Book 5: Chapter 41: Taking Stock

Book 5: Chapter 41: Taking Stock

Sens first instinct was to return to the galehouse, make sure everyone was safe, and then sleep. He ruthlessly suppressed that instinct. Fu Ruolan and Falling Leaf were survivors. Fu Ruolan had survived what was possibly the least forgiving process of all, cultivation. Falling Leaf, well, shed survived a genocide and then forged a place for herself on a decidedly hostile mountain. While both might appreciate his concern, it was highly improbable that either of them actually required it. He was also very confident that Fu Ruolan would have protected Falling Leaf if it was necessary. Letting his best friend get injured or killed would not make Sen more receptive to anything that the nascent soul cultivator wanted to teach him. So, there was a certain level of self-interest involved in ensuring that Falling Leaf didnt die from something stupid and avoidable, such as the fallout from one of Sens advancements.

Sen also knew that his galehouses were built to withstand a staggering amount of punishment. In all likelihood, the two of them could probably have ridden out his entire advancement undisturbed while drinking tea inside the galehouse. Sen briefly worried about some kind of damage to Fu Ruolans less obviously sturdy home, with its wood construction and glass windows. He snorted at that and let the thought pass from his mind. Sen didnt know for sure what protections shed put in place, but he was quite certain that she had placed them. A flurry of boulders would probably just sound like a gentle rain from the inside. She simply had too much of value inside to leave it unprotected. No, neither of them needed Sens concerns at the present moment.

That was for the best because he needed to gather himself in case a tribulation came for him. Hed find it profoundly petty of the heavens to send him a tribulation after all of the suffering hed been through. He had nearly died a slow agonizing death finding Fu Ruolan, and the pill itself had come within a hairs breadth of snuffing him out. Sen felt like that was suffering enough, but that didnt mean that the heavens agreed with him. After all, the last time hed advanced his body cultivation, the heavens had been very keen to express their displeasure. However, he had to accept that he didnt know why that tribulation had happened or been so intense. It might have been aimed at him or it might have been because of Elder Bos interference. In fact, the tribulation might have been a message directed at Elder Bo, rather than at Sen. It had been terrifying at the time, but it had also ended before it did him any real, lasting damage. He was quite certain that the heavens could have kept it up until he was nothing but a dark stain on that beach. Sen sighed. There was just no way to know, which was probably the point.

Sen took an hour to work through some of the basic martial forms hed learned from Master Feng. He took it slowly, building up his speed until he reached the tipping point between control and strength. That gave him a much clearer sense of how much he had gained and how much work was truly in front of him. He estimated that he could exert about seventy percent of his new strength and speed while maintaining actual control over his strikes and blocks. Months, he thought. Its going to take me months of persistent work to get back to the level of control Im used to having. It wasnt that he couldnt still defend himself. He was sure he could do that if necessary. Hed just have to be incredibly careful not to lose his temper. If he lashed out with his full strength now in a fit of anger, he could easily kill people he had no intention of harming.

Sen settled back down onto the ground. Now that the actual advancement was more or less done, the recuperative power of his body was back, not even back, working even more efficiently than it ever had before. He didnt feel weak or tired. If anything, he felt energized. Of course, the physical fallout was only half the battle. Advancement taxed the mind as much as the body, and Sen wanted to give his mind a little time to recuperate before he went back and faced the flurry of questions that he was certain that Fu Ruolan had prepared for him. He wasnt concerned that they would be worried for his well-being. He hadnt gone so far that he was beyond the reach of Fu Ruolans spiritual sense. She would know that he was still alive and could tell Falling Leaf as much. For that matter, he might well be within range of Falling Leafs spiritual sense. Not that hed felt either of them scan the area, but he hadnt been paying particular attention. Hed had a lot going on just recently.

Sen let himself fall into a meditative calm, something he found far easier now that he was weighed down with the looming threat of death, the desperate need to advance, and the haunting fear that he might fail to make a functional pill for his advancement. Much like the statis of his physical form had been like a cage for his body, those worries had been like a cage for his heart and soul. Sen lacked the words to describe the joy he felt as those burdens dropped away from him. Oh, there was always a bit of pressure to continue advancing, but he didnt mind a little pressure. It had been the absolute nature of the pressure hed been under that Sen was happy to cast aside. When everything had taken on a do-or-die quality, it started to taint his perspective. There had been no room left for what Sen wanted. All that had existed was what he needed. Finding calm in the middle of that had been challenging at best.

With those weights no longer bearing down on him during every waking moment, it was almost comically easy to slip into a state without thought or concern. He let himself drift like that for hours. It wasnt true sleep, but it was a kind of rest that was almost as important for him. For a little while, his mind could just rest. It didnt need to run through a complex balancing act of weighing rewards and risks. It just could be. He sat that way, wholly indifferent to and even unaware of the freezing air around him or the snow that was slowly accumulating on top of him. He was nominally aware that a bird landed on his shoulder and eyed him curiously, no doubt wondering what kind of strange new tree had sprung up in the forest. He remained there, motionless and untroubled by thoughts for a full day. This time also allowed his body to finish making whatever small adjustments it needed to make. When he opened his eyes, though, he knew it was time to go back. Falling Leaf would leave him out there for a time, but her patience would only stretch for so long. Standing and stretching, he snickered as the snow dropped off of him in wet clumps. Then, he began the walk back to the galehouse and took stock of the damage hed done along the way.