While Sen hadn’t been able to predict exactly when another spirit beast attack would come to the town, he had known with certainty that one would come. With that knowledge in hand, he hadn’t wasted his time. He’d made a habit of making at least some healing elixirs that mortals could use every week. With entire months behind him, he had a deep stockpile of the things just sitting around in one of his storage rings. That made it fairly easy for him to hand them out with the assistance of a few of the only lightly-injured townspeople. When Sen went to hand one to Dai Bao, the man actually shuddered at the sight of it. Sen had to simultaneously suppress a laugh and a wince of sympathy. The grizzled man gritted his teeth, took the elixir, and downed it. Sen watched in mild bemusement as Dai Bao squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation of a mountain of pain. A mountain of pain that did not appear. The man opened his eyes and glared at Sen.

“You could have told me this one wouldn’t hurt.”

“I thought it would be a nice surprise,” offered Sen without a hint of contrition in his voice.

Dai Bao glared a little more before he grudgingly nodded.

“Well, that’s true. To be honest, toward the end there, I thought you were just torturing me for fun. Today, though,” he said, hefting the halberd he’d used to dispatch the last bear-cat, “I saw what it was all for.”

“Worth it?” asked Sen.

The grizzled man looked torn as he considered the question. Sen didn’t blame him. It had been a lot of pain. Dai Bao looked over the other townspeople he’d fought with, and then out to the corpses of the bear-cats.

“It was,” the man finally said. “Although, I don’t think I could have made myself do it if I’d known what I was in for.”

“A common sentiment for so many worthwhile things, I would think,” said Sen.

“That’s the heavens’ truth,” said Dai Bao before he gave Sen a discouraged look. “I heard what you said after we finished, but how did we really do? Honestly.”

Sen had expected this question. “Everyone survived. Since that’s probably the most important consideration, you did well.”

“But?”

“These were very weak spirit beasts. To put it in cultivator terms, they were qi-condensing spirit beasts and just barely. If any of them had advanced to the point where they could manifest qi techniques, this would have gone very differently. Those things,” Sen gestured angrily at the bear-cat corpses, “are mean, and their qi techniques are nasty. The stronger ones can cut you open from a dozen feet away with a single swipe of their claws.”

Dai Bao’s eyes drifted over the rest of the townspeople who had fought. Sen imagined the man was picturing them with torn open stomachs or their throats ripped out by things that never got close enough to hit with a spear.

“So, this was pointless?” asked Dai Bao.

“No. It wasn’t pointless. Stronger spirit beasts generally don’t care about mortals who aren’t easy prey. They particularly don’t want to run into cultivators, who see them as a big pile of resources to collect. So, they tend to stick to the deeper wilds where even cultivators don’t want to go by themselves. That isn’t to say that a stronger spirit beast won’t wander out of the deep wilds occasionally, but the odds are pretty low that your town will ever see one. I can’t promise that every spirit beast you see will be as weak as these were, but many will simply leave if it’s too much trouble.”

“So, that’s the goal? To make it too much trouble to try to get into town?”

“Essentially, yes. Ideally, you’ll be able to kill them. Beast cores are good for trade. But making them leave is almost as good.”If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Why didn’t you explain all of this before?”

“Would it have made fighting them any easier?”

“Well, no.”

“If you knew, would you have worked as hard? Would they have worked as hard?” asked Sen, nodding to the rest.

“Oh,” said Dai Bao, his face scrunching with unhappiness. “Isn’t that a little cold?”

“Probably. On the other hand, I’m trying to get you ready for a time when I’m not here. Would you want to depend on people who were only putting in a half-effort because they thought they only needed to scare something away instead of kill it? What if something comes that won’t be scared off, like what came today?”

“I understand why you did it,” grumbled Dai Bao. “Doesn’t mean I have to approve.”

“You can tell them if you think they should know,” said Sen. “I won’t try to stop you. I’ll even admit it.”

The grizzled man eyed Sen critically for several long seconds, and then he sighed.

“You would, wouldn’t you? Knowing it would be useless or even destructive, you’d still admit it. Well, don’t bother. The ones who are smart enough to figure it out will understand it. The ones who aren’t smart enough to figure it out probably don’t need to know.”

“If you’re sure,” said Sen.

“Are all cultivators bastards like you?”

Sen lifted an eyebrow. “Not worried I’ll strike you down?”

“You haven’t killed anyone, yet. I doubt I’d be first on your list if you were going to start.”

“Well, that’s certainly a fact. I can’t say for sure about every other cultivator, but we’re all pretty cold bastards in my experience. Just goes with the territory. You have to be very selfish to challenge the heavens.”

Dai Bao gave Sen a dubious glance. “If you’re so selfish, why help us at all?”

“I’m sure I had some deep, obscure reason that will inevitably advance my cultivation,” said Sen in a pompous voice. “Or, you know, I haven’t perfected my selfishness, yet.”

“Of course. I’m sure it was one of those,” said the grizzled man before he frowned. “We had to fight them for a long time. I know it wasn’t actually forever, but it felt that way. How long did it take?”

“A couple of hours, give or take.”

“If those things were so weak, I don’t know that we could have kept that up for another hour or two or five.”

“It’s hard to say. Experience counts in fighting. This was the first time out for most of them. I’m not saying the next time will be easier, but it does get easier the more often you do it. I also have some thoughts on speeding things up at the beginning. It’ll take a bit of investment.”

“We don’t have much to invest.”

Sen waved it off. “Let me worry about that part for now. I’m not looking to make you all penniless. There are some other things we can do that won’t cost you anything but a little time and training. As for fighting longer, well, there are things you can do, but I’m not sure how practical it is. Or how willing people will be.”

Dai Bao snorted. “Right now, those people would do anything you ask them to.”

“What about you? Having exposed my wicked deception, where do you stand?”

“I’m not a child. Leaders keep things to themselves. Sometimes, it’s for a good reason. Sometimes, it’s for a bad reason or no reason at all. I can stand in front and play at being their leader, but I can’t teach them what you can. As long as you keep teaching them, I’ll keep standing in front.”

Sen nodded. He supposed that was the best he could really hope for in the situation.

“Don’t sell yourself short. They think of you as their leader more than you seem to think. Honestly, I’m surprised the town elders haven’t made more trouble about it.”

“What makes you think they haven’t?” said Dai Bao with a partly-amused, partly-annoyed expression. “I’m just old enough to not care what they think, and they can’t do anything to you. They won’t dare do anything to make life harder for the people who stood out here today and fought.”

“No, I don’t imagine that would go very well for them,” said Sen, summoning some silver tael from a storage ring. “We can worry about all of this another time. Take them to the inn and buy them food and drinks. Let them celebrate. They did earn it.”

Sen held out the coins to Dai Bao who almost choked at the sight of the money. Sen supposed he might have overestimated the costs, but he’d already offered the money. It would be petty to take some of it back. The grizzled man hesitantly took the money.

“If there’s any left?” asked Dai Bao.

“Think of something to buy that will benefit them all,” said Sen, his mind already drifting to other matters.

He could see Wu Meng Yao hovering nearby. No doubt, she was waiting until Sen was alone so she could pounce and, well, he didn’t know what. Annoy him, probably. He spoke on trivial topics with Dai Bao for a few more minutes before saying he’d come back in a few days and releasing the man to bestow well-earned rewards. As soon as the grizzled man began to walk away, Wu Meng Yao started toward Sen. He gave her a cheerful, toothy smile, waved, and activated his qinggong technique. Sen admitted that he’d be lying to himself if he didn’t find the look of startled outrage on her face hilarious in the split-second before he vanished from sight. He just didn’t have the time or patience for her at that moment. Besides, it was getting late and there was a little girl who was no doubt impatient for his return. That was way more important than dealing with whatever Wu Meng Yao wanted to talk about.