“And you just left him out there?” asked Xu Xiao Dan.

The man’s tone suggested that he didn’t want to believe that Sen was telling the truth, rather than that he didn’t believe Sen. The still-steaming tea in front of Sen drew his attention. He lifted the cup and took a sip. It just isn’t the same, thought Sen with discontent. Ever since Laughing River broke my other tea set, it’s just never been right again. Setting the cup back down, he turned his attention to the other nascent soul cultivator. Sen had kept his word when he got back and spent time with Yue Shui. It was only then that he retreated to his tent for a bit of solitude. Solitude that had proven far too short-lived.

“I did,” answered Sen.

“You don’t feel that might have been—” Xu Xiao Dan paused as his brow furrowed.

“Yes?”

“Lord Lu, I am sworn to your service. So, please understand that I’m asking this with your best interests at heart. Don’t you think that punishment was excessive?”

“No,” said Sen.

Xu Xiao Dan blinked a few times before he asked, “Truly?”

“Well, I suppose for his actual insults to me, it might have been excessive. But are you trying to convince me that he wasn’t like that all of the time?”

The elder cultivator grimaced and shook his head.

“It might have been exaggerated because of your presence, Lord Lu, but I suspect that was how he behaved most of the time.”

“And that was what I was punishing him for. All of these sects have built up these rules about what’s acceptable when they interact with each other, wandering cultivators, and with mortals. You all tolerate these arrogant young masters who are no better than shameless bullies to anyone they don’t consider their superiors.”

“Lord Lu, every cultivator is arrogant. Yourself included. You have to be if you intend to defy the heavens. You have to believe, utterly, that you have the talent and the strength to ascend. If you mean to kill every cultivator who is arrogant, you’ll be doing most of the spirit beasts’ work for them.”

Sen huffed out a brief laugh. The very thought of trying to rein in cultivator arrogance was simply ludicrous. Even if he wanted to do it, Sen was well aware that he couldn’t do it. No one could.

“You’re right. You do have to be arrogant to defy the heavens. I’m no exception when it comes to that kind of arrogance. But that doesn’t excuse the way so many cultivators view mortals or, for that matter, anyone who doesn’t outrank them in their own sect. You heard him. He called Yue Shui a disgusting mortal whelp. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t pause to think up the insult. It came to him immediately. What do you imagine he would have done if he’d simply come across her playing somewhere? Do you think he would have treated her with kindness or patience?”

“I do not,” admitted Xu Xiao Dan.

“I don’t either.”

“Even so, Lord Lu, you cannot expect every cultivator to treat mortals as gently as you do?”

“Really?” asked Sen. “Why not?”

“It isn’t in their natures.”

“I disagree. As near as I can tell, cultivators behave this way because their sects either teach it or tolerate it. If they can learn how to act like wretches, I see no reason why they can’t also learn how to stop. It’s not as though they lack the time.”

Xu Xiao Dan fell into a thoughtful silence before he said, “I won’t deny that there is some truth in what you’re saying. I tolerated more of that kind of behavior than I should have in my own sect. Although we certainly didn’t set out to teach it. But would you deny that you use your strength to impose your convictions on the world? Is that truly any different?”

“I’m not so much of a hypocrite to say that. It’s not different, except that I’m a tyrant of necessity. If all of the sects and the mortals had done what needed to be done, I wouldn’t be doing all of the things that I’m doing now. I’d probably be at home, defending my territory, and quietly loathing these things we’re arguing about. Instead, you all forced my hand and the hands of my teachers. You made it impossible for me to have that life.

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“My choice was to impose my convictions or watch the world fall. It might still fall. And in the face of that, these sect cultivators still want to indulge the fantasy that their power makes anything they do right. Fine. If all the sects want to believe that might makes right, then so be it. I will take my might and grind everything that I don’t like about them beneath my heel. The very fact that I can makes it right, according to their logic.”

“But you don’t actually believe that.”

Sen gave the man a wan smile.

“No, I don’t believe that. But they do, and the world has seen fit to push me into the role of tyrant. The very embodiment of might makes right. I can’t avoid it, so I intend to make something good come out of it. Most sects seem determined to continue on as they have been. I won’t let them. They will either change, or they will be broken.”

“They won’t want to change. They will resist.”

Sen took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He nodded in acknowledgment of Xu Xiao Dan’s words.

“I don’t care,” said Sen. “I will bring them to heel whether they want it or not.”

“Innocents will be caught up in this change of yours. Yes, many sects harbor those who mistreat mortals, wandering cultivators, and their juniors. They are disgraceful. Even so, not every cultivator is like that. If you mean to continue on this course, those who don’t deserve your wrath will suffer for the failures of others.”

“That can’t be avoided. I can try to minimize how much that happens, but I can’t take the time to get to know every cultivator in every sect. That would be the only way to avoid punishing any of the innocent. I don’t have the time for that, let alone the inclination,” answered Sen.

“You find that a sufficient reason?” asked Xu Xiao Dan

“Sufficient? A sad truth of leading that I’ve been forced to accept is that perfect results are always out of reach. I doubt I’ll ever get even one perfect result. The very best I can hope for is that my decisions help more people in the long run than they hurt. I’ll admit that is a pitiful measure for success, but it’s the only one I’ve found.”

“And you think this will help more people than it hurts?”

“Cultivators can live for a very long time. How many generations

of mortals can one core cultivator abuse in their life? How many wandering cultivators can some young master with a grudge kill in that time?”

“I couldn’t even hazard a guess,” said Xu Xiao Dan. “Many.”

“Yes. Many. Far too many. As far as innocents go, I’m not going to pretend that every mortal is innocent. They lie. They steal. They kill. They lord what power they possess over others, but there are differences. Their very mortality limits how much time they get to harm others. Laws can constrain or punish them. That is enough of a threat that most of their failures are petty. A cultivator’s power and long life put them beyond the reach of laws and normal punishment.”

“You speak of this as though every cultivator in the world is callously murdering children and going unpunished. They are not. You may choose not to see it, but sects do constrain the behaviors of their disciples.”

“They do, when it suits them to do so. When it’s not, for example, politically inconvenient for them to do so,” said Sen.

Xu Xiao Dan flinched at those words. Seeing that, Sen continued.

“The truth is that the only things that can restrain a cultivator are sects and other cultivators. And they have failed. I genuinely don’t know if it’s out of malice, negligence, or sheer indifference, but they have unequivocally failed. That failure isn’t just on the sect leaders. It’s on everyone in those sects who simply turned their eyes away. They may not share a full measure of guilt for every sin, but they do share some of it.”

“That is a very broad interpretation of guilt, Lord Lu.”

“Maybe it is. But when the only people who can act don’t act, how else am I to interpret it? Let me tell you a story. Years ago, I came across a group of bandits. They clearly meant to kill everyone and steal what they could. I knew that the penalty for banditry was death. It’s very straightforward.”

“Yes,” said Xu Xiao Dan.

“What do you think I did?”

“I assume you killed them.”

“I should have killed them. I think I even knew then that I should have put them down, but I didn’t. I thought I was acting on a higher principle of mercy or balance. Do you know what I actually did by letting them go?”

Xu Xiao Dan’s face twisted as he saw the point.

“By letting them go, you were essentially looking away. By doing that, you bear a share of guilt for anything they did after.”

“Exactly. Now, as the unwilling tyrant, it’s my turn to decide if I’m going to look away from what the sects tolerate. The heavens know that it would make my life easier if I did. It would certainly be less politically fraught. If I do that, though, I’m as guilty as everyone else who never acted to stop these behaviors. So, I tell you this now, Xu Xiao Dan. I will not look away, and I will not tolerate it. If that means I have to make examples that drive a wedge of fear into the sects, I will. They might seem excessive. Hells, they might even be excessive. When you intend the change how people act when they don’t wish to change, as the sects don’t, you have very few options regarding how you accomplish that goal.”

“You mean to rule by fear.”

Sen let out a sigh and said, “That’s what tyrants do. I can’t hope to make everyone love me. If I’m lucky, some will decide they respect me. But I can make people fear me.”

“Such rulers often find themselves beset on all sides by rebellion and dissent.”

“If, by some miracle, we all live long enough for that to happen, I’ll consider it an achievement.”