Cultivating Chaos 5 -ch 25- (Patreon)

Ash and company had distantly followed a group of Chimpanzees as they loped across the plains in the same direction everyone else had gone.

Given how fast the horses were they’d been forced to slow down a bit to keep their distance. Even if they were riding horses from the Horse clan, there was no real way of professing their allegiance to anyone if they got too close.

Now, he was certain they’d found the location they were going for.

A mass group of animals of all types were currently pressed into a group and milling about. There was no room to squeeze into it and once again, Ash didn’t want to test boundaries.

A number of Magical Beasts noted their presence but didn’t approach them. Their focus was entirely on whatever they were all crowding around.

“They probably can’t even see anything,” Ash muttered, looking over the heads of the Magical Beasts.

“No, they most likely cannot,” Jia agreed. “But it is not as if Cultivators would not do the same. All of them scrambling to see it, get their piece, or otherwise.”

“Well, it isn’t very productive for all of us to stand around,” Mei remarked then turned to look at Ash. “Any thoughts?”

“Could go to the Manse and see if there’s anything that needs doing,” Ash suggested. “Or the Hall. As long as Locke remains here with me she can communicate with any of you in the Hall, or go to the Manse if needed.”

Mei ndoded at that, then glanced to Siu, who nodded her head as well.

“Jia, Moira, would you two go to the Hall? Tala, Na, would you accompany myself and Siu to the Manse?” Mei asked. “Ash is perfectly capable of handling things with Rou, Xiuying, Hui, and Chunhua.”

Everyone nodded their heads at that.

In the next moment, half the group vanished.

Their horses somehow went with them.

“Uh… alright,” Ash whispered, looking over to Locke. “They went, too?”

“Surprisingly, yes. They’ll bring them back,” Locke promised, though she looked surprised. “We should take animals to the Hall. Like chickens. They don’t stink and wouldn’t be too hard to handle and let run loose.”

“I like chickens. They’re fun to raise. We had some when I was a child,” Chunhua said and looked to Ash with a cheery smile. Then she maneuvered her horse around to stand next to his own, stuck her right hand into his left, and held onto it tightly.

Squeezing her hand in return, Ash held onto it and looked back to the mass of beasts. The horse beneath him seemed somewhat nervous but also perfectly happy to remain where it was.

Given there was Lions and Tigers in the large mob, he couldn’t fault it for not being entirely comfortable.

“It’s alright,” Ash offered soothingly, running his free hand back and forth across his hore’s neck and the back of their head. “You’re alright. It’s alright. They can’t bother you. Alright? We’re alright.”

The horse had flinched as soon as he touched it, then slowly seemed to calm down. Till it seemed as if it were far less likely to start fighting his Qi control.

“You’re not a sorcerer but your ability to control the Qi around you is quite vast,” Chunhua mused. “I could try to teach you how to do more if you like. There’s a lot that can be done even without abilities. Like how Rou does it.”

“Who am I to turn down lessons from my beautiful and cunning sorceress,” Ash teased.

“You should most certainly not turn her down,” agreed Chunhua. “You should agree, promise her meals, and that you’ll cuddle with her while she instructs you.”

“Ahhhh, I now understand,” Hui interuptted having wrangled her horse around. “I would also like to offer lessons. Though my lessons would be in how to approriately cuddle with me in a bed, and you will instruct me in how to please you physically with my body.”

“Uh… shit, Hui, you’re not supposed to run out there and dump that in his lap,” Locke blurted out.

“Why not? He responds to you when you do it, I see no reason not to do it. I’ve decided to be closer anyways. I shall take the position of a wife formally, rather than a Bride,” Hui said with a nod of her head at her own words. Then looked away from Locke to Ash. “Would you like to partake in lessons with me?”

“Yes,” Ash affirmed and with sincerity. He most certainly wanted to get Hui in a bed. “Though if I’m being honest, I have no idea when we’ll have the time.”

Locke reached over and patted Hui’s hand where it rested on her leg, gave her a smile, and shook her head.

Hui met Locke’s eyes, then smiled, and nodded at her in return.

Somehow the conversation ended at that.

Did you just promise her bedroom time on my behalf?

“Damn right I did. I’m your housewife. Remember? I’m the one who organizes all the planned bedroom excursions that occur at night and who gets to go.

“If I didn’t, their infighting would be unbelievable. Hasn’t it been considerably calmer? You yourself mentioned it.”

I did.

Thank you, my dearest Locke Sheng.

Please make sure to give yourself three nights in a row very soon so I can show my appreciation, dear wife.

“I… ah… yes? Yes. Yes! Yes I shall. I-I do hope you know I love you.”

As I love you.

“Ah, it seems they’ve noticed us in truth,” Rou murmured and then chuckled. “Also, Ash, I’d like to resume our anatomy lessons.”

Ash laughed at that and glanced at the spunky red-head. She’d been quite fun in private in a way that he didn’t expect. Locke had called her vanilla, which it was, but it’d had a different feeling to him.

Moving over to Ash’s group was a small congregation of Beasts. One from each tribe, in fact, it seemed.

A Horse, Lion, Pig, Tiger, Horse, Mouse, and Chimpanzee.

Well.

Let’s see where this goes.

“You… what… what are you doing?” demanded the Horse. He sounded enraged and also confused.

“Waiting,” Ash replied. “My name is Ash Sheng, of the Sheng Alliance.

“We came here to this land to discuss what’s going on in the realm with whoever we could. We’re humans from the prison near the Rishaki peoples. After such a long time we finally escaped and we don’t truly have an awareness of the world.

“We met Ashiok after we left the prison. We spoke with him at length and negotiated some trade deals. He advised us of what he could and suggested to go see the Horse tribe. So we proceeded down the road and only just arrived. We met Satasi at the outskirts of the battle. After the black portal opened, he told us to ride with some of your clan and come here.”

If a Horse could look equally surprised and disgusted in the same breath, this was that moment. It looked at Ash like it wanted to step on him while asking him a thousand questions.

“Ashiok is a good leader,” growled the Lion that’d sauntered over. It looked to be eying everyone equally. “Though why would he send you to the Horse? Why not my own Tribe?”

“Because my people don’t get along with the other humans that existed here already. They’re what we would consider Demonic. Harvesting the life energy of others to utilize it as weapons,” Ash answered easily. “The Shadows.”

Locke flickered out of being as Ash spoke.

“What?!” demanded a large Mouse easily the size of a horse.

Before Ash could explain, Locke had returned.

Then the rest of the group popped back into the world exactly where they’d been previously.

The group looked shocked now.

“We have artifacts that let us go elsewhere,” Ash explained in a simple way. “Satasi told us to come this way after we closed that dark portal in the sky.”

“That was you?” asked the Chimpanzee. It was sat down in the grass with its arms dangling over it’s knees.

“Well, my sorceress,” Ash said and held up Chunhua’s hand with his own. “But yes, our group did it.”

“I’m his wife,” Chunhua put in with fierce determination.

“Can you do it again?” asked a very large and very fat hog.

“Yes, I could easily,” agreed Chunhua.

“Stow your anger, Tasa, and deal with your people later. For now, we must get into the tomb,” hissed the Tiger while looking at the Horse.. “Come, humans. It seems today is a day of changes and interesting times.”

“I think this would be an opportunity to leverage things we want.”

Let’s agree then, but then force a discussion.

“Well, we’ll at least take a look,” offered Ash, noncommittally.

The Tiger and Lion turned in synch and began moving away side by side into the large group of Beasts. As if they were a plow moving across a field, everyone moved away to either side.

Ash released Chunhua’s hand, put his hands into the horse’s mane, and guided it forward again. Pressing his heels to their hips and coaxing them along with his Qi.

Not needing more direction, the horse shot right by Tasa and caught up to the large predators. Then shifted to the side as Chunhua caught up, putting Ash behind the Tiger.

Who looked back at the horse Ash was riding that’d just about bumped into it’s tail, before looking up to Ash atop the horse.

It snorted in an amused way, then looked ahead again.

“We’re certainly willing to help, but this is a good time to discuss our relationship,” Ash remarked, speaking to the two directly ahead of him. “Us sealing the portal was an act of generosity that we expect nothing for.

“Breaking whatever is up ahead, doesn’t really concern us. It doesn’t involve us nor does it really matter to us one way or the other.

“What do we gain for doing this? How do we benefit? What’re you offering? I’m not trying to be cruel, mind you, but… we have no formal relations with anyone.

“We have no allies, no enemies. No trading partners. We could just as easily go back into our prison and seal it again. Leaving you all to whatever this is.”

“That’s a valid position,” admitted the Lion, turning his head to look at the Tiger.

Grunting, the Tiger shook it’s head as they moved along.

“I speak for my alliance and can promise you neutrality as well as trading rights,” the Tiger grumbled after a short period.

“I’ll offer the same to match it, though I’d request a meeting with you later on in private,” the Lion requested with a chuffing noise.

“Ah, I would also request a private meeting,” interjected the Tiger.

“I think they’re both planning on trying to swing us to their side. Do we lean either way or make it obvious now? Given that they’re here along side one another… I really don’t know what to think.

“I thought they were sworn enemies. What’re they doing right now? Was it that easy for them to put things aside? It’s almost strange. Is it a beast thing?”

“I welcome both offers of neutrality and trading rights as the starting point,” Ash remarked. “Forgive me for asking, but I’m new to your tribes and I don’t know your traditions. This might be improper, or just disrespectful, but I promise you it is not meant to be that way.

“I simply don’t know what is and isn’t proper.

“What do you do with the cores after someone of your tribes leaves this life? Are they buried with them? Utilized in another way?”

“I’ll amend the previous offer and offer to supply ten high-ranked mortal cores. I invite my counterpart to offer the same so it’s fair for both,” the Lion said smoothly.

He also did not mention what happens to the cores after death, Ash noted.

“We match the offer and agree,” stated the Tiger, then he sighed. “As for death-rites, it depends on the tribe. We eat our opponent whenever possible. That includes the core.

“Those that are not predators tend to pull the cores and store them for later.

“Of the tribe that die naturally… they are buried with them intact.”

Odd.

In other words, they pull them from the enemy dead as a form of disrespect.

Very curious.

I wonder if there’s more there to it. More to all of this.

That there’s something sinister behind the economy? Is this war intentional at this juncture anymore?

“Very likely. I mean, you dug up Mr. Stupid and buried him behind your house just to use him as an outhouse. Are you really surprised?

“Beyond that, high-end mortal cores are great. I think the Manse was built out of a handful of them joined together and forcibly built that way.

“Making something for the Knights should be doable with that. Maybe even a middle ground type area for all Sheng-Alliance members.”

Mmm. That’d be a good thing to build.

Something all members can access regardless of where they are.

“We don’t bury them with the dead,” the Lion admitted. “They work better for the living to trade them, then the dead to molder with them.”

Aaaaand it’s just a difference in theology.

Ha.

The crowd thinned and Ash found himself looking into a stone mausoleum.

Standing ten feet tall, decorated with columns, and ornate carved stone, it stood out as odd here in this open and desolate plain. Something very different even for cultivators let alone beasts.

Ash noted that the carvings were that of men and women. Not that of beasts.

Human, then?

Who was this Lord of Graves that the beasts respect him so much that they put their war aside.

Just beyond the entrance of the tomb Ash could see a darkened entrance that dropped down and into the earth.

This mausoleum was indeed a crypt, or a tomb. This was just the marker that stood atop it.

The entrance looked rather small though.

From what Ash could see of it behind the swirling blackened portal that sat at the entrance to the mausoleum at least.

It was thick, felt ominous, and looked as if that anyone who dared cross it likely wouldn’t live to regret it.

The entrance though was more interesting than the portal.

It looked to be only wide enough and tall enough for a human to walk into somewhat hunched. Not one of the Magical Beasts nearby that had full intelligence could likely make their way into that.

Even the Mice were too wide he imagined.

“I’d say it was done deliberately so that they couldn’t enter. Which… is odd if they were the ones to make it? Did the one to be entombed make the grave himself?”

Locke’s question begged many other questions to be asked.

Ash imagined that they’d primarily be directed at the now deceased Lord of Graves however, which meant answers might be hard to come by.

For the time being, even if Ash needed answers, this was the wrong time.

“Is there anyone that can even go in there in your Tribes?” Ash asked dubiously, looking around at the tribal heads gathered about. “Because that looks awfully narrow just as an entrance.

“Which means you’d pay me to open it, just to have no one be able to enter. I wouldn’t want you to regret paying me to open it with such a thing happening immediately.”

“You can see inside?” the Chimpanzee asked curiously. “There’s more than just the mausoleum?”

“There’s a hole,” Ash confirmed and gestured to right where it was. Then he put his hand down atop the horses head and began to lightly pet it.

He suddenly found himself enjoying being on a horse. It was like riding a dog you could pet.

“It looks carved by hand with steps that lead down,” Ash continued then glanced to Chunhua. “Can you show them the entrance with your vision enhancement? Is there also some type of illusion going on? Like a formation? You’re better at them than I am, my sweet Chu.”

Chunhua blushed deeply and her head dipped down.

“It doesn’t matter,” the Mouse said loudly. “Doesn’t matter. Remove the barrier for us. Our pay will be the same pay regardless of entry. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you.”

Chunhua shrugged her shoulders, then threw her hands forward.

A beam of golden energy was ejected from both palms this time. Each struck the portal in the central area and stayed there.

Each beam pouring endlessly into it.

There was a slow crackling forming at the two points of contact. A golden spider-web spreading outward and creeping across the darkened portal.

“It feels different than the last one,” said Chunhua as she moved her palms forward. The beams intensity for each grew brighter by several degrees. “It isn’t entirely darkness, but something else behind it. I can still cut through it, but it isn’t the same. This is different.”

Reaching out with his ever present Dao, Ash touched the portal with his senses. Touched it and let himself feel what was going on inside of it.

There was a brief flash of recognition from someone, or something, that was actively attempting to support the portal. They had been feeding some type of power into the portal to allow it to remain intact.

The moment Ash touched them, or more accurately, his Dao did, then he felt them flinch away. Flinch, retract, and flee.

Whoever it was, didn’t want anything to do with Ash, his Dao, or something related to him. They recognized some part of him and wished more than just neutrality, but as if they’d never run across one another.

His Dao chased along after it for several heartbeats, before Ash couldn’t trace back the power any further. Though, in that brief pursuit, he’d recognized what kind of power was being used.

It was power that he’d felt in the plane where the gods had been hiding. Locking themselves away from the world rather than working to help it.

“A deity was helping it,” Ash relayed as he retracted his Qi senses to himself. “Or something that could use deity power. Not really sure of much beyond that.

“I briefly touched it. Felt it. I could recognize it if I found it again in the future. It didn’t want anything to do with us.”

“You. Didn’t want anything to do with you,” Rou countered. “I felt it as it fled. It didn’t leave. It ran. Sprinted. The rate at which it put distance between you and it was as fast as it could manage. You kept up with it for a time.

“And yes, I can always feel your Qi. It’s like… warmth and kindness to me. It’s pure and something I can only covet for when I work on patients with more prickly Qi.”

“A deity,” mumbled what Ash thought was Tasa. “It’s as we feared. As we felt. They’ve returned and they’re not happy. Their people are gone and we worship them not at all. Our own faith holds us true and centered.”

“I mean, they were hiding in a plane,” Tala grumbled. “My Cuddly Bunny-Wife Self would say that they were nothing but cowards. Waiting and hoping for someone to come tell them that it was all over.”

“They most certainly did not remain to help their people,” Moira agreed.

“Leaders lead, whether from the front or behind, but they lead. They don’t hide,” Hui asserted.

“Yes, many leaders could learn from Ashley,” agreed Na. “All should bow down to him and learn from him. He will teach the world in all things.”

Mei sighed, looked to Ash, and gave him a beautiful smile. If she could apologize without saying it, that’s what she did.

With a small shrug Mei looked back to Chunhua.

At that moment the portal fell away in glorious fractures of golden light. Boiling away the darkness and leaving nothing behind.

“Its a crypt,” hissed someone.

“One made for humans,” stated the Chimpanzee as it sauntered over to peer into the chasm. “It is far to small for any of us. Though… why would the Lord of Graves do such a thing? He was most certainly aware he was the last human.”

“Did he hope for them to return as they have?” growled the Lion, it’s head swinging to Ash. “And would the returned Humans even want to go in?”

Well.

That’s an interesting question.

More so that we’re technically uninvolved.

“So long as whatever is happening here doesn’t impact the greater realm, at least. Ha, this is the first time I’ve had to remind you to not think like a Cultivator.”