Unintended Cultivator

Sen simply watched with an impassive expression, even as the rage roared inside of him. He would kill these people. There most certainly would not be a duel. But there would be suffering. Wu Xiao Dan seemed to be having an apoplectic fit. Sen was a little surprised that the man didn’t start frothing at the mouth. While Wu Xiao Dan tried to find the ability to speak, Bahn Huizhong walked over to Sen.

“Are you about to suggest that I let these people go?” asked Sen.

“No,” said Bahn Huizhong in a resigned voice. “They took things too far. You have to kill them. But it will mean war with their sect.”

Sen sighed and said, “That war was always coming with someone. Is the Twisted Blade Sect so valuable that I should spare them?”

Bahn Huizhong looked thoughtful but ultimately shook his head.

“It’s never good to deplete the ranks before the real war starts, but if you have to wipe a sect from existence… Well, I don’t suppose too many people are going to miss the Twisted Blade Sect. Sadly, this kind of display is pretty routine for them. What do you mean to do to them?”

“I’m going to break them,” said Sen. “Then, I’m going to end their lives in the most just way I can think of.”

“What does that mean?” asked Bahn Huizhong.

“Just watch.”

Wu Xiao Dan looked like he had his fury about under control. Sen considered enacting his plan before the fool could speak again. He didn’t think anyone in Li Hua’s ruined shop was going to die if he didn’t dig them out immediately, but he didn’t want to waste much time either. Fortunately, Xu Xiao Dan started spouting nonsense before Sen had to make the decision.

“How dare you call us animals! We are—”

“Silence,” said Sen.

The blustering fool went silent a fear etched itself in his features. Sen used more restraint this time, only applying some of his killing intent. It turned out that it was still too much for the man that Long Jia Wei had injured. The man let out a final scream and then he winked out of Sen’s spiritual sense. Sen wondered if the ex-assassin had been delivered a few extra injuries he hadn’t noticed. He supposed it didn’t matter. He adjusted his killing intent for each of the remaining Twisted Blade Sect members. He made it just strong enough to keep them on their knees. He walked across the intervening space until he could look down on Wu Xiao Dan. The man had just enough wherewithal to look up at Sen.

“Until today, I’d never even heard of your sect. I certainly didn’t care about it. If you had just come to the compound and issued your challenge, I expect I would have restrained myself to simply killing you. I might have even let your juniors go,” said Sen. “Now, I’m angry with you. I want you to suffer. The question is, what will make you suffer the most? Since you’re a proud cultivator, there’s really only one choice.”

Ever since that long ago day when Heavens’ Rebuke shattered a cultivator’s core, Sen had been considering how he might accomplish the same feat without using the technique. After all, he wanted these people to live. Maybe not for long, but he wanted them to live for long enough. He wasn’t entirely sure his idea would work because he couldn’t exactly ask people to volunteer to test it. Given how the Twisted Blade Sect members had acted, he considered it volunteering. When he used his auric imposition, he typically used it as a kind of shroud that he put onto someone. That didn’t mean it was the only way he could use it. He’d used it as a kind of shield before. Now, he wanted to use it as something a bit more refined.

He did his best to focus all of that force on a very specific spot inside of Wu Jiao Dan. Then, Sen bore down. There was an audible crack as the man’s core shattered beneath the pressure. He bore down even harder, catching the nascent soul that had been developing side the core. Sen almost stopped then, but the sight of Zhi dangling from a man’s hand gave him all the strength of will he needed. With one last burst of pressure, he felt the nascent soul’s existence give out. Focusing, Sen sent that auric imposition into the man’s dantian and through his qi channels. With a flex of his will, Sen ruptured them. He released his killing intent on the man. Wu Jiao Dan toppled over to one side, then his hands started scrabbling at his stomach as if he meant to tear it open. He was sobbing incoherently.

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“No! No! No!” screamed Wu Jaio Dan.

“You had such contempt for mortals. Now, you are one,” said Sen. “All that strength you used to enjoy courtesy of qi moving freely through your body is gone forever. Right now, I doubt you’re stronger than the average mortal man.”

Sen turned away from the still sobbing man and stepped over to the next Twisted Blade Sect member. While his killing intent had kept them in place, they were at least somewhat aware of what was happening. At least, Sen thought they must be based on the abject terror on the woman’s face. There was no pity inside of him for her or any of them. He didn’t rush or hesitate. He simply went from one to the next, destroying everything that made them cultivators and ensuring they could never be cultivators again. When he was done, he stood over the slumped forms of the new mortals.

“Oh,” he said, as if just remembering something. “I guess you’re all probably still a bit more durable than a mortal. I expect that if a group of townspeople decided to hack you all to death, it would probably take a while. Well, just a little more time for you to consider your errors in judgment.”

He started to walk toward the remains of the seamstress shop. He stopped and looked around at the townspeople. They all looked varying degrees of shocked, horrified, and uncertain. Sen pointed at the ex-cultivators.

“I have taken their cultivation. They’re mortals now. I give them to you to pass judgment on as you see fit.”

No one moved for long enough that Sen worried he was going to have to take things into his own hands. Then, Wang Bo, the woodcutter’s son, stepped out of the crowd. He had an axe in his hand and fury in his eyes. He walked over to the nearest Twisted Blade Sect member and brought the handle of the axe down on them. The former cultivator cried out in pain, but their attempt to lash out was feeble, powerless, mortal. Wang Bo avoided the hasty blow and then brought his foot down on the hand that had reached for him. This elicited another cry of pain. And that was all it took. The townspeople were galvanized into action and descended on what was left of the Twisted Blade Sect cultivators.

Sen turned his attention back to the ruined shop. Not just a shop, he thought. This was their home. I’ll have to see to it that everything is repaired, and everyone who was hurt is made whole again. He just hoped that no one had died. He walked over and started using air qi to lift away the debris. Bahn Huizhong came over and gave Sen a long look.

“Yes?” asked Sen.

“I’m just thinking that I’m very glad my sect was wise enough not to challenge you. That was a memorable judgment.”

“It was meant to be,” said Sen.

He unearthed the first person, one of Li Hua’s apprentices. He lifted the girl out of the rubble and deposited her in Bahn Huizhong’s arms. The man swiftly carried her off toward the sect. Before long, Sen felt people pouring out of the sect like a disturbed anthill. His students and their teachers spread out into the town, searching for the injured, taking stock of the damage, and doing what they could to help. Sua Xing Xing eventually found him. He glanced at her.

“Good. Please oversee things in town.”

The woman jerked in surprise.

“Are you sure? Aren’t there better—”

“The townspeople know you. They trust you,” said Sen before he added one last thing. “I trust you.”

He wasn’t sure it was entirely true, but he decided it was true enough. Sua Xing Xing looked like he’d just handed her the keys to ascension.

“Yes, Patriarch,” she said.

She offered him a deep bow, then spun into action, issuing orders, demanding reports, and otherwise acting like a reassuring authority figure. He vaguely noted when the last of the Twisted Blade Sect members died. Good, he thought. I’ll have to decide how best to deal with the rest of that sect later. Fire, maybe? Fire is usually good. That line of thought was broken when he finally found Li Hua. He felt a weight of worry slide off his shoulders as he carried her back to the compound. He bypassed most of the buildings and took her straight to Auntie Caihong. He’d debated doing something for her himself, but he didn’t see any good reason to do that when there was someone far more experienced than him on hand. He did make sure that Ai wasn’t there, though. He was relieved to see in his spiritual sense that Master Feng had taken her off somewhere. As Auntie Caihong ordered him to put Li Hua down on a bed, his mind returned to the Twisted Blade Sect. Poison is good, too, he thought.