Bey Peizhi managed to stand, staggered, and then clutched at his head. It had been a very, very long ti since he’d last experienced anything like a headache, let alone the agony inside his skull now. That kind of pain was for mortals and qi-condensing cultivators. He wasn’t even sure where he was. The last thing he rembered, he’d been outside the palace, staring up at Judgnt’s Gale. He froze as the words ca back to him. Lie down. Then, everything had exploded into pain and terror before he’d simply gone blank. He forced himself to open his eyes and look around. They were all unconscious. Everyone from the sect that had marched on the palace with grand plans of showing Lu Sen who was in charge had been rendered useless. All at the sa ti. All by one man.
He forced himself to keep searching the area. The patriarch was nowhere to be seen. Bey Peizhi didn’t know if the man was dead or had simply fled, but he was gone. His eyes ca to an abrupt halt when they landed on Lu Sen. The man was lounging in a chair, his face a blank mask of indifference. Next to him was so jade beauty that Bey Peizhi was certain he’d never seen before. He was certain he would have rembered her and those strange green eyes. Yet, the way she looked at him, as if she was trying to decide which part to cut off first, left him shivering.
Perhaps, if she had been alone, he might have considered fighting her. She was only nearing the peak of core cultivation. However, she looked all too comfortable sitting next to Judgnt’s Gale. A place of honor that she wouldn’t have been accorded if the woman didn’t stand very damned high in the esteem of the kingdom’s new lord and master. As for the man himself, Bey Peizhi couldn’t glean anything by looking at him. He didn’t seem angry. He didn’t seem anything. If he’d fought, there were no signs of injury. Yet, the patriarch was gone, which left him with no answers about what he should do next, whether it was to fight or run.
“Bey Peizhi,” said Lu Sen, his voice light. “I’m glad to see that you’ve regained your senses. Co. Speak with .”
Lu Sen’s tone was casual. The way he pointed to the spot directly in front of the chair where he sat was imperiousness personified. Bey Peizhi glanced around, hoping that one of the other elders would wake up. At least, then, he wouldn’t have to face the wrath of Judgnt’s Gale alone. Everyone else remained motionless and unconscious to all outward appearances. A few of them may have been faking, but they were doing a very convincing job of it if that was the case. Gritting his teeth, Bey Peizhi slowly walked to the indicated spot. Every step sent a sharp, stabbing pain through his skull. He couldn’t help but wonder just what it was that Lu Sen had done to them all. There had been killing intent mixed in, but it hadn’t just been killing intent. There had been sothing deeper and sohow more terrifying as well.
“Lord Lu,” said Bey Peizhi, attempting a bow even though it made him feel ill. “If I may ask, what happened to the patriarch?”
“Oh, your brave leader decided to take the vow and venture north. Honestly, I never imagined his pride would bend enough to do sothing that rational.”
Bey Peizhi stared blankly at Lu Sen for a mont. In truth, he had shared that opinion of the patriarch. While the patriarch’s decision might have been rational, it had also left everyone else in the sect in a precarious position. Damn that coward, thought By Peizhi. What are the rest of us supposed to do? It had been made clear that no one else in the sect stood a chance of standing against this man. While Judgnt’s Gale had done so impressive things, more than one person had suggested he borrowed strength to accomplish those feats. It wasn’t even an uncommon tactic among cultivators. After all, what else were formations if not a ans of borrowing power?
That uncertainty could no longer survive the evidence. Bey Peizhi didn’t know what had happened during Lu Sen’s transition between core formation and nascent soul, but it was painfully clear that the man hadn’t simply gotten stronger. He had undergone so form of transmutation, like one of the alchemical miracles the man was famous for. And now, Bey Peizhi had to navigate his way to survival in terrain he did not understand. It was unsettling for a man used to bargaining from a position of strength to realize that his position wasn’t just weak, it wasn’t even noticeable from the heights that Lu Sen was looking down from.
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“I expect you’re wondering what you can say to preserve your sect at this point,” said Sen. “You can stop wondering. You cannot preserve it. The Lunar Tiger Sect no longer exists. Your patriarch has sworn his service to and ceded the sect to my control. And I have no use for a sect of rebels.”
Bey Peizhi flinched at that word, rebels. Rebels almost always found themselves executed.
“If you are disbanding the sect, what do you an to do with us?”
“I told you already. You’re all still cultivators. You can still be useful. You will travel with the army, where I can watch you. You will fight.”
“Is there no other—”
“There is not,” said Lu Sen.
The man’s expression changed for the first ti, hardening from indifference to icy resolve.
“We could just kill them all,” suggested the jade beauty. “So much simpler.”
Bey Peizhi gaped at the woman. Her disregard for all of those lives was beyond ruthless. Yet, her expression showed neither malice nor interest. If anything, she seed bored by the entire affair.
“It may yet co to that,” said Lu Sen.
Bey Peizhi’s eyes snapped back to the other man. If the prospect of taking all those lives bothered him, there was no evidence of it in his face or posture. Mind racing, Bey Peizhi tried to think of what he should say to avoid that grim outco.
“Lord Lu,” he said. “I’m sure the mbers of Lunar Tiger Sect will be more than happy to fight.”
“I sincerely doubt that. And I’m not just going to turn them loose. Those who choose to serve will take vows to the heavens. Those who don’t or cannot make the vows will be dealt with right here.”
“Does that not strike you as overly harsh?” asked Bey Peizhi, growing increasingly desperate.
He was in no way enthusiastic about going to war, but to make such a vow mandatory was to assure death for at least so of the Lunar Tiger disciples. He wasn’t sure that he could give such a vow in good faith. It might well an death for all of the elders.
“I’ve never understood this about cultivators. You marched on the palace in force. You ca with the intention to kill . Those are acts of insurrection, Bey Peizhi. By rights, I should execute every last one of you. Yet, in the wake of your crushing defeat, here you are, expecting to simply forget that incident and allow you all to go your own way. Why in the thousand hells should I grant you so much rcy, when none of you would have granted an ounce of it?”
Bey Peizhi opened his mouth, only to close it again when no words ca forth. What was there to say? The sect did march on the palace. The patriarch had ant to kill Lu Sen. Those truly were acts of insurrection. The sect disciples didn’t have any real choice in following the patriarch to the palace, which might absolve them of so of their guilt. Yet, it could be easily argued that by not summarily executing the entire sect, any imbalances had already been rectified. Conscripting them into fighting the war probably did look like rcy from where Judgnt’s Gale sat. It was a chance at life. It wasn’t a good chance, but any chance was better than a guaranteed death here and now.
“I can’t answer that.”
“No, you can’t,” said Lu Sen, gesturing at the slowly stirring mbers of the Lunar Tiger Sect. “If you wish to save the lives of those people, I suggest you speak to them.”
“I will,” said Bey Peizhi.
“One more thing,” said Lu Sen. “If I were you, I would strive to be convincing. I am not in a forgiving mood.”
Swallowing hard, Bey Peizhi nodded. He rushed over to gather those who were coming around. He needed to stop them from doing anything rash. If they tried to leave or, worse, attack Judgnt’s Gale, it could spell disaster for everyone. It was a struggle to keep everyone in place. The other elders began demanding answers as soon as their minds cleared enough to ask questions. So refused to believe that the patriarch had abandoned them, at least until they saw Judgnt’s Gale sitting there at his leisure. Once that stark truth settled on them, most were willing to at least listen to the situation. Most, but not all.
“I will not be dictated to by so boy put on his throne by Feng Ming,” snarled Elder Chen Dai Lu.
Before Bey Peizhi could utter another sound, Lu Sen was simply there. No one had seen him move. Bey Peizhi hadn’t even felt a surge of qi. Elder Chen stared up at the hulking form of Judgnt’s Gale with disbelief in her eyes.
“So be it,” said Lu Sen.
There wasn’t a flurry of violence. That would have been understandable. What happened was so much worse. Lu Sen simply touched her. That was all. One touch, and a person Bey Peizhi had known for centuries collapsed to the ground, her life snuffed out. By the ti anyone thought to look away from the corpse of a Lunar Tiger Sect elder, Lu Sen was once more sitting in his chair. He let his gaze move over the stunned cultivators.
“I will not make you fight in the war,” said the man, his cold eyes boring into everyone they landed on. “Cultivation is all about choices. But if you choose not to fight, I choose not to let you leave this place alive.”
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