Book 4: Chapter 11: You Peasant

Book 4: Chapter 11: You Peasant

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?”

“You’re beneath me. I’d never sully myself by dealing with you personally.”

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.”

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.