Book 4: Chapter 16: Problems and Plans

Book 4: Chapter 16: Problems and Plans

Sen didn’t sleep straight through for a whole day the way he imagined he might. Instead, he found himself getting up periodically to make food, chat a little, and then go back to bed. As the hours of sleep slowly accumulated, though, Sen started to understand just how bone tired he had truly been. After the first day of sleeping way more than he was awake, he was finally rested enough to really feel how utterly exhausted he still was. Sen wanted to chalk it all up to his experience with the spring, but he didn’t really believe that. The kind of tired he was didn’t happen overnight or even over a few weeks. Now that he was clear of most of the threats he’d been under, he was sleeping off a year’s worth of stress and worry. Thankfully, the other three didn’t pester him about when they were leaving. Shi Ping seemed ecstatic that they’d only walked for part of a day. Then again, none of them were under pressure to find a fix to a problem that would kill them. Sen supposed that made doing nothing for a few days something that sat easier in their minds.

He had eventually remembered to ask the three for ideas about what to call the stone houses. Shi Ping, expressing his native laziness suggested that they call them stone houses. Falling Leaf had shrugged. When pressed, she said to call it shelter. It was Lo Meifeng who finally came up with a name that Sen hated, which he was sure meant that it was also going to be the one that stuck.

“You should call them galehouses,” she said.

He’d given her a flat look that had made her giggle.

“Galehouses,” said Sen in his least amused voice. “Really?”Trace the lineage of this substance back to the dawn of Nøv€lß¡n★

She’d nodded enthusiastically. “It’s distinctive, which makes it easy to remember. Plus, it ties them to you. You might as well get credit for putting up very sturdy shelter in places that people might otherwise have to fight off spirit beasts with nowhere to run.”

Rather than respond to that, which would surely have involved yelling and possibly throwing things at Lo Meifeng, Sen rubbed his face with his hands and then went back to bed. They ultimately spent three days in the galehouse before Sen decided that he’d gotten enough sleep that he almost felt human again. Even that awful anger seemed to have receded or at least grown less insistent. As they walked away from the stone building, Shi Ping looked from Sen to the galehouse and back again.

“What is it, Shi Ping?” demanded Sen.

“You’re just going to leave it?”

“What else am I going to do? It’s not like I can take it with us. Do you want to try cramming that thing into a storage ring?”

“I just thought you might dismantle it,” said Shi Ping a little defensively.

Sen gave the man an odd look. “Why would I do that? It’s not hurting anything. It’s not disrupted the local environment.”

“I won’t pretend that I know Feng Ming’s mind, but I have to imagine that he’d prefer it if you got the resources you need. Even if it means leaning on him financially.”

“I said no. If I can’t secure a simple manual from a sect, I have no business being out in the world.”

“You have secured simple manuals from sects, which is the point. It isn’t a simple manual, and this isn’t some small sect. It’s a very rare manual and a very powerful sect. People get very strange about rare things, even when those rare things are stupidly dangerous. Maybe even especially when those things are stupidly dangerous. On top of that, you’ll be dealing with a sect that is absolutely steeped in its own arrogance. I know how you feel about that when it comes to sects. Even if everything goes smoothly, this is going to be expensive and personally challenging. You should use the resources you have available.”

“By resources, I assume that you mean yourself.”

Lo Meifeng took a deep breath. “By resources, I mean all of the resources you have available. Yes, I’m one of those resources, but I’m not the only one. When we get to the city, at least let me reach out to my contact there. Let me find out what, if any, financial support can be secured.”

Despite his misgivings about taking any advice from Lo Meifeng, Sen was tempted. If he could get that damned manual from the sect, even if it meant leaning on his master’s finances, it would solve so many problems. In the end, though, he’d meant what he said to Lo Meifeng. He could keep expecting his teachers to solve every big problem he ran across. At some point, he had to start taking responsibility for himself, and for fixing the problems that would inevitably crop up in his life and cultivation. He shook his head.

“No. I understand what you’re saying, but the answer is still no. I got myself into this particular mess with my body cultivation. It’s on me to get myself out of it.”

Lo Meifeng looked ready to yank out her own hair at those words, but she didn’t say anything else. He was grateful for that. He didn’t really want to have an argument with her about the subject. Before either of them could stumble into another difficult topic, Falling Leaf returned from one of her extended scouting adventures. Sen fixed her a plate of food, which the ghost panther-turned-young woman happily accepted. She didn’t immediately report anything, which Sen took to mean that they’d only face the usual assortment of dangers that she considered boring, such as low-level spirit beasts and possibly some bandits. After she finished eating her food, she looked at Sen.

“We’re being followed.”

For a few seconds, Sen’s mind went into full paranoia. Had the demonic cultivators found him after all? Then, a much more reasonable, if no less troubling thought occurred to him.

“Oh no, please tell me it’s not...,” started Sen.

“It’s the sect girl,” said Falling Leaf.