Book 9: Chapter Thirty – No Bet
Sen took a deep breath as he stared out into the wilds beyond the edges of his sect compound. He’d take up station on the wall that would be the second line of defense if the place ever came under attack. The first line of defense was a series of formations that he and Uncle Kho had been developing, on and off, for the better part of a year. Sen didn’t like working that way, but there simply hadn’t been enough hours in the day. Plus, he didn’t want the details leaking. A few people that there were formations, but he’d kept the specifics to himself. The time crunch had only intensified as he prepared for his one-man war against the Twisted Blade Sect, which was why he standing on the wall.
He supposed it probably seemed odd to the members of the sect but very few people were likely to question him directly about it. Then again, they might all just think he was doing something complicated to advance his own cultivation. He wasn’t, but it probably wouldn’t hurt people to think he was being proactive. No, he just wanted a few moments of calm. Despite his best efforts, he kept finding himself getting sucked into the minutia of things and slowly getting dragged into the minor political problems that, he had been assured, were common in any sect. They were distractions.
Unfortunately, being distractions didn’t make them entirely unimportant. Details mattered. When people stopped paying attention to details, problems inevitably occurred. He had learned that in life and in sect building, much as in alchemy, it was always harder to fix a problem than prevent it. Fixing problems always meant spending time and energy that could have gone to something else. That inevitably meant putting off something else, also probably important, and it often spiraled out for weeks before things got back to what passed for normal. It was always infuriating because someone doing their job properly was all it took to avoid that slow-moving disaster.
Preventing the newly forming sect from splintering into hateful factions was crucial with the war coming. Whether they knew it or not, this little sect was going to be crucial in ensuring that what he cared about was protected when he couldn’t be there to do it himself. Grandmother Lu had been working tirelessly to make his spur-of-moment demand for a noble house into a functional reality. Yet, she was also the most vulnerable person in a lot of ways. Sen hadn’t discussed it with them, but he’d gotten the impression that Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho had simply decided that one of them would always be nearby to keep Ai safe. Everyone else he considered family were all dangerous in their own right. So, he needed to get enough cultivators up to an acceptable level to protect Grandmother Lu. Still, it was all just so very tiring.
“You have the look of a man with troubling things on his mind,” said Bahn Huizhong, hopping up on the wall beside Sen.
Sen decided that the word hopping wasn’t really adequate. The wall was close to fifteen feet tall, making the jump a physical impossibility for a mortal. The other cultivator had made it look like a hop, though. I think I might need an hour or two of sleep, thought Sen. If I’m getting stuck on something like the right word, I’m more tired than I thought. Pushing away the question of hopping as the right word, he gave his friend what he hoped looked like a smile. He wasn’t sure precisely when he’d decided that Bahn Huizhong was his friend, but he had decided it somewhere along the way. He thought that their relationship was a bit like what he imagined an older and younger brother might be like. The other cultivator served as a steady presence that helped to balance Sen’s tendency to jump to a decision or action. Not that he thought Bahn Huizhong wouldn’t take action in the right circumstances. He’d heard about what the man had done to that elder at his own sect, after all.
“I’m mostly trying to avoid having those thoughts for a few minutes,” said Sen, turning his eyes back out to the wilds. “It looks peaceful out there, doesn’t it?”
Bahn Huizhong looked out at the forest.
“It does. It even can be. It’s not all death and violence in the wilds.”