Book 11: Chapter 30: Evaluation

Sen started the analysis with the first group because he had more to say about what they did.

“So, who knows what went wrong with your approach?”

There was some hesitation before one of the women in the group spoke up.

“We spread out. That made us easier targets whenever you closed the distance.”

“True,” said Sen. “Anything else?”

There were a few more thoughts of varying value, but no stunning insights. The big guy offered that they had all underestimated his speed.

“That’s probably accurate, but it goes deeper than that. The crux of the matter is that you adopted a posture of relentless aggression,” said Sen, eyeing the guy who had lost the argument for leadership. “There is absolutely a time and a place for that. I’ve done it myself more than once. It

can

turn the tide in a fight.”

The one he’d just eyed spoke up, “But you’re saying it was the wrong choice here.”

“It wasn’t so much the choice that was wrong as it was the timing that was off. The catch to using relentless aggression is that you must have some expectation that you can match or exceed your opponent’s skill and power. At least briefly. If you can do that, a brief, all-out assault can open up a moment of opportunity to defeat them. So, did you have the expectation that could match or exceed my skill and power?”

There was a moment of embarrassed silence before the same one shook his head.

“To have that expectation, we would have needed to test you more defensively first. To figure out what you could do with the limits you put on yourself.”

“Yes. If you’d done that, you would have had a clearer picture of my abilities. You could have then decided if relentless aggression was a good choice and how best to apply it. Strength, speed, and skill are all invaluable things for a warrior to possess. They can make you very formidable. But you should never overlook the value of knowledge, wisdom, and experience.”

“Could that approach have even worked on you?” asked the big guy.

Sen thought it over for a moment before he waggled a hand in the air.

“In this specific fight, yes, it could have worked if done at the right time and by the right people. However, that’s because a single hit was the sole requirement for you to win. You’re unlikely to enjoy such favorable conditions outside of training. If you’re forced to fight while carrying out your duties, you should always,

always

expect that killing the other person will be required.”

“Will we be forced to fight?” asked the woman who had won the leadership fight. “You’ve suggested it before, but you also suggested that we’re to serve as your emissaries. Emissaries aren’t usually sent to fight.

“I expect you will be forced to fight sometimes. Just because the world is on fire, it doesn’t mean people will stop being stupid, short-sighted, and greedy. Any time you appear with orders that someone doesn’t want to hear, treachery becomes a possibility. I expect that you’ll face more than one assassination attempt. Those who truly despise the new order of things might even try to have you killed without any subterfuge. Make no mistake. You will earn all of the rewards I’ve promised you.”

That drew a round of thoughtful, somber looks.

“Moreover,” said Sen, “if someone does attempt to have you killed, I expect you to execute them. Without hesitation.”

A few in the group went pale at that command. Fighting was one thing. They had all joined the army. That meant that they’d already decided that they were willing to fight. Of course, many of them had likely made that choice while thinking about facing spirit beasts. Taking the lives of spirit beasts in the heat of battle wasn’t necessarily an easy thing, but it wasn’t a complicated thing either. The knowledge that those soldiers of the Beast King were on a genocide mission went a long way toward uncomplicating things. It was truly a situation that boiled down to us or them.

The cold-blooded execution of another human being was something else entirely. While mortals were shockingly good at ending each other’s lives, Sen often needed to remind himself that mortal society wasn’t quite as ruthless and blood-soaked as the Jianghu. Many mortals never held a weapon more dangerous than a knife or a hammer and had never wielded them in violence. The average noodle shop owner wasn’t getting challenged to duels to the death on a monthly basis. How often was the typical tailor called on to defend their home with deadly force?

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Yes, there were bandits in the world, and villagers and townspeople were sometimes forced to defend what was theirs. Yet, the evidence of his own eyes told Sen that those confrontations usually ended with dead villagers and townspeople. They might be accustomed to the idea of violence, but they were not practiced in its use.

Although

, he thought,

that might not be true for anyone by the time this war is over

. It was a wearying thought. How many would die in a war they had not sought?

Sen was even willing to admit that the spirit beasts might have legitimate grievances. Human cultivators did hunt them for the cores and other useful parts, but the spirit beasts hadn’t restricted themselves to sects and wandering cultivators. For that matter, Sen knew that cultivators routinely failed in those hunts and paid for those failures with their lives. Yet, the spirit beasts wished to blame and punish all of humanity. The war would harden the mortals and cultivators who survived. He couldn’t help but think that would prove an ill thing for everyone. People were hard enough and cruel enough already.

It wasn’t lost on him that he was asking the mortals right in front of him to become harder and crueler. Still, Sen wasn’t asking anything of them that he hadn’t done himself. Not only something he’d done himself, but it was something that he had done publicly. He would give these emissaries tremendous latitude and rich rewards, but there was a balance to all things. Those things did not come without vast responsibility and terrible demands.

And

, he wondered,

for what

?

To help me maintain a throne I don’t want and a society I don’t want to build

? Yet, Sen couldn’t escape Jing’s words that he could not walk away if he carried through his plans. He

had

to prepare for the future. These twelve were part of that preparation. Still, he thought he could ease their minds a little.

“I am not preparing you to become assassins,” he said. “I will not send you places with the sole intent that you murder someone.”

He saw relief pass over the entire group.

“However,” he continued, “you might and probably will be called on to kill. Either to defend your lives, or to remove those who refuse to follow the orders that you carry. Steel your minds and hearts to that truth. However, all of that is a problem for the future. Today, we’re discussing how you approached this fight with me. The first group tried relentless aggression and failed. What did the second group do right?”

“We watched,” said the woman who had led that group.

Sen nodded and said, “Indeed. You watched. You evaluated me. And what did you conclude?”

“That we had no hope of defeating you in one-on-one combat, aside from the possibility of a lucky strike.”

“Don’t you trust in your own luck?” asked Sen.

“No. I’ll take luck when it comes my way, but I won’t rely on it.”

“Good. Now, lucky moments

do

happen, and you should seize them. However, luck is fickle. Relying on it is dangerous. Adopting a defensive posture when faced with someone you know is a superior warrior is often the best and sometimes only option available. It’s particularly useful when you know you can maintain the defense for an extended amount of time. Your enemies will tire themselves, unless you’ve had the grave misfortune to come up against cultivators.”

“What should we do if we do come up against cultivators?” asked the big man.

“Flee,” said Sen. “Run for your lives. One of you might,

might

have a chance against a qi-condensing cultivator if they aren’t particularly skilled and the heavens shower you with luck. You cannot stand against any cultivator who has advanced to the foundation formation stage and beyond. It’s not a matter of skill at that point. They’ll crush you with techniques from a distance. I don’t need or want you to throw away your lives on fights you cannot possibly win. That means never fighting cultivators if at all possible. Cultivators are my problem, and I’ll have other ways of dealing with them. You are mortal emissaries, and your role will be to deal with mortal authorities.”

Sen was about to continue when a door opened and Grandmother Lu stepped into the courtyard. Sen was surprised that she decided to make an appearance. He noticed her grimace a little and looked at the mortals he was training. They were all bowing.

He

grimaced when they spoke as one.

“We greet you, Lady Lu.”

Sen knew that Grandmother Lu didn’t like that kind of stuffy formality. She put up with it, but he suspected that she was very much looking forward to the day when she could foist the role of house leadership onto someone else, much as he had done it to her. She inclined her head to them.

“Thank you, everyone,” she said, inclining her head to them before facing Sen. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but there’s someone here to see you. Someone that I know you’ll want to see immediately.”

She was being intentionally vague, but had also managed to impart some urgency. He shrugged and looked at the mortals.

“You’ve been training hard. You’re free for the rest of the day. You’re welcome to visit family if you have any in the city, but you are not to visit the army camp. Nor are you to tell anyone what it is that you’re training to do.”

There were murmurs of agreement, nods, and a small air of excitement around the group. He’d been keeping them locked away from everything and everyone, but people needed chances to relax occasionally. After they all filed back inside, Sen turned to look at Grandmother Lu.

“So, who came to visit that I’ll want to see?”

“That spider friend of yours. He said something about fixing the problem with the cores.”