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Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 23 – The Fall of the House of Xie, Part 3

While it was a little disappointing, Sen couldn’t pretend surprise when a few people declined to take the vow. He supposed they didn’t have children, or common sense, or both. Then again, maybe they just thought it was better to die immediately than take their chances out in the world with all the people they’d wronged. Those were the easy ones to deal with. The ones Sen found less easy to deal with were the people who mouthed the words of the vow, seemingly believing that saying it was...

(Not a Chapter) Eclipse Day

Now, like a great many other writers, I'm an indoors creature by nature. As Neil Gaiman once said, "We're writers. We have keyboards. We have darkness." Buuuuuttttt, every once in a while, something happens that warrants going outside on purpose. Today, I was lucky enough to be in the zone of North America that got a full solar eclipse. While they aren't precisely once-in-a-lifetime events, they're close enough that I made a point not to have anything else on my plate between 3pm and 4pm toda...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 22 – The Fall of the House of Xie, Part 2

Sen watched as Xie Caiji’s face twisted with the knowledge that this wasn’t over yet. He wasn’t just going to kill her and be done with it. Ever since the rest of the Xie household had been brough out, he’d had a nagging sensation he was missing something. He started moving his eyes from face to face, really looking at them. He almost passed over the man before an old memory surfaced. It had been so long ago, and seemed so comparatively trivial now, that he almost let it go. ...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 21 – The Fall of the House of Xie, Part 1

“Soon!” thundered the voice.

Xie Caiji shot up in bed and clutched at her chest. She could feel her heart pounding, even as fear writhed inside of her like a parasite that no medicine could kill. She hadn’t had a peaceful moment of sleep since she’d finally come face to face with Judgment’s Gale. All cultivators were frightening with their inhuman speed and their qi magic, but the nobility had come to their arrangements with the sects. Quiet deals to help keep the worst from h...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 20 – The House of Lu

Sen supposed it was a testament to just how much he was asking for when Jing stood there in motionless silence for most of a minute. Given Sen’s well-known feelings about nobles, it was entirely possible that Jing thought Sen was playing some kind of bizarre joke on him. Sen was even tempted to say that it was a joke. But that would ultimately throw confusion onto the situation that he didn’t want, because Sen wasn’t joking. He was absolutely serious.

“The House of Lu?” asked ...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 19 – Big Asks

“It was,” admitted Jing, “but maybe we shouldn’t change the subject just yet.”

“Do you really want to compare complaints right now? Because I just got taken through the city by what I assume were royal guards hand-picked because they walked slowly.”

“About that—” started Jing.

“Which has prevented me from maintaining even the tiniest shred of anonymity in a place where there are people who do not like me. At all,” said Sen, his voice...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 18 – Impressions

Sen wished that he had kept his spiritual sense extended. At least then he wouldn’t been caught off guard by the presence of everyone in the throne room. Not that it took any kind of brilliance to realize that the king would be surrounded by people whenever he was in the throne room. Sen just hadn’t thought it through. Taking a moment to greet Jing and offer a bow, something Sen was not entirely sure was appropriate, had bought him a moment to gather himself. He straightened and looked ar...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 17 – Settling In

Sen was briefly worried that Jing had decided that they’d all just stay at the palace as the guards led them deeper into the city. Debt or no debt, Sen would have fled entirely if that was the situation. That would be a hell not worth enduring. Mercifully, the guards led them to a very familiar inn. Sen had stayed there with Falling Leaf and Lo Meifeng. Jing had also visited him there, although it was surprising that the king’s memory was good enough to recall that. It seemed like there o...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 16 – Sometimes, the Stories Get It Right

As the royal guards led them through the city, Sen did his best not to grind his teeth. The royal guards were clearly under orders to take their time getting Sen and his companions to wherever they were going. They became a moving spectacle, which Sen supposed might even be a nice change of pace for the people in the city, even if he hated it. Men, women, and children came out of their homes and businesses to watch them pass and whisper among themselves. Or, in the case of one particularly en...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 15 – Power Comes at a Cost

There were no more attacks after the one led by Tseun Rong. It was a nice change as they covered the remaining distance to the capital, not that it did much to improve Sen’s mood. There hadn’t been much talking after the battle. Some of it had been injuries, and Glimmer of Night never talked that much. The other part had been Sen’s fault. He’d pilfered the few things from Tseun Rong’s body that were still intact before, after a moment or two of thought, he stored the dead cultivator...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 14 – No One Important

Sen had meant to end it. When he saw Tseun Rong take to the sky, he could just sense the defeat in the man. It was a retreat. He considered just letting the coward go. Sen was injured and, no matter how detached he felt, he knew that simply surviving a direct battle with a nascent soul cultivator was practically a miracle in its own right. But that figure fleeing into the sky had threatened everything and everyone Sen loved. Sen knew it was a hollow threat, even if Tseun Rong apparently didn�...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 13 – This Isn’t Right

Shen Mingxia had been aware of the fight between Sen and the nascent soul cultivator. It was impossible not to be aware of it with the kind of power those two were throwing around. Her very being shuddered every time one of them ignited a technique. She’d thought, after all of the fighting they’d done recently, that she had a handle on Sen’s true strength. Now, she knew how terribly, disastrously wrong she’d been in her assessment. The man was trading blows with a na...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 12 – A Trembling in the Air

Much to his surprise and Tseun Rong’s naked shock, Sen’s first attack was very nearly the last word in their fight. The nascent soul cultivator seemed mildly impressed by Sen’s speed, but not by the attack itself. That held right up until the moment Sen’s jian passed cleanly through Tseun Rong’s Dao without so much as a whisper of resistance. It was only the equally terrifying speed of the nascent soul cultivator that spared him from being sliced in two. The man activated h...

The Weather Is Screwy

Hey everybody, so I want you to know that I am working on chapters for today. However, the weather is particularly screwy in my little corner of Ohio. We have both an active flash flood warning and a tornado watch. So, even if nothing bad happens to my apartment in particular, it's entirely possible that the weather will knock out the power in my area before I get a chance to post anything later. Now, fingers crossed nothing bad happens, but I don't want it to come as a complete shock if no n...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 11 – Man and Myth

Wu Gang had been relieved when Sen suggested that he could come along to capital. It had let him put off a decision he’d never thought he’d ever be making. Plus, it was a chance to learn a bit more about a person who had radically altered his life, but that he didn’t really know at all. His interactions with the street rat, Sen, had mostly involved punching rather than talking. A fact that had left him with more than a little lingering guilt. In fact, most of what he’d done at the beh...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 10 – Now, Do You Understand?

“So, did you really—” started Wu Gang for at least the fifth time that day.

“Seriously? Do you want me to start asking you some did you really questions? Because I can,” said Sen.

“Okay,” said Wu Gang with a laugh. “I get it. Those questions do get tiresome. It’s just that I don’t get to be the one asking them all that often.”

Sen thought back to something that Laughing River had told Li Yi Nuo during that bizarre venture into the ruins.

...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 9 – Facts Can Do That

Wu Gang went so still that Sen was certain the man wasn’t even breathing. Then, the teacup in his hand started trembling so badly that the hot liquid splashed out onto Wu Gang’s hand. Something that went all but unnoticed until Sen reached out and took the cup away from him. The big man stared down at his shaking hand before unceremoniously wiping it against his robes. After the news seemed to finally settle in and take on some semblance of reality, Wu Gang turned confused, disbelieving e...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 8 – Obligations

“It’s not?” asked Wu Gang, his brow furrowing. “That’s odd. Because lots of people called it a sect. The Judgment’s Gale Sect. The Hand of Chaos Sect. The Heavens Scouring Blade Sect. The Blue Demon Sect—”

Sen’s head shot up off the table. “What?! People are calling it the Blue Demon Sect?”

Wu Gang nodded. Sen turned a chilly gaze on Shen Mingxia. She raised her hands defensively.

“What?” she asked. “You told me not to tell you the other things pe...

Dinner

Yeah, it’s delicious 🤤

Volume 2 Signed Copies and Today's Chapters

Okay, first things first. I now have in my metaphorical grubby little paws a fine box filled with copies of Volume 2. So, for those in the Uncle Kho's Cultivator Corner tier, I'm planning to start sending those out this coming week. For anyone else looking to get a signed copy of Volume 2, there will be a few copies available, but I'm not sure how many. Once I know, I'll do another post specifically about that and how you can get one. (spoiler, it'll be exactly like last time, except the pric...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 7 – Righteous

Sen did pause long enough strip the dead cultivators of their belongings. After a moment of thought, he reduced their bodies to ashes. Wu Gang gave him a curious look.

“Dead bodies are bad for the health. No reason to make the mortals clean them up.”

“That’s… That’s very public minded of you,” said Wu Gang.

“It’s a byproduct of all the alchemy I learned. I picked up a lot of information about health and what makes people sick. No need to make work for someo...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 6 – A Breath of Fresh Air

“I’m sorry,” said Sen. “I never should have brought you along for this. I should have known better. I just didn’t expect it to be this violent. I beg your forgiveness, Shen Mingxia.”

She gave him a frown.

“Is this why you’ve been so quiet the last few days?”

“Not just this. I let myself forget or maybe I chose to forget what it’s like out here. I let happiness blind me.”

“Happiness isn’t a bad thing,” she said.

Sen gave...

Unintended Cultivator V8: Chapter 5 – Pyrrhic Victory

“What’s interesting?” asked Tuan Baihu.

The man chanced a look down at his injured leg, but apparently decided that it was something he could fight through. Sen simply ignored the question.

“You know, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask my betters for a long time now. Just what is it that makes you my betters? I mean, you all seem so confident about it. So, really, I’d like to know. What is it? Wait, I hope it’s not just that you belong to a sect. P...