutes for him to turn the wood he gathered into a bed of coals that were throwing off a lot of heat. He helped Falling Leaf position the birds over the coals before they both sat down near the fire pit.


    Sen thought that they might talk, but it wasn¡¯t to be. He sprawled out on the ground and was soon asleep. What dreams he had were surreal, unintelligible things that he struggled to even remember when Falling Leaf gently nudged him. He woke with a start, his eyes darting around to find the danger. He relaxed a little when he remembered where they were. It wasn¡¯t precisely safety, but it was likely as close as they were going to get on Mt. Solace. Pushing himself up into a sitting position, Sen couldn¡¯t stifle a yawn. Even so, his mind felt clearer and less ragged around the edges. If nothing else, it didn¡¯t feel like work to think anymore. It was a small but important improvement to Sen¡¯s way of thinking. He blinked at the birds. They smelled like they were probably done. Falling Leaf was looking at the birds a bit nervously. When she noticed him watching her, she got a sheepish expression on her face.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know when they were done,¡± she said.


    ¡°Oh. I¡¯ll show you,¡± said Sen.


    He stood, walked over, and grabbed one of the legs. He gave it a gentle tug. The leg came away from the bird cleanly. He held the leg out to her. She took it and lifted an eyebrow at him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± she said.


    ¡°If the leg comes away with a little gentle pressure, it usually means the meat is cooked through,¡± said Sen, grabbing a leg for himself. ¡°Auntie Caihong taught me that.¡±


    Falling Leaf nodded as though now it all made perfect sense. A little hesitantly, Sen took a bite. The meat was a little gamey, but otherwise seemed edible to Sen. He had meant to sprinkle on some spices, but the nap had prevented that. Oh well, he thought. Maybe next time. Once it was established the bird was indeed edible, the pair of them polished off one whole bird between them in no time. Sen did wish that he¡¯d made something to go with it, but there were worse things than a simple meal. He also discovered that the meat was rich in qi. Very rich. Absurdly rich. He felt it crashing into his dantian and spreading out through his body. Falling Leaf seemed to be experiencing something similar since she¡¯d gotten up and started pacing a little. Sen was about to ask her about it when a voice called out from the darkness.


    ¡°Hello, the fire,¡± shouted a man¡¯s voice.


    Sen¡¯s jian was out and crackling with lightning before he¡¯d made a conscious decision about what to do. Falling Leaf was glaring in the direction of the voice with those shadow claws coalescing around her fingers. The man was standing right at the edge of the area where Sen¡¯s formations would activate. The man seemed a little startled by their reactions but not afraid. That didn¡¯t sit well with Sen. So, he let some killing intent bleed into the jian until Heavens¡¯ Rebuke locked into place, turning the already lethal jian into a personal apocalypse for the stupid and unwary. That got the man¡¯s attention and his almost bland expression turned into one of careful wariness.


    ¡°Not very friendly, are you?¡± asked the man.


    ¡°Being friendly with strangers is a good way to end up dead,¡± said Sen. ¡°Especially in the wilds.¡±


    ¡°Then you¡¯re spending time with the wrong strangers,¡± offered the man with a cheerful smile.


    When that got exactly no response from Sen or Falling Leaf, the man actually looked a little hurt. When the silence stretched out to close to a minute with no one doing anything, Sen finally got tired of it.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s time that you moved on,¡± said Sen. ¡°You clearly know that there are formations in place. Take those as a hint.¡±


    The stranger frowned as if he¡¯d abruptly realized that Sen was being deadly serious and not just posturing.


    ¡°You¡¯d leave a fellow traveler to the mercies of this mountain?¡±


    ¡°The last fellow travelers we met here meant to rob and kill us,¡± said Sen. ¡°So, yes. If you aren¡¯t strong enough to protect yourself, you don¡¯t belong on this mountain.¡±


    ¡°Does your very pretty friend feel the same way?¡± asked the stranger, turning what Sen assumed the man thought was a charming smile toward Falling Leaf.


    ¡°I would have already killed you,¡± said Falling Leaf in a cold, flat voice.


    The stranger blinked a few times like he couldn¡¯t quite believe that had failed to get him anywhere. He looked back over at Sen.


    ¡°You¡¯re the reasonable one?¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯m not reasonable at all. I¡¯m also out of patience,¡± said Sen, leveling the jian at the man.


    The stranger grasped that he¡¯d pushed his luck well beyond the limits of Sen¡¯s tolerance. He lifted his hands and backed away.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I bothered you,¡± said the man in haste before disappearing into the trees.


    ¡°He isn¡¯t really leaving, is he?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen. ¡°I don¡¯t believe he is.¡±

 V5 Chapter 17 – Guest, Part 2

    ¡°He¡¯s still following us,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    ¡°I know,¡± said Sen, stopping in place. ¡°Stay here. I¡¯m going to go deal with this. We don¡¯t have time for this kind of distraction.¡±


    Sen turned on his heel and started back the way they had come. He¡¯d been putting up with the not-at-all-stealthy stalker who had been dogging their heels for nearly half the day. He¡¯d hoped that the man would just get bored or sick of dealing with the spirit beasts Sen kept sending his way, but the stranger had proven a bit more persistent than Sen would like. If the fool wouldn¡¯t take the not even remotely subtle hints that had been put in his path, Sen would take a more direct approach toward dealing with the problem. It only took him ten minutes of fast walking to find the man walking very nearly in their footprints. It took the stranger longer to realize Sen was waiting for him, jian in hand. When he did finally notice Sen, he gave Sen a big smile.


    ¡°Well, now that there aren¡¯t those pesky formations in between us, we can have a civilized talk.¡±


    ¡°Are you under the mistaken impression that the formations being gone makes you safer?¡±


    ¡°This posturing is ridiculous. I¡¯m of a higher cultivation level than you. You can¡¯t do anything to me.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what the nascent soul cultivator I killed thought too. I expect that the dozens of core cultivators with a higher cultivation than me that I killed had that exact thought as well. Yet, here I am. People infinitely more dangerous than you have failed to get what they wanted from me. So, I¡¯m going to say this once. Turn around. Go back to wherever you came from. Never bother me again.¡±


    For the first time, the stranger seemed to really pause and consider what Sen had just said. It seemed to leave a sour taste in the man¡¯s mouth.


    ¡°And if I don¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°Then, you¡¯ll never bother anyone again. And you strike me as the kind of man who likes to bother people. Make the smart choice.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t even know what I want,¡± said the stranger, trying to reclaim some of the affability he¡¯d shown before.


    ¡°Why do you think that matters?¡± asked Sen. ¡°You don¡¯t have anything I want, which is the part that matters to me.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know that.¡±


    ¡°I do know that, because you already tried to pull the I¡¯m stronger than you nonsense. That means that you want something, and you thought I¡¯d get it for you. I imagine you thought that you¡¯d take it from me by force after the fact.¡±


    ¡°You have a very dim view of people.¡±


    ¡°That''s just because people have done such a good job of being lying, scheming, murderous pieces of shit. Especially cultivators. Most especially sect cultivators. Yes, I know you¡¯re from a sect. It¡¯s written all over you, and I¡¯m not impressed.¡±


    ¡°How did you know?¡±


    ¡°I was tired last night, so I didn¡¯t piece it together right away. But only someone under orders, someone monumentally stupid, or both tempts the anger of someone like me. If you¡¯re under orders, then you¡¯re taking them from someone. That suggests a sect, but it¡¯s not conclusive. Then, there¡¯s your general air of self-satisfaction and your assumption of superiority. That was the real giveaway. People from sects are always arrogant to the point of being morons, and that¡¯s coming from someone who has more than a passing relationship with misplaced arrogance. Plus, I¡¯ve seen this approach before. You try to come off as all friendly, but deep down you think every wandering cultivator is there for your benefit or not worth the time of day. So, please, spare me the pitch and the threats. Just go.¡±


    The stranger regarded Sen in silence for a moment before he shook his head. ¡°They were right about you. You really do see everyone, absolutely everyone, that you don¡¯t love like family as a threat.¡±


    Sen frowned at the man. He¡¯d changed. It had been almost imperceptible, but the unearned arrogance, the false superiority had disappeared like it had never been there. This did nothing to reassure Sen, who started cycling for half a dozen different qi types. The stranger pointed at Sen.


    ¡°Case in point. You don¡¯t know what to make of me now, so you assume I¡¯m a threat.¡±


    Sen said nothing. Instead, he prepared to activate his qinggong technique. If the stranger so much as twitched in his direction, Sen was going to end this conversation permanently.


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    The stranger sighed. ¡°Even now, you¡¯re not going to ask any questions?¡±


    ¡°Questions would give you the false impression that I want to know you, or about you, or about whatever it is you came here for. I don¡¯t. I¡¯m here on business of my own. When that¡¯s done, I¡¯ll leave. That is all I care about.¡±


    ¡°So, no room in your life for new people? No room for curiosity?¡±


    Sen barked out a bitter laugh. ¡°Do you have any idea what happened the last time I let new people into my life?¡±


    ¡°Yes. There was a rather abrupt change in official power in the capital. Along with the destruction of an old, powerful, deeply entrenched criminal organization.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°So, you know about that. Good. Then it will make perfect sense to you when I say that there is, in fact, no room in my life for new people. I¡¯m particularly disinterested in people who make their introduction under a veil of lies.¡±


    ¡°I simply wished,¡± began the man before Sen cut him off.


    ¡°Don¡¯t explain. I truly do not care. I wouldn¡¯t believe anything you said now anyway.¡±


    ¡°Would you have believed me if I¡¯d just told you who I was right at the start?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    That answer seemed to cause the stranger legitimate pain. ¡°A life without any trust is no way to live.¡±


    ¡°But it is a way to survive. And in this appalling world where might is the first, last, and only arbiter of right, that¡¯s the absolute best any of us can hope for,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°You truly believe that, don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Believe? I don¡¯t believe anything. I know it. I¡¯ve lived it. I don¡¯t know what fantasy you grew up in. But if you believe anything else, you are a fool who will get cut down by someone who doesn¡¯t share your naivety.¡±


    ¡°Someone like you?¡±


    Sen hesitated at that. It was a more meaningful question than it sounded right at first. Sen was quite confident that he didn¡¯t share the man¡¯s worldview. All that blather about trust told him that much. Sen had seen firsthand that trust should be given rarely and only when the other person had earned it. He was willing to admit that his sense of what earning it meant had gotten increasingly difficult to meet. He also knew that was a reaction to the staggering number of people who utterly failed to meet even a minimum level of decency in his eyes. Yet, there was a meaningful gap between not trusting people and killing people because you didn¡¯t trust them. He¡¯d let a lot of people he didn¡¯t trust go on breathing. For Sen, it was largely about the situation.


    ¡°That depends entirely on you,¡± said Sen, after thinking it over. ¡°If you interfere with my purpose here, I will kill you. If you go on your way and leave me be, I have no interest in you one way or the other.¡±


    ¡°And you consider following you interfering with your purpose?¡±


    ¡°I do.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure you can figure that out on your own,¡± said Sen. ¡°I doubt you¡¯d have gotten as far as you have as a cultivator if you can¡¯t put that one together.¡±


    The stranger nodded in acknowledgment. ¡°Since you won¡¯t extend me even an ounce of trust, I may as well be your enemy. Having an enemy at your back is a distraction. You already have plenty of dangers to face on this mountain, and a distraction could prove fatal. Hence, I¡¯m interfering.¡±


    ¡°Precisely.¡±


    ¡°If you think that, why haven¡¯t you attacked me already?¡±


    ¡°Because I don¡¯t like killing people. I¡¯ve already done more of it than I ever imagined I¡¯d have to. I won¡¯t hesitate if I must, but I¡¯m not looking for excuses to leave blood on the ground. So, if you decide to leave, I¡¯m inclined to let you.¡±


    ¡°If I actually were your enemy, wouldn¡¯t that just give me an opportunity to go get more people than you can kill?¡±


    Sen felt something drain away from his emotional state, which meant it drained away from his face. He couldn¡¯t identify exactly what it was, but he felt it go. It left him feeling hollow inside, empty, and remorseless. The stranger saw it go and the blood drained from his face. When Sen spoke, he could almost feel the winter chill in his own tone.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know that many people.¡±


    The stranger swallowed hard and said, ¡°No, I don¡¯t imagine I do. Very well. I will leave you be.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s for the best.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps we will meet again,¡± said the stranger with more than a little hesitance. ¡°Perhaps it will be somewhere less fraught.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not looking for new friends.¡±


    The man nodded. ¡°That¡¯s very clear. It doesn¡¯t mean you don¡¯t need them. In case we meet again, my name is Yan Zixin.¡±


    Sen pointedly looked back down the mountain. ¡°Goodbye, Yan Zixin.¡±


    Sen kept track of the man with his spiritual sense until he was nearly a mile away down the hill. Satisfied that man was leaving or at least planning on keeping his distance, Sen walked back to where he¡¯d left Falling Leaf. He found her throwing rocks at a bird that circled high overhead, although he thought the word throwing undersold what was happening. The rocks were leaving her hand at speeds well in excess of a crossbow bolt. Sen was about to suggest that it was a futile endeavor with the bird circling so far above, but then he saw the bird careen out of control toward the ground. He lifted an eyebrow at Falling Leaf.


    ¡°It was bothering me earlier,¡± she said. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°I encouraged him to leave. He took that advice.¡±


    Falling Leaf looked surprised. ¡°Unusually wise.¡±


    Sen frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t think he came for a fight.¡±


    ¡°Why did he come?¡±


    ¡°To get my measure, maybe? I¡¯m not certain. I am relatively confident that I didn¡¯t hear one honest word from his mouth. Even so, I don¡¯t think he¡¯s a right now problem.¡±


    ¡°But you think he will be a problem?¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°Down the road, yes. But I decided not to borrow trouble, for once. He left. That¡¯s enough.¡±


    ¡°You should have killed him.¡±


    ¡°What? Why is that?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°He took your measure, but you didn¡¯t take his. You left a possible enemy you don¡¯t understand behind you. That¡¯s always dangerous.¡±


    Sen tried to think of a good objection, but he didn¡¯t have one. He had let someone go that he didn¡¯t understand. He¡¯d just wanted to avoid adding to the pile of bodies he¡¯d left in his wake. He¡¯d also wanted to get back to the task at hand. It had seemed like a good strategy in the moment. Looking back, though, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder if Falling Leaf was right.

 V5 Chapter 18 – Dusk Mushrooms

    It took the rest of the day and then most of another before Sen finally started seeing the kind of environment that the mushrooms would grow. The ascent also came with a few other benefits. The number of attacks by spirit beasts went down. Granted, that happened because the higher they went, the more powerful the spirit beasts became. That meant longer fights, but ultimately resulted in them making better time. The higher quality beast cores also became useful to Falling Leaf as they could provide potential fuel for advancement, rather than simply replenishment of her qi stores. They only acquired two shadow-attributed cores, but that was more than they had when they¡¯d started up the mountain. The other main benefit was that the trees thinned out. They were high enough up that it was simply too cold for most trees to maintain a real presence. That dramatically improved visibility, which cut way down on the ability of things to surprise them with an attack.


    Sen was a little surprised that mushrooms could survive this high up in the mountain, but he supposed they weren¡¯t really mushrooms in the traditional sense. They were more like vessels for a very specific kind of qi, and qi was often indifferent to such pesky mortal concerns as the temperature. Still, he also became more cautious as they started looking around. He was searching for shadowy areas with a lot of moisture. At the heights they were at, there weren¡¯t many of those. Sen was expecting a fight when they did finally find the mushrooms. Of course, that was tricky in and of itself. Fights between core cultivators and core equivalent spirit beasts were often hard on the surrounding environment. Sen had flattened more than one area of the wilds in his travels. Mushrooms were delicate, at best, and it wouldn¡¯t take much to destroy them. One errant wind blade, one poorly aimed fireball, and they¡¯d be starting over from scratch.


    They spent a couple of hours searching before Falling Leaf waved him over to what from his angle, just looked like a crack in a rock face. When he got closer, though, he saw that the crack went straight through to some kind of an open area. He could see sunlight on the far side, although the details remained obscured. He could also feel the moisture coming out of the crack and see condensation on the walls. Sen frowned at the narrow gap. He was pretty sure he could get through, but it was going to be a tight squeeze. Sen tried to get a sense of what was on the far side of the crack with his spiritual sense, but all he got back was a hazy, muddled impression. That could mean that the qi there was particularly dense, or it could mean that someone or something was intentionally obscuring the area. That left Sen feeling a little nervous. He didn¡¯t want to lead Falling Leaf into a trap, but he didn¡¯t want to leave her waiting outside the crack where anything could launch an attack on her.


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell what¡¯s on the far side,¡± said Sen. ¡°Someone or something is obscuring my spiritual sense. Can you sense anything?¡±


    Falling Leaf¡¯s eyes went a little distant before she shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t. I don¡¯t smell anything dangerous.¡±


    Sen just looked at that crack for a while before it was his turn to shake his head. Procrastinating wasn¡¯t going to solve anything.


    ¡°Do you want to follow me in or wait out here?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I¡¯ll follow you in,¡± said Falling Leaf after a moment¡¯s consideration. ¡°If there is something dangerous in there, it¡¯s better to fight it together.¡±


    ¡°I hope that¡¯s true,¡± said Sen, not feeling at all confident that it was, in fact, true. ¡°Alright. I guess there¡¯s no point in waiting.¡±


    Turning sideways, Sen started to shuffle through the crack. It was just as tight as he¡¯d feared it would be. During one particularly claustrophobic moment that made his heart pound, Sen thought he was stuck. It took a moment before he remembered that he could just manipulate the rock with his earth qi. He snorted at himself for being foolish and started cycling for earth. Since he wasn¡¯t sure precisely what was above them, he was careful to just shift the rock enough that he could pass through it without getting stuck.


    ¡°Do you have enough room?¡± he asked since he couldn¡¯t easily look back at Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m fine,¡± she answered in an unconcerned voice.


    Satisfied that she wasn¡¯t having the same troubles, Sen proceeded through the crack. He didn¡¯t enjoy the feeling of dampness that soaked through his robes and made a mental note to dry them as soon as they got out of the crack. It made the spot between his shoulder blades feel clammy, which was a little too close to the feeling of being watched for Sen to feel comfortable. It wasn¡¯t until Falling Leaf gasped in abrupt pain that Sen realized something was wrong. Foregoing any worries about displacing something above, Sen shoved enough rock away himself with his qi that he could spin and face Falling Leaf. He could see that she had crushed a positively huge spider against the wall, but she looked ill.


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    An intuition came in time for Sen to grab Falling Leaf and haul her against him before he wrapped them in a cocoon of fire. While he couldn¡¯t see what was happening outside of the cocoon, he could see the spots on the cocoon where the fire concentrated briefly. It happened over and over again, often with multiple bright spots happening at the same time. Sen realized that there must have been a colony of the spiders living in the crack. While Sen had been ready to simply ride out the spider storm, Falling Leaf hunched over, nearly putting her head into the fire cocoon. That spider must have bit her before she killed it, he thought. A spider that big would have injected a positively massive dose of venom, which meant Sen didn¡¯t have the time to simply wait things out.


    While he couldn¡¯t rely on his spiritual sense to give him accurate information about his surroundings, his earth qi could give him exacting information regarding the crack if he pushed it hard enough. With Falling Leaf making increasingly distressed noises, Sen pushed his earth qi very damn hard. When he had a clear picture of the exact length, width, and height of the crack, he dropped his earth qi in favor of fire qi. With a roar of effort, he bathed the crack in fire from one end to the other at ground level. Then, with more a little malicious spite, he sent a wave of fire up the crack like it was a chimney. Even if he couldn¡¯t spot the spiders with his spiritual sense, he felt them die by the hundreds as his fire consumed them like so much dry tinder. When he couldn¡¯t feel any more spiders dying. He let the flames die and scooped Falling Leaf up into his arm. Not caring what he found on the other end of the crack anymore, he blasted away the rock at ground level so he could carry Falling Leaf out the far side.


    After the briefest scan of the area to look for more threats and finding none, he put Falling Leaf down on the ground. In other circumstances, he might have tried to make something for her, something built specifically for her, but he could tell that she didn¡¯t have the kind of time. Instead, he dug into his storage ring and pulled out one of his last two healing pills from Auntie Caihong.


    ¡°You need to swallow this,¡± said Sen.


    He hoped that the words would penetrate the clear agony that she was suffering. Understanding that he was taking a chance, Sen all but pried open Falling Leaf¡¯s jaws and stuffed the pill into her mouth. He huffed out a relieved breath when his fingers got clear of her teeth. The relief didn¡¯t last long when he didn¡¯t see her swallow. He didn¡¯t think she was even aware of the pill. He jerked a gourd of water out of a storage ring and poured some of it into her mouth. She swallowed reflexively, choked a bit, and then curled in on herself. Sen knelt next to her, hands clenching and unclenching in impotence as he waited and hoped. When he became certain that the pill wasn¡¯t going to help at all, the tension started to go out of Falling Leaf. It happened slowly enough that Sen was terrified he was imagining it, but she slowly eased out of the fetal position she¡¯d been all but locked into.


    Sen slumped in relief. He stared down at the blood on his palms where his fingernails had cut into his own flesh. That was a possibility he¡¯d never considered, but it was also a visible statement about how afraid he¡¯d been in that moment. He still felt remnants of that fear thrashing around inside of him. He took several deep breaths and beat that fear back until he felt he¡¯d mastered himself again. With his fear no longer out of control, Sen managed to examine Falling Leaf with his spiritual sense and his qi. It was an effort, even at close range. She was unconscious, and it would be a while before her body finished flushing out the venom, but Sen was fairly confident that she wasn¡¯t on the verge of death anymore.


    Finally able to think about something other than keeping Falling Leaf alive, Sen looked around. They were in a relatively small, hollowed-out area. A little waterfall fed a small pond and there was a bit of plant life around the edges. Yet, the high walls clearly kept direct sunlight out most of the day. Where Sen would normally expect to see more vegetation, there were mushrooms. Thousands of them lined the ground and much of the walls. Just at a glance, he saw dozens of varieties, but here and there he saw what they had come all this way to collect. Dusk mushrooms. They were by far the rarest of the mushrooms available, but there were more than enough for his needs. Sen felt a brief moment of elation before he shifted his gaze back to Falling Leaf. They might have accomplished their goal, but seeing her unconscious form made it feel like a hollow victory.


    Not knowing how long it would be before she woke up, Sen decided that he¡¯d get what he came for and get them out of this awful place. It didn¡¯t take long to collect the mushrooms he needed. It would have been quicker, but he kept a very close eye on Falling Leaf. He wasn¡¯t going to chance something taking a shot at her while he was distracted. He did take samples of other nearby mushrooms on the off-chance that they might be useful for something. He couldn¡¯t really get a clear sense of any of them, so he¡¯d have to examine them more closely after they left. He did make a point of getting triple the number of dusk mushrooms he needed. Sen knew better than to assume that any alchemical process was going to go right the first time, and he never wanted to visit Mt. Solace again. Glaring around at the little hollowed-out area in the mountain, he picked up Falling Leaf and made his way back through the crack, blasting out the parts that he hadn¡¯t on the way in to clear a path.


    He very briefly thought about setting up a galehouse right there but dismissed the idea. Just because he¡¯d killed a lot of spiders, it didn¡¯t mean he¡¯d gotten them all. Better to put some distance between them and the possibility of a swarm of angry, venomous monstrosities. Cradling Falling Leaf in his arms, Sen activated his qinggong technique and headed back down the mountain. He was shocked when nothing attacked them. It was only later that he realized he¡¯d reflexively unleashed his killing intent in a vast circle around them like a promise of death.

 V5 Chapter 19 – The Stuff of Nightmares

    Even with the sun going down fast, Sen managed to put substantial distance between himself and that little hollowed-out place where he¡¯d found the mushrooms. Yet, even moving fast with his qinggong technique, there wasn¡¯t even a remote chance of getting to the bottom of the mountain before true dark set in. He just kept going until he figured he had enough time to put up a galehouse and set up some particularly nasty formations. While Falling Leaf hadn¡¯t woken up yet, she looked more or less healthy again. He figured she was just sleeping off the fatigue from a combination of the venom and the healing pill. While he¡¯d never been bitten by a giant venomous spider, he had been injured plenty of times and felt the fallout from those healing pills. They weren¡¯t something you wanted to take without shelter very close by.


    When he found a clearing that was as level as he was likely to find on the side of the mountain, he gently put Falling Leaf down and got to work putting up the galehouse. He kept it small. It was really just two small bedrooms and a common area with a fireplace. After he got Falling Leaf settled on some blankets inside, he settled in for some serious formation work. While he hoped that he was wrong, Sen had a feeling that killing all of those spiders was going to have some repercussions for them. He wanted something a bit more substantive protecting them during the night. When he was finally ready to drag himself inside, he¡¯d created a multi-layered set of extremely violent offensive formations, along with several layers of defensive formations. Absolutely nothing was getting in or out of the area immediately around the galehouse without him knowing about it. He didn¡¯t even begrudge needing to use up a bunch of his recently acquired spirit beast cores to keep those formations active.


    It was only then that he let himself relax enough to go inside, seal the doorway behind him, and flop down next to the fireplace. While he didn¡¯t trust the situation enough to sleep, he did let himself drift down into a semi-restful doze. He¡¯d pushed harder than usual with both earth qi and fire qi. Combined with the concentration necessary to design and set up the formations protecting them, it had left him feeling mentally tired. His body was back to rebounding pretty fast, so he had to pay attention to how sluggish his thinking became. While the doze wasn¡¯t as helpful as true sleep would have been, he knew that it would take the worst edges off of his mental fatigue if it lasted a couple of hours.


    While the gods of good fortune had seemingly been ignoring them earlier in the day, they did smile on Sen¡¯s quasi-nap. It was around three hours later before he heard the first sounds of something being killed by the formations he set up. Grumbling to himself, Sen got up, made a doorway, and walked outside. True night had settled on the mountain, so it took him several seconds to make sense of what he was looking at. A ring of fire formed a bright orange and yellow circle approximately thirty feet out from the galehouse. At first, all Sen could make out was that fire. After a moment or two, though, he saw the circle flare up. As time passed, the fire flared more and more. He finally understood that the undulated writhing mass beyond the flames weren¡¯t just shadows but spiders. There were thousands of them. Many of them were no bigger than he¡¯d expect, but there were exceptions. Some of the spiders were as big as his own head. Some were as large as dogs he¡¯d seen. All of them were the stuff of nightmares.


    Standing in the middle of that writhing mass of death, Sen could see a human figure or something that approximated the human shape. He also knew it wasn¡¯t a human being because he could see the firelight reflecting off of the chitin that the figure had in place of skin. It chittered something at the spiders and a small tide of eight-legged death surged toward the galehouse. Sen watched that approaching tide with a bit of clinical detachment. The ring of fire was just the first line of defense, and it wasn¡¯t even down yet. Spiders died by the score in those flames. Sen immediately wished that he had thought to prevent the smell from getting inside the perimeter, but it was too late for those kinds of changes. When the ring of fire went out, the pseudo-human figure let out a chittering noise that sounded almost triumphant. The spiders surged again and set off the second layer of the formations.


    Lightning crackled into life and punched through the ranks of the spiders. Many of the smaller ones simply exploded. The larger ones thrashed wildly on the ground, legs snapping in and out spasmodically and clearly without input from the spiders themselves. Their flopping motions were grotesque and stomach-turning to Sen¡¯s eyes. He found himself relieved when they finally lay still. Of course, more spiders crawled over their corpses only to receive the same treatment. That happened again and again until the beast cores powering that layer of the protections gave out. The diminishing mass of the spiders threw themselves forward, just to trigger the third layer of offensive formations. Wind blades twenty feet across lashed out at different heights. Some of the blades cut through the smaller spiders near the ground, while higher blades deprived the larger spiders of life. As all that death littered the ground, Sen simply stared at the humanoid figure with his eyes cold and his face impassive.


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    Like a great many people, Sen had a near-automatic aversion to spiders. Some of it was natural, and some of it stemmed from his childhood experiences with spiders taking shelter in the same places he wanted to take shelter. That aversion made it very easy indeed to watch the death of all of those spiders with basically no care or concern in Sen¡¯s heart. He suspected at least some of them possessed self-awareness, but that had been subsumed beneath the will of the humanoid figure. Whatever those other spiders might have become in the future, it had been stamped down in a bid for vengeance or the simple need to kill whatever was different. Sen supposed it didn¡¯t make a difference in the long run. Dead was dead, no matter which way he looked at it. Yet, it seemed even that humanoid figure had limits to the losses it was willing to endure.


    With a burst of chittering, the spiders backed away and left what remained of their siblings and cousins in piles of smoking chitin and seared limbs. Sen wasn¡¯t sure what to expect, but the human figure stalked forward until it was standing just beyond the limits of the formations. Enough residual fire remained for Sen to see that it had retained the multiple eyes so common among spiders. Each of those eyes was glaring black, shiny hatred at him. He met that gaze without flinching, even though he very much wished to look away. He had a sneaking suspicion that any sign of weakness would force him to scour the mountain clean of every spider life on it. While he''d do it if he had to, he didn¡¯t want to do that. It was stupid and wasteful. Especially since he was leaving already.


    ¡°You killed my children,¡± rasped the figure in a voice that didn¡¯t sound even the tiniest bit human.


    Sen considered lying or making excuses, but there was no point. It hadn¡¯t been question. He knew that. He could feel it.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen. ¡°I did. Your children attacked us first. I acted in kind.¡±


    ¡°You trespassed.¡±


    ¡°The mountain does not belong to you.¡±


    ¡°Our territory! Our territory!¡± It shrieked.


    ¡°It¡¯s only yours if you can hold it,¡± said Sen. ¡°I was the stronger. How many more of your children must die before you accept that? A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand?¡±


    ¡°We will kill you! Trespasser! Murderer! Thief!¡±


    ¡°Will you make me slay all of your children? Will you make me slay you? I am leaving this place. I have no desire to kill more of you.¡±


    ¡°Lies! You speak lies!¡±


    ¡°You speak and expect to be heard, but you do not listen. You hear only your rage.¡±


    Sen knew that rage. He knew it all too well. It had driven him to so many acts that he wished hadn¡¯t happened. Now, he was on the other side of it and faced with the prospect of something else he feared he would regret. He wanted to make this matriarch of spiders understand, to make her retreat. If he couldn¡¯t find a way to pierce that rage, though, it was hopeless. If words wouldn¡¯t do the trick, perhaps a demonstration would. Sen fixed the matriarch with his gaze and leveled his auric imposition on her. It didn¡¯t drive her to her knees, but he could see that it had been a close thing. His killing intent followed on the heels of his auric imposition. That pressed her down. He couldn¡¯t see the fear in her alien eyes, but he could feel it all the same. Sen spoke again as he summoned a spear forth and began cycling for multiple threads of lightning.


    ¡°I have barely acted against you so far. Bear witness to what it would mean to truly face me.¡±


    He let one of the threads of lightning crackle around his body and the spear, giving himself the appearance of something wholly mythical. The rest of the threads were sent skyward as he thrust the spear upwards. With a downward swing of the spear, dozens of bolts of lightning fell into that horde of spiders, leaping from chitinous body to chitinous body, reaping lives by the hundred. Those bolts of lightning were accompanied by thunder that exploded at ground level. The sonic shock tore through even more of those spiders like they were made of paper. Hundreds more were flung in every direction. Some even fell into the formations where even more lightning ripped them apart. Through it all, the spider matriarch was screaming and thrashing as more of her children died for nothing.


    Sen walked toward her, the formations parting around him like water as he closed the distance. That final thread of lightning still being fed from his own qi. A few brave or stupid spiders flung themselves at him and were vaporized before they got within three feet. He didn¡¯t stop until he was towering over the matriarch. He could see his reflection in her several eyes. He looked as inhuman in those reflections as the matriarch looked to him.


    ¡°Take your children, those that remain, and go. Do that, and I will not pursue you. I will not seek retribution.¡±


    While he retained the lightning around himself, Sen withdrew his auric imposition and his killing intent. The matriarch stared up at him for much, much longer than Sen thought was necessary before she chittered out something that was clearly a command. The mass of spiders slowly retreated until there was no sign of them in the darkness. The matriarch slowly rose, never letting her gaze leave him.


    ¡°We will not forget this,¡± she rasped.


    Sen knew she meant it as a threat, but he chose to take it another way. ¡°I sincerely hope that you don¡¯t.¡±

 V5 Chapter 20 – You Don’t

    Falling Leaf came around the next morning once Sen started cooking food. He didn¡¯t pester her with questions, just let her eat her fill. Only after plowing through bowl after bowl of rice porridge with pork in it and drinking a truly impressive amount of water did she even begin to look like she might want to talk about anything.


    ¡°How do you feel?¡± asked Sen.


    He could have just taken a look with his spiritual sense and his qi, but Sen tried to only do that without permission when there was no other choice. Falling Leaf tilted her head back and forth before she answered.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. At least, I feel fine.¡±


    ¡°No lingering soreness? No problems moving around?¡±


    Falling Leaf gave him an alarmed look. ¡°Should there be?¡±


    ¡°Spider venom can do all kinds of terrible things to a body, but I got a healing pill into you pretty fast. I¡¯m just being cautious.¡±


    Falling Leaf relaxed. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just check for yourself?¡±


    ¡°I thought I should ask first. It¡¯s the polite thing to do.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d rather you make sure I¡¯m okay than be polite. Be polite with other people.¡±


    Sen laughed gently. ¡°Fair enough.¡±


    He took his time with the examination. As near as he could tell, the combination of the healing pill and Falling Leaf¡¯s own recuperative abilities had washed the venom out of her system. Sen was a bit surprised by that. That spider had pumped a substantial amount of venom into her. He couldn¡¯t be sure if he¡¯d been underestimating the potency of the pills, Falling Leaf¡¯s ability to heal, or both. He¡¯d expected to need to stay for at least another day before they left. He also checked her tissues and organs, looking for any kind of necrosis. Again, he found nothing. Unless Falling Leaf reported some new symptom to him, he saw no need to hang around unless she said she wanted more rest.


    ¡°I can¡¯t see anything wrong. If you feel up to it, we can leave today, now even.¡±


    Falling Leaf nodded and stretched where she sat. ¡°I¡¯m happy to leave this mountain behind. When we pick a mountain, let¡¯s pick one without so many spiders.¡±


    Sen shuddered a little. ¡°Agreed.¡±


    While they didn¡¯t leave that very minute, it only took them about fifteen minutes to clean up and pack up the bare necessities that Sen had gotten out for sleeping and cooking. He made a door so Falling Leaf could get outside and took one last fast look around. He checked to make sure that the fire was truly extinguished. He wasn¡¯t worried about the galehouse itself, but there was always the possibility of sparks getting pulled out of the chimney. While he didn¡¯t have any particular love for Mt. Solace, that was a far cry from wanting to see everything on it burn. He checked the rooms and found them as bare as he expected. Nodding to himself, he stepped outside. He noticed that Falling Leaf was staring. Sen looked around and came up short.


    When he''d been confronting the spiders the night before, it had been dark. Far too dark to really see what kind of damage had been done. In the chill light of morning, though, it looked like some kind of war had happened. Trees as much as fifty feet away had been scorched to ash or blown apart. Where the ground didn¡¯t have craters in it, all of the ground cover plants had simply disappeared, leaving nothing but seared soil in their place. And then there were the remains of the spiders. Everything from tiny bits of chitin to the charred corpses of the biggest spiders littered the area like a grim carpet. The scope of the destruction and death left Sen a little stunned. He¡¯d known it was serious, but not that serious. Falling Leaf turned her eyes toward him.


    ¡°What happened?¡± she asked.


    Sen shrugged. ¡°The spiders decided they weren¡¯t done with us. I discouraged them.¡±


    ¡°This was you discouraging them? How was this discouragement?¡±


    ¡°I let some of them live.¡±


    ¡°Will they be coming back?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d be surprised if they did. I was very firm with them about leaving us alone.¡±


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    Falling Leaf shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t hear any of this.¡±


    ¡°You needed your rest.¡±


    It took Sen a few more minutes to take down the formations. He was always a little disgusted that putting them together took forever while taking them apart was almost simplicity itself. He supposed the old adage that it was easier to break something than make something was true. The pair set off at the fastest qinggong pace that Sen thought they could maintain. They¡¯d been taking their time on the way up to make sure they didn¡¯t miss an opportunity to find the mushrooms. Sen didn¡¯t plan to stop for anything on the way down short of a full-on fight with a spirit beast. Despite his words to Falling Leaf, Sen kept a very close eye on the trees and shadows with his spiritual sense. While it might have been stymied in that little hollowed-out area, he knew that it would work out in the open. He didn¡¯t think that any of the spiders were going to come after them, but he didn¡¯t see any reason to be careless. Besides, there were other threats on the mountain.


    Nothing impeded them, though. In fact, it seemed that the remaining spirit beasts went out of their way to avoid Sen and Falling Leaf. While he was grateful to avoid the delays, he was less thrilled to know the cause. He¡¯d killed a lot of spirit beasts out in the wilds. If he kept doing that, he feared that it was ultimately going to make his life a lot harder. He didn¡¯t want to have to worry about hordes of angry spirit beasts hounding his steps every time he left a city. That would just push him into a position of running for his life or killing more spirit beasts by the score, assuming that some truly powerful spirit beast didn¡¯t decide to just shuffle him off to his next life. Granted, the number of spirit beasts with that kind of power was, thankfully, small and getting smaller with every advancement. It didn¡¯t mean that one of them wouldn¡¯t decide to make him their personal project.


    Sen wanted to avoid that kind of attention at all costs. He¡¯d gotten one nascent soul cultivator through blatant trickery and deviousness. He doubted he¡¯d get that lucky with a nascent soul spirit beast. There wouldn¡¯t be some handy building that Sen could take over long enough to set up a deadly poison storm to soften them up. No, a spirit beast would just track him down and crush him with overwhelming force. Avoiding more mass killings of spirit beasts was going to be his goal for the foreseeable future, assuming that he wasn¡¯t already too late to avoid the problem. As midday rolled into midafternoon, Sen brought them to a stop. He¡¯d learned a while ago that taking a break was a good way to help keep the senses sharp. He considered their progress and guessed that they would be close to the bottom of the mountain by sundown. As he served up some food, he looked over at Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Is there anything you want to stop for in the town?¡± he asked.


    ¡°No. I got more than enough of people back in the capital.¡±


    Sen gave her a sharp look at that comment. They had been away from the capital for more than a year and a half. When they had stopped at inns, Sen had done all of the talking. Beyond that, they¡¯d kept to themselves. By Sen¡¯s reckoning, she¡¯d had more than enough time to shake off any bad feelings she¡¯d had since they left the huge city behind. The fact that she was still wholly disinterested in interacting with other people concerned him. She needed some kind of connection to people that extended beyond him. Even if those connective threads were tenuous, she needed them.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to make friends?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°You don¡¯t,¡± she said, frowning at him.


    ¡°I,¡± Sen started, then reconsidered. ¡°I guess that¡¯s true, but it¡¯s not the whole story. I avoid people because they¡¯re constantly trying to drag me into things I want no part of. I have a sneaking suspicion that Karma is making me work hard to pay off some old debts. I doubt that you¡¯d have the same kind of problems.¡±


    Falling Leaf gave Sen a dubious look. ¡°If you say so.¡±


    ¡°I just don¡¯t want you to have no one if something happens to me. If Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho ascend, who¡¯s left?¡±


    ¡°Do you think they¡¯d just leave me behind?¡± she asked, a line forming between her eyebrows.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think they would, but I can¡¯t promise you that either.¡±


    Falling Leaf thought that over for a little while before shaking her head. ¡°If that happens, it happens. I can¡¯t live in fear of something that may happen someday.¡±


    Sen wanted to push the issue, but he wasn¡¯t sure where he could take the point. He¡¯d stated his concerns. She¡¯d listened to them and demonstrated her fundamental lack of worry about it. He wasn¡¯t sure if the possibility was just too nebulous or if the uncertainty of the timeframe made it seem moot to her. Then again, maybe she was right to dismiss the concern. Falling Leaf was very much a person who lived in the now, rather than making deep plans for tomorrow. While Sen didn¡¯t invest a lot of time in thoughts of the future, it was plainly evident that he spent more of his time considering it than Falling Leaf. Maybe that would change at some point. Maybe it wouldn¡¯t. He couldn¡¯t make her care about the future any more than he could make her care about other human beings. It was something she would have to come to on her own or not.


    All he could do was ask her about it from time to time and see where she stood. He could encourage her to make connections, but even that had to be done gently. He couldn¡¯t force her to like anyone. If he pushed too hard about it, he risked damaging his relationship with her. While he did want her to have more in her life than just him, he wasn¡¯t going to sabotage what they had to make it happen. That could backfire in all kinds of ways that he couldn¡¯t predict. It was a bit of a mess in his opinion, but not a mess in need of immediate action. Sen finished the food on his plate.


    ¡°Do you want any more?¡± he asked.


    Falling Leaf shook her head. ¡°We should get going again. I¡¯d like to be off of this mountain today if possible.¡±


    Sen peered up at the sky and judged the time. ¡°If you think you¡¯re up for moving a little faster, I think we can make that happen.¡±


    An eager nod confirmed her willingness.


    ¡°Alright, then. Let¡¯s get moving.¡±

 V5 Chapter 21 – Gifts

    Much as he¡¯d expected trouble coming down the mountain, Sen at least half-expected trouble when they were bypassing the town at the base of the mountain. They had killed a lot of people who, presumably, had answered to someone. If nothing else, some of those people had to have had families. When no trouble manifested, it didn¡¯t lighten Sen''s apprehension. If anything, it heightened it. He wanted to chide himself for being paranoid, but he¡¯d lost the idea that good things came out of his expectations going unmet. The longer he went without something bad happening, the worse he imagined the blow would be when it did finally arrive. He chose to share none of those persistent bad feelings and worries with Falling Leaf. He¡¯d been chided often enough for withholding information that he doubted he¡¯d do that again, at least with those closest to him. In this case, though, he had no information to share. Telling Falling Leaf would only make him feel better while giving her unsubstantiated cause for concern.


    So, he stewed in silence as a day turned into a week, and a week turned into two. The miles flew by as they made their way back to Fu Ruolan¡¯s home as both Sen and Falling Leaf fretted about the three-month time limit that he¡¯d been given. They often ran later into the evening than Sen would normally have tolerated. That meant setting up galehouses and formations after dark. While it wasn¡¯t as risky a proposition for him as it might once have been, it was riskier than he liked. Sen was very comfortable having reinforced stone walls around him at night. Yet, his eye twitched a little any time he saw a spider taking what seemed like too much interest in them. He knew, intellectually, that the spiders he was seeing couldn¡¯t be connected to the matriarch he had faced. They were too far away for that. Every time he saw a spider, though, it took him right back to the moment when he realized that undulating mass out in the darkness was thousands of spiders.


    He made a new type of formation a standard part of his setup at that point. He wasn¡¯t good enough yet to tune a formation to only kill spiders. That was a disappointment to him. He¡¯d have to ask Uncle Kho about that the next time they got together in a non-crisis moment. Sen was, however, good enough to tune one to kill any insect that wandered too close to the galehouse, assuming it wasn¡¯t too large. Given that he routinely left small slots in the walls for airflow, it was all too easy to imagine hundreds of small spiders crawling in through them. The formation should prevent that horror show from occurring, which made it easier to sleep at night. When trouble did eventually find them, it was far more mundane than Sen expected. The pair had stopped for the night at an inn in a smaller village simply to take advantage of convenient baths and food made by someone else. After two weeks of fast travel, Sen also thought they could use a little break from the routine. When they went to leave in the morning, bandits descended on the village. When they spotted Sen and Falling Leaf, they surrounded them.


    A pair of identical-looking men stepped forward, essentially declaring themselves the leaders. They were both heavyset, with round faces and their eyes a little too close together. Sen idly noted that they might even look a little jolly if they smiled or at least smiled with less malicious intent on their faces. Sen glanced around at the group while the leaders babbled about something Sen didn¡¯t pay any attention to. When noises stopped coming out of their mouths and they directed expectant looks at Sen and Falling Leaf, Sen tuned back in to what was happening. Falling Leaf was completely disinterested and had pulled an apple from her storage ring and started eating it. The absolute unconcern showed by Sen and Falling Leaf made the bandits and the bandit leaders all trade wary glances.


    ¡°You have no idea what a magnificently bad day you¡¯re having,¡± offered Sen with a shake of his head. ¡°I mean, really, you just don¡¯t have any clue.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡± sneered one of the twins.


    ¡°Because I usually give people the chance to run away. The only people I don¡¯t do that with are bandits. I only made that mistake once, and I¡¯ve regretted it ever since. So, none of you get to run away.¡±


    The bandits all started laughing and jeering.


    ¡°Oh ho, is that right?¡± asked one of the twins. ¡°You think you¡¯re tough. That jian isn¡¯t going to help much against all of us. Or maybe you¡¯re a cultivator. Is that it? Are you a mighty qi-condensing core cultivator? Well, so what? Half a dozen poison crossbow bolts will put you down just as fast as anyone else.¡±


    ¡°Qi condensing? No,¡± said Sen. ¡°Core cultivator, yes.¡±


    That put an immediate end to the laughter and jeering. Sen had been trying to decide about the best way to deal with the bandits. He didn¡¯t have any specific animosity toward them, so he didn¡¯t want to draw things out or make it as painful as possible. Quick, he thought. Yes, quick is the best way. Sen started cycling for wind and split it into enough separate threads that he could get all of the bandits. They didn¡¯t need to be massive techniques. It¡¯d be easier to control the direction and speed if he kept them small and contained. He fixed the positions of all the bandits in his mind using his spiritual sense for reference. One of the bandit twins opened his mouth when Sen raised a hand and snapped his fingers. A dozen or so tiny wind blades shot away from him and cleanly parted heads from bodies. As the bandits¡¯ corpses slumped to the ground, Falling Leaf looked around in annoyance. She only said one word.


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    ¡°Fools.¡±


    Sen briefly considered burning the bodies so as not to leave a mess for the villagers. In the end, he left the bandits where they were. The villagers could pillage the bodies for weapons and any loose taels the bandits might have had. Before they could make good their exit, the villagers poured from their homes. They were shouting, cheering, and thanking the wandering cultivators for freeing them from the bandits who had plagued their village on and off for years. Sen wanted to feel a little annoyed that the villagers hadn¡¯t risen up in their own defense, but he remembered just how fragile he¡¯d felt as a mortal boy with no training in how to defend himself. He suspected that many of the villagers had wanted to fight back against the bandits but simply didn¡¯t know how. Sen let the villagers go on for a little while, mostly so they could feel that they¡¯d said thank you. He could see it on her face that the people crowding around them made Falling Leaf uncomfortable.


    ¡°We need to prepare a feast for you,¡± a gray-haired elder with a thin mustache announced.


    Sen needed to kill that idea in a hurry. He didn¡¯t want to spend the time, and he doubted the villagers could afford the extravagance. He waved the elder off.


    ¡°There¡¯s truly no need for that. It¡¯s better if you save that food for yourselves,¡± said Sen.


    Sen and the elder did the dance of insistence and respectful refusal for a few moments. The elder looked relieved and grateful that Sen had declined. When the formalities had been taken care of, Sen and Falling Leaf started slowly migrating toward the edge of the village. They had just about made it to the edge of the village when a toddler stumble-ran out of the collected villagers and wrapped her arms around Falling Leaf¡¯s leg. Sen had to hide a smile as a look of panic briefly crossed Falling Leaf¡¯s face. She shot an imploring look at Sen.


    ¡°Just talk to her,¡± whispered Sen.


    Falling Leaf glared at him, but patted the girl¡¯s head.


    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± asked Falling Leaf, seemingly at a loss for what else she could say.


    The little girl mumbled something into Falling Leaf¡¯s Leg. Even with his enhanced hearing, Sen couldn¡¯t make sense of it. Once more looking at her wit¡¯s end, Sen took pity on the ghost panther. He crouched down next to the girl.


    ¡°That¡¯s a very pretty name,¡± he said.


    The little girl turned her face so she could peek at him with one eye. He smiled at her and mentally took inventory of what he had in his storage rings. He didn¡¯t have anything appropriate for a child tucked away, not even a few basic toys. He made a mental note to remedy that. A couple of toys would take up practically no room in his storage ring and would make situations like the one before him so much easier to manage. What he did have plenty of was money. Ridiculous, absurd piles of it filled his storage rings. He summoned several silver taels from his storage ring. The little girl eyed them curiously but clearly didn¡¯t know what they were. Sen decided that was for the best. He cycled metal qi and giving the girl a wink, he slowly fused the metal before he started stretching the taels out. The girl¡¯s eyes went wide with wonder. Sen tried not to take too long with it, worried that the child would grow bored, but the girl never took her eyes away from the magic that he was performing. It took a lot more concentration than he expected, but Sen managed to form the metal into a series of extremely fine links. Working with the silver gave him some insight into just how soft it really was, so he scanned the area. With an effort of will, he snapped a small piece of steel off of one of the bandit¡¯s daggers and summoned it to himself. He reshaped the metal into a basic blunted hook and a ring. He connected those to the final links on either end of the chain. He showed the girl the necklace.


    ¡°What do you think? Do you like it?¡±


    The girl¡¯s eyes were opened as wide as they go. She nodded enthusiastically. Sen smiled and gestured for her to come a little closer. She wobbled forward a few steps, and Sen gently hooked the impromptu necklace around her neck. Then, because he was already feeling good about this part of his day, he withdrew one of the smallest beast cores he¡¯d used to store divine qi. It was a trivial amount to him, but if the girl ever started cultivating, the qi inside it could help take her a big step on the path of cultivation. Plus, it was one of the prettier beast cores he¡¯d seen with swirling greens and blues across its surface. Even if she never figured out what it really was or what it contained, it would be a small point of beauty in her life. He eyed the core that rested on his fingertips before he gave the girl a long look.


    ¡°Do you mind your parents?¡± he asked her in a mock-serious voice.


    The girl nodded as her little fingers wrapped around the necklace.


    ¡°Are you kind to others?¡±


    That one seemed to stump the girl, and she sucked in her lower lip for a few moments. Her face brightened and triggered another nod. She had probably remembered sharing something with someone. Sen smiled again and held out the core.


    ¡°Then, this is for you.¡±


    The toddler¡¯s face lit up as she plucked the core from his hand. She cradled it in her hands for a moment before she stumble-ran back to a young man and woman who both wore shocked expressions. The little girl began showing her parents the core as though they hadn¡¯t just watched Sen give it to her. Clearly a favorite with the adults, they clustered around the little girl, making appropriately impressed noises. Sen stood back up and pointed at the road. Looking relieved and maybe a little frustrated, Falling Leaf fell in beside him. By the time anyone from the village thought to check on the strange, generous cultivators, they were gone.

 V5 Chapter 22 – Human Concerns

    Another week flew by without incident before Falling Leaf brought up the toddler at the village.


    ¡°How did you know what to do? When that little girl grabbed my leg, how did you know what to do?¡±


    Sen gave her a surprised look. ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡±


    Falling Leaf gave him an exasperated look. ¡°You obviously did.¡±


    Sen laughed and shook his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t. It worked, which was great, but I didn¡¯t know it would work. I was just looking for a way to distract her, and everybody likes presents. Plus, I figured a little qi magic would impress her. I think everything seems like a miracle when you¡¯re that age. So, I performed a miracle for her.¡±


    Falling Leaf¡¯s mouth was hanging open a little when she asked, ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±


    Sen shrugged and nodded. ¡°I mean, yeah. What were you expecting? Some complicated answer that delves deep into the human mind?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    They¡¯d stopped to eat before venturing back into the wilds for their final leg of the journey. Sen figured that they should have plenty of time as long as they didn¡¯t slow down too much. He was sitting under a tree with his back up against the trunk. He let his head tip back until it rested against bark. He tried to think of a way to explain what he¡¯d done and why in a way that would make sense to Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Most people aren¡¯t that complicated when you get right down to it. There are exceptions out there. Cultivators and nobles often have obscure reasons for doing what they do. The same applies to bandits but for different reasons. On the whole, though, your average person just isn¡¯t trying to run complicated schemes or be obscure. People want their basic needs met. Food, shelter, and a little bit of safety. Most of what they care about is going to be centered on those things. If they have a family, they worry about their family and try to think of ways to keep their family sheltered, fed, and safe. Anything beyond that is a bonus. For children, it¡¯s even simpler. They want attention. They want to be entertained. So, that¡¯s what I did. I gave her a little attention and provided a little entertainment.¡±


    Falling Leaf was frowning up a storm at those comments. ¡°Humans seem a lot more complicated than that to me.¡±


    ¡°They are but that¡¯s when you¡¯re dealing with people you know. Personal history, personality quirks, and even your mood can influence how those things play out. When you¡¯re dealing with people one time and never likely to see them again, you can generally assume that food, shelter, family, and safety are their priorities. If you can throw in some entertainment or kindness, you¡¯ll probably be on safe ground more often than not. Plus, you¡¯re a cultivator. If you act a little strange, most people will just chalk it up to that.¡±


    ¡°You make it sound easy.¡±


    ¡°Well, easy is probably overselling it,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯s probably more accurate to say that it¡¯s straightforward. You probably got a bit of a skewed view of things because most of the people you¡¯ve dealt with regularly have been cultivators, nobles, or both. Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho are so old and have so much experience that you can¡¯t use them as an example for anything except how really old nascent soul cultivators work. I end up dealing with cultivators and nobles all the time, so all of those people are bad examples too. You¡¯ve gotten an extraordinarily lopsided experience of people. I¡¯ll tell you what. I spent some time in a village a while back. I just lived there with a family. I learned a lot from doing that. Once we get this business with my body cultivation settled, we¡¯ll find a place like that. We¡¯ll just live there for a while. You can get to know people at your own pace. See how they live and how they interact. If you hate it, we¡¯ll move on.¡±


    Falling Leaf stared off into the forest for a while before she finally nodded. ¡°Alright. If you think it will help.¡±


    ¡°I have no idea,¡± said Sen with a chuckle. ¡°I make this stuff up as I go. I hope that it will help balance out your ideas of what people are like. The way we travel and the nonsense we get involved with isn¡¯t a good way to learn about people. It¡¯s too chaotic, too violent. We¡¯re always there for the best day, the worst day, or the last day of people¡¯s lives. It¡¯s extreme, and that¡¯s a terrible way to see how human beings are the rest of the time.¡±


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    Falling Leaf didn¡¯t say anything to that, so Sen let the conversation lapse back into silence. It had been a while since he last thought about the Luo farm. He wondered how Luo Min and her mother were doing. He¡¯d meant to go back and visit, but he¡¯d barely had time to keep himself alive, let alone go and visit people. Thinking of the Luo farm also made him think of another little girl with a stuffed dragon named Jin-Jin. How long ago was that, wondered Sen. Years? That little girl with the toy dragon wouldn¡¯t be so little anymore. Luo Min might well have a husband and child by now. He remembered how overwhelmed he¡¯d felt those first days on the Luo farm and the frantic race to keep Luo Ping alive.


    Sen was a little stunned at how little of alchemy he¡¯d understood then. He thought it was a little miraculous that he hadn¡¯t killed her with his ineptitude. If faced with the same situation now, he could probably replicate all of those days of work with a single elixir. He could likely perform that minor surgery to remove the bone splinter from her leg with nothing but air qi. He needed to go back there if only to say hello. He did need to go find that damn turtle at some point in the relatively near future, so that would be a good opportunity to drop in on some old acquaintances. He wondered if that little girl with her toy dragon would even remember him. He smiled at the thought. Even if she didn¡¯t remember him, he¡¯d always have that memory of her.


    ¡°What¡¯s that smile about?¡± Asked Falling Leaf.


    ¡°I was just thinking about another little girl I met a long time ago. She had a stuffed dragon toy named Jin-Jin. It didn¡¯t look anything like a dragon. I don¡¯t even think it had wings.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t it have wings?¡±


    ¡°Why did she have a stuffed dragon toy? Actually, why didn¡¯t it have wings?¡±


    ¡°Children have toys. It¡¯s just how humans raise their children. As for why it didn¡¯t have wings, I expect it¡¯s because their family was poor. Her mother probably made it for her.¡±


    ¡°Humans are strange,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s certainly true. I¡¯m going to go and visit them at some point. You¡¯re welcome to come along if you want.¡±


    Falling Leaf didn¡¯t seem to have an opinion about that one way or the other. ¡°Okay. When?¡±


    Sen thought about it. He didn¡¯t know when. Sooner than later, he hoped.


    ¡°Fu Ruolan was clearly fine with me leaving for months on end. So, sometime in the next couple of years,¡± said Sen before sighing a little. ¡°Speaking of Fu Ruolan, we should get moving. I¡¯d rather get back early than get back late.¡±


    ¡°Do you think she¡¯d refuse to give you the manual if you got back late?¡±


    ¡°I honestly have no idea what she¡¯d do. She might not be insane the way everyone thinks she is, but that doesn¡¯t make her any easier to understand. I mean, we spent six months living there and I think I had two conversations with her. She¡¯s as much a mystery to me now as she was on the day we met her.¡±


    Falling Leaf pursed her lips before she spoke. ¡°I think she is insane.¡±


    That made Sen pause as he was storing things back in his storage ring. ¡°Why do you say that?¡±


    ¡°She isn¡¯t mad the way some people seem to be mad, but there¡¯s a smell about her. Even when she seems to be in control, her scent changes by the second. It¡¯s like she¡¯s wearing a very good mask. I¡¯ve never smelled anything like it before, but it makes me nervous. She might not kill us out of hand, but I don¡¯t think we should rush to trust her either.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said Sen, trying to fit this new information into his picture of the nascent soul cultivator.


    ¡°I know you need her for that manual,¡± said Falling Leaf. ¡°Just don¡¯t assume her judgment is good. Not unless you see some signs that make you think she¡¯s got the right of it.¡±


    ¡°Well, that certainly doesn¡¯t make me feel good, given that I¡¯m stuck with her for another four years and a bit.¡±


    Falling Leaf looked down. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°No, don¡¯t be sorry. I¡¯m glad you told me. That would have been a very bad thing to learn the hard way.¡±


    Sen watched a bit of tension leave Falling Leaf¡¯s posture at those words. He wondered how long she¡¯d been debating whether to share that bit of suspicion with him. Given that he¡¯d been keeping back bad feelings and suspicious thoughts for a while, it might well have been months. The difference was that Sen knew he was over-primed to expect trouble. He didn¡¯t trust his own gut reactions to alert him in quite the same way he once did. Falling Leaf didn¡¯t seem to suffer that affliction of minor paranoia.


    ¡°You can always talk to me about it when you have concerns like that. You have excellent instincts for trouble, probably better than mine in a lot of ways. I¡¯d rather you tell me and have it turn out to be not true than get blindsided by something.¡±


    Falling Leaf perked up at that blanket permission to vent her suspicions. ¡°I will.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± said Sen. ¡°With any luck, we¡¯ll get through this last bit of the journey without much trouble.¡±

 V5 Chapter 23 – Trouble

    Sen used his qinggong technique to kick off the ground at terrifying velocity, just to slam his knee into the underside of a dragon¡¯s open maw. The knee struck with enough force to shatter stone and it forced the mouth closed right in time for the dragon¡¯s breath technique to erupt. With no way to escape into the outside world, the technique exploded inside the dragon. Sen was aware that it happened, but he didn¡¯t actually see it. He was looking the other way and sending waves of lightning down onto four of those damnable bear-cat spirit beasts that were trying to flank Falling Leaf, who was busy fighting with some kind of shaggy beasts with burning eyes and long floppy noses. If they weren¡¯t so hideously dangerous, they might have looked comical. Sen didn¡¯t wait to see if the lightning killed the bear-cat beasts.


    Instead, he whirled in the air and swiped the heaven chasing spear across the dragon¡¯s eyes. The beast was powerful, probably the most powerful thing Sen had ever fought in earnest, but it had also been stunned by Sen¡¯s blow and its own technique going off inside its mouth. The qi defenses it might normally have mustered and even the simple solution of dodging was unavailable to brain-rattled creature of myth. Between the physical sharpness of the spearhead and the brutal destructive force of the lightning, the dragon¡¯s eyes exploded. Its mouth opened in a terrible roar that left Sen bleeding from both ears, but he refused to lose focus. He cycled for wind and let loose a scream to rival the dragon¡¯s as he drove a wind blade down its throat. The wind blade split the dragon¡¯s head and neck, the two parts flopping in different directions as blood sprayed everywhere.


    If it had been anything but a dragon, Sen might have turned his attention elsewhere. Despite what looked like a lethal wound to the beast, he wasn¡¯t satisfied. Launching himself upward from a platform of qi and aided by a quick air qi technique, Sen flew high over the violence. He hung in the air like a celestial object for a heartbeat or two, then he hurled himself back down toward the dragon. He drew back a fist and brought it down between the dragon¡¯s wings. There was a thunderous boom that Sen could hear through his damaged ears followed by an almost equally loud crack of breaking bone. The dragon plummeted toward the earth, wings flopping uselessly, the split pieces of its neck twisting and spinning the air. It touched down with so much force that trees were snapped in two from the shockwave. Still not satisfied that the beast was well and truly dead, Sen let his gaze drop to the ground, cycled for earth, and drove that qi before him. As his feet touched down razor-tipped stone spikes as big around as his legs shot up into the dragon¡¯s body sending another spray of blood into the air.


    Mad with fury, Sen began spinning his spear overhead, using it as a focal point for his next technique. It was something he¡¯d been toying with and now seemed like the perfect opportunity to take it out for a test. He fed the technique more and more power, going so far as to tap into the qi stored in his core. The world itself seemed to protest as the technique caused a howling cacophony in the air. The technique built and built until it was at the very edge of Sen¡¯s ability to control it. He fixed his gaze on Falling Leaf and shouted one word.


    ¡°Down!¡±


    Falling Leaf dropped as though she¡¯d gotten a command from the heavens. With a howl of primal rage, Sen loosed his technique, and for everything in a half-mile radius, hell became utterly real. It was part wind blade and part fire. It exploded out from Sen in a ring that hovered exactly a foot off the ground. The ring itself was three feet thick from top to bottom. The leading edge was a wind blade backed with enough force to rival a hurricane. Immediately behind that wind blade came the small wall of blue flame. Together, they made no distinctions between wood, flesh, and bone. Everything in that half-mile radius that stood more than a foot tall simply died. The top part of trees crashed down, the lower parts of their trunks sliced and vaporized. The partial remains of spirit beasts dropped to the forest floor with wet, stomach-turning splats. With a final effort of will and expulsion of qi, Sen doused the fires that would turn the forest into an inferno if left unchecked. Falling Leaf rising to her feet momentarily captured Sen¡¯s attention before all the strength left him. He collapsed to his hands and knees, vision swimming dangerously, and his¡­everything crying out for qi.


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    He did his best to soak up qi and catch his breath, desperate to avoid passing out. He felt air moving over exposed skin and open wounds. His robes were little more than tatters. He¡¯d been clawed across his back, bitten in a leg, and one of the dragon¡¯s claws had punched through his chest and out his back. He¡¯d been burned in half-a-dozen places and there were worrying places where he couldn¡¯t feel anything from his body. Gathering what focus he could, he summoned healing elixirs from his storage ring. They were general-purpose elixirs and the best he could do at the moment. One after the next, he tipped them into his mouth, barely even registering it when they hit his stomach and started going to work. That¡¯s bad, he thought. He heard Falling Leaf¡¯s quick steps racing up to him and he groggily summoned more healing elixirs, scattering them on the ground where she could get them.


    Don¡¯t pass out, he ordered himself. Don¡¯t you dare pass out. It was a horribly close thing as tunnel vision threatened him more than once. It was only after the wound in his lung healed up that he stopped feeling unconsciousness loom over him like an unwelcome guest. He focused on dragging qi into his dantian. He hated that he needed to spend attention on it to keep the qi in the proper balance, but life was full of hard things. It wouldn¡¯t do him any good to feel lousy about the ones that let him perform superhuman feats like killing a dragon. Granted, it had been a small dragon, probably young, but he didn¡¯t care about that. He had killed a dragon. While part of him exulted at the accomplishment, another part of him was deliriously happy that no one aside from him and Falling Leaf would know about the accomplishment. He did not want that particular tale to become part of his Judgment¡¯s Gale legend. He¡¯d never get another moment of peace if it did.


    When he was certain that he wouldn¡¯t just lose consciousness at any moment, Sen pushed himself into a sitting position. He saw Falling Leaf hovering nearby with concern etched into her features. He waved off the show of concern.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine,¡± he rasped.


    An arched eyebrow and discontented noise told him all he needed to know about her opinion of that little comment.


    ¡°Eventually,¡± he added.


    Falling Leaf shifted her gaze past Sen for a moment. He turned his head to see what she was looking at. It was the smoldering remains of the dragon, not that there was all that much left of it. There were fleshy stumps where its legs used to be and most of its underbelly had survived. Sen could see parts of its spine that had been higher than that last destructive technique he¡¯d fired off. He idly wondered if the beast core had survived. Then, he wondered if any of the beast cores had survived that brief inferno. It¡¯d be a waste if none of them had. Sen would like to get something out of all of that fighting other than the dubious benefits of naked fear and experience.


    ¡°You killed the dragon,¡± said Falling Leaf with some awe in her voice.


    ¡°It was a small one,¡± observed Sen.


    She shot him a look. It had some pointed things to say that mostly boiled down to shut up. Sen shut up. Falling Leaf glanced at him, clearly trying to decide if he was safe to leave on his own. Satisfied that he wasn¡¯t going to die that very minute, she walked over to the dragon''s remains. Sen kept half an eye on her as she grabbed a heavy stick and started poking around in the pile of dragon parts. Mostly, he focused on cultivating. His body was soaking up the qi almost as fast as he could drag it in from the environment like soil long deprived of rain. He sat like that for nearly an hour before he actually felt well again. His dantian was still nearly empty, but the mere thought of standing didn¡¯t leave him feeling exhausted. When he stood up and took a hard look around at the destruction he had wrought, Falling Leaf came back over. She gleefully summoned a pile of beast cores from her storage ring. Sen looked them over.


    ¡°Take whatever you can use,¡± he told her.


    She frowned at him. ¡°These are yours. Your kills. Your cores.¡±


    He just smiled at her. ¡°Take what you can use. I¡¯ll take whatever is left. There¡¯s no point in me hoarding cores that you can use for advancement. That doesn¡¯t help either of us.¡±


    The panther girl looked deeply dissatisfied with that response, but she picked out a couple of cores and stowed them. Sen gave her a flat stare until she started to blush. She picked out several more and put those in her storage ring. He took the rest, pausing only to look at the largest of the cores. He assumed it came from the dragon, but he was still too tired to do much of anything aside from looking at it. He¡¯d have to give it a more thorough examination later. Assuming there was a later and fresh wave of spirit beasts didn¡¯t come to kill them. Frowning around, Sen finally got a chance to ask the question he¡¯d been thinking about all through the fight.


    ¡°Where in all the hells did these spirit beasts come from?¡±

 V5 Chapter 24 – Spirit Beasts and Mushrooms

    While Sen¡¯s healing elixirs had more or less gotten them back to being healthy, recovering enough qi to travel safely in the wilds was another matter entirely. Sen insisted that they leave the area where they had fought. He found the prospect that other spirit beasts would come sniffing around looking for easy resources or just an easy meal was too much of a risk. He only took them a few miles away, but far enough that he thought they would be able to set up for the night. Raising a galehouse was harder than it had ever been for him, but also more necessary. For once, they truly needed that protection. Falling Leaf hadn¡¯t used up as much qi as he had, but he wouldn¡¯t want to put her in a fight. Setting up the formations was mercifully just a matter of getting everything in the right place, since he had a fresh batch of beast cores to help fuel them, and the wilds were always ripe with environmental qi to draw on.


    That night, Sen and Falling Leaf threw around ideas about where the spirit beasts had come from while they recovered. It was more to have something to do while they cultivated than an exercise in figuring anything out. The beasts might have been sent by the spider matriarch. They might have attacked on their own. Fu Ruolan might have directed them. Any of those things were possibilities, but they had no information or even any clues. Most of the beasts hadn¡¯t possessed the kind of self-awareness that someone like Falling Leaf developed. The dragon had been self-aware, but it didn¡¯t feel like chatting with them. Sen had briefly entertained the idea of capturing it. That fantasy had been exposed for what it was in a hurry. It had been everything Sen could do to simply kill it. Capturing it would have taken more power and skill than he possessed. He conceded to himself that a plan might have helped as well, not that there had been any time to make one.


    ¡°I¡¯m starting to get the impression that the spirit beast community as a whole just doesn¡¯t like me,¡± complained Sen.


    Falling Leaf shook her head. ¡°Can you blame them? I don¡¯t know that you¡¯ve killed more spirit beasts than any other human being, but you¡¯ve probably killed more than anyone this side of the Mountains of Sorrow.¡±


    ¡°Oh, come on! That¡¯s an exaggeration. I haven¡¯t killed that many,¡± said Sen before he really thought it through.


    ¡°Is it?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    When he searched his memory, he didn¡¯t especially like the picture he saw. He had personally seen off more than his fair share of spirit beasts. It wasn¡¯t that he went out of his way to do it. Quite the opposite. Unfortunately, he had been present for countless beast tides during their search for Fu Ruolan and those numbers added up fast. He honestly didn¡¯t know how many of those spiders he¡¯d killed. Hundreds? Thousands? It was easy to think of them as a singular mass, but they weren¡¯t. Any of them, possibly even all of them, could have grown into sapient spirit beasts. Of course, that thought didn¡¯t make it any better for Sen. He didn¡¯t like spiders, so he was hard-pressed to feel bad about preventing a swarm of them from becoming smarter and more dangerous. The point still stood, though. In an almost incidental way, Sen had personally reduced the population of spirit beasts in the region by a lot. He wondered if they told stories about him. He doubted those stories were quite as flattering as the Judgment¡¯s Gale stories.


    If they didn¡¯t insist on attacking him in giant hordes of bloodthirsty madness, he would never have gone looking for them on his own. He couldn¡¯t decide if he was the bad guy in that scenario or not. He didn¡¯t feel like the bad guy. He hadn¡¯t had ill intent. In most of those cases, it had been pure and simple self-defense. He was aware that he had routinely been intruding in their territories. Yet, he hadn¡¯t been hunting anything. He had left the spirit beasts he sensed alone if they did him the same courtesy. Realizing that he was stuck in a circular problem that likely had no clear answer, Sen gave up trying to decide where he stood morally. The truth was probably that he bore some of the blame, but not all of it. He glanced over at Falling Leaf and her expectant eyes.


    ¡°Okay, maybe it¡¯s not entirely an exaggeration. I¡¯d stop killing them if they stopped attacking me.¡±


    ¡°If you asked them, I imagine they¡¯d say that they¡¯d stop attacking you if you stop killing them and invading their homes.¡±


    Sen waved a hand in defeat. ¡°I already had that argument in my head. It doesn¡¯t lead to an answer. I can¡¯t get where I need to go without occasionally passing through the wilds. I¡¯m going to keep defending myself, however much it makes them hate me.¡±


    ¡°You should defend yourself. You should also expect them to keep attacking you in numbers until you reach the nascent soul stage. Most of them won¡¯t dare when you get to that point. There¡¯s anger, but there¡¯s also survival. Right now, one of them might get lucky. The chances of that go down every time you advance again.¡±


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    ¡°There¡¯s a cheerful thought,¡± said Sen. ¡°I guess we¡¯re staying here an extra day or two. If we have to fight like that again, I don¡¯t have the qi for it right now.¡±


    Falling Leaf shook her head. ¡°You won¡¯t have to fight like that again. It takes time to put together a group of spirit beasts and get them to cooperate. Especially the ones who aren¡¯t self-aware. It¡¯s more like herding than convincing.¡±


    ¡°I guess that makes sense. Still, no need to take unnecessary chances when we¡¯re this close.¡±


    ¡°Do we have the time to spend?¡±


    Sen waggled his hand in a so-so gesture. ¡°It¡¯ll cut things close, really close, but dying because we couldn¡¯t fight properly won¡¯t fix anything.¡±


    ¡°I guess there is something to be said for a bit of caution.¡±


    ¡°I know, it¡¯s not my usual style, but getting as close to death as I did¡­ I won¡¯t say it changed me at some fundamental level. It did give me an appreciation for being alive. I worked hard to get this far. I don¡¯t want to throw it away and start over again just because I¡¯m a little impatient to be done with this particular journey.¡±


    Falling Leaf mulled that over while Sen abandoned active cultivation in favor of cooking. His passive cultivation would keep drawing in qi but limit how much he drained from the immediate area. That should make things easier for Falling Leaf. The formation he¡¯d put up to concentrate qi around the galehouse would help as well. It wasn¡¯t a complicated meal. He just made rice, steamed some vegetables, and warmed up some leftover meat he¡¯d made a few days prior. As they ate, Falling Leaf teased him a little about his laziness in preparing such a sparse meal. He rolled his eyes at her but smiled through it. Her understanding of human humor had been developing slowly, often stalling, but he didn¡¯t want to discourage her from doing things like poking fun. It wasn¡¯t always appropriate, but she had to practice on someone. Plus, if she practiced on him, he could help her understand when she might accidentally offend someone through simple poor timing.


    When Falling Leaf decided it was time for her to sleep, Sen kept his mouth shut. He knew that she didn¡¯t actually need the amount of sleep she got at her cultivation stage. She probably couldn¡¯t go as long as he did without sleep since she wasn¡¯t on a true body cultivation path, but she definitely didn¡¯t need to sleep every day. He¡¯d puzzled over that for a while before the very obvious truth hit him. She just liked sleeping. She¡¯d done an almost absurd amount of napping when she¡¯d been a ghost panther, and it seemed she didn¡¯t plan on giving up sleep as a pastime. For him, every waking minute was an opportunity to explore some facet of cultivation he didn¡¯t fully understand, improve his techniques, or simply to practice his combat skills. That was to say nothing of breaking new ground.


    With that thought in mind, he withdrew the mushrooms he¡¯d collected on Mt. Solace from his storage ring. He spent most of his time examining the dusk mushrooms. They had heavy shadow attributed qi, but he caught hints of other things in there as well. There was a bit of wood qi and at least one other he couldn¡¯t put his finger on. He made a mental note of it and resolved to figure out what the other qi type was, preferably before he used the mushrooms in anything. The dusk mushrooms were exceedingly potent. They threatened to overwhelm the environmental qi with shadow qi, so he put them back in his storage ring. He did take the opportunity to soak up some of the shadow qi for his own use. Finished the dusk mushrooms, he turned his attention to the other samples he¡¯d gathered.


    There were some that he quickly realized were simply poisonous now that he was out of the obscuring effect that had been in place in the little hollowed-out area. He wished he had been able to study that effect more. It might have given him insights into his own hiding ability, but he¡¯d had more pressing concerns at the time. One of the mushrooms, a small, pale mushroom with blue spots on the cap drew his attention. As unimpressive as the mushroom looked, it had a truly complex array of qi types in it. The longer he studied it, the more convinced he became that he could use those mushrooms in healing elixirs. With the right reagents and complementary ingredients, he suspected he could improve his general healing elixir¡¯s performance by nearly twenty percent. That was something worth investigating. The problem was that he had a very limited supply of the mushrooms and no easy way to grow more. He didn¡¯t plan on revisiting that mountain for more of them. He decided that he would set some aside for Auntie Caihong. She had more natural aptitude with gardening than he did. Maybe she could do something with them.


    Once he finished looking over his dubious prizes from Mt. Solace, Sen settled himself near the fireplace. He let the sounds of the burning wood soothe away his concerns and lull him into a meditative state. Sen could brute force the right mindset for cultivation, but getting there naturally typically garnered better results. His guess was that it had something to do with the pressure he had to exert on himself to force the right mindset. It likely reduced the efficiency of the cultivation process. As he let active thoughts slowly slip away, other concerns surfaced. Most of them were nebulous, temporary problems that he could easily dismiss. The prospect of always facing tides of murderous beasts wasn¡¯t so easily brushed aside. He let that occupy his mind for several minutes and looked for a solution. He considered some ridiculously impractical options, but the conclusion was inevitable. There wasn¡¯t anything he could do to prevent it short of avoiding the wilds entirely. Even that might not do the trick, as the first spirit beast tide he¡¯d faced had happened in a town.


    Accepting his inability to resolve the problem let him set it aside. Then, there was nothing left but him, his cultivation, and the slow process of replenishing his qi-starved core and dantian.

 V5 Chapter 25 – Welcome Back

    The last few days on the way back to Fu Ruolan¡¯s home weren¡¯t precisely peaceful, but it felt that way compared to fighting a beast tide that included a dragon. Even without his core or dantian topped off, Sen found that most of the challenges they faced were¡­ He hesitated to frame it exactly as trivial, but he couldn¡¯t think of a better term for it. The beasts who attacked them seemed trivial by comparison. Falling Leaf had the right of things about it taking time to gather a substantial number of beasts for an attack. That didn¡¯t solve the mystery of why such a beast tide had occurred in the first place, which bothered Sen more than he liked to admit. When the pair of them finally emerged from the wilds into the semi-tame area that was Fu Ruolan¡¯s domain, Sen exhaled in relief.


    He didn¡¯t necessarily feel safe under the nascent soul cultivator¡¯s watchful gaze, but he did feel safe from random spirit beast attacks. They all steered clear of her, lending more credence to Falling Leaf¡¯s claim that they would trouble him less often the higher he scaled the mountain of cultivation. Not that her claim really needed any confirmation. The spirit beasts had all given Uncle Kho¡¯s home a very wide berth as well. It hit Sen that the same thing must have been true of her before the ghost panther effectively adopted him. He¡¯d never really considered that she had been knowingly taking a risk even getting near the place, especially before she knew that Uncle Kho had a soft streak a mile wide. He didn¡¯t realize that he¡¯d been staring at Falling Leaf until she stopped in place and stared back.


    ¡°What?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± said Sen. ¡°I just never thought about how dangerous it might have been for you to come to Uncle Kho¡¯s house. Why did you do that?¡±


    Falling Leaf squinted a little like she didn¡¯t entirely understand what he was getting at. ¡°The Feng was polite to me. You were nice to me. It stood to reason that the people you went to see would be similar.¡±


    ¡°Really? You just took it on faith that they¡¯d also be nice to you?¡±


    ¡°Plus, I¡¯m difficult to catch if I put my mind to it,¡± she offered with a smile, but then the smile faded. ¡°I was difficult to catch. I¡¯m not as stealthy as I used to be. You humans never see me if I don¡¯t want to be seen, but other spirit beasts can always seem to pick me out.¡±


    Sen resisted the urge to apologize again. Falling Leaf wouldn¡¯t like it. She¡¯d told him more than once that she¡¯d made her choice and didn¡¯t regret it. She was just struck from time to time by what the choice had cost her. It had been a while since it last came up, and Sen had thought she¡¯d come to terms with it. Still, on the scale of her lifespan, it hadn¡¯t been that long at all. He shouldn¡¯t be surprised that she was still grappling with such a life-altering transition, even if she didn¡¯t bring it up. He looked for a way to lighten the mood.


    ¡°Well, you got fingers. That seems like a fair trade.¡±


    Falling Leaf held up a hand and peered hard at her fingers. ¡°They are terribly useful. I don¡¯t have to carry everything in my mouth. They aren¡¯t beautiful like my paws were, though.¡±


    Sen saw an opportunity to cheer her up. ¡°That¡¯s true. You had very lovely paws.¡±


    Falling Leaf beamed at him. ¡°It¡¯s good that you understand these things.¡±


    Sen smiled and started walking again. He mused on the fact that it had been exactly three months to get out to Mt. Solace and back. It made him wonder if Fu Ruolan had some kind of divination technique. Had she known that it would take them exactly that long, or had she simply made an educated guess about how long it would take them? He didn¡¯t expect that she would tell him either way. Sharing didn¡¯t seem like Fu Ruolan¡¯s style. His experience with her storage space told him that much. He was dead certain that there were things in that storage space that could propel him forward in countless ways with his understanding of cultivation, new techniques, and probably a hundred other things he couldn¡¯t imagine. It was also equally clear that she had no intention whatsoever of letting him roam around in that space and look at things. Just thinking about all of the medicinal plants she had stored in there was enough to make him think unsafe and greedy thoughts.


    That¡¯s the problem right there, thought Sen. Even if you didn¡¯t take anything without permission, you¡¯d want to. He expected that truth had been written all over his face when he¡¯d taken his little stroll with her into that storage space. For someone like him, though, that had been a monumentally unfair test. All of that knowledge and all of those resources would have tempted anyone, not just him. In his case, though, he knew that he could put alchemy resources to good use, immediately, no study time required. That was a very different kind of temptation from the books, which offered the possibility of growth, but that he couldn¡¯t simply use right now. Not that he would have turned that down either. No, he¡¯d just have to content himself with what she decided to offer. He wasn¡¯t above stealing from his enemies, but Fu Ruolan wasn¡¯t his enemy. While he wouldn¡¯t put her in the friend category either, he thought she nominally fit into the ally group. If Sen wanted to keep her in that group, and he did, then stealing from her or even trying to steal from her was out of the question. Hard as it might be to ignore the existence of all those scrolls and alchemy resources, he¡¯d make himself do it.


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    Fu Ruolan wasn¡¯t waiting for them when they came into sight of her strange little house. That was a relief to Sen¡¯s mind. He wasn¡¯t quite ready to deal with the questionably sane woman. Instead, he and Falling Leaf made their way over to the more extravagant version of a galehouse that Sen had made for them. It wasn¡¯t exactly nicer than the ones he might make out in the wilds. Shaped stone was shaped stone regardless of location. It was more spacious and came with a few extra bells and whistles. Sen had made a proper stove for the kitchen using nothing but metal qi and his imagination. He had not told Falling Leaf that it took him six tries to get it right. There was a room for him to do alchemy, as well as a dedicated bathhouse complete with drains.


    He had been thinking about how to get water to run into the house for the kitchen and bathhouse, but that was more a matter of convenience for Falling Leaf than anything else. He could fill and heat the bath with his qi. Summoning water in the kitchen called for nothing more than a careful application of qi or simply dipping into his storage rings. So, running water persistently got put off. The furniture in the place remained the stone constructions he had initially made with a few later modifications for basic comfort. If they were going to spend years in the place, though, he thought he should probably invest in more comfortable furniture the next time he ventured out to civilization. Even cultivator bodies could get stiff and sore sleeping on stone blocks for long enough.


    It was the bathhouse that Sen was most interested in. He¡¯d been thinking for days about soaking in the tub and letting it wash off the residual dirt and stress from the journey. He very nearly claimed it first, but in an act of what he saw as supreme self-sacrifice, he let Falling Leaf go first. He was happy that Fu Ruolan waited until after he got his turn to soak before she showed up. She even did them the courtesy of knocking. Sen opened the door and invited the elder cultivator inside. She looked around, curiosity glinting in her eyes, but seemed a little disappointed by the space. Neither Sen nor Falling Leaf had much interest in decorations. Everything in the place had a useful function of one kind or another. After satisfying her curiosity, Fu Ruolan turned to them.


    ¡°Welcome back,¡± she said.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± said Sen.


    Falling Leaf nodded, but chose not to speak.


    ¡°I take it you succeeded,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    Sen accessed his storage ring and summoned three of the dusk mushrooms he¡¯d collected. He held them out to Fu Ruolan. She looked at them, and Sen felt her spiritual sense touch them for a moment.


    ¡°Good. You can put them away.¡±


    Sen frowned at the woman. Why had she sent him all the way to Mt. Solace for mushrooms that she didn¡¯t intend to take? Still, he did as he was told. She smirked at him in a way that suggested she knew exactly what he was thinking. He tried to hide his annoyance and mostly succeeded. Fu Ruolan flourished her hand and a piece of paper appeared in it. She held it out to him.


    ¡°I would like you to make that,¡± she said.


    Sen took the paper and read it over. His frown deepened. It was an alchemical recipe for a pill. A recipe that used the dusk mushrooms.


    ¡°I don¡¯t make pills,¡± he finally said.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you an alchemist?¡± she asked sweetly.


    ¡°I am,¡± said Sen, feeling like he was stepping into a trap.


    ¡°Alchemists make pills,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°This alchemist doesn¡¯t,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Then, you aren¡¯t an alchemist. Not really. More to the point, you agreed to do as I said. I want that pill.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to make pills. I never learned.¡±


    ¡°Caihong was too soft on you,¡± said Fu Ruolan flourishing her hand again and producing a small manual. ¡°I suggest you learn. You have two months.¡±


    She tossed him the manual and left the galehouse. Sen looked down at the manual. The cover was blank, so he opened it up and leafed through a few pages. It was an alchemy primer. At least, he thought it was at first. Looking more closely at it, he realized that only the first part was a primer. The rest of the manual got into increasingly complex applications of alchemy, a fair bit of it that Sen only understood in the vaguest of terms. The time pressures that had finally lifted from his heart when they got back descended on him again twofold. He honestly didn¡¯t know if he could learn what he needed to learn in two months. Pill refining wasn¡¯t something that people just picked up as a hobby. It was practically its own discipline inside of alchemy.


    ¡°You look ill,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    Sen tried to smile at Falling Leaf, but he worried it came out as more of a grimace. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure she just set me up to fail.¡±

 V5 Chapter 26 – Celestial Vista

    The impulse to start reading what Sen recognized as a full-blown, if highly condensed, alchemy treatise almost overwhelmed him. The pressure of that two-month deadline bore down on him as well, but a tinge of wisdom had crept into Sen¡¯s thinking since his days on the mountain. Regardless of what his low-level panic told him, starting that day wasn¡¯t going to help. He was mentally drained from the journey and everything he¡¯d done on it. Fighting all of those spiders, to say nothing of the dragon, had taken a toll on both his qi and state of mind. It wasn¡¯t regret precisely. He didn¡¯t initiate those conflicts. He had simply ended them with brutal decisiveness. Once more, though, the scale of the death and destruction weighed on him. Sen wanted to be more than that.


    So, he set aside his instincts to begin and forced himself to take the rest of the day off from everything that wasn¡¯t critical to his survival. He didn¡¯t train with the sword or spear. He didn¡¯t try anything new with his qi or cultivation. He didn¡¯t even let himself think about what Auntie Caihong had taught him. You have two months for all of that, he reassured himself. Give yourself until tomorrow morning to just rest. So, he sat beneath a tree near the galehouse and cultivated. Dinner was an extravagant affair with several kinds of meat and vegetables, a stir-fry, soup, and even some basic pastries that he wasn¡¯t entirely sure had proper names. Falling Leaf pounced on the food with a level of glee that bordered on abandon. Sen was more restrained but ate at least as much as she did. He¡¯d need his strength.


    When the day wound down, he retreated to his bedroom with the manual in hand. He put it down on a stone table he¡¯d created when it became clear that the room needed some kind of flat surface for temporary storage. A sigh of mild relief escaped him when Sen dropped onto the bed. It wasn¡¯t one of physical comfort. The bed was still stone, after all, even if it did hold a makeshift mat stuffed with wool and a sizeable pile of blankets. Rather, he felt happy to be back in a place that was his. The galehouses on the road were nice because they reminded him of this place. Coming back, though, he saw the little quirks that made this galehouse into his galehouse. There were little striations of black and dark green in the rock of the wall. There were hooks of stone that grew out of one wall where he could hang spears or swords.


    He even had a beast core sitting on the stone table. It was one of the cores that had held divine qi, but the qi had been used up. Now, it was just a sphere of pure white shot through with reds and oranges that reminded Sen of sunset. They were tiny things, trivial really, but they were the things that made this place home for him, or as close as he was going to get for the next several years. Once the good feelings at being home faded into the mental background for him, though, his fingers itched to open that alchemy manual. His eyes kept drifting over to it, as though drawn by some kind of visual gravity. It took an effort of will to drag his gaze away each time. He stayed on the bed for almost twenty minutes before it became clear that no amount of positive thinking about relaxing for a night was going to help. Abandoning his bedroom and the galehouse completely, he strolled out into the night.


    He did a casual sweep of the area with his spiritual sense out of habit. He was looking for spirit beasts of which he found none. What he did find was Fu Ruolan. Frowning, he made his way over to where she was just standing and staring up into the night sky. He recalled Falling Leaf¡¯s suggestion that the woman might actually be insane. If she was caught in the grips of a moment of insanity, Sen should just leave her be. Otherwise, she might turn her power on him. Even at his very best, he didn¡¯t think he could stand her off for long, and he wasn¡¯t at his very best. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor in that particular case, he turned to walk away.


    ¡°Did you need something, Lu Sen?¡± asked Fu Ruolan in a calm, collected voice.


    ¡°I¡­ No, not particularly,¡± said Sen, realizing it was true as the words left his lips. ¡°I didn¡¯t even know you were out here until a minute ago.¡±


    ¡°Is it so unimaginable that I might enjoy the night air and gazing on the splendor of the heavens?¡±


    The question left Sen feeling more than a little awkward. Up until that moment, he would have considered that unimaginable. He could easily imagine her studying the stars and looking for insights. He could imagine her using the subtle change in qi that happened when night fell for some kind of experiment. The idea that she might just want to take a walk and look at the night sky seemed too mundane for someone at her cultivation level.


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    ¡°It just seems too¡­¡± he tried to find a diplomatic way to put it.


    Fu Ruolan sniffed. ¡°Mortal?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°It seems too mortal for a nascent soul cultivator.¡±


    ¡°And should such simple mortal pleasures be denied to me simply because I¡¯m a cultivator? Why should any of us find the beauty of the heavens beneath our notice? Do you find the sight of the heavens trivial?¡± she asked.


    Sen turned his gaze upwards and just looked at the sky for the first time in what felt like centuries. He wasn¡¯t scanning for threats or evaluating the weather. He was just looking at that impossibly vast expanse of stars. He considered the moon that hung low on the horizon. It was a thin crescent of light that looked huge, although he knew it would seem much smaller as it slid across the night sky. That celestial vista asked nothing from him. It didn¡¯t even know about him. There was a comfort in that knowledge. To the night sky, he would always be anonymous, just a tiny, frail observer that it neither acknowledged nor troubled. That was a relationship he could rely on to remain fixed and firm until the day he ascended. And it provided so much in return. The night sky would always be beautiful in its cold, eternal way.


    ¡°No. I don¡¯t find it trivial,¡± answered Sen as he stepped up next to Fu Ruolan.


    The nascent soul cultivator glanced at him before returning her gaze to the sky above. They stood there like that for nearly an hour, each lost in their own thoughts and concerns. It was Fu Ruolan who finally broke the near-trance that Sen had dropped into while he stared at the stars. She turned to him and lifted an eyebrow.


    ¡°I¡¯d have thought you¡¯d be elbow-deep in alchemy by now.¡±


    Sen shook off his dazed mental state. ¡°The temptation is there. I want to go open that manual this very second.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you?¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t speak immediately but gave himself time to frame the answer. ¡°Not all work is equal. We¡¯re cultivators. We¡¯re trained to push hard and keep pushing. I don¡¯t think you can advance without that mindset.¡±


    ¡°Agreed,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°But pushing too hard at the wrong time can set you back even more. You can harm yourself.  You can develop wrong assumptions. Alchemy is subtle and complex. You can¡¯t master it with a brute-force approach of constant practice. You need stillness in your mind and calm in your heart. I don¡¯t have either right now.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said Fu Ruolan, revealing nothing of her thoughts. ¡°So, what will you do?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll sleep. I¡¯ll meditate. Maybe I¡¯ll cook us all overblown meals that we all know we don¡¯t need. I¡¯ll do whatever I need to do to find the right state of mind. Until then, there¡¯s no point in even cracking the cover open on that manual.¡±


    Fu Ruolan watched him without uttering a word for so long that Sen finally offered her a bow and turned to leave.


    ¡°Lu Sen,¡± said Fu Ruolan, halting his steps. ¡°More than one cultivator has failed at the bottleneck between core formation and the nascent soul stage because they could not differentiate between knowledge and wisdom. It is not enough to know things. If knowledge alone could bridge that gap, there would be no bottleneck. You must move beyond knowledge and into understanding. Some of that understanding is about qi, cultivation, techniques, and the like. Yet, just as much of it is about understanding yourself. Your strengths, your failings. It¡¯s also about understanding the needs of a situation.


    ¡°You could have taken that manual and rushed forward. Many would have, blindly confident that they could overcome any obstacles without regard to the needs of the situation or their own weaknesses in the moment. You did not, despite the rather potent encouragement I placed in your path.¡±


    Sen frowned. ¡°A test, then?¡±


    ¡°In a way, and if you choose to see it that way. I saw it as an opportunity for us both. It was an opportunity for you to see the truth of the situation clearly. It was an opportunity for me to see if you would.¡±


    ¡°And now that we¡¯ve both seen?¡± asked Sen.


    She shrugged. ¡°We both understand things now that we didn¡¯t yesterday. Isn¡¯t that enough of a boon?¡±


    Sen cocked his head to one side before he nodded. ¡°I suppose it is.¡±


    ¡°Three months,¡± said Fu Ruolan, turning her eyes skyward again. ¡°You have three months to complete the pill.¡±


    Sen froze. It didn¡¯t sound like much. It might have sounded like nothing to someone else. Sen knew better. Two months had never been enough time to learn what that manual contained. He knew enough about what it contained to know that it would have been impossible. Three months, though? That shifted things from the impossible to the possible. Not easy. It wasn¡¯t going to be anything even close to easy, but it was possible. Sen offered Fu Ruolan another bow.


    ¡°As you say, Fu Ruolan.¡±

 V5 Chapter 27 – Cauldron

    Time is a cultivator¡¯s ally. Sen had heard Master Feng, Uncle Kho, and Ma Caihong all say something similar at one time or another. However, as often as not, time seemed to work against Sen. He always felt under pressure to accomplish an advancement, reach a goal, or simply be somewhere. He had felt the same way about the two-month deadline that Fu Ruolan had given him to make that pill. The addition of just one month had changed everything for him. Instead of feeling like he needed to claw his way to the right frame of mind as fast as possible, he felt liberated to spend the time he needed to get there. The irony was not lost on him that by granting him extra time, Fu Ruolan had made that task easier. He was able to shove aside the sense that he couldn¡¯t do it, that no one could do it, and let his mind and heart find an equilibrium. Instead of taking some uncertain amount of time, it took him three days.


    Instead of opening the manual with a sense of howling urgency and the need to consume it as fast as he could, Sen opened it prepared to learn. That wasn¡¯t to say that there were no problems. The manual assumed that the reader had a true alchemist cauldron. While Sen certainly had the resources to acquire one and likely could have gotten one with ease in the capital, he was nowhere near the capital. In fact, he was nowhere near anywhere that he could realistically acquire one. The reality was that sects were the primary source for alchemist cauldrons. They weren¡¯t just heavy pots. If they were, any blacksmith in the world could make them.


    A true alchemist cauldron needed to be forged under special conditions and with the right balance of qi. They needed to be treated with special alchemical sealants to ensure that everything washed away completely after every use. Otherwise, the alchemist risked contaminating their pills with everything that had been made in the cauldron before. Granted, that could yield a net gain to the potency and usefulness of the pills. There was no guarantee of that, though, and the wrong kind of contamination could turn a healing pill into a health-destroying poison. It was a chance that, according to Auntie Caihong, some lesser alchemists were willing to take. While Sen hadn¡¯t been interested in using a cauldron, Auntie Caihong insisted on explaining the basics to him. If nothing else, she contended, it would help him distinguish between alchemists that he could trust and those he couldn¡¯t.


    Sen used his own methods to ensure that the pot he used for elixirs remained free of contamination. Yet, after reading through the initial section of the alchemy primer, he was confident that he couldn¡¯t substitute his pot for a cauldron. Among other things, cauldrons could be sealed in such a way that they remained both airtight and rejected environmental qi, another way that pills could be contaminated. While Sen thought that he could, in theory, replicate those effects using his qi and the right formations, it would add complications to a process he didn¡¯t understand. Every complication brought with it an added risk of failure. If he had years to perfect his techniques, he might have even gone that way. He didn¡¯t have boundless time. That meant he needed to simplify the process as much as possible. So, with more than a little reluctance, he visited Fu Ruolan. He found her tending to a small vegetable garden outside her home. He patiently stood at the edge of the garden as there was no chance she had missed his presence. She didn¡¯t make him wait long before she cast a curious glance his way.


    ¡°Is there something I can help you with?¡± she asked.


    Sen had considered various ways he might broach the subject of a cauldron, but anything other than a direct inquiry seemed deceptive to him. Steeling himself for the possibility that he might well need to make another journey and at the absolute fastest he could manage, Sen took the straightforward path.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been reviewing the primer you gave me,¡± he said.


    Fu Ruolan nodded at his words. ¡°Faster than I expected, but I trust you waited until you were ready.¡±


    ¡°I did,¡± he confirmed. ¡°The primer makes it clear that pill refining requires a cauldron.¡±


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    ¡°Yes. What of it? Every alchemist has a cauldron.¡±


    ¡°Almost every alchemist. I¡¯m afraid that I don¡¯t, which brings me to the point of this visit. I wanted to ask if you have one that I can use for the next three months.¡±


    For the first time since he¡¯d met her, Fu Ruolon seemed positively flabbergasted. She struggled to find her voice for several seconds before she finally managed to say something.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have a cauldron? I was under the impression that you had fashioned numerous elixirs of near-miraculous quality.¡±


    ¡°The miraculous nature of the elixirs is a matter of debate, but I have made a substantial number of elixirs.¡±


    ¡°And how, pray tell, did you accomplish this elixir-making without the services of a cauldron?¡±


    ¡°I used a pot,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°A pot? Just a pot? What kind of pot?¡± demanded Fu Ruolan.


    Lifting a shoulder in a semi-shrug, Sen summoned the pot he used from a storage ring and held it out.


    ¡°This pot,¡± he said.


    Narrowing her eyes at him, she took the pot from his hand. He felt her qi briefly invade the pot and her spiritual sense bear down on it. She frowned and did both things again. The nascent soul cultivator hefted the pot a few times before returning her unhappy gaze to Sen.


    ¡°Is this meant to be some kind of ill-conceived joke?¡±


    Sen looked from her to the pot and back again. ¡°No. It¡¯s not a joke.¡±


    ¡°You expect me to believe that you made elixirs in this,¡± she almost shouted at him. ¡°There¡¯s nothing remarkable about this pot at all. It¡¯s just plain metal. It hasn¡¯t been infused or treated in any way.¡±


    Sen nodded along. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s all true. I¡¯m not sure why you¡¯re upset with me.¡±


    ¡°Because you¡¯re lying to me or you¡¯re deluded. No one could make an elixir that could do anything useful in this pot.¡±


    Sen felt his expression go hard. ¡°Well, I did. If you return my pot, I¡¯ll prove it to you.¡±


    Fu Ruolan thrust the pot back at him. ¡°Oh, I cannot wait to see this.¡±


    Seizing the pot from her hand, Sen stormed back to the galehouse and made a beeline for the kitchen. Fu Ruolan walked right behind him, clearly expecting him to fail. Sen stoked the fire in the stove, dumped some water into the pot, and got to work. He summoned ingredients almost by reflex. He was halfway through making a superior healing potion before he even realized that was what he was doing. The familiar activity did serve to calm him, though. He could maybe understand her skepticism, but the utter denial of the possibility that he could make elixirs in that pot still rankled him. He had helped a lot of people with products that came out of that humble pot. Who was she to say that he¡¯d made that up? Why would he make something like that up? He didn¡¯t need to impress anyone. And if he was going to try to impress someone, he¡¯d just tell them about fighting a dragon, not make up stories about how he did alchemy.


    As time passed, though, Sen had to stop fuming and concentrate on the task at hand. Making the superior healing potions required a lot of attention from him in terms of managing the reactions inside the pot, to say nothing of keeping the heat at a stable temperature. He blotted everything else out of his sphere of attention and gave the elixir his full attention. He could feel the elixir coming together properly, the discrete ingredients fusing to make something more, something better. For Sen, this was alchemy at its purest. There was a part of him that wanted to experiment. He¡¯d had some ideas about improving this elixir into something even more potent. He thought that there was even the possibility of making a version that might help restore qi, but that wasn¡¯t the point of this exercise. This was just a demonstration.


    Sen ignored those distracting thoughts and monitored the contents of the pot until they¡¯d reached the perfect moment of fusion. Then, with a wave of his hand, he cooled the potion. He summoned a glass vial and a piece of cheesecloth from his storage ring. A moment or two of effort and he¡¯d filled the much rarer glass vial with the elixir. In most cases, he used stone vials because they were sturdier. For this, he wanted her to be able to see the elixir and its faint blue glow, not just feel it. Keeping his expression neutral, he turned and handed the vial to Fu Ruolan. She just stared at the vial for several long moments before giving herself a slight shake. She reached out and took the vial. Sen felt her examining it, no doubt assessing its strength and nature. Her expression was complicated and difficult for Sen to read when she finally found something to say.


    ¡°I stand corrected,¡± she offered in a soft voice.


    Sen squashed the desire to gloat or anything else that didn¡¯t directly involve his goal. ¡°So, about that cauldron.¡±


    ¡°Cauldron?¡± she asked, her mind clearly not on the question. ¡°Oh, yes. Of course.¡±


    She waved a hand and a cauldron appeared on the stove. Fu Ruolan didn¡¯t say anything else. She turned and walked out of the galehouse with her eyes still fixed on the elixir in her hand.

 V5 Chapter 28 – Inequity

    As her feet carried her away from the stone house that Lu Sen had summoned from the earth with such casual disregard that she¡¯d wanted to slap him for it, Fu Ruolan didn¡¯t see anything around her. Even in a world where the heavens intervened directly, if only occasionally, it was rare to witness anything that one might call truly miraculous. But that was what she had just seen. For perhaps the third time in her very, very long life, Fu Ruolan had witnessed a miracle. That it was a miracle made up entirely of subtlety took nothing away from it. That the person performing it had the same casual disregard for it that he had for the feat of earth qi manipulation that raised his home took nothing away from it. If anything, those factors had enhanced the miracle.


    She hefted the vial in her hand. The elixir itself wasn¡¯t some heavens-defying product. Oh, it was a top-shelf healing elixir that would command a fine price if the boy could be bothered to make enough of them to sell. Nobles and royal houses would snatch them up. However, Fu Ruolan had the distinct sense that Sen probably handed them out to anyone who crossed his path with some minor malady. She¡¯d heard vague stories about the impossible acts of healing he¡¯d done after the scuffle between those fire cultivators and a water sect. There had been some rumors about how he¡¯d single-handedly swept away all sickness and infirmity in some village out to the east somewhere. She¡¯d been skeptical about those claims.


    Granted, he was a student of Ma Caihong and a year or two of her direct instruction was worth about thirty years of direct experience. Experience didn¡¯t make an alchemist into a healer of legend, though. It made someone competent. In rare cases where talent and practice were joined, it made people brilliant. Ma Caihong was an example of that. It had been a burr in Fu Ruolan¡¯s side for longer than she cared to think about that she would only ever be a competent alchemist. She understood the processes. She possessed vast knowledge about the various plants and reagents alchemists used to create their pills and elixirs. She had devoted countless hours to honing her capacities. In the end, though, she would only ever be competent.


    She lacked that spark of insight, that touch of genius, that let Ma Caihong elevate her craft into something more than mere alchemy. That extra sliver of discernment was what made Ma Caihong Alchemy¡¯s Handmaiden. Fu Ruolan had always assumed the woman was simply a once-in-a-cultivator¡¯s lifetime genius, her like never to be seen again. She¡¯d thought that right up until she¡¯d seen that boy craft the elixir in her hands in a battered, unremarkable pot that might be found in any farm kitchen. She¡¯d genuinely thought he¡¯d been boasting or downplaying what he¡¯d learned from Ma Caihong. Alchemy¡¯s Handmaiden would never send a student out in the world making absurd claims and wholly unfamiliar with the process of pill refining. Unless, of course, the boy didn¡¯t need to make pills and could back up those absurd claims. Fu Ruolan imagined the other woman laughing until she cried as those mad, unbelievable stories spread about her student. After all, she would have known they were true.


    Her foot bumping into something solid made Fu Ruolan look up. Her steps had carried her unerringly back to her own little home. Sighing to herself, she opened the door and went inside. She found somewhere to sit so she could go back to her brooding about the miracle that had happened in a pot. If she hadn¡¯t been struck so hard by it, she might have been angry with Lu Sen because he didn¡¯t know. An even worse possibility occurred to her. What if he simply didn¡¯t care? Did he understand the sea change what he¡¯d done represented? Did he know and simply couldn¡¯t be bothered to acknowledge it because it mattered so little to him? Fu Ruolan didn¡¯t let herself chase those thoughts. If she did, she might kill the boy in a fit of rage. That would be disastrous for so many reasons.


    Feng Ming would come calling with destruction on his mind. That might, might, be a manageable situation. Ming was always a direct soul and misdirection had become Fu Ruolan¡¯s specialty. She thought that she could evade him. Of course, the man was also inexorable. She didn¡¯t want to have to hide from him until all of the universes went cold. Still, he wasn¡¯t the one she was really worried about. In some ways, Jaw-Long made her more nervous. Ming might rain down destruction when he thought it was warranted, but he preferred the personal approach. Jaw-Long¡¯s go-to move was a cascade of lightning that blanketed an area. It was damn hard to hide from something like that because he could keep it going for days if he really put his heart into it.


    However, it was the idea of Ma Caihong seeking vengeance that poured true dread into the soul. She was the least likely to go on the hunt for someone, but Fu Ruolan had heard and confirmed some of the stories about what the woman had done when Lu Sen went missing for half a year. Only a true madwoman would tempt the fury of someone who could turn the air you breathe or the tea you drink into something that could melt even nascent soul flesh from bone. As a fellow if lesser alchemist, she was better equipped than most to understand the magnitude of the threat someone like Ma Caihong posed to those who crossed her. Fu Ruolan did not want to join that particular group because, to her knowledge, its ranks were composed entirely of corpses.


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    She forcefully pushed those thoughts aside. She wasn¡¯t actually going to do anything to Lu Sen. No matter how it might look, she didn¡¯t think he was intentionally trying to frustrate her. If he¡¯d been of a different sort of character, she might have thought differently. Observation had taught her that he wasn¡¯t malicious by nature. For all the destruction he¡¯d left in his wake, it sounded like he¡¯d spent more time trying to avoid fights than find them. He¡¯d been polite to her, even when he hadn¡¯t been sure what she would do or how she would act. She suspected that he¡¯d much prefer to spend his time in libraries and alchemy labs than going out and carving his name into history. She wasn¡¯t certain about it, yet, but she had the notion that outside forces were working very hard to keep him away from that preferred life. And no wonder, she thought.


    She let her mind drift back to what she had witnessed. He¡¯d started the process out innocently enough by bringing some water up to temperature. He¡¯d moved on to throwing ingredients into the pot. She¡¯d been a little appalled at how little he prepared them. Most ingredients needed to be processed to some degree. Some things were chopped, some were crushed, and others ground, but it was rare that you just tossed a whole ingredient into the cauldron¡­or pot, apparently. That was usually reserved for the rarest ingredients where the fundamental benefits were carried throughout the entire plant, not just in the stalks, roots, or leaves. Just as importantly, it ought to reduce the quality of the end product. Still, she¡¯d kept her mouth shut. He could fail on his own terms. Everyone had that right, as far as she was concerned. That was when things started to get strange.


    One of the reasons why every alchemist used a cauldron was because temperature control was so critical. A true alchemist cauldron was made by master smiths in sects to ensure the metal maintained uniform thickness throughout the base of the cauldron and the sides, which typically thinned out a little near the top. Sen¡¯s ridiculous cookpot was not uniform anywhere. So, by all logic, it should have been heating everything unevenly. The second he started throwing things into the pot, though, he¡¯d started doing something to even out the heat. She assumed it was fire qi, although her own lack of affinity there made it hard to judge. More to the point, he hadn¡¯t seemed to be doing it actively. It was like a reflex. What she could observe was what was happening inside the pot. She¡¯d been keeping a close eye on the reactions.


    She had always believed that those reactions were governed by immutable laws. Add certain ingredients, apply the right amount of heat, and you could replicate the same reactions over and over again. It was the very heart of alchemy. What Sen did bore only the faintest resemblance to those familiar processes. She watched as reactions that should have failed were cajoled by Sen, infused with qi at precisely the right moment in precisely the right amounts. She watched as overheated or underheated reactions suddenly found the right temperature. She had heard other alchemists theorize that such things could be done, but everyone had given it up as a lost cause. The sheer number of adjustments that you¡¯d have to make would overwhelm anyone because you¡¯d need to calculate the temperatures, the amount of qi, everything, on the fly. The math alone would stun the minds of even nascent soul cultivators. Unless, it seemed, you just didn¡¯t bother with the math.


    She watched as he made those adjustments on instinct, often doing dozens of them simultaneously without so much as breaking a sweat. If anything, he¡¯d looked like he was in a state of peaceful meditation. To make matters worse, she could tell he¡¯d been doing other things, things she couldn¡¯t clearly perceive, things at some substructural level of the ingredients or the elixir. While she didn¡¯t know what he¡¯d been doing, it had helped turn a bunch of ill-prepared ingredients that had been dumped into a cheap damn pot into a superior-grade healing elixir. She resisted the urge to hurl the elixir at the wall. It¡¯s not fair, she thought as frustration seethed inside of her. She¡¯d been chasing the mysteries of alchemy for a thousand years, devoting her time, energy, and kingdoms¡¯ worth of resources to it. Even if she¡¯d never be its true master, she had hoped to one day find a worthy student. She¡¯d prayed to find someone she could push to greater heights than her own, and it was Ma Caihong who got this prodigy dropped in her lap to shape and mold as she saw fit. To add insult to injury, the woman hadn¡¯t even trained him to use a cauldron! It was the most basic piece of equipment in the alchemist¡¯s trade.


    ¡°It¡¯s not fair,¡± she said, elixir still clutched in her hand.

 V5 Chapter 29 – Failure

    Sen stared down into the cauldron in disgust. The misshapen, burned lump of ingredients that sat at the bottom of the alchemist¡¯s tool seemed to mock him. If this had been the first such failure, or the twentieth, or even the fiftieth, it wouldn¡¯t have bothered him so much. Sen had lost count of how many times his attempts at making even the simplest healing pill had collapsed into abject defeat. He didn¡¯t know what the problem was, precisely, but the entire thing felt unnatural to him. He had been following the instructions and advice in the primer to the letter. It should be working. It clearly did work for other people. He just couldn¡¯t seem to make it work. Dousing the fire in the stove with a burst of qi, he stormed out of the galehouse and into¡­Sen came up short. It was nighttime. He rubbed at his face, certain it had been morning just an hour or two ago.


    He stood in the cool night air, taking deep breaths, and trying to get his frustrations back under lock and key. They weren¡¯t any use, except maybe as an occasional prod, but he had plenty of incentive to learn already. He didn¡¯t know what Fu Ruolan¡¯s plan was, but he was certain that she had a plan of some kind. First, the trip to fetch the mushrooms, and then this crash course in pill refining, all to the end of making some pill. It was too structured to be anything other than a plan. The problem was that he couldn¡¯t tell if she meant to shore up something she saw as a weakness in his education or if this was leading to some other destination. He wasn¡¯t sure if knowing the point of the exercises would prove helpful, but his experience with nascent soul cultivators suggested that they didn¡¯t do things on a whim.


    Despite his best efforts, Sen¡¯s frustrations welled up and burned like lava inside his chest. In desperate need of some kind of release, he kicked a rock that was sitting nearby. He felt a momentary burst of relief. That was immediately followed by chagrin as he heard the rock impacting trees. He winced preemptively as the tops of trees with shattered trunks crashed down to the forest floor. His enhanced hearing could hear the mad scramble of startled animals fleeing from the area. He closed his eyes when the inevitable happened. He heard Falling Leaf burst from the galehouse and dash toward him. Before she could get a word out, the presence of a nascent soul cultivator appeared in the clearing in a blur of speed. There was a long moment of silence as Sen imagined the two women scanning the area for the threats and, finding none, turning narrowed eyes on him.


    ¡°It was me,¡± he said in a defeated tone before either of them could demand answers. ¡°I kicked a rock.¡±


    He expected some kind of lecture about control from Fu Ruolan. He thought Falling Leaf might just hit him for startling her for no good reason. Instead, there was another protracted silence before Fu Ruolan snickered. His eyes snapped open and he turned to look at her, assuming his hearing had lied to him in some way. Her lips were pressed together so hard that her mouth was just a white line in her face. Her shoulders were bouncing as she tried to resist bursting into laughter. Sen whipped his head around to gaze at Falling Leaf who was looking at him like he¡¯d lost his mind.


    ¡°Why would you kick a rock?¡± asked Falling Leaf in a tone of perplexed innocence.


    That was more than Fu Ruolan could take, apparently, because she started laughing hysterically. First, she pointed at Sen. She followed that up by waving a hand at the forest. She kept trying to say things, but Sen barely caught a word here or there.


    ¡°Your face,¡± Fu Ruolan eventually managed to wheeze out. ¡°Your face! You looked like a little boy expecting to have his sweets taken away.¡±


    Sen felt a flush of embarrassment heat his face and didn¡¯t quite know what to do with his feelings. The woman wasn¡¯t being unkind. It barely amounted to teasing. It was just so very unexpected. Sen didn¡¯t think he¡¯d heard a genuine laugh from the woman since they¡¯d met. Now, she was wiping tears from her eyes as mirth threatened to spill out of her again at any moment. Unable to settle on any specific emotion, Sen felt his face contort into some kind of expression. One look at that expression set Fu Ruolan off into more merry gales of laughter. She shook her head back and forth in some kind of negation, pointed at Sen one last time, and then disappeared back in the direction of her own home.


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    Sen shook his head a little and turned his attention back to Falling Leaf. Falling Leaf had her face turned in the direction the nascent soul cultivator had gone with a cautiously amused expression. When she noticed Sen¡¯s lifted eyebrow, she gave him a shrug.


    ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t like her,¡± said Sen.


    Falling Leaf weighed those words before she shook her head. ¡°I haven¡¯t decided about that. I said I thought she might be insane.¡±


    Sen dug through his memories, certain that she had said something about not liking the woman. His memories backed up Falling Leaf¡¯s version though. She had been extremely cautious of the nascent soul cultivator and concerned about the woman¡¯s sanity, but she¡¯d never actually said she didn¡¯t like the woman. Sen decided that he must have been projecting his own rather mixed feelings about the woman onto Falling Leaf.


    ¡°I guess you didn¡¯t, at that,¡± he admitted.


    ¡°Why did you kick a rock?¡± asked Falling Leaf, resurrecting a topic he¡¯d hoped she would abandon.


    ¡°Because I was frustrated.¡±


    ¡°By the rock?¡±


    ¡°No, not by the rock.¡±


    ¡°Then why did you kick it?¡±


    A flash of irritation coursed through Sen, and he nearly snapped at Falling Leaf. He slapped that reaction away. He wasn¡¯t irritated with her. He was irritated with alchemy and his ceaseless failures at it. He was also still feeling the vague sting of embarrassment. He¡¯d acted like a child when he kicked that rock. He¡¯d probably only knocked down a couple of trees, but that rock could have struck anything out there. He had a picture in his head of some nocturnal animal wandering by, minding its own business, getting killed by a rock that came out of nowhere. Feeling his shoulder sag, Sen just fessed up.


    ¡°It¡¯s not going well with the alchemy.¡±


    Saying it out loud gave the situation a gravity it hadn¡¯t had before. It wasn¡¯t that he was making slow progress. He was making no progress. That had to change and soon, or that extra time he¡¯d been granted would slip between his fingers. Falling Leaf seemed wholly unsurprised by that revelation because she just nodded.


    ¡°No thoughts?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about alchemy. I can¡¯t help you with that.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°I know.¡±


    ¡°What did you used to do? When Ma Caihong was teaching you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d ask her about it.¡±


    ¡°So, ask the other one,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    She gestured in the direction that Fu Ruolan had gone. Sen didn¡¯t speak or even look away at those words. They were words he truly hadn¡¯t wanted to hear because he knew she was right. He should have done it already. His exact reasons for not doing it were a little hazy to him. He¡¯d half convinced himself that she wouldn¡¯t welcome such questions, but even he¡¯d recognized that as an excuse. She might not answer his questions, but he didn¡¯t honestly think she¡¯d be angry with him for asking. She¡¯d probably just give him a look or tell him to work it out on his own. If he¡¯d gone and asked her, he would know where she stood. That would have provided him with some kind of direction. He wasn¡¯t sure he could find the kind of help he needed if he had to seek it elsewhere, but at least he would know.


    He recognized that it wasn¡¯t like him to avoid asking questions. After that disaster early on with Master Feng, he¡¯d made a point of asking questions. It was the best way to learn when you didn¡¯t know the answer and couldn¡¯t work it out on your own. He searched inside himself. Why hadn¡¯t he just gone and asked her? The answer left Sen less than impressed with himself. It was just pride. The same kind of basic, stupid pride that he¡¯d mocked in others. He¡¯d been so successful with elixirs that he¡¯d just assumed he would be successful with pill refining. He could accept that it hadn¡¯t been an entirely unjustified assumption on his part. Hard work and some natural talent had let him go a long way with just about everything. At least, everything he¡¯d devoted serious time and effort to master. He¡¯d expected that there would be some transfer of aptitude between making elixirs and making pills. He could forgive himself that error of arrogance. What he couldn¡¯t forgive in himself was not seeking help when it became clear that wasn¡¯t the case.


    Hadn¡¯t he chastised the alchemists of the Clear Spring Sect for being too caught up in their own way of thinking? Looking at his actions, he struggled to see himself as any better. Practice and failure were part of the process, but he¡¯d continued to let himself fail long, long past the point where either practice or failure could teach. It had been pride, and he didn¡¯t have the time to waste on it. Recognizing his folly for what it was, Sen gave Falling Leaf a wan smile.


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± he said.


    Sen almost let himself leave it for the morning, but better sense saved him from more folly. If he let himself get some sleep, if he felt better in the morning, there was every possibility that he¡¯d convince himself that just one more day of trying would let him glean the secrets that had eluded him so far. Repressing his sigh, he turned and trudged toward Fu Ruolan¡¯s home.

 V5 Chapter 30 – Everything Right

    While Sen had felt a little uncertainty about asking for help, Fu Ruolan¡¯s reaction had caught him off guard. Her face lit up like he¡¯d just given her the best gift of her life. The woman seemed almost giddy at the prospect of helping Sen figure out what he¡¯d been doing wrong. She¡¯d looked ready to get started immediately but had ultimately told Sen to get some sleep.


    ¡°Better to start fresh,¡± she said.


    Sen had almost objected with a reference to the time limit that she had imposed on him. A moment or two of reflection told him that was the path of foolishness. He was in no fit state of mind to learn. Aside from his brief adventure in rock kicking, he wasn¡¯t even sure when he¡¯d last taken a break, let alone slept. With a nod to her, he¡¯d retreated to the galehouse, eaten something, and made himself go to bed. When he woke up in the morning after having dreamed about failing at pill refining over, and over, and over, he knew he¡¯d made the right choice. While he didn¡¯t consider himself an expert on the mind, it didn¡¯t take an expert to recognize that those kinds of dreams were a bad sign. When the waking mind was so fixated on something that it became the fixation of your dreams, Sen figured it was a short step to some kind of a breakdown. He''d made his way over to her house and found her waiting. He did his best not to give her sidelong looks as the woman almost bounced on her toes. She took him to a room he didn¡¯t remember from his previous visit. Inside, she¡¯d set up an alchemy lab.


    She beamed around at the room before turning a more serious eye on him. ¡°Alright, I need to know what you already know so we don¡¯t waste time. So, take a seat and tell me what you know about alchemy.¡±


    Sen looked around and found a small stool. He glanced over at Fu Ruolan who waved an impatient hand at him. Dropping onto the stool, Sen gathered his thoughts. What did he know about alchemy? He rarely considered the total information he had at his disposal on the topic. Most of the time, he only needed little slivers of that information to finish whatever he was working on at any given moment. Only after being asked to sum it all up did he start to understand exactly how much he¡¯d learned. Realizing that there probably wasn¡¯t a right answer to the problem, he picked a spot and started talking. He talked, and talked, stopping occasionally to summon water from a storage ring and take a few sips. For the first three hours, Fu Ruolan stood there in near-total silence, neither interrupting nor even reacting. That came to an abrupt stop when he started talking about some of his personal insights into alchemy. Then, the questions came fast and furious. It was nearly nightfall before Fu Ruolan waved him to a stop, her eyes glassy and her expression a little slack.


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to pretend that I understood everything you were talking about. Ma Caihong might,¡± she said with a bitterness that Sen could hear, ¡°but I don¡¯t think that¡¯s your problem. You clearly grasp the fundamentals of alchemy itself and then some. Your problem must be somewhere in the pill-refining process itself. What have you been trying to make?¡±


    ¡°A basic healing pill,¡± said Sen, trying to mask his own bitterness.


    She frowned at that. ¡°What ingredients and reagents are you using?¡±


    He had to stop and consider that question. He used the same ingredients for it every time, but it had been a while since he named them to himself while using them. Closing his eyes, Sen took himself back to his countless repetitions over the damn cauldron.


    ¡°Ginseng, angelica root, Eucommia¡­¡± Sen listed off ingredients and reagents as he mentally watched himself throwing them into the cauldron.


    Fu Ruolan nodded, only raising an eyebrow once or twice. ¡°Those are all fairly standard. Nothing too exotic. A few atypical choices, but I don¡¯t see how those would interfere with the refining process.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I thought, but many, many failures tell me otherwise.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve followed the instructions and advice in the primer regarding preparation and heat?¡± she asked him pointedly.


    ¡°I have.¡±


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    ¡°There¡¯s nothing for it,¡± said Fu Ruolan. ¡°We aren¡¯t going to solve this by talking it through. I need to see what¡¯s happening.¡±


    She gestured at the cauldron that had been placed on a heavy table nearby. Sen checked the stove to ensure that there was a bed of hot coals sufficient to heat the cauldron. He could do it himself if he needed to but preferred not to complicate the process with more interference than necessary. He wanted to replicate his process as precisely as possible in the hopes that the more experienced cultivator would see what he had missed. He entertained the idea of pulling out the manual to reference the instructions. That notion was dismissed almost immediately. He¡¯d committed those words to memory at this point. Instead, he got to work. It seemed that Fu Ruolan was taking the same approach that he was and made no suggestions as he placed the cauldron over the heat, prepared ingredients, and added them to the cauldron. The only thing she did was keep an eye on what was happening in the cauldron with her spiritual sense as Sen worked. A part of him hoped with a kind of raw desperation that this time he would succeed.


    He followed every instruction to the letter. He didn¡¯t interfere with the process at all, at any level, despite his instincts to do so. He was so intent on the task that he was startled when Fu Ruolan stormed over the cauldron and yanked the cover off. She glared down at the contents of the cauldron which were, as Sen saw when he peered down into it, decidedly not anything like a pill. It was the same mass of wasted ingredients and reagents it had been every time before. Fu Ruolan¡¯s face went from anger to disbelief. It took Sen a second to realize that he hadn¡¯t made any mistakes. What she saw in that cauldron was not what she had expected to see.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± she said. ¡°You did everything right. This should have worked.¡±


    Something in Sen¡¯s chest unclenched. He had been certain that it was him, that he had failed in some way to follow the instructions he¡¯d been provided. The fear that he had been burning time he couldn¡¯t afford to lose through some fundamental failing of his own was erased. It was only in that abrupt loss of fear that Sen saw how deeply it had infected him and how heavy that fear had been. He took a deep breath, feeling free for the first time since he¡¯d agreed to Fu Ruolan¡¯s bargain. He¡¯d either kept most of that off his face or the nascent soul cultivator hadn¡¯t been paying much attention to him. She just flicked a glance at him before staring with disbelief down into the cauldron. With a technique that felt a lot like auric imposition to Sen, Fu Ruolan scoured the inside of the cauldron clean and threw the discolored blob of unfused ingredients into a nearby pail. She pointed at the cauldron imperiously.


    ¡°Again!¡± she demanded.


    With a far lighter heart but no less exacting attention to detail, Sen repeated the process with similar results. Fu Ruolan had him do it four more times. She grew increasingly agitated with each failure, muttering under her breath. When the final attempt generated nothing but a gooey, half-charred mass in the cauldron, the woman threw her hands up in the air.


    ¡°This is infuriating. The ingredients are fine. The heat is fine. You¡¯re putting everything in when you should. This,¡± she said through clenched teeth and gesturing into the cauldron, ¡°should not be happening. It¡¯s a basic pill. Students with two months of experience can make this pill with a little guidance.¡±


    Sen thought that last might be overstating things a little, but what did he know? Maybe for students who started out working with cauldrons, this was an achievable pill after a couple of months. The part that he cared about was that something strange was going on. Something that wasn¡¯t his fault, and something he couldn¡¯t have expected or bypassed was happening.


    ¡°So, it¡¯s not me?¡± he asked, needing a bit of reassurance.


    She looked over at him. ¡°I¡¯m quite confident that it is you, but it¡¯s not a failure of technique. If anyone else had done the things that you did, they would have five minor healing pills sitting on this counter. No, whatever is happening here, it¡¯s stranger than that. I¡¯m just not sure what it is.¡±


    Sen felt a fresh tightness take root in his chest.


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case,¡± said Sen, ¡°I¡¯m not sure that I can reasonably deliver the pill you want by the deadline you¡¯ve given me.¡±


    Fu Ruolan blinked at him with a complete lack of comprehension on her face. He saw her mouth the word deadline. When understanding did dawn in her eyes, she just waved a hand like it was nothing.


    ¡°There¡¯s no point in giving you a deadline until we sort this mess out. I can¡¯t rightly expect you to make anything if following precise instructions generates only failure for you. We¡¯ll revisit that after we solve this mystery.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t exactly the reprieve that Sen had hoped for, but it was a reprieve nonetheless. While they tried to figure out why it wasn¡¯t working for him, he¡¯d have time to study the primer. Even if he couldn¡¯t make any of the pills in the primer, he could at least study the techniques he¡¯d need to use for making the more advanced pills. It felt a little bit like cheating to him, but the pragmatic self that had helped him survive on the streets ruthlessly murdered that feeling. In the end, getting the manual she¡¯d promised him was all that mattered. If that took a bit of cheating, he was comfortable with it. It was his life on the line, after all.

 V5 Chapter 31 – Curiosity

    Sen had hoped that Fu Ruolan had been satisfied that his failures meant the problem wasn¡¯t with his technique. Instead, he spent nearly two full weeks running one failed attempt after another. On each attempt, Fu Ruolan would change one thing in the refining process. The whole situation was tedious and frustrating, but Sen had done similar things in the early days of learning cultivation. It was the brute force method of learning something and, much as he hated to admit it, the method works with enough patience. Yet, two weeks and hundreds of permutations of the process later, all they had really done was confirm the initial assessment that the problem wasn¡¯t with Sen¡¯s technique.


    He desperately wanted to say that it had been a colossal waste of time but couldn¡¯t quite bring himself to do it. He had assumed that the problem wasn¡¯t with how he carried out the process. Fu Ruolan assumed the same. However, there would have always been the niggling doubt if they hadn¡¯t done all of those variations to know it with certainty. Now, they both knew. He had been relieved that they¡¯d done all of that work using Fu Ruolan¡¯s stockpile of plants, herbs, and reagents. It wasn¡¯t that Sen couldn¡¯t afford to replace them. He just didn¡¯t have easy access to a place where he could replace them. It would have taken a trip to somewhere that supported a big enough concentration of sects that they¡¯d have everything he needed. The only place he knew of where that would be the case was back in the capital. Even moving at his best speed, that was a trip that would take months.


    If they had been using his limited supply, much of which he¡¯d burned through with his initial round of failures, his only real option would have been to go out and gather more in the nearby forest. While he likely could gather much of what he needed there and eventually would do just that, it took time. And even in a place as lush as the wilds, there was only so much in any given location. Just replacing what he had used up could take him weeks, assuming he could find it at all. Some things that he had carried with him from Uncle Kho¡¯s mountain simply wouldn¡¯t grow in his current location. He¡¯d have to find alternatives which would also take time. Beyond that, the prime growing season was largely over with autumn approaching fast.


    As it was, he was going to have to take a few days and replace what he could before the local plant life died off entirely. Sen had been so engrossed in his thoughts about what he¡¯d need to do and even what he¡¯d need to find that he completely missed Fu Ruolan directing a question at him. It was only when she snapped her fingers in front of his face that he came back to himself. He jerked back from the motion and noise, almost dropping the cauldron in his hands. Fu Ruolan shook her head and rolled her eyes in a double indication of her minor annoyance.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I asked if you were done cleaning that yet.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen. ¡°No, just a moment.¡±


    Sen gestured at the inside of the cauldron and used his version of the auric technique that he had seen Fu Ruolan use on a cauldron a couple of weeks prior. With a gesture and a slight burst of wind qi, he tossed the waste into the small bucket where the rest had gone. He bled the last of heat from the cauldron with a quick application of fire qi and set it on the table. He turned to ask Fu Ruolan something that immediately evaporated from his mind when he saw her staring at him with her eyes bulging. He took a step back. It was the most insane expression she¡¯d given him since that first day.


    ¡°Where did you learn how to do that?¡± she asked in a weak voice.


    Sen struggled to find his voice for a moment. ¡°I saw you do it. It looked easier.¡±


    ¡°You saw me do that? When?¡±


    ¡°That first day when you asked me to show you how I was trying to refine pills.¡±


    ¡°You saw me do that once, and managed to figure out how to do it for yourself in two weeks?¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°No. I learned a similar technique. It just never occurred to me that I could use it that way. Once I saw you do it, though, it was just practice.¡±


    ¡°What technique did you learn?¡±


    ¡°The person who taught me called it auric imposition.¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯re a core cultivator,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    Sen recognized that she meant something specific by that, but he wasn¡¯t sure what it was. He couldn¡¯t tell if she thought he shouldn¡¯t know the technique, shouldn¡¯t be able to do the technique, or maybe even shouldn¡¯t have met anyone who could teach it to him. Whatever the reason for that reaction, he didn¡¯t know what response she wanted or expected. So, Sen fell back on what he knew. He shrugged.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true. I¡¯m a core cultivator.¡±


    She just stared at him with those wild eyes in a way that made him feel like she was going to try to tear the information she wanted right out of his skull.


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    ¡°Where did you learn it? Did Feng Ming teach you that? Ma Caihong?¡± demanded Fu Ruolan.


    Sen met that demand with a flat glare. Cultivators might discuss what they know how to do, especially after they¡¯ve exposed a technique to the scrutiny of others, but it was something else entirely to reveal the source of that knowledge. It could unintentionally expose a teacher to danger, or reveal the existence of a scroll or even a ruin that the cultivator wishes to keep secret. It was taboo to even ask, particularly among wandering cultivators. After all, they were far more likely to have a fortunate encounter during their constant travel than their sect-restricted cousins. While Sen thought that the dragon who taught him the technique could take care of himself, he also believed the dragon would not appreciate it if a nascent soul cultivator showed up making demands or being insane. On the other hand, there had been an almost hysterical edge to Fu Ruolan¡¯s voice when she¡¯d been asking those questions.


    ¡°I had a fortunate encounter with a dragon,¡± said Sen.


    It wasn¡¯t exactly an answer, but it was as far as he was willing to go. He figured that would be enough information for her to understand how he¡¯d come by the technique, but not enough for her to actually track down the source of information. Sen had covered a lot of ground since he left Orchard¡¯s Reach. He and Falling Leaf were the only people who knew exactly where they¡¯d encountered the dragon. Neither of them was likely to give up that information. Even if Fu Ruolan found the general area where they¡¯d left the roads and traveled into the wilds, she could spend a long time looking for the dragon and never find him. That was particularly true if the dragon didn¡¯t want to be found. After their talk, Sen had walked away with the impression that the dragon, while clearly lonely, didn¡¯t make himself known to anyone who didn¡¯t meet some particular standard. The nature of that standard was wholly opaque to Sen, but he didn¡¯t need to understand it to recognize that it existed. While Sen followed the trail of thoughts, Fu Ruolan just gaped at him.


    ¡°A dragon spoke to you?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°A dragon taught you?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen, feeling that answer was self-evident.


    ¡°Why would a dragon teach you? Why would a dragon even speak to you?¡±


    ¡°I have no idea,¡± said Sen. ¡°Boredom, maybe. It said it was old.¡±


    ¡°Define old,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°Older than you,¡± hedged Sen.


    ¡°Where did¡ª¡± she started and Sen held up a hand.


    ¡°No. I¡¯m not going to tell you anything that might expose the dragon¡¯s location or identity,¡± said Sen.


    He could see the anger flare in her eyes. That didn¡¯t make him happy, but he¡¯d known that she wouldn¡¯t like that. Nascent soul cultivators just didn¡¯t hear the word no that often. Granted, that was because saying no to one was a great way to bring your life to an abrupt end. Inherently dangerous or not, it was still necessary. Before that anger could explode onto Sen in a life-ending burst of violence, he spoke again.


    ¡°The same way I won¡¯t expose your location or identity if someone poses a similar question to me about something I learn from you.¡±


    That declaration brought her up short. He could see the war of opposing wants on her face. She wanted to know about the dragon. She wanted her privacy. Demanding or forcing information from Sen about the dragon would mean forfeiting any and all hope that he would respect her want for privacy. If anything, it would all but guarantee that Sen would tell anyone and everyone who asked exactly where to find her. While she was strong enough to kill almost anyone who bothered her, that would still mean interrupting her day to do it. She couldn¡¯t have it both ways. She knew it, and she hated it. He saw the resignation on her face before she said anything.


    ¡°Very well. I won¡¯t try to make you tell me,¡± she said in a defeated voice. ¡°Still, it begs the question of who you are or who you were. No one has the kind of luck you¡¯ve had. It defies reason. It¡¯s fundamentally unnatural.¡±


    Sen said nothing. He had his own suspicions about the source of that dubious luck, but he wasn¡¯t about to share those suspicions with Fu Ruolan. He hadn¡¯t even shared them with the people closest to him. She stood there, clearly waiting for him to say something. When he just looked back at her with a bland expression, she threw her hands up into the air.


    ¡°You can¡¯t blame me for being curious,¡± she declared.


    Sen thought that over before he nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t blame you for being curious. I think curiosity is even a good thing.¡±


    ¡°But you still won¡¯t answer.¡±


    ¡°Questions don¡¯t always have answers. Neither do the people those questions are put to. More importantly, not every question deserves an answer. A friend of mine told me once that not everything was her business. Curiosity doesn¡¯t justify itself, especially when that curiosity is about a person¡¯s past.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re telling me that you¡¯ve never dug into someone¡¯s past?¡±


    ¡°I have,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean I was right to do so. I¡¯ve also let it go when I thought it wasn¡¯t my business, even to my own detriment.¡±


    Sen couldn¡¯t help but think of Chan Yu Ming. If he¡¯d really known who she was from the start, so much trouble could have been avoided. Of course, avoiding that trouble would likely have left the old king on his throne. That certainly wouldn¡¯t have been a better outcome, at least not for the children he was murdering. Even with a lot of time to reflect on those events, he wasn¡¯t sure what he thought of them. He¡¯d done a lot of damage there, and he¡¯d done a lot of good. He wasn¡¯t sure it balanced. He wasn¡¯t sure about the karma of it all, or what kind of price he might pay down the road for those actions. He did wish he¡¯d handled parts of it differently. He wasn¡¯t sure that any version of events would have changed how he left things with Chan Yu Ming, but he might have left things on better terms with the prince. He might have¡­Sen shook those thoughts off with a grimace.


    He¡¯d ridden that spiral of thoughts all the way down and they didn¡¯t go anywhere but a dark place. No matter what he might have done, it didn¡¯t change what he¡¯d actually done. There would be consequences. There would be a price. He¡¯d just have to pay when it all came due. He felt Fu Ruolan¡¯s gaze on him and glanced up. Whatever anger or frustration she¡¯d been feeling had been replaced with a look that bordered on concern. He gave her a half smile and shrugged.


    ¡°Sometimes, not asking questions is the wrong choice,¡± offered Sen. ¡°With me, though, there¡¯s nothing to learn. I¡¯m just a street rat who got very lucky.¡±


    ¡°Some would say too lucky,¡± retorted Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°Yes. Some would. It doesn¡¯t make them right.¡±

 V5 Chapter 32 – Freedom’s Call

    Sen pushed open the door to galehouse and looked around. He did that every time he came into the place. He knew that he was looking for changes, but it was a fruitless little bit of paranoia. The interior of the galehouse never changed. Still, it soothed some small part of his heart to find the place as he¡¯d left it, even if he¡¯d only left it for a few days. The tedious weeks of crafting failed variations on the healing pill had left Fu Ruolan stumped. Sen had pounced on that moment when the woman¡¯s imagination failed her and suggested that he take a few days off to replenish what he could of his own plant and reagent stores. She had given him one of those narrow-eyed, lips-pursed expressions that Sen was sure that all women learned as babies. It was the look that said she knew exactly what he was doing. In the end, though, she had conceded that it was a practical use of his time since she wasn¡¯t sure what they should do next.


    It had been such a moment of relief for him that he hadn¡¯t hidden the fact well enough in his expression. It had only been on her face for a blink, but Sen could see that he¡¯d hurt Fu Ruolan¡¯s feelings with his eagerness to be away for a few days. That had soured his mood because it wasn¡¯t her, specifically, that he wanted to get away from. It was the constant failure. He¡¯d wanted to go out and harvest plants because it was necessary, true, but also because it was something at which he could succeed. When he¡¯d been endlessly testing different patterns to cycle qi, part of what made it endurable was that he¡¯d done it alone. He¡¯d been the only one to witness his failure. He¡¯d thought it would be the same working with Fu Ruolan, but it wasn¡¯t. Having a witness to all those botched attempts made them cut a little deeper. If it had only been a few or if there had been occasional glimmers of progress, he could have just shrugged it off. With the defeats at the hands of pill refining soaring up to the dozens and then more than a hundred with no progress at all, it had weighed on him. It had been a death of a thousand small cuts for his confidence in alchemy.


    While confidence wasn¡¯t a central element in success, it played a role. Second guessing a choice at a crucial moment could make the difference between crafting an adequate elixir or a superior elixir. In the worst-case scenario, it meant the difference between making something that worked and making useful plants and reagents into useless garbage. Sen didn¡¯t think that anyone could rightly be blamed for wanting an escape from something that only ever ended in that garbage-producing option. Yet, it didn¡¯t change the fact that the relief in his expression hadn¡¯t come with that convenient explanation attached. All Fu Ruolan had seen was that she said he could go away from her, and he looked relieved. It was a bad assumption on her part, but it was also an understandable one.


    He would have explained it then and there, but he¡¯d spent enough time around people to understand that she wasn¡¯t in the mood to hear it. So, he had taken his leave and ventured out into the wilds. He¡¯d invited Falling Leaf to come, and she¡¯d declined to make the brief trip with him. He¡¯d been a tiny bit surprised by that, but she¡¯d lost that almost obsessive protectiveness she¡¯d had when he¡¯d been dying right in front of her. While he thought that it was probably a good thing, he¡¯d have liked her company. And, she¡¯d made a good point at the time.


    ¡°What would I do? Watch you dig up plants? I¡¯ve seen you do that before.¡±


    ¡°I might get in trouble,¡± he¡¯d said.


    She¡¯d laughed at that. ¡°In what way? The last time you got in trouble you killed a dragon. I think you¡¯d have finished that fight faster if I wasn¡¯t there.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°More help in a fight is never a bad thing. I might have finished them off by myself, but it wouldn¡¯t have been faster.¡±


    ¡°If you say so,¡± she said.


    The look she gave him said how very much she doubted those words, but that she appreciated he¡¯d said them. Once he¡¯d gotten out into the wilds by himself, though, he found that there was a value in going by himself. It returned a level of control over his life that had been missing for a long time. He could move at the exact pace that he wanted without giving any thought to how fast anyone else could move. Granted, Falling Leaf could keep up with him, but she couldn¡¯t do it indefinitely. His qi stores were deeper and, he suspected, that his techniques were more efficient. Sen didn¡¯t always concern himself with efficiency. There were times in combat when speed trumped efficiency. When not under combat conditions, he made a conscious effort to refine his techniques. Before his body had started to betray him, that constant striving for efficiency had served him very well. He¡¯d been able to make small improvements on a fairly regular basis.


    He''d found that wasn¡¯t as true in the wake of whatever Fu Ruolan had done to stabilize his condition. He¡¯d made improvements here and there but nothing like he¡¯d accomplished before. It was a small source of frustration that he suspected contributed to his poor tolerance for failure with pill refining. In many ways, he felt like he was stuck. He couldn¡¯t go back. He couldn¡¯t go forward. He had very little say in changing that situation. That made the freedom of gathering in the wilds alone an almost euphoric experience. For a few days, he was his own master again. Even so, he didn¡¯t forget that he¡¯d made a mistake with Fu Ruolan. That was why he¡¯d gone farther than he¡¯d planned. In fact, he¡¯d ventured well beyond the range where her influence kept the spirit beasts at bay. He¡¯d been prepared to do some fighting if he had to, but the spirit beasts seemed to have once again taken to staying as far away from him as possible.


    He used the unexpected but welcome lack of distractions to go looking for something that the nascent soul cultivator might want. Even if she did live in the area, Sen knew better than most that the natural world was ever-changing. A place that had nothing of interest six months ago might well contain a full-blown natural treasure today. Just as importantly, Sen thought that Fu Ruolan purchased most of what she used in alchemy as a matter of convenience. With the cavernous storage treasure that she could enter, it made more sense to buy in bulk every so often. Minimally, Sen didn¡¯t think he¡¯d ever seen her go out with the intention of harvesting. With that in mind, he¡¯d tried to find something special amidst the more mundane gathering he did for himself. While Sen wasn¡¯t opposed to rare ingredients, he didn¡¯t lust after them the way some alchemists seemed to do. He preferred working with things that were more readily available.


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    It took him most of two days to find that special item. He¡¯d actually been harvesting a root when something tickled the very edge of his spiritual sense. He¡¯d looked in the direction of that faint niggling sensation, as though the act of looking would somehow extend his perception. It did not. Shaking his head at his own foolishness, he finished the task at hand and then ventured in the direction of what he¡¯d felt. The closer he got the more confused he felt. He was getting the impression of ice-attributed qi. While he¡¯d felt it plenty of times before, he was quite certain it hadn¡¯t been cold enough in recent days for it to just be a function of the shifting seasons. If they¡¯d been a little closer to winter, perhaps he¡¯d have just thought it was a byproduct of the weather. That didn¡¯t track for him in the early fringes of autumn.


    When he pushed through some densely packed undergrowth to see a frozen pond in the middle of nowhere, Sen wasn¡¯t surprised. It was still a sight that made him stop and look on in appreciation. The entire area was covered in a thin layer of ice that refracted and amplified the limited sunlight that filtered through the canopy. If his eyes weren¡¯t reinforced and improved through body cultivation, it might have even been blinding. Instead, he was able to appreciate the way the ice covered still-green leaves and made the nearby grass look like slender blades thrusting toward the sky. As lovely as the spot was, though, it was what he saw in the center of the pond that drew his attention. Resting on the surface of the frozen pond water was a lotus, or at least something that looked like a lotus. Instead of merely being infused with ice qi, the gently curving petals were ice.


    Sen had heard of such things from Auntie Caihong, but he¡¯d never seen an example in person before. The qi was so potent that it simply overpowered the plant and transformed it into something that hovered in some strange middle ground between the plant and the qi type. Under normal circumstances, Sen would have expected to face a fierce fight to acquire that lotus. Yet, a sweep with his spiritual sense told him that no spirit beasts were nearby. Happy that a little good fortune was smiling on him, Sen made his way to the center of the pond. Extracting the lotus took a while because he had to work around it¡¯s icy nature. It took a careful combination of fire and water qi to get it free without causing damage to the innate properties of the lotus. The instant he freed the flower from the pond, he thrust it into his storage ring. He headed for home immediately. Just because the spirit beasts were being cautious around him, they might find their courage for a prize like the qi-laden plant.


    Stepping back into the galehouse and finding it as he left it let Sen focus on what he meant to do. He left a qi-heavy fruit he¡¯d found sitting on the stone table for Falling Leaf to find whenever she returned. With that task accomplished, he made his way to Fu Ruolan¡¯s home. He felt a little hesitation as he approached. He worried that the gesture might look as if he was trying to buy forgiveness. It wasn¡¯t his intention. He reconsidered his approach and decided that he¡¯d do things in the opposite order that he¡¯d envisioned. Sen found Fu Ruolan tending to her garden, as she seemed to do most days. It looked like most of her efforts were turned to preparing the soil for the winter weather, as most of her small patch of vegetable crops were beyond growing anything new. She glanced at him but didn¡¯t say anything. He crouched down at the edge of the garden, thinking about what he wanted to say.


    ¡°Have you ever failed at something?¡± he asked.


    The question seemed to catch the woman off-guard because she stopped what she was doing to give him her full attention.


    ¡°Every cultivator has failed at something,¡± she said. ¡°You know this.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Have you ever failed over and over again at something? Something you knew was important?¡±


    Her expression went abruptly neutral. ¡°I have.¡±


    ¡°I thought I had as well. Except, I hadn¡¯t. Not really. I failed, but I progressed. I saw where I was making mistakes, or had it pointed out to me, and I improved. I was never just stuck. Not like I have been with pill refining. Until now, if I worked hard enough, strove hard enough, I could master what has been set before me. I¡¯ve worked as hard at pill refining as I¡¯ve ever worked at anything, and I¡¯ve gotten nowhere. Those weeks of trying to figure out what was wrong ate me alive. When the chance came to escape all of that failure, I couldn¡¯t wait to get away from it. I just needed to do something, anything, where there was the possibility of success. The point is, I wasn¡¯t eager to get away from you. I was eager to get away from that relentless pit of defeat. I don¡¯t know if that makes sense. It¡¯s the best way I know how to explain it.¡±


    Fu Ruolan sat there in motionless silence for most of a minute. Sen wondered if he should just go and let her decide when to pick up the conversation. Before he could commit one way or the other, she shook herself a little.


    ¡°I see,¡± she said. ¡°I do understand that feeling. That hopelessness. It can consume you if you let it.¡±


    Sen nodded along. He was just happy that she seemed to understand. He very much did not want her angry with him. That would only slow down any possibility of future progress. Plus, alchemy involved a lot of potentially lethal combinations. He didn¡¯t think she¡¯d kill him, but she could make him horribly sick without trying very hard just by exposing him to certain kinds of plants or mixtures. Even with his status as a core cultivator and body cultivator, it was a real possibility. Ready to call it a win, Sen was shocked when she continued.


    ¡°I may have made certain unkind assumptions about you. I¡­ I¡¯m sorry about that.¡±


    Sen floundered for a response to that apology and finally just said something to fill the hole it had left in the air.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. So, no hard feelings?¡±


    She gave him something that could have been a smile. ¡°No hard feelings.¡±


    ¡°Good. Because I have something for you.¡±


    While the shriek of delight that Fu Ruolan let out at the sight of the lotus left Sen half-deaf, he decided that definitely counted as a win.

 V5 Chapter 33 – Clarity

    Sen was happy to discover that the tension that had hovered between him and Fu Ruolan largely dissipated after their conversation. However, he suspected the gift of the extremely rare ice lotus helped as well. That translated into unexpected but welcome changes in how they worked on his pill refining. The mystery of his persistent failures remained unsolved, but she paid much closer attention to his state of mind. When she thought that he was getting too frustrated or disheartened, she would have him do other things for a day or two. Sometimes, she¡¯d have him make elixirs. Sometimes, she¡¯d just tell him to go and practice his martial forms. Not that he needed any encouragement for that last part. He¡¯d often end his day with hours of practice out in the dark, viewing it as an opportunity to hone his skills in adverse conditions. During those months, Falling Leaf would often vanish for days or weeks at a time. Sen didn¡¯t question it until he found more comfortable furniture in the galehouse one day.


    ¡°Where did this come from?¡± he asked, gesturing at a chair.


    ¡°I bought it,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Where?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°I went back to the one of the towns on the road.¡±


    Sen stared as he tried to make sense of what she¡¯d said. Falling Leaf had made a habit of venturing out into the wilds to hunt for spirit beasts that could help her advance. She¡¯d done fairly well at it from what Sen could sense of her advancement. Sometime in the previous few months, she¡¯d once again snuck past his own level. The disparities between them were harder to judge. He was fairly certain that the new upper limits on his power meant that she was stronger than he was, at least in terms of pure shadow qi. On the whole, though, he was less confident. They might be on equal footing again. He might be a little stronger. Still, it had never occurred to him that she might seek out human beings on purpose.


    ¡°You went by yourself?¡±


    ¡°You were doing alchemy with the madwoman,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    Sen chose not to argue about Fu Ruolan¡¯s degree of sanity. ¡°I¡¯m just surprised. You don¡¯t really enjoy human beings.¡±


    Falling Leaf nodded enthusiastically to that sentiment, which made Sen close his eyes as he tried to repress his disappointment. He¡¯d hoped that maybe her trip had been a sign that she was coming around on people. Then again, people kept going out of their way to prove to Falling Leaf that they weren¡¯t to be trusted or liked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like humans, but your stone chairs and beds aren¡¯t comfortable. The humans at the town sold things to me.¡±


    Sen wondered if they had taken advantage of her, then thought better of it. He could picture exactly how those negotiations had gone. Falling Leaf would have been glaring like she meant to kill someone. The shop owner would have been trembling and sweating. If anything, that poor person had probably taken a loss just to get her out of his store as fast as possible. The scene in his mind was enough to make him snicker a little. He knew he shouldn¡¯t find someone else¡¯s terror amusing, but he just couldn¡¯t ignore the humor in it. He noticed Falling Leaf giving him a quizzical look and waved it off, not wanting to have to try to explain human humor again. While she had worked out some of the essentials of making a joke, she rarely saw or understood the humor in a situation.


    ¡°The madwoman isn¡¯t having you try to make pills today?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re both out of things to try, so we¡¯re taking a break until one of us has a good idea,¡± said Sen. ¡°Or, if I¡¯m being honest, any idea at all.¡±


    ¡°We should fight,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°If you aren¡¯t making pills, we should fight.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight you.¡±


    ¡°Not real fighting. The pretend fighting you do.¡±


    ¡°Sparring,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯s called sparring.¡±


    He thought it over and then gestured toward the door. They stepped into the cold air. Their feet crunched on the thin layer of snow that covered everything in sight. Sen cleared an area down to bare ground with a gesture and some wind qi. He felt a reflexive little stab of guilt. Master Feng would have made him fight in the snow. He also knew that there was a good chance that he or Falling Leaf would end up on the ground at some point. Since Sen didn¡¯t particularly care for practicing in wet clothing, he¡¯d learn to live with the minor shame he¡¯d incurred with his memory of Master Feng. Suffering might build character, but minor discomfort was just annoying. They¡¯d barely stepped inside the bare area when Falling Leaf launched her first attack, an attempt at sweeping his leg out from under him.


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    It might not be considered honorable, but that didn¡¯t matter much to Sen or Falling Leaf. In a real fight, people didn¡¯t wait for you to get ready. He lifted his foot to avoid the blow and sent a punch at her face. There had been a time when Sen might have tried to pull his punches with her, but he¡¯d moved past that foolishness. Sparing her in a spar did nothing to prepare her for the rigors of a real battle. She ducked beneath the punch and sent one of her own into his ribs. The angle was poor, so he didn¡¯t catch the full power of the strike. Still, it hurt plenty. It had also been faster than Sen expected. He slipped away from her and managed to put a bit of distance between them. They¡¯d be standing right next to each other, which was less than ideal for both of them. The distances and angles were strange enough that they were more likely to hurt each other by accident.


    More to the point, making her come at him straight on let him take advantage of his greater reach. He kept her at bay for a little while with a series of kicks, but she evaded them all. If he¡¯d managed to land one, he might have slowed her down a little. In a battle of pure speed, he was pretty sure he was overmatched. It wasn¡¯t a big gap but even small gaps in speed could spell disaster in a one-on-one fight. It was less important in the chaos of a battle with lots of participants because fighters could use other people or spirit beasts as distractions, negating the small but real advantage. Sen¡¯s concentration slipped for a fraction of a second at an unexpected sound out in the forest. He didn¡¯t even take the time to identify it. Still, that brief moment of hesitation was enough for Falling Leaf to land a blow on his thigh. He tried to pull the leg back, but it wasn¡¯t reacting as fast as he expected.


    Then, Falling Leaf was inside his reach and there was no room for thinking. It was all instinct and honed reactions as their fists and elbows moved in a blur. The sounds of their blocks echoed like distant thunder through the nearby trees and sent the winter birds in the area fleeing for the sky. Even with his disadvantage, Sen found himself smiling at the purity of their sparring. It was direct but spontaneous. The exact opposite of what he¡¯d been trying to do with pill refining, which was often indirect and rigid. Sen was caught off balance when Falling Leaf disengaged instead of blocking one of his strikes. He took a stumbling half-step forward to regain his balance. Sen felt the blow coming more than saw it and threw out a hasty block, but it came too late. Falling Leaf¡¯s foot connected with the side of his head. He staggered away and another quick strike drove him down into the snow.


    Sen lay there for a moment to regain his wits. Falling Leaf certainly hadn¡¯t held her blows either. His head hurt and there was a dull whine in his ears. He also felt the melting snow soaking through his clothes. Shaking his head, he pushed himself back up to his feet. Falling Leaf looked pleased with her victory, but she wasn¡¯t gloating over it. Instead, she looked vibrantly alive and happy. He had been leaving her to her own devices a great deal in the last few months. While Fu Ruolan had all but required that Falling Leaf stay, the elder cultivator didn¡¯t seem to have any actual plan for the panther girl. Sen had been so caught up in his own concerns that he hadn¡¯t done anything to remedy that situation. Rolling his head to loosen up the muscles in his neck and shoulders, he gestured for her to attack. Eyes wild with anticipation, Falling Leaf lunged at him. They kept that up until both of them were making sloppy mistakes that meant a lot of bruises the next day.


    ¡°I think that¡¯s enough for today,¡± said Sen, pressing his hand against a cut that Falling Leaf had opened along his ribs.


    ¡°I can keep going,¡± answered Falling Leaf while trying to catch her breath.


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Sen.


    The panther girl looked at him and offered a weak, ¡°No.¡±


    The pair went back inside and Sen pulled out two healing elixirs. He handed one to Falling Leaf and downed the other. He let out a relieved breath as the collection of minor injuries he¡¯d suffered started to close or fade. Slumping down into one of the new chairs, he gave it an appreciative pat.


    ¡°You were right,¡± said Sen. ¡°These are way more comfortable.¡±


    She smiled a little as she sat down in one of the other chairs. As Sen waited for the elixir to finish its work, he smiled. He wasn¡¯t sure it would work, but he and Fu Ruolan had tried everything else. The only thing they hadn¡¯t tried was for Sen to just try to do it the way he made elixirs. He¡¯d discounted the possibility because he¡¯d assumed that the process required that absolutely rigid approach. However, all of the evidence said that it wouldn¡¯t and maybe even couldn¡¯t work for him. It bothered him that he hadn¡¯t figured out why it wouldn¡¯t work for him, but he supposed that the why could wait. While she hadn¡¯t gone into detail, Fu Ruolan had told him that he needed to use pill refining to make use of the Five-Fold Body Transformation. The manual only detailed the pills. She admitted that there were probably ways to make something similar in elixir form but that components were rarely the same, even if a pill and an elixir did the same things. Sen recognized the problem immediately. He¡¯d need to see the pill version, maybe even see it used, before he¡¯d be able to make reasonable guesses about how to create an elixir alternative.


    To make matters worse, the pills were so precise that the person using them had to make them. Introducing anyone else¡¯s qi to the pill creation led to inevitable failure. It was one of the reasons why the body cultivation method was so rarely used. The number of body-cultivating alchemists in the world was so small that they practically didn¡¯t exist. Sen suspected those problems were also why it had killed so many people. Even if he managed to get it right, body cultivation was still a gamble. It could still kill him. But he was on borrowed time. What Fu Ruolan had done to stabilize him wasn¡¯t a permanent solution. She hadn¡¯t told him that, but he¡¯d worked it out on his own. His inability to make any meaningful forward progress was the real clue. She¡¯d figured out a way to restore most of what he¡¯d been before and lock it in place. It had probably been an impressive bit of alchemy, but it was also unnatural. At some point, it would break down and he¡¯d start to deteriorate again. He remembered with terrible clarity the kind of pain he¡¯d been in at the end, and he wasn¡¯t eager to experience that a second time. So, he¡¯d take a chance and see if his intuition paid off.

 V5 Chapter 34 – Hope and Fear

    Sen had planned to wait until the next day and take his plan to Fu Ruolan, but it nagged at him as he tried to focus on reading the primer. He found himself rereading the same passages over and over again as his attention slipped from the book to the possibility that he might finally crack the problem of pill refining. Of course, that came with equal parts excitement and trepidation. If it worked, it would be a fantastic triumph. If it failed, Sen cringed to imagine the blow that might deliver. While he and Fu Ruolan had spoken optimistically about finding some new approach or idea, Sen didn¡¯t think it was going to happen. He was pretty sure that they had exhausted the list of likely and unlikely options, and there had been plenty.


    He had thought that perhaps his passive qi gathering was interfering with the process somehow. While Fu Ruolan had been a little startled by the revelation that he was doing such a thing, she had agreed it was worth exploring. Then, she had suggested that his aura might be muddying up the process. That had taken a little explanation. While Sen was aware that there were such things as auras and had even used his to some extent, the dragon hadn¡¯t been big on explaining exactly what auras were or how they functioned under normal circumstances. It turned out that it was simply a small field of energy around a person. Cultivators generally enjoyed more powerful ones that were also much more tightly controlled, which was what allowed for things like auric imposition. Sen had tried to bypass that problem by hiding. He assumed that whatever it was that he was drawing inside himself included his aura. That much had been true but didn¡¯t yield success.


    They had tried changing to ingredients grown in different locations. They had tried other simple recipes. They had tried changing cauldrons, changing locations, and even using flames generated entirely from fire qi. Fu Ruolan had even made some of the alchemical recipes under identical conditions, only to end up with perfectly functional pills. He wasn¡¯t sure who was more upset by that, him or her. He thought he might have edged her out with his despair, but it was still a close thing. With so many ideas coming up empty for them, it was hard to feel like this idea was any better, but any idea beat no idea. And it might work. That was what had kept him going more than anything else, the distant possibility that something might actually let him make a pill.


    He had even entertained the idea that his disdain for pills had somehow poisoned the process. After examining his feelings on the matter, though, he had to dismiss it. Whatever hard feelings he once possessed had been burned away by the fact of his overwhelming need. No matter what he might have thought before, he hadn¡¯t been so bought into those ideas that he was ready to die for the principle. He was no saint who had taken a vow to forsake pills forever. He¡¯d probably always view them askance, but he¡¯d taken pills in the intervening time since his first, traumatic experiences with them. They were just another tool that cultivators employed. He would always default to elixirs when given the option, though. He had a strong sentimental attachment to them that he didn¡¯t expect to ever lose.


    The part of Sen that took hope in the possibility of success urged him to go and simply try to do it. There was no benefit to waiting since he had a new idea to test. The sooner he knew, the sooner he could take appropriate next steps. If it worked, he had a viable pathway forward and could start testing out other recipes in the manual. That would let him both build confidence and develop his own skill base with the new approach. The part of him that had been lashed by failure wanted to wait. Granted, if he failed again, which seemed far more likely, it would only be him there to see the failure. It would still cut, but maybe it would wound him a little less deeply. That part argued that it would be to try with Fu Ruolan there. Even if he failed, she might spot something that would give her an idea about how to move forward.


    Those opposing impulses warred inside his head, gaining and losing ground, and generally preventing him from thinking about anything else for more than a minute or two at a time. Sen finally settled the debate by deciding that he would test it out tonight and again the next day. If he failed, he could face that first failure in private. That might make another failure in front of Fu Ruolan sting a little less. Plus, if he somehow succeeded, he¡¯d want a chance to replicate the success with a witness present. Sen had come to realize that he didn¡¯t really understand what he was doing when he made elixirs. He barely even engaged his mind while he was doing it. He felt his way through the process, rather than thinking his way through it. He grasped that his intuitive feel for it was a major contributor to his success with elixirs, but his lack of insight into his own methods made them difficult to explain and all but impossible to teach to someone else. While that wasn¡¯t a major concern for him, it was something that troubled him in the abstract.


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    Shaking those thoughts off, he dropped the primer onto the stone table he¡¯d made for such things and went into the common area of the galehouse. Falling Leaf was stretched out on a blanket near the fire and sound asleep. He didn¡¯t know how she managed to sleep so much. He didn¡¯t think he was physically capable of it unless he was injured or had skipped rest for too long. He also knew her senses were at least as sharp as his, so he made a point of keeping quiet when he entered the kitchen. He sealed the door with air qi so that he wouldn¡¯t accidentally wake her up. He glared at the cauldron that was set aside on a stone counter that looked like it had grown straight out of the wall.


    ¡°You and I have had our differences, cauldron,¡± said Sen. ¡°If you think you could cut me some slack for a while, I¡¯d really appreciate it.¡±


    The cauldron didn¡¯t say anything, but Sen didn¡¯t sense any active malevolence from it. He decided that was probably the best he was going to do. He closed his eyes and centered himself the way he would before conducting his sword or spear forms. No matter how badly he wanted this to work, he still needed to approach with a calm mind. Otherwise, he¡¯d be likely to fail because he rushed something that he should have handled more slowly. He felt the qi in his channels moving at the steady pace of his passive cultivation. He looked at his dantian and had mixed feelings. He had recovered much of the qi he¡¯d spent fighting those beasts in the last push to get home, but he worried about what might happen if his dantian got full again. That strange double helix formation around the edge of his dantian was just going to keep making that dense liquid qi. There would come a point when there simply wasn¡¯t any room left. His mind started to drift in that direction as he wondered what he might do in that situation, but he refocused and let those concerns wash away. They were real concerns but not ones that required immediate attention. Going down that road was a distraction and nothing more.


    It took longer than it should have, but Sen eventually found the calm that he wanted. With one last mildly suspicious look at the cauldron, he stoked the fire in the stove and put the alchemist tool on top of it. He did a quick mental review of the ingredients and then set to work. Every time he¡¯d attempted to make the healing pill, the process had felt unnatural to him, unnecessarily forced and rigid. So, Sen discarded anything in the process that felt that way to him. He added the ingredients in the order that seemed best to him, which was not at all the order the recipe insisted on. When he felt that intuition to adjust something, be it heat or the amount of qi in some specific spot in the cauldron, he did it. He dropped into that almost trancelike state he usually assumed when making elixirs. It felt right.


    The process didn¡¯t fight him anymore. He didn¡¯t feel failure loom at every moment. Instead, he felt the ingredients fusing and merging in ways that he didn¡¯t think the recipe writer ever anticipated. He suspected that whoever had come up with the recipe would have abandoned the process long since under the mistaken belief that it would fail. With each passing moment, though, Sen became more and more certain it was working. He didn¡¯t celebrate victory early. He knew better than to declare success before he had the pill in hand but worry stopped nibbling away at his confidence. He entered into what he might think of as a dance with the contents of the cauldron. The components tried to move one way and, if it felt right, he let them. If it felt wrong, he guided them back to where they needed to be. He was a partner in the movements, not a king to dictate motion.


    He lost himself in that dance, releasing his conscious mind more and more until silence reigned inside of him. He let instincts guide his qi until, abruptly, there was nothing more to do. His eyes snapped open and he swept the cauldron off the stove, bleeding the heat away with a swift application of fire qi. He set the cauldron on the counter and took a deep breath as he tried to ward off both hope and fear. When he¡¯d steadied himself, he lifted the lid from the cauldron. His eyes scanned for the charred mush he¡¯d come to expect and, instead, locked onto a perfectly spherical object that gave off a dull blue glow. With a trembling hand, he reached down and gently picked up the pill between two fingers. He let it roll back into his palm and just looked at it. Disbelief and joy did a little dance inside his soul as his hand closed around the pill. He lifted his fist over his head.


    ¡°Yes!¡± he screamed in a voice that shook the galehouse.


    One second later, Falling Leaf crashed through the kitchen door, eyes wild and barely conscious. Her eyes locked on him and relief flooded her expression. Then, her gaze tracked from his face to his arm and his upraised fist. A feeling of deep dread took root in Sen, as the relief on her face transformed into a murderous glare. He scurried back as she stalked toward him with shadow claws forming around her fingers.


    ¡°Oh shit,¡± said Sen.

 V5 Chapter 35 – Pills

    Sen managed to escape Falling Leaf¡¯s wrath mostly unscathed. Her fury had been pretty halfhearted after he waved the pill in front of her. She clipped his chin with a claw and drew a negligible amount of blood. He thought she¡¯d done it mostly to prove a point. Don¡¯t wake me up from a nap unless there¡¯s danger imminent. On the whole, it was a sentiment with which Sen agreed. That ultra-mild chastisement did nothing to dampen his good mood. He had succeeded in making a pill. He didn¡¯t even care if it was the right kind of pill, although his general impression of it told him it was. The fact of the pill was far more important to him than the nature of the pill. He could do it. He¡¯d have to worry about making the right kind of pills, of course, but that was a worry for the next day, week, and probably several months. He allowed himself to simply bask in his success for a moment, letting the exuberant inner light heal over the thousand cuts his confidence in his alchemy skills had taken.


    After that initial glow of success wore off, he exited the galehouse ¨C quietly ¨C and made his way to Fu Ruolan¡¯s home. He had no idea if the woman slept at all, but he thought it was probably the exception, rather than the rule. She answered the door with a frown, but it didn¡¯t look like he¡¯d woken her. At worst, she had the look of someone who had been interrupted while deep in thought and whose mind was still mostly on the task she¡¯d walked away from. He gave her a big grin and triumphantly held up the pill between two fingers. She blinked at it before her eyes went wide. She seized his arm and dragged him into the house.


    ¡°How?¡± she demanded. ¡°How did you do it?¡±


    Sen kept the explanation concise. She¡¯d observed him making elixirs a few times, so he didn¡¯t need to go into any depth to get across the essentials of the process he¡¯d employed. After he finished, she sat there with a finger idly tapping against her cheek. He didn¡¯t know what she was pondering but decided it was best to let her speak when she was ready. He glanced around the room, but the decorations were sparse. There were some touches that made it feel like a home. He saw a comfortable blanket folded up on a chair. There was a cup of tea that looked like it had gone cold hours before. There were a few scrolls scattered about. His eyes lingered on those. From what he could see, they were alchemy scrolls. His fingers twitched with a desire to grab them, but he knew better. She¡¯d just tell him to put them down or give them back. She¡¯d already given him the only text about alchemy she wanted him using for the time being. And he couldn¡¯t really complain. The primer had a lot of incredibly useful information in it. He just wanted more. There was never too much knowledge in his opinion.


    ¡°May I see the pill?¡± asked Fu Ruolan.


    He turned his head back to her. She had an amused look. No doubt, she had guessed at his thoughts. He withdrew the pill from the storage ring where he¡¯d stored it for safekeeping. Reaching over, he dropped the pill into her outstretched hand. He felt a faint swirl of qi and the barest whisper of her spiritual sense as she examined the pill. His own examination of the pill hadn¡¯t revealed any problems with it that he could identify. Of course, his inability to identify them wasn¡¯t a guarantee that the pill was as it should be. There could be issues with it that he lacked the experience to recognize. The longer Fu Ruolan sat there with the pill, the more nervous he became. Eventually, she made a discontented noise and handed it back. Sen lifted an eyebrow at her.


    ¡°Is there something wrong with the pill?¡±


    ¡°Wrong?¡± she asked. ¡°No, I wouldn¡¯t characterize it as wrong. Come with me. I want to show you something.¡±


    Sen followed her back into her miraculous storage treasure. They didn¡¯t go nearly so deep that time. Instead, they stopped at a set of shelves that had dozens of small boxes on them. None of them were labeled, much to Sen¡¯s disappointment, but Fu Ruolan picked one up off the bottom shelf. She flipped it open and pulled out a small round pill. She handed it to him. He held the pill in his hand and then did much as she had done with his, examining it with his qi and spiritual sense. He frowned at it. It was a healing pill, technically speaking. It just wasn¡¯t a very good one. At best, it might help speed up the healing of a broken bone. He supposed it would probably be good for mortals who needed some help healing cuts, assuming they were also getting stitched up and properly bandaged. A quick look at Fu Ruolan revealed an expectant expression. Right, he thought. This must be what I was supposed to make. He pointed at the pill in his hand.


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    ¡°This is what the recipe is meant to produce?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Indeed. Is your pill like that?¡±


    Sen put the pill he had made next to the one Fu Ruolan had given him. While they were the same size, the similarities ended there. While his pill gave off a dull blue glow, the other pill was simply dull blue. He could feel the qi radiating off his pill, if only gently, while he had to search for the qi in the other pill. It was very clear that what he had made was a much better version of that pill. He really wanted to simply enjoy his success, but he could understand why Fu Ruolan was unhappy. If the pattern held true and all of his pills were of a better quality, then the results of making the pills for his body cultivation might become unpredictable. Unpredictable results were not a good thing with body cultivation. Bodies already reacted somewhat unpredictably. Adding unpredictability on the pill side of the equation enhanced the danger for the cultivator. It made the odds of failure much higher.


    ¡°Normally, I¡¯d see this as a good thing,¡± muttered Sen.


    Fu Ruolan laughed a little. ¡°So would I, in any other circumstance. This is one time when you want to make exactly what the recipes call for.¡±


    Sen paced back and forth. If push came to shove, he could just take his chances. No, he would take his chances. His apparent inability to move forward was unacceptable. At some point, stagnating would catch up to him and deliver different kinds of bad results. There was also the possibility that he could fine-tune his pill refining once he got a better handle on it. Just because this one pill was better than the recipe normally produced, it wasn¡¯t a foregone conclusion that every pill he made would be like that. They needed more information.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know enough yet to be forecasting problems. Hells, we don¡¯t even know if I¡¯ll be able to repeat this minor miracle.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of that, we should go test it right now.¡±


    ¡°Agreed,¡± said Sen, suddenly very interested to see how a second attempt would turn out.


    They left the storage treasure behind and entered Fu Ruolan¡¯s alchemy workshop. They¡¯d spent so much time in that space working together that they dropped into familiar routines immediately. Sen got the fire stirred up a little and settled the cauldron on the stove with some water in it. Fu Ruolan produced the plant and reagents he¡¯d need. The biggest difference was inside of Sen. Where fear and worry had once dominated his mind, now there was hope and some of that old confidence he¡¯d felt. He moved through the process with a calm assurance. Having done the recipe this way once already, he had a better idea of what to expect and when to expect it, which let him prevent problems he¡¯d had to solve or fix the first time around. While he dropped almost instantly into the space where he wasn¡¯t thinking, he was aware that he was smiling so hard that it might have hurt if he was still a mortal.


    In what felt like no time at all, he was done and lifting the cauldron away from the heat. Bleeding the heat away, he set the cauldron on a table. While he didn¡¯t know exactly how well the pill would turn out, he was very confident that he¡¯d succeeded again. Eyeing Fu Ruolan, he gestured to the cauldron. She¡¯d been there for all of those failures. He thought she might enjoy being the one to reveal a success.


    ¡°If you¡¯d care to do the honors,¡± he said.


    With a little nod, she walked over and lifted the lid. She peered down briefly before glancing over at him. She dipped a hand into the cauldron and came up with another round pill. Sen grimaced. He didn¡¯t even need to take out his original pill to tell that the new one was an improvement over his initial success. The glow was brighter and the sense of qi around it was stronger.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not substantive proof, but it looks like a trend is forming here.¡±


    Sen closed his eyes. ¡°You know what? That¡¯s a problem for future Sen.¡±


    ¡°Future Sen?¡±


    ¡°Yes, future Sen. The me who will be trying to make the pill for my body cultivation. Today Sen is just going to be happy that I finally made pill refinement work.¡±


    Fu Ruolan¡¯s brows furrowed, and she almost started to speak a few times before she shook her head.


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± she said. ¡°This is critical progress. You should be happy about it. We can worry about those other problems when they actually become problems.¡±

 V5 Chapter 36 – Tone It Down

    For all the stagnation that had marked the months he spent trying to make pill refining work as others did it, the time after he figured out the trick followed a path of meteoric mastery that even he wouldn¡¯t have credited if he hadn¡¯t experienced it personally. He flew through the primer. The early recipes seemed laughably easy to him when he let his instincts guide the process. There were days when he completed half a dozen new pills even when intentionally maintained a leisurely pace. That wasn¡¯t to say it was entirely smooth sailing. While his pills would generate the right kinds of results, they were routinely much more potent than they should be.


    At first, he simply shrugged it off. It was possible that he was working with better or more potent ingredients. He had collected many of his plants from far deeper into the wilds than most people ventured. The harvesting in those areas was much less common and the qi was often denser, which allowed plants to grow longer and absorb more qi. It was also possible that he was simply enjoying better results because his process was more efficient in some inscrutable way. He couldn¡¯t really test that because his process diverged so much from the process other alchemists used to make their pills. The kind of one-to-one comparison that would have provided answers to that question simply wasn¡¯t possible under those conditions.


    As the results piled up around him, though, it became harder to ignore. He¡¯d never lost sight of the end goal of learning pill refining. It was so he could make the pills for the Five-Five Body Transformation and save his own life. The persistently much-higher-than-average potency of his pill refining jeopardized that end goal. He didn¡¯t want to kill himself in the bid to save himself, and a twice as powerful pill for that body refining could kill him. Granted, he was much healthier than he had been when he¡¯d first arrived on Fu Ruolan¡¯s doorstep, and surviving that kind of body refinement depended a great deal on personal willpower. Still, the body itself had to be able to withstand the pressures of the change. He might be willing to stack his will up against the demands of more powerful versions of those pills, but he was less certain that his body could hold up. It was a concern that Fu Ruolan shared.


    ¡°Part of me is ecstatic with these results,¡± said Fu Ruolan, waving at Sen¡¯s most recent batch of pills. ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to ask. What you¡¯re failure rate with these?¡±


    Sen glanced at the pills on the work table. ¡°Zero.¡±


    Fu Ruolan closed her eyes and took a deep breath. ¡°You aren¡¯t just saying that to get under my skin, are you?¡±


    ¡°Why would I do that?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I thought. Don¡¯t ever let that bit of information slip to another alchemist. They might well try to murder you.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Because no one has a failure rate of zero. No one. It¡¯s half the reason that pills and elixirs are so expensive. A thirty percent failure rate is considered outstanding, exceptional even, especially with more complex pills and elixirs. I imagine that someone like Ma Caihong has a better success rate, but I doubt even she gets it right every time.¡±


    Sen thought back about that. It was true that Auntie Caihong¡¯s pills and elixirs usually came out fine but not always. He could remember times when she would throw something away out of a cauldron in disgust.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. I saw some of her attempts fail. I just assumed she was trying to make something especially difficult.¡±


    ¡°Ha! She probably was trying to make something difficult. I don¡¯t know why she¡¯d waste her time on anything that wasn¡¯t difficult. There¡¯s no point in making simple things when you have that kind of skill. It¡¯s literally a waste of time. The point is that your freakish success rate is the kind of thing that will make other alchemists hateful and vengeful. Everything you make costs you less and, judging by these, is worth more. People have killed for a lot less than that.¡±


    ¡°I will bear that in mind,¡± said Sen, offering Fu Ruolan a bow.


    ¡°You do that. Still, as happy as your results make me, it¡¯s still troubling. If you can¡¯t figure out a way to tone this down, I can¡¯t even begin to guess what kind of pills you¡¯ll get for your body cultivation. Have you tried to tone it down? To make something less potent on purpose?¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t really know where to start. I think I know, in a vague, general sort of way, why they¡¯re better. But I don¡¯t understand the details nearly well enough to be able to say, oh yeah, if I just don¡¯t do this, I¡¯ll get weaker pills.¡±


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    ¡°That¡¯s one problem with intuitive genius. Well, I suggest that you start experimenting. I doubt that you¡¯ll be able to get them notched all the way back to what a normal alchemist does. If you can reduce the improvement by even twenty-five percent, though, it will make a big difference when it comes time to make your body cultivation pills. If you can get it down by fifty percent, that might even let us make some predictions about what will happen with those pills.¡±


    ¡°Any suggestions about where to start?¡±


    Fu Ruolan''s brows lowered into a scowl. ¡°I can make suggestions, but they¡¯d be guesses. I can only see part of what you¡¯re doing and the how of it is lost on me completely. My best bit of guesswork advice is to not aim for perfect fixes. When you adjust temperatures and qi inside the cauldron, it looks like you always aim for a perfect result. Stop doing that. Aim for a less-than-perfect adjustment. See what happens.¡±


    Everything inside of Sen railed against doing that. It felt fundamentally wrong not to do his best. On the flip side, he¡¯d done a lot of things he didn¡¯t like when his life was on the line. He¡¯d just add trying this approach to the list. Besides, even if it didn¡¯t work, it might give him a better idea of what to try. He¡¯d done enough healer work to understand that extra potency wasn¡¯t always the best thing for the person receiving the elixir. Of course, in those days, his best efforts were generally something that people¡¯s bodies could tolerate. When he¡¯d been helping after the battle between the fire cultivators and the water cultivators, he remembered in a misty, dreamlike way that he had tailored elixirs to the needs and physical capacities of the injured. He just couldn¡¯t remember how he¡¯d done it. He¡¯d been in a trance-like state for most of that time, and it only came back to him in patchy flashes.


    ¡°I guess it¡¯s worth a try,¡± said Sen, still feeling a little doubtful.


    Fu Ruolan shrugged. ¡°Like I said, I¡¯m guessing as much as anything else. I have no idea if that approach will work or not. I just know that you¡¯re going to want better control over the outcome with your body cultivation pills than you¡¯re getting right now.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough.¡±


    ¡°Since you already know you can make these, you can always experiment with them. You¡¯ll have a good frame of reference with the original pills. Obviously, there¡¯s no way to know exactly how much weaker any given pill is, but you should be able to make a decent estimate.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense. I may pick one of the earlier pills, though. Maybe even that first healing pill. The ingredients are more common and less expensive. No point wasting valuable resources on things I may end up having to throw away. If I figure out a way to reliably make less potent healing pills, then it might make more sense to try it on recipes like those,¡± said Sen, gesturing at the pills on the table.


    ¡°As you think is best,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    Sen hesitated to bring up his next point, but he¡¯d already been putting it off for a while. ¡°There¡¯s something else I wanted to talk to you about.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Falling Leaf.¡±


    Fu Ruolan tilted her head slightly as if she¡¯d expected something else. ¡°What about her?¡±


    ¡°You made a big deal about getting her to stay. I always assumed you had a plan for her as well. But, at this point, it seems like you don¡¯t. Am I wrong about that?¡±


    Fu Ruolan heaved a little breath. ¡°I wanted her to stay as an incentive for you to stay. As willful as you are, it seemed entirely likely that you¡¯d just up and disappear one day if you got fed up with me.¡±


    ¡°Is that why you never gave me the manual?¡±


    ¡°It was a consideration, but it was mostly because of the reason I originally gave you. You can¡¯t be trusted with it. Well, maybe you could be now that you have a clearer picture of what¡¯s at stake, but certainly not before. You¡¯d have killed yourself with it, for sure.¡±


    Sen grumbled something under his breath, but it was mostly for show. He probably would have killed himself with the manual if she¡¯d given it to him. Impatience and fear would have driven him to a rash decision. Even now, he wasn¡¯t confident that he wouldn¡¯t make a bad choice if he had free access to the manual.


    ¡°Fine. There might be something to what you¡¯re saying. Back to the topic at hand. Falling Leaf?¡±


    ¡°I had some vague notion that I might teach her something while she was here, but I don¡¯t know that she¡¯s really suited to learn anything that I have to teach.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s not stupid,¡± said Sen, feeling very defensive on Falling Leaf¡¯s behalf.


    ¡°I know she isn¡¯t stupid, but she¡¯d not inclined to this kind of work, is she?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Sen paused, ¡°no. I guess she¡¯s not.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you recognize it, but she¡¯s still far more panther than human and probably always will be. She¡¯s very oriented on physical action or things that complement physical action. My areas of expertise are, for lack of a better term, more academic.¡±


    Sen gave a begrudging nod. ¡°I expect that¡¯s all true, but you¡¯ve still bound her to this place. You let her come and go as she pleases, for which I¡¯m very grateful, but she¡¯s bored. She has been for a good long while now. I try to do my part, but I think she feels left out. Mostly because she is being left out. Thankfully, she¡¯s not resentful by nature, but give it another four years and she might get there.¡±


    Fu Ruolan frowned. ¡°What is it that you¡¯re asking for?¡±


    ¡°Can you please try to find something to teach her? I can¡¯t imagine you¡¯ve gotten this far without mastering some kind of weapon. She hasn¡¯t shown a lot of interest in them so far, but she might get interested if a nascent soul cultivator offers to teach her.¡±


    Fu Ruolan drummed her fingers on the table for several long moments before she nodded. ¡°I suppose you have a point. If I¡¯m going to insist that she remain bound to this place for several years, the least I can do is offer to teach her something.¡±


    With a palpable sense of relief, Sen offered a deep, formal bow. ¡°Thank you, Fu Ruolan.¡±

 V5 Chapter 37 – Work Quickly

    Sen spent several weeks trying to weaken the pills he was making. While he found that he could consistently reduce their potency, he couldn¡¯t reliably reduce the amount. Some of it was simply the unpredictability of how the ingredients interacted with each other. He could never fully replicate any method because the conditions inside the cauldron were simply too chaotic from one session to the next, even if he was making the exact same kind of pill. It went deeper than that, though. Sometimes, the limitations he put on tampering with the process would reduce the potency by more than half. Other times, the potency was only marginally lower, even when limiting himself in the same ways. Sen came to believe that there was simply more at work than he could see, some deeper level to the process that he could inadvertently touch but not directly control.


    And he tried to see it. Attempt after attempt, he tried to peer into the depths of those alchemical mysteries. Every once in a while, he thought he¡¯d catch the tiniest flash of what was happening, but he eventually had to accept that he was at the limits of his perception. Maybe, after he advanced his cultivation again a few more times, he might have a chance. It seemed wholly unlikely that he¡¯d unravel those mysteries in time to be useful. He didn¡¯t even bother asking for advice about it. He could see that Fu Ruolan was thoroughly invested in his success. If she had seen those deeper pieces of the process, she would have told him about them to bolster his odds of success. If he was going to make the pills weaker, he¡¯d have to rely on a measure of blind luck to achieve that end. He hated it, but that was the reality in front of him. Denying it wouldn¡¯t do him any good, especially now that he was back on a clock.


    Fu Ruolan hadn¡¯t given him a deadline. His body had done it for her. The fix she had used to stabilize him was starting to fail. He¡¯d asked some pointed questions about it after they¡¯d established a more amicable relationship and gotten some less-than-comforting answers. It was a one-time kind of fix, which at least made sense to him. The effects were so unnatural, effectively pinning him and his cultivation in place, that he assumed that there would be all kinds of limitations on it. He¡¯d been right. A second attempt would, at best, damage his cultivation. At worst, it would leave him with a shattered body and broken mind. Its intended purpose was to buy a cultivator time to find a fix to a lethal problem. He¡¯d gotten more than a year.


    Now, he was noticing little things. Tiredness where he wouldn¡¯t have felt it before. Lingering aches in his joints. Problems that no cultivator who spent most of their time in an alchemy lab should ever be feeling. Worse, the symptoms he¡¯d been experiencing before would come back much faster than they¡¯d developed the first time. It was another of the lovely limitations on the temporary fix. Sen¡¯s rough estimate based on what Fu Ruolan had told him was that he might have a month left. When he drew that conclusion, his instinct was to keep it to himself. There was nothing anyone could do to help him at this point. Telling Falling Leaf and Fu Ruolan would just make them worry and hover, which would be distracting. Of course, it would be bad for him if they found out after the fact, and he knew that they would figure it out. He didn¡¯t know how they¡¯d figure it out, they just would.


    Shaking his head, he went looking for them. He found Fu Ruolan first. She was practicing with a three-section staff. He¡¯d never worked with one of those before, so Sen paid close attention to what he was seeing. The three-section staff was a terribly versatile weapon from what Sen could see. While he¡¯d never want to try it himself, he could see that it would be useful for blocking, striking, and potentially even trapping someone¡¯s limbs. He supposed that you could choke someone with it if they let you get too close. He¡¯d have to be very cautious if he ever came into conflict with someone who specialized in the weapon the way Fu Ruolan did. He¡¯d have to practice against her when he had fewer desperately pressing matters. She turned her attention to him after she finished what looked like a form. Sen inclined his head in respect.


    ¡°Your friend is a frighteningly quick study, and I¡¯m rusty,¡± noted Fu Ruolan. ¡°I¡¯m only keeping ahead of her because I¡¯m stronger and faster. You tell yourself it doesn¡¯t really matter but neglect a weapon for a mere fifty years and it¡¯s like starting over.¡±


    ¡°Fifty years?¡± asked Sen, trying to wrap his head around ignoring something for that long.


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    ¡°It only sounds like a long time because you¡¯re so young. When you get to be my age, decades go by like that,¡± said Fu Ruolan, snapping her fingers for emphasis.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take your word for it. I¡¯m not surprised that Falling Leaf is a quick study. She picked up a lot of unarmed combat just from watching me train. I¡¯m pretty good because I practiced so long and so hard that it¡¯s basically second nature for me. She¡¯s a natural at it. A born fighter.¡±


    Fu Ruolan shook her head. ¡°Close, but not quite. She¡¯s a natural predator. There is a difference.¡±


    Sen pursed his lips as he thought that over. He¡¯d only ever seen Falling Leaf being violent when it was a life-or-death situation. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean she wasn¡¯t violent back on the mountain when he wasn¡¯t around. She was a panther back then, and she had to be hunting and eating something. It was easy for him to overlook that now that she looked human. But he suspected that Fu Ruolan had the right of it. Those instincts probably weren¡¯t buried very deep. Maybe they weren¡¯t buried at all, and she¡¯d just made a point of shielding him from it.


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t look so depressed. It¡¯s not a bad thing.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying it¡¯s a good thing?¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯m saying that it¡¯s a thing. A thing you should keep in mind. She doesn¡¯t care what I think. I¡¯m not sure she cares what anyone thinks, except you. She cares a lot about what you think of her.¡±


    Sen tried to pierce through the vagueness and get at the meat of whatever point Fu Ruolan was trying to make. Twist and turn the words, though, he couldn¡¯t seem to find anything to latch on to.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never been good at this kind of wordplay. I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re trying to tell me.¡±


    The nascent soul cultivator shook her head in disappointment. ¡°What I¡¯m trying to tell you is that she can tell that you want her to be more human. That you disapprove of her acting like her panther self. So, she tries to be more human for you.¡±


    ¡°What?! That¡¯s not what I want.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes, really! I want her to be able to navigate around humans. Maybe find enough common ground that she can find humans other than me that she considers tolerable. That¡¯s it.¡±


    ¡°I promise you, that¡¯s not how it looks to her. I¡¯ve seen you two interact. It just looks like disapproval whenever she strays too far from what you see as the human normal. I mean, honestly, did you think she got that furniture for her benefit? She slept in caves for most of her life. Caves! Not a lot of cushions in caves.¡±


    ¡°Damn it,¡± muttered Sen. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll fix it. Somehow.¡±


    ¡°If it matters to you, your reasoning was sound. She will need to know how to move in human society. Or as you put it, navigate around other humans, but that doesn¡¯t necessarily mean becoming more like them. There is a difference,¡± said Fu Ruolan, echoing her earlier sentiment.


    Sen wanted to berate himself for not making note of that difference on his own, but that would just be something to make him feel better. He¡¯d have to think about a better way to get that information across to her. As important as that was, though, he really did have more pressing concerns to deal with in the immediate future.


    ¡°I¡¯ll work on it,¡± said Sen, ¡°but that¡¯s not what I came here to talk to you about.¡±


    ¡°Another breakthrough with the pill refining?¡±


    ¡°No. Your fix for my situation is wearing off. I don¡¯t know exactly how much time I have left, but I can¡¯t keep experimenting. I need to work through the rest of the primer and then make the pill I need. I¡¯ll try not to overpower it too much, but it¡¯s not going to matter if I don¡¯t make it soon.¡±


    Fu Ruolan¡¯s lips tightened and her expression looked grim. ¡°If you¡¯ve noticed symptoms, you¡¯ve probably got less time than you think. You were in extraordinarily bad shape when I found you. Those symptoms will bounce back fast. A week or two, maybe three if your pain tolerance is very, very high, and then there¡¯s nothing anyone can do. Work quickly.¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°You should tell Falling Leaf before you seal yourself in your alchemy lab.¡±


    Sen gave Fu Ruolan a slightly pitying look.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need. She¡¯s standing over there,¡± he said, pointing to a particularly dark patch of shadow.


    Fu Ruolan gave the shadow a penetrating look until Falling Leaf stepped out of it.


    ¡°How long were you there?¡± demanded the nascent soul cultivator, only to be ignored. ¡°How long was she there?¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°Who knows? Falling Leaf?¡±


    The panther girl¡¯s green eyes hadn¡¯t left Sen¡¯s face since she stepped into the light.


    ¡°Why are you still here?¡± she demanded. ¡°You heard the madwoman. Work quickly!¡±


    Sen gave Falling Leaf a very proper bow and then strode toward the galehouse. He heard the two women talking as he moved away.


    ¡°I¡¯m not really mad, you know?¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°Of course, you are. You¡¯re training him. Only the mad do that,¡± said Falling Leaf.

 V5 Chapter 38 – Final Test

    For Sen, the following week was nothing but a blur of alchemy. While the primer only provided the most tangential guidance in terms of method, it did force him to manage increasingly complex assortments of ingredients and reagents. He rarely struggled with the early recipes. As the reactions and interactions inside of the cauldron grew increasingly complicated, though, he found that even his intuitive abilities were hard-pressed to keep pace. When he very nearly failed to complete a pill, he forced himself to stop, eat something, and rest. He didn¡¯t want to, but he could feel the various pains accumulating in his body. It¡¯s happening so fast, he thought. I¡¯m dying again. and it¡¯s happening so much faster. As he drifted in a place between the waking and sleeping world, he relived his last year or so in fits and starts. He kept wondering if he had truly wasted time somewhere along the way that might have given him even a day or two more.


    Yet, try as he might, he didn¡¯t see how he could have spent his time better. No one, not even Fu Ruolan, had known how much time her stabilization would give him. Under those conditions of uncertainty, Sen had spent his time as well as he could. There had been the long days of fruitlessly trying to make pill refining work the way it did for other people. Yet, he couldn¡¯t say they were truly wasted. If he hadn¡¯t spent that time the way he did, he wouldn¡¯t have had the confidence to abandon that path and try something else. He would have wondered if he¡¯d just stuck with it a little longer if it would have worked. There were those months spent retrieving the dusk mushroom. He had long thought of those as wasted months, but they hadn¡¯t been. He might not have benefited directly, but Falling Leaf had benefited. She¡¯d used many of the cores they collected to advance her cultivation level past his. He couldn¡¯t make himself view that as a waste, as much as his bitterness might want him to see it that way.


    When he did sleep, it was restless and marked with dreams of a terrible darkness closing in on him, relentlessly pursuing him. He fled from that darkness. It was ravenous, all-consuming, and it wanted to enfold him in its savage embrace. While Sen might not always recognize a losing battle when he saw one, he did recognize an utterly hopeless battle when it threatened to destroy him utterly. That darkness wasn¡¯t something he could stand against. It wasn¡¯t even an enemy in the strictest sense. It was something far too primitive and primal to be an enemy. Much as that vast and terrible consciousness that he¡¯d felt at the edges of the world, that darkness simply was. So, in the endless expanses of his own dreams, Sen fled before that darkness as all other things fled before it. He fled to escape the terror. He fled to preserve his life. When he¡¯d exhausted his strength and could no longer run, he would wake in cold sweat, shivering in fear.


    He¡¯d let himself sit with that fear for a few seconds and let his waking mind get a true taste of it. Then, he¡¯d use that fear as fuel and return to the cauldron. He didn¡¯t return with more strength. He always returned with more focus and determination to succeed. He knew what was waiting for him if he failed. He had no wish to meet that darkness in truth, in the waking world, where he couldn¡¯t hope that waking up would provide him a swift and easy escape. As terrifying as those thoughts were for him, he also knew that they weren¡¯t literal. Oh, there was something waiting for him if he died. Of that much, he was sure. He had a sense that whatever it was, it wouldn¡¯t be as obviously oppressive as all-consuming darkness. He feared that it would be equally terrifying in some other way that his mind couldn¡¯t process. So, he worked feverishly, driving himself forward at a pace that would have been wildly reckless under literally any other circumstance.


    Falling Leaf and Fu Ruolan were ghostly presences in his awareness. He knew that they had come into the lab at times. Falling Leaf brought food. He¡¯d found it sitting off to the side and waiting for him. Fu Ruolan observed. He was dimly aware of her gaze on him, or her spiritual sense observing his work. Yet, neither spoke to him or tried to interrupt. They knew as well as he did that the price of failure was death. When he completed the last recipe in the book, if only just, he was left at a loss. He just held the book in his hand for a long time, although he couldn¡¯t ever rightly remember how long. He knew that it was important that there were no more recipes, no more guidance. It was only after staring at that primer for far, far too long that he remembered he wasn¡¯t really done yet. There had been one more recipe. One more pill to make. He summoned that recipe that Fu Ruolan had given him in what felt like a different life.


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    Part of him thought he should sleep, or eat, or even just go outside and see the sun. He ignored that part of him. It¡¯s clearly the part of me that wants to die, he thought. He pushed aside the mounting pains in his body. That ever-rising crescendo of pain had convinced him as much as anything else that he should move forward with this last recipe. Once he completed it, there would be nothing left for him to do but make the pill for his body cultivation. One final test, he thought. He¡¯d complete this last recipe. Then, he¡¯d let himself sleep for a little while. Long enough to prepare his mind for making the pill for the Five-Fold Body Transformation. Even he wouldn¡¯t dare make something that important when he was as tired as he was at that moment. He did let himself sit down, though. He¡¯d fashioned a chair of stone in his alchemy lab and sank into it, shuddering as his joints and back formed a coalition of anger that made him bite his tongue to keep from crying out.


    He sat there in a stupor for a time, his vision fading in and out of darkness. Or maybe he was just blinking. He couldn¡¯t tell anymore. He didn¡¯t sleep. He was too tired to sleep, but he did just sit for a time while his overtaxed mind skittered from thought to thought without ever really landing on one thing to focus on. He¡¯d been maintaining nearly undivided focus for long enough that it felt like his head might explode if he didn¡¯t let his mind go and look at all those things he¡¯d been ignoring. After a few minutes or hours of that, he forced himself back onto his feet. His mind was, well, happy was probably the wrong word for it, but it was less unhappy after its mad scramble to look at all of those distractions he¡¯d denied it. His head felt less stuffed full of distractions. Sen rubbed his face with his hands, took a deep breath, and picked up the recipe.


    It looked simple at a casual glance, but he knew better. He¡¯d worked with nearly every ingredient on that list at some point in the last week. He knew what they were, what they did, and that anyone versed in traditional pill refining would say that most of them had no business being in a cauldron at the same time. Still, he could sense that there was something underlying that apparent madness. He began summoning ingredients from his storage ring. He started with dusk mushroom. It took an effort not to glare at the thing. He couldn¡¯t see it without thinking about that horde of spiders that he¡¯d fought and driven off. Nor could he avoid the memory of the carnage he¡¯d seen the next day. It might have been truly avoidable, but he still loathed that he¡¯d had to do it. Sen very intentionally turned to the next ingredient, a fire-attributed phoenix shard. It was likely the rarest reagent he¡¯d ever personally worked with, and he had no idea where Fu Ruolan had acquired a chest full of the crystals. After that came an air-attributed sky rose and a water-attributed serpent¡¯s root coil. He stopped thinking about the ingredients and simply summoned the rest.


    He just stood there with them for a time, feeling their energy, and letting his intuitions guide him. Although he didn¡¯t know it, he stood that way for nearly ten hours. He wore an abstracted expression as his spiritual sense and qi blanketing the ingredients and reagents. Then, as though some silent signal was given, he went to work. He casually tossed things into the cauldron. That those ingredients and reagents should have exploded when in proximity and exposed to heat meant nothing to Sen. He was too deep into the moment, too deep inside the process, and he simply made the things in the cauldron behave as his intuition told him they needed to behave. The minutes dragged out into hours as he scorched, simmered, and browbeat the ingredients to do as he willed them to. Yet, even his indomitable will and preternatural insight couldn¡¯t wholly account for the uncertainties of the refining process.


    There were moments when the reactions got away from him in ways that would level the galehouse if he didn¡¯t get them back under control. He spent frantic moments cutting off paths to destruction a dozen at a time and driving the concoction toward that one nebulous path of success. There were other moments when the fusing process threatened to stall and die, and he had to drive them along with his own qi and sheer force of will. It was as harrowing as a true battle and just as exhausting. Toward the end, it was only his will to endure that let him push the pill to completion. He felt it when the ingredients finally gave up the struggle and coalesced into the pill he wanted to them to become. He absently doused the fire in the stove and bled the heat from the cauldron without any real awareness that he¡¯d done it. He picked up the cauldron and moved it to a work counter. He lifted the lid with a trembling hand and stared down at an oval-shaped pill that gave off a dull red glow.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s done,¡± he said to no one.


    As he collapsed to the floor, he had a chilling thought. If this pill was such a struggle to make, it would likely take a miracle to finish the one for his body cultivation. Fortunately, that thought and the fear that would have come with it were snuffed out by Sen¡¯s precipitous descent into unconsciousness.

 V5 Chapter 39 – Take the Pill

    It was, much to Sen¡¯s deep disappointment, pain that woke him from the warm depths of dreamless sleep. It wasn¡¯t just regular pain, though. He¡¯d learned to cope with garden variety pain years before, ignoring it the way a horse would ignore a single ant on the ground before it. This was something else, something more profound. It was pain that throbbed, that stabbed, and twisted in the deepest parts of him. He felt it in the marrow of his bones, in the tissues of organs, he felt it in his blood. He remembered this pain. Too soon, he thought desperately. It¡¯s too soon for this. It had taken him months and months of slow, steady deterioration to reach this place of agony the last time. That slow descent had given him time to adapt and learn to wall off the desperate howling of his body as it ate itself alive. He hadn¡¯t been this far gone when he¡¯d been making that last pill. He wondered if he had truly completed it or if that was a fragment of some fever dream he¡¯d been in. He was fairly sure he¡¯d finished. An image of a red glowing pill at the bottom of his cauldron had the kind of firmness he associated with things he¡¯d seen in the real world, but he wasn¡¯t sure.


    Not that it mattered at the moment. While concerns floated at the edge of his consciousness, it was the pain that occupied the majority of his thoughts. It pressed itself into every thought, as inescapable and irrefutable as an oncoming tsunami. He reminded himself between gasping breaths that he had found a way to function with this kind of pain once before. He had done it once. He could do it again. It was slow work. He had to find something to anchor himself or risk being washed away and lost forever in a sea of torment. He latched on to the image of a jian. In his mind¡¯s eye, he drove that weapon, that symbol of strength, solidity, and purpose into the bedrock of self. He clung to it. Let that strength, solidity, and purpose imbue him, and uplift him.


    With a roar that only happened inside his own mind, he pushed the pain away. It was a tiny little bubble of control in the center of his consciousness, but it existed. He had a place where he could think and reason. It was the tiniest bit of progress, but it provided him with a foundation he could build on. He could feel the pain on the outside of that bubble. Feel the pressure of it trying to collapse his minuscule sphere of control. He took heaving breaths in this one place where soul-shivering suffering was not the order of the day. Then, that moment of respite all he would allow himself, he sat down and began the arduous process of expanding that sphere of control. He didn¡¯t have any illusion that he could ignore the pain completely. Pain existed for a reason. It was part of the natural order. As such, neither the body nor the mind was designed to dismiss it outright. If people could do that, they would, and continue to do so right up until the moment the problem killed them. Nature would never allow for anything so suicidally stupid.


    No, he knew that he couldn¡¯t push the pain away entirely. He could find a balance with it, though. Blunt it enough that he could do what needed to be done. That balance was his goal. He set his will against the pain and pushed. That sphere of control trembled, threatened to buckle, but it held. He kept up the outward pressure and slowly, so very slowly, the sphere of control expanded. At first, it was everything he could do to reclaim territory inside his mind. Bit by bit, though, he remembered how it had felt the last time, the sensation of keeping the pain at bay. He tried to recall that feeling, emulated it, and let it suffuse his consciousness. Almost grudgingly, the overwhelming sense of pain receded. It didn¡¯t vanish, but it retreated enough that Sen could function again.


    He took stock of himself. He wasn¡¯t as far gone as he had been when they¡¯d first encountered Fu Ruolan. Unfortunately, that situation didn¡¯t seem likely to last. He didn¡¯t know how long he¡¯d slept, but Sen didn¡¯t think it could have been for that long. It seemed that Fu Ruolan¡¯s prediction that the symptoms would bounce back fast had been all too accurate. It wouldn¡¯t be long now before he¡¯d be back at the point of no return. He forced his eyes open, pretended that the light from the nearby candle didn¡¯t bother him, and sat up. Someone had moved him from the alchemy lab to his bedroom. It probably hadn¡¯t made much difference in his condition, but they¡¯d at least tried to make him more comfortable. He sat up and took deep breaths as old familiar pains racked his joints and limbs. They were distant and, individually, he could probably have just powered through them. Except, they were everywhere inside of him. There was nothing that didn¡¯t hurt. The sheer accumulation of pain meant that, even with that mental distance, a lot of it still bled through.


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    It took Sen a lot longer than he would have liked to dress himself and step out into the common area of the galehouse. Fu Ruolan and Falling Leaf sat at the table, talking quietly. When he came out of his room through, they turned to give him speculative, concerned looks. He wanted to brush those off, but it was probably too late for that.


    ¡°How are you?¡± asked Fu Ruolan.


    He beat back the urge to downplay his condition. Underselling it wouldn¡¯t do him any good.


    ¡°Bad,¡± he said. ¡°But we all knew that was coming.¡±


    ¡°I suppose we did,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°How long was I asleep?¡±


    ¡°A day and a little,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    Those words fell on Sen like rocks tumbling down a cliff. Only a day? I¡¯m this bad after just a day? He didn¡¯t have the concentration to spare for things like controlling his expression, so his shock and horror bled through in a pure form.


    ¡°I take it that¡¯s not what you expected,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen, his voice shaky. ¡°If I¡¯m this bad now, I¡¯ll be useless in another day.¡±


    ¡°Well then,¡± offered Fu Ruolan, ¡°I suppose we should be glad that you didn¡¯t sleep for another day.¡±


    Sen did his best to shake off his shock and focus on the essentials. His condition didn¡¯t matter. He needed to make the pill for his body cultivation before he was too broken to use the damn thing. It was entirely possible he was already too far gone to use it now.


    ¡°Did I finish the pill? The one you gave me the recipe for?¡±


    Fu Ruolan nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t think you managed to reduce your usual improvements very much. It¡¯s frighteningly powerful.¡±


    Sen heaved a sigh of relief. He had done it. Everything from that last day was so blurry and uncertain that he had truly wondered if he¡¯d hallucinated it, but he hadn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t think he could call himself a master pill refiner. Then again, he didn¡¯t need to be a master pill refiner. Competent was enough. At least, it was this time around. Nodding to himself, he fixed his attention on Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°I¡¯ll need the manual. I have to make the next pill for my body cultivation.¡±


    Fu Ruolan didn¡¯t say anything for so long that Sen felt a cold sweat break out across his body. Terrible thoughts crashed around inside his head, threatening the sphere of control that kept the pain at bay. Had she been lying to him this whole time? Did she not actually have the manual? Was she going to keep it from him? He¡¯d never actually confirmed that she had it. She¡¯d said she did. He¡¯d just assumed that she was telling the truth, but he hadn¡¯t demanded to see it. You didn¡¯t make demands like that of nascent soul cultivators if you enjoyed being alive. Before he spiraled into a complete mental breakdown, she shook her head.


    ¡°I thought you put it together already. That pill you made before you collapsed is the pill for your body cultivation. Which isn¡¯t to say that I think you should take it. I wasn¡¯t joking when I said it¡¯s frighteningly powerful. I can¡¯t tell you what to do, but I¡¯d try to make a lesser version of it. Taking that pill as you are now, it¡¯s an even bet that you don¡¯t survive it.¡±


    Sen digested that in silence. He supposed it was obvious in hindsight. If it had just been part of the training cycle, why not put the recipe in the primer? He¡¯d thought that she wanted that last pill for herself, but he didn¡¯t think she¡¯d ever said it was specifically for her use. She¡¯d just told him that she wanted it and let him do whatever he wanted with that information. He¡¯d drawn wrong conclusions. All things considered, though, it was probably better that he hadn¡¯t known. Knowing would have made him overly cautious. He would probably have fumbled the pill refining and, considering his present condition, that lost time might have proven fatal.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have the time to try again. It took me nearly twenty-four hours to make that pill the first time, and I was in better shape then. I don¡¯t think I could complete it now. If I failed, lost another day to sleep¡­¡± he trailed off.


    ¡°Take the pill,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    Fu Ruolan started to object, but a swift and murderous look from Falling Leaf shut that down immediately. Falling Leaf looked at Sen again.


    ¡°Take the pill. You will survive.¡±


    There was no second-guessing in her tone. The only thing he could see in her was bedrock certainty. If she was putting on a show, it was a very, very good show. He wanted to believe he would survive. His lack of faith eroded his confidence, so he borrowed hers. It was enough.


    Nodding, Sen said, ¡°Breakfast first. I¡¯m hungry. If I¡¯m going to face down death, I should do it on a full stomach.¡±

 V5 Chater 40 – Body Cultivation

    Breakfast had sounded like a good idea to Sen, and a great way to procrastinate for a little while. He¡¯d been waiting for the moment for so long that having it right at his fingertips felt unreal. Part of him was waiting for the moment when he discovered it wasn¡¯t going to happen. The rest of his was thinking about how much he didn¡¯t know about what that pill was going to do to him. He¡¯d started thinking over the list of ingredients and the bits and pieces of what he could recall about making the pill. The more he thought about it, the less confident he was that he understood what he was in for. Most of the body cultivation pills he¡¯d taken had strongly favored one of his affinities. That wasn¡¯t true for this pill. It had attributes in common with some of his affinities, but it wasn¡¯t predominantly any one thing. It didn¡¯t help that he only had a vague grasp of what the elixir that Elder Bo had instructed him to make had actually done.


    The more he thought about it, the more nervous he became. The more nervous he got, the more unhappy his stomach got. He found himself mostly pushing food around instead of eating it. He wasn¡¯t paying attention to either Falling Leaf or Fu Ruolan. They were talking about something, but it was just noise in the air to him. Assuming he managed to survive this advancement, he was going to insist that Fu Ruolan show him the manual. He needed to know what he doing to himself so he could prepare for what was going to come next. The kind of secrecy that the nascent soul cultivator had shown initially did make sense. He had been too eager, too desperate, for her to give him the manual. That wouldn¡¯t be true after this pill. If everything she¡¯d said was true, he should be healthy again. If anything, he should be noticeably stronger than he¡¯d been in a long time.


    ¡°You¡¯re not eating anything,¡± said Falling Leaf right into his ear.


    Sen jerked away in surprise and then sucked in a pained breath as his back tried to spasm and fresh pain exploded from his knees. He squeezed his eyes shut and took several shuddering breaths. He focused inward, trying to reinforce the sphere of control that kept that pay somewhat at bay. It helped¡­ a little. He forced his eyes open when he felt a little more in control. Falling Leaf was staring at him with wide eyes.


    ¡°It¡¯s that bad?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s that bad.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s gotten worse since we sat down. I need to stop putting this off.¡±


    Both women gave him somber looks as he stood up from the table. He considered making a joke about it but then reconsidered. They should look somber. This might well be the last time either of them saw him alive. He looked to Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°I appreciate the training.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll expect you to pick it back tomorrow. Well, maybe the next day. I¡¯m crazy, not heartless.¡±


    Sen made himself smile at her attempt at humor. If she wanted to deflect, he¡¯d let her. He turned to Falling Leaf.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I ever thanked you for coming with me. So, thank you.¡±


    ¡°Foolish human boy, go take your pill before you run out of time.¡±


    He inclined his head and retreated to his alchemy lab. The pill was still in the cauldron and still giving off that dull red glow. With his mind in better condition, he finally understood what Fu Ruolan meant about the pill being frighteningly powerful. He could feel the power trapped inside of it rolling out into the room in waves. If there hadn¡¯t been thick stone walls in the way, he probably would have felt it out at the table. He quickly revised his original plan to simply take the pill right in the lab. He truly had no idea what it was going to do to him, which meant he wasn¡¯t going to take it anywhere near other people. He put the pill into a storage ring and was shocked to feel how much resistance the ring put up. He usually only felt that when a ring was getting too full. He wondered if there was a similar limit on how much qi a ring could contain. That was a sobering idea if it was true. It was also a question for another day.


    He got a couple of startled looks as he headed outside, but he just said something about being careful. Neither Fu Ruolan nor Falling Leaf looked happy about that, but they didn¡¯t object. Sen trudged away through the snow. He was tempted to use his qinggong technique. It would make things faster. Even so, he resisted the urge. He suspected that taxing his cultivation in any way before he took that pill would be monumentally stupid. Besides, he thought, I¡¯m not going that far. He only meant to go far enough to make sure that everyone was out of harm¡¯s way if things went catastrophically wrong. Or even if things went right. There was no guarantee of a tribulation but the possibility existed. There was no reason to risk someone else getting caught up in that particular bit of unpleasantness.


    Sen walked through the snow for perhaps half a mile before he decided that he¡¯d gone far enough. Even if the pill did something absolutely ridiculous like make him explode, it shouldn¡¯t reach all the way back to the galehouse from that far away. Sen¡¯s mind tried to race off and chase the possible outcomes of him exploding, but he shook off those thoughts. He was stalling again. The sheer power of that pill had unnerved him, but there was nothing to be done about it. He could feel himself getting worse by the minute and was thankful he hadn¡¯t tried to make a less potent version of the pill. He would have doomed himself for sure. Doing what he could to steady his nerves, Sen took the pill out of the storage ring. For just a moment, he could have sworn he heard the ring groan in relief.


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    ¡°Okay, now you¡¯re imagining things. Just take the stupid pill,¡± Sen admonished himself.


    Before he could procrastinate any longer, he popped the pill in his mouth and forced himself to swallow. When the memory of prior body cultivation advancements sprang to mind, he hurriedly sat down. The melting snow quickly soaked through his robes. By the time that might have become a true frustration, though, Sen had bigger problems to confront.


    The pill didn¡¯t seep into his system the way others had. It erupted inside of him. Sen was dimly aware that he was screaming. He noted in the back of his mind that his screams were infused with qi. He heard the trees around him shatter under the force of that screaming and splinters and shards of the wood rained down on him. All of that, though, was background information. The only thing he had room for was what the pill was doing to him. He felt like the pill was peeling him from the inside out, one infinitesimal layer at a time, opening his bones, muscles, and organs like the petals of some kind of grotesque flower. If not for all of those months learning to distance himself from every-increasing pain, the sheer incandescent agony of the pill working on him would leave him either unconscious or insane. As it was, his waking mind tried to pull away from the pain, tried to hide from it, but Sen knew that was a short path to death. He had to stay with the process. Whatever his mind was telling him, he knew that some part of him was gently guiding the process. If he withdrew from the pain, he would withdraw that guiding hand as well. The process would go out of control and that would be the end.


    He reminded himself that this pain, like most other pain, was a temporary condition. It might feel like it was going to last forever, but it wouldn¡¯t. He simply needed to endure. Much as he had done on waking, he fastened his mind on the symbol of the jian. It gave him a focal point, a place where he could feed that pain. With each layer that was peeled back, the torture became more acute, invading every corner of his consciousness. It felt like it was spilling over into his very soul and making a home for itself there. He wrapped his hands around that mental construct of the jian and began to work his way through the forms he had mastered. There had been pain in that process as well. He had survived that. He could survive this. He began timing the motions of his mental image of himself with the peeling back of each layer inside of him.


    It didn¡¯t hurt any less, but with something to do, he could channel that pain into his forms. Despite everything, he even had a notion about a new attack. It wasn¡¯t the time experiment, even in his own mind, but he did tuck the idea away for later examination. If he was right, it might even impress Master Feng. It took Sen several seconds to realize that his mental projection of himself hadn¡¯t moved for a while. There hadn¡¯t been any new pain. Thank the gods, he thought as he pulled in ragged breaths. That lasted forever. He didn¡¯t relax, though. He¡¯d only reached the eye of the storm. There was more headed his way.


    As that very notion crossed his mind, all of that intermixed qi started to infuse the deepest exposed layers of his entire being. The screaming started again. At least, he thought it started again. Maybe it had never stopped. He hadn¡¯t been paying enough attention. As agonizing as the metaphoric peeling process had been, this process of infusion was something on a whole other level. The qi wasn¡¯t just infusing him, but it was searing away all of those parts of him that had been damaged in his protracted wait to begin this advancement. He knew it was necessary. He knew it would benefit him. He knew it, but he couldn¡¯t make himself believe it. There were limits to what someone could endure, and Sen was certain that he had reached his. He thrashed around inside his own mind looking for anything, anything at all, that could help him hang on to his sanity, to say nothing of his life. When he was sure that he¡¯d be sucked down into an abyss of madness, he heard words echo out of his memory.


    ¡°Take the pill. You will survive.¡±


    Falling Leaf had believed in him. She had believed he could survive the pill, despite everything that had gone wrong on the journey to get there, she believed. And because she believed, Sen believed. It was a tenuous thread to cling to, but he clung to it with every bit of his strength. Even when he was sure that his body was simply to rip itself apart¡­ Even when he was sure that the destruction of all that damaged bone and flesh would wrench his mind away from him, he wrapped his consciousness around those words. He let them give him what he needed most, belief, plain and simple belief. Yes, the Five-Fold Body Transformation killed most of the people who attempted it, but it didn¡¯t kill them all. He had survived on the mountain. He had survived against demonic cultivators. He had survived imprisonment with the cult. He had even survived a conflict with a nascent soul cultivator. Maybe Falling Leaf was right to believe, he thought. If I could survive all of that, I can survive this.


    Sen didn¡¯t have the will to watch how his body was changing, even as he felt the changes happening. He only had room for the echo of those words, that precious lifeline, and they carried him through the other side of the storm. When the raging torrent of misery inside of him finally abated, the absence of pain was so jarring that Sen was thrashing on the ground in confusion. He only slowly realized that he was done and that he had survived. He forced himself up onto his knees and looked around at the wasteland of destruction that radiated outward from where he sat. As exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him, all he could think was that he hadn¡¯t gone far enough away from the galehouse.

 V5 Chapter 41 – Taking Stock

    Sen¡¯s first instinct was to return to the galehouse, make sure everyone was safe, and then sleep. He ruthlessly suppressed that instinct. Fu Ruolan and Falling Leaf were survivors. Fu Ruolan had survived what was possibly the least forgiving process of all, cultivation. Falling Leaf, well, she¡¯d survived a genocide and then forged a place for herself on a decidedly hostile mountain. While both might appreciate his concern, it was highly improbable that either of them actually required it. He was also very confident that Fu Ruolan would have protected Falling Leaf if it was necessary. Letting his best friend get injured or killed would not make Sen more receptive to anything that the nascent soul cultivator wanted to teach him. So, there was a certain level of self-interest involved in ensuring that Falling Leaf didn¡¯t die from something stupid and avoidable, such as the fallout from one of Sen¡¯s advancements.


    Sen also knew that his galehouses were built to withstand a staggering amount of punishment. In all likelihood, the two of them could probably have ridden out his entire advancement undisturbed while drinking tea inside the galehouse. Sen briefly worried about some kind of damage to Fu Ruolan¡¯s less obviously sturdy home, with its wood construction and glass windows. He snorted at that and let the thought pass from his mind. Sen didn¡¯t know for sure what protections she¡¯d put in place, but he was quite certain that she had placed them. A flurry of boulders would probably just sound like a gentle rain from the inside. She simply had too much of value inside to leave it unprotected. No, neither of them needed Sen¡¯s concerns at the present moment.


    That was for the best because he needed to gather himself in case a tribulation came for him. He¡¯d find it profoundly petty of the heavens to send him a tribulation after all of the suffering he¡¯d been through. He had nearly died a slow agonizing death finding Fu Ruolan, and the pill itself had come within a hair¡¯s breadth of snuffing him out. Sen felt like that was suffering enough, but that didn¡¯t mean that the heavens agreed with him. After all, the last time he¡¯d advanced his body cultivation, the heavens had been very keen to express their displeasure. However, he had to accept that he didn¡¯t know why that tribulation had happened or been so intense. It might have been aimed at him or it might have been because of Elder Bo¡¯s interference. In fact, the tribulation might have been a message directed at Elder Bo, rather than at Sen. It had been terrifying at the time, but it had also ended before it did him any real, lasting damage. He was quite certain that the heavens could have kept it up until he was nothing but a dark stain on that beach. Sen sighed. There was just no way to know, which was probably the point.


    Still, he couldn¡¯t go back until he was confident there wasn¡¯t a tribulation coming his way. He kept his gaze turned to the sky, waiting for any indication of heavenly wrath about to descend. The sky remained a pale, placid winter blue. Everything Sen had heard suggested that tribulations were almost immediate. His own experiences supported the idea, but he wasn¡¯t comfortable just assuming that¡¯s how it always worked. Half the things in his cultivation journey didn¡¯t make any sense, so it seemed foolhardy to assume that tribulations would make sense either. After an hour passed without incident, though, Sen finally let himself relax a little. Mostly, that meant he only spent half his time checking the sky for threats.


    He stood up from the kneeling position he¡¯d been maintaining and moved around in the clearing, trying to get a feel for what had changed. He¡¯d known that there were changes, but it was largely impossible to judge them without actually testing out his body a little. Just walking around, he could feel surges of unfamiliar physical strength. This wasn¡¯t merely a restoration of what he¡¯d had before, but a fundamental step forward. He tried throwing a basic punch at nothing in particular and was nearly dragged off his feet by his own momentum. He stared down at his fist in consternation. That hadn¡¯t even been a full power strike. This was¡­ It was beyond his expectations. It also meant that he was going to have to relearn how to do everything, again. Still, that was to be expected. More important to him, though, was the feeling of being healthy and free to advance again.


    The entire time he had been with Fu Ruolan, there had been a subtle wrongness to his body. Bodies weren¡¯t meant to be held in a static state for indefinite periods of time. He hadn¡¯t complained about it because it had been the only thing keeping him alive, but it made his body feel separate from him in ways that he hadn¡¯t experienced before. He hadn¡¯t recognized just how alien his body had felt until now. With his body once more behaving as a body should, undergoing infinite tiny changes and adjustments in every moment, he finally felt like himself again. It was as though his entire physical being had been locked in a cage with no room to move for more than a year, only for the cage to have suddenly fallen away. Sen took a shuddering breath of relief. He¡¯d have to continue down the path laid out in the Five-Fold Body Transformation manual to keep feeling healthy and normal, but that was just the way of things with body cultivation. The key was not to get trapped part of the way through the process.


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    Sen took an hour to work through some of the basic martial forms he¡¯d learned from Master Feng. He took it slowly, building up his speed until he reached the tipping point between control and strength. That gave him a much clearer sense of how much he had gained and how much work was truly in front of him. He estimated that he could exert about seventy percent of his new strength and speed while maintaining actual control over his strikes and blocks. Months, he thought. It¡¯s going to take me months of persistent work to get back to the level of control I¡¯m used to having. It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t still defend himself. He was sure he could do that if necessary. He¡¯d just have to be incredibly careful not to lose his temper. If he lashed out with his full strength now in a fit of anger, he could easily kill people he had no intention of harming.


    Sen settled back down onto the ground. Now that the actual advancement was more or less done, the recuperative power of his body was back, not even back, working even more efficiently than it ever had before. He didn¡¯t feel weak or tired. If anything, he felt energized. Of course, the physical fallout was only half the battle. Advancement taxed the mind as much as the body, and Sen wanted to give his mind a little time to recuperate before he went back and faced the flurry of questions that he was certain that Fu Ruolan had prepared for him. He wasn¡¯t concerned that they would be worried for his well-being. He hadn¡¯t gone so far that he was beyond the reach of Fu Ruolan¡¯s spiritual sense. She would know that he was still alive and could tell Falling Leaf as much. For that matter, he might well be within range of Falling Leaf¡¯s spiritual sense. Not that he¡¯d felt either of them scan the area, but he hadn¡¯t been paying particular attention. He¡¯d had a lot going on just recently.


    Sen let himself fall into a meditative calm, something he found far easier now that he was weighed down with the looming threat of death, the desperate need to advance, and the haunting fear that he might fail to make a functional pill for his advancement. Much like the statis of his physical form had been like a cage for his body, those worries had been like a cage for his heart and soul. Sen lacked the words to describe the joy he felt as those burdens dropped away from him. Oh, there was always a bit of pressure to continue advancing, but he didn¡¯t mind a little pressure. It had been the absolute nature of the pressure he¡¯d been under that Sen was happy to cast aside. When everything had taken on a do-or-die quality, it started to taint his perspective. There had been no room left for what Sen wanted. All that had existed was what he needed. Finding calm in the middle of that had been challenging at best.


    With those weights no longer bearing down on him during every waking moment, it was almost comically easy to slip into a state without thought or concern. He let himself drift like that for hours. It wasn¡¯t true sleep, but it was a kind of rest that was almost as important for him. For a little while, his mind could just rest. It didn¡¯t need to run through a complex balancing act of weighing rewards and risks. It just could be. He sat that way, wholly indifferent to and even unaware of the freezing air around him or the snow that was slowly accumulating on top of him. He was nominally aware that a bird landed on his shoulder and eyed him curiously, no doubt wondering what kind of strange new tree had sprung up in the forest. He remained there, motionless and untroubled by thoughts for a full day. This time also allowed his body to finish making whatever small adjustments it needed to make. When he opened his eyes, though, he knew it was time to go back. Falling Leaf would leave him out there for a time, but her patience would only stretch for so long. Standing and stretching, he snickered as the snow dropped off of him in wet clumps. Then, he began the walk back to the galehouse and took stock of the damage he¡¯d done along the way.

 V5 Chapter 42 – Prove It

    Yan Zixin sat alone in a tea shop, watching the foot traffic of the capital city move by in great waves. A few people had tried to invite themselves to sit with him, young women mostly, but one particularly ardent young man as well. He had fended them off as kindly as he could. He might have welcomed company at another time. He enjoyed conversation and mortals were often surprisingly good at it. He supposed not spending months or even years at a time in near-total seclusion kept them in better practice. For once, though, he was too distracted for that kind of verbal play. More and more over the last months, his mind had turned back to that brief, unbelievably hostile encounter he¡¯d had with the man some called Lu Sen and some called Judgment¡¯s Gale.


    Zixin had heard stories about him traveling with companions, but those stories had been muddled and contradictory. Some claimed he traveled with a bevy of beautiful women, others claimed that he traveled in a small group that had both men and women. The woman who had been with him certainly had been beautiful, hauntingly so if Zixin was being honest with himself. Yet, she had been even less receptive to his presence than Lu Sen had been. The whole situation had left him baffled and off-kilter. The stories about the man had not done him justice, nor proven adequate preparation for that initial meeting. The stories painted a picture of a man as likely to work kind miracles as deliver terror. Yet, the man Zixin met had been all terror and no kindness. Looking back, he could tell that he¡¯d botched that introduction and botched it badly. He had poisoned the well by presenting himself as something other than he was.


    Most people would have forgiven the minor deception once they learned who he was and what he wanted, but the conversation had never gotten that far. Lu Sen¡­ Zixin shook his head. No, that man had been Judgment¡¯s Gale. The kind of man who could bully two sects into an unwanted peace. The kind of man who could call down the wrath of nascent soul cultivators on his enemies. The kind of man who could singlehandedly change the leadership in a kingdom with one damn meeting that, by all accounts, lasted less than twenty minutes. Zixin suspected that Lu Sen was the man who bestowed kindnesses on children, restored the elderly to youthful vigor, and dragged the mortally wounded back from the shores of death. He hadn¡¯t met that man. That man might have been willing to have a conversation with him.


    Once he became aware of the deception, Judgment¡¯s Gale was done with him. And it was all so stupidly unnecessary. Zixin hadn¡¯t actually wanted anything from the man. At least, not in the ways that Lu Sen had assumed. Although, in hindsight, it was abundantly clear that many others had abused what little trust the man had in his soul. Zixin had even heard some stories and rumors about that as well, but he hadn¡¯t given them enough consideration. He¡¯d just assumed that the stories were overblown or that Judgment¡¯s Gale would be more reasonable. Maybe he should have thought a little harder about that folk hero name. It wasn¡¯t the kind of name that suggested someone was reasonable. It made him sound more like a force of nature, and that¡¯s certainly how he¡¯d come across. Zixin had, foolishly, acted like his superior cultivation level was a trump card. That had been the moment he became aware of exactly how minor of a threat Lu Sen considered him. The man hadn¡¯t acted like he thought that he could probably beat Zixin if the fight dragged on long enough. That response could be understood in someone with a lot of strength and skill.


    Lu Sen had treated victory as a foregone conclusion. It wasn¡¯t just that he was ignoring their cultivation difference. He had seen that difference and considered Zixin¡¯s threat level as trivial. That kind of magnificent indifference and confidence in victory only stemmed from experience and a lot of it. That had forced Zixin to the very uncomfortable conclusion that Judgment¡¯s Gale really had killed scores of cultivators who were, on paper at least, more powerful. There was always an element of doubt about what people had or hadn¡¯t done when you heard about them through stories. The revelation that it might all be true had forced him to abandon the whole encounter because, the longer it went on, the more certain Zixin had become that Lu Sen was right.


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    Since Zixin hadn¡¯t gone there to start a fight, it was the only path left open to him. If he had it to do all over again, he¡¯d have taken a very different approach. It might not have succeeded, but it probably also wouldn¡¯t have closed off so many other possible avenues. Still, he was stuck with the situation that he had created for himself. If he was going to win the man over, he was going to have to do it the hard way. He just wished that he knew that pursuing that goal was for the best. He¡¯d been told it was for the best and that they would both benefit from establishing a friendship, but divination was murky at best. The future was predictable to some extent, but it was also mutable. He had to accept the possibility that his mishandling of the situation might have pruned away that potential future. That drew a frustrated grunt and a bit of soft muttering.


    ¡°Damnable divination.¡±


    Most cultivators who lived long enough learned that you couldn¡¯t rely on divination. You also couldn¡¯t ignore it. Minimally, you had to account for it. Some people tried to work their plans around it, usually to middling success. Others tried to work with it, also usually to middling success. So, he supposed his failure was just on the bad side of middling, rather than the good side. He had heard that the king had a once-legendary diviner in his household, but one whose powers had faded over the years. Given the king¡¯s recent rise to power with the improbable assistance of Judgment¡¯s Gale, perhaps that diviner¡¯s powers had been underestimated by everyone. Zixin considered the possibilities of gaining access to that man. Second opinions for divination were hard to come by, but it might clarify his next steps if he could get a second opinion.


    Of course, that assumed he¡¯d be able to find Lu Sen again. The man had vanished without a trace into the deep wilds with his companion. How they¡¯d managed to survive out there for any length of time was another mystery for which he¡¯d pay a small fortune to get an answer. The wilds were notoriously unfriendly to human beings in general and cultivators in particular. Yet, it seemed that this Lu Sen treated the wilds as a convenient place to go when he didn¡¯t want to be bothered and had been doing so for quite some time. If he was going to do anything, he needed more information. First-hand information. He¡¯d done some digging and there was a woman in the city who had supposedly traveled with Lu Sen for a time. Of course, her reputation suggested that she was only marginally less hostile to strangers than the man himself. Still, beggars didn¡¯t get to be choosers. He had ready access to exactly one person who might be able to give him insight. He¡¯d just have to be more cautious with her.


    With that settled in his mind, he left the tea shop behind and went to the location he¡¯d been given of the woman¡¯s modest home. Or, at least, it was supposed to be a modest home. Zixin was no formation expert, but he could see the telltale signs of a staggering array of formations around the house. It would have taken a true expert to even let that many formations co-exist in the same place. He couldn¡¯t tell them apart, but he could feel defensive, offensive, and qi-gathering formations all operating on a passive basis. Had Lu Sen done this before he left the city? Providing a close friend with dangerous defenses, perhaps? Either way, he was very cautious as he approached the wall. The formations didn¡¯t burst to life and no servants appeared to announce him, so he stepped inside and slowly walked across the small courtyard to the door. He didn¡¯t want anyone getting the wrong impression.


    He knocked at the door and took three respectful steps back. He made sure to keep his hands in view. No cultivator was ever truly disarmed, but not actively holding a weapon was a symbolic gesture. There was a brief wait and then the door opened. Apparently, the stories that Lu Sen surrounded himself with beauty were more fact than fiction. Although, much like the other one, this one stared at him with eyes that had no empathy, no compassion, and deep, deep distrust.


    ¡°What?¡± demanded the woman.


    ¡°Are you the one they call Lo Meifeng?¡±


    The woman started closing the door without uttering a sound.


    ¡°I saw Lu Sen,¡± he blurted out, hoping it would encourage the woman to speak to him.


    The door paused.


    ¡°When?¡± she asked.


    ¡°A few months ago.¡±


    ¡°Alive?¡±


    That struck Zixin as a particularly odd question. ¡°Yes. In fact, I got the distinct impression that man would prove particularly difficult to kill.¡±


    ¡°Prove it.¡±


    Zixin floundered for several seconds. Prove it?


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°Tell me what happened. In detail.¡±


    Deception hadn¡¯t gotten him anywhere with Lu Sen. He hoped that honesty would get him farther with her. So, he started talking.

 V5 Chapter 43 – Travel Plans

    It really worked, thought Sen, and not for the first. I really am healed. He mentally backtracked from that last part. His body had been modified and improved. It was stable. Yet, he knew that was a temporary situation. It would start to deteriorate again if he didn¡¯t continue with the Five-Fold Body Transformation. Of course, that was less worrisome than it had been. He finally had the manual or, rather, he had a copy of the manual. He actually had three copies that he had personally spent weeks making. Two of them were in his storage rings. He¡¯d left another in Falling Leaf¡¯s care. He¡¯d started on a fourth copy to eventually hand off to a scribe or maybe one of those printing businesses he¡¯d heard about. Sen was going to singlehandedly make this one of the most easily accessible body cultivation methods on the continent. Not that he expected many people would follow him along that particular path, but he never wanted anyone else to face the struggles he had in merely finding a copy of the manual.


    Of course, now that he had succeeded in both finding the manual and progressing his body cultivation, the culmination of years of effort, he found his mind turning to other problems and obligations. He still had most of four years left that he owed to Fu Ruolan to learn, well, whatever she decided to teach him next. She¡¯d already told him that she couldn¡¯t add any real depth to his alchemy knowledge, only breadth, not that he¡¯d been opposed to that. There had been countless plants and reagents in her storage treasure. He was perfectly content to learn as much as he could about as many as he could. She had conceded that there was value in that, but that it wasn¡¯t going to be her primary focus moving forward. When he asked what it would be, she had seemed of two minds about it. Ultimately, she said she needed to think about it a little longer. He accepted that with as much good grace as he could. Impatience had not served him well in the past, so he was determined not to let it drive him unnecessarily now that he wasn¡¯t counting every hour out of necessity.


    Without the threat of imminent destruction hanging over him, he¡¯d finally let his mind turn back to Elder Bo. Every time the turtle had come up in his thoughts over the last year or two, it had filled Sen with such incandescent rage that he¡¯d been forced to discipline himself against even casual consideration of the divine beast. It was only in the aftermath of success that Sen had been able to think about the turtle in terms that other people might describe as sane, if only barely. There was a part of him that believed that the best course of action was simply to forget that the turtle existed and move on. Unfortunately, Sen had the niggling intuition that if he didn¡¯t go back and see the turtle, the turtle would eventually come to him. And it would inevitably be at a time and place when Sen couldn¡¯t afford a distraction. He thought hard about just putting that trip off. He did have other responsibilities. Yet, Fu Ruolan seemed to be dragging her feet on making a decision about what they should do next.


    Just as importantly, Sen had another breakthrough coming with his spirit cultivation very soon. He could probably trip that advancement himself with little or no effort. It would take time for him to consolidate the gains from that and his body cultivation. Especially with them coming so close together. A substantial journey mostly through the wilds ought to provide him with the time to get a grip on those changes. It would also let him check in, quietly, on some of the people he¡¯d left behind and send a message off to Master Feng, Uncle Kho, and Auntie Caihong. Between his advancements and Falling Leaf¡¯s advancements, the travel time would be greatly reduced. They could travel during the winter as easily as most people could travel in high summer. Of course, the real problem was that he didn¡¯t want to do it. Sen¡¯s fury at the turtle wasn¡¯t quite as savage as it had been when he¡¯d been suffering and dying a little more each day, but it was by no means gone. Even he couldn¡¯t predict what he¡¯d do when he saw the divine beast. Still, he doubted there would be a better time to make the trip. Sen just had to hope that his anger would be a little more tamped down when they met the turtle.


    Sen wasn¡¯t happy as he approached Fu Ruolan¡¯s home. While he might be resigned to the necessity of the trip, he could still hope that the nascent soul cultivator would simply forbid it. That idea perked him up a little. If she said no, he¡¯d be spared the ordeal for several years. For once, he didn¡¯t see her outside training Falling Leaf. In fact, he¡¯d seen very little of either of them in the last few weeks. Not that he could blame them for that. Everything had been about him for a long time. Now that he was out of danger, he couldn¡¯t very well be annoyed that they wanted to focus on something else. He wished he could join them in worrying about something that didn¡¯t involve him. What a novelty that would be, he thought. He knocked on Fu Ruolan¡¯s door, half expecting that she wouldn¡¯t answer. She answered the door, gave him a vaguely curious look, and waved him inside. Sen peered around the common area but didn¡¯t see any sign of Falling Leaf.


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    ¡°She¡¯s working on her own today,¡± said Fu Ruolan. ¡°I expect she went looking for something to fight.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    Fu Ruolan gave him an amused smile. ¡°She told me what you were like when you were training with the sword and spear. Hours and hours of drills, every day, morning until night. Not everyone can learn that way. Most people can¡¯t handle the monotony of it. Besides, applying the lessons she¡¯s learned will help her to solidify the knowledge in her head.¡±


    Sen felt a vague desire to defend himself, but he couldn¡¯t pin down anything specifically negative that she¡¯d said. It had felt a bit like an insult, but maybe he was just reading a little too deeply into her words. He shook it off.


    ¡°Fair enough. That¡¯s not what I want to talk about anyway.¡±


    ¡°I should hope not. I haven¡¯t decided what should come next, yet, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re here about.¡±


    Sen waggled his hand in the air. ¡°It is, sort of. How much did I tell you about that encounter I had with Elder Bo.¡±


    Fu Ruolan fixed him with an intense look. ¡°Precious little and most of it through clenched teeth. It didn¡¯t seem like a subject that I should ask many questions about.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I have some anger to work out there. Here¡¯s the slightly less abbreviated version of the story.¡±


    Sen told Fu Ruolan about his fight with the demonic cultivator in Emperor¡¯s Bay, the escape on the ship, and his encounter with Elder Bo on the beach. She had heard bits and pieces of the story over the last year, but Sen didn¡¯t particularly enjoy revisiting his past. There was still a lot of pain and loss in those memories. I need to ask Auntie Caihong about Lifen when I write to them, thought Sen. She may not want to see me again, but I owe it to her to at least make sure she landed somewhere safe. He finished up with his tentative agreement to go back and see the divine turtle after reaching core formation. Fu Ruolan leaned back in her chair and considered Sen for a long moment.


    ¡°So, you want to go see him now?¡± asked Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°Want? No. Not at all. Not even a little bit. It¡¯s more that I don¡¯t want him to just turn up at some random time and place.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d like to say that he wouldn¡¯t do that, but Bo would do exactly that. He¡¯d think it was funny to put another layer of pressure on you during a time of turmoil. He¡¯d say it was for character building.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°Lucky encounter, my ass.¡±


    ¡°Well, you did survive. You are stronger than basically anyone else at your cultivation level courtesy of that body cultivation method.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but that survival didn¡¯t happen because he helped make it happen. He didn¡¯t even warn me that I would die if I didn¡¯t take the next step within a certain amount of time. I¡¯m not sure it would have changed anything, but it might have.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps,¡± conceded Fu Ruolan. ¡°You¡¯d leave immediately?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the plan.¡±


    ¡°And will you take Falling Leaf with you?¡±


    ¡°Well, I sort of assumed that she would go, but it¡¯s her choice. If she wants to stay, I¡¯m not going to make a fuss about it. I¡¯ve traveled alone before.¡±


    Fu Ruolan drummed her fingers on her leg before she answered. ¡°This doesn¡¯t change the amount of time you owe me.¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t think it would. I¡¯m just trying to prevent a problem before it becomes a problem for once.¡±


    ¡°Have you considered that traveling might not be as easy for you as it once was?¡±


    ¡°What? Why? I should be able to travel faster than ever.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mean that physical act of traveling. I mean that your reputation hasn¡¯t dimmed in the time you¡¯ve been away. You may find more enemies waiting for you than you expect.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t a problem he¡¯d given much thought. He knew he had enemies out there. Whatever remnants of the demonic cultivator cabal that survived would likely hate him forever. Given a chance, they¡¯d attack him. He hadn¡¯t left things on good terms with Chan Yu Ming. She might attack him on sight. Then again, he hadn¡¯t really planned on seeing her. Who knew what the sects and noble families in the capital thought of him? He¡¯d left enemies at the Clear Spring Sect. In the end, though, those were potential threats, not active ones to his knowledge.


    ¡°There isn¡¯t a lot I can do about that. I doubt the situation is going to change if I put this trip off for another year or even four years.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re likely right about that. It¡¯s just something to bear in mind. I suppose that this is as good a time as any to take a break. You¡¯ve been under a lot of pressure. The trip will give you a chance to settle your mind and consolidate your gains. When you return, though, I expect you to be focused.¡±


    Sen stood and gave her a formal bow. ¡°Yes, Fu Ruolan.¡±

 V5 Chapter 44 – No Direct Pressure

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome to come along, of course,¡± said Sen in the most offhanded and casual tone he could manage.


    After discussing his plans with Fu Ruolan, he¡¯d reflected on how he¡¯d taken it almost for granted that Falling Leaf would come with him. He didn¡¯t like that he¡¯d done that at all. While he had valid if obnoxious reasons to venture back into those old familiar territories, she didn¡¯t to his knowledge. She¡¯d certainly never expressed a desire to do so, except for the very occasional comment that she¡¯d like to see Uncle Kho¡¯s mountain again. That made sense to Sen. Falling Leaf might not be afflicted with a lot of nostalgia, but that mountain had been home to her for a very long time before he¡¯d come along and turned everyone¡¯s lives upside down. He wasn¡¯t going there, though.


    So, if she did come along, it would only be to keep him company while he went and did things that didn¡¯t really stand to benefit her. If she stayed, she could continue her training with Fu Ruolan. In fact, she¡¯d probably get more and better training without him around to distract both her and the nascent soul cultivator. He couldn¡¯t make the decision for her, either way. He could, however, avoid putting any kind of direct pressure on her. He was certain that she¡¯d do it without hesitation if he asked her to come. If he just threw it out there that she could come, if she wanted to, that let her make the choice that worked best for her without feeling like she had to tell him no. He¡¯d also considered that some of the little side errands he was considering might actually be easier if he was traveling alone.


    As the silence dragged on for a while, Sen glanced over at Falling Leaf. She looked torn. He couldn¡¯t blame her for that. He would have died without her help when they¡¯d come looking for Fu Ruolan. He¡¯d have pushed too hard and gotten himself killed by some spirit beast a dozen times without her watching out for him. Of course, the situation wasn¡¯t the same. Once he knew that he¡¯d be traveling, he¡¯d gone ahead and formed another layer to his core. He wanted it done and out of the way before he left. Especially if there was going to be a tribulation attached. It seemed the heavens truly did believe he¡¯d suffered enough recently because there¡¯d been no hint of divine lightning or anything else that one might think of as a tribulation. Granted, he had substantial work to do in getting full control over his advancements which carried some risks, but he wasn¡¯t dying this time. He could still push too hard, but it wasn¡¯t a foregone conclusion that it would kill him anymore.


    ¡°I want to stay,¡± said Falling Leaf, sounding frustrated at her own words.


    ¡°That¡¯s a good plan,¡± said Sen. ¡°You¡¯re in the middle of training with a weapon. It¡¯s better if you learn all of the essentials together. I just wanted you to know that you could come if you wanted to.¡±


    The guilt in her expression didn¡¯t fade away entirely, but it was mostly gone the next time he glanced at her. He decided that was going to have to be good enough. He¡¯d done everything he could to let her stay behind without feeling bad about it. She had to decide for herself that it was okay. She gave him a curious look.


    ¡°Will you go straight to the turtle?¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°No, I¡¯ll make at least one stop along the way. See if Lo Meifeng is still in the capital. She¡¯s still the most efficient way to get a letter to Master Feng that I know.¡±


    ¡°Is that wise? There may be people there who are angry with you.¡±


    Sen let out a soft laugh. ¡°There are people angry with me for one reason or another all over this kingdom. If I just never go places where they might be, I¡¯ll have to leave the kingdom entirely.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s probably true. Still, Chan Yu Ming might be in the capital. Could you kill her if you had to?¡±


    Sen felt the smile fade from his lips. He¡¯d been making an effort not to think too hard about what might happen if he saw the princess again. He desperately hoped that time had given her some perspective on what had happened because he didn¡¯t want to fight her. Of course, that wasn¡¯t the question that Falling Leaf had asked him. Could I kill Chan Yu Ming? A moment of soul-searching gave him an answer. It wasn¡¯t one he liked but liking the answer wasn¡¯t required.


    ¡°Yes. If she pushed it that far, I could kill her.¡±


    ¡°But you don¡¯t want to fight her.¡±


    ¡°Of course not. She¡¯s got plenty of reasons to be angry with me. It¡¯s hard to fault her. Besides, I thought she was someone you liked.¡±


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    Falling Leaf grimaced. ¡°She is. Even I can understand why she¡¯d want to hurt you. But if it¡¯s a choice between her and you, I pick you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d never ask you to do anything to her. I¡¯d never ask you to pick.¡±


    ¡°I know. It doesn¡¯t mean it won¡¯t happen anyway.¡±


    Sen hated when she said things like that. It always felt like some kind of awful prophecy that was definitely going to happen now that she¡¯d voiced the words out loud.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll do my best to steer clear of her. The odds are good that she¡¯s gone back to the Clear Spring Sect. It has been a while.¡±


    Falling Leaf didn¡¯t look convinced but let it go in favor of another topic. ¡°Do you know how long you¡¯ll be gone?¡±


    Sen offered her half of a shrug. ¡°I¡¯ve got some educated guesses. I mean, I¡¯m not planning on stopping anywhere for long. Plus, there won¡¯t be any pesky searching going on. I know exactly where to go. Assuming I can move as fast as I think I can, a few months of hard travel. Is there anything you want me to get you while I¡¯m traveling?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Falling Leaf, seeming wholly disinterested.


    ¡°Really? Nothing at all?¡±


    She just shook her head at him. Sen wasn¡¯t sure why this surprised him. Aside from her brief adventure in buying furniture, she¡¯d never shown any interest in things before. He¡¯d have to keep an eye out for something she might like. Maybe another warehouse of food in a storage ring, he thought.


    ¡°Any messages for Auntie Caihong, Uncle Kho, or Master Feng?¡±


    Falling Leaf seemed to give that question much deeper thought. She¡¯d developed a much deeper relationship with Auntie Caihong when they¡¯d all been out searching for him. Yet, they¡¯d parted company easily enough. He¡¯d never been quite sure what the story was there and hadn¡¯t pried. As Lo Meifeng had told him, curiosity wasn¡¯t its own justification. It simply hadn¡¯t been his business if she didn¡¯t want to share the details with him.


    ¡°You can tell them about my new training,¡± she said, nodding to herself as though she¡¯d made some good decision. ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be interested.¡±


    Sen resisted the urge to ask a bunch of questions. Not your business, he reminded himself.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do that,¡± he said and moved on to the practicalities. ¡°I know the cold doesn¡¯t really bother you, but I went ahead and split some wood for the fire. You should have enough for a couple of weeks, but you¡¯ll need to gather more after that.¡±


    ¡°I can do that.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll also need it if you want warm baths,¡± he noted.


    That seemed to get her attention. Sen usually warmed the water in the bath using his qi, a feat that Falling Leaf couldn¡¯t duplicate. She nodded a little more vigorously. He tried to think of anything else he might need to tell her or remind her about and came up empty. Their lives were so simple that there just weren¡¯t that many things to discuss about it. He checked his storage rings one last time to make sure he had the essential camping gear and food. Much like Falling Leaf, he could simply ignore the winter cold. Just because it wouldn¡¯t kill him, though, it didn¡¯t make enduring it more pleasant. Sen was not of the opinion that self-inflicted suffering built character. In his experience, it usually just led to poor sleep. Having dealt with everything he could think of, he stepped toward the door.


    ¡°Be careful, Sen. Do not let your new strength make you careless of your safety,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    He gave her a serious look to show that he was giving her words their due weight. ¡°I will be ever mindful.¡±


    Seemingly satisfied, she stood from her chair and stepped outside into the winter cold with him. He¡¯d only get a few hours of real travel in before early winter evening set in, but a motivated core cultivator at his stage could cover an almost absurd amount of ground in a few hours. Enough ground that he would have thought it was just something someone made up when he was a child. He smiled a little. Every once in a while, he tried to imagine what that younger version of himself would make of what he had become in the years between. Would he have been able to recognize himself, or would the older Sen have seemed like some impossible thing from a story? He wasn¡¯t sure, but he thought it was a useful exercise. Cultivators spent so much of their time looking forward and striving toward the heights of those geniuses who came before them. Sen wasn¡¯t immune to that habit, but he thought it sometimes blinded cultivators.


    Looking back let him see how far he had come. That child Master Feng first found looked almost unrecognizable to him now. Even the person who first stepped off the mountain to go explore the world struck him as largely a stranger. That young man had been full of grand ideals, most of which had been rather unceremoniously smashed to pieces. He¡¯d been na?ve to just how harsh and unforgiving the world could be to the unwary. Not that it had all been bad, and not everyone had turned out to be awful. Luo Min and her mother back on that farm. They had been kind. The patriarch of the Clear Spring Sect had his moments of kindness. Sen had been more disappointed by that man¡¯s failings than angry about them. Prince Jing had turned out to be so honorable that Sen wasn¡¯t sure what to do with him. Grandmother Lu and her employees had proven themselves time and time again. Even the Stormy Ocean Sect had turned out to harbor those with more sense than arrogance. No, it hadn¡¯t been all bad, and it was important to remind himself of that on occasion. Otherwise, he could fall into the trap of seeing enemies absolutely everywhere.


    On a whim, Sen turned and gave Falling Leaf a hug. He¡¯d thought she might pull away, but she didn¡¯t. They stood there like that for a long time, tiny snowflakes falling around them. Sen finally pulled back and smiled at her.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be back before you know it.¡±

 V5 Chapter 45 – Self-Mastery

    Sen had thought that traveling alone again might feel different now that he was subject to someone else¡¯s will. And he supposed there had been a heady sense of extra freedom for the first couple of hours. Yet, Fu Ruolan¡¯s demands on him had thus far been extremely light. She hadn¡¯t needed to put him under any pressure because the situation was taking care of that all by itself. He¡¯d pushed himself hard, probably harder than had been safe or wise, but it also meant that he¡¯d still largely felt in charge of himself in a big-picture sort of way. Plus, he¡¯d done so much traveling that there was very little about the experience that was new. He did have to clear away some snow now and then, and he put up far fewer galehouses. Those had mostly been for the benefit of those traveling with him, not something he did for himself. So, he quickly fell back into old routines, traveling fast during the day and setting up a basic camp at night, complete with dangerous defensive and offensive formations, along with a qi-gathering formation.


    The new layer to his core had drained away all of the liquid qi in his dantian, so it made sense for him to gather as much qi as he could while he was in the wilds. The qi there was already denser, and the formation made it even thicker. It significantly sped up the pace of his recovery, although nothing would ever make refilling a dantian after forming a new layer to his core a fast process. Still, he would settle for faster and be happy. Of course, there were important differences during this trip. Nearly all the traveling he¡¯d done since leaving the mountain had been done under a cloud of some kind of threat. Looking back, he suspected he¡¯d imagined that some of those threats were more dire than they were in truth, but that didn¡¯t change the fact that he¡¯d believed in the threats. Certainly, the threats from the demonic cultivators had been real, and the threat to his life from his own body cultivation had proven much more pressing and dangerous than he¡¯d understood.


    The prospect of hovering doom no longer dogged his every step. He could stop for a time if he wished. He knew he needed to get back to Fu Ruolan and whatever she¡¯d train him in next, but if it took him four months instead of three, he doubted the millennia-old cultivator would even notice. She¡¯d all but told him that she didn¡¯t notice time passing with any kind of sharp acuity. It left Sen largely free to explore as he wished. Except, he didn¡¯t really feel like exploring. There were still many things he wished to see, but the kingdom had largely proven a place that was hostile to wandering cultivators in general, and hostile to him specifically. In the back of his head, he had the notion that if he did go exploring, it would just end with him stuck in some conflict that would force him to do something drastic and violent. So, he remained fixed on his goals. His first goal was the capital.


    Sen had rather thought that the local spirit beast population might try something with him moving through the wilds alone, but it seemed that his last confrontation with them had an impression. While he felt spirit beasts from time to time and even saw them on occasion, they all fled as soon as they took note of him. He let them go. He wasn¡¯t looking for more beast cores, and he¡¯d lost his taste for killing spirit beasts long ago. With nothing attacking him, though, it left him free to practice, which was the thing he needed more than anything else. Every night, he practiced something. At first, it was mostly his unarmed combat forms. He¡¯d been doing them the longest, so they were the easiest option for him to adapt to his newfound strength and speed. Yet, he didn¡¯t focus on strength or speed. He spent all of his time and effort on control. Adding speed and strength meant nothing if he couldn¡¯t be absolutely certain that he knew where and how a blow would land.


    There¡¯s no rush, he reminded himself. You didn¡¯t learn these forms in a day. You won¡¯t adapt them in a day. Instead, he trusted in the process and in his instincts. Bit by bit, he felt himself relearn the thousand tiny ways that a body moved to execute a punch, a kick, and a block. As that knowledge slowly filtered into his mind and burned itself into his body, he felt himself relax. While the process of body cultivation theoretically happened in small, short bursts, Sen found the process substantially less straightforward. The body went through most of the changes all in one fell swoop, but it didn¡¯t stop then. After that, he had found that even months later, it was still going through countless micro-changes based on the things he was or wasn¡¯t doing. So, the persistent practice wasn¡¯t just about mastering the changes, but refining them so they served him and his needs most effectively.


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    Of course, it wasn¡¯t just his body that changed. Adding another layer to his core was, in some ways, an even more startling difference. Every technique threatened to run out of control on him. He hadn¡¯t just taken a step forward or at least it didn¡¯t feel that way. When he had been younger and wondering what it must be like to be a nascent soul cultivator, the power he held now was what he had imagined. He wasn¡¯t sure if that suggested a lack of imagination on his part or if moving into the nascent soul realm truly meant entering some other kind of world that his mind just wasn¡¯t prepared to comprehend. As it stood, he worked just as diligently trying to relearn control with his qi techniques. That, fortunately, was easier in some ways. It was a pure power increase, rather than a fundamental change in how his qi interacted with the world. The interactions remained the same. He simply needed to get a handle on how much less he needed to use to accomplish the same ends, and what it meant if he stretched himself.


    By the time the capital city came into sight, Sen felt far better prepared to navigate any conflicts that might come his way. He still had a lot of practice ahead of him, but those lingering fears that he might accidentally kill someone were put to rest. If he killed someone, it would have to be intentional. Not that he had any plans to kill anyone. His intention was to spend a day in the capital, at most, and see exactly one person. While he¡¯d entertained the possibility of seeing the king, he couldn¡¯t think of a good way to do that without accidentally announcing his presence to people he didn¡¯t plan to see on this trip. He didn¡¯t think that the prince would tell anyone that Sen asked him not to tell, but the castle was full of people who were good at listening. If word got around that Judgment¡¯s Gale had returned to the capital, it might be cause for celebration, but it might also be cause for a riot. Sen wanted no part of either possibility. Visiting the king was something that he¡¯d have to do, but he was content to let that happen someday a little farther into the future. A year just wasn¡¯t that long for everyone to have moved on to other concerns. Sen thought that returning for an official visit after his time with Fu Ruolan was probably the best course of action.


    So, Sen slipped into the city quietly amid the many merchant wagons carrying the food and other necessities that kept the city running in the cold, desolate days of winter. The guards barely gave him a look as he walked by, and Sen soon found himself walking on streets that were both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. He hadn¡¯t been gentle with the streets or buildings during his various fights that last time he¡¯d visited the city. He saw entirely new structures in places where he expected to see repairs. The urge to go explore was strong in those moments. He particularly wanted to visit the part of the city that the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate had controlled. If the king had been on task, he¡¯d have taken control of that part of the city as soon as he realized that the old criminal organization was gone. If he didn¡¯t, Sen suspected some other and probably less savory organization would have filled that void. His readings of history had been clear that someone will always fill empty places in a power structure. Smart rulers made sure it was their own people who took those roles, but they often left it for too long only to find themselves with a different problem.


    Of course, the last thing he should do is go wandering around in that part of the city. While he expected that most of the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate members who survived had fled the city, there could still be plenty of people there who would recognize him on sight, and then he¡¯d be back to that riot he wanted to avoid. As much as Sen had allowed his story to become a weapon that he could use against other people, it was a method that had drawbacks. He was always going to have to be careful visiting places where he¡¯d done something substantial. It would be troublesome, but it was too late to change things in the capital. He had been very visible during his last visit. It might not be so bad in other places. He could probably get away with openly visiting most places in Emperor¡¯s Bay. There, he¡¯d just need to steer clear of the sects and one or two specific streets. Some intangible tension went out of Sen when he saw the house that had, ever so briefly, belonged to him.


    That tension returned when he saw that the formations were all active. It wasn¡¯t an impediment to him, but that they were active at all was concerning. Lo Meifeng shouldn¡¯t have needed anything that powerful to keep herself safe. Frowning, Sen scanned the immediate area with his spiritual sense. He didn¡¯t find anything that looked or felt out of place. Keeping his senses active, he walked straight through the formations and walked up to the front door. He gave the door three sharp raps and turned to scan the area again. Lo Meifeng wasn¡¯t prone to overreactions, which made Sen feel like he must be missing something. When he heard the door open behind him, he gave the street one last glare before he turned and gave Lo Meifeng a bright smile.


    ¡°So, how are things?¡± he asked in a tone so nonchalant it was obnoxious.

 V5 Chapter 46 – Stabbing You Is Always on the Table

    Sen watched as several conflicting emotions battled for supremacy on Lo Meifeng¡¯s face. There was shock, which he¡¯d expected. It wasn¡¯t like he¡¯d let her know he was coming. He¡¯d made the general assumption that since none of his other teachers had come looking that they knew he was still alive. He¡¯d also sort of assumed that Master Feng would have let Lo Meifeng know, either directly or indirectly, that Sen had survived his most recent brush with death. Still, he supposed it was possible that no one had told her and that she¡¯d been bracing herself for news of his death. Based on the anger he saw in her expression, he had to revise the assumption that someone had let her know. There was a healthy dose of relief there as well. There was even some happiness lurking beneath all of the other things. He waited with a kind of academic fascination as she decided how to react. When she did finally come to a decision, it wasn¡¯t quite what he¡¯d thought it would be. She kicked him in the shin and, as far as Sen could tell, she did it as hard as she possibly could.


    ¡°Ow!¡± the pair shouted in unison.


    Sen stumbled back from the angry woman. Grimacing at the unexpected pain and the assault itself, he massaged his aching shin. He glanced up and saw Lo Meifeng limping in a small circle. Sen rubbed the injured spot for a little while to give them both a chance to gather their wits. Satisfied that there wouldn¡¯t be any additional angry kicks, he stood and gave Lo Meifeng an unamused glare.


    ¡°What that really necessary?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Necessary?¡± she asked, as stalked toward him with murder in her eyes. ¡°You left with barely a word and then nothing. Nothing! Not so much as a letter to let me know you were alive.¡±


    ¡°Okay, there is¡­¡± he began


    ¡°For. Two. Years.¡± she growled, punctuating each word with a hard poke to his chest.


    Sen winced at the words and the pokes, which he suspected were going to leave bruises.


    ¡°Okay. I guess I can see how I might have handled that better.¡±


    ¡°You think!¡± she yelled at him.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m alive. Yay,¡± he said weakly.


    Lo Meifeng closed her eyes and took several deep, shuddering breaths, clearly trying to get a grip on her anger. When she opened her eyes again, she was only scowling at him, which Sen considered a vast improvement over the blazing fury she¡¯d had going on mere moments before.


    ¡°I suppose you should come in,¡± she said.


    Sen lifted a dubious eyebrow. ¡°Should I? You aren¡¯t going to stab me, are you?¡±


    ¡°I should! Now stop being a baby and come inside.¡±


    Sen followed her inside and cast curious glances around the place. He was surprised to see that the place was all but unaltered since the last time he was there. There were no meaningful personal touches, although he did see a vase with flowers in it. They weren¡¯t in season, which made him wonder if Lo Meifeng was using fire qi to get around that problem or if she had a servant who was particularly good with earth qi. He turned to ask her about it, took one look at her face, and decided that it would be a great idea not to ask any questions right at that moment. He could satisfy any casual curiosities when she didn¡¯t still look like she wanted to stab him over and over again. She led him to the kitchen where she busied herself for several minutes making tea. She didn¡¯t bother with the stove, instead relying on a deft application of fire qi to heat the water. By the time she¡¯d poured them both a cup, she seemed to have found her equilibrium again, making Sen glad he hadn¡¯t asked stupid questions.


    ¡°So, you advanced again,¡± she said, making it a statement rather than a question.


    ¡°I did. Body and spirit cultivation.¡±


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    ¡°I expect that will please Feng Ming,¡± said Lo Meifeng, falling into the rigidly neutral expression and tone she used when she didn¡¯t want her true feelings exposed.


    ¡°He¡¯ll be happy I¡¯m not dead. Although, I expect he knew that already. I¡¯ve been gone for,¡± he chose his next words carefully, ¡°long enough that he would have come looking if he didn¡¯t know. I take it that he didn¡¯t pass word along.¡±


    ¡°He did not,¡± said Lo Meifeng through clenched teeth.


    ¡°I thought he would,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you send word?¡±


    Sen reached up and rubbed at his forehead. ¡°I¡¯ve been out in the wilds. Way out in the wilds. But the truth is that it was a desperately close thing. I was on the brink of death when we finally found Fu Ruolan. After that, well, I spent most of a year holed up in an alchemy lab. It was still close.¡±


    Lo Meifeng must have seen something on his face or heard something in his voice that gave her pause because her expression softened.


    ¡°How close?¡± she asked.


    ¡°If I¡¯d waited even one more day to try, the attempt would have killed me. As it was,¡± he trailed off.


    The memory of those desperate hours clinging to life by the barest of threads rose in his mind like a monster from the depths of the sea. He shoved them away before they could consume him. He¡¯d lived through it once and that was enough. He forced his mind to the present and continued.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t ever want to try something like that again.¡±


    ¡°But it did work?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It did. I¡¯m still consolidating everything. You know how it is after an advancement.¡±


    She nodded in understanding. ¡°That¡¯s cultivation. You get to relearn everything after every advancement.¡±


    Sen tried to think of something meaningless to talk about, but when his mind came up with a whole lot of nothing, he plunged forward.


    ¡°I should have made more of an effort to let you know I survived. Looking back, I had a few opportunities to send word, but I was,¡± he tried to find the right word.


    ¡°Focused?¡± offered Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Obsessed. It was literally do or die. I had to make the pill and, well, I won¡¯t bore you with all the details of what that entailed. I¡¯ll just say that there was a lot of failure before there was even a glimmer of success.¡±


    Lo Meifeng raised an eyebrow. ¡°You made a pill? I didn¡¯t think you cared much for pills.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t but the certainty of an agonizing death has a way of rearranging your priorities.¡±


    ¡°I expect it would. So, you¡¯re healed?¡±


    ¡°As far as it goes. It¡¯s probably more accurate to say that I¡¯m on track again. As long as I keep advancing along my body cultivation at the proper pace, I should be fine.¡±


    ¡°So, no more waiting until the last minute for the thrill of it?¡±


    Sen barked out a laugh. ¡°No more waiting until the last minute. I think I¡¯ve had more than enough of that.¡±


    An awkward silence descended over the two.


    ¡°I¡¯m still angry with you,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°I know.¡±


    ¡°I suppose you did have a lot on your plate with the looming death thing. I guess it wouldn¡¯t be appropriate to stab you.¡±


    ¡°Was that still on the table?¡±


    ¡°Stabbing you is always on the table.¡±


    ¡°That seems a little,¡± started Sen.


    ¡°Two years,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    Sen frowned and thought about it. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s probably fair. I was a little surprised to find you here.¡±


    ¡°Why? You gave me this house.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mean I¡¯m surprised you still have it. I meant I was surprised that you were physically here at the moment. I assumed I¡¯d find a servant I could leave a message with. I figured once you were rid of me that you¡¯d be off doing secret and possibly nefarious things for Master Feng.¡±


    A complicated expression that Sen couldn¡¯t begin to unravel came and went on Lo Meifeng¡¯s face.


    ¡°I¡¯m taking a break,¡± she said.


    Sen could tell that there was a lot more to it, but he didn¡¯t have the context to piece together exactly what she meant by that. He almost asked her about it, but changed his mind at the last second. If she wanted him to know, she¡¯d tell him. Instead, he cast around for something else to talk about.


    ¡°So, how are you keeping busy these days?¡±


    She shot him another glare. ¡°Mostly, I¡¯m still dealing with you problems.¡±


    ¡°What? How can you be dealing with me problems? I¡¯ve been gone for the better part of two years. Most of which I spent buried so far out in the wilds that almost no one could have found me.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d think so, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± said an annoyed Lo Meifeng. ¡°But your problems found their way to me all the same.¡±


    Sen rubbed his face with his hands. ¡°What is it? It wasn¡¯t the royals, was it? Chan Yu Ming?¡±


    ¡°Oh, your bitter ex-girlfriend came by more than once looking for a way to track you down.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s not my ex-girlfriend.¡±


    ¡°Sen, I¡¯m supremely confident that you are the only person who thinks that.¡±


    ¡°So, she¡¯s looking to kill me?¡±


    Lo Meifeng paused at that. ¡°You know, I¡¯m not sure if even she knows.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s fantastic. Anything else?¡±


    ¡°Well, just lately, someone named Zixin has been making himself supremely aggravating. Kept coming around and asking questions about you.¡±


    ¡°I knew I should have killed that guy. Falling Leaf told me to.¡±


    Lo Meifeng shook her head. ¡°Well, at least it¡¯s not just me that you don¡¯t listen to.¡±

 V5 Chapter 47 – Catching Up

    Sen briefly brooded about the missed opportunity to deal with Zixin but decided it was something he could put off for at least one more day. Based on what Lo Meifeng had told him, the guy had been coming around on an almost daily basis.


    ¡°Is that why the formations are active?¡± asked Sen in a flash of realization.


    ¡°It is,¡± said Lo Meifeng, her expression going dark. ¡°I keep hoping he¡¯ll get the message.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a little surprised that you haven¡¯t killed him,¡± noted Sen, standing up and walking over to the stove.


    He started pulling ingredients out and rummaging around for pots and pans.


    ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it, but the sects here don¡¯t like it when unaffiliated cultivators start murdering each other. I don¡¯t have a nascent soul sect matriarch lusting after me to keep the rank and file at bay.¡±


    Sen shot Lo Meifeng a dirty look. ¡°She isn¡¯t lusting after me.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Sure, she isn¡¯t.¡±


    After a little more fruitless searching, Sen gave Lo Meifeng an exasperated look. ¡°Don¡¯t you ever cook anything?¡±


    She blinked at him a few times and said, ¡°No. Have you ever seen me cook anything?¡±


    Sen thought back. Now that she said it, he couldn¡¯t really remember her ever cooking anything more complicated than some basic rice. Even that was only occasionally and usually only half edible. Shaking his head, Sen started pulling out the pots and pans he used to cook in camp. There wasn¡¯t anything wrong with them, but they¡¯d been chosen more for their durability than their quality. Still, he¡¯d cooked a lot of pretty good food in them, so he just went to work.


    ¡°You really should get some pots and pans. Even if you don¡¯t cook, you know that I do.¡±


    ¡°Well now that I know you aren¡¯t dead, I¡¯ll think about it,¡± she snapped in a waspish tone.


    Sen winced. ¡°I guess had that coming.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve got a lot more than that coming.¡±


    ¡°Well, maybe just save it up until after I finish cooking.¡±


    She looked from him to the piles of food he¡¯d pulled out and nodded. ¡°I suppose I don¡¯t want to distract you if you¡¯re cooking.¡±


    ¡°So, what have you been doing if you¡¯re not problem-solving for Master Feng?¡±


    Sen focused on chopping vegetables for a time before he looked over his shoulder at the silent Lo Meifeng. If he didn¡¯t know better, he¡¯d have thought that she looked almost sheepish. She noticed him looking at her and straightened up in her chair. She got an almost defiant look on her face.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been focusing on my cultivation.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen, a little surprised. ¡°Good for you.¡±


    ¡°No need to sound so surprised.¡±


    ¡°It just never seemed like a high priority for you.¡±


    ¡°Do you mean when I was chasing you across half the kingdom, or when we were fleeing for our lives from demonic cultivators? Or, maybe you meant when I was trying to figure out if you were going to get us all murdered by cultivator criminals.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t have a good answer to any of that, so he tried redirecting. ¡°So, tell me more about your cultivation efforts. Are they paying off?¡±


    Lo Meifeng sighed. ¡°I spent too much time around you. Watching you advance every other week made me feel like I was falling behind. It turns out, it¡¯s still a slow process for everyone who isn¡¯t you. Even doing it here.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, even doing it here?¡±


    ¡°The qi concentrating formation you set up. This house is probably the best place in the entire city to cultivate.¡±


    ¡°Right. I guess that makes sense. Remind me to fix those formations later.¡±


    ¡°Fix them? What¡¯s wrong with them?¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with them, exactly. They¡¯ll all function as designed. I¡¯ve just had some time to think about them. I did kind of throw them together in a rush.¡±


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    ¡°You were in a mad scramble to save your own life and learn how to refine pills, and you found time to think about these formations.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s less absurd than you might imagine. All I was doing was alchemy. It¡¯s a great way to learn, but there¡¯s a point where thinking more about something becomes counterproductive. You get stuck in the same lines of thought and stop having new insights. Thinking about something else, something completely unrelated, is helpful. Even if it¡¯s just for an hour or two. Doing that once or twice a week doesn¡¯t take anything away from what you¡¯re trying to learn, but it adds up over the course of a year.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a certain logic to that,¡± admitted Lo Meifeng. ¡°Do you really think can you make the formations around the house better?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, easy,¡± said Sen, throwing some meat into a pan that had a bit of hot oil in it. ¡°Seeing them active today helped. I spotted some of the places where they¡¯re not as efficient as they should be. It¡¯s always like that with rushed work.¡±


    ¡°They always looked pretty efficient to me.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s always room for improvement.¡±


    Sen focused on the pan and getting a good sear on the meat before he moved it to a plate. He dropped some of the chopped vegetables into the pan and tossed them a few times to get them coated with a bit of the oil. Lo Meifeng watched in interest as he let the vegetables finish cooking, added the meat back into the pan, and started adding in ingredients to make a thin sauce. Once he was satisfied with the sauce, he moved the pan off the heat. He dished up some rice onto plates he pulled from a storage ring and topped it with the vegetable and beef stir fry he¡¯d made. He handed one of the plates to Lo Meifeng before he sat back down at the table. He gave Lo Meifeng a bemused look as she took a deep breath through her nose.


    ¡°I forgot that you¡¯re this good at cooking,¡± she muttered. ¡°I guess I will have to get those pots and pans if you¡¯re not making fresh plans to run off and die.¡±


    Sen snorted around a mouthful of food and shook his head. ¡°No plans to run off and die that I¡¯m aware of. I¡¯ve got other plans and some annoying responsibilities, but no dying for me.¡±


    The two lapsed into silence as they ate. Sen wondered what, if anything, he should do about Zixin. He didn¡¯t appreciate the man coming around and bothering one of his friends or trying to get more information. At the same, he hadn¡¯t come to the capital to make noise or get noticed. He had brought this annoyance down on Lo Meifeng¡¯s head, however unintentionally, so he felt like he ought to do something about it. He waited until she finished eating before he brought it up again.


    ¡°Do you want me to do something about that Zixin guy?¡±


    Lo Meifeng smirked at him. ¡°Are you offering to kill him for me?¡±


    Sen waggled a hand in the air. ¡°I guess I could. I was more thinking that I¡¯d threaten to kill him slowly if he ever bothered you again and see if he took it seriously. Go from there.¡±


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s the more reasonable plan. It might have a bit more weight if it comes from you.¡±


    ¡°He clearly doesn¡¯t understand who he¡¯s dealing with if he thinks that I¡¯m more dangerous than you are.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s one of the benefits of being unbelievably loud when you decide to make a statement. People pay more attention when you threaten them.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not that loud.¡±


    Lo Meifeng gave Sen a decidedly flat stare. ¡°Oh really?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not always that loud.¡±


    Lo Meifeng shook her head and held out her plate. ¡°More please.¡±


    Sen loaded up her dish with another serving. ¡°Glad you¡¯re enjoying it.¡±


    ¡°I usually need to go find a restaurant to get a real meal. Not that I have to eat that often, but it¡¯s still nice to have someone cook for me here.¡±


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you hire someone for that? I mean, I left money for that.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t stand the idea of some stranger being here all the time.¡±


    ¡°You stayed in inns all the time,¡± objected Sen.


    ¡°Yeah, but you know there are going to be strangers there. You also know you¡¯re going to leave. I live here. It¡¯s different.¡±


    Sen mulled that over before shrugging. ¡°It¡¯s your home. You should be comfortable.¡±


    ¡°So, what are you doing here? I am happy to see you, but I have been wondering.¡±


    ¡°I wanted to pass along a message to Master Feng, Uncle Kho, and Auntie Caihong. I figured you were my best bet for pulling that off. Then, it¡¯s off to see the stupid turtle.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going back to that beach?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the plan,¡± said Sen, before scooping a bit more food into his mouth.


    ¡°Does that seem wise? I mean, it¡¯s not like it worked out all that great for you last time.¡±


    ¡°I have it on good authority that not going back will be worse than just going. If I decide to go, I can at least control the timing.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but should you go when you¡¯re this angry about it?¡± asked Lo Meifeng.


    Sen hadn¡¯t even realized that he was scowling. He made a conscious effort to smooth his features.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe not. But I don¡¯t want a divine turtle showing up to have a chat when I¡¯m in the middle of some crisis.¡±


    ¡°Are you planning a crisis?¡±


    ¡°Does it matter if I¡¯m not planning on one?¡±


    ¡°I suppose it doesn¡¯t. One will just show up to find you if you don¡¯t find it first,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°That does seem to be the pattern. I¡¯m crisis-free at present, though. While it¡¯s not ideal in terms of how angry I am, it¡¯s the best time to do it. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to be any less angry at that turtle in a year or five. So, why put it off?¡±


    ¡°As long as you¡¯re sure,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°Are you planning on seeing any of your royal friends while you¡¯re here?¡±


    Sen shook his head almost violently. ¡°That seems like a decidedly bad idea. Especially if Chan Yu Ming is still around. I''m not here for a fight with anyone. Well, except maybe with that Zixin guy. I might need to fight with him if he insists on being an idiot.¡±


    ¡°I have to be honest. This all feels kind of surreal. You¡¯re making sensible choices. Actively avoiding unnecessary fights. Are you feeling well, Sen?¡±


    ¡°Oh, ha, ha. You¡¯re living the quiet life. Are you feeling well?¡±


    Lo Meifeng let out a musical laugh. ¡°That¡¯s a fair point.¡±


    Sen went to ask a question when he heard a sound he very much didn¡¯t want to hear from outside. Lo Meifeng frowned at him before she cocked her head to one side.


    ¡°What¡¯s the noise?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Unless I miss my guess,¡± said Sen with a sigh, ¡°it¡¯s that crisis I wasn¡¯t planning on having.¡±

 V5 Chapter 48 – Deferred Anger

    ¡°You should stay inside for this,¡± said Sen as he stood from the table.


    ¡°Why?¡± asked Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Because whatever trouble is out there, it¡¯s not here for you. No point in dragging you into my problems any deeper.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°I don¡¯t plan to get involved. I just plan on watching.¡±


    Sen gave her a look. ¡°Watching?¡±


    ¡°Well, I have to assume that someone has made some catastrophic misjudgment about you. It should be entertaining to watch you correct that.¡±


    ¡°Suit yourself,¡± said Sen as he walked over to the door and stepped outside onto the porch.


    Sen hadn¡¯t been entirely sure what to expect when he walked out the door, so he wasn¡¯t really surprised by what he saw. Chan Yu Ming was standing out in the street, flanked by half a dozen people. A swift scan revealed them to all be middle core formation or higher, although there were no nascent soul cultivators in the mix. Sen gave them all a thoughtful look. There was one incredibly bulky man who had an eager, arrogant expression on his face as if he was certain that Sen¡¯s reputation was all talk and no action. The others looked warier, ever nervous, but Sen let his gaze settle on the face of Chan Yu Ming. She was glaring at him, her fists clenched at her side.


    ¡°Did you really think you could come back here and not have to face me?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you mean you and your six friends?¡± asked Sen his tone indifferent.


    ¡°I know what you can do. I¡¯m not stupid enough to fight you alone.¡±


    Sen let his eyes sweep over the people Chan Yu Ming had hired, cajoled, or otherwise convinced to come with her on this little mission. He lifted an eyebrow.


    ¡°Apparently, you are, if this is the best you could do. I suggest you go home, think this through, and find some more people.¡±


    ¡°You are nothing!¡± bellowed the bulky guy. ¡°I am¡­¡±


    Sen chose that moment to move. He activated his qinggong technique, all but ignored the intervening distance, and smoothly drove his fist through the huge man¡¯s chest. Sen was back where he started before anyone could blink. The sound of the bulky man collapsing to the ground drew the attention of Chan Yu Ming and the other people standing with her. They stared at the gaping bloody hole in the man¡¯s torso, then turned to stare at Sen¡¯s arm. The arm in question was covered to the elbow in the man¡¯s blood. Sen waited until they were all focused on him before he flicked his arm and used a bit of air qi to send the blood in a spray that landed at the feet of the assembled cultivators. They all took a step back, looking pale and shaken. Sen unleashed his killing intent on the five lackeys. Two dropped to their knees, one ran away, and the last two started screaming in naked terror. While all of that was going on, Sen never looked away from Chan Yu Ming.


    Sen debated if he should kill the cultivators. They had come to kill him. It would send a clear message. Then again, aside from the one he¡¯d already killed, none of the others had seemed all that invested in the fight. It looked more like Chan Yu Ming had called in some favors and maybe hired a mercenary or two. This wasn¡¯t some organization that he needed to leave terrified. They were just individuals. Killing them wouldn¡¯t serve any purpose other than expressing his annoyance at them for bothering him. That might make him feel a little better, but it wasn¡¯t a good enough reason for them all to die. He withdrew his killing intent.


    ¡°Leave. Now,¡± Sen commanded.


    The two semi-coherent cultivators seized the ones who had been screaming and dragged them at speed, no longer interested in anything that had to do with Sen. He watched them for long enough that he was sure they weren¡¯t going to double back before he started walking toward Chan Yu Ming. She didn¡¯t precisely flinch when he looked at her, but her whole body leaned back like she¡¯d been caught in a powerful wind. The closer he got to her, the wider her eyes grew. He stopped closing the distance when he stepped outside of the active formations. Sen gave her an expectant look.


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    ¡°Well?¡± he asked. ¡°I assume you came here to fight. Shall we take it beyond the city walls? I¡¯m not interested in killing a bunch of civilians just so you can get this out of your system.¡±


    ¡°You murdered my father!¡± she screamed at him.


    ¡°No. I didn¡¯t. But make no mistake,¡± said Sen, his voice and expression going devoid of any human emotion, ¡°I would have slit his throat without a second thought because he had it coming, and you know it.¡±


    The noise that Chan Yu Ming made was less a human scream than a howl of animal fury. She charged at Sen, drawing her jian and slashing at him with it. There had been a time when the pair had been more or less evenly matched, assuming Sen stuck purely to swordsmanship. Since his advancement in both body cultivation and solidifying a new layer to his core, that balance had shifted dramatically in his favor. That was something that he was happy about because Sen didn¡¯t want to kill her. He¡¯d had some time to think about how she might see things. While Sen didn¡¯t have parents, he did have Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho. He had heard stories about them. While none of them had done things that compared in sheer disgusting awfulness to what Chan Yu Ming¡¯s father had done, they had all left rivers of corpses in their wake.


    Given how many mistakes Sen himself had made, he had to assume that they had all made mistakes in their early days, killed people they shouldn¡¯t have, and left more than one loved one with a thirst for vengeance. Their ascent to the heights of the nascent soul stage had insulated them in all practical ways from anyone actually taking that vengeance. Yet, Sen had still considered how he would have felt if someone did manage to kill one of them. He¡¯d asked himself if he would care why they¡¯d done it. The answer was no. He wouldn¡¯t care why. He wouldn¡¯t even ask why. He¡¯d just start planning his own vengeance. Sen recognized that these were the exact patterns that created blood feuds, but he also knew he wouldn¡¯t care about that either. If someone took Master Feng, Uncle Kho, or Auntie Caihong from him, there would be no peace. If it took a hundred years, or a thousand, he would hunt them down. Knowing those things about himself, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to hold Chan Yu Ming¡¯s rage against her. He wouldn¡¯t just let her kill him, but he wasn¡¯t going to deprive her of life if he could avoid it. And, he could avoid it.


    All of that time he¡¯d spent focusing on unarmed combat served him well as he stepped, slid, bent, and twisted out of the way of Chan Yu Ming¡¯s attacks. He never struck back, just moved himself out of the way, his hands calmly clasped behind his back. Sometimes she missed by inches and sometimes by barely a hair, but she always missed. Sen watched the frustration mounting in her face as she realized that her hard-won skills with the jian weren¡¯t enough to even wound him, let alone kill him. The attacks became wilder, less controlled, and less effective as she tried to replace skill with speed and brute force. He felt her qi swirl and adopted a similar defensive stance.


    She tried to split him open with water blades or run him through with hardened water spears. He deflected the attacks, taking care to drive them down into the street, up into the air, or into the defensive formations protecting Lo Meifeng¡¯s home. While she might not care at the moment, Sen knew Chan Yu Ming well enough to know that she would care a great deal afterward if she killed innocents in her bid to kill him. She was driven by fury at him, not indifference toward life. The failure of those attacks to reach him seemed to drive the woman to the point of true madness.


    ¡°Why won¡¯t you fight me, you bastard!¡±


    She threw herself at him, abandoning any pretense of defense, and putting it all into a thrust meant to drive the blade through his heart. Realizing that he needed to put a stop to this fight before Chan Yu Ming did something that he couldn¡¯t protect the innocents from, he stood his ground. As the jian lanced toward his heart, he reached out and grabbed the blade, stopping its forward momentum between one heartbeat and the next. He used his enhanced speed to seize her hand and pull it away from the hilt of the sword. While she wouldn¡¯t have had time to even realize it, Sen knew her forward motion would have slid her unprotected hand along the razor edge of the blade. Instead, her body crashed against his and was thrown back.


    She lay on the ground in a daze for a second or two before her senses came back to her. She looked around with wild eyes for her jian before she saw it still grasped in Sen¡¯s immutable grip. For a moment, she simply gazed up at the blade in disbelief before she seemed to collapse in on herself, a look of utter despair on her face. While Sen was well aware that his skills with other people were lopsided, at best, even he knew that there was nothing that he could do in that moment that wouldn¡¯t make it worse. As he looked on, helpless, Chan Yu Ming broke down into sobs of anguish and grief that Sen suspected had been held at bay since the day her father died. He felt it as Lo Meifeng came to stand next to him. He looked over at her. Lo Meifeng¡¯s attention was on the princess and the expression she wore wasn¡¯t compassionate, but he thought he saw a little understanding there. He silently held out the jian. Lo Meifeng plucked the blade from his hand.


    ¡°Go find something to do,¡± she told him. ¡°I¡¯ll see to this.¡±

 V5 Chapter 49 – Formation Flags

    Sen had mixed feelings about leaving Chan Yu Ming to Lo Meifeng¡¯s dubious mercy. While Lo Meifeng didn¡¯t have any particular malice toward the other woman that Sen knew about, she also wasn¡¯t the sort who needed any particular malice. Staying wasn¡¯t an option, though. Unless he wanted to put an end to Chan Yu Ming, which he was mostly certain he didn¡¯t, staying could only complicate matters. With a shallow nod, he left the two women and the corpse of the bulky guy with a big mouth behind. He didn¡¯t have any particular destination in mind, but he supposed he didn¡¯t need a particular destination. The city was so vast and filled with businesses that he wouldn¡¯t have to travel far to find something to occupy his time. He spent a little time at a tea shop simply to give himself a little break from everything.


    After that, he remembered something that he had meant to do the last time he was in the city that had never happened. He tracked down an alchemy shop and traded a few of what he considered lesser healing elixirs for some information about where he might find formation flags. He had gotten the ones he had from Uncle Kho and more than a few had been damaged over the intervening years. While Sen thought that he could probably make them himself, it seemed more prudent to get them from someone who specialized in them more than he did. It turned out to be a practical decision. While he could approach any of the sects for such an essential cultivation tool, he wanted to avoid doing so.


    Passing through for a day or two without stopping in would likely be shrugged off. The nascent soul cultivators in charge would assume that he had pressing business, which was mostly true. If he showed up at any of the sects, however, he would have to be greeted, formally acknowledged, and endure days of meals and meetings he would rather avoid. If nothing else, their leadership would want to know about his progress and would no doubt press their cases to be told the whereabouts of Fu Ruolan. Even with the reputation for madness that the woman had carefully built, there would always be those who would want to send promising students her way. Sen knew that she would not thank him for revealing her location. Given that he still owed her several years of his time, he¡¯d prefer that she not be angry with him that entire time. If nothing else, it would make for a terribly tense learning experience.


    Fortunately, the sects weren¡¯t the only sources for formation flags. It turned out that there were a few independent cultivators who lived outside the walls proper of the city who tread a careful path of mutual benefit with the sects. They were people like Sen himself and most successful alchemists, those who had specific and useful skills, but also those who had no interest in dealing with the expectations of sect membership. Instead, the independents traded their specialized products with the sects to acquire cultivation resources. While the alchemist told stories of the sects occasionally pressuring the independent cultivators to join, it was largely frowned on and actively discouraged. After all, every sect could benefit from a talented cultivator with no specific sect ties. That was particularly true in the case of those with crafting skills. As often as not, Sen suspected, only the largest sects could actually provide enough work to justify having someone who specialized in something like making formation flags or formation plates. For smaller sects, having someone who just took orders would prove far more useful.


    That was how Sen found himself passing back through a gate and into one of the adjacent communities. It didn¡¯t take him long to find the home of the cultivator, although he was a little surprised to discover that the man had no actual formations protecting his home. It seemed a strange oversight for someone who made formation flags. Shrugging at the minor oddity, Sen approached the house and knocked politely at the front door. At the last second, he remembered to summon a bottle of wine from his storage ring. It was perilously close to time for the evening meal, so it wouldn¡¯t do to show up empty-handed. The door opened and a gray-haired woman eyed him critically.


    ¡°You sect boys get prettier every year,¡± said the woman.


    Sen could tell that she was a cultivator, but only in the late formation foundation stage. Judging by her gray hair, she had been there for a very long time. He gave her a shallow bow.


    ¡°I¡¯m not from any of the sects,¡± said Sen. ¡°I am but a humble wandering cultivator in search of formation flags.¡±


    The woman frowned at him. ¡°Humble wandering cultivator? Well, one of those three things are true. You¡¯re certainly a cultivator.¡±


    Despite himself, Sen found himself rather enjoying the woman¡¯s complete disregard for his advancement. Everything about her expression and body language said that she¡¯d seen his like before and found them all lacking. He smiled and presented her the bottle. She took it and did a double-take. He hadn¡¯t bought the cheap stuff.


    ¡°Well, at least someone brought you up right,¡± said the woman, standing aside and waving him inside.


    He stepped inside the house and waited while the woman decided what she wanted to do next. It turned out that she felt some rules of hospitality were in order because she made them tea and even summoned a plate of small cakes that tasted of citrus and berries. Sen made appreciative noises at the cakes. It wasn¡¯t long after that the man Sen had come to see stepped through a door and found his wife and Sen talking animatedly about cooking and baking. Rather than interrupt, the man simply sat down at the table, poured himself a cup of tea, and listened to the other two talk. He gave the pair of them an amused, indulgent smile while he ate one of the few cakes that had survived Sen¡¯s enthusiasm for their flavor. The woman eventually looked over and sighed.


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    ¡°This young man needs some formation flags. Don¡¯t be slow about it. He has actual important things to talk to me about,¡± she announced.


    ¡°Of course, dearest,¡± said the man, his eyes crinkling at the corners. ¡°I am Tan Lin. You¡¯ve already met my wife, Ung Wen. And who might you be?¡±


    Sen gave the man an abbreviated sitting bow. ¡°I am Lu Sen, wandering cultivator.¡±


    Tan Lin stiffened in his chair as though the name itself had given him a bad shock. ¡°Lu Sen, you say? You aren¡¯t also known as Judgment¡¯s Gale, are you?¡±


    Sen did his best to hide the weariness that the mere mention of that name caused him. It always seemed to cause trouble whenever anyone identified him that way.


    ¡°I am sometimes called that.¡±


    An expression that wasn¡¯t quite fear crossed Tan Lin¡¯s face. Sen thought for sure that the man would ask him to leave when Ung Wen came to his rescue.


    ¡°Oh, stop that. He¡¯s been perfectly polite since the moment he arrived. He even brought us wine. I doubt he brings expensive wine to people he means to harm.¡±


    Sen gave the woman a big smile. ¡°That¡¯s very true. I really just came for formation flags. I was told that you make the best ones.¡±


    Tan Lin relaxed a little at those words. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about the best, but my flags are quite good.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him,¡± said Ung Wen with a dismissive gesture. ¡°He¡¯s just worried people will think he¡¯s getting above himself.¡±


    Sen nodded along with a serious expression. He thought that Tan Lin probably had the right approach if sect members came looking for formation flags, but he wasn¡¯t going to say it out loud. Tan Lin leaned in and studied Sen for a moment.


    ¡°I thought you¡¯d look a bit more seasoned with all the stories about you.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t help what people say,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°No one can, except maybe the king.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve met Jing. He¡¯s a kind man. He¡¯d never concern himself with something like that.¡±


    ¡°Humble wandering cultivator,¡± said Ung Wen. ¡°Yes, I can see it so much more clearly now.¡±


    Sen laughed. ¡°Well, I truly am a wandering cultivator.¡±


    Tan Lin shook his head. ¡°Come along and let¡¯s see about getting you some formation flags. Assuming I have anything that suits your needs.¡±


    Sen followed the man outside. Evening had fallen over the landscape and the chill air of the day had turned to a much sharper cold that would likely have driven most mortals indoors. Tan Lin led Sen to a small barn-like structure, pulled open a door, and gestured Sen inside. Sen could feel the qi in the air, much of it radiating off of benches and tables where he could see piles of formation flags in various stages of completion.


    ¡°Can I see what you¡¯ve been working with?¡± asked Tan Lin.


    Sen produced a few of the undamaged formation flags from his storage ring and handed them over. Tan Lin carried them over to a bench and spread them out in front of him. He started talking under his breath in a tone that suggested he liked what he was seeing.


    ¡°Who made these for you?¡± asked Tan Lin.


    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know. I got them from the man who taught me about formations. He might have made them, but I never thought to ask.¡±


    ¡°Well, these are excellent quality. Not quite the way I would have made them, but that¡¯s more of a matter of style than anything else. This is a very traditional approach. Solid qi conduction without favoring a particular kind of qi. Some of it has to do with the material itself. This is a kind of treated spirit boar hide. It¡¯s not quite a leather, but it¡¯s close. Again, very traditional. Harder to come by these days, but it holds up well if you can get it. You should ask your teacher where they got these to see if you can get some more of them. I don¡¯t have anything quite like these, but I should have some things that will see you through well enough. Assuming you can afford it.¡±


    Tan Lin said the last without any bias in his voice. It was just a statement of fact. Before Sen addressed that issue, though, he had a different question.


    ¡°If you had the right materials, could you make formation flags like the ones I¡¯m already using?¡±


    Tan Lin looked up from the bench. ¡°Sure, I could, but they¡¯d cost you a small fortune. Like I said, the materials are hard to come by. Probably take a while too. I have flags I can sell you right now that would cost you a lot less and perform close to as well.¡±


    Sen summoned a bag of taels and tossed it onto the bench. ¡°Is that enough to get what you need?¡±


    Tan Lin¡¯s gaze moved slowly from Sen¡¯s face to the bag of money. He reached over, opened the bag, and looked inside. His eyes bulged and he hastily closed the bag, as if afraid that someone might see the money through the walls of the barn workshop.


    ¡°Yes,¡± choked the man. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s more than enough.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± said Sen. ¡°I do still need some replacements in the meantime. So, what do you recommend?¡±


    It took Tan Lin a few minutes to get over the shock of seeing all of that money in one place, but he eventually put together a stack of formation flags for Sen¡¯s inspection. Sen made a few small formations just to test the flags. They weren¡¯t quite as good as the ones he was using, but he was pretty sure he could make up the difference as long as he assembled the formations with care. He nodded and stored the flags in one of his rings.


    ¡°How long to make the new flags?¡± he asked. ¡°I¡¯ll be gone for a few months, so I¡¯m just trying to decide if I should stop on the way back through.¡±


    Tan Lin frowned hard. ¡°Six months to a year at the earliest. It¡¯d be faster if this was all I was working on, but I have existing orders. Plus, I have to find someone to get the materials to me¡­¡±


    Sen waved off the explanation he was sure was about to happen. ¡°That¡¯s fine. It takes however long it takes.¡±


    Tan Lin looked grateful. ¡°I wish all of my customers were that understanding.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m an alchemist. I understand better than most that nothing good comes from rushing the work.¡±


    Tan Lin went still and a hungry look entered his eyes. ¡°An alchemist. How good of an alchemist are you?¡±


    Sen thought about it for a moment. How good am I, really?


    ¡°I¡¯m very, very good.¡±


    The formation flag maker looked at the bag of money. He let out a resigned sigh before he looked at Sen.


    ¡°I have an idea for a different kind of bargain.¡±

 V5 Chapter 50 – Sen Problems

    Lo Meifeng watched Sen wander off to do whatever he was going to do and hoped it wouldn¡¯t involve anything showy. Not that he usually went out looking to do things that drew attention unless someone made him very angry or picked a fight. Unfortunately, there didn¡¯t seem to be any lack of people ready to pick a fight with him, which she found perplexing. When left to his own devices, Sen was generally an affable person. Still, she had another Sen problem to deal with in the form of a weeping princess. She¡¯d sort of thought she was done with Sen problems when he went off to find an insane nascent soul cultivator in a final, desperate bid to get that manual he needed. On some level, she knew she shouldn¡¯t be surprised that he¡¯d actually done it. She¡¯d seen him do one impossible thing after the next, but that had seemed like one impossibility too many.


    Then, the bastard showed up like nothing had happened and barely a day had passed. She wished she hadn¡¯t kicked him because it had been such a juvenile thing to do. If only it hadn¡¯t been such an immensely satisfying juvenile thing to do. She was going to cherish the look of total shock that had been on his face for the rest of her life. Sighing, she turned her attention to Chan Yu Ming. The smart thing to do would be to just kill the girl and be done with it. Sen had made it pretty clear he wasn¡¯t going to do it. The idiot. But she¡¯d been on the receiving end of his cold fury before, and it wasn¡¯t an experience she was in any hurry to repeat. I guess I¡¯ll have to do this the hard way, she thought. She nudged the princess with her foot. The girl looked up at her with a tear-streaked face.


    ¡°You¡¯re making a spectacle of yourself out here,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°Come inside if you plan to keep doing that.¡±


    Turning back to her home, she turned the formations back to their passive state and went inside. She left the door open. The princess would either come in or she wouldn¡¯t. Lo Meifeng gave the leftover food a longing look before she set about to make fresh tea. She cleared the table and sat down. Lo Meifeng estimated that there was a fifty-fifty chance that Chan Yu Ming would come inside. The young woman slunk into the house and closed the door. Damn, thought Lo Meifeng. She¡¯d rather hoped that the girl would slink off to somewhere else.


    ¡°In here,¡± called Lo Meifeng.


    Chan Yu Ming came into the room. She¡¯d clearly made an effort to clean herself up a little, although there was still a bit of puffiness and redness around the girl¡¯s eyes that her cultivator constitution hadn¡¯t had a chance to deal with yet. Lo Meifeng slid a cup across the table and gestured at a chair.


    ¡°You may as well sit.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming hesitated and looked around before she finally sat down. ¡°Where¡¯s Sen?¡±


    Lo Meifeng resisted the urge to strangle the girl. Of course, that¡¯s the first thing she wants to know.


    ¡°He¡¯s not here. Can you blame him?¡±


    Chan Yu Ming worked very hard not to make eye contact and slowly lifted the cup to her lips. Lo Meifeng didn¡¯t want to have this conversation, so she was content to let it wait a little longer. What is it with Sen and his terrible relationship decisions? Lo Meifeng sipped at her own tea and watched Chan Yu Ming get more and more uncomfortable. Suppressing another sigh, she broke the silence.


    ¡°So, did you get what you wanted from that exercise in futility?¡±


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    ¡°Of course, I didn¡¯t. He¡¯s still breathing, isn¡¯t he?¡±


    ¡°Oh please. You knew that was going to happen before you ever showed up here. You didn¡¯t stand a real chance against him before he went off and found another nascent soul cultivator to be his teacher. The only question was whether or not he was going to kill you. So, relieved or disappointed?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± asked Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°Are you relieved he didn¡¯t kill you or disappointed by his restraint? In case you don¡¯t know, I¡¯m in the disappointed camp.¡±


    ¡°He killed my father.¡±


    ¡°You keep saying that. Do you think that if you say it often enough it¡¯ll magically become true?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s his fault.¡±


    ¡°Is it? The way I recall events, he refused to let you come with us. Then, he told you that your plan was bad. He tried to say no to you over and over again. In fact, the only reason he got involved at all was his trivial desire to not die. Despite your many promises, you didn¡¯t help him with that at all.¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t like that. He¡­¡± started Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°He what? Got you out of that engagement you didn¡¯t want? Exposed the king as an evil bastard who liked to rape and kill children? Saw to it that your brother, a man who wouldn¡¯t sell you to the highest bidder, assumed the throne? Yeah, Sen really did you one bad turn after another. Oh, and while he was at it, he singlehandedly removed a cultivator criminal organization that no one else in the city could or would take on.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re twisting things all around!¡±


    ¡°Okay. Explain it to me. How am I twisting things all around? What truly happened?¡±


    Chan Yu Ming¡¯s mouth worked several times without any noises coming out. Lo Meifeng was actually interested to see if the princess had even bothered justifying all of this craziness to herself.


    ¡°He didn¡¯t have to do it the way he did.¡±


    ¡°Seriously? That¡¯s what all this is about? You don¡¯t like the way he handled it? No offense, princess, but what in the thousand hells did you expect him to do? You saw what he did back in Inferno¡¯s Vale. You heard the stories about him. No, this was about something else. You¡¯re not this stupid.¡±


    ¡°He left!¡± shouted Chan Yu Ming. ¡°He left me here alone!¡±


    Lo Meifeng calmly reached across the table and slapped Chan Yu Ming across the face. Hard. The princess stared at Lo Meifeng in shock.


    ¡°He didn¡¯t leave you. He left because he was dying and there was no one here that could help him. You know that. Besides, you¡¯re in no position to have any expectations about him. Especially after what you did.¡±


    ¡°What I did?"


    ¡°You promised him help. The only thing you did was waste time he didn¡¯t have to waste. The fact that he didn¡¯t kill you two years ago remains completely mysterious to me. I would have killed you. Just about any cultivator would have killed you in those circumstances. Sometimes, he has more compassion than he should.¡±


    ¡°Of course, you¡¯d defend him. You¡¯re in love with him.¡±


    Lo Meifeng kept her face rigidly neutral. ¡°We aren¡¯t talking about me.¡±


    ¡°Did you think it was a secret? It¡¯s written all over you.¡±


    ¡°Says the woman who was so heartbroken he left that she brought people to try to kill him.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have to listen to this,¡± said Chan Yu Ming standing up in a huff.


    ¡°You also don¡¯t need to leave this room alive,¡± said Lo Meifeng in a supremely calm voice. ¡°Now, sit.¡±


    Chan Yu Ming studied Lo Meifeng¡¯s face. Then, she slowly sat back down in her chair.


    ¡°You mean to kill me?¡± asked the princess.


    ¡°Sen doesn¡¯t want to kill you. I think he feels bad about how things went for your family. It¡¯s skewed his perspective. As for me¡­ I¡¯m indifferent to your survival. Now, you can do what you should have done from the start and talk to him. You can also leave him alone. Those are your options.¡±


    ¡°Or you¡¯ll kill me? You really think you can?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Lo Meifeng with the kind of absolute assurance that only comes from knowing a thing is true.


    Chan Yu Ming sat very still for nearly a minute before she nodded her understanding. She rose from the table and started toward the door.


    ¡°Princess,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°You should pray that you¡¯re wrong about me.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡± asked Chan Yu Ming.


    ¡°If I was in love with him and someone did the things you¡¯ve done, what do you imagine I would do to you before I finally let you die?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯d never forgive you,¡± said Chan Yu Ming, her eyes wide.


    ¡°He¡¯d never find out.¡±

 V5 Chapter 51 – Not Funny

    Sen left the home of Tan Lin and Ung Wen feeling much more thoughtful than he ever would have expected. He¡¯d been of a mind to make a simple deal and get some formation flags. Instead, he¡¯d left with a challenge. He was relatively confident that he could meet the challenge. At least, he thought he could if Fu Ruolan had the right resources available. Tan Lin had been willing to make the formation flags that Sen wanted in exchange for a pill that would help his wife break through. Sen had immediately rejected that idea. Sen was willing to make the pill. He actually liked the idea of taking on a commission like that. It¡¯d be like his days making elixirs back in that village. What he wasn¡¯t interested in doing was helping Ung Wen break through to core formation just to leave the pair penniless. Given that Tan Lin was also seemingly trapped at the cusp of core formation, Sen had offered them a different bargain. Something that stood to benefit all of them. Knowing that he was going to be using formations possibly for centuries or even thousands of years, Sen wanted someone who could initially act as a regular supplier for him.


    In the long run, though, he wanted to learn how to make the flags if he could. There was, of course, no guarantee that was possible. While Sen had a lot of confidence in himself, he also knew that not everyone could learn how to do everything to the same level of competence. For all of the time and money that Fu Ruolan had poured into learning alchemy, she wasn¡¯t a match for Auntie Caihong. She wasn¡¯t even really a match for Sen¡¯s raw talent. However, he was under no illusion that he could match the raw scope of her knowledge about plants, reagents, or traditional alchemical techniques. While he could do things that she couldn¡¯t, the reverse was also true. He was utterly, almost hilariously hopeless in using the techniques that most alchemists considered essential. If he could master the techniques used in creating formation flags, though, it would be an invaluable skill for the rest of his life. Sen was more than happy to craft something that would help them both break through in exchange for a ready supplier and, when Sen¡¯s time was his own again, instruction.


    It was with those thoughts swirling around in his head that he made his way back to Lo Meifeng¡¯s home. He noticed that the formations were in their passive state, but didn¡¯t give it much thought. A knock on the door brought Lo Meifeng, who just gave him an exasperated look.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to knock,¡± she said. ¡°This place belongs to you more than it ever belonged to me.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°I gave it to you. It¡¯s yours. Besides, I wouldn¡¯t want to walk in on anything that you might consider embarrassing.¡±


    Lo Meifeng lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Such as?¡±


    Sen stumbled mentally at that question.


    ¡°You know,¡± he said.


    ¡°Know what?¡± she asked, the picture of perplexed innocence.


    ¡°You might have a guest,¡± said Sen, feeling off-balance.


    ¡°Why would that embarrass me?¡±


    Sen started to answer when he realized what was happening. She was having fun at his expense. He had to admit that she¡¯d done it so nonchalantly that he hadn¡¯t seen it coming. Sen decided he might as well try to turn the tables.


    ¡°I just thought you might not enjoy it if I walked in while you were in the throes of passion and screaming your lover¡¯s name.¡±


    Lo Meifeng didn¡¯t miss a beat. ¡°Whatever gave you the impression that I¡¯d be the one screaming someone¡¯s name.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t have a good answer for that. Lo Meifeng turned and walked back into the house with a look of triumph on her face. Sen followed her in and closed the door. What¡¯s with her today? He found her lounging on a small mat and sipping something that his enhanced senses told him was alcoholic. He settled on another mat and leaned his head back against the wall. A quick scan of the house with his spiritual sense told him that they were alone. He went back and forth in his head before he finally asked the question he always knew he would ask.


    ¡°What happened with Chan Yu Ming?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I killed her,¡± said Lo Meifeng with a negligent motion of her hand.


    Sen felt his mouth drop open as he stared at the woman. He¡¯d been a little apprehensive about leaving Chan Yu Ming with Lo Meifeng. He¡¯d even casually considered the idea that she might do something to the princess, but he¡¯d dismissed it. She¡¯d avoided killing that Zixin guy because she said she didn¡¯t want trouble from the local sects. Killing Chan Yu Ming would bring a whole different kind of trouble to her door.


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    ¡°You killed her! Why?¡±


    Lo Meifeng rolled her eyes. ¡°Oh, she just kept crying and wailing about her father. It got tedious.¡±


    Sen couldn¡¯t figure out if he was angry, horrified, stunned, or all of them at the same time. He¡¯d known he couldn¡¯t do anything useful, but he¡¯d just assumed that Lo Meifeng would send the princess on her way if she became too annoying. He¡¯d never really considered that Lo Meifeng would just murder the girl, especially not for something as trivial as being tedious. He felt himself about to explode with some emotion when Lo Meifeng burst into hysterical laughter. He found himself staring at her again. She pointed at him.


    ¡°Your face!¡±


    Sen closed his eyes and took several deep breaths while he tried to figure out exactly how he felt now that he¡¯d had the rug pulled out from him. That just seemed to set off even more laughter from Lo Meifeng. He opened his eyes and glared at her. She had one arm across her stomach and had set her cup down, apparently not trusting she could keep it steady.


    ¡°Not funny!¡±


    The woman started waving her hand at him as she gasped for breath. He wasn¡¯t sure what the waving hand meant. It could mean that she wanted him to stop talking. It could just as easily be her brushing away his comment.


    ¡°I¡¯m serious,¡± he said. ¡°That wasn¡¯t funny.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she gasped. ¡°It was hilarious. The look,¡± she wheezed, ¡°on your face.¡±


    ¡°Why would you even say that?¡± he demanded.


    The truth became self-evident after he gave it even a second of thought. She was still punishing him for letting her wonder if he was alive or dead for two years. He didn¡¯t think that this little stunt was the best way to express her lingering anger at him. It was just mean. And he still wasn¡¯t sure that she was joking.


    ¡°So, she¡¯s not dead.¡±


    Lo Meifeng managed to get her evil cackling under control. Okay, Sen admitted to himself, it isn¡¯t actually evil cackling. Probably. Lo Meifeng took a couple of deep breaths.


    ¡°No. I didn¡¯t kill her. I told her some things she didn¡¯t want to hear and sent her on her way.¡±


    ¡°Things she didn¡¯t want to hear? Like what?¡±


    ¡°That she was acting like an entitled brat, mostly. That she got everything she asked you for and didn¡¯t hold up her end of literally anything.¡±


    Sen felt like he ought to protest that description, but it was accurate. Sen had just written the whole thing off as another learning experience about not getting involved with mortal politics and nobility. Still, Lo Meifeng sort of had a point. Chan Yu Ming had promised him that manual, and he¡¯d still had to go off and find a copy for himself.


    ¡°She¡¯s not evil,¡± said Sen, even though he wasn¡¯t sure why he said it.


    Lo Meifeng gave him another look. ¡°Maybe, but that¡¯s no assurance that she won¡¯t make more stupid decisions that could eventually get you killed. It was six people this time. It might be double that next time. You can¡¯t just let her get away with this nonsense because you feel bad.¡±


    Sen leaned his head back against a wall. ¡°That¡¯s not why I did it.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh.¡±


    ¡°Alright. Fine. It¡¯s not the entire reason I did it. Do you know how many people I¡¯ve killed?¡±


    Lo Meifeng sat up a little straighter and her expression became more serious. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Neither do I. I knew when I left that mountain that I¡¯d probably have to kill, but I never imagined it would be so many. I mean, I¡¯ve only been a wandering cultivator for a handful of years, and I¡¯ve already lost count. I don¡¯t see that as a good thing or as an accomplishment. That¡¯s not even considering how many spirit beasts I¡¯ve killed. I guess that some cultivators might see that as normal or just the way of things, but I never really wanted to kill anyone. I was looking for a reason not to kill her. The fact that she¡¯s not evil was a reason. So, I took it.¡±


    ¡°Sen,¡± said Lo Meifeng, sounding very, very concerned, ¡°you can always find a reason not to kill someone. It doesn¡¯t mean you should always take it.¡±


    ¡°I know. Way back when I sort of thought I¡¯d be the exception and never have to kill anyone. I¡¯ve seen now that there are some people the world is better off without. There are some people who won¡¯t leave you that choice. There are people you have to kill because, if you don¡¯t, they will seek vengeance on you later. But do you honestly think Chan Yu Ming is one of those? She came here with six people and only one of them really wanted the fight. So, I killed him. She could have recruited a hundred people who had a real shot at killing me.¡±


    Lo Meifeng thought it over before offering a reluctant nod. ¡°She¡¯s probably not that kind of person. But that doesn¡¯t mean she won¡¯t become one of them. Time has a way of making people think that they¡¯re right.¡±


    ¡°Maybe so. And if she does, I¡¯ll do what I have to do. Right here, right now, though, I don¡¯t have to kill her. So, I¡¯m choosing not to.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how many people I¡¯ve killed,¡± said Lo Meifeng, frowning.


    Sen decided to get back at her a little bit. ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s to be expected.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°I mean when someone gets to be as venerable as you¡­¡± Sen began.


    It was only an inhumanly fast movement that saved Sen from getting hit in the head with a wine bottle. He let out a laugh and dodged a cup, a small table, and the mat that Lo Meifeng had been sitting on. Sen held up his hands.


    ¡°I surrender,¡± he said, still laughing.


    ¡°Now that wasn¡¯t funny,¡± said Lo Meifeng, glowering at him from across the room.


    ¡°It was a little funny.¡±


    Eyes wild with fury, Lo Meifeng started looking around the room. Sen presumed it was for something else to throw at him.


    ¡°Okay. Okay. I¡¯m sorry. It wasn¡¯t funny.¡±


    Lo Meifeng sniffed at him and walked out of the room.

 V5 Chapter 52 – Calculation

    Morning found Sen sitting out in the courtyard. A small part of him made note of the city coming to life around him, not the city was ever truly silent. Even in the deepest parts of the night, there was still activity. Most of his attention was focused on his cultivation. Lo Meifeng had been right that her property likely was the best place in the city to cultivate. Minimally, it was the best place outside of one of the sect compounds. Sen knew enough about formation to know that the sects likely had formations similar to or even better than the ones he had placed around the property. Not that he particularly needed to cultivate. His passive cultivation methods were usually more than enough for his needs. It was simply the best way for him to get a feel for any minor weaknesses in the qi-gathering formation that he may have overlooked during his initial examination.


    Once he felt that he¡¯d spotted all of the problems he was going to find, Sen got to work. The qi-gathering formation was, much to his surprise, still in good shape overall. That wasn¡¯t to say it was great because it wasn¡¯t. He could tell how much of a hurry he¡¯d been in when he first set the formation up. He took an hour to make about a dozen adjustments that improved the efficiency of the formation by close to ten percent. He could have made something much better but it would have required tearing down the wall around the property and starting over. Even with his solid control over earth qi, that was a process that would be very loud and attract a lot of attention. He¡¯d already drawn enough attention for one visit. So, Sen decided to go with the quieter solution, even if it did bother him to use the lesser solution.


    The defensive and offensive formations he¡¯d made were another matter entirely. He¡¯d gotten a lot of practice making those in much more dangerous conditions than the city. He considered what he¡¯d done before and just shook his head in disappointment at himself. It would be a kindness to call them sloppy work. There were gaps that could be exploited by someone who knew formations well. There were spots where the energy being fed into the formation fluctuated in strength. Some of that wasn¡¯t Sen¡¯s fault. The demands on environmental qi in the city were higher and more unpredictable than they were out in the wilds. Qi flows that had looked stable when he made the formations would fall off in strength depending on the time of day. He solved some of those problems by burying minor natural treasures at strategic points around the property. Those served the dual purpose of stabilizing the qi flows and providing a more reliable source of qi if there was an exceptionally strong draw from somewhere else in the city.


    It wasn¡¯t a permanent solution, but Sen estimated it would hold up for at least ten years as long as no one too powerful tried to breach the formations. He did have plans for permanent fixes. Assuming he could find the right plants, he could set up a kind of qi garden that would help to reinforce the environmental qi on the property and insulate it somewhat from fluctuating qi in the surrounding area. Part of him wanted to stay and set up that garden, but it would require months of effort and multiple trips out into the wilds. Plus, it was the wrong season for that kind of work. He¡¯d just have to do what he could and live with it for now. He also gave some consideration to purchasing the surrounding properties and turning the whole thing into a kind of compound. With that additional space, there were things he could do that wouldn¡¯t make sense within the relatively small confines he had available. He tucked that idea away to give it some more thought later.


    By the time Lo Meifeng came out to see what had been occupying him since before dawn, it was closing in on midday. She spent close to fifteen minutes wandering around the property and examining what he had done. When she¡¯d finished her inspection, she walked over to him and started shaking her head.


    ¡°What?¡± he asked. ¡°It¡¯s better now.¡±


    ¡°It was good before. This is¡­ I¡¯m going to have to be careful that one of the sects doesn¡¯t try to steal this place from me.¡±


    Sen frowned at her. ¡°Why would they?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re still ridiculous,¡± she said, although her tone was fond rather than chiding. ¡°You¡¯ve made this place an ideal location for anyone looking to advance through the core stage.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°This is just a quick fix to all the things I screwed up the first time. Maybe someone will bother you after I do the permanent fixes, but I doubt it.¡±


    ¡°Why is that? Cultivators don¡¯t like hearing no for an answer.¡±


    ¡°Because the nascent soul cultivators in the city don¡¯t know how I killed Tong Guanting,¡± said Sen, his mind briefly flashing on the rather gruesome end of Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate¡¯s leader. ¡°And believe me, they wanted to know. None of them are eager for me to come back here looking to take revenge because some sect idiot tried to take what I gave to you.¡±


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    ¡°How did you keep that information from them?¡± asked Lo Meifeng. ¡°I was always curious.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right that cultivators don¡¯t like hearing the word no. Even cultivators will accept it when you say it the right way. I said it very firmly.¡±


    ¡°And they just went along with that?¡±


    ¡°Well, I was in a bad mood, and I had just blatantly and publicly murdered a nascent soul cultivator. I suspect that they were unnerved. They certainly didn¡¯t seem to be in a hurry to test if I could do it again.¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t imagine they were,¡± said Lo Meifeng in a thoughtful tone before she let out a light laugh. ¡°I wish I could have seen their faces when you refused to answer.¡±


    ¡°I thought the veins in the one guy¡¯s head were actually going to rupture he was so angry.¡±


    ¡°Where did you find the nerve for that? Most people would have caved in that situation.¡±


    ¡°Like I said, bad mood. Plus, I was already dying. It was a lot easier to be recklessly brave when I only thought I had a year to live. In the end, though, I had more to gain by not telling them. Things you understand aren¡¯t as scary. I don¡¯t know what explanations they dreamed up, but I bet they all lost sleep thinking about it happening to them. At the same time, I also made it pretty clear that I wasn¡¯t looking for a fight with any of them. From their perspective, it¡¯s better if they just let me go my own way. Making sure that their lackeys don¡¯t do stupid shit like bothering my friends is just good business.¡±


    ¡°What if they decide that killing you makes more sense? No offense, but I think that¡¯s what I¡¯d decide.¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s possible but nascent soul cultivators play the long game. Sure, I¡¯m a potential threat to them. As threats go, I¡¯m a pretty passive one. It¡¯d be one thing if I was openly hostile to their agendas, but I¡¯m not. So, what does killing me get them? It might make them feel a little better, but it risks bringing down the wrath of Master Feng. Besides, why break a tool when you can potentially aim it at your enemies down the road?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t remember you being quite this calculating in your decision-making,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Don¡¯t give me too much credit. I didn¡¯t think of any of this stuff until after the fact when I was trying to figure out why they hadn¡¯t killed me.¡±


    ¡°Maybe you should do a little more of this kind of thinking before you make decisions.¡±


    ¡°I have been trying. It doesn¡¯t come naturally to me. Plus, the situations I find myself in don¡¯t always allow for it.¡±


    Lo Meifeng gave a halfhearted nod. ¡°I remember. Things do seem to come at you out of nowhere a lot of the time. Still, it¡¯s worth trying to think through the ramifications before you jump straight to the I¡¯m going to do something terrifying and impossible option.¡±


    ¡°For what it¡¯s worth, I¡¯ve been doing my best to keep my head down the last year or two.¡±


    ¡°You''ve been out in the deep wilds for the last year or two. How hard is it to keep your head down when the nearest people are a week¡¯s travel away?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯d be fine if people were my only problems. Do you remember that empty town where I fought all those spirit beasts?¡±


    ¡°I do. Why?¡±


    ¡°The ghost panther man I met there turned up again demanding that Falling Leaf go with him.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    Sen gave Lo Meifeng a smile that made chills run down her spine. ¡°I said no, very firmly. Falling Leaf told him that she wasn¡¯t going to go with him. I¡¯d like to think that¡¯s the end of it, but I doubt that¡¯s the last I¡¯ve seen of him. No doubt, he sees me as the obstacle to claiming what he imagines is his.¡±


    ¡°So, you¡¯ve spent your time in the deep wilds making enemies of the spirit beasts. Well done.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you have no idea. They came after us in hordes. A bunch of times. We were killing them by the hundreds.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sorry I missed out on that adventure.¡±


    ¡°I wish I could have missed out on it,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯s a lot more fun to listen to stories about adventures in the wilds than to live them.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s usually less blood involved with listening.¡±


    ¡°Agreed,¡± said Sen before he turned and gave her a warm smile. ¡°Well, it¡¯s about time for me to go. I did the things I came here to do. If I stay much longer, sect people are going to start turning up or the king will insist that I go see him. I¡¯m honestly surprised neither of those things have happened yet.¡±


    Lo Meifeng hesitated before she said, ¡°Do you want some company? I could stand to get out of the city for a while.¡±


    Sen was a little surprised by the offer. He didn¡¯t think that Lo Meifeng had particularly enjoyed their time together on the road before. Then again, the circumstances had been quite different. He¡¯d been a job for her before. A tiny little part of him whispered about trust and betrayal, but Sen ignored it. He¡¯d had plenty of time to think about all of that and decide that it just wasn¡¯t worth hanging on to that old grudge. Before Sen could actually answer, a voice called out from the gate.


    ¡°I¡¯d be interested in coming along.¡±


    Sen and Lo Meifeng both turned deeply unfriendly looks toward the gate. Zixin stood there looking like he feared he¡¯d made a terrible miscalculation about the situation. Sen was trying to decide exactly what to do about the man, but it seemed that Lo Meifeng had reached the end of her patience. A sword made of pure fire qi appeared in her hand, and she started walking toward the panicked Zixin. The man looked at Sen with a pleading expression.


    ¡°You brought this down on your own head,¡± said Sen.

 V5 Chapter 53 – Exits

    ¡°He¡¯s a quick bastard, isn¡¯t he?¡± observed Sen from where he was leaning against a wall.


    He and Lo Meifeng watched as Zixin ran around a corner at speed, his robes still on fire. It had been a short and brutal exchange of pointers that had mostly involved Lo Meifeng pelting the man with small fireballs when she wasn¡¯t punching or kicking him. For all that Zixin had come out on the losing side of that exchange, he had held up under the barrage better than Sen would have expected. I guess I could throw him at an enemy if he¡¯s ever stupid enough to bother me again, thought Sen. Although, that seemed pretty unlikely after what Lo Meifeng had done to him. Sen had simply stood aside and watched, despite Zixin¡¯s repeated entreaties for him to intervene. Why the man had thought Sen would take his side or do anything to help him was a minor mystery that Sen planned to put zero effort into solving. Watching Lo Meifeng hand out a beating had been fun to watch, but Sen¡¯s interest in the situation ended there.


    ¡°He¡¯s faster than I thought he¡¯d be,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°I¡¯m tempting to chase him down.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s worth the effort. I¡¯m pretty sure he got the message that he¡¯s not welcome here.¡±


    Lo Meifeng looked a little put out at Sen¡¯s casual denial of her plan to keep injuring the fleeing man for fun, but she gave him a reluctant nod.


    ¡°I guess he didn¡¯t bother me so much that he deserves to die for it.¡±


    ¡°Plus, if he comes back, you can always activate the formations. They pack a bit more punch now than they did.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true. It¡¯s always nice when someone volunteers to test formations for you,¡± said Lo Meifeng, before she frowned at him. ¡°You don¡¯t want me to go with you.¡±


    Sen waggled a hand in the air. ¡°It¡¯s less that I don¡¯t want you to go than I don¡¯t think you¡¯d enjoy the trip very much. I¡¯m basically running morning until night, every single day. I¡¯m not planning any more stops between here and the coast. It¡¯d be like when we were running away from the demonic cultivators.¡±


    ¡°Except with fewer life or death situations.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯d really like to think that¡¯s how it¡¯s going to go.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s me,¡± said Sen. ¡°When does it ever go smoothly when I travel?¡±


    ¡°There is that,¡± agreed Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Besides, if you¡¯re going to come along, it might as well be somewhere interesting. My time is mostly spoken for, at least for the next four years. After that, though, I¡¯m getting out of this kingdom.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Well, it keeps trying to kill me. So, I¡¯m not all that enthused about staying. I figure I might head south and see how Grandmother Lu is doing. After that, maybe I¡¯ll cross the Mountains of Sorrow and see what¡¯s there. If nothing else, there should be fewer idiots like that Zixin guy actively looking for me. I expect those trips will be more fun for you. Less rushing, less camping, and more inns.¡±


    Lo Meifeng was nodding along. ¡°Yeah, that definitely sounds better to me. Don¡¯t get me wrong, as camp shelters go, your galehouses are pretty fantastic, but they¡¯re not as comfortable as inns.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re really not, and I haven¡¯t been making many of them on this trip. It¡¯s mostly tents and formations to keep the weather and spirit beasts away.¡±


    ¡°Why are you traveling at this time of year? It¡¯s not very good planning.¡±


    ¡°There was no planning involved. It¡¯s just how the timing worked out. It¡¯s not like the weather bothers me very much these days. I don¡¯t even really feel the cold.¡±


    ¡°That must be nice.¡±


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    ¡°You don¡¯t get that with pure spirit cultivation?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t feel it the way that mortals do, but it¡¯s more that I can safely ignore it. It¡¯s not anything that I¡¯d describe as comfortable. You genuinely don¡¯t feel it?¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m aware that it¡¯s hot or cold, but that¡¯s about as far as it goes. I don¡¯t like it when my robes get soaked through, which happens pretty much every day. And I do like hot food, so it¡¯s convenient for me to stop and build a fire. It lets everything dry out and gives me a chance to cook.¡±


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you do the same things with fire qi?¡±


    ¡°Probably. It¡¯s not the same, though.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, a good campfire is its own kind of magic.¡±


    ¡°You almost sound nostalgic,¡± said Sen, nudging Lo Meifeng¡¯s arm with his elbow.


    ¡°I¡¯m not, but I can appreciate the simple comfort that a campfire offers, especially out in the wilds. It¡¯s like a little piece of civilization that you can take with you.¡±


    Sen gave Lo Meifeng a startled look. After a few moments, she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.


    ¡°What?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°I¡¯d just never thought of it in those terms.¡±


    ¡°Well, you children aren¡¯t deep thinkers, are you?¡±


    Sen burst into laughter. ¡°I had that one coming, too.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Lo Meifeng with a look of smug satisfaction. ¡°Yes, you did.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I guess it¡¯s time to get going. Otherwise, I¡¯ll find an excuse to stay another day.¡±


    ¡°Fu Ruolan must be truly terrible company if you¡¯d chance getting tangled up with the sects and the royals just to spend more time here.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say that she can be taxing at times. She forgets that I¡¯m not a nascent soul cultivator who can skip sleep indefinitely.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough. Do try to send a message occasionally to let me know you¡¯re alive.¡±


    Sen¡¯s eyes went wide.


    ¡°That reminds me,¡± said Sen, summoning a scroll from his storage ring. ¡°I know you¡¯re taking a break, but do you think you could get this to Master Feng for me.¡±


    Lo Meifeng took the scroll. ¡°I can do that.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. I appreciate it. I could send it to one of Grandmother Lu¡¯s shops, but who knows how long it would take them to deliver it.¡±


    Lo Meifeng nodded and rested a hand on Sen¡¯s arm. ¡°Try not to start any sect wars or make any gods angry with you. I know it¡¯s asking a lot, but you should still try.¡±


    Sen grinned at her. ¡°No promises, but I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡±


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s all anyone can ask,¡± said Lo Meifeng in a mock mournful tone. ¡°Do try to travel safely.¡±


    Sen put on a more serious face. ¡°That¡¯s the plan. I may stop in briefly on the way back, just to let you know how things with the damn turtle went.¡±


    ¡°Would it make a difference if I told you not to attack the divine spirit beast?¡±


    Sen tilted his head back and forth a few times before he said, ¡°No, probably not.¡±


    ¡°Then, I won¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Be safe, Lo Meifeng.¡±


    She gave him a nod and Sen set off before he found another excuse to hang around. Things hadn¡¯t exactly gone smoothly in the capital, but Sen had missed spending time with people who didn¡¯t expect him to constantly learn things under impossible deadlines or survive impossible challenges. Lo Meifeng just expected him to be ridiculous, and that was an expectation that Sen found he could usually live up to without having to bet his life in the process. Leaving was the right move, though. It was probably a matter of hours before someone important started demanding that Sen do things he didn¡¯t want to do. Yes, it was definitely better to just slip away before any of that nonsense came crashing down on his head. He felt a little guilty because Lo Meifeng was the one who¡¯d end up having to tell a bunch of people that Sen was already gone, but there wasn¡¯t much he could do to prevent that. Even his brief presence hadn¡¯t done anything to improve the calm in her world. He just hoped that the improvements to the formations would serve as some kind of compensation for the irritation she¡¯d no doubt feel over the next few days.


    Sen made his way to the city¡¯s southern gate and had a moment where he was sure everything was about to go sideways on him. One of the guards at the gate kept staring at Sen like she recognized him. There had been a lot of guards hovering on the day that he¡¯d entered the city with Chan Yu Ming. It was entirely possible that she did recognize him, even if it had been a couple of years. He heaved a sigh of relief when the woman didn¡¯t say anything as he passed through the gate. He¡¯d been convinced that she was going to stop him and say that there was an order from the palace that he be sent there or detained in some way. He didn¡¯t waste any time once he was away from the gate. He took off down the road as fast as his qinggong technique and the safety of the other travelers would allow. It wasn¡¯t as fast as he would have liked, but it would have taken someone on a very fast horse to have a hope of catching up with him.


    It took a few hours, but he finally got beyond the outer towns and villages that dotted the landscape around the capital. That let him pick up the pace and ensure that he left anyone trying to catch up with him far, far behind. He even made a point to keep moving until well after the sun set, just to give himself a little more breathing room. Sen wasn¡¯t sure that someone was going to try to drag him back to the capital, but he figured that there was no benefit in taking the chance when he didn¡¯t need to. When he did finally stop for the night, he made sure he was well off the road and put up the full range of formations, including an obscuring formation. Better safe than sorry, he told himself.

 V5 Chapter 54 – Exceedingly Patient

    The farther away from the capital he got, the more confident Sen felt that he¡¯d outrun any potential pursuit. Not that he expected that pursuit would herald any violence, just the imposition of deeply unwanted obligations. If the king had asked for his presence, Sen would have been hard-pressed to come up with a good reason why he couldn¡¯t go. It wasn¡¯t really Jing that Sen wanted to avoid. It was the prospect of some formal event in which he would be required to pretend to care about the things that nobles would say to him or try to rope him into. The very idea was enough to make his skin crawl. Sen thought he¡¯d have found it personally easier to say no to the sects. He¡¯d had a lot of practice at saying no to sects or at least saying no to sect members. On balance, though, he expected that would end up having more negative consequences for him in the long run. He was just happy that he¡¯d managed to avoid the problem on that visit.


    He was less hopeful that he¡¯d escape so easily on his next visit unless he was very sneaky about coming and going. Not that city walls posed any kind of real obstacle to him, but he had to imagine that there were people assigned to watch for things like cultivators blatantly ignoring protections like walls. Although, even there, he did have advantages he could deploy that would make getting noticed unlikely. Still, every additional step and sneaky move was an opportunity to draw a lot more attention than he wanted on him. Still, with the capital well behind him, Sen stopped feeling like it was an absolute requirement to set up an obscuring formation every single night. He¡¯d discovered that most spirit beasts were quite willing to detour around dangerous formations. He didn¡¯t know if they recognized the formations for what they were or instinctively sensed the danger they represented. He didn¡¯t think it mattered that much on his side of things. He didn¡¯t need to understand as long as they found somewhere else to be.


    Yet, it seemed the heavens were simply waiting for him to relax his vigilance. The second evening that he decided to forgo the obscuring formation, things immediately took a turn for the weird. Sen had barely gotten his fire started when he felt someone simply walk through his formations like they weren¡¯t even there. That was enough to give him pause. Doing something like that meant that they had either forcibly suppressed the reactions of the formations, which pretty much limited the possibilities down to nascent soul cultivators, or someone understood those formations even better than he did. Neither option left Sen feeling warm and secure. When a figure strode over to the campfire, they were met by the sight of Sen standing there with a spear in hand. They studied each other for long moments across the crackling campfire, faces impassive.


    Sen didn¡¯t know what to make the man. He looked to be of an approximate age with Sen, which he knew meant nothing. From what he could glean, the stranger was approximately the same level of advancement, which Sen also knew meant practically nothing in terms of what people could actually accomplish. For someone who had been through the fires of multiple advancements, though, the man was surprisingly plain. He had a wider face with smooth cheeks and heavy eyebrows. Sen couldn¡¯t read anything from the man¡¯s face about what the stranger was thinking. The man eyed the spear curiously but didn¡¯t seem nearly cautious enough about it to suit Sen.


    ¡°Are you always this friendly?¡± asked the man.


    ¡°When people barge into my camp after forcing their way through my formations, yes.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mean you any harm.¡±


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    ¡°Said every bandit and murderer in history.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a fair point. Perhaps we could just speak for a moment.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s not.¡±


    ¡°If I did mean you harm, do you really think you could stop me?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen.


    The icy assurance in Sen¡¯s voice seemed to give the man legitimate pause. He gave the spear a longer look.


    ¡°That¡¯s a very basic weapon for a core formation cultivator.¡±


    Sen looked down at the spear. It was the one he¡¯d used through most of his time as a foundation formation cultivator. He gave the man a bleak smile.


    ¡°It¡¯s killed plenty of core cultivators who thought too much of themselves and not enough of me,¡± said Sen. ¡°There. We talked. You can go now.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d have thought someone so hostile would have attacked me by now.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mistake my reluctance to get blood all over this campsite as reluctance to send you to your next life.¡±


    ¡°My name is¡­¡± began the stranger.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care,¡± said Sen and let lightning qi infuse the spear.


    The stranger took a step back when lightning started to crackle around the spearhead. The passive expression the man had worn up until then shifted into what Sen thought was a much saner wariness.


    ¡°That isn¡¯t necessary. We don¡¯t have to fight.¡±


    ¡°It seems like we do since you refuse to leave.¡±


    ¡°Why do you assume I¡¯m your enemy?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not even going to dignify that. Let me be as clear as I can be. I¡¯m not interested in whatever you¡¯re selling.¡±


    Heaving a tremendous sigh, the man spoke again. ¡°If I beat you in a fight, will you at least listen to me?¡±


    ¡°No. Because I don¡¯t fight for fun. If we fight, one of us dies.¡±


    The man looked positively baffled at that response. ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever heard of sparring?¡±


    ¡°Sparring is for children, training, and people you trust. So, I suggest that you take your life, be grateful for it, and leave me alone.¡±


    The stranger lifted his hands in a way that Sen guessed that he was supposed to read as peaceful. He wasn¡¯t moved by this display. If anything, it made him even more tense.


    ¡°Is there some other circumstance in which you would be willing to hear me out? At an inn, perhaps?¡±


    ¡°So you can have hostages to threaten? No. I don¡¯t think so.¡±


    ¡°Hostages? Why would I need hostages?¡±


    ¡°Because people don¡¯t like hearing the word no,¡± said Sen, as he started pouring earth qi into the ground. ¡°A truth that you¡¯ve repeatedly proven by not leaving.¡±


    The stranger took several breaths. ¡°I¡¯m not leaving because I was sent to find you.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure you were. Sent by a sect, or a king, or someone else that you think I should think is important. Well, I don¡¯t think they¡¯re important. I don¡¯t want to meet them. And I have no intention of getting involved. I¡¯m done getting involved with other people¡¯s problems.¡±


    The stranger looked at Sen like it was the first time he was truly seeing him. ¡°You mean that don¡¯t you? You truly don¡¯t care why I¡¯m here, where I came from, or who sent me. There are literally no words that will convince you of anything I say.¡±


    ¡°You do understand. Good. Now, please leave me alone.¡±


    ¡°What could have possibly happened to fill you with this much disdain and distrust for people you don¡¯t even know?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s easy. I have lived to regret it nearly every time I¡¯ve ever listened to a stranger. It always leads to the same place. Me standing over a mound of dead bodies,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°That isn¡¯t what I want.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s never what anyone says they want, but it¡¯s always the price of getting what they want. Except I¡¯m the one who ends up doing the killing. Well, not this time. If there are people who need killing, go home and do it yourself.¡±


    ¡°They told me this would be difficult, but I never dreamed you would be this broken.¡±


    Whatever tenuous grip on civility that had kept Sen going through the very aggravating conversation disappeared. It was replaced with a familiar, deadly calm.


    ¡°We¡¯re done now,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Wait, I¡­¡±


    ¡°I have been exceedingly patient with you. That¡¯s over. We¡¯re done. You can go, or you can die.¡±

 V5 Chapter 55 – That Sounds Like a You Problem

    The stranger¡¯s jaw worked back and forth like he was fighting not to express some very angry words. Sen watched this struggle with empty indifference. He¡¯d been trying so hard to get the man to leave and avoid the necessity of violence. He was still willing to let the stranger just walk away. He¡¯d hoped that he wouldn¡¯t have to spill any blood on this journey, as far-fetched as that had felt to him. Now, it seemed like that was going to happen despite Sen¡¯s best intentions. Sen wondered if he could have avoided this problem if he just listened to the man, but he knew that for the trap that it was. If he had listened to whatever story the man had to tell, it would have given the false impression that Sen was open to whatever proposal was going to follow it. And it was very clear that this man had been sent there to recruit Sen to someone¡¯s purpose. That would have ended with them right where they were, except it would have taken longer. When Sen considered the man¡¯s approach, he made an obvious connection.


    ¡°You were sent here by whoever dispatched that fool, Zixin, weren¡¯t you?¡±


    The stranger¡¯s angry expression vanished beneath a very concerned one. ¡°What did you do to him?¡±


    ¡°Me? I didn¡¯t do anything to him,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Thank the gods.¡±


    ¡°But he was beaten half to death, on fire, and running away the last time I saw him.¡±


    ¡°What? I thought you said you didn¡¯t do anything to do him,¡± said the stranger, his eyes flashing with barely contained rage.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t, but he also failed to recognize when to walk away and leave people alone.¡±


    The crackling from the campfire was the only thing to break the silence in the campsite for several seconds, and then several things happened all at once. The stranger drew his jian in a move so swift that it told Sen the other man was also on a path of body cultivation. At the same time, narrow stone shafts shot out of the ground beneath the stranger, and Sen loosed an arc of lightning at the man. While Sen didn¡¯t expect both attacks to work, he was shocked when neither attack managed to land. The stranger had used an air qi technique to launch himself into the air. It was barely enough to keep him ahead of the stone shafts, but it was enough. It was also enough to let the man avoid the arc of lightning.


    Sen would have launched another lightning attack, but it was only intuition and his own superhuman reflexes that let him activate his qinggong technique and move out of the way of the wind blade that shot at him. While he usually found wind blades a simple matter to deal with, he rarely had to deal with them at such close range. By the time Sen recovered from the hasty move, the stranger was already closing on him. It seemed the man was determined to make this a fight that relied primarily on weapons. Sen almost felt bad for him. Almost. Yet, that initial arrogance was soon replaced with something that bordered on concern. Whoever the man was, he had been trained by someone who knew their business with the jian. Sen found himself having to really work to keep pace, but he had been trained by Uncle Kho. He used the superior length of the spear to keep the man at a distance. A fact that obviously frustrated the stranger. Sen could appreciate that frustration. The jian wasn¡¯t the ideal weapon to fight someone with a spear. It was a close-range weapon that relied far more on finesse than brute strength.


    Against the qi-infused durability of the spear, the match was largely even. The man was too fast and too strong for Sen to simply overpower him with the spear, but Sen was too fast and too strong for the other man to close the distance. As long as Sen could keep the pace up, the balance would eventually tip in his favor. Superior range wasn¡¯t impossible to overcome, but it was a massive advantage. Sen only had to get the tiniest bit lucky to start inflicting injuries. Once that happened, the other man would start to slow down. Cultivator healing was impressive, but it was by no means immediate. Without time to consume some kind of healing pill or elixir, time that Sen would never give him, injuries would hamper the other cultivator in many of the same ways that they hampered mortals. Coming to the same conclusion, the stranger tried to fall back on qi attacks to break Sen¡¯s concentration and pacing.


    The look of astonishment on the man¡¯s face when Sen blocked the wind blade attacks with wind blades of his own almost accomplished the task of breaking Sen¡¯s concentration. It was all he could do not to burst into laughter at the comical expression. Unfortunately, it was enough of a distraction that he missed the window of opportunity to inflict an injury. Still, Sen realized that he had been too focused on the fight with the weapons and not focused enough on ending the fight. It had just been so long since he¡¯d faced anyone who had the kind of skill that the other man displayed that it had narrowed Sen¡¯s focus too much. Sen started sending fireballs at the man from strange directions. Sen had no idea if they would deal actual injuries to the man, but they were distractions that often forced the man to move in the direction that Sen wanted him to move.


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    The stranger clearly saw what Sen was doing, but Sen was more than prepared to play the waiting game. It took several minutes, but when he sent a pair of fireballs at the man, one from the side and one from behind, it seemed that instincts took over. The man took a step in the wrong direction and couldn¡¯t get his jian around in time to block the spear. The spearhead did double damage. The edge on the spearhead opened a wound across the top of the man¡¯s thigh, while the lightning Sen had never stopped cycling dove into that open wound. The stranger didn¡¯t scream, but he did clench his jaw hard. He tried to throw himself away from Sen with a burst of air qi but still caught a glancing blow to the head from the haft of the spear. Sen dashed after the man, intent on capitalizing on the moment of confusion that always happened after getting hit in the head. He swung the spear in a vicious arc that would split the other man in half if it connected.


    It seemed that whoever had trained the stranger had imposed a similar philosophy of battle to the one that Sen learned. The stranger looked stunned and a little confused, but he reacted with the instincts that could only be honed through countless hours of practice under the harshest of conditions. The stranger stepped inside the arc of the spear and brought his jian down with what Sen assumed was his most powerful blow. It was Sen¡¯s turn to be stunned and disoriented as the spear was sheared in half, shattering the qi techniques that he¡¯d been using to infuse the weapon. The backlash felt a lot like taking a blow to the head, and Sen was vaguely aware of the blood that ran out of his nose. His senses or instincts warned him, and he activated his qinggong technique. It only carried him about ten steps away from the stranger, but he hadn¡¯t escaped unscathed. He felt a hot burn across his back where the stranger had caught him with a slashing attack. Sen stumbled and, once again alerted by his intuition, dove into a sloppy roll. The wind blade he¡¯d avoided tore up the dirt behind him. It was a short reprieve, but long enough for Sen¡¯s mind to recover.


    He stood and faced the other man, who was quickly limping in his direction. When the stranger saw that Sen had gathered his wits, he slowed and stopped. Sen glanced down at the severed half of the spear haft in his hand, frowned at it, and dropped the mostly useless piece of wood to the ground. He looked back at the stranger, who abruptly looked very uncertain. Sen wasn¡¯t sure it had always been going to come down to this. Part of him considered summoning another spear to finish the fight, but he was ready for it to be over. He¡¯d spent the entire fight studying the other man¡¯s use of the jian. He knew how to end this quickly. Sen drew his own jian and walked toward the other man. As the stranger watched Sen approach with the jian, watched the way Sen moved with it, his uncertainty devolved into genuine concern. Sen approved of that reaction. As much as he liked the spear and as well-trained as he was with it, the jian was his true weapon.


    There was no art to the exchange that followed. Maybe if they were both fresh and using the swords, it would have been different. As things stood, the stranger was injured and tired. Sen batted aside thrusts, dodged slashed, and Sen watched the fear grow in the other man¡¯s eyes every time their blades met directly. It took less than thirty seconds before the stranger made a visible effort to disengage from the fight, and Sen let him. The other cultivator looked down at the badly damaged blade in his own hand. There were deep gouges in the edge where their blades had met. The stranger looked over at the pristine edge of Sen¡¯s jian. Closing his eyes, the man dropped his jian to the ground. The stranger opened his eyes, and Sen saw the resignation in them. He also saw a kind of peace that he didn¡¯t entirely understand.


    ¡°I cannot defeat you,¡± said the stranger. ¡°I only ask that you make my death a clean one.¡±


    Sen stared at the other man. What in all the hells is he doing? What he was seeing made no sense to Sen. Sen had been in hopeless fights before, but he¡¯d never just stopped fighting. As long as there was a weapon in hand, qi in the body, or simply the will to survive, there was a chance. It would never even occur to Sen to just quit. Sure, everyone would be reborn, but that was no excuse to just give up on the life you were in. Sen couldn¡¯t decide if he should kill the man or try to shake some sense into him. Who taught this man? Master Feng would be horrified by this display, thought Sen. It wasn¡¯t cowardice. The man wasn¡¯t begging for his life or trying to run away. But this kind of acceptance of death struck Sen as horribly unnatural. Death was part of the cultivator world. It was always a possibility. It was only wisdom to prepare oneself for that possibility of it, but that wasn¡¯t what Sen was seeing. Damn it, thought Sen. However much he had been ready to kill the man in a fight, killing the stranger while he just stood there and passively accepted it would leave Sen feeling like an executioner. He had no interest in carrying around that kind of uncertainty or guilt.


    ¡°If it¡¯s suicide you¡¯re after, do it yourself,¡± said Sen. ¡°Just make sure you do it somewhere else.¡±


    Sen turned to walk back to what was left of the campsite, but the other man called out after him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    Sen turned back to the man. He weighed all of the possible answers he could give. Then, he shrugged.


    ¡°That sounds like a you problem.¡±

 V5 Chapter 56 – Why Me?

    Sen was working extremely hard to only pay attention to what was in front of him. Unfortunately, it was a task made difficult by the excessive boredom involved with that. There were no spirit beasts or even any other travelers to occupy his thoughts. Occasionally, at the farthest reaches of his spiritual sense, he¡¯d catch the briefest snatches of the presence of spiritual beasts. He¡¯d been hopeful that he might be able to make use of those to deal with his other problem. Sadly, they all fled in pure terror at the merest touch of his spiritual sense. Sen didn¡¯t bother extending his spiritual sense behind him. He knew what he¡¯d find there, and it wasn¡¯t something he felt like dealing with at present. While he could avoid noticing the man with his spiritual sense, he couldn¡¯t close off his regular senses.


    That left him hearing it every time the man failed to avoid a tree branch or some other obstacle in a mad rush to keep pace. Sen had done nothing to make that any easier, futilely hoping that if he made it difficult enough that the stranger would just go away. He¡¯d been hoping for that ever since he walked away from the stranger after refusing to kill him. Sen had returned to the campsite and made a galehouse with an angry burst of earth qi. The stranger had come stumbling up behind him and demanding that Sen satisfy honor, only for Sen to slam a very heavy stone door in the stranger¡¯s face and seal the door for good measure. That had seemed like it would be a sufficient message.


    Yet, when Sen had gotten up the next morning, he¡¯d found the stranger kneeling outside the galehouse. The moment he¡¯d seen Sen, he¡¯d started demanding that Sen kill him so that the stranger could die with honor. Sen had shaken his head at the idiot and taken off toward the road using his qinggong technique. Instead of taking the not even remotely subtle hints, the man had started chasing him, yelling that Sen was denying him his rightful death. Sen had picked up the pace until the stranger had lost the breath to continue berating him. That had reduced the amount of noise, which relieved Sen, but the man hadn¡¯t stopped chasing after him. Sen had eventually stopped to eat something for lunch. The stranger had come staggering up, given the food in Sen¡¯s hands an astonished look, and immediately started demanding that Sen finish their fight. For honor. Sen had stood up and stowed his food in a storage ring before shaking his head again.


    ¡°Why me?¡± he¡¯d asked, his eyes turned heavenward.


    That same irritating process had continued more or less unabated for the last two days, making Sen ignore towns and villages where he might otherwise have stopped for a slightly more comfortable night of rest. Some part of him hoped that the relentless travel might wear the other man down. Unfortunately, while Sen¡¯s qinggong technique was a little better and a little more efficient, letting him keep a bit of distance between himself and the stranger, it seemed that the other man¡¯s body cultivation wasn¡¯t going to give out on him soon. Having already decided that he wasn¡¯t going to give the man what he wanted, he didn¡¯t plan to back down on that now. Yet, it also left him with a persistent irritation. Realizing that his patience was going to wear down eventually and that he¡¯d do something rash, which was no doubt what the stranger was hoping for, Sen left himself slow down and stop. He turned and waited for the stranger to catch up. The man¡¯s eyes brightened when he saw Sen standing there. Before the stranger could get a word out, Sen spoke.


    ¡°Why do you persist in this pointless pursuit?¡±


    ¡°Because you owe me an honorable¡­¡±


    Sen cut him off with a gesture. ¡°I owe you nothing and honor least of all. What possible reason could I have to release you from your imaginary shame.¡±


    ¡°Honor demands¡­¡±


    ¡°Honor is an empty plate. It feeds no one. It serves no purpose. It is a poor excuse cultivators use to kill each other and that the powerful invoke to impose their wishes on others.¡±


    The stranger looked appalled and incensed at Sen¡¯s brusque denial of honor, its demands, and its hold over them. Sen was hard-pressed to care about the man¡¯s overblown reaction. He supposed it would be some kind of mild heresy in some circles, but Sen didn¡¯t usually travel in those circles. Even when he did, he¡¯d seen a lot more posturing about honor than actual honor. All of those nobles and cultivators could learn a thing or two from Wu Gang. That was a man who took honor seriously and, as far as Sen could tell, for the right reasons. Sen was fairly certain that he¡¯d left honor behind in Tide¡¯s Rest when he¡¯d killed that sect fool. Every time he thought back on it, the more he hated that he¡¯d done it. In hindsight, Sen had a far better understanding of what he¡¯d been capable of at the time. He could have simply disabled the sect idiot and left him for someone to find. Of course, he hadn¡¯t known that at the time. He¡¯d suspected he could, but suspicions were poor armor in a fight. Sen sighed. And he¡¯d been so angry at the time. He knew why now, but that felt like a poor excuse too. Some of that had to have come from him, and this stranger seemed determined to pull on those same strings, to anger Sen until he did in anger what he wouldn¡¯t do in cold blood.


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    ¡°Honor is what guides us all,¡± said the stranger. ¡°It ensures we behave in the proper way to the proper people.¡±


    ¡°Really? And when you invaded my campsite and refused to leave? What tenet of honor were you serving? When you attacked me, where was your honor?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s,¡± the man paused, ¡°that¡¯s different. I was serving the wishes of my master.¡±


    ¡°And his wishes allow you to ignore all other demands of honor? It excuses you for imposing your unwanted company on me. It pardons your attack on me. That is cheap honor indeed.¡±


    The stranger flinched as though he¡¯d been slapped.


    Sen continued. ¡°Beyond that, you expect me to uphold your honor. Why should I do this for you? Why should I help you maintain the fantasy that you ever possessed honor in the first place? That helps only you while imposing karmic debts on me. You don¡¯t want honor. You want the veneer of honor. And I will not give it to you. Seek your redemption elsewhere.¡±


    With that, Sen turned and continued on his way. For a blissful period of about five minutes, he thought that his words might have accomplished something. Then, he felt the stranger moving behind him again. Sen mentally braced himself for more demands that he kill the man or more ranting about honor. However, when Sen stopped that evening, the stranger kept his distance. Sen wasn¡¯t sure what to make of it. He gave serious thought to the idea that the man would attempt to force the issue or plan some kind of ambush. Nothing came of it, though. Instead, the next morning Sen felt the stranger exactly where he¡¯d left him. Far enough away not to be an obvious problem, but close enough that he could keep track of Sen. Sen mostly dismissed the man from his thoughts. If the idiot wants to follow me around, he can, thought Sen. I¡¯ll leave him behind when I reach the coast. Sen knew that he could simply hide and move through the forest itself, but that was a lot of trouble and effort. The road was far more convenient, even in the winter.


    Sen mostly managed to ignore the stranger¡¯s presence, but it wasn¡¯t until the afternoon that the man truly fell away from Sen¡¯s attention. Sen was standing on a small rise and staring down at a village when the stranger finally approached him again. The man looked down at the village for a moment before turning his eyes to Sen.


    ¡°Do you mean to stop here?¡± asked the man.


    Sen glanced over at the stranger and said, ¡°Yes. Once I¡¯ve steeled myself.¡±


    The other man looked back down at the town and stared hard at it. It was as if he thought he could force some answer from it through sheer willpower. When his efforts revealed nothing, he looked to Sen again.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. What is down there that could make someone like you hesitate?¡±


    Sen once again wished the man would simply disappear back to whatever master had sent him in the first place. Taking a deep breath, he stowed his feelings as much as he could. They wouldn¡¯t be helpful in that village. He gave the stranger a pitying look.


    ¡°They¡¯re dying,¡± said Sen. ¡°All of them are dying.¡±


    ¡°A plague village? No one should go there.¡±


    Ignoring the man, Sen started walking down the road. He had heard about things like this from Auntie Caihong. It was almost always impossible to figure out how the illnesses found their way into the village or town, but it was usually one of the elders or children who got it first. Sen corrected himself with a mental snarl. One of the poor elderly or children contracted it first because their health was always fragile. Of course, the more prosperous people didn¡¯t see it as a problem. Just one less poor person, but the illnesses never stayed confined to the poor. The communities were always a little too tight-knit and the sickness invariably spread. More than one place had been left all but abandoned in the wake of these illnesses. There were occasional survivors, but a handful of people couldn¡¯t rebuild the complex set of crafts, food production, and services that let a community survive. Sometimes they tried, but more often than not they simply migrated somewhere else.


    The stranger called after him. ¡°Why would you go there?¡±


    Sen turned and gave the man a glare that made the stranger take a step back.


    ¡°What do you have to fear, cultivator?¡± demanded Sen, contempt dripping from every word. ¡°Bearing witness to something unpleasant? No mortal illness is going to infect you. I¡¯m going there because no one else will, and there¡¯s a chance I might be able to save a few who would otherwise die. If I can¡¯t do that, then I may be able to ease their suffering. If that tiny measure of mercy is too complex an idea for your vaunted honor, then be gone!¡±

 Unintended Cultivator Volume 2 Official Takedown/Publication Notice

    Hey Everyone!


    Okay. That glorious time known as publication day is almost upon us for Unintended Cultivator Volume 2. As per Amazon''s exclusivity rules, I need to take down most of Volume 2. I will leave the approximately 10% allowed as a sample on here and mark the volume as a stub. I''m planning to do that on March 8, 2024, approximately four days ahead of publication. So, if you want to read the rough-ish draft version of Volume Two on here, you have until then.


    As for the official Amazon release, you can put in a pre-order for the ebook over here</a>.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    It will also be available on Kindle Unlimited. Fun fact about Kindle Unlimited, even if you download the ebook and don''t open it, it still helps with the rankings. So, I''d be super grateful for anyone who downloads it.


    I didn''t make a big announcement on here about it before, but Unintended Cultivator Volume 1 is now available in audiobook form over on Audible. If you prefer hearing your books, you can grab that here</a>. We managed to snag Adam Verner as the narrator, and he did a great job!


    Okay, that''s enough talking from the writer monkey.


    Thanks!


    Eric


    Also, here''s the official cover for Volume Two.

 V5 Chapter 57 – Plague Village

    It didn¡¯t take Sen very long to realize that he¡¯d been mistaken. There were more dead than dying in the village. He just hadn¡¯t recognized the signs. His spiritual sense was attuned to find life and qi. Dead bodies rarely had either. Still, he kept walking. No one else was going to help those people. Even if they¡¯d sent for a doctor, there was little chance of one arriving before everyone was dead. If a mortal doctor came, it was unlikely that they could have done anything for what few villagers remained. Even with his alchemical training, Sen wasn¡¯t sure that he could do anything for them either. The people he could sense were already terribly weak, their lives teetering on the brink. Still, it was possible. Maybe. If he was skilled enough, he might be able to save some of them.


    While Orchard¡¯s Reach had never had a true plague, winter had been a terrible time for those on the streets. It had been terrible even for those like Grandmother Lu who could afford some meager shelter. There was never enough food to go around. While Sen hadn¡¯t understood why certain kinds of food were good for people back then, he had understood that not getting enough to eat seemed to make people weak and more likely to get sick. And people did get sick. Entire families would die each winter, and the town guard would clear away their bodies. The guards would grant them the courtesy of a funeral pyre, usually, but Sen had always thought that giving them that wood to stay warm before they died would have been more useful. Those annual deaths had been another reason that Sen didn¡¯t try to make friends. There was no way to know if any particular person, himself included, would still be alive in the spring. Why befriend people you might have to mourn after a season or two?


    As if the thought of funeral pyres had conjured one, Sen saw an old man standing by a pile of wood. The shrouded figure on top of the pyre was small, too small. Sen closed his eyes for a moment, then forced a look of calm onto his face. He walked over and stood next to the man. The ground there had been scorched recently and, unless Sen missed his guess, often in recent days. The smell of charred wood and the vaguer smell of scorched flesh assaulted Sen¡¯s nose and it took a supreme act of will to do what he set out to do and not simply flee that odor. The old man stood there with a torch in hand, trembling, unshed tears in his eyes. Sen reached out and wrapped his own hand around the torch, but he didn¡¯t take it. He looked at the old man.


    ¡°I will do this thing, grandfather, if you wish it,¡± said Sen.


    The old man looked at Sen without really seeing him. Sen didn¡¯t know what the man was seeing, although he could guess. Memories of that tiny body on the pyre, back when it was filled with life and laughter. The old man nodded and his grip slipped away from the torch. Sen rested a hand on the man¡¯s shoulder for a moment. Then, mustering what dignity and reverence he could, he slowly lowered the torch to the pyre. The wood had been doused with something and caught swiftly. Sen walked back over to the old man, who had tears streaming down his face as he watched the pyre burn.


    ¡°She was still healthy for so long,¡± said the man. ¡°I thought she¡¯d make it. I thought she¡¯d live. Why have the heavens done this to us?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, grandfather.¡±


    ¡°Please, I,¡± the man¡¯s voice choked off.


    ¡°Do you want to be alone?¡±


    The old man nodded, his eyes never leaving the pyre. Sen gave the man a bow and walked back to the road. The stranger was standing there, a complicated look on his face. Sen¡¯s voice was deceptively calm when he spoke.


    ¡°Would you like to say something to me about your honor now?¡±


    The stranger stared at the grief-ravaged old man and the pyre. ¡°No. No, I would not.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°Wise. When the pyre burns down, take the man to his home. Otherwise, he might stay out here until he freezes to death. Give him tea. If he wishes to speak, listen.¡±


    ¡°I can do that. What will you do?¡±


    Sen looked at the village, where he could feel the emptiness in so many homes. ¡°I will tend to the dying.¡±


    Sen had been well-trained by Auntie Caihong, who had faced these situations before. She had always been uncharacteristically detached when she spoke about them. As though she was describing something someone else had told her about. As the hours wore on, Sen found himself helpless to do anything for most of the people. If they had been cultivators, he could have saved them all. They wouldn¡¯t have needed to be advanced cultivators or body cultivators. Even if they¡¯d just been qi-condescending cultivators at the very earliest stages, he could have saved them. Instead, all he could do for most of them was brew weak elixirs to ease the worst of their pains. Anything that might have restored them enough to save them would have killed them. They were simply too far gone. As the time drew out and the villagers died, Sen started to understand Auntie Caihong¡¯s reaction a little better. He would need to distance himself from this to ever talk about it, otherwise the helpless rage he was feeling would spill out in every direction.


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    As the days drifted together into a haze of misery, Sen found himself building pyre after pyre. He stood watch over those who had no family left. Mothers or fathers who had already watched their families die. The old who had no one left to mourn them. The young who had outlived their brothers, sisters, and parents. He offered the prayers and begged intercession from gods of mercy and compassion. Silently, he railed against the indifference of the heavens. He had known cruelty, but this was worse. To make people watch everyone and everything they had ever cared about crumble away beneath the unknowing and uncaring steps of a sickness spoke to a callous viciousness that Sen found abhorrent. However much he railed inside, though, he kept it there. The dying didn¡¯t need his fury. They needed a kind word and a gentle hand to ease their fear as they faced their last moments.


    Sen took solace in the knowledge that he did manage to save three lives. They had been young enough, healthy enough, and he arrived soon enough that he had been able to nurse them through the worst of it. It had been slow work and exacting to a degree that he thought was beyond him. In the end, the desperate needs of the moment had allowed him to find that razor¡¯s edge of balance he needed to keep them breathing. He¡¯d had to build their body¡¯s ability to fight off the sickness first, although he suspected they would have been far more thankful for a swift death. Only after their bodies could fight the illness was Sen able to augment their vitality and strength. The questions came after that, about family and friends. He was as gentle as he could be with the news, but there was no good news to share. He feared the fresh losses might sap their wills to live. In the end, they seemed to find strength in each other, but he heard each of them curse him for not letting them die with everyone else.


    Sen had assigned the stranger the less onerous task of burning clothes, bedding, and anything else Sen thought might carry the illness. He had, in a moment of desperate sadness and a need for something akin to normalcy, asked the man¡¯s name. The man had stared at him with vacant eyes for nearly ten seconds before the words came out of his mouth, hollow and lifeless.


    ¡°Kong Zi Han.¡±


    Yet, after learning the man¡¯s name, Sen found he had nothing more to ask. His heart and mind were too weary for anything else. They spent a week in that village before the illness had carried off nearly every living soul. The three that Sen had saved, the old man, and two others that the illness had not touched were all that remained. Confident that the three he had treated would survive, Sen simply stepped out of the building where he had been caring for them and started down the road. Kong Zi Han caught up with him a few moments later. The other man looked at Sen in confusion.


    ¡°Why do you leave now?¡±


    ¡°Because I could only do more harm by staying.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    Sen considered his words with care before he spoke. ¡°You probably think those people should be grateful, right?¡±


    ¡°They should be. You saved them. Offered comfort to those you couldn¡¯t save.¡±


    ¡°They may be grateful for that, someday,¡± said Sen, ¡°but right now they hate me. They likely hate you as well.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Many reasons. They hate us both for being cultivators who could so casually ignore the threat of the illness. They hate me for not coming sooner. If I had arrived a week earlier, I might have saved most of the village. At least, they think so. The three I healed hate me for sparing them from death. They think that death would be preferable to living on. They believe I stole something from them.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The chance to reincarnate with their loved ones. They may be right to hate me for that. Letting them die might have been a deeper kindness.¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s true, why did you save them?¡±


    ¡°Because I could. Because I¡¯m not a god. I don¡¯t know their fate or their karma. They might have things left to do in this life. I did it because no one else would have even tried,¡± said Sen, stopping and turning to look at Kong Zi Han. ¡°Mostly, I did it because those people felt abandoned by the heavens. There is nothing worse than feeling abandoned when death looms. So, answer me this. Can you tell me honestly that your master will suffer as those people suffered if I don¡¯t come? Will your master feel as though the heavens have turned their eyes away? If you can, I will listen.¡±


    Kong Zi Han looked back toward what had once been a village and now stood only as a cold monument of death.


    ¡°No,¡± he said. ¡°I cannot say that.¡±


    ¡°Then, return to your master or leave them behind to find another path, but this is where we part ways.¡±


    Turning from the man, Sen walked away, his head down and shoulders sagging beneath a weight he didn¡¯t know how to bear.

 V5 Chapter 58 – Heavens’ Shadow

    The speed of Sen¡¯s travel slowed considerably for a time. While he started every day using his qinggong technique, he always found himself simply walking along the road by the time afternoon rolled over him. While his qinggong technique didn¡¯t call for much attention when using it in small bursts, using it all day required sustained attention. He didn¡¯t have it to give. His mind kept turning back to the plague village. Parts of it came back with utter clarity, such as his initial exchange with the old man. Sen feared that the sight of that man¡¯s grief had imprinted itself on his mind in a way that would be hard to escape in dreams. Other parts, he knew from direct experience, would haunt his nightmares. He¡¯d already spent more than one night endlessly building funeral pyres for a mountain of bodies that never grew smaller. His actual memories of building the real pyres blurred together, which simultaneously made him feel better and worse. He didn¡¯t want to remember all of them, but he felt like someone should. It made it hard to know what was best.


    Sen suspected that their time in that village had affected Kong Zi Han more than the frustrating messenger had realized. It was all too easy for cultivators to brush off the deaths of mortals, so long as they didn¡¯t have to actually see what those deaths meant. Yet, every cultivator started their lives as mortals. Becoming cultivators didn¡¯t excise those human emotions, though it often seemed to blunt them. Confronting the hopelessness in that village, the sheer magnitude of the loss, and impossible levels of grief had seemed to reconnect the man with those dormant emotions. Sen didn¡¯t know if it would mean anything in the long term, but perhaps Kong Zi Han would find some spark of enlightenment from it all. If nothing else, it seemed to put the man¡¯s ridiculous ideas about honor in perspective.


    Sen hadn¡¯t been immune to the mirror that village provided either. As harsh as he had been with Kong Zi Han, Sen didn¡¯t think that he was much better. Their failings were different but no less severe. While foolish ideas about honor had blinded Kong Zi Han, Sen had let himself be blinded by self-interest. Sen could forgive that in himself if only a little. His self-interest in recent years had been driven by life-and-death stakes. If he hadn¡¯t been entirely focused on his survival, he would be dead.  Yet, it had made him into someone who met any attempt to impinge on his time with naked, unbridled hostility. There were also traces of that old hatred of nobles mixed in there. The more entitled and powerful the person trying to impinge on his time, the more hostile he felt. It had felt like everyone he met in the last few years was someone entitled and powerful who thought they had a right to command his time and attention.


    However, Sen knew that wasn¡¯t true. He¡¯d certainly met more of those people than he would like. It hadn¡¯t been everyone, though. Assuming that everyone approaching him represented someone like that had just made his life simpler. It let him reflexively say no, to not listen, to be as callous as every other cultivator out there. It was simpler, thought Sen, but it wasn¡¯t better. In the face of the suffering he¡¯d just witnessed, Sen saw how petty he¡¯d been. His worries about being used by people he saw as entitled were just trivial. Not that Sen thought he should let himself be used if he saw it coming, but it wasn¡¯t rational to react to everyone like they were trying to get something out of him that would only benefit them and hurt him. He¡¯d been acting like a child, throwing fits when things didn¡¯t go the way he wanted, and lashing out to keep people at bay.


    The people in that village would have traded places with me without a second of hesitation, Sen realized with a flash of guilt. As much as he didn¡¯t reflect on it, he had become one of those distant and powerful cultivators somewhere along the line. He only felt out of his depth because he was constantly surrounded by people who towered over him. Yet, in most rooms, he was the person to fear. He was the person who could act with impunity, neither caring nor considering what the local authorities might do or even what most other cultivators might do. The differences between him and a nascent soul cultivator were all but meaningless to any mortals he encountered. He might as well be a nascent soul cultivator to them. The level of freedom he enjoyed and the amount of pure choice at his disposal were things mortals could only dream about. And he had taken them for granted because there were a handful of people out there who could, if they noticed him, potentially impose their will. What a tiny concern that truly is compared with mortal frailty, thought Sen. Even compared with qi-condensing and formation foundation cultivators, what I have must look all but unattainable.


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    He thought of all those villagers as they died. The looks of fear, anguish, and also the looks of relief. For them, the next life was a hope that they might escape the powerlessness of this life. A hope that they might achieve some tiny sliver of what he considered not enough. To him, every advancement was just a brief stop on the way to the moment of his ascension. Sen didn¡¯t even know when he had decided that he would ascend. He knew there had been a time when he didn¡¯t think he would. He had fears about what he might find there. Who he might find waiting there to exploit him. He didn¡¯t know when he¡¯d come to the conclusion that ascension wasn¡¯t just possible but inevitable. He tried to find a specific moment when he¡¯d decided that, but it didn¡¯t exist. There had never really been a moment, just a slowly growing acceptance that he would, one day, leave this world behind him.


    Sen shook his head. Other cultivators spent centuries hoping and praying that they would be able to take just one more step. Here I am, having already decided that I¡¯m going to surpass them all like I¡¯m just deciding whether to order more rice. Sen couldn¡¯t help but wonder if those villagers had been more right to hate him than he¡¯d thought. Thinking back, his younger self probably would have hated him on sight, seeing an arrogance that dwarfed any noble¡¯s. Sen was so distracted by these thoughts that he didn¡¯t even notice it when three people approached him moving in the other direction. When he did finally notice them, he just moved to the far side of the road to let them pass. When the three moved to block his path, he felt a great swell of apathy inside of him. He didn¡¯t have the energy to deal with bandits or cultivators or anyone else. Still, it seemed that the world had other plans for him. One of the three stepped forward and started boasting about their sect. The words broke against Sen¡¯s apathy like waves on a rock, making no impression. He simply stared blankly at the three. The one who was apparently in charge got angry.


    ¡°I said, what is your name?¡±


    The weight inside of Sen made dragging any words out of himself feel like a task that was difficult beyond measure.


    ¡°You¡¯re blocking the road,¡± said Sen in a voice that sounded listless to his own ears.


    The one in charge started talking again about his sect and honor and a bunch of other things that Sen did not care about. It sounded like an infuriated bird chattering to him. The bird noises eventually stopped and the one in charge was looking at him with an expectant and self-important expression. Sen stared at the ridiculous little man without speaking for several seconds.


    ¡°You¡¯re still blocking the road,¡± observed Sen in that same lifeless tone, barely able to dredge up the will to care about what these people were doing.


    Sen felt them ready their qi. He could sense how affronted the three were that he hadn¡¯t acknowledged their¡­ He didn¡¯t even know what they had wanted him to acknowledge. He stood there as they prepared to attack, doing nothing. He knew he could kill them. It wouldn¡¯t be hard. It was just so pointless. A waste. There was a spark of memory from when he¡¯d been advancing, an idea for a sword technique that he¡¯d planned to try out. He¡¯d never done it because it had always felt incomplete. Now, though, now he knew what had been missing. He even knew what others would call it. Heavens¡¯ Shadow. The qi inside him stirred, almost as if it had been roused by the mere thought. He felt the shadow qi gather, but also a thread of divine qi, and all of that terrible sorrow he felt. The qi surged into his jian as his hand landed on the hilt. He drew the blade in a fluid motion and swept it in front of him in a wide arc.


    A fog of shadow rolled forward, lit from within by a kaleidoscope of iridescent colors. It surged toward the other three cultivators, obscuring them even as they tried to defend against the technique. Sen¡¯s qi ignored their defenses and crashed into them. The qi suffused their bodies, briefly turning their skin the same color as the shadow fog, with iridescent color playing over their faces, hands, and any other exposed skin. Then, it dove deeper inside of them, carrying the pain and sorrow Sen had been carrying and searing it into their hearts, their souls, and possibly their very flesh. He didn¡¯t know. All he knew was that it wouldn¡¯t kill them. It wasn¡¯t meant to kill them. It had been Kong Zi Han who had let him understand. The way the man had slowly reconnected with those blunted human emotions. This technique did the same thing, but it did it all at once.


    The only difference was that Sen had infused the technique with what he was feeling, what he had felt back in that village. Sen sensed it as the qi the other three had roused flickered and went still. Then, he watched as horror, shame, guilt, and pain as deep as the sky were etched onto their faces. One of them began wailing, falling to his knees and covering his head. Another simply passed out. The leader sank to his knees and began shaking as tears streamed down his face. Sen stared at the three for a time before he simply walked past them, his weary eyes fixed on the horizon, searching for the coast and the ships he could find there.

 V5 Chapter 59 – Humanity Found

    As the days wore on, Sen found himself encountering more villages and towns. At first, he simply trudged through them, almost heedless of the fact that there were living, breathing human beings in them. Most of the people he encountered on the street simply stared at him. A few times, he felt cultivators start to approach him. They all stopped short and let him pass after taking one look at his eyes. They clearly saw something in them that made them very nervous. Bit by bit, though, the presence of living people started to cut through the haze of sorrow inside of him. It was painful at times. He saw children running around under the watchful gazes of elders. At first, that simply made him remember the old man and the funeral pyre or brought on a cascade of memories of standing over funeral pyres.


    Bit by bit, though, the sight of people who were healthy and alive started to restore his equilibrium. He didn¡¯t feel as he had before the village. Somehow, that well of sadness had drowned the instinct to lash out at anyone and everyone who looked like they might even try to impose on him in some way. However, the thought that he should listen to anyone who approached him started to fade. That had been an overreaction, his mind fleeing in the completely opposite direction of what he had been doing. There truly were people out there looking to exploit him. He needed to be mindful of that reality and remain utterly immovable in his rejection of those attempts. He had a reputation. Regardless of how he felt about that reputation, he couldn¡¯t keep running from its existence. That reputation alone was something that the powerful would look to weaponize to their own ends. No, neither blanket hostility nor complete openness was appropriate. He needed to follow a middle path of wary caution.


    As these realizations seeped into his waking thoughts and stabilized his emotions, he became more conscious of the places he was passing through. As terrible as things had been in the plague village, life carried on. His experiences there had changed him. That sadness would always live inside him, but it wasn¡¯t all that lived inside him. As that shell of misery started to crack, Sen tried to remember the last time he had slept or eaten. He knew he had slept a few times since the village, but not when. He tried to remember how long he had walked in that haze or simply how far he had come. His mind conjured no answers for him. It might have been days. It might have been weeks. Sen didn¡¯t know how long he could go without food or sleep anymore, having not tested it since well before he¡¯d found Fu Ruolan. Still, he suspected that could use a night of sleep, hot food, and a bath.


    In the next town he passed through, he found an inn. The thought of interacting with anyone still made him feel tired, but it was inevitable. There was no use in putting it off any longer. He opened the door and stepped inside. A middle-aged man with a wispy beard and an enormous stomach bustled over to him. The inn¡¯s owner frowned at Sen like he was contemplating telling the young man to leave.


    ¡°There are cheaper¡­¡± started the innkeeper.


    A small shower of silver tael clattered to the floor, summoned from one of Sen¡¯s storage rings. The innkeeper¡¯s eyes went wide with shock and greed. He dropped to the floor and started gathering up the money like a squirrel desperately gathering nuts for the long winter.


    ¡°My key?¡± asked Sen.


    The words seemed to hit the innkeeper like a blow. He looked up at Sen and seemed to regain his composure, a faint blush of shame turning the man¡¯s cheeks pink.


    ¡°Of course, honored guest,¡± said the man.


    He hastily scooped up the coins and hurried away before returning with a key to a room. The innkeeper led Sen to what he thought was probably the best room in the place. The man talked ceaselessly. Sen couldn¡¯t tell if the man was filling the air out of embarrassment over his behavior or simply to try to ingratiate himself with a well-heeled traveler. Maybe it was both. Sen shrugged the thought away and made a noise now and then to indicate that he was pretending to listen. When the innkeeper began extolling the virtues of the windows, it snapped Sen out of his stupor. He really looked at the man and saw beads of sweat on the man¡¯s forehead. He hadn¡¯t been talking out of nervousness but fear.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen, bringing the rivers of works to an immediate stop. ¡°The windows seem fine indeed. Do you offer meals? Baths?¡±


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    Some of the panicked look in the man¡¯s eyes faded as Sen asked about familiar topics.


    ¡°Yes. We offer food in the common room,¡± said the innkeeper before the panicked look redoubled in his eyes. ¡°Or we can bring the food to your room.¡±


    Sen suppressed a weary sigh. ¡°Food in the common room will be fine. Do you offer baths?¡±


    ¡°We do, honored cultivator,¡± said the man.


    Sen wondered what had given it away before reason asserted itself. What didn¡¯t I do to give it away? He used a storage treasure right in front of the man. He¡¯d thrown what probably looked like a small fortune to the innkeeper onto the floor like it was nothing. He couldn¡¯t have shouted that he was a cultivator any louder short of simply announcing that he was a cultivator for all to hear.


    ¡°Please have a bath prepared for me,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Of course, honored cultivator,¡± said the man before a frightened look crossed his face. ¡°Will you require any assistance?¡±


    It took Sen a moment to process the meaning of that last question. Assistance? He realized that the innkeeper probably had a daughter somewhere in the inn. No doubt pretty enough that some men had tried to press a claim on her. But no mortal in their right mind would deny a cultivator who threw around silver like it was dirt. Sen looked at the man for a moment.


    ¡°No. I won¡¯t require any assistance.¡±


    The innkeeper indicated his understanding with a jerky nod, but Sen could see the relief in the man¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°Of course, honored cultivator. I¡¯ll have the bath prepared immediately.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    The innkeeper made an absurdly deep bow before he left the room as fast as his legs could carry him. Sen sat on the bed and did his best to put his mind back into the place it needed to be if he meant to keep moving through civilization. He started a little when a light knock came at the door. Shaking his head at his own inattention, he went over and opened the door. The innkeeper was waiting there, looking more composed than had earlier. The rotund man led Sen to the bath and, after asking if Sen needed anything else, retreated. Sen lounged in the hot water. He could only feel a few people in the inn, so he let himself soak for longer than he would if the place was full, confident that he wasn¡¯t preventing other people from taking a bath. Getting clean and putting on fresh robes did a lot to help Sen feel more like a person. He made his way down to the common area to see if there was any food to be had. He was happy to find that there was someone ready to cook. A young woman who looked nervous and jittery came over to ask if he had any requests. Sen just told her to bring him whatever she liked best. She gave him a startled look, then hurried away to what Sen assumed was a kitchen.


    Sen found a spark of amusement as tray after tray of food was brought out to him. He only recognized about half of it, but it all smelled good. He sampled things from each tray, finally settling on a dish of chicken and vegetables that had a spicy sauce on it. Once he started eating, though, he found it difficult to stop. He emptied plate after plate of food, occasionally stopping to sip from a cup of water or pop a dumpling into his mouth. Once he¡¯d finished the last of the food, the young woman came over with an awestruck look on her face.


    ¡°Does the young master require more food?¡± she asked in a halting voice.


    ¡°No. Thank you. That was more than sufficient.¡±


    The woman nodded vaguely, her eyes on the piles of empty plates that surrounded Sen. He was just going to let her take the plates when a thought came to him.


    ¡°Perhaps you can help me,¡± said Sen thoughtfully.


    The young woman turned her full attention on him, possibly for the first time, and she went a little glassy-eyed. Sen sighed. He¡¯d forgotten about that. He pressed forward anyway.


    ¡°Do you know how far the coast is from here?¡± he asked.


    She blinked at him several times before seeming to come to herself.


    ¡°The coast? I¡¯ve never been there, but they say it¡¯s a week¡¯s travel from here.¡±


    Sen gave her a small smile and nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    He retreated to his room after that. He wondered if he should bother locking the door. He doubted anyone in the entire town could hurt him even if they tried, not that he expected they would try. Aside from that awkward initial conversation with the innkeeper, Sen was fairly certain he¡¯d been a polite guest in the town. Smirking to himself, Sen locked the door anyway. While no one might try to injure him, there was always the possibility of someone coming to his room for other reasons. Better to avoid any unnecessary complications. Once he settled onto the bed, though, Sen had no distractions left. The sorrow came back to trouble him. It didn¡¯t seize him in an iron grip the way it had, but it drained away the majority of the good feelings he¡¯d managed to accumulate over the course of the day. I guess this is how it¡¯s going to be for a while, he thought. It wasn¡¯t ideal, but it was livable.


    He tried to imagine what he must have looked like on the road or passing through towns. Had he looked like a specter? Had he blanketed the area with his pain and sadness? He couldn¡¯t recall having been forced to fight anyone or anything, although that was hard to trust. He¡¯d been so far inside his own grief that much of the journey to reach the inn was simply lost in a fog. He hoped that he hadn¡¯t done anything terrible to anyone. In the state of mind he¡¯d been in, he¡¯d have likely killed anyone that provoked him in any way.

 V5 Chapter 60 – Insult and Injury

    Li Yi Nuo frowned up at the sky. The winter was nearing its end, but it wasn¡¯t over yet. Based on the clouds overhead, it seemed that the season was preparing to remind all of the world that winter¡¯s fury was nothing to dismiss. She hated the winter. She hated the cold and the snow. She hated how nothing grew. Being forced to leave the sect and the comfort of her warm home to discover the fate of three missing disciples had not left her in a good mood. It wasn¡¯t the task itself. Those missing disciples were members of the sect. If some misfortune had befallen them, the sect had a duty to either retrieve them from the danger or at least retrieve their remains for a proper funeral. Yet, she couldn¡¯t imagine what misfortune could have befallen them.


    They were only foundation formation cultivators, but they had been sent on a simple mission to kill a spirit beast that was troubling a town. While anything could happen, these requests of the Vermilion Blade Sect were routine. The sect used them to help lower-level disciples gain experience and advance their cultivation. If the beast was powerful enough to kill all three of them, it should have been powerful enough to destroy the town and not merely trouble its inhabitants. Those oddities had been enough to convince the sect elders to dispatch an inner disciple to discover their fates. Li Yi Nuo had found herself selected for the ¡°honor¡± of this task, but she knew the truth. It was a punishment for rejecting the advances of Elder Joeng.


    The woman had been relentless in her pursuit, wholly uncaring that Li Yi Nuo had no sexual interest in other women. She had thought that explaining that would be enough, but it seemed the rumors were true. Elder Joeng wanted what she wanted and did not accept rejection well. Li Yi Nuo had assumed that the stories of other women simply submitting to put a stop to the endless rain of undesirable tasks were just that, stories. Now, she knew better. Her own cultivation had been set back months by the Elder¡¯s wounded pride. Yet, she knew it could have been much worse. She had been at least partially shielded by her teacher, but his power in the sect was limited. He had reached the end of his cultivation journey long ago and was now reaching the end of his long life. He was respected, but that respect was waning as the kind old man¡¯s life waned. She feared that the time would come when she would have to leave the sect or find herself stopped entirely in her cultivation path.


    She shook off those thoughts as she traveled down the road, her qinggong technique propelling her at speeds that would have killed a mortal horse after only a few miles. She was torn between a desire to finish this mission as quickly as possible and a desire to take her time. Finishing quickly would let her return home and escape hated winter but that would also mean falling again beneath the gaze and power of Elder Joeng. Taking her time would leave her free from the unwanted attention, but it might endanger the lives of the missing disciples. In the end, duty had won out over her personal comfort and she traveled as fast as she could. That decision had been at least partially driven by strange, unaccountable tales of a wraith wandering through this region of the kingdom. She had initially assumed they meant it was some manner of hungry ghost, but this was something else.


    The wraith wasn¡¯t violent, not directly. It simply walked steadily forward with its eyes fixed on some far-distant destination. It didn¡¯t react to human beings. Yet, its presence was something terrible for all who beheld it. It seemed this wraith was an avatar of despair. In the wake of its passage, there had been suicides and violence from those who lost all hope. It was said that even cultivators fled from it. If the disciples had encountered such an avatar of despair or, worse still, tried to battle it, she shuddered to imagine what it might have done to them. Wounds to the body could be healed. The body was well understood and there were many paths to repair it. Everything from basic acupuncture to advanced alchemy could restore the body.


    Afflictions of the heart and soul were often difficult or impossible to treat because the heart and soul were, in so many ways, inscrutable. Those who even could treat such afflictions were so rare and so expensive that even trying to hire one would bankrupt the Vermilion Blade Sect. For all the impossibility of it, one may as well try to hire Fate¡¯s Razor for a battle. However, in her secret heart, Li Yi Nuo thought that particular man was a myth. She found it far more likely that his reputation was really the deeds of many cultivators of old distilled into one cultivator cautionary tale, not the actions of one impossibly powerful cultivator who stood at the absolute peak of the cultivation world. For that matter, she strongly suspected that there were no cultivators who operated at that level. After all, why would anyone who could ascend decline to ascend for so very long?


    No, they were just stories built up over time, like those stories about the blue-robed wandering cultivator, Judgment¡¯s Gale. Blue robes were common. Wandering cultivators were common. It made more sense that people were simply confusing which wandering cultivator did what things. She had found those tales a little unnerving, though, given the things the man had supposedly done. Wandering cultivators were ill-trained or self-trained fools, by and large. She felt bad for them because that poor training almost inevitably fated them to an early death. Elder Jeong¡¯s behavior aside, it took the constant discipline of a sect to bring out the true potential of a cultivator. Knowing that it took that kind of discipline is what made the stories about the man so disquieting. If some untrained wandering cultivator was out there performing even one of those deeds, it spoke to a genius talent. If, and she simply refused to believe it, but if one man had done all of those things, he was a true old monster in the making. She pushed those thoughts aside.


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    ¡°Don¡¯t be foolish,¡± she muttered to herself. ¡°He doesn¡¯t exist. Not like that avatar of despair.¡±


    She¡¯d been inclined to dismiss those claims as mortal exaggeration. Not that it was their fault for exaggerating. They didn¡¯t have the skills necessary to identify and understand much of what transpired around them. In a world of qi, spirit beasts, and ascension, mortal senses simply weren¡¯t enough. The farther north she got, though, the more she believed it. Spirit beasts were common on the roads between villages, towns, and cities. She also knew that the farther north one went, the more likely you were to encounter a potent spirit beast. Yet, push her spiritual sense as hard as she could, she hadn¡¯t sensed a single spirit beast on her entire journey. Something had frightened the spirit beasts so badly that they had apparently fled into the deeper wilds and not returned. If a true avatar of despair had traveled these roads, though, that might have been enough to send the spirit beasts fleeing.


    Yet, even if there was such a thing wandering the area, she had to continue on. People recalled the three disciples passing through. That meant that they had been alive within the past few weeks. There was still a chance that she¡¯d find them alive if in desperate circumstances. That didn¡¯t mean she wanted to stumble blindly into a bad situation. She took every precaution she could think to deploy. She was confident in her own strength, but she doubted even her master could face down a thing like the creature of despair that people had described. Perhaps the collective strength of all the elders could pit itself against a divine messenger and send it back to where it had come from, but she was no elder. Not yet. She was a core formation cultivator. One who was only approaching the late stage. When she reached the late stage, perhaps, she might finally be considered for an elder position, but she understood well the limits of her own strength. She could not stand alone against the will of a heavenly messenger.


    Li Yi Nuo stumbled to a halt and looked around wildly. Her heart thundered in her chest. One moment, everything in the environment felt fine. The next moment, she had passed into a sphere of influence that made her want to scream, run away, and cry uncontrollably. She swept her gaze and spiritual sense around, trying to find the source, only to freeze in place. She hadn¡¯t found the source, but she had found something else. Three piles of snow that she had mistaken for snow drifts were people. The coincidence was too much. She pushed past her fear and panic. Walking toward the snow-covered forms, she remained vigilant for a trap of some kind. Yet, nothing impeded her. She crouched down by the first pile of snow and swept it away from the form beneath. She found what she feared she would. The robes of the Vermilion Blade Sect were revealed, but that barely registered in her mind. She rushed to the other piles, brushing the snow aside. She had found the missing disciples. At least, she had found what was left of them.


    She could feel the impossible power of some kind of technique inside of them. She couldn¡¯t even guess how long ago the technique had been used on them, but it had to have been days at least. For that kind of power to simply linger on them, it made her feel a kind of cold that had nothing to do with the winter weather. The man lying on the ground before her stirred, his eyes fluttering open. He stared through her with eyes that spoke of a thousand years of pain. He finally focused on her and a brief flicker of sanity took hold.


    ¡°Senior,¡± he rasped.


    ¡°Yes. Be at peace. I will return you to the sect.¡±


    A look of pure animal fear crossed the man¡¯s face as he seized her robe. ¡°No! No! Kill me! You have to kill me! Please!¡±


    The last word was barely human speech and quickly turned into a scream that cut off as the vacant look returned to the man¡¯s eyes. He shuddered violently as some interior horror dragged him back inside his own mind. Then, he went still. Li Yi Nuo crouched there in a stunned stupor. She¡¯d never even heard of a technique that could do something like what she saw before her. There were ways to influence the mind, but this went so far beyond that. There was a brief war inside her as tried to decide what to do. She needed to report this to the sect as soon as possible, but she also had to take these disciples back for treatment if there even was a treatment. Proximity won the battle. The sect was at least a week away, moving at her absolute fastest and without rest. The disciples were right there, and they would die from exposure if she didn¡¯t help them now.


    She swiftly moved beyond the lingering aura of that technique and found a spot just off the road to set up a camp. Not knowing what she¡¯d find, she¡¯d brought along provisions and supplies for several possibilities. She put up tents and started a fire. Bracing herself, she stepped back into the oppressive sphere of influence and carried the disciples out of it. Part of her hoped that moving them might provide some help, but they remained all but catatonic as she piled blankets around them and positioned them by the fire. Once the three were as comfortable as she could make them, she tried to understand what had been done. Cultivators often fought and killed each other. She¡¯d prepared herself to discover that the disciples were dead, cut down by some unusually talented wandering cultivator or a rival sect. Death was an accepted and even expected outcome in those situations.


    It felt like some kind of punishment to Li Yi Nuo. What could they have done to be left in this state? Could that wraith of despair have done it? While she didn¡¯t understand the technique, it was a technique. There had been intent in it, although the specifics of that intent remained as obscure to her as the technique itself. That didn¡¯t seem like something that an avatar would have done. Their power wouldn¡¯t feel like a cultivator¡¯s power. Somehow, a human cultivator had done this to all three of them. The cultivator had done it and then left them there in the road to die of exposure or from being attacked by a passing spirit beast. She struggled to imagine a sufficient insult to warrant such a brutal response. More importantly, who could they have so blindly and stupidly offended that had the power to exact such a punishment? Most importantly, would that cultivator seek vengeance on the sect itself for the insult?

 V5 Chapter 61 – The Coast

    Sen could smell the ocean long before the great expanse of water came into view. He found the smell dredged up a mixed bag of emotions. There had been good things about the ocean journey. He¡¯d learned a great deal about water qi on that ship. He¡¯d managed to save the lives of those sailors from that first attack. He¡¯d even managed to help Lifen learn a little bit about cultivation and protecting herself. However, it had also been a terrible time as they fled from the wrath of the demonic cultivators. Constantly worrying that they would be found, and all that had come after. The cult, the sect war, everything that happened in the capital, and those desperate, desperate days searching for Fu Ruolan as his body drew ever closer to death. It made Sen realize that aside from that first year right after he¡¯d left the mountain, he¡¯d never really gotten a chance to be the wandering cultivator that he¡¯d set out to become.


    Everything had compounded on itself as one disaster led into the next. Sen felt more than a little bitter about that. He had meant to see and experience the world. While he had visited much of the kingdom, he hadn¡¯t really seen any of it. He¡¯d been too busy worrying about who was going to try to recruit him by force, use him, or outright kill him. It seemed like half the time he¡¯d been too injured to enjoy anything. The other half of the time, he¡¯d been too busy trying not to die. And he wouldn¡¯t call what he¡¯d been through experiencing the world. He¡¯d been brutalized by the world. It may have helped to push his cultivation and reputation to a point that most sects would prefer not to make him an enemy, but he¡¯d never wanted any of that. He¡¯d have happily spent the next hundred years slowly advancing his cultivation and wandering the world.


    He pondered all of those concerns, experiences, and his bitterness about them as he made his way closer to the coast. There was certainly a part of him that felt fully justified in that bitterness. Just as he might have stolen something from those villagers by not letting them die, the world had stolen something from him by not letting him advance the way other cultivators did. It would be easy to let that bitterness infect him. To let it drive how he chose to act in the world. Yet, that bitterness wasn¡¯t really his. It belonged to that very na?ve young man who had come down off the mountain. Sen could see that in some strange, misguided way he had been trying to get back to a place where he could be that person. He kept trying to free himself from obligations so he could just be that humble wandering cultivator that, in truth, he¡¯d never really been. It had been a dream, a young person¡¯s dream, but Sen couldn¡¯t be that person.


    He had done too much. Killed too many people. Seen how the world truly operated beyond the confines of those half-heard stories he¡¯d listened to as a child. Stories were simple. In the stories, there were pure wandering cultivators of great skill who appeared like the wind and saved the village. There were noble sects that put honor first. There were benevolent kings who ruled their kingdoms with justice. Life, he had learned the hardest possible way, was not like the stories. He¡¯d been that cultivator who came in and saved the village from bandits, but that salvation was a bloody affair carried out by a man who could callously put aside any concern for the human lives it would cost. He knew that there were honorable people to be found in sects, but sects themselves were not to be trusted. He actually knew a benevolent king, but he also knew how and why that man had taken the throne. Life was full of people with their own needs, agendas, and goals. There was nothing simple about that.


    So, he cast aside that bitterness over a lost life that he knew would never have come to pass. Even if he hadn¡¯t been thrown into the lethal circumstances that he¡¯d faced, he would have been confronted with other challenges and disappointments. He would have still had to learn the hard truth that life was complicated and even people you care about may not share your goals or principles. He might regret that he¡¯d had to learn those lessons so soon, but no man got to choose the time or place he received those lessons. The reality was that those lessons had come to him, and he couldn¡¯t unlearn them. And if those truths had hardened him in some ways, that was often the price of wisdom. Harboring bitterness over it wouldn¡¯t serve him, any more than clinging desperately to the dreams of another man. It¡¯s time to find new dreams, thought Sen. Maybe those dreams wouldn¡¯t appeal to the mind of a boy, but they would also be truer to who he had become.


    When he stopped for the night, Sen pulled something from his storage ring that he hadn¡¯t looked at for a long time. He spent hours sitting by the fire and holding that seemingly innocuous object, considering what it meant to him and what it would say to others. He had pushed it from his thoughts the way he had tried to push away everything that he associated with it. Then, with a bittersweet smile, he put on the blue robes that Auntie Caihong had given him those years ago. They didn¡¯t fit quite as well as they once had, but the material was still excellent quality and the minor enchantments on them were in working order, preserved by the magic of storage rings. He had run from those robes the same way he had run from the identity they represented in his mind. He could see that for the foolishness it had always been. Not wearing the robes didn¡¯t free him. It simply shackled him in denial.


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    ¡°No more hiding,¡± said Sen, and headed out to cover the last few miles to the coast.


    The city on the coast was one of the smaller ones that Sen had seen, but he mostly dismissed it from his mind. He didn¡¯t plan to stay in the city for more than a night if at all possible. Instead, he headed directly for the harbor. It was smaller than he hoped it would be as he walked along the docks, looking for a ship that would serve his purposes. He came up short as a ship that he recognized came into view. It was a nondescript vessel that wasn¡¯t too old or too worn and wouldn¡¯t draw attention unless you knew it.


    ¡°It can¡¯t be,¡± whispered Sen.


    He walked toward the ship, only to see one of the sailors on the deck ship staring at him with huge, disbelieving eyes. The sailor disappeared and the captain appeared a few moments later, smiling and shaking his head. The man jogged down the gangplank and gave Sen a deep bow. The man looked older to Sen. The lines around his eyes and mouth were a little deeper. There was more gray in his hair. Even so, the man had a gleam of good cheer in his eye that Sen remembered from his last voyage on the ship.


    ¡°Honored cultivator, it does this old man¡¯s heart good to see you again.¡±


    Sen gave the man a smile and a bow of his own. ¡°Captain, it¡¯s good to see you again. I fear that I rudely neglected to ask your name the last time I traveled with you.¡±


    The captain gave Sen a thoughtful look. ¡°Now that you say it, we didn¡¯t exchange names, did we? I mostly dealt with the beauty you had with last time. I am Chen Ailun.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to finally know your name. I am Lu Sen.¡±


    ¡°Cultivator Lu,¡± said the captain.


    Sen looked over at the ship with a frown. It was hard not to feel like the whole encounter was some elaborate setup just when he needed transport. On the other hand, he had to ask himself if it was really a surprise to find a ship he recognized. If Sen had found this ship at a harbor on the far side of the continent, that would be too suspicious. From the conversations he¡¯d had with the captain and crew, this was the exact part of the coast where they worked. Finding them at that particular harbor felt more like good luck to Sen than anything else.


    ¡°Captain, I can¡¯t help but feel that this may be a fortuitous encounter.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± asked the captain, giving Sen a speculative look.


    ¡°Indeed. I am in need of transport to the same cove where we sheltered, and I find you here on the day I arrive. I don¡¯t suppose you have room for a humble wandering cultivator and a minor detour?¡±


    ¡°Just you this time?¡± asked the captain, sounding a little disappointed.


    Sen wondered if the captain had developed a little crush on Lo Meifeng. ¡°Just me this time.¡±


    The older man idly scratched his chin. ¡°As far as I¡¯m concerned, you always have a ride on this ship when you need it. I don¡¯t forget my debts.¡±


    ¡°There are no debts between us,¡± said Sen. ¡°Well, none save the cost of passage.¡±


    Sen had planned to outright buy a ship and the service of a crew, if necessary, but he felt much better about traveling with Chen Ailun than with some captain he didn¡¯t know. To that end, he had placed a meaningful amount of silver into a small pouch before he entered the city. He produced the pouch from his storage ring, causing the captain¡¯s eyes to go wide with wonder. He held the pouch out to the captain.


    ¡°I hope that will be enough to suffice.¡±


    The captain gave the pouch a wary look after he took it from Sen. He immediately tried to give the pouch back after looking inside, but Sen waved him off.


    ¡°It¡¯s too much,¡± said the captain.


    ¡°It¡¯s not too much for my peace of mind. I trust you and your men. I¡¯d gladly pay double that to secure your services.¡±


    The captain straightened up with pride at those words. ¡°We¡¯ll be ready to leave at your word.¡±


    Sen considered asking to leave immediately, but he squashed that thought. ¡°I assume you have business here. When were you planning to leave?¡±


    The captain hemmed and hawed briefly, but finally admitted, ¡°The day after tomorrow, but we can leave at any time you wish to go.¡±


    Sen gave the man a gentle smile. ¡°Finish your business. We¡¯ll leave the day after tomorrow. In the meantime, perhaps you have some grand tale of adventure from the sea.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± said the captain with a thoughtful look, ¡°there was this one time when I had a couple of cultivators aboard, and the worst storm I¡¯d ever seen threatened to sink my ship.¡±


    Sen laughed. ¡°A fine tale I¡¯m sure, but you must have seen something more interesting than some fool boy of a cultivator.¡±


    The captain grinned. He waved at Sen to follow him to a cabin. ¡°Actually, now that you mention it, I saw the strangest-looking beast a year or two ago.¡±

 V5 Chapter 62 – Setting Sail

    Sen stepped onto the street from the inn. It had been a little disappointing. Some mild regret over not bringing Lo Meifeng with him stirred in his heart. The woman had a gift for finding good inns. Dismissing the merely adequate meal he¡¯d had for breakfast, he started walking toward the harbor. He was ready to finish this journey to visit Elder Bo. Sen couldn¡¯t figure out why the turtle wanted to see him again, and he mostly didn¡¯t care. He¡¯d show up, let the turtle take a look, and be on his way again. No more elixirs I don¡¯t understand, thought Sen with a shudder. He was fully prepared to lie through his teeth that he had abandoned alchemy altogether if the turtle tried to coax him into making something. Their last fortuitous encounter had been more of a calamitous encounter to Sen¡¯s mind. No need to repeat the mistakes of the past.


    It didn¡¯t take Sen long to sense the people following him. A brief look with his spiritual sense told him they were core formation cultivators. They¡¯re early stage if I¡¯m not mistaken, he thought. Best to just be done with it. Turning on his heel, he fixed his gaze on a pair of sect cultivators. It was a man and woman with the annoyingly difficult to determine ages of cultivators. Sen didn¡¯t do anything overtly hostile, but he did rest his hand on the hilt of his jian. Sen reasoned that should be enough to let them know that he was ready for violence, but not eager for it. The woman gave the man an annoyed look.


    ¡°I told you we should just introduce ourselves,¡± she said.


    ¡°How was I supposed to know he¡¯d spot us immediately?¡± complained the man.


    ¡°By listening to any of the stories about the man,¡± said the woman.


    The pair continued to bicker with each other in a way that made Sen wonder if they were related. He listened with mild amusement for a full minute as they sniped at each other before he loudly cleared his throat. The man and woman both looked over at him before the woman glared at the man and hit him in the arm with the back of her hand.


    ¡°Now look what you did,¡± said the woman.


    ¡°Me?¡± demanded the man with an incredulous look. ¡°What about you?¡±


    ¡°What about me?¡± she asked with a dangerous glint in her eye.


    Sen decided to take pity on the man. ¡°While this is all quite entertaining, I have somewhere to be shortly. I intend to be there.¡±


    With one last furious glare at the man, the woman marched over to Sen. ¡°Forgive my brother. He¡¯s been struck in the head many times.¡±


    The man rolled his eyes in a long-suffering way before he walked over to join his sister.


    ¡°Forgive her. She¡¯s forgotten that politeness is a virtue in her old age,¡± said the man, eliciting an outraged look from the woman. ¡°I am Hu Deming. This is my sister, Hu Li Na.¡±


    Sen gave the pair a wary nod as he continued to scan the area. He wasn¡¯t expecting a trap, but he supposed that was why most traps worked.


    ¡°Lu Sen.¡±


    The woman¡¯s eyes went wide and she burst out with, ¡°Are you Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡±


    Sen looked from her to her brother. She looked excited. The brother looked skeptical. Sen was just confused because he couldn¡¯t decide what to make of them. He also realized that simply staring at them wasn¡¯t going to answer any of his questions.


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    ¡°Yes,¡± he said. ¡°Some call me that.¡±


    Hu Li Na shot her brother a look of pure triumph before she turned that excited gaze back on him. ¡°Is it true that you fought an entire sect to the death in Emperor¡¯s Bay?¡±


    ¡°What? No, of course not.¡±


    It was Hu Deming¡¯s turn to shoot a triumphant look at his sister. ¡°I told you!¡±


    ¡°It was just a dozen or so sect members,¡± said Sen. ¡°Well, maybe two dozen. Oh, and an elder.¡±


    Hu Li Na¡¯s eyes were positively glowing. Hu Deming¡¯s mouth was hanging open a little.


    ¡°You fought a sect elder?¡± exclaimed Hu Li Na.


    ¡°I did. I didn¡¯t want to, but he wasn¡¯t really taking no for an answer.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡± asked Hu Deming.


    Sen cocked his head in confusion. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re still here. How did you convince the elder to let you go?¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°By killing him.¡±


    He Deming was staring at him in a vaguely creepy, slack-jawed sort of way, which Sen decided was a good sign that he should disengage from the very odd conversation. Before he could execute his masterful plan, the woman piped up again.


    ¡°Is it true that you fought a beast tide?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Sen in a distracted tone. ¡°A bunch of times. You can¡¯t avoid it if you go deep enough into the wilds.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve been into the deep wilds?¡± she asked with true awe in her voice.


    ¡°I have.¡±


    ¡°Is it true that¡­¡± started Hu Li Na before Sen lifted a hand to cut her off.


    ¡°I don¡¯t wish to be rude, but I truly have somewhere to be.¡±


    The woman gave him a wounded look that Sen had no idea what he was supposed to do with.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure that they¡¯ll understand,¡± she said hopefully.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that my ship is due to leave,¡± clarified Sen.


    ¡°But,¡± started the woman.


    ¡°Li Na,¡± said Hu Deming in a sharp tone. ¡°You know the ships have to leave with the tide.¡±


    ¡°I know, but when will I ever get a chance like this again? It¡¯s not like famous wandering cultivators who battle beast tides and demonic cabals show up here every day.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re both core cultivators,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯m sure you had more than a few battles.¡±


    Hu Li Na shook her head. ¡°We go out and fight spirit beasts if they¡¯re too dangerous for the local villages, duel other cultivators sometimes, but nothing like the things you¡¯ve done.¡±


    Sen gave her a serious look that made the woman stand up a little straighter.


    ¡°Then, I am glad for you. It seems that you sowed karma much more wisely in your past lives than I did. Mine has been a path of much pain for myself and others. Yet, the things I¡¯m most proud of, I didn¡¯t accomplish with a sword. I accomplished them with these,¡± said Sen, withdrawing two of his better healing elixirs from a storage ring and pressing them into the woman¡¯s hand.


    Hu Li Na glanced down at the stone vials. Sen felt her spiritual sense pass over the elixirs. What she sensed in the vials made her stagger a little. She looked at Sen with a rapidly shifting expression.


    ¡°These are a¡ª¡± she began.


    ¡°A way to sow more good karma,¡± said Sen, glancing up at the sky. ¡°Now, I must go.¡±


    Sen nodded at the pair and walked away, leaving the brother and sister staring after him with dumbfounded expressions. Sen hurried over to the harbor making liberal use of his qinggong technique to make up the time he¡¯d lost talking with the very strange brother and sister. He saw the captain giving the sky an unhappy look that smoothed out as soon as he saw Sen. A pair of sailors pulled the gangplank onto the ship after he stepped aboard and secured it while Sen walked over to the captain. The older man gave Sen a nod.


    ¡°I never did ask,¡± said the captain, ¡°why do you want to go back to that cove?¡±


    Sen offered the man a rueful smile. ¡°I¡¯m just keeping an appointment.¡±


    The captain seemed to accept that answer without feeling the need to ask more. The man had a pleased look on his face.


    ¡°You seem happy,¡± observed Sen.


    ¡°There are fair winds today and no signs of a storm. That¡¯s always welcome news on a ship.¡±


    Sen gave the sky a considering look before he accepted the words without feeling a need to ask more. If the captain said it was good weather for sailing, Sen believed him. Soon after, the real work of getting the ship out to sea began. Sen retreated to a spot on the deck that he remembered would keep him out of the way while the sailors worked. He felt the tug of recent sorrow on his heart, but he kept his eyes turned to the ocean. His emotions were sharp and fresh, but the ocean was vast enough to soothe even that pain. As the ship took on a gentle rise and fall over the water, a faint smile tugged at Sen¡¯s lips. Perhaps there would be storms in the future but, for that moment, there was no storm to plague him.

 V5 Bloopers

    ¡°Oh, the sleepy sleepy boy is awake. Sleeps too much, too much, too much!¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I¡­,¡± said Sen, taken off-guard by her appearance and odd speech.


    ¡°And he stutters!¡± shouted the woman, pointing an accusatory finger at him. ¡°Why does he stutter? Why? Why? Why?¡±


    Even having been warned about her nature, Sen found himself flummoxed by the actual experience of meeting this odd woman. He shook his head a little and tried to regroup.


    ¡°Are you Fu Ruolan?¡± he asked.


    ¡°No! I¡¯m a pretty, pretty, fairy princess!¡± shouted the nascent soul cultivator.


    ¡°A what?¡±


    With that, the woman burst into light, transformed into a human-sized fairy with gossamer wings. She held something out to him in her hand.


    ¡°Have a cookie, kid.¡±


    Not sure how to react, Sen just took the thing she called a cookie. He glanced down at the round flat object in his hand and lifted an eyebrow. ¡°What do I do with it?¡±


    ***


    A quick sweep of his spiritual sense told him that most of them were regular mortals armed with crossbows. There were a few upper-tier foundation formation cultivators and one core formation cultivator. Part of Sen told him that it would be better to talk this out. Surely, there was some peaceful solution to this problem. Yet, the rest of him knew that it wasn¡¯t going to play out that way. These people had come out here to ambush them. Sen supposed it was his own fault. He¡¯d been experimenting on the trip with tamping down the expression of his cultivation level. The goal was simply to make himself less obvious without going in for full-on hiding. Hiding was helpful, but it limited his senses in ways that he didn¡¯t like in the wild. It was the only thing that Falling Leaf had shown an interest in during the whole last week, so he¡¯d explained it as well as he could and she¡¯d figured out her own version of the tamping-down technique.


    Of course, it also came with the problem of making him and her look like easier targets than they were in truth. The population had been so sparse on their way to the mountain that it hadn¡¯t resulted in any incidents, but he supposed his luck had been bound to run out. Sen debated with himself briefly before he looked at Falling Leaf. She wasn¡¯t looking at any of the would-be ambushers. She¡¯d pulled out a roasted chicken that Sen had forgotten he¡¯d made a few weeks back. She was pulling hunks of meat off the bird and chewing them.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Sen asked.


    ¡°Let Larry deal with it,¡± said Falling Leaf around a mouthful of chicken.


    The core cultivator stepped forward. She was a tall woman with a piercing gaze. Her skin was pale and her features refined through the magic of advancement. Yet, her lips were pressed into a hard line as she glared at the pair of them. She had an expensive spear in her hands and handled it with the casual air of someone who knew its use.


    ¡°Who is Larry?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°He is,¡± said Sen, gesturing to the side with a thumb.


    At those words, a spirit ox that stood twice as tall as Sen exploded from the forest.


    ¡°Run!¡± screamed the core cultivator.


    While Larry the spirit ox rampaged through the would-be robbers with world-shaking moos, Sen reached out to pluck some of the meat off the chicken. Falling Leaf slapped his hand.


    ¡°Get your own.¡±


    ***


    Falling Leaf was frowning up a storm at those comments. ¡°Humans seem a lot more complicated than that to me.¡±


    ¡°They are but that¡¯s when you¡¯re dealing with people you know. Personal history, personality quirks, and even your mood can influence how those things play out. When you¡¯re dealing with people one time and never likely to see them again, you can generally assume that food, shelter, family, and safety are their priorities. If you can throw in some entertainment or kindness, you¡¯ll probably be on safe ground more often than not. Plus, you¡¯re a cultivator. If you act a little strange, most people will just chalk it up to that.¡±


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    ¡°You make it sound easy.¡±


    ¡°Well, easy is probably overselling it,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯s probably more accurate to say that it¡¯s straightforward. You probably got a bit of a skewed view of things because most of the people you¡¯ve dealt with regularly have been cultivators, nobles, or both. Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho are so old and have so much experience that you can¡¯t use them as an example for anything except how really old nascent soul cultivators work. I end up dealing with cultivators and nobles all the time, so all of those people are bad examples too. You¡¯ve gotten a really lopsided experience of people. I¡¯ll tell you what. I spent some time in a village a while back. I just lived there with a family. I learned a lot from doing that. Once we get this business with my body cultivation settled, we¡¯ll find a place like that.¡±


    ¡°And do what?¡± asked a perplexed Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Conquer it, obviously.¡±


    ***


    As time passed, though, Sen had to stop fuming and concentrate on the task at hand. Making the superior healing potions required a lot of attention from him in terms of managing the reactions inside the pot, to say nothing of keeping the heat at a stable temperature. He blotted everything else out of his sphere of attention and gave the elixir his full attention. He could feel the elixir coming together properly, the discrete ingredients fusing together to make something more, something better. For Sen, this was alchemy at its purest. There was a part of him that wanted to experiment. He¡¯d had some ideas about improving this elixir into something even more potent. He thought that there was even the possibility of making a version that might help restore qi, but that wasn¡¯t the point of this exercise. This was just a demonstration.


    Sen ignored those distracting thoughts and monitored the contents of the pot until they¡¯d reached the perfect moment of fusion. Then, with a wave of his hand, he cooled the potion. He summoned a glass vial and a piece of cheesecloth from his storage ring. A moment or two of effort and he¡¯d filled the much rarer glass vial with the elixir. In most cases, he used stone vials because they were sturdier. For this, he wanted her to be able to see the elixir and its faint blue glow, not just feel it. Keeping his expression neutral, he turned and handed the vial to Fu Ruolan. She just stared at the vial for several long moments before giving herself a slight shake. She reached out and took the vial. Sen felt her examining it, no doubt assessing its strength and nature. Her expression was complicated and difficult for Sen to read when she finally found something to say.


    Fu Ruolan turned her gaze upwards as though she was staring at the gods themselves and yelled, ¡°This is some bullshit!¡±


    ***


    She gestured at the cauldron that had been placed on a heavy table nearby. Sen checked the stove to ensure that there was a bed of hot coals sufficient to heat the cauldron. He could do it himself if he needed to but preferred not to complicate the process with more interference than necessary. He wanted to replicate his process as precisely as possible in the hopes that the more experienced cultivator would see what he had missed. He entertained the idea of pulling out the manual to reference the instructions. That notion was dismissed almost immediately. He¡¯d committed those words to memory at this point. Instead, he got to work. It seemed that Fu Ruolan was taking the same approach that he was and made no suggestions as he placed the cauldron over the heat, prepared ingredients, and added them to the cauldron. The only thing she did was keep an eye on what was happening in the cauldron with her spiritual sense as Sen worked. A part of him hoped with a kind of raw desperation that this time he would succeed.


    He followed every instruction to the letter. He didn¡¯t interfere with the process at all, at any level, despite his instincts to do so. He was so intent on the task that he was startled when Fu Ruolan stormed over the cauldron and yanked the cover off. She glared down at the contents of the cauldron which were, as Sen saw when he peered down into it, decidedly not anything like a pill. Fu Ruolan¡¯s face went from anger to disbelief. It took Sen a second to realize that he hadn¡¯t made any mistakes. What she saw in that cauldron was not what she had expected to see.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± she said. ¡°You did everything right. This should have worked.¡±


    Sen reached down into the pot and pulled out the strange thing he had made. It was white and squishy.


    ¡°What is this thing?¡±


    Fu Ruolan gave the thing a defeated look. ¡°It¡¯s called a marshmallow.¡±


    ***


    The captain seemed to accept that answer without feeling the need to ask more. The man had a pleased look on his face.


    ¡°You seem happy,¡± observed Sen.


    ¡°There are fair winds today and no signs of a storm. That¡¯s always welcome news on a ship.¡±


    Sen gave the sky a considering look before he accepted the words without feeling a need to ask more. If the captain said it was good weather for sailing, Sen believed him. Soon after, the real work of getting the ship out to sea began. Sen retreated to a spot on the deck that he remembered would keep him out of the way while the sailors worked. He felt the tug of recent sorrow on his heart, but he kept his eyes turned to the ocean. His emotions were sharp and fresh, but the ocean was vast enough to soothe even that pain. As the ship took on a gentle rise and fall over the water, a faint smile tugged at Sen¡¯s lips. Perhaps there would be storms in the future but, for that moment, there was no storm to plague him. No sooner had that thought passed through his mind than he felt a massive swell of qi from the mouth of the harbor.


    ¡°Kraken!¡± screamed one of the sailors.


    ¡°Son of a bitch!¡± yelled Sen in frustration.

 V6 Chapter 1 – Petty Vengeance

    Li Yi Nuo looked at the gates to the Vermillion Blade Sect with a complex set of feelings that were somehow still numb. There was relief that the journey was done. A trip that she might have made in a week, or even a few days if she pushed herself hard enough, had taken weeks. She looked over her shoulder at the three men in the back of the wagon. It had taken all of her very meager skills in healing to simply keep them alive. Getting them to even eat anything had been a daily chore that consumed hours. If they hadn¡¯t been left on the road in the middle of winter to die, it might not have been so bad. By the time she¡¯d found them, though, they had been close to death. She had second-guessed her choice not to let them die a hundred times. Their moments of lucidity were mercifully infrequent because she found it hard to bear their pleas for death. Part of her had fervently hoped that taking them away from the site of their attack would relieve them of some small part of their pain, but that hope had been in vain.


    Another cultivator had wanted these men to die but had also wanted them to suffer first. Whatever technique that mysterious, terrifyingly powerful, and pitiless cultivator had afflicted them with had done its work well. The shadow of that cultivator had hung over her the entire journey, growing in size with each passing day. She had gone days without sleep as the thought of the faceless specter tracking them down haunted her. After all, that person she so desperately wished to never meet had meant for those fellow sect members to die. She had interrupted that plan. What if they knew? What if they came to punish her as they had punished the men in the back of the wagon? With that idea gnawing at her peace of mind, coming up to the sect gates was a relief. There were elders in the sect who could, if nothing else, provide her protection from whoever had done this thing to the poor wretches she had found.


    Yet, returning to the sect would bring with it an old problem that she had neither the patience to tolerate nor the power to stop. It was made worse by the fear that the unknown cultivator would come to finish what they had started and include her in that delayed retribution. She needed the protection of the sect until they understood better what had happened on that empty patch of road. Staying meant enduring the unwanted advances of Elder Joeng, a woman that Li Yi Nuo had learned to loathe. Leaving meant accepting all of the dangers of being a wandering cultivator and the phantom threat of a cultivator capable of imposing a technique of pain and horror that could endure for weeks, possibly even months. She could only hope that someone in the sect had some bit of esoteric knowledge that might shed light on the matter. As she drew up to the gate, she felt a weight lift off her heart. Her teacher was waiting for her with a kind smile. She climbed down off the wagon and approached him. She gave him a deep bow.


    ¡°Master.¡±


    The old cultivator smiled at her, but there was a grave look in his eyes. ¡°Li Yi Nuo. You have returned at last. Were you successful?¡±


    She knew that he could already sense the men in the wagon, but he wanted the guards to hear her say that she had succeeded in her task. A minor bit of sect politics, perhaps, but she would take every shred of political capital she could acquire.


    ¡°Yes, Master. Although, I fear their condition is grave.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo trailed behind her master as he walked to the back of the wagon and looked down at the wayward formation foundation sect members. He studied those nearly inert forms for a long time. Then, he started issuing orders. Healers and alchemists were to be summoned at once. The wagon was brought inside the sect and a flurry of activity happened around Li Yi Nuo that she barely noticed. She had gotten back safely. Now, the responsibility for those men could be handed over to others with more skill or more wisdom. The elders would demand a report of her. She didn¡¯t look forward to that as she doubted she would be able to tell them more than the healers would discover. Any evidence had long since been erased or buried by the winter weather by the time she arrived. Still, it was a relief to be able to stop thinking, stop worrying, and stop planning, even if only for a few minutes.


    She followed her master to her own home, where he made sure that there was a fire to warm the small building. He made and poured her tea, waving off her halfhearted protests that she should serve him. He even sent someone to fetch her something to eat. He asked her a few gentle questions but seemed to sense that she had used up her mental resources. He told her to sleep and that the elders would summon her when they were ready. She had collapsed into her bed, feeling ready to sleep for days. It seemed that fate was not feeling kind toward her because the elders summoned her the next day.


    The Vermilion Blade Sect was neither a large sect nor a small sect. They had a reputation for training cultivators of quality, but they were situated too far from any major city to become a true powerhouse sect. The sect patriarch and elders, with a few glaring exceptions, encouraged a modest approach to building. They reasoned that money was best spent on resources and tools to support the sect and its disciples. There were no grand structures. Even the elders¡¯ hall could have been mistaken for a small library building in the outside world. As her master had told her, it was foolish to equate opulence with power. Far better to judge based on the talent of the cultivators within those buildings than by the buildings themselves. Li Yi Nuo was more aware than most how much actual cultivation talent and power was contained in that modest building. While she didn¡¯t let herself hesitate as she approached it, she wished she could.


    Stolen story; please report.


    When she stood before the assembled elders of the sect, she was relieved that it was her own master who spoke first. She worked very hard not to look at Elder Joeng, fearing that she might see lust or fury in those eyes. After all, it had been that woman¡¯s desire to punish her that sent Li Yi Nuo off in the middle of winter in the first place. Instead, she kept her focus on her master.


    ¡°Describe to us what you found?¡± her master asked in his gentle voice.


    She made the briefest of descriptions of her journey, taking only a moment to mention the tales of some kind of wandering spirit of sorrow she had heard. They might be foolish tales from mortals, but better to make the sect aware and let them decide how best to deal with it. Then, she came to the heart of the matter.


    ¡°I found them in the road, buried in snow. I don¡¯t know how long they were there, but all three were on the verge of death. They had been afflicted with some kind of technique, something that seemed to afflict their minds or hearts.¡±


    The voice that Li Yi Nuo had least wished to hear cut her off.


    ¡°Do you fancy yourself a healer now?¡± asked Elder Joeng.


    Li Yi Nuo steadied her nerves as she turned to face the woman who had been such a source of trouble for her. ¡°I do not. I inferred it.¡±


    ¡°Based on what? Your vast experience?¡± sneered the elder.


    ¡°Based on the way that they begged me to kill them every time they had a moment of lucidity.¡±


    That seemed to sober Elder Joeng. The elders questioned her for hours, digging for every scrap of information she knew and every scrap she hadn¡¯t known that she remembered. They had her go over every feeling she¡¯d had where she¡¯d found the three men. By the time they finally dismissed her, Li Yi Nuo felt even more tired than she had the day before. Later that afternoon, her master came to her and told her that she was entering secluded cultivation for a time to recover from her trip. She didn¡¯t need him to explain to her that it was a convenient excuse to avoid Elder Joeng. There were some things that not even elders dared to interrupt without exceptionally good reasons.


    She was more than happy to comply with the order. No one managed anything remotely like decent cultivation on a journey. It was always a struggle to simply maintain whatever progress you had made. In most cases, though, it meant some loss of the accumulated qi in the dantian. Li Yi Nuo had been no exception to this rule. She worked hard to replace what she had lost, but her efforts were a fractured thing. The shadowy figure behind the attack on those outer disciples had taken up residence in her mind. The attack itself was frightening enough, but the complete lack of information about whoever had done it was even more frightening. It could be anyone. That uncertainty had driven a sliver of fear inside her mind that she couldn¡¯t escape. Even in her sleep, a cultivator wreathed in shadow and death pursued her, consumed with the need to impose a reckoning on her for her interference.


    Her period of solitude was all too brief. She¡¯d barely been back for two weeks when she found herself summoned before the elders. She wondered if they had more questions for her. That couldn¡¯t have been farther from the truth. Her eyes sought out her master, and the man looked like he¡¯d been driven fifty years closer to death. She didn¡¯t have to consider that grim change before Elder Joeng spoke.


    ¡°The men you retrieved have not improved. Our best healers and alchemists could do nothing. The technique used on those outer disciples attacks the heart and mind,¡± announced Elder Joeng like it was new information and not the very conclusion that Li Yi Nuo had suggested. ¡°We summoned a man who specializes in such things at great expense. He informs us that while he can reduce the damage done, only the one who inflicted the technique can truly release them from it. Since you were the one to find these men, we deem it appropriate that you be given the extraordinary honor of seeing this task through. You will seek out the cultivator who did this. You will return them to us to undo this damage and face the sect¡¯s justice.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo couldn¡¯t breathe as she saw the malicious light in Elder Joeng¡¯s eyes. This wasn¡¯t a mission. This was a glorified death sentence and all of the elders knew it. Any cultivator who could impose a technique that powerful and with that kind of longevity was a monster. The kind of cultivator who had bathed in blood and found it to their liking. The kind of cultivator who would kill her out of hand simply for bothering them. She also knew she couldn¡¯t refuse. If she tried, it was entirely possible that she¡¯d never leave the sect compound alive.


    ¡°H- How am I to find this person?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo, her voice a hollow whisper.


    Elder Joeng smiled. It was a petty, cruel thing. She held up an object.


    ¡°This compass will guide you to them.¡±


    There were more instructions that Li Yi Nuo didn¡¯t really hear and the compass was placed in her hands. She had always known that cultivation might lead to death. She¡¯d just never imagined it would be a death caused by the petty vengeance of an elder in her own sect. As she started walking toward the door, she felt an explosion of qi behind her that dwarfed anything she had ever felt in her life. She whirled around, her heart pounding in her chest, expecting to see the entire building in ruins. What she did see shocked her even more. Her master, the kind, gentle man who had seen himself as a guide and treated her more like a granddaughter than a disciple, was towering over the headless body of Elder Joeng. Her head was still in his hand, blood dripping from the severed stump of her neck.


    Her master¡¯s eyes were blazing with a rage she had never witnessed in the man and his killing intent blanketed the entire building like the barely restrained wrath of a god. Li Yi Nuo could see the shock and the naked fear on the faces of the other elders. These people had dismissed her master, pushed him out of the inner circles of the sect, and he had largely let them, content to train what he saw as his final disciple. She had never considered that such things lived inside the man. Yet, now that she considered it, he must have progressed as all cultivators progressed. He had grown through violence, and it seemed he had excelled at it. She could only surmise that the other elders, who must have known, had thought him a toothless tiger. His teeth, it seemed, were still strong and sharp.


    ¡°If she doesn¡¯t return,¡± said her master in tones of pure granite, ¡°every elder in this room will die.¡±

 V6 Chapter 2 – The Calm and the Storm

    Sen had enjoyed the first few weeks on board Captain Chen¡¯s ship. Many of the sailors were new, but he¡¯d recognized more than a few of them. There had been a little bit of awkwardness the first few days, but it mostly stemmed from a lingering sense of awe from the men he¡¯d sailed with before. When he¡¯d taken over in the kitchen a few times and served them meals that included some qi-rich meat from the edible beasts he¡¯d killed in recent times, the last of that hesitancy had slipped away. Sen had discovered that food had a magical way of easing people into a state of mental and emotional comfort. He¡¯d been more than a little pleased to find that the same thing applied to the men aboard the ship. After that, the crew of the ship treated him like a long-lost son or brother who had come home.


    He''d also spent more than a little time with the captain having wide-ranging discussions. The captain wasn¡¯t a noble but had come from a merchant family who sent him off to sea to help beat out a youthful wildness that had gotten the man into some manner of trouble. Little had they known that they¡¯d sent the man off to find his calling. Sen had also discovered that the man had benefitted from an excellent education. That made him an ideal conversation partner for Sen. If nothing else, the man could help fill in some of the more mundane gaps in Sen¡¯s own education. For all that Sen wanted to get some practical value out of the trip, though, he often found himself hanging on the captain¡¯s every word as he described some harrowing experience that nearly destroyed his ship or some far-off exotic location he¡¯d visited.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been so many places,¡± said Sen. ¡°I was starting to think that I was well traveled, but it¡¯s nothing compared with you.¡±


    Captain Chen smiled at Sen, the skin around his eyes crinkling. ¡°Well, I think I may have a few years on you.¡±


    Sen inclined his head in acknowledgment. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true. Still, you used to sail to the far side of the continent. But no more?¡±


    ¡°No. No more.¡±


    ¡°May I ask why?¡±


    ¡°Ha! You¡¯re so polite to this lowly mortal.¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°I was a lowly mortal not that long ago.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s easy to forget that cultivators start out the same as everyone else. As to your question, it¡¯s no great secret. There are great fortunes to be made by sailing to the far side of the continent, but it¡¯s also very dangerous. There are pirates, great beasts of the ocean, and a hundred other risks.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t we have those here?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°We do, but I¡¯ve been sailing these waters for long enough that I know where to watch out for them. Plus, a trip like that can take years. That¡¯s fine for young men with their whole lives in front of them and nothing waiting for them at home. I have a family. I¡¯m away from them more than I¡¯d like, but I still get to see them. Men who take those journeys to the far side of the continent often come home to find that the children they remember are fully grown and utter strangers. Some men come home to find their families simply gone without a word,¡± said Captain Chen with a look of old pain on his face. ¡°For me, no fortune is worth that risk.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°I see. I hadn¡¯t fully considered the costs.¡±


    The captain gave Sen a small smile. ¡°Well, it¡¯s a mighty cost for a mortal like me. For a young cultivator with nothing but time ahead of him, well, why not go?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve considered it,¡± offered Sen. ¡°I have some obligations that I must fulfill before I can go, but I plan to cross the Mountains of Sorrow at some point.¡±


    The captain seemed shocked. ¡°Overland?¡±


    ¡°I expect so.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that dangerous?¡±


    Sen laughed. ¡°It can be, although I suspect that I¡¯d be alright. I¡¯m used to fighting on land.¡±


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Captain Chen shook his head as though Sen were a madman but didn¡¯t comment on it. Sen poured them both another cup of tea and saw the captain roll his eyes at the inversion of courtesy. It had made the sailor deeply uncomfortable at first, but Sen simply waved it off with a vague comment about respecting his elders. The captain picked up his cup and took a contemplative sip.


    ¡°I suppose I should ask this question now since I¡¯m not likely to ever find another cultivator who has the time for a mortal.¡±


    ¡°What question is that?¡± asked Sen, his curiosity piqued.


    ¡°Do you have a plan?¡±


    Sen squinted his eyes at the other man. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Well, mortals have to make plans. We work, plan for the future, try to build something to pass on, and do it with the certain knowledge that someday we¡¯ll be gone. But cultivators live so long, I always wondered if you plan that way.¡±


    Sen leaned back in his chair and gave the question some serious thought. Eventually, he shook his head.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have a plan like that. That isn¡¯t to say I have no plans, but they¡¯re different. I plan for advancing my cultivation. That can mean anything from finding a particular ingredient to securing the appropriate manual. But I can¡¯t say that I¡¯m planning in terms of building something to pass down.¡±


    ¡°So, no family? No great love?¡±


    Sen hesitated before he finally said, ¡°I have family, but probably not like yours. There are other cultivators that I¡¯m very close with, people that I trust with my life. As for love,¡± Sen considered the few women he¡¯d been intimate with, ¡°no. I¡¯m not celibate, but there¡¯s no great love waiting to welcome me home.¡±


    The captain gave Sen a considering look. ¡°You should try it. I can¡¯t imagine you¡¯d have trouble finding someone who was willing.¡±


    Sen groaned a little. ¡°Oh, there¡¯s plenty who would be willing. The problem isn¡¯t them. It¡¯s me. I¡¯m too¡­¡± Sen cut off as something moved into the sphere of his spiritual sense. ¡°Damn it.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± demanded the captain.


    ¡°I knew this trip was going too well. You should join your men on the deck. I¡¯m pretty sure I have to go have a fight.¡±


    ¡°With who?¡±


    ¡°One of those giant sea beasts you mentioned earlier,¡± said Sen.


    The two men made their way up to the top deck of the ship, where the rest of the crew looked like they desperately wanted to panic. Sen walked over to the railing and stared out the water, his spiritual sense sweeping out and pinpointing the ocean-going spirit beast. Even at a distance, he could feel the beast¡¯s anger and desire to destroy. He didn¡¯t know what it was, having never felt anything like it before, but he decided to answer that aggression with aggression of his own. He lashed out at the beast with his own killing intent. He¡¯d frightened off more than a few spirit beasts with it on the trip already. Still, he wasn¡¯t entirely surprised when it didn¡¯t work on this one. Sighing to himself, Sen summoned the heaven chasing spear from a storage ring. He¡¯d been focused more on his jian recently, but he assumed that the spear would prove the better weapon against some massive sea creature. He gave the captain a look over his shoulder.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try to drive it off or kill it.¡±


    Then, Sen hardened a qi platform beneath his feet and flew off the deck on a direct line with the massive beast. While the prospect of fighting a spirit beast didn¡¯t normally give Sen much pause, he felt nervous about fighting this one. He couldn¡¯t get a clear sense of its advancement, which was always a little unnerving. Beyond that, his spiritual sense was muted by all of the water. While he knew that the spirit beast was out there and that it was huge, he hadn¡¯t been able to glean a clear picture of what it actually was. He¡¯d heard some strange stories from the captain about all of the fantastical beasts the man had seen. While those stories had ignited his imagination, they also tried to fill in for the total lack of information Sen had about what he was facing. That was not ideal because it might make him fall into a trap of wrong assumptions.


    Not that it would change his mind about facing off with the beast. It was headed straight for the ship. He wasn¡¯t just going to turn aside and let it kill all of the people who were on board. He knew some cultivators would do just that, considering it little more than a mild inconvenience. After all, it was just mortals on the ship. What were their lives compared with the value of a heavens¡¯ defying cultivator? Sen shoved that thought aside. Being angry with other cultivators wouldn¡¯t serve in the fight ahead. There was a part of him that still did the mental calculations, though. If everything went terribly wrong and he couldn¡¯t save the ship, he could get to shore on his own. Once he got there, he could travel by foot. With his qinggong technique, he could likely get to the cove faster than the ship would get him there.


    Of course, he wasn¡¯t going to do any such thing. Unless the beast somehow managed to get past him, sink the ship, and kill every sailor aboard, he wasn¡¯t about to head for shore. He knew that it was entirely possible that this exact event would have happened even if he hadn¡¯t been on board. There was also a very real possibility that his presence had attracted the spirit beast. Even if he wasn¡¯t responsible for attracting the beast, he was certainly the only person who could fight it. While mortals could and did bring down spirit beasts from time to time, it usually took large numbers of them working together. They¡¯d have no chance with something as big as whatever was lurking under the water. With one last burst of speed, Sen closed the gap and the spirit beast rose to meet him with an explosion of water.

 V6 Chapter 3 – Here, There Be Monsters

    Sen had seen a lot of strange spirit beasts in the depths of the wilds, from the damnable bear-cats to birds made entirely of fire. He¡¯d even once been attacked by something that looked like the bastard child of a pangolin and a massive ivy plant. However, all of his experience with spirit beasts had happened on land. Most of his incredibly limited experience with water life extended only to fish. He¡¯d heard about other kinds of sea animals and spirit beasts from Captain Chen but that had been poor preparation for the thing that launched from the surface of the ocean. As it drove upward, the water swelled briefly like a wet dome or some kind of bubble. When the dome burst, Sen¡¯s mind didn¡¯t know what to do with the information it received.


    The front half of the spirit beast was a sleek body covered in black, leathery skin that looked ideal for cutting through the water. Fins covered in that same leathery skin protruded from both sides of its body. Yet they glinted like polished glass in the sunlight, and he could see the razor edge. Those pieces of information immediately dropped into the background as he noticed other, far more pressing details. The creature had no eyes. Sen didn¡¯t know why but that bothered him on an atavistic level. It created a revulsion so profound that he wanted this thing dead on sight. As soon as that passed through his mind, it was shunted aside as the blunt nose of the beast spread wide into a gaping maw. Where he had expected to see teeth, there were rows and rows of jagged, broken black crystals. He shuddered at the thought of how those crystals would rend and tear flesh. Even worse, he could imagine those crystals burying themselves inside flesh and then breaking off. Considering the condition of the ones he could see, it seemed not only plausible but likely.


    The beast released a primitive roar that would have shredded the eardrums of anyone without some serious body cultivation behind them. Even at a remove, that roar drove a stench of rotting flesh and death up at Sen the likes of which he¡¯d never experienced. That all-consuming smell was like an attack of its own that momentarily stunned him. He felt like he¡¯d stepped into some kind of abattoir that had been left to bake in the high heat of summer. As if all of that hadn¡¯t been enough to assure Sen that this beast was alien in ways that nothing on land could ever be, the bottom half of the creature finally emerged from the depths and into the light. Where he¡¯d expected to see some kind of tail, the back half of the beast bloomed outward like a grotesque flower composed of tentacles instead of petals. The color of the tentacles bled away from black and into a mottled pattern of dark and light grays. A handful of the tentacles were thick as trees, while most were smaller. Sen did note that every single one of the tentacles ended in a crystal spike.


    Worse, he felt dense concentrations of qi in every one of those crystals. Now that the beast was out of the water, he could feel that its cultivation was greater than his. He thought it was the equivalent of peak core formation, which put its actual power somewhere in the low nascent soul range if the usual power disparity between spirit beasts and human cultivators held true. Since he had no reason to doubt that the spirit beasts from the sea enjoyed that advantage, a sliver of real worry blossomed in his mind. Sure, he¡¯d beaten a nascent soul cultivator, once, but he¡¯d planned that confrontation out with some real care and cheated outrageously with borderline insane poisons. He¡¯d used his understanding of human greed to trick the other cultivator into a situation where Sen had prepared the ground. This situation was nothing like that one. He didn¡¯t even know what the spirit beast was, let alone the best ways to fight it. And they were fighting near, if not directly in, the beast¡¯s natural environment.


    Still, there was no turning back now. He minimally needed to keep the beast occupied long enough for the ship to escape. There were two main routes to achieving that end. He could get the beast¡¯s attention and try to draw it away with ranged attacks. The other and what felt to Sen like the less viable option was to kill the beast outright. He genuinely didn¡¯t like his chances in that kind of a fight without a much better understanding of what the twisted beast could actually do. Distraction and evasion it is, thought Sen. He wasn¡¯t above a fight to the death, but he wasn¡¯t prepared to commit to that unless it became completely unavoidable. With his decision made, he made a few educated guesses about what would hurt something that lived in the ocean the most.


    He cycled for fire, made the biggest fireball he could, and shot it into the open maw that was racing up toward him at shocking speed. He shifted the platform of qi he was standing on and used the ridiculous strength in his legs to launch himself out of the path of the beast¡¯s open jaws. At least, that was the plan. As the fireball hurtled into that terrifying, rapidly approaching mouth and down the beast¡¯s gullet, it roared in pain. Sen didn¡¯t even see the tentacle that whipped up to drive straight at his chest. He felt the crystal on the end of it thrumming with qi. Years of battle experience took over. Sen drove all the lightning qi he could muster into the spearhead and swung it down to meet the assault. The spearhead connected with the crystal at the end of one of the massive tentacles and shattered it, which had gone according to plan. The explosion of ice qi that drove crystal shards in every direction was not according to plan.


    Dozens of cuts opened up across Sen¡¯s body. He could have ignored that, having done so hundreds of times in the last half-decade. What he couldn¡¯t ignore was the shard of crystal that shot into his stomach and right out of his back. He also couldn¡¯t ignore that the explosion of qi had carried him up and away from the beast an odd angle that sent him miles farther out to sea. He was momentarily numb from the shock and the sheer concussive force of the blast. Then, the agony hit him as remnant ice qi from the crystal tried to freeze his internal organs. Sen had endured a thousand shades of pain, but this was something unexpected and new. He felt it as the qi tried to turn his lung into something that would splinter into tiny fragments at a tap. He felt it encroaching on his heart, slowing the movement of the muscle and the flow of blood through his body. Body cultivators were robust, but Sen doubted that even he could survive it if his heart froze and shattered. None of the alchemical fixes in his storage rings could bring him back from that.


    The stark realization that he was moments from death shocked Sen back into rationality. He swiftly started cycling for fire qi again and flooded his torso with it. He had assumed that would be an easy solution, but it wasn¡¯t. Even though the body naturally rejected foreign qi and even though he was saturating his tissues with qi that it should readily drink up, he just barely managed to stop the spread of the ice qi. He redoubled his efforts, condensing the fire qi into something that he¡¯d normally consider dangerous for a human body. The ice qi fought his fire qi for what felt like centuries in Sen¡¯s mind. Yet, for all the brute strength of that ice qi, it was limited while Sen had a full dantian and core to draw on. With a final burst of effort, he expelled the ice qi. He worried it might attack him again, but it was quickly swallowed up by the absurd levels of water qi in the environment. Sen almost heaved a sigh of relief. Then, blood burst from the open wound in his stomach, no longer trapped in place by the ice.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Previously frozen and numb injuries came alive with vibrant agony that shot through Sen like bolts of tribulation lightning. He gritted his teeth against the pain and forced himself to assess the situation. While it had felt like an eternity to him, Sen realized it had only been a few seconds. He was still hurtling away from the beast and the ship. The beast was just starting to drop back towards the water, its agonized roars from Sen¡¯s two attacks still ringing in the air. Sen focused and manifested a qi platform to arrest his flight. He didn¡¯t grasp how fast he was moving until he crashed straight through the platform, crying out in pain as fresh gouts of blood burst from his open wounds. When the white flash that erased all thought from his mind passed, he tried again. He took a different tack, coating his body in qi and expanding it to slow his wild flight through the air. He came to a stop and simply flopped down onto the qi platform.


    Part of him was certain that this was a losing battle and that retreat was the best option. Unfortunately, it was only the best option for him. If he left now, the enraged beast would likely kill everything it could find in the immediate area. He considered if he could simply carry the crew away on a qi platform to save them as he summoned his best healing elixir from a ring and downed it in a gulp. He thought it might be possible to carry them away like that, but he wasn¡¯t confident he could carry the entire lot to shore before his body needed rest. Even if he did manage to do that, they weren¡¯t close to anything like civilization. He¡¯d have to escort the entire crew through the wilds. That could take weeks or months. It would also deprive Captain Chen of his livelihood. I could just buy him another boat, thought Sen. It was a legitimate option, but it depended on getting everyone to shore. Chen would never abandon his men, and Sen wasn¡¯t sure he could save them all that way.


    Sen knew that was probably still the smartest move. Unfortunately, it also assumed that he could outrun that beast. It also assumed that the beast wouldn¡¯t follow them onto the land. It might prefer the sea, but that was no guarantee that it couldn¡¯t go onto land for short periods of time. No, thought Sen, I need to deal with this here and now. Teeth clenched and hand pressing against the wound in his stomach, Sen pushed himself up to a standing position on the platform. The beast was raging and thrashing in the water. That was a relief since it might have gone directly for the ship. Sen closed his eyes and took a breath. He was too far away for any of the things that he''d normally use to end a fight immediately. He needed something else. Something that could actually travel that far and hold together. A memory surfaced of his fight with that young dragon on his way back to Fu Ruolan¡¯s. He nodded. That would do for now.


    Sen started cycling for wind and fire. Back during that fight, he¡¯d sent out a wind blade followed by fire. He¡¯d do something a little different this time. As the qi built up, he started weaving the fire and air together into a braid of something far deadlier than either could be alone. He built the technique up, layer by destructive layer, as he fought against the water qi that saturated the area. He condensed that braided qi, squeezing the technique into something ever more compact with a force of will built in battles against countless cultivators more powerful than himself, against beast tides, against the will of the heavens itself. He swept the spear in front of him in a shallow arc. A blade of fire fifty feet across exploded into existence. It was so bright that it eclipsed the sun and so hot that the surface of the seawater nearly a hundred feet below started to boil. In the blink of an eye, it shot away from Sen and toward the beast.


    The beast sensed the incoming attack and whirled its massive body toward the fiery death bearing down on it. Sen was once more appalled that anything so large could possibly move so fast. All of the tentacles swept forward around the beast like a cocoon with the crystals touching each other. A wall of ice formed in front of the beast just moments before the combined blade of fire and wind crashed into it. There was a blast of force and steam that sent a huge wave out in every direction. Panic seized Sen¡¯s heart as his eyes swept toward the ship. Sen dropped everything else as he put his all into cycling for water. He poured liquid qi and core qi into the hasty technique he was building.


    He ignored the fact that he was falling out of the sky. He ignored the blood that was pouring from his wounds, from his nose, and his ears. All he cared about was driving that qi down into the water. He felt it race toward that wave that would crush the ship. He pushed the technique forward with his will, with his heart, with his very soul. The technique caught the wave and unleashed his intent. The wave split around the tiny vessel like a blade had cut the water. Sen gave himself a mere moment to feel exultant triumph before he had to once more look to his survival. He managed to catch himself before he hit the water at lethal speeds, although the qi platform did plunge beneath the waves. Exhaustion burned in Sen as he forced the platform to carry him back up into the air.


    He looked to where the steam was finally clearing away. He groaned as he saw the spirit beast thrashing weakly in the water. Sen knew he wasn¡¯t thinking clearly, but he also knew that he couldn¡¯t leave that thing alive. The qi platform rose up in the air again and sluggishly carried him in a mostly straight line toward the beast. Sen was cycling the entire way. He was shocked to find that his qi reserves weren¡¯t the problem. He had plenty of qi left. Focus was the problem. He was hurt. He¡¯d already overtaxed his limits to craft that water technique and get to the ship in time. It took all of his meager mental resources to put together what he expected to be the last big technique he¡¯d do for a while. When he got close enough, he could see that the spirit beast had taken hideous damage. Most of its tentacles looked like they¡¯d been torn apart or seared away to half their original length. The front half of the beast was charred and blistered. Sen stared down at the thing with baleful eyes. Then, he lifted his spear toward the sky. Lightning lanced upward. He felt the qi moving through the atmosphere and gathering strength. Then, a bolt of lightning fell from the heavens like divine judgment and punched into the beast. It let out one final wail of pain and despair before Sen felt its life drain away in his spiritual sense.


    Unwilling to let this fight have no benefits, Sen found the strength and focus to split the beast in half with a massive wind blade. He dropped into the stinking burned remains of the beast and, a minute or two later, he rose from those remains with a beast core the size of a large melon. Sen deposited the core in a storage ring and drifted back to the ship. He dropped onto the deck and looked around at the crew. Most stared at him in slack-jawed awe. The rest looked stunned. He met the eyes of Captain Chen and gave the man a bloody-toothed grin.


    ¡°Well, that was exciting,¡± mumbled Sen before he collapsed to the deck.

 V6 Chapter 4 – Conscience

    Sen was a little surprised that he didn¡¯t lose consciousness. That¡¯s what usually happened after a battle where he¡¯d pushed himself that hard and been injured. He certainly would have welcomed an inky blackness that freed him from pain. Then again, he thought, maybe it¡¯s for the best. While he trusted in the best intentions of Captain Chen and his crew, none of them were skilled healers. The sad truth was that Sen was the best available doctor on the ship. He slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position as the captain rushed over to him. The man looked frantic and that expression only softened a little when he saw that Sen was still conscious. The man dropped down and reached out a hand to steady Sen when he started to list to one side.


    ¡°Cultivator, what can we do for you?¡±


    Sen blinked slowly as his overworked mind tried to process the words. He shook his head and forced himself to focus. What do I need most right now?


    ¡°Clean bandages. Somewhere quiet to sleep,¡± said Sen and then revised his statement at the troubled expression on the captain¡¯s face. ¡°Quiet for the ship.¡±


    ¡°I owe you my life and the lives of my crew. My ship. Is there nothing else we can do?¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°I have healing aids. I¡¯ll recover.¡±


    The captain looked profoundly unhappy at those words, but he nodded. Sen found himself placed on a sturdy bit of canvas and carried to a cabin. The captain threatened dire punishments for anyone who jostled Sen or, the gods forbid, dropped him. The threats didn¡¯t seem necessary to Sen based on the expressions of the men carrying him. He saw everything from gratitude and relief to outright reverence on their faces. He wasn¡¯t entirely comfortable with any of that, but he didn¡¯t have the mental energy to try to correct their attitudes. He¡¯d done what was necessary. The captain hustled everyone out of the room and then helped Sen dress the open wounds on his stomach and back.


    ¡°You¡¯re sure these will heal?¡± asked the fretful captain.


    Sen nodded as he produced another elixir from his storage ring and drank it. He wouldn¡¯t normally drink two of them so close together, but he thought the injuries warranted that little bit of excess. He knew he was running some risk of toxicity, but that was a far more manageable problem than open wounds or death.


    ¡°I just need a bit of time and sleep,¡± said Sen as he eased himself down onto the narrow bed. ¡°The elixir will do most of the work.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t exactly true, but Sen didn¡¯t think the captain really cared about the technical details of how elixirs worked. The reality was that the elixir would hasten natural healing processes in his body, using its own qi first, and then drawing on his. Fortunately, Sen had plenty of qi for the elixir to draw on. He also had the advantage of body cultivation. His latest advancement had dramatically enhanced his body¡¯s toughness and resilience. He wasn¡¯t sure he would have survived that crystal shard passing straight through him before. Sen knew he wouldn¡¯t have been able to keep fighting, at least not the way he had fought. Just as importantly, it had boosted his strength and speed again. While having the crystal explode in his face wasn¡¯t an ideal outcome, making that block in time would have been beyond him before. He would have tried to do it, and he would have failed.


    It seemed that the Five-Fold Body Transformation truly was pushing him toward the ultimate goal of body cultivation. Body cultivators strove to make a truly immortal body to house and protect their mortal souls after ascension. For a dual cultivator like him, the goal was ultimately a perfected immortal body to house his nascent soul after ascension. While those goals were still a distant dream, he was curious about what his body would be like after the final transformation in the sequence. Sen might have speculated about what benefits he might gain, but he never got the chance. With the immediate crisis over and his wounds tended as well as he reasonably could in the circumstances, he finally slipped into the painless oblivion of unconsciousness.


    Sen spent two days in that cabin. The first day truly was to let his body heal. The damage done inside him by that shard proved harder to heal than he expected, as though some will to harm lingered in his tissues and worked against the elixirs. The second day was simply to let everything else recover. He wasn¡¯t entirely clear what kind of internal resource he had spent during that fight with the spirit beast, but he had pressed well beyond some limit that left him utterly spent. He suspected it had something to do with that technique he had used to split the wave. He hadn¡¯t believed it would reach the wave in time. So, he had pushed. It had worked, but Sen didn¡¯t know why it worked or what he had pushed with to make it happen. He suspected that learning the answer to that particular question was something he needed to do before he tried to cross the threshold into the nascent soul stage.


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    During those two days, there had been a steady stream of crew members who found reasons to come by his cabin. There was always someone who wanted to make sure his tea was hot or to see if he needed something to eat. Sen wanted to send them away, but he understood what was happening. They wanted to reassure him that he was among friends. They also wanted to reassure themselves that he was actually healing. Sen was touched by their concern but it never stopped being awkward for him. Sen had grown very comfortable with his largely solitary lifestyle. It was a necessity for cultivators. People who couldn¡¯t handle being alone for the long stretches of time required for basic cultivation, to say nothing of gleaning insight into their techniques, simply weren¡¯t going to make it as cultivators.


    As much as he wanted to simply hide in his cabin for another week, he realized he would have to make an appearance on deck. It would tell everyone that he was not, in fact, dying in that cabin. After cleaning himself up a bit, Sen looked at his robes. It seemed he¡¯d been underestimating the quality of enchantments on the robes Auntie Caihong had given him. The cleaning enchantment had stripped away all the blood that had soaked into them, and it had been a substantial amount of blood. Beyond that, the repair enchantments had mended the holes and cuts that had marred the fabric. Shaking his head at what the garment must have cost, he put it on and headed out onto the deck.


    No one noticed him right at first, but then Captain Chen saw him. He gave a curt order to the second in command and walked over to Sen. Sen started to greet the man but the words died on his lips as the captain dropped to his knees and kowtowed, touching his head to the deck three times. Sen was caught so off guard by the action that he didn¡¯t have the wherewithal to stop the captain. The older man stood and looked at Sen.


    ¡°I can never repay the debts I owe to you.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t owe me anything,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I do,¡± insisted the captain with a strange light burning in his eyes. ¡°You were injured. You could have fled. Abandoned us to that beast. You could have let that wave wash us away. Many would have.¡±


    Sen took a moment before he answered. ¡°Some might have, but I couldn¡¯t. I don¡¯t believe in honor, but I try to have a conscience when I can. No one with a conscience could have abandoned you to that beast. I did only what I had to do. As I said, you owe me nothing.¡±


    The captain stared at Sen in utter disbelief. ¡°For a man who says he doesn¡¯t believe in honor, yours runs very deep. You may see no debt between us, but I do. Twice now you¡¯ve saved my ship and crew from certain death. I would call you benefactor if you¡¯ll allow it.¡±


    Sen had to bear down hard on his knee-jerk reaction to say no. Saying no would be all about making himself feel better. The captain was doing everything in his power to show Sen gratitude and respect. Letting him do that would let the captain feel like he¡¯d given something back. It was a small enough price to pay.


    ¡°Of course,¡± said Sen.


    The captain beamed at him and the Sen noticed the approving looks from the crew. It all seemed like foolishness to him, but he supposed there was no harm in it.


    ¡°This ship, this crew, is always available to you. You need simply to call for us, and we will come.¡±


    Sen wanted to flee from the moment of awkwardness. Instead, he buried that feeling and gave the captain a deep nod.


    ¡°No man could ask for a finer vessel, captain, or crew.¡±


    It felt like empty flattery to Sen. He didn¡¯t know a good ship from a bad one. However, he got the impression that the captain and crew were people who knew their trade. The ship seemed sound enough. In the end, though, flattery or not, everyone stood up straighter, and the crew all grinned at each other like they¡¯d gotten high praise from the god of the sea. Certain that he could only do damage if he stayed and said anything else, Sen looked at the captain.


    ¡°I find I¡¯m still weary from the battle. I think I¡¯ll go rest for a time.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± said Captain Chen. ¡°Is there anything we can do for you?¡±


    Sen thought that the man might have some kind of breakdown if not given a task. So, he made one up.


    ¡°If someone could come and fetch me for the evening meal, I would take that as a kindness.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll see that it¡¯s done.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, captain.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, benefactor.¡±


    Sen considered it a personal victory of magnificent proportions that he made it back to the cabin without once letting anyone see how much being called benefactor made his skin crawl.

 V6 Chapter 5 – Turtle Soup

    The rest of the journey to the cove passed without incident, much to Sen¡¯s relief. While his physical wounds had all healed and he¡¯d recovered much of the qi he¡¯d spent fighting that spirit beast, he could tell that something was still healing. The fact that he couldn¡¯t find or identify what that something was proved an ongoing concern. Not that it would necessarily prevent him from fighting. He thought that anything he considered a normal fight wouldn¡¯t prove problematic. There was a lingering cloud of uncertainty about fighting something on the level of monstrosity again any time soon. Of course, he¡¯d avoid fighting something like that again if he could. Sen had challenged things over his level more than once, but he¡¯d succeeded more on luck and the weight of an unearned reputation than true ability. He was closing the gap between his actual abilities and what people thought his abilities were, but he wasn¡¯t there yet.


    ¡°Do you need us to stay?¡± asked the captain. ¡°We can delay for a few days.¡±


    The captain had, much to Sen¡¯s relief, mostly reverted to how he¡¯d acted before the battle. The man was a little more polite and respectful, but nothing that made Sen automatically uncomfortable. The rest of the crew was a mixed bag. Some of them seemed afraid that they might accidentally offend him, while others seemed determined to elevate him to some kind of semi-divine status that did make him automatically uncomfortable. A very few simply treated him as a person and automatically became Sen¡¯s favorite people in the crew. For his part, Sen did his best to treat all of them respectfully. Of course, none of that stopped Sen from taking advantage of that deep well of respect they all had.


    Since none of them wanted to question his actions, he found it laughably easy to work a variety of formations into the very structure of the ship. It had been a way to ease himself back into cultivation after healing up, while also forcing him to challenge himself a bit. For all the time that he¡¯d spent out in nature, he didn¡¯t use wood qi all that often. He knew that it could be a devastating weapon in the right hands, but he¡¯d built his combat style around other types of qi. He was much more apt to use it in tiny, controlled doses during alchemy than out in the world. With a ship made entirely of wood, though, it had forced him out of the comfortable areas he knew best. Since he had nothing but time on his hands for several weeks, though, he was able to work through the process slowly, carefully layering the formations one on top of the next. By the time he was finished, the entire ship would be harder than steel if anything tried to attack it.


    He knew it wasn¡¯t a perfect defense, but there were no perfect defenses. He¡¯d needed to work primarily with water qi because the ship was already saturated with it and surrounded by it. It would prove weak against direct fire qi-based attacks and lightning attacks to a lesser degree, but Sen doubted the ship was likely to run up against too many fire cultivators with a grudge. Minimally, it would make the ship all but unsinkable in normal circumstances and provide potent protections against any cultivators operating below Sen¡¯s own cultivation level. He¡¯d given a lot of thought to offensive formations but found that they¡¯d interfere with the qi-gathering aspects of the defensive formations.


    He could create ones that used beast cores as fuel but the cores would lose potency too fast with no cultivators aboard to keep them in a storage ring. Sen had heard about other kinds of storage treasures that anyone could use designed to prevent that problem, but he¡¯d never looked for any of them. Sen did have more success integrating a minor wind formation around the sails. It wasn¡¯t much, but should help the ship be a little swifter. The hard part had been figuring out a way to ensure that it would turn off if the winds grew too fierce. That had taken days of thought. While he wanted to do more, he¡¯d have to content himself with the current measures until he had time to find one of those other storage treasures. Sen realized that the captain was giving him a quizzical look. He¡¯d gotten lost in his own thoughts again.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen. ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. I can make my way back from the cove. Besides, I need to return to where I¡¯ve been staying. You¡¯re headed the wrong way.¡±


    The captain frowned but gave a grudging nod. ¡°If you ever need us again, just send word. I¡¯ll come as fast as the winds will carry me.¡±


    ¡°About that, I put in some minor formations that should slightly improve the durability and speed of the ship. They shouldn¡¯t require any maintenance from you.¡±


    The captain gave Sen a startled look. ¡°Is that what you¡¯ve been doing all over the ship?¡±


    Sen smiled. ¡°Just my selfish way of helping to ensure that you¡¯ll be available the next time I need your services.¡±


    Captain Chen gave Sen a look that said he knew exactly what the cultivator was doing, but the older man just shook his head.


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    ¡°Well, selfish or not, you have my gratitude.¡±


    ¡°Think nothing of it. I used it as an opportunity to develop my cultivation. However, I don¡¯t want people to think I¡¯m an inattentive benefactor. So, take this,¡± said Sen, handing the captain a pouch. ¡°I think it¡¯s high time that you expanded your business ventures. Perhaps you can find some younger people interested in taking one of those long journeys to the far side of the continent. Or maybe you¡¯d like an additional ship for this coast. I¡¯m sure a man like you can find some practical use for that money.¡±


    The captain stared down at the pouch in his hands like he couldn¡¯t decide if it was a miracle or a trap. The man finally looked up at Sen¡¯s small smile.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Why not? You¡¯re a dutiful man. Perhaps this is simply Karma rewarding you,¡± said Sen with a shrug. ¡°At any rate, I wish you safe travels, captain.¡±


    Captain Chen gave Sen an almost comically deep bow. ¡°My deepest gratitude. Safe travels and fair winds until we next meet, benefactor.¡±


    Almost as one, every sailor on deck mimicked the captain¡¯s bow. Sen nodded to them and then leapt over the railing. Sen conjured a qi platform that carried him over the water and settled him on the beach. He patiently watched as the ship moved back out to sea and disappeared from sight. He was only a little surprised when a massive turtle rose from the cove''s water and plodded over to stand next to him.


    ¡°Elder Bo,¡± said Sen in a rigidly flat tone.


    ¡°I think you¡¯ll discover that was a very good investment in time. That captain has a touch of fate around him. Just a small touch, but that¡¯s more than enough for a mortal to achieve greatness.¡±


    Sen eyed the divine spirit beast before turning his gaze back to the horizon. ¡°I see.¡±


    Elder Bo watched Sen with inscrutable eyes the color of deepest night. ¡°No questions for me?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Most cultivators would jump at the chance to seek advice from a divine spirit beast.¡±


    Sen gave the turtle an icy, hostile look. ¡°The last time I took advice from you, it almost killed me. If this meeting had happened six months ago, I would have done everything in my power to murder you and turn you into turtle soup. So, no, I don¡¯t want any more advice from you.¡±


    Elder Bo looked genuinely shocked, or at least that was how Sen interpreted what happened to the turtle¡¯s face.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. How did my advice almost kill you?¡±


    ¡°Do you know how many copies of the Five-Fold Body Transformation manual there are?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t say that I do.¡±


    ¡°Two that anyone knows about. One of which is trapped inside a space treasure that¡¯s been locked from the inside. The other was in the hands of a nascent soul cultivator who did not want to be found. I spent years trying to find a copy of that manual. I was dying an inch at a time, my own body cultivation turning against me, while searching the wilds for that nascent soul cultivator. I was moments from death when she found me.¡±


    ¡°But you did survive. Look at how powerful you¡¯ve become.¡±


    ¡°Powerful,¡± snorted Sen. ¡°I almost died fighting a spirit beast a few weeks ago.¡±


    ¡°A spirit beast that no other cultivator at your advancement would have even considered fighting. And you killed it.¡±


    Sen glared at the divine spirit beast. ¡°Was that your doing as well?¡±


    ¡°No. But very little happens in these waters that escapes my notice.¡±


    Sen could feel the doubt on his own face, but he pushed it down. ¡°Why am I here, Elder Bo? Is it merely to sate your curiosity?¡±


    The turtle made a noise that Sen thought might be a sigh and settled onto the ground next to him. ¡°I suppose it was partly to sate my curiosity. You are uniquely suited to the method. I thought that it might enhance you in ways that it wouldn¡¯t enhance less suitable cultivators. Of course, there was no way to know for sure before you did it.¡±


    ¡°And has it enhanced me in special ways?¡± asked Sen, unable to resist that piece of bait.


    ¡°It has,¡± said Elder Bo. ¡°At least, I think it has. It¡¯s hard to tell since you¡¯ve diverged from the method all on your own.¡±


    ¡°What? What do you mean that I¡¯ve diverged from the method?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t know? Interesting. Well, assuming you don¡¯t do anything else to change things, you¡¯re going to end up with a Six-Fold Body Transformation.¡±


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Sen demanded, barely able to restrain himself from screaming at the turtle.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how it happened. Somewhere along the line, you suffused your entire body with frankly absurd amounts of divine qi.¡±


    Sen stared at the turtle in dumbfounded shock. He remembered doing that and then waking up in the middle of a fight with demonic cultivators. There¡¯d been so much else going on that he hadn¡¯t given it much thought when nothing terrible had happened to him.


    ¡°Yes,¡± confirmed Sen.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t think that did nothing to your body, did you?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Sen hedged.


    ¡°Young people,¡± muttered Elder Bo. ¡°Most people at the foundation formation and core cultivation stages get divine qi in minuscule bursts. They use it to ignite an advancement or achieve some kind of insight. It looks like someone dumped a lake¡¯s worth of it on your head. I¡¯m honestly curious which heavenly beings you seduced to get that much divine qi all at once.¡±


    The turtle gave Sen a long, expectant look that said it wasn¡¯t a joke. Sen rolled his eyes in frustration.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t seduce anyone. I just had an epiphany.¡±


    ¡°About what?¡±


    ¡°Something about not rushing into things when other people were involved.¡±


    Elder Bo gave him a look that Sen was pretty sure meant the turtle was disgusted by that answer.


    ¡°That¡¯s it? Your monumental, world-shaking, absurd levels of divine qi-generating insight was not to be an ass?¡±


    ¡°It was a little more nuanced than that,¡± said Sen, feeling very defensive.


    ¡°Okay, seriously, I need to know. Who was it? Was it that goddess of death? She likes them pretty.¡±


    Sen¡¯s face dropped into his hands as he thought, I wish that stupid spirit beast had killed me.

 V6 Chapter 6 – Gaps

    ¡°I did not seduce a heavenly being,¡± said Sen through gritted teeth as he glared murder at the turtle.


    ¡°If you say so,¡± muttered the turtle, clearly not believing a word of it.


    ¡°Can we please get back to the whole diverged from the method problem?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say it was a problem. I just said that it¡¯s a thing that happened.¡±


    ¡°So, it¡¯s not a problem?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say that,¡± replied Elder Bo with dignified equanimity.


    A murderous rage swelled inside of Sen. He¡¯d already seized the hilt of his jian before he clawed back a trembling, fragile thread of control. Sen had already been furious with the turtle and this unwillingness to keep speaking plainly was stoking that fire. He forced himself to release the hilt of the jian but he was shaking. There¡¯s no point in continuing with this, he told himself. You¡¯ll just do something stupid. Sen stared at the divine turtle for several long seconds before he turned on his heel and started walking away down the beach. As the distance grew, Sen started to believe that the turtle might let him leave. That hope was dashed when he felt a burst of qi behind him. Before Sen could even turn around to look, the turtle was looming in front of him.


    ¡°You don¡¯t respect¡­¡± started Elder Bo.


    That was as far as he got before Sen¡¯s fist crashed into the bottom of his jaw. Much to Sen¡¯s surprise, it seemed to stagger the turtle. Sen couldn¡¯t decide if it was the blow itself or simply surprise that he had dared to strike the divine spirit beast in the first place. Either way, Sen wasn¡¯t about to let that momentary advantage pass him by. A second punch caught the turtle on the side of the head with a noise that boomed out across the water of the cove and sent an explosion of sand in every direction. Sen ruthlessly battered the turtle¡¯s head and legs, unwilling to relinquish even a shred of the momentum, desperately seeking to keep the beast off balance. Once he¡¯d thrown that first punch, Sen knew he was committed. He¡¯d initiated this fight and there was only one way out the other side. He had to kill this turtle before it regained even a shred of equilibrium.


    If he let the turtle gather its thoughts or qi, Sen knew that he was done. Sen also knew that it was theoretically possible for someone like him to kill a spirit beast like Elder Bo, much like it was possible for someone like him to kill a nascent soul cultivator. Of course, it was also theoretically possible that a mouse could kill a cat through a combination of luck and circumstance. It just almost never happened because the power disparity was so vast. Yet, through rash action, Sen had created one of those unlikely circumstances where he might, might, be able to pull it off. He¡¯d caught the beast off guard and stunned it. If he wanted to win, though, there was only one way to do it. Relentless aggression until he could muster a lethal strike. That last part was the real stumbling block.


    While Sen had been thoroughly versed in unarmed combat, he¡¯d treated it as a foundation for learning weapons. He hadn¡¯t treated it as something to fully integrate as part of his fusion of cultivation and combat. He¡¯d mostly limited that integration to leveraging his superior strength and speed to augment the existing blows. He¡¯d never or at least very rarely tried to use his body as the direct channel for things like wind blades, lightning, or Heavens¡¯ Rebuke. His few experiments with that last technique had been so horrendously destructive that he simply hadn¡¯t dared try to do more with it as his power grew. Instead, he had focused on channeling those techniques through his weapons.


    The glaring flaw in that approach became obvious to him as he had to keep hitting the turtle as fast and hard as he possibly could to prevent a counterattack. He literally couldn¡¯t spare the time to draw his jian or even summon a weapon from a storage ring. Even that tiny break in concentration or aggression would likely give Elder Bo the breathing room he needed to bring the fight to an immediate and lethal end. Sen thought wildly about what he could do, searching for some insight, some method that would let him deliver that lethal blow instead of desperately buying himself more life one second and dozens of blows at a time. If he was going to use his body as a channel for something, it needed to be something he knew well. It also needed to inflict maximum damage on the turtle. There was only one real choice. Sen cycled for lightning. He almost reflexively tried to push the qi into a weapon that he didn¡¯t have in his hands. If his face wasn¡¯t already fixed in a snarl of aggression, it would have been a snarl of frustration at his own oversight.


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    Flexibility, he reminded himself. He¡¯d interpreted that as meaning flexibility with the types of qi and qi techniques he used and never considered it beyond that. He¡¯d grown dependent on a handful of techniques, only innovating when life-or-death stakes forced him to do it. Granted, he fell back on those techniques because they were so effective, but it was also a failure of imagination on his part. Not that he blamed himself entirely. He¡¯d fallen into that trap in part because his teachers had fallen into that trap. Of course, they could afford to do that. Sen wasn¡¯t even sure that anyone existed who could dislodge a jian from Master Feng¡¯s hands. Good luck to the mad fool who tried to take a spear away from Uncle Kho. Their power allowed them to fall back on the familiar because so few people could stand up to it. Sen might reach those heights someday, but he wasn¡¯t there yet. That meant that he couldn¡¯t afford those kinds of gaps in his conception of what combat meant.


    Sadly, fixing those gaps meant surviving the fight in front of him. His mind churned frantically as he continued his barrage against the divine spirit beast. He¡¯d never tried to do anything like what he meant to do before, wreathing his own hands in lightning. Where would he start? He didn¡¯t want to infuse his hands with the lightning. He had a very vivid image of charred claws at the ends of his arms. Fixable, maybe, but not something he wanted to test. If this was alchemy, I¡¯d know what to do, he thought bitterly. Then, it felt like a membrane inside his mind was yanked away and a great many things that he¡¯d felt his way through in alchemy rushed into his head. He did know what to do, on some level at any rate. Moving offensive qi where he wanted it to go wasn¡¯t really any different than moving qi inside a cauldron. The scale was different, but the process wasn¡¯t any different.


    Sen stopped trying to decide what to do and let himself slip at least part of the way into that hazy state of mind he usually fell into when he was doing his best alchemy work. Blinding light erupted around his hands as the lightning qi manifested where he wanted it. His strikes started to leave scorch marks on the turtle. Now, all I need to do is, Sen started to think. Pressure slammed into him from above and drove him to the ground. It felt like every bit of qi in his body was frozen in place, unable or unwilling to follow his commands. He tried to rise, to lash out with his killing intent, to do anything. It all ended in abject failure, casually brushed aside by a will and a power that dwarfed his own. None of that stopped Sen from trying to wrest back control of his qi or rise to his feet again. It wasn¡¯t until a massive foot settled on his chest that Sen accepted the inevitable. Nothing he did was going to prevent his death.


    A moment later, the reptilian face of Elder Bo peered down at him from above. The scorch marks from Sen¡¯s enhanced blows were gone as if they¡¯d never existed in the first place. He¡¯d had a brief window of opportunity to save his own life and squandered it with his lack of understanding. By the time he¡¯d figured out a little piece of what he¡¯d missed, it was too late. He stared back at the Elder Bo, still railing internally against the incomprehensible power the turtle had used to so effortlessly suppress him. As much as he hated to be beaten, getting killed by a divine spirit beast that towered so very high above him wasn¡¯t the worst possible way to go. It might even add to my ridiculous legend, thought Sen. Still, he wasn¡¯t interested in hearing the beast gloat.


    ¡°Well, get on with it,¡± said Sen. ¡°I haven¡¯t got all day.¡±


    Elder Bo¡¯s unreadable eyes looked into Sen¡¯s before the beast cocked his head a bit to one side, as if in confusion. ¡°Get on with what?¡±


    Sen¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Killing me. Or do you plan to drag it out?¡±


    ¡°Why would I kill you?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s usually how fights end between cultivators and spirit beasts,¡± answered Sen.


    ¡°Fight?¡±


    Elder Bo¡¯s mouth opened and huge booming noises erupted from it. The sound was so loud that Sen felt like his brain was being slammed against his skull over and over again. He decided later that was the reason it took so long for him to figure out that the turtle was laughing like Sen had said the funniest thing in all of history.


    ¡°A fight,¡± said Elder Bo. ¡°You¡¯re ten thousand years too early for us to have a fight. I was just waiting until you¡¯d worked out some of your anger. Seems like you had a little breakthrough there as well, which is always nice.¡±


    Sen gaped up at the turtle, not sure whether he felt offended or relieved. He had to admit that the turtle didn¡¯t look to have suffered at all from what, apparently, the spirit beast had thought of as some kind of mild temper tantrum from Sen. Shaking his head, Sen looked at the massive foot that was, on balance, resting pretty gently on his chest.


    ¡°Well, if you¡¯re not going to kill me, why are you pinning me to the ground.¡±


    ¡°I just didn¡¯t want you to hurt yourself.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Sen in the driest tone he could manage as he decided that offended was, in fact, the right reaction.

 V6 Chapter 7 – Not Reassuring

    Once he¡¯d regained his feet, brushed off his robes, and gathered the tattered shreds of his dignity around him like a robe of shame, Sen looked over at the divine spirit beast. The massive turtle gazed at him with a monk-like calm. It seemed that Elder Bo was going to wait for Sen to restart the conversation. Sen gave serious thought to simply trying to walk away again but suspected that he wouldn¡¯t be allowed to leave until the turtle got his say. Doing his best to pretend that he hadn¡¯t just been slapped down like an overactive kitten, Sen looked out over the water.


    ¡°If you aren¡¯t going to let me leave or kill me, can you please just say what you want to say?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re still angry.¡±


    ¡°Can you blame me? Even if I wanted to take vengeance on you, I think you just demonstrated rather decisively how far out of reach that goal is for me. Not a lot to celebrate right now.¡±


    ¡°Was that your plan? To take vengeance?¡±


    ¡°No, but it did make for a pleasant fantasy.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± said Elder Bo. ¡°I see. I¡¯ve stolen that fantasy.¡±


    Sen shrugged as he tried to feign indifference. ¡°I knew it wasn¡¯t realistic.¡±


    ¡°Are you always this disrespectful toward those with more power than you?¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t need to think about it. ¡°Yes. Pretty much without fail.¡±


    ¡°That strikes me as a poorly considered survival strategy. Even the threat of Ming, Jaw-Long, and Caihong won¡¯t stop everyone.¡±


    ¡°I do my best not to lean on their reputations,¡± said Sen with a hollow smile. ¡°It turns out that I¡¯ve got a reputation of my own to lean on these days. It¡¯s mostly smoke and mirrors, but people still believe it. Or they worry enough that it might be true that they don¡¯t want to cross me.¡±


    ¡°Freeing you from concerns about retribution. A fine strategy until it fails.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not blind to the possibility of retribution or the strategy failing. Clearly, there are things in this world that can kill me out of hand. I do worry sometimes that some petty bastard will try to get back at me by hurting people I care about. I don¡¯t worry about someone trying to kill me.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°Because the worst they can do is kill me. I¡¯ve faced death before, lots of times, as both a mortal and a cultivator. I¡¯m not in a hurry to die, but it¡¯s not a prospect that frightens me.¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be easier to simply be respectful?¡±


    ¡°Easier? Sure. Viable? Not at all.¡±


    ¡°I assume you¡¯re respectful to Feng Ming and the others.¡±


    Sen gave the turtle a sidelong glance and said, ¡°I¡¯m respectful to them because they earned it. Day after day, year after year, they earned that respect. They took me in, taught me, and made me a part of their family when there was nothing in it for them. Respect you have to demand from others isn¡¯t respect.¡±


    ¡°Others have worked for their power. That has value. Some would say it demands respect by virtue of its existence.¡±


    ¡°People think lots of stupid things. I respect what power can do, but that¡¯s irrelevant to who someone is. Give an entitled, scheming ass the power of a nascent soul cultivator, and they¡¯re still an entitled, scheming ass. Pretending to respect them does nothing but make me less. If people want respect, they should act in ways that earn it. Being born into the right family or belonging to a sect or simply possessing power isn¡¯t enough.¡±


    The spirit beast was quiet for a time. ¡°It must be a fine thing to know the hearts of others at a glance.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a nice trap you set up there, but I didn¡¯t claim to know the hearts of others. I can¡¯t know the hearts of others. All I can know is what they do. If someone walks up to me, tells me they belong to a mighty sect, and then gets violently offended when I¡¯m not instantly impressed, that¡¯s someone who doesn¡¯t deserve respect. If someone offers me advice under the pretense of wisdom and that advice nearly kills me, respect is off the table.¡±


    Elder Bo snorted in amusement. ¡°A fair point, I suppose.¡±


    ¡°Is this what you wanted to talk about?¡± asked Sen.


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    ¡°In part. Your teachers did you a disservice. Refusing to give even the illusion of respect to those who dwarf you in power is not noble, brave, or wise. It is foolhardy.¡±


    ¡°I thought that for a time. That one should bend before the storm.¡±


    ¡°No longer, it seems.¡±


    ¡°No longer. I¡¯ve suffered one heart demon already and nearly caused my own death in a bid to be rid of it. Feigning respect for those I despise would simply give me another, and I can¡¯t count on a second fortunate encounter to cleanse me of its influence. While my power may be nothing next to yours, it¡¯s more than enough to do a great deal of evil. Another heart demon would send me straight down that path. Better by far, I think, to risk my destruction.¡±


    ¡°Stubborn,¡± muttered Elder Bo.


    Sen shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d be dead long since if I wasn¡¯t stubborn. It¡¯s not always a bad thing. Besides, isn¡¯t acting against one¡¯s principles a sure way to end up with qi deviation? Damage your foundation. All that fun stuff.¡±


    ¡°It is, but most people consider practicality or even just plain pragmatism a principle worth employing at least some of the time.¡±


    The mention of practicality made Sen smile as it reminded him of Grandmother Lu. ¡°So I¡¯m told. Practicality is fine. It¡¯s a great way to make sure you have enough supplies when you travel. It¡¯s useful for business arrangements. I have doubts about using it as a philosophy for guiding your life. But I¡¯m a wandering cultivator. There¡¯s nothing practical about that. If I were actually practical, I¡¯d have joined a sect. It¡¯s safer if nothing else.¡±


    ¡°What will you do if you manage to reach ascension? Will you treat heavenly beings the same way? If you find cultivators impatient about your lack of respect, divinities are even less tolerant.¡±


    ¡°Well, who knows what they¡¯ll do when faced with a god?¡± asked Sen as he gave the spirit beast a steady look. ¡°But since you bring up ascension, maybe you¡¯d like to weigh in on a little theory of mine.¡±


    The normally relaxed presence of Elder Bo immediately shifted into one of discomfort. He watched Sen for long enough that Sen grew nervous. The spirit beast finally spoke.


    ¡°What theory?¡±


    ¡°The theory that ascension doesn¡¯t take you to the heavens, just some other place that¡¯s pretty much exactly like this one. The theory that I¡¯m not supposed to be on this plane at all. The theory that someone is interfering with my life to serve some goal of their own.¡±


    ¡°I think I prefer not to weigh in on any of that.¡±


    ¡°Seriously? Nothing? How about this? If I¡¯m right, don¡¯t say anything. Just stand there looking like a giant turtle who isn¡¯t happy with me.¡±


    ¡°Very amusing,¡± said Elder Bo.


    ¡°Fine. Keep the secret. If you won¡¯t tell me about that, will you at least tell me about this Six-Fold Body Transformation?¡±


    The turtle thought about it for a lot longer than seemed reasonable to Sen, but the spirit beast finally nodded in agreement.


    ¡°Most cultivators don¡¯t flood their bodies with divine qi the way you did until they¡¯re nascent soul cultivators. There are reasons for doing it and reasons for the timing, but most of those reasons don¡¯t apply to you. At least, not at present. There are also good reasons not to do it before the nascent soul stage. It can interfere with core formation stage body cultivation techniques. With a little bit of luck, that won¡¯t be a problem for you. The main reason not to do it during the core formation stage is that it creates a stronger connection between your body and soul.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a good thing, not a bad thing.¡±


    Elder Bo sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not a bad thing if you¡¯re connecting it to a powerful nascent soul. It is a bad thing if you¡¯re connecting it to a mortal soul. That connection lets your soul lend power to cultivation techniques and other acts of will. Again, not a bad thing on its own, assuming the soul is powerful enough. Mortal souls are seldom powerful enough, which creates issues. I expect you¡¯ve been feeling tired and even out of place recently.¡±


    ¡°I have,¡± said a wary Sen.


    ¡°You did something recently to strain your soul. Maybe even crack it.¡±


    Sen flashed back to those dreadful moments when he was watching the wave approach the ship. His desperation to make his technique get there in time was vivid in his memory. He remembered pushing with everything he had. That thought led him to other moments of desperation when he¡¯d done things he didn¡¯t really think he could pull off. Had he been borrowing against and possibly even damaging his soul in those moments? He was usually in such dire condition afterward that it often meant staying in bed for days and not doing anything strenuous for even longer. Had it been more than just physical damage? Was he waiting around during those times for his soul to heal? He wanted to dismiss it but feared it was all too plausible. Sen gave Elder Bo an assessing look.


    ¡°This is what you wanted to talk about,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°It is,¡± admitted Elder Bo.


    ¡°What should I do about all of this?¡±


    ¡°Stop straining your soul,¡± said Elder Bo with exasperation. ¡°I thought that part was obvious. You won¡¯t have to worry about enemies killing you if you damage your soul too much. You¡¯ll do the job for them.¡±


    ¡°Okay, but how do I know when I¡¯m doing that?¡±


    Elder Bo paused in thought for a moment. ¡°That¡¯s actually a good question.¡±


    The spirit beast spent most of an hour trying to help Sen understand how to identify when he was straining his soul. Yet, much to Sen¡¯s disappointment, it mostly seemed to boil down to a matter of just sensing when it was happening. There were no explicit signs when it was happening and, until Sen became a nascent soul cultivator, no way to see the damage. Beyond that, all he could do was watch out for the signs that it had happened.


    ¡°Anything else I should look out for?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Too many things to even name them,¡± said Elder Bo.


    ¡°That was not reassuring.¡±


    ¡°If you want reassurance, ask a less fraught question next time,¡± said the turtle in an amused tone.


    ¡°There¡¯s going to be a next time?¡±


    ¡°If you become a nascent soul cultivator, I expect we¡¯ll meet again.¡±


    With that, the divine spirit beast disappeared back into the water of the cove. Sen frowned at the water, feeling deeply unsettled by everything that had happened with the turtle. With a shake of his head, Sen did his best to clear his mind. He¡¯d kept his promise and showed up. Now, it was time to get back to Falling Leaf and Fu Ruolan.

 V6 Chapter 8 – Incongruity

    Staring down at the compass in her hand, Li Yi Nuo felt a surge of frustration. Just how far had this curse-wielding cultivator gone? While she wasn¡¯t eager to find whoever it was, she no longer worried that it was a death sentence hiding as a sect mission. Her master hadn¡¯t been able to force the sect to rescind the mission, and he had tried. In the end, though, the outer disciples remained afflicted by the terrible technique that seemed boundless in its vindictive quest to punish. The matter had come so close to more violence that the reclusive patriarch of the Vermilion Blade Sect had made a brief appearance. He had approved the general details of the mission after summoning her.


    ¡°I know you don¡¯t approve, old friend,¡± the patriarch had told her master, while Li Yi Nuo had stood trembling before the nascent soul cultivator. ¡°Yet, I sense the movements of greater things at work here. This will be an opportunity for your disciple if she can seize it.¡±


    The other elders of the sect had assumed the patriarch¡¯s appearance meant salvation from the wrath of her master. The patriarch had crushed that optimistic hope beneath a merciless boot. When asked to intervene, the patriarch offered the casual opinion that he found it deeply unseemly that elders of the Vermilion Blade Sect had been so eager to throw away the life of a promising disciple. That comment alone likely would have been enough to correct the behaviors of the elders. The patriarch had apparently wished to excise even the slightest ambiguity from their minds.


    ¡°If Bahn Huizhong chooses to act, then it simply means that the time has come to purge the dead wood from the sect rolls.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo¡¯s life had changed rather dramatically after that blood-chilling announcement. Sect elders who once sniffed in derision at her presence or who had openly mocked her became ardent benefactors. Powerful weapons, tools, cultivation resources, and natural treasures had rained down on her from the lofty heights of the sect. The miserly masters of the sect treasury had found truly staggering amounts of silver to give her. The only explanation ever provided was that these resources were meant to smooth the path to success on her very important mission. She had found herself overwhelmed by both the resources and the attention, only partially understanding why it was happening. Her master, perhaps sensing her confusion, had explained.


    ¡°The patriarch met with you, personally, and chastised the elders for how they treated you. For all intents and purposes, he anointed you as the young mistress of the Vermilion Blade Sect,¡± said Bahn Huizhong, a decidedly smug expression on his face.


    That revelation had resolved her confusion and replaced it with a deep-seated feeling of inferiority. Li Yi Nuo knew she was talented, but she was no young mistress. Titles like that were reserved for those rare cultivation geniuses that came along once every thousand years in a sect. She didn¡¯t think she could live up to the expectations, but there was no escaping it. All she could do was try to not embarrass her master. The sheer urgency of the mission did provide her with some relief. She was able to fend off the flood of invitations to various private dinners with weak excuses about preparing for her mission. She all but ran out of the gates to the sect a few days later. Once she¡¯d gotten clear of the sect and the chaos of its current politics, though, the realities of the mission had crashed down on her again.


    She was trying to find an incredibly dangerous and powerful cultivator who had already left three members of the sect on the cusp of death, and she was doing it on purpose. Worse, the compass wasn¡¯t a terribly efficient tool. It could point her in the general direction of the unknown monster. It would glow a little brighter as she drew closer, yet the kingdom was large. The continent was vast beyond reason. She could spend months, even years, searching for someone who might just kill her the second she found them. She had steadied her nerves and recalled the patriarch¡¯s words. There is an opportunity for me in this, she had reminded herself. I just need to find and seize it. With that thought firmly in mind, she had consulted the compass and set out.


    Standing on a road weeks later, Li Yi Nuo stared down at the compass and wondered if it was broken. It had told her that she was traveling in the right direction and that she was getting close, but most of her encounters had been with spirit beasts, bandits, and farmers taking early spring crops to market. In fact, if she was reading the compass correctly, she thought that the cultivator should be within a mile or two. Frowning, she slipped into the forest by the road and did her best to suppress her qi. The last thing she needed to do was alert the mad beast of a cultivator to her presence. That would spell disaster. Instead, she carefully made her way through the forest, shifting her eyes from the compass to the road. When people finally came into view, though, she couldn¡¯t make sense of what she was seeing.


    She stared down at the compass, then back out at the road where it was pointing at an impossibly attractive man, even when judged by the hardened standards of someone who spent decade after decade in the presence of cultivators beautified by advancement. She had been expecting someone who looked the part of a demonic cultivator from the stories or maybe even some half-human thing out of one of the darker legends. As if that wasn¡¯t incongruous enough, what the man was doing was just¡­ It was absurd. The man was nodding along attentively as an old farmer told some story, while he fed a carrot to the ox that was pulling the wagon. She just gaped at the scene before her while her mind refused to accept that this person was the dark cultivator who had left those three outer disciples in such desperate condition.


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    Li Yi Nuo glared down at the compass and gave it a hard shake. It had to be working incorrectly. She heard laughter from the road and looked up. The man the compass insisted was the person she was looking for had thrown his head back in laughter. The farmer was beaming at him with a gap-toothed grin. This doesn¡¯t make any sense, thought Li Yi Nuo. What kind of evil cultivator chats with farmers and feeds an ox while petting its head? Even stranger to Li Yi Nuo was the ox itself. It was staring at the man with what she could only describe as pure adoration like it had just met some kind of mythical oxen hero or king. It was wrong. Everything about this was wrong. She was frozen with indecision. Should she approach the man? Should she enlist some other sect to make sure that the compass was functioning properly? She didn¡¯t know what to do.


    By the time her indecision broke, the man was gleefully, wildly overpaying the wide-eyed farmer for the vegetables in the cart. With a wave of a hand, the vegetables disappeared into a storage ring. Then, the strange cultivator was gone, disappearing down the road with a frighteningly controlled burst of qi and a qinggong technique Li Yi Nuo didn¡¯t recognize. She looked back at the road and saw the farmer and ox staring after the man with, respectively, confused and sad expressions. Another look at the compass and it was pointed straight in the direction the man had gone. Something very odd is happening here, and I¡¯m going to figure it out, thought Li Yi Nuo.


    Not sure what else to do, she started tracking the cultivator again. In one town, she spotted him cleaning out a local woodworker¡¯s supply of toys. Toys! In another, she thought she¡¯d gotten too close when he stopped in his tracks. He cocked his head like he was listening for something, and then changed directions. She watched in utter bewilderment as he found his way into the poorest part of the town, walked directly to one specific house, and knocked on the door. A woman who looked both exhausted and afraid had answered the door. He spoke with her for a few minutes, and Li Yi Nuo watched the woman¡¯s expression go from frightened to confused and then to cautiously hopeful. He¡¯d disappeared into the ramshackle structure, and perhaps an hour later, she felt a wave of healing energies ripple out of the house and wash over the entire area.


    When she thought her curiosity might actually kill her, the door to the house was yanked open, and a bright-eyed, if underfed, little boy crashed out into the street like a tornado, calling for his friends. She glanced back to the house and saw the same woman sobbing uncontrollably, her face in her hands. The enigmatic cultivator stepped outside and watched the boy running around, an odd mixture of satisfaction and sadness on his face. He spoke to the woman briefly, who started bowing and thanking him and promising him a thousand years of loyal service. He just smiled at her, waved it all off, and started walking down the street. Then, seemingly just because he could, he waved his hand and a small mountain of food appeared. There were bags and bags of rice, piles of vegetables, enough bottles of sesame oil to bankrupt a minor sect, and so much more. Looking pleased with himself, the cultivator wandered off in all of the confusion.


    Li Yi Nuo had to know. She made her way over to the woman who the increasingly inscrutable cultivator had somehow picked out of an entire town. The woman gave her a hostile look.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± asked the woman.


    Li Yi Nuo looked off in the direction the man had gone. ¡°Who was that?¡±


    The woman relaxed slightly but still looked wary. ¡°The divine cultivator didn¡¯t tell me his name.¡±


    ¡°Divine?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo, shocked at the suggestion.


    ¡°What else could he be?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    ¡°Who else but a divine messenger could have known? My son was dying. A sickness of the heart that stole his strength. I feared he wouldn¡¯t see another dawn. Then, the divine cultivator came. He knew my son was dying. He said he could help my son a little. A little, he said. Then he gave me a miracle.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo looked over to the boy who was wrestling furiously with another boy over an apple. A miracle, indeed.


    ¡°I see,¡± said Li Yi Nuo. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    She started to turn away when the woman spoke again. ¡°He didn¡¯t tell me his name, but I know who he was. Who he had to be.¡±


    ¡°Who?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo, eagerness to solve the mystery burning inside her.


    ¡°That was Judgment¡¯s Gale,¡± said the woman in a reverent, hushed tone. ¡°The divine wind that scours away the guilty and rewards the righteous.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo wanted to scoff at the idea, but then she looked at the little boy again. She looked at the outlandish piles of food that were swiftly being carried into houses, food that would likely save lives. She thought about the stories of the man in the blue robes. She turned her head in the direction the cultivator had gone, that cultivator in blue robes. Li Yi Nuo nodded her thanks to the woman and started off in the same direction that the man had gone. She couldn¡¯t keep just following him, she needed to confront him and get to the bottom of all of this. Yet, the man had vanished. She was forced to resort to the compass again, going back out on the road. Two days out, though, the impossible happened. The compass seemingly lost track of the man. She stared in incomprehension as the needle in the compass listlessly spun.


    Before she could draw any conclusions, she felt the cold steel of a blade at her throat. She shifted her eyes, not daring to move anything else. The laughing man with the farmer was gone. The self-satisfied man who had casually given away a fortune in food was gone. The man who looked at her with stony eyes and an icy expression of displeasure was something she knew, something she recognized. This man could have inflicted that terrible technique on those outer disciples without a second thought.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been following me for a while now,¡± he said, plucking the compass from her hand. ¡°I tolerated it because you seemed harmless enough, but my patience has run out. Who are you? What do you want?¡±

 V6 Chapter 9 – Conflicting Objectives

    Sen watched the woman as his patience slowly burned away. He supposed if he hadn¡¯t been immunized to all loveliness by the unearthly beauty of Lai Dongmei, he might have been taken off-guard by this woman. Almond-shaped eyes that were wide with surprise and fear stared at him. She had high cheekbones and delicate features with full lips that had parted in shock, as if she meant to speak but had forgotten how words worked. He¡¯d felt her lurking since back when he¡¯d bought those vegetables from that hilarious farmer. Sen smirked a little in his head at the way the man had painted rural life as a series of misadventures that usually ended with someone falling into a pile of ox dung, getting chased around the village by an angry spouse, or a child apologizing to an elder while everyone glared sternly and tried to keep straight faces. He¡¯d have to track that man down again someday, just to listen to some more of his stories.


    Ever since then, though, this woman had been trailing him. What was so interesting about buying vegetables, anyway? She never interfered or got too close, but Sen had been chased enough by people who meant him harm to be thoroughly done with finding any novelty in being tracked by anyone, even a beautiful cultivator. No, he thought, especially a beautiful cultivator. He expected that she could get what she wanted out of most people with a smile and implied promises. As the silence dragged on and on, Sen found his annoyance growing. Sure, he¡¯d startled her but this was growing silly.


    ¡°You do know how to speak, don¡¯t you?¡± asked Sen when his patience was down to a dim, flickering candle flame inside of him.


    His words seemed to be enough to bring her out of whatever fear trance she was in because she finally started talking.


    ¡°I am Li Yi Nuo of the Vermilion Blade Sect.¡±


    Sen let a groan escape his lips as he lowered his jian and cast a hateful look at the sky.


    ¡°Another sect? Seriously? Well, no. Just no,¡± said Sen before he shook his head at the woman who seemed baffled by his words. ¡°Look. I¡¯m sure your sect is great or powerful or some other positive word, but I really don¡¯t have the energy to deal with any more sects right now. So, please stop following me, and tell your elders not to make any more of these.¡±


    Sen held up the compass and then crushed it into a tiny ball before he turned and threw it into the forest. He looked over at the woman who had cried out in horror as he destroyed the tracking treasure.


    ¡°What have you done?¡± she demanded. ¡°That was a priceless sect treasure.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a fan of being hunted,¡± said Sen in a cold tone that seemed to bring Li Yi Nuo up short. ¡°But I suppose I should give you something to make up for the loss. Here. I¡¯m told these would be valuable to most sects.¡±


    Sen conjured a canvas sack from a storage ring and dropped a couple of dozen healing elixirs into it. He tossed the bag to the sect woman he wanted to escape as soon as possible. Her eyes bulged when she scanned the bag.


    ¡°These are¡­¡± she started.


    ¡°Potent, wonderful, other nice words. I get it. Our business is done. Have a safe journey back to your sect.¡±


    Sen managed to take a few steps before the woman shouted at him.


    ¡°Wait!¡±


    Gritting his teeth, Sen turned and looked at her.


    ¡°I¡¯m trying very hard to keep all of this civil and not start a war with your sect. That being said, I¡¯m also very, very tired of strangers and sects intruding on my life. So, Li Yi Nuo of the Vermilion Blade Sect, please help me to accomplish that goal.¡±


    Her face shifted through several expressions before it finally landed on resolve. Damn it, thought Sen.


    ¡°A few months ago, were you to the west of here, traveling south?¡± she asked.


    The question caught Sen a little flat-footed. He had expected her to start making demands or spouting nonsense about the glory and the honor of her sect. He frowned at her.


    ¡°I was. Why?¡±


    ¡°Did you encounter members of my sect on that road?¡±


    Sen frowned a little harder. Where is she going with this? He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if she was going to declare some kind of duel on the spot depending on his answer. A big part of him thought he should just turn and walk away, but this situation was different from most of his encounters with sect members. Of course, he didn¡¯t know what she wanted to know.


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    ¡°I have no idea. I usually stop listening to someone when the word sect comes out of their mouth. Once they¡¯re out of sight, I never think about them again. It¡¯s possible I crossed paths with them, but I doubt I¡¯d remember unless they made me kill them.¡±


    A look of genuine anger crossed Li Yi Nuo¡¯s face at his words. He didn¡¯t have any vivid memory of a life-or-death struggle during that trip south. Still, it was possible that it just hadn¡¯t stuck with him.


    ¡°Is that what happened?¡± asked Sen ¡°Did someone kill a member of your sect?¡±


    ¡°Kill? No. That would have at least been clean. Someone afflicted three of our outer disciples with a technique of torment.¡±


    ¡°Three?¡± murmured Sen, something stirring in his memories of that murky time after he¡¯d left that doomed village.


    ¡°A technique that attacks the heart, the mind, and the soul. Then, they were left to die on the road. I found them and returned them to the sect. With the help of a specialist, the elders managed to make that treasure into something that could track the person who did it. It led me to you,¡± she said with a snarl.


    Sen wasn¡¯t even seeing Li Yi Nuo anymore. He was seeing a washed-out mockery of a memory in which three fools refused to leave him be. He saw it as that fog of shadow, divine qi, sorrow, and something else invaded those three. He hadn¡¯t fully understood what he was doing at the time. His mind and emotions had been so compromised. What had the other thing been? It hit him. Judgment. The last component had been judgment. He pulled away from the memory to see Li Yi Nuo glaring at him.


    ¡°What?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Was it you?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± he said.


    Apparently, she hadn¡¯t been expecting him to simply admit it because he was walking away by the time she collected her thoughts.


    ¡°Stop!¡± she commanded.


    Sen didn¡¯t even bother to look back at her. He just kept walking.


    ¡°Stop! You must return to the sect with me to undo this thing that you¡¯ve done.¡±


    Sen did stop that time. He gave her a long look, so she¡¯d know that he thought about his answer.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°No? No to what?¡±


    ¡°No to all of it. First of all, you¡¯re assuming that I want to undo it. Second of all, you¡¯re assuming that I can undo it. Neither of those things are true. Given that information, there¡¯s no point in me going.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo looked flabbergasted at Sen¡¯s words. ¡°You don¡¯t want to undo it? Those men are suffering.¡±


    ¡°That was the point. I¡¯ll admit, I wasn¡¯t really in the right state of mind to understand that technique when I used it on them. I didn¡¯t fully know or care what it would do. It was simply an alternative to slaughtering them. So, I took it.¡±


    ¡°What does it do?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s judgment. I threw in a small ocean of sorrow too, but that¡¯s not really what it¡¯s for.¡±


    ¡°Judgment? Whose judgment? Yours?¡±


    ¡°Mine?¡± asked Sen. ¡°Do you really think any judgment of mine could persist for months? It¡¯s divine judgment. Why do you think it¡¯s lasted this long? Why do you think I can¡¯t undo it? I¡¯m not the one punishing them. I¡¯m not the architect of their pain. They¡¯re being punished by their own actions.¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about? What does that even mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean that the technique forces them to see and understand what their actions wrought from the perspective of the heavens and the perspective of people who were affected by those actions.¡±


    ¡°No. No, this technique came from you. You did it. You can undo it.¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t hearing me. I¡¯m not saying I can¡¯t because I can¡¯t be bothered with it. I¡¯m saying that I cannot. I am incapable of doing it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a lie,¡± fumed Li Yi Nuo. ¡°The cultivator can always stop their own techniques. Why would this technique be the exception.¡±


    ¡°Because there¡¯s divine qi woven into that technique. I¡¯ve learned the hard way that divine qi does what it wants to do and nothing else. I can¡¯t make it stop doing what it¡¯s doing any more than I can stop the heavens from sending tribulations. If those men are still suffering, it¡¯s because the heavens think they haven¡¯t learned what they need to, yet.¡±


    ¡°You must return to the sect with me and explain this to the elders.¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯m not stupid. Your elders already know. They¡¯ve already tried to break that technique using every method they can think of and failed. The only thing left to try is killing me, which also won¡¯t work, but they¡¯d do it anyway. So, why would I ever surrender myself to people who intend to kill me?¡±


    Li Yi Nuo seemed at a loss before she said, ¡°To atone.¡±


    ¡°Atone?¡± asked Sen. ¡°Atone for what?¡±


    ¡°What you did to those men is unspeakable. Honor demands you surrender yourself.¡±


    Sen burst out laughing. ¡°Honor? Oh, you simply must meet this guy I know. He¡¯s a big fan of talking about honor. Me? Not so much.¡±


    ¡°Judgment¡¯s Gale, the divine wind, isn¡¯t interested in honor?¡±


    Sen rolled his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t believe every story you hear. Listen, you aren¡¯t going to be able to convince me to come of my own volition. Since your sect sent you here alone, I¡¯m going to assume that you aren¡¯t weak. They probably loaded you down with a lot of other treasures and tools to either bring me to them or kill me outright. You might even be able to do it, but it won¡¯t come cheap. The most likely scenarios are that we either kill each other or I kill you.¡±


    ¡°You really think you¡¯re better than me?¡±


    Sen sighed. ¡°How have you spent most of your time over the last five years?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°In the last five years, what have you been doing?¡±


    ¡°Why does that matter?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Humor me.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve spent most of that time cultivating and training with my master. Why?¡±


    ¡°Now ask me the same question.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t see the point of this.¡±


    ¡°The answer is killing. I¡¯ve spent most of the last five years running from one life-or-death situation to the next. The sad fact of the matter is that, despite my best efforts, I have become a very efficient killer. I don¡¯t have a real conflict with you. I don¡¯t want to kill you. Please don¡¯t put me in a position where I have to prove to you how good I am at ending people¡¯s lives.¡±

 V6 Chapter 10 – Take the Hint

    Li Yi Nuo stared at the man she only knew as Judgment¡¯s Gale and tried to decide what to do. She refused to let it show on her face, but his last words had frightened her. They hadn¡¯t been boastful, the way she would have thought that something like that would sound. He¡¯d sounded like a man earnestly pleading with someone not to make a terrible, terrible mistake. Worse still, he was calm. He was far, far too calm for a man who should be expecting at least the possibility of violence. There was a stillness to him, and that stillness spoke to a bone-deep resolve to do what had to be done, even if meant doing things he didn¡¯t want to do. Her heart told her to just let it go and run away as fast as she could. He¡¯d let her. She knew that much. He¡¯d all but said it. He didn¡¯t want the fight.


    Of course, if she ran away, she would fail in her mission. She would dishonor her master and his faith in her. She¡¯d never be able to return to the Vermilion Blade Sect. Yet, if she didn¡¯t, elders would die by the score so she could avoid facing the consequences of her cowardice. For all intents and purposes, he anointed you as the young mistress of the Vermilion Blade Sect, her master had said. It might be an honor, but it was also a responsibility. She couldn¡¯t let her fear, however rational it might be, divert her from her course. She had been tasked to bring this man back to the sect. That¡¯s what she would do. As if he could read her very thoughts and intentions, Judgment¡¯s Gale looked at her with an expression of boundless sadness.


    ¡°So be it,¡± he said.


    Li Yi Nuo summoned a spear from her storage ring, one of the treasures that had been bestowed on her. It was a heavens chasing spear. It was the kind of weapon that most cultivators could only dream about possessing. Weapons like those could turn the tide in a battle. She studied him as he gave the spear an interested look. Will he relent rather than face such a weapon? He shrugged at her and summoned a spear of his own. It was all she could do not to weep in frustration. He¡¯d summoned a heavens chasing spear of his own. She couldn¡¯t even imagine where he, a wandering cultivator, had gotten such a thing. She watched the way he held the spear, the way he moved it, and quiet dread passed through her soul. He didn¡¯t just possess a uniquely powerful spear. Someone had trained him with spears.


    ***


    Sen watched Li Yi Nuo tense up when he summoned his spear. He wasn¡¯t sure what she¡¯d expected. She¡¯d gotten out a nice spear, so he¡¯d done the same. He kept trying to think of some way to talk her back from the cliff, but he got the impression that she was doing this for reasons other than wanting to fight him. He sensed her cycling for a kind of qi he didn¡¯t recognize. She swept her spear in a horizontal arc that looked very familiar to Sen. Something that resembled one of his own wind blades shot at him. Yet, instead of a mostly translucent wing of qi, this was the color of blood and even seemed to have hints of metal in it.


    ¡°Huh,¡± said Sen. ¡°That¡¯s new.¡±


    ***


    Based on the stories she¡¯d heard, Li Yi Nuo had expected Judgment¡¯s Gale to explode into a flurry of violence. Instead, he¡¯d just given her a mildly quizzical look and not even cycled any qi. That was fine by her. If he was willing to give her an opportunity to launch a technique out of overconfidence, that was his mistake. She¡¯d considered several options. In the end, she¡¯d gone with what she knew best. The technique that had given her sect its name. The vermilion blade. She¡¯d struggled with it for a long time because it called for not one but two kinds of qi. Granted, it only needed a little metal qi, but even summoning that small amount of qi had proven an arduous challenge for someone with an air qi affinity. Learning to fuse those qi types the right way had nearly cost her a leg once when the technique failed to form properly. Still, she had persevered and mastered the technique.


    When she¡¯d launched it, she¡¯d assumed he¡¯d take on that aspect of grim iciness she¡¯d seen when he first appeared. What she got was him studying the lethal technique with interest as it careened toward him. This isn¡¯t how people fight, she thought. What is wrong with him? He¡¯s not even trying to defend himself. If he had been planning on meeting the technique with one of his own, he was far too late to make that happen. If he meant to evade, he should have already started moving. All he could do now was simply take the strike and hope it didn¡¯t cut him in half. Li Yi Nuo was starting to think that she¡¯d been afraid of nothing. Maybe he¡¯d taken credit for things he¡¯d never done. Maybe bringing him back to the sect wouldn¡¯t be that hard. Just as a sliver of hope woke up inside her, Li Yi Nuo felt her insides shrivel.


    Faster than she¡¯d ever even imagined was possible, he was blazing with qi. Lightning erupted around the head of his spear with so much intensity that it hurt her eyes. She felt more than saw that spearhead crash down on her technique and lightning ripped it apart from the inside out. Everything went white as pain ripped through her skull, courtesy of the backlash from a broken technique. Despair supplanted hope as she finally saw that he hadn¡¯t been trying to boast or intimidate his way out of this fight. It had never been a real fight. There were perhaps two or three other cultivators at her level in the sect who could, with preparation, do what he¡¯d just done with such offhanded ease. She instinctively lashed out with her spear to keep the inevitable attack at bay as she tried to regain her equilibrium. When her mind and vision cleared, she expected to be on the receiving of that flurry of violence that hadn¡¯t appeared before. It never came. Instead, he was standing exactly where he was before and giving her a look she couldn¡¯t quite parse.


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    ***


    Oh, come on, thought Sen. Come on! Take the hint. Tell me you changed your mind. Then we can talk about that sweet technique you just used.


    ***


    Why is he just standing there like that? Is he mocking me? Watching him crush her technique that way had convinced Li Yi Nuo that any pure contest of qi between them was not going to go her way. If she could get close enough, though, she might be able to create an opening. Clenching her jaw, she launched herself forward with her qinggong technique. She felt a moment of legitimate outrage when she saw Judgment¡¯s Gale roll his eyes. She suffused the heavens chasing spear with her wind qi, which would make her strikes swifter and leave cuts even if she didn¡¯t connect. She brought the spear down in a brutal overhand swing that was stopped cold. She felt a surge of triumph as a cut opened along one of his cheeks. That sense of triumph didn¡¯t last long as he looked at her, shrugged, and spoke.


    ¡°Alright.¡±


    Her blood ran cold as he suffused his spear with water qi and not tiny amounts like she normally used with metal. He was wielding water qi like someone who had a water qi affinity. No, she thought. He can use more than one kind of qi? She¡¯d suspected that this fight might be hopeless, but now she knew. Multiple qi users were basically legends. Everyone supposedly knew it was possible, but no one ever really pulled it off. This entire mission had been a failure before she¡¯d ever even left the sect. Now, she was stuck in a fight that she had started and could not win. She unleashed a flurry of strikes and met a wall. Everything was blocked. Every block left her hands feeling numb. How strong is this man? She felt her frustration mounting as he didn¡¯t even try to attack, contenting himself with defense.


    She tried to bring down another overhand strike with all of her strength and everything from her fingertips to her shoulders went numb as the strike was simply stopped. She only had enough time to register that he¡¯d somehow caught her spear by the haft before her intuition tried to warn her. While she¡¯d been wasting precious mental energy trying to process what had just happened, he¡¯d swung the blunt end of his spear around. There was another explosion of white as the haft connected with her side. She shook her head and tried to bring the world back into focus. Glancing around, she found herself in a pile of splintered wood and bark. She¡¯d been tossed through a tree. Panic got her to her feet, even if half her ribs felt as splintered as that tree looked. Li Yi Nuo looked around wildly only to see Judgment¡¯s Gale standing in the exact same place he¡¯d been standing for the entire fight. His own spear was gone, no doubt stored, and he was looking at her spear.


    She couldn¡¯t understand what he was doing. He should have followed up after that hit. She¡¯d been stunned and helpless. What game is he playing? Does he mean to humiliate me before he kills me? She ran through the list of weapons and treasures she¡¯d been given. Having seen some of his true capacity, she doubted that most of them would even slow him down. There was one last option, though.


    ***


    This is a really nice spear, thought Sen. It probably wasn¡¯t good enough to give to Uncle Kho, but Sen decided he needed to start keeping an eye open for something that would suit the old spear master. He glanced over at the sect woman who was giving him looks that ranged from confusion to murderous rage and calculation. She''s not quick on the uptake, thought Sen. I may have to just tell her what to do to get out of this. Before Sen could act on that plan, Li Yi Nuo threw something at him.


    ***


    The Thousand Stone talisman left her hand and flew straight at the man. She felt it activate and heaved a sigh of relief when she heard him grunt. It was just a matter of time now. She¡¯d held off on using it because that talisman was insanely expensive, but that didn¡¯t matter anymore. All she wanted at this point was to survive. A stabbing pain in her side stole her breath and made her vision tunnel. That throw had not been advisable for someone with shattered ribs. She had time now, though. The talisman would keep adding weight until it drove him to the ground. It would contain him there long enough to get the qi suppression treasure on him. She looked over, expecting to see him sprawled on the ground. Instead, he barely looked like he was under strain at all. He looked over at her.


    ¡°That¡¯s a fun trick,¡± he told her.


    Then, the end of the spear he was holding, her spear, turned some color that was perhaps a thousand times darker than black, and she had purple afterimages in her sight every time she looked at it. He swung the spear once. There was a noise that made Li Yi Nuo feel like she¡¯d been present for the murder of some celestial being of peace and kindness. Earth qi exploded in every direction, kicking up a storm of dust and rocks that pelted her. When the dust settled, the man was back to looking at her spear. This was beyond futile and humiliating. This was a shame that would stain her and her sect when the story of her utter failure spread. If she could explain this to her master, he would understand. Defeat at the hands of a man like this was to be expected. If she¡¯d only known the truth. Then, he spoke.


    ¡°How convenient would it be if someone said that they changed their mind and preferred not to have a duel?¡± he asked, turning an annoyed expression toward her. ¡°Imagine all of the problems that would solve.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo¡¯s mind tried to go several different directions at once. Part of her thought it was some kind of trick. Part of her wanted to weep in relief. Part of her reminded her about her duty. The end result was a confusing mass of half-formed thoughts that didn¡¯t go anywhere. Is he trying to give me a way out?


    ¡°Wait,¡± she finally blurted out. ¡°What?¡±

 V6 Chapter 11 – Merciful

    Sen lifted an eyebrow at Li Yi Nuo. He thought he¡¯d been pretty clear. He wondered if maybe she wasn¡¯t that bright. She¡¯d seemed smart enough when they were talking. Then again, she did have a lot of time to think about what she wanted to say to him before they met. He sighed.


    ¡°I said, how convenient would it be if someone¡­¡± he started.


    ¡°I heard what you said. What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Really? I thought I was being pretty straightforward.¡±


    She narrowed her eyes at him. ¡°You¡¯ll just stop, after all that?¡±


    ¡°I never wanted to fight in the first place. So, it¡¯s not much of a sacrifice for me to stop. I get what I wanted from the start. Besides, this doesn¡¯t seem to be going all that well for you. Are you in any condition to keep fighting?¡±


    He could see her weighing his words and no doubt taking stock of her condition. She grimaced, pressed a hand to her ribs, and shook her head.


    ¡°Very well,¡± said Li Yi Nuo. ¡°I think I would prefer it if we didn''t duel.¡±


    ¡°Excellent,¡± said Sen.


    He looked down at the spear in his hands. He really wanted to keep it, but he suspected that it was probably the best weapon she owned. He knew that he¡¯d go looking for someone if they took his best spear. Sen pushed aside his greed, if a little grudgingly, and walked over to Li Yi Nuo. She watched him with guarded wary eyes.


    ¡°Here,¡± he said and held the spear out to her.


    She gave the spear a longing look. ¡°It¡¯s valuable.¡±


    Sen glared at her. ¡°Don¡¯t give me reasons to change my mind.¡±


    Taking yes for an answer, Li Yi Nuo grabbed the spear and then leaned heavily on it. ¡°I¡­ Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well,¡± said Sen, ¡°you should take one of those elixirs I gave you.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Those aren¡¯t mine. They¡¯re for the sect.¡±


    Sen closed his eyes and took several deep breaths before he answered. ¡°Listen, there is such a thing as being too honorable for your own good.¡±


    When it became clear that she wasn¡¯t going to do it, Sen summoned another elixir and thrust it at her. She started shaking her head.


    Sen growled through clenched teeth. ¡°Drink. It.¡±


    Eyes a little wide, she took the elixir and drank it. ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because I don¡¯t want people looking to repair their wounded honor after this. I¡¯ve got enough problems already. Now, give that elixir a couple of hours and you should be able to travel.¡±


    Sen felt that he¡¯d done all that could reasonably be expected of him under the circumstances and probably a bit more. As he made to leave this troublesome woman and her sect issues behind, she called out to him in a pained voice.


    ¡°Wait!¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t turn around, just spoke over his shoulder. ¡°I think I¡¯ve been very reasonable with you, all things considered.¡±


    ¡°You have,¡± she admitted. ¡°But those men.¡±


    Rubbing his hands over his face, he faced her again. ¡°I wasn¡¯t lying to you. There is nothing I can do for them.¡±


    ¡°You could try.¡±


    ¡°Back at your sect, I suppose,¡± said Sen in a very flat voice. ¡°Where they want to kill me.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo opened her mouth and nothing came out. She closed her mouth and looked at the ground.


    ¡°Travel safely, Li Yi Nuo of the Vermilion Blade Sect.¡±


    ¡°Somewhere else,¡± she said.


    ¡°Somewhere else, what?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°What if I bring those men somewhere else? Somewhere you pick. Will you try to help them if I do that?¡±


    Sen frowned at her. ¡°Why does this matter so much to you? Do you know those men? Is one of them family to you?¡±


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    She hesitated, pressed a hand against her ribs, and winced at some internal pain. Sen supposed that the elixir was probably starting to work for real. He knew from personal experience that it hurt when bones broke and when they healed under the power of an elixir. She took a couple of steadying breaths and looked at him.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t see those men after what you did to them. They begged me to kill them when they could speak at all. I was the one who brought them back to the sect. I was the one who made them eat. It took weeks of travel to get them back. They suffered the entire time. They¡¯re suffering now. If you won¡¯t even try, then I put them through all of that for nothing. It would have been kinder to let them die on that road.¡±


    While Sen felt no regret for what he did to those three fools, he did feel a twinge of compassion for Li Yi Nuo. This had all clearly been weighing on her for a while. In an odd way, she was experiencing a version of something he¡¯d been through, even if they were coming at the experience from very different places. He¡¯d left bandits alive that he only realized in retrospect that he absolutely should have killed without hesitation or mercy. She¡¯d kept people alive that she worried she should have let die out of mercy. He could even understand her regrets to some extent. He¡¯d maimed Changpu in an act that had seemed, and probably been, necessary. In doing so, though, he had brought Changpu¡¯s advancement as a cultivator to an absolute stop. Sen expected that was a kind of ongoing mental torture for the man.


    Cultivation was an all-consuming pursuit that ultimately forced a person to sacrifice all of their connections to their mortal lives. If they didn¡¯t do it willingly, time would do it for them. To have all hope of continuing that journey stripped away would make those sacrifices feel meaningless. It wasn¡¯t something Sen dwelled on, but it also wasn¡¯t something that sat easy in his soul. As he considered all that, he could see hope and concern flickering in Li Yi Nuo¡¯s eyes. He supposed his long silence might have given her hope that he was considering her proposal. He didn¡¯t relish crushing that hope, but the woman seemed oddly na?ve about how the world worked. He didn¡¯t know if she¡¯d been sheltered by her sect or her master. Maybe she simply hadn¡¯t been put in many positions to be betrayed. Another possibility was that she thought her sect would act honorably. Sen suspected it was some combination of those factors. He simply didn¡¯t operate beneath those illusions.


    ¡°No,¡± he said.


    Sen had to steel himself as he watched that hope wither in her eyes.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because it wouldn¡¯t matter what place I picked. Even if I trust your intentions, I can¡¯t trust your sect. They¡¯d never let you come alone. They would send someone to kill me. Someone they thought could get the job done. Maybe even one of your sect elders. I¡¯m sorry that you got caught up in all of this. I¡¯m genuinely sorry you¡¯re suffering for it. But I already know I can¡¯t help those men. I¡¯m not willing to die just to prove it.¡±


    ¡°My sect is honorable,¡± said Li Yi Nuo, anger flashing in her eyes.


    Sen shook his head. ¡°Do you have any idea how many times people from honorable sects have tried to kill me? Those three men you¡¯re trying so hard to spare. I didn¡¯t just decide one day to test that technique on the next people I met. They chose to attack me and not because I threatened them. They did it because I was hiding my strength. They did it because they thought I was weak and that they could get away with it.¡±


    ¡°No one from my sect would do that.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying that because you know it? Or are you saying that because you wouldn¡¯t do that?¡±


    Sen waited as Li Yi Nuo wrestled with her own thoughts. Grimacing, she answered.


    ¡°It¡¯s because I wouldn¡¯t do it.¡±


    ¡°Listen. On balance, loyalty is a good thing. Admirable even. I¡¯d probably be dead if I hadn¡¯t gotten more loyalty than I deserved from people I wasn¡¯t treating very well at the time. So, I¡¯m in no position to judge you for being loyal to your sect. But if you¡¯re giving loyalty, you should do it with your eyes open.¡±


    Sen glanced and the sky and gritted his teeth a little. It would be sunset before too long. Even if he left right that second, he¡¯d never get to somewhere with an inn before darkness fell. A subdued voice interrupted his brooding over the time.


    ¡°Did they really attack you?¡±


    ¡°Would you believe me if I said yes?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°They were about to attack me. Cycling qi. Drawing weapons. I was just faster than they were.¡±


    ¡°Then why didn¡¯t you just kill them and be done with it? You obviously could have,¡± she said with a decided air of bitterness.


    Sen wavered about how to answer that question. There was more than one truth involved.


    ¡°I was, at the time, I was overwhelmed by grief. There was this village and a plague and,¡± Sen¡¯s voice failed him as those memories threatened to drag him under again. ¡°Almost no one survived. I tended to the dying. And because there was no one else, I performed their funerals. I¡¯d seen too much senseless death. Men and women. The elders. The children. So, when those three fools tried to start something, I thought that I would punish them but spare their lives. I thought I was being merciful.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Li Yi Nuo, her voice subdued. ¡°Is that why you spared me? Mercy?¡±


    Sen snorted. ¡°Hardly. I spared you for entirely selfish reasons.¡±


    ¡°How¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Your sect may not like what I did, but they¡¯ll probably get over it. Those three are, what, outer sect disciples?¡±


    ¡°They are.¡±


    ¡°So, not very valuable to the sect as a whole. In other words, nobody will make avenging them a priority unless I do something idiotic like show up at the gates of your sect. Frankly, I¡¯m surprised they went as far as sending you. You have a master. With your advancement, you¡¯re probably an inner sect or a core member. Ending your life would cause a problem. Someone would make finding and killing me a priority. Leaving you alive is better for me in the long run.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a cynical way to see things,¡± said Li Yi Nuo.


    Sen shrugged and gave the sky another look. ¡°How are your ribs?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re healing. Why?¡±


    ¡°Because it¡¯s going to be dark soon. Come on,¡± said Sen, heading into the forest.


    ¡°Where are you going?¡±


    ¡°To set up camp. Unless you want to do it all yourself,¡± said Sen with a pointed look at where she was still holding her side.


    Li Yi Nuo looked like she wanted to protest but ultimately gave in with a weak, ¡°Fine.¡±


    Even with the rapidly diminishing light beneath the forest canopy, Sen¡¯s spiritual sense led them to a relatively clear area. He thought about just setting up a tent, but laziness won out in the end. He erected a galehouse, only to find the sect woman staring at him.


    ¡°What? It¡¯s better than sleeping on the ground,¡± said Sen.

 V6 Chapter 12 – My Agenda Is to Survive

    Aside from pulling a comfortable chair out of his storage ring and dropping it by the fireplace for Li Yi Nuo, Sen did his level best to simply ignore the woman. He kept that up for an hour as he made food, all while pretending he didn¡¯t notice her watching him anytime she thought he wasn¡¯t paying attention. It took a moment of minor concentration, but soon there was a small stone table standing in the center of the common area. Sen put a bunch of food onto the table and finally looked over at Li Yi Nuo. Sighing, he pulled a couple more chairs out of his storage ring and dropped them by the table.


    ¡°You may as well come and eat something,¡± said Sen.


    Sen sat down and poured himself a cup of tea while trying to decide what he wanted to eat first. Li Yi Nuo seemed to have an argument in her head before she eventually stood up and joined him at the table. She didn¡¯t seem entirely comfortable, but it didn¡¯t look like every movement pained her anymore. Sen supposed he might have hit her a little harder than he¡¯d meant to. Leaning back in his chair, he closed his eyes and took a sip of tea. It had been a trying day and he wanted to snatch at least a moment of calm before questions started flying his way. He sat there like that for most of a minute, even as he felt her gaze boring into him. He didn¡¯t bother to open his eyes when he addressed her.


    ¡°You¡¯re not eating anything. Do you think it¡¯s poisoned?¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t eating anything,¡± she said.


    Sen opened his eyes and gave her a level, unamused look. Then he deliberately took a little bit of everything and methodically ate it.


    ¡°Satisfied?¡±


    Li Yi Nuo looked a little sheepish as she put food on her plate. Sen went back to sipping tea with his eyes closed. He was able to bask in the relative silence for nearly ten minutes before the inevitable happened.


    ¡°Who are you?


    ¡°No one important,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I think we both know that¡¯s not true. You can wield multiple kinds of qi.¡±


    ¡°So can you.¡±


    ¡°Not like you can. I can muster up a little metal qi to go with my wind qi. You throw around qi like you have an affinity for everything. You could join any sect on the continent and have them throwing resources at you. They¡¯d hail you as a genius.¡±


    Sen opened his eyes again. ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s it? Just, okay.¡±


    ¡°What should I say? I¡¯m not interested in joining a sect. I certainly don¡¯t care what they would think of me.¡±


    Sen watched her expression sour at his clear indifference to sects and what he considered their very dubious benefits. He almost expected her to jump to the defense of her sect or sects in general. Instead, she visibly smoothed her face into something that didn¡¯t quite reach friendly but wasn¡¯t actively aggravated. He thought it was an admirable demonstration of self-control given that he¡¯d intentionally poked a sore spot. She focused on the thing he¡¯d initially ignored, although he hadn¡¯t ignored it spitefully.


    ¡°And what about being able to use more than one type of qi?¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°What about it? You¡¯ve clearly seen me do it. I didn¡¯t think there was anything more to say about it.¡±


    ¡°Where did you learn it? How do you do it?¡±


    Sen gave her an amused smile. ¡°I¡¯m a wandering cultivator, not an idiot. You didn¡¯t really think I¡¯d answer questions like that, did you?¡±


    Li Yi Nuo looked like she desperately wanted to press the issue, but she moved on. ¡°Fine. I guess we all have our secrets. Maybe you¡¯ll be a little more forthcoming about how you can summon qi so fast?¡±


    ¡°Oh, well that¡¯s no kind of secret. Practice.¡±


    Her eyes narrowed in a way that Sen recognized as socially dangerous if not physically dangerous.


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    ¡°Very funny.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a joke,¡± said Sen, lifting a hand in a placating gesture. ¡°I practiced a lot. I pushed my limits as hard as I could. A lot more often than I¡¯d like, I did it under the threat of immediate death if I failed. It turns out that most things are possible if you need them to happen badly enough.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo frowned at him in a thoughtful way. ¡°My master says that peril can drive cultivation but that the risks often aren¡¯t worth the reward.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a whole lot of truth, right there.¡±


    ¡°And yet, here you sit. A living, breathing counterargument.¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯m a cautionary tale.¡±


    ¡°Powerful. Famous. What am I missing?¡±


    It was Sen¡¯s turn to frown thoughtfully. ¡°You¡¯re missing the fear. The dread that goes with being hunted by those more powerful than you. Have you ever been hunted, Li Yi Nuo of the Vermilion Blade Sect? Ever had to flee into the wilds because the possibility of powerful spirit beasts attacking you was a better option than traveling on the roads? Ever woken up in the middle of the night with your heart racing because there was a noise you didn¡¯t recognize, and you were certain someone was there to kill you?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she said with a grim expression. ¡°I¡¯ve never faced anything like that.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a good thing,¡± said Sen, trying to think of a way to condense his experiences into something useful. ¡°You¡¯re also missing the sheer amount of death. My path through this world had been littered with the corpses I¡¯ve made. A lot of them deserved it, but I¡¯m also sure that some of them just picked the wrong side, the wrong friend, or simply the wrong day to be where they were. You¡¯re a cultivator and couldn¡¯t have gotten to where you are without doing at least some killing. Still, how much blood do you really have on your hands? I¡¯m willing to bet it¡¯s not that much. So, how much do you want there? How much time do you want to spend wondering if some of it is innocent blood?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know how to answer that,¡± said Li Yi Nuo, her face pale.


    ¡°I¡¯d be alarmed if you could. The point isn¡¯t to have answers. The point is for you to have the questions. To be aware of the kinds of mistakes a person can make on their way to becoming powerful and famous,¡± said Sen, not hiding his contempt for the two terms most people would consider compliments. ¡°Or, at the very least, the kinds of mistakes that I¡¯ve made.¡±


    Sen let silence fall as Li Yi Nuo seemed lost in her own thoughts. He honestly wasn¡¯t sure if he was helping her or not. On the one hand, she was competent and strong. She¡¯d obviously been trained by someone who wanted her to live and go as far as she could on the path of cultivation. Yet, there was also a kind of blind spot in her thinking that he¡¯d initially thought was naivety. The more they talked, though, the more he started to think it might be more akin to a kind of innocence. She¡¯d spoken about her master a few times. Sen wondered just how much the man had shielded her from some of the realities of cultivation. Deciding he¡¯d given her enough time to think, he spoke again.


    ¡°There¡¯s one other thing that you¡¯re missing.¡±


    She focused on him again. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°When you become powerful and famous, or when you get a reputation for it, the more powerful will want to use you or that reputation for their own ends. Most of them don¡¯t care if you¡¯re not interested in helping. Many of them would rather kill you than take no for an answer.¡±


    ¡°The more powerful. Like who?¡± she asked before understanding dawned. ¡°You mean sects. You mean my sect.¡±


    ¡°For example, but it¡¯s not just them. Sects, nobility, royalty, nascent soul cultivators. Almost all of them have agendas and see people as disposable tools. If you¡¯re not willing to be used, then they see it as a sign that you should be broken.¡±


    ¡°Not everyone is like that. My sect didn¡¯t send me to make you serve some agenda. They sent me because you did something to those disciples. Something no one seems to know how to fix.¡±


    ¡°But they didn¡¯t send you to ask questions, did they?¡±


    ¡°Well, no,¡± said a perplexed Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°They don¡¯t care if those disciples did something to provoke me into doing what I did. I doubt they really even care if those disciples can be healed. They sent you to bring me back so they can take revenge. So they can restore the slighted honor of the sect. That is an agenda. In fact, I bet you¡¯ve got some kind of suppression treasure to keep me in line, right?¡±


    ¡°For all the good it did me. But what about your agenda?¡±


    Sen blinked a few times as he tried to figure out what she meant. ¡°My agenda?¡±


    ¡°You just said powerful people have agendas. You¡¯re powerful. So, what¡¯s your agenda?¡±


    ¡°Huh. I guess there¡¯s a logic to that,¡± said Sen as he thought it over. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡±


    ¡°No. If it were obvious, I wouldn¡¯t have had to ask.¡±


    ¡°Then I suspect you¡¯re crediting me with too much cleverness because my agenda is as simple as they come. My agenda is to survive.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo rolled her eyes. ¡°Everyone has that agenda.¡±


    ¡°Yes, but not everyone has come as close to death as I have as often as I have. Those experiences tend to strip away the inconsequential. You stop worrying about things like building a reputation, forging an empire, or protecting the illusion of your honor because you¡¯re too busy trying to make sure that you¡¯re going to see tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°And you think that things like a sect¡¯s honor are inconsequential?¡±


    ¡°I know that it¡¯s completely trivial. But I have no intention of debating the value of honor with you. I¡¯ve already had that very tedious argument with someone, and I¡¯m not trying to convince you of anything. The point is that I stopped caring about those kinds of things about nine near-death experiences ago. I don¡¯t have some complicated agenda or long-term plan that I¡¯m trying to carry out. All that I¡¯m after is to survive long enough to ascend. That¡¯s it.¡±


    ¡°You say that like ascension is a certainty.¡±


    Sen just gave her an enigmatic smile and shrugged.

 V6 Chapter 13 – The Jianghu Is a Hard World

    ¡°Do you know something that I don¡¯t?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Probably,¡± answered Sen. ¡°Then again, I imagine you know some things that I don¡¯t. So, we¡¯re probably even.¡±


    ¡°You know that isn¡¯t what I meant.¡±


    Sen could see the obvious frustration on the woman¡¯s face and tried to not take too much petty pleasure from it. Once she started asking questions, she seemed to forget how they ended up having the conversation. Sen hadn¡¯t forgotten, though. He didn¡¯t intend to let it slip his mind, either.


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t believe I know anything specific about ascension that you don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s hard to believe, as you seem very confident that you¡¯re going to ascend when nearly every other cultivator alive is merely hoping that they might ascend.¡±


    ¡°Believe me or don¡¯t believe me. I can¡¯t do much about that. I also can¡¯t speak to what other cultivators believe about their chances of ascension. All I can tell you is that I¡¯m pretty sure I got the same explanation about ascension as everyone else. You climb the ranks of the nascent soul stage and, if you reach the peak, you ascend. That sound about right?¡±


    ¡°More or less,¡± conceded Li Yi Nuo. ¡°I think the only meaningful difference I heard was that if you reach the peak you must ascend. That the world will make you ascend whether you want to or not.¡±


    ¡°I hadn¡¯t heard that,¡± said Sen, thinking about Master Feng. ¡°I doubt it¡¯s quite that cut-and-dried, though.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because when is anything in life that cut-and-dried? Everything else in the world happens with some level of uncertainty but this one thing is absolute. I don¡¯t buy it.¡±


    ¡°They say there¡¯s an exception to everything.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± said Sen.


    When Li Yi Nuo didn¡¯t immediately say something else, Sen did nothing to encourage the conversation. He gave it five minutes of increasingly awkward silence before he went to stand up. He¡¯d only brought her along to make sure that she was healing up properly. Having given her an elixir and a meal, he was confident she was going to be fine. Or she¡¯d be fine enough that whatever healing pills and elixirs she¡¯d undoubtedly brought with her would be sufficient to finish the job. It probably wouldn¡¯t get her sect completely off his back, but he hoped that his restraint and nominal courtesy would translate into a little bit of goodwill. Answering an extended round of questions, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t something he was enjoying. Just as importantly, he didn¡¯t think she was getting all that much out of it. However, the moment she realized he intended to go do something else, she seemed to scour her mind for something else to say.


    ¡°Who trained you in the spear? Was it your master?¡±


    ¡°Do you actually care or are you just looking for a way to keep me engaged in this conversation? Keep me talking until you work up the nerve to ask me something you think I won¡¯t like or won¡¯t answer unless you build up a rapport?¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Both.¡±


    ¡°No, my master didn¡¯t teach me the spear. I had a different teacher for that.¡±


    ¡°You learned from a true master of the spear.¡±


    ¡°Why do you say that?¡±


    ¡°Because I learned from a true master of the spear, and you beat me,¡± said Li Yi Nuo.


    There was no arrogance in her voice. It was a statement to her. Just one more fact about the universe that occupied her mind. He considered her briefly before he inclined his head.


    ¡°He is a true master, but don¡¯t give me too much credit. I have advantages you don¡¯t,¡± said Sen, then his eyebrows went up as he got it. ¡°That¡¯s what you want to know about.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a dual cultivator, right? Spirit and body cultivation?¡±


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Sen gave her an even look. ¡°If you thought to ask the question, you already know the answer.¡±


    She hesitated and then rushed forward with the question she¡¯d apparently been hanging onto for the entire conversation.


    ¡°How do you beat someone like, well, you?¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t seriously be asking me to tell your sect how to beat me.¡±


    ¡°No! That isn¡¯t what I-¡± she shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not asking for them. I¡¯m asking for me.¡±


    ¡°Telling you is the same as telling them. Not that they necessarily need that information. I¡¯m confident that there are elders in your sect who are perfectly capable of killing me if they really put their mind to it or catch me off guard. Still, it¡¯s not to my benefit to help arm them against me.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not what this is about,¡± insisted Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Then what it is about, Li Yi Nuo of the Vermilion Blade Sect?¡±


    ¡°Why do you always say my name like that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s so I never forget who you serve and where your real loyalties lie.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo squinted at him like she couldn¡¯t make out his features. ¡°You aren¡¯t always like this?¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡±


    ¡°I saw you with that farmer and with that woman whose child you saved. You were kind to them.¡±


    ¡°And?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°So why be like this with me? So unforgiving. So hard.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re mortals. Life is cruel to mortals and often for no reason. A small kindness that costs me next to nothing can be a miracle for them. You are a cultivator, from a sect, and the Jianghu is a hard world. You should know this. After all, we face the heavens alone. Surely, your master taught you that.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo sat up straighter in her chair. ¡°Every cultivator knows that we face the heavens alone, but I¡¯m not looking for help to face the heavens.¡±


    ¡°What are you looking for from me? What is it that you think I can help you do that no one in the Vermilion Blade Sect can help you with?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not that they can¡¯t. They won¡¯t. I had a friend, Xia. We joined the sect at the same time. Trained together as outer disciples. We watched out for each other.¡±


    Sen pursed his lips as he thought over what he¡¯d just heard, but he picked out the most relevant word before long.


    ¡°Had,¡± he said.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You said that you had a friend. I take it she died.¡±


    ¡°She didn¡¯t die. She was butchered.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°So, you want to take righteous vengeance on the person who did it.¡±


    ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I want that?¡± demanded Li Yi Nuo, her voice harsh and angry.


    ¡°Easy. I¡¯ve taken plenty of vengeance. I¡¯m not judging you for wanting it. The part I don¡¯t understand is where I,¡± Sen paused. ¡°Oh, I get it now. She was killed by a dual cultivator like me. But you didn¡¯t know that I was a dual cultivator when you came looking for me. Damn it. Please tell me you don¡¯t see all of this as a fortunate encounter.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo looked a little abashed. ¡°Of course not.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Right. So, your friend dies and you want revenge, but no one will help you. Not even your master, apparently. The question is why?¡±


    ¡°My master wants me to have a more peaceful path.¡±


    ¡°So, if I had to guess, he probably had a brutal climb to where he is today. He knows what it means and doesn¡¯t want that for you. Am I close?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Something like that.¡±


    ¡°Of course, you¡¯re in a sect. There¡¯s bound to be some hardened warriors there who know the ins and outs of fighting dual cultivators, but you say they won¡¯t help you either. So, whoever it is, it must be someone that your sect doesn¡¯t want you to go after. Which means there are some kind of sect politics involved. A young master of a rival sect, perhaps?¡±


    Li Yi Nuo looked like she was going to object to the description, but she finally nodded. ¡°Close enough.¡±


    ¡°So, your elders issue a quiet decree from on high that nobody can help you with this particular problem and your friend becomes a sacrifice in the name of inter-sect peace.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then, this mission comes along, and all of sudden you have access to a dual cultivator. A famous and powerful dual cultivator with lots of ridiculous stories going around about how he punishes the corrupt and guilty.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± whispered Li Yi Nuo while her cheeks turned bright red.


    Sen pinched the bridge of his nose. ¡°This is a nightmare.¡±


    ¡°Please. If you help me, I¡¯ll never tell anyone what you teach me. I¡¯ll take a vow before the heavens to remain silent.¡±


    ¡°You must realize that the smart thing for me to do here is to send you on your way. If I actually do what you want, your master is going to be furious with me about it. I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d even blame him. Given how good you are with a spear, I¡¯m not feeling great about the prospect of making your master an enemy for life.¡±


    ¡°He won¡¯t be angry that you taught me things.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not worried about offending him by teaching you something. I¡¯m worried about what will happen if I do teach you something and you die trying to get revenge.¡±


    Sen stood up from the table and walked over to the fireplace. He stared down in the flames. He could feel the sect woman staring at him, willing him to agree to do what she wanted. Sen looked over to her.


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to decide right now,¡± he said and raised his hand to stop the outburst he saw was coming. ¡°I¡¯m not going to decide right now, and you don¡¯t want me to. If I decided now, the answer would be no. It will probably still be no tomorrow, but I¡¯m willing to sleep on it for a night.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo sat rigidly still in her chair, clearly forcing herself not to say anything until she was sure she could trust the words that would come out of her mouth. In the end, she nodded.


    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll take a maybe over an outright no.¡±


    Sen gave the door to the galehouse a longing look. Leaving seemed very appealing to him right about then. He could be long gone and, without the compass that he destroyed, it would take her a long, long time to find him. Rubbing his temples, Sen had the same thought again. This is a nightmare.

 V6 Chapter 14 – Give and Take

    After Sen had directed Li Yi Nuo to one of the bedrooms, he¡¯d retreated into the one he¡¯d made for himself. One that had a heavy stone bar that he could drop across the door. It wasn¡¯t meant to stop Li Yi Nuo if she tried to finish her mission in the middle of the night. It was just there to slow her down and buy the second or two he¡¯d need to defend himself. He stretched out on the small bed he¡¯d summoned from his storage ring. Sen found that he was glad he didn¡¯t need much sleep because the hours slowly ticked away as he thought about why he hadn¡¯t just said he wouldn¡¯t teach her anything. That was the right decision. That was the decision that would keep him entirely clear of a sect-level conflict that, for once, didn¡¯t involve him in the slightest. However, there was a little piece of him that did want to help her.


    It took him a long time to unpack what was driving that small but insistent desire. He briefly considered that maybe base lust was at the root of it. While he wasn¡¯t easily swayed by physical beauty anymore, he¡¯d be lying to himself if he said he didn¡¯t find her attractive. He poked and prodded at that notion for a while but ultimately discarded it. In some other circumstance, he had no doubt that he¡¯d happily take her bed, assuming she was interested. That was a casual feeling, though. A general willingness to do something if the situation was different. It lacked the motive power to make him even consider inserting himself into other people¡¯s problems. It took hours of deep thought to untangle the complex set of emotions underlying that traitorous urge. When he did finally figure it out, he shook his head in annoyance at himself.


    ¡°You really need to work through some of this shit,¡± he muttered.


    With the mystery solved, he rolled over and finally managed to fall asleep. It was barely dawn when he woke up after a refreshing three hours of sleep. He¡¯d been more tired than he thought. Most nights he only slept for two hours. Putting the bed back in the storage ring, he unbarred the door and went back out into the common area. He was surprised to find Li Yi Nuo already there, sitting in the chair that he¡¯d left by the fire. Her expression was distant, troubled, and he suspected that she hadn¡¯t noticed his presence. He¡¯d been in similar frames of mind often enough to recognize it for what it was. She was thinking about killing someone. A modest surge of qi simultaneously caused a stone table to rise from the floor and drew Li Yi Nuo¡¯s attention.


    She schooled her face into neutrality and smoothly rose from the chair. I guess she¡¯s healed enough to travel again, thought Sen. My work here is truly done. He summoned a tea set and took a few minutes to prepare the drink, although he used more common leaves instead of the excellent tea leaves he reserved for people he actually liked. He made chairs appear and gestured that she should sit. He dismissed any notion of playing power games and waiting for her to pour the tea for them both, as tradition would normally command. He was the stronger which somehow conferred a senior position through some breakdown in reason he¡¯d never fully grasped. He simply poured a cup of tea for each of them and lifted his own cup to take a sip. It would have seared a mortal¡¯s mouth, but he found the heat pleasant. Li Yi Nuo touched the side of the cup and left it where it sat to cool for a bit longer. He supposed she didn¡¯t care about the tea, just his answer. He gave her a thoughtful look.


    ¡°The answer is no.¡±


    Disappointment, anger, and a bone-deep frustration flashed across her features. He half-expected a furious outburst from her. Instead, she remained quiet and still for so long that her tea cooled enough that she picked up the cup and took a sip. She finally met his eyes.


    ¡°May I ask why?¡±


    Sen had known she would ask this question and debated about how much to say. He didn¡¯t owe her any kind of explanation. He could just say something enigmatic about karma or the direction of the winds and she¡¯d have to accept it. That would certainly be easier for him. He took another sip of tea and weighed his options.


    ¡°I¡¯d be lying if I said there wasn¡¯t a little part of me that wants to do you as you ask.¡±


    ¡°Then why won¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯d be doing it for the wrong reasons. If I was going to teach you something, it should be for your benefit. It wouldn¡¯t be. The part of me that wants to teach you doesn¡¯t really want to help you. That¡¯s an unhealthy, dangerous place for me to teach from and for you to learn from.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo¡¯s brow furrowed. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I understand your meaning.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been hounded by one sect or another for years now. I have a lot of resentment toward them. My motive for teaching you is that I see it as a great way to kick off a sect war that I don¡¯t have to fight in. I could just wait for the news to reach me that your sects are tearing each other apart and then gloat over my success. And I would gloat. Even worse, the plan would work better if I did a half-assed job of teaching you. Teach you enough to let you get to the person you want to get to, but not enough to win. If you get captured or killed, it implicates your whole sect. There¡¯d be calls for wholesale slaughter. That thought would be in the back of my mind the entire time. I could turn you into a weapon that harms both sects.¡±


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    Li Yi Nuo had gone deathly white as Sen spoke, clearly having never considered the possibility that he might give her poisoned instruction.


    ¡°Why would you do such a thing?¡±


    ¡°Because I hate everything that sects represent. I hate their unearned arrogance. I hate their presumption. I hate the way they bellow about honor while never possessing it. If I could snap my fingers and burn every sect to the ground right now, I¡¯d do it and never lose a moment of sleep,¡± said Sen in a voice that was just barely beneath a yell. ¡°Now, is that the kind of person you¡¯d want to trust to teach you?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Good. At least your desire for revenge hasn¡¯t crippled your reason.¡±


    ¡°If you knew all of this, why didn¡¯t you just say so last night?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know last night. I had to think it through to understand why I was even considering it. Besides, there are other reasons it¡¯s not practical.¡±


    ¡°Such as?¡±


    ¡°For starters, I can¡¯t trust you. Your motives where I¡¯m concerned are compromised, at best. Your allegiances are something I could never look past. Learning takes trust that goes in both directions, and neither of us is in a position to give it. I¡¯d always be waiting for you to ambush me. Beyond all of that, though, I simply don¡¯t have the time.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a wandering cultivator. You have nothing but time.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯d think that, but it¡¯s just not so. I have obligations. I was coming from fulfilling one and on my way to another when you showed up. I need to get back to that obligation.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo gave Sen a pensive look. ¡°You aren¡¯t what I thought you¡¯d be.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± said Sen.


    ¡°All those stories about Judgment¡¯s Gale paint you as someone who leaps into action regardless of the consequences. They don¡¯t paint a picture of a thoughtful man. I just assumed that you¡¯d make a snap decision one way or the other.¡±


    ¡°Well, the stories had to get something right, I guess. I have been that person before and probably will be again, but it¡¯s caused me a lot of trouble and pain. I¡¯m trying to do better. I had the chance to think things through this time. So, I took that opportunity. Doing so probably spared both of us some pain and regrets.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo gave him a shallow little seated bow. ¡°Then I am grateful, senior.¡±


    She didn¡¯t look grateful to Sen. She looked like he¡¯d ripped away her hope, thrown it on the floor, and crushed it under his foot.


    ¡°I¡¯m not barren of sympathy for your situation. So, I am going to do something for you,¡± said Sen.


    He summoned the writing kit that Auntie Caihong had given him and wrote out three things. One was a letter to her and Uncle Kho with a very abbreviated description of what he¡¯d been up to recently. That letter he sealed in an envelope with wax. The second thing he wrote was something akin to a letter of introduction. The third thing he wrote was a set of instructions about where to take those letters. He considered that small pile of papers before he turned his gaze up to meet Li Yi Nuo¡¯s eyes. He wondered if he was doing the right thing, but this all felt like something handled by wiser heads.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take that vow to the heavens you spoke of yesterday. Except, you¡¯ll vow not to reveal the existence of these documents or their contents, except as how I¡¯ll instruct you to do so.¡±


    ¡°What are they?¡±


    ¡°Vow first. Then, I¡¯ll explain.¡±


    ¡°You want me to vow silence without even letting me see what you wrote.¡±


    ¡°Yes. If you decide that you¡¯re not interested, you can always destroy them instead of delivering them.¡±


    Sen waited her out as she tried to make her decision with basically no information. He truly didn¡¯t know which way she would go with it. In the end, she gave him a sour look and then made her vow. Sen nodded and held out one of the letters.


    ¡°This is a letter of introduction to the man who taught me the spear. I don¡¯t know if he¡¯ll take you on, but if anyone can teach you to beat a dual cultivator, he can,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯s on you to convince him but the letter might help.


    She read it over and gave him a quizzical look. ¡°Who is Uncle Kho?¡±


    It took a physical effort for Sen not to smirk at his next words. ¡°My teacher is Kho Jaw-Long. I believe some people call him The Living Spear.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo¡¯s eyes went comically wide and her mouth dropped open. She looked back down at the letter and her hands started trembling. Sen plucked the paper from her hands and sealed it in an envelope. He handed her the sealed envelope and the loose piece of paper.


    ¡°You¡¯ll find instructions about where to take the letter of introduction. You might have to wait for a while once you¡¯re there. Or, you know, you could just toss them in the fire.¡±


    She pulled the envelope and loose piece of paper against her chest like she meant to defend them with her life. ¡°Those stories were true? You really are a student of Kho Jaw-Long?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°But why do this?¡±


    ¡°You have talent. He¡¯ll appreciate that. More importantly, though, he¡¯s at a great remove from this entire situation. He¡¯s in a position to listen to what you have to say impartially and make a decision about whether or not teaching you will be to your benefit. Things that I can¡¯t do. I trust his judgment.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t thank me, yet. I know you took that vow and it should be binding, but I want to be very clear. Uncle Kho values his privacy above almost everything else in the world. If you betray the whereabouts of his home to anyone, if you bring trouble or inconvenience to his door,¡± Sen¡¯s voice went deadly soft, ¡°you will learn what it means to be hunted, Li Yi Nuo of the Vermilion Blade Sect.¡±


    The woman stopped breathing for a moment before she swallowed hard. ¡°I understand, but¡ª¡±


    ¡°But?¡± asked Sen, his eyes hard.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have to tell my master where I¡¯m going, at least in general, to say nothing of why I¡¯m going.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen, relaxing. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s unavoidable. Just him?¡±


    ¡°Just him,¡± she agreed.


    ¡°Fine,¡± said Sen, handing the other envelope to her. ¡°Please give that to Uncle Kho as well.¡±

 V6 Chapter 15 – An Old Debt

    Once the business with Li Yi Nuo was settled, Sen returned the chairs and a handful of other items that he''d taken out for basic comfort to his storage ring. Li Yi Nuo watched all of this with a mixture of curiosity and bafflement on her face. Sen looked at her.


    ¡°Are you leaving or staying?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Leaving,¡± she answered with a frown.


    Nodding, Sen extinguished the fire and the self-contained balls of fire qi he used to light the interior of the galehouse. He walked over to the door with Li Yi Nuo trailing closely behind. He latched it behind him and started toward the road.


    ¡°Wait. You¡¯re just going to leave that there?¡±


    He glanced back at the stone structure and shrugged. ¡°Why not? I may come back this way one day. Why make something twice?¡±


    Li Yi Nuo seemed to want to say something but also seemed to be struggling to put her exact thoughts into words. Sen gave her a few moments before he simply continued walking toward the road. Now that he no longer felt like she was his problem, he¡¯d largely relegated her to the background of his thoughts. Soon, he¡¯d be well away from her and could stop thinking about her entirely. As he stepped out onto the road, he peered in each direction. He¡¯d vaguely hoped there might be a farmer passing by with some fresh produce. He still had plenty, but buying some would give him an excuse to have a conversation that didn¡¯t involve anything deep or life-altering. He could use a bit of that at the moment. Instead, Li Yi Nuo appeared in front of him. He nodded at her, turned in the general direction he needed to go, and started to walk. After a moment, she was walking next to him. He stopped and gave her a long look.


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure this is where we part ways,¡± said Sen.


    She looked a little nonplussed. ¡°Well, that¡¯s fine, but my sect is that direction. At the very least, I have to go back and report what happened. And it¡¯s safer to travel together, even for cultivators.¡±


    Sen gave her a narrow-eyed, suspicious glare before huffing out a breath. She really wanted to go learn from Uncle Kho. That much was obvious. A fact that Sen suspected had dramatically reduced the odds of an unexpected betrayal. He supposed, in a roundabout, wholly unintentional way, he might have solved his problem with the Vermilion Blade Sect simply by saying the name Kho Jaw-Long. He doubted the sect elders were in any way aching to find out how The Living Spear would react to them trying to kill his student. For that matter, Sen wasn¡¯t in any particular hurry to find out the results of that either. He had worked very hard not to lean on the reputations of his teachers, but this might be one time when it really would be for the best.


    ¡°Fine,¡± said Sen, ¡°but we¡¯re splitting up once we get within fifty miles of that place.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo just nodded her acceptance. Grunting something unintelligible, Sen activated his qinggong technique and took off down the road. She could either keep up with him or get left behind. He¡¯d thought they were done with each other, and he¡¯d been very much looking forward to some fresh solitude, even if it did come with the occasional spirit beast attack. The knowledge that she was just going to be there for the next few weeks did not fill him with happiness. If nothing else, it meant that he¡¯d have to constantly watch what he said and which of his skills he put on display. He was certain that the elders back at her sect were going to drag every detail of her experiences with him out of her, even if they decided not to pursue vengeance against him. The very thought of having to monitor himself all the time was fatiguing, but he¡¯d already agreed. Whining about it to himself wasn¡¯t going to change anything.


    It only took until the early afternoon for the first problem to show up. He felt an odd sort of flickering sensation from Li Yi Nuo¡¯s qi. He glanced back at her and it was obvious that she¡¯d been pushing herself too hard just to keep pace with him. He slowed to a stop and had to snag her arm to keep her from collapsing to the ground. She was breathing hard and had a dazed look in her eye. He took her off the road and summoned a chair from his storage ring. She dropped into it and looked like she was ready to fall asleep on the spot. Shaking his head, he took the opportunity to eat an apple and some dried meat. He was sipping on a cup of tea when she finally spoke.


    ¡°How do you keep going like that? Your qi reserves must be like an ocean.¡±


    ¡°Your qinggong technique is inefficient,¡± said Sen as he watched a small red bird chase an insect through the undergrowth. ¡°It wastes almost a third of the qi you put into it. It¡¯s probably worth the time and effort to look for a new one.¡±


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    ¡°Maybe so, but it still doesn¡¯t explain how you just keep going,¡± said Li Yi Nuo, walking over to stand next to Sen. ¡°It¡¯s like you never run out of qi.¡±


    Sen tossed her an apple and put the chair she¡¯d been using back into his storage ring. He walked back out to the road with an unhappy Li Yi Nuo following him. He gestured to a spot next to him and she warily walked over to stand there. Sen didn¡¯t usually go in for the flashier ways that some cultivators used to travel, but he wanted to cover a lot more ground before nightfall. With that in mind, he summoned a qi platform beneath the two of them. It lifted them about a foot off the ground. Li Yi Nuo let out a surprised yelp and grabbed his arm. Sen barely glanced at her before he had the platform carry them forward over the road. At first, Li Yi Nuo seemed to find the experience a kind of novelty. As the minutes turned into hours, she gave him increasingly incredulous looks, as though she thought he was showing off to impress her. Carrying two people took more effort and qi than he expected, but he found a balance between what he was spending and the environmental qi he could gather. It took a kind of semi-active cultivation, but he discovered that was only marginally more difficult than the passive cultivation techniques he usually relied on.


    When he simply made a platform the next morning and carried them both all day, it seemed to strain something in Li Yi Nuo¡¯s mind to the breaking point. When they stopped outside a modest village, she whirled on him.


    ¡°That isn¡¯t possible.¡±


    ¡°Clearly, it is,¡± said Sen, before he went in search of an inn.


    They fell into a kind of routine after that. Sen would carry them down the road on a qi platform and Li Yi Nuo would try to dig information out of him. Rather than verbally spar with her, he mostly elected to ignore the questions or reply with non-answers. This tactic did not endear him to her, but he¡¯d never promised to divulge his secrets. As it was, he assumed that she was doing everything she could to observe how his qi was moving and trying to figure out how to replicate the feats for herself. He supposed if she managed to work it out on her own after he¡¯d shown her that such things were possible, she¡¯d earned the knowledge. This routine held for the better part of a week and a half. Then, something Sen had not expected happened. He¡¯d felt the presence ahead and nearly crashed himself and Li Yi Nuo into a tree in his shock. He dropped them to the ground and stared up the road, looking for what he¡¯d felt. He didn¡¯t see anything, but that wasn¡¯t much of a surprise.


    ¡°You should stay here,¡± he told Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°What? Why?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s something ahead that you¡¯re probably better off avoiding.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve had plenty of time to restore my qi. I¡¯ll be fine in a fight.¡±


    ¡°Suit yourself,¡± said Sen as he started walking forward.


    They walked for several minutes without seeing anything. Then, there was a flicker of light and a fox with several tails appeared in the road. Li Yi Nuo summoned her spear and leveled it at the fox with a snarl. Sen shook his head.


    ¡°Put that away before he decides to do something about it,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°It¡¯s a spirit fox. They¡¯re dangerous.¡±


    Somehow, the fox managed to look amused at the exchange, although Sen couldn¡¯t put his finger on exactly what changed in the fox¡¯s face to give that impression.


    ¡°She¡¯s right, you know,¡± said the fox. ¡°We foxes are tricky and dangerous.¡±


    Sen gave Li Yi Nuo a meaningful look. She didn¡¯t look happy about it, but she put the spear away. Sen turned back to the fox and gave it a respectful bow.


    ¡°Senior brother,¡± said Sen. ¡°How unexpected to see you here.¡±


    ¡°You know that thing,¡± whispered Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°We¡¯ve met before,¡± said Sen.


    He didn¡¯t bother whispering. There was no point in trying to hide things from a fox.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you remember,¡± said the fox. ¡°Are you going to introduce me?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± yelled Li Yi Nuo in obvious terror.


    Sen shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s too late for that now.¡±


    The fox gave Li Yi Nuo a pitying look. ¡°He¡¯s right. You really should have listened when he told you to stay back there.¡±


    ¡°Li Yi Nuo of the Vermilion Blade Sect, this is Laughing River. Laughing River, meet Li Yi Nuo of the Vermilion Blade Sect.¡±


    The fox nodded at the pale-faced Li Yi Nuo before turning his attention back to Sen. ¡°You owe me a favor, junior brother. I¡¯ve come to collect.¡±


    Sen had worried that was the reason the fox had appeared. He wanted to say no but was also aware that would be a catastrophic mistake. One doesn¡¯t lightly renege on a favor owed to a fox. Even the gods tread lightly where foxes and favors were concerned. On the other hand, the timing couldn¡¯t have been worse.


    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose that this favor could wait for a short while. A few years perhaps?¡±


    The fox gave him a bland look that made Sen feel very, very nervous.


    ¡°I expect you¡¯d be more eager if I looked like her,¡± said Laughing River.


    There was a surge of qi, but it felt odd to Sen. It was like something else had been mixed into that most fundamental energy of creation. That line of thinking was dragged to a halt when a mirror image of Li Yi Nuo appeared where the fox had sat. The transformed fox gave Sen a coquettish smile that he doubted had ever appeared on the real Li Yi Nuo¡¯s face.


    ¡°Are you more interested now?¡± the fox asked.


    The whole situation was jarring and not just for him.


    ¡°Oh, that is creepy,¡± said the real Li Yi Nuo in a hushed whisper.


    Sen never looked away from the fox when he answered with a sigh. ¡°A simple no would have sufficed.¡±

 V6 Chapter 16 – The Word Is Acquiring

    ¡°I might have settled for a simple no if I was dealing with that awful woman you¡¯ve got yourself mixed up with. Frankly, I¡¯m surprised that Feng Ming was willing to tolerate it,¡± said Laughing River.


    ¡°Awful woman?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Wait! Feng Ming! You mean those stories are true, too?¡±


    Laughing River turned to look at Li Yi Nuo with her own face, then there was another brief flicker of light and a copy of Sen stood in place of the fox. The false-Sen gave Li Yi Nuo a decidedly predatory grin.


    ¡°Oh, you sweet, sweet innocent child. Sen, did you know I was coming? Did you bring her along as a present for me?¡±


    Sigh rolled his eyes. ¡°No, she¡¯s not a present.¡±


    ¡°Pity,¡± said Laughing River.


    Li Yi Nuo looked like she wasn¡¯t quite sure if she should be offended or appalled at the exchange between Sen and his fox copy. Before she could decide, the fox turned a look of smoldering intensity on her that Sen was sure had never adorned his face. Li Yi Nuo froze in place as the full weight of that gaze settled on her.


    ¡°Girl, you should assume that every story you hear about,¡± he started to point at his own chest before swinging the finger at Sen, ¡°him is true. The more outlandish and impossible-sounding the tale, the more likely it is to have actually happened. Honestly, as a fox, I find it simply delicious that people think the lies about him are true and the truths about him are lies. The only annoying part is that he¡¯s done on accident what I have work to accomplish. Still, you can¡¯t have everything, so I choose to focus on the deliciousness of it all.¡±


    Sen saw Li Yi Nuo open her mouth to speak and hurriedly cut her off before she made things worse. ¡°As delightful as this banter is, I suppose we should get to the part about the favor.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo shot him an annoyed glare, and Laughing River sighed dramatically.


    ¡°Oh, very well, I suppose we should get to the boring business part. Simply put, I need your help to acquire a long-lost treasure of mine. It¡¯s a minor thing, but should nicely balance the scales between us.¡±


    ¡°A long-lost treasure of yours?¡± asked a skeptical Sen.


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t get hung up on the minor details. If it makes you feel any better, you won¡¯t be helping me acquire it from a living, breathing human being who will miss it.¡±


    Sen frowned at that description. It was both oddly specific and profoundly vague. It was the sort of phrasing that could cover a multitude of sins and scenarios that Sen was confident he didn¡¯t fully understand. Not that it really mattered whether the fox was telling him nothing but lies or the complete truth. Either way, he was going to go along with this scheme. Even if he found out he hated every single part of the plan once he discovered all of the details, he was still going to go along with it because he was not going to make an enemy of a spirit fox.


    ¡°In that case,¡± said Sen as he turned to Li Yi Nuo, ¡°it seems that this is where we part ways.¡±


    ¡°Oh no,¡± said Laughing River in a hard, unforgiving voice. ¡°Bring her along. In fact, I insist. She saw fit to intrude on the affairs of a fox after being warned to stay away. Now, she will help.¡±


    Sen gave Li Yi Nuo a sympathetic look. ¡°When all of this goes horribly, horribly wrong and violent, I want you to remember that I tried to spare you from it.¡±


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    ¡°Don¡¯t say that,¡± gasped Laughing River in a horrified voice. ¡°You¡¯ll scare the child. Besides, I estimate that there¡¯s only a seventy, seventy-five percent chance that things will go horribly, horribly wrong and violent.¡±


    ¡°Oh, well that makes it fine then,¡± muttered Sen.


    Li Yi Nuo glared death at the fox. ¡°I am not a child.¡±


    The fox threw back his copy of Sen¡¯s head and roared with laughter. It went on longer than Sen thought was wise, but he supposed that was the fox¡¯s business. When Laughing River finally got it out of his system, he had to wipe tears from his eyes.


    ¡°Oh, but to someone like me, you are a child. There are trees in this very forest older than you, and I was positively ancient when they were mere saplings. To me, you are like the freshest of morning dew on a blade of grass.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo fumed in silence, unable to refute the fox¡¯s words. Sen gave the fox a thoughtful look.


    ¡°You make a good point. You are very old and very powerful. Why would you need me for this task?¡±


    ¡°Oh, you know how these things go. Someone has to carry the luggage and tip the bellhop.¡±


    Sen blinked at the unfamiliar terms. ¡°What¡¯s luggage?¡±


    At the same time, Li Yi Nuo gave the fox a confused look and said, ¡°What¡¯s a bellhop?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± asked Laughing River. ¡°Oh, right. I forget how limited human knowledge is on this little rock. Don¡¯t worry about it. I just meant that someone has to do the tedious things I don¡¯t want to bother with. Carrying things. Cooking meals. Being distractions for murderous, powerful, angry spirit beasts. The usual.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± said an alarmed Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Oh, listen to me rambling on about my concerns. As for you, Li Yi Nuo of the Vermilion Blade Sect, this is a golden opportunity. Old Sect Smasher Kho will certainly be a lot more receptive to you if he finds out that you helped Sen help me,¡± offered Laughing River with a bright smile. ¡°So, you could say that I¡¯m actually doing you a¡ª¡±


    Sen cut off the fox as a spike of unease speared his heart. ¡°What are we stealing?¡±


    Laughing River gave Sen a knowing look and a smirk. ¡°Killjoy. And the word is acquiring, Sen. Acquiring. Stealing is¡­ Oh, what¡¯s that word?¡±


    ¡°Wrong?¡± offered Li Yi Nuo in a dry tone.


    Laughing River¡¯s eyes lit up. He snapped his fingers and pointed at her.


    ¡°That¡¯s the one. It¡¯s wrong, and we know that I¡¯d never encourage you to do something wrong.¡±


    ¡°We do?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Of course we do,¡± said a gleeful Laughing River. ¡°If I encouraged you to do something wrong, Caihong would be ever so cross with me. I¡¯m a fox, not a moron. I¡¯m not going to make that woman angry without an exceedingly good reason and probably someone blackmailing me. Fortunately, doing stupidly dangerous things is just part of being a cultivator. So, we¡¯re all good.¡±


    ¡°Stupidly dangerous,¡± repeated Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Who said anything about stupidly dangerous?¡± asked Laughing River with a completely straight face. ¡°You¡¯re just going to carry the luggage, remember? Now, come along children. We¡¯ve got a long way to go.¡±


    There was another flicker of light and Laughing River resumed his fox form. There was a merry twinkle in the fox¡¯s eyes that left Sen positively filled with dread and uncertainty about what came next. Then, the fox bounded off the road and into the forest, his many tails flickering in and out of sight. Sen could feel Li Yi Nuo staring at the side of his head. He turned to meet her gaze with a wan smile. She looked a little aggravated but mostly she looked very unsettled and afraid. That struck Sen as a sensible reaction to everything that was happening. He did feel a little bad that she¡¯d got caught up in whatever it was the fox had planned, but that sympathy was largely tempered by the knowledge that she¡¯d had ample opportunities to distance herself from him. Beyond that, he had warned her.


    ¡°You could have told me it was a fox,¡± she complained.


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°You¡¯re an adult. You¡¯ve seen me in action. You¡¯ve heard the stories about the kinds of things I get involved in. Did you think I was just trying to keep secrets? Prevent you from learning about something?¡±


    She looked away, her expression transforming into one of embarrassment. ¡°I might have thought something like that.¡±


    ¡°Well, for future reference, I don¡¯t warn people off for idle reasons or my own amusement.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo stared out into the forest in the direction that Laughing River had gone. ¡°That fox is going to get us killed, isn¡¯t he?¡±


    Sen put on a thoughtful expression and rubbed at his chin with a knuckle. A little bit of the fox¡¯s attitude had infected him.


    ¡°I¡¯ll probably be fine. He¡¯s got a vested interest in keeping me alive. As for you,¡± he gave her a mournful look, ¡°well, there¡¯s always the next life.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    Sen laughed and only narrowly dodged the punch that almost took him on the chin. ¡°I¡¯m joking.¡±


    ¡°That was not funny!¡±


    ¡°It was a little funny. Besides, I figure there¡¯s a good chance we¡¯ll both die. So, I have to get my jokes in while I can.¡±


    Before Li Yi Nuo could take another swing at him, Sen activated his qinggong technique and took off after the fox. He yelled over his shoulder.


    ¡°Don¡¯t fall behind!¡±

 V6 Chapter 17 – Mortifying

    It didn¡¯t take long for Sen to catch up with the fox who, for whatever reason, had decided to stick to running through the forest. Sen dropped the qinggong techniques and fell in beside the fox. Li Yi Nuo caught up shortly after, and the three of them were a trio of blurs in the trees until it grew dark enough that even Sen didn¡¯t entirely trust his eyes anymore. The fox slowed his relentless, miles-consuming pace and stopped when he found a clearing that he seemed to like. There was another of those flickers of light and a lanky man with a vulpine cast to his features stood where the fox had been. He was wearing red robes with intricate patterns embroidered into it. Laughing River surveyed the clearing with a pleased eye and then gave Sen an expectant look.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen, taking a nervous step back from the fox.


    ¡°Oh, come on. Do it.¡±


    ¡°Do what?¡±


    ¡°You know what,¡± said the fox. ¡°It¡¯s my third favorite thing that you do. Now stop stalling.¡±


    Sen eyed the fox. ¡°You know about the galehouses. You even knew about me sending Li Yi Nuo to Uncle Kho. Just how long have you been following us?¡±


    Laughing River gave Sen a huge, blindingly insincere smile. ¡°Following you? Whatever do you mean? I just happened to come across you. Consider it a matter of pure chance that you were very conveniently unoccupied by a cranky nascent soul cultivator.¡±


    ¡°Very convenient,¡± said Sen before he turned his attention to the ground.


    Laughing River was almost dancing with glee as the stone structure rose from the ground. Sen gave the fox a sidelong glance.


    ¡°Why do you like this so much?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Because most cultivators never think to do practical things with their power. They¡¯re so boring. They just use it to fight. You woke up one day and apparently thought, I should make a house! Then, you actually pulled it off.¡±


    The fox dashed inside as soon as Sen was done. Sen followed him in to see the fox dashing from room to room, looking at everything, and smiling with the uncomplicated joy of a child. Sen waved a hand and did his usual trick to light the building. He dropped some wood in the fireplace but didn¡¯t set it ablaze. The weather had warmed up enough that he¡¯d wait until he was ready to cook something. He left the fox inside and went back out to check on Li Yi Nuo. The run had seemingly tired her out more than him or Laughing River. She was leaning against a tree with her eyes closed. Since she didn¡¯t look like she was going to die or pass out, Sen occupied himself with setting up formations. They were deep enough into the wilds that he didn¡¯t want to leave things to chance. He¡¯d found his own tree to lean against and was staring out into the darkness when Li Yi Nuo found him.


    ¡°What do you see?¡± she asked.


    He glanced over at her. She was squinting out into the darkness like she thought she should be seeing something.


    ¡°Nothing. Darkness. Shadows. I wasn¡¯t looking for anything. That¡¯s what the formations are for. This deep in the wilds, by the time I saw something, I¡¯d be in a fight for my life before I had a chance to think about it.¡±


    When she didn¡¯t say anything, Sen went back to staring out into the darkness and wondering what kind of a mess Laughing River was about to drop them all into. Unfortunately, Sen didn¡¯t know the fox well enough to even guess. He¡¯d asked Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho about the fox and found them both oddly reticent. What few answers he got from Auntie Caihong were evasive. Uncle Kho had just mumbled something about the fox being a mountain of trouble stuffed into a sack and then dropped the subject entirely. Laughing River wanted something, and anything he¡¯d want would be potent. Potent natural treasures or cultivation relics in the wilds were always defended.


    So, unless the fox had a very good plan, that meant there would be fighting. Sen knew from personal experience that the deeper in the wilds they got, the more intense that fighting would be. Sen¡¯s instinct was to ask Laughing River for specifics, except he didn¡¯t think he could trust any specifics he got enough to make a plan. The fox clearly wanted them in the dark until they got wherever it was that they were going. Yet, it wasn¡¯t good strategy unless the fox believed that it was something that even Sen would object to doing, favor or no favor. If Laughing River kept it to himself until they were already there and committed, then it became a moot point. None of that boded well for their chances. Sen was also aware that it was all speculation. He was dealing with a fox, creatures renowned for their trickster ways. It was equally possible that the fox would take them deep into the wilds, pick a random tree, and demand that Sen climb to the top to pick an apple.


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    ¡°I owe you an apology,¡± said Li Yi Nuo.


    There had been nothing but insect noises and the occasional call of a night bird for so long that her voice sounded loud in the night. Sen jumped a little at the unexpected noise. He glanced over at her, but the woman was staring fixedly into the darkness of the forest. He turned his gaze away since she obviously didn¡¯t want to look at him.


    ¡°Oh?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Earlier, I wasn¡¯t expecting to see a spirit fox, let alone one as old and powerful as that. It unsettled me. Frightened me. I took that out on you. I¡¯m sorry about that.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±


    In the corner of his eyes, he saw her turn to give him an incredulous look.


    ¡°That¡¯s it? No demands for groveling or kowtowing? Just, it¡¯s fine?¡±


    Sen laughed. ¡°The last woman I made truly angry hired mercenaries and tried to kill me. It really moved my bar for what I should find offensive.¡±


    ¡°What did you do to her?¡±


    Sen opened his mouth, thought about all of the things he¡¯d have to explain for the story to make sense, and just shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s a long, complicated story.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo frowned at that response.


    ¡°How complicated are we talking here?¡±


    ¡°Complicated enough that I¡¯d probably need to talk for the next half an hour to give you enough context for the story and my role in it to make any kind of sense.¡±


    ¡°Okay, that does sound pretty complicated.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. It wasn¡¯t any less complicated living through it.¡¯


    Li Yi Nuo seemingly decided to save questions about all of that for later, because she switched gears. ¡°Where do you think that fox is leading us?¡±


    ¡°I really don¡¯t know. Where are you taking us, Laughing River?¡± asked Sen, tilting his head back and looking straight up into the tree.


    The fox was sitting on a large limb almost directly above Sen¡¯s head, still in the lanky form of a man. Laughing River smiled at Sen and gave him a wink.


    ¡°How long have you been there?¡± demanded Li Yi Nuo.


    The fox shrugged. ¡°A while now. Two young people. The romance of the night. I thought something might happen, and I do so adore young love. What a disappointment you two turned out to be. Especially you, girl.¡±


    ¡°Me?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo in total confusion. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Well, Sen here usually has the social instincts of a tree stump, but he comes by it honestly. A rough upbringing will do that to a person,¡± said Laughing River in a conspiratorial whisper. ¡°But you? What¡¯s your excuse? Did you think I wouldn¡¯t notice you sneaking peeks at him all day? There will literally never be a better opportunity to take advantage of him than the one you squandered right here. Oh, the sordid tales you¡¯ll never get to tell those precious young things at your little sect.¡±


    The fox shook his head in the disapproving way that only an elder looking at a young person who has truly disappointed them can pull off. Li Yi Nuo was spluttering in embarrassment or outrage. Sen couldn¡¯t tell from her expression which it was. Before the woman could pull together a response to the pile of inflammatory things that had just been dumped on her head, the fox continued.


    ¡°As for the question about where we¡¯re going, that¡¯s easy. Hither and yon. I expect we¡¯ll get there in the next few days.¡±


    With that spectacular descent into vagueness, Laughing River dropped from the tree. He only paused long enough to give Sen and Li Yi Nuo another disapproving shake of his head before he wandered back toward the galehouse.


    ¡°Well,¡± said Sen, ¡°that was wholly un-enlightening.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo finally managed to find her words. ¡°Un-enlightening? That was completely outrageous! Totally inappropriate! Can you believe the things he said to us?¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at the woman and thought it over. ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Yes?! How can you be so calm about all of this?¡±


    ¡°First of all, he¡¯s a fox. As I understand it, being outrageous is pretty normal for them. Plus, to be fair, all he really said about me was that I¡¯ve got bad social instincts.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t bother you?¡±


    ¡°It might have if it wasn¡¯t true. I do usually have terrible social instincts. I can¡¯t get too mad at him for saying it out loud. But I understand why you¡¯d be upset.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± she said, sounding slightly mollified.


    ¡°Having someone just point out that you¡¯re terrible at seduction even under ideal conditions, well, that had to be mortifying,¡± said Sen, who pretended he didn¡¯t see the slack-jawed expression on her face. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m sure you have some things to sort out. I think I¡¯m going to go eat something.¡±


    Sen walked away with a smirk on his face.

 V6 Chapter 18 – Alchemy and Ancient Ruins

    ¡°Don¡¯t glare at me,¡± said Laughing River in a hurt voice. ¡°I gallantly left you alone after helpfully pointing out your mistake, and you wasted yet another opportunity by complaining about me. I mean, honestly, I don¡¯t know what more I could have done to help you there.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo had spent the last two days glowering at Laughing River and Sen, far less amused than they had been about the things they¡¯d said to her. With a quick exchange of glances, the two men had come to a mutual agreement that they would pretend that it wasn¡¯t happening. However, it seemed that Laughing River had run out of patience with the game. To his credit, he had lasted a lot longer than Sen had ever thought he would. The fox seemed to have a very limited attention span, although Sen thought that it was mostly a guise that Laughing River put on. After all, who would suspect clever planning from someone who got distracted by everything? Sen got around that problem by assuming that everything the fox said was a lie, a scheme, or a misdirection. It seemed to be working. Li Yi Nuo¡¯s strategy of directing baleful glares probably didn¡¯t protect her from the Laughing River¡¯s lies, but it had seemed to discourage any more observations about her personality or behaviors. At least, it had been working. With the fox¡¯s latest statement, all of her ire landed directly on the fox.


    ¡°Help me? Help me! By doing what? Calling my character into question? Suggesting that I should be promiscuous with a¡ª¡±


    When Sen gave her a sharp look, her voice cut off like he¡¯d seized her throat in one of his hands.


    ¡°Do tell? A what?¡± asked Sen in an unfriendly voice.


    ¡°Stranger,¡± she said weakly, the fire suddenly going out of her.


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Sen, before he looked over at Laughing River and pointed. ¡°That direction?¡±


    The fox glanced in the direction Sen pointed. ¡°That would be the one.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll go scout.¡±


    As he started moving into the woods, he heard Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°This is your fault.¡±


    Laughing River laughed. ¡°Oh, dear girl, you did that all by yourself.¡±


    Not even remotely interested in hearing any more of that conversation, Sen hid and took off in the indicated direction. He didn¡¯t think there was much chance of finding anything as Laughing River just let him wander off alone. Sen focused on looking for signs of spirit beasts of which there were surprisingly few. When he thought about it, they hadn¡¯t encountered nearly as many as he would have expected given how deep they¡¯d come into the wilds. They weren¡¯t near the true heart of the wilds. The way the kingdom had organized itself, civilization followed a loose ring around the edges of a vast area of untamed and arguably untamable land controlled by the spirit beast. Even though they had been traveling on an inward course at cultivator speeds for days, it would take weeks of travel to reach the true heart of wilds. Of course, that would also be a probable death sentence since the oldest and strongest spirit beasts in the kingdom were thought to rule there.


    Sen tried to remind himself that they were likely seeing places that no one but nascent soul cultivators had seen for thousands of years. Of course, it would have been a lot easier to get excited by that if what they were seeing looked less like hundreds of miles of primordial forest with trees towering hundreds of feet in the air with trunks bigger around than a house. Not that Sen was feeling entirely sad about the journey into the wilds. He had taken the opportunity to replace a lot of the medicinal plants he¡¯d used over the last year with their much, much more potent brethren inside the wilds. He¡¯d assumed that the spirit beasts would have consumed most of them, but the sheer volume of them that could be found in a single section of the pristine forest had shown him how foolish that thought had been. He imagined that this kind of environment was what the earliest cultivators had braved to make their versions of modern pills and elixirs.


    The experience also gave him some insight into why alchemy had become such a vital field among cultivators. He was almost dizzy with the possibilities the powerful ingredients would open up for him and dismayed with how poorly most of the ingredients he had used over the years would stand up to the new ones. If the earliest cultivators had used plants like the ones he was gathering, no wonder those pills and elixirs had become things of legend. As the medicinal herbs and alchemical reagents available to sects and wandering cultivators in the civilized world got weaker, though, alchemists would have had to refine their techniques. They would have needed ever more complicated processes to purify and amplify the benefits of those plants and reagents in a bid to replicate what had come before.


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    Sen was honestly impressed by how far they had come. He also knew that it was a losing game. Yes, an alchemist could improve the potency of the ingredients to an extent. He¡¯d done it himself with clever combinations of complementary plants and reagents. That was to say nothing of his method of manipulating the processes and even underlying structures of pills and elixirs. Even with all of that generational knowledge being passed down to him and the advantages of his unique methods, there were still limits. Try to concentrate something too much and you¡¯d simply destroy it or, worse, turn it into something toxic instead of beneficial. Alchemy frequently had to straddle that line in its bid to offer benefits, routinely relying on the sturdier constitutions of cultivators to process out the toxins over time or through the use of body cleansing pills. Of course, those pills often left toxins of their own, simply of a different kind.


    Using what he¡¯d gathered, Sen could avoid most of those pitfalls and make things that could rival the achievements of old. Elixirs that could seemingly resurrect the dead, although he knew that they merely rekindled the almost extinguished spark of life inside someone. Treatments that could possibly restore limbs and potentially even restore damaged qi channels. A feat long considered a mere fantasy among wounded cultivators. Pills that could shatter hopelessly impenetrable bottlenecks. The more he thought about it, the more excited Sen became. He had to force himself back from that excitement, though. He knew full well that giving such elixirs, pills, and treatments to the wrong people could mean instant death. Worse still, it could mean a lingering, excruciating death as the seeming alchemical miracle overwhelmed a body that was too weak. There were new opportunities, but those enhanced opportunities came with enhanced risks. He¡¯d need to be more careful about what he made and for whom, not less. Still, he moved through the forest with a smile.


    The change happened so fast that it felt almost instantaneous even to Sen''s enhanced mind. Primordial forest gave way to open ground that gently rose to reveal ancient ruins. Sen struggled to put a word to what kind of ruins. He wasn¡¯t sure if he was looking at the surprisingly intact remains of an ancient city or perhaps a temple that had once been the size of a city. Not that it was perfectly preserved. Some of the structures had collapsed. Many of them were overgrown with vines and mosses. One building had a tree that had grown up straight through it. The branches spread over the walls like a verdant, living umbrella. Yet, most of the buildings still looked sound from a distance. There was one structure that rose up from what looked to be the very center of the city. It had a tiered tower that rose toward the sky like a supplication. Each tier was a masterwork of intricate craftsmanship that showed from even miles away.


    Beyond that, though, Sen could feel that this place was holy, genuinely, truly holy in a way that most temples and shrines failed to achieve. Of course, anything that holy would also attract things that wished to see it desecrated. There was a horde of wailing ghosts and devilish creatures that looked like they surrounded the city. It was a veritable tide of evil the likes of which Sen had never encountered. He simply stood there in a tangle of reverential awe and abject revulsion. It was only harsh experience that let him drag his eyes away and stumble back into the cover of the forest. Standing out in the open with so many things that would like to see him dead nearby was like an open invitation to death. He did his best to shake off the awe and the revulsion. Then, it became a struggle to control his anger.


    By the time he got back to Laughing River and Li Yi Nuo, he barely trusted himself to speak. He stormed up to them. Laughing River opened his mouth to say something and Sen just looked at him. The white-hot rage in that glance made the spirit fox take three quick steps back and raise his hand in a gesture of peace and surrender.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Sen,¡± said the fox in a friendly, reassuring voice.


    ¡°I said, no!¡± roared Sen. ¡°I owe you a favor, but no favor is worth that.¡±


    Sen stalked over to Li Yi Nuo, who looked terrified that he was going to attack her. She looked terrified and confused when he grabbed her hand.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go. We¡¯re leaving,¡± said Sen and all but dragged her away from the flabbergasted fox.


    Li Yi Nuo didn¡¯t try to fight Sen¡¯s inexorable momentum. Instead, she tried to get a handle on the situation.


    ¡°What is happening?¡± she asked. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what¡¯s going on.¡±


    ¡°That bastard wants us to rob a temple.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± demanded Li Yi Nuo, not even attempting to hide her shock.


    ¡°You know, he wants us to just causally steal from a sacred ruin after we fight our way through an army of spirits, angry ghosts, devil beasts, and the gods only know what else. Well, you know what? Fuck that!¡±

 V6 Chapter 19 – Assailable Positions

    Li Yi Nuo waited to the side and watched as Sen and Laughing River stood a few feet apart, gesticulated wildly, and yelled at each other like a pair of bickering siblings. It might have even been amusing, like some kind of comical theater performance. That is, it might have been if not for the fact that the bickering pair were two of the most powerful beings she¡¯d ever personally encountered, and they were standing in one of the most dangerous places on the face of the planet. The total disregard that the pair showed for the possibility that some insanely powerful spirit beast might attack them was a more telling and chilling expression of their strength than any claim either might have made. She didn¡¯t dare speak for fear of drawing down the wrath of either man or fox.


    She would never, ever have ventured this far into the wilds for any reason except the kind of dire, if implied, threat that the fox had issued. When they first entered the wilds, she had assumed that they would all move with utmost caution. Oh, how wrong she had been. The fox had treated it like a social outing with friends. But she supposed that was to be expected from the elder nine-tail. She had turned to Sen to find a kindred spirit in her fear. His reaction had almost been worse. While he spoke about being so deep in the wilds as though it should be treated as very dangerous, his behavior told a different story. He wasn¡¯t afraid. At best, he was mildly wary of their surroundings.


    He''d come back from scouting a few times covered in blood and injured in ways that made her cringe. Then, he¡¯d make an offhand comment about dealing with some beast, drink one of those impossibly potent elixirs as if it wasn¡¯t a priceless treasure, and just ignore the injuries like they were minor inconveniences. Every time he did something like that, treated the impossible like the commonplace, walked off injuries that would have left anyone in her sect calling for aid, or yelled at the fox, it made her look back at their ¡°battle¡± and realize how lucky she had been that he hadn¡¯t wanted a real fight. He would have crushed her. It was only in hindsight that she realized that she hadn¡¯t felt a whisper of killing intent from the man. It wasn¡¯t until he came storming back from locating what they¡¯d come so far to find that she finally felt a little of it. It had been bleeding off of him and that had been more than enough for her. It wasn¡¯t even aimed at her and had left her shaken.


    When he¡¯d grabbed her hand and said they were leaving, she hadn¡¯t even entertained the idea of saying no. Li Yi Nuo had been wanting to leave ever since they started this journey into madness and death. Even if she¡¯d been completely on board, though, one look at his face would have silenced any protest. Granite cliffs in the depths of winter had more give and warmth than his face had shown. They hadn¡¯t gone ten steps before she felt a qi platform manifest beneath them and start to carry them back the way they had come at speeds she couldn¡¯t have produced and wouldn¡¯t have wanted to either. She¡¯d been terrified that a stray tree branch would cut her in half, but Sen created a technique she couldn¡¯t even understand that moved ahead of them like some awful hand of destruction. Anything that might impede the straight line he had chosen was shredded, pulped, shattered, or blown aside.


    They traveled for miles that way before the fox finally caught up with them. Laughing River had positioned himself in their path. She was sure that Sen was simply going to drive that destructive technique into the fox. He might have intended to do so, but it seemed the fox was able to disrupt the technique if not the qi platform they stood on. Or maybe the fox had chosen not to disrupt it. Doing so would have sent her and Sen tumbling through the ancient forest. While Sen might have survived it, Li Yi Nuo was certain that she would not have lived to tell the tale. She might be as resilient as most cultivators, but she wasn¡¯t the all-but-indestructible tower of muscle and strength that Sen had somehow become through his body cultivation method. Given the choice between stopping or ramming the qi platform into the fox, Sen had thankfully chosen to stop.


    Laughing River did have the good sense to look a tiny bit relieved at that. While his ability to disrupt Sen¡¯s technique had been a display of truly awesome power, getting hit with anything moving that fast would still hurt almost anyone. What was more perplexing was the fact that Sen had not suffered any apparent backlash from having the technique disrupted. Either the fox knew how to do it in a way that wouldn¡¯t result in a backlash, a secret that any sect would bankrupt itself to learn, or Sen had simply ignored it. She wasn¡¯t sure which of those choices she preferred. Laughing Riven had given Sen a patient look when the qi platform stopped a bare foot from fox¡¯s chest.


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    ¡°We should discuss this, Sen.¡±


    She glanced over at Sen and saw him working his jaw so hard that the muscles in his face looked like they were twitching. The qi platform had dropped to the ground, and she¡¯d moved to get out of both men¡¯s direct line of sight.


    ¡°Discuss this? You want to discuss this? Do you know when the time to discuss this was?¡± demanded Sen, who immediately cut off the fox''s attempted answer. ¡°The time was back on the road when you first arrived!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll admit that I probably could have been a tiny bit more forthright about what we¡¯d be doing.¡±


    ¡°A sacred ruin? Really? You actually thought that you could trade a favor for offending the very heavens and damaging my karma? Let me guess. You can¡¯t go inside, can you?¡±


    The fox had gotten a very frustrated look at that point. ¡°No. The monks who used to live there took steps to make sure my kind couldn¡¯t enter.¡±


    ¡°What a shocking level of good sense on their part!¡± shouted Sen.


    Li Yi Nuo thought her heart would stop at those words. She was certain that the fox would kill them both on the spot. Instead of the instant murders she had expected, the fox started yelling back that the only reason the monks did it was because some overzealous initiate had stolen something from a fox in the first place. Sen made the accusation that the fox had probably stolen it to begin with, which made her heart pound in naked terror again. The fox had put on an affronted face and said that wasn¡¯t here or there. Things had only devolved from there to the point where Sen and Laughing River were mostly just throwing insults at each other. It was an activity that Li Yi Nuo could only interpret as some bizarre workaround to the duel to the death that any one of those insults should have demanded. Death by a thousand insults, perhaps? Still, Li Yi Nuo remained silent. While those two might have some obscure reason not to kill each other, she felt supremely confident that she was not included in that unspoken bargain. And then, damn him, Sen pointed at her.


    ¡°And why in the hells did you insist that she come along? Did you think I wouldn¡¯t back down from that deathtrap because I¡¯d be too embarrassed to do it in front of a beautiful woman?¡±


    The fox looked from Sen to Li Yi Nuo, seemed to weigh his words with substantially more care than he had been for the last twenty minutes or so, and then he spoke to her.


    ¡°Sen¡¯s got that right of that one. A mind-boggling number of young men have done even stupider things because a woman was watching them. I was playing the odds.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo stared at Laughing River and was overwhelmed with lots of different kinds of anger.


    ¡°You brought me along as some kind of pride trap for him?¡± she asked, thrusting a finger at Sen.


    ¡°Yep,¡± said the fox with absolutely no shame or remorse.


    ¡°You put me in mortal peril and were going to put me into even more mortal peril as a backup plan?¡±


    ¡°You were there. It was an opportunity. Waste not, want not.¡±


    ¡°And what was I supposed to do while you battled an evil army and offended the heavens?¡±


    Laughing River blinked a few times, frowned, and shrugged. ¡°Cheer? Have lunch? Loot sacred relics? I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s important to have some initiative and seize opportunity when it arrives.¡±


    ¡°So, you didn¡¯t, at any point, take into account that I¡¯m a core formation cultivator with excellent training who might have been able to contribute?¡±


    ¡°It might have given it more thought if you were a nascent soul cultivator,¡± offered Laughing River.


    ¡°He¡¯s not a nascent soul cultivator, either!¡± shouted Li Yi Nuo.


    Laughing River looked over at Sen and lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Well, I suppose that¡¯s true. It¡¯s easy to forget when he¡¯s out there singlehandedly slaughtering spirit beasts by the thousands, toppling regimes, and killing nascent soul cultivators. Oh, that reminds me, Sen. How did things turn out with that princess of yours? I never heard the whole story.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± said Sen, apparently surprised to be addressed again. ¡°Oh, she tried to kill me.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo spun to stare at Sen. ¡°Is all of that true?¡±


    She watched as the absurd man hemmed and hawed before he finally spoke.


    ¡°There¡¯s a lot of context missing.¡±


    ¡°Are you kidding me!¡±


    ¡°Why are you yelling at me?¡± asked Sen while waving a hand at the Laughing River. ¡°Go back to being mad at him.¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡± said the fox. ¡°That was just mean.¡±


    ¡°You did drag her hundreds of miles into the wilds with the sole purpose of using her to shame me into doing what you want. Then, you basically told her that the, I don¡¯t know, probably decades of relentless work she put into advancing mean nothing and have absolutely no value in a serious situation.¡±


    The fox gave Sen an exasperated look. ¡°You felt it was necessary to remind her of all that right now?¡±


    ¡°It was an opportunity. Waste not, want not.¡±


    ¡°You always were damnably sharp.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo locked eyes with Sen. ¡°Are we leaving?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Oh, we¡¯re definitely leaving.¡±


    She marched over to him and grabbed his hand with the intention of pulling him along. She never got a chance to even take a step.


    ¡°I¡¯m dying, Sen,¡± said Laughing River.


    Li Yi Nuo felt Sen stiffen at those words and knew the fight was over. She¡¯d lost. Sen had lost. She just didn¡¯t know if Sen knew it yet.

 V6 Chapter 20 – Fox Tale

    Those words rang in his ears. I¡¯m dying, Sen. How often had Sen himself uttered nearly the same sentiment? The effect of those words on him was almost primal. He knew the lengths that someone in that situation might go to. He understood that it would be a short step from where he himself had been not so long ago to finding it acceptable to sacrifice anyone you needed to in order to survive. He didn¡¯t think that the fox had gone that far. He might have been willing to use Sen and Li Yi Nuo to get what he needed, but Laughing River had been at least a little halfhearted in his efforts. After all, he¡¯d let Sen scout ahead, even though the fox must have known that they were close to their destination. Letting Sen find it and see what was waiting there was almost certain a sign of some second thoughts about the whole thing. Of course, that assumed that what the fox was saying was true and not simply another layer of planning and deception.


    Li Yi Nuo was tugging on his hand, urging him to leave as he said they would. Yet, her expression suggested that she knew it was a lost cause. Sen wasn¡¯t as certain that it was a lost cause. He thought hard about the situation they all found themselves in. He wanted to just go. Things back at the ruins hadn¡¯t changed just because he had more possibly true information. He still didn¡¯t see a way to get into the ruins because that tide of unholiness around the ruins wasn¡¯t just going to let them walk in. Even his hiding ability would be all but useless. Sure, it might blind some of the monsters, ones that relied on spiritual perception rather than actual physical senses. Anything that had actual functioning eyes would be able to see him. Of course, if I¡ª, he started to think and shook it off. Making a plan was pointless until he knew a whole lot more, starting with whether the fox was even telling the truth.


    Sen let go of Li Yi Nuo¡¯s hand and turned to face the fox. The trickster with the twinkling eyes, the infectious grin, and the quick jokes was gone. In his place, stood a lean figure with dark eyes and a deadly serious expression. Sen reminded himself that being a trickster could mean playing the serious part as well as playing the fool. He steeled his heart. Dying because he wasn¡¯t paying enough attention or let himself get taken in by a good story was not the way he intended to leave the world. Sen didn¡¯t say anything right away as he tried to get a read on the fox. Unfortunately, Laughing River had had lifetimes to perfect his performances. Sen expected that it would only be wholly unwarranted confidence that let him think he knew what the fox was up to at any given moment.


    ¡°Dying?¡± Sen asked. ¡°You¡¯ll have to forgive me if I¡¯m a little incredulous. After all, don¡¯t you become immortal once you get your last tail? Or something like that. I¡¯m a little hazy on the myths.¡±


    Laughing River pursed his lips in dissatisfaction before he answered. ¡°We are immortal, but we¡¯re also not. There are a bunch of rules about it that I¡¯ll spare you. Let¡¯s just say that, for the purposes of this conversation, I¡¯m not immortal that way.¡±


    Sen waited for the fox to continue. When the fox didn¡¯t come up with anything else, Sen shot Laughing River an annoyed glare.


    ¡°Let¡¯s say, for the purposes of this conversation, that I¡¯m going to need a lot more than that.¡±


    ¡°I really am dying. You can ask Caihong about it the next time you see her. You can even check for yourself.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°Oh, rest assured that I¡¯ll do just that. What I don¡¯t understand is why you¡¯re dying or why you needed to come here to find a solution. Or why you couldn¡¯t find one somewhere else. I get the sense that dying business isn¡¯t new information for you. Just how long have you known? How long have you been looking for a fix?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of questions,¡± grumbled Laughing River. ¡°It could take a while to answer all of them thoroughly.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± said Sen. ¡°I have the rest of your life.¡±


    The fox gave Sen a look of genuine surprise. ¡°That¡¯s pretty cold, Sen.¡±


    Sen turned and very deliberately looked at Li Yi Nuo before turning back to Laughing River.


    ¡°Alright,¡± said the fox. ¡°I¡¯ve got no room to point fingers about being cold. Seriously, though, we¡¯ll be here forever if you want a thorough, in-depth review of how I got here. I¡¯m a lot older than you are.¡±


    ¡°How about we just start with the essential highlights and go from there,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Even that could take a while,¡± muttered Laughing River.


    ¡°Nothing but time over here,¡± said Sen walking over and leaning against a massive tree trunk.


    ¡°Okay, super high-level, big picture stuff. I like it here. I mean, sure, it¡¯s dangerous and filled with violence-crazed cultivators like your girlfriend¡¯s master,¡± said the fox, gesturing at Li Yi Nuo, ¡°but look around you. There¡¯s a lot more wilds to this world than human civilization. It¡¯s everything I could ever need.¡±


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    ¡°My master is not violence-crazed,¡± objected Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t he cut off a woman¡¯s head for trying to get you killed by our boy over there?¡± asked Laughing River, pointing at Sen.


    Li Yi Nuo drew herself up. ¡°That wasn¡¯t the only reason he did that.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t he threaten to murder a room full of people right after that because they went along with her plan?¡±


    ¡°That might be true,¡± answered Li Yi Nuo a little sheepishly.


    Sen shot her a questioning look. ¡°Seriously?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll talk about it later.¡±


    The fox continued as if he hadn¡¯t been interrupted. ¡°That¡¯s to say nothing of the fact that your glorious sect patriarch signed off on him doing it.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo¡¯s eyes bulged. ¡°How can you know that?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a fox. I know everything. Then, there¡¯s Sen here. I mean, I love the guy, but he can barely get out of bed in the morning without leaving a few bodies on the floor.¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Am I lying?¡± asked the fox.


    ¡°No,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°It¡¯s just sort of impolite to bring it up.¡±


    ¡°Ironically, Sen¡¯s tendency to leave literal piles of corpses in his wake is half the reason why I wanted him along for this little excursion. So, yeah, I totally have to own the hypocrisy of criticizing cultivator hyperviolence while also wanting to use it. But that¡¯s the world we live in.¡±


    ¡°I suppose I¡¯m next,¡± said Li Yi Nuo.


    The fox looked her up and down in an oddly clinical way. ¡°No. You¡¯re positively docile for a cultivator. I¡¯m a little surprised you¡¯ve made it this long without someone cutting your head off for jollies. Don¡¯t get me started on Sen¡¯s teachers, though. I swear that the deities of death send those three gifts every New Year. Or is it four teachers now? I¡¯m not sure where the crazy lady fits into the hierarchy. Sen?¡±


    Sen rolled his eyes. ¡°Oh, who knows with her? I think we¡¯ve drifted a little off-topic here, though. You were explaining why you¡¯re dying and so on.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°My point is that I find this plane of existence very comfortable. That¡¯s why I worked so hard to never get my ninth tail. It let me keep on doing what I wanted to do right where I wanted to do it, but things happened, and that last tail just showed up anyway, the little bastard.¡±


    ¡°Yes, immortality is such a burden, I¡¯m sure,¡± said Li Yi Nuo.


    Laughing River gave her a stern look. ¡°Don¡¯t make jokes until you¡¯ve tried it. Immortality isn¡¯t free, girl. Which is actually my point. I became immortal, but there were rules if I wanted to keep being immortal. In my defense, I did try to follow them. Mostly. Usually. Enough that the heavens didn¡¯t get too mad at me.¡±


    The fox fell silent, seemingly lost in old memories. Sen let it go for a little while before he nudged the fox.


    ¡°But?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°But it turns out that I wasn¡¯t as good at not making the heavens mad as I thought. I was told to ascend or else. I may, possibly, have not taken that or else as seriously as I should have.¡±


    Sen thought he had a sense of where this was going. ¡°So, you just went off and did whatever the hells you wanted until that or else started to settle on your shoulders.¡±


    ¡°And then for quite a long time after.¡±


    ¡°The heavens made you mortal again?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Um, it¡¯s a bit more complicated than that, but let¡¯s say that''s true for our purposes.¡±


    ¡°Then, why not just ascend?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Yeah, that was still possible for the first, oh, thousand or so years. Like I said, I like it here. I kept putting it off. When I finally decided that the heavens weren¡¯t just joking around, it turned out that I waited a little too long. I don¡¯t have the power I¡¯d need to ascend anymore. Or, maybe I should say I don¡¯t have the right kind of power anymore.¡±


    Sen started banging his head against the tree he was leaning against. ¡°And there¡¯s some relic or construct or artifact in those ruins that will let someone just ascend?¡±


    ¡°Not just anyone. You couldn¡¯t use it. Not until you¡¯re quite a bit farther along your path. But there is something in there that I can use. I won¡¯t get into the finer points because neither of you has the right background to understand. The simple answer is that there¡¯s a treasure in there with a very strong time-space affinity. It¡¯ll be enough to let me get where I need to go.¡±


    ¡°And you know how to use it? Are you a space cultivator?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Me? Oh, definitely not. But I have had centuries to figure out what I would need to fix my tiny little error in judgment. I spent that time learning the essentials and developing enough of an affinity to make this work.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t just develop new affinities,¡± said Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Human cultivators can¡¯t,¡± said the fox while giving Sen a speculative look. ¡°I¡¯m not human. And I was dying. I was quite motivated. Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s so agonizingly painful that most spirit beasts would never put themselves through it. I wouldn¡¯t have put myself through it if there was any alternative other than death.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo asked Laughing River a few more questions, but Sen wasn¡¯t paying attention anymore. The fox could be lying, but that story was just absurd enough that it had the ring of truth. Plus, there was a simple enough way to check the most essential fact of the story immediately. If Laughing River really was dying, it likely meant the rest of the story was true. If the ruins did contain a time-space treasure, that would give the story even more credence. Of course, that just brought them around to where they started. The treasure might be what the fox needed, but that in no way meant that it was possible to physically acquire that treasure. Plus, there was still the whole problem of offending the heavens by taking something from a sacred ruin and all the karmic fallout that would go along with it, if the wrath of the heavens didn¡¯t simply kill them. Even if he ultimately decided to go along with the mad scheme, he wasn¡¯t sure what to do about Li Yi Nuo. She had no stakes in this situation and no reason to risk death and karmic retribution. One problem at a time, Sen told himself. He looked at Laughing River, who cut off mid-sentence.


    ¡°First things first,¡± said Sen. ¡°Open up and let me take a look. Then, I¡¯ll decide if we have anything more to talk about.¡±

 V6 Chapter 21 – Don’t I Get an Opinion

    Laughing River got a gleam in his eye that screamed mischief. Sen thrust a finger at him.


    ¡°No! Whatever you¡¯re thinking, just no.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you should have given it a minute. You¡¯d have enjoyed it,¡± said the fox, before shooting Li Yi Nuo a big smile. ¡°She probably wouldn¡¯t have. Did I mention that I¡¯ve met Lai Dongmei?¡±


    Sen felt an abrupt sense of relief that he¡¯d put a stop to whatever the fox had planned.


    ¡°You¡¯ve actually met Lai Dongmei?¡± Li Yi Nuo said in an awed voice.


    ¡°I have,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°So has Sen.¡±


    ¡°You have?¡± demanded Li Yi Nuo whirling toward Sen.


    ¡°Yep,¡± said Sen without elaborating at all.


    ¡°You have to tell me everything.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Sen, you should tell her everything,¡± agreed Laughing River with amusement dancing in his eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure there will be plenty of time for that later,¡± said Sen through clenched teeth while he resisted glaring at the fox. ¡°But I think we¡¯ve all gotten distracted again. This conversation can¡¯t really progress until I¡¯ve confirmed that you¡¯re dying.¡±


    The fox grumbled something under his breath about ungrateful nephews and trust issues, but he nodded. While Sen¡¯s spiritual sense would tell him general information about the fox, he also knew that the fox was powerful enough to restrict that information. Instead, he was going to have to use a combination of his spiritual sense and his qi to delve into the fox¡¯s actual body. While he¡¯d talked like it was no big deal, the idea made him very nervous. It was a big risk for him to do it and for the fox to allow it. In theory, Sen could do something pretty awful to Laughing River if the fox let Sen¡¯s qi intrude into his body. On the flip side of that risk, the fox could also do terrible things to Sen¡¯s cultivation with their qi in such close proximity. He probably wouldn¡¯t have even considered doing it if the fox wasn¡¯t so genuinely desperate beneath all the bantering.


    Taking a breath, Sen walked over to Laughing River and put a hand on the fox¡¯s shoulder. Up close, Sen could see that the fox was working very hard to control his expression, but there was a tightness around his eyes and mouth that betrayed just how uncomfortable he felt about what Sen was going to do. Before his nerves could get the better of him, Sen let his spiritual sense envelop the fox and pressed his qi into the fox¡¯s body. He was glad that the fox had assumed a human form because it was at least nominally familiar, but Sen still found it confusing. The way the fox¡¯s body was organized was different. His qi channels were organized a little differently. Organs weren¡¯t quite in the places that Sen thought they should be and, he was pretty sure, the fox was simply missing some organs that Sen expected to find inside a human body.


    Sen¡¯s awareness just hovered for a moment in that confusion before he shook it off. While those structural differences might be interesting at some other time, like when the situation was far less drastic, they didn¡¯t actually matter for Sen¡¯s purpose. He wasn¡¯t there to see if Laughing River had perfectly replicated a human body. Sen was there to confirm if the fox was dying the way he claimed he was. Figuring that out didn¡¯t take long. The signs were all there, even if they were as strange as the fox¡¯s strange body configuration. There was decay all over the place, but it wasn¡¯t centralized. Instead, it seemed to Sen as if everything in the fox was breaking down, all at the same time, all at the same pace. Even the qi moving through the Laughing River¡¯s channels felt off like it was old and hadn¡¯t been cycled properly in a while.


    Part of Sen wanted to keep looking around, but he decided not to push his luck. For all of the damage he saw, Sen was also simply overwhelmed by the raw power and what felt like endless vitality that the fox was harboring. Dying or not, Sen was feeling quite motivated not to pick a fight with the fox if he could avoid it. Sen withdrew his qi and his spiritual sense. He gave the fox an empathetic look and stepped back. No one said anything for a few seconds, and then Li Yi Nuo broke the silence.


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    ¡°Well?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I feel violated,¡± observed Laughing River, although Sen could see a shadow of mirth on the fox¡¯s face.


    ¡°Well, I can¡¯t tell if the story he was telling about why it¡¯s happening was true, but he is dying. Probably not that soon, but it looks like it has been going on for a while.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not very specific,¡± said Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°He¡¯s not a human being. I have nothing similar to compare this to. I¡¯m trying to take what I know about mortals and cultivators and apply that to the condition of someone who was never human. On top of that, he was also technically immortal and then sort of made mortal again. If you know of a treatise that covers this situation, I¡¯d love to get a look at it,¡± Sen paused for a second. ¡°Huh. I¡¯m not even being sarcastic. If you know of something like that, I¡¯d really, genuinely love to read it. That would be fascinating.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo shook her head. ¡°I think the fox is being a bad influence on you.¡±


    Laughing River, who had still been moping a little, stood up straight and smiled at Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Thank you. What a nice thing to say.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a compliment.¡±


    Laughing River gave her a big, obvious wink. ¡°Right. Not a compliment. I meant to say, oh no, you¡¯ve caught on to my plan to corrupt him.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo tilted her head to one side, looked like she was going to say something, and then turned to Sen instead.


    ¡°So, what now?¡±


    Sen gave her a thoughtful look. ¡°Now, I have to figure out what to do with you.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean, I¡¯m going to try to figure out a way to help him that doesn¡¯t involve me charging headlong into that sea of evil for a fight. Who knows how long that will take? But he¡¯s getting his way, which means that he doesn¡¯t need you anymore. The problem is that I can¡¯t just send you back to the way we came by yourself.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine if I-¡± she started to say.


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Sen incredulously. ¡°You want to try to get back to the road by yourself?¡±


    Li Yi Nuo sighed. ¡°No. Not really.¡±


    ¡°Good. I was about to question your survival instincts.¡±


    ¡°Says the man who is willingly getting involved with a scheme cooked up by a nine-tailed fox that involves robbing a sacred ruin. Oh, and that pesky army of evil and corruption surrounding it.¡±


    ¡°That is¡­ That is a very valid point. Since we¡¯re not talking about me at the moment, though, I¡¯m going to choose to ignore that and focus on you for right now. This was never your problem, and I don¡¯t see a good reason to drag you any deeper into it.¡±


    ¡°Despite the two of you men thinking I¡¯m useless, I might be able to help.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t want to help with this,¡± said Sen and Laughing River at the same time.


    Li Yi Nuo looked taken aback by both the united front and the seriousness of Sen and Laughing River¡¯s faces.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Why?¡±


    Sen and the fox traded a look. Laughing River spoke and all the playfulness had gone out of him.


    ¡°It¡¯s because Sen knows as well as I do that even if we come up with a plan to get him into the ruins without a fight, the odds are that this going to get bloody.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid to fight.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you are, but I also don¡¯t think you¡¯ve ever been in a real battle before.¡±


    ¡°What does that even mean?¡± demanded Li Yi Nuo.


    Sen piped up then. ¡°You¡¯ve fought duels and killed spirit beasts, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Every cultivator does that.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°Okay. Have you ever been on an actual battlefield? Been surrounded by people who were all trying their very hardest to kill you?¡±


    Li Yi Nuo was thoughtful when she answered. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what this will be, only worse,¡± said Sen. ¡°When you¡¯re fighting with other people, other cultivators, you expect them to act like people. These things won¡¯t act like people. They won¡¯t get scared or lose morale. They¡¯ll just keep coming. Plus, there are spirits down there, which means they might try to possess you or curse you. At the very least, we have to plan around everything going wrong and it turning into that. He¡¯s willing to risk it because there aren¡¯t any other options.¡±


    ¡°How do you know that?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°If there were another viable option that didn¡¯t involve these kinds of risks, we¡¯d be doing that right now.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo glanced over at Laughing River who gave her a nod. ¡°And you?¡±


    ¡°Me?¡± asked Sen. ¡°I¡¯m stupid. I owe him a favor. And I¡¯ve been where he¡¯s at, which makes me more sympathetic than is good for my long-term health. None of which applies to you. This brings us back around to my original point, which is that I need to figure out what to do with you. Taking you back would cost a week and a half of travel time, which isn¡¯t impossible but a long way from ideal. Having you fight is off the table for a lot of reasons. That leaves having you sit around and do nothing while we go do something stupid, except that isn¡¯t practical either. Because, if we die, you¡¯re stuck trying to get back to civilization by yourself.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t I get an opinion in this?¡± asked an exasperated Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°No,¡± said Laughing River and Sen in unison.

 V6 Chapter 22 – What Would You Do?

    Sen and Laughing River ¡°discussed¡± what to do with Li Yi Nuo. Sen admitted it to himself. They bickered about it. Sen thought that Laughing River should take her back to the road. Having gotten a closer look at the fox¡¯s true strength, he was supremely confident that the fox could take Li Yi Nuo there and get back a lot faster than Sen. That would give also Sen time to scout out the area and see if he could figure out a plan that was less of, as Lo Meifeng would probably describe it, a ¡°Sen plan.¡± It bothered him a little that not having a Sen plan mostly boiled down to not running headlong into mortal peril and killing absolutely everything in sight. Getting manhandled or, perhaps, turtled-handled by Elder Bo truly had been a wake-up call.


    Sen had started thinking that he¡¯d won a little more often than was good for him. He¡¯d gotten lucky sometimes. He¡¯d taken advantage of other people underestimating him. He¡¯d also flat-out bluffed his way to victory more than once, relying on that scary reputation of his to do the real work for him. Granted, the gap between what his reputation said he could do and what he could actually do was shrinking. The problem was that a sneaky thought way in the back of his mind had started to convince him that maybe he could defeat anyone given the right circumstances. Elder Bo had shown him how wrong that thought had been. He still didn¡¯t like the turtle and probably never would, but he supposed that he should be grateful to the divine spirit beast. That sneaky thought would have gotten him killed sooner or later.


    It was with that in mind that he¡¯d decided that they needed to send Li Yi Nuo away. He couldn¡¯t assume they were going to survive this mad idea the fox had concocted, let alone emerge triumphant. Yet, as always, the details were the problem. For all of Sen¡¯s very reasonable arguments about why the fox should take her back, the fox had plenty of reasons why Sen should do it. Laughing River countered that it was more practical for Sen to do it because that girl trusted Sen. The fox also argued that he was older, more experienced, and at least three hundred times cleverer and sneakier than Sen would ever be, which made Laughing River the proper person to scout and make a plan. He followed that up with what Sen thought was probably the only actual reason that mattered to the fox.


    ¡°Most importantly,¡± noted Laughing River, ¡°I don¡¯t want to.¡±


    While that entire conversation had been going on, Sen could see Li Yi Nuo glaring at them. She¡¯d gone from annoyance to genuine anger as it became obvious to her that both Sen and Laughing River saw her as completely dead weight they¡¯d be better off without. He¡¯d hoped to quickly settle things with the fox about who was going to get rid of her. He expected that they probably could find a use for her if they worked at it, but he hadn¡¯t been enthused about having her around as a very temporary travel companion. He was even less enthused about having her involved in the fight he expected was ahead. She was capable enough, but he genuinely didn¡¯t want to have his life in her hands. Her motives were muddled at best. He couldn¡¯t watch her all the time if he had to fight a horde. It wouldn¡¯t be that hard for her to get him killed in the middle of something like that. And while she said she didn¡¯t want to go back to the road by herself, that was not the same thing as being unwilling to try if it helped her accomplish her mission.


    Unfortunately, it seemed the fox¡¯s words were the breaking point for the woman. It was an oddly compelling moment as Sen watched her try to contain her anger, almost succeed, only for it to bubble up into an eruption.


    ¡°Enough!¡± yelled Li Yi Nuo.


    Sen and Laughing River both turned to look at her. While Sen meant to jump in and try to smooth things over a little, the fox beat him to speaking. The fox either wasn¡¯t feeling the same way as Sen or had wildly different ideas about what would smooth things over.


    ¡°Did you have something to contribute, dear?¡± asked the fox.


    The question itself wasn¡¯t the biggest problem, although the gods knew it was condescending. The problem was that Laughing River had used the kind of sickly-sweet voice designed to send someone hurtling right off the cliff of anger and tumbling down into the tumultuous, crashing waves of rage-induced madness. Sen directed a look at the fox that communicated just one word. Why? The fox shot back a look that communicated two words. Why not? Sen supposed that summed up Laughing River in a lot of ways. There¡¯s a creepy cave over there radiating danger on every possible level. Should we go look at it? Why not? There¡¯s a secret that no one should ever learn about because it might end the world. Should we spill it? Why not? There¡¯s a thin-skinned sect princess. Should we go out of our way to see if we can incense her enough that she literally explodes from anger? Why not?


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    ¡°The two of you are unbelievable! Talking about what to do with me like I¡¯m a sack of grain that someone you don¡¯t like tasked you with getting somewhere.¡±


    ¡°Well¡ª¡± said Laughing River, but Sen interrupted.


    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡±


    ¡°Silence! Both of you!¡± shouted Li Yi Nuo. ¡°A nine-tailed fox and a folk hero are about to go off and do something that people are going to tell stories about. Don¡¯t even bother telling me that people won¡¯t know because those kinds of stories always get out. If you two think you can drag me out here and then cut my sect out of that kind of glory, you¡¯re delusional! I¡¯m staying. And if you thought taking me all the way back was going to be inconvenient before, imagine how much more trouble it will be with me fighting you the entire way. So, which one of you is going to show me this so-called army of evil creatures and spirits?¡±


    There was a protracted silence as Li Yi Nuo stared expectantly at Sen and Laughing River. Sen had been worried about something like this. He glanced over the fox who had a thoughtful look on his face. It left Sen feeling unsettled. Laughing River looked at Sen.


    ¡°You know, I could always¡­¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen, feeling so, so tired.


    ¡°It really wouldn¡¯t be that hard.¡±


    ¡°I know it wouldn¡¯t but still no.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± asked the fox.


    ¡°What are you two babbling about?¡± demanded Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°He¡¯s suggesting we just kill you,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°He¡¯s being all mortal and saying we shouldn¡¯t,¡± offered the fox with a sidelong glance in Sen¡¯s direction.


    Li Yi Nuo looked a little alarmed but pressed forward. ¡°Don¡¯t you mean moral?¡±


    The fox thought it over before nodding. ¡°Yeah, probably that too. Well, come along, girl. If he won¡¯t let me just kill you, I¡¯ll be happy to show you the so-called army.¡±


    It took a depressingly short amount of time for the trio to make it back. Sen didn¡¯t say a word to Li Yi Nuo the entire way, despite her trying to engage him in conversation a few times. He just didn¡¯t have the patience to deal with her nonsense on top of dealing with the fox¡¯s nonsense. He let Laughing River guide them to where they could all take a look at what they were up against. Having been there before, it was easier for Sen to shake off the reverential awe and revulsion he felt. Li Yi Nuo took a little longer. She focused on the temple first, but her gaze eventually moved to the tide of awfulness surrounding the temple. The shock and disgust were evident on her face, but it was also clear that she¡¯d thought Sen was overstating the size of the problem. He gave her a big smile worthy of Laughing River.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you glad you decided to stay for all that glory, instead of going home?¡± Sen asked.


    Li Yi Nuo tried to smile back, but it looked more sickly than sincere.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said in a weak voice. ¡°All that glory. I don¡¯t suppose I can change my mind, can I?¡±


    She looked from Sen to Laughing River. Sen realized that they were both giving her a flat stare.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I should have seized the opportunity to leave when I had it?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo.


    Laughing River leaned in close to her and peered at her face as though he was trying to see something.


    ¡°Mmm-hmmm,¡± said the fox. ¡°I might have been mocking you a little for my own amusement, but he was graciously trying to save your life. At least, he was right up until you started telling us all about what wasn¡¯t going to happen. And there I was, gallantly trying to give you yet another opportunity to throw yourself at him. An opportunity that you squandered, again. Honestly, girl, were you dropped on your head a lot as a small child? You should be happy that I am so wise and understanding. A less magnanimous fox might take offense at someone constantly rejecting their help that way.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo seemed completely at a loss as to how she should respond. Sen let her stew in that while he studied the area and the forces they would have to bypass. It didn¡¯t look any better the second time around. The horde below really wasn¡¯t an army in the traditional sense. There were no orderly ranks, no camps, nor anything that looked like commanders giving orders. It was just chaos. The things down there attacked each other as much as they tried to breach the protections of the ruins. There also wasn¡¯t anything like cover. The forest had been cut back long ago so there was nothing but open ground for nearly half a mile. He imagined that had been for protection. It was a good idea for anyone living inside the temple-city. It would have been next to impossible to launch a stealth attack so long as people remained vigilant. It perplexed him that the forest hadn¡¯t reclaimed that ground, but the fact remained that it hadn¡¯t. So, Sen would have to cover that open ground like any other invader. That open ground controlled by a horde of violent, devilish beasts and all those other horrors. He finally looked back at Li Yi Nuo, who had been uncharacteristically quiet.


    ¡°Well, you insisted on staying,¡± said Sen. ¡°What would you do to get us into that temple without starting an unwinnable fight?¡±

 V6 Chapter 23 – Plan Building

    Sen suspected it wasn¡¯t an entirely fair question. He¡¯d had a couple of hours to think about the problem and come up with a couple of possibilities. They weren¡¯t what he¡¯d call great ideas. At least one of them would require that he spend some time looking around to see if it was even feasible. Still, he had something to contribute to a conversation about how to get things done. Asking Li Yi Nuo to come up with ideas on the spot without any clear understanding of what he or Laughing River could do made the question substantially harder for her to answer. There was also the knowledge gap about the capabilities of the things in that horde. Of course, Sen was working under similar levels of ignorance there. He only had best guesses about that. The upside of the question was that anything Li Yi Nuo came up with would have to be something that she thought would work for her. That was kind of the point. If she did come up with something that she might be able to pull off, there was a solid chance that Sen and, to a lesser extent, Laughing River could execute a similar idea.


    She gave him an incredulous look. He just gestured toward the temple. Realizing that he wasn¡¯t kidding, she gave the scene in front of them a hard look. He watched her eyes darting from place to place. He saw the moment when she recognized all of that open ground as the problem it was. Her grimace said it all. Laughing River watched her, choosing to keep his thoughts to himself for once. Sen took that as a good sign. For all of his easy glibness, the fox did take the actual goal seriously. The longer that Li Yi Nuo stared at the situation, the more unhappy she became. In the end, she shook her head.


    ¡°There might be a way to get someone to the ruins, assuming they can actually enter,¡± said Li Yi Nuo. ¡°I don¡¯t see a way to do it without alerting them that someone else is present.¡±


    ¡°So, if you had to try to get in there, what would you do?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Those things down there are in some kind of a mad frenzy. I doubt anyone could sneak past them or through them. One of them would notice you or just crash into you and there¡¯s that fight you wanted to avoid. So, you have to draw them away. Create a distraction. If enough of them leave, it could create an opening. It might be enough time for someone to get in, assuming they¡¯re fast enough. Of course, that leaves the problem of getting them back out again. Maybe another distraction would work but only if we can see a signal to activate it from the forest. Anything we can see those things can see. If any of them aren¡¯t simply insane, they¡¯ll be alerted. That also assumes we can stay out here safely. Depending on the distraction, we might end up running for our lives.¡±


    Sen looked at Laughing River. ¡°At least she sees the problems.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s right about getting someone out. That¡¯s going to be harder than getting someone in,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to crack that problem ever since I figured out that I¡¯d need to send you, dear nephew, in there to retrieve my little bauble.¡±


    ¡°Dear nephew?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Of course, you¡¯re practically the adopted child of one of my hundred dearest friends. Naturally, that makes you my nephew.¡±


    ¡°Foxes must have very strange families,¡± observed Sen in a deadpan equal to Laughing River¡¯s.


    ¡°Oh, you have no idea. It¡¯s always such a tangle to know if you¡¯re actually related to someone. Makes seduction a dangerous business.¡±


    ¡°Is this conversation critical to getting into that temple?¡± asked a frustrated Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°It could be. There might be foxes in there. I may have to seduce one of them,¡± said Sen. ¡°What if we¡¯re related?¡±


    That earned him a glare from Li Yi Nuo and a proud smile from Laughing River. Maybe he is having a bad influence on me, thought Sen. He frowned out at the temple one last time.


    ¡°I may have an idea about a distraction,¡± said Sen, ¡°but there¡¯s no point discussing it here. We should withdraw before something out there notices us and decides to make it an issue.¡±


    ¡°Fine with me,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°I¡¯ve been looking at that damn temple on and off now for years. I¡¯m not going to learn anything new.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo simply nodded. They went back the way they had come until there were nearly ten miles between them and the temple. It was far enough that Sen felt mostly confident that he could put up a galehouse without drawing too much unwanted attention. Sen took extra care to build some formations into the walls of the galehouse and threw up a few more to help ensure they would go unnoticed and have some warning if anything walked too close. Once they were safely inside the building, Sen made a table with a shallow depression that ran the length of the table. He filled it with sand that he made from some of the rocks in the area. He sketched out a primitive representation of the temple, the open area around it, and where the forest started. Laughing River smirked.


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    ¡°Very accurate,¡± said the fox.


    ¡°Every cultivator dreams of being an artist,¡± said Sen. ¡°Behold, my art!¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t the two of you be serious for five minutes?¡± demanded Li Yi Nuo. ¡°This is dangerous business.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the time when not being serious is most important,¡± observed Laughing River. ¡°Too much seriousness will take you down a bad road. Especially when things are dangerous. You get all grumpy and morose.¡±


    ¡°Humor eases the tension. It might look frivolous, but it¡¯s not,¡± translated Sen in a distracted voice before pointing at the drawing. ¡°Is that area of cleared land consistent all the way around?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said the fox.


    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose there¡¯s some incredibly useful thing out in the nearby forest we can take advantage of?¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°I¡¯d really like some monks,¡± said Sen. ¡°Those spirits out there make me nervous.¡±


    ¡°More than the devilish beasts?¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°You can kill devilish beasts with a sword or with qi techniques. There are some risks to that, but they¡¯re manageable. Restless spirits are supposed to be harder to deal with.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the truth,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind some friendly monks to help with them myself. Not that monks would help me, but they might help you two if you asked nicely. Sadly, there¡¯s nothing out there that I know about except more forest.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s too bad. I usually have more advantages than this.¡±


    ¡°Yes, your overwhelming strength is such a pitiful advantage,¡± said Li Yi Nuo. ¡°Didn¡¯t you order two sects to stop fighting and they actually did it?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about. I had advantages there that don¡¯t exist here. Those sects were made up of people who had just watched a lot of their friends die. Their morale was terrible. They were tired. None of them wanted to be there anymore. They all wanted an excuse to stop. I gave it to them.¡±


    ¡°I heard you set the sky on fire,¡± said Laughing River.


    ¡°I did not set the sky on fire. That¡¯s a complete exaggeration.¡±


    ¡°I heard you threatened to kill everyone there,¡± said Li Yi Nuo.


    Sen sighed. ¡°That part may have actually happened, which is irrelevant because it wouldn¡¯t work here.¡±


    ¡°You said you had an idea about the distraction, though, right?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo.


    Sen pointed at a spot just beyond where the forest started on the makeshift drawing. He ran his finger in a big circle that stayed beyond the cleared land.


    ¡°I think I can set up a formation that will do the job. I¡¯ll have to go wander around out there for a while to know for sure. Assuming the qi concentrations aren¡¯t too different from where we are now, though, I should be able to set one up that will hurl fireballs into that horde from a particular area. It should be nice and distracting and help pull some of those things away in a specific direction for a little while. I mean, anything that destructive won¡¯t work for very long, but we don¡¯t need it to work for very long. If it can keep going for five minutes, that should be long enough. In an area that big, there must be at least one or two potent qi flows that I can tap into. Maybe lightning would be better,¡± muttered Sen, thinking about how to make the formation work.


    When no one said anything right away, Sen looked up to find Li Yi Nuo and Laughing River giving him odd looks. The fox looked startled. The sect woman looked like she thought Sen was utterly mad.


    ¡°What?¡± Sen demanded.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to set up a formation that stretches for miles? A formation that can hurl fireballs for five minutes?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Yes. That sounds like an accurate summary of what I literally just said less than a minute ago.¡±


    ¡°Sen, I know that Jaw-Long taught you some things,¡± offered Laughing River in a conciliatory tone, ¡°but what you¡¯re describing is incredibly difficult to do.¡±


    ¡°Not really,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯s a bit more trouble to set up than a small formation because you have to cover so much ground. There are a few extra variables you have to account for, but it¡¯s not like the principles change. It¡¯s the same thing, just bigger.¡±


    ¡°It is most certainly not the same thing,¡± said Li Yi Nuo. ¡°What you¡¯re describing is the kind of project that formation masters talk about doing someday.¡±


    ¡°They should set their sights higher. I¡¯ve got this idea for a formation that will use water, fire, and ice qi. Well, originally, I wanted to do one that was inspired by the seasons to give it balance. Water for spring, fire for summer, ice for winter, but I couldn¡¯t think of anything for autumn. I mean, if there¡¯s such a thing as decay qi, that might work. If it exists, though, I¡¯ve never seen it, and I don¡¯t have an affinity for it. So, I decided to just go with three¡­¡± Sen trailed off at the looks he was getting. ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s neither here nor there.¡±


    After a long silence, Laughing River spoke up. ¡°After we escape that horde of doom, but before I go off and ascend into foxly godhood, there¡¯s this other place we should go, Sen. It turns out that another little treasure of mine was stolen away. I¡¯ve been meaning to reacquire it.¡±


    Sen¡¯s shoulders slumped as Laughing River started making grandiose plans about a stealing spree the likes of which Sen had never even heard of before.

 V6 Chapter 24 – I Should Have Known

    The three of them sat around that table discussing possibilities until late. Laughing River volunteered that he could probably provide a distraction to draw off the horde briefly if it came down to it. Sen had given the fox a questioning look at that. The fox just shrugged.


    ¡°I am a fox. Illusions are what we do. How do you think I got close enough to figure out that I couldn¡¯t get into the ruins in the first place?¡±


    ¡°That didn¡¯t seem like something to open with earlier?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯ve found that it limits people¡¯s creativity when they think they have a simple solution at hand. You came up with an alternative option when you thought you had to, Sen. And it¡¯ll be a much more believable one since they¡¯ll be getting hit with actual fire. Or did you settle on lighting?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll have to see what the qi looks like out there. I may find something unexpected. It¡¯ll probably be fire, though.¡±


    ¡°But isn¡¯t an illusion a simple solution?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Maybe, maybe not. They¡¯ve seen my illusions before. They might not be fooled. Don¡¯t forget, we also have to get Sen back out again. A little mortal peril is just Monday for cultivators. I¡¯m less enthusiastic about sending him into certain doom. That means we¡¯ll need distractions for both sides of this adventure.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s Monday?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo before Sen could do it.


    The fox heaved a tremendous sigh. ¡°Sen, remind me to give you a crash course on how reality works before I move to another plane like a magnificent specimen of fox perfection.¡±


    ¡°Um, okay,¡± said Sen with a bit of hesitance.


    He was unsure if the fox was offering a good thing or a bad thing. Sen usually thought more information was a good thing, but he¡¯d also benefited from not being given all the information as well. At the same time, the fox hadn¡¯t said it like it was a good thing. It sounded more like a necessary thing that would turn out to be a lot more trouble than Sen wanted to deal with at the moment. Li Yi Nuo gave Sen and the fox a mildly disgruntled look.


    ¡°Why no extra education for me?¡± she asked.


    ¡°He¡¯s going to ascend,¡± said the fox as though that answered everything.


    It took a Sen a moment or two to unpack everything that simple statement contained. There was the surface statement that the fox either thought or somehow knew that Sen was going to ascend. If he did somehow know that, it begged the question of how the fox knew it and why he would share it. There was also the implication that the fox didn¡¯t think Li Yi Nuo was going to ascend. Sen wasn¡¯t sure that suggested any special insight over the fox simply playing the odds. Most cultivators didn¡¯t ascend, after all. Making it to core formation was a feat all on its own. Li Yi Nuo seemed to be making the same analysis he was because she gave a fox a cool look.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know that I won¡¯t ascend,¡± she announced. ¡°You certainly don¡¯t know that he¡¯s going to ascend.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sure I don¡¯t. It¡¯s totally unlikely that the student of three or four nascent soul cultivators who went from a ragged street rat to a core formation dual cultivator folk hero in what, a decade, will ascend. That¡¯s just a completely preposterous notion. It¡¯s way more likely that the painfully orthodox sect girl who spent the last, hmmmm, two hundred years or so making her way to where she is will ascend.¡±


    ¡°I need some sleep,¡± said Sen.


    He immediately stood and made a beeline for the bedroom he¡¯d picked. He was quick enough that he was just shutting the door when Li Yi Nuo¡¯s voice rang out behind him.


    ¡°A decade?! Wait!¡±


    Sen had actually been getting tired, so it was only half of a dodge. He summoned a bed from his storage ring and flopped onto it while Li Yi Nuo banged on his door. He could hear the faint sound of Laughing River chortling in the background. Damn that fox, thought Sen. When Li Yi Nuo stopped her pointless pounding on the door, he was finally able to drift off to sleep. It wasn¡¯t even close to light out when Sen roused himself from sleep, so he took a little time to review the alchemy primer that Fu Ruolan had given him. While he supposedly knew everything in it, Sen suspected that there were more than a few gems of insight still waiting to be found in those pages. They weren¡¯t necessarily insights that Fu Ruolan intended to exist in the pages, but rather the more naturalistic insights that Sen sometimes found came from looking at old material with more experienced eyes. He didn¡¯t find anything that day, but he supposed it never hurt to review the essentials, even if they were only tangentially related to his process.


    When he felt dawn getting close, he went out and made tea, taking a bit of comfort in the steadiness of that routine. He poured himself a cup and took it outside. He watched the sunrise slowly transform the sky with color and light. He had an intuition that this would likely be the last real calm he enjoyed for a while. He heard light footsteps and glanced over to see Laughing River holding a cup of his own. The fox looked pensive, but he took a moment to nod at Sen. A glance past the fox didn¡¯t reveal Li Yi Nuo.


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    ¡°She¡¯s not awake, yet. Or she¡¯s pretending she isn¡¯t, which is fine by me,¡± said the fox. ¡°She¡¯s fun to tease, but I don¡¯t particularly enjoy her company.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°She¡¯s, not na?ve exactly, but she¡¯s had less experience than she should have for her age and advancement.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d have thought you¡¯d think much the same of me,¡± observed Sen.


    ¡°You have the opposite problem. You¡¯ve had too much experience and advancement for your age. It¡¯d be sort of amusing if I didn¡¯t know so many of the details. Why? Do you enjoy her company?¡±


    ¡°Eh,¡± said Sen with a shrug. ¡°It¡¯s hard to enjoy the company of someone you think might get you killed on purpose.¡±


    The fox got a gleam in his eyes. ¡°Oh, I think that rather depends on how you spend your time with them. Danger can add a certain something to some experiences.¡±


    Sen almost objected. ¡°I suppose there¡¯s a kernel of truth hidden deep down in there somewhere. At this point, I¡¯m mostly making her stay as punishment for not taking the out I offered her.¡±


    ¡°A stupidity tax?¡±


    Sen snorted. ¡°I wasn¡¯t thinking of it quite that way, but it¡¯s a fair way to put it. I mean, seriously, she was talking about glory.¡±


    Laughing River nodded. ¡°It does rather make one wonder what she¡¯s been reading, but that¡¯s neither here nor there. I was curious what you decided you¡¯d do today.¡±


    ¡°Same as we discussed last night. I make a pass through the forest. Get a feel for the qi. Make sure there¡¯s nothing lurking out there that will cause too much trouble. If I have time, I might start putting together the formation today.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to leave her with me all day?¡± asked the fox in a long-suffering tone.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like I can take her with me.¡±


    ¡°Oh, but you could.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not taking her out there just to die.¡±


    ¡°Fine. It was just a pleasant thought. What am I supposed to do with her, though?¡±


    ¡°See if she has any skills that might actually be useful?¡± asked Sen, sounding doubtful even to himself.


    ¡°How likely does that seem?¡±


    ¡°It never hurts to check.¡±


    The fox grumbled something inarticulate, and Sen decided to go while he could still avoid Li Yi Nuo. He went inside, hurriedly drank another cup of tea, and then took off. He put his hiding ability to good use as he moved through the forest. It slowed him down a little because he could only sense a fraction of the distance he was used to, but it also let him avoid a few fights with spirit beasts. He¡¯d need to deal with some of them, but he wanted to make a complete pass around the temple before he started to do anything that might be noisy. He was both relieved and a bit disappointed to discover that the qi in the area was more or less in balance. It meant he could go with either fire or lightning, but couldn¡¯t expect any helpful boosts for either type of attack from convenient environmental features. He was also vaguely disappointed to discover absolutely nothing else that he might use to his advantage, such as a wandering band of monks or improbably placed holy relics. I guess that would have been too convenient, thought Sen. If there are useful relics, they¡¯re probably inside that temple.


    Sen glanced upward. He wasn¡¯t particularly nervous about being caught outside at night, but he also didn¡¯t see any advantage to it. He had a pretty good feel for what he¡¯d find in the forest during the day, but some spirit beasts were nocturnal. Still, he thought he had enough time to at least get started on the formation. Of course, setting up a formation wasn¡¯t nearly as fast as simply wandering through the woods and making sure there was enough of the right kind of qi to do what he wanted. He spent several hours getting the first third of the flags into position. He was debating about whether to do one more when his intuition warned him. It wasn¡¯t any of the usual triggers. He hadn¡¯t felt anything in his admittedly limited spiritual sense. He hadn¡¯t heard or seen anything. There had been no disturbances in the local qi. This was that deeper intuition born of hard, violent experiences. He spun and drew his jian in a smooth motion, leveling it at the stranger who had gotten within ten feet of him.


    The figure was wearing black robes. They were androgynous with a slender build and a fine bone structure. They came to a stop and eyed the blade in Sen¡¯s hand. The look wasn¡¯t fearful, just respectful of what the blade could do. They transferred their gaze up to Sen¡¯s face and offered him a small, mysterious smile that suggested they knew a million things that Sen didn¡¯t. That smile told Sen that this person would aggravate him. The fact that Sen could sense absolutely nothing about them only made it worse.


    ¡°I suppose I should give you credit,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯m not that easy to sneak up on.¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t the only person with a facility for hiding.¡±


    ¡°I suppose I¡¯m not. What do you want?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re here with him,¡± said the stranger, their voice as androgynous as everything else about them.


    It wasn¡¯t a question, but Sen thought that him was a rather vague term.


    ¡°Him, who?¡±


    ¡°The trickster. The liar. The nine-tail.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Isn¡¯t that just three ways to say that same thing?¡±


    The stranger paused then, seemingly uncertain about how to proceed. Maybe I said something they didn¡¯t expect, thought Sen.


    ¡°Perhaps,¡± said the stranger. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to ask me who I am?¡±


    ¡°I considered it,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°I decided it¡¯s probably pointless. You¡¯ll either tell the truth or you¡¯ll lie, but I won¡¯t know the difference.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± admitted the stranger.


    They went to take a step forward, and Sen responded by pushing lightning qi into the jian. The area around them lit up irregularly as lightning crackled and danced along the blade. The stranger gave the jian a much longer look.


    ¡°I think we¡¯re probably close enough,¡± said Sen. ¡°So, I expect this is when you tell me what you think I should do.¡±


    The stranger looked to Sen¡¯s face again. ¡°It is. You should let him die.¡±


    ¡°I should have known it was going to be something like that.¡±

 V6 Chapter 25 – Diplomacy

    Sen tried to work up some anger, but all that he could come up with was an overwhelming sense of not caring. He shook his head.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been working on being a fraction more diplomatic,¡± said Sen, ¡°so please just say what you need to say and be done with it. I still have more work to do.¡±


    ¡°So, you don¡¯t mean to heed my words even after I speak them.¡±


    ¡°Of course not. That¡¯s what being diplomatic is. I pretend to listen so you can¡¯t pretend offense. Then, I do what I was going to do anyway.¡±


    ¡°That isn¡¯t what being diplomatic means,¡± said the stranger in a very unamused tone.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it? Well, I guess I could have thrown in something about lying a lot, but I haven¡¯t gotten to that yet. I¡¯m still working on pretending to care. So, I¡¯ll listen to your story.¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t taking this seriously.¡±


    ¡°I always take it seriously when assassins come calling,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯m not an assassin.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, they never are. It¡¯s totally normal and nonthreatening to sneak up on someone in a wildly hostile environment.¡±


    The stranger gave Sen a narrow-eyed look. ¡°You were hiding your presence.¡±


    ¡°Sure, from spirit beasts and that enormous mass of evil roaming around out there,¡± said Sen, waving in the general direction of the temple. ¡°You were hiding from me. There is a difference.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re trying to distract me.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m trying to make this conversation so aggravating that you give up and leave. Believe it or not, this is actually an improvement over what I used to do.¡±


    The androgynous stranger seemed to weigh those words. ¡°What did you used to do?¡±


    ¡°Instant hostility. Threats of violence. Actual violence. You know, the usual.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t consider that lightning-infused sword hostile or a threat?¡±


    ¡°I haven¡¯t stabbed you with it, have I? I even said I¡¯d pretend to listen.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want you to pretend to listen. I want you to actually listen.¡±


    ¡°No. That isn¡¯t what you want. That¡¯s never what anyone like you wants. At the end of all of this, you want me to do what you want. The problem is that I don¡¯t know you, which means I have no reason to trust you.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know him either. So, why does he get to skate on the whole trust thing?¡±


    ¡°First, I don¡¯t owe you that explanation. Second, what in the thousand hells is a skate?¡±


    ¡°Oh, come on. It¡¯s when you slack off from¡­¡± the stranger trailed off as an expression of understanding dawned on Sen¡¯s face.


    ¡°Oh. I get it. You¡¯re a fox as well. Fantastic. Like I didn¡¯t have enough problems with just one of you running around out here. I take back the part about pretending to listen.¡±


    ¡°Wait. What? Why?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a victim of your kind¡¯s reputation. All that lying, deceit, and betrayal doesn¡¯t really paint you as someone I should listen to.¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯ll listen to him?¡±


    ¡°He needs me. Plus, he has very good reasons not to betray me.¡±


    The stranger rolled their eyes. ¡°This isn¡¯t getting us anywhere.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re completely right. It¡¯s not. You should give up and leave.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t honestly expect that, do you?¡±


    ¡°No. I expect that this is where we get to the whole assassin part.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not an assassin.¡±


    ¡°You came all this way to maybe convince me but probably to kill me, right? That makes you an assassin.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t let him succeed,¡± said the stranger.


    Sen loosened his shoulders a little, which made the stranger tense up.


    ¡°Yeah, and I suppose it doesn¡¯t matter who you need to go through to make that happen.¡±


    Sen had never gotten any formal training in fighting illusions. It hadn¡¯t been something his teachers had known much about, having encountered it infrequently themselves. Still, he had been giving it some thought once he started traveling with a fox. Despite his words to the stranger, Sen had been considering contingencies for the possibility that Laughing River did turn on him. He knew that foxes preferred illusion and subterfuge. So, he¡¯d spent most of his time trying to figure out how he would fight against illusions. He¡¯d made the assumption that he wouldn¡¯t be able to trust any of his senses, even his spiritual sense, because any illusions that didn¡¯t account for those senses would be useless against cultivators.


    That didn¡¯t leave him a lot of options other than blindly throwing techniques around. He didn¡¯t want to do that for fear of attracting the attention of the horde. In fact, he didn¡¯t want to do anything flashy if he could avoid it. He just had to hope that the fox felt like they were in the same situation. Of course, limited options didn¡¯t mean no options. He just needed to see what the fox would do. They drew a jian, although the design was a little strange. It looked a little heavier and shorter than the ones Sen was used to using. The fox took a step forward and there were three of them. Another step and there were six. The foxes scattered in several directions. They repeatedly crossed each other¡¯s paths before forming a loose ring. They all moved their swords threateningly and threw out comments. Sen frowned. Well, it is an effective way to disguise which one is real, he thought.


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    Sen started with what he expected would be the simplest way to expose the true fox. He blanketed the immediate area with his killing intent. Five of them froze in place while one off to Sen¡¯s left cried out and stumbled back. Sen darted toward that one, bringing his jian around in a short, efficient slash. He had to give the fox credit. They got their jian up in time to deflect the blow. At least, that¡¯s what Sen thought would happen. Instead, his sword passed through the illusory fox. Sen let his momentum spin him around. He felt a hot pain across his shoulder but didn¡¯t let it distract him. As his spin brought him completely around, he thrust at where he knew the fox had to be. The fox looked shocked that Sen was counterattacking so fast, but it might have been residual pain from Sen¡¯s killing intent. There was blood running from the corners of the fox¡¯s eyes.


    The fox lurched to one side, avoiding a lethal strike in favor of a shallower cut on an arm. Both were off balance and took a few stumbling steps away from each other. The fox eyed Sen warily as it took on a more stable stance.


    ¡°That was clever,¡± said Sen. ¡°You used my expectations against me.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s me,¡± said the fox. ¡°Clever. Doesn¡¯t seem to hold up well against that kind of speed. Body cultivator?¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°Oh, you know us cultivators. We¡¯re just full of tricks.¡±


    Sen launched an earth qi attack that had served him very well on more than one occasion. Slender spears of rock lanced upward where the fox was supposed to be standing. They passed straight through the illusion. Damn it, thought Sen. This is going to be more work than I thought. The illusion grinned at him.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t think it¡¯d be that easy, did you?¡±


    ¡°A boy can dream,¡± said Sen.


    As that illusion vanished, Sen scanned the area around him. The other illusions were gone. All he saw was undisturbed forest around him. Playing a hunch, Sen cycled for water and sent a spray out in every direction, then leapt straight up to catch a limb overhead. For a split second, he saw a figure outlined in water. Switching to wind qi, he sent a small wind blade at that spot. There was a muted grunt of pain and a small splash of red, but even that splash of red disappeared before long. That gave Sen pause. It was one thing to hide yourself, but something else entirely to mask environmental features. Sen realized that the way he was managing the fight wasn¡¯t going to work. Everything was too static. He needed to keep the conditions shifting. Force the fox to continually adapt to new environments. Force flaws in the illusion. Most importantly, he needed to create a situation where he could put his hands on the fox.


    Sen pulled himself up onto the limb and then started leaping from tree to tree, using his qinggong technique to effectively bounce from trunks and limbs. Moving targets were harder to hit if you didn¡¯t want to throw around big techniques. It was also an opportunity to put some distance between them and the horde. Mostly, though, he needed to find a better place to fight someone that used illusions. He needed somewhere with debris. To make matters worse, Sen couldn¡¯t take his time scouting for the right spot. True or not, he had to assume that the fox was at least as fast as he was moving through the forest. Assuming otherwise would be a great way to get himself killed. He followed a zigzagging path away from the ruins, his eyes and senses desperately searching for the right environment.


    He almost missed it but launched himself in a clumsy dive at the last second. He crashed into the ground in a stand of evergreens. There were dead needles everywhere. He took one second to push himself to a standing position and then sent wind racing around the stand of trees. The wind picked up the dead needles and sent them spiraling up and around the trees and Sen. He was hoping the chaos would prove too complex for the fox to mimic immediately. It also helped that his qi was suffusing the area. It turned out that his lead was a little larger than he¡¯d thought. It was almost ten full seconds before he saw the disruption in the needles. They slapped up against something that was about the right size. Sen was moving immediately. It seemed that the fox was so distracted by the constant pelting and trying to enforce a fresh illusion, that they didn¡¯t realize that Sen was closing on them at breakneck speeds until the very last second.


    Sen saw the fox¡¯s eyes go wide, and they tried to intercept him with their jian. It was too little, too late. Sen caught the fox¡¯s wrist and used his accumulated speed to carry the fox against a nearby tree. He slammed the fox¡¯s wrist against the tree over their heads and noted the jian fall away to the side in his peripheral vision. While the fox seemed stunned by the impact with the tree, they went for a dagger with their other hand. Sen caught that wrist and squeezed until the fox cried out and dropped the weapon. The other wrist joined the first over their heads. The fox¡¯s eyes danced with something. Fear. Excitement. Both. Sen wasn¡¯t sure. Their faces were mere inches apart.


    ¡°Enough,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Well now,¡± said the fox. ¡°Isn¡¯t this sexy?¡±


    Without any warning, the fox leaned in and kissed Sen hard on the mouth. It was so far outside of Sen¡¯s expectations that he jerked back from the fox. He¡¯d almost instinctively loosened his grip on the fox¡¯s wrists. Before he had a chance to gather his wits, the fox had ripped one hand free and jabbed him with something. He felt his body instantly react and try to fend off whatever he¡¯d been dosed with, but the battle between whatever alchemical recipe or poison the fox had used and his body robbed him of his equilibrium. He staggered back, reaching for his jian, and trying to think of what might be in his storage rings to counteract whatever the fox had used. He didn¡¯t manage to pull his jian from its scabbard or summon anything from his storage ring before the fox hit him in the side of the head with something hard.


    He felt himself falling, but it was disjointed, slow, and then the ground caught his body. He tried to push himself up, but his limbs only reacted with the occasional twitch or jerk. He tried to speak, but only slurred nonsense came out. There was a terrible moment of vertigo as he was flipped onto his back. His vision spun for a while before it finally came back into something akin to focus. He saw the vast limbs of the evergreens overhead and mere hints of the darkening sky through the canopy. Then, there was a weight on top of him. He managed to move his eyes enough to see the fox had straddled him and was leaning down to look at his face. That same unidentifiable something he¡¯d seen before was dancing in the fox¡¯s eyes. Sen tried to speak, but the fox put a finger on his lips.


    ¡°Shhhhh. There¡¯s no point in trying to talk right now.¡±


    The fox leaned forward a bit more, planted an elbow on Sen¡¯s chest, and put their chin in their palm. They seemed to be studying him, although Sen felt himself slipping further away from true consciousness with every second.


    ¡°I really should kill you,¡± said the fox conversationally. ¡°You¡¯re ridiculously dangerous, even for a cultivator. I mean, you had me dead to rights there. Do you have any idea how rarely that happens to a fox? That trick with the pine needles was inspired. I¡¯ll need to think long and hard about how to counter something like that in the future. I suppose I should be grateful that you showed me one of my weaknesses. Yeah, killing you would be the smart thing to do. Otherwise, you¡¯ll probably wake up and make it your life¡¯s work to track me down and end me. Still, you¡¯re just too damned pretty to murder out here in this godsforsaken place. So, you take yourself a little nap while I go kill that awful old man.¡±


    The last thing Sen remembered was a pair of lips pressing against his own and an amused whisper. ¡°That¡¯s how you do diplomacy. With a kiss and an ambush.¡±

 V6 Chapter 26 – Entirely Justifiable Paranoia

    When the world finally started coming back together for Sen, it didn¡¯t do it all at once. It was more like a patchwork of sensory information that came and went for a while before it finally, almost unwillingly, reassembled into something he could recognize. Even then, it was disorienting. Night had truly fallen. Beneath the canopy of the massive trees in the deep wilds, that meant it was almost lightless at ground level. It wasn¡¯t as bad for Sen as it would have been for other people with his body cultivation enhanced vision. Of course, that enhanced vision did depend on there being some light around. Right at first, though, he felt like he¡¯d slipped into some nether-realm consumed by darkness. He supposed it was a good thing that it took a little longer to regain control of his body or he might have done something foolish.


    By the time he felt his control over his arms and legs come back, he¡¯d had a little time to acclimate to the intense darkness. While part of him knew that he couldn¡¯t rush the process, it still galled him. Anything could have happened, could be happening, back at the galehouse. He didn¡¯t know if the fox could kill Laughing River. With a sigh, he recognized that he really should have asked for that fox¡¯s name instead of being intentionally obnoxious. A little too clever for your own good there, Sen, he thought. It had seemed like a winning strategy or at least a strategy less likely to automatically end in violence. Not that he thought that he could avoid all violence. The world had taught him better than that, but he could recognize that his actions sometimes invited it. Now, that stranger was just going to remain a nebulous entity he knew as that fox or that stranger. Granted, they could have just lied to him, but he doubted they came up with a fake name for every person they met. It would have been a clue if nothing else.


    Even so, he couldn¡¯t help but worry. He had visions of getting back to the galehouse and finding Laughing River and Li Yi Nuo dead. Worse still, he imagined getting back and finding nothing but a bloody scene with no bodies. With bodies, he would at least know they were dead. Without bodies, it would remain an open question. Even if the fox couldn¡¯t kill Laughing River, they absolutely could kill Li Yi Nuo. She wouldn¡¯t stand any kind of a chance against those kinds of illusions. He¡¯d only gotten by because he could throw around so many kinds of qi, and he¡¯d still lost in the end. When the expected sense of dread didn¡¯t manifest, Sen examined his heart. He should be dead. Any cultivator would have killed him the moment they had that kind of advantage. He would have killed him in that situation. That proximity to death should be enough to evoke an emotional response in him. However, it seemed that he¡¯d simply crossed some threshold where coming close to death just didn¡¯t bother him as it once had. Sen considered it a dubious achievement.


    Pushing himself up to a sitting position, he looked around himself and frowned. The fox hadn¡¯t simply left him out there to live or die based on pure chance and the whims of the local spirit beasts. There was a formation around him. It was a strange formation, based on principles he didn¡¯t know, and using a combination of qi he didn¡¯t have time to untangle. Strange as it was, though, he could get a feel for what it did. It was an obscuring formation. Well, damn, that complicates things, he complained to himself. He was very sure that the fox was going to interpret all of this as Sen owing them at least one favor if not two. He wasn¡¯t even sure that he could disagree. He was still alive. As much as he wanted to stay and dissect the workings of the formation, his curiosity would have to wait. He only stopped long enough to pluck the formation flags from the ground and drop them in a storage ring for later examination. If he was lucky, he might be able to learn something from them.


    Making his way back to the galehouse in the dark wasn¡¯t as slow as he¡¯d feared it might be. While his spiritual sense wasn¡¯t exactly a replacement for daylight, it was enough in combination with his enhanced eyesight to let him avoid most problems. He tripped a couple of times over dead branches he missed. He accidentally ran into¡­ He didn¡¯t know exactly what it was. It had been too dark and chaotic for any kind of real assessment. It was some kind of spirit beast that he simply cut down with a flurry of cuts from his jian. He¡¯d put that corpse in a storage ring, too. He figured that he¡¯d probably get a beast core out of it, as long as he remembered the thing later. When he got back to the galehouse, though, he hesitated. He remembered how utterly real the fox¡¯s illusions had been. He could walk in there and not even know if the fox was in the place.


    He examined the formations. They seemed to be intact. They shouldn¡¯t have let the fox through, but he was woefully limited in his understanding of what they could and couldn¡¯t do with their illusions. Could the fox have simply walked right through the formations without triggering them? Sen simply didn¡¯t know. He did the best examination of the ground as he could. There were no obvious signs of violence, but he couldn¡¯t be sure he wasn¡¯t simply looking at another illusion. As his entirely justifiable paranoia grew, he started to understand just why it was that foxes and nine-tailed foxes in particular were feared. If you couldn¡¯t trust anything you saw, heard, or even touched, how far off could a descent into madness really be?


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    In the end, though, he couldn¡¯t just stand around outside the galehouse. He¡¯d have to go in sooner or later and hope that he wasn¡¯t being deceived. Bracing himself, Sen opened the door and walked into the galehouse. After evaluating what he saw, he was fairly certain that he wasn¡¯t looking at an illusion. After all, there wouldn¡¯t be much point in showing him the scene he was looking at before him. There was food scattered across the table and floor. A broken teapot that made him clench his fists in anger. That was his teapot. The one he¡¯d left for the others in the morning as a vague act of kindness. Sure, he had other teapots, but he¡¯d used that one the most because he liked it. There were also splashes of blood here and there, although less than he might have expected. The most telling sign that it was real, in his opinion, was the fact that Laughing River was still there and looking none too dignified.


    The elder fox was sitting in a chair but didn¡¯t look comfortable. He had one arm pulled in close to rest across his chest. There was a makeshift bandage wound around the fox¡¯s head. His robes were in complete tatters. Sen hesitated at that sight, second-guessing his initial assessment. Healing pills and elixirs didn¡¯t work instantly but it looked like all of the violence had taken place at least a few hours before. Long enough that the fox should have been able to take something to speed along the healing process. Sen¡¯s hand fell to his jian as he focused on the person who might or might not be Laughing River. The fox gave him a smile that was a pale echo of the cheerful ones Sen had seen on that face before.


    ¡°You¡¯re wondering if it¡¯s really me or if this is all just an elaborate ruse meant to trick you.¡±


    ¡°Something like that?¡±


    The fox nodded, winced, and said, ¡°That¡¯s the smart way to handle it. There¡¯s no way to be absolutely certain, but you can try asking me questions. Things you think only I¡¯ll be able to answer.¡±


    Sen agreed that it was a poor test. Laughing River had shown a rather formidable amount of knowledge that Sen wouldn¡¯t have thought he could have. It would only stand to reason that the other fox would have similar abilities. Still, it was probably the best of some very poor solutions to his problem.


    ¡°Where did we meet?¡±


    ¡°Up on old thunder spear¡¯s mountain.¡±


    ¡°And what did you help me do?¡±


    ¡°I helped you find that flower for Caihong.¡±


    Sen kept his face neutral as the fox answered. No need to provide information if it was the stranger.


    ¡°What did she give you when you came for our New Year celebration that year?¡±


    ¡°Nothing. I wasn¡¯t there.¡±


    There hadn¡¯t been any of the kind of hesitation he¡¯d have expected from someone trying to remember information they¡¯d gotten second-hand.


    ¡°What did you say to me at the time about the favor I owed you?¡±


    The fox snickered, which triggered a grimace. ¡°Something about how much fun it would be collecting on it.¡±


    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you healing?¡±


    The fox shifted in his seat, which made Sen almost pull his jian free. The fox noticed and held up a hand.


    ¡°Easy now. I am healing. It¡¯s just not as fast as you think it should be because it¡¯s mighty hard to find healing aids that work on something as powerful as me. On the flip side, I¡¯m still dying. So, that process is interfering with my healing. It¡¯s a disgrace that my magnificence has been marred like this.¡±


    ¡°Where is Li Yi Nuo?¡± asked Sen.


    He didn¡¯t feel any particular loyalty to her, but Sen had wanted to at least get her back to her sect in one piece as a way to help manage the politics. If she was here, he¡¯d have thought she¡¯d be out and making a fuss already. The fox¡¯s expression soured like he¡¯d bitten into something rotten before saying what Sen knew he was going to say.


    ¡°She was taken.¡±


    ¡°Oh, of course she was. Because that was just what this little adventure needed. A hostage situation. I assume that other fox intends to trade Li Yi Nuo for your death or simply getting me not to participate.¡±


    Laughing River gave a desultory nod. ¡°Yes, I expect it¡¯ll be something along those lines.¡±


    ¡°I suppose that was Plan B since the last thing they said to me was that they were coming here to murder you. I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯d care to explain why another fox is so bent on seeing you die? Or is that normal for foxes?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s about as normal as cultivators trying to kill each other,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°As for why that particular fox wants me dead, well, that¡¯s a rather complicated story.¡±


    ¡°Is it a complicated story? Or is it just a story you¡¯d prefer not to tell.¡±


    The fox thought those questions over before he said, ¡°It¡¯s actually complicated. I just also happen to not want to tell it.¡±


    ¡°Can you at least tell me who they are? I didn¡¯t even get a name.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s my granddaughter. Great-granddaughter? Great-great-granddaughter?¡± Laughing River asked himself as his face scrunched up. ¡°You start losing track of the family tree after a while. Let that be a lesson to you.¡±


    ¡°To keep track of the family tree?¡± Sen asked in confusion.


    ¡°No. Don¡¯t have kids.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± said Sen noncommittally.


    ¡°Her name is Misty Peak, but she¡¯ll probably stab you if you call her that. She goes by Sun Linglu,¡± said Laughing River before he gave Sen a thoughtful look. ¡°Just how did you escape her?¡±


    ¡°Escape? I didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Then, you should be dead.¡±


    Sen nodded his agreement. ¡°She said I was ¡®too damned pretty to murder.¡¯¡±


    Laughing River rolled his eyes. ¡°Kids these days. No sense of priorities.¡±

 V6 Chapter 27 – The Balance of Favors

    ¡°Speaking of priorities,¡± said Sen as he pulled out a healing elixir, ¡°you should take this.¡±


    The fox shook his head. ¡°It won¡¯t help.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t hurt, either. And if it speeds things along by even an hour, that¡¯s an hour we can¡¯t get back another way.¡±


    ¡°Oh, fine. Give it here.¡±


    Sen handed over the elixir and casually loomed until the fox drank it. Sen didn¡¯t expect that it would work any more than the fox did, but he did think it could take at least a little bit of pressure off Laughing River¡¯s natural healing. Sen took a few minutes to clean up the spilled food and turn it into ash with a quick application of fire qi. The blood on the floor got similar treatment. He lingered over the shattered teapot, feeling another quiet surge of anger. It had been a good teapot. It distributed heat well and did a reasonably good job of keeping its contents warm. He¡¯d have to pick up another one somewhere on his way back to Fu Ruolan¡¯s place. In the meantime, he gathered up the shattered remains and, uncertain what to do with them, put them into a storage ring. Sen turned his attention back to Laughing River, who looked like the elixir might have helped him a bit.


    ¡°So, where do you suppose your granddaughter took Li Yi Nuo?¡±


    The fox lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Is that question the product of some na?ve, sentimental streak? We¡¯re rid of her. That¡¯s a good thing.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s a short-term convenience. When this was all over, I planned to get her back to her sect. Well, most of the way back to her sect. If she never comes back, they¡¯ll just send someone else to bother me. The most advantageous outcome for me is that she survives and goes home to tell them that bothering me is bad for the sect¡¯s long-term survival.¡±


    The fox made an annoyed face. ¡°That¡¯s the kind of thinking that leads to a boring life. Embrace the convenience. Forget about her. Let future you deal with those pesky sect problems.¡±


    ¡°Tempting, but no. And, no, I¡¯m not going to ignore what we came here for or try to help your granddaughter kill you.¡±


    The fox tried to hide it, but he could see the relief on Laughing River¡¯s face. ¡°Well, good, you shouldn¡¯t ignore favors like that.¡±


    ¡°However,¡± continued Sen, ¡°all of this has moved us well beyond the bounds of any favor I might owe you.¡±


    The fox opened his mouth to say something until he saw the look on Sen¡¯s face. The look that simply dared the fox to disagree.


    ¡°I suppose we have,¡± admitted Laughing River. ¡°So, what is it that you want?¡±


    ¡°You seem rather knowledgeable about transforming between a human and animal form. Is that a true transformation or just an illusion?¡±


    The fox gave Sen a suspicious look. ¡°It¡¯s a true transformation.¡±


    ¡°Excellent. Well, a friend of mine transformed herself from a panther to a human form. I get the impression that she¡¯d like to go back or be able to transform at will. You¡¯re going to help her with that.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t work,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°Foxes are supposed to be able to change their forms. It¡¯s not like that with other spirit beasts. It¡¯s all one-way for them.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to try anyway,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Even if you¡¯re right, she isn¡¯t absolutely sure of that yet. I don¡¯t want her spending the rest of what will probably be a very long life wondering if she missed something. If an elder spirit beast who is an expert in changing forms tells her that it¡¯s impossible, she¡¯ll probably believe it. If that same expert tries to help her change back and it still fails, she¡¯ll almost certainly believe it.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re assuming that being sure she can¡¯t change will be good for Falling Leaf.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°I am making that assumption. I might be wrong. She may just tell you she¡¯s not interested. Maybe false hope is what she needs. If that¡¯s the case, your job is done, and we¡¯re even. I just want her to have the option. Besides, you might be wrong. Maybe she can change back.¡±


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    ¡°All of known spirit beast history would suggest that you¡¯re wrong about that. Do you think she¡¯s the first spirit beast who ever regretted that transformation? There are a lot of benefits but also a lot of sacrifices. There were spirit beasts who spent centuries trying to undo what they did to themselves once the costs became clear. They failed. All of them. Without exception.¡±


    ¡°That you know of,¡± countered Sen.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯re counting on the infinitesimal odds that some spirit beast genius, somewhere, managed to pull it off and didn¡¯t tell anyone. I¡¯ve met Falling Leaf. She¡¯s got more than a little talent and has, I¡¯m sure, been helped along in no small part by the field of cosmic absurdity that surrounds you. But she¡¯s not a once in ten-thousand-years genius.¡±


    Sen snorted. ¡°I¡¯m not. I think that you¡¯re probably both right that it¡¯s not possible. I¡¯m just hoping that getting that confirmation will provide her with a path to move forward.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a ridiculous creature,¡± said the fox. ¡°You could have asked me for damn near anything, and all you want is for me to help your other girlfriend.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s not my girlfriend. She¡¯s my friend. And I owe her, which means that you now owe her.¡±


    Laughing River shook his head. ¡°Fine. Fine. Fine. I suppose if there¡¯s anyone in the entire world that can help that foolish panther, it would be this glorious, gifted, and generous nine-tailed fox. The very paragon of¡­¡±


    ¡°Humility?¡± asked Sen.


    The fox gave Sen a penetrating look. ¡°Did my granddaughter hit you in the head? Don¡¯t answer. She must have if you asked such an absurd question. Perhaps you should drink one of those healing elixirs.¡±


    Sen decided that he didn¡¯t need to share that Sun Linglu had, in fact, hit him in the head. No need to give that fox a gift like that, thought Sen.


    ¡°Speaking of your beloved kin, do you have any thoughts about what she did with Li Yi Nuo?¡±


    ¡°Gods, you¡¯re really not going to let that go, are you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what to tell you other than the obvious. She took your sect sweetheart and dragged her away. There¡¯s no reason to do that unless she means to trade the girl to you. She knows that a ploy like that wouldn¡¯t work on me. I expect that we¡¯ll get a message of some sort in the next day or two. Or, she¡¯ll find you again while you¡¯re working on that formation of yours.¡±


    ¡°Then, it seems prudent that you should come along for that.¡±


    ¡°Not really. She¡¯d likely just avoid us. She already tried a frontal assault against me and failed. Well, I guess my coming along would be good for getting the formation done, but it¡¯d be less helpful for getting that girl back.¡±


    Sen eyed the nine-tailed fox. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you just, I don¡¯t know, sniff them out?¡±


    Laughing River tapped a finger against his chin for a little while before he answered. ¡°Maybe. Probably not. Misty Peak would have taken measures to hide their trails.¡±


    ¡°Is she so good that she could fool you?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re assuming again. If it was just a straight competition between her and me, I¡¯d always come out on top because¡­¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re grand, magnificent, excellent. Yes, I¡¯m aware,¡± said Sen impatiently.


    ¡°A good nephew would listen to me boast and take notes. It¡¯s an edifying experience,¡± replied Laughing River with a judgmental expression. ¡°As for my granddaughter, I have no idea what kind of resources she brought with her. She knew full well what she¡¯d be up against. If I was in her shoes, I¡¯d have spent a lot of time, effort, and money gathering tools and techniques that could counter me. Or ones that could counter me for long enough to make good an escape.¡±


    ¡°Do such things exist?¡±


    ¡°Of course, they exist. Whether she could have gotten them, learned them, or afforded them is an open question. But, it¡¯s more likely that she has them than she doesn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Unless she¡¯s desperate. If she figured out what you were up to before she was ready, she might have had to make her move prematurely. Without all of those resources.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s possible,¡± said Laughing River with a shrug. ¡°I can go out and try to find their trail, but I¡¯m warning you now not to get your hopes up.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fair.¡±


    Sen gave real consideration to pressing the fox for details about why his granddaughter was willing to go through so much effort to keep him from ascending. He was sure that there was a story there. He just wasn¡¯t entirely sure it was worth the effort of trying to drag it out of Laughing River. If Sen pushed, he was sure that the fox would tell him a story. Given his reluctance to discuss that matter, though, it was all too likely that it wouldn¡¯t be the story. The fox might just weave some convoluted fiction of internecine intrigue and familial woe. Sen suspected that he¡¯d get more from Sun Linglu if they crossed paths again. She¡¯d been downright eager to tell him about what a bastard her grandfather was until he made it clear that it wouldn¡¯t change anything. He¡¯d have to try to get her talking about it, assuming she didn¡¯t just try to kill him again. That was a real concern. She might well try again, but she might wait until they were actually trying to implement the plan. That would be the best time for it. Sen sighed.


    ¡°So, we need some contingency plans for if and when your darling granddaughter tries to disrupt me getting into the ruins.¡±


    ¡°Such as?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I do know we need them.¡±


    ¡°Ever helpful, nephew,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°Well, why don¡¯t you cook something up? I think we could both use a meal. Then, we¡¯ll see about some contingency planning.¡±

 V6 Chapter 28 – What Can I Do for You, Misty Peak?

    Laughing River and Sen had stayed up for hours trying to work out options that would let them get Sen into the ruins and then back out again. While they both concluded that getting him in was probably doable, it was the getting him out part that was disquietingly nebulous. Part of that stemmed from the fact that Laughing River had minimal information about what Sen could expect in the city. It might well be nothing but ruins and the temple that were simply guarded by a powerful and ancient protection. After the fox had put that idea forward, the two of them just looked at each other for a beat.


    ¡°So, I should assume that all kinds of awful things are waiting for me in there?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Laughing River, ¡°and no.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s helpful.¡±


    ¡°You misunderstand. The ruins are a holy place. You won¡¯t find devils or their ilk inside, but that doesn¡¯t mean you won¡¯t encounter other horrors. For some, fighting devils would be preferable to confronting the things that live in their own souls. Those are the kinds of tests and punishments that holy orders use to guard their temples.¡±


    ¡°So, why can¡¯t you get inside?¡± asked Sen, voicing a question that had been burning inside him for a while. ¡°You said there are protections to keep you out. What are they? It can¡¯t be the same thing keeping the horde at bay. That has the flavor of something aimed against true evil. If the legends are to be believed, nine-tailed foxes aren¡¯t actually evil.¡±


    The fox gave Sen a big smile. ¡°You¡¯re right. We¡¯re not evil. Just look at me. How could anything as dashing and charming as me be evil? Unthinkable. No, but those monks were clever indeed. They planted these simply terrible flowers that smell awful. One whiff of that hellacious stink and I knew, I needed to send someone else. Someone younger. Someone with a less refined olfactory acuity. Someone used to putting up with a godsawful stench. A human in other words.¡±


    Sen glared at the fox. ¡°You could have just said you weren¡¯t going to tell me.¡±


    ¡°You could have not asked the stupid question,¡± retorted Laughing River. ¡°Would you have answered that question?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Sen admitted.


    ¡°There you have it.¡±


    While the possibility of some divine challenge gave Sen a bit of pause, it was the time factor that truly bothered him. He might only be in there for a couple of hours, but if he fell into some kind of trap, it could be much, much longer. While his stores of food would likely let him survive for years in a situation like that, he couldn¡¯t expect Laughing River to simply wait an indefinite amount of time for him. Yet, Sen couldn¡¯t help but imagine himself getting stuck for a year or five or ten. It wasn¡¯t really that long for a core cultivator, but he didn¡¯t want to emerge from a trap just to discover he was caught in a city-sized trap surrounded by an impassable horde. That wait came with another problem.


    While Laughing River talked like he was confident about subduing his granddaughter should they come face-to-face again, Sen remembered the condition in which he¡¯d found the elder fox. Granted, the nine-tail was recuperating quickly, and Sen had seen the undeniable power still at the fox¡¯s disposal, but he wondered if Misty Peak had some trick up her sleeve to give her an advantage over her elder. It left him with the same problem. If he went into the ruins, and she killed Laughing River while he was still inside, he could find himself trapped in the city. He¡¯d really like to have an alternate exit ready to go if it came down to it. Something that didn¡¯t rely on someone outside of the city to do something.


    ¡°Could we dig a tunnel?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°A tunnel?¡± asked Laughing River.


    ¡°Yeah. Could we dig a tunnel from the forest to the city? Just bypass the horde entirely.¡±


    ¡°Have you ever dug tunnels before?¡± asked the fox with a serious expression on his face.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°That explains it.¡±


    ¡°Explains what?¡±


    ¡°Foxes dig burrows for things like tending the young. So, you might say we¡¯re casual experts about tunnels. This is everything you need to know about tunnels. They¡¯re dangerously fragile. If you try to dig one without the proper understanding, it¡¯ll collapse on your head.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you have the proper understanding?¡±


    ¡°Sure, if you want a short, shallow tunnel appropriate for something the size of a fox. You¡¯re talking about digging a tunnel that stretches from here to that ruin. It¡¯ll have to be big enough for you to get through. Plus, it¡¯ll have to be deep enough that those spirits in the horde won¡¯t sense you. Anything that deep will need the right kind of supports in place, which I don¡¯t know anything about. Then, there¡¯s the problem of knowing when you¡¯ve gone far enough. That¡¯s not a completely insurmountable problem, but it wouldn¡¯t be easy. I¡¯ve also heard you can run into problems with getting enough air in deep tunnels,¡± said the fox before giving Sen a look. ¡°Do you still breathe?¡±


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    ¡°I do, although I¡¯ve never tested whether I can do without it.¡±


    ¡°My point is that it¡¯s a tremendous amount of work, even for a body cultivator like you, with a high probability of failure if you get even one thing wrong.¡±


    ¡°Alright, it was just an idea. I don¡¯t want to get stuck in those ruins because your granddaughter kills you while I¡¯m inside.¡±


    ¡°Have faith, Sen. I¡¯d never let you get trapped in there with my precious bauble.¡±


    ¡°Rely on your overwhelming self-interest in my success, in other words?¡±


    ¡°Precisely! We¡¯ll make a fox out of you, yet.¡±


    ¡°Something to look forward to, I guess.¡±


    Sen excused himself to go get a few hours of sleep before he headed out to tackle the next stage of the formation. When he woke up, he had an idea that might let him ensure his own escape from the ruins if the worst happened. He kept a sharp lookout as he worked his way along the same path he¡¯d followed the previous afternoon, setting up a parallel series of formation flags. He worked his way all the way around to the far side of the ruins, just about opposite of where the galehouse was. He¡¯d set the flag that was closest to the cleared area around the city before he moved a little deeper into the woods to set a second flag. He pulled out a couple of beast cores that were fire attributed. It took a little work, but he finally managed to get the two cores resonating with each other. One went beneath the flag, while he kept the second one. If all else failed, he should be able to use the core he kept to trigger the second formation.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± asked a familiar voice.


    ¡°Why do you ask, Misty Peak?¡± replied Sen, glancing over his shoulder at the fox.


    He hadn¡¯t felt her coming. Hadn¡¯t sensed anything at all. Assuming this didn¡¯t turn into another fight to the death, he¡¯d have to pick Laughing River¡¯s brain for ways to spot a fox that didn¡¯t want to be seen. There had to be a way to feel those illusions around him. At the sound of her name, the androgynous fox girl scowled at him.


    ¡°That isn¡¯t my name. I¡¯m Sun Linglu.¡±


    Sen stood and put the core into a storage ring. He¡¯d have to pull it out later and make sure leaving it in the storage ring wouldn¡¯t interfere with it resonating properly with the core attached to the formation. Sen gave the fox a thoughtful look.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be so quick to discard a name. Take it from someone who grew up without one.¡±


    Sen could almost see the angry words she¡¯d been about to throw at him die on her lips.


    ¡°What do you mean? You have a name, even if everyone calls you by that absurd title.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Is it a title now? Gods, I hope not.¡±


    ¡°What were you talking about when you said you grew up without a name?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t have a family name until I was, oh, thirteen. Well, I think I was thirteen. I don¡¯t know how old I am either.¡±


    The fox girl¡¯s expression started to go from confused to angry. ¡°You didn¡¯t babble like this yesterday.¡±


    ¡°I never knew my parents,¡± said Sen. ¡°I grew up on the streets. No family name. No family story. No idea when I was born. I got the name Lu from a very kind old woman who watched out for me a bit. Until then, I was just Sen. I¡¯d have given anything, anything at all, to have a true name. I don¡¯t even know if Sen is my real name. It¡¯s just what I grew up calling myself.¡±


    The fox girl stared at him in silence for an uncomfortably long time. ¡°Why did you tell me that?¡±


    ¡°So that you¡¯ll know why I call you Misty Peak, instead of the fake name you toss around. You know your name, which is a luxury I¡¯ll probably never enjoy.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t care what you call me,¡± she said, although the words lacked anything like conviction.


    ¡°Good. So, what can I do for you, Misty Peak?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve come to talk about the idiotic sect girl.¡±


    ¡°Is she alive?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°She is, for now. I assume you want her back in that condition.¡±


    Sen shrugged, which seemed to throw the fox girl off her script. He did want to get Li Yi Nuo back, but not enough to offer up any real concessions. He knew he¡¯d have to play the situation just right. He was sure that Misty Peak didn¡¯t care about what happened to Li Yi Nuo one way or the other.


    ¡°It would be convenient for me to get her back,¡± said Sen. ¡°Convenient, but not ultimately necessary.¡±


    ¡°From your reputation, I¡¯d have thought you¡¯d be more loyal to an ally.¡±


    ¡°Ally? Oh, you¡¯ve rather badly misread the situation. Before you, she was the last person who showed up to kill me.¡±


    ¡°She what? Why is she still alive?¡±


    ¡°I was going to send her home to her sect as both a peace offering and a warning to leave me alone. Like I said, convenient but ultimately not a necessity.¡±


    ¡°But why¡­¡± she started but Sen cut her off.


    ¡°Nope. You got a question answered. My turn now.¡±


    Sen almost felt bad for the fox as she watched her plan collapse around her. She rallied, though, and gave him a terse little nod.


    ¡°So, what did your grandfather do that was so terrible that you¡¯ve come this far to act out your revenge?¡±


    ¡°Oh, now you want to hear the story. Where was all this burning curiosity when I tried to tell you before?¡±


    ¡°Yesterday, there was an even chance that someone sent you to kill me specifically, and you used the fox an as excuse. Today, I know it doesn¡¯t have anything to do with me. Now you owe me two answers.¡±


    ¡°But¡­ Oh fine. You damned humans. You want to know what my grandfather did that was so terrible. He sold us all out. All of the nine-tailed foxes. Hundreds of us died because of him, including my father.¡±


    That gave Sen pause. It was damning if it was true. That story was very short on details though.


    ¡°Go on,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean, you¡¯re going to spill family blood. I¡¯m given to understand that kind of thing comes with some pretty serious karmic consequences, even for a spirit beast, unless this is some kind of formal leadership challenge. This doesn¡¯t feel like a challenge. This feels like straight-up murder. So, I have to assume you have more details than that.¡±


    ¡°Of course, I do.¡±


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s hear them.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re an outsider,¡± said Misty Peak.


    ¡°Yeah, that might have held up before you followed me out into the forest, attacked me, and dosed me with whatever that was. I¡¯ll have questions about that later, by the way. Once you did all that, though, I became an insider to this situation. Besides, we both know you want me to back off. That isn¡¯t ever going to happen unless you tell me something a lot more compelling than a wild and vague accusation that he did something that got a bunch of your people killed. So, out with it.¡±

 V6 Chapter 29 – Answers

    The silence between them drew out. There was a quality to it, a kind of sharpness that left Misty Peak certain she would cut herself with the wrong move. She kept her face, well, the face she¡¯d chosen for this task, neutral even as her mind raced for the right thing to do. She¡¯d misread everything. The situation. The actual, terrifying strength of her long-estranged grandfather. Most of all, she¡¯d misread the man who stood in front of her. In some ways, he frightened her more than Laughing River did. She¡¯d been following her grandfather on and off for a long time, so she¡¯d become aware of Lu Sen almost by accident. The elder fox had been¡­ It was not spying, never spying, because even traitorous foxes were too dignified for anything as pedestrian as spying. Her grandfather had been surreptitiously checking up on the boy. Following that, she had made a point to learn about the folk hero, Judgment¡¯s Gale. At least, she thought she had.


    Where she¡¯d expected him to be almost mindlessly violent, he¡¯d been controlled. No matter what tale she¡¯d tell others, she lived only because he hadn¡¯t really been trying to kill her. It had taken a little while for that truth to settle into her mind. She¡¯d walked away from that fight feeling pretty good about herself. She¡¯d beaten a folk hero and even stolen a couple of kisses from the ridiculously pretty man. The longer she thought about it, though, and compared what had happened to the kinds of stories she¡¯d heard about him, the less good she felt. The man in those tales set the sky on fire, battled spirit beast tides, and singlehandedly slaughtered an entire criminal organization. Even if those stories weren¡¯t completely true, she was willing to bet there was a lot of truth mixed in. If he¡¯d wanted to, he could have simply burned her to ash instead of grabbing her. He¡¯d been trying to stop the fight, not end the fight.


    Now, he was standing there like he didn¡¯t have a care in the world. She couldn¡¯t stop thinking about that horde less than a half-mile away. One wrong move and all those terrible things could swarm into the forest and destroy everything in their path. And this mad bastard was out in these accursed woods like it was a fine summer day in the city. He was just oh so casually setting up some kind of formation, or was it formations, that she didn¡¯t even pretend to understand. It was also painfully obvious that he truly did not care what happened to that girl from the sect. And why would he? If someone showed up looking to kill me, I wouldn¡¯t care what happened to them either, she thought. If she¡¯d managed to grab someone he did care about, that might have gotten her some leverage. Then again, it might have transformed him into the avatar of doom that everyone already thought he was.


    Grabbing that girl had been a spur-of-the-moment act, anyway. She¡¯d hoped it might pan out but couldn¡¯t be all that disappointed that it hadn¡¯t gotten her anything. Misty Peak studied the man¡¯s face and then had to look away. Looking at him wasn¡¯t helping her decide, just distracting her. She didn¡¯t need a distraction. Not right that minute, anyway. She shut down the more distracting routes her mind tried to take her by recalling Lu Sen¡¯s killing intent. Their fight the day before had nearly ended at the moment he released the thing he called a killing intent. It had been abominable, domineering, and beneath it all she¡¯d felt a kind of icy wrath. Simply remembering it was enough to make her shudder.


    ¡°If you want to take a day and think about it,¡± said Lu Sen, ¡°I¡¯ve still got a lot of work to do today.¡±


    A quick glance revealed a kind of mild bemusement on the man¡¯s face. She glared at him, but the man seemed all but immune to it. It wasn¡¯t a first, but it was close. She had an excellent glare and knew it. What had the man seen that let him shrug off her glare? The man was too self-possessed. She was used to knowing what people thought at a glance. She¡¯d learned to rely on that. Now, it felt like she was navigating blind. She didn¡¯t know the best course to get what she wanted from the situation. Out with it, he¡¯d said. She wondered if she should just do what he wanted, but something quintessential to her nature, her very fox-ness, rebelled at the idea. Foxes didn¡¯t do as they were asked. They did as they wished.


    ¡°Are the tasks of the mighty Judgment¡¯s Gale so pressing that he can¡¯t give a woman a few minutes to think?¡±


    ¡°Is that what you were doing?¡± said Lu Sen with amusement in his eyes. ¡°Then, by all means, please proceed.¡±


    She watched as he looked around thoughtfully, nodded to himself, and walked over to a tree. Then, he leaned a shoulder against it and crossed his arms, shooting her a ridiculous grin. He looked so wildly overconfident that she was sure that it was meant as some kind of parody. People like him didn¡¯t need to put on acts like that. Is it a ploy? Is he trying to make me second-guess myself? What kind of game is he playing?


    ***


    I¡¯m hungry, thought Sen.


    He¡¯d tried to take some of the tension out of the situation by putting a little space between them and leaning against a tree. He¡¯d even tried to give her a friendly smile. It hadn¡¯t worked. If anything, the look on her face gave the distinct impression of someone who was constipated. While he waited for her to make some kind of decision, he pulled an apple out of a storage ring. The woman glared at the apple like she thought he was going to attack her with it. He summoned another apple and tossed it to her. She grabbed the apple out of the air and then just looked at it like she¡¯d never seen one before. Whatever, thought Sen. Maybe foxes don¡¯t eat apples. He¡¯d never given much thought to what foxes did or didn¡¯t eat. Laughing River hadn¡¯t seemed very picky. Sen took a bite out of the fruit in his hand and let himself enjoy the crisp sweetness of it.


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    He watched her watching him eat the apple. It made him feel a bit awkward having someone spend so much attention on him eating. Not that it stopped him. Sen had developed a fondness for apples in the years before he became a cultivator. Unlike so many other kinds of food, apples held up well. Any food that wouldn¡¯t go bad almost immediately was like pure treasure on the streets. He wouldn¡¯t go so far as to say that apples had kept him alive, but he wasn¡¯t quite willing to say that they hadn¡¯t either. While those terrible days of want and suffering were long behind him, the love of apples had remained. He finished the apple and hurled the core deep into the forest. Turning his eyes back on Misty Peak, he saw that she was still just holding the apple.


    ¡°If you¡¯re not going to eat that, give it back because I will eat it,¡± said Sen, holding out his hand.


    The woman looked from his hand down to the apple she held in her hand. She drew it closer in what looked like a completely unconscious protective action before she took a bite of it. While she was busy eating and thinking about whatever it was that she needed to settle in her head, Sen withdrew the beast core he¡¯d stored earlier. He let his qi and spiritual sense wash over it. It was still connected to the other one. There was an almost visible tether between them and he could feel the resonance. Good, he thought. It should work. He stored the beast core and looked up to see that the woman was still studying everything he did. He decided to take inspiration from Laughing River.


    ¡°Yes, I am a magnificent specimen of human perfection. I suppose I can¡¯t blame you for wanting to spend as much time as you can drinking in the glory that is me.¡±


    Sen watched with interest as the woman¡¯s expression turned to one of embarrassment and her cheeks went a little pink. It only took a moment before her eyes narrowed back into a familiar glare.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been spending too much time with my grandfather.¡±


    ¡°It was edifying. He said so himself.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure he did.¡±


    Since the woman still wasn¡¯t bothering to tell him what he¡¯d asked about, he decided to ask a different question that had been bothering him a little.


    ¡°Is that what you truly look like or do foxes decide how you¡¯ll look when you transform?¡±


    Misty Peak rolled her eyes. ¡°Is that what you want to waste your second question on?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Now you owe me another answer.¡±


    For a brief moment, Sen thought the woman might actually stamp her foot in frustration.


    ¡°Stop that,¡± she demanded.


    ¡°Stop asking me questions if you don¡¯t want to answer more of them. Standing here in silence while you brood isn¡¯t exactly thrilling. I¡¯m just trying to pass the time.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t brooding. Brooding is reserved for men with inflated opinions of themselves. The kind of men who believe they¡¯re deeper and more interesting than they are. I was thinking. You should try it sometime.¡±


    Sen pressed a hand to his chest and feigned a wince. ¡°Are you saying that I¡¯m thoughtless? Well, I¡¯ll certainly have to brood about that.¡±


    ¡°I bet you think you¡¯re charming.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯ve been told that I have the social instincts of a tree stump. That sounded pretty plausible to me. You still haven¡¯t answered my question, by the way. Either question, actually.¡±


    Misty Peak¡¯s lips compressed into a white line. Sen wondered if she was going to yell at him or even leave. In the end, she just shook her head.


    ¡°We decide.¡±


    ¡°Interesting. So, does that mean you don¡¯t have a natural human form, or that you decide if you¡¯re going to adopt that form or something else each time?¡±


    ¡°Why do you care?¡± asked an exasperated Misty Leaf before realization struck her. ¡°Wait-¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m just a curious man, by nature,¡± said Sen with a big smile.


    ¡°We have a natural human form,¡± said the fox through clenched teeth. ¡°We decide each time if we¡¯ll adopt it.¡±


    ¡°Will you show me what you really look like?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°No,¡± said Misty Peak with an expectant look in her eye.


    Sen knew that she wanted him to ask her why. It would let her reclaim control of the conversation. He cocked his head to one side.


    ¡°I understand,¡± said Sen with a sympathetic tone and a knowing look. ¡°So, you were about to tell me what your grandfather did.¡±


    Sen had to work hard to contain his laughter as he saw the strain it put on the fox to not ask him what he had meant with that I understand comment. He had to give her credit, though. She forced the question down.


    ¡°I don¡¯t see any compelling reason why I should tell you,¡± said Misty Peak.


    ¡°Maybe there isn¡¯t one. Of course, telling me doesn¡¯t really cost you anything, either. Worst case, nothing changes. You haven¡¯t gained anything, but you haven¡¯t lost anything. Best case, you convince me.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t strike me as someone who changes their mind very often.¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll leave you to decide what to do with the rest of your day. I do need to get on with my work.¡±


    She let him get almost twenty steps before she called out after him. ¡°Stop.¡±


    Sen looked back at her. ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you.¡±


    Sen walked back and leaned against the same tree again. Something about that seemed to annoy the woman, but he couldn¡¯t for the life of him figure out what.


    ¡°Regale me with your tale,¡± said Sen.

 V6 Chapter 30 – Traitor

    ¡°What do you know about nine-tail foxes?¡± asked Misty Peak.


    Sen gave her a smirk and started to count on his fingers. The fox looked like she might actually lose a bit of her sanity when he did that, so Sen took a little pity on her.


    ¡°Let¡¯s assume that I know nothing about your people, or at least not enough to matter for this conversation.¡±


    She frowned a little. ¡°It would be easier if you did know something. If you didn¡¯t know, foxes aren¡¯t like other spirit beasts in a lot of ways. We¡¯re born with more, well, I guess you¡¯d call it self-awareness. We develop more like humans than beasts. We don¡¯t have to evolve out of being feral is what I mean. We also interact more with humans, which probably reinforces all of that. Because we¡¯re more like humans, we¡¯re a lot more fractured than most kinds of spirit beasts. It¡¯s more like loosely associated clans than a society. But there is a hierarchy based on how many tails you have and how much power you hold.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± said Sen. ¡°Aren¡¯t those the same things for you? Number of tails and amount of power, I mean.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s about as true as the relationship between your cultivation advancement and power. Generally speaking, more tails does equal more power. Much like having a higher advancement means having more power. As you well know, though, it¡¯s not anything like an absolute. Some people are more naturally gifted and can get more out of what they have, which lets them bridge the gap. Some people,¡± she said, giving him a look, ¡°are freakish anomalies who just ignore pesky things like the differences between levels of advancement and do whatever the hells they want anyway.¡±


    Sen rolled his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s not as simple and carefree as I make it look.¡±


    ¡°If you say so. At any rate, those same kinds of discrepancies exist among foxes just like they do among human cultivators. Some foxes are just better at being foxes. They advance faster, hold more power, and exert more authority. Once you get to be a true nine-tail fox, you¡¯re in a position to order around pretty much any other fox you meet. I¡¯ll give you one guess about the identity of the most powerful nine-tailed fox.¡±


    ¡°Laughing River?¡± asked Sen in a tired voice.


    ¡°Oh, good. You can draw straight lines when someone holds your hand.¡±


    A piece of Sen felt like he ought to be surprised, but he really wasn¡¯t. He¡¯d been running around with stupidly powerful beings for a long time now. What was one more? Still, it wasn¡¯t good news. If he was just some random fox, the whole betrayal thing seemed far-fetched. If he was something with a lot of authority among the foxes, it became more plausible. Not necessarily likely but plausible.


    ¡°Yeah, I can sip tea all by myself, too,¡± said Sen. ¡°So, grandpa nine tails is a big mover and shaker among your fox clans.¡±


    ¡°More like the big mover and shaker. He was, at any rate.¡±


    ¡°So, this is where we come to the big betrayal?¡±


    Misty Peak nodded. ¡°There are only a handful of foxes who have the power to call a gathering of all the foxes. He was one of them. And that¡¯s exactly what he did.¡±


    ¡°All of them? Like every single one in the world?¡±


    She hesitated at that. ¡°I suppose he could have, but it would have taken years for it to happen. He called for a gathering of all the foxes in this part of the world.¡±


    ¡°The whole continent?¡±


    ¡°For all intents and purposes, yes. We were to gather at a place near the Mountains of Sorrow.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°A midpoint for everyone. Makes sense. Go on.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a popular decision, as you might imagine. We¡¯re independent by nature, but most of the foxes went. The older and more powerful ones in particular. Laughing River had issued the summons, and you don¡¯t defy the most powerful fox alive. After they arrived, they were slaughtered to the last man and woman. Yet, somehow, he survived a mass execution that killed every other true nine-tailed fox. All of our elders. You don¡¯t just walk away from something like that unless you¡¯re involved.¡±


    Sen let all that information roll around in his head. There were holes in her reasoning, big ones, but he could understand why she thought what she did. All other things being equal, the person who survived when no one else did was usually either absurdly lucky or profoundly guilty. In her shoes, he¡¯d probably make the same assumptions. That didn¡¯t change the fact that they were still assumptions. He also got the impression that this wasn¡¯t especially recent. It had the feeling of a story that Misty Peak had heard from someone, rather than events she remembered herself. If it had happened in her lifetime, Sen suspected that it had happened very, very early in her lifetime. Sen knew better than anyone that stories had a way of mutating over time.


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    There was also something eerily familiar about the story. The details weren¡¯t exactly the same, but it was close enough to what had happened to the ghost panthers to make Sen wonder. Had Laughing River summoned them all there to decide if they were going to bow down to some kind of spirit beast king? Still, it didn¡¯t sound like the foxes had been hunted to near-total extinction. Had they been too spread out or was it just a betrayal? Sen didn¡¯t have enough information, and he didn¡¯t think Misty Peak had the information to give him. He was going to have to talk Laughing River. That thought raised a pertinent question.


    ¡°Did anyone actually talk to Laughing River after it happened?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Why would we? You don¡¯t let a traitor justify themselves to you.¡±


    Sen was tempted to challenge that entire line of thought, but he could see from her face that it wouldn¡¯t do any good. No argument based on pure logic was going to sway her thinking.


    ¡°Thank you for telling me,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°You don¡¯t believe me,¡± Misty Peaks almost snarled.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re trying to mislead me if that¡¯s what you mean. I believe that you believe what you said.¡±


    ¡°But you don¡¯t believe it.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what to believe,¡± said Sen. ¡°You¡¯ve been living with this your entire life. This happened to your people. I¡¯ve been living with it for about two minutes. It happened to a people I¡¯m not going to pretend that I understand. I have to believe that there are nuances here that I¡¯m not getting. Most importantly, I¡¯ve only heard your side.¡±


    ¡°What more do you need to hear? He betrayed us. Most of our people died. It¡¯ll be centuries before we recover if we ever do.¡±


    ¡°And what if someone accused you of something like this?¡±


    Fury lit Misty Peak¡¯s eyes. ¡°I would never betray my people like that! How dare you even suggest it!¡±


    Sen held up his hands in what he hoped would be seen as a placating gesture. ¡°I believe you. But what if someone did? Wouldn¡¯t you want somebody to come and ask you about it before they signed your death warrant?¡±


    She wanted to say no. It was written all over her face that she wanted to tell him that he shouldn¡¯t go and ask, but he¡¯d backed her into a corner. No one would want to be accused of such a heinous crime and then be declared guilty without ever getting to defend themselves. He could also tell that she hated him a little bit for making her confront that basic truth. Sen understood. She¡¯d set out on what she saw as a righteous mission of well-deserved vengeance. He had made her put herself into her grandfather¡¯s place, if only for a moment or two. He suspected that had taken some of the glow of righteousness off what she¡¯d been doing. He knew he wouldn¡¯t thank someone for doing that to him. And it wasn¡¯t as though he had a real opinion about it one way or the other.


    Laughing River might be guilty. He may well have sold out his people to ensure his own survival. He didn¡¯t seem quite that ruthless to Sen, but dying could change a person. He might have been more callous a few hundred years back. He might also be the sole survivor of something that Sen wouldn¡¯t wish on anyone. That was the kind of experience that would scar someone forever. The only way to find out was to do what Sen had suggested and talk to the elder fox. Sen hoped that it wasn¡¯t true because that would put him in a tough spot. Misty Peak had remained in a seething silence while Sen thought things over. When she finally did speak, it came out as a hoarse whisper.


    ¡°Yes. I would want someone to talk to me.¡±


    Sen offered a single inclination of his head as a response. He didn¡¯t rub in his victory. It wasn¡¯t the kind of victory you celebrate if your brain was working properly. He was also distracted by a random thought that seemed to spring out of nowhere. A thought that made him want to start banging his head very hard against something very solid.


    ¡°If Laughing River was or is the most powerful nine-tail fox, and you¡¯re his granddaughter,¡± Sen said almost against his will, ¡°does that make you some kind of nine-tail fox princess?¡±


    The question seemed to leave Misty Peak a little flummoxed.


    ¡°What? I mean, we don¡¯t really have that sort of thing, but I guess you humans might think of it that way. Why?¡±


    ¡°Gods damn it,¡± said Sen as he directed a baleful glare toward the sky. ¡°Not. Funny.¡±


    ¡°Who are you talking to?¡± asked the fox.


    ¡°The universe,¡± muttered Sen. ¡°The big, stupid, not funny universe.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you mean.¡±


    ¡°Politics. Never get involved in politics. You¡¯d think it would be easy, right? But, no! Apparently, it¡¯s not easy at all if you¡¯re me.¡±


    ¡°Politics? What¡¯s political?¡±


    ¡°Oh, come on! You¡¯re brighter than that. Whatever your personal feelings about all this are, he¡¯s a king or the next best thing to it. You aren¡¯t talking about killing your grandfather. You¡¯re talking about deposing a monarch. It doesn¡¯t get any more political than that. And, since you¡¯re basically a princess, it¡¯s not just deposing a king. It¡¯s a coup.¡±


    Misty Peak just stared at him with her mouth hanging open a little. Shaking his head, Sen decided that he¡¯d had enough formation building for one day. He just turned and started trudging away in the direction of the galehouse. Maybe some spirit beast will choose today to be monumentally stupid and pick a fight with me on the way back, thought Sen. I could use something to take out my frustrations on.


    ¡°Wait,¡± shouted the fox. ¡°Where are you going?¡±


    ¡°To have an incredibly awkward conversation with a king,¡± answered Sen. ¡°Again.¡±

 V6 Chapter 31 – Alternate Explanation

    Sen thought that Misty Peak might follow him, but a glance backward showed that she had either left or hidden herself with one of those nigh-impregnable fox illusions. I wish I could learn that, thought Sen. How many problems would that let me just flat-out avoid? It was a pleasant fantasy. He saw himself just strolling through that monster horde and walking into the ruins. No fighting. No disaster. Easy. Of course, if he could just learn it, he expected that Laughing River would have taught him. The man might be dying, but he wasn¡¯t anywhere close to death¡¯s door. If spending a little time to teach Sen would have vastly improved their odds of success, it seemed rather unlikely that the fox would have rushed them out to try to do it a much harder way with much lower odds of accomplishing their goal. I guess I can¡¯t be good at everything, thought Sen a little mournfully.


    After giving it a little thought, he concluded that one probably needed to be born a fox to use the illusions they did. Either that, or you needed very specific qi types at your disposal. While Sen had several qi types available to him, he suspected that he didn¡¯t have all the ones he would need. He had shadow qi, but reason suggested that light would play some role in the process. He didn¡¯t really understand light and had never cultivated for it, but he recalled Uncle Kho mentioning that color and light were related somehow. It had sure seemed like the illusions that Misty Peak used involved colors. Hadn¡¯t she blended right into the background?


    Sen chased a few more idle thoughts on the topic but soon dismissed them. What he was doing was little better than guessing, and that was foolish at best when it came to matters of qi and cultivation. If he really wanted to know, he should just ask one of the foxes. Of course, that presumed that Laughing River didn¡¯t kill him in a fit of rage for bringing up the elder fox¡¯s supposed participation in a mass slaughter of nine-tail foxes. No, that shouldn¡¯t be problematic at all. Given how cagey the other one had been, Sen doubted that she was going to reveal fox illusion secrets to him. Not that he could blame her for that. It¡¯s not like they were friends, and even friends often held secrets like that very close. He might very well go the rest of his life without getting any answers to those questions.


    As he made his way back to the galehouse, he found himself increasingly disappointed by the good sense of the local spirit beasts. He thought he caught telltale signs of a few of them, but none were brave enough to attack him. Probably as nervous about drawing the attention of that horde as I am, thought Sen. However, the horde had seemed oddly disinterested in anything happening in the forest. He and Misty Peaks hadn¡¯t thrown around a lot of flashy techniques when they fought, but he¡¯d certainly used a lot of qi for some of what he did. He had to imagine that she was throwing quite a bit of it around as well, even if he hadn¡¯t been able to sense it. He reminded himself to add that problem to the list of things to ask Laughing River about if the fox didn¡¯t kill him. Still, they were close enough during that fight that the beasts and spirits in that horde should have been able to sense what was happening. Their total lack of apparent interest was odd.


    Sen supposed that, on balance, it was good luck that they didn¡¯t seem to care what happened in the forest. It boded well for him completing his formations with minimum disruptions. Assuming that the fox woman didn¡¯t decide that killing him was the most efficient way to solve her problem. Unfortunately, Sen could see quite clearly that removing him was the most efficient solution to her problem. If she could do it without killing him, that seemed to suit her. It didn¡¯t mean she wouldn¡¯t fall back on the whole killing Sen plan if he didn¡¯t just leave on his own. If she did turn up again, he¡¯d have to see if he could talk her into letting Li Yi Nuo go. He thought he¡¯d sold the fox woman on the idea that the sect cultivator was of no value to her goals. Given the circumstances, keeping Li Yi Nuo would be an unprofitable inconvenience for Misty Peak. That might be a good enough reason to simply release her. It could also be a reason to simply get rid of her. He¡¯d have to cautiously sound the fox woman out if they crossed paths again.


    Sen was surprised to find the galehouse empty when he got there. It seemed that Laughing River might have actually gone out looking for the trail. Maybe he¡¯d even found it. Sen felt a little surge of hope. It would make his future life much less problematic if the elder fox managed to retrieve Li Yi Nuo. It would also be nice if someone else cleaned up a problem for once, thought Sen knowing it was wildly unfair and inaccurate even as it passed through his head. He wasn¡¯t wholly responsible for this problem, but he¡¯d certainly played a part. He also knew that other people had cleaned up his messes for him before. He couldn¡¯t feel too put upon if it fell to him from time to time to fix problems he hadn¡¯t really caused. He did think it probably was fair if he complained about it in the confines of his own mind. When the fox returned alone, Sen struggled to hide his disappointment. The fox, ever sensitive to social cues, picked up on it anyway.


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    ¡°I honestly did try to track them down,¡± said the Fox in an unnecessary defense. ¡°Misty Peak is adept, even for a fox.¡±


    ¡°You warned me it probably wouldn¡¯t work. It just would have been one less worry about if you had found her. I know I¡¯m always happier when I can move something off of my plate.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I expect that¡¯s true. Still, you seem rather distracted. Did my fair granddaughter pay you another visit?¡±


    Sen had hoped to put the conversation off for a little while longer, but he supposed it wouldn¡¯t be any more palatable in an hour.


    ¡°She did. She told me a story that I think we need to talk about.¡±


    The fox¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change, but Sen still got the distinct impression that Laughing River was suddenly and profoundly tense. He gave Sen a long look, as though he could read something from Sen¡¯s posture. Laughing River gave a curt nod as he walked over to a chair and sank into it slowly, looking more like an old man than Sen had ever seen before. The fox was very quiet for several minutes before he looked over at Sen.


    ¡°I expect the story goes something like this. I called for a gathering of the fox¡¯s elders and then sold them out, resulting in almost all of them dying. So, I¡¯m a traitor and deserve to die for it. Something along those lines?¡±


    ¡°Something like that,¡± agreed Sen.


    And?¡±


    ¡°And what?¡±


    ¡°What did you decide?¡± asked Laughing River.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t. I¡¯ll tell you what I told Misty Peak. I¡¯ve only heard one version of this story. This is too big of an issue for me to just accept the first thing someone tells me about it. So, I¡¯ll listen if you want to tell me your version of what happened.¡±


    The fox lapsed into an uncomfortable silence while staring off into the distance. However, Sen suspected the fox was staring into a distant time, rather than toward a distant place. A shudder ran through Laughing River, and then he started to speak.


    ¡°I imagine the bare bones of what she told you was mostly true. I did summon the other foxes. They did all die. It just wasn¡¯t any kind of betrayal on my part.¡±


    ¡°No? So, what did happen?¡±


    The fox gave Sen a sharp look at that question. ¡°You really have to ask? After all those years with that ghost panther, did you ever ask her what happened to her people?¡±


    ¡°I did, but the situations aren¡¯t exactly the same now, are they? Unless you and your granddaughter are the very last nine-tail foxes in the world.¡±


    The fox grimaced. ¡°No, I guess we didn¡¯t have it quite as bad as they did. Of course, there were a lot more of us. They seemed content just to wipe out the strongest of the foxes. I suppose they figured that it would just be too hard to track down all of the foxes. We¡¯re too good at hiding.¡±


    ¡°So are ghost panthers from what I¡¯ve seen.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not the same. Ghost panthers were good at sneaking around and not getting noticed, but they were always ghost panthers. It limited the way they thought. Foxes could be anyone or pretend to be anyone. We can slip into human cities and blend in. It¡¯s hard to kill spirit beasts who look and act just like everyone else in a crowd. We could just disappear.¡±


    ¡°You have to admit that it doesn¡¯t look good that you were the only one to survive that particular massacre. It rather paints you as an accomplice.¡±


    Laughing River gave Sen a look so hard that he leaned back from the nine-tail fox.


    ¡°Who said I was the only survivor? I wasn¡¯t the only fox who made it out alive. I made sure I wasn¡¯t the only one. I only managed to save a dozen or so. I wanted to save more, but the numbers they sent after us¡­ It was all I could do. I cut those bastards down by the dozens, but it just wasn¡¯t enough.¡±


    Oh, this is not good, thought Sen. He could feel himself getting pulled down into someone else¡¯s problem like he¡¯d been caught in a whirlpool. The elder fox might be lying, but it was a strange choice for a lie. It stood to reason that someone, not Sen if he had his way, but someone else could check to see if those foxes were still alive or had been after the supposed betrayal.


    ¡°Someone convinced Misty Peak that you were the only survivor. She believes it.¡±


    Some part of this didn¡¯t add up for Sen. How could Laughing River not know that this story was going around about him?


    ¡°No wonder she¡¯s been hounding me for all these years.¡±


    ¡°How is this new to you?¡± asked an incredulous Sen. ¡°How could you not know about any of this?¡±


    The fox took a long, long time to respond. ¡°I never went back.¡±


    ¡°To the other foxes?¡±


    ¡°How could I? How could I face them?¡± demanded the fox in a voice made unsteady by barely controlled emotion. ¡°How I could face their children when I failed them all so badly? They were better off without me.¡±

 V6 Chapter 32 – You Should Come Inside

    Sen had no ready answer to that emotional outburst. He lacked even a basic frame of reference, let alone the necessary experience to understand what the fox had been through. Sen possessed no wisdom to offer. He didn¡¯t even have an empty platitude he could mouth. His only solace was that Laughing River likely didn¡¯t expect him to provide any of those things. He hadn¡¯t really been asking questions. That was just the form the fox¡¯s grief and apparent guilt had taken in the moment. So, Sen remained silent while the fox regained his composure. It didn¡¯t go quite the way Sen expected. Instead of looking lost or sad, the fox¡¯s expression grew stony in a way that left Sen¡¯s insides feeling abruptly cold.


    ¡°It appears I may have been hasty in my decision to leave my people be,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°After we finish our business here, it seems that I may need to go correct some wrong assumptions.¡±


    Sen got the distinct impression that translated into Laughing River killing the foxes who had started that rumor about him in the first place. It almost had to be the foxes he¡¯d saved from the massacre. He supposed they¡¯d seen an opportunity when Laughing River voluntarily stepped away from all of the foxes. They could have invented some story about how they were delayed and missed the slaughter through luck or something similar. They would have all needed to be on the same page, though. Sen wondered if there had been some attrition in that group on the way home from the disaster. It sounded cold-blooded, but he supposed ambition often was cold-blooded in a way that made any obstacle look like it needed to be removed permanently. He¡¯d seen enough evidence of that from the sect members he¡¯d been unfortunate enough to encounter over the years. The one thing that Sen knew was that he wanted to be far, far, far away from whatever corrections that Laughing River had in mind.


    ¡°You should probably start with your granddaughter,¡± observed Sen, trying to keep the fox focused on the immediate problems in their vicinity. ¡°We¡¯re going to have a hard time finishing this little project of yours if she actively interferes. And she¡¯s going to get a lot of opportunities to interfere.¡±


    Laughing River eyed Sen like he thought the cultivator was trying to trick him but gave a reluctant nod.


    ¡°I suppose I should. I guess I¡¯ll have to go try to find them for real.¡±


    ¡°Seriously? What were doing all morning if you weren¡¯t looking for them?¡±


    ¡°I found a nice tree to take a nap in,¡± said the fox with zero shame.


    ¡°You could have found them all along?¡± demanded Sen.


    ¡°Oh, no. I wasn¡¯t lying about it being a very difficult task, even for someone with my extraordinary skills. I just wasn¡¯t motivated.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t like that sect girl. You didn¡¯t seem inclined to just kill her and be done with it. I figured that since my darling granddaughter injected herself into the situation, I¡¯d let her deal with it and spare your fragile conscience.¡±


    ¡°You know why I don¡¯t want her dead,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Something about sects and, I don¡¯t remember, something else. It all sounded very tedious.¡±


    Sen desperately wanted to yell at the fox, but he suspected that Laughing River was intentionally irritating him to reclaim some ground after having exposed such raw emotions. Shaking his head, Sen tried to think about calming things like choking the fox into unconsciousness. That mental image helped him feel a lot better.


    ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± asked the fox. ¡°That smile is positively creepy. Don¡¯t ever smile like that at anyone you don¡¯t intend to kill.¡±


    Sen looked directly at Laughing River without changing his expression and said, ¡°Noted.¡±


    ¡°How droll,¡± said the fox. ¡°Alright, I guess I¡¯ll go start searching for real. No time like the present to start finding out who I need to go murder for telling lies about me.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t foxes lie all the time?¡± asked Sen, feeling a little confused about where foxes drew the line about lying.


    ¡°Of course we do, but not about things that matter. Well, not about things that matter to us. What happened that day matters to every single nine tail fox alive, and foxes are lying about it. I won¡¯t let that stand.¡±


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    A lot of questions half-formed in Sen¡¯s mind before he decided that it just wasn¡¯t worth it. ¡°You know what? I¡¯m not even going to try to unravel that madness.¡±


    ¡°For the best, really. That kind of work should be left to professionals.¡±


    ¡°Professional what?¡±


    ¡°Liars,¡± said Laughing River with a bit of his old cheer coming back. ¡°If my granddaughter shows up here, you should try to keep her here.¡±


    ¡°Why would she show up here? And how would I get her to stay?¡±


    ¡°As for why she¡¯d show up here, who knows? But she keeps tracking you down, so it¡¯s not impossible. As for keeping her here,¡± the fox gave Sen a scathing look, ¡°try batting your eyelashes at her, or propositioning her, or hitting her on the head. Honestly, I¡¯m starting to wonder if you were dropped on your head repeatedly as a child.¡±


    Sen almost stifled a groan.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m still here putting up with your antics, so it seems entirely too probable.¡±


    ¡°Heh. A little on the nose, but that¡¯s the right spirit,¡± said Laughing River before he slipped out the door.


    A few minutes later, after realizing he didn¡¯t actually have anything specific to do, Sen went outside. There was still some daylight left but not enough for him to reasonably get much more of the formation made before night fell. He briefly considered doing some alchemy, but the entire situation had left his mind feeling dull and wrung out. That was the wrong place to be when working with materials that might literally explode in your face if you treated them the wrong way. He thought he could probably force the necessary level of clarity if it mattered, but there was nothing he needed to make that badly. Instead, he decided to work through his jian forms. That was something that didn¡¯t depend so much on him thinking as him finding the appropriate kind of mental state. Fortunately, it was a state of calm emptiness. He could do calm emptiness.


    It also helped that pure muscle memory would do a lot of the work for him. There was still some room for improvement since his body cultivation advanced. It seemed like a long time ago to Sen with so much having happened since then, but it hadn¡¯t truly been that long. With more fights in the near future being a near-certainty, it was as ideal a time as any to work out a few more of those kinks. Despite having done some of those forms thousands of times, they still felt vaguely off to Sen as the precision he¡¯d come to expect wasn¡¯t quite there. He stopped after one particularly sloppy parry. You¡¯re still thinking too much, Sen admonished himself. Do first, and then analyze. Sen resumed the first stance of the form and just stayed there for nearly five minutes. He let all of his recent concerns about Li Yi Nuo¡¯s sect, the horde, the ruins, and what he might find in them drop away one by one. Only when his mind was truly clear, did he begin.


    Rather than trying to figure out what to fix as he went through the forms, he just did them. He was viscerally aware of when things felt wrong but let that information fade into the back of his mind. He didn¡¯t analyze anything. He just did. As he completed one form and moved to the next, he was vaguely aware that things were happening more smoothly. By not trying to fix every little thing, he¡¯d given his body room to find more of an equilibrium between the stringent demands of the martial exercises and his body¡¯s new capacities. It wasn¡¯t perfect. The body can¡¯t think its way through problems, but not all of the problems needed that kind of attention. Only after he¡¯d gone through all the forms he knew, including the one he¡¯d almost accidentally picked up from Shi Ping, did he stop and start letting his mind analyze what had been going on.


    Sen knew better than most how important control was when using a fist or using a blade. Yet, looking back, he could see that he¡¯d been trying to overcontrol things in spots. When he¡¯d let go of that, some of the problems had self-corrected. The places where there were still issues were places where he¡¯d have to go back and practice individual moves until he relearned how they should feel under new conditions. He expected some people would find the work dreadfully dull, but it was the price of mastery. He was about to get started when he heard clapping. He spun toward the sound. Sen found himself wondering if that damned old fox was a diviner. Misty Peak was smirking at him as she clapped a little more.


    ¡°That was quite the performance,¡± she said.


    ¡°It really wasn¡¯t,¡± said Sen.


    The fox woman gave him a skeptical look. ¡°It looked pretty solid from over here.¡±


    ¡°The formations must be clouding your vision,¡± said Sen. ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried that your grandfather is going to come back?¡±


    ¡°No. He¡¯s off trying to find me. I put down a false trail for him to follow. It¡¯ll be at least another hour before he figures it out.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d have thought you¡¯d have something better to do than come and watch me. I mean, hostages don¡¯t feed themselves.¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t keep themselves quiet, either,¡± complained Misty Peak. ¡°I have to gag her to get a moment of peace.¡±


    ¡°You could just let her go,¡± said Sen. ¡°Surely, you¡¯ve realized by now that she¡¯s useless as leverage.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. I can¡¯t just let her go. What will you give me for her?¡±


    ¡°I can probably find some loose pebbles around here somewhere.¡±


    Misky Peak gave Sen a little pout. ¡°Well, that¡¯s not much of a gift, is it?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s not much of a hostage.¡±


    The fox woman looked past Sen, frowned, and gestured at the galehouse. ¡°Where do these things keep coming from?¡±


    Sen looked over his shoulder at the stone building and said, ¡°I make them.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Misty Peak with an expression of genuine surprise.


    A hand dropped onto the fox woman¡¯s shoulder and clamped down as Laughing River stepped out of nowhere. There was an expression of pure dread on Misty Peak¡¯s face.


    ¡°He really does,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°You should come inside and see it for yourself.¡±

 V6 Chapter 33 – What Did I Just Say?

    Sen watched with a mixture of amusement and sympathy as Laughing River dragged Misty Peak toward the galehouse. The fox woman reacted like a feral cat that had just been seized by something bigger. She kicked, scratched, thrashed, and screamed. Sen could just barely sense energy movement of some kind. He assumed that the pair of foxes were exchanging techniques that remained largely hidden by virtue of their fox natures. Based on the growing look of shock and horror on Misty Peak¡¯s face, Laughing River was shutting her down hard and making it look easy. Sen supposed that the elder fox had gotten injured in the earlier confrontation because he¡¯d been caught off guard or simply hadn¡¯t been inclined to bear personal witness to another fox¡¯s death. Sen couldn¡¯t really blame him if it was the latter. Now, Laughing River had an agenda and he wasn¡¯t going to let a little tantrum by his granddaughter get in the way.


    Laughing River looked over to Sen and said, ¡°I¡¯ll need a little privacy to discuss some things with my granddaughter.¡±


    Sen glanced at Misty Peak, who gave him a desperate, pleading look as she tried in vain to escape her grandfather¡¯s iron grip. He realized that he probably could intervene here. He had some leverage and even some tenuous moral authority. They had both dragged him into things he wanted no part of, things that had or would endanger his life, and they both knew it. If Sen put his foot down, there was a decent chance that they would both listen. Of course, that might well also put him in the position of needing to moderate everything between the two from here on out. That was a job he didn¡¯t want. This wasn¡¯t the first time he¡¯d been in a position like this, either. He¡¯d learned the hard way in that capital that there was simply no place for him in other people¡¯s royal politics. His good intentions were no substitute for direct knowledge and personal experience. If Laughing River and Misty Peak were going to make peace, it was on them to work out the details.


    ¡°This all strikes me as family business,¡± said Sen. ¡°Things didn¡¯t go very well the last time I inserted myself into that kind of affair. So, I¡¯m going to sit this one out.¡±


    Laughing River simply offered Sen a curt nod, while Misty Peak looked ready to start yelling at him. That lasted until elder fox started dragging toward the galehouse again amid increasingly hysterical protests. I really hope he doesn¡¯t kill her, thought Sen. He didn¡¯t think that was what Laughing River had in mind, but Sen had misread people before. In the end, though, all of it was fundamentally other people¡¯s problems. He¡¯d gotten sucked into the middle of it through sheer proximity and nothing more. If Laughing River hadn¡¯t dragged him out into the middle of the wilds, if Misty Peaks hadn¡¯t tried to intervene, he wouldn¡¯t know or care about any of what those two had to talk about. He sort of wished that he hadn¡¯t learned what he had about the situation.


    He felt sorry for the foxes, in an abstract way, that things had turned out the way they did, but he was very committed to the idea of staying out of other people¡¯s problems whenever he could. It wasn¡¯t that he believed that was realistic. There were already too many people showing up at random and trying to get him involved for that to last. But he was going to do what he could to maintain that not getting involved policy for as long as he could. Getting back to Fu Ruolan and her version of training would help a lot with that. It kept him out of sight, if not out of mind, and nicely inaccessible to most people. The kinds of people who could reach him there were the same kinds of people who would be generally uninterested in picking a fight with a supposedly crazy nascent soul cultivator.


    While he might not like shamelessly hiding behind someone else¡¯s power, he was starting to see that it could have advantages. And it wasn¡¯t as if he¡¯d gone to Fu Ruolan asking to hang around her house for years. She¡¯d insisted on it. If he was going to put up with the situation, he might as well extract a few benefits out of it. He reasoned that if he could keep that up for a while without too many excursions into the regular world, and then stay low profile for a while, he might be able to grow his own strength to the point where people would think twice about trying to strong-arm him into doing what they wanted. It wasn¡¯t a foolproof plan because it depended on things happening the way he wanted them to happen, but he decided it was better than no plan at all.


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    Sen heard a thump and the walls of the galehouse shivered for a moment. It brought Sen out of his speculative reverie. Shaking his head, he ignored it. Instead, he returned to what he¡¯d been doing before he¡¯d been interrupted. With a bit of a break, he was able to objectively evaluate where he was weak and start working on those parts of his jian forms. It was slow, methodical work, but the repetition of moves let him fall into a meditative frame of mind. It was a state that let him look at his shortcomings without the judgment that can cloud someone¡¯s thinking about their own skill level. After a couple of hours of that, night had fallen. Sen could have kept working, but there was a point at which you simply weren¡¯t going to wring any more improvements out of a day. He¡¯d built his skills over years. Correcting his current deficiencies wasn¡¯t the work of a day.


    Instead, with the galehouse still hosting the impromptu fox royal summit, Sen turned his mind to the matter of dinner. He ended up making several small fire pits with earth qi. He set one up as a spit to roast some meat. He cheated outrageously with fire qi to condense a modest pile of wood into a nice bed of coals and then buried some sweet potatoes to roast. A third fire was used to cook the all-important rice. The last fire pit was used to cook up some dumplings that Sen found hiding in a storage ring. He knew he must have prepared them at some point but couldn¡¯t remember exactly when. Since food never went bad in a storage ring, they literally could have been in there for years. When the food was all more or less cooked, he made a pot of tea. When there was still no sign of the foxes, Sen checked his annoyance and went over to the galehouse. He opened the door and stuck his head in. Misty Peaks was sullenly staring away from her grandfather, while Laughing River was standing a few feet away from her looking positively imperious.


    ¡°Hey,¡± said Sen, causing both foxes to shoot him glares, ¡°you¡¯ve been at this for hours. There¡¯s food now. You can argue some more after you eat.¡±


    Both glares softened a bit at those words. Sen didn¡¯t wait to see if either of them would say anything, he just pulled his head out of the galehouse and closed the door. It took a few minutes, but the foxes did come out. The foxes found seats and gave each other unhappy, sidelong looks while Sen dished up food. As the food accumulated on each plate, though, the foxes started looking at the food and him more than each other. He handed them each a plate. Laughing River had seen Sen cook before, although it was usually less extravagant. Misty Peak was giving him a look like she didn¡¯t quite know how she was supposed to lodge this new information into her perception of him. He just smiled at her. Then, he poured them each a cup of tea. After he handed those out, he gave the foxes both a stern look.


    ¡°Someone, and I¡¯m not asking who, but someone broke my favorite teapot while you two scuffled yesterday. I expect it to be replaced,¡± said Sen.


    Laughing River gave Misty Peak a very distinct I told you so look. The fox woman sighed and nodded at Sen.


    ¡°I broke it. I¡¯ll see to it that you get a replacement.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± said Sen. ¡°With that out of the way, it¡¯s time to eat.¡±


    The three barely exchanged a word as all of the food slowly vanished. It was Misty Peak who finally broke the silence with a question for Sen.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to ask how it¡¯s going?¡±


    ¡°Nope,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t curious?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not interested,¡± said Sen, and then clarified. ¡°Rather, let¡¯s say that the less I know, the less likely I am to get dragged any further into fox politics. I don¡¯t want random foxes thinking that I had anything to do with whatever you two finally decide about all of this.¡±


    ¡°You really think it¡¯ll be that easy?¡± asked Laughing River.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen, ¡°but I can hope. I¡¯ve already got mortal humans thinking I¡¯m okay with interfering with their governments. There are zero benefits to me if the foxes start thinking the same thing. That¡¯s a caravan¡¯s worth of trouble that I don¡¯t need or want. It might be inevitable, but I don¡¯t have to help things along by actually weighing in on any of it.¡±


    ¡°It seems like you¡¯ve given this a lot of thought,¡± observed Misty Peak.


    ¡°That¡¯s probably because I have.¡±


    ¡°And if I asked for your opinion?¡± asked Laughing River.


    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯m happy to make food and give you somewhere to squabble in peace, but that¡¯s as far as I¡¯m willing to go. You¡¯ve already made one of your problems into my problem, and I let you. I¡¯ll be much less accommodating if you try to do it again.¡±


    Misty Peak looked stunned that Sen had spoken to her grandfather that way, but the elder fox just gave Sen an approving nod. Then, Laughing River turned to Misty Peaks.


    ¡°That is what you do when someone says something stupid to you like your grandfather helped to murder a bunch of foxes.¡±


    Sen threw his hands into the air. ¡°What did I just say?!¡±


    The elder fox just howled in laughter.

 V6 Chapter 34 – Slowing Down

    The foxes disappeared inside the galehouse again after the meal was over, but it had a perfunctory look to it. Less of them resuming an argument and more of Laughing River preparing to tell Misty Peaks how things were going to be. Sen wasn¡¯t sure if that was a sign that the elder fox had convinced his granddaughter or if she was just going along to see how things played out. Even if she said she was convinced, it didn¡¯t really mean anything until she packed up and left. Again, he was perfectly happy to steer clear of it. Sen supposed he should be mildly grateful that Laughing River had provided him a golden opportunity to unequivocally say that fox business wasn¡¯t his concern. After all, Sen could tell Misty Peaks that he wasn¡¯t interested all day long and not have it be convincing. Telling the most potent nine-tail fox in the world to leave him out of it probably did a lot of convincing for Sen.


    The only real problems in front of Sen at that moment were the fact that the inside of the galehouse wasn¡¯t accessible and Li Yi Nuo¡¯s fate was still nebulous. That woman has been a hassle from the minute she showed up, thought Sen. With full night on them, neither of those problems had ready solutions. Not that Sen hadn¡¯t spent plenty of nights in the wilds, but he could usually go inside when he made a galehouse. Putting up a tent seemed redundant since Misty Peaks and Laughing River would finish their conversation eventually. It was ultimately the lack of privacy that was eating at Sen. Not that a tent provided real privacy, but it did offer the illusion of privacy. With the amount of time it would take the foxes to wrap up their business an open question, Sen grimaced a little, extinguished the fires, and put up a tent.


    Closing the flap of the tent and sprawling across some blankets was more of a relief than he¡¯d expected. He wondered if he¡¯d just been spending too much time with other people recently. Even at Fu Ruolan¡¯s, he¡¯d often spent long stretches of time alone. Since he left, he¡¯d been in the company of others almost constantly. He didn¡¯t mind the occasional interaction with a farmer or caravan because they could break up the monotony of travel. They also provided an opportunity to pick up some local news and rumors and maybe do a little trading for things Sen wanted. Yet, those interactions were also short-term by nature. An hour here, an evening there, and then back to familiar solitude. By closing that flap, he¡¯d sent a signal that he did not want to be disturbed. He had shut out the rest of the world and all of its problems.


    It would have been profoundly more convenient if he¡¯d been able to do that in the galehouse, though. While he could find ways to do things like read in the tent, it often proved more trouble than it was worth. He was paying too much attention to the environment to focus on anything. He could do some alchemy but that would invite Misty Peak or Laughing River to bother him if and when they came out. When all else fails, thought Sen, cultivate. A sect elder would probably tell him that he¡¯d been neglecting his cultivation recently. The reality was that he¡¯d been very intentionally limiting his active cultivation. Passive cultivation met most of his needs if he wasn¡¯t doing anything too spectacular or challenging. Active cultivation sped that process up a lot and brought him ever closer to forming another layer on his core. While there might be some immediate benefits to doing so, it would mean following a pattern of fast advancement toward which he¡¯d grown increasingly wary.


    He imagined that Li Yi Nuo or any other sect cultivator would probably spit blood if he ever voiced that out loud to them. Ridiculously fast advancement was the kind of miracle that most cultivators prayed would happen to them. Yet, the pitfalls of it were very real. While his foundation felt very solid to him and there had never been a hint of a problem like qi deviation, he wasn¡¯t confident that he had the necessary experience to recognize cultivation problems if they happened to him. That stupid turtle had pushed him straight through a couple of advancement levels in body cultivation when they first met. Levels that most people spent years getting comfortable with. Sen had decided that letting that rate of advancement continue as it had been was ultimately going to leave him with dangerous knowledge gaps about his own cultivation. Gaps that could and, knowing his luck, would become deadly liabilities to him.


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    So, he had done what he could to slow down. He had stopped actively cultivating most of the time. It was the one place where he had real control. He couldn¡¯t stop people from showing up to fight with him. He got the impression that the heavens were going to actively push him into ridiculously dangerous situations. He knew there was a relationship between learning about things like alchemy and cultivation advancements. Enlightenment was always a risk, but he couldn¡¯t stop learning. Fixing the problem with his body cultivation had forced his hand on that front. Plus, Fu Ruolan wasn¡¯t going to just let him take naps and cook food for the four years he had left with her. Even if he didn¡¯t want to learn and advance too much, she would make him learn something. It¡¯ll probably be really interesting, too, thought Sen. Because, of course, it will be.


    Underpinning these concerns was his unverified but chillingly plausible theory that someone or something was manipulating his path through life with the goal of pushing him to ascend way before he was ready. He could even see the appeal for whoever or whatever it was. Sure, he¡¯d arrive with a baseline level of power but a frankly terrifying lack of experience. Someone like Master Feng would prove almost impossible to manipulate. He¡¯d spent thousands of years honing his will and solidifying his mind. Plus, he¡¯d have all that accumulated wisdom to fall back on. He might be pushed into a corner by something more powerful, but he¡¯d go into the corner recognizing it for what it was and with a plan to escape it at some point. Sen wouldn¡¯t possess those advantages when he ascended. Worse, he suspected that he was going to need those advantages more desperately than most people who ascended. Manipulating him would be far easier simply because he¡¯d be less prepared by experience to see it coming.


    Slowing down was the only real defense he had against that outcome. While an extra decade or two might not be that much in the wider universe, it would be incredibly helpful to him. It would give him time to understand his own cultivation better and shore up those knowledge gaps. It would let him accumulate more direct experience in dealing with others. A little extra time couldn¡¯t replace countless centuries, but for someone as young as he was, every minute mattered. I need to do everything I can to prepare for what I¡¯m worried is waiting for me, he thought. Maybe it is a hollow concern, but I¡¯d rather prepare and be wrong than get blindsided the moment I ascend. After all, isn¡¯t that a big part of what cultivation is? Preparing for what might happen?


    There was nothing specific that alerted Sen, but he had a moment of quiet dread. It was as though the heavens had been waiting for him to have those thoughts and wanted to remind him that he could deny fate all he wanted, but he was on the schedule the heavens decided, not the one he wanted. It also felt like a particularly obnoxious affirmation of his fears of what was to come when heavenly qi cascaded down onto him. Sen gave serious consideration to shunting some of that qi into empty beast cores as he had once before. That thought seemed to trigger an even more intense outpouring of heavenly qi that almost physically pushed him into the ground. He remembered a time when he had looked forward to these moments. Now, it felt like the universe used these moments as a way to make sure that Sen never, ever felt like he was the one making the real decision in his life.


    There was a part of him that wanted to howl in frustration at that. On some level, he had thought that becoming a cultivator was a way for him to take a measure of control over his life. He supposed it was even true, as far it went. The problem was it didn¡¯t go nearly far enough for Sen¡¯s tastes. Oh, he could make some decisions. He could decide about the clothes he wore and the food he ate. The heavens didn¡¯t seem to care all that much about who he had as friends or who he took to bed. The big things, though, the "shape your life to be what you want" things were out of reach. It was the kind of situation that could make a man resentful. When he considered it, though, he wasn¡¯t special in that regard. He was riding in the same boat as everyone else. The universe just seemed compelled to remind him about it a little more often. Sen took a deep breath, accepted the inevitable, and started the process of building another layer to his core.

 V6 Chapter 35 – The Heavens Are Definitely Mocking Me

    He¡¯d known that this moment would arrive at some point and prepared for it. Natural treasures and beast cores spilled from a storage ring and onto the ground. There were cores from lightning cranes, wind serpents, and some kind of strange shadow beast he¡¯d never been able to identify. There were wood, fire, and earth-attributed natural treasures that he¡¯d picked up on this trip through the wilds. He¡¯d had similar, although dramatically less potent versions of the same cores and treasures before he¡¯d ventured into the wilds. It just seemed foolish to pass up the opportunity to maximize the potential benefits of the new layer to his core.


    There were lesser treasures and cores alignment to qi types he didn¡¯t regularly cultivate, but that he¡¯d still seen signs of lurking around the edges of his techniques. There was winter ivy for ice qi. He¡¯d found himself relying on other techniques to make ice, but he¡¯d sensed the ice qi inside of him. There was a core from a stormhawk. He¡¯d been hovering around the edges of making storms of his own for ages. Each core and treasure corresponded to something he was already using other techniques to do or things that he thought were realistic evolutions of things he was doing. After getting those treasures out, he had to focus. While the process was familiar to him, he was theoretically introducing new elements. That could mean instabilities in the process he lacked the knowledge or experience to predict.


    Mostly, though, he needed to bend his mind and will toward drawing all the different kinds of qi he needed to mix with that divine qi to form the new layer of the core. Plus, there was the compression required. He¡¯d been warned that each successive layer would likely require more effort. As with alchemy, Sen didn¡¯t try to actively control the process. He knew what he wanted and needed. He trusted his instincts to guide the details. Even as he focused on compressing the gathered qi, he felt other things happening. He felt the pool of liquid qi in his dantian drain away to be added to the layer. He felt himself dragging qi into his body and dantian from the cores and natural treasures. He felt the subtle manipulation of all those disparate types of qi being fused, melded, and woven together in ways he could never have accomplished with a conscious effort.


    The new layer grew over the old and, yet, it also grew into the previous layer, as though the process had liquefied the old surface of his core to allow for a better, more stable layer to form after the process was completed. He got lost in the process, most of his mental energies devoted to compressing that qi down into something ever-denser and more compact. Not simply a layer, but a shield that would protect the nascent soul growing inside his core from the dire tribulation that awaited him at the transition between core formation and the nascent soul stage. A tribulation that killed a dreadfully large percentage of the people who attempted to break through between those stages. A very legitimate fear of annihilation had stopped many cultivators cold at the peak of core cultivation. Sen just wished that he had that option. He was more certain than ever that if he tried to just stop advancing, the world itself would turn on him and force the issue.


    There was a momentary burst of relief as Sen felt the fresh and substantially thicker layer on his core solidify. That relief was immediately undercut by the heavenly qi that just kept pouring into him. For one terrifying second, he was completely at a loss. He¡¯d formed his core. There was nothing left to do. He imagined drowning in that river of qi before determination rose up to displace the animal fear that was threatening to unmake him. The new layer might be complete, but it wasn¡¯t as though he was nothing but a core. He seized control of some of that qi and used it to reinforce the spiral of divine qi that orbited his dantian. What had always looked relatively slender in his mind¡¯s eye grew thicker and then thicker still.


    If it had been an object in the physical world, what he did next might not have worked. Inside him as it was, he was able to exert the same kind of pressure on that helix as he had on his core. He compressed the qi of the spiral, making it denser and, he knew through some kind of intuition, more efficient. That helix of divine qi started to glow. With heavenly qi so abundant, he repeated the process and then repeated it again. The helix was so bright that it was almost difficult for him to look at it with his mind¡¯s eye. Yet, he could also tell there was a problem. That spiral of divine qi was too potent. He could feel the pressure from it unraveling the other helix, that bizarre multicolored helix he¡¯d never really come to understand. What he did understand was that those helixes worked in tandem now. The loss of one would be bad for him in some fundamental way.


    He desperately started dumping cores and natural treasures out of his storage rings until he was almost the image of a greedy dragon lounging among his treasures. He siphoned off whatever kind of qi felt right, weaving them together and into the second helix, his conscious mind only nominally in control as something deeper, something more profound, a part of him that Sen rarely interacted with directly took a hand in the process. It¡¯s my soul, Sen realized. That revelation was so jarring that it very nearly disrupted everything. There was a lurching sensation inside of Sen as the helixes threatened some kind of terrible mutual destruction. He knew that if that happened, he wouldn¡¯t survive it. Slowly, so slowly that Sen¡¯s heart was racing in panic, the process stabilized again. He kept weaving more and more threads into that second helix until it reached a point where something needed to happen.


    Taking a chance, Sen did with the second helix what he¡¯d done with the first and compressed it. It took so much effort that beads of bloody sweat broke out on Sen¡¯s forehead. At what felt like a glacial pace, the second spiral condensed and transformed. Rather than countless threads of individual qi, it was a single strand of that multicolored qi. Sen would have cried out in joy at his success if he hadn¡¯t known that he¡¯d have to keep doing that until the helixes balanced each other out. Meanwhile, that divine qi had just kept pouring into him. He took a brief moment to direct some of it into his core and his dantian. Then, he started cycling it out into his channels and letting it bleed into his body. He¡¯d already done this once, so he doubted that he¡¯d be doing himself any harm by giving his body a second dose. Once he got that process started, he could relegate it to the back of his mind. There was so much heavenly qi that the process would sustain itself with only the barest direction from him.


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    He returned to the second helix. He pushed away his mental exhaustion and the screaming agony from his body as the heavenly qi did something that was reforging his organs, bones, tissues, and even something in his blood. He really wanted to go and investigate that, but there simply wasn¡¯t time. The helixes weren¡¯t balanced, yet. They¡¯d been stable enough to let him take that quick break to make sure he didn¡¯t die, but that was it. He kept dragging in qi from the beast cores around him, the natural treasures, and the environment. He took a hint from making his core and wove a new layer on top of the multicolored spiral. That gave him a brief respite from exerting constant monumental pressure. A respite that vanished all too soon. He¡¯d hoped that what he¡¯d just done would be enough, but the densities weren¡¯t right yet. He had to do another layer, and then another. Some part of him said there was something important about the variance, but he¡¯d have to worry about that later. The helixes finally settled into a state of equilibrium.


    He was certain, absolutely sure, that when he got that far, the heavenly qi would stop. It didn¡¯t. Bone-deep fear started taking root inside of Sen. He¡¯d done everything he could think to do. He couldn¡¯t direct any more heavenly qi into his body. It was still trying to process what he was already feeding it. He¡¯d added a layer to his core. He¡¯d remade those odd helixes. There was nothing left, but the qi kept coming. He wildly scanned the cores around him and started filling any that were empty. Then he searched his storage rings for any others that were empty and filled those. It was barely enough to give him a moment of relief. Everything inside of him felt like it was being scorched by the sun. Every piece of his body, his dantian, and even his usually shadowy core were blazing with light. He didn¡¯t understand. Why were the heavens doing this? If they meant him to die, there were easier ways than burning him up with heavenly qi. And they could burn him up that way.


    Heavenly qi was a unique, powerful blessing, but it usually came in small doses. A fraction of what had been shoved inside of him was enough to trigger advancements and offer insights into the nature of existence. He felt like a fleshy sack that had been overstuffed and some negligent clerk was trying to cram more inside of him. If he was going to survive what was increasingly feeling like some kind of punishment or bizarre cultivator nightmare, he had to act. He needed to find something to do with all of that qi. It was anathema to everything cultivators believed, but he could expel it. Just dump it into the environment. He had no idea what that would do to the plants, animals, and spirit beasts in the area, but he was swiftly approaching the point of not caring at all about those kinds of things. Other cultivators would lose their minds at just discarding all of that qi, but other cultivators didn¡¯t risk dying from a so-called blessing.


    Resolved to do the unthinkable, Sen tried to push the divine qi out of his body. He¡¯d barely even started before something from outside stopped him. It was an immutable force. A will the likes of which he¡¯d never felt that simply decided that he would not discard this gift from the heavens. Sen had thought that the pain in his body earlier had been severe, but that was a sip of cool fruit juice compared to the incandescent torture he was going through now. He couldn¡¯t tell if he was screaming or not. He thought he must be, but his mind had retreated from all of it in some act of sanity preservation. He struggled to find a solution, but anything he came up with simply wouldn¡¯t use enough of the heavenly qi to matter. Meanwhile, he could sense his body starting to unravel. I¡¯ve got seconds left before this really does just kill me, he thought with an odd level of calm.


    Maybe the heavens had expected him to find a solution and he¡¯d just failed. It wasn¡¯t like people overcame every challenge the heavens sent their way. He had done everything he could think to do and come up short. Accepting that truth let him move past the fear and panic. He supposed he could stop worrying about some master manipulator from beyond the stars waiting for him after ascension. That was liberating, even if it did come mere moments from death. As Sen braced himself for the final moment, he felt something odd. Something inside of him, something he couldn¡¯t see or access directly, shifted a little. There was a tremendous crack that reverberated inside his being, and it was like a gate had opened to somewhere. All of that excess divine qi started draining away from him. No, he thought, not away from me. It¡¯s draining away from my body and my core. But where is it going?


    He tried to follow the path of the qi to whatever hole had opened upside of him, but he couldn¡¯t. He wasn¡¯t stopped like he had been when he tried to expel the qi. Nothing intervened to prevent him from doing it. He just didn¡¯t have the mental strength left to do it. He¡¯d taxed his mind to its limits and then taxed it some more. Now, the price was due. He was conscious. He was aware. That was as far as it went. He had to satisfy himself with the reality that the qi was going somewhere and that somewhere wasn¡¯t causing him pain. He could feel questions or things that might become questions later swirling around somewhere below his conscious mind. There was, as usual, too much happening that he didn¡¯t understand. But as all that qi was dragged away to somewhere else, all he could really think about was that he wasn¡¯t going to die.


    A breath Sen hadn¡¯t realized he was holding exploded from his lips as the crushing pressure of heavenly qi finally relented. The last of the heavenly qi was pulled away to its mysterious new home. Wherever that was. Sen¡¯s head lolled to one side and he lifted a trembling hand to wipe away the wetness on his face. He blinked at the sight of his hand and then shook it off. He¡¯d deal with that later. He wiped his face and wasn¡¯t surprised to see the hand came away bloody. This hadn¡¯t been an easy advancement. Some of the physical misery he was still in leaked through to his conscious mind and Sen groaned.


    ¡°The heavens are definitely mocking me.¡±

 V6 Chapter 36 – Cold Comfort

    Everything inside of Sen wanted him to¡­ No, it was begging him to sleep. The kind of overpowering exhaustion that came from having your mind, body, and cultivation taxed to their limits wasn¡¯t new to Sen, but it simply wasn¡¯t something that a person could ever learn to shrug off. It went too deep, and nothing could cure it but sleep. Unfortunately, Sen also knew that a tribulation could be headed his way at that very second. He really didn¡¯t want lightning burning a hole through his tent. It¡¯d let the rain in, thought Sen. He knew that worrying about his tent when a possibly lethal tribulation might strike at any second was absurd on a level that bordered on the insane. Yet, the thought persisted and forced Sen to action. Fighting his body the entire way, Sen crawled out of his tent.


    He was surprised in a disturbingly distant way that it was night. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was the same night or a different night and couldn¡¯t muster the energy to care. Sen tried to stand, got as far as his knees, and simply couldn¡¯t rise any farther. His body either refused to stand or was incapable of it. Sen supposed that there wasn¡¯t much practical difference between those options, but it felt like an important distinction. His eyes kept threatening to close without so much as a courtesy check-in with his mind even as he tried to scan the skies. For all that he¡¯d just gained, and he knew that he had gained a lot, Sen felt horribly vulnerable. He wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d be able to do anything more than simply take the hits and hope for the best if a tribulation descended at that moment. That cheery line of thought was interrupted by the near-hysterical voice of Laughing River.


    ¡°What in every single last hell was that?¡± demanded the elder fox.


    Sen managed to look over the fox, half lifted a hand to either wave the fox off or possibly just to wave. Parsing his own intentions through the haze of exhaustion was next to impossible. His vision was getting blurry around the edges as sleep threatened to claim him regardless of his will in the matter. Misty Peak¡¯s eyes were open as wide as they could go and remained locked on Sen. He did his best to sum up what had just happened in the fewest possible words that would allow the other two to make sense of it. When he realized that no version of that explanation existed that only took one syllable, he just grunted something wholly inarticulate at them. He turned his eyes skyward again, hoping against hope that this would be one of those times the heavens opted not to send a tribulation.


    ¡°Did he always look like that?¡± asked a perplexed Misty Peak.


    ¡°No, he most certainly did not always look like that. Sen, what-¡± Laughing River started to say.


    It was the last thing Sen heard before the final flickering vestiges of willpower in him winked out. His eyes rolled up into his head, and he felt himself slump forward. He was unconscious before he reached the ground. When consciousness returned, it came back like a bolt of lightning. One second, there was blissful nothingness. The next second, he was wide awake and trying to stand. Except, nothing looked the same. That moment of confusion caused him to topple off the bed he was trying to stand on and drop onto the hard stone floor of the galehouse. The fall didn¡¯t hurt him physically. It just made him glad there was no one else around to witness his supreme lack of grace. Grunting in annoyance, he stood up and, after a moment of thought, sat down on the bed. He needed to take a moment and get his bearings.


    ¡°Okay,¡± he muttered. ¡°No tribulation, I guess.¡±


    Sen''s confidence that a tribulation would have killed him was nearing absolute certainty. He didn¡¯t want to speculate too much about why he¡¯d gotten to skip the tribulation this time, but it was hard not to wonder. Maybe the heavens were giving me a break since they were the ones who pushed it so far, he mused. He hesitated to give the heavens that much credit, but it seemed like the only real explanation. Sen certainly hadn¡¯t been angling for a breakthrough. Quite the opposite. He¡¯d had it pushed onto him. A not-so-subtle sign that his slow down approach wasn¡¯t getting any kind of approval from the heavens or at least a few figures in the heavens. Part of him wanted to believe that massive outpourings of heavenly qi weren¡¯t the kind of thing that the heavens could do all that often. He wanted to believe it, but he didn¡¯t. While that had felt like an obscene amount of heavenly qi to him, it probably wasn¡¯t anything to a god or the heavens in general.


    It would be like him pouring qi down onto a qi-gathering cultivator. Amounts of qi that he took for granted would seem overwhelming to someone at that level of advancement, and he expected the gulf between him and ascended beings was a lot bigger than the one between him and qi-gathering cultivators. In short, if the heavens wanted to do something like that to him every day, they probably could. He suspected the only reason they didn¡¯t was that the constant strain on his body, mind, and cultivation would likely kill him instead of make him advance faster. Now that¡¯s a cold comfort, thought Sen. I only get these long breaks between massive, terrifying infusions of heavenly qi because it¡¯s not a self-serving behavior for whoever does this. He chased those thoughts around in a circle for a while before shaking it off. He only had suspicions at present. Annoying, logical suspicions, perhaps, but no actual proof. He couldn¡¯t ignore them, but he realized that letting those suspicions rule his life would likely lead to madness.


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    Instead, Sen turned his mind toward something else that had happened during that bizarre, unwanted advancement. Something he might actually be able to understand. When he¡¯d been sure that qi was going to kill him, something had changed. A door, or gate, or some kind of channel he¡¯d never felt before had opened and let the qi drain away. It had gone somewhere but somewhere that was still connected to him. He was sure of that much. Sen looked inside himself, trying to find the exact place where that gate was located. He searched his memory and tried to match that with what he could feel and see. He found the spot, but it just looked like more of him. There was nothing special there. He pressed his mind against that spot and tried to press open whatever had opened there before. He ramped up the pressure until he was certain he was going to give himself a nosebleed. He bore down on that spot with his spiritual sense and tried to glean any kind of insight.


    There was something there, but it was out of his reach. It felt like it was trapped behind a barrier that was gossamer thin but entirely opaque and harder than steel. When his head was pounding at the strain of it, he released the pressure he was applying. No wonder it took all of that qi to open that channel, thought Sen. I can barely sense it. He toyed with a few possibilities but concluded that there was really only one place where all that qi could have gone. Somewhere connected to him but almost inaccessible? His soul was the only real option. He supposed it also made sense that the soul was protected from meddling even by the soul¡¯s owner. Not that it was wholly inviolable. Sen knew that much from personal experience. After all, he had a technique that could seemingly affect the soul. Although, he wasn¡¯t sure that technique would work the same way if he didn¡¯t use divine qi. It would probably still do something, and something terrible, but maybe not something that persisted for so long and resisted all attempts to change it.


    Of course, Sen wasn¡¯t sure what a sudden influx of heavenly qi would do to a soul. He had to assume that it would be helpful but helpfulness was often a matter of degrees. The right amount of medicine would help, while the wrong amount could kill. How much divine qi could a soul absorb without harm? The dumb turtle had said his soul was already under strain. Would that fresh qi heal that strain or add to it? He didn¡¯t know. Worse, he didn¡¯t think he knew anyone who would know. Cultivators dealt in bodies and cores, not the ineffable, transcendent presence that was the immortal soul. While he hadn¡¯t discussed it in depth with Master Feng, the elder cultivator had expressed his own belief that the nascent soul was something different than the immortal soul. Something layered over the immortal soul, rather than a replacement. Master Feng had also admitted that it was only his own belief and that no cultivator he¡¯d ever met was sure about the relationship.


    It left a disturbing amount of ground for uncertainty in Sen¡¯s opinion, as well as reinforcing his own belief that cultivators didn¡¯t simply ascend into godhood. If nothing else, he thought that gods should understand souls as a basic requirement for that role in the universe. He supposed that there was the possibility that ascension unlocked that kind of knowledge, but he doubted it. He¡¯d had to learn everything he knew about cultivation. Even the things he did on instinct only happened after he started learning about something. No, it seemed far more likely that the path to true godhood was a lot longer than most cultivators wanted to believe. Sighing, Sen realized that he was thinking about increasingly tangential things simply to avoid looking at something he didn¡¯t want to think about.


    Glaring a little, he lifted a hand and turned it back and forth. I guess I wasn¡¯t imagining that part, he thought. While he imagined that mortal eyes would just see a faint glow about him, Sen¡¯s eyes could see what was really happening. There were thousands of tiny points of concentrated divine qi covering his skin. That was problematic for several reasons, but the biggest reason was that Sen didn¡¯t know what it meant for him. If he was just going to glow a little bit, that would be wildly inconvenient but manageable. His luck never seemed to run that way, though. It seemed far more likely that those points of concentrated qi were meant to do something. And if I had the nonexistent manual for the Six-Fold Body Transformation, Sen thought with more than a little annoyance, it would probably be in there. Deciding that glowing was too much to bear, he tried to consciously suppress the glow. Much to Sen¡¯s surprise, it worked. Those points of condensed divine qi seemed to sink deeper into his skin.


    ¡°Well, at least one thing went right today,¡± he said.


    As soon as the words passed his lips, those points reappeared on his skin.


    ¡°Oh, come on!¡±

 V6 Chapter 37 – Not that Special

    After feeling disgruntled for a minute or two, Sen realized that suppressing the glow wasn¡¯t really any different than his passive cultivation. It was just one more thing he needed to do and then push into the background of his thoughts. With yet another core advancement and, maybe not an advancement, but a change to his body cultivation, he discovered that wasn¡¯t a real effort. Every advancement seemed to make his mind more efficient even as it made his core more powerful. With that reminder, he finally looked at his core. It was larger than it had been but otherwise looked unchanged. He could feel the qi inside the core, more potent than ever. However, it was the state of his dantian that drew most of his attention. This advancement seemed to do naturally what he¡¯d done artificially all those years ago and expanded his dantian. That was welcome news, as it meant that he¡¯d be unlikely to run dry of qi in any but the most extreme circumstances.


    What he wasn¡¯t sure about was what was filling his dantian. That strange double helix formation had sped up the process of refining liquid qi, but its transformation had come with a transformation to the qi it made. The liquid qi it had always made was now substantially thicker than it had been. It was still liquid, but it radiated a strength it never had before. Sen sighed. He¡¯d been closing in on the end of adapting to his body¡¯s new strength and speed and now this. The added potency his techniques would get from this new, denser, stronger qi would be welcome if things went wrong getting into or out of the ruins, but it also meant he¡¯d be a danger to any ally that was too close by. While the horde had seemed largely disinterested in relatively minor techniques being thrown around in the forest near them, he wasn¡¯t as confident that they¡¯d ignore him testing his limits. It might also attract more traditional spirit beasts that he¡¯d rather not fight. If he had to fight, he¡¯d have to learn about his new strength as he went, which was the least ideal way of doing it.


    ¡°At least I¡¯m going into those ruins alone. No allies to accidentally injure while I do that,¡± said Sen as he changed into fresh robes.


    When he stepped out of the room where he¡¯d been sleeping, he found Laughing River waiting for him. A quick glance around showed that they were alone in the common area of the galehouse.


    ¡°She¡¯s not here,¡± said the fox. ¡°I sent her back to feed and water that sect girl.¡±


    ¡°Li Yi Nuo is a person, not a houseplant,¡± said Sen.


    Laughing River waggled a hand in the air to indicate that he wasn¡¯t convinced about that comment.


    Sen rolled his eyes. ¡°You need to lay off that poor woman. She isn¡¯t a terrible cultivator. She¡¯s not even a terrible person. She¡¯s just normal and inexperienced as cultivators go. You¡¯re too used to dealing with nascent soul cultivators and freaks like me. She¡¯s going to end up with a heart demon if you belittle her like that to her face.¡±


    Laughing River went very still. ¡°I hadn¡¯t considered that. Alright, I¡¯ll try to be a little nicer to her if we ever see her again.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you settle things with your granddaughter? Couldn¡¯t you just tell her to give Li Yi Nuo back to us?¡±


    ¡°I did settle things with her, but I don¡¯t want the sect girl back. Sun Linglu knows that. You¡¯ll have to work out that trade for yourself.¡±


    Sen frowned at the name, Sun Linglu, before he remembered that was what Misty Peak made most people call her.


    ¡°Great, like I didn¡¯t have enough things to do right now.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of doing things,¡± said Laughing River, ¡°would you care to enlighten me as to what in the name of Glorious Moon happened to you?¡±


    ¡°Glorious Moon?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Ugh! You humans and your terrible education. She was my great, great, great, great,¡± Laughing River started counting on his fingers and then shook his head, ¡°bunch more greats grandmother. She was supposed to be the first nine-tail fox. Forged herself an empire that lasted for three thousand years. There was love, betrayal, tragedy, a vow of eternal vengeance. All the usual stuff. Now talk!¡±


    ¡°I had an advancement. Added a layer to my core. Not that special.¡±


    ¡°Ox shit! I¡¯ve seen thousands of advancements in my very long life, Sen. Exactly none of them looked even remotely like that.¡±


    Sen offered a sheepish half-shrug. ¡°The heavens might have been sending me a little message.¡±


    Laughing River leveled a flat look at Sen. ¡°You don¡¯t say?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that. It¡¯s not like they sent a letter along explaining what they were doing or why. I¡¯m making educated guesses here. And I really did advance, for the record.¡±


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    ¡°Oh, I know you did. It¡¯s just so common for someone to jump from the middle stage of core formation clear to the end of late stage core formation. Happens all the time. Just how thick was that layer you formed?¡±


    ¡°I, um,¡± Sen hesitated. ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know how to answer that question. It was thick-er than the other ones I¡¯ve made.¡±


    ¡°I should fucking well think so!¡± Laughing River shouted.


    ¡°Why are you so angry at me?!¡± Sen shouted back. ¡°I didn¡¯t plan it.¡±


    Laughing River, who was visibly shaking, made a very obvious effort to get himself under control. The fox paced around the room for the better part of two minutes. He turned to say something to Sen a few times, only to change his mind and continue pacing. Sen decided not to waste the opportunity. He started brewing tea and searching his storage ring for something to eat that didn¡¯t require preparation. There was still a stone table, but it was too big for his current needs. Sen waved a hand and some earth qi reshaped the table into something smaller. Laughing River and Sen both stared at the spot where the new table sat. Sen had gotten faster at reshaping the stone elements of the galehouses with time, advancement, and practice. This time, the process took a mere second or two. Well, I guess that¡¯s useful, thought Sen. One test successfully completed. He put the tea and fruit onto the table before summoning two chairs. He dropped into one of the chairs. Laughing River stared at the other chair briefly before he sat down in it.


    ¡°I apologize,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have been barking at you like some kind of crazed dog.¡±


    Sen frowned. ¡°Are foxes some kind of dog?¡±


    Laughing River looked like he wanted to say something cutting, but he resisted that impulse.


    ¡°Foxes are distantly related to dogs. We¡¯re a little closer to wolves, but even that isn¡¯t a close relationship. The distance only gets bigger when you¡¯re dealing with a nine-tail fox. I¡¯m probably more closely related to you than to a dog or wolf.¡±


    ¡°Huh. I never knew any of that.¡±


    ¡°I guess that is the intended purpose of a question. To learn something. Seriously, though, you should never ask another fox that question.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll probably end up in a fight for your life. It¡¯s a cultural thing. It¡¯d be a bit like me asking if you¡¯re some kind of monkey.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I can see how that might not go over so well,¡± said Sen before he thought of something. ¡°Am I some kind of monkey?¡±


    ¡°You really want to ask me, a fox, a question like that?¡±


    Sen thought it over and realized that it had probably taken most of the fox¡¯s restraint not to start mocking him immediately.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking that the right answer here is no.¡±


    ¡°As long as you¡¯re aware. The answer to your question is that you¡¯re related, distantly. How do you not know this?¡±


    ¡°How would I know it?¡± asked Sen.


    Laughing River just looked at Sen for a second. ¡°Oh, right, wrong world. Damn it. I need to get you up to speed on some things. But not right this second. Right now, we¡¯re talking about you.¡±


    ¡°Apparently,¡± said Sen. ¡°So, now that you¡¯re a bit calmer, can you tell me why you¡¯re so upset?¡±


    ¡°Because that isn¡¯t how advancements happen,¡± said the fox. ¡°That isn¡¯t how heavenly qi shows up, either. People strive for advancement. They work at it. They chase it. They don¡¯t have it shoved down their throats like medicine that tastes bad. As for divine qi, the barest sliver of what you got would have been enough to propel most people into an advancement. I don¡¯t even know how you survived that, let alone what you did with all that qi. It should have burned you up like a piece of tinder.¡±


    Sen almost told the fox about where all that extra divine qi went, but he stopped himself. He liked Laughing River well enough. The fox might even have some insights to give him. However, that felt like a secret that he shouldn¡¯t share with anyone that he didn¡¯t have absolute faith and trust in. Without understanding exactly what happened and what it meant, revealing that information might put him in danger without Sen even realizing it. No, better to hold that back until he had a chance to talk with Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, or Uncle Kho. If nothing else, they could advise him about whether to share that information with anyone else. Well, he¡¯d tell Falling Leaf about it because she was Falling Leaf. He wasn¡¯t going hide something like that from her. Sen could tell that Laughing River was studying him.


    ¡°You¡¯re not going to tell me,¡± said the fox.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Because you don¡¯t trust me.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not the only reason, but it¡¯s one of them. I trust that you probably won¡¯t kill me in sleep, but giving you insights into the deepest parts of my cultivation. Come on? Who would tell you about that? I notice you haven¡¯t volunteered any information about what you do or how you do it.¡±


    The fox looked like he wanted to protest, but then he snorted and gave Sen a familiar grin. ¡°Yeah, I suppose that¡¯s fair. I see that the glowing thing was temporary.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I wish,¡± said Sen.


    He relaxed his control over the concentrated points of divine qi, and they immediately rose to the surface of his skin. The fox looked startled for a moment before he peered at Sen with curious eyes.


    ¡°You know what that is?¡± asked the fox.


    ¡°I know what it is. I¡¯m hazier on what it does and why it¡¯s there at all.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure how much insight I can give you about the why. I assume it¡¯s related to your body cultivation, but anything beyond that is pure guessing. I have seen things that look like this a few times before. Qi that¡¯s embedded that way. There hasn¡¯t been much rhyme or reason to what they do, though. Sometimes, it¡¯s defensive. Sometimes it¡¯s involved in an offensive technique. Sometimes, I never saw it do anything.¡±


    ¡°So, I¡¯m just going to have to figure it out the hard way.¡±


    ¡°Probably,¡± admitted the fox. ¡°Since it¡¯s you, though, I imagine it¡¯s part of an offensive technique.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°You¡¯re almost obnoxiously resilient. You don¡¯t particularly need more defensive measures. So, I¡¯m betting it¡¯s something to help you fight.¡±


    ¡°That sounds depressingly plausible,¡± said Sen.


    The two sat lost in their own thoughts for a time. Sen roused himself enough to warm the tea with his qi and lift the cup to his lips. He took a sip. Just as he was swallowing, the fox struck.


    ¡°So, have you seduced my granddaughter, yet?¡±


    Sen choked on the tea.

 V6 Chapter 38 – I Don’t Glower

    After he finished coughing and wheezing, Sen threw the fox a death glare.


    ¡°Why would you even ask me that?¡±


    The fox arched an eyebrow at Sen. ¡°My amusement.¡±


    Sen opened his mouth to say something with acid in it, paused, and then nodded. ¡°Yeah, I guess that was a stupid question. Still, what if I had seduced her?¡±


    The fox shrugged. ¡°You probably would have choked a bit more? I¡¯d say congratulations? I¡¯m not really sure what you¡¯re getting at.¡±


    At an utter loss, Sen stood up and said, ¡°I have a formation to finish.¡±


    He got most of the way to the door before it opened and Misty Peak stalked in looking annoyed. Sen paused long enough to nod at her before he slipped past her and out the door.


    ¡°You¡¯re leaving?¡± she asked to the empty air.


    ¡°Yep,¡± Sen shouted back over his shoulder.


    ¡°Wait!¡± she shouted. ¡°I have questions.¡±


    ¡°Nope,¡± said Sen. ¡°We did that part already. It¡¯s formation-building time now.¡±


    Sen heard the fox woman grumble something to her grandfather and then the telltale sound of very light footsteps racing to catch up to him. The fox woman came alongside him and leveled a hard look his way. Sen ignored it. He¡¯d already been through one round of questions and wasn¡¯t feeling especially filled with joy at the prospect of another.


    ¡°If you keep glaring like that, your illusion¡¯s face will get stuck that way,¡± observed Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯m not glaring,¡± said Misty Peak.


    ¡°Fine. Glowering.¡±


    ¡°I am a fox. I don¡¯t glower. I give penetrating looks,¡± she said while glowering at him a little harder.


    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°You¡¯re doing that whole be aggravating so I¡¯ll leave thing again, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Is it working?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± declared Misty Peak.


    ¡°Then, I definitely wasn¡¯t doing that.¡±


    ¡°Very amusing.¡±


    ¡°See,¡± said Sen, pointing at her. ¡°Look at me being all funny and not aggravating.¡±


    The pair fell into an awkward silence for a little while. Sen waited until they got to a particularly rough patch of terrain.


    ¡°Your grandfather thinks I should seduce you,¡± said Sen in an offhand manner.


    ¡°Wha-¡± Misty Peak started to say before she tripped over a root and fell.


    ¡°Watch your step there,¡± said Sen without breaking stride. ¡°Lots of exposed roots around here.¡±


    Sen caught a bit of Misty Peak cursing under her breath as she got to her feet and caught up. She tried to push him while she thought he wasn¡¯t paying attention. Sen sidestepped and the fox woman very nearly went down again. He turned to look as she caught herself on a root that was so thick it stuck out of the ground nearly as high as the woman¡¯s waist. He lifted an eyebrow.


    ¡°I thought you foxes were supposed to be all sensual grace,¡± said Sen while shaking his head in feigned disappointment. ¡°Oh, your ancestors must be weeping blood in their shame.¡±


    Misty Peak¡¯s mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide with fury. Then, to add insult to injury, Sen stuck out his tongue at her and took off at a run.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you run away from me, you bastard!¡± she all but screamed at Sen.


    Way to announce our location to everything in the forest, thought Sen. He almost immediately took his run up into the trees. With daylight as his ally, he was able to venture far higher than he¡¯d dared when she¡¯d been chasing him. Plus, it was a good way to get a feel for what his advancement meant in practical terms. That test very nearly got him killed when his qinggong technique shot him nearly a hundred feet farther than he meant to go and at speeds that would have meant serious injury if he¡¯d hit anything. He managed to slow himself down and bounce off another tree. For a few minutes, all Sen did was move in straight lines and try to figure out how to control his speed better. I guess a flying sword or just flying on a qi platform is firmly in the you can do this as much as you want area now, thought Sen. Between his already extremely efficient management of the technique and the staggering boost in power the augmented qi in his dantian gave him, the drain was almost negligible. Sen made a mental note to thank Master Feng for teaching him that particular qinggong technique the next time they saw each other.


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    Smirking a little to himself, he slowed down enough that Misty Peaks gained a bit of ground on him. It looked like she was working harder than he was to stay up in the trees, so the only thing to do was mess with her a little. He stopped on a thick limb and ate a piece of fruit while he watched her close the distance. When she looked like she was about two leaps away, he took off like a shot and hid. He spent the next five minutes keeping her just in sight before he slipped away and circled back. He ghosted along behind her until she finally drew to a stop on a limb. He had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing at the thoroughly frustrated look on her face. He formed a qi platform and floated over toward her until he was less than five feet away.


    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Sen asked.


    Misty Peak whirled around, gasped, and fell off the branch. Well, hells, thought Sen. I didn¡¯t want that to happen. He figured that she could probably catch herself but didn¡¯t want to run the risk that she couldn¡¯t. The idea of trying to explain to Laughing River that he¡¯d accidentally gotten the elder fox¡¯s granddaughter killed did not strike Sen as a great way to improve his chances of a long life. He anchored his feet to the qi platform and then flipped the whole thing upside down. He bent his legs at the knees and launched himself after her. A few quick applications of wind qi let Sen redirect his body so he¡¯d get close enough to grab her or let her grab him. It only took him a second or two to realize he was moving way too fast. Another fast use of wind qi slowed him down enough that he wouldn¡¯t yank her arm out of the socket. He extended a hand toward her, and when he got close enough, her hand clamped down on his. Sen pulled her over to him, where she promptly locked her arms and legs around him.


    While the idea of the ground rushing toward him at speed would have induced terror at one point, now it was just one more hassle to deal with. He used wind qi one last time to turn them so they were falling feet first and made the widest qi platform he could. The platform caught the air and they slowed down so fast that Sen briefly worried Misty Peak might lose her grip. By the time they reached ground level again, they were floating as gently as a piece of dandelion fluff. After a second or two, he frowned as the fox woman remained wrapped around him.


    ¡°You can get down now,¡± he said.


    ¡°After all that effort you put into saving me,¡± she said, pulling back enough that Sen could see the wicked gleam in her eye. ¡°I mean, you were such a big, strong, manly hero. Aren¡¯t you going to ravish me now?¡±


    Sen¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°You fell on purpose.¡±


    ¡°And you dove right after me. My heart is just all aquiver. Or is it my loins? I get those mixed up sometimes.¡±


    ¡°Oh, get off me.¡±


    Misty Peaks got a sad look in her eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t you want your hero¡¯s kiss?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to let you fall next time.¡±


    She gave Sen a huge smile and shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think you will. Your secret is out. You¡¯re one of those loyal, heroic types. I could just eat you right up.¡±


    ¡°That would probably sound more appealing if you weren¡¯t a fox who might actually eat me if you got hungry enough.¡±


    Misty Peak made a disgruntled noise. ¡°There you go, ruining the mood with petty facts.¡±


    Sen blinked at that. ¡°Wait. Seriously?¡±


    The fox woman threw back her head and laughed at that. ¡°I¡¯ll never tell.¡±


    ¡°Well, do you think that you could never tell from the ground? I¡¯m not furniture, you know.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t sell yourself short. I expect you¡¯d made a delightful bed. But, fine, I¡¯ll get down. After you pay the fee.¡±


    ¡°What fee?¡± asked Sen, narrowing his eyes at the woman.


    The fox woman grinned at him and pointed at her lips. ¡°You owe me a kiss, you dastardly man.¡±


    ¡°For what?¡±


    ¡°Making me fall off that tree, of course. Or the wicked things you said about my ancestors. Or making me run through this awful place. You decide which.¡±


    ¡°Oh, for the gods¡¯ sake,¡± muttered Sen.


    ¡°Don¡¯t bring them into it. Now, pay up.¡±


    Sen thought about arguing, but he had the feeling that the fox woman would enjoy that just as much as extracting a kiss from him. And he had actual work to do. He took the path of least resistance and just kissed her. She made a happy little noise and untangled herself from him.


    ¡°Now,¡± said Misty Peak, ¡°about my questions.¡±


    Sen just looked at her for a moment, before he snorted and started walking toward where he¡¯d left off with the formation. She trotted after him and, when he didn¡¯t even try to engage her in conversation, she elbowed him.


    ¡°Does that ever work?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Sometimes.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°No. Why won¡¯t you answer any of my questions about your advancement?¡±


    ¡°How about because it¡¯s personal.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a terrible reason,¡± complained Misty Peak.


    ¡°Why is that a terrible reason?¡±


    ¡°Because it¡¯s very inconvenient for me. Plus, keeping secrets after you kissed me like that. Very unchivalrous.¡±


    ¡°You made me kiss you,¡± objected Sen.


    ¡°Made you? Please. From what I hear, nobody makes you do anything, even when it¡¯s the sanest course of action. Besides, why get all hung on trivial details.¡±


    ¡°Somehow I doubt you¡¯d call them trivial details if I made you kiss me.¡±


    Misty Peaks came to a stop, turned to Sen, and tilted her head back. ¡°I¡¯m ready. You can make me kiss you now.¡±


    Sen reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. ¡°I need to meet new people.¡±


    ¡°I am new people.¡±


    ¡°I need to meet new, new people.¡±


    ¡°Well, talk like that is no way to get a kiss. Why are we out here anyway?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m out here to work on that formation,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯m not sure why you¡¯re out here, other than to pester me with questions I don¡¯t plan on answering.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that sounds boring. We should do something else.¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡± asked Sen, throwing the fox woman an exasperated look.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Fight that thing, maybe,¡± said Misty Peak, pointing ahead of them.


    Sen closed his eyes and muttered. ¡°I really, really need to meet new people.¡±

 V6 Chapter 39 – Something New

    Sen opened his eyes and turned to look at the thing that Misty Peak was pointing at a little more urgently. He¡¯d sensed it a while back and, perhaps foolishly, assumed that it would get out of his way. After all, he¡¯d left thousands of that thing¡¯s kin dead on the slopes of Mt. Solace. Standing in their way was an enormous spider. It was probably the largest spider Sen had ever seen with great hairy legs that were longer than his entire body. He regarded the spider with a neutral expression. It was likely it was there to kill them, but possible that it wasn¡¯t. He resisted the urge to attack it on sight. He wanted to attack it, but that was all about an old grudge against regular spiders from his days as a starving mortal. Picking a fight that hadn¡¯t picked him was something that he was less inclined to do under these circumstances.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t we going to do something about that thing?¡± asked Misty Peak.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see,¡± said Sen. ¡°You might have noticed that it hasn¡¯t attacked us yet, either.¡±


    ¡°Neither has that horde. It doesn¡¯t mean it isn¡¯t going to happen at some point.¡±


    Sen inclined his head in acknowledgment of the point, but he took a step toward the spider. It didn¡¯t step back, but its great bulk seemed to lean back and it crouched lower to the ground. Sen nodded to himself.


    ¡°You know who I am?¡± he asked.


    There was a quiet surge of qi and the great spider morphed into a form that was eerily similar to that of the queen he¡¯d encountered on Mt. Solace. Dark chitin served as skin for the vaguely female form, while eyes like pools of reflective darkness stared at him. Even for Sen, that stare was unsettling.


    ¡°I know,¡± said the queen.


    Not sure what else to do, Sen fell back on basics. ¡°What do you want?¡±


    ¡°Why are you here?¡± demanded the queen.


    Sen considered throwing that question right back at her but reconsidered. He¡¯d assumed that she was being contrary by answering a question with a question. Of course, that applied human expectations onto something that was very obviously and disturbingly not human. If years with Falling Leaf and a few days that felt like years with the foxes had taught him anything, it was that pasting human expectations onto interactions with spirit beasts was a short path to misunderstandings. He had asked what she wanted. Maybe what she wanted was simply to know why he was in this forest. Sen decided to go with that until he knew otherwise. He gestured in the direction of the ruins.


    ¡°I intend to go into those ruins.¡±


    The queen continued to stare at him with those creepy, unblinking black orbs she had for eyes. Misty Peak¡¯s hand latched onto his arm and squeezed hard. She¡¯d finally noticed what he¡¯d been keeping his spiritual sense on. There were spiders everywhere around them. It was a disturbing echo of his last experience with them, except he didn¡¯t have a convenient bunch of formations set up to help him. Of course, that had also been several advancements ago. He was pretty sure that he could accomplish the same thing here without those formations if it came down to it.


    Sen glanced over to the fox woman who looked more than a little unnerved. Not that he could blame her. This was the kind of thing to give someone nightmares. He returned his gaze to the queen.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want them harmed,¡± said Sen, ¡°I suggest you tell your children not to come any closer. Your intentions are questionable at best. I¡¯m likely to assume the worst and act accordingly.¡±


    There was an angry susurrus of insect noises from all around them. Individually, he supposed they wouldn¡¯t have amounted to much other than to be a little startling. Coming from so many of the spiders, it was almost a sound attack in and of itself. Worse, it was a noise that seemed to bypass reason entirely and lance right into the most primitive parts of Sen¡¯s mind. The part that either wanted to fight or flee. The hand that Misty Peak had wrapped around his arm bore down painfully hard in what seemed like a reflexive response to that noise. The queen took a step forward.


    ¡°Our intentions,¡± she said, the anger boiling up through her otherwise unreadable and alien face. ¡°You¡¯re the one who murdered us by the thousands!¡±


    ¡°Not by choice. I was pursued by another one of you queens. She hurled her children at me like one who was insane. I defended myself,¡± said Sen and his voice dropped into a deadly calm, ¡°and I will do so again if you make me.¡±


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    Sen had been so focused on the queen and all of the spiders around them that his extremely new practice of keeping the divine qi in his skin suppressed fell away. He only realized he was emitting a dull glow of heavenly qi when the queen let out a startled cry and took several hasty steps backward. He even heard a startled gasp from Misty Peak. He looked at the fox woman and smirked.


    ¡°What?¡± he asked, pretending he planned to do it. ¡°Aren¡¯t heroic types supposed to be blessed by the heavens?¡±


    Her eyes narrowed. ¡°We¡¯re going to talk about this.¡±


    ¡°Probably not,¡± said Sen, turning his attention back to the queen and entirely ignoring the death glare that the fox gave him.


    ¡°What is this?¡± demanded the spider queen.


    ¡°Take it as a warning if you like.¡±


    The silence that fell after that comment was more profound than Sen found entirely appropriate. He wondered if this was another one of those times when he was missing something because he didn¡¯t understand the nuances of some spirit beast¡¯s culture. After all, he could fit everything he knew about the spirit beast spiders into a very, very small glass. Had he just issued what amounted to a declaration of war? Provided them with a way out? Initiated a courtship? He couldn¡¯t guess. As the silence stretched out, Sen became increasingly worried that violence was about to ensue. The exact kind of extremely visible violence that could well attract the attention of the horde. Sen thought that he could clear a path for him and Misty Peak to escape the spiders if nothing else, but he couldn¡¯t do it quietly. It would be big and loud because the spiders took a lot of killing. He needed to figure out something else.


    ¡°Why did you even seek me out?¡± Sen asked the spider queen.


    ¡°When a predator invades your territory, you don¡¯t simply ignore it.¡±


    Sen considered that before he said, ¡°Perhaps, but it¡¯s not like I came looking for you. To my knowledge, I haven¡¯t killed any of you here.¡±


    ¡°And how are we to know that you won¡¯t when you finish with whatever brought you to this place?¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t know it for sure. On the other hand, I¡¯m not really interested in you or your kind. The only thing I¡¯m interested in right now is in those ruins. Once I have it, I¡¯ll leave. You can accept that, or you can attack me.¡±


    ¡°So, we are to take you at your word?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s up to you. One thing you can know for sure is that if you do attack me here and now, I will kill many of your children,¡± said Sen, and then using a trick of air qi, he made his voice resonate like he was making pronouncements from the heavens. ¡°They will die by lightning. They will die by fire. They will die by the blade. And I will become interested in you.¡±


    With each of those dire statements, the spider queen flinched. Then, because Sen didn¡¯t want to start a war immediately, he toned it all down and decided to try something very new for him. He¡¯d negotiate.


    ¡°But neither of us wants that. So, I suggest a compromise. I assume you know where I¡¯ve been staying?¡±


    ¡°We do,¡± said the spider queen in a voice that wasn¡¯t quite steady.


    ¡°I will restrict my movements. Save when coming and going from that place, I will not venture more than a mile in any direction from the edge of that cleared area around the ruins. If you place watchers, I will not interfere with them. In return, I expect that they will not interfere with me or my purpose. When I am done in this place, I will leave in that direction,¡± said Sen, pointing toward the location of the distant road. ¡°If I do otherwise, you¡¯ll know my word isn¡¯t to be trusted, and you should act accordingly.¡±


    Another protracted silence ensued while the spider queen studied him. He got the feeling that she didn¡¯t quite believe him, but that she desperately wanted to believe him. Maybe this one is saner than that other one I dealt with, thought Sen. He waited her out. He was certain that nothing he added would have a meaningful impact on her decision. She was either going to take the chance that he was telling the truth to avoid the fight, or she was going to order all of those spiders to attack them. Sen was surprised to discover that waiting for her to decide caused him far more anxiety than actually having it all descend into chaos and violence ever would have caused. He thought about that while the spider queen pondered her decision. It¡¯s probably because I¡¯ve got more experience with fighting, Sen realized.


    ¡°Very well, human. We will wait. We will watch. We will see what the word of Judgment¡¯s Gale is worth.¡±


    The almost anguished words fell out of his mouth before Sen could stop them. ¡°Really? Even you call me that?¡±


    Misty Peak drove an elbow into Sen¡¯s ribs so hard that it actually hurt.


    ¡°Shut up,¡± she hissed before turning to the queen. ¡°Honored matriarch, we are humbled by your forbearance.¡±


    The queen finally turned her eyes to Misty Peak and made a noise that Sen might have thought was a snort.


    ¡°Foxes,¡± said the spider queen. ¡°You always did know honeyed words.¡±


    There was another gentle surge of qi and the queen transformed back into her massive spider form. Sen observed with his spiritual sense as the queen and her countless children withdrew into the depths of the forest, save for a handful that Sen assumed were left to keep a watch on him. Satisfied that the spiders were holding up their end of the bargain, he turned his attention back to the task at hand. He started to walk only to have Misty Peak seize his arm and spin him around. She was staring at him like he was a madman.


    ¡°Are you a madman?¡± she demanded. ¡°You don¡¯t try to cut deals with the spider matriarchs.¡±


    Sen frowned. ¡°Well, apparently, I do.¡±


    Confronted with that fact, the fox woman seemed at a loss and changed the subject. ¡°I wonder how she knew I was fox?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s probably that fog of untrustworthiness around you.¡±

 V6 Chapter 40 – Fox Matters

    ¡°This is boring,¡± complained Misty Peak for the fifth time.


    Sen ignored her while he finished adjusting the formation flag¡¯s position. The work would have gone much faster if he hadn¡¯t had her tagging along and doing her level best to get him to do anything except finish the formation. Content that the flag was in the best place he could manage with someone constantly breaking his concentration, he stood and gave the fox woman a hard look.


    ¡°If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d think that you were trying to make sure I don¡¯t finish this or that it won¡¯t work properly. Almost like you¡¯re still trying to make sure your grandfather doesn¡¯t actually get that relic he wants.¡±


    Misty Peak rolled her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s not like he¡¯s dying immediately. Another day or two won¡¯t make a difference.¡±


    ¡°Maybe not to him, and maybe not to you, but I have places that I need to go after this. Places where I¡¯m already overdue.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure that they¡¯ll understand.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± said Sen.


    He thought about Falling Leaf and Fu Ruolan. It was all too easy to imagine how unimpressed both would be with his explanation about why it took him so much longer to get back than anticipated. While Falling Leaf might just give him the cold shoulder for a year or two, he cringed to imagine what kind of punishments Fu Ruolan might dream up for him.


    ¡°You know, on second thought,¡± said Sen, ¡°that¡¯s probably not true. At all. Besides, if you¡¯re this bored, go bother your grandfather. Or go fetch Li Yi Nuo and bring her back.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t actually like him very much.¡±


    ¡°Your grandfather? Why not? He¡¯s personable enough.¡±


    ¡°To you, maybe. It¡¯s different if you¡¯re a fox.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Well, he treats you like a person. No, that¡¯s not quite it. He treats you like a peer, which is just the most unfair thing ever. Because you aren¡¯t even close to being on his level.¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°True, but it¡¯s not like I have any control over how he treats me.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± said Misty Peak. ¡°It doesn¡¯t make it any less frustrating. He treats me like a child, and I let him. Which I hate.¡±


    ¡°Why do you let him if you hate it so much?¡±


    ¡°This is what I¡¯m trying to explain. I can hate him in my heart. I can even try to kill him. But outside of that, if he lays down the law and I¡¯m not ready to challenge his position, I have to accept it. It¡¯s part of my nature. And since I¡¯m now completely sure I can¡¯t take him in a fight, and not at all sure the stories I heard about him were true, I¡¯m not going to challenge him.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen, ¡°that sounds wildly inconvenient.¡±


    ¡°It is. As for the sect girl, I don¡¯t want to spend any more time with her than necessary.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like an argument for giving her back.¡±


    ¡°You haven¡¯t made an acceptable offer for her,¡± said the fox in an absurdly exaggerated haughty tone.


    ¡°Not true,¡± said Sen in an equally exaggerated reasonable tone. ¡°I offered you those fine loose pebbles. Pebbles that could only be sourced from beyond the bounds of human civilization. Pebbles that could only be acquired at great personal risk. That offer stands.¡±


    ¡°I feel like someone might have told you that you were funny sometime in the past. You shouldn¡¯t have believed them.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m hilariously funny but that¡¯s not the point. What is it that you want?¡± asked Sen. ¡°Make a reasonable proposal, and I¡¯ll consider it.¡±


    ¡°Fifty gold tael,¡± said the fox.


    ¡°If that¡¯s what you want, ransom her back to her sect. They might let you extort them that way. I certainly won¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Oh fine. You¡¯re no fun,¡± she said before falling into a thoughtful silence. ¡°Take me with you into the ruins.¡±


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    That gave Sen pause. He had been under the impression that foxes couldn¡¯t enter the ruins at all. Hadn¡¯t that been the reason Laughing River had recruited him in the first place? Of course, he¡¯d gotten that information from the elder fox. That made it more than a little suspect. The fact that Laughing River hadn¡¯t gone in to get the treasure himself, however, did lend the idea a certain patina of believability. It minimally suggested that there was something blocking the fox from getting at what he wanted. Even if there were some kind of trick that would let Misty Peak get in, though, why would she want to? There were undoubtedly treasures of some kind in the ruins that she¡¯d want, but the risks were absurd for both trying to get in and get back out. It would likely be easier and less risky to get treasures and relics from somewhere else. Which meant that there was either something specific in the ruins that she wanted or something that she wanted to make sure that Sen didn¡¯t find. Like a spatial treasure, he thought.


    ¡°Why?¡± he asked.


    ¡°What¡¯s with that suspicious look?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s because of all of the suspicion I¡¯m feeling right now. I wear my heart on my sleeve.¡±


    ¡°If only,¡± muttered Misty Peak.


    Sen didn¡¯t respond to the obvious attempt to get him off-topic.


    ¡°It¡¯s an ancient ruin that hasn¡¯t been disturbed for probably thousands of years. There are bound to be all kinds of powerful, valuable, and unique things in there that a girl might want.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s also a treasure that your grandfather needs to save his life. One that you¡¯d be ideally positioned to steal or keep me from getting if you were on hand. If it were to accidentally fall into your storage ring, that would certainly rectify that power imbalance between you two, now wouldn¡¯t it? I mean, he¡¯d probably do just about anything you asked to get his hands on it.¡±


    Misty Peak got very serious in a hurry. ¡°You may be right about that. Here¡¯s the thing. I¡¯m not that suicidal. He might play at being the kindly old man with you, but play is all it is. He can turn ruthless as fast as any other old monster. You don¡¯t survive long enough to become an old monster without that capacity. Just look at you.¡±


    ¡°What about me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m smart enough to know that not all of those stories about you are true, but most of them have something in common.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°When you take a position, you are uncompromising to a level that most would consider madness. That makes you ruthless in the pursuit of your goals at times. Now, how ruthless do you think you could become if you¡¯d had a few thousand years to hone those tendencies?¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t particularly like the comparison or the implications, but he couldn¡¯t really deny them either. ¡°Pretty damned ruthless, I would imagine.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. If I tried to hold that treasure hostage, the value of my life would drop to nothing, immediately. The best outcome in that situation is that he hunts me down and does unspeakable things to me until I hand it over.¡±


    ¡°Weren¡¯t you worried he¡¯d do that if you interfered with me?¡±


    Misty Peak sighed. ¡°That¡¯s different.¡±


    ¡°How is that different?¡±


    ¡°I think you¡¯d need to be a fox to understand.¡±


    ¡°Try me,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°All right. If I could manipulate you, trick you, or simply kill you, then I¡¯d have only outmaneuvered a human cultivator. Since you are kind of famous, I¡¯d have come out of it looking good. In the end, though, I¡¯d have only indirectly inconvenienced my grandfather. It wouldn¡¯t be seen as a direct challenge to his power or authority because I interfered with you, not him. He might have even been a tiny bit impressed, even if he was annoyed. If I take the treasure and try to use it to force his hand in some way, that is a direct challenge. And he would crush me.¡±


    Sen tried to sort out the implications of what he¡¯d just heard, while also trying to decide if he believed any of it. While he sort of understood what she was getting at about indirect influence, it also sounded like a lot of ridiculous hair-splitting to him. That made it a challenge for him to believe. The problem was that he lacked the background with the foxes to know if it actually was ridiculous, or if it just sounded ridiculous to him because he was a human. Given that the stakes were someone¡¯s life, Sen decided that it simply wasn¡¯t his decision to make. Plus, there was the potential problem of actually getting her into the city.


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to pretend that what you just said makes sense to me, and I¡¯m not sure it particularly matters. Laughing River told me that there are protections in place to keep foxes out of those ruins.¡±


    The fox woman jerked a little at that as if it was new information. ¡°He really said that?¡±


    ¡°He did. What? Did you think he recruited me for this on a lark?¡±


    ¡°Honestly, yes. You owed him a favor, I assume. So, why not send the human folk hero in to do the job instead of doing it yourself?¡±


    Sen frowned. He hadn¡¯t considered that possibility. He was starting to wonder if he wasn¡¯t being paranoid enough about this entire venture. On the other hand, he didn¡¯t think that old fox was lying to him about that part of it, either. If it were his life on the line, Sen wouldn¡¯t trust the task to someone else unless he had absolutely no other choice.


    ¡°I suppose it¡¯s possible,¡± Sen admitted, ¡°but also not relevant for your purposes. So, here¡¯s what we¡¯re going to do. And by we, I mean you, Misty Peak. If you can talk your grandfather into letting you go, I¡¯ll take you along. Getting into the ruins is on you, though. I don¡¯t have the knowledge or the means to get you past whatever protections are keeping your grandfather out.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯ll never agree to that,¡± objected the fox woman.


    ¡°I guess you¡¯ll just need to be extra charming, instead of your usual level of charming.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure anyone is that charming. Wait, what do you mean by my usual level of charming? Are you saying I¡¯m charming?¡± she asked while grinning at him.


    Ignoring her question, Sen continued. ¡°Assuming you can talk him into it, and that you can actually get into the ruins, your safety is your responsibility. I don¡¯t know what we¡¯ll find inside, which means I can¡¯t make any promises about either of us getting back out.¡±


    ¡°So, you¡¯d just callously abandon me if we get into trouble?¡±


    Sen stroked his chin a few times before he said, ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. I¡¯m not a monster. It won¡¯t be callous.¡±

 V6 Chapter 41 – Quiet Afternoon

    Sen was deeply relieved when Misty Peak, after throwing a few more verbal jabs at him, departed to go try to convince her grandfather to let her join Sen in the ruins. For his part, Sen thought it was a fool¡¯s errand but a very useful fool¡¯s errand. It served double duty by getting the fox woman out of his hair for a while and firmly placing the decision into Laughing River¡¯s hand. Sen thought there was about no chance in the world that the elder fox would let Misty Peak go along. If Sen had his doubts about the woman¡¯s intentions, the vastly more experienced Laughing River surely had deeper and more nuanced doubts. It seemed deeply unlikely that the old man would put his own survival at risk, not even if it might be amusing for him to see what would happen. Sen hesitated at that thought, though. I don¡¯t really understand how their society works, he mused. I may be misreading what the old fox will do.


    Realizing that the damage was already done if he had misjudged, Sen turned his mind back to building the formation. The work did go much faster without the fox woman there constantly interrupting him. Unfortunately, she¡¯d slowed him down enough that he¡¯d never be able to finish before darkness fell. It would take at least one more day to finish building the formation and do some basic tests. He knew he couldn¡¯t fully activate it or even the horde with its seemingly unswerving fixation on the ruins would notice. Sen absolutely didn¡¯t want them to notice until he was ready for them to notice. Of course, even without Misty Peak there to distract him, there was still the distraction of the ever-present spider watchers.


    They weren¡¯t actively impeding his progress. They were actually keeping to what he might almost describe as a polite distance. Close enough that they could observe what he was doing, but much too far away to launch an attack he wouldn¡¯t see coming. They were, regardless, still beacons in his spiritual sense. He wasn¡¯t sure if they stood out because he was looking for them, or if their focused attention on him forged a latent connection between them. They served as a constant low-level source of distraction. It didn¡¯t slow him down that much, but Sen was starting to feel like the world was actively working against him ever finishing these formations. The knowledge that he wouldn¡¯t finish before dark did mean that he felt fine taking a break in the middle of the afternoon to eat. He wasn¡¯t hungry, but it took a lot of concentration to make formations. A quick meal gave him a mental break and let him appreciate the primal beauty of the forest around him.


    Or, he thought that was what would happen. He¡¯d barely had time to start when something moving fast on the outer edges of his spiritual sense caught his attention. He realized it was some kind of spirit beast bird and almost dismissed the thing from his thoughts. Of all the spirit beasts in the area, birds probably had the least to fear from the horde below. They were simply too fast and usually too far above to get caught accidentally. Unless one blindly flew into the horde, they were likely safe. It took another moment before Sen¡¯s cultivation-enhanced mind was able to project the bird¡¯s path. Sen groaned. It was headed straight for one of the spiders because of course it was. His initial instinct was simply to let nature play out the way it should. He could hardly be blamed if a spirit beast bird consumed a big, creepy, sapient spider.


    However, the spider queen may not see it that way. Her precious children wouldn¡¯t be out in the woods, relatively exposed, if he wasn''t there. At the very least, they wouldn¡¯t be spending most of their attention on him. They¡¯d be watching their surroundings more carefully. Plus, the way that the horde had scared off most of the major spirit beasts in the area may have given the spiders a false sense of security while watching him. Still, he could just let it play out. The other spiders would report that he hadn¡¯t done the killing. He¡¯d been sitting there, minding his own business and eating, while the mean sky predator swooped in and killed the queen¡¯s darling little monstrosity. She¡¯d never know any better. But he would know better. While their agreement to not interfere with each other didn¡¯t include providing any active protection, he supposed it might earn him a little goodwill from the queen if he intervened. Any additional goodwill he could earn would probably prove a good thing given how on-the-fence she¡¯d been about him. So much for my quiet afternoon, he thought.


    Leaving his food behind, Sen activated his qinggong technique and shot toward the spider that was perched up in a tree. Sen was fast on the ground, but he realized that the bird was faster. It would reach that spider before he did if he didn¡¯t change tactics. Remembering his initial attempts to master his qinggong technique, he started launching himself up into the trees. He did some fast mental projections and, when he thought he had it right and had a clear path, he gathered his qi and blasted off of the trunk of a tree. Now that he was closing on the spider¡¯s position at breakneck speeds, he got a look at the bird. It was a fire eagle. Of course, the spider was so fixated on him that it wasn¡¯t looking at the real threat. Sen summoned the heavens chasing spear from his storage ring. He couldn¡¯t tell exactly how strong the fire eagle was, but better to not take chances with a lesser spear.


    He let the spear trail along the side of his body so it wouldn¡¯t interfere with his flight. Sen almost cycled for water qi and then changed his mind, opting for ice qi instead. His affinity for ice qi wasn¡¯t quite as strong as his water qi affinity, but it was the better weapon against the fire-aspected bird. He pushed the ice qi into the spearhead and formed an ice blade that trailed out behind him at nearly five feet long. It was heavy enough to slow Sen¡¯s flight a little. He doubted that he could have even lifted it as a foundation formation cultivator, let alone swung it, but that was then. Sen could see the spider crouching against the tree trunk, oblivious to the bird, and ready to strike out at what it perceived as the real threat. Him. There was nothing he could do about that except hope that the spider wouldn¡¯t do something that Sen couldn¡¯t compensate for. This is going to be close, thought Sen even as the trees rushed by in a blur. By his estimation, he was going to have about half a second to intervene.


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    The eagle was so fixated on the spider that it didn¡¯t notice Sen until the last moment. Even as Sen reached around to grasp the haft with his other hand and flared wind qi to swing him from a horizontal flight through the air to an upright position, the eagle flared its wings. With a heave that threatened to dislocate even his reinforced shoulders, Sen brought the spear and its massive ice blade into a simple, brutal upward sweep. The bird altered its course slightly but that wasn¡¯t enough to save it. With a hissing shriek, the ice blade carved most of the way through the eagle¡¯s body. Then, something happened that Sen hadn¡¯t accounted it. The ice blade exploded. He didn¡¯t have the time to erect any real defenses, and his momentum carried him straight into the explosion of ice shards and the still-burning corpse of the eagle. The ice sliced through robes and skin, where it didn¡¯t punch straight into him. Meanwhile, the corpse of the eagle burned him with the uncontrolled burst of flames that accompanied its death.


    Sen and the bird slammed into one of the massive trunks of the ancient trees. Unlike so many other trees that Sen had crashed into over the years, this tree trunk did not break. Colliding with the eagle had slowed him down a lot but not enough. Sen was stunned by the impact as vision disappeared into strobing white and red and there was nothing but a dull whine in his ears. It was the pain of being burned that jarred him out of it. It took a precious second to realize he was still tangled up with the bird and another to realize that they were tumbling toward the ground like a drunken comet. Sen didn¡¯t need to look to know that there were massive roots waiting down there to snap even his cultivation-hardened bones like so many twigs. Ignoring how much it hurt, Sen pressed his hands against the inferno-hot body of the eagle shoved with all his might. The two separated in the air. One problem down, thought Sen.


    Several possibilities flickered through Sen¡¯s mind about how to stop himself, but he was still tumbling. Worse, he didn¡¯t know how long he had until the unforgiving earth below was going to bring his fall to a jarring stop. He decided to take inspiration from the spiders. He cycled hard for air, wrapped himself up in the qi, and then sent arm-thick tendrils of it out in every direction. They wrapped around everything they came in contact with and Sen jerked to a hard stop, briefly. Several of the tendrils had seemingly wrapped around less-than-sturdy anchors. Those things ripped free and sent his body swinging. Before he could latch onto anything else, he slammed into another trunk. It was only sheer determination on his part that kept the air qi strands latched onto whatever they were latched onto.


    Sen just let himself hang there and be happy that he hadn¡¯t been crushed to paste on the ground. He finally opened his eyes and had to hold back a shout as he realized that he¡¯d missed crashing into some of the massive roots by mere inches. The way he¡¯d swung earlier, if he¡¯d been any lower, those roots would have shattered his legs. Sen released the air tendrils and dropped to the nearest root. Everything hurt. He paused for a moment, summoned a healing elixir, and drank it before he walked over to what was left of the fire eagle. Even though it was dead, the corpse was still hot enough that it was threatening to set the entire area on fire. That was the last thing Sen needed with the way he was feeling. Grumbling under his breath, he went to work with water and ice. He contained the outer edges of the flames and worked his way slowly back toward the body.


    He didn¡¯t make the same mistake a second time and avoided using ice on the bird¡¯s remains. Instead, he cooled it slowly with judicious applications of water. Not too much water, though, as he had no wish to add steam burns to his already extensive set of cuts, puncture wounds, burns, and bruises. When the eagle was finally cool enough that Sen didn¡¯t think it was going to set anything else on fire. He squelched over to it through the mess of hot, muddy earth around it. He regarded it for a moment and then gave it a hard kick. Always make sure, he thought. When the bird didn¡¯t stir, he opened the beast up and retrieved the core. It was still blisteringly hot, so he just let it drop into the muddy soup around the bird until it stopped hissing and steaming. Only then did he put it into a storage ring. For good measure, he put the bird into a storage ring as well. It¡¯s probably good to eat, he thought.


    With the fire eagle sufficiently dealt with, Sen decided he was too injured and tired to do anything more with the formation. He turned to start the walk back toward the galehouse and came up short. There were half a dozen of the big spiders standing there, just watching him. If he¡¯d been less tired and in a little less pain, he might have even felt some apprehension. Instead, he just gave them a nod and started walking again. The spiders fell in around him, and it took Sen a while to realize that the creepy things were escorting him back to the galehouse. He decided that was fine with him. It wasn¡¯t like he¡¯d be revealing information. They knew where he was staying already. When he got back to the galehouse, most of the spiders disappeared back into the forest. One, maybe the one he¡¯d saved, Sen couldn¡¯t tell for sure, settled down near the galehouse and turned its gaze out toward the forest. Sen stared at it while his mind churned.


    ¡°Nope,¡± muttered Sen. ¡°That¡¯s a tomorrow problem.¡±


    He pushed open the door and walked in on Misty Peak giving Laughing Riven a pleading look. They both turned to look at him and their eyes went wide.


    ¡°Charbroiled,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s the right look for you, boy.¡±


    ¡°Ha,¡± said Sen in a flat voice.


    He walked over to his room, went in, and shut the door behind him. Sighing, he opened the door again and shouted into the common area.


    ¡°There¡¯s a big spider outside. Don¡¯t kill it.¡±

 V6 Chapter 42 – Glimmer of Night

    Confusion. He felt confusion. Even as he sat outside the strange stone cave and kept vigil, he didn¡¯t know what to think or how to feel. The day had been too strange, too uncertain, and he had carried that uncertainty in his heart. The matriarch had tasked him to watch the Cluster Slayer, the god of wrath who had killed and killed and killed their distant cousins. He was greatly honored to be singled out by the mother and given a task directly. Doubly honored, truly, to have been given a name all those years ago, and then given a task from the mother¡¯s lips. Honored or not, though, he had felt fear. So much fear. The weight of that monster¡¯s power was a terrible, terrible thing. And he could feel the dread beast¡¯s gaze on him, always on him, even when the creature was turned away. It made Glimmer of Night want to flee back to the nest, back to the mother, back to safety.


    As the awful sun had slowly crossed the sky, though, his fear had dwindled. It seemed the Cluster Slayer had other things on its inscrutable mind this day. It toiled at the ground, planting the strange flags the way he had heard that the human farmers planted things. Was the Cluster Slayer trying to grow larger flags? Glimmer of Night didn¡¯t know and wouldn¡¯t have dared to ask, even if he could utter the human speech like the mother did. Just when he had concluded that the Cluster Slayer wasn¡¯t going to do anything evil, it happened. The beast had started racing toward him at speeds he couldn¡¯t believe. Nothing moved that fast. Then it had leapt into the trees and simply disappeared. Glimmer of Night had been sure he was about to die. Brought low by the monster who had killed so many others. He¡¯d been so frightened that he hadn¡¯t even sensed the mighty fire eagle until its claws were almost to his carapace. Those claws that could slice through the armor of all but the mightiest of his kind. The mother could face the fell beasts of the sky, and a handful of others, but not him. It would take another century and countless beast cores before he could rise to those heights.


    With the bird descending and the Cluster Slayer vanished to only the mother knew where, he had been frozen in shock and horror, certain that his time on the earth was over. He thought of the sweet streams beneath the earth. He pictured the cool and gentle moon in the night sky, a tender shepherd for his kind. He thought of the mother. Would she be disappointed in him? Would she forget his name? He hoped that she wouldn¡¯t. Even as he could feel the heat from the fire eagle begin to scorch his legs and dry his eyes, the Cluster Slayer appeared from nowhere. He swung a great club of ice and all but carved the great bird in two. There was a terrible shattering noise, and the bird was carried away from Glimmer of Night by the appalling strength of the other monster.


    He had watched with trembling awe as the monster he had feared hurled the great bird to the earth below like it was nothing at all. Then, like he had been doing it all his life, the Cluster Slayer had cast a web of qi and swung himself to safety. Glimmer of Night had remained frozen in place as the human beast had snuffed out the fire before it could spread to the rest of the forest and, in an act of contempt that drove ice into his heart, the human had kicked the fire eagle. It was only then that the others had found him, asked him questions he could not answer, and observed with awe like his own the sight of the felled bird. They had hurried down to the ground then, none of them entirely sure what to do other than keep watch as they had been bidden. The Cluster Slayer had opened the bird and cast the impossibly valuable core into the muddy water.


    All of his instincts told him to attack the human and retrieve the core, that it could fuel his ascent, but fear and good sense held him back. Any being who could bring down one of the fire eagles was not to be molested. They were to be revered, feared, and honored. Glimmer of Night had been struck with awe again as the human revealed that he possessed a storage treasure by putting the entire fire eagle into one. Such wealth the creature possesses, thought Glimmer of Night. When the human had turned and let his gaze fall on them, it was a fight not to flee before those eyes. Eyes that were colder than the deepest winter nights. Eyes that felt like they could cut with a glance. He was sure the human would attack them in a killing frenzy, unsatisfied with the great bird. Instead, the human had simply nodded at them and walked back to its strange cave.


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    Glimmer of Night had volunteered to stay and keep a watch so that the Cluster Slayer would remain undisturbed. It was in no one¡¯s interest for a power like that to be left in a poor temper. Far, far better that it should rest and return to its flag farming, however mad that might seem to a young spider. As the hours had passed, though, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder why the human beast had protected him. He couldn¡¯t even be sure that it had acted to protect him at all. Perhaps, it had simply wished to kill the fire eagle. The humans valued cores as well or so the mother had instructed them. Of course, it could have let the eagle kill him and struck while the bird was distracted. That would have been easier. It¡¯s what most predators would have done. Did it protect me? If it did, why? He supposed that the stories of the Cluster Slayer may have been exaggerated in the telling. It wasn¡¯t in the nature of the spiders to exaggerate, but perhaps things were different among their distant cousins. He was certain that the mother had not lied to them. The mother never lied to them about anything.


    The confusion bubbled inside of him, making him feel as though he had eaten something that was bad for him. It reminded him of the time he had eaten an air squirrel. That qi had not agreed with him at all, and it had taken the intervention of an elder to save him in the end. That was a debt he had yet to repay, and he worried that now he owed a debt to that dread beast of a human. He wasn¡¯t sure he could live down a debt to the Cluster Slayer, but the human had clearly saved his life. Perhaps it wouldn¡¯t mean what he feared it meant. The human was a monster. He couldn¡¯t be forced to repay a debt to a monster, could he? The mother wouldn¡¯t insist on that, would she?


    As he wrestled with those thoughts, he felt the shift of stone against stone as someone exited the artificial cave. He knew there were others in the cave, ones that might harm him, so he prepared to flee into the forest if necessary. Yet, to his mixed relief and dread, it was the cluster slayer who appeared. The monster tipped its head to one side and spoke to him.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t eat today, did you? No, of course, you didn¡¯t. Too busy watching me, I imagine. Well, I can¡¯t have you starving to death out here. You eat meat, right?¡±


    The monster stared at him expectantly. Glimmer of Night was too dumbfounded to do anything. The monster was asking him about what he ate? What kind of monster did that? Then, the Cluster Slayer shook his head.


    ¡°Right, you probably can¡¯t answer. Well, you are a spider. I suppose you eat meat. Here, how about this?¡±


    The monster gestured and a whole spirit boar appeared. Glimmer of Night could sense the core inside of it like a living heart. The monster gave him another questioning look and spoke again.


    ¡°If that¡¯s alright, could you poke it with one of your legs or something?¡±


    Feeling numb, Glimmer of Night tentatively reached out a leg and poked the boar. That seemed to make the monster happy because it showed him its teeth. Strange, thought Glimmer of Night. I thought its teeth would be sharp.


    ¡°Great,¡± said the Cluster Slayer. ¡°I¡¯ll leave you to it. Enjoy your meal.¡±


    With that, the walking nightmare waved a hand at Glimmer of Night and disappeared back into the human cave it had constructed. The spider stared down at the boar and felt it again. Confusion.

 V6 Chapter 43 – I Believe in You

    ¡°Why is that monster just sitting around out there?¡± demanded Misty Peak.


    Sen steadfastly refused to engage in anything like conversation or banter with either her or Laughing River until he¡¯d had at least one cup of tea. The fight with the fire eagle had been brief but not without consequence. Healing taxed even cultivator bodies, and Sen had taken a lot more damage than he thought bringing that bird down. No single injury had been particularly dangerous, but he¡¯d accumulated a lot of them in that handful of seconds. Cuts, burns, bruises, and even puncture wounds from his own technique exploding in his face. He revised that thought. It had exploded inside the bird. His face had just been very close and growing closer when it happened to do that. Sen pushed the thought aside. He had won. That¡¯s what mattered.


    He¡¯d even managed to save the big spider. He saw that as a mixed blessing since it had followed him home and taken up residence outside. Sen was almost certain that the one that had stayed outside the galehouse was the one he¡¯d saved. He hadn¡¯t gotten the best look at it as he hurtled past the dreadful thing on his way to crashing into the fire eagle, but what other reason would it have to stay? Sen found himself pondering the nature of spiders. Do they feel gratitude? He suspected that the spider queen might, but he was far less certain about how independent or independently-minded the members of her brood were. Sen dropped that thought into a mental pile of things for later and focused on enjoying his tea. A task made more difficult by the increasingly annoyed look that the fox woman was giving him. He put down his tea with a disgruntled noise and turned to regard Misty Peak.


    ¡°Do I look like a spider to you?¡± he asked.


    The fox woman¡¯s eyes narrowed in suspicion. ¡°No. Why?¡±


    ¡°Then why do you think I would have an answer to that question? It¡¯s not like I could ask it. The thing followed me back here and took up station out there.¡±


    ¡°It just randomly followed you back here?¡± asked Laughing River, raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°It may not have been entirely random,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°I might have saved it from a fire eagle.¡±


    The two foxes both gave him blank stares for an uncomfortably long moment. He picked up his tea and took a sip in the temporary silence. Misty Peak recovered her equilibrium or at least her ability to speak first.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know which question to start with,¡± she said, shaking her head back and forth like all of the questions inside her head were causing her physical pain. ¡°Why did you save it?¡±


    ¡°Seems like you figured out where to start,¡± murmured Sen. ¡°I thought it might win me a bit of goodwill with the spider queen.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± demanded Misty Peak.


    ¡°What were you expecting?¡± asked Sen. ¡°I made the decision in under a second. It¡¯s not like I had the time to put a lot of thought into it. What difference does it make? Did the spider do something to you?¡±


    ¡°Well, no. But it watched me with its disgusting spider eyes.¡±


    Sen thought about that and then shrugged. ¡°They were already watching us. You can put up with it for another day or two.¡±


    Laughing River perked up at those words. ¡°You¡¯re that close to finishing?¡±


    Sen gave Misty Peak a pointed look. ¡°I would have been done yesterday if someone hadn¡¯t been working so hard to distract me.¡±


    The fox woman gave Sen a hurt look. ¡°Maybe you shouldn¡¯t be so easy to distract.¡±


    ¡°Admittedly, it wasn¡¯t all her fault. The fire eagle didn¡¯t help. But, yeah, I should be done with it today. I¡¯ll test it as much as I can, but there just isn¡¯t a way to know for sure that it¡¯ll work without activating it completely. Tomorrow, I¡¯ll either get into the ruins, or we¡¯re all going to have a very hard day.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s excellent news,¡± said Laughing River, getting up from his chair and pacing around.


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    Sen glanced between the elder fox and Misty Peak.


    ¡°What about her?¡± Sen asked. ¡°Is she tagging along?¡±


    Laughing River gave Misty Peak a considering look before he turned that gaze on Sen. ¡°What do you think?¡±


    ¡°I think that you¡¯re a fully grown fox who can make his own decisions. I believe in you,¡± said Sen before he added. ¡°If she does come along, though, the outcome is entirely on you. I won¡¯t be responsible for it if she steals the relic or does some other very fox-like thing in there.¡±


    ¡°You could at least pretend that you trust me a little bit,¡± complained Misty Peak.


    ¡°Oh, I just figured that you¡¯ve probably been lying enough for both of us. We didn¡¯t need my amateur efforts in the mix, as well,¡± offered Sen.


    The fox woman glared at him. ¡°You have an uncanny ability to insult and compliment at the same time.¡±


    ¡°Do I?¡± asked Sen with feigned innocence. ¡°I have no idea what you mean.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t,¡± said Misty Peak. ¡°Well, Grandfather? Are you going to let me go along?¡±


    The old fox looked at his granddaughter with a completely neutral expression before a gleam appeared in his eyes that made Sen a little nervous. Laughing River gave Misty Peak a big, toothy, predatory grin that raised Sen¡¯s hackles. He didn¡¯t want the old fox to ever smile at him that way. The color drained from Misty Peak¡¯s face as she beheld that grin.


    ¡°Of course,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°After all, what kind of grandfather would I be if I didn¡¯t give you enough rope?¡±


    The two foxes locked gazes until Sen interrupted the incredibly awkward staring contest.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t happen often,¡± observed Sen, ¡°but I am occasionally relieved that I don¡¯t have any family.¡±


    ¡°Nephew,¡± said Laughing River as he directed an aghast look at Sen, ¡°what a terrible thing to say to your uncle.¡±


    Sen refilled his cup and raised it in salute to the two foxes. ¡°I¡¯m going to go drink my tea with the spider. I have a feeling that it might actually be better company right now.¡±


    Suiting actions to words, Sen took his tea and went outside. He found the spider where he¡¯d left it. The boar he¡¯d given the thing was nowhere in sight. Sen hoped the spider had eaten it and not just dragged it off somewhere to rot, afraid that Sen had poisoned it. The spider shifted slightly to keep him in sight as Sen approached and then sat down on the ground next to it. He wondered what the spider was thinking at that moment. He knew some spirit beasts could communicate mind to mind, but the spider hadn¡¯t shown any signs that it could do such things. Then again, Sen wasn¡¯t sure he would want the spider¡¯s mind to touch his. It seemed all too likely that the spider¡¯s thinking would be utterly alien.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure how much of what I say that you understand,¡± said Sen, ¡°but I think you get the gist of it. So, here¡¯s what¡¯s going to happen today. I¡¯m going to go out into the forest again and finish making that formation. I should be able to finish it this morning. This afternoon, I¡¯ll make sure that it¡¯s working correctly. Tomorrow, I¡¯ll make my run at the ruins. After that, I shouldn¡¯t be your problem for a while. If I make it back out, I expect we¡¯ll leave here as fast as possible.¡±


    Sen sipped at his tea while he tried to think if there was anything else he thought the spider, and by extension the spider queen, needed to know. He supposed he was running a risk by even telling them as much as he had. Then again, not telling them that much might prove even more of a risk. He thought of one last thing that he could tell them. He went back and forth on it. If he didn¡¯t tell them, it might provoke a bad reaction. If he did tell them, it might provoke a different bad reaction. No matter which way he looked at it, it could be either a benefit or a problem to reveal or conceal the matter. In the end, Sen decided that he was the one at the most risk, so he¡¯d go with his instincts about it. He¡¯d been inclined to be straightforward with the spider queen, so he¡¯d stick with that.


    ¡°You should inform your queen that the formation I¡¯m building will cast fire,¡± said Sen.


    The spider hunched at that information, as though it feared Sen would conjure fire then and there. He lifted a hand to try to calm the huge thing before it did something rash.


    Sen quickly continued. ¡°If the formation works as intended, the only things that will suffer will be the horde by the ruins. I¡¯ll ask the others to make sure that fire doesn¡¯t spread into the rest of the forest.¡±


    Sen studied the spider intently, trying to gauge its level of understanding. The thing was simply too unfamiliar to him. He had no doubt that it was giving off a dozen signs that another spider would understand immediately, but he lacked the knowledge to even venture a guess.


    ¡°If you understand, just give me some sign,¡± said Sen.


    The spider sat there with its inscrutable eyes on him for an interminable moment. Then, very slowly, the spider lifted one of its big legs and extended it toward him. Even though the spider wasn¡¯t moving aggressively at all, Sen had to exert an enormous amount of self-control not to flinch away as that leg approached him. The leg gently bumped against his chest, and then quickly withdrew, as though the spider was as afraid of what Sen might do as he had been of what it might do. Even so, Sen had to down the rest of his tea to wash away the dryness in his throat.


    ¡°Good,¡± he said and rose. ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving shortly.¡±


    He went back inside and the foxes abruptly stopped talking. Sen sighed. That probably meant that they¡¯d been talking about him. He considered whether it was worth digging into, and almost immediately recognized that his life wouldn¡¯t be improved by that course of action. Instead, he looked straight at Misty Peak.


    ¡°You got your way. Shouldn¡¯t you be off retrieving someone for me?¡±

 V6 Chapter 44 – I Can’t See Your Legs

    Sen stuck around just long enough for Misty Peak to return with Li Yi Nuo. The woman from the sect was bound at the wrists with something that looked like ordinary rope, but Sen assumed was something wholly different. Li Yi Nuo was no body cultivator like him, but she was a relatively advanced core cultivator. Basic rope shouldn¡¯t be enough to hold her. He also lifted an eyebrow at the gag that was firmly fixed in the woman¡¯s mouth. He thought about saying something but decided to just let it go. Otherwise, he¡¯d end up in some long, convoluted argument with the fox woman that would just end with Sen unsure if there had been a winner. He was going to finish that formation today and didn¡¯t plan to let anyone get in the way of it.


    Sen had to suppress a laugh when he saw how wide Li Yi Nuo¡¯s eyes went when she saw that she¡¯d been brought back to the galehouse. Misty Peak half-pulled, half-led the woman over to Sen. She gave him an expectant look. He gave her a quizzical look. She gave him an exasperated look. Not sure what he should do next, he just crossed his eyes and let his mouth hang open a little.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to thank me?¡± she asked.


    ¡°For returning the hostage you said you¡¯d give back only if Laughing River agreed to let you tag along with me? No. That¡¯s not something you get thanked for.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t have to paint it in the worst possible light. You¡¯re so grumpy today.¡±


    Sen almost objected, but he realized he was sort of grumpy. He changed the subject after he saw Li Yi Nuo shaking her bound wrists at him. He glanced over at Misty Peak.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to untie her?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Good gods, no. If I do that, she¡¯ll take out the gag. Then, she¡¯ll start talking again. None of us want that.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo shot the fox woman a murderous glare, and Sen thought that leaving her tied up might actually be safer for everyone. Still, it just wasn¡¯t practical in the long run. He gestured at the rope. Misty Peak gave him the most dubious of dubious looks, but she complied. Sen was certain he felt a tingle of something at the very edges of his spiritual sense. I wasn¡¯t imagining it, he thought with triumph. While it was subtle enough that he¡¯d likely never spot it if he was under stress or in battle, he could sense the magic the fox was using a little bit. He¡¯d have to be mindful about that in the future. As fascinating that as that confirmation was, he didn¡¯t have time to savor it after Misty Peak untied Li Yi Nuo¡¯s hands. Sen felt the qi spike around the sect woman, and she ripped the gag off. The rope was a qi-suppressing treasure, Sen realized. Li Yi Nuo whirled toward Misty Peak.


    ¡°You abominable woman. How dare you tie and gag me like some kind of common beast. I am-,¡± she started.


    Sen knew that he did not have the patience for the next thing the woman was about to say.


    ¡°So help me, Li Yi Nuo, if you utter one word about honor or your sect, I will put that gag back in myself,¡± said Sen.


    Misty Peak shot Li Yi Nuo a triumphant look that Sen didn¡¯t quite understand.


    The sect woman turned toward him with utter shock on her face. ¡°But she-¡±


    ¡°Did she hurt you?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Did she do you any actual, physical harm? Aside from tying you up and gagging you, did she even threaten to do you any harm? Be honest. Did you ever even feel like you were going to be harmed?¡±


    Li Yi Nuo¡¯s mouth worked a few times before she finally said, ¡°Well¡­ No. Not really.¡±


    ¡°Then all of this bluster you''re about to throw around is just about your wounded pride, and I do not have the tolerance for that today. When we¡¯re out of this miserable forest, you can swear eternal vengeance on her and complain to the heavens but not until then.¡±


    The fox woman¡¯s triumphant look vanished at Sen¡¯s last statement.


    ¡°Wait,¡± said Misty Peak, ¡°I¡¯m not comfortable with this whole eternal vengeance thing.¡±


    Sen gave her a withering look. ¡°Do you really feel like you¡¯ve got a leg to stand on there?¡±


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    ¡°I have two excellent legs to stand on. And don¡¯t think I haven¡¯t seen you looking at them,¡± said Misty Peak, throwing him a coy look.


    Sen lifted a hand to his face and rubbed at his eyes, suddenly certain that he hadn¡¯t given his body enough time to rest and heal. That had to be the reason he was feeling so tired.


    ¡°You¡¯re wearing robes,¡± said Sen. ¡°I can¡¯t see your legs.¡±


    ¡°Not now, but I¡¯m sure you snuck a peak while I was bathing.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡± shouted Li Yi Nuo. ¡°That¡¯s so dishonorable.¡±


    Sen just shook his head and gave the fox woman a disapproving look. ¡°That was you, looking at me.¡±


    The fox woman grinned. ¡°Oh yeah, it was.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo was staring at the Misty Peak in horror. ¡°You didn¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°I think the only real question here is why you didn¡¯t. Look at him.¡±


    Sen just turned and started walking toward the forest.


    ¡°Where are you going?¡± said Li Yi Nuo and Misty Peak at the same time.


    ¡°That conversation doesn¡¯t need me, and I have work to do.¡±


    Remembering something, Sen turned around and went back. He walked past the two women and leaned around the corner of the galehouse.


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m going. You should probably come with me,¡± said Sen before he turned and looked at Li Yi Nuo. ¡°Don¡¯t panic. It¡¯s not going to hurt you.¡±


    ¡°What isn¡¯t going to hurt me?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Big spider,¡± said Misty Peak in a nonchalant tone, as though she hadn¡¯t been all but yelling at Sen about it less than two hours before.


    ¡°Big spider?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo before she let out a terrified shriek as the spider came around the side of the building.


    Sen kept an eye on Li Yi Nuo to make sure she wouldn¡¯t do anything they¡¯d all regret and then resumed his walk toward the forest. The spider trailed along behind him, seeming unbothered by the terror all but radiating off of the sect woman. He tried to tune it out, but Sen caught a little bit of an exchange between the woman.


    ¡°What is that thing?¡± demanded Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°I think it''s his pet,¡± said Misty Peak. ¡°Or maybe it¡¯s the other way around. It¡¯s hard to tell with the spiders.¡±


    ¡°Pet?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo. ¡°How do you even make something like that into a pet?¡±


    ¡°He saved it from a fire eagle.¡±


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°How do you think?¡± asked Misty Peak.


    Sen picked up the pace at that point, not even remotely interested in hearing the story of something he did told secondhand. He wasn¡¯t even interested in hearing himself tell the story. The whole thing was pretty embarrassing. He wanted to think he¡¯d made lots of mistakes, but he really hadn¡¯t. Once he¡¯d decided to save the spider, the only way to get there fast enough was the way he did it, and everything that went wrong ultimately evolved from that. But even the things that went wrong hadn¡¯t truly been mistakes. He¡¯d made a lot of decisions with exactly no time to make them. If he¡¯d had time to think them all through and been a little less foggy, he probably would have made other choices. Of course, it was easy to see where you could have done something else when you had all the time in the world to think it over.


    The fact was that he had succeeded in the end. He just wished it had been cleaner and involved crashing into fewer trees. That was the only way in which considering all of the other options afterward was helpful. It let you make better decisions the next time you did something. As long as you didn¡¯t let it bog you down with uncertainty and indecision. It was a hard balance to maintain. Too much certainty could lead you straight into your own death. Not enough certainty and you could hesitate yourself into the same position. Most days, Sen felt like he was striking the right balance, but it was almost impossible to judge from the inside. He¡¯d been lucky enough to survive the times he was wrong. He just had to hope that he was learning from those mistakes.


    Sen found where he¡¯d left off with the formation flags and got right to work. He let his spiritual sense spread out and was surprised to find that the number of his watchers had been cut in half. He also noticed that they were far less vigilant. They moved around more, and he was pretty sure they all went off to kill and eat something while he kept working. Maybe he had achieved a bit of goodwill with the spider queen. At least enough that they didn¡¯t assume he¡¯d run off to murder all of the spiders without constant supervision. If so, he¡¯d take it as a win. He didn¡¯t love the sense of being under watchful eyes all the time, even if he had agreed to it.


    When he positioned the final flag, he almost didn¡¯t believe it. There had been so many interruptions and delays, he¡¯d started to think the formations would never be done. Plus, he¡¯d been running short on formation flags. Even spacing them with a more generous distance than he felt entirely comfortable with, it had been close. Now that they were all in, though, all that was left was testing. He grumbled under his breath a little about the testing. He could run some qi through the formations, which was a mostly reliable test. It still wasn¡¯t the same as actually using the formation. It was just the best he could do under the circumstances. Sen held his breath and took the formation to the half-activated state.


    By touching one of the flags, he could get an impression from the entire formation. He could see that there were some minor problems, but they all felt fixable. He repeated the operation with the second formation he¡¯d set up. That one also had a few problems that closely mirrored the first formation¡¯s problems, but he could make the adjustments that both formations needed as long as he didn¡¯t waste too much time. A little bit of excitement wormed its way through Sen¡¯s mind. He was aware that they would do something very dangerous the next day, but he was ready to face that danger. He was ready to be through with this task and being stuck so deep in the wilds. Taking a moment to stretch, he fixed the positions of the problem spots with the formations in his mind. With a small group of oversized spiders in tow, Sen set out for the first of those spots with a determined step.

 V6 Chapter 45 – Final Straw

    Sen spent the entire afternoon and early evening making ever finer adjustments to the formation. He reassured himself several times that he was simply being thorough and not avoiding the galehouse and its current occupants. No, he thought, definitely not avoiding them. Just want to make sure that this formation is going to perform the way I need it to. I¡¯m just being responsible. He spent so much time working on the formations that night had fallen by the time he made his way back to the galehouse. He tried very hard not to notice how invisible the big spiders that had trailed around after him became in that darkness. It was easy enough for him to keep track of them with his spiritual sense, but they would be absolutely lethal predators for anything without that advantage.


    He felt two of the spiders split off when he reached the clearing where he¡¯d erected the familiar stone building. The one that had stuck closest to him all day resumed its place by the galehouse. Something about that triggered a mild feeling of foreboding. While Sen would never credit himself with any kind of divination skills, he felt a kind of premonition that the spider would come to cause him trouble. He didn¡¯t think it would be some kind of direct harm, but trouble all the same. Well, I¡¯ll need to survive long enough for that to happen, he thought a little glumly. For all of his preparations with the formations, the reality of the situation had started to hang over him again.


    In some ways, the disinterest of the horde in anything not related to the ruins had made it far too easy to ignore it. Not that the horde was ever really out of mind, but it never intruded as an active threat. He had always been too far away from the ruins to draw their attention. So, he¡¯d pushed that concern to the back of his head. Now, though, he would be getting close to the ruins. The idea of drawing away the horde with his formation felt less like a plan and more like wishful thinking. It probably would attract the attention of some of them. Fire was hard on spirits and anything with a devilish influence alike, so they wouldn¡¯t ignore it. The idea that it would draw them all away seemed increasingly unlikely to Sen. That would just be too easy and straightforward.


    No, he was probably going to have to fight to get in, and he didn¡¯t have a good strategy for that. The horde was too densely packed to get a clear read of the strength of the spirits and devilish beasts. Given how far into the wilds they¡¯d come, though, it¡¯d be foolish to assume any of them were weak. He¡¯d let himself indulge in that fool¡¯s fantasy for a few minutes because of his fast defeat of the fire eagle, but that hadn¡¯t really been a testament to his skill. He had picked the right qi type for the fight, and that first blow he¡¯d landed probably would have killed it eventually, but he suspected that having the ice qi blade explode inside the bird was what had truly handed him a fast victory. And he hadn¡¯t been planning on that. It was a lucky accident.


    While some would say that legends can be built on such lucky accidents, Sen wasn¡¯t one of them. He wouldn¡¯t reject luck if it interceded on his behalf, lest he discourage it from appearing again, but he preferred the surety of skill and the certainty of knowledge. It was the absence of the latter that worried him. While he trusted his skill to see him through most fights, he rarely faced fights where he knew so little about his enemies, let alone what waited beyond those enemies. Sen had tried on several occasions to pry more information out of Laughing River about the monks who once resided in the temple city, but the elder fox had proved less than forthcoming. The problem was that Sen couldn¡¯t tell if the fox truly didn¡¯t know, or simply chose to withhold the information for his own reasons. He had considered simply refusing to even attempt entry to the ruins if the fox didn¡¯t convince him, but Sen knew he wouldn¡¯t. His curiosity had been roused. He wanted to see what was inside those ancient buildings. Turning back now would leave him with a yearning for knowledge that would never go away. So, he set aside his misgivings and went inside.


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    ¡°Is it ready?¡± asked Laughing River.


    ¡°Yes. I¡¯ll go in the morning,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I think you mean we¡¯ll go,¡± corrected Misty Peak.


    Sen shrugged. ¡°I suppose.¡±


    ¡°Why does she get to go?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo as she glared at Misty Peak from across the room.


    ¡°She negotiates better than you,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± asked the sect woman.


    Sen waved a dismissive hand at the foxes. ¡°Take it up with them. Unlike the rest of you, I actually did something today. I¡¯m tired.¡±


    ¡°I did something today,¡± said Misty Peak. ¡°It was even a very annoying thing that I didn¡¯t want to do. I should get some credit for that.¡±


    Sen started walking toward his room in the hope of getting clear before Li Yi Nuo worked out the obvious. He got most of the way there.


    ¡°Are you talking about me?¡± demanded an angry Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Well, you are annoying, and I did have to do something with you. So, I¡¯m going to go with yes,¡± said Misty Peak.


    ¡°I should kill you,¡± said Li Yi Nuo in a low, dangerous voice.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think you should intervene?¡± asked Laughing River, not even trying to hide how entertaining he found the whole situation.


    Sen looked back at the room. ¡°I spent the entire day doing everything I can to try to ensure that I don¡¯t die tomorrow.¡±


    That statement hit everyone in the room like they¡¯d been splashed with cold water. Li Yi Nuo and Misty Peak both got guilty expressions, while the amusement faded entirely from Laughing River¡¯s expression. Sen nodded, finding their reactions wholly appropriate. He continued.


    ¡°I agreed to take her along so that she¡¯d bring you back,¡± said Sen, gesturing at Misty Peak while glaring at Li Yi Nuo. ¡°While I don¡¯t expect an outpouring of gratitude, it might be nice if you could stop looking for reasons to be angry every five minutes.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean-,¡± started Li Yi Nuo.


    Sen turned to Misty Peak, who looked very nervous.


    ¡°And you. You say you¡¯ve given up on your mission to kill your not-particularly-beloved grandfather, but words are cheap. Yeah, you¡¯re getting your way, but do you honestly think that makes me feel better about all of this? Now, I get to worry about the possibilities of enemies in front of me and enemies behind me. That¡¯s always the best frame of mind to have when you¡¯re going into a life-or-death situation. That definitely won¡¯t prove a lethal distraction.¡±


    Misty Peak looked like she was about to say something, but Sen transferred his glare to Laughing River.


    ¡°And all of this to get something so that you won¡¯t die. What¡¯s your contribution to enhancing my odds of survival? Encouraging these two to argue, which you know frustrates me. At every turn, the three of you have been a constant source of delays and distractions. While I can understand the need to lighten the mood a little from time to time, this ceaseless bickering is not helpful for me. While none of you may care what happens to me tomorrow, I do. So, no, I¡¯m not going to intervene. If you two kill each other, I¡¯m fine with it at this point. It just means two fewer things on my already long list of problems.¡±


    After that tirade, even Laughing River looked a little embarrassed. Sen thought about giving the lot of them a chance to respond but decided against it. He just turned on a heel and went into the room he¡¯d been using since they arrived. He wondered if he might have been a little harder on the three than they actually deserved. He couldn¡¯t help but question if he lashing out at them because he was afraid. It was possible, likely even, but not necessarily out of line. He hadn¡¯t said anything that was untrue. They had all been amusing, at times, but they had also been irritations that added days to his time out in the deep wilds. Time that he felt would have been better spent getting back to where he was going. As he dropped onto the bed he¡¯d set up in the room, he made a decision.


    ¡°If they act like that in the morning, I¡¯m leaving,¡± he said.


    While he was mostly sure that neither Li Yi Nuo nor Misty Peak could have heard the words, he expected that Laughing River could. It was Sen¡¯s final warning to the fox that his patience had run out. He¡¯d made the good faith effort, even going so far as to ignore his initial misgivings. Sen¡¯s tolerance for the people and the situation had simply run dry.

 V6 Chapter 46 – The Ruins, Part 1

    Sen spent most of the evening and the night in something that wasn¡¯t quite a cultivation trance but came exceedingly close. He didn¡¯t want to think because that risked him getting caught up in a spiral of what-if contemplations that would do him little good. The absence of good information about the horde and what they would find inside the ruins simply didn¡¯t allow for those what-if scenarios to yield anything useful. All they could do was prime him with expectations that would surely lead him into assumptions. Rather than take that chance, he buried himself in the rigors of cultivation. It was a mixed blessing, as his qi stores were already straining the limits of his dantian, fed as they were by that enhanced double-helix formation. He spent some time considering that strange formation that seemed to provide benefits while accomplishing little beyond pushing him faster toward ascension.


    When he grew tired of the cultivation trance, he went outside and fell back on alchemy to preserve his state of mind. He needed calm if he was to face the unknown. Fear and panic wouldn¡¯t serve him. Sen was well aware that danger was imminent, so fear had no place. As for the panic that fear so often brought in its wake, that never served a useful purpose. In Sen¡¯s experience, those who panicked, died. Since dying wasn¡¯t in his plan, he would do his best to ensure that panic couldn¡¯t infect him. Instead, he made healing elixirs. There were other things he could make. He¡¯d become terribly adept at making poisons in his run-up to murdering Tong Guanting back in the capital. But he already had enough poisons tucked away in his storage rings to make him a threat to entire armies of mortals without ever once using a technique. Healing elixirs were familiar, almost like old friends, so he made those. Plus, unlike poisons, he honestly believed that you could never have too many healing elixirs.


    He heard the door open behind him but didn¡¯t bother to look back. Part of him was focused on finishing the elixir he was making. The rest of him just didn¡¯t care enough to look back. This entire experience had taught him some things about himself. As with most self-knowledge, it came as something of a mixed bag. On the one hand, he had reclaimed his capacity for patience and tolerance. That was something that had been slowly eroded away from him, but he¡¯d let the erosion go too far. Reclaiming those capacities was a good thing on the surface. Unfortunately, they also made him prone to simply going along. He¡¯d been so focused on being patient with everyone that he¡¯d let simple inertia keep him in this situation. With the last remnants of that patience expended, he recognized that he should have long since put his foot down with everyone involved.


    In fact, if he wasn¡¯t so curious about what might be hidden in those ruins, he would just call the whole thing off and let things play out. There was also the less immediate, but nonetheless salient, problem that Auntie Caihong considered Laughing River a friend. That didn¡¯t obligate him, but Sen didn¡¯t want to create a problem where there didn¡¯t need to be one. Sen was aware enough to know that letting her friend die when he could have done something was not a great way to achieve that end. Whether or not those were good enough reasons to stay was an open question to him. He saw Misty Peak in the corner of his eye but didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°I¡¯m not your enemy,¡± she said.


    Sen glanced at her. ¡°So you say.¡±


    ¡°I know you don¡¯t believe that. I know I can¡¯t convince you. I just thought I should say it.¡±


    Sen used his spiritual sense to gauge the elixir¡¯s progress and removed it from the heat. He bled the heat out of the pot and elixir before he set it aside on a rock. He stood and faced the fox woman. Her usual expression of amusement was gone, replaced by one of tightly controlled concern.


    ¡°Well,¡± replied Sen, ¡°you¡¯ve said it.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not going to make this easy at all, are you?¡±


    ¡°Like you¡¯ve made it easy for me these last few days?¡± asked Sen.


    Misty Peak grimaced. ¡°I guess I had that coming. I¡¯m just trying to say that I won¡¯t interfere with what you¡¯re doing.¡±


    ¡°I hope that¡¯s true for your sake. The thing is that I get the feeling you and your grandfather are still playing out some kind of fox game here. I also get the feeling that you¡¯ve both included me in the game like some kind of honorary fox. I might even be amused by that in other circumstances and play along. The problem is that I¡¯m not a fox and these are deadly circumstances. So, I¡¯m not playing along. If your game puts me in danger while we¡¯re doing this, I will not hesitate to leave your cooling corpse in those ruins. So, Misty Peak, have I been in any way unclear?¡±


    Her voice was a weak thing when she finally answered. ¡°No. No, you¡¯ve been¡­ You were very clear.¡±


    ¡°I hope so. If you have any preparations to do, you should get on with it. We¡¯re going to make our move at dawn.¡±


    She stood there in silence for several heartbeats before she finally asked, ¡°Why at dawn?¡±


    ¡°Because I don¡¯t want to be fighting that horde in the dark.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t the point of that formation to avoid fighting?¡±


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    ¡°Sure,¡± agreed Sen, ¡°but I find it best to just assume you¡¯re always going to have to fight. You¡¯ll suffer fewer disappointments that way.¡±


    The fox woman seemed to regain a bit of her composure and almost managed to give him an amused smile. ¡°Well, that¡¯s a dour sort of pragmatism.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯s just the human in me. We¡¯re all kinds of dour and pragmatic.¡±


    Misty Peak snorted. After an awkward silence, she retreated inside the galehouse. Sen made note of the watcher and returned to his elixir, depositing it into a stone vial. He watched the small fire he¡¯d built for nearly a minute before Laughing River stepped out of a shadow and sat down across from him. Sen lifted an eyebrow at the elder fox.


    ¡°You meant it, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°The part about leaving or the part about killing her?¡±


    ¡°I suppose I meant both.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I meant it.¡±


    The fox was quiet for a lot longer than Sen expected. He studied the elder fox and wondered just how different fox thinking was from how humans thought. It didn¡¯t seem that different on the surface, but he had seen that it diverged in important ways, even if he didn¡¯t fully understand that divergence.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think she¡¯ll do anything in the ruins. Not after that talk. You scared her there.¡±


    ¡°I intended to. She might be willing to die for whatever game you¡¯re playing. I¡¯m not.¡±


    ¡°I think we, my granddaughter and I, both underestimated you a little. I shouldn¡¯t have. Caihong warned me.¡±


    ¡°About me?¡± asked Sen, a little surprised.


    ¡°She said that you were curious. She also said that you could be as hard as the bones of the earth. I listened too much to the first part, not enough to the second.¡±


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re still getting what you want. So, I guess you won in the end.¡±


    ¡°You can get what you want and still lose in the end,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°Happens all the time in this world. I get the impression that no matter how this turns out, I¡¯ve made an enemy of you.¡±


    Sen thought about that for a while before he shook his head.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t made me your enemy, but I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll ever be friends. I don¡¯t like being used. I don¡¯t like being made a piece in other people¡¯s games. You¡¯ve done both,¡± said Sen, glancing up. ¡°We should get moving. It¡¯s going to be dawn soon.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll get the others,¡± said Laughing River.


    A few minutes later, four humans set out from the galehouse. Sen wasn¡¯t surprised to find that the spider was trailing along behind them. He thought about sending it back to wherever the spiders lived, but he couldn¡¯t be sure that the spider would actually listen. It¡¯ll probably go home when we make our mad dash for the ruins, thought Sen. It¡¯s the smart move. When they reached the edge of the forest, it wasn¡¯t quite dawn. Even in the pre-dawn light, Sen could see that horde of devilish beasts and spirits moving around whatever protection was in place around the ruins. The motion reminded him of water splitting around a rock. However, the comparison failed a bit for Sen when he tried to imagine water being a great mass of evil. He glanced over at Misty Peak. She was staring out at the horde with wide eyes.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to come,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°And let you have all the treasures in there. I don¡¯t think so,¡± said Misty Peak, although there was absolutely no conviction in her words.


    Sen shrugged. It wasn¡¯t his job to convince her that everything was going to go well. She invited herself along, so she could convince herself. As the sky grew progressively brighter, Sen reached out with his qi to the formation flag that was planted in the ground near his foot. He could feel the formation humming as if it were eager to spring to life and accomplish its purpose. Sen shook his head to clear away the ridiculous thought. Sen looked over at the other two. Laughing River looked positively grim as he stared out at the horde. Li Yi Nuo¡¯s face was a study in quiet horror. She must have felt his eyes on her because she looked his way.


    ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want to come along?¡± he asked. ¡°Plenty of monstrosities down there for everyone.


    A look of pure, unadulterated panic crossed the woman¡¯s face. ¡°No! Why would I want to do that?¡±


    Sen gave her a bland look. ¡°All of that honor and glory for your sect. Wasn¡¯t that why you wanted to stay? What could be more glorious than facing down that horde up close?¡±


    She started shaking her head and moving back from the group. Sen took pity on her.


    ¡°Calm down. I¡¯m not going to make you go. It was just a joke,¡± said Sen. ¡°Well, mostly a joke. Probably.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo¡¯s face contorted like she wanted to be furious with him, but a glance at the horde turned into more horrified staring. Sen found himself very glad that they hadn¡¯t given her an actual job to do in all of this. She was at least a century away from being ready for things like this at the rate she was going. Sen turned his attention back to Laughing River.


    ¡°Are you ready to do your part?¡± Sen asked.


    The elder fox nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±


    Misty Peak gave Sen and her grandfather a suspicious look. ¡°His part? What do you mean, his part?¡±


    ¡°His part is verisimilitude,¡± said Sen, being intentionally and obnoxiously cryptic.


    ¡°Why is this the first I¡¯m hearing about his part?¡± she asked.


    ¡°And now we¡¯re back to the fog of untrustworthiness I mentioned before,¡± said Sen, and he continued before she could get a comment in. ¡°Let¡¯s get this started.¡±


    Sen extended his qi into the formation again and triggered it. Even as the person who designed the formation, the results caught him off-guard. The dim light of dawn was erased as a firestorm exploded on the far side of the ruins. The entire ancient city was lit up with red and yellow light. Simultaneously, there were roars of surprise and agony as the fire enveloped the horde on that side of the ruins. As swiftly as it came, the fire died out and was replaced by blue-white lightning lancing out of the forest and cascading through the horde. Sen locked eyes with Misty Peak.


    ¡°Get ready,¡± he ordered.


    The lightning winked out and Sen could hear the muted cries of thousands of people and the thunder of all their feet. He could imagine the army that poured out of the trees and raced toward the horde. A glance at Laughing River showed the fox with an expression of deepest concentration. Sen turned his eyes toward the horde. He waited as the milling mass of creatures seemed to lose all focus and drifted in every direction for a moment before it surged toward the intruders. The horde started to thin out on the side of the ruins that was closest to their position. It was slow at first, and then the ranks got thinner and thinner. When Sen judged it was as good as it was likely to get, he surged forward into the cleared space around the ruins and gave a muted shout.


    ¡°Now!¡±

 V6 Chapter 47 – The Ruins, Part 2

    Sen¡¯s pushed his qinggong technique hard. He wanted to cover the ground between him and the ruins as fast as possible. Ideally, he wanted to be moving fast enough to simply run around any beasts or spirits that might be a little slow to go after Laughing River¡¯s illusionary army. Even so, he didn¡¯t push the technique to the limit. He knew that Misty Peak was fast but not quite as fast as he was at top speed. He kept part of his spiritual sense trained backward. For all his tough talk to the fox woman, he didn¡¯t intend to simply throw her to the devilish beasts and angry spirits. Suspicion was one thing, but he wasn¡¯t going to actively sabotage her into an early grave. Yet, of all the things he had imagined might go wrong, having the big spider race out after them had never crossed his mind.


    The spider¡¯s actions were so unexpected that Sen nearly lost control of his qinggong technique. He came within a hair of stumbling. While it might not have proven fatal, it would have proven incredibly painful at the speeds he was traveling. He shot a quick look over his shoulder to confirm that he wasn¡¯t imagining things. He saw Misty Peak racing after him, mere steps behind, and lagging behind both of them was the spider. Sen couldn¡¯t decide what was more shocking. The spider deciding to chase after them or the fact that it wasn¡¯t that far behind. Part of Sen was a little appalled that it could move that fast. Part of its speed stemmed from the fact that it was covering more ground with each step than he could. Part of it was the horrifying speed of its legs, which would probably have looked like little more than a blur to mortal eyes.


    However, Sen could see what was going to happen. As fast as the spider was, it was going to fall behind. Stupid spider, thought Sen. If it gets itself killed chasing after me, who knows what the spider queen will do. Sen could just imagine having to fight his way back out through the horde just to face another army composed entirely of spiders. He tried to figure out a solution, but they were closing on the remnants of the horde fast. He wasn¡¯t going to have time to really think it through. Desperately wishing that he had some representative of the heavens or fate nearby that he could punch in the face incredibly hard, Sen slowed down. Misty Peak almost crashed into him before she shifted to the side a little and shot past him. She looked back to give him an incredulous look and all but screamed at him.


    ¡°What in the hells are you doing?!¡±


    Sen just shook his head and gestured behind himself. Her gaze shifted past him and he watched her eyes go wide. Sen didn¡¯t look back again, just kept the spider fixed in his spiritual sense as it gained ground on them. Sen could practically hear Misty Peak grinding her teeth as she slowed down to match pace with him. She shot him an angry look and started to say something, which was why she missed the flash of misty gray when the spirit appeared in front of them. Sen planted a hand on her shoulder and shoved, sending the fox woman stumbling away. The split-second that it took him to do that wasn¡¯t much wasted time, but it was enough time that Sen collided with the spirit instead of running past it.


    Sen¡¯s vision went the same gray color as the spirit had appeared and, for the briefest of moments, he felt as though he were floating in cool water. That sensation was almost immediately shattered when icy fingers seemed to plunge into his brain. Sen lost track of his qinggong technique. He lost track of his legs. Some echo of his consciousness told him that he was limply careening across the ground, but he had no room for that problem around the agony in his skull. He felt an abominable hunger explode to life inside of him like he¡¯d missed every meal for a year. He wanted to consume all of the food in his storage rings. He wanted to consume the spirit beasts around him, devilish beasts or not. He wanted to consume the grass, the soil, the spider, and even the fox woman. A thousand visions of sinking his teeth into anything that might help sate that unspeakable, unyielding hunger passed through his mind.


    Sen understood what was happening to him, in theory. He knew that certain kinds of restless spirits could inhabit living human bodies by suppressing the souls that lived in them. The process was hard on human bodies, which usually limited the amount of time a spirit could possess someone before the stolen body simply gave out. Of course, Sen didn¡¯t have a normal human body. He didn¡¯t know how long his body would last under the control of a spirit but it seemed likely that the spirit could use it to do terrible things for years to come. Something like memories spilled into his mind. Except they weren¡¯t memories the way he understood them. They were devoid of all color, washed out, and the only thing that really stood out in them was the hunger. A terrible, inexhaustible need to consume. Sen also knew that spirits could drive a body¡¯s soul out entirely. The soul was all tied up with the body when it came to humans.


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    I need to fight this, thought Sen. Yet, he didn¡¯t know where or how to begin. He¡¯d only ever had discussions about how possessions worked and how to fight them. It wasn¡¯t the kind of thing that one could practice without having something try to possess you. He felt everything that made him who he was at the deepest level sinking away from the world. He was drowning in a world made of gray mist and hunger. Worse, there was nothing he could do about it. There was nothing to grab onto. No way to root himself in place. There was only mist. Then, there was pain. Sen was only aware of it in the most distant of ways. Yet, it was there. Right in his skin and in the marrow of his bones. A frenetic energy that felt familiar to Sen started to blaze up, and with it came the pain. It started as a dull burn that swiftly roared into an inferno of pain. Even in his sense-dulled state, Sen was aware of that pain.


    There was something like a scream that reached him down in that misty place. It was an inhuman wail composed of equal parts denial, anger, and fear. That scream seemed to make the very foundations of the earth tremble. Sen thrashed beneath the tearing, rending force of that shriek. It was like icicles being driving into his heart. Before the pain of that subsided, the wail came again and Sen wanted to retreat somewhere, anywhere, that the scream couldn¡¯t reach him. He swung his head back and forth, frantic to find some kind of safe harbor or even just a handhold that he could latch onto. Then, a light punched through the mist to land on him. It bathed him in a golden glow and helped to soothe some of the soul ache the shrieking had inflicted. He felt something firm beneath his feet and stumbled toward the light.


    The scream came again and threatened to drive Sen into unconsciousness. Except, he knew it would be something worse than unconsciousness. If he succumbed to that pressure, he would never rise from it again. His existence would be little more than a living death. He clung to the promise of that light the same way he clung to consciousness. He stumbled forward, pressing toward what he hoped was salvation with all the will he could muster. His focus condensed down to exactly one thing. Moving toward that light. There may have been more shrieks that tried to afflict him. He was so disoriented and in pain that it became less important to him. With one final agonizing push, Sen came back to himself.


    For a few awful seconds, he couldn¡¯t even understand where he was, let alone what he was doing. There was a terrible, blinding light. As sanity started to reassert itself, Sen realized that he was the source of that light. He also saw that the misty gray of the spirit was being driven out of him, but that wasn¡¯t all that was happening. The light pouring off of his very skin was boiling away whatever substance had composed that spirit. There was another of those shrieks, except it was happening in the real world. Sen took a lurching step as that sound assaulted his ears, his mind, and something deep inside of him that he thought was his soul. He was certain he felt something rupture inside one of his eyes. Then, with one last burst of light, the spirit was gone. Sen collapsed to his knees, drawing in ragged breaths as the different parts of his being tried to sort out what went where and exactly who was in charge.


    Sen forced himself to look up. Misty Peak was standing a few feet away and staring at him in both fear and awe. The spider was hovering closer to him, scuttling back and forth like a nervous villager who didn¡¯t know how to help an injured friend. Sen worked his mouth a few times and then spat blood onto the ground before he managed to say anything.


    ¡°Oh, hells, that hurt. I never want to do that again,¡± mumbled Sen.


    ¡°Are you, well, you again?¡± asked a hesitant Misty Peak.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Okay, great. Glad you¡¯re not possessed. Sorry to add to your list of worries, but you need to get up. Right now!¡±


    ¡°What? Why?¡± demanded Sen.


    He followed the direction of her gaze and wanted to just cry. Devilish beasts were rushing at them. Muttering to himself and ignoring the world of pain that was still coursing through him like lava, Sen pushed himself to his feet. Misty Peak shot him a look that verged on open terror.


    ¡°What are you babbling about?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°I said, someone is going to pay for that.¡±

 V6 Chapter 48 – The Ruins, Part 3

    All throughout Sen¡¯s training, Master Feng had instilled in him the need for control. He¡¯d striven for it at first because he trusted Master Feng. Then, he¡¯d gone out into the world and witnessed firsthand the destruction that uncontrolled techniques could unleash. He¡¯d even been the cause of some of that destruction. A loss of control had the potential to end lives by the hundreds or, as a cultivator advanced, by the thousands. It could level homes. It could level nations. Those experiences and realizations had reinforced his belief in the absolute need for control. Sen could count on his fingers the number of times he¡¯d truly lost that part of himself. Even when the heart demon was at its worst, Sen had rarely fallen prey.


    Of course, he had also rarely been in a position where a loss of control stood to harm so few and destroy so many that deserved it. Nor had he ever been as powerful as he was at that moment, recent trauma aside. It would be so easy, he thought. Keeping a tight hold on techniques was the challenge. Letting them fail, well, that was child¡¯s play. A heaven¡¯s rebuke like that one I set off back in that abandoned town, perhaps, mused Sen. It would likely wipe away every devilish beast rushing toward them. Any it didn¡¯t kill would likely be horribly injured by that detonation of qi. The idea seemed to take hold of Sen with a will of its own. He had already drawn his jian and started pressing lightning qi into it before he realized what he was about to do.


    He truly had no idea what that technique or an intentionally flawed version of the technique would do at his current level of advancement. Yes, it would kill the enemy, but it might also wipe away half of the ruins or kill them all. He withdrew the lightning qi from the jian and decided that something else was more appropriate for these creatures. While his memories of why he performed the technique remained hazy, the mechanics of Heavens¡¯ Shadow remained burned into his mind. Just as importantly, it wouldn¡¯t bring about mass destruction in its wake. Sen pulled on the shadow qi inside of him, frantically mixing and matching the other kinds of qi it needed, before he drew on that helix of divine qi, just the tiniest thread, to bring it all together. Then, remembering that he had inflicted his grief on those other cultivators, he picked something else he was all too familiar with to infuse the technique. Fear.


    He had spent most of his early life in a constant state of fear. Fear of starvation. Fear of beatings. Fear of death. His ascent into the ranks of cultivator hadn¡¯t freed him from fear, just given him new things to fear. Sen drew deep on those experiences and distilled that fear into something more basic, something purer, something primal. He squeezed that fear the way he might squeeze qi to condense it. He took that fear and shoved it into the technique. There was a moment of resistance before the technique let him add this other element. He glanced over at Misty Peak.


    ¡°Get ready to follow me through,¡± said Sen before shooting a look at the spider. ¡°That goes for you too back there.¡±


    Misty Peak was staring at the jian in Sen¡¯s hand like it was made of death. ¡°What are you going to do?¡±


    Sen gave her a smile. ¡°I¡¯m going to share.¡±


    Where he¡¯d almost instinctively limited the technique the first time he¡¯d done it, Sen put no such restrictions on himself this time. He swept the jian before him and a casual, almost lazy arc. An avalanche of shadow, divine qi, and the essence of fear rolled across the land in front of him, spreading out and crashing over the devilish spirit beasts and restless spirits alike. There was a hush as that technique inundated those fell creatures, seeped into them, and afflicted them. The avalanche thinned as the technique took root in every living and unliving thing within its range. His mind a little more settled, Sen returned to pressing lightning qi and his killing intent into his jian. Right around the moment Heavens¡¯ Rebuke coalesced and purple-hued black lighting started to crackle around the blade, the part of the horde that had been racing toward them quite simply went mad.


    The spirits tried to float away and attacked anything that got in their way. The devilish beasts tried to run in every direction except toward Sen. They crawled over each other or went through each other. Spirit beasts were trampled and crushed beneath the hooves and claws and more powerful devilish beasts. The noises of terror they made were so loud and omnipresent that Sen felt it in his teeth. Misty Peak had clapped her hands over her ears to try to block some of the noise, and Sen had to wonder just how sensitive her hearing was. Do foxes have better hearing than humans? Sen suspected that they did and that it would only grow more acute as they gained power. The big spider was hunched low to the ground and violently shuddering, clearly pained by the noise but unable to cover whatever served to give it hearing.


    Sen wove a net of air around them to cut down the noise. He didn¡¯t stop it entirely because it was madness to deprive yourself of one of your senses in battle. He just muted the noise so that it wasn¡¯t physically agonizing to experience it anymore. Misty Peak lowered her hands and the spider stopped crouching and shuddering. She looked at him and then stumbled back when her eyes fell on his jian. She pointed at the sword with a trembling finger.


    ¡°What is that?¡± she demanded.


    Sen turned his attention back to the chaos playing out in the horde and answered, ¡°A sword.¡±


    As the horde did its best to rip itself apart and run away at the same time, Sen nodded to himself. This was a far better option than mindless destruction. It was judicious control. As much as Sen would like to simply stand there and watch the foul creatures destroy each other, he knew it wasn¡¯t possible. His technique had only affected a small portion of the horde. As they died or fled, unaffected members of the horde would filter in to replace them. They needed to use the chaos in front of them as cover to get into the ruins. That meant they were going to have to cut their way through.


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    ¡°Keep up,¡± said Sen and dashed toward the madness.


    Sen almost immediately decided that the only real saving grace to this approach was that they didn¡¯t need to actually kill everything in their path. They just needed to get around the devilish beasts. Testing an idea, he let the divine qi embedded in his skin rise to the surface and emit a dull glow. Every spirit that got near to him recoiled as if in agony and even some of the devilish beast shied away from him, which made Sen happy. He didn¡¯t even have names for most of the things he saw. They resembled spirit beasts in the loose sense that most of them had four legs, but the similarities tended to end there. He saw something that looked like a cross between a deer, a scorpion, and some kind of serpent. There was a beast that had no head, simply a chitinous body like a boar, and a long neck that ended in a maw filled with razor fangs. He saw a creature that had two heads, one of a bird and one of some kind of cat. The heads lashed out at each other as often as at something else.


    Yet, those creatures were almost comforting when compared with the creature that was nothing but a mass of tentacles around a massive, pus-filled nodule that he thought served as its brain. The thing was so utterly vile, so purely revolting, that Sen went out of his way to hurl lightning at it. The lightning split open the nodule in a spray that coated nearby beasts and began to rot them immediately. Sen saw some of the human-faced spider things he fought with Chan Yu Ming what felt like a thousand years before. Sen meant to simply pass them by, but it seemed that his recent spider companion had something against them, because it launched itself in their midst with an outraged chittering noise. Sen clenched his teeth and followed the spider. His Heavens¡¯ Rebuke-infused jian carved through the things like they weren¡¯t even there. He actually felt their cores explode as soon as the blade came in contact with them.


    He would have liked to stay and experiment, but he barely dodged a foot-long spine that something in the horde had fired off. He wasn¡¯t even sure that it had been aimed at him. It could have been aimed at something else, or nothing at all, or simply fired in some creature¡¯s death throes. He gave the spider a baleful glare and the creature flinched back from it. They couldn¡¯t stop moving or they¡¯d get bogged down in the horde.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± ordered Sen, knowing that it was too late.


    Misty Peak had been flittering around the edges of their fight with the human-faced spider things, but the horde had shifted, bringing fresh monstrosities into their vicinity. The horde wasn¡¯t targeting them specifically. They were still caught in the throes of the panic that Sen had induced. Unfortunately, the devilish beasts were so thick on the ground that they didn¡¯t need to target Sen¡¯s group specifically. Misty Peak was frantically battling with three fear-crazed things that Sen didn¡¯t look at too closely. He needed to make them a little breathing room. He started cycling for wind. It normally wouldn¡¯t be much of a challenge, but maintaining Heavens¡¯ Rebuke had never really gotten any easier. It still demanded most of his attention. He also wasn¡¯t prepared to release it yet.


    Instead, Sen did what he knew best. He pushed himself. He forced his mind to find what it needed to cycle the amount of wind he needed. Then, he crafted wind blades. Except, these weren¡¯t the small wind blades that he normally preferred. These wind blades were massive things that were close to thirty feet long. With an effort of will and qi, he started to spin those wind blades like they were attached to an axle with his small group in a tiny safe zone at the center of the carnage he was about to unleash. It took almost five seconds, a long eternity in battle, for the wind blade to reach the speeds he wanted, but the effect was almost instantaneous. There was a hellish shriek as the wind blades cut through the air and dangerous chaotic winds hurled some of the lighter devilish beasts away. As blood started trickling out of his nose, Sen smiled and was certain he must look slightly mad. I did say someone was going to pay, he thought.


    ¡°Misty Peak! Fall back!¡± shouted Sen.


    She didn¡¯t hesitate. She flung herself toward where Sen was standing. As she did that, Sen pulled those massive spinning wind blades down to the earth. He didn¡¯t have the words to describe the carnage he unleashed with that decision. Weaker devilish beasts were simply disintegrated by the blades, while stronger beasts were flung away in pieces. The bone shrapnel from the beasts that were somewhere in the middle caused a wave of death that radiated outward from where Sen stood. There was also a great wash of black blood that covered everything within sight. Misty Peak stared at the destruction with her jaw slack. Sen knew better than to waste time. He grabbed her arm and started dragging her toward the ruins. After a few steps, she shook off her shock and started moving under her own power again.


    The path to the ruins was more or less clear, and Sen found it interesting that the barrier that kept out the horde had also kept out the blood, bone shrapnel, and dismembered bodies. It also let them move a lot faster. It wasn¡¯t fast enough. A massive devilish beast slammed down between them and the ruins. It might have looked like Boulder¡¯s Shadow if Boulder¡¯s Shadow had leathery skin instead of soft fur and stood ten feet tall. Misty Peak started to slow down but Sen was tired and hurting. He didn¡¯t feel like bantering with whatever that thing was. He simply pointed his jian at it and unleashed Heavens¡¯ Rebuke as a consolidated strike. He was interested to note that another little thread of divine qi jumped into the technique right as he launched it. The devilish beast¡¯s eyes widened as it saw the iridescent bolt of lightning streak toward it, and then punch straight through it.


    The lightning hit the barrier protecting the ruins. There was a moment of infinite horror inside of Sen when he thought he¡¯d made a lethal mistake. If Heaven¡¯s Rebuke damaged the barrier, it might spell all of their deaths. Instead, it was as if a great hammer had struck a bell. A pure note rolled away from the barrier like a physical presence. Sen braced himself for the blow, but it passed through him. He spun to check on the spider, but it was just standing there and giving Sen a look that made him think it was confused. Sen turned to look at Misty Peak and froze at what he assumed was her actual appearance. No, he chided himself, that¡¯s an inside-the-ruins conversation.


    While that sound had left them unharmed, it was less kind to the devilish beasts. Some of them were ripped apart, some of them melted, but it seemed like all of them were hurt in some way. Sen knew enough not to waste that bit of good fortune. He activated his qinggong technique and raced toward the ruins. He flinched a little as he passed through the barrier, but nothing happened. He turned to watch as Misty Peak pulled something out of a storage ring and activated it. She looked incredibly uncertain as she passed through the barrier. Her eyes darted around like she expected something terrible to happen and only relaxed when nothing did. The spider raced up to the barrier and passed through it without so much as a twitch in its steps. Sen let himself sink down to the ground and flopped back. We did it, he thought. We¡¯re inside. I just wish I thought the hard part was over.

 V6 Chapter 49 – The Ruins, Part 4

    Sen didn¡¯t bother to stand as he pulled a healing elixir from a storage ring and downed it. He just lay there for most of a minute, basking in the magnificent absence of people talking at him. Knowing it couldn¡¯t last, though, he pushed himself back up into a sitting position. Misty Peak and the spider were standing next to each other and staring at him. The fox woman looked stunned. The spider looked like, well, it mostly just looked like a spider that was staring at him. Sen wished again that the thing could speak. Even if it sounded creepy, it would still be better than the almost entirely one-sided version of communication they had at present. Sen glanced out over the ground that they had just covered.


    It was a gruesome sight. There were devilish beast parts everywhere. Beyond that were the bodies of all the beasts he¡¯d killed by accident with his wind blade trick. And to make matters worse, it looked like a god had splashed a particularly viscous black paint over the entire scene. I¡¯m so glad no one was here to see all of that, thought Sen. Then again, there were two foxes present. I may live to hear some demented retelling of all this yet. Groaning, Sen dragged himself up to his feet. He gave the battlefield beyond the barrier one last grim look before turning his attention to the fox and the spider.


    ¡°Are either of you hurt?¡± he asked.


    Silence.


    ¡°Are you injured?¡± Sen asked a bit more forcefully.


    Silence.


    ¡°Hey!¡± shouted Sen.


    That seemed to snap the pair out of some kind of stupor. Misty Peak flinched, while the spider scuttled back a step or two. The fox woman shook her head a few times as if trying to clear it before she settled a more focused on gaze on Sen.


    ¡°What?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Are either of you hurt?¡± Sen repeated.


    ¡°No. I¡¯m fine,¡± said Misty Peak.


    Sen looked over at the spider, sighed, and said, ¡°Lift a leg once for yes and twice for no.¡±


    The spider promptly lifted a leg up and again. Sen nodded.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s get a little farther from the barrier. No point in announcing where we went when the horde fills back in.¡±


    Misty Peak gave him a strange look. ¡°You think there are any left? Even after that weird bell thing you did.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m certain of it.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because it would make my life easier if there weren¡¯t any left. So, the horde is absolutely not completely gone and will be waiting for us when it¡¯s time to leave.¡±


    ¡°You should try being more optimistic,¡± observed Misty Peak.


    ¡°How much?¡± Sen asked.


    ¡°How much what?¡±


    ¡°How much money do you want to bet that the horde is gone?¡± asked Sen, summoning a bag of taels from a storage ring and giving it a shake. ¡°I¡¯ve got this much that says they¡¯re still out there when we¡¯re done.¡±


    Misty Peak¡¯s eyes traveled from Sen¡¯s face to the bag of taels. ¡°No bet.¡±


    ¡°I thought so,¡± said Sen, storing the bag. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get moving. At least until we find a spot where I can rest for a little while. Unlike you two, I didn¡¯t come out of that unscathed.¡±


    The three started walking deeper into the ruins. For all that time had taken its toll, Sen was surprised how much of the temple city was intact. He picked a building at random and went inside through a door that still functioned. It had clearly been someone¡¯s home. It had also not been abandoned in haste. Everything was carefully packed away, as though the owner had expected to return after a long journey. Sen found himself frowning around at the order in the place. Misty Peak poked through a few cabinets and went into a few of the rooms, but didn¡¯t bring anything out of them. He supposed she might have tucked away a few treasures into a storage ring, but there was a thoughtful look on her face.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen hair quite like that before,¡± said Sen.


    Misty Peak went from thoughtful consideration to a blank-faced statue from one moment to the next. Sen admitted to himself that he found it deeply satisfying to be able to spring something on the fox woman. While that strange tolling sound hadn¡¯t hurt the woman, it had stripped away the illusion. What was left in its place wasn¡¯t dramatically different, but softer. The lines of her face were a little gentler, a little rounder, less aggressively androgynous, and more obviously feminine. The most obvious change was her eyes, which had taken on a slightly squinted look and dark orange color. The next most obvious change had been the reddish cast of her hair. Her hand shot to her face and then jerked a piece of her hair around so she could look at it.


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    ¡°Hells,¡± she muttered.


    ¡°I¡¯m a little disappointed there aren¡¯t any tails,¡± said Sen with a grin.


    She glared at him, which was much more effective with her orange eyes that seemed to blaze briefly with an inner light. ¡°Just because you can¡¯t see them, it doesn¡¯t mean they aren¡¯t there.¡±


    Sen was tempted to tease the fox woman a bit more, but the oddity of the home nagged at him. He ended up just making a noncommittal noise before he abruptly walked outside, picked another building at random, and went inside. His frown deepened as he moved through the rooms, a perplexed Misty Peak trailing behind him and giving him quizzical looks. Another house, more frowning, and increasingly annoyed looks from Misty Peak followed. When Sen went to go into another house, the fox had seemingly reached her limit.


    ¡°Are you just going to search every building hoping that you stumble onto the spatial treasure?¡±


    Sen blinked at her a few times, trying to make sense of her words. Spatial treasure? It came back to him in a rush. They were in the ruins to get that spatial treasure for Laughing River. The strangeness in the houses had simply displaced everything else and, with a touch of embarrassment, he realized he hadn¡¯t bothered explaining what he was doing to Misty Peak or the spider. The spider, thought Sen. I really need to just give that thing a name. The spider didn¡¯t seem to care very much what Sen was doing. It just settled outside of whatever building Sen happened to be inside and did¡­ Sen didn¡¯t know exactly what it was doing. Maybe it was cultivating or meditating on the intrinsic beauty of webs or¡­ Sen came up with nothing. Spider things, he decided.


    ¡°Are you going to answer me or just keep giving me that blank look? I mean, it¡¯d be one thing if you¡¯d been struck dumb by my beauty but that clearly didn¡¯t happen.¡±


    She¡¯d said that last bit with more heat than Sen thought was entirely necessary. She wasn¡¯t a heavens¡¯ shaking beauty but she did have a vaguely predatory prettiness that Sen found appealing. Of course, Sen belated realized, he hadn¡¯t bothered to say anything like that to her either. Maybe that almost possession had done him more damage than he thought. He usually explained things to people. He considered that a little more. I explain things to people, don¡¯t I? A glowing-eyed glare that threatened to punch a hole into his brain reminded Sen that he still hadn¡¯t actually uttered a word. He shook his head.


    ¡°Come with me.¡±


    ¡°Oh, the time for that particular invitation was back at the first bedroom we came across. For someone with impeccable timing in battle, your social timing is terrible.¡±


    Sen snorted, which just made the glare intensify. ¡°Your grandfather made the same observation about my social skills not that long ago, but that¡¯s not what I was getting at. Seriously, come with me.¡±


    Sen went into the building and, after a long enough pause to let Sen know that he wasn¡¯t in charge of her, Misty Peak followed. Sen gestured around the place. The fox eyed the room they were in, which wasn¡¯t appreciably different from the common areas of the last few houses they¡¯d been in during the last hour. She glanced around the room before directing an unimpressed look his way.


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯ve discovered the magic of walls. They do indeed make rooms. Congratulations.¡±


    ¡°Amusing. So, answer me this. Why is all of the furniture still here in all of these houses? I mean, I can understand an odd piece here or there if the temple or city dwindled over the centuries. But furniture isn¡¯t cheap. People take it with them when they leave. I¡¯ve been on the roads enough to see it happen.¡±


    Misty Peak looked around again, and it was her turn to frown. He could see it on her face as she mentally reviewed the other homes they¡¯d gone into. Her eyes focused again. Sen waited in the common area as the woman marched around the house from room to room. She vanished into what Sen suspected was the kitchen and came back holding a wok. She was staring at the pan like it was keeping secrets from her and she wanted to shake them free from the stubborn metal. She held the pan up and flicked the bottom with a finger. It gave off the dull clang of thick metal being struck.


    ¡°This is the kind of thing that mortals pass down,¡± she said. ¡°You could get another fifty years of service out of something like this.¡±


    Sen walked over and cycled for metal. He let his qi settle into the pan. It was extremely well made with almost no flaws. He suspected that Misty Peak had the right of it.


    ¡°It seems that way. So, why is it still here?¡±


    Misty Peak gave the wok another hard look before she gave him a helpless look.


    ¡°I¡¯ll admit that it¡¯s strange. Very strange. Annoyingly strange. It¡¯s also not what we¡¯re here for.¡±


    Sen gave her a long look. ¡°It¡¯s certainly not what I¡¯m here for. I¡¯m not so sure about you. Why are you here? Maybe just as importantly, why didn¡¯t you just give your grandfather that toy of yours that let you come in here in the first place? Could have saved you, me, and that poor spider outside a lot of trouble.¡±


    ¡°You saw that? Didn¡¯t you have more important things to be paying attention to at the time than me?¡±


    ¡°You had just shed your disguise, however unintentionally. Plus, I was inside the barrier at that point. I was just enjoying the view.¡±


    She lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Oh, were you?¡±


    ¡°Stop fishing for compliments. You didn¡¯t answer my questions.¡±


    ¡°Oh fine. It won¡¯t work for him. It barely works for me,¡± she said before she turned her head like she was trying to look through the wall. ¡°Come to think of it, why in the hells is that spider here?¡±


    Sen threw his hands in the air. ¡°I have no idea and didn¡¯t feel like spending three hours asking it yes or no questions to try and find out.¡±

 V6 Chapter 50 – The Ruins, Part 5

    ¡°As pets go, it¡¯s really creepy,¡± said Misty Peak.


    Sen gave her a level look. ¡°It¡¯s not a pet.¡±


    ¡°It acts like a pet. It follows you around all the time.¡±


    ¡°By that logic, you¡¯re my pet. Should I be scratching you behind the ears?¡±


    The look of blind outrage on Misty Peak¡¯s face was too much for Sen. He burst into laughter, which didn¡¯t help things at all. She stalked toward him with bloody vengeance in her eyes. It was a challenge to duck and dodge all of the punches and kicks she threw his way while he was still laughing, but Sen wasn¡¯t one to let small things like debilitating laughter get in the way of saving his own life. By the time the fox woman got tired of not landing any blows, Sen had his amusement mostly under control. Mostly.


    ¡°Stop smirking at me,¡± said Misty Peak with barely restrained fury.


    ¡°My other pet isn¡¯t nearly so demanding. Did you see how it just quietly waits for me?¡±


    ¡°I will cut your throat in your sleep.¡±


    ¡°Alright. Alright. I¡¯ll stop poking fun,¡± said Sen taking up position by the door leading back outside.


    ¡°It¡¯s better for your health that way.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re in a terrible mood. Did I forget to feed you today?¡± asked Sen before darting out the door.


    Sen crouched in a shadowy corner behind a building while Misty Peak hunted for him, shouting his name, and issuing very graphic death threats. He decided then and there to leave out the part of the story where he ran away and hid in any future telling of the tale. He glanced up at a soft chittering noise. The spider was clinging to the wall above him. While Sen couldn¡¯t be entirely sure, he felt like the spider was giving him a reproachful look. He eyed the spirit beast.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen in a quiet voice. ¡°She had it coming.¡±


    When Misty Peak¡¯s anger seemed to have subsided, Sen and the spider cautiously emerged from hiding. They tracked the fox woman down, who was leaning against a wall, arms folded across her chest, and staring at Sen with eyes narrowed so much they were barely slits. As Misty Peak looked like she was about to say something, the spider abruptly moved sideways to put some distance between itself and Sen.


    ¡°Traitor,¡± muttered Sen before he announced in a loud voice, ¡°well, important business to be about. Spatial treasures to find.¡±


    The fox stalked right up until she was standing nearly nose-to-chin with Sen, glaring up at him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t imagine for one second that we¡¯re anywhere near done with the whole pet discussion. We are not.¡±


    Sen formed a mental fist and seized all of the comments that sprang to mind which he was certain would lead to instant bloodshed. He promptly crushed those thoughts and looked for anything less inflammatory to say.


    ¡°Yeah. I figured.¡±


    With one last glare, Misty Peak spun on a heel and started walking away. Sen gave her back a curious look.


    ¡°Where are you going?¡±


    ¡°To find that spatial treasure.¡±


    ¡°Do you know where it is?¡±


    She stopped and turned around to look at him like he must be stupid. ¡°Really? A powerful cultivator treasure tucked away in a sacred city. I thought I might start with that huge building at the center of the city that looks like a giant temple.¡±


    Sen looked past the fox and toward the inner part of the city. There was, in fact, a large structure rising above all of the other buildings. It did seem to fit with what Sen had seen from other temples. He gave the building an unhappy look. For some reason, it hadn¡¯t been visible from outside the barrier, which made Sen nervous. Having dealt with illusions just recently, he wasn¡¯t certain how much he should trust what he could see inside the city. But she had a point. It probably was the best place to start the search.


    ¡°Oh. Well, yes, that would make sense.¡±


    ¡°You hid from me for nearly two hours,¡± said Misty Peak while rubbing at her forehead. ¡°What were you thinking about if not where to find the treasure?¡±


    ¡°I was thinking about hiding!¡±


    Misty Peak threw her hands into the air, made a noise that did an unreasonably good job of telling Sen how unimpressed she was with him right then, and stalked away. Sen looked over at the spider, which had been steadily putting more and more distance between them. Sen rolled his eyes.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    ¡°She wasn¡¯t mad at you,¡± he said and started off after the fox.


    The city wasn¡¯t massive, but the trip took longer than Sen expected. Part of it was that Misty Peak couldn¡¯t seem to let go of the mystery he¡¯d discovered. She kept stopping and walking into buildings she seemed to pick at random. Sen opted to wait outside while she did those things. No reason to provoke her, he thought. Every time she came back outside, she looked less happy.


    ¡°That one too,¡± she said, breaking the silence for the first time in a while.


    ¡°I sort of thought it might be like that,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Any ideas?¡±


    ¡°Nothing I¡¯d be confident about saying out loud,¡± said Sen before he stopped and gave their surroundings an angry look.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Misty Peak.


    ¡°This is taking too long.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t taking that long in those buildings.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°Not that. This trip to the center of the city is taking too long. We saw this whole place from the outside. It can¡¯t be more than a few miles across, but that temple is barely any closer. I haven¡¯t sensed any kind of qi techniques at work. What about you? Are you sensing any illusions?¡±


    The fox looked from Sen to the still-distant temple. Her eyes went briefly out of focus before she shook her head.


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing nearby that I can sense. This is all real as near as I can tell.¡±


    Sen took a moment to saturate the ground around them with earth qi. He focused on everything it was touching, and all he got back were normal impressions of stone and, much deeper, soil. He repeated the process with air qi in the surrounding area and didn¡¯t find anything out of place. Not sure what else to try, but convinced that something was wrong, Sen summoned a cheap dao he¡¯d taken off of someone he¡¯d killed along the way. He walked to the nearest intersection and drove the sword down, burying the tip of the sword in the stone below. Misty Peak came over and tapped the sword with her foot.


    ¡°What¡¯s this supposed to do?¡± she asked.


    ¡°We need some kind of visual landmark that isn¡¯t part of this city. Something out of place that can serve as a reference point. If we are actually moving in a line toward that temple, the sword should remain behind us at all times.¡±


    ¡°You think we aren¡¯t?¡±


    Sen rocked his head back and forth a little. ¡°I think that something is going on here that we¡¯re not seeing. Probably something we¡¯re not meant to see. Something designed to keep us away from that temple. At least, that¡¯s my good theory.¡±


    ¡°Is there a bad theory?¡±


    ¡°The bad theory is that this city is bigger than it looks and that spatial treasure your grandfather wants so badly has warped it somehow.¡±


    Misty Peak considered those options. ¡°Okay. I see your point. I¡¯m hoping for the first choice.¡±


    Sen took the lead in their walk and kept glancing back to see if the sword was still there. For a short time, it was there. Then, it was gone from behind them and Sen could see it down a street to his left. He came to a stop and simply pointed to it. Misty Peak gave the sword an unsettled look before she finally asked a question.


    ¡°Did you even feel the environment change?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t. You know more about manipulating what people see than me. What do you think we should do?¡±


    Sen waited while the fox paced back and forth a few times with her brows furrowed. Whatever was happening to them was well beyond his experience, and he knew it.


    ¡°We keep going, at least for a while. Maybe we can piece together enough information to understand how this works. Right now, this feels like a trap, and I know I don¡¯t want to be stuck in here forever.¡±


    ¡°No kidding,¡± offered Sen. ¡°I¡¯ve got a few years¡¯ worth of food, but I¡¯m not feeling good about what happens after that. I haven¡¯t seen anything like food in here so far. Have you?¡±


    ¡°A few years¡¯ worth of food. What kind of disaster were you planning for?¡±


    ¡°All of them, I guess. You can¡¯t ever really have too much food.¡±


    Sen decided not to mention that he could get by without food if he had to do it. He¡¯d done it before. He just didn¡¯t want to subsist entirely on qi, even if it would probably prove easier and easier to do so over time. That was just a step too far removed from humanity for Sen¡¯s tastes. He knew that, if he ascended, there was a good chance that such things would be commonplace. It didn¡¯t mean he felt a rush to embrace it. His teachers hadn¡¯t, after all. Pushing away the distracting thoughts, Sen eyed the sword and then their ultimate destination. He gestured to Misty Peak.


    ¡°Lead the way. Maybe you¡¯ll have better luck than I did.¡±


    For the next hour, Sen paid very close attention to his surroundings. Despite the temple always appearing as though it was directly ahead, the sword exposed that lie. It would appear and increasingly disappear from their sight, sometimes to their left or right, sometimes behind them, but slowly growing more distant. Sen picked an intersection and drove another sword he knew he¡¯d never use into the street. As they set out, Sen decided to take a different tack. He cycled for earth qi and used it to displace part of the road as they traveled over it. From time to time, he¡¯d give the spider a look, but it was just walking after them seemingly unconcerned about their current situation. Either that or it wasn¡¯t able to follow the conversation enough to understand what''s happening, thought Sen. This might all just look like human madness to it. After another hour of watching the new sword appear and disappear seemingly at random, Sen figured that it was probably time.


    ¡°Let¡¯s stop here for a minute. I want to check something,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°What is there to check?¡±


    ¡°Our trail.¡±


    Without bothering to explain himself beyond that, Sen formed a qi platform and rose up over the city. He kept expecting to find the barrier above, but he didn¡¯t. He wasn¡¯t sure if he just didn¡¯t get high enough or if it was somehow open at the top. He assumed it was the former, otherwise that barrier would just extend up into the sky forever. Sen understood the qi consumption of formations rather well, so he knew that an open barrier like that wasn¡¯t realistic just in terms of what it would cost in energy. He was able to get high enough to get a better sense of the city, which was perfectly circular. Yet, looking down on it, the city did look bigger than it had from outside the barrier. That started a sense of unease, but it was looking at the visual trail he¡¯d left behind that truly gave Sen pause. They had been weaving a complicated path through the outer edges of the city. When seen from above, though, that path in combination with the circular design of the city looked vaguely familiar. He stood on that platform for quite a while as he tried to dredge up whatever memory was associated with that pattern. When it finally clicked, he lowered himself to the ground.


    ¡°You took your time,¡± said Misty Peak. ¡°You also don¡¯t look very happy. What did you figure out?¡±


    ¡°What do you know about mandalas?¡±


    ¡°That they exist. That¡¯s about as far as it goes. Why?¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯m pretty sure we¡¯re stuck in one.¡±

 V6 Chapter 51 – The Ruins, Part 6

    Misty Peak¡¯s head tilted to one side like Sen had started leaning and she was trying to keep him in sight properly.


    ¡°What do you mean we¡¯re stuck in a mandala?¡±


    Sen considered a couple of approaches to explaining, but their effectiveness depended a lot on her knowing something about mandalas. She didn¡¯t need to know a lot, because he didn¡¯t know a lot, but she did need to know something. Instead of trying to talk her through it, Sen decided to simply show her what he meant. He cycled for ice and leaned on his increasingly sharp memory to bring up a mental image of what he¡¯d seen from above. It took him a minute to craft a crude replica on the ground, but it was good enough for his purposes. It had the buildings and roads in all of the right places at least. He gestured at it.


    ¡°This is the ruins we¡¯re in,¡± he said.


    ¡°That can¡¯t be. That¡¯s way too many buildings and roads,¡± objected the fox woman.


    ¡°You¡¯d think so, but it¡¯s what we¡¯re dealing with. Just take my word for it, or fly up and take a look for yourself.¡±


    Misty Peak gave him an annoyed look. ¡°I can¡¯t fly. Not like you did, just floating there in the sky like some kind of rock that got confused about gravity.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a very strange way to put it but okay. Then, you¡¯ll just have to take my word for it. This,¡± he said, gesturing at the hasty ice sculpture, ¡°is the place we¡¯re stuck in right now.¡±


    ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s say that¡¯s true. I still don¡¯t see the connection.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°This is the path we¡¯ve been following.¡±


    He cycled for fire and sent a small wisp of fire along the trail he¡¯d observed. It moved along the icy streets in the sculpture, leaving a melted trail where his earth qi had left a trail in the real world. When seen from this angle, the path was incredibly complicated. It never crossed itself, but it did form a pattern. Sen didn¡¯t understand the pattern, or what it meant, but it was far too orderly to be anything other than intentional. Given that he and Misty Peak were both blessed with perception well beyond that of a mortal, it was a statement about the power at play that neither of them had so much as felt a thing as they were directed along that path. Where she had been giving him skeptical side glances before, the fox was wholly fixated on the sculpture now. She frowned when the wisp of flame abruptly winked out. She shot him a questioning look.


    ¡°Is that where we are now?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It is.¡±


    The fox circled the sculpture a few times but still looked unconvinced. Sen considered the problem before he cycled for wind and made a slashing gesture. A wind blade passed through the sculpture just above the surface. He swept his hand in the other direction and wind scooped up the ice buildings and flung them away. It left a largely flat image on the ground with just the barest impression of where the buildings had once been. Sen squatted down by what was left of the sculpture.


    ¡°If we continue on as we are, I think that we¡¯ll end up circling the city, probably several times, constantly working closer to the temple at the center.¡±


    ¡°Why, though?¡± asked the fox.


    ¡°Some kind of defensive measure, maybe? I honestly don¡¯t know. I do know that mandalas have symbolic and even ceremonial significance to some groups of monks. But my teachers never explained any of it to me beyond those basic facts. Uncle Kho had a couple that he¡¯d picked up somewhere that he showed to me. I thought they looked interesting, pretty even, but cultivators don¡¯t use them. So, I didn¡¯t ask a lot of questions.¡±


    ¡°I wish you had,¡± said Misty Peak.


    ¡°So do I,¡± agreed Sen. ¡°In my defense, I was learning at the limits of my abilities at the time. I didn¡¯t have any spare mental energy to spend on things like information I didn¡¯t absolutely need.¡±


    Misty Peak made a noncommittal noise, and Sen could see that she was only half-listening to him. She was still studying the ice sculpture. She¡¯d crouched down next to him and was tracing the route they¡¯d taken with a fingertip.


    ¡°How sure are you about this?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It could go either way,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°My intuition is telling me I¡¯m right about it, but my intuitions have led me down dead-end trails before.¡±


    ¡°True of everyone, I would think,¡± said the fox. ¡°Ideally, we¡¯d just cut straight to the temple, but it seems like that isn¡¯t an option. Going the other way, though, could take months. Of course, that¡¯s only a problem for us. It¡¯s less of a problem for my grandfather, I think.¡±


    Sen gave her a sharp look. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±


    ¡°You were just flying up there. Did you not bother to look at the sky? It isn¡¯t just the environment that¡¯s strange here. Time isn¡¯t moving the same. I don¡¯t think that the sun has changed position since we came in here.¡±


    Sen hadn¡¯t been paying attention to the sun. It wasn¡¯t like he got tired the way mortals did, at least not most of the time. After the healing elixir he drank right after they entered the ruins had really kicked in, he felt more or less fine. He probably could use an hour or two of sleep to let the healing consolidate, but he didn¡¯t feel like he needed it. All other things being equal, he suspected he could go a ridiculously long time without caving to the need for sleep. A couple of weeks, probably, Sen thought. Maybe more. With the steady decrease of that need had come a sharp decline in how acutely he sensed the passage of time. As long as it was light out, it was daytime. If Misty Peak hadn¡¯t brought it up, he might have gone a few days before he even noticed how long the sun had simply been hanging motionless in the sky.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ¡°I suppose we could try to go back. I mean, I know we¡¯re supposed to get that spatial treasure, but it¡¯s pretty clear that none of us expected this situation. I don¡¯t even know if the relic that lets me stay in this place will last long enough for us to cover the whole city like that,¡± she said with a gesture at the path they had followed so far.


    ¡°We could try,¡± said Sen in an unconvinced voice.


    ¡°You don¡¯t think the ruins will let us leave?¡±


    ¡°Well, if it is a trap, why would it let us leave? If it¡¯s not a trap, then it¡¯s probably some kind of test. I expect the only way out of that is to either complete it or fail it. Unfortunately, I have no idea what either of those things looks like. We might fail if we fall asleep. We might fail if we get to the temple without achieving some specific goal. There¡¯s no way to know.¡±


    ¡°We might complete it simply by reaching the temple too.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± Sen conceded. ¡°Well, if we¡¯re going to test if we can leave, we should get on with it. The sooner we know, the sooner we can make a plan.¡±


    After twenty minutes of pure frustration, it was clear to Sen that just walking out wasn¡¯t going to work for them. It was as if the city simply realigned itself around them to ensure that they never went anywhere except forward on the intended path. Misty Peak was a bit more determined, so they spent another half hour failing to get anywhere near to the barrier. Sen was calm about the situation. If they couldn¡¯t go back, that only left going forward. The fox was far less enthusiastic about being trapped in the city. Sen supposed that she had more on the line than he did. He wasn¡¯t sure what kind of measures the monks who once lived in the city had used to keep foxes out, but he suspected that being inside the city when they activated wouldn¡¯t be good for Misty Peak. Sen took a step back when the fox whirled and pointed at him.


    ¡°You can fly,¡± she said, her eyes bright. ¡°You can fly us there. Skip all that walking entirely.¡±


    Sen had his doubts that it would work. If the city could mess with space or their perceptions of it so smoothly that they didn¡¯t notice, it followed that the same would apply in the air above the city. However, he decided it made sense to try everything before they committed to traversing the mandala by foot. He left another sword in the street to mark where they left off and formed a qi platform big enough for him, Misty Peak, and the spider. The fox seemed deeply uncomfortable with having the spider so close. The spider seemed deeply uncomfortable with getting onto the qi platform and even less comfortable with flying. It crouched low as soon as they took off. The fox looked inordinately pleased with herself as they cut through the air, her gleaming eyes fixed on the temple. The glimmer of triumph soon winked out when she realized that the temple wasn¡¯t getting any closer. Eventually, Sen got tired of the exercise in futility and dropped them back down to ground level. When they landed next to the sword he¡¯d just driven into the street, even Sen couldn¡¯t help but give the blade a sour look.


    ¡°Well, I guess that answers that question,¡± muttered Sen.


    The spider scuttled off the qi platform immediately. Misty Peak started hurling profanities at the nearby buildings and occasionally kicking loose objects she found. Sen glanced at the sun and saw that it still hadn¡¯t moved. How long had they been in the city? He wasn¡¯t sure how long they had actually spent walking. It hadn¡¯t felt like that long, but they had covered a lot of ground. It just hadn¡¯t all been in a straight line, unfortunately. He decided that it was time for food. He might be able to go without and the same might hold true for the fox, but he doubted the spider could. Sen considered going into one of the nearby buildings and looking for a kitchen, but the idea left him feeling oddly ill at ease. He wasn¡¯t sure why, but he knew that it was a bad idea.


    Instead, he set up a campfire right in the middle of the street and set about making some food. The spider got one of the many slain spirit beasts that Sen had dropped into his storage rings over the years. He always meant to take them out and harvest parts that might be useful for alchemy but almost never seemed to get around to it. He added it to a growing list of things he should make an effort to do more often. It was useful in this situation because it meant the spider had a steady food supply, but Sen couldn¡¯t picture being in similar circumstances very often. Although, that might just be a lack of imagination on my part, thought Sen. When he was done cooking up a basic meal, he called Misty Peak over.


    ¡°Come and eat something,¡± he said.


    ¡°Why?¡± she asked in a waspish tone.


    ¡°Because things never look quite as bad after a meal. Plus,¡± Sen gave the sky a look, ¡°I¡¯m not sure how long we¡¯ve actually been in here. It seems like it¡¯s just been part of a day, but I¡¯m feeling pretty doubtful about everything at the moment.¡±


    The trio ate in silence. Misty Peak seemed lost in her own thoughts, while the spider was wholly invested in eating the spirit beast Sen had donated. It was a sight that neither Sen nor the fox looked at too closely. Sen spent the meal wishing he knew more about how time and space qi worked. He¡¯d gotten a bit of insight about it from studying all the storage rings he¡¯d looted over the years, but that wasn¡¯t anything like real training. He also didn¡¯t have affinities for those kinds of qi. He thought that shadow qi might have a distant relationship to space qi, but that was something else he lacked the knowledge or experience to leverage. Even if the monks hadn¡¯t used time and space qi specifically, Sen suspected that having affinities for them would have made navigating inside the city easier. Eventually, he glanced over at the fox woman. She looked defeated.


    ¡°We should get some sleep,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯s not like night is ever going to arrive to break up the days.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have time to waste,¡± said Misty Peak.


    ¡°We aren¡¯t going to walk non-stop for months. Even I can¡¯t do that with all of my body cultivation, and tired minds make bad decisions. We¡¯ll have to sleep eventually. So, it may as well be now.¡±


    Sen was both surprised and relieved when the fox didn¡¯t suggest they sleep in one of the buildings. He hadn¡¯t wanted to fight about it because he didn¡¯t have any facts, just intuitions. Being in the city meant that there wasn¡¯t anywhere he could anchor a tent. He satisfied himself by pulling out some blankets and piling them up on the ground. He¡¯s slept in more uncomfortable places. While he hadn¡¯t felt like he was lagging during the day, he felt himself start to drift off almost immediately. His last thoughts as he slipped into unconsciousness were about mandalas.

 V6 Chapter 52 – Mandala

    Things were quiet when they set out the next¡­ Sen pondered about the right word. It still looked like morning, but he suspected it was going to look like morning all of the time for the foreseeable future. Since there wasn¡¯t much to be done about it, he set the concern aside. He¡¯d just call whenever they got up and started moving again morning. The rest had done him good, despite dreaming about inscrutable patterns that seemed like they ought to mean something and might actually mean something to someone else. He felt like his mind was much clearer than it had been the day before. It seemed that attempted possessions were no joke and best avoided in the future. Misty Peak seemed consumed with thoughts that troubled her, while Sen was wondering how long the journey would take.


    The spider seemed wholly unconcerned. Sen did spend some time considering how much he was taking the spider for granted. As docile as it seemed, it was still a positively lethal spirit beast. If it turned on them while they slept, Sen wasn¡¯t entirely convinced that he would be able to withstand the spider¡¯s poison long enough to both kill the thing and treat himself. He felt a little guilty thinking that. The spider hadn¡¯t done anything to make him think it had ill intent. He supposed that distrust stemmed from not knowing why the thing had run after them into the ruins in the first place. I wonder if there¡¯s something inside the ruins that it wants, thought Sen. That would at least make the spider¡¯s behavior explicable. He also knew that if he truly wanted to know, he could simply endure the extended process of asking the spider endless yes or no questions, but Sen decided that he wasn¡¯t worried enough to put up with that just yet.


    At first, Sen tried to keep track of their progress by leaving a trail behind them as he had done before and flying up to see how far they¡¯d come. After what he thought was the equivalent of a few days, he simply gave it up as pointless. The complexity of the path they were forced to walk made it all but impossible to measure progress in a meaningful sense. He simply gave in to the monotony of the walking. With the buildings all looking alike and the roads all made in the same way, the environment fell away from his notice. He drifted into something that was almost a trance. Every once in a while, he¡¯d snap out of it and call for a halt. He¡¯d pass out food, and they¡¯d all rest for a while. Yet, even those breaks started to blur together. Conversation was sparse and usually faded to nothing after a few minutes. For Sen¡¯s part, it was simply that he didn¡¯t think of anything he wanted to say.


    He didn¡¯t notice when it was happening. The farther they walked, the less it looked like a city around them. The buildings melted away into a forest, and Sen found himself traversing a beaten dirt path that slowly carried him through foothills covered in tall grass that he didn¡¯t recognize. The path carried him to the base of a mountain where it transitioned from packed dirt into narrow stone steps that led up the mountain. His eyes tracked up and up. There had to be thousands of steps that he could see and likely more beyond that. However, he didn¡¯t hesitate. He simply placed a foot on the first step and started to climb. After all, what were thousands of steps to Sen. The ascent took hours, then days, then weeks, and still the mountain rose higher and higher. His steps fell on the stone with mechanical regularity, one after the next, each footfall making only a whisper of noise.


    As he climbed, memories came back to him. They were memories that weighed him down with regret. The way he¡¯d handled things in the capital with the king. The way he¡¯d left Lifen behind with the cult. The way he¡¯d treated Lo Meifeng. The bandits he¡¯d let live so long ago on that empty stretch of road. The prices that other people had paid on his behalf. He thought of the people he might have helped if he¡¯d been less distracted, less busy, less focused on himself. He thought of Grandmother Lu and how long it had been since he¡¯d last seen her. He didn¡¯t necessarily see these things in a new light. He slowly came to realize that his regret didn¡¯t stem from what he had done. In most cases, he¡¯d done as he thought was best or as circumstance had demanded. Sen¡¯s regret was that he hadn¡¯t had the wisdom or the will to find other ways. Yet, after a time, he saw that even that regret was self-indulgence.


    Wisdom could be acquired. Will was something he had in abundance. If the regret was real, he would have worked harder to find more wisdom and apply that will to creating better options. His real regret, his true regret, was that it hadn¡¯t been easy. He had chosen familiar paths and familiar solutions because that was easier than finding new ways. Worse, the world encouraged people to choose those paths. Cultivators honed themselves in violence and consciously chose to impose their will on reality. After all, what were techniques if not a cultivator¡¯s will over reality made manifest? What was ascension if not the ultimate expression of a cultivator¡¯s will over reality by transcending it?


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    As Sen climbed those endless steps, he considered those revelations. The path of cultivators was fraught with pitfalls, but it was also a proven path. Just because he found the violence distasteful, hadn¡¯t he agreed to it by pursuing cultivation? Then again, his pursuit of cultivation had been driven largely by outside threats. He¡¯d grown stronger as much out of pure necessity as anything else. If he hadn¡¯t gotten stronger, he doubted he would be alive. He struggled to identify just where to put the line between agreement and coercion. If the choice was between growing stronger or dying, Sen didn¡¯t think it was much of a choice at all. Still, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder if his ambivalence was a weakness that should be discarded or a sign that he should be forging in some new direction. The one thing he did know was that action took conviction, and ambivalence was a poison to conviction.


    He wrestled with that problem for what felt like years as his steps carried him higher and higher toward a peak that he thought must be some infinite distance away. In the odd moment when he took a break from considering the problem of conviction and ambivalence, he tried to guess how many steps he had climbed. Had it been thousands? Tens of thousands? If he looked around, he didn¡¯t see land anymore. There was no blue sky overhead. There was just the great expanse of darkness that one might see at night and the stars that lit glittering paths across the cosmos. And, somehow, the mountain still rose above him, the stone steps as hard and indifferent as the first one had been. As the climb continued, Sen eventually discarded his contemplation of ambivalence and conviction as a false problem.


    He was ambivalent, it was true, but it was almost always in the aftermath. He had only allowed that ambivalence to hold true sway occasionally. In the moment, Sen held conviction. Sometimes, he might not like where that conviction took him, but he had it. He realized that the ambivalence was there to serve a purpose. It was a reminder that problems had more than one solution, not just a reason to question his value. I can be more than one thing, he reminded himself. It was that truth that he kept coming back to, over and over again. He could be the ruthless cultivator, but he could also be the healer. He could be an enemy, but he could also be a friend. These things didn¡¯t make him weak. They didn¡¯t make him less. That duality wasn¡¯t just something in him. It was something in everyone. The drive to be only one thing was the true aberration.


    How many hours had he spent trying to figure out what and who he should be? How much energy had he spent trying to decide which face was his real face? They were all his faces, his truths, and trying to suppress one in favor of another was to weaken himself. Sen imagined that many people would disagree with that conclusion. They would probably think he was being weak for not picking one thing to be but that was a them problem. He was the one who had to live in his skin, look at his own face in the mirror, and find them comfortable. He couldn¡¯t accomplish that by discarding his sympathy in favor of disregard any more than he could accomplish it by forgoing ruthlessness in favor of compassion. He needed all of it to be himself.


    Sen¡¯s foot came down on another step and the reality around him shattered like glass. The endless starscape fell away in pieces to reveal the place he had been trying to go the entire time. His foot was on the first step that led up to the temple in the center of the city. Sen froze in place as he tried to make sense of the experience. How long had he been walking through that city with no conscious awareness of where he was or what he was doing? Time had lost all meaning. Part of him was convinced that he had climbed up that mountain for hundreds or even thousands of years as he contended with his inner self. Another part of him was certain it had just been a second. Those two perceptions battled for dominance in his head, but neither felt more real than the other. Maybe both are true, thought Sen. He turned to ask Misty Peak what her experience was like, but she was nowhere to be seen. He scanned the immediate area. Neither she nor the spider were anywhere to be seen.


    ¡°Fantastic,¡± said Sen. ¡°That¡¯s just great.¡±

 V6 Chapter 53 – Individual Paths

    Glowering out at the empty city, Sen let his spiritual sense wash outwards. It was powerful enough that, while he knew he couldn¡¯t cover the entire city, it should cover most of it. Sen froze in place. He had expected to get the usual flood of information about everything alive in the area. Instead, he sensed nothing. Nothing at all. It was as if he cast his spiritual sense into an utter void. The only thing he could sense was himself, the temple, and¡­ Sen whirled. Standing at the top of the steps was a positively ancient man in odd orange and yellow robes. Sen studied the figure with suspicious eyes, yet the man regarded Sen with a gentle smile. The man¡¯s face was so wrinkled that Sen could barely see anything of his eyes except for a twinkle of good humor. The man¡¯s positive demeanor made Sen take a cautious step back. He couldn¡¯t sense a core or the concentration of qi he¡¯d expect around a cultivator, but there was something about him. A kind of subtle, ineffable strength that made Sen very, very certain that he didn¡¯t want to fight the man.


    ¡°You cultivators,¡± said the man with a surprisingly strong voice. ¡°Always so suspicious. So violent. It¡¯s almost like someone trains you to be that way.¡±


    Then, as if he¡¯d told the world¡¯s funniest joke, the old man burst into laughter. Sen didn¡¯t join him. Instead, his eyes darted around the area. This must be some kind of trick or distraction, thought Sen. As the seconds rolled by and the old man¡¯s laughter ebbed, no attack came. No trap was sprung. The area around the temple remained as quiet and empty as it had been. The old man spoke again.


    ¡°You may call me Brother Khu. I am the, oh, I suppose you might say that I¡¯m the caretaker of this place.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t want to talk to the man. He wanted to go find Misty Peak and the spider. In the end, though, he thought that simply talking might get him to answers faster than roaming the city. Besides, he might get caught in whatever had happened to him again. Sure, climbing all those steps had been useful to him in the sense that it had given him time to sort out some of the things that had been troubling him. That didn¡¯t mean he wanted to spend another few thousand years, or however long it had been, doing it again. He suppressed the annoyed noises and expressions he wanted to make. The man had introduced himself as Brother Khu, so Sen made the small leap of assuming the man was some kind of monk. Although, how the man had survived alone in the city for all the centuries since it must have been swallowed by the wilds was something of a mystery. Still, it was always wise to tread with care around monks. Sen offered the man a bow.


    ¡°I am called Lu Sen.¡±


    The old man frowned. ¡°Perhaps you are called that, but it¡¯s not your name.¡±


    It was Sen¡¯s turn to frown. ¡°It¡¯s the only name I¡¯ve ever known.¡±


    ¡°Hmmmm,¡± said the monk. ¡°Very curious. Well, if you don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t expect it would gain you anything to have me enlighten you about it.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Isn¡¯t enlightenment what monks are all about?¡±


    ¡°Heh. I suppose it is but only in matters less, let us say, prosaic.¡±


    While Sen was mildly curious about what Brother Khu had meant, he had buried his need to know about his family long ago. They hadn¡¯t wanted him enough to come back for him when he was a poor street rat. Now that he was a comparatively wealthy cultivator, he didn¡¯t want them. They had all gotten along just fine without each other. Sen saw no need to try to fix what was obviously working for all of them. Beyond that, Sen had more immediate and pressing concerns.


    ¡°How about the location of the people who were with me? Is that too prosaic a matter?¡±


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    ¡°No. It¡¯s simply not a matter that you can do anything about. You walked your path to arrive here. They must walk their individual paths to do the same. Right now, they are beyond your reach or mine.¡±


    Sen grimaced. ¡°So, the mandala is a trap.¡±


    ¡°A trap implies ill-intentions. The mandala is a method to find a path. I even allowed your fox friend to continue.¡±


    ¡°You knew?¡±


    ¡°Of course, I knew. Her trinket was clever enough, but neither my eyes nor my mind are clouded. She cannot hide her nature from me.¡±


    Sen glanced back out at the empty city. He still wanted to go look for them, but he suspected that the monk was either telling the truth or was exerting an enormous, terrifying level of control over the entire area. Either way, Sen didn¡¯t think he would find them. Turning back to the monk, Sen decided to focus on his other goal.


    ¡°Should I assume you know why I¡¯m here?¡±


    ¡°I have a reasonably good idea. There isn¡¯t much here of value to cultivators or foxes. So, I¡¯d guess that the old monster finally decided that it was time to ascend only to discover that the only thing that could help him do it was here. Am I close?¡±


    ¡°That sounds about right. So, will you let me have it?¡±


    The monk pondered that for a while before he shrugged and said, ¡°Okay.¡±


    Sen¡¯s mind stuttered along until it finally dragged to a complete halt. He¡¯d been expecting to have to argue about it, or maybe pay some outrageous sum for it, or most likely fight for the stupid treasure. One of those things, or more likely all three of those things, would have happened if he¡¯d approached another cultivator for the treasure. Sen had been so primed for a conflict that he¡¯s just never considered what he would do if things went his way. He stumbled around mentally before finally managing to dredge up something appropriate to say.


    ¡°Oh, um, thank you.¡±


    An almost palpable aura of amusement exploded from the monk and suffused the area. It wasn¡¯t domineering or oppressive the way Sen expected powerful auras to be. It was everywhere but rested as lightly as a feather on his senses.


    ¡°I bet you thought I¡¯d make you fight me for it, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    Sen felt a little embarrassed about being so transparent. ¡°Well, yes. I mean you did set up all those defenses to keep the foxes out. I¡¯m here to help a fox. It¡¯s not that much of a stretch to think you wouldn¡¯t just give up the space treasure willingly.¡±


    The monk laughed. ¡°Is that what the old fox thought was happening? Those defenses weren¡¯t there to keep him out. Not really. He could have gotten inside if he wanted it badly enough. They were there to make sure he didn¡¯t come until he was truly ready to leave this world behind. He would have wasted the treasure if we¡¯d let him have it sooner.¡±


    Sen gave Brother Khu a skeptical look.


    ¡°So, this was all for Laughing River¡¯s benefit?¡±


    ¡°Of course. I¡¯m a monk. I know better than most that the path to enlightenment can take many forms. The old fox is just a little slower than most to find his way. He needed some assistance, even if he didn¡¯t know it.¡±


    Part of Sen was screaming at him that this was all part of some complex ruse. He did his best to silence that voice in the back of his head. He was too used to things always going wrong or going the hardest way possible. It was possible that the monk was lying, but Sen couldn¡¯t think of a good reason why the monk would lie. There was no obvious benefit. If Brother Khu was as potent as Sen suspected, he could have simply denied Sen the treasure and sent him on his way.


    ¡°How long until the others arrive?¡± Sen finally asked.


    ¡°How long did it take you to arrive?¡± replied the monk.


    Sen tried to think of a good way to answer the question but found that he didn¡¯t have an answer that made sense. It had taken him as long as it had taken him. It would take the others as long as it would take them. The old man chuckled and waved for Sen to join him at the top of the stairs. Sen ascended the steps until he stood next to the monk. He was surprised to find he towered over Brother Khu by nearly a foot. The monk peered up at him with those deep-set, almost hidden eyes.


    ¡°Is everyone as tall as you, these days? It¡¯s been a while since I was out in the world.¡±


    Sen thought it over before he shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m fairly tall, as those things go.¡±


    Brother Khu nodded. ¡°Come along young man. We¡¯ll have some tea, and I¡¯ll try to remember where I put that bauble the old fox wants. I know it¡¯s around here somewhere.¡±


    As Sen followed the monk into the temple, he considered the word bauble. Given that it was a space treasure powerful enough to help the equivalent of a nascent soul cultivator ascend, Sen wasn¡¯t sure that he¡¯d call it a bauble. Then again, he hadn¡¯t been living inside a mystical city that pulled double duty as a life-size mandala that could seemingly pull people into some other plane or state of existence. So, what did he know?

 V6 Chapter 54 – Webs

    Glimmer of Night had followed along behind the Cluster Slayer, who he liked, and the other one, who he didn¡¯t care about. He had been quite uncertain about the Cluster Slayer at first. He had only followed them into the ruins out of a sense of obligation that ran so deep in his kind that it might as well have been a command from the heavens. He had feared that once they were in the city, the Cluster¡­ No, thought Glimmer of Night, he is called Sen. He had feared that Sen would fall back on his old ways and simply kill him. However, Sen had seemed genuinely concerned that everyone was alright. More importantly, the human cultivator had freely shared food from the impossibly vast reaches of his storage treasure.


    Not merely food, though, but entire spirit beasts with their cores intact. It also seemed that Sen didn¡¯t bother fighting weak spirit beasts. The human might not have realized it, but he had single-handedly pushed Glimmer of Night¡¯s advancement forward years ahead of schedule, possibly even a decade or two. Whatever the others in the cluster might think of him, Glimmer of Night was inclined to take his story about what happened with that other cluster at face value. After all, the human could have simply ignored him, let him go hungry, or even killed him. He had done none of those things. Of course, that was when they had all been traveling together. The situation had changed without warning. One moment, the spider had been trailing along behind them, thinking about how nice it was that the fox had stopped talking all the time. The next moment, he had been in this place. Whatever this place was.


    He was on a web. He knew that much, even if the web strands were impossibly wide. No spider could fail to recognize web qi when they saw it. Of course, that had left him with the persistent concern that some equally vast spider matriarch would come along and crush the life from him. He had stood frozen in place by that fear for longer than he would care to admit to anyone. Eventually, boredom had supplanted the fear. If death was to come, it seemed it would come slowly or, barring that, it would come elsewhere. So, Glimmer of Night had set forth to find either information or his death, as it seemed no other good options existed.


    The great web on which he traveled seemed to be spread out across the empty space between the far-flung worlds. He knew of those worlds because his kind was sensitive to the web of life. They had long felt the tremulations in that web that came from much too far away to originate on their own world. Glimmer of Night was still too young and inexperienced to feel those quivering touches on the web himself, but his matriarch spoke of them. He had sensed a curiosity in her about what might be on those worlds, and it had sparked his own curiosity. Did his kind have distant cousins on those worlds? If they met, would they meet in war, or be greeted as long-lost family? He didn¡¯t have a preference. He could learn from either situation.


    He did notice that time moved strangely in this new place. It had been like that in the ruins as well if less pronounced. He would walk for years at a time but not feel that passage as he should. He spent a bit of those early years of travel simply thinking about what he had done in life. The battles he fought. The friends he¡¯d made, lost, and even been betrayed by. He didn¡¯t hold hate in his heart for those betrayers. The world was not made for the weak and easily offended. Besides, it was easy to be magnanimous. He had slain those betrayers to the very last. No, looking back, he found he had no regrets. A part of him thought that coming to that realization would bring this journey to an end. He¡¯d believed it so firmly that he¡¯d even stopped moving and looked around, waiting for the transition back to the world he knew. It did not come.


    Sighing a little, he continued this long walk. From time to time, the strand he walked on would intersect with other strands. Those strands would stretch out to lengths that defied his comprehension. He considered exploring one of those other strands, but his intuition warned him not to do that. Those strands were paths, but they were not his path. If he went down one of those, it could have either good or bad consequences. He did hesitate a little each time he came across one of those intersecting strands. If only he knew more about what lay down each, he might make a better decision. The heavens, it seemed, were not feeling generous toward him, because no burst of understanding or inspiration struck. With no information to work from, he decided to stay on the strand that had been selected for him.


    As boredom once more threatened to overtake him, he turned his mind to the glory of webs. And why not, as he stood upon what might well be the greatest of all webs. They could be delicate, sublime things that captured droplets of dew that scattered light in the most pleasing of ways. They could also be terrible things with slashing spikes of hardened silk woven in to wound and punish. Yet, beautiful or fell, they demanded the deepest concentration. They were intricate and easy to mar with inattention or haste. When done correctly, though, they could rise to a level of art that even the non-spiders could appreciate. They could even spark enlightenment in the right kinds of minds. Glimmer of Night had some small talent in crafting webs, even able to infuse his webs with certain affinities that could enhance their functions. He aspired to one day make a web that would spark enlightenment, but that would be centuries away if it happened at all. He would need to survive long enough to nurture his small gifts.


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    As he considered the art of web weaving, and the nature of infusing those webs, time flowed around him like a great river. He delved deep into the traditional web patterns. He searched for understanding. He searched for insight. He considered deeply why those patterns were the patterns taught to every spider, and why even the spiders who lacked self-awareness seemed to know those patterns. He theorized that it was a function of the web of life. The patterns must echo along that web so that even the lowest of his kin could feel them, even if they didn¡¯t understand them. When he felt that he had gleaned all that he could from contemplating the patterns known to all, he started to consider the pattern that he was developing.


    It was still an ugly thing, half-formed, but he could feel himself reaching for a deeper truth every time he worked on it. With nothing but time and apparently freed from all needs, he let himself sink wholly into that nascent pattern. He built a thousand webs in his mind, then ten thousand webs, and then a hundred thousand webs, striving to find the internal geometry that would strike the spark of enlightenment and let him access not simply a truth, but the truth hidden at the core of that pattern. So deep was his concentration that he did not feel it at first when he was lifted from that enormous strand, nor see the great black eyes that peered down on him with distant, maternal amusement.


    When he returned to himself, he thought his life would flee from his unworthy body. He stood upon the leg of the most perfect spider he had ever beheld. There was not a blemish upon her carapace, nor a hint of weakness in her legs. Her eyes were the color of the deepest void. Glimmer of Night flattened himself against the leg he stood on, wishing only that he could lower himself even farther. He didn¡¯t stand before a matriarch for no such word would do her justice. This being transcended him, transcended all the matriarchs of his world and possibly any world. It was unworthy that she should be subjected to the sight of his weakness and imperfection. He feared she would strike him down for intruding on her.


    ¡°Be at peace,¡± she said.


    The voice was light and sweet, even as it reverberated throughout the cosmos. He was both comforted and struck with fearful awe.


    ¡°You are not here by accident,¡± she continued. ¡°You had many chances to turn aside from this fate. You could have ignored the debt to the human cultivator. You could have chosen any of the other strands to walk. However, you persevered and found your way to me. I am impressed, my son.¡±


    It took longer than it should have for his quaking mind to remember that he could talk and that the protracted silence around him suggested that should talk.


    ¡°I am humbled by your regard, Ancient Weaver.¡±


    ¡°Ancient? Do I look so old?¡±


    Before the blade of pure terror could sink itself into his mind, the great spider let out peals of laughter. The sound of that laughter washed away his fears and he suddenly found himself thinking of home.


    ¡°Tell me, my son, who is so very, very far from home, what boon would you ask of me?¡±


    Glimmer of Night froze. A boon? His mind tried to go in a thousand directions at once. He thought of resources that would let him advance. He thought of secret knowledge. He thought of a land cut off from the vicious cycle of violence his brethren experienced all the time. Try as he might, though, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to ask for any of these things. It was both too much and not enough.


    ¡°It is enough that I have seen you,¡± said Glimmer of Night. ¡°To ask for more would be greed.¡±


    There was more of that laughter that left him feeling warm and safe.


    ¡°Oh, I do believe you have been spending far too much time with that cultivator friend of yours. Still, it isn¡¯t the worst thing for one so young to be charming,¡± said the great spider. ¡°Well, if you will not choose, then I suppose I must choose something for you. Before that, though, tell me about your cluster. Tell me about my children on your world.¡±


    He spoke haltingly at first, still half-stunned by the presence of the great spider. Speaking about his home soon loosened his words, though. He told the great spider about his matriarch and the many caverns they had claimed as their own. He told her about the wilds and their conflicts with the other spirit beasts in the area. He spoke about the human cultivators and the constant threat they posed in their hunger for cores. He didn¡¯t know how much time passed as he spoke, nor did he care as he sat beneath the attentive and interested gaze of the greatest of all matriarchs. When his words ran dry, she seemed to sense it.


    ¡°Thank you for speaking with me,¡± she said. ¡°I so rarely get visitors here. I can see much through the web, but it¡¯s not the same as listening to someone talk. Now, I do believe that I know what boons I will grant you.¡±


    Glimmer of Night was so overwhelmed with pleasure at having rendered even that tiny service to this divine presence that it took a moment for the word to sink in. Boons? Plural?

 V6 Chapter 55 – Compassion

    Sen sat at a table and sipped tea while Brother Khu muttered under his breath and searched through chest after chest that he pulled out of a closet that could never have held them. He considered offering to help the old monk, but Sen suspected that there were probably things in the chests or the closet that Brother Khu would prefer went unseen by an outsider. So, Sen did his best to wait patiently. That resolve was tested when the monk all but fell inside of a chest. It was a telling moment. It seemed the chests were storage treasures as well. Sen had been told that storage treasures couldn¡¯t hold other storage treasures. Uncle Kho had tried to explain why, but Sen had given up even trying to understand when phrases like dimensional integrity started getting thrown around. He¡¯d contented himself with the explanation that trying to store one storage treasure inside another would end badly. However, the closet and chests seemed to defy that rule. Sen wondered if perhaps they were linked in some way to get around that problem.


    For all Sen¡¯s concerns about Brother Khu¡¯s safety, the monk emerged unscathed and held up a jade box that could rest easily on Sen¡¯s palm. The monk casually flipped the chest closed with a foot and then proceeded to kick each of the half-dozen chests toward the closet. Sen watched with open curiosity as the chests slid into the closet without any apparent trouble. The monk closed the closet, wandered back over to the table, and sat down. He placed the box in front of Sen, then gave his cup of cold tea a mournful look. Sen cycled a bit of fire qi and waved a hand in the general direction of the teacup. Steam began to gently waft up off the liquid in the cup. The monk took a sip and nodded in approval.


    ¡°You cultivators do have your uses,¡± said the monk.


    ¡°I¡¯m not an expert on, well, monks, but I have heard you have powers of your own. Is something like warming up a cup of tea not possible for you?¡±


    Brother Khu lifted a hand and waggled it back and forth. ¡°Can I do something like that? Probably. Should I do something like that? Probably not.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. It¡¯s a trivial thing and would make life so much easier. Why not do it?¡±


    ¡°Whoever told you that deploying power is a trivial thing?¡± asked the monk.


    Sen stared blankly at the monk before he said, ¡°No one told me. Something like making your tea hot just is trivial. It costs virtually nothing.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps, but perhaps not. Acquiring the kind of power you have takes most people decades if not centuries of sustained effort. You must work for it. You must sacrifice for it. As I understand it, building up qi is time-consuming and even difficult. Warming up the tea appears trivial because it is small, but not when you put it in context with everything it cost to be able to warm up the tea. For most cultivators, every scrap of qi is a treasure beyond compare.¡±


    All of that gave Sen more than a little pause. He was pretty casual with his use of power, and it was in large part because restoring his qi reserves was so stupidly easy. If he had to work for it the way other cultivators did, would he treat warming up as something trivial or as a waste of qi that bordered on a travesty? He honestly didn¡¯t know. Part of him suspected that he might still treat it as trivial. He¡¯d always been more interested in what he could do with qi than in hoarding it toward future advancement. Then again, he¡¯d developed advantages that let him indulge that interest. There was just no good way to know how he¡¯d feel about it if his circumstances had been different. His circumstances hadn¡¯t been different. So, he was left with imagining how he might have seen the world differently. It was, however, a poor substitute for the lived experience, colored by his biases and attitudes.


    Sen gave the monk a helpless smile. ¡°Perhaps that is true for others, but not for me. And I seem to recall the question being about why you don¡¯t do it. It wasn¡¯t about why hypothetical cultivators would choose to avoid it. You don¡¯t cultivate like I do, so you can¡¯t be fretting about preserving qi in the distant hope of ascension. What prevents you from using your power in this way?¡±


    ¡°Humility. Reverence. Fear of selfishness. There are many reasons. In the end, my path is one of service. I exist to aid others. Using what meager power I have on something as trivial,¡± the monk winked at Sen, ¡°as warming my tea is to treat that power lightly and selfishly. Particularly so when I can simply make more tea over the fire. It¡¯s slower, I¡¯ll grant you, but it preserves my strength for my true purpose.¡±


    ¡°Meager power?¡± asked Sen with a raised eyebrow. ¡°I think it¡¯s less meager than you pretend, but I do have a question.¡±


    ¡°Please, ask,¡± said the Brother Khu.


    ¡°You say your path is one of service, to provide aid to others, but foxes are notoriously troublesome. Not evil, necessarily, but few would classify them as good. Why would you choose to aid one of them?¡±


    ¡°Hmmmm,¡± said the monk as he sipped his tea. ¡°I suppose you believe that empathy and compassion should be reserved for the worthy.¡±


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    Sen didn¡¯t respond immediately. He felt like the statement was a trap of some kind, even if he couldn¡¯t quite see where the sharp edges were located. He frowned as he thought the sentiment over.


    ¡°I do,¡± Sen finally agreed.


    ¡°If we reserve our empathy and compassion only for those who seem outwardly deserving of it, what manner of karma do we sow? How will souls become better in their next lives if they never experience empathy and compassion? How will we become better if we withhold empathy and compassion? I choose to aid the old fox out of compassion, in the hope that it will help him become better, if not in this life, then in his next life. I cannot wash away his sins, nor free him from his karmic debts, but I can give him that small gift. The experience of one person¡¯s compassion.¡±


    Sen stared at the old monk with a mixture of curiosity and horror. He could see Brother Khu¡¯s point, but he didn¡¯t agree with it. There were people and things in the world that didn¡¯t deserve compassion or empathy or even pity. They only deserved death. It seemed the old man could read his expression without Sen uttering a word. The monk gave Sen a sad smile.


    ¡°You think that my path is a foolish waste.¡±


    Sen considered his words with great care. ¡°I think that your path would treat many with more respect and kindness than they deserve. I believe your empathy and compassion might be better spent elsewhere.¡±


    ¡°Spoken as someone who has, perhaps through no fault of their own, been taught that it is their right to decide who lives and who dies. Is your judgment so keen that you believe you can judge not only who deserves life but who deserves compassion?¡±


    Sen¡¯s expression soured at the word judgment. ¡°Some seem to think that of me.¡±


    For the first time, the monk seemed nonplussed by one of Sen¡¯s answers. ¡°Whatever would make you think that?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve¡­ I guess you could say that I¡¯ve acquired a reputation. It came with a name. More of a title, really. That title comes with a lot of expectations attached to it.¡±


    ¡°What title?¡± asked the monk, his face lit with curiosity.


    Sen let out a long breath, wishing he¡¯d never brought the subject up. But he had brought it up, and it was only fair to answer.


    ¡°Judgment¡¯s Gale.¡±


    The monk fell into reflective silence as he studied Sen from across the table. Then, the old man chuckled with a surprising amount of sympathy.


    ¡°Oh. I see. No wonder you looked as though you¡¯d bitten into something rancid when I used the word judgment,¡± said the monk. ¡°A heavy burden for one so young. Saddled with the responsibility to pass judgment on others.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, I do my best to avoid it when I can. I¡¯m no saint who can see into the souls of others.¡±


    ¡°Yet, you kill?¡±


    Sen once again considered his answer with exceeding care. ¡°I cannot see into the souls of others, but I can see what they do. If they act like ravening beasts, if they sacrifice the innocent, if they seek to do harm because they can, I will kill. If I am attacked, I will kill. I did not make the world this way, but I must survive in it.¡±


    ¡°I survive in it,¡± said the monk.


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Do you?¡±


    The monk gave Sen a big smile. ¡°Perhaps not in the same way as you. I do enjoy a certain isolation here.¡±


    ¡°Just a bit. Speaking of isolation, why do you tolerate that horde of devilish beasts and spirits outside?¡±


    ¡°Better that they roam the world freely to do harm?¡±


    ¡°I meant why do you tolerate them to live? I can understand why you might help the old fox, but you cannot tell me you think that those things deserve compassion. They are evil.¡±


    Brother Khu nodded. ¡°They are evil, although an argument might be made that they need compassion most of all. That has been a matter of open debate since before your master walked this world.¡±


    ¡°My master?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t always live behind this barrier. I know of Fate¡¯s Razor. I even met him once. I can see his influence in you. As for the horde, yes, I could destroy them.¡±


    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Because it wouldn¡¯t help. New evils would rise in their place to restore the balance. Suffering is a part of life. For suffering to exist, evil must exist. Except, those new evils would rise all over the world to cause havoc, chaos, and death. Here, they are contained.¡±


    Sen hated that answer. He didn¡¯t hate it because it was a bad answer. Assuming the monk was right, keeping the horde in place was likely the most responsible thing to do. He hated the answer because it meant that he would get no more help leaving the ruins than he had gotten coming into them. He didn¡¯t relish the fight he expected was waiting for him. He was just glad that he¡¯d taken the trouble to set up that second formation. He didn¡¯t imagine it would work quite as well since the horde had seen something like it once already, but the horde didn¡¯t seem to be made up of mental powerhouses. Even if the formation just drew some of them away, it would make life easier. Sen felt another question forming deep down in his mind, but it never got a chance to fully spring to life. The monk perked up in his seat and smiled at Sen.


    ¡°It seems that one of your companions is arriving.¡±


    Sen followed the monk back out to the steps where they waited. After a few minutes, reality seemed to unwind like the threads of a garment coming undone. A figure stepped through the hole in reality. Part of Sen watched as reality rewove itself like the hole had never been there. The rest of his attention was on the pitch-black humanoid figure glaring at him. Sen was immediately put in mind of the spider queens, but this creature was decidedly male. Sen wondered if this was the spider that had been following him around. The figure pointed at Sen.


    ¡°This is your fault.¡±


    Before Sen could say anything, another hole in reality appeared, ringed in a phosphorescent glow. Sen took a step back as Misty Peak flew through the hole while hurling profanities at some unseen attacker. That was a bit startling, but the part that snagged Sen''s attention was that the fox woman was on fire. Sen summoned a heavy blanket and activated his qinggong technique. He arrived just a second after Misty Peak came to a stop face down on the ground. He threw the blanket over her and started patting at her to try to extinguish the flames.


    ¡°Lower!¡± she shouted.


    Sen did as he was told and then stopped when he realized where his hands were. He turned his head to give the fox a look. She directed a huge and wholly unapologetic smile his way.


    ¡°Okay,¡± she said, ¡°now squeeze.¡±


    Sen closed his eyes. So, he thought, it¡¯s going to be one of those days.

 V6 Chapter 56 – Spiders, Glares, and a Pertinent Question

    Not even bothering to open his eyes, Sen disengaged his hands from the fox woman¡¯s backside and stood up. He hadn¡¯t particularly missed this kind of behavior during the long years he¡¯d spent ascending that mountain that seemingly had no peak. He found himself oddly wistful for those quiet centuries of climbing. It had been frustrating at times but peaceful nonetheless. Sen also got the impression that while he had gotten a lot out of the experience, he hadn¡¯t gotten everything he might have if he¡¯d approached it with less urgency in his heart. Maybe I can come back here and try again, thought Sen. It¡¯d be way easier to get past that horde if I only needed to worry about getting myself inside.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to help me up?¡± asked Misty Peak.


    Sen opened his eyes and looked at the fox. She seemed very unimpressed by how much he wasn¡¯t being helpful. He shrugged.


    ¡°You seemed to get yourself down there just fine. I expect you can get up by yourself too.¡±


    She narrowed her eyes at him. ¡°Well, you haven¡¯t changed.¡±


    ¡°You were on fire when you arrived here. I¡¯d say that neither of us has changed that much.¡±


    Despite his words, Sen reached out to help the woman to her feet. She started to hand him the blanket before she took a longer look at the scorched piece of material and winced.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± she said, moving the ruined blanket around in midair like she didn¡¯t quite know what to do with it.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± said Sen.


    He took the blanket from her and with a brief surge of qi, he incinerated it. He saw a coy expression cross the woman¡¯s face but was saved from that problem with a different problem. The person who Sen assumed was the spider stormed up to the pair of them, his liquid black eyes boring into Sen. While Sen had stared down a lot of troubling things, that glare was surprisingly effective at leaving him feeling more than a little unsettled.


    ¡°This is your fault,¡± repeated the angry spider man.


    Sen tried to sort through the many, many questions that rolled through his mind. He wasn¡¯t sure where to start.


    ¡°We¡¯re clearly going to need to have a long talk about a lot of things,¡± said Sen, ¡°but why don¡¯t we start with what you think is my fault.¡±


    ¡°This!¡± shouted the spider, waving his hands at his body. ¡°Look at me. Oh, my legs. My wonderful legs are gone. And I got these useless things in return.¡±


    Sen took a step back as the spider shook his arms in Sen¡¯s general direction. Sen tried to regroup and grasp at sanity.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯m trying to understand, but I really need more information. How is this my fault?¡±


    ¡°The Great Matriarch transformed me into this terrible thing because of you! She said it was the best way for us to communicate. Except, I can¡¯t change back.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± said Sen. ¡°Your queen did this to you.¡±


    ¡°No, open your ear holes. Not my queen. The Great Matriarch!¡±


    Misty Peak leaned in and whispered to Sen, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯s talking about a transcendent spider. Some kind of primordial existence or a goddess maybe. He probably met her in the mandala.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± shouted the spider. ¡°The promiscuous, ceaselessly talking one understands.¡±


    ¡°Hey, I don¡¯t talk that much,¡± argued the fox.


    Sen gave her a look. ¡°That¡¯s the part that bothered you. Not the promiscuous part?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a fox. Why would that bother me? You humans are the ones who have strange ideas about sex. Besides, are you going to pretend that you¡¯re celibate or something?¡±


    Sen took a beat before he said, ¡°Okay. That¡¯s fair.¡±


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    She smirked at him like she¡¯d just won in some game that he hadn¡¯t even known they were playing. He turned his attention back to the spider, who was just staring at him.


    ¡°Before anything else, what should I call you?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I am Glimmer of Night,¡± said the spider.


    ¡°Glimmer of Night,¡± repeated Sen. ¡°Alright. So, the Great Matriarch did this to you so we could communicate. What are we supposed to communicate about?¡±


    ¡°She did not see fit to tell me. She simply said that I should spend time in your company and all would become clear.¡±


    Sen asked his next question with a sinking feeling in his stomach.


    ¡°Did she say how long she thought this would take?¡±


    ¡°Not long,¡± admitted the spider, giving Sen the briefest glimmer of hope. ¡°A few hundred years.¡±


    Sen reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. ¡°She wants you to travel with me for a few hundred years. Looking like that. With the name Glimmer of Night. Yeah, that won¡¯t possibly create any problems.¡±


    Misty Peak spoke up then. ¡°I¡¯m supposed to travel with you as well. For the communicating. Yeah. The fox ancestors said so.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure they were lying to you,¡± said Sen. ¡°You know you can¡¯t trust anything that a fox says.¡±


    ¡°What? You¡¯re going to let Spider of the Darkness over there go with you without blinking, but I can¡¯t come?¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think that he¡¯s lying to me, which is a big point in his favor. Plus, I don¡¯t particularly want a celestial spider to have me on a list of people she doesn¡¯t like. I might meet her one day, and I¡¯d like it to be friendly, thank you very much.¡±


    ¡°You might meet the fox ancestors one day,¡± said Misty Peak. ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried about what they¡¯ll do to you?¡±


    ¡°I just figured I¡¯d ply them with wine and tell them stories about how I set you on fire.¡±


    ¡°You never set me on fire.¡±


    ¡°The day is young,¡± said Sen. ¡°Plus, we need to get out of here before any of us worry about where to go next.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t we need something from the old monk guy first?¡± asked the fox woman as she shot Brother Khu a sidelong look.


    ¡°I have it,¡± said Sen in a tone that was far too casual to actually be casual.


    ¡°You already have it?!¡± she demanded. ¡°How long have you been here?¡±


    ¡°Oh, weeks and weeks,¡± said Sen. ¡°I was thinking I might have to abandon you here.¡±


    ¡°He is lying,¡± said Glimmer of Night, his head tilted a bit to one side.


    The fox woman rolled her eyes. ¡°Of course, he¡¯s lying. He¡¯s trying to wind me up.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m successfully winding you up,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Is this some kind of courtship ritual?¡± asked the spider.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Misty Peak.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen at the same time.


    ¡°I¡¯m confused,¡± said Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°So is he,¡± said Misty Peak hiking a thumb at Sen. ¡°I expect you¡¯ll both get over it.¡±


    Feeling himself reaching the limits of his tolerance, Sen walked over to Brother Khu. He would use the old man as a shield, even if it was a shield that would only last for a few minutes.


    ¡°Brother Khu, may I present to you, Glimmer of Night. He is one of the spider spirit beasts who dwell in the nearby forest.¡±


    ¡°Hello, Glimmer of Night,¡± said Brother Khu, directing a smile at the spider.


    Glimmer of Night seemed a little awkward and uncertain now that some of his anger had faded away. He nodded at the old man.


    ¡°Hello, Brother Khu,¡± managed the spider.


    ¡°And who is this young woman?¡± asked the old monk.


    ¡°Oh, her? She¡¯s just a fox. Probably best not to speak to her.¡±


    ¡°A fox, you say,¡± murmured Brother Khu. ¡°Well, we can¡¯t have one of those running around inside the ruins. I suppose I¡¯ll just have to send her to one of the hells.¡±


    The annoyed glare that Misty Peak had been directing at Sen turned to one of genuine concern as she started to back away from the old man.


    ¡°Probably for the best,¡± said Sen, earning an incredulous look from Misty Peak.


    Sen kept his expression neutral for as long as he could, but a snicker escaped his lips after a bare few seconds. Brother Khu, who hadn¡¯t moved an inch, gave Misty Peak a grandfatherly smile. The fox woman gave them both a death stare.


    ¡°Neither of you is funny,¡± she said.


    She whirled to storm off, only to come to an abrupt halt. Sen figured that she had just realized that doing that might well land her right back inside of the mandala she¡¯d just escaped. With her ability to storm off in a huff completely undercut by uncertain circumstances, she settled for giving Sen withering glares. The sidelong looks she gave the old monk were decidedly cautious. Maybe he could have made good on that idle threat, thought Sen. He made a mental note to learn about monks, someday, when he had the time. Sen made another mental note to try to find the time to learn about monks.


    ¡°Her name is Misty Peak,¡± Sen told the monk.


    A look of real anger crossed her face at that. ¡°Only you get to call me that. My name is Sun Linglu.¡±


    Sen considered the fox woman for a moment before he offered her a bow. ¡°I apologize.¡±


    Misty Peak didn¡¯t look happy, but the genuine contrition in Sen¡¯s voice seemed to mollify her a bit. She turned her gaze to the monk who remained serene at the exchange. He offered her another smile.


    ¡°It¡¯s very nice to meet you, Sun Linglu.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, um, thanks. So, I have a question if you don¡¯t mind,¡± said Misty Peak.


    ¡°Of course not,¡± said the monk.


    ¡°Why are these ruins filled with buildings that look like they¡¯re waiting for the owners to come back?¡±


    Brother Khu turned to look at Sen. ¡°I rather thought that would be your first question. The answer, young lady, is that it looks that way because that¡¯s exactly what will happen, eventually.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen and Misty Peak at the same time.


    ¡°I told you,¡± said Brother Khu to Sen, ¡°that I¡¯m the caretaker of this place. There would be no need for a caretaker if no one was coming back.¡±

 V6 Chapter 57 – Mystery Unsolved

    Sen so very badly wanted to ask the monk a mountain of questions, but he realized that it was ultimately a distraction. As interested as he was, and as much as he might want to come back and visit once those long-lost inhabitants came back, talking about it with the monk now would simply delay their return. Given that he had no idea how long it had been since they entered the ruins, he realized there was a question that should have been asked long since.


    ¡°Brother Khu, how long has it been for everyone outside of the barrier since we came into the ruins?¡±


    The old monk frowned and offered a helpless shrug. ¡°I cannot say with any certainty.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± asked Misty Peak, sounding wholly unconvinced.


    ¡°I did not construct the barrier. I know what it does, in general terms, but I cannot explain it in detail,¡± said the monk, before he weighed the look on Misty Peak¡¯s face and continued. ¡°You use a storage treasure, correct?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Misty Peak.


    ¡°How much do you know about how it functions? Can you explain it in detail?¡±


    A look of grudging acceptance appeared on the fox woman¡¯s face. ¡°I think I see your point. But I want to go back to the whole people are coming back here thing.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen, earning a dirty look from the fox. ¡°I¡¯m just as curious as you are but that sounds like the kind of conversation that could take days. Given that we don¡¯t know how long it¡¯s been outside, how much longer do you want to stay in here? We could walk out there and discover it¡¯s been decades. Was there anyone you care about that you left in not great circumstances? People who might think you abandoned them? Even if you don¡¯t have anyone like that, I do. So, you can stay and ask all the questions you like, but I¡¯m leaving as soon as Brother Khu points me toward the best way to leave.¡±


    Sen could see the frustration on Misty Peak¡¯s face. He understood it and even shared it, but he wasn¡¯t willing to stay in the ruins with the passage of time so uncertain. It might have only been a few days or weeks outside. If he found out that was the case, he might feel bad that he rushed everyone out but not nearly as bad as he would feel if he found out they¡¯d been stuck inside for years. He cringed to imagine what kind of disaster it would have caused if he simply vanished for that long. His teachers might literally be picking up pieces of the kingdom and shaking them to see if he fell out. Or, they might think that he met his end in some deserted corner of the kingdom and mourned his loss. They would be happy to discover that he wasn¡¯t dead and might even just write the whole thing off as a cultivator misadventure with a happy ending.


    He didn¡¯t think Falling Leaf would respond with nearly so much calm. Given everything that she¡¯d done for him over the years, he expected that she would take it personally. She¡¯d understand that he got caught in a place where time moved differently. She might even forgive him for it, eventually, maybe. When he tried to imagine what that first conversation would be like, though, Sen shuddered. It would be ugly. When he realized it might be an unavoidable conversation no matter what he did, that prompted another shiver of anticipatory dread. The transformed spider moved a little in Sen¡¯s peripheral vision. Sen felt like an ass. He¡¯d left the transformed spider out of the conversation entirely. He turned away from the baleful stare of Misty Peak to address Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°You¡¯ll have to decide for yourself whether you want to leave now or stay and ask questions.¡±


    The spider took a long moment to respond. ¡°These are human concerns. I¡¯ll warn my kind that humans will return here. Beyond that, I have no interest.¡±


    That was easier than expected, thought Sen. He turned back to Brother Khu, doing everything in his power to not actually look at Misty Peak as he did.


    ¡°Is there a trick to leaving? Some special path we need to follow to avoid the mandala?¡±


    The monk shook his head. ¡°You have already tread the mandala and gleaned whatever insights you will from it. For you, this place is just an empty city now.¡±


    Sen thought it might work that way, but he was so inexperienced with such things that he had wanted confirmation from a more knowledgeable source. He was a little disappointed that he couldn¡¯t use the mandala again under better circumstances. On the other hand, that¡¯s often how it was with unexpected boons. He couldn¡¯t be too unhappy that it was a one-time thing. It was like finding a particularly potent natural treasure in the wilds. You didn¡¯t get angry because you only found one. You were just thankful that luck or fate smiled on you that day. Plus, his own thoughts on the matter aside, it was entirely possible that he had gotten everything he could from the mandala.


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    It was something from a tradition and belief system entirely outside of cultivation. While some ideas and insights might cross over between those systems, it stood to reason that many would or even could not. He¡¯d just have to be happy with what he had learned. After all, he hadn¡¯t been stuck with a transformation he didn¡¯t want or get set on fire by his ancestors. He¡¯d just come to terms with some things that had been troubling him for a long time. Of the three people who walked that mandala, he thought it was entirely possible that he had the easiest time of it. Of course, that almost certainly meant he hadn¡¯t gotten the most from it. However, he was so used to every advancement and insight coming hand-in-hand with a world of pain that he was willing to trade a lesser experience for less agony this one time. He briefly wondered if that made him a bad cultivator, but it wasn¡¯t like he¡¯d made a knowing decision to take the easy road. Things just played out that way. Shaking his head, he set those concerns aside and offered the old monk a bow.


    ¡°Brother Khu, it was very nice to meet you.¡±


    ¡°Likewise,¡± said the old monk. ¡°Who knows? Maybe we¡¯ll see each other again if our fates and karmas dictate it.¡±


    Misty Peak looked ready to mutiny against the unfairness of Sen¡¯s unilateral decision. He thought she might decide to stay and satisfy her curiosity. Part of him hoped that she might. Then, he could go and do the things he needed to do and pick her brain about what she learned down the road. And he was quite certain that there would be a time down the road. Regardless of what happened with Laughing River, she seemed to enjoy vexing him a little too much to give up something that fun forever. No, even if they parted ways here, Sen was confident she would turn up again at some profoundly inconvenient time, throwing around innuendo and wildly inappropriate suggestions. Shi Ping would love her, thought Sen. After a bit of hemming and hawing, the fox woman exchanged goodbyes with the old monk. Glimmer of Night, who had looked increasingly bored, simply exchanged nods with Brother Khu before turning expectant eyes on Sen.


    Sen led them out into the city. He half expected to once more find them being turned this way and that by whatever power fueled the mandala, but nothing happened. They simply moved through empty streets back toward the spot where they had entered the city. Sen had given a lot of thought to where the best place to depart the ruins would be. It had been something of a toss-up for him. Where they entered came with the advantage of being the closest spot to the galehouse. The stone structure wasn¡¯t a proper fortress, but it was supported and reinforced by a number of formations. That made it a place they could retreat to that would provide them with at least some protection. The other option was to simply exit the ruins at a randomly selected spot. Sen had given that option a lot of thought. He worried that the spot where they entered would be guarded. If they just left somewhere at random, they¡¯d only need to deal with whatever part of the horde happened to be there. In the end, though, he¡¯d settled on leaving the ruins near to where they¡¯d come in. If nothing else, it was on the opposite side from where the second formation he¡¯d set up would be hurling fire and lightning.


    ¡°We could have stayed and asked a few questions,¡± complained Misty Peak, breaking the silence for the first time.


    ¡°You can always go back,¡± said Sen. ¡°I have good reasons to leave now. Glimmer of Night doesn¡¯t want to ask anything. Nobody is making you leave now.¡±


    ¡°You know full well that I can¡¯t get past that horde by myself. If it was just devilish beasts, maybe I could do it. Not with all those spirits out there.¡±


    To Sen¡¯s surprise, Glimmer of Night asked the question that popped into Sen¡¯s mind. ¡°Why would the spirits matter?¡±


    ¡°Too many kinds of spirits just see right through illusions, and I can¡¯t just shake off a possession attempt.¡±


    Sen stopped walking to look at the fox woman. ¡°How in the world would I have known any of that?¡±


    Misty Peak stared at him with her mouth half open before she shook her head. ¡°I keep forgetting that you¡¯re not really a fox. Fine. I guess you wouldn¡¯t know full well that I can¡¯t get out of here by myself. Still, how can you just ignore that people who have been gone for thousands of years are just going to come back? Where did they go? Why did they go?¡±


    Sen started walking again. ¡°I want to know all of those things too. Just not badly enough to stay when years could be flashing by outside.¡±


    ¡°Who could possibly be so important that you¡¯d give up finding out about all of that to get back to them?¡±


    ¡°A madwoman,¡± said Sen. ¡°The kind would very likely hold it against me until the end of time if I took any longer than absolutely necessary to get back.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re rushing out of here because you¡¯ve got some overly sensitive lover waiting for you?¡±


    Sen snorted. ¡°Careful now. Your envy is showing, but I didn¡¯t mean a lover. I also wasn¡¯t exaggerating. I meant an actual madwoman. She just happens to be my teacher at the moment. I¡¯m already expecting to mountain of misery for taking as long as I have.¡±


    Misty Peak didn¡¯t seem to know quite what to do with that information and fell silent. As they drew near to where Sen planned to exit the ruins, he pulled the beast core he¡¯d linked to the second formation out of his storage ring. He stared down at it and felt their odds of survival drop precipitously. Misty Peak seemed to pick up on his sudden change in mood.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I can¡¯t trigger the other formation,¡± he said, showing them the beast core. ¡°I was going to use this but the link is broken.¡±


    Misty Peak and Glimmer of Night both eyed the beast core.


    ¡°How was it broken?¡± asked the fox woman.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like it was made by the gods. It probably happened when the mandala took me wherever it took me. I didn¡¯t design it to work across different planes of existence. It was iffy just taking across the barrier.¡±


    ¡°So, what do we do?¡± asked Misty Peak.


    ¡°Well, given that we¡¯re probably going to have to fight that horde on the way out, I suggest we eat a meal.¡±


    The fox gave him an incredulous look. ¡°Eat? You want to eat? At a time like this?¡±


    Glimmer of Night came to Sen¡¯s rescue.


    ¡°No reason to die hungry,¡± observed the spider.

 V6 Chapter 58 – What’s a Core for, Anyway?

    Sen didn¡¯t actually care about eating, he just wanted to give himself a little while to think things through. The formation had only ever been a fallback plan, but Sen was certain that the original plan of signaling Laughing River also wasn¡¯t going to work either. There was a decent chance that the elder fox had waited for weeks and simply decided that they must all be dead. Sending up a signal also depended on people outside the barrier being able to see it. Sen wasn¡¯t at all convinced that was even possible, or that anyone outside would understand what they were seeing, depending on just how distorted time was in the ruins. He also hadn¡¯t thought to ask the old monk if the barrier included some kind of intentional visual distortion.


    He gave serious thought to going back and asking, but Sen doubted the monk actually knew the answer. He had the distinct impression that Brother Khu had been left as a caretaker based on his combat skills, not his skills with barriers and formations. Going back risked wasting even more time with what seemed like a poor chance of learning anything. With the primary plan unlikely to work and the fallback plan ruined by the broken connection between the beast cores attached to the formation, Sen needed to come up with a plan that at least had a chance of getting them all out alive. A direct assault on the horde had low odds. At least, it did unless Sen wanted to try something incredibly risky that could just as easily kill them all as save them.


    Sen¡¯s mind threatened to keep circling the poor possibilities, but he noticed both Glimmer of Night and Misty Peak staring at him. Rather, Misty Peak was directing a very annoyed stare at him, and Glimmer of Night was directing a wholly alien expression at the core in Sen¡¯s hand. Neither expression made Sen feel terribly comfortable. The spider lifted his gaze to Sen¡¯s face.


    ¡°What is the beast core for?¡± asked Glimmer of Night. ¡°Do you mean to eat it?¡±


    It Sen a few seconds to unravel the seemingly bizarre question. It only made sense when he remembered two things. The spider hadn¡¯t been around when he set up the linked beast cores. Spirit beasts primarily grew by consuming beast cores. If things didn¡¯t feel quite so dire, it might have even been a little bit funny. As things stood, though, Sen just shook his head.


    ¡°I set up a second formation. I was going to use the beast core to trigger it.¡±


    The spider perked right up at that. ¡°Oh! An entanglement. Clever.¡±


    Sen blinked. ¡°Sure. I guess that¡¯s one way to describe it.¡±


    ¡°May I see the core?¡± asked the spider.


    Sen tossed it over without a second thought. ¡°Keep it. It¡¯s useless to me now.¡±


    The spider caught the core and began studying it with an almost unwholesome level of focus. Shaking his head, Sen pulled a table out of a storage ring and piled food onto it. He also tossed a handful of beast cores on the table with different affinities. He wasn¡¯t sure what the spider could or would eat, so there was basically one of every qi affinity he had on hand. With the food issue sorted out, Sen walked away from the others to try to get a look at what was happening outside. He''d been so shaken by the possession attempt on their way in that he hadn¡¯t given the horde much thought right after they¡¯d entered the ruins. By the time he¡¯d thought of it, they were well and truly snared in the mandala. He hadn¡¯t truly trusted anything he saw or heard once he understood that situation.


    Unfortunately, he discovered that the mandala hadn¡¯t distorted what he¡¯d been able to see of the outside world. It had simply looked like a blurry mess of fast-moving shapes. With so many spirits and devilish beasts in the horde, it was simply a dark mass moving on the other side of the barrier. There could be anything waiting on the other side from a disorganized group to ranks of beasts marching back and forth in orderly lines. Granted, the second option seemed less likely, but Sen didn¡¯t want to assume. Time might prove him wrong. They could walk out there and find nothing but a handful of beasts and spirits. The problem was that he had to assume that there would be a densely packed and organized group waiting for them. That would be the worst possible situation for them, so Sen almost felt like it had to happen that way.


    Sen stood there facing the barrier but not really seeing anything for long enough that Misty Peak came looking for him eventually. She took a moment to consider the indistinct world beyond the barrier before she looked at him.


    ¡°You don¡¯t look happy,¡± said Misty Peak. ¡°I assume you didn¡¯t plan for this situation, so you don¡¯t know how to get out.¡±


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    Sen glanced her way. ¡°Oh no, I can get out. That¡¯s not the problem.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know how to get us out.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the problem.¡±


    ¡°Well, how would you get out?¡± she asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s a couple of options. I think I could go right through them. Minimize the fighting and maximize the forward momentum. I¡¯m probably fast enough and strong enough for that. I¡¯d give myself good odds just going over them for that matter. You saw how fast I can be when I have something to launch myself off of. I could just make a qi platform and hurl myself toward the forest.¡±


    Misty Peak frowned. ¡°Yeah, those could work. For you. I¡¯m not sure what the spider can do in his current form. Hells, he probably doesn¡¯t know either, but odds are he can¡¯t do either of those things. I know I can¡¯t. I¡¯m not as fast or as strong as you. My qinggong technique isn¡¯t anywhere near as good as that ridiculous thing you do. I might be able to sneak past them if not for the spirits.¡±


    ¡°So, that¡¯s what I¡¯m trying to figure out,¡± said Sen. ¡°How are you?¡±


    She shot him a dirty look. ¡°I was a lot happier two minutes ago.¡±


    ¡°Reasonable,¡± observed Sen.


    ¡°I notice that none of your plans seems to involve a lot of fighting. Don¡¯t tell me that monk got to you with some nonsense about compassion.¡±


    ¡°He tried, not that it did him any good. I don¡¯t want to fight that horde because it¡¯s a losing proposition.¡±


    ¡°You seemed to do pretty well against them last time,¡± said Misty Peak.


    ¡°I almost got possessed. And I got lucky. If any one of a dozen things hadn¡¯t gone just right or cut our way, we never would have lived long enough to have this conversation. Plus, I can¡¯t count any of the things I did last time working again. I have to assume they¡¯ll have figured out counters to all of it.¡±


    ¡°Even that thing you did with your sword?¡± she asked with more than a little skepticism.


    ¡°Okay, maybe not that, but everything else.¡±


    ¡°What did you do with your sword last time?¡± she asked, an eager glint in her eye.


    ¡°It¡¯s something I don¡¯t talk about,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°You¡¯re awfully young to have so many secrets.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a cultivator. Isn¡¯t being mysterious and having secrets like half of the job?¡± asked Sen.


    Misty Peak let out a weak laugh. ¡°Well, you aren¡¯t wrong about that. Still, I¡¯ve heard the stories about you. People talk about you doing insane things like setting the sky on fire. Where¡¯s that guy?¡±


    ¡°I really wish people would stop telling that story. First, I did not set the sky on fire. Second, people stood around for the better part of three minutes and just watched me set that up without even trying to intervene. Finally, that whole thing was a bluff that depended on the people involved already wanting to do what I told them to do.¡±


    ¡°Well, that does take a lot of the mystique out of the story. Even so, are you telling me you don¡¯t have something tucked up your sleeve? Something you¡¯ve been saving up for a situation just like this.¡±


    ¡°Being trapped inside an ancient ruin with a time-altering barrier around it and a horde of devilish beasts around that? I did not, in point of fact, ever imagine I¡¯d find myself in this situation, let alone plan for it.¡±


    That earned Sen a flat look that made him want to shift uncomfortably, but he held strong and met the fox¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°You know that isn¡¯t what I meant,¡± she said.


    Sen relented. ¡°Yes, I have some ideas for things like this. Half-formed techniques that might get the job done. They might also explode in my face and kill us all. I¡¯d like something with a bit more certainty and a lower chance of grievous injury or death.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re lucky I¡¯m such a kind-hearted person. Most wives wouldn¡¯t put with all this whining, even if you are absurdly pretty.¡±


    Sen was floundering for an appropriate response to that when there was a cracking noise that made everything inside of Sen shudder. It was immediately followed by a wave of intense heat and a tower of flame reaching toward the sky not too far away. Sen followed the tower of flame down and realized that it was just about where he¡¯d set up the table with the food on it. He traded a look with Misty Peak before they both took off running. They covered the distance in practically no time and found the spider hopping from foot to foot in what looked like a mad dance of maniacal glee as one of the buildings was entirely encased in a fire. Glimmer of Night didn¡¯t even seem to care that his carapace and the clothes Sen had insisted he wear were scorched and smoking.


    ¡°What happened?¡± demanded Sen.


    The spider turned toward Sen, but he couldn¡¯t make any sense of the expression on Glimmer of Night¡¯s face. The spider rushed back over to the table and picked up another beast core. Sen could feel that it was an ice affinity core. Glimmer of Night hurried back over to them and held up the core. Sen lifted an eyebrow, not sure what he was supposed to make of all of this.


    ¡°Watch,¡± said the spider in a tone that Sen could thankfully recognize as excited.


    The spider stared at the core for a second. There was another of those cracking sounds that sent another shudder through Sen. Then, Glimmer of Night threw the core at the burning building. The immediate environment felt wrong to Sen as two types of qi effectively declared war on each other less than fifty feet away. It set his teeth on edge, but he watched as the ice slowly overtook the fire. Before long the entire building was covered in a layer of ice at least a foot thick.


    ¡°Remember that secret thing up my sleeve you were asking about,¡± said Sen to Misty Peak. ¡°I think we just found it.¡±


    ¡°I think so,¡± she agreed. ¡°Assuming he can teach us how to do that.¡±

 V6 Chapter 59 – The Calm

    It turned out that Glimmer of Night could not teach them how to do it. It wasn¡¯t for a lack of trying, either. The spider had very patiently described his exact process for doing whatever it was he had done to the cores. It just hadn¡¯t taken Sen very long to figure out that Glimmer of Night was operating from an entirely different understanding of qi that used webs and various kinds of interconnection as the baseline. Given enough time and context, it was probably a decipherable method. They just didn¡¯t have that kind of time. So, Sen had turned to experimentation to see if they could still make use of the spider¡¯s ability. While the modified cores were unstable, they weren¡¯t irreparably unstable. He had Glimmer of Night do his thing to a core and just set it on the ground. Then, the cultivator, the spider, and the fox had watched the core from a distance. When nothing happened, they traded glances.


    ¡°Alright,¡± said Sen. ¡°I guess it¡¯s my turn.¡±


    He walked over to the core and gingerly picked it up. He held his breath for a moment as he waited for it to engulf him in some kind of qi explosion. Sen glanced at the others. Misty Peak tried to give him an encouraging look that mostly failed. Glimmer of Night was staring at the core like he was almost disappointed that it hadn¡¯t done something terrible to Sen. Shaking his head, Sen moved on to his second experiment. He tried to put the core into a storage ring. As soon as the ring started to act on the core, he felt it. Sen threw the core up in the air and covered himself in a dome of hardened air. A massive torrent of water crashed down on him and flooded the nearby streets. When the water finally cleared away, he walked back over to Glimmer of Night and Misty Peak as they exited the building they had been hiding in. Sen just handed the spider another core.


    ¡°Maybe try doing what you do a little less this time,¡± said Sen.


    As much as Sen wanted to get out of the ruins, he couldn¡¯t view the hours they spent experimenting on those cores as a wasted time. It took a lot of trial and error, but Glimmer of Night eventually figured out how much he could, for lack of Sen coming up with a better word, crack the core and still let them go into a storage ring. A casual toss wouldn¡¯t set them off anymore, but a throw from cultivation-enhanced arms was still good enough. Sen didn¡¯t imagine that they would be enough to turn the horde back, but they should make a very effective distraction. Particularly if the horde was still behaving like a disorganized horde.


    It was something that Sen had to keep reminding himself about. He didn¡¯t need to beat the horde, just elude them. Given how little attention the devilish beasts and spirits had paid to anything happening in the nearby forest, he figured it was a safe assumption that most of the horde wouldn¡¯t chase them into the woods. As for the ones that did chase them, Sen felt a lot more confident about handling one or two dozen out in the trees. It was an environment that would likely favor him more than it favored them. He just needed to get them all there alive. First, though, everyone needed a rest.


    Sen wasn¡¯t sure how much it cost the spider to modify the cores, but it certainly didn¡¯t look easy. Plus, Glimmer of Night had been at it for hours during the testing and prepping cores for their initial exit. Sen was probably fine to go, but an hour or two of sleep should serve them all well. If nothing else, it would give their minds a break. Sen didn¡¯t even get the token resistance he¡¯d expected from Misty Peak. Not that he thought she was in a hurry to leave but simply because she seemed to enjoy being contrary. She must have read the thought on his face because she rolled her eyes at him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t disagree with everything,¡± she said.


    Sen lifted both hands to her. ¡°I didn¡¯t say a word.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you said plenty.¡±


    Sen put a lot of extra effort into keeping his expression perfectly neutral, but Glimmer of Night came to the rescue again.


    ¡°No, he didn¡¯t say anything. I was listening.¡±


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    Sen had to resist an urge to give the spider a hug. Misty Peak turned a glare on Glimmer of Night that was, as near as Sen could tell, completely lost on the spider. Worried that he might start laughing if he kept watching, Sen picked a building and went inside. He threw a blanket and pillow on the floor and stretched out. The other two came in shortly after. Realizing that the spider would have nothing even remotely like bedding or anywhere to store them if he did, Sen got back up. He took a minute to transfer everything out of a storage ring, and then store some essentials in the ring. That, in turn, led to a much longer conversation than Sen wanted about the ring itself and how it worked. The spider seemed fascinated by the ring, taking things out of it and putting them back in over and over. Sen reminded himself repeatedly that he was once in awe of the rings himself. With that problem settled, he returned to his blanket.


    While thoughts of the fight to come threatened to drag him into a spiral of what-if thinking, Sen fell back on meditation techniques to clear his mind. It was simplicity itself to fall asleep after that. He was deeply surprised to discover when he woke up that he hadn¡¯t had any dreams that he could recall. He¡¯d almost expected to have a nightmare about the horde killing them all. He looked at the others. The spider seemed to be sleeping peacefully, but there was a troubled expression on Misty Peak¡¯s face and she twitched occasionally despite being asleep. I guess she got the bad dreams this time, thought Sen. He stored his blanket and pillow back in the ring and settled in to prepare himself mentally.


    It was unusual that Sen had more than a moment or two to really think about what he might do in a fight. It was usually just a quick buildup and then a descent into violence. In this case, though, he discovered that there wasn¡¯t a lot of ambiguity. There was nothing in that horde that deserved to live another day as far as Sen was concerned. That bit of clarity put things on the table for him that he might otherwise think twice about. Heavens¡¯ Shadow and Heavens¡¯ Rebuke were obviously on the table, although he had to wonder if there was something in the horde that could counter them. It seemed unlikely given that he¡¯d never met anything else that could, but it was never wise to assume. Of course, there was one other thing he could do or at least try to do.


    He¡¯d done it when he was fighting the dragon, and again when Falling Leaf was fighting against that beast tide. He¡¯d resisted any urge to do it again or even try to practice it. It wasn¡¯t refined or controlled enough to call a technique. He wasn¡¯t sure what to call it. He could replicate it, though. The fact that the dragon had withstood it gave him a little pause but what else could he expect from a dragon that old? It would have been more shocking if it hadn¡¯t shrugged it off. What he could remember about what it had done to that beast tide and everything else in its path was the real reason he¡¯d held back from doing it again. The utter devastation of it had been too much. Until now. Now, he faced foes that deserved that level of devastation, that kind of annihilation. He could only hope that it would destroy their souls if it came down to it. Still, it was a last resort. The first resort was simply to get away, but Sen took a certain comfort in the knowledge that nothing was off the table in this fight.


    When the others woke up, they found Sen standing in the doorway to the outside. The spider cocked his head to one side like he was trying to figure something out. It was Misty Peak who looked at Sen with alarm written on her face after she got a look at his expression.


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    Sen lifted a shoulder in response. ¡°Pack up. It¡¯s time to leave this place.¡±


    There was a total lack of talking as Sen led them to the barrier. He frowned out at the blurry mess, wishing he had a better idea of what was waiting for them. He supposed it didn¡¯t matter. They were going out there one way or the other. He drew his jian and prepared Heavens¡¯ Shadow like he had the last time with one minor alteration. He hadn¡¯t gone far enough last time. He¡¯d infused the technique with fear. This time, he infused it with unadulterated terror. The cold terror of being without shelter before the storm. The hot terror of facing down things you know can kill you. The existential terror that comes with the certainty that a predator has come and is hunting you. Sen didn¡¯t want those things afraid. He didn¡¯t want them panicky. He wanted them to feel like they needed to flee before the arrival of certain death. In his other hand, he summoned one of the unstable cores. He looked at Misty Peak and Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°Whatever you do, stay behind me. If it looks like we won¡¯t be able to carve a path, I¡¯m going to do something that you do not want to get caught in,¡± said Sen before he focused on the fox woman. ¡°Do you have a way to contact your grandfather? A way to send him a message?¡±


    Misty Peak¡¯s brow furrowed as she thought it over. ¡°I think so. What message should I send?¡±


    Sen turned back to the barrier, drawing his focus ever tighter. ¡°Tell him to take cover.¡±


    Then, Sen stepped through the barrier.

 V6 Chapter 60 – The Storm, Part 1

    One of the truths that Master Feng had imparted to Sen through their countless hours of sparring was very simple to state. Seize the momentum. Of course, Master Feng hadn¡¯t ever said those words to Sen. He had shown Sen, over and over again. The person who seizes the momentum of the battle stands a better chance of victory. It wasn¡¯t an absolute edict. Momentum could be lost. It could be stolen. It could even be overwhelmed by sufficiently superior strength. In the world of cultivation, no advantage was absolute save pure strength. All else being equal though, if one could seize the momentum of a fight, one should seize it, because one more advantage is never a bad thing.


    Sen had that lesson in mind when he made his first move as he crossed through that barrier. Before his senses adjusted or he even regained his equilibrium. Before he could even clearly see what was on the other side, he unleashed Heavens¡¯ Shadow. Sen even allowed himself one tiny, brief smile at the thought of what it would likely do to all those devilish beasts and spirits. When his vision was restored, however, the results were beyond even his expectations. While he had warned himself that the majority of the horde might well be waiting for them, he hadn¡¯t believed it would happen. Yet, he was able to watch as that terrible, beautiful technique wrapped once orderly rows of evil in utter madness.


    It was like what had happened on the way in, except amplified by an order of magnitude. The devilish beast didn¡¯t simply try to flee, they ripped into each other with tooth, claw, and qi as they looked for any path of escape. A part of Sen thought he should just sit back and enjoy the sight of so many awful creatures doing awful things to each other. He felt like there was some kind of karmic justice at work. But Master Feng hadn¡¯t taught him to take things easy, so he got back to work. He took careful aim and waited for the right moment before he whipped the cracked core in his hand down the gullet of some kind of reptilian thing that had dared to take on the form of an ox. It couldn¡¯t be suffered to live, and it wasn¡¯t.


    The beast froze in place, both figuratively and literally, as the cracked core discharged all of the qi inside of it. The reptile ox exploded as crystalline spears shot in every direction. Ice raced across the ground freezing devilish beasts in place. That was particularly unfortunate for any that happened to be moving at the time, as their lower limbs shattered under the force of their forward motion. Then, the beasts crashed to the ground and were consumed by frigid death. Of course, by then, Sen was hurling cracked cores at any concentration of devilish beasts or spirits he saw. Since those groups were everywhere, he was throwing cores in nearly every direction as fast as he could summon them from his rings. Anywhere he saw spirits, he sent a core of fire or lighting their way. Anything that looked like it had a particularly dense skin or carapace got earth and metal.


    When the explosions of qi got so thick that Sen didn¡¯t think that throwing any additional cores could make it worse, he started adding his own flavor of chaos to the mix. All-encompassing shadow descended on the horde as if the very pits of the void had opened up to swallow creation itself. What had seemed like a peak frenzy of killing and death was made even more violent with the loss of vision. Anything that moved in that darkness was attacked, and everything was moving. Not wanting to let up for even an instant, Sen thrust his jian skyward and lightning lanced into the sky like a signal to the gods.


    Sen pulled hard on that liquid qi that usually sat around inside his dantian and fed it into the lightning. Lightning arced and danced above them, gathering whatever it was in the air that made lightning. It built and built until it was on the edge of his control. When it reached that critical moment, Sen whipped his arm down and dragged all of that lightning to earth by his will. It didn¡¯t come down in bolts but in sheets so bright that, for a few moments, they challenged the sun. Sen felt something rising in him, something he didn¡¯t recognize, something that was both him and not him. Without even knowing why he did it, Sen screamed. The words were a challenge and a promise.


    ¡°Judgment has come!¡±


    ***


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    ¡°Tell him to take cover,¡± said Sen, right before he disappeared through the barrier.


    Misty Peak was so stunned by the abrupt action that she just stood there staring at the spot where Sen had been just a moment before. She tried to make sense of the words take cover. She wondered what Sen thought he was going to do that would make her grandfather need to take cover. Perhaps the man was just a little too confident in his abilities. Sure, he could handle himself, but it was a long walk from being able to handle yourself to being any kind of a threat to someone like Laughing River. She sighed. It was probably her fault. She had been picking at his ego a little harder than was strictly necessary. She should do something to stroke his ego. Misty Peak was considering the best way to do that when the spider casually walked by her and through the barrier. Oh, right, she thought, experiencing the same frustration that all foxes experienced. Nothing could get a fox off task faster than a puzzle. Any puzzle.


    ¡°I guess we really should see about escaping before I decide if I¡¯ll seduce him or not,¡± murmured the fox woman before she stepped through the barrier.


    The second she was on the other side of that barrier, Misty Peak was driven straight to her knees by the overwhelming pressure of whatever the hells was going on. She struggled to make sense of what her keen senses were feeding her. Death. It was just death. Everywhere. And at the heart of it all, jian pointed to the heavens, and blazing like a dark star of destruction was Sen. Her mind tried to refuse the evidence of her senses. It just wasn¡¯t possible. Sen had only had a handful of seconds before she joined him on the other side of the barrier. There was no way he had done all of this in those few moments. A premonition of danger made her look up at what Sen was doing to the sky. He hadn¡¯t set it on fire, not that it helped in the slightest. All of that lightning was even worse. She cringed as she felt that ocean of flickering, arcing death descend. He¡¯ll kill us all, she screamed in her head. She¡¯d tried to scream it out loud but her voice was locked away behind primal terror.


    When the lightning crashed down on the horde, she closed her eyes as tightly as she could. It still felt like someone had rammed white hot needles into those sensitive visual organs. As always, thunder followed the lightning, except this thunder was a voice that reverberated with the authority of the Heavens and, she realized with dawning horror and awe, the mandate of Chaos. Her very soul trembled and quaked as Sen¡¯s voice rolled over them all.


    ¡°Judgment has come!¡±


    Misty Peak made herself look up at Sen¡¯s back. He burned with celestial light, no longer concerned about keeping the divine qi in his skin repressed. She shrank back as his jian took on that hellish purple-black glow that screamed of utter annihilation to her senses. He stepped forward like a living god bent on the destruction of his enemies and the very world trembled at his passing. This, she thought. This is where the stories come from. This is what people have seen. This is Judgment¡¯s Gale. Somehow, he had kept this truth buried from her sight and her intuitions, but she could see him now. This man was no core cultivator, except perhaps in the most technical sense. This was a nascent soul cultivator who was just taking his sweet time about wandering over that particular line of advancement.


    And she had mocked him. She had challenged him. He could have snuffed the life out of her any time he wanted to. Then, as if to add insult to injury, she felt him unleash his killing intent on the field. It wasn¡¯t even aimed in her direction and it turned her blood to ice. It felt like a living thing. A very angry, very hungry, living thing that meant to eat its fill today. Had her grandfather known? Had he known and just waited to see if Sen would end her out of hand? No, she thought. Sen wouldn¡¯t have told me to warn him if Grandfather knew. That thought was like cold water being dumped over her head. The Sen she thought she knew couldn¡¯t have done anything to her grandfather, but this merciless killing machine in front of her was another matter entirely. She hastily threw together an illusion construct and sent it as fast as it could go to her grandfather. She just hoped it got there in time.


    ***


    Glimmer of Night had stepped around the strings of fear and death that made up the web of desolation that Sen had seemingly crafted on instinct. Perhaps there was more spider in the man than Glimmer of Night had given him credit for. He was glad he could avoid those strings since they had driven the ceaselessly talking one to the ground. He looked around at what was happening to the devilish beasts and spirits. This is good, he thought. I like my new friend. Not wishing to be left out, Glimmer of Night began pulling the cores out of his new storage ring and throwing them at the horde.

 V6 Chapter 61 – The Storm, Part 2

    Despite the monumental amount of death Sen had just dished out, he knew they weren¡¯t done yet. If he had been dealing with the same kinds of numbers they had to face when they¡¯d approached the ruins, they¡¯d have a largely clear path. With the horde concentrated in this spot, though, he¡¯d just landed a serious but not critical blow. So, he stalked toward the enemy, fully intending to punch a hole right through their lines and then run for all he was worth toward the forest. At least, that¡¯s what he told himself. He knew that¡¯s what he should do at any rate. He found himself wondering just how the horde had come to be gathered up right where they came out, just as they left the ruins. Sen didn¡¯t know how long they had been in there. So, how had the horde predicted the moment?


    There were a frustrating number of possibilities and no way to narrow them down. It might have been divination. It might have been a betrayal of some kind. He didn¡¯t think that Misty Peak or Glimmer of Night would have given them away, but maybe one of them did. Maybe there was some way to track them inside the ruins that Sen hadn¡¯t recognized. He supposed there was even an outside chance that Brother Khu had tipped off the horde, although even Sen had a hard time believing that. The lack of an explanation stoked his anger, and he dropped his killing intent on the horde in front of him as a way to vent some of that frustration. The beasts that didn¡¯t collapse into bleeding heaps on the ground all froze in place, seemingly stunned by the ferocity of what they felt. Sen didn¡¯t let the opportunity pass him by. He activated his qinggong technique and shot toward them. He hit the massed devilish beasts like a meteor made of wrath. His fist connected with the chest of some kind of rock creature that stood nearly twelve feet tall.


    The shockwave that rolled out from that blow flung beasts into the air. Massive cracks appeared on the rock beast¡¯s chest as it was sent crashing and rolling through the ranks of devilish beasts. Sen launched himself after it, lopping off heads and limbs as he went, before he brought his jian down and punched straight through the rock creature. The rock creature exploded and even Sen wasn¡¯t fast enough to avoid getting cut up by the shards or even to avoid being thrown up into the air. Rather than fight it, he decided to take advantage of his brief flight. He channeled for wind and, in an act of intentional spite, he infused a few dozen wind blades with just a touch of divine qi. Those blades carved into the horde like a finely honed butcher¡¯s knife. They cut through bodies. They cut through spirits. More than that, though, the divine qi ignited the devilish beasts with holy fire that sent them howling and screeching into oblivion.


    Sen was so focused on the destruction below that he very nearly missed it when a massive spear closed on him. He twisted in the air and brought his jian down to intercept the spear. While he did manage to avoid the worst of it and divert the spear¡¯s course slightly, it still tore a nasty gash across his chest. Worse, he could feel devilish qi trying to find its way inside of him. It was like a thousand worms with razor teeth chewing at the open wound. The divine qi in his skin took up the cause of protecting him, and Sen temporarily put that problem out of his mind. He could worry about it if he survived. Stabilizing himself on a qi platform, his eyes flickered across the battlefield as he sought out whatever had thrown the spear.


    It only took a moment before his gaze settled on a hulking figure that almost looked human. Yet, its eyes burned a deep crimson color, and its skin was mottled, looking black in some places and the purple of deep bruising in others. Long white hair whipped around its head in the strong wing conjured by Sen¡¯s own actions and Glimmer of Night enthusiastically bombarding the field with more cracked cores. Sen locked gazes with the creature and felt a minor shiver of worry. Even at a distance, he could feel the unnatural, inhuman strength of the thing¡¯s power. He could also feel its hate burning bright, a hate for everything alive and divine. Grimacing, Sen lowered himself to the ground. There would be no escape as long as that thing remained. All of the other monsters might let them go or lose interest, but this devil would chase and chase until they were all dead.


    This was what Sen had worried might happen. A mindless horde was easy enough to disrupt with fear and surprise. For all of the malevolence radiating from it, this creature was intelligent. Eyeing the spear in the thing¡¯s hand, Sen let the harsh light of Heavens¡¯ Rebuke fade from his jian and sheathed it. Holding out a hand, he summoned the heaven chasing spear. He wasn¡¯t sure it was a match for the monster¡¯s spear, which radiated a dark aura of its own, but Sen simply couldn¡¯t sacrifice that much reach. Focusing for a moment, he imbued the spear with the strength of Heavens¡¯ Rebuke, but he didn¡¯t contain it to the spear¡¯s head. The entire shaft began to radiate that black and purple light. Sen briefly worried that he might harm himself using the technique that way, but its destructive power seemed indifferent to him.


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    Sen started moving toward the monster, batting aside or cutting down any spirits or devilish beasts that got in his way. The red-eyed creature moved toward him, slaying its allies in an effort to reach Sen even faster. In no time at all, they stood a handful of paces apart, glaring at each other.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± asked Sen.


    The thing laughed before it answered in gravelly tones. ¡°Well, if you are Judgment, little human, then I am Death.¡±


    Those were the only words exchanged before the red-eyed monster attacked. It swept the spear at Sen in a move that would have cut Sen in half at the waist. Sen swung his own spear to block, only to find himself stumbling away, no match for the pure physical power of the blow. That might have been the end of the fight right there, except that Sen heard a shrieking noise and a bellow of anger from the devil. He¡¯d concluded that it must be a devil, for what else could wield that kind of power in a blow that had looked so casual? Glancing back, Sen saw that the devil¡¯s spear was smoking, warping, and cracking apart where his own spear had touched it, the power of Heavens¡¯ Rebuke simply unmaking the weapon. The devil cast the weapon aside and fixed Sen with an even more baleful glare than he¡¯d used before. Straightening up, Sen suppressed the urge to smirk and dove to the side when his intuition warned him of danger.


    A beast that looked like it was mostly a fang-filled maw with four legs passed through the empty place where Sen had been moments before. Without even thinking, Sen sent a wind blade corkscrewing down the thing¡¯s throat. He didn¡¯t even get a chance to see if that worked before he had to pivot and cut down a spirit that seemed to have regained its composure. That was a problem that Sen hadn¡¯t foreseen. Granted, the spirit had looked incredibly damaged, almost like it had severed pieces of itself, but that didn¡¯t make it less dangerous. If anything, it probably made the thing even more dangerous. Sen couldn¡¯t imagine that losing big pieces of what passed as its body did good things for whatever hold over rationality the spirit had. Fortunately, contact with the power of Heavens¡¯ Rebuke seemed to be as catastrophic for the spirit as it had been for the devil¡¯s spear.


    Sen didn¡¯t get to enjoy that bit of insight before he had to roll out of the way again, barely avoiding a swing of a new spear the devil had conjured from some storage treasure. The impact was enough to send a shower of dirt into the air that obscured everything. Knowing what he would do if he were on the other side of that dirt, Sen swung his spear through the cascade of earth and into the place where he expected the demon to lunge through the dirt. There was a sense of resistance and a scream of agony so powerful that one of Sen¡¯s ears went immediately deaf. He went blind under the spike of torment that felt like it tried to drive straight into his brain through that ear. There was no time to regain rational thought, just the bone-deep knowledge that he needed to put some distance between himself and that devil. Sen managed to get one foot beneath him, activated his qinggong technique, and sent himself sliding away along the ground.


    He was vaguely aware of things biting and clawing at him, but those were secondary concerns until he could clear his head a bit. When his vision started to come back, he could see that he was surrounded by devilish beasts. Nothing good can come from this situation, thought Sen just as something clamped down on his left shoulder. The flesh of his shoulder felt like it was on fire, and he felt some kind of poison or venom start to pump into his system. Roaring in anger and pain, Sen cycled for fire. He wasn¡¯t even entirely conscious of what he did with it, but when his voice died away, there was nothing within five feet of him but blackened earth and partial, smoking beast corpses that seemed to have been on the edge of the brief inferno he¡¯d ignited. He could feel the venom working on him already and the immediate response of his many-times refined body trying to purge it. He suspected that he could purge whatever it was, given time, but he wasn¡¯t going to get that time. The devil was already bearing down on him, red eyes lit with pain, rage, and madness.

 V6 Chapter 62 – The Storm, Part 3

    Even with time being a precious and limited commodity in a battle, Sen couldn¡¯t help but notice that his strike had been more effective than he could have hoped. From just below the elbow, the devil¡¯s left arm was simply gone. It also appeared that the lingering energy of Heavens¡¯ Rebuke wasn¡¯t done quite yet. The stump seemed to be corroding. The energy eating away more and more of the flesh and bone as it worked its way up the arm. Sen expected that was what the devilish energy in the wound on his chest had meant to do something similar, only to find itself stymied by the divine qi in his skin. Sen couldn¡¯t guess how long that corrosive effect would keep working on the powerful devil. Probably not long enough to actually kill it, thought Sen with a bit of disappointment. But the injury provided a much more immediate benefit.


    The devil hadn¡¯t changed weapons to something that would function better using one arm. While that didn¡¯t mean the devil wouldn¡¯t switch, it likely meant the spear was the weapon it was most comfortable with. A weapon that, as Uncle Kho had taught him, required the use of two arms to use properly. It wasn¡¯t an absolute advantage by any measure. The devil was still hideously strong, but it was a strength that it couldn¡¯t bring entirely to bear anymore. With that gap in strength between them a little narrower, Sen thought he might be able to bridge it with pure skill. He reignited Heavens¡¯ Rebuke in the spear, having lost his grip on the technique in the wake of that blinding lance of pain in his head. The devil saw the hellish black and purple glow burst to life around the spear and faltered in its charge.


    Sen lashed out with it, and the devil shied away from the spearhead that threatened to decapitate it. That moment of initiative was immediately lost. The devil might rightly fear the wrath of that technique, but it was still a competent warrior. It swept its own spear at Sen, who had to leap out of the way with a burst of his qinggong technique. What followed probably looked like some kind of dance to anyone watching from the outside as Sen and devil traded sweeping strikes that were narrowly avoided by man and devil alike. It would only take one serious blow landing and the fight would likely be over. Just as importantly, they both knew it. The problem was that the devil only needed to worry about himself, while Sen had to contend with anything from the horde that regained its senses or got too close. He was pressed harder and harder as the devil pushed him toward the heart of the milling, grinding mass of devilish beasts.


    This isn¡¯t going to work, realized Sen. In a one-on-one fight, maybe I could take him, but not like this. There are too many distractions. Even as he thought that, a random swipe from a beast that he hadn¡¯t noticed opened up the back of his leg. He reacted on instinct, slamming the haft of the spear into the thing. It went insane as Heavens¡¯ Rebuke ripped it apart. It had been nothing but a moment, a partial opening in his defense, but it was enough for the devil. All Sen could do was twist at the final moment to protect his heart. The devil¡¯s spear punched through his chest. Sen could feel the devilish qi take root inside of him, trying to do to him what Heavens¡¯ Rebuke had done to the devil¡¯s arm. It was trying to unmake him. Between that and the venom, to say nothing of the wound itself, he could feel it as his body¡¯s defenses started to crumble. It was too much, too fast. Without some kind of intervention to deal with at least one of those problems, he was a dead man.


    Sen made a weak thrust at the devil. If they had just been using normal spears, it would have been pitiful and easily blocked. Of course, Sen wasn¡¯t about to just hand this thing an easy victory. He finally used Heaven¡¯s rebuke the way he¡¯d made the technique to be used. He shot that awful energy right at the devil. He was a heartbeat too slow. The devil leapt away at the last second, dragging the spear out of Sen¡¯s chest as it went and avoiding the technique. Not that it went entirely to waste. The technique had found an environment absolutely filled with things to kill and it drew a line of death ten feet wide through the horde. It would have been the perfect path to escape if escape was possible. Instead, Sen collapsed to a knee as each breath came with a cascade of pain. He had to move, to think, to do something.


    The devil¡¯s killing intent crashed down on Sen. It was like a seething ocean of blood and hatred that tried to invade his mind. Even for Sen, it took a second to shake that off. He looked up and saw the devil had jumped high up into the air and was going to bring that spear down on him. A mad idea took him then as he watched his death descending on him. Sen summoned another cracked core from his ring. The stormhawk core fell into his hand. He¡¯d drained some of the strength from it in his advancement, but there was still some power left. Sen had spent a lot of time thinking about tribulations, about what they were. While he couldn¡¯t manufacture a tribulation on his own, maybe he could make the next best thing to one.


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    Sen siphoned a thread of divine qi from that odd helix around his dantian and fed it into the core. He¡¯d learned long ago that just a little bit of divine qi went a long way. The core began to glow and pulse in a truly threatening manner. Sen smiled up at the devil with bloody teeth, gathered his strength, and threw the core. The devil¡¯s eyes went wide with panic as that core that glowed with divine light rose to meet its descending darkness. Sen wasn¡¯t sure why the devil did what it did then. It slashed at the core. Where there had been disruption before, true chaos descended. A thunderstorm appeared out of thin air. Except, this storm wasn¡¯t high in the sky. It was practically at ground level. And Sen had fed it divine qi. Lightning that wasn¡¯t true tribulation lightning, but close enough to be a poor man¡¯s substitute, started lancing down into the horde. Sen found out then that thunder was not something best experienced at a range of a few feet.


    Every time one of those semi-divine bolts struck out at the horde or the ground, there was an explosion of noise that felt like Sen was getting kicked in the chest. He tried to find the devil but it was impossible. His spiritual sense was all but blinded by the horde and the storm. Beyond that, the clouds were so thick and so dark it was like night had fallen. Whatever power or compulsion that had kept the horde in place around the ruins seemed to break. The beasts and spirits scattered in every direction. I hope this chaos is enough for Glimmer of Night and Misty Peak to escape this insanity, thought Sen as something crashed into him and knocked him to the ground. The pain in his chest was getting worse by the second and staying conscious was starting to feel like the wrong choice. Sen felt a pang from his intuition and looked up to see something that could have passed for a wolf in the current darkness. It bared its fangs at him and surged forward.


    Sen tried to cycle for something, but the pain that ravaged him was simply too much. He couldn¡¯t even make himself move his qi, let alone find a pattern. He tried to push himself up to his feet, but couldn¡¯t even manage that much. This is a lousy way to die, thought Sen with more than a little bitterness. There was a flash of darker darkness in the false night and a fist connected with the wolf¡¯s head, which burst under the force of the blow. The figure reached down, picked up the rest of the thing¡¯s body, and used it as a makeshift club to bat away anything else that got too close. When it had cleared a bit of space around them, it dropped what was left of the wolf, which wasn¡¯t much, and came over to Sen. The figure crouched down. Sen found himself looking up at the face of Glimmer of Night. The spider tilted his head to one side.


    ¡°We should go now,¡± said the spider.


    The spider¡¯s tone was so calm and matter-of-fact that Sen found it both wildly inappropriate and oddly reassuring. With a heartbeat to think, Sen summoned a healing elixir from his storage ring and choked it down. With that task out of the way, he croaked out one painful word.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Misty Peak appeared from literally nowhere and gave Sen a concerned look. She turned to the spider.


    ¡°He¡¯s too injured to move under his own power. Can you carry him?¡±


    The spider looked from Misty Peak to Sen and shrugged. Then, in a display of brute strength that Sen found shocking, the spider used one arm to pick him up and put him over a shoulder. The world around them seemed to go watery in Sen¡¯s vision, and he heard Misty Peak speaking.


    ¡°That way,¡± she said. ¡°Run.¡±


    Sen lost most of what happened after that in an ocean of pain as the spider ran, jostling Sen hard with every step. By the time anything like reason reasserted itself, they were back inside the galehouse and Sen had been placed on something soft. He forced his eyes open and found four people hovering around him. Misty Peak looked concerned. Laughing River stared at Sen with an unreadable expression. Li Yi Nuo looked like she¡¯d taken a bad shock and couldn¡¯t quite meet his eyes. Glimmer of Night looked, well, Sen might have said the spider looked bored, but the spider¡¯s expressions were still a complete mystery to him. Sen was relieved to discover that the healing elixir had taken some of the worst edges off of the pain. Now, the pain was simply awful, rather than blinding. Yay, thought Sen. He looked from Misty Peak to Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± he wheezed.


    The spider considered that for a moment before it just nodded. Misty Peak seemingly had things to say, because of course she had things to say.


    ¡°Oh, it was nothing,¡± she tossed off in a causal note before she glared at him. ¡°You madman! Is that thing dead?¡±


    Sen thought back. Had the devil died? He hadn¡¯t seen it happen. He hadn¡¯t seen a body. On the other hand, the devil would have gotten a face full of everything inside that core. If it wasn¡¯t dead, Sen expected that it was probably wishing it was dead.


    ¡°Gods, I hope so,¡± Sen got out between clenched teeth.


    ¡°He needs rest,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°Leave him be.¡±


    ¡°Two hours. Wake me up. Need to do more,¡± gasped Sen, gesturing at his chest.


    Misty Peak looked like she had some thoughts about that, but Laughing River put a restraining hand on her arm. The old fox looked at Sen and nodded.


    ¡°I¡¯ll see to it,¡± said Laughing River.


    Sen closed his eyes and let himself fall into something that was almost sleep. He kept himself just awake enough to try to direct some of the divine qi in his body to his chest. Enough to stave off the devilish qi was still working very hard to kill him. It wasn¡¯t rest, exactly, but it would have to do.

 V6 Chapter 63 – Endure

    When Laughing River woke him up, Sen didn¡¯t speak. He just forced himself to stand with gritted teeth holding back the pain. He stumbled to the fireplace, dropped down in front of it, and went to work. He wouldn¡¯t call what he did anything remotely like alchemy. That would have implied a lot more conscious thought than he had available to give to the process. He relied almost entirely on his instincts and his understanding of what was wrong with him to guide what he made. Even as he worked, he could hear the other muttering to each other in concern over what he was doing or the things he was adding to his reliable little pot. He let those words wash over him without touching him. He didn¡¯t care that they didn¡¯t understand or didn¡¯t approve. That was a them problem.


    He pulled things from his storage ring that might have made even Auntie Caihong lift an eyebrow, and he added them in ratios that would have made any other alchemist go pale in the face. He didn¡¯t care about that either. He could feel that devilish qi inside of him, searching for a way in, searching for a way to end him. Caution and half-measures weren¡¯t going to get the job done. And if he had to hurt himself as badly as he had hurt with that first cleansing pill, then so be it. Pain was nothing new. There were even certain truths to be found in pain. Pain could show you who you really were and what really mattered to you if you let it. In the deepest pits of agony, the things you clung to were the things that mattered. They were the things that defined you. Granted, only madmen intentionally sought enlightenment through pain. But if it had found you anyway, it only made sense to learn from it.


    Sen found himself in what almost felt like a conversation with the elixir he was crafting. Him telling it what he needed it to do, and it telling him what it needed from him to do it. It wasn¡¯t anything so explicit as words, the elixir wasn¡¯t alive. At least, Sen didn¡¯t think it was. Not quite. But he could tell where things wouldn¡¯t work the way he wanted them to work without adjustment. He was experienced enough to know what adjustments could work to remedy the problem. And, throughout it all, he was slowly infusing the elixir with divine qi. That was the spear that would drive the devilish qi from his body. The rest would support that effort and mend his body. It would just happen the hard way.


    When the elixir was finally ready, he poured the end result through a cheesecloth and into a glass vial. It blazed so brightly that it looked like he¡¯d captured a star in a bottle. Pushing himself back to his feet, he started back toward the room he¡¯d been in. It was Li Yi Nuo who broke the tense silence that fallen over the others as he¡¯d gotten closer and closer to finished.


    ¡°Are you insane?¡± she almost shouted at him. ¡°You can¡¯t drink that. No one should drink that! It will kill you.¡±


    Sen stopped and turned enough that he could look at her. He thought maybe he should ignore what she was saying, but he couldn¡¯t think of why. He hurt too much to worry about anyone¡¯s feelings, and letting this woman live had used up whatever kindness he was willing to expend on her. His lung was still damaged from the spear and the devilish qi, so his words came out as a grim rasp.


    ¡°Then, I expect you¡¯ll be happy. Mission accomplished, right?¡±


    The sect woman faltered at those words. The foxes both had grim looks on their faces but elected to say nothing. The spider, either indifferent or uncaring about the mood of the room, walked over to Sen. It looked down at the vial for several seconds before it looked at him.


    ¡°The new one is right. That could kill you.¡±


    ¡°So can being alive and unlucky,¡± muttered Sen in that same rasp.


    The spider thought that over for a second before he nodded. ¡°True.¡±


    Seemingly satisfied that he¡¯d said all he needed to, Glimmer of Night went back over to the others. Sen counted to five in his head to see if anyone else wanted to say things at him. When no one volunteered, he went into the room, closed the door behind him, and sealed it with the trickle of earth qi he could manage. That was followed by him dropping to his knees as nausea gripped him and white-hot shocks of torturous agony lanced out from his chest wound. He lost track of time for a while as he tried not to pass out from the experience of that fresh hell. When the full-body shakes finally subsided, Sen slowly undressed. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what the elixir was going to do to him, but he expected that it wasn¡¯t going to be pretty. He¡¯d ruined enough clothes on this little expedition as it was. No need to add to that pile of things to burn. Not that he cared about the clothes themselves, but it wasn¡¯t like there was anywhere to replace them this deep into the wilds.


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    In the back of his head, Sen reminded himself, again, to just invest in a few dozen sets of robes that he could keep in one of his storage rings. Maybe see if he could get some like the ones Auntie Caihong had gotten made for him. Those had held up incredibly well. Sen shook his head as he realized that his mind was wandering. He supposed that part of him was trying to procrastinate about drinking the elixir. It was always harder to do when you knew something was going to be bad. Sen both knew it was going to be bad, and he even knew why it was going to be bad. He felt like that knowing why part ought to make it easier, but it didn¡¯t. Bracing himself for what was to come, Sen got as comfortable as he could on the stone floor. He held the shining vial up and looked at it.


    ¡°Yeah. This is going to hurt,¡± he said to no one or maybe the universe at large.


    Before he could lose his nerve, he removed the cap and poured the elixir into his mouth. He knew it would take a few seconds before it reached his stomach and those seconds were both a short eternity and not nearly long enough. When it did reach his stomach, though, he knew immediately. A volcano of molten suffering ignited in his stomach and almost instantly moved over to his dantian and into his channels. It took a while for Sen to even realize that his body had arched into a bow and that he was making sounds that would have compelled him to put a demon out of its misery in an act of pure compassion. The longer it went, the worse it got. Impurities weren¡¯t being purged from his body through his pores. They were being burned out of him anywhere they were found.


    The worst was that wound in his chest as the elixir attacked the devilish qi. The feeling of heat in and around that wound grew and grew and grew until he was certain that his heart would be seared into coals and his ribs would melt. There was no escape from that pain, no respite, and part of him knew that the only thing keeping him tethered to life was his own will. All he had to do was let the mere thought that he wanted to die cross his mind and death would come with the sweet kiss of nothingness. The torment would finally, mercifully end. However, he did not let that traitorous thought slip through. He clung to life with a tenacity that bordered on lunacy. In one clenched fist, he held the thought of Grandmother Lu, the family that had chosen him, and how it would hurt her to know he had died so far from friends and family. In the other, he clung to the thought of Falling Leaf. The person he would never abandon for any reason, let alone for something so trivial and mundane as pain.


    They were the rocks he clung to, and he would live to repay their kindnesses. He would live no matter what. Agony would pass. His body would heal. He simply needed to endure. If there was one thing that Sen had learned how to do in his life, he had learned how to do that. He drew on those long winters on the streets when it would have been so much easier to simply give up and die. He drew on those years he spent training on the mountain. Making himself get up and put in the hours of practice in spite of exhaustion, in spite of injury, and in spite of himself. He was the disciple of Fate¡¯s Razor. He was the student of Ma Caihong and Kho Jaw-Long. He would not disappoint them. He would not fail this test. He was Judgment¡¯s Gale, and he would outlast this pain if he had the break the world to do it.


    While part of him had feared that the pain might never end, it did. His mind told him that it had lasted, well, forever, but it did end. He slumped down onto the floor. His groggy mind tried to understand that. Was I floating? He didn¡¯t know and lacked the ambition to care. Sen had never felt so utterly hollowed out by anything in his entire life. He wanted to sleep for a year, eat ten thousand meals, and drink himself into a blind stupor all at the same. Instead, he made himself access his storage ring. An elixir dropped into his hand. It wasn¡¯t anything special. He¡¯d only made it as a change of pace. It was just a basic restorative. Something to help recharge the body and infuse a little qi into the dantian. He¡¯d never imagined he¡¯d ever need such a thing, but here he was. It took a superhuman effort of will to lift that stone vial to his lips and drink the elixir. Once that was done, though, he could finally let himself sleep. It was the sound of voices that roused him out of that blessed rest.


    ¡°I still can¡¯t believe he survived drinking that bottle of death,¡± said Misty Peak.


    ¡°Few could have,¡± murmured Laughing River. ¡°Do you see now why I treated him cautiously and respectfully?¡±


    ¡°Respectfully?¡± asked Misty Peak with a touch of amusement in her voice.


    ¡°Well, respectfully for us, at any rate.¡±


    ¡°Fair,¡± said Misty Peak. ¡°I saw why outside those ruins. That man is terrifying. He didn¡¯t even hesitate to fight that devil. Who does that?¡±


    ¡°He does, apparently,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°And he¡¯s still in the core formation stage. Imagine what he¡¯ll be like when he reaches the nascent soul stage.¡±


    ¡°I shudder to imagine. Still, I can see how somehow who had Feng Ming and Kho Jaw-Long as teachers might end up acting that way in battle. Taking that elixir, though? He made it. He had to know what it was going to be like.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure he did. I think there¡¯s a lesson you should take away from all of this. Any time you let yourself imagine he¡¯s weak, remember this moment. Remember, that man is carved from stone.¡±


    Growing tired of the conversation about him, Sen chimed in with, ¡°That man is awake.¡±

 V6 Chapter 64 – Pragmatic Advice

    Deciding that since he was already awake, he might as well get up, Sen pushed himself into a sitting position and opened his eyes. And froze. The interior of the galehouse was in utter ruins. The only things left standing were the outer walls, and even those had deep cracks running through them.


    Sen¡¯s mind worked furiously. Had the devilish beasts regrouped and attacked? No, he thought. That would only explain the cracks in the outer walls. As his speculations grew increasingly absurd and unlikely, he finally gave it up.


    ¡°What in all the hells happened?¡± he demanded.


    The foxes gave him identical, flat stares. Misty Peak spoke first.


    ¡°What happened? You happened. You walking catastrophe. You just had to go and drink that elixir. Then, there was all the screaming. As if listening to that wasn¡¯t all kinds of fun, you moved on to trying to bring the entire place down on our heads. We all had to run outside to save our own lives.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t remember doing anything with his qi, but he supposed he wouldn¡¯t remember. He¡¯d had other things on his mind. He felt bad and embarrassed as a faint heat rose in his cheeks. The fox woman seemed satisfied by that.


    ¡°At least you have the decency to be ashamed,¡± she muttered.


    ¡°Stop exaggerating,¡± said Laughing River with a shake of his head. ¡°I estimate that there was only a seventy, maybe seventy-five percent chance that you would have actually died. Besides, he clearly wasn¡¯t in his right mind at that time.¡±


    Misty Peak looked like she was going to say something or possibly try to murder the elder fox, so Sen cut in.


    ¡°Is everyone alright?¡± he asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re all fine,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°I think that the more important question is whether or not you¡¯re alright. Mind still intact? That kind of pain can do things to a person.¡±


    Sen gave that idea a long moment of consideration. He¡¯d never thought about whether the pain might damage him on some level. He searched inside himself for signs of madness. He didn¡¯t find anything that seemed wrong. Not that he was at all certain that he¡¯d know it if had gone insane. He shrugged at the foxes.


    ¡°I think I¡¯m fine.¡±


    Misty Peak shuddered and said in a half-whisper, ¡°Monster.¡±


    Sen gave the fox woman a bemused look. ¡°You say that like it¡¯s new information.¡±


    ¡°It was new to me,¡± she said, shooting the elder fox a baleful look.


    Laughing River ignored his granddaughter and focused his attention on Sen. ¡°Your injuries?¡±


    ¡°Healed,¡± said Sen without even bothering to check.


    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a very good alchemist. Healing the actual injuries wasn¡¯t trivial, but it wasn¡¯t any kind of real challenge. I healed more complicated things than that as a foundation formation cultivator. There was this one woman who had this terrible infection in her leg from, well, I guess it doesn¡¯t matter. It was all through her body, just doing terrible things to her. I wish I knew then what I know now. I could probably fix that problem with one elixir if I came across someone like her today. Might have even been able to avoid that amateur surgery I performed, too.¡±


    Sen glanced up to see the foxes looking at him with looks of pure incredulity on their faces. He quickly moved on.


    ¡°Anyway, purging the devilish qi was the real challenge. I assure you that I¡¯d know if any of that was left inside me. Damn uncomfortable having that inside your body. It¡¯s gone now.¡±


    Laughing River fixed him with an uncomfortably intense look. ¡°You purged devilish qi from your body? Successfully?¡±


    Sen leaned back a little from the look on the fox¡¯s face, but he answered.


    ¡°Sure. But it¡¯s not like it¡¯s some kind of a cure-all. I couldn¡¯t give that elixir I used to anyone else. It¡¯d be no better than torturing them to death. Better to just slit their throats.¡±


    Those words seemed to jar the elder fox out of some kind of trance he was in. He grimaced and nodded.


    ¡°Yes, I suspect you¡¯re right. Although, if you managed to get a devil to drink that concoction, it might be interesting to see what happened.¡±


    Sen perked up at that idea. Getting them to drink it might be a stretch, but if he could inject it somehow¡­ But how? Sen frowned at the idea. He¡¯d need to talk to some people about that. He¡¯d never practiced much with ranged weapons, but there must be some kind of arrow or crossbow bolt meant to deliver poisons that way. Still, if he could get even a small dose inside of a devil¡¯s body, he expected it would do just hideous, awful things to them. Sen felt a smile form on his lips. Misty Peak took one look at that before she glared at her grandfather.


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    ¡°He doesn¡¯t need any help being scary,¡± she told the older fox.


    Laughing River gave her a paternal smile. ¡°He might not need the help, but I¡¯m told being helpful is good karma.¡±


    Misty Peak shook her head. ¡°Not when he¡¯s smiling that like that.¡±


    Sen tucked that idea away for future exploration. It was interesting but not something he could use at the moment. So, he turned his attention to more pressing concerns.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s high time we moved on from this place, but first I need¡ª¡± Sen looked around at galehouse again and sighed. ¡°First, I need to fix this place. Then, food.¡±


    ***


    While he still felt drained, having the devilish qi out of his body let his recovery take on its usual speed. Sen repaired the galehouse and got some food cooking. Li Yi Nuo and Glimmer of Night came back inside at a signal from Laughing River. The sect woman refused to meet Sen¡¯s eyes for more than a fleeting second before she lowered her head in a sign of¡­ Fear? Respect? Both? Sen couldn¡¯t make sense of the constantly shifting expressions on the woman¡¯s face. Glimmer of Night was far easier to read.


    The spider just looked around at the repaired structure and said, ¡°You fixed your cave.¡±


    ¡°Not surprised I¡¯m still alive?¡± asked Sen.


    Glimmer of Night shrugged. ¡°You would either live or die. You¡¯re standing right there. You clearly lived. Why be surprised?¡±


    Sen grinned at the spider. The more time he spent with Glimmer of Night, the better Sen liked him. The spider had a no-nonsense approach to the world that Sen appreciated. If the spider ever decided they were enemies, there wouldn¡¯t be any games. The spider would just attack him. If Glimmer of Night wanted something, he would just ask. More importantly, Sen got the distinct impression that the spider would accept whatever answer he received.


    ¡°I¡¯m planning on leaving this place, soon,¡± said Sen. ¡°Do you still mean to travel with me?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Do you need to visit your matriarch first? Explain things?¡±


    The spider looked over to the fireplace that Sen had dramatically expanded to support his cooking efforts.


    ¡°After food,¡± said Glimmer of Night.


    Sen looked over at Li Yi Nuo. ¡°I expect that you¡¯re more than ready to leave this place and get back to your sect.¡±


    The woman¡¯s eyes flicked up to meet his for the briefest fraction of a second. ¡°Yes, senior.¡±


    Sen wanted to roll his eyes. That behavior was going to get tedious in a hurry. He went over to the fireplace and checked on the food.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to ask me? Or grandfather?¡± asked Misty Peak.


    ¡°Hadn¡¯t planned on it. I know he¡¯s going with me. We have an arrangement. As for you,¡± Sen gave her a very firm look and then shot a significant look at Laughing River, ¡°I assumed you had other things to do.¡±


    Her mouth worked a few times. ¡°I do, but those things won¡¯t last forever. You could have at least invited me.¡±


    ¡°Only if I wanted to get you killed. You¡¯re frustrating, sometimes, but not enough to deserve death.¡±


    That seemed to bring Misty Peak up short. ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m returning to my training. The woman doing that training would not like you. If she decided to simply kill you, I couldn¡¯t stop her. At best, I might be able to slow her down a little bit. I suppose you¡¯re welcome to travel with us as far as your grandfather is going, but after that, it¡¯s just me and him,¡± said Sen, gesturing at Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°Why does he get to go?¡± pouted Misty Peak.


    ¡°He won¡¯t bother her. A celestial being told him to. He won¡¯t bother her.¡±


    ¡°You said that he won¡¯t bother her twice.¡±


    ¡°It seemed worth repeating to me,¡± offered Sen.


    Misty Peak narrowed her eyes at Sen. ¡°Very funny.¡±


    ¡°Soothe your wounded pride with some food,¡± said Sen, gesturing at the fireplace. ¡°The food is done.¡±


    After they finished eating, Glimmer of Night went off to talk to his spider family. Sen went back to where he¡¯d fought with the devil. Laughing River tagged along, telling Misty Peak and Li Yi Nuo to stay put until they got back. When they reached the edge of the forest, Sen looked out over the destruction he¡¯d helped to cause. He was a little surprised to discover that the horde hadn¡¯t reformed. He felt a little stab of guilt about that. If the surviving members of the horde had scattered to the four winds, he was going to be at least indirectly responsible for some deaths in the region. He tried to remind himself that he hadn¡¯t called the horde here. There was plenty of blame to pass around and, realistically, most of it wasn¡¯t on his shoulders.


    Of course, he couldn¡¯t say that about the wasteland between him and the ruins. The earth was scorched and torn where he and Glimmer of Night had thrown around the cracked cores. Even beyond that central point of destruction, there were great swathes of blackened ground where his half-baked divine storm had unleashed his substitute tribulation lightning. Even now, he could feel a bit of divine qi hovering in the air. Not enough to do anything with or even gather up, but its flavor was present in the area. He was a bit more surprised to see that devilish beast corpses had seemingly gone untouched.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised the scavengers aren¡¯t hard at work here,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°They won¡¯t touch those things,¡± offered Laughing River. ¡°Scavengers are wily. They know how to spot the things they shouldn¡¯t eat. Are you that smart?¡±


    Sen shot the elder fox a perplexed look. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I assumed you came here to harvest their cores.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen, finally understanding. ¡°No. Nothing of the sort. I came here to look for a body.¡±


    ¡°The devil?¡±


    ¡°The devil. I want to make sure it¡¯s dead.¡±


    ¡°And if it¡¯s not?¡± asked Laughing River.


    ¡°If not, then I get to add a new worry to my list.¡±


    After nearly two hours of searching, Sen clenched his teeth in frustration as he did, indeed, get to add a new worry to his list. He resisted the urge to kick a devilish beast''s corpse, mostly because an image of the thing exploding all over him flashed across his mind. Laughing River gave him a sympathetic look.


    ¡°He might still be dead,¡± said the fox. ¡°He was right at the heart of that storm you summoned out of nowhere.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°Master Feng was always very clear about enemies like that devil. They aren¡¯t dead until you stab their corpse to be sure.¡±


    ¡°What a gruesomely pragmatic bit of advice,¡± observed Laughing River.


    ¡°You disagree?¡±


    ¡°Oh, heavens no. You should always make sure your enemies are really dead,¡± said the fox, before he got a thoughtful look on his face. ¡°You should also make sure the corpse is actually them and not an illusion. Most people only make that mistake once.¡±


    ¡°Because they figure it out?¡±


    ¡°Because they get murdered by an enemy they stopped looking for.¡±


    ¡°Duly noted,¡± said Sen before giving the area around them a dissatisfied glare. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go. I am beyond ready to leave this place.¡±

 V6 Chapter 65 – The Road Home

    Li Yi Nuo had spent the last few weeks trying to speak and be noticed as little as humanly possible. The fox woman seemed to have dismissed her from mind entirely, which was a relief after the humiliation of being captured by the woman. Yet, it was the other two that made her shiver in fear. The elder fox radiated a kind of power that made it hard for her to breathe whenever he focused on her for more than a moment or two. She didn¡¯t even think it was intentional. If anything, she thought he was making a genuine effort to keep it repressed, which just made it even more frightening. Yet, her fear of the elder fox paled into nothingness when compared with the naked terror Lu Sen inspired in her. The way he just ignored that pressure from the elder fox alone was chilling. It was like he didn¡¯t even notice.


    Every time she¡¯d imagined that she understood him, she discovered she was horribly wrong. It was like any time things got more dangerous, the man revealed an entirely new layer of frightening abilities, strength, and will. However, she¡¯d thought that she had witnessed the true culmination of that process during his fight with the horde. Li Yi Nuo still couldn¡¯t believe she¡¯d witnessed such a thing with her own eyes. She couldn¡¯t shake the image of him punching that rock-covered spirit beast so hard that she had heard the stone break from close to half a mile away. To say nothing of the spear duel with the devil. Not that she¡¯d seen the end of it, but he¡¯d been run through. Even cultivators couldn¡¯t ignore wounds like that. Yet, Lu Sen seemed to take it as a personal challenge and summoned something that looked frighteningly close to tribulation lightning along with a storm that had killed who knew how many devilish beasts and spirits.


    Yet, even that paled in comparison to that elixir and what had followed. She had been certain, absolutely certain that no living thing could drink that elixir and survive it. But he had. It had been four nightmarish days of him screaming like someone was trying to rip out his soul and qi explosions that almost brought down that strange stone building he¡¯d made, but he had lived. Li Yi Nuo didn¡¯t understand what kind of new monster that old monster, Feng Ming, had made. She only knew that she needed to make sure that her sect never, ever came into direct conflict with Lu Sen. Because, every time she thought about it, she could only see one outcome. Everyone in her sect left dead, and Lu Sen and that incredibly creepy spider person casually walking away from the smoking ruins of her sect and discussing what to have for dinner.


    To make matters worse, the vision in her head felt all too possible. While Laughing River seemed truly not to care about her, she and her sect had directly challenged Lu Sen. She had been sent to capture him. What an absurd notion, she thought. He¡¯s not invincible, but I doubt he¡¯d ever let himself be taken alive. Worse, it would cost an ocean of blood to do it. More to the point, it had been to return him to the sect to face execution. A fact that he knew. A fact that might make him just decide that the world didn¡¯t need the Vermilion Blade Sect and strike first. The closer they got to the sect, the more likely it was that they would run across another disciple. She needed to leave before then. She just didn¡¯t know if they would let her. She didn¡¯t want to ask because they would pay attention to her then, but she didn¡¯t see another way. Gathering her courage, she spoke.


    ¡°We¡¯re close enough to the sect. I think we can part ways now if that¡¯s alright.¡±


    She braced herself for anger. What she got was Lu Sen blinking at her owlishly. It was as if he didn¡¯t really know what she was talking about. She watched as the confusion cleared from his eyes. Here it comes, she thought.


    ¡°Oh, yeah. That¡¯s fine. I expect you can make it safely from here,¡± said Lu Sen absently.


    As he turned back to continue his conversation with the elder fox, she could almost see it in his eyes as she simply ceased to exist for him. Part of her wanted to be angry about that. Was I truly so trivial? Sanity swiftly reasserted itself as pure relief flooded her heart. She could only be grateful that he¡¯d found her so unimportant. With any luck, that same disregard would apply to her sect. Assuming that she could convince her master to leave Lu Sen alone. As she watched the rest of the group grow steadily more distant, she got a crawling sensation on the back of her neck. She made herself turn around. The spider thing was there. It took all of her self-control not to flinch away from it. The spider wasn¡¯t doing anything. It just stood there, looking at her with its unreadable eyes and face. The dread certainty that the thing was about to attack her took hold. She started to cycle her qi in preparation.


    The spider tilted its head a bit to one side and asked, ¡°What¡¯s a sect?¡±


    The incongruity of that question, when she¡¯d been expecting violence, was enough to make her lose her cycling pattern. She tried to realign her thinking.


    ¡°It¡¯s a¡ª¡± she tried out a couple of explanations in her head. ¡°It¡¯s a place where cultivators gather and train.¡±


    ¡°I see. It¡¯s a cultivator cluster. Thank you.¡±


    Without so much as a backward glance, the spider became a dark blur that raced toward the others. The idea of a spider, a human-shaped spider, moving that fast made her skin crawl, but at least it was gone. Maybe without its constant presence, she¡¯d stop having bad dreams about the horrible thing killing and eating her. Not that she expected the bad dreams would go away anytime soon. She¡¯d accumulated more than enough material to fuel those for the next few decades. Shivering one last time, she turned toward the sect and headed for it cross country. Before, she wouldn¡¯t have dared to leave the road for fear of entering the wilds. Now, she knew what was and was not the true wilds. Nothing she found in the largely pacified forests around the roads was going to be a problem for her. They never really would have been. She just hadn¡¯t understood how inconsequential the threats were when compared to the deep wilds.


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    The guards at the sect gates looked shocked and a little bit awed when she emerged from the forest rather than coming down the road. How foolish, she thought. It''s not like I did anything. She greeted them with a bow, showed her sect token, and was ushered in immediately. It was a comfort to be behind the sect walls again. Everything there was familiar, like a comfortable blanket that she¡¯d owned for years. However, it was also alien in a way she couldn¡¯t quite put her finger on. Some of it was simply the way that people stopped and stared at her as she walked toward her home. She looked down at herself. Her robes were clean. Even she was clean save for whatever she¡¯d picked up traveling that day. Lu Sen had included a kind of bathhouse in his strange stone constructions. Not that it had been for her benefit. He¡¯d done it for himself, but he didn¡¯t care if other people used it.


    Still, she supposed she should clean up before she reported to her master. He took that decision out of her hands by arriving at her home at the same time she did. That blazing fury she¡¯d seen in his eyes in the days before she left had settled down into something less wild. It was the heat rising off of hot coals instead of an inferno, although she imagined it wouldn¡¯t take much to reignite that inferno. She offered him a deep bow. Simply seeing him again made her feel safe. Yet, when she rose, there was a strange look on the man¡¯s face. She pushed open the door to her home and invited the man inside. She bid him sit while she started a fire, and set about the all-important task of making tea. Then, since the fire was already lit, she emptied some things out of her storage ring and started to make some food.


    It wasn¡¯t going to be as good as that stuff that Lu Sen had made, but she¡¯d watched him cooking often enough to pick up a few things. Throughout all of it, she felt her master observing her and weighing what he was seeing. When the food was done, the two ate a meal. As much as she wanted it to go away, she couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that things at the sect were alien. It was only as she went to clear away the dishes that it finally hit her. It¡¯s too safe, she realized. I¡¯ve been in one kind of danger or another for months. Anything else feels wrong. Frowning to herself, she sat back down across from her master.


    ¡°So,¡± said Bahn Huizhong, ¡°you didn¡¯t find him?¡±


    There was a second where wild, hysteria-filled laughter threatened to burst out of Li Yi Nuo like water from a weak dam. She clamped down hard on that feeling, but a bit of it must have slipped into her expression because her master looked genuinely concerned.


    ¡°I found him,¡± said Li Yi Nuo, before lifting a hand to stop the next question. ¡°This will be easier if you let me tell you what happened.¡±


    Her master¡¯s brow furrowed, but he gestured for her to proceed. So, she told him everything. She told him about her pitiful defeat at the hands of Lu Sen. She did nothing to hide or downplay her shameful capture at the hands of the fox woman. She told him about the elder fox who frightened her so much, the ruins, and how Lu Sen, the fox woman, and a giant spider had gone inside, only to emerge a day later. Then, she told him about the battle and the things she had seen that made her soul tremble. Finally, she told him about that terrible elixir and the impossible survival of Lu Sen after he drank it. As a bit of evidence to support her claims, she produced the elixirs that Lu Sen had given her. Her master¡¯s eyes had gone wide when he picked one up and examined it.


    ¡°He just gave these to you?¡±


    ¡°He did.¡±


    Her master leaned back in his chair and gazed down at the vial in his hand for a very long time. It was during that long silence that she remembered one last thing that had been pushed to the back of her mind by everything else. She produced the letter of introduction to Kho Jaw-Long. She held that precious bit of parchment in her hands before offering it to her master. He set down the elixir and took the parchment from her.


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a letter of introduction for me to the man who taught Lu Sen the spear.¡±


    Her master lifted an eyebrow but dutifully read the letter. Much as she had, he puzzled over one bit of it.


    ¡°Uncle Kho?¡±


    ¡°Kho Jaw-Long.¡±


    ¡°His master is Kho Jaw-Long?¡±


    ¡°No. Kho Jaw-Long simply taught him the spear. His master is Feng Ming.¡±


    At first, her master looked like he didn¡¯t believe her. But his eyes moved from the letter to the elixir and his eyes went wide again.


    ¡°Ma Caihong,¡± he breathed in utter reverence.


    ¡°Master?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo.


    ¡°Kho Jaw-Long has a wife. Not quite as famous as him but only because she¡¯s more restrained. She is a master of alchemy. The kind of alchemy that might produce something like this,¡± he said picking up the elixir in his off hand. ¡°I cannot decide if you have been blessed with great fortune or terrible karma. In your opinion, what will be the result if we pursue this matter against Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡±


    Li Yi Nuo didn¡¯t even need to think about it. ¡°He will rain death on us until nothing remains of this sect but memories and salted earth.¡±


    She watched as her master seemed to weigh the letter and the elixir before he turned his eyes back to her. He took in her expression and nodded. He lifted the objects in his hands a little.


    ¡°Then, we will accept his peace offerings.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo let out a relieved breath that came to an abrupt stop when her master continued.


    ¡°Although, I think I¡¯d like to meet this man, this Judgment¡¯s Gale.¡±

 V6 Chapter 66 – A Call from the Darkness

    Misty Peak had given him an annoyed look when Sen put his foot down. She¡¯d been trying to convince him to just take her along when he returned to Fu Ruolan. He had, for his part, reiterated the point that the reception would not be good and that he wasn¡¯t going to be responsible for her pointless death. When the group had finally reached the town where Falling Leaf occasionally went to buy things, Sen had called a halt.


    ¡°This is as far as you two go,¡± Sen told the foxes.


    Laughing River, who seemed to have an inkling of just who it was that Sen was learning from, seemed perfectly happy to keep his distance. The old fox had not deigned to share that bit of information with his granddaughter. Sen had wondered why initially, only to later realize that the elder fox was just amusing himself. That it came at Sen¡¯s expense was probably just a bit of payback. Sen was holding the spatial treasure hostage until Laughing River taught Falling Leaf what he could about transformation. Misty Peak opened her mouth to say something, but Sen just shook his head.


    ¡°You knew this was going to happen right from the start,¡± he said. ¡°No complaining.¡±


    The fox woman briefly tried to glare him to death before letting out a little huff of air. ¡°Fine.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s the inn,¡± said Sen, pointing at a building. ¡°Try not to start a riot.¡±


    Sen looked over at Glimmer of Night and jerked his head toward the road. Sen had worried that the villagers and townspeople along the way might attack Glimmer of Night, but it hadn¡¯t been a problem so far. People mostly just kept their distance and town guards acted extra nervous. As long as the spider didn¡¯t do anything too threatening, though, everyone seemed to content to just leave him be. The spider gave the foxes a sort of half-wave and joined Sen. Once they passed through the town''s gates, Sen picked up the pace a lot. He¡¯d been holding back a lot on the trip this far. Neither Li Yi Nuo nor Misty Peak could really keep up with him. The spider didn¡¯t seem to have that problem. Sen didn¡¯t know if it was some kind of movement skill or if Glimmer of Night was just that fast, but they started covering ground at a truly tremendous pace. As the miles disappeared behind them, an uneasy feeling started to grow in Sen¡¯s heart. He found his gaze drifting to some place farther north than he¡¯d initially planned to go. Sen tried to think of what could be that direction that he would care about. There¡¯s nothing out there but Mt. Solace, and I certainly don¡¯t want to go back there, thought Sen.


    However, the feeling grew the farther they went until it burned inside him. If he didn¡¯t know better, he¡¯d swear that someone was trying to summon him like some kind of a spirit. Of course, that was absurd. Nobody had anything of his to try to do something like that. Sen lurched to a stop as it occurred to him that someone did have something of his, or rather something that he had given to her. That little girl from the village, he realized. The necklace. He hadn¡¯t just given that to her. He had made that for her. It wasn¡¯t much, but he would have left a minor imprint of his own qi on it. Sen wouldn¡¯t have thought that trace could let her forge any kind of connection between them. If the girl was frightened enough, though, if she was desperate enough, that might be sufficient. Sen felt the spider looking at him.


    ¡°Just how fast are you?¡± asked Sen.


    The spider pondered that for several seconds before saying, ¡°Fast. Why?¡±


    ¡°I need to go check on something,¡± said Sen, ¡°and possibly murder some people. This isn¡¯t your problem, but you¡¯ll have to keep up if you mean to come along. I get the feeling that this is urgent.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Glimmer of Night, suddenly sounding interested. ¡°I can keep up.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡±


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    Sen activated his qinggong technique and disappeared in a blur of motion, followed almost immediately by a similar dark blur. The countryside flashed by as Sen and Glimmer of Night flew down the road, veering around people and carts that looked all but motionless to their eyes. Sen didn¡¯t bother with niceties like gates. He simply bounded over town walls and used roofs as springboards before shooting away on the far side. Nor did he stop for inconveniences like nighttime or weather. The handful of fatally stupid spirit beasts that got in their way died swift and ignominious deaths. A trip that should have taken as much as another eight or ten days was made in one day. It still wasn¡¯t fast enough.


    Sen stood in what was left of the village, his fists clenched and trembling with fury. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what had happened beyond that the place had been attacked by someone or something. Most of the building had burned down and there were bodies everywhere. Again, he couldn¡¯t be sure exactly what had happened because most of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. As near as he could tell, no one had been spared. There were heartrendingly small bodies that were far too small to be anything but children. I¡¯m too late, thought Sen as his fury grew so vast and intense that it threatened to rip his chest apart. He knew he couldn¡¯t be everywhere or help everyone. It seemed particularly cruel of fate to alert him of this danger only so he could fail to arrive in time. He couldn¡¯t even be sure that the little girl was among the dead. A spike of icy terror lanced through him and brought him up short. He examined that feeling. He was no stranger to fear, his own fear in particular, and that fear hadn¡¯t been his.


    He whipped around to stare to the west as though he could see what he wanted to see through sheer force of will. He was surprised to see Glimmer of Night walking toward him from that direction. The spider gave him that same calm, unreadable expression he always did. Then, the spider turned and pointed to the west.


    ¡°They went that direction,¡± said the spider. ¡°I thought you might want to know.¡±


    ¡°I did want to know. Thank you,¡± said Sen before adding another thought. ¡°You don¡¯t have to come along for this. I¡¯ll make a galehouse nearby for you to stay in.¡±


    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I come?¡± asked the spider.


    ¡°Because I mean to kill some people. I don¡¯t expect you to bloody your hands in my fights.¡±


    The spider shrugged. ¡°Blood doesn¡¯t bother me.¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t quite sure what to make of that comment, and he didn¡¯t have the time or mental energy to unpack it right then. What he did know was that there was a frightened little girl out there who had probably just been orphaned. Sen knew exactly how alone that made someone feel. He knew the fear of having no one to defend you from the many ills the world had to offer. In her time of need, it seemed she had not implored the heavens or the gods to help her. She had called out to him. While he might not be a god, whoever took her was going to have a damned hard time telling the difference. If the spider was willing to help him get that little girl back safely, it was enough.


    ¡°My gratitude,¡± said Sen.


    Between the trail and the connection Sen could feel, it didn¡¯t take them long to find what they were looking for. The pair looked down on the scene from high up in a tall tree, wrapped in shadows that Sen had conjured to obscure them. Sen couldn¡¯t tell if they were bandits or something else, not that he particularly cared about the people he saw. It looked like half of them were drunk from the way they stumbled around. A handful were doing useful things like forging or cleaning up, but they were the exception. In the end, they were just dead people who hadn¡¯t figured it out yet as far as Sen was concerned. They had set up what they probably imagined was a well-fortified position far enough out into the wilds that most people couldn¡¯t or wouldn¡¯t follow them to it.


    For Sen, who had walked far deeper into the wilds than this, and the spider, who had lived in a monumentally more dangerous place, getting to the encampment had been little more than a nice summer stroll. There were bamboo cages set up near the center of the makeshift village. Sen could see the little girl and a few others huddled in those cages. Some of the bandits, or whatever they were, would go over and taunt the people in the cages or throw things at them. It might have been trash, but it could have been worse things.


    ¡°Protect the people in those cages,¡± said Sen. ¡°Do you need a weapon?¡±


    Glimmer of Night shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to use them. It would just get in the way.¡±


    ¡°Remind me later to fix that,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I will. What will you do?¡± asked Glimmer of Night.


    Sen¡¯s hand closed so hard around the tree limb he was holding that he almost severed it from the trunk. He¡¯d known what he was going to do from the second he saw the burned-out husk that used to be a village. It had never really been a question.


    ¡°Pass judgment.¡±

 V6 Chapter 67 – Uncle Lu

    The two men guarding the gate never even had a chance to be startled. One moment they were half-watching the forest. The next moment, their heads were rolling away as their bodies slumped to the ground. The heavy wood of the gate was no more of an impediment to Sen than lace fabric. Wind blades reduced it to so many wood shavings in a matter of seconds. Sen was striding through that hail of wood chips before anyone inside really understood that death now walked among them. However, Sen had been forced to modify his original plan, which didn¡¯t please him. His first plan had been simplicity itself. Kill absolutely everyone who wasn¡¯t in a cage.


    For all its simplicity, though, that plan had suffered from a mild absence of reason. While everyone in the encampment likely shared in some measure of guilt, the ones he truly wanted were the ones who had carried out the massacre. Fortunately, those were the same people who were most likely to attack him. He stopped to look around at the stunned faces of the people who had been near the gate. Sen very intentionally lifted his jian and frowned at the blood on the blade. He summoned a loose piece of fabric from his storage ring and wiped the weapon clean before he sheathed it. A hard-faced man with bitterness etched into his face decided that made Sen less dangerous. He rushed at Sen with an axe in hand and tried to bring it down in a crude overhand strike. Sen spun, snatching the axe out of the man¡¯s hand, and bringing it back around to strike the man¡¯s face with the handle.


    There was a collective inhalation of breath as the blow snapped both the handle and the man¡¯s neck. The body dropped to the ground and a little puff of dust rose around it. Sen regarded the broken handle before letting it side through his grip until his hand was right beneath the axe head. As the nearby men found their courage and charged at him, Sen noted the dark blur that flittered around them toward the cage. Good, thought Sen. Now, I can focus. Sen passed through that crowd like a fell wind. He sidestepped their clumsy blows and strikes. He saw their hands, the hands that had killed and burned without remorse.


    Appropriate punishment was meted out as the axe head removed those offending hands from their owners. Horrified screams rose from men as they stared down at the stumps that poured their lifeblood out in spurts. As weakness swiftly overtook the men and they fell to the ground, many of them turned uncomprehending eyes on Sen. He met their desperate looks with an impassive expression and arctic eyes. Then, so they would understand his true contempt for them, Sen simply walked away. Denying them even the tiny mercy of a clean death. As he strode toward the center of the encampment, it seemed that the sight of the carnage he¡¯d left near the gate had chilled the blood of the rest of the bandits or raiders. They shouted warnings or cursed him, but no one attacked. He thought he might have to take matters into his own hands to encourage them, but a massive brute of a man stormed out of one of the makeshift buildings.


    ¡°Attack him you cowards!¡± bellowed the man.


    Sen let his eyes flicker over toward the cages and had to repress a smile of grim amusement. Glimmer of Night was casually beating three men with what looked like a leg with one hand while choking the life out of someone with the other. The village prisoners were in good hands. Turning his attention back to the rest of the group. It seemed their recently learned fear of him was weaker than their entrenched fear of the brute. They tried to charge him as a group. Maybe they think they¡¯ll bring me down with sheer weight of numbers, reasoned Sen. Remembering what he¡¯d learned when meeting with Elder Bo, Sen summoned lightning around one hand and fire around the other.


    The mob finally reached him, it was only to be met with a new horror. Sen lashed out at one man, only for lightning to pass straight through that man and lance out into the bodies of a dozen others. He seized a man by the throat with his other hand. Charred bones dropped to the ground a moment later as everything made of flesh was incinerated. Sen backhanded another man, setting him alight, and hurling him into the crowd. Screams of agony and terror burst from the gathered men as that fire leapt from body to body under the guidance of Sen¡¯s will. The will of the people at the back of the crowd broke then as they started shouting one word.


    ¡°Cultivator!¡±


    They tried to turn and run. Sen couldn¡¯t have that. He finally let his killing intent free. It washed over what was left of the mob of bandits. Everyone within range of that killing intent simply died, their mortal lives snuffed out as though Sen had snapped his fingers and wished for it. The brute stared at the bodies of the men he had commanded, his expression a mixture of anger and disbelief. Sen came to a stop in the middle of all those bodies. His spiritual sense swept through the encampment. There were a few people hiding. He¡¯d have to deal with them eventually, but the real fight was over even if the brute didn¡¯t know. Sen turned that same impassive expression he¡¯d worn since the fight began on the brute.


    ¡°Did you think no one would notice?¡± Sen asked. ¡°Did you think no one would be interested?¡±


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    The brute opened his mouth to say something only for his eyes to go very wide when Sen appeared right in front of him. Nothing came out of that open mouth except choking gurgles and blood. The terrified brute of a man turned his wide eyes down to where Sen¡¯s hand was buried inside his chest.


    ¡°I don¡¯t actually care what you think,¡± said Sen.


    His hand closed around the brute¡¯s heart and reduced it from a life-sustaining organ into a mangled and useless hunk of meat. Sen jerked his hand free and brought the remains of the man¡¯s heart with it. The brute sank to his knees as the life started to fade from his eyes. Sen tossed the man¡¯s heart into his lap before he turned his eyes toward the cages. Glimmer of Night was standing by them, seemingly having traded his leg club for an arm club somewhere along the way. The spider was splattered with blood which made Sen look down at himself. It took almost a minute of applying water, wind, and fire qi to himself before he didn¡¯t look like the kind of monster who needed to be killed rather than the person who does that killing. He finally let himself go over to the cages.


    ¡°There¡¯s a few people hiding,¡± said Sen. ¡°Could you gather them up, please?¡±


    ¡°Alive?¡± asked the spider.


    Sen thought it over. ¡°Only if they aren¡¯t too much trouble.¡±


    The spider walked off methodically checking through tents and the handful of buildings. Sen turned his eyes to the cages. There were half a dozen people in them. A couple of them had expressions of deep satisfaction on their faces. The rest looked stunned to the point of insensibility. Then, there was the little girl. Sen didn¡¯t even remember her name. He wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d ever even heard it. She was staring at him like she thought he was something imaginary. Maybe I am, thought Sen. He frowned at the cages for a moment before he cut them apart with qi and hurled the pieces away. It took most of the people a few moments to realize they were free, but the second the cage was gone, the little girl hurled herself at Sen. She wrapped her arms around his leg and started sobbing. Not sure what else to do, he reached down and picked her up. She transferred the grip she¡¯d had around his leg to his neck and sobbed into his shoulder.


    An older man, maybe one of the village elders, stood up from where he¡¯d been crouching the cage. He gave Sen a nervous look, as though he expected the same treatment as the bandits had gotten. Sen didn¡¯t recognize any of the people from when he and Falling Leaf had visited the village, so maybe it was to be expected. It took the old man three tries to finally get a question out.


    ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°I am Judgment¡¯s Gale,¡± said Sen.


    Under other, very different circumstances, the look of shock on the old man¡¯s face might have been a little comical.


    ¡°Thank you, honored cultivator. Thank you for saving us,¡± said the man, recapturing something like a sense of propriety and bowing.


    The other people who had just been watching the exchange shot to their feet, murmuring their thanks and bowing as well. Sen let them do it, knowing that it would be more trouble than it was worth to stop them. One of the other prisoners, a younger woman, peered at Sen and then at the little girl in his arms.


    ¡°Did you come for her?¡± asked the woman.


    It was true enough that Sen just nodded. ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°Why? Who are you to her?¡±


    Sen glanced down at the tiny form of the girl. ¡°I suppose you could say that I¡¯m her uncle. Uncle Lu.¡±


    Sen was spared any more questions because Glimmer of Night returned at that moment, shepherding a small group of people who had survived Sen¡¯s initial wrath. They all took one look at Sen¡¯s face and dropped to their knees. Some pleaded for their lives. Others looked resigned. One even had a defiant sneer on his face. I¡¯m probably going to do something about that one, thought Sen before one of the freed prisoners rushed by him. The sneering man¡¯s expression evaporated into one of fear as the woman started screaming profanities and stabbing the man with a knife she¡¯d found somewhere. The little girl jerked from the semi-doze she¡¯d slipped into and started crying again. Sen stroked the back of her head.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s just a bad dream.¡±


    Sen looked at the people he¡¯d freed and then over at the people that Glimmer of Night had rounded up.


    ¡°Anyone else need to settle a score?¡± asked Sen.


    There was an incredibly tense moment of silence before the people he freed started shaking their heads. Sen waited until he was sure that no one was going to speak up. He turned his gaze on the kneeling people, who all averted their eyes or visibly flinched.


    Lifting a hand, he pointed toward the gate. ¡°Go.¡±


    The man he¡¯d seen working as a blacksmith looked Sen in the eye. ¡°We¡¯ll never make it. This is no better than killing us yourself.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s more of a chance than their village got,¡± snarled Sen and let his hand drop to the hilt of his jian. ¡°You might survive if you¡¯re smart and careful. But we can go with the killing you myself plan.¡±


    Sen drew his jian and let them all get a good look at it. One by one, the kneeling men got to their feet. Before they could move away, though, Sen let his spiritual sense wash over them. His eyes landed on a skinny man who had kept to the back and tried to go unnoticed. Sen only said two words.


    ¡°The ring.¡±


    The man looked like he¡¯d just as soon bite out Sen¡¯s throat as give it up. In the end, though, he opened his hand and let the storage treasure fall to the ground. Clearly fearing that some reprisal would be forthcoming, the man turned and ran toward the gate. The others hesitantly followed the would-be looter. Shaking his head, Sen put away his jian and picked up the ring. A quick scan told him that it contained more or less what he¡¯d expected it to. The skinny man had obviously looted whatever passed for a treasury and meant to make off with the money. There were a few other things in the ring that Sen didn¡¯t care about. Sen tossed the ring to the older man, who gave him a quizzical look.


    ¡°You¡¯ll need it when we get back.¡±

 V6 Chapter 68 – Temporary Solution

    Sen stood on the opposite side of the road from Glimmer of Night. The two were tossing a spent beast core back and forth. Well, thought Sen, I guess it¡¯s tossing for us. In reality, the core was zipping back and forth between the two so fast that it looked like a vibrating blue rope connected their hands. Still, it was more interesting than just standing around and waiting. Sen had a suspicion about what was going to happen and about fifteen minutes later, he was proven right as a little girl toddled into sight with an expression of grim determination fixed on her features. It took her longer to see Sen with her mortal eyes, but her face lit with joy the moment she did. She ran at him with her little arms and legs pumping for all they were worth. Sen sighed and tried to decide on the right course of action.


    From the moment the villagers had been freed from those cages, the girl, who Sen finally learned was named Liu Ai, had simply refused to be separated from him. She¡¯d sneak away from the other villagers to go look for him. On the rare occasions he slept, he¡¯d invariably wake up to find her sprawled across his chest and gently snoring. He¡¯d eventually concluded that it was just safer to keep her close at hand than having her looking for him in the wilds. While he considered the area where they were traveling all but tame, it was a different story for mortals. A child that small could and would get eaten by something if she kept leaving the group. By the time they¡¯d gotten back to the road, he was getting worried.


    He¡¯d escorted them to a nearby village where one of the people he¡¯d rescued had a few family members. It was also big enough that absorbing a few more adults and one child shouldn¡¯t be an issue. Particularly since they had the money from the bandits. It wasn¡¯t a fortune, but it was enough to let them start new lives. Sen had planned to leave Liu Ai with the other rescued villagers. They, at least, knew her a little bit. When it had become clear that he meant to leave her behind, the girl had been inconsolable. Left with no other recourse, Sen and Glimmer of Night had simply left. It seemed that the girl had not only evaded the adults that Sen had expected to take care of her but everyone else in the village. People who should have been mindful of children wandering beyond the relative safety of the village.


    The problem was that if she had done it once, it was entirely possible that she would do it again. Except, next time, Sen wouldn¡¯t be waiting just down the road. Sen was rubbing at his eyes when the girl crashed into his leg and started trying to hug the leg and do a little dance at the same time. She beamed up at Sen before she looked across the road.


    ¡°Hi, Glimmerite!¡± she cried happily.


    It was apparently the closest she could get to the spider¡¯s actual name. Sen had worried that Glimmer of Night might be offended, but he¡¯d seamlessly adapted to the mangled form of his name without comment. The spider lifted an arm and waved at the little girl.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be right back,¡± said Sen to the spider before hoisting the little girl up.


    Her lip started quivering as soon as she realized that Sen was carrying her back to the village.


    ¡°Don¡¯t wanna go to the village. Wanna go with you,¡± she said in a tiny voice, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.


    Sen knew that it was a terrible, terrible, horribly awful idea to bring her with him. What did he have to offer a little girl? A life of constant fear and cataclysmic dangers she had no hope of defending herself against. On the other hand, if the destruction of her village proved anything, it was that there was no promise of safety if he left her behind either. He wrestled with the decision as he walked back to the village. When he got there and did not find people frantically searching every nook and cranny for the missing child, he felt his anger flare. He marched up to the house where the rescued villagers were staying and, not trusting himself, he knocked on the wall of the house. The entire structure rattled. The older man who had been the sole surviving elder of the town hesitantly opened the door. He looked from Liu Ai to Sen¡¯s furious eyes and went pale.


    ¡°Get her things and bring them to me,¡± ordered Sen in a voice that quivered with rage.


    ***


    The rest of the trip back had been a learning experience for Sen. There had been one heart-stopping moment where he¡¯d put her down for a second to buy some fresh fruit from a stand. He¡¯d turned around to give her a piece of the fruit, and she¡¯d just been gone. Sen had almost lost his mind in worry before he remembered that he was a damn cultivator and washed the entire town in his spiritual sense. She had been less than a hundred feet away. He¡¯d all but flown to where she was only to find her in an alley, hiding behind Glimmer of Night. The spider had bodily lifted a man by the throat and pinned him to a wall. Sen lifted an eyebrow, but he¡¯d come to have a little faith in the spider¡¯s instincts for danger.


    ¡°What happened?¡± asked Sen.


    Ai thrust a finger at the stranger. ¡°He hurt me!¡±


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    Sen could see where bruises were starting to form on her arm. He gave the little girl a serious nod. He crouched down and opened his arms. Ai ran over to him. He gave her a quick hug and picked her up. Glimmer of Night glanced over with what Sen was pretty sure passed for a questioning look from the spider.


    ¡°Do what you think is best,¡± said Sen. ¡°Catch up when you¡¯re done.¡±


    Glimmer of Night nodded, and Sen carried Ai away from what he imagined was either going to be a grisly death or something that was nearly a grisly death. After that, Sen made sure he kept track of Ai in his spiritual sense at all times. He also discovered that getting children who could talk back to take elixirs was difficult, even if it was entirely for their own good. He¡¯d been forced to rework the elixir so that it tasted like something she would drink. Not that bruises were necessarily going to be the end of the world, but Sen saw zero need for her to have them if he could fix it. That part had been almost amusing. What hadn¡¯t been even the tiniest bit amusing was when she woke up screaming in blind terror and needed to be held until she could fall asleep again. I should have killed them all, thought Sen.


    On the whole, though, Sen expected that Ai found the trip pretty easy. She couldn¡¯t keep pace with them, so he and Glimmer of Night took turns carrying her. At first, Ai would giggle and laugh as the landscape blurred around them. Later, Sen was amazed to discover that she would fall asleep. He didn¡¯t think he could have fallen asleep moving at those speeds under someone else¡¯s power. It was a profound display of trust. Maybe it was earned trust, though. After all, he and the spider had shown up.


    At one point, Sen had spotted a farmer meandering down the road with an ox pulling his cart. He¡¯d insisted they stop to say hello. The farmer had been startled when they seemed to appear out of nowhere and kept shooting furtive glances at Glimmer of Night. Even the ox had eyed the spider warily before shooting a questioning look at Sen. He¡¯d just nodded. Apparently taking Sen¡¯s approval as divine truth, the ox mooed at the spider. Glimmer of Night waved at it from two feet away. Sen had chatted with the farmer for a bit while Ai gleefully sat on the ox, petted its head, and hugged its neck. Then, he¡¯d bought everything in the cart without haggling over the prices as a way to thank the farmer for indulging them.


    Eventually, though, they turned off the road and headed back into the wilds. Ai had been nervous at first, unaware that the three of them were moving inside a bubble surrounded by Sen¡¯s killing intent. When nothing terrible happened after the first few hours, she relaxed again and started pointing at all the interesting things, like big rocks and tall trees. Sen just nodded and agreed that they were indeed very impressive rocks and trees.


    ***


    Fu Ruolan was giving Sen a decidedly flat look. She had taken Glimmer of Night¡¯s presence in stride. Sen suspected that had a lot to do with the fact that the spider had lost interest in the group discussion almost immediately and wandered off to poke at an odd-looking flower. She had not been nearly so understanding about the presence of Liu Ai. Fortunately, the girl was largely unaware of the battle of wills happening around her. She was too busy hugging Falling Leaf¡¯s leg while the ghost panther looked down at the child with more than a little panic on her face.


    ¡°Why did you bring the child here?¡± demanded Fu Ruolan.


    The nascent soul cultivator was making an obvious effort to keep her voice calm to avoid scaring the little girl. Sen had known this was going to be an uphill battle, so he bit back on the usual sarcasm he used when people asked him questions he found ridiculous. Instead, he gave the answer that was both true and most likely to get him the result he wanted.


    ¡°She has no one or no one I could find. Her family is gone. Her home is gone. She needs somewhere to be for right now. Somewhere safe. Can you think of a safer place than the domain of a nascent soul cultivator?¡±


    Fu Ruolan¡¯s eyes flicked over to where Ai was dragging Falling Leaf by the hand to look at the flower that had caught Glimmer of Night¡¯s attention. Her expression softened, if only slightly.


    ¡°I suppose not,¡± admitted Fu Ruolan.


    Sen pounced on the moment of weakness.


    ¡°It¡¯s a temporary solution. I¡¯m only here for a handful of years. Besides, I¡¯m not deluded. I¡¯m no kind of parent. I have no business whatsoever trying to raise her. I will try to make other arrangements for her. Better arrangements.¡±


    The nascent soul cultivator¡¯s lips pursed as she made an objection even she didn¡¯t really seem to believe.


    ¡°The wilds are no place for a child.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Are you saying that you¡¯d let something happen to her?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid. Of course, I¡¯m not going to let anything happen to her.¡±


    Sen did everything in his power to keep his expression calm and neutral. Fu Ruolan was not fooled. She rolled her eyes.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be smug,¡± complained the nascent soul cultivator.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± said Sen. ¡°It could be worse. At least she¡¯s adorable.¡±


    ¡°You were probably adorable at that age, too. Look how you turned out.¡±


    ¡°A dashing hero who saves little girls from bandits? Yeah, I¡¯ve really come down from being adorable.¡±


    She shot him a skeptical look before she sighed. ¡°No, that¡¯s fair.¡±


    The pair stood there and watched as Ai demanded that Glimmer of Night pick her up. The spider dutifully lifted her from the ground and settled her on his hip. Falling Leaf turned and shot Sen a look that was easy to read even from a distance. What in the hells were you thinking? Fu Ruolan snickered.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯m just taking comfort in the knowledge that your wife over there is going to give you an earful about this.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s not my wife.¡±


    ¡°Sure, she isn¡¯t. You realize that I¡¯m not going to go any easier on you just because you brought a stray home.¡±


    It was Sen¡¯s turn to snicker.


    ¡°What?¡± demanded Fu Ruolan.


    Sen just smiled a little as Ai ran up to them to thrust a tiny wildflower at Fu Ruolan. The nascent soul cultivator looked taken aback. Helpless before the power of innocent adorableness, she leaned down and took the flower.


    ¡°Thank you, little one,¡± she said, before shooting Sen a death glare. ¡°Not one word.¡±

 V6 Bloopers

    Sen had seen a lot of strange spirit beasts in the depths of the wilds, from the damnable bear-cats to birds made entirely of fire. He¡¯d even once been attacked by something that looked like the bastard child of a pangolin and a massive ivy plant. However, all of his experience with spirit beasts had happened on land. Most of his incredibly limited experience with water life extended only to fish. He¡¯d heard about other kinds of sea animals and spirit beasts from Captain Chen but that had been poor preparation for the thing that launched from the ocean''s surface. As it drove upward, the water swelled briefly like a wet dome or some kind of bubble. When the dome burst, Sen¡¯s mind didn¡¯t know what to do with the information it received. The beast looked like a massive stuffed child¡¯s toy that resembled a bear.


    ¡°What in all of the hells?¡± asked a dumbfounded Sen to absolutely no one.


    The enormous bear thing spread its arms wide and spoke in a voice that rolled like thunder across the water.


    ¡°I am the Galactic Friendship Bear. Sent to you with a message of peace and universal harmony.¡±


    Sen blinked furiously, certain that his eyes were deceiving him. However, the creature steadfastly refused to change into something that looked like Sen should kill it immediately. The bear spoke again, its voice reverberating in Sen¡¯s chest.


    ¡°I bring you tidings of goodwill, citizens of,¡± the thing paused, as though trying to remember something. ¡°Citizens of human-compatible planet, designate 12,783.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± said Sen. ¡°Peace, harmony, and goodwill? Did you ever come to the wrong place.¡±


    ***


    Sen gave the turtle an icy, hostile look. ¡°The last time I took advice from you, it almost killed me. If this meeting had happened six months ago, I would have done everything in my power to murder you and turn you into turtle soup. So, no, I don¡¯t want any more advice from you.¡±


    Elder Bo looked genuinely shocked, or at least that was how Sen interpreted what happened to the turtle¡¯s face.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. How did my advice almost kill you?¡±


    ¡°Do you know how many copies of the Five-Fold Body Transformation manual there are?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t say that I do.¡±


    ¡°Two that anyone knows about. One of which is trapped inside a space treasure that¡¯s been locked from the inside. The other was in the hands of a nascent soul cultivator who did not want to be found. I spent years trying to find a copy of that manual. I was dying an inch at a time, my own body cultivation turning against me, searching the wilds for that nascent soul cultivator. I was moments from death when she found me.¡±


    ¡°But you did survive. Look at how powerful you¡¯ve become.¡±


    ¡°Powerful,¡± snorted Sen. ¡°I almost died fighting a spirit beast a few weeks ago.¡±


    ¡°A spirit beast that no other cultivator at your advancement would have even considered fighting. And you killed it.¡±


    Sen glared at the divine spirit beast. ¡°Was that your doing as well?¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± said Elder Bo as though it was all perfectly obvious. ¡°You can¡¯t run an experiment without solid empirical testing.¡±


    Sen went very still for five seconds before he drew his jian. ¡°Turtle soup time.¡±


    It turned out that the turtle wasn¡¯t particularly good at fighting, but Elder Bo did make for a fine soup.


    ***


    Li Yi Nuo stared at the man she only knew as Judgment¡¯s Gale and tried to decide what to do. She refused to let it show on her face, but his last words had frightened her. They hadn¡¯t been boastful, the way she would have thought that something like that would sound. He¡¯d sounded like a man earnestly pleading with someone not to make a terrible, terrible mistake. Worse still, he was calm. He was far, far too calm for a man who should be expecting at least the possibility of violence. There was a stillness to him, and that stillness spoke to a bone-deep resolve to do what had to be done, even if meant doing things he didn¡¯t want to do. Her heart told her to just let it go and run away as fast as she could. He¡¯d let her. She knew that much. He¡¯d all but said it. He didn¡¯t want the fight.


    Of course, if she ran away, she would fail in her mission. She would dishonor her master and his faith in her. She¡¯d never be able to return to the Vermilion Blade Sect. Yet, if she didn¡¯t, elders would die by the score so she could avoid facing the consequences of her cowardice. For all intents and purposes, he anointed you as the young mistress of the Vermilion Blade Sect, her master had said. It might be an honor, but it was also a responsibility. She couldn¡¯t let her fear, however rational it might be, divert her from her course. She had been tasked to bring this man back to the sect. That¡¯s what she would do. As if he could read her very thoughts and intentions, Judgment¡¯s Gale looked at her with an expression of boundless sadness.


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    ¡°So be it,¡± he said.


    Li Yi Nuo summoned a spear from her storage ring, one of the treasures that had been bestowed on her. It was a heaven chasing spear. It was the kind of weapon that most cultivators could only dream about possessing. Weapons like those could turn the tide in a battle. She studied him as he gave the spear an interested look. Will he relent rather than face such a weapon? He gave her a nonchalant shrug and took out what looked like a scroll. Is it a talisman? Then, he started muttering under his breath about what sounded like the ingredients to some kind of food. She hurled herself at him in a fit of wounded pride. Ten seconds later she was chasing after him as he strode down the road, smiling broadly, using her spear as a walking stick.


    ¡°Give it back,¡± she complained.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Please, give it back.¡±


    ¡°No. Misbehaving children lose their toys. Everyone knows this.¡±


    ***


    Laughing River got a gleam in his eye that screamed mischief. Sen thrust a finger at him.


    ¡°No! Whatever you¡¯re thinking, just no.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you should have given it a minute. You¡¯d have enjoyed it,¡± said the fox, before shooting Li Yi Nuo a big smile. ¡°She probably wouldn¡¯t have. Did I mention that I¡¯ve met Lai Dongmei?¡±


    Sen felt an abrupt sense of relief that he¡¯d put a stop to whatever the fox had planned.


    ¡°You¡¯ve actually met Lai Dongmei?¡± Li Yi Nuo said in an awed voice.


    ¡°I have,¡± said Laughing River. ¡°So has Sen.¡±


    ¡°You have?¡± demanded Li Yi Nuo whirling toward Sen.


    ¡°Yep,¡± said Sen without elaborating at all.


    ¡°You have to tell me everything.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Sen, you should tell her everything,¡± agreed Laughing River with amusement dancing in his eyes.


    Sen thought it over. ¡°Alright. Well, to be perfectly honest, she spent most of her time complaining about this terrible lover she had. It was some fox she had a fling with like a thousand years ago or something. Apparently, his manhood was less than magnifi¡ª¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s enough!¡± shrieked Laughing River, who had gone completely white in the face


    ***


    ¡°Silence! Both of you!¡± shouted Li Yi Nuo. ¡°A nine-tailed fox and a folk hero are about to go off and do something that people are going to tell stories about. Don¡¯t even bother telling me that people won¡¯t know because those kinds of stories always get out. If you two think you can drag me out here and then cut my sect out of that kind of glory, you¡¯re delusional! I¡¯m staying. And if you think taking me all the way back was going to be inconvenient before, imagine how much more trouble it will be with me fighting you the entire way. So, which one of you is going to show me this so-called army of evil creatures and spirits?¡±


    There was a protracted silence as Li Yi Nuo stared expectantly at Sen and Laughing River. Sen had been worried about something like this. He glanced over the fox who had a thoughtful look on his face. It left Sen feeling unsettled. Laughing River looked at Sen.


    ¡°You know, I could always¡­¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen, feeling so, so tired.


    ¡°It really wouldn¡¯t be that hard.¡±


    ¡°I know it wouldn¡¯t but still no.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo looked relieved at those words.


    ¡°Really?¡± asked the fox.


    ¡°Actually, the readers don¡¯t like her that much. Go ahead.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± screamed Li Yi Nuo. ¡°The readers love me!¡±


    ***


    At first, Sen tried to keep track of their progress by leaving a trail behind them as he had done before and flying up to see how far they¡¯d come. After what he thought was the equivalent of a few days, he simply gave it up as pointless. The complexity of the path they were forced to walk made it all but impossible to measure progress in a meaningful sense. He simply gave in to the monotony of the walking. With the buildings all looking alike and the roads all made in the same way, the environment fell away from his notice. He drifted into something that was almost a trance. Every once in a while, he¡¯d snap out of it and call for a halt. He¡¯d pass out food, and they¡¯d all rest for a while. Yet, even those breaks started to blur together. Conversation was sparse and usually faded to nothing after a few minutes. For Sen¡¯s part, it was simply that he didn¡¯t think of anything he wanted to say.


    He didn¡¯t notice when it was happening. The farther they walked, the less it looked like a city around them. The buildings melted away into a forest, and Sen found himself traversing a beaten dirt path that slowly carried him through foothills covered in tall grass that he didn¡¯t recognize. The path carried him to the base of a mountain where it transitioned from packed dirt into narrow stone steps that led up the mountain. His eyes tracked up and up. There had to be thousands of steps that he could see and likely more beyond that. However, he didn¡¯t hesitate. He simply placed a foot on the first step and started to climb. After all, what were thousands of steps to Sen. The ascent took hours, then days, and just when he was certain it would become weeks, things changed.


    The path widened, leveled, and transitioned to some smooth rocklike material he didn¡¯t recognize. There were two lines down the middle of the path for no discernable reason. Sen was about to go poke at the lines to see if they did something when he heard this bizarre mechanical roar. He looked behind him and saw some manner of bizarre yellow¡­ Sen thought it must be a vehicle. It appeared to have wheels. It roared up to him and then came to a shrieking halt. A pale man with heavy stubble and a flat, floppy hat squinted at him from inside the vehicle.


    ¡°Get in, kid. We ain¡¯t got all day,¡± said the man with a strange accent Sen didn¡¯t recognize.


    ¡°Who¡­ What are you?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯m Louie, interdimensional cabbie to the stars and, apparently, wayward cultivators. Now, let¡¯s go. You¡¯re running late, and the universe has a schedule to keep.¡±


    A door opened in the vehicle, exposing some kind of bench positioned behind the other man. Sen tentatively slid onto the bench. He eyed the door suspiciously when it closed on its own.


    ¡°Hang tight, kid. I¡¯m gonna have to give a bit of extra gas if we¡¯re gonna get you there on time.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s ga¡ª¡± Sen started to ask.


    The end of that question was lost in Sen¡¯s manful scream as the vehicle shot forward at entirely suicidal speeds.


    ¡°Kids these days. I tell you,¡± muttered Louie as he shook his head in disappointment.


    ***


    ¡°It¡¯s a temporary solution. I¡¯m only here for a handful of years. Besides, I¡¯m not deluded. I¡¯m no kind of parent. I have no business whatsoever trying to raise her. I will try to make other arrangements for her. Better arrangements.¡±


    The nascent soul cultivator¡¯s lips pursed as she made an objection even she didn¡¯t really seem to believe.


    ¡°The wilds are no place for a child.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Are you saying that you¡¯d let something happen to her?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid. Of course, I¡¯m not going to let anything happen to her.¡±


    Sen did everything in his power to keep his expression calm and neutral. Fu Ruolan was not fooled. She rolled her eyes.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be smug,¡± complained the nascent soul cultivator.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± said Sen. ¡°It could be worse. At least she¡¯s adorable.¡±


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°And when the other seventy-five kids arrive, you¡¯ll barely notice them.¡±


    This ends Unintended Cultivator, Volume Six. Sen and company will return in Unintended Cultivator, Volume Seven.

 V7 Chapter 1 – Help

    ¡°There you are,¡± squealed Misty Peak in, what Sen assumed, was feigned joy.


    She dashed across the room, wrapped herself around him in a manner that Sen thought was probably inappropriate for any situation outside of a bedroom, and kissed him. Sen felt the hateful looks from at least three other men in the common room of the inn where he¡¯d left the fox woman and her grandfather. It had been one day. One day! How could she have possibly ensnared three men that fast? She¡¯s a fox, Sen reminded himself. It¡¯s what they do. He wasn¡¯t sure how much longer the kiss might have lasted, but an icy wave of danger washed over him and Misty Peak. The fox froze. Her eyes snapped open, and her head swiveled over to where Falling Leaf was smiling at them. A smile that was all teeth and no friendliness.


    ¡°Ghost panther,¡± whispered Misty Peak in a hushed tone of fear and no little awe.


    Sen shook his head and took a half step back. His eyes scanned the room and fell on Laughing River. The elder fox was looking on with unrepentant glee in his eyes at the scene unfolding before him. The old fox had been the source of a lot of trouble in Sen¡¯s life just recently. Trouble that had culminated in Sen taking possession of an extremely potent spatial treasure and fighting a true devil. He gritted his teeth a little at that thought. The results of that fight were mostly a mystery, and Sen didn¡¯t like the idea of a devil out there biding its time and plotting vengeance. Not that he could do much about it right now. He gave Laughing River an annoyed glare. The elder fox had clearly decided not to tell his granddaughter they¡¯d meet a ghost panther, probably so he could enjoy this very spectacle.


    Falling Leaf took a step closer to Misty Peak, her smile growing even bigger if that was possible.


    ¡°Prey,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    The fox woman took a hasty step back, clearly unprepared to pick a fight with something she saw as a superior predator. Then, Misty Peak turned an accusing look on Sen.


    ¡°What?¡± he asked in an annoyed tone. ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you to make a spectacle of yourself in front of strangers.¡±


    ¡°You could have warned me,¡± she pouted.


    Sen shrugged. ¡°Probably.¡±


    Before anyone could do anything that everyone in the vicinity would regret, he started walking over toward Laughing River. Falling Leaf kept glancing at him with looks he couldn¡¯t interpret. That struck him as odd. He thought he¡¯d learned most of her expressions. Misty Peak trailed behind them, looking very put out by the recent turn of events. He didn¡¯t know what to make of that either. What had she been expecting? It wasn¡¯t like he¡¯d been enthusiastic about her presence. Once they got close enough, Laughing River opened his arms wide. His appearance at that moment had a strange quality to it like he was a sly but benevolent grandfather. This time, it was Falling Leaf who looked uncertain in the face of a superior predator. She gave Sen a questioning look.


    ¡°He¡¯ll behave,¡± muttered Sen. ¡°He¡¯s paying off a favor to me.¡±


    The ghost panther instantly relaxed. She eyed the elder fox with open curiosity. He supposed that spirit beasts at her level didn¡¯t often cross paths with spirit beasts of Laughing River¡¯s level, at least not and live to tell the tale. The old fox seemed almost as curious about her as she did about him. He eyed the ghost panther in a way that Sen did not like at all. That displeasure must have been written clearly on Sen¡¯s face because Laughing River held up his hands in a gesture of surrender.


    ¡°Easy, nephew. I¡¯m here to help, not indulge myself. I¡¯ll keep it professional,¡± said Laughing River.


    ¡°Do that,¡± said Sen in a tone hard enough to shatter steel.


    Sen was amused to note that the three men who had been glaring hatefully at him earlier abruptly decided that they had pressing business elsewhere. They fled the inn, two of them leaving half-eaten meals behind. Sen sat down without an invitation. A moment later, Falling Leaf and Misty Peak joined them. Both the ghost panther and the fox woman wore expressions that told him they wouldn¡¯t have dared speak to the elder fox that way. Already weary of the foxes and their silliness, Sen got right down to business.


    ¡°Falling Leaf, this is Laughing River and Misty Peak,¡± said Sen, gesturing at the foxes.


    Falling Leaf inclined her head to Laughing River in a gesture of muted respect. She eyed Misty Peak askance for a moment before issuing a little sigh and nodding to the other woman.


    ¡°Hello,¡± said the ghost panther.


    ¡°Laughing River, Misty Peak, this is Falling Leaf. My friend,¡± said Sen, before he added something he thought was necessary. ¡°I will note that should I discover she¡¯s been drawn into any kind of fox plot, scheme, or foolishness, I will become profoundly unhappy.¡±


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    The foxes looked a little sheepish at that last statement. Maybe they¡¯d both been thinking of some way to rope the all-but-mythical ghost panther into something. More to the point, they¡¯d both gotten a good look at what it meant when Sen decided he wasn¡¯t happy about something. Misty Peak already knew that she couldn¡¯t take him in a fight if he got serious about it. Sen sincerely doubted he could win in a fight with Laughing River, but that didn¡¯t make the elder fox eager to soak up whatever damage Sen could dish out. He reasoned that simply suggesting there would be consequences ought to be enough to keep the foxes in line for now. At least, he hoped it would. The last thing he wanted to be doing was chastising the foxes when he had other things to do.


    Sen had been a little worried that Falling Leaf might take issue with him issuing threats on her behalf. She was plenty dangerous in her own right, but he¡¯d been worried that the whole spirit animal hierarchy might inhibit what she said to Laughing River. He worried a lot less about how Falling Leaf would deal with Misty Peak. He expected any friction there would be solved with swift and bloody action. He snuck a glance at the ghost panther to try to gauge her reaction. She seemed perfectly content with how things were playing out. If anything, she might have even looked a touch smug. Laughing River spoke up again.


    ¡°Like I said, just here to help.¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t sure he actually believed those words, but his next thoughts disappeared as someone burst through the inn door. A look over his shoulder revealed someone vaguely familiar. A young man that Sen thought was a local. The young man was battered and even a little bloody. The man looked around the room with wild eyes.


    ¡°I need help!¡± the man shouted. ¡°A tree came down bad. My father¡¯s trapped under it.¡±


    Damn it, thought Sen. He¡¯d crashed through enough trees to have a sense of how heavy they were. It¡¯d probably take a dozen of the local men to move it, and then only with the assistance of ropes. That was assuming that they could even set them up properly. On top of that, the man would likely be injured. Depending on where the tree landed, the man might be too injured to move safely. This isn¡¯t my problem, thought Sen. I can¡¯t help everyone. The excuse sounded weak even to him. No, he couldn¡¯t help everyone, but this problem was right in front of him. More to the point, he was probably better equipped than anyone else to actually render aid. He gave Falling Leaf an apologetic look, but she just shrugged. He gave the foxes a flat look.


    ¡°Behave,¡± he ordered, before standing up and walking over to the frantic young man. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± gushed the young man. ¡°As soon as we gather up¡ª¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll only need me,¡± said Sen, and then added, ¡°I¡¯m a cultivator.¡±


    The young man looked, in order, surprised, elated, confused, and then worried. He abruptly bowed, as though remembering something very important. ¡°Honored cultivator, we have no treasures to offer.¡±


    Sen waved it off. ¡°I don¡¯t need anything from you. Just take me there while there¡¯s still time to help.¡±


    The young man looked very uncertain but nodded. Sen followed as the young man led him outside and then out of the town. The pace seemed excruciatingly slow to Sen, despite the fact that the young man was all but running. Sen kept his spiritual sense extended and soon felt the flickering life of someone ahead. They didn¡¯t have time to move at the young man¡¯s pace. Sen grabbed the guy, threw him over his shoulder, and activated his qinggong technique. The guy shouted in surprise and fear as they sped through the trees. In no time at all, they were there. Sen put the young man down and focused on the scene before him. There was a mortal man in his middle years pinned beneath a tree. A quick look around showed that the man and his son had been doing some logging. There were a few other felled trees nearby along with discarded axes.


    Sen suppressed the urge to simply lift the log away with brute strength. That could make things worse just as easily as make them better. It could shift broken ribs, which might then pierce the lungs or heart. Instead, Sen knelt down next to the man and did a quick scan with his qi and spiritual sense. He still lacked anything even remotely like Auntie Caihong¡¯s skill at discerning injuries, but he got the general picture. The young man was almost vibrating in concern and his desire to do something. Sen decided to explain himself before the guy acted out of sheer impatience.


    ¡°I need to make sure moving the tree won¡¯t hurt him more than help him,¡± said Sen. ¡°Just give me a moment.¡±


    Having looked at the man¡¯s injuries, Sen was pretty confident that moving the tree was the worst thing they could do at the moment. Instead, he started searching the elixirs in his storage rings. Too strong, too strong, too strong, he thought as his mental fingers brushed the vials he had stored. It had been a long while since he last made something intended for a mortal. Anything useful to heal him would rip a mortal apart. He finally found some older elixirs tucked away and summoned one. He pulled the cork and slowly tipped the liquid into the pinned man¡¯s mouth.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± demanded the young man, trying and failing to sound respectful.


    ¡°It¡¯s a minor healing elixir,¡± said Sen. ¡°It should help some of his injuries. Make it safe to move the tree.¡±


    The young man looked dubious. He obviously believed moving the tree right the hells now was the right answer to this problem. Sen paused at that. He supposed that for anyone who didn¡¯t have a ready store of high-quality healing elixirs, that probably was the right answer. It was probably the only answer, now that Sen considered it. Fortunately for the man under the tree, Sen did have a ready store of elixirs. The young man grew increasingly impatient and even angry as they waited. Sen¡¯s attention was taken up with monitoring the pinned man¡¯s condition. The elixir was doing its work and stabilizing the man. Right around the time that the young man looked like he might tear out his hair, attack Sen, or try to move the tree by himself, Sen rose.


    ¡°Alright, it should be safe to move the tree now,¡± he announced.


    ¡°What should I do?¡± asked the young man.


    ¡°Just stand back,¡± said Sen.


    Sen repositioned himself, grabbed the tree, and lifted it off the man. He tossed it over by the other felled trees. Once the tree was gone, the young man was kneeling next to his father, interspersing whispered prayers and pleas for his father to wake up.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get him back to the town,¡± said Sen, waving a hand and lifting the injured man on a platform of solid qi. ¡°No reason he shouldn¡¯t heal somewhere more comfortable.¡±

 V7 Chapter 2 – The Problems of Others

    Sen was a little relieved that the tree cutters lived near the edge of the town in a truly modest but well-tended home. He wasn¡¯t looking forward to making a show of carrying the injured man through the town on a qi platform. He would have, but it would been inconvenient. Cultivators made mortals rightly nervous, and overt displays of cultivator power made them very nervous. Fortunately, the young man was much more concerned with his father¡¯s well-being than with anything that Sen was doing. When they arrived at the house, the young man simply called out for his mother. She was distraught to discover her husband was injured, but it seemed she was cut from a similar cloth as Grandmother Lu. She focused on the practicalities, rushing around to set up a pallet near the stove they used for cooking and heating the little home. Sen settled the injured man on the pallet. Before he could make good an escape, though, the young man dropped to his knees and started kowtowing.


    ¡°That really isn¡¯t necessary,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°This Wang Bo can never repay the kindness of the honored cultivator.¡±


    Wang Bo¡¯s mother, who had been crouched and fretting by her husband, whirled to stare at Sen in mixed shock and horror. She scrambled over to mimic her son.


    ¡°This Du Fen begs a thousand times for the honored cultivator to forgive her disrespect.¡±


    ¡°Please stop,¡± Sen almost begged the pair.


    He wanted to think that they¡¯d heard one too many stories about arrogant and petty cultivators, but he didn¡¯t really believe it. He¡¯d met plenty of cultivators who would have, if they noticed this mother and son at all, treated them like trash. He imagined that those cultivators expected this kind of behavior. He had no stomach for it. It always took him right back to the streets of Orchard¡¯s Reach. Always hiding in dark corners to avoid the notice of the noble brats. Pleading with the shopkeepers who caught him lurking around their businesses to spare him a beating. He had no need or desire to harm the mortals he encountered, unless they were violent bandits, and this family clearly wasn¡¯t in that category. He didn¡¯t know if it was the pleading tone in his voice or a total lack of hostility on his part, but Wang Bo and Du Fen looked up at him hesitantly. It was almost like they were testing to see if he was trying to trick them. He quickly gestured for them to rise. Du Fen¡¯s eyes went immediately back to her injured husband.


    ¡°Tend to him,¡± said Sen in the gentlest tone he could manage.


    She didn¡¯t need any more encouragement. The woman swiftly returned to her husband¡¯s side. Sen looked at Wang Bo, who was looking uncertainly at him. Sen felt at a loss about what to say now that the immediate crisis was over. Instead of standing there in awkward silence, Sen fixed his attention on the injured man and checked the wounds again. They seemed to be healing up fine, but it was clear that the pace of healing was slowing. Sen pursed his lips. It could be that the elixir was wearing off, but he suspected it was more likely that the man simply didn¡¯t have the physical reserves in place. While it didn¡¯t look like this family was starving, it was clear that they didn¡¯t enjoy any kind of wealth. They probably weren¡¯t eating all that well. No doubt eating whatever they could afford and nothing else, thought Sen.


    This family¡¯s problems weren¡¯t his problems. Sen knew that. But he had intervened. The first elixir he¡¯d given the man would almost certainly ensure his survival. Of course, he also knew that survival came in a lot of forms, not all of them good or advantageous. It wouldn¡¯t really cost him anything he cared about to help a little more. I¡¯ve already come this far, he thought. I may as well finish the job. He searched through his storage ring and found another weak elixir. He summoned it and held it out to the Wang Bo. The young man stared at the vial like he didn¡¯t dare touch it. Sen waited a little longer before he rolled his eyes.


    ¡°Take it,¡± he instructed.


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    Apprehension on his narrow face, the young man gingerly took the vial. He held it in his hands like it was a fragile infant. Sen realized that the young man probably had no idea what it was, let alone what to do with it.


    ¡°Give that to your father tomorrow at midday,¡± said Sen. ¡°No sooner.¡±


    His eyes going wide, the young man nodded furiously.


    ¡°It will be done as you say, honored cultivator,¡± said Wang Go, almost shouting the words.


    Sen looked over the young man¡¯s mother.


    ¡°Madame Du,¡± he said, causing the woman to shoot to her feet and look at him. ¡°Your husband will need hearty meals for the next several days.¡±


    The woman exchanged worried looks with her son.


    ¡°I¡­ I will do what I can, honored cultivator,¡± she said.


    Sen nodded as though he expected nothing less because this attitude was what the mother and son seemed to expect from him. He adopted a very mellow version of what he thought of as his young master mask.


    ¡°I have taken some small interest in this matter as your husband has received the benefits of my alchemy. I cannot have the elixirs¡¯ effects diminished by inadequate meals,¡± he said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. ¡°No, I will have to ensure he is properly fed in order to test the quality of the elixirs on a mortal.¡±


    Sen waved a hand and summoned a truly absurd amount of food from one of his rings. Bags of rice and piles of vegetables appeared. Wang Bo and Du Fen gaped at the food, stunned by the good fortune that had seemingly dropped on their heads out of a clear sky. Sen continued to put on his young master act. He frowned at the pile.


    ¡°No,¡± Sen muttered to himself. ¡°That won¡¯t do. He needs meat to heal properly.¡±


    Sen peered around the room as if looking for something. He didn¡¯t see anywhere to store meat, even if only temporarily. He searched his rings and found a small table. He usually used it for tea, but he decided he could sacrifice it. After all, he could just make a table from stone if he really needed one. He summoned the table and piled several kinds of meat on it. He gave Du Fen a vaguely stern look.


    ¡°Hearty meals,¡± he ordered solemnly. ¡°I will return in three days to see the results of my elixirs.¡±


    The woman nodded slowly like it was taking her body a while to translate the commands her mind was giving it. ¡°I will do as you say, honored cultivator.¡±


    ¡°Good. Good. I have other business to attend to now,¡± announced Sen.


    Wang Bo and Du Fen offered hasty bows. While they weren¡¯t looking at him, Sen seized the opportunity to activate his qinggong technique and run away through the still-open door. He expected that they would just assume he did some mysterious cultivator magic to disappear. Which, he realized on reflection, was what he had done. It was a relief to escape from their general awe and palpable fear of him, though. Reassuring people who were certain you might kill them at any moment was a mentally exhausting exercise for Sen. It was so much easier to deal with people who either didn¡¯t know he was a cultivator or had some experience dealing with cultivators. It gave him more and more respect for inn owners who managed to maintain some equanimity when they realized he was a cultivator.


    That thought reminded him that he¡¯d certainly left Falling Leaf alone with the two foxes for longer than was wise. He walked back to the inn. Before he even reached the door, he knew something was wrong. Sen would have liked to say that he picked up on subtle indications like changes in the ambient qi or telltale noises, but it was nothing like that. The door to the inn had been knocked completely out of its frame and had what looked like an injured mortal sprawled across it. There were also the general sounds of fighting and yelling coming from inside the inn. Sen pinched the bridge of his nose, just certain that Laughing River and Misty Peak were somehow responsible for whatever disaster he was going to find inside.


    ¡°This is what I get for thinking that I could leave them alone for any length of time. You brought this on yourself, Sen,¡± he muttered.


    He spotted a stray dog that looked at him curiously from a nearby alley.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know how lucky you are,¡± he said to the dog. ¡°I bet there isn¡¯t a single nine-tail fox making any trouble for you.¡±


    The stray didn¡¯t comment, just kept giving Sen a vaguely happy and curious look. Sen considered just walking away from the mess and letting the foxes sort it out for themselves. If it were just the foxes inside, he probably would have done exactly that. Unfortunately, there was a good chance Falling Leaf was in the middle of whatever mess they had made. She had direct and absolute ways of solving problems that he thought were probably overkill for whatever situation had developed in his absence. Best to get her out of there as fast as possible, he thought. Mentally imploring the heavens for a problem he could solve quickly, Sen squared his shoulders and stepped through the empty doorway.

 V7 Chapter 3 – Surprises

    Sen didn¡¯t quite know what to make of the scene that greeted his eyes. The foxes, who he had just assumed were going to be the problem, were still sitting at the table where he¡¯d left them. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean they hadn¡¯t caused the problem. In fact, he found it odd that they hadn¡¯t gone somewhere else. Sen didn¡¯t imagine that Laughing River really wanted to discuss the secrets of transformation in front of mortals. However, after he thought about it for a second, Sen realized that Falling Leaf had probably proven unwilling to go somewhere private with the immensely powerful nine tail fox. Sen didn¡¯t think the fox would have tried anything. Especially not with Sen holding the spatial treasure hostage. He couldn¡¯t fault Falling Leaf¡¯s caution if that had been the reason, though. Only a fool offers their hand willingly to a predator¡¯s teeth.


    By all appearances, however, it seemed that the ghost panther was the source of the trouble. There were bodies scattered everywhere amid the wreckage of shattered tables and splintered chairs. A quick scan with his spiritual sense revealed that those people were still alive, even if some of them were probably thinking they¡¯d rather be dead. The thing that truly captured Sen¡¯s attention was Falling Leaf. She had a foot planted firmly between the shoulders of a man, keeping him pinned face down on the floor as he thrashed. Meanwhile, she had seized the robes of a man nearly three times her size in one fist, while savagely beating him with the other fist. Sen couldn¡¯t even tell if the man was still conscious or if the ghost panther was holding his unconscious body up to continue the punishment.


    Frowning a little, Sen picked his way over to the small bar and peeked over the top. The inn owner was crouched behind it looking like he believed that the end of the world had come. The man looked up, saw Sen looking down, and flinched like he¡¯d been struck. Before Sen could get a word in edgewise, the inn owner started babbling.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t know she was a cultivator. I didn¡¯t know!¡±


    When it became clear that he wasn¡¯t going to get anything useful out of the inn owner until after the fighting was over, Sen made his way over to the foxes. He had to step over some groaning, battered people to do it. He sat down at the table and gave the foxes an expectant look. Laughing River started to chuckle.


    ¡°I expect you think we did this somehow, but we didn¡¯t. This is all on the mortals.¡±


    ¡°Oh, is it?¡±


    Misty Peak quickly nodded. ¡°We were minding our own business. Then, that pack of idiots came in here. One of them decided that Falling Leaf was too pretty to sit with us and should sit with them.¡±


    Sen suppressed the groan he felt coming on. He could guess what happened, but he gestured for Misty Peak to continue. The fox woman glanced over to where Falling Leaf was still administering object lessons.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you stop her?¡± asked the fox.


    ¡°Not until I know the whole story,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Alright,¡± said Misty Peak a little uncertainly. ¡°Well, she said no. She was quite firm about it. The man didn¡¯t like that, and he grabbed her. I think you can put together the rest.¡±


    She gave the destroyed common room a halfhearted gesture. Sen nodded before he glanced over at where the inn owner was cowering.


    ¡°Why is he so afraid?¡± asked Sen, hiking a thumb at the bar.


    Laughing River shrugged. ¡°He didn¡¯t do anything to stop it. He probably figures that once she¡¯s done with them, she¡¯ll turn her attention to him. Or maybe he thinks that you¡¯ll burn the place to the ground because he let it happen.¡±


    ¡°Oh. I guess that¡¯s not an unreasonable assumption,¡± said Sen.


    Misty Peak got an interested gleam in her eyes. ¡°Are you going to burn it down?¡±


    Sen thought it over. ¡°No. I don¡¯t have anywhere else convenient for you to stay. I¡¯ve taxed the patience of my teacher already. I¡¯m certainly not adding to that by bringing you two there. Besides, it¡¯s going to cost a lot to replace all this broken furniture. I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s punishment enough, but it is some kind of punishment. If Falling Leaf decides to do something to him, though, I¡¯m not planning to step in.¡±


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    Laughing River lifted an eyebrow. ¡°I thought you were all soft-hearted about the mortals. Didn¡¯t you run off to save one an hour or so ago?¡±


    ¡°Soft-hearted? Not so much. I went to help that young man¡¯s father because it was probably a life-and-death situation and because I could. A tree fell on the man. Maybe it was karma coming around on him, but I doubt he was doing anything objectionable at the time. The idiot who runs this place lets some of his customers grab other customers. Whatever he gets, he deserves,¡± said Sen before glancing over to where he could hear someone blubbering.


    Falling Leaf had seemingly grown tired of beating the big man and had turned her ¡°gentle¡± attention to the one she¡¯d pinned to the floor. He was on his knees, crying, and pleading with the implacable ghost panther. The man¡¯s words were so garbled by his sobbing that Sen couldn¡¯t even understand most of it. Then again, he didn¡¯t need to hear the words to understand it. It all boiled down to one key idea. Please don¡¯t kill me. One look at Falling Leaf told Sen that those pleas were largely falling on deaf ears. Her eyes were still blazing with cold fury. She probably wouldn¡¯t kill him given that she hadn¡¯t killed any of the others, but Sen didn¡¯t imagine that man was going to feel healthy anytime in the near future. When she started in on the man, Sen turned back to the foxes. They were both giving him mildly surprised expressions.


    ¡°You¡¯re really not going to do anything?¡± asked Misty Peak.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t tell those men to be stupid,¡± said Sen. ¡°They aren¡¯t innocents. If they grabbed Falling Leaf here, they¡¯ve almost certainly done the same thing in other places to people who couldn¡¯t fight back. Besides, I don¡¯t know them. They aren¡¯t allies. Why should I get in the middle of it? More importantly, why do you care what happens to them?¡±


    ¡°She doesn¡¯t,¡± observed Laughing River. ¡°Neither do I. Understanding you, on the other hand, is of interest.¡±


    Sen gave the elder fox a dubious look. ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°The better we understand you, the easier it will be to avoid truly angering you,¡± said Laughing River.


    ¡°Is that really a matter of deep concern for you two?¡± asked Sen with a small snort.


    ¡°Of course, it is,¡± said Misty Peak. ¡°You can summon vengeful, terrifyingly powerful nascent soul cultivators. Do you think that they¡¯d say no if you asked them to kill someone for you? Equally important, all the evidence suggests that you will be a vengeful, terrifyingly powerful nascent soul cultivator. Probably sooner than later. Teasing you is one thing, but I don¡¯t have a death wish.¡±


    Sen opened his mouth to speak but found he didn¡¯t have a ready response to that. She wasn¡¯t wrong about him being able to summon nascent soul cultivators. Master Feng and Uncle Kho probably would kill someone for him if he asked them to, not that he would. But he supposed that there was no way that the foxes could know that. He wasn¡¯t as sure about Auntie Caihong. She would likely hunt down anyone who did him true harm, but that wasn¡¯t the same thing as killing someone just because he asked. He was less than comfortable with the idea that he might be perceived as a vengeful figure of terror and doom. He sighed. It was probably too late to avoid that since so many of the stories painted him that way.


    ¡°I suppose I can understand your concerns,¡± admitted Sen.


    There was a particularly sharp sound of fist on flesh that drew Sen¡¯s attention. He saw Falling Leaf casually toss aside the limp form of the crying man. His spiritual sense revealed that she had spared even him. The ghost panther stalked over to the bar where she glared down at the inn owner.


    ¡°Bring me food,¡± she commanded.


    ¡°Whatever the honored cultivator wishes,¡± cried the inn owner before he fled toward the kitchen.


    Falling Leaf nodded to herself and returned to the table. She sat down and picked up a cup of what had to be cold tea. She took a sip before she turned her gaze on Sen.


    ¡°Did you save the tree man?¡± she asked, all signs of violence gone save for the blood on her hands and speckled across her face.


    ¡°I think so,¡± said Sen.


    He retrieved a piece of fabric and a water gourd from his storage ring. He wet the fabric and handed it to the ghost panther.


    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    She took the cloth and wiped at her face and hands.


    ¡°I¡¯ll check on him in a few days to make sure,¡± said Sen. ¡°Sometimes, these things are trickier than they look at first. I wish Auntie Caihong were here. She¡¯s better at reading injuries than I am.¡±


    Falling Leaf nodded. ¡°The Caihong has great talent in healing.¡±


    Sen took no small measure of amusement from the increasingly baffled look on Misty Peak¡¯s face. Laughing River did a better job of controlling his expression, but Sen could tell that the elder fox also wasn¡¯t sure what to make of the conversation he was listening to.


    ¡°So, I heard someone tried to grab you,¡± observed Sen.


    Falling Leaf glared at the unconscious men she¡¯d left in her wake. ¡°They thought to force me to sit with them. Force me. A ghost panther. The fools,¡± said Falling Leaf before she sat up straight and gave Sen a concerned look. ¡°You must teach the kit to protect herself from such as these. She has no claws. She must be shown, as you were shown.¡±


    ¡°Kit?¡± asked Misty Peak and Laughing River in unison.


    Falling Leaf eyed the startled foxes warily before she glanced at Sen. He lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug.


    ¡°Sen has taken in a lost human kit,¡± announced Falling Leaf.


    ¡°He did what?¡± demanded Misty Peak.

 V7 Chapter 4 – A Vivid Imagination

    Falling Leaf stared at Misty Peak like she thought the fox woman was particularly slow. She gave Sen a look that, for once, was not that hard to translate. Why do you put up with this one? The ghost panther adopted an expression of patience that bordered on patronizing.


    Falling Leaf spoke very slowly as she repeated her words. ¡°Sen has taken in a lost human kit.¡±


    Based on the way his features seemed to go tight, Sen guessed that it took an act of supreme self-control for Laughing River to keep a straight face. Not that it was much of a guess, since Sen was in the exact same position. It was not helped by the petulant annoyance that crossed the fox woman¡¯s face. Realizing that his self-control was a tenuous shield against making the situation worse, Sen made a swift decision. He stood up before anyone could do or say anything else that might make him burst into laughter.


    ¡°Well, it seems like you all have this under control. I¡¯ll be back in three days,¡± said Sen before turning his eyes on Falling Leaf. ¡°Do you need money for a room?¡±


    Falling Leaf looked at him fondly before she stared death at something beyond him.


    ¡°Do I need money for a room?¡± she asked.


    Sen turned to see the inn owner standing behind the bar again. The man stood absolutely straight and visibly trembled.


    ¡°N¡ª n¡ª no, Mistress Cultivator,¡± said the owner.


    Sen nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a good decision.¡±


    With a quick nod in the general direction of the foxes, Sen headed for, well, the open space where a door used to be. He frowned down at the still limp form that was sprawled across the remains of the displaced door. He¡¯s still breathing, thought Sen. I guess that¡¯s as good as it gets for these idiots. Stepping over the unconscious man, Sen started toward the northern edge of the town. While he didn¡¯t burst into laughter over that last interaction between Falling Leaf and Misty Peak, chuckles kept slipping free. Chuckles he had to suppress when he felt a familiar presence close in on him. Rolling his eyes, he said something that rang familiar in his ears.


    ¡°What can I do for you, Misty Peak?¡±


    The fox woman caught up and fell into step beside him. Her expression was fixed in mild anger.


    ¡°That ghost panther is insufferable.¡±


    Sen stopped walking. Misty Peak took a couple more steps before she turned to look at him.


    ¡°That ghost panther is my closest friend,¡± said Sen. ¡°She saved my life. She sacrificed for me. You don¡¯t have to like her. But if you speak about her in my presence, I suggest you choose your words with exceptional care.¡±


    The fox woman went very still. She seemed to realize that she had come within a hair of crossing a line that might well prove lethal. Sen decided that he might have turned up the intensity just a bit much in his desire to convey how much he did not appreciate negative comments about Falling Leaf.


    ¡°You can think all the nasty things about her that you want. You can even say them. Just not to me.¡±


    Misty Peak relaxed a bit when it became clear that Sen was making an effort to reduce how much threat he was projecting. She nodded slowly.


    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll keep my commentary to a minimum.¡±


    ¡°Appreciated,¡± said Sen as he resumed walking.


    The fox fell into step beside him again but remained quiet. As they approached the edge of town, Sen broke the silence.


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    ¡°Was there something you needed? I assume there was since you came after me.¡±


    After a much too lengthy pause, the fox woman spoke. ¡°You don¡¯t particularly care for my company, do you?¡±


    Sen almost fired off a sarcastic comment, but he caught himself. He had the nagging feeling that the fox was being unusually sincere. He waited until they cleared the gates of the town before he answered.


    ¡°Are you looking for an honest answer here?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Sen gave the question more consideration than it probably deserved.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care for the kind of games that you and your grandfather play. And, as near as I can tell, nine-tail foxes are only about their games. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m any closer to knowing you today than on the first day we met. So, if there is a truthful answer to your question, it¡¯s this. I don¡¯t know if I care for your company or not because I have no idea who you actually are. Of course, there is an argument that you are what you do. If you¡¯re nothing more than the games you play, then, no, I don¡¯t particularly care for your company.¡±


    Sen found it interesting to watch Misty Peak¡¯s expression morph as he spoke. It started out as vaguely offending, changed to shocked, then moved on to hurt, and finally landed on thoughtful. He thought that there were a few others in there, but they came and went so fast he didn¡¯t get a chance to identify them. The problem was that he didn¡¯t know if he could trust anything he had just seen. He couldn¡¯t even be entirely certain that the face he was looking at was the fox woman¡¯s actual face. He thought it was, having stripped away at least one illusion, but that was the challenge with very good illusions. You never recognized the really good ones as fake. Misty Peak eventually nodded.


    ¡°I think I understand,¡± she said.


    Sen lifted an eyebrow in surprise. ¡°Not going to defend your honor or the honor of all nine tail foxes?¡±


    ¡°Would it make a difference to you if I did?¡±


    She had him there. Sen inclined his head in acknowledgment of the point.


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t imagine it would.¡±


    ¡°Then, I think I¡¯ll save my energy for things that might make a difference.¡±


    ¡°Such as?¡±


    A bit of the amusement at the world he¡¯d come to expect from the woman glittered in her eyes. ¡°Oh, now that would be telling. I can¡¯t ruin the surprise.¡±


    That drew a deep frown from Sen, which just made the fox laugh.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to hate this surprise, aren¡¯t I?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I get the feeling that you hate every surprise.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s patently untrue. I¡¯m surprised every single time that things don¡¯t go horribly wrong at the worst possible moment to get me killed by a rampaging spirit beast that looks like the unholy union of a bear and a large cat. It¡¯s also great when I¡¯m not forced to negotiate with a nascent soul cultivator under threat of death because some half-wit sect elder in the capital has an overinflated sense of her own importance. I love those surprises.¡±


    ¡°Those are remarkably specific,¡± observed Misty Peak.


    ¡°Yeah, well, I guess I just have a vivid imagination.¡±


    The fox woman sniffed. ¡°Imagination. Right. Those were totally made-up examples.¡±


    ¡°Completely made up. Every word of it.¡±


    An awkward pause fell over the two as Sen waited for the fox woman to either find something else she wanted to discuss or go away. It seemed that her ability to imagine things to talk about wasn¡¯t quite as vivid as Sen¡¯s. The fox eventually sighed.


    ¡°I suppose that this is the last I¡¯ll see of you for a while,¡± she offered.


    Sen nodded. ¡°I expect that¡¯s true. I¡¯ll certainly be busy for a while.¡±


    ¡°Raising a mortal child?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just providing her a safe haven for a while. I¡¯ll leave raising her to someone equipped for the job.¡±


    Misty Peak gave Sen a strange look before she shook her head a little. ¡°Goodbye, for now, Judgment¡¯s Gale.¡±


    ¡°Goodbye, for now, nine tailed fox.¡±


    Sen turned to walk down the road and even managed to get a half-dozen steps before Misty Peak called after him.


    ¡°There¡¯s something you should know.¡±


    Sen turned to look at the fox. ¡°What is that?¡±


    ¡°No one is equipped for that job. Parents just do what they can. Try their best. It¡¯s all anyone can do. That and hope it¡¯s enough.¡±


    Sen gave Misty Peak a sharp look that seemed to make the fox woman very nervous. She shuffled her feet in a way he¡¯d never seen her do before.


    ¡°That sounds like the voice of experience talking,¡± said Sen.


    The fox regained some of her composure and smirked at him. ¡°Does it, now? How interesting.¡±


    With that, she turned and sauntered away. Sen might have appreciated the sway of her hips a little more than was strictly necessary. A fact that became apparent when the fox woman glanced over her shoulder and caught him watching. She smirked at him and swayed her hips even more, just to let him know that she knew. Damn it, thought Sen. That¡¯s just going to encourage her. Rolling his eyes at his own behavior, he turned and headed back toward Fu Ruolan¡¯s. Regardless of anything else, he¡¯d left poor Glimmer of Night to babysit a toddler with questionable behavior. That was to say nothing of Liu Ai. He should at least have the decency to relieve the spider of Fu Ruolan.

 V7 Chapter 5 – Sleep and Shadow

    Despite his misgivings about what he might find when he got back, Sen was surprised to discover relative tranquility. Fu Ruolan had decided that the best thing for a young child was to have something to chase. So, she had conjured qi constructs for Liu Ai to run around with under the unblinking gaze of Glimmer of Night. By the time he got back, he found the little girl peacefully sleeping on a bed that had been incongruously summoned in a small grove of trees. That had apparently been a sign to Glimmer of Night that the best thing that he could do was construct an almost incomprehensibly complicated web of qi throughout the trees around the bed. Sen had spent nearly ten full minutes studying that web, certain that there was a pattern hidden in it. Before he could glean any true meaning from it, though, the spider had come walking up.


    ¡°Did she behave?¡± asked Sen.


    The spider glanced over to the bed before offering Sen a shrug. ¡°She didn¡¯t do anything obviously harmful to herself.¡±


    After a pause, Sen nodded. He supposed it had been an absurd question to ask the spider. Glimmer of Night was likely only marginally less knowledgeable than Sen himself about what was or was not good behavior in a human child. Give the spider some obvious threat, and Sen had no doubt he would identify it immediately. Something as vague as what a mortal child should or shouldn¡¯t be doing, well, that was probably asking a bit much. Sen wasn¡¯t even sure if they should let the girl keep sleeping or not. He¡¯d made those kinds of decisions for himself back on the streets of Orchard¡¯s Reach and even on Uncle Kho¡¯s mountain now that he thought about it. Of course, he wasn¡¯t living what anyone would describe as a good life on the streets and the expectations were very different once he got on the mountain.


    The problem was that he wasn¡¯t trying to make himself a disciple. He just wanted the little girl to be healthy and feel safe. Beyond that, he hadn¡¯t thought it through. She¡¯ll need to eat, he realized, and not just occasionally. While he and Falling Leaf ate semi-regular meals, it wasn¡¯t unusual for either of them to go a few days without bothering with it. He knew from personal experience that children could survive that, but it wasn¡¯t a good thing. Once he started thinking about it, though, he started realizing that she was going to need all kinds of things. She¡¯d need clothes, a room of her own, toys, and she would have to start learning things. Uncle Kho might actually murder me if I don¡¯t make sure that she learns to read and write, thought Sen. That thought brought Sen up short, and he turned to look at Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°Do you know how to read?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Read? What¡¯s that?¡± asked the spider.


    ¡°It¡¯s, well¡ª¡± Sen mentally cast around for the right description.


    He¡¯d literally never had to explain reading to anyone before, so he didn¡¯t have a good answer at his fingertips. He finally had a minor epiphany and summoned a scroll from his storage ring. He unrolled it and showed the spider the writing.


    ¡°All of those symbols are called writing. Each character means something, and you string them together to explain or describe things. If you can look at them and understand it, that¡¯s called reading.¡±


    The spider tilted his head back and forth as he looked at the scroll. Eventually, he shook his head.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ve heard of this writing before, but spiders don¡¯t do this thing.¡±


    ¡°Of course they don¡¯t,¡± said Sen, pinching the bridge of his nose. ¡°Well, Ai needs to learn, so I guess I¡¯ll add teaching you to the list of things that need to be done.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± asked the spider.


    Sen felt a surge of empathy for Uncle Kho¡¯s reaction to learning that he couldn¡¯t read. It didn¡¯t seem important when you couldn¡¯t do it. Once you could, you realized just how many things in life were made better, easier, or simply possible by reading. Sen gave it a moment of thought before he answered.


    ¡°If you¡¯re going to be moving through the human world, it¡¯s an essential skill.¡±


    Glimmer of Night¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change exactly, but Sen got the impression that the spider had just accepted his words at face value. Thank the heavens, thought Sen. That was a fight he didn¡¯t want to have.


    ¡°If you say it is necessary, I will learn it.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± said Sen, turning his mind back to everything Ai would need.


    As the full scope of the responsibility he¡¯d taken on settled over Sen, he felt a tightness in his chest that he was pretty sure didn¡¯t have anything to do with his body. He wondered if he might not have done Ai any favors bringing her with him. Then, he remembered the way the other people from her village had simply not paid any attention when the girl had gone missing. That still made him angry enough that he had to suppress an urge to go back and do¡­ He wasn¡¯t sure what. Do something to them. He had no idea if that¡¯s how all villagers were about other people¡¯s children, although he sincerely hoped not. If that was the standard, though, he doubted he would do worse than that. At least, he hoped he wouldn¡¯t. A soft snicker brought Sen out of his mental world. He turned to see Fu Ruolan standing a few feet away.


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    ¡°What?¡± he asked.


    ¡°You have that look,¡± she said.


    ¡°What look?¡±


    ¡°The look of a man who just realized that something is going to be much harder than he thought it would. Tell me, have you figured out how you¡¯ll handle bathing the child?¡±


    Sen¡¯s eyes went a little wide. He had not considered that problem. The mild anxiety he¡¯d been experiencing exploded into full-blown panic. That went on for nearly ten seconds before Fu Ruolan had finished having her fun.


    ¡°I¡¯ll deal with it,¡± she said. ¡°Or your wife can.¡±


    Glimmer of Night looked at Sen. ¡°You have a mate?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± said Sen. ¡°She means Falling Leaf.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried that the ghost panther might eat the child?¡± asked the spider.


    That sent Fu Ruolan off into a fit of laughter that Sen thought was a little inappropriate.


    He eyed the spider and said, ¡°Not really. Should I be worried that you¡¯ll eat the child?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Glimmer of Night. ¡°Humans don¡¯t taste good. Also, she is very small. I prefer spirit boar. That is a true meal.¡±


    Sen couldn¡¯t decide if that answer was comforting in its pragmatism or not. After all, he had said he wouldn¡¯t eat her, but he also knew what humans tasted like. Sen gave the spider a thoughtful look and smirked a little.


    ¡°And you like her,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°She is not objectionable. Not like the always talking one.¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t sure if the spider meant Li Yi Nuo or Misty Peak. Probably both, thought Sen. Shaking off that line of thought, Sen turned his attention back to Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°I assume you didn¡¯t come over here just to taunt me.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a good enough reason?¡± asked Fu Ruolan. ¡°Your expression was priceless.¡±


    ¡°So glad I can entertain you,¡± muttered Sen.


    ¡°It¡¯s one of the small compensations for being a teacher,¡± said the nascent soul cultivator. ¡°You get to make your students squirm.¡±


    ¡°That sounds productive.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not productive at all, but it is funny. Sometimes, you just have to sacrifice efficiency in the good cause of personal amusement.¡±


    ¡°You remind me of a couple of nine-tail foxes I know,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Well, they can be frustrating, but that doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯re wrong about everything.¡±


    ¡°Seriously, did you just come over here to make me squirm?¡±


    Fu Ruolan tapped her chin for a moment before shaking her head. ¡°You got to go off and have fun, but it¡¯s time to get back to work. I¡¯ve decided what you¡¯re going to learn next.¡±


    ¡°Fun? I don¡¯t remember having any fun,¡± said Sen, turning to Glimmer of Night. ¡°Do you remember having any fun?¡±


    ¡°It was fun watching you fight that horde of devilish beasts. I liked it when you made tribulation lightning,¡± said the spider.


    ¡°What?¡± demanded Fu Ruolan. ¡°You made tribulation lightning?¡±


    Sen sighed. ¡°It wasn¡¯t real tribulation lightning.¡±


    ¡°It looked real,¡± Glimmer of Night helpfully added.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°We are clearly going to need to have a longer talk about that at some point,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°If we must,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°In the meantime, come along Sen. I¡¯m sure your spider friend can keep watch on little Ai until we¡¯re done.¡±


    ¡°Do you mind watching her?¡± Sen asked the spider.


    ¡°I can watch her. I¡¯ll practice my webs while she sleeps,¡± said Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± said Sen, before trailing after Fu Ruolan.


    They walked to her strange wooden house before the woman detoured over to her garden. It had surged back to life while he was gone, and he heard a few bees flying around it. The nascent soul cultivator took a moment to poke and prod a few of the plants and even picked a few ripe vegetables before she led Sen inside. She waved a hand at a teapot while disappearing into another room. Sen dutifully prepared the tea and poured a cup for each of them when she returned. She studied him while sipping at the tea.


    ¡°You¡¯ve advanced again,¡± she noted. ¡°I¡¯d say you did it a couple of times if I didn¡¯t know that was impossible.¡±


    ¡°I did advance. It was not what you¡¯d call a normal advancement.¡±


    ¡°In what way?¡±


    Sen released the suppression he maintained on the divine qi in his skin. One of Fu Ruolan¡¯s eyebrows shot up when the glow from his skin added another layer of illumination to the room. He felt her spiritual sense wash over him and didn¡¯t try to resist it. He might be able to stop her but couldn¡¯t see the point of it. He simply endured the poking and prodding until it was over, at which point he suppressed the visual evidence of his changes.


    ¡°Well, that is certainly interesting. I¡¯d be curious how such a change came about.¡±


    ¡°The heavens like to play games with me. At least, that¡¯s the best answer I have.¡±


    ¡°Explain,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    Sen took a second to organize his experiences into something that another person might understand. Then, he walked her through that particularly unpleasant advancement. He did leave out the bit of opening some kind of gate inside himself where a bunch of divine qi drained away. He had the feeling that it was something he needed to keep to himself, at least until he understood it better. When he was done, Fu Ruolan shook her head.


    ¡°You are either the luckiest or unluckiest core cultivator alive. I¡¯m honestly not sure which.¡±


    ¡°Any thoughts other than that?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°A lot, but I need to think about it. Plus, that¡¯s not what we¡¯re here about. We¡¯re here about that shadow qi affinity that you have shamefully neglected in its entirety.¡±


    Sen thought that he could argue that he hadn¡¯t neglected it, but he hadn¡¯t put it to a lot of good use recently either. He waited. Fu Ruolan set down her teacup, stood from the chair, and walked over to a corner.


    ¡°This is the first thing you¡¯ll learn,¡± she said.


    With that, she took a step backward and vanished into a shadow. Sen shot to his feet as the other cultivator simply winked out of his senses. It was abrupt, jarring, and complete. She was there one moment, gone the next. He strode over to the corner to see if there was a formation in place to hide the woman only to discover nothing. He examined the corner with his spiritual sense and his qi, but there was nothing special about the space itself. Just when confusion and curiosity were about to give way to annoyance, there was a strange rippling sensation that made Sen spin around. He watched in surprise and a bit of awe as Fu Ruolan stepped out of a shadow on the other side of the room. She gave Sen a self-satisfied little smile.


    ¡°It¡¯s got a lot of names,¡± said Fu Ruolan. ¡°Most people just call it shadow travel or shadow jumping. With your affinity for shadow qi, it¡¯s just appalling that you don¡¯t know how to do this yet. So, I intend to fix that.¡±

 V7 Chapter 6 – Inaccurate Analogy

    Sen turned his gaze back and forth from the corner to where Fu Ruolan now stood. His teachers had told him about things that were like what he¡¯d just seen, but this was different. The techniques he¡¯d been told about were just advanced movement skills. They seemed to make someone disappear and reappear, but it was just magnified speed. There was also something called teleportation, where someone literally disappeared and then reappeared somewhere else. That had something to do with having a space qi affinity and remained firmly beyond Sen¡¯s understanding. Yet, that was supposed to be instantaneous, and with Sen¡¯s spiritual sense, he would have been immediately aware of their new location if they were close enough to be a threat. Fu Ruolan had vanished from his senses and been gone for long enough that he¡¯d had the time to stand up and examine the corner. In fact, it had been about as long as it might have taken someone to casually walk across the room.


    Master Feng had also told him about shadow travel techniques, but the way they had been described it sounded more like a hiding technique than a true travel technique. The cultivators used shadow to obscure themselves, and some even managed to briefly take on the insubstantial nature of shadows. It made them harder to sense, find, and track, but that didn¡¯t seem to be what Fu Ruolan had done either. She hadn¡¯t been obscured. She had been gone. Like she stepped outside of reality altogether and then stepped back into reality somewhere else. Sen frowned. He wondered if that was exactly what she had done. The very idea would have seemed impossible to Sen back in his mortal days, but he¡¯d been a cultivator long enough to only ever put things into categories like probable and improbable. Stepping out of reality sounded more like an improbable technique than a probable one, but he had to keep in mind that he was dealing with a nascent soul cultivator. Sen frowned.


    ¡°It looks like you aren¡¯t happy with the potential explanations. Good. That means you¡¯re likely on the right track,¡± said Fu Ruolan. ¡°So, tell me. What do you think I just did?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± answered Sen. ¡°You say it¡¯s something to do with shadow affinity, but I don¡¯t see the connection. To me, it felt like you stepped right out of tangible reality and stepped back in again, somehow.¡±


    Fu Ruolan lifted an eyebrow at Sen. ¡°Well, that was annoyingly accurate. I guess Feng Ming and his cohorts wouldn¡¯t have put up with you if you weren¡¯t quick.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. Besides, it¡¯s not like I know how you did it or where you went.¡±


    ¡°True enough,¡± conceded Fu Ruolan. ¡°So, let¡¯s start with the where since that¡¯s probably the more interesting part. Where do you think I went?¡±


    Sen thought hard about it. No matter what he came up with, though, it just sounded absurd. Eventually, he just gave up and went with the stupidest idea that passed through his head.


    Laughing a little, he answered, ¡°I think you stepped through that shadow into some separate realm where all the shadows dance and play.¡±


    His amusement faded as Fu Ruolan glared at him. He swallowed hard to clear the sudden lump of concern in his throat.


    ¡°Did someone explain this technique to you?¡± asked Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen before hurriedly adding, ¡°I didn¡¯t think that was the actual answer.¡±


    ¡°No? You just picked that out of the air and happened to be right?¡±


    Sen reached up and rubbed at the back of his neck, where all the hairs had suddenly stood up on end.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Sen, his voice a little weak.


    A part of him wanted to explain, except that there was nothing to explain. He¡¯d guessed. No, he hadn¡¯t even guessed. He¡¯d picked the answer that he was certain was wrong. Yet, Fu Ruolan seemed convinced that he¡¯d pulled some kind of trick on her, and Sen couldn¡¯t figure out how to convince the woman that it had just been a stupid coincidence. Fu Ruolan eyed him suspiciously for an uncomfortably long time before she sniffed in a decidedly unimpressed way.


    ¡°Well, now that you sucked all of the fun out of the answer, that¡¯s what the technique does. Well except for that part about the dancing and playing,¡± she said.


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    ¡°How does that even work?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to go ahead and assume that your working knowledge of space qi techniques is limited.¡±


    Sen frowned at that. ¡°I know a bit about how time acceleration chambers work. Same for storage treasures. Beyond that, though, not really.¡±


    ¡°Why in the world would you know about time acceleration chambers?¡±


    ¡°There was a copy of the Five-Fold Body Transformation manual stuck inside of one. I was trying to figure out how to get into the chamber to retrieve it.¡±


    ¡°You obviously didn¡¯t succeed,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°The chamber had been sealed from the inside,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Oh, well, that would do it. And you thought you were just going to master space qi and get in there?¡±


    ¡°Nothing so grand. I wasn¡¯t really trying to figure out the chamber, just the seal. But it was hard to understand one without the other. I learned enough to know that I didn¡¯t have the time to learn what I needed to know.¡±


    ¡°Well, that might make for interesting discussion at some point, but it also means you don¡¯t really have the background to understand how the shadow realm works,¡± said Fu Ruolan. ¡°So, I¡¯m going to give you a very inaccurate analogy that gets the basic idea across. You know how a manual is just a bunch of pages stacked together?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Well, you can imagine that reality is like a bunch of realms stacked up together the same way. The everyday world or realm that we deal with is on one page. The shadow realm is the next page over. Or, if you like, it¡¯s the space between this page and the next. If you know what you¡¯re doing, you can move between this page and the next page. Does that make sense?¡±


    Given that she¡¯d said it was a very inaccurate description, Sen was certain that it was a lot more complicated than that. On the other hand, he supposed that it wasn¡¯t crucial for him to fully understand the nuances. After all, he didn¡¯t really know what lightning was but that didn¡¯t stop him from using it. He decided that this was the same thing. Until it became an issue, he¡¯d take it at face value.


    ¡°Yes, that makes sense.¡±


    ¡°The shadows in our realm can act as access points between those pages. So, I stepped through the shadow in that corner to get to that other realm. Then, I used this shadow,¡± she gestured at the shadow she was standing in, ¡°to get back here.¡±


    ¡°So, you can just walk around in that other realm like you would here?¡± asked Sen.


    Fu Ruolan waggled a hand in the air. ¡°Not exactly, but that¡¯s close enough for right now. With a technique like this, you can pass by enemies to escape or even attack them directly out of their shadow. That¡¯s to say nothing of walking through walls right into their very homes and strongholds.¡±


    ¡°I can certainly see the advantages to something like that,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I expected you would. Now, can you think of any potential disadvantages to a technique like that?¡±


    Sen thought about how he might deal with someone who could do that.


    ¡°Well, with enough light, you could simply erase every nearby shadow. It wouldn¡¯t be easy to do, but it could be done. It seems like that would be potentially catastrophic if you were halfway through to that other realm. I have to imagine that there are formations that prevent people from using the technique to pass through walls.¡±


    Fu Ruolan nodded. ¡°Both are legitimate concerns. Anything else?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t stay in that other realm for very long. Is there a limit on how long you can stay there?¡±


    ¡°For practical purposes, let¡¯s say yes. It varies from person to person based on a lot of things we won¡¯t get into right now, but there is a hard limit for everyone. Stay in that other realm for too long, and you don¡¯t come back.¡±


    ¡°Because you die?¡±


    ¡°No one knows. People have their theories, but theories are all they are. Well, I suppose someone might now, but they aren¡¯t spreading the information. The only solid fact we have is that, beyond some threshold, you don¡¯t return. Maybe you die. Maybe you get transformed into something. As you might imagine, it¡¯s not a subject that anyone is eager is study firsthand.¡±


    ¡°You can add me to the list of people who don¡¯t want to discover the truth for themselves,¡± said Sen.


    Fu Ruolan snorted. ¡°So, there is a tiny shred of caution buried deep inside of you. I was starting to wonder.¡±


    Sen considered everything he¡¯d just learned and noticed a bit of a logical disconnect.


    ¡°Are you saying that anyone with a shadow qi affinity can do this? If they could, it seems like something that Master Feng would have warned me about.¡±


    ¡°A shadow qi affinity isn¡¯t that common,¡± admitted Fu Ruolan. ¡°In fact, it¡¯s one of the rarer affinities out there. As to your question, no, not every cultivator with a shadow qi affinity can do it. You need a strong affinity to use this particular technique.¡±


    Sen¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°How strong?¡±


    ¡°Quite strong,¡± said Fu Ruolan without quite meeting his eyes.


    A suspicion formed in Sen¡¯s mind.


    ¡°How many people have a strong enough affinity? Ten percent of cultivators? Five percent?¡±


    ¡°Four,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°Four percent?¡±


    ¡°Four people that I¡¯m aware of, including you.¡±


    The value of the technique that he was going to learn went way, way up in Sen¡¯s mind. If it was that rare, it meant that it was something that most cultivators wouldn¡¯t be protecting against. Hells, he thought, most sects probably wouldn¡¯t bother with it either. Why would they? It was one thing for sects to protect themselves against threats that were likely. But only the most paranoid of sects or one with a reason to think someone with that skill would target them would bother defending against it. If nothing else, it meant that most sects would have a hard time holding him if he got even a brief window of opportunity to act. Sen smiled.


    ¡°In that case, what¡¯s next?¡±

 V7 Chapter 7 – Safe?

    Sen stepped out of Fu Ruolan¡¯s home with a mildly perplexed expression on his face. It turned out that what came next was not even remotely what he thought would come next. Sen had fully expected the woman to go into a full-blown explanation of the technique. Instead, she had instructed him to do something he thought was absurdly simple. It was something that he¡¯d figured out how to do years before.


    ¡°I¡¯ll need you to practice isolating the shadow qi in your core,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s an essential step¡ª¡±


    ¡°Done,¡± said Sen, having carried out the order.


    Fu Ruolan¡¯s face scrunched up in confusion. ¡°What¡¯s done?¡±


    ¡°I isolated the shadow qi in my core.¡±


    ¡°Just like that?¡± asked the nascent soul cultivator.


    Sen got the distinct impression that Fu Ruolan was aggravated with him, although he couldn¡¯t quite imagine why.


    ¡°Um, yes.¡±


    Fu Ruolan closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. Then, she opened them and gave Sen a very strained-looking smile.


    ¡°Has anyone ever told you how utterly ridiculous you are?¡±


    It was Sen¡¯s turn to close his eyes and take a couple of breaths.


    ¡°It might have come up once or twice,¡± he answered.


    ¡°Well, you should sleep soundly in the knowledge that it¡¯s still true.¡±


    ¡°Terrific,¡± said Sen in an extra-dry tone. ¡°So, what¡¯s next?¡±


    ¡°Now, you go away from me for a couple of weeks and play with shadow qi. Figure out what it can really do. Something I must assume you haven¡¯t bothered with given what I¡¯ve seen and the stories about you.¡±


    ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    ¡°Fire and lightning, isn¡¯t it? Those are your preferred tools. No one ever talks about the things you do with shadows.¡±


    ¡°Just because they don¡¯t talk about it, that doesn¡¯t mean it never happens.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± said Fu Ruolan. ¡°When did you last use shadow qi in a battle?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s been,¡± Sen paused and thought hard, ¡°a while.¡±


    ¡°And did you use it to do anything but blanket the area in darkness?¡±


    ¡°I have used it to do other things,¡± hedged Sen.


    ¡°Recently?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± he admitted.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to estimate these things with certainty, but shadow is possibly your strongest affinity. Yet, as near as I can tell, you don¡¯t even bother with it. I blame Feng Ming and Kho Jaw-Long for that. You got most of your combat training from them, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I did,¡± said Sen, feeling protectively defensive about his teachers. ¡°But what does that have to do with it?¡±


    ¡°They both favor direct confrontation. Victory through pure, overwhelming strength. That¡¯s fine if you can back it up, which they can,¡± she said before giving Sen an appraising look. ¡°Granted, it seems you can as well, most of the time, but it¡¯s foolish to leave such a useful tool untrained. Shadow qi gives you more options. I¡¯ve never had a moment where I believed that having more options for ending my enemies was a bad thing.¡±


    Sen was hard-pressed to disagree with her without sounding like a complete fool. In his experience, victory was the goal. Any path he could stomach that would get him there was a good path. Plus, she had a point. He¡¯d always known he had a strong shadow affinity. He¡¯d even used it pretty regularly in the early days away from the mountain. Hells, Auntie Caihong had even made him that pill that seemed to enhance that affinity in some way. That he had neglected it in recent years was an oversight on his part. Any affinity could be a very useful tool in the right circumstances, but only if you knew what it could do.


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    On the other hand, he had been rather busy these last few years with trying to escape demonic cultivators and not die. He hadn¡¯t been overwhelmed with time to explore affinities that didn¡¯t seem to contribute to his immediate survival. Fire, lightning, and earth had become his go-to options because they did just that. Now, though, he did have the time. More importantly, he was being outright told to take that time. To fight against that because she had made a slightly disparaging but ultimately accurate observation about his other teachers would be¡­ Well, it would just be stupid on his part. A stupidity born of ego and misplaced loyalty. He had learned a great deal from Master Feng and Uncle Kho. Yet, their way wasn¡¯t the only way or even the best way in every situation.


    He expected that they would probably agree that he shouldn¡¯t ignore a practical tool. The fact that they had overlooked it probably had more to do with them trying to cram as much as they could teach him into his mind in the time they had. Looking back on it, he wished he had been less impatient. He wished he had been much less impatient. Given how much he had learned, how much more could he have learned if he had stayed for another five years or ten years? Part of him thought that he could go back, but it wouldn¡¯t be the same. He wasn¡¯t the same as he had been. They would welcome him with open arms, no doubt, and teach him if he asked them to. However, Sen intuitively understood that some window of opportunity had closed when he left the mountain. It took Fu Ruolan making an impatient noise to bring Sen out of his ruminations.


    Sen offered Fu Ruolan a bow. ¡°As you say.¡±


    She had gestured toward the door, and Sen took his cue to leave. Once he was outside, though, he found himself a bit at loose ends. He understood, in general, what she expected him to do. It was the details that eluded him. He wondered if he had become a little narrow of vision in his relentless pursuit of survival. He didn¡¯t think that his younger self would have found this task difficult to understand. Now that he thought about it, his younger self probably would have reveled in the freedom of the opportunity. He would have let his imagination run wild with possibilities. I need to recapture a bit of that mindset, he thought.


    It was sobering to realize that he had sacrificed some piece of himself in the drive to live. He¡¯d done it and not even realized it. He wasn¡¯t even certain what it was, just that it was gone or so deeply buried that he was having a very hard time finding it again. He supposed some of that was down to having done a lot of difficult living in a relatively short period of time. He¡¯d made a lot of hard choices in that time. So much of what had seemed so bright and wondrous about the world had lost its shine for him. Instead, Sen had started simplifying the world around him to make it easier to deal with. He¡¯d started dividing everything into opposing camps. Things that help me, and things that don¡¯t. People I trust, and people I don¡¯t.


    As with so many things, he¡¯d taken it too far. The world was more complicated than that. Someone who wasn¡¯t a trusted friend needn¡¯t be an enemy. Just because something didn¡¯t have immediate survival value didn¡¯t make it worthless. He could understand how he¡¯d gotten there. That mindset had even been necessary for him when everything was on the line and absolutely every second counted, but was everything on the line anymore? Sen still needed to complete the Five-Fold Body Transformation, but that was a perfectly achievable goal now. He wasn¡¯t being actively hunted by anyone that he knew about. In fact, his only real obligation was to Fu Ruolan. It hit him all at once that he was, for all intents and purposes, safe. It was okay to relax, even if it was only a little bit.


    Sure, there were probably people out there still trying to work out a way to use him or his reputation to their advantage. But he didn¡¯t really care about those people. He had passed through worse trials than telling people no. Beyond that, at the pace he was advancing, he would soon grow beyond the reach of almost anyone to force him into doing what they wanted. The people he cared about were largely beyond reach or swiftly growing powerful enough that it would take true powerhouses to threaten them. It was true. It was actually true. He wasn¡¯t in any real danger anymore. He had simply been in the crucible for so long that he hadn¡¯t recognized it when he came out the other side. He hadn¡¯t come out unscathed. Far from it. Yet, he had come through it. As Sen walked away from Fu Ruolan¡¯s home, he started to laugh. If that laugh sounded a little manic or hysterical, he was alright with it.


    Sen choked off that laughter as he approached the little grove of trees where he¡¯d left Liu Ai sleeping. She¡¯d apparently grown bored with her nap because he could hear her giggling. Sen came to an abrupt stop at what he saw. It seemed that Glimmer of Night had created a large, flat, tightly woven web of qi between several trees. Liu Ai was jumping up and down on the web. It seemed to flex slightly and rebound to send the girl higher into the air than it ought to. If the web hadn¡¯t been so big that the girl could only fall off of it if she tried, Sen might have been concerned. Plus, the spider was nearby, attentively watching the girl with his reflective black eyes. Again, it might have concerned Sen if the spider hadn¡¯t already proven several times that he wasn¡¯t going to hurt the child.


    The glee on Liu Ai¡¯s face was uncomplicated. Even if Sen knew that there would be more nightmares to come, and a shadow that would hang over the girl for a time, there was none of that now. All that existed for her was the simple joy of jumping up and down on that absurd web. She didn¡¯t need anything else in that moment. It was enough to be alive and having that experience, to simply be, and have it fill her world with happiness. Sen eventually walked over to Glimmer of Night, and they stood side by side, a pair of deadly sentinels to keep the uncaring world at bay for however long a little girl wanted to jump and laugh.

 V7 Chapter 8 – Breakfast and a Checkup

    Sen opened his eyes and looked down. A mop of disheveled black hair met his gaze. Liu Ai was using his chest as her bed, having come looking for him after another bad dream. He had still been awake, idly trying to make shapes out of shadow qi. He was taking Fu Ruolan¡¯s instruction to play with shadow qi quite literally. It wasn¡¯t coming as easily as he might like, but it felt like old instincts were stirring inside of him. He had heard Ai calling out in half-formed words for parents that would never come. That had been painful to hear. He remembered his time as a child and waking up on the edge of calling out for help, for parents he couldn¡¯t remember, for safety, only to bite back the words lest he draw attention. His initial reaction had been to go to her, but he forced himself not to. She hadn¡¯t been calling for him. He didn¡¯t want to wake her up from the dream, only to be the source of heartbreaking disappointment when she realized he wasn¡¯t her father.


    When she had stumbled out of the room he had made for her, though, he abandoned his shadow play. She¡¯d climbed into his lap and told him a disjointed tale of fear and death. He¡¯d gently rocked her, stroked her hair, and made soothing noises until she¡¯d quietly cried herself back to sleep. It was all he could think to do. Now, though, her breathing was calm and steady. Sen took that as a good sign that, for the moment, her sleep was untroubled. He could hear the sounds of the world waking up outside. His superhuman senses alerted him to the shift from night to day even through the thick walls of the galehouse. Sen carried Ai back to her room and gently settled her on the pile of blankets he¡¯d assembled in lieu of a traditional bed, something else he¡¯d added to the list of things she¡¯d need. She stirred briefly as he settled a blanket over her before settling down again.


    He let his mind go over what he needed to do that day as he started making breakfast. He needed to venture back to the town for several reasons. First of all, he needed to check on Falling Leaf and Laughing River. He didn¡¯t know if three days was enough for them to have made any progress, or even if the fox could help Falling Leaf transform back into her panther form, but it seemed like a bad idea to leave the fox unattended for any length of time. Then, there were all the things he needed to buy for Ai. He¡¯d made a list, and Fu Ruolan had added several things to it. He didn¡¯t question her additions. Sen was all too well aware that he didn¡¯t have the right personal experience to second guess what a child did or did not need. He¡¯d worn the same tattered robes for years, after all. It had been a relief to get a second opinion, even if he questioned whether Fu Ruolan was really in a better position to know.


    Finally, he needed to check on that man who had the tree fall on him. Sen was fairly confident that his elixirs would do the trick, but he hadn¡¯t made those elixirs specifically for the man. He also worried that he might have missed something. His senses were sharp, but injuries were tricky things. They could hide, just to kill someone who seemed like they should be fine. It was a small but real worry for anyone who dealt in healing. Plus, he was out of practice. He hadn¡¯t done much in the way of healing others since after that battle back in Inferno¡¯s Vale. While his alchemy skills had advanced by leaps and bounds, that wasn¡¯t a replacement for practice and experience. He pushed that thought aside. He¡¯d find out soon enough. There was no use in worrying over a problem that might not even exist.


    Sen felt Glimmer of Night walking toward the galehouse. Not caring to walk to the door, he opened it with a gesture and a rather complicated application of wind qi. He paused to consider what he¡¯d just done for a moment. A part of him was amused that he¡¯d used qi for something so utterly mundane. Yet, the complexity of what he¡¯d done and how much he¡¯d taken it for granted was telling. Using qi that way would have seemed very difficult not so many years ago. While he had become adept at using multiple kinds of qi, even using them at the same time, those had largely been big, destructive uses. Fine control was something that, according to Master Feng, was almost always the last thing to come to a cultivator. That was if it ever did. While Sen took subtle uses for granted in alchemy, that was something that he¡¯d never understood. It certainly wasn¡¯t under his full control. Shaking his head, he went back to setting out food on the table.


    The spider came in, eyed the door for a moment, then closed it behind him. He sat down at the table and just watched Sen. It probably would have unnerved most people to have the human-form spider study them so intently. Except, Sen had seen the spider study rocks, trees, and blades of grass with the same unwavering intensity. It was just how Glimmer of Night approached the world. He had also agreed to keep Ai entertained for the day while Sen took care of his various tasks in town. Sen had considered taking the girl with him, but he wasn¡¯t eager to expose her to Laughing River. He didn¡¯t think the fox would do anything to her, just that the fox would be himself and that was probably something the girl could do without. With the food ready, Sen turned to go get Ai, but she trudged out of her room with sleepy eyes and dragged a blanket along with her. She brightened up when she saw the spider. The blanket was abandoned as she ran over to the table and hopped up onto her chair. It was hers by virtue of Sen putting it on a raised section of the floor so she could reach the table more easily.


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    ¡°Good morning, Ai,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Morning, Sen. Morning, Glimmerite,¡± said the girl around a sudden yawn.


    Sen was still working out what kind of food the girl liked, so he served her a bit of rice porridge, some fruit, and a few other things. She ate like she hadn¡¯t seen food in a week, and filled in the silence with a story about a pretty bird she¡¯d seen the day before. Sen nodded along like it was new information, despite the fact that he¡¯d been the one to point out the bird to her. In the middle of her story, she gave Glimmer of Night a strange look.


    ¡°You¡¯re not hungry?¡±


    The spider seemed startled by the question. He glanced at Sen as if looking for help. Sen took pity on the spider.


    ¡°Glimmer of Night eats different things than we do,¡± said Sen. ¡°Of course, he can eat some of this too if he wants.¡±


    Seeming to take that as encouragement, Ai picked a piece of dragon fruit off her plate and held it out to the spider. Sen had to resist the urge to laugh as the spider hesitantly took the proffered food and then cautiously chewed on it. It was like he expected the mild fruit to taste terrible. That turned into a new game for Ai, as she grabbed one thing after another and handed them to the spider. Sen kept his mouth shut. The spider was going to have to learn how to say no all by himself. After breakfast, though, a mild crisis arose when Sen said he was going to be gone for the day. Ai immediately got teary-eyed and demanded to know where he was going. Then, of course, she wanted to go. Sen finally had to promise to take her next time before she would let go of his leg. He wondered if that had been karma coming back on him extra fast for laughing at Glimmer of Night in his head.


    When he got to town, he poked his head into the common room of the inn. He frowned when he didn¡¯t see Laughing River or Falling Leaf. He almost searched the inn with his spiritual sense before deciding that might be taking things a bit too far. Instead, he went to the house of the injured and knocked. He waited patiently until Du Fen opened the door. Her eyes went comically wide, then she went into a ridiculously deep bow.


    ¡°This Du Fen greets the honored cultivator,¡± said the woman.


    Sen heard a choked sound from inside the house and rushed steps as Wang Bo appeared next to his mother. He went into a deep bow.


    ¡°This Wang Bo greets the honored cultivator,¡± said the young man.


    ¡°Mistress Du Fen. Wang Bo,¡± said Sen. ¡°I have come to see the results of my elixirs.¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡± cried Wang Bo. ¡°Come in! Come in!¡±


    The young man gently urged his mother back into the house and waved Sen to enter. The fearful formality was already grating on Sen. Yet, he understood it, and so he endured it. Sen was a little surprised to find that the young man¡¯s father was still on the pallet by the stove. He¡¯d have expected the man to be up and about. Sen pondered it before realization hit him. No, he thought, he¡¯d be up now if he was a cultivator. Healing took a lot out of mortals. He could feel Du Fen and Wang Bo studying him with worried eyes. I should do something, he thought. He walked over to where the man was on the floor and crouched down. Sen made an overly dramatic flourish with a hand and laid it on the man¡¯s head. It was entirely unnecessary. He could probably have learned everything he needed to learn standing at the door. Yet, the playacting seemed to relieve the woman and her son.


    Sen was relieved to find that he had, indeed, been worrying about nothing. The elixirs had done their work. The man was essentially healed. At this point, rest was the best medicine. As long they kept feeding the man, he¡¯d probably be up and around in another day or two. Sen put on a thoughtful expression and nodded to himself before standing. He looked at the nervous pair who hovered a few feet away, their expressions shifting between apprehension and cautious hope.


    ¡°My elixirs have worked well. Give him another day or two of rest and food. I expect he¡¯ll be back to cutting down trees.¡±


    Du Fen slumped in relief as she gazed down at her husband. Wang Bo, on the other hand, stared at Sen warily. It was as though he expected something. Sen lifted an eyebrow at the young man, who immediately averted his gaze. Finally, after a very awkward pause, the young man spoke.


    ¡°What payment can this humble Wang Bo provide the honored cultivator?¡±


    Oh, thought Sen. He¡¯s still worried about that.


    ¡°I require no payment. This was¡ª¡± Sen forced himself to bite back the word that sprang to mind.


    No matter how trivial it might have seemed to him, Sen knew that it wasn¡¯t trivial to them. If the injured man had died, the young man might have been able to support his mother. On the other hand, he might not have been able to support her. All of that was before considering how hard the loss of a loved one might strike. He knew nothing of their circumstances. To say it was trivial would have been condescending. He could just imagine how it would look to them for him to treat it dismissively. He would be the image of the worst kind of young master. He chose his next words with great care.


    ¡°This was an excellent opportunity to see how well my elixirs work for a mortal. I am grateful that you allowed it,¡± he said, giving the pair a shallow bow.


    Wang Bo and Du Fen gave him stunned looks of incomprehension. Sen supposed it was better than the alternatives. He did his best to make excuses to leave, his work there done, but still found himself having tea with the grateful family. He reasoned that letting them show him hospitality would make them feel better about all of it like face had been saved. Plus, the tea wasn¡¯t bad.

 V7 Chapter 9 – Or I Will Do It for You

    It only took about an hour of wandering through the town for Sen to yearn for a place like Grandmother Lu¡¯s shop. A place where you could find a bit of everything, as long as it was meant for mortals to use. Instead, he had to ask where to find a tailor shop, only to be directed to the home of a very terse, very stern woman who told him in no uncertain terms that if she was going to make clothes for a child, she had to actually see the child. At which point, he was summarily dismissed with an admonition to acquire cloth for the clothes. It was sort of refreshing, if abrupt. From there, he had to track down a carpenter to make the bed, only to discover that man didn¡¯t deal with things like pads. On and on it went, with Sen crossing back and forth across the town a dozen times, only to get about a third of the things he had on his list.


    With the afternoon sun dipping toward the horizon, Sen finally went back to the inn. When Sen once more didn¡¯t find either Falling Leaf or Laughing River there, he walked toward the bar. The inn owner took one look at Sen and went very pale. Sen stepped up to the bar and placed his hand flat on top of it. He stared at the inn owner as he started putting pressure on the bar. The wood creaked ominously, which made the inn owner¡¯s eyes go very wide.


    ¡°Where is my friend?¡± asked Sen in a tone that he would never describe as murderous.


    ¡°She¡­ She left.¡±


    ¡°She left,¡± repeated Sen, putting a little more pressure on the wood beneath his hand. ¡°When did she leave?¡±


    ¡°Yesterday, honored cultivator.¡±


    ¡°Did she leave me a message?¡±


    The inn owner shook his head back and forth while his eyes never left Sen¡¯s hand.


    ¡°Did she say where she was going?¡±


    ¡°No, honored cultivator,¡± said the man, sweat streaming freely down his face.


    ¡°Did she leave with someone?¡±


    The inn owner nodded vigorously. ¡°She did! She left with that older man you were sitting with the day that¡­ The other day.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said Sen, lifting his hand from the bar.


    The inn owner sagged in relief. Sen didn¡¯t say anything else. He simply turned and walked out of the inn. As soon as he stepped out of the inn, his spiritual sense crashed down on the town like a force of nature. Nothing was hidden from him, which was how he knew that Falling Leaf was nowhere to be found. While he normally made a point not to do anything that made it too obvious he was a cultivator, all he could think about right then was that Falling Leaf had gone somewhere with the elder fox. A being with countless centuries of crafting illusions behind him. While Sen couldn¡¯t imagine why the fox had taken Falling Leaf and left, he had done it. With a burst of qi so powerful that all of the mortals in the town felt it, Sen vanished heading south at qinggong speeds.


    He let his spiritual sense expand around him to its full extent, spreading out miles in every direction. He could tell that it was infused with his anger by the way that every living thing within range froze as soon as it landed on them, only for those same things to flee blindly in terror before it. He¡¯d assumed that they went south because there was very little to the north of them. Yet, as the miles fell away in a blur, he became less and less certain. He didn¡¯t even notice that the sun had gone down until he finally stopped. Frustrated by the failure he turned around and headed back. His anger was an almost physical thing writhing around him and barely under control.


    He wondered what the hell Laughing River was playing at. What could the fox possibly hope to accomplish with this act? If it was just to infuriate Sen, then the fox had gotten that much done. It was all that Sen could do not to take the spatial treasure out of his storage ring and destroy it as a preemptive act of punishment. Even that was only forestalled by Sen¡¯s uncertainty about what destroying such a powerful treasure might do to the surrounding area. I could go to the sea and hurl it as far as my strength with allow, he thought. That would be a very long way indeed, and even Sen wouldn¡¯t truly know where it was after that, likely putting it beyond the fox¡¯s reach forever. The appeal of that idea almost made him turn east immediately.


    With the temper he was in and the thousands of spirit beasts he¡¯d slaughtered over the years, he expected that crossing through the wilds would likely prove as safe for him as simply traveling the roads. After all, what spirit beasts would dare to challenge him when he was in such an obviously wrathful state of mind? Spirit beasts could be brave, but they generally weren¡¯t suicidal unless they were worked up into a frenzy during a beast tide. As much as he might welcome such a challenge at the moment, and as much as he wanted to do something that would damage Laughing River, a tenuous thread of reason held him back. He didn¡¯t know what had happened yet. It was possible, maybe, that it was all innocent. It was also possible that the fox intended to leverage Falling Leaf¡¯s location to force the treasure out of Sen¡¯s hands. And he couldn¡¯t trade the treasure if he sank it to the bottom of the ocean miles from shore or smashed it to pieces. Those fragile threads of sanity left him with no other course than to return to the galehouse and wait.


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    Even as fast as he was moving, it still took time for him to get back. It was deep into the night when he was finally approaching Fu Ruolan¡¯s domain. Yet, before he could even sense it, a presence rose up out of the darkness to hold him back. He jerked to a halt, hand dropping to his jian, and cycling for lightning. Yet, after a moment, he released his cycling pattern and loosened his grip on the weapon. He''d been so startled by the appearance of the other presence that it took him a moment to recognize it as Fu Ruolan¡¯s. She rarely deployed it so aggressively. When she stepped out of a shadow, her face was as hard as Sen had ever seen it. Sen had witnessed the woman being erratic, frivolous, focused, contemplative, and studious. However, this was the first time that he truly saw her as the nascent soul cultivator that she was. The woman was imperious, commanding, and there was not so much as a hint of the eccentric in her. She fixed him in place with eyes that looked impossibly ancient and utterly without mercy.


    ¡°Calm your mind,¡± she ordered, the words slamming against his body and spirit like hammer blows. ¡°Or I will do it for you.¡±


    Sen was so stunned by the transformation in Fu Ruolan¡¯s demeanor that his mind went blank for several seconds as he tried to catch up. He did his best to shake off his shock and confusion. He gave her a quizzical look.


    ¡°What do you care?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I will not have you disrupt everything I have built here with an infantile temper tantrum,¡± she said, her expression not softening in the slightest. ¡°Then, there is the minor matter of the child. Would you prefer that I let you kill her with this outburst of yours?¡±


    Sen went rigid as he felt like someone had just poured ice into his soul. He hadn¡¯t even thought about Liu Ai. Someone that young would be utterly without defense against something like his anger-suffused presence. Fu Ruolan hadn¡¯t been hyperbolic in her assertion that he could kill a mortal child that way. It wasn¡¯t just possible but nearly certain that the combination of pressure and fear would simply stop the girl¡¯s heart in her chest. For all her chill imperiousness, Fu Ruolan had just saved him from the kind of mistake that Sen recognized that he would not have recovered from. It might not have shown immediately. If he had accidentally killed Ai, though, carrying that burden would have broken him. Utterly. Some people might have been able to live with it, but there would have been no coming back from that for him.


    Reigning in his anger was beyond difficult. It had been growing since he discovered that the damn nine-tail fox had taken his friend and gone on the gods knew where. Bit by bit, he clawed that nearly boundless fury back and compressed it until it was a white-hot coal in his chest. It wasn¡¯t gone. No, it most certainly wasn¡¯t gone. He had just tucked it away where it wouldn¡¯t hurt the wrong people. It could stay there until the right moment presented itself. Taking a deep breath, he gave Fu Ruolan a deep bow.


    ¡°I am indebted to you, Fu Ruolan.¡±


    He felt her presence recede into the background, and she sniffed in a way that was much more characteristic of her.


    ¡°Well, obviously. Now, explain yourself. You¡¯re usually much more self-contained. What brought this on?¡±


    ¡°It seems that Laughing River decided to wander off and take Falling Leaf with him.¡±


    Fu Ruolan lifted an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s a remarkably stupid thing for him to do. Which is strange, because he isn¡¯t usually stupid. Well, setting aside the whole ignoring his entire species thing. Doesn¡¯t he know you¡¯re Feng Ming¡¯s disciple? Does he want someone hunting him until the end of time?¡±


    ¡°I have no idea,¡± said Sen. ¡°All I can think of is that he¡¯s going to use her to blackmail me for the spatial treasure.¡±


    ¡°Weren¡¯t you going to give it to him anyway?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± said an exasperated Sen. ¡°Which is what makes all of this so bizarre.¡±


    The nascent soul cultivator gave him a dubious look.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t do anything drastic with that treasure, did you?


    ¡°Like what?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Fu Ruolan. ¡°Hurl it into space? Drop it into a volcano?¡±


    Sen felt a mild inclination to act offended that she¡¯d even suggest such a thing, but he couldn¡¯t bring himself to do it. He had been contemplating exactly such a thing. Instead, he just shook his head.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t. It was a close thing, but I didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s call that a victory for sanity. Come along. We can discuss the rest of this tomorrow. You should at least be there when the little one wakes up. She was all but inconsolable when you didn¡¯t come back. I think she thinks that you¡¯re dead.¡±


    Sen winced. It was hard to hear clear evidence that he hadn¡¯t done nearly enough thinking all day. But he could take a tiny bit of comfort in the knowledge that he hadn¡¯t done anything truly irrevocable.

 V7 Chapter 10 – Wisdom

    Mindful of Fu Ruolan¡¯s words, Sen relieved Glimmer of Night from watching over Liu Ai. Granted, it mostly involved telling the spider he didn¡¯t need to stand at the girl¡¯s door, but Sen found it relieving that she hadn¡¯t been left entirely alone. That thought sparked more than a little guilt. He was so used to being responsible only for himself, that he¡¯d fallen into that mindset immediately when he went searching for Falling Leaf and damned nine-tailed fox. Unlike Falling Leaf, Liu Ai couldn¡¯t take care of herself. He hadn¡¯t given it a single thought. He hadn¡¯t truly left her alone, but he couldn¡¯t simply expect Glimmer of Night to watch her all the time. The spider hadn¡¯t taken responsibility for her, after all. I can¡¯t run off like that anymore, thought Sen as watched the little girl sleeping for a moment. He was once more struck by how much bigger the scope of what he¡¯d taken on really was compared to what he¡¯d imagined.


    ¡°How was she?¡± Sen asked, turning his eyes away from the partially open door to the spider.


    The spider looked at him with that unreadable expression. ¡°Upset. Afraid.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°I owe you an apology. I shouldn¡¯t have left you here with her like that. It wasn¡¯t fair to either of you. I won¡¯t let it happen again.¡±


    The spider shrugged. ¡°The child is not offensive. Also, the nascent soul cultivator helped. She made food. Told stories.¡±


    That surprised Sen. He tried to imagine Fu Ruolan being comforting and found it more than a little difficult to picture. However, the spider¡¯s complete lack of incentive to lie gave the whole thing a certain air of truth. That meant Sen was doubly indebted to the woman for stepping in when he¡¯d failed so spectacularly. It wasn¡¯t a comfortable feeling. Sen eyed Glimmer of Night and wished he had a better sense of the spider. It wasn¡¯t as though they had made any kind of formal agreement or spent a lot of time together. Truth be told, Sen had thought the transformed spider would just wander off one day.


    ¡°I can¡¯t imagine this is what you expected when you came with me,¡± said Sen. ¡°I doubt it¡¯s what your Great Matriarch had in mind either. If you want to leave, I certainly won¡¯t hold it against you.¡±


    Glimmer of Night didn¡¯t respond immediately. He looked at Sen for a time. Then, he looked through the door at Ai.


    ¡°I will stay,¡± said the spider.


    Sen waited for some kind of elaboration that it became increasingly clear that the spider wasn¡¯t going to provide.


    ¡°Any particular reason why?¡± prompted Sen.


    That question was met with another protracted pause before Glimmer of Night finally said, ¡°I was sent to learn. I am learning.¡±


    ¡°About what?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Humans. Cultivation. You.¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s enough?¡±


    ¡°The Great Matriarch must believe it is, so I believe it is.¡±


    Sen thought that the spiders must have a very different relationship with their matriarch divine being than the one that humans had with their divine beings. He would have many doubts about the project if he¡¯d found himself in Glimmer of Night¡¯s position. He probably would have thought that some transcendent being was having a joke at his expense. The spider seemed perfectly content with his vague mission to seemingly tag along for Sen¡¯s misadventures. Given that spiders were hunters by nature, he¡¯d expected more aggression from his new companion. Yet, by all appearances, Glimmer of Night was at peace with the universe. I wish I was that comfortable with the state of things, thought Sen with more than a touch of envy.


    ¡°The Great Matriarch didn¡¯t explain what she expected you to learn?¡± asked Sen, his curiosity piqued.


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    ¡°She did not.¡±


    ¡°And that doesn¡¯t bother you? You didn¡¯t want to know why she told you to come with me?¡±


    Glimmer of Night tilted his head a little to one side in a gesture that Sen wanted to believe was confusion or thoughtfulness, but he just couldn¡¯t tell. The spider¡¯s answer didn¡¯t particularly shed any light on the subject either.


    ¡°You ask many questions.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to pry.¡±


    ¡°I mean humans. You ask many questions. The child asks many questions. The nascent soul cultivator asks many questions. It is as if you received no wisdom from your elders, as though you do not understand what you are. Spiders do not ask many questions. We know what we are. We receive wisdom from our elders. We trust that wisdom. The Great Matriarch says I am to learn. I don¡¯t ask why she wishes me to learn. Even if she told me, I have no faith that I would understand her reasons. I am untempered by time,¡± said the spider, before shaking his head. ¡°Young. You would say I am young. It is not for me to question the Great Matriarch. I simply trust that there is wisdom in what she asks of me. Before, you fought the corrupted beasts and angry spirits. You called down lightning touched by the heavens. Now, you learn of cultivation. You care for the child. I don¡¯t ask why you do these things. I simply trust that there is wisdom to be gleaned from it.¡±


    Sen had to work to keep his jaw from dropping. That was the most words he had ever heard come out of the spider¡¯s mouth at one time. There was also a lot in those words. More than Sen could hope to understand without taking some time and really thinking them through. It was clear that Glimmer of Night enjoyed a profoundly different view of things than Sen. Elder Bo had thoroughly shattered any ideas that Sen possessed of simply trusting that ¡°divine¡± guidance was a good thing. Then again, maybe the Great Matriarch was a more reliable source of advice and guidance than the turtle. Beyond that, even if Sen did trust divine guidance, he wasn¡¯t sure he could take that advice as unquestioningly as the spider. The problem in front of Sen was that he didn¡¯t know why the spider accepted things as they were. Was it a lack of curiosity? A lack of imagination? Or did the spider truly have such an unbreakable faith? Without that insight, he couldn¡¯t put most of what he¡¯d just heard into the proper context.


    ¡°I see,¡± said Sen when he felt the silence had dragged out for too long. ¡°I suppose we, humans, do struggle with knowing what we are. Although, I don¡¯t think you can blame our elders for that. It seems to me that most elders try to impart their wisdom. We just aren¡¯t always very good at listening to it.¡±


    ¡°That seems a sure path to destruction.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°I expect that¡¯s exactly what it is for many.¡±


    ¡°Then, why ignore wisdom that is freely offered?¡±


    What a question, thought Sen. Like I have any real idea. Still, he thought he should take a stab at it. If the Great Matriarch had sent the spider to learn from him, Sen supposed she must think he had something worthwhile to offer.


    ¡°Pride, I guess. It¡¯s easier to think that you¡¯re right than accept that someone else knows better. It¡¯s also in our nature to question and confront. Asking questions is a way to get information, but it¡¯s also a way to test our thoughts and ideas. The things other people tell us can shape how we see the world and how we understand truths. Not every person rejects the wisdom they receive. Of course, not every elder is truly wise. Everyone can be blind in some way.¡±


    ¡°Is that true of you? Are you blinded in some way?¡± asked Glimmer of Night, seeming truly curious for the first time.


    ¡°Me? Very much so. It happened today. I was blinded by anger at Laughing River. It made me forget that I had other responsibilities.¡±


    ¡°Will knowing this change what you do?¡±


    Sen actually let out a tired laugh at that question. ¡°If people were reasonable, it should and would change what I do. But people aren¡¯t always reasonable. Changing things about yourself is hard for humans. Emotions are¡­ Well, for humans, they¡¯re powerful and unpredictable. It¡¯s hard to see past them to the best course of action sometimes. Is that not the case for spiders?¡±


    The spider considered that question for a long time before shaking his head. ¡°We don¡¯t feel things this way. We have anger, fear, and even affection, but they rarely overwhelm us. To survive, to hunt, one must be calm and patient. When emotions overwhelm us, we become the prey of others instead of the hunters.¡±


    ¡°I guess that makes sense. Humans do tend to band together. It makes things a bit safer. It certainly lets us indulge our emotions more,¡± said Sen before hauling in his curiosity. ¡°You don¡¯t need to stay and talk with me if you¡¯d like to be alone or to sleep.¡±


    The spider didn¡¯t hesitate. ¡°I¡¯ll go. I wish to rest.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for watching over Ai for me. I appreciate it.¡±


    Glimmer of Night just nodded before disappearing out the door to return to his own little dwelling. Sen had helped him set it up when they first arrived. Sen would have just made another galehouse, but the spider wanted something smaller, round, and without rooms in it. It struck Sen as odd, but he raised it to make the requests. At some point, he might even ask the spider about it. In the meantime, he pulled a chair out of his storage ring and put it down near Liu Ai¡¯s door. That way, he¡¯d be one of the first things she saw when she got up in the morning.

 V7 Chapter 11 – Settling In

    Liu Ai was ecstatic when she saw Sen in the morning, jumping up into the chair to hug him as hard as her little arms would let her. That held up for about five minutes. Then, she remembered she was angry with him.


    ¡°You weren¡¯t here!¡± she accused, her eyes huge and brimming with unshed tears.


    Sen did his best to keep a straight face. It wasn¡¯t funny, exactly, but her unhappiness was so unfiltered and turned up so high that it almost became a parody of itself. The vague humor of the moment was neatly offset by Sen¡¯s stab of guilt. He nodded.


    ¡°I know. I should have come back sooner than I did. That was wrong of me, and I am sorry about that. I¡¯ll do my best to make sure it doesn¡¯t happen again.¡±


    Sen knew for a fact that he couldn¡¯t promise it would never happen again. A cultivator¡¯s life was too unpredictable for those kinds of vows, so he didn¡¯t make that mistake. The girl¡¯s face scrunched up a little in suspicion, as though she wasn¡¯t really convinced he meant it. She reluctantly nodded.


    ¡°Okay,¡± she said.


    Figuring that was as close to forgiveness as he was going to get, Sen set about making breakfast. Liu Ai followed him around and kept up a stream-of-consciousness commentary about what he was doing that was interspersed with stories about what she had done the day before. He nodded along and made an encouraging noise or exclamation of shock and wonder from time to time to let her know he was listening. He was genuinely startled the first time she said something about someone called Auntie Ru. The hand he was using to stir the rice porridge stopped moving for a second when he realized that she was talking about Fu Ruolan. Auntie Ru? He wondered if Ai simply couldn¡¯t say Ruolan or if the diminutive was what the nascent soul cultivator had told the girl to call her.


    Sen briefly considered using the name himself the next time he saw her. He imagined the stunned look on her face and smiled. A brief mental flash of the imperious version of the woman who had met him in the forest killed that idea in a hurry, though. The adorable little girl might get to call Fu Ruolan that, but Sen didn¡¯t think that the woman would find it nearly as charming if he did it. Not that she¡¯d necessarily do anything overt to him for it, but he expected she¡¯d find some more subtle way to punish him for overstepping those social bounds. No, he decided, better to not intentionally aggravate the teacher I¡¯m stuck with for years. Putting his attention back on Ai, he watched in fond amusement as she pretended a slice of orange was a bird that flew into her mouth.


    The rest of the morning passed in a strange state of distraction for Sen, which wasn¡¯t to say that it was entirely useless. His thoughts kept drifting back to where Falling Leaf might be and trying to figure out some explanation for Laughing River¡¯s behavior. He didn¡¯t get anywhere with those thoughts, but keeping Liu Ai entertained soaked up a lot of the mental energy he¡¯d normally use for brooding. They went for a walk, and Sen used the opportunity to make things out of shadows for her chase after. They didn¡¯t look like anything real. Instead, they were just vaguely animal-shaped blobs of darkness. But she seemed delighted by them. Laughing and running after them until she ¡°caught¡± and popped them like soap bubbles, which brought on more gales of laughter.


    When she seemed like she was getting tired, Sen decided she needed something more tangible to play with. It took a while to work it out, but Sen already knew he could fuse shadow with other things. He eventually managed to fuse shadow and air to make a ball that Ai could carry around, throw, or kick. It also had the added bonus that she couldn¡¯t lose it. Even if it fell into a stream and got carried away, which it did several times, or got kicked out into the forest beyond where Sen told her not to go, he could just call it back to them or make a new one. Sen wasn¡¯t sure if that was exactly what Fu Ruolan meant by playing around with shadow or not, but he thought it probably qualified as practice.


    They came across Glimmer of Night at one point. He was standing on a rock out in the middle of one of the wider streams, almost wide enough to qualify as a river. There was a web made of gossamer thin strands of qi floating around him. Sen couldn¡¯t quite figure out what the spider was up to other than some kind of practice. It certainly took a deft hand to keep something that complex under control. Without any kind of warning, part of the web plunged down into the water. It resurfaced a moment later. Sen¡¯s eyes bulged at the preposterously large fish that was caught in the web, its great body thrashing and heaving. Glimmer of Night looked at the fish for a moment before dissolving the web. The fish dropped back into the water with a splash. Little Ai squealed in glee.


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    ¡°Do it again!¡±


    The spider looked over at the little girl who was still clutching the shadow ball that Sen had made for her. Glimmer of Night hadn¡¯t given any sign that he was shocked to see them there and had presumably noticed them in his spiritual sense. He shrugged, and the web reformed around him with startling speed. Less than a minute later, another absurdly large fish was pulled from the water. Sen gave the stream a dubious look. Some fish were carnivorous. Fish as big as the ones the spider was catching could pose a danger to Ai. He¡¯d have to make sure she didn¡¯t wander too close to the water when she was alone. The appearance of the second fish brought on just as much joy as the first.


    ¡°Again! Again!¡± shouted Ai, jumping up and down in excitement.


    Glimmer of Night repeated the trick several more times before Sen finally put a stop to it.


    ¡°That¡¯s probably enough, Ai,¡± said Sen.


    She gave him a pouty look, then remembered she still had the shadow ball.


    ¡°Catch, Glimmerite!¡± she exclaimed and threw the ball with all her strength.


    It flew a mighty three or four feet before it started plunging toward the water, far short of the spider¡¯s position. A miniature version of the web burst into existence and captured the ball. The web snapped back to Glimmer of Night, who took hold of the ball and examined it curiously. He looked over at Sen.


    ¡°You made this?¡±


    ¡°It was easy enough once I figured out how to do it,¡± said Sen.


    Glimmer of Night held the ball up close to his face so he could get a better look at it. He nodded in seeming satisfaction at something he saw in the ball before he casually lobbed it back to Ai.


    ¡°Catch,¡± called the spider.


    The spider had good aim because Ai didn¡¯t really need to catch the ball. It practically dropped into her waiting, outstretched arms. She hugged the ball to her chest with a big smile on her face. Sen stopped her before she could try to engage the spider in an ongoing game. It was close to midday, after all.


    ¡°Let¡¯s leave Glimmer of Night alone,¡± he said gently. ¡°It¡¯s time for lunch.¡±


    It took a little cajoling to convince her that lunch was better than more games, but hunger won out in the end. The morning¡¯s activities and the food seemed to overwhelm the girl¡¯s youthful vigor because she almost fell asleep while she was eating. Sen carried her limp, yawning form to her bed. She was asleep before he even left the room. He stepped outside and took a deep breath. Keeping up with Ai wasn¡¯t physically demanding, but it did require a lot more mental engagement than Sen had expected. He¡¯d need to figure out things that she could do that would keep her mind engaged for a while. Sen left the door to the galehouse open so that he¡¯d hear it when Ai got up from her nap and decided to take advantage of the brief lull in his day. Drawing his jian, Sen worked his sword forms. He felt Glimmer of Night approach but didn¡¯t let it immediately interrupt his work. When he finished the form he was working through, he stopped and looked over at the spider.


    ¡°Is this what you mean to teach me?¡± asked the spider.


    ¡°Among other things,¡± said Sen. ¡°The basics, at least. I can teach you some spear basics as well. We¡¯ll cover some of both, and you can decide if you like one of them better.¡±


    ¡°Why would I need this?¡± asked the spider.


    ¡°Most cultivators use a weapon of some kind. It¡¯s not impossible to fight them without a weapon of your own, but it¡¯s much harder.¡±


    ¡°And how long did it take you to learn it?¡±


    ¡°Years,¡± said Sen. ¡°But it sounds like you¡¯ll be around for years. Might as well take advantage of that.¡±


    Glimmer of Night nodded in agreement. ¡°Will you teach the child these things?¡±


    Part of Sen rebelled at the idea of teaching Liu Ai how to fight. I¡¯ll fight anything that threatens her, thought Sen. She doesn¡¯t need to know how to do this. He let himself indulge in that blatant falsehood for a few seconds. Falling Leaf had been right, though. Even if Ai might never be a cultivator, she would have to live in the world, and Sen knew what kind of world it was. It didn¡¯t matter how much Sen loathed the very thought of Liu Ai ever needing to shed blood. She did need to know how to fight, at least against other mortals.


    ¡°I expect I will,¡± conceded Sen. ¡°Although, I¡¯m not expecting a lot of violence to find us here. Who would dare? I think teaching you both to read is probably more useful for the immediate future.¡±


    ¡°When will you begin this teaching?¡±


    ¡°Soon,¡± said Sen. ¡°I want to give Liu Ai a little while to feel a bit more secure here before I start putting demands on her. I remember how unsettled I felt when my master took me away from my home. I was a lot older than her when it happened. I understood what was being asked of me, and it was still overwhelming. Speaking of which, how are you finding it here?¡±


    ¡°I do not mind this place. I have a nest. There is plenty to eat in the forest. What more could I need?¡±


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true. Well, if you do need anything¡ª¡±


    Sen¡¯s words evaporated as his spiritual sense detected a familiar presence at the very outer limits of his range. Everything in him demanded that he leave immediately and race toward Falling Leaf. He resisted insistent demand by looking at the galehouse and reminding himself that Ai could wake up at any time. He¡¯d said he wouldn¡¯t just vanish again. It hadn¡¯t been an absolute commitment, but leaving now wasn¡¯t a necessary act. It was just what he wanted to do. She¡¯ll be here soon enough, he told himself. I can get answers then. He made himself focus on what he¡¯d been doing.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± said Sen. ¡°Like I was saying, if you do need anything let me know.¡±

 V7 Chapter 12 – Fox Deal

    Laughing River frowned as he thought about the ghost panther kit. While his transformation skills weren¡¯t the same as those used by other spirit beasts, he would have been willing to bet that he knew as much about the process as any spirit beast or cultivator alive. Yet, he hadn¡¯t been able to crack the mystery of why she couldn¡¯t change back into her original form. It was equal parts frustrating and intriguing. Every piece of knowledge he had gathered said she should be able to move back and forth freely with her beast core as advanced as it was. When she attempted the transformation with his guidance, it had certainly felt like the process started. However, it also felt like something intervened directly to prevent it from taking hold. Whatever that something was, he¡¯d never seen the like before. He couldn¡¯t figure out if she had employed some variant path to accomplish her original shift or if, as unlikely as it seemed, some power had helped it along but at a price.


    The kit had seemed disappointed by the failure. He couldn¡¯t rightly blame her for that. Being in a human form had its advantages. There was no question about that. It was hard to put a value on something like thumbs or passing unnoticed through cities. Despite those advantages, there was a deep comfort to be found in resuming one¡¯s original form. Laughing River rarely did it around others because he knew the effect it had, but even he would change back sometimes. It just felt right to have dirt, grass, and snow beneath one¡¯s paws. For all her understandable disappointment, Falling Leaf had come across as wholly unsurprised by the turn of events. It was as if she had known all along that it was a hopeless endeavor and went along only to humor that human boy.


    Laughing River paused at the word boy and shook his head. No, he thought. Boy is definitely not the right word for that being. After what he¡¯d seen Sen do, what he¡¯d seen him endure, he wasn¡¯t sure what word would be the right word to apply to him. He just knew that boy was a word that fundamentally failed to capture the reality. However, he knew that the ghost panther¡¯s transformation problem was going to vex him and vex him until he figured it out. He just feared that he wouldn¡¯t find the answer until after he ascended, at which point it wouldn¡¯t be any use to the kit. If there were any hard and fast rules to ascension, the only one he knew was that there was no coming back. Having waited far longer than he should to pursue his own ascension, he was uniquely qualified to understand just how unforgiving the world became to those who overstayed their welcome. He couldn¡¯t imagine that the situation would be more friendly to anyone who came back.


    There was still a little time left to him before things turned utterly catastrophic, though. At the very least, he needed to go and pay his people a visit. Set the history straight. There might also be a bit of ruthless assassination in there somewhere, as well, given the lies that people had been telling about him. He supposed that was his own fault. He¡¯d just felt so guilty after the slaughter of all those nine tail foxes who followed him to that cursed gathering. The idea of facing his people after that failure had seemed like too much. He could admit now that it had been a mistake. It would have been hard to do but not impossible. He¡¯d given himself the gift of a little bit of cowardice just to discover now that it was a gift covered in poison. At least he¡¯d learned about it soon enough to put some small pieces of it right.


    All he needed to do was collect that spatial treasure from Sen. He didn¡¯t expect that it would be too much trouble. He had held up his end of the agreement. He did wish he¡¯d been able to do more for the ghost panther, though. She wasn¡¯t happy in her human body, even if she¡¯d resigned herself to it. It was too bad, really. She was terribly fetching as a human. His granddaughter could learn a thing or two about shaping a human body from her. He had been harboring some vague hopes that she¡¯d succeed in capturing Sen¡¯s attention. Securing even a little bit of whatever freakish luck he had would be a profound boon for the nine tail bloodlines as a whole. Unfortunately, she¡¯d misread him. They both had. He had been too manipulative with Sen, while she had been too aggressive. Sen did appear less overtly hostile to Misty Peak. He seemed to regard her more as a nuisance than anything else. Not the most auspicious start but something that she could recover from if she worked at it.


    He looked up to see the serving girl setting food down at his table. He directed a smile at her that made the girl¡¯s ears go pink. Not that he¡¯d do anything about it. Some prey was simply too easy to catch. One had to maintain standards after all. He glanced around the common room. The inn owner had replaced most of the broken furniture from the fight, even if much of it was mismatched. Laughing River wondered if the man had gone from house to house buying whatever he could from the townspeople. He supposed that was a viable short-term solution. The motley assortment simply offended Laughing River¡¯s aesthetic sensibilities. He reminded himself again that this was a small, rural town, not a major city where nearly anything could be had at a moment¡¯s notice if you had the money. I cannot fathom why anyone would choose to live here, he thought. Fu Ruolan must have chosen this spot. It was the only explanation he could come up with for why they were there at all.


    He¡¯d eaten most of his food when he saw the door open. Sen walked in holding a darling little girl in one arm. She looked around with open curiosity and zero fear. Not that she needed to fear much with a protector like Judgment¡¯s Gale keeping an eye on her. Sen put the girl down, and she immediately walked over to the biggest, most grizzled man in the common room. She stared up at the man who gave her a startled glower.


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    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± she asked with a bright smile.


    Laughing River watched in rapt fascination as the little girl innocently leveraged the power of cuteness to charm a man who looked like life had beaten him mercilessly with the stick of hardship. The man remained silent and still for a few seconds before the hard lines in his face softened into a gruff smile.


    ¡°I¡¯m Dai Bao. What¡¯s your name, little one?¡±


    ¡°Liu Ai,¡± she said suddenly looking shy.


    Awe. That was what Laughing River was feeling right at that moment. It was undiluted awe at how effortlessly that little girl achieved what a nine tail fox had to work so hard to accomplish. Sen walked over and gave the girl a fond smile.


    ¡°Don¡¯t bother the man, Ai,¡± he told her.


    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s no bother at all,¡± said Dai Bao, casting a dark look around the room that promised dire consequences if he didn¡¯t like what he heard next. ¡°Is she?¡±


    There were hasty head shakes and a general exclamation that the little girl was joyously welcomed by all. The little girl, Liu Ai, giggled and then clambered up onto a chair at Dai Bao¡¯s table, earning another gruff smile from the man. Sen gave the scene a skeptical look before he seemed to decide, correctly in Laughing River¡¯s opinion, that Dai Bao would casually murder anyone who decided to bother his new friend.


    ¡°Are you hungry?¡± Sen asked the girl.


    She nodded enthusiastically at him.


    Sen turned an inquiring look at the gruff man. ¡°Do you mind if she sits here? I don¡¯t want her to trouble you.¡±


    ¡°No trouble at all,¡± said the man.


    Sen retrieved a snack for the girl from the very nervous inn owner and set it down in front of her.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be right over there if you need me for anything, okay?¡± Sen asked the girl.


    She nodded at him before turning her attention to Dai Bao.


    ¡°You want one?¡± she asked, holding out a piece of fruit.


    That¡¯s it, thought Laughing River as the gruff man took the fruit with a grandfatherly smile. She owns that man for life, now. Laughing River forgot all about the little girl right then because that was the moment when Sen focused on him. Every finely-honed instinct for danger that the fox had ever developed suddenly started screaming at him that bad things were incoming. He met Sen¡¯s eyes as the cultivator approached and started scrambling to understand what had changed. Laughing River had seen more warmth in a frozen lake. Not that he thought that Sen could actually beat him in a fight, but he was pretty sure the cultivator could injure him after that display against the horde. The only thing that kept the fox from deciding he was needed elsewhere was the conviction that Sen wouldn¡¯t start a violent confrontation with a child so close at hand.


    Sen sat down across from Laughing River and just stared with those cold, cold eyes for an uncomfortable number of heartbeats. Then, in an act that seemed to be happening almost against his will, Sen summoned a box from a storage ring and pushed it across the table. Laughing River eyed the box with more than usual caution. He didn¡¯t need to open the box to know that it was the treasure he needed. He didn¡¯t reach for it. Instead, he lifted an eyebrow at Sen.


    ¡°You seem rather out of sorts with me.¡±


    Sen''s expression didn¡¯t change at all. ¡°What gave it away?¡±


    ¡°The overwhelming impression I get that you¡¯d like to bury your jian in my eye. Dare I ask what prompted this change of heart?¡±


    ¡°You really don¡¯t know?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°You took my friend and left.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I took her away from the humans to practice.¡±


    ¡°You took my friend and left without bothering to provide so much as a clue about where you were going or when you might be back,¡± said Sen through clenched teeth.


    Laughing River realized, yet again, that he had misread Sen. He¡¯d assumed since they had an agreement in place, Sen would understand that he wouldn¡¯t do anything to jeopardize that deal. If nothing else, Laughing River had too much to lose if things went wrong. Of course, that all hinged on Sen trusting him to keep his word. That all fell apart if he assumed that Sen didn¡¯t trust him. Under those conditions, it would look incredibly suspect to just leave with his friend without providing a note or message of some kind.


    ¡°You clearly know I did everything I could to help your ghost panther friend.¡±


    ¡°I do know that which is why I¡¯m giving you the spatial treasure as agreed. But that¡¯s not really the point, is it? You could have done anything to her. You could have taken her somewhere dangerous or somewhere she couldn¡¯t escape. You could have tricked her into thinking that you were me, for a while at least.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that,¡± said Laughing River.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t do that. Given your history with me, I think saying wouldn¡¯t stretches credulity.¡±


    The fox almost fell into the trap of trying to defend himself, but he¡¯d been dealing with humans for a long, long time. The anger Sen was feeling was driven by very real fears, even if Laughing River didn¡¯t know the exact nature or source of those fears. Both anger and fear would fade with time as better sense eventually took hold. He had made a mistake. He just had to trust time to make that clear to Sen. Trying to convince him of anything now was a lost cause. Instead, he just nodded and took the spatial treasure.


    ¡°I¡¯ll leave you to your business,¡± said Laughing River.


    ¡°It would probably be best if we don¡¯t see each other for a while,¡± said Sen. ¡°Give my temper and my nerves some time to settle.¡±


    ¡°I expect the townspeople would appreciate us not destroying everything they¡¯ve worked to build here.¡±


    ¡°My thoughts as well. They don¡¯t deserve that.¡±


    ¡°Until I see you again,¡± said Laughing River.


    The fox left the inn immediately, not wanting to compound the problem he had inadvertently created. He¡¯d hoped that trying to help Falling Leaf would mend things a little, but it seemed that had been too much to hope for. Even so, Sen had handed over the treasure with no fuss. There would likely be time to fix things later. If there was one thing that ascended spirit beasts and cultivators had, it was time. Until the day arrived to have a more rational exchange, Laughing River would deal with his own people. There was plenty of work to be done on that front.

 V7 Chapter 13 – I Am Not Weak

    ¡°You¡¯re angry with me,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    Sen glanced over at the ghost panther, noting the unusually intense look in her eyes. He¡¯d known this conversation was coming. He just wished she¡¯d picked a more convenient time for it. Waiting until he was three feet in the air and balancing on a shaft of hardened shadow no wider than a finger was not, in his opinion, the ideal moment. Not that balancing was particularly difficult or that the fall would mean anything to him. The challenge was that he¡¯d just barely figured out how to make something out of pure shadow that was sturdy enough to support his weight and would last longer than a few seconds. It took nearly all of his concentration to maintain it. His slight glance and momentary loss of focus were enough to destabilize the whole thing. The construct burst into a puff of dispersing shadow qi, and Sen dropped lightly to the ground. He frowned down at a depression in the soil where the construct had been.


    It had been a week since Laughing River had gone off to wherever it was that nine tail foxes lived. Sen never bothered to ask where mostly because he was sure the elder fox would provide either no answer or would simply lie. He wasn¡¯t even sure he¡¯d blame the fox for lying about it. Sen had something of an earned, if somewhat unfair, reputation for killing spirit beasts in truly staggering numbers. He couldn¡¯t deny that he¡¯d done such things, but he could say that he¡¯d rarely gone looking for it. Laughing River couldn¡¯t be sure about any of that, though, and his people had already suffered one mass slaughter. It would be foolish to risk even the possibility of a second such occurrence.


    Sen turned his full attention toward Falling Leaf. Sen had worked hard to stay clear of the ghost panther since the elder fox¡¯s departure, and she knew it. It was equally clear that she didn¡¯t understand why he was staying away beyond the simple observation that he was angry.


    ¡°I am,¡± said Sen, ¡°but I¡¯m not. It¡¯s complicated.¡±


    ¡°Then, explain it to me.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know where you were.¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°You often don¡¯t know where I am. It¡¯s never been a problem before.¡±


    That much was true. Sen had always possessed a lot of faith in her ability to take care of herself either by eliminating problems or escaping them. She¡¯d often left for weeks at a time while he¡¯d been feverishly trying to master pill refining. He¡¯d never had so much as a moment of pause over that. This had been different. At least, it had felt different.


    ¡°Laughing River comes off as this nice old man, but he¡¯s dangerous.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± agreed Falling Leaf with a definitive nod. ¡°Of course, all nine tail are dangerous in their way. It has always been so.¡±


    ¡°But you aren¡¯t always with a very old, very powerful, very dangerous nine tail when I don¡¯t know where you are. Or where you went. Or when you¡¯d be back. I¡¯m angry because you didn¡¯t leave me any way to know if you were overdue, or in trouble, or even which direction to search in if you disappeared.¡±


    Falling Leaf studied Sen without saying anything for a long time. When she did finally speak, there was no malice or judgment in her words, but they landed like she¡¯d kicked him in the stomach.


    ¡°You mean like when you went to have sex with that sect matriarch in the capital and didn¡¯t bother to tell any of us where you were?¡±


    Sen opened his mouth but discovered he didn¡¯t have any words. He wanted to deny the comparison. He wanted to say that situation had been different. Except, he couldn¡¯t deny it. It hadn¡¯t been different. It felt different to him, but that was only because he¡¯d known the whole time that he was safe. Falling Leaf, Lo Meifeng, and Shi Ping hadn¡¯t known it. They¡¯d all been under threat then, and he¡¯d just up and vanished for days. He might have been dead, or captured, and they wouldn¡¯t have known. Sen¡¯s eyes narrowed. Had she set all of this up as some kind of lesson? Was this some bizarre, long-deferred act of petty revenge? That didn¡¯t seem like something Falling Leaf would do, but her words made it hard to judge.


    ¡°Do you do this on purpose? Was this meant to show me what it was like?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Falling Leaf. ¡°I was clear about my thoughts then. Trying to teach a lesson now would be pointless. There is a certain similarity, though.¡±


    Sen cast about for some appropriate response and only came up with, ¡°I see that.¡±


    Falling Leaf waited to see if Sen had more to offer before she continued.


    ¡°I thought the nine tail sincere in his efforts. I didn¡¯t see a reason to leave word. If I thought he was a danger to me, I never would have gone with him. Not willingly.¡±


    Sen had known all of this if he was being honest with himself. Falling Leaf might have only been a human for a few years, but she had lived for centuries as a ghost panther without him looking over her shoulder. She¡¯d survived the near-total destruction of her species. She had survived on Uncle Kho¡¯s mountain, and that was before Master Feng had pacified the most dangerous spirit beasts on it. Sen could dress his reactions up any way he wanted, but the source of his anger wasn¡¯t that mysterious. That only made him feel worse about how he¡¯d treated Laughing River, who had taken the brunt of Sen¡¯s misplaced emotions. It was just easier to be angry than to admit the facts to himself.


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    ¡°I was afraid for you,¡± admitted Sen.


    There it is, he thought. That unvarnished truth hung in the air between them, and Sen couldn¡¯t decide if he should have just kept his mouth shut. He hated feeling so exposed, even in front of Falling Leaf who had watched him crawling toward death more than once. Someone who had seen him nearly collapse from exhaustion after training too hard and too long. Someone who had watched him take enough blows from his teachers to bring an entire mortal army to its knees. Hate it or not, she deserved the truth from him. She¡¯d earned that a thousand times and more. Falling Leaf tilted her head a little to one side.


    ¡°Sometimes, I think you mad. Other times, I think that you are without fear. That you somehow seared your soul clean of it. The way you stand defiant before nascent soul cultivators, before tides of enemies, and even before death. Like nothing can truly touch you. Kill you, maybe, but never touch the things that define you,¡± said Falling Leaf. ¡°But that¡¯s only true when it comes to fear for yourself, isn¡¯t it? That is something you can face without flinching. Fear for others? That is something you have not mastered.¡±


    Something icy passed through Sen at her last words that made him shiver. He stared at her and felt translucent, like a pane of glass that she was peering through. His voice was quiet and tight when he finally mustered something to say.


    ¡°No,¡± he said. ¡°No, I have not.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t protect us all the time,¡± said Falling Leaf with affection and sympathy. ¡°You want to. You think you can, even though this is foolishness. Danger will find us all.¡±


    ¡°I understand that,¡± said Sen. ¡°You of all people know that I understand danger is an inescapable truth of life.¡±


    ¡°You understand this, but you refuse to accept it. Regardless of your wishes, the world isn¡¯t made for the weak,¡± said Falling Leaf, before her voice went as hard stone, ¡°and I am not weak.¡±


    ¡°I know that,¡± said Sen, finding a bit of fire inside himself.


    ¡°Do you?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    She was on him before Sen could say a word, and it was no friendly sparring match. He was so shocked that he didn¡¯t even try to block her first blow. He discovered what a colossal error that was when her fist crashed into his chest. He felt like he¡¯d been struck by a stone battering ram. The blow lifted him off his feet and sent him hurtling through the air. Just about the time he was getting his wits about him, he plowed into a rock that was jutting out of the ground. A few years earlier, that impact would have shattered bones and probably left him unconscious. Now, it was just miserably painful as the stone cracked beneath the impact. All of that training under the unyielding expectations of Master Feng kicked in. You can¡¯t stay down, thought Sen. That way lies death. He pushed himself up to his feet, ignoring the pain, the shock of the attack, and his own wild emotions.


    It seemed that Falling Leaf had not wasted time because she was there practically the moment he was upright. He had to lean out of the way as she swiped for his throat with claws made of shadow encasing the ends of her fingers. Those claws looked more solid and dense than anything Sen could currently make. Even as he felt a brief stab of envy at the sight of them, he also realized that she would have torn out his throat if he¡¯d been a second slower. The distraction of that realization cost him again as she landed a brutal knee strike to his ribs that sent him stumbling away. He didn¡¯t regain his feet. Instead, something wrapped around his ankle and jerked his leg out from beneath him. He landed facedown on the ground. Battle instincts started kicking in then, and Sen rolled to the side. Falling Leaf¡¯s foot slammed into the ground where his head had been, so close he felt the air move. He cycled for wind and used a burst of it to send himself sliding away from the seemingly enraged Falling Leaf.


    It wasn¡¯t a lot of breathing room, but it gave him the chance to regain his feet and set a stance. Fine, thought Sen. If she doesn¡¯t want to play nice, then we won¡¯t play nice. Yet, he discovered that was easier said than done. As fast and experienced as Sen was, Falling Leaf seemed to have no trouble anticipating his blows. She moved like, well, like a ghost. Every time Sen thought that he had her, she slipped out of the way and punished his hubris with a blow of her own or by raking shadow claws across whatever was convenient. Before he knew it, Sen was covered in blood that was leaking from dozens of shallow and not-so-shallow cuts. He could feel genuine anger bubbling away inside him, rising closer and closer to the surface, and threatening to erupt. He wasn¡¯t sure what he would do if that eruption arrived.


    ¡°Enough,¡± said Sen.


    Falling Leaf paused for a moment to look at him. With an almost sad look on her face, she shook her head.


    ¡°Not yet.¡±


    She resumed the assault instantly. Sen found himself paying less attention to the fight with Falling Leaf than to the fight going on inside of him. He fought to keep that anger pushed down. Yet, that split focus just meant that Falling Leaf savaged him even more brutally. When those shadow claws left five deep gouges across one of his cheeks, Sen lost the internal fight. A hundred restraints he¡¯d imposed on himself without even realizing it fell away. He slapped away two fast strikes on her part without even thinking about it before he landed a blow to her chest that sent her bouncing and tumbling across the ground. Sen stormed after her. He saw her shake her head a little, spit out a mouthful of blood, and then fix her gaze on him. There was something feral in her eyes and her expression.


    ¡°There you are,¡± she snarled.


    The dynamic of the fight changed after that. This time, it was Falling Leaf on the defensive, dodging, weaving, and occasionally diving out of the way of Sen¡¯s unrestrained strikes. It wasn¡¯t entirely one-sided either. With his anger largely unchecked, Sen made mistakes he wouldn¡¯t normally make. Falling Leaf punished every one of them without mercy. When his anger started to die down again and the insanity of what they were doing finally started to sink in, Sen drew back.


    ¡°Enough!¡± he roared, unconsciously infusing the word with qi.


    The world around them shuddered, and Falling Leaf stumbled back. She blinked several times and seemed to come back to herself from some other place. She spit out another mouthful of blood that landed on the ground with a bright red splash. She wiped her mouth with the back of a hand, winced, and then gave him an even look.


    ¡°I do not need your protection,¡± she said. ¡°Do you understand?¡±


    Sen nodded. He did understand.


    ¡°Good. Now, while I don¡¯t need your protection, I do need one of your healing elixirs,¡± said Falling Leaf and pressed a hand to her ribs. ¡°You hit very hard.¡±

 V7 Chapter 14 – A Beautiful Orchid

    Sen had a lot to think about when he took Liu Ai back to the town to get her new clothes. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that Ai had to poke his cheek to get his attention. He blinked and looked at her. He had a dim recollection that she might have asked him something.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± said Sen. ¡°What did you ask me?¡±


    ¡°Can I see Dai Bao?¡± asked Liu Ai.


    Sen had to rack his memory. Dai Bao? Then, he remembered the grizzled man at the inn that the little girl had somehow befriended. Sen had mixed feelings about her spending time with the man. He was quite sure that Dai Bao had decided that Ai was part of his extended family and wouldn¡¯t do anything to hurt her. On the other hand, he thought that she¡¯d be better served by spending more time with other children and less time with yet another adult. She was already getting plenty of time with adults of varying species. That was to say nothing of the abnormality of spending all of her time with cultivators and spirit beasts. He wanted her to at least get a few glimpses of normalcy. The thing that gave him pause was the question of whether or not he would recognize normalcy if he saw it. Sen ultimately caved. In the end, what was one more adult in the mix?


    ¡°After we get your clothes, we¡¯ll see if we can find him.¡±


    She beamed at him and hugged his neck, which made him feel decidedly warm and loved. Yeah, he thought, I¡¯m not a pushover. Not at all. He kept his focus on what he was doing until they got into town and knocked on the door of the stern woman who made clothes. She opened the door, gave Sen a decidedly neutral look, and then smiled at Ai. The woman ushered the little girl inside, leaving Sen to follow on his own and close the door behind them. Sen settled in a corner out of the way and summoned what he needed to make tea from a storage ring. He kept half an eye on what was happening, but his thoughts drifted back to the¡­ He wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted to call it a fight, a confrontation, or a very indirect discussion with Falling Leaf. There had been some surface talk, but that hadn¡¯t been the point she was trying to make. The discussion had never really been about protection. It had been about behavior and hypocrisy.


    He''d been angry and frustrated that Falling Leaf had gone off into what he had assumed was a dangerous situation without telling him anything about it. He¡¯d expected to be informed, but mostly because he¡¯d concluded that she was no match for Laughing River. And she wasn¡¯t. Of course, neither was he. All of which painted his reaction in a not particularly good light, because he¡¯d done similar things over and over and over again. He¡¯d gone off into the world and just expected everyone to accept that he would be fine. Even when he was traveling with others, he routinely went off by himself without a word to do things that could only be described as monumentally stupid and dangerous.


    He did those things and just expected people to go along with it because¡­ And that¡¯s where it all fell apart. Sure, he¡¯d survived those experiences but not because he was just that good. He might be just that lucky, but definitely not just that good. The cold truth was that he applied two sets of expectations to the world. He expected everyone else to treat him as though he was capable enough to handle any situation he might find himself in. An expectation that even he could recognize was patently absurd because it was patently untrue. However, he expected everyone else to recognize their limitations and keep him in the know when they exceeded them. All in the service of him being around to intervene if things went terribly wrong. Except, the people around him weren¡¯t incompetent. There might be a bit of power gap now between him and most of the people he¡¯d traveled with, but not enough of one that he could serve as a one-man rescue service in any situation. That was more in line with what Master Feng could bring to the table.


    The point Falling Leaf had been making wasn¡¯t that she never wanted his help or protection, but that she didn¡¯t want it on those terms. And I can¡¯t really blame her for that, thought Sen. It was condescending, and doubly so because of the kinds of out-of-his-depth solo risks he made a habit of taking. He couldn¡¯t have it both ways. He either needed to tell people what was going on the way he expected to be, or he needed to assume that his companions were capable of handling any situation in which they found themselves. Since option two was so wildly impractical, because almost no one was capable of that, he needed to stop treating his entire life like it was a solo venture. When he actually was off on his own or traveling with relative strangers, it was fine to behave that way because he owed them nothing. When with people he loved and respected, he owed them better than that. A woman¡¯s voice jarred him from his thoughts.


    ¡°Your daughter is very well-behaved,¡± said the stern woman.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Sen¡¯s eyes shot up to the woman from where he was sitting on the floor with the tea set. He gestured at an empty cup he¡¯d set out and the woman nodded. Sen poured her a cup of tea and rose to hand it to her.


    ¡°She¡¯s not my daughter,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°No?¡± asked the woman, her eyes narrowing a little. ¡°Sister?¡±


    ¡°Her parents were killed by bandits in a raid. I¡¯m just,¡± Sen hesitated, ¡°looking after her for now.¡±


    ¡°And why would you, a mighty cultivator, deign to look after a mortal child?¡± asked the woman.


    Sen did his best to push thoughts of the burned-out village from his mind.


    ¡°No one is born a cultivator,¡± said Sen. ¡°We all start out as mortals, and I happen to know from experience that life is very hard for an orphan child. I would spare her that.¡±


    Some complicated things happened to the woman¡¯s expression that Sen had trouble sorting out, but she finally settled on something that looked almost friendly.


    ¡°I suppose there are worse motives than that,¡± she said. ¡°I guess you wandering cultivators are a different breed.¡±


    ¡°Out of idle curiosity, how did you know I was a cultivator, and a wandering cultivator at that?¡±


    ¡°Everyone in the town knows. After you lifted a tree off a man and gave him elixirs, it was pretty obvious. To say nothing of what your wife did at the inn.¡±


    Sen reached up and rubbed at his eyes with his fingers. ¡°Why does everyone think she¡¯s my wife?¡±


    ¡°She isn¡¯t?¡± asked the surprised woman. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. That was just how everyone described her.¡±


    Sen waved it off. ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s not like that¡¯s the first time someone made the assumption.¡±


    The woman sipped her tea, although Sen got the impression that it was mostly meant to buy her some time to think. He didn¡¯t press the issue.


    ¡°Well, all of that aside, she¡¯s a well-behaved girl. You should encourage that,¡± said the woman.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best,¡± said Sen.


    Liu Ai spared Sen more awkward conversation by coming out from behind some folding panels. She was happily trying to adjust a robe and not doing a terribly good job of it. Sen set his cup down and went over to help her, gently tying the knots and settling the folds of blue and black fabric around her. She held out her arms to each side.


    ¡°I¡¯m a flower,¡± she announced.


    ¡°You certainly are,¡± agreed Sen. ¡°A beautiful orchid.¡±


    A look of hesitant uncertainty crossed the little girl¡¯s face. ¡°What¡¯s an orchid?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a very lovely flower,¡± said the woman from behind Sen.


    Reassured, Ai smiled at Sen. ¡°I¡¯m an orchid!¡±


    Before Sen could reply, he heard a dull roar from some kind of beast. Based on the way that Ai¡¯s head jerked and started swinging around, she heard it too. Sen had been keeping his spiritual sense reined in, mostly to limit the distractions in his world for a little while. At that noise, though, he let it spread out over the whole town. He heard several more roars at about the same time that he sensed the small pack of beasts on the far side of town. Not far from the home of that man he¡¯d helped before because, naturally, they would be there. Sen looked back at Ai and his first instinct was to sweep her up into his arms and carry her far from away from those beasts. He didn¡¯t get a chance to act on that instinct. The woman who had made Ai¡¯s new clothes grabbed his arm.


    ¡°You¡¯re a cultivator. Will you help us?¡± she pleaded.


    Sen wanted to slap her hand away and get on with taking Ai to safety, but he forced himself to calm down. This close to town, on a road, any spirit beasts were likely things he could handle without even really trying. He could keep Ai safe by simply going to where the spirit beasts were and cutting them down. It likely wouldn¡¯t even take that long if he put a little effort into it. However, he couldn¡¯t take her with him for that. No matter how confident he might be that could win, anything could happen in the heat of a fight. She could get hit by a stray bit of qi or die from a glancing blow that wouldn¡¯t even disrupt one of his punches. That meant leaving her somewhere with people he barely knew. More importantly, it meant leaving her with people he didn¡¯t trust could protect her if the worst happened. No, he thought, my priority has to be getting Ai somewhere safe. The woman clearly saw the decision in his eyes because she took hold of his arm with her other hand.


    ¡°Please,¡± she begged and looked at Ai. ¡°She isn¡¯t the only child here.¡±


    Damn it, thought Sen. Way to hit me where I¡¯m weak.


    ¡°What¡¯s that noise?¡± asked Ai, her eyes wide and glistening with unshed tears.


    ¡°There are some bad things outside the town,¡± said Sen.


    Ai¡¯s lip started to quiver and a tear slid down her cheek. Sen knew he¡¯d probably said the wrong thing. Sadly, he didn¡¯t know the right thing to say, so he just took a guess and went with it. He wiped the tear from her cheek and gave her a confident smile.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. They won¡¯t get you.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I am because I won¡¯t let them get you. I¡¯m an expert at dealing with monsters. But I need you to do something for me. I need you to help,¡± Sen glanced at the woman and tried to remember if he¡¯d ever asked her name, ¡°the pretty lady here to be brave. Can you do that? Can you help her be brave?¡±


    Ai looked from Sen to the woman. He could see that she wasn¡¯t sure about this whole thing, but she nodded at him. He put his hand on her shoulder and tried to ignore the roars that were growing louder and fiercer.


    ¡°That¡¯s my brave girl. You help her, and I¡¯ll go send those monsters running.¡±


    Sen shot the woman a look that communicated with utter clarity how violently upset he was going to be if anything at all happened to Ai. Then he was out the door, activating his qinggong technique, and all but flying through town.

 V7 Chapter 15 – Group Tactics

    It took longer than Sen would have liked to get to the battle because he had to keep dodging around panicked townspeople. Granted, it only added a few seconds to his journey, but he knew as well as any warrior that seconds could cost lives. However, when he arrived at the scene of the fight by the simple expedient of jumping over the town wall, he couldn¡¯t help but pause. He wondered, what in the hells are they doing? Some of the men from the town were out¡­ Sen thought the right phrase was probably defending their homes, but it only applied in the loosest sense. They weren¡¯t working together, except for one or two pairs of men. It was just a loose collection of people armed with shovels and pitchforks. Plus, they weren¡¯t even putting those farm implements to good use. They were just waving them at the spirit beasts, or occasionally thrusting them at the creatures. This had all the makings of a slaughter and not one that favored the humans.


    Sen turned his attention to the spirit beasts. He didn¡¯t recognize them, but the wilds always seemed to be throwing some new thing at humanity. They were long and thin, slung low to the ground, but they moved fast. They had the kind of liquid black eyes that were more common to rodents than other beasts. Their bodies were covered in soft brown fur. It was also clear that their teeth and claws were as sharp as one might expect from the number of bleeding wounds that Sen could see on the men. He also saw two limp, lifeless bodies that had been dragged back. It was yet another reminder, not that Sen particularly needed one, that life was precarious for the mortals. He eyed the spirit beasts. If the men out here fell, those things could probably go right over the wall. Once they got into the town, it would get very ugly, very fast.


    For all the threat that the spirit beasts posed to the townspeople, Sen was pretty sure he could wipe them out with one volley of wind blades. That would solve his problem, but it wouldn¡¯t do much to help the townspeople the next time something came looking to eat them all. He considered whether that was his problem. He had only agreed to help deal with the problem. He hadn¡¯t agreed to teach the people here basic group tactics. Of course, these people were also his neighbors for all intents and purposes. He got things here for Ai, and Falling Leaf had even bought some furniture here. Helping these people learn to defend themselves a little better was probably the neighborly thing to do. Sighing to himself a little, Sen strode forward and sent a half dozen small fireballs to drop between the humans and the spirit beasts. It was enough to make the spirit beasts back off a little but not enough to send them running. Sen took advantage of the pause in the fight to start barking orders the way he¡¯d seen some older city guards do when dealing with younger guards.


    ¡°Get into groups of three!¡± he bellowed. ¡°Two pitchforks, one shovel.¡±


    The men all stared at him in bewilderment. It wasn¡¯t until Dai Bao got involved that anything useful happened. The man glared around for a moment before he started bellowing.


    ¡°You heard the cultivator! Do it now!¡±


    Sen sent out another wave of small fireballs to keep the spirit beasts wary while the men shuffled and bumbled their way into small groups. He strode up to the group with Dai Bao and gave the man a nod. Then, he addressed the group.


    ¡°Use the pitchforks to harass and distract. Spirit beasts are living creatures. They don¡¯t like pain any more than you do,¡± he said holding out a hand toward a young man with a pitchfork.


    The young man, practically still a boy, stared at Sen until Dai Bao rolled his eyes.


    ¡°Give him the pitchfork, idiot.¡±


    The young man flushed in embarrassment but promptly handed over the pitchfork. Sen swiftly showed them how to hold it.


    ¡°One hand high up. You use this for force. The other hand lower down to guide the blow. Stab, don¡¯t shake,¡± he said demonstrating the motion. ¡°You¡¯re there to keep the keep the beasts off balance. Stab, then back off a step or two. Let the other people take their turns.¡±


    Sen handed the pitchfork back, sent a few more fireballs, and then held a hand out toward a man holding a shovel. The man handed it over without any prompting. Sen simply swung the shovel in a short arc.


    ¡°Blunt force. Hit them in the head. Nothing fancy. Wait until they''re distracted, then make your move. Work together!¡±


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Sen knew he was taking a risk with these men¡¯s lives by not simply killing the spirit beasts, but he wouldn¡¯t always be there to protect them. They had to learn or this town wouldn¡¯t survive. The groups moved forward, spaced a little too loosely, but it was the best Sen could do on short notice. The spirit beasts seemed to sense that Sen wasn¡¯t planning on taking an active hand, and they charged forward. The strategy almost fell apart immediately. The groups had no experience working together, so the men with the pitchforks frequently tried to distract the spirit beasts at the same time. Sen would surreptitiously send small wind blades as distractions when it looked like someone was about to get themselves killed. After a few back-and-forth exchanges with the huge rodent creatures, though, the townspeople started to figure out their timing. There was the metallic smell of blood in the air. Some of it human, some of it from the beasts, and all of it unpleasant.


    Sen heard a mild cheer from one group and focused there for a moment. The creature was lying still on the ground, but Sen¡¯s spiritual sense told him it was still alive. He flashed over with his qinggong technique. He glared at the men, who shrank back from that look.


    ¡°It¡¯s not over until you take off its head,¡± he growled. ¡°That thing is still alive.¡±


    The stunned men turned back to the creature that was starting to stir. They looked scared and wholly uncertain about what they should do. Sen decided that this was a teaching moment. He held out a hand to a bearded man with a shovel. The man gave it to him. Sen walked over to the beast, raised the shovel up over the beast¡¯s neck, and drove the sharpened edge of the shovel straight down. The creature¡¯s head flopped free in a spray of blood. One of the men with a pitchfork stumbled away and retched. The bearded man¡¯s lips thinned into a line, but he nodded in understanding. Sen gave him back the shovel. He hung back after that. In part, he wanted the townspeople to get some experience. In part, he was scanning the nearby forest with his spiritual sense. These creatures weren¡¯t acting the way he¡¯d expect experienced spirit beasts to act. They were more like, well, like that young man who hadn¡¯t realized he should give Sen the pitchfork.


    Sen was waiting for whatever had sent them this way to make an appearance. He didn¡¯t have to wait long before an ear-splitting roar shook the air and a similar spirit beast that was three times the size of the rest crashed out of the trees. The humans and the younger rodent creatures were all stunned motionless by the power of that roar. But Sen charged at it while sending red-tinged wind blades, the vermilion blades he¡¯d seen Li Yi Nuo use, flying out before him. The massive rodent beast roared again in anger and pain as those blades tore deep gouges into its long body. There was a swell of qi from the beast and vines shot out of the ground. Sen dodged, but three of the vines managed to bury themselves in his left leg. The sheer power of his momentum ripped the vines free from the ground, but he was stunned that they had managed to pierce his skin. He¡¯d caught blades swung by cultivators without getting a scratch.


    Worse, he could feel the vines still wriggling in his flesh, trying to find purchase. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem. However, there was still a massive rodent bearing down on him. He was shocked that anything this powerful had come near both civilization and Fu Ruolan¡¯s domain. He did his best to ignore the injured leg, although the vines were making it difficult to run. He hadn¡¯t planned on meeting the creature¡¯s charge head-on, but he¡¯d had an idea for a new blade technique in the back of his head for a while now. He supposed this was as good an opportunity as any to test it. If it failed, he could always just fall back on Heavens¡¯ Rebuke. Sen grasped the hilt of his jian and began channeling for earth qi, swiftly infusing the blade with it. He took a breath, focused, and drew the blade in a smooth motion. The blade followed an arc up toward the sky. As it went, the earth qi he¡¯d gathered was unleashed. A wall of stone as thin and sharp as a jian blade shot out of the ground. The massive spirit beast was split cleanly down the middle.


    The vines still embedded in Sen¡¯s leg stopped writhing, which was a relief because it was painful and more than a little creepy to have something alive moving inside of him. He formed a qi platform beneath his feet and used it to lift himself out of the way of the two pieces of the spirit beast that were sliding toward him. The two parts fell away to each side, exposing the interior of the beast. It was a bit much even for Sen¡¯s hardened stomach to see the organs and blood spilling out onto the ground. Instead, he turned back to the men who had been fighting the smaller beasts. The bearded man he¡¯d been with before had a stoic look on his face as he decapitated the last of the smaller beasts. Satisfied that the threat was over for now, Sen reached down and started ripping the vines out of his leg. He grimaced and told himself that he needed to change before Ai saw him again. He wasn¡¯t as covered in blood as he had been on many prior occasions, but there was more than enough on him to scare a small child.


    While he had the platform carry him back toward the men, he summoned a healing elixir and drank it. He let the platform drop to the ground and dismissed it before he looked around at the exhausted and injured men. He nodded at them.


    ¡°You did well,¡± he said. ¡°You should collect the beast cores and sell them. I¡¯d recommend investing some of that money in spears and halberds. They¡¯ll be more effective than farm implements the next time spirit beasts attack. Now, bring the wounded to me, and I¡¯ll see what I can do about speeding along your recoveries.¡±

 V7 Chapter 16 – Retrieve and Escape

    Sen tried to work as quickly as he could to help the injured, but things only grew more chaotic as people poured out of the gates. Some came looking to find loved ones, while others simply wanted to see what had happened. There were wails of grief over the two men who had died, but Sen had to steel himself against them. There was nothing he could do for those people except offer empty words he was certain they wouldn¡¯t want to hear. By the time he¡¯d finished dispensing what immediate aid he could, nearly two full hours had passed since he¡¯d left Liu Ai in the care of the seamstress. Despite the injuries and the grief, most of the townspeople were jubilant that the spirit beasts had been killed and so few had died. Sen waited until no one was paying him any particular attention to quite literally slip away in the shadows. He still wasn¡¯t anywhere close to performing whatever technique it was the Fu Ruolan had demonstrated, but he¡¯d become rapidly more proficient at manipulating shadows, both the ones he made and the ones around him.


    He made a point to stop, wreathe himself in darkness, and change out of his bloodied robes. He even took a few minutes to wash his face, hands, and arms. Satisfied that he¡¯d done what he could to not scare Ai, he started walking back. The was happy confusion in the town as everyone realized that the threat had passed, but the details hadn¡¯t spread yet. Sen wanted to be well away before they did. Not that he expected that this incident would particularly add to the legend of Judgment¡¯s Gale, but he didn¡¯t want to announce to the world that he was in the area. Even if there weren¡¯t ruthless, murderous cultivators actively searching for him, it didn¡¯t mean that there weren¡¯t cultivators and sects passively monitoring for news of his whereabouts. He didn¡¯t want those cultivators descending on these people and throwing their weight around like the bunch of arrogant, entitled cultivators they would no doubt be. No, it was better if he slipped away in the confusion. Besides, he hadn¡¯t done that much, except right at the very end.


    Let the townspeople claim this victory as their own and leave him out of it. Just some wandering cultivator who helped out a little and then went on his way. No reason for anyone to pay special attention to this place or these people. As Sen approached his destination, he came up short when he saw Ai happily talking with another little girl as the pair of them drew on the ground with sticks of chalk under the watchful eye of the seamstress. His cultivation-enhanced eyes let him see crude drawings of flowers and birds. He released a gentle sigh of relief. She¡¯d gotten a touch of normalcy after all. Sen just watched the girls for a few minutes before he walked over to the woman. She glanced at him, her eyes lingering on his robes.


    ¡°You changed,¡± she observed.


    ¡°The other robes weren¡¯t really fit for the eyes of children anymore,¡± he said.


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Too much blood.¡±


    ¡°Yours or the spirit beasts¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Some of both. Who is that other girl Ai is playing with?¡±


    ¡°My daughter,¡± said the seamstress.


    Sen gave the woman a longer look. There was love in her eyes as she watched her daughter. There was also pain there. There had been some kind of loss, not recently perhaps, but it still lingered. No wonder she¡¯d been so desperate to get me to help, thought Sen. She noticed his scrutiny and drew herself up a little. It was a subtle thing like she was wrapping a cloak of dignity around herself.


    ¡°What?¡± she asked, her stern sharpness returning.


    Sen very deliberately looked away and, rather than answer the question, he changed the subject.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe I ever asked your name,¡± he said.


    He could feel the look she directed at him, but he kept his eyes on the girls.


    ¡°Li Hua,¡± she answered in an almost reluctant tone.


    ¡°Lu Sen.¡±


    ¡°Is that the name you use when you don¡¯t want to use the name Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡±


    Sen closed his eyes and sighed. He hadn¡¯t been doing a lot to hide that he was that increasingly well-known folk hero. He¡¯d just hoped that no one in the town would figure it out quite this soon. It could make things inconvenient, or at least aggravating, if people started treating him like some kind of hero. The way most people already treated him as a cultivator was uncomfortable at best. Adding some kind of misplaced hero worship or heroic expectations on him would only lead to a lot of disappointment for them. As for the name, well, he had a simple enough answer to that.


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    ¡°No. It¡¯s just my name. That other person doesn¡¯t really exist.¡±


    ¡°You look real to me,¡± she said.


    He couldn¡¯t be sure, but Sen thought he caught the slightest trace of amusement in her tone.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled. I¡¯m entirely made up. Turn your back, and I¡¯ll vanish like smoke in a dream.¡±


    ¡°Can you¡ª¡± Li Hua hesitated. ¡°Can you really do that?¡±


    Sen went to deny the silly idea and then thought a little harder about it. Could I?


    ¡°Maybe,¡± he said. ¡°Probably not if anyone was paying close attention.¡±


    ¡°So, not all-powerful?¡±


    ¡°Not even remotely. Any cultivator who says otherwise is lying,¡± answered Sen. ¡°I think it¡¯s probably time for a quiet departure. Things are calming down at the gate.¡±


    ¡°How do you know that?¡±


    ¡°I can hear them,¡± said Sen as he walked over to collect Liu Ai.


    She noticed him and ran over, her eyes wide.


    ¡°Did you chase the monsters away?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I did, with some help,¡± said Sen, not feeling the tiniest bit guilty about the half-lie. ¡°But it is about time for us to head home. Otherwise, we¡¯ll never get there before dark.¡±


    The girl got a pouty look on her face. Ai wasn¡¯t generally a willful girl, but Sen had learned that she could get tired or cranky like anyone else. He wanted to cut that off before it turned into something ugly.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you show me what you were drawing?¡±


    Distracted by the task, she reached out, seized one of Sen¡¯s fingers in her hand, and pulled him over. She proudly pointed to a misshapen, vaguely flower-shaped creation and proclaimed it a beautiful orchid. Sen nodded gravely while the other girl awkwardly stared up at him, seemingly unsure what to do. He crouched down and spoke to Ai in a very loud whisper.


    ¡°Who is your friend?¡±


    ¡°Zhi,¡± said Ai. ¡°She drew birds.¡±


    Sen smiled at the other girl and made impressed noises at her bird drawings. They did at least have wings. That was close enough. Taking the opportunity, Sen scooped Ai up into his arms, making her giggle.


    ¡°Okay, we really do need to go now. Say goodbye to Zhi.¡±


    ¡°Bye!¡± shouted Ai as she waved furiously at the other girl.


    The other girl gave Sen a shy look before she waved back and said, ¡°Bye!¡±


    ¡°It was very nice to meet you, Zhi,¡± said Sen and glanced over at the seamstress. ¡°And you, Li Hua.¡±


    She lifted an eyebrow at him but offered a shallow bow. ¡°It was nice to meet you, honored cultivator.¡±


    Sen again thought that he caught the edges of amusement in the woman¡¯s voice, but it was just subtle enough that he couldn¡¯t be sure. He gave the woman a casual wave before he set out for the gate that didn¡¯t have half the town crowding around it. Once they cleared the town, Sen activated his qinggong technique and wrapped Ai up in protective layers of air. He¡¯d done it instinctively the other times he¡¯d carried her, and he assumed that Glimmer of Night must have done the same. Traveling at those speeds would normally be dangerous in the extreme for any mortal. Once he realized he was doing it, though, he¡¯d decided to take a more active hand in the process. Ai remained blissfully unaware of the situation, talking excitedly about her new friend and how much fun drawing was for the better part of an hour. After the excitement wore off, though, she grew quiet. Sen felt her head settle onto his shoulder and quiet snoring soon filled his ear.


    He let his mind drift back to that spirit beast attack. Something about it didn¡¯t sit well with him. After sorting through the experiences, he settled on the simple answer that the last spirit beast had been too powerful. The town was quite rural, but not so rural that spirit beasts powerful enough to injure him should be attacking. Sen was starting to think that Master Feng¡¯s ongoing interest in the odd spirit beast behavior over the last few years was worth investigating. Not that Sen himself shared a yearning to investigate the issue. He had more than enough to shoulder for the moment, and it had been a long time since he wasn¡¯t surrounded by deadly threats. A bit of time focusing was just what he needed. Not that Fu Ruolan would let him slack off. She might have told him to go and play around with shadow qi, but he had also sensed her lurking on occasion. Since he was relatively certain she could hide from him completely if she wished to, letting him sense her was a quiet reminder that he was there with a purpose.


    Of course, that didn¡¯t prevent him from contacting his master. I should write to him about the spirit beasts, thought Sen. In fact, I should write to all of them. He tried to remember how long it had been since he last spoke or wrote to Grandmother Lu and couldn¡¯t come up with an answer. That made the answer all too clear. It¡¯s been too long, he decided. He had acceptable reasons for the long silences, but he knew that particular missive was long, long overdue. Given all of his advancements and experiences since they last saw each other, he wondered if she¡¯d even recognize the person he¡¯d become. Then again, she¡¯d probably heard the stories. She¡¯d have some sense, however distorted, of what he had gone through. She was also a practical woman. She¡¯d probably had a far better idea of what he¡¯d face and what it would mean for him than he had the day he left Orchard¡¯s Reach. While a small part of him feared that she¡¯d be disappointed in him, the sensible part of him knew that wasn¡¯t likely. She¡¯d just be happy he was alive and not obviously evil. It was a low bar, perhaps, but not one he felt it wise to complain about.


    He nodded to himself. He¡¯d prepare letters and send them out the next time he had a reason to visit the town. It would start to get cold in a few months, so Ai would need warmer clothes before too long if nothing else. That would be the perfect opportunity.

 V7 Chapter 17 – Web Lesson

    ¡°How in the world do you maintain this?¡± asked Sen.


    He was staring at the qi web that stretched for hundreds of feet between widely spaced trees. Sen wasn¡¯t sure exactly why the spider had constructed such a thing, but that question took a distant second position to the how of it. Sen was no stranger to large-scale techniques. The difference was that he often relied on the internal momentum of the techniques to keep them active. After all, once a storm got moving, it didn¡¯t usually need much help to keep going. What Glimmer of Night had done was a completely different animal. There were thousands of individual qi strands involved. To rub a bit of salt in the wound, the spider was frowning at the web like he was more worried about some imperceptible flaw in the pattern than the impossible mental strain of keeping all those strands active and stable. Sen was used to doing difficult things. This beggared his imagination, though. The spider turned his attention away from the web to look at Sen.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°I mean how can you possibly divide your attention so many ways? All those strands. How does your mind hold up under the pressure?¡±


    The spider regarded Sen in contemplative silence before repeating himself. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean that I couldn¡¯t maintain a web a fraction this large, and it would take every last bit of my concentration to do it.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    Sen briefly thought that the spider was having a joke at his expense but dismissed the idea. Glimmer of Night sounded genuinely perplexed by what Sen was saying. He tried to think of a better way to explain it.


    ¡°I mean, assembling all of those individual strands and keeping them in place would be a huge task.¡±


    The spider tilted his head a little to one side. ¡°What kind of human madness would possess you to do it like that?¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t entirely sure how to respond to that question. He was sure that Glimmer of Night wasn¡¯t trying to insult him. There had been an almost horrified quality to the spider¡¯s voice, like he couldn¡¯t comprehend why anyone, not just Sen, would do things that way. On the other hand, it also seemed like the spider took it for granted that there was a better way and that everyone should know it. Sen didn¡¯t know how everyone was supposed to possess that knowledge, though.


    ¡°What other way is there?¡± Sen asked, still half-waiting for the spider to let him in on the joke.


    While he had gotten better at reading Glimmer of Night since the spider¡¯s transformation, it was by no means a perfected skill. There were moments, like the one Sen found himself stuck in right then, where the spider remained a wholly alien being. Again, Sen didn¡¯t believe that Glimmer of Night was intentionally being unreadable. It was just that whatever spiders normally did to convey their emotions didn¡¯t convert terribly well to the vaguely human form that the spider now inhabited. Sen¡¯s automatic response for gauging people¡¯s state of mind was to look at their faces and eyes. Glimmer of Night¡¯s face was usually an impassive mask. The spider¡¯s eyes were just black, liquid pools that conveyed nothing. After a moment of reflection, Sen reasoned that they¡¯d probably be downright unnerving for a mortal. He¡¯d simply faced down too many people and things that posed a literal threat to his survival to find strange eyes anything more than a curiosity. The spider must have come to the conclusion that Sen wasn¡¯t trying to be difficult.


    ¡°You hold the pattern in your mind and fill it with qi,¡± said Glimmer of Night. ¡°The web manifests from that mental pattern and largely sustains itself, as long as you maintain the mental image.¡±


    It was a remarkably concise answer to have left Sen with so many uncertainties. Sen gestured at the massive web.


    ¡°You¡¯re holding that pattern in your mind, right now?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said the spider, as though it were self-evident.


    ¡°You thought that up and can keep all the details straight?¡±


    ¡°Of course not,¡± said the spider. ¡°I didn¡¯t think this up in its entirety. I modified one of the inherited patterns, although this one is a failure.¡±


    Glimmer of Night glanced at the web, and the qi that made it up dispersed into the environment.


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    ¡°Inherited patterns?¡± asked Sen, certain that he was missing something crucial.


    The spider looked back at Sen and drew the obvious conclusion. ¡°You don¡¯t have those?¡±


    ¡°If I do, no one has ever made me aware of them.¡±


    ¡°That is unfortunate.¡±


    Sen waited for more information, but the spider just stood there looking at him.


    ¡°What are the inherited patterns? I mean, I get that they¡¯re web patterns that you somehow automatically know, but what are they for? What do they do other than let you make webs?¡±


    ¡°They let us understand, interpret, and influence the layers of reality,¡± said Glimmer of Night in such an offhand tone that the magnitude of the statement didn¡¯t fully sink in before the spider continued. ¡°They are, of course, simplified mechanisms based on the pure perfection that is the web of the Great Matriarch. Her web intersects with all truths and all universes. We, her children, are lesser beings. We cannot hope to withstand the knowledge and inherent power contained in the full reach and breadth of her web. In her benevolence, she gave us the inherited patterns, each of which touches on a single, lesser truth. By mastering each of the inherited patterns, we gain insight and grow in strength. Master them all, and we can begin to touch upon the greater truths and even, perhaps, receive instruction directly from the Great Matriarch.¡±


    Sen felt like he¡¯d taken a very hard blow to the head. He was dizzy and didn¡¯t trust that he had full control over his body. He was dimly aware that his mouth was hanging slightly open, which was probably making him look like an idiot. Yet, it was hard to focus on such mundane concerns with so many revelations dropped on him in short order. Laughing River had implied that there were other realities and dropped some hints about it, but Sen had sent him away before they ever really discussed it. Of course, he¡¯d also assumed that the elder nine tail was simply having fun at the expense of a young human cultivator because, after all, that¡¯s what nine tail foxes did. It seemed that all sapient spider spirit beasts took this piece of information for granted and even got knowledge imparted to them to help them understand and navigate that truth.


    Beyond that, it seemed that the Great Matriarch, a being that Sen was increasingly frightened of, had given her children the means to manipulate reality. That wasn¡¯t quite as mind-numbing, as Sen himself manipulated reality in some ways with qi. He was also aware of the fact that layers of reality existed. Fu Ruolan had made that much clear with her explanation of how the shadow walking technique worked. Yet, it seemed that manipulating those layers was a normal and expected part of a spider spirit beast¡¯s life. The implications of that left Sen feeling a little cold, given how many of the spiders he had butchered back on Mt. Solace. Was the Great Matriarch the kind of ascended being that took those kinds of slights personally? Would she hold a grudge? If she could manipulate the layers of reality, would Sen find himself stepping through a hole in the world to some terrible and lethal place? Oh, this is bad, thought Sen.


    Glimmer of Night continued. ¡°You truly don¡¯t have the inherited patterns?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± murmured Sen, his mind still back on all of the other things that spider had said.


    ¡°A pity,¡± said the spider. ¡°How are you ever to understand reality without such insights? The gap in your knowledge will only grow more profound if you ascend.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t even begin to have the context to understand what the spider was getting at. So, he just tossed out the first thing that came to mind.


    ¡°I¡¯ll just have to stumble through. I wouldn¡¯t be the first to do so.¡±


    ¡°I wonder why the Great Matriarch withheld them from you. Perhaps it is because you are not her children.¡±


    Sen shrugged at that. ¡°Perhaps she couldn¡¯t. It might have been forbidden.¡±


    He could feel the skepticism radiating off of the spider, which gave Sen a bit of insight into the spider¡¯s view of the world. As far as Glimmer of Night was concerned, the Great Matriarch sat at the pinnacle of power in the universe. Sen had doubts about that but didn¡¯t feel any pressing need to express those doubts. He didn¡¯t have any proof that the spider was wrong. It was just an intuition that things were more complicated than that. With his equilibrium returning, Sen recognized that most of what he¡¯d just learned wasn¡¯t something he had to explore immediately. He¡¯d need to think about it and ask more questions later, but he¡¯d had a purpose when he came over.


    ¡°So, you said that infuse the pattern in your mind with qi to make it manifest?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± agreed Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°How do you infuse something that only exists in your mind? I infuse objects with qi all the time, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever infused an idea with qi before.¡±


    ¡°You do it all the time,¡± said the spider.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°You do,¡± insisted Glimmer of Night. ¡°Every time you shape a technique. You structure the technique in your mind and fill it with qi.¡±


    Sen frowned. It was sort of true, but it also wasn¡¯t. Those things didn¡¯t happen in his mind. At least, he didn¡¯t see it that way. He fashioned his techniques out in the world. It was a complicated interplay of his qi, environmental qi, and mental manipulation of both. Granted, he could build techniques using nothing but his own qi if he ever found himself in a place devoid of environmental qi. Even then, he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d be doing what Glimmer of Night was describing. Maybe the spider was doing what Sen did and just didn¡¯t talk about it the same way.


    ¡°Could you show me?¡± asked Sen. ¡°Could you make a web? Just do it slowly so I can observe.¡±


    The spider nodded enthusiastically. Sen paid close attention to what happened with his spiritual sense. He felt Glimmer of Night¡¯s qi stirring, and then a web appeared. Sen frowned. The spider had definitely done something. Whatever he¡¯d done, though, it didn¡¯t involve constructing a technique that interacted with the environmental qi. Sen resigned himself to spending a long afternoon feeling like a novice again.


    ¡°Could you show me again?¡± asked Sen.

 V7 Chapter 18 – Focused Consideration

    It was both fortunate and unfortunate that Glimmer of Night loved making webs, at least in Sen¡¯s opinion. The spider had made dozens of them at Sen¡¯s request without a single complaint. If anything, he had seemed quite pleased with Sen¡¯s focused attention on the process. That meant there were ample opportunities to see how the webs were constructed. It also meant that there were ample opportunities for Sen to experience the true and magnificent depths of his failure to understand what the spider was doing. Glimmer of Night had tried to find other ways of explaining what he was doing, but even Sen could recognize that the problem was with his comprehension and not the explanation itself. He did consider the possibility that the sapient spiders as a whole were simply interacting with qi in a fundamentally different way than human cultivators.


    Even if they were using different methods, though, those methods shouldn¡¯t be out of reach for him. Spirit beasts still relied on cores and qi channels. Qi could come in lots of different types, but no one could make qi operate in ways that violated its basic nature. Even if Sen couldn¡¯t immediately see how it was done, the qi in the webs acted the way that he expected qi to act, even if he couldn¡¯t quite pin down what type of qi it was. It had qualities that reminded him of air qi, but there were other things mixed in with it. Types of qi that Sen was confident that he hadn¡¯t seen before. When he¡¯d asked Glimmer of Night about it, the spider had just shrugged and called it web qi. That struck Sen as a terribly specific and complex concept for qi, which was usually attuned to simpler and broader concepts, like air, fire, and shadow. Since he lacked a better name for it, Sen was left with little choice but to accept the one the spider had given for it.


    More importantly, he wasn¡¯t focused on the web qi itself. That was little more than an interesting cultivation puzzle that he¡¯d think about in spare moments for months or even years to come. He was intent on finding a way of manifesting shadow techniques like Glimmer of Night did with webs. Sen could solidify shadow qi. He could already imagine the disruption to entire groups of enemies if he hit them with a solidified shadow web. The technique wouldn¡¯t even need to last more than a few seconds to do its work. That kind of shadow web would have caused havoc with the horde of devilish spirit beasts back at the ruins. It¡¯s a good idea, thought Sen, if I can make it work. The problem was that he couldn¡¯t take the time to brute force it during a battle. If he could co-opt whatever method the spider used for the webs, though, near instant manifestation of shadow webs would prove hard to defend against in the middle of a fight.


    Good idea or not, though, he couldn¡¯t seem to make it work. Falling Leaf could tell he was fixating hard on something and offered to keep watch over Ai while he tried to sort it out. He¡¯d spent the last two days away from the galehouse in deep meditation that was only occasionally broken when he tried out some new idea to make it work. He¡¯d felt Fu Ruolan keeping an eye on him from a distance, but she didn¡¯t interrupt. It seemed that she was satisfied that he was putting full effort into the task. Sen was coming to the unhappy conclusion that full effort wasn¡¯t going to be the key to solving the problem. He needed some kind of nudge or insight that was eluding him. Frustrated with himself and the overall lack of progress, Sen turned his mind to the more obscure but equally compelling bit of information that Glimmer of Night had provided. That the inherited web patterns that the Great Matriarch had provided to all spider kind were some manner of roadmap to modifying reality or possibly accessing the layers of reality.


    There was more than a little overlap between that and what Fu Ruolan wanted him to do with shadow walking. Except, the spiders were taking it a lot further than mere shadow walking. What Sen couldn¡¯t figure out was why spiders didn¡¯t rule the universe if they could somehow change reality to suit their whims of needs. He¡¯d hesitated to press Glimmer of Night for more information because he had a few suspicions of his own. The simplest explanation was that the other gods, goddesses, and ascended beings had made it clear that they wouldn¡¯t tolerate such a situation. Another possibility was that there had already been a war of some kind over the matter and the Great Matriarch had come out on the losing side. Of course, it was equally possible that the spider divinity was working toward wholly inscrutable goals from utterly unfathomable principles that were well beyond the comprehension of a lowly core cultivator like Sen. Without a better sense of which explanation was true, Sen didn¡¯t see many advantages to asking the questions.


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    What he did wonder about was how those inherited patterns conferred knowledge and truths. Glimmer of Night was absolutely certain they did, so Sen believed they did as well. Sen considered that the inherited patterns might serve as a kind of spider code that served in the place of written language. The longer he thought about it, though, the less that felt right. No, whatever was happening there was touching on some deeper truths. He could feel it, the way he could feel vast powers moving behind the world if he concentrated just the right way. Not that he did that very often. There was insight to be gleaned by observing that world behind the world, but the risks to mind and soul were enormous while the benefits were in no way guaranteed. None of that stopped Sen from speculating about whether he could access the knowledge and truths in those patterns if he could see them. He doubted it, but he wasn¡¯t eager to neglect anything that would help him master shadow walking.


    He¡¯d have to broach the subject with Glimmer of Night. The good news was the spider was so direct that he¡¯d just tell Sen if it was forbidden. It seemed like there was a solid chance that was the situation given that the patterns seemed to form the central core of spider cultivation. Even so, just asking about it probably wouldn¡¯t cause any meaningful problems as long as he accepted whatever answer he got with good grace. Even if some people wouldn¡¯t believe it was so, Sen was capable of acting with some decorum. He just didn¡¯t meet a lot of people who warranted expending that kind of effort. With a start, Sen realized that he was rapidly drifting away from the reason he had taken up station away from everyone else. That probably meant it was time to head back or at least take a break and do something else.


    It was still a couple of hours until Ai would need her evening meal judging by the sun. Sen made one of the shadow balls that he used to help distract the little girl. He tossed it back and forth between his hands as he idly examined the trees around him. Most of them were old. Very old. So old that the lowest branches were dozens of feet above him. With nothing but bark on the trees down at ground level with him, Sen got an idea. He drew his arm back and threw the ball at one of the trees. It hit the trunk and bounced off at an angle. Sen let it dissipate and formed a new ball rather than chase the other one down. He spent a few minutes figuring out how to make the ball bounce back to him, but then it got boring. Thinking about how the first ball had bounced away, Sen started trying to work out how to make the ball bounce between two trees and come back to him. It took close to half an hour to make that happen. Sen felt it as Glimmer of Night approached, but he kept at his game.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± asked the spider.


    ¡°Taking a break. Having fun.¡±


    ¡°Alright, but what are you doing?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to make the ball bounce between several trees and then come back to me without actively influencing it.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said Glimmer of Night.


    The spider watched Sen¡¯s game for a while before he spoke up again.


    ¡°Can I try?¡± asked the spider.


    Sen gave Glimmer of Night a surprised look. He wouldn¡¯t have thought the spider went in for such trivial things, but maybe spiders had their own games. Sen handed over the ball and went to stand where the spider had been. Glimmer of Night took maybe six practice throws before he threw it hard enough to make the construct pop. Sen winced as the minor technique was broken, but the backlash was minimal. He gave his head a little shake, made another ball, and tossed it to the spider. The spider nodded, turned, and threw the ball. Sen was torn between outrage and amazement as the ball bounced between six trees before flying back to the spider¡¯s outstretched hand. Glimmer of Night paused for a moment before he adjusted his position slightly. Another throw resulted in the ball bouncing between eight trees before flying back to the spider.


    ¡°This is entertaining,¡± said the spider. ¡°The geometries are fascinating.¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯m starting to understand why so many people don¡¯t like me,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Why is that?¡± asked the spider in a tone of completely unfeigned innocence.


    ¡°I¡ª¡± Sen didn¡¯t have the heart to explain. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. Okay, so explain to me how you just did that.¡±

 V7 Chapter 19 – Sage Advice

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    ¡°Finally got tired of lurking?¡± asked Sen.


    Fu Ruolan¡¯s eyes went wide with outrage. ¡°I was not lurking!¡±


    ¡°Really? Because it looked a lot like lurking. Hovering just out of sight all of the time while watching me,¡± said Sen as he made a stupendous effort to keep a straight face.


    The nascent soul cultivator pointed at him and started to say something before her eyes narrowed. She slowly lowered her pointing finger and fixed him with a glare that promised vengeance.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t funny,¡± said Fu Ruolan in a very even tone.


    Sen couldn¡¯t help the smile that cracked his lips.


    ¡°I¡¯m a little funny.¡±


    ¡°Do you make a habit of taunting nascent soul cultivators? You know, that select group of individuals who actually can kill you.¡±


    Sen thought it over. ¡°On the whole, I¡¯m probably going to have to go with yes. It¡¯s not always taunting, but I definitely make a habit of defying them.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t anyone ever teach you manners? Or the basic order of things?¡±


    It was Sen¡¯s turn to give her a look. A look that said, are you really asking me, of all people, the orphaned street rat raised by three old monsters, those questions? They locked gazes for a moment before Fu Ruolan shook her head.


    ¡°Right,¡± she said. ¡°I forgot who I was talking to there for a second. Your master never knew his place either.¡±


    ¡°I get the impression that holds true for most people who make it to the nascent soul stage.¡±


    Fu Ruolan pursed her lips. ¡°That¡¯s true for wandering cultivators, as far as it goes. The part no one talks about is how many core cultivators get killed trying the same thing. Don¡¯t delude yourself. There is a real element of luck involved. Meet the wrong old monster, and they will kill you out of hand for too much insolence.¡±


    Sen couldn¡¯t really argue that point. First, he thought she was almost certainly right. Second, there was no advantage in thinking she was wrong. If anything, he¡¯d probably be well served to at least keep that warning in mind when dealing with nascent soul cultivators. He didn¡¯t tell himself that he¡¯d follow that advice because he knew himself too well by now. There was something in him that just couldn¡¯t accept it when someone assumed he owed them obedience because they¡¯d started out on the path of cultivation a little earlier than him. He could respect that someone was more powerful than him, be wary of it, but never subservient. It just wasn¡¯t in him. And there was the distinct possibility that sooner or later he¡¯d come across someone who wouldn¡¯t tolerate some lesser cultivator not being impressed with them and all they said. He¡¯d just have to hope that on that day, the gap between him and that person would prove smaller than they assumed. Sen nodded at Fu Ruolan to at least acknowledge that he¡¯d heard her words. She rolled her eyes.


    ¡°Not everyone is afraid of Feng Ming,¡± pressed Fu Ruolan. ¡°You can¡¯t assume that his reputation will get you out of every bad situation.¡±


    ¡°These days, I find that my reputation is often sufficient. I¡¯ll grant you that I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s a good thing, but it is definitely a thing. Besides, I try to avoid leaning on his reputation whenever humanly possible. I¡¯m not looking to bring trouble to his door,¡± said Sen before he directed a quizzical look at Fu Ruolan. ¡°Are they really people who aren¡¯t afraid of him?¡±


    ¡°There are.¡±


    ¡°Are their minds functioning properly?¡±


    Fu Ruolan hesitated at that before she said, ¡°Probably not, which is my point in a roundabout way. The kinds of people who don¡¯t fear him are also the kinds of people who will find your particular brand of disregard for them intolerable.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t control that,¡± said Sen. ¡°But I won¡¯t fake respect or obedience because someone else never developed a sense of self-worth.¡±


    ¡°How about self-preservation? A failure to develop that is an excellent way to die young.¡±


    ¡°I get the sense that you¡¯re worried about me for some reason. Are you expecting a visitor? Someone with no sense of humor and a terribly fragile ego?¡±


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ¡°No,¡± said Fu Ruolan with a visible shudder. ¡°I hate people. Especially visitors. But you will leave here very soon and once more inflict yourself on the wider world.¡±


    ¡°I still have a few years.¡±


    ¡°Like I said, very soon. I don¡¯t want to see my investment in you wasted because you never learned how to just do what you¡¯re told.¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯d learned how to just do what I was told, I¡¯d have long since ended up the whipping boy in some crappy sect or been sucked into a particularly creepy cult.¡±


    ¡°Oh please. That might have been the case when you first started out. Now, sects would fall all over themselves to have you join. They¡¯d bury you in resources, training, and probably all the sect princesses you wanted if they thought there was even a remote chance of getting you into the fold.¡±


    ¡°That would only last until they had a conversation with me and realized exactly how little I care about things like sect hierarchy and their absurd notions of honor,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Well, yes, obviously, but you could milk them for resources before they figured that out.¡±


    Sen gaped at the nascent soul cultivator. ¡°Are you suggesting that I play some kind of game with the sects to get natural treasures and cultivation manuals? Isn¡¯t that, I don¡¯t know, sort of dishonest if I know for sure that I¡¯m never going to actually join their sect?¡±


    Sen gaped even more when Fu Ruolan gave a disinterested shrug to his words.


    ¡°Do you really care about that?¡± she asked. ¡°I¡¯m not saying you should do that to every sect. Just ones that you don¡¯t particularly like. It¡¯s not like every sect is evil. There are some that you might not hate. There are even a few that you might benefit from joining. For a while at least.¡±


    ¡°No thanks,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Don¡¯t dismiss the possibility out of hand. Sects serve a function.¡±


    ¡°Auntie Caihong said the same thing. I don¡¯t see it, though. As near as I can tell, all sects do is breed unearned arrogance.¡±


    Fu Ruolan barked out a short laugh. ¡°Well, you¡¯re not entirely wrong on that score. Sects do excel at that. That isn¡¯t what I meant, though. The other thing that sects excel at is concentrating information and talent. For all that garbage about facing the heavens alone, most cultivators who reach the point of ascension get a lot of help along the way. Even your master, who has always charted his own course, benefited from lucky encounters and occasionally interacting with some sects. Joining the right sect as a visiting elder, which is what most sects would consider you at this point, gives you access to both of those things. It¡¯s worth exploring.¡±


    Sen did his best to push against his near-instantaneous rejection of the idea. He¡¯d had so many bad experiences with sects or at least their members that he struggled not to lump them all together in a big pile. Of course, at this point, he was fast-approaching if not already beyond the point where most sect members would willingly bother him. Even without his body cultivation, his spirit cultivation had evolved to somewhere around the late stage of core formation. He didn¡¯t think he was peak yet, but that extra-thick layer he¡¯d made during his last advancement had muddied the waters for him. Either way, only someone supremely skilled, supremely confident, or supremely stupid was likely to accost him at this point.


    That didn¡¯t exclude the potential situation of several core formation sect lackeys coming after him at the same time, but the odds of that kind of trouble had gone down a lot. His rapid advancements had simply outpaced the kinds of trouble that most wandering cultivators dealt with for centuries. Of course, he was still harboring a lot of mixed feelings about that rapid advancement. Every attempt to slow it down had met with dismal failure. Still, he did have a nascent soul cultivator right at hand to clear up at least one minor mystery in his life.


    ¡°In terms of core cultivators,¡± said Sen, ¡°where would you place my advancement? Late-stage core formation?¡±


    There was an uncomfortably long pause as Fu Ruolan studied him. ¡°Assuming that I knew absolutely nothing else at all about you, that is approximately where I would judge your advancement. Not that you have any business being at that stage of advancement given where you were when you left to see Elder Bo. You should have had to toil for decades to make that kind of jump. I¡¯m honestly still trying to decide whether it¡¯s hideously unfair that heavens just heap divine qi on you the way you described, or if it''s something that I should be deliriously happy isn¡¯t happening to me.¡±


    ¡°You should be happy,¡± replied Sen in a tone of abject weariness.


    Remembering all of that divine qi pouring into him and not being able to funnel it off to somewhere else, the sense that he might be ripped apart by it, was one of the things that woke him in cold sweats. He knew that other cultivators would kill and die for chances like that but only because they didn¡¯t truly grasp what it entailed. It was impossible to convey the overwhelming helplessness that came along with the heavens doing what they wanted to him and offering no chance of escaping it. He didn¡¯t have the words to explain how profoundly desperate he became in his attempts to find a path to survival only for them to be closed off one after the next. Sure, he¡¯d come out the other side of it stronger, arguably better, but it was just the latest in a long string of experiences that had scarred him in ways that didn¡¯t show on his skin. He would have immediately, unquestioningly, joyously traded that experience for decades of toiling toward advancement the way others did it. Sen did his best to mentally shrug off those memories and focus on the now.


    ¡°As for your advice about sects, I¡¯ll try to keep it in mind. Although, I like the idea of tricking them into giving me resources a lot better than the idea of joining one.¡±


    ¡°Do both,¡± said Fu Ruolan. ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°You did?!¡±


    ¡°Of course. You didn¡¯t think I filled that storage treasure with nothing but my own hard work, did you?¡±


    Sen gave her a sheepish look. ¡°Yes. I did think that.¡±


    ¡°There is such a thing as being too straightforward, Sen. A little subterfuge can go a long way in life. Now, you¡¯ve been distracting me into giving you sage advice for almost half an hour. It¡¯s time to get down to the actual business I came over here for. Tell me what you¡¯ve learned about shadows.¡±

 V7 Chapter 20 – That Isn’t How Learning Works

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    The order seemed odd to Sen. There was certainly a place for discussing things, but he¡¯d generally found it more effective to simply demonstrate his understanding than fumble through verbal explanations that only partially captured the true meaning of something. For him, cultivation was at least equal parts clear understanding and intuition. Much of what he did he accomplished because it felt right, not because he possessed some deep theoretical understanding of the topic. Adding to the oddness of Fu Ruolan¡¯s order for him to explain was that she knew this about him.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be easier for me to just show you?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to show me what you can do with shadows. I¡¯ve seen that already. Just as importantly, there is often a rather steep imbalance between what someone can do and what they know.¡±


    Sen had worried she would say something like that. He summoned a chair from a storage ring and sat down in it. He could feel his eyebrows trying to meet each other as he thought hard about how to answer the question. However, no amount of hard thinking was going to turn intuitions into information, at least not in the space of a conversation. He finally said the only thing he really felt he knew about shadows.


    ¡°They¡¯re fuzzy. So, they¡¯re malleable.¡±


    After ten seconds of waiting, during which the nascent soul cultivator grew visibly and increasingly impatient, she said, ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± answered Sen.


    ¡°After weeks of focused study of shadows, the best you¡¯ve got is that they¡¯re fuzzy, so they¡¯re malleable?¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯ve got.¡±


    ¡°But I know that you know more than that. You couldn¡¯t have done things like make those shadow balls you, the spider, and Liu Ai play with all the time if you didn¡¯t know more.¡±


    ¡°No. You would know more. I expect Auntie Caihong, Uncle Kho, and Master Feng would know more. In fact, I bet almost any other cultivator would know more. All I really know is that shadows are less fixed than other things, which makes shadow qi less fixed than other kinds of qi. Hence, they¡¯re more malleable. Everything beyond that, it¡¯s just intuitions and experimentation. Even when things do work, I don¡¯t know why they work most of the time. For example, I know that I can harden shadow to the point of physicality. But that¡¯s all I know. I only knew that much because I¡¯ve seen Falling Leaf do it. Even having done it, I couldn¡¯t explain why it works. I certainly couldn¡¯t teach someone else to do it.¡±


    ¡°So, you didn¡¯t condense and layer the intrinsic matrix?¡±


    Sen blinked. ¡°What¡¯s an intrinsic matr¡ª¡±


    The words trailed off as a flood of connections formed inside of Sen¡¯s mind. Disparate pieces of knowledge, information, and intuition were forged into a moment of clarity and understanding. Sen shot up out of his chair, spun away from Fu Ruolan, and threw out his hand in a gesture that was wholly unnecessary, yet felt right to him. A narrow tower of shadow slowly rose out of the ground. Over the course of a minute, it rose to nearly thirty feet tall. Sen felt a swell of pride as it loomed over them in all of its pitch-black glory. As he withdrew his active control of the qi, Sen crossed his arms and waited. The seconds felt like they were dragging by at one-tenth their normal speed, but he never let his eyes wander from the hasty construction.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± asked Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°I¡¯m waiting,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°For what? My patience to run out?¡±


    ¡°Just give it another ten seconds. Then, I¡¯ll know.¡±


    ¡°Fine.¡±


    Ten seconds later, Sen beamed at the tower that was still just sitting there. It didn¡¯t crumble or dissipate under the fury of daylight. It just endured. Still smiling, Sen returned to his chair and snapped his fingers. The tower puffed out of existence.


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen, ¡°I condensed and layered the intrinsic matrix.¡±


    Instead of saying anything, Fu Ruolan closed her hand into a fist and started pounding it against her forehead. Sen watched this display for a while before he couldn¡¯t take it anymore.


    ¡°Why are you doing that?¡± he demanded.


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to dislodge the memory of what I just saw.¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t sure how seriously he should take that statement.


    ¡°Okay. Why?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± asked Fu Ruolan, letting the fist drop away from her forehead. ¡°Because that isn¡¯t how learning works. You don¡¯t just hear a phrase and attain instant understanding.¡±


    ¡°That isn¡¯t what happened,¡± objected Sen.


    ¡°It¡¯s funny you should say that because it looked an awful like that¡¯s exactly what happened from over here.¡±


    ¡°It really didn¡¯t happen like that, though. I had some things half figured out, a few background guesses, but when you said intrinsic matrix, it brought it all together for me. But that wouldn¡¯t have happened if I hadn¡¯t spent the last few weeks trying things and failing at them a few hundred times. I never would have thought of it like that if you hadn¡¯t said something, though. Hey, do the other kinds of qi work like that as well?¡±


    Fu Ruolan immediately started pounding her own forehead again. Sen thought he should intervene, but he wasn¡¯t sure how.


    ¡°You should probably stop that. It can¡¯t be good for your brain. Plus, what if you knock some of that alchemy knowledge away?¡±


    That brought the nascent soul cultivator¡¯s self-abuse to an immediate end. She still didn¡¯t look happy, though. Sen kind of felt like it was his fault, but he didn¡¯t see anything he¡¯d actually done wrong. He¡¯d just had an insight. That seemed like something that most teachers ought to be happy about triggering. Minimally, she should be happy about it because he was confident that he¡¯d just taken a big step toward being able to do the shadow walking technique. Having thought it over, Sen concluded that this was a her problem and not a him problem. If she didn¡¯t like the way he achieved his understanding, there was basically nothing he could do about that. While Fu Ruolan dealt with her¡­ Sen didn¡¯t know what exactly it was she was dealing with. While she dealt with her issue, Sen had fun making stable objects out of shadow.


    He started with another chair. It felt strange when he sat down in it like it was there but not really there. Either way, it held his weight which was all he really asked from a chair. Next, he made a rope that was stretched taut between two trees. He made it so that was high enough that he had to jump up and catch it. He dangled there from the shadow rope for a while, just to see if it would maintain integrity. It felt like it would, but he dug a little deeper into what he now knew was called the intrinsic matrix. Even as he looked at it, Sen could tell that the rope was slowly breaking down. It might not evaporate in the next two minutes, but it wouldn¡¯t last for more than ten minutes. It was also getting progressively weaker as time went by. It seemed that even with the condensing and layering that shadow qi had firm limits on how long it could remain solid. He might be able to get a little more life out of it if he could condense the matrix a bit more or add additional layers, but only testing would answer that question.


    He was far more certain that adding layers of other kinds of stable qi would vastly improve the total life of the shadow objects. He expected that earth would work the best since it was the most stable qi type or the most stable he had any direct experience using. Plus, earth qi was simply less hostile to shadow qi than metal qi. It seemed entirely possible to make temporary structures that were nearly as strong as a galehouse, but that would break down naturally after a day or three. He could capture most of the benefits of a galehouse but leave minimal evidence behind. That could prove quite useful if he found himself in hostile territory. Given the heavens seemed to both love and hate him, that situation seemed like an almost foregone conclusion.


    For fast and dirty work, though, Sen thought that metal qi would still work the best. He could already see much-improved versions of his shadow-metal qi spears. Ones that might well last for hours, even as much as half a day, and would survive multiple uses. Something like that would have been extremely helpful when facing that horde. Even better, he could dissipate them right out of enemy hands if they grabbed them. As he considered the options, though, he knew that air qi and shadow qi were the most natural pairing. He could probably make one of those shadow balls for Ai that would hold up for a week or two. Maybe longer if he put it together the right way.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± asked Fu Ruolan.


    He''d been so lost in his own thoughts that Sen hadn¡¯t even noticed that he was still hanging from the shadow rope. He released his grip and dropped to the ground. He made a conscious effort to dispel the rope before addressing Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°I was just testing something.¡±


    ¡°Did you at least learn something useful?¡±


    ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°Care to share?¡±


    ¡°I think I can make a ball for Ai that will hold up better.¡±


    Fu Ruolan¡¯s lips twitched a few times like words were trying to force their way out. Then, she turned on her heel and stalked away. Sen stared at her retreating form in confusion.


    ¡°What?¡± Sen called out after her. ¡°She likes them!¡±

 V7 Chapter 21 – Writing Lesson

    Sen got the distinct impression over the next week or two that Fu Ruolan was actively avoiding him. Not that he necessarily minded that. It let him keep playing around with shadow qi and locking in his new understanding of the intrinsic matrix. He confirmed that all of the qi types he could access relied on the structure. He also learned that his approach to combining qi types was horrifyingly crude. Layering the different qi types provided an incredibly stable fusion. It also made doing things like crafting his shadow-metal spears feel almost effortless compared with how he used to do it. Knowing what he knew now, it wasn¡¯t shocking that his approach of simply mashing the qi types together and binding them through brute force and willpower was so strenuous. He¡¯d been working against the natural order of things, rather than with them.


    Of course, just because something was easier didn¡¯t make it automatic. He was quite certain that it was going to take time to make layering the qi types an instinctive action. He¡¯d probably fall back on mashing things together for quite some time. He also hadn¡¯t tested how this newfound insight did or did not impact techniques like Heavens¡¯ Rebuke and Heavens¡¯ Shadow. The former was too wildly destructive to the material world to test near anything he cared about. The latter was so dangerous to the mind and soul that he didn¡¯t plan on using it within miles of another human being that he didn¡¯t know, without doubt, was irredeemably evil. He damn sure wasn¡¯t going to mess around with something that caused such instinctive revulsion in him near Liu Ai.


    Fu Ruolan avoiding him also came with the side benefit that Sen could take more breaks than he should to go and play with Ai. She had been overjoyed to discover that the balls he made her now would last overnight. She¡¯d been taking one to sleep with her every night. He¡¯d had some doubts about how good of an idea that was, but he couldn¡¯t actually think of a specific reason other than it had been on the ground. Its basic nature meant that nothing stuck to it, so it wasn¡¯t as though she was dragging dirt to bed with her. She also seemed to have fewer bad dreams when she had the ball with her. Sen didn¡¯t understand minds especially well, but he had a hard time seeing fewer violent nightmares as a bad thing. If the ball gave her comfort, he was willing to let the minor oddness of it pass without comment. Falling Leaf hadn¡¯t batted an eye at it, but she probably wouldn¡¯t have batted an eye if the little girl wanted to take a sword to bed with her at night.


    However, as much as he was enjoying being more or less unwatched by his strange and occasionally unsettling teacher, he wondered about her absence. The woman seemed very restrained around Ai, and her interactions with Falling Leaf were primarily combat instruction. When she had to interact with Sen on something like a personal level, though, he often got the feeling that she was forcing herself to do it. Almost like the action taxed her mind on some basic level. He wondered if that was why she¡¯d taken to lurking in the first place. She could keep an eye on him and his progress but avoid those conversations she didn¡¯t like. Sen shook his head. He was just guessing and had no plans to ask her about it. If he was wrong, he¡¯d look like a fool and run the risk of truly offending her. If he was right, then that conversation would just be a mental and emotional strain for Fu Ruolan. In short, there was no benefit to pressing the issue. She¡¯d come back around when she did. In the meantime, he would do something that he¡¯d been meaning to do for a while.


    He sat down at the table where they all usually ate and pulled out the writing kit that Auntie Caihong had given him. It had gotten a lot less use than either he or she probably thought it would over the years. He finished with the inkstone and opened a clean scroll. He dipped the brush into the ink, gathered his thoughts for a moment, and started writing.


    Auntie Caihong,


    You¡¯ll be pleased to know that I¡¯m using the writing kit you gave me. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware by now that I found Fu Ruolan and accessed the manual I needed.


    While Sen provided a brief overview of the events that had transpired since they last saw each other, Ai and Glimmer of Night came into the galehouse. She had convinced him to make webs for her to jump on, and they had been at that for hours. It seemed that she¡¯d grown tired of the game, but was immediately intrigued by what Sen was doing. She rushed to the table and peeked over the edge at the scroll.


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    ¡°What are you doing?¡± she asked, transfixed by the motion of the brush.


    ¡°I¡¯m writing to my auntie,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°You have an auntie?¡± she asked, momentarily shifting her eyes to him.


    ¡°I do, but she lives very far away. So, I¡¯m writing this to tell her about what I¡¯ve been doing. I¡¯m writing about you right now.¡±


    Ai looked at him with big, curious eyes, before she climbed up into his lap to get a better look at the scroll.


    ¡°Where?¡± she asked, leaning forward to stare at the scroll from mere inches away.


    Sen carefully put down the brush and pointed to the characters for her name. ¡°That right there is your name.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen, and pointed to another part of the scroll. ¡°That¡¯s how you write Glimmer of Night¡¯s name.¡±


    ¡°Glimmerite!¡± she shouted, almost vibrating with excitement. ¡°Come look! Come look! Come look!¡±


    The spider, who had been hovering nearby, quickly closed the distance. His gaze locked onto the spot where Sen was pointing.


    ¡°That¡¯s your name!¡± she said, pointing at where Sen was pointing before moving her finger. ¡°That¡¯s my name!¡±


    ¡°Would you like to learn how to write your name?¡± Sen asked.


    The little girl¡¯s eyes went huge. ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Well then, I¡¯ll teach you.¡±


    Sen carefully set aside the nearly complete letter he¡¯d written to spare it from any accidents. He summoned another blank scroll from his ring and unrolled it.


    ¡°Okay, watch closely while I write your name,¡± said Sen.


    She nodded and barely blinked as Sen picked up the brush and dipped it. He made a point to exaggerate the characters and make them much bigger than he would in a scroll. He figured that just getting the basic shapes down would be more than enough for this first, impromptu lesson. Sen dipped the brush again and then showed Ai how to hold it. The brush was really too big for her small hands. Sen made a mental note to ask around and see if everyone learned with the full-size brush or if they had smaller ones for children. He watched as she applied the brush to the scroll and the inevitable disaster of smeared ink occurred. Sen let her try a few more times but intervened before mild frustration escalated into angry frustration and turned her against the idea of writing altogether.


    ¡°Is it okay if I help a little?¡± asked Sen.


    Ai looked up at him, her eyes filled with absolute trust, and nodded. It took Sen a moment to slow his racing heart. No one had ever looked at him that way before. He¡¯d seen trust before, of course, but never that kind of blind certainty that someone was safe with him. It was a kind of trust that couldn¡¯t be failed because it could never, ever be regained once lost. Sen didn¡¯t know how he knew it, but he knew it to his bones. He reached out and had to take a moment to still his shaking hand. Only after he¡¯d reclaimed control did he gently wrap his hand around Ai¡¯s. He remembered the way that Uncle Kho had guided his hand when Sen was trying to learn how to read and write. He did his best to mimic that gentle teaching. It wasn¡¯t any kind of automatic success, nor did he expect it to be. But Ai picked up fast on the big things, like not putting too much pressure on the brush.


    It took a while, but she eventually managed to write something that could charitably be described as her name. Sen congratulated her for writing her name, but he praised her outrageously for not giving up. Sen had learned a lot about cultivation, but he¡¯d learned a lot of hard lessons about life before that. Possibly the most important lesson he¡¯d taken away from both things was that enough perseverance could carry you through most challenges. If she never learned anything else from him, that was something he wanted to give her. She smiled and covered her face in something that wasn¡¯t quite embarrassment. She stayed in his lap and watched him finish writing his letter to Auntie Caihong.


    ¡°Do you want to put your name on it, too?¡± asked Sen.


    She gave him a shy smile and nodded. Sen dipped the brush and handed it to her. He worked hard to keep a serious expression as her little face scrunched up into a look of fierce concentration. Her tongue was sticking out a little and caught between her teeth. She worked with agonizing slowness. When she was done, though, a shaky, wobbly version of her name was on the scroll. Sen gently took the brush and then gave the girl a hug. She laughed and giggled before hopping down to the floor. Sen looked over to Glimmer of Night. The spider had stood and watched silently.


    ¡°Were you paying attention?¡± Sen asked.


    ¡°I was.¡±


    ¡°Good. Because you get to try tomorrow.¡±

 V7 Chapter 22 – It Hurts My Soul

    Sen stared at the eager face of the young man. While only a handful of years separated them, Sen couldn¡¯t help the question that sprang to his mind. Was I ever that young? Whatever a calendar might say, Sen was quite certain that a massive canyon filled with experience stood between them. It was only the fact that he was acquainted with the Wang Bo that had kept him from simply ordering the young man to go away and leave him alone. Sen had barely set foot in town before people started accosting him. They were kind enough about it. Coming up and thanking him for helping them with the spirit beasts. But Sen was getting tired of smiling and nodding and assuring everyone that he didn¡¯t need tea¡­ Or food¡­ Or a wife. He had been particularly gentle with that last refusal since he could see the young woman in question hovering nervously in the background behind her father. No need to make her feel bad. Still, it all grew very tiresome, very quickly. When Wang Bo had come sprinting up to him, though, Sen was starting to wonder if he¡¯d ever actually get to the shops.


    ¡°Please, Master Cultivator,¡± said Wang Bo. ¡°You must come and see.¡±


    Taking a steadying breath, Sen gestured for the young man to lead the way. It would, no doubt, prove easier and faster to just go and look at whatever had the young man in such an excitable mood. Perhaps there was some other threat that required immediate action or an injured person beyond the aid of the local healers. Sen was feeling impatient with the situation, but he didn¡¯t want to let his impatience make a bad choice for him. So, he followed and made a noise now and then while the young man filled the air with words. So. Many. Words. He retreated into a semi-meditative state to withstand the verbal deluge, already wishing that he had gone somewhere else or simply stayed home. Ai could be noisy. There was no denying it, but that was noise he didn¡¯t mind. Wang Bo finally led them past the inn, where the grizzled Dai Bao caught sight of them. He shook his head and walked over to meet them.


    ¡°Quiet, boy,¡± barked the older man. ¡°Can¡¯t you see the man¡¯s had enough?¡±


    Wang Bo¡¯s mouth snapped shut as he cast a furtive, cautious look at Sen. He quickly turned his face away, apparently mistaking the distant, abstracted expression on Sen¡¯s face for some kind of anger. At least, he¡¯s quiet now, thought Sen and focused on the older man.


    ¡°Wang Bo seemed very insistent that there was something I needed to see,¡± offered Sen.


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Dai Bao, burying his face in his hand. ¡°By the thousand hells, boy, don¡¯t you have any sense?¡±


    Wang Bo turned bright red at the, in Sen¡¯s opinion, light chastisement. The older man gave Sen an apologetic look.


    ¡°Well, he brought you this far. I guess there¡¯s no reason not to finish what he started.¡±


    Sen drifted in the wake of the other two, not making an effort to listen in while Dai Bao gave the much younger Wang Bo a stern lecture on not rushing things that didn¡¯t need to be rushed for no good reason. Eventually, they passed out the other side of town and stopped at a building that didn¡¯t look like it was attached to any particular property. Dai Bao picked up on Sen¡¯s confusion and interpreted it correctly.


    ¡°It¡¯s a community building,¡± said the gruff man. ¡°We use it to store things when there isn¡¯t a better place.¡±


    Sen nodded in understanding but didn¡¯t comment. There had been a few buildings like that back in Orchard¡¯s Reach. He¡¯d even sheltered in them on rare occasions, but it was risky. There were always a lot of people coming and going, and the town guards had checked in the buildings regularly. Dai Bao pushed open the door and the trio stepped inside. Unable or unwilling to restrain his excitement any longer, Wang Bo rushed over to a pair of long, deep crates. He grabbed the top of one of the crates and shoved it out of the way.


    Dai Bao muttered something about damn children, while Sen stepped closer to the crate. Wang Bo was smiling like he¡¯d just discovered that his well produced silver tael instead of water. Sen peered down into the crate and saw that it was filled with tightly packed spears. He blinked at them a few times, but before he could ask anything, Wang Bo exploded into speech again.


    ¡°We did what you said. We sold the cores. Well, we bartered the cores for these spears, and for these,¡± he said, rushing over and pushing the top off the second crate to reveal similarly packed halberds.


    Wang Bo was staring at him expectantly, but Sen was still caught on the fact that they thought he told them to do this. Then, he remembered that he had made some offhand suggestion that they buy spears and halberds. They would certainly be more useful against spirit beasts. Sen nodded.


    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± he said.


    Sen still felt a bit hazy about why he had needed to see it, but the young man was clearly excited. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to indulge that excitement a little. Wang Bo was still giving him that expectant look like he was sure that Sen was about to say something very interesting or very important. Maybe I wasn¡¯t enthusiastic enough, thought Sen. He tried again.


    ¡°That¡¯s very good.¡±


    Wang Bo was shifting back and forth on his feet, his eyes bright and hopeful. Sen knew that he was missing something here, but he just couldn¡¯t put his finger on what was escaping his notice. He felt like it must be obvious. He turned to look at Dai Bao. The gruff man had barely opened his mouth to speak when impatience won out over Wang Bo¡¯s painfully limited self-control.


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    ¡°When will you start?¡± asked the young man.


    Sen frowned at him. ¡°Start what?¡±


    ¡°Training us.¡±


    ¡°Training you to do what?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°To use the spears and halberds!¡±


    Now, Sen understood. This kid had taken that offhand statement Sen had made and exaggerated it in his mind into some kind of promise that Sen would become their teacher. He didn¡¯t have time for that nonsense. He had his own training to deal with. He had little Ai to take care of and teach how to write. This was not a problem of his making, and he refused to be bound by a promise he never made.


    ¡°When did I ever say I would do that?¡± asked Sen, with a bit too much steel in his words based on how the young man flinched.


    ¡°But you said to get spears and halberds,¡± said Wang Bo in a weak, confused voice.


    ¡°So you could defend yourselves against spirit beasts. Not so I could become your martial teacher.¡±


    ¡°We all warned you not to rush this, boy. We all told you not to assume things,¡± said Dai Bao.


    He used a more sympathetic tone than Sen would have expected, all things considered. Even so, the young man looked like a puppy that had just been unexpectedly kicked. Sen added that to a list of things that were not his problem. Instead, he pointed at Dai Bao.


    ¡°If you want someone to teach you how to use a spear, ask him,¡± said Sen.


    Fresh hope bloomed on Wang Bo¡¯s face, while an expression of horror crossed Dai Bao¡¯s face.


    ¡°What?¡± demanded the gruff man. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    Sen barely even knew the man, and the words still sounded fake.


    ¡°Wow,¡± said Sen. ¡°You are a terrible liar.¡±


    Dai Bao heaved an enormous sigh. ¡°It¡¯s not a lie. I might have known how to use a spear twenty-five years ago. You don¡¯t forget everything, even after a couple of decades. But that was a long, long time ago, and I¡¯ve forgotten most of what I knew. Plus, I was never a teacher. Anything I show that boy is as likely to get him killed as save him from a spirit beast.¡±


    Sen shook his head. ¡°I cannot be responsible for training your entire town to defend itself. I already have obligations. I helped out with those spirit beasts because I was here, and because I could. It was also because someone was willing to throw aside any notion of honor and begged me to do it. I gave you the basics. You have the tools now. That¡¯s as far as I¡¯m willing to go.¡±


    Without another word, Sen turned away and left the barn. He pretended not to see the heartbroken look on Wang Bo¡¯s face or the resigned look on Dai Bao¡¯s face. He also pretended he couldn¡¯t hear the two talking.


    ¡°I thought he¡¯d teach us,¡± said a crestfallen Wang Bo.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know cultivators, Bo. That man has a soft heart for a cultivator. He helped your father. He helped us fight those spirit beasts. And he didn¡¯t ask for anything. Most cultivators would have laughed at you asking them to teach you anything if they didn¡¯t kill you for being insolent.¡±


    ¡°Kill me?¡±


    ¡°Cultivators are prideful. Arrogant. You¡¯re beneath their notice. You asking a cultivator to teach you something is like an ant asking you to teach them. He could have done anything he wanted to you, and no one could have stopped him. All he did was say no.¡±


    Sen forced himself to stop listening before the conversation made him feel sick to his stomach. He didn¡¯t feel kind. Maybe compared to other cultivators he¡¯d been kind but that was a pretty low standard to reach in Sen¡¯s experience. Dai Bao was right, too. Another cultivator might well have killed that young man for the sheer audacity of asking them to sully themselves by training some mortal to use a weapon. In the end, Sen just didn¡¯t want to do it. He had other things, important things, that he needed to spend his time on. Things like finding a better brush for Liu Ai. So, that¡¯s what he went to do. He went to the shops and spoke with the owners. It turned out that the children who did learn to write almost always used the brushes made for adults. It wasn¡¯t what Sen wanted to hear, but he had to console himself with buying one that was thinner and lighter. While not a perfect solution, it should make things easier for little Ai.


    While he did that, he pretended that he wasn¡¯t paying attention to Dai Bao and Wang Bo with his spiritual sense. The two had gone a little way off from the town. Not in the true forest, but far enough away that no one would see them. Sen¡¯s spiritual sense wasn¡¯t quite precise enough for him to see what they were doing, but it gave him a clear enough picture that he kept wincing. Uncle Kho would be horrified. Stowing the brush in his storage ring, Sen found himself walking to where they were, grumbling under his breath, and cursing his own heart. He found them quickly enough and it was just as bad as he¡¯d imagined it was. Dai Bao hadn¡¯t been lying when he said he¡¯d forgotten most of what he¡¯d known about using a spear. Worse, he was passing on his incomplete knowledge and bad form to someone else. It was more than Sen could bear to watch people using spears so badly.


    ¡°Stop!¡± he shouted, storming up to the pair. ¡°Stop! For the love of the gods, please stop. It hurts my soul just to see this display.¡±


    Wang Bo looked torn between surprise and uncertainty.


    ¡°Um,¡± the young man said.


    Dai Bao just looked startled. Sen glared around at the clearing they were in.


    ¡°Who owns this land?¡± he demanded.


    Dai Bao and Wang Bo traded a look. Wang Bo shrugged. Dai Bao scratched his cheek and gave the spot a thoughtful frown.


    ¡°The king? Maybe,¡± offered the older man.


    ¡°So, it doesn¡¯t belong to anyone in town?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Dai Bao.


    ¡°Good,¡± said Sen.


    He cycled for earth qi and went to work. Soon, stone formed beneath their feet into something that resembled the courtyard at Uncle Kho¡¯s home. The earth heaved and shook in every direction removing trees, undergrowth, and a few spirit beasts that thought they were being sneaky. Soon, a flat square of stone, one hundred and fifty feet on each side, stretched out around them. Sen decided that was big enough for now, and walls started rising out of the ground, largely closing in the area except for a single large opening that faced toward the road. Sen turned to look at the pair of inept, would-be spearmen. Wang Bo was gaping at him with his mouth hanging open. Dai Bao¡¯s expression was more subdued, but his eyes were opened as wide as they would go. Sen held a hand out to one side and summoned a spear from his storage ring.


    ¡°If you¡¯re going to use spears, you should at least get the basics right,¡± said Sen. ¡°Rule one, you always, always keep two hands on the spear.¡±

 V7 Chapter 23 – That Was Sect Thinking

    Committed to his promise not to simply disappear because he got distracted, Sen limited his instruction of Dai Bao and Wang Bo to two hours. He drew a few conclusions from those two hours, though. The most important conclusion was that starting with someone who knew nothing about using a spear was infinitely better than starting with someone who had learned bad habits so long ago that they were practically instincts. He had to spend much longer working with Dai Bao simply to start correcting a lot of sloppy form. Some of that he was willing to chalk up to the years since the man last held a spear. Some of it, however, was ingrained enough that Sen could only assume that it was a product of some very shoddy instruction. Sen wasn¡¯t sure if Uncle Kho would have wept actual blood if he saw the abominations that Dai Bao was committing with a spear, but the elder cultivator would have had some strong thoughts on the matter. With Wang Bo, he was mercifully able to correct the worst habits before they ever got a chance to take root in the young man¡¯s form. So much easier, thought Sen.


    The second conclusion he drew was that neither man was destined for greatness with the spear. Dai Bao was a willing student but willingness could only carry you so far. Training could teach you the techniques and movements, but it couldn¡¯t give you a feel for the weapon. It couldn¡¯t give you instincts. Wang Bo was an eager student and did everything that was asked of him. But Sen could see in the boy¡¯s eyes that he simply didn¡¯t have the relentless drive to achieve mastery. He would work hard. He would become competent. He would never do what Sen had done and drive himself to exhaustion with drills. Of course, that was sufficient for Wang Bo. He clearly didn¡¯t have any aspirations to become the greatest mortal spearman in the world. He wanted to know how to protect his family from spirit beasts and competence was enough for that.


    Sen also concluded that aging as a mortal was awful. Dai Bao had problems that stemmed from his body starting to break down and wear out. Sen had sidestepped that entire process with not one but two cultivation paths, so it took him a while to understand that was what his senses and brief qi inspection were telling him. There wasn¡¯t that much he could do about natural aging. A lesson he¡¯d learned some time ago on the Luo farm. More concerning to Sen were the problems that the man was suffering from old injuries that had either never healed properly or never been treated properly. Those injuries reduced the man¡¯s range of motion, strength, and probably the length of his life if Sen was interpreting correctly.


    Dai Bao had learned to work around some of those problems, but those weren¡¯t real solutions. Those problems, Sen was pretty sure he could do something about. Auntie Caihong had always told him that treating old wounds was much harder than treating new ones. He hadn¡¯t fully grasped her meaning until he took a hard look at Dai Bao. With new injuries, the body was doing everything it could to fix the problem. Any alchemical treatments helped those natural processes along. With the old injuries, the body wasn¡¯t trying to fix it anymore. The body treated its current state as normal, based on what Sen was seeing. Any treatment would need to overcome the body¡¯s indifference to those old injuries. However, it wasn¡¯t impossible to do. Just harder. He¡¯d need to think about it and work out what to address first to maximize the value of any treatment, so he kept those basic plans to himself. Better not to say anything until he had solid information to share.


    Still, Sen needed Dai Bao in better condition than he was, because Sen needed someone who could do things like oversee training when he couldn¡¯t be around. With his own training still ongoing, he expected that was going to be a frequent fact of life for anyone in town who decided that they were going to learn how to use a spear. Dai Bao was ideal for that role. He was still young enough that he could do the work. It wasn¡¯t easy for him, but he could do it. The man was also old enough and grizzled enough to command some innate respect from just about everyone. Still, Sen would need to make sure that the hierarchy was clear. That thought alone left such a sour taste in Sen¡¯s mouth that it was enough to make him nearly abandon the whole project. That was sect thinking, right there. It was a short trip from necessary hierarchy to all those things Sen hated about how sect members behaved. He¡¯d have to work hard to ensure that as little as possible of that foolishness infected these people.


    Don¡¯t borrow trouble, Sen told himself as he flashed through the trees toward Fu Ruolan¡¯s domain. You recognized the potential problem. Take steps to avoid it, and then put the concern away. He tried to take his own advice, but the idea lingered on the edge of his mind, like a fretful ghost intent on haunting his thoughts. He did his best to keep it at bay by thinking about how to treat Dai Bao¡¯s old injuries. The man did have some old bone injuries that had not gotten proper attention. Sen decided that those were probably the best place to start. Bone misalignments and injuries could have a cascading effect of problems for the muscles, nerves, and even organs. Simply correcting those could alleviate some of the obvious pain the man was in. Yes, Sen decided. I¡¯ll fix the bones first and then the organs. There weren¡¯t injuries to the organs, exactly, but Sen had seen some deficiencies there that suggested some kind of damage in the past. Getting those back in proper order would improve things like blood flow, which would make any later healing of the other body tissues more effective and efficient. Sen¡¯s mind was still on the treatment plan when a tiny body crashed into his leg and hugged it.


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    ¡°You¡¯re back!¡± shouted a joyful Ai.


    Sen laughed and rested his hand on the top of her head before giving her hair a gentle ruffle. She gave him a little scowl that did nothing to hide the happiness in her eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m back,¡± said Sen. ¡°I even brought something for you.¡±


    ¡°You did! What is it?¡±


    Sen crouched down and held out his hand with the palm facing up. He summoned the brush he¡¯d gotten her from a storage ring. She stared at it for a moment before snatching it up and bringing it so close to her eye that it made Sen a little nervous.


    ¡°It¡¯s for when you practice writing,¡± said Sen, not sure if he was telling her something she knew or not.


    She seemed a lot less interested in what she was going to do with the brush than what she could do with it right now. She smiled at Sen.


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    Then, she turned around and took off a sprint. Well, a sprint for her, which was a fast walk for Sen. He meandered after her, curious about what she meant to do. He finally understood when she burst into a clearing where Glimmer of Night was once more practicing one of those massive, hideously complicated webs of his. Ai ran up to the spider, waving the brush over her head.


    ¡°Glimmerite. I got a brush.¡±


    The spider looked down at the little girl and nodded. ¡°You did.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s for writing,¡± she said in a conspiratorial whisper.


    ¡°I see,¡± said the spider before he abruptly looked over at Sen. ¡°Do I get my own brush?¡±


    Sen¡¯s mind blanked out for a second. He hadn¡¯t thought about it. It just hadn¡¯t seemed important. He¡¯d only gotten Ai a brush to make the work easier for her. He¡¯d never even considered that Glimmer of Night might want his own brush. The spider didn¡¯t seem to want anything else. Why would he want a brush? Even as the question occurred to Sen, he realized that it didn¡¯t matter why. The spider wanted a brush, and Sen had not gotten him one. As he tried to come up with an answer for the spider, his mouth failed him utterly.


    ¡°Um,¡± said Sen.


    The spider continued to look at him as Ai, in a wholly unintentional act of taunting, ran around Glimmer of Night¡¯s legs with a huge smile on her face and the brush held aloft like some kind of prize. Sen¡¯s mind finally lurched back into motion.


    ¡°Would you like your own brush?¡± Sen asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said the spider. ¡°I would like my own brush.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll get you one.¡±


    The spider gave Sen a nod before he looked down at Ai, who was still running in circles around him. Glimmer of Night seemed to be at something of a loss about what, if anything, he was supposed to do. Sen took pity on the spider.


    ¡°Ai. Why don¡¯t we take your brush inside so it doesn¡¯t get broken?¡±


    A look of panic crossed the girl¡¯s face. She skidded to a stop, almost fell, was saved by Glimmer of Night¡¯s lightning reflexes, and clutched the brush to her chest like it was a fragile baby bird. She hurried over to Sen and grabbed his hand. She started pulling him toward the galehouse. Sen waved a hasty goodbye to Glimmer of Night and let himself be ¡°dragged¡± along. Once they got inside, Liu Ai peered all around as if trying to find a place that was safe enough to protect her new treasure. Sen smiled to himself.


    ¡°I have an idea,¡± he said and walked over to a wall.


    He picked a spot that was low enough that Ai could easily get at it, and close to the table where she practiced writing. All it took was a quick application of earth qi to create a small hollow in the wall with a little depression at the bottom. He hardened the stone again.


    ¡°There,¡± he said. ¡°It can stay in there, so you¡¯ll always know where to find it.¡±


    Sen occupied himself making tea while Ai put the brush into the hollow and took it back out, over and over. Falling Leaf came in while this was going on and studied the little girl with a befuddled expression.


    ¡°What is she doing?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    ¡°She¡¯s having fun,¡± answered Sen. ¡°Let¡¯s leave her to it.¡±

 V7 Chapter 24 – Relationship Management

    A cocoon of shadow surrounded Sen. He had made and sustained it all night while he sat cross-legged on the roof of the galehouse. The hope had been that immersing himself in shadow that way would help provide some insight into the shadow walking technique. That hadn¡¯t happened at all. It had mostly just served as a way to sharpen the other skills that let him evaluate the environment around him without recourse to sight. It wasn¡¯t a wasted effort since Sen couldn¡¯t know when an enemy might deploy a technique that would temporarily blind him. It just hadn¡¯t done much to help him understand how one stepped through a shadow into some other place. He felt it when Falling Leaf jumped up to join him on the roof. He relaxed his iron grip on the shadow qi and let it disperse, which revealed the pre-dawn illumination just barely lighting the horizon. Falling Leaf studied Sen for a moment before she sat down next to him.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you offer to teach me to write?¡± she asked without preamble.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t seem interested,¡± said Sen, frowning as he thought. ¡°Also, I guess I thought you already could since you can read. People who read can usually write.¡±


    Falling Leaf shook her head. ¡°I learned to read by watching the humans in town, and by watching you. The Caihong also helped me learn a bit more.¡±


    ¡°But no writing?¡±


    She lifted an eyebrow at him. ¡°Paws are not good for holding objects like brushes. There were other priorities since I got hands.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± said Sen feeling a little foolish for not recognizing the obvious there. ¡°Well, you¡¯re certainly welcome to join in when I¡¯m teaching Ai and Glimmer of Night.¡±


    Falling Leaf looked away then. ¡°It¡¯s not important.¡±


    He squinted at the ghost panther in the dim light. I don¡¯t understand what is happening right now, thought Sen. She¡¯d come outside, jumped up to the roof, and asked the question. Then, when he¡¯d told her that she could join in, she suddenly didn¡¯t care anymore. While social signals were often lost on Sen, even he could see that there was something else at work. If it wasn¡¯t about the writing¡­ Sen wanted to bury his face in his hands for being so oblivious. He¡¯d been pouring time and energy into taking care of Ai. He¡¯d been spending time with Glimmer of Night, trying to use the spider¡¯s insights to generate some of his own. He¡¯d been spending time with Fu Ruolan before she stormed off in a huff. He¡¯d even been spending time with the people in town. He''d been spending time with everyone but her.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t been a very good friend to you at all these last few years, have I?¡± asked Sen. ¡°You¡¯re only here because of me, and I¡¯m gone or training most of the time. That¡¯s when I¡¯m not almost dying. I know you¡¯ve been training with Fu Ruolan, but she¡¯s not a friend. Glimmer of Night is basically a stranger. And Ai¡ª¡±


    ¡°She is a kit,¡± said Falling Leaf. ¡°A kit must be tended and protected. All understand this.¡±


    ¡°True. Still, I haven¡¯t been making much time for you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not foolish. I know much is demanded of you. I also know that what happens to me matters to you. You would not have brought the elder fox here if it didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Not that bringing him here did much good,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Perhaps not, but even the fox thought he could help. How could you know that he was wrong? You also could have demanded knowledge or treasures for your own use, but you bartered with him to help me. I do not doubt your care for me, human boy. It is simply that I miss you.¡±


    Rarely had Sen felt so damned by such a basic utterance as I miss you. When the person saying it shared the same home, he couldn¡¯t help but feel that it had gone beyond mere inattention and progressed into flat-out negligence. It hadn¡¯t been malicious. Sen wasn¡¯t delusional. He had been insanely busy for most of the last few years. There had been long stretches where there just hadn¡¯t been any time to spend on anything other than surviving. Since he¡¯d gotten back from his little adventure with Laughing River, though, he could have found time. He could have, but he hadn¡¯t. For once in his life, though, the problem in front of him was something fixable.


    ¡°There¡¯s no reason why I can¡¯t teach you to write after Ai goes to bed for the night. It¡¯s not like we need that much sleep.¡±


    Falling Leaf didn¡¯t say anything. She just smiled at him and nodded. Then, as fast as she had appeared, she was gone from the roof. Sen didn¡¯t know if he¡¯d actually end up teaching her to write, although he might. It was a useful skill, and she¡¯d benefit from it. It was the commitment Falling Leaf cared about. The reassurance that he would make time to spend with her now that madness and looming death weren¡¯t infecting every part of their lives. And it was such a small thing to ask for when compared to everything she had given him. If he could find entire days to spend in meditation and travel to town to teach people how to use spears, he would find a couple of hours to spend with her most days.


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    Sen stayed up on the roof for a little longer. He watched as the sun slowly crested the horizon and considered if he was working hard enough to sustain any of his important relationships. While Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho were used to long absences in each other¡¯s lives, he doubted the same was true for most of the other people he knew. He supposed it was easy to ignore a five or ten-year gap in communication when centuries were trivial to you. Most people didn¡¯t have that perspective. Still, most of that was a problem for another day. His more immediate problem was utterly prosaic but oddly pressing. He needed to make Ai breakfast. It was going to be a busy day. She¡¯d been asking about Dai Bao and the little girl she¡¯d met, Zhi. So, Sen had promised he¡¯d take her with him to town the next time he went.


    I should invite Falling Leaf, thought Sen as he prepared some food. As had become her habit, Liu Ai groggily came out of her room, shadow ball clutched protectively in one arm and a blanket dragging from the other. Sen settled the blanket around her shoulders and put her in a chair, where she slowly woke up as he finished making breakfast. Falling Leaf came into the galehouse not too long after, which made Ai stir and hold out her arms. The ghost panther had come to some kind of accommodation with her discomfort regarding human children. She dutifully picked up the girl, who put her head on Falling Leaf¡¯s shoulder and started snoring lightly.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to town today as part of my grand plan for Ai to get glimpses of normalcy,¡± said Sen. ¡°You¡¯re welcome to come with us. You¡¯ll get to see some mortals fumble around with spears.¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t like me,¡± said Falling Leaf. ¡°After what I did at the inn.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care what they like. I like you, and they can deal with it.¡±


    Falling Leaf still looked uncertain.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to go because you simply don¡¯t want to go, I understand that. If you don¡¯t want to go because of what those townspeople think, to hells with that. That whole town owes me. If the only thing I ask for is that they behave nicely to my friend, they¡¯re getting off cheap.¡±


    Falling Leaf¡¯s face cleared up at those words. ¡°I¡¯ll come along. I can leave if I don¡¯t like it.¡±


    ¡°Good plan,¡± said Sen. ¡°Plus, you¡¯ll get to meet Ai¡¯s friends.¡±


    ¡°The grumpy man?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    Sen nodded. ¡°Yes. There¡¯s also a little girl there she seems to like.¡±


    ¡°Zhi,¡± mumbled Ai around a yawn. ¡°She draws birds.¡±


    ¡°Yes, she does,¡± agreed Sen.


    ¡°I draw orchids,¡± declared Ai.


    Falling Leaf looked to Sen for confirmation. He subtly shook his head in the negative.


    ¡°Ai does draw lovely flowers,¡± he added to try to give Falling Leaf some kind of context.


    The flower conversation was summarily ended by the appearance of hot food. Then, it was time to get ready to leave, at which point Ai couldn¡¯t decide if she should bring along her brush to show off. It was clear she wanted to, and equally clear that she was worried it would get damaged. Sen decided that letting her make the occasional decision would probably be good for her in the long run. She eventually plucked the brush out of its cubby and brought it over to Sen. He could see her trying to formulate the question. Confident that phrases like spatial treasure were beyond her, he didn¡¯t make her stumble through it.


    ¡°Would you like me to hang on to that for you?¡± he asked.


    She nodded. ¡°Please.¡±


    Sen held out his hand, and she gently rested it across his palm. He dropped it into his storage ring. As usual, this disappearing trick delighted the little girl to no end. If he was going to be storing things for her, though, he thought it was time she knew where the stuff went.


    ¡°Do you know where things go when I do that?¡± he asked.


    Ai shook her head. Sen held out a hand and pointed to one of the rings he wore.


    ¡°It goes in there.¡±


    Ai shook her head and smiled at him in a way that said she knew he was trying to trick her.


    ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t,¡± she declared.


    ¡°It does.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s too small,¡± she said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a magic ring,¡± he told her. ¡°And its magic power is to store things and keep them safe.¡±


    Clearly doubting Sen, Ai looked over to Falling Leaf.


    ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± said Falling Leaf. ¡°I have a ring like that, too.¡±


    An apple appeared in her hand, making the little girl gasp. Ai immediately ran over and poked at the piece of fruit as if to reassure herself that it wasn¡¯t some terrible grownup deception. Falling Leaf handed her the apple. Ai examined it closely before she came back over to Sen and very deliberately touched the apple to the ring he¡¯d pointed at earlier. He smiled.


    ¡°I have to use my magic to tell the ring to work,¡± said Sen.


    It wasn¡¯t exactly true, but he figured it was close enough. She gave him another dubious look.


    ¡°Really?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Do it again, and I¡¯ll tell the ring to work.¡±


    Ai once again pressed the apple against the ring. Sen activated the ring, and the apple disappeared. It was only after Sen made the fruit reappear and re-disappear several times that Ai seemed to accept that he wasn¡¯t tricking her. Then, she said something that Sen felt like he should have anticipated.


    ¡°Put me in the ring!¡± she shouted excitedly.


    Thank the heavens Lo Meifeng isn¡¯t here, thought Sen. She¡¯d be encouraging the girl.

 V7 Chapter 25 – Then, Leave

    The trip took a bit longer than usual since Sen had to keep his speed down a little to let Falling Leaf keep pace for the entire distance. It was late morning by the time they arrived at the wall. While the guards knew to let Sen pass, they eyed Falling Leaf as if they expected her to burst into violence at a moment¡¯s notice. She just stared back at them with a bored, mildly impatient expression. The guards traded a look, seemed to realize that there was exactly nothing they could do to stop her if she decided to come in, and just let them pass. Sen was glad the men hadn¡¯t made a fuss about it. The ghost panther did get a few nervous, sidelong glances from some of the people in town, but everyone restrained themselves from making comments. It wasn¡¯t clear if they did that because Sen was with her, or if they feared to anger Falling Leaf. Maybe they just don¡¯t want to start anything because Ai is with us, thought Sen.


    Once the fast part of the ride was over, the little girl had decided that she¡¯d been carried enough. So, Ai kept a firm grip on Sen¡¯s hand, well, it was her hand firmly wrapped around two of his fingers. They moved along at the little girl¡¯s pace, which wasn¡¯t fast at all. Every once in a while, she would release Sen¡¯s hand to run over and look at something. He only stopped her a few times, like when she¡¯d made to go inside the smithy. Sen had only ever peeked in on a blacksmith¡¯s shop before, but that quick look told him that it was no place for a child. Especially one that nobody would realize was there until something bad happened. She¡¯d made a few sad faces but accepted his word that she might get hurt. It was basically the same reason he¡¯d given her for why she couldn¡¯t go inside the storage ring.


    Falling Leaf had been to the town a few times before, so she wasn¡¯t seeing anything new. Instead, she mostly stuck near to Sen. Occasionally, she¡¯d ask him about something that someone was doing that she didn¡¯t quite understand. She¡¯d seen two men sitting on either side of a barrel, their elbows up on top, and their hands locked together. That whole thing had mystified her until he explained that it was a test of strength. She¡¯d perked right up at that and wanted to try it.


    ¡°You do realize that you¡¯re almost certainly far stronger than every man in the village, right?¡± asked Sen in a bid to avert disaster before it arrived.


    Falling Leaf¡¯s face fell at that.


    ¡°I forgot,¡± she admitted.


    ¡°Well, maybe we¡¯ll go to a town a bit closer to one of the big cities and find you some sect members. You can make them feel bad about themselves.¡±


    That suggestion seemed to cheer her up. However, Sen suspected that the sect members of the world would be less enthusiastic if they knew about the plan. After a particularly slow walk across the town, they finally arrived at the home of Li Hua. Ai was very excited to show off the spot where she drew orchids to Falling Leaf. Sen left the ghost panther to her confusion while he knocked on the door. When no one answered after a respectable amount of time, Sen knocked again. When the knock went unanswered a second time, Sen gave Ai an apologetic look.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think Zhi is here right now,¡± he told her.


    Ai looked at the house like it was telling lies before she turned sad eyes on Sen.


    ¡°Where is she?¡± asked the little girl.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Sen. ¡°But we¡¯ll watch for her. Plus, we can always come back later. She might be home by then.¡±


    Placated by those words if not exactly happy, the trio set out again. Ai seemingly decided that Falling Leaf¡¯s hand needed to be held because she grabbed several of the ghost panther¡¯s fingers. Sen saw Falling Leaf make herself relax at the unexpected touch. It was a small step, but if any living human being was going to win the ghost panther over, it would be Ai. There was simply no malice in the child that Sen could see. He wasn¡¯t sure if all children were born with that kind of temperament or if she was just sweet by nature. After a few minutes, her good humor returned. She started to point out all of the things she found interesting. Some of the things she found interesting were baffling to Sen. He understood it when she was excited by a bright red bird that flew by. He did not understand it when she was just as excited about a weed growing between some stones outside of someone¡¯s house. Whether he could see why she thought something was amazing or not, he was determined not to deprive her of wonder. Sen, of all people, knew full well just how good the world was at ripping that right out of people. It didn¡¯t need his help to accomplish that particular feat. So, he would dutifully attend whenever she wanted him to look at some new discovery. As they passed through the far gate, Falling Leaf gave him a curious look.


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    ¡°We¡¯re going to go and see how people are doing with the spears,¡± he said. ¡°I might even teach them something if anyone is around.¡±


    When it became clear that they were going to enter the forest again, Ai immediately ran over to Sen and held her arms out. It wasn¡¯t something he¡¯d told her to do. Somewhere along the line, she had just decided that going through the forest meant that he held her. Since that suited his inclination to make sure she was safe, he didn¡¯t intend to discourage it any time soon. He scooped her up, and she looked around like she was a queen surveying her kingdom. Queen Ai and the Kingdom of Forest, thought Sen. It sounds like a legend just waiting to be told. It didn¡¯t take long before the structure Sen had erected came into view. Ai gasped and pointed, while even Falling Leaf looked a little startled at the sheer size of it.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Sen, ¡°I was a little out of sorts when I made it. It¡¯s a bit bigger than it needs to be.¡±


    They could hear voices and the sounds of people doing exercises of some kind coming from inside the structure. Sen took that as a good sign. When they came through the opening in the wall, though, he came to an abrupt stop at the sight that greeted him. There were indeed some people practicing with the spear under the eye of Dai Bao. It seemed that all of those people were working very hard to ignore the confrontation that was happening between a big man Sen only vaguely recognized from the day they¡¯d all fought the spirit beasts and Li Hua. The big man was crowding Li Hua and talking in a menacing tone, but the seamstress wasn¡¯t backing down an inch. He also saw that Zhi was cowering behind her mother, the confrontation obviously terrifying the little girl. Sen did his best to put on a bright smile when he spoke to Ai.


    ¡°I want you to stay with Falling Leaf for a little while, okay?¡±


    Ai was staring at the argument with scared eyes, but she nodded. Sen gently passed her to the ghost panther, who held the little girl protectively while never letting her eyes move from the fight that was looking increasingly likely to turn violent. Sen strode over and heard the man speaking clearly for the first time.


    ¡°You don¡¯t belong here. Go home, seamstress¡±


    ¡°Who says she doesn¡¯t belong here?¡± asked Sen in a neutral tone.


    ¡°I do!¡± snapped the big man without even looking. ¡°She¡¯s a woman.¡±


    ¡°I noticed that,¡± agreed Sen. ¡°I expect anyone with eyes notices that. But what in the thousand hells does that have to do with whether or not she belongs here? Are you under the mistaken impression that you¡¯re in charge?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what game you¡¯re playing at. But women have no place¡ª¡± started the man as he turned around.


    The words simply stopped as the big man saw Sen standing there with death in his eyes.


    ¡°Go on,¡± said Sen. ¡°Explain to me why women have no place here.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s just¡­ Everyone knows that women don¡¯t fight.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Sen. ¡°Everyone knows that? Everyone in the whole world?¡±


    The big man seemed to realize that line of argument wasn¡¯t going anywhere as his eyes fell on Falling Leaf, who had casually beaten a dozen men half-to-death by herself.


    ¡°It¡¯s unnatural. I won¡¯t tolerate it,¡± said the big man.


    ¡°Then, leave,¡± said Sen in a voice so cold that the big man shivered. ¡°And thank the gods that there were children here to keep me from instructing you in exactly what I think of your opinions.¡±


    The big man¡¯s face turned bright red and then a shade of purple that looked profoundly unhealthy to Sen. The man went to storm past Sen, who stopped him with a look.


    ¡°Before you convince yourself that you¡¯ll deal with this later,¡± said Sen in a lethally casual tone, ¡°know that I consider her and her daughter my friends.¡±


    From the way the blood drained out of the big man¡¯s face, he¡¯d understood precisely what kind of murderous rage would come crashing down on him if anything even remotely untoward befell the seamstress or her daughter. It was equally clear that Sen had predicted the man¡¯s intentions with stunning accuracy. The big man did his best to gather up his pride and walked toward the opening in the wall that would let him escape the gaze of Judgment¡¯s Gale. It was Falling Leaf who made the man simply run away. She turned the most vicious, hungry, predatory gaze that Sen had seen on her in a long time toward the big man. He had to focus to hear what she whispered to him.


    ¡°It will be me.¡±


    There was a look of animal panic on the man¡¯s face, and the fear broke him. He turned and fled as fast as his legs could carry him away. Sen wiped the Judgment¡¯s Gale from his expression and turned a kind smile toward Li Hua, who was staring at him with an expression that Sen couldn¡¯t quite figure out.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you again, Li Hua. It¡¯s also nice to see you, Li Zhi. You are, of course, both welcome here.¡±


    Li Zhi slowly peeked her head out from behind her mother. When it was clear that the source of her terror was gone, the little girl hugged her mother¡¯s leg and began sobbing. Recognizing that he could only get in the way, he turned a glower on Dai Bao. The grizzled man at least had the good grace to look ashamed of himself.


    ¡°Dai Bao,¡± said Sen. ¡°Join me, please. I would have words with you.¡±

 V7 Chapter 26 – The Right Start

    Dai Bao trudged toward Sen like a man marching toward his own execution. It was obvious from his expression the man knew that Sen wasn¡¯t happy and that he blamed Dai Bao for some of that. Sen did him the courtesy of walking them away from the small collection of townspeople and erecting a wind barrier to keep their voices from carrying. Sen knew that he might have some unkind things to say to the man, but he didn¡¯t particularly feel the need to shame Dai Bao publicly. It wasn¡¯t as though Sen had provided any guidance about how things were or were not to be handled here. He could see now that had been a failure on his part. He simply hadn¡¯t anticipated any of the men in town trying to bully a woman. After he put up the wind barrier, he gave Dai Bao a flat look.


    ¡°So, that seemed acceptable to you?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Dai Bao with a shake of his head. ¡°But he was just saying what a lot of men think. It could have been what you think.¡±


    ¡°You see the company I keep. You really thought I¡¯d object to women training here?¡±


    ¡°The pretty girl of yours is a cultivator. Not a mortal.¡±


    Sen waited for more, and then he realized that there wasn¡¯t any more coming. Sen forgot sometimes just how stark that divide really was, yet, hadn¡¯t he had a conversation with Jing about how cultivators were just visitors? That cultivators walked in a different world. Everyone in the town was, as far as Sen knew, a mortal. On top of that, cultivators weren¡¯t known to treat mortals all that well. Dai Bao was probably justified in thinking that Sen might well consider mortal women not worthy of training. Sen hadn¡¯t shared his thoughts about almost anything other than wielding spears with the man. You can¡¯t expect him to read your mind, thought Sen. It isn¡¯t fair to be angry with him for not knowing expectations you never set. Sen frowned but nodded.


    ¡°I can see why that might seem like something that would make a difference,¡± said Sen. ¡°This place is open to anyone who wants to learn how to protect their homes and families. Men, women, and even children, though hopefully things will never be so terrible that children need to take up spears in their own defense.¡±


    ¡°All right,¡± said Dai Bao.


    The man still looked like he expected some calamity to fall on his head any second. Sen couldn¡¯t help but think that the man had dealt with cultivators in some other part of his life. He¡¯d learned to wield a spear somewhere. It had probably been in a mortal army, but kingdoms sometimes hired cultivators to fight with their armies. Judging from the man¡¯s expectations of doom, his experiences with cultivators had been about as good as Sen¡¯s own experiences. Sen needed to do something to alleviate the man¡¯s fears.


    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to start a sect here,¡± said Sen slowly. ¡°I¡¯ll help teach, but this place shouldn¡¯t be about serving my ego or reputation. It needs a mortal face on it. I¡¯d like that to be you.¡±


    Dai Bao goggled at him. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The people here respect you. You¡¯ve had some experience with the spear. They¡¯ll listen to you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m too old and broken for that kind of responsibility,¡± said Dai Bao.


    They were the kinds of words that Sen would have expected to hold a lot of bitterness, but all he heard in Dai Bao¡¯s voice was a kind of sad resignation. He¡¯d moved beyond whatever anger he felt.


    ¡°Well, I can¡¯t help you with the age part. The broken part is a different matter.¡±


    Sen explained to Dai Bao what he thought he could mend in the man¡¯s body and that he¡¯d try if the man would take on the daily responsibilities of the place. He had to give the grizzled man some credit. Dai Bao didn¡¯t immediately accept the offer.


    ¡°You say that you can heal some of these old injuries. What does that mean?¡±


    ¡°In practical terms?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Please,¡± answered Dai Bao.


    ¡°It¡¯ll hurt. It¡¯ll hurt a lot. It might even hurt more than the original injuries. I can do some things to ease that pain, but it might mean spreading out the process for longer. Afterward, though, I expect that you¡¯ll feel about ten years younger. You should also be mostly without pain.¡±


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    Caution warred with hope in Dai Bao¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°You can really do this?¡± asked the man.


    Sen nodded. ¡°I can really do this. You don¡¯t need to decide right now.¡±


    ¡°I want to do it,¡± said Dai Bao, grabbing Sen¡¯s arm in a desperate gesture. ¡°When can we start?¡±


    ¡°You should consider this carefully. I can¡¯t emphasize enough how much pain it will cause you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m already in pain. All the time. Every day. If you can put a stop to even some of that, I¡¯ll endure whatever I have to.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°Then, we¡¯ll get started in the next few days. In the meantime, though, I should probably say something to everyone else. They¡¯ve been watching us for a while now.¡±


    Dai Bao let go of Sen¡¯s arm. He turned a hard look on the townspeople who weren¡¯t doing anything even remotely like practicing. They all hurriedly turned away, some even doing mostly acceptable versions of basic spear thrusts. Sen removed the wind barrier, and Dai Bao walked back to where he had been. A quick glance around showed that Ai had gone over and apparently provided a distraction for Zhi. The two looked like they were playing some kind of made-up game using a rock that one of them had found somewhere. Sen didn¡¯t see Falling Leaf right at first, but he finally saw that she had grabbed a few of the townspeople and led them off a little way. She was encouraging them to attack her while she expertly fended off their thrusts with her three-section staff. He was uncertain and mildly concerned by that turn of events. At first, Sen couldn¡¯t understand why she had done it until he realized that she wanted to be helpful to him if not the townspeople. His concern was that she¡¯d accidentally hurt one of them, but she¡¯d limited her strength and speed to something a mortal could mostly manage.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± said Li Hua, drawing Sen¡¯s attention away from Falling Leaf. ¡°It wasn¡¯t necessary, but thank you.¡±


    Sen eyed the woman¡¯s expression. She was torn about the whole incident. There was relief on her face, but he saw frustration as well. Some of it was directed at him. He supposed he might have undermined her in some way, but he was hard-pressed to really feel bad about it. That man wasn¡¯t going to see reason. He also wasn¡¯t going to stop until she was gone. If that meant dragging her out by the hair, he would have done it. Sen was pretty sure that she knew it, too. On the flip side, Sen had to decide how things were going to happen in this place. He might put Dai Bao out as the face of things, but everyone was going to look to Sen to make the rules. He couldn¡¯t let what that man was doing go unaddressed. And he was pretty sure that Li Hua also knew that. It was one of the situations where there had only been a handful of options, none of them ideal. Sen had chosen the one that suited him best. Still, he could help the woman save a little face.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t really do it for you,¡± Sen lied.


    ¡°No?¡± asked Li Hua, lifting an accusatory eyebrow.


    ¡°I did it for them,¡± he said, gesturing at Ai and Zhi. ¡°They might want to come here and learn someday. I¡¯d rather threaten one man now than be forced to murder someone later because I didn¡¯t send a clear message.¡±


    ¡°You think you¡¯ll still be here when they¡¯re old enough to learn?¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°I might not be, but it doesn¡¯t mean that this place won¡¯t still be here. For all I know, you¡¯ll be in charge of it. But only if things get off to the right start.¡±


    ¡°Me?¡± scoffed Li Hua. ¡°In charge of this place?¡±


    Sen gave her a level look. ¡°Why not?¡±


    ¡°I¡ª¡± she trailed off.


    Sen inclined his head to her. ¡°Excuse me. I need to make an announcement. It¡¯s that whole getting things off on the right foot thing.¡±


    Sen left Li Hua to her thoughts and walked over to where Dai Bao was drilling some younger men. The grizzled man called a halt to the drill and, at a signal from Sen, bellowed out an order.


    ¡°Everyone gather around!¡± roared Dai Bao.


    Around fifteen people clumped around Sen. Most of them were young men, but there were a few older men and Li Hua. Sen gave them all his best stern face, and everyone straightened a little under his intense gaze.


    ¡°As you all saw earlier, there is some confusion about what this place is for. About who it is for. Let me clear up that confusion. This place is for anyone who wants to learn how to defend their homes and families. Anyone. Men. Women. Children. All are welcome here. The moment you decide that you know better who should or should not be here, expect to find that you are no longer welcome. If you have grudges, you leave them at the town wall. If you have blood feuds, you leave them at home.


    ¡°If you bring your grudges and feuds into this place, you make them my problems. I will solve those problems for everyone involved, immediately and permanently,¡± said Sen, and he watched more than one face pale. ¡°When you come here, come with an open heart. Do just that much, and I will do what I can to teach you. I will not lie to you. Mastering any weapon is something that takes years. It takes effort. It takes practice. Now, you all know Dai Bao. He will be in charge when I¡¯m not here. Do as he tells you, which will likely be that you need to practice more.¡±


    ¡°And I¡¯ll be right,¡± growled Dai Bao.


    That got a few laughs, which broke the tension. A moment later, Ai snuck between some of the people and rushed over to Sen. He picked her up, and she looked around nervously at all the unfamiliar faces.


    ¡°This is Liu Ai,¡± said Sen before he gave her an encouraging smile. ¡°Do you want to say hello to everyone?¡±


    Ai gave everyone a shy smile and whispered, ¡°Hi.¡±


    Then, she buried her face in Sen¡¯s shoulder. He kissed the top of her head, which elicited a giggle from the girl. Dai Bao stepped up next to Sen and pointed at Ai.


    ¡°In case any of you were wondering, now you know who¡¯s in charge.¡±

 V7 Chapter 27 – The Value of a Demonstration

    Sen took a little time to review the basic thrusts he¡¯d taught Wang Bo and Dai Bao with the newcomers, before turning most of the gathered townspeople over to grizzled man. Sen focused most of his time and attention on the newest or most hopeless people, which included Li Hua. Of course, her main impediment was that her gaze constantly wandered the entire place in search of her daughter. Sen had finally picked a corner, raised a small enclosure that was about a foot and a half high, and all but filled it with shadow balls. Liu Ai and Li Zhi had immediately lost interest in anything the adults were doing. The little girls¡¯ screams of delight carried over the townspeople as they practiced. With the question of where her daughter was now firmly answered, Li Hua became much more focused on the task at hand. Unfortunately, whenever Sen¡¯s gaze rested on her for more than a few moments, she became self-conscious and fumbled the spear. Suppressing a moment of frustration, he walked over to her. She met his eyes, briefly, and then found something on the ground to focus on.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to be looking at you a lot,¡± said Sen. ¡°And yes, I will be judging you. It¡¯s the only way to know what kind of help you need. If you can¡¯t focus when I¡¯m looking at you, how will you focus when there¡¯s a thirty-foot snake closing in on you? Or a storm hawk swooping down on you with lightning on its wings? Or a bear-cat the size of a horse leaping at your child?¡±


    Li Hua¡¯s eyes shot up to his face again, and she grimaced. ¡°I haven¡¯t been a student in a long time. I forgot how humiliating it is to be terrible at something.¡±


    Sen gave her an amused smile. ¡°Do you imagine that I was any better the first time I picked up a spear? Or even the fiftieth time? Everyone starts right where you are now. That¡¯s as true for cultivators as it is for mortals. That¡¯s why we train. That¡¯s why we practice.¡±


    ¡°Do you still practice?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I do.¡±


    ¡°Will you show us?¡±


    ¡°I hadn¡¯t planned on it. I mean that I don¡¯t know that it would do any good. I¡¯m trying to teach you to fight spirit beasts, not do what I do.¡±


    Sen could see the confusion on the woman¡¯s face before she even said the words.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    ¡°I practice to prepare for fights with other cultivators. I practice to kill people.¡±


    Li Hua seemed momentarily lost for words. She just stared at him like she was seeing him for the first time all over again.


    She grimaced again and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a hard world,¡± said Sen absently as he looked around at the townspeople.


    They were not inspired. Even the ones working hard wore expressions that told Sen they wouldn¡¯t last for long unless something changed. Perhaps that¡¯s for the best, thought Sen. He had excelled because, at the end of the day, he wanted to excel with the spear. He wanted to be good if not the best. Uncle Kho likely had that position tied down hard for the foreseeable future, much as Master Feng owned jian mastery. It wouldn¡¯t be a tragedy if these people didn¡¯t want to pursue true mastery. Simply imparting the basics would give them a fighting chance against most spirit beasts if they worked together. On the other hand, mused Sen, maybe Li Hua has a point. They had only seen Sen fight the one spirit beast using a new, jian-centered qi technique. Seeing that he actually knew what he was doing with the spear might serve a purpose after all. Even if it only instilled a sense of confidence in the people about what they were learning, that had value in and of itself. He gave Li Hua a thoughtful look that seemed to make her very nervous.


    ¡°You should stick close. You¡¯ll want a good view of this,¡± said Sen.


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    He didn¡¯t make a big show of it. Sen just walked over to Dai Bao and asked to see the spear the man was holding but not currently using. Walking a short distance away from everyone, Sen acted as though he were simply examining the spear for problems and imperfections. In reality, he wanted the spear to force himself to keep things at mortal speeds. If he applied his true strength and speed with a mortal-grade spear, its haft would simply explode under the pressure. He didn¡¯t make any announcement or try to draw anyone¡¯s attention. He simply began. He had formed this place with Uncle Kho¡¯s courtyard in mind, and the floor brought back a flood of memories from that time. All the hours of practice, of course, but also the times when Uncle Kho would start laughing and tell Sen to stop so he could listen to a story. Those stories often involved Uncle Kho being in what sounded like, at the time at least, terrifying situations.


    Looking back now, he could understand why Uncle Kho had laughed. Sen smiled as he remembered fleeing from Tide¡¯s Rest, hiding in the forest, convinced that an army of cultivators was hunting him down. It had all seemed so dire at the time. Now, he could see how much he¡¯d overestimated the wrath of the Stormy Ocean Sect. Sure, they wouldn¡¯t have been happy about him killing that sect member. If he¡¯d been easy to catch, they would no doubt have punished him. But that lone formation foundation cultivator he¡¯d killed just wouldn¡¯t have been valuable enough to justify sending out a dedicated search party to find him. Even as those memories and thoughts washed over him, Sen felt the spear moving in his hands and cutting through the air as he took another tiny, incremental step toward the unreachable peak of perfection.


    He had long since passed through the basic moves and been progressing through the increasingly difficult forms that Uncle Kho had imparted to him. Being forced to move through them at what felt like a snail¡¯s pace let him spot those tiny flaws in his form that no expert could ever truly seem to eliminate entirely. At the same time, he felt closer than ever to the reverence that Uncle Kho showed for the weapon. There was a simplicity to it, a natural directness of action and intention that wasn¡¯t found with the jian. The jian was the weapon of sharp-minded strategists who could often plot out their victory fifty exchanges in advance, depending on the choices of their opponents. The spear was a weapon that shared more in common with farming tools than with most other weapons. It was a weapon used by people who had to meet immediate threats with immediate force. Complexity had been layered on top of it over the countless millennia by geniuses, but it always came back to a simple thrust or slash to end the fight.


    Sen¡¯s body came to rest at the end of the final form he¡¯d learned. He paused because, for the first time ever, he felt like there should be something more. Another form, perhaps? He wasn¡¯t entirely sure. Another question for Uncle Kho, he thought to himself. He turned his attention to the spear in his hand. It wasn¡¯t an excellent spear, but it wasn¡¯t junk either. A craftsman who knew what they were doing had made it, likely to serve as weapons for caravan guards or town guards. It would be more than serviceable for the townspeople to fend off spirit beasts. Sen walked back over to Dai Bao who was staring hard at Sen. Sen glanced around at the rest of the people there. That inspiration they had lacked was evident in their eyes. Li Hua looked like she¡¯d been given instructions directly from the heavens and meant to drag every bit of spear knowledge and insight from Sen¡¯s mind by force if necessary. Sen handed the spear back to Dai Bao, who took it and stared down at it like it was some kind of sacred relic. Even Li Zhi and little Ai had gone silent and were watching him with startled expressions.


    The only person who didn¡¯t look impressed was Falling Leaf. She looked bored, as well she might having seen him do far more spectacular things on more than one occasion. She hadn¡¯t been the audience, though, even if her boredom did serve to keep him from being too dazzled with his own performance. Remembering all of the ways he had failed to find perfection in the forms, that seemed like a very healthy thing. He could never let himself become satisfied with his progress. There was always a next step to take, a better way, a more efficient or elegant delivery of any technique, blow, or form. He almost said as much to the people who were all still just staring at him but decided that idea was probably best reserved for those who showed both aptitude and perseverance. Dai Bao saved him from needing to say anything.


    ¡°If you think you can do that by standing around and not practicing, think again!¡± bellowed the grizzled man.


    The townspeople all jerked as though they were snapped free from a trance. There were some halfhearted attempts by some of them to return to practicing, but more of them seemed to want to talk about what they had just seen. Sen let it go on for a few minutes before he clapped his hands. Empowered by his body cultivator strength, the clap drowned out all other sounds and silenced everyone. They all turned to look at him.


    ¡°Continue with your practice,¡± said Sen.


    That time, everyone went back to work.

 V7 Chapter 28 – Teaching

    ¡°Again,¡± said Sen doing his very best to keep the boredom out of his voice.


    Of all the things Sen had thought might happen when he agreed to teach the townspeople how to use spears all those months ago, he hadn¡¯t really considered tedium as a possibility. Of course, he¡¯d only ever come at the process from the side of the student. As a student, everything was about mastering something new or solidifying a technique you¡¯d already learned. It was a race to keep pace. For the teacher, it consisted of watching people carry out actions that you¡¯d carried out thousands of times. That was a lot less fun. Oh, there were high spots, no doubt about that. He¡¯d seen more than one person bursting with pride when they¡¯d mastered some move that they had thought beyond them or bested someone in the very tightly controlled sparring sessions that Sen oversaw.


    There had also been moments of fun in changing the building as the warm summer weather gave way to the intense chill of a northern autumn. At first, it had simply been putting a roof on the place to keep out the rain and the loose leaves that the autumn windstorms like to deposit everywhere. That took several failures, multiple experiments, and finally bringing in Glimmer of Night to help him work out a support system that could hold up the roof. The spider¡¯s keen understanding of webs had become invaluable in that process, even if looking straight up toward the roof from inside was a bit unsettling. It looked like stone webbing. It also didn¡¯t take much imagination to picture a massive stone spider waiting up there to pounce on unwary students. However, Sen had learned quite a bit about supporting roofs in a large, open structures that might prove useful someday. Not that Glimmer of Night seemed inclined to part company any time soon. The spider had actually seemed a little sad when the roof adventure had been successfully completed.


    Of course, installing the roof had necessitated reshaping the walls to include windows for light. Otherwise, Sen just had a very big, very dark cave. That might have the occasional use in training, but he didn¡¯t see it as ideal for daily use. Putting in windows had required him to first figure out how to make glass, and then figure out how to make glass strong enough to withstand said windstorms. That had been really interesting and finally healed the rift of silence that had persisted between him and Fu Ruolan. He¡¯d gone to her and explained the fragility problem with the glass. He knew it wasn¡¯t an alchemy problem, at least not exactly, but it was close enough to get the pair talking. The issue had intrigued the nascent soul cultivator so much that she¡¯d actually left her domain for nearly two weeks to go and talk with someone she knew about it.


    She¡¯d come back with a storage ring full of books, scrolls, and materials that Sen hadn¡¯t recognized. It had taken a lot more experimentation, but they had finally cracked the problem with a combination of borrowed wisdom, Fu Ruolan¡¯s massive experience with alchemy, and a bit of help from Sen¡¯s intuitive improvements to things under pressure and heat. Fu Ruolan had even deigned to come and watch as Sen installed the glass in the building. As the weather grew colder, he¡¯d needed to add doors to the main entrance. Then, he¡¯d had to work out a way to heat the place that wouldn¡¯t require turning the forest into fields of stumps for miles in every direction. Not that the townspeople would have objected, at first, but Sen knew that would turn into a catastrophe for the land in a hurry. Falling Leaf solved part of that problem for him.


    ¡°Just warm the stone of the floor,¡± she said.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Why do you think I always used to nap on those big rocks? The sun would warm them up, and they¡¯d stay warm for hours and hours. Often, they¡¯d stay warm well into the night.¡±


    It worked, as far as it went. If Sen warmed the stone of the floor in the morning, it would radiate heat all day. Of course, he wasn¡¯t there every day, so it wasn¡¯t a complete solution. A couple of large fireplaces also helped, but they worked best to keep the place warm rather than make it warm. In the end, it took several trips even deeper into the wilds to find natural treasures that were strongly fire-attributed. He placed several of them into the stone of the floor, which served to keep the interior of the building warm all of the time. Of course, he¡¯d have to take them back out in the spring, and the solution would only work as long as he was around to manipulate the stone of the floor. That was a problem that he could deal with down the road. For the moment, it was a functional solution that drastically reduced the amount of wood they needed to burn.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Sen looked down at the fifty townspeople working their way through a spear form. Long gone were their days of spreading out in the space. Now, they assembled themselves into orderly rows. He had Dai Bao to thank for that particular improvement. The man had eventually shared that he was, indeed, a soldier in a long-ago time. Like many, he had chosen to join the army rather than follow his father into a trade. When he¡¯d discovered that war was little more than brutal violence and the constant threat of death, rather than some pathway to glory, he had gotten out at the very first opportunity. Even so, he had remembered some things, like how having people form up into lines could boost efficiency. Sen had never trained in a group with other people, let alone with a group of mortals. He¡¯d let Dai Bao¡¯s wisdom guide him in that. It had mostly been successful. Sen had been forced to step in and decree who could stand at the front of the lines to put a stop to petty squabbling.


    For all the tedium of playing instructor, Sen wasn¡¯t wasting his time. He was sitting directly above the townspeople on a platform of hardened shadow that was supported by half a dozen lines of hardened shadow that he¡¯d anchored to the walls. He was also controlling a shadow construct that was about the size and shape of a very large dog that Ai and Zhi were, in turns, riding, petting, or chasing around at a safe distance from the practicing townspeople. It was a compromise he¡¯d made with Fu Ruolan, who said he still hadn¡¯t learned what he needed to learn about shadow qi yet. He could come to town and instruct the mortals, but he had to practice and experiment with shadow qi while he did it.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just tell me what I¡¯m missing?¡± Sen had asked.


    ¡°I could, but I won¡¯t,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°Dare I ask why?¡±


    ¡°Because there are benefits to discovering the answers for yourself. I told you before, the transition into the nascent soul stage depends on understanding. If I give you the answer, what understanding will you gain about shadow qi or yourself?¡±


    ¡°None,¡± Sen grudgingly admitted.


    ¡°Just as importantly, the higher you climb as a cultivator, the fewer people there will be who can guide you. Even the advice of your other teachers, to say nothing of my advice, will become less and less valuable the closer you get to ascension. Our paths intersect with yours in some ways but they are not the same. As time goes by, you¡¯ll need to rely on yourself more and more for the insights that will push you forward. You might as well start now while the stakes are lower.¡±


    Sen had reluctantly accepted that for the wisdom it was and gone back to work. He didn¡¯t feel any closer to a new insight about shadow qi, but he had to admit that he¡¯d become increasingly adept at manipulating it. He took that as a small victory, even if it wasn¡¯t the victory he was looking for. He had found himself going back to Glimmer of Night to discuss webs. He felt sure that the key to understanding what he was missing could be found there. He just hadn¡¯t managed to find the right question to expose the information that could turn his mental flailing into comprehension. Or, if the right information had been provided, Sen simply lacked the necessary foundation to see it for what it was. Recognizing that rehashing that problem in his head wouldn¡¯t get him anywhere, he stood and jumped down to the floor. The platform and supporting lines dispersed at his will. The townspeople didn¡¯t stop their practice. They had grown used to his odd behavior by now.


    He walked a slow circle around them, noting which people needed a little more direct attention. Sen was about to call a few people over to him when one of the heavy main doors swung open and let in a burst of wind and snowflakes. He stared at the open door for a moment before he let his spiritual sense sweep outward. Sen had discovered that while the mortal townspeople didn¡¯t know what it was, they could feel that spiritual sense when he had it active. It was a distraction that they didn¡¯t need and there was little use for it inside the building where he could simply see everything that was happening. What he felt were two cultivators. One was in core formation if just barely, while the other was still in early or maybe early-middle foundation formation. No threat to Sen, but a lethal threat to the townspeople. The pair stepped through the door, and Sen was standing between them and the children in a furious burst of qinggong speed. He almost let his killing intent loose but caught himself at the last moment. His fine control of it was world¡¯s better than it had been when he first set off into the world, but he didn¡¯t want the girls to feel so much as a drop of it if his control slipped.


    He did let his hand drop to his jian, though, as he fixed the pair with a look that wasn¡¯t quite hostile. Between the wind, snow, and the hoods pulled far forward, he couldn¡¯t get a clear look at them. One looked around, pausing briefly at the assembled mortals who were openly staring at the intruders. The other turned and closed the door. The one in front raised a hand and pulled back her hood before giving Sen something that was almost a smile, but marred with a substantial amount of uncertainty. Sen just stared at her. Of all the people he¡¯d thought might try to track him down one day, she hadn¡¯t even been on the list. She¡¯d seemed very keen to sever any relationship with him the last time they¡¯d seen each other.


    ¡°You¡¯re not an easy man to find, Judgment¡¯s Gale,¡± said Wu Meng Yao.

 Volume 3 Will Be Stubbed

    Okay, that glorious moment when Volume 3 will launch on Amazon is almost upon us. The book/ebook/kindle unlimited edition is scheduled to go live on July 2. That means that I''ll probably take down most of the Vol. 3 chapters on here around June 29th or 30th. In other words, if you haven''t read it yet/finished it yet, you have about two weeks before Amazon policies kick in. At that point, it''s too late. No FOMO going on here or anything.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Before anyone asks, there is an audiobook version of volume 3 coming, I''m just not sure about the timing yet. I''m hoping it''ll be close to the book/ebook launch, but that all depends on factors over which I have staggeringly little control.


    Speaking of Volume 3, check out the cover below.

 V7 Chapter 29 – Uncertain Reception

    Wu Meng Yao did her best not to stare at Lu Sen. It had been a long, long road to find him. She¡¯d been away from the Soaring Skies Sect for years now, dragging poor Shen Mingxia along in her wake. They¡¯d been gone so long, in fact, that she suspected they were members in name only by now. Not that the traveling had been entirely a bad thing. Like most members of her sect, she had rarely traveled far beyond the city walls, and on those rare trips only to deal with a spirit beast that was bothering the local farmers. In the intervening years, she had traveled countless miles, seen wonders and horrors, and even had a lucky encounter or two.


    Between the resources she¡¯d been given by the sect, those lucky encounters, and a deeper well of experience than most of her sect brethren, she¡¯d even managed to break into core formation decades ahead of schedule. She had the sneaking suspicion that with that advancement under her belt, she¡¯d be welcomed with open arms and hailed as some kind of minor cultivation genius when she did finally return. Shen Mingxia had even benefited indirectly and pushed her advancement forward. It hadn¡¯t been as fast as Wu Men Yao¡¯s own meteoric ascent, but it was enough that she¡¯d likely get some attention.


    Of course, any thought that she¡¯d been harboring that Judgment¡¯s Gale would be impressed by her advancement evaporated the moment she sensed his power. He was keeping it tightly contained, no doubt for the benefit of all the mortals who were staring at her in a mixture of curiosity, fear, and hostility. Even with that power suppressed, she couldn¡¯t believe what she was sensing. He was late core formation, maybe even verging onto peak core formation. She¡¯d heard the stories. Everyone had heard the stories of the deranged wandering cultivator who challenged sects and criminal empires, the man who walked the deep wilds without fear, the man who cast down beast tides, and the cultivator who toppled kings. She had assumed those stories were exaggerations built up around real but humbler exploits. Looking at him now, sensing that impossible power, power that had come centuries if not millennia before its time, she wondered how many of those tales were completely accurate or, an even more chilling thought, underselling the reality.


    Just as importantly, the man was obviously not happy to see her. He had positioned himself between her and the mortals like she was one of those savage young mistresses who took no account of mortal lives. His hand was resting on the hilt of his jian. That casual gesture was enough to send icy waves coursing through her veins. She remembered him wielding that weapon with terrifying skill when he had been nothing but a foundation formation cultivator.  She couldn¡¯t imagine what it would be like if he turned that blade against her now backed with all of that newfound power and whatever experience he had accumulated in the intervening years. Part of her realized that it might be a profound experience that could push her cultivation forward. What made that problematic was that it would also certainly mean her near-immediate and dishonorable death. She realized that it was on her to start the conversation since she had come to find him.


    ¡°You¡¯re not an easy man to find, Judgment¡¯s Gale,¡± she offered.


    She desperately hoped that her tone had come off as light and friendly. Not that it seemed to make even the tiniest impression on the man. His expression didn¡¯t move at all from the inhumanly cold neutrality that he¡¯d fixed in place. Wu Men Yao found herself abruptly wondering how many people had died after seeing that exact expression on that face. She could almost feel him making a decision about whether or not he should simply end her life and be done with it. The tension grew as the silence stretched out until it reached a point that made her want to scream. Then, as if sent by the heavens, one of the most adorable little girls that Wu Meng Yao had ever seen walked up to the pillar of destructive power that was Judgment¡¯s Gale. There was absolutely no fear in the child at all as she reached up, grabbed two of the fingers on his free hand, and peered across the intervening space with curious eyes.


    ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± asked the little girl.


    As if that child¡¯s touch had turned something back on inside of Lu Sen, humanity bled back into his face. He smiled down at the little girl with so much tender affection that Wu Meng Yao felt a brief stab of envy. Not so much that Lu Sen was looking at the little girl that way, but that she couldn¡¯t recall anyone ever looking at her that way, not even her own parents. She also felt like the shadow of certain death had fallen across her and that only a quirk of fortune had allowed her to escape it. Once that wave of relief passed, though, she found herself looking back and forth from Lu Sen to the little girl. She couldn¡¯t help but wonder. Is that his daughter? The girl didn¡¯t look too old. Enough time had passed that he could have a daughter that age, but she couldn¡¯t imagine when he would have found the time. By all accounts, Judgment¡¯s Gale had spent most of the last ten years moving around in the kingdom. By the way he was looking at the little girl and the pure trust she had in the man, though, Wu Meng Yao struggled to imagine that she could be anything but his daughter. Lu Sen turned his gaze from the girl back to her.


    ¡°Her name if Wu Meng Yao. We,¡± he paused, ¡°met a long time ago.¡±


    ¡°She is so cute!¡± cried Shen Mingxia.


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    Wu Meng Yao wanted to shout at the other woman for undermining whatever scraps of dignity they had left. However, it seemed that the path into Lu Sen¡¯s good graces passed directly through that little girl. He directed a much warmer look at Shen Mingxia as he picked the little girl up.


    ¡°Ai, that is Shen Mingxia,¡± said Sen.


    The girl frowned a little, which made Wu Meng Yao¡¯s heart skip a beat, but it was all innocent enough.


    The girl slowly sounded out the name. ¡°Shen. Ming. Xia.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± said Sen.


    Wu Meng Yao glanced over at Shen Mingxia and recognized a lost cause when she saw one. The other woman only had eyes for the little girl. She wore a huge smile on her face like she didn¡¯t even realize how close to utter destruction they had come. The little girl smiled back at Mingxia.


    ¡°I¡¯m a beautiful orchid,¡± the child announced.


    ¡°Oh, aren¡¯t you just,¡± agreed Shen Mingxia with an enthusiastic nod.


    That elicited an actual smile from Lu Sen, which frustrated Wu Meng Yao to no end. She¡¯d left the sect, come all this way to make amends, and Shen Mingxia was getting smiles. That was just so unfair. On top of all of that, he was even better looking than the last time she¡¯d seen him, which was a tall order. No doubt the product of all those advancements he¡¯d seemingly crashed through over the last several years. Improvements that most cultivators had to wait an eternity to enjoy had piled up on him like gifts from the heavens. It was almost difficult to look at him and not simply gawk. With a start, she realized she was doing just that and averted her eyes before he noticed.


    ¡°Alright, everyone,¡± said Sen. ¡°I think it¡¯s safe to say that we aren¡¯t going to accomplish anything more today. You should head home.¡±


    The mortals all started to shuffle around and deposit spears on¡­ Wu Meng Yao studied the wall a little more closely. It looked like hangers had simply grown out of the stone so people could place the spears there. She notices a similar arrangement where halberds hung. Beyond that, there were hooks where people had hung up their wet coats and cloaks to dry. Cultivators talented with earth qi could do such things, but the mortals seemed to take the conveniences for granted. And why wouldn¡¯t they? It was clear that this setup had been in place for a while. What she couldn¡¯t figure out was what someone as powerful and infamous as Judgment¡¯s Gale was doing teaching mortals to use weapons. For that matter, she couldn¡¯t fathom why he would do such a thing. Maybe he¡¯d tell her, if she could ever thaw that cold unhappiness she¡¯d seen on his face when he first recognized her.


    Turning to say something to Shen Mingxia, she found the woman gone. Looking around, Wu Meng Yao found that the traitor had gone over to fuss over the little girl, who Sen had put back down on the ground. Feeling like there was a plot against her, Wu Meng Yao watched her student win another look of quiet approval from Lu Sen. The trio were quietly joined by another little girl who was holding what looked like a ball made of shadow. Another daughter? The other little girl seemed hesitant, her eyes locking on Lu Sen for approval. He gently rested a hand on the girl¡¯s head and introduced her.


    ¡°This is Li Zhi,¡± he told Shen Mingxia.


    Seemingly bolstered by Sen¡¯s presence and introduction, Zhi walked over to Shen Mingxia and Ai. The little girls immediately co-opted Shen Mingxia to play some kind of game with them. Thank the gods there are no sect elders here to witness this, thought Wu Meng Yao. She wasn¡¯t sure that either of them would ever live the encounter down. She kept her distance while Lu Sen had a number of brief conversations with the mortals. One of the mortal women eventually went over to claim the girl, Li Zhi, who immediately ran away and hid behind Lu Sen¡¯s leg. It seemed this was some kind of ritual because the little girl started giggling as soon as Lu Sen began looking around like he was confused.


    ¡°Oh no!¡± he cried in the most theatrical of worried voices. ¡°Where can Li Zhi have gone?¡±


    The little girl giggled louder and louder as Lu Sen managed to look everywhere except at where she was standing.


    ¡°Whatever will we do if we can¡¯t find Li Zhi?¡± he moaned as he dropped his face into his hands.


    The other little girl took up her part in the ritual.


    ¡°Shadow dog!¡± shouted Ai. ¡°Shadow dog can find her!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right! Shadow dog can do it!¡±


    Wu Meng Yao had no idea what they meant by shadow dog until she felt a surge of qi from Lu Sen, followed by what looked like a literal dog made of shadow leaping into being out of nowhere. She felt her mouth hanging open at the sight, not sure if she should be horrified at the outrageously wasteful use of qi for a child¡¯s game, or astounded at the casually nonchalant way that the man formed and directed the shadow construct. It bounded around the huge building like an actual dog, looking as though it was sniffing for a trail. The little girl, Li Zhi, wasn¡¯t even bothering to hide anymore. Instead, she standing right next to Lu Sen jumping in happiness at the sight of the shadow dog. After what seemed like an unnecessarily convoluted trek through the completely open space, the shadow dog suddenly turned to where Li Zhi was standing, its void black tail started wagging back and forth, and it trotted over to her.


    ¡°Shadow dog found her!¡± shouted Ai.


    ¡°Yes, he did,¡± agreed Lu Sen, as the little girls petted the construct.


    With the ritual completed, the mortal woman bundled up the little girl for the cold weather. Wu Meng Yao expected Lu Sen to disperse the shadow construct, but the other little girl immediately climbed onto it. She watched in stunned silence as Ai rode the shadow construct as if it were some kind of horse. She was pulled from her thoughts by the voice of Lu Sen.


    ¡°You¡¯ve advanced to core formation. Congratulations.¡±


    She turned to face him. The words had been neutral. Safe. A topic that any cultivator would respond to. She nodded.


    ¡°Thank you. Although, it seems no star burns as brightly as yours in the heavens¡¯ eyes when it comes to advancement.¡±


    She had thought it was a safe enough comment, but Lu Sen grimaced at the words.


    ¡°Perhaps,¡± he said, apparently ready to put away even the pretext of polite conversation. ¡°You¡¯ve come a long way, Wu Meng Yao. What do you want?¡±

 V7 Chapter 30 – Don’t Worry About It

    As Sen waited for an answer, he watched the woman¡¯s face. She seemed almost confused as she looked around at the building, and then over at Ai riding on the shadow dog. When she did finally look at him again, it was only for a few moments before her eyes shifted to look past him. He glanced over his shoulder to see Shen Mingxia curiously staring at the pit of shadow balls he kept there for the girls to play in. The woman looked from the pit to Ai on the shadow dog, and then back to the pit. She reached down and picked one of the balls out of the pit. Sen felt Mingxia extend her spiritual sense and her qi. A look of muted awe crossed her face and she looked toward Sen. When she saw Sen and Wu Meng Yao looking at her, she jumped, squeaked, and hastily dropped the ball back into the pit. Sen snorted. Feeling amused, he held out a hand and formed another of the shadow balls. He threw it to her.


    ¡°Study it all you like,¡± he said. ¡°Who knows? Maybe you¡¯ll get an insight from it.¡±


    He turned his attention back to Wu Meng Yao and found her studying him with an intense look in her eyes. Yeah, he thought, that¡¯s not off-putting at all. Sen remembered that last conversation they¡¯d had back in Emperor¡¯s Bay with a lot more clarity than he¡¯d like. He remembered her telling him that he frightened her. It didn¡¯t sting the way it used to, but it wasn¡¯t the kind of thing that a person just shrugs off either. When Sen found his patience starting to wear thin, it must have shown on his face because Wu Meng Yao blurted out a hasty question.


    ¡°Is she your¡­ Is she your daughter?¡±


    Sen had to think hard about that question. It wasn¡¯t a question about where Ai stood in his heart because that answer was locked in stone. She was his, and anyone who tried to take her from him was going to discover that he was the kind of man for who phrases like scorched earth and no survivors were literal possibilities. No, the real question was whether he wanted any sect to possess a confirmation that he saw Ai that way. After a moment of thought, he knew with certainty that he did not want to confirm that kind of relationship to any sect. Instead, he lied by saying something true.


    ¡°She is under my protection.¡±


    From the way Wu Meng Yao took a step back from him, she understood that questions on that topic would not increase her odds of a long, happy, healthy life. Sen thought that taking this approach was probably even better than simply saying she was his daughter. Saying Ai was under his protection meant that any action against her wouldn¡¯t mean the possibility of retribution but the absolute guarantee of it. With his reputation, that was a risk that most sects would go out of their way to avoid. Sen didn¡¯t particularly want to reinforce a reputation as a merciless, blood-soaked agent of doom. If someone threatened Ai, though, that¡¯s exactly what he¡¯d become. However, Sen didn¡¯t have any particular grudge against Wu Meng Yao, so scaring her to death was probably out of bounds. Besides, he got the impression that she¡¯d just asked him the first thing that sprang to mind. He did his best to tamp down the impression that he¡¯d murder people for asking the wrong questions. He softened his tone.


    ¡°Meng Yao, you didn¡¯t come this far from your sect on a whim. Why are you here?¡±


    Part of Sen worried that she was here on some kind of misguided mission to recruit him to the Soaring Skies sect. Although, he had saddled Elder Deng with that list of demonic cultivators. Maybe she¡¯d been sent with message about that. Looking back, he felt a little bad about doing that to Elder Deng. The old man hadn¡¯t been all that friendly to Sen, but Sen also hadn¡¯t been that good for the Soaring Skies¡¯ reputation. A wandering cultivator coming in, killing their sect members, and piling them up in the street like trash. Murdering one of their elders while also exposing said elder as a demonic cultivator. He¡¯d probably set them back a few centuries in terms of the honor and prestige of the sect. In hindsight, it was downright miraculous that he¡¯d gotten out of that city alive. Although, Lo Meifeng had threatened to bring down the wrath of Fate¡¯s Razor on them all, so maybe it wasn¡¯t that miraculous.


    ¡°The last time we spoke¡ª¡± said Wu Meng Yao before she trailed off.


    ¡°I remember,¡± said Sen with more than a hint of dryness in his tone.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she answered, wincing a little. ¡°I was unkind to you. It wasn¡¯t until after you were gone that I understood what you¡¯d done for me.¡±


    Sen blinked at her. I have no idea what she¡¯s talking about, he thought. He scoured his memory and tried to think of anything he might have done for her. He hadn¡¯t given her anything. That was in the days before he made a habit of picking up absurdly powerful plants and reagents out in the wilds. No matter how hard he thought, he just couldn¡¯t imagine what action or event she was referring to. In the end, he did the only thing he could do. He shrugged.


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    ¡°Well, things worked out fine, I guess. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    Wu Meng Yao stared at him, her mouth working a little, but she seemed utterly at a loss. Shen Mingxia spoke from behind him, a bit of wry amusement in her tone.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t remember,¡± she said.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Wu Meng Yao.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? He has no idea what he did for you. For us.¡±


    Sen looked back to see Shen Mingxia still holding the shadow ball he¡¯d given her. She was still studying the ball.


    ¡°You don¡¯t remember?¡± asked Wu Meng Yao with an incredulous expression.


    Sen gave her a helpless look. ¡°I really don¡¯t. I mean, it seems like it was important, and I¡¯m glad it helped you, but a lot has happened to me since then.¡±


    Wu Meng Yao stood completely still for a few seconds before a little laugh escaped her lips. Once that laugh was out in the world, though, it was like the sect woman couldn¡¯t keep the rest of them in. She laughed until she was wiping tears away from her eyes.


    ¡°I should have known,¡± she said.


    ¡°Known what?¡± asked Sen even if he wasn¡¯t sure he actually wanted to know.


    ¡°What you did was life-changing for me,¡± said Wu Meng Yao.


    ¡°For both of us,¡± chimed in Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°But the life you live is so¡ª¡± she started, only to pause.


    ¡°Absurd?¡± offered Sen.


    ¡°I was going to say extreme or maybe intense. Your life is so intense that you don¡¯t even remember doing life-altering things for people.¡±


    Sen frowned. She wasn¡¯t necessarily wrong, but he also wasn¡¯t sure that she was right about this either.


    ¡°Yeah, but did I actually do anything? Did I personally do anything for either of you? I mean after that business at the Silver Crane. Because I honestly can¡¯t think of a single thing.¡±


    ¡°You told Elder Deng I could be trusted,¡± said Wu Meng Yao.


    Sen nodded at that. ¡°Sure.¡±


    She looked at him expectantly.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°You told one of the most powerful people in my sect that I could be trusted.¡±


    ¡°I know. I told him that because it was true.¡±


    ¡°So, you do remember,¡± said Wu Meng Yao.


    ¡°I remember saying it,¡± said Sen.


    That was when Sen¡¯s brain finally caught up with the conversation that Wu Meng Yao had been trying to have with him. He hadn¡¯t been thinking about it in the big picture. To him, it had been an offhand statement of fact and maybe a way to help Shen Mingxia get some decent training. But, to Elder Deng, a man confronted with the fact that his sect had been infiltrated by at least one demonic cultivator, those words had probably carried a lot more weight. Coming from Sen, coming from the student of Feng Ming, those words must have sounded like a ringing endorsement. He could imagine how it came across to Deng. Yeah, I think your sect is filled with garbage, but I found one diamond of a person that I think is trustworthy. Sen didn¡¯t know exactly what that meant for her at the sect, but it must have been pretty good for her to go through all the trouble to find him. When he thought about that last conversation they had, he realized that she must have been harboring some deep guilt about the whole thing.


    ¡°I see,¡± said Sen, before he decided that it didn¡¯t change anything. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad that worked out for you. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    The look of shock and even offense on Wu Meng Yao¡¯s face was not what Sen had expected. He¡¯d figured he could send her back to her sect, free of guilt, and never to trouble him again.


    ¡°I spent years searching for you so I could try to make amends. And you don¡¯t care?¡±


    That hadn¡¯t been what Sen was trying to say, but he could sort of see how it might look that way from her position. He¡¯d just meant to give her an easy out. Why are these things always so complicated? The problem was that he didn¡¯t know what she did want.


    ¡°That¡¯s not it. I genuinely appreciate what you¡¯ve done, and that you want to make amends. I¡¯m just not sure what you expected me to do about it. I mean, honestly, what can I do other than tell you it¡¯s fine and send you home?¡±


    ¡°Well, for starters, you could¡ª¡± she said before a look of uncertainty crossed her face.


    Sen narrowed his eyes at her. ¡°You thought that I¡¯d have a plan for something like this, didn¡¯t you? Some task that I¡¯d want done? Some quest you could pursue? Something that would put us back on even terms?¡±


    ¡°Do you?¡± asked Wu Meng Yao in a weak but hopeful voice.


    ¡°No. What kind of a person has a plan ready to go for this situation?¡± asked Sen as he pinched the bridge of his nose.


    He looked over at Ai who was still cheerfully riding around on the shadow dog construct. He had it bring her over to him. She hopped down off the construct and waved at it as it dispersed. Sen wondered if she thought it was sapient. Now, there¡¯s a question, thought Sen. Could I make it sapient? I wonder how I¡¯d do that, assuming it¡¯s even possible. He tucked that thought away for future consideration as he started making sure that Ai got her winter cloak settled around her. He very pointedly did not look at Wu Meng Yao while he did that. She had seemed both embarrassed and out of sorts, so a little time not being under direct scrutiny was probably a good thing. He finally turned his attention back to the sect cultivators.


    ¡°Do you two have rooms yet?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°Follow me. There¡¯s an inn in town. They probably have some rooms open. It¡¯s not a great inn, but it¡¯s dry, warm, and the food isn¡¯t terrible. I need to get you settled, so we can go home. Are you ready to go home?¡± he asked Ai.


    ¡°Home!¡± she agreed enthusiastically.


    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose we could¡ª¡± started Wu Meng Yao.


    ¡°Definitely not,¡± said Sen, shuddering at the very thought of what Fu Ruolan might do if he brought two sect members into her domain.

 V7 Chapter 31 – Quest-giving

    Falling Leaf just stared at Sen with those green of hers for a while, her hand gently stroking Ai¡¯s hair as the little girl slept in her lap. That sleep was peaceful, for which Sen was deeply grateful. The awful nightmares of the first couple of months had slowly faded away, largely Sen suspected, in lockstep with Ai¡¯s increasing feeling of safety and security. These days, the nightmares were the rare exception. To Sen¡¯s immense relief, those nightmares often featured imaginary threats conjured by the girl¡¯s imagination instead of the far-too-real human monsters of her past. Sen¡¯s eyes were drawn back up as Falling Leaf shook her head.


    ¡°What does the foolish human girl expect you to do? The guilt isn¡¯t yours.¡±


    That had been Sen¡¯s general feeling about Wu Meng Yao as well, but there was something comforting in having the ghost panther agree with him. He¡¯d been wrestling with the problem of what, if anything, he should do about the sect cultivator since he left her and Shen Mingxia back at the inn. It was strange to have such different reactions to two people. Wu Meng Yao had immediately made herself into an issue, albeit a very minor one on the scale of Sen¡¯s usual problems. He¡¯d been certain that she¡¯d drag some huge calamity in her wake that would inevitably require him to do things he¡¯d rather not do. The reality was much more mundane and annoying than disastrous and deadly.


    He¡¯d actually been happy to see Shen Mingxia. It was a relief to know that she had escaped the kind of unwanted attention she¡¯d faced in the sect before. Based on her advancement, she¡¯d been the recipient of some good training, good luck, or both in the interim. Sen could even allow himself a tiny bit of satisfaction that he¡¯d played some small role in making that happen. Sen was willing to admit that the woman¡¯s reaction to Ai might have disposed him to like her a little more than he otherwise would have. Of course, Mingxia had been willing to simply say a heartfelt thank you and leave it at that. If she was harboring some of the same feelings as Wu Meng Yao, she did a much better job of hiding them. As for what Wu Meng Yao expected from him, that was the mystery.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t know,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°I can see where she¡¯s coming from, a little bit, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s my problem to deal with. On the other hand, I don¡¯t want sect members in town all the time, bothering people, or bothering me.¡±


    ¡°Then give her something to do. Some task that she won¡¯t like that will eventually make her leave. Or, better yet, a task that will drag her away for a long time. Send her after a difficult-to-reach treasure.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know where to find any treasures. Where am I supposed to send her?¡±


    Falling Leaf sat in thoughtful silence for a while before she smiled the kind of smile that makes people shiver.


    ¡°Send her to the Mountains of Sorrow. The Caihong said that there are many caves and many treasures hidden near the peaks of those mountains.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at the ghost panther. ¡°I¡¯m fairly certain that Uncle Kho said that there were also all kinds of monsters crawling around near those peaks.¡±


    ¡°What better test of her sincerity?¡± asked Falling Leaf.


    ¡°I¡¯m so glad you don¡¯t get angry with me all that often,¡± observed Sen. ¡°Well, I suppose I have to send her after something.¡±


    ¡°Just tell her that it¡¯s a shadow qi treasure that she¡¯ll recognize as soon as she sees it.¡±


    Sen mulled it over. ¡°So, you figure that they¡¯ll go looking, realize how stupidly dangerous it is, or realize I sent them there just to get them out of here, and go home?¡±


    ¡°They will if they have any sense,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    ¡°What if they find something?¡± asked Sen.


    Falling Leaf rocked her head to each side a few times. ¡°Then, I imagine that you¡¯ll get a shadow treasure with no effort.¡±


    Sen laughed gently and shook his head. His gaze shifted when Ai stirred a little.


    ¡°Do you want me to take her?¡± asked Sen.


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    The ghost panther didn¡¯t actually hiss at him, but Sen got the impression it was a close thing. Instead, Falling Leaf gave him a flat look.


    ¡°She¡¯s fine where she is.¡±


    Sen lifted his hands in a placating gesture. ¡°I was only offering. Just trying to be helpful¡±


    ¡°If you wish to be helpful, fetch one of those tedious history scrolls that the Kho gave you and read it to me. Since it seems I am truly to be stuck in this form forever, I should make an effort to know some of your human history.¡±


    Sen was startled by the request but did as he was asked. Reading it out loud wasn¡¯t that much better than reading it in his head, but Falling Leaf remained attentive. She even asked questions from time to time. After they put Ai to bed, Sen brought out his writing kit.


    ¡°I thought you were done teaching me,¡± said the ghost panther.


    ¡°Done is a strong word. You know enough to get by, but it¡¯s a skill you need to practice occasionally.¡±


    ¡°Very well,¡± said Falling Leaf, sitting down at the table. ¡°What shall I write?¡±


    ¡°You heard a bunch of that scroll earlier. Write down some of what you remember.¡±


    That earned Sen a skeptical look, but Falling Leaf dutifully picked up the brush and began writing. At first, he just watched the characters appear on the scroll and marveled at the crisp control that went into forming them. After a little while, though, Sen really focused on what Falling Leaf was writing. Sen couldn¡¯t be sure without going and getting the scroll he¡¯d been reading, but it appeared that Falling Leaf was writing what she¡¯d heard nearly verbatim. Sen¡¯s memory was good. In fact, it was very, very good compared to his mortal days, but he didn¡¯t think he could have pulled off the feat he was witnessing.


    ¡°You remember all of this?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I was listening carefully,¡± she said as she turned to look at him. ¡°I always listen carefully when you speak.¡±


    Sen felt inexplicably nervous under that look and shifted in his seat. Then, Falling Leaf broke the moment when she continued.


    ¡°You should try it sometime.¡±


    ¡°Very funny,¡± said Sen as Falling Leaf smirked to herself.


    ***


    Wu Meng Yao looked a little horrified at Sen¡¯s words.


    ¡°You want me to go to the Mountains of Sorrow and retrieve a treasure from one of the peaks there?¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°Yes. That¡¯s about the size of it.¡±


    The woman swallowed hard. Sen did his best not to look at Shen Mingxia because she was giving him a very skeptical look.


    ¡°Which peak?¡± asked Wu Meng Yao.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly which peak. It¡¯s supposed to be one of the peaks near the main pass through the mountains. I mean, if I knew exactly where it was and how to get it, I¡¯d just go myself.¡±


    ¡°Do you have any other information?¡± asked the sect woman.


    Sen was starting to feel bad about the whole subterfuge, but he carried on with it. ¡°It¡¯s a potent shadow qi treasure. It¡¯s in a cave. You should expect terrible weather, powerful spirit beasts, and probably some dangerous formations and qi traps. It¡¯s perfect for a fresh core formation cultivator. I get a treasure. You¡¯re freed from your debt. Everybody wins.¡±


    Wu Meng Yao¡¯s brow furrowed. ¡°Do we need to leave immediately?¡±


    Sen wanted to say yes. Oh, he wanted to say it so very badly, but he¡¯d seen the map. There was basically nothing between where they were and where he was sending them. No major cities. He wasn¡¯t sure there were even any towns or villages. Sen might want them gone, but he wasn¡¯t cruel enough to force them to travel in the dead of winter to places where there simply was no shelter. After all, they couldn¡¯t simply raise a galehouse and hole up for a month if they needed to. He shook his head.


    ¡°It¡¯ll hold until spring, I expect.¡±


    A tiny little part of Sen hoped that she¡¯d decide to go back to Emperor¡¯s Bay until the weather broke, but it wasn¡¯t to be. She offered him a relieved smile.


    ¡°Well then, we¡¯ll just have to find ways to make ourselves useful around here until then.¡±


    Sen tried to smile back and almost made it. Wu Meng Yao stood.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get us something to drink,¡± she announced.


    The moment she was gone, Sen felt Shen Mingxia¡¯s eyes boring into him. He looked over at her and did his best to maintain a calm, neutral expression.


    ¡°There¡¯s no treasure, is there?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°Oh, there¡¯s definitely treasures up in those peaks,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°But not the one you¡¯re talking about.¡±


    Sen said nothing.


    Shen Mingxia glared at him. ¡°Are you trying to get me and her killed?¡±


    ¡°What? No. Your job is to wait until you get to the mountains and then tell her that I¡¯m a cruel liar who sent you after a non-existent treasure.¡±


    Shen Mingxia opened her mouth and the only thing that came out was a baffled, ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because it¡¯s not my job to fix her guilt,¡± said Sen.


    She Mingxia frowned but eventually nodded. ¡°Okay. I can see that. But why all of this? Why not just say that to her?¡±


    ¡°Do you really think that if I just say, this is not my problem, go home, she¡¯ll actually do it? Because that would make my life so much easier.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± admitted Shen Mingxia. ¡°There¡¯s almost zero chance of that.¡±


    ¡°That was what I thought. This way, I waste a bunch of her time and send her on a fool¡¯s errand. You put a stop to it before it gets really dangerous. She stops feeling guilty and just thinks that I¡¯m an ass for doing that to her.¡±


    ¡°You are an ass for doing this to her.¡±


    ¡°As a wandering cultivator, you work with the tools you have. Besides, it¡¯s not like I have anything real for her to do. You¡¯re not dealing with a sect here. It¡¯s just me. I don¡¯t have jobs or missions or whatever you call them to hand out to people.¡±


    ¡°Still, this was the best you could come up with?¡±


    ¡°Figure out something better,¡± said Sen. ¡°You have until spring.¡±

 V7 Chapter 32 – First Test, Part 1

    Sen had barely begun to walk away from the inn when his spiritual sense alerted him that there were spirit beasts near to the town. They were much too near to the town to be doing anything but preparing to attack. I guess this day was always coming, he thought. Now, we find out if I¡¯ve been wasting my time or not. Sen activated his qinggong technique and flashed over to where the town had set up a gong. It was usually tucked away and only brought out for festivals, but Sen had made the argument that it could serve another purpose. It could be an alert for the town that danger was at hand. Sen flipped open the box that was there to offer the mallet some basic protection from the weather, seized the mallet, and struck the gong three times. By the time the third reverberating note was washing out over the town, Sen was crashing into the practice hall and hurriedly storing weapons in a storage ring.


    This was bad planning, he realized. He never went anywhere without his weapons. In fact, he kept backup weapons on him at all times. Granted, the mortals couldn¡¯t make use of storage rings, but they could keep spears close at hand. Needing to run to a building outside the city to arm themselves was a huge waste of time during which people could die. Of course, solving that problem meant getting more spears. Well, it¡¯s not like I don¡¯t have the money, thought Sen. Maybe I¡¯ll call it a loan to the town, and they can pay me back a copper tael each year until the end of time. Having grabbed all the weapons, he shot back toward the town. He only paused long enough to toss Wang Bo over his shoulder. The young man was fast on his feet and lived the closest to the practice hall, so Sen wasn¡¯t entirely surprised to find him racing for the weapons. Sen did have to suppress his laughter at the high-pitched yelp the young man made when he was seemingly seized by an all-but-invisible force and carried back to the town. Sen went over the wall and dropped down on the inside of the gate. He was gratified to see that about half of the people he¡¯d been training were racing toward the gate. If all was going according to plan, the rest would be at the other gate. Sen put down Wang Bo, who looked a little nauseated and swayed on his feet. He turned and pointed to one of the people who was racing toward him.


    ¡°Go to the other gate. Fetch the rest. The threat is here.¡±


    More poor planning, thought Sen. There should be a specific signal for which gate they should meet at. The realization that people would have needed to carry spears to the far side of town just so the townspeople could arm themselves drove home just how badly he¡¯d thought all of it through. He consoled himself a little with the knowledge that no one else had thought of these things either. Plus, it wasn¡¯t like Sen had ever gotten any practical training in defending a town or city. He wasn¡¯t a general. He was just a wandering cultivator. He summoned an armful of spears and shoved them at Wang Bo. Then, he summoned an armful for himself. They started passing the weapons out. Sen could feel the rest of the people coming from the far side of the town. He handed out a few more armloads of weapons and tasked people with arming the new arrivals.


    He strode back to the gate and turned to face the townspeople. He waited and did his best to look calm and project confidence. Once everyone was assembled and armed, he swept his gaze across the people. Some looked scared. Some looked excited. Some of the people who had fought the last spirit beasts to attack the town looked grim but determined. He saw Wu Meng Yao and Shen Mingxia drift toward the gathering. He¡¯d have to stop them from interfering unless things went terribly, terribly wrong. Taking a deep breath, he clasped his hands behind him. I need to give them something to focus on, he thought.


    ¡°There are spirit beasts close by. They might just be passing by, but I¡¯m not willing to sit back and simply hope that¡¯s what happens. These are your homes, your livelihoods,¡± he locked eyes with Li Hua for a second, ¡°and your families. The fight will be hard. I can¡¯t promise that none of you will be hurt. I can¡¯t promise that no one will die. But you are the line between those spirit beasts and everything and everyone you hold dear. You are their shield. You are their sword. Will you fail them?¡±


    The townspeople stared at him as though transfixed. He waited. It was Dai Bao who broke the silence.


    ¡°No!¡± shouted the grizzled man.


    ¡°Is Dai Bao the only one? I ask you again. Will you fail them?¡±


    That time, fifty voices shouted out at him as one. ¡°No!¡±


    Some of them shouted in fear. Some shouted in defiance of the threat bearing down on them. Yet, they were united. It was the most he could ask for.


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    ¡°Good,¡± said Sen, giving them all a nod. ¡°Through the gate and into your teams.¡±


    He turned and pushed the gate open. The townspeople flooded past him, their eyes blazing with purpose. Wu Meng Yao and Shen Mingxia came up on either side of him. Shen Mingxia watched the mortals organizing themselves with a thoughtful look on her face. Sen felt Wu Meng Yao extend her spiritual sense. She gave Sen a perplexed look.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. You could kill those spirit beasts without even trying. Mingxia and I could do it without any help.¡±


    Sen glanced over at her. ¡°What about next time?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean that I¡¯m not always here. You won¡¯t always be here. But they will,¡± he said, gesturing at the people beyond the gate. ¡°They¡¯ll be here every day. They¡¯ll be here the next time spirit beasts come looking for easy food or easy prey. So, I¡¯m trying to give them the skills they need to protect themselves. This will be the first test.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t want us to interfere at all?¡± asked Shen Mingxia.


    Sen almost agreed, but the look of deep concern on the woman¡¯s face made him think better of it. He had two sect-trained cultivators just hanging around, at least one of them positively aching to be useful to him. Sen had fought with enough sect cultivators to recognize that, while he might not care for their attitudes on the whole, they were generally competent to above-average fighters. Simply telling these two to stay out of it completely was a poor use of available resources. Yes, he wanted the townspeople to get some valuable experience. Yes, he wanted them to be the ones to make the actual kills. No, he didn¡¯t want either of those things to result in preventable deaths. And with three cultivators on hand, pretty much every certain death scenario for a mortal was preventable. Sen was new to this quasi-leadership role he¡¯d adopted, but even he could see that allowing deaths for no reason other than ¡°teaching¡± would undermine the townspeople¡¯s trust in him at best, and seem like a basic betrayal of trust at worst.


    ¡°The whole point of this is to help them build up some experience and confidence, so leave the fighting and killing to them. With that said, you can intervene to save lives. Get people out of certain death. Push the beasts back to let the townspeople regroup. That kind of thing. If something too powerful shows up, I¡¯ll deal with it. Or you two can.¡±


    Shen Mingxia looked relieved, while Wu Meng Yao looked eager. Man, I should have sent her on that stupid fake quest immediately, thought Sen. Still, he¡¯d be lying to himself if he didn¡¯t feel the pressure of responsibility on him reduce just a little bit. He knew that spirit beasts killed mortals all the time, the same way that cultivators killed spirit beasts and each other all the time. It was the way of the world. But he was at a remove from all of those people, cultivators, and spirit beasts. He hadn¡¯t tried to get the know the townspeople all the well, but he¡¯d inevitably become a casual acquaintance to pretty much every student. He considered a small handful of them as actual friends. Dai Bao, Li Hua, and Li Zhi, Wang Bo and his parents, and a few others. Thankfully, only some of them were getting ready to fight, but Sen recognized that this was a test for himself as much as it was for them.


    During that first fight with the spirit beasts, it had been easy to limit his intervention. He didn¡¯t really know any of them. Now, he did, and he needed to find out if he could stay his hand when things got bloody. Intervening for anything short of certain death would tell the townspeople that he didn¡¯t trust them, didn¡¯t trust what he¡¯d taught them, which would make them doubt what he¡¯d taught them. It was going to be hard because Wu Meng Yao was right. He could end the approaching spirit beasts by himself from the exact spot he was standing. The townspeople would never know, but he would know. He needed to be a little cruel right now so that they would learn, and so that they would be better prepared later. Sen put on a mask of cool confidence as he stepped through the gate.


    He watched as Dai Bao went from group to group, offering words of encouragement and making sure everyone¡¯s weapon was in fighting condition. During the first battle, there had been so few people that Sen broke them up into three-person teams. With fifty people, that was impractical. After some discussion with Dai Bao, they¡¯d settled on five-person teams. Three people carried spears while two wielded halberds. It was a cold calculation, but that meant that up to two people could theoretically die and leave a team still capable of fighting or, barring that, retreating with some possibility of survival. With ten teams, it also meant that they could hold some teams in reserve to rotate in if the battle raged on for more than a few minutes. Sen remembered how tired he had been during the earliest days of his training and how fatigue made him sloppy. He had quickly learned that those memories were accurate for mortals in general. Even healthy, fit adult mortals grew tired very fast compared with even a formation foundation cultivator like Shen Mingxia. He expected that would prove even more true in a situation like this where the combat would be far fiercer and demanding than even their most brutal practice sessions.


    ¡°They¡¯re almost here,¡± said Wu Meng Yao.


    Her comment wasn¡¯t necessary. Sen could feel them even more clearly than she could. At least the woman had lost that eager expression. It seemed the reality of the situation was finally sinking in for her. Mortals were about to fight spirit beasts. Sen caught Dai Bao¡¯s eyes and nodded.


    ¡°Here they come!¡± bellowed the man. ¡°You don¡¯t let them see so much as a wisp of fear in your eyes. They don¡¯t know it, yet, but they came here to die!¡±

 V7 Chapter 33 – First Test, Part 2

    It was all Sen could do to keep his breathing steady. If this had been his fight, he knew he would have been calm, collected, and focused. He might have even been a little excited. But this wasn¡¯t his fight. Not really. He was mostly a spectator to the danger. His eyes traveled across the backs of the townspeople, and he couldn¡¯t help but pick out the ones he knew and liked best. He could almost see the fear rolling off the people who had never been in any kind of a real fight before. Sparring was useful, but it wasn¡¯t the same as real fighting. Sen had learned that lesson back on the mountain when he¡¯d made his long trek to form his killing intent. Training helped prepare you, but it couldn¡¯t ever replace the actual experience of fear trying to claw its way out of your chest, the thunderous pounding of blood in your ears like a drum that refused to be silent, or pressing need to simply be doing something, even if doing nothing was the best choice. That was a fight he couldn¡¯t help the townspeople win. That was a fight that would happen in their own minds and hearts, and they each needed to find something inside themselves that gave them the strength they needed to overcome.


    When the spirit beasts finally burst out of the forest, Sen very nearly broke every promise he¡¯d made to himself and the townspeople, all so he could go on a one-cultivator killing spree. It was a small pack of those gods damned bear-cats. He could kill them. He¡¯d vowed to kill them. It¡¯d be nothing, nothing at all, to cut them down like the waste of life and qi that they all were. It would be right. It would be good. It would be¡­ Sen didn¡¯t realize he¡¯d started to move until he felt a hand seize his arm. He stared down at that hand in blank incomprehension before his eyes followed the arm back to the confused face of Wu Meng Yao. In a blink, Sen came back to himself.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± she asked. ¡°You said not to interfere. That this was for them to learn.¡±


    Sen looked down and saw his hand wrapped around the hilt of his jian so tightly that it was amazing the weapon hadn¡¯t been damaged. He forced himself to let go of the hilt. He ordered his lungs to take in air. She¡¯s right, he told himself. This isn¡¯t about you. He took a few more steadying breaths and nodded to her. She didn¡¯t release his arm immediately.


    ¡°What was that about?¡± she asked.


    Sen glared at the advancing bear-cats. ¡°I hate those things.¡±


    He was gratified to see that the bear-cats didn¡¯t quite know what to make of the group of armed mortals standing between them and the town. The spirit beasts shuffled back and forth a bit before the biggest of the group hiss-snarled something in what Sen presumed was the bear-cat language. Letting go of their reluctance, they surged toward the townspeople.


    ¡°Do you think they can beat six of them?¡± asked Shen Mingxia, the doubt clear in her voice and on her face.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Neither do they,¡± said Sen. ¡°That¡¯s the whole point of this. Besides, even if we weren¡¯t here, they¡¯d still have to fight them.¡±


    While Sen had harbored some dim, vain hope that that fight would be over quickly with the mortals earning a decisive victory, life was rarely so clean. Many of the townspeople were clearly unnerved by the charge of the spirit beasts, so their reactions were slow. The teams were slowly pushed out of shape as some people acted immediately while others remained frozen, if only for a moment or two. The groups who had been in front were pushed back toward the reserve groups until a voice cut through the noise and chaos.


    ¡°Fight!¡± screamed Li Hua.


    Her face was a mask of untempered rage, and her spear lashed out at a bear-cat to draw blood. That single word seemed to break the semi-paralysis, but the townspeople had lost whatever advantage the bear-cats'' initial confusion might have bought them. It would all be uphill from here. Even that one split-second hesitation to unleash her battle cry nearly cost Li Hua her life. The bear-cat she¡¯d wounded turned and swiped at her. It was only the descending blade of halberd that made the spirit beast shy away. Of course, that part was according to plan. Only a very exceptional few mortals stood a real chance against any spirit beast in a one-on-one confrontation. Sen had done his best to drive that one idea into their mind.


    ¡°You will not win against spirit beasts with brute force. You must kill them by attrition. It¡¯s not the stuff of legends, but if you cut a spirit beast a thousand times, it will die. You do that by working together. Distract. Harass. Cut. Then, when it¡¯s bled so much it can¡¯t move, you cut off its head.¡±


    As he kept his eyes moving across the fight, he saw the townspeople enacting that plan, more or less. Fear had a real grip on some of the people. Some were simply more talented than others. Sen and Dai Bao had done their best to spread the talent out, but there was no way to predict who would succumb to fear. It meant that some of the fights were lopsided. The bear-cats were savage, but they weren¡¯t stupid. They could recognize where the threats were coming from and would attack the weak links. That forced the others to intervene, putting them closer to claws and teeth. On the whole, though, the strategy was working. Sen did wonder if this strategy could possibly endure the attack of a truly powerful spirit beast, but that wasn¡¯t what he¡¯d been teaching them to fight. If something truly powerful came looking for trouble, the best they could hope for was to buy time for people to flee.


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    Much as he had expected, Sen could see that people were getting tired. Spear thrusts were getting sloppy. Halberd swings were coming later than they should. Then, it happened. Wang Bo stepped on something and stumbled. If he had stumbled sideways or backward, it would have been fine, but he stumbled forward. Right toward the waiting jaws of bear-cat. Sen had restrained himself when people were taking minor injuries, but it took him less than a fraction of a second to analyze where everyone in Wang Bo¡¯s group was positioned. No one would be able to intervene in time. Sen activated his qinggong technique and gleefully put himself between the screaming Wang Go and the bear-cat. The spirit beast seemed utterly perplexed as its jaws closed around Sen¡¯s arm and found precisely no give in that body cultivation-hardened flesh. It was everything that Sen could do not to simply kill it on the spot, but he restrained himself to simply jerking his arm and sending the beast bouncing away on the ground. He turned and looked at the stunned group. It had probably looked to them like he¡¯d appeared from nowhere.


    ¡°Fall back,¡± he told them. ¡°Send a new team forward.¡±


    When Wu Meng Yao and Shen Mingxia saw what Sen had done, they followed suit. They intervened for two other groups that seemed to be the most hard-pressed by the fighting. The exhausted townspeople didn¡¯t need any convincing, simply retreating toward the wall. Three of the reserve groups came forward and none of them looked excited anymore. They¡¯d seen what fighting spirit beasts really looked like and realized that it wasn¡¯t glorious or anything like the stories they¡¯d heard. It was just danger and blood. The advantage was that they¡¯d had more time to master their fear, and they were fresh. The bear-cats were all injured to one degree or another, which made them a little slower. It wasn¡¯t a lot, but a little could mean everything in a fight. Once the new teams were situated, Sen fell back. He kept his attention and spiritual sense mostly on the battle, but there were injuries to tend and spirits to bolster. He went to each team, bandaged the more serious wounds he found, and passed out water. Before moving on to a new team, he met the eyes of every person while he made the same speech.


    ¡°You fought. You survived. The town is still safe.¡±


    That straightened backs and even triggered a few grim smiles.


    ¡°Now, rest,¡± said Sen ¡°You may be needed again before the end.¡±


    The fight seemed to drag on forever to Sen, although he knew that each group wasn¡¯t fighting for very long before they needed to be cycled out. What he couldn¡¯t understand was why the bear-cats didn¡¯t simply withdraw. It would have been the smart choice, at least on the surface. He knew that if they fled, he would hunt them down in the forest and slaughter them all, but he didn¡¯t think that they could know that. Instead, they stayed and fought. Maybe, they really are just that vindictive, thought Sen. They¡¯d rather stay and die with the hope of killing a few people than retreat.


    Sen saw the life of one of the bear-cats wink out in his spiritual sense just a moment before a cheer went up from the resting teams. Sen was about to order that team back, but Dai Bao beat him to it. While the townspeople were happy, Sen knew that the bear-cats would become wilder and more vicious after one of theirs fell. The only saving grace was that the spirit beasts had been thoroughly bloodied. The townspeople couldn¡¯t land many deep cuts, but, just as he¡¯d told them, enough cuts would do the job. Sen watched on in cold approval as, one by one, the bear-cats fell. Wu Meng Yao still had to intervene one more time to save someone. Sen thought she acted a little too hastily, but he decided he¡¯d rather that she act a little prematurely than not act soon enough. Shen Mingxia had appointed herself the person in charge of deciding when to have teams trade out. Again, Sen thought she was acting a little sooner than necessary, but it probably prevented some injuries. Ideally, there would have been group leaders to make calls like that, but it was just one more thing that Sen hadn¡¯t thought of. I guess everyone is learning some things today, he thought.


    Sen was a little surprised when it was Dai Bao who struck down the last of the bear-cats. He¡¯d handed off his spear and commandeered a halberd. The roar he let loose as he brought the blade down on the bear-cat¡¯s neck could probably have been heard clear to the far side of the town. For a long moment, there was just the sound of the man taking heaving breaths. Then, he thrust that bloody halberd toward the sky and loosed another roar, this one of victory. The rest of the battle-weary townspeople momentarily forgot their wounds and their exhaustion. They all thrust their weapons into the air and took up that triumphant cry. Sen would have been content to leave it at that, but Dai Bao turned to look at Sen. There was something searching in the man¡¯s expression that Sen didn¡¯t quite know how to interpret.


    ¡°Say something, you idiot,¡± hissed Wu Meng Yao under her breath.


    ¡°Like what?¡± he muttered back, trying to not move his lips.


    ¡°They want your approval.¡±


    Oh hells, thought Sen. To buy himself a few seconds to think, he clasped his hands behind his back and walked toward Dai Bao with a stern look on his face. When he reached Dai Bao, he could see individual droplets of blood that had splattered across the man¡¯s face. Sen inclined his head to Dai Bao and then turned to look at the rest of the townspeople. I should say something inspiring, thought Sen. Inspiring is good, right? What the hells do I know about inspiring people? Realizing that the right words were not going to find him, Sen just pushed forward and hoped he didn¡¯t screw it up too badly. He infused his voice with a touch of qi so it would resonate.


    ¡°You fought bravely. You fought well. You protected each other, and you protected your home. You, farmers, shopkeepers, woodcutters, mortals, took up arms and slew spirit beasts. It¡¯s easy to fight when you have the power and strength of a cultivator. You fought with nothing but your skill, your will, and your heart. After what I saw today, I can tell you that you carry the hearts of legends inside of you. And I could not be prouder of what you achieved here today.¡±


    Oh, please let that be enough, prayed Sen.


    The explosion of savage, joyous cheering that washed over him told him it was.

 V7 Chapter 34 – How Did We Do?

    While Sen hadn¡¯t been able to predict exactly when another spirit beast attack would come to the town, he had known with certainty that one would come. With that knowledge in hand, he hadn¡¯t wasted his time. He¡¯d made a habit of making at least some healing elixirs that mortals could use every week. With entire months behind him, he had a deep stockpile of the things just sitting around in one of his storage rings. That made it fairly easy for him to hand them out with the assistance of a few of the only lightly-injured townspeople. When Sen went to hand one to Dai Bao, the man actually shuddered at the sight of it. Sen had to simultaneously suppress a laugh and a wince of sympathy. The grizzled man gritted his teeth, took the elixir, and downed it. Sen watched in mild bemusement as Dai Bao squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation of a mountain of pain. A mountain of pain that did not appear. The man opened his eyes and glared at Sen.


    ¡°You could have told me this one wouldn¡¯t hurt.¡±


    ¡°I thought it would be a nice surprise,¡± offered Sen without a hint of contrition in his voice.


    Dai Bao glared a little more before he grudgingly nodded.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s true. To be honest, toward the end there, I thought you were just torturing me for fun. Today, though,¡± he said, hefting the halberd he¡¯d used to dispatch the last bear-cat, ¡°I saw what it was all for.¡±


    ¡°Worth it?¡± asked Sen.


    The grizzled man looked torn as he considered the question. Sen didn¡¯t blame him. It had been a lot of pain. Dai Bao looked over the other townspeople he¡¯d fought with, and then out to the corpses of the bear-cats.


    ¡°It was,¡± the man finally said. ¡°Although, I don¡¯t think I could have made myself do it if I¡¯d known what I was in for.¡±


    ¡°A common sentiment for so many worthwhile things, I would think,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°That¡¯s the heavens¡¯ truth,¡± said Dai Bao before he gave Sen a discouraged look. ¡°I heard what you said after we finished, but how did we really do? Honestly.¡±


    Sen had expected this question. ¡°Everyone survived. Since that¡¯s probably the most important consideration, you did well.¡±


    ¡°But?¡±


    ¡°These were very weak spirit beasts. To put it in cultivator terms, they were qi-condensing spirit beasts and just barely. If any of them had advanced to the point where they could manifest qi techniques, this would have gone very differently. Those things,¡± Sen gestured angrily at the bear-cat corpses, ¡°are mean, and their qi techniques are nasty. The stronger ones can cut you open from a dozen feet away with a single swipe of their claws.¡±


    Dai Bao¡¯s eyes drifted over the rest of the townspeople who had fought. Sen imagined the man was picturing them with torn open stomachs or their throats ripped out by things that never got close enough to hit with a spear.


    ¡°So, this was pointless?¡± asked Dai Bao.


    ¡°No. It wasn¡¯t pointless. Stronger spirit beasts generally don¡¯t care about mortals who aren¡¯t easy prey. They particularly don¡¯t want to run into cultivators, who see them as a big pile of resources to collect. So, they tend to stick to the deeper wilds where even cultivators don¡¯t want to go by themselves. That isn¡¯t to say that a stronger spirit beast won¡¯t wander out of the deep wilds occasionally, but the odds are pretty low that your town will ever see one. I can¡¯t promise that every spirit beast you see will be as weak as these were, but many will simply leave if it¡¯s too much trouble.¡±


    ¡°So, that¡¯s the goal? To make it too much trouble to try to get into town?¡±


    ¡°Essentially, yes. Ideally, you¡¯ll be able to kill them. Beast cores are good for trade. But making them leave is almost as good.¡±


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    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you explain all of this before?¡±


    ¡°Would it have made fighting them any easier?¡±


    ¡°Well, no.¡±


    ¡°If you knew, would you have worked as hard? Would they have worked as hard?¡± asked Sen, nodding to the rest.


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Dai Bao, his face scrunching with unhappiness. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a little cold?¡±


    ¡°Probably. On the other hand, I¡¯m trying to get you ready for a time when I¡¯m not here. Would you want to depend on people who were only putting in a half-effort because they thought they only needed to scare something away instead of kill it? What if something comes that won¡¯t be scared off, like what came today?¡±


    ¡°I understand why you did it,¡± grumbled Dai Bao. ¡°Doesn¡¯t mean I have to approve.¡±


    ¡°You can tell them if you think they should know,¡± said Sen. ¡°I won¡¯t try to stop you. I¡¯ll even admit it.¡±


    The grizzled man eyed Sen critically for several long seconds, and then he sighed.


    ¡°You would, wouldn¡¯t you? Knowing it would be useless or even destructive, you¡¯d still admit it. Well, don¡¯t bother. The ones who are smart enough to figure it out will understand it. The ones who aren¡¯t smart enough to figure it out probably don¡¯t need to know.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re sure,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Are all cultivators bastards like you?¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Not worried I¡¯ll strike you down?¡±


    ¡°You haven¡¯t killed anyone, yet. I doubt I¡¯d be first on your list if you were going to start.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s certainly a fact. I can¡¯t say for sure about every other cultivator, but we¡¯re all pretty cold bastards in my experience. Just goes with the territory. You have to be very selfish to challenge the heavens.¡±


    Dai Bao gave Sen a dubious glance. ¡°If you¡¯re so selfish, why help us at all?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure I had some deep, obscure reason that will inevitably advance my cultivation,¡± said Sen in a pompous voice. ¡°Or, you know, I haven¡¯t perfected my selfishness, yet.¡±


    ¡°Of course. I¡¯m sure it was one of those,¡± said the grizzled man before he frowned. ¡°We had to fight them for a long time. I know it wasn¡¯t actually forever, but it felt that way. How long did it take?¡±


    ¡°A couple of hours, give or take.¡±


    ¡°If those things were so weak, I don¡¯t know that we could have kept that up for another hour or two or five.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. Experience counts in fighting. This was the first time out for most of them. I¡¯m not saying the next time will be easier, but it does get easier the more often you do it. I also have some thoughts on speeding things up at the beginning. It¡¯ll take a bit of investment.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have much to invest.¡±


    Sen waved it off. ¡°Let me worry about that part for now. I¡¯m not looking to make you all penniless. There are some other things we can do that won¡¯t cost you anything but a little time and training. As for fighting longer, well, there are things you can do, but I¡¯m not sure how practical it is. Or how willing people will be.¡±


    Dai Bao snorted. ¡°Right now, those people would do anything you ask them to.¡±


    ¡°What about you? Having exposed my wicked deception, where do you stand?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a child. Leaders keep things to themselves. Sometimes, it¡¯s for a good reason. Sometimes, it¡¯s for a bad reason or no reason at all. I can stand in front and play at being their leader, but I can¡¯t teach them what you can. As long as you keep teaching them, I¡¯ll keep standing in front.¡±


    Sen nodded. He supposed that was the best he could really hope for in the situation.


    ¡°Don¡¯t sell yourself short. They think of you as their leader more than you seem to think. Honestly, I¡¯m surprised the town elders haven¡¯t made more trouble about it.¡±


    ¡°What makes you think they haven¡¯t?¡± said Dai Bao with a partly-amused, partly-annoyed expression. ¡°I¡¯m just old enough to not care what they think, and they can¡¯t do anything to you. They won¡¯t dare do anything to make life harder for the people who stood out here today and fought.¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t imagine that would go very well for them,¡± said Sen, summoning some silver tael from a storage ring. ¡°We can worry about all of this another time. Take them to the inn and buy them food and drinks. Let them celebrate. They did earn it.¡±


    Sen held out the coins to Dai Bao who almost choked at the sight of the money. Sen supposed he might have overestimated the costs, but he¡¯d already offered the money. It would be petty to take some of it back. The grizzled man hesitantly took the money.


    ¡°If there¡¯s any left?¡± asked Dai Bao.


    ¡°Think of something to buy that will benefit them all,¡± said Sen, his mind already drifting to other matters.


    He could see Wu Meng Yao hovering nearby. No doubt, she was waiting until Sen was alone so she could pounce and, well, he didn¡¯t know what. Annoy him, probably. He spoke on trivial topics with Dai Bao for a few more minutes before saying he¡¯d come back in a few days and releasing the man to bestow well-earned rewards. As soon as the grizzled man began to walk away, Wu Meng Yao started toward Sen. He gave her a cheerful, toothy smile, waved, and activated his qinggong technique. Sen admitted that he¡¯d be lying to himself if he didn¡¯t find the look of startled outrage on her face hilarious in the split-second before he vanished from sight. He just didn¡¯t have the time or patience for her at that moment. Besides, it was getting late and there was a little girl who was no doubt impatient for his return. That was way more important than dealing with whatever Wu Meng Yao wanted to talk about.

 V7 Chapter 35 – Prime Your Mind

    Sen stared down at his own hand. He shook his head violently in the negative. It can¡¯t be that simple, he thought. He had to force himself to repeat the action. He waved his hand through the shadow the tree was casting. His eyes were locked on the snowy ground beneath. The sun overhead made the shadow of his hand crisp and clear as it simply disappeared into the tree¡¯s shadow, and then reappeared on the other side. I refuse to believe that it¡¯s that stupidly simple, he raged mentally. Yet, it was. All of the cultivation instincts he had honed over the years told him that this was the answer he¡¯d been looking for. It felt right. Part of Sen wanted to go and scream at Fu Ruolan for withholding this piece of information from him. Yet, he recognized the futility of that. She had made the point to him, repeatedly, that he was approaching the transition into the nascent soul stage. That transition would require self-knowledge, as well as cultivation insight.


    Sen wasn¡¯t certain how much self-knowledge he had acquired through the months of fruitless, dead-end ideas and experiments. It may have helped to reaffirm his willingness to keep pursuing something he knew was possible no matter how many setbacks he faced. He supposed it had reinforced his patience, sort of. But he hated that she hadn¡¯t simply told him. It felt like an almost vindictive act because the answer was so simple. Sen forced himself to take a couple of deep breaths.


    ¡°If it were really that simple, you wouldn¡¯t have taken this long to figure it out.¡±


    As it was, he barely felt like he could take credit for figuring out how the shadow walking technique worked, at least in theory. It had ultimately been Glimmer of Night who gave him the final inspiration. Sen had been mostly just been sitting there watching the spider make the latest in a seemingly infinite number of variations on a web pattern. The spider had refused to divulge the actual patterns to Sen with some cryptic statement about Sen¡¯s current position in the web of all things. So, Sen had circled back to a question for which he¡¯d never gotten a wholly satisfactory answer.


    ¡°Can you explain to me again how it is that the Great Matriarch¡¯s web touches all realities?¡± asked Sen.


    Glimmer of Night had delivered what Sen had slowly come to recognize as the spider¡¯s annoyed look.


    ¡°I have tried many times and many ways,¡± answered the spider.


    ¡°Just one more time, and I¡¯ll never ask again,¡± pleaded Sen.


    He¡¯d never relinquished his belief that the key to understanding shadow walking was buried somewhere in that conversation if he just found the right way to approach it. Glimmer of Night fell silent for long enough that Sen thought that it was the spider¡¯s passive way of saying no. It turned out, the spider had just been deep in thought. He looked at Sen.


    ¡°Observe. Perhaps this will make clear what words have not.¡±


    The web the spider had been working on disappeared and a much simpler web appeared strung horizontally between trees. The spider pointed at it.


    ¡°Our reality.¡±


    Another web appeared almost right on top of it. ¡°Another reality or plane or dimension. Pick the name you like best.¡±


    Another web appeared. Over the next minute, a couple of dozen webs appeared stacked nearly on top of each other. The spider gestured at it.


    ¡°Existence in sum.¡±


    Sen frowned but nodded. He understood in general terms that the spider had made a wildly oversimplified scale model of, well, everything as construed as webs. Then, another web appeared, anchored by nothing and to nothing. It was vertical and passed through the middle of all the other webs. Sen watched in fascination as the vertical web slowly began to turn as though it was affixed to an axis. It passed through the other webs without disturbing them, as though they were made of the same material, which Sen abruptly realized that they were. Of course, that web qi had no trouble passing through other web qi. The only real challenge would be making sure the qi didn¡¯t intermingle so much that it lost form.


    For someone like Glimmer of Night, with his vast experience, that would pose no challenges. Sen had stared at that construct for a long time, a sick feeling growing in his stomach as he realized the truth. That was when he¡¯d walked to the nearest tree and run his little experiment. Now, he was just trying to stay calm. He¡¯d only figured out part of it. He had the what, but the how was something else. He supposed he even knew that, but only in the big-picture way. He had the feeling that the details were going to matter a lot with a technique like this.


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    ¡°Well, you finally got there,¡± said Fu Ruolan, unmasking her presence and stepping into view.


    Sen almost made a jab about her lurking, but it would have just been unwarranted spite talking. Instead, he gave her a level look.


    ¡°How do you know I figured it out?¡±


    ¡°Well, if you couldn¡¯t get there after Glimmer of Night¡¯s rather interesting display, I¡¯d have questioned your mental capacity. Also, there¡¯s just no hiding the white-hot anger you¡¯re feeling. Everyone gets that look on their face the first time they realize their teacher kept something seemingly easy and obvious back from them.¡±


    ¡°Then, why do it?¡± demanded Sen.


    ¡°Because it isn¡¯t easy or obvious. If it were, you wouldn¡¯t have struggled for so long to put it together. How many times did you have conversations about how the Great Matriarch¡¯s web touched all reality?¡±


    ¡°Many,¡± said Glimmer of Night. ¡°Very many.¡±


    ¡°If you were to have those conversations now, it would seem easy. Obvious. But you had to prime your mind. You had to explore the other options and reject them. You had to be ready to consider possibilities beyond your prior experience. Until you were ready to do that, nothing was going to make things clear to you. If you had quit, which most do, then it would have been clear evidence that you were unfit for the technique and unlikely to pass into the nascent soul stage.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡± exclaimed Sen.


    Fu Ruolan gave him a self-satisfied smile.


    ¡°Did you think that you were the only one who could conduct tests? Granted, your tests with the mortals have been more straightforward, but they were still tests. As for my tests, why conduct only one when I could conduct two.¡±


    ¡°And if I had failed?¡±


    ¡°I would have taught you other things for the next few years, sent you on your way, and likely never given you another thought. But, as I expected, you did not fail.¡±


    ¡°So, does everyone approaching the nascent soul stage get a test like this?¡±


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be silly. Most cultivators who enter the nascent soul stage only have the vaguest idea of why they succeeded, just as most who fail are equally baffled by that failure.¡±


    ¡°But you have a test?¡±


    ¡°I have a method. The test is different for everyone.¡±


    ¡°If this method is so effective, why haven¡¯t you shared it?¡±


    Something cold passed over Fu Ruolan¡¯s face then. It was comprised of old pain, bitterness, and anger. When she spoke, her voice was a metal rasp passing over stone.


    ¡°Why should I? Why should I ever help those people?¡±


    Sen honestly didn¡¯t know who she meant by those people. Sects? Wandering cultivators? Humanity as a whole? She could have meant any of them or all of them. Sen also realized that he had unintentionally stepped into one of those areas of Fu Ruolan¡¯s life where he did not want to go. He had ultimately come to the conclusion that Fu Ruolan wasn¡¯t mad in a traditional sense, nor was she sane in a traditional sense. Some things brought out the less sane aspects of her personality, while some things encouraged her more rational side. Sen had identified certain topics that were more likely to bring out this angry, vengeful, and probably unhinged version of Fu Ruolan. He probably could have deduced that his last question would do it. He just hadn¡¯t thought it through before he threw the question out there. However, given that her killing intent was bearing down on him and he could actually feel damage accumulating inside his body, he wanted to calm her as fast as possible.


    ¡°Peace,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s your method. If you don¡¯t wish to share it, that is your decision. I should not have questioned your choice.¡±


    Fu Ruolan snarled, ¡°It is my decision!¡±


    Sen just waited as calmly as he could. After a few seconds, Fu Ruolan¡¯s expression became one of pain. She hunched a little as her killing intent slowly bled away. It appeared that the effort of suppressing it hurt her as much as unleashing it had hurt him. When the nascent soul cultivator had regained full control of herself, she met his eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said. ¡°That was uncalled for.¡±


    Sen hesitated for a moment before protective ruthlessness took over. ¡°Liu Ai is curious. She trusts you. She will ask you questions. What you just did to me would have killed her before she even had a chance to scream.¡±


    The look on Fu Ruolan¡¯s face was undiluted horror as those words sank home. Sen didn¡¯t relent.


    ¡°I brought that on myself. I know better than to ask a question like that. I also know how to walk it back. She won¡¯t know better. I can¡¯t put her at that kind of risk. So, tell me now, and tell me the truth, is this something you can keep under control?¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡± snapped the nascent soul cultivator.


    ¡°What if she asks why you don¡¯t have children? What if she asks where you come from? What if she asks why you live out here alone?¡±


    Fu Ruolan looked like she¡¯d just been stabbed repeatedly. She didn¡¯t say anything as Sen¡¯s gaze bore into her. Sen could see her eyes tracking back and forth like she was reading something in her mind. There was genuine pain and distress in her eyes when Fu Ruolan looked up at Sen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she answered.


    Sen nodded. ¡°Thank you for being honest.¡±


    ¡°What will you do?¡± asked Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°The only thing I can do. I¡¯ll take Liu Ai somewhere else. I imagine Falling Leaf will come. Glimmer of Night can make his own decision.¡±


    The spider, who had watched the entire exchange with his usual impassive gaze, shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll stay for now.¡±


    ¡°What of our agreement?¡± asked the nascent soul cultivator.


    ¡°What about it?¡± asked Sen. ¡°I¡¯ll keep my word. It¡¯ll just be a whole lot less convenient.¡±


    Sen turned to walk away when Fu Ruolan called out after him.


    ¡°When will you leave?¡±


    He wanted to say immediately, but he knew that wasn¡¯t practical.


    ¡°Tomorrow. We¡¯ll go tomorrow.¡±

 V7 Chapter 36 – Meanwhile…

    Ma Caihong had never bothered much with the little town at the bottom of the mountain. There had simply never been anything there to interest her. Plus, it was tedious to deal with mortals as a nascent soul cultivator. While she hadn¡¯t been a great beauty in her youth, she had been fair enough to turn a few heads. The miracles of cultivation refined her modestly appealing appearance over the last several thousand years. Now, like most other nascent soul cultivators, she possessed an almost unearthly beauty that had a peculiar effect on the minds of many mortals. Simply walking among them was enough to start riots in some places. The people in Orchard¡¯s Reach weren¡¯t quite that bad, but they were close. Yet, since Sen had departed, she had found herself visiting that charming little shop owned by the woman who had helped him as a child. While she¡¯d never admit it to Jaw-Long and most certainly wouldn¡¯t admit it to Ming, she¡¯d visited much more often than was necessary.


    It was a disappointment on most visits. Sen did write, but it was sporadic. The delivery of scrolls and other missives was also notoriously unreliable, and that was taking into account the outrageous sums that she had learned Sen often paid to try to improve the odds that they arrived. At least the workers at the shop had stopped bursting into tears whenever they had to tell her that there were no parcels, letters, or scrolls for her. They seemed to have finally realized that she wasn¡¯t going to strike them dead or burn the shop to the ground if they offered her bad news. She could be as petty as any other cultivator in the right circumstances, but there was a difference between being petty and being petty. Those mortal workers had literally no hand in how frequently or infrequently her wayward student chose to put brush to paper. She wasn¡¯t going to punish them for something they couldn¡¯t hope to control.


    Yet, every once in a while, a letter did arrive. Most of them were frustratingly short and even more frustratingly short of details. They served more to say that he was still alive than impart any news. When he did mention some new minor miracle he had worked, there was never any of the salient information about how he had accomplished such a feat. If someone else were doing it, she¡¯d think they were intentionally trying to make her angry. Yet, it was so quintessentially Sen to simply overlook the impossible as something that was, in terms he would use, kind of hard until he figured it out. When the improbable was an everyday occurrence, and the inexplicable rained down around you like the heavens were determined to make you a figure of myth, what was one more master-stroke of cultivation insight that would make you the darling of any sect? It was nothing, which was exactly how he treated it when those things happened. So, she was left to sigh, shake her head, and try to work on her own how he¡¯d done something.


    So infrequently it nearly qualified as a holiday, that young man would seemingly feel the pull of some kind of qausi-filial duty. He would write out long letters that provided detailed retellings of his recent, to him at any rate, adventures. It was with no small measure of excitement that she raced up the mountain with one such dispatch in hand, massive explosions of snow erupting in the wake of her footsteps. She had been greedy in her initial excitement and read through the beginning before making herself stop. Jaw-Long deserved to see it at the same time she did. She burst into the house and went directly to the library where she could sense her studious husband.


    ¡°Put that nonsense away,¡± she ordered, as she strode into the room.


    Jaw-Long gave her that indulgent, loving smile that still made her heart beat a little faster.


    ¡°And why should I do that, dear heart?¡±


    ¡°Because I have a letter from Sen. A real letter,¡± she said, summoning the scroll from a storage ring.


    She smirked as Jaw-Long carelessly thrust the book he¡¯d been reading onto the nearest shelf.


    ¡°You have my complete attention.¡±


    They stood together reading the letter. Sometimes, they shook their heads and laughed at some youthful folly. Other times, they shook their heads at just how much and how fast he¡¯d grown into a frighteningly ruthless cultivator. A few times, they had to restrain one another from immediately setting out to use a rain of lightning or rivers of poison to explain to one fool or another exactly how not pleased they were with the way Sen had been treated. Not that such options were off the table. Far from it. They were just temporarily set aside for future consideration. There was a letter to finish reading if nothing else.


    Then, they had gotten to the very end of the letter. Sen had explained in terse terms what had happened at the mortal village. She could almost feel his lingering fury over the events and the casual mistreatment of that child wafting up off the scroll from those characters. He went on to explain that he had taken the child in and reassured Jaw-Long that he was teaching her to read and write. Mostly, though, he just talked about the girl, Liu Ai. He described the things that made her smile or laugh. The kinds of foods she liked, and the things that made her scrunch up her face. When she saw that little girl¡¯s inexpert, painstakingly written name signed at the bottom of the letter, Caihong felt like someone had reached out and seized her heart. She turned to give her husband a firm look.


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    ¡°We¡¯re going now.¡±


    The gods bless him, Jaw-Long didn¡¯t so much a miss a beat.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get our things.¡±


    ***


    They were sitting around a table and laughing together. He knew them of old, those foxes. Old friends, sneered Laughing River mentally. They looked like they felt safe. Secure. Untouchable. Yet, here he was, mere feet away, and they had not recognized him. He¡¯d left Sen behind, for now, recognizing that he had crossed some line in the cultivator¡¯s mind. It wasn¡¯t ideal, but so few things in life were. If life were ideal, his people wouldn¡¯t have suffered so much, or faced such a staggering failure of leadership. He didn¡¯t exclude himself from being painted with that particular brush of shame. You couldn¡¯t live as long as he did without carting around a mountain¡¯s worth of mistakes and regrets. He¡¯d just like to make sure he didn¡¯t ascend before making sure that the disciple of Fate¡¯s Razor didn¡¯t follow him into ascension with a grudge in his heart. Having seen what the boy was capable of in core formation, he shuddered to imagine what kind of unstoppable monster that young man would be as a peak nascent soul cultivator. However, that was a problem for future Laughing River.


    The Laughing River of right now had more immediate problems that were simply aching for solutions best delivered with tooth, claw, and blade. Any leader worth a damn knew that you couldn¡¯t suffer traitors to live. And for all that he had been an absentee leader, he was still the oldest and strongest of the nine-tail foxes. He was their leader by right. It was high time he reminded them of why it was that the name Laughing River was one to conjure fear by. Laughing River let his mind settle for a moment. He was angry about what these foxes had done, the lies they had told about him to advance themselves. He knew he couldn¡¯t let that anger rule him, though. Fuel him, certainly, but not rule. When his emotions had finally settled into a kind of dull background noise, he rose from the table he¡¯d been sitting at. He took half a dozen calm steps, and then the sword at his hip was suddenly in his hand and passing through the neck of Summer Vale.


    It had happened so fast that the other three at the table looked on in confusion until Summer Vale¡¯s head dropped away from her body. Laughing River idly noted that she had a vaguely confused look on her face. He kicked away the chair containing the now headless corpse and snagged a less bloody chair from a nearby table. He placed it with deliberate care and sat down, giving the other three foxes a big smile. The aptly named Mountain Stone looked positively livid, his face going red right down to his massive neck. He was the single biggest fox that Laughing River had ever met, and there had long been rumors of some kind of dalliance outside the fox bloodlines. Moon Behind Clouds wore a wary expression, but she usually did. The waifish woman had one hand under the table, no doubt gripping one of the many daggers she kept on her person. The final fox at the table was the calmest. Pines in Winter wore a bland, almost bored expression that suggested he¡¯d seen worse and been just as uninterested in it.


    ¡°If you wanted to court death, fool, you should have just said so,¡± said Mountain Stone.


    ¡°The four of you¡ª¡± Laughing River shook his head like he couldn¡¯t believe he¡¯d made such a foolish mistake. ¡°I mean the three of you have done quite well for yourselves. Although, I suppose I made it easy by not being around to deny your lies.¡±


    ¡°Who are you?¡± demanded Moon Behind Clouds.


    ¡°You don¡¯t recognize me? After all those nights we spent together?¡± asked Laughing River in a mock tone of sadness. ¡°Were you just lying to me all those times you said I was a better lover than your husband? I mean, I expect everyone is a better lover than he is, but I thought I was more memorable than that. Such is the folly of ego. Although, maybe I shouldn¡¯t take it to heart. It turns out that you¡¯re an accomplished liar.¡±


    That finally drew a reaction from Pines in Winter who couldn¡¯t seem to decide if he should be angry at his wife or the stranger throwing out insults and accusations. Laughing River decided he¡¯d played the mysterious stranger for long enough, so he continued.


    ¡°Oh, maybe it¡¯s this silly disguise I¡¯m wearing,¡± he said, wiping his hand across his face and dispelling the technique that was half-illusion and half-transformation.


    Mountain Stone looked like he had just taken a hard shot to the groin. Moon Behind Clouds went deathly white. Pines in Winter just swallowed hard before he rallied.


    ¡°Laughing River. It¡¯s been some time. We all thought you were dead.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m sure you hoped I was dead or at least gone for good,¡± said Laughing River in a cheerful tone before his voice lost any trace of kindness. ¡°No. Such. Luck.¡±


    ¡°We did what we had to do,¡± said Moon Behind Clouds.


    Laughing River gave her a look of infinite pity. ¡°Are you under the false impression that this is a trial? Do you imagine defending yourself well enough will mean I spare you? This isn¡¯t a trial, lover. You are all guilty. This, my boon companions, my dearest, most trusted old friends, is the execution.¡±


    Mountain Stone surged to his feet. ¡°You old fool. Do you really think you can take all three of us?¡±


    Laughing River looked up at the towering fox and shook his head. ¡°You always were stupid.¡±


    All it took was a momentary effort and the illusion that he had kept them all trapped in for the last two hours vanished. Where there had been the common room of an inn filled with boisterous locals and buxom girls handing out drinks and food, there were now only two dozen hooded figures, blades in hand. While most people would have considered the armed figures the greatest threat in the room, the three foxes at the table with Laughing River stared at him in terrified awe. They were all masters of illusion in their own right. They had thought themselves beyond the reach of such trickery. In one act, Laughing River had shown them how laughably inconsequential their skills were in the face of his power. He slowly stood and regarded the three of them with cold eyes.


    ¡°I just came to say goodbye. It¡¯s what you do when old friends are dying,¡± he said before he looked at one of the hooded figures. ¡°Kill them.¡±


    It was a fight, but not a very long one. One of the hooded figures came over to Laughing River when the grisly work was done.


    ¡°What now?¡± they asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to the old stomping grounds of a recent acquaintance of mine. A place called Emperor¡¯s Bay. We have some extended kin there who require a bit of reeducation.¡±

 V7 Chapter 37 – I Am Begging You

    ¡°She¡¯s really yours, isn¡¯t she?¡± asked Shen Mingxia.


    Sen looked at her briefly before returning his attention to Liu Ai and Li Zhi. The girls were running around outside the galehouse he had erected adjacent to the practice hall. While he didn¡¯t think any spirit beast would be stupid enough to try to snatch one of them with him looming nearby, he wasn¡¯t about to take any chances with their lives. Not that he¡¯d let them stay outside too long. He had the sense that the winter weather was drawing to a close, but it wasn¡¯t done with them yet. Even if he could stand outside in it without worry, he was keenly aware of how fragile those small lives were.


    ¡°What makes you ask that?¡±


    Instead of answering, she just stood next to him and observed the girls¡¯ free-spirited play. ¡°It¡¯s the way you watch over her. It¡¯s obvious. Even when you aren¡¯t looking at her, you always know where she is. Then, there¡¯s¡ª¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at her. ¡°I know why you think it. I¡¯m curious what made you ask. Simple curiosity? Orders from Wu Meng Yao? Reconnaissance for your sect?¡±


    Shen Mingxia¡¯s expression tightened for a moment before she sighed. ¡°Wu Meng Yao is, how to put it, aware that you prefer my company to hers. But she hasn¡¯t asked me to try to get information out of you.¡±


    ¡°Gods, I hope she doesn¡¯t think that you¡¯ll somehow charm me into liking the Soaring Skies Sect with a nice smile.¡±


    ¡°Nothing so pointless,¡± said Shen Mingxia, flashing that nice smile at him. ¡°I think she might be hoping that I¡¯ll charm you into liking her a little better.¡±


    ¡°I like Wu Meng Yao just fine. I always liked her. If all she wanted was to be my friend, everything would be fine. It¡¯s her intentions I find problematic.¡±


    ¡°You say that like her intentions are evil.¡±


    Sen laughed a little at that. ¡°I know they aren¡¯t evil. They¡¯re just misguided.¡±


    ¡°You know she¡¯s not a bad person. You don¡¯t need to humiliate her with this made-up mission. You could give her something real to do. Are you honestly telling me that there¡¯s nothing you can think of that she could do for you? She¡¯s not some nobody foundation formation cultivator like me. She¡¯s a core cultivator.¡±


    Sen bit back an angry reply. They¡¯d been talking around the problem for the last month, but this was the first time either of them had directly addressed it. Plus, that word, humiliate, had given him pause. He hadn¡¯t thought about it in quite that way. Sen definitely wanted to aggravate Wu Meng Yao enough that she¡¯d give up on her ridiculous ideas about balancing the scales between them and go home. Still, he questioned if the imaginary task he¡¯d handed out would really end in some kind of shame. Yeah, he admitted to himself, it would be humiliating. Not scar her for life humiliation, but it would still leave a wound. He had to give Shen Mingxia some credit for standing up to him. To describe the difference in their cultivation as stark would be radically understating things. By calling him out about what he¡¯d planned, she wasn¡¯t risking simply annoying him. She was risking death. At least, that¡¯s what she¡¯d be doing if she was dealing with some sect core cultivator. She probably suspected that he wouldn¡¯t do something terrible to her, but those were shaky grounds to take a risk on. Especially when you were taking a risk on someone else¡¯s behalf.


    ¡°Don¡¯t sell foundation formation short,¡± chided Sen. ¡°Some of the things I¡¯m famous for happened when I was a foundation formation cultivator.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m aware. I was there for one of those of things,¡± said Shen Mingxia. ¡°The difference is that I am not you.¡±


    ¡°I assure you that¡¯s a blessing. And just what would you suggest I have Wu Meng Yao do? I could have her run more errands like that trip to the capital to buy weapons and deliver messages. How many more of those do you think it¡¯d take before she felt like she¡¯d done enough?¡±


    Shen Mingxia grimaced. ¡°A lot more.¡±


    ¡°That was my thinking as well.¡±


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°Let her join your sect,¡± said an exasperated Shen Mingxia, ¡°for a while anyway. Say she¡¯s a visiting elder who¡¯s here to teach.¡±


    Sen felt his jaw drop as he fully turned to look at the woman. ¡°What in the world are you talking about? I don¡¯t have a sect.¡±


    Shen Mingxia arched an eyebrow at him, turned, and gave the practice hall a long look. She faced him again.


    ¡°You will. Soon. You must know that there are already cultivators in town just trying to work up the nerve to come and ask.¡±


    ¡°I know about the cultivators. I was thinking it was about time to encourage them to move on. They¡¯ve been behaved so far, but we all know that won¡¯t last.¡±


    The expression on her face wasn¡¯t quite pity, but it was close enough to make Sen¡¯s skin crawl.


    ¡°You could chase them away, but they won¡¯t be the last. You¡¯re too famous. They¡¯ll just keep coming because who wouldn¡¯t want to be taught by the Heavens¡¯ Scouring Blade?¡±


    ¡°Please tell me that¡¯s something you just made up. Please, please tell me that no one else actually calls me that.¡±


    ¡°Oh, they do. I know a bunch more if you want to hear them.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d really rather not.¡±


    ¡°I think my favorite may be the Hand of Chaos,¡± said Shen Mingxia with a gleeful little grin.


    ¡°I am begging you. Please stop.¡±


    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll stop taunting you. The point still stands, though. This problem isn¡¯t going away unless you go back to traveling constantly.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like that¡¯s a real solution. I mean, obviously, traveling didn¡¯t do much to keep me out of trouble,¡± complained Sen.


    ¡°There you go. May as well just start a sect,¡± said Shen Mingxia, ¡°and let Wu Meng Yao be useful in it.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want a sect. I hate sects.¡±


    ¡°Yes, what a terrible life you lead. So famous and talented that people will come to you, shower you with gifts and money, and all for the chance to learn at your feet. It¡¯s a real tough road you¡¯re on there.¡±


    ¡°Wait? What are you talking about? Gifts and money?¡±


    Shen Mingxia gave him a look that said he was being exceptionally slow on the uptake. ¡°Yes, of course, they brought gifts and money. How else are they supposed to convince the mighty and elusive Judgment¡¯s Gale to take them on as students? The time-honored tradition of bribery. I assume that¡¯s how most sects finance themselves when they first get started. If nothing else, it¡¯ll make it cheaper to help the mortals protect their town.¡±


    That brought Sen up short. He truly did not have any interest in teaching other cultivators anything, but the idea of using their resources to support things he did care about held a certain appeal. Of course, if he took their money, he¡¯d be obligated to actually teach them things. It would give Wu Meng Yao something to do, though. That came with the pitfall that she¡¯d still be around, but at least she¡¯d be busy with something. She didn¡¯t lurk quite as much as Fu Ruolan had used to lurk, but she was pretty bad about it. He did worry about getting distracted from his initial goal of training up the local mortals, but the reality was that most of them had gone as far as they were ever going to go with the spear. It wasn¡¯t a lack of willingness. There just came a point where someone reached the limits of their native talent and physical ability. There were a few standout talents that he could take farther, but that was more on them to put in the work than it was on him to do anything.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about training cultivators,¡± said Sen, trying to deflect the conversation.


    ¡°But you had vast experience in training mortals and setting up a system for them to defend their town from spirit beasts?¡±


    ¡°Does it matter that I just don¡¯t want to?¡±


    ¡°Sure. If you don¡¯t want to, don¡¯t do it. Just understand that people are people, cultivators or not. If you say no all the time, it will discourage some, but it will make others even more determined.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± muttered Sen with zero enthusiasm.


    Shen Mingxia laughed. ¡°Okay. I had my say. I won¡¯t bother you about this anymore.¡±


    ¡°Ever?¡± asked Sen with a lot more enthusiasm.


    She gave him another of those nice smiles and said, ¡°Today.¡±


    Sen gave her a sour look before his head turned to the north, and he grunted to himself. Shen Mingxia gave him a questioning look. He held up a hand to keep her from asking anything immediately.


    ¡°Ai! Zhi! It¡¯s time to go inside!¡±


    The girls gave him the pouty looks that sometimes made him relent, but Sen just waved them over. They took a little longer than was necessary, but they came over. He squatted down so he wasn¡¯t towering over them.


    ¡°Are you hungry?¡± he asked.


    Both girls grew visibly happier at that question and nodded.


    ¡°Okay, well, you should head inside because I¡¯m going to make us all something really delicious soon. Plus, we¡¯ll even have a special guest with us.¡±


    ¡°Who?¡± asked Ai with curiosity burning in her eyes. ¡°Is it Auntie Mingxia?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s certainly welcome to join us, but that isn¡¯t who I meant. I meant her,¡± said Sen as he pointed.


    Fu Ruolan stepped out of the forest and glanced around. She gave Mingxia a cool, neutral look before she directed a bright smile at Ai.


    ¡°Auntie Ru!¡± squealed Ai, rushing over to tackle the nascent soul cultivator¡¯s leg in a hug.


    Zhi had walked in Ai¡¯s wake but seemed more hesitant. That hesitance vanished when Fu Ruolan snuck the children some small candies that she¡¯d gotten somewhere. Sen studiously pretended not to see it happening. Sen noticed Shen Mingxia trembling, pale-faced, and silently mouthing the words Auntie Ru.


    ¡°You feeling okay?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°No warning that a nascent soul cultivator was about to descend on us? You really are an ass, sometimes,¡± growled Shen Mingxia.

 Dragon Con 2024 and Volume Three Stubbing

    I''m not sure how much anyone will care about this, but it is the kind of self-promotional thing that I''m told successful writers do. Therefore, I will be attending Dragon Con this year but primarily as an attendee. I applied to go as a professional guest but did it late. Dragon Con always has a full docket, so they didn''t grant me that elusive, exclusive professional guest status. That mostly means they aren''t going to put me on any panels. It''s a touch disappointing but not very surprising. I''m only a tiny bit internet famous at this point.


    However, my publisher will have a vendor table at the convention. That means that there will be scheduled times when I''ll do things. I expect those things will fall into two main categories:


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    1) Sign books


    2) Look like a terrified deer in the headlights as strangers ask me things and expect answers that involve coherent human speech. (I''m giving myself 50/50 odds on that whole coherence thing.)


    Once I have a location for the table and a schedule for when I''ll be there, I''ll post it for general stalking...er, that is to say, book signing purposes.


    So, if you''re planning on attending, swing by and say hello. That deer-in-the-headlights expression should be good for a laugh if nothing else.


    Moving on, Volume Three goes live on Amazon next Tuesday. That means Volume Three will become a stub in the next couple of days. If you haven''t read it yet, you''re almost out of time. You have been warned (apply ominous villain voice).


    Okay, I think that''s it.

 V7 Chapter 38 – The Realities of Sect Building

    ¡°She¡¯s not wrong,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    After they had all eaten and Fu Ruolan had spent some quality time listening to Ai regale her to tales of walking through town, ¡°training¡± with Dai Bao, and drawing orchids in the snow, the core cultivator had withdrawn to talk with Sen. The two had reached an odd sort of unspoken agreement after Sen had moved himself, Ai, and Falling Leaf to the new galehouse. Things had been incredibly tense that first week. Fu Ruolan had been keeping herself under such rigid control that it looked unhealthy. It had taken a while for Sen to realize that she was trying to prove, maybe to herself, maybe to him, that she could keep herself from doing anything drastic. Sen had finally relented and brought Ai with him one day. He hadn¡¯t left the two of them alone, but Fu Ruolan had seemed to take the gesture in the right spirit. Even so, Sen had been astounded when the woman had come to them for the first time. Her visits were unpredictable, and he didn¡¯t ask about it. They made Ai happy and seemed to soothe some inner turmoil in Fu Ruolan. That struck Sen as just about the best possible outcome in the situation.


    Of course, as soon as the elder cultivator withdrew from the girls, Shen Mingxia promptly became the designated doll for Ai and Zhi. They took turns putting, thankfully imaginary, flowers and ribbons in the woman¡¯s hair. If Mingxia minded, there was no sign of it on her face.


    ¡°She¡¯s not wrong about which part?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°About all of the parts. If you really need some excuse to send that girl away that isn¡¯t a complete fiction, there are plenty of real treasures in places far less lethal than up on the Mountains of Sorrow.¡±


    ¡°You know where they are?¡±


    ¡°When you get to be my age, you have whole lists of treasures you¡¯re going to go and get when you have the time. I bet all of your other teachers have them too. I¡¯d even be willing to be that we all have at least a few of the same ones on our lists.¡±


    ¡°So, why don¡¯t you go and get them?¡±


    ¡°It just never quite rises to the level of a priority. Every once in a while, you find out you actually need some particular treasure. That¡¯s enough to get you out there and looking. Once you have it, though, you want to use it. You go home and run whatever experiment you were going to do or use it to reach that next level of advancement. By the time all of that is done, you¡¯ve fallen into old routines.¡±


    Sen couldn¡¯t help but nod. He¡¯d been running around, advancing at a breakneck pace, and rarely getting so much as a second to consolidate his gains, but that wasn¡¯t true for everyone. Uncle Kho had spent centuries up on his mountain, only leaving on the rarest of occasions according to Master Feng and Auntie Caihong. Even if he had one of those lists, his routines kept him firmly in place. Sen could even see that happening to him. Oh, heavens, that would just be glorious, thought Sen. Years or decades with nothing to do but focus on refining my skills and enhancing my qi understanding? Not constantly forced into situations where I have to kill? Where do I get in line for that? Sen was so caught up in that beautiful daydream that Fu Ruolan snapped her fingers right in front of his face to reclaim his attention.


    ¡°Where did you just go?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I was just imagining what it would be like to have no one bothering me for years at a time. Focusing all my energy on improving as a cultivator. It was beautiful,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Yeah, well, it¡¯s not as great as it looks from the outside,¡± said Fu Ruolan, her eyes drifting over Liu Ai. ¡°Company isn¡¯t always a bad thing.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of company. Glimmer of Night isn¡¯t bothering you, is he? I don¡¯t expect he would, but I did bring him out there.¡±


    ¡°The spiderkin is wholly preoccupied at the moment. I think he had some minor breakthrough in¡ª¡± she hesitated. ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m not sure what it is that he¡¯s doing.¡±


    Sen gave the woman a startled look. ¡°Did you ask?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I asked. He even explained it.¡±


    ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°I said he explained it. I didn¡¯t say I understood him.¡±


    ¡°I know that feeling,¡± said Sen with some sympathy, all too familiar with how impenetrable the spider¡¯s explanations could get. ¡°If he does become a problem¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d just ask him to leave. It wouldn¡¯t occur to him to be combative about it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fair. What about all of this,¡± Sen shuddered, ¡°sect nonsense?¡±


    ¡°Do you really need me to explain what was already explained to you?¡±


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Not exactly. I need you to explain to me what I don¡¯t know. Yes, there are some dubious advantages to loosely taking on some students, but what are the pitfalls of having a sect? Official or otherwise.¡±


    Fu Ruolan gave Sen a considering look. ¡°I¡¯m glad to see that your mind and paranoia haven¡¯t abandoned you entirely in our quiet little corner of the kingdom.¡±


    ¡°I came by my paranoia honestly. I¡¯m just trying to use it to best effect these days.¡±


    ¡°Well, the most obvious pitfall is that other nearby sects won¡¯t like it. Most of them don¡¯t have the raw power to do anything to you, let alone make you stop, but you might draw the ire of the Vermilion Blade Sect. They could cause you some real trouble.¡±


    Sen lifted a hand, formed a vermilion blade in the air, and dispersed it. ¡°I think I have a functional accommodation with them. It should hold for the time being.¡±


    ¡°Now, that is interesting. You mentioned having a run-in with one of their members. Did you leave out a few details there?¡±


    ¡°I left out a lot of details there. Most of them tedious.¡±


    ¡°Stories are like that. They get dull in the details. The bigger concern you have to worry about with the other sects is that they won¡¯t target you personally. They¡¯ll target whatever students you take on.¡±


    ¡°What does that accomplish beyond making me angry enough to do something about it?¡±


    ¡°This is where never joining a sect is going to work against you. There are a lot of rules that are simply understood by sects. One of those rules is that conflicts between juniors are left at that. Let¡¯s say that girl over there,¡± said Fu Ruolan, ¡°gets into a fight with a foundation formation cultivator from some local sect.¡±


    ¡°Her name is Shen Mingxia.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure it is. So, the girl gets into a fight and gets hurt. The understanding is that you, as a vastly superior cultivator, to say nothing of being a sect patriarch, will not take it upon yourself to hunt down and kill the foundation formation cultivator who injured her.¡±


    ¡°What could possibly motivate me to accept that stupid rule?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I think you can figure that one out on your own.¡±


    Sen did know why. He just didn¡¯t like it.


    ¡°I imagine,¡± he said, ¡°the desire to avoid having core formation or nascent soul cultivators battling in the streets of this little town would probably top that list.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. Just like the elders of other sects don¡¯t want someone like you showing up to do battle in the streets of whatever towns or villages are to be found near their compounds. And there are nuances to all of these rules. Now, let¡¯s say the girl¡ª¡±


    ¡°Shen Mingxia,¡± repeated Sen.


    ¡°The girl,¡± insisted Fu Ruolan. ¡°Let¡¯s say the girl isn¡¯t injured in a fair fight with someone of her approximate cultivation level. Let¡¯s say that she¡¯s ambushed by three cultivators of a higher advancement. Things get a lot murkier in a situation like that since there was a clear intent to do permanent harm. Now, you might have grounds to go hunting those three to express your displeasure. If you do, though, the expectation is that you¡¯ll dole out a more or less equivalent amount of injury. If you kill them outright, we¡¯re back to powerful cultivators battling in the streets and killing mortals by the hundreds.¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯re saying that there are a lot of these unwritten rules?¡±


    ¡°Dozens.¡±


    ¡°I hate everything about this.¡±


    ¡°As you should,¡± said Fu Ruolan. ¡°That¡¯s without even considering the problem of people showing up to challenge you for control of the sect.¡±


    ¡°Who would want these kinds of headaches?¡±


    ¡°The kind of people who love power and can¡¯t be bothered with details. I will say that you have a big advantage on that front. Your reputation as someone who ruthlessly slaughtered every enemy who got in his way as he crossed the kingdom will serve as a rather potent deterrent for most. Which leaves you with the more nebulous problem of poaching.¡±


    ¡°Poaching?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Sects tend to think of the nearby territory as theirs to recruit from. There¡¯s a reason that sects tend to keep a certain distance from each other. They won¡¯t like it if you start plucking up all the young talents.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not planning on recruiting at all. So, problem solved.¡±


    ¡°They won¡¯t see much difference between you actively trying to get students and students ignoring them to flock to the infamous Judgment¡¯s Gale.¡±


    ¡°There is an enormous difference between those two things,¡± said Sen, already feeling the aggravation accumulating in his chest.


    ¡°Yes, and if they were using logic to understand the situation, they would acknowledge that. But they won¡¯t be using logic. They¡¯ll just see you as impinging on what is theirs.¡±


    Sen leaned his head back and thought hard for a little while. Something finally occurred to him that he thought should have been obvious.


    ¡°All the people who are coming around or will be coming around to get me to teach them or start a sect with them. I assume that at least some of them are aware of these issues, right?¡±


    ¡°It seems likely. The wandering cultivators may not know the nuances, but any current or former sect cultivators will certainly know,¡± agreed Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°Then, why would any of them do it? Knowing it¡¯s likely to draw all kinds of trouble down on their heads and mine, why would they even want to start down this road?¡±


    ¡°Some will do it because you¡¯re a folk hero. Stories have a way of infecting people¡¯s minds. Most will do it because you¡¯re powerful, and they¡¯re desperately hoping that they¡¯ll be able to grab ahold of a piece of that same power.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t you get power in any sect?¡±


    ¡°Can and will are, as you put it, enormously different things. Sect politics can hold a cultivator back just as effectively as it can push them forward. If people have tried the sect route and found the experience disappointing, they¡¯ll hope that things will be different with you.¡±


    ¡°Have I mentioned how much I hate everything about this?¡±


    ¡°You have.¡±


    Sen grit his teeth. ¡°It was worth saying twice. I also think that this is way more trouble than I want to deal with.¡±


    Fu Ruolan started to speak, but Sen saw her eyes go out of focus for a moment. Then, they snapped back into focus and a look of cold anger crossed her face. She stood and gestured for Sen to come with her.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± asked Sen as he fell into step beside her.


    ¡°I have unwanted guests. Two of them. Both nascent soul cultivators.¡±


    Sen came up short. Two nascent soul cultivators?


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen feeling abruptly sheepish. ¡°About that. I think I know who it is.¡±

 V7 Chapter 39 – Arrival and Introductions

    Fu Ruolan glared at Sen. ¡°You invited them here?¡±


    ¡°No! No, no, no,¡± said Sen. ¡°I just sent them a letter telling them what¡¯s been happening to me in recent¡­ Um, years. It¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve been stationary for a while.¡±


    ¡°You should have told me they were coming.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know they were coming.¡±


    The awkward conversation was mercifully cut short as Ma Caihong and Kho Jaw-Long descended from the sky supported by nothing but the power of their qi. They alighted on the snowy ground outside the galehouse and looked around. Uncle Kho seemed very interested in the practice hall. Auntie Caihong smiled at Sen. Neither of them seemed terribly concerned by the thunderous look on Fu Ruolan¡¯s face, which Sen wasn¡¯t sure was altogether wise.


    ¡°Do you two make a habit of invading other people¡¯s territory?¡± demanded Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°Be still, Ruolan,¡± said Auntie Caihong in a bemused voice. ¡°We aren¡¯t here about you. We came to see Ai.¡±


    ¡°Be still,¡± said Fu Ruolan in an icy tone. ¡°How dare y¡ª¡±


    Her voice choked off as Uncle Kho went over and pulled the woman into a hug.


    ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again, Ru. Even if that temper of yours hasn¡¯t improved at all.¡±


    Sen stood in mute shock as Fu Ruolan¡¯s cheeks turned bright red. Then, a lot of hazy things snapped into sharp focus. The woman¡¯s constant comparisons to Auntie Caihong. The quiet resentment that Fu Ruolan seemed to hold for Ma Caihong. Sen had always just assumed it was jealousy over Auntie Caihong¡¯s talent, and that may have been a part of it. As he watched the woman slap at Uncle Kho in a way that looked more playful than serious, it became evident that wasn¡¯t all of it.


    ¡°Let me go, you lightning-wielding oaf,¡± chided Fu Ruolan, while she didn¡¯t actually do that much to escape.


    Sen traded a look with Auntie Caihong and saw the truth in her eyes. She knew, and she was wholly unperturbed by it. It was also evident that Uncle Kho didn¡¯t realize it. Sen wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d share Auntie Caihong¡¯s calm in similar circumstances, but he guessed that she must have long ago worked through any doubts she had about her marriage. Uncle Kho released Fu Ruolan from the hug and stepped back. She tried to glare at him but only managed a weak, sour expression.


    ¡°You could have at least sent word you were coming,¡± she complained.


    ¡°To where?¡± asked Auntie Caihong in a slightly too-sweet voice.


    The women locked gazed for a moment and universes of information passed between the two in that brief look. Sen resolved, then and there, that he would never, ever, for any reason, ask any of them a single question about what he had just figured out. There was the very pertinent reason that he simply didn¡¯t want to know, followed by the profoundly pressing reason that he didn¡¯t want to get involved. He¡¯d seen what happened when Master Feng and Auntie Caihong argued. He had zero desire to be present for a similar performance between Auntie Caihong and Fu Ruolan.


    This absence of desire was fueled in no small part by the knowledge that Master Feng¡¯s self-control was substantial, while Fu Ruolan¡¯s was not. After all, Master Feng had retained his wits enough to go take out his anger and frustration on dangerous spirit beasts. Those beasts probably hadn¡¯t had it coming, but it was better than obliterating a small town. He had his doubts that Fu Ruolan would show similar restraint if pushed to her breaking point. Yet, the sometimes-unstable nascent soul cultivator surprised him with her reaction.


    ¡°You obviously knew where to come. You could have sent a message to him first,¡± she said, pointing at Sen.


    ¡°Sen is rather famous for his wandering ways. There was no way to be certain that any message we sent here would actually reach him,¡± murmured Uncle Kho absently, wholly oblivious to the undercurrents in the conversation as he stared at the training hall. ¡°Sen, what is that?¡±


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    Oh, how Sen wished he shared that ignorance. However, the question gave him the golden opportunity to change the subject, and he seized it like a starving man seized food.


    ¡°That¡¯s the training hall,¡± said Sen, and then he kept talking to prevent anyone else from saying anything. ¡°I put it up so the mortals would have somewhere permanent to train. I went out and found some fire treasures to put in the floor to keep it warm in the winter. I thought about using a formation, but I couldn¡¯t work out how to make formations that the mortals could easily use and adjust. But you¡¯re here now, Uncle Kho, so I¡¯ll definitely want to see if you have any ideas that might work. I¡¯ve been training the mortals with the spear. I imagine you¡¯ll want to take a look at what they¡¯re doing. I mean, clearly, they can¡¯t meet cultivator standards, but they all work hard, and I¡¯d appreciate any advice you could give me. I¡¯ve never really trained people before, so it¡¯s been a steep learning curve. I certainly have a new appreciation for how patient all of you have always been with me. I¡ª¡±


    ¡°Sen,¡± interrupted Auntie Caihong. ¡°Are you feeling well? You¡¯re babbling. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen you babble before.¡±


    ¡°Agreed,¡± said Uncle Kho with a worried look on his face.


    ¡°Did you break him?¡± said Auntie Caihong as she turned to look at Fu Ruolan.


    Except, Fu Ruolan was staring at Sen like she¡¯d never seen him before. Instead of answering Auntie Caihong, Fu Ruolan spoke to him.


    ¡°Did you suffer a head injury recently that I¡¯m not aware of? I know cultivators are resilient, but you shouldn¡¯t ignore those.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± said Sen.


    He would much rather that they thought something might be wrong with him than continue down their previous conversational path.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± asked Auntie Caihong, as her spiritual sense and qi washed over him. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t sense any injuries.¡±


    She gave him a speculative look that let him know they would be discussing his current condition in more depth later. Sen realized that he might have glossed over a few too many details in that letter he sent.


    ¡°Well,¡± he said, putting on a forced smile, ¡°let¡¯s go see Ai. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll be excited to meet new people.¡±


    Suiting actions to words, he started walking toward the galehouse and hoping that the power of adorableness would distract everyone even more. He felt a little bad using Ai that way, but it was going to happen anyway. So, he might as well put it to productive use. As soon as the group entered the galehouse, Sen remembered that there was another guest already inside. Shen Mingxia looked like she¡¯d just swallowed something very sharp and jagged as the presences of two more nascent soul cultivators were added to Fu Ruolan¡¯s presence. Before Sen could do or say anything, Auntie Caihong grabbed his arm.


    ¡°There are two of them?¡± she asked, her eyes sparkling.


    Sen didn¡¯t quite know what she meant until he followed her gaze to where Ai and Li Zhi were using bits of charcoal to draw on paper that Sen had purchased. It only occurred to him now that whoever made that paper would probably be horrified to know that Sen used the ridiculously expensive product to keep small children entertained.


    ¡°Oh, no,¡± answered Sen. ¡°The one on the right is Ai. The one on the left is Zhi, her friend from the town.¡±


    ¡°They are so precious,¡± said Auntie Caihong in a hushed whisper. ¡°Introduce me.¡±


    ¡°Ai,¡± called Sen. ¡°Come here, please. I want you to meet some important people.¡±


    Ai looked up, saw the new people, and immediately jumped to her feet. She ran over to them. She immediately started asking questions before Sen got a word in.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± she asked Ma Caihong. ¡°Where are you from? Why are you so pretty?¡±


    Sen cut in before the torrent of questions could continue.


    ¡°Ai, this is my Auntie Caihong.¡±


    ¡°Your Auntie?¡± asked Ai.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Caihong, kneeling down. ¡°I¡¯m Sen¡¯s auntie, and I¡¯m very pleased to meet you, Ai.¡±


    Caihong reached out a hand and gently touched Ai¡¯s hair.


    ¡°Oh, you have such beautiful hair.¡±


    Ai suddenly found her shyness, because she ran over to Sen and hugged his leg while smiling at Caihong. Sen reached down and ruffled her hair, which made the girl giggle.


    ¡°There¡¯s someone else I want you to meet,¡± said Sen and pointed. ¡°That is my Uncle Kho.¡±


    Uncle Kho beamed. ¡°Hello, Ai. You can call me Uncle Kho too.¡±


    She gave Uncle Kho a little wave before she whispered in a voice that everyone could hear, ¡°Uncle Kho is tall, but not as tall as you.¡±


    The two men traded questioning glances before Sen asked, ¡°Am I taller?¡±


    Kho got a thoughtful little frown and shrugged like it wasn¡¯t that important.


    ¡°Probably.¡±


    Sen heard another whisper then, one he was pretty sure no one was meant to hear. But cultivator-enhanced senses being what they were, everyone heard it.


    ¡°He¡¯s going to get me killed.¡±


    Whatever color Shen Mingxia had left in her face drained away as three sets of nascent soul eyes turned to her. Then, Auntie Caihong got a vaguely predatory look that sent chills down Sen¡¯s back.


    ¡°Hello dear,¡± said Auntie Caihong as she stood back up. ¡°I¡¯m Ma Caihong. And who might you be?¡±


    The only reply she got was a tiny, little squeak.

 V7 Chapter 40 – Panic, Chaos, Questions… And More Panic

    Shen Mingxia just stared at Ma Caihong with her eyes so wide that Sen worried she might damage them. Then, the woman lurched to her feet, slammed her hands together, and bowed so low she was basically looking at the floor.


    ¡°Lady Ma Caihong, this unworthy one is Shen Mingxia. I apologize for¡ª¡± Her words trailed off when it finally seemed to occur to her that she hadn¡¯t actually done anything wrong. ¡°It is the greatest honor of my life to meet the esteemed Alchemy¡¯s Handmaiden!¡±


    When no one said anything, Shen Mingxia lifted her head just enough that Sen could shake his head at her in disapproval. Taking pity on her, Sen walked over, grabbed her arm, and pulled her up straight. He gave Auntie Caihong a disapproving look because he could see that little twinkle of amusement in her eyes.


    ¡°Auntie, this is Shen Mingxia. You¡¯ll have to forgive her. Being in a sect has clearly damaged her mind. Shen Mingxia, you¡¯ve met my auntie. That is Kho Jaw-Long, or as I like to call him, Uncle Kho.¡±


    ¡°Kho Jaw-Long,¡± muttered Shen Mingxia, before her eyes threatened to do unnatural things again. ¡°The Living Spear!¡±


    If Sen hadn¡¯t kept a firm grip on her arm, she would have done another of those incredibly awkward-looking bows. Instead, she sort of flopped forward at an angle and her arm spun in Sen¡¯s hand. She lurched around and bumped into Sen¡¯s chest. She stared up at him, and he could read the near-perfect panic on her face. He just shook his head again. Sen planned to wait for her to calm down. When she just kept shaking and staring up at him like he was the only boat in a flood, he knew he¡¯d have to act. He lifted his free hand and poked her forehead with a finger. The tap seemed to jar loose a bit of sanity, which Sen came to understand might have been even worse. She started whispering at him.


    ¡°Sen, you need to get me out of here. You need to get me out of here right now! Do you have any idea what they¡¯re going to do to someone like me?¡±


    Ignoring her pleading, Sen spoke in a bland voice, ¡°Uncle Kho, are you planning to kill Shen Mingxia?¡±


    Uncle Kho, who had gone to sit on the floor next to Zhi and was exclaiming over her pictures, glanced up.


    ¡°What? Why would I do that?¡±


    ¡°No reason. I was just asking. Auntie Caihong, were planning on running some terrifying experiment on her with your alchemy?¡±


    Ma Caihong looked like she desperately wanted to say yes, just to see what would happen, but Sen¡¯s narrowed eyes put that idea to rest.


    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m not going to run any experiments on her. The poor thing is a formation foundation cultivator in a sect. That seems far worse than anything I could do her.¡±


    Shen Mingxia was still staring up at him, although he could feel that her heart wasn¡¯t racing quite as fast.


    ¡°They¡¯re really not going to do anything to me?¡± she whispered.


    ¡°One, they can hear you. Two, they¡¯re my family, and you¡¯re my guest. Three, you¡¯re Ai¡¯s friend. Of course, they aren¡¯t going to do anything to you,¡± said Sen before he thought it through a little more. ¡°Well, they aren¡¯t going to hurt you. I make no promises about the kinds of questions they may ask you.¡±


    Sen would never know if it was his comments, his clear lack of concern, or the reassurances from the nascent soul cultivators that let Shen Mingxia finally get a grip on her emotions. She did finally seem to realize that she¡¯d pressed herself up against Sen like he was some kind of sheltering wall. She hurriedly stepped back and her cheeks went a little pink. Giggling, Ai came over and grabbed the woman¡¯s hand.


    ¡°Auntie Mingxia, you made funny faces.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I sure did,¡± said Mingxia weakly.


    The little girl pulled the reluctant formation foundation cultivator over to where Uncle Kho and Zhi were sitting. Sen walked over to Auntie Caihong.


    ¡°Be nice,¡± he muttered.


    ¡°It was just a little fun,¡± she said.


    ¡°Not for her.¡±


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true. I¡¯ll make it up to her,¡± said Auntie Caihong before she looked around the galehouse. ¡°Where¡¯s Falling Leaf?¡±


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    ¡°She said she was going exploring today. We¡¯re a bit close to the town for her liking and the forest is right there. I expect she¡¯ll be back before too long.¡±


    ¡°Idle curiosity, why is there a sect cultivator in your home? You don¡¯t usually get along very well with them.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s here because¡­You know what? That¡¯s a really long story, and if I¡¯m going to tell it, I should bring in that core cultivator who¡¯s lurking outside. You should feel free to have fun at that one¡¯s expense.¡±


    ¡°Sen!¡± exclaimed a scandalized Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°Oh, fine. Don¡¯t terrify her. Actually, we should do that tomorrow. The girls are going to be all riled up with new faces here. No need to add to that chaos.¡±


    As if to prove his point, the girls ran over to him yelling in unison. ¡°Shadow dog!¡±


    ¡°Sen, make shadow dog,¡± pleaded Ai.


    ¡°Please, Uncle Sen,¡± chimed in Li Zhi.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Have you been good girls today?¡± asked Sen.


    The two girls stared up at him with identical expressions of pure innocence and nodded. From the look he saw on Auntie Caihong¡¯s face, he thought she wanted to just scoop them both up and keep them forever. Sen stroked his chin in thought.


    ¡°What will you give me for performing this mighty magic for you?¡±


    ¡°Hugs,¡± said Ai.


    ¡°Hugs!¡± said Sen. ¡°How could I possibly turn down a treasure like hugs? Very well, I will summon forth the great shadow dog.¡±


    Sen made a big show of concentrating before thrusting his hand at a corner. The form of a dog the black of deepest shadow sprang out and looked around.


    ¡°Yay!¡± cheered the girls.


    Sen leaned down. ¡°Where are my treasures?¡±


    The girls both threw their arms around his neck for a moment before crashing across the room toward the dog. Fu Ruolan finally rejoined the conversation at that point.


    ¡°It looks like you¡¯ve refined that one,¡± she said.


    Sen nodded. ¡°It¡¯s getting better. I still haven¡¯t figured out how to make it sapient.¡±


    ¡°Sapient?¡± asked Uncle Kho, rejoining the group. ¡°Why would you want to make it sapient?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯d make a good guard for them,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°What use is a shadow guard?¡± asked Auntie Caihong. ¡°Would it come and warn you?¡±


    That was when the Zhi climbed up onto the shadow construct and it began a slow meander around the interior of the galehouse. Ai walked behind them with her hands wrapped around the construct¡¯s tail. Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong look mildly stunned. Fu Ruolan looked on with an air of smug satisfaction so thick it was almost tangible.


    ¡°Sen?¡± asked Uncle Kho.


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Is that charming little girl riding on top of a shadow dog that you made?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not really a dog. It¡¯s just a construct I made to look like a dog. If I can crack that sapience thing, though, I could make them a real shadow dog.¡±


    ¡°I think you missed the important part of my question,¡± said Uncle Kho. ¡°You made that shadow construct solid enough that it¡¯s safe for her to ride it?¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah. That thing will stay tangible like that for five or six hours as it is. It was kind of a rush job. When I really focus on making one, it¡¯ll last for a whole day. The problem is that I have to make it move around and interact with them. If I don¡¯t, it just stands there. Not much fun for the girls when it¡¯s like that.¡±


    ¡°How long have you been working to master this technique?¡± asked Auntie Caihong.


    ¡°It¡¯s not really a technique. This was just something I figured out how to do on the side while I was trying to figure something else out. I mean, it¡¯s got some uses in a fight, but it¡¯s kind of slow to make anything practical. So, I mostly just use it to make things for the girls to play with.¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡± asked Uncle Kho.


    ¡°All kinds of things. Balls are pretty easy to make. I do flowers. Stuff for them to climb around on. It turns out that you can make a big, fluffy cushion out of shadow even easier than using air qi. And it makes sure they don¡¯t get hurt when they fall. I make them houses to play in sometimes.¡±


    ¡°You make them houses?¡± demanded Auntie Caihong. ¡°Tangible houses that they can move around in? Made from shadow?¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°I do scale them down a little bit so they can reach everything. I also make sure everything stays a bit soft so there¡¯s nothing they can injure themselves on. You know, it¡¯s actually easier to do it that way than to make something that¡¯s completely rigid. Took me a while to realize that.¡±


    The longer Sen talked, the happier he saw Fu Ruolan get. He couldn¡¯t bring himself to blame her. She¡¯d had a hand in making this all happen. He supposed she was taking a bit of pleasure out of having taught him something that Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong found so impressive. The fact that this was just a byproduct of trying to figure out the true technique probably added a bit more enjoyment to the moment. There¡¯s probably some ego involved with it too, thought Sen. Fu Ruolan was a nascent soul cultivator who had, as far as he could tell, been living in the shadows of Auntie Caihong, Uncle Kho, and Master Feng for a very long time.


    He wasn¡¯t sure if this felt like a balancing of some old inequity to her, but she was genuinely happy for once. Far be it from him to steal that from her. Sen did smirk to himself as he reached over and grabbed Shen Mingxia as she tried to sneak out while everyone was distracted. He pulled her over and draped an arm around her shoulder. It was everything he could do to keep the laugh inside as she stared murder at him. Ignoring her glare, he plucked the piece of paper she was trying to hide from her hand and glanced at it. His heart melted a little at what he saw.


    ¡°It¡¯s a rather good likeness. Don¡¯t you agree, Auntie Caihong?¡± asked Sen, handing over the picture and ignoring the elbow that Shen Mingxia rammed into his ribs.


    The nascent soul cultivator took the paper and peered down at the picture of Ai that Shen Mingxia had rendered in shades of black and gray. The girl wore a happy little smile while she pondered something unseen in the distance. Auntie Caihong looked up at the struggling foundation formation cultivator that Sen still had locked into place with his arm around her.


    ¡°Come with me, dear,¡± said Auntie Caihong. ¡°We have something to discuss.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± wheezed Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°I wish to buy this. We need to discuss a fair price.¡±


    Sen gave Shen Mingxia a big smile. ¡°See. Nothing to worry about.¡±


    Shen Mingxia¡¯s expression told him that she was certain he had lost his damn mind.

 V7Chapter 41 – Payment

    It wasn¡¯t long after Auntie Caihong dragged a weakly protesting Shen Mingxia into a corner to negotiate for the picture that Falling Leaf arrived. Sen couldn¡¯t help but chuckle a little at the startled look on her face. The scene she had walked into was a little bit more exciting than what she was used to seeing. Two little girls were sitting on a shadow dog, cheering wildly as Uncle Kho made a tiny figure made of lightning dash across the wall, leap over windows like they were great chasms, and do battle with an appropriately-sized shadow dragon that Sen controlled. Having fought a dragon or two in his day, Sen naturally knew that the appropriate size was enormous relative to the puny human figure that Kho had created. Sen was also using shadow construct appendages that he¡¯d temporarily affixed to a wall to help prep some food for a meal. The sheer noise and chaos had been too much for Fu Ruolan. She had fled back to the quiet of her home. It seemed that the ghost panther was at a loss about what to address first. Finally, she turned to Sen.


    ¡°Sen, why does the Mingxia look as though she¡¯s about to start crying?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s afraid of Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho. Mostly Auntie Caihong, I think.¡±


    Falling Leaf considered that statement for a long beat before she said, ¡°Wise.¡±


    The epic battle between lightning man and shadow dragon played out for a couple more minutes before the great beast fell. There was more elated cheering from Ai and Zhi. Uncle Kho looked over at Falling Leaf and smiled. The girls followed his look and ran over to the ghost panther, their words tumbling over each so fast that only the occasional lightning, shadow, Uncle, and Auntie were understandable. In the end, it was just a wall of noise that crashed into Sen and Falling Leaf. Sen knew he¡¯d need to rein everyone in soon. The girls were getting overexcited, but he supposed that was part of being a child. It was also a little entertaining watching the ghost panther try to adjust to the sudden change in circumstance. She¡¯d come a long way since the first time they¡¯d met Ai. Then, she¡¯d simply frozen up, uncertain what to do or say. Now, she was more accustomed to the children, but their sheer exuberance at that moment was a bit more than she knew what to do with.


    ¡°Okay, girls,¡± said Sen. ¡°I think it¡¯s time for quiet playing. I see some paper over that doesn¡¯t have flowers or birds or anything on it.¡±


    Seeing the obvious disappointment on their faces, Sen decided to take advantage of his guests.


    ¡°If you¡¯re good, Uncle Kho might even make something else out of lightning.¡±


    The girls immediately whirled to look at Uncle Kho, who stroked his beard thoughtfully. He dragged it out until the Ai and Zhi were practically dancing on their toes.


    ¡°If you¡¯re good,¡± he finally agreed.


    Of course, it wasn¡¯t quite that easy, but Sen eventually managed to get the girls settled down with the paper and charcoal again. He was about to go back to Falling Leaf and Uncle Kho, who had settled into chairs and were chatting about something, but Auntie Caihong turned and looked at him.


    ¡°Sen, can you join us please?¡± she asked.


    He dutifully changed course to join the alchemist and the miserable Shen Mingxia. The foundation formation cultivator alternated between giving him pleading looks and ones that promised vengeance as he approached. He supposed he¡¯d had more than his share of fun at her expense. It was time to extract her from this situation she¡¯d been wholly unprepared to face.


    ¡°Yes, Auntie Caihong?¡± he asked.


    ¡°We were discussing what would be an appropriate payment for the picture. Do you think you can make her one of your elixirs with this?¡±


    Caihong lifted a hand and summoned a delicate flower from one of her storage treasures. Sen didn¡¯t recognize the flower, but he could feel it positively bursting with air qi. That was the kind of natural treasure that sects normally had to organize entire expeditions to retrieve from the deep wilds. It was also the kind of treasure that he thought they probably reserved for their core formation members. Knowing Auntie Caihong, though, she¡¯d likely just picked it because she thought she might be able to do something with it someday. He briefly examined it with his senses and qi, confirming what he already knew, and then gave Shen Mingxia a questioning look.


    ¡°You¡¯re certain that an air qi focus is the way you want to go?¡± he asked her.


    It seemed that she didn¡¯t even hear the question at first because her eyes were locked onto the flower. It seemed like she was worried that it was some kind of an illusion that would disappear if she so much as blinked.


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    ¡°Mingxia,¡± said Sen with a bit more force.


    She did blink then and turned her attention to him.


    ¡°What?¡± she asked sounding confused.


    Sen shook his head a little and repeated his question. She gave it the kind of deep consideration that all decisions affecting the rest of one¡¯s life should get by immediately nodding.


    ¡°Yes. Yes! I am very completely certain!¡±


    Sen looked at Auntie Caihong. ¡°Sure, I can make her something.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± she said and gave him the flower before walking over to show off her newly acquired picture to Uncle Kho.


    Sen swiftly stored the flower in his own storage ring to preserve its potency. The exaggerated disappointment on Shen Mingxia¡¯s face nearly drove him into a fit of laughter, but he fought it back. She didn¡¯t deserve that.


    ¡°It¡¯s best to keep plants like that stored until you¡¯re ready to use them,¡± he explained.


    ¡°I know,¡± said Shen Mingxia. ¡°It¡¯s just, how often am I ever going to see something like that in person?¡±


    ¡°Well, I mean, I¡¯ve got a storage ring full of things like that if you ever want to see some,¡± offered Sen in a bid to be helpful.


    Shen Mingxia closed her eyes and took several deep breaths before she said, ¡°It¡¯s very hard to know you some days.¡±


    ¡°What? Why?¡±


    ¡°Seriously? If I came back to the sect with something like that flower, well, I¡¯d never be allowed to keep it. But I would also get massive rewards and all kinds of cultivation resources. And you¡¯re telling me that you¡¯ve just got a pile of things like that sitting in a storage ring.¡±


    ¡°Um, yes?¡± said Sen, uncertain if honesty was the best choice.


    ¡°Sitting in a storage ring,¡± said Shen Mingxia in a clipped voice. ¡°Sitting. Doing nothing. Just there for your convenience if you ever decide that you have some use for inconceivably valuable natural treasures.¡±


    ¡°I am an alchemist. Gathering natural treasures and doing things with them is pretty much the whole job.¡±


    She pointed her finger at him, grimaced, and said, ¡°It¡¯s really easy to forget that you¡¯re an alchemist. Still, a whole storage ring with treasures like that? Why don¡¯t you just go sell or trade some of them to the big sects in the capital? Hells, you could throw an auction all by yourself. You could finance ten new sects with the gold and resources they¡¯d throw at you.¡±


    Sen blinked at her a few times. A look of burgeoning comprehension crossed her face. She closed her eyes again.


    ¡°It never occurred to you to do that, did it?¡±


    ¡°In my defense, I¡¯ve had a lot of things to deal with since the last time we met.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the heavens¡¯ own truth.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± said Sen after glancing around, ¡°everyone is preoccupied. Let¡¯s get you out of here.¡±


    ¡°Yes, please.¡±


    Shen Mingxia visibly relaxed once they were outside and away from the nascent soul cultivators. She shuddered, and Sen didn¡¯t think it had anything to do with the cold. She peered at him and seemed oddly shy.


    ¡°What will you make with the flower?¡± she asked hesitantly.


    Sen shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know yet. It depends on you and what you¡¯re looking for.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    ¡°I can make all kinds of things with the flower. I can think of ten or fifteen things right off the top of my head. I could make something that would enhance your air qi affinity, for example.¡±


    ¡°Really? I mean, I heard about things like that, but it¡¯s not something I ever saw at the sect.¡±


    ¡°That may have more to do with the alchemists at your sect than anything else. A pill or elixir like that has to be made specifically for someone. It¡¯s not like healing pills. You can make those in batches and expect them to work more or less the same way for everyone. So, it makes sense for the alchemists at your sect to focus their time and energy on making things that everyone can use. I imagine they reserve specialized pills and elixirs for the inner sect disciples, core members, and elders.¡±


    ¡°I guess that makes sense.¡±


    ¡°Of course, I don¡¯t care about any of that. I can make whatever I want. That doesn¡¯t make the things I¡¯d think to make with that flower into things you need. It also doesn¡¯t make them things you could survive taking. We¡¯ll have to talk about it. I¡¯ll take a look at your qi, your channels, and your dantian. We¡¯ll take it from there.¡±


    ¡°Can you make me something that will help me advance?¡± she asked, eager and reluctant at the same time.


    ¡°Yes. The question is whether that¡¯s a good thing or even the most advantageous thing. I could make you something that would help you advance right now. I can probably also make you something that would help you break through to core formation and form a stronger core when the time comes.¡±


    Sen held out his hands, palms up, and moved them up and down like they were balancing things on a scale. He continued.


    ¡°I get it. Everything in cultivation is focused on pushing forward. Not losing momentum. I¡¯m just saying that rapid advancement isn¡¯t always a good thing. Advancing too quickly can have consequences.¡±


    ¡°Easy to say when you¡¯ve advanced so quickly.¡±


    Sen nodded in acknowledgment of the point. ¡°It came at a steep price. Most of it paid in pain. Don¡¯t misunderstand. I¡¯m not saying I won¡¯t help you advance now. I will if that¡¯s what you decide you want. I¡¯m only suggesting that you consider the state of your cultivation. Look at all of the options. Then, make the best choice for you.¡±


    Shen Mingxia stood there in thoughtful silence before a little smile formed on her lips. She pressed her fists together and bowed.


    ¡°Yes, senior,¡± she said with merriment in her voice.


    ¡°Ugh,¡± groaned Sen.


    ¡°This humble Shen Mingxia is grateful for the patriarch¡¯s advice.¡±


    ¡°Gods save me.¡±


    ¡°You had that coming, and you know it. Leaving me alone with that terrifying woman.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s just Auntie Caihong.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t even know what to say to that,¡± muttered Shen Mingxia as she turned and walked away.

 V7 Chapter 42 – Talking

    The rest of that evening passed in a glow of food, carefully curated conversations that steered away from anything too dark for the girls, and familial warmth. While Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong were very nice to both girls, it was clear that they were more focused on Ai. Falling Leaf surprised Sen by taking up the slack and lavishing extra attention on Zhi, who eventually drifted off to sleep in the ghost panther¡¯s lap. Even after the girls were put to bed, Ai possessively hugging a shadow ball, and Zhi snuggling a stuffed doll she took everywhere with her, the conversations stayed on the light side. Everyone knew there were more serious conversations coming, but no one seemed to be in a hurry to start them. That suited Sen just fine. Eventually, he did ask a question that he didn¡¯t necessarily need an answer to, but that he knew Fu Ruolan was going to demand within two seconds the very next time he saw her.


    ¡°So, how long were you thinking about staying?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Looking to get rid of us old people already?¡± asked Uncle Kho as the corners of his eyes crinkled in amusement.


    ¡°Not at all,¡± answered Sen with a smile. ¡°But, if you¡¯re only thinking of staying for a few days, it doesn¡¯t make sense for me to make you your own galehouse.¡±


    Auntie Caihong gave him a wry smile. ¡°That name. It¡¯s a little on the nose.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t come up with it,¡± said Sen. ¡°And I have to call them something.¡±


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true. I was thinking that we might stay for a while. Ming is bound to show up at some point, so we need to make sure that Ai loves us best before he turns up being all gruff and grandfatherly.¡±


    ¡°Caihong,¡± said Uncle Kho in an amused but chiding tone.


    ¡°What? You¡¯ve seen how he is with children. Honestly, it¡¯s annoying. The man¡¯s name alone is enough to send hardened sects screaming in terror, but children take one look at him and decide he¡¯s just the best thing that walks the world.¡±


    Sen looked to Uncle Kho and asked, ¡°Is that true?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not exactly that way. She¡¯s exaggerating thi¡ª¡± started Uncle Kho before getting cut off.


    ¡°Yes!¡± insisted Auntie Caihong. ¡°It¡¯s exactly that way. It¡¯s like he¡¯s using a technique on them.¡±


    ¡°Is he?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°No,¡± admitted Auntie Caihong. ¡°Which may make it even more annoying.¡±


    ¡°He makes them feel safe,¡± said Falling Leaf, chiming into the conversation for the first time in a while.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°He is a dragon in all but name. Ancient. Powerful beyond reason. A living, breathing nightmare for his enemies, but he would never see children as his enemies. It would never even occur to him that they could be his enemies. At worst, he might simply dismiss them. Should violence come, though, they can sense that he would shelter them beneath his wings. And what more absolute safety could there be than the Feng¡¯s protection?¡±


    Everyone considered that in thoughtful silence for a few moments before Auntie Caihong spoke up.


    ¡°How am I supposed to go on being unreasonably annoyed with him now?¡± she demanded of no one in particular.


    Sen and Uncle Kho both chuckled while Falling Leaf gave her a curious look. They spoke deep into the night before Sen finally excused himself to go outside and raise another galehouse, although one that strongly resembled their home on the mountain in structure. After he finished, he turned to find Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho standing nearby simply staring at the new structure.


    ¡°If you can make something like this,¡± asked Uncle Kho, ¡°why don¡¯t you make one for yourself?¡±


    Sen considered the question and asked, ¡°What would I do with it? It¡¯s just me, Falling Leaf, and Ai. Falling Leaf doesn¡¯t want anything. I don¡¯t need anything that I can¡¯t put into a storage ring. And Ai is happy as long as it¡¯s warm, dry, and I don¡¯t forget to make her a new shadow ball every now and then. I mean, maybe I¡¯ll make something bigger when Ai is older or I find somewhere that I want to live permanently. For now, it¡¯d just be empty rooms.¡±


    Auntie Caihong shook her head. ¡°I knew we focused too much on your training. There is more to life than cultivation, Sen.¡±


    He offered her a helpless shrug. ¡°Maybe there is, but I haven¡¯t had much time to think about it. If it makes you feel any better, I¡¯m sure Jing would be just as horrified by my humble little home. He¡¯d probably tell me it wasn¡¯t befitting someone of my power and stature.¡±


    ¡°Jing?¡± asked Uncle Kho.


    ¡°He means the king, dear,¡± said Auntie Caihong.


    Uncle Kho stroked his beard. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right. Some kind of strategic alliance there?¡±


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    ¡°Nah,¡± said Sen. ¡°He¡¯s just my friend.¡±


    Auntie Caihong giggled, and Sen gave her a questioning look. She waved a hand in the air as if to shoo some errant thought away.


    ¡°I was just imagining all of the nobles across the kingdom spitting blood if they¡¯d heard you say that. They wouldn¡¯t be able to decide if they were horrified by your lack of ambition, envious of your position, or terrified that the king could call on your aid.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯d be all three,¡± said Uncle Kho. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t be wrong, though. About having a place befitting your power and stature. It is sort of expected that people getting as close to the nascent soul stage as you are will conduct themselves a certain way.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, I get the feeling that most people at that point have had a long time to develop other interests,¡± answered Sen.


    ¡°That¡¯s probably a fair assessment,¡± admitted Uncle Kho.


    Auntie Caihong looped her arm through Uncle Kho¡¯s and directed a smile at Sen. ¡°We¡¯ll go get settled in. There¡¯s no need to talk about everything tonight.¡±


    ¡°Goodnight,¡± said Sen and watched as Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho disappeared into the house he¡¯d made for them.


    ***


    ¡°How long will they be here for?¡± demanded Fu Ruolan.


    Sen almost rolled his eyes at her. She¡¯d lasted four seconds after his arrival before she¡¯d asked the question. Since she¡¯d lasted nearly twice as long as he¡¯d predicted, he felt she should get some credit for that.


    ¡°They weren¡¯t specific. They said a while.¡±


    ¡°A while? Could they have been any vaguer?¡±


    ¡°I guess they could have shrugged at me,¡± offered Sen.


    He reassured himself that he¡¯d provided that answer with nothing but pure helpfulness in his heart. Not that his pristine intentions were understood by the out-of-sorts nascent soul cultivator who glowered at him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like having them here,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°You¡¯ll notice that they aren¡¯t here,¡± answered Sen. ¡°They¡¯re back at the town and, as near as I can tell, completely focused on keeping a certain little girl entertained. Far be it from me to say that I understand the motives or plans of my betters because history tells me that I assuredly don¡¯t. However, I don¡¯t think they¡¯re particularly interested in bothering you. They didn¡¯t even ask me where you are. Does that sound like they¡¯re planning to make some kind of unannounced visit to your home?¡±


    Fu Ruolan grumbled something unintelligible before she fixed Sen with a hard look.


    ¡°You just keep them in line.¡±


    Sen returned her hard look with a lifted eyebrow and said, ¡°Sure, that sounds probable. I¡¯ll just order them around, and they¡¯ll do what I say.¡±


    ¡°I came all the way out here so I wouldn¡¯t have to deal with people,¡± complained Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°You also bartered that manual to make me stay. Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho coming here was always a possibility, and you had to know that. It¡¯s also quite likely that Master Feng will come and visit at some point, which you also had to have predicted.¡±


    Fu Ruolan pursed her lips. ¡°Perhaps. It doesn¡¯t make it any less distracting for you or annoying for me. You know full well that I have reasons to avoid others.¡±


    That was a point that Sen couldn¡¯t deny.


    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure they know that you don¡¯t want any guests to come calling.¡±


    ¡°That will have to do.¡±


    ¡°I will say that I specifically invited my Grandmother Lu to visit. I don¡¯t see how she could bother you, but I don¡¯t want it to come as a surprise.¡±


    ¡°Grandmother Lu? The elderly body cultivator you told me about? The one who,¡± she seemed to search her memory, ¡°started some kind of business?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s her.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not concerned about her. Aside from the distraction she¡¯ll provide. You have more than enough of those already. You¡¯re supposed to be learning, not adopting mortal towns and starting a sect for infatuated cultivator girls who bat their eyelashes at you.¡±


    Sen struggled to formulate an appropriate response. Part of him wanted to laugh at her description of the sect she thought he was starting. He¡¯d more or less decided that he wasn¡¯t going to start a sect. He was going to start something else. Something less likely to draw the ire or unwanted attention of established sects. He just needed to think it through a little longer and maybe consult with Uncle Kho a bit. Another part of him wanted to deny that he¡¯d adopted a mortal town, but there was more than a little truth in that. He didn¡¯t have anything like official control, but he¡¯d more or less bypassed whatever served as local government and instituted a militia. A militia that was likely more loyal to him than it should be.


    Those hadn¡¯t been his goals. All he¡¯d really wanted to do was give the mortals there a fighting chance against the kind of low-level spirit beasts that were likely to assault the town. Yet, there was a stark truth that whoever controlled the loyalty of the military controlled the area. For the moment, that meant him. Not that he thought the people he was training would ever do anything to harm the town. They all lived and worked there. That didn¡¯t mean that the local elders would see it that way. They probably saw him as equal parts resource and threat. On the one hand, he was providing the locals with what could only be described as excellent training. Training he was providing free of charge, at that. On the other hand, he was an outsider and cultivator with a powerful hold over anyone who passed through the training hall. They were also far from the reach of the kingdom¡¯s centers of power. It could very well look to them like Sen meant to set himself up as some kind of local king or warlord. And that was a problem he wasn¡¯t entirely sure how to remedy.


    ¡°What are you daydreaming about?¡± snapped Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°I was just wondering if the local elders think that I¡¯m getting ready to use their town as the foundation for trying to set up my own little kingdom.¡±


    ¡°Why in the world would you be thinking about that? That¡¯s completely¡­ It¡¯s completely¡ª¡± she trailed off as she thought it over. ¡°Actually, that¡¯s probably more plausible than it sounds on the surface.¡±


    ¡°Any advice?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°You¡¯ll need a lot more people than you have if you plan on taking over a piece of the kingdom,¡± said Fu Ruolan in a completely serious voice. ¡°Wars are messy business. You need a lot of bodies for them.¡±


    Sen gaped at her. ¡°I meant any advice on how to convince the elders that¡¯s not what I¡¯m doing. I¡¯m not, by the way. Just to be clear.¡±


    ¡°Oh. My mistake. I wouldn¡¯t care if you did. I¡¯m not particularly attached to this kingdom. It didn¡¯t even exist when I was young,¡± mused the woman. ¡°Plus, it¡¯d be very convenient if you were the local king. I could ask for favors.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not setting myself up as a warlord just so you can have me post soldiers to keep people away!¡±


    ¡°Calm down. It was just a thought. A really nice thought.¡±


    Sen pinched the bridge of his nose. ¡°Any advice on accomplishing my actual goal.¡±


    ¡°There is this one ancient stratagem you can try.¡±


    ¡°Which is?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a mysterious, poorly understood technique called talking.¡±

 V7 Chapter 43 – Academy

    ¡°Again,¡± said Sen.


    The townspeople, under the guidance of Dai Bao, started the form over again as Sen and Uncle Kho watched. The elder cultivator had seemed both curious and dubious about Sen¡¯s project to train the mortals to defend themselves against spirit beasts. As they worked through the form again, though, he could see Uncle Kho''s gaze turn considering as he evaluated the townspeople. He reserved judgment, though, electing to maintain his guise as a simple visitor for the moment. He¡¯d gotten more than one curious look from the practicing mortals, but they all had enough respect for Sen not to push for more information than he was willing to share. Sen was struggling not to send everyone home just so he could sate his curiosity about Uncle Kho¡¯s thoughts, but he resisted the urge. Everyone had made time for this, despite the demands of their own jobs and lives. He could do them the basic courtesy of giving this an honest effort.


    So, he slowly walked around the group and made mental notes. He saw some incremental improvement here and there, but nothing fundamental had changed. The handful of people capable of going further would need more direct instruction, while everyone else had reached their peak. Sen wondered if this was what running a sect was like for the core sect members and elders. Did they invest just enough time and effort to pick out the handful of unpolished gems, and then focus their attention on those few? He had the worrying feeling that, while things might not be quite that simple, the transition from outer sect disciple to inner sect disciple was probably handled in almost exactly that fashion. However, while most people¡¯s skills weren¡¯t progressing, other things that were just as important to surviving a battle with spirit beasts were improving. Things like stamina.


    During the first month or two, everyone¡¯s endurance had been pitiful. It wasn¡¯t that everyone was in terrible condition. A few, the ones who spent most of their time working with their minds rather than their hands, had been almost beyond hope. Most of the townspeople worked hard at some kind of manual labor. The problem was that the labor they were doing didn¡¯t necessarily translate into strength in the right parts of the body or sustained endurance. Wang Bo had been a good example. Sen knew that the young man could go out and do the labor related to cutting down trees all day long. On top of that, he was still young even by mortal standards. He was likely at the very peak of what would be his strength and health. Yet, in the beginning, an hour of sustained practice with a spear had left him nearly beyond exhaustion. He was forced to use muscles he didn¡¯t normally use, or use them in ways he didn¡¯t normally use them. It had been like that for nearly everyone.


    Now, everyone who had lasted in the training could keep it up for a couple of hours. Sen had watched as this part of the community had grown leaner and stronger. While it wasn¡¯t a substitute for body cultivation, he believed that using a rotation strategy would let them outlast most low-level beasts. Whether they believed it was another matter. They had lucked out so far that no other beasts had attacked the town, so the question hadn¡¯t been put to the test as of yet. After the group finished the form, Dai Bao had them pair off and do some light sparring with blunted spears Sen had made for the purpose. Everyone present had developed enough skill and control not to injure each other out of pure ignorance or carelessness, which meant Sen no longer felt a need to oversee every spar. Instead, he moved between the pairs, sometimes just watching and sometimes offering pieces of advice.


    The small group he¡¯d identified as having more potential, a group including Wang Bo and Li Hua, he instructed to stay when everyone else left. It took a bit for the practice hall to clear out, but eventually the only people remaining were Sen, Uncle Kho, and the people he¡¯d told to stay. That group of five people shuffled nervously as he approached them. He hadn¡¯t told them why he wanted them to stay, so he couldn¡¯t rightly fault them for their nerves. He gave them all a gentle smile to try to alleviate their nerves. It didn¡¯t seem to help. I guess I better just get on with it, he thought.


    ¡°You five have the most room left for growth. So, I¡¯m going to offer you the opportunity for some additional training,¡± he said and held up a hand to quiet any immediate questions. ¡°There will likely be some changes happening here soon, which means that this extra training will come with extra responsibilities. I know that all of you have responsibilities already, so don¡¯t rush to agree. If you don¡¯t have the time or the energy to take on more, I will not hold it against you. Give the matter some thought, and then let me know your answers.¡±


    He could see the questions burning in their eyes. They wanted to know about the training and the changes he¡¯d been very vague about. He waited to see if they¡¯d give in to that curiosity or if they¡¯d do as he¡¯d asked. It was a test of sorts to measure their self-discipline. Wang Bo¡¯s lips twitched several times as Sen looked at him with some bland amusement on his face. The young man finally wrangled his curiosity into submission and left after a hasty goodbye. The others wandered out, casting curious looks in his direction, until he was left facing just Li Hua. He lifted an eyebrow at her.


    ¡°Yes?¡± he asked, certain she¡¯d ask about the changes.


    ¡°Who is that man?¡± she asked, nodding toward Uncle Kho.


    ¡°You know who he is. That¡¯s Uncle Kho. You¡¯ve met several times now.¡±


    ¡°I know that¡¯s how you introduced me to him. But who is he? Why is he here?¡±


    ¡°Oh, now those are two very different questions.¡±


    ¡°Will you answer either of them?¡± she pressed.


    Sen considered her for a moment before he looked over to Uncle Kho and shrugged. Those weren¡¯t Sen¡¯s secrets to tell, so he manfully made it someone else¡¯s problem. Uncle Kho smirked at Sen, clearly aware that Sen was dodging responsibility, and walked over. He politely inclined his head to Li Hua.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you again, Li Hua,¡± said Uncle Kho. ¡°I gather you have questions.¡±


    ¡°I, that is, yes. I do,¡± she said, suddenly nervous as Uncle Kho gave her a very direct look.


    ¡°Go ahead,¡± he said.


    Sen kept his face perfectly neutral. Uncle Kho was having a little fun at her expense, which Sen didn¡¯t approve of but couldn¡¯t see a way to object to at the moment.


    Li Hua hesitated before she blurted out, ¡°Who are you?¡±


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    ¡°Kho Jaw-Long,¡± answered Uncle Kho immediately.


    Li Hua blinked at him with an uncertain look on her face. It was clear the name didn¡¯t mean anything to her, but equally clear she had sensed something about the man that unsettled her. She seemed to be looking for a question that would provide some clarity and was having limited success.


    ¡°Are you a cultivator? Like him?¡± she ventured, even more hesitant.


    ¡°A cultivator? Yes. Like him?¡± asked Uncle Kho with a look toward Sen. ¡°No. He¡¯s much more talented than I am.¡±


    When Sen rolled his eyes, Uncle Kho amended his statement.


    ¡°In some areas.¡±


    There was a long silence after that which prompted Sen to speak. ¡°Just ask, Hua.¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t sure if he¡¯d ever addressed the woman so casually before, but it seemed to hit her like a thunderbolt. She straightened and her eyes went a little wide. She hurriedly posed her other question.


    ¡°Why are you here?¡±


    ¡°In this town or in this building?¡± asked Uncle Kho, a merry sparkle in his eyes.


    ¡°Both?¡± she asked, her voice a little higher than usual.


    ¡°I¡¯m in this town because Sen is here and he¡¯s adopted an adorable little girl that I wanted to meet. I¡¯m in the building because Sen asked me to offer my opinion on this project of his and the overall aptitude of his students.¡±


    Li Hua frowned. ¡°Why would he ask you about that?¡±


    This time it was Uncle Kho who looked at Sen and shrugged. It was up to Sen how much he wanted to reveal about that particular relationship.


    ¡°Because Uncle Kho is the person who taught me how to use a spear.¡±


    That answer seemed to solve some mystery in the woman¡¯s head because her face cleared up.


    ¡°Oh! I see. That makes sense.¡±


    Sen frowned at Li Hua. ¡°What did you imagine he was here for? To kick me out and take over?¡±


    ¡°Of course not,¡± said Li Hua, but the pink in her cheeks exposed the small lie.


    Sen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m going to be here for at least a couple more years. So, no, that isn¡¯t the change that I was talking about.¡±


    She stammered a few embarrassed, half-formed sentences before Sen mercifully told her to go collect Zhi from Auntie Caihong. Li Hua all but ran out of the building.


    ¡°I¡¯m kind of surprised you told her your name,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t need to hide. Most people know better than to bother me.¡±


    ¡°And you do have that reputation to fall back on.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure you¡¯re in a position to talk about reputations.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t remind me,¡± groaned Sen.


    ¡°Not enjoying fame?¡± asked Uncle Kho with a bit of sympathy.


    ¡°Not at all. How did you deal with it?¡±


    ¡°I moved to a remote mountain and killed everyone who came there to bother me.¡±


    Sen took a moment to think before he said, ¡°Yeah, I guess I already knew that.¡±


    Uncle Kho smiled and gestured around at the training hall. ¡°So, what was this all about? I watched you today, and it doesn¡¯t seem like you need any feedback from me. You picked out the people with real talent just fine. You¡¯ve brought the rest up to a point of basic competence. Certainly enough to delay spirit beasts if not kill them outright. Or is this about you starting a sect?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s related. I want to start something that is sort of like a sect, but I¡¯m for sure not starting an actual sect. It¡¯s a hundred headaches and responsibilities that I don¡¯t want. Especially when the benefits are so thin.¡±


    ¡°No desire for the blind adoration and obedience of others?¡±


    ¡°Gods, no. Plus, there¡¯s this nascent soul cultivator who just hates them. I don¡¯t want that guy showing up with an ax to grind.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve heard about him," said Uncle Kho with a smirk. "If you started a sect, he¡¯d definitely show up sooner or later.¡±


    ¡°Then, there¡¯s all the terror and screaming and foundation formation cultivators openly weeping. Who has time for that?¡±


    ¡°It does sound tedious. Although, there¡¯s a rumor going around that you already killed one nascent soul cultivator. What¡¯s one more?¡± asked Uncle Kho with laughter in his eyes.


    ¡°Oh, you know how it is. Achieve one minor miracle and everyone expects you to do it again. People are so greedy. Besides, you have to join a sect to get any benefits from it, and mortals can¡¯t join.¡±


    ¡°So, what it is that you do have in mind that is apparently like a sect, but not actually sect, and that mortals can join.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking that I¡¯ll open an academy. A weapons academy with a focus on the spear and the jian.¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯ll let mortals join.¡±


    ¡°I will.¡±


    ¡°What about cultivators?¡±


    ¡°That is the question. I don¡¯t know. If I let cultivators join, I¡¯d have to train them myself or recruit other cultivators to serve in that capacity since I can¡¯t have them mixing with the mortals. Even if they promise to behave, I don¡¯t believe for one second that some cultivator wouldn¡¯t immediately fall into that superior attitude almost immediately. If one of them injured one of the mortal students, I¡¯d have to act, which could well mean a mountain of trouble I¡¯d rather avoid. I could maybe bypass some of the problem by only accepting wandering cultivators, but that could create its own problems.¡±


    ¡°Like sect cultivators showing up to challenge your students because they¡¯re wandering cultivators with no real backing?¡± asked Uncle Kho.


    ¡°Exactly, which would mean that I¡¯d have to be their backing, and I don¡¯t feel like dueling all the time. The other option is that I¡¯d accept wandering cultivators and sect members. If I do that, I can exert some control over the problem, but I don¡¯t see how to avoid making it a problem in the first place. Basically, dealing with them would be a serious drain on resources. Plus, I¡¯d have to monitor them to make sure they don¡¯t abuse the mortals in town.¡±


    ¡°So, why not make it a mortal-only academy?¡±


    ¡°I really thought about it. It¡¯s what I wanted to do originally. But it won¡¯t work,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°No?¡±


    ¡°There are already cultivators in town wanting to become the students of Judgment¡¯s Gale. If I open an academy and exclude cultivators, I¡¯d be right back to dueling all the time.¡±


    ¡°It seems like you¡¯ve at least thought about the problems. So, what do you need from me?¡±


    ¡°Advice. Assuming you couldn¡¯t just leverage your fearsome reputation to keep everyone in line, how would you limit the problems?¡±


    Uncle Kho stood in quiet contemplation for several minutes, idly stroking his beard, and making noncommittal noises from time to time.


    ¡°You can¡¯t avoid the problems. Not completely. These are people we¡¯re talking about and some of them are stupid. Some will think that the rules don¡¯t apply to them because they¡¯re nobles, or cultivators, or because they come from a sect. So, one option is that you make rules that include incredibly harsh punishments, and then enforce them mercilessly. You will end up having to kill a few people and deal with the consequences of that. Most people will fall in line fast enough if you execute a few who can¡¯t follow basic rules like do not bother the mortals. You can also ask for oaths to the heavens, but that¡¯s a losing proposition. Even those with no ill intent will avoid taking those oaths. They¡¯d rather miss out on an opportunity than play dice with the heavens.¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t want to risk the heavens interpreting their oath?¡±


    ¡°Would you?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°I definitely would not. Any other thoughts?¡±


    ¡°Some logistical ones. You should charge cultivators outrageously for joining because they¡¯re going to be a hassle for you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d planned on doing that.¡±


    ¡°You should also create a separate training space for them,¡± added Uncle Kho.


    ¡°Right. That would let me limit their interactions with the mortal students as much as possible. I suppose I¡¯d need to provide somewhere for students to live as well. It¡¯s not like the town has a lot of extra housing.¡±


    As they talked through the necessities, Sen became increasingly sure that this was the right choice. It should let him avoid actively antagonizing the sects in the region, train more mortals, and it would even give Wu Meng Yao something real to do. It would also give him an excuse to turn away cultivators who wanted cultivation training while also providing them with an alternative. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but very little in life was perfect. He could live with a little imperfection if it let him manage some of his problems.

 V7 Chapter 44 – Academy, Part 2

    Sen focused his not-inconsiderable will on suffusing his entire body with shadow qi under Fu Ruolan¡¯s watchful gaze. Her focused attention didn¡¯t bother him. In fact, he was grateful for it. When she¡¯d first described the process for her version of shadow walking, Sen had thought it would be easy. He¡¯d swiftly learned that there was a reason only a handful of people could perform it. It was a relentless battle against nature and his own body¡¯s desires. Sen had remolded that body again and again, infused it with everything from earth qi to heavenly qi, and the results spoke for themselves. He was the strongest and fastest he¡¯d ever been. But it came at a cost. Every last piece of him had all of those different qi types as intrinsic components. On top of that, nature didn¡¯t want human beings, or even body cultivators, to be made up of only one kind of qi. They were born as beings touched by all forms of qi, however lightly. Trying to superimpose shadow qi on top of all of that, through all of that, was proving a challenge that Sen wasn¡¯t sure he could overcome. With an exhausted explosion of breath, Sen released the shadow qi he¡¯d been controlling.


    ¡°I can¡¯t keep going,¡± he said.


    ¡°That was much better. You were much closer this time,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    He wanted to deny those words. It hadn¡¯t felt much better. He didn¡¯t have any intuitive sense that he was any closer to success. Sen still nodded in acceptance. Fu Ruolan did not give false praise. She called false praise a misguided and futile attempt to bolster the incompetent. Sen wasn¡¯t sure he agreed with that position. Having spent a lot of time with children recently, he firmly believed that praise should be lavished on them whenever they put honest effort into doing something. Of course, he was no child, nor was he a traditional student. He was a highly experienced cultivator getting direct instruction from an even more powerful and experienced cultivator. Instruction that was pushing the very limits of his current capacities. Sen had the suspicion that this technique wasn¡¯t even meant to be used by core formation cultivators. Either way, the expectation for someone like him had to be different, and he would get limited value from praise he hadn¡¯t earned. He knew it. Fu Ruolan knew it as well. So, he accepted her words as true. Even if he couldn¡¯t properly see the progress he¡¯d made, it wasn¡¯t a sign that it didn¡¯t exist.


    After he¡¯d had the initial insight, her explanation of how the technique worked had been little more than a confirmation of his suspicions. It was simplicity itself at the conceptual level. Turn yourself into a shadow and step through to the in-between place, where you can release your shadow form and become corporeal again. Walk over to the shadow you want to come out of, become a shadow again, and step into the real world. Assume your human form once more. Easy. Sen had assumed there was more nuance involved, but he¡¯d drastically underestimated the difficulty. On the surface, it was a constant source of frustration. Yet, there was a part of him that found it oddly satisfying that this was something that wasn¡¯t easy for him to do. He didn¡¯t relish struggle when it seemed to be for no reason, but this kind of struggle had value. It burnished the will and his self-discipline. Improving those couldn¡¯t be anything but good for him. Then again, thought Sen as he tried to push through a fatigue that had settled in his bones, there is such as overtraining. Even for me.


    ¡°You¡¯re complaining in your head again, aren¡¯t you?¡± asked Fu Ruolan. ¡°You¡¯ve got that look about you.¡±


    ¡°Of course not. I never complain.¡±


    ¡°I suppose you want to stop for the day and get back to building your sect for lovestruck cultivator girls.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a sect,¡± said Sen for at least the thirtieth time. ¡°It¡¯s not just for cultivators, and it¡¯s not just for women.¡±


    ¡°You say that, but I remain unconvinced.¡±


    ¡°I noticed,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Fine. I suppose you¡¯ve put in an adequate effort, and you¡¯re clearly not up for another try. Be on your way.¡±


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    ¡°I was planning to visit with Glimmer of Night. Ai is with him.¡±


    ¡°Oh, well, I haven¡¯t seen the spiderkin in the last few days. I should probably join you.¡±


    ¡°As you say.¡±


    The pair walked over to where Glimmer of Night had constructed an incredibly complicated¡­ Sen wasn¡¯t sure that the word web truly encompassed it. It criss-crossed dozens and trees and went up at least fifty feet. The spider watched on as Ai inexpertly climbed on it. Sen¡¯s heart almost stopped when she slipped and fell. Then, he saw that there was a tightly packed mesh of qi about three feet off the ground that would prevent her from coming close to an impact. After she sank into the mesh, Ai let out a wild cry of glee as the mesh snapped back into place and launched her back up into the air. The little girl cheerfully began climbing around on the web again.


    ¡°I guess she¡¯s not much of a spider,¡± observed Sen as they approached.


    ¡°She falls on purpose,¡± said Glimmer of Night. ¡°She likes the bouncing.¡±


    ¡°Of course, she does,¡± said Sen with a shake of his head.


    He didn¡¯t want Ai to be afraid of everything, but he wondered sometimes if she wasn¡¯t afraid of enough things. There were actual dangers in the world and, someday, he¡¯d have to let her go and find out about them. He shoved that thought away hard. Someday, maybe, he admitted to himself, but not today. Ai eventually noticed them and ¡°fell¡± again, before scrambling toward them. She flopped off the edge of the mesh and came over to Sen.


    ¡°Did you see?¡± she asked, eyes bright with excitement. ¡°I bounced!¡±


    ¡°I did see,¡± said Sen. ¡°Did you thank Uncle Glimmerite for making this for you?¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± she said, her little head bobbing up and down.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. I have an idea. Maybe you should show Auntie Ru how to climb on it,¡± suggested Sen with a look of pious innocence on his face.


    The nascent soul cultivator was not fooled. She directed a narrow-eyed look at him, but the enthusiastic way that Ai grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the web construct delayed any immediate vengeance. Sen snickered a little to himself.


    ¡°It seems unwise to antagonize her that way,¡± said Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°Oh, she doesn¡¯t hate it half as much as she pretends to. Besides, it¡¯s good for her.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe I would ever treat a matriarch that way, good for her or not.¡±


    ¡°To be fair, neither would I,¡± said Sen. ¡°Those matriarchs of yours don¡¯t seem to have much of a sense of humor.¡±


    ¡°They do not. Humor is not highly valued among my people.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re missing out.¡±


    The spider was quiet for several moments before shrugging. ¡°Perhaps.¡±


    ¡°So, I¡¯ve been meaning to ask you something. You know that you¡¯re welcome to come and visit us whenever you want, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡ª¡± the spider paused. ¡°I did not.¡±


    ¡°Well, that explains it. I wasn¡¯t intending to abandon you out here.¡±


    ¡°The humans in the town do not seem to like it when I visit.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ll just have to get used to it. Changes are coming here, and you¡¯ll probably be one of the politest of them.¡±


    ¡°So, you mean to open your sect for lustful, doe-eyed cultivator waifs?¡±


    Sen turned shocked eyes on the spider who wore his usual impassive look.


    ¡°Why would you call it that?¡±


    ¡°That is what Fu Ruolan called it when she described it to me.¡±


    Sen was struck completely speechless for almost ten seconds before he burst into laughter.


    ¡°Of course. Of course, she described it that way.¡±


    ¡°I take it she was engaging in humor?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen. ¡°I think she probably meant it, but that¡¯s not what I¡¯m doing. I¡¯m opening a weapons academy. Mortals and cultivators alike are welcome to join. As are you.¡±


    ¡°I see. Then, why did she call it that?¡±


    ¡°She doesn¡¯t approve of the idea. So, describing it in less-than-flattering terms is an indirect way to show her disapproval.¡±


    ¡°Why does she disapprove?¡±


    ¡°Mostly because she thinks it¡¯ll be nothing but lustful, doe-eyed cultivator waifs.¡±


    ¡°Will it?¡± asked the spider in evident curiosity.


    Sen opened his mouth, thought about it, closed his mouth, thought some more, and finally said, ¡°I don¡¯t think it will. That¡¯s not that plan, anyway.¡±


    After that, the two fell into a comfortable silence while Ai explained to Auntie Ru how to climb on the web. Sen had to give Fu Ruolan credit that she didn¡¯t lose her patience with the explanation or even get frustrated and simply use her qi to fly nearby. Sen didn¡¯t know if that was progress, but it was enough for the moment. Sen let the two of them play while occasionally asking Glimmer of Night questions about the spider¡¯s ongoing quest to, if Sen understood correctly, discover a new aspect of truth through a newly discovered web pattern. Glimmer of Night had not achieved his goal but seemed undaunted by the ongoing work. If nothing else, it seemed that the environment and the work had allowed the spider to evolve his spirit beast core a little. He was radiating a more condensed qi energy than before. Before it got too late, Sen finally called an end to the play and headed back to town.

 V7 Chapter 45 – Academy, Part 3

    Sen shook his head as he silently observed Wu Meng Yao trying to observe the galehouse. He¡¯d been standing about three feet behind her for five minutes. He¡¯d also been hiding. He realized it wasn¡¯t a fair test, but she had been lurking a lot the last few days. Maybe it was because spring was just about there. He wasn¡¯t sure if she wanted to ask him about the task he¡¯d set her or if she was just curious, but the amusement value in the whole situation had long since faded.


    ¡°That¡¯s creepy, you know,¡± said Sen.


    Wu Meng Yao jumped at least six inches off the ground and whirled to face him. Qi started to gather around her hands for some kind of technique. When the shock faded and recognition set in, she dispelled the gathering qi and directed an aggravated look at him.


    ¡°It¡¯s not funny to sneak up on people like that.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not funny to spy on people¡¯s homes either,¡± observed Sen.


    ¡°I¡ª¡± she started only to falter when Sen raised an eyebrow at her. ¡°Fine. I was spying.¡±


    ¡°Any particular reason or just basic voyeurism?¡±


    Wu Meng Yao turned bright red in embarrassment. ¡°I¡¯m not a voyeur!¡±


    ¡°It was a joke,¡± said Sen in a bland voice. ¡°Which you were obviously in no frame of mind to enjoy. Come with me.¡±


    ¡°Where?¡±


    ¡°Does it matter? You¡¯re going to follow me either way.¡±


    ¡°I guess it doesn¡¯t,¡± said Wu Meng Yao, falling into step beside him.


    ¡°Have you been preparing for your trip?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯ve prepared as much as one can for a trip like that. Which, incidentally, isn¡¯t much because no one does it.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s not true. Merchants go over those mountains all the time.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Over. On an established trail and with guards. Guards frequently obtained from a sect. Over. Not up,¡± said Wu Meng Yao in a voice that was almost complaining.


    ¡°A valid distinction,¡± agreed Sen. ¡°Idle curiosity, why have you been spying on my home?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡±


    ¡°I have my guesses, but they¡¯re just guesses.¡±


    ¡°Shen Mingxia didn¡¯t tell you?¡± asked Wu Meng Yao, genuine bitterness in her voice.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask her,¡± said Sen.


    He chose not to comment on that bitterness. There were too many possible reasons for it. Plus, he had more than a sneaking suspicion that asking about it would open him up to a lot of information he didn¡¯t want. Wu Meng Yao didn¡¯t strike him as particularly volatile but emotions could run deep in anyone. Plus, if her emotions were that close to the surface at the moment, asking about them could inadvertently end with her revealing things she¡¯d later wish she hadn¡¯t. No, it was better to just leave that alone for the moment.


    ¡°You have two legendary nascent soul cultivators who just dropped by for a visit. How could I not be curious?¡±


    ¡°You could have just asked to meet them,¡± noted Sen.


    ¡°How? You¡¯ve been avoiding me.¡±


    ¡°Have I?¡±


    ¡°Yes! You have,¡± she said with a fire in her eyes that abruptly went out. ¡°I get why, though. I keep making things awkward, and it¡¯s very clear that you don¡¯t enjoy awkward.¡±


    Sen stopped walking so he could turn to look at her.


    ¡°Do you know anyone, anyone at all, who does enjoy awkward conversations?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she admitted with a slight wince.


    ¡°Okay. I was wondering if I missed something along the way,¡± said Sen, resuming his walk.


    There was a short silence that Wu Meng Yao apparently found intolerable because she asked a question that Sen had sort of expected.


    ¡°Why are you so much nicer to Shen Mingxia?¡±


    ¡°She doesn¡¯t make things awkward,¡± answered Sen.


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    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that enough? She treats me like a person. So, I respond in kind. What have I ever done to make you think that I care about all that hierarchy nonsense that sects impose?¡±


    It seemed that she didn¡¯t have an answer to that question, which was for the best since they¡¯d arrived at Sen¡¯s intended destination. They stood outside the door to the practice hall. It was almost exactly the same as it had always been, save for the addition of some characters on the wall. Sen stood there and looked at those characters until Wu Meng Yao took the hint and read them aloud.


    ¡°Deep Wilds Academy. What¡¯s this about?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to train people here.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re starting a sect?¡±


    ¡°Academy,¡± corrected Sen. ¡°A very specific kind of academy. I intend to teach the spear and jian here.¡±


    ¡°No cultivation training?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to say never. If the exact right person walked through the door, I might, might, take on a student for cultivation training. But that¡¯s not what this place is for. This place is intended to teach the spear and jian to anyone who comes along. Mortals and cultivators alike.¡±


    Wu Meng Yao was silent for a full minute before she spoke again. ¡°That¡¯s smart. If you¡¯re not training anyone to be cultivators, then people from any sect could come here to learn the spear or jian from the infamous Judgment¡¯s Gale. At the same time, the sects won¡¯t worry that you¡¯re trying to recruit away their best disciples. Assuming they believe it.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll send spies looking to prove that I¡¯m really running a sect here. As long as they pay the outrageous fees I¡¯ll charge, they¡¯re free to spy all they want. There won¡¯t be anything to find.¡±


    ¡°Have you considered the possibility of assassins? You aren¡¯t exactly everyone¡¯s favorite person.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t pretend that everyone loves me. But I¡¯ve survived assassination attempts before. Even one from a nascent soul cultivator.¡±


    ¡°Wait! What? Seriously?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s been an interesting few years. It happened when I was in the capital a while back. There were a lot of people there who didn¡¯t like me. He just tried to do something about it. It didn¡¯t work out for him.¡±


    ¡°Did you leave the city before he found you?¡±


    ¡°No. I killed him when he wouldn¡¯t leave the city, but I¡¯d prefer it if you didn¡¯t spread that one around. Somehow, it¡¯s not common knowledge yet. I¡¯d like to keep it that way.¡±


    Wu Meng Yao was staring at him with her mouth a little open. ¡°You¡¯re serious. You killed a nascent soul cultivator, as a core formation cultivator?¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t leave me a lot of options. Well, no, that¡¯s probably not true. I expect that there were options, but I wasn¡¯t necessarily thinking all that clearly at the time. Mostly, I killed him because he deserved it, and because I wanted him dead.¡±


    ¡°If that were common knowledge, you might not need to worry about assassins. Who would dare?


    ¡°There¡¯s always someone who dares. I also know that I¡¯m not invincible. Yes, it¡¯s possible someone might come here looking to kill me, but that¡¯s true literally everywhere I go. I don¡¯t think that I¡¯m in substantially more danger here than anywhere else.¡±


    ¡°You have things here to lose.¡±


    Sen gave her a steady look. ¡°You mean Ai. You think someone might do something to her to get to me?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s possible.¡±


    ¡°No. Anyone capable enough to have a serious chance of killing me is going to be someone who does that kind of work professionally. That means they¡¯ll be professional enough to recognize the ocean of vengeance that would drown them if they did something that stupid. I would erase them and anything they ever touched. That¡¯s assuming that Auntie Caihong or Uncle Kho didn¡¯t get there first. The word safe would simply vanish from their world. Anyone not professional enough to recognize that is going to be dead, or desperately wishing they were dead, before they can actually do anything to her.¡±


    Wu Meng Yao swallowed hard before she said, ¡°I¡¯m glad to see that the last few years have toughened you up. You were so soft and forgiving before.¡±


    Sen met her eyes and then snorted. ¡°And you missed my whole angry time. This is soft and forgiving compared to those days.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m struggling to imagine that.¡±


    ¡°You met Lo Meifeng, right? She can tell you all about how full of joy I was then. But, we¡¯re way off topic. There¡¯s a question that you need to answer.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Do you really want to go do the imaginary task I gave you, or would rather stay here and teach?¡±


    ¡°Imaginary task,¡± said Wu Meng Yao a little numbly. ¡°The treasure up near the peak? It¡¯s not real?¡±


    ¡°Nope. I made the whole thing up. Well, actually, I expect that there probably is some incredibly powerful shadow treasure in one of those caves, but I don¡¯t know that for sure.¡±


    ¡°You¡­ You made it up? You were going to let me go to those mountains and risk my life for a treasure that doesn¡¯t even exist!¡±


    ¡°Of course not. I was going to let you go most of the way to those mountains. Then, Shen Mingxia was going to tell you the truth.¡±


    ¡°That little traitor.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be too hard on her. She owed me since before she even met you. And she¡¯s been trying to convince me to find something else, something real, for you to do since day one. You must be doing something right there because she¡¯s loyal.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Wu Meng Yao, looking a little chagrined. ¡°Still, why would you do something like that?¡±


    ¡°Is that a real question?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°No! But I¡¯m still angry about it. You could have just¡ª¡±


    ¡°Told you it was fine and not to worry about it?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± she snapped before the realization hit.


    ¡°Well, before you go off and feel angry with me for, well, however long that¡¯s going to be, back to the question at hand. Imaginary task or teaching here?¡±


    ¡°Teaching what? To who?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re competent with the jian. So, you¡¯ll teach that. As for the who, it¡¯ll be the lower-level cultivators who come here. I cannot spend all of my time teaching, and cultivators can only learn from other cultivators. So, if you feel like you¡¯ve got some debt or obligation to me, you can work it off that way.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t afford to stay here indefinitely.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll be provided a place to stay, food, and some kind of stipend. It can be gold, some reasonable cultivation resources, or a combination.¡±


    The sect cultivator didn¡¯t say anything. She just kept staring at Sen and biting her lip.


    ¡°Do you need a day to think about it?¡± Sen finally asked.


    ¡°I want lessons,¡± she blurted out. ¡°The same lessons the other core cultivators get.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s fine.¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯m going to be teaching, it only seems fair that I¡ª¡± she trailed off. ¡°It¡¯s fine? I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    ¡°Well, that sounds like a personal problem that you should take up with the universe.¡±

 V7 Chapter 46 – Academy, Part 4

    Sen had been making excuses to avoid this task. He knew he¡¯d been making excuses to avoid it. Of course, it helped that his excuses were, by and large, to do things like go train with Fu Ruolan, train the townspeople, evaluate Wu Meng Yao¡¯s true skill level, and shore up some of her weaknesses. Most important to his way of thinking was spending time with Ai. In other words, he wasn¡¯t inventing mindless goals or wasting time. It was just that he could have, at any point, taken a break from any of those things to go and deal with this particularly troublesome task. If only it didn¡¯t involve cultivators. You¡¯ve got to get over that, Sen reminded himself. If you¡¯re opening your academy to them, you¡¯re going to have to deal with them and all the things you don¡¯t like about them. For all that, he still hoped that they would all decline when they found out the truth. Of course, that meant actually taking the step of talking with them. Sighing, Sen walked into the inn. He didn¡¯t even bother looking at them. He just pointed.


    ¡°You, you, and you. Come with me,¡± he commanded, then turned and walked out.


    They knew who he was. Half the town knew him on sight, even if they hadn¡¯t spoken directly with him. So, it was a foregone conclusion that the cultivators who had been in town for weeks and weeks had made a point to learn who he was. Oddly, none of them had gotten anywhere near to the practice hall or even, as near as he could, spoken with any of the mortals he was training. He didn¡¯t know if that was an overabundance of caution or just what they deemed a healthy measure of respect. He wasn¡¯t sure what, if anything, he would have done if the cultivators had approached any of his mortal students. He supposed it would have depended on how those interactions had gone. If the cultivators had been polite, he expected he would have let it go. If they had been more like the majority of cultivators Sen had encountered over the years, he probably would have turned the whole thing into a bloody, painful object lesson before helping that cultivator leave town. If that help resulted in them bouncing down the stone road for half a mile, that would been very sad. For them.


    His spiritual sense told him that the three had hesitated briefly, then hurried after him like ducklings chasing their mother. Now, they were walking along in his wake. Several times, he heard one or another of them take a breath like they intended to speak, only to change their minds at the last second. He led them out of town and to the practice hall. Sen had told the townspeople to take a day off, so there wouldn¡¯t be any interruptions of this meeting unless something big happened. Although, with Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong nearby, Sen felt a certain swell of pity for any spirit beast foolish enough to come looking for trouble. Uncle Kho would likely destroy it from a distance with lightning just to make sure the spirit beast didn¡¯t disrupt whatever fun he and Auntie Caihong were having with Ai and Zhi.


    Sen had initially felt like he was taking advantage of the elder cultivators since they always offered to look after the girls when some had something to do. When he¡¯d suggested that he could take the girls for a day, he¡¯d been met with such plaintive, hurt looks, that he¡¯d felt compelled to explain that he didn¡¯t want them to feel like he was using them. That had immediately soothed their feelings. Then, Auntie Caihong had metaphorically patted him on the head, told him he was a good kid, and shooed him out to go be productive. So, he had gone and fetched the cultivators who had been hanging around and acting like a mental lodestone for him. He took them inside the training hall, cycled almost unconsciously, and gestured. Three stone chairs rose from the floor. He turned to face them and sat. A fourth stone chair rose up to catch him.


    ¡°Sit,¡± he said.


    The three cultivators traded glances before taking seats. Sen looked them over. They all had the air of perpetual youth about them that made guessing their actual ages problematic. The one to the left was a young man with intelligent, dark eyes, and odd, short-cropped hair that looked more red than black. To Sen, he felt like he was somewhere in late foundation formation. Sitting next to him was a positively tiny woman. She was so small that Sen might have mistaken her for a child if he¡¯d been distracted. The chair was big enough that her feet just sort of dangled over the floor. He frowned and concentrated for a moment. The chair slowly reduced in height until her feet could rest comfortably on the floor. She inclined her head to him in thanks. He judged that she was hovering at the cusp of qi-gathering and foundation formation.


    He turned his gaze to the last person and found himself grateful that there was at least one man in the trio. The woman in that chair looked at him with defiant blue eyes. He¡¯d heard about blue eyes, light hair, and extremely pale complexions. He knew that they were more common beyond the Mountains of Sorrow. He¡¯d just never seen them before, let alone all on one person. It was almost jarring and might have even left him off-balance if not for seeing Falling Leaf¡¯s eyes so often over the years. She was the only core formation cultivator in the group, which suggested that she was much older than the other two and probably much older than Sen himself. He let the silence drag out for an uncomfortably long time, just to see how they¡¯d react. The man and the tiny woman both started to fidget, but the blue-eyed woman never twitched. She just waited.


    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Sen asked.


    The other two gave the blue-eyed woman surreptitious glances, clearly expecting her to take the lead in whatever discussion was about to happen. She didn¡¯t disappoint them.


    ¡°I am here to learn from Judgment¡¯s Gale,¡± she announced.


    ¡°Really?¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Yes,¡± she answered, confidence incarnate.


    ¡°And did he invite you?¡± Sen asked in a dangerous, casual voice.


    She faltered at that. The man turned a shade of green, while the tiny woman seemed to be trying to make herself even smaller. Splotches of red appeared on the blue-eyed woman¡¯s cheeks. It was a bit of a relief for Sen since it suggested that there might be a human being in there somewhere if he dug deep enough. He just looked at her and waited for an answer. He wasn¡¯t about to let her off the hook.


    ¡°No,¡± she admitted.


    ¡°Yet, here you are. Here you all are. I won¡¯t lie to you. The only reason you¡¯re sitting here right now is that you behaved politely in town. This place is, for the moment, my home. I am protective of it. I have no tolerance for cultivators who believe that being cultivators gives them a right to abuse mortals. I have exceedingly limited tolerance for cultivators who believe that being in a sect makes them special. Any attempt to abuse the mortals here or to force those of a lower cultivation to do anything they do not wish to do will have lethal consequences. Have I been unclear in any way?¡±


    The core cultivator and the red-haired guy both looked a little stunned as they shook their heads. The tiny woman, on the other hand, looked ecstatic, as if she¡¯d gotten great news that she hadn¡¯t expected. Sen continued.


    ¡°I said all of that for a reason. I¡¯m about to tell you things you don¡¯t want to hear. So, I wanted you to understand what happens if you make a bad decision afterward. Despite what you may think, I¡¯m not starting a sect. Nor do I expect that I will ever want to start one. I am also not interested in taking on disciples.¡±


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    ¡°But¡­ But I am very skilled,¡± objected the blue-eyed woman.


    ¡°Of course, you are,¡± said Sen. ¡°You¡¯re a core cultivator. You don¡¯t reach the core formation stage if you¡¯re incompetent. I¡¯m not making a judgment on your worth as cultivators. There are a hundred sects out there that will be happy to do that. I¡¯m informing you that no one who comes here looking for cultivation instruction will get it from me.¡±


    The red-haired man finally piped up and swept his arm around at the training hall.


    ¡°Then, what¡¯s all this?¡±


    ¡°This,¡± mused Sen, ¡°is an academy. Or the beginnings of one. It will serve to train mortals and cultivators in the fine arts of wielding spears and jian.¡±


    ¡°Just weapons? No cultivation?¡± asked the tiny woman, finally deciding to join the conversation.


    ¡°Just weapons,¡± agreed Sen. ¡°Or, for you, I suppose just the jian. Even with cultivator strength, I don¡¯t believe a spear would serve you particularly well.¡±


    The red-haired guy snickered a little and whispered, ¡°Spears aren¡¯t for tiny people.¡±


    The tiny woman¡¯s cheeks went bright red with either anger or embarrassment, and she stared down at her lap. That lasted until Sen let his auric imposition crash down on the man. He looked at the panicked face of the man who was struggling to draw so much as a breath beneath that crushing force.


    ¡°Her size is a fact,¡± said Sen. ¡°A fact over which she clearly has no control. Your rudeness is entirely a choice. One with which I am wholly unimpressed.¡±


    He turned his attention to the tiny woman who was staring at him like he was some kind of hero. He inclined his head to her.


    ¡°My apologies,¡± said Sen. ¡°While you may not get what you wanted by coming here, you most certainly didn¡¯t come to be insulted. Since it happened in my training hall, I will see to it that you receive appropriate compensation.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± said the startled tiny woman.


    Sen noticed the blue-eyed woman was watching all of this with keen interest. He finally turned his gaze back to the red-haired man, who was turning dark red. Sighing, Sen lifted the auric imposition. The barely conscious man slid out of the stone chair and lay on the floor gasping for breath. They all waited with varying degrees of interest while the red-haired man regained his breath and composure. Rising, the man cast a fearful look at Sen before turning to the tiny woman, clasping his hands before him, and bowing.


    ¡°I offer my sincerest apologies. I spoke carelessly and callously. It was unkind. I beg your forgiveness.¡±


    Sen was impressed with that apology. There was no way to know what motivated it, but it sounded sincere. The tiny woman looked a little flustered by the words, but she managed a nod.


    ¡°Of course,¡± she murmured.


    After the red-haired man sat again and refused to meet anyone¡¯s eyes, Sen continued.


    ¡°I¡¯m still deciding on exactly how I¡¯ll decide who can and can¡¯t join the academy. For the moment, I¡¯m allowing any mortal or cultivator to join, assuming they have the strength to actually wield the weapons. The fees for cultivators are substantial since they require training from other cultivators. Cultivators that I must recruit and pay. While I don¡¯t expect any one student to bear those costs alone, the fees will be in line with the costs. I may reduce those fees based on students providing other services.¡±


    ¡°Such as?¡± asked the blue-eyed woman with a suspicious look.


    ¡°We¡¯re relatively deep in the wilds here. This town may be more or less safe from spirit beast attacks. It doesn¡¯t mean others are. Cultivators can move fast enough to provide aid in an emergency if we can figure out a way to get messages between towns fast enough. The town can use a sturdier wall. Cultivator strength would speed up the process of building one. Things like that.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said the woman, looking almost confused. ¡°How practical.¡±


    ¡°My grandmother is a strong advocate for practicality. Now, the three of you know what is and, more importantly, what is not on the table. You can make your decisions accordingly.¡±


    The red-haired guy almost ran for the door as soon as Sen finished speaking. The tiny woman went to leave, but Sen waved her over. She approached nervously like she wasn¡¯t sure what to do or say. He led her away from the blue-eyed woman who seemed intent on staying and talking more.


    ¡°There¡¯s still the matter of compensation for the insult,¡± said Sen. ¡°Is there anything in particular that you need? A cultivation resource for your breakthrough, perhaps?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I just¡­ I don¡¯t know,¡± she said, looking like she was on the verge of tears.


    Sen frowned before a possibility struck him. ¡°No master to guide you?¡±


    ¡°There was a woman, in my village, that taught me some things. But I¡¯m farther along than she ever got.¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°I see. So, now you¡¯re in the world trying to figure out your path forward. May I examine your dantian and channels?¡±


    The woman blushed like Sen had suggested something altogether different.


    ¡°Alright,¡± she squeaked.


    It barely took him three seconds to learn what he needed to learn. Her dantian and qi channels looked to be in good condition. Whatever the woman from her village had taught her, it had been sound. She was focused mostly on water, but he thought that she had some affinity for wood as well. He resisted the urge to give her advice and then thought better of it. He could blatantly ignore his own rules this one time because of what that fool had done. He also saw that all it would take to push her from qi-gathering to foundation formation was the tiniest nudge. He could make her something right here that would do the job. He nodded, mostly so she¡¯d have some sign that he was done.


    ¡°You¡¯re familiar with tribulations?¡± he asked.


    She looked very, very nervous at the word. ¡°Yes. The heavens send lightning to test you?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s more or less true,¡± said Sen as he pulled out his pot and created a stand from stone for it to sit on. ¡°There are some things you may not know about but should. Tribulations are most common at the transition between major stages of cultivation, like the one you¡¯re at. Tribulations don¡¯t happen every time someone moves between stages. I¡¯ve been through several advancements where there was no tribulation. The lightning also isn¡¯t the same for everyone. The heavens adjust the tribulation to your advancement. If you¡¯re strong and your early foundations are good, which yours are, it¡¯s highly probable that you¡¯ll survive one.¡±


    As he spoke, Sen created fire beneath the pot and began summoning things from his storage ring. He realized that he hadn¡¯t been using alchemy to make anything new for a long time now. He missed it. He also saw that his words had helped to sap some of the fear in the tiny woman¡¯s expression. Sen thought that ignorance about something like the nature of tribulations was probably almost as dangerous to a cultivator as having a shoddy foundation. He chose the ingredients he used with care, striking a balance between wood and water qi-attributed plants and reagents.


    ¡°You may also be under the impression that you must choose only one qi type and focus on that,¡± said Sen. ¡°That¡¯s patently untrue.¡±


    He held up his left hand while using his right to continue stirring what was in the pot. Over his left hand, a ball of water appeared, followed by a sphere of fire, then shadow, and then lightning.


    ¡°That focus on only kind of qi is traditional but not a requirement. You have a natural water affinity, but you also have a wood affinity. Don¡¯t discard that second affinity unless you have no interest in it.¡±


    The tiny woman was staring at his left hand in pure awe, and even the blue-eyed woman had moved closer at that display.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know any wood cycling techniques,¡± said the woman.


    ¡°They¡¯re simple enough to find,¡± said Sen, focusing on the pot for a moment to allow his intuition to guide the process more fully. ¡°I¡¯ll find one for you. Consider it part of your compensation.¡±


    Satisfied that what he¡¯d made would be enough to push her into foundation formation and maybe help her along a little, Sen removed the pot from over the fire that existed only because he wanted it to. He bled the heat from the elixir and filtered the final product through a cheesecloth and into a stone vial. He sealed the vial and handed it to the woman.


    ¡°That should be sufficient to move you into foundation formation,¡± he said.


    ¡°What about the tribulation?¡± she asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s no predicting them, but you should take that elixir away from buildings and other people. I can¡¯t interfere with a tribulation. When you¡¯re ready to take that, though, I can go with you away from town. Make sure nothing interferes.¡±


    The woman wore such a look of profound relief that it made Sen uncomfortable.


    ¡°Thank you!¡± said the tiny woman.


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± said Sen.


    Seemingly at a loss, the tiny woman bowed and hurried away, cradling the vial in her hands. Sen turned to face the blue-eyed woman.


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Some might say that was excessive compensation for the insult.¡±


    Sen shrugged. ¡°I can compensate her as much as I feel is necessary.¡±


    ¡°That was a kind thing you did for her.¡±


    ¡°Which part?¡± asked Sen, reaching down to pick up his pot.


    ¡°All of it.¡±


    Sen looked up, but the blue-eyed woman was already gone.

 V7 Chapter 47 – Academy, Part 5

    Soon Zi Rui¡¯s heart still thundered in his chest as he fled from the training hall. Never before in his life had he been so casually suppressed by another person. It had been an astonishing display of raw, unknowable power that would have been even more impressive if it hadn¡¯t been directed at him. He didn¡¯t even have a name for what Judgment¡¯s Gale had done to him, let alone an inkling of how the man had done it. That pressure had been all-consuming, like a mountain had taken a personal dislike to him, compressed all of its weight into one spot, and dropped it on him. It wasn¡¯t just the incredible pressure, or the fact that he couldn¡¯t breathe, but that his qi had been utterly stilled inside of him that had been so terrifying. He couldn¡¯t have fought back. Not that fighting would have proven any kind of challenge for Judgment¡¯s Gale. That much was obvious. Whatever that technique had been, it hadn¡¯t taxed the man at all. He¡¯d simply carried on talking with the others.


    However, that pure inability to put up even a token resistance had shaken Soon Zi Rui to the core. He had been completely helpless, his life hanging on the whim of a living legend who was not legendary for his forgiveness. He¡¯d been surprised, not to mention thankful, when he regained himself enough to realize that the crushing, existence-ending pressure had lifted. Not that he could really remember what happened at the end. Had one of the others intervened? Convinced the blue-robed titan to stay his wrath? Or had Judgment¡¯s Gale simply lost interest? Soon Zi Rui just didn¡¯t know and didn¡¯t dare to ask. The insult had been stupid. He hadn¡¯t thought about it. He¡¯d just said it, the way he¡¯d said similar things a thousand times before. Except, the other thousand times, it hadn¡¯t been met with the instant arrival of death held in abeyance by only a hair¡¯s breadth. He¡¯d offered an apology because it was deserved, and also because he had no desire whatsoever to test the patience of that man a second time. Such a mistake could only lead to certain, dishonorable death.


    For all that, he hadn¡¯t been barred from entering the strange academy Judgment¡¯s Gale meant to open. Even if Soon Zi Rui couldn¡¯t receive direct instruction about cultivation, even learning about the sword or spear from the man would be valuable in ways that would last the rest of his life. It was a risk worth taking. He just needed to be mindful of his tongue. Ruthless. Implacable. Deadly. Those were the words spoken about the man, and he was exactly what Soon Zi Rui was expecting.


    ***


    Mo Kai-Ming left the training hall in a daze of wonder. She stared down at the vial in her hands, almost refusing to believe it. The key to foundation formation, to a new world of possibility, a key that eluded her for years, now sat in her hands. She hadn¡¯t known exactly why she¡¯d sought out Judgment¡¯s Gale. Mostly, it had been desperation. She¡¯d tried a few times to join sects, but they all wanted people who could fight as well as cultivate. She¡¯d never learned to fight and knew that it would never be one of her strengths. Physical size mattered less and less as cultivation progressed, but she was a qi-gathering cultivator. The lowest rung on a ladder that stretched to the impossibly distant heavens. They were expected to fight with swords or spears or other things she¡¯d never so much as touched in her life.


    What did a woman from a tiny village know about weapons? There had only been two bows in the entire place, both of them owned by the Ku family. Those hulking men had been the village hunters. They were stern and dutiful, but she would never have dared ask them to teach her to use the bow. She wasn¡¯t sure she could have drawn one of them even after becoming a cultivator. It had been something of a game at the autumn festival for people to try their hands with those bows. She had watched grown men, men made strong by the backbreaking labor of farming, fail to draw those strings back. No, she had no business even trying. Not knowing anything about true violence, she¡¯d tarried in her village long past the time her teacher had told her she needed to venture into the world to keep growing. The world was vast, though, and filled with dangers she did not feel equipped to face.


    With each passing year, though, she¡¯d felt something in her diminish. She didn¡¯t know what, only later learning about the idea of momentum, but she felt it leaving. It was that mysterious, diminishing commodity she couldn¡¯t name that had finally forced her to leave, to seek out sects, and be summarily dismissed by them. It had been humiliation after humiliation. Mocked by those set to test applicants. Mocked by those in towns for her size. And when it wasn¡¯t humiliation, it was attacks. She had learned about violence the hard way and learned that everyone can drown if you try hard enough. When she¡¯d had all but decided to return to her village, she started to hear strange stories about some impossible man. A righteous man who battled evil and cured the sick, working miracles with both blade and alchemy. She¡¯d clung to those stories, the hope they gave her, and sought him out. She¡¯d chased those stories for years and finally, finally, she¡¯d found him, only to find herself hesitating. What if he said no? What if he mocked her? She¡¯d been trapped in indecision until he took the decision from her hands.


    Then, as if she was living in one of those fantastical stories, he had worked miracles before her eyes. Judgment¡¯s Gale had come to her defense, chastised that other cultivator so severely for his mockery that she wondered if the man would ever utter another insult in his life. He had taken her aside, been so polite, and then crafted the elixir right in front of her. There was always some battered pot in the tales, although she hadn¡¯t believed that part. But the stories were true! He had used a battered old pot to make something that was absolutely bursting with qi. Such a thing could have commanded a price beyond her life, and he¡¯d just given it to her. All while casually telling her things about tribulations and affinities that no sect member or even other wandering cultivators would tell her. He¡¯d even proven his words by using several types of qi in front of her. As if all that wasn¡¯t enough, he¡¯d promised to find her a wood cycling technique and even watch over her while she broke through. Kind. Generous. Honorable. Those were words used to describe him, and he was exactly what she expected.


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    ***


    Sua Xing Xing walked away from the training hall with only one thought circling in her mind. What in the thousand hells did I just witness? She had come here filled with confidence. She had heard the stories. It seemed that everyone knew someone who knew someone who had met, or been saved by, or been killed by, or been blessed by Judgment¡¯s Gale. Judgment¡¯s Gale, the eccentric cultivation genius who wandered the land doing whatever he wanted and surrounded by powerful, beautiful women. It had been so obvious, so clear to her, that she had formally withdrawn from her sect to come and find him. After all, with his reputation, why would he say no? She was powerful. She was skilled. She was beautiful, refined as she had been by cultivation. She was exactly what he looked for in companions. She had left her sect knowing that she would find him, be accepted by him, and stride in the wake of his greatness straight into the nascent soul stage. She had been so sure.


    When she¡¯d first arrived, Sua Xing Xing had simply assumed he would seek her out. He had to know she was there. She hadn¡¯t done anything to hide her presence. So, she had waited. As one day turned into two, and days turned into weeks, her confidence ebbed. She felt him, sometimes, coming and going. Every time, her hopes rose, only to be dashed as that presence passed her by. Again, and again, and again. She¡¯d been contemplating whether it was time to leave when he had walked into the common area of the inn, bathed in absolute assurance. When he had pointed at her, it had felt like lightning was coursing through her body. Finally, she had thought. That electrifying moment had been short-lived, as he had pointed at the other two hopefuls that had been staying at the inn. She hadn¡¯t bothered to learn their names. Why would she? A qi-gathering cultivator and foundation formation cultivator? They were beneath her.


    She had still been invited to join him, and any trivialities like other cultivators could be overcome easily enough. She would win him over. Except, that had failed utterly. Not only was he not impressed, at all, by sect cultivators, he had barely even looked at her, let alone been charmed by her beauty. If anything, he seemed annoyed by her presence. That series of revelations had made her blush in embarrassment. She had remained quiet, looking for a way to regroup, while the eccentric man described his plans to open an academy to train people with weapons. She couldn¡¯t fathom why he would want to do such a thing. Then, that fool had tossed off an insult to the little qi-gathering cultivator and everything had changed.


    Up until that moment, Judgment¡¯s Gale had given off an almost feline quality of lazy indifference. The moment that insult left the foundation formation cultivator¡¯s lips, the laziness vanished, and he was focused like a raptor. She¡¯d felt what he did then, even if she couldn¡¯t quite believe it. It was a complicated technique, the kind of thing that involved the soul, and she hadn¡¯t believed that such things were even possible before the nascent soul stage. And he¡¯d made it look easy. As that technique nearly ended the life of that insulting fool, the name Judgment¡¯s Gale took on a new reality for her. She was watching as he passed judgment on someone, and it was, well, it was thrilling. It was also petrifying because it was very clear that he took all of what was happening for granted. Then, he dismissed them.


    The foundation formation cultivator ran for his life, which Sua Xing Xing thought was an indication that the man might survive to see core formation. She had resolved to stay and see if she might find some other path into his good graces. Once again, he ignored her, choosing to speak with the little qi-gathering cultivator instead. Being in a room with that man was proving very hard on her self-worth. It was still a fascinating exercise, though, as he used the excuse of the insult to do exactly what he said he wouldn¡¯t do. He provided the little woman with cultivation instruction, while simultaneously performing a feat of alchemy crafting that should have been impossible given the ridiculous pot and the absurdly short amount of time he spent on it. Even so, she could feel the strength of that elixir from across the room. She didn¡¯t know how he had done it, but he had made that woman a cultivation resource that bordered on being too potent. He had been masterful, powerful, focused, and utterly uncompromising. He was not at all what she expected.


    ***


    Sen took a moment to store his alchemy pot and restore the training hall to its original condition. Then, he turned and looked at a particular shadow.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± he asked.


    Falling Leaf stepped out of that concealing darkness and looked toward the door.


    ¡°About what?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Should I let them join?¡±


    ¡°The man is a fool, but most men are. If you refuse to train foolish men, you will have few students. The little one will love you forever. I don¡¯t know if that will make her a good student or a bad student, but she¡¯ll be a loyal student. The pale one¡ª¡± she trailed off.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Sen. ¡°She¡¯s trouble. I¡¯m just not sure what kind of trouble.¡±


    ¡°She has an agenda.¡±


    ¡°I expect that almost everyone who comes here will have an agenda.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± agreed the ghost panther, ¡°but her agenda is you. She means to have you.¡±


    Sen started to say something funny, but the words died on his lips when he saw Falling Leaf¡¯s hands were balled into tight fists. They were balled so tightly that he saw blood dripping from them. She turned to look at him. There was something lethal, primal, and fundamentally inhuman in that gaze.


    ¡°She means to keep you.¡±


    Sen considered that look for a moment before he answered.


    ¡°I guess she¡¯ll just have to live with the disappointment of that failure.¡±

 V7 Chapter 48 – Academy, Part 6

    I guess it¡¯s for real now, thought Sen. All along, he¡¯d thought of the academy as something of a safer middle ground and a half-baked idea that he could abandon at a moment¡¯s notice if it seemed like too much trouble. Once he¡¯d decided to accept students, though, the hypothetical nature of the academy became a fixed reality. Not that everything had gone smoothly. Word had slowly spread to nearby towns and villages that there was a place to learn how to fight, which had meant a steady trickle of young men toward the academy. While Sen was aware that fighting was largely considered a man¡¯s job outside of the Jianghu, he also knew that it wasn¡¯t just men who wanted to learn how to fight. He¡¯d made visits to some of those villages with Li Hua and Falling Leaf for practical demonstrations. Li Hua had been decidedly nervous, while Falling Leaf had found the entire exercise to be hilarious. After the pair of them had embarrassed the local village men to the point of coughing up blood, Sen had made the announcement that his academy was open to any man or woman who wanted to learn. It hadn¡¯t changed the numbers a lot, but some women had started to show up.


    He''d also been vexed by the problem of money. Not that money was an actual problem. He could probably run the academy out of his own funds for decades. He just didn¡¯t want to. The problem was figuring out what to charge. He was intentionally charging any cultivators who showed up what most people would consider extortionate fees. It served the dual purpose of scaring away people who weren¡¯t serious, while also letting him pay Wu Meng Yao. He still needed to find someone else to handle teaching spear forms to the lower-level cultivators, who would also need to be compensated. The problem was that he was negotiating the extortion on a person-by-person basis. Painfully expensive to someone like Mo Kai-Ming was, he knew from experience, nothing to someone like Sua Xing Xing. Just as what would be nearly unpayable by a mortal wouldn¡¯t have made Soon Zi Rui blink. Sen thought that he¡¯d just have to settle on a number for lower-lever cultivators and leave negotiating to the core formation cultivators he¡¯d have to train personally.


    On the other hand, he wasn¡¯t extorting the mortal students the way he was the cultivators. This academy had mostly been created as a way to help them defend their towns and villages. Even so, he had to charge enough to at least cover the cost of their food and hire people to prepare the food. He had considered just giving people raw ingredients a few times a week, but a few conversations with would-be students put a swift end to that plan. Auntie Caihong might have made sure that he knew how to cook, but it seemed that most of the young mortal men were helpless to make anything beyond tea. Plus, he had to give some consideration to the more talented townspeople he¡¯d picked for more advanced training. They were tasked with teaching new students. The time they spent teaching was time they weren¡¯t spending on their actual professions, which meant he needed to pay them enough to make up that difference. In the end, he didn¡¯t care if the place made money, but he did want it to make enough to be self-sufficient.


    At least Uncle Kho solved the heating problem, thought Sen. It had been instructional for Sen to watch as a problem that had vexed him for months took the elder cultivator less than an afternoon to solve. Sen saw it as the difference between talent and experience. He was good with formations and could intuitively improve them, which gave him a lot of advantages. But he didn¡¯t have thousands of years of experience dealing with problems ranging from the purely mundane to the mind-bendingly difficult. Not only had Uncle Kho solved it, but he¡¯d also solved a problem that Sen hadn¡¯t been thinking about. High summer heat. While the stone he used to make buildings wouldn¡¯t absorb heat quickly, it would build up over time. So, rather than try to adjust the heat based on the weather, Uncle Kho just devised a formation intended to keep the temperature inside the buildings at a fixed point.


    Of course, that simple-sounding solution had been both hideously complex in the details and a pain to implement. Sen had needed to create the actual formations inside the walls of the buildings. More specifically, he¡¯d needed to add layers and layers of interlocking formations into the walls and then seal them up. The sheer complexity of those formations had taxed the upper limits of his understanding, as well as his abilities. He read that as just one more sign that he was nowhere even close to done learning about formations. Sen and Uncle Kho had taken a trip deeper into the wilds to acquire more fire-attributed treasures and some ice-attributed treasures. The formation could draw on those when the weather turned especially cold or hot. Then, Sen had needed to create special chambers beneath the buildings to house the treasures and contain their extreme heat and cold, which had turned into a secondary formation project all on its own. The good news was that unless something managed to damage the walls of the building, the system should function without any need for maintenance until the natural treasures ran dry. Sen estimated that would take at least a hundred years unless something drastic changed with how the weather worked.


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    However, the big picture details had slowly been dealt with or handed off, and training had begun. Of course, that had become a whole new pile of details to worry about. While the townspeople might only train a couple of hours a day, Sen didn¡¯t want the other mortal students left with lots of free time to wander around town and make trouble. They needed to have things to do, all day. Preferably things that would tire them out enough that only the most ambitious would inevitably get caught up in some romantic entanglements. The last thing Sen wanted was a string of angry parents showing up to scream at him because their daughters or sons had gotten a little too friendly with a student who was going to leave in six months or a year. So, he had them do what he had done while training. He made them run. When they weren¡¯t running, they were training. When they weren¡¯t training, they were reading. Getting enough of the same scrolls for that had taken a trip to the capital and an obscene amount of gold to hire people to rush the copying. Sen had just paid for that and considered it an investment in future sanity. The students who didn¡¯t know how to write were put in classes to learn. Then, they ran some more. The schedule was brutal enough that Sen actually worried it might prove too much for some of the older people who turned up looking to learn or to improve their skills.


    Of course, he¡¯d had to recruit more people to oversee all of those things. He¡¯d been able to find a few in the town. There was an old man who couldn¡¯t handle physical labor anymore, was bored out of his mind, and had no sense of humor. He did, however, possess the ability to write. So, Sen hired him to teach people to write. It had gone on and on, and he¡¯d thought it would never end. He found himself grateful that he didn¡¯t need to actually sleep every single day. Between dealing with academy problems, his own training, and being around enough that Ai didn¡¯t simply forget about him entirely, sleep was a high luxury. But, like all enormous tasks, the work did eventually come to an end. That was how he found himself standing near a building in the large complex of buildings that now comprised the academy just watching the mortal students grow increasingly winded as they ran.


    ¡°Is the grand and mighty patriarch deciding which of the children to cast out?¡± asked Shen Mingxia as she came over to stand next to him.


    Sen rolled his eyes.


    ¡°I don¡¯t actually have anything to do at the moment,¡± he told her.


    ¡°That sounds unlikely.¡±


    ¡°I know. I didn¡¯t believe it myself at first but here we are.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you have a little girl to take care of?¡±


    ¡°Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong are watching her. By watching, I naturally mean planning how they¡¯ll keep her.¡±


    Shen Mingxi gave him a sharp look and asked, ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± he laughed. ¡°Well, probably not.¡±


    ¡°So, instead of sleeping, or cultivating, or doing anything even remotely productive, you¡¯re watching people run?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re only running because I said they had to. It only seems fair that I watch them do it from time to time to make sure I don¡¯t accidentally kill one of them.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not pushing them that hard,¡± said Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°Not if they were cultivators, but those are mortals. Things that a qi-gathering cultivator would shrug off in few days could cripple one of them for life.¡±


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you just give them one of your healing elixirs?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but the goal is to train them. Crippling injuries run counter to that goal. Admittedly, there will be some injuries when they¡¯re learning the spear or jian. It¡¯s unavoidable. If they¡¯re collapsing from exhaustion during a run, or damaging their muscles and joints, that¡¯s not training.¡±


    Shen Mingxia frowned. ¡°I guess I do take fast recuperation a little for granted.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not just you. I expect most cultivators do that. I know I¡¯ve let myself take injuries to achieve victory because I knew I¡¯d recover.¡±


    ¡°Wu Meng Yao did say something once about finding you battered, bleeding, and unconscious in a crater.¡±


    ¡°I was napping,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°In a crater?¡±


    ¡°It was a very comfortable crater.¡±


    ¡°Was it?¡± asked Shen Mingxia with a skeptical expression.


    ¡°Not at all. I was in a lot of pain.¡±


    ¡°Well, since you¡¯ve got the time to chat about crater naps, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s time we talk about that flower you¡¯ve been keeping in your storage ring?¡±


    Sen looked at her blankly for a few seconds before it came back to him. ¡°Oh yeah! We should definitely do that.¡±

 V7 Chapter 49 – Consultation

    Sen led Shen Mingxia over to the building where he kept most of the people who dealt with problems he didn¡¯t want cluttering up his day. It seemed like there were more of them in there every day, some of them he had no memory of hiring, which made putting names to faces more than a challenge. As they walked through the space, Sen noticed that almost everyone was wearing a shade of blue similar to the robes he wore. It looked uncomfortably like a uniform to him. Everyone bowed and greeted him, which made him grind his teeth, but he knew that trying to put a stop to it would just create more problems. So, he endured it. Shen Mingxia looked around at the bowing people and gave him an arch look.


    ¡°Yeah, this isn¡¯t anything like a sect,¡± she whispered.


    ¡°Thank you for that very helpful observation,¡± said Sen as he led her to what had become, mostly by accident, his working space.


    He summoned chairs from his storage ring for them both and sat down. Shen Mingxia looked around at the completely barren room before turning a questioning gaze on him.


    He sighed. ¡°I used this room a few times, so everyone just thought it was mine. Now, nobody comes in here except me.¡±


    ¡°You should get a table or something. It¡¯s kind of creepy when you come in and it¡¯s just stone. Looks like a place you might take someone to make them vanish forever.¡±


    Sen looked around at the room. He supposed it did sort of give that impression.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get a table for it eventually,¡± he said. ¡°Now, have you decided what you want in general terms? Immediate advancement? Future improvement? Stronger affinity?¡±


    ¡°What would you do?¡± she asked.


    ¡°What would I do, or what would I recommend that you do?¡±


    ¡°Is there a difference?¡±


    ¡°There is a very big difference.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± said Shen Mingxia, her expression thoughtful. ¡°What would you do?¡±


    ¡°Nothing,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. You¡¯d do nothing with the flower? Like, you¡¯d save it for something?¡±


    ¡°I meant a little more generally. If I had the chance to push my cultivation forward or expand an affinity or basically any of the options you have, I¡¯d choose none of them. And to answer your next question, it¡¯s because I don¡¯t want to advance my cultivation, and expanding one of my affinities would be more of a distraction than a benefit. If anything, I want to slow my advancement, not speed it up.¡±


    Shen Mingxia was very quiet for a time before she said, ¡°That¡¯s a strange attitude for a cultivator.¡±


    ¡°Probably. But that¡¯s where I¡¯m at. So, that¡¯s what I¡¯d do.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not what you¡¯d advise for me, though.¡±


    ¡°No. You seem to be advancing at a perfectly sane pace. Faster than most, based on what I¡¯ve heard.¡±


    ¡°Not as fast as you or Wu Meng Yao.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a freakish anomaly who had advancement forced on me more often than I sought it out. I can¡¯t guess the details. In fact, you¡¯d probably know better than I would, but I have to assume Wu Meng Yao had some lucky encounters. Maybe found a few natural treasures along the way.¡±


    ¡°She did,¡± admitted Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°Then she¡¯s a poor example to measure yourself by. Lucky encounters and the right natural treasures have a way of unnaturally speeding advancement along.¡±


    ¡°Natural treasures like the flower.¡±


    ¡°Exactly like the flower.¡±


    ¡°So, you don¡¯t think I should use it to advance?¡±


    Sen leaned back in his chair and frowned up at the ceiling for a moment before he answered.


    ¡°There¡¯s so much a person doesn¡¯t know when they start out cultivating. So many things that are almost impossible to explain until someone is there. For example, it¡¯s hard to explain how important your own thinking, self-knowledge, and intuition are to the process. So, let me ask you this. Do you feel like you still have momentum?¡±


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    Sen watched Shen Mingxia wrestle with that question. She seemed to go back and forth with it before she finally gave a reluctant answer.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°You wanted to say no, didn¡¯t you? So, you¡¯d have an excuse to push for advancement now?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she admitted.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you?¡± asked Sen. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have known the difference.¡±


    ¡°One, I don¡¯t believe that for a second. Two, lying to you probably wouldn¡¯t lead to good advice.¡±


    ¡°Fair. Now, here¡¯s a harder question for you. How sure are you that you¡¯ll reach core formation?¡±


    Shen Mingxia took much, much longer to contemplate that question. It was also clear that she didn¡¯t feel nearly as certain about her answer when she finally gave one.


    ¡°Pretty sure.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying that because you believe it or because you were told by someone that you could?¡±


    ¡°Does it matter?¡±


    Sen nodded. ¡°A bottleneck can be mental or emotional. It¡¯s not just a question of accumulating enough qi to do it. If that¡¯s all it took, everyone would fly through these advancements. If you don¡¯t think you can or should, or if you think you don¡¯t deserve it, you¡¯ll never advance. You won¡¯t let yourself advance.¡±


    ¡°Did that happen to you?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°But I was trained by people who have watched hundreds if not thousands of other people fail advancements. They explained it to me. I¡¯m willing to take it on faith that they know what they¡¯re talking about.¡±


    ¡°I guess if anyone would know, they would.¡±


    ¡°I have, however, been through the advancements that you¡¯re working toward. I can tell you now that you need to know, in your soul, that you¡¯re going to advance. If you have doubts, you¡¯ll hesitate at a crucial moment and the whole thing will collapse. Admittedly, a failure to advance from foundation formation to core formation isn¡¯t a complete catastrophe. At least, it¡¯s not from a pure cultivation perspective. The failed core will simply dissolve back into qi in your dantian.¡±


    Shen Mingxia gave him a hard look. ¡°But? I assume there¡¯s a but.¡±


    ¡°But the failure has a way of undermining people¡¯s confidence. The way I understand it, the number of people who succeed on second or third attempts at core formation is¡ª¡± Sen paused. ¡°Let¡¯s say that the number is very low and leave it at that.¡±


    Sen gave her time to think while she chewed on her bottom lip in a way that looked painful to him. It got bad enough that he worried she might draw blood. She finally looked at him again.


    ¡°So, are you going to tell me what you would recommend?¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re hoping that pushing an advancement now will give you confidence later, I¡¯d recommend that you dispel that notion. Advancement doesn¡¯t change who you are, what you think, or how you feel. It only changes what you can do. At best, it¡¯ll give you a bit of false confidence that won¡¯t survive the first challenge.¡±


    ¡°That isn¡¯t what I meant,¡± complained Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°I know. Here¡¯s my recommendation. You need to decide if you¡¯re going to become a core formation cultivator or not. I¡¯m talking about a true decision one way or the other. If you decide that becoming a core cultivator is something that will absolutely happen for you, then I¡¯d recommend having me make something that will aid in that advancement. If you decide that foundation formation is as far as you¡¯re going to go, then ask me to make something that will help you make the most of what foundation formation has to offer.¡±


    Sen could see the disappointment on her face, even though she nodded.


    He gave her a mildly chastising look and asked, ¡°Were you hoping that I¡¯d tell you to go with the elixir that would help in the advancement to core formation? Use that as a confirmation that you would make it?¡±


    Shen Mingxia averted her eyes. ¡°Maybe.¡±


    ¡°Sorry. If I thought that would work, I¡¯d have done it. Unfortunately, no one can really decide your path for you. Not in cultivation. I don¡¯t know if it matters to you, but I¡¯ve seen you practicing since you¡¯ve been here. Your foundations are solid. Your control is good. I think you can reach core formation. You have what you need on the cultivation side of things. Whether you will advance is in your hands.¡±


    Shen Mingxia huffed out a breath and said, ¡°You certainly talk like a sect elder.¡±


    Sen put on a wounded expression and pressed a hand to his chest.


    ¡°There¡¯s no call to be mean.¡±


    The foundation formation cultivator snorted and looked around at the empty room again. She shook her head.


    ¡°Seriously. Get a table in here. Maybe pile up some scrolls on it. It would help a lot.¡±


    ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll get a table,¡± said Sen, who cycled for earth and made a stone table rise up out of the floor behind him. ¡°Better?¡±


    Shen Mingxia gave the table a dubious look. ¡°Well, it¡¯s a start, I guess. Maybe you could make it look a little nicer.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll make that my project when I have free time again next year. This brief window of idleness can¡¯t possibly last.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°Because the universe hates me.¡±


    ¡°What? Do you think that a messenger is going to show up and tell you that the king wants to see you?¡± asked Shen Mingxia with a laugh.


    Her laugh slowly dwindled at the aghast look on Sen¡¯s face.


    ¡°Why?¡± he asked. ¡°Why would you ever even put that idea in the air?¡±


    ¡°Come on. That¡¯s not going to happen.¡±


    Sen stabbed a finger at her. ¡°When it happens, you¡¯re coming with me. Because you have to know that the universe is going to take that last comment as a challenge, and you¡¯ve now sealed it as absolute fate.¡±


    Shen Mingxia rolled her eyes. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s say that by some cosmic twist that it does happen, why would you take me along?¡±


    Sen gave her a wolf¡¯s smile. ¡°So that you too can experience all of the exquisite joys of spending time in a room full of nobles and royals. Since you¡¯ve opted not to join my academy, you can think of it as an alternative learning experience.¡±


    ¡°When you describe it like that, it doesn¡¯t sound like a good thing. Thank goodness that¡¯ll never happen, right?¡±


    Before Sen could answer, the door cracked open a little. ¡°Patriarch?¡±


    Sen had to resist the urge to strangle the man through the door for calling him that.


    ¡°Yes?¡± he called out.


    ¡°There¡¯s a messenger to see you. From the capital.¡±


    Sen glared at Shen Mingxia who was staring at the still mostly closed door with a mix of utter disbelief and pure horror writ large across her features.


    ¡°This is your fault,¡± he hissed at her. ¡°Pack for a trip.¡±

 V7 Chapter 50 – Shield

    The messenger was ushered into the room, and the immediate look of fear on the man¡¯s face told Sen that Shen Mingxia was right. The room was too stark and foreboding to be somewhere that good things happened. Those realizations simply furthered his intention to let her think that this whole thing was her fault. He knew, in his heart of hearts, that wasn¡¯t the case. In fact, he¡¯d been expecting something like this for a while. Not that he planned to tell her any of that. Why waste a golden opportunity to mess with the woman in a way that didn¡¯t involve her fearing for her life? The look on her face had been downright hilarious. It had been so hilarious that it took a monumental effort not to laugh. Sen had risen to the occasion and kept a straight face. Laughing would have given the game away.


    Still, Sen couldn¡¯t tell himself that he was surprised that someone had shown up looking for him. He¡¯d been in and out of the capital a few times in the last year and had not stopped in to see anyone but Lo Meifeng. He hadn¡¯t even gone to pick up the formation flags he¡¯d commissioned. Plus, by now, rumors had to have gotten back to the city about where he was in general, and that some blue-robed lunatic was starting some kind of organization out in the wilds. Maybe a sect, maybe something else, but probably something that should be paying taxes. There was going to be a line of people in the capital wanting to ask him questions, with the king after the very front of the line, followed closely by some sect patriarchs and at least one sect matriarch. To Sen¡¯s way of thinking, if he had to go deal with that nonsense, he might as well share that experience with other people, and Shen Mingxia had been in the room.


    Sen and the messenger sort of looked at each other expectantly for a while before Sen realized that the other man wasn¡¯t going to break the silence first. Sen just wasn¡¯t sure what he was supposed to say. He studied the messenger, who was wearing robes of dark red and black, but Sen didn¡¯t see anything that looked like a crest or sect emblem.


    ¡°I¡¯m Lu Sen,¡± he finally told the messenger. ¡°You have a message for me?¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± said the man.


    The messenger reached into a pouch and withdrew an extremely ornate scroll case that Sen recognized. He¡¯d gotten one like it before from the, then, Prince Jing. I guess that solves that mystery, thought Sen. He took the scroll case and nodded to the messenger.


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    The messenger got a very uncomfortable look that told Sen he¡¯d forgotten something.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± said Sen. ¡°Am I supposed to pay you?¡±


    ¡°No. I am well-paid by my employer. It¡¯s just¡ª¡± the man hesitated.


    ¡°It¡¯s not going to get easier to say if you wait another ten seconds,¡± Sen told him. ¡°Out with it.¡±


    The man winced a little and said, ¡°I¡¯m to wait for your response and return with it immediately.¡±


    ¡°Of course, you are,¡± said Sen.


    Then, just to make sure she knew that he hadn¡¯t forgotten about her supposed role in this social disaster, Sen gave Shen Mingxia a narrow-eyed look. She flushed a little and averted her eyes. Sen broke the seal on the scroll case, opened it, and removed the scroll inside. Unrolling it, he swiftly scanned the contents. It was filled with a mountain of formal language that Sen boiled down to a handful of quick sentences.


    I¡¯m having a thing for important people. Don¡¯t be an ass. Show up.


    Jing


    Sen considered the scroll for a while before he suppressed a groan. No wonder he told the messenger to get an answer, thought Sen. He must have known that I would make a thousand excuses to not even open the scroll. There was no getting around it. He would have to give the man an answer. As much as Sen wanted to say no thanks, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to do it. Jing was, at the end of the day, his friend. The man could have done a lot to make Sen¡¯s life hard. That he hadn¡¯t done any of them was something that Sen couldn¡¯t just dismiss. He looked at the messenger.


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    ¡°Please inform the king that I will be in attendance. As will Honorable Shen Mingxia.¡±


    Shen Mingxia¡¯s head snapped up at that. He could see all the questions in her eyes, which he intended to ignore for the moment. Instead, he returned the ornate scroll case to the messenger, who tucked it back into the pouch.


    ¡°I will convey your message to his royal majesty,¡± said the messenger as he offered a deep bow.


    Sen nodded in acknowledgment and the man swiftly departed. Sen turned his gaze to Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°You¡¯re off the hook for the moment. We have a few weeks until we need to leave. We can push it to a month if necessary.¡±


    While that news seemed to provide a tiny bit of relief to the woman, she still looked unhappy.


    ¡°Honorable Shen Mingxia?¡± she asked. ¡°What was that about?¡±


    ¡°People keep giving me stupid titles. I should get to do it once in a while. At least yours is accurate.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that,¡± objected Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°Well, I do,¡± said Sen, waving away her denial. ¡°Bring your nice robes.¡±


    ¡°How nice?¡± demanded Shen Mingxia with a look of panic on her face.


    Sen offered her a blank look. ¡°Very nice? Nice enough for an event at court.¡±


    Shen Mingxia pointed at the scroll that Sen still held in his hand.


    ¡°Can I see that?¡±


    Sen handed it over. Shen Mingxia grew paler and paler the longer she looked at the scroll. Sen wasn¡¯t sure why she was so worked up about it. Compared to his last visit to the palace, this should be a bloodless affair. Apparently, that didn¡¯t matter, because she looked up from the scroll to glare at him.


    ¡°You can¡¯t take me to this,¡± she insisted.


    ¡°Yes, I can. Besides, I already said you were coming.¡±


    ¡°This is a formal event. Representatives from foreign kingdoms will be there.¡±


    Sen frowned at her for several seconds. ¡°No, I¡¯m still not seeing the problem.¡±


    ¡°This is the kind of thing that, I don¡¯t know, sect patriarchs go to. Not a foundation formation cultivator from a middling sect in a middling city. I don¡¯t belong there.¡±


    That was enough to send Sen into fits of laughter.


    ¡°You don¡¯t belong there, but I somehow do?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re, well, you. You¡¯re famous.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Sen, ¡°and isn¡¯t that just a gift that keeps on giving. Let me put this another way. You¡¯re talking to someone who spent his childhood eating garbage, actual garbage, from behind restaurants in a nowhere town. I trained on a mountain with people old enough to remember all the names of the kingdoms this kingdom used to be. My only real friend for that entire time was a spirit beast. Exactly how do you think that I¡¯m better equipped for this than you are?¡±


    ¡°Garbage? Really?¡± asked Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad to see that you¡¯re staying focused.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just trying to imagine you doing that. It¡¯s not an easy thing to picture.¡±


    ¡°My point is that you¡¯re as competent to be there as I am. And you don¡¯t have a choice.¡±


    ¡°What? Why?¡±


    ¡°You know why.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t still be blaming me for this,¡± complained Shen Mingxia. ¡°Do you think the universe just conjured that messenger out of nowhere solely to mess with you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d give it even odds,¡± said Sen. ¡°Plus, you¡¯re my shield. If someone is already coming with me, then no one will try to arrange for me to take them.¡±


    That drew a particularly bland look from Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°Thank you, oh mighty Judgment¡¯s Gale. Nothing adds a bit of romance like telling someone they¡¯re a utility object.¡±


    That caught Sen a little off guard. He weighed the unintentional insult he¡¯d delivered.


    ¡°I¡¯ll buy you some nice robes to wear. Will that help to make up for my charmless comment?¡±


    ¡°They better be very nice. You know how shields are. We just don¡¯t perform as well when you don¡¯t treat us properly.¡±


    ¡°This is going to haunt me for a while, isn¡¯t it?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°That depends on how often you swing this poor foundation formation shield into the path of danger to spare yourself.¡±


    ¡°You could have just said, yes.¡±


    Shen Mingxia giggled. ¡°I could have, but then I wouldn¡¯t have gotten to see that look of pain on your face. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t take me more than ten or fifteen years to forgive you.¡±


    ¡°Fifteen years!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s expensive to get to core formation. I can¡¯t let a resource like you off the hook when you just give me that kind of leverage.¡±


    Sen snorted. ¡°If I thought you meant that, I¡¯d be checking to see if you¡¯re actually a nine tail fox.¡±


    ¡°You could have at least pretended to be worried. And, if I were a nine tail fox, I¡¯d make myself way prettier than this.¡±


    Sen caught himself before he said anything and directed an unamused look at Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°Looking to see if I¡¯d give you more leverage?¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t blame a shield for trying.¡±

 V7 Chapter 51 – Shadow Walking

    Sen pushed, and pushed, and pushed to suffuse his body with shadow qi. After months of effort, he finally felt like he was teetering on the very edge of success, like all he needed was one last infinitesimal iota of strength, one last smidgen of insight, and he would finally achieve victory. However, it seemed the strength was not in him. That insight was elusive. He felt suspended there as if he were a rope bridge pulled taut between opposing sides of a deep canyon. He could touch both sides but was a part of neither. As the moment stretched out, the very fibers of his being almost hummed under the strain of maintaining the effort. I¡¯m missing something, thought Sen. I know it. I can feel it. There was too much resistance. Back on the mountain, what felt like several lifetimes ago, he would have tried more brute effort in his ignorance. Even back in the capital city when he and Lo Meifeng had been trying to escape from Tong Guanting, he had pushed his hiding ability beyond its limits and suffered for it. Fortunately, experience was the most fundamental of all teachers.


    He knew that he might be able to dredge up a last bit of strength and force the technique to work. If his life had been on the line, he might have even done it. The costs be damned. Forcing things to work the way he wanted them to, though, was not a winning strategy. When he¡¯d first started using his qinggong technique, it had been hard, very hard, but not because the technique was resisting him. It had been hard because the qi costs were so high. He had improved that technique with finesse, incrementally growing more efficient with it until, now, he harbored the suspicion that it would take a nascent soul cultivator to match his full speed. He needed to borrow from that experience to figure this out. Where was the resistance coming from? Where were the inefficiencies? Was the problem his entire approach?


    Sen had relied on the age-old wisdom his teacher knew best until he had evidence otherwise. This was the approach that Fu Ruolan had provided. He had worked with it and worked with it, only to meet with failure. Had she, however unintentionally, led him astray? A mental head shake cut that line of thought short. Start with the simplest explanation, he reminded himself. The simplest answer was that he was the problem, not the approach he had been provided. He did his best to solidify his tenuous grasp on the technique and turned his attention inward. He watched the shadow qi course through his channels, dark as the void itself. He followed the qi as it bled out of those channels and entered his muscles, bones, and organs. He drifted with the qi as it spread out and approached his skin and¡­ Understanding bloomed.


    Shadow might exist under the heavens, but it carried more in common with the void, with nothingness, the very antithesis of the eternal heavens. Based on the way the divine qi in his skin was reacting, shadow qi was a barely tolerated stepchild. The shadow qi was trying, and failing, to cover over the nodes of divine qi that lived in his very skin. The divine qi was continually shredding the shadow qi to let its own light blaze, even if it wasn¡¯t visible to the eye. No wonder I haven¡¯t run into any shadow cultivators, thought Sen. If he had to guess, he would expect that they faced obstacles that people who cultivated other qi types simply did not. If nothing else, the heavens might simply weed them out with particularly brutal tribulations.


    As much as Sen loathed his tribulation experiences, he wasn¡¯t foolish enough to think that the heavens had truly tried to kill him. It was a test. A means to discover if cultivators possessed the skill and the will to endure the demands of the next stage. The survival rate of tribulations said it all. Yes, some people died during tribulations, but they were the exceptions rather than the rule. But if the heavens wanted to kill people with tribulations, it wouldn¡¯t be that difficult. Send a tribulation with the strength normally used for the next stage, and the cultivator would die. Of course, Sen recognized that he was just speculating. It was just as possible that there were so few shadow cultivators because most people had no affinity for it. Having witnessed what was happening in his own body undermined his confidence in that possibility, but he couldn¡¯t reject the notion outright. Whatever the actual answer was, he¡¯d have to put aside looking for it for now. It wouldn¡¯t help him solve the problem in front of him.


    He needed to suppress the divine qi¡¯s natural reaction to shadow qi. Somehow. This was a demand wholly outside of Sen¡¯s experience. Cultivation was all about working with the natural tendencies of a qi type. You didn¡¯t call up wind qi and then ask it to stop moving. You didn¡¯t summon water qi and expect it to leave things dry. Complicating the problem was that he couldn¡¯t simply discard the divine qi the way he might with qi that he had cycled to produce. It had been¡­ Sen struggled to find the right word to describe what had happened. He supposed that it had been cooked into his very body. It was literally part of him now. That idea brought him up short. It is a part of me, isn¡¯t it? I can tell other parts of me what to do, he thought. Maybe the same is true here. Rather than try to think of some complicated cultivation solution to the problem, he treated it more like he would if he wanted to slow down his heart. It wasn¡¯t quite an active, conscious process, but he could do it.


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    He bent his attention on getting the divine qi to stop interfering with what the shadow qi was doing. The divine qi threw up immediate resistance to the idea, but he kept focusing, almost yelling at the divine qi to just let it happen. Slowly, reluctantly, the divine qi slowed and finally stopped shredding the shadow qi that got near it. The shadow qi slid over those divine nodes and that terrible resistance he¡¯d been struggling against simply vanished. It was so abrupt that he almost lost control of the technique. Pride and happiness swelled inside of him at succeeding where he had failed so often. That glorious moment was cut short as a sensation of falling backward was accompanied by an almost panicked shout from Fu Ruolan.


    ¡°Wait!¡±


    Everything that Sen had been sensing in his environment with his spiritual sense disappeared in a blink. It was replaced by a world filled with things that felt insubstantial, like objects made of mist. It was a world where he feared any motion would punch straight through the membrane of reality. In short, everything felt wrong. His eyes shot open at the same time he lost his grip on the technique. He looked down at his own hand and watched as inky blackness receded to expose smooth, pale skin. The color in that skin jarred against the monochrome world around him where everything was a shade that sat somewhere on a spectrum between white and black. The total absence of color in anything except himself and his clothes was disorienting. That feeling was only made worse by the chaotic shapes that surrounded him that bore no resemblance to anything made by the hand of man. It made him want to squeeze his eyes shut to deny the sheer alien nature of the place any hold in his psyche. The only thing that kept him from doing exactly that was the warning that Fu Ruolan had given when she first started him down this path. He only had so much time before this place would start to kill him.


    He shook off the disorientation and looked around. He was standing in a wedge of bright white that looked like, well, it didn¡¯t really look like anything. It was just a bizarre shape with hard edges. That must be how the shadow I was in was shaped on the other side, he thought. He was relieved that he hadn¡¯t done something stupid like start walking around. He¡¯d do that eventually, but not when he¡¯d come here by accident. Even his natural curiosity was hiding in a hole somewhere, not even remotely interested in exploring this unsettling place. Focus, he ordered himself. He worked backward this time and focused on suppressing the divine qi first and then suffusing his body with shadow qi. It was still hard. Every new technique was like that at first. He was sure that as he developed experience and strength, it would grow easier. Even so, it no longer felt like he was trying to lift an impossible weight over his head and keep it there. By contrast to what it had been like, this felt easy to him.


    He watched with an almost detached interest as that inky blackness covered his skin again. Casting one last look around and shuddering, Sen stepped into the wedge of whiteness and stumbled back into the Fu Ruolan¡¯s home. He instantly released the technique, not wanting to chance an accidental return to that awful place. He stared around him, drinking in the familiar shapes and colors, and was overwhelmed with a sense of rightness restored. He took a few heaving breaths and then forced himself to calm down. He was back. He had made it. Everything had worked out.


    ¡°Well,¡± said Fu Ruolan, ¡°that was a stupid thing to do.¡±


    Sen huffed out an almost involuntary laugh. ¡°You say that like I did it on purpose.¡±


    The nascent soul cultivator gave him a deeply suspicious look. It was clear that she didn¡¯t believe he¡¯d accidentally moved between planes of existence. He wasn¡¯t sure that he would have believed it, either, if he was in her shoes. The first thing most cultivators did when they figured out a new technique was use it. It was the only way that Sen knew for someone to master a new technique. Of course, most techniques didn¡¯t come with the serious risk of being trapped in some awful other place where nothing made sense, everything felt wrong, and staying too long meant your likely destruction. That kind of deadly risk was usually enough to make even cultivators wary about experimenting too much, at least without experienced guidance. After studying him briefly, Fu Ruolan seemed to conclude that he wasn¡¯t outright lying to her. He had to think that his near-immediate return and manifest happiness at being back probably lent his words some credibility.


    ¡°You made it work. Congratulations,¡± said Fu Ruolan without much enthusiasm.


    ¡°You don¡¯t sound that happy about it.¡±


    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m not happy about it. Do you have any idea how long it took me to do that for the first time?¡±


    Sen could almost feel the jaws of doom closing around him at that question. He just couldn¡¯t see a way to avoid them.


    ¡°A month?¡± he ventured, hoping that massaging her pride might help.


    ¡°A month? A month, he says. Not all of us are cultivation geniuses kissed by the heavens like you,¡± said Fu Ruolan, even as Sen felt those jaws locking tight. ¡°Try two years.¡±

 V7 Chapter 52 – Shadow Walking, Part 2

    Sen realized that there was absolutely nothing he could say to make things better. All he could do was make things worse. So, he said nothing. Better by far to just let her get whatever it was out of her system. Especially since he was pretty sure her instability came from not getting things out of her system a thousand years ago, or whenever the bad things happened, and keeping them locked inside her for centuries. With nothing but time to fester and a decided lack of people in her life to talk to, it was no wonder. So, rather than become another figurative or literal heart demon for her, Sen decided the smart and possibly honorable thing to do was just stand there and take it. None of which made it fun. Fu Ruolan stormed back and forth, gesticulating wildly when she wasn¡¯t pointing at him, and generally spewing frustrations that Sen had a feeling were only partly to do with him.


    ¡°Unbelievable. Unbelievable! Countless years of alchemy. Investing in the best components available. Doing everything as meticulously as possible. What does that get me? Competence. I¡¯m competent. And then along comes Judgment¡¯s Gale, swaggering through the world, and throwing whatever comes to hand into his stupid, old, battered pot! And what comes out? Genius! Impossibly potent elixirs! Pills to make the heavens tremble. Not because he¡¯s earned it. Not because he¡¯s that good. No! It¡¯s just because he¡¯s lucky! Falling into the hands of not one, but three other geniuses who just poured knowledge into you like the empty vessel you are.


    ¡°As if that¡¯s not bad enough, then you show up at my door. I think that this is my chance to see what you¡¯re really made of. Is any of it you or is it all them? And you pick up shadow walking in six months. Six months! I did it in two years, and my master thought I was made of brilliance. And you do it in six months while you weren¡¯t even really trying! No, it wasn¡¯t enough to master a technique designed for nascent soul cultivators. You also found time to raise a little girl, train locals to fight, and start a damn school! It¡¯s not fair!¡± she almost screamed, before her voice fell into a hushed whisper. ¡°It¡¯s not fair.¡±


    Fu Ruolan stood there, fists clenched by her side, and breathing through clenched teeth for a while before she slumped. While a lot of that had stung Sen¡¯s pride, something else was more important. At no point during that rant did she ever lose control of her killing intent. Granted, it was one time losing her temper and she might have been making a conscious effort to keep a grip on it, but Sen still took it as a good sign. When it looked like the full fury of the storm had passed, Sen finally spoke.


    ¡°Feel any better?¡± he asked.


    Her shoulder twitched in something that might have been a shrug before she added, ¡°Yes, actually. I do feel a little better.¡±


    ¡°In that case, I think I¡¯ll head out for the day.¡±


    ¡°No. Did you think I missed that look on your face when you came back? You¡¯d do almost anything to never go back there. If I let you leave now, you never will go back. Shadow walking is too useful to let you ignore the skill out of foolish fear. No, we¡¯re going into that realm.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s really not necessary,¡± said Sen, lifting a hand and taking a step back.


    It wasn¡¯t that he thought she was wrong about him or his reaction. He agreed with her. He would do anything to avoid going back to that place and was completely fine with that outcome. That other place was simply horrible. He¡¯d gotten along just fine without shadow walking until now. All of the other nascent soul cultivators he¡¯d met had gotten along fine without out. His hiding skill was practically shadow walking already. Sen felt confident that he could live without it and never feel as though he¡¯d missed out on anything. Why torment himself by going somewhere he didn¡¯t want to go when he could just not? However, he could see from the stern expression on Fu Ruolan¡¯s face that she would not be moved by such arguments. She would just say that enduring pain was part of cultivation, and she¡¯d be right.


    He couldn¡¯t even argue that it would be needless physical pain. It was just mentally taxing and emotionally jarring to be somewhere that felt so fundamentally off from all of his expectations. That didn¡¯t stop him from a mad mental scramble to try to find some kind of argument, any kind of excuse, that might convince the nascent soul cultivator that they didn¡¯t need to go there right that minute. Or any minute, ever, thought Sen. Try as he might, though, Sen came up empty. The real problem was that he didn¡¯t have a good reason. He just didn¡¯t want to go because the place made his skin crawl. That might be a sufficient reason for him, but it wouldn¡¯t satisfy Fu Ruolan. He did consider just fleeing. His eyes drifted to the door even though he knew that wouldn¡¯t work. Sen remembered how easily Fu Ruolan had locked him down when he¡¯d let his killing intent get out of control. He could run, but he couldn¡¯t escape.


    ¡°Fine,¡± he grumbled.


    Fu Ruolan arched an eyebrow. ¡°I thought you¡¯d run for sure. You¡¯ve got that look in your eye.¡±


    ¡°We both know it wouldn¡¯t work. So, let¡¯s just get this over with.¡±


    ¡°You think we¡¯re only going to go in the one time, don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Why?¡±


    ¡°I hope you didn¡¯t have anything important planned for this afternoon.¡±


    Sen gave much more serious consideration to running, but he eventually realized that would just end with him having to enter the shadow realm tired. Sen¡¯s head dropped a little as he accepted the inevitable.


    ¡°You go first,¡± said Fu Ruolan. ¡°I¡¯ll follow.¡±


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    Turning around and trudging back to the shadow, Sen prepared the technique. When he was ready, he stepped through. The shadow realm was just as bad the second time as it had been the first. The only real difference was that he didn¡¯t have shock to help shield his mind from the utter otherness of the place. It scraped against his psyche like claws against stone. He grit his teeth and turned to watch as Fu Ruolan entered the realm. What he could see of her skin was the same inky black color that his skin turned. In other circumstances, he¡¯d have found watching that black bleed away a mildly nauseating experience. It seemed to sink into her like some kind of parasite. In the shadow realm, it didn¡¯t even make an impression because that looked almost normal in comparison to the mishmash of unrecognizable shapes and the absence of colors. Fu Ruolan¡¯s lack of obvious distress only made things worse. He wanted her to be as profoundly unsettled as he was. Instead, she just settled a steady gaze on him.


    ¡°What now?¡± he demanded.


    ¡°We just wait,¡± she said.


    ¡°For what?¡±


    ¡°For you to adjust or for our time here to run out.¡±


    Sen was not at all surprised that their time ran out before he adjusted. Or Fu Ruolan¡¯s time ran out. He still felt fine but wasn¡¯t about to tell her that. He feared that she would make him stay there while he left. As much as he disliked her for making him come back to that place, he was grateful that she was there to provide at least one touchstone of a familiar reality. He was almost stepping on her heels when they left. He fervently hoped that it would be a long time before they could go back, but it turned out that the nascent soul cultivator only needed about ten minutes before she was ready to go again. And that was how spent a very long afternoon. Moving in and out of the shadow realm, over and over again. The worst thing of all was that Fu Ruolan had been right. Sen couldn¡¯t pinpoint a moment when it happened, but there did come a time when going into the shadow realm no longer made him immediately want to rip out his own eyes. Not that the change made him hate the place any less. It just made him slightly less miserable to be there.


    Fu Ruolan took the time to make tea and the pair of them sat there, drinking their tea in total silence. Sen was doing everything he could to soak up the normal that surrounded him. He¡¯d never been so in love with colors as he was in that moment. Never before had walls, floors, and ceilings seemed to possess so much divine grace. As for tea, tea contained in the achingly familiar shape of a cup, that was a miracle to be treasured in his heart until the end of all things. He just wanted to wrap his arms around everything that was as it should be and hold it to him. Of course, that blissful moment of peace couldn¡¯t last.


    ¡°You seem to have regained your composure,¡± announced Fu Ruolan. ¡°So, one last minor lesson, and then I¡¯ll set you free for the day. It¡¯s time that you actually do some shadow walking.¡±


    ¡°We haven¡¯t been doing that already?¡±


    ¡°Technically, I suppose we have, but going into a shadow and coming out of the same shadow ten minutes later isn¡¯t particularly useful. No, this time, we¡¯ll go in through one shadow and come out of a different one.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± asked Sen. ¡°I mean, does it make a difference to the technique?¡±


    ¡°It can. The strength of the shadow on this side can affect how accessible it is on the other side. We¡¯ve been going through a fairly dark shadow. You can go in through and come out of less pronounced shadows, but it¡¯s more difficult. More dangerous. Pick the wrong shadow and you can lose a piece of yourself in the transition.¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°A hand. A leg. Your head,¡± said Fu Ruolan without much apparently concern.


    With that casual pronouncement, they went back into the shadow realm. Fu Ruolan started walking away, and Sen stuck close by, worried about being left behind.


    ¡°Right now, your main concern should be finding the brightest spots on this side. Those are the darkest shadows on the other side. They¡¯re the safest ones to use. Once you¡¯re comfortable with that, we¡¯ll move on to navigating to specific shadows,¡± she said coming to a stop and looking around. ¡°Pick one.¡±


    Sen looked around at the various shades of black, dark gray, light gray, and nearly white. He almost pointed at one extremely bright patch, but realized it was too small. He¡¯d never be able to squeeze his body through. He searched the area again before settling on a swath of gray that was at least lighter than most of the others, although darker than the one they had come through. Fu Ruolan watched him with a perfectly blank expression.


    ¡°That one,¡± he said and pointed.


    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡± she asked.


    He hesitated, firmed his resolve, and nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±


    Fu Ruolan shifted her gaze to the spot, considered it, and then nodded. ¡°Very well.¡±


    The inky blackness bled out of her skin and, without another word, she stepped through. Feeling more confident that he hadn¡¯t chosen wrong, Sen reactivated the technique. Having done it dozens of times now, it came faster and easier than before, although he suspected that it would never come quite as easily for him as it would for someone without divine qi in their skin. He stepped into the gray spot and immediately felt the difference between stepping through a truly dark shadow and stepping through a less well-defined one. He had to physically push almost twice as hard and dramatically increase the amount of shadow qi he was spreading throughout his body to get back to his world. Only when he was certain that he was all the way through and not in danger of losing body parts did he release the technique. It felt like someone punched him in the base of the skull the moment the technique was gone. He dropped to a knee and had to put a hand on the ground to steady himself. He looked up to see Fu Ruolan standing there, but she looked drained.


    ¡°That¡¯s why choosing the right exit is so important,¡± she said.


    Sen did not approve of that particular teaching method, but he had to acknowledge how effective it was. He now knew exactly how bright a spot needed to be for him to safely pass through. He also knew that he would work very hard to find much brighter spots in the future. It was only after a bit of controlled breathing, cycling a bit of healing wood qi, and finally downing a healing elixir that Sen could really take in his surroundings. They were outside of Fu Ruolan¡¯s house and had come out through the relatively dim shadow of a tree. Pushing himself to his feet, Sen debated simply walking away. He wasn¡¯t going back into the shadow realm again that day. He knew it, and he figured that Fu Ruolan knew it as well.


    As if reading his thoughts, she waved a hand and said, ¡°We¡¯re done for the day.¡±


    Sen took a few steps before his conscience got the better of him. Going through that shadow might not have been as bad for her as it had been for him, but he doubted she would have picked it herself. He summoned one of his best healing elixirs, one he thought might provide benefits to nascent soul cultivators, and held it out to her. She eyed the stone vial for a moment before she accepted it. She didn¡¯t hesitate to drink it, either, telling Sen that the trip back hadn¡¯t been fun and games for her.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± said Fu Ruolan.


    After she turned and walked back toward her home, Sen turned the other way and started the much longer trip back to his. And if he glared at some of the shadows he walked past, he felt fully justified.

 V7 Chapter 53 – Thunderous Sky

    Sen was in the middle of jian training with Sua Xing Xing when he felt the approach of several cultivators. Cultivators that he didn¡¯t recognize by feel. Cultivators that even he might feel inclined to acknowledge if his initial impression of their strength was accurate. That was always a little dodgy at a distance. While cultivators arriving at the academy wasn¡¯t anything new, he had a premonition that this was going to be different. Different good or different bad, he wasn¡¯t sure, but since cultivators were involved, he assumed it would probably be bad. Sen had only been half paying attention to his spar with the pale woman, idly staying a step ahead of her aggressive attack pattern while he weighed what to do about the new cultivators. He made a point to meet new cultivators, if only briefly, when they first arrived at the academy.


    Sen decided that it was best not to break that pattern. With the exceptions of Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong, he was best equipped to deal with it if hostile sect members or wandering cultivators showed up. He was also less likely than they were to simply kill those cultivators out of hand if they proved annoying. He¡¯d done his best not to lean on their reputations as much as possible. It seemed wise to continue approaching the world that way. While Auntie Caihong might let cultivators go if they bothered her, Uncle Kho would not. If he started reducing cultivators to ash left and right, Sen would never convince anyone that this place wasn¡¯t a sect. And if the other sects believed that Uncle Kho had finally, after thousands of years, decided to start his own sect with Sen as a figurehead¡­ Sen didn¡¯t know what the other sects would do. Nothing good. He was sure of that much. Sua Xing Xing¡¯s voice snapped him back to the present.


    ¡°You could do me the courtesy of pretending that this requires your full attention,¡± she said, stepping back and checking the edge of her jian before sheathing it.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen with a blank stare.


    ¡°Exactly,¡± muttered the woman.


    ¡°Sorry. We have new arrivals. People I should probably greet in person to avoid any unfortunate incidents.¡±


    A hint of interest sparked in Sua Xing Xing¡¯s eyes. ¡°More cultivators?¡±


    Sen nodded as he sheathed his own jian. He didn¡¯t bother checking the edge. The blade had been stuffed with metal qi. He would have sensed it if the weapon had taken any damage. Walking toward the door, he called back.


    ¡°This shouldn¡¯t take too long.¡±


    She was walking next to him a moment later, having used a qinggong technique to close the distance. The woman gave him a little smile.


    ¡°Why would I intentionally miss out on this?¡± she asked. ¡°It should be interesting if nothing else.¡±


    Sen considered ordering her to stay in the training hall he¡¯d designated for cultivators. While she might be playing at just wanting to see what happened, it wasn¡¯t lost on him how it would look if she arrived with him. It would imply things to the cultivators about her position here, her relationship with him, or both. Those were all implications that didn¡¯t please him because perception had a way of becoming fact, and he hadn¡¯t decided what to do about her. He didn¡¯t want people assuming that they could influence him through her. On the other hand, the new cultivators were making their way toward the mortal training hall. Exactly where he didn¡¯t want them to go and interfere with people.


    He decided to just let it go this time, mostly because he didn¡¯t want to take the time to argue with her. Seeming to sense his resignation, her smile widened just a little into something that bordered on self-satisfied. That almost made him change his mind then and there. Of course, they were most of the way to the mortal training hall by then. Damn cultivator speed, he complained to himself. As they neared the door, Sen saw three people who were all very obviously from some sect. They wore matching dark gray uniforms with yellow patterns stitched into them that resembled lightning. It didn¡¯t mean anything to Sen, but it clearly did mean something to Sua Xing Xing. The woman took one look, stopped short, and took a sharp breath. He gave her a look, but her gaze was fixed on the one who looked like he was in command. The one about to shove open the door. Can¡¯t have that, thought Sen.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t students here,¡± said Sen in a qi-reinforced voice loud enough to make leaves shake free from nearby trees. ¡°That building is off-limits to any who aren¡¯t invited.¡±


    The trio by the door turned to look at him. He braced himself for the usual young master posturing. Instead, the trio ignored him almost entirely while staring at Sua Xing Xing in open-mouthed shock. The leader, a handsome man with narrow features and piercing eyes took a step forward. He couldn¡¯t seem to rip his gaze away from the woman standing next to Sen. For her part, she had drawn herself up and was leveling a cool, dispassionate gaze at all of them.


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    ¡°Xing Xing,¡± said the leader in a soft, disbelieving voice. ¡°You came here?¡±


    ¡°That is my affair and none of yours,¡± she said in words chipped from ice. ¡°You don¡¯t belong here, Sheung Tian Kuo.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t belong here,¡± said Sheung Tian Kuo in a low dangerous voice. ¡°None of my affair? We were supposed to¡ª¡±


    ¡°Were,¡± repeated Sua Xing Xing. ¡°No longer.¡±


    If this were happening almost anywhere else, Sen would have simply backed off and enjoyed the show. Unfortunately, it was happening at his academy with very fragile mortals far too close for the kind of destruction that would ensue if a fight broke out. Now that they were close enough, Sen could better judge the strength of the newcomers. In terms of pure spirit cultivation, Sheung Tian Kuo was actually sitting a little higher than Sen at true peak core formation. The pair who stood a respectful step behind were closer to Sua Xing Xing¡¯s level. All of which meant a lot of potential destruction if things turned violent. Given the way Sheung Tian Kuo was glaring and even shaking a little, that felt like an almost inevitable outcome.


    ¡°If the two of you have some personal matter to settle, do it elsewhere,¡± said Sen in a voice that was more command than suggestion.


    Sheung Tian Kuo turned his attention to Sen and fought a visible battle for self-control. It was a battle that he seemingly lost because the next words out of his mouth sounded almost designed to trigger an immediate duel.


    ¡°Do not speak to your betters until spoken to, you jumped up little nothing. The Thunderous Sky Sect goes where it will, when it will.¡±


    Sen¡¯s first instinct was to simply kill the man where he stood and be done with it. There was a theoretical gap between them, but Sen had bridged much bigger gaps than that. Plus, this place was his in ways that the newly arrived cultivators clearly hadn¡¯t discerned yet. On the other hand, the man was distraught. Sen didn¡¯t know the details but the broad strokes were clear enough. There was some kind of romantic history between Sheung Tian Kuo and Sua Xing Xing. A romance that she had apparently ended, and he hadn¡¯t gotten over yet. Sen generally thought that how people acted under stress was often a better indicator of their true nature than how they acted while calm. However, it left the issue of how this might have gone down if Sua Xing Xing hadn¡¯t decided to make an appearance something of an open question. The longer Sen stood there, simply staring at Sheung Tian Kuo like some kind of undesirable insect that he¡¯d stumbled across, the less certain the other man looked. It was like Sen¡¯s mere gaze held a weight that was slowly crushing the other man¡¯s confidence. It was Sua Xing Xing who finally broke the silence.


    ¡°Elder Yu would be ashamed of you.¡±


    Sen watched as those words struck the three sect cultivators like a condemnation from the heavens. Sheung Tian Kuo lost every bit of color in his face. The other two looked abruptly nauseated. Sen thought that he might want to meet this Elder Yu one day. A person who could evoke those reactions in core cultivators at the mere suggestion of their disapproval, well, that was someone formidable. That the elder would feel such disapproval at what Sen had come to think of as standard sect behavior also told him that the stories he¡¯d heard that not every sect was a collection of useless, awful people might hold some truth. Sua Xing Xing continued without a trace of mercy in her expression. Sen stared at her as she seemed to become an entirely different person. A person he might actually be able to like a little bit.


    ¡°Using the honorable name and reputation of the Thunderous Sky Sect as a club. Seeking to disrupt the education of others. Hurling insults at your host. Have you forgotten everything that you were taught?¡±


    Sheung Tian Kuo flinched back from the rebuke. He held out a hand toward Sua Xing Xing as if imploring her to stop. She was not moved. Her face was stone as the next words fell from her lips like an executioner¡¯s blade falling on the neck of a disgraced foe.


    ¡°You shame us all.¡±


    As Sheun Tian Kuo¡¯s face went a little slack and sweat broke out on his forehead, it was obvious to Sen that those two had been extremely close at some point. It was the only way she could have known exactly how to break the man with a handful of cold, precise statements. It also told him some things about her. Things that he wasn¡¯t sure how to interpret. At the very least, it was a statement about how completely she had severed that relationship in her heart. What she had just done wasn¡¯t something you did to someone you still cared about. At the same time, she seemed to be deeply concerned about how the man¡¯s actions would reflect on her old sect. That was a relationship that she hadn¡¯t severed so neatly. Sen took all of that as a warning not to put too much trust in her. Divided loyalties were a dangerous thing. As for Sheung Tian Kuo, he lowered his head, stared at the ground, and quietly mumbled to himself about honor and shame.


    The other two Thunderous Sky Sect cultivators looked at each other for some hint of what they should do. Sen could just barely hear them conferring in hushed, frantic tones. Finally, one of the pair stepped forward. The man gave Sua Xing Xing an uncertain look while she continued to exude imperious displeasure and towering disdain. Seeing no shelter from the storm there, the man turned his eyes to Sen.


    ¡°This one is Yim Haitao,¡± said the man, clasping his hands and bowing.


    Sen gave the man an infinitesimal nod and said, ¡°I am Lu Sen.¡±


    Yim Haitao straightened, but he didn¡¯t get a chance to speak before Sua Xing Xing spoke.


    ¡°He is also known as Judgment¡¯s Gale, the Heavens¡¯ Scouring Blade, the Hand of Chaos, and¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m relatively confident he knows who I am,¡± said Sen, cutting off the litany of names.


    ¡°I beg the forgiveness of Judgment¡¯s Gale. This,¡± said Lim Haitao with a helpless little gesture around him, ¡°was not our goal or task. I ask that we be allowed to withdraw and tend to our brother disciple.¡±


    Sen considered those words for a moment before he asked, ¡°And just what was your task?¡±


    When he saw the man swallow hard, Sen just knew he wasn¡¯t going to like the answer.

 V7 Chapter 54 – The Truth

    Lim Haitao bent every last bit of his self-control on maintaining a calm expression, yet, the question rang in his ears like a death knell. And just what was your task? The man called Judgment¡¯s Gale had asked the question in a neutral tone. Too neutral. It was the pause before the hammer of disaster fell to crush the unworthy beneath its uncaring might. From where he stood, Lim Haitao felt decidedly unworthy, and the Judgment¡¯s Gale felt far too much like a hammer poised in the air, simply waiting for the signal to unleash doom. He had harbored the desperate hope that Sister Sua might intervene on their behalf. She had left the sect, true, but on cordial terms. She had witnessed the entire incident as well. He hadn¡¯t issued any threats or insults, nor tried to use the name of the Thundering Sky Sect in an inappropriate way. Nor had Shao Anhe let foolishness slip from her lips.


    However, it seemed that mere association with Sheung Tian Kuo had painted them with the same brush of guilt in Sua Xing Xing¡¯s eyes. When he had dared to look at her, all he saw was cold fury burning in her eyes. That meant that their only hope of escaping from this unmitigated catastrophe rested in the hands of Judgment¡¯s Gale. Except, that man had just asked a question to which Lim Haitao did not want to provide an honest answer. Not that he was prone to lying. Quite the contrary. The sect frowned mightily on dishonesty in all but the direst of circumstances. No, he contemplated lying because a true answer could only bring them closer to certain death. In any other circumstance, he wouldn¡¯t have been the one trying to save their lives. He wouldn¡¯t have spoken at all, except perhaps to introduce himself if things went smoothly.


    Now, three lives hung on what he did next, and he had no idea what the right thing was to do. Curse you, Sheung Tian Kuo, thought Lim Haitoa. You and your stupid obsession with that woman has damned us. When a look of mild impatience passed over the face of Judgment¡¯s Gale, Lim Haitao knew he had to make a decision. He resisted the urge to look back at Shao Anhe. She was no better prepared for this than he was. In the end, a lie was too risky, too easy to expose. It only took one slip of the tongue, one moment of carelessness, and whatever tiny shred of trust or credibility he and the sect might have with Judgment¡¯s Gale would evaporate. The truth would have to do. He just wished that he hadn¡¯t heard so many stories about the man who was staring at him. Stories that never seemed to end well for those who roused his ire. Gathering his courage, Lim Haitao spoke.


    ¡°We were sent to,¡± he swallowed again, ¡°inspect this academy.¡±


    The look of detached annoyance that Judgment¡¯s Gale had worn disappeared as something implacable entered his eyes. The man¡¯s lips compressed into a hard line, and it felt to Lim Haitao that the very air seemed to squeeze him in sympathy with the other cultivator¡¯s anger.


    ¡°Inspect,¡± said Judgment¡¯s Gale.


    It was the same word, but it wasn¡¯t. Lim Haitao had tried to make the word sound as mundane and innocuous as possible. Nothing that important. Just a boring little procedure that no one needed to concern themselves with at all. When Judgment¡¯s Gale said it, it sounded like a filthy obscenity that had been dragged up from the depths of a cesspit. It sounded invasive. It sounded unclean. It sounded like another step on a very short road to a cliff¡¯s edge.


    ¡°You came here expecting to simply walk into my academy and inspect things. You expected me to allow that?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Lim Haitao, his voice a rasp of fear.


    Judgment¡¯s Gale walked toward him until he loomed like a tower. The stories never said he was this tall, thought Lim Haitao, aware that fear was making him irrational but uncertain how to stop it.


    ¡°Tell me, Lim Haitao of the Thunderous Sky Sect, what would your elders do if I came to your sect and demanded to inspect it? Would they throw open their doors and divulge their secrets to me? Lavish me with gifts? Would they welcome my inspection with grace and provide me with a feast afterward?¡±


    Part of Lim Haitao wanted to flee beneath that implacable gaze and those impossible questions. If it just meant leaving Sheung Tian Kuo behind, he might have even done it. But fleeing would also mean abandoning Shao Anhe, and she had done nothing to deserve being left to the mercies of this man. The problem was that he didn¡¯t even need to consider what his sect would do. He knew. The Thundering Sky Sect would never tolerate such a thing. The insult alone would demand an immediate and deadly response. It made him wonder why they had been sent here to offer a similar insult to a man known for taking vengeance. It seemed¡­ It seemed inconsistent with the temperance that the sect taught from the very first moment someone entered as an outer disciple.


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    That realization begged an uncomfortable question. Had the sect sent them, or had Sheung Tian Kuo decided to come here for his own, rather obvious, reasons? Had the man somehow discovered the location of Sua Xing Xing and simply invented the inspection as an excuse to come find her? If so, why drag others down into the thousand hells with him? There was no way to know and no point in asking the fool who was still muttering about shame and honor.


    ¡°Well?¡± demanded Judgment¡¯s Gale. ¡°What would they do?¡±


    ¡°They would demand your immediate death,¡± said Lim Haitao in a hollow voice.


    He never saw the man move. He only felt the hot spray of blood on his face. His heart stopped for a moment before he realized that the blood wasn¡¯t his. Lim Haitao turned and watched as Sheung Tian Kuo¡¯s lifeless body fell into several large pieces. Judgment¡¯s Gale looked down at what was left of one of the Thunderous Sky¡¯s most promising disciples, and then he looked at Lim Haitao. The man¡¯s expression hadn¡¯t changed at all, which sent Lim Haitao¡¯s heart to pounding. Does he mean to kill us all? There was no fighting power like that. Even if Sheung Tian Kuo had been sensible, he doubted that the results would have been any different. Sheung Tian Kuo had been a peak core cultivator, had moved and fought like one, which had made him extraordinarily dangerous. But he would have stood no chance against that kind of speed. Lim Haitao tried to steel himself, to face death with the bravery expected from one of the Thunderous Sky Sect, but he couldn¡¯t find that courage inside himself while facing down a man who found peak core cultivators easy prey. In the end, the best he could do was stop himself from visibly quaking in terror before the gaze of Judgment¡¯s Gale.


    ¡°This academy is not open for inspection,¡± said the towering figure, who gestured toward the road with the still bloody blade in his hand. ¡°Now go or I might decide to hold you all accountable for this insult.¡±


    Lim Haitao had to fight the urge to kowtow in pure relief. He fell into a deep bow instead.


    ¡°This Lim Haitao thanks the honored cultivator for his forbearance.¡±


    Shao Anhe copied him a moment later. He felt it as something in the air seemed to bleed away and a sense of impending death went with it. When Judgment¡¯s Gale spoke again, he sounded weary.


    ¡°Just¡ª¡± he hesitated. ¡°Just leave.¡±


    Shao Anhe fell into step beside him, and they did their best to maintain a shred of the dignity of the Thunderous Sky Sect as they walked away. At least, they did while Judgment¡¯s Gale and Sua Xing Xing could physically see them. The moment they passed beyond direct line of sight, the pair exchanged a look and, by unspoken agreement, they activated their movement techniques and fled at speed. They didn¡¯t speak or stop running for several hours, determined to put enough distance between them and Judgment¡¯s Gale that he would decide it wasn¡¯t worth chasing them down if he changed his mind. They eventually set up camp and started a small fire. Neither of them really needed the fire for warmth, but there was a deeper kind of chill inside Lim Haitao that the fire seemed to help stave off with its cheerful light.


    Shao Anhe wore a troubled expression she asked, ¡°What will we tell the elders?¡±


    ¡°The truth,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯ll tell them the truth, and pray to the heavens that they don¡¯t send us back there to die.¡±


    It seemed that idea hadn¡¯t crossed her mind, because Shao Anhe sat up straight and stared at him in horror.


    ¡°They wouldn¡¯t do that, would they?¡±


    ¡°We insulted a very powerful cultivator. A cultivator that I imagine the elders would prefer to stay on good terms with. Arguably, we shamed the sect. Is it that hard to imagine that they might decide that the best way to deal with all of those problems is to give us to him? Let him take his vengeance on us and good relations may be restored.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re core cultivators,¡± she said in shock. ¡°We¡¯re not that¡­ That¡ª¡±


    ¡°Disposable?¡± asked Lim Haitao.


    ¡°Yes!¡± shouted Shao Anhe.


    ¡°Normally, no, but these aren¡¯t normal circumstances. We¡¯re talking about a man who could very well send The Living Spear to instruct our sect in what he sees as appropriate behavior. That instruction is likely to leave very little standing in its wake. Compared to a threat like that, what value is there in the lives of a couple of core cultivators?¡±


    Shao Anhe didn¡¯t say anything, but he saw her eyes drift out to the road. He sympathized with what she was thinking, having thought something very similar not that long ago.


    ¡°I won¡¯t stop you,¡± he said. ¡°If you want to go, I won¡¯t stop you.¡±


    Shao Anhe didn¡¯t meet his gaze when she stood.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she whispered. ¡°I won¡¯t let myself be sacrificed to make up for a dead man¡¯s stupidity.¡±


    Lim Haitao watched her disappear into the darkness and part of him wished he had the courage to join her.

 V7 Chapter 55 – Just a Visitor

    Almost the second they were out of sight, Sen mentally dismissed the two cultivators he¡¯d let go. They might become a problem down the road, but the dead thing on the ground in front of him was much more likely to become a problem. It had been a situation without a way to win. If he simply let them all go, it would signal weakness. He¡¯d find himself hounded by entitled cultivators who would think they could come to the academy and do whatever they wanted. The other path was no more palatable, it just offered the slightly better chance of preventing people from showing up and being insufferable. Still, it had been a while since he¡¯d last had to kill another cultivator. He hadn¡¯t missed it. He didn¡¯t move or speak until Sua Xing Xing stepped close and reached toward the body.


    ¡°What in the hells do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± asked Sen.


    She froze, straightened, and turned a very cautious look toward him. ¡°I was just¡ª¡±


    ¡°It was rhetorical,¡± said Sen. ¡°Nothing on that corpse belongs to you.¡±


    She shot him an affronted look. ¡°If not for me, do you really think you would have won that fight?¡±


    ¡°If not for you, do you think there would have been a fight? Do you think they even would have been here? I don¡¯t.¡±


    Sua Xing Xing opened her mouth but couldn¡¯t seem to find an answer.


    ¡°As for your question,¡± he said, ¡°yes. I most certainly would have won the fight with or without your intervention. None of which matters to this discussion. I¡¯m the one who did the killing, so I get whatever dubious rewards there are to have.¡±


    Sua Xing Xing¡¯s eyes drifted down to the jian Sen still held. She seemed to take it for an implicit threat, and Sen supposed that it probably was one. Her eyes moved from the sword down to the body. A flash of frustration crossed her face before she smoothed it to calm acceptance. Maybe the man had something that she thought was hers, or maybe it was something that she thought would embarrass her. Then again, she might have just known about a treasure he possessed that she wanted. Sen almost asked before he decided that he didn¡¯t care what it was. She wasn¡¯t getting it. He wasn¡¯t so foolish as to lay all the blame on her for the way things had gone. He sincerely doubted that she had come along for the express purpose of alienating those cultivators. That didn¡¯t change the fact that her mere presence had immediately and irrevocably escalated the situation. She wasn¡¯t getting rewarded for that.


    Sua Xing Xing bowed and said, ¡°As you say, patriarch.¡±


    Did he detect a bitter undertone to the word patriarch? Sen wasn¡¯t certain, but he wouldn¡¯t have been surprised. Core cultivators usually got what they wanted when they were out in the world away from their sects. She¡¯ll just have to treat being shut down that hard as a new and novel experience, thought Sen. There was a calculating part of him that hoped she would use this whole matter as an excuse to leave. It was, however, a dim hope. She might have seen all of this as an unexpected opportunity, but he doubted her failure to seize the opportunity would influence her long-term agenda. He gave her a flat look.


    ¡°I¡¯m not a patriarch,¡± corrected Sen. ¡°This is an academy, not a sect.¡±


    ¡°Of course. My mistake. I apologize, founder,¡± she offered with a sickly-sweet smile before turning and walking away.


    Founder was only nominally better than patriarch, but Sen lacked the mental energy to pick that fight. It just wasn¡¯t worth the effort. If she needed to poke at him to assuage her bruised pride, then so be it. Instead, he focused on the body. An examination with his spiritual sense and qi revealed three storage treasures, as well as an amulet that did¡­ He could tell it did something. He pocketed all of them and took the man¡¯s sword. He¡¯d have to look in the storage rings and maybe ask Auntie Caihong about the amulet, but that would have to wait. He didn¡¯t want the townspeople walking out of the training hall to find a dismembered body. Sen cycled for earth qi to open a deep pit beneath the corpse pieces. They dropped down into the hole, where he incinerated them until nothing but ash remained. He closed the hole and used a bit of wood qi to encourage a fast bit of minor plant growth. It would be obvious to everyone that something had happened there but the details should remain obscure.


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    Sen looked down and was surprised to find he was still holding the jian. He used a flash of intense heat to burn away the blood that still coated it. That kind of heat would have warped a mortal-grade blade or melted it outright, but it barely warmed the enhanced metal of a blade made for those in core cultivation. With a flick of his wrist, the ashes fell away from the jian. He sheathed it and then tried to remember what else he needed to do. The altercation had pushed all other concerns out of his mind. He looked around at the buildings in a futile search for inspiration or maybe even just someone to ask where he was supposed to be right then. He was usually supposed to be somewhere. There was a telltale tink noise of something hard bumping against glass that drew his eye to one of the windows in the mortal training hall. He saw a cluster of faces pressed to the glass. When he turned his gaze directly on them, they all disappeared with varying looks of guilt, fear, and surprise.


    Sen debated just going back to the galehouse. He didn¡¯t want to talk to the townspeople, or the small band of cultivators who had joined the academy, or anyone else who saw him as a cultivator first. He just wanted to see Ai and listen as she regaled him with stories about pictures she drew, or how she¡¯d discovered some new bug, or how Uncle Kho had taken her flying. That wish was so powerful that he¡¯d walked nearly twenty feet before he stopped himself. As much as he loathed the thought of explaining anything to anyone at that moment, he knew he needed to do it. Otherwise, rumors would spread. There were enough fake stories about him in the world already. He didn¡¯t need to add to that pile because he didn¡¯t feel like talking. Sen allowed himself ten seconds to just tilt his head back, look at the clear sky overhead, and take calming breaths. Then, he made himself walk to the doors of the training hall and go inside to do what needed to be done.


    No one was training. People were standing around in small groups and, there was no other word for it, gossiping. A silent, awkward hush fell over the space when he entered. Everyone stared at him with all of their questions barely held back behind their teeth. That silent regard was damning. The day before, they would have asked those questions in a tumultuous upswell of incomprehensible noise. The day before, they saw him as, maybe not one of them, but not an incomprehensible and dangerous outsider either. Now, he saw the fear that held their questions in check. He wasn¡¯t Sen to them anymore. Now, he was a cultivator, or the founder, or ¨C may the heavens shield him ¨C the patriarch in their minds. A remote, distant power that might offer some level of protection and teaching, but one that might also turn on them in a moment of capricious malice.


    Maybe, this had been inevitable from the moment he started to train the townspeople. That distance between him and them wasn¡¯t just in their imaginations. He had avoided it recently, but a cultivator never truly escaped the Jianghu. It was always going to come looking for him unless he followed Fu Ruolan¡¯s example and hid himself away deep in the wilds. He¡¯d let himself overlook the truth for a time, but he did live in a different world from the mortal townspeople. He was, as he had once told Jing, just a visitor in their world. And now his world had arrived on the doorstep of these mortal bystanders. He might not owe them an explanation, but they still deserved one.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all wondering what just happened out there,¡± he said in a voice that even he thought sounded tired. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what I can.¡±


    So, he gave them an unvarnished, if incomplete, version of the facts. He omitted the information he¡¯d inferred about the relationship between Sua Xing Xing and Sheung Tian Kuo. He also withheld his suspicions that this hadn¡¯t been a sanctioned action by the Thunderous Sky Sect. That was a different kind of rumor he didn¡¯t want spread around. If it hadn¡¯t been sanctioned and he kept that information from spreading, it could give him a bit of leverage if someone else from that sect showed up in some official capacity. If it had been sanctioned, spreading falsehoods was a sure way to guarantee that someone would show up with retribution in mind. No, silence on that matter only benefitted him and, while they¡¯d never know, the townspeople. No one interrupted his explanation. When he finished, everyone held their tongues, proving to him that they saw him differently. Helpless to alter that change, he did the only thing he could. He lived up to their expectations.


    ¡°Return to your training,¡± he ordered.

 V7 Chapter 56 – Stars

    ¡°They looked at me like a stranger,¡± said Sen, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice.


    Falling Leaf turned her head to peer at him for a moment before she went back to looking at the sky. They were sitting on top of the mortal training hall, which had long since gone dark and silent for the day as everyone went home. The stone remained warm beneath them, despite the unusual chill of the night. Sen had retreated to the galehouse after telling the townspeople what had happened with the sect cultivators. Always happy to discuss what she had done during the day, Ai had proved the balm to his soul that he¡¯d imagined she would be. Her uncomplicated joy at everything from finding a pretty rock to experiencing the phenomenal powers of Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong was a sharp and welcome contrast to the murky complexities of so much else in his life. For her, everything was simple, because everything was a miracle.


    He had taken refuge behind the light of her joy for a time, and let it blind him to all else. But that kind of refuge was, by nature and necessity, a temporary one. After he had put her bed and entertained her with shadows dancing on the wall, everything he¡¯d been hiding from was still waiting for him. However, that brief respite had muted the sharp stab of immediate pain and allowed him to see it a little more objectively. It still hurt because he thought he¡¯d made at least a few friends among the townspeople. That he¡¯d pushed past all of the accumulated garbage that came with the word cultivator and been seen as a person. The deathly silence that greeted him inside the very training hall he now sat on had the put lie to that fantasy. Falling Leaf kept her gaze firmly fixed on the stars when she spoke.


    ¡°Did you imagine it would end any other way?¡± she asked.


    The words were said gently, with kindness, but also with a tone that suggested she was not surprised. Sen grimaced.


    ¡°Yes. No. I just¡­ I guess I just wanted it to,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°Was it too much to ask?¡±


    ¡°The Caihong tells me that those are made of fire,¡± said Falling Leaf, gesturing at the stars. ¡°She says that they are very far away, but burn so hot and so bright that we can see them here. She also says that many of them are so large that they could consume our world without even noticing.¡±


    Sen gave her a perplexed look, wholly uncertain where she was going with this talk of stars and fire.


    ¡°She told me the same thing.¡±


    ¡°Campfires are also made of fire, yet you would not expect a star to be a campfire. Nor would you expect a campfire to be a star. They are the same, but they are also not the same. It shouldn¡¯t be a surprise when a person fails to mistake one for the other.¡±


    Sen gave Falling Leaf a wan look. ¡°I take it that I¡¯m the star, expecting people to see me as a campfire?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°You want the mortals to treat you like a mortal. Perhaps it¡¯s because you are still so close to your mortal life. Those memories are fresh enough, close enough, that they seem right to you. But you are not like them anymore. Expecting them to see you as one of them, to treat you as one of them is unfair. It¡¯s dangerous.¡±


    ¡°What? What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°While you might welcome them treating you as ordinary, what other cultivator would? Do you imagine training them to treat cultivators with such casual disregard can end well for them?¡±


    Sen had to swallow hard when he considered it from that angle. He hadn¡¯t looked at all the possible consequences. All he¡¯d thought about was how much he hated the way mortals reacted when they found out he was a cultivator. Even worse, this was a lesson he should have learned long ago in Inferno¡¯s Vale. Hadn¡¯t the Matriarch of the Order of the Celestial Flame explained it to him? She tolerated all of the obeisance that she clearly despised because the alternative was worse. Falling Leaf was right. It would be dangerous for mortals to treat other cultivators the way he wanted them to treat him. It would get them killed. There were a few exceptions. Master Feng would probably find it amusing. Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong might tolerate it within limits. Most cultivators, though, would see it as flagrant disrespect and a grave insult. The kind of insult that would justify murdering mortals who would otherwise enjoy the safety of being beneath notice.


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    ¡°When did you get so wise?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Is it wisdom to see what is obvious?¡±


    ¡°If you expected all of this, why didn¡¯t you say anything?¡±


    ¡°Some things can be learned by example or explanation. Other things are only learned through pain. I could have told you. You might have even stopped. But you wouldn¡¯t have believed. This was something that you could only learn through pain,¡± said the ghost panther.


    There was a current of empathetic understanding in her voice that snuffed the dim flame of anger that Sen wanted to feel. This wasn¡¯t a sentiment that she had heard from someone. It was a lived truth for her. He didn¡¯t know which of her many difficult experiences she was thinking of right then. After a thoughtful moment or two, he realized it didn¡¯t matter all that much how she had come to that conclusion. She believed it with deep conviction. Sen leaned back until he flopped against the roof of the training hall.


    ¡°So, I just live with it?¡± he asked. ¡°I just live with the fear, and the false respect, and kowtowing?¡±


    ¡°The respect doesn¡¯t have to be false. You can earn that. You have earned that from many here. As for the fear and the kowtowing¡­ Yes, you just live with it. You live with it because that¡¯s what¡¯s best for these people. You can live apart, but they must live in the world as they find it.¡±


    ¡°I hate it, you know.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡±


    Sen rubbed his face with his hands in an act of mute frustration. All this power, he thought, and I¡¯m still helpless. He once again imagined finding some mountain of his own and building a manor in the sky like Uncle Kho¡¯s. That particular dream felt both closer and farther away in ways he couldn¡¯t articulate, even to himself. Knowing that continuing the conversation would only lead them in circles, he picked a new topic.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have to head to the capital soon,¡± he said.


    Sen could almost feel the tension in Falling Leaf¡¯s body at the mere mention of the capital. While Sen had disliked the place, she loathed it with a near-religious fervor. He didn¡¯t keep her in suspense.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to come.¡±


    She didn¡¯t collapse in relief, but he did hear her release the breath she¡¯d been holding. Not that she was necessarily happy about the turn of events, though.


    ¡°Who will keep watch over you in that terrible place?¡± she asked with a guilty edge in her voice.


    ¡°I¡¯m not expecting this to be a violent visit. And, if it does turn into that, I can always ask Lo Meifeng for help. She¡¯s not one to shy away from bloody business.¡±


    Falling Leaf nodded. ¡°She is capable enough in a fight.¡±


    ¡°And if things turn really, really ugly, I have one or two favors I can call in.¡±


    ¡°The sects?¡±


    ¡°The sects,¡± agreed Sen.


    ¡°Can you trust them?¡±


    ¡°I doubt it, but the people who matter owe me, and they know it.¡±


    ¡°You mean to take the Mingxia with you?¡±


    Sen snickered at the very thought. ¡°I do.¡±


    ¡°This is an unkind thing you mean to do,¡± chided Falling Leaf.


    ¡°Probably,¡± said Sen. ¡°There is value in experience, though.¡±


    ¡°Why not take the other one?¡±


    ¡°Wu Meng Yao? Mostly, it¡¯s because I need her here. Teaching. Someone needs to be in charge while I¡¯m gone.¡±


    Falling Leaf made a dissatisfied noise. ¡°And what about the other, other one?¡±


    ¡°I have no idea what to do with or about her.¡±


    ¡°You could take her with you. Perhaps someone will kill her,¡± said Falling Leaf with far too much enthusiasm.


    Sen didn¡¯t particularly like Sua Xing Xing, but he definitely wasn¡¯t to the point where he was hoping someone would violently help her reach her next incarnation. She was outrageously selfish, self-involved, and arrogant, but that was an accusation that could be laid at the feet of just about every cultivator alive. Himself included. Aside from overstepping with the body of Sheung Tian Kuo, the woman hadn¡¯t actually done anything wrong that Sen knew about. She hadn¡¯t hurt or even been noticeably unkind to the townspeople. She hadn¡¯t destroyed anything that didn¡¯t belong to her. She¡¯d abided by his rule that higher-level cultivators couldn¡¯t order around those with a lesser cultivation. It was just her personality. She bothered people, and Sen didn¡¯t think that should be enough to warrant death. Then, a notion struck Sen that he almost dismissed before he turned a gimlet eye on Falling Leaf.


    ¡°The reason you want me to take her along is so she won¡¯t be here to aggravate you, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    Sen sat through a pregnant pause with his gaze locked onto the ghost panther.


    ¡°No. Of course not,¡± said Falling Leaf in the most blatant and badly delivered lie he¡¯d ever heard.

 V7 Chapter 57 – Your Word Is Law

    ¡°It¡¯s a protection amulet,¡± said Auntie Caihong, eying the small object critically. ¡°It¡¯s actually quite a good one. This would probably stop an attack from someone in the early nascent soul stages. Just one attack, mind you, but that can be enough to let you escape. Where did you get it?¡±


    ¡°I took it off that sect idiot I killed,¡± said Sen. ¡°Which sort of begs the question of why it didn¡¯t stop me from killing him.¡±


    Auntie Caihong handed the amulet back to him with an amused smile.


    ¡°You have to activate it. He clearly didn¡¯t.¡±


    Sen nodded in understanding. Sheung Tian Kuo hadn¡¯t been in a right state of mind to do anything as practical as activating some kind of protection. It did lead Sen to a different question. He looked at Auntie Caihong who guessed the question before he uttered the words.


    ¡°I guess none of us got around to teaching you about these things,¡± she said, looking a little apologetic.


    ¡°Not so much, which is unfortunate. If I had known things like this existed, I¡¯d have gone looking for one. I could have used something like this when¡ª¡± Sen hesitated as a flood of memories where he was on the cusp of death passed through his mind. ¡°I could have used about twenty of these.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s one of those things that we should have remembered to tell you about. Sadly, it¡¯s easy to forget about them when you haven¡¯t been able to use one in a thousand years. Once you become a nascent soul cultivator, there is a depressingly small number of people who can make those kinds of tools for you. The higher you climb, the fewer people there are, and the more likely it is that you¡¯ll have offended them at some point. Although, those kinds of permanent protection tools are rare even for lower-level cultivators.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°Because they¡¯re stupidly difficult to make,¡± said Auntie Caihong with a laugh. ¡°This is wildly inaccurate, but think of it like trying to set up a protective formation. Then, imagine squeezing it into that tiny amulet, and providing it with enough power to stop a strike from a lesser sect patriarch.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen, looking down at the amulet with new appreciation.


    He thought, given enough time, he could set up a formation that would meet those requirements, but it would be big and complicated. It would take several layers to provide enough stopping power and cover the main types of qi. Then, there were the power requirements. It could be done using beast cores if he had enough of them on hand. Otherwise, he¡¯d need to set up an entire, probably larger, secondary formation to gather environmental qi and feed it into the defensive formation. The idea of trying to do all that in something only slightly bigger than the end of his thumb made his mind reel a bit.


    ¡°They aren¡¯t as difficult to make for lower-level cultivators because, if you¡¯re handing them out, it¡¯s only meant for something in the next stage,¡± offered Auntie Caihong.


    ¡°Right. You don¡¯t need as much power when you¡¯re dealing with a foundation formation cultivator¡¯s techniques as you do for techniques from a core cultivator. Still, how do they power them? That¡¯s the part I can¡¯t quite wrap my head around.¡±


    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know all of the details. Some of it finding the right materials. We¡¯re alchemists, so we go looking for the right plants and reagents. Someone who makes these trinkets would go looking for the right metals and gemstones, I expect. If you start with something that already has powerful qi, it¡¯s a big shortcut. Beyond that, though, you¡¯re getting into the land of specialized techniques, processes, and secret knowledge. That¡¯s why sects are usually the only place you get things like that. They can recruit people with the right kinds of affinities and build a tradition inside the sect. It¡¯s also why they don¡¯t hand them out to just anyone.¡±


    ¡°You said that you can usually only get them from sects. Why usually?¡±


    ¡°Oh, people find them in old ruins sometimes or inherit them from teachers. Those aren¡¯t the kinds of things you can plan for, though.¡±


    ¡°In other words, don¡¯t just give it away?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Definitely not. It won¡¯t be useful forever, but it¡¯s certainly a useful toy for you to have for right now. Even if it just blunts an attack from a higher-level cultivator, as sturdy as you are, that might be enough to save you.¡±


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    ¡°Fair enough. Oh, is any of this of interest to you?¡± asked Sen.


    He summoned a small pile of pills and elixirs that he¡¯d found inside Sheung Tian Kuo¡¯s storage rings. While a few of them were interesting to Sen because they used strange ingredients, nothing had really stood out to him. Sen waited while Auntie Caihong frowned down at the pile and examined everything with her qi and her spiritual sense. She reached out and picked up one of the small vials containing one of the pills that used strange ingredients. She frowned at it.


    ¡°Now, this is interesting,¡± muttered Auntie Caihong.


    ¡°It¡¯s odd, but isn¡¯t it just a healing pill?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Oh, the pill itself isn¡¯t that interesting. The interesting thing is that I know who made it, and they¡¯re supposed to be dead. Remind me. What sect was this cultivator from?¡±


    ¡°The Thunderous Sky Sect,¡± answered Sen automatically.


    ¡°What were they doing here? That sect isn¡¯t even in this kingdom. They¡¯re in the far south.¡±


    Recognizing a rhetorical question when he heard one, Sen didn¡¯t interrupt Auntie Caihong¡¯s thoughts. She mulled over whatever problem was plaguing her before shaking her head.


    ¡°I suppose it doesn¡¯t matter for right now,¡± she finally said. ¡°Nothing that won¡¯t hold for a decade or two, at any rate.¡±


    ¡°A decade or two?¡± asked Sen. ¡°Isn¡¯t that kind of a long time for a problem to hold?¡±


    ¡°Maybe for mortals,¡± said Auntie Caihong before giving him a grin, ¡°or young prodigies. I can lose a decade on an interesting experiment. Why do you think other cultivators overreact every time a nascent soul cultivator makes an appearance? It¡¯s normal for them to disappear into secluded cultivation for decades or even a century or two.¡±


    ¡°Not in the capital,¡± grumbled Sen.


    ¡°Those sects are so big that they need a lot of active management and control. Smaller sects in more out-of-the-way places tend to roll along without as much direction from the top. Speaking of the capital, though, are you sure this little visit you¡¯re planning is a good idea?¡±


    Sen huffed out a breath. ¡°A good idea? Probably not. But I owe Jing. I caused a lot of trouble the last time I was there.¡±


    ¡°Has it occurred to you that he may be planning to use you for some end of his own?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure that¡¯s exactly what he¡¯s planning to do.¡±


    Auntie Caihong gave him a look that was both stern and concerned.


    ¡°Cultivators and mortal politics don¡¯t mix, Sen.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a little late for that. I already stuck my nose in. I can¡¯t pretend now that it didn¡¯t happen.¡±


    ¡°Actually, you can do just that.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t follow,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°This is the problem with advancing as fast as you have. You skipped over learning a lot of lessons other cultivators take for granted. You are powerful, Sen. Frighteningly powerful for your stage of cultivation. You¡¯re also primed to join the ranks of the nascent soul stage before too long barring some manner of calamity. Whether you recognize it or not, whether you want it or not, you have largely transcended the concerns and institutions of this world. Frankly, when it comes to mortals, your word is law. Whatever debt that king thinks you owe him means precisely nothing if you say it means nothing.¡±


    Sen stood absolutely still as those words washed over him like icy water. It wasn¡¯t even that she was saying things he didn¡¯t know. He knew that mortals often viewed cultivators as powers and laws unto themselves. He knew that even kings tread with care around certain cultivators. He¡¯d just never quite made the connection that any of that applied to him. He was just a street rat who caught some very lucky breaks, not some unearthly being who decided fate for others. He was just a wandering cultivator who couldn¡¯t stay out of trouble. Sen sighed at the self-deception. That was the story he held in his head to make himself feel better. He wanted to just be a street rat and humble wandering cultivator because those things were simpler. Unfortunately, he hadn¡¯t been a simple anything since the day he met Master Feng. Of course, the flip side of all of that was that he could decide to be involved.


    ¡°That¡¯s probably true,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°I could just tell him to go away and never bother me again. All things being equal, that¡¯s probably even the smart move. Just remove myself from the situation.¡±


    Auntie Caihong rolled her eyes and said, ¡°But?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s my friend. An actual friend. He helped me when he didn¡¯t have to, so now I¡¯m choosing to help him when I don¡¯t have to. Plus, whatever he¡¯s planning, I¡¯m fairly confident that it isn¡¯t aimed at harming me. If I had to guess, he wants me there as a kind of implicit show of force. It might be nothing more than a reminder to the nobles, or maybe he¡¯s trying to send a message to another kingdom.¡±


    ¡°And how far are you willing to take it? Will you just intimidate his enemies? Or will you go to war with his armies? How far does that friendship extend, and how much blood are you willing to spill to keep it?¡±


    Those weren¡¯t questions Sen had asked himself, so he had no answers to give. He thought for a moment and then shook his head. They weren¡¯t the kinds of questions you could resolve with a few seconds of deep thinking.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he admitted.


    ¡°You should decide before you get to the capital. You may need to know those answers, so you can draw a line at the right place.¡±


    ¡°I will give it some thought. Speaking of needing answers to things, is Uncle Kho around?¡±


    ¡°He is,¡± said Auntie Caihong with a gleam in her eye. ¡°Do you need him?¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± said Sen suspiciously.


    Smiling brightly, she said, ¡°Oh, well, I guess I¡¯ll just have to go steal Ai from him.¡±


    ¡°You know you can¡¯t keep her, right?¡± asked Sen in an exasperated voice.


    ¡°I know,¡± said Auntie Caihong. ¡°I¡¯ll just borrow her for a little while.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s a little while?¡±


    ¡°Not too long,¡± said Auntie Caihong with a wave of her hand as she disappeared deeper into the galehouse replica of her home. ¡°Just until she gets married.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±

 V7 Chapter 58 – Spear Talk

    Uncle Kho wore a decidedly grumpy expression when he came out to the courtyard where Sen was waiting for him.


    ¡°Uncle Kho,¡± said Sen cautiously, nodding at the elder cultivator.


    ¡°You interrupted storytime,¡± complained Uncle Kho.


    ¡°Storytime?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Storytime! I tell her stories about the adventures I¡¯ve had, complete with tiny lighting people to act it all out.¡±


    Uncle Kho held out a hand, palm up, where a tiny version of him made entirely of lightning appeared. The miniature Uncle Kho thrust a spear in Sen¡¯s general direction, and a slender forking arc of lightning leapt the distance to hit Sen in the ear.


    ¡°Ouch!¡± shouted Sen, rubbing his ear with a hand. ¡°Was that necessary?¡±


    Drawing himself up and assuming a mantle of supreme dignity, Uncle Kho said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m sorry I interrupted storytime.¡±


    Uncle Kho¡¯s dignified visage cracked into one of amusement. ¡°I suppose I¡¯ve had my revenge. You needed something?¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± said Sen before he reconsidered. ¡°What kind of stories are you telling her? I mean, it¡¯s nothing too scary or gruesome, is it?¡±


    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s not. What kind of person do you take me for?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just... I¡¯ve heard some of your stories. There¡¯s a lot of destroying entire sects, and lighting leaving the earth a scorched ruin for miles in every direction.¡±


    Uncle Kho lifted a finger, frowned, and then nodded.


    ¡°That¡¯s fair,¡± he said. ¡°I just tell her about things like me fighting spirit beasts.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen with a rush of relief. ¡°She likes stories where monsters lose.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I figured I¡¯d save those other stories for when she¡¯s older.¡±


    ¡°For the best, I expect. On the topic of when she¡¯s older, you have told Auntie Caihong that she can¡¯t just keep Ai, right?¡±


    Uncle Kho gave him a look of such profound pity that Sen found himself shuffling his feet a little bit.


    ¡°Sen, you can tell her that if you want, and you¡¯re feeling especially brave. I, your much older and wiser teacher, know better than to challenge powers that far beyond me.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a nascent soul cultivator. Aren¡¯t you preparing to challenge the heavens themselves to ascend?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I picked a battle I at least have a chance of winning.¡±


    ¡°I have no answer to that,¡± said Sen.


    Uncle Kho let out a light chuckle and said, ¡°So, what are we talking about today?¡±


    ¡°A couple of things actually. The less interesting question is, would you be willing to step in and do a little teaching while I¡¯m gone?¡±


    Uncle Kho¡¯s brow furrowed a little. ¡°Explain how much teaching we¡¯re really talking about here.¡±


    ¡°The townspeople are covered. The advanced students can handle running them through drills and like. Wu Meng Yao is dealing with most of the sword instruction for the cultivators who are here. I still need to recruit someone to teach the lower-level cultivators the spear. So, that¡¯s who you¡¯d be teaching. The cultivators. I¡¯ve limited them to the first couple forms you taught me.¡±


    ¡°That sounds simple enough,¡± said Uncle Kho, his expression smoothing out. ¡°So, you were serious about not providing cultivation instruction here?¡±


    ¡°I was. I mean, didn¡¯t you agree that a sect would be more trouble than it was worth?¡±


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    ¡°I did. I just didn¡¯t think you¡¯d actually take that advice.¡±


    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°Youth, mostly. Young people often ignore the very good advice their teachers and elders offer them. Also, founding a sect can have an appeal that overrides good sense. There is a kind of prestige that goes along with it.¡±


    Sen supposed he could see it, but the appeal was lost on him. He had more than enough fame to suit him. He didn¡¯t want to add anything more to that absurd legend that was growing up around him.


    ¡°Nope,¡± he said. ¡°Still too much trouble for not enough benefits. So, are you in?¡±


    ¡°As long as it doesn¡¯t go on for too long. It¡¯s sort of a pain to hide the fact that I¡¯m a nascent soul cultivator when I¡¯m in the same room as other cultivators. If people figure it out, they¡¯ll become very tedious.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m hoping this trip won¡¯t last very long. I expect that traveling there and back will take a lot longer than my actual stay in the capital.¡±


    ¡°Good plan. The less time you spend in places like that the better.¡±


    ¡°Places like that?¡±


    ¡°Places where mortal power and large sects converge. It¡¯s easy to get dragged into things that have nothing to do with you in places like that.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like the voice of experience,¡± noted Sen.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t move to that mountain just because I like the view. So, you said that teaching was the boring question. What¡¯s the interesting question?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the next spear form?¡±


    Uncle Kho quirked an eyebrow at him. ¡°What makes you think that there is one?¡±


    ¡°Intuition. I¡¯ve been working with the spear a lot lately, and I can just feel that there¡¯s something more after what you taught me.¡±


    That statement brought on a protracted silence that made Sen nervous. When he did finally speak, there was a contemplative air around Uncle Kho.


    ¡°So, that¡¯s where you are. I did wonder if you¡¯d get there. Not everyone does.¡±


    ¡°And where is there, exactly?¡± asked Sen.


    Instead of answering, Uncle Kho posed a question of his own.


    ¡°What do you think a form is?¡±


    Sen squinted in confusion and said, ¡°A series of prescribed movements designed to impart fundamentals of motion, defense, and attack.¡±


    Uncle Kho nodded. ¡°An accurate enough answer, but you¡¯re thinking about it too individually. Most of the martial forms that cultivators practice didn¡¯t originate with cultivators. They originated with mortals. We might enhance them with cultivation, but go far enough back and you¡¯ll find mortals with sharp sticks trying to find a better way to survive. Another way to think of the forms is that they¡¯re general patterns that work for most people. After all, what good is a form to a mortal army if only one person can do it?¡±


    ¡°Not much good, I¡¯d imagine,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Precisely. So, all of those idiosyncratic forms designed by geniuses for their own needs typically fall out of use as soon as they die.¡±


    ¡°While the forms that work for everyone live on.¡±


    ¡°Yes. At a certain point, though, if you go far enough with any weapon, you bump up against the limits of those general forms. You intuitively know that there¡¯s something more, or rather that there¡¯s something else that would work better for you. Something designed around your exact strengths and weaknesses.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re saying that I need to create my own¡­ What did you call it? My own idiosyncratic form?¡±


    Uncle Kho shrugged. ¡°No. You can use what I already taught you to excellent effect, probably for the rest of your very long life. Innovation isn¡¯t inherently a good thing. It can even be a bad thing if it draws your attention away from more immediate and pressing needs. What I¡¯m saying is that you''ve gone far enough now, developed sufficient insight, that you can develop your own form if you decide you want to.¡±


    ¡°If I want to,¡± murmured Sen. ¡°This isn¡¯t quite how I thought this conversation was going to go.¡±


    ¡°What were you expecting? That I decided to only teach you some of what I knew?¡±


    ¡°Well, yes, but not in a bad way. I just assumed that I needed more experience before I was ready to learn it.¡±


    ¡°Nope. You¡¯re going to discover more and more that the things you learn will be things that you develop on your own. Teachers can only guide you so far because, at a certain point, everyone walks a path shaped by their own insights, affinities, and experiences. The longer you live, the farther you go, the more those paths diverge. And that¡¯s not a bad thing. If you had good teachers, you should outgrow them and chart a path for yourself.¡±


    Sen saw the wisdom, but there was something melancholy about it too.


    ¡°That sounds lonely,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Cultivation is lonely. For all that cultivators gather into sects or travel in groups, it is a harsh truth that, if you reach that moment of ascension, you will face the heavens alone. Just you. No one else can face that final tribulation for you. You cannot carry another person with you. But that doesn¡¯t mean you have to be alone on your way there.¡±


    Sen smiled as a memory surfaced.


    ¡°I seem to recall you saying the same thing to Master Feng.¡±


    ¡°Many, many times. It¡¯s worth repeating, even if I know he never really hears the words. It seems that you, at least, heard them. It¡¯s a strange little family you¡¯ve built for yourself, but a family all the same. After all, how many little girls get a mad aunt and a spider on speaking terms with the Great Matriarch for an uncle? To say nothing of a legendary father.¡±


    ¡°Infamous, maybe. And I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m not more of an uncle, myself.¡±


    ¡°You should just go ahead and bury that lie,¡± said Uncle Kho.


    ¡°I suppose that makes you her grandfather.¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯m just the much and rightly adored Uncle Kho. Or maybe Great Uncle Kho. Yes. Great Uncle Kho. I like the sound of that. Let Ming be her grandfather. He needs it,¡± said the elder cultivator before giving Sen a sly look. ¡°Although, I will give you five thousand gold tael if you tell Caihong she¡¯s very grandmotherly.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to tell her you said that.¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t,¡± said Uncle Kho as panic and dread went to war on his face.

 V7 Chapter 59 – Pressure

    Based on the look that Wu Meng Yao was giving him, she clearly felt less confident about the plan than he did. He gave her a lopsided smile.


    ¡°What? I sense doubt. Do you question the wisdom of your glorious leader?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I do question the wisdom of leaving me in charge here while you¡¯re gone for some indefinite amount of time,¡± said Wu Meng Ya before a hint of a smile crossed her lips. ¡°If you could arrange an introduction to this glorious leader, though, I would like to meet them.¡±


    Sen blinked in surprise and then laughed.


    ¡°Better,¡± he said. ¡°And it won¡¯t be as bad as you think. I¡¯ve found someone to temporarily take over the spear training for the cultivators, and you¡¯ve got the sword training mostly in hand.¡±


    ¡°What about her?¡± asked Wu Meng Yao.


    Sen didn¡¯t need to ask who that her referred to.


    ¡°Sua Xing Xing will be fine. I¡¯ll leave her with some instructions about how to train while I¡¯m gone.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. You don¡¯t think she¡¯s going to listen to me, do you?¡±


    ¡°She better listen to you, or she can leave exactly two seconds after I get back. Like I said, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Ideally, you won¡¯t have to interact with her at all. I will, however, make it abundantly clear to her who is in charge while I¡¯m away.¡±


    ¡°I¡ª¡± she sighed. ¡°Alright.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to be looking to recruit a few people to pitch in with training while I¡¯m in the capital. Some for both the sword and the spear.¡±


    ¡°You are?¡± asked Wu Meng Yao, sounding genuinely surprised.


    ¡°Yeah. What? Did you think I was just going to keep you here forever like some kind of slave?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty well paid for a slave.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± said Sen, ¡°but this was always a temporary arrangement for you. I don¡¯t know when you plan to leave, but I¡¯ve always known you were going to. You have your own cultivation journey to attend to, which means going back to your sect. So, obviously, I need to find a replacement that I can at least nominally trust.¡±


    ¡°Trust not to spy on you?¡±


    ¡°Trust not to try to kill me in my sleep. As long as they spy on me quietly, that¡¯ll be good enough.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have thought you¡¯d be so understanding about that,¡± said Wu Meng Yao. ¡°It seems like the kind of thing that would normally provoke a more extreme response.¡±


    ¡°Letting people do some basic spying is to my advantage in the short run. The real risk is that someone is going to think I¡¯m starting a sect. So, if I let people spy on me, they¡¯re going to discover that this place is exactly what I¡¯m saying it is. And if the sects confirm that with their own spies¡ª¡± Sen trailed off.


    ¡°They¡¯ll be more likely to believe it and leave you alone.¡±


    ¡°Precisely.¡±


    Wu Meng Yao stared at him for a moment before she asked, ¡°Why are you taking Shen Mingxia with you?¡±


    ¡°As opposed to you?¡± asked Sen with an amused smirk.


    ¡°As opposed to literally anyone else. Is there something happening between the two of you?¡±


    The smirk vanished from Sen¡¯s face. ¡°Do you think that¡¯s an appropriate question?¡±


    ¡°Maybe not appropriate but relevant. Necessary. I¡¯m responsible for her while we¡¯re away from the sect.¡±


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    ¡°Including things that have nothing to do with cultivation?¡±


    ¡°If I think that it might end in her leaving the sect, yes,¡± said Wu Meng Yao with cold defiance on her face.


    Sen resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. It didn¡¯t actually help when he did that, except maybe psychologically. He wanted to just tell her it was none of her business or that it was a stupid question, but he held back. He didn¡¯t understand exactly what Wu Meng Yao¡¯s responsibilities were in regard to Shen Mingxia. However, he had to assume that it would go badly for her if Shen Mingxia died or had her cultivation damaged in some fundamental way. It would probably go even worse if Wu Meng Yao managed to lose the sect a promising disciple to some other sect or, worse still, a wandering cultivator like him. Well, maybe not him, specifically, given his history with the Soaring Skies Sect, but a wandering cultivator. So, while he was mildly offended on Shen Mingxia¡¯s behalf and his own, he decided that answering would solve the problem faster than raising more objections to the question.


    ¡°No,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s nothing happening between us. Believe it or not, even if I was interested, I¡¯m not that obnoxiously irresponsible.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure what that means.¡±


    ¡°You do. Or you will if you think it through for a second.¡±


    Wu Meng Yao frowned, and her forehead furrowed as she pondered the problem. Sen just waited patiently as she slowly worked it out. He saw it on her face when she put the pieces together.


    ¡°Being involved that way with you would make her a target. And she¡¯s not powerful enough to defend herself if your enemies were looking for a way to get at you.¡±


    ¡°She is not. Being a cultivator means that she would, inevitably, need to leave my sphere of influence. So, no, I have not been entertaining Shen Mingxia in my bedroom while you weren¡¯t looking. I¡¯m choosing to restrict that part of my life to people who don¡¯t need my protection just to survive.¡±


    Wu Meng Yao looked like she was going to speak a couple of times before she finally muttered, ¡°That seems like a very strange thing to thank you for.¡±


    ¡°It would be,¡± agreed Sen. ¡°As for the original question, it¡¯s exactly the reasons I gave her. She¡¯s going to serve as a shield for me. Keep those nobles and sect flunkies from hounding me to go as my escort. Also, seeing how things happen in the capital will be educational for her. Who knows? She might even make a useful connection or two while she¡¯s there. Being on friendly terms with one or two people in a big sect could prove useful for her in the long run.¡±


    ¡°Is that all?¡± asked Wu Meng Yao as she studied him carefully. ¡°Just that?¡±


    Sen rolled his eyes. ¡°Fine. It may also be, just a tiny little bit, for my amusement.¡±


    Wu Meng Yao thrust a finger at him. ¡°I knew it! You¡¯re going to throw her to that pack of ravening hyenas just so you can laugh at her.¡±


    ¡°Ravening hyenas?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°You know what I mean,¡± she said with a truly magnificent glare. ¡°And stop changing the subject.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not. I mean, ravening hyenas? Why not wolves?¡±


    The intensity of the glare she was giving Sen went up about a hundredfold and threatened to set his robes on fire. Sen lifted his hands in a peaceful gesture.


    ¡°Yes, it will amuse me to see her interact with them, but,¡± said Sen, ¡°you know as well as I do that pressure is formative. A brief exposure to that kind of pressure now, while she¡¯s still developing her foundations and settling on her path, will pay off for her later.¡±


    ¡°Pressure can be formative, but too much pressure breaks people.¡±


    ¡°I, of all people, am aware of what too much pressure can do to someone. And my amusement doesn¡¯t extend to me watching her collapse beneath all of that pressure. If it looks like it¡¯s getting to be too much, I¡¯ll step in.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to hold you to that,¡± said Wu Meng Yao.


    Sen was about to go find something else to do when a thoughtful look stole over the sect cultivator¡¯s face. Damn, thought Sen as Wu Meng Yao¡¯s glare returned. She stepped closer to poke him in the chest.


    ¡°Is that what you¡¯re doing to me by putting me in charge?¡± she demanded. ¡°Putting me under pressure to help me develop?¡±


    ¡°That,¡± said Sen, doing his utmost to project an air of sincerity, ¡°would be far too much like providing you with cultivation instruction. Something that you know I do not provide here. Besides, that would have been particularly devious and rather clever planning. Do I seem like someone who is particularly devious and has clever plans to you?¡±


    ¡°You do now.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m wounded. Wounded that you would think such things about me.¡±


    ¡°That would be a lot more convincing if I didn¡¯t know that you spent most of your time with nine tail foxes the last time you went on a long trip away from here. It seems like you might have learned a thing or two from them.¡±


    Sen let out a small groan.


    ¡°Oh, I learned some things from them. I don¡¯t know that I¡¯d call any of it useful, but I definitely learned some things.¡±


    ¡°Like being devious and making clever plans?¡±


    ¡°No, it was more like how to do witty banter and imbue unnecessary sexual tension into a conversation.¡±


    Wu Meng Yao gave him the flattest of flat looks and said, ¡°Did you forget that we met before this? I can say, with absolute certainty, that the foxes didn¡¯t teach you either of those things.¡±


    Sen stood motionless and returned her flat stare with a blank, innocent expression before cupping a hand to his ear.


    ¡°What¡¯s that? Ai needs me?¡± he said to the air.


    ¡°I know you¡¯re lying. It¡¯s not even a good lie.¡±


    ¡°Right now, you say?¡± Sen asked the air, before walking away and calling over his shoulder. ¡°Sorry. I¡¯ll have to cut this short.¡±


    ¡°You better not break my student!¡± she shouted at him.


    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine,¡± shouted Sen as he disappeared through the door of the training hall.

 V7 Chapter 60 – Training Plans

    The trees rushed by beneath him as Sen kept his qi platform moving at a steady pace. He didn¡¯t try to go at full speed because he was relatively certain Sua Xing Xing couldn¡¯t have kept up. Of course, based on the growing look of concern she wore the deeper Sen took them into the wilds, keeping up was not her main concern at the moment. She was watching the trees below and around them like she expected something to rise up and attack them at any moment. Sen supposed it was possible, but he didn¡¯t let that take away from the nice day. The sun was up and shining, the sky was clear, and the morning air had a refreshing coolness to it that Sen let slip into the small area around him that he controlled. When he finally spotted what he was looking for, he took them down to a clear area that had a large vein of smooth stone covering most of it. He settled onto the rock and waited for Sua Xing Xing to join him. She landed close to him. Almost too close. Another sign that her nerves were getting the better of her. She looked at him and failed to hide her nerves.


    ¡°Is there a reason you¡¯ve brought me to this,¡± she gestured around her, ¡°this awful place?¡±


    Sen looked around curiously. Aside from this patch of rock, the surroundings were a rather lovely, if somewhat primordial, forest. Everything looked healthy and lush. He even spotted some flowers that broke up the green with tiny explosions of color. The burbling sounds of a stream wafted through the air to add a gentle musical quality to the area. He lifted an eyebrow at Sua Xing Xing.


    ¡°Awful place?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yes. These are the deep wilds,¡± she said in a hushed tone, as though afraid that something would take notice of her. ¡°Cultivators only come to places like this in force or desperation. To come so far is to court death.¡±


    Sen pondered that declaration. He had gone far deeper into the wilds than this for months on end. He wondered if that experience had made him somehow less cautious than he should be about the dangers. He supposed it was possible. Short of a full beast tide, there wasn¡¯t much he¡¯d seen in the wilds that gave him pause anymore. That probably was a matter of pure exposure and the repeated experience of fighting while alone or with only a few companions. Experiences he suspected that Sua Xing Xing did not share. She looked like she was keeping panic at bay only through pure effort. At the very least, she believed that this was the deep wilds and that destruction was imminent.


    ¡°That kind of fear won¡¯t serve you well,¡± said Sen. ¡°This may be the wilds, but it isn¡¯t the deep wilds.¡±


    ¡°So, you say,¡± she snapped back.


    ¡°So, I say. Go another hundred, maybe two hundred miles in that direction,¡± said Sen, pointing, ¡°and you¡¯ll start to find the true deep wilds.¡±


    ¡°How can you possibly¡ª¡± she stopped, realization making her eyes go wide. ¡°You¡¯ve been that deep into the wilds?¡±


    ¡°I have,¡± said Sen before he wandered over to the edge of the woodlands and plucked a small flower.


    Sua Xing Xing made another effort to suppress her fear by focusing on the flower in his hand.


    ¡°Is that some special ingredient you need for your alchemy? Is that why we came here?¡± she asked.


    Sen glanced down at the flower held between his thumb and forefinger.


    ¡°No. It¡¯s just a pretty flower. It smells nice, too,¡± he said, holding it out at about the height of her nose.


    The sect cultivator took a cautious sniff. Then, slowly, almost as if it pained her to make the admission, she nodded.


    ¡°Fine. It smells nice. Did you drag me all the way out here just so you could pick flowers?¡±


    ¡°Not particularly,¡± he said, planting the flower so it sat between her hair and her ear.


    A flurry of emotions raced across the woman¡¯s face. Confusion. Uncertainty. Anticipation.


    ¡°Then, why?¡± she asked, her hand rising to the flower in a gesture that looked unconscious.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving soon,¡± said Sen. ¡°I wanted to discuss what I¡¯ll expect of your training while I¡¯m away.¡±


    That had apparently not been the answer she was expecting, because a flush of anger or embarrassment stole across her cheeks.


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    ¡°My training,¡± she said slowly.


    ¡°Just because I¡¯m away, it doesn¡¯t mean that you get to skate on your training.¡±


    ¡°Skate?¡± asked Sua Xing Xing, bafflement momentarily replacing annoyance.


    ¡°Damn foxes,¡± muttered Sen. ¡°I mean you don¡¯t get to stop training just because I¡¯m not around to directly supervise you.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± she said, before doing what Sen had expected. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be easier to simply take me with you and continue my training that way?¡±


    ¡°I expect so. I¡¯m still not doing it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m from a large sect. I know how to behave around nobles and royalty. I could be an asset to you in the capital.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure that all of that is true,¡± said Sen as he agreeably nodded along.


    ¡°And you never even considered it?¡±


    ¡°I did not.¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯ll take that foundation formation girl from some backwater sect?¡±


    ¡°I will.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    Sen dropped the affable mask he¡¯d been wearing.


    ¡°It¡¯s quite simple. I trust that foundation formation girl. I trust her to follow my lead. I trust her not to run some agenda that only serves to benefit her.¡±


    ¡°The corollary being that you don¡¯t trust me. You think that I will engage in some self-serving agenda that will bring you no benefits or actively harm you.¡±


    Sen considered that and said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe. Maybe not. That¡¯s the biggest problem with you, aside from your general, well, you-ness. I don¡¯t know you. I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re really here. That makes trust a rather scarce commodity, don¡¯t you think?¡±


    The woman was very still for a moment before she said, ¡°My me-ness?¡±


    Sen sighed. Of course, that was what she focused on.


    ¡°People don¡¯t like you,¡± Sen explained.


    Sua Xing Xing took a step back as if she were physically recoiling from the words. For just an instant, Sen saw a flash of legitimate hurt, pain, and regret. Then, it was gone. Covered over with the haughty attitude of a young mistress from a powerful sect.


    ¡°I don¡¯t require their affection,¡± she said, lifting her chin and staring into the distance.


    ¡°No?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°No,¡± she answered.


    ¡°You know, I don¡¯t need to eat anymore. I barely need to sleep. Yet, I eat every day. I try to get a little sleep most days. Do you know why?¡±


    She turned a wary eye toward him. ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because there¡¯s more to life than simply what¡¯s required to survive. That¡¯s a lesson I learned the hard way. In the end, I just enjoy food. I like cooking it. I like eating it. It¡¯s not necessary for me, but it improves the quality of my life. Having friends, family, people I trust and who trust me in return may not be an absolute requirement for my survival, but they also improve the quality of my life. I would be diminished by their absence,¡± said Sen, and then he shrugged. ¡°But that¡¯s just me. Do with it what you will.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have time for such nonsense,¡± said Sua Xing Xing.


    ¡°Do I strike you as a man burdened by excessive free time?¡± asked Sen, but he kept speaking before she could answer. ¡°Speaking of which, on to the issue of your training. In addition to practicing what I¡¯ve already shown you, I expect you to work on this.¡±


    In a burst of motion and qi, Sen drew his jian and swept it up. A wafer-thin wall of stone almost fifty feet long and just as high shot up out of the ground. Sua Xing Xing just stared at it with a look of incomprehension.


    ¡°Obviously,¡± continued Sen, ¡°you don¡¯t use earth qi. So, I expect you to adapt this technique to work with your water qi affinity.¡±


    Sua Xing Xing turned incredulous eyes on him. ¡°You expect me to do that? What happened to not teaching us about cultivation?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say a single word about how you should cultivate. I just showed you something I can do. If you manage to adapt the technique, it¡¯ll be because you taught yourself something about cultivation.¡±


    ¡°This doesn¡¯t have anything to do with swordsmanship,¡± she said weakly. ¡°It¡¯s not a fair test.¡±


    Sen reached out and adjusted the flower behind Sua Xing Xing¡¯s ear, which made her breath catch a little. She stared at him like she couldn¡¯t decide if she wanted to yell at him or kiss him. Sen thought that being unsettled was probably good for her.


    He offered her a bright smile. ¡°Test is such a harsh word. You should consider this an opportunity. Yes, it¡¯s an opportunity to impress me with your work ethic.¡±


    ¡°My work ethic?¡± Sua Xing Xing almost screamed.


    ¡°Your work ethic. Oh, by the way, Wu Meng Yao is in charge while I¡¯m gone. She knows you¡¯ll be training on your own, so I don¡¯t expect you¡¯ll cross paths with each other too often.¡±


    Sua Xing Xing spluttered. ¡°What? Her? You¡¯re leaving her in charge? But she¡¯s¡­ I¡¯m¡ª¡±


    ¡°She is a teacher at the academy. You are a student. You will respect those roles,¡± said Sen, his voice going very hard, ¡°or you will leave.¡±


    Sen waited to see if the indignity of it all would actually kill Sua Xing Xing. Judging by how red her face got, she was ready to explode. She opened her mouth once, looking for all the world like she intended to curse him straight into the thousand hells before she closed it hard enough that he heard her teeth slam together with an audible crack. He could see the muscles along her jaw working furiously as she held back whatever enraged commentary was rushing through her mind. In the end, she offered him a very formal, very precise bow.


    ¡°It will be as you say,¡± she said through clenched teeth.


    Sen was tempted to make some glib comment but recognized that it would be counterproductive. He¡¯d brought her out there, intentionally unbalanced her, because he wanted to make a few points. He¡¯d made them. Anything else would just be him venting some of his own general dislike for her. She didn¡¯t deserve that treatment, no matter how satisfying it might feel. He was supposed to be her teacher, after all, and she wouldn¡¯t learn anything of value from him being unnecessarily cruel. Instead, he glanced up at the sky.


    ¡°We should head back,¡± he announced to Sua Xing Xing¡¯s visible relief. ¡°There¡¯s still a lot to do before I leave.¡±

 V7 Chapter 61 – Elsewhere

    Li Yi Nuo had always thought of her sect as being rural. That was until she¡¯d gone off to meet Sen¡¯s nigh-mythological spear teacher. It had been a long journey. Longer than it needed to be. She found herself almost shaking with rage at the sheer number of times she¡¯d been dragged into some problem that had absolutely nothing to do with her. It was like the cultivators in this part of the kingdom simply had no respect whatsoever for cultivators from other sects, even core cultivators. And that was to say nothing of local nobles finding out about her and insisting she attend one ridiculous function or another, only to find out that they were trying to use her to advance some equally ridiculous scheme of theirs. To make it all even worse, she couldn¡¯t go a day without hearing a story about him. Judgment¡¯s Gale. The great cultivator. The hero.


    They had clearly never met the man. If they had, they would be a lot more afraid and a lot less worshipful. Li Yi Nuo sighed and chided herself for that unkind thought. If his experience in this part of the kingdom had been anything like her experience, it was no wonder the man was so deeply mistrustful of sects or anything that even smacked of official power. Such were her thoughts as she entered the town of Orchard¡¯s Reach. Looking around, she was struck by just how small the place was. She struggled to imagine Lu Sen ever setting foot in such a tiny, dirty, unremarkable place. How it had ever contained his personality, to say nothing of his person, was a mystery she feared would never be solved. Although, she thought, I guess it didn¡¯t contain him in the end.


    Her impressions of the place did not improve much as she moved toward what could charitably be called the heart of the town. It got a little cleaner, but that was about the only positive change she noted. It was also clear that they didn¡¯t get a lot of cultivators in core formation coming and going. Men and women alike stared at her. Some puffed-up local tried to saunter over to her and was stopped cold with a single, imperious look of disdain that made him go white in the face. She almost felt bad for the man. She¡¯d been in a sect for a long time, which meant she¡¯d already grown accustomed to the presence of ridiculously attractive people. On top of that, she¡¯d stood within a foot of Lu Sen. After all of that, the bar for what counted as attractive was just so damned high that almost everyone seemed ugly. With a sense of relief, she spotted the shop she was looking for and went inside.


    A young woman who seemed only mildly dazed by her presence directed Li Yi Nuo to the manager, a stern woman of middle years who greeted her politely.


    ¡°And how may Grandmother Lu¡¯s Heavenly Wares serve the honored cultivator?¡± asked the manager.


    ¡°I am looking for a man named Kho,¡± said Li Yi Nuo. ¡°I was told that I should be able to connect with him here by one Lu Sen.¡±


    The manager brightened at Lu Sen¡¯s name.


    ¡°The young master directed you here,¡± she said. ¡°He must not have known.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo felt a pit open up inside of her. ¡°He must not have known what?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, honored cultivator, but the one called Kho has left the area for a time.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo felt something trying to well up inside of her. I came all this way, she thought. I came here, and it was for nothing? It took her a moment to marshal her composure, but when she felt like she could speak calmly, she addressed the manager.


    ¡°Do you know where he went?¡± asked Li Yi Nuo.


    The manager looked particularly sheepish when she answered. ¡°I was told that he was going to go west. To see the young master.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo ground her teeth together to trap the thing that was ever more urgently trying to escape from inside of her. Kho Jaw-Long was going west. To see Sen. He was going to the place where she had traveled from. She felt like the universe was mocking her.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± she said to the manager and left the shop.


    Once outside, she activated her qinggong technique and escaped the wretched little cesspit of a town as fast as she could. When she was several miles away, she stopped in the middle of the road, threw back her head, and screamed in raw frustration.


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    ***


    Feng Ming lashed out with a kick that connected with the dragon¡¯s chest. Said chest imploded under the force of that blow, snuffing out the ancient creature¡¯s life in an instant. The massive corpse of the dragon rocketed away from the nascent soul cultivator and slammed into a mountain so deep in the wilds that no human name had ever graced the peak. After the dragon passed through the mountain and reduced it to a large pile of rubble, he realized that it wouldn¡¯t ever get that name. I¡¯ll just call it Dragon¡¯s Folly, thought Ming with a snort of amusement. He hovered in the air for a minute or two, waiting. When no one came out to greet him, he finally lost patience. Enhancing his voice with qi until it rang out like thunder, Ming spoke.


    ¡°You made me kill your pet. Now, why don¡¯t you come on out like a good little spirit beast and have a chat with old Grandfather Feng?¡±


    There was another long pause before a figure rose into the air to face him. The figure looked like a human man, with long, oddly pale hair, and dark eyes, but the man felt all wrong. He couldn¡¯t quite put a finger on why, but something told him that the figure before him had started out life as some kind of a serpent. The problem was that this was not the being Feng Ming had come looking for. The creature was strong, certainly, but not nearly strong enough. He sighed.


    ¡°Really? A lackey?¡± asked Ming. ¡°Oh, I see. He sent out the dragon and left you as a backup so he¡¯d have time to run away. That¡¯s some king you have. Afraid to come out and face a lone, old wandering cultivator.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s well aware of who you are. Why should he face you? That benefits only you,¡± said the snake man.


    ¡°Well,¡± said Ming, thoughtfully, ¡°it seems your coward, I mean, your king, has been stirring up the spirit beasts. Making them angry enough to do stupid things like invade human towns and kill everyone. I think it¡¯s high time for that foolishness to stop. Otherwise, there¡¯s going to be a war.¡±


    ¡°That war has always existed. Even if your kind doesn¡¯t know it.¡±


    ¡°No. There has not always been a war,¡± said Ming, his voice growing cold and angry. ¡°If there had been a war, none of you would still be walking this world.¡±


    ¡°Human cultivators,¡± sneered the snake man. ¡°Your arrogance will be your downfall. Look at you. You came all this way, just to die in a trap.¡±


    At those words, dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of spirit beasts rose into the sky to form a massive circle around him. Ming looked around curiously, then lifted an eyebrow at the sneering snake man.


    ¡°Is this all you brought?¡±


    The snake man seemed taken aback at the question. ¡°Your false bravado will not save you.¡±


    Ming looked at the jian in his hand for a minute, gave it a fond smile, and then sheathed it.


    ¡°The funny thing about being me is that, whenever I¡¯m within about a thousand miles of another human being or cultivator, I have to restrain myself. But here, with all of you, so far from the rest of humanity, I don¡¯t have to worry that I¡¯m going to accidentally scare some poor farmer to death or ignite a sect war just by acting. Here, I can actually stretch myself a little. Just a little, though.¡±


    The snake man narrowed his eyes. ¡°What are you babbling about?¡±


    Ming smiled and unleashed his killing intent. Spirit beasts died by the hundreds. Some of them simply fell from the sky, their lives extinguished. Others exploded under the pressure, sending a red rain down onto the forests below. The ones that didn¡¯t die immediately were rocked by the force of that intangible, terrible intent, and rendered all but insensate. Ming locked eyes with the snake man, who looked aghast at the carnage he was witnessing, and snapped his fingers. Thousands of wind blades appeared all around him. Except, these were not the the wind blades of lesser cultivators. They weren¡¯t vague distortions in the air. They looked like solid sheets of crystal, their edges so fine and sharp that the very air screamed as it was torn asunder. It was a sea of solidified death.


    The snake man understood what was about to happen and was rendered powerless to stop it as Ming seized him in bands of air stronger than any metal in the world. The snake man tried to scream a warning, but it meant nothing as the merciless will of Fate¡¯s Razor unleashed his anger. As those wind blades raced toward the assembled army of spirit beats, a howl like something from the void itself rose around them. The rain of red turned into a flood that drenched the world below them. In mere moments, Ming and the snake man were only sapient beings within miles. Everything else with a mind to know had either died or was racing away like the jaws of death were closing around them. Ming floated over to the snake man.


    ¡°You tell your false king that the war he wants to start so badly is over. If he continues down this path, you will be hunted like prey. You will be killed like the base creatures of the land and sky. Your children will be caged and farmed like livestock. This is my promise to you,¡± said Feng Ming, his face a mask of conviction. ¡°Now, go.¡±


    With a trivial effort of will, he sent the snake man hurtling into the distance. Well, that should buy us a little time, at any rate, thought Ming. Looking around at what he¡¯d been made to do, he shook his head.


    ¡°What a waste,¡± he whispered. ¡°What a stupid, senseless waste.¡±

 V7 Chapter 62 – Observation

    Sen stood motionless inside the shadow he¡¯d wrapped around himself and watched as Wu Meng Yao conducted a class. Part of him hated to admit it, but he was pretty sure she was a better teacher. It wasn¡¯t a matter of knowledge. He was, by all meaningful measures, the better swordsman. He understood the weapon better. He knew more about using it. But it was becoming clear that he wasn¡¯t necessarily better at showing someone else how to use it. For direct instruction, she simply had a quality that he lacked. He viewed teaching students as largely a matter of correcting flaws in their stance and imparting additional forms. It was a decidedly one-sided relationship where he provided information, and it was on them to incorporate it.


    It took him a while to figure it out because she never discussed it. He wasn¡¯t even sure if she thought about it. The primary difference between himself and Wu Meng Yao as teachers was that she wanted her students to improve. It was important to her. More than that, she wanted them to improve in some vague, holistic way that Sen struggled to understand. Almost as if she believed that if she believed enough in them, they would become better. It baffled him, even if he could see how it changed the way the students reacted to her. His students worked hard. They worked very hard, in no small part because he wouldn¡¯t accept anything less. Wu Meng Yao¡¯s students would work themselves to death if she asked them to. Of course, she never would, and he suspected they all knew that too.


    He wasn¡¯t heartless when it came to his students. Sen didn¡¯t want them to fail, but it wasn¡¯t going to influence his self-perception much if some of them did. Not every student was destined for greatness. Some deficits could be overcome through sheer tenacity and hard work. He knew that much from personal experience. He also knew that he¡¯d been lucky in many regards. He¡¯d had deficits. Looking back, he could see them all too clearly, but they had been the kinds of deficits that hard work could overcome. If his body had been slightly different, his ability to intuit certain kinds of tactical realities a little less acute, his mind a little duller, he would have been one of those failures. At a certain point, a lack of talent, insight, and a hundred other things could and would bring someone¡¯s journey toward mastery to an irrevocable end. It was harsh, but it was also a fact.


    Armed with that fact, Sen didn¡¯t tie himself emotionally to the success and failure of individual students. Particularly the cultivators he dealt with as students. He was looking to raise the overall competence of a large number of people to maximize the survival chances of the small towns and villages that didn¡¯t have the questionable good fortune to be located right outside of a sect. Much as cultivators faced the heavens alone, those towns and villages would face the spirit beasts alone. They needed help and training they simply weren¡¯t going to get anywhere else. Cultivators, even wandering cultivators, had a lot of options. If they didn¡¯t like what they got from him, well, they could seek their training elsewhere. It seemed that Wu Meng Yao did not share that view, and he couldn¡¯t say that he was surprised. She was from a sect and steeped in sect thinking. She probably saw helping all those mortals as the distant, secondary concern of this place, and helping cultivators as the real work to be done. She poured herself into the task.


    A tiny little piece of Sen envied that capacity in her, but he recognized that he couldn¡¯t afford to think or act that way. It would become a distraction that took the academy off of the path he¡¯d set for it. He had to think in terms of the big picture and broader goals so that other people could do things like worry about the progress of individual students. None of which made it any easier for Sen to accept that Wu Meng Yao was just better at this than he was. That was pride talking poison into his ear. He knew it. He just wished knowing that made it easier to ignore. He¡¯d just have to settle for not acting on it. Plus, even if he couldn¡¯t act that way, he could offer some support. As the class was nearing its end, Sen stepped out of the shadow he¡¯d been¡­


    Was I just lurking? Damn it, thought Sen. I was lurking. He took solace in the fact that he¡¯d also been hiding, so at least no one would know he¡¯d been acting like Fu Ruolan. The class ground to an immediate halt when he stopped hiding. Everyone stared at him until Wu Meng Yao offered a bow. The dozen or so foundation formation cultivators in the class hastily followed her lead. Sen inclined his head to them and then waved a hand.


    ¡°Continue,¡± he said.


    Wu Meng Yao gave the class a withering look and clapped her hands to draw their attention.


    ¡°You heard the man. Continue.¡±


    Sen could tell his mere presence made them all nervous, particularly as he circled around them like a great wolf picking the weakest deer in the herd. He zeroed in on the man with dark red hair he¡¯d been forced to chastise when he¡¯d first met Sua Xing Xing. He made sure to keep a cool, impassive expression on his face as he walked over to the man. Learning from past failures, he had at least made a point to find out the man¡¯s name. Soon Zi Rui tried and failed to maintain his composure as Sen cast a critical eye over him. Without saying a word, Sen reached out with his foot and nudged the cringing cultivator¡¯s foot into the proper position. Then, he adjusted the man¡¯s grip on his jian.


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    ¡°You¡¯ll gain a fraction of a second on your strikes if you hold it this way,¡± said Sen.


    Soon Zi Rui gave a jerky nod of his head. Moving on, Sen took a moment with each student to offer some little nugget of wisdom or correction. He saved the tiny, childlike woman, Mo Kai-Ming, for last. She beamed up at him like he was her favorite brother. He offered her a gentle smile and some minor corrections.


    ¡°See me after you finish. I have something for you,¡± he told her.


    He said it casually like it was routine for him to stop by and tell one of the students to see him. He¡¯d done it on purpose. He saw the way the other cultivators treated her, the dismissal in their eyes, and he didn¡¯t like it. He didn¡¯t like it at all. Simply by inviting her to speak with him, her position in the social order of the class had just been adjusted from the bottom to somewhere above the top. She offered him a surprised nod, and he retreated to stand behind and to the side of Wu Meng Yao. He¡¯d violated the natural balance of things enough for one day. Wu Meng Yao closed out the class with a firm admonition to continue practicing hard before she turned and bowed to him again.


    ¡°And we should all thank the founder for taking the time to visit with us today and impart his wisdom,¡± she said.


    The class all bowed again, and Sen did what Falling Leaf had told him to do. He lived with it. He inclined his head to them again.


    ¡°I¡¯m impressed. You should all thank your teacher for the very excellent instruction she has been providing to you.¡±


    Everyone in the class straightened at the words and bowed to Wu Meng Yao.


    As one, they shouted, ¡°Thank you, Teacher!¡±


    Wu Meng Yao actually blushed and seemed at a loss for what to say, so Sen stepped up next to her.


    ¡°You are dismissed,¡± he announced.


    Most of the cultivators left, although he could see all of them shooting curious looks at Mo Kai-Ming. He also saw a few jealous looks sent her way as well. He wondered if he hadn¡¯t done her as much of a favor as he¡¯d thought. Well, it¡¯s too late to take it back, he thought. The tiny woman came over looking a little uncertain about what to expect. He smiled at her.


    ¡°May I see your blade?¡± he asked her.


    ¡°Of course,¡± she said, hastily untying the weapon from her waist and handing it to him.


    He took it from her and unsheathed it. It was a blade of decent quality for someone in the qi-gathering stage, but it would fall short in foundation formation. That wasn¡¯t the only problem with it. She was making do, but the weapon was simply too long for her. It had been obvious as the class worked through their forms. He sighed and shook his head.


    ¡°This won¡¯t do,¡± he said. ¡°It won¡¯t do at all.¡±


    He sheathed the jian and handed it to Wu Meng Yao, who was giving him the same look of mixed concern and confusion as Mo Kai-Ming. After a brief search through his storage rings, he summoned a jian he¡¯d bought for this specific purpose and promptly forgotten about for months.


    ¡°I believe that this blade will suit you better,¡± he said and offered her the sword. ¡°Consider a minor inclusion in your recompense.¡±


    Her eyes wide, Mo Kai-Ming reached out and took the sword. It was of a substantially better quality than the one she¡¯d been using. Just as importantly, it was shorter. While that loss in length would come at a small cost in range, it would also come with a substantial improvement in control. He might find out he was wrong in the long run, but he considered an improvement in control to be far more valuable than a small gain in range. After all, cultivators could maintain range with speed and techniques. There was no substitute for control. Unsheathing the blade, the tiny woman¡¯s eyes went wide. She immediately put it back into the scabbard and tried to return it.


    ¡°This is too expensive. It¡¯s too much. I¡¯ll be fine with the sword I have.¡±


    Sen looked to Wu Meng Yao. ¡°You¡¯re her teacher. You should explain it.¡±


    She shot him a look that was equal parts grateful and disapproving. It was as if she was happy he¡¯d left the explanation to her, but also unhappy that he¡¯d foisted the responsibility onto her. He gave her a knowing smile which prompted a brief scowl in his direction.


    ¡°This blade,¡± said Wu Meng Yao, lifting the tiny woman¡¯s old sword, ¡°will swiftly fail you in foundation formation. It simply isn¡¯t made to withstand the force and pressure of the kinds of fights that you¡¯ll likely find yourself in. That blade will serve you for some time to come.¡±


    ¡°And,¡± added Sen with a thoughtful look, ¡°you would shame me by refusing to accept this attempt to compensate you.¡±


    Horror blossomed on Mo Kai-Ming¡¯s face. Her eyes darted from Sen to the sword she was still trying to shove back into his hands. She immediately yanked the sword back and hugged it to her chest.


    ¡°I will, naturally, of course, accept this fine weapon,¡± she stammered.


    ¡°My gratitude,¡± said Sen.


    When it became obvious that the tiny woman didn¡¯t know what to do next, Wu Meng Yao gently escorted her to the door, returning the old jian. As soon as they were alone, Wu Meng Yao whirled toward Sen.


    ¡°You could have told me you were going to do that.¡±


    ¡°I wanted to see how you handle things when you don¡¯t think you¡¯re being observed. I am leaving you in charge here, after all.¡±


    ¡°And?¡± asked Wu Meng Yao, doing a good but not perfect job of hiding her nervousness.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how much teaching they let you do back at the Soaring Skies Sect, but you¡¯re good at this,¡± said Sen, stowing his wounded pride. ¡°You should do more of it when you leave here if you get the chance. As for me, I¡¯m satisfied that I¡¯m leaving things in good hands.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Wu Meng Yao like she¡¯d been preparing for a reprimand that never came. ¡°Thank you.¡±

 V7 Chapter 63 – Oh, By the Thousand Hells

    ¡°And then the blue bird ate the bug!¡± exclaimed Ai as she mimicked a beak snapping shut with her hand.


    Sen smiled as he listened and made sure to gasp loudly at her pantomime.


    ¡°Oh no!¡± he shouted. ¡°The poor bug!¡±


    Ai¡¯s face scrunched up in thoughtful concentration for a moment before she shook her head.


    ¡°It was a yucky bug,¡± she announced.


    ¡°Oh, well, if it was a yucky bug, then it¡¯s a good thing that bird ate it. We can¡¯t have yucky bugs around here. Should we give the bird a present to say thank you?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re silly,¡± giggled Ai. ¡°Birds don¡¯t get presents.¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t?¡± asked Sen as if this were the most shocking news in the world.


    ¡°No!¡±


    She looked like she might say more, but that was when Zhi ran up, grabbed her hand, and pulled Ai away to play some new game the other little girl had thought up. Knowing he was leaving the next day made it hard for Sen not to call Ai back over to him. He wanted to soak up every second he could with her. He held his tongue, though. There had been precious little play, or fun, or joy in his childhood. He wouldn¡¯t deprive Ai of a second of those things if he could help it. Instead, he looked around at the odd mix of people in his home. Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong had claimed a spot by the fireplace and smiled over the proceedings like a pair of benevolent deities who were well-pleased by what they saw. Sen barely contained his snort of amusement when Zhi decided that Unca Kho and Auntie Caihai ¨C a mispronunciation that never ceased to amuse Sen ¨C needed to join the game. A decision she announced by running over to them, unceremoniously grabbing their hands and pulling at them. He snorted when he imagined the hordes of cultivators who would probably choke to death on all the blood they spat up if they ever saw such a display.


    He noticed that Falling Leaf had cornered Shen Mingxia and seemed to be imparting something to the other woman. Was it advice? Orders? Whatever Falling Leaf was saying had made Shen Mingxia go a little pale. He decided to leave it alone unless the foundation formation cultivator started shooting him desperate looks. That had become Shen Mingxia¡¯s go-to move whenever she felt in over her head around the nascent soul cultivators or human form spirit beasts who just sort of wandered around his home and academy whenever they got bored. He was glad the nascent soul cultivators put in a little effort and masked their true power whenever they interacted with the students at the academy. Although, that had done very little to prevent all kinds of wild speculation about who they were. The only clarification Sen had ever offered was to call them his personal guests.


    Li Hua, who actually knew who Uncle Kho was, had kept that information to herself. She was there and had seemed to form some kind of pact of mutual uncertainty with Wu Meng Yao. They both hovered near the large table where Sen had put out a truly absurd amount of food for people to eat as and when they wished. Neither seemed all that sure about who they should talk to or even if they should interact with anyone. He had hoped that Li Hua might grow more comfortable with everyone over time, especially given how close Ai and Zhi were, but she adhered to a firm code of formality with pretty much everyone but him. He supposed it was probably safer for her to do that. It would help prevent misunderstandings with so many other cultivators in the area. He had been very clear about his rules regarding how the cultivators at the academy were to interact with the townspeople, but cultivators were cultivators. He worried it was only a question of when, not if, he¡¯d be forced to kill one of them to prove that he meant the rules applied to everyone. Sen shook those thoughts away.


    He looked over to where Glimmer of Night was¡­ Sen frowned. What in the world is that spider doing? Glimmer of Night was facing a wall and gently running a finger across a particular spot on the stone. Unable to resist the minor mystery, Sen rose from his chair and walked over.


    ¡°Something about my wall troubling you?¡± asked Sen with an amused smirk.


    Glimmer of Night looked at him and said, ¡°Not troubling. Intriguing.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°Whatever you did to make this wall, it changed the stone. There¡¯s a distinct crystalline pattern to it now that you don¡¯t normally see.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said Sen slowly.


    It took another second before he realized that he didn¡¯t see at all. He had no idea what a crystalline pattern was beyond what he could infer from the name itself. He thought about asking but ultimately didn¡¯t. He was sure it would be interesting, but it would also consume his attention for the rest of the night. He didn¡¯t want to be distracted. He wanted to be here, present, and available to the people around him. The spider, wholly unaware of these thoughts, nodded eagerly.


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    ¡°I suspect that I might be able to learn something useful from this pattern. Possibly even adapt it for my study of webs.¡±


    Sen considered it and said, ¡°I hope it works out.¡±


    He turned to walk over to the table when the spider brought him up short.


    ¡°When do we leave tomorrow?¡± asked Glimmer of Night.


    It was casual as if he was asking about the weather or what to eat. It caught Sen completely off guard. He hadn¡¯t planned on taking the spider with him. The thought had never even occurred to him. Taking Glimmer of Night into the heart of human civilization seemed like a monumentally bad idea. Sure, the people here had taken his presence mostly in stride, but the spider had enjoyed a bit of reflected goodwill from Sen. The townspeople had still been exceedingly wary, and it had taken months and months of the spider coming and going and generally not murdering everyone to wear down all but the most irrational suspicions. Glimmer of Night would enjoy none of those protections in the capital.


    The mortals there would likely be terrified of him. The sects would probably want to capture and dissect him. Sen thought that he might be able to prevent that latter problem by sending some carefully worded messages to the sects about how he would not look kindly on someone killing his friend to sate their curiosity. The mortals, though? He didn¡¯t think he could do anything to prevent them from forming a mob. And there were a lot of mortals in the capital. Sen tried to think about the best way to approach the problem.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s wise for you to visit the capital,¡± Sen finally said.


    The spider stopped fixating on the wall and turned to look at Sen.


    ¡°Why?¡± asked the spider.


    ¡°Because I¡¯m worried that the mortals would try to kill you. Even if they didn¡¯t, there¡¯s a good chance one of the sects would try to grab you, so they could experiment on you. Live spirit beasts are not common there. Powerful ones, even less so. You might be a prize they can¡¯t resist.¡±


    ¡°How would they know?¡± asked Glimmer of Night.


    Sen blinked a few times as his brain tried to sort out a polite answer. Sighing, Sen just gestured at the spider.


    ¡°You¡¯re kind of obvious. You¡¯ll draw attention.¡±


    The spider down at himself and then seemed to understand.


    ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem.¡±


    Sen shook his head. The spider kept saying things that didn¡¯t make much sense. It was starting to make him feel twitchy.


    ¡°How is that not a problem?¡± asked Sen.


    Sen felt a small burst of qi that had an oddly familiar quality to it, although he couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on what seemed familiar. That curiosity was swept straight out of his mind as the spider transformed from a pitch-black creature covered in chitin to a young, human man. From one moment to the next, Glimmer of Night had gone from being something that would attract every eye to someone who could walk unmolested anywhere in the kingdom. Sen gaped at the transformation.


    ¡°What?¡± Sen demanded. ¡°When did you learn how to do this?¡±


    ¡°On the way here. I watched the fox who lusted after you.¡±


    Sen felt like his eyes were going to fall out of his head.


    ¡°You knew this entire time? Why didn¡¯t you change before?¡±


    Glimmer of Night held up an arm and scratched at it.


    ¡°It¡¯s itchy.¡±


    Sen wanted to yell at the spider for causing all of that worry in the town for nothing, but it seemed someone else had been listening because Auntie Caihong was suddenly standing next to them.


    ¡°What¡¯s this about a fox lusting after Sen?¡± she asked, eyes alight with the need to know.


    Before Sen could redirect the conversation, Glimmer of Night immediately decided to be helpful.


    ¡°It was the she-fox grandchild of the elder fox. She lusts for him,¡± said the spider with an enthusiastic nod. ¡°She was very vexed that he did not wish to mate with her.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Auntie Caihong, a wicked gleam of amusement in her eyes. ¡°Laughing River has a granddaughter?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen his tone resigned.


    ¡°And she propositioned you?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± admitted Sen.


    ¡°And you declined? More than once?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen as just the memory of it all made him feel tired.


    Auntie Caihong started laughing. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what kind of laugh it was, just that it wasn¡¯t a laughing together sort of laugh. It left Sen feeling deeply unsettled. He narrowed his eyes at Auntie Caihong.


    ¡°I¡¯m clearly missing something here,¡± he said. ¡°What it is?¡±


    Instead of answering, she called Uncle Kho over. He disengaged from Zhi and Ai¡¯s game and approached them while giving Auntie Caihong a questioning glance. It seemed to take a supreme effort of will for her to get through the explanation without bursting into more laughter.


    ¡°It turns out that,¡± she said, ¡°that Laughing River has a granddaughter, and she took an interest in Sen.¡±


    ¡°Well, I suppose most people spend a night with at least one nine tail fox,¡± said Uncle Kho, seeming to lose interest.


    ¡°No. That¡¯s the thing. He didn¡¯t. He turned her down. Repeatedly,¡± she said as laughter started to sneak through.


    Uncle Kho stared at Auntie Caihong in baffled shock for a second before turning that look on Sen. There was a quiet moment before Uncle Kho burst into laughter. Sen felt his frustration start to rise. He didn¡¯t enjoy being on the wrong side of a joke he didn¡¯t even understand.


    ¡°What don¡¯t I know?¡± he demanded.


    Uncle Kho turned to see if Auntie Caihong wanted to explain, but she was doubled over with laughter. Shaking his head, Uncle Kho gave Sen a look that was part pity, part sympathy, and a lot of humor.


    ¡°Sen, nine tail foxes grow bored pretty easily. So, if one expresses that sort of interest in you, giving in makes them lose interest and go away. They read it as a lack of willpower on your part or something along those lines. Declining once, well, that¡¯s usually read as a signal that you have a more serious interest in them and that you have the strength of will to carry through on it. Saying no repeatedly. Well, how do I put this?¡±


    Auntie Caihong got control of herself just long enough to cut in with, ¡°You basically proposed to her!¡±


    It took five full seconds before Sen gathered himself and said, ¡°Oh, by the thousand hells.¡±

 V7 Chapter 64 – Do It Again

    For all that he had done his best to prepare her for it, and that he had made similar trips in the past, Ai seemed no more settled with the idea of him leaving than any of the other times he¡¯d gone. She refused to let him out of her sight, or her grip, for any longer than absolutely necessary. She kept giving him sad eyes and a quivering lower lip without ever actually bursting into tears. She finally gave him a serious look.


    ¡°I want to come,¡± she declared.


    For all that Sen knew it was a truly terrible idea, just for a second or two, he thought about it. If he took her with him, then he wouldn¡¯t have to miss her. Instead, he made himself act like an adult. He reminded himself that while the capital might not be the worst possible place for him to take her, it had to be near the very top of the list. Just as importantly, even if he could protect her there, something he wasn¡¯t entirely confident about, that he might need to was enough reason not to take her along. Besides, even if she didn¡¯t know, he was pretty sure she¡¯d hate the place almost as much as Falling Leaf. The children he had seen had mostly been working, which meant there would be painfully few children for her to befriend.


    Here, she had friends, and she was under the protection of people that Sen had absolute faith in. The sky would burn and the world would drown in poison before Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong let anything, anything at all, bad happen to Ai. That was assuming that Falling Leaf didn¡¯t find those poor, doomed, disastrously stupid souls first and turn them into tiny little pieces of unidentifiable red matter scattered through the forest. Sen also knew that trying to explain any of that to Ai would be pointless. The dangers were too abstract for her. Crouching down so they could look right at each other, he leaned into what she knew and cared about.


    ¡°I know you want to come. But if you come with me, who will play with Zhi?¡±


    Ai¡¯s brow furrowed like she maybe thought he was trying to trick her, but she still looked pensive.


    ¡°Plus, who will take care of Falling Leaf, Uncle Kho, and Auntie Caihong if you¡¯re not here? Or show the birds which yucky bugs to eat?¡±


    He thought he¡¯d gotten her most of the way there with Falling Leaf, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho, but it was that bit with the yucky bugs that drew a look of severe worry. Ai was very concerned with the number of those bugs, and she went out of her way to tell whatever birds were in sight that they needed to be eaten. The disconcerting part was the birds seemed to go and eat those bugs more often than pure chance would account for. Sen had added it to his long list of things to look into at some point. If she was somehow ordering birds around, that would be very odd. Not that Sen felt he had much room to talk about anyone else being odd. His own ascent through the ranks of cultivation was so improbable as to be laughable, at least for anyone who hadn¡¯t been there for every painful step of the process.


    ¡°The birds do need me,¡± she said, looking torn. ¡°They¡¯re dumb.¡±


    ¡°They do, and they are,¡± Sen agreed and steadfastly refused to unleash the smile that kept trying to push its way free.


    Whatever had been holding her tears back gave out.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want you to go,¡± Ai sobbed, throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around his neck.


    Sen stroked her hair and patted her back while she got it out of her system. When the tears finally seemed to run dry, he gave her a smile.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to go, but sometimes I have to do things I don¡¯t want to do. You know what, though? I am going to miss you so much.¡±


    ¡°How much?¡± she asked in a quavery little voice.


    ¡°This much,¡± said Sen, spreading his arms out as far as they would go.


    ¡°Promise?¡±


    ¡°I promise, and I promise that I¡¯m going to come back as soon as I can.¡±


    Ai seemed to weigh those words on some scale of sincerity that only existed inside of her head. Sen concluded that, while she might not be happy, she was at least mollified by the truthfulness of his promises.


    ¡°Okay,¡± she said, her head hanging down.


    Sen scooped her up into his arms and planted a big kiss on her cheek. That got a little laugh as she rubbed at her cheek.


    ¡°Tickles,¡± she said.


    ¡°It does?¡± asked Sen, feigning ignorance, and then poking a spot on her belly. ¡°Does that tickle?¡±


    Soon, the sadness was, if not forgotten, then displaced by peals of laughter. Sen eventually, reluctantly, put Ai down.


    ¡°You should go say goodbye to Uncle Glimmerite and Auntie Mingxia.¡±


    ¡°Okay, Papa,¡± she said and dashed over to tackle hug Glimmer of Night¡¯s leg.


    Not that Sen saw that, or heard anything that anyone said. His entire world had ground to a stop at the word Papa. He had never asked her to call him that. He¡¯d never even used the word in her presence. She loved him. There was no room to doubt it. She said it in a thousand different ways every single day. That was enough. It was more than enough. He had never needed her to see him as her father. He was her family. She knew that. But that word held a kind of power that made anything a cultivator could do seem trivial. It was a truth. An expression of a primal bond so powerful, so potent, that any attempt to describe it was doomed to fail. For her to choose to call him that left Sen feeling simultaneously like the most important person alive and like a horribly, irreparably inadequate imposter. Not that any of that mattered. Just as she had once called for him, now she had chosen him, and he would find a way to be what she needed him to be. Bowing his head, Sen reached up and brushed away the tears that had gathered in his eyes. With his senses finally functioning again, he heard Ai¡¯s gleeful voice.


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    ¡°Do it again!¡±


    He glanced over and saw Glimmer of Night transform from his human disguise back into his black, chitinous form. This led to Ai jumping up and down in pure excitement. Sen wasn¡¯t sure how long he¡¯d been lost inside his own head, but the way Shen Mingxia was leaning against a tree and watching gave him the impression that this had been going on for a while now. He went to walk over and free the spider, but a new presence brought him up short. He looked toward the forest and Fu Ruolan stepped out of the trees. He was a little surprised to see her since she had declined to join them the night before. She strode over to Sen, watched Ai commanding Glimmer of Night to change, and snorted in amusement. Only then did she turn her full attention on him.


    ¡°The capital? Do you feel like you didn¡¯t give it a full opportunity to kill you the last time you went there publicly?¡±


    ¡°Oh no,¡± said Sen. ¡°I definitely gave it a full opportunity.¡±


    ¡°Then, why go back?¡±


    Sen tried out a couple of answers in his head before he just shrugged and said, ¡°Because I told my friend I would.¡±


    Fu Ruolan sighed and said, ¡°Well, don¡¯t do anything stupid while you¡¯re there. I put way too much time and effort into you for you to throw it all away when you¡¯re finally getting interesting.¡±


    Sen regarded the nascent soul cultivator for a long moment. He considered how lonely she must have been, living all the way out here, isolating herself the way she had. Even if they both understood why she¡¯d done it, he didn¡¯t expect that had made it any less difficult. He¡¯d probably spent more time with her than almost any other living being in centuries. He was, he realized, probably the closest thing to a friend she¡¯d made in a very, very long time. Someone who shared some of her keenest interests. Someone who could shadow walk the way she did. And now he was going away, again. He intentionally turned his gaze away before he spoke.


    ¡°I¡¯ll miss you, too.¡±


    He heard the sharp little intake of breath, the rustle of clothes as she stiffened, and finally her annoyed huff.


    ¡°Just don¡¯t die,¡± she said in a tone that was half order, half pleading.


    Sen nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best. With any luck, this will be a quick trip. I¡¯ll go, play whatever role it is that Jing has in mind for me, and then leave.¡±


    He could feel her rolling her eyes.


    ¡°You don¡¯t really think it¡¯ll go that easy, do you?¡±


    ¡°No, but I can hope.¡±


    ¡°Well, just remember that a bit of¡ª¡± she hesitated. ¡°No, not a little. Giant, heaping bucketfuls of paranoia are appropriate there. Don¡¯t let your life here trick you into thinking that everyone else has stopped being awful.¡±


    Sen let out a little chuckle.


    ¡°Your faith in humanity is truly boundless.¡±


    ¡°I have plenty of faith in humanity,¡± said Fu Ruolan. ¡°I have faith that they¡¯re terrible¡±


    ¡°Duly noted. Is there anything you need from the capital? I mean, since I¡¯m already going.¡±


    ¡°Nothing I can think of,¡± she said. ¡°Travel safely.¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± he said, finally turning back to her and offering her a bow.


    She rolled her eyes again but returned the bow. Shooting her a quick smile, Sen finally went over to stop Ai from demanding more transformations. They didn¡¯t seem to cost the spider much in the way of qi, but Sen had no idea how many times he¡¯d switched already. He didn¡¯t want the poor spider to simply fall over from exhaustion a few hours down the road. Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong came over then to say their goodbyes. Auntie Caihong also took the opportunity to pick Ai up and hold her.


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep an eye on those spear students of yours. Just don¡¯t take too long, or I might get bored and decide to actually teach them something,¡± said Uncle Kho with a bemused look.


    ¡°Well, we certainly wouldn¡¯t want that,¡± agreed Sen.


    ¡°Be mindful, Sen,¡± said Auntie Caihong. ¡°I know he¡¯s your friend, but you should still be cautious. Also, don¡¯t do anything that Ming would do.¡±


    That drew laughs from Sen and Uncle Kho, a baffled look from Shen Mingxia, and Glimmer of Night was ignoring them entirely because he¡¯d found a toad somewhere and was holding it up to his eye to study it.


    Ai frowned and asked, ¡°Who¡¯s Ming?¡±


    Auntie Caihong looked at her and said, ¡°Oh, he¡¯s a terrible, terrible man.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s not a terrible man,¡± said Sen. ¡°He¡¯s my teacher. He¡¯s sort of like your grandfather.¡±


    Uncle Kho nodded in approval, while Auntie Caihong gave him a look of utter betrayal.


    ¡°No more lotus cakes for you,¡± she muttered.


    ¡°Oh, now that¡¯s just mean,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Well, maybe I¡¯ll have forgiven you by the time you get back,¡± said Auntie Caihong.


    ¡°I guess that will have to do,¡± agreed Sen, before he leaned down and kissed Ai¡¯s forehead. ¡°You be good while I¡¯m away.¡±


    ¡°I will, Papa.¡±


    Sen got the momentary pleasure of seeing Auntie Caihong¡¯s eyes go wide. Then, she looked like she might cry, which made Sen feel kind of bad for his amusement at her expense. Uncle Kho just beamed at the little girl.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Falling Leaf?¡± asked Auntie Caihong. ¡°I thought she¡¯d be here.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s hiding in that shadow over there,¡± said Sen and pointed.


    The ghost panther emerged from the shadow and gave Sen an annoyed frown. Sen excused himself and walked over to her.


    ¡°How do you always know where I am?¡± she asked.


    ¡°How could I not know? You¡¯re one of the two most important people in my life.¡±


    Falling Leaf pondered those words for a moment before nodding in a way that suggested that was exactly as things should be.


    ¡°The mad one is right. Be careful in that place. You have friends there, but you have enemies too.¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± said Sen.


    Then, much as he had with Ai, he leaned in and kissed Falling Leaf¡¯s forehead.


    ¡°Watch out for Ai,¡± he said. ¡°And watch out for yourself. I expect to see you both healthy and happy when I return.¡±


    ¡°Nothing will touch her,¡± said Falling Leaf, and there was a flicker of something dangerous in her gaze.


    Knowing that Falling Leaf would never actually say goodbye, Sen simply reached out and squeezed her arm for a moment before returning to Shen Mingxia and Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°It¡¯s time to go,¡± he said.


    Suiting actions to words, Sen formed a qi platform beneath himself and Shen Mingxia. She couldn¡¯t hope to keep pace with Sen or Glimmer of Night, so he¡¯d just resolved to carry her along. The spider looked at them hovering in the air, shrugged, and formed a qi platform of his own. Sen lifted an eyebrow. He hadn¡¯t known the spider could do that. With a final wave to everyone, the trio shot down the road. They moved in silence for a short time before Shen Mingxia looked over at him. Sen braced himself mentally when he saw the smirk on her lips.


    ¡°So, are you going to do some wedding shopping in the capital?¡±

 V7 Bloopers

    ¡°Falling Leaf, this is Laughing River and Misty Peak,¡± said Sen, gesturing at the foxes.


    Falling Leaf inclined her head to Laughing River in a gesture of muted respect. She eyed Misty Peak askance for a moment before issuing a little sigh and nodding to the other woman.


    ¡°Hello,¡± said the ghost panther.


    ¡°Laughing River, Misty Peak, this is Falling Leaf. My friend,¡± said Sen, before he added something he thought was necessary. ¡°I will note that, should I discover she¡¯s been drawn into any kind of fox plot, scheme, or foolishness, I will become profoundly unhappy.¡±


    Laughing River and Misty Peak traded uncertain looks. Finally, Misty Peak worked up the nerve to ask.


    ¡°What would that mean? You know, what would that translate to in practical terms?¡±


    Sen gave her a stern look. ¡°You don¡¯t want an answer to that.¡±


    She traded another look with her grandfather. ¡°No, I really think I do.¡±


    Sen looked at Falling Leaf. She gave him the nod.


    ¡°What that means in practical terms,¡± said Sen, ¡°is that it moves out of my hands. It becomes Larry¡¯s problem.¡±


    ¡°Who is Larry?¡± asked Laughing River with pure bafflement on his face.


    Falling Leaf gave the pair of foxes an icy smile and shouted, ¡°Hey, Larry! There are some people here who want to meet you.¡±


    After a moment of silence, everything in the inn that wasn¡¯t bolted down began to tremble and then jump in place. The foxes began to look around with wide, panicky eyes. Before either of them could ask the question, one of the walls disintegrated into a shower of tiny pieces to reveal the massive, majestic form of Larry. The spirit ox gave the foxes a look that would have killed mortals on the spot. Misty Peak looked like she wanted to dive under the table, and even Laughing River had gone pale at the sight.


    ¡°I¡¯m Larry,¡± said the ox in a basso voice that shook the building. ¡°And I fix problems. Are you gonna be a problem that needs fixing?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Laughing River in a voice that was two octaves higher than usual.


    ***


    The morning¡¯s activities and the food seemed to overwhelm the girl¡¯s youthful vigor because she almost fell asleep while she was eating. Sen carried her limp, yawning form to her bed. She was asleep before he even left the room. He stepped outside and took a deep breath. Keeping up with Ai wasn¡¯t physically demanding, but it did require a lot more mental engagement than Sen had expected. He¡¯d need to figure out things that she could do that would keep her mind engaged for a while. Sen left the door to the galehouse open so that he¡¯d hear it when Ai got up from her nap and decided to take advantage of the brief lull in his day. Drawing his jian, Sen worked his sword forms. He felt Glimmer of Night approach but didn¡¯t let it immediately interrupt his work. When he finished the form he was working through, he stopped and looked over at the spider.


    ¡°Is this what you mean to teach me?¡± asked the spider.


    ¡°Among other things,¡± said Sen. ¡°The basics, at least. I can teach you some spear basics as well. We¡¯ll cover some of both, and you can decide if you like one of them better.¡±


    ¡°Why would I need this?¡± asked the spider.


    ¡°Most cultivators use a weapon of some kind. It¡¯s not impossible to fight them without a weapon of your own, but it¡¯s much harder.¡±


    ¡°And how long did it take you to learn it?¡±


    ¡°Years,¡± said Sen. ¡°But it sounds like you¡¯ll be around for years. Might as well take advantage of that.¡±


    Glimmer of Night nodded in agreement. ¡°Will you teach the child these things?¡±


    Sen stared at the spider as though he had clearly suffered some manner of severe damage to his spider brain.


    ¡°You¡¯re damn skippy I¡¯m going to teach her these things.¡±


    ¡°Because of cultivators?¡± asked Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°Because of boys! They¡¯re evil, rotten, terrible things. Every last one of them.¡±


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    The spider was silent for a long, long moment before he asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t you a boy?¡±


    ***


    Liu Ai spared Sen more awkward conversation by coming out from behind some folding panels. She was happily trying to adjust a robe and not doing a terribly good job of it. Sen set his cup down and went over to help her, gently tying the knots and settling the folds of blue and black fabric around her. She held out her arms to each side.


    ¡°I¡¯m a flower,¡± she announced.


    ¡°You certainly are,¡± agreed Sen. ¡°A beautiful chrysanthemum.¡±


    A look of hesitant uncertainty crossed the little girl¡¯s face. ¡°What¡¯s a kercinnamon?¡±


    Sen could see the seamstress shaking her head in disapproval from the corner of his eye.


    ¡°Really?¡± said the woman. ¡°A hundred flowers out there with short names, so you pick the one that no child can pronounce?¡±


    ¡°It was the first thing I thought of,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°What a cerkanadom?¡± asked Ai, looking unhappy.


    The seamstress crouched down and smiled at Ai. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about that. He¡¯s just got duck feathers for a brain. What he meant to say was that you¡¯re a beautiful lily.¡±


    Ai gave the woman a perplexed look.


    ¡°It¡¯s a very beautiful flower,¡± said the woman, before she shot Sen a look. ¡°Beautiful and easy to pronounce.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a lily!¡±


    ¡°Yes, you are,¡± said the seamstress.


    Ai pointed at Sen. ¡°You¡¯re a duck brain.¡±


    ¡°Yes, he is,¡± said the woman, smiling in approval.


    ***


    ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled. I¡¯m entirely made up. Turn your back, and I¡¯ll vanish like smoke in a dream.¡±


    ¡°Can you¡ª¡± Li Hua hesitated. ¡°Can you really do that?¡±


    Sen went to deny the silly idea and then thought a little harder about it. Could I?


    ¡°Maybe,¡± he said. ¡°Probably not if anyone was paying close attention.¡±


    ¡°So, not all-powerful?¡±


    ¡°Not even remotely. Any cultivator who says otherwise is lying,¡± answered Sen. ¡°I think it¡¯s probably time for a quiet departure. Things are calming down at the gate.¡±


    ¡°How do you know that?¡±


    ¡°I can hear them,¡± said Sen as he walked over to collect Liu Ai.


    She noticed him and ran over, her eyes wide.


    ¡°Did you chase the monsters away?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I did, with some help,¡± said Sen, not feeling the tiniest bit guilty about the half-lie. ¡°But it is about time for us to head home. Otherwise, we¡¯ll never get there before dark.¡±


    The girl got a pouty look on her face. Ai wasn¡¯t generally a willful girl, but Sen had learned that she could get tired or cranky like anyone else. He wanted to cut that off before it turned into something ugly.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you show me what you were drawing?¡±


    Distracted by the task, she reached out, seized one of Sen¡¯s fingers in her hand, and pulled him over. She proudly pointed to a misshapen, vaguely flower-shaped creation and proclaimed it a beautiful orchid. Sen nodded gravely while the other girl awkwardly stared up at him, seemingly unsure what to do. He crouched down and spoke to Ai in a very loud whisper.


    ¡°Who is your friend?¡±


    ¡°Zhi,¡± said Ai. ¡°She drew birds.¡±


    Sen peered over at what the other little girl had been drawing. He frowned and looked a little closer. They didn¡¯t look like birds. They looked like dragons. Remarkably, impossibly realistic dragons. The dragons that had been scratched into the ground started to move. Sen¡¯s eyes shot up to the little girl, who was staring at him with eyes as old as the world itself.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen, unsure what else to say.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t really think we were just going to let you wander around without a minder, did you?¡± asked the little girl who was clearly not a little girl.


    Sen was one more struck dumb by this turn of events. He turned to look at Ai, who was also staring at him with eyes that held the knowledge of ages.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t kill those little girls, did you?¡± he demanded in a low, furious voice.


    The false little girls both gave him aghast looks.


    ¡°Who raised you?¡± demanded not-Zhi.


    ¡°Honestly,¡± said not-Ai. ¡°What kind of question is that? Of course, we didn¡¯t kill them. They¡¯re in daycare.¡±


    ¡°What in the thousand hells is daycare?!¡±


    ***


    Wang Bo was shifting back and forth on his feet, his eyes bright and hopeful. Sen knew that he was missing something here, but he just couldn¡¯t put his finger on what was escaping his notice. He felt like it must be obvious. He turned to look at Dai Bao. The gruff man had barely opened his mouth to speak when impatience won out over Wang Bo¡¯s painfully limited self-control.


    ¡°When will you start?¡± asked the young man.


    Sen frowned at him. ¡°Start what?¡±


    ¡°Training us.¡±


    ¡°Training you to do what?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°To use the spears and halberds!¡±


    Now, Sen understood. This kid had taken that offhand statement Sen had made and exaggerated it in his mind into some kind of promise that Sen would become their teacher. He didn¡¯t have time for that nonsense. He had his own training to deal with. He had little Ai to take care of and teach how to write. This was not a problem of his making, and he refused to be bound by a promise he never made. Then, Sen felt something blossom inside of him. Something that rather reminded him of Laughing River. He directed a big, bright smile at Wang Bo.


    ¡°Right now,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Wang Bo.


    ¡°Really,¡± answered Sen. ¡°All you have to do is pass one little test first.¡±


    Dai Bao looked profoundly skeptical at this turn of events but elected not to say anything because, apparently, he¡¯d been born with his good sense intact. Wang Bo plowed immediately forward.


    ¡°I¡¯m ready for any test,¡± declared the young man.


    ¡°Terrific!¡± exclaimed Sen. ¡°Let¡¯s head outside.¡±


    The three of them exited the community building, and Sen reached down to grab a handful of snowy rocks off the ground. He gave Wang Bo an encouraging smile and pointed.


    ¡°You should go stand over there,¡± ordered Sen.


    ¡°What test is this?¡±


    ¡°I like to call it the Dance Dance Revo¡­ Insurrection. That¡¯s it. Dance Dance Insurrection. All you need to do to pass is keep up for the next four minutes.¡±


    ¡°Keep up with what?¡± asked Wang Bo.


    Sen drew an arm back and hurled a rock at Wang Bo¡¯s feet. The rock hit the ground right in front of the young man, sending up a spray of slush, show, and displaced dirt. Within a few seconds, the ground around where Wang Bo had been standing was filled with tiny craters, and the young man was fleeing for his life.


    ¡°How long until he figures out it wasn¡¯t a real test?¡± asked Dai Bao curiously.


    ¡°I give it a week,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got a silver that says he figures it out in three days.¡±


    ¡°Done.¡±


    ***


    This ends Unintended Cultivator Volume Seven. Sen and company will return in Unintended Cultivator Volume Eight.

 V8 Chapter 1 – Back into the Jianghu

    Shen Mingxia had learned a few things over the last week or so. One of the things she¡¯d learned was about herself. Specifically, she¡¯d learned about her terrifying ignorance of what it meant to travel through the kingdom. Having spent years traveling with Wu Meng Yao, she thought she understood the dangers and how to deal with them. That had been utterly false. She had little more than a functional understanding of the dangers one found when traveling strictly on the roads. That was something that Judgment¡¯s Gale seemingly found tedious and didn¡¯t bother with most of the time. Hand-in-hand with that knowledge came a stark realization that she had drastically, hilariously underestimated the kind of power that Lu Sen wielded. Even more shocking was the raw strength that the spider wielded. The pair of them flew over the wilds on qi platforms that she couldn¡¯t have made if her life depended on it, and they treated it like it was nothing. And it wasn¡¯t just for short bursts. They carried on with that all day long. On top of that, Sen carried her with him.


    Of course, she came to see that this seemingly wasteful use of qi really was nothing to them when threats inevitably arose. At one point, an entire flock of razor sparrows had risen from the trees to assault them. Sen had vaporized the entire flock using one lightning technique. The man hadn¡¯t even bothered to slow the qi platform. One afternoon when Sen decided he wanted a hot meal, their makeshift camp was swarmed with furred, scorpion-like creatures that ranged from a foot long to three feet long. She had shot to her feet, drawn her sword, and cycled her qi in preparation for battle. Not that she thought she could handle more than two or three of the things. That was when she noticed that Sen hadn¡¯t bothered to turn his attention from the meal he was cooking. The spider simply looked up from a scroll he was reading, and Shen Mingxia felt a massive burst of qi. Suddenly, every one of the nightmarish creatures was tangled in a qi web and desperately trying to escape. Something else happened then, something she didn¡¯t understand, and the creatures were reduced to empty husks that would crumble to dust at the slightest disturbance.


    When they did travel on the road or, she corrected herself, over it, there were three things that Judgment¡¯s Gale would always stop for. If they saw ox-drawn carts, they would always stop so Sen could pet the oxen and chat with the cart owners. She didn¡¯t quite know what to make of that, but the oxen always seemed very enthusiastic, and Sen usually bought fresh food that he would share. So, she didn¡¯t make a fuss about it. The next thing he would always stop for were people who looked sick or injured. He handed out or made elixirs for them with barely a question and refused all rewards, save perhaps a cup of tea. She had pondered that long and hard, knowing full well that he could have sold those elixirs for a small fortune. Unable to find a suitable answer, she had finally asked.


    ¡°Why do you always stop for them? The ill and the injured, I mean.¡±


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t do the same?¡± he¡¯d asked in a neutral tone.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know what to do,¡± she¡¯d answered. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know what was safe.¡±


    He¡¯d frowned at that but ultimately nodded.


    ¡°That¡¯s always a risk. I do know what I¡¯m doing, and I could still accidentally kill one of those people because I missed something. But you wanted to know why I do it,¡± he said. ¡°Because no one else will. Because being injured or sick on the road is, well, it¡¯s not a guaranteed death sentence, but it¡¯s close to one. Just because they¡¯re smart enough not to attack us, it doesn¡¯t mean there aren¡¯t plenty of spirit beasts near the road that would attack an injured mortal. They are easy prey.¡±


    Shen Mingxia frowned. ¡°So, you do it because you can?¡±


    Sen shot her a bright smile. ¡°See. You do understand.¡±


    ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t want people spreading stories about you.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind these stories. They add mystery and maybe a tiny bit of wonder. They don¡¯t add to the terror.¡±


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    Of course, she also got to see that terror up close and personal as well. The final thing he would always stop for was bandits. And for all the compassion he might have shown injured mortals, he was equally merciless with bandits. He didn¡¯t speak. He didn¡¯t bargain. He simply killed them to the last man. It was a cold, efficient sort of killing. He didn¡¯t draw it out or try to make them suffer. One moment they were all alive, and the next they were all dead. While Shen Mingxia would never mourn the death of bandits, she found it an oddly mundane task for someone with his power to do. They could have simply reported the men to the nearest sects. When she said as much to him, she hadn¡¯t been able to identify the look he¡¯d given her. She only knew it had made her feel very cold inside.


    ¡°And what do you imagine they would do about it?¡± he asked.


    ¡°They¡¯d hunt them down,¡± she¡¯d answered in confusion.


    ¡°No,¡± he answered, giving her a pitying look. ¡°They¡¯d send messages to the nearby towns and villages and offer to hunt them down for a price. You¡¯ve seen these towns and villages. Do you really think these farmers can afford those kinds of services?¡±


    ¡°I suppose not,¡± she said, thinking of the poverty she¡¯d seen so many times.


    ¡°It was within my power to act, and those bandits were within my reach. So, I dealt with it.¡±


    ¡°Is that why we travel off the roads so often? To look for bandits hiding in the wilds?¡±


    He¡¯d snorted out a laugh at that. ¡°Not at all. We¡¯re just avoiding all the cultivators who are out here looking for me.¡±


    That revelation had brought her up short. She hadn¡¯t sensed any other cultivators, but she supposed that Lu Sen¡¯s ability to do that likely exceeded her own by orders of magnitude. Still, she¡¯d never considered that anyone might be looking for them, let alone other cultivators. She also couldn¡¯t think of very many reasons why cultivators would be looking for them. At least, she couldn¡¯t think of many that didn¡¯t end in violence.


    ¡°Why are they out here?¡± she asked.


    Sen shrugged at her. ¡°My whereabouts are known, at least in general terms. While it¡¯s more trouble than it''s worth to go that far just to pick a fight for most people, we¡¯re getting relatively close to the capital. If some halfwit at the palace let it slip I was coming, which seems like a near certainty, it wouldn¡¯t take much thinking to work out which road I¡¯d take to get there. As for the specific reasons why, I expect some of them are carrying messages for me. I¡¯m on amicable enough terms with a few sect leaders in the capital. They¡¯d have reasons to want to get messages to me. Some of them are no doubt out here to try to delay me. If I show up late, it could drive a wedge between me and the king. The rest are out here to kill me.¡±


    The utter calm with which he uttered that last sentence was positively chilling. He just took it for granted that there were cultivators out there looking to kill him. Worse, he was no more concerned about it than he would be about running some errands. Shen Mingxia knew that she wouldn¡¯t have handled that news with nearly that much equanimity.


    ¡°So, rather than try to figure out which is which, you¡¯ll just avoid them all?¡±


    ¡°That is the plan,¡± agreed Sen. ¡°It has the elegance of simplicity, don¡¯t you think?¡±


    For all that he put on a jovial air, Shen Mingxia had noted that the closer they got to the capital, the more Sen seemed to take on a melancholy air. She had intended to leave it alone. He hadn¡¯t volunteered any information about it, which she took to mean he didn¡¯t want to talk about it. In the end, though, curiosity won out. One night when the spider had wandered off to do something, and it was just her and Sen sitting by a fire, she let the question slip.


    ¡°Why are you so sad?¡± she asked.


    As soon as the question was in the air, she felt like she¡¯d made a terrible, possibly even deadly, mistake. Yet, for all that the fear blossomed inside of her, Lu Sen had just given her a mildly startled look.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t realize it was showing,¡± he¡¯d said. ¡°The last year was nice. It was relaxing.¡±


    She stared at him in astonishment.


    ¡°Relaxing? I don¡¯t think you slowed down for more than ten minutes at a time.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I was busy, sure, but it was a good busy. I was spending time with Ai, learning, building the academy, and there was practically nobody trying to kill me. I wasn¡¯t exactly free of the Jianghu, but I didn¡¯t have to be constantly aware and constantly on guard. It also wasn¡¯t going to be the death of anyone if I got distracted,¡± he said in a wistful voice. ¡°I knew something that good couldn¡¯t last. It won¡¯t be like that in the capital. By going back there openly, I¡¯m basically inviting myself back into the Jianghu.¡±


    ¡°How do you know?¡±


    Sen got a thoughtful look. ¡°Well, the fact that we¡¯re about to be attacked is a pretty good sign.¡±


    It took a second for the words to register. Sen was already on his feet, spear in hand, by the time she managed to choke out a single word.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Honestly,¡± said Sen in a tone of utter disdain, ¡°your stealth skills are garbage. You might as well come on out and say hello to Uncle Sen before I start handing out punishments to you children.¡±

 V8 Chapter 2 – Cataclysmic Stupidity

    Sen waited with growing impatience as the half-dozen cultivators who had been slowly creeping up on them froze in place. They all blazed like torches in his spiritual sense, which made him wonder why they had bothered trying to sneak in the first place. After a rapid exchange of murmured conversation, the group converged on what he assumed was their valiant leader. The group slowly moved forward until they stepped into the light cast by the fire. Sen eyed them all for a moment before focusing on the leader. He was a tall, well-built man who looked like he was a bit older than Sen, which meant he was anywhere from thirty to five hundred years old. The man looked Sen up and down, sniffed like he wasn¡¯t impressed, and then shot a disdainful look at Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°As expected,¡± said the man. ¡°Only the young and weak are impressed by your false legend. Couldn¡¯t find a real woman to keep you company?¡±


    Sen thought of Lai Dongmei and smirked, which just seemed to infuriate the man.


    ¡°I am¡ª¡± the man started to say before Sen cut him off.


    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t care. Normally, I¡¯d let Shen Mingxia deal with her own insults. Since you¡¯re more than a full stage higher than she is, though, I guess I¡¯ll have to do it.¡±


    ¡°Sen,¡± whispered Shen Mingxia, ¡°it isn¡¯t necessary.¡±


    ¡°You should listen to her, boy,¡± said the man who seemingly didn¡¯t realize that he was a walking corpse.


    ¡°I always listen to her,¡± said Sen. ¡°I just don¡¯t always follow her advice.¡±


    While Sen hadn¡¯t precisely been looking for an opportunity to try something out, he was happy to take the opportunity when it strutted up to him and acted like an ass. Sen had never forgotten the day back on the mountain when Uncle Kho had simply obliterated two men with lightning from a clear sky. It was something that Sen had been working toward for years with incremental improvements. With his last advancement, though, he thought he was finally ready. Plus, he was interested to see if it would kill an advanced core cultivator or not. Before any of the interlopers could react, let alone erect defenses, Sen sent his qi into the sky. Even without clouds around, there was always a little bit of whatever it was that made lightning possible active high up in the air. Sen harnessed that power, shaped it to his will, and brought it crashing down onto the skull of the leader.


    There was one moment of pure horror on the man¡¯s face before an absolutely blinding light filled the clearing. Sen¡¯s eyes, bolstered by body cultivation, didn¡¯t seem to care. He did make a point to briefly shroud Shen Mingxia¡¯s eyes with shadow, though. It wouldn¡¯t do to damage her vision unnecessarily. He did not extend the same courtesy to the lackeys, who screamed in terror and pain. Sen surveyed the results of his technique. It still wasn¡¯t up to Uncle Kho levels. Uncle Kho had reduced those men to nothing but scorch marks on the ground. Sen had only managed to reduce the man to a pile of charred and shattered bones. Maybe I just need to be a nascent soul cultivator to pull that off, thought Sen. Even so, the obnoxious cultivator was dead and had died in a spectacularly gruesome fashion, which had been the point.


    ¡°By the heavens,¡± said Shen Mingxia in hushed tones.


    He glanced at her. The woman was staring at what was left of the very rude cultivator with wide eyes. She turned her disbelieving gaze onto him.


    ¡°Just how powerful are you?¡± she demanded.


    Sen shrugged and offered her a little smile.


    ¡°I do okay,¡± he said before turning his eyes back to the lackeys.


    The lot seemed to be recovering, at least physically, but he could see the panic in their eyes. He supposed he could imagine how this misadventure had been described to them. Judgment¡¯s Gale is all story and no strength. We all know he hasn¡¯t done the things he¡¯s supposed to have done. He¡¯s just a phantom that won¡¯t be any trouble at all. It¡¯ll be easy glory. Except, now, they were faced with a very real cultivator who had dispatched their leader and come out the other side of it without so much as a scratch on him. He wasn¡¯t even breathing hard. Sen debated about whether or not to give them a moment to recover and decided not to grant them that courtesy.


    ¡°Who sent you?¡± he asked.


    The group stared at him with glassy eyes and terrified expressions.


    ¡°Speak!¡± he roared.


    One of the group took a halting step forward. He was a lean man with a scar on one cheek that neither alchemy nor advancement had remedied yet. A sheen of sweat coated the man¡¯s forehead. Based on his expression, the man wished he was anywhere else doing anything but speaking to Sen. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat.


    ¡°Hon¡ª hon¡ª honor forbids¡ª¡± he said, before stumbled back as lightning kindled to life around Sen¡¯s spear.


    ¡°You don¡¯t get to speak to me about honor,¡± said Sen, ¡°for you have none. You snuck up on this camp like bandits in the night. You meant to ambush us like cowards. As of this moment, all you possess is your lives. And, I assure you, they dangle by the thinnest of threads. Do you understand me?¡±


    Sen watched as one of the lackeys found her anger. She snarled at Sen as she drew her jian and lunged at him using a truly terrible qinggong technique. The attack ended as fast as it began when the woman collapsed to her knees, clutched the stump of her arm, and started screaming incoherently. The screaming ended when a sweeping motion from Sen¡¯s spear made her head flip away from her shoulders. Ignoring the other lackeys, Sen reached down and picked up the woman¡¯s jian. He took a moment to shake loose the hand that still loosely gripped the hilt. He examined the blade and found it acceptable. He turned and held it out to Shen Mingxia.


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    ¡°It¡¯s better than the one you have. A little recompense for the insult.¡±


    Shen Mingxia reached out and took the sword, although it looked more like a reflex than anything else. Sen faced the rest of them and lifted an eyebrow.


    ¡°Would anyone else like to engage in some cataclysmic stupidity?¡± he asked and waited a few seconds. ¡°No? Good. I like to get all the killing out of the way early whenever possible. What were we talking about?¡±


    Sen stroked his chin like he was trying to recall a stray thought. The remaining would-be ambushers were all visibly trembling. Sen snapped his fingers, and all four of them flinched.


    ¡°I remember,¡± said Sen. ¡°You¡¯re going to tell me who sent you, and you¡¯re going to do it now.¡±


    The man with the scar on his cheek stepped forward again after getting glares from the other three. The sheen of sweat had become visible rivulets that ran down his face. Having the full weight of Sen¡¯s attention fall on him a second time didn¡¯t seem to improve that situation at all. Apparently desperate to buy himself a few moments to strategize a way out of the nightmare he¡¯d found himself in, the man clasped his hands together and bent forward in a deep bow.


    ¡°This one is Long Jia Wei,¡± said the man.


    The other three took inspiration from Long Jia Wei and also proffered very formal bows, although they didn¡¯t introduce themselves. They were, doubtless, hoping to avoid any direct attention now that things had taken such a bloody turn.


    ¡°This one is Lu Sen,¡± said Sen and tipped his head forward ever so slightly in something that might, on a good day, in the right light, be considered a nod.


    ¡°I greet you¡ª,¡± started Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°Let me stop you right there,¡± said Sen, and let a little of his killing intent slip free.


    Once more, all four of the lackeys flinched. Sen took a moment to ostentatiously summon a cloth from his storage ring and wipe the blood from his spear. Everyone¡¯s eyes, even Shen Mingxia¡¯s, were glued to that motion. Sen considered the cloth for a moment before he tossed it into the fire. He applied a little fire qi to make the campfire flare. Only then did he turn his attention back to the four cultivators who all looked like they were about to face certain death. Sen had no intention of dissuading them from that line of thought. When he spoke again, Sen¡¯s voice had lost anything like warmth or amusement.


    ¡°No more stalling,¡± said Sen, his eyes locked onto Long Jia Wei. ¡°No more games. If you won¡¯t tell me, none of you leave this place.¡±


    Long Jia Wei looked at the other three for something. Agreement? Support? Confirmation of a mutual death wish? Sen wasn¡¯t sure. It was abundantly clear from the three furious looks the man received that the other three had no desire to die here. It also looked like they were quite ready to murder Long Jia Wei if he did anything but provide the answer that Sen wanted to know. The man slumped in defeat before he looked at Sen.


    ¡°We were hired by the House of Xie,¡± he said.


    ¡°To do what?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Kill you, if possible, and delay you if it proved impossible.¡±


    ¡°And just where is it that all of you come from? I assume it¡¯s a sect. Which one?¡±


    All of their faces tightened, and Long Jia Wei actually grimaced. It seemed that giving up the House of Xie was one thing, but pushing their sect under the cart wheels was much less palatable to them. Of course, their sect and any possible punishment were far away, while Sen and his obvious willingness to cut them all down was right in front of them. In the end, Long Jai Wei chose the path that seemed to offer survival.


    ¡°We come from the Raging Storm Sect.¡±


    Sen traded a look with Shen Mingxia. She shrugged and shook her head. She hadn¡¯t heard of them, either. Sen paused to consider his next words.


    ¡°And just how often does your sect assassinate people for money?¡±


    None of the sect disciples would meet his eyes, which told Sen pretty much everything he needed to know.


    ¡°Okay,¡± said Sen. ¡°Here¡¯s an easier one. How many assassinations have you participated in, Long Jia Wei?¡±


    The silence after that question stretched out for so long that Sen thought the man just wasn¡¯t going to answer. Eventually, though, a word drifted from the man¡¯s lips.


    ¡°Seven,¡± said Long Jia Wei.


    There was shame in the man¡¯s voice. Maybe it was genuine, maybe it wasn¡¯t. Sen wouldn¡¯t dare to venture a guess. Sen turned his gaze to each of the Raging Storm disciples and got quiet answers. They had all participated in at least one assassination. Sen wanted to judge them, and he did on some level, but it was a judgment without much energy. It wasn¡¯t easy to condemn other people for killing when he¡¯d left so many cooling bodies in his wake.


    ¡°I guess the only real question left is, what possible reason could I have to leave any of you alive?¡±


    Sen couldn¡¯t think of one. He didn¡¯t think letting them go would change them. It certainly wouldn¡¯t change their sect. He did make a mental note to mention that sect to Uncle Kho as one the world could do without. For all that, Sen didn¡¯t particularly want to kill these people. None of them had a chance against him in a fight, even if they fought together. It would just be a slaughter. At the same time, he could only see bad outcomes from letting them go. Assuming their sect didn¡¯t kill them for spilling the name of a client, they¡¯d likely just be sent out to assassinate someone else. The next person might not be as capable of defending themselves as he was. That bad karma might well echo back on him. He looked to Shen Mingxia. She had a grim look on her face but shook her head. Slaughter it is, I guess, thought Sen as weariness settled over him. These kinds of decisions were not something he¡¯d missed. As he was about to step forward and finish the job, though, Long Jia Wei fell to his knees and kowtowed to Sen.


    ¡°If you must take a life, take mine. I beg you, though, to spare the others.¡±


    Sen hesitated. The other lackeys stared at Long Jia Wei in shock and awe. Sen weighed his choices. Sen fixed the three who remained on their feet with an arctic look.


    ¡°It seems a shred of true honor still exists in one of you. He has purchased your lives with his. I suggest you go and find a way to honor that sacrifice.¡±


    The three slowly looked from Sen to Long Jia Wei, his head still pressed to the ground. Their expressions were a mix of relief, shame, and guilt. Sen lifted a hand and pointed toward the road.


    ¡°Go,¡± he commanded.


    With one final look at Long Jia Wei, the three vanished into the darkness. Sen looked down at the kowtowing man and sighed.


    ¡°Oh, get up,¡± said Sen.


    Long Jia Wei looked up at Sen with uncertainty and fear on his face.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± said the man.


    ¡°Your life is mine, now,¡± said Sen. ¡°I intend to get full value from it. Slitting your throat here and now doesn¡¯t benefit me at all. But make no mistake, you will serve me. I just need to figure out how.¡±

 V8 Chapter 3 – Glimmer, in the Dark

    Long Jia Wei just kept staring, and it made Sen decidedly uncomfortable. It might not have been so bad if the man had spoken but that didn¡¯t happen. He just sat there, silent, and stared. To make matters worse, Shen Mingxia kept staring at him like he¡¯d lost his mind. When it got to be too off-putting, Sen finally made a plate of food and shoved it at the, well, Sen supposed he was an ex-sect cultivator now. The man seemed startled by the food but took it. Once he was focused on the food, Sen took Shen Mingxia off to one side.


    ¡°What?¡± he demanded.


    ¡°What are you doing? You have to know he can¡¯t be trusted.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t automatically agree. Before the man had offered to sacrifice himself just to spare his juniors, he probably would have thought the same thing. However, there was no way that Long Jia Wei had guessed that such an act would mean his own survival. No, Sen was confident that the man had thought his life was going to end, and he¡¯d offered it anyway. If nothing else, he had uncommon courage.


    Sen sighed and said, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t trust him to watch over children or transport gold, but I don¡¯t think he¡¯s so stupid that he¡¯d try anything now. Not after I killed those other two.¡±


    Shen Mingxia hemmed and hawed for a few seconds before she said, ¡°Well, maybe not, but still. Do you think this is a good idea?¡±


    ¡°I have no clue. But I can always change my mind if he turns out to be too much trouble or any trouble for that matter.¡±


    ¡°You better not get me killed with an act of mercy,¡± said Shen Mingxia, shaking her head. ¡°And where in the thousand hells is Glimmer of Night? We could have used him here.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Right. I didn¡¯t tell you. Sorry,¡± said Sen. ¡°He went to deal with the other ones.¡±


    ¡°What other ones?¡±


    ***


    Fifteen minutes earlier¡­


    Glimmer of Night watched the cultivators stumble through the darkness like the blind things they were. It was sad. Like watching spider children on their first night away from the nest. The cultivators were loud, bumped into things, and none of them had noticed him even though several of them had passed within a foot or two of where he stood. At first, he thought that Sen was playing some kind of strange, human joke on him. It seemed like these cultivators would get themselves killed without any help from him. But then he¡¯d heard them talking.


    ¡°So, we¡¯re really going to kill Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡± asked one of them.


    Glimmer of Night was fairly certain that one was female, although he wasn¡¯t positive. He didn¡¯t pay much attention to that sort of thing with the humans. It wasn¡¯t as though it mattered to him. They were vaguely interesting, but the very idea of mating with one of these pale, soft, fleshy creatures was more than enough to twist his stomach.


    ¡°We are,¡± answered one of the others.


    That one was bigger, so Glimmer of Night tentatively decided he was male. Probably. Having heard that little exchange had settled matters for him. He would have to do something about them. He just wasn¡¯t sure what, yet. He¡¯d never had to fight with cultivators before, only other spirit beasts. He didn¡¯t count the sparring he had done with Sen and some of those cultivator students at the academy. That wasn¡¯t real fighting. Real fighting meant death hovered over everything like a cloud that obscured good sense. That academy sparring was just¡­ He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what it was. It wasn¡¯t exactly pretending, because they were preparing for fighting. They were using real, or what he assumed were real, human fighting methods. It just rang hollow to him. Without that practical life-and-death experience to draw on, he was at a bit of a loss. He supposed he could just tear all of their heads off. That usually worked.


    With the decision made, he closed in on one of the cultivators off a little way to one side. He almost felt bad for the cultivator because they didn¡¯t seem to even notice him coming. Not that he felt any remorse about ambushing them. They were trying to ambush him, and Sen, and that other one. Glimmer of Night thought hard for a moment. Mingxia! That was her¡­ his¡­ the other one¡¯s name. Smiling to himself for remembering, he seized the back of the cultivator¡¯s neck, planted a hand on their shoulder, and jerked their head free. Oh, he thought as blood sprayed all over him, this wasn¡¯t a good idea. This is messy. He slipped back into the darkness and took the head with him. The other cultivators had noticed one of their number dying. He forgot sometimes that cultivators had a clunky, inelegant sort of spiritual sense. Although, he had noticed that Sen seemed to make up for those shortcomings with sheer, unbridled power. A trait these cultivators did not seem able to replicate.


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    Glimmer of Night nimbly scaled a nearby tree. It wasn¡¯t as fast or as gracefully as he might once have done in his true form, but there was no point being sad about that. The Great Matriarch had given him this form, and he trusted in her wisdom. And he did have to admit that those thumb things were just so damned useful. Once he was high enough, he judged the distance and then tossed the head through the air. He smiled as he saw that the arc was ideal. The head dropped straight down and landed in the middle of the huddled cultivators. One of them screamed and broke ranks, while another yelled at them to stop. But it was too late. The frightened one had already entered the darkness again, entered willingly into Glimmer of Night¡¯s world, and he took full advantage. He sprang from tree to tree high above without using any qi, until he was able to drop down onto the wayward cultivator. He drove the cultivator into the ground. He heard the air rush out of them in a pained grunt. Lifting them off the ground with one arm, he punched through their back and out their chest. This is better, he thought. Still messy, but not as messy.


    Intuitions honed by years of violent struggle in the deep wilds warned him about the incoming attack long before he actually felt the fire qi of the technique. He lifted a hand, sorted through the myriad patterns he knew, and threw up a web that would negate the fire qi. The fireball hit the web, was caught, and the qi was siphoned away along the threads of the web. Glimmer of Night saw the stunned face of the human cultivator for a moment before the spider disappeared back into the comforting darkness.


    ¡°What in the hells was that?¡± screamed the fire cultivator.


    ¡°What? What are you talking about?¡± yelled another.


    ¡°I saw¡­ Something over there. Some kind of monster!¡±


    Glimmer of Night considered that word, monster, as he circled around and caught the one who lagged behind. Am I a monster? Glimmer of Night didn¡¯t feel much like a monster. Although, he supposed he might not be in the best position to judge such things. He frowned when he realized that he¡¯d slightly misjudged his blow. He only managed to shatter some ribs instead of the cultivator¡¯s spine, which gave the doomed creature time to scream. He defaulted back to the head removal strategy and its messy, frustrating blood spray, but the damage was done. A fireball and some kind of ice attack were sent his way. He considered using webs to stop the attacks but decided it was just easier to use a web thread to drag himself out of the way. Plus, it conserved qi. He felt the cultivators sweeping the area with their poorly developed spiritual senses, trying to locate him, and failing miserably. Instead of attacking directly again, he started building a special web. One like he¡¯d used on those strange insects with the stingers that had charged into their camp one night.


    He¡¯d felt a little bad about killing them. They weren¡¯t family, exactly, not like other spiders, but they had felt familiar. Like maybe they had been family once upon a time but had taken a different path. He¡¯d almost let them into the camp. Sen had seemed wholly unconcerned about them, but Glimmer of Night had concluded a while ago that Sen was a poor gauge for danger. The fright exhibited by the Mingxia boy¡­ girl¡­ whatever, had seemed like a better guide. So, he¡¯d acted and drained them of their vitality. He¡¯d never tried something like that on a cultivator, but he reasoned that it ought to work the same way. Assuming they couldn¡¯t disrupt the web too quickly. That was why he built it from the outside in. By the time they noticed the web, it was too late. He activated the pattern he¡¯d built into the web. It worked. Vital power flooded into him.


    He hadn¡¯t counted on the screaming, though. That was very disruptive. It was a good thing he didn¡¯t have to concentrate much after the webs were made. Especially with all of that new power reinforcing his body and his core, the screaming probably would have made him lose focus. He¡¯d have to figure out some way to muffle that noise the next time. Glimmer of Night was about fifty percent sure that the other humans wouldn¡¯t like it.


    ***


    ¡°What is that?¡± shrieked Shen Mingxia.


    Long Jia Wei shot to his feet, looking around wildly as barely human, tortured screaming filled the night. Sen let his spiritual sense extend briefly before he nodded.


    ¡°Oh, good. It seems that Glimmer of Night has found his quarry,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°What could possibly be good about that?¡± demanded Shen Mingxia, waving her hand vaguely in the direction of all the screaming.


    ¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s not good for those people, but it¡¯s good for us. Or me, anyway. It means I don¡¯t have to kill them.¡±


    Shen Mingxia looked a little shaken by that comment. Long Jia Wei skipped right past looking horrified and went straight to shuddering.


    ¡°Judgment¡¯s Gale, indeed,¡± whispered the ex-sect cultivator.

 V8 Chapter 4 – Challenge

    Much as Sen hoped it wouldn¡¯t turn out that way, the pace of their travel slowed considerably over the next week. The three that he had let go had not been shy about discussing their experience with, as near as Sen could tell, every single cultivator they ran across. With their location narrowed down, battles turned into a daily affair, when it wasn¡¯t happening multiple times a day. Sen was keenly aware of how bad that was for his general sense of well-being and calm. His tendency to look to for reasons to let people live dissipated almost entirely. It was reduced to a single courtesy. One he realized he was about to give again. He had told the rest to keep going while he stayed to deal with, well, he didn¡¯t know. He hadn¡¯t bothered to get names or even ask which sects they were from. He¡¯d just collected a sect patch and gathered up whatever treasures they had on them. He¡¯d hurried to catch up, only to realize that his friends and Long Jia Wei were having some kind of standoff with yet another group of cultivators. The eyes of everyone in the other party of cultivators went wide as he stormed between Glimmer of Night and Long Jia Wei. He leveled his jian at them.


    ¡°Leave. Now. I am not in a forgiving mood,¡± growled Sen as he let his killing intent wash over them.


    It was a lot more of his killing intent that he normally let slip free, well aware as he was of the effect it had on people. He¡¯d simply run out of patience with these constant delays and endless killing. So, he let himself be a little sloppy with his control, and let himself hope against all hope that this group would prove smarter than the last one. And all the ones that came before that. Two of the cultivators immediately dropped to their knees, spitting up blood and clutching their heads. The other three managed to stay on their feet, but blood ran freely from their ears, eyes, and noses. For a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity, no one moved or spoke.


    ¡°You¡¯ve certainly lived up to your reputation, but I¡¯ll thank you to stop torturing my juniors now,¡± said a smooth, calm voice.


    Sen turned to look at the figure who stepped out of the trees. The man had deep-set, dark eyes, a narrow nose, and lips that seemed oddly out of proportion to the rest of his face. It was as though they were too full. For all that, the man projected an air of stern competence. An air that he was trying to project onto Sen because¡­ Sen mentally shrugged. He didn¡¯t know. Maybe the man was used to dealing with mental weaklings. Instead of complying, he sniffed at the suggestion.


    ¡°I thought you had wisely decided not to participate,¡± said Sen. ¡°As for your juniors, they can leave anytime they want. I won¡¯t stop them.¡±


    The man turned his gaze from Sen to the five cultivators who were still under the influence of Sen¡¯s killing intent. The two who had originally collapsed to their knees had fallen over and curled into the fetal position. The three on their feet had sweat pouring down their faces in addition to copious amounts of blood. Sen got the message. They couldn¡¯t leave even if they wanted to because none of them had the strength to move under that kind of pressure. Knowing that, Sen did not immediately let up.


    ¡°Are you truly this petty?¡± asked the new man. ¡°Will you simply kill them for fun?¡±


    ¡°For fun? No,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯ll kill them for coming here to block my way, or for coming here to kill me, or whatever other dressed-up fantasy of a reason they had for being in this place at this time.¡±


    ¡°So, you¡¯ll force me to stop you.¡±


    Sen burst into laughter. ¡°Is that how you¡¯ll try to excuse yourself? By pretending that I somehow forced this confrontation? You came looking for us. You don¡¯t get to pretend that you have no responsibility here. This is only happening because of your actions. I didn¡¯t put those juniors of yours in harm¡¯s way. You did.¡±


    The man looked from Sen to his juniors and back again before he shrugged. ¡°It was worth a try. A lot of people are stupid.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Considering the trail of bodies we¡¯ve left behind us, some might say that standing in your position is stupid.¡±


    ¡°Some might, but I do not fear your vaunted judgment. I know better than most how a legend is born, and just how far from the truth it strays. If you will not release them, it will force my hand.¡±


    ¡°You say that like there was a chance of it ending some other way.¡±


    ¡°You could withdraw. Return to the north. Then, there is no conflict between us.¡±


    ¡°That sounds great for you, but I don¡¯t see what I get out of ignoring the king¡¯s request.¡±


    The man fixed Sen with what he probably imagined was a hard, intimidating look.


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    ¡°You get to live,¡± he said in chilly tones.


    Sen tilted his head to one side and considered those words.


    ¡°You really don¡¯t have the presence to say those kinds of things,¡± observed Sen.


    ¡°No?¡± said the man.


    ¡°No. Here, let me show you how something like that is done correctly,¡± said Sen and directed his coldest, hardest look at the man. ¡°If you gather up those fools and take them away, I promise I won¡¯t make it my hobby to hunt you all like wild animals.¡±


    The man did an admirable job of maintaining his composure, but he couldn¡¯t hide the way he went pale or the slight tremble in his hands. Sen put on a bright smile that seemed to unnerve the other man even more.


    ¡°There,¡± said Sen. ¡°Did you see the difference? You have to mean it.¡±


    With one final look at his juniors, the new man faced Sen squarely and drew his jian.


    ¡°Regardless of what you may think of my commitment, this is as far as you go.¡±


    Sen looked down at his hand and started counting before he realized that he¡¯d need to put his own jian away to do the job properly. Sighing, he shook his head.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± demanded the other man.


    ¡°I was trying to count how many dead people said something like that to me in the last few days. I¡¯ll just have to say a lot and be content with that.¡±


    The man tried to sneer like the comment meant nothing but didn¡¯t quite pull it off. It just served to make the man look like he¡¯d eaten something that didn¡¯t agree with him.


    ¡°So, you truly have no respect for your betters,¡± said the man, who seemed to instantly realize he¡¯d made a grave error.


    Any semblance of playfulness or joviality vanished from Sen¡¯s expression like it had never existed. It was replaced with a bone-deep contempt and resolve that seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon. The other man took a step back, as though that look had exerted physical pressure on him


    ¡°My betters, eh? Then, perhaps you should introduce yourself. We lessers do hate to wallow in our ignorance.¡±


    The vitriol in those words was so condensed it nearly burned the air. The other man drew himself up.


    ¡°I am Tuan Baihu, The Golden Tiger.¡±


    Sen glanced back when he heard a gasp from Long Jia Wei. The ex-sect cultivator looked like he¡¯d just taken a bad blow. He turned a concerned look to Sen.


    ¡°He is known to my sect,¡± said Long Jia Wei before correcting himself. ¡°My former sect. He is not to be underestimated.¡±


    Sen looked at the, apparently, other famous person in the road. The man¡¯s stance looked solid, and he was a peak core cultivator, but those things meant very little to Sen.


    ¡°Well, Tuan Baihu, shall we?¡±


    The first part of the fight went the way that such things always went. Tuan Baihu and Sen tested each other. At least, Sen was pretty sure that¡¯s what Tuan Baihu thought was happening. Instead of adopting the style that Master Feng taught him, Sen borrowed the one that he¡¯d helped Shi Ping improve in those long-ago seeming days. It was a serviceable approach that was neither too aggressive nor too defensive. It was also the kind of thing that someone could pick up almost anywhere in the country. Sen could almost watch Tuan Baihu¡¯s confidence grow during their first few exchanges. That was fine. In fact, it was what Sen wanted. While the other man drew wrong conclusions, Sen was drawing what he thought were much more accurate conclusions.


    Tuan Baihu¡¯s style was speed based, relying on fast combinations to confuse the opponent before landing a critical hit. In a lot of ways, it was ideal for someone with the physical advantages of a cultivator. The improved strength, speed, and reflexes of those just on the spiritual cultivation path were formidable. The man¡¯s control was also top shelf. Maybe even good enough to satisfy Master Feng¡¯s expectations. In short, the man was no rank-and-file sect member. This man was someone who taught promising students, rather than being a promising student. A little part of Sen was suddenly eager for this confrontation. It had been a long time since he faced someone with the skills to really push him with the jian. Not that he was willing to give up the advantage he¡¯d just gone to all the trouble to create for himself. Challenges were good, but victory was better. The pair broke apart, and Sen could see Tuan Baihu make the decision that it was time for the real fight.


    Sen waited, leveraging all that remained of his hard-pressed patience to remain still until the right moment. Just as Tuan Baiho shifted to start his attack, Sen changed his stance. It only lasted a split-second, but the change in stance confused and alarmed Tuan Baiho enough to hesitate. That split-second let Sen seize the momentum of the fight. Instead of Shi Ping¡¯s sturdy, serviceable style of swordplay, Sen adopted Auntie Caihong¡¯s tricky style of swordplay. Deception was the heart of that style, so he felt he¡¯d already lived up to its main expectation. There was a furious exchange of thrusts, parries, slashes, and blocks, but Tuan Baiho was on the back foot. The moment it looked like the man was about to gather his wits, Sen changed styles again, switching to Lo Meifeng¡¯s aggressive style. The switch once again left Tuan Baiho retreating as he tried to understand the rapid changes in approach. The man even tried to use Sen¡¯s own tactic against him by switching styles, but that just earned him a cut along his ribs.


    As Tuan Biahu¡¯s confidence was slowly eroded, Sen decided to add distraction to the pile of problems the other man faced. He yanked his killing intent away from the other cultivators. The three who had managed to stay upright collapsed. The noise of their groans along with the sudden motion where none had been caused a slight lapse in Tuan Biahu¡¯s concentration. And Sen punished him for it. He opened a deep cut in the man¡¯s thigh. It wasn¡¯t a wound that would kill a cultivator, not anytime soon, and not ever if it was seen to properly. It would slow the man down, though, and inhibit movement. A style that depended on speed also depended on solid footwork. Something that Sen had just made far, far more difficult. In what looked like a desperate move, but something that was probably very calculated, Tuan Baihu sent a wind blade at Sen. They were at such close range that Sen reluctantly gave ground to give himself the heartbeat of time he needed to redirect the wind blade out into the trees.


    ¡°Interesting,¡± said Sen.

 V8 Chapter 5 – Pyrrhic Victory

    ¡°What¡¯s interesting?¡± asked Tuan Baihu.


    The man chanced a look down at his injured leg but apparently decided that it was something he could fight through. Sen simply ignored the question.


    ¡°You know, there¡¯s something I¡¯ve been meaning to ask my betters for a long time now. Just what is it that makes you my betters? I mean, you all seem so confident about it. So, really, I¡¯d like to know. What is it? Wait, I hope it¡¯s not just that you belong to a sect. Please tell me it isn¡¯t just that.¡±


    Tuan Baihu glared at him.


    ¡°Nothing? Really?¡± asked Sen, wandering over and nudging one of Tuan Baihu¡¯s juniors with his toe. ¡°You were so eager to announce that you¡¯re my better. I just assumed that you had a justification other than, someone told me this patch makes me special.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s because we have honor.¡±


    ¡°Ugh,¡± groaned Sen. ¡°I take it back. This isn¡¯t interesting. If that¡¯s the best you have, then you¡¯ve been lying to yourself for a long time. Being in a sect doesn¡¯t give you honor. In my experience, being in a sect is one of the shortest paths to losing it.¡±


    Tuan Baihu took a couple of angry steps forward, grimacing every time his injured leg came down.


    ¡°You dare to question my honor.¡±


    ¡°If you had any, you would have been the one standing in the road, not them,¡± said Sen, gesturing at the cultivators sprawled on the ground. ¡°If I were any less of a soft touch, they¡¯d have all been dead before you could have done a thing about it. You used them. I¡¯ve seen literal assassins with more honor than you.¡±


    Long Jia Wei visibly flinched at those words, although Tuan Baihu didn¡¯t seem to notice.


    ¡°How dare you speak to me this way,¡± thundered Tuan Baihu.


    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I? Because you¡¯re my better? Better at what, exactly?¡±


    Sen felt the qi surge around the other man and shook his head.


    ¡°You do not want to turn this into a qi technique fight,¡± said Sen. ¡°Long Jia Wei. Tell him why.¡±


    The ex-sect cultivator took a nervous step forward. He offered a hesitant bow to Tuan Baihu.


    ¡°Senior,¡± said Long Jia Wei. ¡°If you pursue that path, the fight will be over in seconds. And you will die. I watched him destroy a late-stage core cultivator with a single technique.¡±


    Tuan Baihu eyed Long Jia Wei and asked, ¡°How close were you at the time?¡±


    ¡°Closer than we stand from each other now.¡±


    That answer seemed to give The Golden Tiger real pause. Sen assumed the man thought that Long Jia Wei had witnessed the event from some significant distance. A distance that would allow for misinterpretation. Feeling that the statement might need some manner of corroboration, Sen did something he hadn¡¯t done in a long time. He cycled for multiple types of qi at the same time, then used that qi that form halos of water, stone, fire, lightning, and shadow behind himself. That display made Tuan Baihu¡¯s eyes go wide. Sen smiled at him.


    ¡°It¡¯s your choice, of course. If you¡¯d prefer that we include qi techniques, I¡¯d be happy to accommodate you.¡±


    Tuan Baihu considered that offer before he slowly shook his head.


    ¡°I believe that I would not prefer that.¡±


    ¡°Good. I¡¯m glad we got that resolved. Now, you¡¯ve had yourself a little rest. We should finish this up. I¡¯ve got places to be.¡±


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    As Sen closed the distance, he realized that he¡¯d been playing with this man, and he didn¡¯t even know why. Well, he knew why. That comment about betters had made him angry, but that would normally just have been a reason to finish him quickly. Sen had been dragging this out, even after he realized he could win the fight. Something about the man just rubbed him the wrong way. Maybe it was the arrogance. Maybe it was the way he¡¯d left his juniors out to take the brunt of any first assault. Maybe it was just that Sen was having a bad day and wanted to take it out on someone. Whatever the reason, he decided that there had been enough of that. He dropped back to the style Master Feng had taught him, which brought an almost anguished look to Tuan Baihu¡¯s face.


    ¡°How many styles have you mastered?¡± asked the man.


    ¡°Just the one,¡± said Sen, and his voice sounded cold to him.


    It seemed that Tuan Baihu picked up on that as well because the man took an obviously defensive stance. Sen didn¡¯t bother with more trickery or clever strategies. From that moment forward, it was relentless aggression and pure skill. Sen had to give the man credit. He held his own for a while, but the injury to his leg, to say nothing of his shaken confidence, let Sen wear him down. Tuan Baihu reached for his qi more than once but never tried to unleash it. Sen couldn¡¯t decide if that was simply caution on the man¡¯s part, or if he was trying to act honorably after being told in no uncertain terms that Sen considered him an honorless dog for the way he¡¯d treated his juniors. Sen could tell that Tuan Baihu was, perhaps unfortunately for the man, a skilled enough swordsman to understand that he couldn¡¯t win the fight on skill alone. Everything he was doing was a delaying action, a means of extending his life a few seconds at a time. Sen could even respect that, having employed the tactic himself once or twice. It was written on the man¡¯s face. He was desperately looking for any opportunity to turn things around. Yet, Sen was not providing it to him.


    It was a bad step that ultimately brought the fight to a close. Unable to divert any of his attention from Sen, the man had stepped back onto a pebble. The pebble rolled, which twisted Tuan Baihu¡¯s already injured leg. The unexpected shock of fresh pain had distracted him. A swift and brutal slash from Sen sent the other man¡¯s jian flying from his grip. Tuan Baihu stared down at his empty hand with a look of pure disbelief that slowly transformed into one of grim, resolute acceptance. The man looked at Sen with the dimmest flicker of hope in his eyes. A flicker that was snuffed out at what he saw in Sen¡¯s face. There was no reprieve to be found there. The man looked over at his juniors, most of whom were still borderline unconscious. Perhaps it was the proximity of death that brought a shred of basic humanity to the surface, a brief inkling of empathy that so many cultivators seemed to discard. Then again, maybe it was curiosity that prompted his next question.


    ¡°What will you do with them?¡± asked Tuan Baihu.


    ¡°Whatever I see fit,¡± answered Sen.


    With a motion faster than even most cultivator eyes could track, Sen plunged his blade into Tuan Baihu¡¯s heart. He gave the blade a twist, pulled it free, and then swiped it across the man¡¯s neck. Sen felt no sense of accomplishment. The fight could have gone the other way in the right circumstances, which made Sen feel like he should think that the victory was an accomplishment. He¡¯d defeated someone who had built enough of a reputation that Long Jia Wei had recognized the man¡¯s name. Almost mechanically, Sen stripped Tuan Baihu and the semi-conscious cultivators of their storage treasures and weapons. He stood there for a while, unintentionally looming over the bloodied cultivators, staring down at the storage rings in his hand. He didn¡¯t even want them. He didn¡¯t need their money or their weapons. He¡¯d just taken them because that¡¯s what you were supposed to do. He supposed it taught them or their sect masters to choose their targets with more care or lose such valuable treasures.


    Glimmer of Night came over to him eventually and handed him Tuan Baihu¡¯s jian. Sen took it, looked at it blankly for a moment, and then stored it in one of his rings. It joined an absurd pile of other weapons he¡¯d collected recently. He¡¯d have to go through them at some point. His first instinct was to sell them off to the first person who expressed even the slightest interest, but the academy could probably use some of them. Sen struggled to bring the place to mind. It seemed so distant now. Like a place that only existed in some pleasant dream he¡¯d been forced to wake from. A place that he¡¯d never be able to get back to and, even if he somehow did make it back, it would never feel the same to him. After a time, Shen Mingxia and Long Jia Wei came over and stood by him. It was Shen Mingxia who spoke to him.


    ¡°What should we do with them?¡± she asked, gesturing at the other cultivators who were slowly but surely recovering.


    Sen glanced at them and spoke an unvarnished truth.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡±


    Having said all he intended to on the subject, he started walking down the road. If Shen Mingxia or Glimmer of Night decided they all needed to die, that was on their consciences. If they decided to let them all go, that was something they could also carry. He didn¡¯t have the mental energy left to decide if any more people should live or die that day. For once, the universe seemed to agree that he¡¯d done enough because the rest of the day passed in a state of calm that Sen didn¡¯t trust but was happy enough to accept.

 V8 Chapter 6 – A Breath of Fresh Air

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± said Sen. ¡°I never should have brought you along for this. I should have known better. I just didn¡¯t expect it to be this violent. I beg your forgiveness, Shen Mingxia.¡±


    She gave him a frown.


    ¡°Is this why you¡¯ve been so quiet the last few days?¡±


    ¡°Not just this. I let myself forget or maybe I chose to forget what it¡¯s like out here. I let happiness blind me.¡±


    ¡°Happiness isn¡¯t a bad thing,¡± she said.


    Sen gave her a rueful look.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not a bad thing. But it can be a dangerous thing. It can lull you,¡± said Sen, and then he smiled into the distance.


    From the look of open distress on Shen Mingxia¡¯s face, that smile wasn¡¯t the kind of smile that reassured people. Sen went on.


    ¡°The other side of the danger is that I have things I will not allow myself to lose. Anyone stupid enough to come for me and mine will find no mercy in me. I will bury them and reduce everything they love to ash. If necessary, I will drown armies and kingdoms in oceans of blood and death to protect what is mine.¡±


    Shen Mingxia closed her eyes and let out a soft breath.


    ¡°So, he is still in there.¡±


    That drew a sharp look from Sen.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°You know, even cultivator memory has a way of fading a bit. Not the details, but the emotions that went with some events tend to get washed out by more recent experiences. At least, that¡¯s how it works for me,¡± she said with a questioning glance at Sen.


    He shrugged and said, ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m old enough yet to know what you mean.¡±


    She blinked a few times and then laughed a little.


    ¡°It¡¯s easy to forget how young you are. Well, something that hasn¡¯t faded from my memory at all is that night outside the Silver Crane. I remember that with perfect clarity. I remember how you were that night. You were implacable. Just this immovable machine of death. You were terrifying. Then, you were gone, but the stories started spreading. The things you¡¯d done or were supposed to have done. I assumed that if I ever met you again, you¡¯d be even more frightening. Except, you weren¡¯t. It was like meeting an entirely different person. That feeling that I was never more than a heartbeat from death when you were around was gone. I wondered if you really had changed that much.¡±


    It was Sen¡¯s turn to let out a soft breath.


    ¡°That new person you met, that¡¯s the person I was before I went out into the world, minus a few very na?ve illusions. It¡¯s the person I want to be. But if all this carnage has shown us anything, it¡¯s also something this appalling world just will not let me be. So, I¡¯ll do what I have to. I¡¯ll reserve that man for the people I love and respect. As for everyone else,¡± said Sen, and his whole demeanor shifted into some as cold and hard as ice. ¡°Everyone else can have Judgment¡¯s Gale.¡±


    Shen Mingxia went quiet for most of a minute before she asked, ¡°And which list am I on?¡±


    Sen looked at her and let the ice fade from his expression.


    ¡°My little girl is very fond of her Auntie Mingxia,¡± he said as if that answered everything.


    She quirked an eyebrow and asked, ¡°And what do you think?¡±


    ¡°I guess you don¡¯t bother me too much,¡± said Sen, a little smirk sneaking through.


    ¡°Oh, well, however will I stand up beneath the weight of that faint approval,¡± said Shen Mingxia, rolling her eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll manage,¡± said Sen with a sage nod, ¡°somehow.¡±


    Sen noted the fading light and let his qi platform drift to the ground. Glimmer of Night did the same. A tiny spark of amusement gleamed in Sen¡¯s soul at the look of intense discomfort on Long Jia Wei¡¯s face. It seemed he did not particularly enjoy his time riding with the spider. Sen had been willing to let the man travel under his own power, but it quickly became evident that he simply didn¡¯t have the qi reserves to keep up. The man didn¡¯t make a show of it, but he did take a few steps to put some distance between himself and the spider. Sen wondered briefly if Glimmer of Night had said something to make the man feel uncomfortable and promptly decided he didn¡¯t care enough to ask.


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    ¡°Are we making camp?¡± asked Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen. ¡°There¡¯s a town up ahead.¡±


    Shen Mingxia and Long Jia Wei both brightened up at that announcement. Glimmer of Night didn¡¯t say anything, but he did apply his human disguise. A moment later, he started itching one of his arms.


    ¡°Does that mean what I think it means?¡± asked Shen Mingxia with a hopeful look on her face.


    Sen nodded. ¡°I think we¡¯ve all earned a night in real beds, and even I get tired of cooking all the time.¡±


    They made their way toward the town with Mingxia and Long Jia Wei looking happy, while Glimmer of Night wore a blank expression that conveyed absolutely nothing. That was something Sen would have to work on with the spider. A blank expression could be useful, but it could also become a hindrance. Teaching the spider to at least feign a few basic emotions would probably solve some future problems before they became problems. The guards at the gates just nodded at them, seemingly deciding that they were a little too well-dressed to be bothered with answering questions. It was poor security, but that was ultimately the town¡¯s problem. Shen Mingxia took the lead in looking for an inn, which let Sen trail along in her wake, thinking about what he would do in the capital. That was a murky mess, but only because he knew that he¡¯d have to do things he didn¡¯t want to do. He was so lost in thought that he almost walked into Long Jia Wei¡¯s back.


    He jerked to a halt just in time. I wonder if they found an inn? Sen looked around but didn¡¯t see anything that resembled an inn. It was only then that he realized that Shen Mingxia¡¯s gaze was fixed on something ahead of them. He leaned to one side so he could peer around Long Jia Wei¡¯s head. He took in the whole scene at a glance. There was a young woman almost crouching behind a man, tears streaming down her face. The man had placed himself directly between the young woman and a handful of ¨C Sen let a little of his spiritual sense stretch out ¨C of course, they were cultivators. Another time, he might have let it simply play out, but there was one important difference between this situation and so many others. Sen knew the man who had put himself between the cultivators and the girl. And that knowledge made this situation feel like a breath of fresh air after standing in a smoke-filled building for years. He knew exactly where the right and wrong of it was.


    ¡°Stay here,¡± said Sen, a smile on his face as he walked toward the evolving confrontation.


    ¡°Walk away, fool,¡± one of the cultivators said to the outnumbered man. ¡°This isn¡¯t your business.¡±


    ¡°I will not,¡± said the man with a look of absolute calm.


    Before anyone else could speak, Sen called out in a ringing voice.


    ¡°Righteous Wu Gang!¡±


    Every eye turned toward Sen. The cultivators looked wary, uncertain if Sen was there to settle his own score or to provide support. Wu Gang wore a stunned look for a moment before he offered Sen a formal bow.


    ¡°I greet you, Lu Sen,¡± said Wu Gang.


    The leader of the cultivators went to put himself between Sen and Wu Gang. Sen didn¡¯t break stride as he backhanded the man hard enough to send him flying down the street. The cultivator hit the street with bone-shattering force, bounced several times, and came to a stop up against a pile of trash. Right where he belonged in Sen¡¯s opinion. The other two immediately reached for weapons and almost made it, before a slap and another backhand sent them on to their next lives. Sen came to a stop in front of Wu Gang who seemed a little uncertain about what to say.


    Rallying himself, Wu Gang said, ¡°I appreciate your help, but why?¡±


    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I?¡± asked Sen, honestly perplexed.


    ¡°You couldn¡¯t possibly have known that I was in the right,¡± said Wu Gang.


    Sen threw back his head and laughed.


    ¡°Only you would think that. Of course, I knew because it was you. Righteous Wu Gang. And you are a man who keeps his word. That was all I needed to know.¡±


    Wu Gang straightened at those words.


    ¡°I am unworthy of such praise.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Sen. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Why don¡¯t we ask her about that.¡±


    Sen pointed at the young woman standing behind Wu Gang and staring at the man like he was made of pure gold. As soon as Wu Gang¡¯s eyes met her, she started to gush.


    ¡°Thank you. Thank you so much! I don¡¯t know what I would have done,¡± she said, throwing her arms around Wu Gang.


    Wu Gang shot a hasty look at Sen, as if worried that this display might somehow tarnish his image. Sen just smirked at the man and lifted his chin toward the young woman. Apparently satisfied that Sen wasn¡¯t going to think badly of him, Wu Gang awkwardly patted the woman¡¯s back.


    ¡°I¡¯m just glad I could help,¡± he told her.


    Sen looked on in amusement as Wu Gang gently disentangled himself from the very grateful young woman. He idly wondered if he should just quietly disappear and let her thank Wu Gang in, well, whatever way seemed best to her. Before he could decide one way or the other, the disappointed-looking young woman was sent on her way. Sen eyed her briefly before turning his gaze back to Wu Gang.


    ¡°You know, she wanted you to go with her somewhere. Somewhere private.¡±


    Wu Gang¡¯s expression went a little sheepish.


    ¡°I know. It¡¯s happened before. I just don¡¯t do that.¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t sure what to think of that declaration.


    ¡°Okay, but why?¡±


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be right. I¡¯d feel like I was taking advantage.¡±


    ¡°You know, there probably is such a thing as being too righteous for your own good,¡± said Sen. ¡°Well, come on, I have some people for you to meet.¡±

 V8 Chapter 7 – Righteous

    Sen did pause long enough to strip the dead cultivators of their belongings. After a moment of thought, he reduced their bodies to ashes. Wu Gang gave him a curious look.


    ¡°Dead bodies are bad for the health. No reason to make the mortals clean them up.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s very public-minded of you,¡± said Wu Gang.


    ¡°It¡¯s a byproduct of all the alchemy I learned. I picked up a lot of information about health and what makes people sick. No need to make work for someone else when I can deal with it right now.¡±


    Sen led Wu Gang back to the others. Shen Mingxia and Long Jia Wei stared while Glimmer of Night had seemingly grown bored. He¡¯d wandered off a short distance to poke at a plant that had somehow taken root between a couple of stones in a building wall. Sen stopped and looked a little harder at the plant. There was something odd about it, even if Sen couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on what. Sen shook his head. He¡¯d have to try to remember to ask the spider about it later. There were other priorities at the moment. He called Glimmer of Night back over to them.


    ¡°Everyone, this is an old friend of mine. Righteous Wu Gang,¡± announced Sen.


    Shen Mingxia smiled and gave the man a respectful nod.


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard the stories about you,¡± she said.


    Wu Gang flushed a little and held up his hands as if to defend himself from some dire accusation.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t believe those stories. They¡¯re mostly made up. I¡¯ve never even been to half of those places.¡±


    Sen gave the man a look of understanding and sympathy. He knew better than most about those stories.


    ¡°This,¡± said Sen with a grin, ¡°is Honorable Shen Mingxia.¡±


    She gave him a flat look and said, ¡°Are you really going to introduce me to people that way?¡±


    His grin grew even wider.


    ¡°Every chance I get,¡± he said before gesturing at Long Jia Wei. ¡°That is Long Jia Wei. I haven¡¯t given him an annoying honorific yet.¡±


    Long Jia Wei gave Wu Gang a shallow bow and said, ¡°An honor to meet you.¡±


    Sen frowned. Long Jia Wei was acting odd, almost shifty. He was refusing to meet Wu Gang¡¯s eyes and couldn¡¯t seem to find a comfortable way to stand. On top of that, Wu Gang was studying the man with an intense look.


    ¡°Have we met before?¡± asked Wu Gang, his gaze sharpening even more. ¡°In the town of Mercy¡¯s Lament, perhaps?¡±


    Long Jia Wei coughed nervously and said, ¡°I don¡¯t believe we¡¯ve ever been introduced.¡±


    Well, that was smoothly done, thought Sen. The man had implied a lack of meeting without ever actually denying it. Sen imagined that there was a very interesting story to be had about all of that. It was a story he wanted to hear. In fact, he wanted to hear both sides of it, but not at the same time and not right at that moment. If nothing else, he didn¡¯t want Wu Gang and the ex-sect cultivator coming to blows immediately. So, he intervened.


    ¡°Mercy¡¯s Lament. That doesn¡¯t sound like a cheerful place,¡± observed Sen.


    Wu Gang gave Long Jia Wei one last hard look before he turned his attention back to Sen.


    ¡°Oh, it was nice enough. You know how these town and village names are. Half of them are about something that happened so long ago that nobody remembers it anymore.¡±


    ¡°Mmm, true,¡± said Sen. ¡°Anyway, the last member of our little group is Glimmer of Night.¡±


    Glimmer of Night just looked at Wu Gang for an incredibly long, awkward moment before he remembered some of the social etiquette Sen had tried to teach him. The spider pressed his fists together and bowed.


    ¡°Glimmer of Night,¡± said Wu Gang. ¡°That is a very unusual name.¡±


    When the spider said nothing, Sen once again intervened.


    ¡°He¡¯s an unusual man. And, it¡¯s been a long week or so for all of us. Do you know if this town has an inn?¡±


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    Wu Gang nodded. ¡°I can show you the way. I have a room there.¡±


    ¡°So, the life of a wandering cultivator hasn¡¯t left you poverty stricken?¡± asked Sen as they all started to follow the man.


    Another sheepish look crossed Wu Gang¡¯s face as he said, ¡°The people I help often try to reward me. I do my best to say no or ask for something modest, but they can be very insistent. Especially the nobles.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at that.


    ¡°Do you help many nobles?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Wu Gang, ¡°but bandits will attack almost anyone on the road. I won¡¯t withhold aid to those in need when any other help may be days away.¡±


    Sen knew that he couldn¡¯t say the same thing. Actually, if bandits were involved, he would intervene but not because he wanted to help the nobles. In any other circumstance, he would probably just walk right by and let the nobles fend for themselves. I gave him the right name, thought Sen. He might not have started out that way, but he has legitimately become righteous. Plus, after a moment of reflection, Sen realized that he didn¡¯t want his biases to infect Wu Gang. Just because he loathed almost every noble he¡¯d ever met, it didn¡¯t mean that Wu Gang should. The man had set out with the explicit aim to help people, and he had. True or false, absolutely every single story about him painted Wu Gang as a hero. A humble hero. That didn¡¯t happen if there wasn¡¯t a lot of truth at the center of it. Suggesting that some people simply didn¡¯t deserve his help would be a disservice to who the man was and what he¡¯d accomplished. And Sen certainly didn¡¯t begrudge the man the occasional reward. People had to eat.


    ¡°I understand,¡± said Sen. ¡°You can only say no so many times before you¡¯ll damage someone¡¯s pride.¡±


    The look of relief on Wu Gang¡¯s face told Sen that the man still valued his opinion far more than he should. Sen felt like he should relieve Wu Gang of that concern. Whatever debt had existed between them, Sen felt certain that it had long ago been paid in full. He just didn¡¯t know exactly how to put that concern to rest. Sen resolved to give the matter some thought before they parted ways again. While Sen approved of all the help that Wu Gang had given out to people, he also knew that there were other things in life. Things like a home and children. Things that the wandering hero should feel allowed to go and experience for himself if he wanted them. And maybe he doesn¡¯t, thought Sen, but he shouldn¡¯t deprive himself of them out of a debt to me that doesn¡¯t exist anymore.


    The inn wasn¡¯t anything special, but it was clean and had the air of a place that was well-loved. Sen secured rooms for everyone, and Mingxia immediately went off to take a bath. Sen would have loved to get one for himself, but he supposed that the least he could do was let her take one first. Especially after he dragged her along for this stupid nightmare of a trip. He would have told her to go back to the academy, but he didn¡¯t dare to send her back on that road. There was just no way to know if any cultivators were still on that road or if they were looking for her now as well. As dangerous as being near him was, at least he had a decent chance of protecting her when she was nearby. If he sent her back, even that protection would vanish. No, the best he could do for her was simply to keep her close for now.


    Glimmer of Night wanted to go to his room immediately, and Sen understood why. Once he was safely behind a locked door, the spider could abandon his human disguise. Sen, however, was hungry. After he had spoken with the inn owner and ordered three of everything on the menu, they went to the common area where there were tables. After that, a steady stream of food was brought out to him, Long Jia Wei, and Wu Gang. Sen simply ignored everything and everyone else for a while as he ate. When he finally felt sated, he looked over at Wu Gang.


    ¡°So, what have you been doing since we last met?¡±


    Wu Gang, who had been staring at Long Jia Wei, blinked a couple of times before a thoughtful look came over him.


    ¡°Well, it has been a few years,¡± said Wu Gang. ¡°I¡¯ve done quite a lot, although not as much as you it seems.¡±


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t listen to those stories. I¡¯m as boring as old bread and as gentle as a kitten.¡±


    Long Jia Wei started to choke on the dumpling he¡¯d just put in his mouth. Sen slapped the man on the back a few times.


    ¡°You¡¯ll have to forgive Long Jia Wei,¡± said Sen in a low, confidential tone. ¡°We¡¯re still working on his table manners.¡±


    ¡°Apparently,¡± said Wu Gang, looking amused.


    ¡°Back to you, though. Why don¡¯t you give me the high points.¡±


    Sen sat back and listened as Wu Gang described what he considered the high points of his journey. He skipped over almost anything that smacked of heroic battles. That was simply referred to as ¡°cleaning up some minor trouble.¡± Instead, he talked about helping to build a bridge that would make it easier for farmers to get crops to market. He talked about a dying old man he¡¯d stayed with for two months as he dutifully wrote down the man¡¯s life story. That was followed up by a months-long quest to find the son who no doubt thought, incorrectly, that he¡¯d been abandoned by the old man. A quest during which Wu Gang had cleaned up some minor trouble on no less than eleven occasions.


    He¡¯d helped a widow keep her home and found orphans families to live with. He¡¯d helped a group of wandering monks find their lost temple. It was a tale littered with so many kindnesses, great and small, that Sen was positively stunned that Wu Gang hadn¡¯t exploded with divine qi and pure enlightenment. If anything, the tale made Sen feel a little inadequate. He¡¯d done a bit of good here and there, but it simply paled in comparison. Shen Mingxia had joined them after her bath and almost immediately been caught up in rapt attention. She was so focused on the telling of the tale that she¡¯d had the same piece of vegetable hanging from her chopsticks for the better part of ten minutes.


    ¡°After we got the temple back in working order, we needed to clear the old road so that people could come and go. I cleaned up some minor trouble with that, and then I headed north.¡±


    ¡°Why north?¡± asked Shen Mingxia, her eyes shining with interest.


    Wu Gang cleared his throat a little nervously.


    ¡°Well, honestly, I heard that you started some kind of a sect,¡± said Wu Gang with a nod to Sen. ¡°I was curious. So, I thought I¡¯d pay you a visit.¡±


    Sen let his head drop against the top of the table.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a sect,¡± he almost cried before he started thumping his forehead against the wood.

 V8 Chapter 8 – Obligations

    ¡°It¡¯s not?¡± asked Wu Gang, his brow furrowing. ¡°That¡¯s odd. Because lots of people called it a sect. The Judgment¡¯s Gale Sect. The Hand of Chaos Sect. The Heavens Scouring Blade Sect. The Blue Demon Sect¡ª¡±


    Sen¡¯s head shot up off the table. ¡°What?! People are calling it the Blue Demon Sect?¡±


    Wu Gang nodded. Sen turned a chilly gaze on Shen Mingxia. She raised her hands defensively.


    ¡°What?¡± she asked. ¡°You told me not to tell you the other things people call you.¡±


    ¡°The Blue Demon. You didn¡¯t feel like you should maybe lead with that?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°It didn¡¯t seem that much worse to me.¡±


    ¡°Blue. Demon,¡± said Sen in a harsh, clipped tone.


    ¡°Well, sure,¡± she admitted, ¡°when you say it all angry and growly like that it sounds terrible. But if you said miracles and sunshine in that tone of voice it would sound like a death threat.¡±


    Before Sen could organize all of the screaming he wanted to do, Wu Gang cut in.


    ¡°Well, if it isn¡¯t a sect, what is it?¡±


    ¡°You explain,¡± said Sen to Shen Mingxia as he let his forehead thump back against the table.


    Sen listened as Shen Mingxia explained that it was an academy intended primarily to train mortals in spear and sword techniques. Wu Gang listened, only interrupting once or twice to get clarification. He was quiet for a little while after Shen Mingxia finished.


    ¡°Well,¡± he said, sounding a little apologetic, ¡°that may be what you think it is, but everyone else thinks it¡¯s a sect.¡±


    ¡°I hate everyone so much right now,¡± muttered Sen, pushing up from his seat and trudging away toward his room.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he heard Wu Gang say. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to upset him.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s not angry with you,¡± said Shen Mingxia. ¡°Well, he¡¯s not specifically angry with you. As much as I hate to say it, though, the best thing that could happen tonight is for some idiot to show up looking for a fight.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± asked Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°Because then he¡¯d have someone to take it out on.¡±


    As Sen shut his door, he couldn¡¯t help but think that Shen Mingxia was right. The thing he needed most at that moment was for some arrogant young master with more pride than sense to show up and start shooting his mouth off. As soon as that thought passed through his mind, he glanced upwards and grimaced.


    ¡°You¡¯re not going to let that happen, are you?¡± he asked the universe at large.


    The universe didn¡¯t deign to answer him, but Sen knew all the same.


    ¡°Seriously,¡± he growled. ¡°Non-stop stupidity for the last week and now, now, you¡¯re going to make sure they don¡¯t find us? Right when I could actually get some practical value from having to kill someone?¡±


    The universe again chose to remain silent. Sen sighed, walked over the to bed, and flopped face-first onto it. While the pillow muffled his words, he felt confident that the universe heard him anyway.


    ¡°You¡¯re such a jerk, sometimes, you know that?¡±


    ***


    A night of poor sleep did nothing to improve Sen¡¯s mood. When he did manage to sleep, he found himself waking up mumbling the words Blue Demon. It wasn¡¯t a particularly original or inventive name, but it didn¡¯t need to be when people were tossing around a word like demon as a description of you. He shot an angry look around the room that no one had even tried to burn down around him. A little piece of him knew that he should be happy about that. That it was a good thing for the inn¡¯s owner, who was a pleasant enough man, and someone who almost certainly didn¡¯t deserve to have some cultivator trying to burn down his livelihood. Even so, Sen was disappointed. He desperately wanted someone to give him an excuse to do something drastic, even if he also knew it wouldn¡¯t make him feel any better in the long run.


    He''d known from the start that there was a good chance people would think his academy was a sect. It was why he¡¯d been willing to tolerate spies there, after all. He¡¯d just never considered the possibility that it would be such an uphill battle right from the outset. Sen had hoped that he¡¯d be able to get ahead of things and shape the story, at least a little bit. It seemed that he¡¯d missed any opportunity to do that. Now, he feared that his occupation was about to become explaining, over and over and over again, how he wasn¡¯t running a sect. He cringed to imagine the number of cultivators who were at least contemplating showing up with some absurd notion that he¡¯d take them on as students. He glanced at the window with a deep yearning for someone to crash through it with weapon in hand, spoiling for a nice, ugly battle to the death.


    Instead, he heard the cheerful songs of birds announcing to the world that it was time to get up. Ai was right, he thought. Birds are dumb. He¡¯d been pushing how much he missed her to the back of his mind, but it refused to be pushed back again. The truth was that Sen was sorely tempted to go back, fetch Ai, Falling Leaf, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho, and simply leave. Go somewhere else and start over, minus fool¡¯s errands like the academy. Sen had more than enough money to set himself and all of them up in a very, very comfortable life. He could even take up some kind of trade. With everything his cultivation-enhanced body could do, to say nothing of the fine control he could exert over that body, and the basic inability to get hurt doing most mortal trades, he could spend all of the years between now and Ai¡¯s adulthood simply becoming a master craftsman. She would want for nothing in body or soul. It was such an enticing fantasy that he didn¡¯t think anyone could honestly blame him for indulging in it for a few minutes.


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    Of course, he knew that it was only a fantasy. He had responsibilities that he couldn¡¯t put down, such as his promise to Fu Ruolan. He also owed something to the people at the academy. Oh, it could probably limp along without him for a while, but it would inevitably collapse if he just vanished one day without a word. He didn¡¯t have any kind of plan in place that would let them go on in his absence, not yet at any rate. And he couldn¡¯t make a plan like that until after he¡¯d found some more people to teach there. That meant going to the capital, or somewhere else just as likely to lead him straight into conflict and violence. Unless I just wash my hands of the whole thing, he thought. He wanted to believe he could do that but only because it would make his life easier. He knew himself well enough to know that he wouldn¡¯t, possibly even couldn¡¯t, make himself abandon people to whom he¡¯d made real commitments, no matter how much it would simplify his life.


    No. He¡¯d have to accept that the world was just going to make things hard on him for a while. He¡¯d have to do things he didn¡¯t want to do to secure the future he wanted for Ai and everyone else around him. If that meant cutting his way through half the young masters and mistresses in the kingdom, that¡¯s what he¡¯d do. If that meant visiting noble houses that crossed him, burning them to the ground, and spitting in the ashes, he¡¯d do that too. He wouldn¡¯t make a lot of friends that way, but it wasn¡¯t like he was making a lot of friends now. People he¡¯d had no conflict with had sent killers after him for¡­ He didn¡¯t even know the reasons why. The people he¡¯d interrogated along the way certainly hadn¡¯t known why, and he¡¯d pressed them hard. He wasn¡¯t really surprised they didn¡¯t know. They hadn¡¯t been the kind of people who asked questions. Someone, probably an elder, ordered them to come and stop him, and they¡¯d jumped at the chance to curry favor.


    Sen shook off those thoughts. They weren¡¯t going to lead him anywhere. He¡¯d been over that barren ground more than once already. Without some kind of new information, he¡¯d just be wasting his time. Standing up from the bed, he took a few minutes to wash up and shave. Uncle Kho managed to make a beard look good, but any time he started to try to go grow one, it just ended up making him look unkempt. Going out into the common area, he saw no sign of Shen Mingxia, Glimmer of Night, or Long Jia Wei. He did see Wu Gang sitting by the fire and sipping a cup of tea. Sen walked over.


    ¡°Do you mind if I join you?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Please,¡± said Wu Gang, gesturing at a nearby chair.


    Sen sat down and regarded the other man. It struck him then in a way that it hadn¡¯t the last time they¡¯d crossed paths that he didn¡¯t really know anything about Wu Gang. He¡¯d had other things, genuinely urgent matters, on his mind at the time. He hadn¡¯t bothered to learn anything about him back in Orchard¡¯s Reach, either. He¡¯d only helped him because of that tugging he¡¯d felt. Something that had been absent for a long time. It made Sen wonder if that was because something or someone felt that he was on the right path, or because he¡¯d wandered so far off the right path that they¡¯d just given up entirely. In truth, helping the man had been tantamount to acting on a whim. It had positive results, in a big-picture way, but Sen had no clue what the effect had been on Wu Gang himself.


    ¡°How do you feel about where your life has taken you?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s certainly a question,¡± said Wu Gang. ¡°I¡¯m not sure it has a simple answer.¡±


    ¡°Then, give me a complicated answer, and I¡¯ll try to keep up.¡±


    Wu Gang huffed a little laugh and said, ¡°Fair enough. I could say that this is the life that I wanted. It¡¯s the life I told you I wanted. To be a wandering cultivator.¡±


    ¡°Except now you know what that life is actually like. It¡¯s easy to want something you¡¯ve never had.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the heavens¡¯ own truth. I¡¯ve done a lot of good. I¡¯ve helped a lot of people. I¡¯ve seen amazing things. It¡¯d be childish to say that I haven¡¯t gotten a lot out of that,¡± said Wu Gang, falling into a pensive silence.


    ¡°But,¡± prompted Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯d be lying if I said there weren¡¯t times that I resented you. I¡¯ve seen wonders, true, but I¡¯ve seen terrible things as well. They tell stories about me and call me a hero. That¡¯s an awful word to put on someone. They don¡¯t tell the stories about the times you didn¡¯t get there in time. No one ever hears about the burned-out farms or wrecked villages that you failed to save. But I remember them. I¡¯ve stood over more funeral pyres than I care to recall.¡±


    Sen winced at that, recalling a plague village where he¡¯d repeatedly stood that watch like some kind of hellish punishment. Wu Gang lifted an eyebrow at Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯ve done that a few times myself,¡± said Sen, not wishing to relive the memories in any more detail.


    ¡°You know, sometimes, I try to weigh it all up in my head. I try to figure out if the good I¡¯ve done outweighs the evil I failed to stop. I try to understand if the lives I¡¯ve saved balance the lives I¡¯ve taken.¡±


    ¡°Did you get anywhere with it?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°No. Did you?¡±


    ¡°What makes you think I¡¯ve ever done such a thing?¡±


    ¡°Because cultivators don¡¯t do things like open schools for mortals. It¡¯s beneath them unless they have a reason for it. A compelling reason. The kind of reason that haunts their dreams. Are your dreams haunted, Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡±


    ¡°Sometimes,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°Sometimes, it¡¯s my conscience. I had a conversation about Karma a while back with people who understand it a lot better than me. Any guesses about what they had to say?¡±


    ¡°Not really,¡± said Wu Gang.


    ¡°They basically said that it¡¯s ineffable and that it¡¯s a good thing that it¡¯s ineffable.¡±


    ¡°Why is that a good thing?¡±


    ¡°The consensus seemed to be that it acts as a kind of counterbalance to our worst impulses. If you can¡¯t ever know the full measure of your karma, it may cause you to make different choices, better choices.¡±


    ¡°Do you believe that?¡± asked Wu Gang.


    ¡°The ineffable part, yeah. The rest of it, not so much.¡±


    Wu Gang seemed to consider that answer before he nodded.


    ¡°Yeah, I think that¡¯s about where I stand on it as well. So, why the deep questions this time?¡±


    ¡°Curiosity.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯ve been trying to decide how to handle something. I thought that your answers might give me a clue about how you¡¯d react afterward.¡±


    ¡°Did they?¡± asked Wu Gang, a speculative look on his face.


    ¡°No, not particularly. If it makes a difference, they also didn¡¯t change my mind about anything either,¡± said Sen staring into the small fire. ¡°I free you, Righteous Wu Gang, of all oaths and promises to me. Your life is your own again.¡±

 V8 Chapter Nine – Facts Can Do That

    Wu Gang went so still that Sen was certain the man wasn¡¯t even breathing. Then, the teacup in his hand started trembling so badly that the hot liquid splashed out onto Wu Gang¡¯s hand. Something that went all but unnoticed until Sen reached out and took the cup away from him. The big man stared down at his shaking hand before unceremoniously wiping it against his robes. After the news seemed to finally settle in and take on some semblance of reality, Wu Gang turned confused, disbelieving eyes on Sen.


    ¡°Why?¡± asked the man. ¡°And why now?¡±


    Instead of answering immediately, Sen calmly wiped the cup down. He refilled it with fresh tea and held the cup out. Mastering himself a bit, Wu Gang took the cup with a steadier hand. Sen filled his own cup back up and leaned back into his chair. He desperately hoped that it all looked like the calculated actions of someone wise, rather than being an abrupt play for time to think of the answer or, barring that, an answer. Sen frowned thoughtfully down at his tea and took a sip before he finally spoke.


    ¡°We¡¯ve come a long way since Orchard¡¯s Reach, the two of us. I doubt anyone from there would ever have imagined that a place so small it doesn¡¯t even show up on most maps might birth two minor legends.¡±


    ¡°I suppose not,¡± said Wu Gang, his brow furrowing.


    ¡°Do you remember that pack of brats you used to run around with back there?¡±


    Wu Gang actually winced at that and said, ¡°Unfortunately, I do. Although, the gods know I don¡¯t think about them very often.¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± said Sen. ¡°I think about those brats almost every day.¡±


    ¡°I guess things with them were very different for you,¡± said Wu Gang with more than a little guilt in his voice.


    ¡°Huh. Yeah, that¡¯s certainly true, but that¡¯s not what I meant. For a long time, I thought they were the worst people in the entire world. You got painted with that same brush. As far as I was concerned, one noble brat or merchant brat was the same as the next. You were all just evil bastards who liked to hurt people. Then, I went out into the world. The same world you went out into. While it took me a lot longer than it should have, I did eventually figure something out. They weren¡¯t even close to being the worst people in the world. They were just¡ª¡± Sen searched for the right word.


    ¡°Young?¡± supplied Wu Gang.


    ¡°Well, yes, they certainly were that, but I think a better word is small. They were all so very small and petty. And so was I. Not in the same ways, of course, but my entire world was contained inside the walls of that insignificant little town. When I sent you on your way, I was still thinking of the world through that tiny lens. I can see now that your sins were depressingly mundane and ultimately minor. Nothing so terrible that you should be damned to some kind of eternal servitude. Nor do I believe myself so wise that I should be the arbiter of your fate. In my opinion, you have more than paid for anything you might have done. So, I set you free to have whatever life it is that you want.¡±


    The pair sat there by the fire in silence for a time. Wu Gang wore a faintly troubled expression, while Sen felt an odd sense of lightness. It was as if he¡¯d shrugged off a weight he hadn¡¯t known he was carrying. The troubled look on Wu Gang¡¯s face did give Sen pause, though. He¡¯d expected the man to be happy, overjoyed even, to finally be able to set his own course through the world. Sen decided to add one more thought.


    ¡°I do hope that the legend of Righteous Wu Gang doesn¡¯t end here, though.¡±


    Wu Gang shook off some inner thought and focused on Sen.


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    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°Honestly,¡± said Sen, ¡°it¡¯s for my sake.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I see the connection.¡±


    ¡°We were seen together. If Righteous Wu Gang simply stops being a hero overnight, people will probably think I killed you. So, it¡¯s really better for me if you keep on being heroic.¡±


    Wu Gang stared at Sen with a vaguely incredulous look before he burst into laughter.


    ¡°Oh, well, we certainly wouldn¡¯t want to inconvenience the Heavens Scouring Blade,¡± said Wu Gang with a huge grin.


    ¡°I know! Who can say what kind of disasters might descend on us all?¡±


    ¡°The way I hear it, it¡¯ll probably result in a plague of miserable, beautiful women wandering the countryside looking for you.¡±


    Sen shook his head and said, ¡°The horror.¡±


    Wu Gang snickered at that, but that same troubled look soon overtook his face again. Sen waited for him to decide what to do. The man would either talk about it, or he wouldn¡¯t. After several minutes of silence, Wu Gang looked at Sen, and he seemed almost lost.


    ¡°But, what do I do now?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Whatever you want to do? You could travel the world, learn a trade, or start a family. The gods help you, you could even join a sect if you really want to. I mean, didn¡¯t you ever think about what you would do when all of this was over?¡±


    Wu Gang averted his gaze, and it was only then that Sen understood. Wu Gang hadn¡¯t thought it would ever be over. He¡¯d believed that his path through life had been fixed in stone. Sen¡¯s ridiculous ascent in power had, much like it did for mortals, effectively made his word law to someone like Wu Gang. Even if that word had been a childish and ultimately vague decree made by a younger and deeply foolish version of Sen. Wu Gang might have fantasized about some other kind of life because who wouldn¡¯t in that situation? However, Sen would lay money that those fantasies had never resulted in anything like planning for some other life. As much as he struggled to reconcile himself to the idea, freeing Wu Gang could just as easily be seen as a kind of cruelty.


    For all that the man had endured, it could be said that Sen had given him purpose and then yanked that purpose away without warning. Sen just wasn¡¯t sure if that put some kind of obligation on him. There was no law against withdrawing someone¡¯s purpose, but there was probably a moral argument that he owed Wu Gang some kind of consideration. What would that even look like? Do I give him some other task? Would that even help? Sen honestly didn¡¯t know what, if anything, was the right course of action. He didn¡¯t want to leave Wu Gang in an emotional quagmire, but he didn¡¯t see a clear path forward. I wish Master Feng was here, thought Sen. I bet he¡¯d know what to do about this, or at least have a list of brothels that Wu Gang could visit while he figures things out.


    ¡°You really never gave it any thought?¡± asked Sen, mostly for something to say.


    ¡°I¡­ No. I never gave it any serious thought,¡± said Wu Gang. ¡°It just didn¡¯t seem like something that I should spend my energy on. Planning for things I¡¯d never get. That kind of thinking can drive a man mad.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Sen, ¡°I expect it could.¡±


    Sen closed his eyes and thought hard about one option. It wasn¡¯t an option he liked because it just felt so unbelievably self-serving. On the other hand, it would provide Wu Gang with some direction for the immediate future. While the man might not know exactly what he wanted to do right this minute, that could change after he¡¯d had a little time to think it over. A few days to get comfortable with the idea that he was his own master again might be just what Wu Gang needed. Sen stowed his uncertainty and decided to just push forward. After all, it was just an offer. Wu Gang could always say no.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re headed to the capital proper. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve ever been there or have any desire to go back, but you¡¯re welcome to join us for now.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t just fight your way through dozens of cultivators that were sent to kill you?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°All of them here to stop you from reaching some kind of meeting with the king?¡±


    ¡°That does seem to be the case, yes.¡±


    ¡°And, even after you get there, you¡¯re probably still going to be fending off assassins?¡±


    ¡°When you describe it that way, it makes my life sound really terrible,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°It¡¯s funny how facts can do that,¡± said Wu Gang.


    ¡°So, I take it that¡¯s a no?¡± asked Sen, a little relieved.


    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m going to come. If ever a man lived who needs someone to watch his back, it¡¯s you.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen, abruptly recognizing the mistake he¡¯d made. ¡°Right.¡±


    Sen had just gone and told a man who had been acting as a professional hero for years that he was knowingly walking into danger. What else was a man like that going to do but volunteer to come along? Sen did his best to put on a smile.


    ¡°Welcome to the team.¡±

 V8 Chapter 10 – Now, Do You Understand?

    ¡°So, did you really¡ª¡± started Wu Gang for at least the fifth time that day.


    ¡°Seriously? Do you want me to start asking you some did you really questions? Because I can,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Okay,¡± said Wu Gang with a laugh. ¡°I get it. Those questions do get tiresome. It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t get to be the one asking them all that often.¡±


    Sen thought back to something that Laughing River had told Li Yi Nuo during that bizarre venture into the ruins.


    ¡°Okay, here¡¯s a good rule of thumb. The crazier and more impossible it sounds, the more likely it is to be true.¡±


    Wu Gang frowned at that and said, ¡°Those stories don¡¯t always paint you in the best light.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure they don¡¯t. There are good reasons why people aren¡¯t always happy to see me.¡±


    Sen glanced over his shoulder. Shen Mingxia seemed to be doing some kind of exercise with her qi. Long Jia Wei was doing his level best not to draw any attention whatsoever to himself. Glimmer of Night was eating something that Sen chose not to look at too closely. Sen had given the spider a storage ring. Ever since then, he¡¯d caught the spider randomly eating things that didn¡¯t look especially like food to him. Some questions will only result in knowledge you regret possessing, Sen told himself and he turned his eyes back to the road ahead. The group had been traveling by foot the last few days out of necessity. They were moving into the populated area outside the capital¡¯s walls, which made flying around on qi platforms little more than a good way to announce their exact location. The attacks had stopped. Sen didn¡¯t know if they¡¯d simply worked their way through all the teams of killers sent after them, or if there was some other explanation.


    The addition of Wu Gang to the party also meant that either he or Glimmer of Night would have to carry two people on their qi platform. While Sen thought that he could probably do it if he pushed himself, he didn¡¯t think the spider could. He could see it as a potential training tool, but not with so much uncertainty floating around them. Wearing himself out all day only to find a bunch of core formation assassins waiting for them somewhere did not strike Sen as a good time. No, it was better to cover the last bit of the journey by foot. The fact that they were all cultivators allowed them to continue making good time, even if it wasn¡¯t the crushing pace that Sen had been setting before.


    Part of Sen had expected some pushback over the idea of Wu Gang joining them. Pushback that had not manifested. It had taken Sen¡¯s distracted mind longer than it should have to piece together why the resistance never appeared. Shen Mingxia had appeared happy to have him along. She picked the man¡¯s brain about everything from cultivation advice to where to find the best food in places that Sen had never even heard of. Long Jia Wei simply didn¡¯t dare to object to anything that Sen said, lest his reprieve and life were cut short. Glimmer of Night, as far as Sen could tell, just didn¡¯t care. One more or less human that wasn¡¯t a threat to the spider didn¡¯t mean much. So, why worry about it? At least, that was what Sen imagined Glimmer of Night¡¯s thought process looked like. It was equally possible that the spider had gotten distracted by one of his web patterns and was registering Wu Gang as part of the scenery. Sen knew that he could just ask, but a little part of him enjoyed not knowing. It was one of the few harmless mysteries in his life.


    As they approached the town where Sen meant for them to stop for the day, though, his intuition started warning him. He slowed to a stop and then let his hand drift up to pinch the bridge of his nose. The others, having seen him stop, had drawn a little closer and were giving him questioning looks. He gave them all a mirthless smile.


    ¡°Well, I hoped you enjoyed our break from all the fighting. It¡¯s over,¡± said Sen.


    Shen Mingxia, Long Jia Wei, and Wu Gang all traded looks. Glimmer of Night continued to stare at Sen with a blank expression. Shen Mingxia had apparently been appointed spokesperson by silent agreement because she was the one who spoke up.


    ¡°How do you know?¡± she asked, casting a wary look around them.


    ¡°I just know. I can feel it,¡± said Sen. ¡°I could probably figure out why I know if I work hard enough at it. I expect that there are subtle variations in the environmental qi that shouldn¡¯t be there. Maybe I¡¯m picking up on some echo of murderous intent. Who knows? It could well be some kind of karmic sensitivity. It doesn¡¯t really matter. What matters is that we¡¯re about to walk into some violence.¡±


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    ¡°Should one of us go scout?¡± asked Shen Mingxia.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen and Wu Gang at the same time.


    Shen Mingxia rolled her eyes and asked, ¡°Why?¡±


    Sen just nodded to Wu Gang, curious to see if the man¡¯s reasons would match up with his own.


    ¡°If someone is waiting for us ahead,¡± said Wu Gang, ¡°they¡¯ve had time to prepare the ground. They may have set some traps. Unless they¡¯re complete imbeciles, they¡¯ll have at least a few people watching for us. Sending a scout just divides our strength and gives them a chance to capture one of us.¡±


    ¡°Agreed,¡± said Sen. ¡°Besides, I¡¯m probably the best suited to do that scouting. It¡¯d be irresponsible of me to go ahead and leave you here. I know that you¡¯re all capable but, without a clear understanding of who or what we face, staying together gives us the best odds.¡±


    ¡°Or, you know, you could just go up there and kill them all,¡± said Shen Mingxia in a tone that was only half joking.


    Wu Gang gave her a sharp look.


    ¡°Do you normally just plan around him killing everyone?¡± he asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s been playing out that way a lot just recently,¡± said Sen. ¡°Honestly, I¡¯d be dumbfounded if it didn¡¯t go that way this time.¡±


    A deep frown settled on Wu Gang¡¯s face.


    ¡°Do you even give them a chance to walk away?¡±


    Sen felt himself neatly tucking away his compassion and his mercy, felt himself leaning in to that Judgment¡¯s Gale persona. There was a purity to being that person, a kind of certainty that he didn¡¯t feel the rest of the time. He knew there was something else there too, or maybe it¡¯d be more correct to say that there was something missing. Limits. Lu Sen had them. He had lines he wouldn¡¯t cross. Things he wouldn¡¯t do, or at least wouldn¡¯t let himself do. Judgment¡¯s Gale didn¡¯t have those limits. Within the bounds of his power, Judgment¡¯s Gale was capable of anything. Sen recognized that the separation between Sen and Judgment¡¯s Gale was a pure illusion, but it was also real. It was a way to safeguard and preserve his humanity for those few people he considered worthy of it.


    ¡°I tell them to leave,¡± said Judgment¡¯s Gale. ¡°Once. After that, everyone is fair game. Now, let¡¯s go meet whoever it is that¡¯s waiting for us.¡±


    Sen was normally reserved with his use of his spiritual sense. It could be overwhelming, even dangerous for any mortals caught in it. For that matter, it could be troublesome for qi-gathering and even foundation-formation cultivators. As they started down the road, though, all of those concerns faded away. Sen let his spiritual sense roll forward like a tidal wave, spreading it out for miles. He felt mortal animals and spirit beasts alike freeze as they sensed that spiritual sense crash over them like the eyes of a predator. He felt the presence of cultivators in the forest around the road. Dozens of them. He thought that there were as many waiting for them now as they had found collectively on their way there. He couldn¡¯t make vague guesses about their levels of advancement, but there were definitely some core formation cultivators in that mix. Much like the animals and spirit beasts, they froze when they felt his spiritual sense. Sen recounted what he was sensing as they walked, and was glad they hadn¡¯t sent anyone forward to scout.


    ¡°Perhaps we should turn aside,¡± said Wu Gang. ¡°Find another way.¡±


    Sen considered the suggestion and then rejected it.


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t change anything. If we don¡¯t deal with them now, we¡¯ll just have to deal with them somewhere else tomorrow. At least we can do something to limit the damage and mortal casualties here. That¡¯s next to impossible in the capital proper,¡± said Sen before turning his gaze to Glimmer of Night. ¡°Your job here is to help protect the others. I¡¯ll do what I can, but I expect they¡¯ll have someone formidable up there waiting for me. Probably someone they recruited for exactly this moment. I expect they¡¯re going to be taking up most of my attention.¡±


    ¡°I will protect them,¡± said Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°One more thing,¡± said Judgment¡¯s Gale. ¡°If they attack, we kill everyone. No one escapes. No one reports back. Every last one of them dies.¡±


    Wu Gang looked decidedly uncomfortable with that proclamation. Sen almost let it go but changed his mind in the end.


    ¡°If you can¡¯t do that, now is the time to tell me," said Sen.


    The man didn¡¯t answer immediately, but his brows furrowed like he was concentrating hard. He finally looked over at Sen.


    ¡°Is that really necessary?¡±


    ¡°All of this has been to send me a message. Stay away. You¡¯re not wanted here. So, this time, I¡¯m going to send the message.¡±


    ¡°What message?¡±


    ¡°That I¡¯m done tolerating interference. From here on out, no survivors.¡±


    There was another long pause before Wu Gang let out a resigned breath.


    ¡°Very well,¡± he said. ¡°No survivors.¡±


    No one spoke again as they approached the walls. Then, the gate to the town came into view. Instead of guards on either side of the gate, there was just one man. Sen could tell that the man was making an effort to mute his presence, but it still blazed. He¡¯s either the strongest core formation cultivator I¡¯ve ever met, or he¡¯s in the nascent soul stage, thought Sen. Sen brought the group to a stop well away from the man, although still close enough that nascent soul senses would pick up anything anyone said. The man took a moment to straighten his robes and reach up to check that his touji was still in place before he regarded Sen with emotionless eyes.


    ¡°Judgment¡¯s Gale,¡± said the man. ¡°I am Tseun Rong. I have been sent to tell you that your path ends here.¡±


    ¡°Take them and go,¡± said Sen. ¡°One chance.¡±


    ¡°Or you¡¯ll do what, little core cultivator?¡±


    Rather than answer the man, Sen turned to look at Wu Gang.


    ¡°Now, do you understand?¡±

 V8 Chapter 11 – Man and Myth

    Wu Gang had been relieved when Sen suggested that he could come along to the capital. It had let him put off a decision he¡¯d never thought he¡¯d ever be making. Plus, it was a chance to learn a bit more about a person who had radically altered his life, but that he didn¡¯t really know at all. His interactions with the street rat, Sen, had mostly involved punching rather than talking. A fact that had left him with more than a little lingering guilt. In fact, most of what he¡¯d done at the behest of the mayor¡¯s family was a source of guilt for him. Then, there had been that fight with Lu Sen, in the days before the name Judgment¡¯s Gale even existed. That fight had been terrifying and humiliating, by turns. The contemptuous ease with which he had slapped down all of those early-stage cultivators had been eye-opening.


    Still, Wu Gang had believed his own strength would be enough. What a laughably na?ve thought that had been. Lu Sen had stopped that blow cold with nothing but brute strength. Then, he¡¯d punched Wu Gang as hard as he¡¯d ever been hit in his life up until that point. That was all it took. A single punch to end their ¡°battle.¡± Then, for reasons that remained entirely opaque to Wu Gang, Sen had freed his family from debt and sent him out into the world with one, very clear command. Don¡¯t make me regret this.


    After that, Lu Sen had been like a ghost that was always over Wu Gang¡¯s shoulder, watching, evaluating, and always ready to pass judgment. Like everyone else, Wu Gang heard the wild, unbelievable tales of the man in blue robes who challenged sect elders, defied demonic cultivators, and worked miracles both benevolent and terrible. Lu Sen was no longer a man, no longer even a cultivator, but a story, a myth, a specter to conjure by and to fear. He was Judgment¡¯s Gale, a figure who strode across the kingdom in blood and fire. As a man others told stories about himself, Wu Gang never knew which stories were true and which had been cut from whole cloth. He¡¯d only ever seen Lu Sen on one other occasion. That meeting was hazy in Wu Gang¡¯s memory. All he really remembered about Sen in that memory was a man who seemed to have rage burning inside of him. The rest of his memory was consumed with the woman who had been with Sen. He still had dreams about that woman sometimes, which honestly worried Wu Gang at times.


    Over these last few days, though, he¡¯d been searching for that story, that myth, that titan who offered destruction in one hand and salvation in the other. Instead, he¡¯d found a person who seemed burdened, although by what remained mysterious. Judgment¡¯s Gale, it seemed, truly was just a story. Or so Wu Gang had thought up until a few minutes ago. The often-amused man who traded glib comments with Shen Mingxia, the man who took pleasure in cooking meals, had disappeared. In his place stood a man who could calmly talk about butchering everyone in his way, not for the purpose of survival, which Wu Gang could have readily understood, but for the purpose of sending a message. The reserved kindness Wu Gang had seen in the other man was simply gone. All that remained in its place was an unwavering, ruthless resolve. Yet, true to his word, he had given the insanely powerful cultivator that was waiting for them one chance to leave. Well, it had been an order, but it was still a chance. A chance the other cultivator had blithely thrown back in Judgment¡¯s Gale¡¯s face. That was when a myth had turned his ruthless, resolved eyes and full attention onto Wu Gang.


    ¡°Now, do you understand?¡± he¡¯d asked.


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    That look and the question had felt like a blow. Judgment¡¯s Gale had expected this turn of events. He¡¯d known that his offer would be met with scorn. And he had prepared a response. Wu Gang didn¡¯t understand everything that happened in the next few seconds. What he did understand was the stories he¡¯d heard about the kind of strength Lu Sen wielded paled in comparison to the truth. Within a heartbeat, he felt some kind of bizarre, wholly alien power lash out from Judgment¡¯s Gale and bear down on Tseun Rong. The man had felt impossibly powerful to Wu Gang, so he¡¯d expected Tseun Rong to simply ignore it or shake it off. Instead, he was driven to a knee, like the hand of a giant had pressed down on him. Within a heartbeat of that, Wu Gang felt the tiniest brush of killing intent sweep past him. It didn¡¯t touch him, but it didn¡¯t need to. Simply being in proximity to it felt like being battered in a windstorm.


    A heartbeat after that, he felt Lu Sen¡¯s qi rouse itself. Wu Gang had fought relatively few cultivators. In a strange way, his reputation had shielded him from the worst that the Jianghu had to offer. Even cultivators from sects with particularly bad reputations seemed deeply reluctant to fight with a man known solely for helping people. More than once, he¡¯d been met with an aggressive sect cultivator, only for that cultivator¡¯s companions to interfere. He had, however, been witness to more than one battle between rival cultivators. He¡¯d felt the strength of foundation formation cultivators and core cultivators in the heat of a fight. He knew the kind of pressure that created and what rolled off Lu Sen in that moment was something on another level. It was the difference between standing next to a stove and standing in the heart of a forge. The strength of it, to say nothing of the speed with which it was summoned, staggered Wu Gang, and it made him afraid. That fear was only amplified when Judgment¡¯s Gale sent that qi chasing his killing intent out into the forest because that was when the screaming started.


    Wu Gang¡¯s spiritual sense wasn¡¯t especially keen, but even he couldn¡¯t miss those bright stars of life that had floated in his mind¡¯s eye blinking out one after the next. He couldn¡¯t figure out what to react to first, the raw power on display, the unbelievable control, or the speed with which death seemed to come when Lu Sen merely stretched out his hand. Wu Gang looked at Lu Sen and shivered. The only sign, the only indication at all that this was costing the man anything was a slight tightness around the eyes. Those cold, cold eyes that never moved away from Tseun Rong.


    ¡°I¡¯ve done what I could,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯s going to get ugly now.¡±


    Wu Gang felt the disbelief on his own face at the apologetic tone in Lu Sen¡¯s voice. It was as if the man somehow felt that dispatching at least a couple of dozen would-be attackers in the span of a breath or two was somehow inadequate. He didn¡¯t have time to pursue that thought much further because Tseun Rong finally reacted. With a roar of effort or rage, he shot to his feet. Lu Sen flinched as that bizarre, alien technique he¡¯d been using against the other man was apparently broken. Tseun Rong shook his head and drew a heavy dao. Judgment¡¯s Gale wiped a trickle of blood from beneath his nose with one hand and drew his jian with the other. Wu Gang¡¯s blood ran cold as the familiar, reflective metal of the blade suddenly turned a color that was darker than the deepest black he had ever seen. The black lightning crackling around that blade left eerie, disquieting, purple afterimages in Wu Gang¡¯s vision. The worst of it, though, was the feeling of absolute, imminent doom that radiated off that transformed blade. Lu Sen glanced at everyone, offered a smile as cold as winter¡¯s heart, and then vanished in a burst of qi that fueled a seemingly impossible qinggong technique.


    You were looking for a myth, thought Wu Gang. You found him.

 V8 Chapter 12 – A Trembling in the Air

    Much to his surprise and Tseun Rong¡¯s naked shock, Sen¡¯s first attack was very nearly the last word in their fight. The nascent soul cultivator seemed mildly impressed by Sen¡¯s speed, but not by the attack itself. That held right up until the moment Sen¡¯s jian passed cleanly through Tseun Rong¡¯s Dao without so much as a whisper of resistance. It was only the equally terrifying speed of the nascent soul cultivator that spared him from being sliced in two. The man activated his own qinggong technique and jerked himself away, but not before the tip of Sen¡¯s jian cut a neat slice across the man¡¯s chest. Tseun Rong didn¡¯t go very far before he stumbled to a stop and stared down at the open wound in clear horror. Instead of closing immediately the way any other superficial wound would do for someone at that cultivation level, the cut started to darken and fester. The nascent soul cultivator¡¯s hand shot to the wound, and he barely displaced a groan of pain with a snarl of rage.


    The man¡¯s eyes snapped up and his mouth opened, no doubt to inform Sen of how he was courting death, but the words never arrived. Sen was nearly on top of the man again, his void-colored blade and its devastating lighting on course to drive through the other man¡¯s heart. Keep him on the back foot, Sen told himself. If I let him recover his wits, this is almost certainly over. Tseun Rong''s eyes widened in panic, and he managed to dodge to one side. Even off-balance, though, the man was a nascent soul cultivator with all of the hard years of battle experience that normally went with that stage of advancement. He sent a spear of ice racing toward Sen. A memory of a battle at sea with a monstrous spirit beast flashed through Sen¡¯s mind. The feeling that ice spear gave off felt alarmingly similar to a chunk of crystal that had punched in one side of Sen and out the other during that fight. He recalled all too well the ice qi that had lingered inside of him from that crystal and tried to rip him apart from the inside out.


    Sen dodged to one side and lashed out with his jian. The raw destructive force of Heavens¡¯ Rebuke disrupted the ice spear technique. It was a double-edged sword, though. The backlash from the broken technique cracked Tseun Rong¡¯s concentration and prevented him from hurling another technique at Sen. Unfortunately, while the technique was broken, the ice was still real enough, and ice formed by a nascent soul cultivator was as hard as diamonds. The spear shattered under the force of Sen¡¯s blow. Dozens of cuts opened across his body, including one that was perilously close to a major artery in his neck. Rapid blood loss wasn¡¯t quite as catastrophic for someone with Sen¡¯s body cultivation, but it damned sure wouldn¡¯t do him any favors. He also felt the undirected ice qi trying to sink itself into him and turn flesh into ice. He ignored that distraction, trusting that his body would find a way to either suppress or convert that foreign qi into something he could use.


    Taking a cue from the ice spear and eager to return damage for damage, Sen cycled for earth. He reached deep into the ground, reached for the very bones of the world, and seized what he found. Even as he dragged that ancient stone upward, he compressed it, hardened it in ways that only qi could manage. It only took a moment, but moments mattered in a fight. The wound on Tseun Rong¡¯s chest was getting worse by the second, but Sen could tell that it wasn¡¯t going to be enough to kill the man. At least, it wouldn¡¯t kill him soon enough to matter. The dozen needle-thin slivers of ice hovering in the air around the nascent soul cultivator told him that. Sen had a deep yearning to never find out what would happen if one of those needles passed through his body. Tseun Rong launched the ice slivers at very nearly the same moment that razor-thin blades of hardened stone shot up out of the ground.


    Sen didn¡¯t see what the other man did because he was too busy flinging himself back, erecting a wall of fire, and hardening a dome of air in front of him. He did hear an agonized scream, though, so for a tiny little fraction of a single second, he let himself feel smug. Then, all his attention was back on survival. The ice slivers shot through the wall of white-hot flame, which reduced their strength, but they still punched into the dome of air so hard that Sen¡¯s feet plowed furrows in the ground. He could feel that ice driving against the hardened air. The dome pressed closer and closer to his body. He dipped into his core and poured that qi into the dome, but the ice slowly, inexorably pushed through the defense. Sen watched as the glistening, impossibly sharp tips of those needles drew closer and closer to his body. He felt it as one of them pierced into the muscle of an arm, and another started to part the flesh in his leg. He didn¡¯t dare move for fear that it would break the concentration necessary to fend off the attack of a true nascent soul cultivator. He forced himself to ignore it as one of those slivers pressed ever closer to his right eye. Just when he was certain that ice was going to slip through the dome of hardened air, plunge through his eye, and tear into his brain, the force behind the technique faltered. It was only a moment, but it was enough. Sen shifted the dome away from him, opening a deep gouge in his cheek that immediately started to burn with cold. Sen¡¯s injured arm and leg felt like they belonged to someone else. No more close combat for me in this fight, thought Sen grimly.


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    Sen looked to where he¡¯d last seen Tseun Rong. The nascent soul cultivator was still there, or most of him was at least. The man had shattered the stone blades with what looked to have been brute strength, but they¡¯d done their work. It looked like one of the blades had sheared off most of the man¡¯s right hand. Another had done severe damage to one of the man¡¯s legs, although Sen couldn¡¯t tell the extent of it through all of the blood. They were the kinds of wounds that would have ended a fight with most core cultivators. A foundation formation cultivator likely wouldn¡¯t have survived at all. The nascent soul cultivator simply looked enraged.


    Sen could hear the sounds of fighting nearby. There was the clash of weapons, bursts of qi, screams of pain, and everything in him wanted to look. His spiritual sense could give him a general picture of what was happening, at least in the sense of where people were located. It didn¡¯t take much imagination to figure out that the small group that moved together was comprised of Glimmer of Night, Shen Mingxia, Wu Gang, and Long Jia Wei. But that scant information wasn¡¯t the same as seeing what was happening, or visually confirming that the people he¡¯d brought into this fight were at least still on their feet if not entirely well. It took every ounce of discipline he had to keep his eyes fixed on Tseun Rong, but Sen made himself do it. The nascent soul cultivator was the single biggest threat in the fight. Diverting his attention from that threat was like begging for death.


    ¡°You impudent child!¡± the man roared. ¡°I will shatter your core and make you watch while I peel the skin from your followers.¡±


    Sen felt a kind of deadness take root inside of him at those words. It was as if every single emotion suddenly lost the ability to communicate with him. He simply stared blankly as the nascent soul cultivator continued to rave.


    ¡°Are there people you love? Friends? Family? I will break them in body and soul while you watch, impotent to stop it. That ridiculous school of yours. I¡¯ll raze it to the ground for this mutilation. That pathetic sty of a town you call home. Gone. The people there. I will sell them into the worst kind of slavery you can imagine. I will make your name a curse on the lips of this kingdom, Judgment¡¯s Gale!¡±


    Tseun Rong glared across the expanse of scorched and battered soil between them. There was madness in those eyes. Sen didn¡¯t know if it was a madness born of time, or pain, or pride. Perhaps, it was a sickness that had always been in the man. There was no way to be sure, and Sen had moved into a place beyond caring about things like why. All he cared about at that moment was what. What the man had likely done. If he was issuing threats like that while mad with pain, it was probable that he had actually done such things in the past. What the man was threatening to do. Sen didn¡¯t have much use for honor, but he did believe that he had a duty to protect the people who wouldn¡¯t be in danger if not for him. This man was threatening all of them. He was threatening Ai. Sen felt a rumbling in his soul at that, as if the entire world had been seized by the fist of a god and shaken. Threats to her simply could not be tolerated. That only left a simple question. What should be done about Tseun Rong? Sen watched as the madness in the man¡¯s eyes retreated at what he saw, or perhaps at what he didn¡¯t see on Sen''s face and in Sen¡¯s eyes. It was replaced with wariness. Everything else fell away as Sen focused the totality of his attention on Tseun Rong. As that focus sharpened, there was a trembling in the air, a shudder in the earth, and thunder erupted from a clear sky.


    Sen''s voice sounded calm to him when he spoke two words, even if they made the nascent soul cultivator take a lurching step back.


    ¡°I see.¡±

 V8 Chapter 13 – This Isn’t Right

    Shen Mingxia had been aware of the fight between Sen and the nascent soul cultivator. It was impossible not to be aware of it with the kind of power those two were throwing around. Her very being shuddered every time one of them ignited a technique. She¡¯d thought, after all of the fighting they¡¯d done recently, that she had a handle on Sen¡¯s true strength. Now, she knew how terribly, disastrously wrong she¡¯d been in her assessment. The man was trading blows with a nascent soul cultivator and had survived beyond the first two seconds of the fight. It should have been like her taking on any of the core cultivators out for their blood. One burst of aggression followed by an ignominious death. Instead, Sen had kept that man locked down for entire minutes. She wouldn¡¯t have believed it if she wasn¡¯t here to witness it. Not that she¡¯d seen much of that fight. She¡¯d been far too busy trying to survive this madness.


    She¡¯d always been uncertain about the spider, Glimmer of Night, but she was intensely grateful for his presence now. Not that the spider wasn¡¯t terrifying in his own right, but he was a terror on her side. His webs seemed to eat techniques, and may the gods help anyone that the spider actually managed to close with. His brute power was unbelievable. She¡¯d watched him casually rip off heads, arms, and legs, and then use those removed body parts as improvised weapons. It had a remarkably chilling effect on the enemy when they saw a friend¡¯s dead face racing toward them. As for Righteous Wu Gang, well, that was a man who lived up to his legend. He was a storm of violence with fists that fell like hammers. Whatever misgivings he¡¯d had about the fight, he¡¯d left them behind when the battle started. She even had to, however grudgingly, give Long Jia Wei his due. He used a pair of twin daggers and perfectly timed air qi attacks to devastating effect.


    She¡¯d just started to find her rhythm when everything changed. One second, she¡¯d been fending off attacks from two people closer to her own cultivation, the next second, no one was moving. No one was breathing. It was as if some vast, inhuman thing, some monster that was perfectly content to snuff out the lives of anything it saw, had turned its awful gaze on them.


    ***


    Wu Gang froze, and silence fell beneath the weight of that presence. He was a man who took an earned pride in his lack of fear. He had single-handedly faced down ravening spirit beasts, entire gangs of bandits, and even the occasional cultivator. He had braved weather that could kill mortals to find lost children and bring them home. Bit by bit, he had ground away that fear and built strength and resolve in its place. In one moment, all of that was stripped away. Suddenly, he was that same fool he¡¯d been back in Orchard¡¯s Reach. A young man too certain in his own strength feeling true fear for the first time as Lu Sen¡¯s fist nearly shattered his ribcage. He felt sweat pop out on his forehead and his hands shook as he tried to comprehend what was happening. Then, almost against his will, he turned his eyes to where Lu Sen, no, to where Judgment¡¯s Gale stood. The man was bloodied but on his feet. He still held his jian, which continued radiating that awful sense of doom, but that seemed almost trivial compared to what was radiating from the man himself. He was the source of whatever was happening. Not that it was apparent from his utterly blank expression. If this was a storm, then Judgment¡¯s Gale stood in the eye of it.


    ***


    Glimmer of Night paused for a moment as Sen did something interesting. He would have to remember to ask about it later. In the meantime, though, if all these enemies were just going to stand around looking afraid of things, well, he wasn¡¯t a spider to waste an opportunity. He immediately began weaving that special web around all of these people who had volunteered to die. If they were all so eager to see where the Great Web would lead them next, who was he to deny them that opportunity? He did need to modify the web so it wouldn¡¯t hurt the Mingxia boy, or the other two Sen had decided could come along. Glimmer of Night hadn¡¯t bothered to learn their names yet. He just thought of them as the not-Sen and the not-Mingxia. Although, he wasn¡¯t sure he used even those pseudo-names for the same ones each time. Oh well, he thought and activated the web.


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    ***


    Long Jia Wei couldn¡¯t decide who he was most afraid of at the moment. The nascent soul cultivator who appeared to bar their path had seemed like he would be the scariest thing here, but then Judgment¡¯s Gale had gone off, by himself, to fight the nascent soul cultivator. Defying all reason, he¡¯d survived so far and then triggered whatever the hells it was that was bearing down on them all. Long Jia Wei didn¡¯t even have a name for this experience. It felt like his very soul was being squeezed. He was certain that was going to be the most frightening thing he¡¯d experience this night, and probably for the rest of his life. Then, the one called Glimmer of Night had activated his web and moved right to the top of the list of things to be afraid of as every enemy cultivator inside the technique started dying horrific deaths. It was as if all the qi and life were being drained out of them. It even looked like they were all screaming in pure agony but had somehow, someway, been rendered silent.


    ***


    This isn¡¯t right, thought Tseun Rong. None of this is right.


    When he¡¯d been approached for this task, he knew he wasn¡¯t the first person they¡¯d asked. He was never the first person to get asked. He had a ¡°reputation¡± as someone who liked killing a bit too much. Someone who took that as the first option when other, better choices were available. It had made him unpopular in the unfortunately small world of nascent soul cultivators, which he¡¯d discovered was more of a problem than he¡¯d anticipated. There was no alternative to that world, at least not if you wanted peers. And those peers were the kind of people with long, long memories and a decided lack of a sense of humor. He wasn¡¯t entirely shut out of those circles even if no one wanted him around. No one shared knowledge with him. But they didn¡¯t want him gone, either, because there would always be someone like Lu Sen out there. A rising power that left the old demigods trembling in their secret domains.


    He hadn¡¯t put much stock in all of those absurd Judgment Gale stories. People exaggerate, and mortals couldn¡¯t tell the same story twice. He¡¯d also heard the warnings that this Lu Sen was the student of Feng Ming, along with rumblings that Ma Caihong and Kho Jaw-Long had a hand in his training as well. But what did anyone have to fear from those three anymore? A new story would crop up every few hundred years, but Tseun Rong doubted that Feng Ming was even still alive or on this plane of existence anymore. As for Kho Jaw-Long, the man had exiled himself to some mountain ages ago. There were rumors that the three of them had gone on a demonic cultivator culling a few years back, but Tseun Rong knew better than to put stock in rumors. He hadn¡¯t seen them. No one he knew had seen them. That meant that someone had probably made it all up. Besides, this Lu Sen was just a core formation cultivator.


    That was how they¡¯d described him. Just a core formation cultivator. And Tseun Rong had to admit that it was technically true. He could sense the core in the man, but the pure physical strength and speed, the potency of his qi, to say nothing of the reserves he had to have¡­ It seemed impossible. This mere core formation cultivator had fought him, a nascent soul cultivator, to a standstill, and not briefly. Lu Sen hadn¡¯t simply delayed him for a moment. The man had brought the fight directly to Tseun Rong and seemed to come out of it less scathed than he had any right to. He¡¯d needed to change the game, to break that monstrous focus that Lu Sen carried. So, he¡¯d done everything he could to rile the man up. It had failed. The man hadn¡¯t become enraged. He hadn¡¯t made a stupid mistake. He¡¯d just gone blank. Then, the world itself seemed to writhe in displeasure, and Lu Sen brought something to bear on Tseun Rong that should have been impossible. That initial auric imposition, a soul technique, had been shocking enough, but this was something wholly different. It felt like that man¡¯s gaze alone would reach inside of Tseun Rong, seize everything that made him a person, and crush it.


    Then, as if all of that weren¡¯t bad enough, he felt the lesser cultivators he¡¯d recruited dying in droves. They were simply fading and then winking out of his spiritual sense. Tseun Rong made a decision. He had signed on to fight a man, not some incarnated god. He wrapped his injuries in hardened ice, and then all of his instincts started screaming. He saw Lu Sen lift that apocalypse he called a sword and point it at him. He didn¡¯t know what the man intended, and he had no intention of finding out. He launched himself toward the sky. He would flee this doomed fight. Then, he heard a voice carried on air qi.


    ¡°No. You don¡¯t get to leave.¡±


    Tseun Rong¡¯s vision turned white as all of the agony in the world tried to find a home inside of him.

 V8 Chapter 14 – No One Important

    Sen had meant to end it. When he saw Tseun Rong take to the sky, he could just sense the defeat in the man. It was a retreat. He considered just letting the coward go. Sen was injured and, no matter how detached he felt, he knew that simply surviving a direct battle with a nascent soul cultivator was practically a miracle in its own right. But that figure fleeing into the sky had threatened everything and everyone Sen loved. Sen knew it was a hollow threat, even if Tseun Rong apparently didn¡¯t. If that idiot went looking for trouble, killing him wouldn¡¯t even be a challenge for Uncle Kho. Sen literally couldn¡¯t imagine what Auntie Caihong would do to him, but terms like unspeakable and cautionary tale sprang immediately to mind. That the threat was hollow didn¡¯t change the fact that it had been made. Tseun Rong had threatened Sen¡¯s daughter, his little girl. His own words rang in his ears. No survivors. And Wu Gang wasn¡¯t the only person who knew how to keep his word. Sen used air qi to make his voice carry to Tseun Rong.


    ¡°No. You don¡¯t get to leave.¡±


    Maybe it was those words, that hint of warning, but when Sen unleashed Heavens¡¯ Rebuke, Tseun Rong had changed course. Instead of lancing through the man¡¯s chest the way Sen intended, it cleaved the man¡¯s legs from his body. The severed limbs fell away even as momentum carried the nascent soul cultivator higher into the air. The trauma alone would have shattered the necessary concentration to keep a technique moving. To say nothing of how Heavens¡¯ Rebuke would continue to ravage the man¡¯s body. The loss of those limbs would have sundered qi channels. While what was left of his body would retain the resilience of a nascent soul cultivator, Tseun Rong would never cycle qi again. Not without the kind of intervention that generally only happened in stories. Sen could just let it play out now. The man would die. Except, he didn¡¯t want to let it just happen. Some of his emotions were starting to bleed through again. The anger over those threats, the frustration over these escalating battles, colored his decision.


    Sen launched himself into the air on a qi platform. He caught up to the nascent soul cultivator just as gravity was beginning to reassert itself. Sen seized Tseun Rong by the throat, cutting off the wails of torment. He pulled the man close and shook him until Tseun Rong managed to focus on Sen¡¯s face.


    ¡°Does the sky make you feel safe?¡± asked Sen, releasing the control he maintained over the divine qi in his skin. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t. The sky is mine.¡±


    Tseun Rong¡¯s eyes went wide as Sen began to glow. Sen used every bit of strength he could dredge from his reinforced body and used it to hurl the maimed cultivator even higher into the air. Sen sped after the man, his fists crashing into Tseun Rong¡¯s body, pushing them both higher and higher until the details of the landscape below started to blur together. A fist of hardened air captured Tseun Rong and held the man aloft, as Sen glowered from several feet away.


    ¡°You don¡¯t¡ª¡± mumbled Tseun Rong before coughing up a mouthful of blood. ¡°You don¡¯t have to do this.¡±


    Sen felt his scorn rise. Now, now this bastard wanted to talk, to reason, to negotiate. Tseun Rong wasn¡¯t the problem, just a symptom. Sen knew that, but he couldn¡¯t help but feel like this man, who had mere minutes before threatened slavery and death for complete strangers, represented all that Sen hated. This man had embraced everything that made sects and cultivation a misery for mortals, for wandering cultivators, and even for their own juniors. Sen wanted to stand in judgment of this man. Instead, he looked down at the town far below. He was shocked by how soft his own voice was when he spoke.


    ¡°Do you understand just how insignificant you are? Do you grasp that this world,¡± said Sen, sweeping his arm in a wide arc, ¡°has no more use for you? Do you realize that you will not be missed?¡±


    ¡°No. No,¡± said Tseun Rong around another mouthful of blood.


    ¡°I was just going to kill you, but you ran to the sky. This is the domain of the heavens, at least symbolically. So, rather than kill you, I think a tribulation is in order.¡±


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    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t answer. He just smiled as he let lightning qi pass through his skin, picking up just a touch of divine qi, before it started leaping and crackling around them. The intensity of that lightning storm built and built and built until the air itself seemed ready to ignite under the pressure. The light was so bright that Sen doubted anyone but him and nascent soul cultivators could see through it. He could see that it was casting the world below in an unearthly luminescence. Tseun Rong started to thrash in his bonds, desperate to escape from what was coming for him. It was a useless effort. Had the nascent soul cultivator still been able to cycle, still been able to turn all of that qi inside of him to practical use, he might have escaped. In his present condition, he was a fish, well and truly caught on the hook. Sen waited until the desperate, flickering hope in the man¡¯s eyes faded and died.


    Anger flared on Tseun Rong¡¯s face as he said, ¡°At least, tell me who you really are.¡±


    A brief flash of amusement passed through Sen as he thought of something he hadn¡¯t said in a while. He directed a small smile at the other cultivator.


    ¡°Oh, me,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯m no one important.¡±


    Sen imagined that those words were the last thing that Tseun Rong ever knew as counterfeit tribulation lightning bolts crashed into the nascent soul cultivator by the dozens. It didn¡¯t take Sen long to realize that he¡¯d overdone it. Tseun Rong was dead, long dead, and there was still a lot of lightning crackling around him. He frowned. He didn¡¯t want to just waste all of that lightning or send it down into the wilds at some random location. If Fu Ruolan had taught him anything, it was that you really didn¡¯t know who might be living there. The last thing he needed was another nascent soul cultivator looking to pick a fight with him. Then, Sen remembered that Tseun Rong hadn¡¯t been the only threat. He¡¯d just been the biggest one. Sen let himself plummet toward the ground, dragging both Tseun Rong¡¯s corpse and the lightning in his wake. It was possible that a storage treasure had survived Sen¡¯s tribulation, and anything a nascent soul cultivator had tucked away was probably worth having.


    As the ground rushed up to meet him, Sen realized how it must look. A glowing figure descending from on high, a funnel of lightning trailing behind him. No wonder the mortals think that cultivators are gods, thought Sen ruefully as he unwillingly contributed to that falsehood. The damage was already done though. Sen let his spiritual sense expand before him, picking out where Glimmer of Night and the others were making a stand. It seemed the fighting had resumed once Sen took the battle into the sky. He adjusted his course and, because he was the student of Feng Ming and had a responsibility to his teacher¡¯s reputation, he upped the glow in his skin as much as he could just before he came to a stop over the heads of his companions. The enemy cultivators stumbled back from the glow that Sen let recede back into his skin at just the right pace. He gave them just enough time to see what was left of Tseun Rong, to register the fact of his death, before the lightning caught up. Under Sen¡¯s careful direction, it plunged down in a wave of crackling destruction. Where there had been enemies, all that remained were charred bodies and scorched bones.


    Sen hovered in the air for another moment. Lightning was powerful, but wasn¡¯t the most accurate thing ever, even when directed by an expert. It had a tendency to fork out and hit things that you didn¡¯t want it to hit. With a moment of concentration, Sen extinguished dozens of small fires that had broken out in the surrounding forest. He didn¡¯t want to burn down the trees or the town, for that matter. Sen released Tseun Rong¡¯s body and let it flop down to the ground while he lowered himself much more gently. With the fight truly over, the utter focus on survival that Sen had been maintaining started to slip away. It was, of course, replaced with pain. The moment his feet touched the ground, his injured leg started howling with pain. As did the injury to his arm, the deep slice on his face, and the many, many cuts that he¡¯d gotten when destroying that ice spear.


    On top of that, everything ached, and Sen felt wrung out like he¡¯d spent himself completely dry of qi. He looked around at everyone, almost mechanically noting their injuries. Shen Mingxia looked to be in pretty bad shape, and Wu Gang only looked marginally better. Long Jia Wei had what appeared to be mostly superficial injuries. Glimmer of Night, on the other hand, had an almost visible shine of health and vitality. Sen blinked a few times. Had the spider gotten stronger somehow? Sen shook that off and finally noticed the looks that Shen Mingxia, Wu Gang, and Long Jia Wei were giving him. Glimmer of Night, bless that spider¡¯s heart, seemed as disinterested as ever. Before he could decide what to say, a fresh wave of pain made Sen stagger and lean against a tree for support.


    ¡°Wow,¡± said Sen. ¡°This really hurts.¡±

 V8 Chapter 15 – Power Comes at a Cost

    There were no more attacks after the one led by Tseun Rong. It was a nice change as they covered the remaining distance to the capital, not that it did much to improve Sen¡¯s mood. There hadn¡¯t been much talking after the battle. Some of it had been injuries, and Glimmer of Night never talked that much. The other part had been Sen¡¯s fault. He¡¯d pilfered the few things from Tseun Rong¡¯s body that were still intact before, after a moment or two of thought, he stored the dead cultivator in a storage ring. That had drawn looks of pure horror from Shen Mingxia and Wu Gang. Only Long Jia Wei seemed undisturbed by that particular act, his experience as an assassin no doubt leading him close to a correct conclusion about why Sen was keeping the body. Any talking that might have been left in the rest of them disappeared when he gestured and air qi rolled out of him and forcibly dragged back anything that felt like a weapon or potential treasure to Sen.


    The pile was more substantial than he¡¯d expected. The weapons he could store, but the artifacts, talismans, tokens, and storage treasures needed to be sorted through. Deciding that it could wait until later, he just summoned a blanket and used it as a makeshift sack. He led everyone away from the road far enough that their presence wouldn¡¯t be immediately obvious and almost negligently raised an oversized galehouse. He did need to put a little extra thought and effort into it because it needed a few extra rooms. He ushered everyone inside and handed out some basic healing elixirs to get them started, pausing just long enough to take one himself before he went outside to deal with the grisly aftermath. It wasn¡¯t so much that Sen wanted to do it, but that he didn¡¯t think it was fair to ask anyone else to do it. He¡¯d killed most of those people, after all. Although, it seemed that Glimmer of Night had done his level best to catch up.


    Sen was grateful when the elixir started to take the worst edges off the pain. It wasn¡¯t a fix. He¡¯d have to spend some time with his alchemy pot before he¡¯d be truly healed again. While Tseun Rong was dead, the nascent soul-level ice qi he¡¯d used was still trying to wreak havoc in Sen¡¯s body. However, some relief was better than no relief, and Sen knew to count his blessings where he found them. Aside from snagging a few sect emblems and patches from the cultivators that were still intact enough to do that, there was no ceremony to their disposal. Sen did not build them pyres. He did not offer them prayers. They didn¡¯t deserve it. He simply opened a hole beneath the pile of bodies and bones and let the earth swallow them all.


    Looking back, Sen could see that it had already started when he got back from dealing with the bodies. Except, he was too distracted to notice it then. He was busy helping to get everyone healed and then crafting elixirs for himself to deal with the lingering ice qi. The next day, he mostly slept and made food. It was only once they were back on the road that he really saw the change. Everyone was too respectful toward him. He couldn¡¯t entirely blame Wu Gang, who didn¡¯t know him, or Long Jia Wei, who had been terrified of him before Sen murdered a nascent soul cultivator right in front of him. And half the kingdom, thought Sen. You were pretty high up in the air. Lots of people probably saw it happen. It was ultimately Shen Mingxia¡¯s reaction that drove the knife in deep. The casual air between them. The jokes. The teasing. It was all just gone. He¡¯d been hurt enough by that change that he simply ignored it the first day. The second day, he¡¯d pulled her aside.


    ¡°You know, I haven¡¯t changed. I¡¯m exactly the same person now that I was back at that academy.¡±


    She hadn¡¯t been willing to even meet his eyes when she answered.


    ¡°You might not have changed, but what I know about you has changed. If I¡¯d known then that you could do¡ª¡± she hesitated. ¡°If I¡¯d known then how powerful you really are, I never would have acted the way I did.¡±


    ¡°You say that like I hid something from you. I didn¡¯t know I could win that fight.¡±


    Shen Mingxia did look at him then with a searching expression.


    ¡°You suspected, though. Didn¡¯t you?¡±


    He almost lied. He wanted to lie. He wanted to say whatever it would take to get things back to how they¡¯d been before. The words were on his lips when a conversation he¡¯d had with Falling Leaf surfaced in his mind. They¡¯d been talking about how his encouraging mortals to treat him casually was dangerous for them. Is this really any different? Sen knew that it wasn¡¯t. He was too powerful for Shen Mingxia to just treat him as a friend. Perhaps, if they were alone, in private, it might be okay. The real sticking point was Sen himself. He didn¡¯t want respect he felt he hadn¡¯t earned, but that didn¡¯t make it right for him to get Shen Mingxia into the habit of treating peak core cultivators like they were peers. He remembered all too clearly what she¡¯d told him to do. Just live with it. He closed his eyes and took a breath. This is how it has to be, he told himself.


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    Opening his eyes, he said, ¡°Yes. I suspected.¡±


    Shen Mingxia shook her head a little.


    ¡°Even if you were just a regular core cultivator, you¡¯d be beyond me. But you aren¡¯t a regular core cultivator. You¡¯re some kind of world-shaking talent. You¡¯re a core cultivator who didn¡¯t just survive a fight with a nascent soul cultivator. You destroyed him. You have impossibly powerful teachers who love you like you¡¯re their flesh and blood. You¡ª¡± she took a breath in what looked like an effort to steady herself. ¡°You transcend me. I might, might get to where you are someday. If I¡¯m incredibly lucky, I may even ascend one day. But, by the time I do, you¡¯ll have already been there for so long that I doubt you¡¯ll remember that you ever even knew a woman named Shen Mingxia.¡±


    As the words washed over him, he wanted to rip them from the air. He wanted to deny every bit of what she was saying. It just wouldn¡¯t do any good. Even if there was a detail wrong here or there, the point she was trying to get at was true. Sen could be her friend if he decided to be, but she couldn¡¯t ever be his friend. I think they call that being someone¡¯s benefactor, thought Sen, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth. Bitter or not, though, this was something he simply had to accept. Power comes at a cost. He¡¯d been avoiding this one for a long while, but it seemed that he was finally going to have to pay it.


    ¡°I understand,¡± said Sen, trying to keep his tone calm and gentle.


    ¡°Do you, really?¡± she asked.


    Sen sighed and nodded.


    ¡°I do. I don¡¯t like it, but that¡¯s mostly because it was nice to just be your friend. Even if it was only for a little while.¡±


    Shen Mingxia gave him a bittersweet smile before she walked back over to stand with Wu Gang. It had hit him then that, with the exception of Glimmer of Night, none of the people with him at that moment could be his friend. At best, they could be¡­ He wasn¡¯t even sure he knew the right term. Since that moment, he¡¯d felt the presence of the wall that had gone up between him and everyone else. It loomed over him, and he hated it. Not that his hate did anything to the wall. It didn¡¯t reduce its height or make it any thinner. When he¡¯d killed Tseun Rong, Sen had passed beyond a threshold that most people never saw, let alone reached. He might still be able to find a few friends and peers among the late-stage and peak core cultivators. Once the news spread, though, he suspected that he would be treated as a nascent soul cultivator by very nearly everyone, probably including other nascent soul cultivators. While it might spare him some headaches, it would also create them.


    It was with those thoughts clouding his steps that Sen approached the gates of the capital proper. He knew that cultivators would often barge to the front of the line and demand entry. It was almost expected. So, Sen took a kind of perverse satisfaction in just taking his place at the rear of the line. He glanced back at his¡­ His mind finally produced the right word, and it dripped with disdain even when he said it in his head. He glanced back at his entourage. Shen Mingxia, Wu Gang, and Long Jia Wei all straightened up when they saw him looking and smoothed their faces into the appropriate expressions of humble respect. Glimmer of Night was, once again, eating something that Sen was certain that human beings wouldn¡¯t consider proper food. I¡¯m going to have to talk to him about that, thought Sen.


    It took less than an hour before the exact thing that Sen had been desperately hoping would not happen came to pass. Two lines of royal guards in what had to be their finest uniforms marched out the gate, down the line of gawking citizens, and to him. They formed up in two neat lines with someone Sen didn¡¯t recognize standing out in front. The man saw Sen eyeing him curiously and hastily lowered his eyes.


    ¡°Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡± the man asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Sen sighed.


    The palace guards all bowed to him in unison. It was so perfectly timed that Sen thought that they must have practiced it.


    ¡°My Lord,¡± said the guard that Sen took for some manner of officer, ¡°we have been sent by his royal majesty to escort you and your juniors into the city.¡±


    Sen had hoped to get at least one or two days of relative anonymity in the city, but it looked like that possibility was well and truly dead. Hundreds of mortals had just watched these royal guards approach him, and then identify him as a folk hero that many, if not all, of them had heard of. Instead of yelling at the man the way he wanted to, Sen strove to play politics and project what he hoped with the right level of disinterested acceptance.


    ¡°Thank you, captain, is it?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Yes, my lord.¡±


    ¡°Very well. Lead on, captain.¡±

 V8 Chapter 16 – Sometimes, the Stories Get It Right

    As the royal guards led them through the city, Sen did his best not to grind his teeth. The royal guards were clearly under orders to take their time getting Sen and his companions to wherever they were going. They became a moving spectacle, which Sen supposed might even be a nice change of pace for the people in the city, even if he hated it. Men, women, and children came out of their homes and businesses to watch them pass and whisper among themselves. Or, in the case of one particularly enthusiastic and brave little boy, to race between the legs of the royal guards flanking them and rush up to Sen.


    ¡°Is it true?¡± the boy gasped.


    Sen had come to a halt and quietly waved off the scowling royal guard who was closing fast on the little boy. The boy was craning his head so far back that it looked both comical and painful. The sun was also making the boy squint furiously. Sen crouched down so the kid could look at him more directly.


    ¡°Is what true?¡± Sen asked.


    ¡°Are you really Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡± asked the boy, his voice a strange mix of hope, excitement, and doubt.


    Sen suppressed his urge to deny everything.


    ¡°Yes,¡± he said. ¡°Some people do call me that.¡±


    ¡°Did you really fight a dragon?¡± asked the boy.


    Sen frowned. He¡¯d actually fought two dragons and wyvern, but he wasn¡¯t sure how anyone could possibly know about any of that. Those fights had all happened out in the wilds, far from spying eyes. Had Falling Leaf been telling tales about him behind his back? No, she wouldn¡¯t do that, thought Sen before the terrible truth became clear. No, Falling Leaf would never do that, but Laughing River would. Not only would the elder fox do something like that and think it was hilarious, but he¡¯d probably try to argue that he¡¯d been doing Sen a favor. I¡¯m going to poison that fox the next time I see him. Still, if this little boy in the capital had heard the story, there was a pretty good chance that everyone had heard the story. Sen could tell he¡¯d been quiet and frowning for too long by the nervous look the kid was giving him. Deciding there was little point in denying that it had happened, he gave the boy a smile.


    ¡°Yes, that is true. I did fight a dragon,¡± said Sen before he leaned in a little and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. ¡°I even won, but don¡¯t tell anyone. It¡¯ll be our secret.¡±


    Then, Sen pressed a finger to his lips and gave the kid a wink. The boy had a huge smile and offered a return wink so obvious that people on the other side of a stone wall could have seen it.


    ¡°I won¡¯t tell,¡± said the kid a whisper that carried to the crowd that had gathered to watch the odd little exchange.


    When Sen saw all of the gawking people in that crowd, the very last vestiges of hope that Sen had of staying even minimally unobtrusive vanished. Everyone from the street rats like he¡¯d been clear on up to those sitting on the lofty peaks of leadership in the sects would know he was there. Some of it had been unavoidable. Word had long since leaked that he was coming. Those with an interest and ears in the right places would have known to be on watch for him. Of course, knowing he was coming and knowing he was here were two very different things. You are lucky I owe you, Jing, Sen growled in his head. Without that debt in place, Sen would have turned right around and left the capital. The little boy had seemingly noticed all of the adult attention that focused on him and seemed frozen in place. Sen held out a hand between them, palm up, and summoned a copper tael. If they¡¯d been alone, Sen might have offered the boy a silver tael, but in front of so many eyes, it would just invite someone to steal it. The appearance of money seemed to jolt the kid out of his petrified state, and his eyes focused on the coin.


    ¡°Do you want to earn this?¡± asked Sen.


    The little boy nodded.


    ¡°Then, this is what I need you to do. I need you to promise me that you¡¯ll mind your parents. That¡¯s them, isn¡¯t it?¡± asked Sen.


    He nodded toward a man and woman who stood just outside the protective ring that royal guards had formed around them. The woman had her eyes glued on the little boy, and one of her hands had a white-knuckled grip on her husband¡¯s forearm. The father kept looking back and forth between Sen and the boy, like he was certain disaster was about to strike. The boy looked to where Sen nodded. He gave his parents a big smile and waved at them.


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    ¡°That¡¯s Mama and Papa,¡± said the boy.


    ¡°So, do you promise?¡± said Sen, holding up the copper between his thumb and forefinger.


    The little boy grew very solemn, nodded, and said, ¡°I promise.¡±


    Sen extended his hand a little closer to the boy, who hesitantly took the copper and clutched it in a tiny fist. Sen didn¡¯t imagine it would buy the boy much in the capital, but it might be enough for some kind of treat or candy. Sen stood up, struck a vaguely heroic pose with his hands on his hips, mostly for the benefit of the boy, and looked into the middle distance.


    ¡°I must go now,¡± he announced before turning his eyes to the boy. ¡°You should go back to your parents.¡±


    Realizing that his audience with the hero was over the kid darted back to his parents, the royal guards smoothly moving aside to let him pass. Sen locked eyes with the boy¡¯s father for a brief moment and nodded to him. With clear relief and gratitude on his face, the man nodded back. The boy¡¯s mother was moving back and forth between hugging the little boy and scolding him. Sen recognized that lingering would only lead to an even bigger crowd, so he started walking again. After they¡¯d cleared several more streets and the crowd had thinned out again, the captain fell back to walk next to Sen. The man wore a decidedly nervous expression like he wanted to say something but wasn¡¯t sure if he should.


    ¡°Is there something I can help you with, captain?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I want to thank you,¡± said the guard captain apparently finding his nerve.


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at the man, not sure what he was getting at. ¡°For what?¡±


    ¡°For that boy back there. Not all cultivators are as,¡± the captain paused, ¡°patient as you were.¡±


    There were entire worlds of meaning buried inside that careful word choice. Sen could almost feel the impotent frustration roiling inside the man. He could even understand that frustration. The feeling that you were helpless to act against powers that dwarfed you, the knowledge that people would be protected by their position or power, could corrode a person from the inside out until there was nothing left but hate. Sen himself had been well down that road before fate had seemingly intervened and put him in Master Feng¡¯s path. Sen wondered, and not for the first time, if cultivators understood just how short their lives would become if the mortal population ever figured out a way to kill them. The kind of frustration Sen could feel inside the captain wasn¡¯t just personal, it was generational. Sen could almost hear the stories of cultivator abuses passed down from mortal parent to mortal child for thousands of years. He felt like he only needed to turn his senses in just the right way to sense that echoing hatred for those who felt that they were above such petty concerns as not killing a mortal who inconvenienced them.


    ¡°No, they aren¡¯t,¡± said Sen with a sour expression, before he turned to the topic at hand. ¡°But he was just a child. Children are curious. I wasn¡¯t going to punish him for that.¡±


    ¡°The stories,¡± said the captain, ¡°well, some of the stories, say that about you.¡±


    ¡°Say what?¡± asked Sen, both dread and curiosity blossoming inside of him over what was about to come out of the other man¡¯s mouth.


    ¡°That you¡¯re protective of children. That it¡¯s a short road to a very bad end to harm them where you might discover it.¡±


    Sen mulled that over for several steps before he snorted in amusement. The captain gave him a perplexed look. Sen shook his head and answered the unasked question.


    ¡°Who would have guessed? Sometimes, the stories get it right.¡±


    An unspoken signal from one of the other guards drew the captain away to deal with something, and Sen let the steady pace of walking serve as a mechanism for him to find inner quiet and focus. He feared that there would be little enough outer silence in the coming days and few chances to be alone. He needed to grasp whatever opportunities presented themselves to maintain his equilibrium. He didn¡¯t need a diviner to tell him that this visit to the capital was going to test his patience. It was already being tested. That would only grow worse as the nobles lined up to smile lies at him and the sects started sending invitations to visit with them. Invitations that he would be much harder pressed to decline this time. That hadn¡¯t been as much of an issue when he was just a foundation formation cultivator or even when he¡¯d been in the early stages of core formation. It was bad form, arguably even an insult, but one that the sect leaders could also overlook. He just hadn¡¯t been important enough for a snub to be considered an insult worthy of retribution.


    Now, those old protections would no longer apply. He had, despite his intentions and best efforts, become someone. He was a core cultivator who could and had killed nascent soul cultivators. Unlike the first one he¡¯d killed, there had been no deceit or trickery involved when he ended Tseun Rong¡¯s life. In fact, now that he considered it, it was entirely possible that the leadership of the sects in the capital had watched him do it. That fight had happened close enough to the capital that nascent soul cultivators, especially any who had also gone down a body cultivation path, would possess sharp enough senses to have observed the battle. At the very least, the bit with his fake tribulation lightning would have been visible for miles and miles in every direction.


    While the sects could ignore him before, which left him free to ignore them, his own actions had closed off that possibility for all of them. By killing Tseun Rong so publicly, so visibly, he¡¯d made himself a force to be reckoned with. They had to acknowledge him, his presence, and try to figure out where he fit into their world. In turn, he had to acknowledge them, at least enough that they could all preserve the fiction of politeness. And that meant doing something he normally avoided if at all possible. He would have to go into the strongholds of people he didn¡¯t trust and pretend he wanted to be there. That thought shattered what little calm Sen had managed to build. I cannot wait to be done with all of this and go home, thought Sen.

 V8 Chapter 17 – Settling In

    Sen was briefly worried that Jing had decided that they¡¯d all just stay at the palace as the guards led them deeper into the city. Debt or no debt, Sen would have fled entirely if that was the situation. That would be a hell not worth enduring. Mercifully, the guards led them to a very familiar inn. Sen had stayed there with Falling Leaf and Lo Meifeng. Jing had also visited him there, although it was surprising that the king¡¯s memory was good enough to recall that. It seemed like there ought to be more pressing things occupying the man¡¯s mind. The idea of just settling into a room in a modest little inn helped to soothe some of Sen¡¯s agitation over the whole situation. That lasted until they went inside, and Sen discovered that Jing had secured the entire place for Sen¡¯s stay.


    ¡°How long has the inn been,¡± Sen sighed and, almost against his own will, finished, ¡°secured for?¡±


    The innkeeper, who was finally back on his feet after Sen had insisted that kowtowing wasn¡¯t necessary, stared at the floor as he answered.


    ¡°I was told to hold the inn for you as long as you require its use. We were paid in full for three months.¡±


    Sen felt a bit of gorge rise in his throat. Three months? Just what in the thousand hells does Jing imagine I¡¯d do here for three months? He worked to keep his horror at the prospect of a months-long stay off his face.


    ¡°I see. I was well-pleased with your inn when I was last here. I am sure your fine staff will take excellent care of us during this stay as well.¡±


    The innkeeper didn¡¯t look up, but he did straighten. Sen could see the man¡¯s cheeks lift with a smile.


    ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± said the innkeeper.


    Sen went to correct the man, thought very hard about it, and resigned himself. He would, no doubt, be subjected to similar treatment for his entire stay in the capital. Just live with it, he chanted in his head like a mantra. Just live with it. He spared a glance for the guard captain, who was peering around the common area of the inn. He didn¡¯t seem happy.


    ¡°Captain?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°This is not an easily defended place.¡±


    Sen frowned at the man.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I understand.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re your escort in the city. We¡¯ve also been tasked with securing this place during your stay.¡±


    Sen could not, for the life of him, figure out what Jing was playing at with all of this. Sen drew the guard captain aside because he didn¡¯t expect the man would like what he was about to say.


    ¡°Captain, I mean no disrespect to you or your men. I¡¯m certain that you¡¯re all very brave. However, if a fight comes to me here, I expect all of you to run as fast as you possibly can. I also expect you to take the people working here with you.¡±


    The captain tried to put on an affronted look, but Sen could see that he understood the reality. A fight that came looking for Sen would be a fight between cultivators, and that was no place for mortal guards and soldiers. The captain offered a grudging nod.


    ¡°I¡¯ll see it done,¡± said the man in unhappy tones.


    ¡°Good. Now, that being said, I would not be surprised if someone tried to sneak a mortal into here to, for example, poison us all. I would be very grateful for anything you and your men can do to prevent that. I¡¯d not see people die for the bad luck of being in my vicinity.¡±


    The guard captain stood a little straighter after hearing that. Sen had wanted to assuage the man¡¯s pride a little by giving him something to do, but it wasn¡¯t a meaningless task either. While he harbored some doubts about whether any poison that a noble house could get their hands on would act quickly enough to kill him, the same wasn¡¯t true for everyone else at the inn. Things that Sen could just ignore until he got around to working up an antidote or shrug off entirely might kill Shen Mingxia in seconds. Wu Gang probably wouldn¡¯t fare any better. Only Glimmer of Night and Long Jia Wei might be able to withstand something like that for long enough that Sen could do something for them. And that was a gamble he didn¡¯t particularly feel like taking for no good reason.


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    The guard captain offered Sen a deep bow and said, ¡°We will not fail you in this.¡±


    Sen inclined his head to the man before he turned his attention to the poor fools who had been caught up in this madness due to pure proximity to him. Shen Mingxia and Wu Gang both looked a little¡­ Sen tried to put a word to it, but nothing seemed quite right. It wasn¡¯t shocked, exactly, nor was it fearful, but it seemed like it might be related somehow. They had picked a corner and stood there together, putting up a united front. Long Jia Wei was easier to read. He looked ill. Sen supposed for someone who had been an assassin, this day would have been a nightmare. All those people looking at him, noticing him, and no doubt people from the sects and noble houses noting him as someone to look into. He¡¯d probably been fighting an internal battle not to run away and disappear into the darker corners of the city the entire way to the inn. Only Glimmer of Night seemed wholly unaffected. He¡¯d found a chair, sat down, and was taking things out of a storage ring to look at them for a moment before storing them again.


    ¡°My lord,¡± said the guard captain, ¡°once you¡¯re settled, the king has asked that you come and meet with him.¡±


    ¡°Of course, he did,¡± grumbled Sen.


    The man¡¯s eyes went a little wide at Sen¡¯s lack of respect and obvious annoyance at the king¡¯s wishes. Sen sighed. He supposed he should show a little deference to the king, at least in front of the man¡¯s guards.


    ¡°I¡¯m just tired,¡± said Sen. ¡°Let me speak to the others for a moment, and then we can go.¡±


    Sen pulled aside Shen Mingxia and Wu Gang and told them not to go wandering until he had a better feel for what was happening in the city. Long Jia Wei was given very different instructions.


    ¡°Did you ever do any work in the capital?¡± Sen asked.


    Long Jia Wei gave him a guarded look.


    ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°So, you have some contacts in the city? People who might be able to shed light on the situation?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Good. Slip out of here after I¡¯m gone and talk to those people. I¡¯d like at least a bit of an idea of what I¡¯m up against when the assassins start coming for me.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you mean if?¡±


    Sen gave the man a flat look and said, ¡°Are you trying to play na?ve for my benefit?¡±


    Long Jia Wei risked a self-deprecating smile.


    ¡°I¡¯m just not looking to give you reasons to change your mind about me.¡±


    Sen went to say something cutting and then changed his mind.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s fair.¡±


    ¡°Why would you trust me to do this?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t. I have contacts of my own in the city. I¡¯ll be asking them as well. I¡¯ll see how closely the information lines up.¡±


    Sen thought that the Long Jia Wei might be offended or shocked. Instead, the man gave him a look of surprised respect.


    ¡°Very wise,¡± said Long Jia Wei. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can learn tonight¡±


    Sen walked over to Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°I have to go see the king. I can¡¯t really stop you from going out into the city, but¡ª¡±


    Glimmer of Night immediately shook his head. ¡°Too many people. And I¡¯m tired of this human disguise. I¡¯ll stay in whatever room they give me.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough,¡± said Sen.


    He was glad the spider didn¡¯t want to go exploring immediately. The inn was by no means a secure place, but it also wasn¡¯t isolated. Anyone who tried to get in here by force was going to get noticed. Plus, he¡¯d already felt the cultivators taking up station to watch the place. He expected at least one or two of them were sent by people who felt, well, maybe not friendly, but friendly-adjacent toward him. Friendly enough to alert him if something were to go terribly wrong at the inn in his absence. He walked over to the guard captain.


    ¡°Lead the way.¡±


    Sen kept his spiritual sense active as they moved toward the palace. This would be as good a time as any to try to kill him. He was alone, save for the guards. He was both relieved and mildly surprised when nothing happened. He was clearly expected at the palace because getting through the gates was little more than a formality. Sen did note that some of the palace guards gave him hard looks. He hadn¡¯t been to the palace in a few years, but his last visit had been bloody. He¡¯d also left more than a few guards unconscious. He supposed he couldn¡¯t hold it against them if they were still holding that against him. Despite those hard looks, Sen did withdraw his spiritual sense. While an attack was still possible, it was far less likely at the palace.


    If nothing else, it would invoke the wrath of the sect leaders in the city who placed a certain value on maintaining at least the appearance of cordial relations with the mortal leadership. A cultivator brawl in the palace would decidedly undermine that fa?ade. He was also aware that the sect leadership here knew full well that Master Feng, to say nothing of Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho, would descend on the capital with blood on their minds if he was to die. It was by no means a perfect shield, but it would help to inhibit the stupidest behaviors. Sen was swiftly led into familiar hallways and then asked to wait outside the doors of the throne room. The guard captain slipped away for a few minutes before the door was opened from the inside. Sen was already talking as he walked in.


    ¡°I hope you appreciate this, Jing. Do you have any idea how many bastards I had to kill just to get¡ª¡± Sen¡¯s words died in his throat as at least a dozen pairs of eyes turned to look at him.


    Sen allowed himself an unnecessary cough before he turned to look at the man sitting on the throne. King Jing looked much the same as Sen remembered Prince Jing looking. The lines around his eyes were a little deeper. Sen spotted a few gray hairs that hadn¡¯t been there before. All in all, though, the man looked healthy. For Jing¡¯s part, he maintained a look of gentle reproval, but there was an amused twinkle in his eyes.


    ¡°Um, I mean, greetings, your majesty,¡± said Sen, offering a formal bow.

 V8 Chapter 18 – Impressions

    Sen wished that he had kept his spiritual sense extended. At least then he wouldn¡¯t have been caught off guard by the presence of everyone in the throne room. Not that it took any kind of brilliance to realize that the king would be surrounded by people whenever he was in the throne room. Sen just hadn¡¯t thought it through. Taking a moment to greet Jing and offer a bow, something Sen was not entirely sure was appropriate, had bought him a moment to gather himself. He straightened and looked around at the gathered people. Most of them looked like the people who handled the daily work around the academy. Functionaries, he decided. His entrance and declaration had momentarily startled them. Being in the throne room also meant that the smart ones figured out who he had to be in a hurry. That brought on a susurrus of muted whispers and nervous, sidelong glances at him. Sen supposed that was to be expected.


    He did pick out a handful who didn¡¯t fit that profile, though. The material of their robes was too fine and the craftsmanship too good. They carried themselves with an aloof disdain for the functionaries. They also looked decidedly more afraid. They must be nobles, thought Sen. That made their fear more understandable. The last time Sen had been in the city in any kind of public way, a great house of the kingdom had fallen. And at least one of the remaining houses had hired cultivators to try to kill him. He locked eyes with an older woman who had white streaking her black hair. She wasn¡¯t just afraid. She controlled it well, but the woman was terrified. She¡¯d gone so pale at the sight of him that she resembled a corpse.


    There was one other exception. A presence that was leaning in a corner and not talking to anyone. Sen slowly turned his head and looked at the man. When his gaze landed on the man, the cultivator in the corner immediately straightened and stared at Sen with a shocked and angry expression. A cultivator in the throne room, thought Sen. Why? He hoped that his quiet intervention on Jing¡¯s behalf with the sects hadn¡¯t led to some kind of direct sect oversight over the throne. While Sen had been busy thinking about all of that, the other cultivator had stalked forward, his burning eyes locked onto Sen.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re the one that nobody can stop talking about,¡± said the man. ¡°I¡¯m¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t bother,¡± said Sen in a weary voice. ¡°I won¡¯t recognize your name. Are we going to have a problem? Because, if we¡¯re going to have a problem, I¡¯d like to get it out of the way now.¡±


    ¡°You jumped up¡ª¡±


    That was as far as the man got before Sen backhanded him so hard that the sound it made caused the windows to rattle. He caught the cultivator before he could crash into anything or, more importantly to Sen¡¯s way of thinking, anyone. He was still deciding about whether he should hit the other cultivator again when a sound he hadn¡¯t expected echoed through the throne room. Laughter. The other cultivator was laughing. Not the cynical laughter Sen had heard so often from cultivators he¡¯d fought, but booming, joyous laughter. He took a step back from the man, not quite sure what to make of this turn of events. The other cultivator shot Sen a bright, bloody-toothed smile, his eyes positively burning with curiosity.


    ¡°Oh, I think you and I are going to get along just fine. Just fine, indeed,¡± said the other cultivator.


    Sen gave Jing a questioning look. All he got in return was an infinitesimal shrug. A shrug that seemed to say, What? All of you cultivators are insane? Why should that one be any different? Sen returned his gaze to the other cultivator, who was wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.


    ¡°Okay, then,¡± said Sen in a neutral, wary tone.


    ¡°I am Chan Dishi,¡± offered the other cultivator before continuing in an amused tone, ¡°and it¡¯s very interesting to meet you, Lu Sen, the Hand of Chaos.¡±


    Sen managed to trap his groan before it could escape. He didn¡¯t want another absurd name, especially one like that. Not that he had much say in the matter. It was already out in the world. He was glad to discover that he¡¯d been right. He honestly hadn¡¯t heard of Chan Dishi. Although, he wondered if maybe he should have heard of the man. Sen hadn¡¯t been all that gentle with his blow. While it had drawn blood, it hadn¡¯t seemed to appreciably stun Chan Dishi. Shaking off one of Sen¡¯s hits wasn¡¯t that easily done. Ignoring it entirely suggested the other man was probably someone he should take at least a little seriously.


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    ¡°Sure,¡± Sen finally ventured. ¡°Interesting to meet you, as well.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve got questions,¡± said Chan Dishi. ¡°Good. It means your brain works. We¡¯ll talk later.¡±


    With that abrupt comment, the man sauntered back over to his corner and leaned against the wall, looking enormously pleased. That is a strange man even for a cultivator, thought Sen. I¡¯ll definitely have to ask Jing about him. Sen turned his attention back to the throne. He couldn¡¯t help but notice that everyone else in the room was standing completely still, their eyes locked on either him or Chan Dishi. Jing gave Sen a tiny little head shake before he addressed the room.


    ¡°You may all go. As you can see, an old friend has arrived, and I would greet him privately.¡±


    Sen had to suppress another groan. If you wanted to greet me privately, maybe you shouldn¡¯t have sent all those royal guards to parade me through the city, Sen complained internally. However, this was also an opportunity. The functionaries were sort of milling about, clearly hoping to get in a little last-minute business before the king definitively called it a day. The nobles were another story. They were all heading for the door as quickly as they dared. They all looked relieved to be able to escape. Sen waited until they thought that freedom was in their grasp, and then he barked out a single word.


    ¡°Xie!¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t surprised to see the older woman lock up. Jing¡¯s eyes flickered between them, but he didn¡¯t interfere as Sen walked over to the woman. The other nobles were clustered by the door, their eyes wide and fixed on what looked to be a brewing calamity. Sen drew to a stop when he was less than two feet from the woman. He loomed over her without even trying. She was forced to crane her neck back, which stole all of the power from the haughty look she tried to give him.


    ¡°What do you want from me?¡± she demanded in a vain attempt to reclaim control.


    Sen leaned in a little and the woman flinched back. He smiled at her. Well, he showed her some teeth anyway.


    ¡°I have business with your house,¡± he said in a hard voice that was meant to carry.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re¡ª¡±


    ¡°Expect me.¡±


    The woman opened her mouth again, but the look on his face seemed to steal the breath from her lungs. Sen turned that look on the other nobles.


    ¡°Do I have business with your houses as well?¡± he asked. ¡°Is that why you linger here after you¡¯ve been dismissed by your king?¡±


    The small group had a very brief shoving match to see who could get out the door first. Sen turned his eyes back to the woman. She was trying to glare at him but didn¡¯t seem to have the will for it.


    ¡°Soon,¡± he said.


    She looked like she was about to speak, maybe even plead, but he just turned his back on her and walked toward the throne. The functionaries decided that any work they had left wasn¡¯t actually that pressing and followed the nobles out the door. Within a minute or two, the only people left in the throne room were Sen, Jing, and Chan Dishi. The other cultivator left his corner again to join Sen and Jing by the throne. He directed another bright smile at Sen.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to be the very best of friends,¡± said Chan Dishi and clapped Sen on the shoulder. ¡°I can just tell.¡±


    With a quick nod to Jing, the other cultivator left the room as well. Sen watched him go with a frown and then turned to Jing.


    ¡°That is a particularly odd man,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°That¡¯s quite the statement, coming from you,¡± observed the Jing with a small grin.


    ¡°I¡¯m not odd. I just get caught up in odd things. It¡¯s different.¡±


    ¡°Is it?¡±


    Sen hesitated and then said, ¡°Probably?¡±


    Jing rolled his eyes and, with a sigh, he asked, ¡°Dare I ask what that business with Lady Xie was about?¡±


    Sen winced.


    ¡°Oh, yeah, that. So, you don¡¯t really need that house, do you?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± asked Jing, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.


    ¡°Well, it isn¡¯t going to exist for very much longer.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± demanded Jing, his voice getting stern.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be mad at me. They sent assassins after me. Cultivator assassins. You wouldn¡¯t believe the trail of bodies I left behind me getting here. I can¡¯t just let that stand. You know I can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m uncertain where to begin with all of that. How many bodies are we talking about here?¡± asked Jing, a look of deep concern on his face.


    Sen hadn¡¯t actually kept count, so he approximated.


    ¡°Enough to keep funeral pyres burning for days,¡± said Sen through a wave of emotional fatigue, before a thought struck him. ¡°There isn¡¯t a literal trail of bodies. I cleaned up after myself.¡±


    ¡°That was not my primary concern,¡± said Jing.


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Sen. ¡°It should have been. Dead bodies are bad business if you don¡¯t dispose of them properly. They can make people very sick.¡±


    Jing started to say something before a thoughtful expression crossed his face.


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true. Thank you for not littering the kingdom with corpses. Still, you¡¯re sure it was the House of Xie.¡±


    ¡°I made a deal with one of the people sent my way. They were quite happy to tell me who employed them.


    ¡°It could be misdirection,¡± objected Jing.


    ¡°I had to kill a nascent soul cultivator. Who else could afford to hire someone like that?¡±


    Jing shook his head.


    ¡°So, that¡¯s what that was. In the future, I would appreciate it if you refrained from doing things like that so close to the city.¡±


    ¡°You saw it?¡±


    ¡°Everyone saw it. People thought the world was going to end. There were nearly riots.¡±


    ¡°So,¡± said Sen, feeling sheepish, ¡°I see you got a new throne. Good for you. The old one was really uncomfortable.¡±

 V8 Chapter 19 – Big Asks

    ¡°It was,¡± admitted Jing, ¡°but maybe we shouldn¡¯t change the subject just yet.¡±


    ¡°Do you really want to compare complaints right now? Because I just got taken through the city by what I assume were royal guards hand-picked because they walked slowly.¡±


    ¡°About that¡ª¡± started Jing.


    ¡°Which has prevented me from maintaining even the tiniest shred of anonymity in a place where there are people who do not like me. At all,¡± said Sen, his voice dropping closer and closer to a growl. ¡°So, I very much hope that this wasn¡¯t just an exercise meant to keep your damn nobles in line.¡±


    Jing looked a bit startled at those last words, and then it was his turn to wince. He raised his hands in a placating motion.


    ¡°I swear to you, this had nothing to do with the nobles. Not my nobles, at any rate.¡±


    Sen blinked as he tried to parse meaning from those words.


    ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    ¡°The reason I wanted you to come is because I¡¯m hosting some representatives from beyond our borders.¡±


    Sen frowned and then shook his head.


    ¡°No, I still don¡¯t see the connection.¡±


    ¡°There are those gaps in your education again,¡± said Jing, not unkindly. ¡°On this side of the Mountains of Sorrow, cultivators and mortals have a sort of agreement. Sects manage themselves and cultivators, for the most part. Obviously, there are exceptions, such as yourself, but the majority of cultivators answer to a sect. It maintains some kind of order among people who would otherwise be walking disasters. In exchange for not interfering too much with the sects, mortals are generally left to rule themselves,¡± said Jing, raising a hand to stop the flood of angry objections that were about to pour out of Sen¡¯s mouth. ¡°It¡¯s not perfect. I won¡¯t pretend it¡¯s perfect. We both know that cultivators are often a menace. Destroying things. Killing each other. Killing mortals. Making people think the world is ending.¡±


    ¡°Point taken,¡± said Sen, letting his hostility toward sects subside.


    ¡°Good. Now, that¡¯s how things are done here. Things are a lot more complicated beyond those mountains. There are places there where cultivators are the nobility and royalty.¡±


    That gave Sen pause. Cultivators as nobility? As royalty?


    ¡°Why in the thousand hells would they do something that stupid?¡± asked Sen.


    Jing assumed a look that was quite familiar to Sen. It was the same look the man had worn when he was giving Sen lessons about the mortal politics of the capital several years earlier. So, it didn¡¯t come as much of a surprise when Jing asked a question instead of providing an answer.


    ¡°What are cultivators seeking?¡± asked Jing.


    ¡°Ascension,¡± Sen answered automatically.


    ¡°How many achieve it?¡±


    Sen felt stupid, already seeing where this was going now that Jing had pointed the way.


    ¡°Not many,¡± answered Sen.


    ¡°Yet, even if they fail to ascend, they have strength, power, and long lives. If it becomes clear that they¡¯ll never reach their goal, what are they to do with those things?¡±


    ¡°Apparently, set themselves up as political powers.¡±


    ¡°Just so. And, loathe as I am to admit it, there are even a few benefits to that approach.¡±


    ¡°Why am I so dubious?¡±


    ¡°Because you don¡¯t trust anyone, but that¡¯s a different matter,¡± said Jing with a smile. ¡°One of the most perilous times for any kingdom is during a succession. Kings don¡¯t just hold power because they have the name. They also build relationships or, barring that, hold dangerous secrets over the heads of their nobles. When the old king dies, all too often, those relationships and secrets die with them. The new king must hold the throne until he can forge alliances and learn secrets of his own. Which is to say nothing of the threats that can come from within your own house. Siblings killing each other is a sad fact in many royal families.


    ¡°Most of those problems disappear or are at least pushed far, far down the road if your king will sit on the throne for a thousand years. It¡¯s even more true if that king has very few enemies with the ability to kill them. They offer stability in their territory. A stability that no mortal royal family can ever hope to equal. Stability often goes hand-in-hand with prosperity, although not always. Not all kings are equally talented.¡±


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    Sen grudgingly conceded the logic, even if he shuddered at the idea of a cultivator-king. Yeah, it could be a good thing but only if a lot of things aligned in just the right way. Sen could easily see any number of young masters being absolute horrors in a position of authority like that. Of course, if there were already kingdoms being run that way, why hadn¡¯t they simply overrun all the mortal-ruled kingdoms on this side of the mountains? When Sen posed that very question, Jing nodded in approval.


    ¡°There are, thankfully, several reasons for that. The most salient reason is that they¡¯re usually focused on fighting with each other or, minimally, keeping each other in check. Beyond that, it¡¯s complicated and expensive to seize and hold land that is over a difficult-to-traverse mountain range. A final reason is the existence of the sects. I know you despise them, but they are a strategic deterrent to would-be cultivator warlords. Individually, they might not be a particular threat, but collectively they are a monumental force.¡±


    Sen desperately wanted to poke holes in what Jing was saying but this was not Sen¡¯s area of expertise. More to the point, he didn¡¯t believe Jing was wrong about any of it. He just wanted the king to be wrong about it, so he could go on thinking that every sect burning to the ground would be a boon to the world. He didn¡¯t want to see them as contributing anything positive. A sinking feeling took hold as Sen realized something. If I were a normal cultivator in a sect, I would probably be five hundred years old, maybe older, before any of this became remotely relevant to me. These were the kind of concerns that elders, patriarchs, and matriarchs worried about. People with real influence and true power. People like me, thought Sen. A feeling of deep inadequacy washed over Sen. He¡¯d been a nobody, living on the streets in probably the least important town in the kingdom less than fifteen years before. Now, he was standing in the throne room, talking with the king, discussing the importance of the sects in deterring cultivator-kings from invading the kingdom. I don¡¯t belong here, thought Sen. I¡¯m not ready for any of this.


    As if he could read Sen¡¯s thoughts, Jing said, ¡°Terrifying, isn¡¯t it? Getting a clear view of the big picture? Seeing just how precarious the balance of forces really is?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Honestly, I¡¯m inclined to pack up and leave right now before I get pulled deeper into any of this,¡± said Sen in a weak voice when a thought struck him. ¡°You know, I think we kind of got off-topic. Just why am I here? You said something about hosting representatives, but you weren¡¯t too specific about what you¡¯re hosting them for. Come to think of it, you didn¡¯t say anything about what I¡¯m supposed to be doing in all of this.¡±


    ¡°Ah, that. Some of the people I¡¯m hosting are cultivators. While I¡¯d love to believe that none of them are planning to assassinate me, it¡¯d be unforgivably stupid of me to assume that none of them are thinking about seizing the opportunity. I¡¯m new to the throne, which makes this an ideal time for one of them to eliminate me and launch an invasion.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that doing that would be complicated and expensive?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I did,¡± agreed Jing. ¡°Complicated and expensive doesn¡¯t make something impossible, though. Especially if you have five hundred years to plan it. Which brings me to you. Chan Dishi is here to be my very obvious bodyguard.¡±


    Sen mulled it over.


    ¡°So, you want me to be your less obvious bodyguard?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d certainly welcome that if someone does try to kill me, but I mostly just want you in the room.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because, to them, you¡¯re an unknown quantity. A tremendously powerful cultivator who very publicly executed a nascent soul cultivator just prior to entering the city with a royal guard escort. A man who warrants a private meeting with the king. That¡¯s the kind of man who will make people think twice before they attempt an assassination. At the very least, you¡¯ll keep them unbalanced.¡±


    Sen was quiet for a long time as he thought all of that over.


    ¡°I owe you. It¡¯s why I¡¯m here. I even understand your reasoning. But this is a big ask. You¡¯re putting me directly in the way of cultivators who, up until now, were either not interested in me or didn¡¯t know I existed. You and I both know that will have consequences for me. Consequences that could well haunt me long after your reign is over,¡± said Sen, pausing as he considered his next words. ¡°More importantly, it could have consequences for my daughter.¡±


    For the first time in the conversation, Jing seemed truly at a loss for words.


    ¡°Your daughter? I wasn¡¯t aware you were with anyone.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not. She was orphaned. Her whole village was destroyed by bandits. No family left to take her in. So, I adopted her.¡±


    ¡°Orphan,¡± murmured Jing. ¡°I see. And the bandits?¡±


    ¡°They won¡¯t be bothering anyone. Ever.¡±


    ¡°Good. That¡¯s for the best. I¡¯d have had to send troops out to destroy them. We can¡¯t let something like that go unpunished,¡± said Jing before he gave Sen a questioning look. ¡°You haven¡¯t said no, yet, even though I¡¯m quite certain you want to. I take it that means you want something. Did you have something in mind?¡±


    Sen had some vague notion that he wanted something out of the deal to make it worth the present and potential future hassles. The longer he thought about it, the more problems he could see. What could possibly make up for all of that potential trouble coming to his door? He couldn¡¯t think of anything. Sure, he could always just move on, or go live in the wilds if it came down to it. But that would be no kind of life for Ai. No home. No roots. No potential to build a life for herself separate from him. He couldn¡¯t do that to her. A mad idea hit him then. He dismissed it for madness, but it came back. Insistent. Nagging. He weighed it, almost dismissed it again, and finally decided that maybe it did have some merit. It¡¯d be utterly worthless to him. In fact, it would be nothing but headaches for him but not for Ai.


    Grinning a little, Sen said, ¡°The House of Xie is going to disappear, but their holdings and business concerns won¡¯t.¡±


    Jing frowned and asked, ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°This is what I want. The House of Lu.¡±

 V8 Chapter 20 – The House of Lu

    Sen supposed it was a testament to just how much he was asking for when Jing stood there in motionless silence for most of a minute. Given Sen¡¯s well-known feelings about nobles, it was entirely possible that Jing thought Sen was playing some kind of bizarre joke on him. Sen was even tempted to say that it was a joke. But that would ultimately throw confusion into the situation that he didn¡¯t want because Sen wasn¡¯t joking. He was absolutely serious.


    ¡°The House of Lu?¡± asked Jing, almost as if he was checking to make sure he¡¯d heard correctly.


    ¡°The House of Lu,¡± confirmed Sen.


    ¡°That is complicated,¡± said Jing, obviously scrambling to buy himself time.


    Sen tried not to take a little pleasure in seeing the usually self-possessed man on the back foot for once. Jing walked over to the throne and sat down. For a moment, Sen thought the man was trying to convey a heavy-handed message about who was in charge, but that thought evaporated when Jing slumped back. Oh, thought Sen, he just needed to sit down for a minute.


    ¡°That is very complicated,¡± muttered Jing.


    It was clear to Sen that the other man was talking to himself, so he just waited patiently for Jing to gather his thoughts. It took a few minutes before Jing looked up at Sen.


    ¡°Do you really understand what you¡¯re asking for here?¡±


    Sen snorted and said, ¡°I am supremely confident that you know that I don¡¯t know. On the other hand, are you really going to tell me that you¡¯d rather have the House of Xie? A family that has proven it will work against your interests and wishes.¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯m definitely not saying that, but this isn¡¯t the kind of thing you can manage by popping in every few years. You¡¯d have to be here, all the time, running the house every day.¡±


    ¡°Well, we both know that¡¯s not true. I figured out that much running my academy. Oh, I didn¡¯t tell you about that did I?¡±


    ¡°No, but I¡¯d also heard rumors of you starting something up north. And the word academy is self-explanatory.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Sen, ¡°I guess it is. Anyway, I don¡¯t run that any more than you run this palace. Staff run most things. The patriarch or matriarch or whoever makes big decisions, and they let everyone else deal with the details.¡±


    ¡°So, if I were to agree to this, you¡¯d just immediately hand off all of your responsibilities to other people?¡±


    ¡°Not just any other people. I have someone in mind who would be ideal for making decisions for a large house with far-flung holdings and operations. As for me, though, no, I wouldn¡¯t be taking up residence in the capital. I already have obligations.¡±


    Sen couldn¡¯t decide if the king looked disappointed or relieved at that statement. Maybe it was both.


    ¡°You realize that the only reason I¡¯m even considering this is because you¡¯ve already decided to do whatever you¡¯re going to do the Xie. Something you intend to do regardless of anything I might say about it.¡±


    ¡°As opposed to what? Wait. Are you asking me to spare them?¡± asked Sen, his eyes narrowing. ¡°After what they did? Would you spare them?¡±


    Jing reached up and started to massage his eyes.


    ¡°The truth is that I would probably have no choice but to spare them. I¡¯m sure that they made a point to use someone low in the house to make the actual arrangements, or even used someone outside the house entirely. Not that it would take cultivators very long to ferret out the truth. But I doubt I could gather enough evidence to do anything meaningful to them,¡± said Jing.


    Sen remembered having a similar conversation about evidence with Jing when they¡¯d been trying to free Chan Yu Ming from her unwanted engagement. Of course, in the end, Sen had simply done what he thought was best.


    ¡°You, however, are not me,¡± continued Jing. ¡°You¡¯re a cultivator and a famous hero. You can likely do what you want to do to them based on nothing more than your word. If you say that they tried to have you assassinated, the common people will believe you. Hells, even the nobility will probably believe you. But the other noble houses will also never forget it. They¡¯ll never trust you. They¡¯ll always be waiting for the day when you come for them. It would make running your own house hard, harder than it would be for anyone else. They¡¯ll constantly be looking for ways to ruin you, interrupt your operations, anything they can think of to bring you down, so long as it won¡¯t lead back to them.¡±


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Sen shrugged.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re saying they¡¯ll act like nobles.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m saying they¡¯ll act like frightened people because that is exactly what they¡¯ll be.¡±


    ¡°If they don¡¯t interfere with my affairs, they¡¯ll have nothing to fear from me.¡±


    ¡°Do you honestly think they¡¯ll believe that?¡±


    ¡°No, but you can always remind them that if I genuinely wanted to purge this city of the nobility, I could have done it already.¡±


    Jing sighed and said, ¡°I doubt that would help.¡±


    ¡°Maybe not,¡± admitted Sen, ¡°but I expect the looks on their faces would be hilarious.¡±


    ¡°I think we might have different definitions of hilarious.¡±


    ¡°Probably so.¡±


    A pensive look stole over the king¡¯s face, then it seemed to harden into a rigid neutrality before he asked a question that Sen had not been thinking about.


    ¡°Do you intend to kill the children as well? The staff? The guards? Just how far will your destruction of the House of Xie go?¡±


    Sen found that he had a sudden need to sit down after hearing those questions. He summoned a chair from his storage ring and dropped into it. He¡¯d been so angry about all those cultivators coming for his head that he¡¯d just let himself think of the House of Xie as some kind of monolith made up of decision-makers. It had been easy to think of their destruction in the abstract. Jing had brought that abstract idea crashing right back down to the unforgiving earth. Do you intend to kill the children as well? That question echoed inside his ears. Reason told him that sparing anyone was foolish. It would just invite foolish attempts at reprisal down the road. The safest course was to end the line entirely, root and branch. Wipe the world clean of them. Of course, reason was the domain of the mind, not the heart. Do you intend to kill the children as well? Could he kill them all? Did he have that in him? Sen examined his own heart. The answer was clear. No. He did not have that in him. Not the children.


    ¡°Anyone in the house leadership has to die. Anyone who was involved. But no, I won¡¯t kill the children. I probably won¡¯t kill the cooks, maids, or anyone else like that. As for the rest, I¡¯ll just have to see what they do.¡±


    Jing seemed to relax a little at those words.


    ¡°Bringing the house under control won¡¯t be easy. They have scions scattered across the kingdom. They¡¯ll try to seize property, withhold earnings, and they may even destroy things in an attempt to thwart you or take revenge.¡±


    ¡°Then, they die.¡±


    ¡°Just like that?¡±


    ¡°Just like that,¡± said Sen. ¡°They won¡¯t be nobility anymore. If they aren¡¯t a part of the House of Lu, they¡¯re just thieves and bandits. I have no use and no pity for thieves and bandits.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ll see you as the thief.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a them problem.¡±


    Jing grimaced a little.


    ¡°I forgot that you could be quite this ruthless.¡±


    Sen considered the other man.


    ¡°No, you didn¡¯t. You need someone ruthless for your plan to keep your foreign guests off-balance to work. You need someone who simply does not care what they think. Someone who won¡¯t be put off by ending them if they try to do something to you. Besides, I suspect that this might even work to your advantage.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°A ruthless cultivator comes in and wipes out a house in revenge. Rather than starting a feud you can¡¯t win, you find a way to quell that anger and even nominally bring that cultivator into the fold. I don¡¯t understand politics all that well, but I imagine that will probably make you look quite competent.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯d be more impressive if everyone didn¡¯t know that we have an existing relationship.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t always get everything.¡±


    ¡°No, you certainly can¡¯t,¡± said Jing. ¡°So, your goal in all of this is what?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about controlling a noble house, but it will provide a future for my daughter. A future with options. A future that doesn¡¯t involve needing to stay by my side for the rest of her life.¡±


    ¡°Is she a cultivator as well?¡±


    ¡°Not yet. Maybe not ever. She¡¯s still a little too young for all of that.¡±


    ¡°Is she with people you trust? People who can protect her? Once you start down this road¡ª¡±


    Sen started to laugh.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not worried about that. Anyone who goes looking for her in the immediate future will have to contend with Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho. I don¡¯t see that ending well for anyone who turns up with a mind for giving my little girl some trouble.¡±


    Jing stared at Sen with a dumbfounded expression on his face.


    ¡°You have the Living Spear and Alchemy¡¯s Handmaiden babysitting?¡±


    ¡°Are you kidding me? They volunteered. I honestly don¡¯t know what they might have done if I didn¡¯t let them have her while I was away. I¡¯ll probably have to physically drag her out of their nascent soul clutches when I get back.¡±


    ¡°You are frighteningly casual when you discuss them.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re family,¡± said Sen. ¡°I mean, I understand now how powerful they are, but Auntie Caihong would check me for head injuries if I started acting all frightened and humble around them. Uncle Kho would just give me odd looks and tell me to stop acting like a fool.¡±


    Jing shook his head and said, ¡°I struggle to imagine that.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s still true, but we¡¯ve drifted off the topic at hand,¡± said Sen, giving Jing a look that said he knew the man had been stalling.


    Jing sighed and said, ¡°Long live the House of Lu.¡±

 V8 Chapter 21 – The Fall of the House of Xie, Part 1

    ¡°Soon!¡± thundered the voice.


    Xie Caiji shot up in bed and clutched at her chest. She could feel her heart pounding, even as fear writhed inside of her like a parasite that no medicine could kill. She hadn¡¯t had a peaceful moment of sleep since she¡¯d finally come face to face with Judgment¡¯s Gale. All cultivators were frightening with their inhuman speed and their qi magic, but the nobility had come to their arrangements with the sects. Quiet deals to help keep the worst from happening. Those deals had made her feel safe and protected. She didn¡¯t feel safe anymore. They had all been so sure that the stories about the man were exaggerated. That he couldn¡¯t possibly be as powerful as the tales made him out to be. The sects they¡¯d reached out to had seemed almost eager to face him. They assured her that no core cultivator could face their massed strength, let alone the nascent soul cultivator they had hired at crippling expense.


    It seemed like a perfect idea. The king was popular but weak. Xie Caiji even had a soft spot for Jing. She¡¯d watched him grow up, after all. He¡¯d been a diligent, studious boy, and unfailingly polite. She¡¯d even hoped for a time to marry one of her granddaughters to him. She¡¯d been so happy when she heard Jing cut down his bastard of a father. The old king had been a brute and a bully with only the thinnest veneer of civility plastered on top. She¡¯d never suffered directly at his hands, but she knew people who had. She¡¯d honestly wondered if Jing had been the product of some illicit dalliance on the part of the queen. To be fair, she still wondered that, but she¡¯d never dare voice it now. Not with him sitting on the throne. In truth, she felt some gratitude that Jing had done what no one else could, but gratitude only went so far, and politics was politics. That cultivator friend of his had prevented more than a few more direct ploys from moving forward. No one had been willing to tempt his wrath. Of course, he was also far away in the north doing whatever cultivators did when they abandoned civilization.


    When word had gone out that Jing had sent for his friend while all those foreign representatives were here, she knew she had to act. She had to make the king look weak not just at home, but to the kingdoms across the mountains. If she could erode his reputation, make his most-feared ally out to be a paper tiger, her house might be able to take the throne without bloodshed. While a strong king could do as the kings had always done and discourage invasion, a weak king would invite it. She could have leveraged that threat to force a quiet little abdication followed by a very public coronation, and the House of Xie would take its rightful place as the royal family. Except, Judgment¡¯s Gale had not been a paper tiger. He had been a dragon pretending that he was only a tiger. The stories had started to trickle back from the tiny number of survivors about the merciless slaughter that had come at his hands. She had laid all her increasingly desperate hopes on Tseun Rong.


    In truth, when she had seen a clear sky turn that unholy color, watched as that unnatural lightning filled the sky and then crashed down to the earth, she had known. The silence from their contacts had merely confirmed it. It seemed that judgment had been passed on Tseun Rong, and he had been found less than worthy. She had prayed to the fickle heavens that her family name had not been whispered to that man. She had pleaded with the gods to intervene and let her avoid meeting him. Once more, it seemed the stories held true and that the heavens loved that man more than anyone else. He hadn¡¯t been in the city a day before they were in the same room with him raving about all the people he had to murder just to get there. Her blood had gone cold when his gaze had landed on her. Then, finally, it seemed the heavens were granting her prayers. Jing had dismissed them.


    She¡¯d underestimated Judgment¡¯s Gale again. She¡¯d assumed he was a blunt instrument, incapable of subtlety. Little more than a snarling beast that Jing could direct at his enemies. Not that snarling beasts weren¡¯t a terrible danger, but they could be managed. Instead, he¡¯d let her think she would get away, let her feel the tiniest brush of safety like the traces of a light breeze across her face before he pounced on her. He¡¯d seemed huge from across the room, impossibly tall, and heavily muscled, but she had not appreciated his size until he stood over her like an executioner. It had been like facing a mountain that had no love for her or anything she had ever touched. All of those quiet deals with the sects that made her feel safe meant nothing when faced with that man, who belonged to no sect, who swore allegiance to no one, save perhaps legends even more terrifying than he was.


    She had tried to deny, to do something, anything that would sway him. But the clever words that were so valuable at court, a skill she had worked a lifetime to master, were brushed aside before she could even begin. He knew she was guilty. He¡¯d already decided her fate. He was resolve incarnate, and he was coming for them. For a few desperate moments, she¡¯d considered appealing to Jing before the futility of that struck her. If she¡¯d attacked another house that way, or the king himself, there wouldn¡¯t have been enough proof for him to act. But that didn¡¯t mean he wouldn¡¯t know and, if he knew, there was no reason to stop his friend from taking a revenge that, loathe as she was to admit it, she had earned.


    ¡°Soon,¡± she whispered.


    She¡¯d been trying to think of something, to plan some way for them to survive the storm that was going to descend on them. There was no hope for her. She was an old enough hand at the bloody side of politics to recognize that truth. She could run but that wouldn¡¯t stop a man like Judgment¡¯s Gale from finding her. Her death was a simple matter of when. She had reached out to the sects hoping to leverage those quiet agreements to procure protection for the rest of her family. She had been met with stone-faced refusals and admonishments not to rouse the anger of legends in her next life. She had tried to send people away. If she could at least get lesser members of the family away, the House of Xie might survive in some fashion, but that effort had been stopped cold. Cultivators that no one knew had stopped those carriages and ordered them back to the manor on the authority of Judgment¡¯s Gale.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    It had been silence in the days since then. A terrible, gnawing silence that had infected the entire manor. The servants did not speak until directly addressed. The family members moved past each other without seeming to see each other. They all knew that doom approached. They could feel it like rain in the air or like insects crawling over them. They were all waiting for a headsman, a headsman in blue robes. It almost came as a relief to Xie Caiji when a massive noise from the front of the manor caused the very walls to tremble. It was wood splintering and the inhuman wail of metal shearing as it was pushed beyond its limits. She lowered her head briefly and then rose from her bed. She dressed carefully even as the sounds of fighting and dying rose from the courtyard. Servants raced in and out of her room, telling her things that didn¡¯t matter anymore. It all amounted to the same thing. Death had come for the House of Xie.


    By the time she finished dressing in her finest robes and jewelry, the battle was over. There were no more screams, no more clashing blades, just an oppressive absence of noise. She walked past weeping servants and cowering family members. She murmured what quiet comforts she could to the servants. They were innocent in all of this. She glared pure disdain at the members of her family who cowered inside. Family members who had been all too happy to accept the benefits of membership, but apparently found the cost too high when things went bad. As if cowering would help. As if cowardice would stay the hand of a man like Judgment¡¯s Gale. He was the cultivator who had faced down a small army of other cultivators and lived to tell the tale. No, she did not imagine he would find cowardice a good reason to let people live. As she approached the door, she was astounded to see a young man, a boy really, who had not abandoned his post. He was ashen-faced, terrified, but he had stayed at his post. She stopped next to him. If only more of her blood was this stalwart. She reached out a hand and cupped his cheek. His eyes went very wide.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been brave enough for one day,¡± she told him. ¡°Go be with your family now.¡±


    Tears welled up in the boy¡¯s eyes, and he nearly fell over his bow was so deep.


    ¡°Yes, Mistress Xie. Thank you, Mistress Xie.¡±


    The boy turned to go, hesitated, and then went over to the door. He looked at her for approval. She smiled at him and nodded. The boy opened the door for her. That¡¯s likely the last time anyone will ever open a door for me, she thought. Xie Caiji stepped through the door, and it took all of her self-control not to gasp. There were bodies everywhere. House guards who had fought a hopeless battle to the last. She couldn¡¯t even find it in herself to be angry with the handful who had surrendered. They looked ashamed, but she didn¡¯t understand why. One look at the pristine blue robes that adorned the towering figure of Judgment¡¯s Gale said all that was needed about how hopeless that battle had been. Better if they had all surrendered, she thought. The cultivator turned his icy eyes on her and she was frozen in place. He stalked over to her and it felt like a tsunami was about to crash down over her.


    ¡°Call them out. All of them,¡± he ordered her before his eyes fixed on something over her shoulder.


    She found the will to turn her head. That brave boy who had opened the door for her was standing there, tears in his eyes, locked in place. She turned her face back to the cultivator she had so foolishly enraged and saw something she had never expected to be there. Pity.


    ¡°I¡¯ll spare the children,¡± he told her in a low voice.


    An awful fist that had been wrapped around her heart loosened the tiniest bit. The children will live, she thought. She didn¡¯t know why he was choosing to spare them and, with death so close at hand, she didn¡¯t care why. She¡¯d witnessed enough people lie over the years to recognize the truth when she heard it. She issued the order to the only person she could, the boy. He nodded jerkily and ran back inside. It took a while and a booming threat from Judgment¡¯s Gale for everyone to straggle out of the building. Xie Caiji simply stood there, doing her best to keep her head held high. She would not cower in the final moments, nor, it seemed, did Judgment¡¯s Gale wish for that. He just stood there, silent, impassive, and utterly terrible. After the cultivator had done something that she felt but didn¡¯t understand was he satisfied that everyone in the manor was now present in the courtyard. It was only then that a figure stepped out of a nearby shadow. She recognized the man, the cultivator bodyguard that Jing had hired from only the gods knew where. She held a brief hope that this was some kind of reprieve, until the man took out a scroll, and unrolled it.


    ¡°In this year of, oh I¡¯m not reading all of that,¡± said Chan Dishi, his eyes flickering down the scroll. ¡°This decree hereby dissolves the House of Xie. All noble titles current and hereditary are withdrawn from the Xie family. All assets, holdings, and titles of nobility once held by the House of Xie are hereby transferred to the newly established House of Lu, and its patriarch, the cultivator Lu Sen, known as Judgment¡¯s Gale, the Hand of Chaos, Heavens Scouring Blade, the Storm¡¯s Wrath, the¡ª¡±


    The words faded to nothing as Xie Caiji felt like her entire world had just dissolved around her. She had misunderstood what she was dealing with so profoundly that she had to lock her jaw shut to keep from bursting into hysterical laughter or incoherent screaming. Judgment¡¯s Gale had come to kill the House of Xie, and he had done it more thoroughly than she had ever imagined possible. She had imagined naked bloodshed, which might still happen, but not this. Even if he did let the children live, they would live as peasants. As orphans. No titles. No protections. The House of Xie, one of the proudest, most powerful houses in the kingdom, had been reduced to nothing. It was an exasperated burst of words that brought her out of her trance.


    ¡°How many names do you have?¡± demanded Chan Dishi as he waved the scroll at Judgment¡¯s Gale.


    ¡°I don¡¯t actually know,¡± said the man.


    Chan Dishi shook his head before he glared at the collected members of the former House of Xie.


    ¡°He gets everything. You get nothing,¡± announced the man, before he handed the scroll to Judgment¡¯s Gale and walked away.


    The blue-robed cultivator eyed the scroll for a moment before it vanished into a storage treasure. He fixed his eyes on Xie Caiji.


    ¡°Now, let¡¯s talk about who knew.¡±

 V8 Chapter 22 – The Fall of the House of Xie, Part 2

    Sen watched as Xie Caiji¡¯s face twisted with the knowledge that this wasn¡¯t over yet. He wasn¡¯t just going to kill her and be done with it. Ever since the rest of the Xie household had been brought out, he¡¯d had a nagging sensation he was missing something. He started moving his eyes from face to face, really looking at them. He almost passed over the man before an old memory surfaced. It had been so long ago, and seemed so comparatively trivial now, that he almost let it go. Almost. The other man must have seen the decision on Sen¡¯s face because qi flared as the cultivator made a run for it. One lazy qinggong technique and a kick to the back of the man¡¯s head later, and the escape attempt was over. Sen grabbed the man by the ankle and dragged him, face down, so they could have their little discussion in front of the whole family.


    ¡°Gong Jun De,¡± said Sen, finally letting go of the man¡¯s ankle. ¡°Well, well. So, who is the peasant now?¡±


    The man glared up at Sen with fury and scorn in his face. With that expression, he was much more recognizable as the same man in Sen¡¯s memory.


    ¡°You¡¯ll always be a peasant!¡± snarled the man.


    ¡°Probably,¡± said Sen. ¡°Still, it has been such a long time since you tried to have me killed at the Clear Spring Sect. I was very eager to talk to you after, but you ran away. Like a coward. Exactly the way you tried to do just now. I¡¯ll admit, I was shocked that the House of Xie sent people to kill me. I didn¡¯t have any quarrel with your house. I certainly didn¡¯t care about your house. But seeing you here, it all makes sense now. Sending others to do your dirty work is just procedure around here it seems. Gong Jun De, though? Not Xie Jun De? Some scandal I should know about? Are you a bastard in truth as well as behavior?¡±


    Sen had never seen it before. In fact, he¡¯d thought that whole thing about spitting blood was just a colorful if odd turn of phrase, but Gong Jun De actually started to leak blood from his mouth. What Sen couldn¡¯t decide was if it was rage over an insult or fury at being so publicly called out as a literal bastard. Gong Jun De shot up to his feet.


    ¡°I challenge you to a duel of honor!¡± screamed the man, bloody spittle flying from his lips.


    Sen did something he¡¯d seen Lo Meifeng do once when she¡¯d wanted to make a point. He grabbed Gong Jun De by the face. Sen jerked his hand down hard. Gong Jun De¡¯s face hit the ground before the rest of his body caught up. Sen planted a foot on the back of the other man¡¯s neck and brutally shattered a half dozen techniques the man tried to throw at him. There was a pool of blood on the ground around Gong Jun De¡¯s face when the pain from repeated backlashes seemed to take the fight out of him.


    ¡°Be quiet now,¡± said Sen. ¡°Peasants should know their place. Isn¡¯t that what the nobles are always saying? If that holds for peasants, it goes double for worthless dogs. I mean, you didn¡¯t even try to defend your home.¡±


    Sen felt a movement at his side and glanced over at Long Jia Wei. The assassin was giving the assembled crowd a dispassionate look. His eyes shifted down to Gong Jun De¡¯s prone form.


    ¡°Shall I dispatch him for you, Lord Lu?¡± asked Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen, lifting his foot off the man¡¯s neck.


    Gong Jun De turned a horrified look up at Sen. Then, the life went out of the man¡¯s eyes as Long Jia Wei used his daggers to remove the man¡¯s head in a series of movements so fast that Sen doubted anyone but he had seen them. Sen hadn¡¯t planned on doing any of that and the whole thing made him feel a little ill to his stomach, but it had served a purpose. He had seen the defiant looks on some of the faces in the crowd. He could almost hear them thinking that this didn¡¯t apply to them. That they, at least, were still nobles. Sen had just shattered the illusion. He hadn¡¯t just killed a noble. He¡¯d killed a cultivator noble. He hadn¡¯t even done it himself. He¡¯d delegated the killing to an underling like the whole thing was a dirty task beneath his dignity. There were no more looks of defiance in the crowd. All that was left now was the dawning horror that this was all real. This was happening. Their lives as they understood them were over, and all that awaited them was a world of manual labor and angry peasants with grudges.


    ¡°Where were we? Oh, that¡¯s right,¡± said Sen, locking eyes with Xie Caiji. ¡°You were about to tell me who knew. Who participated?¡±


    The woman tried to gather herself before she said, ¡°It was just me.¡±


    Sen heaved a great, theatrical sigh and said, ¡°Who are the servants here? Step forward.¡±


    There was a lot of hesitation and hushed murmuring, but people who were obviously servants did eventually step forward. Sen picked out two people who were clearly not servants hiding in the back and trying to pass themselves off.


    ¡°Long Jia Wei,¡± said Sen in a voice that carried.


    ¡°Yes, Lord Lu.¡±


    ¡°If those two Xie cowards,¡± Sen pointed at the offenders, ¡°don¡¯t rejoin their family in the next two seconds, kill them.¡±


    ¡°As you say, Lord Lu.¡±


    Their eyes going wide and blood draining from their faces, the two men scrambled back from the servants. One of them tripped over something and, rather than stand again, he simply started shoving himself away from the servants with his legs. Sen scanned the assembled crowd, trying to make a best guess, before he made his next, well, he supposed it was a proclamation.


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    ¡°You servants,¡± said Sen, ¡°take the children inside. Anyone under the age of thirteen. Keep them away from the windows.¡±


    No one moved for a few heartbeats before a woman¡¯s voice rang out.


    ¡°You heard the man. Get the children inside.¡±


    It was one of the servants, although one with some authority based on the way the rest of them sprang into action, herding or just carrying every child they could grab and fleeing into the building. The senior servant shot a look at Sen. It was a complicated thing. There was rage in those eyes. She hated him for what he was doing. There was also gratitude that he was sparing the children from something that was likely to be truly ugly. When the door to the manor swung closed with a bang, Sen knew that he was going to have to bury any sense of compassion or mercy he felt. He needed to know.


    ¡°Tell me who, or I kill them all,¡± he said to Xie Caiji.


    She just stared at him for a while. It was long enough that he thought she meant to call what she must mistakenly believe was a bluff. Her eyes drifted from his face to the people standing around her, her family, what she had probably also mistakenly believed was the cream that the kingdom had to offer. If she believed that Sen wouldn¡¯t cut them all down because of reasons like that, she was sadly mistaken. Eventually, her eyes landed on the body of Gong Jun De. She stared at that corpse for a long time before she looked at Sen, seemed to recognize his willingness to do exactly what he¡¯d said, and she fell back on the last resort of the doomed.


    ¡°If I tell you, will you let the rest live?¡± she asked.


    Before Sen could get a word in, a man near Xie Caiji shot a look of pure venom at her and screamed, ¡°You bitch!¡±


    The man lunged toward her, murder in his eyes, and a few others followed suit. Sen traded a cultivator-speed look with Long Jia Wei, who shot forward and wove through the crowd like a particularly lethal fish. Everyone that had made a move on the older woman fell dead within a second of each other. The crowd started to panic as lifeless bodies started falling around them, but Sen let a sliver of a sliver of his killing intent wash over them. Everyone froze. He walked over to Xie Caiji as he pulled his killing intent back.


    ¡°Who else?¡± he asked.


    ¡°What about the rest?¡± she whispered.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give them a chance to live,¡± he said. ¡°Which is more than your assassins would have given the people who were with me.¡±


    The woman nodded and then pointed out three other people. Long Jia Wei didn¡¯t need to be told what to do. Sen was happy to see that the man made it quick. Sen regarded Xie Caiji and asked the question he¡¯d been putting off.


    ¡°Why? I never would have come for your house if you hadn¡¯t done this. I honestly didn¡¯t give a damn about you or politics. So, why?¡±


    She seemed to weigh the question before she shrugged.


    ¡°To weaken the king. To seize the throne.¡±


    ¡°So, you did it for power?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Was it worth it?¡±


    The woman flinched and took another look around. She looked at the wreckage that used to be the front gates. She looked at the bodies. She looked at the faces of her family, some of them numb with shock, some of them openly afraid, and some of them streaked with tears. Family that she had robbed of their futures with one terrible, ill-conceived decision.


    ¡°No,¡± she answered. ¡°So, is it my turn? Will your man kill me as well?¡±


    Sen shook his head and said, ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    He reached out and touched her forehead. His qi flooded into her and just made everything that made her keep being alive stop. She crumpled to the ground. Sen considered that limp form on the ground before he shook his head and walked far enough away that the whole crowd could see him.


    ¡°Now, I have to decide what to do with the rest of you.¡±


    An older man stepped forward, his face slick with sweat, and said, ¡°The guilty have been punished. Surely, there is no need for more death.¡±


    ¡°I punished the people who were guilty of things done against me. Do you really expect me to believe that the rest of you are moral paragons? No, it seems far more likely to me that if I investigate even a little bit that I¡¯ll discover all of you as worthless as this one was,¡± said Sen, kicking Gong Jun De¡¯s body.


    A lot of very scared looks got passed between people when Sen suggested he might investigate what the rest of the House of Xie had been up to. It wasn¡¯t evidence, but it was enough to tell him that he¡¯d been pretty close to the mark. On the other hand, it wasn¡¯t practical to kill everyone else. Even if he did just give up on sleep, he could never deal with all of the work that went into running all of the holdings and operations of a house like this. In truth, he needed some of these people to stay. He just wanted them all thinking he would prefer to slaughter them and that letting them live was only a whim, a final kindness extended to the woman he¡¯d just killed right in front of them. A kindness he might immediately retract if they annoyed him.


    ¡°I suppose Long Jia Wei¡¯s arm will get tired if he has to murder all of you,¡± Sen muttered loud enough to be heard, but like he was talking to himself. ¡°Fine. I suppose that I don¡¯t know that you deserve death.¡±


    A collective sigh of relief went through the crowd.


    Sen continued, ¡°But don¡¯t imagine for a moment that you¡¯re going to leave here just to start plotting against me. You only live by my sufferance. You will all take oaths to the heavens to never knowingly act or speak against me or the House of Lu. You will vow never to encourage others to act or speak against me or the House of Lu.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s completely unreasonable,¡± shouted someone from the back of the crowd, who seemingly thought that Sen couldn¡¯t see him.


    Sen activated his qinggong technique and all but materialized next to the man. He leaned in close.


    ¡°Do I strike you as a reasonable man?¡± Sen asked in a deadly whisper, then he raised his voice. ¡°You will take the vow, or you will not leave this place.¡±


    Sen walked back to where he had been, the Xie family falling back before him. He turned to look at them.


    ¡°I may allow some of you to stay and enjoy the protection of the House of Lu, provided you can actually do something useful. And assuming you¡¯ll take additional vows to faithfully, conscientiously, serve the House of Lu,¡± said Sen, watching some of the people grow angry at what he was suggesting. ¡°Your children, however, will remain under my care. Consider it my acknowledgment of your basic natures and a surety against the possibility of you finding a way to circumvent your vows. Those who choose to serve the House of Lu may, eventually, even be permitted time with their children again.¡±


    The angry whispering came to an abrupt halt. The threat was crystal clear, even if they didn¡¯t know it was completely hollow. Behave, and your children will shelter comfortably beneath my not-inconsiderable protection. Do anything I don¡¯t like, and they¡¯ll be close at hand to bear the brunt of your sins.


    ¡°Now,¡± said Sen, ¡°who wants to make a vow? And who wants to help Long Jia Wei perfect his dagger techniques?¡±

 V8 Chapter 23 – The Fall of the House of Xie, Part 3

    While it was a little disappointing, Sen couldn¡¯t pretend surprise when a few people declined to take the vow. He supposed they didn¡¯t have children, or common sense, or both. Then again, maybe they just thought it was better to die immediately than take their chances out in the world with all the people they¡¯d wronged. Those were the easy ones to deal with. The ones Sen found less easy to deal with were the people who mouthed the words of the vow, seemingly believing that saying it was enough. It didn¡¯t occur to him until after he¡¯d executed the very first person in line, the very first liar, that these people had probably never seen or given a true vow to the heavens. He fixed the entire group with a hard look. He spoke to them in words that were as cold as the northern winds in winter.


    ¡°A true vow to the heavens requires commitment. There are signs when the vow takes hold. If you thought just mumbling the words at me while planning your betrayals was going to work, discard that idea.¡±


    The next person who came up to Sen did so with a ghostly complexion and sweat beading on their brows. They, at least, meant the words when they said them. When a brief glow descended on the man, Sen nodded.


    ¡°Good,¡± he said. ¡°Now, leave your coin purse, jewelry, and any weapons you may be carrying.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± asked the stunned man.


    Sen gave him a level look when he said, ¡°Those don¡¯t belong to you. They belong to the House of Lu. Be grateful that I¡¯m letting you take the clothes you¡¯re wearing. That goes for all of you. And, if any of you were thinking you¡¯d run to the nearest banks and make hasty withdrawals, you will be denied. My agents have already seized any private residences and business holdings of the former House of Xie. Any attempt to enter those properties or seize assets will be met with immediate, lethal violence.¡±


    The man directly in front of Sen looked like he was on the verge of an apoplectic fix when he snarled, ¡°How do you expect us to live? How will we eat?¡±


    Sen looked to his side where a stone-faced Long Jia Wei reached into a pouch and removed two copper tael. The ex-sect member held out the pittance to the furious man. Before the enraged Xie man could speak, Sen cut him off.


    ¡°It¡¯s more than I had when I lived on the streets and nobles made a sport out of beating me.¡±


    One glance at Sen¡¯s face after he¡¯d spoken ended any additional outcry against the orders. Sen watched the man in front of him swallow his words like they burned.


    ¡°You said that you might let some of us stay,¡± said the man.


    Long Jia Wei coughed, loudly, and gave the man a meaningful look. The Xie man¡¯s face went a shade of purple before he offered a deep bow and managed to push two words through his clenched teeth.


    ¡°My Lord.¡±


    ¡°I might, but you¡¯ll have to come back tomorrow and detail to me what value you might offer to the House of Lu.¡±


    The message was clear enough to the remaining Xie family. Today, you get to reap the consequences of every cruel, thoughtless whim you ever indulged in while thinking your position would protect you. Survive until tomorrow, and the Lord of the House of Lu might, might, just think about offering you his protection. Sen knew that there was a chance that some of them would try to get accepted into the other major houses in the city, but he was willing to bet that the rest of the nobility weren¡¯t going to be in a hurry to tempt his fury as word spread. He¡¯d made certain that copies of the proclamation were delivered to all of the noble houses and sects. A few of these people might find shelter somewhere but not many. With nothing else to do, the Xie man took the two copper tael and walked out of the shattered gates with a fearful expression. Sen watched him go before he turned his gaze on the rest of them.


    ¡°Next,¡± he said.


    Most of the Xie family at least survived the vow-giving process. Sen didn¡¯t make a production out of it. If the vow didn¡¯t take immediately, the person died immediately. He did have to stare a few people down to get them to cough up money, weapons, or other treasures they¡¯d secreted about their persons. He¡¯d gone back and forth about how to deal with people who did that and ultimately decided that simply depriving them of those things was sufficient. He¡¯d spilled more blood than he wanted to already. As the last of the Xie family, the adults at any rate, scurried through the shattered gates, Long Jia Wei gave Sen a long, evaluating look.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen in a tired voice.


    ¡°I thought your battle with Tseun Rong was terrifying, but I think that this was a far more frightening display.¡±


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    ¡°You found this more disturbing? Why?¡±


    ¡°Because you simply killed Tseun Rong. But with this,¡± said Long Jia Wei, ¡°you broke them. You broke a great house of the kingdom. I doubt that half the people who walked out that gate will live to see the dawn. And, with everything else you set in motion, you¡¯ve made yourself the only port in the storm. They¡¯ll do anything, agree to anything you want, just to survive.¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t quite sure how to take what the man was saying. He couldn¡¯t tell if the man was disagreeing, chiding, or something else entirely.


    ¡°You disapprove?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Quite the contrary. It¡¯s really quite masterful. It will be a long, long time before another house dares to make anything like an open move against you after this. Although, it does beg something of a personal question on my part.¡±


    ¡°Personal for who?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Personal for me,¡± said Long Jia Wei. ¡°You could have demanded a vow from me like the one you demanded from them. You could have demanded slavery from me, and I would have been in no position to decline.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Oh, well, that¡¯s simple enough. I know they can¡¯t be trusted. Every last one of them would have betrayed me at the earliest opportunity. So, I made the cost for even trying it so high that only someone with a legitimate death wish would even consider it.¡±


    ¡°And me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m uncertain if you can be trusted.¡±


    Long Jia Wei stood in thoughtful silence for a moment before he said, ¡°So, you¡¯ve left me free to either prove myself or sign my own death warrant.¡±


    ¡°See? Not that complicated.¡±


    ¡°I suppose it isn¡¯t. And what¡¯s next on your list of things to do today, my lord?¡±


    Sen looked around at the mess that was the courtyard. ¡°I clean up. And then we go inside.¡±


    While Sen didn¡¯t think much of the Xie family members, he did at least do them the courtesy of burning their bodies and offering up the requisite prayers. He did expedite the process by burning the bodies with his fire qi, which took seconds instead of an hour. He dumped all of the coin purses, weapons, and treasures into a storage ring. He took a moment to shape stone replacements for the gates he¡¯d destroyed. He didn¡¯t want anyone thinking this was an ideal time to try to loot the Xie manor. He stopped short at that thought. It¡¯s my manor, now, isn¡¯t it? Sighing, he walked over to the door with Long Jia Wei trailing two steps behind him and entered.


    Sen saw the boy who had been in the door earlier, staring at him with huge, frightened eyes. He also saw a young woman who took one look at him and immediately scurried away, no doubt to fetch someone more senior. Sen looked at the boy. Well, he supposed he had to start somewhere.


    ¡°You there,¡± he said, waving a hand at the boy. ¡°Come here.¡±


    Sen felt torn as the kid took halting, uncertain steps. He was old enough to understand what had happened and bear a grudge, but young enough that Sen prayed he wouldn¡¯t have to do anything to him.


    ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± said the boy in a quavering tone.


    ¡°You understand what¡¯s happened here?¡±


    The kid nodded and said, ¡°I do.¡±


    ¡°Very well. Here are your choices.¡±


    Sen laid out the options. The kid could take the one vow and leave, take the more stringent vow and remain in service to the House of Lu, or he could die. Then, Sen just waited while the kid made up his mind. Please, make a smart choice, Sen begged the boy in his mind. The boy finally looked up at him and made his choice. By the time the young woman came back with the woman who had taken charge outside, the boy was standing at his post. And if he looked a little torn, he also looked profoundly calmer. The senior servant glared balefully at Sen.


    ¡°So, the upstart¡ª¡±


    ¡°Spare me your sanctimony,¡± said Sen. ¡°Your employers were cutthroat bastards who sent assassins after me for no reason. You don¡¯t have a leg to stand on.¡±


    The woman¡¯s glare intensified, but she changed subjects.


    ¡°Where are the children¡¯s parents?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°I imagine some of them are dead. The rest are out in the city somewhere, no doubt enjoying exactly the level of goodwill they earned,¡± said Sen, and continued before the woman could explode into vitriol. ¡°Now, we come to the problem of you. One look at you tells me that you¡¯re unsalvageable. You¡¯re pure poison, and I have no need of your services.¡±


    It seemed the woman hadn¡¯t considered the possibility that she would simply be dismissed out of hand. She lost the color in her face and her hands started to tremble.


    ¡°My Lord¡ª¡± she started.


    ¡°Save it. You have two choices. You can take an incredibly constricting vow to the heavens or you can move on to your next life. Pick. Now. Or I¡¯ll pick for you.¡±


    All of the bluster gone from her demeanor, the woman took a vow to the heavens that made it all but impossible for her to even think bad things about Sen and the House of Lu, let alone to act against them. Sen wasn¡¯t wholly without compassion, though. While he knew that this woman couldn¡¯t be allowed to stay, she was, in the end, just an employee of the Xie. After relieving her of keys to almost every room in the place, he sent her on her way with a sum that made Long Jia Wei eye him askance.


    ¡°She probably expected to die in the relative comforts of this place,¡± said Sen. ¡°I doubt she even has a home away from here. I gave her enough to ensure that she doesn¡¯t starve to death or die of exposure.¡±


    The young woman who had fetched the senior servant was staring at the door the older woman had gone through with a look of almost incandescent joy. I guess that woman wasn¡¯t particularly popular, thought that Sen. He sent the young woman to fetch the other servants one by one. A few refused to stay. Two men tried to attack him and were cut down by Long Jia Wei. The rest looked to have mixed feelings but seemed to decide that the promise of steady pay outweighed any lingering loyalty they might have felt to the Xie family. When the only person left was the young woman, Sen didn¡¯t even need to bother explaining the choice. Except, things didn¡¯t go quite the he expected. Before he could stop her, the woman vowed her undying loyalty and service to him, personally, rather than the House of Lu. As the glow surrounded the woman, Sen reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose.


    ¡°Oh, this is going to be a pain in my ass,¡± said Sen. ¡°I just know it.¡±

 V8 Chapter 24 – Act of Creation

    Sen knew that there were a million things he should be doing at that moment, but exactly none of them were appealing. The servant girl was just standing there, beaming at him. Long Jia Wei looked like he was stuck somewhere between shock and bursting into laughter. A quick sweep with his spiritual sense told him that the servants were moving around the manor. They were probably working, not that he really cared all that much. He¡¯d basically given them all one command. Make sure the children are taken care of. Sen also knew that he should talk to the children, but he didn¡¯t want to face their frightened, confused eyes immediately after killing so many people. To say nothing of sending their parents out into the unforgiving clutches of the city. Sen turned to Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°A lot of house guards died. Find out who they were and if they had families. I will not turn their wives and children into beggars in this godsforsaken city. Beyond that, just manage affairs here as seems best to you for now if you would. I have things to tend to,¡± he said, before looking at the girl who seemed like she might follow him. ¡°Assist him, please.¡±


    Ignoring the unhappy look the girl gave him, Sen strode out the front door. He needed to do something that wasn¡¯t violent. There had been too much pointless death and destruction lately. He needed to make something. Engage in an act of creation. It wouldn¡¯t balance the scales, but it might help to balance his mind and his soul. Sen manifested a qi platform and rose over the manor. Looking down on it, he realized that it was much, much bigger than he¡¯d expected. There was the main building, but also a number of secondary buildings ranging in size from nearly as big as the main building to ones that looked about the right size to house individual families. He pushed that thought away. He hadn¡¯t chosen this fight. It had come looking for him. There was a shocking amount of land around the buildings. Some of it was devoted to large vegetable gardens, while other parts looked to house purely decorative gardens of flowers. There were also areas that looked designed for martial training and some places that were simple grass, ideal for rambunctious children to play in. It was quite as much space as some of the sects in the city, but it wasn¡¯t far off either.


    Surrounding it all was a, by mortal standards, formidable wall. But this isn¡¯t just a place for mortals anymore, thought Sen. It will need better defenses. Sen still felt off-balance, so started simple. He cycled for earth and reinforced the walls that were there, hardening the outside until it could likely withstand blows from a late-stage core cultivator. As his sense of imbalance started to fade away, he let his qi stretch down into the earth. He didn¡¯t want to disturb nearby buildings, so he needed to reach deep, to draw up stone from a place that wouldn¡¯t affect the stability of anything else. Bit by bit, he thickened the walls and made them higher. He cycled for metal and drew away the impurities in the stone, reshaping them, forging them into razor-edged spikes that lined the top of the wall. Sen sank deeper into the process, letting his worries fall away, and finding a place of peace inside himself again.


    He started building formations into the walls, leaning on years of practice in the wilds, and what he¡¯d learned from Master Kho while crafting buildings for the academy. Layer by layer, he locked the formations together. Formations that would gather qi. Formations that would condense and hold qi. Formations that would unleash qi in waves of fire, lightning, ice, and shadow. Almost without realizing it, he summoned beast cores by the dozens. They floated around him like a constellation of unharnessed power, until they were sent down, lodged into the stone of the walls and into the formations. They acted as connections, as storage, as augments, and in his mind, Sen could also see the countless patterns of webs that he had watched Glimmer of Night create. He couldn¡¯t understand them, yet, but he could feel what they were meant to do, brush against their intent, and he wove that nascent understanding of interconnection and meaning into his formations.


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    He could feel the formations building up into something else, something more than the fragile defenses he could consciously design. He leaned into his intuitions, letting them guide his hand and his qi the way he would when making elixirs. He felt imperfections in the formations that he hadn¡¯t sensed there before, small but salient weaknesses that he began correcting. He felt pieces of the different formations start to fuse together in ways he hadn¡¯t predicted, but he didn¡¯t stop it, just reinforced the parts that felt weak. He lost himself utterly in the process, unconsciously mixing types of qi and forging them into things he did not fully understand but felt right. He didn¡¯t know if he worked for minutes or hours, nor did he care. This was a balm to his soul that he would only relinquish when he had to.


    The longer he worked, the more complex the effort became. At first, he was manipulating a handful of qi types in large tendrils. As he approached the limits of what he and his intuition could do, though, he was controlling dozens of individual threads of qi, some of which he didn¡¯t even know he had affinities for. He pushed himself harder as he strove to achieve a goal, a destination, something he could sense on the horizon, like a blurry shape in his vision. Try as he might, though, he couldn¡¯t bring it wholly into focus. It felt both tantalizingly close and infinitely distant. He hung suspended on the cusp of touching the elusive goal but fell short. Which was not to say that he had failed. He felt the formations he¡¯d been working on snap into place. There was a sound in the air, a thrum that Sen felt in his bones, as the formations activated. Sen¡¯s eyes snapped open an iridescent dome briefly flared over the entire area of the manor and its grounds.


    Everything on the other side of the dome was briefly obscured even in Sen¡¯s vision before the visual distortion faded away to reveal the city around them. It was only then that Sen felt the weight of the gazes on him. He looked down at the manor and saw the servants and children all looking up at him, their expressions filled with wonder. He saw Long Jia Wei staring at him in slack-jawed amazement. Sen¡¯s eyes shifted to the streets around them. There were hundreds of people, maybe even thousands, standing there in utter silence, watching him. Finally, Sen lifted his eyes and took in the faces of the nascent soul cultivators who had apparently come to bear witness to his works. Master Feng¡¯s brother wore an unreadable expression. The other patriarchs wore speculative expressions. Lai Dongmei gave him an amused little smile and nodded at him. He nodded back, even as his mind raced.


    He could see other cultivators, presumably lesser cultivators, floating in the air at a distance. Unlike the nascent soul cultivators, their expressions were far easier to read. Some wore looks of amazement similar to Long Jia Wei, but far too many of them wore looks of tightly controlled fear. What have I done? Of course, Sen knew what he¡¯d done. He¡¯d let his need to act outpace his thinking. In doing so, he¡¯d made a declaration to all with eyes to see. He¡¯d also shattered a whole lot of cultivator fantasies about who had a realistic chance against him. That was a double-edged sword at the best of times. It would prevent a lot of stupidity, but strength always invited challenge. Nothing to be done about that now, he thought. If challenges come, they come. What he was less certain about how to handle were all the people still staring at him. It was like they all expected him to say something. Since he had no idea what someone was supposed to say at moments like this, he went with his gut.


    Amplifying his voice with qi, he said, ¡°Go home.¡±


    Without another word, he descended to the courtyard of the manor. Mercifully, the servants and children were too stunned to approach. Long Jia Wei gathered his wits a little more quickly and came over to Sen. The man looked at the new walls and then embraced practicality.


    ¡°We¡¯ll need to make something that lets people pass through those defenses.¡±


    Sen blinked and let his senses touch on what he¡¯d made in a near-trance. He almost physically recoiled from it. Those weren¡¯t defenses so much as a poorly caged and hideously violent animal looking for something to kill. Sen swallowed hard. He¡¯d have to spend a lot more time figuring out just what in the thousand hells he¡¯d created here.


    ¡°Yep,¡± said Sen a little weakly. ¡°That goes right to the top of the list.¡±


    ¡°On the bright side,¡± offered Long Jia Wei, ¡°I think the children are probably safe.¡±

 V8 Chapter 25 – Secrets

    Sen was pleasantly surprised when the crowds dispersed and even the sects departed. He had half expected the patriarchs to come down and offer their very unwanted opinions to him. That was an event he was in no mood to deal with. The servants¡ª Your servants now, he reminded himself ¨C decided that this wasn¡¯t the time to let the Xie children mob him with what were countless questions. Instead, the children were unevenly herded back into the manor. The younger ones mostly just seemed confused. Based on the dark looks he got from a few of the oldest ones, though, they had at least a sense of what was going on. Worse, there wasn¡¯t much he could do about them. Unlike the parents, the children couldn¡¯t give him bidding vows. The heavens were often fickle and even ruthless, but they did mandate that people actually understand the vows they took. It was generally understood that there was no point in asking for them from anyone who hadn¡¯t come of age. For some of the youngest, that time was easily a decade away. For the oldest, it was just a few years.


    ¡°What do you mean to do with the children?¡± asked Long Jia Wei. ¡°We can keep them here for now, but that¡¯s a short-term solution at best.¡±


    Sen honestly had no idea what he was going to do with them. On the one hand, he had forcefully claimed responsibility for all of them. That meant it was on him to see to things like providing them with food, shelter, and some manner of education. On the other hand, every single one of those children could blossom into an enemy that might trouble him or his interests one day. He wasn¡¯t particularly interested in arming them with skills that would help them toward those kinds of ends.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, yet. I suppose some of it will depend on how many of their parents come back.¡±


    Long Jia Wei seemed to waver for a moment before he said, ¡°Then if I might offer a suggestion.¡±


    ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    ¡°Take them out of the city. You said you run some manner of school in the north. Take them there, far beyond easy reach.¡±


    Sen had to admit that the idea had some merit. The academy was comparatively isolated and largely under Sen¡¯s direct control, which made it easy to keep watch for trouble. Of course, making that work would mean hiring and relocating a lot more people just to teach the children the essentials. Maybe for the first time in his life, Sen wished he had more people with him. There were a lot of things to investigate and a decided shortage of people he could trust. However, he supposed he could ask Shen Mingxia and Wu Gang to look into things that were strictly mortal. Their status as cultivators would open a lot of doors. Even so, what he could really use was about a half-dozen core formation cultivators he found reliable. Sadly, he didn¡¯t think he even knew six core formation cultivators that he would trust to go buy salt in the market, let alone handle something important. He supposed that was one advantage of the sect system¡ªwilling and semi-trustworthy minions.


    Sighing, he dismissed that daydream. He''d just have to work with what he had available. He supposed he might be able to borrow a couple of bodies from Jing for mortal stuff. Maybe Lai Dongmai has someone in her sect who doesn¡¯t hate me that I could borrow for cultivator-related issues, thought Sen. He didn¡¯t like the thought of relying on people he didn¡¯t know, but he also didn¡¯t want to spend six months away from Ai trying to get things settled in the capital. He decided then and there that he wouldn¡¯t let that happen. If it came down to it, he didn¡¯t care that much about setting up the House of Lu. He could make other arrangements for Ai. Plus, he had sent word to Grandmother Lu. Depending on where she was at the moment, she might arrive sooner than later. He knew he could rely on her, and she had a small army of loyal employees that he could lean on by proxy. Sen realized that Long Jia Wei was giving him a questioning look. I must have been standing there staring at nothing for a while, thought Sen.


    ¡°It¡¯s worth exploring,¡± said Sen to the man¡¯s idea about taking the children out of the city. ¡°For the very immediate future, though, just make sure that they¡¯re getting fed and bathed. I have to assume that some of these servants were employed as teachers. Find out which ones. If these children were being taught to read, write, and do math, there¡¯s no reason to stop that.¡±


    ¡°Reasonable,¡± said Long Jia Wei.


    He turned to the young woman that Sen had all but forgotten about and relayed some orders. She kept a neutral expression, but Sen could tell that she wasn¡¯t pleased to have been foisted off onto Long Jia Wei. He decided that was her problem. He hadn¡¯t asked her to do something so foolish as swear herself to him personally. He couldn¡¯t even imagine what she had been thinking when she¡¯d done that. She shot Sen a quick look before she disappeared into the manor. Sen put her out of his thoughts. She was a tomorrow problem or a next month problem. He had right now issues aplenty to keep him occupied. He really wanted to go investigate the formation array, but that would hold for a while as well. Turning his attention back to the manor, he gestured at it.


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    ¡°I suppose we should go see what kinds of secrets and treasures they have hidden in there before someone else finds them.¡±


    Sen thought that he had probably killed the most valuable secrets when he¡¯d killed Xie Caiji, but there were bound to be some things left in the place that no one had had the foresight to destroy or steal. The whole process turned out to be much more of a collaborative effort than Sen had initially expected. While he excelled at discovering the hidden spaces that absolutely littered the manor, he had very little facility at opening them without simply smashing through a wall or floor. Long Jia Wei, on the other hand, proved exceedingly capable at finding how to open them when told exactly where to look. They¡¯d started in a set of offices that Sen assumed belonged to Xie Caiji and her closest advisors. There was a lot of mundane paperwork to be found there. Granted, those scrolls were all valuable in giving Sen a picture of what his new holdings were worth and where they were located, but it wasn¡¯t what he was looking for.


    There had been what amounted to a tiny closet hidden in a wall that was stuffed with scrolls, missives, and analysis. Sen glanced over a few things to get a feel for how dangerous and valuable the information might be, then swept every last bit of it into a storage ring. There was information on the other noble houses, the royal family, and even members of the Xie household, as well as merchants creating problems for the Xie family. If the rest of the documents exposed similar information, Sen didn¡¯t want it falling into anyone else¡¯s hands. The other offices didn¡¯t yield another such horde of information, but they did expose that at least one of the Xie advisors was skimming from somewhere. They found a cache with two coin purses stuffed to bursting with silver tael and a smattering of gold tael as well. Sen¡¯s relationship with money had become somewhat warped in recent years, he knew, but even he could recognize that he was looking at a small fortune. Maybe even enough to set someone up comfortably in some distant place.


    Sen looked from the purses in his hands to Long Jia Wei. Sen dropped one purse into a storage ring. The other he opened. He reached in and grabbed a fistful of coins. He held the closed fist out to Long Jia Wei. The other man reached out with a quizzical look on his face. Sen dumped the fistful of coins into the man¡¯s outstretched hand.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± said Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°Loyalty is great, but I need to not be worrying about every last thing you do for the next week or two. Consider yourself bought for now.¡±


    Long Jia Wei considered the pile of coins in his hand for a moment. There was the glint of gold from at least two places. He nodded.


    ¡°I will consider myself bought,¡± said the man. ¡°Or rented, at the very least.¡±


    Sen snorted and held out the purse. Long Jia Wei took it with his other hand.


    ¡°Use that to buy some loyalty from the servants. It¡¯s going to take a while to figure out the finances, so some silver now will probably go a long way toward keeping them on task. A little show of good faith.¡±


    ¡°I doubt most of them earn an entire silver in a month.¡±


    ¡°Even better. Tell them it¡¯s a bonus for choosing to stay.¡±


    ¡°Very well,¡± said the man, slipping the purse into a pocket.


    Most of what the pair discovered after that was more mundane. They found countless small amounts in purses that had obviously been left in the walls for centuries. They also found inexplicable things, such as a wooden hairpin with a cat¡¯s face carved on it, a doll that crumbled to dust the moment it was touched, four daggers, a diary that detailed either some very vivid dreams or a particularly torrid affair, a bowl, filigreed chopsticks, and a dozen stone vials that had probably contained elixirs or poisons that had long since turned into sludge. Sen immediately claimed those, going so far as to slap one out of Long Jia Wei¡¯s hand before the fool could open it.


    ¡°It probably had poison in it,¡± said Sen. ¡°Given how long it¡¯s probably been in these walls, it might be harmless, or it might have turned into something even I won¡¯t know how to stop before it kills you.¡±


    ¡°I hadn¡¯t considered that,¡± admitted Long Jia Wei. ¡°My teachers would likely be disappointed in me.¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯ll be fine as long as we don¡¯t open anything,¡± said Sen.


    The sheer number of hiding places in just the main manor was enough to make Sen ready to give up on the whole task for the day. It was clearly going to take more than one night of exploration to find everything there was to find. But he noticed a hollow space in a wall that had no business being there. He supposed there was no harm in checking out one more hiding spot. He gestured at the spot and Long Jia Wei went to work. It was a testament to how well-hidden the catch was that it took nearly ten minutes for the man to find it. A door swung open and stale air spilled into the hallway. Sen eyed the narrow stairs that led down, shrugged, and began his descent. He ignited a ball of fire qi over his hand to light their way as Long Jia Wei stepped in behind him and closed the secret door. Wherever the stairs led, it was clear that no one had been down there in a long time. Sen kicked up clouds of dust with every step. When he finally reached the bottom of the stairs, well below the lowest floor of the manor itself, and stepped out into the rock-walled room, he drew up short.


    ¡°Well now,¡± he muttered as Long Jia Wei joined him. ¡°Isn¡¯t this interesting?¡±

 V8 Chapter 26 – Lair

    Sen was looking at what he could only describe as a cultivator¡¯s lair. There were qi-gathering formations that, almost beyond belief, remained active. There were a lot of other formations active that Sen started to sort through. At least one of them seemed to be devoted to keeping the room clean. The dust had piled up in a smooth line that separated the lair from the stairwell and a small entrance area. I¡¯ll need to steal that formation if I can figure it out, thought Sen. He let his eyes take in the rest of the room. Along one wall were shelves that appeared to hold a variety of cultivation manuals and numerous storage treasures that were being sustained by the qi-rich environment. On the back wall, he saw a basic alchemy lab complete with cauldron. On the opposite wall from the cultivation resources were shelves holding more practical treasures. He saw jade figurines that looked extremely expensive even to his untrained eyes, fine weapons, and chests that presumably held taels, gems, or things of similar value. It took a moment before he noticed the look of almost disgusted disbelief on Long Jia Wei¡¯s face.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen, feeling very uncomfortable at that other man¡¯s expression.


    ¡°Just how much favor do you have with the heavens to stumble into this trove?¡±


    Sen just shrugged and said, ¡°A lot, I guess.¡±


    His mind wasn¡¯t really on the question, though. Sen was systematically disabling some positively lethal defensive formations while he eyed the shelf with cultivation manuals. He didn¡¯t know what was there, but he was willing to bet he was going to at least find something interesting. The bigger question, and one he suspected would never get answered, was why the room existed at all. He could make some general guesses, but that was it. If he was going to guess, he would assume that some early Xie patriarch or matriarch had been a cultivator, and a fairly accomplished one, but wanted to keep that fact secret. Sen was once again running up against the gaps in his education. His understanding of the rules and traditions around cultivators and nobility in the kingdom was thin. What information he had was based more on secondhand information he¡¯d gotten than any kind of substantive discussion. He knew that cultivators from the nobility traditionally broke ties with their families, but he¡¯d seen two examples in the last few years that told him that tradition was not uniformly observed. He also didn¡¯t know how seriously that separation was taken a few hundred or a thousand years before. What was just tradition now may have been a sacred duty back then.


    He hoped that the manuals would provide some clues about just how far back this Xie cultivator had lived. Sen did know that the more archaic the language used in the manuals, the earlier the unknown cultivator would have lived. Of course, that was a bit like saying that the taller the tree, the older it was. It was true but largely unhelpful in its lack of specificity. He suspected he¡¯d need to lean on the expertise of his teachers to pin down a general time period. Unless there was some kind of journal or personal correspondence tucked away in one of the storage treasures, though, he doubted the name of the person who had made this room would ever be revealed.


    Once he was sure that he¡¯d gotten all of the traps, he walked over to the shelves with the manuals. He gently lifted one up, worried that age might have rendered it particularly fragile, but it seemed the manuals had been made to last. He could feel qi inside the manual, preserving the materials and the precious knowledge inside. He read the cover or at least he tried to read it. The characters weren¡¯t quite a foreign language, but it took him several long seconds and few intuitive leaps to hazard general translation. He immediately rejected his first translation of The Diving Flock Manual. His mind made one last little jump that got him to something that sounded a bit more like the name a cultivator would give to their technique. The Swooping Crane Manual.


    ¡°Have you ever heard of a Swooping Crane Sect or technique?¡± Sen asked.


    Long Jia Wei straightened up from where he¡¯d been studying a jian that was resting on a pillow. He wore a thoughtful frown but eventually shook his head.


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard similar names, but I expect that is more coincidence than providence,¡± said the man. ¡°Then again, it¡¯s hard to know anything for sure with you.¡±


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    ¡°Fair,¡± said Sen with a sigh.


    He stumbled his way through translating a few more manual names. The Iron Strike or possibly the Metal Fist Manual. The Sky Strider¡¯s Fury Manual or, just because it felt more right in his head, the Stormbearer¡¯s Wrath Manual. The last manual title he translated seemed to pop into his mind without any effort at all. The Shadow Gate manual. Sen felt an almost tangible pull to open the cover and see what he could unravel of the old text, but it wasn¡¯t the time for that. Regretfully, he returned the manual to a shelf that had at least a dozen others waiting to be looked at and turned his attention to the storage treasures. There were a number of rings with what seemed to Sen like ridiculously primitive security measures on them. Their contents ranged from the largely useless, such as robes, to the expected, such as pills and elixirs. However, Sen would need to remove them from the storage treasures to get a feel for how good or bad they might still be. Having been inside the treasures, it was entirely possible that they would retain their potency. He might even learn a few things from them with a bit of study. He¡¯d also be happy to lay claim to the additional medicinal plants and reagents he found.


    He turned his attention next to an ornate box. The measures designed to keep anyone but the rightful owner out of the box were substantially better than the ones on the rings, but that only meant that it took him three seconds to bypass them instead of one. When he opened the box, though, he almost immediately slammed the cover shut again. There was a ginseng root in there, but it was like nothing he¡¯d ever seen. It radiated a palpable sense of age. Sen wouldn¡¯t have dared to venture a guess about how old it had been when harvested, but he''d have put money on it being over a thousand years old. That made it remarkable in its own right because any ginseng root that old would be profound in its medicinal potency. Sen could do more with a few shavings from that root than he could do with an entire root that was only fifty or a hundred years old.


    What made him slam the cover down was that the root was fire qi-attributed to such a degree that he worried it would ignite the air. The qi radiating off the root was almost primordial in its strength. This was the kind of natural treasure that every sect in the kingdom would go to war to claim. Even as an accomplished, even brilliant alchemist, the idea of trying to make anything with that root scared Sen half to death because he honestly could not even guess at what the results might be. It wasn¡¯t double or triple the strength he was used to dealing with, which he could probably have accommodated. It was entire orders of magnitude more powerful. It was nothing short of a miracle that he¡¯d opened the box here, under the ground, surrounded by stone, with those new defensive formations he¡¯d put out around the manor. Even with all of that, he was terrified that someone from the sects might have sensed that impossible root. Sen spun to see Long Jia Wei staring at the box like it held the answer to a question the man hadn¡¯t even realized he¡¯d been asking since birth.


    ¡°You know that vow I never made you take,¡± said Sen. ¡°You¡¯ll take one now. You will swear to the heavens to reveal nothing about this room or its contents to anyone. You will vow never to discuss it or its contents with anyone but me. And you will vow to take nothing from this place without my consent, or you will not leave this room.¡±


    Sen could see the indecision on the man¡¯s face. The naked yearning to take that treasure for himself, all the consequences be damned. For the briefest of moments, Sen thought that the situation was going to spiral directly into violence. Then, he watched as a kind of madness passed out of Long Jia Wei with a visible shudder. He saw the man recognize that Sen was doing something that, quite probably, no other cultivator in the world would have done in the same situation. Sen was offering the man a way to live. Any other cultivator with the power to do so would have cut Long Jia Wei down to protect the secret. Although it looked like it caused the man physical pain to do it, he dropped down to his knees and kowtowed.


    ¡°I, Long Jia Wei, swear to the heavens that I will never reveal the existence of this room to anyone. I will never reveal the contents of this room to anyone. I will speak of these things to no one but you. I will, on my soul and before the heavens, remove nothing from this room without your explicit instruction to do so.¡±


    It was only after the slight glow surrounded the man and signaled the heavens¡¯ acceptance of the vow that Sen felt his panic even begin to abate. It was only then that he looked down and saw that he had a white-knuckle grip on the hilt of his jian. This room was a trove, but it was also an existential threat if anyone that Sen didn¡¯t trust completely found out about it. He seriously contemplated simply killing Long Jia Wei then and there. If not for that vow, he would have. The knowledge was simply too dangerous. But Long Jia Wei had made the vow, and he had meant it. He¡¯d made his choice. He¡¯d picked a side. Sen slowly released the grip he had on the hilt of his jian.


    ¡°Good,¡± he said, his voice still tight. ¡°Now, get up. We need to finish looking through all of this.¡±

 V8 Chapter 27 – Why Settle for a Blunt Statement

    ¡°And then,¡± said Chan Dishi, howling with laughter, ¡°he just looks around at everyone and says, ¡®Go home.¡¯ Like he was dismissing annoying servants. It was magnificent! Oh, you should have seen the faces of all those sect cultivators. Half of them looked like they were going to keel over from fear, the other half looked like they wanted to throw themselves at him. The very best, though, was Feng Bai working so hard to keep a neutral expression that he looked like he was constipated!¡±


    The cultivator¡¯s laughter became almost uncontrolled as he bent at the waist and started slapping his leg. While Jing could appreciate a little of the humor in the moment, he wasn¡¯t as certain that aggravating the patriarch of the Steel Gryphon sect was going to be a good thing for Sen in the long run. Those two had, at least according to semi-reliable rumors, found themselves at cross-purposes twice already. That Sen still lived suggested that he had been the victor both times. Feng Bai wasn¡¯t a man known for his calm, patient personality, which made it all too likely that he was looking for a way to get back at Sen. Although, that was ultimately a secondary concern for Jing, as he knew that there was almost nothing he could do to prevent that.


    His sister, Yu Ming, had been very clear with him about the line between the mortal world and Jianghu. Sen had been equally clear, even if he¡¯d described it in very different terms. Cultivator conflicts were, ultimately, outside the purview of any mortal authority. It was something that both irked and relieved Jing. It irked him because those conflicts often boiled over and resulted in damage and death which did become his problem. It relieved him because the power of even an individual cultivator was often incomprehensible. A fact that had been driven home all too clearly by Sen¡¯s little display outside of the city. The displays today, though, were a problem for Jing. He doubted that Sen had considered all of the consequences or likely even planned half of what he¡¯d done.


    By all reports, though, Sen turned what had been the Xie manor into some kind of cultivator citadel. That was going to make waves because, according to tradition, no noble manor was more heavily fortified or defended than the royal palace. By turning his manor into that kind of a fortress, though, Sen had come within a hair¡¯s breadth of informally declaring himself the king. That Sen was wholly unaware of that fact would not be known among the other noble houses. They would read it as a blunt declaration of strength. A declaration only reinforced by the way that Sen had simply expelled all of the Xie family into the city to suffer whatever Karma decided to throw their way. Some had sought refuge with other houses. Most had found those doors firmly shut against them. The few who had managed to talk their way into shelter had found that shelter summarily withdrawn after Sen¡¯s very public renovations. For the moment, at least, no one wanted to tempt the wrath of Judgment¡¯s Gale.


    ¡°Tell me about the new walls again,¡± said Jing.


    ¡°Oh man, those things practically reach to the sky now,¡± said Chan Dishi in an obvious exaggeration.


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Well, no, but they¡¯re pretty damned high. And he lined them with these massive metal spikes that just radiate qi. I don¡¯t what they do, but I bet it¡¯s brutal.¡±


    ¡°Of course, because why settle for a blunt statement when you can make death threats with your home?¡±


    ¡°I know, right?! I need to buy that guy a drink and pick his brain. I thought I was good at intimidation, but I¡¯ve clearly got some things to learn.¡±


    ***


    Feng Bai paced in his office, ignoring the increasingly concerned looks he was getting from Elder Yi. He¡¯s growing too fast, thought Bai. Where in the world did Ming find that impossible child? It had been bad enough the last time the boy had been in the capital openly. He¡¯d wanted to punish the boy for his impudence but found himself forced to back off twice. The first time, Lu Sen had done something no one had done in a long, long time. That resolute little shit had stared him in the eyes and called his bluff with a threat that clearly wasn¡¯t a bluff. That kid had been ready to murder Tang Ehuang right in front of him, and they both knew he could get it done. It would have been his last act in life, but Bai had seen it in the kid¡¯s face. He was ready to make that trade.


    The second time, he had demanded to know how the boy had killed Tong Guanting. He knew in general terms what the kid had done. He¡¯d used poison of some kind, but that wasn¡¯t enough to work out the method. That method was information that, as a nascent soul cultivator, Feng Bai considered his right. That was an opinion that Lu Sen had not shared. Bai didn¡¯t think the kid even realized how much scorn had been in his voice when he¡¯d told Feng Bai to earn the knowledge for himself. It had been like getting chastised by one of the core formation cultivators from his own sect. It had been a close thing, then. If Lai Dongmei and Jin Bohai hadn¡¯t been there, he probably would have killed Lu Sen, Ming¡¯s student or not.


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    It was only months later when his temper had finally cooled back to something like sanity, that Feng Bai had been brought around by Elder Yi. Lu Sen owed the Steel Gryphon Sect no loyalty, let alone secrets. In fact, the sect had wronged him repeatedly. Bai had been forced to admit that it was only good fortune that had kept Ming from stopping in for a chat that would have destroyed the countryside for about two hundred miles in every direction. It had also become clear that, at the time, Lu Sen had been running on pure bravado and a near-suicidal disregard for his own life. Long experience had taught Bai that you couldn¡¯t force someone in that state of mind to do anything. You could kill them, but that was all you could do to them. Things had clearly changed since then.


    Where the boy had been talented before, he was powerful now. He¡¯d erected defenses for that manor that could rival those of some of the sects in the city. Even Bai didn¡¯t understand half of what that boy had done. Jaw-Long¡¯s influence, no doubt, thought Bai. It went deeper than that, though. That core formation child had been working with forces that Bai had only started to touch on in the past few decades. There was a part of him that thought that the best thing that could happen for everyone in the world was for Lu Sen to die, now, because Bai foresaw a time in the not-so-distant future when no one would be able to stop that boy.


    ***


    ¡°That was rather exhilarating, don¡¯t you think?¡± asked Lai Dongmei.


    ¡°I thought it was a bit ostentatious,¡± said Tu Nayao, a sullen note in her voice.


    Lai Dongmei offered the woman a mild look of disapproval. The mood in the sect had blackened ever since word arrived that Judgment¡¯s Gale was back in the city, or back in the city officially. She knew that he¡¯d been in and out of the capital a few times over the past few years. She¡¯d even had one moment of annoyance with the young man. If he was going to be in the city, it would seem that he could take the time to say hello. When it became clear that he was making an effort to go unnoticed, and that his occasional visits rarely lasted more than half a day, that annoyance had vanished. If he went anywhere near a sect, or the palace, or even to visit that friend of his¡­ Lai Dongmei tried to recall the woman¡¯s name. Lo Meifeng, she thought. That was it. If he went near anything resembling a formal power structure or someone too familiar, his visit would stop being casual and become official instantly.


    Now that he was here publicly, she had rather expected him to visit quickly. He was a young man, and Lu Sen had been very enthusiastic when last they met. Certainly not the most skilled lover she¡¯d ever had because nothing could replace centuries of practice. What he had been was so correctable. Always open to suggestions. It was as if he left all that stupid male pride at the bedroom door. That had been an aphrodisiac all by itself, and he was so very nice to look at. She was also well aware that his departure had been a cause of celebration in the sect. All of those hopeful men and women had thought that they had a chance. She even briefly entertained the idea of taking a lover, but it obviously couldn¡¯t be anyone in the sect itself, and finding someone outside the sect was just too much effort. Besides, she was an almost absurdly busy woman. Granted, she might make running a sect look easy, but it wasn¡¯t easy. It took constant management. There was always some minor crisis happening. Some mistake that needed to be corrected.


    After seeing what the man had done earlier that day, though, she understood why she hadn¡¯t seen him. Dismantling a noble house and claiming it for himself must have taken some serious planning, to say nothing of negotiation with the king. Lu Sen was reported to be friends with the king, but she had thought the death of the old king and how it came about might have strained that relationship. If it had, though, Jing had gotten over it. And then that display with putting up defenses. It had been positively delicious. Feng Bai had looked like he was swallowing lava before he¡¯d gotten his expression under control. She was going to cherish that memory for the rest of time. As for Sen, well, he¡¯d been strong for his advancement that last time they met, but that had been a naked show of force that exceedingly few cultivators in the capital could match. On top of that, it had been a lesson in what perfect control looked like. He wasn¡¯t even a nascent soul cultivator yet and was already doing things that would have strained her control.


    As much as she¡¯d enjoyed that show, she was more ambivalent about a cultivator noble house on this side of the Mountains of Sorrow. It could be problematic, or it could turn out to be nothing at all. It really depended on what Sen¡¯s plans were. She¡¯d need to talk to him about it. In private. Preferably in her bed. Perhaps she¡¯d need to arrange a meeting. She had been invited to that thing with the foreign cultivators. It was an empty gesture on the king¡¯s part. The patriarchs and matriarchs never attended, but that didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t attend. The idea amused her. Ignoring all those fawning nobles while distracting Sen with outrageous suggestions could be fun. She¡¯d need just the right attire, though. Something elegant. No, she thought. Something elegant and provocative. She started searching through her wardrobe. I might need to get something made.

 V8 Chapter 28 – Staff

    ¡°I¡¯ll do anything,¡± said the Xie woman. ¡°Please don¡¯t send me back out there. I¡¯ll do anything you want me to.¡±


    Sen just gave her a bland look for a moment before he sighed.


    ¡°Did you not understand the requirements when you came in here?¡± asked Sen for at least the tenth time that morning. ¡°I don¡¯t need sycophants, or courtiers, or sexual playthings, or anything else that doesn¡¯t contribute in some meaningful way. Do you have any skills, any at all, that might actually prove useful?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡±


    ¡°What is it that you did here before? How did you contribute? What was your job?¡±


    The woman opened and closed her mouth a few times, tears welling up in her eyes, and Sen knew the answer. She didn¡¯t have a job before. Or she¡¯d considered being a noble her profession. Some profession, thought Sen. She¡¯d been a professional at being an awful human being. Sen pushed that thought back. He didn¡¯t know that was true of her, specifically. She might have been a kind person before. He sort of doubted it, but it could be true. Sen sighed. As the morning had dragged on, he¡¯d noticed something about himself. While he still felt almost entirely pitiless toward the men, he¡¯d been making excuses not to send the Xie women back out onto the street. He supposed it was at least partially because he knew what it would mean for them.


    The men could probably find work or join gangs. A strong back could let you survive. As for the women, well, he¡¯d seen what happened to them, even back in Orchard¡¯s Reach. A few of them might get extremely lucky and find a soft heart to take them in, but most of them would end up working as prostitutes, or get themselves killed, or probably both. They would lead short lives, brutalized by anyone stronger or in a better financial position than them, which would be almost everyone. He couldn¡¯t stop any of that from happening in the big picture. It was too common. It happened everywhere. But he could decline to contribute to it happening here. At least, he could if he decided to.


    ¡°Can you read? Write? Do you have basic math skills?¡± he asked.


    Hope flickered in the woman¡¯s eyes as she nodded frantically and said, ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°I guess you¡¯re not hopeless then. Fine. We¡¯ll find something for you to do, but,¡± he said, holding up a finger, ¡°if you¡¯re told that you¡¯re going to learn how to do something, you will learn it. You will not complain. You will not act as though it¡¯s beneath you. You will apply yourself to it like your continued presence here depends on it. Because it does.¡±


    ¡°I understand, Lord Lu,¡± said the woman dropping to her knees. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± muttered Sen.


    He walked her through the additional vows he was making everyone take. He¡¯d repeated the words so often that they were just noises falling out of his mouth at this point, wholly devoid of meaning. He noted the brief glow around the woman as the heavens accepted the vow as legitimate. He nodded, mostly to himself, but a relieved breath exploded from the woman. Sen didn¡¯t quite know what to make of that. He wondered if maybe she thought she was lying during the vow, or if she¡¯d thought he was going to change his mind at the last second. It took a few seconds before Sen registered that the woman was still kneeling and that her eyes were fixed on him. She looked expectant.


    ¡°Welcome to the service of the House of Lu,¡± he said but she didn¡¯t get up. ¡°You can rise.¡±


    The woman shot to her feet like she was ready to charge off and accomplish things. Except, she didn¡¯t have anything to accomplish because Sen didn¡¯t have any work for anyone yet. He just called out.


    ¡°Pan Shiji!¡±


    The woman who had sworn herself to him, rather than the House of Lu, opened the door and looked in. She had firmly attached herself to him that morning, and he decided having someone on the other side of the door was useful enough that he didn¡¯t send her away. He gestured at the Xie woman.


    ¡°She¡¯ll be staying for now. She¡¯ll need quarters.¡±


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    ¡°Yes, Lord Lu,¡± said Pan Shiji and turned to the other woman. ¡°Follow me.¡±


    The pair disappeared through the door and Sen found himself alone for more than a minute for the first time that day. His mind turned to that cultivator lair that he knew was hiding beneath the manor. While they hadn¡¯t found anything else on the level of that ginseng root, there had been several other valuable alchemical ingredients. Nothing to start a war for, but things that Sen wouldn¡¯t entrust to the hands of anyone less talented than himself. There had been ice qi-attributed crystal vein flowers, earth qi-attributed plants he couldn¡¯t identify, and, the true prize for Sen, a shadow qi-attributed heartsblood root. All of them were very potent, which meant they needed just the right kind of handling to get the most out of them. He could do it. He was confident that Auntie Caihong could do it. He wanted to think that Fu Ruolan could do it because he wanted to share these prizes with her. For all that, he wasn¡¯t sure. She was quite competent and had a lot of experience, but that didn¡¯t mean that she was the right choice. It felt strange to be in a position where he was evaluating his teacher, but it would be a disservice to those medicinal plants to share them with someone who wasn¡¯t up to the challenge. He was saved from that miserable exercise by Pan Shiji opening the door.


    ¡°Lord Lu?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± he said.


    ¡°There is a woman here to see you. She says she knows you,¡± said Pan Shiji, a disquieting note of jealousy in her voice.


    ¡°Did you get a name?¡±


    ¡°She calls herself Lo Meifeng.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen, sitting up straight. ¡°Wait. How did she get inside? I¡¯ve only made a handful of those talismans.¡±


    ¡°Righteous Wu Gang let her inside,¡± said Pan Shiji.


    ¡°Ah, that explains it. Where is she now?¡±


    ¡°She,¡± said Lo Meifeng, pushing Pan Shiji out of the way, ¡°is right here.¡±


    Sen tried to suppress his amusement and said, ¡°It¡¯s good to see you.¡±


    ¡°Is it?¡± asked Lo Meifeng before turning a withering look on Pan Shiji. ¡°You can go.¡±


    The mortal woman looked like she might say something until Lo Meifeng narrowed her eyes in a way that made Sen¡¯s skin crawl. Pan Shiji fled the room.


    ¡°You don¡¯t normally frighten mortals for fun,¡± observed Sen.


    ¡°You don¡¯t normally do monumentally stupid things like taking over a noble house without at least talking to me about it first.¡±


    The tone was a little playful, but Sen could see real frustration and anger hiding in the back of Lo Meifeng¡¯s eyes. He hadn¡¯t meant to do it, but he¡¯d hurt her by keeping her at a distance. It didn¡¯t matter that he''d intended to insulate her from the insanity that seemed to spring up around him any time he stopped somewhere for more than two hours at a time.


    ¡°Would you like to yell at me for a while?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    Sen waited patiently as Lo Meifeng stormed back and forth in the little room, waving her hands, and calling him an idiot at any place the word would fit into her comments. That turned out to be surprisingly often. When she eventually wound down, Sen gestured to the other chair.


    ¡°Would you like to sit?¡±


    She glared at him, then at the chair, and then she slumped into it.


    ¡°If you were going to do all of this,¡± said Lo Meifeng, ¡°why in the thousand hells didn¡¯t you bring me in.¡±


    ¡°Honestly?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°If you would be so kind.¡±


    ¡°I was trying to be a good friend.¡±


    A dangerous light was birthed in the woman¡¯s eyes, and she said, ¡°A good friend?¡±


    ¡°A lot of people tried to kill me on the way here,¡± said Sen, lifting a hand to prevent another outburst. ¡°And I mean a lot. That light show right before I arrived was just the last fight in a whole series of them. Once I figured out that I was going to be really loud while I was here, I¡¯ve basically been expecting more of the same. I just didn¡¯t want to put you in harm¡¯s way when these are problems I brought down on my own head. You didn¡¯t ask for them. I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t want them. So, I tried to keep the eyes on me and off of you.¡±


    Lo Meifeng seemed torn about whether she wanted to accept that answer, or if she wanted to hit him with something heavy. She finally heaved a sigh.


    ¡°As reasons go, those are not completely terrible ones. It was even thoughtful, in a Sen way, but you¡¯re still an idiot. I mean, you¡¯ve got Wu Gang out there, which isn¡¯t a bad start, but he¡¯s not up to the really dangerous stuff. That girl isn¡¯t going to be worth a damn for anything. And that other guy you¡¯ve got wandering around is probably fine for some low-end murder and espionage, but they aren¡¯t me. And if you want to make this work, you¡¯re going to need someone like me.¡±


    ¡°I thought you were taking some kind of extended vacation.¡±


    ¡°Vacations only work when there isn¡¯t a Sen crashing through the capital like a deranged spirit beast, destroying the established order, and upending a few thousand years of tradition.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s someone else named Sen in the city?¡± asked Sen, bending every bit of his will on projecting perfect innocence.


    ¡°I will cut you while you sleep.¡±


    ¡°Alright. I hear you. I have been a bit louder than even I was expecting. And you¡¯re not wrong. I can use your help. I wish I had five more of you.¡±


    ¡°Keep your fantasies to yourself,¡± said Lo Meifeng in a perfect deadpan. ¡°Besides, I doubt you¡¯re enough for even one of me.¡±


    Sen was momentarily taken aback before an impish spirit he didn¡¯t get to indulge that often surfaced.


    ¡°Actually, in my fantasy, it¡¯s me, you, and¡ª¡±


    Lo Meifeng lifted an eyebrow and said, ¡°How sure are you that you want to finish that statement?¡±

 Chapter 29 – It’s For Your What?!

    After wisely choosing cowardice, Sen gave Lo Meifeng a brief recounting of what happened on their way to the capital. She mostly took it in stride until he got to the last fight with Tseun Rong. As he talked his way through that fight, her expression went increasingly slack and her eyes took on a glassy look.


    ¡°So, then I let the lightning qi pass through my skin to make pretend tribulation lightning and¡­ Lo Meifeng? Are you alright?¡±


    Lo Meifeng just stared through him for several seconds before she shook her head back and forth a few times, none too gently. It seemed to rouse her from whatever stupor she¡¯d fallen into because her gaze focused on Sen again.


    ¡°You fought, no, you killed Tseun Rong?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°Yeah. I sort of thought that had gotten around by now.¡±


    ¡°It hasn¡¯t. Well, maybe the sects and the nobles knew, but the details haven¡¯t trickled down yet. All anyone really knew was that there was a fight between powerful cultivators and then, a day or two later, you came sauntering through the city gates.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t saunter,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°You always saunter. Unless you¡¯re off to do violence. Then, it¡¯s anyone¡¯s guess what you¡¯ll do.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s neither here nor there. Do you want to hear the rest of the story or not?¡±


    ¡°Fine. Go ahead and saunter your way through the rest of the tale,¡± said Lo Meifeng with a wicked gleam in her eyes.


    Shaking his head, Sen picked up where he¡¯d left off. He caught her up on what had been happening since he arrived in the city. And finally, he told her about his genius plan to immediately abandon any responsibility for the House of Lu by foisting it off on Grandmother Lu.


    ¡°I have so many questions,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°It¡¯s hard to know where to start.¡±


    ¡°Just pick a place and start.¡±


    ¡°Okay, why would you go through all the trouble to destroy the House of Xie and establish the House of Lu if you don¡¯t want it?¡±


    ¡°Oh, well, that¡¯s because it¡¯s not for me. It¡¯s for my daughter.¡±


    Lo Meifeng shot out of her chair and shouted, ¡°It¡¯s for your what?!¡±


    ¡°Daughter. You know, a small female person that you take care of and love and would slaughter millions to protect.¡±


    ¡°I know what a daughter is, you ass! I want you to explain the part where you have a daughter.¡±


    Sen had taken no small amount of glee in waiting until the opportune moment to spring that little bit of information on Lo Meifeng. Her reaction had been absolutely worth the effort, but he decided that he¡¯d had enough fun at her expense.


    ¡°I adopted her,¡± said Sen. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s a bit more complicated than that, but that¡¯s what it boils down to.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s you. Of course, it¡¯s more complicated than that,¡± said Lo Meifeng as she sat down and glared at him. ¡°You did that on purpose.¡±


    ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°There will be retribution.¡±


    Sen smiled and said, ¡°I would expect nothing less. Getting back on topic, though, I went through all this trouble so that when the heavens inevitably force me to ascend way sooner than I want to, I¡¯m not leaving my daughter with no resources and no protection. She¡¯ll have an entire noble house and all of its resources to keep her safe.¡±


    Lo Meifeng sat in thoughtful silence for a while before she said, ¡°That¡¯s all well and good for mortal threats, but your enemies are largely of the cultivator variety.¡±


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    ¡°I know,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°And what?¡±


    ¡°And what are you going to do about that problem?¡±


    ¡°People keep saying that I¡¯m starting a sect.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I do recall hearing something about that. I assumed it was just a story.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s mostly just a story. I set up a weapons academy, aimed at mortals. I wanted the people in the towns up there to have a fighting chance against lesser spirit beasts. Maybe teach them enough that they could buy some time if something more powerful showed up looking for trouble.¡±


    ¡°You sound oddly ambivalent about it,¡± observed Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Cultivators started showing up looking to join my sect.¡±


    ¡°Did you let them?¡±


    ¡°I let them join the academy.¡±


    Lo Meifeng burst into laughter.


    ¡°Oh, I bet they just loved that.¡±


    ¡°On the whole, I¡¯d say it¡¯s had mixed results.¡±


    ¡°People don¡¯t want to learn about weapons from the great hero. Actually, I take it back. There are definitely some people who would crawl over broken glass for the chance to learn weapon styles from you. On the whole, though, cultivators are going to want you to teach them about cultivating.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Before all this, I had no interest in setting up something like that.¡±


    Lo Meifeng quirked an eyebrow and asked, ¡°Before?¡±


    ¡°Well, as you pointed out, my enemies are decidedly of the cultivator variety. Assuming they aren¡¯t demonic cultivators or literal devils.¡±


    ¡°Wait. What are you talking about? Literal devils?¡±


    ¡°Did I not tell you that story?¡± asked Sen, a frown on his face. ¡°I thought I did. I lose track sometimes. Remind me later. The whole thing is sort of amusing in hindsight. The point is, that I didn¡¯t have any interest in setting up something like that because, well, so many reasons. Now, though, I do have a reason. If everyone thinks I¡¯m running a sect anyway, I might as well use that to my daughter¡¯s advantage.¡±


    ¡°Your plan now is to set up a sect with the specific goals of protecting your daughter and her interests?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s about the size of it.¡±


    ¡°Setting aside that only you would do something that ridiculous, have you given any thought whatsoever to the problems you¡¯re making for everyone in the future.¡±


    ¡°Problems?¡± asked Sen projecting sickly sweet innocence.


    ¡°You¡¯ve created a cultivator noble house, on paper anyway. Those have never existed on this part of the continent. That¡¯s going to be a problem for a lot of people. Now, you¡¯re planning on setting up a sect that will function, for all intents and purposes, as a small army for that cultivator noble house that will be answerable only to you and eventually your daughter. That¡¯s going to be a problem for a lot of people. That is a lot of trouble for a man who hates politics, hates sects, and generally doesn¡¯t want to be bothered for months at a time whenever an interesting alchemy problem rears its head. More importantly, that¡¯s a lot of trouble to ask for when you¡¯re still in core formation.¡±


    Sen leaned back in his chair and studied Lo Meifeng for a time before he finally spoke.


    ¡°How long do you think it would take me to reach nascent soul? Best guess.¡±


    ¡°Because it¡¯s you, and you¡¯re absurd, and you feel like you¡¯re right at the peak of core formation, maybe a few decades. Why?¡±


    ¡°Tomorrow,¡± said Sen in a flat voice. ¡°If I really wanted it, I could make it happen tomorrow, or tonight, or probably an hour from now.¡±


    ¡°Tomorrow? That doesn¡¯t make any sense. How?¡±


    ¡°I would ask for it. If I asked the heavens to help me advance, they¡¯d drown me in divine qi. The only reason I¡¯m not a nascent soul cultivator now is because I don¡¯t want to be one. I¡¯m moving as slowly as the heavens will tolerate, which means that I¡¯ve got maybe a year or two before they force-feed me qi until I advance, again.¡±


    Sen watched as the reflexive disbelief on Lo Meifeng¡¯s face slowly transformed into a grudging acceptance, and then into a grimace.


    ¡°You¡¯re sure about that?¡± asked Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°As you sure as you can be about something when you can¡¯t actually talk to whoever is doing something to you. It became pretty obvious, though. Every time I¡¯ve tried to actively or even passively slow down my advancement, the heavens stepped in and forced the issue. As long as I¡¯m not intentionally slowing down, they¡¯ll leave it be for a while.¡±


    ¡°What does that even mean?¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯m learning, training, trying to acclimate to my strength, they¡¯re pretty hands-off. If I¡¯m just off having fun or consciously neglecting my cultivation, the leash gets very short, very fast. Now that I have a daughter, I¡¯m highly motivated to not advance any faster than is absolutely necessary, but even if she turns out to be a mortal, I suspect I¡¯ll be long gone before she reaches the end of her life. So, I have to do what I can, now, to make sure that she lives that life comfortably, and with lots of very dangerous people around to keep her safe.¡±


    ¡°People like me?¡±


    ¡°Ideally, not people like you. You, specifically,¡± said Sen before he added. ¡°It¡¯s an ask, not an obligation. You can say no, and I will understand. I don¡¯t need an answer right away. Ai is still very young. She¡¯ll mostly stay with me for now.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not very good with children,¡± said Lo Meifeng, a hint of nervousness in her voice. ¡°She might not like me.¡±


    ¡°That is something that I¡¯m wholly unconcerned about. She gets along just fine with nascent soul cultivators, farmers, and a transformed spider-kin. I¡¯m relatively confident she can find her way with one seasoned core cultivator,¡± said Sen with a smirk.


    ¡°A spider-kin¡ª¡± started Lo Meifeng before the rest of Sen¡¯s words caught up with her. ¡°Seasoned!¡±


    Sen found himself laughing like a madman while dodging a truly staggering number of sharp objects that Lo Meifeng summoned from her storage rings.

 Chapter 30 – Good Counsel

    Even with all of the improvements to his body and mind, Sen found the days starting to blur together. There was simply so much to do. During the day, there were countless details that he had to sort through, decide about, or simply approve of. That was after delegating way more authority than he was comfortable with to people he didn¡¯t know very well or trust. He found himself relying very heavily on Lo Meifeng and Long Jia Wei¡¯s finally honed deceit detection skills to decide who could be trusted with what. Of course, once the mortal tasks were done for the day, meaning the mortals were stumbling to bed in a state of pure exhaustion, the cultivators simply changed tasks and kept going. Lo Meifeng had made the very good point that securing the far-flung holdings of the newly minted House of Lu was going to require far more manpower than Sen had available. Then, the woman spoke heresy to him.


    ¡°You should hire sects to do it for you,¡± she said in a matter-of-fact tone.


    ¡°Two questions,¡± said Sen through his stunned horror. ¡°Are you insane? And, are you insane?!¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯m also not biased. You have it in your head that every sect is stacked with awful, murder-craving monsters who cannot be trusted under any circumstances.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going somewhere with this. I can tell,¡± said Sen in a weary voice.


    ¡°You¡¯re wrong.¡±


    ¡°You, of all people, are going to tell me that sects aren¡¯t filled with people just like that?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you that not every sect is filled with people like that, and even the sects that have people like that in them aren¡¯t made up entirely of them. No organization could survive if every member was a blood-crazed maniac. Tell me I¡¯m wrong.¡±


    Sen desperately wished they¡¯d been having this conversation before he¡¯d started an academy. If they had been, he could have dug his heels and thrown a tantrum, blissfully ignorant of the truth in those words. But he did know what she was saying was true. Even his tiny little academy depended on having diligent, level-headed, and sometimes borderline-boring personalities working behind the scenes. Those were the people who made sure that there was food, ink, and paper ordered. Then, they paid attention and made sure said orders were delivered and distributed. Sen didn¡¯t need anyone to tell him that being unhinged and murderous was likely to undermine anyone¡¯s effectiveness in roles like that. Since sects seemed to persist for centuries if not thousands of years, it stood to reason that most of them had the same kind of diligent, level-headed, and sometimes boring personalities that he had managing things at his academy.


    ¡°Stop using reasonableness to confuse the issue,¡± griped Sen, drawing a triumphant smirk from Lo Meifeng. ¡°Besides, I doubt I¡¯m a terribly popular figure with a lot of sects right now.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s probably true, but it¡¯s not universally true. There are a few sects and similar groups out there that would be overjoyed if you gave them a chance to win your favor.¡±


    ¡°Like who?¡± said Sen, certain that he already knew some of the answers.


    ¡°The Clear Spring Sect, for one.¡±


    ¡°Why would I ever trust those people to do anything?¡± asked Sen. ¡°They¡¯ve already proven they have no honor.¡±


    ¡°To put it bluntly, you were¡­ I don¡¯t want to say you were nobody then, but you were just coming into your fame. That noble they let escape was part of a very powerful house.¡±


    ¡°Since when do cultivators care about things like the power of a mortal noble house?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Sects in the capital don¡¯t care because they don¡¯t have to care. They¡¯re so old, rich, and well-established that they can weather almost any storm. Smaller sects might dwarf a noble house in pure martial strength, but the House of Xie wouldn¡¯t have attacked them directly. They would have used indirect means. They would have driven up the prices of essential goods, arranged for shipments of goods to disappear, or simply taken over key businesses and refused to do business with the Clear Spring Sect. A nick here and there might not seem like much, but a thousand of them will still kill a body eventually.


    ¡°But my point is that, when word of what happened here reaches them, that sect will be eager to do anything to keep you from turning your wrath on them. While you and I know that killing that fool was incidental, I would bet you a hundred gold tael that they¡¯ll see this as the culmination of a long-planned revenge. A revenge that might not end with the Xie.¡±


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    ¡°They might think that the Xie were just the first on a list of people I mean to repay for past kindnesses.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s what I¡¯d be thinking if I were them,¡± confirmed Lo Meifeng. ¡°there¡¯s also the Order of the Celestial Flame. They won¡¯t be afraid like the Clear Spring Sect, but I expect they¡¯d be willing to do you a favor. Then, there¡¯s that sect back in Emperor¡¯s Bay. The Swooping something?¡±


    ¡°The Soaring Skies Sect? I can¡¯t imagine they¡¯d want anything more to do with me.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re thinking like a person, not an organization. There are plenty of people there who will hate you forever, but the organization can make good use of the fact that you hired them. They can make it out like a sign of forgiveness and redemption. Besides, even if they don¡¯t want to work for you, all of the other sects there will want to. They¡¯d probably even do it cheap as a thank you for putting such a dent in the reputation of the city¡¯s biggest sect.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I concede that there are sects out there who I could hire. But why would I want to?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°This will be a cultivator house. Making it clear from the outset that you plan to use cultivators as part of your overall problem-solving approach will set the appropriate tone. It will also pave the way for whatever cultivators you train to guard your daughter. Beyond that, they can move quicker than any mortal forces you could assemble and send. By the time you find and train enough people, you¡¯ll have lost a big chunk of your holdings that you¡¯ll need to take back by force. If you send cultivators, they¡¯ll be there fast and the arguments will be over as soon as they start.¡±


    Sen balked at the very idea in his head. He hated the idea of hiring sects to do anything. But the damnable woman just insisted on making sense. How was he supposed to argue with that?


    ¡°Fine. We¡¯ll do it your way. We¡¯ll have to work out exactly what we want them to do, though. I don¡¯t want them showing up and killing everyone.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°We¡¯ll need to be specific, but we can work out those details over the next few days. You know how slowly information moves in the country. By the time word reaches most of those places, your hired thugs will already be there or close at hand. That being said, you¡¯re going to need to start assembling those mortal forces sooner than later. It¡¯s cheaper than hiring cultivators all the time if nothing else. Plus, you want people that you can send there to stay.¡±


    ¡°What are you thinking? Older soldiers?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s always a good place to start. We can also look at mercenary types. That¡¯s hard, bloody work best suited to young fools. Older mercenaries are almost always looking for something less hazardous to retire into. Something that lets them knock a few heads together every once in a while, but mostly consists of looking menacing and telling people to go home and cool off. We also need to start looking into putting together a group for espionage.¡±


    Sen just stared at Lo Meifeng. She looked back, wholly unmoved by the silent disapproval.


    ¡°Why would I need that?¡± Sen finally demanded.


    ¡°You probably don¡¯t. Your recent activities have rather loudly demonstrated that you¡¯re perfectly capable of solving most problems in a very direct fashion. Your house and daughter, on the other hand, almost certainly will need spies, killers, and saboteurs. Obviously, that¡¯s a long-term plan. It takes a while to get something like that up and running. Training people for that kind of work doesn¡¯t happen overnight. It takes even longer to make something like that run well.¡±


    Sen reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose.


    ¡°This is the kind of organization Master Feng has, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    Lo Meifeng made a non-committal noise and said, ¡°They won¡¯t be exactly the same. Yours will be more complex, out of necessity, because you like to make everything as complicated as possible. Your House of Lu will need to deal with problems both mortal and cultivator. So, the organization you build for it will also need to cross those boundaries.¡±


    Sen leaned his head back and said, ¡°That does sound complicated. So, you¡¯re thinking like two weeks? Three?¡±


    Sen managed to hold his straight face for about five seconds before Lo Meifeng¡¯s incredulous expression broke his control and he smirked. He lifted his hands in surrender before she could start throwing sharp things at him again.


    ¡°Believe it or not, I think I actually need to sleep,¡± said Sen after Lo Meifeng stopped glaring at him. ¡°It¡¯s been¡­ It¡¯s been a while since I last did that. Is there anything else critical that can¡¯t wait until morning?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to be too busy to do anything tomorrow,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    Sen blinked at her in confusion and asked, ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right. You do need some sleep. Tomorrow is the whole reason you came back here in the first place. The king¡¯s little get-together with the foreigners.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s tomorrow? I thought it was¡ª¡± Sen trailed off.


    He¡¯d mostly forgotten about that whole thing. It¡¯d just been in the back of his head as something he¡¯d have to do eventually. I guess eventually is here, he thought.


    ¡°Tell me that you at least got something nice to wear,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    Sharp horror filled Sen¡¯s mind as he remembered promising to get Shen Mingxia something nice to wear to the gathering. A task he¡¯d also been thinking of as something he¡¯d have to do eventually.


    ¡°So, um, yeah, I¡¯m going to need the names of places that can make nice stuff on the shortest possible notice.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re hopeless,¡± muttered Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Not just for me. A place that can do the same for women as well.¡±


    Lo Meifeng just shook her head at him as a look of pure pity crossed her face.

 V8 Chapter 31 – By This Afternoon

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you forgot,¡± said Shen Mingxia.


    Sen was a little amused to see that aggravation had overcome her newfound sense of respect for him. They were flying over the streets of the capital on a qi platform, drawing curious looks, and even some pointing from local kids. Sen figured that since his anonymity was nothing but a memory at this point, there was no reason to go to the clothing shop the slow way.


    ¡°I mean, you can¡¯t honestly think anyone will do anything for us today, do you?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll find someone to help us,¡± said Sen.


    His unconcern seemed to inflame the woman¡¯s outrage.


    ¡°You have clearly never had clothing made for you before,¡± she sniffed, turning away.


    If he hadn¡¯t left this to the last possible second out of sheer forgetfulness, he might have taken her words a little more to heart. But he felt like he had a little snide commentary coming his way. He had promised and then completely lost sight of why he was even in the capital. If the worst he got was a bit of the cold shoulder, he was probably ahead of the game. He finally spotted the place that Lo Meifeng had told him to go. He settled the qi platform right in front of the door. Shen Mingxia went from ignoring him to giving the place a wide-eyed look. Her eyes darted from one window display to the next.


    ¡°I can¡¯t afford this,¡± she whispered.


    ¡°Good thing you¡¯re not paying then, isn¡¯t it?¡± said Sen, opening the door and ushering the woman in.


    Sen looked around. It was a big place with lots of staff, a handful of which were attending to customers, and the rest were making valiant efforts to look busy and not bored. There was a quiet power struggle between the staff as they tried to be the first to get to the new customers, but a woman who Sen thought was about his own age seemed to appear from nowhere. She shot the other employees a victorious look that was all in her eyes before she turned to address them. She opened her mouth a little to speak and then froze as she got a good look at Sen. The silence dragged on as the woman turned deeper and deeper shades of red. I forgot about this, thought Sen. He¡¯d mostly learned to tune this reaction out unless he was directly dealing with someone. On top of that, people did eventually get used to him, so it had mostly stopped among the mortals in the town where he¡¯d set up his academy. Sen¡¯s thoughts came up short. Did I¡­ Did I never bother to learn the name of that town? No wonder everyone thinks cultivators are arrogant, thought Sen.


    Shen Mingxia cleared her throat, loudly, which did bring Sen out of his own thoughts, but proved futile with the shop employee. Sighing a little, Sen walked around the woman, waved off the rest of the staff who looked ready to charge them, and made his way to the counter. He¡¯d spotted an older woman who seemed to be in charge. She looked momentarily stunned at his appearance but managed to recover her equilibrium.


    ¡°How can I help you?¡± she asked, eying them both.


    There was something evaluative in that look. It made Sen feel like the woman could determine their personal wealth at a glance. Based on her expression, she had decided that they were too poor to even breathe air in this shop but was far too polite to say so. Sen kept a neutral expression as he spoke.


    ¡°We both need something for a formal event. And we need it by this afternoon,¡± announced Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that will be quite impossi¡ª¡±


    The woman¡¯s words choked off as Sen casually placed a fistful of gold taels on the counter. The woman¡¯s eyes went almost impossibly wide at the fortune before her.


    ¡°We will both need something for a formal event, at the royal palace. And we need it by this afternoon.¡±


    The woman behind the counter dragged her eyes away from the gold and up to Sen¡¯s face, and a kind of dawning recognition took place. All those stories racing around the city about the new Lord Lu, the legendary Judgment¡¯s Gale, the king¡¯s friend who had come for some unknown purpose. Her gaze drifted down to his robes. His blue robes. Robes that bore the telltale signs of having been through some violence. Her eyes darted around the shop before she clapped her hands together sharply.


    ¡°The shop is closed for the day. Please return tomorrow.¡±


    The woman only paused long enough to sweep the gold off the counter before she rushed off to help usher the other would-be customers out. Sen turned to find Shen Mingxia looking at him with an open-mouthed expression of shock on her face.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen. ¡°I did promise.¡±


    ¡°You could have bought this entire business for the less than that.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to own this business,¡± said Sen. ¡°I want them to make us clothes and to be quick about it. I also want them to be enormously helpful if I ever come back or send someone here.¡±


    Shen Mingxia looked like she thought he had completely missed her point, but she wasn¡¯t sure how to put that into words. Before she could find the words, the doors to the shop were closed with a sharp noise. Sen looked over to see the owner or manager, he still wasn¡¯t sure which she was, firmly slide a lock into place. She marched back over to Sen and Mingxia, a determined expression on her face and the entire staff moving in her wake.


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    ¡°Lord Lu, I presume,¡± said the woman with a slight quaver in her voice.


    ¡°Yes,¡± agreed Sen with a small smile.


    He didn¡¯t feel like smiling at the woman, but he didn¡¯t want her in a state of fear either. He just wanted everyone in a state of focused attention. If a smile could reduce the tension enough to achieve that, he could fake a smile. It seemed to work. The woman relaxed a little.


    ¡°And did you have anything in particular in mind?¡± she asked, choosing to focus on business.


    ¡°Something like this, just nicer, for me,¡± said Sen, gesturing at his robes.


    ¡°And for the Lady Lu?¡± asked the woman.


    Shen Mingxia, normally a bastion of calm normalcy, turned bright red and looked like she was choking on something. Sen¡¯s impish sense of humor saw an opportunity and sprang on it.


    ¡°Oh, for the Lady Lu¡ª¡± he said, pausing as though thinking about it. ¡°Make her look like a queen.¡±


    Shen Mingxia actually did seem to choke on something then. If the woman who ran the shop thought it odd, it didn¡¯t show on her face. She simply started barking orders at people who scattered in every direction to fetch cloth, to fetch tea, to fetch snacks, to fetch the moon itself for all Sen knew. After that, he mostly felt like a passenger to what was happening. He was shown endless samples of cloth, all in shades of blue, all of which looked more or less the same to him. Rather than expose his indifference, he decided that he could give the woman running the place a little face.


    ¡°What would the mistress of the shop recommend?¡± he asked politely, guessing that she was the owner.


    It seemed he guessed right because the woman seemed to swell with pride. She turned a sharp gaze on the offered samples before reaching out and plucking one from the hands of an employee. After spending a moment looking at it, he thought it was a bit darker than what he normally wore.


    ¡°I would recommend this one. The color will complement your complexion and serve as a fine counterpoint for a secondary color, such as silver. In addition, this particular fabric is known for its ability to take and hold the kinds of enchantments that cultivators prefer on their clothing, such as cleaning and self-repair.¡±


    That caught Sen¡¯s attention. He hadn¡¯t been thinking about that, but it would be nice if he could get those things added to formal robes. Then, he¡¯d have something to wear if he ever got roped into some other ridiculous political event. You¡¯re a house patriarch now, he reminded himself. You are inevitably going to end up stuck at political functions from time to time for as long as you¡¯re in this kingdom. He knew that most of that was going to fall onto the heads of other people, but even then, he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape it entirely. He nodded his approval.


    ¡°Then, far be it from me to ignore the advice of an expert,¡± he said.


    He offered input when it was absolutely required of him, but he mostly just agreed to whatever the owner suggested. It wasn¡¯t like he had the faintest idea of what was appropriate, so he tried to interfere as little as possible. Throughout the entire process, he hadn¡¯t so much as seen Shen Mingxia. She had been whisked away to somewhere else. He had occasionally extended a bit of his spiritual sense to make sure she hadn¡¯t been grabbed by someone looking to get at him. So, he knew more or less where she was in the shop, but that was it. There were also long stretches where nothing seemed to be happening. The owner would chat him with briefly and then disappear, no doubt to keep track of whatever was happening with Shen Mingxia. The rest of the staff made sure he was never left without tea, something to eat, or someone to talk to if he wished.


    The owner eventually came back and led him to a room. He was asked to stand in a variety of poses as cloth was pressed up against him, measurements were made, and the owner made a variety of noises that he supposed meant something to the staff based on the way they reacted. After that, he was taken back to wait some more. That wait was more substantial. He found himself glancing out the window in the front of the shop and gauging the time. He realized it wasn¡¯t actually that late. He¡¯d just gotten accustomed to racing from one task to the next. He hadn¡¯t been able to devote hours at a time to a single thing since the whole business with the House of Xie had started. Being stuck on just one thing had made the time seem to pass much more slowly.


    Finally, he was taken to a room where the new robes had been set out for him. He dumped the robes he was wearing into a storage ring and put on the new ones. He had to admit that having them made especially for him meant that the fit was absolutely perfect. There wasn¡¯t the slightest bit of uncomfortable pull anywhere. He exited the room he was in and the owner smiled at him triumphantly. She snapped her fingers and a large mirror, something Sen knew was a hideously expensive item, was rolled before him. He took a long look. He looked like a stranger, like someone from a story. The robes were definitely darker than his usual clothing. They had a high collar in a blue that was almost black. There was a similar dark material at the cuffs of the robes. He could see that dragons had been stitched into the collar and the cuffs with silver thread. Larger dragons had been stitched into the chest of the robes, one on each side. He noticed the owner starting to look nervous, so he inclined his head to her.


    ¡°This is superb work. You and your staff should be extremely proud.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Lord Lu,¡± said the owner.


    She offered him a deep, formal bow that was instantly mimicked by her staff. She rose and had a whispered conversation with one of her underlings. The young man ran off to the part of the shop where Shen Mingxia had been taken. There was another brief wait before the man poked his head out from behind a door and nodded. The owner lifted a hand and gestured.


    ¡°The Lady Lu,¡± said the woman.


    Shen Mingxia stepped out from the door. Sen could tell that she looked embarrassed, but that took a backseat to the dress she wore. It was a white so bright that it practically glowed. It clung to her in a way that was inviting, but not overtly sexual. It also featured a high collar, but where Sen¡¯s robes had loose arms, Shen Mingxia¡¯s arms were tightly sheathed in the white material. The only break in that almost blinding glow were the dragons stitched into the collar and down the arms of the dress. The contrast was so intense that Sen initially thought the dragons were rendered in black thread, but he slowly realized that they were actually in blue. And then, as if the staff had taken his words as a literal command, there was a finely wrought silver diadem resting on her brow. It looked like vines of silver that all wove together to support a sapphire.


    ¡°Exquisite,¡± said Sen.


    The staff all looked extremely happy, while Shen Mingxia blushed furiously.


    ¡°Well, my Lady Lu, I do believe that we are ready for this evening¡¯s event,¡± said Sen, just barely able to keep himself from smirking as he turned to the shop owner. "Please prepare another six dresses for the lady. I''ll trust in your fine judgment as to the color and design."

 V8 Chapter 32 – Politics, Part 1

    ¡°Lord Lu, the cultivator Judgment¡¯s Gale, and his escort, Honorable Shen Mingxia,¡± announced the man at the door.


    Hsiao Jiayi looked over, her curiosity burning. She¡¯d heard so much about this man, this folk hero, this cultivator turned house patriarch in a land where cultivator noble houses simply did not exist. The stories had been ludicrous. Wild tales of impossible victories over sect elders when he¡¯d been nothing but a foundation formation cultivator. Stories of him vanishing into the deep wilds and battling beast tides, sometimes single-handedly, and sometimes with a green-eyed jade beauty. Stories of him colluding with a nine tail fox princess to steal heavenly treasures from ancient ruins. Stories of villages saved, bandits punished, and clandestine meetings with ancient spirit beasts who guided him through advancements. Oh, she was sure that bits and pieces were true. He¡¯d probably fought some outer disciple who called himself an elder where others could hear it. Maybe the man had robbed a grave somewhere. Perhaps he¡¯d met a nine tail fox and no doubt been swindled by them. But no man could possibly be as interesting as the stories made this man out to be.


    When he stepped through the door, though, all thoughts fled. Her heart started racing wildly. She¡¯d never seen a man that beautiful before. Oh, he was still a man, a towering figure, the loose robes unable to fully conceal the heavy muscle beneath, but his face¡­ It was what she imagined gods would look like. Too perfect to look at. Too perfect to be real. It took her an agonizingly long time to tear her gaze away from him. She focused instead on the woman who was with him. She was lovely, helped along in no small part by the outrageously expensive dress she wore, and that beautiful diadem, but it was still beauty within the bounds of humanity. Yet, her loveliness was a flickering candle next to the blistering sun that was Judgment¡¯s Gale. Hsiao Jiayi risked another look at the man, and it was not better the second time. With another painful effort of will, she forced herself to look away. She didn¡¯t know how that woman with him could stand there looking so calm.


    As much as she wanted to not pay attention to the man, to spare herself that quiet agony, she couldn¡¯t help but look again. She watched as he gave a respectful nod to the king. She coped with his appearance by doing what she¡¯d been trained to do. She evaluated him. There was genuine warmth in his expression when he looked at the king, which meant the stories of a friendship were probably accurate. When Lord Lu swept his gaze around the room at the gathered nobility, that warmth was gone. It was replaced by a disdain that bordered on hatred. Then, his eyes landed on her. Her breath caught in her throat. There was an intensity in those dark eyes that could set forests ablaze. He seemed momentarily startled as he looked at her as if he was seeing something he didn¡¯t expect. Then, his eyes moved on and she was able to breathe again.


    When her father had ordered her to come here, she¡¯d taken it as both a punishment and reprieve. So far from home, she would be largely free of the machinations of her father. The constant drive to make her useful in the way he wanted her to be useful. Something she had evaded through sheer determination and a little bloodshed. She had calmly murdered one suitor who had failed to understand that their parents¡¯ political intrigues did not include her willing participation in his fantasies. That act had been what finally managed to half-convince her father that she would not be pushed into a marriage she didn¡¯t want. Of course, the price for that had been never-ending travel to serve as his ambassador. Assignments that, as often as not, she was sure were designed to maximize the danger she¡¯d be in. If she wouldn¡¯t let herself be married off, then her death would be a fine excuse for another war.


    This assignment wasn¡¯t one of those, but it was still punishment. Being trundled off to the far side of the Mountains of Sorrow to talk with some mortal who imagined he was a king. As if the sects here couldn¡¯t take control in a heartbeat if they wanted to. As near as she could tell, they just couldn¡¯t be bothered with it. She wasn¡¯t even sure that it was the wrong approach. Letting the mortals think they had some control did seem to be easier than enforcing cultivator control. If nothing else, it was less bloody. Even so, it felt unnatural to her, like some kind of gross inversion of the natural order. She had simply braced herself to get through this with as much dignity as she could muster, and then she would return to a place where things made sense. Maybe, if she was lucky, she might even be able to go home if only for a little while. Even if she¡¯d personally heap gold and cultivation treasures on anyone who killed her father, she did miss the rest of her family. What was left of it. Most of her brothers had died on her father¡¯s battlefields. Most of her sisters were either dead or married off. Even so, she could only see them when she was home, which happened all too rarely.


    Of course, she had not expected such upheaval during her visit to this backwards nation. Now, though, she wasn¡¯t sure what she should do. Part of her wanted to go and talk to this cultivator who had wrought such change in this theoretically mortal kingdom. The other part of her quailed at the very idea of having that man turn his full attention on her. It wasn¡¯t that she didn¡¯t want that attention, but that she wanted it too much. She chastised herself mentally. She didn¡¯t know the man. She didn¡¯t know anything about him that hadn¡¯t come to her secondhand. If even half the stories were true, he was some kind of monster. No, that desire was just her body telling her lies. She had taken one look at him and reason had been bypassed by a primal urge to drag him somewhere private and have her way with him. She¡¯d been so caught up in her own thoughts that she¡¯d completely lost track of time and her surroundings. It was only when a man spoke to her that she truly came back to reality.


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    ¡°I don¡¯t believe we¡¯ve met,¡± said the man. ¡°My name is Lu Sen.¡±


    Hsiao Jiayi froze in place for a moment as anticipation and dread warred inside of her. It was him. She braced herself mentally before she turned to face the man. It barely helped. She had to make herself breathe. The only saving grace was that the intensity in his eyes had faded into something like distant, polite interest. That thought was immediately displaced by frustration. She didn¡¯t want him to be distant. She was taking too long to answer him. She was making a fool of herself, yet there was no impatience on his face. It dawned on her then that this reaction must be normal. It had happened so often that he was used to having to wait for people to muster their minds enough to string words together. She took hold of herself.


    ¡°Hsiao Jiayi. I¡¯m the ambassador from the kingdom of Kanshun.¡±


    He nodded, but there was no immediate sign that he recognized the name. She felt a little pang of annoyance. How could the man not have ever even heard of her home?


    ¡°Did it take you long to travel here? I understand the journey over the Mountains of Sorrow is¡ª¡± he hesitated for a moment, seeming to look for the right word. ¡°Taxing.¡±


    She couldn¡¯t help the small sigh that escaped her lips.


    ¡°It was unpleasant. Not a journey that most would take willingly, I should think.¡±


    ¡°Did you travel alone?¡± he asked, glancing around curiously. ¡°No guards? No entourage?¡±


    ¡°None were provided, which is for the best. My duties often require me to move quickly. Guards and servants would only slow me down.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± he said.


    She got the strangest feeling that he wasn¡¯t just mouthing those words out of politeness. If the stories were true, he often traveled both alone and with companions. Now that her mind was operating again if not precisely at its best, she felt for his cultivation level. It was higher than her own. If she had to guess, he was peak core formation, but it felt odd to her. It was like his cultivation was somehow deeper than it had any right to be. He shot her a vaguely amused look.


    ¡°Curiosity satisfied?¡± he asked.


    She felt her blood run cold. The man had noticed her quiet intrusion. One of the reasons why she had survived so long running errands designed to kill her was how subtle she was in her use of qi and her spiritual sense. She had surveyed nascent soul cultivators without so much as a flicker of recognition on their part. Yet, this man had noticed immediately. That was a chilling level of awareness.


    ¡°I apologize for my rudeness,¡± she said.


    The man shrugged in a way that suggested he really didn¡¯t care. Then, his eyes went out of focus for a moment before they focused again. That intensity was back, and she couldn¡¯t find the strength to look away.


    ¡°A moment, please,¡± he said.


    Then, he turned his head and looked across the room. Her gaze followed his to where the woman he¡¯d come with had been all but backed into a corner by Sung Kai. He had also been sent from the other side of the mountains as an ambassador, although she knew that he¡¯d been chosen almost entirely to temporarily rid his kingdom of a problem. She felt something rouse itself in Lu Sen, and it was like some great leviathan had woken from a ten-thousand-year slumber and was stirring. A moment later, Sung Kai let out a cry like a wounded animal. The man slammed down to his knees and blood started to pour from his mouth, nose, and ears. It was a terrifying display of strength. Sung Kai was a powerful cultivator in his own right, and he¡¯d been brought low between heartbeats. Lu Sen calmly walked across the now deathly silent room. He spoke to the woman in white, who looked simultaneously relieved and alarmed. She nodded in answer to some question. Seeming satisfied, the man turned his attention back to Sung Kai, who was thrashing and convulsing on the floor.


    The reassuring demeanor he¡¯d worn when speaking to his escort evaporated. In an instant, that silly name, Judgment¡¯s Gale, didn¡¯t sound silly at all. His face was carved from stone, like a statue that captured the essence of enraged divinity. He stared down at Sung Kai with eyes that promised things eternal and ghastly. Hsiao Jiayi was certain that Lu Sen meant to end Sung Kai then and there. Yet, before the grisly work could begin, the king intervened.


    ¡°Expel him, if you must, but I would appreciate it if you didn¡¯t kill him. It could prove troublesome,¡± said King Jing.


    Judgment¡¯s Gale glanced at the king and gave a small nod. Hsiao Jiayi knew that it was not an expression of subservience, no matter what anyone else at the gathering might think, the king included. It was a man agreeing to the request of a friend. Rather than crushing the life from Sung Kai, or whatever he had planned to do, Lu Sen reached down and seized the other man by the throat. He dragged the still thrashing and convulsing man toward a wall and, with a wave of Lu Sen¡¯s hand, Sung Kai¡¯s blood was burned away from the floor. Hsiao Jiayi stared in awe as the wall seemed to melt away like water, exposing an exterior courtyard. Lu Sen lifted Sung Kai and spoke to him briefly before drawing back and hurling the other man into the sky with nothing but brute strength. Then, as if nothing had happened, Lu Sen walked back into the room, the wall restoring itself behind him. He looked at the king.


    ¡°He¡¯ll land outside the city wall. It won¡¯t kill him.¡±


    The king looked a little startled but nodded.


    ¡°I appreciate your restraint.¡±


    Lu Sen nodded to the king and then walked back over to her, the look of distant, polite interest back in place on his face. He picked up their conversation as if there had been no interruption.


    ¡°How are you finding it here? I understand that things are different where you¡¯re from.¡±


    She struggled to find words but managed to stammer something.


    ¡°It¡¯s been more eventful than I expected.¡±


    ¡°Oh? How so?¡± asked the man, his face a picture of perfect innocence.

 V8 Chapter 33 – Politics, Part 2

    Hsiao Jiayi worried that she might not be able to continue the conversation if she wasn¡¯t allowed a moment to regain her calm. Fortunately, there was a commotion outside the main door into the room they were all occupying. Someone was arriving and, by the noise, it was someone important.


    ¡°Lai Dongmei, matriarch of the Golden Phoenix Sect,¡± choked out the man at the door.


    Hsiao Jiayi turned to look. This was another person she had heard stories about, although stories of a different kind. The stories about Lai Dongmei centered on all of the tragic, doomed loves she inspired. As with the tales about Judgment¡¯s Gale, she had largely discounted those stories. Cultivator beauty was nothing new. It was to be expected of those in the nascent soul stage, even if there were freakish exceptions like Lu Sen. Yet, the moment Hsiao Jiayi laid eyes on Lai Dongmei, she felt a stab of almost instant hatred. No living creature should be allowed that kind of beauty. It was impossible, unearthly beauty. If Lu Sen was the sun, this woman was the moon.


    The matriarch gave the king an almost imperceptible nod of acknowledgment, and then her eyes fixed on Lu Sen. She¡­ Walked wasn¡¯t the right word for it. There simply wasn¡¯t a word for someone moving with that much grace. It was almost comical watching people try to speak with her, only to have the woman move past them like she was in an empty room and the singular item of interest in it was Judgment¡¯s Gale. Hsiao Jiayi realized that the only person who hadn¡¯t turned to look, who hadn¡¯t been instantly enthralled, was Lu Sen himself. He was looking at her, his expression expectant. He had asked her a question, but it was just gone from her mind, blown away like an errant leaf in a hurricane. Lai Dongmei arrived and didn¡¯t hesitate for a second as she pressed herself against the man and kissed his cheek.


    ¡°Hello, lover,¡± said the matriarch, running a finger down the front of Lu Sen¡¯s robe. ¡°I see you dressed up for the occasion. I very much approve. It makes you look positively delicious.¡±


    Hsiao Jiayi felt a completely irrational flare of jealous rage take hold. She knew it was irrational. She knew it was stupid. She¡¯d had a five-minute conversation with this man. And none of those facts mattered in the slightest. It still took every ounce of her restraint not to attack the other woman. A reaction that was not helped in the slightest when he looked at that unfairly, wretchedly beautiful woman. There was something there in his eyes, something that smoldered. Something that she wanted to see there when the man looked at her, instead of that infuriating distant politeness. Lai Dongmei finally deigned to look at her then.


    ¡°Oh, I see you¡¯ve met the princess.¡±


    ¡°Princess,¡± said Lu Sen, his expression going positively icy as he drew out the word. ¡°I thought you were some manner of ambassador.¡±


    Hsiao Jiayi didn¡¯t understand what had just happened. All she knew was that a single word had left a frigid shell where at least vague friendliness had been before.


    ¡°I am,¡± she said with too much haste. ¡°It¡¯s what my father does with willful daughters who refuse to marry the disgusting scions of his political allies. He sends us away.¡±


    Her mouth snapped shut. She knew she was talking too much, saying too much, all because she hated the way he was looking at her. It shocked her to see sympathy on Lai Dongmei¡¯s face. Not that the other woman backed away from Lu Sen in any way. She had a clear agenda and wasn¡¯t going to be swayed from it. But, still, the sympathy was there. A kind of understanding of what it meant to be a woman with power or near to it. A recognition of the difficulty of forcing men to recognize that they had value beyond bearing children or serving as pawns. None of that sympathy or understanding could be found on Lu Sen¡¯s face, though. In fact, she couldn¡¯t read anything at all there anymore. He was as blank as a piece of stone. He simply inclined his head to her.


    ¡°If you¡¯ll excuse me, Your Highness, I should meet the other guests.¡±


    Then, they were gone, and Hsiao Jiayi felt like an ocean of weight had been lifted from her. Alone, Lu Sen and Lai Dongmei were each enough to render people incoherent. Together they were something truly terrible. Beauty like that was a silent tyranny over the hearts and minds of others. She only had to watch the reactions of the people they interacted with to see that. People weren¡¯t talking to them, so much as fawning over them. People who had been hardened and sharpened by years in the brutal arena of court politics were gushing like overexcited children. Their eyes were bright with joy because, for a few minutes, those almost inhuman, luminous creatures were deigning to look at them and listen politely.


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    If Lu Sen and Lai Dongmei had the ambition to do so, they would hold the entire continent in their hands. People would fall over themselves to swear allegiance to them. Kingdoms would line up to support them. Some people had to build empires on mountains of corpses and rivers of blood. Those two would be able to build one on blind infatuation. With a start, Hsiao Jiayi realized that they probably both knew that on some level. Given that one had contented herself with being a sect matriarch, and the other had only gotten involved with politics after what rumors said was an entire series of unbelievably stupid personal assaults, they obviously didn¡¯t have the ambition. A surge of palpable relief washed through her at that thought. Empires built on violence could crumble, but she doubted one ruled by those two would ever fall.


    She looked over to the king, who had been largely forgotten and abandoned as everyone scurried to get their moment with the sun and moon that walked among them. She would have expected him to be infuriated at being upstaged this way. Instead, he looked amused. He whispered something to the queen, who giggled and nodded in reply. They clearly knew something that she did not about this situation. She realized that she¡¯d been looking at them for too long when the king and queen walked over to her. Hsiao Jiayi offered a shallow bow. The rules for this sort of thing were complex. She was a cultivator, which automatically made her of higher standing than a mortal king, but she was also a foreigner, a guest really, which meant she owed him some deference. It made calculating the appropriate depth of her bow difficult. The king inclined his head. A measure of respect that also looked a little uncertain. It seemed he was struggling with the particulars as well, which made her feel oddly better about the whole situation. The man glanced over to where Lu Sen and Lai Dongmei were effectively holding court like an imperial couple.


    ¡°What do you think of our Lord Lu, Ambassador Hsiao?¡± asked the king.


    She weighed her answer carefully. There were many politically adroit options available to her. Vague, empty statements that would sound meaningful but convey nothing of her true thoughts. She had long since mastered the art of uttering such hollow sentiments with sincerity. However, this entire situation was abnormal, absurd even, bordering on the ridiculous. She felt unbalanced and worried that adding meaningless banter to the situation might push the whole event off of some kind of cliff she couldn¡¯t discern. Hsiao Jiayi rejected all of the political niceties and elected to share a rare piece of unpolished truth.


    ¡°I think that man may well be one of the most dangerous people alive,¡± she said, eying the royal couple with a critical eye. ¡°Yet, the two of you seem oddly unperturbed, your majesties.¡±


    The king and queen shared a brief look. There was nothing sinister to it. She had seen similar looks pass between hundreds of married couples. A sort of shorthand that developed over time that they employed largely to remind each other about shared jokes and to make decisions about how to discipline their misbehaving children this time. The king looked at her, that same amused expression surfacing on his features.


    ¡°That¡¯s because I know something very important about that man that tells me I have very little to fear from him.¡±


    ¡°Really? I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯d care to share.¡±


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s no great secret. Anyone who spends any time at all with him will figure it out. I¡¯m not worried because he¡¯s about as interested in ruling as I am in being a potato,¡± said the king with a knowing smile.


    Hsiao Jiayi went to reply and found herself bereft of words. How was someone supposed to respond to such a peculiar statement? And he¡¯d said it with such benign certainty. She was doubtful that she would have felt so certain that a man who could probably kill everyone in the room, with the exception of Lai Dongmei, wasn¡¯t a threat. In fact, she was confident that she would have viewed him as an existential threat. After all, the man could effectively behead this nation and claim it for himself with one swift murder spree. Having finally met the man and witnessed his response to Sung Kai, she was confident he was more than capable of carrying out such an act. Especially after seeing the profound disdain in which he held the nobility here. She didn¡¯t know where it sprang from, but it ran deep. She thought that there was a part of Lu Sen that would likely enjoy killing everyone here, save for the royal couple, his escort, and the woman whispering things in his ear that turned that smoldering look in his eyes into a bonfire.


    ¡°Perhaps,¡± said Hsiao Jiayi, ¡°but disinterest isn¡¯t the same thing as unwillingness.¡±


    The king nodded.


    ¡°True enough, but he has other priorities. He¡¯s a¡ª¡± the king paused then.


    She could almost watch as the man mentally substituted one word for another.


    ¡°He¡¯s a cultivator, after all. Aren¡¯t you all worried about ascension?¡±


    Hsiao Jiayi shifted her gaze to Lu Sen.


    ¡°That man doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s worried about anything.¡±

 V8 Chapter 34 – Politics, Part 3

    Sen had completely discarded any notion of paying attention to the people who kept coming up to them. They all just kept talking. Not interesting talk, either, but just a geyser of words about whatever seemingly random topic popped into their heads. One man had gone into a ten-minute discourse about apples. That might have been interesting if the fool hadn¡¯t just been making things up as he went. You didn¡¯t grow up in a place called Orchard¡¯s Reach without learning a few things about apples. After that, Sen just nodded occasionally, or made a noncommittal noise, or stroked his chin thoughtfully. Of course, it would also have been easier to pay attention if Lai Dongmei hadn¡¯t been whispering in his ear about a whole variety of things that he would much rather be doing at that moment. Focus, Sen tried to order himself. This absurd exercise in boredom can¡¯t last that much longer, right? He looked at the entire crowd of people who were all but shoving each other out of the way to get in front of him and Lai Dongmei. Sen sighed internally. I¡¯m never getting out of here. Where¡¯s a good assassination attempt when I need one?


    ***


    Shen Mingxia was doing her best to maintain a calm front, but that encounter with Sung Kai had rattled her. The man had been handsome enough that she might have even been receptive to his advances, except he¡¯d been aggressive and expectant. As though she should be honored by his presence. If arrogance had been the extent of it, she would have simply endured and forgotten about him at the first opportunity. Then, he¡¯d made a veiled comment that he intended to take what he wanted from her. That had frightened her because he had the power to follow through on that implied threat. She hadn¡¯t been sure how to react or to escape or at least to get someone¡¯s attention. Except, it hadn¡¯t been necessary. It seemed that Judgment¡¯s Gale was good to his promises. She hadn¡¯t had the faintest idea that his senses were that acute, but he had clearly been listening to the conversation. No sooner had the words passed from Sung Kai¡¯s lips than Lu Sen had crushed the man to the floor from across the room. He walked over to them with a concerned expression on his face. She¡¯d almost loosed a hysterical laugh when he¡¯d all but stepped over Sung Kai to talk to her.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°Well, I will be.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±


    She offered what she hoped looked like a smile, rather than a grimace, and nodded. His expression turned skeptical, but he didn¡¯t press the issue. Instead, he turned to Sung Kai. As she watched his face turn implacable, she again felt very, very grateful that this man had never turned his wrath on her. She thought he was going to kill the man. In truth, she wanted him to do it, but the damn king had to go and be all politically minded and save the bastard. Still, it was incredibly satisfying to watch Sen fling that man into the sky like the piece of garbage he was. There was a side benefit to that brutal display. People who had been circling around her, no doubt looking to try to learn about Sen from her, immediately lost interest. She found a wall to lean against and took her first relaxed breath of the evening.


    ***


    I think that man is my new hero, thought Chan Dishi as he did everything in his power not to laugh out loud. He¡¯d asked around about the various ¡°ambassadors,¡± and Sung Kai had been the easiest to learn about. Mostly because everyone the man seemed to come into contact with hated him. There had been whispers of him forcing himself on women in the city, but he couldn¡¯t find a way to confirm it, and not for a lack of trying. If he¡¯d been able to confirm it, well, steps could have been taken. Steps that wouldn¡¯t have jeopardized the tenuous peace that existed between the nations on this side of the Mountains of Sorrow and those on the far side of those lofty, continent-dividing peaks. It seemed as if that problem had more or less solved itself. As for the rest, they were just arrogant and disdainful, which was more or less what he¡¯d expected to discover.


    Although Lu Sen seemed to be doing just fine with that Kanshuni woman, especially after that heart-stopping beauty, Lai Dongmei, came in and started hanging on him. There had been a delicious moment when the ambassador looked like she might actually try to scratch out Lai Dongmei¡¯s eyes. Sadly, the woman seemed to get hold of herself. Oh well, thought Chan Dishi, I guess it was too much hope that we¡¯d get to see two acts of violence tonight. It was disappointing, though. These kinds of gatherings were, almost by definition, boring. A little brutality was just the solution to liven things up. He had been hoping that someone might try to kill the king, but he was pretty sure that nobody was going to try anything that stupid now. Not with Judgment¡¯s Gale looming in the room.


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    ***


    Wu Chia-Hao, patriarch of the House of Wu, maintained a stoic calm, at least on the outside. On the inside, he was barely controlling his panic. He had assumed that this Lu Sen¡¯s reputation was more fiction than fact. Oh, everyone knew he was a cultivator who had appeared from nowhere out in the east of the kingdom, but commoners were always exaggerating about their folk heroes. It seemed reasonable that the man¡¯s deeds had just looked more impressive to the uneducated masses. He was surely no more than a foundation formation cultivator who had saved a few villages from some spirit beasts. Maybe he¡¯d wandered into some sect fight at the very last minute and gotten credit for putting an end to the fight. Having seen the man in person, now, Wu Chia-Hao believed. He believed all of it, which was a problem. He needed to leave this gathering as soon as possible. He¡¯d set plans in motion to make things harder for the House of Lu. Plans that needed to be stopped. Immediately. There was simply no world where the House of Wu would survive a confrontation with that titan. A man like that didn¡¯t need an army of house guards. He wouldn¡¯t bother with the kind of proof that noble houses normally required for one house to act publicly against another. He would just come as a destroyer in the night and leave nothing in the wake of his passage.


    ***


    ¡°Quon,¡± whispered Fong Huifen behind the fan she held in front of her face.


    ¡°Yes, Mistress Fong?¡± asked the man, his face a mask of careful respect.


    ¡°I think that we need to find a way to ingratiate ourselves to that young man. What do you think?¡±


    Fong Huifen waited patiently as Quon considered the question. Most people would have been stunned to see it happen. The matriarch of the House of Fong wasn¡¯t someone you made wait. Yet, wait she did. After all, this was why the man was her most trusted servant. He actually took the time to think. He didn¡¯t automatically agree with her. He always remained polite when he disagreed, which was why he remained alive, but he would disagree. Then, he would provide sound reasoning and acute insight. She had learned the hard way over the years that you simply couldn¡¯t train all of those qualities into a person. The heavens knew that she had tried.


    Quon finally spoke in a hushed tone that would not carry.


    ¡°It could be valuable if we were able to. His strength is undeniable. I¡¯m simply unsure of how we can do so. What could we offer the man that he cannot simply acquire for himself?¡±


    Quon made a good point. This Lu Sen clearly did not lack for power. Nor, by all accounts, was he short of wealth. Fong Huifen pursed her lips. What do we have that he does not? What can we offer that will make him, perhaps not friendly, but at least reliably non-hostile? She was at as much of a loss as Quon seemed to be. She honestly couldn¡¯t think of anything, but that didn¡¯t mean that it didn¡¯t exist.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± she admitted, ¡°but I think it would be well worth trying to find it, whatever it is.¡±


    ***


    Consciousness returned slowly and brought an extraordinary amount of pain with it, which meant it took a little while for Sung Kai to understand why he was in a crater and covered with soil. When the events rushed back, his heart started to pound furiously in his chest. That crushing pressure, that terrible sense of wrath, like some malevolent god of death had abruptly turned their gaze on him. He started to shudder at the mere memory of it. He tried to push away the memory of two dark eyes, blazing like stars with unchecked fury, staring into him, through him, judging him like he was the most worthless, insignificant thing that ever crawled on the earth. He could still hear the words the man had said. Words that resounded inside his head like a command from the heavens.


    ¡°You should pray. You should pray that nothing happens to that woman. Because, if it does, running across those mountains will not protect you.¡±


    There had been that sense of weightlessness and terrible speed. Then, there was only darkness. Sung Kai wanted to be furious. He wanted to be outraged at this treatment. He wanted to think he could go back and take his vengeance. Except, the anger wouldn¡¯t come. The outrage wouldn¡¯t come. The desire to take revenge wouldn¡¯t come. All that came was fear. Fear that shook his soul and made his body tremble. Sung Kai looked up at the distant wall. A wall he had been thrown over, far over, from the very center of the sprawling city. Sung Kai didn¡¯t know how much strength such a feat required, only that he didn¡¯t possess it. The trembling became a shuddering. Every cultivator knew that there were some fights that, if at all possible, should be avoided. This was one of those fights. It was time to go home before that god of death changed his mind. Sung Kai forced himself to his feet, turned east, and started limping toward the Mountains of Sorrow.

 V8 Chapter 35 – Uncomfortable Truth

    Sen stretched and looked out the window. Even in the pre-dawn light, he could see Golden Phoenix Sect members out and about. Some were clearly cultivating, others were training martial forms, and he even saw a few groups that appeared to be heading out on missions of one kind or another. It was all so orderly. He wondered if things would ever look this orderly back at the Deep Wilds Academy. Sen knew that it was going to be a sect, but he just hated the very thought of openly calling it a sect, even in his own head. Maybe I just won¡¯t, he thought. I can keep calling it an academy if I want to. The more he thought about that idea, the better he liked it.


    ¡°Leaving already,¡± said a wistful voice from behind him.


    He turned and, well, he supposed the right word for it was beheld Lai Dongmei. She was stretched out on the blankets to display her body to maximum advantage. Sen¡¯s self-control was nothing to be sneered at, but he wasn¡¯t going to lie himself. He was tempted. The only thing that marred the image was the shattered remains of what had been the bed¡¯s frame.


    ¡°We broke your bed,¡± he observed, not sure if he ought to feel bad about it or not.


    ¡°Yes, we did,¡± said Lai Dongmei.


    She was clearly not bothered by that at all. If anything, she looked quite satisfied by that turn of events.


    ¡°Maybe you should have had it reinforced with qi. I mean, you are sect matriarch and all.¡±


    She let out a throaty laugh that did all sorts of subtle but nonetheless interesting things to the rest of her body.


    ¡°It was,¡± she told him. ¡°I¡¯m sure it will start all manner of interesting rumors when I have it very obviously removed.¡±


    ¡°You mean, the six people in this sect who don¡¯t already pray daily for my death will join that cult.¡±


    ¡°Quite probably,¡± said Lai Dongmei without the slightest contrition in her voice.


    ¡°Thanks so much for that,¡± said Sen with an eye-roll.


    ¡°You can always come back to what¡¯s left of the bed and delay the inevitable,¡± she said as she traced a finger down her body.


    It had the intended effect of drawing his eyes to the woman¡¯s very available, very desirable flesh. A primal hunger inside of him roared with need. Sen had to keep that part of himself buried most of the time. The number of people he could share a bed with and not put them at unacceptable risk was constantly shrinking. So, he¡¯d learned to keep those kinds of thoughts and impulses on a very short leash. Now, though, there was someone who would suffer no additional danger if he chose to indulge with her. Spending the night with Lai Dongmei had not come close to sating him. All things being equal, he would do exactly as she wished. But all things were not equal. Sure, the ridiculous political event was over, but he still needed to stabilize the House of Lu. At least, he needed to get it stable enough that he could go home and see Ai. He had promised to come back as soon as he could.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think for a second that I don¡¯t want to,¡± said Sen, shoving his lust into a box and mostly closing it in. ¡°But the House of Lu isn¡¯t like your sect, yet. I can¡¯t expect it to keep running without me if I up and disappear for a month.¡±


    Lai Dongmei¡¯s eyes half closed when she said, ¡°A month.¡±


    Sen could not tell what it was in her voice when she said those two innocuous words, but it connected with something inside of him that started screaming at him to get back into the broken bed right that second. Sen narrowed his eyes at the woman.


    ¡°That was just mean.¡±


    ¡°Not mean enough, apparently, since it didn¡¯t work.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t sell yourself short. If I didn¡¯t have things that absolutely cannot be ignored and a daughter waiting for me to come home, I¡¯d make you make good on that.¡±


    ¡°Now who''s being mean? Bringing up your daughter when I¡¯m trying to seduce you. Hardly fair.¡±


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    ¡°You already seduced me.¡±


    ¡°True. I suppose I¡¯ll have to settle for just insisting you that come back. Soon. Very soon,¡± she said as she rose from the remains of the bed.


    Sen did not stare while she did that. He was almost certain of it. She went over to a cabinet and put on, well, he supposed it was technically a loose robe. It was shaped like a robe. It was just so sheer that it concealed nothing. With one last effort of will, he fought off the urge to take the stupid thing right back off of her. She noticed and gave him a wicked smile.


    ¡°Well, I suppose if you¡¯re just determined to go be responsible, there are one or two things we should discuss.¡±


    Sen groaned aloud.


    ¡°You want to talk about politics, don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Gods no. You know what I want to be doing. But we do need to talk about it. A noble house with a cultivator patriarch on this side of the mountains. Have you considered the precedent you¡¯re setting with that?¡±


    ¡°In this one kingdom, maybe,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°For now, perhaps. You don¡¯t honestly believe that every cultivator here thinks that mortals should rule themselves, do you?¡± she asked before nodding at his sour expression. ¡°Cultivators who are going to ascend one day, people like you, people like me, or your teachers, are generally content to let the situation be what it is. We recognize the trap for what it is, even if the fools across the mountains haven¡¯t seemed to figure it out. Ruling the mortals is a distraction. But every group has people who want every ounce of every kind of power they can grab. When most cultivators figure out that they aren¡¯t going to ascend, it can bring out those traits. Whether you meant to do it or not, you¡¯ve cracked open a door that we¡¯ve all kept shut for a very long time. There may well be consequences you didn¡¯t account for.¡±


    ¡°Such as?¡± asked Sen, fearing he knew the answer already.


    ¡°What if a cultivator who doesn¡¯t share your loathing for politics rises to power in a noble house? Someone who also doesn¡¯t share your relatively tender feelings toward mortals. Who will fight them? Who could?¡±


    Sen grit his teeth because he already knew the answer. For the time being, at least, that duty would fall to him. The sects couldn¡¯t, or at least wouldn¡¯t, interfere that directly in mortal politics. If they did, that separation between the sects and mortal governments would simply disappear. That meant that it would inevitably fall to those outside the sect system. Wandering cultivators. From what Sen had seen and heard, most of them weren¡¯t going to be all that interested in taking up a fight like that. They were no less selfishly focused on their cultivation than sect cultivators. That left him, the only cultivator house patriarch in the kingdom.


    ¡°I¡¯d have to do it,¡± he said.


    ¡°Yes, or accept the consequences of not doing it. For example, they might challenge for the throne. No mortal king could withstand that kind of challenge. Would you be willing to cede the entire kingdom to the control of a cultivator?¡±


    Sen wished that he wasn¡¯t being confronted with this uncomfortable truth. He wouldn¡¯t be willing to accept that. But it also meant that he had to be willing to do something about it if it ever became a problem. He¡¯d largely created the conditions that might make it possible, which meant he needed to take some responsibility for managing what came after. Somehow. Like he didn¡¯t already have enough to do.


    ¡°No, I wouldn¡¯t,¡± he said.


    ¡°That¡¯s good to know. The other thing to discuss is just how you plan to run this new house of yours.¡±


    ¡°Who ever said I was going to run it?¡± asked Sen with a smirk. ¡°I¡¯m just keeping the place limping along until someone vastly more qualified than me arrives.¡±


    ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°My grandmother.¡±


    Lai Dongmei hesitated before she said, ¡°I thought you were an orphan.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I was. You can think of her as my grandmother in spirit. She¡¯s an interesting woman. I think you¡¯d like her.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s very practical.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not much to go on,¡± complained Lai Dongmei, pouting in a way that Sen was certain was intended to look just as fetching as it did.


    ¡°You¡¯ll just have to meet her. Then, you¡¯ll understand.¡±


    ¡°You plan to introduce me to your grandmother? How bold.¡±


    Sen straightened a little as it occurred to him what that could imply. Lai Dongmei waited until the realization was truly sinking in before she laughed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not looking for a husband. Not here, at any rate. Although, after we¡¯ve both ascended, well, that might be a conversation worth revisiting. I expect that by the time I catch up with you there, you¡¯ll have seasoned a bit.¡±


    Sen¡¯s mind blanked out on him for a moment. He¡¯d never considered marriage, not to anyone. He¡¯d wondered about it a few times like he imagined everyone did, but it never felt like a real possibility to him. He was constantly outpacing everyone around him, which even he¡¯d recognized effectively closed those kinds of doors on a romantic level. Granted, other people had needed to point out that the same thing applied to friends, but he¡¯d also never thought beyond ascension. Things would be different there, wouldn¡¯t they? At the very least, he probably wouldn¡¯t be racing through advancement after advancement. He was sure there would be threats, but those threats wouldn¡¯t constantly be growing in strength the way they were now. It could be a real possibility. Then, he frowned.


    ¡°Catch up? You think I¡¯m going to ascend first?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m quite certain of it. The speed of your growth is beyond fast. It¡¯s utterly unprecedented. It''s almost a foregone conclusion that you''ll ascend first. Although, I do have to wonder at why that was the first thing you reacted to,¡± she said, raising an eyebrow at him.


    ¡°Oh, right,¡± said Sen, his face flushing. ¡°Well, I mean, yes, that probably would be a conversation worth revisiting if and when the day comes.¡±

 V8 Chapter 36 – Arrival

    Sen breathed a sigh of relief as the gates to the Golden Phoenix sect slammed shut behind him. Lai Dongmei, true to her word, had summoned people to clear away the remains of her bed at the same time that she was escorting him out. Sen had rarely been on the receiving end of so many murderous glares. Although, it was far less nerve-wracking than it had been in the past. Then, those looks had felt like a threat. Now, they were just a frustration. There were probably a few people in the sect who could still pose a threat, but he doubted most of them were going to go that far out of their way to infuriate the sect matriarch. Beyond them, unless the entire sect rose up to come after him, he was pretty sure he could fend off any love-sick idiots that came looking to issue pointless challenges or launch ambushes. Not that he let his guard down, but that would have been true regardless. There was no telling who the other large noble houses might hire to try to get rid of him. Plus, he¡¯d gotten the feeling that Master Feng¡¯s brother was still holding a grudge. That was a challenge that Sen would just as soon not take up if at all possible.


    His first instinct was to go back to the manor, but Glimmer of Night was still at the inn. That brought on a little stab of guilt. Sen hadn¡¯t meant to leave him there for so long, but events had raced ahead of him too quickly. Then, tasks had piled up so fast that it had honestly just slipped his mind. At this point, though, it was just taking money out of Jing¡¯s pocket. Not that anyone had said anything, but the spider could hide in a room at the manor just as easily as he hid in a room at the inn. As he landed outside the inn, he was surprised to see that the royal guards were still stationed there. They snapped to attention when they saw him. Sen cocked his head and just stared at them for a moment. He shook off his confusion and approached the men at the door.


    ¡°Haven¡¯t you heard the news?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yes, Lord Lu,¡± said the man on the left as he offered a deep bow.


    ¡°That¡¯s not exactly what I meant. I¡¯m just surprised that you¡¯re still here. Didn¡¯t anyone relieve you?¡±


    ¡°We were told to stay until your last companion departed.¡±


    Sen nodded. He didn¡¯t think Glimmer of Night truly needed anyone¡¯s protection, but it was still a kind gesture from Jing.


    ¡°I¡¯ve come to collect him. So, I expect you can all return to the palace now.¡±


    ¡°Of course, Lord Lu. Thank you.¡±


    Sen went inside and found the staff standing around and looking intensely bored. There was an unwanted round of bowing and polite greetings to get through. Followed by a cup of tea that was actually quite good. Those courtesies out of the way, Sen found out which room the spider was in. He knocked on the door and called out.


    ¡°It¡¯s Sen.¡±


    ¡°Come in.¡±


    Sen entered the room and found Glimmer of Night hovering in the center of something. The web qi was recognizable by feel, by the threads of it were gossamer thin. The web construct was so complicated that it actually hurt Sen¡¯s eyes to look at it for more than a few seconds at a time. He finally held up a hand to shield his eyes.


    ¡°What is this?¡± he asked.


    ¡°A facet of truth,¡± said the spider with total conviction.


    ¡°What truth?¡±


    ¡°The truth. Although, I suppose you would think of it as speed.¡±


    ¡°I see. Congratulations?¡±


    ¡°Not yet. It is still imperfect, although it may prove sufficient for now.¡±


    ¡°Sufficient for what?¡±


    ¡°To keep pace with you.¡±


    That brought on a number of questions that Sen decided not to ask. It wasn¡¯t a lack of interest. He simply wanted to get on with relocating Glimmer of Night to the manor.


    ¡°I apologize for leaving you here for so long,¡± said Sen.


    The construct vanished and Sen blinked a few times. He wondered just how close the spider had come to a perfect representation of speed for the sight of it to leave Sen feeling like it had been etched onto his eyes.


    ¡°The time was helpful. Things are always so chaotic near your academy.¡±


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    ¡°And Ai is always distracting you,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said the spider, ¡°Although, I find her absence¡­ It is uncomfortable.¡±


    ¡°It is,¡± agreed Sen. ¡°I miss her, too.¡±


    The pair fell into a brief silence.


    ¡°Is it time to return to the academy?¡± asked Glimmer of Night.


    ¡°Sadly, no, but it is time to show to where we¡¯ll be staying for now.¡±


    ¡°Your fortress of doom?¡±


    ¡°My fortress of what?¡± demanded Sen.


    ¡°Did I use the wrong words? I¡¯m sure I heard the servants here calling it that. Lord Lu¡¯s fortress of doom.¡±


    Sen closed his eyes and took a few steadying breaths. Fortress of doom, thought Sen. Great! That¡¯s just what I need people calling the place. That doesn¡¯t make me sound like some mad conqueror at all.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a fortress of doom,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯s nothing more than a manor. I just made the place a little more secure.¡±


    The spider¡¯s face was unreadable, as he was still in his black chiton form, but Sen could just sense that the spider didn¡¯t believe him. Sen felt compelled to keep talking.


    ¡°You¡¯ll see for yourself when we get there. The walls are just a little higher than people are used to. That¡¯s all. It¡¯s not a fortress, and certainly not one of doom.¡±


    The spider peered at him with those liquid black eyes and then raised his shoulders in a shrug.


    ¡°Just put on your human disguise, and I¡¯ll show you,¡± said Sen.


    The spider complied, and Sen led him out of the inn, stopping only long enough to assure the inn¡¯s owner that everything had been excellent and, of course, he would recommend the place to everyone he knew. Glimmer of Night followed Sen¡¯s lead in making a qi platform, and they soon arrived outside the manor. Sen could feel the spider examining the formations while also peering up at the walls and the spikes that adorned the top of those walls. The spider was silent for an uncomfortably long time before he turned to look at Sen.


    ¡°This is not a fortress of doom?¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t,¡± said Sen.


    The spider looked at the walls again.


    ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m confused. What does doom mean to humans again?¡±


    Sen grumbled some unkind things under his breath before he said, ¡°Let¡¯s just go inside.¡±


    No sooner had they cleared the gates than Lo Meifeng was there, smirking at Sen.


    ¡°So, I hear that Lai Dongmei swept into the party and plucked you like a piece of ripe fruit. Did she eat you all up?¡±


    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know how to respond to that,¡± said Sen, and walked past the laughing woman.


    She soon fell into step beside him, giving him an extensive list of all the things he needed to get done that day. All of which made Sen ever more regretful that he hadn¡¯t let himself be a little weaker back in Lai Dongmei¡¯s bedroom. Sen mostly just nodded along, while giving Glimmer of Night a very short tour and pointing out a few key things to Glimmer of Night. Mostly, he just wanted to find a room for the spider, but that took care of itself. They were walking down a hall when the spider came to a sudden stop, only to backtrack and open a door. Curious, Sen went back and looked into the room. It was so empty that Sen struggled to glean its intended purpose.


    ¡°Can I use this room?¡± asked the spider.


    Sen traded glances with Lo Meifeng, who just shrugged.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± said Sen. ¡°Can I ask why?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s tuned correctly for my needs.¡±


    Sen once more found himself not asking questions because there was so much else to get done. Glimmer of Night promptly disappeared into the room, and Sen felt web qi spring to life on the other side of the door. Well, as long as he¡¯s happy, thought Sen. He turned to find Lo Meifeng looking around and rubbing her arms like they were cold.


    ¡°You alright?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I just¡­ It¡¯s nothing. Just a chill, I guess.¡±


    Sen suspected that she was reacting to the web qi, but that was a long conversation for another day.


    ¡°Can you tell¡­ can you tell whoever needs to know that they shouldn¡¯t disturb this room?¡±


    ¡°If I can figure out who that is, sure,¡± she said. ¡°Now, it¡¯s time to get to work, your lordliness.¡±


    ¡°Oh gods,¡± moaned Sen as Lo Meifeng cackled in glee.


    The rest of the day soon turned into a blur of decision after decision that Sen doubted he would ever be able to remember. It wasn¡¯t until Pan Shiji came into the room with a strange look on her face that the world came back into the sharp focus Sen was used to. It jarred him a little bit.


    ¡°Yes?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Lord Lu, there is a disturbance at the gates. I was told that you were needed.¡±


    Sen jumped at the chance to go do something that didn¡¯t involve sitting and making decisions. Lo Meifeng looked like she wanted to object, but Sen was already through the door. He shouted back toward the door over his shoulder.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be right back!¡±


    Sen activated his qinggong technique and flew through the manor, deftly weaving around people. Although, he did hear a few startled squeaks from people who hadn¡¯t expected a sharp breeze to spring up around them. He stopped just short of the gate to find Long Jia Wei there. The man looked over at Sen¡¯s arrival and inclined his head.


    ¡°Lord Lu. Thank you for coming so quickly. I believe this matter requires your personal attention. You have, I suppose the right word would be guest.¡±


    Not sure what to make of those words, Sen walked over the gates, grabbed them, and casually swung what was probably several thousand pounds of stone out of the way. He froze in place. She looked younger than the last time he¡¯d seen her. No older than someone in her mid-thirties. It was probably a side benefit from the pills Auntie Caihong had made. Even so, he¡¯d recognize her anywhere. A huge smile erupted across his features.


    ¡°Now, why have you called me to this city, boy?¡± demanded Grandmother Lu.


    Sen leapt through the protections and scooped the woman up into a great hug, lifting her off the ground and swinging her through the air. Grandmother Lu swatted at him a few times.


    ¡°Put me down, boy! Respect your elders!¡± she admonished him, even if was clear her heart wasn¡¯t in it.


    He dutifully put her back on the ground. She eyed him up and down.


    ¡°You¡¯re taller,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t how that¡¯s possible, but you are. You finally filled out properly, too.¡±


    ¡°Righteous living,¡± he said.


    She snorted and gestured at the manor.


    ¡°What¡¯s all this?¡±


    ¡°Grandmother, let me welcome you to the noble House of Lu. Consider it a decade¡¯s worth of belated New Year¡¯s gifts.¡±

 V8 Chapter 37 – Grandmother

    Grandmother Lu¡¯s eyes traveled over the walls, the open gates, and the people inside pretending not to be watching, all before they traveled back up to his face. She closed her eyes, shook her head a little, and sighed.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t listen to a word I said about practicalities, did you?¡±


    Sen took a moment to look at the walls before he said, ¡°I know it¡¯s a little big, but it does come with benefits.¡±


    There was a pause where Grandmother Lu looked a little stunned before she reached up and cuffed the back of his head.


    ¡°You know that¡¯s not what I meant,¡± she huffed, while Sen laughed. ¡°Well, I suppose you better take me inside and explain this gift to me. I have a feeling that it¡¯s going to be less of a gift than an ongoing headache.¡±


    Sen pulled out a talisman that he¡¯d made into a kind of necklace and gave it to her. Grandmother Lu held it in her hand for a moment as she studied the small gem.


    ¡°This is pretty,¡± she said with a little smile.


    ¡°And practical,¡± announced Sen. ¡°It¡¯ll let you pass through the defenses until I can modify them. After that, you¡¯ll just be able to walk through them, and that talisman will just be, well, I guess it¡¯ll just be a pretty necklace.¡±


    Grandmother Lu held up the necklace, pointed at it, and said, ¡°This is a gift.¡±


    Shaking her head again, she let Sen lead her inside. He reveled a little bit in making no explanations to anyone about who she was. He figured there would be some kind of grand announcement later, but he was content to let them all wonder for the moment. Long Jia Wei was trailing along behind them at a distance with a vaguely uncertain look as if he wasn¡¯t sure whether he was invited along or not. Sen made an impatient gesture, and the man quickly closed the distance. Sen didn¡¯t do anything like a formal tour, just pointed out a few things that would prove helpful for someone new to the manor. For example, where the kitchen and baths were. Besides, he could see her sharp eyes weighing everything and, he was sure, her excellent mind was drawing tentative conclusions. He eventually led her and Long Jia Wei into what he supposed was his office now. Pan Shiji¡¯s eyes followed them with burning curiosity.


    Lo Meifeng looked up from the papers on the table. She and Grandmother Lu seemed to size each other up in some odd way that had nothing to do with cultivation. He wasn¡¯t sure if Lo Meifeng lost or not, but she did rise from the chair and offer Grandmother Lu a respectful bow.


    ¡°This one is Lo Meifeng,¡± she said.


    ¡°And that one is Long Jia Wei,¡± said Sen, hiking a thumb at the man. ¡°This one is Sen.¡±


    That got three unamused looks that just made Sen smile. He held out a hand to Grandmother Lu and continued,


    ¡°Lo Meifeng, Long Jia Wei, this is my grandmother. Grandmother Lu.¡±


    Long Jia Wei¡¯s eyes widened a little before he offered a hasty and deep bow.


    ¡°I greet the patriarch¡¯s grandmother,¡± he said.


    Lo Meifeng¡¯s reaction puzzled Sen. She suddenly seemed hesitant and almost embarrassed. She started to straighten her robes before she caught herself doing it. She clearly made herself stop, but he could still her hands twitch occasionally. That woman is so odd at times, thought Sen. Grandmother Lu either didn¡¯t notice or chose not to notice their reactions. She inclined her head politely.


    ¡°This one is Lu Jia,¡± she told them before turning narrowed eyes on Sen. ¡°Alright, boy, I heard all manner of wild rumors on my way over here. Let¡¯s have the truth of it.¡±


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    Sen looked around, realized there were only two chairs in the room, and summoned two more from a storage ring. He offered the most comfortable one Grandmother Lu. She glowered at him.


    ¡°I¡¯m old, not infirm,¡± she grumbled, but he caught the merry twinkle in her eye.


    Sen smirked. When he saw the baffled looks on Lo Meifeng and Jong Lia Wei¡¯s faces, the laughter bubbled up.


    ¡°It¡¯s a long story,¡± he told them as called a tea set out of a storage ring and set to work. ¡°I might even tell it to you one day. But I think Grandmother deserves a story first. She has come a long way to join us here, after all.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I have, and not to see Lord Lu¡¯s Fortress of Doom, either,¡± said Grandmother Lu.


    Sen almost spilled the water he was heating with fire qi. He shook his head.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to note that I¡¯m not calling this place Lord Lu¡¯s Fortress of Doom.¡±


    ¡°You should. It¡¯s imposing enough,¡± observed Grandmother Lu.


    Sen ignored that comment and finished making the tea. He poured everyone a cup, waving off the uncomfortable looks from Lo Meifeng and Long Jia Wei. He knew that, technically, one of them should have been doing this. Barring one of them, he should have called in Pan Shiji to fetch some, but Sen knew how his grandmother liked her tea. Strong. Very strong. He handed out the cups. Lo Meifeng just held hers while Long Jia Wei seemed to be studying the innocuous liquid like it might contain dark secrets and fell wisdom. Grandmother Lu sipped hers and let out a contented sigh.


    ¡°You remembered,¡± she said, bestowing a smile on Sen.


    ¡°I did, Grandmother,¡± he said, taking a sip.


    The tea was stronger than he usually drank it, but the dark brew called up old memories of nights in that little shack. Nights when Grandmother Lu would get into a talkative mood and tell him stories of places she¡¯d seen and things she¡¯d done while they drank strong tea. Those nights had been few and far between, but he cherished those memories. As usual, though, the needs of the present took precedence over the past. Taking one more sip, Sen began to talk. It took him a while to explain everything she needed to know, particularly when she stopped him almost immediately to demand endless details about Ai. Sen was all too happy to share them, while Lo Meifeng and Long Jia Wei waxed and waned between attention and disinterest. Sen couldn¡¯t hold it against them. They¡¯d never met Ai, after all. Eventually, though, he moved on to the journey to the capital, all that had happened along the way, and what he¡¯d done after he arrived. He¡¯d also needed to explain what he intended her role to be.


    ¡°So, my intention is for you to run this place until Ai is old enough to take the reins herself. Although, I imagine she would be quite happy to have your continued guidance when the time comes.¡±


    Grandmother Lu sat in pensive silence for a long while after he finished. He dutifully refilled her tea as she sat and pondered. At length, she set her cup down and pointed at Lo Meifeng, who straightened up as though she¡¯d been slapped by a domineering taskmaster.


    ¡°Spy.¡±


    She pointed at Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°Killer.¡±


    Sen was glad to see that she hadn¡¯t said either spy or killer with any rancor. She was stating facts, rather than judgments. She pointed at herself.


    ¡°Figurehead.¡±


    She finally pointed at Sen.


    ¡°What will you be doing while the rest of us are here working in this place that will most certainly be very cold in the winter? You know how I hate the cold, Sen.¡±


    ¡°First,¡± said Sen, ¡°I can fix that cold problem for you. I can ensure that this place is never cold.¡±


    Grandmother Lu perked up at that and said, ¡°Really? How?¡±


    ¡°A lot of formations and probably some natural treasures, but I can make it happen for you.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± asked Grandmother Lu with more than a little skepticism.


    ¡°Lady Lu,¡± said Long Jia Wei, ¡°if I may speak.¡±


    She eyed him briefly but nodded.


    ¡°You saw the rather formidable walls around this manor?¡±


    ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°From the small parts of the formations that I could understand, the spiritual protections are even more formidable.¡±


    Grandmother Lu frowned but said, ¡°Go on.¡±


    ¡°Your grandson erected all of those protections in an afternoon. By himself.¡±


    There was another long silence before Grandmother Lu said, ¡°I thought they were making things up. Just how far has your cultivation come, Sen?¡±


    Sen coughed, feeling somewhat embarrassed by the question. He supposed he should have expected it, all things considered. He¡¯d just had other things at the top of his mind recently.


    ¡°Peak core formation, or thereabouts. No one seems to be entirely certain. My body cultivation is a bit behind that.¡±


    Grandmother Lu looked absolutely stunned. Her eyes had gone as wide as they would go, and her mouth was hanging open a little. Then, a very familiar, very grumpy expression replaced her shock.


    ¡°Peak core formation? Close to the same in body cultivation? By the heavens, what has that mad old bastard been feeding you?¡±


    ¡°Mad old bastard?¡± asked Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°She means my master, Feng Ming,¡± explained Sen.


    Lo Meifeng choked on her tea.

 V8 Chapter 38 – Business Affairs

    After she got over her coughing fit, Sen decided to take a little pity on Lo Meifeng and Long Jia Wei. He¡¯d wanted everyone more or less on the same page about his intentions, and he felt that he¡¯d achieved that. After all, Long Jia Wei and Lo Meifeng already knew what he was going to be doing.


    ¡°I expect that there are things that you two need to be looking after,¡± he said.


    Long Jia Wei shot to his feet with a relieved look on his face. Sen was momentarily baffled until he realized that the man didn¡¯t want to risk doing or saying anything that might offend Grandmother Lu. The less time he spent with her, the less likely it was that he¡¯d inadvertently take some action that would make Sen murder him. The man offered another bow and left the room just slowly enough that it couldn¡¯t be rightly called running away. Lo Meifeng was slower to rise to her feet. She knew that Sen wasn¡¯t just going to kill her out of hand. It seemed like she wanted to be in on whatever discussion came next, but couldn¡¯t quite figure out a way to invite herself to stay. She finally offered a polite bow and made her way to the door. Right before she could open it, Grandmother Lu spoke.


    ¡°It seems like we¡¯ll be working together quite a bit. You should come find me later so we can have a chat. Just the two of us.¡±


    It was brief, but Lo Meifeng froze in place. Then, she smoothly turned and, her face a mask of perfect calm, bowed again.


    ¡°Of course, Lady Lu.¡±


    ¡°Ugh. That Lady Lu nonsense is already getting old,¡± grumbled Grandmother Lu.


    Lo Meifeng smiled a little at that and said, ¡°Well, I suppose I know where he gets it from now.¡±


    Before anyone could say anything more, she slipped out of the room. Sen turned to look back at Grandmother Lu and found her scowling at him.


    ¡°What?¡± he asked.


    ¡°You destroyed one of the great noble houses and always planned on sticking me with the work?¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen, his cheeks coloring slightly, ¡°that. Yeah, that¡¯s pretty much exactly what I did.¡±


    ¡°Did it, at any time, occur to you to ask me if I wanted this responsibility?¡±


    Sen''s cheeks went a little redder as he said, ¡°It didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Do you have even the slightest clue how expensive it¡¯s going to be to prop this house up while securing control of all of the properties and business ventures?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± Sen admitted, ¡°which is why I sent for you. You¡¯re the only person I know and trust who has experience managing an empire with concerns spread out across the kingdom. As for the expense, I¡¯m not that worried about it.¡±


    ¡°And why not?¡±


    Sen stood up and moved away a little before bags of money, beasts cores, and natural treasures started dropping from a storage ring to form a pile on the floor.


    ¡°The money can be used as is. The beast cores can be sold off. I hadn¡¯t intended to do this quite yet, but I¡¯m told that I can make a vast fortune auctioning off some of my natural treasures and even some of my alchemy work,¡± said Sen before turning a questioning eye to Grandmother Lu. ¡°Wait. You didn¡¯t think that I expected you to pay for this madness, did you?¡±


    It was clear that Grandmother Lu hadn¡¯t even heard his question. Her eyes were fixed on the pile he¡¯d just made, a look of deep concentration on her face, as though she was trying to calculate the total value of what he¡¯d just dumped on the floor. She shook off her fixation and turned incredulous eyes to Sen.


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    ¡°I take it you somehow got in contact with Li Fang?¡± she asked.


    Sen searched his memory. The name sounded distantly familiar like someone might have mentioned it to him once. He couldn¡¯t seem to dredge up any information about the person connected to the name, though.


    Sen shrugged and asked, ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s the manager at my shop in Emperor¡¯s Bay. You left him with some money to invest.¡±


    That brought it all back, along with the knowledge he owned an interest in an alchemy shop there. So much had happened since then that it had all just gotten buried under the mountain of new responsibilities and problems he¡¯d been up against.


    ¡°Heavyset guy?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°He used to be before you ruined him,¡± complained Grandmother Lu. ¡°He¡¯s as thin as a blade of grass and as healthy as an ox now.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a good thing,¡± said Sen in honest confusion.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a fine thing for his life expectancy, but he¡¯s a terrible manager now. He spends all of his time managing your fortune, not my shop!¡±


    Sen blinked a few times and asked, ¡°What fortune?¡±


    ¡°Well, to start with, that little alchemy business you invested in is doing very well for itself. By the way, what in the world did you leave with those people?¡±


    ¡°I honestly can¡¯t remember. It couldn¡¯t have been anything too special at that point. Just some stuff from the mountain. A few things I found along the way. Beast cores, maybe.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± said Grandmother Lu, ¡°whatever it was helped them go from a little shop that was on the brink of failure to the premiere alchemy shop in the city.¡±


    ¡°Really? I don¡¯t remember them being that good at alchemy. They seemed competent but not especially gifted. Huh. Well, good for them,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Good for you, too. And then there was that obscene amount of gold you left with Li Fang. He did what you told him to do, and he invested it. He invested it all over that city. Then, he took the profits and invested them. You basically own half that city now, which is to say nothing about the rivers of money coming back to the pair of you. He had to get into banking to protect it.¡±


    ¡°He put the money in a bank? I¡¯ve heard about those, but never got a chance to really investigate them.¡±


    ¡°No, you ridiculous, heavens-kissed boy. He built a bank so he¡¯d have somewhere safe to store all of your money. The part you told him to set aside for you.¡±


    Sen considered all of that and then said, ¡°I guess there¡¯s plenty of money to prop this place up for a while.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not even going to ask how much?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really care that much about money. I mean, it¡¯s good for buying food and getting shopkeepers to do what I want, but that¡¯s about it. I expect it¡¯ll make life easier for Ai, though, so that¡¯s always good.¡±


    Grandmother Lu looked aghast and said, ¡°Oh, I failed you, Sen. Don¡¯t you understand? Money is power in the mortal world.¡±


    ¡°I believe you. I just don¡¯t spend that much time doing things in the mortal world. Most of what I deal with these days is the Jianghu. Except for my academy, but that¡¯s mostly paying for itself these days.¡±


    Grandmother Lu looked like she wanted to give him a lecture, but she took a few deep breaths instead.


    ¡°I can see that we¡¯ll need to have a few long conversations,¡± she said, ¡°but you never answered my question. While I¡¯m here, what is it that you¡¯ll be off doing? Because I¡¯m not planning on working myself to the bone while you go off and have a good time.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t be. While you¡¯re running things here, I¡¯m going to be building a sect.¡±


    ¡°A sect? Based on all of the stories, I got the impression that you don¡¯t particularly like sects, and that they feel the same way about you.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t like them, but I came into some information recently that has¡­ I guess you¡¯d say it softened my view of them a little. Which is a conversation for another time because my sect isn¡¯t going to be like other sects. My sect will exist to do exactly two things. Protect Ai and protect the interests of the House of Lu. I¡¯m going to build you and Ai an army, Grandmother. An army of cultivators who are fanatically loyal to us and our goals.¡±


    Grandmother Lu leaned back in her chair and gave Sen a long, assessing look.


    ¡°You¡¯ve come a long way in a short time, Sen.¡±


    Sen had to forcefully push away a cascade of bad memories about what it had taken to get to where he was. The desperate fights, the bad choices, and so much pain.


    ¡°Not by choice,¡± he said.


    He saw the empathy in her eyes. Grandmother Lu knew better than most what kind of hardships life could put on a person. He offered her a wan smile, then took a few moments to put the fortune he¡¯d left on the floor back into a storage ring.


    ¡°Now that I know that you aren¡¯t planning to simply go be irresponsible while I¡¯m here doing your job, I¡¯m,¡± she paused in thought, ¡°eighty percent less annoyed with you.¡±


    He looked back at her and lifted an eyebrow.


    ¡°Why only eighty percent?¡±


    ¡°Because you adopted a daughter and didn¡¯t have her here to meet me.¡±


    Sen¡¯s jaw dropped, and he spluttered, ¡°What would you have done if I had brought her here?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d have beaten you senseless for putting her in so much unnecessary danger,¡± said Grandmother Lu without a trace of humor in her voice.


    ¡°So, there was no right answer?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s family for you,¡± she said with a pious look. ¡°Unreasonable to the core.¡±

 V8 Chapter 39 – Discernment

    Sen and Grandmother Lu spoke for another two hours before she announced that she was weary from her journey. Sen called Pan Shiji in and told her to arrange a room for their most honored guest. The young woman¡¯s eyes danced back and forth between Sen and his grandmother, trying to parse the relationship and getting nowhere with it. She eventually retreated to do as she was told. While that was being taken care of, Sen decided that there was one more person that Grandmother Lu should meet. It was a meeting he wanted to be there for, just in case. She followed him with curious eyes as he led her to a hallway that was not substantially different than all the other hallways and knocked on a particular door. There was a long pause before Glimmer of Night responded.


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s Sen. There¡¯s someone important that I want you to meet with me,¡± said Sen, casting a brief look at Grandmother Lu before he added one more thing. ¡°There¡¯s no need for the disguise.¡±


    ¡°Disguise?¡± asked Grandmother Lu.


    ¡°He¡¯s a spider-kin. He was transformed into a generally human shape, but his appearance can be a little unsettling right at first.¡±


    Sen was cut off by the door to the room swinging open. Glimmer of Night peered out of the room, his chitinous features and liquid black eyes as unreadable as ever. Grandmother Lu lifted an eyebrow at the sight of him but appeared otherwise unruffled. Sen stepped into the room, let Grandmother Lu step past him, and closed the door. That promptly cast the room into total blackness, so Sen conjured a few small fireballs to hover in the corners. He turned to the spider.


    ¡°Glimmer of Night, this is my grandmother, Lu Jia. Grandmother, this Glimmer of Night, one of the spiderkin.¡±


    The woman and the spider stood in complete silence for three solid minutes, just looking at each other. Every once in a while, one of them would tilt their head a little to one side or the other but that was it. Sen wasn¡¯t sure if this was good or bad or if they expected him to carry the conversation. When he was finally ready to interrupt the silence, Glimmer of Night finally did something. He gave Grandmother Lu a very respectful bow.


    ¡°Glimmer of Night greets the matriarch,¡± said the spider.


    ¡°I greet you Glimmer of Night,¡± said Grandmother Lu with a gently amused expression before she looked at Sen. ¡°We can go now.¡±


    Sen was very confused but, apparently, the pair had reached some kind of understanding. The heavens only knew how. Sen dutifully opened the door and escorted her out into the hallway. He looked back into the room and extinguished the fireballs before closing the door. As they walked down the hall, Sen looked over at Grandmother Lu.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Oh, he seems like a very nice boy. Very practical,¡± said Grandmother Lu.


    Sen fought with himself about whether or not to ask the next question, but curiosity won out in the end.


    ¡°How can you tell?¡±


    She frowned a little bit, shrugged, and said, ¡°You just can.¡±


    Sen wanted to feel a little frustrated by that answer, but couldn¡¯t quite do it. How often had he given cryptic non-answers to people when he couldn¡¯t rightly explain how he had done something far more miraculous than getting a feel for someone¡¯s personality? He wrestled with it for a few moments. Then, he decided that it must be some form of inscrutable Grandmother Magic obtainable only through age and hard experience. With that matter settled in his mind, they wandered back to Sen¡¯s office. A room that he hoped would soon become Grandmother Lu¡¯s office. They drank tea and ate snacks that Sen conjured from his storage rings as they waited for Pan Shiji to inform them that a room had been prepared.


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    ¡°Sen, how much do you trust Lo Meifeng?¡± Grandmother Lu asked out of nowhere.


    Sen froze, a teacup nearly touching his lips. He scrutinized the woman¡¯s face and tried to glean some insight from it but to no avail. He took a sip of tea before setting the cup down.


    ¡°Enough. More than most. Why? Do you think I shouldn¡¯t?¡± he asked, feeling suddenly unsure about his own judgment.


    ¡°Nothing like that,¡± said Grandmother Lu. ¡°She¡¯s just very adept at masking herself. You¡¯re putting a lot of faith in her good intentions.¡±


    That made Sen burst into laughter, drawing a perplexed look from the older woman.


    ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± she demanded. ¡°Is there some joke you forgot to let me in on, boy?¡±


    ¡°No. It¡¯s just that Lo Meifeng doesn¡¯t have good intentions,¡± explained Sen. ¡°She has interests, and a tiny circle of people that she likes. I happen to be in that rarified group of people that she holds some affection for. And this whole business of creating the House of Lu from the ashes of the House of Xie interests her. She gets to build a spy organization from the ground up. Train people the way she thinks they should be trained. Give them the skills that she, no doubt, found out the hard way that a spy can¡¯t live without. That challenge alone will keep her invested for decades at least. When she does finally get bored, the whole thing should be established enough that someone can just step into the role.¡±


    ¡°And just how did you end up in that tiny circle? Anything I should know?¡± asked Grandmother Lu, leaning in with interest.


    ¡°Nothing I¡¯d be embarrassed to discuss with you if that¡¯s what you¡¯re getting at. We aren¡¯t secret lovers. We just went through some difficult situations together. Faced down some things that probably should have killed us both in hindsight.¡±


    ¡°Ah, now it makes sense,¡± said Grandmother Lu. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll give her the benefit of the doubt. I¡¯m not, however, entirely comfortable with the idea that her dependability relies entirely on her relationship with you.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fair. Relationships can sour. Honestly, though, I doubt it will be a problem. I get the feeling that it¡¯s almost as hard to leave that circle of hers as it is to join it in the first place.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve met a few people like that along the way,¡± said Grandmother Lu.


    The pair lapsed back into a comfortable silence until Pan Shiji knocked, waited a respectful interval, and then entered.


    ¡°A room has been prepared,¡± she announced.


    Sen went to stand up, but Grandmother Lu waved him back into his seat. She eyed Pan Shiji, who seemed to wilt beneath the intensity of that gaze.


    ¡°She¡¯s young. I expect her legs can carry her far enough to show me my room. Can¡¯t they, girl?¡±


    Pan Shiji looked almost petrified, but she managed to squeak out a lone word.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Good. Sen, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ve kept you from countless things that can¡¯t do without you, so go make yourself useful. We¡¯ll talk in the morning.¡±


    Pan Shiji''s expression turned from petrified to mortified that someone was ordering Sen around. He made a valiant and successful effort to maintain a calm demeanor. He inclined his head to Grandmother Lu before turning his attention to Pan Shiji.


    ¡°Please see to it that our guest has everything she requires.¡±


    The girl nodded before Grandmother Lu all but pushed her out the door. Sen waited until he was certain that they were gone before he let himself snicker at the memory of Pan Shiji¡¯s expressions. The last few weeks had, mostly through observation, taught him that people in servants¡¯ roles had a strange kind of pride in it. They also took the reactions of their ¡°superiors¡± very seriously. Openly laughing at the girl, however harmless it might seem to him, would injure her pride. While it wasn¡¯t a perspective that he understood personally, he wouldn¡¯t go out of his way to inflict unnecessary injuries. There was enough wanton cruelty in the world without him bumbling around and inflicting it through sheer inattention.


    He also knew that Grandmother Lu was right. Lo Meifeng was probably pacing somewhere, fretting about all of the things that he wasn¡¯t getting done right now. The right thing to do was to go find her and get back to work. Instead, he gave himself five minutes to sit and just feel good about the fact that Grandmother Lu was there. Like so many other things, he¡¯d been forced to push aside how much he missed her in favor of dealing with trivial matters like not dying and dealing with stupid turtles. It had been a hole in his life. For the first time in a long time, that empty place inside of him was once again filled with the woman¡¯s curmudgeonly love.

 V8 Chapter 40 – There Is a Difference

    ¡°Are you planning a coup?¡± asked Jing.


    Sen almost spat out the food he¡¯d just put in his mouth. He glowered at Jing, who gave him a beatific smile in return.


    Swallowing hard to get the food past the lump in his throat, Sen said, ¡°Why would you ask me such an absurd question?¡±


    ¡°Well, with all those rumors regarding your Fortress of Doom¡ª¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a Fortress of Doom,¡± growled Sen. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ It¡¯s just sufficiently defended.¡±


    ¡°From what?¡± asked Jing.


    ¡°Mosquitos,¡± deadpanned Sen. ¡°Terrible things, mosquitoes. Buzzing in your ears. Drinking your blood. They¡¯re the demons of the insect world.¡±


    ¡°Are they?¡±


    ¡°Yes, and I must protect my manor from their insidious ways!¡± cried Sen, raising a fist in the air and turning his eyes towards the heavens.


    Jing shook his head and said, ¡°They are terrible, aren¡¯t they? Well, I¡¯m sure your quest against them will be legendary.¡±


    Sen offered a sage nod of agreement before turning back to the original question.


    ¡°What¡¯s all this nonsense about a coup? I don¡¯t even want the noble house I have. What madness would induce me to want to usurp you?¡±


    ¡°Nothing I can think of, but the changes to your manor have, let¡¯s call them symbolic implications.¡±


    ¡°Oh, by the thousand hells, I stepped all over some absurd noble tradition, didn¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°You did. Although, the absurdity is a matter of debate. The tradition in question is that no noble manor will be more rigorously defended than the royal palace. That¡¯s usually taken to mean that the noble houses restrain themselves when building walls and hiring house guards. It was originally a law laid down by the first king as a protective measure. His ascension to the throne was not popular among the other powers at the time. The law was eventually revoked, but the tradition remains. By making your manor so formidable, many of the houses are reading it as a declaration that you intend to challenge for the throne.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose it would help if I just told them I wasn¡¯t going to do that?¡±


    ¡°Would you believe that?¡±


    Sen rubbed at his eyes, just to give himself something to do.


    ¡°No, I wouldn¡¯t believe that. I hope you¡¯re not asking me to take those defenses down because that¡¯s a way bigger ask than you might think.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡± asked Jing.


    ¡°Well, there are the obvious defenses of the walls, but I put formations into those walls. I mean, I put a lot of formations into those walls. I probably could take them back apart, but it¡¯d be tricky to do it safely.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said Jing, a thoughtful frown on his face.


    ¡°It¡¯d probably be easier to just make your walls bigger and scarier¡ª¡± Sen trailed off. ¡°Which is what you wanted all along.¡±


    ¡°It was one of several possible outcomes that would alleviate the situation, yes,¡± said Jing. ¡°It also just happens to be my preferred solution. For several reasons.¡±


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    ¡°Oh? Such as?¡±


    ¡°Well, if I make you take down your protections, by which I mean you decide to go along with it, it will convince the other houses that you don¡¯t mean to assume the throne. However, it makes me look petty and afraid. Not ideal. I could simply build my walls to be bigger, but that also makes me look weak and afraid.¡±


    Sen saw the train of thought and picked it up, ¡°But if I decide to improve the defenses around the royal palace, though, it makes it look like I want things to stay the way they are. I look, minimally, like a loyal subject, and, preferably, like a friend to the royal house. All of which strengthens your position without making you look weak, petty, or afraid.¡±


    ¡°Exactly.¡±


    ¡°Why not just ask me to do it from the outset?¡±


    ¡°Because you¡¯re a noble now, not only a cultivator. Politics is part of your world. You need the practice thinking in political terms.¡±


    ¡°Gods, that sounds exhausting. I¡¯m so glad I¡¯m turning this whole mess over to someone else.¡±


    ¡°You said it¡¯s your grandmother, correct?¡±


    ¡°It is.¡±


    ¡°Do you feel it wise to heap so much responsibility onto someone who must be nearly elderly by now?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s quite robust,¡± said Sen, deciding to keep the fact of Grandmother Lu¡¯s status as a body cultivator to himself for the moment. ¡°I think the other noble houses will find her very formidable.¡±


    ¡°Do you intend to introduce her at court?¡± asked Jing.


    ¡°I suppose I¡¯ll have to,¡± said Sen.


    Smirking, Jing said, ¡°Then, might I suggest that you spend some time at court? At least enough time to learn people¡¯s names.¡±


    ¡°You say that like I might offend people by using physical descriptions to point them out.¡±


    ¡°Who would imagine that? People taking offense at being called things like the fat one and the old one and that bald man other there.¡±


    Sen tried to think of something witty to say, but it was hopeless.


    ¡°No, you¡¯re right. That would be offensive.¡±


    ¡°As I said, just take enough time to learn people¡¯s names. It wouldn¡¯t hurt your house to at least look like you don¡¯t hate all of them.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t hate all of them. I¡¯m just wholly indifferent to their survival. There is a difference,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯m almost certain of it.¡±


    ¡°I will concede there is a difference,¡± said Jing with a snort. ¡°So, when will you undertake the grand reshaping of the palace walls?¡±


    ¡°After lunch. It shouldn¡¯t take too long,¡± offered Sen, scooping some rice into his waiting mouth.


    ¡°How long is not too long?¡±


    Sen pondered while he chewed. Swallowing the rice, he answered.


    ¡°An hour or two.¡±


    Jing seemed taken aback by the answer.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you spend nearly half a day on the walls around your manor?¡±


    ¡°Sure, but most of that was the formations. Walls are pretty easy. All you need to do is,¡± Sen started, and then stopped. ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t really matter what I¡¯ll be doing. Just take my word for it, the walls are easy.¡±


    ¡°And what about formations?¡± asked Jing.


    ¡°I could make formations, but not like the ones that I put around my manor. I have to make talismans that let people go in and out. I don¡¯t know how many people come in and out of this place every day, but I don¡¯t plan to sit around making talismans for the next year. Beyond that, I used up a lot of my own resources making those formations. I don¡¯t have what I need to replicate that here.¡±


    ¡°Fair,¡± said Jing. ¡°So, just the walls?¡±


    ¡°For now,¡± said Sen, a little uncertainty creeping into his voice.


    ¡°Do you know something I don¡¯t?¡± asked Jing.


    ¡°No. Nothing specific. I¡¯ve just got a feeling like there¡¯s something on the horizon. Something bad. Something that none of us are going to escape from. Then again, maybe I¡¯m just imagining things. I¡¯ve had so many people come after me at this point that I just assume that there¡¯s always someone waiting in the shadows.¡±


    ¡°Hang on to that assumption,¡± said Jing in a deadly serious tone. ¡°There is no such thing as too much preparation. Not in politics. Not in war. As if there¡¯s a difference.¡±


    It was Sen¡¯s turn to go deadly serious.


    ¡°There is a difference. I¡¯ve been on a battlefield. I¡¯ve seen men and women screaming in agony from their injuries while everyone ignored them. I watched people die by the score. I¡¯ve seen the aftermath. Bodies mangled beyond recognition. Wounds that couldn¡¯t be healed. Scars that harden hearts and remake souls. Politics might be ugly, but it is not war.¡±


    Jing fell into a deep, pensive silence, and Sen could almost hear the man¡¯s mind working. He didn¡¯t know if the king was taking what he¡¯d said to heart or not, but Sen hoped he was. The day might come when Jing had to take his nation to war, and it would not serve the man well to think it would be anything like politics.


    ¡°Forgive me,¡± Jing finally said. ¡°I fear I spoke in ignorance. It¡¯s a common analogy but perhaps an ill-suited one.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps so,¡± said Sen.


    Both men turned their attention back to the meal in front of them, but neither ate with any particular joy. Their minds were on other, darker things. Sen did his best to shake away those memories as he stood up and clapped his hands.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s see about making you some big, scary walls.¡±

 V8 Chapter 41 – Now, That Is a Fortress of Doom

    Much as he had done at his own manor, Sen stepped onto a qi platform and rose high above the royal palace. It probably wasn¡¯t necessary. He didn¡¯t need to physically see structures like walls to manipulate them, but a little spectacle was probably in order. He¡¯d drawn quite a crowd the first time around. Of course, he¡¯d been up there for hours and hours. That it would only take him an hour or two hadn¡¯t been a boast to impress Jing. Sen had a rough idea of how much wall he¡¯d be working with, and with the manor as reference, he¡¯d been able to make a rough estimate. Of course, you never know what you¡¯re dealing with until you¡¯re dealing with it, Sen reminded himself. He¡¯d learned that lesson with alchemy. The same ingredients never acted quite the same way. Most alchemy recipes simply worked to compensate for those variances to produce approximately the same results each time. In the same way, these walls might have problems that he hadn¡¯t considered, such as shoddier construction, or some kind of erosion, or something he just hadn¡¯t considered. Oh well, I won¡¯t know until start.


    Cycling for earth qi, he reached down into the walls, looking to get a sense of what he could and couldn¡¯t do with them. He paused then, frowning down at the structures. What he was sensing didn¡¯t make any sense. Huge stretches of the walls were little more than empty shells of rock. They looked sturdy enough to make for a good bluff but that was it. It wouldn¡¯t take much more than a couple of mortals with heavy hammers and a couple minutes of labor to punch a hole straight through them. A cultivator could have done it in moments. Sen couldn¡¯t tell if they¡¯d been made that way or intentionally weakened somehow as a prelude to some kind of attack. He supposed that it didn¡¯t much matter, but he would have to tell Jing about it. He was also startled to find the remnants of formations embedded in the walls. Nothing as complex as what he¡¯d done at the manor, but that they had ever been there was curious. He lowered the qi platform and flew it along the wall, studying what was left of the formations to get a sense of what they¡¯d been for.


    He snorted to himself. He wondered if one of those early kings had been hiding their status as a cultivator the same way as whoever had built that lair beneath his manor. There was a qi-gathering formation or what was left of one. The design was basic. It probably wouldn¡¯t have even drawn the attention of the sects, just slightly lifted the ambient level of qi inside the palace. Sen of all people understood that even small improvements could yield substantial results over time. Boosting the ambient qi level would have shaved down the amount of time that someone had to actively cultivate. Maybe not that important at the qi-gathering stage, but as the cultivator¡¯s needs grew, that reduced time would become increasingly important. If there was another qi-gathering formation somewhere inside the palace, around a specific room, with the right kind of obscuring formation around it, it could have condensed that slightly higher ambient qi into a tiny little cultivation paradise for someone. Sen might have to look around later and see if his guess was correct. Even if it was damaged, he could probably repair it. It could even serve as a kind of peace offering to Chan Yu Ming. Don¡¯t get distracted, he chided himself.


    The other formation took him a little longer to understand. It had suffered substantially more damage, so Sen was forced to do a lot more guessing and rely on more intuitive leaps to puzzle out its purpose. He felt like slapping his own forehead once he pieced it together. It was another low-level formation designed to help subtly reinforce the walls, probably by borrowing a bit of strength from that higher ambient qi level. Sen found himself nodding along. It was a smart design for anyone looking to incrementally improve their safety without being too obvious about it. The strategy also bypassed problems like everyone needing talismans to come and go. It was a passive approach instead of an active approach. Sen didn¡¯t necessarily favor it, but it made sense in a place where hundreds of people needed to come and go on a daily basis. The question was, should he reinstate the formations?


    On the one hand, he didn¡¯t see any harm in it. The formations would provide an obvious benefit. If he improved them a bit, made them a little more obvious, it would be a signal to everyone with eyes to see that a cultivator had taken an active hand in preparing the palace defenses. On the other hand, he had no idea how long these formations had been dormant. Had they been left that way on purpose? The royal family could likely have hired a sect to repair them. They were simple enough that most sects probably would have jumped at the chance to let any outer disciples with some talent for formations get the practice. The big sects here presumably would have done it just to get a bit shaved off their taxes or to smooth over any recent disagreements. Was it possible the royal family just didn¡¯t know? Wouldn¡¯t Chan Yu Ming have noticed? Maybe she wouldn¡¯t have, thought Sen. I didn¡¯t notice until I went looking, and she doesn¡¯t have an earth qi affinity or my experience with formations. Even if she did notice them, she might not have understood what they were.


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    Sen decided that he would just fix them with some minor tweaks to improve their performance. After he made the walls into something that he considered adequate. Sen rose back into the air, and much as he had done before, he reached deep into the earth below, searching for stone he could use without causing problems. He drew it up slowly and filled in all of those hollow spaces in the wall. After all, he couldn¡¯t build better walls on a hollow foundation. He allowed the functionally liquefied rock to harden in place. With that pesky problem out of the way, he got down to the real work. He also told himself that he was just smiling. It was definitely not a smirk. The work itself was almost trivial. There was no real discovery to it, which meant that he soon grew bored with just making the walls higher, thicker, and all but impervious to anything mortals might throw at it. Then, he remembered a piece of shiny black rock that Uncle Kho had shown him once. It was called obsidian. It had been both oddly fragile and absurdly sharp, but his earth qi affinity would let him do almost anything he wanted to it.


    He had to reach far deeper into the earth to find what he wanted. It was the first time in a long time that he¡¯d felt that much strain when working with earth qi. He was working right at the boundary of his limits just to touch what he wanted, but he could touch it. That was enough. It took a while, but the outside of the walls went from the dull gray of normal stone to the shining black of obsidian. Then, because Sen couldn¡¯t resist the urge, he covered the interior side of the walls with it. Oh yes, he thought, that does look positively foreboding. With the physical structure of the walls complete, he turned his attention to the formations.


    He¡¯d carefully preserved what was already there so he¡¯d have something to build on. He swiftly realized how futile that had been. The qi-gathering formation was simply too primitive for his tastes and the strengthening formation was too damaged. He¡¯d just use them as inspiration instead.


    He soon lost himself in the process of making the formations the way he did when he was making elixirs. He forgot all about making the qi-gathering formation into something basic and found himself looking for a way to make it more efficient. To let it concentrate the qi better without simply soaking up all of the qi in the city. To let it draw from sources that were farther away. After all, there was earth qi to spare deep in the earth. For that matter, there was a surprising amount of untouched water and fire qi down there too. Reach high enough up in the air, and there were currents of air qi that wouldn¡¯t even notice the tiny draw from this formation. Wood qi was trickier but not impossible. There were parks all over the city. It was as if all Sen needed to do was reach out his hand and tiny channels spread out through the city, the earth below, and into the sky itself. Since he was looking for it, he felt it when the qi started to flow toward the palace.


    Satisfied that the qi-gathering formation was working properly, he went to work on the strengthening formation. Once he really focused on the problem, it took him about two minutes to design the formation in his head. It was in place minutes later. It wasn¡¯t a subtle design because it wasn¡¯t a subtle problem. The formation needed to do exactly one thing and do it well. However, Sen did think that he saw the obsidian take on a bit of extra luster as the formation activated. Then again, it might have just been a change in the position of the sun. He looked around at the masses of metal that had been floating around him for a while. It had been necessary to extract them to maintain the integrity of the stone. He¡¯d almost negligently divided them into the different kinds of metal. He turned his eyes to the biggest floating mass. Iron had been the most common ore. Then, definitely without ever once smirking, he retrieved a particular beast core.


    It still had some remnant divine qi in it. He¡¯d mostly hung onto it because it was divine qi, not because he had any particular use for it. But now he did. He siphoned the qi out of the core and imbued it into that largest mass of metal, which took on a telltale sparkle. He refined and shaped the metal into more elegant-looking spikes, ones ¡°befitting¡± of the royal palace, and spaced them out at the top of the wall, slowly sinking them into the stone. Between the sunlight and the divine qi, the things positively glowed in the late afternoon light. Sen looked around and found that he was generally satisfied with the work. He lowered the qi platform down to where Jing stood, his expression stupefied.


    Grinning like a madman, Sen said, ¡°Now, that is a Fortress of Doom.¡±

 V8 Chapter 42 – Nope, I Think It’s Fine

    Jing turned to look at Sen and said, ¡°This doesn¡¯t strike you as a bit¡­ Isn¡¯t it a bit much?¡±


    Sen cast an appraising eye around. We¡¯ve got huge walls that are vastly ominous with glowing spikes, he thought.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen, ¡°I think it¡¯s just about right. Oh, before I forget, huge sections of the walls were hollowed out.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± demanded Jing, his eyes narrowing.


    ¡°Yeah. Wouldn¡¯t have taken anything to punch a hole through them. I fixed it, but it¡¯s probably something you¡¯ll want to have someone look into.¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± said Jing with anger smoldering in his eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you could tell how recently it was done.¡±


    Sen thought it over.


    ¡°I¡¯m not really an expert but probably in the last ten years or so. I think the weather would have exposed it if it¡¯d been much longer than that.¡±


    ¡°I see. Do you know how it was done?¡±


    ¡°I suppose it could have been done by hand. It would have been a mind-bogglingly difficult task, to say nothing of labor intensive. Plus, I¡¯m not sure how they could have kept it hidden. Chiseling away rock is loud, and all that rock would have had to go somewhere, but mortals can be tenacious and inventive. A cultivator could have done it, although I¡¯m not sure why they¡¯d bother unless someone hired them to do it.¡±


    ¡°Or maybe some nice ambassador from the other side of the mountains did it?¡± offered Jing.


    Sen nodded and said, ¡°Or that. But I don¡¯t have even a speck of proof that they did. Nobody else was doing anything to the walls while I was working, and I didn¡¯t notice any qi that didn¡¯t belong there.¡±


    ¡°And there¡¯s nothing to stop them from doing it again, is there?¡±


    ¡°Heh. I wouldn¡¯t worry about that,¡± said Sen, feeling very smug.


    Jing raised an eyebrow and asked, ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°It turns out that there were already some old formations in the walls. They were broken, but I fixed them. Well, I replaced them. I imagine Chan Yu Ming will notice the next time she¡¯s here that the qi is a bit stronger at the palace. The other one is very simple, though. It strengthens the walls, which I already reinforced. Whoever did that to the walls before was just dealing with stone. Now, it¡¯ll be more like trying to chisel through solid metal.¡±


    ¡°But it could be done?¡±


    Sen lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug.


    ¡°Sure, it could be done. But not quietly. They¡¯d almost have to break the formation first. People would notice that.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Well, for one, it¡¯s not easy to break a permanent formation like this one. The actual formation is inside the wall. It¡¯s not like they can just walk up and pluck a flag out of the ground. They¡¯d have to destroy part of the wall to get at it. And, there¡¯s a lot of qi running through it. It¡¯d all try to race out of the break in the formation.¡±


    ¡°What would that do?¡±


    Sen thought it over and did some quick calculations.


    ¡°You¡¯d suddenly get a nice view of a mountain from the palace.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°Not a huge mountain,¡± said Sen, holding up his hands. ¡°Just a small one.¡±


    ¡°How much of my city would that destroy?¡±


    ¡°Just a little bit.¡±


    ¡°Would you care to attach a number to that vagueness?¡± asked Jing.


    ¡°I would not.¡±


    The king shook his head slowly and said, ¡°So, the point is, nobody will be able to pull the same trick quietly.¡±


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    ¡°I don¡¯t want to say nobody, but to disable it quietly, you¡¯d need a very strong earth-qi cultivator who is also a very talented formation master. Someone at least as good as me. And, even if that happens, you¡¯ll still know because those shiny spikes up top would start flashing like mad.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because I told them to. I know you can¡¯t keep a direct eye on the formations, so I put something nice and visible up to let you know that it¡¯s working as intended,¡± said Sen, smiling up at the spikes. ¡°Again, it¡¯s not flawless. Someone with just the right experience and affinities could probably disable it, but they¡¯d also have to mess with divine qi. Most cultivators aren¡¯t going to do that because the heavens get very short-tempered about that kind of thing.¡±


    It took a protracted moment of silence before Sen looked back at Jing. The man was staring at him.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°You used divine qi to put up what amounts to some kind of warning lights?¡±


    ¡°They aren¡¯t just warning lights. They also make the royal palace the very visible center of the city, day or night. Very symbolic, wouldn¡¯t you say?¡± asked Sen.


    Sighing, Jing answered, ¡°And that madness didn¡¯t strike you as ill-advised? Aren¡¯t you worried that the heavens are going to strike you down?¡±


    Sen frowned. He supposed it was possible. He tilted his head up to look at the sky. He counted to five. No tribulations appeared. No storm clouds manifested. It was all very peaceful.


    ¡°Nope. I think it¡¯s fine.¡±


    ¡°Even for a cultivator, I fear you may be too casual about the heavens.¡±


    ¡°Here¡¯s the thing. If the heavens truly wanted me dead, there¡¯s nothing that anyone in the world could do to stop it. Especially me. On the other side, since I¡¯m not dead, I have to assume that the heavens aren¡¯t actively seeking that end. Which means that they¡¯re probably not going to strike me down for being a little flippant. And it¡¯s not like I tried to use heavenly qi for something evil. It might seem trivial, but I used that qi in an act of creation, which I think is its actual purpose.¡±


    ¡°Is that so?¡± asked Jing, his scholarly mind clearly interested in that idea.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know for certain. It¡¯s not like the heavens are talking to any of us about this kind of stuff. But it was almost stupidly easy to use that qi the way I did. It¡¯s suggestive if nothing else.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fascinating. I¡¯d never considered that qi might resist being used in a given way.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a cultivation basic. All qi is that way. I¡¯m going to have a much more difficult time trying to use fire qi if, for example, I¡¯m out on the ocean. The whole environment is saturated with water qi, so using anything other than water qi gets tricky. You¡¯re fighting with the basic nature of things, so you get a lot of resistance.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have the same problems on land?¡±


    ¡°You do, but it¡¯s less exaggerated. Certain places are just better for some kinds of qi than others. Ever heard of the Order of the Celestial Flame?¡±


    Jing frowned in concentration and said, ¡°That¡¯s some manner of sect some distance to the south of here, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t call themselves a sect but yeah. Anyway, they set up in a place called Inferno¡¯s Vale. It¡¯s this little valley and everything there is just soaked with fire qi or is fire-qi attributed. It¡¯s kind of amazing that the whole place isn¡¯t on fire all of the time. But it¡¯s ideal for fire cultivators. High availability of the kind of qi they need and lower resistance to using it. Send those poor fools into a swamp, though, and life would get a lot harder for them in a hurry.¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, that would suggest that sects set up in the capital because they also find something they need here.¡±


    ¡°They do,¡± said Sen. ¡°Visibility and population. With so many people here, they don¡¯t need to go searching for new cultivators. Those cultivators are being born right here. The sects just need to pluck up the most talented candidates.¡±


    ¡°How very practical of them,¡± said Jing in a dry tone.


    ¡°It¡¯s not that different than mortal businesses hiring people who are good at math, or farmers hiring people with strong backs.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± sighed Jing. ¡°It would just make my life easier if they were somewhere else.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I imagine that¡¯s true. It¡¯d make my life easier if they weren¡¯t here if that¡¯s any consolation.¡±


    ¡°Shockingly, I am not consoled.¡±


    ¡°Well, I tried.¡±


    Jing looked like he was about to ask something, but a pack of servants that had been growing increasingly thick by the second seemed to sense the pause in the conversation. They pounced on Jing like a pack of starving wolves.


    ¡°Your majesty,¡± cried out a serious-looking man in an almost pleading tone. ¡°Your majesty, if I could have just one moment.¡±


    That set off a wave of noise as all of the other servants tried to get his attention. Sen resisted the urge to smirk at the put-upon expression that briefly flashed across the king¡¯s face.


    ¡°It seems my masters require my attendance,¡± said Jing.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it supposed to be the other way around?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Only in legends. I appreciate the work you did here today. It should quell any rumors. I also appreciate the information about the walls. I¡¯ll see to it that someone trustworthy is tasked with investigating it.¡±


    ¡°It was the honor of this lowly citizen to aid his royal majesty,¡± said Sen.


    With a snort of amusement and a roll of his eyes, Jing walked over to the servants. Sen snickered to himself at the sight, made a qi platform, and flew over the walls. He saw cultivators from all the sects floating at a distance, their eyes staring at the spikes at the top of the walls, naked greed on their faces. Sen almost wanted one of them to try it. But if a bolt of tribulation lightning hit the walls he¡¯d just made, it could do some serious damage. There were also crowds of mortals in the streets who pointed up at him as he appeared over the walls. He heard them saying Lord Lu as he passed. When he arrived back at the manor, he immediately regretted his amusement at Jing¡¯s plight as his own pack of ravenous wolves descended on him. Servants, he reminded himself. They¡¯re called servants. Helpful, dutiful, ravenous servants.

 V8 Chapter 43 – Ally?

    Hsiao Jiayi fussed in front of the mirror, as she had been for the last two hours. She had decided that she needed to go see that man. Then, she had spent half the morning justifying it to herself. He¡¯s a powerful cultivator and noble in this kingdom, she thought. It only makes sense for me to make contact with him. He might be more amenable to our ways than the mortals here. That last thought had been an almost laughable lie. Any doubts she might have held about his loyalty to the king had been put to rest by his alterations to the palace walls. The walls alone were intimidating. They all but radiated an obdurate strength. She didn¡¯t know what it would take to break through them, only that it would not be fast work. Yet, the walls themselves were almost secondary to those spikes that Judgment¡¯s Gale had affixed to the top of the walls. Spikes that glowed with divine qi.


    She had gone and stared up those spikes for hours at a time. Divine qi. Right there. That most precious resource, the tiniest bit of which was all but guaranteed to trigger an advancement, within her reach. It had seemed that all she needed to do was reach out and grab one of those spikes. Yet, an abundance of caution had stayed her hand, as it had stayed the hands of the hundreds of other cultivators who also come to stare with lust at those priceless, newly minted artifacts. All knew that divine qi was in the world, but it could not be gathered. It could not be harvested. It could not be contained. It resisted all attempts to make it do anything but what it wished to do. There was but a single way in which a cultivator could receive divine qi. It had to be given directly by the heavens, and the heavens were notoriously stingy with it.


    Yet, somehow, this Lu Sen had summoned it forth and imbued it into what, at first glance, might be mistaken as decorations. Except, they were not decorations. They were a warning. A declaration that those who defied this king, defied the heavens themselves. It was the only explanation for how and why Judgment¡¯s Gale had been granted divine qi and permitted to do something like that with it. More to the point, they were a warning to those who make an enemy of Lu Sen himself. He was dangerous enough in his own right but making an enemy of a man on such friendly terms with the heavens would be like summoning a foe from the ancient legends. Of course, those who made such a man an ally might also reap a favorable disposition from the heavens. She doubted it would be anything so straightforward as an instant infusion of divine qi. However, success often hinged on a moment of luck, and the heavens could press a finger down on that particular scale. She had never been one to turn her nose up at a moment of good fortune.


    She had other reasons for wanting to befriend the terrifying new noble. Reasons that she kept deep in her heart. Reasons that she barely dared to even think of, let alone speak aloud. But she felt them there, those tiny seeds of hope, seeds she fervently wanted to one day bloom into a better reality for her, her siblings, and her people. She didn¡¯t know if this man was the key to unlocking the door to that future, but he might be. He could be. Yet, the only way to know for sure was to go to him. Entice him to see her in friendly terms. She expected true friendship was beyond her grasp. That well had somehow been poisoned by the word princess. That still baffled her. In her homeland, and most of the lands beyond the mountains, her status as a princess meant a constant stream of people who wanted to be her friend, her lover, or her confidant. Noble and royal status seemed to evoke similar responses among most people here, but not with him. If anything, he seemed to consider noble rank as a mark of shame. It was a formidable, if not all but insurmountable stumbling block.


    Even if that hadn¡¯t been the case, she was a foreigner, a representative of a land that was a threat to the safety and stability of this kingdom. Facts he clearly knew. While Lu Sen seemed largely indifferent to the fate of the kingdom itself, he did care what happened to King Jing. If that pretend king died, Hsiao Jiayi shuddered to imagine the cataclysm that would fall on the heads of those who did it. She had witnessed a glimpse of that man¡¯s wrath, just a tiny piece of it, and she had no desire to ever find herself on the wrong side of it. No, she thought, I need to make sure that he always sees me as an ally. She hesitated then. Would that even work? Could she get away with just looking like an ally? It won¡¯t be enough, she thought. I can¡¯t just appear as one. I¡¯ll need to actually be one. The problem was that she didn¡¯t know what that would mean or what it would look like. All she knew was that things at home were never going to change with the players involved.


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    If she was going to make things change, she needed help from the outside. Help from someone powerful enough to withstand the pressures of the cultivator nobility. Yet, it also needed to be someone who didn¡¯t want to rule. Someone who would find the prospect of being in charge of a bunch of other cultivators abhorrent. It had seemed like an impossible task to find such a person. Oh, there were people with enough power. Nascent soul cultivators were rare, but they could be found. Unfortunately, the kind of ambition, the level of discipline, the single-minded focus that let people amass that kind of personal power almost inevitably made them the exact kind of people who would take power if it became available. That was why she¡¯d never bothered seeking out help from any of the sects. They might help, but only if the offer was tempting enough. Anything tempting enough would inevitably mean ceding control. She didn¡¯t want to trade a homegrown tyrant for a foreign tyrant.


    She¡¯d all but given up hope that such a person existed in truth. Yet, by all accounts, this Lu Sen was doing everything he could to escape the trap he¡¯d neatly put himself into by claiming a noble house. Not that there was any true escape. She knew that better than anyone. He still seemed determined to be hampered as little as possible by that noble title. If he was all that he appeared to be, he might be the kind of person she needed. Of course, she had also gathered that he was the kind of man who did not appreciate being used by others. She would need to strike an incredibly careful balance with him. She couldn¡¯t just use him to get what she wanted, or he would end her himself. There could be no play-acting at friendship. There would have to be a mutual exchange of benefits. She would have to invest parts of her real self or the gambit would fail. It also wouldn¡¯t be quick. A point that was driven home again as she stepped off her flying sword at the front gate of Lu Manor.


    As intimidating as the palace walls had become, there had also been an element of showmanship to that. Lu Sen had done that for the king, as a gesture, and clearly to make a point. It was almost overblown. The walls and protections around the Lu Manor were a different matter entirely. She thought that those were a much truer representation of the man himself. The walls were tall, stark, and gray. The spikes at the top didn¡¯t glow with divine qi. The formations at work were not passive. The entire structure radiated menace. It was also a message. Strangers are not welcome here. She stood there for a long moment before she realized that there were no guards on the outside to greet her, or announce her, or let her into the grounds. There were just the unadorned stone gates that seemed to stare at her. Finally, the gates opened enough for a slim man to slip through. All her senses went on alert. She had seen men like this before. Men with a particular blankness in their eyes. Men who moved with that extra bit of predatory grace. This was Lu Sen¡¯s hired killer, though the heavens only knew why he thought he needed such a person. The man offered her a polite bow.


    ¡°This one is Long Jia Wei. How may the House of Lu help you today?¡±


    ¡°I am Hsiao Jiayi, ambassador from the kingdom of Kanshun.¡±


    ¡°I greet the esteemed ambassador,¡± said the killer.


    ¡°I wish to speak with Lord Lu,¡± announced Hsiao Jiayi.


    ¡°Is Lord Lu expecting you?¡± asked the man.


    ¡°He is not.¡±


    A small frown ghosted across the man¡¯s face before it smoothed back to a neutral non-expression.


    ¡°I see,¡± said Long Jia Wei, before holding out a talisman to her. ¡°If you¡¯ll please follow me, I will see if the Lord has time for you today.¡±


    She took the talisman and stepped after the man. As soon as she reached the gates, she understood what the talisman was for. The sense of menace immediately escalated to something that bordered on killing intent. If not for the talisman, she wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d have been able to escape before those defenses brought her down. She steeled herself and kept walking. The defenses reluctantly turned their attention away from her. She didn¡¯t exhale in relief, but she wanted to. The killer led her past a number of mortals engaged in a variety of tasks, only some of which she understood. Before she could study their activities or ask any questions, she was brought into the manor itself. Long Jia Wei offered her another polite bow that she was quite sure possessed no actual respect.


    ¡°Please wait here while I inquire with Lord Lu,¡± said the man before pausing. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t stray. The Lord takes a dim view of spies.¡±


    Hsiao Jiayi had no interest in finding out what Lu Sen taking a ¡°dim view¡± of something would look like in practice. She nodded at the man and settled in to wait exactly where she was.

 V8 Chapter 44 – Escape!

    ¡°Lo Meifeng¡¯s right,¡± said Grandmother Lu. ¡°You should use sects to secure your holdings. It¡¯s efficient.¡±


    Sen nodded and even managed to keep a calm expression while he did it. He¡¯d been getting a lot of practice at those just lately. He¡¯d also been dragging his feet on the decision to use the sects because¡­ He sighed. It was just because he didn¡¯t like it. He knew it was the right move. He¡¯d just been hoping that Grandmother Lu would have some excellent reason that they shouldn¡¯t do it. Accepting the inevitable, he looked over at Lo Meifeng, who was at least making half of an effort not to look smugly satisfied.


    ¡°Make the arrangements. Negotiate whatever seems like fair payment.¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°Now that we¡¯ve finally settled that, we should move on to¡ª¡±


    The door opened and Long Jia Wei stuck his head into the room. Sen could hear Pan Shiji making infuriated noises in the other room.


    ¡°Yes?¡± asked Sen, praying that the man had some crisis that needed to be dealt with immediately.


    ¡°Lord Lu, there is a woman here to see you.¡±


    ¡°What woman?¡± demanded Grandmother Lu, Lo Meifeng, and Pan Shiji in perfect, annoyed unison.


    Long Jia Wei cast a wary look around before turning to Sen again.


    ¡°She introduced herself as Hsiao Jiayi. She claims to be the ambassador from some kingdom called Kanshun.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s who she really is,¡± muttered Sen. ¡°The real question is, what the hell is the princess doing here?¡±


    Long Jia Wei took a heartbeat or two before he said, ¡°I didn¡¯t inquire as to the purpose of her visit. I thought it might be indelicate to do so.¡±


    Sen fought down the urge to be annoyed with the man. He probably would have been annoyed if Long Jia Wei had asked what she was doing there. Sen suspected he would have been annoyed if Long Jia Wei had shown up with bags of gold and announced that the heavens had given them a thousand peaches of immortality. Everything was annoying him these days. He¡¯d been in this city for too long. Dealt with too many people he didn¡¯t like and didn¡¯t trust. It was all just getting to him. But it seemed that his prayer had been answered. He rose from his seat, instantly triggering a squawk of protest from Lo Meifeng, and a disapproving glower from Grandmother Lu. He gave them an even look.


    ¡°Are you suggesting that I leave a foreign dignitary to cool her heels in the entryway?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± mumbled Lo Meifeng in a dissatisfied tone.


    ¡°I suppose it¡¯s more trouble than it¡¯s worth to annoy a princess. Even if she is from Kanshun.¡±


    There was rancor in Grandmother Lu¡¯s voice when she said Kanshun, although Sen had no idea why. He¡¯d have to try to remember to ask her about it at some point. He turned to Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°Take me to wherever you stashed her highness.¡±


    ***


    Hsiao Jiayi knew that she hadn¡¯t been left to wait for that long. However, it felt like it was taking forever. Doubt had started creeping in about this decision. What if she¡¯d misread him? What if he decided that she was more trouble than she was worth and just killed her? She had come to his manor uninvited. He could make up any story he wanted and no one here was going to contradict him. The servants, the mortals, would say whatever he told them to say. The cultivators she could sense weren¡¯t going to defy him. Not when it would all but certainly mean joining her in death. As the seconds ticked away, she started giving more and more serious consideration to simply fleeing. This was a terrible idea, she thought. You should have approached him somewhere else. Somewhere more public. Somewhere with witnesses who might tell the truth if he turns murderous. Hsiao Jiayi had convinced herself that it was time to go when she heard footsteps approaching. She looked to a set of stairs. She saw the hired killer, and then her eyes shifted up.


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    Damn it to the thousand hells, she screamed in her head. She¡¯d thought that after that first exposure to the man that she¡¯d be over this. But her heart had started racing again, and she found herself just wanting to stand there and look at Lord Lu. Well, she wanted to do that after she did a lot of other things with him or maybe to him. She wasn¡¯t even sure. She forced herself to look away. No, she thought, it wasn¡¯t quite as bad as the last time. Looking away had just been painfully difficult, rather than nigh impossible. Of course, now the man was practically in front of her and she couldn¡¯t remember what expression he¡¯d been wearing. She looked up at him again and willed herself to focus on his actual expression. He didn¡¯t look pleased to see her. Time to start working on that problem, she told herself. She offered him a polite bow, one that was usually reserved for equals. She honestly didn¡¯t know what was correct in this circumstance. As a noble, he was beneath her, but his personal strength dwarfed hers. She thought it probably balanced out. She offered him a smile that she¡¯d been told was very charming.


    ¡°Hsiao Jiayi greets Lord Lu.¡±


    His expression didn¡¯t change in the slightest. He had not been charmed. She didn¡¯t know what she¡¯d expected after seeing him with Lia Dongmei. He probably didn¡¯t find anyone else in the world charming or beautiful. He bowed back, but it was a negligent thing, almost offhand, practically designed to offend.


    ¡°Your highness. To what do I owe this,¡± his lips twitched in a way she couldn¡¯t interpret, ¡°pleasure?¡±


    ***


    Sen did his best to reign in his frustrations as he watched a series of emotions flicker to life and then die on her face. There was uncertainty, a bit of anger, a bit of hopelessness, and some determination. Don¡¯t be an ass to this woman just because she¡¯s a princess, he told himself. You can¡¯t just automatically assume that anyone with a noble or royal title is beyond redemption. She hasn¡¯t done anything to you. Just to give the woman a chance to regroup, he turned to Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± said Sen. ¡°I expect I can handle things from here.¡±


    The man gave Hsiao Jiayi a cool, evaluating look before he bowed and withdrew. That look might have worried Sen if the man didn¡¯t give almost everyone the same treatment. He supposed universal suspicion was one way to get through life. It probably wasn¡¯t the best way, but it wasn¡¯t like Sen had room to talk. He¡¯d spent years in exactly that state, and he¡¯d been a lot more hostile about it. Returning his attention to the ambassador, Sen sighed and tried to inject something like friendliness into his voice.


    ¡°Ambassador, was there something in particular that you wanted to discuss with me?¡±


    If nothing else, the softer tone seemed to let the woman relax a hair.


    ¡°Lord Lu, our conversation ended,¡± she seemed to search for a politic word, ¡°abruptly the other evening.¡±


    Sen considered and rejected several possible answers before he settled on something simple.


    ¡°True. It did.¡±


    ¡°I was hoping we might continue it. I thought it might go more smoothly if we spoke with less scrutiny on us.¡±


    It seemed obvious that the woman was after something. Sen just couldn¡¯t guess what. She was choosing her words with a lot of care like she was worried he¡¯d discern some evil plot from a slip of the tongue. There was no way around it. If he wanted to find out what she was actually after, he was going to have to indulge her in this conversation she seemed to want so badly. He just wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to bother with it. He already had enough work for six men. Whatever this woman wanted, he didn¡¯t delude himself into thinking it would be anything but more work.


    ***


    He¡¯s going to send me away, thought Hsiao Jiayi. She could see it in his eyes. She could feel it in the air. The distrust. She¡¯d forgotten that he hadn¡¯t started out life as a noble. He¡¯d started as a commoner in this kingdom. He hadn¡¯t been bred to consider every word before uttering them. So, all the care she was taking with her words looked like manipulation. And maybe it is, she admitted to herself. If nothing else, she was aiming to get the best outcome for her. Beyond the distrust, though, she could see his desire to not be bothered. There was a weariness in him that he did a good job of masking, but it was evident for those with the skills to see. She also had the intuition that, should he send her away now, that would be the end of it. She would become someone he might pass a few words with if he ever showed up to another political function, but a wall would go up between them that reached to the heavens. A wall she would never pierce. She needed to shift this dynamic, and she needed to do it now. She took a stab in the dark.


    ¡°I don¡¯t particularly enjoy this city,¡± she said, being utterly honest. ¡°And my trip here was taken at speed. I assume there are things worth seeing beyond the walls. I¡¯ve considered going out to look for them, but it seemed ill-advised to do so without a guide. Perhaps you could show me?¡±


    She knew she¡¯d hit the right note when an almost desperate need crossed the man¡¯s face. He wanted to be away from this city. He clearly didn¡¯t care where, just as long as it was beyond the walls.


    ¡°Yes,¡± he said, reaching out, grabbing her arm, and almost dragging her toward the door. ¡°Let¡¯s go. Right now.¡±


    He cast an almost hunted look over his shoulder as he pulled her outside. The treatment was so abrupt, so base, that she couldn¡¯t help but laugh a little. Anyone who tried something like this back home would find one of her blades buried in their chest. Yet, one look at his face said he wasn¡¯t really trying to drag her toward something, let alone something untoward. He was trying to outpace something.


    ¡°Is there a rush?¡± she asked, still giggling a little.


    ¡°Gods, yes,¡± he muttered. ¡°We need to go before they figure out that I¡¯m escaping.¡±

 V8 Chapter 45 – A Place to Breathe

    Sen picked them both up on qi platform and flew them away from the manor. He moved them away quickly and, once they got to the city wall proper, he boosted the speed to something he was certain that Lo Meifeng couldn¡¯t match. He¡¯d mostly been focused on making sure that no one was following them to drag him back to make more decisions. He knew he couldn¡¯t escape it forever, but the thought of getting away for even an hour or two had been too much temptation even if it did mean dealing with a princess and her agenda. Not that having an agenda really made her different or special. The sad truth was that pretty much everyone he met these days had some kind of agenda. If he refused to talk to anyone with an agenda, he¡¯d never talk to anyone ever again. He glanced over at the princess in question and suppressed a smirk. Apparently, she wasn¡¯t used to moving quite as fast as he was carrying them. She¡¯d locked her expression into one of calm, but her fists were clenched so tight that it was a wonder her palms weren¡¯t bleeding.


    Sen went back to watching where they were going, only occasionally glancing back to make sure there was no obvious pursuit. They were flying north over the wilds at this point, mostly because he knew that part of the countryside better than any of the other directions. There was a place he¡¯d been meaning to go back to for a while now. A nice little spot far enough from the road that no one was likely to go there. If I can remember where it is, thought Sen. He¡¯d found it almost by accident on one of his previous, more covert, trips to the capital. His eyes lit up when he spotted what he was looking for. He shifted the direction they were moving a little and a few minutes later, he lowered the platform into a secluded little area. It wasn¡¯t quite big enough that he¡¯d call it a valley, but it did have a nice little waterfall that dropped down into a startling clear pool of water that fed a few small streams. It might even be a small lake, thought Sen, uncertain about where the lines were between things like pools, ponds, and lakes. Of course, the waterfall wasn¡¯t the main reason Sen liked the place.


    ¡°Are those spirit oxen?¡± asked Hsiao Jiayi, sounding nervous.


    Sen looked to what probably qualified as a small herd of the spirit beasts. He watched in amusement as a smaller one broke away from the herd and started thundering toward them.


    ¡°They are,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°We need to go. They¡¯re powerful. We can¡¯t fight all of them!¡± shouted Hsiao Jiayi as she grabbed his arm with vice-like strength.


    He rolled her eyes at her as he peeled her fingers off his arm.


    ¡°We aren¡¯t going to fight any of them,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°What?!¡±


    Sen ignored her as he started walking toward the charging ox. He smiled as one of the other members of the herd let out a decidedly chiding moo. The smaller ox somehow managed to look guilty as it slowed to a trot and then a walk, even if there was a decidedly excited spring to its steps. It came up to Sen and, almost shyly, bumped its head against his chest. He reached out and rubbed the youthful ox¡¯s head. It pranced back and forth a little in obvious happiness. The rest of the herd made its way over at a more dignified pace. Sen moved through the large animals, petting their heads and offering small treats to the youngest ones that had been held in place by the elder oxen. He spoke with the herd leader, a bull that had accepted him without question, but kept a baleful gaze fixed on the dumbfounded Hsiao Jiayi. The greetings done, the herd moved off again at a slow, but steady pace. Smiling at the retreating herd, Sen walked back over to the other cultivator. She looked back and forth from the herd to him several times before words all but exploded from her mouth.


    ¡°What in the thousand hells was that?¡± she demanded.


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    ¡°That was a herd of spirit oxen,¡± said Sen before he started walking over to the small lake.


    He heard the woman spluttering behind him as he moved. Yeah, he thought, this was exactly what I needed. Get away from the city. Pet some oxen. Leave a princess flabbergasted. He¡¯d reached the shore of the lake before the ambassador caught up with him. For some reason, he always expected the shore to be sandy, but it insistently remained a shallow field of smooth stones. He reached down and picked one up. There was nothing special about that particular rock aside from being close at hand, but he held onto it anyway, slowly rubbing his thumb across it as he stared over the water. The lake had perpetual ripples rolling across the surface from the waterfall, and he watched one of them until it slowly broke apart at the far end of the lake. He imagined that was where shallow channels started to carry water away in the streams that kept the area lush enough to feed the small herd. He could feel an inner tension slowly starting to ease inside of him.


    ¡°There¡¯s so much noise in the city,¡± said Sen, cutting the princess off before she could start demanding a better explanation. ¡°So many people. I understand why the mortals do it. Build cities, I mean. The advantages are obvious, but at the same time, I don¡¯t understand how they do it. Living so close together. I don¡¯t know how they breathe.¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± started Hsiao Jiayi, obviously confused by the change of subject. ¡°I suppose they just get used to it.¡±


    ¡°That must be it,¡± agreed Sen, his eyes still fixed on the water.


    ¡°Those spirit oxen,¡± said the woman.


    He supposed he had to give her credit for not being easily distracted. Still, he sighed.


    ¡°What about them?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Spirit beasts don¡¯t behave that way.¡±


    He gave her what he hoped passed as an enigmatic smile and said, ¡°Don¡¯t they? Didn¡¯t you just see them do it with your very own pretty eyes?¡±


    She opened and closed her mouth a few times while blinking rapidly. Then, with an almost angry cast to her expression, she regrouped.


    ¡°You know what wasn¡¯t what I meant.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a princess and an ambassador. Politics is your entire life. How is anyone supposed to know what you mean when you speak?¡±


    The woman didn¡¯t have an easy answer to that question, so Sen took advantage of her unbalanced moment to calmly step out onto the water. A little water qi and it supported him as if he was standing on stone. He walked a few paces before he turned to look at her. She was staring at his feet, once again nonplussed by things he mostly took for granted.


    ¡°How many kinds of qi can you use?¡± she asked.


    Sen shrugged and said, ¡°Enough.¡±


    ¡°Did you bring me all the way out here just to avoid answering every single one of my questions?¡±


    ¡°You said you wanted to get away from the city. That you wanted to continue our conversation. So, I brought you here. One of the most beautiful places I¡¯ve found. A place that is about as safe as it gets in the wilds and as private as people like us can hope for. You haven¡¯t looked at it at all. When I tried to have a conversation with you, you immediately tried to ask me questions about those spirit oxen. As near as I can tell, all you really want to do is gather information about a potential enemy of your nation.¡±


    ¡°No! That isn¡¯t what I wanted to do.¡±


    ¡°Alright then. What is it that you really want, your highness?¡±


    ¡°I just want us to be friends,¡± said Hsiao Jiayi.


    Sen pursed his lips. She looked like she wanted to believe that. Maybe she even did believe it. But she was just off balance enough that Sen could see that wasn¡¯t the whole truth of it.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    Sen found it a little ironic that he¡¯d been judging Long Jia Wei¡¯s suspicious nature not that long ago. I guess I haven¡¯t left my suspicious nature as far behind as I thought I did. It¡¯d be easier if people stopped giving me such good reasons to hang onto it, thought Sen. When she didn¡¯t say anything, he nodded.


    ¡°Right. You want something. Well, that¡¯s not really a surprise. I don¡¯t enjoy having my time wasted. So, go ahead. Tell me what it is that you want so we can skip ahead to the part where I say no.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve already decided? You haven¡¯t even heard it yet. How can you be so sure you¡¯ll say no?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a princess,¡± said Sen, almost snarling the last word. ¡°I don¡¯t need to hear it. I already know that it¡¯s something self-serving for you and without benefits for me. Because that¡¯s how princesses work. All that matters is getting what you want. You don¡¯t care about the cost because, in the end, other people are just something for you to use. So, I won¡¯t keep you in suspense. The answer is no.¡±

 V8 Chapter 46 – Fruitful Discussion

    ¡°Who are you to judge me without even hearing my words?¡± demanded Hsiao Jiayi, fury lighting her eyes.


    Sen met her furious glare with one as cold as ice.


    ¡°Very well, then. Explain.¡±


    ¡°I seek to bring down a tyrant. To free my people.¡±


    Sen nodded and said, ¡°Oh, a worthy goal, no doubt. So, you¡¯ll bring down this tyrant and replace them with who exactly?¡±


    Hsiao Jiayi ground her teeth when she said, ¡°Me.¡±


    ¡°Yes, how hasty of me to think that your goals are self-serving. And these people you¡¯re going to free. You meant cultivators, didn¡¯t you? You mean to free the cultivators. Not the mortals, who I assume are little better than slaves in your kingdom.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s more complicated than that.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s really not. You can dress it up with whatever justifications you want, but it¡¯s not complicated. In summary, you want me to help you replace one tyrant¡ªwho I¡¯m perfectly willing to believe is horrible¡ªfor another tyrant who will also treat most of the people living under her rule as slaves.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s na?ve sophistry, and you know it. Oversimplifying things doesn¡¯t alter the fact that change doesn¡¯t happen overnight, and it has to start somewhere.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so you plan to bring true freedom to the mortals in your land?¡± asked Sen.


    Sen saw the hesitation, the brief flash of disgust at the very idea, and held up his hand before she could speak again.


    ¡°It¡¯s clear that you don¡¯t. And even if I was willing to set aside your self-serving agenda, and your intention to keep mortals as slaves, there¡¯s one other thing that we haven¡¯t talked about.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± asked Hsiao Jiayi, clearly wary.


    ¡°There¡¯s absolutely nothing in it for me.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ I could reward you with anything you want.¡±


    ¡°You say that like I couldn¡¯t just go out and take anything I want if I truly wished to. The number of people in the world who can stop me has grown exceedingly small. The number of them inclined to stop me has grown smaller still. As for rewards, I don¡¯t need riches. I have them. I don¡¯t need titles. I have one. I don¡¯t need natural treasures. Anything you could offer me, I can go out there,¡± Sen gestured to the wilds around them, ¡°and get them. Probably with a lot less risk involved. In short, you have nothing to offer. A fact that would have been immediately apparent if your thinking involved anyone but you.¡±


    The two of them stood in strained silence, staring at each other for a long time. Sen couldn¡¯t tell if she just didn¡¯t have anything to say, or if she was simply in such a state of rage that she couldn¡¯t make the words come out. Not that it especially mattered to him one way or the other. He thought of one other thing to say that might at least take a bit of the sting out of his words.


    ¡°Besides, you don¡¯t want my help. Not really. It wouldn¡¯t be good for your rule.¡±


    Hsiao Jiayi looked like she was assembling her response one word at a time in her head.


    She finally asked, ¡°What does that mean?¡±


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    ¡°I don¡¯t like nobles. I don¡¯t like most cultivators either and frequently for the same reasons. They¡¯re arrogant. They¡¯re entitled. They treat people with less power like they don¡¯t matter. I¡¯ve been on the wrong side of that, which has made me particularly unforgiving. You¡¯ve got a whole ruling class of people who are both, which I expect has only exaggerated those traits in them. If I went to your kingdom to help you, I doubt most of your cultivator nobles would survive it.¡±


    That idea seemed to bring Hsiao Jiayi up short as if she¡¯d never even considered the possibility that Sen might go on a loathing-fueled killing spree and deprive her of her entire support structure. She went a little pale as she seemed to think it over and found it plausible. Then, she shook her head.


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t kill all of those people because you dislike them.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow and asked, ¡°Why not?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯d be a pointless exercise in bloodshed. You said it yourself. You don¡¯t like wasting your time.¡±


    ¡°You only believe that because you expect me to think like the nobles where you come from. I¡¯d be willing to bet every single one of them has killed mortals for sport, or spite, or no reason at all. Come to think of it, I expect that you probably have too. I would not find it a waste of time to visit that kind of pain and terror on people so callous. I would not find it a waste of time at all. So, tell me, your highness, how clean are your hands? If I look hard, will I find the blood of farmers on them? The blood of servants? The blood of mortals? The kind of blood that runs in my daughter¡¯s veins.¡±


    ¡°Your what?¡± asked Hsiao Jiayi.


    ¡°My daughter. The mortal girl I adopted. Under your rule, you would turn my beautiful, innocent little girl into a slave,¡± said Sen, drawing his jian. ¡°So, I¡¯m forced to wonder if the best thing I can do is kill you here and now. Then, go to your terrible little kingdom and butcher every last person I find who calls themselves a noble or a royal. Simply wipe your civilization from history.¡±


    Hsiao Jiayi had drawn her own sword and adopted a defensive stance. He could feel her cycling qi. It had an odd quality. He didn¡¯t immediately recognize it. For all her preparation, though, he could see she was frightened, no doubt considering the gap between their cultivation levels, and the kind of power she¡¯d already seen him demonstrate. He took a single step toward her, and she flinched back.


    ¡°You¡¯re insane,¡± she hissed at him.


    ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± said Sen, sheathing his blade.


    Her confusion was plain to see on her face.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°That feeling you¡¯re having right now, that fear thrashing around inside of you, that terror that comes from having someone more powerful threaten you just because they can¡­ Remember it. That is what the mortals in your kingdom experience, except it¡¯s all the time for them. Every second of every day. That wretchedness is what you¡¯re so casually ready to condemn them to for the sin of not being cultivators. And you want me to help you? If anyone here is insane, it¡¯s you.


    ¡°Now, put your sword away. I¡¯m not going to kill you. The truth is that killing you, killing your father, killing all of those cultivator nobles truly would be a pointless exercise in bloodshed, just not for the reason you think. It¡¯d be pointless because it wouldn¡¯t change anything. The second I left, one of the other kingdoms that are exactly like yours would swoop in and start it all over again. If I really wanted to change things there, I¡¯d have to conquer the whole damn continent and purge most of the cultivators from it. And that would be insane.¡±


    She didn¡¯t put her sword away or stop cycling as Sen walked off the water and back onto the rocky shore. He started to walk toward where the spirit oxen had gone before he paused and looked over his shoulder.


    ¡°I assume you can find your own way back, your highness.¡±


    He started walking again but didn¡¯t fully relax until he felt her presence rise into the air and fly away. That had not turned out to be the fruitful discussion that he¡¯d hoped it might be. He also knew that he¡¯d been pushing too hard, and taking out some old angers on her. For all that, though, when he¡¯d seen that look of disgust cross her face at the very notion of giving true freedom to mortals, he¡¯d stopped caring very much about what she thought about anything at all. Sen had to force himself to acknowledge that it wasn¡¯t entirely her fault. He¡¯d probably think the same way if he¡¯d been brought up in her kingdom as a cultivator noble. Even recognizing that fact, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to forgive her for holding that view. He probably would have died as a child in her kingdom. Once again, he was forced to reassess the sects. While he was of the opinion that they didn¡¯t do a good enough job of it, they clearly were exerting a restraining influence on the cultivators who lived on this side of the Mountains of Sorrow.


    ¡°Even thinking that left a bad taste in my mouth,¡± said Sen to no one.


    Deciding that he¡¯d done enough distasteful things for one day, he went to play with the ox calves.

 V8 Chapter 47 – No Invitation

    Sen had, very knowingly, procrastinated about returning to the city. Some of it was that the spirit oxen were always just so happy to see him. That held especially true for the young ones. After getting permission, he even took a few of the boldest calves flying. He didn¡¯t take them very high. He didn¡¯t want one of them to panic and bolt off the qi platform just to fall and hurt themselves. But the ones who took the chance seemed amazed and clustered around him, clearly begging for another turn. It was nice to spend time with beings that had few if any ulterior motives. In the end, though, he knew he had to go back. There was just no getting around it. That didn¡¯t stop him from dawdling on the way back because he¡¯d been able to at least make a good guess about what was waiting for him. His guess was mostly right. Within seconds of landing in the manor courtyard, Lo Meifeng came storming out of the manor with a very fake smile.


    ¡°Did you enjoy your afternoon?¡± she asked in a sickly-sweet voice.


    ¡°Parts of it,¡± Sen hedged.


    ¡°I¡¯m so glad to hear it,¡± she said, the sarcasm so thick it felt physical pressure against Sen¡¯s face. ¡°So, when can we can expect an announcement of the happy news?¡±


    ¡°Happy news?¡± asked Sen. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°Oh, you haven¡¯t heard yet? You have been away. Let me fill you in. After you very visibly flew out of the city in broad daylight with a foreign ambassador on your arm, people just assumed that you two were running away together. An elopement! Oh, the women were swooning and weeping in envy. Wait, no¡­¡± said Lo Meifeng, pressing a finger to her lips, ¡°that wasn¡¯t what really happened. You were taking the ambassador hostage to put pressure on Kanshun. What a loyal friend to the king you are. Wait, wait, no, you took the ambassador out of the city to have a duel. When she came back and you didn¡¯t, it was a sign that you must be dead. Judgment¡¯s Gale, the mighty hero, Lord Lu had been cut down by that evil foreign woman! You must be his restless spirit. Will you stand watch over the armies as we march off to war to avenge you?¡±


    Sen winced. He¡¯d been wrong. This was so much worse than he¡¯d expected.


    ¡°You know those stories are absurd. None of that happened,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Of course, I know that. But it doesn¡¯t matter than I know that. Nobody else knows it!¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± sighed Sen.


    ¡°Just so I have the facts, what did actually happen?¡± asked Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Well, we went out to this nice spot I know. We had an argument. I threatened her¡ª¡±


    ¡°You threatened her how?¡±


    ¡°I threatened to kill her, her father, pretty much their entire ruling class, and to wipe their nation from the pages of history. But she hates her father, so I¡¯m not sure if that part really counted as a threat,¡± said Sen with a frown.


    Lo Meifeng¡¯s hands curled in a way that suggested she might want to strangle him before she said, ¡°I just¡­ Why would you do that?¡±


    ¡°I was trying to make a point. Actually, I was trying to make a couple of points now that I think about it.¡±


    ¡°I have rarely found I needed to threaten to topple a nation to make a point.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that argument was sort of complicated. She wants to¡ª¡± Sen cut himself off as it struck home where they were standing.


    Looking around, he could see that all activity had stopped. Everyone was looking at them and, more importantly, listening to them. That might not be an entirely bad thing. At the very least, it should put an end to any rumors that he was carrying on some kind of secret marriage with a foreign ambassador. Even so, who knew what kind of new rumors were going to be started from what they had overheard? They¡¯ll probably have me invading Kanshun single-handedly by tomorrow morning, thought Sen. He cast an unamused look around the courtyard.


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    ¡°Don¡¯t you have work you should at least pretend to be doing?¡± he asked in a voice loud enough to carry.


    Everyone flinched. People immediately turned their eyes back to whatever task they were performing before they started shamelessly eavesdropping. Sen looked at Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said to his unspoken question. ¡°There is a better place to have this conversation.¡±


    The pair retreated to Sen¡¯s office, where Grandmother Lu was waiting for them. Sen braced himself, even as he put up a minor wind barrier to keep anyone from listening in. It wouldn¡¯t stop sound from escaping, just mangle it up so much it was incomprehensible. He smiled a little as he imagined Pan Shiji¡¯s baffled expression while she pressed an ear to the door. Sen didn¡¯t actually know if she would do something like that, but the thought still amused him. His tiny bit of fun had, though, he turned his attention back to the matter at hand.


    ¡°Grandmother,¡± he said, offering her a shallow bow.


    She glared at him with towering disapproval before shaking her head in clear disappointment.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you, boy. First, you adopt a little girl and don¡¯t bring her to meet me. Now, you don¡¯t even invite me to the wedding?¡±


    Sen groaned aloud and asked, ¡°I¡¯m going to be hearing about this for a while, aren¡¯t I?¡±


    Grandmother Lu cackled in obvious merriment.


    ¡°Years, boy. Oh, you¡¯ll be hearing about this for years. Where is that absentee wife of yours, anyway?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not angry with me?¡± he asked, deliberately ignoring the jibe.


    ¡°Oh, it was a foolish, absurd thing to do, going off with that woman. But you needed the break.¡±


    Sen studied his feet for a moment before he said, ¡°That obvious?¡±


    ¡°Only to people with eyes,¡± she said, then added, ¡°or ears.¡±


    ¡°Were you just pretending to be mad at me, too?¡± he asked Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Oh no. I¡¯m actually mad at you,¡± she said. ¡°Rumors are truth in politics. You made your life, which effectively means my life, much more difficult today.¡±


    ¡°You seemed a little bored lately,¡± said Sen. ¡°I was just trying to help.¡±


    Instead of the swift spark of anger he expected, she smiled at him. It was not a nice smile.


    ¡°You¡¯re right. I have been bored lately, and I am out of practice with my stealth skills. I¡¯ll be sure to remedy that. Soon.¡±


    Images of being stabbed with daggers, stabbed with swords, or shot with arrows, all of them on fire, flashed through his mind. It¡¯s a good thing I heal fast, thought Sen. Before he could do something smart, like apologize, Lo Meifeng spoke again.


    ¡°Now, sit down and explain to us why you thought threatening to declare war on an entire country seemed like a good idea.¡±


    Feeling that he¡¯d pushed his luck enough for one day, Sen did as he was instructed. He explained what happened from beginning to end. His memory was good enough that he could remember the conversations verbatim, so he repeated them. It took a while, and even Lo Meifeng seemed to have calmed down a bit by the end.


    ¡°So, then I played with the spirit oxen calves for a while.¡±


    ¡°You mean you procrastinated,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°No, I mean I made efforts to reinforce my good relations with the one group of spirit beasts that I know isn¡¯t going to attack me on sight.¡±


    ¡°You mean you procrastinated,¡± repeated Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Yes, I mean I procrastinated.¡±


    Grandmother Lu hummed a pensive noise before giving Sen a sympathetic look.


    ¡°I can understand why you threatened her. Doesn¡¯t mean it was a smart thing to do.¡±


    ¡°Probably not,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°But the last time I wasn¡¯t extreme in saying no to something like that, I ended up in a room with a dead king.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s not wrong about that,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°Even so, the only bright light in this entire thing is that she¡¯s on bad terms with her father. She probably won¡¯t complain to him about you, and he probably wouldn¡¯t listen even if she did. Right now, you¡¯re someone who lives far away that made some vague threats and then admitted following through on them would be pointless.¡±


    Sen almost asked why she wouldn¡¯t complain about him to her father but the reason was obvious enough. She¡¯d have to do a lot of lying to explain how the conversation devolved into threats. Lies she¡¯d have to keep track of. Plus, it wouldn¡¯t get her what she wanted. If her father decided to invade to avenge the insult, the most probable outcome was that Sen himself would decide to make good on his threats. She might end up with a throne in that case, assuming Sen didn¡¯t kill her too, but it¡¯d be a throne with no power.


    ¡°So, that¡¯s a good thing, right?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°That¡¯s the only good thing,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°Just because Kanshun probably isn¡¯t going to be a problem, there¡¯s still the other problem.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the other problem?¡±


    ¡°Half of those rumors have painted you out to be some kind of dashing seducer,¡± said Grandmother Lu with a laugh. ¡°There will be women lined up outside the gates, just hoping you¡¯ll notice them.¡±


    Turning a panicked look toward Lo Meifeng, Sen said, ¡°This is a problem.¡±


    ¡°Welcome to the future you made for me,¡± said Lo Meifeng, glaring at him.

 V8 Chapter 48 – Grandfather

    Feng Ming walked through the town where Sen had apparently decided to make his home for the moment. He was less than impressed by it. Not that there was anything specifically wrong with the place, but there was nothing particularly great about it either. It had just clearly been chosen for its proximity to Fu Ruolan and no other reason. The people were friendly enough, even if there were a lot more mortals wandering around armed than was typical for a small town. It also had an unusually sturdy wall. It had the air of something made by a cultivator, but it didn¡¯t look like Sen¡¯s work. Had the boy convinced some wandering cultivator to do the work in exchange for some alchemy? He stopped in at what looked to be the one and only inn the town supported and had something to eat. He listened to the people talking and found himself frowning at just how often the word academy cropped up. That word was an uncommon word at the best of times, especially on this side of the Mountains of Sorrow. It was rare to hear it outside of major cities, but it was on everyone¡¯s lips here. When the serving girl came back over to check on him, he decided to get some clarity.


    ¡°I keep hearing everyone talking about some kind of academy,¡± he said. ¡°Do you know what that¡¯s about?¡±


    ¡°Oh, everyone knows about the academy. It¡¯s just outside town to the south. I¡¯m trying to talk my parents into letting me go, but my father is against it. He says women don¡¯t have any business learning how to use weapons.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said Feng Ming. ¡°Well, I wish you luck in convincing your parents.¡±


    She gave him a bright smile and bustled off to attend to someone else. This is strange, thought Ming. An academy that teaches weapons to mortal women? What kind of mad fool would¡­ This has to be Sen¡¯s doing. Quickly finishing the last of his meal, he marched to the southern gate and out the other side. There was an obvious path leading off the road that he followed until he came across a building that did look like Sen¡¯s work. Spreading out his spiritual sense, he realized that there were a number of buildings clustered in the area. He also felt lots of mortals milling around, some of them clustered into what might be classrooms or some kind of barracks. He was more shocked to discover that there were even a few cultivators. Ones that appeared to be teaching classes. He spotted a modest sign near a door on the building and lifted an eyebrow at what it said. Deep Wilds Academy.


    ¡°What are you playing at here, boy?¡± muttered Ming.


    He wandered around outside the buildings, trying to make sense of what he saw. It had an almost military feel to it, with groups of mortals running in groups or practicing forms. He even saw a few doing what looked like meditation. He studied those people. No, they weren¡¯t meditating, not exactly. They were almost cultivating. They were really too old to be starting down that road. They were also clearly lacking in some crucial guidance. No, thought Ming, that¡¯s not part of the learning here. Sen would never be so careless as to leave people unguided in cultivation. Ming had only been willing to try an unstructured approach with Sen because so many things aligned in just the right way. Even then, it had been a gamble and one that he and Kho had monitored closely. Facts that he¡¯d made clear to Sen after he reached foundation formation. So, this pseudo-cultivation that was happening had to be something unplanned. Spontaneous cultivation? Ming had never heard of such a thing before, but he was the first to admit that he didn¡¯t know everything. Still, thought Ming, where is that boy? If he was aware of this, he ought to be doing something about it.


    Ming was of half a mind to go and do something about it himself, but he suppressed that urge. He didn¡¯t know what was happening here. He shouldn¡¯t interfere before he understood what Sen¡¯s goals were. There was just too much that didn¡¯t make sense. There were too many mortals and not enough cultivators for it to be a sect. Yet, it wasn¡¯t a military thing either. Not with so many mortal girls running around the place. Ming resolved to sit Sen down and get some answers about this madness the moment he found him. He was preparing to go search inside the buildings when a positively adorable little girl came charging up to him. She peered up at him with curious eyes and absolutely no fear in her eyes. This is how children should look at things, thought Ming. He smiled at the girl.


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    ¡°Hello, little one. What¡¯s your name?¡±


    The girl seemed to recall something because her face scrunched up in concentration, which was just about the cutest thing Ming had seen in at least a hundred years. Then, she carefully clasped her hands together and gave him a little bow.


    ¡°This one is Liu Ai,¡± she announced, briefly achieving a parody of adult politeness, before abandoning it entirely. ¡°Who are you?¡±


    He grinned at the precocious little thing and offered her a very formal bow.


    ¡°This one is Feng Ming,¡± he told her. ¡°It¡¯s very nice to meet you Liu Ai.¡±


    The girl started at his name. Her eyes went wide before she offered him a glowing smile. Then, she launched herself forward and hugged his leg. Ming was momentarily taken aback by this unexpected outpouring of affection.


    ¡°You¡¯re my grandfather!¡± she shouted excitedly.


    Ming was feeling both taken aback and mildly confused by the announcement, but he was also amused. This wasn¡¯t the first time some small child had mistaken him for a grandparent, nor did he expect it would be the last time. He just had that kind of a face. He decided to indulge the child.


    ¡°I am?¡± he asked.


    She nodded her head vigorously. ¡°You are!¡±


    ¡°Who told you that?¡±


    ¡°Papa,¡± she said as if that being was the definitive source of all trustworthy knowledge in the entire universe.


    ¡°And who is your papa?¡±


    ¡°Papa¡¯s name is Lu Sen.¡±


    Ming felt like he¡¯d taken a blow to the head. Since when had Sen had an adorable daughter? Had the boy been hiding the girl somewhere? And if so, why had Sen hidden her from him? If he¡¯d known, he would have¡­ Well, Ming wasn¡¯t entirely sure what he would have done. It probably would have involved a lot of sweets, and issuing blanket death threats across the continent. For a brief moment, Ming wondered if he¡¯d been gone for longer than he thought he had. He did lose track of time when he got focused on something. Did I miss out on years of shamelessly spoiling Sen¡¯s little girl? Then, he heard someone laughing. He looked over and saw Ma Caihong, hand clamped over her mouth, using a tree to help her stand as she shook with mirth. When she saw him giving her a narrowed-eyed look, she came over to them. The little girl let go of his leg and cheerfully pointed at him.


    ¡°Grandfather is here!¡±


    ¡°So he is,¡± she agreed, gently ruffling the girl¡¯s hair before she turned twinkling eyes on Ming. ¡°Oh, your face.¡±


    Ming rolled his eyes.


    ¡°You sent her over here like that on purpose, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I absolutely did. It¡¯s too bad Jaw-Long is teaching. He¡¯ll be sad he missed it.¡±


    That prompted a slew of questions that he never got to ask because Ai grabbed a few of his fingers and started pulling him back toward the trail.


    ¡°Where are we going?¡± he asked amiably.


    ¡°You have to meet Zhi,¡± she told him.


    ¡°And who is Zhi?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s my friend.¡±


    ¡°And do you normally just run into the town on your own?¡±


    The little girl stopped and looked up at him with an expression of perfect confusion. Like it had never, not even once, occurred to her that she shouldn¡¯t just run into the town whenever she pleased. Ming glanced at Caihong.


    ¡°You¡¯ll see,¡± said Caihong.


    And he did. As soon as they entered the village. Ai started shouting and waving at people. All of them gave her big smiles and waved back. More to the point, every last one of them carried spears or had jian belted at their waists. Nothing mortal was ever going to bother that little girl inside the town, because she had built herself a fortress of willing protectors. The heavens help whatever poor bastard breaks her heart the first time, thought Ming. With so many people concerned about her well-being, he won¡¯t live to see the dawn. A few of the men and women she waved to came over to say hi and were cautiously interested in meeting Ai¡¯s grandfather. Ming did his best to be gruff and grandfatherly and thanked everyone for keeping such a good eye on his granddaughter. He found it helped people relax. Eventually, they reached a particular house. Ai raced up to the door, opened it, and ran inside.


    ¡°She didn¡¯t even knock,¡± said Ming.


    ¡°She¡¯d only ever do that here,¡± said Caihong.


    Ming lifted an eyebrow, but Ai came back out, all but dragging another adorable little girl with her. She pulled her friend over to Ming, who gave both girls a smile.


    ¡°This is my grandfather,¡± Ai announced proudly.


    The other girl looked up at him, warier than Ai had been, but still curious.


    Ming gave the new girl a very proper bow.


    ¡°This one is Feng Ming. And who might you be?¡±


    The girl gave him a shy smile before she managed something vaguely like a bow.


    ¡°This one is Li Zhi.¡±


    ¡°She draws birds!¡± Ai interrupted. ¡°Show him!¡±


    That was how Ming found himself watching two little girls drawing birds and flowers in the dirt. It was only after that had been going for nearly an hour that he finally turned to Caihong.


    ¡°Where is Sen?¡±


    ¡°In the capital,¡± she said. ¡°Something to do with the king.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm,¡± said Ming. ¡°I wonder if any of the city is still standing.¡±

 V8 Chapter 49 – Rumination

    Sen had ground his teeth when Lo Meifeng first dispatched riders to visit a few, very carefully chosen sects. He ground his teeth every time he thought about it. Sects had been the source of so much unhappiness and pain in his life. The idea of doing business of any kind with them felt wrong. Unnatural. Almost a violation of something sacrosanct. Yet, after hearing just a little bit about how things were on the far side of the Mountains of Sorrow, he knew that they truly were the lesser of two evils. And like or not, his own choices had led him to a place where he had to consider things like what the lesser of two evils were. Given a choice between sects that enforced some level of restraint on their members and cultivator nobility who were perfectly happy to treat mortals like slaves, he would take the sects. It didn¡¯t make employing them feel any better to him, though. That was why he had left that work almost entirely to Lo Meifeng.


    If he¡¯d left it to himself, it never would have gotten done, and it needed to get done. He¡¯d required a fast way to secure those distant Xie properties and holdings in the short term, while he assembled at least semi-reliable mortal forces to go and hold them in truth. As Lo Meifeng had explained to him, repeatedly, and at length, using sects was the only realistic option. All of the other options meant marching forces across the kingdom. Forces he still didn¡¯t have or at least not in sufficient numbers. They had recruited a fair number of ex-soldiers and a few mercenaries who had managed to get past Lo Meifeng and Grandmother Lu''s rather incisive questioning. Of course, even if he had been able to find enough men with the right skills immediately, sending them out in large numbers was the kind of thing that always drew attention. Word would spread ahead of them. People would talk. There would be vicious fighting to reclaim every bit of territory.


    All of which could be sidestepped by sending out a comparatively small force of cultivators. Only other sects would question it when cultivators moved, and they wouldn¡¯t take an active interest unless those cultivators made a nuisance of themselves. Sen shook his head and tried to shove his unease to the back of his mind. He¡¯d been having this same argument with himself every single day. In the end, it all came down to a simple question. Do I trust the judgment of the people around me? Sen did trust their judgment. In part because they had earned that trust, and in part because he knew that his poor relationship with sects was at least partially his own fault. He had decided early on that sects and everything to do with them was bad. That had bred a kind of arrogance in him. He was dismissive of sects, which he knew infuriated sect members. Knowing that, he acted dismissive of them anyway. Not that sect disciples needed much excuse to start trouble, but he had never helped the situation. And then, he¡¯d used their negative reactions to his disdain for them as proof that sects were indeed evil. It was a tidy little circle of justification he¡¯d made for himself.


    Except, now, he wasn¡¯t in a place where he could indulge that kind of juvenile thinking anymore without hampering his own plans. The world was more complicated than the simple either-or he¡¯d been applying to sects. He¡¯d met people from sects who weren¡¯t terrible people. People who did have honor, and who did care about doing the right thing, even if he¡¯d had to remind some of them of that fact. The truth was that sects were made up of people. Some of them were undoubtedly awful. Some of them were undoubtedly good. Most of them were probably in the middle somewhere. The same as all the mortals Sen had met over the years. It was just easy to see sect cultivators as evil because the power they held made them so much more deadly and destructive when they did turn out to be huge piles of garbage masquerading as a person. Sen stood up from the table where he¡¯d been staring blankly at paperwork for at least twenty minutes.


    ¡°I have to stop doing this to myself. It¡¯s done. Rehashing it won¡¯t change anything,¡± Sen announced to the, for once, empty room.


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    A moment later, the door popped open and Pan Shiji stepped inside.


    ¡°Did you call for me, Lord Lu?¡± she asked.


    Sen was almost positive that she knew he hadn¡¯t called for her, based on the faint blush that crept into her cheeks when he raised an eyebrow at her. He¡¯d also figured out that nothing short of an explicit order not to come into the room would keep her out. An order he forced himself not to give at least six times a day. She¡¯d never done anything wrong. She¡¯s just creepy, thought Sen. There was something unhealthy about her fixation on him. He¡¯d never seen anything quite like it before, and he wasn¡¯t sure what to do about it. Yet, it also didn¡¯t seem like a big enough issue that he should bother his already overworked friends, family, and acquaintances with it. So, he put up with it and hoped that it would go away on its own. Since she was already there, he turned to the table and gathered up the work that he managed to finish before his daily descent into second-guessing choices he already made. I should ask Jing if he has these kinds of problems the next time I see him, thought Sen. He handed the scrolls over and shooed her out of the room.


    He walked over to the window and looked down into the courtyard. He saw guards doing what he assumed were normal guard things. They had even gotten uniforms¡­ No, it¡¯s called livery, Sen reminded himself. He didn¡¯t know why they had to call those uniforms livery instead of just calling them uniforms, but he hadn¡¯t cared enough to dig into the reasons. He also saw people coming and going through the gates, most of them carrying out tasks about which he knew nothing. He honestly found it a little distressing how much activity was being carried out in his name, or at least in the name of the House of Lu, about which he was wholly ignorant. He suspected that most of it consisted of the type of mundane tasks that he¡¯d delegated back at his academy. It was the not knowing that ate at him. When he¡¯d asked about it, he¡¯d been firmly told by both Lo Meifeng and Grandmother Lu that the work didn¡¯t need his attention. Pressing the matter had simply resulted in being told that his interference would only slow the work down.


    Part of him understood their point but it still sat poorly. It¡¯s only going to get worse, he thought. Every bit of that property and those businesses those cultivators will go claim for you will be another thing you can¡¯t oversee directly. It didn¡¯t take any special insight to see that it was too much for any one person. It¡¯s too much for any ten people. This was why noble houses had small armies of servants and staff. It was why the kingdom had buildings full of bureaucrats, to say nothing of armies that had their own structures and officers and bureaucrats. Thoughts like that made Sen feel very small, tired, and overwhelmed. It also made him hate being in this city all the more. He missed Ai so much it felt like a stab wound that refused to heal. He missed Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho. He even found himself missing Fu Ruolan and her instability. He missed Falling Leaf almost as much as he missed Ai. He knew it had been the right decision not to bring her back to the capital. She was happiest in the wilds and places close to it.


    Oh, but what he wouldn¡¯t have given to have her with him. Above all others, he trusted her. Not to give him advice or guide him in these complex political decisions. She wouldn¡¯t have cared about any of this maneuvering he was doing beyond how much or how little danger it put him in. But if the danger came, she would stand beside him and face it. It was a certainty, a fact, a foundational truth in his world. That was the sort of certainty, the kind of loyalty, that you could not pay for. He knew it made him stronger by its mere presence, and he knew it helped keep his emotions stable. He also knew that the only reason he hadn¡¯t abandoned this entire venture already was the constant assurances from Lo Meifeng and Grandmother Lu that he would be free to go back north soon. He wouldn¡¯t be able to stay away from the capital forever, but the prospect of even a temporary respite kept him going. If soon doesn¡¯t turn into tomorrow very quickly, though, I¡¯m leaving anyway, thought Sen. I¡¯ve already been gone for far longer than I ever planned. Slightly cheered by that promise to himself, Sen went back to the table and picked up another scroll.

 V8 Chapter 50 – Peace, Interrupted

    A few days later, just when Sen was on the verge of thinking that maybe he could have brought Ai along for this trip, an explosion made the entire building shudder. For a second, Sen was caught completely flat-footed. He hadn¡¯t sensed any surge of qi. There had been no warning at all. A moment later, he brushed aside that irrelevance and rushed over to the window. He looked down into the courtyard below and mostly just saw smoke and fire. Where he could see clearly, he saw the dead and injured. He almost went straight through the window, but realized that it wouldn¡¯t really save that much time and just create another problem to fix. The door burst open and Pan Shiji crashed into the room, only for Sen to blur past her on his way out. It had been a while since he was so hyper-focused that he fell into that state of mind where every second seemed to stretch out.


    I don¡¯t understand what just happened, he thought. It¡¯s obviously an attack but where did it come from? And why didn¡¯t I sense anything? He also couldn¡¯t understand why it had happened in the courtyard. He¡¯d always assumed that any attacks here would target him, specifically. That was why he¡¯d created such aggressive defenses. It would give him those few heartbeats of warning he¡¯d need if some hostile cultivator showed up who had the kind of power necessary to bring him down. However, the defenses hadn¡¯t so much as twitched. Even now, they were calm. Had someone found a way to tamper with them? It seemed unlikely given their complexity. It would have been easier to take them down than to alter them. Plus, there was that disturbing lack of any kind of qi before or during the explosion.


    This attack, though, didn¡¯t make any sense. It looked like it had intentionally targeted the mortals down in the courtyard. Was it designed to instill terror in the people who had chosen to come work for the House of Lu? A warning to scare off any would-be servants and guards? Or was it simply an attack meant to lash at him in any way possible? Who stood to benefit from that? The list of people who might want to hurt him that way was depressingly long, and it didn¡¯t matter right at that moment. He¡¯d reached the entryway and, unlike up in his office, he didn¡¯t choose the path of least destruction. Sen crashed through the doors, almost unconsciously reaching out and catching all of the flying debris with air qi before it could hurt anyone.


    The courtyard was pure chaos. Things were on fire. The smoke was so thick it impeded even Sen¡¯s enhanced vision. People were running. They were screaming. They were dying. Up until that moment, Sen¡¯s relationship with all of the people working for the House of Lu had been tenuous. A lot of them were former House of Xie members. A group he had mixed feelings about at best. The rest had been virtual strangers. He could only name a handful of the people they¡¯d hired, largely because he so rarely interacted with them. It wasn¡¯t due to some intentional design to keep them at a distance. They just had jobs that didn¡¯t include necessary trips to the room he was stuck in most of the time. When he did have the opportunity to wander around, it almost always happened late in the night when the mortals were asleep. It had also been easy to dismiss them because nothing bad was happening. I should have known better, thought Sen, I should have known it wouldn¡¯t last.


    That tenuous connection Sen had felt with the many servants and staff that had accumulated solidified into something far more real. None of them would have been hurt if they didn¡¯t work for him, or hadn¡¯t been all but blackmailed into working for him. They wouldn¡¯t have been targeted or gotten caught up in some plan to get at him that backfired. Their pain could be laid directly at his feet. He owed them all for this pain they hadn¡¯t brought down on themselves. He owed them, and he would find out who had done this. He would find those people, and he would make examples. But first, he had to save as many people as he could.


    Qi burst from Sen like a hurricane. He used fire qi to redirect and douse the oddly persistent flames that stubbornly clung to everything. Water qi followed immediately on its heels, snuffing out stray embers and offering at least a momentary reprieve from burn injuries. Wind qi roared through the courtyard. It seized up that thick, choking smoke and drove it high into the sky like a pillar of unspent anger. Then, he was in motion. His spiritual sense guided him. He hurled debris out of the way to find the most injured. Summoned healing elixirs that were safe for mortals and all but force-fed them to the injured. He was everywhere, ordering those who could walk into the manor and flying those who couldn¡¯t on qi platforms. He tried not to look at the expressions of the people. Their fear was bad enough, but worse still was the hope in their eyes as he imposed order on the chaos through sheer force of personality. They¡¯re putting their hope on the wrong person, he thought. If I was worth a damn, I would have prevented this from happening in the first place.


    His hands curled into white-knuckle fists every time he found a body. Someone who he¡¯d been too late to help. His spiritual sense could only help him find the living, so it felt like a punch to the gut every time he found one of the dead or, worse still, parts of them. This will not go unpunished, he promised the fallen. He knew it was really a promise to himself and to the living. The dead were already gone and starting their journeys in Diyu. The memory of this day would soon be washed away as they moved on to their next lives. That they would have a next life, another chance, should have been a comfort to Sen. It wasn¡¯t. He was¡­ He was whatever came beyond rage, beyond fury. As for any fool who imagined he¡¯d simply give up if finding the culprits proved difficult would discover that he was willing to wait as long as it took. Lo Meifeng and Grandmother Lu soon joined him in the courtyard. Lo Meifeng¡¯s face was a cold mask. Grandmother Lu, on the other hand, looked as livid as he felt.


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    ¡°Sen, you should go inside,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°You¡¯re the best equipped to help the wounded until we can get some more people in to help.¡±


    ¡°You can bring in whoever you think will help, but no one leaves.¡±


    Lo Meifeng nodded and said, ¡°Agreed. Whoever did this might still be here.¡±


    Sen was surprised at how calm he sounded when he said, ¡°I don¡¯t care what it costs. I don¡¯t care what it takes. I want whoever did this found. Find them for me, Meifeng. Bring them to me.¡±


    Grandmother Lu was staring at Sen like she barely recognized him.


    ¡°What do you mean to do with them, boy?¡±


    ¡°I intend to make them tell me everything about why they did this. Then, I will make them all suffer.¡±


    A sad look passed over Grandmother Lu¡¯s face before she said, ¡°Such a long way to come in such a short time.¡±


    ¡°You disapprove?¡± he asked.


    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°I just wish that it had been me who knew it had to be done, instead of you.¡±


    Sen grimaced a little and said, ¡°We all have to grow up eventually.¡±


    ¡°I suppose we do,¡± she said before looking around at all of the damage. ¡°What a senseless thing.¡±


    Sen nodded in agreement and then, at a gesture from Lo Meifeng, he went inside. The badly injured had been placed on the floor near the door, while the less injured had been moved somewhere else. I guess someone had their head on straight, thought Sen. A few of the servants were inexpertly tending to the wounded, while the rest milled about in a confused mass. Sen started barking orders, less because the servants could actually help the injured than because they needed something to do. He needed to let them feel useful so they wouldn¡¯t feel utterly powerless. Even as he was doing that, he was summoning his pot, and shaping a stove from the stone of the floor itself. All of this felt far too much like the aftermath of that battle between the Order of the Celestial Flame and the Clear Spring Sect. People moaning, some of them screaming, and some of them so hurt that they had, mercifully, lost consciousness. Except this would be so much harder because mortal bodies were so much more fragile.


    He summoned every last elixir he thought was safe for mortals from his storage rings. Servants were told to hand them out to the less injured people. He had sent people off to make bandages that he expected they wouldn¡¯t need, but it was still useful to have them. He issued orders to make food for those who could eat. Soon, the confused disorder around him turned into purposeful action. Then, he got to work. Sen started out thinking everything through but soon dropped into that trance state where he wasn¡¯t thinking so much as reacting. He moved from injured person to injured person. Burns were the most common injury, but he had plenty of experience with those. There were also puncture injuries from flying debris. The trickiest thing was the impact damage from the physical blast itself. That had proved catastrophic to delicate parts of their bodies, such as ears, eyes, and even their organs.


    He fell into a rhythm with it. All of those years of gathering medicinal plants and alchemical reagents were serving him well. He didn¡¯t need to think up substitutes because he had everything he needed. The screaming and moaning slowly subsided as the elixirs took hold. He¡¯d even made some elixirs designed specifically to limit pain, even if he harbored some worries about the potential side effects. People were suffering now, so he had to help them now. The one kind of injury that gave him pause was the amputations. People had lost arms, legs, hands, and feet. One young man in what looked like guard livery had lost both his eyes. Sen saved them for last. It had probably looked a little cruel to the servants, but it had been done solely to give his intuition time to work the problem.


    He¡¯d had ideas about how the right elixir could possibly regrow limbs, but never tested them. He¡¯d never even heard about anyone else attempting it, at least not with any success. For the first time since he¡¯d started, Sen hesitated. The trance shuddered and threatened to break down before he strangled the life out of those doubts. The injuries were right in front of him and as recent as injuries could be. There would never be a better chance of repairing that damage. The longer the injuries had to settle, the harder it would become. Sen let himself fall even deeper into the trance. He was so deep that he couldn¡¯t even describe what he was doing as thinking anymore. He was communing with something. Reaching out into the world to grasp that knowledge he needed.


    ¡°Sen!¡± Lo Meifeng almost shouted.


    Startled by the unexpected noise, Sen snapped out of his reverie.


    ¡°What?¡± he demanded.


    ¡°You¡¯re done. You¡¯ve treated them all,¡± she said.


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen, his mind coming back into focus. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±


    It was only then that he saw the servants and staff and some people he didn¡¯t even recognize standing around. They were all staring at him in ways that made him decidedly uncomfortable.


    ¡°Why are they looking at me like that?¡± Sen whispered to Lo Meifeng under his breath.


    ¡°Probably because they witnessed you performing miracles,¡± she said. ¡°So, the usual, I guess.¡±

 V8 Chapter 51 – Allegiance

    ¡°You said you wanted the responsible persons found and didn¡¯t care about the methods or the cost,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve had a little time to sleep on it, does that still hold true?¡±


    Sen¡¯s only answer was to drop a bag full of gold onto the table between them. Lo Meifeng nodded and stored the bag in her own storage ring. After that, a steady stream of people that a blind man could recognize as dangerous came and went through the manor. However, none stayed for longer than it took to have a brief, private meeting with Lo Meifeng. They all left looking highly motivated. Sen didn¡¯t ask who they were or what orders she gave them. For once, the only thing Sen cared about was results. He did spend a lot of time in the courtyard, glaring at the spot where the explosion had happened. It had taken a lot of conversation with the survivors to piece together an incomplete idea of what had happened.


    Someone had brought in a load of what was supposed to be food. They even had a talisman to let them get through the gate. That was enough to make Sen gnash his teeth. That was such an obvious flaw in the defenses. The talismans weren¡¯t personal. A problem Sen realized he would need to overcome, although not until he could get his anger under wraps again. Still, the use of one of his own talismans undoubtedly meant that the body of someone who used to work for him was out there somewhere. Probably dumped or buried outside of the city walls, never to be found. One more body to add to the butcher¡¯s bill, fumed Sen. There was a headcount going on to see who was missing. They had a fairly good idea of who had died in the courtyard, but a lot of these people were still strangers to each other or had been brought on recently. It was a frustrating possibility that he¡¯d never know who had died with any certainty, which would make it impossible to see to the needs of their families.


    The explosion itself had vexed Sen to no end. He couldn¡¯t comprehend how such a thing could have been accomplished without any use of qi. It was Long Jia Wei who had finally solved that mystery for him after the man found Sen glaring at the scorched, damaged stones in the courtyard.


    ¡°It¡¯s a kind of mortal alchemy,¡± said Long Jia Wei. ¡°My sect¡­ My former sect taught us about it. A tool to use in times when we didn¡¯t want to make it obvious cultivators were involved. It¡¯s a combination of sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter. It¡¯s a crude but effective way to cause an explosion.¡±


    Sen frowned as he thought about it. Auntie Caihong had taught him a bit about those kinds of ingredients, but her focus was healing and poisons. Not surprisingly, those had become his own areas of real expertise, even if he was much more interested in healing than in poisons. Applying what he did know about those ingredients, he could see how that combination would produce such results. He nodded.


    ¡°I would like you to procure those ingredients for me,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°As you wish, Lord Lu,¡± said Long Jia Wei. ¡°May I ask why?¡±


    ¡°I want the people who did this to personally experience the effects,¡± said Sen, his face going hard. ¡°Not all at once. In small doses. One limb at a time, perhaps. I wish to repay their action in kind. However, I need to understand what I¡¯m dealing with to make that happen.¡±


    Long Jia Wei went very still for a moment, and Sen found the man¡¯s expression all but inscrutable. Then, he offered Sen a deep bow.


    ¡°You are a frighteningly uncompromising man, Lord Lu. I sincerely hope that you never find a reason to turn your anger on me.¡±


    ¡°Continue to perform your duties diligently, and I¡¯ll never have a reason to turn my anger on you,¡± answered Sen.


    It was a compliment and a warning. Sen knew he wasn¡¯t usually that subtle, but he thought that Long Jia Wei was smart enough to glean the proper meanings from it.


    ¡°As you say. If you¡¯ll excuse me, Lord Lu. It seems that I have purchases to make.¡±


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    Sen waved a hand at the man. There was no reason to make him stand around while Sen brooded over things he couldn¡¯t change. For that matter, Sen couldn¡¯t really afford to waste his time brooding. There was still work to do. It was work that he wanted to put off but it wouldn¡¯t wait. Doing his best to steel his mind, he went back into the manor. The servants he crossed paths with, people who had once looked at him with fear, now stared at him with deep respect, some of it bordering on reverence. He hated that expression. It was so inappropriate, but it wasn¡¯t like he could order them to stop looking at him that way. Well, I guess I could order them, but I doubt it would do any good, thought Sen. So, as Falling Leaf had advised him, he just strove to live with it.


    He made his way to a set of rooms that had been set aside for a specific group of the wounded. Most of the people with minor injuries had been healed, physically anyway, and allowed to leave. The most injured, the ones who needed more time or more direct attention from him, had been put into these rooms. That included the ones he had experimented on to try to restore their missing limbs. Looking back, he wished he¡¯d gotten their permission to do it. Not that any of them had been in any condition to agree to something that extreme. Most of them hadn¡¯t even been conscious, which was probably a minor blessing. Still, he felt ill at ease about it. Like he¡¯d been using them somehow.


    It hadn¡¯t been his intention to use them. He hadn¡¯t gone looking for people to experiment on. He could have found those people in just about any town or village in the nation. Manual labor was both common and dangerous. People got injured. In some cases, amputations happened. Even after he¡¯d thought it was possible to regrow someone¡¯s limbs, he¡¯d hesitated. What if he was wrong? How much worse would it be to offer that kind of hope and discover he¡¯d overestimated himself? With the people who¡¯d been injured by the explosion, he¡¯d just reacted to the situation and done his best to help. A good intention, certainly, but Sen wasn¡¯t sure how much intentions counted in situations like this. He didn¡¯t think any of them would have rejected the possibility of being restored, but he didn¡¯t know that. The lack of knowledge ate at him, and it wasn¡¯t like he could take it back now. At least, he couldn¡¯t take it back without doing some truly gruesome things.


    The thing that let him sleep was that the experiments had, as near as he could tell, worked. Even so, he¡¯d kept those people separated so he could keep track of their recovery. He hadn¡¯t been certain that those new limbs, hands, feet, and eyes would work properly. The body was a horribly complicated thing. The more Sen learned about it, the more complicated it became. He¡¯d relied far more on qi to fill in the gaps in his understanding than he felt comfortable with. He¡¯d been haunted by the idea that he¡¯d regrown limbs that people wouldn¡¯t be able to use. That they¡¯d just dangle, limp, like pieces of dead wood that they¡¯d have to drag around for the rest of their lives. It would have been like some kind of sick parody of wholeness. If that had happened, Sen might never have been able to stop thinking of himself as some kind of monster.


    That hadn¡¯t happened, though, which wasn¡¯t to say that it had been entirely successful. At least, he couldn¡¯t say it was entirely successful yet. Those new limbs weren¡¯t exactly the same as the old ones. The muscles were weak. Fingers lacked dexterity. The one exception was the young man who had his eyes restored. He had claimed the new ones worked better than the old ones ever had, even if he couldn¡¯t bear bright lights yet. So, Sen went from room to room, asking questions, looking at the limbs, and examining everyone with his qi and spiritual sense. He fixed a smile in place and kept it there until his face hurt. He had to because that look of reverence he saw in the faces of the servants was full-blown worship on the faces of these people. They were zealots. Converts to a religion that hadn¡¯t existed a few days before, and they had made him the central figure in that religion.


    That, more than anything else, convinced him that he needed to leave the capital as soon as he¡¯d wrapped up this explosion business. His continued presence would only be a distraction. When he¡¯d finished speaking with the last person, he walked out into the hall and stopped dead. All of the people he¡¯d seen were waiting, many of them leaning on the people next to them to stay upright. The person he¡¯d just seen staggered out into the hall on a leg that wasn¡¯t ready to support her. She walked over to the rest of them. They all lowered themselves to the floor and kowtowed to him. Sen was about to tell them all to stop it, but they beat him to the punch. As one, they did as Pan Shiji had done and swore their lives to him personally. Sen just stared at them as a brief divine glow surrounded them all for a moment before fading from view. He hadn¡¯t planned for this, and his mind proved supremely unhelpful in navigating the situation. All Sen could think was, what in the thousand hells am I supposed to do now?

 V8 Chapter 52 – A Bad Week to Be a Bad Guy

    Guo Wuhao, captain of the city guard, was not having a good day. He hadn¡¯t had a good day yesterday or the day before either. In fact, he hadn¡¯t had a good day in almost a week. These were the kind of weeks that had killed his predecessor. Powers far beyond him were moving in the city. There had been rumors of some kind of an attack at the new Lord Lu¡¯s manor. It was hard to credit those rumors. What kind of insanity would drive someone to attack a cultivator that powerful? Still, he had sent men to investigate, as was his duty. Those men had come back to report that they had been turned away at the gate, first by hard-faced guards, and then by a cultivator who had left them all shaken to the core. No explanations were given, and it wasn¡¯t like the city guard was going to storm the manor of a noble without a direct command from the throne. Let alone to investigate something that the resident lord clearly did not want investigated. He had considered the matter closed. Just some kind of noble fight or cultivator conflict that had gotten out of hand and would be settled out of sight. Or, so he had thought.


    A sharp pain in his stomach brought the man out of his own thoughts and back to the moment, where his second-in-command was giving him a report. Guo Wuhao only half-listened to the report. It was more of the same. It seemed someone was unhappy with the recent turn of events. Reports had been coming in all week. Figures in shadowy corners doing shadowy things. People disappearing in the night. Entire buildings disappearing in the night with only rubble left to show that anything had once stood there. It stood to reason that this was the work of Lord Lu, but there was no way to tie events to the man and no way to do anything about it even if they could. Still, Guo Wuhao had lived in the capital for his entire life. He knew the way the city felt when things were generally well, and when things were not well. Right now, there was a feeling in the air. Someone wanted vengeance, and they meant to have it. The city guard could try to stand in their way but that was a path to disgrace or death. His attention had wandered again, so he couldn¡¯t recall what his second-in-command had just said.


    ¡°What was that?¡±


    ¡°I asked what should we do?¡±


    Guo Wuhao winced at another sharp pain in his stomach and said, ¡°Nothing.¡±


    ¡°Nothing?¡± asked the startled young man before him.


    ¡°Nothing. Whatever this is, these events are beyond us. We can either stand aside or be crushed. I won¡¯t throw lives away on something we can¡¯t stop.¡±


    ***


    Chen Yuyi shifted his position on the bed again. There hadn¡¯t been much sleep in the last week. Not since that day. It had seemed like a simple enough job. Get a talisman from someone who worked for that new lord. He¡¯d done a hundred jobs just like it. He¡¯d assumed that the point was to let someone infiltrate the manor and do some basic spying. The risk of offending a noble was high, and a cultivator even more, but the pay had simply been too good to pass up. He¡¯d followed some woman from the manor and caught her alone. If she¡¯d just given up the talisman, he¡¯d have let her go eventually. He wasn¡¯t a sadist. He didn¡¯t like killing people. He¡¯d even offered to pay for it. Enough that a servant could simply disappear with the money. Not only had the woman refused, she¡¯d even tried to fight him. There hadn¡¯t been another choice. He killed her and took what he needed. The entire matter had slipped from his mind until the rumors started to spread. An attack at that new lord¡¯s manor. People dead or dying or injured.


    His unease at those rumors had exploded into full-blown panic when a different kind of rumor started in the places where people like Chen Yuyi spent their time. There were new predators at work in the city. A pack of person-shaped wolves that someone had turned loose to hunt on their behalf. He¡¯d left the city proper that very day and found a farm in one of the villages that helped supply food to the capital. He¡¯d rented a room from the farmer and been a very quiet, very respectful tenant. He¡¯d picked a place where no one knew him, which had advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that he¡¯d been able to make up a name and no one questioned it. The disadvantage was that he¡¯d been cut off from his usual sources of information. He was forced to visit the village each day and listen for news of other strangers or people asking questions. There hadn¡¯t been anything like that, but he wasn¡¯t convinced at all that he was safe.


    It¡¯s probably time to move on again, he thought. Maybe go somewhere else in the kingdom. He had more than enough money that he could start some kind of legitimate business. It wouldn¡¯t be anything extravagant. He¡¯d keep it simple. Maybe he¡¯d open up a little noodle shop. He didn¡¯t know anything about noodles, but he could learn. Nobody ever showed up to hurt noodle shop owner. People loved noodles. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. It would mean burying his pride and finding a noodle shop somewhere that would take him on to learn the trade. Still, sacrificing a little pride was a small price to pay for his life. There had to be some noodle shop owner out there without a child to take over the business. Chen Yiyi just needed to find them. Having made the decision, he felt better about things. Calmer. He¡¯d leave in the morning and head to Emperor¡¯s Bay. It wasn¡¯t the capital, but he supposed that was the point.


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    He rolled over to get more comfortable, only to have a gloved hand clamp down on his mouth. He stared up at the figure who had, somehow, impossibly, entered the room without making so much as a single noise. Chen Yiyi was used to dealing with dangerous people. He was friends with some of them. He was frequently hired by dangerous people. The eyes that looked down on him made all of those friends and employers pale in comparison. They were cold, pitiless orbs. The eyes of someone who would wear the exact same expression regardless of whether they were eating a meal or removing fingers one by one. When an invisible force wrapped around his body, Chen Yiyi knew he was doomed. A cultivator had come for him. When the cultivator finally said something, it was a simple confirmation.


    ¡°Lord Lu would like to speak to you.¡±


    ***


    The door opened and, after a gesture, Quon entered the room.


    ¡°He has arrived,¡± said the man.


    Fong Huifen nodded and did her best to smooth her features into a mask of polite pleasantness. After witnessing his display at the royal palace, she had been looking for a way to ingratiate herself to Lu Sen. She hadn¡¯t expected an opportunity to present itself so quickly. Events had simply outpaced her. It was a rare occurrence for the matriarch but not unheard of. No one could know everything, after all. The foolish attack on the man¡¯s new manor had caught everyone unawares. She had not expected it. By all accounts, the king had not expected it. However, she was willing to bet that the most surprised person had been Lu Sen himself. Not that it had slowed him down very much. There were whispers that he had worked alchemical magics the likes of which the world had never seen to save lives that anyone else would have given up for dead. Not simply saved lives, but restored limbs and washed away the scarring that were the inevitable result of burns. She didn¡¯t know how much stock to put in those stories, but she wasn¡¯t sure she dared to disbelieve them either. Stories of such miracles swirled around the man like fog.


    Once he¡¯d finished the healing, though, he had turned his resources to finding the guilty. It had been swift and ruthless. She didn¡¯t know where he¡¯d found the people who were doing the work but found them he had. And that was where the opportunity she¡¯d been looking for finally showed itself. The one thing that she could provide the man was information. While his people were efficient, they didn¡¯t seem to have roots in the city. They were making up for that shortcoming with simple scale, but her family had been in the capital for centuries and centuries. Their spy network was deep. There were entire families who had been in the employ of the House of Fong for ten generations. Never one to let an opportunity slip through her fingers, she had put those spies to work. Even if the information they gathered overlapped with the information Lu Sen¡¯s people gathered, that was actually a benefit. It would serve as a kind of verification. Given what she¡¯d found out, she needed him to believe the information was genuine, and not simply a ploy on her part. Not that she¡¯d expect him to act on it immediately, but if he put in the effort, he could confirm it.


    When a servant showed Lu Sen into the room, Fong Huifen told herself that she was focusing on a spot between his eyebrows because she wanted to. She most certainly was not avoiding looking directly at his face. She was far too old to be flustered by the appearance of any man, especially not a man who couldn¡¯t be more than half her age. He gave her a shallow bow and eyed Quon with a curious expression.


    ¡°Matriarch Fong,¡± said Lu Sen, ¡°I don¡¯t wish to be rude, but I have a number of important matters that I should be attending to. You said this was urgent, so I hope we can dispense with the usual pleasantries.¡±


    If she hadn¡¯t known that he was telling the absolute truth, she might have been a little annoyed with his brusque manner. Running her house required a positively obscene amount of her time. She cringed to imagine what it would be like trying to take over an entire house.


    ¡°Of course,¡± she said. ¡°Please, have a seat.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± he said, settling into a chair across from her.


    ¡°Quon, if you would.¡±


    Quon walked over and offered a scroll to Lu Sen, who took it but did not open it immediately. That was more self-discipline than she would have expected from one so young.


    ¡°Patriarch Lu, I have become aware of your recent efforts. I decided to see if my own sources could unearth any information that might prove useful to you. The contents of that scroll contain what we have learned.¡±


    Fong Huifen waited as the man studied her with a distant expression on his face.


    ¡°Why?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? I do not wish for my house to share the same fate as the House of Xie.¡±


    ¡°Is there a reason it would?¡±


    ¡°No, but the world doesn¡¯t always turn on reasons, does it?¡±


    ¡°I suppose it doesn¡¯t,¡± he admitted.


    The man opened the scroll and read through the contents at a speed that Fong Huifen was certain would only be possible for a cultivator. When he was done, he rolled the scroll up again and, after a moment of thought, held it out to Quon.


    ¡°I expect you want to destroy that,¡± explained Lu Sen.


    ¡°Indeed,¡± answered Quon.


    Lu Sen turned his attention back to her.


    ¡°You¡¯re certain of your findings, Matriarch Fong?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Or as certain as one can be in such situations. I don¡¯t expect you to take my word for it. You have your own people. I imagine they can verify anything we found.¡±


    Lu Sen rose from his seat, and she was struck again by how imposing the man was up close. Not that he did anything specific to be imposing, he was just so tall that he loomed simply by standing there. He offered her another shallow bow.


    ¡°I will remember this¡­¡± he seemed to consider what word to choose. ¡°This kindness.¡±


    Fong Huifen rose from her own seat and returned his bow. It irked her, but she made it deeper than his. He was a cultivator and only fools ignored something like that.


    ¡°I wish you good fortune in your current endeavors,¡± said Fong Huifen.


    Then, the man was gone. The matriarch turned to Quon.


    ¡°A success, do you think?¡±


    The man stood in thoughtful silence for a moment before he said, ¡°I think so. What do you think he¡¯ll do?¡±


    ¡°That, I honestly don¡¯t know,¡± admitted Fong Huifen. ¡°I expect we¡¯ll all hear about it whenever it does happen.¡±

 V8 Chapter 53 – Mutual Benefit

    ¡°I¡¯m leaving,¡± announced Sen. ¡°When I¡¯m done making examples and fixing the problem with the defenses, I¡¯m leaving.¡±


    He was standing at the window and staring down at the damaged spot in the courtyard. It was something he¡¯d found himself doing more and more often. He found it was a good reminder to himself never to be too confident that he¡¯d thought of everything. He¡¯d assumed that he¡¯d made them safe here. That assumption had cost people their lives, and that was something he couldn¡¯t make right. It had only been dumb luck that Grandmother Lu wasn¡¯t in the courtyard when that explosion happened. While it probably wouldn¡¯t have hurt him at all, and just left Lo Meifeng in a foul temper, he had no such confidence that Grandmother Lu would have survived it or come away unscathed. That business with the people he¡¯d helped to heal swearing allegiance to him had been the final sign that he¡¯d been in the capital for too long. He drew too much attention here. Not that he could say with any certainty that his presence caused the attack, but it seemed all too likely that it had been a message directed at him.


    ¡°That might be a hasty decision,¡± ventured Lo Meifeng, although she sounded very tentative about it.


    ¡°Perhaps, but I have other responsibilities and obligations. I¡¯ve been away from my daughter for too long. I never planned to be here more than a few days. It¡¯s been weeks and weeks. I¡¯ve sent a letter to Auntie Caihong explaining things. Not everything, but the broad strokes. Besides, are you honestly telling me that you think having me here is more of a help than a harm?¡±


    Lo Meifeng was quiet for longer than necessary before she let out a breath and said, ¡°No.¡±


    Grandmother Lu chimed in then.


    ¡°Well, at least both of your brains are still working. I¡¯ll be the first to admit that having Sen here provides benefits. He¡¯s scary. That solves some problems before they ever start. The issue with scary is that it provokes extreme responses. If we want to get things in order here, we need things to stabilize.¡±


    ¡°And I don¡¯t stabilize things,¡± said Sen. ¡°Not here, at any rate. I¡¯m too unpredictable for the capital. I don¡¯t answer to anyone. No one knows how to react to me.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t answer to anyone, boy?¡± asked Grandmother Lu.


    ¡°Except for you, Grandmother.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I thought,¡± she said, her eyes twinkling.


    ¡°And you want to go home,¡± added Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Of course, I want to go home,¡± said Sen. ¡°I wanted to go home before I ever got here. At home, there¡¯s a little girl who is always happy to see me. My biggest problems most days are dealing with a mildly unhinged nascent soul cultivator and making sure my academy has enough food and instructors. Annoying at times, I¡¯ll admit, but I almost never have to kill anybody. It seems like every time I come to this damn city, I end up having to kill a lot of people. Which would you pick?¡±


    ¡°I can concede that, in your place, I¡¯d probably pick being at home as well,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°There you go.¡±


    ¡°There are still things to do before you go,¡± said Grandmother Lu. ¡°Don¡¯t let your mind leave before your body does.¡±


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    Sen nodded and said, ¡°I know. And I won¡¯t. First things first, what do the two of you think of the information that Fong Huifen provided? Accurate?¡±


    ¡°Probably. I¡¯m more concerned with why she provided it if I¡¯m being honest,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°A valid concern,¡± said Grandmother Lu, ¡°although, ultimately, not that complicated.¡±


    ¡°No?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t met her, yet, but I¡¯d be willing to bet that she¡¯s like me. She¡¯s getting old. She isn¡¯t someone doing things that only serve her pride. At least, probably no more than any other noble. She¡¯s looking for ways to preserve and protect what¡¯s hers. Angering a cultivator who already proved he¡¯s willing to end a noble house doesn¡¯t serve those ends. If I was her, I¡¯d be looking for some way to make you like me, or at least make you not actively dislike me.¡±


    ¡°So, you don¡¯t think she¡¯s manipulating me?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be foolish. Of course, she¡¯s manipulating you. She¡¯s just being smart about it. You don¡¯t need to lie to manipulate someone, especially if the truth will get you what you want. Giving you that information creates at least a little goodwill on your part. If she does something that interferes with your goals down the road, it may stay your hand or at least make you more likely to let her make it up to you. It¡¯s also a good way for her to weaken one of her rivals. And she accomplishes all of that by helping you do the thing you want to do.¡±


    ¡°Then, we¡¯ve confirmed it. Patriarch Wu was involved?¡±


    ¡°It appears that way,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    Sen looked out the window at the courtyard again. He didn¡¯t like the idea of being manipulated, but Grandmother Lu was right. It wasn¡¯t manipulation in the sense he normally thought of it. Fong Huifen hadn¡¯t lied to him. She hadn¡¯t even suggested a course of action. She¡¯d given him information and told him to confirm it for himself. In the end, the only thing she¡¯d done was point him in a particular direction. It was a direction that would ultimately benefit her and her house but only because it was true. The entire thing would have collapsed if he¡¯d found out it wasn¡¯t. So, Sen asked himself, what¡¯s really bothering me about this? He stood in thoughtful silence for a few minutes as he considered the question. The only answer he could come up with was that he didn¡¯t like that he¡¯d been so easy to read, but it wasn¡¯t like he¡¯d been opaque about his intentions. Fong Huifen had simply observed those intentions and found a way to make them useful to her. The whole thing was deeply cynical, but he couldn¡¯t deny that they¡¯d both get something out of it.


    ¡°I suppose,¡± said Sen, ¡°that I have to give the woman credit for seeing an opportunity and grabbing it.¡±


    Lo Meifeng made a surprised noise. Sen gave her a questioning look.


    She shrugged and said, ¡°You don¡¯t generally respond well to manipulation.¡±


    ¡°Usually, when someone is manipulating me, they do it in such a way that I¡¯ll get nothing for my trouble. She provided something useful. I won¡¯t pretend that I like it, but I also won¡¯t pretend that the information she offered was useless. We aren¡¯t friends, but she¡¯ll get what she wants. We won¡¯t be enemies either. That¡¯s probably about as good as it gets in politics.¡±


    ¡°And what about the House of Wu?¡± asked Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°What about it?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Well, I guess I¡¯m wondering if they¡¯ll get the same treatment as the House of Xie. Not to put too fine a point on it, but we¡¯re already stretched thin here. I don¡¯t think we have the kind of resources or manpower to take over two noble houses.¡±


    ¡°Oh. That. No, I¡¯m not going to punish the entire house. I mean, they might have it coming. Hells, they probably have it coming, but I don¡¯t know that for sure. Plus, tearing down another house could have consequences I can¡¯t see. It might destabilize the entire kingdom for all I know. I didn¡¯t come here to start a civil war. So, the House of Wu gets off light.¡±


    ¡°You do intend to do something, though,¡± said Grandmother Lu.


    ¡°Of course. I said the House of Wu gets off light. Wu Chia-Hao is another matter entirely. Patriarch Wu will pay just like everyone else. He¡¯ll pay with his life.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t just drag him into the street and kill him,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°I mean, you can, but you shouldn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯ll let him die in his sleep or something else that everyone will find palatable but not before he talks. That man will tell me everything I want to know first.¡±


    ¡°Why would he do that?¡± asked Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Just because we all know that I¡¯m not going to destroy his house, I¡¯m not planning on letting him in on that piece of information.¡±

 V8 Chapter 54 – Human Shields

    Sen swept his eyes across the rows of armored men standing between him and the gate of the Wu manor. They were terrified. As they rightly should be facing down a peak core cultivator, thought Sen. I¡¯d question their sanity if they weren¡¯t terrified. Sen let his gaze settle on a man in more ornate armor than the rest. He had at least done his subordinates the courtesy of standing out in front.


    ¡°You are not welcome here,¡± said the man in the ornate armor.


    ¡°Do you think that makes a difference?¡± asked Sen. ¡°Send these men home. I will not treat you kindly if you force me to butcher them.¡±


    ¡°You would have us dishonor ourselves? We have a duty to protect the noble House of Wu.¡±


    ¡°There will be no honor here,¡± said Sen. ¡°None for you in ordering these men into a fight they cannot win. None for them in being cut down like herd animals. And none for me in doing the slaughtering. As for your duty¡­ You¡¯ll have to find your own way with that.¡±


    Sen waited while the one in charge seemed to weigh what was best to do. Sen was at least mildly sympathetic to the man¡¯s position. After all, if he survived, he would be the one who had to answer to the House of Wu when all of this was over. When Sen¡¯s sympathy and patience gave out, he turned his attention to the rows of men. He let a shadow of his killing intent wash over them.


    ¡°Leave,¡± he commanded.


    Whatever discipline had kept them in place up until then cracked and shattered under the influence of Sen¡¯s killing intent. The one in the ornate armor started screaming at them to stand their ground and other absurdities that did nothing to quell the fear that gripped the fleeing group. When it became clear that his efforts were wasted, the man whirled toward Sen.


    ¡°You damn cultivators! Always doing whatever you want because no mortals can stop you. You¡¯re not gods!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right. We¡¯re not gods. If I were a god, I would have restored the lives of all the innocent people your master helped to murder. But, since I¡¯m not a god, I have to settle for the next best thing. Now, you can join your master in his fate, or you can stand aside. I¡¯d prefer not to kill you. I don¡¯t relish the notion of adding to my karmic debts, but if you stand against me after I¡¯ve provided you ample opportunity to leave,¡± Sen said before he shrugged in indifference. ¡°I doubt the debt will be heavy.¡±


    As soon as the man¡¯s hand twitched toward his sword, Sen activated his qinggong technique. He covered the distance between them in the blink of an eye and pressed a finger against the man¡¯s forehead. It wasn¡¯t a trick he used often, but he truly had no wish to kill the man. His loyalty to the House of Wu was foolish but also laudable in its own way. Killing him would accomplish nothing. Even the idea of it felt petty. So, Sen sank his qi into the man¡¯s body and made a hundred tiny adjustments that knocked the man unconscious without doing any permanent damage to him. Sen watched the man¡¯s eyes roll up into the back of his head before the fool crumpled to the ground. It would likely take the man a few hours to wake up, by which time Sen¡¯s business with the House of Wu ought to be concluded.


    After considering the gates for a moment, he let his spiritual sense sweep forward into the courtyard. His jaw clenched when he sensed dozens of people, mortals, waiting inside. May the gods damn you forever, Wu Chia-Hao, thought Sen. Trying to use all of these people as shields. Wind qi swirled around Sen before it raced over the walls and crushed all of those people to the ground. It didn¡¯t kill any of them, but some of them were certainly injured. Snarling a little bit, Sen seized the metal in the gates and ripped them out the walls. The mangled remains of those gates crashed into the street behind him. Sen stalked forward with fury in his heart. He was forced to step over more than a few of the people he¡¯d crushed to the ground. He surveyed the visible injuries. There were some obviously broken bones. He stopped in his tracks when he saw a few people with deep cuts. The kind that would kill them if not attended to immediately. He walked over and gave each of them a healing elixir.


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    One of them looked up at him with pain and confusion and asked, ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because you have done nothing to earn death today,¡± answered Sen.


    He walked up to the ornate doors of the manor, and then politely knocked. An ashen-faced older woman opened the door. She was shaking so hard that Sen found it shocking she managed to stay on her feet. Looking past her, he could see that there was no one else in sight. The woman offered him a deep bow.


    ¡°Wel¡ªWelcome t¡ªto Wu Manor, Lor¡ªLord Lu,¡± she said in a choked whisper.


    Sen inclined his head and said, ¡°Thank you. If you will please escort me to the patriarch, I would be most grateful to you.¡±


    Sen fell into step behind the woman. They walked in silence for most of a minute before Sen broke the silence.


    ¡°They sent you out there to die. Did you offend someone?¡±


    The woman stumbled to a halt. She half-turned before arresting that motion.


    ¡°My masters would never do that,¡± she said in a voice that told him she knew she was lying.


    ¡°They did,¡± said Sen. ¡°If you ever decide that you would like to work for someone who doesn¡¯t see their servants as disposable, present yourself at Lu Manor. Present this to the guards.¡±


    He held out a blue token to the woman. There was nothing intrinsically special about it, aside from the dragon etched into the material. It had been Lo Meifeng¡¯s idea. Something Sen could hand out to people he didn¡¯t necessarily trust but thought might prove useful in some way. Since he¡¯d been told repeatedly that servants frequently knew a lot of secrets, it struck him as a worthwhile gamble. Plus, after this, he doubted the woman was going to feel any kind of loyalty to the House of Wu. Still, there was a long enough pause that he thought the servant might decline the offer. Then, she snatched the token and secreted it away somewhere on her person. Maybe it would bear fruit, maybe it wouldn¡¯t. This was ultimately Lo Meifeng¡¯s project, not his, so she¡¯d have to sort out anyone who showed up looking to take advantage of one of those tokens. She led him deep into the manor before stopping in front of a door. She reached out with a trembling hand to knock, but Sen caught her hand. He had the feeling that she was more afraid of what might happen to her if that door opened than what he might do to her.


    ¡°You should go now,¡± he told her gently.


    Giving him a look of undiluted gratitude, she ran away down the hall. He waited until she was well away before he turned his gaze back to the door. He had to fight the desire to obliterate the door. Wu Chia-Hao¡¯s callous disregard for the lives of those people he positioned both inside and outside the walls had made Sen angry. That might have even been the point. To make him angry enough to storm into the room and kill the Wu patriarch in a rage. It was a tempting idea, but Sen had questions. So, instead, he put on a bored expression, opened the door, and sauntered in like he owned the place. He caught six crossbow bolts in a flurry of motion. He dropped five of them and held the last one up to look at the slimy coating on it. A quick examination with his qi revealed that it was poison. Sen looked around the room at the six slack-jawed men holding crossbows in their hands like they¡¯d forgotten the weapons. Sen turned his bored expression on Wu Chia-Hao, who looked like someone had just fed him rotten meat.


    ¡°Get out,¡± said Sen.


    The stunned men hesitated for the barest breath before they ran. Sen grabbed the slowest one with his free hand. The man looked at him like he expected Sen to suddenly breathe fire onto him. Come to think of it, thought Sen, I probably could do that now. Shaking away the stray thought, he gave the man he¡¯d caught a friendly smile.


    ¡°Please close the door on your way out,¡± Sen told the man.


    The wide-eyed, would-be assassin started nodding frantically.


    ¡°Yes! Anything you want! Please don¡¯t kill me.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t, as long as you close the door on your way out,¡± said Sen before a thought struck him. ¡°Close, not slam if you please.¡±


    He released the man who closed the door with utmost caution and care. Sen walked over and dropped into a seat across from Wu Chia-Hao. He held up the crossbow bolt.


    ¡°Did someone tell you that this poison would kill me?¡± Sen asked. ¡°If they did, they lied.¡±


    Then, just to prove the point, Sen licked some of the poison off the bolt before he dropped it to the floor. The concoction tasted vile, but his action had the intended effect. Wu Chia-Hao lost what little color had remained in his face.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to do this. You don¡¯t need to kill me. We can¡­ We can negotiate,¡± said the Wu patriarch, trying to put on a smile that looked positively ghastly. ¡°I have money. Land. Businesses. I¡¯ll give you whatever you want.¡±


    ¡°Negotiate. There is nothing to negotiate. You will die this day. It cannot be avoided. It will not be averted. There are only two questions that remain to be answered. The first is, how much will you suffer before you die? The second is, will your house die with you?¡±

 V8 Chapter 55 – Two Vials

    While Sen let Wu Chia-Hao think about those questions, he looked around the room. It was a surprisingly bare room, save for a few pictures that had been rendered in a style Sen didn¡¯t recognize. Standing from his chair, he walked over to one of the paintings and studied it. It was a simple enough image, a still pond with a lone tree spreading its branches over the water. What made it unique was that the entire image had been rendered entirely in what looked to be black ink. Sen had no idea how the artist had accomplished the feat, having no practical experience with art himself, but he found he appreciated the quiet mastery it seemed to display.


    ¡°This is very nice,¡± said Sen in a conversational tone. ¡°Who painted it?¡±


    There was a pregnant pause before Wu Chia-Hao choked out, ¡°My daughter, Wu Ningli.¡±


    Sen nodded before he returned to the chair and sat down. He remained silent for a time and simply stared at the Wu patriarch. The other man tried to still his trembling hands by pressing them flat against the table.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t have a family,¡± said Sen. ¡°When I was a child. I grew up alone. On the streets. It¡¯s hard for a person to appreciate what family truly means until they live without one. It¡¯s given me a particular appreciation for those who have become my family, as well as those who enter into my service. I am protective of them.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I see,¡± said the Wu patriarch.


    ¡°I sincerely doubt that given how many people you sent out there to die at my hands. But you are a father,¡± said Sen and let that implied threat hang in the air.


    Wu Chia-Hao¡¯s eyes shot to the painting. Real panic bled into the man¡¯s expression.


    ¡°I tried to stop it! I did!¡±


    ¡°When?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Wu Chia-Hao almost shrieked.


    ¡°When did you try to stop it?¡± asked Sen before lifting a hand to stop the reply. ¡°Don¡¯t bother. I know when. You tried to stop it after you saw what I did to that fool ambassador. But I have to wonder, would you have cared at all about the people you condemned to die if you hadn¡¯t been so afraid that I would come for you? I don¡¯t think you would have. I don¡¯t think you would have given it a thought. Which is why I prepared this for you.¡±


    Sen summoned a stone vial from a storage ring and set it on the table between them.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± asked Wu Chia-Hao, his eyes fixed on the vial.


    ¡°Poison. And, unlike that garbage you tried to have used on me, I assure you that this poison will kill you. I made it myself. I¡¯m a rather talented alchemist, you see. My interests normally run to using alchemy to heal, but I am capable of making poisons. And I was very motivated. I spent a long time thinking about all of the people you hurt while I crafted that poison.¡±


    ¡°Please, it wasn¡¯t¡ª"


    ¡°So, let me tell you what to expect if you drink this. You will die slowly. It will be excruciating. It will start in your hands and feet. You probably don¡¯t know that much about human bodies, so I¡¯ll impart a little wisdom. There are these things in your body called nerves. They let you feel things like heat, cold, and pain. This poison tricks your nerves into thinking that you¡¯ve been injured. It will feel like your hands and feet are on fire. Have you ever been burned? Well, it¡¯s just about the worst kind of pain a person can experience. That feeling will slowly creep up your arms and legs. It¡¯ll make its way across your chest and stomach before it finally reaches your head. It will feel like someone has heaped red hot coals on your face. Not that you¡¯ll know anything at that point. I expect the pain will have long since driven you insane by then.¡±


    The pure horror on Wu Chia-Hao¡¯s face finally manifested in words.


    ¡°That¡¯s monstrous. Inhuman. It¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°Silence!¡± commanded Sen before resuming his conversational tone. ¡°You¡¯re being rude. I¡¯m not done explaining. Assuming you don¡¯t lose your mind entirely, the next thing that will happen is that your body will start to rot. Normally, that¡¯s a slow process, but I found a way to speed it up. You¡¯ll get to watch your fingers and toes fall off. Your tongue will fall out not too long after. You go blind after that. The good news is that your sense of smell won¡¯t go away. You¡¯ll get to smell every last second of your body turning into a stinking, putrid heap of vileness that even your family won¡¯t recognize.


    ¡°Eventually, you¡¯ll lungs will start to decompose. That¡¯s what will finally kill you. You¡¯ll drown. You will drown in your own liquified flesh. Of course, it won¡¯t be like drowning in the water. That¡¯s pretty fast, as I understand it. You¡¯ll get to savor the experience. If my estimations are correct, it should take you about three hours to drown once you finally get to that point. Think of this as a small taste of what you inflicted on others.¡±


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    Wu Chia-Hao wasn¡¯t even looking at Sen anymore. He was pushed back into his chair as if he could make himself safer by putting a little more distance between himself and the poison. His eyes never wavered from the vial. There were tears streaming down his face.


    ¡°You can¡¯t do this to me,¡± the man whispered. ¡°You can¡¯t make me drink that.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Because¡­ Because I¡¯m¡­¡±


    ¡°So noble?¡± asked Sen, the words all but dripping with acid. ¡°Where was all that nobility when you decided to murder my people?¡±


    ¡°They were just¡­¡± started Wu Chia-Hao.


    ¡°Peasants? Well, by that logic you¡¯re just a mortal,¡± said Sen in a bored voice. ¡°To a cultivator like me, you¡¯re a mayfly. What¡¯s a few decades more or less?¡±


    Sen let the man sit with that for most of a minute. The Wu patriarch seemed to shrink in on himself when the truth finally sank in that Sen could do whatever he pleased, and there was nothing to stop him. It was only then that Sen summoned a second stone vial from his storage ring. He put it on the table next to the first vial. He tapped his finger on the cork and spoke again.


    ¡°This vial also contains a poison. It¡¯s painless. You¡¯ll remain lucid for the rest of the day. More than enough time to say goodbye and appoint an heir. Then, you¡¯ll get tired. You¡¯ll simply go to sleep and never wake up.¡±


    Wu Chia-Hao stared at the second vial like it was the hand of a god reaching out to save him. Sen had intended for it to look that way. Compared to days of excruciating, sanity-shattering pain, having your body rot, and drowning, a quiet death in one¡¯s sleep had to look positively lenient by comparison.


    ¡°What do I have to do to get that vial? Tell me! I¡¯ll do anything.¡±


    ¡°You can buy this vial,¡± said Sen, tapping it again, ¡°with information. You will tell me everything about how the attack was arranged and who was involved. Do that, and I will grant you this single mercy.¡±


    Word started to tumble out of Wu Chia-Hao¡¯s mouth almost before Sen finished speaking. It was almost incoherent. There was no organization to the information. The man was just saying, screaming really, whatever came into his head that was related. Sen let the man get some of that out of his system before he lifted a hand to stop the flow of babbling.


    ¡°Start at the beginning. Was this your idea?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Wu Chia-Hao, openly weeping. ¡°It wasn¡¯t my idea. It was brought to me by someone. I didn¡¯t know her, but I knew people she knew. People who wanted to get back at you.¡±


    ¡°What was her name?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Yeung Fen. She said her name was Yeung Fen.¡±


    The name meant nothing to Sen, at least at first. The longer he thought about it, though, the more certain he was that he¡¯d heard it before.


    ¡°Yeung Fen,¡± muttered Sen. ¡°Why do I know that name?¡±


    For some reason, it put him in mind of Lo Meifeng. Something they had done together. Wait, thought Sen, she was that woman back in that town with the strange name. Lin Wen¡¯s Redoubt! That was the place. She set up that terrible ambush. Wasn¡¯t she going to auction me off or something? Sen tried to remember the details, but he hadn¡¯t put much stock in the whole thing. He¡¯d honestly never thought he¡¯d see or hear from that woman again. That had been back when Sen was still running scared from demonic cultivators. He¡¯d have to ask Lo Meifeng if she could remember more about it than he did. That was a problem for later. He focused on Wu Chia-Hao again.


    ¡°So, once she brought you this idea, what happened then?¡±


    It turned out that the House of Wu had mostly been responsible for delivering the cart of explosives. The explosives themselves had been provided, as had the idea for how to bypass Sen¡¯s defensive formations. That was troubling. It would have taken a cultivator to spot the flaw in the first place. Although, in a city as big as the capital, he supposed that there had to be at least a few mercenary-minded cultivators with formation skills good enough for that. He¡¯d like to thank that cultivator personally, but it wasn¡¯t a high priority for him. It would just be nice. The Wu patriarch¡¯s story didn¡¯t actually provide a lot of additional information that Sen didn¡¯t have, but he picked up a few names he hadn''t known about before. There was one glaring absence in the story that Sen considered ignoring. He considered it and then rejected the idea.


    ¡°Well, that was all very interesting,¡± noted Sen.


    Wu Chia-Hao reached a trembling hand toward the stone vial that would offer a painless death.


    ¡°There¡¯s just one last piece of business,¡± continued Sen.


    ¡°What business?¡± asked Wu Chia-Hao, who seemed to have aged nearly twenty years in the space of the conversation.


    ¡°I want the names of all your family members that were involved. The ones you intentionally left out of the story. Otherwise,¡± said Sen, pointedly looking at the painting on the wall, ¡°I¡¯ll just have to assume that they¡¯re all involved and act accordingly.¡±


    A look of rage crossed Wu Chia-Hao¡¯s face. Sen met that rage with an impassive blankness. The Wu patriarch¡¯s hands closed into fists before his expression crumpled into one of defeat.


    ¡°Jidi. My son. He helped me to arrange things, but he didn¡¯t know what we were doing. I didn¡¯t tell him. He thought it was just a delivery that I wanted to make sure arrived safely. A way to curry favor with the new House of Lu.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to ask him about it,¡± said Sen. ¡°Who knows? He might even survive. Anyone else?¡±


    Wu Chia-Hao came up with two more names of people he claimed were only peripherally involved. Sen had his doubts but even his anger had limits. He suspected that the death of Wu Chia-Hao would be enough of a message. Sen slid the second vial across the table. The Wu patriarch snatched it up eagerly, but then sense seemed to find him again. It was a painless death, but it was still death. The man hesitated.


    ¡°I can always take it back and give you the other one,¡± said Sen, reaching out as if he meant to follow through.


    Wu Chia-Hao hastily pulled the cork from the bottle and, after another hesitation, he drank it.


    ¡°That was a good choice,¡± said Sen. ¡°Now, walk me out. I want everyone to see you alive and well when I leave here.¡±

 V8 Chapter 56 – A Kindness

    Tiu Li-Mei stared up at the wall of the Lu Manor and tried to still the trembling in her hands that had started the moment the king had ordered her to come here. Years. It had been years, and the thing she feared most in the world was still Lu Sen. And to make matters worse, he hadn¡¯t done anything to her. At least, he hadn¡¯t done anything malicious. In her head, she knew that what he¡¯d done had been meant as a kindness. Yet, barely a week passed without a nightmare where she saw his terrible, beautiful face in her dreams. He looked at her with an almost surprised expression, like he¡¯d just noticed her. He reached out to touch her arm. It always happened so slowly in the dream. Like the approach of some disaster that you know will destroy you, that you desperately want to flee but can¡¯t. Then, he said the word. It was such an innocuous word.


    ¡°Peace.¡±


    And it had come. That was the worst part. He had said the word and peace had descended on her like the heavens themselves had commanded it. She had been frightened, panicked, before that. The king, well, the prince then, had been in a fury. She¡¯d known it wasn¡¯t her fault. He hadn¡¯t even blamed her. But she had seen that killing wrath in his eyes. It was a sight she had witnessed only a handful of times and wished never to witness again. His word was law for anyone who wasn¡¯t a cultivator, and she was no cultivator. If he ever did turn that wrath on her, she wouldn¡¯t survive the hour. It had been that thought in her head on that day that had fueled the fire of her terror. She¡¯d left that room more frightened than she had been in many years, only for a boy to wash it all away with a word and a touch.


    Part of her felt like she should have been grateful for it. It had been a kindness. It was clear from the expression on his face that he¡¯d all but forgotten about her as soon as he turned away. The truth was something else entirely. As terrible as that panic had been, it had been hers. It might have been foolish but she¡¯d come by it honestly, and he had replaced it with something else. Yes, he¡¯d replaced it with calm and a sense of well-being, but she somehow knew that he could have replaced it with something else. He could have replaced it with anything. He could have made her love him, or desire him, or hate her prince. Tiu Li-Mei had never felt so utterly powerless before another being in her entire life. She wondered if an act of kindness had ever inspired so much fear before. She once again tried to still her hands even as shame welled up inside of her at the conversation she¡¯d had with the king.


    ¡°Tiu, I need you to do something for me. I need a question answered. I would like for you to fetch me the answer.¡±


    ¡°Of course, your majesty,¡± she had said.


    ¡°Please visit Lu Manor. Ask to see the lord. Pose this question to him on my behalf. Are you almost finished? He¡¯ll understand my meaning.¡±


    Those words had frozen her. The very thought of standing in front of that man, a man who had, by all accounts, grown powerful almost beyond measure, had almost been enough to make her renounce her position. She had done everything in her power to avoid even being in the same room with him since she learned of his return to the capital.


    ¡°I would beg that you do not require this of me,¡± she had said.


    The shame of those words would follow her to her grave, but she had been desperately seeking a way out of the trap that her king, wholly oblivious, meant to put her in. He had merely looked at her with that calm curiosity of his.


    ¡°Why?¡± he had asked.


    If ever there was a sign of the trust he extended to her, that question was such a sign. Another king might have put her death on the spot.


    ¡°He frightens me,¡± she had admitted, baring her deepest shame before the man she respected more than any other in the world.


    He had laughed at that. She thought she might die at the sound of that laughter. It was only when he spoke that she understood he had not been laughing at her.


    ¡°I think that speaks rather well of your mind. You would be a fool if you did not fear him, or at least fear what he can do. Even so, for reasons that he¡¯s never bothered to explain to me, the man has also decided to be my friend. He certainly won¡¯t harm you for relaying a question from me.¡±


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    She hadn¡¯t been able to speak after that. To say more would have been too much. He¡¯d extended her enormous courtesy in simply asking her about why she would try to refuse such a simple request. If she continued to protest, she would either have to explain it all or be deemed incompetent. That would have been worse than death, worse than facing a thousand Lu Sens. Or so she had thought. Now, though, standing before those walls, those monuments to the power of Judgment¡¯s Gale, she didn¡¯t know if she could make herself approach them. Everything inside of her was telling that she needed to leave. No, she needed to flee from this place and the man inside it. Before she could act on that impulse, though, a figure emerged from the gates and crossed the street to stand in front of her.


    She didn¡¯t know him, but she wasn¡¯t surprised that such a man would find himself in the service of Lu Sen. There was a certain coldness to him that made her think of a lounging cat. It was a lazy indifference that masked a predatory lethality. At the moment, though, this lounging cat was still lounging, even if his ears had pricked up a little.


    ¡°I am Long Jia Wei,¡± he said while offering her a slight bow. ¡°Can I help you?¡±


    Finally making her hands be still through sheer force of will, she returned the bow.


    ¡°This one is Tiu Li-Mei. The king sent me to speak with Patriarch Lu.¡±


    The man fixed her with a penetrating look that left her feeling hideously exposed before he finally nodded.


    ¡°Very well,¡± he said, holding out a small token.


    Tiu Li-Mei hesitantly took the token and asked, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±


    ¡°It will allow you to pass through the defenses, temporarily. Now, if you¡¯ll follow me, please. I will take you to him.¡±


    While she forced her face to remain impassive, Tiu Li-Mei had to make herself follow the man. Her belief that she should have fled and simply accepted the dishonor was only reinforced when she felt something turn its attention on her. It was only after the token in her hand grew warm for a moment that the thing finally stopped paying attention to her. With a sick feeling, she realized that those were the defenses. Did he¡­ Had Judgment¡¯s Gale somehow brought this place to life? The very idea that anyone even could do something like that made Tiu Li-Mei feel tiny, insignificant, like a mote of dust before the storm. These were forces she, a mortal, had no business interfering with. The people in the courtyard were no less comforting. When she looked around, she was greeted with a wall of distrust and hostility, even from people she knew had once been proud members of the House of Xie. She pitied the person who came to this place looking for trouble because they would find it.


    Moving inside didn¡¯t make things any better. The servants there were more polite, but it was the kind of icy politeness normally reserved for those the servants knew their masters did not like. An even more chilling thought occurred to her. What if this was how they treated people they knew their master favored? After all, Tiu Li-Mei was known in the capital as one of the king¡¯s trusted servants. The friendship between her master and Judgment¡¯s Gale was not a secret. If they viewed allies with this much distrust now, what would it be like for those they viewed as enemies? She didn¡¯t have long to ponder on that. Long Jia Wei was efficient, even if he made no attempt to engage her in small talk. She had been expecting it, hoping for it really. It would have been a welcome distraction. Yet, the man remained steadfastly silent. She couldn¡¯t decide if he was feigning disinterest in her and the crumbs of information she might inadvertently drop or if he truly did not care.


    She was led into a familiar room. She had visited the manor several times when it was still the Xie manor, and this had been where guests were kept waiting before being allowed to see the Xie matriarch. The decorations hadn¡¯t changed much. There was a woman there who regarded her with a decidedly skeptical air. Long Jia Wei turned to her.


    ¡°Wait here a moment,¡± he said.


    Then, he walked over to the door that led to what she assumed was now Lu Sen¡¯s office. When he opened the door, a snippet of conversation between a man and a woman wafted out.


    ¡°Wait, you mean that woman who set up that idiotic trap?¡± asked the woman.


    ¡°One and the same,¡± said the man. ¡°We should see if we can find her. I mean, she¡¯s a thousand miles from here by now if she¡¯s got any sense at all, but maybe she¡¯s stupid.¡±


    The conversation died down to a murmur before Long Jia Wei and a woman Tiu Li-Mei didn¡¯t immediately recognize came out. The woman¡¯s eyes ghosted over Tiu Li-Mei, and then seemed to dismiss her out of hand. That was a blow to her pride, but how was any mortal woman supposed to compete in a world where cultivation imparted beauty like that? Of all life¡¯s unfairnesses, that one seemed the cruelest. As if it wasn¡¯t enough to allow people superhuman powers, but to make them all beautiful as well. It was like they weren¡¯t human anymore.


    ¡°You can go in now,¡± said Long Jia Wei.


    Trying to take a deep breath without being too obvious about it, Tiu Li-Mei stepped into the dragon¡¯s lair.

 V8 Chapter 57 – The Shadow of Things Long Past

    Sen was still distracted when the woman came into the room, so it took him a little while to realize two things. One, he knew her. Two, something was wrong with her. She looked sick. She was pale but not the intentional paleness that many women seemed to strive for. This was the kind of paleness that he¡¯d only seen in people who had been bedridden for a time. There was a sheen of sweat on her face. It even looked as though she¡¯d chewed her lip bloody not too long before. Even if he¡¯d managed to miss all of that, he couldn¡¯t miss the fact that her hands were trembling violently. He¡¯d seen reactions like that before, but only in people who were deathly afraid of something. He sighed internally. It was usually him that they were afraid of but that didn¡¯t make any sense here. As far as his memory served, he¡¯d only met this woman a few times and those meetings had been polite enough. Did I do something scary in front of her? Nothing sprang to mind. He searched those memories and came up with a name.


    ¡°Tiu Li-Mei,¡± said Sen with a little nod.


    He¡¯d thought that showing her that he had at least some vague memory of her might help to calm the woman down. The exact opposite thing happened. Her eyes went wide and, if anything, her hands started to shake even more. Stranger still, every time he moved one of his hands, her eyes fixated on the hand. It was like she expected him to do something terrible to her with them. He almost said something but feared that would only make this¡ªwhatever this was¡ªeven worse. With no other obvious options, he just lifted an eyebrow at her and waited. And waited. He put his eyebrow back down since it was clear that she wasn¡¯t seeing that silent prompt. He gave it most of a minute before he rolled his eyes and, in a louder voice than would normally be necessary, asked a question.


    ¡°Can I help you?¡±


    ¡°What?!¡± Tiu Li-Mei almost screamed.


    ¡°I asked if there¡¯s something I can do for you. Or do you plan to simply stand there all day? Honestly, I don¡¯t care if you do. I¡¯d just like to know so I can plan appropriately.¡±


    The look of fear partially gave way to confusion, and then to something that vaguely resembled embarrassment, although it also sort of resembled being nauseated. Sen wasn¡¯t confident enough to venture a firm guess about which it was. Tiu Li-Mei gathered herself and stared at a point somewhere on the wall behind his head.


    ¡°The king sent me to ask you a question.¡±


    ¡°Go ahead,¡± said Sen.


    He was relieved to finally be getting to the point of this¡­ He hesitated to call it a meeting. It was a bit too odd for that. Encounter, maybe? Yes, thought Sen, I¡¯m glad to be getting to the point of this encounter.


    ¡°Are you almost finished?¡± asked Tiu Li-Mei.


    Sen needed to give that question a proper amount of consideration. Practically speaking, after what he¡¯d learned from the Wu patriarch, the answer was no. He, or his people, weren¡¯t done yet. Jing told me to think like a politician, thought Sen. This is as good an opportunity as any. For political purposes, all that mattered was what he did in a public or semi-public fashion. If, sometime in the future, he had to kill some more people, that could be done quietly. So, the question was really about whether he was done making examples yet. That answer was mostly straightforward.


    ¡°Almost,¡± said Sen. ¡°I should be done within the week. And I won¡¯t be visiting any more noble houses or depriving any more of their family members of life.¡±


    ¡°I will relay the message,¡± said Tiu Li-Mei.


    She gave something that might have been a bow or might have been some manner of back spasm and lurched toward the door. He thought he could probably live with the mystery if he didn¡¯t ask, but it would bother him. He had enough things bothering him already.


    ¡°Stop,¡± said Sen.


    The woman crashed to a halt with her hand ready to yank open the door.


    ¡°Yes, Lord Lu,¡± she choked out.


    ¡°You¡¯re afraid of me,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Everyone is afraid of you,¡± she whispered.


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    ¡°No, they really aren¡¯t. People are afraid of Judgment¡¯s Gale, the fearsome cultivator who does whatever it is that people¡¯s imaginations tell them he does. This is different. You¡¯re afraid of me, Lu Sen, personally, and I don¡¯t know why. I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ve ever harmed you or threatened you. So, if there¡¯s something you want to say to me, this is probably your best chance. I¡¯ll guarantee your safety. I¡¯ll even take a vow to the heavens to hold no grudges and take no actions against you for anything you say to me in this room.¡±


    She laughed then. There was something ugly and hopeless in that laughter.


    ¡°Safety,¡± she said, almost snarling the word like it was a curse. ¡°A vow? Like that matters at all. Who could possibly be safe from someone like you?¡±


    The sentiment wasn¡¯t really new to Sen, but the pure vitriol in her words did catch him off guard. He honestly could not think of anything he might have done to provoke this response from this person. There were plenty of people in the world who would be perfectly justified in reacting this way to him, but she wasn¡¯t one of them.


    ¡°Someone like me?¡±


    She turned away from the door to look at him. There was a haunted, lifeless look in her eyes.


    ¡°Yes. Someone like you. The kind of person who can just decide what other people feel. If you don¡¯t like what I have to say, there¡¯s nothing to stop you from just changing my mind for me, is there? You wouldn¡¯t even be harming me.¡±


    Sen was so stunned by the accusation, and the pure impossibility of what she was saying, that he said nothing. Well, he supposed it wasn¡¯t entirely impossible. He could adjust some physical processes that might make someone calmer or more prone to anger, but he couldn¡¯t just change the way people felt. Not the way they felt about important things. He only realized later that he must have looked as stunned as he felt.


    ¡°Why so surprised? It¡¯s not like you were subtle about it!¡±


    ¡°What are you even talking about? I can¡¯t do what you¡¯re saying I can¡ª¡± Sen trailed off.


    A memory drifted to the surface. Her coming out of Jing¡¯s office looking downright panicked. He had done something to her then, hadn¡¯t he? But it had just been something to calm her down. He was certain of it. He¡¯d said something to her.


    ¡°Peace,¡± he muttered, mostly to himself.


    Sen doubted that Tiu Li-Mei would have reacted more if he¡¯d leapt out of his chair, roared like a beast, and charged at her. She lurched backward and threw out her hands in front of her like she meant to fend off a blow.


    ¡°No!¡± she screamed.


    The pair remained frozen like that for a second or two before she lowered her hands enough to stare hatefully at Sen. Sen just looked at her as though she¡¯d lost her mind. He thought that she might attack him with her bare hands. He was still mostly in the dark about why, though.


    ¡°How dare you!¡± she said through clenched teeth.


    Before she could do anything reckless, Sen said, ¡°I need you to explain this to me. I can see that you¡¯re angry, but you haven¡¯t told me why you¡¯re angry.¡±


    She kept glaring at him, but then she laughed again.


    ¡°Of course, you don¡¯t understand. Why would you? A cultivator. A man. Why am I angry? Because you didn¡¯t have the right! It wasn¡¯t for you to decide how I should feel about anything! I bet that never even crossed your mind, did it?¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t remember the incident well enough to know for sure what was going through his mind at the time, but he doubted such a thing had crossed his mind. It had just been something he saw as a problem. So, he did something to fix it. He likely hadn¡¯t even thought about whether or not he should do it. He could do it, and it would help, or he had imagined it would help, so he¡¯d done it. He hadn¡¯t thought about it once since then, but it was painfully obvious that the same did not hold true for Tiu Li-Mei. And she was right. He had overstepped. Wildly overstepped. A fact that would have been apparent if he¡¯d been thinking more about her and less about what he could do. Since he¡¯d given someone else a big speech about how selfish their thinking was recently, he didn¡¯t feel like he had much in the way of a defense. Nor did he believe that saying something like, ¡°I just didn¡¯t think about it,¡± was going to hold much weight. Nor should it, he told himself.


    ¡°Don¡¯t bother answering,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s obvious from that look on your face that you didn¡¯t. The worst part of the whole thing is that someone like you will never know what it¡¯s like to feel that helpless. To feel like you can¡¯t trust what¡¯s in your own heart, and that it doesn¡¯t matter because some cultivator can just come along and change it.¡±


    ¡°They can¡¯t,¡± he told her. ¡°Cultivators can¡¯t change how you feel the way you¡¯re saying they can. I didn¡¯t really change how you felt. I changed how some things were happening in your body. Things related to fear and panic. The details don¡¯t matter. The point is that I can¡¯t just make you feel however I want you to feel. I can¡¯t make you hate, love, or find something funny. I can¡¯t make you want to be loyal or desire to betray. So, if that¡¯s your fear, you can safely set it aside. Your emotions are safe from me.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t?¡± she asked, as suspicion and hope battled for dominance in her eyes.


    ¡°I can¡¯t. I vow to the heavens that everything I just told you is true to the best of my knowledge.¡±


    Sen felt the touch of divine qi on him. It was, thankfully, different than when it was poured into him against his will. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what he imagined it would feel like, but it ultimately didn¡¯t feel like anything. Maybe it was because the vow didn¡¯t put any demands on him. He wasn¡¯t vowing to do anything in the future, but rather affirming that what he had already said wasn¡¯t deceit. When the dim glow faded from around him, Sen stood.


    ¡°As for the rest,¡± he said, offering her a deep bow, ¡°I have wronged you, Tiu Li-Mei. I acted without thought. For that, I offer you my deepest apologies.¡±

 V8 Chapter 58 – Bargaining for the Impossible

    Of course, it wasn¡¯t as simple as just saying he was sorry. If only mere words could truly undo misdeeds, thought Sen, the world would be a kinder place. The world was not one of kindness, though. A fact of which Sen was all too aware. Words were for the mind and, perhaps, the heart, but deeds were for the soul. After all, while much of Karma was shrouded in mystery, it did teach one immutable lesson. Debts must be repaid, in one life or another. Of course, that also required that the other person cooperate if only a little. And Tiu Li-Mei tried very hard not to cooperate. Sen didn¡¯t know if was out of fear, an overabundance of politeness, or simply because she was stunned, but she tried to refuse any sort of recompence.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t necessary,¡± stammered Tiu Li-Mei, waving her hands in front of her. ¡°I don¡¯t need anything. Truly.¡±


    Sighing, Sen put on a stern expression and said, ¡°It is. Even if you don¡¯t require it, karma would. Better, I would think, that you at least understand the reasons.¡±


    Tiu Li-Mei lowered her hands, slowly, almost as if in defeat. Sen wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d ever seen such a bizarre display or someone so hellsbent on not getting something. Most people would have been falling over themselves to collect on a debt from a powerful cultivator.


    ¡°I suppose so,¡± she said.


    ¡°Good. Now that we¡¯ve dispensed with that, what would you have of me? I have wealth I can share. Do you wish for a home? A manor of your own? Is there some elixir you desire? My alchemy skills are likely the match to anything you might request.¡±


    Sen waited while Tiu Li-Mei looked like her mind was racing to find an acceptable answer. Which is probably exactly what¡¯s happening, thought Sen. She¡¯s trying to think of something she can ask for that will be of some benefit to her while not aggravating me. As the seconds dragged out to a minute and then two minutes, Tiu Li-Mei looked increasingly frantic. Sen finally took pity on her. He had put her on the spot.


    ¡°The debt is mine. You shouldn¡¯t concern yourself with trying to guess what I will or will not find palatable. Tell me what it is that you wish. If I can grant it, I will. I can¡¯t grant it¡­ I will simply tell you that.¡±


    Some of the frantic look in the woman¡¯s eyes drained away. Her expression became more thoughtful. He saw a spark of something on her face for a moment before she shook her head.


    ¡°That,¡± said Sen. ¡°What was that thought?¡±


    Tiu Li-Mei looked at him for the barest second before looking away. The furious woman from before had vanished. Now, she looked shy, almost childlike.


    ¡°Can you¡­¡± she trailed off before seeming to brace herself. ¡°Can you make me a cultivator?¡±


    Sen was silent for a moment. I guess that was an obvious choice, thought Sen. What mortal wouldn¡¯t want that kind of power? Of course, no mortal really understood what being a cultivator meant, the costs most of all. Not that it mattered.


    ¡°No. That¡¯s impossible for¡­¡± Sen hesitated.


    He¡¯d been told it was impossible, but he¡¯d never really examined the problem himself. He¡¯d just taken his teachers¡¯ words on the subject as irrefutable facts. They would know, wouldn¡¯t they? The reasoning was sound enough on a surface level. The kind of impurity purges that Sen had gone through in the early days were agonizing. It also wasn¡¯t something that a cultivator could bypass. It had to be done. All of those impurities built up, they formed blockages in the body and the qi channels and therefore impeded the flow of qi. Attempting those kinds of purges later in life would be tantamount to suicide. The pain alone would be enough to stop someone¡¯s heart. That was before even considering the extra decade or two of impurity accumulation. Then, there was the problem of the qi channels and the dantian. They were a bit like bones. In someone¡¯s youth, bones are supple and flexible. As bones age, they harden and eventually become brittle.


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    The same thing happened with qi channels and the dantian. Regular cultivation kept them supple and flexible, even as it strengthened them. Starting cultivation later in life meant a hugely increased risk of those channels and the dantian shattering under the strain. It was the kind of setback that, in most cases, definitively ended someone¡¯s time as a cultivator. There were other problems, such as developing the necessary mental discipline to cultivate, to say nothing of controlling and directing the qi to accomplish specific tasks. However, Sen saw those latter problems more as hurdles than immutable impediments. Learning new skills became harder as people aged, or so he was given to understand, but by no means impossible. No, the real problems were the physical problems and the chances of damaging the channels and dantian.


    Using any standard method, it would be impossible, but Sen had been forced to think his way around problems more than once. He¡¯d even successfully manipulated his own qi channels and dantian at a time when the only thing matching his ignorance had been his hubris. He¡¯d gotten impossibly lucky to have survived that experience. It had taught him something, though. The qi channels and dantian could be manipulated. They weren¡¯t fixed in an immutable state or subject only to certain processes. It was within the power of a cultivator to change them directly. So, the question was, did he know enough now to do it safely for someone else? Or, barring that, safely enough to make the risk worth the reward? I think I do, he thought. Maybe with a bit of assistance from Auntie Caihong and Fu Ruolan.


    That left the problem of purging the impurities. The pain was, in some ways, a product of the speed of the purge. If he could slow it down, he could reduce the amount of pain. Of course, it would also stretch out how long someone had to endure it. But if he could slow it down¡­ It could work. Maybe. So much of it depended on the person, on their will to endure, on their desire to improve. That was something that no one else could ultimately judge. Inner strength was, much like the heavens, inscrutable. You could sense its presence but not its depth. There was so much uncertainty that he could see why everyone said it was impossible. He doubted that most alchemists could even make the kinds of elixirs or pills that such a process would require. It would take someone like him, or a genius like Auntie Caihong to even attempt it. Just thinking about the kinds of ingredients he would need to use told him it would be horribly expensive. The kind of expense that no sect would ever bother expending on what was, ultimately, an experiment with a poor chance of success. In fact, the only time someone might reasonably undertake those kinds of expenses and odds was in a situation like this.


    Sen realized that he¡¯d been lost inside his own thinking for a while and focused on the room around him. That was when he saw Tiu Li-Mei staring at him, her eyes wide, and her cheeks crimson. Sen wondered why she was blushing that way until he realized that he¡¯d probably been looking right at her with some kind of intense expression on his face. He looked away to give her a moment to compose herself. He thought back through all of it. He wanted to make sure of himself before he gave someone that glimmer of hope. He also needed to decide if he was willing to take on something that so obviously exceeded his actual debt. If he could acquire the right ingredients and reagents, which he thought he probably could, then he was relatively confident that he could hold up his side of the bargain. As for the actual debt, he didn¡¯t care so much about that. It was often buried under other concerns, but Sen did possess a deep curiosity about things. He wanted to know if this could be done. He wanted to find out if he could do it.


    Tiu Li-Mei finally said, ¡°I didn¡¯t think it was¡ª¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± said Sen, looking at her again. ¡°I may be able to do it.¡±


    The hope that kindled in her eyes burned like a pair of twin stairs.


    ¡°You can?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Maybe,¡± he said again. ¡°I can probably open a path for you, but I cannot carry you the entire way. There are some realities to this that you need to understand before we take even the first step. Realities about what it will mean for you. The kind of pain you¡¯d be taking on. The kind of world you¡¯d be stepping into. The world you live in is cruel. I won¡¯t deny that for a moment. The Jianghu is merciless and pitiless. So, sit down, and let me tell you what you can expect if you pursue this path.¡±


    Sen spoke to her for nearly an hour. He painted as stark a picture as he could. He told her about the times he¡¯d been forced to kill people because some young master¡¯s pride was faster than their mind. He told her about the torment that was purging impurities. He told her about how cultivators almost inevitably lost connection with and sympathy for mortals. When he finally stopped talking, Tiu Li-Mei sat in silence for a long time. Given everything he¡¯d just told her, he was glad to see that she was genuinely considering it and the ways that it would alter everything in her life, assuming she even managed to survive the attempt. Even so, Sen wasn¡¯t surprised when she stood, bowed, and spoke.


    ¡°I would like to proceed.¡±


    Sen nodded and said, ¡°Then, it¡¯s time for you to go end your service with Jing. This isn¡¯t something I can do from a distance, and I¡¯m leaving soon. If you want this, you¡¯ll have to come with me.¡±

 V8 Chapter 59 – The Alchemy of Pain

    As someone who wielded lightning and even storms, Sen was accustomed to loud noises. It just went with the territory. That was without even considering things like the sounds that were produced when he hit something very hard. So, the sheer, overwhelming noise of the explosion was a bit of a shock to him. The great gaping hole in the ground and the pulpy remains of trees for twenty feet in every direction came a very close second in the surprise department. He''d sacrificed what little sleep he was getting to have some free time to work on alchemy and poured every second into playing with the explosive mixture that had caused so much harm in the courtyard. He¡¯d had a few insights, adjusted the formula a little, and then let his intuition guide him. After all that work, he had been expecting good results, but these results might be too good.


    The kind of force that a tiny packet of the explosive was creating now could destroy buildings and bring down city walls. Maybe not by itself, but if he threw a couple of them into a building or at a wall, he¡¯d made himself a nice crater or hole to walk through. The only reason Sen didn¡¯t abandon the project entirely was the simple fact that, as far as he knew, he was the only person who could do what he¡¯d done. Yet, he had the disturbing intuition that, unlike some of his alchemical creations, this wasn¡¯t one of those things that other people would find impossible to replicate. He simply wasn¡¯t well-versed enough in this kind of alchemy to have stepped beyond the capabilities of others. His intuitions had simply taken him farther down a road that others could follow. He¡¯d gotten a shortcut and nothing more.


    Just as importantly, this was something that mortals and sects alike would want. A powerful explosion from what could be fit into an elixir vial. A sect could fill storage rings with it. cultivators who were running out of qi could simply start hurling the things at each other and setting them off with little more than a flicker of fire qi. The potential devastation could be horrifying. Not that Sen was especially worried about cultivators using these explosives on each other¡¯s sects. He was worried about sects using them against mortals as a way to save on qi. It could make them less restrained, and he felt they lacked restraint as it was. Setting them free to spread explosions wherever they went struck Sen as a bad idea. However, for all his reservations about this advancement, he could not pretend he was unhappy with the results. He¡¯d set out to make something devastating and accomplished his goal. He just wished the accomplishment didn¡¯t come bundled up with a lot of problems and questions he lacked good answers to.


    On the upside, he had managed to scare away all the spirit beasts in the area of the wilds he¡¯d chosen to test his creation. He expected it would be a while before the nearest village had to deal with them. Granted, that village was probably two days away for a mortal traveling on foot, but a motivated spirit beast could likely make the trip in a matter of hours. Some of them were absurdly fast, and their very nature as spirit beasts tended to give them appalling stamina. Humanity truly would be in trouble if the spirit beasts ever managed to get organized. The advantages that humans possessed, cultivation and technology, would be hard-pressed to withstand spirit beasts working in concert and with well-developed strategies.


    Their fractious nature was humanity¡¯s best defense. As long as they remained splintered, human beings were relatively free to build smaller settlements. Yes, some villages were overrun from time to time, but most of them survived. Those settlements grew a substantial amount of food, much of which found its way into the handful of large cities in the kingdom. If the spirit attacked, those villages and their food would vanish, even as people tried to find refuge in the cities. It wasn¡¯t even a far-fetched idea. It had happened during human wars in the past. That exact strategy of destroying farming villages before mounting sieges on cities had toppled more than one mortal kingdom in the past.


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    Sen looked down at the small pouch into which he¡¯d packed more of his refined version of the explosive. Buckets of these on the top of the walls would probably give mortals a fighting chance against even powerful spirit beasts, at least for a while, thought Sen. Of course, to produce those buckets of explosives would require Sen to share what he¡¯d learned. He shook his head. No, that was the alchemy of pain. Maybe, someday, if the situation in the world changed in some fundamental way, he¡¯d consider it. Until then, he¡¯d keep this discovery to himself. Sharing it with mortals or cultivators was simply too dangerous, unpredictable, and destabilizing. He didn¡¯t even plan to tell his teachers about it. While he didn¡¯t think that they would be careless and spread the knowledge around, he didn¡¯t want to burden them with secrets. He feared they all carried enough of those without him adding to the pile. Beyond that, it was a far simpler matter if he was the only person who needed to keep the secret.


    In the back of his head, Sen knew that he was always worried about the potential karmic consequences. He didn¡¯t know what kind of karmic debts he would bear from sharing that knowledge. Would he be forced to carry a debt for every person his explosive killed? It was possible. It might also be far enough removed from him that it wouldn¡¯t affect him at all. He didn¡¯t know, nor did he wish to test the possibility in an attempt to discover the truth. As Lo Meifeng had once told him, not all questions deserve answers.


    For now, simply possessing the explosive was enough. It would be a kind of backup plan for him if some fight ever started to go horribly wrong on him. After all, nobody expects a giant explosion from something without any qi in it. If he ever used one, though, the ignorance that made it effective would swiftly vanish. He¡¯d need to think long and hard before he fell back onto that desperate step. The first time would need to be an utterly hopeless situation, which would make the explosive¡¯s use all the more shocking for Sen¡¯s enemies. In the meantime, he had made lesser improvements along the way. He would use those inferior formulas to make the explosives for his object lessons. The differences between those improved formulas and the original recipe wouldn¡¯t be obvious to the untrained eye. Some other alchemist might grow suspicious, but suspicion would be as far as they could take it without his active involvement.


    At that point, if they made something superior, they¡¯d have to get there through their own work, rather than by way of his insights. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but Sen decided that it was good enough until he came up with a better solution. The only way to stop any knowledge from escaping into the world was simply to never use the better explosives, and it was too good of an advantage to give up entirely. Sen might want to do what was best for human beings, but he wasn¡¯t a saint committed utterly to a single principle. He wouldn¡¯t sacrifice his life in the name of keeping the knowledge a secret. That was just too much to ask. He¡¯d come too far and suffered too much to let his path end that way. Maybe that was selfish, but Sen decided that he was okay with being selfish that way. Let someone else become a martyr if they wanted it that badly. He didn¡¯t.


    While he wanted to test the explosive some more, he had a feeling that his one experiment would draw attention. If he set off more explosives, someone was bound to start asking questions. They were simply too noisy and that noise would not go unremarked. No, better to let explorers draw their own false conclusions. They¡¯d likely think that some spirit beast had done it, or a cultivator was trying out a new technique. He supposed that idea held some merit. Even if it wasn¡¯t a true cultivator technique, it would eventually become associated with cultivation. So what if history forgot him on this planet? The only people he cared about remembering him would do so even if he never did another noteworthy thing.


    With an annoyed noise, Sen made himself put the second pouch of explosives back into his storage ring. Soon, he told himself. This whole business will be over soon, and you can get back to Ai and a little town where things make sense.

 V8 Chapter 60 – Lord Lu’s Justice

    ¡°You needn¡¯t participate in this,¡± said Sen. ¡°I almost think it might be better if you didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s kind of you to want to spare me,¡± said Grandmother Lu. ¡°But I have to be there, and your people have to see me being there.


    Sen offered a reluctant nod. She was likely right about that. He just didn¡¯t like that he was making her a party to his revenge. It was like he was somehow making her less by associating her with something he expected was going to be gruesome. In the end, she had the right to make her own decisions. I should probably be grateful that she wants to show me her support. He turned to Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°The gates are sealed?¡± he asked.


    ¡°They are, Lord Lu.¡±


    Lo Meifeng was already in the courtyard, making preparations for the first half of Sen¡¯s demonstration of his unhappiness. That just left one person in the room. His gaze fell on Yeung Fen. The woman looked gaunt, and she flinched as soon as his eyes landed on her. Sen had been shocked when Lo Meifeng¡¯s people had not only found the woman but dragged her back to the manor alive. He¡¯d expected her to be long gone and far away by the time anyone knew that she was involved. If not that, then he would have thought she¡¯d prefer to go down fighting. He knew that¡¯s what he would have done. Still, he wasn¡¯t one to bemoan a positive turn of luck. She had proven truculent about providing information. So, Sen planned to use today¡¯s demonstration as one method to motivate her cooperation.


    ¡°Yeung Fen. I want you to pay close attention to what happens here today. Think of it as a window into the future. Your future,¡± he said.


    He walked over to the door, dragging Yeung Fen along with a tether of air qi he¡¯d wrapped around her neck. Her hands were bound by manacles that Sen had personally crafted and reinforced. He¡¯d felt her laughable attempts to break them with her own qi, but she had not experienced his explosive growth in power over the intervening years. She was still in foundation formation, which meant that the only way she was breaking those bonds was if he gave her a hundred years of uninterrupted time to get it done. She stumbled along in his wake. Long Jia Wei and Grandmother Lu simply ignored her. He supposed that they¡¯d already started thinking of her as dead and not worth the effort of giving their attention.


    He pushed open the front door to the manor. There was usually a servant there, but almost everyone in the manor save for the children and their minders were in the courtyard already. As were a small number of people who were kneeling, hands tied, and watched over by hard-faced guards. These people were the most directly responsible for the attack. The ones who had done the most to bring the explosives into the manor. One had been separated out. He was the one who had actually lit the fuse. Sen intended to make him into the first example. With a negligent wave of his hand and a minor application of air qi, he drove Yeung Fen to her knees. Then, he walked out in front of the crowd of people, his people, and assumed a thoughtful expression.


    ¡°We were attacked,¡± he said without preamble. ¡°It was unprovoked. Carried out by cowards who tried to hurt as many people as they could while avoiding anything so honorable as a direct fight. I know some of you were injured. Some of you lost people. I know your anger because it is also my anger. I also know some of you may have thought I intended to simply accept those losses. To ignore it because I¡¯m a cultivator and those who died were not. You were wrong. These people you see behind me are some of the guilty. They are the ones who delivered this evil into our lives. Today, you will have vengeance. I will have vengeance.¡±


    There was barely a sound in the courtyard. No one moved. They all just stared at him. He saw the hunger in their eyes. The need to see action taken. That desire to reclaim control from a world that had ripped it away from them. Sen had thought long and hard about how to handle this moment. His first instinct had been to destroy these men himself. To destroy them as slowly and painfully as he possibly could. Of course, he couldn¡¯t do that. It wouldn¡¯t accomplish what he wanted. Instead, he would personally make an example of just one of the men. He walked over to the prisoner who had been separated. The man looked up at him, his eyes rolling in panicked terror. He was trying to say something, to scream something, but it was just muffled whining through the gag. Sen sliced the ropes away from the man¡¯s hand with a tiny wind blade, then dragged him to his feet.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    ¡°You,¡± said Sen, making sure his voice carried. ¡°You lit the fuse. Of everyone here, you are the one I hate the most.¡±


    Sen locked the man in a cage of air qi, then used that air to move the prisoner like a puppet. He dragged the man¡¯s arms out to each side, hands forced open, palms up. Sen deposited a very small pouch in each of the man¡¯s hands and forced those hands closed around the pouches.


    ¡°Since you like explosions so much, I want you to experience them yourself,¡± said Sen. ¡°This is my judgment on you.¡±


    The prisoner tried to thrash but he was held rigidly in place. He tried to scream again. Maybe they were shouts of anger. Maybe they were pleas for mercy directed at Sen himself or the heavens above. It didn¡¯t matter. Sen was fresh out of mercy. As for the heavens, asking them for mercy seemed about as fruitful as asking the sun to rise in the west, at least in Sen¡¯s experience. Sen took a few steps back and erected a barrier of solidified air around the man to contain the blasts and the noise. He didn¡¯t intend to compound this man¡¯s intentional destruction with negligent destruction of his own. He had added more barriers inside the larger barrier to ensure that the blasts didn¡¯t immediately kill the prisoner. He wasn¡¯t kind enough for that. Sen walked back over to stand next to Grandmother Lu and Lo Meifeng, who had joined the other woman.


    ¡°Everyone. Witness my justice,¡± said Sen, using qi to carry his words to every ear.


    He snapped his fingers, a wholly unnecessary act, but it served well enough to announce what came next. Sparks of fire qi came to life inside the pouches and the contents exploded. There was a spray of red and a hail of white shrapnel as the explosions removed the man¡¯s hands at the wrists. The barriers did their job, containing the blast to just where Sen wanted it. The prisoner screamed for a few seconds before blood loss, trauma, or both rendered him unconscious. Well, we can¡¯t have that, thought Sen. He strode over the man, the barriers parting around him, and poured a healing elixir down his throat. For good measure, he used fire qi to sear the stumps. Otherwise, pure blood loss might kill the man. He gave the healing elixir a little time to do its work before he reached out and used his qi to force the man back into consciousness. The prisoner started screaming around his gag.


    ¡°It hurts, doesn¡¯t it?¡± asked Sen. ¡°Well, you don¡¯t get to die yet. I¡¯m not done with you.¡±


    Sen repeated the process, except he took off the man¡¯s feet with the second round of explosions. He had considered repeating the process several times to take off more and more pieces of the man, but Sen doubted there was any point. The sheer level of pain had probably obliterated anything like rational thought from the man¡¯s mind. Sen stared at the man hanging suspended in the air and waved his hand. A white-hot inferno turned the prisoner from a person into ash in a matter of seconds. Sen glanced at the crowd of his people. He wasn¡¯t sure what they would think of this brutality. A few looked sickened. A few looked terrified. Most of them, though, looked satisfied. Sen turned his eyes to the rest of the kneeling prisoners.


    ¡°I will leave the fate of those prisoners up to you. Should I execute them? Or should I leave them to your justice?¡±


    There was a moment where nothing happened. Then, a man pushed his way to the front of the crowd, his face contorted with grief and rage. He ran toward the prisoners, screaming incoherently. That opened the floodgate. With very few exceptions, the crowd surged forward. Sen waited as his people vented their anger and loss on those prisoners. In other circumstances, he might have felt a twinge of pity for those bound men. Being beaten to death wasn¡¯t a fast death. Even if it was a whole lot of people doing the beating. He kept an eye on things with his spiritual sense, waiting until the last flickering ember of life in the last prisoner went out.


    ¡°Enough,¡± he called out, his voice seeming to resonate from the very walls.


    The enraged crowd fell back from what was left of the prisoners. They lurched drunkenly, as though they weren¡¯t entirely in control of themselves.


    ¡°Today, we took our vengeance,¡± said Sen.


    Some of it, at any rate, thought Sen. Enough for the crowd, I hope. Apparently, it was enough. The people in the crowd started cheering, or sobbing in each other¡¯s arms, finally able to release emotions that had been held in abeyance. Sen sent out swift flames to deal with the prisoners¡¯ remains. Then, he did something he hadn¡¯t ever tried before. He manipulated the air above the manor. Clouds started to form, blotting out the morning sun. They grew thick and heavy as he drew water into them. He took great care not to let lightning form in the clouds. Suppressing it by force a few times.


    ¡°Now, let us be washed clean!¡± he roared.


    The clouds overhead unburdened themselves. At first, there were just a few drops but steady rain soon descended from above. The crowd of people, his people, turned their faces up and let the water soak them. He let it go on for several minutes before he dispersed the clouds and sent a warm wind weaving around the courtyard, drying people and the stone around them in kind. Sen didn¡¯t have a plan beyond this point. He sort of expected the people to simply disperse now. Instead, they all looked to him. He hazarded a quick look at Lo Meifeng and Grandmother Lu, but they were looking out at the crowd. Sen turned his eyes back to the crowd, only to see that people were bowing at him, and there was a whisper that grew into a steady chant.


    ¡°Lord Lu.¡±

 V8 Chapter 61 – Public Statement

    Sen put up with the bowing and creepy chanting for a little while before he encouraged everyone to return to their homes or duties. He wasn¡¯t expecting them to get much done the rest of the day. Catharsis might be good for the soul, but it tended to be a tiring thing in his experience. Plus, he wasn¡¯t entirely done for the day. While he waited for the guards to drag out the rest of the prisoners, he turned to Grandmother Lu and Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°So, how do you think it went?¡±


    ¡°Well, they¡¯re dead,¡± said Grandmother Lu. ¡°That¡¯s the definition of success with an execution.¡±


    Sen was mostly sure that was meant as some kind of dark joke. He supposed it was enough that she hadn¡¯t actively criticized the whole show, and it had been a show. He¡¯d felt so pompous and ridiculous throughout the whole thing. Still, Lo Meifeng had told him that he needed to project a certain air if he wanted to pull all of this off in the long run. He couldn¡¯t just say he was a lord. He needed to act like a lord, or at least what people thought lords should act like. It all seemed very silly to him, but nobility and everything attached to it were new to him. He had to trust that people with more experience than him knew what they were talking about.


    ¡°I doubt you¡¯ll ever have the full loyalty of the Xie family members who grew up being nobles,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°There¡¯s going to be a part of them that will hate you forever. But they also lost some people in that attack. This will have gone a long way toward making sure they hate you quietly.¡±


    ¡°In other words, take the little victories?¡±


    ¡°Exactly. Are you sure about this next part, though? It¡¯s provocative, to say the least.¡±


    ¡°Sure about it? No. On the other hand, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s enough for people to simply hear that I killed the perpetrators. That¡¯s just another rumor. If people see it, it becomes a reality.¡±


    ¡°You do realize that it¡¯s going to be distorted into rumors by the end of the day,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°They¡¯ll have you executing a thousand men by dawn,¡± added Grandmother Lu.


    ¡°Probably so,¡± said Sen. ¡°But the sects and the other noble houses will have people reporting back to them. This manor is under near-constant observation. The facts will reach the right ears. As for the rumors¡­ I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s entirely a bad thing if what happens here today gets exaggerated. I want people to think that attacking us will turn into a disastrous bloodbath for them. If nothing else, it¡¯ll make recruiting fools harder.¡±


    He turned a hard look on Yeung Fen. She refused to meet his eyes. If anything, she looked like she was trying to avoid even breathing too loudly for fear of drawing attention to herself. It had been hard to avoid the impulse to simply kill the woman the moment he saw her. He¡¯d shown her mercy once, and her response had been to launch an attack on him. He¡¯d made himself think past that anger and sense of betrayal, though. Initially, he¡¯d imagined that she was acting out some kind of revenge fantasy but that didn¡¯t add up. Her best chance of taking revenge on him would have been to try to do it as soon as possible after he let her go. Waiting until now, when his strength was widely known, was stupid. She hadn¡¯t seemed stupid.


    Given that she¡¯d used the Wu patriarch as a proxy, it stood to reason that someone might have used her as some kind of proxy. Picking someone that he might kill out of hand without asking too many questions made her involvement look far more reasonable. If he reacted out of blind anger, she became the person who took all the blame and he wouldn¡¯t look any deeper. If he didn¡¯t kill her immediately, her capture would be a signal to whoever had set all of this up to either leave or take steps to protect themselves. Sen wasn¡¯t sure what those steps would look like, but his inability to imagine them didn¡¯t mean that such protections couldn¡¯t exist. If his experience with the defenses around the manor had taught him anything, it was that he was as capable of missing the obvious as anyone else.


    It was only when the guards started marching people toward the front gate that he realized he¡¯d been glaring at Yeung Fen for quite a while. She was making a valiant but failed effort not to shake under the weight of his displeasure. All things considered, he thought that was probably a healthy reaction. He watched in silence as the bound, gagged people were taken outside. He only followed after the last of them had passed through the gates. They¡¯d been lined up along the wall and pushed down to their knees. He took his time with everything, making meaningless conversation with Lo Meifeng and Grandmother Lu just to delay the inevitable. He was beyond feeling squeamish about this. He just wanted to give all those nameless, faceless observers a chance to get into position to watch. What he hadn¡¯t expected was the arrival of Chan Dishi. The other cultivator sauntered down the street, a stick with some kind of meat and vegetables on it in his hand, and looking keenly interested in the happenings. He strode up to Sen and offered a perfunctory bow. Any semblance of propriety done in by the man taking the opportunity to pull a piece of carrot off the stick with his teeth.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°I, Chan Dishi,¡± mumbled the man around his mouthful of carrot, ¡°on behalf of important people, have come to witness the,¡± he smirked, ¡°entertainment.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow at the other man.


    ¡°Jing sent you to witness this?¡±


    ¡°Sent is probably a strong word for it. I enthusiastically volunteered for the job,¡± said Chan Dishi, eying the waiting prisoners. ¡°I just had a feeling that this was going to be worth making the trip from the palace.¡±


    ¡°You find executions entertaining?¡±


    ¡°Not as a rule. But are you going to tell me that this isn¡¯t meant to be some grand public statement? Something intended to strike terror in the hearts of men and geese alike?¡±


    ¡°Geese?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like geese,¡± said Chan Dishi. ¡°They¡¯re mean things. Used to chase me around when I was a boy. I like the idea of people doing things that scare them.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll try not to disappoint,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Good man,¡± said Chan Dishi clapping Sen on the shoulder before he turned a speculative eye on Lo Meifeng. ¡°And I don¡¯t believe we¡¯ve met.¡±


    ¡°Oh, we¡¯ve met,¡± said Lo Meifeng. ¡°I wasn¡¯t impressed then either.¡±


    ¡°Cold,¡± said the man, pressing a hand to his chest as though he¡¯d been wounded.


    ¡°Warranted,¡± said Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°Was I drunk at the time? I refuse to take responsibility for anything I said, did, or failed to do while drunk.¡±


    Lo Meifeng simply sniffed in disdain and looked toward the prisoners. Chan Dishi looked mildly confused as if he was trying to remember when he¡¯d met her before and couldn¡¯t place it. He shook his head and grinned at Grandmother Lu.


    ¡°Chan Dishi,¡± he said. ¡°And you might be?¡±


    ¡°Lu Jia,¡± said Grandmother Lu.


    She looked a little amused by the man, but it was the sort of amusement that one reserved for small boys who were acting out. Chan Dishi appeared to read that amusement for what it was and grinned even wider.


    ¡°So, I take it you¡¯re the mythical grandmother who will rule in his stead,¡± said the man, hiking a thumb at Sen.


    ¡°That¡¯s what he tells me,¡± said Grandmother Lu with a long-suffering sigh. ¡°Children these days.¡±


    ¡°Tell me about it,¡± said the man with a sage nod. ¡°Mine are constantly causing me problems. Barely a decade goes by without one of them making some mess I have to clean up for them.¡±


    Sen was startled at the idea that this man had even one child. He struck Sen as wildly irresponsible. Of course, he supposed that wasn¡¯t really an impediment to having children, just raising them. Chan Dishi saw the surprised look on Sen¡¯s face and shrugged.


    ¡°What? We¡¯re not all like you. It¡¯s taken me centuries to get this far. I got bored.¡±


    ¡°That strikes me as a terrible reason to have children,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Probably,¡± admitted Chan Dishi. ¡°Still, they are ceaselessly amusing. So, it¡¯s not all bad. Anyway, are you about ready to get this started? I¡¯m very excited to see what you have planned.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a very strange man,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°No denying that,¡± said the man, wholly unperturbed by the comment.


    Sen snorted and, putting on a stern expression, he walked over to the kneeling prisoners. He ignored their pleading eyes and the mangled words that came from around the gags as he hung pouches of explosives around their necks. He wasn¡¯t looking to drag out their deaths. The explosions should destroy their hearts and kill them immediately. The results were the real message to the public, the sects, and the other noble houses. After he¡¯d placed the final pouch, he stepped back so he could glare imperiously up and down the line.


    ¡°All of you participated in the attack on this manor. Your actions cost lives. The lives of my people. You will pay for that transgression with your own. May you make better choices in your next life.¡±


    Sen nodded to the guard captain, who Lo Meifeng had needed to point out to him. The man barked a few orders and the rest of the guards moved well clear of the prisoners. Sen erected another barrier of solid air to contain the explosions. He met the eyes of each prisoner for a brief moment. Then, he used a bit of fire qi to set off all of the explosives at the same time. It was beyond messy. Containing the explosions had the side effect of redirecting all of the force back onto the prisoners¡¯ bodies. It was carnage, plain and simple. He heard someone in the crowd of everyday people who had gathered scream. He stood there, looking at the mess he had made, and then burned the remains to ash. Snuffing the temporary inferno, he rejoined Grandmother Lu, Lo Meifeng, and Chan Dishi. He looked to the man that Jing had sent to watch him take revenge.


    ¡°What did you think of my public statement?¡±


    Chan Dishi thought for a moment before he said, ¡°I think geese the world over are trembling in terror.¡±

 V8 Chapter 62 – Tell Me a Story

    With the executions clearly over, the crowd started to disperse, although Sen could hear their hushed, fearful whispering. At least that part seemed to be going to plan. Lo Meifeng cast another disdainful look at Chan Dishi before she headed for the gate, obviously happy to have an excuse to leave. Grandmother Lu offered the man a shallow bow before she also went back to the manor. Chan Dishi wore that look of vague confusion again as he watched them leave, seemingly still uncertain when or where he might have encountered Lo Meifeng before. It was only then that Sen really became aware of Yeung Fen again. He¡¯d dragged her along with him without even thinking about it. Her eyes were locked on the place where the prisoners used to be. Oh, right, I should finish cleaning that up, thought Sen. He didn¡¯t know for sure that breathing the ashes of human remains was bad for people, but it stood to reason. He used wind qi to gather the ashes up, opened a hole in the stone of the street, and sank the ashes deep underground.


    ¡°Well, you certainly know how to send a message,¡± said Chan Dishi, grinning at Sen.


    ¡°I have my moments,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°So, now that you¡¯ve made every noble, criminal, and most of the cultivators in the city soil themselves, what¡¯s next?¡±


    Sen only hesitated for a moment. It wasn¡¯t like it was going to be any kind of secret when he left, so there wasn¡¯t much point in being cagey about it. And, almost despite himself, he did like Chan Dishi. He didn¡¯t understand the man, or his seemingly unshakeable good cheer, but Sen liked him all the same.


    ¡°I¡¯m just about done here,¡± said Sen. ¡°After I wrap up a few last tasks, I go back north. Let things here settle down.¡±


    ¡°North, eh? Not much up that way.¡±


    ¡°I have a little academy I started.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right, you started a sect up there.¡±


    Sen almost said that it wasn¡¯t a sect on reflex, but he supposed he couldn¡¯t do that anymore. It might not be sect right that second, but it would be soon enough.


    ¡°Something like that. I need to do a little recruiting while I¡¯m here. I need some extra teachers. Weapon masters.¡±


    Chan Dishi lifted an eyebrow at that.


    ¡°The way I hear it, you¡¯re a master swordsman and a spear master. Why would you want to recruit some second-class talents to teach what you can teach?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s only one of me,¡± said Sen with a shrug. ¡°There¡¯s only so many hours in the day. Plus, if I¡¯m being honest with myself, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m a particularly good teacher. I mean, I¡¯m not terrible, but I lack a certain amount of patience.¡±


    Chan Dishi nodded along and said, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s like foreplay. It¡¯s only fun if you¡¯re invested in it.¡±


    ¡°Um,¡± said Sen, uncertain how to respond to that. ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± said the other man, stretching, ¡°I suppose I should go report in. Thanks for the entertainment. I may have to come and see what kind of sect you¡¯re building after I¡¯m done playing bodyguard.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not that hard to find. It was interesting to meet you.¡±


    ¡°I know, right?¡± said Chan Dishi with a laugh before he sauntered away with a wave.


    Sen watched the odd man go before shaking his head and looking at Yeung Fen. She flinched when he focused on her. He headed for the gate, all but dragging her along in his wake with a fist of air qi. Everyone he passed offered a bow, and he soon grew tired of nodding acknowledgment at people, but it was simply the price of the position he¡¯d seized by force and with a bit of collusion from Jing. Playing into the role would also, he hoped, help make things easier for Grandmother Lu. She¡¯d have to establish her own kind of authority with them eventually. However, if she had to borrow some reflected authority from him at first, the least he could do was make sure that he didn¡¯t undermine it before he left. Sen stalked past Pan Shiji and into his office. He¡¯d expected to find Lo Meifeng and Grandmother Lu there, but it seemed they¡¯d been called away already to handle something. Sen dropped into a chair and finally released Yeung Fen from the fist of air qi. He pointed at another chair.


    ¡°Sit,¡± he ordered.


    The woman sat, trying to maintain some kind of dignity.


    ¡°I¡ª¡± she started.


    ¡°You just saw how I deal with people who attack me and mine,¡± Sen said. ¡°The only reason you weren¡¯t in that line of prisoners outside is because I think you know some things that I don¡¯t yet. So, tell me a story, Yeung Fen. Tell me things that I don¡¯t already know.¡±


    ¡°If I do, will you let me live?¡±


    ¡°Of course not. I let you go once already, and you didn¡¯t take advantage of that mercy.¡±


    ¡°Then, I don¡¯t see that I have any incentive to tell you anything.¡±


    ¡°Would you like me to provide you with one? Alright, you don¡¯t get to live, but you do get to decide how you die. You can tell me what I want to know and die a fast, relatively painless death. Or you can waste my time, and die a very slow, very painful death. I recently discovered how to regrow limbs. So, I can make this last. You can lose your arms and legs, over and over again. I don¡¯t know how many times it¡¯ll take before you spill every secret in your head, but I can promise that you¡¯ll be ready to talk a long time before I¡¯m ready to stop. That¡¯s before we even discuss the possibilities of poison. Take this one, for example,¡± said Sen, summoning the poison he hadn¡¯t given to the Wu patriarch.


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    He gave her the same explanation of what it would do that he¡¯d given to Wu Chia-Hao. The feeling of burning, the rot, and the ultimate drowning. He didn¡¯t know if it would actually work on a cultivator the same way it would on a mortal, but she didn¡¯t need to know that. After he wrapped that up, he smiled at her and shrugged.


    ¡°You wanted an incentive. There you go.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t strike me as this ruthless the last time we met,¡± she said.


    She did an admirable job of keeping a calm fa?ade in place, but the mask was fragile. She was well and truly frightened.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been through some things since then,¡± said Sen. ¡°The sad part is, I really would have left you alone if you¡¯d left me alone. I¡¯d all but forgotten about you. If we¡¯d just crossed paths randomly somewhere, I doubt I¡¯d have given you more than a second glance.¡±


    Yeung Fen closed her eyes and took a shuddering breath. She seemed to be bracing herself. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was to tell him she wasn¡¯t going to cooperate or to tell him the truth. Neither option seemed to appeal to the woman.


    ¡°You may have forgotten about me,¡± she said, ¡°but the demonic cultivators didn¡¯t forget about either of us.¡±


    Sen nodded. He might have been able to guess that it was them, but he simply had so many people who didn¡¯t like him now that it was dangerous to guess about who was behind any one thing. He preferred confirmations.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± he said. ¡°I knew we didn¡¯t get them all. Honestly, I thought that they¡¯d try to get me before this.¡±


    ¡°You moved around too much. You grew too powerful, too fast. Every time they got close, you¡¯d vanish for months at a time, only to resurface somewhere else and even more powerful than before.¡±


    ¡°I suppose that makes sense. It doesn¡¯t explain you, though. You didn¡¯t have what it took to capture me all those years ago before I got this powerful. You had to know you didn¡¯t stand a chance now. So, why?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s because I tried to take your advice. I went looking for revenge against Suen Hai. The one who set me up back then. It turned out that he had more powerful backing than I expected. One of those demonic cultivators your purge missed.¡±


    ¡°And what¡¯s this demonic cultivator¡¯s name? Where can I find them?¡±


    ¡°You think they introduced themselves to me? They just showed up, slapped me down, and told me that I worked for them now. It wasn¡¯t ideal, but I was alive. Honestly, I think they thought I was too trivial to kill. Not a threat to them, at all. So, why kill me when they could make me work?¡±


    She gave Sen a significant look as if he should be taking a lesson from that explanation. He couldn¡¯t blame her for trying.


    ¡°You¡¯re suggesting that I press you into service to me?¡±


    ¡°I could be useful to you.¡±


    ¡°An interesting proposition, except that I don¡¯t trust you.¡±


    Yeung Fen laughed. It was a cynical sound, laced with bitterness and more than a little self-loathing.


    ¡°You say that like you don¡¯t have a manor full of people you can¡¯t trust. You don¡¯t honestly think you can trust all those Xie family members you turned into peasants, do you? Or those two assassins you have running around here pretending they¡¯re housebroken? I¡¯m no more untrustworthy than they are.¡±


    She had a point, even if there were things she didn¡¯t know about the situation. He only trusted most of those people as far as he trusted the admittedly imperfect protection of a vow to the heavens. Lo Meifeng was the one true exception to that rule, not that he planned to explain that fact or why it was the case to Yeung Fen.


    ¡°This is all very interesting, but you haven¡¯t even given me a good reason to let you keep breathing for the next five minutes, let alone burden myself with keeping you around. Where is this demonic cultivator? For that matter, where is Suen Hai? I assume he played some role in all of this. I wouldn¡¯t want him to miss out on all of the fun.¡±


    ¡°Gone. They started planning their escapes the second your hunting dogs started grabbing people. I expect they both packed up and left after you grabbed me. They¡¯re smart enough to know that I¡¯d drag them down into the thousand hells with me and smile while I did it.¡±


    Sen leaned back in his chair, idly picking up the vial of poison he¡¯d left sitting on the table. He rolled it back and forth in his hand while he thought. His inclination was to kill Yeung Fen and get on with his day. He¡¯d said he would kill her, and he did make an effort to follow through when told people things like that. On the other hand, he¡¯d done a lot of killing that day. It had been necessary, from a certain perspective, but he didn¡¯t like killing mortals. He didn¡¯t particularly like killing cultivators, either, but it bothered him more when he killed mortals. Cultivators at least had a chance of defending themselves from him. It might only be a slim chance, but it was a chance. When he decided that a mortal had to die, he might as well be a force of nature that had singled out a single person to bully. They could rail against him, but they could never win. Yeung Fen wasn¡¯t a mortal, and she had wronged him, twice now, but she truly wasn¡¯t a threat to him in a direct conflict. Killing her would be about as difficult as killing a baby chicken.


    There was also the fact that Yeung Fen had managed to make herself useful enough to a demonic cultivator that they kept her around for years. That meant that she had to have some skills that weren¡¯t made obvious by this conversation. Probably the kind of skills that Lo Meifeng could make use of in one way or another. However, he wasn¡¯t going to saddle Lo Meifeng with this woman without at least consulting her. He turned his attention back to Yeung Fen, who was staring at the vial in his hands with the kind of intensity that only the proximity of death could generate.


    ¡°Sit there. Be quiet, and you might live to see the dawn,¡± Sen told her.


    He put the vial back into his storage ring and promptly ignored the woman as he started going through the scrolls that had, somehow, piled up on the table since the last time he¡¯d been there. Yeung Fen sat in perfect silence, barely moving. She wasn¡¯t quite as unobtrusive as a statue, but she came close. After close to an hour, Lo Meifeng finally returned. She took in the scene at a glance and then lifted an eyebrow at Sen.


    Sen focused on Yeung Fen, who straightened in her chair. He pointed at Lo Meifeng.


    ¡°If you can convince her that you¡¯re worth keeping around, I¡¯ll take her recommendation,¡± said Sen.


    He stood from the table and walked out of the room. Lo Meifeng followed him.


    ¡°You want to keep her?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Not especially,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°I¡¯ve just had enough killing for a while. Talk to her. If you think she¡¯s got skills that are worth preserving, we¡¯ll figure it out. Otherwise, I¡¯ll deal with her.¡±


    Lo Meifeng gave him a long look.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it if it comes to that. I know,¡± she said before he could speak. ¡°I¡¯ll make it quick. We¡¯re not making examples anymore.¡±


    Sen hesitated before he nodded and said, ¡°Thanks.¡±

 V8 Chapter 63 – The Children

    Sen regretted turning the decision over to Lo Meifeng almost immediately. The regret didn¡¯t have anything to do with her. He¡¯d just let his own weakness get the best of him. That he didn¡¯t want to kill anyone else was a bad reason not to finish the job. Not that his other reasons had been wholly without merit, and he¡¯d made the decision about that particular woman the last time the three of them had met. He also knew that Lo Meifeng¡¯s default position would be to eliminate the threat the woman posed. Yeung Fen would have to prove incredibly convincing to a highly suspicious person who was already unfavorably disposed toward her. In the end, though, he had made the decision hers. Taking the decision back would probably make Lo Meifeng worry that he didn¡¯t trust her judgment. If Yeung Fen did somehow manage to find the right words to save her own life, Sen was a little worried about what to do with her.


    She couldn¡¯t stay in the capital. Well, she couldn¡¯t be seen to be working for him in the capital, at the very least. He had to assume that some people, and some of the wrong people, would recognize her. The problem was that she couldn¡¯t be left to her own devices without supervision. It wasn¡¯t like he could just send her off somewhere distant to handle things for him. She¡¯d just slip away the first chance she got. Sen shook his head. That was just him borrowing problems that didn¡¯t exist yet. He had enough real things to deal with already, such as all the preparations for leaving. Preparations that would prove more substantial since he wouldn¡¯t be leaving by himself. He had to stop three people to find someone who knew where to find Grandmother Lu. It turned out that she was observing some of the Xie children who were outside getting some play or maybe exercise. Sen wasn¡¯t really sure. He stepped up next to her and considered the children.


    ¡°You still mean to take them with you?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I do,¡± said Sen, hearing the disapproval in her voice.


    ¡°It¡¯s a cruel thing you mean to do,¡± she said. ¡°You, of all people, know what it means to grow up without parents.¡±


    Sen felt a brief flare of anger and pushed it down hard.


    ¡°There is a difference. I don¡¯t mean to put these children out on the streets. They will not starve. They will not lack for education.¡±


    ¡°What kind of education? What will you have them learn?¡±


    ¡°They will learn something their parents never did. They will learn how to be useful. I will make them into farmers, blacksmiths, and carpenters.¡±


    ¡°Not soldiers?¡±


    ¡°I suppose that once they come of age, I can¡¯t prevent them from joining the army. But I will not teach them how to fight. I will not arm them to rise up against us.¡±


    Grandmother Lu let out a soft sigh.


    ¡°They didn¡¯t choose this fight, Sen.¡±


    ¡°Neither did I,¡± he gently reminded her. ¡°All things considered¡­ I think I¡¯ve been restrained in how I¡¯ve treated this entire family.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps you have. I just dislike punishing the children for their parents¡¯ mistakes.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have a better solution. I won¡¯t kill them. I can¡¯t bind them with oaths. I don¡¯t dare leave them with their parents to be poisoned against us day in and day out. I can¡¯t leave them in the capital, either. Just because I won¡¯t harm them, I¡¯m quite certain there are those who wouldn¡¯t hesitate to kill them simply to repay their parents for past sins.¡±


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    ¡°I said it was cruel, not senseless,¡± said Grandmother Lu. ¡°I also don¡¯t have any other or better ideas. You know that some of those children will be reluctant to give up the privilege they once enjoyed.¡±


    ¡°I do. I expect that will lead to some rough lessons for them. That kind of behavior doesn¡¯t get you very far when you don¡¯t have any actual authority or house guards to back it up.¡±


    ¡°So, you won¡¯t interfere if they get into fights?¡±


    Sen shrugged and said, ¡°Not unless things get out of hand.¡±


    There was a moment of silence as Sen looked out at the children and hardened his heart. They won¡¯t always be children, but they will always be Xie, he reminded himself. You can never let yourself trust any of them. Not ever. Grandmother Lu let out another sigh.


    ¡°Try not to let them see you look at them like that. You¡¯ll frighten them to death.¡±


    Sen forced his face to relax.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try to remember,¡± he said before changing the subject. ¡°I¡¯m going to need to find carts and gather supplies to take them north. Food. Tents. Guards. The usual.¡±


    ¡°Carts?¡± asked Grandmother Lu, a small smile on her face.


    ¡°Peasants travel by foot and by cart. Best to get them used to that right away.¡±


    ¡°I take it you¡¯d like me to arrange for that, boy?¡±


    ¡°If you would be so kind, Grandmother. I would appreciate it. I have a number of other things to do over the next few days.¡±


    ¡°More important than seeing to the disposition of these children?¡±


    ¡°Not more important but possibly more complicated. Minimally, they¡¯re things that I¡¯ll probably have to see to personally. I can¡¯t really send Shen Mingxia out to recruit core formation weapon masters.¡±


    ¡°True enough. Idle curiosity. Why did you bring her with you? She¡¯s a sweet enough girl, but she¡¯s not¡­¡± Grandmother Lu trailed off, seemingly unable to find the right word.


    ¡°Powerful?¡± Sen suggested.


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s as good a word as any.¡±


    ¡°Honestly, it was a joke that got out of hand. Plus, I thought she could use the experience dealing with mortal nobility. I didn¡¯t expect all of this,¡± he said, sweeping his arm in an all-encompassing sort of way. ¡°If I¡¯d imagined any of this in advance, I¡¯d have left her up north.¡±


    ¡°So, not pure recklessness or infatuation?¡±


    Sen gave Grandmother Lu a surprised look and laughed.


    ¡°Maybe a bit of recklessness but not infatuation. I¡¯m not that cruel.¡±


    ¡°I was just checking. Very well. I¡¯ll see to getting you carts and tents.¡±


    ¡°And clothes,¡± said Sen. ¡°They¡¯ll need appropriate clothes. It¡¯ll be harder for them to act haughty in peasant clothes.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯ll be the one to tell all those girls that you¡¯re taking away all of their pretty things? There¡¯s going to be tears.¡±


    ¡°It can¡¯t be avoided,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯ll tell them if you think it¡¯s for the best.¡±


    ¡°Heavens no. You¡¯re going to have enough trouble without them hating you even more than they probably already do. I¡¯ll deal with it. What will you be doing today, though?¡±


    ¡°I need to go and collect some formation flags I asked to have made quite some time ago. And to keep a promise. After that, I need to find out how you hold an auction in a city like this. Sects have been a thorn in my side for years. It¡¯s time to see if we can¡¯t make them useful to me for once. I intend for them to help finance all the work we have ahead of us.¡±


    ¡°No preferential treatment for your sect matriarch lover?¡± asked Grandmother Lu with an amused look on her face. ¡°I hear that she¡¯s supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the city. How disappointed will she be if you make her bid on things?¡±


    Sen rolled his eyes.


    ¡°One, I very much doubt that she¡¯s going to turn up personally to bid on things. Two, this is business. She¡¯ll understand. In fact, she¡¯d probably be disappointed in me if I didn¡¯t make her sect bid like all of the others. There are some strange power dynamics at work between the sects here that I won¡¯t even pretend to understand. I¡¯m not interested in creating waves there.¡±


    ¡°She sounds almost reasonable. So, when will you introduce us?¡±


    ¡°I expect that I will introduce Lu Jia, acting matriarch of the House of Lu, to Lai Dongmai, Matriarch of the Golden Phoenix Sect, before I leave the city.¡±


    ¡°That was a suspiciously formal way to describe it, Sen.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because I have no intention of introducing my grandmother to my lover in an informal way that might invite the wrong kind of conversations.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve gotten a little too sharp for your own good,¡± said Grandmother Lu with a look of mock annoyance. ¡°Take care you don¡¯t cut yourself.¡±


    Sen grinned at her and then offered her a deep bow.


    ¡°I will heed your wise advice, as always, Grandmother.¡±


    He grinned even wider when she swatted the back of his head.

 V8 Chapter 64 – Keeping the Promise

    Sen smiled at the little house with the barn-like structure out back. It was exactly as he remembered the place, which he realized wasn¡¯t that big of a surprise. It hadn¡¯t actually been ten years since he last visited the formation flag maker and his wife, it just felt like it. He walked up to the door and, much as he had the last time, summoned an expensive bottle of wine. He knocked on the door and waited. A few moments later a gray-haired woman opened the door. Her expression went from annoyed to surprised and happy from one eye blink to the next. Sen offered her a very respectful bow.


    ¡°Ung Wen, this humble wandering cultivator greets you.¡±


    Snorting a little, she returned his bow and said, ¡°Ung Wen greets the Lord Lu. Heavens above, did you somehow get prettier since the last time I saw you?¡±


    ¡°I suppose it¡¯s possible. I was so hideous before it hardly seems possible that I couldn¡¯t improve a little,¡± said Sen as he proffered the bottle.


    Taking the bottle, she waved him inside. Sen sat while the woman bustled around and made them tea. Before she could find a snack, Sen waved a hand over the table and a plate of small cakes appeared.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been trying out that recipe you gave me for these. I thought I¡¯d present my efforts to the master for her appraisal.¡±


    ¡°My appraisal, eh?¡± she said. ¡°Well, it¡¯d be rude of me to refuse now.¡±


    She carefully lifted one of the cakes from the plate and bit into it. She chewed thoughtfully, her face betraying nothing of her thoughts. After she swallowed the bite, she lifted her tea and took a sip.


    ¡°Well, I suppose it¡¯s not a complete failure,¡± she said with a merry twinkle in her eyes.


    ¡°I am relieved,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯m just teasing you, of course. These are excellent. Well done.¡±


    Sen found himself smiling broadly at the praise. It was one thing to be praised for his cultivation skills. Much of those were things he didn¡¯t fully understand, as much intuition as knowledge. Cooking, though, was truly his. He¡¯d put in the effort. Learned what worked by watching and listening to people who knew what they were doing, and then practicing. The skills felt truly earned, as did Ung Wen¡¯s praise.


    ¡°My daughter is rather fond of them,¡± said Sen. ¡°So, I really should be thanking you.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t tell us you had a daughter,¡± said Ung Wen.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t at the time. She didn¡¯t have anyone, so I adopted her.¡±


    ¡°How old is she?¡±


    ¡°She five. At least, I think so. She didn¡¯t properly remember when her birthday was, so there¡¯s some guesswork involved.¡±


    ¡°Time is one of those things that''s hard to keep track of at that age. Every day is an eternity, stuffed with new experiences. So, what¡¯s she like?¡±


    Sen considered that briefly and said, ¡°She¡¯s probably the most fearless thing I¡¯ve ever seen. Unless she¡¯s meeting new people.¡±


    Ung Wen threw back her head and laughed. The two talked for another half an hour before Ung Wen sighed.


    ¡°I suppose I should take you out to see that husband of mine so you can get your formation flags. He¡¯ll be relieved that you¡¯ve come. They¡¯re valuable. It made him nervous to have them here.¡±


    ¡°Ah, well then, let us go and unburden his mind.¡±


    The pair went out to the barn and Ung Wen called in through the door.


    ¡°Tan Lin. You have a customer.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be right there,¡± the man called back before appearing a few moments later. ¡°You¡¯re here!¡±


    ¡°I am,¡± agreed Sen amiably.


    Tan Lin seemed to remember himself and bowed.


    ¡°Forgive my rudeness, Lord Lu.¡±


    ¡°Just Sen will do fine,¡± he said with a wave of his hand. ¡°I understand you might have a formation flag or two ready for me.¡±


    ¡°I do!¡± said Tan Lin with obvious relief. ¡°Right this way.¡±


    Sen wondered if Ung Wen had been downplaying how nervous her husband had been about those flags. He trailed after the craftsman into the work area proper. He glanced around, expecting to see his own flags piled up somewhere, but just saw what had become the standard, more inferior flags. He went to ask about it, only to see the man drag out a heavy chest that had been hidden from view. Sen¡¯s eyebrows rose as the man undid a heavy physical lock, and then an assortment of qi locks. After that, he went through the same process with a smaller chest, before he finally plucked out a storage ring and offered it to Sen. After a moment of concentration, he was able to access the ring and its contents. He summoned a formation flag. He ran his hands over the material and smiled. It felt right, like the ones that Uncle Kho had given him all those years ago.


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    ¡°That was a lot of security on the flags,¡± observed Sen.


    ¡°A few people saw me working on them. They got a little pushy about me selling to them. Didn¡¯t really want to hear the word no.¡±


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t they just order some for themselves?¡±


    ¡°Sure. Except, they wanted to pay the same price.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± said Sen, finally understanding. ¡°Well, I appreciate you hanging on to them for me.¡±


    Sen swiftly transferred the flags into one of his own storage rings and tossed the one Tan Lin had originally handed him back to the man. The craftsman eyed the ring a little uncertainly.


    ¡°For the next time,¡± said Sen. ¡°No reason you should have to buy a new storage treasure for every order I place.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough,¡± said Tan Lin, who looked around for a place to put the ring before Ung Wen plucked it from his hand.


    ¡°You¡¯ll just lose it,¡± she said and gave her husband an affectionate kiss on the cheek.


    Tan Lin smiled sheepishly and said, ¡°She¡¯s right. I will.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± said Sen, ¡°you¡¯ve held up your end of the bargain. I guess it¡¯s time that I make good. Let¡¯s head back inside. I¡¯ll need to use your kitchen.¡±


    Once they got back inside, Sen examined both of them with his qi and his spiritual sense. He even went so far as to have them cycle their qi to get as clear a picture as possible of what he was working with. That was followed by a lot of questions about what they wanted from their cultivation moving forward. It was one thing to know that Tan Lin had a wood affinity and that Ung Wen had a water affinity, but the way they wanted to use their cultivation could have a lot of impact on what he made for them. Sen had been careful with the construction of his core. It played to his affinities, certainly, but also to his needs. He knew that he was going to be doing a lot of fighting, so speed and explosive power were part of what he¡¯d aimed for in crafting his core. For Tan Lin, who focused almost entirely on crafting, speed and explosive power would be largely useless. He needed a core that augmented stable qi flows and endurance of use. Ung Wen, on the other hand, was somewhere in the middle.


    All of those factors played into Sen¡¯s thinking as he delved into the components he had stored in his rings. He resisted the urge to smirk at the uncertain looks that the married couple shared when he dropped his trusty, battered old pot onto the stove. He had to forcefully suppress a laugh at their astonished looks when he started to pull out ingredients and reagents that nearly bled qi. Soon, though, he was lost in the process as he dropped in a water-qi affinity lotus that he¡¯d found in a tiny lake deep in the wilds. He balanced that with lesser, or what he considered lesser, earth, fire, air, and metal-affinity ingredients and reagents.


    As the elixir bubbled and boiled, he could sense that it wasn¡¯t quite what it should be, what it needed to become. He dipped back into his supplies and summoned a feather from a thunder-crow. He wasn¡¯t entirely sure what it contained that the elixir needed. However, the moment it landed in the pot, he could sense some minor disharmony, some dissonance that existed somewhere deep in the structure of the elixir correct itself. Even as all of that occurred, he made the countless adjustments that barely registered in his mind. He didn¡¯t understand why other alchemists couldn¡¯t feel these things or make these corrections, but he wasn¡¯t going to hamper himself by not doing them. He¡¯d been down the road of self-inflected near-madness once before, he never intended to do it again.


    The first elixir had barely cooled enough to be poured off before he was at work on the second elixir. That elixir relied on an acorn from a thousand-year oak. The tree had been almost impossibly large, towering over the rest of the forest around it, positively blazing with qi, and possibly sapient if Sen didn¡¯t miss his guess. He wouldn¡¯t have dared to try to take anything directly off the tree itself, but his theft of a handful of acorns had not brought any wrath down on his head. If he¡¯d been planning on feeding the elixir to a mortal, he knew he would have had to do things to the acorn. Otherwise, he would have risked making them ill. Fortunately, cultivator constitutions were a bit hardier, so he was able to drop the nut into the pot whole, shell and all.


    The work for that elixir was trickier. Wood qi was more sedate and stable than water qi, which accepted change as its natural state. He had to nudge the elixir along slowly. Other ingredients went into the pot in much smaller amounts. It forced him to adjust from his usual approach, to adapt, and he loved every second of it. He reveled in the challenge and the state of purpose it provided. He basked in the warm glow of creation. Then, inevitably, and with a touch of the bittersweet, it was over. He poured the elixir through the cheesecloth and then sealed it. Smiling at the two vials he picked them up and turned to hand them over. He stopped short at the looks of awe on the faces of Tan Lin and Ung Wen. A little self-consciously, he held out the vials toward their respective owners. Both of them shied back like they didn¡¯t dare get near the elixirs.


    ¡°This is what I promised you,¡± said Sen, pushing the vials a little closer.


    ¡°We can¡¯t,¡± said Tan Lin in a hoarse whisper. ¡°Those are too valuable. We could never repay.¡±


    ¡°Nonsense. They¡¯re literally only valuable to you. I made them specifically to suit your needs. I mean, maybe someone else could use them, but they¡¯d never get as much out of it. So, you might as well take them.¡±


    Ung Wen jerked, almost like she was waking up, and immediately shushed Tan Lin. She reached out, took the vials, and dropped one into Tan Lin¡¯s hand. She stared down at the elixir in her own trembling hand like it was some kind of a miracle. She looked up at him, and he thought she was about to burst into tears.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± she said. ¡°This will really work?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve done everything I can to make sure it will, which is quite a lot. Just make sure you take them well away from anything or anyone. There¡¯s almost always a tribulation when you move between the major cultivation stages.¡±


    ¡°A tribulation,¡± said Tan Lin. ¡°I haven¡¯t faced one of those in¡­ Honestly, I don¡¯t even remember how long it¡¯s been.¡±


    Sen grimaced and said, ¡°Yeah, well, I promise that they¡¯re exactly as terrible as you remember. Which reminds me.¡±


    Sen summoned two healing elixirs and handed them to Ung Wen.


    ¡°For after the tribulation,¡± he said in answer to the unspoken question in their eyes. ¡°Just a little something to smooth the way.¡±


    ¡°How can we thank you?¡± asked Tan Lin.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need. I¡¯m just keeping the promise I made you.¡±

 V8 Chapter 65 – Details

    The next week was busy, but mostly quiet. Sen arranged for an auction and let a few hints slip about what manner of natural treasures and elixirs were going to be up for grabs. There was extensive complaining about the incredibly short notice, most of which Sen shamelessly foisted off onto Long Jia Wei¡¯s shoulders. He couldn¡¯t really avoid the half-hearted complaints that Lai Dongmei made while they were in bed. Those he dismissed because he got the distinct impression that she did it because she felt like she ought to, not because she actually cared. The reality was that most of what got sold was going to go to the biggest sects. It probably wasn¡¯t fair, but Sen decided that it wasn¡¯t his job to be the arbiter of fairness at auctions for two key reasons. One, it sounded incredibly tedious. Two, he didn¡¯t want to. This was little more than a money grab designed to make Grandmother Lu¡¯s life a little easier. That meant he wanted the most money possible for the items, and the biggest sects had the most money to spend.


    Supplies for the trip north started piling up in the manor, which brightened Sen¡¯s day up every time he saw them. It was visible evidence that this trip to the capital was almost over. Unfortunately, it had come with one unpleasant detail that Sen had completely overlooked, but that Grandmother Lu¡¯s eminently practical mind had spotted almost immediately.


    ¡°But why do I have to talk to them?¡± Sen complained.


    ¡°Because you¡¯re going to be the one actually employing them,¡± said Grandmother Lu. ¡°It¡¯s not unreasonable for them to want to meet you. Just as importantly, don¡¯t you think you should meet the people you plan to have help educate all of those children?¡±


    ¡°This is punishment for something, isn¡¯t it?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Of course, it is. It also happens to be necessary, which means the punishment is really just a nice extra for me.¡±


    ¡°Will you at least tell me what it¡¯s punishment for?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure if you¡¯ll figure it out if you think hard about it.¡±


    When Sen thought about it, there were a depressing number of things she might be punishing him for. Heaving a defeated breath, Sen spent a large part of one day talking to people he could hire to teach the children essentials like reading and math. He was a tiny bit annoyed to discover that it had been a good idea for him to meet the people. There were a few in the group that he simply couldn¡¯t stand. They would have been a constant source of irritation if he¡¯d been forced to deal with them on a regular basis. There were also a few that, for reasons Sen couldn¡¯t put his finger on, he just didn¡¯t trust. It was an instinct that told him that he shouldn¡¯t hire those people. He did manage to hire what he hoped would be enough people to do the work.


    With so much of the day already gone, he had decided that he might as well stay on task. He went out into the city and, based on recommendations he¡¯d gotten from Lai Dongmei, Lo Meifeng, and Chan Dishi, looked for cultivators he could bring in for weapon teachers. A few just weren¡¯t interested, one was too eager, and the others took some convincing. He¡¯d found himself in a shabbier part of the city looking for one of Chan Dishi¡¯s recommendations. A man named He Jietang. After asking around for a while, he eventually found the man sitting outside a ramshackle little house, a wine pot balanced precariously on his leg, and snoring outrageously. Sen almost walked away right then, but he had promised Chan Dishi that he would actually talk to the man. He walked over to the drunken cultivator and noted that he was in core formation, which made Sen wonder just what was in the wine pot.


    ¡°He Jietang!¡± Sen almost shouted.


    The man stirred and finally cracked an eye to glare at Sen.


    ¡°Go away,¡± mumbled the man.


    ¡°I have a message for you,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Don¡¯t want it,¡± slurred He Jietang.


    ¡°I was told to say, get up off your lazy drunken ass and show me something you miserable old wretch.¡±


    The man opened his other eye, seemed to focus, and said, ¡°Oh, Dishi sent you. How is that fool?¡±


    ¡°Still foolish,¡± ventured Sen.


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    ¡°Good. Good,¡± said the man who gave his wine pot a longing look before putting it down and standing. ¡°Wait here a moment.¡±


    Sen half-expected the man to simply go inside and go to bed, but he reappeared less than a minute later with a bow in one hand and a half dozen arrows in the other.


    ¡°You¡¯re an archer?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Not really, but it¡¯s the only thing I can do while I¡¯m this drunk,¡± answered He Jietang. ¡°Grab some of those rocks on the ground, would you?¡±


    Sen obliged the man and showed him the handful of rocks.


    ¡°Will these do?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯ll be fine. Go on.¡±


    ¡°Go on and do what?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°Throw them up in the air.¡±


    ¡°How high?¡±


    ¡°As high as you can,¡± said the man.


    Sen looked at the stones in his hand. If I throw these as high as I can, they might never come back down, thought Sen. Then, he looked at the arrows that the man had propped up against the wall of the house. He Jietang actually swayed on his feet. There was a hazy unfocused quality about the man, like the cultivator had become as dilapidated in his soul as the little house had become due to the ravages of time. Fine, thought Sen. I¡¯ll throw the rocks and be on my way. It¡¯s not like he¡¯s going to hit them. Sen adjusted his grip a little, drew back, and hurled the rocks into the sky. He didn¡¯t throw them with all of his strength, but more than hard enough that he probably could have brought down a circling hawk. He shifted his eyes from the rocks to the other man.


    He watched as a change came over the man. For a few seconds, he saw what Chan Dishi had no doubt meant for him to see. The haziness parted, and it was like a new man emerged. The unsteadiness vanished. His posture straightened. The man¡¯s eyes took on a piercing, predatory quality. He Jietang¡¯s hand moved with smooth precision as he fired the six arrows one after the next. Sen glanced up and was not surprised to see the arrows strike the stones. There was a brief surge of qi from the archer, and wind gathered up the arrows and stones. The stones were scattered on the ground, while the arrows dropped back into the man¡¯s outstretched hand. Then, the unfocused quality returned.


    ¡°You recruiting for a sect war?¡± asked He Jietang. ¡°As you can see, I¡¯m a fine archer. No flying sword will help them evade my arrows.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want you to fight,¡± said Sen. ¡°I want you to teach.¡±


    ¡°Teach,¡± said the man, as though he was tasting something unfamiliar.


    ¡°That is assuming you can be sober enough to do that job. Can you?¡±


    A sliver of that other cultivator surfaced in the man¡¯s expression when he said, ¡°I can.¡±


    Sen nodded and gave He Jietang a quick explanation of what he wanted and where it would happen. Then, almost as if it were an afterthought, Sen asked a final question.


    ¡°Do you mind teaching mortals? To the limits of their abilities, of course.¡±


    ¡°What? Sure, I¡¯ll teach mortals. No difference to me who I teach as long as you give me somewhere warm to sleep in the winter, food to eat, and enough coin to help me forget when I really need to.¡±


    ¡°I think that can all be arranged, assuming you don¡¯t need to forget every single night.¡±


    ¡°Not every night,¡± said He Jietang. ¡°Just the bad ones.¡±


    Sen had real misgivings about the man, but he couldn¡¯t deny the skill he¡¯d seen on display. He also wasn¡¯t entrusting the archer with deep secrets or dangerous knowledge. The worst that would happen is that he¡¯d discover the other cultivator had overestimated his self-control. If that happened, Sen would simply ask him to leave.  And he did need people at his¡ªSen resisted the urge to hurl profanity¡ªsect. Sen gave the man the details about when and where the caravan would leave. I¡¯ll consider that the first test, thought Sen. If he shows up, it means that there might still be a useful person hidden inside the other man somewhere.


    The only other real surprise that week was when Lo Meifeng brought Yeung Fen to see him. Sen could not imagine what the woman had said to convince Lo Meifeng to keep her around, but he had said he would take her recommendation. That didn¡¯t mean he needed to be stupid about it. He made her swear her vows to the heavens with the little addition that if she broke those vows, it would cost her cultivation and her life. She had glared at him for that, but Sen saw it as the one way he could help to ensure her compliance or expose her false intentions. He expected the latter, but she took the vows. He made a point to tell Lo Meifeng that the woman was her responsibility. She had nodded in acceptance, even if she didn¡¯t look enthusiastic about the idea.


    When the day of the auction arrived, Sen went to the location. It wasn¡¯t out of any desire to actually attend, but for the far more prosaic reason that he simply wasn¡¯t willing to entrust any of the natural treasures to someone else''s care. Which was how he found himself standing on a makeshift stage, bringing out natural treasures and elixirs, and watching the sects go to metaphorical war with each other. He might have been more concerned if their battles didn¡¯t end with them bleeding money in his direction. He was a little amused to see that Lai Dongmei even showed up to do some bidding herself. Grandmother Lu will never let me live that down, he thought.


    A few of the sects had offered other treasures in exchange. He had been sorely, desperately tempted a few times, but that wasn¡¯t what he was there for. Gritting his teeth a little, he had declined and pretended he didn¡¯t see the angry looks that were directed his way. When the last of the treasures were handed out and he had a fresh pile of money for Grandmother Lu in hand, though, he was finally done with the capital. That thought alone made him feel like someone had finally removed a knife from his stomach.


    ¡°I can finally leave,¡± he thought. ¡°I can finally go home and see my little girl.¡±

 V8 Chapter 66 – Morning Stroll

    He Jietang tried to glare at the sun, but mostly just managed to squint. He felt terrible, which was something of an accomplishment for a core cultivator. Their cultivation tended to make it very difficult to get drunk, let alone stay drunk, and hangovers were all but unheard of. But it could be done if a man was willing to work hard enough at it, and He Jietang was no quitter. Now that he thought about it, though, he was a quitter. Quitting was actually something of a pastime for him. He quit things all the time. Especially jobs. Oh, he hated jobs. All that working and sobriety were just so damned excruciating. Except, he had to work if he wanted to stay drunk enough to stay sane.


    ¡°Gods, the sun is so bright,¡± he muttered to himself. ¡°Damn you, Chan Dashi.¡±


    That bastard had shown up the day before and, grinning like a fool, given away all of He Jietang¡¯s liquor. Then, to add insult to injury, the man had hung around until morning, just to make sure that He Jietang got up and went to meet up with that Lu guy. Honestly, he didn¡¯t know what Chan Dishi was so impressed with. They¡¯d both seen their fair share of heavens-kissed cultivators over the years. Most of them were dead now. Cut down by sects, rivals, or time. Time was another bastard that He Jietang hated so much. All those cultivators pushing through their advancements, aching for more power and more life. He wondered how many of them would have been so eager if anyone had told them what all that extra life really was. It was one of the thousand hells. Century after century of life watching everything change, everything die, until the world became a place you didn¡¯t recognize anymore.


    Then, you found yourself seeing the faces of the dead on the living bodies of strangers. It was a nightmare, but one that He Jietang couldn¡¯t quite make himself let go of. He¡¯d thought about just ending it all. Even prayed for it a few times. It¡¯s not like it would be that hard to find some idiot young master to cut him down. All that stupid pride made them so predictable. A few well-placed comments and the challenges would start flying. He¡¯d even tried it a few times, only to have it all go sideways on him. He¡¯d been too well-trained. Once the blades came out, he just reacted. Then, it¡¯d be him standing over a corpse, or twelve, or twenty. Then, life would get really hard for a while as some new sect kept sending idiot after idiot to restore their honor. Honor? What a joke. He¡¯d been just like them once upon a time, but he¡¯d seen where that road ended. It always ended at your own grave or the grave of a friend.


    If not for Chan Dishi and a few other friends who had managed to survive the grindstone of time, it might have finally become too much. But they would come and find him, give him a touchstone, and balance the universe for a while. He supposed that¡¯s what this new job that Dishi had found for him was about. A way to restore order from chaos, at least for a while. Maybe it wouldn¡¯t be so bad. At least that Lu guy had shown up after the killing was done. He didn¡¯t even want He Jietang to fight anyone. He wanted him to teach other people how to fight. He¡¯d even said something about teaching mortals. That could be interesting. Or, it might be if his head ever stopped hurting. He paused and leaned against a wall, letting his eyes close for a minute. Gods, he hoped that there were going to be carts or wagons to sleep in on this trip. He really needed some more sleep. A couple days of it would be nice.


    Then again, maybe not. He didn¡¯t like to sleep when he was sober. That was when the bad dreams came. Not every night but often enough. He¡¯d seen so much death over the years. So many friends and lovers gone. A few had even died by his own hands. The Jianghu was a possessive mistress. She did not tolerate rivals well. That was to say nothing of all the enemies or supposed enemies he¡¯d killed back in the early years, or the countless deaths after he¡¯d started selling his skills to whoever was hiring when he ran out of money. Not that core cultivators truly needed things like food or even shelter, not the way the mortals did. He could have gone out and lived in the wilds, again, but that wasn¡¯t really any better. Killing spirit beasts by the score was only marginally less awful than killing people by the score.


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    He Jietang forced his eyes open, pushed off the wall, and started moving again. Dishi wouldn¡¯t forgive him if he screwed this up. The man truly liked this Lu Sen kid, which was rare for Dishi. He was friendly with lots of people, but those he liked were as rare as eclipses. He¡¯d also taken a chance by recommending him to the new Lord Lu. That was an idea he didn¡¯t like all that much, a cultivator noble on this side of the mountains, but the kid didn¡¯t seem to be taking it all that seriously. That attitude was something that was both a bit troubling and relieving. On the one hand, it probably meant that Lu Sen didn¡¯t take himself too seriously. That was always a good thing. On the other, it also seemed to mean that he didn¡¯t take the situation seriously. Whether that was a product of ignorance, inexperience, or hubris wasn¡¯t clear. It could very well be all of them. Regardless, that was potentially a very bad thing. Oh well, thought He Jietang. None of that is really my problem. My only problem is cramming some fighting skills into a bunch of people¡¯s heads. I can do that.


    Trying once more to glare at the hateful sun, he rounded the last corner and beheld Lu Manor. At least, he beheld the walls. Suddenly, all of those stories and jokes he¡¯d heard about Lord Lu¡¯s Fortress of Doom made sense. The walls were massive and a grey as bleak as a field in winter. That alone made them look intimidating. Even from clear down the street, though, he could feel the defenses crouched patiently and waiting for something to trip them. That man doesn¡¯t take half-measures, thought He Jietang. Then, his gaze moved down to the street where he saw all of the glorious carts and wagons. He also saw Lu Sen, smiling happily as he¡­ Was he petting the oxen that were going to pull the carts? He also saw Chan Dishi standing near Lu Sen and talking animatedly about something. Knowing Chan Dishi, it was probably a story about some party that he¡¯d turned into a riot.


    He started walking down the street and came up short as he felt Lu Sen¡¯s spiritual sense crash down on him. A moment later, the man¡¯s eyes found him. Lu Sen¡¯s smile disappeared and a deep frown replaced it. He Jietang could read the expression from where he stood. The one that said the man was questioning his own judgment and questioning He Jietang¡¯s capacity to do the work that he¡¯d been hired to do. It was a familiar look. There was nothing to do now but go and see what this Lu Sen would ultimately decide. As he drew near, Lu Sen gave an ox one last pat on the head and closed the distance with a more-serious-than-usual Chan Dishi trailing behind him. Lu Sen looked him up and down before, against all cultivator rules of courtesy, the man¡¯s qi invaded He Jietang¡¯s body. Before he could decide if Lu Sen was attacking him, the qi was gone again. With a sigh that said he was sure he was going to live to regret it, the man produced a stone vial from a storage ring and held it out.


    ¡°Drink that,¡± the man commanded.


    Taking the vial and opening it, He Jietang thought his heart was going to stop. He¡¯d had a lot of healing elixirs over the years and exactly none of them had felt like the one in his hands. Chan Dishi glared at him in a very clear do as you''re told way. He lifted the vial to his lips and drank. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what he¡¯d expected, but within ten seconds his pounding headache was just gone like it had been fog blown away by a great gust of wind. The light stopped bothering him a second later. Then, it felt like that wind passed through him and carried away a thousand tiny ills that he¡¯d learned to ignore. He felt clear, healthy, like the man he¡¯d been when he¡¯d met Chan Dishi all those long years before. Of course, no elixir could wash away what was in his mind and heart, but even those felt a little less terrible.


    ¡°Good,¡± said Lu Sen. ¡°Now that you won¡¯t set a terrible example for the children, you can help.¡±

 V8 Chapter 67 – Caravan

    Sen was truly regretting his decision to offer He Jietang a job. The man had looked, well, he¡¯d looked mildly unwell, but for a core cultivator that was the mortal equivalent of looking like he was on death¡¯s door. Sen couldn¡¯t even understand how the man had gotten into the condition he was in. His brief, rude examination of the other man showed a level of damage that only a core cultivator could possibly have lived with for more than a week. In its own, deeply sad way, it was sort of impressive. Since he couldn¡¯t have the man walking around and glaring at the sun all day, he¡¯d given him a healing elixir. Not one of the good ones. Just one of the ones he kept around in case someone suffered some minor injury or came down with some kind of illness. Then, he¡¯d told the man to go and help load the carts and wagons. It was only then that he turned to Chan Dishi.


    ¡°I think you may have misrepresented that man to me.¡±


    Chan Dishi tried to smile, but it lacked the man¡¯s usual cheerfulness.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t misrepresent his skill. He really is as good as I made him out to be.¡±


    ¡°But?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°You¡¯re still young, especially for a cultivator, so you¡¯ve escaped a few things. Honestly, I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s a good thing or a bad thing for you. Eventually, you¡¯ll see that not everyone is cut out to live for as long as core cultivators and nascent soul cultivators can live. He¡¯s one of them. He probably never should have been a cultivator. I think he¡¯d have been a much happier man as a mortal. But he is a cultivator, which means he stuck with all those extra years. He doesn¡¯t quite have it in him to end his own life, and even when he¡¯s gone looking for someone else to do the job for him¡­ Well, he¡¯s still here.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re telling me he couldn¡¯t find a nascent soul cultivator to infuriate.¡±


    Chan Dishi threw back his head and laughed. It was much more genuine than his earlier smile had been.


    ¡°Do you have any idea how rare it is for a normal cultivator to even see a nascent soul cultivator? They might flock around you like birds, but that beauty you were with at the party was the first one I¡¯ve seen in at least a century.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen.


    He hadn¡¯t really considered that it might be hard for someone to find a nascent soul cultivator. He wished that he shared that problem.


    ¡°My point is that he started running out of reasons to want to keep going. So, he drowns himself in an ocean of liquor. He needs help finding a reason to keep going. So, when he¡¯s been drowning for a while, his friends, people like me, try to find him a purpose.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t need more problems or projects on my plate. I have quite enough already,¡± said Sen.


    He was not thrilled at the idea of having someone who wanted death teaching weapons to overenthusiastic young cultivators.


    ¡°It won¡¯t be like that,¡± said Chan Dishi. ¡°He said he¡¯d do the job, and he¡¯ll do the job. If he can¡¯t do it, or just doesn¡¯t want to do it anymore, he¡¯ll leave. He won¡¯t make his problems into your problems. He might be a pain sometimes, but he isn¡¯t an ass that way.¡±


    The urge to go tell the man he¡¯d changed his mind was strong. Almost irresistible. However, when he looked over, Sen saw He Jietang dutifully loading crates and sacks of grain into a cart. He wasn¡¯t complaining about it or ordering other people to do it. Sen rubbed at his eyes. He missed sleep. It was always such a nice break from all these problems. I guess if he¡¯s not someone to complain about pitching in with the work, he can¡¯t be all bad, thought Sen. I¡¯ll just send him on his way if he turns into a problem. Waving a hand as if dismissing the thought, he nodded at Chan Dishi.


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    ¡°Fine. If he does his job, he can stay.¡±


    Chan Dishi cracked his first real smile.


    ¡°Good. And, I¡¯ll owe you one.¡±


    ¡°Why do I get the feeling that¡¯s more of a threat than a boon?¡±


    ¡°You wound me,¡± said Chan Dishi.


    ¡°I notice you didn¡¯t deny it.¡±


    ¡°I said that you wound me, not that you¡¯re wrong. Any last messages for the king?¡±


    ¡°Nah,¡± said Sen. ¡°I snuck into the palace last night to chat with him. Promised not to break anything too important for a while.¡±


    ¡°Is that a promise you can keep?¡±


    Sen waggled a hand in the air and said, ¡°Probably. I¡¯ll have a lot to do when I get back. It¡¯ll be a bit before I¡¯m here again. Here officially, anyway.¡±


    ¡°There will be tears and lamentations from every unmarried woman in the city.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t exaggerate.¡±


    ¡°It just doesn¡¯t have the same ring when I say half of the unmarried women in the city.¡±


    ¡°Well, let it never be said you let facts distort your descriptions,¡± answered Sen with a smile.


    ¡°Exactly. Anyway, you look busy, and I don¡¯t want to get dragged into any unpaid labor. So, I¡¯ll take my leave.¡±


    ¡°So helpful,¡± said Sen to Chan Dishi¡¯s back.


    The other man just laughed and waved without looking back. Within minutes, Sen was inundated with the endless details of getting the caravan ready to leave. If it wasn¡¯t drivers who didn¡¯t like each other bickering over who had the better ox, both of which were just fine in Sen¡¯s estimation, it was misplaced foodstuffs. When those problems were dealt with, it was a last-minute repair. When that was done, he had to answer twenty questions for Lo Meifeng. They were the last, she promised. That promise held for the next hour while he got the cultivators he¡¯d managed to talk into coming along as teachers settled and organized. He was more than a little dismayed to discover that two of them knew each other and did not get along. At one point, he thought the matter was going to come to blows and a little of his killing intent ¡°accidentally¡± slipped free. The cultivators were very well-behaved after that. But then Lo Meifeng came back with more questions that she promised were the very, very last. Before he knew it, the morning was mostly gone.


    Then came the hardest task of the day. It wouldn¡¯t be the most complicated, just the most challenging. The Xie children were brought out. Some of them came with unhappy, resigned expressions. Those were generally the oldest children who had some sense of what had really happened. Some of the children simply looked confused. Others had to be carried, kicking and screaming, the entire way. Sen hated all of it and did his best to remind himself that too much sympathy now would simply pave the path toward future problems. He didn¡¯t have to be merciless with them, but he couldn¡¯t let himself indulge them with too much kindness. They could grow close to others, but they needed to see him as a distant, cold, powerful figure who was to remain unbothered by them.


    Besides, they had already enjoyed what tiny shred of sympathy he¡¯d been willing to extend. He¡¯d let them all spend their final evening in the capital with their parents. They¡¯d monitored the parents who were deemed the most likely to encourage their children to misbehave. It was by no means a perfect system, and he expected trouble to rear its head by the end of the day. He didn¡¯t know what form it would take. He just knew that the caravan would be a tempting target. Since he didn¡¯t have any specific information, they would all need to figure things out as they went. Finally, the moment to truly depart arrived. Sen had thought about making some grand speech or announcement, but that sounded perfectly awful to him. So, he decided that he would just say his last quick goodbyes and go. It might help draw slightly less attention to him. A goal he recognized as sharing the same futility as trying to make the ocean wetter. He walked over to where Grandmother Lu and Lo Meifeng were standing. He bowed to Grandmother Lu.


    ¡°I leave thing here in your capable hands, Grandmother.¡±


    Returning his bow, she said, ¡°Travel safely, Sen. I¡¯ll mind things here for you.¡±


    ¡°You know how to reach me if you need to,¡± Sen said to Lo Meifeng.


    She made a big production of bowing to him, a bit of amusement in her eyes while she did it.


    ¡°I will not disappoint you, Lord Lu,¡± she announced in a terrible pompous voice.


    He didn¡¯t know who she was actually talking to, just that it wasn¡¯t him. No doubt the comments were aimed at someone in the audience. Stop looking for more trouble, he ordered himself.


    ¡°Until I see you both again,¡± he said and then took his seat on a cart next to Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°Are you ready, Lord Lu?¡± asked the ex-assassin.


    ¡°No, but let¡¯s leave anyway,¡± said Sen, ¡°because I am so sick of this city.¡±

 V8 Chapter 68 – Harsh Lessons While Camping

    Once they clear of the congestion around the city gates, Sen had recalled a trick he¡¯d used once long ago to speed up a cart. He used his qi in a modified qinggong technique on the wheels of the carts and wagons, as well as the hooves of the oxen pulling them, to reduce the overall load and increase their speed. It wasn¡¯t until they¡¯d gone a few miles that the stark contrast between his power now and his power all those years ago really struck him. Doing that for one cart and one ox had been a challenge for him then. Now, he was doing it for an entire caravan and it was little more than a background concern in his head. Cultivators really do have too much power, he thought. No wonder the world makes them ascend when they reach a certain level.


    He glanced into the back of the wagon he riding in and hid an embarrassed wince. Glimmer of Night was sitting there, serenely watching the countryside and ever-thinning signs of civilization fly by. There had been so much going on that Sen might have left the spider behind if Long Jia Wei hadn¡¯t reminded him that the spider had come along. It made Sen wonder why he had joined them for the trip in the first place. He¡¯d thought it was so the spider could learn more about interacting with humans, but Glimmer of Night had kept himself holed up in that same little room for the duration. Not that Sen had any room to really complain. He¡¯d done similar things during advancements or when pursuing new alchemical ideas. And it wasn¡¯t as though Glimmer of Night had been a nuisance to anyone. Aside from people leaving food outside the room for him, he hadn¡¯t added to anyone¡¯s workload.


    Shen Mingxia was also in the back of the wagon. Her eyes were closed and she wore an expression of concentration, so he assumed she was cultivating. After the incident with that idiot ambassador, he¡¯d let her bow out of any additional events. Getting experience was one thing, but he didn¡¯t bring her along to put her in actual danger. She¡¯d seemed both relieved and a tiny bit disappointed. Sen had been curious about that disappointment but didn¡¯t ask. It wasn¡¯t really his business why she felt a given way about anything. He let his eyes drift over the rest of the carts and wagons and sighed.


    I¡¯m going to have to make some new buildings when we get back, he thought. There wasn¡¯t going to be enough space for everyone, and he intended to keep the children a little separated from the rest of the people at the academy. Some of that was purely practical. Having Ai wandering around anywhere she wanted to go was one thing. Having a couple dozen mortal children wandering around at will would inevitably result in problems. The last thing he wanted was for one of them to get hurt because they stumbled into the wrong area while some cultivator was practicing something dangerous. He might be rewriting all of their futures, but he wasn¡¯t going to intentionally create a situation where they could die. Not that I imagine they would appreciate that consideration, thought Sen.


    The other part was that he didn¡¯t want the children getting the idea into their heads that they would ever be anything but peasants. He could almost feel a much younger version of himself glaring at him for even having that thought. On the surface, it was such an arrogant noble thing to think. He had hated nobles so much for acting on thoughts like that. For pushing people down just because they could. Now, he was the one stepping on other people¡¯s necks just because he could. Except, it wasn¡¯t just because he could. He had a longer view of things now. He recognized threats in a different way than he once had. He shook off the thoughts. He¡¯d gone around and around with it and there just wasn¡¯t going to be a perfect solution.


    People were people. People held grudges, especially when you took things away from them, and he had taken everything from the Xie family. Nothing was ever going to change that fact. No amount of wishful thinking about people¡¯s better natures would change that reality or the consequences. That meant that no Xie child would ever learn how to properly wield a weapon. No Xie child would ever become a cultivator. It would simply be too dangerous otherwise. Maybe not to him personally, but it would be too dangerous to Ai. Unless she becomes a cultivator, whispered a traitorous voice in his head. Sen knew it was a possibility, but it made him want to scream every time he thought about Ai enduring the kinds of things that he had endured.


    He pushed the thought away. That was a problem for the future. He had right now concerns to occupy him. Sen had made sure that they hired some people with experience in this kind of travel. One of the things he¡¯d talked with them about was the problem of setting up camp. Specifically, how long it would take to do it, and how long it took to prepare food for this many people. Since they were dealing with so many mortals, and so many children, the advice he¡¯d gotten was to stop when they had several hours of daylight left. Even with his quiet help to speed things along, this first day had given him a better sense of how long it was going to take to actually get home. He sighed. Weeks. It was going to take weeks. He¡¯d already known that, deep down in his heart where truths he hated went to live, but he¡¯d hoped that it wouldn¡¯t be the case. Resigning himself, he called a halt.


    He¡¯d intentionally picked a spot between towns and villages to discourage any of the children from wandering too far. He was going to be very annoyed if he had to track down children who ran away. While the wilds here weren¡¯t very wild, most mortal children held a deep, abiding fear of them. They didn¡¯t know or need to know that Sen had already frightened away anything within a few miles that might pose a threat. Time to get to work, thought Sen. He needed to clear enough space for them to set up camp. He called over one of the experienced caravaneers and they talked it over for a minute.


    Once Sen had a clear picture of how much room they¡¯d need, almost twice as much as he would have thought, he started to cycle qi. After a brief pause to consider, he lifted himself up into the air high enough for everyone to see him. Everyone watched for the next few minutes as he used multiple types of qi to rip trees out of the ground, split and dry the wood, smooth the earth, and cause a healthy layer of grass to grow. Two relatively small stone structures rose out of the ground over a deep pit in the ground. With so many people, he figured everyone would appreciate a little privacy to relieve themselves.


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    The caravaneers went to work immediately, staking out an area for cooking and providing advice about how to organize the rest of the camp. Sen stood back while all of that was going on and waited. It didn¡¯t take long before he heard what he expected to hear. Angry child voices making truculent protests. He drifted in that direction and watched as he saw what he¡¯d expected to see. The Xie children were in a cluster, most of them huddled behind a few of the older ones. The ringleader was a boy who looked like he was about to enjoy the pleasures of puberty. His fists were clenched. His chest was puffed out. The boy even had his unfortunately large chin thrust forward, as though he meant to use it like a battering ram against the exasperated woman he was facing off against.


    ¡°We will not!¡± shouted the boy.


    ¡°You won¡¯t what?¡± asked Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°We will not be forced to labor.¡±


    ¡°Labor?¡± asked Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°They were tasked with setting up their own tents,¡± said the woman.


    ¡°I see,¡± said Long Jia Wei, stroking his chin. ¡°Very well.¡±


    Then, the man started pointing at each child briefly.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± demanded the boy.


    ¡°Counting, of course. I need to inform the cooks that,¡± Long Jia Wei pointed a few more times, ¡°twenty-six people won¡¯t be eating. We don¡¯t want them wasting food by cooking too much.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± said the boy, his defiant fa?ade cracking.


    The rest of the children looked varying degrees of concerned or confused. Sen doubted most of them had any idea what this little power struggle was really about. They¡¯d simply fallen in line behind the older boy who they knew and trusted or feared too much to defy.


    ¡°I spoke plainly,¡± said Long Jia Wei. ¡°Are you ignorant as well as lazy? You will not be eating today.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡± spluttered the boy. ¡°You can¡¯t do this! You can¡¯t starve us. We¡¯re¡ª¡±


    And that was Sen¡¯s cue to play his role in this bit of theater he¡¯d concocted with Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°Peasants,¡± said Sen in an icy tone as he stepped into view.


    The boy who had been so eager to speak before went very still and very pale.


    ¡°Lord Lu¡ª¡± the boy stammered before Sen cut him off.


    ¡°The world is very simple. If peasants wish to eat, they work. If you do not wish to work, you do not wish to eat. That is, of course, your choice. I will not make you work. I will not beat you if you choose not to work. I simply will not feed you. Nor will I provide you with shelter. You may sleep on the ground without the benefit of blankets. No one will stop you.¡±


    Fury, fear, and shame warred for control of the boy¡¯s face.


    ¡°I am no peasant!¡± the boy screamed.


    ¡°The king says otherwise,¡± said Sen in a tone of airy disregard. ¡°His decree was quite clear. The House of Xie no longer exists. Your titles no longer exist. You can keep lying to yourself that it¡¯s not true, keep pretending you¡¯re someone important, but I have no obligation to feed you while you do it. Work or starve. Simple as that. In the end, I don¡¯t really care what you do. After all, you¡¯re only peasants.¡±


    The boy recoiled as though he¡¯d been struck. Sen couldn¡¯t help but wonder how often this child had uttered those two words. Only peasants. How often had he dismissed someone¡¯s pain, someone¡¯s pleas, someone¡¯s fear because they were only peasants? The boy certainly didn¡¯t seem to like being on the other side of it. Whatever indignation that had fueled his ridiculous outburst finally seemed to run dry as the cold reality settled on the child. Tears gathered at the corners of the boy¡¯s eyes as he looked up at Sen¡¯s cold, indifferent face.


    ¡°I hate you!¡± the boy shouted.


    Sen waited a moment as if he expected the boy to say something else. When nothing more was forthcoming, he finally answered.


    ¡°And?¡± asked Sen, as if the boy¡¯s hatred was so inconsequential that it couldn¡¯t possibly have been the entire reason he¡¯d shouted.


    The boy turned as if to run away and pout somewhere only to come up short as he realized that there was nowhere to run away to. He just stood there with his back turned. Sen let his eyes roam over the rest of the children.


    ¡°If the rest of you want to eat, you will go with this nice woman and do as she tells you.¡±


    The children shuffled back and forth, more than one of them casting a nervous glance at the boy who had set all of this in motion. One of the other children, a girl who looked to be of an age with the shouty boy, started herding the children toward the woman. She tried to glare at Sen, but her heart wasn¡¯t really in it. Maybe she realized the futility of it. Maybe she was just more accepting of the new reality. Maybe she just wanted to eat. The woman led the children away to start setting up their tents. Sen didn¡¯t actually expect the children to set up their own tents. He just wanted to start getting them into the habit of contributing in some meaningful way. When only the boy remained, Sen fixed his gaze on the back of the boy¡¯s head.


    ¡°Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I won¡¯t stop you from starving yourself if you wish to do so. However, if you were imagining that you¡¯d just steal some food from one of those other children, or get one of them to bring you food, or thinking that you¡¯d punish them for defying you, bury those ideas. If you try it, I will have you beaten in front of this entire camp. If you try to take food from one of the carts or wagons, I will¡­ What do nobles do to peasants who steal from them?¡± Sen asked Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°It depends,¡± said Long Jia Wei in a bored, detached tone. ¡°Sometimes, they have the peasant executed. Sometimes imprisoned, which isn¡¯t practical out here. Oh, I heard of one noble who would cut off one of the thief¡¯s hands.¡±


    The boy spun to look at Sen and Long Jia Wei with unbridled terror on his face.


    ¡°I suppose we should reserve execution for adults,¡± said Sen. ¡°So, I expect removing a hand is the way to go.¡±


    The boy looked from them down to his hands, which started shaking, before he ran after the rest of the children. Sen watched him go and took deep breaths to try to keep his feeling of self-loathing and being violently nauseated at bay. Now, I¡¯m the kind of person who threatens a child with mutilation, thought Sen. Grandmother Lu was right. I¡¯ve come a long way. I just wish I knew what I¡¯d come a long way toward. Even though he¡¯d expected it to come down to something like this, actually going through with it had almost been too much for him.


    ¡°It had to be done,¡± said Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°Did it?¡± demanded Sen.


    He was angry, mostly at himself, and wanted to lash out at someone or something.


    ¡°Yes,¡± answered Long Jia Wei. ¡°It was ugly, but what were the alternatives? Let it go until you had no choice but to do something to him? Frightening that boy now was infinitely better than actually having to beat him, or cripple him, or kill him later.¡±


    Sen rubbed his face with his hands and said, ¡°What a broken world we live in.¡±

 V8 Chapter 69 – What Do You Think Honor Is?

    Sen was relieved that there were no more incidents with the children that demanded his personal intervention. In fact, for the most part, the children simply did as they were told. He supposed that the upheaval had probably sapped some of their will to be imperious. That didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t hear them crying at night, or the soft comforting words that the older children whispered to them. He also heard a few vows of vengeance being muttered among the boys. He could have not listened. He¡¯d learned how to tamp down his heightened senses, but he didn¡¯t give himself that luxury. This situation was one of his own making, and he wasn¡¯t going to simply turn a deaf ear to the results of that. For the most part, though, things ran about as smoothly as moving that many people and so many goods across that much territory could go. At least, that¡¯s what the caravaneers told him when he grew frustrated at yet another delay to repair something that broke on one of the wagons.


    He found solace in spending time with the oxen when they weren¡¯t pulling the wagons and carts. They were almost always calm, even if they did get a bit excited whenever he first came over. They never yelled a him, or asked him for anything, or vowed to cut off his head, as the large-chinned Xie boy had done when he thought Sen couldn¡¯t hear him. The oxen were a placid lake of friendliness in the midst of the chaos that consumed the caravan every morning and afternoon. He even found one of the Xie children hovering around the oxen one evening. She was staring at them with a mix of curiosity and trepidation. Sen supposed that she¡¯d probably never been that close to a work animal before, let alone interacted with any of them.


    Just walk away, he told himself. She¡¯ll figure it out or she won¡¯t. Sen had asked the oxen to be careful around the children, so he wasn¡¯t worried that they would do anything calamitous if one of the children approached them. Despite telling himself to just leave, he found himself watching as the girl took a hesitant step forward, only to scurry back as soon as one of the oxen moved. It was almost agonizing watching her indecision at work. When he couldn¡¯t stand it anymore, he walked over to the girl, shaking his head at his own weakness. The girl was so fixated on the large animals in front of her that it took a little while to register that someone was standing next to her.


    She peered up at him, recognized him, and fell over while simultaneously trying to bow and back away. I guess I had that coming, thought Sen. He just held out a hand to the girl. She stared at it fearfully before, seeming almost too afraid not to, grabbing it. He gently pulled her upright again. She shifted from foot to foot, clearly uncertain what to do.


    ¡°They won¡¯t hurt you,¡± he said.


    He never quite looked at her, intuiting that direct eye contact was likely to make things worse than better. She shuffled a little more as her gaze shifted back and forth between him and the objects of her curiosity. As if to prove his point, he went over to the nearest ox and rested his hand on the animal¡¯s head. It let out a soft moo of greeting. He half-turned his head toward the girl.


    ¡°As I said, they won¡¯t hurt you.¡±


    The little girl stared at him and the ox for a while. She chewed her lip in a way that Sen refused to let himself think was adorable. She finally mustered up her courage and walked forward. She reached out a cautious hand and, almost too fast to count, touched the side of the ox before pulling her hand back. She cast a look at Sen as if asking if it was okay. She took his silence as permission before reaching out and petting the ox. The ox turned its head to look back at the girl. Her eyes went comically wide as she snatched her hand away. The ox let out a gentle moo, which made the girl giggle. Having apparently come to some decision in her head, the girl happily started petting the ox again. Well, maybe this one isn¡¯t hopeless, said Sen. If she likes the ox, she can¡¯t possibly be rotten to the core. Sen waited a few minutes until he was confident that she was confident before he turned and walked away. He could feel the girl¡¯s eyes on him. He paused and half-looked over his shoulder.


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    ¡°Yes?¡± he asked to whatever question she clearly wasn¡¯t going to work up the nerve to ask.


    ¡°Um¡­ I¡­ Um¡­ How did you know?¡±


    ¡°How did I know what?¡± he asked.


    ¡°That they wouldn¡¯t hurt me,¡± she said in a voice that grew increasingly hesitant.


    ¡°Because they¡¯re kind,¡± he told her and walked away.


    It seemed that she must have believed him because he found her petting the oxen and talking to them almost every day after that. They didn¡¯t answer her but talking wasn¡¯t their strong suit. They were very good listeners, though, which he suspected was what the girl really needed. He did need to hurry away with his hand over his mouth to suppress his laughter the time he saw her awkwardly trying to wrap her little arms around the neck of an enormously patient ox that lowered its head to make it easier for her. He made a point to give that ox an apple after the girl left. Sometimes, she saw him and would hesitantly wave. He¡¯d find his own hand lift in acknowledgment. It was an act of pure betrayal on the part of his body, and he struggled to understand where such traitorous impulses could come from.


    As they drew nearer to their destination one infuriatingly slow mile at a time, Sen found his impatience growing with every familiar landmark. They were close enough now that he could simply leave and be home before nightfall if he pushed his qinggong technique hard. He wanted to do it. There were plenty of people here who could and would defend the caravan. Only a vague, aggravating sense of responsibility kept him in place. He¡¯d finally made a deal with himself when the urge to go grew so strong that he was standing up to do it. When they were a day away, he would go because preparations would need to be made. He¡¯d have to erect those buildings so people had somewhere to sleep if nothing else. He¡¯d talked over the plans for the buildings with Glimmer of Night, who seemed to think that the roofs wouldn¡¯t be a problem with so many sturdy walls supporting them.


    He was thinking about those buildings when He Jietang came walking out of the trees by the side of the road and jumped into the back of Sen¡¯s wagon. The man looked both better and worse. He¡¯d abstained from drinking on the trip, which had seemed to help the man¡¯s overall health. At the same time, there was a haunted quality to the man that never seemed to fade. As if he was constantly seeing specters no matter where he looked.


    ¡°Bandits up ahead,¡± said the man. ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure how you wanted it handled. With so many children here, I mean.¡±


    Sen let his spiritual sense sweep down the road. There were bandits hiding in the trees to either side of the road. Sen called a halt and jumped down from the wagon. He started trudging down the road. He Jietang traded a look with Long Jia Wei before he jumped down and jogged a little to catch up.


    ¡°I can do it,¡± said the man.


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I hired you for,¡± said Sen.


    He Jietang gave Sen a startled look.


    ¡°It might not be what you hired me for, but I¡¯m no shirker.¡±


    ¡°I never said you were, but there¡¯s no reason for you to do it. I just want to make sure there isn¡¯t a mess for the children to see.¡±


    When Sen and He Jietang were standing right around where the caravan would be when the bandits sprang the trap, they stopped walking. Sen very pointedly looked at one side of the road, then the other. He pinpointed where all of the bandits were, cycled up wind qi, and let out a breath. Wind blades descended on the bandits. There were no screams. No agonized wails. Just the muted sound of bodies, or parts of bodies, hitting the ground out in the trees. Sen looked around and used earth qi to open the soil and swallow the evidence. Satisfied that he wasn¡¯t about to bring the children past a fresh horror, Sen turned around and started to walk back to the caravan. He Jietang eyed him as they walked.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Sen in a tired voice.


    ¡°I thought you might give them a chance to leave.¡±


    ¡°No. I never let bandits go.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because attacking a caravan this large couldn¡¯t have been done without bloodshed, which meant they were ready to kill men, women, and children. There might be some mercy left in me but not for people like that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m starting to see why Chan Dishi likes you,¡± said He Jietang.


    ¡°Oh?¡± asked Sen. ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°He likes two things. Decisiveness and honorable people.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about honor,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Says the man who just killed a bunch of bandits to protect people, and then cleaned up the mess so those children wouldn¡¯t have to look at it. What do you imagine honor is?¡±


    Sen opened his mouth to refute the point and came up empty. Maybe real honor was as simple as that. Sen doubted it, but what did he know?

 V8 Chapter 70 – Returning Home

    ¡°Lord Lu,¡± said Long Jia Wei in a strained voice.


    ¡°Yes?¡± asked Sen, his eyes never wavering from the horizon.


    ¡°You should go.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll¡ª¡± Sen started.


    ¡°Lord Lu,¡± Long Jia Wei said through clenched teeth. ¡°I am begging you to go. You¡¯re literally vibrating with impatience. Frankly, I¡¯m concerned the wagon will fall to pieces if this continues.¡±


    Sen looked at Long Jia Wei and then down at himself. The other man was right. He was actually, physically vibrating. They were so close now that Sen could practically hear Ai laughing. It would just be another two or three days, and it wasn¡¯t as though the caravan had no defenders. Sen suspected that He Jietang could probably defend the entire caravan by himself, to say nothing of Long Jia Wei, Glimmer of Night, Shen Mingxia, and the other cultivators Sen had hired as instructors. Anything short of a nascent soul cultivator or one of the truly powerful spirit beasts from the inner wilds would pose no real threat. Plus, with three nascent soul cultivators so close by, he doubted any of those spirit beasts were likely to come anywhere in the vicinity. The caravan genuinely did not need him to stay. He looked into the back and saw Shen Mingxia nodding her head with more vigor than was strictly required.


    ¡°Very well,¡± he said, not even trying to hide his glee before he looked at Glimmer of Night. ¡°Do you want to come now?¡±


    Glimmer of Night looked at him with his strange impassive human disguise and shook his head.


    ¡°I like the wagon,¡± said the spider before a slight frown marred the impassivity of his expression. ¡°May I have it?¡±


    Sen blinked a few times. That was a very odd request.


    ¡°The wagon? You want to keep the wagon?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± agreed the spider.


    Sen had no earthly idea why Glimmer of Night would want the wagon, nor what he would do with it. Odd as it might be, though, there also wasn¡¯t any particular reason to say no. Sen looked at Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°Do we own this one?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°We do,¡± said the man.


    ¡°Then, yes. After we get back, you can have the wagon.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± said the spider, offering up something that might generously be called a smile.


    Sen stood and reached into the back of the wagon to grab a large sack. It contained some of the best treasures from the cultivator lair he¡¯d discovered at the former Xie manor. It had taken more than a little restraint not to read the Shadow Gate manual, but he didn¡¯t want to expose its existence or the existence of any of those other treasures to anyone he didn¡¯t trust completely. Given how many complete strangers there were in the caravan, that meant he had to leave it hidden.


    With the sack slung over one shoulder, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll see you all when you arrive.¡±


    He jumped up into the morning air, caught himself on a qi platform, and shot down the road at speeds he expected anyone else would have found somewhere between uncomfortably fast and terrifyingly fast. It still wasn¡¯t fast enough for him. He wasn¡¯t sure anything would have been fast enough unless he could have figured out a way to transport himself immediately back to his own galehouse. What a comfort it would be to sleep in his bed in his home. What a relief it would be to speak with people who had no agendas for him, or at least none that were so obviously detrimental to his well-being. His life had been busy before he went to the capital, but it had also possessed a stable rhythm. There had been no other choice. Ai needed to eat, sleep, and get lessons on a mortal schedule. That meant that Sen had to operate on a similar schedule. All of that stability had gotten thrown out the window the second he¡¯d headed out for the capital.


    Now, he could start to reclaim some of that stability. The addition of the Xie children would be a complication, but he was hoping to slowly reduce his direct involvement with them over time. At least some things would be easier once they arrived. Their hours would be filled with things like classes and, eventually, apprenticeships. In other words, a lot of their hours would be taken up with tasks that did not need to involve him. A fact that made Sen very, very happy. Feeling annoyed with himself, he pushed all thoughts of the Xie children out of his head. For today, he could let them be someone else¡¯s problem.


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    He slipped into a modified version of an old routine of qi cycling. Except, this one was designed to support the qi platform, rather than supporting a qinggong technique. He let the familiar qi cycling approach soothe away his cluttered thoughts until his mind was still again for the first time in what felt like forever. He didn¡¯t want to see his daughter with a million other things vying for his mental attention. He wanted it all available for her. He barely registered what was around him as he went. He might have flown over farmers, herds of animals, or an army on the march and he wouldn¡¯t have noticed or cared. As the afternoon started to fade into evening, he realized that he¡¯d been moving for the entire day without pause. He¡¯d also made incredibly good time because the walls of the town and the buildings of his academy swept into view. Grinning like a crazy person, he skimmed over the tops of the academy buildings and dropped himself to the ground right outside of the galehouse. He burst through the door.


    ¡°I¡¯m home!¡± he shouted.


    It was only when no one answered him that he really looked around. The place was empty. A bit of frustrated disappointment cascaded through him. He took the time to put the sack of treasures in his own room before he went back outside and tried to decide where the best place to start looking would be. I should probably start with Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong¡¯s house, he thought. If she¡¯s not there, I¡¯ll head into town. She might be at her friend¡¯s house. He managed to take two steps before he heard a shriek of joy.


    ¡°Papa!¡±


    Sen turned to look. He was very surprised to see Master Feng walking toward him, but then his eyes fell on his little girl and nothing else in the world mattered anymore. Her smile was as big as the sky itself. She was racing toward him, her little arms and legs pumping for all they were worth. He dropped down to a knee and opened his arms. She didn¡¯t even try to slow down, choosing instead to crash into him with another jubilant yell.


    ¡°Papa!¡±


    She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he pulled her close.


    ¡°There¡¯s my beautiful orchid.¡±


    They just stayed like that for a long, long time. Knowing that it would be a while yet before she was going to let go, he lifted her when he stood up. She did lean back a little to give him a stern look that he was just certain she¡¯d been practicing.


    ¡°You were gone for so long!¡±


    ¡°I know I was. I¡¯m very sorry about that. Some things happened that kept me away a lot longer than I wanted to be gone. But I¡¯m home now.¡±


    She seemed to weigh how long she wanted to be stern and disapproving with him before she smiled again. She twisted a little to look at Master Feng, who stood nearby beaming at them with paternal benevolence.


    ¡°Grandpa! Papa¡¯s home!¡±


    ¡°I see that,¡± agreed Master Feng with a sage nod. ¡°Did you scold him the way I told you to?¡±


    She gave Master Feng a very serious nod and said, ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°Good girl. Well, Sen, I see you¡¯ve safely returned from your little adventure in politics.¡±


    Sen suppressed a groan.


    ¡°I have. It¡¯s good to see you again. You were missed,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Unavoidable, I¡¯m afraid,¡± said Master Feng. ¡°We¡¯ll have to talk about it later. There are some things you should know, things your friend Jing should know, about what¡¯s happening with the spirit beasts.¡±


    Sen felt his entire being try to stiffen up in preparation for some terrible news.


    ¡°So, you figured it out?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I did, but it can wait until you¡¯re settled in. In the meantime, though, Ai has been telling me marvelous tales of these little cakes that you make. Maybe we should head inside and you can catch us up while you make some,¡± suggested Master Feng.


    There was an amused glint in the old man¡¯s eyes that Sen didn¡¯t miss. He should have expected it from a man who once invested in a pastry shop. Ai gave Sen a hopeful look. He was trapped.


    ¡°Well, how can I possibly turn down such a selfless request from my master?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you can and still claim to be a filial student,¡± said Master Feng with a pious expression.


    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s go inside. If you¡¯re both good,¡± said Sen, ¡°I might even have a few presents to hand out.¡±


    ¡°Presents,¡± said Ai, her hopeful look intensifying. ¡°What are they?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll have to be good to find out,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I like presents,¡± said Auntie Caihong as she and Uncle Kho strolled toward them.


    ¡°I think I have something for everyone,¡± said Sen with a laugh.


    ¡°He¡¯s going to make some of those cakes that Ai keeps talking about,¡± confided Master Feng to the other nascent soul cultivators.


    ¡°Then, we¡¯re definitely staying,¡± said Uncle Kho. ¡°I¡¯m not missing out on those. I imagine there¡¯s a story or two to be told as well.¡±


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a grand tale of adventure where I battled mighty trees.¡±


    Ai giggled and poked Sen¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°No,¡± she said, shaking her head. ¡°You didn¡¯t fight trees. You¡¯re silly.¡±


    Sen kissed Ai on the cheek.


    ¡°You¡¯re right about that. Your papa is a very silly man.¡±


    Shifting Ai so she sat a little more snugly on his arm, Sen led everyone inside. With a flicker of will and qi, he lit the interior of the galehouse with a bright and cheerful light. Ai immediately took control of the conversation to tell him about her exciting adventures in making birds eat bugs. He was dutifully impressed with her hard work. As he prepared the requested cakes, tension began to slide out of him. Falling Leaf soon joined them. She didn¡¯t try to pry information out of him, but that had never been her way. She simply positioned herself next to him, helping him prepare food, or holding Ai when he needed both hands. She was, as always, a pillar of stability for him. Sen knew there were problems waiting to be solved, and new ones surely waiting to pounce on him from some unexpected places. For those few hours he spent with the people he loved most, though, everything was right in his world.

 V8 Bloopers

    It was with those thoughts clouding his steps that Sen approached the gates of the capital proper. He knew that cultivators would often barge to the front of the line and demand entry. It was almost expected. So, Sen took a kind of perverse satisfaction in just taking his place at the rear of the line. He glanced back at his¡­ His mind finally produced the right word, and it dripped with disdain even when he said it in his head. He glanced back at his entourage. Shen Mingxia, Wu Gang, and Long Jia Wei all straightened up when they saw him looking and smoothed their faces into the appropriate expressions of humble respect. Glimmer of Night was, once again, eating something that Sen was certain that human beings wouldn¡¯t consider proper food. I¡¯m going to have to talk to him about that, thought Sen.


    It took less than an hour before the exact thing that Sen had been desperately hoping would not happen came to pass. Two lines of royal guards in what had to be their finest uniforms marched out the gate, down the line of gawking citizens, and to him. They formed up in two neat lines with someone Sen didn¡¯t recognize standing out in front. The man saw Sen eyeing him curiously and hastily lowered his eyes.


    ¡°Judgment¡¯s Gale?¡± the man asked.


    Sen almost said yes, but then a better idea surfaced in his mind.


    ¡°Never heard of him,¡± Sen lied as he turned and gestured, ¡°but have you met Righteous Wu Gang?¡±


    ***


    Jing rolled his eyes and, with a sigh, he asked, ¡°Dare I ask what that business with Lady Xie was about?¡±


    Sen winced.


    ¡°Oh, yeah, that. So, you don¡¯t really need that house, do you?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± asked Jing, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.


    ¡°Well, it isn¡¯t going to exist for very much longer.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± demanded Jing, his voice getting stern.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be mad at me. They sent assassins after me. Cultivator assassins. You wouldn¡¯t believe the trail of bodies I left behind me getting here. I can¡¯t just let that stand. You know I can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m uncertain where to begin with all of that. How many bodies are we talking about here?¡± asked Jing, a look of deep concern on his face.


    Sen hadn¡¯t actually kept count, so he approximated.


    ¡°Enough to keep funeral pyres burning for days,¡± said Sen through a wave of emotional fatigue, before a thought struck him. ¡°There isn¡¯t a literal trail of bodies. I cleaned up after myself.¡±


    ¡°That was not my primary concern,¡± said Jing.


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Sen. ¡°It should have been. Dead bodies are bad business if you don¡¯t dispose of them properly. They can make people very sick.¡±


    Jing started to say something before a thoughtful expression crossed his face.


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true. Thank you for not littering the kingdom with corpses. Still, you¡¯re sure it was the House of Xie.¡±


    ¡°I made a deal with one of the people sent my way. They were quite happy to tell me who employed them.


    ¡°It could be misdirection,¡± objected Jing.


    ¡°I had to kill a nascent soul cultivator. Who else could afford to hire someone like that?¡±


    Jing shook his head.


    ¡°So, that¡¯s what that was. In the future, I would appreciate it if you refrained from doing things like that so close to the city.¡±


    ¡°You saw it?¡±


    ¡°Everyone saw it. People thought the world was going to end. There were nearly riots.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Sen, feeling sheepish.


    ¡°And now there¡¯s a cult.¡±


    ¡°A cult?¡± asked Sen, a sinking feeling taking hold of him. ¡°What kind of cult?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know the exact details, but I expect they¡¯ll be calling themselves the Church of Lu any day now.¡±


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    Sen stared down at the floor for a few seconds before he said, ¡°I¡¯m going home.¡±


    ***


    Jing grimaced a little.


    ¡°I forgot that you could be quite this ruthless.¡±


    Sen considered the other man.


    ¡°No, you didn¡¯t. You need someone ruthless for your plan to keep your foreign guests off-balance to work. You need someone who simply does not care what they think. Someone who won¡¯t be put off by ending them if they try to do something to you. Besides, I suspect that this might even work to your advantage.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°A ruthless cultivator comes in and wipes out a house in revenge. Rather than starting a feud you can¡¯t win, you find a way to quell that anger and even nominally bring that cultivator into the fold. I don¡¯t understand politics all that well, but I imagine that will probably make you look quite competent.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯d be more impressive if everyone didn¡¯t know that we have an existing relationship.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t always get everything.¡±


    ¡°No, you certainly can¡¯t,¡± said Jing. ¡°So, your goal in all of this is what?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about controlling a noble house, but it will provide a future for my daughter. A future with options. A future that doesn¡¯t involve needing to stay by my side for the rest of her life.¡±


    ¡°Is she a cultivator as well?¡±


    ¡°Not yet. Maybe not ever. She¡¯s still a little too young for all of that.¡±


    ¡°Is she with people you trust? People who can protect her? Once you start down this road¡ª¡±


    Sen started to laugh.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not worried about that. Anyone who goes looking for her in the immediate future will have to contend with Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho. I don¡¯t see that ending well for anyone who turns up with a mind for giving my little girl some trouble.¡±


    Jing stared at Sen with a dumbfounded expression on his face.


    ¡°You have the Living Spear and Alchemy¡¯s Handmaiden babysitting?¡±


    Sen thought it over, nodded, and said, ¡°Yeah. Oh, and Fu Ruolan is probably lurking around as well. She¡¯s not a fan of, well, anyone really, but she¡¯s rather fond of Ai.¡±


    ¡°Let me see if I understand this properly,¡± said Jing, slowly rubbing his temples. ¡°You have three nascent soul cultivators, some of the most powerful beings in the world, one of them a madwoman, standing guard over one little girl?¡±


    ¡°When you say it like that, it sounds unreasonable.¡±


    ***


    He stumbled his way through translating a few more manual names. The Iron Strike or possibly the Metal Fist Manual. The Sky Strider¡¯s Fury Manual or, just because it felt more right in his head, the Stormbearer¡¯s Wrath Manual. The last manual title he translated seemed to pop into his mind without any effort at all. The Shadow Gate manual. Sen felt an almost tangible pull to open the cover and see what he could unravel of the old text, but it wasn¡¯t the time for that. Regretfully, he returned the manual to a shelf that had at least a dozen others waiting to be looked at and turned his attention to the storage treasures. There were a number of rings with what seemed to Sen like ridiculously primitive security measures on them. Their contents ranged from the largely useless, such as robes, to the expected, such as pills and elixirs. However, Sen would need to remove them from the storage treasures to get a feel for how good or bad they might still be. Having been inside the treasures, it was entirely possible that they would retain their potency. He might even learn a few things from them with a bit of study. He¡¯d also be happy to lay claim to the additional medicinal plants and reagents he found.


    He turned his attention next to an ornate box. The measures designed to keep anyone but the rightful owner out of the box were substantially better than the ones on the rings, but that only meant that it took him three seconds to bypass them instead of one. When he opened the box, though, he almost immediately slammed the cover shut again. He spun to look at Long Jia Wei, who was staring at the box with a confused look on his face.


    ¡°What was that?¡± asked the man.


    Sen sighed and waved the man over. The damage was already done. When Long Jia Wei was standing next to him, Sen reached out and opened the ornate box again. The ex-sect assassin stared down into the box with awe.


    ¡°Is that what I think it is?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yes. That is the Rubber Ducky of the Heavens.¡±


    ***


    ¡°How can I help you?¡± she asked, eying them both.


    There was something evaluative in that look. It made Sen feel like the woman could determine their personal wealth at a glance. Based on her expression, she had decided that they were too poor to even breathe air in this shop but was far too polite to say so. Sen kept a neutral expression as he spoke.


    ¡°We both need something for a formal event. And we need it by this afternoon,¡± announced Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that will be quite impossi¡ª¡±


    The woman¡¯s words choked off as Sen casually placed a fistful of gold taels on the counter. The woman¡¯s eyes went almost impossibly wide at the fortune before her.


    ¡°We will both need something for a formal event, at the royal palace. And we need it by this afternoon.¡±


    The woman behind the counter dragged her eyes away from the gold and up to Sen¡¯s face, and a kind of dawning recognition took place. All those stories racing around the city about the new Lord Lu, the legendary Judgment¡¯s Gale, the king¡¯s friend who had come for some unknown purpose. Her gaze drifted down to his robes. His blue robes. Robes that bore the telltale signs of having been through some violence. Her eyes darted around the shop before she clapped her hands together sharply.


    ¡°The shop is closed for the day. Please return tomorrow.¡±


    There was a long pause before people started protesting. The woman looked like she was about to start screaming at people. Sen lifted a hand to forestall the explosion of verbal violence.


    ¡°I¡¯ll handle it,¡± Sen told her. ¡°Hey, Larry!¡±


    A moment later, a massive spirit ox appeared inside the shop as if he¡¯d always been there. Sen happily patted the ox on the head before he started pointing at the now bewildered customers.


    ¡°Those people are having trouble finding the door. Would you help them find it, please?¡±


    Larry let out a moo that could only be described as gleeful before he started crashing through tables and screaming erupting from all corners of the store. Nodding in satisfaction, Sen turned back to the store manager. The woman wore a horrified expression.


    ¡°So, I was thinking I¡¯d need something in blue,¡± said Sen.


    ***


    This concludes Unintended Cultivator, Volume Eight. Sen and company will return in Unintended Cultivator, Volume Nine.

 V9 Chapter 1 – Completion

    Sen sat with his legs crossed and eyes closed. The sun would rise soon, but it wasn¡¯t up yet. It was a quiet time when the night creatures had retreated to their lairs and nests, yet before the day creatures had roused themselves to go about their sunlit activities. He let that gentle hush wash over him and through him. It was an indulgence in serenity that he rarely allowed himself, but given what was about to come, he felt he¡¯d earned this indulgence. He was aware of the pill in his hand. Its actual weight was negligible, especially to someone like him, but it still felt like it might drag his hand to the earth. It had been a long time coming, that pill, the last one in the Five-Fold Body Transformation.


    Of course, as Elder Bo had rather cheerfully told him, Sen was on uncharted ground. When he¡¯d suffused his body with divine qi, he had stepped off the true path of the Five-Fold Body Transformation and onto a new path. He was walking the path of the Six-Fold Body Transformation. Like all new paths and uncharted ground, the dangers were unknown. With any form of body cultivation, there was always the chance of failure. That wasn¡¯t the greatest danger, though. The greatest danger was some kind of unchecked or unbalanced transformation. Sen felt a certain kinship and empathy with those body cultivators of old, the ancient geniuses who had walked undaunted into those dangers, hewing a path through the jungles of ignorance.


    He had done everything he could to minimize the dangers. He had gone over the recipe again and again, making modifications both large and small to better suit what he understood about his own body. Then, he had discussed those changes with both Auntie Caihong and Fu Ruolan, explaining his reasons and asking for their input. For all of his own intuitive talent, he was not about to ignore their combined centuries of experience and insight. Then, he had set it aside for a month so he could return to the problem with fresh eyes. He had been fortunate with the last pill. Everything went smoothly. He even managed to avoid a tribulation.


    Of course, that was only ever a delay of the inevitable. A cultivator never truly escaped tribulations, only postponed them. Every advancement that went by without one simply increased the odds that the next would draw heavenly ire down on one¡¯s head. With this pill, though, he¡¯d be functionally transitioning into what would be considered the nascent soul realm of body cultivation. There would be no reprieve this time, which was why he had chosen to venture into the wilds. A tribulation would come. In all likelihood, it would be a terrible thing. He had no intention of drawing something like that down onto the heads of the townspeople or the people at his academy. Everyone else called it a sect. He knew that it was a sect, but he persisted in calling it an academy. It was almost spiteful on his part, denying everyone there the supposed dignity of calling a sect, but that was his prerogative.


    Sen pushed away those distracting thoughts. Those were truly problems for later because there was a good chance that he would not survive the advancement. The heavens were not known for their lenience, and the closer one drew to ascension, the less forgiving they became. While failure was the most common bottleneck at the lower stages, that wasn¡¯t the case for those entering the final stage before ascension. The most common bottleneck there was death. And I¡¯ll have to face it twice as often as any other cultivator, thought Sen a little bitterly. He knew that being a body cultivator was a big part of the reason he was still alive. All of that extra durability, resilience, and raw strength had helped him bridge the gap with opponents who should have crushed him. Even so, it didn¡¯t make him any more excited to face multiple, increasingly lethal tribulations.


    He shook his head at his own balking. It wouldn¡¯t change anything. The only way to avoid the extra tribulations would be to abandon his body cultivation, and it had been made painfully clear to him that doing that was more than merely courting death, it was embracing it. He supposed he could stop after this pill, but not before. A little part of Sen was amused. Wasn¡¯t that such a perfect description of cultivation? Too dangerous to stop, and almost too dangerous to keep going. It was only by sprinting successfully on a jian¡¯s edge that one could succeed. Smiling a little, Sen opened his eyes to take in the pre-dawn light and look at the trees around him. If he was to die this day, at least he would die somewhere that was pretty. Better by far than dying on some road in some useless duel for honor, or on a battlefield surrounded by the dead and dying. Although, finding himself in such a place might be unavoidable if Master Feng was right but, again, a problem for after.


    Sen reached out a hand and brushed it across the grass. His hand came away a little wet from the morning dew. He rubbed that moisture between his fingers. It was a strange sensation. He remembered how water felt from before, when he¡¯d still been living on the streets, and this was the same, but it wasn¡¯t. It felt muted somehow. He supposed some of it was that he¡¯d become all but immune to things like heat and cold, but it felt like more than that. It was as if he¡¯d already started to leave his world behind in some fundamental way. Like he was already a half-step into whatever place that people went when they ascended. Maybe, I am, he thought.


    He¡¯d often said that cultivators were little more than guests in the mortal world, their true domain the Jianghu. Perhaps, as one approached and joined the ranks of nascent soul cultivators, they also became like guests to the Jianghu. Beings who were simply too powerful to truly participate, save in direct conflict with those of similar advancement. Sen wasn¡¯t sure if he was quite there yet, but he thought he was getting close. Not that he thought himself so powerful that he couldn¡¯t be brought down in the right circumstances. There were certainly nascent soul cultivators powerful enough to do it. Gather enough peak core formation cultivators, and they could probably do it if he didn¡¯t have any time to prepare. But the threat of death from others had become a more distant concern to him of late. No, the most pressing threats came from his own advancement and the heavens.


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    ¡°Time to face that threat,¡± he said softly.


    He lifted his hand to his mouth and let the pill slide between his teeth. He held the pill there for a moment, his tongue pressing it against the roof of his mouth, before he swallowed it. It¡¯s done, he thought. No turning back now. Sen took slow, deep breaths as he waited for the pill to reach his stomach. He¡¯d thought he¡¯d feel some trepidation at this moment, but he was oddly calm. Not that the danger was lost on him, but he simply realized that there was no longer any point in being afraid. Whatever was about to happen would happen with or without his fears. Under those conditions, he might as well face it calmly.


    When it started, there was no slow buildup of power. It happened in a rush. Sen felt an almost palpable sense of relief when the pain hit. Not that he enjoyed pain, but it was expected, familiar, nearly an old friend to him. Even as the pill dug its claws into his flesh and bones, he thought back to that first pill that Master Feng had given him. He always thought of that moment as the worst pain he¡¯d ever felt, but he recognized that for the lie it was. It had been deeply unpleasant. It was unquestionably the worst thing he¡¯d ever been through up until then in his short life, but it was nothing compared to the dizzying cliffs of agony he¡¯d scaled in the years since. Relative to what he was enduring now, it would probably only rank as uncomfortable.


    Even as he remained in his cross-legged position, he wanted to scream. It felt like lightning was alive and coursing through every fiber of his body. It was possible that was exactly what was happening. The pill had been so complex, had so many components, that it could be doing almost anything to him. The feeling that his bones were now molten metal might be accurate. The sensation that shadow was infiltrating his blood might be true. There was a sense that he was becoming even more connected with the fundamental building blocks of creation itself, yet simultaneously becoming anathema to creation as well. He was a cultivator. This paradox was his lot. He defied the heavens, seized power, and by doing so became something else, something other than human, something unnatural.


    The world around him heaved and groaned as his body was remade, forged into something closer to that of an immortal. Winds howled around him. Stone shot into the air in great pillars and then shattered, pelting him with razor-edged fragments that meant less than nothing to him now. Water condensed into two streams that wrapped around each other in an all too familiar double helix that swirled around him. Fire erupted from his very skin, turning the robes he wore into ash in a heartbeat. Metal rose from the depths of the earth until he sat on a liquid pool of it. He was aware of these things, peripherally, but he was focused inward, trying to understand the changes that were happening to him, the way the pill was interacting with the existing changes to his body.


    The thing that he worried about from the start, the thing he couldn¡¯t account for, was the divine qi that had suffused him not once but twice. Cultivators knew what it was and, to some very limited extent, what it did. But that knowledge was mostly based on the effects it seemed to have on a cultivator. Sen didn¡¯t know that he was entirely unique in having divine qi driven into every part of him, but he hadn¡¯t been able to find even a story of another cultivator who had done it. That meant that there was no framework, no body of knowledge that he could draw from to predict what would happen here. If divine qi worked the way that people guessed it worked, it should only help this process along by acting as a catalyst for the things the pill was trying to do. If and should were words to make an alchemist shudder.


    As the pill worked its literal and figurative magic on him, the pain grew and grew. Sen had thought it would. This was the final step in a body cultivation process so dangerous that, if he survived it, he might well be the first person in a thousand years or more to pull it off. He didn¡¯t even know what the final result was supposed to be. The manual had been infuriatingly vague about that, which had made him wonder if this body cultivation method had ever been successfully completed, or if it was just the wild musings of some mad alchemist from a very different time. As his suffering grew ever more intense, the very earth seemed to shriek in fury. He was pummeled by earth, fire, water, air, and metal. He hunched over, the screams he¡¯d been holding back finally escaping. His world condensed to a single point of concentration. I have to survive for the people I love, he thought. I can¡¯t fail them. I will not abandon them.


    The pain rose one last time to a peak that seemed determined to crush his will to survive. Then, it was over. Sen crumpled to one side, barely able to string one thought after the next. He was heaving for air that he was half-convinced he didn¡¯t even need anymore. I lived, he thought. He pushed himself up onto his knees and forced his eyes open. The ground beneath him was a blasted, scorched mess. He looked around and froze. He had been sitting on the ground in the middle of a forest. Now, he was crouched at the peak of a small mountain that hadn¡¯t existed before. He turned his head in the direction he knew the town and the academy were. If he tried just a little, his enhanced eyes could pick out the individual buildings from where he was. He laughed a little at the shock and confusion that must be happening in the town at that very moment.


    ¡°I lived,¡± he said.


    Then, everything around him went dark, and he heard the thunder overhead. He shot a baleful look up at the gathering clouds.


    ¡°Yeah. Yeah,¡± he muttered. ¡°You can wait your turn.¡±

 V9 Chapter 2 – Near Death Experiences

    Already exhausted by the advancement, Sen had to force himself to stand. He briefly considered putting on fresh robes before the uselessness of that struck him. Why put them on simply to have them destroyed by lightning or whatever else the tribulation might hurl at him? He had stories of tribulations other than lightning, but they had the air of third-hand accounts that were long on speculation and short on facts. The conundrum in front of Sen at that moment was what he should do. Some accounts said that cultivators facing this tribulation simply needed to endure it, that it would provide some benefit if they survived, while others said that it was always the right course of action to weaken the lightning as much as possible. He certainly had more than enough qi to put up a defense. If anything, his core and dantian were overstuffed with it having gotten comparatively little use recently. On the other hand, he was loathe to forego the possibility of a benefit.


    He stared up into those storm clouds, hoping for a moment of inspiration or simply a hint of the right course of action. The heavens, as always, remained indifferent to his unspoken question. You face the heavens alone, Sen told himself. In the end, it¡¯s all about choices. What will you risk and for what gains? He stood there, locked in a one-sided staring match with the gathering power above. More safety on one side, more benefit on the other. He supposed that was ultimately a false choice. Cultivation was risk. A lifelong bet that you would succeed where so many others failed. There was no place in that calculation for intentional weakness. Sen knew that the tribulations would not grow easier as time went by. If he couldn¡¯t face this now, how could he ever hope to survive what was to come?


    Clenching his fists and lifting his chin, he said, ¡°Get on with it.¡±


    He¡¯d never know for sure if the heavens were listening, or if the timing just worked out that way, but the first bolt descended on him then. He managed to keep his feet, but he felt the rock beneath him shatter under the colossal force of the heaven¡¯s wrath. What he felt in that moment went beyond pain, beyond agony, and became what he could only describe as perfected suffering. There was no part of him that didn¡¯t feel like it would boil away. He was certain that his eyes had exploded, that his lungs had melted, that his bones had proven to be fragile twigs that snapped beneath that weight. Yet, his vision cleared, his bones remained unbroken, and he could still draw breath. What he couldn¡¯t do was stay on his feet. He dropped to his knees and felt the jagged rocks try and fail to pierce his hardened skin.


    Clenching his teeth, he planted a fist on the rubble beneath him and heaved himself upwards. He saw the scorched flesh on his arms. The open wound on his chest leaked a strangely dark blood in a steady trickle. I guess I wasn¡¯t just imagining shadow qi taking up residence in my blood, he thought. He could feel the power condensing above, readying itself for a second strike. Sen knew it would be worse. It was as if the heavens punished cultivators for having the temerity to survive each strike by making the successive progressively worse. It seemed particularly malicious because the cultivator¡¯s natural defenses would grow weaker with each bolt of tribulation lightning. There was nothing for it, though. Sen would endure this as he had endured so much else.


    He did allow him the single weakness of closing his eyes when the second bolt crashed down on him. He didn¡¯t keep his feet that time. He didn¡¯t even try. Most of what happened was lost to him in a haze of blue-white and the terrible noise of his own screaming. He dragged himself back to sanity through pure force of will. He ignored the state of his own body. He could heal injuries. Even if he could see pieces of his bones where the tribulation had burned away flesh. No matter how excruciating the experience, it was ultimately temporary. It didn¡¯t matter that he felt more like a piece of roasted meat than a man. It was neither here nor there that his body didn¡¯t want to do his bidding. He would stand. He had to use the wall of the crater he was in to drag himself upright. He gripped that tortured stone with an equally tortured claw of a hand. He turned his face to the sky, opened his mouth, felt the burned skin crack, and felt the blood flow. He screamed his defiance to the sky one last time.


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    The final bolt flew. As the unadulterated wrath of the heavens connected with him, sought to unmake him, tried to drown him in an ocean of torment so all-consuming that no mortal mind could contain the experience, something changed. He felt it inside of what was left of him, which he knew was little more than bones surrounded by burned and desiccated flesh. There was a surge as some last bit of alchemy was ignited. It seized the remnants of the celestial power that still coursed through him and around him. It converted that divine qi into something he didn¡¯t even begin to understand. Even as consciousness abandoned him in an act of mercy, he could swear that he hurt just a little bit less.


    Concepts like time meant little to him. Notions of what it meant to be awake or be asleep were equally nonsensical. He simply was. He floated, a mote in the cosmos, self-aware but not truly aware of anything around him. The universe turned and planes of existence seemed to flicker in and out of existence before him. For Sen, though, they held little more meaning that paintings glimpsed in passing. Briefly noted, perhaps, but swiftly forgotten. He was aware that he was at the very outermost cusp of life. One wrong breath and he would plunge into the oblivion of death. One wrong thought and the afterlife would seize him. There was an appeal to it. The idea of stopping and starting over. Perhaps the next life would be easier. Perhaps he would find himself in a world that was plagued with less violence, both necessary and unnecessary.


    He craved such a world, but it felt false. Conflict was the natural state of affairs. It always had been. He¡¯d known that since childhood. There were strength and weakness. Victory and defeat. Survival and death. Everything else was a mirage. A comforting lie that people told themselves in times of supposed peace. However, conflict was not the same thing as cruelty. That felt more right to him. Conflict and violence might be inescapable, but the wanton cruelty he¡¯d seen, the cruelty he himself had done, was something entirely different. The world didn¡¯t have to be that way. There had to be a path forward that was less cruel. He wanted to believe that, but he couldn¡¯t see it. Perhaps a different man, a kinder man, a good man, would know how to make that world real.


    But, as he had told Lifen so long ago, he¡¯d never claimed to be a good man. He could only be the man he was, and that was a man who could be more than one thing. He could be kind, but he could also be cruel when it was necessary. When lines that shouldn¡¯t be crossed had been ignored. When those who had no other recourse required the cold face of judgment to speak for them. He wasn¡¯t a hero, and he¡¯d never wanted to be one. That was a role for others. But he could be that cleansing wind, or a wrathful storm, if that was what was required. Even as that thought came and went, slipping from his grasp like water through a sieve, a heaviness overtook him. It dragged him down, down, down to a place that was both familiar and alien. A world where there were things he had left to do, and people he loved.


    Sen opened his eyes and winced a little as sunlight poured into them. He felt like he¡¯d understood something, grasped an important truth, only to have lost it. He rolled over. His body felt wrong. It wasn¡¯t pain. That had seemingly been washed away in whatever that last burst of lightning had triggered in him. All the same, he didn¡¯t feel like himself anymore. He managed to get himself up to his feet, but all of that hard-won balance he¡¯d earned through years of relentless training had seemingly abandoned him. He staggered to one side and reflexively reached out to the nearby rock wall. He started to wonder where he was, but that concern was driven out of his mind as his hand closed around a piece of protruding stone. The stone was instantly pulverized into a fine powder at his merest touch. He stumbled back in surprise, only to fall. He brought his fist close to his eye and opened it. He watched the stone dust fall away from his palm in a silent cloud. That¡¯s going to complicate things, he thought.

 V9 Chapter 3 – Hesitation

    Whenever Sen was forced to leave home, an event that happened far too often for his taste, he almost always raced back as fast as he could. There was a beautiful orchid there waiting to shout Papa at him and tell him about everything that had happened when he was gone. Sometimes, that meant an extended description of her bug hunts with the birds. Sometimes, it was a hilariously garbled retelling of Auntie Caihong chastising Master Feng for one transgression or another. Sen could usually piece together what had actually happened, which only made Ai¡¯s retellings even funnier if for no other reason than the things that her mind interpreted as the salient details. For example, the words were often ignored in favor of a careful description and reenactment of Master Feng¡¯s expressions or Auntie Caihong chasing him with a broom, all while Uncle Kho howled with laughter.


    This time, though, Sen found himself hesitating. He looked down at his arm and frowned. Like most cultivators, he¡¯d been pale. All of the blemishes, scars, and signs of aging had been burned away during cleanings, advancements, and probably during tribulations as well. Now, though, he was a white as pale as bone. The divine qi embedded in his skin no longer rose to the surface to make him all but glow, even if he could still feel it there. His eyebrows drew together as a thought occurred to him. He concentrated for a moment and those spots did rise to the surface. Except, now, there were more of them. They seemed to form a lattice all over his body. In fact, it almost looked like a formation etched into his skin. He couldn¡¯t be sure since he didn¡¯t have the best angle to look at it.


    He wondered if that was something that was meant to happen as part of the Five-Fold Body Transformation or if it was peculiar to him. A side effect of all that divine qi already being inside of him, perhaps? The moment he got mentally sidetracked, though, the pinpoint bits of divine qi receded down into his skin again. While it was a strange change, it was actually a welcome one. Not needing to maintain that bit of concentration to suppress their appearance all the time was one less thing on his plate. Getting to cross a problem off his list was so rare that it felt like he ought to throw some kind of celebration. Still, the almost deathly pale of his skin was concerning.


    Despite the change, he didn¡¯t feel ill. If anything, he felt healthier and stronger than he¡¯d ever been. He¡¯d experienced an almost unbelievable increase in strength. At another time, he¡¯d have seen it as nothing but an improvement. In the world of the now, he couldn¡¯t shake that feeling of concern. What would Ai think of him? Would the change frighten her? He thought that she¡¯d get used to it. He hoped she might even make fun of it. If she ran away from him¡­ If that happened, it would break his heart into so many pieces that he might never be able to gather them all up. So, he stood on the shattered peak of that new mountain and hesitated. He was high enough up that there was a constant breeze. The sound of his robes moving in that light wind sounded thunderously loud to him. I guess improved strength wasn¡¯t the only change, he thought.


    He''d been through enough body cultivation advancements to understand that adapting to the changes in his body wouldn¡¯t be an overnight process. A few experiments had told him that his perception was actually lagging slightly behind his body¡¯s new abilities. He¡¯d need to hold back unless something was right in front of him and he couldn¡¯t miss with a blow. If he was lucky, things would equalize after a while, but he worried that he¡¯d be stuck using less than his full potential until his spirit cultivation caught up. That might not be an entirely bad thing, thought Sen. His relationship with restraint was a mixed bag at best. Being forced to employ it all the time might help him to shore up one or two lingering personal failings.


    As much as he wanted to tell himself that Ai was the only reason he was hesitating, he knew that wasn¡¯t true. Returning to the academy after that debacle in the capital hadn¡¯t been a smooth transition. He¡¯d found himself forced into roles and dealing with responsibilities for which he felt entirely unsuited. The passage of a year had only smoothed down a few of the roughest edges. He was not particularly well-equipped for the role of leader or, as every damn person at the academy insisted on calling him, patriarch. Patriarchs were old men with centuries of experience and, in theory anyway, tremendous wisdom. Sen met exactly none of those requirements. His only legitimate claim to that title came from personal power, and it hadn¡¯t taken him long to see that personal power and good leadership had almost no relationship with each other.


    He knew that the minute he got back, a mountain of work was waiting for him. There would be endless demands on his time. Time that he would much rather spend teaching things to Ai, or wandering the wilds with Falling Leaf. Time that he loathed devoting to stupidity like managing the personal disputes between the various teachers he¡¯d brought and the small factions that were already developing inside his sect. Some of the divides were obvious. There were the mortals who were never going to be anything but soldiers for the small army he was building for Grandmother Lu. He¡¯d already sent a fair number of those to her. She had promptly put them to work as manor guards, caravan guards, and sent some of them along to keep order at distant holdings of the House of Lu. Those mortals bore a certain resentment for the cultivators that Sen had acquired for the sect.


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    He¡¯d never truly tried to recruit anyone but cultivators kept showing up. They, being cultivators, had to have their arrogance beaten out of them. Unfortunately, that process was slow enough that more than a few lingering grudges had developed. Then there was the division among the cultivators. Some of them had, on the surface, adopted his stated mission of developing cultivators for the express purpose of defending the House of Lu. Others seemed to think that he was masking his true intentions, thereby exposing their own ignorance of his lack of subtlety. Those cultivators seemed to be more invested in some weird cult of personality that centered on him.


    Then, there was the last group. He had done the impossible with Tiu Li-Mei. He had helped an adult mortal become a cultivator. She was a group of one. She fit none of the rules of cultivators. In some ways, she was even more anomalous than Sen himself. He, at least, had been found fairly young. No one seemed to know how to treat her. That had made her, by turns, an object of jealousy, scorn, and awe in his sect. The extensive attention he had to personally devote to her to make that transition from adult mortal to cultivator hadn¡¯t helped matters for her. Many viewed her as his personal favorite when they weren¡¯t making deeply unkind comments about the exact nature of their relationship. Many were terrified of offending her. Others treated her like some kind of prostitute.


    All of that had largely isolated her, and there was exceedingly little he could do to help. Anything he tried to do was as likely to make her isolation worse as it was to make things better. He tried to assuage his own conscience by saying he gave her what she wanted. Even so, he feared that his attempt at recompense had come at a much higher price than either he or she had anticipated. He was tempted on a weekly basis to simply send her back to the capital, but that wasn¡¯t a real solution either. She couldn¡¯t step back into her old life anymore. On top of that, she was a one-of-a-kind experiment. He worried that someone sect would scoop her up and try to figure out how he¡¯d done what he¡¯d done. She was relatively safe from anything like that as long as she stayed beneath his shadow of protection. Plus, when he¡¯d gentry broached the possibility of sending her back, she¡¯d refused. Adamantly.


    Huffing out an exasperated breath, Sen decided that it was time to stop being a coward and go home. Putting it off for another hour wasn¡¯t going to alter how Ai reacted to the changes in him. It wasn¡¯t going to solve any of the many problems waiting for him. It wasn¡¯t even really helping him. He walked to the edge where the peak of the mountain started to drop off. A part of him wanted to explore this new mountain. It would be endlessly interesting to find out where the natural trails were, but he supposed that was a project best undertaken with Falling Leaf. She might never forgive him for making a mountain, however accidentally, and then finding all of its mysteries without her.


    Sen stepped off the mountain peak and onto a qi platform. With a minor flex of will, he sent it flying back toward his daughter, and all those other things that were a lot less important to him. He told himself that things would be fine. Nothing had changed that much. Not really. So what if he was a little paler and a little stronger? He was still who he had always been. He supposed that his annoying legend would grow a little more when word got out that he¡¯d advanced his body cultivation again, but there was always someone adding to that stupid thing. It was ridiculous. No one could possibly have done all the things and been all the places he was credited with during the approximate decade he¡¯d been operating publicly. Hells, he¡¯d spent a huge chunk of that time trying to find a damn manual. When did people imagine he had time to visit other kingdoms?


    Shaking his head, Sen lowered the qi platform to the ground outside the galehouse. He did his best to calm his nerves. It¡¯ll be fine, he told himself for the fiftieth time. Bracing himself for the worst, he opened the door and walked inside. Falling Leaf and Ai were sitting at the table. It looked like they were practicing writing. The green-eyed woman gave him a curious look but didn¡¯t seem otherwise concerned. Ai turned to look at him. She looked perplexed for a moment before she hopped down from the chair, ran over, and jumped at him. He caught her and hoisted her up so she could hug his neck. She poked his cheek while wearing a skeptical expression before she giggled.


    ¡°You look funny, Papa.¡±


    Sen abruptly discovered that he had regained the ability to breathe.

 V9 Chapter 4 – You’ll Leave Me Behind

    Sen gave himself the rest of that day to recover and spend time with Ai and Falling Leaf. While his body¡¯s transformation had seemingly restored him, he felt drained. At the very least, he knew that there was a near-certainty that he would kill someone who came to him with a frivolous problem given his current mood. Aside from occasionally poking his now absurdly pale skin and asking if it hurt, Ai seemed to take it all in stride. He supposed that she had been through far worse upheavals and was still young enough that his skin changing just didn¡¯t hit her as a crisis or something that warranted a lot of attention. Falling Leaf, on the other hand, seemed more uncertain about the new him. Enough so that it prompted the usually quiet woman to pose a question.


    ¡°What does this change mean?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m stronger,¡± said Sen with a halfhearted shrug. ¡°Beyond that, I¡¯m not entirely certain. I¡¯m going to have to go out and push my limits to see what this really means.¡±


    ¡°You said the manual wasn¡¯t vague, but it surely said something about what to expect.¡±


    ¡°There were some cryptic statements that meant absolutely nothing. There certainly wasn¡¯t anything about being this pale. I don¡¯t even know if it¡¯s permanent or not. I¡¯m hoping not. I can say that I¡¯ll be more durable and resilient than I was before. That much is clear. And I guess improved survivability is never a bad thing.¡±


    ¡°Not as a rule, no,¡± said Falling Leaf with an amused smile. ¡°Will you continue on this path?¡±


    ¡°Body cultivation?¡± asked Sen.


    The panther-woman nodded.


    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know. It has provided me with benefits, but it¡¯s also nearly cost me my life more than once. I¡¯m not convinced it¡¯s worth the risks. Of course, I did just go through a tribulation. It¡¯s hard to want to do anything that might trigger another one of those when it¡¯s so fresh in my mind.¡±


    That drew a frown from Falling Leaf.


    ¡°You almost died, again? Up on that new mountain?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Sen, shuddering at the memories of that fresh hell. ¡°It was a terrifyingly close thing. So close that I never, ever, want to be that close to death again.¡±


    Falling Leaf gave him an uncomfortably intense look, and he struggled to unravel its meaning.


    ¡°Then, perhaps you should spend more time building this place of yours and less time chasing ways to die.¡±


    Sen was startled. That had sounded a lot like a rebuke to him. No, he thought. That didn¡¯t sound like anything. That just was a rebuke. He gave Falling Leaf a thoughtful look. She had been happier living here, close enough to the wilds that she could easily escape the humans that she¡¯d never really managed to find common ground with. But happier wasn¡¯t the same thing as happy. He was once again reminded that while he wasn¡¯t her only connection to humans, he was her main connection with them. Even though he trusted that Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho would always provide a safe harbor for her if something were to happen to him, her relationships with them were not like her relationship with him. She treated them as family, but it reminded him of the oddly formal relationships he sometimes saw between younger people and their aged elders. There was respect, but affection was often absent.


    Sen also knew that he hadn¡¯t been recklessly risking his life. Taking that last pill had to happen. She knew that as well as he did. After all, she had been there when not getting the next pill in the sequence had been killing him. For whatever reason, though, the possibility of his death seemed to be hitting her harder this time. Was it just her realizing that same thing he had long feared? If he died, she would be largely adrift in the world. She¡¯d shown nothing but disdain for most other spirit beasts, not that he could blame her for that. It had been spirit beasts that killed most of the ghost panthers, not humans.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°You know I¡¯d never abandon you willingly,¡± said Sen.


    Falling Leaf jerked a little. Apparently, he¡¯d gotten pretty close to the mark. She looked away then and seemed to be struggling to figure out what to do with her hands.


    ¡°I know that,¡± she snapped before her voice went small. ¡°It¡¯s just that I¡­ I thought we¡¯d have centuries together. That I¡¯d have enough time to prepare. But you¡¯re advancing so fast. I can¡¯t keep up. You¡¯re going to ascend. And it won¡¯t be a thousand years or three thousand years from now. It will be soon. You¡¯ll leave me behind.¡±


    Sen wanted to reassure her that the day of his ascension wasn¡¯t that soon, but he couldn¡¯t bring himself to tell the lie. It might not be in the next five years, but he doubted he¡¯d last another fifty years before he got pushed off this world. At least, not if the heavens got their way. For Falling Leaf, that was soon and approaching at a breakneck pace. There was always the possibility that he¡¯d die in the meantime, but that would probably be even worse from her perspective. If he ascended, then he was still out there somewhere. The possibility of seeing him again, joining him in ascension was a distant but real prospect. If he got cut down, that was it. His soul would be moving through the steps of reincarnation, but even if she managed to find him through some miracle, it wouldn¡¯t be him. Not in any meaningful way. Everything about the man she knew now would be nothing but a memory.


    Sen thought of Tiu Li-Mei. He had done what most people considered the impossible with her. It had been outrageously expensive and some of the most difficult alchemy he¡¯d ever performed, but he had done it. If he could make that happen, how hard would it really be to speed things along for Falling Leaf? It¡¯ll probably be unbelievably difficult, thought Sen. If there was an easy way to do it, she¡¯d be doing it already. He also knew a lot less about how spirit beasts advanced than he should, but that was a problem that could be remedied. Sen smiled at the ghost panther.


    ¡°What?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°If that¡¯s the problem, we¡¯ll just have to figure out a way to speed things up for you.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t work like that spirit beasts. We can¡¯t use tricks to make it happen faster.¡±


    ¡°Says who?¡± asked Sen.


    Falling Leaf looked like she was about to speak, but she frowned instead.


    ¡°It is just known.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know that,¡± said Sen, projecting a confidence he didn¡¯t feel. ¡°Besides, just because no one has ever done it before, it doesn¡¯t mean that no one ever can. There¡¯s always the first person.¡±


    Falling Leaf gave him a searching look, as though she was trying to spot a lie on his face. He couldn¡¯t really blame her for that. If anything, he suspected that the only reason she was even entertaining the possibility was because he was the one who suggested it. Well, that and she¡¯d seen him do the seemingly impossible before. There was a trace of hope in her eyes, but it was offset by a great deal of fear. He wasn¡¯t even sure what the fear was about. Fear of being left behind? Fear of trying only to fail? He almost asked but restrained himself. That was her fear to share or keep to herself as she saw fit. It wasn¡¯t for him to try to drag it out of her.


    ¡°Do you think you can?¡± she asked in a painfully tentative tone.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can. I also don¡¯t know if it¡¯s beyond me. I do know that it¡¯s worth trying. You were there for me during all those years of training. You¡¯ve saved my life. I dragged you across half of this country looking for Fu Ruolan. You never complained. You never asked me for anything. You keep watch over Ai when I have to be away. Trying to make this happen is the very least I can do for you. If it succeeds, I will maybe, maybe, have paid back some tiny shred of what I owe you.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t owe me anything,¡± said Falling Leaf.


    Sen could see it on her face that she meant it. It was a fact to her. It was one of the things that he¡¯d always appreciated about her. She didn¡¯t look at the world and see debts and obligations. Of course, just because she didn¡¯t see them, it didn¡¯t mean Sen was oblivious to them.


    ¡°You may not think so, but I know better. Because, if I don¡¯t owe you anything, then the entire notion of debt is meaningless.¡±


    Falling Leaf seemed perplexed by that declaration. It took her a while to find a response.


    ¡°If you say so,¡± she murmured.


    ¡°I do. So, let¡¯s have a long talk about just how it is that spirit beasts advance. I know that you consume cores as part of the process. So, tell me about the things that I don¡¯t know.¡±

 V9 Chapter 5 – Bureaucracy

    Sen sat at the head of a table and stared at the wall. He¡¯d stopped hearing anything that anyone was saying at least an hour earlier. It was supposed to be a meeting to discuss how best to manage the latest batch of cultivators that had shown up looking for entry into the sect. Soon after returning from setting up Grandmother Lu in the capital, Sen had adopted a policy that no cultivator looking for entry into the sect would be seen on arrival. Some of it was simply Sen directing money into the purses of the townspeople. The volume of travelers coming and going had picked up enough that a second inn had opened up in town, as well as two small restaurants. People with more refined palates had told him that the food at them was only adequate. It was an assessment he¡¯d been forced to agree with after visiting. He still made a point to eat at one or the other at least once a month. It seemed to help attract business.


    The other reason no cultivators were seen immediately was simply to test their patience. If they couldn¡¯t endure waiting a few weeks, they likely couldn¡¯t endure the discipline necessary to succeed as cultivators beneath Sen¡¯s admittedly grueling standards. He knew that his standards were unreasonably high because he had been told so by more than one of the people seated at the table around him. He also knew why they were unreasonable. They¡¯d been forged under Master Feng¡¯s even more unreasonable expectations. Knowing all of that, Sen refused to relinquish them. He had no desire to bring anyone into the academy who would simply crack beneath the pressure and expectations. Better to send them away disappointed now than to send them away broken later. Sen recognized that a cruel-to-be-kind approach looked only cruel to the people on the receiving end, but he had yet to find a better way.


    It also gave Sen and the other members of the academy that he at least vaguely trusted to observe the would-be candidates. While word had spread that mistreating the townspeople was both an automatic disqualification and a short road to a brutal correction of that behavior, people were people. It was easy enough for almost anyone to hide their natures for a day or two. Most people fell back to their habits after a week or two. Long Jia Wei had proven particularly effective in ferreting out people that Sen wouldn¡¯t want around. In two cases, the man had simply killed the cultivators and disposed of their bodies.


    The first time, Sen had demanded an explanation. Long Jia Wei had calmly explained that he found the cultivator beating a local shopkeeper for the grand offense of expecting to be paid for his wares. Sen had personally visited the shopkeeper, apologized for the event, tended to the man¡¯s wounds, and reimbursed him for the lost business. The second time it happened, Sen had only asked if the offending cultivator had it coming. He¡¯d taken Long Jia Wei¡¯s yes for an answer. When Sen had followed that up by asking if anyone needed to be helped or compensated, he¡¯d been told that someone had already been dispatched with the appropriate healing aids and money. Sen had almost asked for more information but decided he needed to extend some trust to the people who worked for him. If Long Jia Wei said it was being handled appropriately, he¡¯d take the man at his word.


    If only everything could be that easy, thought Sen as he forced himself to start paying attention to the people at the table. Except, it wasn¡¯t everyone at the table. It was just two people. Two people who had been the source of more of Sen¡¯s wasted time than anyone else in the entire academy. On the right side of the table was the burly Tong Qianfan. He was on his feet, leaning over the table with a belligerent look on his face. He was one of the people Sen had brought back with him from the capital, recruited with some caveats from one of the smaller sects there. He was largely in charge of the foundation formation cultivators and their various teachers. On the left side of the table, looking cool, calm, and utterly dismissive of Tong Qianfan, was the diminutive Yan Shu. She had been directed to Sen by one of the only people at the Soaring Skies Sect that he was likely to listen to, Elder Deng. She had been given the thankless task of trying to usher qi condensing cultivators to the foundation formation stage.


    The pair had taken an immediate dislike to one another. Tong Qianfan considered Yan Shu as nothing but an incompetent from some backwater sect. She considered him a useless, mindless brute who only had one answer for every problem. Hit it until it breaks. Sen knew this because he¡¯d heard her say it to the man¡¯s face. What had followed was, in Sen¡¯s opinion, an utterly humiliating display in which Tong Qianfan tried to strike the woman, only to have her beat him within an inch of his life. He never even came close to landing a blow on her after that first attempt. Since then, the pair had locked horns over nearly everything from lesson plans to what food should be provided to the mortal and cultivator students who attended the various classes available at the academy. Their current argument had started over how to handle a dispute between two students and descended into what seemed to be little more than viciously barbed insults.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°Of course, you think that. You ignorant buffoon,¡± said Yan Shu. ¡°Any solution that doesn¡¯t involve someone getting injured is too complicated for your third-rate mind to understand.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t talk down to me, you overbearing bitch!¡± roared Tong Qianfan.


    ¡°Enough,¡± said Sen, using a bit of qi to make his voice resonate.


    He decided he¡¯d overdone it because not only did his voice resonate, but the table, the chairs, the walls, and probably the bodies of everyone in the room did as well. Utter silence fell as Yan Shu and Tong Qianfan seemed to recall themselves and where they were. Both cast guilty looks in Sen¡¯s direction and went a little pale at what they saw on his face.


    ¡°You two, stay,¡± said Sen, pointing at Yan Shu and Tong Qianfan. ¡°Everyone else, get out.¡±


    There were precisely zero protests as the rest of the people at the meeting fled before the obvious anger in Sen¡¯s voice. He actually preferred that to the usual round of last-second questions and people hanging around simply to bow to him or call him patriarch or whatever other nonsense crossed their minds. He fixed Tong Qianfan with a hard look.


    ¡°Sit down,¡± he ordered the other man.


    The burly man dropped into his seat immediately. Sen let the silence stretch out for a long time. Instead of speaking, he just looked from one to the other, and then let his gaze settle on something in the middle distance. When he did finally speak, both of the other cultivators jerked a little.


    ¡°The entire reason for having people in your positions is to make my life easier,¡± said Sen. ¡°I cannot handle every task that needs to be done in this place. I need people I can rely on to handle those things. I need people who are actively invested in doing that well, both because it benefits the students and it makes my life easier. So, let me ask you this. When you two spend an hour screaming at each other every time we have a meeting, do you believe you¡¯re making my life easier?¡±


    The pair traded glances.


    ¡°No,¡± said Lan Shu.


    ¡°No,¡± muttered Tong Qianfan.


    ¡°Do you believe that your constant bickering, in public, is providing any benefit to the mortals and cultivators that you¡¯re supposed to be setting some kind of example for?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± admitted Lan Shu.


    Tong Qianfan mumbled something that might have been a no. Neither of the cultivators would meet Sen¡¯s eyes. Intentionally wanted to keep them off balance, Sen switched topics.


    ¡°Do you like it here? Do you want to stay?¡±


    The subject change had the intended effect because both of them blinked a few times. Lan Shu managed to keep the confusion off her face, while Tong Qianfan wore his confusion openly.


    ¡°Yes, Patriarch,¡± said Lan Shu, apparently recovering a little faster.


    ¡°I do, Patriarch,¡± said Tong Qianfan a beat later.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t look that way,¡± said Sen. ¡°As of right now, I¡¯m inclined to send you both back where you came from. It¡¯d be a huge hassle to replace you, but I still think it would be less of a problem than keeping you here. So, you have one day to settle your dispute. Short of killing each other, I don¡¯t care how you do it, but you will not do it in front of the students. If one of you does kill the other, don¡¯t be here tomorrow. Do you understand me?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Patriarch,¡± the pair said in unison.


    ¡°Good. As for the bickering students, send them to me immediately. I¡¯ll deal with it.¡±


    Both Lan Shu and Tong Qianfan abruptly looked very nervous. Sen didn¡¯t know if he looked like he might do something drastic to the students or if they were worried he was going to find out that the dispute was something very stupid. They both looked like they were about to protest, so Sen cut them off.


    ¡°Do you not know what immediately means?¡± asked Sen.


    The chastised cultivators shot to their feet, offered hasty bows, and departed the room without ever managing to look directly at each other.


    Sen shook his head and spoke to the empty room.


    ¡°I really hope they don¡¯t kill each other.¡±

 V9 Chapter 6 – Youthful Indiscretions

    Sen stared at the two cultivators who had been sent to him. Young, thought Sen. I¡¯m not that much older than either of them. He noticed that both of them looked petrified. They stood as straight as they possibly could and both were sweating. He supposed that this was exactly the kind of attention that neither of them wanted. In all likelihood, they were probably hoping to impress him one day with their prowess. Instead, they¡¯d gotten into trouble and found themselves facing the final authority in the academy. He could send them away with a word. He didn¡¯t need to explain himself or give any reason. He could just demand they leave and never return. For that matter, he could kill them without bothering to offer an explanation. A fact that was probably foremost in their thoughts. The worst part was that he didn¡¯t think he needed to ask any questions. He was pretty sure he already knew the problem.


    One of the cultivators was a heavily built young man who could have been Tong Qianfan¡¯s nephew. The other was a studious-looking girl who appeared positively underfed. It was alarming enough that Sen decided it was a matter he needed to look into separately. Still, he was pretty sure that he knew where each student put their loyalty. Sen sighed. The young man flinched, and the girl¡¯s eyes went wide. You¡¯d think I just announced their executions, Sen grumbled internally. Picking at random, he pointed at the boy.


    ¡°Explain the problem,¡± he ordered.


    The young man opened his mouth, got an expression that suggested he¡¯d forgotten how words worked, and suddenly lurched into a bow so deep that he had to be looking at the floor. The whole thing amused Sen a little, but he kept it off his face. The kid was obviously terrified. If Sen laughed at him, the kid¡¯s heart might stop. The young man straightened from his bow and very obviously chose his words with care.


    ¡°Patriarch, I¡¯m sure this matter is unworthy of your attention.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± said Sen, ¡°but it has my attention. So, out with it.¡±


    The young man licked his lips, took a deep breath, and said, ¡°Disciple He spoke ill of Master Tong. I objected to it.¡±


    Sen decided not to correct him on the use of the term disciple. It was a sect now, even if Sen didn¡¯t call it one. Well, that was a political answer if I¡¯ve ever heard one, thought Sen. He turned to the skinny young woman.


    ¡°Explain the problem.¡±


    The girl, probably taking her cue from the young man, also offered one of those ridiculous bows. Once she was standing straight again, she audibly swallowed.


    ¡°Patriarch,¡± she said, ¡°Disciple Chew called Master Lan¡¯s character into question. I simply attempted to correct his ignorance.¡±


    Not as political, but still careful, thought Sen. I guess I should have expected this.


    ¡°What very concise answers,¡± said Sen, pinning them both in place with a hard look.


    He did not give them his hardest look. He wanted them worried, not actively in fear for their lives. Even so, they both lost some of the color in their faces.


    ¡°And which of you made the first remark?¡± asked Sen.


    The girl shot the young man a triumphant look. He hung his head.


    ¡°I did,¡± he said.


    ¡°And did you wait to do it until you knew Disciple He would hear you?¡±


    The young man¡¯s ears and face turned bright red as he whispered, ¡°Yes.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ¡°So, you intentionally provoked her?¡±


    ¡°I did.¡±


    The girl looked absolutely gleeful, so Sen knew it was time to give her some attention.


    ¡°And you were foolish enough to take that obvious bait?¡± he asked her. ¡°I hope you aren¡¯t that unwise in battle.¡±


    Sen doubted the girl could have looked more stunned if he¡¯d slapped her.


    ¡°Did you not realize he was luring you into saying something?¡± Sen asked.


    It was her turn to blush.


    ¡°I¡­ No,¡± she said.


    ¡°It never occurred to you that he was waiting for an excuse to challenge you to a fight that favored him?¡±


    The girl was staring at the floor when she said, ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure who I¡¯m most disappointed in right now. You,¡± he said, pointing at the young man, ¡°for trying to bait a weaker cultivator into a physical conflict. You,¡± he said, pointing at the girl, ¡°for not seeing the trap for what it was. Or myself, for not taking more care in who I allow to remain here.¡±


    The two were staring at him in naked horror. He was glad to see that his implied threat to toss them both out was not lost on the pair. While he expected either of them could probably secure a spot in another sect, it wouldn¡¯t be an easy time for them. For all that his reputation didn¡¯t paint Sen in the best light, it was a reputation that more and more people saw as being an earned one. He suspected that being cast out of his sect would serve as a black mark. Other sects would likely be wary of taking in his outcasts, either for fear that the cultivators weren¡¯t worth the effort, or out of fear that he might take issue with it.


    ¡°The question is whether either of you is worth the trouble of nurturing,¡± announced Sen.


    He once again let the silence stretch out. He only gave it about twenty seconds, but he suspected that it felt like a lot longer than that to the wayward students.


    ¡°You should both consider yourself one very minor mistake away from being told to leave,¡± he finally said.


    Both students wore expressions of relief and fear.


    ¡°Thank you, Patriarch,¡± said the girl.


    The young man hastily echoed her words.


    Sen considered them both before he said, ¡°Loyalty has its place, but it should never be blind. Lan Shu and Tong Qianfan are both flawed. As are the pair of you. As am I. That being said, it is unwise to speak ill of those who have the power to end you out of hand. It is particularly unwise to do so where others might hear it. Do you understand what I¡¯m telling you?¡±


    Sen felt like a monumental hypocrite uttering those words. He¡¯d blatantly disrespected people who had the power to end him so often that people almost expected it from him. But that wasn¡¯t a good way to live a long life, and he did want the cultivators and mortals who studied at his academy to live long and fruitful lives if at all possible. That meant that sometimes he had to give hypocritical advice. Not that the students in front of him seemed to recognize what he¡¯d done. They both nodded like they¡¯d just received words from the heavens. That reverence for his words just made him feel more guilty.


    ¡°Now, for punishments,¡± said Sen. ¡°First, you will both assist in caring for the oxen for the next month.¡±


    Both students grimaced at those words, which told Sen he¡¯d picked the right task.


    ¡°I feel that it¡¯s only fair to warn you that I am very fond of those animals. If I were to discover that you didn¡¯t give the work appropriate attention, I would not be pleased.¡±


    The young man tried to stand straighter, while the girl¡¯s face went even paler.


    ¡°Next. Disciple Chew, in one month, you will come before me and explain why scholarly study is valuable to cultivators.¡±


    The stricken look on the young man¡¯s face told Sen everything he needed to know about the kinds of opinions that Tong Qianfan was imparting to the students. Sen turned his gaze on the girl.


    ¡°Disciple He, in one month, you will come before me and explain why martial prowess is valuable to cultivators.¡±


    She didn¡¯t look quite as disheartened as the young man, but she definitely looked nervous. Sen leaned back in his chair and, after giving them both a thoughtful look, he added one more thing.


    ¡°Your answers may be as long or short as you wish, but I suggest that the answers you bring me are thorough,¡± said Sen. ¡°You may go.¡±


    The pair bowed and mumbled some things that might have been polite before they fled. Sen reached up and rubbed his eyes. Assuming that Lan Shu and Tong Qianfan managed to keep their positions, he was going to have to have a long discussion with them about providing a balanced view of what cultivators did. He¡¯d also have to go and thank Auntie Caihong for all the helpful advice she¡¯d given him about dealing with people who didn¡¯t get along with each other. If he¡¯d handled the problem the way he wanted to, Sen suspected that neither Lan Shu or Tong Qianfan would have left the room unscathed. As for the students, he felt a little more forgiving toward them. They were young and inexperienced. He couldn¡¯t expect them to make good decisions all the time. He certainly hadn¡¯t. At the same time, he couldn¡¯t just let bad decisions go without some kind of action. He just hoped that the oxen wouldn¡¯t suffer too much.

 Volume 4 Publication and Official Stub Notice

    The day has finally arrived. Volume 4 is going live on Amazon and, if all goes well, Audible starting tomorrow! That means that all but a handful of chapters have to come down here to meet with Amazon''s exclusivity rules. It''s harsh, I know, but Amazon makes the rules. The rest of us just live with them.


    For anyone who might want to grab an official ebook, paperback, or hardback copy, I''ll drop a link in the post-chapter note below. (There''s no easy way to put a link into the chapter section.)This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    It''s been a crazy ride so far, and I appreciate everyone who has stuck with this story. I started it on a whim, and it has grown into something so much bigger! It never ceases to amaze me that so many people are invested in finding out what happens next to people who live inside my head.

 V9 Chapter 7 – The Coming Storm

    After that foolishness with Lan Shu, Tong Qianfan, and their students, Sen realized that he simply didn¡¯t have it in him to put up with anything even remotely aggravating. At first, he thought that he was exhibiting a horrific lack of discipline, but he quickly realized that the real problem was that he hadn¡¯t given himself enough time to recover from the tribulation. While he had faced death more often than anyone his age ever should have needed to do so, he hadn¡¯t come so close to it in a long time. He wasn¡¯t sure he could have gotten any closer to it without actually dying. The experience had rattled him more than he realized. So, he simply announced that he was done for the day and walked out of the building.


    He¡¯d gone looking for Ai and found her, although he hadn¡¯t approached. She was playing with some of the Xie children. The sight of it made him deeply uncomfortable, but he supposed that¡¯s what it was to be a parent. Watching your child do things that you wished they wouldn¡¯t and keeping your mouth shut about it. Sen didn¡¯t expect that he was going to have fewer of those experiences as she grew up. He could protect her from many dangers, but he couldn¡¯t protect her from forming connections with other people. It was almost inevitable that she would decide that she liked people that he disliked on principle or for good cause. That didn¡¯t preclude the option of keeping a watch over her from a safe distance. He hadn¡¯t been standing there for more than ten minutes when he felt someone approach.


    ¡°Master Feng,¡± said Sen before he could actually see the man.


    ¡°Sen,¡± said an amused Master Feng. ¡°You¡¯re getting better at that.¡±


    ¡°Not really. But I¡¯m not sure I could call myself a cultivator if I didn¡¯t recognize your presence.¡±


    The elder cultivator stepped up next to Sen and eyed the scene with a pensive expression.


    ¡°I have to admit, I¡¯m surprised that you allow her to associate with them.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not easy,¡± said Sen, ¡°but the world is already full of senseless conflicts. I will not teach her to hate. I can hate enough for both of us.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm,¡± said Master Feng noncommittally.


    ¡°You don¡¯t approve?¡±


    ¡°Of those children? Right now? No, that doesn¡¯t worry me. That¡¯s all harmless. But those children will grow up someday. I do worry about that. I worry that she¡¯ll let her childhood affections lead her into poor choices someday.¡±


    ¡°A concern that I share. But it¡¯s not something we can change without changing her in ways I don¡¯t think either of us wants to see.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the heavens¡¯ own truth,¡± said Master Feng. ¡°Better to let her be a child a while longer. The world will break her heart often enough without either of us rushing her toward it.¡±


    Sen and Master Feng, arguably two of the most dangerous men on the planet, watched as Ai and her friends made up a game that involved kicking and carrying around one of the shadow balls that Sen always made sure were on hand. Eventually, Master Feng turned his attention back to Sen.


    ¡°Did you talk to your king friend about the preparations?¡±


    Sen nodded, but it wasn¡¯t an enthusiastic nod. Master Feng had been very clear that a massive conflict with the spirit beast population was coming. It wasn¡¯t a question of if they were coming for the humans, just a question of when they would launch their genocidal quest. Sen had taken the threat seriously and warned Jing about it. He had spoken to Jing on several occasions over the last year about ways that they could all prepare.


    ¡°I can¡¯t say that I like that look on your face,¡± observed Master Feng.


    ¡°It¡¯s not good news. Even with the warning coming from you through me, the only person taking it seriously is Jing. His position is much more stable now but no one wants to believe that the spirit beasts are that organized. To say nothing of them not wanting to believe that war is coming. His position lets him do a lot, but he can¡¯t fend off a threat of this magnitude with nothing but his own resources. Even if those resources are the resources of a kingdom. You know how things work here. There are entire pieces of this country that are part of the country in name only. There are also large parts that are more effectively under the control of a noble house than the royal family. The sects I spoke with are taking it a little more seriously, simply because they¡¯ve seen strange spirit beast activity, but even they¡¯re moving slowly.¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°The damn fools,¡± muttered Master Feng. ¡°We can¡¯t visit every sect and noble on the continent to try to convince them. We don¡¯t have that kind of time. And even if you, me, Caihong, and Kho all decided to take the battle to them, there¡¯s too much continent. Hells, even if we managed to convince every nascent soul cultivator this side of the Mountains of Sorrow, there¡¯s still too much continent to cover. At best, we could maybe hold the line on this side of the mountains.¡±


    ¡°Would that be such a bad thing? Are we really that concerned with a bunch of power-mad cultivators who like slavery or the next best thing to it?¡± asked Sen.


    The thought of the kind of nations that lay beyond those mountains still left a bitter taste in his mouth. He¡¯d only had a handful of encounters with representatives from those nations, and those were not fond memories. Master Feng gave Sen a reproachful look.


    ¡°That¡¯s an unworthy thing to say, Sen. I know you don¡¯t have any love for the cultivators in power there. But are you truly willing to sacrifice all of the mortals there as well just because you don¡¯t like their leaders?¡±


    It was a valid point, an annoyingly valid point, but Sen was having a hard time separating his loathing for those cultivators from his big-picture thinking. He knew that spirit beast attacks on those nations wouldn¡¯t target cultivators and leave the mortals in peace. If he thought that¡¯s how things would go, he¡¯d probably sign up to help those spirit beasts run their war. He didn¡¯t want to see mountains of mortal corpses pile up because he wouldn¡¯t give that part of the continent a second thought. He also recognized that it was much easier for him to ignore their plight because he didn¡¯t know them. Unlike Master Feng, Sen had never spent time in that part of the continent. He had no friends there. No family. There was no human face for him to attach to all of that suffering. Those people were less than strangers to him. They were an abstract idea. Plus, the very idea of keeping those cultivators in power made him feel sick to his stomach.


    ¡°I may not want that, but I have no interest in helping those leaders keep their power. And, as you said, we can¡¯t be everywhere. If I have to make a choice about where to spend my time and energy, the people and things I love are here. So, I will focus my efforts here.¡±


    Sen could almost feel the disapproval radiating off of Master Feng. It made him want to shift his weight back and forth. He hated feeling like he was disappointing Master Feng. The elder cultivator had given him so much, a life he could never have imagined as a child. For all that, Sen wasn¡¯t about to pretend that he cared more than he did. If things went the way Master Feng expected, the lie would be exposed before too long. It was better to be upfront about things. If he made his priorities clear, he hoped that it would prevent him from needing to say no to things he simply wouldn¡¯t do later. Master Feng let out a slow breath.


    ¡°It¡¯s so easy to forget how young you are. You¡¯ve advanced so fast. I have to keep reminding myself that you¡¯ve never seen a true war before. By the time most people reach your level of cultivation, they¡¯ve been through the fall of a few nations. You may hate those cultivators. You may hate everything they represent. You may also have to set it all aside. The storm that¡¯s coming isn¡¯t coming for one nation. It¡¯s coming for all of humanity. If humanity is to survive it, you may find that joining hands with those people you hate is the only way to make it happen.¡±


    Sen shook his head. If survival came down to that, he wasn¡¯t entirely convinced that humanity deserved to survive. It¡¯d feel like giving his silent consent to enslaving mortals. If the alternative was a world where his daughter would be under siege for the rest of her existence, though, he might have to make that choice. Of course, if they succeeded in ending the war, nothing said that Sen couldn¡¯t go on a little rampage if he found himself on the other side of the mountains. Hells, he thought, it wouldn¡¯t be the first time I ushered in a change in political leadership. The gods know that those bastards almost certainly have it coming. He¡¯d killed people for much worse reasons than that they were slavers.


    ¡°If there¡¯s no other choice, I may have to do as you say,¡± Sen agreed. ¡°But I hope you don¡¯t expect me to like it. And I hope they won¡¯t think it makes them safe from me.¡±


    Master Feng eyed Sen and then snorted.


    ¡°If you decide to throw yourself a little culling after the fact, I¡¯m certainly not going to stop you from doing it.¡±


    ¡°Are you looking for an invitation?¡± asked Sen.


    Master Feng stroked his chin thoughtfully before he said, ¡°Travel can be a lonely business. I expect I could be persuaded to keep you company.¡±

 V9 Chapter 8 – Local Preparations

    ¡°That¡¯s good to know,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to clue you in if and when the time comes.¡±


    ¡°Future plans aside, what about your preparations here? I know what I see, but that¡¯s rarely the whole story. How are they progressing?¡±


    Sen frowned. His focus for the academy and the sect hadn¡¯t changed, not entirely, after Master Feng had told him about what the spirit beasts were planning. Of course, that was in large part because he was already teaching mortals about how to kill spirit beasts. As for the cultivators, he wanted them prepared to defend Ai and the House of Lu. Preparing them for that and preparing them for a fight against hordes of spirit beasts were, much to his shock, not that far apart. Of course, close wasn¡¯t the same thing as identical. He¡¯d initially intended for the cultivator¡¯s martial training to focus on individual combat with only periodic forays into group tactics. He¡¯d seen that as the optimal choice because most cultivators fought each other one-on-one or fought an individual spirit beast.


    Those plans had changed. Now, individual and group tactics got an even split, which he recognized was to the detriment of both. True mastery required focus. He was essentially training people to be competent in both areas. It wasn¡¯t an ideal situation, but it was the best solution he could come up with when facing the certainty of the coming war. Not that he¡¯d shared that information with most of the mortals or the cultivators, yet. It wasn¡¯t that Sen wanted to keep the information hidden. If anything, he wanted everyone to know. He was just worried about causing a panic.


    When he¡¯d gone to talk with Lai Dongmei about the situation, she had advised him to keep the information to a close circle for the time being. She had been the one who suggested that spreading the information around prematurely could cause more harm than good.


    ¡°How so?¡± he¡¯d asked.


    ¡°The prospect of a war is rightly terrifying to people. But, when you know the enemy and where they¡¯ll come from, it can be a rallying point. Right now, all we know is that the enemy will come from the wilds, which is the same thing as saying the enemy could come from anywhere. The longer that goes on, the more rumors will spread, and panic will follow the rumors. When people don¡¯t have information, they¡¯ll invent it. Let¡¯s say that people get it into their heads that the spirit beasts will come from the north, panicked farmers and villagers will flee south. The towns and cities there will be overwhelmed. That kind of chaos can only serve the spirit beasts¡¯ ends.¡±


    Sen had wanted to have a bit more faith in people, but he had been assured by Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, Uncle Kho, Jing, and leaders of every sect he¡¯d spoken with that Lai Dongmei had the right of it. In most cases, that certainty had stemmed from actually having seen it happen in the past, not once, but repeatedly. So, his own misgivings aside, he had kept the information largely to himself. Even so, he didn¡¯t want things at the academy or in town falling to pieces the first time that spirit beasts showed up looking for a bit of easy slaughter. He had quietly but firmly instituted several plans designed to strengthen the defenses around and inside the town and academy.


    Much of that work had been masked as projects for some of the foundation formation and core cultivators. He¡¯d worked with Uncle Kho to develop a variety of defensive formations, then broken them down into pieces that the students could erect. He¡¯d cast working on the town walls as a kind of low-grade punishment. Those walls had been raised and reinforced over and over again. He¡¯d personally started adding layers of formations to them. The work was progressing, probably faster than he had any right to expect, but it wasn¡¯t fast. Solid formation work took time and knowledge. Reinforcing walls took time and energy. And all of it had to be assigned in plausible ways. While Sen could acknowledge the probable need for secrecy, it also put a hard limit on how much could be done at any given time.


    Beyond that, installing those defenses had to be carried out around the rest of the work that everyone needed to do. Most cultivators needed blocks of time every single day to simply cultivate. Sen had broached the subject of teaching everyone the passive cultivation technique that he had learned from Master Feng. The elder cultivator had been immovable on the subject.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Wars come and go, Sen, but cultivators live a very long time. Once a technique gets out there, you can¡¯t ever take it back. I can think of at least twenty cultivators that I would never, ever, want to learn that technique.¡±


    While the answer annoyed him, it put him in mind of the conversation he¡¯d had with that coward of a patriarch who ran the Clear Spring Sect. They had talked about many things, but one of the things that stuck with him was that there were people who shouldn¡¯t be helped to advance. That passive cultivation technique would make advancing faster a real possibility for a lot of cultivators. It wouldn¡¯t be anything on the level of what Sen himself did, but it could reasonably shave decades off of the amount of time that a cultivator normally spent between advancements. Sen didn¡¯t need to think very hard about it to come up with his own list of people he wouldn¡¯t want to see advance faster.


    Nor did he feel even close to confident enough about the people in his sect to feel like they could all be trusted. Too many of them had come from other sects, and he found their reassurances that they had cut ties to be anything but reassuring. He had no intention of feeding secrets to people who might turn around and give them to their old sects. A fact that he¡¯d made no secret about to every single ex-sect member who had tried to join his sect. More than a dozen had simply left immediately when he told them straight out that he wasn¡¯t going to teach them anything they couldn¡¯t learn somewhere else. He was keeping a close eye on another half a dozen who hadn¡¯t hidden their emotions well enough. He¡¯d even taken it as far as not allowing anyone to leave the room with a pill or elixir he¡¯d made. They either had to take it in front of him or leave it with him until they were ready to take it. That had caused three people to disappear from one day to the next.


    Always needing to pay attention to what he shared with who was mentally taxing, which also didn¡¯t help with the preparations. The constant analysis and always needing to remember who knew what had largely resulted in him not sharing anything with anyone that he didn¡¯t consider public knowledge. Sen had to forcefully pull himself out of that quagmire of thoughts and focus on Master Feng.


    ¡°Slower than I¡¯d like,¡± said Sen. ¡°Training cultivators is a slow business no matter how you look at it. Having people come in who are already foundation formation and core formation helps, but it doesn¡¯t really advance the qi-condensing cultivators any faster. And needing to do everything in pieces slows everything down as well. I know why we have to do it that way, but I hate the delays.¡±


    ¡°Trust me. You¡¯ll hate it more when the need for secrecy is gone.¡±


    ¡°I expect you¡¯re right about that.¡±


    ¡°You still haven¡¯t decided what to do about the half-step mortals?¡± asked Master Feng.


    Sen groaned. That was something that Master Feng had pointed out to him nearly a year before. There were some mortals in the academy who were teetering right on the edge of becoming qi-condensing cultivators. It would take nothing at all to nudge them over that line. Sen just wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted to do that. He worried that he¡¯d be dangling the prospect of cultivation in front of them while knowing full well that they¡¯d likely just end up as victims in the coming war. It felt like tricking them, and he¡¯d been so ambivalent about it that he kept pushing the decision off.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t. Or, I don¡¯t want to, which amounts to the same thing, I guess. I take it you think I should.¡±


    ¡°I think that it¡¯s going to be one of those decisions that haunts you either way. If you do help them become cultivators, there¡¯s a good chance that a lot of them will die. On the other hand, if you don¡¯t help them become cultivators, there¡¯s a good chance that a lot of them will die in some other way. It¡¯s not the kind of decision with an easy right answer. If you¡¯re asking if I¡¯d do it, the answer is probably yes.¡±


    Sen grunted to show that he¡¯d at least heard the other man¡¯s words. He didn¡¯t think that he had any business making these kinds of decisions, but he supposed he¡¯d given up that excuse when he¡¯d decided to start a sect in truth. As the patriarch, the ultimate responsibility was always his. While he didn¡¯t think anyone would blame him for not wanting more blood on his hands, not making the decision wasn¡¯t a solution. He needed to make a choice about those half-step mortals and find a way to live with it.


    ¡°Do you think we can win this?¡± Sen asked, eager to change the subject. ¡°I mean, I have no idea how many spirit beasts there are on this continent. Are we preparing for a war where we¡¯ll simply be swallowed up by sheer numbers?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s always a chance at victory. And spirit beasts aren¡¯t like human beings. They may well develop some tactics to use against us, but not every single spirit beast is going to be thinking at a human level. Many of them are simply going to be driven in a direction and hurled against us. That doesn¡¯t make them easy to deal with, but it does make them easier to deal with. We can lean on superior tactics and some reinforced mortal construction to help level the field. We¡¯ll also be able to use their animal natures against them. In the end, though, I think it¡¯s going to depend on how well and how quickly we can organize and coordinate our efforts.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s going to be ugly, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±

 V9 Chapter 9 – The Cold Blade

    Long Jia Wei stood in the shadow of a tree. He did his best to suppress a shudder as he watched Lord Lu and Fate¡¯s Razor discussing something. Like many others, he¡¯d believed that Fate¡¯s Razor was a myth made from whole cloth or some ancient cultivator who had ascended long since. Meeting the man, however brief it had been, was one of those experiences that had seared itself into his memory. As frightening as Lord Lu could be, he was eclipsed by the older cultivator. To Long Jia Wei¡¯s senses and intuition, Feng Ming was power incarnate. Not the kind of power that normal cultivators wielded. He was more like a force of nature. He was wind or the tides or some other incomprehensibly vast thing that could and would swallow the unwary in its passage.


    He sighed a little in relief as the two men walked away to continue their discussion in private. Based on their expressions, they were discussing the coming war. He supposed that everyone with real power was privately discussing the war all of the time. If they weren¡¯t, they were fools. He was not one of those people, but he was adjacent to some of them. He¡¯d pieced some of it together from snippets of conversation he¡¯d heard before Lord Lu had simply told him outright what was coming and then sworn him to secrecy. Long Jia Wei had been a little surprised that he¡¯d been informed, but not the way he might have been a year earlier. He¡¯d been making a genuine and ongoing effort to prove himself useful to Lu Sen. There were many reasons for that effort.


    Some of it was simple gratitude. Judgment¡¯s Gale could have killed him at any moment and had chosen not to end him. While an assassin had to accept the possibility of death, it didn¡¯t make him any less happy to be alive. He also never let himself forget the conversation in which the insanely powerful young man said he was giving Long Jia Wei room to prove himself untrustworthy. Over the last year, fear and gratitude had largely morphed into a deep respect for Lu Sen. Long Jia Wei wouldn¡¯t say that he understood the man, but he had come to understand some of what drove the other cultivator. The man had an abiding sympathy for mortals. Few things would rouse his master to rage and violence like the senseless death and injury of mortals.


    It was a sympathy that Long Jia Wei shared. He¡¯d spent more time moving among mortals than most cultivators. He¡¯d passed himself off as a mortal more than once to achieve his missions. He saw exactly how they were treated. He also saw how they behaved with each other when not stifled by a cultivator¡¯s presence. There were only two real differences between them and cultivators. Power and experience. Cultivators had more power. Mortals, ironically, often seemed to have more experience. They seemed to learn more and get more from everything that happened to them. He believed it was because their lives were so much shorter. They examined their lives more deeply, and drew more meaning from them, precisely because their lives were so brief. It was easy to ignore lessons when you knew you had centuries before you.


    Of course, one of the most powerful things that drove Judgment¡¯s Gale was embodied in the tiny, laughing figure that was playing with the Xie children. Long Jia Wei had come to check on her, as he did several times every day. Nor was he alone in that activity. That little girl, Ai, was Lord Lu¡¯s chosen family, and the man took family as a deadly serious matter. A fact that was not lost on anyone who wished to remain in his good graces. There might be better-protected children somewhere on the continent, but Long Jia Wei would have wagered a small fortune that he could count them on one hand. At any given time, there were mortals, cultivators, and frequently nascent soul demigods within sight of that child who would unhesitatingly cut down anything suicidal enough to threaten her.


    He didn¡¯t know exactly what kind of world-ending event would follow if anyone managed to hurt that little girl. He only knew that he wanted to be dead, having done his best to defend her, before that event occurred. Because Long Jia Wei had no desire to watch the entire world burn as Judgment¡¯s Gale took his revenge. It was one reason why he wished that Ai had not chosen to befriend the Xie children. Most of them were fine, but some of them had that look in their eye. They remembered what they¡¯d had, what they¡¯d lost, and they didn¡¯t intend to let it go unanswered. He¡¯d had that look in his own eyes long ago, and he¡¯d gotten his vengeance on the edge of a dagger. He frowned but decided that it probably wasn¡¯t a problem he needed to address today. In a few more years, though, he worried that some of those Xie children might need to vanish. He was not looking forward to that day. Lord Lu would never ask him to do something like that, but some threats couldn¡¯t be tolerated.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Glancing around, he saw plenty of defenders loitering in varying degrees of conspicuousness. Not that Ai understood what they were doing. She mostly seemed to see them as her ¡°big¡± friends, which he supposed wasn¡¯t that far from the truth. Even he¡¯d been charmed by the little girl and gotten himself dragged into some of her games when she decided she needed another body involved. Still, she was adequately protected at the moment, which meant he could get on with his next unpleasant task. He slipped away from the open area where the children usually played and made his way into one of the buildings where the cultivators lived. He personally thought Lord Lu was providing them with more luxury than was appropriate, but his former sect had been rather short on luxury and long on discipline.


    He got more than a few uncertain looks as he moved through the building. He had no official role in the sect. There was no office where he could be found. It was how he liked it, and Lord Lu had been content to leave his situation vague. The only thing that people really knew was that he only answered to Judgment¡¯s Gale. That uncertainty had given rise to all kinds of entertaining rumors that he had made no effort to squash. He¡¯d also picked up an unofficial title in the sect. The Cold Blade. It sounded utterly melodramatic to Long Jia Wei, but he supposed it spoke to the uncertainty and fear that surrounded him. Both things that he actively encouraged. He wanted people nervous about him because that could solve a lot of problems before they started. It wasn¡¯t anything like the fear that Lu Sen inspired, fortunately. That kind of fear was more of a hindrance than a help in that it started as many fights as it stopped.


    He drew to a stop in front of a particular door. He weighed the advantages and disadvantages of knocking before he simply opened the door and walked in. The person he was there to see was sitting at the stone table that every room had. There was even a scroll open on the table, but neither the man he¡¯d come to see nor the woman who was also in the room was paying any attention to the scroll. Long Jia Wei fixed his gaze on the woman.


    ¡°Leave,¡± he ordered.


    She looked startled, initially, and then like she was about to burst into an angry protest. He watched as that impulse faded. She¡¯d figured out who he was. Her eyes went from his face to the daggers he always carried before they moved to the man. She stood and left the room without looking back. The man watched her go with a stricken look on his face that turned fearful when his gaze turned to Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± demanded the man.


    Long Jia Wei ignored the question and walked over to the table. He scooped up the scroll and glanced at it. Oh, the irony, thought Long Jia Wei. It was a treatise on honorable behavior, one of a very, very few that Lord Lu believed contained something on the subject worth reading. He dropped the scroll back on the table before he looked at the man.


    ¡°It¡¯s time for you to leave,¡± said Long Jia Wei.


    ¡°This is preposterous!¡± the man shouted. ¡°I demand to¡ª¡±


    Long Jia Wei summoned a pile of correspondence the man had tried to send to his supposedly former sect that had been intercepted. They fell from the storage ring and spilled onto the table like an expanding pool of damning water. They were all open, which meant that Long Jia Wei knew what they contained. They were essentially lists and descriptions of everyone at the sect, including best-guess assessments of their strengths and weaknesses. The man stared at the pile with his mouth still open and fear in his eyes. He didn¡¯t look away from the pile until he felt the edge of the blade against his throat.


    ¡°You should be very grateful that Lord Lu is a kind man. He¡¯s simply sending you away. I would have sent you home one piece at a time, starting with your lying tongue. Be on the road in five minutes. Do not ever return.¡±


    Long Jia Wei pulled the dagger away from the man¡¯s throat and pointed at the door with it. The man rose and walked out, trying to put on a proud air as though he¡¯d accomplished something grand and worthy. Shaking his head, Long Jia Wei put the evidence back into his storage ring. He followed the man out of the building and watched him disappear down the road. He made a show of walking into a building that he almost immediately slipped out of again. He trailed the spy for hours. The man eventually made camp for the night. After being spotted so easily during that disastrous attempt on Lu Sen¡¯s life a year ago, Long Jia Wei had put a lot of effort into improving his stealth. The man didn¡¯t so much as flinch until the dagger plunged through his back and into his heart. The other dagger opened the man¡¯s throat. The damage was enough that it would kill the man, given a little time, but Long Jia Wei wasn¡¯t in the habit of taking stupid chances. He kicked the man in the head. Hard. It was very difficult to put together a qi technique after a blow like that.


    ¡°I imagine you¡¯re wondering why,¡± said Long Jia Wei as he stared down at the dying man with cold, cold eyes. ¡°Lord Lu is a kind man. I am not.¡±

 V9 Chapter 10 – An Unfortunate Parting

    Sen watched Wu Meng Yao conduct the class from the concealment of a shadow. He¡¯d rarely done more than take quick glimpses of her teaching, mostly because he trusted that she didn¡¯t need the supervision. Unlike two other instructors he¡¯d only decided to let stay on a whim. They¡¯d both pled their cases well enough and seemed to have settled their differences. Or, at the very least, they¡¯d learned not to share their animosity publicly, which he decided was good enough.  She¡¯d only gotten better since the last time he¡¯d stayed and watched. He expected some of it was raw experience. She wasn¡¯t as nervous, so she wasn¡¯t thinking so hard about every last thing that came out of her mouth. She also knew now where and when to focus her attention. It figures, thought Sen. But I always knew this day was coming.


    He waited until the last of the students filed out before he revealed himself. He¡¯d learned the hard way that his presence was just about the single most disruptive thing that could happen in one of these classes short of what an actual attack on the academy might provoke. He was hiding, so it took her a few moments to notice him standing there. She let out a startled little shriek. Sen wanted to feel bad about the minor fright, except the look on her face was so funny that he couldn¡¯t quite manage it. He must not have hidden his thoughts quite well enough because she narrowed her eyes at him.


    ¡°Not funny,¡± she said. ¡°How long have you been there anyway?¡±


    ¡°Since the class started,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°What? Seriously?¡±


    ¡°How is this kind of thing still a surprise to you?¡± asked Sen, honestly perplexed.


    ¡°It¡¯s unnatural, for one. No one as powerful as you should be able to go unnoticed like that. Most can¡¯t. That¡¯s just such an unfair advantage.¡±


    ¡°Yes, well, I am magnificent.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m one hundred percent sure that wasn¡¯t the thing you should have taken from those comments. With all due respect to the Patriarch.¡±


    Sen sighed. She¡¯s never going to let that go, he thought.


    ¡°And, yet, here we are.¡±


    He noticed her eyeing him in an odd way.


    ¡°What?¡± he asked.


    She hemmed and hawed for a little while before she finally said, ¡°You didn¡¯t used to be quite that, well, pale.¡±


    ¡°I know. I keep hoping it¡¯s going to be temporary.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡± she asked, before hurriedly adding, ¡°I mean, if it¡¯s not too personal. I didn¡¯t mean to¡ª¡±


    ¡°Breathe,¡± commanded Sen. ¡°It¡¯s just a side effect of my last advancement. I¡¯m honestly not sure what caused it.¡±


    She frowned and studied him a little harder.


    ¡°You¡¯re not nascent soul, yet. I don¡¯t think.¡±


    ¡°Body cultivation.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right,¡± she said, shaking her head. ¡°It¡¯s easy to forget that you¡¯re a dual cultivator.¡±


    The conversation was swiftly heading down a path Sen didn¡¯t particularly want to go. He trusted Wu Meng Yao but only to an extent. She was merely visiting and would return to her sect, a sect that didn¡¯t hold much love for him. He wasn¡¯t eager to share too many details about his cultivation with them.


    ¡°I¡¯m given to understand that you intend to leave soon,¡± said Sen, very obviously changing the subject.


    Wu Meng Yao¡¯s face went pensive. He hadn¡¯t been subtle. Changing the subject was a very clear statement that she wasn¡¯t to be given certain kinds of information. A reluctant acceptance replaced her serious expression. Of course, that pensiveness might have been from something else. The timing of her departure was a little too coincidental for Sen¡¯s taste. He suspected that she either knew what was coming, suspected it from things she¡¯d overheard, or had been told by her own sect. Of course, that might just have been a rumor until she nodded her head.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, seeming to choose her words with care. ¡°You have more than enough people here to teach now. People who are better than me.¡±


    Sen waggled a hand in the air and said, ¡°Better is subjective. More powerful? Sure? More experienced? Maybe. Better teachers? Not really.¡±


    She seemed a bit embarrassed by the praise. At least, he hoped it was the praise. It had been a while since they were in the same room together. His ridiculous paleness hadn¡¯t seemed to lessen the attention he got, when he noticed it was happening at all.


    ¡°I appreciate the kind words, Patriarch,¡± she said after an awkward pause.


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± said Sen. ¡°So, when will you leave?¡±


    ¡°A week. Maybe two. Transitioning the students to a new teacher may take some doing. Why?¡±


    Sen hesitated before he asked, ¡°How much do you know about what¡¯s happening? In the world, I mean.¡±


    Wu Meng Yao frowned before she started to chew her bottom lip.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know anything for sure. I¡¯ve made some educated guesses based on what I¡¯ve seen here and heard. Some kind of conflict is brewing, but no one is talking about it openly.¡±


    ¡°There are very good reasons behind them not talking openly about it,¡± said Sen. ¡°In accordance with that, I¡¯m going to ask you to do something. I¡¯m also going to ask you not to ask me a lot of questions about it.¡±


    She narrowed her eyes at him again. She obviously didn¡¯t like the idea of doing something without having all the information. He could appreciate that, but he was still going to insist that she do it mostly blind.


    ¡°What?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I want you to deliver something to Elder Deng,¡± said Sen.


    He summoned a sealed box from his storage ring and held it out to her. She stared at the box with clear suspicion. She did not move to take it.


    ¡°What¡¯s in it?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Something useful, I hope,¡± said Sen. ¡°Something we¡¯ll all need, assuming it works.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not an answer.¡±


    ¡°It is an answer,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯s just not a particularly informative one.¡±


    ¡°Given your history with my sect, how am I supposed to know that box doesn¡¯t contain some kind of alchemical weapon designed to kill everyone there?¡±


    ¡°Do I really seem that petty to you?¡±


    ¡°Did you or did you not destroy a great noble house? After which, didn¡¯t you bring all of their children here to act as hostages to keep the parents in line?¡±


    Sen took a beat to consider those questions.


    ¡°I believe that¡¯s all more or less accurate.¡±


    ¡°And, as I understand it, you¡¯re actively preventing those children from learning how to use weapons or become cultivators. Is that also true?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Then, I believe I can safely say that you do seem that petty,¡± said Wu Meng Yao.


    Sen just stared at her for about five seconds. That had been a cheap shot, and he didn¡¯t understand where it had come from. He didn¡¯t believe for a moment that Wu Meng Yao was that na?ve. What he¡¯d done with the Xie family was not ideal by any measure, but there hadn¡¯t been an ideal solution. That was a long way from sending a weapon to a sect that he¡¯d had practically zero contact with in years. There was bad history there, but not bad enough to justify doing something like that. He supposed that this was some kind of test. It wasn¡¯t clear if it had come directly from her or if she was acting on the orders of her sect. And he didn¡¯t care. There was far too much going on for him to entertain this kind of stupidity even from old friends. He simply nodded and returned the box to his storage ring.


    ¡°You can leave now,¡± he said, summoning a pouch with some money in it and dropping it on the floor. ¡°That should cover the last of your wages. We¡¯ll manage with the classes. I still have business with Shen Mingxia, but I¡¯ll see to it that she¡¯s returned safely to your sect.¡±


    Wu Meng Yao looked panicked. He didn¡¯t know what she¡¯d thought his response to that was going to be, but banishing her from his sect clearly hadn¡¯t occurred to her. Maybe she really did think he was untrustworthy, petty, and dangerous to her sect. If that was the case, though, then she truly didn¡¯t know or understand him at all. If that test had come from her sect, he¡¯d only ever been one excuse away from dismissing them entirely from his world. He was almost certain that some elder at the Soaring Skies Sect had ordered her to do something like this. It was too out of character for her to be that stupid and confrontational. So, now he had his excuse.


    ¡°Wait¡ª¡± said Wu Meng Yao.


    ¡°There is going to come a time, soon, when your sect is going to ask why I have no use for them, and why they have been excluded. Tell them that this stupid little game is why.¡±


    Sen strode past the other cultivator, who kept trying in vain to make him wait, to make him listen, to provide excuses. He paused when he reached the door. As angry as the ill-conceived test had made him, he had always liked Wu Meng Yao. He¡¯d prefer it if she didn¡¯t die because some moron ordered her to do something so utterly asinine.


    ¡°You should find a new sect. You should tell Elder Deng that I advise him to do the same.¡±


    Real fear crossed Wu Meng Yao¡¯s face at those words.


    ¡°You¡¯re not¡­ You¡¯re not going to destroy them, are you?¡±


    Sen met her fear with a cool, distant expression.


    ¡°I won¡¯t need to.¡±

 V9 Chapter 11 – Readiness

    ¡°We aren¡¯t going to be ready,¡± said Sen.


    He¡¯d felt Falling Leaf approaching, although he wouldn¡¯t have needed any particular skill to know it was her. He could count on one hand the number of people who could even consider coming out into the wilds to find him. The number of people who would was even smaller.


    ¡°Is this because you sent the sect girl away?¡± asked Falling Leaf as she stepped around the massive tree Sen was leaning against.


    There had been a predatory presence in the tree above him for a while. Sen had been waiting to see if it would decide to attack him or not, although it was entertaining to feel it flee after Falling Leaf joined him. I guess that was too much concentrated danger for it, he thought before turning his attention to the ghost panther¡¯s question.


    ¡°Not exactly,¡± said Sen. ¡°She did something stupid, almost certainly on orders from someone in her sect. While she didn¡¯t know that a war was coming, not specifically, I¡¯d be willing to bet the leadership in her sect does know it. Yet, they¡¯re still playing games. Trying to figure me out instead of focusing on the enemy. If they¡¯re still this easily distracted with the threats looming over us all, we¡¯re in a lot of trouble.¡±


    Falling Leaf peered at Sen before she turned and leaned against the tree trunk next to him. She let him brood for a few more minutes before she spoke again.


    ¡°Do you think it is your responsibility to protect them all?¡±


    Sen gave her a sharp look.


    ¡°All of the humans, you mean?¡±


    Falling Leaf nodded. Sen leaned his head back against the tree and considered that for quite a while. He didn¡¯t know how to answer the question. On the surface, he wanted to say no. He wanted to protect what was his. The problem that Master Feng had at least obliquely tried to point out to him was that protecting the people he loved might require protecting everyone. Separating one from the other might not be possible. While Sen trusted in his own strength, and the strength of those around him, there were limits to everything. If the rest of humanity fell, the town and academy could probably hold out for a while, but it would prove a temporary reprieve. Even nascent soul cultivators needed rest sometimes.


    Beyond that, time would eventually do in the mortals. There simply weren¡¯t enough people in the town to keep humanity going. At least, Sen didn¡¯t think so. He¡¯d have to talk to Auntie Caihong to be sure, but he thought his intuition was right about that. They could not survive as an island, no matter how desperately Sen wished that they could. In the end, they would have to work with others. Worse, they would have to trust others to do their parts, and Sen had run exceedingly short on trust in the last ten years. He¡¯d read a phrase in one of Uncle Kho¡¯s many history scrolls that hadn¡¯t made much sense to him at the time. War breeds peculiar marriages. He thought he understood it better now. He could almost see the compromises he¡¯d be forced to make if he chose to involve himself, and he didn¡¯t see how he could avoid involving himself if he was going to protect what was his.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe it¡¯s solely my responsibility to protect them,¡± Sen finally said. ¡°I don¡¯t think any one man could, not even Master Feng. At the same time, I¡¯m absurdly strong for my level of advancement. Probably as strong as most early nascent soul cultivators. I¡¯d be an asset in any fight. I¡¯m also close to people who will be crucial in keeping humanity alive. You know Master Feng will get involved. I¡¯d be shocked if Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho didn¡¯t get involved. Jing can¡¯t help but play a key role. I can¡¯t hole up here in my academy and do nothing while they go off and fight.¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    ¡°What of the madwoman?¡± asked Falling Leaf, a kind of grim humor in her eyes.


    ¡°I think we should all pray that she doesn¡¯t get involved. I can¡¯t see anything good coming from that.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re probably right. Then again, spirit beast wars are madness. If human war is like that, it might be the only place she can belong.¡±


    Sen fell silent at those words. She might be right. A part of him worried that she was right. The idea brought him no comfort.


    ¡°Perhaps,¡± he said. ¡°I think that might be a terrible and sad thing for her, though.¡±


    Sen looked at Falling Leaf. Her green eyes were fixed on something in the distance. She looked calm, far calmer than he felt. He¡¯d avoided thinking too much about what role, if any, she might play in the upcoming war. He doubted that she would see it as any particular loss if humanity was wiped away. She¡¯d always been more spirit beast than human. Of course, she wasn¡¯t especially sympathetic to the spirit beast cause either. They had not treated her people well. If there was anyone who deserved to sit this war out, it was her.


    ¡°I don¡¯t expect you to fight,¡± he said. ¡°In fact, I don¡¯t think you should fight. You don¡¯t owe humanity anything. That¡¯s for certain.¡±


    ¡°You always say such foolish things. Of course, I don¡¯t owe humanity anything. I don¡¯t care about humanity. But they will come for you. No, they will target you. If they are truly stupid, they will target your kit.¡±


    She¡¯d given voice to the nightmare that had haunted him for the last year. He wasn¡¯t worried about himself. He could take care of himself. The image he¡¯d never been able to get free of was of one of the damn bear-cat spirit beasts stalking and killing Ai while he was off fighting somewhere else. On one level, he recognized that the chances of anything ever getting that close to her were low. There were too many people far too invested in her safety for that. On the other hand, fear didn¡¯t care very much about what was reasonable.


    ¡°Do you really think I¡¯d let them take my human boy from me? Do you imagine I¡¯d let them take Ai from you?¡± she asked before her face went stony. ¡°And I owe them all a debt of blood. I will fight.¡±


    That startled Sen. Falling Leaf had always been very in the now, focused on surviving the day, and seemed largely unconcerned about the past. Maybe that was just a way to protect her sanity, he thought. When it was just her, there had been very little she could do about what had happened to her people. She could have run off and started killing other spirit beasts, but the chances of getting at those who had decided to hunt the ghost panthers to near extinction were poor at best. In a full-blown war with humanity, though, those spirit beasts would inevitably be exposed and vulnerable, at least some of the time. It was an opportunity for vengeance she might not otherwise get. That desire for revenge could be a good motivator, but it could also make for really terrible decisions. Not that he¡¯d try to stop her. Even if he thought he could, which he didn¡¯t, she had the right to avenge her people if that¡¯s what she wanted.


    ¡°If that¡¯s what you want,¡± he said.


    ¡°It is. You won¡¯t try to stop me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll want to,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°I¡¯ll hate every second that you¡¯re in danger. But¡­ No, I won¡¯t try to stop you. Even if I¡¯m starting to think that we might be doomed already.¡±


    ¡°Forget the sect girl and her masters. Even if they have decided to be stupid, I have not.¡±


    Sen lifted an eyebrow. That was a peculiar thing for her to say.


    ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    ¡°It means that I have taken action. Come with me. There is someone you should meet.¡±


    Sen was flabbergasted. Had Falling Leaf made a friend? He knew it was possible. She¡¯d befriended him. She hadn¡¯t mentioned anyone, though. A flash of jealousy coursed through him before he squashed it. Wasn¡¯t that what he¡¯d always hoped for? That she would make connections that went beyond him. Of course, all of that thinking died the moment that she activated a qinggong technique and started moving deeper into the wilds. The only things out there were more spirit beasts. Sen wasn¡¯t sure he liked where all of this was headed, but Falling Leaf had earned unquestioning trust from him long ago. If she said he needed to meet someone, then he believed her. He activated his own qinggong technique and raced after the ghost panther.

 V9 Chapter 12 – Dubious Alliance

    As the pair traveled deeper and deeper into the wilds, Sen had a dawning realization. All those times that Falling Leaf had disappeared into the wilds, she hadn¡¯t just been avoiding humans or hunting. He was sure those had been the reasons some of the time, but she had clearly been executing some strategy of her own. Part of him shuddered at the thought of her out here, alone, looking like a human in what could only be described as hostile territory. That thought made Sen pause mentally. The wilds had always been hostile territory, even before he knew there was some kind of spirit beast ruler planning a war. However, the danger stemmed from the difference in advancement between the person, or transformed ghost panther, and the spirit beasts.


    While Falling Leaf had lost some ground relative to Sen, her advancement had been substantial since leaving the mountain. Spirit beasts didn¡¯t progress in stages the way that cultivators did, which made assessing her exact strength tricky. Still, he¡¯d put her approximate strength somewhere in the upper-middle range of core formation. Spirit beasts also enjoyed strength, speed, and durability gains as they advanced. It wasn¡¯t an improvement on the same level as body cultivation but dwarfed the physical benefits that pure spirit cultivators got from advancing. In short, Sen realized that he¡¯d been drastically underestimating Falling Leaf¡¯s power.


    It was only in contrast to someone like him, or the nascent soul cultivators that seemed to flock around him, that Falling Leaf looked underpowered. There were spirit beasts deeper into the wilds that could pose legitimate threats to her, like that dragon they¡¯d met, but probably not very many. This close to the road and human civilization, she probably was the peak predator in the area when she could be bothered with it. The sick feeling that had seized Sen at the thought of her traveling by herself in these untamed places loosened its grip. He didn¡¯t feel entirely better. There was always the possibility of ambushes or being overwhelmed by numbers, but he could at least push away the fear that some random beast she couldn¡¯t handle was going to pounce on her in an unwary moment.


    Falling Leaf finally drew to a halt, having led Sen to a secluded little spot with a sizeable cave entrance in the side of a rocky hill that was almost large enough to qualify as a cliff. Sen observed the opening in the rock for several seconds before he turned a questioning eye to the ghost panther. If they were going in, he wanted to get on with it. If they were waiting for something, he wanted to know what it was. Instead of answering, she just held up a hand to indicate that he should be patient. Sen sighed. Patience wasn¡¯t always his strongest suit. It was easy enough to be patient when he was doing alchemy or working on formations because waiting between steps was part of the process. He thought of those moments or hours as productive patience. He wasn¡¯t just waiting. He was waiting with intention. Doing nothing while he hoped that something might eventually happen did not feel productive to him.


    He resisted the urge to extend his spiritual sense. He¡¯d been masking his presence this entire time to avoid drawing too much attention to himself. He wasn¡¯t quite hiding, because he didn¡¯t want to blind himself that much in this environment. Anyone who sensed him would likely mistake him for little more than a peak foundation formation cultivator. It was a technique he didn¡¯t use that often because it invited trouble from sect cultivators looking to be fools, and he preferred not to have every journey he took turn into a bloodbath. Unfortunately, extending his spiritual sense would require dropping the masking technique and revealing his true strength. Better to save that in case something unfortunate happens, thought Sen. So, he did his best to marshal his patience and waited.


    A few minutes later, he saw movement in the cave. At first, it was just a vaguely human shape in the darkness, but it slowly resolved itself into something decidedly inhuman. It vaguely reminded him of Boulder¡¯s Shadow, the only other ghost panther Sen knew was alive. It was a big creature that seemed caught somewhere between a true spirit beast and a full-blown human transformation like Falling Leaf. Where Boulder¡¯s Shadow had a feline quality, this creature was lupine. It still had some of the elongated snout and the sharp ears. As it drew closer, Sen saw that white fur covered every inch of the creature, or almost every inch. It wore a loose loincloth. Sen briefly wondered why but was mostly just grateful to be spared the sight of the creature¡¯s manhood. He assumed it was male at any rate. It had the heavier build that Sen associated with men. When it stepped out of the cave, it gave a respectful nod to Falling Leaf. Then it turned yellow eyes on Sen.


    ¡°Falling Leaf, why have you brought this weak creature before me?¡±


    Sen saw the corners of Falling Leaf¡¯s lips twitch as she suppressed a smile. Oh, thought Sen. She did this on purpose. She could have let me in on the plan, whatever the plan is. Before the ghost panther could answer, Sen felt a swell of qi from the wolf spirit beast. It didn¡¯t coalesce into a traditional qi attack but rather took the form of something akin to Sen¡¯s own auric imposition. The aura descended on Sen, trying to hammer him to the ground, or maybe find purchase in some nonexistent crack in his defenses. He honestly wasn¡¯t sure what the wolf meant to accomplish, and it didn¡¯t matter in the end. The technique crashed into Sen and shattered like glass. The wolf staggered and turned an expression on him that Sen interpreted as a stunned. He wasn¡¯t sure, though. Reading these partially transformed spirit beasts was more like guessing than knowing.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ¡°Wind of Winter,¡± said Falling Leaf with a look of smug satisfaction on her face, ¡°this is Lu Sen. Also known as¡ª¡±


    ¡°The Blue Demon!¡± shouted the wolf.


    ¡°Really?¡± asked Sen as turned to look at Falling Leaf. ¡°Did you tell him to call me that?¡±


    The ghost panther smiled, clearly amused, but also shook her head.


    ¡°It¡¯s no doing of mine,¡± she said. ¡°Your reputation grows by the day.¡±


    ¡°Of all the names, though? That one? I miss the times when everyone called me Judgment¡¯s Gale. That was just annoying. The Blue Demon sounds like something that intends to be insulting.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps you should be less frightening,¡± offered Falling Leaf.


    The ghost panther appeared more entertained by the second, while the wolf looked like he just wanted to run away and hide.


    ¡°That wasn¡¯t helpful,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t meant to be,¡± answered Falling Leaf.


    ¡°I knew I let you spend too much time with Laughing River.¡±


    ¡°Any time with him is too much time,¡± said the ghost panther.


    Sen was generally of the same opinion, so he turned his attention back to the wolf. The formerly overbearing spirit beast shrank back a little from Sen¡¯s focused attention.


    ¡°I assume you¡¯re having us meet for more than your own amusement,¡± Sen said to Falling Leaf without looking away from the wolf.


    ¡°I am,¡± said the ghost panther. ¡°Not every spirit beast is interested in joining the self-proclaimed Beast King. Much like my people, the ice wolves declined to submit. The results were similar.¡±


    Winds of Winter shook his head.


    ¡°No. My people survived. Far, far in the north, there are still packs. They are small, well-hidden, but enough to rebuild someday,¡± he said before his voice descended into a more animalistic growl. ¡°Yet, we crave vengeance as you do. Our leaders were killed. Packs fell by the score. The snows ran red with our blood. We would visit the same kindnesses on those who perpetrated these horrors.¡±


    Sen felt his eyebrows draw together. He still wasn¡¯t sure what this was all about. He didn¡¯t think that the idea was for some spirit beasts to fight alongside them. It was a truly terrible notion. There was too high a likelihood of some kind of ¡°accident¡± happening in which the nominally friendly spirit beasts were killed by overeager cultivators. If not that, though, then what?


    ¡°If you¡¯re interested in killing other spirit beasts who follow the Beast King, I¡¯m all for that,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯m just not sure why we¡¯re meeting. You don¡¯t need my help for that.¡±


    ¡°There are many spirit beasts who found their races all but wiped from existence. They are angry, yearning for vengeance, but relatively few in number,¡± explained Falling Leaf. ¡°They cannot hope to defeat the Beast King. Not alone. What they can do is travel in the wilds with far greater freedom than any human or cultivator.¡±


    Sen finally understood.


    ¡°Spies,¡± said Sen. ¡°They can provide us with information. Warn us about where spirit beast attacks are likely to happen. They help themselves by helping us weaken the Beast King and his horde.¡±


    Falling Leaf nodded, seeming happy that Sen understood. It sounded great, on the surface at least, but there were a lot of potential problems. The biggest problem was the issue of trust. Feeding bad information to Sen, other cultivators, or the mortal human forces would be a ridiculously easy way to ensure that strength was concentrated somewhere other than the intended target. While this particular wolf might have a legitimate grudge, it was clear that he was just representing some kind of group. A group that might or might not have similar goals to Sen. A group he sincerely doubted had any intention of ever putting themselves in a position where he could reach them personally. A group that would also likely balk at being asked to make vows to the heavens to assure Sen of their good intentions.


    On the other hand, there were very few cultivators who could safely navigate the deep wilds. Those with the necessary strength or stealth were few and far between. Beyond that, any human in the deep wilds would have to go completely unobserved. At the very first sighting, they would be hunted relentlessly if they got anywhere near the Beast King¡¯s forces. Spirit beasts, even ones from largely extinct races, would draw less suspicion if they were seen. It wouldn¡¯t be hazard-free by any stretch of the imagination. If the Beast King¡¯s mind worked at all, he would have to realize that the survivors of any of his purges, and who knew how many of those had happened, would likely be looking for any way to strike back at him. If he was smart, he¡¯d have left standing orders to kill any of those races that were found.


    Oddly, that did alleviate some of Sen¡¯s trust concerns. It was possible that there might be some turncoats in the mix, but probably fewer than Sen feared. Ultimately, he¡¯d have to treat the information he got from the spirit beasts with the same suspicion that he treated information from any questionably reliable source. But even dubious information would be better than the complete lack of information he had available now. Questionable information could be, in theory, verified. He looked back and forth between Falling Leaf and Winds of Winter.


    ¡°Well,¡± he said, ¡°how do you two see this working?¡±

 V9 Chapter 13 – Flawed Strategy

    If Sen were capable of getting headaches from something other than a horrible injury, he was certain that he would have had one by the time he and Falling Leaf left the ice wolf in his cave. At the very least, he was frustrated. Sen had imagined returning to the academy triumphant with a solution to one of their biggest problems firmly in hand. What he¡¯d gotten was¡­ It wasn¡¯t exactly nothing, but he hesitated to call it something. When they¡¯d gotten into actual discussion, a few things became abundantly clear to Sen. First, the wolf was terrified of him, personally. Second, whatever group the wolf was representing wasn¡¯t even pretending to give a damn about human survival.


    It was obvious that they wanted to use humans and human cultivators, in particular, as a hammer to smash their enemies. Anything that deviated from that particular goal was not of interest to them. Objectives like providing information that let humanity preserve cities and the infrastructure there weren¡¯t on the table. A fact that would have become clearer, sooner, if the wolf wasn¡¯t so damned afraid of him. Instead of being upfront about it, though, the wolf tried to sidestep anything he thought might send Sen into a murderous, wolf-slaughtering rage. Unfortunately, that list seemed to include just about anything that might make Sen unhappy to hear. By the end of the conversation, Sen was very nearly in the rage state that Winds of Winter seemed so keen to avoid. He¡¯d finally lost his temper.


    ¡°Listen,¡± Sen said through clenched teeth, ¡°I get that you¡¯d probably be almost as happy as the rest of those spirit beasts to see every human being in the world die.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡ª¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t me interrupt me again. I¡¯ve been sitting here, listening to you make excuses for almost two hours. Now, it¡¯s your turn to listen.¡±


    Winds of Winter slowly closed his jaws and lowered his eyes. Sen nodded in approval before he continued.


    ¡°I understand that helping humanity isn¡¯t even on your list of priorities. Frankly, I¡¯d have called you a liar if you tried to pretend that it was. But what you want is to throw us at your enemies, leaving us and the Beast King weak. All so that you can swoop in and kill off everyone that¡¯s left in the end. It¡¯s so obvious that it¡¯s painful. So, I¡¯ll tell you now that it¡¯s not going to happen that way. No matter who wins this war, you will not be left in charge. You might survive. You might claim back some territory in the wilds, but you will never rule these lands.


    ¡°These are your options. You can take your chances with the Beast King, but I think we all know where that leads. You can sit out the war and hope humanity wins. You can throw in with us. If you throw in with us, though, you don¡¯t get it all your own way. You will have to help us achieve some of our goals. One of which is preserving a substantial human population and some of our bigger cities. That is the message you are to take back to your group.¡±


    Winds of Winter was trying to keep the baleful glare out of his eyes and failing spectacularly. Sen supposed being told flat out that their strategy was transparent and wasn¡¯t going to happen wasn¡¯t great political maneuvering on his part. He supposed that he should have played along and pretended he didn¡¯t understand what they were trying to do. Then, he could have tried to use them while they tried to use him and the rest of the human cultivators. Except, Sen wasn¡¯t good at those games, didn¡¯t like them, and suspected he¡¯d get people killed trying to play them. The good news was that he was in the stronger position. The rogue spirit beasts could provide something he desperately wanted. That let them negotiate up to a point.


    On the other hand, only he and the rest of humanity could provide them with the thing they absolutely needed. They needed the Beast King, his immediate underlings, and a massive portion of his forces destroyed. They needed that for their long-term survival. More importantly, it had to be a decisive victory. Just pushing the Beast King back into the wilds for a few centuries wouldn¡¯t help the rogue spirit beasts. It would probably spell their final doom. Sen recognized it, and he could only hope that they recognized it. If not, nothing would save them. If humanity lost the war, it would be just as bad. That would give the Beast King all the time in the world to finish what he¡¯d started with the spirit beast races he¡¯d mostly killed off.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°I understand,¡± said Winds of Winter.


    ¡°I hope you do. Also, there is something I want to make abundantly clear.¡±


    ¡°Which is?¡± asked the wolf.


    ¡°If you do throw in with us, and then betray us, I will abandon the war against the Beast King. I will make it my personal duty to hunt down every last one of you. None will be spared. So, I suggest you make a careful choice.¡±


    The wolf actually let out a whining noise at that declaration, and his ears flattened back.


    ¡°What if we choose not to take sides?¡±


    Sen shrugged.


    ¡°Then, you don¡¯t matter at all. But you certainly shouldn¡¯t expect to get anything when the fighting is done,¡± said Sen, standing and looking at Falling Leaf. ¡°We should go. It¡¯s clear that he doesn¡¯t have the power to agree to anything today.¡±


    She had joined him without a word of protest, and they had headed back in the direction of the academy. Since then, though, he¡¯d been second-guessing himself. Had he done the right thing? He felt like he¡¯d gone too far with that last threat, except it hadn¡¯t been a threat. If they betrayed humanity after promising to help, he really would hunt them all down. In general, though, he thought that he had probably been the worst possible choice for that meeting. He finally drew to a stop in a relatively clear spot. Falling Leaf followed suit.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t do very well back there,¡± he said without preamble.


    ¡°You did as I expected you to do.¡±


    ¡°You expected me to get angry and start issuing threats?¡±


    Falling Leaf considered that briefly and nodded.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure it would go quite that far,¡± she said, ¡°but I thought it might.¡±


    ¡°Then, why take me? I¡¯ve never been good at those kinds of things.¡±


    ¡°Because they didn¡¯t understand what they were dealing with. I¡¯m a spirit beast in their eyes. They expected me to accept their plan without question. I couldn¡¯t make them understand that humanity wouldn¡¯t simply let itself be led to slaughter just because they wanted it to happen. They assumed they could trick humanity and then wipe out whatever was left after. They needed a human to shatter that absurd fantasy. Someone had to tell them what a disaster it would be if they tried to use human cultivators that way. Most of all, they needed to hear it from someone they would believe. And they fear you. Whatever else they might tell themselves, they will believe that you would destroy them all if they betrayed you.¡±


    ¡°Then, what would stop them from simply sitting out the war? Isn¡¯t that what gives them the best chance?¡±


    Falling Leaf was quiet for a time as she considered that question. It was honestly what Sen expected them to do. It¡¯s what he really tried to convince himself that he would do in their situation, even if he couldn¡¯t quite sell himself on the idea.


    ¡°They dislike humanity. They would be happier if humanity was gone, but they hate the Beast King. They want revenge. They want to see him suffer and die. I want to see that. Keeping faith with you, assisting humanity, is their best chance of making that happen. Remaining neutral might help keep them safe for a while, but it won¡¯t satisfy their bloodlust. Now that they finally understand what it will cost, a few may decline to help, but I think most will agree to do what is necessary.¡±


    Sen wasn¡¯t as convinced as Falling Leaf seemed to be, but he believed that she understood the rogue spirit beasts better than he did. Not that it alleviated his concerns about the future. Trusting them to hold up their end of any bargains they struck was going to be a lot more difficult. Revenge was all well and good, but it made for a very small patch of common ground to stand on.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how much effort this took for you to set up, but I expect it was a lot. I also recognize that I¡¯ll get more out of it than those spirit beasts will, no matter what kind of an arrangement we make. So, I have to assume that you did this almost entirely for my benefit.¡±


    Falling Leaf seemed abruptly uncomfortable and started shifting back and forth like she couldn¡¯t decide where to settle her weight.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t just for you. There is the kit and the Caihong. I don¡¯t wish to see them die.¡±


    Sen smiled and walked over to her. She stilled as he drew closer. He reached out a hand and gently squeezed her arm.


    ¡°Thank you. I don¡¯t say it often enough, but if I said it as often as you deserve, it¡¯d be the only thing I ever say to you.¡±


    Falling Leaf looked up at him for a moment and said, ¡°True.¡±


    Sen snorted in amusement as he looked around at their surroundings. It was deep enough in the wilds that no one was likely to bother them. Plus, their combined presence would keep all of the spirit beasts in the area at a healthy distance. It was just about the perfect location for a meal.


    ¡°Are you hungry?¡± he asked.


    Her eyes lit up, and she asked, ¡°Are you cooking?¡±


    ¡°If you like.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m hungry,¡± she announced.

 V9 Chapter 14 – We Should Tell Them

    Sen had hoped that things would calm down a bit after the semi-disastrous meeting with Winds of Winter. He¡¯d talked it over with Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho, and they all seemed to think that it wasn¡¯t that bad. They even seemed a little optimistic about it. Noticing his obvious confusion, Uncle Kho explained.


    ¡°While we knew about Falling Leaf, this is the first hard evidence we have that this Beast King has made a habit of culling dissenters. It¡¯s also the first sign of any kind of real division in their ranks.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t we already know about that first part? I mean, the same thing happened to the nine tail foxes. I guess it wasn¡¯t as effective with them, but we did know.¡±


    When that statement was met with three blank stares, Sen realized that he might not have told them about that.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t mention that?¡± asked Sen, feeling sheepish.


    ¡°You did not,¡± said Auntie Caihong. ¡°Although, I suppose we can¡¯t be too angry about it. It¡¯s not as though the foxes are reliable.¡±


    ¡°I thought you liked Laughing River,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I do. I always have. He¡¯s funny. Liking him isn¡¯t the same thing as trusting him, though. And it has almost no bearing on trusting the nine tail foxes as a whole. Maybe you should tell us the whole story.¡±


    Sen related the tale of what happened to the foxes as he had heard it. The meeting, the slaughter, Laughing Riven essentially abandoning his people, and his granddaughter¡¯s quest for vengeance. He rounded out the story with his suspicion that Laughing River was, probably at that very moment, killing people who had spread the false tale about him. The three nascent soul cultivators traded inscrutable looks. They were those annoying looks that were really conversations he was being excluded from. It wasn¡¯t the first time it had happened, and he doubted it would be the last, but it still bothered him to be left out.


    ¡°I suppose we can take it as true for now,¡± said Master Feng. ¡°I wasn¡¯t looking for it, so I didn¡¯t make any note of it. Looking back, though, there have been a lot fewer of the nine tail foxes running around and causing trouble. The real question is, does this help us?¡±


    Auntie Caihong shook her head and said, ¡°We¡¯re back to that reliability problem. We might be able to trust Laughing River, but the rest of them are an open question. I worry they¡¯d be as much a liability as a resource.¡±


    ¡°You think they¡¯d betray us?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°No,¡± said Uncle Kho. ¡°At least, I don¡¯t think they would on purpose. Not after they agreed to help, at any rate. I do think they would get bored or distracted and wander away for three months. It takes a lot to keep foxes on task.¡±


    Sen thought back to his own experiences with Laughing River and Misty Peak. They had been terribly distractable, even when the stakes got very, very high. While he knew that two people were a poor stand-in for a large group when it came to assessing behavior, everything he was hearing suggested that they were about average. If anything, they might be exceptions, given that Laughing River had mostly stayed focused on getting that spatial treasure, and Misty Peak had clearly been focused on getting revenge for a while. However, he had no idea how often they had both gotten sidetracked on their way to fulfilling those respective missions. Much like Auntie Caihong, while Sen held a certain dim fondness for Laughing River, and could probably tolerate Misty Peak if he absolutely had to do so, he was not keen on the idea of trusting them with anything important.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    He recognized that he might well be unfairly judging them, but he only had his own experiences to go on. It was possible they could stay focused if it aligned with some deep inner need on their part. Revenge might be enough to do it, especially given how many of their people had apparently died, but there was just no way to know. He wasn¡¯t willing to gamble with all of humanity just find out if he was right or wrong about that.


    ¡°So, we leave them out of the circle for now?¡± asked Sen, feeling a little guilty about the idea.


    ¡°No,¡± said Master Feng.


    That answer surprised Sen. He¡¯d have thought that Master Feng would be the first to dismiss the foxes. It seemed that Auntie Caihong shared in his shock.


    ¡°Why?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°I¡¯m not saying we give them tasks. Kho is right. We could never trust them with something time-sensitive or that might prove tedious, but we should tell them what¡¯s coming. I suspect they know already, but better to make the gesture. A little goodwill now may pay off later. Just because we don¡¯t ask them to look for information or to spy for us, it doesn¡¯t mean they won¡¯t tell us about things if they stumble across them by pure happenstance. Particularly if they¡¯re feeling well-disposed toward us.¡±


    ¡°I suppose there isn¡¯t much harm in telling them what¡¯s coming. Everyone will know soon enough as it is. I¡¯m honestly surprised the spirit beasts haven¡¯t attacked already.¡±


    Master Feng coughed a little self-consciously.


    ¡°About that,¡± he said. ¡°I might have downplayed my fight with them a little.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s a little?¡± asked Uncle Kho with a raised eyebrow. ¡°You said you killed enough to send a small message.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t like I was counting them,¡± said Master Feng with a little defensiveness in his voice.


    ¡°Estimate for us,¡± said Auntie Caihong. ¡°More than a hundred?¡±


    ¡°Definitely more than a hundred,¡± said Master Feng.


    ¡°More than a thousand?¡± asked Uncle Kho.


    ¡°Yes,¡± agreed Master Feng.


    ¡°More than five thousand?¡± asked Auntie Caihong with an exasperated note in her tone.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it was that many. Probably.¡±


    ¡°Just how long was this fight?¡± asked Uncle Kho.


    Master Feng got a thoughtful look on his face and idly scratched his chin.


    ¡°Counting the talking, two or three minutes, I guess.¡±


    Everyone, Sen included, stared at Master Feng. Sen had killed a lot of spirit beasts over the years, but he only had patchy memories of the time he¡¯d killed a lot of them all in one terrible moment. Looking back, he thought that there might have been two hundred in that beast tide. It looked like an almost insurmountable number, and killing them had taken a technique that had very nearly killed him in the process. A technique he wasn¡¯t entirely confident he could reproduce even now. The revelation that Master Feng had casually killed ten times that many, or more, in a matter of minutes was a stark reminder to Sen of just how powerful the elder cultivator truly was. It was also a clue as to why all of those other nascent soul cultivators were likely right to fear this man.


    ¡°I suppose that would be enough to give anyone pause,¡± observed Uncle Kho.


    Sen was trying to think of something useful to add when the door to the room that had been designated his office opened slightly.


    ¡°Patriarch?¡±


    Sen tried to recall the name of the young man who had been given the thankless job of guarding his door against people who wanted to waste his time. He drew a blank. He knew he¡¯d heard the name, but it had somehow slipped his grasp. The same thing had happened with the last poor bastard who had that job. Sen assured himself that he wasn¡¯t maliciously forgetting their names in an act of petty vengeance for them calling him Patriarch all the time. He was almost certain he wasn¡¯t doing that. Still, he had left instructions with the young man not to interrupt them unless it was very important. Adding to that was the rumor that the people Sen had introduced as his family were actually frightfully powerful old monsters, a case of a rumor being true for once, it probably meant that something that genuinely required Sen¡¯s attention was probably happening. After getting nods from the nascent soul cultivators, he answered.


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to interrupt, Patriarch, but you said if it was very important, I should.¡±


    ¡°I recall,¡± said Sen, stuck somewhere between annoyance and amusement.


    ¡°There are people at the gate demanding to see you.¡±


    Sen wondered if that meant one of the sects had finally decided to tell him who ran things in this part of the nation.


    ¡°Did they say who they are?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re from the Vermilion Blade Sect, Patriarch.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯ve got to be kidding me. I don¡¯t have the patience for this today.¡±


    Sen heard the young man swallow before he said, ¡°I will relay your words, Patriarch.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen. ¡°I¡¯ll see to it.¡±

 V9 Chapter 15 – Bahn Huizhong, Part 1

    Bahn Huizhong considered himself a worldly man. True, he had been a member of the Vermillion Blade Sect for most of his life, but he¡¯d always held a dim view of those cultivators who cloistered themselves away and avoided any task that took them beyond the walls of the sect. He didn¡¯t understand those people. The world was vast and with that vastness came opportunity if one was swift and wise enough to seize it. Unlike the majority that he entered the sect with in his youth so very long ago, he had taken every opportunity to leave the sect. He had taken on missions no one wanted to places he¡¯d never heard of just to see what was there.


    Usually, it was a village with some minor spirit beast that was destroying crops or eating livestock. Not much of a challenge for him but the villagers were always grateful, and he¡¯d never been one to turn down a warm meal. He had turned down most of the warm beds, though. He enjoyed those activities as much as anyone else, but looking like a young man and being a young man were very different things. He had, however, availed himself of some willing widows along the way. He felt that they were experienced enough to know what they wanted, which meant he wouldn¡¯t be taking advantage of them. Every so often, though, he¡¯d find himself doing something exciting. He smiled as he thought of that hotheaded youth who had more courage than talent, to say nothing of wisdom. That young man had battled demonic cultivators, hunted spirit beasts far too powerful for him, fought duels of honor, and generally been lucky to survive.


    With that excitement came the opportunities. A natural treasure he never would have found if he hadn¡¯t been tracking some spirit beast. A burst of insight in the midst of a pitched battle. A moment of enlightenment while looking at some vista that no one else had ever seen because it was so far into the wilds that only he dared go there. The truth was that he¡¯d been more of a wandering cultivator than a member of the sect for a long time. He¡¯d be gone for months or years at a time, sometimes on tasks for the sect and sometimes pursuing some opportunity he¡¯d stumbled across. It had been lonely at times but that was as much a part of cultivation as cycling patterns. If you couldn¡¯t learn to cope with loneliness, you had no business trying to reach the pinnacle.


    In the early decades, he¡¯d return to find that he¡¯d once more outpaced his old comrades. As decades turned to centuries, he¡¯d return to discover that he¡¯d outlived more old friends who had gotten stuck at a bottleneck. He¡¯d climbed the ranks of the sect almost by accident. He found that the low-level missions he¡¯d once taken and loved were replaced with missions to visit other sects or cities because he¡¯d grown too powerful for anything else. That had been a blow. He started to take on disciples as much to relieve the boredom as anything else, and time had started to slip through his fingers. That old drive, that need to progress, had dwindled until only a tiny spark remained, hidden so far down inside him that even he hadn¡¯t known it was there.


    He had gotten old, or so he believed, and expected to die within a handful of centuries. It was with that in mind that he took on Li Yi Nuo as what he expected to be his last student. She was an odd girl, so full of talent and an equal amount of self-doubt. She was bright and cheerful one minute, melancholy the next. She was so different from him but perhaps someone he could help. He didn¡¯t believe anyone else in the sect would have the patience to guide her. She was too mercurial to be obedient the way most masters wanted. So, he¡¯d taken her under his wing. He¡¯d been a poor protector to her, though.


    That bitch, Elder Jeong, had set her sights on Li Yi Nuo, and he¡¯d been too old, too weak, to stand against her. Or so he thought. He¡¯d been surprised to discover that he was wrong. He barely remembered executing the woman after she tried to send Li Yi Nuo off on a mission with no resources and no expectation of success or survival. He just remembered that spark, that tiny little spark buried so deep down inside of him, bursting to life, filling him with the same fire and drive that made him so reckless in his youth and so potent in the long centuries after. He¡¯d felt long-dormant power swell inside of him. It was only when he¡¯d held that bitch¡¯s severed head in his hand and cowed every other elder in the sect that he realized he might not be quite finished with his journey yet.


    Then Li Yi Nuo had returned from her mission with almost unbelievable tales of a madman who summoned tribulation lightning, brought nine tail foxes to heel, and battled devils to a standstill. A man who thought nothing of building formations that stretched for miles and gave away healing potions of such value that it beggared the imagination. He¡¯d scarcely been able to credit the tales, save for the sure knowledge that the girl wouldn¡¯t lie to him and the evidence of his own eyes. He had held those potions in his hand. It had been like holding a miracle. When she had shown him the letter of introduction to Kho Jaw-Long, he had again been inclined to disbelieve, but was it any more unbelievable than anything else she had said?The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    He had seen Kho Jaw-Long once, most of a millennia ago. It had been equal parts inspirational and terrifying to see the nascent soul cultivator turn a sect into a graveyard. That kind of power was what every cultivator aspired to and so few achieved. If Li Yi Nuo could study with that man, however briefly, it could prove the difference between her reaching nascent soul and her being stuck at core formation. So, he had sent her off in search of her own opportunities. He had done some investigation into this Lu Sen while she was away. He¡¯d been curious to meet the man, but as one barely credible tale after the next had poured in that curiosity had grown and grown. He was certain that most of those tales had to be made up or at least exaggerated, but if even a fraction of them were true, well, who wouldn¡¯t want to meet a man like that? How could it be anything but fascinating? Besides, he sensed a bit of his own curiosity and wonder at the world in the stories about the burgeoning legend.


    When Li Yi Nuo had returned, infuriated, he had told her to stay at the sect for a time. Word had reached him that Lu Sen had laid claim to a noble title and was building a house, as well as a sect. As an elder, Bahn Huizhong had some inkling of the kind of work that entailed. It was not something that the wise interrupted. It was only after the stories had died down and things seemed to be stabilizing that he decided that he would accompany Li Yi Nuo to visit this Lu Sen. It was purely for her protection and not at all to satisfy his own curiosity. Although, he had admitted to himself that those strange stone houses that they had stayed in on more than one occasion had brought his curiosity nearly to a full boil.


    Arriving at the sect of Judgment¡¯s Gale had not disappointed. There was a small town located nearby and the wall around it almost glowed to his eyes because the protections were layered so thickly on it. The wall around the sect was, oddly enough, far less obviously reinforced. It was only after studying it for a while that he realized why it seemed that way. The wall around the town had been raised by many people over a period of time. The wall around the sect had been made by one hand, and a hand that knew its business. Bahn Huizhong thought that he might be able to breach that wall if he put enough effort into it, but it would not be fast or easy.


    He had been slightly annoyed at Li Yi Nuo when they approached the gate. He had meant for this to be a cordial meeting, but she had marched up to the guards and demanded to see that bastard, Lu Sen, before he realized he needed to stop her. The guards, a pair of peak formation foundation cultivators, had traded skeptical looks but raised no objections. One of them had simply asked who they were and what sect they came from, then disappeared inside. It had been a test of restraint not to expand his spiritual sense and get a quick peek at the compound itself. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was just good sense or a legitimate intuition, but something told him that would be a poor decision. Instead, he waited patiently as the remaining guard kept a watchful eye on them.


    Farmers passed by on their way into town. It was clear that they had long since grown used to the presence of the sect and even to unknown cultivators. The farmers would offer respectful bows but didn¡¯t linger to stare or race off in fear. Bahn Huizhong approved. It suggested a healthy relationship between the sect, the town, and the mortals who lived nearby. Something he had seen far too rarely in the world. It took perhaps fifteen minutes before there was a brief buzz of activity that could be heard on the other side of the gate. That was a surprise. It was routine to make guests wait hours or even days to meet an elder, and it wasn¡¯t unheard of for people to wait weeks or months to meet a patriarch. That was assuming said patriarch wasn¡¯t in closed-door cultivation, which could extend that wait indefinitely.


    The gate swung open, and a man stepped through it. He was a tall man, almost shockingly tall, and it was clear that he carried a lot of muscle. Yet, his skin was the most arresting feature. It was a white so perfect it looked like bleached bone. While advancement had a way of burning off imperfections and leaving the skin pristine, this went beyond that. The man is an alchemist, thought Bahn Huizhong. Perhaps this is the result of some experiment that went wrong. With his own limited knowledge of alchemy, he knew it was just a guess and swiftly dismissed those thoughts. He regarded the other cultivator and tried to get a sense of the man. There was a hint of displeasure about him, and a touch of impatience, but the overwhelming impression the man gave off was one of raw power and absolute assurance.


    Bahn Huizhong had met men like this before, and they weren¡¯t made in the confines of a sect. They were made by testing themselves against a hostile world and surviving to tell the tale. This was a man who had done battle, real battle, with nothing but his own strength to save him. One look at Lu Sen told Bahn Huizhong everything he needed to know about the stories Li Yi Nuo had told him. They were all true, and he had rarely been so excited to meet a person. He was preparing to step forward and introduce himself when Li Yi Nuo, the foolish girl, opened her mouth to speak.


    ¡°What in the thousand hells happened to you?¡±

 V9 Chapter 16 – Bahn Huizhong, Part 2

    The worst seemed almost inevitable to Bahn Huizhong. Lu Sen might not be a nascent soul cultivator, yet, but that hadn¡¯t stopped him from killing one in a straight fight before. There were persistent rumors that he¡¯d killed another, but the details were murky. It hadn¡¯t been a duel. That was all anyone knew, or all anyone was willing to say. At the very least, the man¡¯s power dwarfed Li Yi Nuo¡¯s strength. That alone was enough reason to show at least some courtesy, even if a prior relationship existed. Beyond that, though, he was a patriarch standing at the gates of his own sect. It might be a new sect, but it was always precarious to be disrespectful to a patriarch on their ground.


    Bahn Huizhong did not want to fight with this man. He wanted to spar with him, certainly, but not fight. The outcome of that battle was hazy at best, particularly given the stories he¡¯d heard. He was also having a hard time getting a clear sense of Lu Sen¡¯s exact level of advancement. It felt like there was something actively concealing at least some of the man¡¯s strength. Still, it seemed there was nothing for it. He prepared to start cycling his qi when something happened that he hadn¡¯t anticipated. Lu Sen huffed out a little laugh, and a bit of that displeasure faded away.


    ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you just as charming as the first time we met,¡± said Lu Sen.


    A slight blush of embarrassment rose in her cheeks, but Li Yi Nuo regrouped quickly.


    ¡°You sent me to the far side of the kingdom for nothing,¡± she said and poked the man in the chest. ¡°Kho Jaw-Long wasn¡¯t there.¡±


    Bahn Huizhong almost choked at that sight. Clearly, the man had more tolerance than most patriarchs, but there were always limits. Again, the man surprised him. Instead of striking Li Yi Nuo down, he gave her an intense look.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t touch me anywhere you wouldn¡¯t like me to touch you.¡±


    There was a quality to the young man¡¯s voice, an undercurrent that seemed to promise all kinds of inappropriate things while also serving as a tiny bit of a threat. It was an open question as to whether it was something that the man practiced or if it just came naturally to him. It¡¯s probably a bit of both, thought Bahn Huizhong. Not that it really mattered in terms of results. Li Yi Nuo¡¯s next words turned into incoherent splutters, and her face turned bright red. Bahn Huizhong burst into laughter. He couldn¡¯t help himself. The poor girl had never really excelled at social situations and seeing her so immediately flustered was entertaining. Lu Sen, on the other hand, seemed to have gotten some instruction from someone well-versed in managing social situations somewhere along the way. Li Yi Nuo turned a betrayed look toward him, which just made Bahn Huizhong laugh even harder. Lu Sen lifted an eyebrow at him, but there was an amused twinkle in the man¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°I am,¡± Lu Sen let out a small but audible sigh, ¡°Patriarch Lu Sen of the Deep Wilds Academy. I¡¯m clearly familiar with Li Yi Nuo, but I don¡¯t believe we¡¯ve met.¡±


    ¡°I am Elder Bahn Huizhong of the Vermilion Blade Sect.¡±


    He offered the Patriarch a shallow but respectful bow. Lu Sen nodded in return, although a certain chilly quality had entered his expression at the word elder. Mixed into the many stories about the man, there had been a few about spectacularly poor encounters with various sect elders. Apparently, those stories were also true. It seemed that those other elders had poisoned the well. What was also patently obvious was that Lu Sen did not want them there. He had been generally polite and dismissed Li Yi Nuo¡¯s behavior without a second thought, but he had not invited them to enter the¡­ The man had called it an academy, but Bahn Huizhong knew a sect when he saw one. This place was definitely a sect. And inviting people inside was usually the first thing that was done when cultivators arrived from sects that weren¡¯t actively hostile toward your own.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Then again, thought Bahn Huizhong after a moment of insight, maybe he thinks that our respective sects are actively hostile or are about to be. We did send someone to capture him, and then I show up at his door. This could well look like the opening of some kind of formal hostilities. This wasn¡¯t exactly a common problem, but it wasn¡¯t unprecedented either. It was easy to misinterpret a sect¡¯s intentions when you¡¯ve had nothing but poor interactions with them in the past. He just wasn¡¯t sure what the best approach to alleviating those fears would be.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you at least going to invite us in?¡± demanded Li Yi Nuo, having found her voice. ¡°It¡¯s been a tiring journey.¡±


    ¡°I suppose that depends on what you want, and who you represent. I have a good idea about why Li Yi Nuo is here. I¡¯m less clear about your arrival, Bahn Huizhong. Are you here as an official representative of the Vermilion Blade Sect?¡±


    Li Yi Nuo¡¯s eyes moved from Lu Sen to him. He had been vague with her about why he was coming along. It hadn¡¯t been anything sinister. It just amused him to play the mysterious master and let her think that he was executing some inscrutable plan of his own. He wasn¡¯t here to officially represent the sect, but he also was just by virtue of being an elder. It got tricky to separate the two once you acquired a certain level of authority. However, he had the distinct impression that if he was there on official business, this would be the first and only time he had a chance to speak with Lu Sen. He decided to hedge on the side of caution.


    ¡°I was not sent here by the sect or told to accomplish any specific mission,¡± he said.


    ¡°Then, why are you here?¡± asked Lu Sen, his expression going even icier.


    Bahn Huizhong was momentarily baffled by the other man¡¯s apparently increasing hostility before understanding bloomed. He thinks the sect sent me here to kill him, unofficially, thought Bahn Huizhong. A quick little revenge killing that lets the sect keep its hands clean. He wanted to feel offended on the sect¡¯s behalf that Lu Sen thought so little of them and their honor, but he couldn¡¯t quite muster the emotions. He knew that there were plenty of sects that would do something exactly like that. It was one of the many things about sect behavior that he found both troubling and pointless. As though you could preserve honor with such an obvious fiction.


    He decided that there was only one path forward with any real chance of success. Brutal honesty. If that wasn¡¯t sufficient, then this would just have to be a nice walk through the countryside for him. There were far worse experiences than getting out and seeing new things.


    ¡°I just wanted to meet you,¡± said Bahn Huizhong.


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Lu Sen, confusion shattering the ice in his expression. ¡°I¡­ But why?¡±


    It took a lot of effort not to laugh again. The young man¡¯s question was laced with a kind of innocent bewilderment that just wasn¡¯t seen with most elders and never with patriarchs. They always wanted to appear in perfect control. It was another illusion. One of those fantasies that some ancient cultivator had dreamed up about absolute mastery of the self. Maybe it was possible, but not if one also wanted to keep laying claim to the title of human. Human beings were surprised sometimes, or angered, or any of the myriad other emotions that came with being born to the human form. He had his doubts that those rare, transformed spirit beasts had the same experiences, but that was a question for cultivators with far different interests than him.


    ¡°Why not?¡± asked Bahn Huizhong. ¡°You¡¯re interesting.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said Lu Sen, although he clearly didn¡¯t understand.


    There was a long pause where no one said anything. It was the moment of truth. Lu Sen would either send them both away, let them both in, or maybe let Li Yi Nuo stay and dismiss him as having no business there. He was hoping for the second option. Unfortunately, that depended a lot on how much the young patriarch believed him. He watched as Lu Sen glanced at Li Yi Nuo, perhaps looking for some assurance that her elder¡¯s words held value. The girl was standing almost rigidly straight, her face locked into a neutral expression. He supposed she didn¡¯t want to unintentionally be responsible for having her master sent away. He knew he wouldn¡¯t want to be put in the middle of that decision if he was in her shoes, not that he¡¯d blame her for the outcome. He had invited himself along for selfish reasons.


    ¡°Well,¡± said Lu Sen, ¡°I suppose you better come inside.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t the warm welcome that Bahn Huizhong might have hoped for, but it was still an invitation. That was enough to build on.

 V9 Chapter 17 – Flock

    Sen regretted inviting them in from very nearly the instant that he¡¯d done it. He didn¡¯t have to let them in. He certainly hadn¡¯t wanted to let them in. Well, he¡¯d have let Li Yi Nuo in out of guilt. He did send her completely in the wrong direction. It hadn¡¯t been intentional, but she¡¯d still traveled all the way to Orchard¡¯s Reach. Even for cultivators, that was a long trip. Bahn Huizhong, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t someone that Sen especially wanted around. With very few exceptions, sect elders had been nothing but trouble for him. They always had some agenda, or their delicate pride had suffered a tiny bruise and they wanted to murder some people to make themselves feel better about it.


    As hard as Li Yi Nuo tried to hide it, or maybe because she tried to hide it, Sen realized that she was very concerned that he would send the man away. It might just have been because the man was an elder, but he suspected that the elder was her master. He could just imagine the endless complaining if he up and told her master to go home. That might have been a good enough reason to let the man stay if only for a day or two, but the man had also laughed. It hadn¡¯t been cruel laughter, either. He¡¯d just been entertained by Li Yi Nuo¡¯s awkward moment. Sen thought that was probably the reason he¡¯d let them in.


    Beyond that, Bahn Huizhong had actually seemed sincere when he said he just wanted to meet him. Sen wasn¡¯t sure why anyone would want to meet him with his reputation, but he supposed people couldn¡¯t really help what they found interesting. Sen didn¡¯t particularly care about the intricacies of art or tailoring. However, it fascinated some people. He supposed that there was bound to be at least one cultivator out there who found him interesting in the same way. Of course, now that they were inside the wall, he had to figure out what to do with them. He¡¯d never planned on entertaining guests at this place, so he hadn¡¯t bothered putting up a building for them to stay in. I guess I could make them one, thought Sen. But where to put it? Definitely somewhere not too close to my home. Before he came to any final conclusion, he heard something that always brightened his day.


    ¡°Papa!¡±


    He looked in Ai¡¯s direction and smiled as the little girl raced across the compound toward him. He also noted the group of people who were none-too-subtly keeping a close eye on her. The sight of them always made him feel better, even if he was very confident that nothing bad was likely to ever happen to her inside of these walls.


    ¡°Fly me, Papa!¡± yelled Ai, stretching her arms out to either side.


    Laughing to himself, Sen scooped her up with a bit of air qi and floated her into his waiting arms. She laughed the entire way and then planted a kiss on his cheek. He kissed the tip of her nose, which generated the giggles he so loved to hear. It was only when Ai cast a curious look at the newcomers that Sen remembered they had an audience. Li Yi Nuo was staring at him and Ai with eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. Bahn Huizhong smiled at the scene. If he thought there was anything amiss, it didn¡¯t show on his face.


    ¡°Who are they?¡± whispered Ai.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Sen whispered back. ¡°Maybe you should introduce yourself.¡±


    While the little girl was fearless about most things and with people she knew, she¡¯d never lost her apprehension about strangers. She hadn¡¯t said anything about the attack that destroyed her village in a long time, and Sen wondered how much she remembered about it. For all he knew, it might just seem like a bad dream from the distant past, but it had left its mark all the same. She looked uncertain for a little while and hugged him a little closer before she finally made her decision. She wriggled in the way that meant she wanted to be put down. Sen lowered her to the ground where she did her best to perform a proper bow.


    ¡°This one is Liu Ai,¡± she said.


    Sen had discussed with Auntie Caihong whether he should teach Ai to introduce herself as Lu Ai. She was part of his family now, but he wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to deprive her of her birth name. It was literally the only thing she had left of that life. The usual certainty that marked nearly everything Auntie Caihong did had softened into a thoughtful look.


    ¡°Well, she is your daughter now, so there¡¯s a logic to it. On the other hand, maybe you should wait until she¡¯s older. Let her decide for herself if that¡¯s what she wants. I don¡¯t think that there¡¯s any harm in waiting.¡±


    That had sounded like an excellent idea to Sen. It gave Ai some control over how she presented herself to the world, at least in the long run, and it also let Sen off the hook for making that choice. A choice that he was not especially eager to make for her. So, for the moment, she remained Liu Ai. As for Li Yi Nuo, she continued to gape at the little girl as though a dragon had sprouted from the earth and broken into song. Bahn Huizhong, who had been unperturbed, offered the girl a bright smile. He bowed to her, a much deeper bow than he¡¯d offered Sen.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°This one is Bahn Huizhong. I¡¯m very glad to meet you, Liu Ai,¡± said the man, before he poked Li Yi Nuo in the back.


    The girl yelped in surprise, which made Ai laugh. It did break the shock-trance the woman had been in, though. She hastily bowed.


    ¡°This one is Li Yi Nuo. It¡¯s nice to meet you.¡±


    Having recovered her confidence a little, Ai puffed herself up and announced with goddess-like certainty, ¡°I¡¯m a beautiful orchid. Papa said so.¡±


    Li Yi Nuo seemed to be distracted by trying to find something to do with her hands other than flap them around or clutch at her robes. The corners of Bahn Huizhong¡¯s eyes crinkled in amusement.


    ¡°You certainly are,¡± he agreed amiably.


    Damn it, thought Sen. How am I supposed to hate him now? Apparently, Ai decided that these people weren¡¯t a threat, because she wandered over to Bahn Huizhong. That made Sen feel better about the man. It didn¡¯t happen often, but Ai occasionally refused to have anything to do with a person. She could never articulate why she didn¡¯t like them and usually fell back on her go-to description for things she didn¡¯t like. She said they were yucky. Without fail, those people had found themselves told to leave for one serious offense or another, so Sen took it seriously when she didn¡¯t like someone. Long Jia Wei took it as holy truth.


    The relationship between that man and Ai was odd. If she couldn¡¯t find Sen or one of her nascent soul family when something was troubling her, she went to find him. Sen had been a little uncomfortable with the idea of her just spending time with the ex-sect assassin, but the man treated her like a fragile piece of glass. Something always to be handled gently and with utmost care. There was also the rumor. It was something that Sen had very intentionally not made any effort to confirm, mostly because he didn¡¯t want to do anything about it should the story turn out to be true.


    Supposedly, one of the cultivators at the academy had spoken quite harshly to Ai for some reason. Sen had worried from the start that something like that was almost inevitable. The rumor held that Long Jia Wei dragged that cultivator to see one of the healers later that day with a shattered jaw, a broken leg, and enough bruises to keep the alchemy students busy making minor healing pills for days. When asked what happened, Long Jia Wei reportedly shrugged and said the injured cultivator must have carelessly fallen down. Since the man had shown considerably more restraint than Sen would have been able to muster if he had heard the story first, he¡¯d let it go. He¡¯d also moved Long Jia Wei onto a very short list of people he would consider entrusting Ai¡¯s safety to.


    Of course, Bahn Huizhong wasn¡¯t even in the running for something like that, but Ai¡¯s general lack of fear at least made Sen feel less actively hostile toward the man. He watched as his daughter peered up at the man and pointed.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± she asked.


    The man looked down at his own chest and pointed to what had to be a sect patch.


    ¡°This?¡± he asked.


    Ai nodded. The man crouched down so she could get a better look at it. Sen tensed a bit when Ai reached out to touch the patch. Cultivators could get touchy about strange things. Bahn Huizhong wasn¡¯t one of them, though, or so it seemed. He just seemed amused by Ai¡¯s curiosity.


    ¡°It¡¯s a sect patch,¡± he told her.


    ¡°What¡¯s a sect?¡± she asked, her face scrunching up a little.


    For the very first time, the man seemed startled. He glanced up at Sen who had nothing to offer but a shrug. You opened that door, thought Sen. It¡¯s on you to figure out how to explain a sect to a child that age. The man frowned for a few seconds before he finally came up with something.


    ¡°It¡¯s like a school for cultivators.¡±


    While Sen thought that left out a lot of pertinent information, he doubted he could have come up with anything better. It was even true, as far as it went.


    ¡°Is that like an academy?¡± asked Ai, carefully pronouncing the last word.


    Sen had to cover his own mouth to keep from laughing. Bahn Huizhong, apparently better practiced at keeping a straight face, just nodded sagely.


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s like an academy.¡±


    Ai continued to interrogate the man, although her questions soon moved on to things she cared about more, like what kinds of birds they saw while they traveled. Bahn Huizhong tried naming some of them, but Ai promptly asked him to describe them. Then, she would either nod in a knowing way to indicate that she too knew these birds or shake her head. Sen knew he probably let it go on longer than he should have, but Ai seemed very happy to talk about the birds. Eventually, he called her back over to him.


    ¡°Okay,¡± he said. ¡°I think it¡¯s probably about time for your writing lesson, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Papa.¡±


    ¡°You go find Uncle Kho, and I¡¯ll make us something very yummy for dinner later.¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    She held out her arms for a hug which Sen dutifully provided. Then, she ran off. Li Yi Nuo looked like she was about to start firing questions at him, but Ai¡¯s voice floated back to them.


    ¡°Come on, birds!¡±


    From the nearby trees, what Sen thought had to be at least a hundred birds exploded into motion and flew after the running child. Li Yi Nuo seemed to forget all of her questions as her eyes followed the birds. Bahn Huizhong slowly rose to a standing position, his expression a mixture of uncertainty and surprise.


    ¡°Patriarch Lu. Did your daughter just summon a flock of birds to keep her company?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Sen. ¡°She does that. It¡¯s a small flock today. She must not have seen many insects. Anyway, let¡¯s find you somewhere to stay.¡±

 V9 Chapter 18 – Uncomfortable Peace

    Sen had found the last few weeks very odd. The arrival of Li Yi Nuo, while perhaps foreseeable, had caught him off guard. Bringing along her master had been even more perplexing. Not that either of them had done anything specific to disrupt his life. Sen had brought Li Yi Nuo to see Uncle Kho. The man had been deeply amused by the story of how the sect cultivator had gone all the way to Orchard¡¯s Reach to find him, only to have to turn around and come all the way back. Uncle Kho probably would have agreed to teach her a few things out of pure pity even if Sen hadn¡¯t suggested that she showed some faint glimmers of hope with the spear. Of course, dealing with her had been the easy part. Putting her and Uncle Kho together in a room had fulfilled any and all obligations he might have had to the woman, self-imposed or not.


    Bahn Huizhong was another matter entirely. Sen truly hadn¡¯t known what to expect from the man. Or, rather, he¡¯d based his expectations on previous encounters with sect elders, none of which ever appeared. He¡¯d thought that the man would demand his time since he was a powerful and important elder. He¡¯d imagined that the man would make himself a problem in town, expecting to be given whatever he wanted without paying for it. He¡¯d predicted the man would try to recruit away the best students or at least a few of the core formation students who had come from other sects.


    None of it happened, which left Sen feeling off balance and out of sorts. He knew how to deal with cultivators who insisted on acting like bastards. Bahn Huizhong had opted to behave like a guest ought to behave. He visited shops in town where he paid for the things he wanted. He interacted with some of the students but generally only when they approached him first. He had refrained from entering the buildings where teaching or crafts were done, even going so far as to restrain his spiritual sense to open areas. He had politely asked for some of Sen¡¯s time, but only when the Patriarch was not occupied with other duties. The man had even raced off to fetch an injured child at a nearby farm before Sen had even been made aware that such help was needed.


    By the time Sen arrived at what had slowly evolved into a sort of healing center attached to the alchemy workshop, the injured boy who had been trampled by a startled animal was already being tended. He¡¯d found Bahn Huizhong leaning against a wall, observing the work with curious eyes.


    ¡°Thank you for helping,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Of course,¡± answered Bahn Huizhong.


    ¡°Do you mind if I ask why you did it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m no healer, but I¡¯ve seen enough injuries to know that seconds and minutes matter. Especially for mortals.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± agreed Sen, ¡°but that¡¯s just a reason for someone to act quickly. I¡¯m curious why you, specifically, chose to act. It has not been my experience that sect elders or cultivators in general are burdened with much compassion for mortals.¡±


    Bahn Huizhong was quiet for several moments, his eyes still on the injured boy, before a look of understanding crossed his face.


    ¡°Oh, I see. You¡¯re wondering if I acted to try to get into your good graces. Is that it?¡±


    Sen lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug and said, ¡°It has been my experience that sect elders want what they want and will do almost anything to get it.¡±


    A troubled look crossed the man¡¯s face.


    ¡°I wish I could say that¡¯s an unfair assessment, but you¡¯re not wholly wrong. You¡¯ve been a wandering cultivator. The ones you were most likely to run into were the ones most prone to acting like that. They aren¡¯t all like that. Too many are but not all of them.¡±


    ¡°I take that to mean that you¡¯re an exception?¡±


    Sen knew that the question was borderline offensive, but he¡¯d been forced to fight and kill too many people from too many sects to just take things on faith. He was surprised when Bahn Huizhong let out a gentle chuckle.


    ¡°Me? Oh, I definitely want what I want. You don¡¯t get as far as I have without a lot of drive, and the ability to stay focused on your goals. But there are good ways to get what you want and bad ways to get what you want. Being a cultivator doesn¡¯t shield you from accumulating bad karma, after all, no matter what some of these fools seem to think. So, I do my best not to invite bad karma. Mostly. You can¡¯t always avoid it, but that¡¯s just how life works. That being said, there¡¯s no benefit to mistreating mortals. There¡¯s nothing to be gained in denying help when it¡¯s needed. So, in answer to your true question, no. I didn¡¯t help to get into your good graces. I could help, so I did.¡±


    Of all the answers the man might have offered, it was the kind of answer that Sen wouldn¡¯t have believed came out of a sect elder¡¯s mouth if he hadn¡¯t personally heard it. It resonated with a lot of Sen¡¯s own thoughts. Sen found himself wanting to like the other cultivator, but he struggled to get over his automatic distrust of anyone from a sect. Recent events with spies and supposed training accidents that were people trying to settle old inter-sect grudges had only reinforced that distrust. Even more, though, the looming threat of the coming war made him want to tighten his circle, rather than expand it. He didn¡¯t want someone else to worry about, even someone as capable as this sect elder seemed to be. Mortals were going to die. Cultivators were going to die. Sen didn¡¯t want to have to mourn them individually.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    At the same time, he knew he was going to have to work with these sects. He would need to be on speaking terms with at least some of the people from them. If he couldn¡¯t start with someone he thought he might actually like, where in the thousand hells could he start? There was at least one last stumbling block that had gone unmentioned by everyone. I guess I¡¯ll have to clear the air about those three fools, thought Sen. Otherwise, it¡¯ll always be hanging over any interactions I have with the Vermilion Blade Sect. With that in mind, Sen sent someone to fetch Bahn Huizhong. The man arrived quickly and looked around the plain room with a little surprise.


    ¡°I expected something a bit grander,¡± admitted the sect elder.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know how to do that, even if I wanted to. I guess I could find someone to handle that for me. It just seems like a waste of resources.¡±


    ¡°It is, but that doesn¡¯t seem to stop anyone.¡±


    Sen gestured at the empty seat across from him. Bahn Huizhong sat. Sen took a little amusement in the man¡¯s expression of surprise when Sen poured them both tea. They both gave the tea a few moments, not so much to cool but out of ingrained habit, and then drank. Sen broke the silence first, eager to be done with that task.


    ¡°I expect you have questions about what happened to those three cultivators from your sect. I¡¯m sure that I would in your position.¡±


    Bahn Huizhong hesitated for a moment before he nodded.


    ¡°Yes. There are questions that the other elders will expect me to ask. At the very least, there are uncertainties about the nature of events.¡±


    ¡°You may not like the answers. They don¡¯t cast your sect members in a particularly good light.¡±


    ¡°The truth is rarely a pretty or clean thing.¡±


    ¡°Very well, Elder Bahn of the Vermilion Blade Sect. Let me tell you a story.¡±


    Sen laid out the events as he remembered them. He started with the plague village and the seemingly endless funeral pyres. He talked about his state of mind afterward, how the world around him was something he barely noticed. Finally, he described his interaction with the Vermilion Blade Sect members he¡¯d stumbled across. He gave a general description of the technique he¡¯d used on them, and why it had been impossible for him or anyone else to remove it.


    ¡°If I¡¯d understood what it would do them, I would have just killed them. It would have been kinder,¡± said Sen.


    Sen sipped a fresh cup of tea while Elder Bahn considered the details of what he¡¯d heard. The man¡¯s response could well be anything from fury to indifference, and none of the possibilities would shock Sen. He still wasn¡¯t sure how he should feel about that encounter. He certainly felt a degree of responsibility for inflicting more suffering than he¡¯d meant to, but he wasn¡¯t sure if he¡¯d even been sane at the time. Just how much guilt and responsibility he truly bore remained an open question to him. It also wasn¡¯t a question he expected he would ever get a clear answer to. A sigh from the other man drew Sen out of his own thoughts. He regarded the elder with a patient expression, curious how the man would judge him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a single part of that story that isn¡¯t troubling,¡± said Bahn Huizhong. ¡°If our disciples are truly acting that way when beyond the elders¡¯ gazes, though, it¡¯s hard to imagine anyone else with your strength would have tolerated it. It¡¯s also painfully obvious that you could have simply killed them outright. I won¡¯t pretend that I find what you did to them anything less than disturbing. They all eventually found ways to die by their own hands.¡±


    Sen grimaced and nodded.


    ¡°I guess that was the most likely outcome, given what I understand about the technique now.¡±


    ¡°Have you used that technique again?¡± asked Elder Bahn.


    Sen heard something hard in the man¡¯s voice. He supposed it was a valid question. If Sen was running around and using that technique on people all the time, then any remorse he expressed would look counterfeit.


    ¡°Yes, but not in the same way, not often, and not on anything or anyone I didn¡¯t intend to kill promptly.¡±


    The elder didn¡¯t seem entirely satisfied with that answer, but Sen thought he¡¯d accept it, eventually. No cultivator was going to simply discard a tool that useful, especially with what was coming. Just as importantly, every cultivator could use their abilities and techniques to do ugly things. Sen wasn¡¯t special in that regard. The sect elder made a resigned noise.


    ¡°I suppose this matter is truly closed.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t seem satisfied with that.¡±


    ¡°Would you be, in my position?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± admitted Sen. ¡°I doubt I would be.¡±


    Bahn Huizhong lifted an eyebrow at Sen.


    ¡°No attempt to convince me you were in the right?¡±


    ¡°Would it change anything? I could say that I didn¡¯t go looking for the fight. I could say they brought it on themselves. I could even say that I didn¡¯t know what was going to happen to them, but I already said all of those things. I think you know that I was telling the truth. So, what else can I say?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose there¡¯s anything you could say. I¡¯m not even sure it¡¯s you I¡¯m frustrated with. I just know the other elders won¡¯t be happy, but I guess they weren¡¯t happy already. So, nothing really changes.¡±


    ¡°Then, it isn¡¯t to be war between your sect and me? I don¡¯t need to watch out for idiots showing up and demanding duels all the time?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not that stupid. They do a good job of hiding it, but I¡¯ve felt four nascent soul cultivators in the area. It doesn¡¯t take much of a genius to figure out who at least three of them are. Challenging you is challenging them, and that¡¯s just inviting death.¡±


    Sen doubted it was quite that straightforward, but there was some truth in there.


    ¡°Peace between us,¡± said Sen, overjoyed to be done with the awkward conversation.


    ¡°It¡¯ll be an uncomfortable peace for a good long while,¡± warned Bahn Huizhong.


    ¡°No doubt, but at least it¡¯s a situation where everyone lives.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough.¡±

 V9 Chapter 19 – Stupid and Pointless

    The day started out like most days did for Sen. He made breakfast for Ai. He¡¯d discovered through trial and error that, while she liked lots of variety for the evening meal, she didn¡¯t really want to have to think hard for breakfast. That meant that he generally kept things simple. Rice porridge made with broth was the main dish most days. Sometimes he¡¯d throw in some vegetables or a bit of leftover meat, while other days he¡¯d just add some seasonings. Fruit was abundant at the moment, so he usually cut some up and let her eat what she wanted of it. Falling Leaf joined them that morning and patiently listened as Ai told her a story about some kind of bear. He didn¡¯t know if she was talking about a dream she had or something she¡¯d actually seen. She didn¡¯t seem frightened at all, so he supposed it must have been a tame encounter either in real life or her dreams.


    While they all ate, he pretended that he couldn¡¯t hear all of the birds outside impatiently waiting for Ai to come out and order them around. That was something that he hadn¡¯t been able to figure out, and neither had anyone else. By all rights, those birds shouldn¡¯t listen to her. He¡¯d harbored a suspicion that she might be using some kind of primitive qi technique on them, but there had been no evidence of that. It was just a mystery. He might worry more about it if she was ordering them to do harmful things or things that might hurt them. For the most part, though, she just had them chase bugs. It was hard not to see that as a benefit. While very few insects could do anything to his body, reinforced over and over again by cultivation, Ai and the rest of the mortals didn¡¯t share that trait. The wrong kind of insect bite or sting could pose a legitimate threat to them. So, he found no harm in letting her faithful flock keep the insect population down.


    He did have to ask her not to send them after bees, though. She had seemed truly confused, and he¡¯d had to talk fast because he didn¡¯t really understand it himself. He¡¯d just been told by Auntie Caihong that crops and fruit trees needed bees to do something called pollination. If that didn¡¯t happen, then crops and fruits wouldn¡¯t mature properly. That was literally everything he knew about it. The entire process was a mystery to him. Since he had no reason to doubt Auntie Caihong, though, he¡¯d told Ai to leave them alone. She¡¯d accepted his answer, even if he thought she mostly did it because she was worried that they might run out of plums someday. Whatever gets her to not annihilate all the bees, I guess, thought Sen. He thought that maybe he find out more about how the bees and crops were related, but he simply didn¡¯t have the time.


    After that, Master Feng came to collect Ai for an adventure. Those adventures usually consisted of the nascent soul cultivator flying Ai around for a while and showing her interesting things. Sen had never delved too deeply into exactly how Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho decided who got to have Ai on any given morning. He did get the impression that it was something of a competition. If there were rules to it, he had yet to discover them. Ai was just happy to have so many people interested in playing with her. As they were leaving, he did hear Ai say they needed to get Li Zhi, her friend from town. Master Feng amiably agreed and the pair set off.


    Part of Sen always wanted to chase after them and join in on the adventures, but he had responsibilities and needed to set a good example for Ai. If he couldn¡¯t be bothered to do his work, how could he ever expect her to be diligent with her work? Not that she showed any real signs of laziness. She had her off days where she just couldn¡¯t keep her mind on learning, but Sen had concluded that normal children were just like that. He couldn¡¯t expect her to be a tiny adult, let alone act like a tiny cultivator obsessed with advancement. If she was being diligent four or five days out of six, he wasn¡¯t going to complain.


    Falling Leaf left almost immediately after that with a vague comment about seeing if the spirit beasts had decided what to do. She¡¯d been going out to the ice wolf¡¯s cave every few days, but always came back with the same report. There was no sign of Winds of Winter. Sen wanted to be disappointed with that. Having spirit beasts out in the wilds keeping tabs on the more hostile spirit beasts would be useful. It just came with so much potential trouble that he almost hoped they would decide to just sit the war out. Almost. He promptly pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. It was important, but there was nothing to do until they made a decision. In the meantime, he had other, more immediate concerns.


    As hard as he tried to delegate tasks, it seemed like there was an ever-growing list of things that required his personal attention. That had forced him into that office of his more and more hours of the day. He wanted to resent it, but there wasn¡¯t anyone to blame but himself. He¡¯d decided to build this place into a sect, and now he had to deal with the consequences. Doing his best not to grumble, he started making his way across the compound to the main building. As tedious as he found much of the work, he also had the feeling that a day would come when he could leave the day-to-day running of the place to others. He looked forward to that day and used it to keep himself motivated to do the work that needed to be done now.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    While all of the students and teachers were good about staying clear of the immediate area around his home, he soon started encountering people moving back and forth, meditating, practicing, or simply cultivating. The ones who noticed him all abandoned whatever they were doing and bowed to him with respectful murmurs of Patriarch. It still bothered him, but the battle was already lost. He just did his best to put on a neutral expression and nodded as he passed by. He used to stop and try to talk to people, but he found that usually led to very awkward moments as people stammered their answers to his questions. That held for almost everyone, save for some of the core cultivators. There was one core cultivator in particular that he¡¯d hoped would leave who had chosen to stay. He tried to avoid the woman whenever possible, but there was only so much he could do within the confines of the academy.


    Sua Xing Xing was striding across the open ground with that smile on her face. Sen hated that smile. It was equal parts seductive smirk and respectful. He was baffled about how she managed to pull that off. It must be a woman thing, he thought. It didn¡¯t help that he did find her striking, although he supposed that was as much because of contrast as anything else. Most of the people in the kingdom were marked by dark hair and dark eyes. Sua Xing Xing had red hair, blue eyes, and very pale skin. It wasn¡¯t as pale as his own skin, which had never recovered after his most recent body cultivation advancement, but was paler than just about everyone else¡¯s. The main problem with the woman was that Sen knew what she was about.


    She wanted to lash herself to his cart and get carried along through advancements. To her credit, she¡¯d never made any real effort to hide that fact. He supposed it wasn¡¯t even that surprising. He expected that was a common practice in most sects. Find a strong teacher or elder and attach yourself to them. It would provide protection and, presumably, access to resources. He hadn¡¯t even been able to come up with a good reason not to let her officially join his sect when it became clear that¡¯s what he was making the academy. Not that he needed a good reason. He could deny anyone he wanted with a word. He just didn¡¯t, and I don¡¯t particularly like you wasn¡¯t a good enough to make someone with actual talent leave.


    If only letting her join didn¡¯t necessitate talking to her. Unfortunately, for all intents and purposes, she was a core member of his growing sect. If he was being honest with himself, she was probably functioning as an elder. Even after having gotten explanations from several people, he was still a bit hazy about what those roles actually entailed. So much of what was involved depended on direct experience that he¡¯d found no explanation could really resolve his confusion. So, he mostly refrained from using the terms. Given that her star was rising in the sect, though, he couldn¡¯t simply ignore her outright. That she seemed to wait around to ambush him didn¡¯t endear her to him, though.


    He checked an exasperated breath before it could escape his lips, then drew to a stop. He looked toward where the gate was located. He could sense a group of cultivators out there. People he didn¡¯t recognize. Sua Xing Xing walked up to him, saw where he was looking, and he felt her spiritual sense expand in that direction. She frowned.


    ¡°Should I take care of it?¡± she asked.


    ¡°No,¡± said Sen, trying to decide what was best. ¡°We¡¯ll both go and see if this is what I think it is.¡±


    She nodded, all of the flirting air around her gone and replaced with a focused seriousness. They headed toward the gate, and Sen felt more than saw Bahn Huizhong trail after them. The man had been giving pointers to one of the students who was trying to master a new cycling pattern. By the time they reached the gate, the three were walking in a group. Sen eyed the man.


    ¡°If you go out there with me, it might be interpreted the wrong way,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Let them think what they want,¡± said Bahn Huizhong with a shrug.


    Sua Xing Xing gave the man a semi-hostile look. She didn¡¯t appreciate that Sen liked the man well enough to spend time with him on purpose, unlike his response to her. She schooled her expression into one of neutral indifference as Sen gestured for the gates to be opened. The three of them walked out to get a look at the group that was waiting for them. There were six of them, one in the nascent soul stage and the rest at or near peak core cultivation. They all wore dark brown robes.


    ¡°Shattering Earth Sect,¡± whispered Bahn Huizhong.


    Sen nodded slightly and focused his attention on the nascent soul cultivator.


    ¡°What business brings the Shattering Earth Sect here?¡± asked Sen, at least trying to feign politeness.


    The nascent soul cultivator drew himself up and stared down his nose at Sen.


    ¡°I am Chan Runchu, Elder of the Shattering Earth Sect. I have come to challenge you, Judgment¡¯s Gale.¡±


    Sen tilted his head a little to one side before he said, ¡°No.¡±


    That seemed to catch the other man off guard.


    ¡°What? You can¡¯t deny my challenge.¡±


    ¡°Of course, I can. I¡¯m not obligated to indulge anyone in something so stupid and pointless.¡±

 V9 Chapter 20 – Outside Intervention

    Silence hung in the air as the stunned Shattering Earth Sect members stared at Sen in disbelief. Chan Runchu looked like someone had stabbed him. It was one of the core formation cultivators who regained their ability to speak first.


    ¡°How dare you speak to Elder Chan that way. He is a nascent soul cultivator! Know your place!¡±


    Sen just looked at the man. There had been a time when all Sen could do with killing intent was blanket the area. A long road and more fights than Sen cared to remember had honed his ability with his killing intent. What had once been a hammer was now a finely honed instrument that struck only what he wanted it to strike. Sen unchained a little piece of that killing intent and let it loose on the man. From one heartbeat to the next, the core cultivator went from standing there with a belligerent look on his face to thrashing on the ground, screaming, and bleeding from his eyes, nose, and ears.


    The other Shattering Earth core cultivators drew back from the man as though afraid they might catch whatever he had. Even Chan Runchu looked startled at the abrupt change. He tried to shield his junior, which bought the man about one second of relief. Sen simply released a little more of his killing intent and it punched straight through whatever protection the nascent soul cultivator had offered. The core cultivator¡¯s screaming redoubled as his bleeding and thrashing intensified. Sen moved his eyes to meet those of the nascent soul cultivator.


    ¡°Do you suppose he knows his place now?¡± asked Sen in a casual voice.


    The arrogance on Chan Runchu¡¯s face had vanished, only to be replaced with anger.


    ¡°Release him at once!¡±


    ¡°Why? Would you release one of my people if they had spoken to you that way? Or would you have killed them out of hand for not knowing their place?¡±


    It seemed that Chan Runchu didn¡¯t have the right answer to that question because his mouth worked a few times but no words came out. Sen felt no sympathy for the nascent soul cultivator. A confrontation like this had been inevitable from the second he decided to make his academy a sect. The Shattering Earth Sect had simply been the ones who decided to move first, which meant Sen needed to make an example here. He couldn¡¯t leave any doubt that challenging his authority here was a monumental mistake. He just wasn¡¯t sure what the best path to accomplishing that goal was. He could kill all but one of them and let that sole survivor carry the tale. It had a certain efficiency to it. Of course, that would make him more enemies at a time when he didn¡¯t need more enemies.


    If he let too many of them go unharmed, though, that could also signal a certain weakness, an unwillingness to do what was necessary. That might prove even worse than making enemies. Instead of having just one sect hate him, he could end up with different sects showing up all the time with equally stupid challenges. He could simply focus on Chan Runchu. Killing him and letting the core cultivators go might send the right message. He looked at the core cultivator on the ground. The man wasn¡¯t screaming and thrashing anymore. He¡¯d been reduced to soft whimpers and occasional twitches. If Sen didn¡¯t retract his killing intent soon, there wouldn¡¯t be a decision to make anymore. The cultivator would die.


    Sen locked eyes with Chan Runchu and waited. He waited until the core cultivator was on the brink of death. He wanted to make it abundantly clear that what happened next only happened because Sen decided things would go that way. At the last possible second, he reined in his killing intent. The core cultivator took a few shuddering breaths that made Sen wonder if he¡¯d waited too long before the man¡¯s breathing stabilized into something less like a death rattle. Before Chan Runchu could utter a word, Sen spoke.


    ¡°That was my sole act of mercy for the day.¡±


    Chan Runchu¡¯s eyes were alight with rage when he said, ¡°I will destroy you for this disrespect!¡±


    ¡°I doubt it,¡± said Sen. ¡°Tseun Rong couldn¡¯t do it. What makes you think you have a better chance than him?¡±


    Chan Runchu seemed to freeze in place at the name, but the core cultivators with him didn¡¯t. Sen could hear them whispering Tseun Rong. While Sen knew that the man¡¯s death had become known, his own involvement with it hadn¡¯t seemed to spread with the news. That¡¯s one pitfall of leaving no survivors, he thought. Based on the sudden consternation that appeared on Chan Runchu¡¯s face, he had made the connection. The core formation upstart he¡¯d come to put in his place had killed a nascent soul cultivator before. A nascent soul cultivator who was at least as strong as, if not stronger, than Chan Runchu himself. And that fight had taken place outside the capital, away from any formations that Sen might have put in place to empower himself here at the heart of his own domain. What had likely sounded like a simple task to the elder from the Shattering Earth sect had suddenly become a true life-or-death situation that did not favor him the way he¡¯d expected it to.


    Sen was curious to see what the man would do. A smart man would look for a way to back down from such an uncertain fight. Then again, a smart man might have chosen to be less confrontational until he understood what he was dealing with better. Sen was starting to think that he¡¯d been overestimating nascent soul cultivators. Not so much in terms of their power, which was undeniable, but in terms of their wisdom. He kept expecting them to be more like Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho. All of them were certainly capable of being irrational, but he generally found them to be more restrained and thoughtful than other nascent soul cultivators. He didn¡¯t know if it was age, experience, or just something in their personalities that made the difference. A very uncharitable part of him thought that maybe it was because they didn¡¯t spend all of their time in sects having juniors burnishing their egos all of the time. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°You killed Tseun Rong?¡± asked Chan Runchu.


    ¡°I did,¡± agreed Sen.


    ¡°How?¡± demanded the elder.


    ¡°Effectively,¡± said Sen.


    It wasn¡¯t an answer, but it was all the answer that such a stupid question deserved. Chan Runchu looked like he didn¡¯t want to believe the claim, but his eyes drifted over to the still unconscious form of his core formation junior. The ease with which Sen had suppressed that man, to say nothing of how he had all but ignored the elder¡¯s attempts to protect the cultivator, must have been too fresh in Chan Runchu¡¯s memory to convince himself that Sen couldn¡¯t have actually killed Tseun Rong. Sen¡¯s visible lack of concern about the potential fight no doubt helped solidify that impression in the man¡¯s mind.


    ¡°If I might, Patriarch Lu,¡± said Bahn Huizhong, drawing attention to himself for the first time.


    Sen looked at the man and nodded. Bahn Huizhong turned his attention to Chan Runchu.


    ¡°Who in the thousand hells are you?¡± barked Chan Runchu. ¡°And what is a Vermilion Blade Sect cultivator doing here?¡±


    ¡°I am Bahn Huizhong, Elder of the Vermilion Blade Sect.¡±


    Chan Runchu might not have recognized the man, but it seemed he did recognize the name. He stiffened when he heard it and a deep wariness settled over his countenance.


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of you,¡± admitted Chan Runchu. ¡°But why are you interfering in this? This doesn¡¯t involve the Vermilion Blade Sect.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not trying to interfere. I¡¯m just a guest here at the moment. The Vermilion Blade Sect has no official position on this matter. I just thought you might accept a word of advice, one elder to another.¡±


    Chan Runchu¡¯s eyes narrowed, but he asked, ¡°What advice is that?¡±


    ¡°Apologize for your incredibly rude behavior.¡±


    ¡°Why should I do that?¡±


    Bahn Huizhong shrugged and said, ¡°Well, it might save your life. It might also suggest that you have some interest in saving the lives of your juniors. Or is the Shattering Earth Sect in the habit of wasting the lives of its core formation disciples? If so, then please carry on.¡±


    Chan Runchu¡¯s face twisted in anger, but then he looked at the disciples who had come with him. He finally seemed to see what Sen had noticed long since. Those disciples were afraid. They were trying to hide it, but they were clearly frightened by the prospect that their senior was going to lead them straight to their deaths. A prospect that no doubt felt very plausible after what Sen had done to their fellow disciple. The Shattering Earth Sect elder looked at those disciples for what felt like a long time. Then, he shifted his gaze back to Bahn Huizhong, as though he was searching for something in the other cultivator¡¯s face.


    As much as he wanted Chan Runchu to do it, Sen didn¡¯t think that the man¡¯s pride would let him take the path to escape that Bahn Huizhong had so generously provided. Nor was Sen certain that he could let it go at that. As much as he preferred to avoid bloodshed, it wasn¡¯t clear that this was a situation where it could be avoided. He had the feeling that letting Chan Runchu go would just mean the man coming back with a more powerful elder to try to force Sen¡¯s hand in some kind of unfavorable agreement or to kill him outright. Given those possibilities, Sen wasn¡¯t sure he could let the man or his disciples go. Sen wondered if some of those thoughts might have bled through in some way to his expression because Chan Runchu¡¯s face blanched when he looked at Sen. The elder¡¯s eyes shot back to the disciples behind him for a moment.


    ¡°Patriarch Lu,¡± said the man, even if it sounded like it caused him physical pain to do it. ¡°I apologize for my behavior today. I spoke in an unseemly and disrespectful way. I issued an inappropriate challenge. I ask that you do not punish my juniors for my poor judgment.¡±


    Sen took a deep breath as he considered his next words.


    ¡°Thank you for the apology, Elder Chan,¡± said Sen.


    He could see the relief on the faces of the disciples. It made him feel a bit guilty about what was coming next.


    Sen continued, ¡°However, I don¡¯t see that preventing others from your sect coming here to issue similarly ill-considered challenges. In fact, I expect that letting you go now would almost guarantee it.¡±


    From the looks that the disciples traded, Sen knew that he was right. They expected something exactly like that to happen.


    ¡°Am I wrong, Elder Chan?¡± asked Sen.


    Chan Runchu said nothing. He wanted to lie. Sen could see that much on his face. The problem was that the lie would be so obvious that it was likely to push Sen into resolving the issue with immediate violence. The very thing that the elder wanted to avoid. Bahn Huizhong once more stepped in.


    ¡°Patriarch Lu. Perhaps Elder Chan could do something to reassure you that you won¡¯t be forced to cull the entire Shattering Earth Sect from the face of the world.¡±


    The almost bland way that Bahn Huizhong said those words seemed to give Chan Runchu and all of the disciples with him pause. It was as if the man took it for granted that Sen could and would do exactly that.


    ¡°I¡¯m open to suggestions,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Perhaps a promise to do everything he can to prevent any future foolishness. Something binding,¡± said Bahn Huizhong, looking directly at Chan Runchu. ¡°A vow to the heavens, maybe?¡±


    Chan Runchu looked like he was about to spit blood, which gave Sen the distinct impression that the man had planned on running back to his sect to get help and then coming right back. He was about to dismiss the idea, but the Shattering Earth Sect elder surprised him.


    ¡°I, Chan Runchu, elder of the Shattering Earth Sect, vow to the heavens that I will do everything in my power to prevent my sect from carrying out any future acts of aggression against Judgment¡¯s Gale and his sect.¡±


    Sen was sure that the words were said in bad faith, but the glow of the heavens accepting the vow appeared around the man. Perhaps the man had been motivated by a genuine desire to save his juniors. Sen considered the group before he nodded.


    ¡°Very well,¡± he said. ¡°Go, and do not return.¡±


    The Shattering Earth Sect members didn¡¯t waste any time in retreating. Sen watched them go with mixed feelings. Sua Xing Xing let out a relieved breath.


    ¡°I thought that was going to end bloody,¡± she said.


    ¡°So did I,¡± admitted Sen as he turned to Bahn Huizhong. ¡°Is there a particular reason you saved their lives?¡±


    Bahn Huizhong gave him a surprised look.


    ¡°Because there¡¯s a war coming. We¡¯ll need them.¡±

 V9 Chapter 21 – Sharing Time

    ¡°War?¡± asked Sua Xing Xing. ¡°What war?¡±


    Sen had been a little surprised that Bahn Huizhong knew, but not entirely shocked. Sen hadn¡¯t spread the news to that particular sect, for so very many reasons, but the elder of the Vermilion Blade Sect increasingly struck him as the sort of man who didn¡¯t miss that much. Of course, Sua Xing Xing had not been in the circle of trust for that particular secret. Some of it was simply his discomfort with the woman. Telling her would inevitably mean spending more time with her, rather than less time with her. He also wasn¡¯t sure about her allegiances. He had put out quiet feelers to see if she had actually left her old sect, and the answer seemed to be yes. Of course, that was a very easy lie to maintain if most of the sect was told that it was true. Now, though, the information was in the air. Sua Xing Xing was looking back and forth between Sen and Bahn Huizhong expectantly. The sect elder was giving Sen an apologetic look, having seemed to realize he¡¯d let something slip that he probably shouldn¡¯t have.


    ¡°Follow me,¡± said Sen in a tired voice. ¡°Both of you. We might as well get this all out of the way now.¡±


    Sen led them to his office and told the young man outside that they weren¡¯t to be disturbed for anything that wasn¡¯t a true disaster. Sen slumped into the chair, a comfy one he¡¯d had made, behind his desk. There were two more chairs in the room. They were not as comfortable. Sen didn¡¯t love the idea of giving people a reason to want to stay in his office. Bahn Huizhong settled in one of the chairs, while Sua Xing Xing produced a tea set from somewhere and, with a bit of assistance from Sen, made them all tea. With cups in everyone''s hands, Sen regarded the other two. He started with Bahn Huizhong.


    ¡°You¡¯ve clearly put some things together. So, what do you know or, maybe I should say, what do you suspect?¡±


    Bahn Huizhong briefly eyed Sua Xing Xing, which drew an annoyed look from the woman.


    ¡°In terms of what I know,¡± said the man, ¡°it¡¯s not much. I know that there¡¯s been a lot of communication between sect leaders lately. A lot more than there usually is. I was told by my sect patriarch to get ready and that something was coming. I reached out to some people I knew and they told me there¡¯s a war brewing, but it all got very speculative after that. Some people think it¡¯s going to be a war between kingdoms here. Some people think it¡¯s going to be war with one of the kingdoms over the Mountains of Sorrow. There¡¯s even a rumor or two floating around about some kind of sect war, but no one seemed quite sure which sects it would be. The only thing that everyone seemed sure about was that a war with someone was coming.¡±


    Sen nodded. He supposed that was about what he expected to be going around in the upper reaches of most sects.


    ¡°Okay,¡± said Sen. ¡°That¡¯s what you heard. Now, what do you think is going to happen?¡±


    Bahn Huizhong took a lot longer to answer that question. He kept putting it off by taking another sip of tea until the cup in his hand was empty.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like to guess,¡± said the elder. ¡°Guessing is dangerous when it comes to war.¡±


    ¡°Humor me,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯m not what anyone would call a political expert, but you can¡¯t be an elder for as long as I have without learning some things, even if it¡¯s mostly by accident. You get a feel for the politics of nearby nations. If there¡¯s a war coming, it¡¯s not going to happen between any of the kingdoms on this side of the mountains. There just isn¡¯t enough tension. As for war with someone on the other side of the mountains¡­ I guess that might be true, but I doubt it. The sects here are petty, but none of them want to give up the power they have to answer to some cultivator dictator. More to the point, the kingdoms there know that about us. Taking territory on this side of the mountains is probably achievable. The problem is keeping it. It¡¯s too much hassle, too much blood, and too much expense.¡±


    Sen nodded while Sua Xing Xing was listening very closely to every word the man spoke.


    ¡°So, what does that leave?¡± asked Sen.


    He was pretty sure that the man had guessed. Even so, it was better to hear it for sure than make wrong assumptions.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t leave much. I don¡¯t know how or why, but all I can¡¯t think of that¡¯s left is either an invasion from the lands beyond the seas or a conflict with the spirit beasts.¡±


    Sen had never considered an invasion from overseas. He was vaguely aware that there were civilizations there but contact with them had been sparse, if one was being charitable, and nonexistent if one was being practical. Not that there had been a reason to consider it, since he knew what was coming. He nodded in acknowledgment of the man¡¯s words.


    ¡°What I¡¯m about to tell the two of you is being kept quiet. Generally, it¡¯s only being shared with sect patriarchs, matriarchs, some carefully selected sect higher-ups, and mortal royalty. There has clearly been a bit of talk about some kind of war, but I¡¯m honestly surprised the secret has held this long. That being said, this is not information you are to share casually. Can you live with that?¡±


    Sua Xing Xing wore the most serious expression he¡¯d ever seen on the woman¡¯s face.


    ¡°Yes, Patriarch,¡± she said without hesitation or any of her usual annoying habits.


    Bahn Huizhong looked conflicted, no doubt thinking about all of those people back at his sect that Sen was essentially asking him to keep in the dark. The man eventually nodded. He didn¡¯t look happy about it, and Sen felt for him. He didn¡¯t love keeping the secret either.


    ¡°There will be a war between humanity and the spirit beasts on this continent. It¡¯s going to happen soon. In reality, it¡¯s already started. It¡¯s just that most people don¡¯t realize it yet. That¡¯s going to change, though. It¡¯s only a question of when. This has been coming for a long time. There is a so-called Beast King. No, I don¡¯t know much about him. I do know he¡¯s been consolidating power for a long time. Centuries, at least. He¡¯s been culling spirit beasts who weren¡¯t interested in joining him, but that time is over or very close to over. He¡¯s getting ready to start attacking us.¡±


    Sua Xing Xing looked at him, questions burning in her eyes.


    ¡°How do you know all of this?¡±


    ¡°Because my master has been investigating the spirit beasts for a while now. He went out to confront them deep in the wilds. There was a battle.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± said Sua Xing Xing.


    ¡°For what?¡± asked Sen.


    The woman looked a little confused when she said, ¡°I assume your master fell in that battle if he went alone.¡±


    ¡°Oh, he went alone, but he¡¯s a hard man to kill.¡±


    Bahn Huizhong was looking at Sua Xing Xing like she was an idiot.


    ¡°What?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you know who his master is? It¡¯s not a secret.¡±


    ¡°There are rumors, but it¡¯s always best to assume those aren¡¯t true until you get confirmation.¡±


    Bahn Huizhong¡¯s expression softened.


    ¡°Alright. I have to give that to you. I can¡¯t fault anyone for having a bit of healthy skepticism. In this case, though, I have very high confidence those rumors are true.¡±


    Sua Xing Xing¡¯s eyes went a little wide as she turned to look at Sen.


    ¡°You mean¡­ Feng Ming is actually your master?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Sen, a little amused. ¡°You¡¯ve probably seen him around.¡±


    ¡°Where?¡±


    ¡°Who did you think that old man running around all the time with my daughter was?¡±


    ¡°But if he¡¯s¡ª¡± she started to say, drawing the other obvious connection.


    Sen cut her off, not wanting to get dragged too far off the point.


    ¡°Anyway, he dealt them a significant blow, which likely bought us some time, but that time is running out. Long before we¡¯re ready, everyone will be up to our eyes in hostile spirit beasts pouring out of the wilds and looking for blood.¡±


    ¡°It makes sense now,¡± said Bahn Huizhong. ¡°Training the mortals the way you have been. Starting a sect when you so clearly hate them. Reinforcing the defenses around the town, plus whatever you¡¯d done here that I can¡¯t see. I¡¯m assuming it¡¯s significant.¡±


    Before Sen could respond, Sua Xing Xing cut in with an almost accusatory tone.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been preparing for this. From the start.¡±


    ¡°Not from the start. From about a year ago.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me before now?¡±


    Sen gave her an incredulous look.


    ¡°Really? You can¡¯t figure that out?¡±


    She didn¡¯t quite grind her teeth, but Sen thought it was a close thing.


    ¡°You probably think I¡¯m a plant. Or, you think I¡¯m just some self-serving cultivator.¡±


    ¡°Can you think of anything you¡¯ve done that would have convinced me otherwise?¡±


    ¡°I might have tried a little harder to convince you if I¡¯d known all of this was coming.¡±


    ¡°You should have tried harder regardless if you actually wanted me to trust you. At this point, I have to start relying on people I don¡¯t particularly trust because there¡¯s no other choice.¡±


    Sua Xing Xing looked a little paler after that rebuke.


    ¡°What are we planning to do?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Plan?¡± asked Sen. ¡°What makes you think that there is a plan beyond what¡¯s already being done?¡±


    ¡°But¡ª¡± she started only to have Bahn Huizhong cut her off.


    ¡°Where would you suggest we rally our forces?¡± he asked.


    Sen appreciated the effectiveness of that question. It folded together a lot of distinct problems into one, easy-to-grasp problem. It didn¡¯t take Sua Xing Xing long to start mentally unpacking all of those distinct issues, at least if the vaguely sick expression she wore was any indication.


    ¡°Oh,¡± was her only reply.


    ¡°The only things we can do right now are train, advance, and fortify our positions,¡± said Sen. ¡°Well, that and not scare all of the mortals into doing something stupid. If you¡¯re looking to help, help me with that.¡±

 V9 Chapter 22 – The Nature of Trust

    ¡°How long do you think?¡± Sen asked, not for the first time.


    ¡°Tomorrow. In a month. In a year,¡± answered Master Feng, not for the first time.


    ¡°I thought we¡¯d know more by now.¡±


    ¡°We were always going to be at a disadvantage in terms of information. It didn¡¯t have to be this way, but human beings are short-sighted at best.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°How much land do humans actually control? How much land do the spirit beasts control?¡±


    Those were depressing questions. Human beings had carved out areas of control, but Sen knew from firsthand experience that it was a fraction of the space occupied by the wilds.


    ¡°Not much and too much,¡± Sen admitted.


    ¡°I¡¯ve advised mortals kings and sects in the past to make an effort to expand those areas of human control, but there were always excuses. Too much expense for not enough gain. Too much loss of life for no profit. Once, I personally cleared enough space around a city for them to expand fifty miles in every direction. Within a few generations, half of that land was the wilds again. Within a century, all of it was.¡±


    ¡°What city?¡± asked Sen, his curiosity piqued.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. The place doesn¡¯t exist anymore. The real problem is that people are scared of the wilds. No, that''s not right. People should have a healthy fear of the deep wilds. The problem is that people are superstitiously terrified of anything that even remotely resembles the wilds. You occasionally see some people made of sterner stuff that carve out a place away from the big human cities, like your town here, but it¡¯s rare.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not my town,¡± said Sen.


    Master Feng shook his head and said, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s your town. It stopped being their town when their main sources of income became your academy, people looking to join your academy, and the students from your academy. To say nothing of the merchants that come here because of you or looking to buy crafts that you introduced to other places. If you packed everything up and left tomorrow, this town would cease to exist within a couple of years.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a bad thing,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a good or bad thing. It¡¯s just how it is. Like it or not, your presence here draws attention. That attention brought money with it. The townspeople are adapting to serve new needs and new demands, as they should. If they hadn¡¯t adapted, they¡¯d be starving to death or forced out. Yes, they¡¯re dependent on you or at least the continued existence of your academy. Really, though, it¡¯s not that different than the capital being dependent on the presence of the royalty, nobility, and sects there. Port towns depend on shipping and fishing.


    ¡°So, yes. If something fundamental changes, it¡¯s bad for them. On the other hand, the people here have seen huge improvements in their lives. People who used to do every bit of labor themselves have an apprentice or five now. Just look at that seamstress friend of yours. I bet she only picks up a needle these days when she wants to. They¡¯re making more money in a month than some of them used to make in a year or two. Merchants come here on purpose, and not only every so often. They bring new goods, which can also make life easier or more comfortable. Bad and good,¡± said Master Feng.


    He held out his hands palms up and moved them up and down like a scale. Sen nodded, if a little begrudgingly. He knew that Master Feng was right. It just made Sen very uncomfortable to have so many people¡¯s lives depend on him, directly or indirectly. It made every decision feel heavier, and he constantly had to weigh how his choices would affect not only him and the members of his sect, but everyone who lived in the town. A town that was growing increasingly crowded. Part of him knew that he should encourage them to expand. Honestly, it would be useful to have a second wall that he put his students to work on. It would give them much-needed practice not only in building but also in creating formations.


    At the same time, it would encourage more people to come to the town, and he was quite certain that would include elements he didn¡¯t want there. Crime in the town was infrequent, but that had as much to do with how well everyone there knew each other. Add hundreds or even a thousand new people, and that closeness would start to break down. Crime would become more commonplace. The relatively small force of town guards would have to be expanded and trained. That shouldn¡¯t be his problem, but Sen knew that it ultimately would become his problem. Sen was well aware of what happened when town guards were stupid, lazy, and poorly trained. He¡¯d been on the receiving end of that kind of town guard¡¯s attention often as a child.


    He also knew that the training he was giving the mortals wasn¡¯t well-suited for that kind of work. He was training people to do exactly one thing. Kill spirit beasts. He wasn¡¯t training them to investigate crimes or subdue humans. If he wanted people who were good at that, he was going to have to find someone who was already good at it and convince them to come here. Not that convincing someone was necessarily the biggest difficulty. Money had a way of doing that for Sen. While he had handed over most of his money to Grandmother Lu to support her efforts at stabilizing the House of Lu and securing their interests, the Sect was turning out to be more profitable than Sen expected.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    It wasn¡¯t a river of money, but core formation cultivators seeking entry almost always brought good stuff, at least some of it intended for Sen specifically. He usually just dumped it all into the sect¡¯s resources, but he didn¡¯t have to do that every single time. Plus, he could always run another auction. Something the sects in the capital had been quietly lobbying Grandmother Lu about for months now. It might take a few days out in the wilds to gather up what he needed, but one auction would be enough to rake in substantial funds. There were other, longer-term reasons to consider an auction, not just in the capital, but in some of the other cities in the kingdom. While Sen hated to blindly provide resources that could strengthen cultivators he might find objectionable, the coming fight would need people to be as strong as they could reasonably get.


    The planning necessary to set those things up would be a huge pain, but probably worth the effort in the long run. Sen added yet another item to his truly monumental list of things to do. Something must have shown on his face because Master Feng gave him a look.


    ¡°I¡¯m just thinking about¡­¡± Sen tried to find the right word. ¡°Everything, I guess. Everything that should be done, that I¡¯d like to see done, and things I could possibly do that would benefit the war effort.¡±


    ¡°You need to find yourself some good help. Barring that, find yourself some reasonably competent help. Half the things you¡¯re doing right now are things that no sect patriarch should be doing. Those are problems they hand off to sect elders, and most of them hand part of that work off to their reliable help.¡±


    ¡°They probably trust the people in their sect,¡± observed Sen with a wry note in his voice.


    ¡°Probably, but I think you sometimes mistake dislike for distrust. They aren¡¯t the same thing. At least, they shouldn¡¯t be,¡± said Master Feng, nodding toward something.


    Sen followed his teacher¡¯s gaze.


    ¡°Her? Seriously?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I know it looks like that I spend most of my time being a doting grandfather,¡± said Master Feng. ¡°Okay, I really do spend most of my time on that. But I do occasionally look in on what the cultivators here are doing. She¡¯s competent.¡±


    ¡°Of course, she¡¯s competent. She¡¯s a core cultivator, but¡ª¡±


    ¡°You just don¡¯t like her,¡± said Master Feng.


    ¡°No. I don¡¯t like her. She just wants to use me to advance her own cultivation.¡±


    ¡°So?¡± asked Master Feng.


    Sen stared at his master with slack-jawed incomprehension. He would have expected any number of reactions, but blanket indifference wasn¡¯t one of them.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound problematic to you?¡±


    ¡°Why would it?¡± asked Master Feng. ¡°Sen, the entire sect system is about people using each other to advance. Everyone goes into that situation knowing it. It¡¯s formalized and restricted in some ways, but young cultivators go in hoping to use more experienced cultivators to learn and push their advancement forward. Older cultivators use younger cultivators to do things they don¡¯t want to bother with, but also as a method of refining their own knowledge. Nothing exposes your weaknesses like teaching, after all.¡±


    Having become aware of some of his own shortcomings through teaching others, Sen was hard-pressed to deny the statement. It didn¡¯t mean he liked any of it.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean I have to do things that way,¡± objected Sen.


    ¡°You already do. You¡¯re a softer touch than most, and that has trickled down a bit, but the same expectations still apply here as they do in any other sect. Wanting people around you who are there solely because you have a deep, mutual respect is¡­ I suppose it¡¯s a little admirable, but it¡¯s also na?ve. What you¡¯re establishing here is a sect, not a family. And when the fighting starts, I promise that you¡¯ll meet people, work with people, you despise much more intensely than you dislike her. So, let me ask you this. Has she lied to you?¡±


    ¡°Not that I¡¯m aware of,¡± said Sen.


    ¡°Has she failed to fulfill any of her responsibilities?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°So, aside from being ambitious and a little too obviously willing to jump into bed with you, a trait she shares with plenty of other people, I might add, do you have a single good reason not to give her more responsibility?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know that I can trust her.¡±


    ¡°You never know that,¡± said Master Feng. ¡°Not ever. Not with anyone. Not for sure.¡±


    ¡°I know I can trust you. I can trust Grandmother Lu, Falling Leaf, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho,¡± said Sen, feeling triumphant.


    ¡°No. You believe you can trust us. It¡¯s a belief backed up with a lot of evidence, I¡¯ll grant you that, but it is still just belief. Beyond that, we¡¯re your family. That¡¯s an unreasonable standard to apply to everyone else in the world.¡±


    Sen wanted to deny the words, but he couldn¡¯t quite make himself do it. The kind of trust he shared with all of them was an unreasonable standard. In large part, it was unreasonable because it required shared experiences from which Sen would automatically exclude most people. Falling Leaf had been his closest friend for half his life. Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho had been his teachers, to say nothing of the first people who ever acted like he could be more than a street rat. Grandmother Lu had almost certainly saved his life as a child. They had given him his first sustained experiences of respect and love. No one else would ever live up to that. How could they?


    But he still had to live in the world. Even if he couldn¡¯t ever trust anyone else with that depth, trust wasn¡¯t an all-or-nothing proposition. He trusted Jing, even if that trust was conditional. After all, Jing had a country to run, which meant he had to do things that benefited the entire country. It was a position that Sen had a lot more sympathy for now that he was stuck worrying about an entire town. He trusted Lo Meifeng, even if he¡¯d made her work ridiculously hard to earn it. He could trust beyond that small circle of people he saw as family. He just had to be more reasonable about it.


    ¡°I hate being reasonable,¡± complained Sen.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± agreed Master Feng. ¡°That never stops being bothersome.¡±

 V9 Chapter 23 – Lists

    Sen stared down at the scroll in front of him. In a bid to undercut Master Feng¡¯s implied assertion that he had too much to do, Sen had sat down and written out a list. It included all of the things he considered important both for the immediate future and for the eventual outbreak of the war. Even for a man who was used to working hard, almost around the clock, the list was daunting. It truly was more than he could handle. Any one task on the list would be simple and easy. The same was probably true of any ten tasks on the list, but the list was much, much longer than that.


    There were things on that list that he¡¯d been meaning to do for a year or more. For example, he¡¯d always meant to set up a way for the nearby towns and villages to alert them if a spirit beast attack came. At the time, it had just seemed prudent. Now, it was critical, and it had been all but forgotten. He thought there was a ready solution to it, but it needed more testing. Until he was sure it would work, sanity demanded he look into more mundane options. More recently, he¡¯d meant to establish a system to ensure a regular back and forth of communication between himself and Grandmother Lu. He¡¯d been in and out of the capital often enough that he¡¯d been able to get updates in person, but that wouldn¡¯t always be true. If he ever had to leave the sect to participate in fighting for any length of time, he needed the line of communication in place.


    He¡¯d meant to look into the possibility of having more core cultivators from other sects come and serve as teachers. Not indefinitely, but perhaps for six months or a year. Long enough to help refine the students¡¯ fighting skills or provide some alternate perspectives on specific affinities or even crafts. He was still hesitant about bringing in people from sects, and he¡¯d have to make sure his expectations were very clear. Even so, he thought that it would offer more benefits than risks. That had never been more than an idea in his head that he would get to when he had time. The absurdity of that was starkly displayed before him as a giant list. He didn¡¯t have the time and probably wouldn¡¯t have it for years to come.


    That was excluding all the things he meant to get done in pursuit of his own cultivation journey. He''d written out a separate list for those tasks. He was still training with Fu Ruolan, although training was probably a strong word for it. He could shadow travel almost as well as she could. The gap in skill was small enough now that she¡¯d even admitted that there wasn¡¯t anything else she could tell him. The rest was a matter of time and practice. He¡¯d have to find his own insights to refine his use. They had ultimately gone back to alchemy. Instead of teaching him, though, she had been pushing him to understand what he did better. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was because she was hoping that he¡¯d be able to teach her a little piece of it or if it was simply to make him better. It¡¯s probably both, he thought.


    That made him feel a little guilty. He¡¯d been wandering around with that Shadow Gate Manual since he got back and had barely looked at it. His interest was as strong as ever, there just hadn¡¯t been time to give it the focused attention it needed. A manual like that wasn¡¯t something he could digest in an evening. It would likely take months of intense study to truly understand what it contained. Or, if he devoted what negligible time he did have, it would probably take years. Knowing that, the right move was probably to hand it off to someone else with a strong shadow affinity. The manual would be of interest to Fu Ruolan. He didn¡¯t even need to ask her to know that. But he was loathe to hand it over before he¡¯d gotten a good, long look at it. He recognized the selfishness of that, but selfishness was inescapable as a cultivator. You didn¡¯t give away resources you could use willingly.


    Then, there was the fire-attributed ginseng he¡¯d found beneath the former Xie manor. He¡¯d mostly resolved to give it to Auntie Caihong. That had as much to do with getting it out of his possession and into the hands of someone who could truly defend it as it did with her alchemy skills. Except, once he did that, he¡¯d just knew that he¡¯d be forced to explain it to Fu Ruolan. He also knew that, no matter how good or reasonable the explanation, she¡¯d be hurt. It would be complicated pain too. That was an emotional knot he didn¡¯t know how to untangle because only some of it would have to do with him. The rest of it would be tied up with Fu Ruolan¡¯s relationship with Auntie Caihong. That was a problem he had no intention of getting involved with because it really wasn¡¯t his business. Unfortunately, all of that meant he kept putting off giving Auntie Caihong the ginseng.


    Beyond that, he still needed to maintain his practice with his martial forms. Realistically, he should be practicing with Master Feng every day. It was quite probably the only way he was going to improve unless he found one of the people that Master Feng considered an equal to teach him. A task that would inevitably involve a journey he couldn¡¯t undertake anytime soon. Not before Ai assumed control of the House of Lu, probably. There was also the matter of developing his own spear style. Uncle Kho had said that everyone did it, but Sen felt like not doing it was ignoring something that might be both helpful and potentially life-saving one day.


    He had been a little surprised that he hadn¡¯t gotten to a similar place with the jian. He¡¯d always considered himself more of a swordsman than a spearman. He¡¯d even asked Master Feng about it. The elder cultivator had seemed intrigued but had no definitive answers.


    ¡°Cultivation is a personal journey, Sen. What you get and when depends as much on you as anything else. You may just think that you haven¡¯t gotten everything there is to learn yet from what I taught you. Then again, maybe the universe is holding it back for some reason. There¡¯s no way to know.¡±Stolen novel; please report.


    Not that Sen was entirely sad about that turn of events. If that chance did exist, he feared it would just be one more thing he felt bad about not pursuing. Sen couldn¡¯t help but feel a little angry about the lists. So much of what was on them were byproducts of him rushing or, more truthfully, being rushed through his advancements. He should have had centuries, even millenniums, to pursue so much of this. He knew that he could have happily spent decades or even centuries pursuing alchemy alone. It would have been a pure pleasure to take that time to learn from Auntie Caihong and even from Fu Ruolan. He would have given almost anything to be able to do nothing but practice with the jian for a hundred years. How much could he learn from that? He didn¡¯t know, but it would have been glorious to find out.


    All of that rushing made it extremely difficult for him not to worry that his foundations were weak and shallow compared to what they ought to be. It didn¡¯t matter how many times Master Feng assured him that his foundations were very solid, that fear haunted him. He knew that another tribulation was coming for him soon. He knew it would be terrible. If someone¡¯s foundations were going to crack and fail, that was when it was most likely to happen. They were often the most pressure a cultivator was ever put under, save for the most extreme life-or-death situations. Even those deadly situations often paled in comparison, because it was difficult for one cultivator to put that kind of pressure on someone else¡¯s foundations while fighting. Any of the nascent soul cultivators he knew well could probably pull it off if they faced off with someone at a lesser cultivation level, but why would they?


    Sen let out a little sigh, picked up his tea, and leaned back in his chair. He frowned at the cold liquid in his cup and used a bit of fire qi to warm it again. His gaze drifted back to the lists on the table. His grand plan to prove Master Feng wrong had utterly failed. He didn¡¯t need just one reliable person. He needed five of them. He wished he could recruit Bahn Huizhong. He genuinely liked that man. Sen even thought it wouldn¡¯t be that hard to trust him. They shared a similar view of the world. They even seemed to analyze threats in a similar way. He just doubted he¡¯d ever be able to pry the man away from the Vermilion Blade Sect for the dubious honor of joining a sect that barely qualified as a sect. Then again, he supposed it never hurt to ask. The worst that would happen is that Bahn Huizhong would say no. He probably wouldn¡¯t even be offended if Sen couched it in the right way.


    That was something for tomorrow, though. The lists were a problem for today. He sipped a bit more of his tea and then pulled out yet another scroll. He started copying over items from the first list. Not absolutely crucial things that needed to work out. Just things that Sen wanted done and handled with basic competence. He copied over ten items and then hesitated. Maybe one thing that was more important, he thought. It can be a test for her. I¡¯ll task her with the town expansion. It was complicated, and probably not something she could get done entirely by herself, but that was part of the test. He¡¯d see if she was willing to delegate responsibilities appropriately and seek help when necessary. He looked the list over a few times and finally had someone send for Sua Xing Xing.


    He put away his list of personal goals and tasks. Then, he made a fresh pot of tea. The stuff in his cup hadn¡¯t been bad, but it was old enough that it tasted a bit stale. He snorted to himself. He had come a long way. There had been a time when he never would have tossed out tea just because it was a little stale. It would have seemed unconscionably wasteful. No, he thought. I¡¯d have considered wasting any kind of food an unforgivable sin. He still struggled with that when it came to actual food, but tea was just far enough from being solid food that it didn¡¯t make him flinch to pour out an old pot.


    Sua Xing Xing arrived faster than he expected which made him wonder what she¡¯d been doing beforehand. If she¡¯d been teaching, it probably should have taken longer. He decided it probably didn¡¯t matter. He had asked her to come, so he shouldn¡¯t complain that she was prompt about it. She looked a little uncertain about the summons but seemed to calm when he just gestured to a chair. He let her pour out the tea for them, which seemed to calm her more. He honestly didn¡¯t know why that seemed to matter so much to so many people, but he supposed it didn¡¯t hurt him to let her show him respect by pouring the tea. Once they both had a cup, he didn¡¯t waste time.


    ¡°It has been suggested to me that I am not making good use of your talents,¡± said Sen.


    Sua Xing Xing froze, the teacup halfway to her lips. He could almost see her mind working as her eyes moved back and forth a little like she was searching for some unseen person. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what she thought he meant, but she blushed a little which told him that she had the wrong idea about it on some level. She regained herself and took a sip of the tea before she reacted.


    ¡°I see,¡± she said in a neutral tone. ¡°And what have you concluded about that?¡±


    ¡°That perhaps I¡¯ve been¡­harsher with you than is entirely appropriate. So, here,¡± said Sen, handing her the scroll with the short list on it.


    She set down her tea, took the scroll, and unrolled it. She studied the list, her face still fixed in an almost blank expression.


    ¡°Patriarch?¡±


    ¡°Moving forward, those are now your tasks. I don¡¯t have the time to manage them myself, and they need to be done. You may use members of the academy to assist you, within reason. You may draw on sect funds up to fifty gold taels. Speak with Li Beihe to get the funds on an as-needed basis. If you require more, speak to me. We¡¯ll discuss it.¡±


    Sua Xing Xing shot out of her chair and seemed to be fighting the urge to smile. She bowed low, the scroll clutched to her chest like she feared she might somehow lose it if it left her hands.


    ¡°Thank you, Patriarch. I will not fail you in these tasks.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t thank me. Thank Feng Ming.¡±


    She straightened fast and her expression turned to something Sen didn¡¯t recognize. It wasn¡¯t quite fear and wasn¡¯t quite horror but probably had a familial relationship with both.


    ¡°I¡­ I wouldn¡¯t dare,¡± she said.


    ¡°You should. He¡¯ll probably think it¡¯s hilarious. It¡¯ll mean that he was right, and I listened when he told me so.¡±

 V9 Chapter 24 – Want One?

    Sua Xing Xing did her best to stay composed as she left the Patriarch¡¯s office. It was a struggle. Her hands were shaking and her heart refused to stop pounding. A year. She had stayed here for a year, more than a year, and grown increasingly despondent. It hadn¡¯t all been terrible. She hadn¡¯t been abused by anyone. No one had asked her to do anything she found remotely objectionable. She had even been allowed to join the sect when Lu Sen had finally given up on the fantasy that he could start anything but a sect. In truth, it had been exciting in a lot of ways. Her former sect was old, established, and set in its ways, as was the case for most sects. That made watching a sect get built from the literal ground up very educational.


    Lu Sen had, oh so grudgingly, accepted people from other sects, and those new members had often tried to import their prior sect¡¯s thinking about rank and privilege. Those attempts had been crushed ruthlessly. The assumption that cultivators with more advanced cultivation could simply order around those with lower cultivation was always the first casualty. The Patriarch made sure that those who served as teachers in the sect knew that it wasn¡¯t to be tolerated. They generally did a good job of making that point to the new members, sometimes with painful corrections to behavior. When they failed, there was always the Cold Blade.


    While her cultivation was higher than his, Sua Xing Xing shivered whenever she saw that man. He frightened her. Not that he was the only one. The Patriarch frightened her too, but that was different. Her fear of the patriarch was more objective. The man¡¯s power simply dwarfed her own. There would never be a conflict between them because such a conflict between them would be utterly, hilariously pointless. He would crush her, probably while carrying on a conversation with someone and making some kind of shadow toy for his daughter. It was rational to hold a healthy fear of anyone who eclipsed you so thoroughly.


    Her fear of Long Jia Wei was not rational. It was primal. All cultivators killed. It was inevitable and unavoidable. The timing was always in question, but the eventuality was as certain as sunrise. It would always come. She had killed, more than once, and it seemed very likely she would do so again in the not-too-distant future if the Patriarch was correct about the coming war. Still, she didn¡¯t think of herself as a killer. She did it out of necessity, not preference. Long Jia Wei was a man who killed because that was what he was good at, and it didn¡¯t bother him to do so. He was a killer if an extraordinarily disciplined one. When other means failed to get the point across that certain expectations were to be met for anyone who wished to remain in the sect, the Cold Blade went to have a conversation with those wayward students.


    She had seen the end result of those conversations. She knew enough about inflicting pain and causing harm to know that he maximized pain while avoiding anything that would leave lasting harm. It was something she had realized required a particular kind of deftness, a natural if brutal subtlety. She didn¡¯t possess it. If she had tried to do the things he had done, she would have killed someone or crippled them permanently. Of course, all of that skill only served to tell her that if he wanted someone dead, it would be simplicity itself for him to make it happen. The difference in their cultivation level would only matter if she saw him coming. She sincerely doubted that she would. That kind of skill paired with that kind of comfort with killing made him feel alien to her, which only fueled her irrational fear.


    The only bright spot was that Long Jia Wei seemed utterly devoted to Lu Sen. It wasn¡¯t blind fanaticism. She was almost certain about that. The man was too calm and too focused for something like that. Those kinds of fanatics were erratic as a rule. No, he had simply decided to throw his lot in with Lu Sen for better or for worse. Despite the way he unsettled her, she supposed every sect needed men like that. Her old sect no doubt had them. She simply hadn¡¯t encountered them. The sect had been big enough that those individuals were likely identified early and tucked away both for specific training and to keep their identities shrouded. Her new sect was still small enough and new enough that she eventually encountered everyone. Still, she reasoned that as long as she didn¡¯t do anything to cross the Patriarch, she should remain forever safe from Long Jia Wei¡¯s specialized attention.


    Nor had he been the source of her growing despair. The Patriarch had been the source of that. She had arrived here with a plan and goal. The futility of those had been made clear to her very quickly. She had weighed her options at that point, almost choosing to leave, before she decided that she was likely to find more in this sect than her old one. After all, where there was change, there was opportunity. Having made the choice, she did her best to throw herself into whatever was asked of her. Hard work had a way of washing away poor first impressions. Except, it hadn¡¯t.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Lu Sen avoided her whenever he could. Oh, it wasn¡¯t anything blatant or designed to be hurtful. He wouldn¡¯t turn and walk the other direction when he saw her coming. He never ordered her to leave him alone. It was just there, something hidden right beneath his expression and a certain reluctance in his voice. He was always polite. So very damned polite. A solid wall of impenetrable politeness. She¡¯d done everything she could think of to thaw that relationship, which had only seemed to solidify his wish to avoid her. It wasn¡¯t like she¡¯d propositioned him or tried to seduce him in some dark corner, although the heavens knew she would have if he¡¯d shown even the faintest interest. Even so, his apparent aversion to her had been hard on her self-worth. Even if he didn¡¯t find her desirable, would it have killed the man to at least be friendly?


    Then, there had been that revelation about the coming war. That had hurt her more than she expected. He¡¯d very intentionally kept that information from her out of pure, unadulterated mistrust. It was only then that she¡¯d grasped the full magnitude of her failure to win him over. There was an inner circle in the sect, and she most definitively was not part of it. To be fair, though, she wasn¡¯t sure who was in it. He seemed to treat everyone in the sect with an almost native lack of faith. Except for that Bahn Huizhong elder who had shown up from out of nowhere. There had been a brief period of suspicion on Lu Sen¡¯s part, but it had faded annoyingly fast. Now, it seemed like the two were always together. She¡¯d seen them laughing together over something and was honest enough with herself to acknowledge that she¡¯d been hideously jealous. Something that could easily become hate for Bahn Huizhong had been born in her heart at that moment.


    She¡¯d considered leaving again after that. Feelings like that were unhealthy, dangerous things. They could breed equally dangerous decisions and actions. She shuddered to imagine what might have happened if she was less self-aware. Even so, she didn¡¯t like what she saw in herself at that moment. She¡¯d always considered herself a steady person who knew how to manage her own emotions. It had chilled her to the core to realize just how much she¡¯d overestimated herself. Before she could decide one way or the other, though, the summons had come. She¡¯d ordered the students she¡¯d been working with to leave immediately and rushed to the Patriarch¡¯s office. Such a summons was rare, and she hadn¡¯t known what to expect. She¡¯d worried that it was going to be him telling her to leave.


    Instead, she¡¯d been entrusted with things that mattered. Many of the things on the list were simply sect business that someone with authority had to manage, but that didn¡¯t make them trivial. They were just things that a sect patriarch shouldn¡¯t be bothered with. If that had been all that was on the list, she still would have been overjoyed. The expansion of the town, though, was something else entirely. Lu Sen was profoundly protective of the mortals in that town. He took a personal hand in almost anything the sect did that touched their lives. She didn¡¯t fully understand his feelings about mortals, but she didn¡¯t need to completely grasp those feelings to recognize and respect them. It was enough to know that he wouldn¡¯t tolerate them being mistreated and wanted them protected.


    This was a test. She was certain of that. If she understood Lu Sen¡¯s mind, it was a carefully chosen one. She hadn¡¯t hidden her indifference to mortals and knew that it had contributed to his perception of her. This was a chance. The chance she¡¯d been waiting and praying for over the last year. A real chance to prove that she was better than the impression she¡¯d given him. She just needed to not mess it up. Of course, there was also the business with all of this coming about on the recommendation of Feng Ming. The Patriarch was so casual about having Fate¡¯s Razor, a walking myth, just hanging around the sect. She wasn¡¯t nearly so confident about just engaging the man in a conversation. In fact, the mere thought of speaking with him scared her half to death. Who was she, a nobody core formation cultivator, to speak to someone like that?


    ¡°So, did he stop being stupid?¡± asked a voice from right next to her.


    She looked up and froze. It¡¯s him, she thought. The seemingly innocuous old man who spent his time playing with Lu Sen¡¯s daughter, a man who could end her life in a blink, was looking at her with an amused expression. She couldn¡¯t breathe. She couldn¡¯t think. It felt like her heart was going to explode. The nascent soul cultivator gave her a grandfatherly smile and held something out.


    ¡°Want one? Sen makes these wonderful pastries.¡±


    She looked down and there was, indeed, a pastry in the man¡¯s hand. Not sure what else to do, she grabbed it. He looked at her expectantly until she took a bite. She blinked in surprise. It was quite delicious. Had the Patriarch really made pastries? The whole situation felt surreal to her, which probably explained why she just let the man pluck the scroll out of her hand. He opened it, read it, and then nodded in apparent satisfaction.


    ¡°Ha! I knew he¡¯d come to his senses. His brain works just fine when he lets it,¡± said Fate¡¯s Razor, handing her back the scroll.


    Then, he patted her on the head in a decidedly paternal way, put another pastry in her hand, and walked away whistling a little tune.


    She stared at the pastry for a long time before she whispered, ¡°What in the thousand hells just happened?¡±

 V9 Chapter 25 – Wrath, Part 1

    Sen tapped the top of the table in his office pensively. He¡¯d spent more than a few idle minutes wondering if he¡¯d made a terrible mistake passing off some of the things on his list to Sua Xing Xing. He¡¯d doubted the decision so much that he¡¯d gone so far as to hide and peek in on her working over the course of a few weeks. That had ended with him feeling both stupid and vaguely dirty. Not only had she not been slacking off or behaving toward the mortals in a way he wouldn¡¯t like, she¡¯d been working like a woman possessed. While he could tell that she found his preoccupation with how the mortals were treated a little baffling, she went out of her way to be polite to them. It was all the more telling because she did it when she¡¯d have no way to know that someone was watching. He¡¯d ever heard from Long Jia Wei that she¡¯d intervened when she came across a group of older boys bullying a smaller boy.


    I really did judge her too harshly, he thought. He¡¯d taken his first impression of her, locked it in stone, and simply refused to notice anything that didn¡¯t conform with that impression. Not that he thought he¡¯d been completely wrong about her. She was ambitious. She was looking to use him, but not the way that so many others had meant to do. She wanted exactly what Master Feng had said she wanted. She was looking to advance, but she was also willing to work for it. That second part was what he¡¯d been ignoring. And was that really so very different from what he had done with Master Feng, Uncle Kho, and Auntie Caihong? He¡¯d been willing to take any opportunity to escape the life that fate had seemed set on giving him. When the opportunity presented itself, he¡¯d grabbed it with both hands. He had also worked himself to exhaustion to earn that new life.


    He knew it wasn¡¯t a perfect parallel. His main agenda had been pure survival with a vague idea that he might be able to help Grandmother Lu. Her agenda was advancement. He knew that most cultivators treated advancement as a life-and-death matter, but it was fundamentally different. If she never advanced again, Sua Xing Xing would have already outlived generations and generations of mortals and would outlive many more. If he hadn¡¯t been brought onto the path of cultivation, he¡¯d likely be dead now. He¡¯d had no other options, at least none that a child could reasonably be expected to understand. She could have simply stayed with her old sect. She might have reached the nascent soul stage, she might not have, but she could probably have lived out a very comfortable life.


    Still, there were more than enough commonalities to make him feel a little uncomfortable and decidedly petty. It was possible that the last year had smoothed off some of her sect-honed edges. Maybe she¡¯d learned a few things. Even if that was the case, though, the foundation had to have been there. It made him wonder how often he¡¯d made similar mistakes. How many people did I dismiss forever simply because I didn¡¯t like the way they came off in the first five minutes I knew them? He feared that the number would make him cringe. On the other hand, there did seem to be a higher-than-average number of terrible people to be found in sects. He couldn¡¯t know if sects simply attracted those people, or if it made them. He didn¡¯t feel like he could use Sua Xing Xing as a good example. He simply had too many counter-examples of sect members who truly deserved every terrible thing that happened to them. Still, he could admit to himself that he¡¯d been wrong about this particular sect cultivator.


    Then, as if the heavens themselves wanted to remind him of all the reasons he hated sects, the door to his office burst open. That was a bit of an accomplishment in itself since that door was made of stone, like almost every door in the compound. Just as importantly, though, it had never happened before. The young man who usually sat outside his office had a frantic look on his face.


    ¡°Patriarch! In the town! There are cultivators destroying things!¡±


    White-hot rage exploded inside of Sen. The sect was outside of the town. It was easy to find. If someone wanted to challenge him, they could just come to the gate and do it. Attacking the town and the mortals there served no purpose other than cruelty. He knew it was probably intended to provoke him as well. The fools probably thought it was a good trap. Maybe they intended to use the mortals as hostages or leverage. Well, if they wanted to provoke me, they got their wish, he thought. Sen rose from his chair and looked at the young man who looked even more frantic.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ¡°I¡¯ll deal with this,¡± said Sen.


    Sen didn¡¯t know what that poor young man heard in his voice, but he went very pale and just stepped out of the way. As qinggong-fueled steps carried him through the building and outside, there were shouts of shock and surprise following as everything not made of stone was dislodged in his wake. It took less than a second of expanding his spiritual sense to find where the cultivators were causing havoc. His teeth clenched as his rage found new heights. He arrived so fast that it probably looked like he appeared out of nowhere. There were eight of them. He didn¡¯t bother noting their faces, just their uniforms. Then, his eyes locked onto the little girl that hung limply from one of the cultivator¡¯s hands. Zhi. He could sense that she was still alive. His gaze swiveled to the remains of what had been Li Hua¡¯s seamstress shop. There were people alive in the rubble.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s too late now,¡± said Bahn Huizhong.


    Sen glanced at the man who was standing a little closer to the cultivators. It looked like he''d been trying to talk these fools down off the cliff they had all walked up to the edge of so very willingly.


    ¡°You clearly don¡¯t understand how things work,¡± said one of the dead men.


    That was as far as he got.


    ¡°Silence,¡± whispered Sen.


    Then, he dropped his auric imposition and every last bit of his killing intent on the one who spoke. There was one brief scream from the man before his body ruptured in a fountain of blood and organs. The rest of the cultivators stared in horror before one of them started screaming at Sen.


    ¡°You murdering bastard, I¡¯ll¡ª¡±


    ¡°Silence,¡± Sen repeated.


    A second cultivator was reduced to a bloody pile that only vaguely resembled a human being. Sen let his gaze travel across the faces of the rest of the interlopers as if daring them to speak. He fixed his eyes on the one who held Zhi. Sen suspected that he might be the only person in the town who knew exactly where Long Jia Wei was standing at that moment.


    ¡°Long Jia Wei. Please bring me my daughter¡¯s friend.¡±


    There were looks of confusion on lots of faces. Sen doubted anyone else saw it happen, which he didn¡¯t mind at all. Long Jia Wei appeared as if by magic, there was a brief glint of sunlight as his daggers went to work, and then he was walking toward Sen with Zhi carefully cradled in his arms. It took a moment before the screaming started. The cultivator that had been holding Zhi was flopping around the ground. Long Jia Wei had apparently hamstrung the man, gouged out his eyes, and retrieved Zhi through the expedient of severing the man¡¯s hand at the wrist. Sen could see the hand on the ground several feet away from the flopping, screaming cultivator. He ignored the remaining cultivators when Long Jia Wei stepped up to him. It only took a quick moment of concentration to ascertain that Zhi wasn¡¯t badly hurt. He rested a hand on the other cultivator¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°Thank you. Please take her to see Auntie Caihong. I¡¯ll be along with her mother shortly.¡±


    Long Jia Wei ducked his head and then strode away. Sen finally turned his attention back to the new cultivators. The strongest of them, a peak core cultivator stepped forward. He thrust a finger at Sen.


    ¡°I am Wu Xiao Dan of the Twisting Blade Sect. I challenge you, Lu Sen.¡±


    Sen regarded the man the way he might a dead animal he found in the forest. That¡¯s all the man was to him now. A dead animal.


    Bahn Huizhong shook his head as he stepped back and said, ¡°I tried to warn you.¡±


    ¡°A challenge?¡± said Sen. ¡°I see that you¡¯re confused, Wu Xiao Dan.¡±


    ¡°And how am I confused?¡±


    ¡°If you came to challenge me, you should have come to the gates of my compound. You didn¡¯t do that. You attacked innocents, destroyed property, and did your best to inflict terror.¡±


    ¡°What difference does that make? I¡¯m a cultivator. They¡¯re mortals. I can do what I want to them,¡± said Wu Xiao Dan.


    Sen shook his head. He wasn¡¯t even surprised.


    ¡°I suppose that trash like you might be allowed to remain a sect member wherever you come from. However, when you do those things here, you become common bandits. Little better than rabid animals. So, you will not be given a duel. You will not be challenging anyone. There will be no pretense of honor. You will simply be cut down like the animals you are.¡±

 V9 Chapter 26 – Wrath, Part 2

    Sen simply watched with an impassive expression, even as the rage roared inside of him. He would kill these people. There most certainly would not be a duel. But there would be suffering. Wu Xiao Dan seemed to be having an apoplectic fit. Sen was a little surprised that the man didn¡¯t start frothing at the mouth. While Wu Xiao Dan tried to find the ability to speak, Bahn Huizhong walked over to Sen.


    ¡°Are you about to suggest that I let these people go?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°No,¡± said Bahn Huizhong in a resigned voice. ¡°They took things too far. You have to kill them. But it will mean war with their sect.¡±


    Sen sighed and said, ¡°That war was always coming with someone. Is the Twisted Blade Sect so valuable that I should spare them?¡±


    Bahn Huizhong looked thoughtful but ultimately shook his head.


    ¡°It¡¯s never good to deplete the ranks before the real war starts, but if you have to wipe a sect from existence¡­ Well, I don¡¯t suppose too many people are going to miss the Twisted Blade Sect. Sadly, this kind of display is pretty routine for them. What do you mean to do to them?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to break them,¡± said Sen. ¡°Then, I¡¯m going to end their lives in the most just way I can think of.¡±


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± asked Bahn Huizhong.


    ¡°Just watch.¡±


    Wu Xiao Dan looked like he had his fury about under control. Sen considered enacting his plan before the fool could speak again. He didn¡¯t think anyone in Li Hua¡¯s ruined shop was going to die if he didn¡¯t dig them out immediately, but he didn¡¯t want to waste much time either. Fortunately, Xu Xiao Dan started spouting nonsense before Sen had to make the decision.


    ¡°How dare you call us animals! We are¡ª¡±


    ¡°Silence,¡± said Sen.


    The blustering fool went silent a fear etched itself in his features. Sen used more restraint this time, only applying some of his killing intent. It turned out that it was still too much for the man that Long Jia Wei had injured. The man let out a final scream and then he winked out of Sen¡¯s spiritual sense. Sen wondered if the ex-assassin had been delivered a few extra injuries he hadn¡¯t noticed. He supposed it didn¡¯t matter. He adjusted his killing intent for each of the remaining Twisted Blade Sect members. He made it just strong enough to keep them on their knees. He walked across the intervening space until he could look down on Wu Xiao Dan. The man had just enough wherewithal to look up at Sen.


    ¡°Until today, I¡¯d never even heard of your sect. I certainly didn¡¯t care about it. If you had just come to the compound and issued your challenge, I expect I would have restrained myself to simply killing you. I might have even let your juniors go,¡± said Sen. ¡°Now, I¡¯m angry with you. I want you to suffer. The question is, what will make you suffer the most? Since you¡¯re a proud cultivator, there¡¯s really only one choice.¡±


    Ever since that long ago day when Heavens¡¯ Rebuke shattered a cultivator¡¯s core, Sen had been considering how he might accomplish the same feat without using the technique. After all, he wanted these people to live. Maybe not for long, but he wanted them to live for long enough. He wasn¡¯t entirely sure his idea would work because he couldn¡¯t exactly ask people to volunteer to test it. Given how the Twisted Blade Sect members had acted, he considered it volunteering. When he used his auric imposition, he typically used it as a kind of shroud that he put onto someone. That didn¡¯t mean it was the only way he could use it. He¡¯d used it as a kind of shield before. Now, he wanted to use it as something a bit more refined.


    He did his best to focus all of that force on a very specific spot inside of Wu Jiao Dan. Then, Sen bore down. There was an audible crack as the man¡¯s core shattered beneath the pressure. He bore down even harder, catching the nascent soul that had been developing side the core. Sen almost stopped then, but the sight of Zhi dangling from a man¡¯s hand gave him all the strength of will he needed. With one last burst of pressure, he felt the nascent soul¡¯s existence give out. Focusing, Sen sent that auric imposition into the man¡¯s dantian and through his qi channels. With a flex of his will, Sen ruptured them. He released his killing intent on the man. Wu Jiao Dan toppled over to one side, then his hands started scrabbling at his stomach as if he meant to tear it open. He was sobbing incoherently.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°No! No! No!¡± screamed Wu Jaio Dan.


    ¡°You had such contempt for mortals. Now, you are one,¡± said Sen. ¡°All that strength you used to enjoy courtesy of qi moving freely through your body is gone forever. Right now, I doubt you¡¯re stronger than the average mortal man.¡±


    Sen turned away from the still sobbing man and stepped over to the next Twisted Blade Sect member. While his killing intent had kept them in place, they were at least somewhat aware of what was happening. At least, Sen thought they must be based on the abject terror on the woman¡¯s face. There was no pity inside of him for her or any of them. He didn¡¯t rush or hesitate. He simply went from one to the next, destroying everything that made them cultivators and ensuring they could never be cultivators again. When he was done, he stood over the slumped forms of the new mortals.


    ¡°Oh,¡± he said, as if just remembering something. ¡°I guess you¡¯re all probably still a bit more durable than a mortal. I expect that if a group of townspeople decided to hack you all to death, it would probably take a while. Well, just a little more time for you to consider your errors in judgment.¡±


    He started to walk toward the remains of the seamstress shop. He stopped and looked around at the townspeople. They all looked varying degrees of shocked, horrified, and uncertain. Sen pointed at the ex-cultivators.


    ¡°I have taken their cultivation. They¡¯re mortals now. I give them to you to pass judgment on as you see fit.¡±


    No one moved for long enough that Sen worried he was going to have to take things into his own hands. Then, Wang Bo, the woodcutter¡¯s son, stepped out of the crowd. He had an axe in his hand and fury in his eyes. He walked over to the nearest Twisted Blade Sect member and brought the handle of the axe down on them. The former cultivator cried out in pain, but their attempt to lash out was feeble, powerless, mortal. Wang Bo avoided the hasty blow and then brought his foot down on the hand that had reached for him. This elicited another cry of pain. And that was all it took. The townspeople were galvanized into action and descended on what was left of the Twisted Blade Sect cultivators.


    Sen turned his attention back to the ruined shop. Not just a shop, he thought. This was their home. I¡¯ll have to see to it that everything is repaired, and everyone who was hurt is made whole again. He just hoped that no one had died. He walked over and started using air qi to lift away the debris. Bahn Huizhong came over and gave Sen a long look.


    ¡°Yes?¡± asked Sen.


    ¡°I¡¯m just thinking that I¡¯m very glad my sect was wise enough not to challenge you. That was a memorable judgment.¡±


    ¡°It was meant to be,¡± said Sen.


    He unearthed the first person, one of Li Hua¡¯s apprentices. He lifted the girl out of the rubble and deposited her in Bahn Huizhong¡¯s arms. The man swiftly carried her off toward the sect. Before long, Sen felt people pouring out of the sect like a disturbed anthill. His students and their teachers spread out into the town, searching for the injured, taking stock of the damage, and doing what they could to help. Sua Xing Xing eventually found him. He glanced at her.


    ¡°Good. Please oversee things in town.¡±


    The woman jerked in surprise.


    ¡°Are you sure? Aren¡¯t there better¡ª¡±


    ¡°The townspeople know you. They trust you,¡± said Sen before he added one last thing. ¡°I trust you.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t sure it was entirely true, but he decided it was true enough. Sua Xing Xing looked like he¡¯d just handed her the keys to ascension.


    ¡°Yes, Patriarch,¡± she said.


    She offered him a deep bow, then spun into action, issuing orders, demanding reports, and otherwise acting like a reassuring authority figure. He vaguely noted when the last of the Twisted Blade Sect members died. Good, he thought. I¡¯ll have to decide how best to deal with the rest of that sect later. Fire, maybe? Fire is usually good. That line of thought was broken when he finally found Li Hua. He felt a weight of worry slide off his shoulders as he carried her back to the compound. He bypassed most of the buildings and took her straight to Auntie Caihong. He¡¯d debated doing something for her himself, but he didn¡¯t see any good reason to do that when there was someone far more experienced than him on hand. He did make sure that Ai wasn¡¯t there, though. He was relieved to see in his spiritual sense that Master Feng had taken her off somewhere. As Auntie Caihong ordered him to put Li Hua down on a bed, his mind returned to the Twisted Blade Sect. Poison is good, too, he thought.

 V9 Chapter 27 – Old Wounds

    ¡°So, where were you while all of that was happening?¡± Sen asked.


    Uncle Kho looked up from the scroll he was reading. They were waiting for Auntie Caihong to finish up with Li Hua. Sen was confident that the woman would be fine, so it was mostly just waiting around. Uncle Kho had joined him in waiting, although he had pulled out one of his seemingly endless collection of scrolls to read. Sen honestly didn¡¯t know how the man could pick things up and put them down and still get anything out of it. If Sen didn¡¯t give a scroll his full attention for long periods of time, he tended to lose track of the details. That might be fine for scrolls about history or agriculture, but the details mattered a lot with cultivation.


    ¡°About one hundred feet in the air directly above those fools.¡±


    ¡°You were?¡± asked Sen, startled that he hadn¡¯t so much as felt the man¡¯s presence.


    ¡°I was. I saw it as your challenge, so I didn¡¯t want to intervene unless lives were truly at stake,¡± said Uncle Kho, answering Sen¡¯s next question. ¡°Although, if you hadn¡¯t killed the one who was waving that poor little girl around like a sack, I would have. I almost did.¡±


    While Sen wished that the elder cultivator had intervened as soon as it all started, he understood why he hadn¡¯t. It was the same reason that Sen and the teachers at the academy didn¡¯t intervene when students came into conflict unless it reached a certain threshold. People can¡¯t always believe that someone is going to step in and save them. It was honestly one of the things that bothered Sen most about the sects. It gave cultivators a false sense of power when they were in one. Unfortunately, that kind of borrowed strength didn¡¯t mean much when put up against true power. After all, even if a sect would avenge you, dead is still dead.


    Although, Sen wasn¡¯t sure he had much room to judge there. He had done his best to avoid leaning on the borrowed strength of his teachers, but he also knew it had sheltered him. He doubted the sect leadership in the capital would have been quite as gentle with him when he was dismantling a criminal organization and publicly murdering a nascent soul cultivator if he hadn¡¯t been Master Feng¡¯s student. Well, maybe Lai Dongmei would have still been nice to him, but that was for entirely unrelated reasons. Still, he understood Uncle Kho¡¯s reasoning. Sen had brought this problem down on his own head and the heads of the townspeople. It was his mess to clean up.


    And, he had been shocked to discover that while there were injuries, there hadn¡¯t been any deaths. That suggested either shocking incompetence or clear intention on the part of the Twisted Blade Sect. He was leaning in the direction of the latter. He suspected that they had been told he had a fondness for mortals, so the best way to get him to engage was to harass the nearby mortals. They just hadn¡¯t understood who or what they were provoking. Of course, that was damning in its own right. It wouldn¡¯t have taken much effort to learn that provoking him that way was going to trigger an extreme and violent reaction. The kind of reaction that led to a sect war. Except, there wasn¡¯t going to be a sect war. Not the way that anyone expected there to be, at least. He wasn¡¯t going to hurl his small collection of cultivators at a larger, more experienced sect. Doing that would be no better than killing them himself. No, he was going to have to deal with the problem another way.


    ¡°I know that look,¡± said Uncle Kho.


    Sen blinked a few times as his mind rejoined the present.


    ¡°What look?¡±


    ¡°The look that says that a sect is going to cease to exist. It¡¯s been it on my own face often enough.¡±


    Sen decided that there wasn¡¯t any point in denying it. After all, the whole world was going to know by the time he was done.


    ¡°Yes,¡± agreed Sen. ¡°That¡¯s what¡¯s going to happen.¡±


    Uncle Kho gave him a long look.


    ¡°You know that it isn¡¯t just going to be the sect leadership, don¡¯t you? If you go to destroy that sect, you¡¯ll have to kill them all, or so many of them that it won¡¯t make a meaningful difference. Elders, core members, inner sect disciples, and outer sect disciples. There¡¯s a cost to doing something like that. Are you sure you¡¯re ready?¡±


    Sen took a deep breath. He wondered, Am I ready? Does it matter?


    ¡°The fight is coming,¡± said Sen slowly. ¡°One way or the other, there¡¯s going to be death. It¡¯s just a question of who is going to die. If I let the fight come here, it¡¯ll mean letting all the cultivators here fight people they probably can¡¯t stand up against. I know hard challenges are important for advancement, but they aren¡¯t ready. Not for something like that. Asking them to fight that battle is throwing their lives away. So, it doesn¡¯t matter if I¡¯m ready. I created this problem, so I have to solve it. Even if that means doing some things that I won¡¯t be particularly proud of after the fact. It won¡¯t be the first time.¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Uncle Kho regarded Sen for a moment before he looked away. There was a distant, pained expression on the man¡¯s face.


    ¡°I never told you why I started destroying sects, did I?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Weren¡¯t you ever curious?¡±


    ¡°Auntie Caihong explained a little bit. I just didn¡¯t think I should ask about it. I didn¡¯t want to drag up painful memories. It seemed like a poor way to thank you for all you¡¯ve done for me.¡±


    Uncle Kho gave him a surprised look and smiled. He reached out and squeezed Sen¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°You¡¯ve come a long way, but you still have a good heart.¡±


    ¡°Maybe not as good as I¡¯d like,¡± said Sen, ¡°but I try to not be terrible.¡±


    ¡°True of us all,¡± said Uncle Kho before he got that same faraway look. ¡°I had a sister. Dai Lu.¡±


    Sen was shocked at that particular revelation. Then, he felt stupid for being shocked. Master Feng had a brother, so why would it be a surprise to learn that Uncle Kho had family? It was just hard to imagine any of them with family. They were so old, so powerful, almost gods in their own rights. To Sen, it was like they occupied some reality other than the one he was in. He thought he should say something, but Uncle Kho started speaking again before Sen could think of anything relevant to say.


    ¡°We were very close. She was barely a year younger than me. We grew up in a place not that different from that little town where you grew up. Our parents were farmers. It was a simple kind of life, but my sister and I did everything together. We even started cultivating at about the same time. Of course, the world was a little different then. There were more wandering cultivators and fewer sects. It wasn¡¯t unusual for wandering cultivators to find a little village they liked and stay there for a couple of generations. What¡¯s forty or fifty years when you have centuries ahead of you? That¡¯s what happened in our village. A wandering cultivator came one day and just stayed.


    ¡°Gong Ah Lam was her name. She said she wanted to try her hand at farming for a while. I honestly don¡¯t know that she ever grew a true crop. Looking back, I think she was just tired of traveling, but life in a farming village isn¡¯t very exciting. You have to find things to do. She decided that she¡¯d try to teach basic cultivation to any of the village children who wanted to learn. I wanted to learn. I don¡¯t know that Dai Lu actually cared that much about cultivating, but I was doing it. So, she did it. She was good at cultivation. Better than me. Good enough that Gong Ah Lam didn¡¯t think that she could teach my sister well enough. So, she took my sister to a sect that she knew about. I was so jealous. I was so angry at her for being better than me at something she didn¡¯t even seem to care that much about. I didn¡¯t even say goodbye.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t even dare to breathe. Uncle Kho¡¯s eyes were wet, and it didn¡¯t even look like he was seeing the room they were in. He was seeing something thousands of years in the past. After a shudder, the elder cultivator started to talk again.


    ¡°Regret is a terrible thing. It can eat a man alive. I regret that choice. I regret that I couldn¡¯t find it in myself to pretend to be happy for her. It wouldn¡¯t have cost me anything that mattered. She loved me so much. She only started cultivating so we could do that together. I regret not saying goodbye. I¡¯ll always regret that,¡± whispered Uncle Kho before he shuddered again. ¡°She went off to the sect, and I threw myself into cultivation. I swore that I¡¯d show her who the real cultivator was. She wrote to us, to me, but I never wrote back. Every time she advanced, it felt like she was taking something from me.


    ¡°Eventually, I became a wandering cultivator. You know how hard it is to get letters to or from anyone when you¡¯re constantly moving. I avoided going anywhere near her sect. I didn¡¯t want to see her. Not until I was ready. Not until I made myself into a legend. It was centuries. I only found out she was dead by accident. I overheard some people talking about how some young master had taken a Kho Dai Lu from her sect. It¡¯s funny how things that you thought were so important become nothing when you think your family is in danger. I went to her sect, found someone who would tell me what happened. Then, I went looking for her. I didn¡¯t get there in time. He didn¡¯t even give her a proper funeral. It took some convincing, but I discovered where they just threw her body. I found what was left.¡±


    Uncle Kho fell silent. He was shaking. Sen could feel the rage bleeding off the man. Thousands of years and he was still this angry. Sen didn¡¯t know if it was anger at himself, at the young master who took his sister, or at the sects. Maybe it was all of them, not that Sen would ever ask. Uncle Kho bowed his head for a moment before he carried on with the awful tale.


    ¡°I was barely a core cultivator then. I had no business declaring war on a sect, but I did it anyway. I started with the young master. He died badly and very, very slowly. I made sure of it. I might have let it go there, but he told me a lot of things about his sect before he died, about what kinds of things they did behind those walls. It took decades. I haunted that sect. I killed their most promising students before they could advance. I hunted them when they left the sect on missions. I found poisons. The very rare, very expensive kind that can kill nascent soul cultivators. One by one, I killed them until the sect disbanded. Then, I hunted the rest. I killed everyone who ever wore that sect patch. I didn¡¯t care if they played a role in my sister¡¯s death or not. They were all guilty.


    ¡°I thought that would be the end of it, but it turned out that sect wasn¡¯t unusual. Not really. So, I started punishing sects. The more powerful I got, the more powerful the sects I would destroy if I found out they were doing things I didn¡¯t like,¡± said Uncle Kho with a bitter laugh. ¡°I became that legend I wanted to be but only because of what happened to my sister. I think she would have rather had a brother.¡±


    Sen didn¡¯t have any words. He couldn¡¯t imagine that kind of pain. He wanted to provide some kind of comfort to his teacher, but he didn¡¯t have any to offer. What did he know about family? So, they stood there in silence until Uncle Kho¡¯s eyes lost that faraway look. He turned to look at Sen again.


    ¡°I hate sects. Even knowing what I know about the role they play in keeping the kingdoms across the Mountains of Sorrow at bay, I still hate them all. Caihong has her own opinions about them, but if you want my help for this, I will give it. Gladly.¡±

 V9 Chapter 28 – Plans and Promises

    Sen¡¯s first reaction was to say yes, emphatically. What better help could there be with destroying a sect than a nascent soul cultivator who hated sects? That notion was immediately followed by an intense desire to say no. Sen had made this problem. He should solve it. It wasn¡¯t Uncle Kho¡¯s responsibility to fix things for him, even if the man was willing, eager even. He didn¡¯t imagine that destroying another sect would help Uncle Kho. If that could help him, it would have done so long before now. Of course, turning down the help wasn¡¯t just turning it down for himself. If he declined the help and failed, it would almost certainly mean his death.


    Whoever was left of the Twisted Blade Sect was unlikely to see his death as sufficient. They would no doubt seek out Sen¡¯s sect and kill whoever they could. At which point, Uncle Kho would likely intervene and kill them all anyway. Either to protect the people here or simply to take vengeance for Sen¡¯s death. If that was the case, then accepting the offer of help was probably the right choice. Sen felt frozen in indecision. Neither choice seemed like the right one. He wasn¡¯t too good to take help. He had gotten a lot of help along the way. He just wasn¡¯t sure that it was the right thing for Uncle Kho. Would he just be feeding that hate? But wouldn¡¯t he just be feeding that hate if he got himself killed by saying no? There had to be a better choice or at least another choice.


    ¡°I¡ª¡± Sen hesitated and inspiration struck. ¡°I¡¯d like to try to do this myself. It¡¯s ultimately my responsibility, but I¡¯m not so stubborn to turn down help if I need it. I¡¯d like it if you came along. If I can¡¯t get the job done, then I¡¯d appreciate any help you¡¯re willing to offer.¡±


    Uncle Kho gave Sen a small smile.


    ¡°I thought I broke you there for a moment. You looked like your head might explode.¡±


    ¡°I was trying to figure out the best course of action. It was¡­ It was more complicated than I expected.¡±


    ¡°I imagine it was,¡± said Uncle Kho. ¡°I¡¯d like to say things get less complicated as you gain experience, but life isn¡¯t like that. Figuring out what the right or wrong decision is only gets more complicated. For what it¡¯s worth, I¡¯m glad you thought about it. Most people would have agreed without a second thought.¡±


    ¡°I almost said no,¡± admitted Sen.


    That seemed to catch the older cultivator off guard. He just stared at Sen for a while before he finally asked an obvious question.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    Before Sen could answer, the door opened and Auntie Caihong stepped out. Sen glanced past her and saw Li Hua clutching Zhi to her chest and sobbing. He averted his eyes. That wasn¡¯t his business. Auntie Caihong closed the door before she looked at Uncle Kho.


    ¡°Why?¡± she repeated and gently pressed a hand to Uncle Kho¡¯s cheek. ¡°Because he cares about you, you old fool. He was thinking about whether helping him was going to be good for you or not.¡±


    Sen gaped at Auntie Caihong. Had she read his mind somehow? She noticed him and let out a little laugh.


    ¡°What?¡± she asked. ¡°I¡¯ve known you since before you could shave, Sen. You¡¯re many things, but you aren¡¯t that complicated. That isn¡¯t a criticism, either. The world needs straightforward men. That being said, I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t say no. It would have been terribly tedious to talk you around on the idea.¡±


    Sen frowned and said, ¡°I¡¯d have thought you wouldn¡¯t like the idea.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± she admitted. ¡°However, I like the idea of you dying with no one there to help you even less. I don¡¯t know this Twisted Blade Sect, but there¡¯s every possibility they have nascent soul elders, to say nothing of a patriarch. I know you¡¯ve killed nascent soul cultivators before, but I also know how you did it. You certainly punch up, but I also know that they weren¡¯t that powerful. I¡¯d rather not gamble that you¡¯re going to come out on top against more powerful, more experienced nascent soul cultivators. Better to take the help and not need it, than to need it and not have it.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t really argue with that,¡± said Sen.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    He felt a little better about asking Uncle Kho to come along now that Auntie Caihong had given her approval. He still hoped that his help wouldn¡¯t be necessary. Sen didn¡¯t think that Uncle Kho would be particularly well served by having more blood on his hands. There was always the karma to consider. Adding bad karma just to help him wasn¡¯t in Uncle Kho¡¯s best interest.


    ¡°Besides,¡± added Auntie Caihong. ¡°This is clearly a sect that the world can do without. Destroying homes and businesses. Injuring mortals. Frightening little Zhi nearly to death. Those fools should thank the heavens that little girl wasn¡¯t killed, or I¡¯d be the one paying them a visit.¡±


    Sen had to suppress a shudder. Considering what he could do with alchemy, what he¡¯d already done with it, what he was planning to do with it, that thought was chilling. There were a lot of ways to die, and he could already make it something truly unspeakable. Plus, he wasn¡¯t even that knowledgeable about poisons. She was. When he thought about what Auntie Caihong could accomplish with all of that knowledge and experience, it was the kind of thing to keep him up at night. He just meant to kill them. He preferred not to imagine what she would have done to them if they had managed to call her wrath down on their heads. Sen decided it was best to change the subject.


    ¡°How are they?¡± Sen asked with a gesture at the door.


    ¡°Physically, they¡¯ll be fine. They both had a bad scare, though. Zhi will probably do better with it. She¡¯s young enough that I doubt she really understood what was happening or how bad it could have been. As for Li Hua, it¡¯ll be harder. She does know how bad it could have been. Time should help, but it might not.¡±


    ¡°Should I go talk to them?¡± Sen asked.


    ¡°In a little while,¡± said Auntie Caihong. ¡°First, I¡¯d like to know what you plan to do about all of this?¡±


    Sen lifted a shoulder and said, ¡°The plan isn¡¯t that complicated. Kill them all. Raze the sect. Salt the earth.¡±


    ¡°I was hoping for a few more specifics.¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s hard to know for sure until I see the place. I do have a few more options than most, though. I can probably walk right through their walls, and even hide in the shadow realm for a while if necessary. Makes planting poisons a lot easier. I can mess with their formations. Depending on what they have there, I might even be able to turn those formations against them. I could even set up formations around the sect to make life very hard for them. The real problem is time. I have to believe they know those cultivators are dead. You told me about how they have those life tablets to alert them when high-ranked members of a sect die. The idiot in charge of those other idiots struck me as a young master. So, if they start mobilizing before I can act, things get complicated.¡±


    Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho both nodded.


    ¡°At least you¡¯re thinking along the right lines,¡± said Auntie Caihong. ¡°You probably have more time than you think. Sect wars don¡¯t happen overnight. Cultivators can move fast, individually or in small groups, but moving a large group of them is different. They have to call people back to the sect, for one thing. That takes time. Then, they have to argue about who will be in charge of what. That¡¯s politics, and politics are always slow. My point is that you probably don¡¯t need to leave today. You shouldn¡¯t waste time, but you should have a little to use wisely. Prepare appropriately.¡±


    ¡°And if all else fails, I can just smash their little sect to pieces,¡± said Uncle Kho sounding positively giddy at the idea.


    Auntie Caihong gave him a long-suffering look.


    ¡°You could at least pretend not to be so happy about this.¡±


    Uncle Kho considered that for a moment and said, ¡°You know, I really don¡¯t think I can.¡±


    Auntie Caihong started to say something before she cocked her head a little. She glanced back at the door.


    ¡°You can probably go in now,¡± she told Sen.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Sen and turned to Uncle Kho. ¡°We¡¯ll discuss the practicalities soon.¡±


    After a nod from the elder cultivator, Sen went over and knocked on the door. There was a pause before Li Hua called out.


    ¡°Come in.¡±


    Sen went inside. Li Hua¡¯s eyes looked puffy and red, but she seemed to have gotten over the initial bout of crying. There was fear and anger and relief dancing in the woman¡¯s eyes. Zhi was held protectively on her lap. The little girl looked like she had been crying, but there was more confusion than anything on her face. She saw Sen and lurched toward him. Li Hua looked like she meant to grab the little girl and yank her back but stopped herself at the last second. Zhi ran over and threw her arms around his leg. She stared up at him with big eyes and a quivering bottom lip.


    ¡°Uncle Sen! There were bad people! They hurt Mama!¡± she cried.


    He stroked her hair with a hand that only shook a little with renewed rage. He kept that rage off his face and out of his voice. It was hard, but he did it. She didn¡¯t need his fury. She needed comfort.


    ¡°I know there were, little bird. I punished them,¡± said Sen, meeting Li Hua¡¯s eyes. ¡°They won¡¯t bother you or your mama ever again.¡±


    A look of vicious satisfaction swept across Li Hua¡¯s face, and Sen thought he saw a little of the fear in her eyes recede. It was a start.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± asked Zhi in a quavering voice, her lip trembling even more.


    Sen crouched down so she could look right at him.


    ¡°I promise,¡± said Sen.


    Tears started to trickle down the girl¡¯s face, so he pulled her close and let her cry. At least I killed them all this time, he thought. Or, I will.

 V9 Chapter 29 – That’s Not Necessary

    Sen felt Fu Ruolan¡¯s unhappy gaze trying to bore a hole into the back of his skull. Given that he was working on poisons that were, he was pretty sure, three times as dangerous as the ones he used to kill Tong Guanting, the scrutiny wasn¡¯t appreciated. Still, he persevered until he had sealed the absurdly dangerous concoction into several vials. It was all he could do. Letting his focus lapse would have been an almost instant death sentence. He also couldn¡¯t stop the work without risking some kind of runaway reaction that would make the cauldron explode. Again, that would likely mean instant death.


    The cauldron was the one concession he¡¯d made to Auntie Caihong. He¡¯d argued that he knew and was comfortable with his battered pot. She¡¯d argued that cauldrons controlled potentially lethal vapors better. She was right, as far as it went. It just didn¡¯t mean much to him. He routinely controlled those vapors with air qi. He¡¯d been doing it for so long now that it barely counted as active qi use. Still, it seemed to make her feel better. He had a suspicion, though. He was willing to be that, deep down, she was harboring some conservative idea that proper alchemy should be done in a cauldron. It wasn¡¯t a fight worth having for long, so he¡¯d simply conceded. With the current batch of liquid death now safely contained, he turned to look at a very displeased nascent soul cultivator.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re going to follow in his footsteps?¡± demanded Fu Ruolan and then carried on before he could answer. ¡°There¡¯s nothing glorious about destroying a sect. It¡¯s stupid and pointless.¡±


    Sen sighed. He agreed with her in principle. It was stupid. It was pointless, or at least a pointless waste of life. It was also a grim necessity. If he didn¡¯t want more sects showing up and issuing challenges all the time, he needed to send a message. The kind of message that would get through to everyone from the most aloof elders and patriarchs to the most battle-hungry qi-gathering cultivator. He¡¯d learned long ago that it wasn¡¯t enough to just have strength. It was equally important to project strength. Unless he planned to withdraw from the world entirely, he needed people to view crossing him as an act of last resort.


    While Uncle Kho or Master Feng could get away with letting some people go, nobody doubted their strength. Those decisions were viewed as the acts of mercy they were or at least the whims of people too dangerous to question. If Sen let a bunch of people go the first time that he faced a challenge like this, it would be viewed as weakness. It wouldn¡¯t solve any problems. It would create them. The sects would judge that he was too soft to do what needed to be done. He couldn¡¯t have that. He had to look utterly ruthless and vengeful when people crossed the lines he set. After all, he hadn¡¯t gone looking for challenges. They had come to him. Those Twisted Blade Sect idiots had entered the town of the mortals Sen chose to protect and abused them. While killing those cultivators was an excuse for the sect to posture and yell and start a sect war, it was actually a pretty light punishment. He¡¯d only killed the people who participated. A smart sect would cut their losses there.


    ¡°I know it won¡¯t be glorious,¡± said Sen. ¡°It¡¯ll be plain and simple butchery. I¡¯m not doing this for honor or glory. I¡¯m going to do it so that no one will ever be stupid enough to try something like that again. Besides, you¡¯ve been in sects before. You know as well as I do that there is no high road to take here. If I don¡¯t go and destroy them now, they¡¯ll come here to try to destroy me. There is no avoiding this fight.¡±


    Sen hated his own argument. It didn¡¯t matter that it was true. He hated it because it meant he was letting them dictate the terms. It wasn¡¯t the first time, either. Sen was painfully aware that he embodied the role of the young master far more often than made him comfortable. He didn¡¯t know how many people he¡¯d killed in a might makes right moment, but that was the world he lived in. Pretending it wasn¡¯t that way was stupidly na?ve at best and willfully ignorant at worst. Even if he wanted the world to be different, he wasn¡¯t strong enough to impose his will on the whole world. He was just about powerful enough to impose his will on one tiny little piece of the world, and he had done that much. He forced the cultivators who visited the town or joined his sect to treat the mortals and other cultivators there with more respect. That was the pitiable scope of control that he could realistically impose.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    There was no true equality between the mortals and cultivators. There couldn¡¯t be. The power differences were too great. The habits of lifetimes were too deeply ingrained. If he had a few thousand years¡­ But he wasn¡¯t going to get them. He knew that. No matter how things played out with this war with the spirit beasts, he suspected that he would only get enough time in this world to leave fleeting changes. The best he could hope for was to make things a little better for the people whose lives he touched most directly. If he was very lucky, he might help create some cultivators who were a little kinder to mortals and a little more likely to chastise other cultivators for being abominable people. Those felt like such small accomplishments and terribly uncertain ones, but they were what he thought he could do.


    If that meant he had to play the young master sometimes, he''d do it. If destroying a sect was the price for protecting what was his and discouraging other sects from similar stupidity, that was a price he¡¯d pay. Sen didn¡¯t have to like it or want it, but he did have to accept it. Ideals didn¡¯t make the world something other than it was. Kindness, mercy, and equality were things that sounded nice, but bestowing them was ultimately up to the discretion of the strong. In Sen¡¯s experience, the strong weren¡¯t terribly interested in those things, except on a person-by-person basis.


    His own teachers were the best example. He would consider Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho kind people, but that was only because they had been kind to him. Even Fu Ruolan had a streak of kindness in her, but all of them bestowed it on individuals. Master Feng likely had the power to impose whatever kind of society he wanted on the entire continent. Yet, he seemed largely disinterested in any kind of social change. His reputation was another indicator that his kindness was deeply selective. He wouldn¡¯t go out of his way to hurt anyone that didn¡¯t offend him, and not much seemed to offend the man. Once someone did offend him, though, nothing could save them. He even seemed to have a soft spot for mortals, but, at the end of the day, he had chosen not to change the world.


    The same applied to Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho. They likely could change everything, but they had decided not to. Sen didn¡¯t understand why and had never worked up the nerve to ask. He just knew it was true by the evidence of his own eyes. Perhaps it was just because they were people with their own interests and preoccupations. Master Feng had made it abundantly clear that he wasn¡¯t interested in being in charge of things. Uncle Kho had largely abandoned the outside world in favor of the life of a scholar unless something truly roused his interest or anger. Auntie Caihong interacted with the world, but she did it very quietly. Her life was alchemy. Forcing change on the world would likewise force them to abandon those choices and interests to take on responsibilities they didn¡¯t want. Being in charge of a minor sect had given Sen a very personal understanding of why they wouldn¡¯t want that.


    As for Fu Ruolan, who was still glaring at him, he was mostly relieved that she hadn¡¯t ever tried a world-changing gambit. Part of him thought that the other nascent soul cultivators might have intervened, but maybe not. An erratic ruler could prove helpful to anyone looking to solidify support behind themselves, or so Jing had explained to Sen in one of his politics lessons.


    ¡°So, there¡¯s no talking you out of this?¡± she asked.


    Sen shook his head.


    ¡°If things were different, maybe, but things aren¡¯t different. Besides, if they come here, they¡¯ll make a mess and be loud. Maybe loud enough to bother you.¡±


    Fu Ruolan opened her mouth, seemed to consider his words, and grimaced.


    ¡°You might be right. That would be very irritating. But so is having you run off before you¡¯ve kept your promise to me,¡± she said before she got a thoughtful look on her face. ¡°Maybe I should go deal with them so you¡¯ll settle down and focus for a few months.¡±


    Visions of a poisoned wasteland stretching out for a hundred miles in every direction filled Sen¡¯s mind.


    ¡°No!¡± he shouted before getting ahold of himself. ¡°No. That¡¯s not necessary. This isn¡¯t your problem. I¡¯ll deal with it.¡±


    She eyed him and asked, ¡°Are you certain? I could probably¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± Sen hurried to say.


    He didn¡¯t want to give the woman a chance to decide she was going to go solve the problem anyway. It was one thing to bring Uncle Kho along as backup. It was something else entirely to unleash an annoyed and unsupervised Fu Ruolan on a group of unsuspecting victims. Who knew what she might do?

 V9 Chapter Thirty – No Bet

    Sen took a deep breath as he stared out into the wilds beyond the edges of his sect compound. He¡¯d take up station on the wall that would be the second line of defense if the place ever came under attack. The first line of defense was a series of formations that he and Uncle Kho had been developing, on and off, for the better part of a year. Sen didn¡¯t like working that way, but there simply hadn¡¯t been enough hours in the day. Plus, he didn¡¯t want the details leaking. A few people that there were formations, but he¡¯d kept the specifics to himself. The time crunch had only intensified as he prepared for his one-man war against the Twisted Blade Sect, which was why he standing on the wall.


    He supposed it probably seemed odd to the members of the sect but very few people were likely to question him directly about it. Then again, they might all just think he was doing something complicated to advance his own cultivation. He wasn¡¯t, but it probably wouldn¡¯t hurt people to think he was being proactive. No, he just wanted a few moments of calm. Despite his best efforts, he kept finding himself getting sucked into the minutia of things and slowly getting dragged into the minor political problems that, he had been assured, were common in any sect. They were distractions.


    Unfortunately, being distractions didn¡¯t make them entirely unimportant. Details mattered. When people stopped paying attention to details, problems inevitably occurred. He had learned that in life and in sect building, much as in alchemy, it was always harder to fix a problem than prevent it. Fixing problems always meant spending time and energy that could have gone to something else. That inevitably meant putting off something else, also probably important, and it often spiraled out for weeks before things got back to what passed for normal. It was always infuriating because someone doing their job properly was all it took to avoid that slow-moving disaster.


    Preventing the newly forming sect from splintering into hateful factions was crucial with the war coming. Whether they knew it or not, this little sect was going to be crucial in ensuring that what he cared about was protected when he couldn¡¯t be there to do it himself. Grandmother Lu had been working tirelessly to make his spur-of-moment demand for a noble house into a functional reality. Yet, she was also the most vulnerable person in a lot of ways. Sen hadn¡¯t discussed it with them, but he¡¯d gotten the impression that Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho had simply decided that one of them would always be nearby to keep Ai safe. Everyone else he considered family were all dangerous in their own right. So, he needed to get enough cultivators up to an acceptable level to protect Grandmother Lu. Still, it was all just so very tiring.


    ¡°You have the look of a man with troubling things on his mind,¡± said Bahn Huizhong, hopping up on the wall beside Sen.


    Sen decided that the word hopping wasn¡¯t really adequate. The wall was close to fifteen feet tall, making the jump a physical impossibility for a mortal. The other cultivator had made it look like a hop, though. I think I might need an hour or two of sleep, thought Sen. If I¡¯m getting stuck on something like the right word, I¡¯m more tired than I thought. Pushing away the question of hopping as the right word, he gave his friend what he hoped looked like a smile. He wasn¡¯t sure precisely when he¡¯d decided that Bahn Huizhong was his friend, but he had decided it somewhere along the way. He thought that their relationship was a bit like what he imagined an older and younger brother might be like. The other cultivator served as a steady presence that helped to balance Sen¡¯s tendency to jump to a decision or action. Not that he thought Bahn Huizhong wouldn¡¯t take action in the right circumstances. He¡¯d heard about what the man had done to that elder at his own sect, after all.


    ¡°I¡¯m mostly trying to avoid having those thoughts for a few minutes,¡± said Sen, turning his eyes back out to the wilds. ¡°It looks peaceful out there, doesn¡¯t it?¡±


    Bahn Huizhong looked out at the forest.


    ¡°It does. It even can be. It¡¯s not all death and violence in the wilds.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it, though? Nature isn¡¯t particularly kind, not if you look at it closely enough.¡±


    ¡°Then, don¡¯t look so closely. Seems simple enough.¡±


    Sen felt a little smile on his own face. It was a simple enough solution. He didn¡¯t need to let knowledge poison everything for him.


    ¡°You¡¯ll be leaving soon, won¡¯t you?¡± asked Sen. ¡°With Master Kho coming with me, there¡¯s no real reason for you and Li Yi Nuo to stay.¡±


    ¡°I expect so,¡± said Bahn Huizhong.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Sen nodded. He¡¯d been increasingly dreading this day, so he¡¯d avoided asking about it until now.


    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you want to join this sect?¡± asked Sen. ¡°I hear the patriarch makes excellent pastries.¡±


    ¡°I do love pastries,¡± said Bahn Huizhong as he took on a contemplative air. ¡°I wondered if you would ask.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to. It felt a little unfair to put you on the spot like that. I also know that there¡¯s really no benefit in it for you. It¡¯s not like I can offer you resources,¡± said Sen before adding something. ¡°Well, probably not. We never really talked about it. I just assumed that the Vermilion Blade Sect could offer you things I can¡¯t. Unless you need some particular elixir. In the end, I figured that there was no harm in asking.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a small thing to leave a sect. That¡¯s not entirely true. It¡¯s simplicity itself if you¡¯re an outer sect disciple. It gets very complicated for core members and elders. You know a lot of secrets.¡±


    ¡°What? You mean like this?¡±


    Sen drew his jian and sent a copy of the vermilion blade the sect took its name from flying into the forest. Bahn Huizhong stared after it with a look of consternation on his face.


    ¡°Did Li Yi Nuo teach you that?¡± he asked, sounding worried.


    ¡°Teach? No, nothing like that. She tried to use it on me. It wasn¡¯t that hard to figure it out after I saw it.¡±


    The older cultivator gave Sen a startled look and asked, ¡°After seeing it one time?¡±


    ¡°I do have an unfair advantage or three.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± said a relieved Bahn Huizhong. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone use multiple qi types the way you do. Honestly, I¡¯m not sure how you manage it. I don¡¯t imagine you¡¯d be willing to teach it?¡±


    ¡°To you?¡±


    ¡°To Li Yi Nuo.¡±


    Sen shook his head. Seeing the disappointment on the other man¡¯s face, he felt like he needed to clarify.


    ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m unwilling. I think most cultivators can do it a little bit. Your whole sect is proof of that. The problem is that you have to build your cultivation around it from the qi-gathering stage if you want to make a serious go of it. Even then, it¡¯s not a simple thing. It makes every advancement harder. Everything takes longer.¡±


    ¡°You do realize that you¡¯re a living counterargument to that, right?¡±


    ¡°I know it looks that way, but there are other factors that make me¡ª¡± Sen tried to think of how best to put it. ¡°They make me a bad example. I had the best alchemist alive around making me potions, elixirs, and pills to help make sure everything went right. I had the best possible training from what might be the three most successful cultivators in the world. Not really an easy thing to replicate.¡±


    Bahn Huizhong gave Sen a skeptical look.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t those people here?¡±


    Sen snorted out a laugh and said, ¡°They are, but they wanted to train me. I can¡¯t make them want to train anyone else.¡±


    ¡°Fair.¡±


    ¡°And there are other factors that have made my cultivation journey atypical. Lucky encounters, a stupidly dangerous body cultivation method, enlightenments, and so many other things that I either can¡¯t or won¡¯t try to reproduce for anyone else. Honestly, looking back, I don¡¯t even know how I lived for this long.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. You heavens-kissed cultivators are annoying with that kind of stuff. The rest of us have to work for it.¡±


    Sen eyed the other cultivator¡¯s smirk before he said, ¡°I know. If I keep being this lazy, I might accidentally ascend next week.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t do that. I¡¯ll never hear the end of it from Li Yi Nuo if you do.¡±


    ¡°How is her training going?¡± asked Sen.


    Bahn Huizhong gave him a surprised look.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you know?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve kept myself out of it. That¡¯s between her and Uncle Kho.¡±


    ¡°He won¡¯t tell you?¡±


    ¡°He probably would if I asked, but it¡¯s not like I have any right to know. A friend of mine told me once that curiosity alone isn¡¯t a good enough reason to pry into other people¡¯s lives. If I asked him, he¡¯d probably give me details. If I ask you, you can tell me to mind my own business or filter the amount of detail you provide.¡±


    Bahn Huizhong fell silent for several minutes as he gazed out at the wilds. Sen let the man think it over.


    ¡°She¡¯s learned a lot from him. Although, she always looks like she¡¯s five seconds from death every time she comes back from a training session.¡±


    ¡°Ha! I bet. He sets high expectations.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t lie, though. I am a tiny bit jealous of you both. For any spear user, getting personal training from Kho Jaw-Long is the impossible dream. What do you think he¡¯d say if I asked him for some advice?¡±


    ¡°That, I can¡¯t say for sure, but I get the impression that he withdrew from the world in part to avoid those kinds of requests.¡±


    Bahn Huizhong made a disappointed noise but nodded in apparent understanding.


    ¡°It¡¯s like that as an elder. Everyone is always scrambling for your attention, hoping you¡¯ll take them as a direct disciple. It makes you want to say no to everyone.¡±


    ¡°You took on Li Yi Nuo,¡± observed Sen.


    ¡°She was a special case. I thought I was dying. I wanted to take on one last student.¡±


    ¡°You look fairly healthy to me.¡±


    ¡°It seems like the world is about to get very interesting. I wouldn¡¯t want to miss out on all of that.¡±


    ¡°Madman. I wish I could miss out on all of that.¡±


    ¡°You could if you wanted to. You could sit it out. No one is making you get involved.¡±


    Sen gave the man an incredulous look before his mind made the connection. Then, he started laughing. Bahn Huizhong gave him a questioning look.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± said Sen. ¡°I just forgot that you haven¡¯t been around that long. Let me put it this way. If there¡¯s a war happening, it is an absolute certainty that I will be involved. And if I try to stay out of it, I¡¯ll get dragged into it in the most inconvenient way possible.¡±


    ¡°That seems unlikely.¡±


    Sen looked at his friend and said, ¡°I will bet you a thousand gold tael that you¡¯re wrong.¡±


    Bahn Huizhong stared at Sen for most of a minute.


    ¡°No bet.¡±