Unintended Cultivator

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?”

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.

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.

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