"A-apologies, Lord Cultivator. I had eyes, but I did not see the mountain! Mercy!"

. . .

'Fuuuuuccccckk…' Several things snapped into place in Dan's head all at once. It was something he'd read about hundreds of times, but not something he'd ever wanted to experience himself. Living in a decently peaceful country, while in relative safety, with easy access to the necessities far outweighed any delusions he had.

Kinda hard to enjoy throwing around fireballs when everyone wants to kill you for no fucking reason in particular.

While Dan was busy dealing with the implications of being ripped away from his world, and, y'know, magic being a thing, his emotions stilled.

The farmer, Huizhong, watched in awe as the utter storm of anger and excitement calmed in an instant. The killing intent went from oppressive to almost disinterested.

Hoping to live, Huizhong gathered his courage. If he could talk his way out of this, then he might not be injured at all! After all, the cultivator had merely asked for assistance.

Cursing his foolishness, along with a half dozen other things that caused his ire, Huizhong opened his mouth-

And left it open as he watched in horror as his prize pig jumped out from behind a boulder not seven paces away from the cultivator. The ornery bastard had protected the farm from predators and tax collectors for years. He'd thought it'd fled from the amount of killing intent present in the air, but apparently it was more loyal than he'd given it credit for.

As soon as he saw the raging boar, he expected it to die. To be slashed in half or simply crushed by a stray blow from the cultivator.

What he did not expect was for it's eye to suddenly explode with a thundering crack as soon as it stepped out from behind the rock.

He watched as the protector of the farm collapsed in a pile of hair, meat, and tusks not five paces away from the cultivator in strange garb.

When he looked back at said cultivator, not a single hair was out of place. The only sign he had moved at all was a slight amount of smoke coming from the metal treasure.

Huizhong had gone from intimidated to terrified. He'd worship the ground the man walked on if it saved his life. An ironic thing to think, considering what followed.

"I- wha… please…" Huizhong stumbled over his words as he watched the absolutely terrifying spectacle of varying emotions flowing from the cultivator. Terrifying not because of the emotions, but because each and every one of them were tempered by killing intent.

Anger.

Sadness.

Rage.

Grief.

Sorrow.

Glee.

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Frustration.

And finally, determination.

Huizhong watched as the emotions battled for dominance for a full minute. It was as if a maniac was brandishing a knife at you, and rambled about how killing you made him feel. Absolutely chilling.

Then he spoke.

Though maniac was the wrong word, Dan was going through the root of that word as his thoughts raced in circles.

He peaked with the high stress situation. 'These fuckers tried to kill me again! Why did I have to get "Coin-Kun'd" right next to some limp dicked lunatic!? These cocksu-'

Then he hit a low when he saw the fear, the horror, and the grief. Noticed he was holding a piece of a lonely farmer. 'Ah, fuck. I… I didn't mean for thi… If I knew, if I'd noticed the magic fuckery earlier…"

He stopped caring about the harm he caused. Remembered that if he wasn't packing and trained to use it, he'd be dead twice over. He thought unpleasant things that he wouldn't want repeated. Claimed he'd do things that he wouldn't do even if his life was thrown on the line a third time.

Immediately after that, he started another spiral. He was 'sad' that he thought to do unspeakable things, 'sad' that he frightened some dude he didn't even know, and killed some poor animal defending its home.

And then he got to the things that hadn't sunk in yet. Like how he'd never see his family again, how nothing in his old life ever came to amount to anything, how his new life was likely already changed for the horrible...

And then, almost inexplicably, glee. Pure excitement as he dropped that line of thought entirely. Emotion, due to his uncontrollable emotions.

Finally, frustration, for rather obvious reasons. That, if not for his training, he'd look like an absolute lunatic. Going from scowling, to crying, to angry crying, back to crying, to bawling, to laughing like an idiot.

Dan thought of how he'd be doing stupid things while looking like that. Things that make no logical sense at all. 'Things like holding a man at gunpoint while you lose control.' Dan realized.

Now, if Dan was normal, normal for Dan, that'd be the end of it. He'd school his emotions, keeping them under control until something else stresses him enough to send him off the edge, then he'd do something with logic and morals. Probably apologize profusely and run away, in this case.

But Dan wasn't 'normal' anymore. Something deep down, yet all around him asked if that was what he truly wanted. It was as if the entire world knew that his answer was wanting.

Qi, Dan realized, his Qi and the World's Qi had found the gap between his heart and his actions distasteful, and Dan knew that something bad would happen if he shrugged it off.

The Qi asked again, it knew that he didn't want to flee the situation and hope for better, knew that he yearned for something else.

It didn't have to ask a third time.

'Control', Dan admitted, 'I've wanted to have control my entire life.'

All of a sudden, Dan's frustration melted away like so much snow. He'd taken the first step on his path. It was time to enact a plan.

He'd want privacy, to keep away from the standard cultivator bullshit.

Secrecy, to keep what he was quiet.

Control, for what else defines a man's life?

Ha had strategy, read enough books on the subject, and seen enough episodes on it.

He had people fed up on being the have-nots.

If his instincts were right, he also had something to empower people, something for them to put their faith in, all the while separating them from the uninitiated.

And above all else, he had intimidation in droves.

Dan smiled gently, cracking the emotionless mask as he lowered his gun.

Why wouldn't he smile, his path in this new life was clear.

He's going to start a cult.