Chapter 21
Risless had listened to Elder Liu as before and told her to once again visit Dong Chen in the morning. There wasn’t much else she could say because she was still unwilling to see Dong Chen after what happened. In her heart she wanted to talk to him, be around him, but she felt what she did was unforgivable. Still, he was not in danger, as long as he was here in the Sect he was safe and she could take her time to get to know him.
She still yearned to see him every day, wanting to take care of him. She thought of that as nothing more than a mother’s instinct and reasoned cultivators needed to fight against their own instincts to get to a higher level.
Risless went to watch the Inner Disciples train. They were all young and beautiful girls, most were younger than her son, and they diligently cultivated and practiced their martial arts. The formations they worked together to form would be the envy of almost every other sect and their robes were pristine white with some red interlaced.
The embroidered flowers in their sashes were all top quality and spiritually imprinted so that they could show motion when the wearer moved.
“Sect Master,” the girls all acknowledged and bowed when they saw Risless.
“Continue on,” Risless said.
She then moved on to another part of the sect. The places where the food grew, the places where they cultivated medicinal plants. The sect itself was large and spanned thousands of miles in every direction. A regular mortal would take months to walk from one end to the other, but for cultivators it was within a blink of an eye that she could go from one end to another.
Have I been unable to connect with my son because he is a mortal and I am a cultivator?
Risless had been pondering these things over and over. Among cultivators her level and the lowest cultivator were like the ground and the sky, but the weakest cultivator compared to a mortal was the difference between the heavens and a pebble. Mortals would find it nearly impossible to injure or kill a cultivator who had broken through the first layer, beginning their road to cultivation.
Dong Chen had always been a mortal.
What must I do to understand my son? What must I do? As a male, he has certain desires. There are women in this sect who are not useful. Should I send them to him to relieve him and then have them die of the curse after? No, what if one of them has thoughts for my son and kills him when he is most vulnerable, I can’t have that happen to him?
Eventually she met with the elders at a council meeting that Elder Liu held.
“Greetings Sect Master, all of them are here today,” Elder Liu said. “We need to discuss the state of the Sect and what we are going to do from now on.”
The Elders all sat at the table. There were six of them in total, including the oldest Senior who was Elder Liu. They each had a frown on their face as they discussed matters. All of them were women, as the Blossoming Flowers sect was one pure of women.
“The Sect is peaceful,” the Second Elder said. “I have had no issues with the alchemists. The farming and yield of medicinal plants have improved, and the harvest this year will be fifteen percent larger. We are cultivating more ground as well.”
“Excellent work,” Elder Liu said. “Third Elder, please report about the military.”
“The soldiers are all in pleasant condition and new recruits have been training in drills,” the Third Elder said. “With the addition of food, there should be no issue with expanding the army by a few more million. There have also been some talented recruits that have come to our sect from the outside that we can focus on raising.”
“Very good,” Elder Liu said.
The other three elders also gave their reports on various parts of the sect. Everything was in order, the Sect’s power was expanding and the overall mood within the sect was one of a bigger future. The Blossoming Flowers Sect had not yet reached its peak and the cultivation world was continually expanding still on the large continent.
Risless left the meeting after it was over. If she didn’t have her son with her, this would be her normal life. She would cultivate when she had moments to herself, she would watch over the Inner Disciples who showed promise, and she would protect the Blossoming Flowers from all invaders.
This sort of life was something she did not ask for, but it was one that was given to her and she cherished it. Without it she would be a beautiful woman with many suitors killing each other to take her for themselves. Elder Liu took her in at a young age when her Fate of Extreme Beauty was discovered and she went along with her with no issue.
This was a life in which she did the same thing every day. If she died protecting it, then she would have no regrets as it would repay the sect. When it came to her son, however, she was now tied with him through fate and she often thought about him.
Did he have enough to eat today?
Would he be happy to see me?
Why can’t he smile at me like he smiled when he was a child?
If he could smile for me, I would do anything for him. I’d even bear him a child… do I really want to bear him a child? At my level now as a cultivator, our child would be strong. The pure bloodline and intermixing between the Yang that grew in him and the Yin in myself would produce someone who even if she was not born with the Fate of Extreme Beauty would be a powerful cultivator in her own right.
There is also the possibility he could become a cultivator if we dual cultivate. Then he can also live longer like me.
As those thoughts came into her mind, she immediately slapped herself.
“I can’t think this way,” she said to herself out loud. “Such things are taboo. Such things would not be forgiven under the heavens!”
How is my son doing these last few days? Does he miss me? I wish he missed me just like a child misses their parent. I want to see him, but I’m afraid…
—
“So my mom is still afraid to see me?” I spoke to Elder Liu as she had visited me each day. “I guess she doesn’t know what to say to me after what she did.”
“You gave no sign you wanted to see her either,” Elder Liu said. “As your mother, she is fearful of how you think about her. With anyone else in the Sect, she will order them with no difficulty. You hold power over her and she favors you even if she hasn’t had good actions towards you.”
Well, the few days that had passed by made me soften my stance towards her. If she really didn’t care about me and kept up her own delusion, she would have kept me going on that involuntary control, but she didn’t. She stopped it and she let me go.
At the very least I know she cares about me, even though she’s capable of doing drastic things that often make no sense.
“So will she be willing to talk to me about those things that you will not acknowledge?”
“Get her to trust you,” Elder Liu said. “The two of you could not communicate or understand each other’s thoughts. How can you expect she would tell you anything that is related to the Sect when she isn’t sure you won’t shun her for it?”
“Fair point, I guess.” No point in arguing. “Still, it is going to take some more time before I will consider anything. I can’t just be willing to trust her or say things differently just because she believes she has the best intentions for me. Good intentions don’t always give a good result.”
There was also a quote in my world about the path to hell being paved with good intentions. Even if mom intends well for me, her methods are cruel and only causing me suffering. The process is just as important as the result, and both have to be good or it compromises everything invested.
“Very well, is she going to come and see me soon then?”
“Will you let go of the past and not mention what happened before?”
“You’re asking me to just let it go in order for her to come and talk to me?” I don’t like this game. “Is everything about this going to be a negotiation of feelings where I have to give something in order to get her attention?”
“Dong Chen, your mother is the Sect Leader and every moment of her time is valuable,” Elder Liu said. “If you want her time, it has to be worth her time, even if she loves you that is something we made clear in our meeting with her.”
Pathetic, you’re all pathetic.
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