Book 5: Chapter 45: Self-Mastery


    Sen had thought that traveling alone again might feel different now that he was subject to someone elses will. And he supposed there had been a heady sense of extra freedom for the first couple of hours. Yet, Fu Runs demands on him had thus far been extremely light. She hadnt needed to put him under any pressure because the situation was taking care of that all by itself. Hed pushed himself <em>hard</em>, probably harder than had been safe or wise, but it also meant that hed stillrgely felt in charge of himself in a big-picture sort of way. Plus, hed done so much traveling that there was very little about the experience that was new. He did have to clear away some snow now and then, and he put up far fewer galehouses. Those had mostly been for the benefit of those traveling with him, not something he did for himself. So, he quickly fell back into old routines, traveling fast during the day and setting up a basic camp at night,plete with dangerous defensive and offensive formations, along with a qi-gathering formation.


    The newyer to his core had drained away all of the liquid qi in his dantian, so it made sense for him to gather as much qi as he could while he was in the wilds. The qi there was already denser, and the formation made it even thicker. It significantly sped up the pace of his recovery, although nothing would ever make refilling a dantian after forming a newyer to his core a fast process. Still, he would settle for <em>faster</em> and be happy. Of course, there were important differences during this trip. Nearly all the traveling hed done since leaving the mountain had been done under a cloud of some kind of threat. Looking back, he suspected hed imagined that some of those threats were more dire than they were in truth, but that didnt change the fact that hed believed in the threats. Certainly, the threats from the demonic cultivators had been real, and the threat to his life from his own body cultivation had proven much more pressing and dangerous than hed understood.


    The prospect of hovering doom no longer dogged his every step. He could stop for a time if he wished. He knew he needed to get back to Fu Run and whatever shed train him in next, but if it took him four months instead of three, he doubted the millennia-old cultivator would even notice. Shed all but told him that she didnt notice time passing with any kind of sharp acuity. It left Senrgely free to explore as he wished. Except, he didnt really feel like exploring. There were still many things he wished to see, but the kingdom hadrgely proven a ce that was hostile to wandering cultivators in general, and hostile to him specifically. In the back of his head, he had the notion that if he did go exploring, it would just end with him stuck in some conflict that would force him to do something drastic and violent. So, he remained fixed on his goals. His first goal was the capital.


    Sen had rather thought that the local spirit beast poption might try something with him moving through the wilds alone, but it seemed that hisst confrontation with them had an impression. While he felt spirit beasts from time to time and even saw them on asion, they all fled as soon as they took note of him. He let them go. He wasnt looking for more beast cores, and hed lost his taste for killing spirit beasts long ago. With nothing attacking him, though, it left him free to practice, which was the thing he needed more than anything else. Every night, he practiced something. At first, it was mostly his unarmedbat forms. Hed been doing them the longest, so they were the easiest option for him to adapt to his newfound strength and speed. Yet, he didnt focus on strength or speed. He spent all of his time and effort on control. Adding speed and strength meant nothing if he couldnt be absolutely certain that he knew where and how a blow wouldnd.


    <em>Theres no rush</em>, he reminded himself. <em>You didnt learn these forms in a day</em>. <em>You wont adapt them in a day</em>. Instead, he trusted in the process and in his instincts. Bit by bit, he felt himself relearn the thousand tiny ways that a body moved to execute a punch, a kick, and a block. As that knowledge slowly filtered into his mind and burned itself into his body, he felt himself rx. While the process of body cultivation theoretically happened in small, short bursts, Sen found the process substantially less straightforward. The body went through most of the changes all in one fell swoop, but it didnt stop then. After that, he had found that even monthster, it was still going through countless micro-changes based on the things he was or wasnt doing. So, the persistent practice wasnt just about mastering the changes, but refining them so they served him and his needs most effectively.


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    Of course, it wasnt just his body that changed. Adding anotheryer to his core was, in some ways, an even more startling difference. Every technique threatened to run out of control on him. He hadnt just taken a step forward or at least it didnt feel that way. When he had been younger and wondering what it must be like to be a nascent soul cultivator, the power he held now was what he had imagined. He wasnt sure if that suggested ack of imagination on his part or if moving into the nascent soul realm truly meant entering some other kind of world that his mind just wasnt prepared toprehend. As it stood, he worked just as diligently trying to relearn control with his qi techniques. That, fortunately, was easier in some ways. It was a pure power increase, rather than a fundamental change in how his qi interacted with the world. The interactions remained the same. He simply needed to get a handle on how much less he needed to use to aplish the same ends, and what it meant if he stretched himself.


    By the time the capital city came into sight, Sen felt far better prepared to navigate any conflicts that mighte his way. He still had a lot of practice ahead of him, but those lingering fears that he might identally kill someone were put to rest. If he killed someone, it would have to be intentional. Not that he had any ns to kill anyone. His intention was to spend a day in the capital, at most, and see exactly one person. While hed entertained the possibility of seeing the king, he couldnt think of a good way to do that without identally announcing his presence to people he didnt n to see on this trip. He didnt think that the prince would tell anyone that Sen asked him not to tell, but the castle was full of people who were good at listening. If word got around that Judgments Gale had returned to the capital, it might be cause for celebration, but it might also be cause for a riot. Sen wanted no part of either possibility. Visiting the king was something that hed have to do, but he was content to let that happen someday a little farther into the future. A year just wasnt that long for everyone to have moved on to other concerns. Sen thought that returning for an official visit after his time with Fu Run was probably the best course of action.


    So, Sen slipped into the city quietly amid the many merchant wagons carrying the food and other necessities that kept the city running in the cold, deste days of winter. The guards barely gave him a look as he walked by, and Sen soon found himself walking on streets that were both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. He hadnt been gentle with the streets or buildings during his various fights thatst time hed visited the city. He saw entirely new structures in ces where he expected to see repairs. The urge to go explore was strong in those moments. He particrly wanted to visit the part of the city that the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate had controlled. If the king had been on task, hed have taken control of that part of the city as soon as he realized that the old criminal organization was gone. If he didnt, Sen suspected some other and probably less savory organization would have filled that void. His readings of history had been clear that someone will <em>always</em> fill empty ces in a power structure. Smart rulers made sure it was their own people who took those roles, but they often left it for too long only to find themselves with a different problem.


    Of course, thest thing he should do is go wandering around in that part of the city. While he expected that most of the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate members who survived had fled the city, there <em>could</em> still be plenty of people there who would recognize him on sight, and then hed be back to that riot he wanted to avoid. As much as Sen had allowed his story to be a weapon that he could use against other people, it was a method that had drawbacks. He was always going to have to be careful visiting ces where hed done something substantial. It would be troublesome, but it was toote to change things in the capital. He had been <em>very</em> visible during hisst visit. It might not be so bad in other ces. He could probably get away with openly visiting most ces in Emperors Bay. There, hed just need to steer clear of the sects and one or two specific streets. Some intangible tension went out of Sen when he saw the house that had, ever so briefly, belonged to him.


    That tension returned when he saw that the formations were all active. It wasnt an impediment to him, but that they were active at all was concerning. Lo Meifeng shouldnt have needed anything that powerful to keep herself safe. Frowning, Sen scanned the immediate area with his spiritual sense. He didnt find anything that looked or felt out of ce. Keeping his senses active, he walked straight through the formations and walked up to the front door. He gave the door three sharp raps and turned to scan the area again. Lo Meifeng wasnt prone to overreactions, which made Sen feel like he must be missing something. When he heard the door open behind him, he gave the street onest re before he turned and gave Lo Meifeng a bright smile.


    So, how are things? he asked in a tone so nonchnt it was obnoxious.