Unintended Cultivator

Book 2: Chapter 52: Old Business

“So, just like that, you own half of this place?” Lifen asked.

She gave the run-down alchemist’s shop they had just exited a sidelong glance. Sen followed her eyes and gave her a half smile.

“Yeah, something like that.”

Lifen sighed. “The other two places were better.”

“No,” disagreed Sen, “they were nicer, which is another way of saying that they didn’t need the resources quite as badly as this place. Plus, the couple who runs this place are the best alchemists of the lot. They’ll make better stuff out of those beast cores I gave them, which means that they’ll make more money from them. Besides, I did give them some money to fix the place up.”

Lifen lifted an eyebrow at him. “I noticed. Where does a wandering cultivator get enough gold that they can afford to give some of it away.’

“Invest, my lovely Lifen. Invest.”

“It’s only an investment if you actually get something back from it someday.”

Sen considered that for a moment before conceding the point. “That’s true enough. Although, I suspect that this will turn out to be profitable for me in the long run.”

Lifen gave him a smirk. “You dodged the question.”

“Did I? Forgive me. Yes, you are truly as beautiful as an orchid blooming beneath the moon.”

Lifen actually stumbled a little bit at that, before she shot him a look. “Stop trying to distract me. I didn’t ask for compliments.”

“How fortunate for me that I didn’t give you any.”

That seemed to leave the young woman mute for a few moments. She tried to give him a glare, but the corners of her mouth kept creeping upward, ruining the effect.

“You could have just said it’s a secret.”

“Secret might be a strong word. Let’s just say that I’m not announcing it. It’s not good for people to assume that wandering cultivators are carrying around a lot of wealth.”

It had been a profound relief for Sen to hand over better than half of the beast cores he had to the alchemists. In reality, he’d probably grossly overpaid for his stake in the alchemist shop. On the other hand, not having a fortune in beast cores in his storage ring eased a worry in his chest that had been lingering for months. Of course, having a pouch full of gold had taken the place of that worry, but he’d have to address that another day. He hadn’t even looked inside all of the storage rings he’d collected from the Soaring Skies members he’d killed yet. The idea felt morbid to him, so he kept putting it off, but he’d have to deal with it sooner than later. Having a few spare storage rings would be nice but wandering around a collection of them seemed like asking for trouble.

“Are you, though?”

“Am I what?” asked Sen.

“Are you really just a wandering cultivator now? I mean, aren’t you Judgment’s Gale, hero of the people, bane of sects?”

Sen groaned, “Not you too.”

Lifen burst into laughter. “To think, I met a legend and didn’t even know it.”

“I am not a legend or a hero for that matter.”

Lifen peered at him from the corner of her eye and said, “You saved the mortals. You opposed a powerful sect. You lived to tell the tale. What do you imagine heroes and legends are?”

Sen had no answer for that, so he looked for some other subject to discuss. “Did you see that basket of invitations I got?”

“I did. Are you going to take any of them?”

“I don’t know. I’m kind of tempted to just ignore them and hope it all goes away.”

“Yes, because ignoring problems is always the best way to solve them.”

“I know. I know,” said Sen. “It’s just that it’s all political stuff. It’s not my kind of fight. I don’t understand those fights. I don’t suppose you’d care to offer some input.”

“I can help. At least, I can help you understand the local politics a bit, but I think you need someone with more experience than me.”

Sen gave her a flat look. “No, not her.”

“I’m not going to pretend that I like her, because I don’t, but your master sent her. Surely, it’s worth at least asking her opinion. If she’s useless, you can send her away again.”

“I just hate that she’s watching me all the time. I feel like I need to be constantly looking over my shoulder.”

“Maybe not the worst survival trait for a wandering hero of legend,” said Lifen with a twinkle in her eye.

Sen groaned again, much to Lifen’s delight, and they passed the rest of the walk back to the Silver Crane with light conversation. Once they arrived, though, the demands of the real world reasserted themselves on Sen. Lifen’s mother simply handed him another scroll without comment. He broke the seal and unrolled it, idly reading it as he walked toward the stairs. He stopped so abruptly that Lifen gave him a look.

“What is it?” she asked, the concern in her voice obvious.

Sen closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath. “It’s old business, but I guess I can’t ignore it.”

The rest of the afternoon was spent trading messages and working out the details. That was how Sen found himself walking into a tea house and looking around. A server walked up to him and bowed.

“Can I help you?” the young man asked.

“I’m here to meet one Elder He Mingze,” said Sen, hoping the elder had announced himself.

The server bowed again. “Of course, if the young master will follow me.”

Sen trailed the server, who led him into a private room. A man who looked to be in his middle years notice them arrive and stood. The man asked for the server to bring fresh tea and then turned his attention to Sen. The two studied each other for a long moment before the elder spoke.

“I half expected you to be twice the size of a normal man,” said the elder.

Sen snorted at that. “I’m rather glad the descriptions of me are so inaccurate.”

“Please,” said the elder, gesturing to a chair, “sit.”

Sen did as he was asked, and an awkward silence fell between the two. It was finally relieved when the servant brought in fresh tea. The servant poured them both a cup and then retreated from the private room, softly closing the door behind him. The elder picked up his cup and sipped at the tea, obviously relishing it. Sen didn’t even glance at his tea. The elder noticed the untouched tea and lifted an eyebrow at Sen.

“Do you not enjoy tea?”

“I enjoy tea,” said Sen. “I’m not sure how I’d feel about poison.”

The older man looked offended for a moment before a more resigned expression settled onto his features. “I suppose my sect made a rather poor impression on you.”

“That would be,” Sen softened what he had been about to say, “accurate.”

“My purpose here isn’t to kill you,” said He Mingze. “My purpose here is to try to make amends if amends can be made.”

A rapid tumble of emotions rolled through Sen. Part of him was still angry about that moment of lost enlightenment on the beach. That part of him wanted to punish the sect and exact some onerous form of compensation. Part of him felt a stab of guilt over how he’d killed Cai Yuze in what, reflecting on the event, had been a moment of childish pique. That part of him wanted to simply brush the whole thing aside as a bit of bad business for all involved. He took a moment, forcing himself to calm down, and thought. He didn’t think either extreme was appropriate. There was fault on both sides, but Sen hadn’t been the one to initiate that chain of events. That fault was completely on the Stormy Seas sect.

“How much do you know about what happened?” Sen finally asked.

The elder walked Sen through what he knew about the events. Sen was impressed by whoever had done their investigation. They’d been thorough and, all things considered, remarkably unbiased. Even so, there were some holes in the story, some context that the elder didn’t have. So, in the name of fairness if nothing else, Sen walked the elder through the events as he’d experienced them. The elder took in the new information with a calm that Sen envied. He supposed that was the gift of experience at work. The elder ruminated for several minutes, sipping his tea absently, and occasionally tapping the table in what looked like an unconscious gesture to Sen.

“Troubling,” said the elder. “All of it is troubling.”

“Indeed,” said Sen. “I suppose that there are amends to be made, but I’m not sure I know how to portion it out. So, I will not ask you for some impossible thing. I will not require that you do anything that will embarrass your sect. I will ask only this. Put a stop to the practice of hounding wandering cultivators from the moment they enter your city. I know it won’t stop every challenge. Nothing will do that. But if wandering cultivators wish to conduct their business and leave without the burden of challenges, they should have at least a chance to do so.”

He Mingze looked both startled and very relieved by Sen’s words. “That can be done, but do you wish nothing else? A lost moment of enlightenment is no small matter. There are punishments that might be doled out. Compensations that might be provided.”

That urge to lash out and punish tried to rear up again, and Sen ruthlessly pushed it down. “Punishing those girls won’t accomplish anything. They were foolish, irresponsible, and, all too likely, following the advice given them by those who should have known better.”

Elder He grimaced. “I fear that you probably have the right of it.”

An idea struck Sen then. “Instead of punishing them, tell them this. That when the wind next blows Judgment’s Gale through Tide’s Rest, I will test their characters and hope they aren’t found wanting.”

Elder He frowned. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t have the faintest idea,” admitted Sen. “And neither will they. But it certainly sounds ominous, doesn’t it?”

“Oh,” said Elder He, chuckling a little. “A prod to force them to search within and burn away that which is unworthy. What a terrible, devious thing to do to them.”

“Devious and terrible, but only to their own betterment.”

Feeling that they had accomplished all that they were going to accomplish, Sen stood to leave. Elder He raised a hand to stop him.

“A personal question, if I might?” asked Elder He.

“Alright,” said Sen, suddenly wary.

“Are you a student of Kho Jaw-Long?”

An impish impulse took Sen, and he shook his head. “No.”

“Oh, I see. It was a matter of some speculation.”

“No, Uncle Kho only taught me the spear. My true master is Feng Ming.”

Elder He blanched at those words and Sen felt a little bad about his joke. He was starting to understand just what a bogeyman his master was to other cultivators.

“Actually,” said Sen, something occurring to him.

“Yes?” asked Elder He, his voice a little shaky.

“I thought of something you could do for me. I need cultivation manuals.”

“Cultivation manuals for one at your level of advancement,” said Elder He, “are often closely guarded sect resources.”

“Oh, no, not for me. I need ones that are appropriate for a qi condensing stage cultivator. They’re difficult to come by here, but I thought you might have a more liberal policy.”

Elder He visibly relaxed. “Yes, I expect we have any number of manuals appropriate for cultivators at that stage. Any affinity in particular?”

“Water and metal,” said Sen.

He wasn’t completely sure that those were right for Lifen, but those seemed the most likely affinities for her based on what he’d seen of her qi usage.

“I’ll have them sent as soon as possible. Where should they go?”

“You can have them delivered to the Silver Crane. I fear I’ll be stuck here for a time yet.”