Chapter 47 - 58-65

Chapter 58: Parting Ways (2)

As winter took full hold, Sen started thinking more and more about where he would go. He knew his first step would be Orchard's Reach to see Grandmother Lu. He expected she'd want him to stay for a few days, assuming she still lived. He'd said as much to Master Feng. The old cultivator expressed the same, strange confidence that he always did when Sen expressed concerns that he might get back too late.

"She'll be there," said Master Feng.

"You always say that. Do you check in on her when you go away?"

"I don't need to. She's old, Sen, but she wasn't hovering at the border of death even when she was living in that hovel. She's had years of a safe home and enough to eat. I expect that you'll find her quite well."

Sen had frowned at the explanation. It was a reasonable answer, a practical answer, the kind of answer that Sen couldn't dispute. Yet, Sen was also certain that Master Feng had made the answer up on the spot. He was too confident that she would still be alive. It was like he had some other reason for thinking that way, but Sen wasn't sure what it could be. He was also certain that Master Feng had no intention of revealing his true thoughts on the matter. He'd had years of opportunities and taken none of them. A part of Sen wondered if Master Feng was planning some kind of joke. While the old cultivator could be almost painfully serious at times, Sen had seen a mischievous gleam in his master's eyes one time too many. The problem was, again, that Sen couldn't see what kind of joke that man might be planning if there even was a joke.

Accepting that he wasn't going to get any more information, he looked down at the map. His goal was ultimately the ocean, but there was a lot of coastline to pick from. There was a number of cities and town on the coast. He could go to any of them, but it seemed foolish to travel farther than necessary just to see the ocean. Instead, he looked for the piece of civilization closest to the coast that was also the nearest to them. He plopped a finger down on the map over a spot marked at Tide's Rest. Master Feng looked down at where Sen's finger had landed and sniffed.

"Why go there?"

"I want to see the ocean, but I don't want to have to track through countless miles of wilderness and spirit beasts to do it. That place is on the coast. It's nearby."

Sen paused then and mentally calculated the distance as Uncle Kho had taught him to do with the map. Tide's Rest was nearby compared with many of the other places on the map, but it was a long journey. Even if he traveled alone and kept a fast pace, Sen thought it would probably take a couple of weeks to get there. If he traveled with a group or merchant's caravan, it could take a month.

"Well, it's close enough," he amended. "Why? Is there a reason not to go there?"

Master Feng opened his mouth, seemed to reconsider his words, and then shook his head. "No, I don't suppose there is. It's just not a very interesting place, but you aren't going there to see the town. So, I guess it's not a real problem if it's not that interesting."

***

As the new year approached, Sen was once again fretting about what he could get for the three elder cultivators. Yet, when he asked for advice, he was told not to bother with gifts. Perplexed, he asked why. All three made nearly identical statements that, when you got to be as old as they were, it was a lot more fun to give gifts than it was to get them. After all, they'd had countless mortal lifetimes to gather up all the things they could ever want. The notion had seemed very odd to Sen at first. As someone who had gone without very nearly every physical necessity for the better part of his life, he struggled with the idea of not needing more things. He could understand not wanting useless things, but there was always something practical that someone could use.

Yet, as Sen looked around the house, he started to understand their meaning. He couldn't think of a single time that he'd needed an object, a tool, anything really, that was not immediately dug out of a closet or retrieved from a storage ring. It was only then that Sen first began to grasp the profound advantages that an incredibly long life provided. You didn't need to race to amass a fortune if you had twenty lifetimes. You didn't need to learn everything in a hurry with that many years before you. You could afford to spend as much time as it took to accomplish your goals. Enough time could, at least in theory, level any advantage. For most people, time was the enemy. It ticked away and, in the end, robbed you of everything. As a cultivator, though, Sen wouldn't grow old. He wouldn't grow weak. As long as he chose his path with care, he would only grow more powerful and more capable the longer he lived. As the cultivator, time was his most powerful ally.

With that insight, Sen felt the breakthrough start. It wasn't as powerful as some of his previous breakthroughs, but the rush of fresh qi brought his attention to his own qi stores. He almost fell into a wall when he realized that he was stuffed full of accumulated qi. In all the rush to prepare for his departure, he hadn't been focused on converting the misty attributed qi inside him into the iridescent liquid qi. He made a hasty beeline for the cultivation room. While he didn't expect any more vile expulsions of waste from his body, he didn't dare risk an interruption while he converted all that qi. It took him the better part of five days to finish that work. When he finally stumbled out of the cultivation room feeling both oddly powerful and utterly exhausted, he'd found Master Feng waiting for him.

"Oh, good, you're finally at middle foundation formation. Rest up for a day. Then, I can finally start teaching you that qinggong technique."

***

For a few brief days, it felt like a return to form to Sen. He spent his mornings practicing what he already knew, and his afternoons learning from Master Feng. Yet, the feeling didn't last. When he'd been learning before, he'd been taking in entire styles and systems. Learning one technique, however demanding, wasn't the same thing. It was more like learning a punch or an individual form out of a system. Of course, Sen also quickly realized that learning a qinggong technique was the easy part. Doing that technique was the real challenge. Where other qi techniques were mentally taxing, the true difficulty in qinggong techniques was that they were taxing on your qi reserves.

"They're hungry techniques," agreed Master Feng. "That's why people don't usually learn them until after they're into core formation. At that point, you've generally got enough in reserve that you don't feel the loss so much. Of course, I have no idea where either of us will be when you finally break into core formation. You could probably find someone to teach you a technique at that point, but they'd probably teach you one of the bad ones. No, better that I teach you this one, now. I know it doesn't feel that way, but it's the most efficient technique I've found. You'll appreciate that later. You can practice it and, who knows, it might even come in handy along the way. Nobody expects a foundation formation stage to whip a qinggong technique out of their back pocket."

"As you say, master," said Sen.

Then, he went back to pooling qi around his feet and trying to walk across the long tub of water that Master Feng had set up.

***

Denied advice and explicitly forbidden to give gifts, Sen did the only thing he could think of when the new year rolled around. He took over preparing the meal. Auntie Caihong had given him a bemused look when he ordered her out of the kitchen, but she complied with a shake of her head. Sen prepared a small feast for them. He made sure to include at least one favorite dish for everyone. While he didn't say that the meal was his gift, everyone knew full well what he was doing. They all took great pains to gush about the food. Understanding what they were doing, Sen accepted the compliments with a combination of good grace and, when Master Feng exclaimed that the transcendent quality of the dumplings was about to make him break through to immortality, the occasional eye roll.

After the meal, the old cultivators quickly exchanged small gifts with each other before turning their attention to Sen. Before anyone else could say anything, Auntie Caihong seized her chance.

"You glory thieves got to go first last year, well, now it's my turn."

With that, she handed Sen a neatly tied bundle. When he opened it, he found a set of excellent robes inside. The material was a dark blue that could easily be mistaken for black in the right light. They felt like they were made of silk, but he sensed a gentle flow of qi in the material.

"Thank you, Auntie."

"Oh, the good part is still coming. Those robes aren't for special occasions. I had them made for traveling. They'll hold up very well against the weather. They'll also stay clean for a lot longer."

Sen had wondered how he would deal with the problem of cleaning his robes all the time. Once again, it seemed that Auntie Caihong had anticipated his needs. He offered her a bow. For her part, Auntie Caihong looked a little smug. Sen saw Master Feng and Uncle Kho trade a quick look before Uncle Kho held out a rolled piece of paper. Sen took it and unrolled it on the table. He found a smaller version of the map that he'd spent so much time looking at over the previous few months. Uncle Kho had even made some helpful notations on the map, such as where to find good food or a safe inn. Sen could immediately see the value of the map, both in the near future and later, when he found himself much farther away.

"Thank you, Uncle Kho," said Sen, smiling at the man. "I expect I'll use this until it falls to pieces.

"It's never a bad thing to have a map, especially one that is relatively accurate. That's something to watch out for out in the world, by the way. There are a lot of terrible mapmakers."

Sen chuckled. "I'll be mindful, Uncle."

"That map should hold up better than you think it will, though. It's been treated to help preserve the paper against most things that are likely to damage it."

As with Auntie Caihong, Sen offered Uncle Kho a deep bow. Then, it was Master Feng's turn. Showing his usual disregard for ceremony, he simply gestured and a jian appeared in his hand.

"Here you go," he said.

Sen took hold of the sword and froze. He understood that this jian wasn't like the one he normally used. It felt different. Master Feng nodded when he saw Sen's expression.

"I don't understand how, but-," Sen grasped for the words and failed.

"It's a spirit-level jian. It's what most foundation formation cultivators use. It has a few special properties, but the biggest things are durability and qi conduction. That blade will stand up to fights far better than the one you've been using, especially if you infuse it with metal qi. The metal is interesting, too. The crystal matrix forms in such a way that, well, it doesn't matter. It can hold and move more qi. It'll make some of your techniques work better."

Sen just stared at the sword for a while before the true importance of Master Feng's words sank in.

"Wait, if this works better, why did you make me use the other sword?"

"I didn't want the tool to become a crutch. Having used a plain jian halfway through foundation formation means you don't depend on the blade to do work for you. You'll appreciate what it can do to improve your techniques, but you won't depend on it."

Sen wanted to be angry with the man, but he couldn't really muster the fire for it. Sen hadn't lost anything by training with the regular blade. He'd only gained a little advantage by having the spirit-level jian, now.

"Thank you, master."

Chapter 59: Parting Ways (3)

As the winter chill started fading from the air, Sen felt the pull east growing stronger. He had thought, well hoped, that he might get more time. With the moment almost on top of him, though, Sen wanted an excuse to stay. Any excuse. He didn't feel ready or prepared. Surely there were more jian and spear styles to learn, more unarmed combat to master, more something that would let him stay a little longer. Sen heaved a sigh. He knew that was simple fear talking. At first, he'd thought it was fear of other cultivators, but he didn't think that was it. While Master Feng, Uncle Kho, and Auntie Caihong couldn't tell him how he did his hiding trick or even exactly why it worked the way it did, they were all very confident about what it did. It let him hide his spiritual presence even from peak nascent soul cultivators. It didn't do anything to hide his physical presence. If he could break line of sight, though, he could simply walk away or gather shadow until the threat passed. That didn't remove the threat of more powerful cultivators entirely, but it gave him a fighting chance.

No, Sen suspected that his fear was more mundane than that. He wasn't afraid of what he knew was out there, powerful cultivators, sects, and spirit beasts. Those things were dangerous, but they were manageable dangers. He was afraid of all the things he didn't know were out there. Master Feng frequently talked about the things he found that surprised him. Things the old cultivator hadn't even known existed. It hadn't stopped happening, even after thousands of years. The fact that most of those recollections ended with some variation of, "So, then I had to cut off its head," may have played some small role in Sen's apprehension. Master Feng might have the power to casually end any conflict with a beheading, but Sen didn't.

Yet, for all his lingering doubts and shapeless fears, Sen prepared. Of course, most of that boiled down to organizing his belongings. There was one thing, or rather one collection of things, that he'd avoided talking about for a long time. He couldn't put it off anymore. He went to talk to Master Feng, who he found in the kitchen, idly eating his way through some leftovers.

"Master, do you have a moment?"

Master Feng gestured that Sen should come over. Once the older cultivator swallowed a mouthful of food, he gave Sen a small smile. "What's on your mind, Sen?"

Sen second-guessed himself for a moment before he resolved to push forward. "I need to know what I should do with all of the spirit beast cores. The one from when you, from before I went out to, from…"

"From when I killed all those beasts," said Master Feng, with a ghost of old pain on his face. "You could give them to Caihong. I'm sure she can make something from them."

"You don't want them?"

"No. They aren't useful to me, except maybe as currency. Even if they were useful, I still wouldn't want them. I'm not proud of how I behaved that day. I won't knowingly benefit from that shame."

Sen was quiet for a moment as he contemplated those words before he gave Master Feng a deep bow.

***

Auntie Caihong waved off the suggestion. "I don't need them. I rarely use spirit beast cores these days. You keep them."

Sen fumbled briefly over how to frame the question. "Alright, but what do I do with them?"

"You can sell them off to alchemists. If I were you, I'd find some down-on-its-luck alchemist shop and use those cores to buy a stake in the place. You take a loss at first, but then you've got a place you go and visit every so often to top up your funds. Which reminds me."

Auntie Caihong peeked out the door, checking to see if anyone was nearby. Then, she handed Sen a pouch. He felt the jingle of coins inside as soon as his hand gripped the leather. He tried to hand it back.

"I can't, Auntie."

"Don't be silly. It's just a little something to tide you over in an emergency. Don't tell the others, though. They'll think I'm coddling you."

Sen protested a few more times, but he could tell that she wasn't going to take no for an answer. He put the pouch in his storage ring and promised he wouldn't mention it.

***

For all his ephemeral concerns, Sen also had one, pressing practical concern about the journey ahead. He found Uncle Kho in the library.

"Uncle Kho?"

"Yes?" The older cultivator asked in a distracted voice.

"Where do I find a spirit-level spear? Is there a specific place I should go to? A specific smith I should talk to?"

Uncle Kho gave Sen a sharp look. "What's wrong with the one you have?"

Sen blinked rapidly for several seconds. "I just assumed it was a mortal spear."

"Hmmm. Ming worries about things like weapons becoming crutches. Although, I suppose it's his job to worry about those things where you're concerned. You should spend a little time really pushing qi through that spear, though. Get a feel for what it can do. Still, you make a good point. You should know where to go to get new weapons."

Uncle Kho unrolled his big map of the continent and pointed out half a dozen places spread out over the huge land mass. His finger lingered over one spot located almost dead center on the land mass.

"If you can get there in a reasonable amount of time, this is where you want to go. Ask for Chen Jun Hie. The man is a genius with a hammer and forge. Tell him I sent you. He owes me a bunch of favors. If he doesn't believe you, tell him I said he owes me for the crane sisters," said Uncle Kho, amusement brightening his features. "He'll know I really sent you and cut you a break on the price."

"Thank you for the advice, Uncle."

Sen had pulled out his notebook and made notes on the smiths' names, as well as where to find them. When he looked up, he saw a little frown on Uncle Kho's face. The man gave the library a suspicious look before he went over and stuck his head out the door. He closed the door and came back over to Sen. With a little grin, he held out a pouch. Sen was pretty sure he knew what was in the pouch and tried to protest.

"Truly, Uncle Kho, it's not necessary," said Sen, holding up his hands.

"It's nothing. Just something to see you through in case you have trouble finding work."

Additional protests proved just as meaningless with Uncle Kho as they had with Auntie Caihong. Sen reluctantly took the pouch and stored it away.

"Gratitude, Uncle."

"Like I said, it's nothing. Just keep it between us or the others will say I'm getting sentimental in my old age."

Sen wanted to laugh, but he managed to maintain his composure until he was out of earshot.

***

When the day finally arrived, Sen was surprised to discover that his fears had mostly evaporated. He could still feel little tendrils of unease, now and then, but resolve seemed to steal whatever power they held. Sen donned the robes that Auntie Caihong had given him. He lingered over the weapons before he ultimately belted on the mortal jian, storing the spirit-level jian and spear in the storage ring Master Feng had provided. The one that Auntie Caihong had given him was bursting with camping gear, useful tools, medical supplies, the spirit beast cores, and countless other little things that the older cultivators had decided he needed, or might need one day, or might find vaguely useful in increasingly improbable-sounding scenarios. He checked the room over, looking for anything he might have forgotten but found nothing.

He found the three older cultivators waiting for him, breakfast already prepared and waiting on the table. It wasn't an elaborate meal. Instead, it was hearty and filling, with pork rice porridge, steamed dumplings, and scallion pancakes. They kept the conversation light, asking Sen about when he thought he'd leave from Orchard's Reach to visit the coast, and if he had any thoughts on where he might travel after that. All three made suggestions, each of which would carry him in a different direction. He smiled and said he'd have to decide after he'd seen the ocean. Then, the meal was over and there was nothing left to do, no more excuses to linger. The older cultivators walked outside with him.

"Sen, one last thing," said Auntie Caihong.

"Yes, Auntie?"

She held out a large stone vial that was both stoppered and sealed. "In case I don't see you before, this is for when you're ready to break through to core formation. I made it using that core that fascinated you so much. It should give you some interesting benefits."

Sen carefully stored the vial away and bowed. "Thank you."

Uncle Kho handed Sen a large, wrapped package. "For your grandmother. If she's what I suspect she is, she'll appreciate this."

Sen took the package and stored it away. "Thank you, Uncle Kho."

"I said I needed to do something nice for that woman," said Uncle Kho with a big smile. "Now, I have. Travel safely, young Sen. When you get back, perhaps you'll only be two thousand years too early to defeat me."

Sen laughed before he gave each of them a brief hug.

"I promise I'll write if anything interesting happens."

"Write even if nothing interesting happens," said Auntie Caihong.

Then, Sen turned to Master Feng, who gestured to the gate in the wall. They left the manor with only one last turn to wave before the forest hid the house from view. The two walked for perhaps ten minutes before Master Feng stopped. Sen wondered if Master Feng knew that he'd finally cleared the lump in his throat, or if it just worked out that way. Master Feng looked Sen up and down and seemed satisfied with what he saw.

"You've come a long way in a short time."

"It's been almost six years. That only seems like a short time to someone who's lived for as long as you, master. It's a long time for everyone else."

Master Feng snorted. "I suppose it is. This is where I'll leave you. Just one or two bits of business to wrap up."

A box that looked very similar to the one that the old cultivator had given to Grandmother Lu appeared in Master Feng's hand. He held it out to Sen.

"Master?"

"For your grandmother. I commissioned a few more pills for her. If anyone but Caihong had made them, I'd have said I'd been wildly overcharged. There are instructions in there."

Sen eyed the box suspiciously. "What are they?"

The same mischievous gleam that Sen saw in his master's eyes from time to time reappeared, but the old cultivator said nothing. Sen shook his head and put the box away. When he looked back up, his master was holding out a pouch, a very familiar style of pouch. Sen engaged in the usual, useless protests, but ultimately ended up with the pouch in his hands.

"A lot can happen out on the road," said Master Feng. "You should always have something to fall back on. Just don't tell Jaw-Long or Caihong. They'd never let me live it down. It'd be a thousand years of jokes about how the mighty Feng Ming has gone soft."

"Our secret," Sen promised.

The two traded bows, and then Feng watched as Sen disappeared down the mountain and entered a whole new chapter of his life. A few minutes later, Jaw-Long appeared.

"Are you staying, old friend?"

Feng's eyes never left the spot where Sen had disappeared into the trees. He nodded to Jaw-Long.

"For a little while, I think. There is something wrong with the spirit beasts on this mountain. I mean to work out what it is and deal with the problem."

"I thought you might follow along in Sen's wake and spy on the poor boy."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"So, you're really going to let him go off by himself?"

"Don't be insane. I'm not going to spy on him. I have people for that."

Jaw-Long threw back his head and laughed. "Come on, then. Let's go figure out your spirit beast mystery."

Chapter 60: Orchard's Reach

Sen stopped and cocked his head to one side when he thought he caught the sound of laughter echoing down the mountain after him. After a moment, the sound receded and didn't return. Sen shrugged and continued on his way. He'd gone perhaps half a mile when he smiled to himself and called out.

"You can come out now!"

Sen didn't stop walking. Instead, he maintained the same ground-consuming stride he planned to maintain most of the way down the mountain. Perhaps a minute later, Falling Leaf walked up and started keeping pace with him. Neither of them said anything. They just descended in companionable silence. Eventually, Sen's stomach reminded him that it still existed. Much as Master Feng had done on the trip up the mountain, Sen kept an eye out for a convenient clearing. He shared his lunch with the big cat, tossing her bits of food to chase around. It was a bittersweet moment for him, knowing that it was likely one of the last times, if not the last time he'd do that with her for a good long time.

"I didn't think I'd see you again when you didn't come to the house this morning."

The cat eyed Sen for a moment but didn't deign to answer beyond a vague shake of her head. He'd known her long enough to know that was ghost panther speak for 'don't be an idiot. I can't trust you not to fall off a cliff without me around.' Sen smiled at the big cat, a little moved that she was still watching out for him.

It didn't take long before Sen started to understand just how much Master Feng must have limited his natural pace on that first trip up the mountain. It had seemed brutally fast to Sen at the time, but it must have felt agonizingly slow to the old cultivator. By Sen's estimation, he'd reach the bottom of the mountain by mid-afternoon. He did slow a little after he made that realization. It wasn't as though Grandmother Lu was expecting him. He could drag out his time with Falling Leaf a bit. As they walked, something occurred to him. He looked over at the big cat.

"I never apologized to you, did I? I mean, after I stormed off that night."

Falling Leaf gave him a look with narrowed eyes.

"Okay, I can see that I didn't. In that case, let me apologize now. I shouldn't have stormed off like that. You gave me good advice. I just didn't want to hear it at the time. I'm sorry for acting that way."

She continued giving him that narrow-eyed look for a moment before her expression relaxed into something more friendly. He gave it a moment to see if she'd say something, but she didn't. Sen decided to take that slightly less hostile look as her acceptance of his apology. He did notice that the farther down the mountain they got, the more relaxed that Falling Leaf became. Sen supposed that the smarter and more dangerous spirit beasts probably lived above, simply to avoid the cluster of humans in the town below. While almost any spirit beast was more than a match for most humans, those odds changed when you got a whole group of humans working together. Sen thought it was an odd sort of balance that the spirit beasts had struck with this bit of encroaching civilization. Moreover, he wondered how long that balance could last. If the town grew, would the spirit beasts retreat deeper into the wilds, become more aggressive, or try to maintain the status quo?

Sen let that question roll around in his head for a while. It gave his mind something to do while they walked. Even covering ground as fast as they were, there was only so much to look at. After the first few hundred trees, they lost most of their interest for Sen. He kept his senses extended, wary for threats, but nothing bothered them. That left Sen with a hint of unease. Constant attacks from the local spirit beasts would have frustrated him, while occasional run-ins with them would have met his expectations. A total absence of attacks struck him as a bit unnatural. He voiced those concerns to Falling Leaf, who gave him a look that said she agreed, but that she also wasn't sure what there was to do about it. Eventually, Sen started picking up hints of wood smoke and the less pleasant odor of trash. He glanced over at the ghost panther and stopped. They faced each other for a moment before Sen walked over and crouched down so he could look directly at the panther.

"It's your job to keep yourself safe until I get back. I expect you to be here, safe and whole, when I return," said Sen. "Go and visit Uncle Kho every once in a while. It drives him crazy that you can just ignore his formations, but I think he'd miss giving you treats."

Sen saw a twinkle in the big cat's eyes at those words.

"You're my only real friend, you know. Master Feng, Uncle Kho, and Aunt Caihong all care about me, but I'm like a mix between a great, great, great grandchild they took in for a while and some kind of cultivation experiment. You didn't care about any of that. You were just my friend. I'm going to miss you."

Not sure how to sum up the wrenching pain that leaving her on the mountain was causing him, he just pressed his head gently against hers. They stayed that way for a long time before the big cat finally pulled back.

Her gaze became a piercing blade. "Move swiftly. Move silently. When you must strike, strike to kill."

Sen was a little taken aback by the intensity of that statement, but he nodded. "I will."

Falling Leaf gave him one last look, then vanished into the forest. Sen allowed himself five seconds to stare after his departing friend. Five seconds to wallow in the sense of loss. Five seconds to fantasize about calling the whole thing off. He gave himself five seconds to be a child for just a little bit longer. Then, the five seconds were over. Sen took a breath, squared his shoulders, and started walking again. He'd angled himself slightly away from town so he could come out on the narrow road to the west of the town. If anyone saw him simply walk out of the wilds, it would draw more attention than he wanted. The only people who went into the wilds from the town were the hunters, and everyone knew them on sight. For a stranger to simply stride out of those forests looking none the worse for wear. They might accuse him of being a demon.

So, he took the extra time to leave the forests away from prying eyes. Then, he simply walked up to the western gate of the town. As he approached the gate, he saw a guard come out. He remembered those guards. They had always seemed huge and powerful to him. Now, the man standing outside the gate looked like he wouldn't be much more than a minor inconvenience to any spirit beast that decided that the things inside those walls smelled like food. The guard's spear was old, as was his breastplate, and both were poorly cared for. The man held the spear like he'd never received a minute of training with it. The sight of the guard mishandling that weapon made Sen feel a little angry. He did his best to bury that anger. The guards weren't his responsibility. If the mayor couldn't be bothered to have the men trained properly, Sen couldn't fix that problem.

The guard lifted a hand to stop Sen, but the man's eyes kept drifting down to the jian that Sen wore with such casual ease. Sen could almost see the guard deciding that this was a fight he didn't want to pick. Before the guard could simply fail in his duty, Sen drew to stop. He very consciously stopped outside of weapon range for himself and the guard. The guard let out a breath he'd been holding.

"Name? Purpose of visit?" Asked the guard.

"Lu Sen. I'm here to see visit my grandmother, Lu Jia."

The guard visibly straightened at Grandmother Lu's name and offered Sen a deep bow. "Of course, honored guest. Be welcome to Orchard's Reach. Do you know the way?"

"I do," said Sen, only to realize that might have been a mistake.

Oh well, he thought. I can't fix it now. The guard immediately turned away and opened the gate. While he didn't think much of how the guard handled a spear, the man had been polite enough. Sen nodded to the guard as he stepped through the gate and onto the streets that had been his childhood home. While he didn't expect cultivator trouble in the small town, Sen took the precaution of hiding. He was here to see Grandmother Lu. That was all. If cultivators wanted to fight with him, they could do it some other day, preferably in some other place. As he walked, Sen was surprised at how little had changed. It felt like a lifetime had passed for him, but maybe five or six years wasn't really that long in the lifespan of a town. He really didn't know. Of course, with so few changes around him, it only took a short walk for Sen to find the house that Master Feng had acquired for Grandmother Lu's use. A young woman answered the door and showed him in. He noticed her cheeks turn bright red any time she looked at him for more than a few seconds. What an odd girl, he thought. She disappeared into the house and an older man came out to the entryway to greet him.

"Can I help you, young man?" The older man asked, wariness and curiosity warring in his eyes.

"I am here to see my grandmother, Lu Jia."

"Your grandmother," the man repeated before his eyes went very wide. "Are you Lu Sen?"

"Yes, I am called that," Sen answered, offering the man a smile.

Much to Sen's abject horror, the man dropped to his knees and slammed his head against the floor. "Forgive this lowly one, honored cultivator. Your grandmother is not here."

Sen felt his heart try to stop in his chest. What had happened to Grandmother Lu? Had she died? Sen forced calm onto his racing heart and mind.

"Can you tell me where she is?"

"She is at her shop, honored cultivator."

Sen frowned. Grandmother Lu had a shop? He didn't care. She was alive. That was all that mattered.

"Please get up," Sen told the man.

The older man hastily rose to his feet, but he never quite met Sen's eyes. "How can I assist you, honored cultivator."

"I only require directions to my grandmother's shop."

"At once, honored cultivator," the man nearly screamed.

Sen felt a sudden surge of belated empathy for Master Feng. He imagined that the frustration he was feeling with the old man in front of him was but a pale shadow of the frustrations the ancient cultivator must have felt that day in the market. Sen schooled himself to remain calm and friendly.

"Thank you, uncle."

The old man almost exploded with pride at Sen's casual use of the respectful term. Sen repressed yet another sigh.

Chapter 61: Grandmother Lu's Heavenly Wares

The older man, who introduced himself as Zhang Muchen, was apparently one of Grandmother Lu's house staff. Sen knew that Master Feng had left Grandmother Lu some money, but he hadn't thought that it would be enough to hire more staff. Still, he was happy that she had people around to look after her needs. Of course, there was the matter of her shop. Sen couldn't quite wrap his head around the idea. Grandmother Lu's mind had still been very sharp when he left, but she had struck him as very frail. Her hands had seemed to hurt her all the time. He did recognize that some of his struggle with the idea was a simple lack of information. He'd never been inside a shop before.

Oh, Aunt Caihong had been careful to describe how shops worked to him, the protocols involved, but that was all from the perspective of the customer. Sen didn't understand what was involved with owning a shop, but it seemed likely to him that it called for at least some physical labor and likely some paperwork. He didn't like to think of Grandmother Lu hunched over paperwork, wincing with every brush stroke. He'd hoped that she would spend her days at ease, taking that ease as some small reward for her kindnesses to him. If anyone had earned that rest, in Sen's opinion, she had.

Looking back, he understood better just what a risk she had taken by letting him into her home and sharing her food with him. For all she had known, Sen might have turned on her like some kind of wild animal. Sen wouldn't have done that. Even then, he'd had gratitude in his heart, if not true understanding. Yet, she couldn't have known that about him. She might have guessed, even hoped that he wouldn't, but she couldn't have known. She had gambled her life that he was better than he had any right to be. At least Sen could take some tiny bit of satisfaction that she'd won that gamble.

"Young master, was your training successful?" Asked the old servant.

Sen blinked a few times and forced his thoughts back into the present. Zhang Muchen had been rambling on about Grandmother Lu's many virtues, and Sen had mostly stopped listening. He'd been getting by with positive noises every so often for about five minutes. Sen glanced at the older man who looked very apprehensive for some reason. Sen briefly thought about how to answer the question.

"Yes, Uncle Zhang. I did experience some small success in my training."

Relief oozed out of the man as he offered Sen a bright smile. "That is wonderful news, young master. Wonderful."

Sen gave the man a smile. "Let us hope that Grandmother is as pleased with my progress."

The servant gaped at Sen for a moment before he laughed. "Oh, the young master is having a joke at my expense. Mistress Lu always sings the praises of her grandson. I do not believe she would tolerate a bad word to be spoken of you."

Sen felt a warm little surge in his chest. "She is very kind to do so."

Zhang Muchen beamed at Sen and then gestured toward a building. "Young master, we have arrived. This is Grandmother Lu's Heavenly Wares."

Sen just stared at the structure for a minute. It was twice the size of any other building in the market. More to the point, it looked new. As far as Sen was concerned, it was new. The building certainly hadn't existed when he'd last graced the square. He thought back and tried to remember what had been there before. He could remember what the buildings had looked like, but not much else. They must not have been restaurants, which were the only kinds of businesses that Sen had cared about before. Yet, for all that Grandmother Lu's shop was big and new, it wasn't overblown. There was only a simple sign over the door that gave the name. No there were no gaudy decorations or too bright colors, just that sign.

Sen followed Zhang Muchen into the shop and looked around with intense curiosity. A wide variety of goods were on display, from bundles of what looked like fine silks on one table, to delicate figurines artfully arranged on shelves, to dishes with what Sen thought were plum blossoms around the outer edges. Sen was no merchant to judge the value of goods, but he had at least some passing understanding of what quality goods looked like, courtesy of his time in Uncle Kho and Aunt Caihong's home. The goods in the shop were good, probably even excellent, quality, which meant they were expensive. How could Grandmother Lu own this shop? How could she possibly even afford to acquire the things he saw for sale? Sen didn't think that Master Feng had been that generous to Grandmother Lu.

There were a few customers in the place, all of them wearing fine robes and attended by young men and women in matching outfits. Sen noticed a few similarly uniformed young women hovering nearby and watching him with rather intense looks. He turned to ask Zhang Muchen a question, only to see the man having what looked like a very intense, if hushed, conversation with a woman. Sen caught little snatches of the conversation, such as "very important" and "tea." The man said one last thing and the woman visibly jerked before her eyes swiveled to him. She gave Zhang a hasty bow and rushed over to Sen. Sen watched as Zhang walked around a counter and disappeared through a curtained doorway. He was curious about what the man was up to, but the woman was right in front of him by then, bowing and introducing her so fast that Sen couldn't make sense of her name. She gently pulled Sen away from the shop front and into what must have been a room meant for private meetings with important guests.

Sen was offered a comfortable chair and assured that anything he needed would be provided as quickly as possible. He tried to give the woman a reassuring smile and said he didn't need anything. She gave him another deep bow and a wide-eyed look before she vanished. Sen heaved a sigh of relief. At least he'd get a few moments of privacy in the back room. That privacy lasted all of two minutes before a tall, slender young woman with delicate features came in carrying a tray and tea set. She insisted on preparing a cup for him and stared at him while he tried the tea. It was good.

"The tea is excellent. Thank you."

The young woman smiled, seemed to think better of it, then bowed, and then, by Sen's estimation, she ran away. He really didn't know what to make of that but decided to simply enjoy his tea while he waited. The peace was shattered as a different young woman came in with a plate piled high with almond cookies. He took a cookie, ate it while the woman just watched him with wide eyes, and then praised the quality. She blushed at him and, then, she too fled the room. Sen was starting to wonder if this was some kind of elaborate prank that Master Feng had arranged for over the last few years. The suspicion was heightened when he heard feminine giggling outside of the little room he was in. He was eyeing the door suspiciously when another young woman, this one with a round face and a few freckles on her cheeks, came in to offer him a mooncake. He blinked down at the treat. Hadn't Auntie Caihong said that those were usually something people ate in the autumn? Sen shrugged to himself. Maybe someone decided they wanted some over the summer. He was reaching out for the treat when he heard a familiar voice.

"Oh, for the heavens' sake, get back to work you girls."

The sound of Grandmother Lu's voice had a startling effect on the girl. She jumped, lost her hold on the small plate, and sent both plate and treat flying. At the same time, the door burst open and the girl stumbled away from it. For Sen, who had spent months learning to dodge things moving a lot faster than anything in that room, it looked like an amusing exercise. He stood, gently scooping the falling plate out of the air with his left hand and snatching the treat out of the air with his right hand. He used his left arm to arrest the girl's fall and pull her against him where she could catch her balance. The girl was still crying out before her brain registered that she wasn't still falling. Sen waited a beat to make sure she had her footing, while she stared up at him with an incredulous expression on her face. He took a step back and held the plate out to her.

"There you go. No harm done. I even saved the mooncake," said Sen, holding up the treat and taking a bite. "Mmmm, is that red bean paste? It's really good."

The flustered girl took the plate from Sen's hand and said, "My mother made it."

Sen was a little amused by the fact that she hadn't answered his question, but he played along. "She did an excellent job of it. Give her my compliments."

The girl seemed to realize that something nonsensical had fallen out of her mouth and turned bright red. There was a half-amused, half-exasperated noise from the door. The girl spun, lost control of the plate again, and Sen was forced to save it from destruction a second time. He put the plate back in her hands as she turned even redder.

"Go on, Bai. There are customers."

"Yes, Mistress Lu."

The girl pulled the plate against her chest with both hands and rushed past the figure in the door.

"Now, grandson, I don't remember you being quite that charming before. What did that old goat have you getting into up on that mountain?"

Sen stared in slack-jawed amazement at the woman in the doorway. She looked the way that Sen might have imagined that Grandmother Lu's daughter would look. She wasn't young, but she wasn't ancient either. She looked like a healthy woman in her middle years. If Sen hadn't seen Uncle Kho's transformation, he wouldn't have believed his eyes. "Grandmother Lu?"

She gave him a warm smile and opened her arms. "In the not-so-withered flesh. Now, come over here and let me get a look at you. My goodness, what did they feed you? You're huge now."

Chapter 62: Unexpected Boons

Sen hesitated for the briefest of moments, mostly out of pure shock, before he walked over to the much-restored Grandmother Lu. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. Sen, mindful of his increased strength, squeezed her back gently. She held him like that for a long moment before she pulled away and cupped his face in her hands. She bestowed an uncomplicated smile on him, radiating something akin to pure joy at his mere presence.

"I worried I might not ever see you again, boy," she announced, patting his cheeks gently before gesturing at the chairs.

Sen laughed then, earning a startled look from the older woman. He waved a hand in the air.

"I worried the same thing, more than once," he said.

"Oh," she said, the sparkle of understanding in her eyes. "Yes, I suppose I must have looked to be nearly a corpse to your young eyes."

She sat down and looked at the tea and the plate of cookies, clearly bemused by their presence. Sen walked over and poured a cup for Grandmother Lu. He took his own seat and smiled at her, as a weight that had hung around his heart for most of six years crumbled away.

"It looks like I missed a lot in my time away on the mountain. You built all of this," he said, gesturing around him.

"I don't think you missed nearly as much as I did," she said with a snort, but then she smiled at their surroundings. "Yet, your fortuitous encounter became my fortuitous encounter as well, it seems. That and those pills your master left behind. At my age, one does not imagine such unexpected boons. Yet, I was wise enough to grasp them with both hands when they arrived."

Sen leaned forward, eager to hear her tale. "Was it the pills that gave you such a miraculous transformation?"

Grandmother Lu leaned back and sipped at her tea, a thoughtful expression on her face. "They did, although, probably not in the way you mean. I didn't take one and find myself remade the next morning."

A little wave of disappointment ran through Sen. He had spent enough time with Auntie Caihong to have a fair grasp of what medicinal and alchemical ingredients could and could not do. Yet, there was still a bit of the boy left in him as well. He had listened in wonder as people told stories about fish who became dragons by leaping over enchanted rainbows or the magical stone puppet, Sun Wukong, who roamed the world in search of the secrets to transformation and, in his own act of defiance against the heavens, transformed from dead stone to living flesh. He had hoped that Grandmother Lu's story would have the same magical quality, simply because it would have been such a good story. Yet, he didn't let his minor disappointment distract him for long.

"Please, tell me what happened," he said.

"I suppose to understand what has happened now, I'll have to tell you about what happened to me before. I never did tell you how I ended up in that little hovel, did I? I suppose it made me too sad to think on it. Well, you deserve to know. I come from a family of cultivators."

Sen sat up sharply at that revelation. "Really?"

"Oh yes, and powerful ones at that. Well, I thought so when I was a girl at any rate. I imagined that no man could be as powerful as my father and no woman as swift as my mother. I suppose meeting that old monster you call a master has given me perspective. Peak core? Nascent soul stage, is he?"

Sen hesitated, not sure if he should answer the question, but it wasn't as though Grandmother Lu didn't already know about Master Feng. She'd even made some educated guesses, it seemed.

"Not core formation stage. He's at the nascent soul stage. Peak nascent soul," said Sen, putting as much emphasis as he could on the word peak.

Grandmother Lu went still as she processed Sen's words. "I suppose we're all lucky that your master didn't simply level the town after the games the fool mayor tried to play."

"I don't think he'd do that," said Sen. "He's a little bit lazy about some things, to be honest. He could destroy a town, I think. He has the power. But why go through all of that effort when he can just humiliate the mayor?"

"Ha! Saved by laziness, of all things. Well, I'll raise a toast to his poor character soon. Now, where was I?"

"Your parents," offered Sen.

"Yes, my parents. It turned out that they weren't interested in raising mortal children. So, my sisters and I were started on the path to cultivation young, too young really. They pushed us hard. In my case, they pushed too hard. Too many cultivation aids, too close together, and not nearly enough insight on my part. I just didn't have the wisdom at the time. It damaged my meridians."

Sen frowned. "Well, that's not good, but it's fixable. Even I could probably fix it if someone caught it soon enough."

For a moment, Sen got lost in his own thoughts as he ran through possible ingredients and reagents. The longer he thought about it, the more confident he became that, yes, he could probably fix it. He glanced up to see Grandmother Lu staring at him, her mouth hanging open a little.

"What?" He asked, feeling a little sheepish.

"You became a pill refiner skilled enough to make Twice-Blessed Heavenly Balm pills?"

Sen immediately shook his head. "Oh, nothing like that. I don't even know what those pills are. Oh, well, I guess they must fix meridians. I mean, I'm sure Auntie Caihong could make them, but I didn't learn pill refining. I could probably make an alchemical elixir that would heal meridians, though. I'd need the right ingredients, like earth qi-attributed ginseng, moon lotus blossoms, a fire qi-attributed devil thorn…" Sen trailed off as he registered the shocked awe on Grandmother Lu's face. He supposed those were pretty rare ingredients. "I guess the ingredients don't really matter."

"An elixir?" Asked Grandmother Lu. "You can just make an elixir to heal damaged meridians? This Caihong taught you a recipe for that?"

Sen laughed. "Recipe, grandmother? No. Why would she need to teach me a recipe for something like that? It's not like I'd be trying to help someone get over a golden river viper bite. That would be hard. I'd definitely need a recipe for something like that. That snake's venom is some truly evil stuff."

"I see," said Grandmother Lu.

She looked like she'd gone pale to Sen. He hurriedly offered her some more tea. She held out her cup in a shaky hand. She downed most of the hot liquid in one gulp.

"Are you feeling alright, grandmother?" Sen asked, very concerned.

"Yes, Sen, I'm fine. It's just, I'll definitely need to hear more about what you learned."

Sen smiled. "Of course. I mean, it's all pretty basic. If your parents were cultivators, I doubt any of it will seem all that new."

Grandmother Lu made a noncommittal noise and then shook her head. "Well, my meridians were damaged, which slowed down my progress. My father saw that as a personal challenge and pushed even harder. I didn't know any better, at the time, so I just went along with it. The damage got worse, which slowed me down even more. Eventually, they took me to see a spirit doctor. My parents decided they weren't going to waste money on someone who couldn't even get through the first stages of body cultivation."

"They didn't even try to fix it?"

"No. They threw me out instead."

As Sen watched an old pain cross Grandmother Lu's face, a kind of icy resolve took hold in his heart. One day, when he was powerful enough, he would need to find those cultivators who had so badly mistreated their daughter.

Grandmother Lu shook off the old memories. "I was lucky, though. A family that lived nearby took me in. They found me work. They even helped me find a husband. My dear Haoyu. We weren't wealthy, not nearly wealthy enough to afford the kind of help that my meridians needed, but we were happy. As the years went by, I stopped thinking about it. I had a husband and children. I wasn't defying the heavens, but it was a good life. Then, one by one, our children married or moved away. It was just me and Haoyu.

"Then, the heavens took away what they had given me. They took my husband. It was just an accident, but he was still gone. Unfortunately, while my husband was a good man, he wasn't always the wisest man. He had many debts I didn't learn about until after he was gone. Bit by bit, everything we'd worked so hard to build together was sold off. Until, one day, there simply wasn't anything left. I wrote to my children, but they didn't have any room for an old woman."

Sen added some more people to the list of those he needed to find one day.

"Well, I expect you can guess the rest. I worked where I could, when I could, until I ended up in that little hovel. I expected to die there, alone and forgotten. Then, you came along. You were so skinny. When you came by with that cultivator, though, I didn't know what to think. It seems he took the measure of me fast enough, though. Those pills he left healed my meridians. It took most of a year before I could cycle qi again. It's hard healing that kind of damage at my age.

"Once they were healed enough that I could cycle qi again, though, I had done some body cultivation. Those changes were still there. They'd just been starved for qi for most of my life. I finally got to see some of the benefits. I can't break through again, I don't think. But it's bought me some years."

"That's wonderful," said Sen, and he meant it. "And, you have this store."

"Yes, that master of yours left some money. I decided that since I had some little piece of my youth back, I'd do something with that money. I built a little trading company with it."

"If you like it, that's not a bad way to spend your time."

"Oh, I didn't build this for me, Sen. I built this for you."

Chapter 63: Practicalities

Sen just stared at Grandmother Lu for a little while as he tried and failed to understand what she meant. Sen had some vague ideas about what inheritance meant, but cultivators tended to distance themselves from those kinds of familial concerns. At least, that's what Uncle Kho had told him.

"Inheritance is meant for mortals, Sen," the old cultivator had said. "It's a way for families to build wealth and retain property from one generation to the next. Cultivators disrupt all of that. If a cultivator inherits something, they might own it for the next thousand years. That prevents anyone else in their family from taking it and doing something productive with it. Even nobles who become cultivators give up their inheritances most of the time."

With those words and no reason to expect that he'd have to worry about it, Sen hadn't given the problem another thought. Yet, now, it seemed like maybe he should have dug a little deeper into it. He decided to start with the obvious.

"Grandmother, I don't know anything about running a shop or a trading company."

Grandmother Lu chuckled. "Oh, I don't mean for you to run this operation. I expect that would be a terrible waste of your time and talents. Other people can do that work. No, I mean for this operation to serve as support for you."

Sen poked and prodded at that last statement and came up empty. "I don't really understand what that means."

"That's how I know you really need it. I've met some cultivators over the years, other than my parents, and they almost all had one thing in common."

He waited for a beat before lifting an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"They didn't understand how to deal with practicalities. Take you, for example. I expect that you're probably strong enough to knock over a tree at this point. Maybe you can even summon up some fire or earth qi as well."

Sen was more interested in where she was going than getting into a long discussion about his current abilities, so he didn't try to correct her. "Yes, that's likely all true."

"Do you know how to send someone a letter? I mean, a plain, mortal letter."

Sen opened his mouth to declare that he could obviously do that, except, he realized, he didn't know how to do that. "I suppose I don't."

"I expect that you have some ideas about the value of things like beast cores and medicinal herbs, am I right?"

Sen nodded. "It varies from place to place, as I understand it, but I have a general idea."

"Do you know how much an apple costs? Or where you'd buy feed for a horse? Or when the gates usually close for the night in a city?"

Sen frowned and thought back about all the things that he'd learned over the last few years. Grandmother Lu had a point. He didn't know about any of those kinds of things.

"I don't," he admitted.

"I expect it's worse for you than it would be for most people. You don't even have regular childhood memories to fall back on. That's where this little trading company comes in. It's not that big yet, but it's growing all the time. I have shops like this in several of the closer cities. We have small offices for research and purchasing in about a dozen more. Their main job is to be exactly what they are, shops and offices. But, their other job is to be a place you can go for practical help. They all have standing orders to make themselves useful to you if you should ever show up."

Sen found himself moved by just how much thought Grandmother Lu had clearly put into understanding the kinds of needs he would have when he came down off the mountain. She'd even anticipated that he wouldn't simply stay in Orchard's Reach, but that he would venture out into the world as a wandering cultivator. She's spread the net of her small business empire to make that journey a little easier for him. Sen almost thought that it had been unnecessary, but he wasn't sure that was true. There were clearly a great many things he hadn't known about and that the elder cultivators hadn't really considered. He supposed there was a bit of a fault on both sides there. As his teachers, he thought it was part of their job to at least try to provide important information he might not have. On his part, he just hadn't thought it through, so it never occurred to him to ask them about doing normal things. Auntie Caihong had even given him the tools to write letters. Still, neither of them had thought to talk about how to send those letters once he wrote them. He supposed that they'd all just been a little too focused on cultivation. Sen bowed to Grandmother Lu.

"Thank you for the consideration you've shown for my needs. Still, you shouldn't have worked so hard. I was hoping that you'd be able to live in ease for a time."

"Oh, I did for a while. You've never seen someone so bad at it. I ended up following my maid around all day, supervising her work. I'm sure that poor girl was ready to smother me in my sleep. This was the best thing that could have happened to me. Especially now that I might live for another fifty years. I have something to do every day. I have a purpose. I get to be helpful to my grandson, and I get to make myself a tidy little fortune in the process."

"The business is doing well, then? The things out front seemed a little expensive for this town."

"Oh, they probably are, but I wanted to be easy to find when you finally came down off the mountain. Plus, having this place lets me give all of those children out there somewhere to work. I don't suppose you recognized any of them."

Sen thought back about the employees he'd seen. None of them looked familiar, but it had been a while. Sen shrugged and shook his head.

"I can't say I recognize any of them."

Grandmother Lu waved it off. "No matter. I plucked most of them out of that same pit where that little hovel was. You could almost hear the howling from all those proper families who wanted their children to get experience here."

Sen almost choked on his tea when he laughed at that. "I'd have thought that might cause some trouble."

"It might well be if we were somewhere else, but the nobility here are very minor nobility. They're really only better than merchants in name only. They ignored me at first, and then, when they wanted to do something about me, they found out that I was better at buying off the right people."

Sen thought back to all those times he'd had to run away from noble brats intent on trouble of the more physical kind.

"Don't you worry that they might hurt your employees or, I don't know, destroy the shop."

Grandmother Lu sighed. "It's a possibility. I have people who keep an eye on the shop at night, but there's only so much you can do. If someone truly decides they're going to burn this place down, they'll find a way. Of course, that's a step I don't think anyone wants to take. If they do, it's like an open declaration of war. They don't want me hiring people from somewhere else to get my revenge on them."

Sen wasn't sure he really believed something like that wouldn't happen, but Grandmother Lu had more experience with those kinds of things than he did. He'd let her decide how best to handle it.

"Well," said Sen. "I should get going. I'm sure you have things to do here, and we can catch up more tonight. I even have some gifts for you."

Grandmother Lu laughed. "Oh, what a filial grandson you are. Very well, I'll have Zhang Muchen take you back to the house and prepare a room. Unless you want to go exploring, of course."

Sen shook his head. "The only thing I care about in this town is you. I don't need to see it again to remember how much I hate this place."

"I suppose that's fair."

Rising from her seat, Grandmother Lu led Sen back out into the shop proper. She waved off several of the girls who made to come over and, well, Sen supposed they'd try to be helpful. Instead, she found Zhang Muchen loitering near the front door. She gave him a few quick bits of instruction, told Sen she'd be done in a few hours, and sent them out the front door. Sen was ready to simply find a bath and relax a little, but it seemed the universe had other ideas.

"Street trash!" Someone roared.

Sen saw Zhang Muchen stiffen and followed the man's gaze. There was a tall, young man standing perhaps twenty feet away, flanked by half a dozen people who all did look vaguely familiar to Sen. Sen sighed. He supposed it had been too much to hope that he could avoid this problem. Given that the mayor's son and his hangers-on had been a thorn in his side all through his childhood, Sen supposed there was a certain balance in them being a nuisance now that they were all, in theory, adults. The question Sen didn't have a good answer to was what he should do about the problem now that it was in front of him.

Chapter 64: Problem Solving

Sen studied the group of noble brats for a moment. He let his senses extend just enough to get a read on them. They were all cultivators, but all of them were also still in the qi condensing stage. He frowned a touch at that. Shouldn't they be farther along, he wondered. Then, he let it go. It didn't matter if they should be farther along or not. They were where they were, and that was middle qi condensing at best. While Sen knew better than to disregard numbers, he wasn't sure why they thought giving him a hard time would prove a good plan. Did they think he wouldn't fight back just because they came in a group? Sen focused. Deal with the most immediate problem first. He turned to Zhang Muchen.

"You should go ahead. I'll catch up with you there."

The older servant looked like he very much wanted to take that order, but he said. "I should inform Mistress Lu."

"No, don't bother her with this. There's nothing she can do. This is a cultivator matter. As I said, go on ahead. I'll catch up when I can."

The man gave Sen a deeply grateful look, a very hasty bow, and then vanished. Sen turned his attention back to the waiting noble brats. They glared at him, while he just looked at them with an impassive face. Apparently unable to bear the silence, the Mayor's son took a step forward, sticking out his chest like he thought it made him look impressive.

"Nothing to say?" demanded the mayor's son.

"About what?" Sen asked, feeling perplexed.

The mayor's son pointed his finger at Sen as if to accuse him of something. Then, it finally seemed to dawn on the man that all he had done was yell two words at Sen. While the fool tried to think of something to say, Sen wondered how they'd tracked him down so fast. He had spent a while in with Grandmother Lu, but not that long. He wondered if it was the guard at the gate. That made the most sense. They could have been under orders or been bribed to tell the mayor or the mayor's son if Sen ever came back. Sen decided that it probably didn't matter. It wasn't like he was going to go and kill the man.

"It's time for you to pay for sticking your nose into the business of your betters."

Sen was swiftly growing tired of the posturing fool. "Then, perhaps you should go tell my betters that I'm here."

Whatever the idiot had been expecting, that wasn't it, because he stumbled over his words for several seconds. "I meant me!"

"Really? So, you came here to challenge me to a duel?"

"A duel? I don't duel street trash."

"Ah. So, you came here with all your friends to prove you're a coward. Very well. Get on with it, then."

Sen accessed his storage ring and brought out his spear. If he was going to fight with seven people, he might as well enjoy a reach advantage. The sight of the spear seemed to give the group pause, which Sen took full advantage of. By the time any of them recovered enough to move, Sen had covered most of the distance between him and them. The mayor's son stepped back, his eyes going wide, and jerked a dao free from its scabbard. He started to say something as he pointed the sword at Sen.

"Striking Serpent-," was as far as he got.

Sen infused the spearhead with metal qi and brought it down on the dao. The spear barely registered any resistance as it sheared the dao off at the hilt. It also broke whatever technique the mayor's son was trying to enact. Sen didn't wait to see what the backlash did. He spun away, casually catching the injured man across the side of the head with the butt end of the spear. Sen felt he'd been a little slow on the attack, but none of the lackeys had really reacted yet. Two of them were staring down at the mayor's son with their jaws hanging open. Another had managed to pull a jian free, but they couldn't take their eyes off the two pieces of dao on the ground. Two more had apparently remembered urgent business elsewhere because they were slowly backing away from the fight. Sen kept half an eye on the last one, the biggest of the group, while he dealt with the others.

A swift thrust with the spear ended with the jian wielder screaming and trying to plug the new hole that went straight through his sword arm. Sen ignored the screaming guy for a moment and shattered the ankle of one of the idiots staring down at the mayor's son. The other staring idiot finally remembered that there was a fight happening around him. That one pulled out a pair of short fighting axes. Sen eyed them with curiosity even as he sent a kick back into the screaming guy that sent him rolling away and groaning. Sen thought it made for a nice change of pace from the screaming. He casually blocked a series of strikes from the axes while he sensed the two cowards getting farther away than he wanted them to. He sent a pair of wind blades after them and was rewarded with the sight of two arcs of blood rising into the air from their lacerated backs. The momentary lapse in screaming ended as those two bled and writhed on the ground.

That sight of his friend bleeding all over the place was apparently more than the axe wielder had signed on for. He started backing away, his eyes traveling from the bleeding men to Sen's calm demeanor, then to the big man who had yet to even move. Sen had decided that none of these people were walking from this fight they picked without consequence. He sent a slashing attack that was little more than a blur. Two axe heads spun into the air. The axe wielder was still staring at the severed hafts of his weapons when Sen drove the spearhead into the meaty part of the man's left leg. Sen did do the man the courtesy of not severing anything truly important. He didn't even nick the bone. Although no one would have known that from the shrieks the man let out when jerked the spear free. Sen glanced around at the collection of bleeding, moaning, and unconscious bodies strewn around him. He didn't feel good about any of it, but he didn't feel bad either. Falling Leaf had been right. They had come and he had fought because he had to.

Sen turned his attention to the last of the lackeys. The big man did as Sen had just done and surveyed the damage. The big man frowned as he regarded Sen.

"You didn't used to be this dangerous," said the man a in deep voice.

"Funny. You are all exactly the cowards I remember you being."

The big man's face started to contort with anger, but then his face cleared. He let out a frustrated noise and his shoulders slumped. "I suppose it looks that way to you."

"It doesn't look any way. If you attack someone seven-on-one, you are cowards."

"I didn't attack you," said the man in an even voice.

Sen started to reply but made himself stop. He made himself think. It was true. The big man hadn't so much as moved during the rest of the altercation. His presence was an implied threat, but it had only ever been implied. If they fought now, it would be an honorable exchange. Sen took a moment to gather his thoughts by ripping a piece of robe off the mayor's son and cleaning the spearhead. He eyed the big man and didn't see any obvious weapons.

"You specialize in unarmed combat?" Sen asked.

"I do," said the big man.

Sen put the spear back in his storage ring. There was a part of him that just wanted to knock the big man unconscious and call it a day. It would be easier. It would be cleaner. It would be simpler. Yet, there was something tugging at him. It wasn't as strong as that pull to the East, but it was still there. Sen simply couldn't shake the sense that there was something he was supposed to do, something that included the big man. Sen looked from the big man to the mayor's son, and then back again. He took a stab in the dark.

"You don't much care for him do you?"

There was an almost imperceptible shake of the big man's head. "I am bound to him."

Sen let those words sink in and really considered them. "A debt?"

An almost imperceptible nod. "My family."

So, probably some kind of financial debt. Sen could help with that. He had a storage ring overflowing with beast cores. The real question was, did he want to help this man? Sen didn't mind the idea of good deeds, but he was no saint. Nor he did plan on becoming one. While he let his conscience wrestle with that problem, he gestured at the big man.

"Well, I suppose we should get on with it."

The big man nodded and strode over to Sen. There was no art in the man's movements. Sen saw none of the grace that he expected from years of training. The big man was simple in that he was brute force. He lifted one of his big fists and cocked it back.

"Thunderous Avalanche Strike."

The big fist shot forward toward Sen's face like a flesh hammer. Then, it was stopped cold by Sen's palm. The big man grunted in what was obvious pain. Sen leaned in like he was gloating over the man's failure.

"If I could free you, what would you do?"

"Leave," hissed the big man. "I'd leave."

"And do what?"

The big man looked Sen straight in the eye. "Be like you. Be a wandering cultivator."

"How much does your family owe?"

"One thousand silver tael."

It was a ridiculous, nigh-impossible sum for most families. Sen couldn't even imagine how such a debt could be created in the first place, but the how didn't matter. It was a sum that Sen could afford. It wouldn't even be that big a blow to his theoretical personal wealth, although the value of beast cores was less predictable than gold, silver, or rice for that matter.

"Very well," said Sen.

Then he punched the big man in the chest. The big man flew several feet back through the air before his bulk crashed into the ground. Sen watched as the big man wheezed and coughed. He let the man catch his breath before he walked over and crouched down.

"Do you have a storage treasure?" Sen asked.

The big man wheezed out something that sounded like it might be a no. Sen wasn't surprised, but it would have made life easier if the big man did.

"Visit Grandmother Lu's. I'll leave you what you need there. Then, I'll expect to meet you out there on the road somewhere. Do not make me regret this choice."

"I won't, senior brother."

Sen gave the man a slight nod of acknowledgment, stood, and walked away. It wasn't his responsibility to treat their wounds. As far as he was concerned, they were self-inflicted.

Chapter 65: Self Knowledge

As Sen left the market, he did his best to ignore the people who had taken cover and watched the brief fight instead of fleeing the market entirely. The expressions on their faces disturbed him a little. Some of the people looked at him with intense wariness or outright fear. Of all the possible reactions, those surprised him the least. Those reactions made sense. They were an appropriate response to a sudden outburst of violence, most of it carried out by him. It was the other looks he got that gave him pause. There was plain awe on some people's faces. They looked at him like he was something powerful and otherworldly. Sen sighed at that. He supposed that he was a bit of both of those things. Yet, the degree of awe on their faces seemed outsized to anything he'd actually done. He hadn't summoned fire or lighting. He hadn't cast the market into false night with a lake of shadow. What he had done just wasn't that impressive.

The other expression he saw was a kind of greedy envy. That was the reaction that disturbed him the most. If he had flown through the air the way that Master Feng could, or crafted some pill that could wash injuries away the way Auntie Caihong could, or even set up a formation that drove dangerous beasts away as Uncle Kho could, he could understand that envy. Yet, all he had done was hurt some people. On reflection, he felt confident that the outcome had been utterly inevitable. The mayor's son had come looking to right some imaginary wrong. If Sen hadn't struck first, that fool would have talked himself into doing it. Yet, to feel envious of being able to inflict pain and injury seemed somehow petty to Sen. Why would anyone want that, or aspire to that, he wondered. Sen believed that he'd had more reason than most to desire that kind of power, but he didn't feel any accomplishment from having it.

He felt a sense of accomplishment from developing the discipline necessary to master those skills. He felt a sense of accomplishment from having mastered the forms and techniques. Sen was honest enough with himself to know that he'd even taken some satisfaction in teaching those specific people a lesson. Yet, that satisfaction was tempered by the knowledge that he'd vastly outstripped them in both raw power and skill. It was a relief to him that he hadn't lost his temper. It would have been all too easy to kill any of them or even all of them. He believed that all of them had likely deserved what they got. He'd been on the receiving end of enough beatings from them to know they weren't innocents. He wasn't confident at all that any of them deserved death. No, he'd pushed it as far as it should have gone.

Of course, that didn't mean that everyone would feel the same way. All those cultivators he'd brutalized but left breathing had families. He knew the mayor was at least a minor noble. He suspected that the rest were children of wealthy houses in the town. He worried that this might be the thing that pushed them from passively trying to undermine Grandmother Lu to actively trying to push her out of town. It shouldn't happen that way. By rights, the whole thing was part of the Jianghu. Everyone involved had been a cultivator. Yet, the mayor's son had acted like a fool from the moment he arrived. If the father was anything like the son, Sen couldn't expect him to brush off the whole thing as a lesson learned about picking the right fights.

Sen decided then that he'd need to stick around, at least for a little while, to see how things played out. He wasn't about to leave with the possibility of someone trying to get back at him by attacking Grandmother Lu hanging over everyone's heads. As he walked, he tried to imagine what he would do if someone did try to harm Grandmother Lu. The intensity of violence that his imagination poured forth was enough to bring him up short. He saw the mayor's house as little more than a pillar of flame. He saw a trail of bodies, some of them only barely recognizable as human. He saw businesses crushed into piles of useless rubble. The vision was so palpable, so real that it made him shudder.

Even worse, Sen was relatively confident that all of it was within his power. It would take time and effort, but he could do it. Unless someone managed to find a more powerful cultivator to intervene on their behalf, Sen didn't think that anyone in town had the means to stop him. Sen's steps slowed and then stopped. No one could stop him if he walked down that path. It became abruptly, jarringly clear to him why so many stories painted cultivators as forces of chaos and destruction. If no one could stop you, then why restrain yourself? Why hold back? Do what you want. Take what you want. Kill who you want. The rules that restrained most people didn't apply, so why observe them? In another flash of understanding, those looks of greedy envy on peoples' faces made sense. It wasn't skill or ability that they wanted. They wanted the power to do whatever they felt like without worrying about the consequences.

Sen searched inside his heart and soul. Is that who I am? Is that what I am? Am I the kind of person who simply treats the world as some kind of storage ring filled with things for me to take? Sen shook those questions off. Those were the wrong questions. He didn't know how or why he knew that, but he knew. Yet, they were close enough to the right questions to have some resonance. There were too many things clamoring for attention inside Sen's mind. Too many competing concerns vying for dominance. He took a deep breath and focused on the cycling pattern that was always hard at work gathering environmental qi into his dantian. The persistent, predictable pattern calmed his mind and let him focus.

With less clutter in his thoughts, the answer gradually unfolded in Sen's mind. Sen had been so caught up in the question of what he was now, that he'd forgotten he was barely started on his path through life. Yes, there were parts of him that craved the kind of responsibility-free life where he could do what he wanted and take what he wanted. It was a compelling vision, but it was also a life that would push Sen into places he didn't want to go. While some level of violence was unavoidable in the world of cultivators, that approach would force a much greater level of violence onto Sen. He realized that the question of who he was now mattered, but it was the wrong question because Sen wasn't just charting a course for right now. He was setting the direction for every choice to come. The question he needed to ask himself was…

"Who do I want to become? What do I want to be?"

When he considered the problem from that perspective, the answers became much simpler. He did not want to be someone who did nothing but take. He did not want to become someone who only left destruction in his wake. He would defend what was his if he had to. He would protect those he loved. But he would not mindlessly wander the world as an agent of destruction. That might be the right path for some, but it was not the right path for him. If a man could choose who he became, and Sen believed that he could, then he would choose to be something better. Sen was so inwardly focused at that moment that he'd briefly lost track of what was happening around him. When he made that decision, truly committed to it, though, the massive surge of qi around him intruded on his conscious awareness. As the qi flooded his body, Sen had the horrifying realization that he was about break through, on the street, alone.