CC3 -CH7- (Patreon)

“Uh… well… whats your goal?” Ash asked, not looking away.

“Kill them all. Exterminate Wraiths. All of them,” Locke said simply with a shrug of her shoulders. “That’s it. I want them all gone. Every single one.”

“Oh. Right. Ah… okay,” said Ash, feeling like he hadn’t asked the right question. “Who… was the old man you had talked with? I couldn’t hear anything.”

“Family issues. Family issues that don’t matter to me at all. Ones that have no relevance or place for me,” Locke said with a decisive nod of her head. “Their problems aren’t mine. My lot is with you, and I’ll keep myself to myself to make sure of that. I can’t answer anymore than that because… well… honestly I have a lot of gaps in my memory.

“When I joined you… when I died… when I ran out of… life… I lost a lot of who I’d been. I have some of my memory. I can see how it all fits together and I have enough of it to know kind of what I’m missing. A lot of that has to do with the end of my life.

“Before I came to find you. Before all this. A lot of that part is missing. I know I hate the Wraiths. Hate them all. Want them all absolutely eradicated.”

“What are they, exactly?” asked Ash while deciding to keep going. He realized in that moment that Locke did indeed have an echo of what he was feeling. He could feel her leaching off his confused, yet stable, point of view at the moment.

She was using it to strengthen herself.

If he bled a desire to know more, to be open, and answer questions into it, she’d likely feel the same.

“Tell me, Locke Sheng,” he said with a smile for her, then laid his hand on her knee.

Apparently that’d been the right tactic.

Locke smiled at him in return in an almost silly way.

“They’re… rats, really. I guess. They primarily go to veils that are failing and clean them up,” explained Locke. “Eradicate anything left over and clean it completely. Everything they eat ends up being redistributed elsewhere as… waste. A great deal of that waste usually ends up piled in one area.

“It can often be a treasure trove for things. Inanimate objects and things without life just end up there. If the smaller ones get to an item they just mangle it up. Chew it up and munch it all. As you saw first hand.

“That isn’t always the case though. A lot of the larger ones with low combat ability swallow things whole. No chewing at all just one big gulp. It also comes back out exactly as it was swallowed.

“Well, minus anything that’d been alive. That all gets turned to their version of shit.”

“Okay… so… they clean up corpses, essentially,” Ash summarized.

“I guess you could just boil it down to that, yeah,” muttered Locke. “That isn’t the whole of it though. They live in a… liminal space as I mentioned previously. It sometimes opens up on veils that aren’t dead. Aren’t a corpse, as you put it.

“When that happens, that veil suffers terribly. More often than not they collapse outright under the sheer weight of the wraiths that pour through. Not to mention why why would they ever need the ones that can fight? A dying veil wouldn’t really much of a fight. The smaller Wraiths would be all that was needed to close out a dying or dead veil.

“It’s like they’ve been weaponized. Or… I think they were weaponized? I can’t… I can’t remember. It’s a lot of open blank spots for me. I can’t really talk to gramps or others about it that much either because they’ll want to drag me into their own problems.”

Ash nodded his head.

He could somewhat see what she was talking about.

In his mind he could easily put together how the Wraiths might have started as a function to keep things orderly. Then slowly been turned into something else by a malign force.

All he had to do to see it was to look at the history of a dog, after all. Living beings had a way of altering, corrupting, and changing the world around them to suit their needs.

This was no different than that, he imagined.

“Exactly,” Locke said with a rapid set of head nods, grinning at him all the while. “Just like that, my sweet Chosen One. I should have told you about this earlier. This is way easier than I thought it’d be.

“Well… other than it’s kinda horribly embarrassing to admit I don’t know as much as I let on. My bravado and ego got in my own way. Guess that’s why I can identify with Tala sometimes.”

Ash felt somewhat disappointed in a way.

He’d been partially expecting some sort of big evil bad guy that they were fighting.

When in reality they were really just fighting the entropy of the world. The chaos that it generated all by itself by simply existing.

“The world cultivates chaos as we all strive to bring order to it,” Ash murmured as his eyes dropped from Locke’s face and he stared into the middle distance. “There’s a momentum to it. A flow. I suppose if I’m not careful, I’ll get swept up in it. I suddenly find my Dao far to powerful for my own liking.”

“It… yes. Your Dao is very strong, Ashley. My Chosen One,” Locke said and put her hand atop his where it sat on her knee. She began to drag it up the inside of her thigh. “Everything has a momentum, as you’ve found. From time, to the world, to the elements. All things flow and shift. Even a rock has momentum.

“People have momentum. A relationship has momentum. You’ll need to be very careful, my Ashley. We can’t afford to lose each other, and our Dao is very potent. To the point that you could become a despot of all the realms if you’re not wary.”

Locke’s words felt like someone had just pulled a blanket off his head.

What he’d thought was only a hill turned out to be the northern Mount Tai. It was as if he didn’t have eyes at all to see with and someone had shown him the truth.

“Even relationships,” Ash parroted back as his thoughts ran along that line. In that moment he could easily see what she meant. He could speed a relationship up, or slow it down, so long as he was a part of it.

It didn’t mean he could control the relationship, but he could force it to move ahead from where it was, or backwards by reversing the momentum.

If say he was with someone who was willing to take things to a sexual level, he could try and guide the speed of the relationship to reach that point quickly.

There was of course no guarantee to that given that people were mercurial. In touching a relationship’s momentum he could end up immediately stymieing his own efforts.

There was something interesting though he felt as he sat there with Locke.

He could easily knock his relationship with her all the way back down to how it had been in the beginning. To where they were merely companions working toward a goal.

There was complete control available to him due to the fact that her soul rested inside him.

And immediately dismissed that idea.

While he still felt rather weird about Locke and her gender reveal, he didn’t actually want to change anything with her. He was feeling more comfortable with her than not.

“Oh, why thank you,” Locke said just as Ash’s hand settled as high up on her thigh as it could be. “I’m so glad to hear you’re comfortable with where we’re at. Now, time for you to go.

“If you don’t leave now, you won’t be able to fold Na in half. Then fold your Qi in half. After that just take the attractor and go to sleep. I’ll handle the rest.”

“That’ll work? Even if I’m asleep?” Ash asked in an odd way.

“I can handle it,” Locke said with a dip of her head. “I know where your gathering point is. I can guide all the Qi to it and you’ll collect it without being awake. That’s how the snowflake rolls, after all. It becomes a thing all on it’s own. Where it gathers everything it comes in contact with.

“I just have to guide it all right there. Now, get going. Na is literally getting into your bed right now.”

Before Ash could respond, Locke ejected him from the Hall.

He ended up practically landing underneath Na as she got into the bed.

“Oh, Mas-Ashley. Hello. You have impeccable timing,” Na said, looking down at him with a smile. She leaned back and ended up straddling him across the middle. She was quite nude as well. “I’m here for my night duties. Let’s begin.”

***

Yawning, Ash looked at the front yard and then let out a heavy sigh.

The evening had been quite enjoyable with Na.

He’d folded his Qi as Locke had instructed him, taken the pill, and gone straight to sleep.

Only to wake up when Locke played the part of alarm clock and promptly folded his Qi once again. When he looked inward, the slow spinning, and very nearly empty, Qi sea looked more like a solid. A solid that slowly spun in a vortex.

He could feel the power of it and the strength there. That it rolled right up to his middle Dantian and was quite secure there as well.

After his tribulation he could see into that space quite clearly now as well.

An empty void that felt correct.

A blank space that reacted to whatever was given to it or done to it.

When Ash pulled on it, it pushed. If he pushed an angry feeling into it, the Dantian gave him back a chill cold shoulder.

Whatever he gave it, it returned back.

As right now he was concerned with balancing all things that came to him. His momentum at this time was at the balance point. Ash desired all things in regards to him to be neutral and flowing evenly.

If he was at that point, he could respond much more clearly to anything that happened.

Suddenly the door behind him opened and Chunhua stepped out. Her hair was a bit messy, her clothes looked as if they’d been thrown on in a rush, and even her eyes looked like they wanted to dip down.

“Chunhua, are you alright?” Ash asked, peering at the lovely sorceress. “Was there somewhere you need to go? Can I escort you?

“I think she had a spell at the door to our bedroom,” offered Locke. “I felt something ticklish in the air as we stepped through but I thought it was just oddly flowing Qi. It happens sometimes.”

“I… no. Its the opposite. I’m here to escort you, Ashley,” Chunhua said, giving him a bright smile. The monster that was Chunhua was his and bent toward his desires and whims.

He’d wanted her in exchange for power, she’d wanted power and ability for her loyalty.

They both got what they wanted in the end.

Ash just hadn’t expected how ferociously she’d work to fulfill her end of the bargain. He was however very grateful for it and that she was on his side. He knew he was the odd one out in this world.

“Chunhua, thank you for being mine,” Ash said with a grin. He was feeling rather appreciative as of late. “My sorceress. Thank you. I won’t turn you or Rou away if you really wanted to push our relationship further. Just… be sure. You know where I want things to be. It won’t be casual.”

Reaching out, he gently patted the white-eyed woman on the shoulder. Then let his hand linger on her, giving her a gentle squeeze as well.

“I’m going to go visit the auction house today. I want to see what’s going on and what’s for sale. We could always use more tools and things,” he continued, leaving his hand where he’d put it. He wanted to break the physical barrier at the moment.

Chunhua was already nodding her head at his words, her eyes wide and staring at him now.

“Yes. I want to do that,” she said and took a step closer to him. Her hands came up and rested on his hips. “Rou and I both want to push this further. We want this to be absolutely permanent and-and romantically involved. Thank you for accepting me and her. Though… uhm… what… changed your mind if I may ask? You were receptive to me but you never said anything about actually accepting it.”

“Just realizing I’ve been rather dumb about it. I’d been saying no out of fear rather than anything else,” Ash said with a smirk. Then he acted impulsively, leaned in, and brushed his lips across Chunhua’s. “Come on, you can be my escort, my sorceress.”

Stepping away from her he began walking toward the auction house. He did really want to see what was going on and the best items in the auction were normally done in the morning viewing.

There was a light tap of Chunhua’s soft-soled boots catching up to him, then she was right next to him. She had a very red face and was giving him what he could only think of as side-eye.

It lasted several seconds before she started looking ahead of them as they went.

“What?” Chunhua asked suddenly, looking off to their left as they crossed past an intersection. “What do they want?”

“Hm? Oh. Looks like ‘your sorceress’ has developed an ability to sense others. Liu and Biyu are coming for you,” warned Locke.

Looking that way, Ash saw that Locke was right.

Liu and Biyu were indeed heading his way. The former was an incredibly talented woman of beauty and sexual appeal that Ash could acknowledge. Her brown hair was quite short now and pulled back from her face. Her light-brown eyes were like unsheathed blades as she looked at everyone around her.

Biyu was an existence he barely knew and only had met once.

The last he’d seen of her she looked more like a roughly beaten side of beef than a woman.

Now though he saw that she was actually quite pretty and very slim. She ran the lines of a traditional beauty for this realm and hung to them very tightly. Her hair was a dark black and her eyes a similar color.

Both of them had the look of predators prowling across a field than young women.

Liu and Biyu both came to a stop and gave him a martial salute once they were close to him. Which he returned in equal measure to them.

“Master Sheng, Biyu Sheng and I, Liu Sheng, have come with a letter from our honored elder, Gen,” said Liu. She then pulled a sealed envelope out from her clothing and held it out to him.

Biyu Sheng, was it?

I suppose she’s Liu Sheng?

“Of course. I would wager that every single woman in your harem who pledged themselves to you, holds your last name. All hoping you’ll bed them. They likely even tell people they’re actively in your harem.

“Eventually we’ll have to start bringing in other men and women at outsiders, but this is fine for now,” said Locke in an almost bored tone. “Can’t really just breed amongst ourselves. Inbreeding would be an issue. Cultivators live a long while. They can hope for thirty or forty years, then seek out a man to bring into the family.”

Taking the letter Ash mentally agreed with Locke, though he didn’t like the time frame he’d suggested. In that moment, he also realized he needed to acknowledge them exactly as they’d stated their names to be.

After all, they took the time to say their name deliberately to him. They wanted him to hear the Sheng attachment.

“To be fair… Liu… Liu is damaged. You healed her, when she should have died. She will never not hear the beat of your heart, in her heart. Your Dao will forever echo in hers,” murmured Locke. “Even now, if you listen closely with your heightened senses, you can hear her heart, Ashley. It beats a fraction after yours. Almost in time with yours. Beat for beat.

“Her Dao, is in fact, tied to you. As you grow in power, hers will as well. Her Dao is simply Ashley Sheng’s Dao. Listen with it. You’ll hear her Dao echo in your own.”

Ash stalled for time and began to open the envelope. At the same time, he did as Locke suggested. He listened with his Dao. With his heightened senses.

Liu’s heart did indeed beat almost in exact rhythm with his own as an echo. Only a fraction of a second afterward, but always perfectly synced.

Even when his heart did a minor flip at the full realization at what he’d done, hers did the same.

Trying to open the envelope and ignore what he heard, Ash pulled back on his Dao and senses. But it was already too late.

He’d heard Liu’s Dao start echoing louder and louder inside his own. It was almost hard to ignore after the first second.

Nor did he miss when Liu took a sudden step toward him. Her breathing was picking up in speed and her eyes were actually dilated.

“Thank you, Liu Sheng,” Ash said and looked up from the letter and caught her eyes. If there was ever a moment he might be able to stop her, this was it.

Liu did indeed freeze in place, her mouth partly open as she gazed at him.

“Yes, Ashley. Everything is for you,” she said in what was nearly a moan. He could still faintly hear her Dao thudding inside his own. Her heart sailing along right behind his.

Turning his head he looked to Biyu.

“I’m glad you recovered so well, Biyu Sheng. I worried for you. I lamented you suffered for me for my actions,” Ash said honestly. There were still times where his mind would trip back to what’d been done to her and how he was responsible. “It’s good to see you as you should be.”

Ash had paused in his effort to open the envelope. He’d open it in the private booth at the auction house. That would be much more safe and keeping it from prying eyes.

“Thank you, Ashley,” Biyu said with a wide grin. There was finally some joy in her eyes at this point. As if the darkness that dwelt in her were lifted momentarily. “I owe everything to you. I… I now understand my purpose. I’ve already given you everything of me, and will continue to do so.”

“Great,” Ash said then gestured the way they’d been walking. “Will you accompany my sorceress and I? We’re on the way to the auction house. You’re welcome to move with us.”

“Thank you, Ashely,” Liu said and then inclined her head to him. “We would appreciate that. It would be easier to protect you from a close proximity.”

“Yes, thank you, Ashley,” Biyu agreed, bowing at the same time.

“Great. Off we go then,” said Ash, tucking the envelope into his clothes and vanishing it into the Hall.