Unintended Cultivator

Sen was met with blank looks from Uncle Kho and Master Feng. He saw mild sympathy on Auntie Caihong’s face, as though she’d expected things to go a certain way, knew it would frustrate him, and that everyone had filled their roles precisely. This was another reminder of that almost impossibly vast distance between Sen’s experiences and those of his teachers. For him, this idea of theirs seemed like some wildly complicated problem that would require at least some delicate handling of fragile cultivator egos, to say nothing of mortal politicians. Those blank looks told Sen that Uncle Kho and Master Feng were concerned with exactly none of those things. They had simply decided that events were going to proceed in a certain way. Therefore, things would happen that way. Auntie Caihong, with her closer and more recent day-to-day experiences with humanity and sects, seemed to at least understand the source of Sen’s concerns. Sen closed his eyes and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.@@novelbin@@

“Please tell me that the plan wasn’t for you to kick open the gates of every sect, palace, and manor left standing in the kingdom, and announce that I’m going to be a dictator.”

“Of course not!” said Master Feng with towering indignance. “I’m not an animal.”

Sen felt a swell of relief at those words. At least, they hadn’t been planning anything so outrageous that it would make him die of shame in the aftermath.

Sen released a breath and said, “Good.”

“Agreed,” said Uncle Kho. “No need to damage property if you aren’t planning on destroying everything. The spirit beasts are doing enough of that already.”

“Precisely,” said Master Feng. “Besides, how is everyone going to hear about it if we’re stuck inside of buildings.”

Sen’s relief evaporated as a new possibility sprang to his mind. Before he could voice his concerns, Uncle Kho spoke.

“Better by far to simply hover over their cities and sect compounds and make the announcement.”

“So, your plan is to announce this change in leadership by booming it from the skies like the voice of the heavens?” asked Sen.

Uncle Kho and Master Feng traded a glance, apparently sensing that Sen was not entirely sold on this approach.

“Yes,” said Master Feng.

“It’s efficient,” said Uncle Kho.

Sen shot an imploring look at Auntie Caihong, but she was just grinning at him in a knowing way. It was a look that said: Now, you understand what it’s like being me. He didn’t want to acknowledge that truth because it meant he wasn’t going to get any help from there. She was probably right, though. After all, she had known those two for a very long time, and this whole plan or lack thereof had the feel of something they considered to be normal. Sen understood that he sometimes acted rashly, even impulsively, but he’d just considered it a personal failing. One of those flaws that he needed to grind away at slowly over time. He’d never considered that, perhaps, at least a bit of it may have bled through to him on some level from his teachers. Oh, they never explicitly told him to act impulsively, but moments like this showed Sen that it wasn’t a trait that he carried alone.

Sadly, that little insight did absolutely nothing to tell him how to direct his teachers onto a path that was less likely to cause widespread chaos. It required no great understanding to foresee that all-powerful voices issuing commands from the skies with implicit death threats attached would cause panic. Cultivators and their actions were often opaque mysteries to mortals, but there was nothing subtle about this plan to be misinterpreted. It was very straightforward. It was also going to be terrifying for anyone who didn’t know exactly what was happening. On reflection, Sen wondered if it might be terrifying even for people who did understand what was happening. After all, these were some of the oldest and mightiest of the old monsters. Men for whom the phrase your word is law was more or less a statement of fact wherever they went.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Not that there wouldn’t be some defiance. Master Feng’s brother sprang right to Sen’s mind as someone who would not be well disposed to anything even remotely like the idea of Emperor Lu Sen. Just as importantly, Feng Bai was potentially one of the few people who could arguably stall Master Feng or Uncle Kho or possibly even kill them if he got very lucky. He was also short-tempered enough that he might decide to just kill Sen the second Master Feng or Uncle Kho left the area. Of course, the other nascent soul cultivators in the capital probably wouldn’t abide Feng Bai actively courting all of their deaths with such a precipitous action. Of course, with people operating at that level of power, it only took one bad decision and a fraction of a second to carry out a choice that everyone would regret. Of course, there was a way for Sen to mitigate some of those risks. He was just loathe to consider it.

“It seems like there might be a different way to go about all of this,” said Sen. “A way that involves less mortal panic. A way that encourages fewer nascent soul cultivators to look for ways to send me on to my next life.”

Uncle Kho gave Sen a thoughtful look that was encouraging. Master Feng, on the other hand, looked skeptical. That’s what comes from getting his own way for so long, I guess, thought Sen. I’m going to have to explain this.

“I can borrow on your names and your strength, but it only goes so far. It won’t go nearly as far with nascent soul cultivators and sect leaders who already dislike me or do like the chaos at work in the kingdom. Any of them that had fantasies of running things like they do on the other side of the Mountains of Sorrow will not welcome this change.”

Master Feng frowned.

“I suppose there’s probably some truth to what you say,” he admitted.

“And then there’s your brother who hates me.”

Sen had thought that the two of them were merely caught at cross-purposes a couple of times. Not an ideal situation, to be sure, yet one that could be understood and overlooked with time by someone reasonable. Lai Dongmei had corrected that assumption. It seemed that Feng Bai was not reasonable, had held a grudge, and only restrained himself because of the trouble it would bring if he acted. With trouble everywhere, the man might decide the time was right if Sen conveniently appeared somewhere close by. At those words, Master Feng’s face went hard.

“I’ll deal with Bai,” he said. “He’s clearly misjudged his strength, again, if he’s letting himself imagine he can act against my student. I will correct that misapprehension.”

It wasn’t exactly what Sen had been trying to accomplish. It might ultimately be the best outcome, though. If Feng Bai came for Sen, one of them would die. Sen would have absolutely no choice but to go all out in a desperate bid to maybe survive. The most likely outcome was still that the dead body in that situation would be Sen’s own. Having Master Feng preemptively deliver a heaping dose of fear directly into his brother’s soul could spare Sen a lot of trouble later. It wasn’t a perfect solution. It could put an end to Feng Bai’s misguided desire to kill Sen. It could also stoke those flames. Since the threat already existed, though, it was probably better if Master Feng did act.

“I appreciate you acting on my behalf,” said Sen in a very respectful tone. “Even so, my point is that this probably isn’t going to go smoothly, and the shout it from the heavens approach isn’t likely to help that.”

“Cultivators can be very dense sometimes,” said Uncle Kho.

“Granted,” said Sen. “And some sects may need one of you to hover menacingly and maliciously break some of their things to get the message. If it comes to that, it comes to that. I do think a lighter touch may be better with the mortals and sects that don’t already hate me.”

Auntie Caihong gave him an amused look and said, “Oh? Are there sects that don’t hate you?”

Sen drew himself up with exaggerated dignity and said, “There most certainly are. At least three of them.”

“What a memorable number,” she said, eyes still twinkling, before turning to the other two. “Didn’t I tell you that he wouldn’t like your brute force approach?”

“I still say it’s more efficient,” grumbled Uncle Kho.

Auntie Caihong gave Uncle Kho’s arm a sympathetic pat.

“There are different kinds of efficiency, dear,” she said.

“Fine,” said Master Feng. “We’ll do it the hard way to start. If we get too much pushback, though, we’re going back to brute force. I don’t like wasting my time.”

Sen almost objected, but he knew where his reticence was really coming from. There was always going to be an element of do as I say, or else to this mad venture. He didn’t like that part for all kinds of reasons, most of them selfish. He’d wanted to keep the overt threats to a minimum, but they were inevitable. There were cultivators involved in all of this and many of them did not like him. They’d like him even less for seizing power and control. There was no avoiding that. Dressing it up like this wasn’t exactly what it was wouldn’t change anything. Going along with this meant he’d have to live with that anger and disdain. Well, at least some of them will be alive to hate me, thought Sen. That has to be worth something.