Cultivating Chaos 5 -ch 15- (Patreon)

Xiuying was like a butterfly in a cage. Moving around the room quickly and just about bouncing off the walls.

Zipping from one side to the other and back again.

Trying to find a way out and not really responding to anything.

Ash’s lingering kiss had lit her thoughts on fire and she was little more than incense stick burning it’s way down to the bottom.

Ash was now sat down on the desk looking at the diary Chunhua was reading.

Letting Xiuying flutter about without any input from himself.

“Up to this entry it’s been rather bland,” Chunhua murmured. “This was a bunker. An emergency safety station.

“Where the ‘One Emperor’, his family, and the royal family would all come here to be safe from… things. They never say what or give an example of a possibility.

“This whole area was built to hold them safely and provide for them. But if that’s true, and what they were aiming for, how in the hells did it become a prison?”

“Maybe the later chapters will give us that,” Ash suggested. “Keep reading my gorgeous sorceress. I’m going to go see if I can’t corral or little butterfly.”

Chunhua snickered at that and then looked to the door off to her left. Then to Ash’s hand on the desk.

Or more important, his ring, he thought.

The Hall.

“Think my ring might open a door?” he asked, lifting his hand and looking to the ring. His thoughts had taken a similar line to what he assumed she was thinking.

“Yes. I do actually. I think that’s what happened last time. You hit the door frame and bounced in,” Chunhua suggested. “I saw your ring and thought of it. It’s from the ‘One Emperor’ right? So… it should be able to open doors.”

Ash shrugged then pushed away from the desk.

Xiuying was at the door they’d come through and was tapping at the frame as well as the edge of the door. Digging at it with a fingernail and then pushing on it.

Smiling, Ash walked over to the other door that was in the room. He looked to the frame but didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. Other than the material of it was made out of the same thing that the rest of the prison was.

Then again, how’d that monster break the wall then? Wasn’t that the same?

Hm.

I should look into that.

Ash lifted his ringed hand and tapped it to the frame negligently.

It popped open with a click and swung outward.

Ash looked up to the point the door intersected with the frame.

The hinge was somehow inside of the door and couldn’t be accessed unless the door was open. He had no idea how it worked and he didn’t want to investigate it either.

Pushing the door open, he found himself looking down a hall. Light was streaming in from above through skylights.

Chunhua stepped up to the door and wedged a part of a drawer into the lip of it. Trapping it against the wall so it couldn’t close again.

“Oh thank goodness!” Xiuying said and slipped past both of them and into the hall. “I’ll explore this! I’ll be right back!”

“I didn’t think she’d have such a maidens heart,” whispered Chunhua as they watched Xiuying jog along the hallway. “All I did was suggest making love with you.”

“Oh? And what if you were more of who you are today, rather than the cultivator of yesterday, when you gave me your first time?” Ash inquired.

Chunhua blinked, her features taking on a weird cast as she considered that.

She blew out a breath, sighed, then nodded her head.

“I’d have been very nervous and wondering if you loved me,” she mumbled. Then she pointed a finger at him with a grin. “You’ve made me weaker and stronger at the same time. You must take responsibility.”

“I already have. Haven’t I? You’re all mine Chunhua Sheng. I’ll never let another touch you and I’ll do my best to make you happy,” Ash promised. “Now go read the journal. I’ll open the other door and see what’s going on.”

A laugh and a smile was the prize from Chunhua Ash got for his words before she went back to the desk.

“I’m looking forward to raising a family with you,” murmured the sorceress as she picked up the diary. “You’ll be an amazing father I think. I will struggle to be as good a parent as you. I’ll need to trouble Locke if she has any parenting books I could borrow.”

 With a snort, Ash went past the desk and picked up another drawer. He planned to wedge it open if it was clear to do so just as Chunhua had done.

Moving to the door he let his thoughts wander briefly.

Having kids wasn’t something he wanted to even consider any time soon.

So long as Rou handled it from her side of it, he wouldn’t be taking lightning vine. The moment she wasn’t, he would be making sure of it himself.

Children just wasn’t part and parcel to his life right now or in the immediate future. He regretted the idea of putting them off indefinately, but it wasn’t something he could put effort into right now.

And parenting done right, requires a lot of effort.

Taping his ring to the doorframe Ash wasn’t surprised to see it open in the same way the other door had.

Looking into the room Ash saw the beast was not present.

Whether dead, alive, or just missing, he wasn’t sure.

“Hello?” Ash called, wondering if there was anyone nearby. He couldn’t sense anyone with his senses or his Battle-Cultivation, but that didn’t mean anything.

In this place, nothing seemed to function in the way he expected it to.

“I wonder if it’s because of the prison aspect or whatever else is going on here,” he muttered and then wedged the door open.

Stepping out into the room Ash saw there was a large number of bones in here. More than he’d realized when he came through the first time.

Bones from what was certainly human as well as many other creatures.

Ash went deeper into the room, taking slow and steady steps. Doing his best to be ready to scamper away if the monster returned.

Carefully, Ash made his way to the window and peered out of it.

The ground was easily seventy to eighty feet below him. An open square that looked to be some type of gathering area.

Spread throughout it was corpses of Cultivators.

As well as the beast that had been in the room here.

Many of it’s limbs had been torn or cut off, it’s chest ripped open, and it’s head was missing. As if a pack of hyenas or buzzards had fallen upon it and ripped it apart.

Even now, there were a pair of people actively pulling the guts out of it with eager hands. Chattering to one another as they did so.

Except none of this mattered.

What mattered was the sun that was beaming down on Ash, the fresh wind that blew over his face and washed him with air that felt wild as well as clean, and a taste on the air that felt like a storm.

Beyond all that though, was the fact that Ash could see the world laid out before him.

Right now, he was at what was likely the peak of the prison, or emergency shelter.

He could see the world below him.

Rivers, forests, hills, a mountain, and cities.

There was what looked like were towns and villages but given the distance he wasn’t positive. It was simply too far away.

Not waiting, Ash leaned out the window and looked up.

He could see that he was indeed at the peak. There was a flat topped roof that looked to be right above him.

While he looked out the window, he saw that the material here had been carved out. It wasn’t as if it blew inward or outward, but was systematically cut through.

Someone with an immense amount of strength had caused this.

Either with a single strike or done over time, Ash had no idea.

Whoever it was, they wanted in and nothing would stop them.

Because when he glanced into the room he was in, he could see that the remains of the wall were spread throughout the room.

Hesitating no longer, Ash leaned back out, then jumped with Spring-Step.

He grabbed the side of the roof and pulled himself up and over the lip of it. His fingers digging small cracks that let him get the hold he needed.

Clambering onto the roof and standing up to his feet Ash was shocked again.

The view of the world he’d been given looking out the window had been amazing. Now looking backward, he was equally amazed and shocked.

In front of him was the top of the prison.

It extended a considerable ways in every direction other than behind him. The area that was taken up by the prison was vast.

Far more than Ash had ever truly understood.

“Ashley?” called what sounded like Jia.

“Up here,” he shouted back, then turned and looked back to the better view.

Of freedom and realm to explore.

Jia simply appeared in the next moment. A column of water moving her and Moira up into view as if it were nothing at all.

“Well, if it isn’t the two women I started this journey with,” Ash said with a grin, then promptly hugged both women tightly. “We’re no longer cell-mates, by the way. It seems we’ve found our way out.”

Not waiting for them to respond, he instead spun them around to look out the same way he had only moments ago.

An entire realm is laid before us that no one seems to know exists.

“Chunhua gave us a very brief over-view,” Moira admitted, one wing quickly stretching out and then encompassing Ash, pulling him closer to her side.

Surprisingly, Jia had been included, drawing her up against Ash’s other side.

“An emergency shelter turned prison,” Jia mused, her head swiveling as she took in the view. “There is clearly much more to the story.”

“Indeed. Now… how’d you two get up here?” he asked, putting an arm around each of their hips.

“Moira flew us up. I used my abilities to provide us with a rest halfway up. It was a considerable distance,” explained Jia. “Xiuying opened a door in the ceiling at the same moment we entered.”

“Ah yes. My Fortune’s Chosen is truly… fortunate,” confided Ash.

There was a soft thump, followed by a hand slapping to the top of the prison. Followed by a second.

Ash raised his eyebrows then moved forward and grabbed the wrists of whoever it was. Pulling carefully he drew them up over the lip of the roof.

“Ah! Thank you!” giggled Xiuying as Ash pulled her right up to her feet. Only to drop her arms around his shoulders after he finished. “I found Jia and Moira and brought them here! It’s good to have more of my family.”

Ash got the impression Xiuying was waving at the two women right now despite clinging to him. For whatever reason, the Fortune’s Chosen was as bubbly as they came.

“I also peeked down through the hole. There are many ships coming this way,” she continued. “We should probably go greet them and make sure we only allow in those we wish. Right?”

Ash considered that.

He had no idea truly what to do or think of it.

Letting everyone exit into the realm would likely provide them with countless opportunities and dangers. Those cultivators who lived here could be infinitely stronger.

Or even surprisingly weaker, perhaps.

There was no way of telling.

“I have no idea,” confessed Ash. “Do we hold them back? Let them through?”

“I say let them through. We should take over the prison and kick everyone out. They can have the realm, let’s keep the prison. It’s a fortress!

“If we do it right, and truly make it ours, the whole thing could be the sect.

“And now that we know there is a world outside of it that is active and seems to have Qi flowing through it, we change the formations to draw even more Qi into the sect.”

Locke’s idea sounded incredibly correct, to Ash.

Though he did note that the Qi out here didn’t feel as thick as that of the Qi in the prison. As if it was already acting as a centering, or an attractor.

“Locke thinks we should kick everyone out of the prison and turn it into a fortress,” Ash relayed.

“Yes!” Jia said with sudden fervor in her eyes. Qi started to wildly fluctuate around her. “That is-that… yes. We’ll do that. That’s the exact plan we’ll follow.”

Ash felt his eyebrows shoot to the top of his head as if propelled by rockets.

Jia had used contractions.

She must’ve been incredibly excited for her to do so.

“We’ll… ah… we should leverage it as a fortress. That way I can make sure my family never troubles us again,” she finished, her form of speaking returning to how it always did. “My apologies, I truly detest what my family has been attempting to do. Even now with my pledge given to Ash, I am sure they would try to find a way to break it.

“To get me out of it and hand me over as a bride. Creating a fortress would give me the safety I want.”

“Or a baby,” Xiuying pointed out unhelpfully. “I’m not sure how conservative your family is, but I don’t think they’d like that very much or want anything to do with you.”

Jia’s eyes snapped to Ash and he felt an intense outpouring of Qi from her again.

As if she were a tea kettle with water boiling inside.

“Okay, gonna go check on Chunhua and see about that entrance. Jia, Moira, see if you can’t do some scouting for us,” Ash shot back as he set Xiuying to the side and hurried off.

Dropping down from the roof he ducked into the shattered wall, turned, and went straight-away into the room Chunhua had been. Not waiting for even a moment.

“So, find anything?” he asked, wondering if it would be good to pull out the door wedge. Just to keep the others from running him down and having more discussion around a baby.

“It’s not just me that’s feeling it, I think. Maybe it’s what we’ve been doing with Rou?

“Hm. Having our systems being forcibly turned off, just to be turned back on, then off again, might be creating some weird… chemical… imbalance. Maybe?

“Mei was talking about having kids the other day as well. I’ll discuss it with Rou. If it’s creating issues we should just have you taking lightning vine again.”

“— yes,” Chunhua said. Ash had missed the first part of her sentence. “It was a plague. One that turned anyone who contracted the sickness into a stupified version of themselves with very limited intelligence.”

“Wait, what? Like a zombie? Were they dead? Did they bite people and eat them?”

“No? No. They did attack people randomly though. Nor did they ever recover. To contract the plague was the end of that person,” Chunhua explained, tapping the book. “The bunker became the last hold out for many. A great many. Far more than they ever expected to house.

“Resources became scarce very quickly. External forces also tried to break in. The commandant did his duty and kept everyone safe as he was ordered to do.”

Chunhua slowly turned the page, reading even as she spoke.

“It wasn’t enough. The One Emperor vanished in the realm and was never seen again. The rest of his family were all stricken by the plague and couldn’t do anything,” murmured Chunhua. “The Hall you wear was the family heirloom of the Emperor. It was the family artifact. It was mentioned very briefly in passing but… I figured it out.

“How it ended up where it did is a mystery but given that the One Emperor vanished… well… he probably tried to escape. Along with his family and heirlooms.

“They clearly didn’t survive the trip, for one reason or another, and it all ended up where it did.

“As to this location, the last entry was that the commandant was going to seal the interior vault and go inside. That he would attempt to open it in a hundred years to see if the sickness had burned it’s way through the realm.

“That was it though. There was nothing more after that. It just… ends. I don’t think they ever reopened it or even tried.

“One must wonder how they planned to open it. Or even how they closed it to begin with. Did something fail… was it always intended that it would never open again… who knows.”

“Hm. That’s… rather morbid,” Ash muttered and looked out the way he’d come. “Jia!? Moira!?”

“Ah… yes, Ashley?” Jia called back.

“Don’t leave! This place might have been torn apart by disease!” he warned.

“Okay!” Moira shouted back. “We’ll explore what we can here, but we’ll keep away from anyone suspicious!”

“Someone cut through into that room by the way,” Ash murmured, pointing back to the room they originally entered from. “No idea what they were trying to do or what they wanted but they managed to do it. I don’t even want to consider the kind of power you’d have to use to make that happen, either.”

Chunhua grunted, then sighed.

She closed the diary and then looked to Ash.

“There are a few things mentioned I want to look for. This place was a bunker so it doesn’t have an armory or anything like that, unfortunately. It did mention a library however. As well as a medical station and a prison.”

“Locke thinks we should take over the prison entirely and kick everyone out into the realm,” Ash summarized.

“Good plan. I like it. Let’s start taking over this facility then,” Chunhua said and stood up. “We can just conduct everyone out of here using the platform.”

“Platform?” Ash asked.

With a nod of her head Chunhua led Ash into the other room.

She gestured out to the edge of the square that was below them.

At the edge of it where it fell away to the world below there was a large rectangular platform.

“With the right activation key, it can transmit people back and forth. I’m guessing your ring is a… acceptable activation key,” Chunhua said. “We can just guide people out and through and take the prison for ourselves.

“Fortress Sheng, the heart of the Sheng Alliance. This is  rather exciting. Let’s go test the ring, set up a guided path out, and then start reinforcing our hold here.

“Because honestly, after reading the diary, they never figured out what caused the sickness. That realm out there… it looks inviting, but I think there’s many hidden dangers.”