"Why didn't you tell us about the problems you were having at Flowing Water Sect?" Mother asked her anger replaced by concern.

We had waited for dinner to finish before getting into the details of each of our concerns. I had spent a good hour explaining the relationship I had with Braun, Nero, and Elder An. They had needed that context to understand why I feared for their safety.

"Things weren't all bad," I answered. "Elders Shadow, Cix, Tye, and Dalis each supported me in their way."

"But to live a year with no friends? Isolated? Worried that you may be attacked at any moment?" Mother responded, aghast at how I had been living. "And you didn't answer the question, why didn't you tell us you were having problems?"

"Truthfully, I was hoping you would never find out," I admitted. "But the destruction to your shop and father's gardens have forced me to rethink that hope."

"You believe Elder An's faction had something to do with the attacks?" Father asked.

"It makes sense. They were not happy that Nero was so badly injured he couldn't attend the competition and participate in a ranking test for his secondary profession. Nero, himself, is probably still confined, regrowing his leg, but that leaves plenty of other people that would use you against me, in the hope of gaining Elder An's appreciation.

"I'm certain they are not going to be happy when they found out I ranked so well in the tournament. Not only ranking in the top 100 for all cultivators, but that ranking was also enough to award me the number one spot in Flowing Water's internal ranking list.

"Whoever did this is probably finding themselves berated and abused by Elder An. If he was willing to punish his son in front of the Sect at large, I can imagine what he will do to someone not related to him," I suggested.

"Do you think we are safe from any further reprisals?" Father asked.

"From the Sect?

"Probably. But is there a chance this was done by someone else? A business competitor maybe?" I asked.

"Brews and potions?" My mother suggested turning to my father to gain his opinion.

"Geon came home with a black eye and a split lip last week," she explained. "He had gotten into a fight with a schoolmate whose younger brother had been tormenting Syha."

"We thought the attack on house and garden was done in retaliation for that fight," father agreed.

"I had my doubts," mother said, "trying to burn us out seemed an unreasonable escalation to a childhood skirmish."

"It's why we've been arguing about moving," father admitted. "I don't want to come home from hunting to find my family roasting in what remains of our home."

"I just didn't see how it would be possible," mother replied, "abandon our home? And where were we to go?"

Non-cultivating citizens were not slaves, but they did share some of the constraints of indentured servants. Most Sect's ruled with a lenient hand, it was better to be benevolent than feared. If I had never crossed paths with Braun, my parents would have been safe remaining where they were or could have applied for permission to immigrate, without issue.

Daily requests to re-locate were standard, and there would have been no reason to deny that request.

The Empire was fraught with cautionary tales of despots that tried to stifle freedoms. Oppressive dictators who ruled with an iron fist didn't last long. The uprisings and riots that they were forced to contend with became commonplace. The cost of rioting prohibitive and those costs only increased when cultivators became involved.

It was hard to tell what connections a person might have, and most people in power recognized that cultivators did not spring up out of sackcloth. The peasant you might be oppressing might just have connections with a Profound Immortal family member. My parents were prosperous, middle-class, and filled a niche in the community that was desperately needed, but they were a dime a dozen, the Sect would have permitted them to relocate even without the favor I had called in with Patriarch Umbra.

It was that unknown that allowed citizens the freedom their status might deny them. You never knew who you might be angering by treating an unassuming person badly.

"Alright," father sighed bringing this part of the conversation to an end, "let's talk about this move. It doesn't matter if the people who did this were from the Sect, or Brews and Potions, you mentioned a new Sect? A new town that you think will be safe for us to start over in? A place where you will be the Baron, establishing a new fief?

"It seems to me that you are going to be pretty busy," he added. "When you consider the time you will need to spend in training and cultivating, the time needed to level up the proficiencies in alchemy, and the duties you will have as an Inner Sect member, won't the family just be one more burden you could do without?"

"At least until things have settled for a bit," mom said as she agreed. This was what I loved about them. They had been fighting almost at each other's throats a few hours ago, but now they stood a united front, unwilling to agree to my schemes if it required me to make sacrifices.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Not all parents loved their children unconditionally, at least not to the extent that mine did. I only needed to remember how Elder An was willing to sacrifice Braun at the beginning of the tournament to recognize that my parents were a cut above.

"It will be tough," I admitted refusing to lie. There was no point in sugar-coating it either, they wouldn't appreciate it, and would only dig their heels in if they felt I was being obsequious.

"I have no idea what the Sect will expect from me. I'll have to adjust to my new position as an Inner Sect member. Elder Tye and Tarrah will be staying here, and I have no idea what the Alchemy Hall Master will offer as far as resources and training," I conceded.

"The Emperor is certain to recruit some talented Alchemist for the Sect, but there is no way to know if any of them are willing to accept new disciples. I may have to attend open lectures or purchase alchemy material from auctions in order to continue to advance.

"That shouldn't be a problem, very few cultivators receive the personalized instruction I did from Elder Tye. But it will be a drain on my time."

"Perhaps you can purchase a study course individualized by Flowing Water Sect as a backup?" Father suggested.

"Probably," I agreed. "I should begin receiving my share of the profit from the Spirit Mine soon. But most of my extra funds are going to have to be earmarked for the territory I plan on claiming. I have no idea what condition the town is in, and I will need to have an extensive audit of the resources, lands, business, and taxes done before I know what I am going to need to invest."

"Maybe you should fund a scouting expedition to map the area around the town?" My mother suggested. "Your discovery of that Spirit Lotus location, recently, wasn't that far from the Sect. If something like that could be overlooked, I imagine there are resources yet to be discovered in the territory you will be claiming."

"That's a good question. One I'm sure Patriarch Amaya is going to look into. That pond should have been discovered, I wonder if it was and the location was hidden on purpose, or if the people that were hired to survey for the Sect were simply that bad at their craft.

"It's possible it was an innocent mistake. The world is vast after all," I pointed out, "even if you combine the area the Hindel have explored, we have barely started claiming the vast resources our world has to offer.

"Maybe the Sect wanted a more detailed survey done for a smaller area when it was founded. I would have to do some digging and follow the money trail to understand what motivated the founders.

"It isn't worth it, now. Not that I will be leaving. My priorities will have to be focused on my lands. On my fief.

"I am a single cultivator, so I will need to hire a survey group, but they are going to need to perform a broad overview of the area. It would be nice if the report included detailed information about resources, but that will not happen, not unless they stumble across some glaring deposit of herbs or ore.

"I will probably wind up with a map that identifies the more obvious resources, the type of monsters that can be found and where they are located, and any obvious anomalies that I need to explore myself," I mused.

"That just seems to be one more reason why we should wait," mother reasoned, "one more responsibility you are going to have to deal with."

"Did I mention how far my new territory is from here?" I asked realizing that they might be misunderstanding how long it was going to take them to arrive by boat. "I will have plenty of time to get organized before you arrive.

"The ocean voyage alone is going to take a few months. That's after you sell the home and shop, pack up, travel across land to the ocean, and take a second ship along the coast of Delph Island before you arrive at the town I plan on claiming.

"I don't expect you to just abandon our home here," I coaxed. "I will be using a flying beast; at most, it will take me a week to arrive and begin to familiarize myself with the Sect and the town.

"It depends on how long it takes you to find a buyer, but I would expect it to take over a year before you arrive. Most of the hard work should be done by then, including finding a suitable location for our new apothecary and home."

"I'm worried Syha is too young to spend traveling for that long," Mother bemoaned.

"It will be hard on her, on all of you, let's be honest," I agreed. "But consider the advantages. She and Geon will have the chance to join a Sect that will have the resources to nurture whatever affinity they resonate with. They won't have to worry as I did. Worry that I would find myself attuned with an element that would offer no place that we could afford, somewhere without ruinous costs, or abandon cultivation entirely.

"As an Inner Sect member, I can sponsor them as direct disciples no matter how powerful their Spirit Root is. Maybe they won't be cultivators, but as a member of the Four Element Sect, they will have access to knowledge to advance a secondary profession much farther than they could if they remained here."

I thought I had them convinced and was hoping to turn the discussion into the nuts and bolts of uprooting and moving when my extended perception noticed a fire aspect Qi attack being launched against my mother's shop.

Whoever was attacking was furious that they weren't able to burn through the defensive array my parents had invested in, so had decided to simply overwhelm those protections by spamming attack after attack.

"You dare," I screamed infusing my voice with the power of thunder allowing it to roll outward from our kitchen, triggering alarms throughout the city.

If I was still a member of Flowing Water, I would have been sanctioned for giving vent to my anger. But I wasn't and as I crashed through our back door, I was happy that those rules no longer applied and would not stay my hand or my wrath.

Spamming [Lightning's Rush], I flew forward, creating air and ice platforms that allowed me to go up and over our home. The shop was being attacked by two cultivators, one holding a barrier in place that kept the damage localized and the neighbors unaware. They other slashing at the walls of the shop with his sword, releasing fire attacks with each thrust.

My shout was the only warning I gave. When it came to unsanctioned fights, I had learned my lesson with Braun and Nero. The arrow that I summoned, ice and lightning attuned, encountered no protection. I had aimed for the eye and the shot flew true. The barrier that the cultivator had been powering to hide their activities shattered at the same moment the ice/lightning arrow activated.

There wasn't much left to him after that explosion, he was dead and had already been dismissed from my focus. I swapped out the Bow for my Tessen, my anger so intense that I needed to bloody my hands to salve that emotion.

I chained together every martial attack I had mastered. Attacking with fiendish precision. Whoever he was, he had died almost instantly, but his death wasn't enough to satisfy my anger, and as I continued to attack with Tessen soon dripping blood, lightning answered my anger vaporizing any remaining piece that I had missed.