Cultivating Chaos 4 -CH1- (Patreon)

Panting, Ash stumbled along through the darkened sewer tunnel.

He could hear Rou and Locke moving along behind him in a similar fashion. While they had fairly good night-sight, the darkness that surrounded them was near impenetrable.

Only Ash’s sense of Shen’s Qi and a helpful green arrow gave them any direction to go off of. Though that only gave him a general direction.

Which proved to be entirely unhelpful when they ran into intersections that didn’t offer a tunnel that went the direction they wanted.

Such as right now.

Ash came to a stop at a three way intersection where two of the tunnels went in nearly the opposite direction of where they wanted.

He could only vaguely see that there was an intersection at all. His other-worldly senses based in his Battle-Cultivation and feeling the momentum of Qi due to his Dao were the reason he knew of the break in the tunnel.

“This is terrible. I’m so sorry,” Rou got out between heavy breaths. “I promise I’ve done all I can to increase my physical abilities. I’m not trying to hold you two back.”

Ash frowned and even though he couldn’t see the red-haired and blue-eyed Qi-Healer, but he could sense where she was with his abilities.

That and even though it echoed wildly her panted breaths were pretty easy to zero in on.

“It isn’t you, Rou,” Locke growled in a frustrated voice. “It’s these damn tunnels. I can sense Shen and Xiaohui. I know exactly where they are. We just… can’t get to them. These tunnels are endless.

“I’m plotting our route and everywhere we’ve been, but it’s still a damn maze. With that said… take… take the left side, Ashley.

“It feels like it’s going the wrong direction but I feel better about that one, than the other direction. That just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Ash had turned partially to where he was certain Locke was. He couldn’t see the incredibly beautiful, dark eyed, dark haired, and over-developed sex-idol, but he was once again fairly certain of where she was.

“And thanks! I’m glad you think I’m a sex-idol. I’m having to work hard to keep it like this. Not too much training, not too much food. Gotta make sure I don’t put on too much muscle but not that much fat,” Locke said, veering wildly off topic and into a territory of conversation that didn’t match their location.

They were ankle deep in human waste.

“What?” Rou asked in a surprised tone.

“Not all of us have a metabolism like you, Rou. Mine sucks,” grunted Locke. Then she was right next to Ash. He could feel the heat from her in these cold tunnels. Her hands came up and she pushed him on the shoulder. “We should go.”

Ash nodded his head a bit.

He was having a somewhat difficult time keeping this thoughts straight.

Too much had happened in too short a period of time for him. Everything felt incredibly off balance and left him reeling.

“I mean, it’s a lot to happen in a short time. Banished from the sect, marrying the princess, stopping a royal coup, then killing the realm lord. Only to have the Emperor show up himself and throw us into prison,” Locke ticked off. “Any one of those could be too much for someone. You’re dealing with all of that. That and… and… Moira. I’m fairly certain she’s alive by the way.

“I think we’d feel it if she died since she’s under a slave’s compulsion. Though that does make me worried about the distance between us. I have no idea how this’ll effect her since… well… actually I’m not even sure we’re in the same veil anymore.”

With a grunt as a response Ash took off at a slow jog. He didn’t want to push Rou harder than he had to. She couldn’t hide in the hall or recover there.

She was their weakest link but also their greatest trump card.

He needed to protect his Qi-healer.

Then he realized he needed to protect Locke, as well.

She was locked out of the Hall. Where she was primarily bound and locked to.

There was a concern that she might be ejected out of the body she inhabited. Her soul was part and parcel to the Hall, her body was merely a vessel that she used more akin to one might a hand-puppet.

“I’m fine,” Locke murmured as she moved along beside him. “I can already tell that it’ll be okay. I just need to… I need to be really careful with my body. To circulate, cycle, and utilize Qi and treat my body as my body.

“Rather than treating the Hall like my body. It’ll be fine. I promise.”

“I can always help tie your soul down, Locke,” offered Rou. She wasn’t panting as hard now that they’d slowed their pace down. “Some of the abilities you gave me gave me some room to experiment. Given the Demonic Cultivators and their poisonous stolen Life-Qi, I was toying with a few things. I think I can help if you need me to.”

“Yes, please, Rou. Do all you can for me,” Locke said with an edge to her words. There was no teasing or playfulness to it.

In fact, now that he thought about it, Ash was fairly certain that Locke’s banter was mostly due to her anxiety. All her sexual ineundo, flirting with him, throwing a few passes at Rou, were all tied to her growing panic.

“Rou, my Qi-Healer, please help Locke Sheng,” requested Ash as they ran along. He could feel like they were making a long turn. Slowly increasing in height as well.

Given that they’d spent a long while moving downward, that was good news to Ash. He’d already had a few dire and dark thoughts about being lost in endless tunnels deep beneath the surface.

“I already planned on it. Regardless of who takes the peak, Locke will be an essential part of that, as she’s part of you, my Cultivator,” Rou answered.

“Oh, haha, good point. I’m like… a bonus wife. I think I’m the only one who goes both ways though,” Locke offered with a laugh. Her voice had lost the keen edge it’d had though. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Rou’s words had had an effect on placating her to a degree.

“You’re the only one who goes both ways,” confirmed Rou. “But I’ll treat you as a platonic wife if I’m the peak, Locke, and respect you as such. As will my partner.”

I mean… to be fair, every woman being bisexual in a Harem is kinda far fetched. Somewhat farfetched to even have more than one if there is one, really.

I mean, if you get right down to it, population percentages wouldn’t really merit representation or inclusion other than for the sake of it.

Err… what’d uncle Josh used to call it… token representation?

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it. I think I can probably corrupt Moira and Tala though. They’re outlanders and not as tied into this culture. Besides, I’m freakishly hot, right?” asked Locke. “You’d beg me to reward you with this body. I know you would.

“If I’m this hot, I could bend Moira and Tala. Right? I’m hot… super hot… I could do it. Couldn’t I?”

Ash wanted to reassure her but right now he was doing his best to navigate his way through a literal river of filth. The timing was the worst he’d ever heard of.

Ash abruptly stumbled as his boot smacked into something. His shin then hit it and he went tumbling face first.

Landing thankfully onto something very hard and much drier than the surroundings. It did have a slimy feel to it but it wasn’t human filth.

“Watch-watch your step,” Ash warned and pushed himself up. He got his boots down onto the new floor and stopped. He could feel Shen up ahead somewhere. Or at least his Qi.

Rou muttered something and then there was a flare of Qi behind him.

A soft green light filled the area around them. Bathing everything in a warm and calming light.

“One of my very limited Qi abilities,” Rou explained. “I have to kind of hold still to manage it though. I’m trying to get better at it. If we’re staying down here I guess I’ll get a lot of practice in.”

Ash was grateful for being able to see where they were. He wasn’t about to complain to Rou about her or her abilities.

Looking around, he could see they were in some type of maintenance chamber. Whoever had made theses sewers used this point as either a loading, unloading, or service center. There were a number of spots and places that looked as if they’d once held equipment of some sort.

Of what remained, it was long since broken, rusted through, and abandoned. Nothing was identifiable and everything was the definition of trash.

At the far end of the chamber, Ash could see a handful of faces peering up at them. They were all sat down in the middle of the area. Most of them were all clustered together though there were a few that were standing apart.

What Ash was feeling of Shen was from the group of people they’d just discovered.

“Ah, hello,” Ash said, lifting a hand and waving it. “Just… new prisoners. We just escaped the welcoming wagon.”

There was no response from the huddled inhabitants of the sewer. Some stared at him, some looked back to the nothing in front of them, and one rolled over onto their side and let out a loud fart.

Everyone here couldn’t seem to care less for his arrival, what he might do, or what he had to say, as they did about their living conditions. This was no place to live or be, but they weren’t just content with it, they didn’t care at all.

“Well, at least we’ll be able to take a moment for ourselves here,” Ash muttered at the lack of response from the others. “Catch our breaths.”

“I… yeah. Yeah. I can circulate Qi and try to reaffirm myself in my body,” Locke agreed while stepping up next to him. “Then we can make some plans and get out of this sewer. We can’t stay here.

“Or… well… we could stay here, but I refuse. This is… no. I’d rather go fight for a cardboard box up above.”

Rou let out a long sigh as she took the position on Ash’s other side.

“I agree with Locke. I’d rather put what little martial skill I have to use for a dog’s den above us, then remain here,” Rou concurred.

“Yeah. We’ll… we’ll get out of here. Just a quick chat with those people, a chance to settle ourselves, then we go,” agreed Ash. “I’ll start pushing Qi out, let it flow through the tunnels. You’ll be able to map it that way, right Locke?”

“I… uh… yeah. Yeah, I can do that. I can’t get back into the Hall, but I can still use it as effectively as I did before,” answered the beautiful woman. She’d turned to face him and had a look of confusion on her wondrously pretty face. “It’s weird. It’s like… like… losing a hand, I think. It’s not there anymore, but I can still wriggle my fingers. Or at least, feels like I’m wriggling my fingers.

“It’s like that with the Hall. I can still do everything, it responds, it’s as a part of me as it always was, I just can’t… push… my body back into it.”

“It’ll be fine,” promised Rou. “I’ll just make sure to tie your soul down till we escape. I don’t think we’ll be here for hundreds of years. Let alone a few months.

“I imagine Ash will come up with some improbably or impossible solution and break us free. The bigger issue will be having gone against the word of the Emperor. He sentenced you here, Ash.”

“Yes, but not you,” Ash countered. “Or Locke, for that matter. He wrongly sentenced two people just to send me here. He’s a debtor to you both.”

“And the Emperor despises a debtor,” both women said in unison.

Locke chuckled and shook her head.

“I’m going to demand he reduces your sentence as repayment,” she said and then started walking forward.

“Likewise. That should help. We just have to figure out how to get Ash completely free as I don’t think he’d reduce the sentence completely just based on that,” Rou added, following behind the other woman. A green orb of light floated in her palm and wobbled uncertainly as she moved.

Moving toward the people they’d found, Ash realized that Shen wasn’t among them. The Qi he felt was coming from something not far away.

It was pushed up against the wall and was entirely black. The green light that Rou was putting out made it seem all the darker, in fact.

Ash suddenly realized what it was once they were standing over it.

What they’d found wasn’t Shen.

Though it was quite obvious proof that Shen had been here.

They’d found a corpse that’d been burned to little more than charcoal.

Blackened remains that could only be described as a charred husk that more resembled a log than what once was a person.

“That’s a crispy critter,” Locke remarked, looking to the others. “Given his Qi powers… this isn’t a surprise I suppose. That move he tried to use on you when we met him was quite fiery. Burned himself badly with it, right?”

“Right,” Ash confirmed and then sighed. He’d partially been hopeful to find Shen and recruit him. The man would’ve been helpful to have in a party here in prison. It’d at least be one more person that could contribute to their power base.

Turning away, Ash scanned the area. There was a darkened corner of the area that was higher than the rest. No one was there and they actively seemed to be avoiding it.

“Over there then?” Rou asked, having seen the same space.

Collectively the three of them then moved off without another word.

It was considerably colder over here for some reason but it wasn’t unpleasant. At least not yet

Given time Ash imagined it’d be uncomfortable to remain in this location.

Right now though, Locke needed a chance to circulate Qi and pull herself back together. To reaffirm her soul and make sure she wasn’t going to lose her body.

A cold quiet spot that didn’t invite others would be perfect for that goal.

Locke sat down and put her hands to her knees. She stared down at the stone floor and looked to be trying to bore a hole through the ground.

Rou stepped up behind Locke and gently moved the other woman’s hair off her shoulders. Then she laid her hands down to her and held onto her.

“Don’t comment,” Rou sternly warned Locke. Even as she said it though she grinned. Locke had already opened her mouth as soon as she felt Rou’s hands and was likely going to throw out a flirtatious or scandalous comment. “Focus on yourself, Locke Sheng. Focus entirely on making sure that bright soul of yours, stays there.

“Ash… I think that’s the woman you noticed earlier. You could go ask her what happened to Shen. Keep yourself busy. You’ll distract Locke otherwise.”

Locke froze up at that, her face taking on a weird emotion Ash couldn’t identify. Then she let out a squeak and nodded her head, staring down at her feet instead.

Huh.

Alright.

Just let me know if you need me, Locke Sheng.

I’m your husband.

What’s mine is yours, and yours is mine.

That includes worries and problems.

“I… yes. Thank you, Husband. I appreciate it. Appreciate you,” demurred Locke in a warm and fuzzy way. Once again he found that smothering Locke in affirmative tones and warmth shifted her into a far more honest seeming state of mind.

Ash turned and left the two there.

This was a sensitive and somewhat delicate time for Locke. One that really would require focus and careful monitoring.

They wouldn’t be leaving until Locke was stabilized.

Looking to the point that Rou had indicated, Ash saw that there really was a woman there. She was hunched up into herself.

Her knees were raised, her arms wrapped around them, and her face laid atop that. All Ash could see was the top of her head and the back of it.

He could vaguely remember the clothes Xiaohui was wearing when she was sentenced to prison and he couldn’t deny that it looked similar enough.

Without seeing her face, or her figure for that matter, Ash wasn’t quite sure it was her, though. Given that he had nothing else to do though, there wasn’t any reason to not approach her and at least confirm it.

“Xiaohui?” asked Ash, coming to stand next to the woman. He’d pitched his volume low and gentle. If this really was the same woman, then he needed to approach her slowly.

Her Dantian had been damaged. “Burnt” had been the way he’d described it previously.

The woman lifted her head and stared up at him.

It was indeed Xiaohui.

Locke had said she rivaled anyone they’d met in the looks department with a body that could compete with herself or Mei and win, while posessing talent enough to be on par with Chunhua.

This was what ash would’ve called a classic Heroine out of a badly written novel. The only problem was she’d been horribly damaged and could no longer be such a thing.

“Ashley Sheng,” whispered the woman, staring at him. Her eyes peered at him through the gloom. Rou’s green light barely reached her and gave him enough light to see her.

Her eye was still swollen shut and the other still had a disturbing appearance from the burst blood vessel. To the point that her beauty was quite ruined at the moment.

“Xiaohui, it is you,” Ash said and then knelt down in front of her. “How’d you end up here?”

“Shen took me here,” she whispered, her tired and worn eyes staring into his face. “I can’t see you really well.”

Ash realized he had his back to the light. His face was lightly completely cast in shadow.

Shifting to one side, he put this side to Rou’s light source. Now half his face would be revealed, just as half Xiaohui’s face was.

“It is you, Ashley,” whispered Xiaohui. “But… why’re you here? You didn’t come here just for me, did you? I told you. There’s nothing worth rescusing. Nothing worth saving.

“I’m… just… I’m a citizen who’s attractive anymore. I’ll live as long as a cultivator does and be nothing more than a first year sect disciple. Better selling myself by the hour now.”

Ash shook his head slowly at that.

He hadn’t intended on meeting up with her, but now that he had, he realized that he didn’t need Shen.

Fixing Xiaohui and putting her back onto the path she’d been on previously would be more worth while. Provided taht she could be loyal to him, rather than Shen.

“If Shen brought you here, where is he now?” Ash asked.

“Abandoned me. Said I wasn’t worth his time anymore,” whispered Xiaohui. “Left me here with the filth, because I’m filth. He betrayed me.

“He’s the one who did this to me. Accidental or not, he did it. His actions caused all this. For us to be thrown in jail. Then he just… left me down here.”

Xiaohui let out a slow breath and put her face back down into her knees.

“There’s nothing for you to save, Ashely. Though I’m flattered at your intent,” murmured the young woman. “I never said it though I meant to… I’m sorry for how I spoke to you previously. It has nothing to do with the position you rose to either.

“You… received my scorn and deserved none of it. My eyes were filled with false promises and I saw nothing of the truth.”

“Not so fond of Shen anymore, then?” Ashley asked.

Xiaohui didn’t speak, though Ash could see that there was a faint fiery Qi that started to simmer inside of the woman. A flickering candle flame that could be blown out with ease, but still a flame.

A handful of seconds passed in silence before the flame went out again.

“I have no fondness for anyone, least of all Shen,” she mumbled, then went silent.

Ash didn’t get the impression she’d be willing to talk to him any further.

Instead, he started working mentally at what kind of inscription he’d have to use to help Xiaohui. As well as how to split her Dantian and then what kind of pills and elixirs he’d have to force feed her to get her back to a reasonable strength.

All while not disturbing Locke.