“He’s a quick bastard, isn’t he?” observed Sen from where he was leaning against a wall.
He and Lo Meifeng watched as Zixin ran around a corner at speed, his robes still on fire. It had been a short and brutal exchange of pointers that had mostly involved Lo Meifeng pelting the man with small fireballs when she wasn’t punching or kicking him. For all that Zixin had come out on the losing side of that exchange, he had held up under the barrage better than Sen would have expected. I guess I could throw him at an enemy if he’s ever stupid enough to bother me again, thought Sen. Although, that seemed pretty unlikely after what Lo Meifeng had done to him. Sen had simply stood aside and watched, despite Zixin’s repeated entreaties for him to intervene. Why the man had thought Sen would take his side or do anything to help him was a minor mystery that Sen planned to put zero effort into solving. Watching Lo Meifeng hand out a beating had been fun to watch, but Sen’s interest in the situation ended there.
“He’s faster than I thought he’d be,” said Lo Meifeng. “I’m tempting to chase him down.”
“I don’t think it’s worth the effort. I’m pretty sure he got the message that he’s not welcome here.”
Lo Meifeng looked a little put out at Sen’s casual denial of her plan to keep injuring the fleeing man for fun, but she gave him a reluctant nod.
“I guess he didn’t bother me so much that he deserves to die for it.”
“Plus, if he comes back, you can always activate the formations. They pack a bit more punch now than they did.”
“That’s true. It’s always nice when someone volunteers to test formations for you,” said Lo Meifeng, before she frowned at him. “You don’t want me to go with you.”
Sen waggled a hand in the air. “It’s less that I don’t want you to go than I don’t think you’d enjoy the trip very much. I’m basically running morning until night, every single day. I’m not planning any more stops between here and the coast. It’d be like when we were running away from the demonic cultivators.”
“Except with fewer life or death situations.”
“Yeah, I’d really like to think that’s how it’s going to go.”
“You don’t?”
“It’s me,” said Sen. “When does it ever go smoothly when I travel?”
“There is that,” agreed Lo Meifeng.
“Besides, if you’re going to come along, it might as well be somewhere interesting. My time is mostly spoken for, at least for the next four years. After that, though, I’m getting out of this kingdom.”
“Oh?”
“Well, it keeps trying to kill me. So, I’m not all that enthused about staying. I figure I might head south and see how Grandmother Lu is doing. After that, maybe I’ll cross the Mountains of Sorrow and see what’s there. If nothing else, there should be fewer idiots like that Zixin guy actively looking for me. I expect those trips will be more fun for you. Less rushing, less camping, and more inns.”
Lo Meifeng was nodding along. “Yeah, that definitely sounds better to me. Don’t get me wrong, as camp shelters go, your galehouses are pretty fantastic, but they’re not as comfortable as inns.”
“They’re really not, and I haven’t been making many of them on this trip. It’s mostly tents and formations to keep the weather and spirit beasts away.”
“Why are you traveling at this time of year? It’s not very good planning.”
“There was no planning involved. It’s just how the timing worked out. It’s not like the weather bothers me very much these days. I don’t even really feel the cold.”
“That must be nice.”
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“You don’t get that with pure spirit cultivation?” asked Sen.
“I don’t feel it the way that mortals do, but it’s more that I can safely ignore it. It’s not anything that I’d describe as comfortable. You genuinely don’t feel it?”
Sen shook his head. “I’m aware that it’s hot or cold, but that’s about as far as it goes. I don’t like it when my robes get soaked through, which happens pretty much every day. And I do like hot food, so it’s convenient for me to stop and build a fire. It lets everything dry out and gives me a chance to cook.”
“Couldn’t you do the same things with fire qi?”
“Probably. It’s not the same, though.”
“Yeah, a good campfire is its own kind of magic.”
“You almost sound nostalgic,” said Sen, nudging Lo Meifeng’s arm with his elbow.
“I’m not, but I can appreciate the simple comfort that a campfire offers, especially out in the wilds. It’s like a little piece of civilization that you can take with you.”
Sen gave Lo Meifeng a startled look. After a few moments, she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.
“What?” she demanded.
“I’d just never thought of it in those terms.”
“Well, you children aren’t deep thinkers, are you?”
Sen burst into laughter. “I had that one coming, too.”
“Yes,” said Lo Meifeng with a look of smug satisfaction. “Yes, you did.”
“Alright, I guess it’s time to get going. Otherwise, I’ll find an excuse to stay another day.”
“Fu Ruolan must be truly terrible company if you’d chance getting tangled up with the sects and the royals just to spend more time here.”
“Let’s just say that she can be taxing at times. She forgets that I’m not a nascent soul cultivator who can skip sleep indefinitely.”
“Fair enough. Do try to send a message occasionally to let me know you’re alive.”
Sen’s eyes went wide.
“That reminds me,” said Sen, summoning a scroll from his storage ring. “I know you’re taking a break, but do you think you could get this to Master Feng for me.”
Lo Meifeng took the scroll. “I can do that.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it. I could send it to one of Grandmother Lu’s shops, but who knows how long it would take them to deliver it.”
Lo Meifeng nodded and rested a hand on Sen’s arm. “Try not to start any sect wars or make any gods angry with you. I know it’s asking a lot, but you should still try.”
Sen grinned at her. “No promises, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“I guess that’s all anyone can ask,” said Lo Meifeng in a mock mournful tone. “Do try to travel safely.”
Sen put on a more serious face. “That’s the plan. I may stop in briefly on the way back, just to let you know how things with the damn turtle went.”
“Would it make a difference if I told you not to attack the divine spirit beast?”
Sen tilted his head back and forth a few times before he said, “No, probably not.”
“Then, I won’t.”
“Be safe, Lo Meifeng.”
She gave him a nod and Sen set off before he found another excuse to hang around. Things hadn’t exactly gone smoothly in the capital, but Sen had missed spending time with people who didn’t expect him to constantly learn things under impossible deadlines or survive impossible challenges. Lo Meifeng just expected him to be ridiculous, and that was an expectation that Sen found he could usually live up to without having to bet his life in the process. Leaving was the right move, though. It was probably a matter of hours before someone important started demanding that Sen do things he didn’t want to do. Yes, it was definitely better to just slip away before any of that nonsense came crashing down on his head. He felt a little guilty because Lo Meifeng was the one who’d end up having to tell a bunch of people that Sen was already gone, but there wasn’t much he could do to prevent that. Even his brief presence hadn’t done anything to improve the calm in her world. He just hoped that the improvements to the formations would serve as some kind of compensation for the irritation she’d no doubt feel over the next few days.
Sen made his way to the city’s southern gate and had a moment where he was sure everything was about to go sideways on him. One of the guards at the gate kept staring at Sen like she recognized him. There had been a lot of guards hovering on the day that he’d entered the city with Chan Yu Ming. It was entirely possible that she did recognize him, even if it had been a couple of years. He heaved a sigh of relief when the woman didn’t say anything as he passed through the gate. He’d been convinced that she was going to stop him and say that there was an order from the palace that he be sent there or detained in some way. He didn’t waste any time once he was away from the gate. He took off down the road as fast as his qinggong technique and the safety of the other travelers would allow. It wasn’t as fast as he would have liked, but it would have taken someone on a very fast horse to have a hope of catching up with him.
It took a few hours, but he finally got beyond the outer towns and villages that dotted the landscape around the capital. That let him pick up the pace and ensure that he left anyone trying to catch up with him far, far behind. He even made a point to keep moving until well after the sun set, just to give himself a little more breathing room. Sen wasn’t sure that someone was going to try to drag him back to the capital, but he figured that there was no benefit in taking the chance when he didn’t need to. When he did finally stop for the night, he made sure he was well off the road and put up the full range of formations, including an obscuring formation. Better safe than sorry, he told himself.