Book 9: Chapter 60: The Price of Survival

Yunhan and Liwen stared at him with scared, confused expressions. Sen supposed that was to be expected after everything he’d done. He’d earned those looks, and he had to fight his instinct to put them at ease. He needed them scared. Not terrified to the point that they’d try to fight him for fear of their lives, but scared enough that they’d listen and do what he needed them to do. He let the silence drag out until Yunhan worked up the courage to speak.

“What things?” asked the core cultivator.

“Several, but they mainly come down to the price of survival. Your survival. Your unplanned survival.”

“What does that mean?” ventured Liwen.

She didn’t look at him when asking the question, choosing to keep her eyes lowered. He didn’t know if she was feigning deference or meant it, and it probably didn’t matter if she was feigning it.

“It means that I intended for everyone who had even a chance of resurrecting the Twisted Blade Sect to die last night. Or as many as I could reach. That included the two of you. Clearly, that didn’t happen, which puts me in an awkward position. So, I’m going to need other assurances that you won’t become a problem for me later and that you won’t try to bring this terrible excuse for a sect back.”

Liwen did look at him then, anger burning through her fear.

“

You

need assurances,” she hissed. “After you murdered all those people? You need assurances?”

“Murdered?” asked Sen in a flat voice. “Do you want to have a conversation about your sect and murder?”

Yunhan’s hand shot out to grab Liwen’s arm.

“We

don’t

,” said Yunhan while giving Liwen a look Sen didn’t really understand.

She gave Yunhan an equally inscrutable look back, and the man shook his head in the negative.

“But he—” Liwen started only to have Yunhan speak over her.

“He spared us

both

. He didn’t have to do that. Especially me.”

“What does that mean?” she demanded.

“It means,” said Sen, “that the two of you will have a great deal to discuss after we settle our business. Right at the top of my list is that I don’t want anyone to know that I spared anyone other than the qi-condensing cultivators I let escape. So, that means that the two of you are going to find new names for yourselves. You don’t have to tell me what they are, but you will do it.”

“I will not abandon my—” Liwen objected, only to have her words strangled as Sen’s auric imposition drove her to the ground.

“I understand that you’re angry,” said Sen in a calm tone. “I also understand that I’ve been relatively polite up until now. Do not mistake this for a negotiation. It isn’t one. You live only because Yunhan said you didn’t deserve to die, and the heavens affirmed it. He lives solely because of my sentiment. Persist in taxing the limits of either of those things, and my sufferance will grow

shallow

,” said Sen, lifting the auric imposition. “Have I been clear?”

Sen waited as Liwen slowly pushed herself back up into a sitting position. Her face was pale and her hands shook a little. She nodded. Sen hated frightening the woman after everything else, but he couldn’t turn them loose the way things stood now. They had more reason than most to want revenge on him for what he did to the Twisted Blade Sect. He had quite literally burned their home to the ground and likely killed almost everyone they knew. Even if they hadn’t had much love for the sect itself, that was still more than enough motivation to put almost anyone on a road to vengeance. So, better some fear and intimidation now, while they were off balance, because as much as he hated what he was doing, he’d hate having to kill them down the road a lot more. If he was going to spare them, he wanted them to live.

“Good,” said Sen. “You will change your names. You will destroy any evidence that you were ever in the Twisted Blade Sect. Sect badges. Letters of introduction. Everything. You will introduce yourselves as wandering cultivators who have been traveling far from here for a long time. Then, there is the matter of this,” said Sen.

It took him a little longer than it would have taken either Yunhan or Liwen to do it, but he held out a hand and manifested the twisted blade technique over his upturned palm. When it wasn’t flying through the air, the technique really did look like a sword that had been twisted into a corkscrew shape. The two former sect cultivators stared at Sen like he’d worked some kind of dark miracle. He supposed that most disciples weren’t allowed to learn the technique proper until they were at least inner sect members. Even then, he expected that the sect made a point of telling them how hard the technique was to master. He hadn’t found it that challenging but accepted that probably wasn’t a good way to measure the technique’s difficulty for others.

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Sen continued, “I recognize that this is probably your main weapon in a fight. So, I’m not going to forbid you to use it. You will say that you learned it from a dying cultivator during those far away travels. I don’t care about the details, just get them straight between you.”

“We can do that,” said Yunhan.

“I’m glad to hear that because you’ll both take vows to heaven that you’ll do exactly those things.”

“What?” asked Liwen.

“You didn’t imagine I'd take your word for it that you’ll do what I want, did you? You’ll make those vows. You will include in those vows that you will never seek retribution for this night on me, my family, my friends, my sect, or anyone else connected to me,” said Sen before lifting a hand to prevent any questions. “I understand that you may well encounter people connected to me. If there is some dispute not connected to the events of this night, the Jianghu is the Jianghu. I won’t make you take vows not to defend yourselves in those circumstances. But I will remind you that the heavens will decide if your actions cross the line. I wouldn’t suggest trying to get around those restrictions by inventing reasons to fight my people. I don’t think the heavens are that blind, do you?”

Liwen and Yunhan traded a quick glance before shaking their heads. Sen had his doubts about whether the pair would even be able to make the vows sincerely. It would put him in another awkward position if they couldn’t. Still, he would let them try before he started worrying about what to do if they failed. He started with Yunhan because, of the two, Sen thought he would be more motivated to be sincere. After all, the heavens hadn’t said anything about him deserving life. Yunhan looked more than a little apprehensive as he made the vow, slowly going over each point that Sen had laid out. There was a tense moment when nothing happened, and then the telltale glow of the vow being accepted appeared around the man. Sen nodded, and Yunhan almost collapsed with relief. Sen turned his attention to Liwen.

“Your turn.”

She was silent for almost a minute, and Sen found his hand drifting toward the hilt of his jian. Yunhan noticed and turned to Liwen.

“What are you doing?” he demanded of her.

“He wants to escape from this unpunished. Free to live without fear of revenge.”

“Liwen—” started Yunhan, but Sen cut him off.

“How many sects did your Twisted Blade Sect destroy since you joined them?” asked Sen, his voice carrying the cold of winter.

Liwen flinched at the question, or the tone, or both. Whatever the case, Sen was content with it.

“Six,” whispered Liwen.

“And how much punishment was doled out to your elders, your friends, and the rest of the sect for all of

those

murders, as you style it?”

“None,” she said in a voice so quiet it was barely audible.

“You tended the plants here, didn’t you?” asked Sen.

“I did,” said Liwen, looking up in confusion.

“Plants that were used by your alchemists to help people advance and grow stronger?”

“Yes.”

“Strength that they used to commit all of those murders. Do you really think

your

hands are entirely clean? Do you think that no negative karma has attached itself to you? You were spared, Liwen, not forgiven.”

Liwen’s face went whiter and whiter as Sen spoke.

“I… I didn’t… I—” she mumbled.

“Now, about that vow,” said Sen.

Liwen stared at Sen like he was a monster, but the words of the vow started tumbling from her lips in a numb voice. Yunhan looked relieved and angry. Sen thought that anger was justified. He

had

done a particularly unkind thing to Liwen. Sen didn’t think he’d lied about anything since no one knew how karma actually worked, but he had certainly implied plenty that he couldn’t back up. When Liwen finally finished, there was a much, much longer pause during which Sen’s hand drifted even closer to his jian. He was almost gripping the hilt when that glow finally appeared around the woman. He relaxed and let his hand drop away from the sword hilt. He stood and regarded the pair, who both looked a little stunned.

“I can’t tell you what to do, but I’d recommend going south. Give yourselves some distance from this place and everything that happened here.”

Sen looked down at the storage rings on his fingers. He debated what to do before he summoned a smaller coin pouch. He didn’t know exactly how much was in it, but he did know there was some silver tael in there. It wasn’t a fortune, but it would be enough to let them get started as wandering cultivators. It was a near certainty that he’d destroyed everything that both of them owned. He probably owed them something for that. Especially since he wasn’t going to let them back into the sect to loot valuables, not that he thought they’d really want to. He could sense the storage treasures on them both, but that didn’t mean they had money in them. Sen finally decided that he didn’t need a reason to do it. He wanted to and that was enough. He tossed the coin pouch to Yunhan, who gave him a blank look.

“Why?” asked the newly minted wandering cultivator.

Sen gave a half-shrug with one shoulder.

“Because I can. Don’t go back to the compound. Very soon, there won’t be anything left there to find.”

Sen turned from them and started to walk away before Liwen called after him.

“Are you truly Judgment’s Gale?”

He looked back at her over a shoulder. He knew that what came next was part of

his

price for survival. He would add to a legend that had always been more burden than benefit to him. But he needed it now. He needed people to fear that man and what he was capable of doing. He needed Judgment’s Gale to be real.

“Yes.”