Book 5: Chapter 11: Shadow

Traveling by road proved much faster for them as they headed north since it let Sen and Falling Leaf more than double their traveling time. Some of it was a simple lack of obstructions. While they encountered people, wagons, and the occasional farm animal, they weren’t constantly having to navigate around, over, or through natural obstacles. While no single change in navigation cost that much time, a hundred minor alterations in their direction every single day added up. The other part was that they weren’t required to set up camp and protections every single night. Sen didn’t begrudge that time because he knew how important shelter and protection were in the wilds, but it did cost time. On the road and at the speeds they were moving, they could usually find an inn or a farmer happy to have some extra taels.

The constant change in location also let them narrow down where Mt. Solace was actually located, rather than a general area indicated on inaccurate maps. That, more than anything else, served to ease Sen’s mind. The distances between locations on the continent had left Sen feeling ill at ease at the start of their journey. He had wondered more than once if they would have the time to get to the mountain and back again before the deadline ran out. Granted, Fu Ruolan had never actually said it was a deadline, but Sen had walked away with the distinct impression that he would find Fu Ruolan

much

less accommodating if he wasn’t back in three months. Much to Sen’s displeasure, though, they would run across other cultivators from time to time. Some of them had the good sense to steer clear, but some were like the ones in front of Sen who were working very hard to test his limited patience.

“You should be happy to exchange pointers with someone from the…” said a puffed-up fool with too much muscle and not enough sense.

“If you utter your sect’s name one more time,” said Sen, “I will beat you unconscious, strip you naked, and tie you to a tree for the nearest spirit beasts to eat.”

“I would think that a wandering cultivator would know their place better,” said the over-muscled sect cultivator.

“You know,” mused Sen, “I can’t actually remember anymore, but I’m fairly confident that I’ve killed just about everyone who ever uttered a sentence like that to me.”

“You’re very confident.”

“No. I’m just running out of tolerance. So, let me be clear. If you make me draw this blade, I’m going to use it to kill you and your lackeys.”

“The Swift River Sect will never allow such an affront to pass.”

“You don’t listen well,” said Sen.

“What?” asked the sect cultivator.

Sen didn’t bother to answer. He just activated his qinggong technique and shot across the intervening space. The other cultivator seemed to realize what was about to happen a split second before it did because his eyes went wide. He’d just started to move his hand toward his sword when Sen’s fist crashed into the man’s face. He pulled the punch enough so that he was relatively confident it wouldn’t kill the man. It did, however, send the man flying through the air. As Sen casually ducked beneath a hasty blow from one of the other cultivators, he decided that it was better this way. No one would die, probably, and he could be on his way. He lashed out with a kick that drove all the air out of the second man’s lungs and sent the other sect cultivator tumbling away. He felt Falling Leaf behind him and heard the rain of blows she was landing on the other cultivators. He also heard their cries of pain. He looked over and saw a look of pure glee on Falling Leaf’s face as she danced between their hasty attacks. It was pretty clear she didn’t need his help, so he took a few moments to gather the unconscious and semi-conscious cultivators he fought.

He kept half an eye on Falling Leaf as she toyed with her opponents, but mostly just focused on stripping the two men of everything they had on them. It turned out not to be that much. They had one minor storage treasure between them and some weapons that Sen wouldn’t have bothered with in any other circumstances. But he couldn’t back off now. He summoned some rope from one of his storage rings and bound the men at the hands and ankles before propping them up against a tree. The semi-conscious cultivator started to regain his wits, so Sen hit him again for good measure. Then, he leaned against a tree for a while as Falling Leaf made the sect cultivators look stupid. Even if Falling Leaf hadn’t had his training, she had watched him train for years. She had listened to many of the lessons. She’d also survived in the wilds for years. Anything she lacked in training, she more than made up for with pure, savage instincts. By the time she got bored with the cultivators, one of them was bent over at the waist, hands on their knees, and heaving for breath. The other looked like she was barely managing to stay on her feet.

“I think they’ve probably had enough,” said Sen.

He made sure to use a tone that said he was only making a suggestion. He had zero intentions of coming between Falling Leaf and something she saw as her prey. That would be a great way to have her turn her fury on him.

Thanks

,

but no thanks

, thought Sen. Falling Leaf considered the two sect cultivators, sniffed, and looked over at Sen.

“I think you’re right,” agreed Falling Leaf.

The one who was heaving for breath just collapsed onto the ground. The woman looked from Falling Leaf to Sen and relaxed a little.

“Thank the heavens,” she whispered.

Sen smirked at her and gave the musclebound cultivator who’d set all the stupidity in motion a light kick. “Don’t be so nervous. I didn’t kill this idiot. Why would we kill you?”

“Why aren’t we killing them?” asked Falling Leaf.

Sen shrugged. “There’s no point. I doubt they’re actually evil, and I can’t go around killing everyone who annoys me. Well, I definitely

shouldn’t

do that at any rate. Creates more problems than it solves. Embarrassing them, though? That’s always on the table. Speaking of which, if you two will come over and join your friends.”

The pair of sect cultivators reluctantly trudged over to Sen. The guy was covered with shallow cuts and bruises. It seemed the woman was a little more skilled because she had way fewer obvious injuries. He saw her look at the two propped up against the tree and her face went scarlet.

“Are you going to make me strip?” she asked, trying to sound haughty but mostly coming across as scared.

Sen considered that for a moment. “I guess not. I really only threatened your leader over there with

that

. I will be taking any weapons and storage treasures the two of you have, though. I don’t expect the rope to hold you for long, so I need to drive the lesson home another way. Come on. Hand them over.”

The cultivators grudgingly handed over another storage ring and their weapons. Sen deposited the weapons in one of his own storage rings and dropped their storage ring into a pocket. He’d look inside it later. He proceeded to tie their hands and ankles before he tied them all around the tree. After a moment of thought, he reinforced the ropes with qi. Again, it wouldn’t hold them forever, but it would probably keep them occupied for a few hours. More than long enough for Sen and Falling Leaf to put some distance between themselves and the sect cultivators. As he was getting ready to walk away and rejoin an impatient Falling Leaf on the road, the woman called out after him.

“Who are you?”

Sen gave her what he hoped looked like an enigmatic smile. “Me? I’m nobody. Just a shadow passing through.”

The woman looked wholly unsatisfied with the answer, which made Sen supremely happy with it. The less he spread his name or his stupid, stupid title around, the better. The last thing he wanted to do was start even more rumors about himself. Although, he supposed that this was probably a story that wouldn’t cause that many headaches. Sure, there was some embarrassment, but it was the middle of the day and the nearest town wasn’t that far off. Odds were good that they’d get free and run home to their sect, complaining about those mean wandering cultivators. Unless the higher-ups in that sect were complete morons, though, they’d recognize this mercy for what it was and let it go. That made Sen frown, though. Just because recognizing it as a mercy was the smart thing to do, it didn’t mean that the sect would behave that way.

Sen’s experiences with sect elders were a mixed bag. Some of them were reasonable. Some of them were stupid. Some of them were prideful to the point of madness. And some of them were unadulterated evil. As much as Sen hated to lean on that reputation he’d been building, it was the smart play for him if it could save him trouble. The problem was that he couldn’t be sure it

would

save him trouble. It might make trouble for him just as easily. That was assuming his reputation had spread this far north. Although, it seemed like his reputation always arrived before he did. He should have asked Master Feng about leveraging an increasingly fearsome reputation. Sighing a little to himself, he turned back to the woman.

“If your elders become insistent on a name, tell them it was Judgment’s Gale.”

The woman jerked at that, as did the one man who was still conscious.

Damn

, thought Sen.

It did beat me here

. They both stared at Sen with expressions that went back and forth from excitement to fear.

“You’re Judgment’s Gale?” asked the man. “Truly?”

“That’s what they tell me.”

“Why didn’t you say so?” asked the woman.

“Because I was trying to avoid a fight,” said Sen as he turned and walked away. “Not that it did me any good.”