Book 10: Chapter 17: Expert Planning
Sen was met with blank looks from Uncle Kho and Master Feng. He saw mild sympathy on Auntie Caihong’s face, as though she’d expected things to go a certain way, knew it would frustrate him, and that everyone had filled their roles precisely. This was another reminder of that almost impossibly vast distance between Sen’s experiences and those of his teachers. For him, this idea of theirs seemed like some wildly complicated problem that would require at least some delicate handling of fragile cultivator egos, to say nothing of mortal politicians. Those blank looks told Sen that Uncle Kho and Master Feng were concerned with exactly none of those things. They had simply decided that events were going to proceed in a certain way. Therefore, things would happen that way. Auntie Caihong, with her closer and more recent day-to-day experiences with humanity and sects, seemed to at least understand the source of Sen’s concerns. Sen closed his eyes and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.
“Please tell me that the plan wasn’t for you to kick open the gates of every sect, palace, and manor left standing in the kingdom, and announce that I’m going to be a dictator.”
“Of course not!” said Master Feng with towering indignance. “I’m not an animal.”
Sen felt a swell of relief at those words. At least, they hadn’t been planning anything so outrageous that it would make him die of shame in the aftermath.
Sen released a breath and said, “Good.”
“Agreed,” said Uncle Kho. “No need to damage property if you aren’t planning on destroying everything. The spirit beasts are doing enough of that already.”
“Precisely,” said Master Feng. “Besides, how is everyone going to hear about it if we’re stuck inside of buildings.”
Sen’s relief evaporated as a new possibility sprang to his mind. Before he could voice his concerns, Uncle Kho spoke.
“Better by far to simply hover over their cities and sect compounds and make the announcement.”