Book 7: Chapter 29: Uncertain Reception |
Wu Meng Yao did her best not to stare at Lu Sen. It had been a long, long road to find him. She’d been away from the Soaring Skies Sect for years now, dragging poor Shen Mingxia along in her wake. They’d been gone so long, in fact, that she suspected they were members in name only by now. Not that the traveling had been entirely a bad thing. Like most members of her sect, she had rarely traveled far beyond the city walls, and on those rare trips only to deal with a spirit beast that was bothering the local farmers. In the intervening years, she had traveled countless miles, seen wonders and horrors, and even had a lucky encounter or two.
Between the resources she’d been given by the sect, those lucky encounters, and a deeper well of experience than most of her sect brethren, she’d even managed to break into core formation decades ahead of schedule. She had the sneaking suspicion that with that advancement under her belt, she’d be welcomed with open arms and hailed as some kind of minor cultivation genius when she did finally return. Shen Mingxia had even benefited indirectly and pushed her advancement forward. It hadn’t been as fast as Wu Men Yao’s own meteoric ascent, but it was enough that she’d likely get some attention.
Of course, any thought that she’d been harboring that Judgment’s Gale would be impressed by her advancement evaporated the moment she sensed his power. He was keeping it tightly contained, no doubt for the benefit of all the mortals who were staring at her in a mixture of curiosity, fear, and hostility. Even with that power suppressed, she couldn’t believe what she was sensing. He was late core formation, maybe even verging onto peak core formation. She’d heard the stories. Everyone had heard the stories of the deranged wandering cultivator who challenged sects and criminal empires, the man who walked the deep wilds without fear, the man who cast down beast tides, and the cultivator who toppled kings. She had assumed those stories were exaggerations built up around real but humbler exploits. Looking at him now, sensing that impossible power, power that had come centuries if not millennia before its time, she wondered how many of those tales were completely accurate or, an even more chilling thought, underselling the reality.
Just as importantly, the man was obviously not happy to see her. He had positioned himself between her and the mortals like she was one of those savage young mistresses who took no account of mortal lives. His hand was resting on the hilt of his jian. That casual gesture was enough to send icy waves coursing through her veins. She remembered him wielding that weapon with terrifying skill when he had been nothing but a foundation formation cultivator. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like if he turned that blade against her now backed with all of that newfound power and whatever experience he had accumulated in the intervening years. Part of her realized that it might be a profound experience that could push her cultivation forward. What made that problematic was that it would also certainly mean her near-immediate and dishonorable death. She realized that it was on her to start the conversation since she had come to find him.
“You’re not an easy man to find, Judgment’s Gale,” she offered.
She desperately hoped that her tone had come off as light and friendly. Not that it seemed to make even the tiniest impression on the man. His expression didn’t move at all from the inhumanly cold neutrality that he’d fixed in place. Wu Men Yao found herself abruptly wondering how many people had died after seeing that exact expression on that face. She could almost feel him making a decision about whether or not he should simply end her life and be done with it. The tension grew as the silence stretched out until it reached a point that made her want to scream. Then, as if sent by the heavens, one of the most adorable little girls that Wu Meng Yao had ever seen walked up to the pillar of destructive power that was Judgment’s Gale. There was absolutely no fear in the child at all as she reached up, grabbed two of the fingers on his free hand, and peered across the intervening space with curious eyes.
“Who’s that?” asked the little girl.
As if that child’s touch had turned something back on inside of Lu Sen, humanity bled back into his face. He smiled down at the little girl with so much tender affection that Wu Meng Yao felt a brief stab of envy. Not so much that Lu Sen was looking at the little girl that way, but that she couldn’t recall anyone ever looking at her that way, not even her own parents. She also felt like the shadow of certain death had fallen across her and that only a quirk of fortune had allowed her to escape it. Once that wave of relief passed, though, she found herself looking back and forth from Lu Sen to the little girl. She couldn’t help but wonder. Is that his daughter? The girl didn’t look too old. Enough time had passed that he could have a daughter that age, but she couldn’t imagine when he would have found the time. By all accounts, Judgment’s Gale had spent most of the last ten years moving around in the kingdom. By the way he was looking at the little girl and the pure trust she had in the man, though, Wu Meng Yao struggled to imagine that she could be anything but his daughter. Lu Sen turned his gaze from the girl back to her.
“Her name if Wu Meng Yao. We,” he paused, “met a long time ago.”
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Wu Meng Yao wanted to shout at the other woman for undermining whatever scraps of dignity they had left. However, it seemed that the path into Lu Sen’s good graces passed directly through that little girl. He directed a much warmer look at Shen Mingxia as he picked the little girl up.
“Ai, that is Shen Mingxia,” said Sen.
The girl frowned a little, which made Wu Meng Yao’s heart skip a beat, but it was all innocent enough.
The girl slowly sounded out the name. “Shen. Ming. Xia.”
“That’s right,” said Sen.
Wu Meng Yao glanced over at Shen Mingxia and recognized a lost cause when she saw one. The other woman only had eyes for the little girl. She wore a huge smile on her face like she didn’t even realize how close to utter destruction they had come. The little girl smiled back at Mingxia.
“I’m a beautiful orchid,” the child announced.
“Oh, aren’t you just,” agreed Shen Mingxia with an enthusiastic nod.
That elicited an actual smile from Lu Sen, which frustrated Wu Meng Yao to no end. She’d left the sect, come all this way to make amends, and Shen Mingxia was getting smiles. That was just so unfair. On top of all of that, he was even better looking than the last time she’d seen him, which was a tall order. No doubt the product of all those advancements he’d seemingly crashed through over the last several years. Improvements that most cultivators had to wait an eternity to enjoy had piled up on him like gifts from the heavens. It was almost difficult to look at him and not simply gawk. With a start, she realized she was doing just that and averted her eyes before he noticed.
“Alright, everyone,” said Sen. “I think it’s safe to say that we aren’t going to accomplish anything more today. You should head home.”
The mortals all started to shuffle around and deposit spears on… Wu Meng Yao studied the wall a little more closely. It looked like hangers had simply grown out of the stone so people could place the spears there. She notices a similar arrangement where halberds hung. Beyond that, there were hooks where people had hung up their wet coats and cloaks to dry. Cultivators talented with earth qi could do such things, but the mortals seemed to take the conveniences for granted. And why wouldn’t they? It was clear that this setup had been in place for a while. What she couldn’t figure out was what someone as powerful and infamous as Judgment’s Gale was doing teaching mortals to use weapons. For that matter, she couldn’t fathom why he would do such a thing. Maybe he’d tell her, if she could ever thaw that cold unhappiness she’d seen on his face when he first recognized her.
Turning to say something to Shen Mingxia, she found the woman gone. Looking around, Wu Meng Yao found that the traitor had gone over to fuss over the little girl, who Sen had put back down on the ground. Feeling like there was a plot against her, Wu Meng Yao watched her student win another look of quiet approval from Lu Sen. The trio were quietly joined by another little girl who was holding what looked like a ball made of shadow. Another daughter? The other little girl seemed hesitant, her eyes locking on Lu Sen for approval. He gently rested a hand on the girl’s head and introduced her.
“This is Li Zhi,” he told Shen Mingxia.
Seemingly bolstered by Sen’s presence and introduction, Zhi walked over to Shen Mingxia and Ai. The little girls immediately co-opted Shen Mingxia to play some kind of game with them. Thank the gods there are no sect elders here to witness this, thought Wu Meng Yao. She wasn’t sure that either of them would ever live the encounter down. She kept her distance while Lu Sen had a number of brief conversations with the mortals. One of the mortal women eventually went over to claim the girl, Li Zhi, who immediately ran away and hid behind Lu Sen’s leg. It seemed this was some kind of ritual because the little girl started giggling as soon as Lu Sen began looking around like he was confused.
“Oh no!” he cried in the most theatrical of worried voices. “Where can Li Zhi have gone?”
The little girl giggled louder and louder as Lu Sen managed to look everywhere except at where she was standing.
“Whatever will we do if we can’t find Li Zhi?” he moaned as he dropped his face into his hands.
The other little girl took up her part in the ritual.
“Shadow dog!” shouted Ai. “Shadow dog can find her!”
“You’re right! Shadow dog can do it!”
Wu Meng Yao had no idea what they meant by shadow dog until she felt a surge of qi from Lu Sen, followed by what looked like a literal dog made of shadow leaping into being out of nowhere. She felt her mouth hanging open at the sight, not sure if she should be horrified at the outrageously wasteful use of qi for a child’s game, or astounded at the casually nonchalant way that the man formed and directed the shadow construct. It bounded around the huge building like an actual dog, looking as though it was sniffing for a trail. The little girl, Li Zhi, wasn’t even bothering to hide anymore. Instead, she standing right next to Lu Sen jumping in happiness at the sight of the shadow dog. After what seemed like an unnecessarily convoluted trek through the completely open space, the shadow dog suddenly turned to where Li Zhi was standing, its void black tail started wagging back and forth, and it trotted over to her.
“Shadow dog found her!” shouted Ai.
“Yes, he did,” agreed Lu Sen, as the little girls petted the construct.
With the ritual completed, the mortal woman bundled up the little girl for the cold weather. Wu Meng Yao expected Lu Sen to disperse the shadow construct, but the other little girl immediately climbed onto it. She watched in stunned silence as Ai rode the shadow construct as if it were some kind of horse. She was pulled from her thoughts by the voice of Lu Sen.
“You’ve advanced to core formation. Congratulations.”
She turned to face him. The words had been neutral. Safe. A topic that any cultivator would respond to. She nodded.
“Thank you. Although, it seems no star burns as brightly as yours in the heavens’ eyes when it comes to advancement.”
She had thought it was a safe enough comment, but Lu Sen grimaced at the words.
“Perhaps,” he said, apparently ready to put away even the pretext of polite conversation. “You’ve come a long way, Wu Meng Yao. What do you want?”
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