For all that Sen was braced for near-immediate retaliation from the Shadow Eagle Talon Syndicate, it didn’t happen. In fact, as near as he could tell, every cultivator in the city that he didn’t know personally was doing their level best to stay at least half a mile away from him. Sen didn’t necessarily consider that a bad thing, but it did run counter to expectations. He got nervous when bad things didn’t happen the way he expected, which was how he ended up getting a murderous look from Shi Ping and a mildly uncertain one from Falling Leaf.

“What is it with you?” demanded Shi Ping. “Yeah, there was that bit of trouble with the Steel Gryphon sect, but things had calmed down since then. Were you just bored? You felt like you needed a war to keep from getting sleepy?”

“I would like to note that I didn’t actually do anything to make these people angry. I even made a point to stay out of their part of the city. They came after me, repeatedly, which means that someone sent them after me.”

“I know,” said Shi Ping. “I’ve just really been enjoying how nobody was trying to do anything terrible to me.”

“I don’t understand, though,” said Falling Leaf. “I know why they’re going to be a problem now. But why would anyone send them after you in the first place? We don’t know anyone here. Aside from those sect people we killed, we haven’t done anything.”

“Just because I haven’t done anything specific here, I’ve done plenty in other places. I’ve also caused plenty to happen. If you think all those demonic cultivators and their allies have forgotten about me, think again,” said Sen.

“Aren’t they all dead?” asked Shi Ping.

“The ones we knew about,” said Lo Meifeng. “Just the ones we knew about. Plus, whatever names they coughed up. Do you really think we got all of them? The continent is a big place. The recent purge certainly reduced the problem in this region, but I guarantee you that some got missed because they were more cautious or just luckier. Beyond this region, there are going to be plenty of them left. Some won’t care about what happened here, but others will have lost useful allies or access to resources. They’ll be angry about that. Don’t deceive yourselves, Sen has plenty of enemies out there, and we don’t know most of them.”

“Yeah,” said Shi Ping, “and don’t forget that he agreed to disrupt what is likely to be a very lucrative marriage for, well, whoever the princess is supposed to marry. I doubt they’re going to like that very much.”

Sen gave Shi Ping a thoughtful look. “How would they know?”

“Oh, I’m sure by now that your princess has talked with at least one of her parents about it.”

Sen gave Shi Ping an unamused look. “She isn’t my princess.”

“Yeah,” laughed Shi Ping. “Sure. You keep telling yourself that. When you get stuck having to marry her, remember this conversation. Anyway, my point is that she’s talked to someone. And in a place like a royal palace, there’s no such thing as a secret. Not for long, anyway. A servant heard them talking, or one of her parents said something where they shouldn’t have. The word is out or it will be very, very soon. I expect those people would like to see you dead, and they’d have the money to hire a group like the…what did you call them Sen?”

“The Disjointed Robin’s Toe Clan,” supplied Sen.

“Seriously?” asked Lo Meifeng. “How do you keep coming up with these things?”

Sen shrugged. “It’s a talent. Shi Ping has a point. We can’t assume we know who set this in motion or even why it’s happening. There are too many options, which means we’ll have to get it out of one of them.”

“You mean, before you exterminate them all, burn down everything they own, and salt the earth behind you?” asked Shi Ping.

Sen gave Shi Ping a look and said, “Yes, before all of that. Obviously, I can’t do it afterward. But we’ve gotten way off the topic I wanted to discuss with all of you. The biggest thing right now is making sure that nobody gets caught alone.”

Three pairs of eyes locked on Shi Ping. He tried to put on a brave face but wilted under the combined stares of the more powerful cultivators.

“I’m careful,” he said.

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“You’re going out whoring,” said Lo Meifeng.

“You say that like I’m setting children on fire. I go to reputable places.”

Lo Meifeng shook her head. “I don’t care that you’re doing it. I care that it makes it difficult and inconvenient for us to find or help you if something goes wrong.”

“Oh,” said Shi Ping. “I see your point. Well, what if someone went with me?”

Sen lifted an eyebrow at the man. “Who?”

Shi Ping looked from Sen to Lo Meifeng and then to Falling Leaf. “Yeah, I didn’t think that one through.”

“Look, you’re just going to have to put your carnal pleasures on hold for a while,” said Lo Meifeng.

“No, I don’t. You don’t get to decide those things on my behalf. They’re not after me. And I doubt they're going to storm a building full of courtesans to get me or try to snatch me in public. I’m not important enough.”

Sen had been casually watching Falling Leaf throughout the conversation. Some of it was just passive interest, but he was also looking for areas where she was confused. While he wouldn’t necessarily explain more in the moment, he could always talk with her privately after the fact to clear up any misconceptions. For the part of the conversation involving danger and tactics, she seemed attentive and focused. When the conversation had drifted into the realm of social acceptability, she’d started to look a little perplexed. What hadn’t changed was her natural instinct for danger. She had clearly felt the mood shift when Sen did because they both took an automatic step back from Shi Ping. Lo Meifeng, on the other hand, was giving Shi Ping such an artificially sweet smile that it made Sen wonder if the man was going to survive the next minute or two.

“I don’t get to decide,” said Lo Meifeng. “That’s extraordinary. When was it that you raced past me in your cultivation?”

Shi Ping’s eyes darted over to Sen, who just shook his head sadly at the poor, doomed fool.

“What do you mean?” asked Shi Ping.

“Well, the last time I checked, you were a peak foundation formation cultivator. However did you manage to jump all the way to peak core formation?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I only ask because the last time I checked,” said Lo Meifeng, the sweet smile dropping away to reveal an expression as hard as granite, “peak foundation formation cultivators didn’t mouth off to late-stage core formation cultivators unless they were desperate for a painful lesson in how the world works.”

Shi Ping paled at those words. Sen felt at least partially responsible for the existence of this situation. His complicated relationship with Lo Meifeng had likely sent a lot of very wrong messages to Shi Ping. Beyond that, Lo Meifeng didn’t spend a lot of time worrying about formalities. All in all, the atmosphere of casual equality pervaded everything. Yet, Sen knew it for the illusion it was. At the end of the day, Lo Meifeng could crush Shi Ping in any confrontation between the two that didn’t involve her being completely out of qi and mortally wounded. Shi Ping should also have known better, having spent way more time in sect or sect-like environments where people obsessed about relative rank. Sen had the impression that, in the Order of the Celestial Flame, Shi Ping probably wouldn’t have interacted with someone of Lo Meifeng’s rank very often. Sen watched as Shi Ping clasped his hands in front of him and offered Lo Meifeng a very deep bow.

“I apologize, senior. I forgot myself. It will be as you say.”

Lo Meifeng nodded. “Good.”

The group covered a few more things, mostly about keeping each other informed about their plans and schedules. The abrupt conflict between Lo Meifeng and Shi Ping, however necessary it might have been, had ground everything to a halt. After that, no one wanted to engage in casual conversation, guess about who wanted Sen dead, or anything that might keep them in each other’s company a second longer. Shi Ping left the room the second it was clear they were done. Falling Leaf said something about being hungry and headed downstairs. Lo Meifeng was standing by the window and glaring down at the street like it owed her something.

“Are you going to tell me I was too hard on him?” she asked.

Sen walked over and leaned against the wall on the other side of the window. “No.”

“Really? I’d have thought you, of all people, would think it was some kind of stupid power play.”

“It is what it is. He’s foundation formation and your core formation. He forgot that. Like it or not, foundation formation cultivators do whatever the core formation cultivators tell them to do. That is how the world works. You were going to have to put him back in his place at some point.”

Lo Meifeng smirked at him. “You never do what more advanced cultivators tell you to do.”

“Yeah, well, no one ever said I was smart.”

“That’s true,” agreed Lo Meifeng.

Sen snorted. “Nice. By the way, I’m going to have to explain what whoring means to Falling Leaf thanks to you.”

Lo Meifeng laughed. “She doesn’t know?”

“No. It’s not something that would have come up in her education.”

“She was a bit sheltered, wasn’t she?”

“From some things,” said Sen.

“I can explain it to her if you want.”

Sen thought it over. “Patiently, Lo Meifeng. She’s used to me explaining things to her that she doesn’t understand, and I’m very patient with her.”

“I remember what happened to the last cultivators who did something to her you didn’t like. I’ll be as patient as she needs me to be.”

“Good, because I have something to do.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ve been doing casual patrols in the nearby area. Keeping an eye on things. Looking for people who aren’t cultivators who might be aiming to cause trouble for us.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” said Lo Meifeng.

“It doesn’t take a cultivator to burn down a building or poison food. Cultivators may be faster at killing people, but mortals are perfectly capable of doing it.”

“So, you’re just going to go on a patrol? Nothing special to do?”

Sen sighed. “Nothing but go fight those three cultivators who are waiting for me.”

“Us, Sen,” said Lo Meifeng in a tired voice. “Waiting for us.”