Unintended Cultivator

Morning found Sen sitting out in the courtyard. A small part of him made note of the city coming to life around him, not the city was ever truly silent. Even in the deepest parts of the night, there was still activity. Most of his attention was focused on his cultivation. Lo Meifeng had been right that her property likely was the best place in the city to cultivate. Minimally, it was the best place outside of one of the sect compounds. Sen knew enough about formation to know that the sects likely had formations similar to or even better than the ones he had placed around the property. Not that he particularly needed to cultivate. His passive cultivation methods were usually more than enough for his needs. It was simply the best way for him to get a feel for any minor weaknesses in the qi-gathering formation that he may have overlooked during his initial examination.

Once he felt that he’d spotted all of the problems he was going to find, Sen got to work. The qi-gathering formation was, much to his surprise, still in good shape overall. That wasn’t to say it was great because it wasn’t. He could tell how much of a hurry he’d been in when he first set the formation up. He took an hour to make about a dozen adjustments that improved the efficiency of the formation by close to ten percent. He could have made something much better but it would have required tearing down the wall around the property and starting over. Even with his solid control over earth qi, that was a process that would be very loud and attract a lot of attention. He’d already drawn enough attention for one visit. So, Sen decided to go with the quieter solution, even if it did bother him to use the lesser solution.

The defensive and offensive formations he’d made were another matter entirely. He’d gotten a lot of practice making those in much more dangerous conditions than the city. He considered what he’d done before and just shook his head in disappointment at himself. It would be a kindness to call them sloppy work. There were gaps that could be exploited by someone who knew formations well. There were spots where the energy being fed into the formation fluctuated in strength. Some of that wasn’t Sen’s fault. The demands on environmental qi in the city were higher and more unpredictable than they were out in the wilds. Qi flows that had looked stable when he made the formations would fall off in strength depending on the time of day. He solved some of those problems by burying minor natural treasures at strategic points around the property. Those served the dual purpose of stabilizing the qi flows and providing a more reliable source of qi if there was an exceptionally strong draw from somewhere else in the city.

It wasn’t a permanent solution, but Sen estimated it would hold up for at least ten years as long as no one too powerful tried to breach the formations. He did have plans for permanent fixes. Assuming he could find the right plants, he could set up a kind of qi garden that would help to reinforce the environmental qi on the property and insulate it somewhat from fluctuating qi in the surrounding area. Part of him wanted to stay and set up that garden, but it would require months of effort and multiple trips out into the wilds. Plus, it was the wrong season for that kind of work. He’d just have to do what he could and live with it for now. He also gave some consideration to purchasing the surrounding properties and turning the whole thing into a kind of compound. With that additional space, there were things he could do that wouldn’t make sense within the relatively small confines he had available. He tucked that idea away to give it some more thought later.

By the time Lo Meifeng came out to see what had been occupying him since before dawn, it was closing in on midday. She spent close to fifteen minutes wandering around the property and examining what he had done. When she’d finished her inspection, she walked over to him and started shaking her head.

“What?” he asked. “It’s better now.”

“It was good before. This is… I’m going to have to be careful that one of the sects doesn’t try to steal this place from me.”

Sen frowned at her. “Why would they?”

“You’re still ridiculous,” she said, although her tone was fond rather than chiding. “You’ve made this place an ideal location for anyone looking to advance through the core stage.”

Sen shook his head. “This is just a quick fix to all the things I screwed up the first time. Maybe someone will bother you after I do the permanent fixes, but I doubt it.”

“Why is that? Cultivators don’t like hearing no for an answer.”

“Because the nascent soul cultivators in the city don’t know how I killed Tong Guanting,” said Sen, his mind briefly flashing on the rather gruesome end of Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate’s leader. “And believe me, they wanted to know. None of them are eager for me to come back here looking to take revenge because some sect idiot tried to take what I gave to you.”

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“How did you keep that information from them?” asked Lo Meifeng. “I was always curious.”

“You’re right that cultivators don’t like hearing the word no. Even cultivators will accept it when you say it the right way. I said it very firmly.”

“And they just went along with that?”

“Well, I was in a bad mood, and I had just blatantly and publicly murdered a nascent soul cultivator. I suspect that they were unnerved. They certainly didn’t seem to be in a hurry to test if I could do it again.”

“No, I don’t imagine they were,” said Lo Meifeng in a thoughtful tone before she let out a light laugh. “I wish I could have seen their faces when you refused to answer.”

“I thought the veins in the one guy’s head were actually going to rupture he was so angry.”

“Where did you find the nerve for that? Most people would have caved in that situation.”

“Like I said, bad mood. Plus, I was already dying. It was a lot easier to be recklessly brave when I only thought I had a year to live. In the end, though, I had more to gain by not telling them. Things you understand aren’t as scary. I don’t know what explanations they dreamed up, but I bet they all lost sleep thinking about it happening to them. At the same time, I also made it pretty clear that I wasn’t looking for a fight with any of them. From their perspective, it’s better if they just let me go my own way. Making sure that their lackeys don’t do stupid shit like bothering my friends is just good business.”

“What if they decide that killing you makes more sense? No offense, but I think that’s what I’d decide.”

Sen shrugged. “It’s possible but nascent soul cultivators play the long game. Sure, I’m a potential threat to them. As threats go, I’m a pretty passive one. It’d be one thing if I was openly hostile to their agendas, but I’m not. So, what does killing me get them? It might make them feel a little better, but it risks bringing down the wrath of Master Feng. Besides, why break a tool when you can potentially aim it at your enemies down the road?”

“I don’t remember you being quite this calculating in your decision-making,” said Lo Meifeng.

“Don’t give me too much credit. I didn’t think of any of this stuff until after the fact when I was trying to figure out why they hadn’t killed me.”

“Maybe you should do a little more of this kind of thinking before you make decisions.”

“I have been trying. It doesn’t come naturally to me. Plus, the situations I find myself in don’t always allow for it.”

Lo Meifeng gave a halfhearted nod. “I remember. Things do seem to come at you out of nowhere a lot of the time. Still, it’s worth trying to think through the ramifications before you jump straight to the I’m going to do something terrifying and impossible option.”

“For what it’s worth, I’ve been doing my best to keep my head down the last year or two.”

“You've been out in the deep wilds for the last year or two. How hard is it to keep your head down when the nearest people are a week’s travel away?”

“Yeah, that’d be fine if people were my only problems. Do you remember that empty town where I fought all those spirit beasts?”

“I do. Why?”

“The ghost panther man I met there turned up again demanding that Falling Leaf go with him.”

“What happened?”

Sen gave Lo Meifeng a smile that made chills run down her spine. “I said no, very firmly. Falling Leaf told him that she wasn’t going to go with him. I’d like to think that’s the end of it, but I doubt that’s the last I’ve seen of him. No doubt, he sees me as the obstacle to claiming what he imagines is his.”

“So, you’ve spent your time in the deep wilds making enemies of the spirit beasts. Well done.”

“Oh, you have no idea. They came after us in hordes. A bunch of times. We were killing them by the hundreds.”

“I’m not sorry I missed out on that adventure.”

“I wish I could have missed out on it,” said Sen. “It’s a lot more fun to listen to stories about adventures in the wilds than to live them.”

“There’s usually less blood involved with listening.”

“Agreed,” said Sen before he turned and gave her a warm smile. “Well, it’s about time for me to go. I did the things I came here to do. If I stay much longer, sect people are going to start turning up or the king will insist that I go see him. I’m honestly surprised neither of those things have happened yet.”

Lo Meifeng hesitated before she said, “Do you want some company? I could stand to get out of the city for a while.”

Sen was a little surprised by the offer. He didn’t think that Lo Meifeng had particularly enjoyed their time together on the road before. Then again, the circumstances had been quite different. He’d been a job for her before. A tiny little part of him whispered about trust and betrayal, but Sen ignored it. He’d had plenty of time to think about all of that and decide that it just wasn’t worth hanging on to that old grudge. Before Sen could actually answer, a voice called out from the gate.

“I’d be interested in coming along.”

Sen and Lo Meifeng both turned deeply unfriendly looks toward the gate. Zixin stood there looking like he feared he’d made a terrible miscalculation about the situation. Sen was trying to decide exactly what to do about the man, but it seemed that Lo Meifeng had reached the end of her patience. A sword made of pure fire qi appeared in her hand, and she started walking toward the panicked Zixin. The man looked at Sen with a pleading expression.

“You brought this down on your own head,” said Sen.

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