Unintended Cultivator

V13 Chapter 21 – Motivators

Sen strode down the hallway until he came face-to-face with the girl’s aunt. Chou Dai Lu was standing next to the woman, but his disciple’s focus was entirely on him. The expression on her face was controlled, but he almost thought he caught a hint of disapproval in it. As though she felt he had crossed some unspoken but important line. For all he knew, he had. Not that the prospect concerned him that much. It was, however, interesting to see the way that some people clung to customs and traditions that they should all realize would not survive this war intact. Some might survive in some radically altered form, but the old ways were dying, as much out of need as circumstance.

“It is done,” Sen told the matronly woman. “I suggest you go and speak to her. Also, make sure she comes to give me her oath before leaving the palace.”

“Yes, Lord Lu,” said the older noble.

After a deep bow, the woman moved down the hall as fast as her dignity would allow. Sen started back toward the throne room without a backward glance. The fates of those two women were now in their own hands, or possibly the hands of fate. Whatever became of them, he suspected he would be far away when it happened. For all that, he could see Chou Dai Lu peeking at him out of the corner of his eye. Sen enclosed them in a wind barrier with a thought. It had become more of a habit than a necessity. She wasn’t likely to ask anything that he’d be afraid someone else would hear, but she might ask cultivation questions. If that was the case, it wasn’t anyone else’s business what he said to her.

“You have something to say, disciple?”

The woman flinched a little and said, “No, Patriarch.”

“It wasn’t really a question,” answered Sen. “You have something to say or ask. Get on with it. I’m not going to punish you for doing as I told you to do.”

There was another pause before she finally said, “I listened in.”

“I expected you to. That’s why I didn’t seal the room.”

“You expected me to listen in?” asked Chou Dai Lu, her cheeks going pink and then paling in rapid succession.

“I am your senior. I was deciding someone’s fate. Frankly, it would have been utterly bizarre if you hadn’t listened in. Curiosity is natural, even necessary, as a cultivator. Without curiosity driving us at some level, I’m not sure we could advance. That being said, it is also important for a disciple to know when not to listen in. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Patriarch.”

“Good. Now, speak your thoughts. I sense you disapprove.”

“I would never dare to—” started the woman before Sen lifted a hand.

“Stop. It’s been nearly two years, and this has grown beyond tiresome. We’ll never get anywhere if you insist on lying to me because you’re afraid I’ll strike you down over any minor offense. I summoned you here for this because I expected it to be a learning experience. So, skip the foolishness and proceed with the learning.”

Sen directed a very stern look at his disciple. That time, she just blushed in what was obvious embarrassment.

“You were very harsh with her,” said Chou Dai Lu.

“I was,” agreed Sen.

“It seemed unnecessarily harsh.”

“Have you not found me to be a harsh and unforgiving man?”

There was a much longer hesitation before she answered with, “No. At least, no more than the situations have demanded.”

That actually surprised Sen. Her training with him had not been easy by any rational standards. Even when he tried to go easier on her, he found himself falling back on the methods that had been used to train him. And those methods came with impossibly high expectations. It wasn’t something he found to be objectively good or bad, but it wasn’t the best way to teach every student. It was just the only way he truly understood. He recognized the truth of those things, which was why he’d avoided taking any direct disciples for so long. Still, that answer did provide an opportunity to get to the point he wanted her to take away from this.

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“If that’s the case, what about this situation would have demanded that level of harshness?”

She gave him a startled look, like it hadn’t occurred to her that he’d acted that way with a specific intention. Eventually, Sen slowed. Then, he stopped to lean against a wall while she thought it over. He wanted her to work it out on her own, if she could. There was much more to gain from earning answers to some questions than from being given the answers. Of course, this wasn’t a crucial problem for her cultivation, but there were other things in life than cultivation. Even if most cultivators never seemed to realize that fact.

“You’d already taken away her position and were in the process of dismantling her house,” said Chou Dai Lu.

There was more hesitation than he wanted to see, along with a few glances at him to measure his reaction. Not the ideal response, but he supposed it was good enough.

“Go on,” he nudged.

“She would have already seen you as an enemy.”

“That’s putting it kindly. I’m quite certain that she saw me as some devil masquerading as a cultivator.”

“I’m sure she didn’t—” started Chou Dai Lu before a raised eyebrow from Sen cut her off. “Yes, I’m sure that’s exactly how she saw you.”

“So, what do you conclude from that?”

The disciple bit her lower lip in thought before she said, “There was nothing you could say that she was going to see in a positive light. Even if you gave everything back to her with no strings attached, she would have thought it was a trap.”

“That seems reasonable.”

“So, rather than try to be kind, which she never would have trusted, you acted like…” she trailed off.

“An arrogant bastard,” finished Sen.

“Which was something she would believe. And all of that was just more salt on her wounded pride. The insults at the end, though?”

Sen considered her for a moment.

“Have you ever been angry at someone? I mean, truly filled with hateful anger for someone?”

The woman frowned at the suggestion before she said, “No. Not that I can recall.”

That was not the answer Sen had expected. It did a lot to explain why she was struggling with the problem he’d put in front of her, though.

“People, mortals and cultivators, are driven by a lot of things. In this case, I took advantage of two of the more powerful motivators.”

“Which are?”

“Pride and spite. People will do things they thought were impossible out of pride and spite. Sadly, those things are almost always destructive, but not every time. Every once in a while, if you’re careful, you can channel those things in a constructive direction.”

“You injured her pride, and then told her you thought she couldn’t do what needed to be done. She’ll try to succeed just to spite you.”

“That’s the hope.”

Chou Dai Lu nodded in understanding. A frown swiftly replaced the look of understanding.

“But won’t she hate you forever for all of this?”

Sen shrugged and said, “She was already going to hate me forever, no matter what I did. That was locked in the stone the moment I had her dragged out of the throne room. This way, though, there’s a chance that hate will turn out to be a benefit to this city.”

“Wouldn’t it have been safer to kill her?”

It was the kind of question he’d expect from a sect-trained cultivator. There was even some truth to it. He knew that. That exact logic was why he’d killed so many nobles as soon as they captured the city. It was why he’d intended to conscript that woman and her whole house into the army. But, much like his training methods, safer wasn’t necessarily better in every case.

“Probably,” he admitted, “but I don’t enjoy bloodshed, no matter what anyone thinks. I like bloodshed even less when it involves people who aren’t guilty of anything. In other circumstances, I wouldn’t have changed my mind, but her aunt’s pleas provided me with… An opportunity. I decided to take it.”

Chou Dai Lu nodded, but she didn’t look convinced.

“Patriarch, what does this have to do with cultivation?”

“It may not have anything to do with cultivation, but you won’t always be in the position you’re in now. Someday, in the not-so-distant future, you may find yourself an elder in my sect. People will expect you to mediate disputes. That has very little to do with cultivation and a great deal to do with understanding what motivates people. I’ll grant that you can usually assume a desire for more power and future advancement is the first reason with cultivators, but it’s not the only one. As much as we’re different from mortals, we’re the same.

“Some people are kind. Some people are wise. Some people are cruel. Some people hate each other for no reason at all or, worse, for stupid reasons. Becoming a cultivator doesn’t change any of that. Those quirks of personality and the things that motivate them are still there. They may be buried underneath routines of relentless cycling and mastering techniques, but they are still there. It’s important to be aware of those things.”

Chou Dai Lu took a few moments to digest all of that before she said, “Patriarch?”

“Yes?”

“What if I don’t wish to become an elder?”

“Do you want me to make you empress instead? I can do that. All of this can be yours. The land. The army. The war. Everything.”

His disciple’s eyes widened in pure terror.

“No!” she almost screamed. “Please, don’t do that.”

Sen gave her a bright smile.

“See, it can always be worse. Besides, there’s really no way for you to avoid becoming an elder. I mean, you are the Patriarch’s direct disciple. At least, as an elder, people will have to earn the right to pester you for training.”

“Why would people pester me for training?” she asked, looking flustered.

Sen just lifted an eyebrow at her again.

Flushing, she said, “Oh. Right.”