Even with all of the improvements to his body and mind, Sen found the days starting to blur together. There was simply so much to do. During the day, there were countless details that he had to sort through, decide about, or simply approve of. That was after delegating way more authority than he ...
2024-04-13 04:28:12 +0000 UTC View PostAfter wisely choosing cowardice, Sen gave Lo Meifeng a brief recounting of what happened on their way to the capital. She mostly took it in stride until he got to the last fight with Tseun Rong. As he talked his way through that fight, her expression went increasingly slack and her eyes took on a...
2024-04-12 05:02:42 +0000 UTC View Post“I’ll do anything,” said the Xie woman. “Please don’t send me back out there. I’ll do anything you want me to.”
Sen just gave her a bland look for a moment before he sighed.
“Did you not understand the requirements when you came in here?” asked Sen for at le...
2024-04-11 06:53:11 +0000 UTC View Post“And then,” said Chan Dishi, howling with laughter, “he just looks around at everyone and says, ‘Go home.’ Like he was dismissing annoying servants. It was magnificent! Oh, you should have seen the faces of all those sect cultivators. Half of them looked like they were going keel over f...
2024-04-11 04:12:26 +0000 UTC View PostSen was looking at what he could only describe as a cultivator’s lair. There were qi-gathering formations that, almost beyond belief, remained active. There were a lot of other formations active that Sen started to sort through. At least one of them seemed to be devoted to keeping the ...
2024-04-10 09:16:09 +0000 UTC View PostSen was pleasantly surprised when the crowds dispersed and even the sects departed. He had half expected the patriarchs to come down and offer their very unwanted opinions to him. That was an event he was in no mood to deal with. The servants— Your servants now, he reminded himself –...
2024-04-10 03:46:39 +0000 UTC View PostSen knew that there were a million things he should be doing at that moment, but exactly none of them were appealing. The servant girl was just standing there, beaming at him. Long Jia Wei looked like he was stuck somewhere between shock and bursting into laughter. A quick sweep with his spiritua...
2024-04-09 07:51:24 +0000 UTC View PostWhile it was a little disappointing, Sen couldn’t pretend surprise when a few people declined to take the vow. He supposed they didn’t have children, or common sense, or both. Then again, maybe they just thought it was better to die immediately than take their chances out in the world with al...
2024-04-09 05:29:37 +0000 UTC View PostNow, like a great many other writers, I'm an indoors creature by nature. As Neil Gaiman once said, "We're writers. We have keyboards. We have darkness." Buuuuuttttt, every once in a while, something happens that warrants going outside on purpose. Today, I was lucky enough to be in the zone of Nor...
2024-04-08 19:59:14 +0000 UTC View PostSen watched as Xie Caiji’s face twisted with the knowledge that this wasn’t over yet. He wasn’t just going to kill her and be done with it. Ever since the rest of the Xie household had been brough out, he’d had a nagging sensation he was missing something. He started moving his e...
2024-04-08 06:51:15 +0000 UTC View Post“Soon!” thundered the voice.
Xie Caiji shot up in bed and clutched at her chest. She could feel her heart pounding, even as fear writhed inside of her like a parasite that no medicine could kill. She hadn’t had a peaceful moment of sleep since she’d finally come face to face with Ju...
2024-04-08 03:38:49 +0000 UTC View PostSen supposed it was a testament to just how much he was asking for when Jing stood there in motionless silence for most of a minute. Given Sen’s well-known feelings about nobles, it was entirely possible that Jing thought Sen was playing some kind of bizarre joke on him. Sen was even tempted to...
2024-04-07 06:50:40 +0000 UTC View Post“It was,” admitted Jing, “but maybe we shouldn’t change the subject just yet.”
“Do you really want to compare complaints right now? Because I just got taken through the city by what I assume were royal guards hand-picked because they walked slowly.”
“About tha...
2024-04-06 08:24:03 +0000 UTC View PostSen wished that he had kept his spiritual sense extended. At least then he wouldn’t been caught off guard by the presence of everyone in the throne room. Not that it took any kind of brilliance to realize that the king would be surrounded by people whenever he was in the throne room. Sen just h...
2024-04-06 04:46:45 +0000 UTC View PostSen was briefly worried that Jing had decided that they’d all just stay at the palace as the guards led them deeper into the city. Debt or no debt, Sen would have fled entirely if that was the situation. That would be a hell not worth enduring. Mercifully, the guards led them to a very familiar...
2024-04-05 05:27:57 +0000 UTC View PostAs the royal guards led them through the city, Sen did his best not to grind his teeth. The royal guards were clearly under orders to take their time getting Sen and his companions to wherever they were going. They became a moving spectacle, which Sen supposed might even be a nice change of pace ...
2024-04-05 02:39:28 +0000 UTC View PostThere were no more attacks after the one led by Tseun Rong. It was a nice change as they covered the remaining distance to the capital, not that it did much to improve Sen’s mood. There hadn’t been much talking after the battle. Some of it had been injuries, and Glimmer of Night never talked ...
2024-04-04 04:32:08 +0000 UTC View PostSen had meant to end it. When he saw Tseun Rong take to the sky, he could just sense the defeat in the man. It was a retreat. He considered just letting the coward go. Sen was injured and, no matter how detached he felt, he knew that simply surviving a direct battle with a nascent soul cultivator...
2024-04-03 20:53:46 +0000 UTC View PostShen Mingxia had been aware of the fight between Sen and the nascent soul cultivator. It was impossible not to be aware of it with the kind of power those two were throwing around. Her very being shuddered every time one of them ignited a technique. She’d thought, after all of...
2024-04-03 06:48:46 +0000 UTC View PostMuch to his surprise and Tseun Rong’s naked shock, Sen’s first attack was very nearly the last word in their fight. The nascent soul cultivator seemed mildly impressed by Sen’s speed, but not by the attack itself. That held right up until the moment Sen’s jian passed cleanly through 2024-04-03 04:57:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everybody, so I want you to know that I am working on chapters for today. However, the weather is particularly screwy in my little corner of Ohio. We have both an active flash flood warning and a tornado watch. So, even if nothing bad happens to my apartment in particular, it's entirely possi...
2024-04-02 23:50:52 +0000 UTC View PostWu Gang had been relieved when Sen suggested that he could come along to capital. It had let him put off a decision he’d never thought he’d ever be making. Plus, it was a chance to learn a bit more about a person who had radically altered his life, but that he didn’t really know at all. His...
2024-04-02 07:11:09 +0000 UTC View Post“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. I...
2024-04-02 05:12:58 +0000 UTC View PostWu Gang went so still that Sen was certain the man wasn’t even breathing. Then, the teacup in his hand started trembling so badly that the hot liquid splashed out onto Wu Gang’s hand. Something that went all but unnoticed until Sen reached out and took the cup away from him. The big man stare...
2024-04-01 05:00:57 +0000 UTC View Post“It’s not?” asked Wu Gang, his brow furrowing. “That’s odd. Because lots of people called it a sect. The Judgment’s Gale Sect. The Hand of Chaos Sect. The Heavens Scouring Blade Sect. The Blue Demon Sect—”
Sen’s head shot up off the table. “What?! People are calling it t...
2024-03-31 06:39:57 +0000 UTC View PostOkay, first things first. I now have in my metaphorical grubby little paws a fine box filled with copies of Volume 2. So, for those in the Uncle Kho's Cultivator Corner tier, I'm planning to start sending those out this coming week. For anyone else looking to get a signed copy of Volume 2, there ...
2024-03-30 22:42:11 +0000 UTC View PostSen did pause long enough strip the dead cultivators of their belongings. After a moment of thought, he reduced their bodies to ashes. Wu Gang gave him a curious look.
“Dead bodies are bad for the health. No reason to make the mortals clean them up.”
“That’s… That’s very p...
2024-03-30 08:12:43 +0000 UTC View Post“I’m sorry,” said Sen. “I never should have brought you along for this. I should have known better. I just didn’t expect it to be this violent. I beg your forgiveness, Shen Mingxia.”
She gave him a frown.
“Is this why you’ve been so quiet the last few day...
2024-03-30 04:21:03 +0000 UTC View Post“What’s interesting?” asked Tuan Baihu.
The man chanced a look down at his injured leg, but apparently decided that it was something he could fight through. Sen simply ignored the question.
“You know, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask my betters for a long time no...
2024-03-29 05:44:59 +0000 UTC View Post