“So, did you really—” started Wu Gang for at least the fifth time that day.

“Seriously? Do you want me to start asking you some did you really questions? Because I can,” said Sen.

“Okay,” said Wu Gang with a laugh. “I get it. Those questions do get tiresome. It’s just that I don’t get to be the one asking them all that often.”

Sen thought back to something that Laughing River had told Li Yi Nuo during that bizarre venture into the ruins.

“Okay, here’s a good rule of thumb. The crazier and more impossible it sounds, the more likely it is to be true.”

Wu Gang frowned at that and said, “Those stories don’t always paint you in the best light.”

“I’m sure they don’t. There are good reasons why people aren’t always happy to see me.”

Sen glanced over his shoulder. Shen Mingxia seemed to be doing some kind of exercise with her qi. Long Jia Wei was doing his level best not to draw any attention whatsoever to himself. Glimmer of Night was eating something that Sen chose not to look at too closely. Sen had given the spider a storage ring. Ever since then, he’d caught the spider randomly eating things that didn’t look especially like food to him. Some questions will only result in knowledge you regret possessing, Sen told himself and he turned his eyes back to the road ahead. The group had been traveling by foot the last few days out of necessity. They were moving into the populated area outside the capital’s walls, which made flying around on qi platforms little more than a good way to announce their exact location. The attacks had stopped. Sen didn’t know if they’d simply worked their way through all the teams of killers sent after them, or if there was some other explanation.

The addition of Wu Gang to the party also meant that either he or Glimmer of Night would have to carry two people on their qi platform. While Sen thought that he could probably do it if he pushed himself, he didn’t think the spider could. He could see it as a potential training tool, but not with so much uncertainty floating around them. Wearing himself out all day only to find a bunch of core formation assassins waiting for them somewhere did not strike Sen as a good time. No, it was better to cover the last bit of the journey by foot. The fact that they were all cultivators allowed them to continue making good time, even if it wasn’t the crushing pace that Sen had been setting before.

Part of Sen had expected some pushback over the idea of Wu Gang joining them. Pushback that had not manifested. It had taken Sen’s distracted mind longer than it should have to piece together why the resistance never appeared. Shen Mingxia had appeared happy to have him along. She picked the man’s brain about everything from cultivation advice to where to find the best food in places that Sen had never even heard of. Long Jia Wei simply didn’t dare to object to anything that Sen said, lest his reprieve and life were cut short. Glimmer of Night, as far as Sen could tell, just didn’t care. One more or less human that wasn’t a threat to the spider didn’t mean much. So, why worry about it? At least, that was what Sen imagined Glimmer of Night’s thought process looked like. It was equally possible that the spider had gotten distracted by one of his web patterns and was registering Wu Gang as part of the scenery. Sen knew that he could just ask, but a little part of him enjoyed not knowing. It was one of the few harmless mysteries in his life.

As they approached the town where Sen meant for them to stop for the day, though, his intuition started warning him. He slowed to a stop and then let his hand drift up to pinch the bridge of his nose. The others, having seen him stop, had drawn a little closer and were giving him questioning looks. He gave them all a mirthless smile.

“Well, I hoped you enjoyed our break from all the fighting. It’s over,” said Sen.

Shen Mingxia, Long Jia Wei, and Wu Gang all traded looks. Glimmer of Night continued to stare at Sen with a blank expression. Shen Mingxia had apparently been appointed spokesperson by silent agreement because she was the one who spoke up.

“How do you know?” she asked, casting a wary look around them.

“I just know. I can feel it,” said Sen. “I could probably figure out why I know if I work hard enough at it. I expect that there are subtle variations in the environmental qi that shouldn’t be there. Maybe I’m picking up on some echo of murderous intent. Who knows? It could well be some kind of karmic sensitivity. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that we’re about to walk into some violence.”

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“Should one of us go scout?” asked Shen Mingxia.

“No,” said Sen and Wu Gang at the same time.

Shen Mingxia rolled her eyes and asked, “Why?”

Sen just nodded to Wu Gang, curious to see if the man’s reasons would match up with his own.

“If someone is waiting for us ahead,” said Wu Gang, “they’ve had time to prepare the ground. They may have set some traps. Unless they’re complete imbeciles, they’ll have at least a few people watching for us. Sending a scout just divides our strength and gives them a chance to capture one of us.”

“Agreed,” said Sen. “Besides, I’m probably the best suited to do that scouting. It’d be irresponsible of me to go ahead and leave you here. I know that you’re all capable but, without a clear understanding of who or what we face, staying together gives us the best odds.”

“Or, you know, you could just go up there and kill them all,” said Shen Mingxia in a tone that was only half joking.

Wu Gang gave her a sharp look.

“Do you normally just plan around him killing everyone?” he asked.

“It’s been playing out that way a lot just recently,” said Sen. “Honestly, I’d be dumbfounded if it didn’t go that way this time.”

A deep frown settled on Wu Gang’s face.

“Do you even give them a chance to walk away?”

Sen felt himself neatly tucking away his compassion and his mercy, felt himself leaning in to that Judgment’s Gale persona. There was a purity to being that person, a kind of certainty that he didn’t feel the rest of the time. He knew there was something else there too, or maybe it’d be more correct to say that there was something missing. Limits. Lu Sen had them. He had lines he wouldn’t cross. Things he wouldn’t do, or at least wouldn’t let himself do. Judgment’s Gale didn’t have those limits. Within the bounds of his power, Judgment’s Gale was capable of anything. Sen recognized that the separation between Sen and Judgment’s Gale was a pure illusion, but it was also real. It was a way to safeguard and preserve his humanity for those few people he considered worthy of it.

“I tell them to leave,” said Judgment’s Gale. “Once. After that, everyone is fair game. Now, let’s go meet whoever it is that’s waiting for us.”

Sen was normally reserved with his use of his spiritual sense. It could be overwhelming, even dangerous for any mortals caught in it. For that matter, it could be troublesome for qi-gathering and even foundation-formation cultivators. As they started down the road, though, all of those concerns faded away. Sen let his spiritual sense roll forward like a tidal wave, spreading it out for miles. He felt mortal animals and spirit beasts alike freeze as they sensed that spiritual sense crash over them like the eyes of a predator. He felt the presence of cultivators in the forest around the road. Dozens of them. He thought that there were as many waiting for them now as they had found collectively on their way there. He couldn’t make vague guesses about their levels of advancement, but there were definitely some core formation cultivators in that mix. Much like the animals and spirit beasts, they froze when they felt his spiritual sense. Sen recounted what he was sensing as they walked, and was glad they hadn’t sent anyone forward to scout.

“Perhaps we should turn aside,” said Wu Gang. “Find another way.”

Sen considered the suggestion and then rejected it.

“It wouldn’t change anything. If we don’t deal with them now, we’ll just have to deal with them somewhere else tomorrow. At least we can do something to limit the damage and mortal casualties here. That’s next to impossible in the capital proper,” said Sen before turning his gaze to Glimmer of Night. “Your job here is to help protect the others. I’ll do what I can, but I expect they’ll have someone formidable up there waiting for me. Probably someone they recruited for exactly this moment. I expect they’re going to be taking up most of my attention.”

“I will protect them,” said Glimmer of Night.

“One more thing,” said Judgment’s Gale. “If they attack, we kill everyone. No one escapes. No one reports back. Every last one of them dies.”

Wu Gang looked decidedly uncomfortable with that proclamation. Sen almost let it go but changed his mind in the end.

“If you can’t do that, now is the time to tell me," said Sen.

The man didn’t answer immediately, but his brows furrowed like he was concentrating hard. He finally looked over at Sen.

“Is that really necessary?”

“All of this has been to send me a message. Stay away. You’re not wanted here. So, this time, I’m going to send the message.”

“What message?”

“That I’m done tolerating interference. From here on out, no survivors.”

There was another long pause before Wu Gang let out a resigned breath.

“Very well,” he said. “No survivors.”

No one spoke again as they approached the walls. Then, the gate to the town came into view. Instead of guards on either side of the gate, there was just one man. Sen could tell that the man was making an effort to mute his presence, but it still blazed. He’s either the strongest core formation cultivator I’ve ever met, or he’s in the nascent soul stage, thought Sen. Sen brought the group to a stop well away from the man, although still close enough that nascent soul senses would pick up anything anyone said. The man took a moment to straighten his robes and reach up to check that his touji was still in place before he regarded Sen with emotionless eyes.

“Judgment’s Gale,” said the man. “I am Tseun Rong. I have been sent to tell you that your path ends here.”

“Take them and go,” said Sen. “One chance.”

“Or you’ll do what, little core cultivator?”

Rather than answer the man, Sen turned to look at Wu Gang.

“Now, do you understand?”