Book 5: Chapter 9: Bonding

Book 5: Chapter 9: Bonding

For all of the fighting they had to do against spirit beasts to find Fu Ruolan, there was virtually none as Sen and Falling Leaf began their journey toward Mt. Solace. This went a long way toward making Sen feel better about his absolute annihilation of that beast tide. He wished it hadn’t been necessary, but it seemed that the spirit beasts in the surrounding area had decided that he was a harder target than they wanted to take on. Still, it surprised him a little. He had thought for sure that the spirit beasts would come at them in numbers again. As the days turned into weeks with only the very occasional attack by a lone spirit beast here and there, though, his paranoia settled down into something that Sen considered manageable. Still, he thought some insight might be beneficial. So, one night after he’d put up a galehouse for them to stay in, he asked Falling Leaf about it.

“Why do you think that the local spirit beasts aren’t attacking more often?”

“They’re afraid of you.”

“That didn’t stop them before.”

“No, you made them cautious before. Now, they’re afraid.”

Sen frowned. “I don’t remember much that makes sense after I set off that technique. Just fragmented images and impressions of destruction. I didn’t want to think about it afterward, but I guess I need to know now. Was it as bad as I think it was?”

Falling Leaf became very still as she looked at him. “Yes. It was terrifying. I’ve never seen anything like it. What you did... What you made... It was hungry.”

Sen tilted his head a little. “Hungry? What do you mean? Techniques don’t work that way. They just do what they’re designed to do.”

“Yes. Usually, but not that one. It was,” she seemed to search for a word, “more. It was just more, and it was hungry. It didn’t just destroy. It consumed everything.”

Sen leaned back and tried to process those words. “Well, that’s certainly ominous.”

Falling Leaf shrugged. “It was for that spirit beast tide.”

“I’m just glad it happened out in the wilds. I can’t even imagine how many people something like that would kill inside a city.”

“You wouldn’t have used it in a city.”

Sen gave Falling Leaf a serious look. “Yes, I would have. If you’d been in that kind of danger in a city, I wouldn’t have thought twice. Consequences be damned.”

She smiled at him. “No, you wouldn’t have. You’d have done something else.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Something just as terrifying but smaller.”

Sen smiled. “That’s certainly true. It’s nice to leave things like making food to other people.”

Falling Leaf made a sour expression like she didn’t enjoy what she was thinking about. She glanced his way before she asked him something he suspected had been on her mind for a while.

“Do you trust Fu Ruolan?”

“Trust? No, not particularly. But I don’t actively distrust her either. She could have killed us or let me die. She didn’t. That earned her a little credit in my book, but I’m taking a wait-and-see approach. Why? Do you not trust her?”

“I don’t know. I think she may pretend sanity more than she pretends madness.”

“What makes you think that?”

“It’s just an instinct.”

Sen idly drummed his fingers against the stone floor as he thought about that. “Well, I hope you won’t take it personally if I hope you’re wrong. I’m stuck with that woman for now. All I can really do is stay vigilant.”

“A wise course of action at all times,” said Falling Leaf before she changed the subject. “When this is done and you complete your body cultivation, what will you do?”

“I was thinking about that earlier. When I left the mountain, I wanted to see the world. Now, I mostly want the people in the world to not see me. Everywhere I go, I end up doing things that just make me more recognizable. I’m thinking more and more that I should go into some kind of seclusion. Give people time to forget about me. We talked before about claiming a mountain of our own. Maybe I’ll find myself a mountain by some little village and make it my own. Or, I could pull a Fu Ruolan and build a house out in the wilds. Except, maybe not so deep. Close enough to enjoy the conveniences of civilization, but not so close that people will bother me.”

“Do you think that will work?”

“If I’m being honest, no. All of the evidence suggests that something will happen to drag me away from that seclusion. But even if it only lasts for a few years, it might still be worth it. This time at Fu Ruolan’s has been nice. No sects. No politics. No demonic cultivators. No running for my life. I’ve really benefitted from that, mentally at least.”

“You have,” agreed Falling Leaf. “You’re calmer now.”

“What about you? You going to come along with me or go find a mountain of your own?”

“That depends on whether you pick a bad mountain. You make poor decisions sometimes.”

Sen squinted his eyes at Falling Leaf. “Did you just tell a joke?”

Falling Leaf squirmed a little before she said, “Maybe.”

Sen chuckled a little and said, “Good for you. That was funny.”