Chapter 87 – Virtues of a Master (II)

Chapter 87

Virtues of a Master (II)

“You’ve held yourself well back then,” Elder Qin said just as I sat down to eat some dinner.

We’ve been busy with cleaning the town up and healing the townsfolk for six straight hours, suffering through many a teary reunion before we could finally breathe normally, and chartered away to the Xi Zhao family’s mansion on the outskirts, where they quickly threw together a minor feast.

Not everyone from his family survived–most of the servants had perished, as had a few of his cousins, but his parents as well as his grandfather all lived. To express their gratitude (and out of legitimate worship, it seemed), they insisted on hosting us at least for the night, and we didn’t reject it.

The kids took their baths and had their changes of clothes, and we soon found ourselves dining in a wide and open hall, seated atop quite comfortable benches. There weren’t cushions pressed against my flat bum, but the wood was kind of… soft? Far more comfortable than anything in the sect, I’ll tell you that much.

As Elders, Elder Qin and I had the seats of the highest honor–at the very top, distanced from everyone else. It was a terraced hall with railings separating the layers. Directly below us were the kids, and then below them Xi Zhao’s family. As such, Elder Qin’s words were only heard by me.

“What do you mean?” I asked, taking a bite out of a smoking potato. It was a bit dry and a bit too overcooked, but it was actually fairly decent considering there wasn’t any salt on it.

“When I was thirteen,” instead of answering, he started a story. “My Master secretly took me out of the sect and on a small mission, he called it. At the time, the neighboring small cities to the north had been engaged in a war for a few years, so he wanted me to see a bit of it, to steel my cultivator’s heart.

“We arrived just in time to witness one of the most brutal scenes I’d ever seen in my life–about two hundred thousand mortals charging at each other, barely equipped with any armor, seemingly bereft of fear, chopping and slashing and stabbing as blindly as bats. Within a minute, I was tossing my innards out behind a boulder while my Master drank wine and laughed.”

“Oh.”

“It gets easier.” Elder Qin glanced over at me and smiled rather gently. “In time. Rather than lament those who are gone, strengthen yourself by those we’ve saved.”

“… how’d you know?” I asked, looking away and taking a bite of a rabbit leg. Meaty, dry, and a bit too smoky for my taste.

“The eyes,” he said. “It’s always in the eyes, Elder Lu.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

We fell silent, eating and listening to the kids’ chatter. Apparently, there was some discrepancy about who won the bet between Dai Xiu and Xi Zhao.

“Why are they so different?” I didn’t mean to ask it out loud, honestly. But it just… slipped through my lips.

“Would you trade your life for theirs?” … probably not. “But, much like you, they are… trying their best, Elder Lu. The respect they hold for you is bone-deep. And, as their Master, it is up to you to steer them away from the darkness. Become their anchor.”

I am tempted to crack an inappropriate joke to stop it… but I can’t. Looking over at the old man gorging on some stew, I think I may have finally realized the ‘why’ that had been bothering me for so long.