That eting lasted the rest of the day, only to pick up the next. The discussion ranged widely. They spent so ti discussing minutiae like who had the best chance of surviving an extended scouting mission. They spent even more ti considering large-scale maneuvers the army could do if the spirit beasts disrupted the army’s attack on a mortal city. Sen found the discussion helpful in clarifying his own thoughts on the matter. The generals seed to find solid ground again when arguing strategy. The cultivators didn’t contribute much unless the topic touched directly on their participation.
Sen was annoyed by that at first, but he swiftly realized that it was probably the most productive thing the cultivators could do. For all of their power and recent practice, cultivators didn’t specialize in large group combat. They specialized in individual combat. More than that, any core cultivator specialized in their own personal version of individual combat. Sen saw himself as a perfect example. He had trained beneath Master Feng, Uncle Kho, and Auntie Caihong. That ant that parts of his combat style resembled theirs, but it was by no ans identical. They each had personal quirks and preferences that dictated their approach. He was the sa way.
Master Feng was a swordsman, which ant that he would always seek a path to victory through the sword. Uncle Kho took a similar attitude with the spear. Sen, as a student of both weapons, would switch between them based on his imdiate needs. That one difference, expertise in two weapons instead of just one, gave him a flexibility that his teachers lacked. Not that their focus on a single weapon seed to slow them down much, but it ant that they fought differently from each other and from him.
The individual focus also ant that every cultivator was looking to fight their version of a battle. They would always want to approach the problem in a way that favored their preferences and quirks. While that was highly effective for the kinds of duels that cultivators fought, it stood in stark contrast to the way that a mortal army fought. For the mortals, the focus was always on how the group fought. Yes, at a certain point, the battle ca down to individuals or small groups fighting each other. But, even there, the soldiers relied on the fact that everyone around them fought the sa way. It allowed them to predict each other and, just as importantly, know when and how to assist each other.
By only interjecting when the subject directly related to them, the cultivators were doing what Sen had demanded. They were being civil. Instead of trying to turn every battle into a series of duels, they were trying to help the army better integrate their abilities into the overall strategy. Sen found that a frankly shocking display when considering the towering pride of most cultivators. Of course, most of these cultivators had participated in battles with the spirit beasts. They had seen, with their own eyes, how cooperating could produce results. They weren’t the kind of results cultivators normally sought, which mostly amounted to personal glory, but they were the results that Sen wanted and humanity needed.
I’m actually going to have to thank them, thought Sen. That notion felt almost unnatural after all the tis that cultivators had made his life more difficult. Then again, he wasn’t sure he could lay all the bla on them for that. He was quick to punish what he didn’t like, but how often did he just tell them what he wanted? The answer was not very often. He didn’t bother because he expected them to do whatever they felt like, regardless of anything anyone said. Yet, this ti, he’d made his stance clear, and they had followed through. The problem was that Sen wasn’t sure why they were doing it. Had he, soti in the last year and a half, earned their respect? Or was this just the lingering effect of Master Feng’s disciplining them?
Still, it gave him pause. Perhaps there was a less frustrating path before him if he made a point to lay out his expectations to them. A deep well of skepticism kept him from putting any hope on that plan. Still, it might be worth pursuing if it reduced the number of problems in his life even a little. Despite the cultivators being helpful for once, not everything was going well. The generals simply couldn’t agree on a general strategy for what to do. And that boiled down to the problem that General Hu had pointed out. They lacked information. Until they had a better sense of what they would be facing, if anything, they couldn’t make any solid plans.
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Rather than allow the military leaders to keep going in circles, Sen decided to bring the eting to an end. It had accomplished what he wanted it to. Everyone was thinking about what they could do, instead of fixating on a nebulous threat.
“Generals,” said Sen. “You’ve helped to clarify the problems and so potential solutions for . But I’m sure that all of you have important matters that you’ve been neglecting. Please feel free to return to them.”
The mortal military leaders all offered hasty bows and left the tent. Sen turned his attention to the cultivators. So of them looked like they were bracing for the heavens themselves to descend in a fury. All of them, save for Song Lan and Xu Xiao Dan, looked tense.
“You were all helpful. Thank you. I appreciate it. I hope you will continue to be helpful moving forward.”
The tension lted away and was replaced by looks of shock. Those expressions were swiftly replaced by ones of polite neutrality. Even so, Sen could see uncertainty brimming in many eyes. They had all clearly been expecting a reprimand. Having received praise, none of them seed certain what to do. It was Song Lan who swooped in to rescue the baffled cultivators. She stood from her chair and bowed.
“Thank you, Lord Lu. I’m sure we will all endeavor to be of helpful service in the future.”
Similar sentints were echoed a mont later. Sen inclined his head.
“You may go. Song Lan. Xu Xiao Dan. Please stay a mont.”
The cultivators abandoned their usual masks of dignity in favor of escaping while Lord Lu was still in a good mood. He just watched them go and did his best to conceal his amusent. When only the three of them remained, Sen erected a wind barrier to obscure their voices.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“Everyone is less panicked now,” said Song Lan. “I expect that’s for the best.”
“But?” asked Sen.
“Very little actual progress was made.”
“Agreed,” said Xu Xiao Dan. “If they understood your intentions better, the eting might have yielded more progress.”
“That assus that I know my intentions. Right now, I'm weighing the best course of action. I know that most of the generals think I should wait and consolidate control. They even have good reasons for that. But the cost of waiting is very high. As long as the army is moving south, the spirit beasts have to focus at least so of their attention on us. The more they do that, the less opportunity they have to cull the humans. The mont we settle in and begin the process of consolidation, the spirit beasts will be free to do as they please.
“But I also said I wouldn’t march us into certain destruction. I ant that. We can’t save anyone if we’re all dead. I’ve also taken most of the trained soldiers and many of the cultivators from the north. If we all fall here, the north will fall soon after. So, I’ll do the only thing I can do. I’ll send people to scout. I know we discussed so of the possible candidates, but I won’t order them to go unless I must. Song Lan, discuss it with them. See if you can find a few volunteers. I’d go myself—”
“You can’t,” said Xu Xiao Dan and Song Lan in unison.
“I know I can’t. Or, at the very least, I shouldn’t. It’s just difficult because I’m the best choice.”
“Why is that?” asked Song Lan.
Sen gave the woman a smile and hid. It took a mont, but her eyes went wide when she realized that he’d effectively vanished from her spiritual sense.
“As I said, I’m the best choice, but it’s impractical for to go.”
“Can you teach that to others?” asked Song Lan.
“I don’t understand how it works,” admitted Sen. “I can do it, but I can’t teach it. I’m not even certain it has anything to do with cultivation. It’s sothing I learned to do as a child before Master Feng took in as his student.”
“That’s unfortunate,” said Song Lan. “That would be a powerful tool in the hands of a scout.”
“Or an assassin,” said Sen. “It’s not entirely bad that I can’t teach it. It spares from trying to make a lot of impossible decisions about who to teach. It’s also less effective against anything that relies heavily on sll and sight.”
Song Lan nodded and said, “You realize that the scouts you send aren’t likely to survive.”
“I do. That’s why I’m asking for volunteers.”
“Do you think you’ll get any?”
“It’s impossibly dangerous with a low chance of success. I suspect that the challenge alone will appeal to so cultivators. After all, that is the kind of situation that brings on insights. And there’s always soone at a bottleneck looking for a way to break through.”
“I don’t like it,” said Song Lan, “but you’re not wrong.”
Sen shook his head and said, “I don’t like it, either. It’s just better than ordering the unwilling.”
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