Deciding that since he was already awake, he might as well get up, Sen pushed himself into a sitting position and opened his eyes. And froze. The interior of the galehouse was in utter ruins. The only things left standing were the outer walls, and even those had deep cracks running through them.

Sen’s mind worked furiously. Had the devilish beasts regrouped and attacked? No, he thought. That would only explain the cracks in the outer walls. As his speculations grew increasingly absurd and unlikely, he finally gave it up.

“What in all the hells happened?” he demanded.

The foxes gave him identical, flat stares. Misty Peak spoke first.

“What happened? You happened. You walking catastrophe. You just had to go and drink that elixir. Then, there was all the screaming. As if listening to that wasn’t all kinds of fun, you moved on to trying to bring the entire place down on our heads. We all had to run outside to save our own lives.”

Sen didn’t remember doing anything with his qi, but he supposed he wouldn’t remember. He’d had other things on his mind. He felt bad and embarrassed as a faint heat rose in his cheeks. The fox woman seemed satisfied by that.

“At least you have the decency to be ashamed,” she muttered.

“Stop exaggerating,” said Laughing River with a shake of his head. “I estimate that there was only a seventy, maybe seventy-five percent chance that you would have actually died. Besides, he clearly wasn’t in his right mind at that time.”

Misty Peak looked like she was going to say something or possibly try to murder the elder fox, so Sen cut in.

“Is everyone alright?” he asked.

“We’re all fine,” said Laughing River. “I think that the more important question is whether or not you’re alright. Mind still intact? That kind of pain can do things to a person.”

Sen gave that idea a long moment of consideration. He’d never thought about whether the pain might damage him on some level. He searched inside himself for signs of madness. He didn’t find anything that seemed wrong. Not that he was at all certain that he’d know it if had gone insane. He shrugged at the foxes.

“I think I’m fine.”

Misty Peak shuddered and said in a half-whisper, “Monster.”

Sen gave the fox woman a bemused look. “You say that like it’s new information.”

“It was new to me,” she said, shooting the elder fox a baleful look.

Laughing River ignored his granddaughter and focused his attention on Sen. “Your injuries?”

“Healed,” said Sen without even bothering to check.

“You’re sure?”

“I’m a very good alchemist. Healing the actual injuries wasn’t trivial, but it wasn’t any kind of real challenge. I healed more complicated things than that as a foundation formation cultivator. There was this one woman who had this terrible infection in her leg from, well, I guess it doesn’t matter. It was all through her body, just doing terrible things to her. I wish I knew then what I know now. I could probably fix that problem with one elixir if I came across someone like her today. Might have even been able to avoid that amateur surgery I performed, too.”

Sen glanced up to see the foxes looking at him with looks of pure incredulity on their faces. He quickly moved on.

“Anyway, purging the devilish qi was the real challenge. I assure you that I’d know if any of that was left inside me. Damn uncomfortable having that inside your body. It’s gone now.”

Laughing River fixed him with an uncomfortably intense look. “You purged devilish qi from your body? Successfully?”

Sen leaned back a little from the look on the fox’s face, but he answered.

“Sure. But it’s not like it’s some kind of a cure-all. I couldn’t give that elixir I used to anyone else. It’d be no better than torturing them to death. Better to just slit their throats.”

Those words seemed to jar the elder fox out of some kind of trance he was in. He grimaced and nodded.

“Yes, I suspect you’re right. Although, if you managed to get a devil to drink that concoction, it might be interesting to see what happened.”

Sen perked up at that idea. Getting them to drink it might be a stretch, but if he could inject it somehow… But how? Sen frowned at the idea. He’d need to talk to some people about that. He’d never practiced much with ranged weapons, but there must be some kind of arrow or crossbow bolt meant to deliver poisons that way. Still, if he could get even a small dose inside of a devil’s body, he expected it would do just hideous, awful things to them. Sen felt a smile form on his lips. Misty Peak took one look at that before she glared at her grandfather.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

“He doesn’t need any help being scary,” she told the older fox.

Laughing River gave her a paternal smile. “He might not need the help, but I’m told being helpful is good karma.”

Misty Peak shook her head. “Not when he’s smiling that like that.”

Sen tucked that idea away for future exploration. It was interesting but not something he could use at the moment. So, he turned his attention to more pressing concerns.

“I think it’s high time we moved on from this place, but first I need—” Sen looked around at galehouse again and sighed. “First, I need to fix this place. Then, food.”

***

While he still felt drained, having the devilish qi out of his body let his recovery take on its usual speed. Sen repaired the galehouse and got some food cooking. Li Yi Nuo and Glimmer of Night came back inside at a signal from Laughing River. The sect woman refused to meet Sen’s eyes for more than a fleeting second before she lowered her head in a sign of… Fear? Respect? Both? Sen couldn’t make sense of the constantly shifting expressions on the woman’s face. Glimmer of Night was far easier to read.

The spider just looked around at the repaired structure and said, “You fixed your cave.”

“Not surprised I’m still alive?” asked Sen.

Glimmer of Night shrugged. “You would either live or die. You’re standing right there. You clearly lived. Why be surprised?”

Sen grinned at the spider. The more time he spent with Glimmer of Night, the better Sen liked him. The spider had a no-nonsense approach to the world that Sen appreciated. If the spider ever decided they were enemies, there wouldn’t be any games. The spider would just attack him. If Glimmer of Night wanted something, he would just ask. More importantly, Sen got the distinct impression that the spider would accept whatever answer he received.

“I’m planning on leaving this place, soon,” said Sen. “Do you still mean to travel with me?”

“Yes.”

“Do you need to visit your matriarch first? Explain things?”

The spider looked over to the fireplace that Sen had dramatically expanded to support his cooking efforts.

“After food,” said Glimmer of Night.

Sen looked over at Li Yi Nuo. “I expect that you’re more than ready to leave this place and get back to your sect.”

The woman’s eyes flicked up to meet his for the briefest fraction of a second. “Yes, senior.”

Sen wanted to roll his eyes. That behavior was going to get tedious in a hurry. He went over to the fireplace and checked on the food.

“Aren’t you going to ask me? Or grandfather?” asked Misty Peak.

“Hadn’t planned on it. I know he’s going with me. We have an arrangement. As for you,” Sen gave her a very firm look and then shot a significant look at Laughing River, “I assumed you had other things to do.”

Her mouth worked a few times. “I do, but those things won’t last forever. You could have at least invited me.”

“Only if I wanted to get you killed. You’re frustrating, sometimes, but not enough to deserve death.”

That seemed to bring Misty Peak up short. “What does that mean?”

“I’m returning to my training. The woman doing that training would not like you. If she decided to simply kill you, I couldn’t stop her. At best, I might be able to slow her down a little bit. I suppose you’re welcome to travel with us as far as your grandfather is going, but after that, it’s just me and him,” said Sen, gesturing at Glimmer of Night.

“Why does he get to go?” pouted Misty Peak.

“He won’t bother her. A celestial being told him to. He won’t bother her.”

“You said that he won’t bother her twice.”

“It seemed worth repeating to me,” offered Sen.

Misty Peak narrowed her eyes at Sen. “Very funny.”

“Soothe your wounded pride with some food,” said Sen, gesturing at the fireplace. “The food is done.”

After they finished eating, Glimmer of Night went off to talk to his spider family. Sen went back to where he’d fought with the devil. Laughing River tagged along, telling Misty Peak and Li Yi Nuo to stay put until they got back. When they reached the edge of the forest, Sen looked out over the destruction he’d helped to cause. He was a little surprised to discover that the horde hadn’t reformed. He felt a little stab of guilt about that. If the surviving members of the horde had scattered to the four winds, he was going to be at least indirectly responsible for some deaths in the region. He tried to remind himself that he hadn’t called the horde here. There was plenty of blame to pass around and, realistically, most of it wasn’t on his shoulders.

Of course, he couldn’t say that about the wasteland between him and the ruins. The earth was scorched and torn where he and Glimmer of Night had thrown around the cracked cores. Even beyond that central point of destruction, there were great swathes of blackened ground where his half-baked divine storm had unleashed his substitute tribulation lightning. Even now, he could feel a bit of divine qi hovering in the air. Not enough to do anything with or even gather up, but its flavor was present in the area. He was a bit more surprised to see that devilish beast corpses had seemingly gone untouched.

“I’m surprised the scavengers aren’t hard at work here,” said Sen.

“They won’t touch those things,” offered Laughing River. “Scavengers are wily. They know how to spot the things they shouldn’t eat. Are you that smart?”

Sen shot the elder fox a perplexed look. “What do you mean?”

“I assumed you came here to harvest their cores.”

“Oh,” said Sen, finally understanding. “No. Nothing of the sort. I came here to look for a body.”

“The devil?”

“The devil. I want to make sure it’s dead.”

“And if it’s not?” asked Laughing River.

“If not, then I get to add a new worry to my list.”

After nearly two hours of searching, Sen clenched his teeth in frustration as he did, indeed, get to add a new worry to his list. He resisted the urge to kick a devilish beast's corpse, mostly because an image of the thing exploding all over him flashed across his mind. Laughing River gave him a sympathetic look.

“He might still be dead,” said the fox. “He was right at the heart of that storm you summoned out of nowhere.”

Sen shook his head. “Master Feng was always very clear about enemies like that devil. They aren’t dead until you stab their corpse to be sure.”

“What a gruesomely pragmatic bit of advice,” observed Laughing River.

“You disagree?”

“Oh, heavens no. You should always make sure your enemies are really dead,” said the fox, before he got a thoughtful look on his face. “You should also make sure the corpse is actually them and not an illusion. Most people only make that mistake once.”

“Because they figure it out?”

“Because they get murdered by an enemy they stopped looking for.”

“Duly noted,” said Sen before giving the area around them a dissatisfied glare. “Alright, let’s go. I am beyond ready to leave this place.”