Unintended Cultivator

A mildly amused Sen trailed in Sua Xing Xing’s wake as she led him through the town. She was giving him detailed explanations of everything that was currently underway. Most of the repair in the town was complete, although he did see some sect members finishing things up here and there. Some seemed happy enough to do it, while others wore annoyed expressions, but everyone worked diligently. Sen was tempted to stop and correct those with less-than-enthusiastic attitudes but restrained himself. It was enough that they weren’t actively sabotaging the work as a lousy excuse to get out of it. He could only expect so much change in people’s attitudes at any given time.

The tour itself was another delay that Sen hadn’t planned on, but it would be the last. Uncle Kho and Glimmer of Night were literally waiting for him back at the academy compound. As soon as he returned, they would all leave. He’d spent the previous day fulfilling any outstanding obligations he could think of, including crafting an elixir for Shen Mingxia. She had finally decided that she was going to become a core cultivator and asked him to make her something to help her with that. He’d thought that was the choice she’d make, but she’d taken far longer to come to the decision than he’d expected. That was probably for the best, though, he thought. It means she really considered the decision. She’d been a little surprised that he asked her to wait until he got back to leave, but he’d promised to get her back to her sect safely and they didn’t have anyone to spare to go with her just yet.

The tour through the town proper went quickly, but then they moved outside of the established wall to the area where the town was expanding. There was honestly a lot more to it than Sen had expected. Sua Xing Xing explained what they were going to do about waste disposal, something he had never even considered, as well as explaining how they were organizing the construction. The original town was sort of a jumble of homes, tradesmen, and shops with only one central building where the town elders pretended to be in charge of things. It was a fiction that Sen let persist because it was easier to let problems, requests, and the like filter through that group before they found their way to Sen or his people.

Of course, everyone knew it was a farce. There was exactly one authority in the area. Him. A fact that the town elders despised but couldn’t do anything about. Everything from security to prosperity flowed through his, admittedly negligent, hands. He was just lucky that there were enough smart, driven, and talented people around him to make sure that the work was getting done. A fact driven home by Sua Xing Xing’s description of how they were going to loosely divide the new area. One section would primarily concentrate the craftspeople. One section would primarily house shops. The final and largest section would primarily provide housing.

“So, you think that this will be enough room for the next few years?”

Sua Xing Xing gave him an astonished look and said, “No. I’m just hoping it will be enough to last until next year.”

Sen came to a dead stop. That was not what he’d expected to hear. At all. He knew there were a lot more people in the town than there had been, but that kind of growth… He didn’t think it was sustainable.

“Patriarch?” asked Sua Xing Xing, a nervous expression blooming on her face.

“I didn’t realize there were so many new people coming here.”

“Where there’s change, there’s opportunity,” she said. “That attracts people.”

Sen sighed and recalled a problem he hadn’t taken much action on. The revelation that they’d likely be doing something like this all over again within the year pushed it up his priority list.

“We’re going to need to recruit someone to head up a city guard. Someone who knows what they’re doing,” said Sen. “Otherwise, crime will become a problem. We can do it, but I think it’s a bad idea to have cultivators in charge of law and order for mortals.”

Sua Xing Xing went still for a moment and then nodded.

“I agree. Cultivators aren’t the right people for that work. Obviously, we need to take a hand if cultivators misbehave but not with the mortals.”

Sen eyed the woman and asked, “Why do you think that?”

To Sen, it looked like Sua Xing Xing had just bitten into something very sour. She swiftly smoothed her expression, but he could tell that she didn’t want to answer the question. Oddly, Sen thought that probably meant she was thinking along the right lines.

“Cultivators are too biased,” she said. “Too many of them think of mortals as nothing but insects. They’d be as likely to kill a mortal as subdue or arrest them.”

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“That’s exactly the problem,” agreed Sen. “So, if you were going to find someone for the job, how would you go about it?”

Sua Xing Xing stood there in thoughtful silence for a short time as Sen looked at the work that was being done to expand the town.

“I suppose,” she said slowly, “one would need to find someone who had done the work before or was doing it now. Someone that had a reputation for keeping the peace without applying too heavy a hand.”

Sen nodded along and said, “That sounds about right.”

Sua Xing Xing stared at Sen, and he smiled back at her. He could practically watch as the realization settled over her.

“Well, since you seem to have the problem surrounded, I’ll leave it to you to recruit someone. I’m sure you won’t disappoint.”

Sen pretended not to see as her expression cycled through horror, trepidation, and ultimately resignation. He almost felt bad about sticking her with the responsibility. Almost. Still, it wouldn’t do to leave her on an entirely sour note.

“You’re making very satisfactory progress on the expansion of the town,” he said. “I’m also happy to see that repairs in the town have gone well.”

While it didn’t wholly erase her unhappiness at being tasked with finding a suitable mortal to lead the future city guard, Sen could see that it helped. She straightened up and a smile lit her face. He honestly found it a bit perplexing why his praise should matter to anyone, but he supposed it just went with being in a position of authority. People seemed to think it meant more to get praise from a superior. Like he actually knew anything about expanding a town or a hundred other things that people seemed to expect him to understand.

“Thank you, Patriarch.”

After a few more pleasantries, Sen left the woman to her work and headed back toward the compound. His mind was already turning toward the grim task ahead. He’d feared that something like this would become necessary. He’d also hoped that he’d get more time before it was unavoidable. Then again, he didn’t imagine that there would ever be a good time for destroying a sect. He supposed he should just be glad that it happened before the war with the spirit beasts really started in earnest. He kept waiting to hear that it had started somewhere. He realized that it might already be happening on the other side of the Mountains of Sorrow.

If that was the case, he wasn’t sure how he should feel about it. He knew it’d be a lie if he said he’d feel any sorrow about the cultivator leadership there dying. But he did worry that the mortal population there would be killed to the last child if the cultivators fell. There just wasn’t anything he could do about that. He knew the limits of his reach and influence. It did not extend that far, nor would it anytime soon. If the fighting started there, he’d just have to live with it. He tried to put those thoughts out of his mind. They weren’t helpful. All it did was highlight to him, yet again, that cultivators were not gods. They could pretend all they wanted to but nothing drove the point home like a complete inability to do anything about a problem.

As he walked through the gates of the compound with an absent nod to the guards, he glanced around. He couldn’t help but feel a little pride at what he’d built there. He’d never be entirely comfortable with running a sect. He’d had too many bad experiences for that. However, he could recognize that his sect had grown far beyond anything he could have expected given how little time it had existed. He could also be proud of the fact that, for the most part, the members of his sect accepted his positively draconian rules about how to interact with mortals.

The newer members were swiftly corrected by the more experienced disciples about what would and would not be tolerated. The ones who couldn’t accept it almost always left of their own accord. As for how the rest were dealt with, he knew what happened in general. He wasn’t naïve enough to pretend that he didn’t. He also knew that the specifics were kept away from him. It had bothered him, but Auntie Caihong had told him that it was fairly normal. Everyone knew. Everyone knew that he knew. But as long as everyone pretended that he didn’t know, himself included, it provided room to maneuver. It let the sect expel unfit members without Sen needing to intervene directly for or against anyone.

“It all seems terribly roundabout and a little dishonest,” said Sen.

“It is,” she admitted. “It’s also beneath you.”

“Beneath me?”

“Well, perhaps not beneath you personally, but it’s beneath the notice of a sect patriarch. For you to have to intervene in something as mundane as the removal of what amounts to an outer disciple suggests that you don’t have anything better to do with your time. Every sect patriarch has better things to do with their time, including you.”

The whole thing made Sen feel like he needed a bath, but he was hard-pressed to disagree with her assessment of the matter. He did have better things to do with his time. He added that problem to a growing list of things he wished he didn’t have to ignore, but that he would ignore for his sanity and the marginally smoother operation of the sect. It wasn’t ideal, but neither was life. All in all, though, he was going to take his victories where he found them. That the cultivators who had joined him were expressing any tolerance for mortals and were shaking off the idea that higher cultivation gave them an inalienable right to mistreat less advanced cultivators were victories. That would just have to be enough to let him sleep.

Sen drew up short as he saw Falling Leaf standing with Uncle Kho and Glimmer of Night. He didn’t need to ask why she was there. He knew, and he hated it. He walked over to them, his eyes fixed on the ghost panther. He opened his mouth to protest and the words died on his lips when she looked at him. There wasn’t going to be an argument. Or, rather, there wasn’t going to be a useful argument. She’d decided she was going to come with them. He could argue until he passed out, but that wouldn’t change anything. It would just be the equivalent of him shouting at a rock face to move. There would be a lot of noise and, when it was all over, the rock face would still be there. Feeling a bit of sympathy for the resignation he’d seen on Sua Xing Xing’s face not so long ago, he just accepted the reality before him. He looked to Uncle Kho.

“Let’s get moving,” said Sen.

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