Unintended Cultivator

Book 9: Chapter 11: Readiness

“We aren’t going to be ready,” said Sen.

He’d felt Falling Leaf approaching, although he wouldn’t have needed any particular skill to know it was her. He could count on one hand the number of people who could even consider coming out into the wilds to find him. The number of people who would was even smaller.

“Is this because you sent the sect girl away?” asked Falling Leaf as she stepped around the massive tree Sen was leaning against.

There had been a predatory presence in the tree above him for a while. Sen had been waiting to see if it would decide to attack him or not, although it was entertaining to feel it flee after Falling Leaf joined him. I guess that was too much concentrated danger for it, he thought before turning his attention to the ghost panther’s question.

“Not exactly,” said Sen. “She did something stupid, almost certainly on orders from someone in her sect. While she didn’t know that a war was coming, not specifically, I’d be willing to bet the leadership in her sect does know it. Yet, they’re still playing games. Trying to figure me out instead of focusing on the enemy. If they’re still this easily distracted with the threats looming over us all, we’re in a lot of trouble.”

Falling Leaf peered at Sen before she turned and leaned against the tree trunk next to him. She let him brood for a few more minutes before she spoke again.

“Do you think it is your responsibility to protect them all?”

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Sen gave her a sharp look.

“All of the humans, you mean?”

Falling Leaf nodded. Sen leaned his head back against the tree and considered that for quite a while. He didn’t know how to answer the question. On the surface, he wanted to say no. He wanted to protect what was his. The problem that Master Feng had at least obliquely tried to point out to him was that protecting the people he loved might require protecting everyone. Separating one from the other might not be possible. While Sen trusted in his own strength, and the strength of those around him, there were limits to everything. If the rest of humanity fell, the town and academy could probably hold out for a while, but it would prove a temporary reprieve. Even nascent soul cultivators needed rest sometimes.

Beyond that, time would eventually do in the mortals. There simply weren’t enough people in the town to keep humanity going. At least, Sen didn’t think so. He’d have to talk to Auntie Caihong to be sure, but he thought his intuition was right about that. They could not survive as an island, no matter how desperately Sen wished that they could. In the end, they would have to work with others. Worse, they would have to trust others to do their parts, and Sen had run exceedingly short on trust in the last ten years. He’d read a phrase in one of Uncle Kho’s many history scrolls that hadn’t made much sense to him at the time. War breeds peculiar marriages. He thought he understood it better now. He could almost see the compromises he’d be forced to make if he chose to involve himself, and he didn’t see how he could avoid involving himself if he was going to protect what was his.

“I don’t believe it’s solely my responsibility to protect them,” Sen finally said. “I don’t think any one man could, not even Master Feng. At the same time, I’m absurdly strong for my level of advancement. Probably as strong as most early nascent soul cultivators. I’d be an asset in any fight. I’m also close to people who will be crucial in keeping humanity alive. You know Master Feng will get involved. I’d be shocked if Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho didn’t get involved. Jing can’t help but play a key role. I can’t hole up here in my academy and do nothing while they go off and fight.”

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“What of the madwoman?” asked Falling Leaf, a kind of grim humor in her eyes.

“I think we should all pray that she doesn’t get involved. I can’t see anything good coming from that.”

“You’re probably right. Then again, spirit beast wars are madness. If human war is like that, it might be the only place she can belong.”

Sen fell silent at those words. She might be right. A part of him worried that she was right. The idea brought him no comfort.

“Perhaps,” he said. “I think that might be a terrible and sad thing for her, though.”

Sen looked at Falling Leaf. Her green eyes were fixed on something in the distance. She looked calm, far calmer than he felt. He’d avoided thinking too much about what role, if any, she might play in the upcoming war. He doubted that she would see it as any particular loss if humanity was wiped away. She’d always been more spirit beast than human. Of course, she wasn’t especially sympathetic to the spirit beast cause either. They had not treated her people well. If there was anyone who deserved to sit this war out, it was her.

“I don’t expect you to fight,” he said. “In fact, I don’t think you should fight. You don’t owe humanity anything. That’s for certain.”

“You always say such foolish things. Of course, I don’t owe humanity anything. I don’t care about humanity. But they will come for you. No, they will target you. If they are truly stupid, they will target your kit.”

She’d given voice to the nightmare that had haunted him for the last year. He wasn’t worried about himself. He could take care of himself. The image he’d never been able to get free of was of one of the damn bear-cat spirit beasts stalking and killing Ai while he was off fighting somewhere else. On one level, he recognized that the chances of anything ever getting that close to her were low. There were too many people far too invested in her safety for that. On the other hand, fear didn’t care very much about what was reasonable.

“Do you really think I’d let them take my human boy from me? Do you imagine I’d let them take Ai from you?” she asked before her face went stony. “And I owe them all a debt of blood. I will fight.”

That startled Sen. Falling Leaf had always been very in the now, focused on surviving the day, and seemed largely unconcerned about the past. Maybe that was just a way to protect her sanity, he thought. When it was just her, there had been very little she could do about what had happened to her people. She could have run off and started killing other spirit beasts, but the chances of getting at those who had decided to hunt the ghost panthers to near extinction were poor at best. In a full-blown war with humanity, though, those spirit beasts would inevitably be exposed and vulnerable, at least some of the time. It was an opportunity for vengeance she might not otherwise get. That desire for revenge could be a good motivator, but it could also make for really terrible decisions. Not that he’d try to stop her. Even if he thought he could, which he didn’t, she had the right to avenge her people if that’s what she wanted.

“If that’s what you want,” he said.

“It is. You won’t try to stop me?”

“I’ll want to,” admitted Sen. “I’ll hate every second that you’re in danger. But… No, I won’t try to stop you. Even if I’m starting to think that we might be doomed already.”

“Forget the sect girl and her masters. Even if they have decided to be stupid, I have not.”

Sen lifted an eyebrow. That was a peculiar thing for her to say.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I have taken action. Come with me. There is someone you should meet.”

Sen was flabbergasted. Had Falling Leaf made a friend? He knew it was possible. She’d befriended him. She hadn’t mentioned anyone, though. A flash of jealousy coursed through him before he squashed it. Wasn’t that what he’d always hoped for? That she would make connections that went beyond him. Of course, all of that thinking died the moment that she activated a qinggong technique and started moving deeper into the wilds. The only things out there were more spirit beasts. Sen wasn’t sure he liked where all of this was headed, but Falling Leaf had earned unquestioning trust from him long ago. If she said he needed to meet someone, then he believed her. He activated his own qinggong technique and raced after the ghost panther.