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Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 62 – In the Wake of...
🕑 Added 2024-06-30 14:42:01 +0000 UTCSen reached down, plucked Ai from the ground, and swung her up into his arms. She was yelling and smiling and, in a few seconds, he would start to listen. Before that, though, he just let himself breathe. He let himself feel the impossibly soft strands of her hair brush his face in the gentle breeze. He reassured himself that she was, in truth, safe. He’d known that she was since Auntie Caihong and Fu Ruolan would have built a monument made of corpses as a warning to future fools brave or stupid enough to try anything. But that intellectual knowledge was not the same as the visceral truth of wrapping the single most precious thing in the world in the protection of his arms. He realized that Ai wasn’t speaking anymore and he looked down at her. She was staring up at him with deep concern in her dark eyes.
“Are you sad, Papa?” she asked.
“No, Orchid. I’m definitely not sad. I’m very, very happy to be home with you.”
Her face scrunched up like she was trying to solve a hard problem.
“Why are you crying?” she asked.
Sen reached up and felt the wetness on his own cheek. Well, damn, he thought. He gave her a bright smile.
“Sometimes, when people are completely full of happiness, they cry.”
Ai gave him a look of such deep suspicion that he burst into laughter. He kissed her forehead and then carried her over to where Auntie Caihong was watching them with a little smile on her face. He pulled Auntie Caihong into a one-armed hug and whispered to her.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she murmured before pulling back and looking around. “Now, I assume you have a husband to return to me.”
“He should be along shortly. He saw… I don’t really know. He saw something he wanted to go look at.”
Auntie Caihong rolled her eyes, but Sen knew her well enough to recognize it as fond exasperation.
“That’s the problem with geniuses. Always distracted.”
Sen lifted an eyebrow at her and said, “You’re not always distracted.”
“Fine, they’re almost always distracted.”
Sen glanced down at Ai, who had rested her head against his chest. She wasn’t asleep, but she looked like it wouldn’t take much for her to get there. He stroked the back of her head, and her eyes popped open.
“Did you keep all the yucky bugs away while I was gone?” he asked.
She straightened up and her eyes glittered with excitement.
“I did! There was one super yucky bug.”
“A super yucky bug?! What did you do about it?”
“I got my big bird to eat it.”
Sen’s eyes narrowed a little at the talk of a big bird. There hadn’t been a big bird when he left. He looked over at Auntie Caihong who wore a very un-Auntie Caihong look of sheepishness.
“We should probably talk about that,” she said while not quite meeting his eyes.
***
Chan Dishi strolled into the throne room. He tried to hide his smile, but it was hard. Still, there was that decorum stuff and other things that had names he couldn’t remember most of the time. Etiquette, he thought. There’s etiquette. He waited patiently for his mind to draw on his long memory and produce more words, but it didn’t. Oh well, he thought. It’s not like most of that applies to me anyway. He leaned against a wall and waited patiently for the king to finish up his kingly responsibilities. Chan Dishi felt the young man glance his way more than once, clearly impatient to hear what he’d discovered on his little trip. If he’d been in the king’s place, he’d have just told everyone to get out. What was the point of being king if you couldn’t abuse all of that authority every once in a while?
Still, he didn’t mind being patient. It hadn’t always come easily, but he’d had centuries and centuries to practice. You picked that skill up or you swiftly ran into a bottleneck. Although, most cultivators did seem to have very selective patience. They could sit like a stone until moss grew on them if they thought there was the slightest chance it would advance their cultivation. Yet, meet another cultivator out on the road, and they had no patience of any kind. One wrong word and suddenly it was blood feuds until the sun went cold. He’d had to instruct a few overeager cultivators in the fine art of patience during his trip, but that was the price of experience.
Plus, like most core formation cultivators, he had time to burn. He could afford to sit some young idiots down and impart his hard-won wisdom. Well, he could beat them senseless, take all their stuff, and then explain to them why patience was important. That was basically the same, right? He thought about that for a few minutes before he nodded to himself. Yeah, he thought, that was definitely the same. That patience was also why he could lean on a wall and wait a couple of hours while Jing did his royal duty of listening to morons say moronic things about trivialities.
At least, that’s how it usually went. Sometimes, that Lu Jia came to court. Chan Dishi loved that woman. She never talked about trivial things, and she occasionally imparted some wisdom to some upstart noble who had more bravery than sense. That was always entertaining. He’d never forget the look on that one idiot’s face when he challenged her to a duel, and she immediately pulled out a pair of legitimate war fans. He’d never seen anyone back down and apologize so fast. That she’d done that hadn’t surprised him much. She was Lu Sen’s grandmother or something like that. He was a bit hazy on their actual relationship. Whatever it was, it seemed perfectly reasonable to him that an audacious man like that would have an equally audacious grandmother.
As pragmatic man, Chan Dishi always made a point to be very polite to Lu Jia. There was no good reason to annoy his friend’s grandmother. Plus, watching him be deferential to her made all those nobles look positively sick with fear. He supposed that might get old eventually, but it hadn’t happened yet. He glanced up when he heard Jing dismiss everyone. Once the room was clear, he walked over to the throne.
“Well?” asked the king.
“It’s all true,” said Chan Dishi with a huge grin. “That mad bastard actually did it.”
The king contemplated those words for a few moments.
“And the Twisted Blade Sect?”
“What Twisted Blade Sect? There’s nothing left. I mean, there’s literally nothing. Their compound is gone. If you look hard, you can see some places where there used to be buildings, but it’s just some scorched stone now. Even those are mostly obscured. That’s after a few months. Give it a year, and you won’t be able to tell there was ever anything there unless you know exactly where to look.”
“And the sect members?”
“I asked around. There are a few former sect members running around, but all outer disciples and not many of them. No core members. No elders. If anyone from their leadership survived, I expect they found a hole to hide in and plan to stay there forever.”
“I can’t believe it. He destroyed an entire sect by himself?”
“Not by himself,” corrected Chan Dishi.
The king looked relieved at that revelation.
“So, it was exaggerated.”
“No. The report is that he brought two friends with him. A green-eyed beauty who slit the throats of pretty much everyone she didn’t like, and another one that no one seemed able to describe. They just kept saying he was dark. I couldn’t really make sense of it. The people who saw anything said that it was Judgment’s Gale doing the really scary stuff.”
Jing stared into the distance and asked, “What do you think?”
“I think this is spectacular.”
“Beyond your entertainment, what do you think?”
“I think that every sect that was even thinking about making his life hard is probably panicking right now. I expect they’re trying to figure out how to make sure he doesn’t decide that they’re continued existence is more trouble than it’s worth. I expect the gifts and cultivation resources to flow toward him like a river.”
“What about retribution? Sect wars are always highly destructive.”
Chan Dishi shook his head.
“It won’t happen. Probably not ever, and certainly no time soon. Who would risk it? One day, there was a Twisted Blade Sect. Then, Judgment’s Gale came calling one night. The next day, a sect was gone from the face of the world. No patriarch or matriarch is going to take the chance that something like that was just a fluke. I’ve got to give that boy credit. He just guaranteed that his sect is going to operate with no interference from other sects for at least the next century or three.”
***
Sen considered the door for a while before he walked up to it. He’d debated with himself about making this trip. He’d only been home for a handful of months and loathed the idea of leaving Ai again, but he’d felt like he couldn’t let this rest. It would have eaten at him. Maybe, if he hadn’t known what was coming, it would have been different. Knowledge was a terrible thing that way. Knowing something obligated you to act on it if you had a conscience. Sen’s conscience was a lot more battered than it had been, but it still functioned. He lifted a hand and knocked on the door. He’d asked around and spent a bit of silver on things he didn’t need, so he knew it was the right place. The door opened and the person on the other side looked at him with pure animal panic.
“Cao Kai-Ming,” said Sen.
“Judgment’s Gale,” said Cao Kai-Ming in a shaky voice. “Why are you here? I did as you asked.”
“I know you did. I’m here to discuss the—” he mentally searched for the right word. “The disposition of the people here.”
Cao Kai-Ming narrowed her eyes at him, clearly unsure of his meaning.
“I’m not sure I understand,” she said warily.
Sen felt his patience slip a little and said, “I’m not here to kill you. If I were, it would be done already.”
“I see.”
He wasn’t sure if his words actually did anything to soothe the apprehension he saw in her. He took a few steps back and looked around.
“Let’s take a walk,” he said.
It looked like she needed to talk herself into it, but she did eventually step outside and close the door to the little house behind her. Sen took the lead, directing them back into the little village. He could see clear evidence of the improvements that had been made, but he also knew how pointless those improvements were going to be within a year. Little villages like this wouldn’t survive the coming storm.
“There’s a war coming,” he said.
He heard Cao Kai-Ming stop walking, followed by hurried footsteps that brought her alongside him.
“What war? With who?” she asked.
“Between spirit beasts and us. Humanity. Mortals and cultivators alike. It’s coming soon. It’ll probably start within a year.”
“Within a year?”
“I’m honestly stunned it hasn’t started yet.”
“What does that have to do with my village?”
“It will be destroyed. It’s too remote. It doesn’t have enough defenses.”
“I’ll defend it!”
“And you will be destroyed,” said Sen. “Have you ever seen a beast tide?”
“No,” she admitted after a long pause.
“I have. I have seen them, and I have fought them. You’re strong. You’re brave. You might hold off one if it’s small. But two? Ten? Fifty? Spirit beasts are going to pour out of the wilds like an endless tide of death.”
Cao Kai-Ming looked around at the village and the people, who were giving them both a lot of room. Sen could see the realization on her face and justifiable fear in her eyes.
“I can’t defend them from that,” she said.
“No,” Sen agreed. “You can’t defend them from that. Not here.”
She turned to look at him.
“You say that like there’s somewhere else. Where can I take a bunch of village farmers? The capital? They’d be taken advantage of, or abused, or worse.”
“Probably.”
“Then where?”
“Bring them to my sect. There’s a town there. I suppose it’s my town in every way that matters. I’ve been preparing for this. There’s land there. Good land. Better land than this. More importantly, there are walls there, and people to defend them. It’s a chance at survival.”
Cao Kai-Ming didn’t say anything at first. She kept studying his face. He studied the people.
“There are a lot of villages in the kingdom. A lot of them are a lot closer to your sect than this one.”
Sen gave her a bemused look.
“You’re trying to figure out what prompted this spontaneous and out-of-character act of benevolence on my part.”
“Something like that,” she admitted.
Sen sighed and said, “I took a lot of lives at the Twisted Blade Sect.”
“I heard.”
“I think everyone has by now. I know cultivators aren’t supposed to care about killing, but I get the feeling that most of them have never taken life on that scale before. It’s one thing to kill someone in a duel, or to fight another sect as part of a small army. That’s the Jianghu. It’s something else to personally end the lives of hundreds and hundreds of people in a few moments. To kill people who are sleeping, cultivating, eating, or anything but expecting death.”
She frowned at him and asked, “So, you’re doing this out of guilt?”
“Not exactly. I hate what I did there, but it had to happen. That fight was unavoidable. Feeling guilty over something I couldn’t avoid is pointless. It took me a long time to accept that, assuming I’m not lying to myself, but I still ended those lives. Helping these people won’t balance that, but it might prevent some senseless deaths. If I can do that, I’d like to.”
“And that’s it? You just decided that these people, of all the people in the world, are worth helping?”
“Not at all. You decided that. When you were facing down death, you decided that helping them was more important that trying to save your own life. You asked me to look after them. I said I would. So, I’ve come to keep that promise.”
Cao Kai-Ming’s mouth worked a few times before she managed a weak, “Oh.”
“Startling, isn’t it?”
“What is?”
“Realizing that choices you made actually mattered. That they changed things,” said Sen.
“It feels like a lot of responsibility. More than I expected.”
“I imagine it does.”
“But what am I supposed to do in this town of yours?”
“What did you do here?”
“I… I helped,” said Cao Kai-Ming. “I looked out for them.”
“That sounds like a good place to start to me.”
***
And here we come to the end of Volume 9, save for the bloopers chapter. Since it's a true landmark chapter, I'll go ahead and leave comments on for it. ~Eric
Comments
Lycaon
Great story arc-thanks!
Lycaon
Thank goodness.
Achis74
I was here!
Aaron
Pretty sure he has said before that if he asks the heavens they will help him get to the next realm. He is just scared it will limit his time with Ai, as he only has so many steps in his cultivation left before he is forced to ascend.
Angela Roberts
I so, so agree!! I'd contend that Modern Patriarch Is also in the same class but I'm given to understand that the author has garnered a fair bit of negative feeling.
Seth
Yeah I was kinda disturbed by this at the time.
Dead Patriot
"Unintended Cultivator" and "Beware of Chicken" are without a doubt the two best cultivation series written. Great work with Unintended Cultivator, it's honestly become the standard in the genre now. The key difference is that you know how to write good characters with depth, and do not rely on bad plot devices or tired anime tropes. Keep up the good work.
Artman
Glad she survived, killing her didn’t fit the character.
Lonnie
I think it will help balance the other existing characters well. Or his archer friend. Give him a bit of a redemption arc to be one of the usual suspects. They need it. Or bring misty peak around with a scroll from laughing river that he "found" in his journeys for falling leaf's transformation. CasualFarmer already set a precedent for spirit beats switching back and forth between animal and human forms 👍
Lonnie
Hi all, so as a casual reader, this book was a miss for me. Sen destroying a sect is in character to me. It's part of his inheritance, the reflection and acceptance of his actions is as well. The lingering guilt? Not so much, it reeks of flimsy resolve. I appreciated the story so far because Sen was kind where he could be, but once a line was crossed, that was it, you were dead to him. Persona non grata. Especially after falling leaf was injured, they went from sect members to indifferent trash. You don't feel bad for trash. I like the pacing, it's similar to Will Wights Cradle. I think that's what your story is missing, that light hearted character. Hopefully your outline will bring Chan deshi around more for the beast war. I want the author to be successful, as does everyone on Patreon, you wouldn't be a patron otherwise. These are just my thoughts on the story so far.
Angela Roberts
She survived!! YAY! I don't think this my favorite arc but probably 2nd favorite. The amount of growth Sen gained and the way you portrayed it was done well. Viscerally believable. And the question stands for all of us, every day, no? Choices, actions from the very mundane to the life changing, affect the self and others in ways we can never know or predict.
Fawaz Alli
I’ll say this Arc is my best so far. I get why a lot of people did not like the idea of Sen of playing the bad guy. But for me its a breakthrough for his character he knew what he had to do. It was the most difficult choice he had to make. He made the choice and followed through with pure willpower. A trait that is admirable and should be emulated. (Not the killing enemies part oo)😅
HunterIV4
It's too bad that Eric got so much crap for this arc. I genuinely think it might be my favorite in the series so far. It had lots of combat, some tense situations (the stealth portion), fantastic introspection and character growth, some real insights into Sen's mentors that makes them a lot more human, and a very realistic portrayal of the sorts of "hard choices" that it's easy for those outside of those situations to judge. I'm genuinely baffled why this one got so much hate; like one book ago he ended a noble house and he's been killing sect cultivators (sometimes for pretty minor things) since book 1. I thought it was awesome to see him finally show a sect what happens when you FAFO.
Codered999
I'm pretty confident that if he actively tried to advance before the sect destruction he could have done so. He's purposefully holding back because his momentum is being maintained by some force in the Heavens and he wants to advance properly with all the learning and self exploration, but he knows that if he tries to actually slow his momentum down the heavens will force him to advance again.
Codered999
Cipher, a number of people thought killing her would be out of character or going too far for Sen. Some were civil about this, some were not.
Barbara Collier
Thank you for a deep and challenging arc. Sen grew so much in this arc.
Nathan V
Sen gave up on the 'academy' idea when even his old monsters started calling it his sect. It was worth a shot.
CipherFTW
I could have sworn she was dead too tbh. It was a pragmatic kill tho, if not a fun one. Made sense, why so mad?
Paperfox
Aw. I’m glad she survived. That was the wholesome moment we all needed
Benjamin White
Deep wilds Academy is the name of the sect, what I meant was if Sen has finally given up on referring to it as academy around other people he is not close too. Sen was very petty at one point and refused to verbally call his sect a sect hence why I’m pointing it out and asking for clarification
Kyle
Nice, I’m glad Cao Kai-Ming was spared. I get why this arc might have been controversial, since it’s almost the definition of pointless violence. But unless the Jianghu suddenly decided to be reasonable, something like this was always going to be needed for the Jianghu to start fearing Sen the way they do his teachers. It’s easy to dismiss a bunch of impressive rumors as being exaggerated, while it’s much harder to ignore a sect getting deleted overnight.
Den
Thanks. Just this. Thanks. The way you play with human emotions is unparalleled in Xianxia.
Justin Reagan
Really enjoying this story. It is sad seeing Sen have to become darker but it definitely fits into this world of cultivation he's in and I thought Eric did a great job at this arc.
AA
He changed it to a sect after he took over the Nobel house in the capital
AA
Lol Eric's breaks are him writing more stuff😜
AA
Sorry Eric, didn't mean it to come across like criticism, its been a good arc, if a bit depressing and rightly so given what had to be done. It's just I thought we had a few more chapters and then it just ended....
Dane
I think this might be my favorite cultivation story. Thanks Eric. You do such a great job of making the characters feel realistic and act how real people would act instead of murderhobo. I echo the comments saying criticism was ridiculous, cultivation stories are brutal, and at the end of the day people are choosing to read this, they can just stop. Is it bloopers and then your couple day break?
Benjamin White
“Bring them to my sect. There’s a town there. I suppose it’s my town in every way that matters. I’ve been preparing for this. There’s land there. Good land. Better land than this. More importantly, there are walls there, and people to defend them. It’s a chance at survival.” Once again I will point out it is academy not sect unless you believe after the twisted blade sect that he has rid himself of even that veneer
Abdulaziz ALRumaih
Thanks for the great arc Don’t know why other people hated this It was bound to happen it’s a cultivation story and in it there is death
Magisch
Is there a customary break after the wrap up?
Michael
Great ending, I look forward to your chapters every morning. Looking forward to the spirit beast war.
Vaughn Fredericks
It was powerful stuff. It just flew by. Looking forward to the next book!
M Schweibold
Another opus writing masterpiece - well done! Going to be hard to top…
ScarletIce
I think ending it on that foreboding note about the upcoming war was perfect.
Alexandre Ablon
It's the girl who Sen almost kill when he was going to the Twisted blade sect. The one who was on a trip to get some herbs for the sect
Eric Dontigney
It wasn't so much controversial as there was a lot of negative feedback around the sect destruction arc. It just got to me after a while. Made me want to kill Sen off and move on to some other project. So, the comments section was off for most of the last 25-ish chapters. I get that people reacted so strongly because they're really invested in the characters, which I appreciate as a writer. It means I'm doing my job. I also suspect that some of the opinions have softened now that the arc is complete. I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying the books! My sleep schedule is weird at the best of times, and U write when I'm awake, so odd posting times.
Eric Dontigney
That was a last minute inclusion, but I thought it worked out pretty well. I've been looking for an excuse to put him into the story again for a while.
IndyBart
So glad that Cao Kai-Ming made it. Chef’s Kiss to the ending of the book.
Eric Dontigney
It's 116,000 words. That's pretty much right on target. I could probably have spun out another chapter or two, but then you get a Return of the King scenario where there's 12 endings. Every word after the sect was truly gone was an opportunity to screw it up and reduce the impact.
AA
Damn it that ended fast...too fast...
BelligerentGnu
Including Chan Dishi in this chapter was a really smart move, I think. A more-or-less objective assessment that yes, Sen really did accomplish his objective at the sect lets the narrative rest easier. The fact that it's delivered by Dishi the amused and acerbic is just a bonus. Also, I cannot *wait* to find out about Ai's adventure with the Super Yucky Bug and Big Bird.
ScarletIce
I knew it! There was no way in hell he was going to kill her!
Corac
Fantastic end to the book. I had a feeling she would be alive because of the exact reasons Sen Just stated. But you did a fantastic job of not making it clear until the end. I am glad to see that throughout all the books your writing has gotten better and better. I am also glad that rather then change your story/or give spoilers to make readers happy you just turn off the comments and focus on YOUR story. Thank you for sharing it with us.
CentaureHeart
I really hope Sen is going to step over to the Nascent Soul realm before the Beast War. Seems like he can do it and he will need it. Thanks a lot for the Volume! :)
Andrew Omeara
Damn I could’ve sworn he killed Cao Kai-Ming. Well done on that secret, you definitely got me.
Fozzy
Wait, comments were off? I have been telling myself that this is a wonderful series and folks don't seem to have much to say. I can't imagine what has been so controversial for comments to be off but let me say this while I can: great writing! And I especially love the multiple chappies dropping at odd hours when I can't sleep.
Eric Dontigney
That can go on the list of author challenges for this volume. Keeping the secret that he let her live until the literal end of the book.
Eric Dontigney
She was the Twisted Blade Sect member that begged Sen to look out for her village after they ran across the expedition in the wilds. The one everyone got mad at me about because they thought Sen killed her in cold blood even after she had her self-sacrificing moment.
Elijah Overland
A nice wrap up for the volume! Now if only I could remember who Cao Kai-Ming was…
Inner peace
Thank you for volume 9!
Aaron
I had hoped he would let her survive.
Asad haider
More. Pls. Soon. Thx.
Kedrick Hebert
Damn, I’m very satisfied with how this arc wrapped up. Tftc
