The reality of what was in front of him didnāt really drive home for Sen until he walked out of the gate, considered his options, and started off in an eastern direction. Until then, there had been a haze of unreality about the whole idea. That haze of unreality hadnāt been helped by the sudden arrival of Ma Caihong, Master Fengās abrupt culling of the local spirit beast population, or having his own technique broken so thoroughly. Heād mostly slept through the time when he would have worried about what came next. Then, there had been that flurry of preparation. Thinking back about it, Sen wondered if Uncle Kho and Ma Caihong had kept him busy and distracted to keep his mind occupied. If it had been a plan, it had worked.
He supposed that some of his casualness had stemmed from all those times when he and Uncle Kho went looking for herbs and plants. Sen had always felt safe enough on those trips, but heād also had Uncle Kho there, no doubt scaring off anything that thought about attacking them. This time, though, Sen was alone. As the manor disappeared behind him, Sen became increasingly aware of how alone he was. Back in Orchardās Reach, heād spent most of his time alone. It wasnāt that he wanted to be alone. He just learned that it was a lot easier for one kid to hide. The trick he used to stay hidden, when he could do it at all, only worked for him.
When heād started learning about cultivation, heād halfway hoped that the hiding trick was something he could learn to extend to other people. The more he learned, the better he grasped how impossible that was. While Sen didnāt fully understand what he was doing to hide, he knew it had to do with his energy and his aura specifically. Something about the way he pulled those things inside himself shielded him. While Master Feng had suggested Sen might be able to do something with similar results to other people, eventually, the trick would only work for him as it stood. As the semi-tamed forest around the manor gave way to untamed forest, Sen felt very glad that he had that trick at his disposal. He knew it wouldnāt hide his scent, but Uncle Kho told him that a lot of spirit beasts tracked qi instead of scents. Sen recognized that it was a flimsy shield, but heād rather have a flimsy shield than no shield at all.
Yet, for all his worrying, nothing happened all morning. The hours passed in rather uncomfortable silence as Sen covered miles of distance. If anything, the whole mountain felt like it was holding its breath. Of course, covering that distance also impressed on him that the trip was longer than he'd first thought. Heād always known that mountain was big. Yet, the true size of it was a bit hard to really keep in his head. Heād been far too distracted on the trip up the mountain to really pay attention. Since then, he hadnāt given it much attention. As the cold certainty that this trip could well take days and days, the fear finally settled over Sen. He was out on the mountain,
alone
, until he reached that cave. He felt his hands shaking and clenched them in anger.
āNo,ā he whispered. āMaster Feng killed all of the most dangerous beasts already. I might have to fight, but this isnāt suicide.ā
With that bit of self-reassurance, Sen found a comfortable rock to perch on and pulled a bit of food out of his storage ring. As if the food was a summoning charm, Falling Leaf was sitting next to him. She peered up at him with her hopeful, pleading eyes. Sen gaped at the ghost panther. Had she been following him this
entire
time? Then, relief flooded through him. He wasnāt completely alone. He didnāt really expect the big cat to do any fighting. He wasnāt even sure if heād want her to. While she was terrifyingly fast at chasing down the food that Sen threw her, heād never actually seen her do anything even remotely violent. For all he knew, if she tried to intervene in a fight, it could get her killed. He didnāt think he could live with that. He realized that heād been lost in his own thoughts for a while when Falling Leaf nudged the hand with the food in it.
āAlright, alright,ā Sen mock grumbled. āYou big mooch.ā
He passed her some of the food and watched in amusement as she flopped down to chew and lick at the meat. He settled in to eat his own lunch, feeling much better about being out on the mountain.
***
That good feeling lasted until late afternoon. Thatās when the first attack came. Sen was passing through a clearing when he heard a sound like metal on stone ahead. He stopped moving and looked around. On the far side of the clearing, he saw a beast that vaguely reminded him of a goat. Of course, heād never seen a goat with shiny metal hooves and a lone metal horn protruding from its head before. Sen found himself wishing heād asked a lot more questions about spirit beasts. Heād always meant to, but it had never felt like a priority. He resolved then and there, if he got back, heād ask lots of questions or at least ask Uncle Kho if he had some scrolls about them. Unfortunately, that future knowledge couldnāt help him know if this beast was naturally aggressive or just territorial. Sen wondered if he could avoid the problem by simply leaving.
Sen took one step backward and got his answer. The goat charged at him, lowering its head with the obvious intent to gore Sen. For one interminable second, Sen froze. Then, years of training took over. He cycled his qi through his channels, and it almost got him killed. Sen felt the qi rush out into his channels. Then, it ran out into
other
channels. He froze again. Senās mind raced as he tried to figure out what was happening.
New channels
, he wondered.
No, old channels
. His mind went back to that second cleansing pill heād taken. He remembered now that it burned through some kind of blockages in channels he hadnāt known about. Since then, though, his qi hadnāt gone into them. Why would it now? The sight of the goat almost at striking distance jarred him back to reality. He didnāt have time to draw his sword or even to activate a technique.
Instead, Sen did what he liked the best. He redirected. He knew he had to wait until it was almost too late. Otherwise, the timing would be off. He forced a slow breath out, turned out of the way, planted a hand on the side of the goatās head, and pushed. He expected to knock the goat off course. Instead, he launched himself away from the goat. Since he hadnāt expected it, Sen hadnāt prepared for the sudden motion. His arms pinwheeled a few times, then his feet connected with the ground. Momentum carried him over onto the ground and into a painful, sprawling tumble. In the middle of that misery, he finally put two and two together. Ma Caihongās alchemical potion. It had to be that. Sheād made some vague comments about it maybe improving his cultivation. He gritted his teeth as a large tree finally arrested his motion.
āYou kind of undersold it,ā he muttered to the far distance Ma Caihong.
As much pain as he was in, heād been drilled hard by Master Feng. He forced himself up to his feet. If you stayed down, your opponent would capitalize on it. Sen had no desire to find himself beneath those metal hooves. As Sen regained his feet, he was relieved to find that the tumble hadnāt dislodged the sword on his hip. He looked across the clearing to where the goat had turned and was preparing to charge again. He tried to remember what heād learned about qi aspects. The goat had an obvious metal attunement. What was metal weak to? He knew it was weak to fire, but Sen wasnāt all that eager to start throwing fire around in a forest. With a sigh, Sen resigned himself to doing it the hard way. He drew his jian, cycled metal qi, and pressed that power into the blade. He just hoped that this extra strength would be enough to see him through.
As the goat bore down on him again, Senās focus tightened. He let the distractions fall away. The forest noises quieted in his ears until all he heard were the hooves. The sky, the trees, the undergrowth, it all faded from his view. He let the thudding of his own panicked heartbeat drop away as well. In the end, the only things left in Senās universe were himself, his jian, and the goat. Sen could see the tiny sparks the goatās hooves created as they hit small stones. He could see the rectangular pupils of its eyes. He could hear the air exploding from its nostrils. Then, Senās body was sidestepping and the jian rose in a perfect arc. Sensory information crashed down on Sen. It dazed him for a brief moment. Then, he saw what he had done. The goat's body was on the ground. Its head lay several feet away.
Sen just stared at the dead spirit beast while his racing heart and labored breathing slowly returned to something more like normal. He didnāt know how he felt about what heād done. Given a choice, heād have left the beast to its business. He shook that thought off. It hadnāt given him
that
choice. It had only given him a choice between surviving and dying. Sen had chosen to live. Deep inside of Sen, far from his conscious mind, a tiny flame flickered to life.