Unintended Cultivator

V13 Chapter Six – Why Now?

Sen spent the next few days going through a now familiar and excruciatingly tedious routine. It mostly involved him sitting there, listening to people speak their vows to the heavens, and waiting to see if the heavens accepted. It was a task he would have joyously handed over to literally anyone else, except he couldn’t. It turned out that there were two key reasons for that, even if he didn’t fully understand those reasons. He had learned that no one else seemed aware of that telltale glow around a person when the heavens accepted a vow. What he didn’t understand was why he could see it. Sen had theories, of course.

He had once touched on something far vaster than himself, something that seemed to encompass his world and other words. That experience had been terrifying, humbling, and was mostly a hazy series of impressions in his memory. He’d made no effort to recall it in any detail. The very idea was enough to make him shudder. That told Sen everything he needed to know about what a terrible idea it would be to force the issue. Brushing up against that force that seemed to somehow hide behind the world itself could account for why he was seeing something no one else could.

There had also been that time when he’d had what he believed to be hallucinations of other worlds and societies that looked nothing like his own. The whole experience had been so surreal and off-putting that he’d chalked it up to a mind and body in crisis. But, if it had been real in some sense, that might also account for his seemingly inexplicable ability. Yet, both of those theories came with a glaring problem. While they might explain why he could do it, they didn’t explain how he could do it. That made it yet another skill that he could neither teach nor explain to anyone else.

The realization that no one else could do it did explain something else, though. He’d never understood why some people had seemed so baffled or horrified when he’d executed people who had given him failed vows to the heavens. Looking back on it now, those executions must have seemed like nothing but capricious cruelty on his part. His claim that the heavens hadn’t accepted the vows? Little more than an excuse to do what he wanted. No amount of explaining the truth would ever erase those impressions. He knew that much without anyone telling him.

That ability alone would have made his presence necessary, but the second reason was just as compelling as the first. It was also equally baffling to him. While Master Feng or anyone else could tell people to make a vow to serve the Lu family, it never worked. Not once. Not in more than a hundred attempts. It seemed that it only worked if Sen was the one who demanded the vow and stood witness over it. Why? Again, he had no idea. He assumed that it was some kind of restriction the heavens had put in place. Unfortunately, because the heavens never explained themselves, he didn’t understand the limits or boundaries of the restriction.

For all he knew, there actually was

a way that someone else could get the vow he wanted from people. Without that more precise knowledge about the limitations, however, he was stuck. He had to personally listen to hundreds upon hundreds of people stumble through largely identical vows. The words varied a little from person to person. That was true enough. Unfortunately, there really were a finite number of ways to promise eternal service to someone. And Sen had heard them all. His misery wasn’t helped by the knowledge that he would get to do the exact same thing again and again.Except, that time, something different happened. He hadn’t been planning for it. He’d barely been conscious after the first few hours. He was just sitting there, staring blankly at the latest face, when something happened that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. It was so unexpected that he almost dismissed it as his own mind trying to alleviate the boredom. Then, it happened again. He felt a tug on his soul. Sen shot out of his seat and whirled in the direction that the tug was telling him to go.

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The person who had been giving their vow let out a panicked shriek. Sen glanced back at the cultivator. The man hadn’t progressed very far beyond the initial foundation formation stage. Based on the state of his qi and pathways, Sen suspected he never would. But there was a telltale glow flickering around the man. He might not have any talent, but at least he’s honest, thought Sen. Despite having successfully given the vow, the man looked to be on the verge of tears. Sen wanted to shake his head at the man. He feared that might bring on a full-blown hysteria in the other cultivator, though, so he restrained the impulse.

“The heavens believe you,” said Sen, waving a hand at the man to dismiss him.

He went back to staring in the direction the tug was trying to pull him. He didn’t understand this. Why now? He’d been all over this country when they were purging the spirit beasts and hadn’t felt a thing. Had he been too distracted? Did he need a calm mind to feel the tugs? He didn’t think that was the case. It probably made things easier, but he’d felt the tug that led to that bastard Lan Zi Rui while fleeing demonic cultivators. His mental state at the time could probably have been given many colorful descriptions. Calm, though? Calm would not have been one of them.

“Lord Lu?” asked an uncertain voice from his side.

Sen glanced over and saw one of the cultivators who had led the way into the throne room the day before. Now that he thought about it, at least one or two people from that particular group were always on hand. Had they been assigned as some kind of personal guard? If they were, he thought, who in the thousand hells gave them that job? I know I didn’t. He dismissed it as a question that certainly needed an answer, but it didn’t need an answer immediately. Sen looked around for Falling Leaf. She had been with him when this exercise in boredom began.

He finally spotted her sitting in a corner and eating what looked to be charred ribs of some kind. Where had she gotten those? Even from where he was standing, he could pick up the appetizing aroma. Unfortunately, that was mostly covered over with the overwhelming stink of fear. It was sharp and acrid. He wondered if she gotten the food to clear that smell from her own nose. He turned back to the cultivator who was standing there, looking at him with a quizzical expression.

“We’re done with this for the day,” Sen announced. “We’ll finish tomorrow. There’s something I need to go take care of.”

“What is that?” asked the man before his hands shot up in a placating gesture. “Forgive me, Lord Lu! I didn’t mean to overstep!”

“It’s fine. I sensed something. I want to check on it. Make sure it’s not a threat.”

“You needn’t concern yourself with such trivial matters. Others can be sent.”

Sen gave the man a flat stare and said, “Now, you might be overstepping. Please ask Lady Fa to join me. We should return by tomorrow or perhaps the next day.”

The man offered a hasty bow and scurried away to fetch Falling Leaf. Sen went back to contemplating what could be waiting for him out there. The direction he was being drawn didn’t lead to anything except the wilds if his memory could be trusted. It was only then that Sen considered just how much he must truly despise waiting to accept these vows. His history with those soul tugs was mixed. However, he was ready to race off and find out what this one was about just to escape.

“Maybe it’s time that I took a break from all of this,” he muttered.

“A break from what?” asked Falling Leaf as she stepped up beside him.

He gave her a tired smile and said, “Being Lord Lu.”