Cultivation starts with picking up attributes
Chapter 123: Ch-123: Show You...

Chapter 123: Ch-123: Show You...

The air in the Hall settled into a cold silence. No one spoke for a long time after Tian Shen’s final words.

The weight of forty-seven deaths lingered like an uninvited spirit, unseen but undeniable. Even the spirit lanterns flickered with unease.

Elder Su withdrew her hand quietly, stepping back into the circle of elders.

Tian Shen did not sit. Feng Yin remained behind him, poised and still. Little Mei watched them all with narrowed eyes.

Sect Master Qiu cleared his throat, a signal of transition.

"It grieves us all, but the outcome is fixed. The perpetrators have been executed. The threat neutralized."

"Neutralized, huh." Tian Shen echoed softly.

Elder Lei frowned.

"Losses were suffered, yes. But we’ve ensured no further damage to the Sect’s infrastructure. No lingering threats."

"Except one," Elder Jian added. "We do not yet know how they bypassed the formations so easily. That warrants further investigation."

Tian Shen’s gaze sharpened.

Feng Yin took a step forward, her voice calm.

"We suggest an internal audit of the formations. Perhaps sabotage."

Sect Master shook his head.

"That would incite fear within the Sect. We must project strength now more than ever."

"Fear is already here," Tian Shen replied. "The Scout Division is gone. The formation cores were down before the assault even began. If that doesn’t inspire fear, it inspires betrayal."

"Enough," Elder Lei said curtly. "The matter has been closed. We buried the traitors beneath our blades. The bodies of those criminals have been disposed of."

He looked directly at Tian Shen.

"You will do the Sect no service by reopening wounds we’ve already sewn shut."

Tian Shen’s fists clenched at his side.

Sect Master raised a hand.

"Tian Shen, your emotions are not misplaced. We do not belittle your grief. But the Sect must survive. It must move forward."

"Without memory of the dead?"

"With memory," Elder Su interrupted softly, her eyes meeting his. "But without becoming trapped in it."

For a long time, there was only the quiet hum of spirit lanterns.

"You have our permission to construct a memorial shrine."

Sect Master added.

"At the orchard, if you wish. For Xu Wei and the others."

Tian Shen did not thank them.

Feng Yin inclined her head slightly.

"We obey."

"And your new responsibilities remain," said Elder Jian. "You are still commander of the Scout Division. Your assignment has not changed."

Tian Shen looked at the elders, memorizing every one of their expressions.

Detached. Reasonable. Not cruel. Not kind.

Just... political.

"Understood," he said at last. "Then may I be dismissed?"

Sect Master Qiu nodded.

"Go. Regather your strength. The times are shifting. We’ll need it."

...

Outside, the air was colder than it should have been. Not because of wind, or the weather. But because something vital had been lost.

Tian Shen stepped out onto the courtyard stones, the faint scent of incense still clinging to his robes.

Feng Yin walked beside him. Little Mei leapt to the ground, her tails dragging, eyes shadowed.

None of them spoke until they passed the boundary of the Hall.

Then Little Mei muttered.

"They called it regrettable. Not catastrophic."

Feng Yin looked ahead, eyes unreadable.

"That’s how they’ve always measured loss."

Tian Shen’s voice was low.

"They weren’t just scouts. They were the Sect’s eyes. Its ears. Its front line. Without them..."

"Without them... Forget it."

Feng Yin said softly.

They walked on, down the old path toward the orchard, where ashes had just been buried. The golden leaves still swayed, though none of them felt beautiful anymore.

...

That evening, Tian Shen stood beneath the spirit trees. He held Xu Wei’s broken fan, still cracked, still carrying soot.

He placed it on a simple altar—nothing ornate, just polished stone, fresh incense, and the name of every fallen member carved by his own hand. Each character glowed faintly with Qi.

Little Mei placed a bundle of spirit wine beside it.

Feng Yin added folded flags, each representing a lost comrade.

They bowed in silence.

...

Days passed.

The Sect continued.

Life resumed in the Feilun grounds. Disciples trained in the courtyards. The elders gave speeches. The library was cleaned and restructured. New assignments were issued.

But the Scout Division was not replaced.

Their base remained empty.

Their name was rarely spoken.

Except in whispers.

Except by the Division itself.

...

One evening, Elder Su visited Tian Shen at the Scout Division’s training field. Drowsy perched on the roof above, watching.

Tian Shen was sparring with three inner disciples, his movements precise and unrelenting. He broke the rhythm only when Elder Su called his name.

"Tian Shen."

He exhaled.

"Master."

She waited until the others left before speaking.

"You’ve taken this harder than I expected."

"They were my people."

"I know."

"They weren’t numbers. They weren’t assets. They were people."

"I know," she repeated, softer this time. "But the Sect needs leaders. And sometimes leaders carry grief in silence."

"Then they shouldn’t have to."

Elder Su smiled faintly.

"Spoken like someone who hasn’t yet become what they’re meant to be."

He didn’t reply.

She stepped closer.

"I’m assigning you full authority to restructure the Scout Division. Train new ones. Form your own command. We can’t replace the fallen. But maybe we can grow something from their ashes."

Tian Shen’s eyes met hers.

"You’re trusting me with that? Even after what I said in the Hall?"

"Especially because of it," Elder Su said. "The Sect needs someone who remembers."

She placed a folded map on the table beside him.

Then she turned and left.

...

That night, Tian Shen gathered his team.

He stepped forward.

"You all know what happened. And you know what didn’t."

No one spoke.

"The Sect called it an acceptable loss."

He looked each of them in the eye.

"We won’t be acceptable."

Feng Yin stood beside him.

Little Mei’s tails flared with quiet defiance.

Drowsy let out a low hum from the roof.

"We are the Scout Division," Tian Shen said.

"We grow from the broken ground. And we do not forget."

And from that moment forward, they didn’t.

Not the names. Not the faces.

Not the fire.

Not the silence that came after.

Not the oath that followed.

...

The following weeks passed like the grinding edge of a whetstone.

Tian Shen stood at the training fields before dawn, every day, without fail.

The Scout Division had been joined by new recruits. Some were volunteers, some were chosen. All of them were untested.

But they were willing.

He made no speeches. He made no promises. The ash still lingered in the corners of the old Scout barracks, and the scent of burned talismans never quite faded. Let them see it. Let them feel it.

"You want to run ahead of the Sect’s defenses?"

Tian Shen asked one morning, his voice like stone.

"You want to see what the world looks like before the Sect does? Then earn your eyes."

He broke them down with drills, built them up again with real missions. Scouting bandit outposts.

Tracking remnants, Testing formations in abandoned ruins. He taught them how to fight—but more than that, how to see.

Feng Yin oversaw their spirit sense training. Little Mei, though still a child in appearance, drilled them in stealth and diversion tactics with a ferocity that would make an elder flinch.

Drowsy, ever silent, often flew overhead as a looming shadow, her sudden dives catching even the most cautious recruit off-guard. She became their final test—if you could evade Drowsy, you could pass.

Slowly, the Scout Division began to breathe again. Not as it once was. But as it might yet become.

One night, after the last trainee had collapsed from exhaustion, Elder Su arrived.

"Tian Shen," she said without preamble, "pack up. You’re coming with me."

He didn’t question. Just nodded.

Within the hour, they were in the sky, riding a swift spirit beast Elder Su had summoned. The winds howled beneath them, mountain ranges shrinking below.

"Where are we going?"

Tian Shen finally asked.

She said, eyes fixed ahead.

"There’s something I want to show you."

Tian Shen nodded. He turned slightly in the saddle, the lights of the Feilun Sect now distant stars behind them.

"Feng Yin can handle things," he said. "They’ll be in good hands."

Elder Su gave a rare smile, brief but genuine.

"I never doubted that."

They flew in silence for a while, the moon casting silver over the clouds, painting the land in glimmering shades of pale grey and frost-blue.

Tian Shen broke the quiet first.

"You chose now for a reason."

"I did."

"You waited until they started to rebuild."

"Yes."

He looked at her sidelong.

"You’re not one to waste time. So what is this really about?"

Elder Su didn’t answer immediately. Her hair whipped in the wind, her expression unreadable.

"Back when I first joined the Sect," she said slowly, "I was like you. Angry. Young. Obsessed with what was right, what was owed."

Tian Shen gave a quiet, bitter chuckle.

"And now?"

"Now I’m older. Still angry. But I’ve learned that justice rarely mattered."

He turned his gaze forward again.

"So this is a lesson?"

"It’s a reminder."

She looked at him, her eyes sharp, unwavering.

"You’ve stepped into a role most don’t survive. Not just as a leader—but as someone who remembers. That’s a burden."

"I’ll carry it."

"I know. That’s what scares me."

He didn’t speak. Not at first.

"You’re not scared I’ll fail. You’re scared I’ll become like them."

Elder Su didn’t deny it.

"Don’t," she said. "Don’t forget what it means to bleed and still love this Sect."

"I won’t."

She finally nodded.

"Good. Then what I’m about to show you..."

Tian Shen closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, they were nearing a fog-shrouded gorge.

"Alright," he said. "Show me."