CC3 -CH6- (Patreon)

Far nodded her head slowly once Jia finished speaking.

“I think I understand,” she said with a faint smile and then looked to Ash. “It seems you’ve been very busy my son.”

“Yes, yes he has,” agreed Chunhua.

“Aiiiya… I… it’s all so much,” Duyi said with a sigh followed by a chuckle. “May I summarize it for confirmation by you?”

“Of course, father Duyi,” replied Na as she hovered at Ash’s right side.

“You’re the great person who sold all those items here, you went to the Jade Fist, saved Yan, confronted Jing, recruited a large number of powerful old masters, made Gen an elder, saved the Outer Sect from a clan family, made an alliance, started a clan, explored a veil and found treasure, overcame your tribulations, and saved the entirety of the sect from the Inner-sect master, and… and the sect master itself?”

“That is an accurate summarization,” Na said with an incline of her head. “There is of course more that happened, but those are all valid key points.”

Duyi let out an explosive breath and leaned back in his recliner even further. He was now looking up at the ceiling.

“To be fair, father… I… that is—” Yan’s voice fell away and then she cleared her throat. “Father, I am already halfway through the Mortal Refiner ranks. From what I can gauge of my own strength, I will easily reach peak Spirit Refiner within two or three years without any assistance.

“If… if I continue to purchase pills, elixirs, and draining stones, from the allowance I’m given by Ashley… I could easily hit that within a year.

“The abilities he gave me… they don’t belong on this realm. They easily belong in the Immortal realm. With those who defy the heavens.”

Duyi grimaced, shook his head, then once more, sighed.

Whatever thought had crossed his mind had been painful and temporary.

“I imagine he was thinking about what would have happened to Jing if he hadn’t betrayed you all,”murmured Locke. “A thought for his wayward son that squandered a golden opportunity through greed.”

Ah, yeah. That makes sense.

I’d probably think the same if I was him.

“And you’re here for a year,” Far said with a much brighter smile on her face.

“Yes,” Ash confirmed. “I’m here for a year before I can return to the sect.”

“Perfect. I can learn all about my daughters-in-law in that year and truly understand your life, Ashley,” Far said with a firm nod of her head. “And my other daughters-in-law will visit as well? They’ll all come here?”

“Yeah. They’ll more than likely visit at least once. I’m sure at least one of them will be here for six months,” confessed Ash. He was expecting Yue to end up trying to be here as often as possible.

“Perfect,” said Far with a simple nod of her head. Turning her head to focus entirely on Ash, she held his gaze. In that moment, he felt an absolute command coming. There were very few things that Far demanded of him. Whenever she did lay one down on him, he knew he couldn’t say no. They were very infrequent. “Ashley, the manor next door is for sale. Go purchase it. You and my daughters will settle in there. This will make it easy for all of us. Yan will remain here as she’s helping mother and father.”

“I’ll tend to it personally,” said Na, pulling a spirit stone storage card out of nowhere. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to Ash’s temple, ran her fingers through his hair, and then left.

Ash didn’t bother to try and stop her or even argue with her. When she decided to do something, there really wasn’t much he could do to alter her choices.

Far only smiled as she watched Na leave to handle the matter.

“I like her,” Far said, her eyes moving back to Ash. “If you make her with child I expect them to be family, not familial servants. I also dislike the idea of slaves. Especially considering that they’re mostly Outlanders.”

“I assure you, miss Sheng,” Tala said before Ash could say anything. “I am very much not a slave to him. My Elegant Self has always been treated as a woman of worth. Never an item or anything else.

“He’s shown me nothing but care, tenderness, and generosity. The same is true for his other so called ‘slave’. She told me from the very beginning that I was thinking of it wrong. I belatedly agree with her and must once again say, he treats us as slaves not at all.”

Far wrinkled her nose and her eyes crinkled up as her smile broke into a full grin. Displaying all her teeth in doing so.

“Good. Good that that is so, Tala Sheng. Gen and I write each other often enough for me to know that your words are absolute truth,” Far admitted. “I expect a new letter from Gen today in fact. Since you’ve arrived, I imagine he’ll have sent a letter for you as well.”

Oh yeah.

He didn’t give me a letter before he left despite Li-Yong telling me to expect it. That means he probably decided to mail it, didn’t he?

“That or something happened. To be fair… it sounded like the things going on in the background were increasing in activity,” mused Locke.

“Enough of all that,” Duyi said, suddenly sitting upright and pushing his recliner into a seated position. “I’m afraid I’m growing hungry, and my poor Far will not have enough time to cook for all of us.

“Let’s go get something from somewhere and bring it back. My treat of course since apparently it’s been my son’s treat all along.”

Duyi started laughing at his own words. Apparently he found it hilarious and a joy that Ash was indeed caring for him.

***

Collapsing into the unfamiliar bed, Ash stared up at the ceiling.

Na had succeeded in purchasing the manor Far had mentioned. She’d also purchased the one to the other side of his parents home as well.

Ash hadn’t missed it when Liu, Biyu, and the other two he’d noticed back at the sect go into the home. Apparently his four person body-guard assignment had been decided and come here as well.

“I think they were already here ahead of us. Having gone the same exact route in advance of us. A screening action, maybe,” guessed Locke.

Oh. That makes sense.

We did see a few corpses along the way, didn’t we? Bandits that they cleared out of the way?

“That’d be my guess. Given that we personally carved all four of those women, and gave them their abilities, I can tell you that any bandit they crossed would be… terribly mismatched,”said Locke with a deep laugh. “Especially given that Shu and Lifen… well… we gave them very similar things to Keep What you Kill. I’m sure they were more than happy to slaughter bandits.”

Ash felt like the names were familiar to him, but he couldn’t place them to faces.

Biyu and Liu were names he couldn’t forget though. Their faces came to his mind quite quickly.

The former had fought a never-ending series of duels and been brought low because Ash had been too merciful. He’d healed her with powerful medicine.

Liu was someone who’d been injured during the veil raid. To the point that her Dantian had been more or less destroyed. He’d rebuilt her and it by hand.

Imprinting his own Dao upon her.

“They’re not as bad as those two. Shu and Lifen that is. Though they’re also very dedicated and determined to protect you. They were both amongst those in the veil who you tenderly nursed on the battlefield,” Locke said with a snicker. “Okay. Time for me, now. Come to the Hall, my Chosen One. We need to be quick so we can be back in time for Na to come crawl into our bed. She’ll be doing what she feels is her duty for another hour or so.”

Ash wanted to fight with with Locke about going into the Hall. He wanted to just lay here.

“Please…? I don’t ask for much from you,” Locke asked with a sad sweetness to her. “I didn’t even fight with you like I said I would. I let it go.”

Realizing the least he could do was at least humour her, Ash sat up in his bed. He owed her a great deal.

“Keep your panties on lady,” muttered Ash. “I’ll go, okay?”

“Yes! Thank you. Also… that’s the first time you’ve referred to me by my actual gender. Starting to really accept it?” asked Locke.

Before he could respond he was pulled straight into the Hall.

He found himself standing in a room that looked a lot like his own back at the Jade Fist sect.

Small, comfortable, decorated appropriately.

“Welcome!” said a voice quite cheerfully.

Turning, Ash found the speaker.

It was the dead woman Ash had put into the Hall for Locke.

“Hi, hi, my Chosen One,” said the woman, putting her hands on her hips. “So, these were already pretty big, but I enhanced them just a little bit. I wanted to be bigger than Mei and Chunhua. I also shrunk in the waist and moved the hips a bit.”

As she spoke, the woman indicated her breasts, which were indeed very large, then her waist, and hips. She was dressed in clothes that any cultivator would wear, it just fit on her in a strange way given her body proportions, and heavily modified.

It exposed her cleavage in an almost scandalous way that looked more like a window. She also had a long slit in her gi. From her ankle all the way up to her waist.

One could easily see she wasn’t wearing any underwear.

“I kept the green eyes and brown hair, as those would take longer to change. I don’t mind them either,” said the woman with a flippant hand gesture at her face and hair. “Besides, she was beautiful. Prettier than I was when I was a living woman, at least. It’ll be fun to have a new face and body to play with.”

“Locke?” Ash asked. It was the only thing that made sense but it also still felt weird to him.

“Indeed!” said the woman who was apparently Locke. Then she moved forward and wrapped him up in a hug, pushing his face deliberately into her cleavage. “My Chosen One, it’s so nice to finally get my hands on you. So very nice.”

The woman’s arms were filled with a cultivator’s strength. It reminded him very much of Mei’s earth borne strength. He didn’t mind being pressed into the soft warmth of her, but he was also very disturbed at the moment.

“It really is me,” the woman said. “I can read your thoughts right now. You were just thinking how nice it is to be pressed to my body. My boobs are great, aren’t they?

“And stop fretting. It really is me. I did warn you you’d have to change soon. That I had a surprise cooking. You even guessed it right and I had to play coy.”

Locke released him partially and leaned back. Her hands went to his face and she held him with gentle fingers.

“It’s so wonderful to see you with my own eyes,” she said with a wide and underwear melting smile. She ran a thumb over his cheek and then leaned in quickly.

The kiss began and ended before Ash could really respond.

“Oh how nice. I missed touching. Missed kissing. Hell I missed everything,” said Locke with a deep laugh. There was an odd glow to her green eyes as she stared at him. “I can’t wait for you to break me in. I made sure this body was ready for sex as well. No awkward hymen or anything useless thing like that to worry about.

“But that can wait for another time. I wanted to show you my work so far. I’ve spent the last week or so just inhabiting the body and getting used to being physical again. It’s been… exhausting if I have to be honest.”

“You’re real then? You’re actually in her body?” Ash asked.

“Indeed,” murmured Locke as her eyes lidded partially. She was looking at him now in a way that made him feel like he was food. “She died, her soul fled, and I’ve taken the body. It took a while to rebuild everything to where it should be. Death is hard on a body, you know?”

“I imagine,” replied Ash. He didn’t try to pull away from her. There was no way of hiding his thoughts or feelings from her.

If she wanted to let him move away, she would have already. She’d have felt his desire and could have let him go, or not.

“So… are you alive then? When we first met you felt more like a computer program of sorts,” pushed Ash. He wanted to keep her on track a little bit. To get information out of her while he could.

“Oh I’m very much alive. My wonderful Chosen One has given me all that I could ask for,” purred Locke, slowly leaning towards him. “I’m alive, I eat, I drink, I breathe, I do all the things a living person would. I just don’t want to rush my new body. Trying to take care of it and make sure everything is right.

“I only get the one opportunity to make an entrance when I exit the Hall, after all. First impressions only happen once. If I’m going to get Jia and Na on my side I’ll have to time it well.”

“When you… exit the Hall,” repeated Ash, looking up into the gorgeous woman’s face.

Locke’s face.

“I can’t stay in here forever, after all,” whispered Locke as she got within a few inches of his face. “I plan on supporting you directly as well as indirectly, my… Chosen… One.”

As she said the last three words Locke lightly pressed the tip of her nose to his and then leaned in closer, rubbing her cheek to his.

Ash was getting a distinctly dizzy feeling right between his eyes. It was pleasantly warm and made him feel quite odd.

There was also another reaction that he couldn’t control in the lower half of his body.

“I’ll do all I used to, and now be with you physically. Though I won’t be able to always be out of the Hall. I’m tied to it now. Tied to it in a way that prevents me from straying from it,” continued Locke in a whisper, her lips just shy of his ear now. “I’ll have to remain in the Hall at night to… recharge. This body is mine, I inhabit it, I dwell within it.

“But I can’t fill it with a soul. My soul lives within you and is tied to the Hall. So I have to lay my poor self here in the evenings. But you’ll visit me sometimes. Won’t you?”

Locke turned her head, her left hand sliding down to rest on Ash’s chest.

“Wont you… my… Chosen… One?” asked Locke in a low and pleading tone.

In all of his life, Ash had never been pushed like this. He’d never been pursued in such an over-the-top way. Mei flirted with him, and a few others made comments, but nothing like this.

This was something he’d only ever read in books.

“Yeah,” Ash got out in a stupid sounding way.

“Perfect,” Locke said and then laid a kiss on his cheek, followed by a brief brush of her lips across his own. Then she stood up and took a step away from him. Putting her hands behind her back she gave him a smile and a wide eyed look. “Mm. It’s so hard to stop once I’ve gotten going but… I promised I’d go slow. It’s obvious you’re starting to see me as a woman so… I’m willing to keep to the slow going.

“Now, we should speak of other things. Because as much as I just want to flirt at you and fondle you, we do have actual business… and… and if I don’t stop myself now— well, if I don’ot stop now, I won’t stop till you’re thrusting into me.”

“Right, business,” agreed Ash with a bit of reluctance. The idea of going at Locke right now didn’t seem terrible. There was also an odd echo he felt to her words that resonated with what he’d actually wanted to do. It was enough that it poked through the haze that was sexual desire laying over his thoughts. “Uh… do you share my emotions? As you… err… turned me on, did you get turned on?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Locke said and then pouted, twisting her body to one side. It presented him with an incredible profile of her. “I try to prevent it, but you overwhelm me at times. I’m only a passenger when it comes to you, Ashley Sheng. Treat me delicately.

“Anyways, business. What are your goals while we’re away for the year? What plans do you have? What do you want to do? We’ll have lots of time to explore it all.”

“Plans,” murmured Ash.

“Indeed. Do you want to try and develop our cultivating as high as we can? Are we going to consolidate and thicken our Qi? Work on understanding our middle Dantian? There’s lots we can do.”

“Wait, thicken our Qi? I thought we’d already folded it repeatedly until it was as solid as we could manage.”

“Well, we did,” Locke said and then sat down next to Ash on the bed. He was thankful for the action because it managed to shift his focus away from her middle.

It was a little odd sitting on a bed with her, but it wasn’t that bad.

“We folded and condensed everything repeatedly. Now… now our Qi is a little different. As a Mortal Refiner the Qi is naturally denser to begin with. That means we could easily fold it over twice. Condensing Qi will be harder for a time though. Just like it was last time.”

“Ah, that makes sense. It’s also why the difference between Body and Mortal is so identifiable, isn’t it? All the more reason we have to move up as quickly as possible.”

“Indeed!” Locke said, giving him a bright smile while bumping her shoulder into his. “That’s my Chosen One. Just because you look like you’re floating along easily across the surface of a lake, doesn’t mean those little duck feet of yours aren’t going a mile every second beneath the water.”

Grinning, Ash felt an odd sense of comfort in her words.

“Now, Ashley Sheng, my chosen one, your Locke Sheng would like to make a suggestion and ask you for a favor,” said Locke, peering at him head on now. “Will you hear her?”

The odd phrasing made him lock up in place for a second before he nodded his head.

“Course,” he said.

“I think you should condense your Qi once. Get back up to level two tonight with a Qi attractor, then condense it a final time in the morning, I’ll wake you up with the sun,” suggested Locke. “That’ll refirm up our Qi and have everything moving accordingly. Your Qi Sea will drop back for a time, but that isn’t an issue.”

With a frown, Ash wasn’t sure about the need to use a Qi attractor pill. He could easily cultivate and reach level two all by himself he imagined.

“And before you ask, your wife Locke Sheng asks you to use the Qi attractor because it will help her, as well. It would serve two purposes to use such a pill. That’s why I’m asking it as a favor,” Locke said and gave him the same smile from earlier. It made his heart beat a little oddly. “It’ll give me what I need to finalize my changes with this body. Then I’ll be ready to join you in the world when I decide it’s time.”

Once again Ash wanted to fight with her.

Resist her request for the simple reality that it didn’t need to happen and it was a waste of resources.

Then once more realized he was being petty. Locke was always in his corner.

She didn’t always share the information he needed, but she never shied away from helping him.

“I’ll not recognize you as Locke Sheng until you tell me everything,” Ash said in a straightforward thrust toward the truth.

Sighing, Locke let her eyes drop down to the floor.

She slowly nodded her head, then shook it, only to nod it again.

“Okay. I accept. I’ll tell you everything,” she said in a glum tone. “You’ll name me Locke Sheng and add me to the family roles. Well, where should I begin?”

Looking up to him again, she waited.

Oh.

Well.

Shit.