Cultivating Chaos 4 -Ch 2- (Patreon)

Using his finger Ash carefully sketched out the next carving he thought that’d be best for Xiaohui in the dirt of the ground. Without using Qi, or permanently etching it into the stone, this was more akin to a child doodling scribbles.

Clicking his tongue he realized that this sketch wouldn’t work either. Xiaohui’s lower back was rather narrow where it met her waist. This wouldn’t work out very well given that he had to fit it to her body as well as balance what it could do.

Why do you have to be built like a damn wet-dream? Fight Locke one-on-one with that damn body.

Muttering, Ash flicked his fingers through the dust of the stones and then spread it out again. So far he had only really been able to put together one truly workable pattern that’d fit her back.

The more he fiddled with his abilities, the more he found Scrivening and Enchanting were able to cross back and forth. That what worked for one, worked for the other.

All it came down to was a different set of tools.

“What about it?” Xiaohui questioned from where she sat hunched into herself next to Ash.

“Er, what?” he replied, not really sure what to say.

“You said my body was a… wet-dream. That I could fight with Locke,” Xiaohui murmured, not lifting her head out of her own embrace. “What about my body? Is that a sketch of me that you’re making? Why do you keep putting designs on it?”

Ash grunted as he considered how to respond. He hadn’t realized he’d said his thoughts aloud. Nor had he really considered the fact that she was actively paying attention to him.

He really hadn’t considered her as being aware of much other than he was sitting next to her. So lost in her own thoughts and turmoil.

“Yes,” admitted Ash. “You said there was nothing to save, but I disagree. I could use you, Xiaohui. I could make you into a weapon to fight for me. The problem is I have to figure out what kind of weapon to make you into.

“That’s assuming you’re willing to become one, that is. For all I know you really don’t want me to save you. That you genuinely don’t want me to rebuild you back into a cultivator.”

Ash had a momentary flash of how he’d treated Chunhua, Yue, and Rou. He’d scooped them up when they were at their lowest points.

The women of this vale were not like the women from his home. They were not women with the same moral and cultural values that he still thought of the world in.

Women of this vale are hardy, rough, and survivors.

All you have to do is provoke that martial spirit they all have. Possibly make an offer that they’ll understand at the same time from their own viewpoint.

“If you want to stay down here with the filth and trash, waiting for someone to pick you up and carry you off to use you as a bed toy, that’s fine,” Ash stated with a slow nod of his head. He suspected Xiaohui was peeking at him. “It’d be a waste of a strong woman for only what her body could up in a bedroom, but I’d understand it. You’re beautiful, certainly. Stunning, even.

“But I can’t help but think of the woman who I had to fight aggressively and do my best to put her down quickly, because I was concerned she’d be smart enough to figure out how to fight me.

“Your call, of course. I just think it’s a shame. I could really use a woman like yourself.”

Ash sketched out the rough outline he’d made of Xiaohui’s back once again. He began to slowly rebuild the engravings he was most confident with. Putting in everything that’d be needed to turn her into a martial version of Chunhua.

“Won’t work. Or at least, not without a few extra touches,” Locke warned inside of his thoughts. “Her Dantian… half of it died. Literally. The part that was burned simply no longer exists as it once did.

“It isn’t really dead, I just can’t think of a way to express it other than dead. It won’t be able to utilize Qi ever again.”

Wait, so… she’s crippled?

“Yes. She is. Her Dantian only functions at half of what it once did. It isn’t as it once was and no longer can process Qi. She… it’s like she had an arm amputated,” Locke relayed to him in a way that felt like a whisper.

Okay, so how do I fix her Dantian? We could use her. We need allies here I imagine.

If I can fix her Dantian, how do I convert Qi into a format that she can use it? I mean, we did it for Tala and Moira, why can’t we do the same for Xiaohui?

Is there a “not-dead” Qi that’d match her “not-dead” Dantian?

“A… not-de-yes! Yes there is. Yes, we can fix this. Though… ah… yeah, we could,” Locke responded excitedly. “We’ll have to really work on her with your skills, though. From the palms of her hands to the soles of her feet.

“Likely a few lines across her chest. Nothing large but still there. Right above her heart and linking it around to her back. Likely a line of down her sternum to her… ah… pubic mound, than around her waist.

“We could run a line up her spine and to the back of her skull rather than her face. There’s no way I’d ever want to mar a face as beautiful as hers. Bad enough we’ll be putting scarring on her front.

“We’d be linking her lower, middle, and upper Dantians together to make this work. It’d work though. It’ll take her time to figure out how to utilize it all, too.”

What exactly would we be doing? What’s the point of all that?

“Her Dantian can’t process Qi. It can process death, though. She’ll be somewhere between Chunhua and Mei in her abilities. Utilizing a ranged Qi with projectiles but able to fight in close quarter combat. We’ll be shifting her away from Fire-Qi though and moving her to… uh… well, Nature Qi,” Locke explained. “Or more specifically, Life Qi based on Nature Qi. So she’d have similar abilities in some ways to Yue.”

Err… so a mid-range fighter that uses Life and Death Qi?

“Yes! Exactly. She’ll be perfect for what we need. Using her natural talent she’ll be able to reach Mei’s level very quickly. If we use some elixirs and growth herbs she’ll be able to get to Chunhua’s level within a few weeks,” gushed Locke. “The only real issue is talking her into it. Because… well… it’ll be obvious she’s different the moment she starts using Qi. She’ll be a pariah to every other cultivator.

“We’d have to split her Dantian, drain it, carve her up, then refill her. Just like what we did with Chunhua just a lot more carving. Same thing, though. I’ve already prepared all the transference papers for abilities and cultivation as well.

“I should warn you now though… if we do this, she’ll grow quickly from anyone dying around her. Friend or foe, animal or human. Death will empower her. So will birth but… that’s a bit harder to come by, really.

“Once she starts down this path, she’ll become very similar to yourself or Chunhua. An unstoppable boulder rolling down a hill.”

“I’d kill myself before I let myself be used in such a fashion. Never!” she hissed and then lifted her head up slowly. She peered at him with some heat now. “And how would you make me your weapon? What is it you’d need of me to become this? My Dantian doesn’t work, you know. It doesn’t… I can’t circulate Qi, here.

“If there was even Qi to circulate, that is. What I can feel I can’t even process.”

Ash blinked at that and only now realized why everything had felt so strange to him. Why it’d been so easy for him to identify Chen’s Qi despite there being so many people around.

There was almost no Qi here.

All around him Qi was moving to him like normal, but it was significantly less than expected. By at least three-fourth’s, in fact.

“And yes… there’s a lot less Qi here. A lot less. You’re taking in about what you originally started with when we first met. Growth will be much slower here. Good thing you’ve been storing all those Qi bricks away,” Locke chirped. “Our Sheng Stones likely will come in very handy here. That and you just pull in all the Qi all on your own. In this Qi starved place you’re a walking accumlator.”

“Well, I can make you a weapon,” Ash confirmed and nodded his head at Xiaohui. “It’d require a lot of work on my part. A lot of work. An investment of Qi, time, resources, abilities, and elixirs that’d bankrupt a smaller sect.”

Xiaohui snorted at that, her head going back down to her knees. This time she’d done it in a way that she could keep her eyes on him. She was watching him openly.

“And what would you want for such a thing? I’m willing to barter. You’re clearly interested in my body as well as me as a person,” Xiaohui stated. “I’m willing to hear negotiations. Though I’d require a promise from you that is non-negotiable.”

“What’s that?” Ash asked.

“I want to eat Chen’s heart,” growled Xiaohui. Her eyes held an inner light that looked eerie in the gloom of the sewers. “He caused all this. All of it. All for the sake of his foolish pride that he was better than everyone. That no one else mattered but him. Selfish greed caused this.

“I want to eat his heart. To literally eat it. To savor the flavor of it as he lays dead at my feet. Can you promise me that?”

Ash considered that for all of two seconds.

Chen meant nothing to him and he’d gladly kill someone in cold blood to acquire Xiaohui as a weapon.

“I’ll pledge that to you if you wish,” Ash offered. He was more than willing to trade Chen’s life away. From what he’d seen and heard of the man, he didn’t seem like he and Ash would see eye to eye anyways.

“Ah… okay. I’ll pledge it back to you then,” whispered Xiaohui. “I’ll be yours if you give me Chen’s heart at some point in the future.”

“Agreed,” Ash confirmed with a short bob of his head.

“Then I’m yours, Ashley Sheng. Please don’t treat me poorly. I’m no maiden, but I only knew one man and have never pledged previously,” Xiaohui declared, the words followed by the sharp crack of a statue being built inside of Ash’s Dantian.

Turning his mind inward, Ash gazed into his Dantian.

The slowly spinning whirlpool of his Qi-sea circled the massive golden pillar of his Dao. Spread through the Qi-sea was an army of statues. All of them in various poses, positions, and materials.

Each and every one was facing the massive and glowing Dao at the center.

Now that he looked at it, Ash realized it was significantly bigger than the last time he’d looked at it.

Ash wanted to see if Xiaohui really had just completely pledged to him. He mentally focused on the idea of her statue.

His attention was yanked to one side and he found her statue there.

She stood with her arms raised to the Dao pillar. Her head leaned back with her eyes closed. She was naked, without weapons, and looked as if she were praying.

“Well, that’s good. We’ll need her,” Locke offered. “By the way, we’re all done over here. Rou helped me attach my soul to my body. I feel… stronger… than I had before. I may not be able to flit about like I did when I could access the Hall, but I shoudln’t be in danger of losing myself.”

Releasing his hold on his Dantian, Ash put his attention back to Xiaohui.

“You may address me as Hui, Ashley Sheng. I must say… I’m… very impressed with the strength of your Dao,” said Xiaohui, looking at him in a very different way now. “I had no idea that it’d reach out and take hold of me. Sweep me up and carry me away. I… I can already feel power seeping into me.

“Just from pledging to you I can already see growth. I look forward to seeing what you do with me next to turn me into a weapon.”

Ash detected the barest hint of an odd twinge to her words. As if something else lurked behind them. It didn’t seem to be pointed at him, thankfully, but it didn’t sound like it boded well for others.

“By the way, your work with her back was really good. You picked everything I would have and placed it exactly the same way I would have,” Locke offered with a laugh.

I mean, I learned from my beautiful and intelligent wife, Locke Sheng.

How could I be anything less than as amazing as she is?

Beautiful, ravishing, sexy, intelligent, kind, caring, endearing, cute, provocative, tender. She’s everything I could want.

Especially since she’s always in my corner. To the point that I think she’d pull a knife on anyone if she thought they might harm me.

My partner in life and likely death.

Isn’t that right, Locke Sheng?

The overwhelming and absolute feeling of love that came searing back at him left Ash speechless. It was as if Locke had just thrown open a shutter on a blacked out window and now had him staring into the sun.

“I love you,” squeaked Locke as she bathed him the brilliance of her feelings. It was obvious she was unable to control it. He could feel her trying to squirm away from his awareness of her.

Except all that happened was her feelings become more and more clear with every second. Leading up to a strange and broken whimper from Locke as she understood he could feel everything from her.

Then a single clear wish streaked out of Locke.

A faint and sputtering hope that maybe even she didn’t realize was there. As soon as she identified the feeling she recoiled in fear and managed to clamp her emotions down tightly.

Except Ash had realized what that hopeful fear was in the same moment Locke had.

At some point in the future, she wanted to give him children. To be a mother for the first time in this life, or her LBA persona.

***

Xiaohui turned her head to the side and dry-heaved again. Ash eased the chisel away from her back and paused. He knew she couldn’t control what her stomach did and was perfectly happy waiting.

By this point she was out of vomit, urine, and excrement. All of it having been evacuated at some point due to the sheer agony of what he was doing.

She’d urinated herself when he’d split open her Dantian. Followed quickly by losing control over her bowels and stomach.

Somehow she hadn’t passed out when he’d given her the set of transference papers she’d needed. Her mentality was the strongest he’d ever come across.

“We’re almost done, Hui,” Ash offered consolingly. Without thinking about it he laid a hand to her bare hip and gently patted her.

It was a very intimate place to put a hand on her given that she was completely nude. But it was one of the few places that wasn’t bleeding and inflamed at the moment.

“It’s okay,” groaned Xiaohui. “This is all to become your weapon. I’m okay with this. Better than… than someone taking me away and using me as a bed toy. Just as you said. To be what I once was or better.”

Shaking her headful of long hair, which had a bald stripe up the back of it where he’d carved into her scalp, Xiaohui then laid back down on the tarp Ash had put down for her.

“Did anyone else make it through this?” she gasped out. The carvings on her front were just as open and sensitive as the ones on her back. Except she was forced to lay on them for this.

“Very few,” Locke admitted, sitting near Xiaohui’s head. “Very, very few. Two, in fact.”

“Most screamed and passed out,” Rou added. “I did.”

“I will be among the few of your women who remain awake then,” growled Xiaohui. “I shall be more than just regret. I’ll be a weapon. My name will be Jian Hui Sheng.

“My wielder will call me Hui. I am Jian Hui Sheng. Jian Hui Sheng. Xiahoui and her regrets. I’ll live for today and only today.”

Staring into nothing, her eyes wide open, Hui held herself still even as Ash laid the chisel to her lower back once again.

“I like her. A lot,” Locke said with a laugh. “She reminds me of Yue. The devotion is clearly there. Just with a bit less bloodlust.

“Her and Na are going to get along famously once they meet one another.”

“Bloodlust?” Rou asked, peering at Locke.

“Yue is… she would burn the world and everyone on it if she thought it would help Ash. Many of us would. The problem is she wants to do that even if he doesn’t ask for it,” Locke offered with a wary tint to her words. “I think she’d set fire to a building if she thought Ash was cold, before asking him if he was cold.”

Rou looked confused for a moment then shook her head.

“I could see that,” Rou admitted.

“Jian Hui Sheng will be better than Yue,” growled Hui. Ash wasn’t sure how much of that she meant and how much of it was just her trying to amp herself up to get through the pain. “Jian Hui Sheng will be the weapon that Ashely reaches for. Ashley will feed me Chen’s heart.”

Pulling the chisel down toward her rear end Ash connected it to the line that came across from her pubic mound. With a small curl of his wrist he flicked off the chunk of flesh he’d peeled off her onto the tarp.

There was an inaudible whooshing that raced past him as he completed the circuit. Qi began to rush into Hui. From all corners of the sewers a strange and cold feeling whipped by and into the carvings that covered Hui.

Who let out a groan and pushed herself up to a sitting position. She folded her legs underneath herself and planted herself there on the tarp as if she were a tombstone.

“Should Hui cultivate now, Ashley?” asked Hui. The strange change of vocabulary was staring to make Ash worried. She’d never referred to herself like that previously. The somewhat haughty and prideful tone he’d associated with her previously was coming back on top of that.

“Ah… yeah. Use the cultivation technique,” Ash said somewhat stunned. She’d moved through her Dantian being ruptured, being given new abilities, and being carved, without ever losing her grip on her mind, or succumbing to the pain.

Nodding her head once, Hui closed her eyes and went still. Her hands laying to her knees and going still and quiet.

“My turn then,” Rou murmured and then moved behind the incredibly hard to look away from naked and beautiful Hui. Ash tore his gaze from her loveliness that shone through even the bleeding and open wounds.

Putting her hands to the woman’s back, Rou began to do her job as a Qi-healer.

“Well, shall we plan what to do next?” asked Ash, turning his gaze to Locke.

She was watching him with a small smile.

“Yes. Yes we should,” she said quietly, her eyes moving about his face searchingly. Whatever she was looking for it seemed like she found it, as her smile grew wider. “First… some background on where we are. The emperors prison while Rou takes care of Xia… Hui.”

“Good place to start,” Ash agreed.

“It’s managed very simple. Guards are in key points and maintain order there. We were put into the prison at the entry point during off guard hours,” Locke said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Qi is limited or non-existant here. The sections are managed by the guards or the prisoners, depending on where you go.

“Staying with the guards is a viable option but… you just end up doing labor on behalf of the emperor for them. Though they do protect you and uphold the laws of the emperor.”

“Alright… so that’s where the weak go,” Ash concluded.

“Exactly. Now… the other areas are supposedly held by Qi-Lords. Those who have enough Qi to keep everyone together in a faction of their own,” Locke continued. “They buy, sell, trade all as if they were their own kingdoms. Supposedly some have been here a very long time. That even before this was a prison, it was a realm all it’s own. Then an emperor sometime in the past turned it into what it is today.”

“So… we submit ourselves to the guards and play nice, or go our own route with the Qi-Lords,” Ash summarized. “How do we get out? I really don’t want to stay here.”

“The Qi-Lord’s would be more likely to know the way out,” Locke answered.

“Then that’s where we should—” Ash paused mid sentence as he felt an odd feeling. As if someone were calling out for him.

He belatedly realized what it was.

Liu was calling out for him through her Dao, which echoed in his own.

That meant he might be able to talk to her.

Except when he reached out to her in return, he found that she was still unconscious.

Unconscious, but not for long.

Even without being there, Ash could tell that she was finally recovering. Her mind was waking up and starting to seek him as she started to resurface from her coma.

“We’ll start with the closest Qi-Lord’s realm,” Ash finished, locking eyes with Locke. “So, how do we get there, Locke Sheng?”

“I flirt with the closest male cultivator for information,” Locke said with a grin. “Men are stupid and share info for women. Especially cheap information.”

Ash didn’t like that at all, but it sounded like it’d work.

He knew he’d give up information to Locke if she asked him as a stranger would. Even if he knew he shouldn’t.

She was just too attractive.

“Ah, thanks, Ash,” Locke crooned with a wave of a hand at him, her nose wrinkling. The smile she wore was rather wide. “I’m going to reward you as soon as we get some alone time for those rather warm and fuzzy thoughts you keep throwing my way.”