“And then,” said Chan Dishi, howling with laughter, “he just looks around at everyone and says, ‘Go ho.’ Like he was dismissing annoying servants. It was magnificent! Oh, you should have seen the faces of all those sect cultivators. Half of them looked like they were going to keel over from fear, the other half looked like they wanted to throw themselves at him. The very best, though, was Feng Bai working so hard to keep a neutral expression that he looked like he was constipated!”
The cultivator’s laughter beca almost uncontrolled as he bent at the waist and started slapping his leg. While Jing could appreciate a little of the humor in the mont, he wasn’t as certain that aggravating the patriarch of the Steel Gryphon sect was going to be a good thing for Sen in the long run. Those two had, at least according to semi-reliable rumors, found themselves at cross-purposes twice already. That Sen still lived suggested that he had been the victor both tis. Feng Bai wasn’t a man known for his calm, patient personality, which made it all too likely that he was looking for a way to get back at Sen. Although, that was ultimately a secondary concern for Jing, as he knew that there was almost nothing he could do to prevent that.
His sister, Yu Ming, had been very clear with him about the line between the mortal world and Jianghu. Sen had been equally clear, even if he’d described it in very different terms. Cultivator conflicts were, ultimately, outside the purview of any mortal authority. It was sothing that both irked and relieved Jing. It irked him because those conflicts often boiled over and resulted in damage and death which did beco his problem. It relieved him because the power of even an individual cultivator was often incomprehensible. A fact that had been driven ho all too clearly by Sen’s little display outside of the city. The displays today, though, were a problem for Jing. He doubted that Sen had considered all of the consequences or likely even planned half of what he’d done.
By all reports, though, Sen turned what had been the Xie manor into so kind of cultivator citadel. That was going to make waves because, according to tradition, no noble manor was more heavily fortified or defended than the royal palace. By turning his manor into that kind of a fortress, though, Sen had co within a hair’s breadth of informally declaring himself the king. That Sen was wholly unaware of that fact would not be known among the other noble houses. They would read it as a blunt declaration of strength. A declaration only reinforced by the way that Sen had simply expelled all of the Xie family into the city to suffer whatever Karma decided to throw their way. So had sought refuge with other houses. Most had found those doors firmly shut against them. The few who had managed to talk their way into shelter had found that shelter summarily withdrawn after Sen’s very public renovations. For the mont, at least, no one wanted to tempt the wrath of Judgnt’s Gale.
“Tell about the new walls again,” said Jing.
“Oh man, those things practically reach to the sky now,” said Chan Dishi in an obvious exaggeration.
“Really?”
“Well, no, but they’re pretty damned high. And he lined them with these massive tal spikes that just radiate qi. I don’t what they do, but I bet it’s brutal.”
“Of course, because why settle for a blunt statent when you can make death threats with your ho?”
“I know, right?! I need to buy that guy a drink and pick his brain. I thought I was good at intimidation, but I’ve clearly got so things to learn.”
***
Feng Bai paced in his office, ignoring the increasingly concerned looks he was getting from Elder Yi. He’s growing too fast, thought Bai. Where in the world did Ming find that impossible child? It had been bad enough the last ti the boy had been in the capital openly. He’d wanted to punish the boy for his impudence but found himself forced to back off twice. The first ti, Lu Sen had done sothing no one had done in a long, long ti. That resolute little shit had stared him in the eyes and called his bluff with a threat that clearly wasn’t a bluff. That kid had been ready to murder Tang Ehuang right in front of him, and they both knew he could get it done. It would have been his last act in life, but Bai had seen it in the kid’s face. He was ready to make that trade.
The second ti, he had demanded to know how the boy had killed Tong Guanting. He knew in general terms what the kid had done. He’d used poison of so kind, but that wasn’t enough to work out the thod. That thod was information that, as a nascent soul cultivator, Feng Bai considered his right. That was an opinion that Lu Sen had not shared. Bai didn’t think the kid even realized how much scorn had been in his voice when he’d told Feng Bai to earn the knowledge for himself. It had been like getting chastised by one of the core formation cultivators from his own sect. It had been a close thing, then. If Lai Dongi and Jin Bohai hadn’t been there, he probably would have killed Lu Sen, Ming’s student or not.
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It was only months later when his temper had finally cooled back to sothing like sanity, that Feng Bai had been brought around by Elder Yi. Lu Sen owed the Steel Gryphon Sect no loyalty, let alone secrets. In fact, the sect had wronged him repeatedly. Bai had been forced to admit that it was only good fortune that had kept Ming from stopping in for a chat that would have destroyed the countryside for about two hundred miles in every direction. It had also beco clear that, at the ti, Lu Sen had been running on pure bravado and a near-suicidal disregard for his own life. Long experience had taught Bai that you couldn’t force soone in that state of mind to do anything. You could kill them, but that was all you could do to them. Things had clearly changed since then.
Where the boy had been talented before, he was powerful now. He’d erected defenses for that manor that could rival those of so of the sects in the city. Even Bai didn’t understand half of what that boy had done. Jaw-Long’s influence, no doubt, thought Bai. It went deeper than that, though. That core formation child had been working with forces that Bai had only started to touch on in the past few decades. There was a part of him that thought that the best thing that could happen for everyone in the world was for Lu Sen to die, now, because Bai foresaw a ti in the not-so-distant future when no one would be able to stop that boy.
***
“That was rather exhilarating, don’t you think?” asked Lai Dongi.
“I thought it was a bit ostentatious,” said Tu Nayao, a sullen note in her voice.
Lai Dongi offered the woman a mild look of disapproval. The mood in the sect had blackened ever since word arrived that Judgnt’s Gale was back in the city, or back in the city officially. She knew that he’d been in and out of the capital a few tis over the past few years. She’d even had one mont of annoyance with the young man. If he was going to be in the city, it would seem that he could take the ti to say hello. When it beca clear that he was making an effort to go unnoticed, and that his occasional visits rarely lasted more than half a day, that annoyance had vanished. If he went anywhere near a sect, or the palace, or even to visit that friend of his… Lai Dongi tried to recall the woman’s na. Lo ifeng, she thought. That was it. If he went near anything resembling a formal power structure or soone too familiar, his visit would stop being casual and beco official instantly.
Now that he was here publicly, she had rather expected him to visit quickly. He was a young man, and Lu Sen had been very enthusiastic when last they t. Certainly not the most skilled lover she’d ever had because nothing could replace centuries of practice. What he had been was so correctable. Always open to suggestions. It was as if he left all that stupid male pride at the bedroom door. That had been an aphrodisiac all by itself, and he was so very nice to look at. She was also well aware that his departure had been a cause of celebration in the sect. All of those hopeful n and won had thought that they had a chance. She even briefly entertained the idea of taking a lover, but it obviously couldn’t be anyone in the sect itself, and finding soone outside the sect was just too much effort. Besides, she was an almost absurdly busy woman. Granted, she might make running a sect look easy, but it wasn’t easy. It took constant managent. There was always so minor crisis happening. So mistake that needed to be corrected.
After seeing what the man had done earlier that day, though, she understood why she hadn’t seen him. Dismantling a noble house and claiming it for himself must have taken so serious planning, to say nothing of negotiation with the king. Lu Sen was reported to be friends with the king, but she had thought the death of the old king and how it ca about might have strained that relationship. If it had, though, Jing had gotten over it. And then that display with putting up defenses. It had been positively delicious. Feng Bai had looked like he was swallowing lava before he’d gotten his expression under control. She was going to cherish that mory for the rest of ti. As for Sen, well, he’d been strong for his advancent that last ti they t, but that had been a naked show of force that exceedingly few cultivators in the capital could match. On top of that, it had been a lesson in what perfect control looked like. He wasn’t even a nascent soul cultivator yet and was already doing things that would have strained her control.
As much as she’d enjoyed that show, she was more ambivalent about a cultivator noble house on this side of the Mountains of Sorrow. It could be problematic, or it could turn out to be nothing at all. It really depended on what Sen’s plans were. She’d need to talk to him about it. In private. Preferably in her bed. Perhaps she’d need to arrange a eting. She had been invited to that thing with the foreign cultivators. It was an empty gesture on the king’s part. The patriarchs and matriarchs never attended, but that didn’t an she couldn’t attend. The idea amused her. Ignoring all those fawning nobles while distracting Sen with outrageous suggestions could be fun. She’d need just the right attire, though. Sothing elegant. No, she thought. Sothing elegant and provocative. She started searching through her wardrobe. I might need to get sothing made.
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