The cultivators cheered for Martial Uncle Ku when he entered the Depot. Tian could see everyone pouring out of the buildings, the True Disciples flying up on their swords or flying clouds. People clasped their hands and bowed in gratitude or just threw decorum to the desert winds and yelled, waving their fists in the air.

Martial Uncle Ku had come back in glory. He rode in on the back of a giant mutated wasteland horror, holding a severed head. It had been a long time since the Depot had such good news. The tension was released all at once, the compressed spring of emotion leaping into the air with a joyful sound. The cultivators of the Ancient Crane Monastery rejoiced.

With two small exceptions.

Tian shook his head and went back inside the hospital. He could hear the patients chattering, talking about how wonderful the news was and speculating on whose head was brought back. Even the doctors were getting in on it.

“It’s Heartbreak Worm Zhu, Martial Uncle.”

“Eh? What makes you say that, Junior?”

“Because I was on the mission where Martial Uncle found the beast and started battling Zhu. I didn’t watch it, I was hiding, but when Zhu raced off, Martial Uncle chased him.”

“Fortunate child! Ah, how I envy you! To have been there, to have seen such a thing! Are you sure the heretic was called Zhu?”

“I will never forget.” Tian nodded firmly. “Martial Uncle called him Heartbreak Worm Zhu.”

Tian truly would never forget it. He was buried under the sand, but Martial Uncle Ku’s voice came through clear as the temple bell. “Twenty two Level Ten disciples in exchange for the head of Heartbreak Worm Zhu? They didn’t die in vain.”

“Good, good, good! You have been a very diligent worker the last few months. Here!” The doctor shoved some spirit crystals and pills into Tian’s hands. “Consider it a bonus.”

“Doctor Pei, please-”

“Nonsense! I said take it so you take it! Ah, I swear I hear the singing of meadowlarks.” Doctor Pei strode off laughing. Tian looked down. Fifty spirit crystals and two bottles of pills. One was marked Jade Spring, the other Golden Dew. One healed injuries to flesh and skin, the other was a wonderful recuperative medicine that could speed recovery once a patient had been stabilized. Both were Heavenly Person realm medicines, though they could be used by an Earthly Realm cultivator willing to waste piles of money.

Tian didn’t know how much they cost, exactly, beyond a lot. He had never seen them listed for sale in the sect. They weren’t medicines someone at his level was expected to come in contact with.

“Orderly, did you say you were there when Martial Uncle Ku killed Heartbreak Worm Zhu? Could you tell us about it?” One of the patients asked, her half ruined face coming alive with excitement.

“Yes, yes, tell us the story!” A martial brother who might never walk again joined in.

Tian looked around. What could he tell them? What could he even say?

“When it looked like everyone would die, he charged in and battled Zhu. I was hiding, so I didn’t see the details of the fight, but I heard a sound like falling rain and after the battle the ground was covered in small holes. Whatever he did, Zhu wasn’t his match. I heard the heretic break and run less than a minute, maybe even less than half a minute, after Martial Uncle Ku arrived. The heretic… tried to shake his heart with his words. He did not succeed. Forgive me, seniors, I must get back to work.”

Tian fled the room, but he couldn’t escape the hospital. Word that their orderly had been there to witness the colossal, earth shaking battle between the vile demon Heartbreak Worm Zu and Hero Ku spread like the plague through the wards. Somehow, to Tian’s bewilderment, some of the great man’s halo spread over him. Simply by virtue of having been there, he too was a hero. A much smaller, much less important hero, but every flower needs leaves to support it. The green-looking Tian would fit the part nicely.

“Hong must be catching hell. I can’t even imagine. Maybe she found a way to help her family with this. Expand those big city connections.” Tian desperately mopped the halls, trying to keep out of the wards as best he could. Tian knew damn well that Hong Liren wished he had left her to smother to death under the desert sands right now. But maybe she found a way to turn it around.

He wanted to scream. Who at, he didn’t know. He just wanted to scream “It wasn’t like that! It wasn’t heroic! I was terrified! Hong was in a coma! And Martial Uncle Ku waited until the giant monster had been pulled out of the ground and half tamed before making his move! He never made a move to heal the wounded. The only time he made a move at all was to make sure the ambush took place. Is this a hero? Is this really a hero?!”

Tian kept his mouth firmly shut. He was socially inept, not stupid. He knew that today was not the day to voice a contrary opinion. He could be an adornment for the hero, or he could be an unsightly blemish to be pruned away. Not killed or any nonsense like that. Simply shunned. And then all that good will he had been steadily building up would vanish like water in the wasteland.

Nobody wanted to hear about the dead nobodies. The hero’s golden aura couldn’t be tarnished. Not today. Not while the whole sect needed a hero.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Besides, they might agree with Martial Uncle Ku. “Twenty two Level Ten disciples in exchange for the head of Heartbreak Worm Zhu? They didn’t die in vain.” Tian didn’t think his heart could stand it if he heard them say that.

He endured, barely, until the end of his shift, then ran over to Auntie Wu’s place, avoiding everyone he could. Auntie Wu was in her office, unruffled but smiling. Even she was cheered up by the news, though her smile dimmed as she took in the state of Tian.

“Sit. What have you told your well wishers?”

“What they wanted to hear, I think.”

“Good. That is good.” She visibly relaxed. Tian hadn’t realized she had been hiding her tension. “I was worried.”

“Sorry for worrying you, Auntie Wu. Auntie… who was Zhu?”

“A monster, even by the standards of Fourth Level Heavenly Realm heretics. He specialized in curses and gu, but his real specialty was in breaking people. He had seemingly endless methods to trap and disable people, then torture them. He always chased sadism over ambition. Baiting comrades into turning on each other, making lovers betray each other, making lone victims torture themselves to avoid greater torment at his hands. He savored despair.” She steepled her fingers, sitting back in her chair.

“Zhu once infected a village with Gu that, as they matured, forced their hosts to attack and eat any other Gu of the same sort they detected. Which in practice forced everyone to kill and eat each other. It was one of those clan villages where everyone was related. Parents eating children, siblings… you get the picture. It wasn’t a quick process. People really got to savor the growing hunger, madness and terror. And this was only one atrocity. He had so, so many horrors to his name.”

“He killed a lot of innocent people.”

“At least four figures worth. Quite possibly five. He had also hunted down and killed four Level One Heavenly Person Realm cultivators from our Ancient Crane Mountain over the years. More from other sects. He never attacked anyone remotely close to his own level. It wouldn’t have been nearly so fun for him.” Auntie Wu shook her head. “But I don’t think you really want to know about Zhu.”

“No.”

“You want to know about your Martial Uncle.”

Tian nodded silently.

“He’s an okay guy.”

Neither of them spoke. They could faintly hear the bustle and noise of the warehouse through the door. The voices sounded a lot more lively today.

“An okay guy.”

“I’ve known him for… heavens, twenty years or so? Off and on? Mostly just to nod at when we see each other in passing. But from what I know of him, he’s basically an okay guy. Diligent, a solid cultivator, no unpleasant rumors about his personal habits. A bit of a snob, but by Inner Court standards a pretty mild one. Has the same adventuring bug we all do, but not nearly as bad as some I could name.”

“He is, taking everything together, an okay guy. And now he’s a hero.” Tian tasted each word as he spoke them.

“For the day, at least. This kind of fame is too fleeting on the battlefield. But for now, Depot Four has its champion. And you are about to have a windfall. The Treasure Weighing Magistrate can make his final evaluation now, and given everything, particularly that tamed bug monster and Zhu’s head, you are going to be loaded for both spirit crystals and merits. You won’t get many of them from your Martial Uncle’s cut as a percentage, but in absolute terms?”

She shrugged. “For you, it will be a lot. And before you suggest anything unfortunate, no, he wouldn’t. He really is a basically okay guy.”

Tian nodded. Then buried his face in his hands. His shoulders were shaking. Auntie Wu came around the desk and gently pressed her hand to his back.

“Let me tell you what your mission looked like from the perspective of the Inner Court. A mission was posted in the Mission Hall- Commerce Raid. Escort the twenty or so members of the Outer Court to capture and destroy a mortal convoy. Expected opposition- as many as twenty Earthly Realm heretics, and all the standard wasteland hazards. There is always a chance of running into Heavenly realm heretics or monsters, hence the mission. Then he would have investigated the location, notable features, he would have checked to see if there were any active bounties in the area, he would have seen all of that, and then figured the job was lucrative enough and safe enough.”

She softly rubbed his back. “From the sound of it, he did an excellent job escorting you to the ambush site. You might not agree, but by the standard the Sect judges these things with, he was diligent and careful. He must have sensed something when he got to the ambush site. I don’t know if he could have stopped Zhu from killing everyone. I really don’t. Zhu is exactly the kind of person who would ambush Earthly Realm cultivators. Your Martial Uncle may well truly have not known Zhu was there until he made a move.”

“But even if he knew Zhu was there, the sect believes he did the right thing. ‘Twenty two Level Ten disciples in exchange for the head of Heartbreak Worm Zhu? They didn’t die in vain.’ That’s what he said. I heard him clearly, even under the sand. And Sister Hong explained the… math… from the sect’s perspective.” Tian felt his voice leaving his throat with a grind, like he was dragging it across the wasteland.

“Yes. I’m sorry, Tian. I truly am. But if we are to win, or even survive reasonably intact…”

“We must be ruthless. First to ourselves, then to the enemy.” Tian concluded. His voice was muffled. Choked.

“Yes. We are the best sect in Broad Sky kingdom, but Ancient Crane Mountain is rather ordinary compared to the other great sects out there. We have our advantages, but they aren’t so great compared to places like Sword Peak, Eternal Purity Temple, Ten Thousand Beasts, or Five Elements Courtyard. We aren’t even qualified to carry the shoes of a transcendental force like the Divine Shapers Sect.”

“So what’s a weak boy to do?” Tian was laughing now. It was an ugly sound. “Be more ruthless. More cunning. Strike more viciously. Trade a wound for a kill. And never stop searching for a miracle. A single moment that can change everything.”

“Yes. It’s the other part of why Sister Bai and Brother Fu are so valued. Not only do they send more people to the Inner Court, but their hearts are firmer. We train ourselves to kill, and survive to kill again. But without losing our heart to cultivate longevity in accordance with the dao. Without losing our orthodoxy. A weak will cannot face eternity, Tian. And that’s what we are. Immortality Cultivating Daoists. It’s what we all chose after we rang the Dragon Calling Bell.”

Auntie Wu sighed, and let her hand drop away. “It’s painful. It’s ruthless. It’s working. The heretics are focusing on battling Sword Peak now, much to the joy of Sword Peak. The question is, Tian, can you accept it? Knowing all the pain that is to come, knowing the cost of eternity, can you accept it? Or will you fall?”

Tian tilted his head back, his eyes red. He stared up through the roof of the warehouse. Up through the dust haze. Losing himself in the vast blue sky. Right now, all he wanted was to fly.