Sen bought himself a few minutes by cleaning up the impromptu campsite. Once he had everything stowed again, though, there was no getting around it. Heaving a small breath, he turned to look at Lifen.

“Just how angry do you think she’s going to be?” he asked, as an unfamiliar nervousness took up root in his chest.

Lifen pursed her lips. “Less angry than she’d be if you weren’t Feng Ming’s guest, but she won’t be pleased.”

“That’s just what I need,” muttered Sen as he eyed the formation flags. “Another person in the world who doesn’t like me.”

“I don’t think she’s really your biggest problem.”

Sen’s head snapped around. “What do you mean?”

“Well, that little moment of enlightenment you got, it didn’t go unnoticed.”

“How so?”

“Oh, that first day, there were people from all three sects crawling all over this beach like ants. They were definitely looking for something, or,” she pointed at Sen, “someone.”

Sen did the math in his head. He’d bought himself a few days with his qinggong technique on the way to Emperor’s Bay, but he also hadn’t planned on burning two days advancing his cultivation. It wasn’t likely, but it was possible that Wu Meng Yao and the other Soaring Skies sect members had reached the city. If that was the case, he wouldn’t be just another anonymous person in the crowd. He grimaced, as much as it was possible for him to remain anonymous and unnoticed. He thought again that maybe a mask would be a good idea. He hadn’t seen anyone else wearing one, but he wasn’t convinced that wearing one would make him more noticeable. It would definitely make him less recognizable. Of course, he didn’t have a mask to wear, so it was a bit of a moot point.

More concerning to him was that people from all three sects had come to the beach looking for whatever cultivator had found a moment of enlightenment. It couldn’t really be that rare, could it, thought Sen. Not enough to make three sects mobilize to search for whoever managed it. He’d also gotten himself and Lifen behind that obscuring formation pretty fast. So, why all of the attention? Had the Soaring Skies sect called in some kind of obligation to get more bodies out looking? Of course, if they had, that would mean that they knew he was here and were looking for him specifically. Realizing that he was about to start running himself in mental circles, Sen forced himself to take a couple of calming breaths and pull back from those thoughts that threatened to spin out of control into full-blown paranoia.

There were only a few likely options. Option one was that bursts of enlightenment simply were rare enough that all the sects wanted a chance to try to recruit or capture whoever had one on the beach. Option two was that the Soaring Skies sect knew he was in the city, or had been recently, and was leveraging whatever resources they could to find him. Option three was a combination of those two possibilities. It could very well be that the Soaring Skies sect had sent people here looking for him, while the other sects simply come looking to find someone. Sen discovered that he wasn’t thrilled by any of those possibilities. He’d been looking to avoid sect entanglements and get on his way. All of the attention threatened that plan.

He caught his gaze drifting out to the bay and all of those ships. It was a potential option, except Sen knew nothing about how one got passage on one. There were people in the city who would likely help him with that, but it would take time. Sen didn’t understand how a cultivator so early in his development could always feel so short of time. To his mind, time ought to feel like a nearly limitless resource. Yet, more often than not, it seemed like time meant to work against him, rather than for him. Even if he did know where to go get passage on a ship, he still needed to ensure that Lifen made it safely back to the Silver Crane.

While Sen was quite sure that she had stayed to try to learn something, he didn’t think that was all of it. Staying had created problems for her, problems that could have been easily avoided by just going home when Sen’s enlightenment had first struck. That suggested to him that she was at least somewhat uncertain about her safety if she traveled back alone. Sen had been the one to bring her out to the beach. His enlightenment had delayed her return. It was on him to make sure that she actually reached the Silver Crane safely and with the minimum number of hassles. Once he did that, he could worry about getting himself out of the city as quickly and quietly as he could. Settled on a course of action, he took the preemptive measure of hiding. Then, he took down the formations and stowed the flags in his storage ring.

“We should see about getting you home,” he said to Lifen.

She gave him a quizzical look. “Aren’t you worried about the sects?”

“I am, but I suspect that will hold for an hour or two. After all,” Sen puffed out his chest and adopted his young master persona, “honor demands that I see you safely returned to your home.”

Lifen giggled at his ridiculous posturing, but she didn’t raise any more objections. Taking a steady, but unhurried pace, they made their way toward the paths that led back to the city.

“Did it work, then?” Lifen asked. “Were you able to, how did you put it, consolidate your advancement?”

Sen nodded. “It did work. I was able to push it a little farther along with help from that qi-gathering formation. I’m pretty sure that I’m a late-stage foundation formation cultivator now.”

“I can’t even imagine what that must be like,” said Lifen, a mixture of wistfulness and bitterness in her voice.

Sen eyed her. “There’s nothing stopping you. I mean, there’s nothing obvious in your cultivation to prevent it. I don’t see any insurmountable blockages. You don’t seem to be suffering from qi deviation.”

Lifen sighed. “What I’m suffering from is a lack of information. The sects horde the training manuals. When they do become available to the public, there’s a bidding war.”

Sen could appreciate that problem. He was getting closer and closer to needing to deal with the same issue himself. He wished he could do something to help her. Then, almost unwillingly, he realized that he probably could do something to help her. He couldn’t give her a true cultivation path like the ones that manuals offered. Those were complex things that went beyond simple patterns and included philosophical considerations and insight. What he could do was try to help her find her qi affinities. Depending on what they were, he did have cycling patterns that he could give her. It wasn’t a true solution, but it was more than she had now. The right cycling patterns would let her focus her cultivation. She could spend more time cycling to gather the right kind of qi for her needs. Of course, it also meant spending more time in the city. Time that he didn’t think he had.

Sen felt Lifen stiffen slightly beside him and had to stop himself from grinding his teeth. He glanced up the trail and saw a pair of young men in all-too-familiar-looking robes waiting for them.

“Keep moving,” said Sen in a quiet whisper.

As they approached the pair, the one on the right held up a hand to stop them. Sen gave the young man a look filled with so much violent hostility that the sect cultivator took a step back.

“You’re blocking the path,” said Sen, keeping his voice flat and even.

“We must speak with you,” said the sect member on the right, regaining a bit of his composure.

Sen reminded himself that not everything needed to turn into a fight. He’d made his anger at being stopped clear. That would be enough for now.

“Regarding?” said Sen.

“Are you the one who experienced the moment of enlightenment two days ago?”

Sen let the feeling of his quickly dissipating patience fill the air between them. “And if I was?”

“Then you will come with us to-,” started the sect member.

“No. Move aside.”

It seemed that no wasn’t a word that the sect members heard very often because both of their mouths dropped open in shock. Sen had to check a laugh as the two of them reminded him of a pair of fish. The one on the left recovered first and drew himself up.

“An invitation from the elders of the Soaring Skies sect is not to be ignored,” he declared, in the same way one might announce that water is wet.

“I have not ignored it. Tell your elders that while I appreciate their invitation, I must respectfully decline. I have urgent business elsewhere that will not wait.”

“With a filthy whore,” muttered the one on the right.

No one saw Sen move. They only saw the aftermath. One second, the sect member on the right was standing there with a look of dawning realization on his face. The next, he was ten feet away on the ground, spitting up blood and clutching at his misshapen chest. Sen turned his attention to the sect member on the left, who hurriedly took two steps back.

“Is this the honor of the Soaring Skies sect? To insult my companion when you don’t get what you wish?”

“But she is a whore,” protested the remaining sect member.

“No. When she stands beside me, she is an empress, and you are ants,” said Sen, his eyes moving over to the injured sect member. “Out of respect for your elders, I spared his life. I suggest he be given remedial lessons on politeness.”

Sen held out a hand to Lifen. She took it, and the two of them walked away projecting a dignity that could rival the immortals.