Cultivating Chaos 4 -ch16- (Patreon)

Ash stepped forward and dropped off the gate. Landing in front of it with a soft pat. Rou had of course come with him. She didn’t have much in the way of choice but neither did she complain or respond to it.

She moved with Ash and landed beside him.

“So eager to see your owl?” Locke asked, hitting the ground behind him.

“Yes, yes I am,” Ash said and realized he needed to let go of Rou. Starting forward at a quick jog he started moving out toward the oncoming group of Brides.

Moira spotted him, steered herself into a dive, and then brought herself in straight to him. What altitude she’d gained since taking off was almost immediately spent.

Ash could see the smile emblazoned on her face as her features become discernible. Her white and black hair was whipping behind her as she sped toward him. Her overly-large yellow eyes had pinprick pupils and were locked on him. They had a vibrancy in them that he’d never forget.

Those eyes and her abnormal hair gave her an alien look that he never found to be a detractor. If anything it made her unique, to him.

Her large wings were held out at her sides but tipped down to keep her angle correct on her approach. She was wearing her Bride uniform without the hat and veil.

I bet it doesn’t stay on very well while she flies.

“It doesn’t. We did everything we could think of to keep it on her. It’s just too hard given that her flight isn’t Qi powered,” Locke added.

Then Moira slammed into Ash at full speed. Her body wrapping around him and knocking him back a few steps. Her arms and legs hung onto him and her mouth clamped down to his. Kissing him as if she needed to take the breath from his lungs directly.

To which Ash of course responded back, though he didn’t hesitate to slip his tongue into her mouth.

Surprisingly, Moira began moaning, her fingers digging into his back. Her hips began to grind against him as her ankles pulled at him.

She’d been the first woman to share her bed with him in this new life. There was no mistaking that there was a special place for her in his heart.

“Holy crap, Moira,” Locke muttered from behind them. “Are you trying to get him out of his pants right here and now? And how the hell are you here. How the hell are the Brides here?”

Moira stopped moaning as soon as Locke spoke, but she didn’t stop kissing Ash. If anything it became more needy. Her head pushing his own backward.

Continuing that way for another ten seconds, Moira finally relented. Pulling her head back but only fractionally. Putting her forehead directly to his she stared into his eyes from an inch away.

Panting while clinging to him she said nothing.

“Moira, he needs to greet his Brides,” Locke said. The sound of the thump and pop of boots on grass was growing louder. The Brides were indeed coming and at a fairly swift march. Faster than he’d expected.

Moira was still staring at him. Her eyes slowly dilating, her pupils expanding, gazing into him as if she planned to dive into his face.

“I love you, Ashley Sheng,” Moira declared. “I shall not be separated again. I wished for death when the Emperor struck me, rather than be separated.”

Moira blinked slowly, still staring at him. Then she loosened her hold on him, only to clamber down and stand up beside him.

“I’m sure I should be embarrassed for my actions but I don’t care. We’ve been separated too often. Too frequently. I don’t want it to happen again,” Moira continued. Then she took his hand in hers. “Moira Sheng will die at your side, or remain at your side. Even if you order me away or give me another task. I will not.”

“Hui respects that statement as she believes the same to be true,” Hui interjected. “Though she would not refuse an order given by Ashely. That’d be disrespectful of his weapon.”

“I’m not his weapon. I’m his wife. His woman. The first of his wives and I’ll die with him,” Moira insisted, reaching up to caress Ash’s face. She smiled at him, then finally stepped away from him. Letting her hand drop to her side.

As she did so, one of the Brides stepped forward into the spot Moira had been in, though further away. Ash immediately noticed the rank insignia at her collar was the same he’d noticed for Siu. There had only been a handful of others with such a designation.

Standing loosely, and not at attention, the Bride’s hands came up and hesitated in front of herself. As if she weren’t sure if she could remove her veil.

“I don’t really like that whole, ‘only Ash can see us’ bologna,” Ash offered with a smirk. “That sounds more like Yue’s extreme nature at work. How about we change it to while on duty, and there is no need not to, the hat and veil should be worn.”

“Yes, that’d… yes, that’s much better. Though I didn’t mind the rule,” said the Bride, reaching up to remove her hat and veil.

Ash was unsurprised to find it was indeed Siu. He’d already figured it was her based on her voice along if he was being honest, but he wasn’t positive.

Siu was the niece of the Outer Sect Master of Ash’s old sect. The woman had pitched Siu at Ash figuratively head first and hoping he’d pick her up like a coin on the ground. To add her to his Harem and use her, as long as he protected her.

She had black hair that’d been trimmed, pulled back, and braided behind her head. Her dark-brown eyes watched him expectantly.

She was slim, athletic, and built for martial-arts. An ideal beauty for the realm, in truth.

Siu was also a year or two older than Ash and had a somewhat mature air to her.

Her physical appearance was beyond almost everyone and could easily compare to the most attractive women Ash had met, except perhaps Ghast.

Why… why are so many women, so attractive? Why are they just all over?

Everywhere! Overly attractive women!

This is insane.

This isn’t possible, is it? It can’t be!

“I… yes. It’s possible. You’re a Fated One, Ashley, my dear Chosen One,” Locke advised. “Simply by existing, it’s highly likely you will pull in others with similarly fate shifted individuals. Those are often gifted in many ways. More often than not, beauty.

“Now, before you get too lost. You changed how you greet Brides after a long break in relations. Hug, warm if chaste kiss, hold her for several seconds. Greet her and welcome her. Remember? But only her. The others under her aren’t the right rank.”

Realizing now why Siu was waiting, and somewhat hopefully he guessed, Ash moved in and hugged Siu tightly. Attempting to crush her into himself.

Which surprisingly she returned. Attempting to push him through her own body.

“Thank you for coming, my Bride,” he said, pressing his face into the side of hers. He held her tightly, running his hands up and down her back.

“Thank you, Husband. I came by choice. I volunteered for this posting,” Siu replied. She was far more durable than he’d expected. Perhaps at a level similar to Mei given how hard he was hugging her.

Ash pulled back from the hug, and then kissed her, as expected. He let it linger for several seconds before breaking it. He looked to her face and smiled wide at her.

“Well, I suppose you’re my local Bride commander. Aren’t you Siu Sheng?” he asked, his right hand coming up to cup her cheek.

He knew she had a damaged past, but she’d never spurned his affection so far. As far as he could tell, in fact, she wanted it.

“I am. I’m… your local Bride commander,” Siu confirmed. “Moira is here as your body-guard and wife, and is a Bride, but not part of the hierarchy that is part of the Brides themselves.

“I would normally tell you I brought only volunteers with me, but every Bride volunteered. So the point is lost. Though… I did choose those you knew or had interacted with.”

“Oh? Like Biyu, Shu, and Lifen?” Ash asked, glancing to the Brides behind Siu.

He noticed that several veiled heads twitched as he spoke. They were painfully obvious as he said their names.

“Exactly so. Now… I bring news from everyone and supplies,” Siu stated. She leaned her face into his hand while pulling the backpack she wore off her shoulders. Once it was free she set it to the ground with a thump that was surprising. She pulled back from his hand and retrieved a letter from her uniform. “We were sentenced to remain in jail as long as you were. Gen Sheng, and your brother-in-law the king, proclaimed it. The emperor denied them releasing you, so they in turn, sent us to join you. More will join later with further supplies.”

Now that she’d mentioned it, Ash looked to the others. They were all wearing bulging backpacks.

“What supplies did you bring?” he inquired.

“Cores, Stones, and medical supplies,” Siu answered with a short dip of her head. “The goal is to make you the wealthiest and most dangerous man in prison.

“Before you worry, as the Bound predicted you would, this is only a fraction of the wealth we have available. Yue transferred everything to us. Even without her at the head of the Sheng mercantile alliance, it will earn vast profits regardless of what we do.

“And no, Yue has not been found. Though the call for her has been put out. That you want to speak with her. Should she hear it, she’ll come back.”

“Hui is impressed. Hui would like to become a Bride, but she would only serve Ashley. Nor would Hui wear a veil. Ashley often looks at Hui and she enjoys it,” stated Hui. “May Hui… may I, become a bride but not don a veil, and only serve Ashley?”

“That’s fine,” Siu remarked, glancing over to Hui. She studied the women and then smiled at her. “We spar every morning and evening. I would be pleased if you joined us. What is your full name?”

“Jian Hui Sheng,” Hui answered.

“Good name. I approve. I’m Siu Sheng. I welcome you to the Brides,” Siu answered, then looked back to Ash. “Now… may we enter? Some of us are covered in the blood of fools who wanted to rob us. We suffered no harm, but we’re… not at our best. Lady Sheng mentioned you had a sect set up for us to move into, Husband?”

Ash smiled, nodded his head, then gestured to the city gate behind them.

Fated One.

It’s not just a stupid title, is it.

“No. It isn’t. This world, this realm, has many strange laws incorporated into it. You will be plagued by unique encounters, beautiful women, handsome men, incredible danger, and incomprehensible rewards,” Locke answered almost warily. “My apologies, Ashley Sheng. Husband. My Chosen One. I did this to you.”

Yes. You sure did.

Remind me to punish you soon. Lots.

Punishment of kissing, hugs, cuddling, and love-making. You’ll only be allowed to respond with ‘I love you’, ‘I’m worth it’, ‘I’m loved’, or ‘please don’t stop’ during this.

Any questions or concerns, Locke Sheng, my wife? My love?

“No… no just… just… I love you. That’s… all,” whispered Locke, sounding shy and happy at the same time. A far cry from how she usually behaved if he didn’t push at her.

Your advice seems to have worked best against you rather than anyone else.

“Why do you think I suggested it? You’ll be busy, tonight, however. You have to work on Tan tonight and then… ah… work on Moira, later.

“Before that, you need to go receive the hunting party when it returns. It should hopefully bring one of the bodies we need for the Qi-Lord.”

The Owl in question was holding tightly to Ash’s hand and staring at him openly.

Then her left wing spread out and slowly wrapped around him in a possessive way. Locke’s words were quite on target when she said he’d be busy.

***

“Moira, I’m not going to run away,” Ash muttered, then gently tried to shake the beautiful Owl off his arm. She was practically perched on it. Both of her hands held to his forearm. One wing was wrapped around him as well. She hadn’t let go of him since she’d gotten hold of him.

“I know. I’m afraid I’m going to lose you, not that you’ll run away,” Moira answered. Her wing pulled a bit harder on him. “If you did run, I’d just chase you down. You’d never hurt me. You’d go out of your way to make sure I was fine.

“I talked to Liu, you know. Talked to her about how you felt, to her. You were very concerned about me. Worried. Distraught. She described it as… manic.”

As she spoke, Moira leaned down and into him. Her lips met the underside of his jaw and she began to more or less nibble at him.

Whatever reservations she’d had previously about public displays of affection were gone. Long gone.

Moira sniffed at him and began to nibble at him again. Her lips pulling at his skin in a meticulous and methodical way.

“Wow… you know, not that I blame her, but she really did toss her little… restriction on public displays, but geeze,” Locke grumbled though good naturedly. “Eh… I’d do the same. I’d do the same. So! The Brides are settling in. Nothing going on here. I have Biyu, Shu, and Lifen with me. We’re chatting with the city-lord’s wife. She’s very nice. They have a niece, you know.”

That’s nice, not interested.

“Good, I wasn’t offering. Too many women anyways. Warning, you really.”

Oh, alright. Thank you wifey poo. Did I mention your smile was lovely this morning? Beautiful, even? Ghast has nothing on you.

“I love you,”whimpered Locke. “Please… ease up on me. I’m all sloppy loving goo right now and I want to spoil you. Spoil you more than even Mei or Na does.You’re grinding now my bad girl edges too fast. Just gimmie a moment to recover? It’s hard to resist because of the Echo.”

Ash blinked as he spotted something on the horizon. Heading his way was a group of people that looked to be the hunting party.

I’ll ease up, Locke. But only because I do love my bad girl.

“Moira, that looks like who we’re waiting for. Can you confirm that for me? You’ve got those big sexy eyes, after all,” Ash asked. As he did, he reached up and grabbed the back of her hands with his free one.

“Hmm? Oh. Yes,” Moira answered, pulling her head back from his neck. She looked in the direction he was. “That looks like a hunting group. They have several small animals on their person and one that looks to be the size of a dog.”

“Right… no large ones. We’ll have to work on that,” Ash murmured.

“Send some Brides to do it,” offered Siu on his right side. She’d been relatively quiet but present. “We’ll handle any task you give us, Husband.”

“Maybe I will at that. We need to make sure we meet Ghast’s quota. The last thing I want to do is deal with her on a technicality. I feel like she’s not the type to forgive something compeltely preventable,” Ash remarked.

Pushing out with his Battle Cultivation, he could feel the hunters. They didn’t have Qi, but they were making small eddies in the Qi current. It flowed around them and partially through them.

In that moment, he also got confirmation of why Ghast wanted the corpses. Why she specifically was asking for them and how many of each.

For whatever reason, somehow, the beasts that the hunters carried rejected Qi. Whenever any Qi came near, it was repulsed back and away.

And that’s how those specialty weapons came into being. Dead beasts.

Sent to the upper realms, processed, converted, and turned into weapons. Only to be sold, distributed, or traded back out.

Now I just need to figure out how that’s all done. I’ll give Tan some more time to prepare and recover, tonight. I’ll work on figuring out the weapons and how they correspond to the beasts.

“Well. That sounds good. It makes sense. Besides, I checked on Tan. He’s… uh… kinda like a caterpillar going butterfly right now. It’s pretty gross. Rou had to forcefully push Qi into him to be burned as energy to support the growth.

“Taking some time and digging into this is a good idea. I’m sorry, by the way. I know that this would normally be part of my duties. It’s so much harder for me to do what I used to when I’m not inside the Hall. I feel… very strange. Almost like I’m sleeping.” Locke apologized.

It’s fine. It’s fine and it’s not something you can control.

At least for now.

I want to try making a duplicate of the Hall ring and giving it to you. Binding the rings together and seeing what happens. After all, we did something similar with the artifact we gave to the Brides, is it not?

As to Tan, I’ll put a dead beast next to him and see how it effects him before, then with a weapon, and then repeat it after I’m done.

“By the way… Ash? Your bad girl is feeling better. Much better. I just needed a bit of a break from your constant pressure. Thanks for that.

“Also, I’d like to roleplay a bit. I’m going to ask Moira if she’d like to participate. She’s more likely to ‘pitch in’ as it were. Anyways. I’m going to go ‘away’ for a bit. We’re going to teach the city-lord’s wife how to gamble. We’re going to play cards! I’ll try not to lose too much money. I suck at gambling. I never can resist betting big.”

Moira leaned her head back into his neck and began kissing and nibbling at him once more.

“Husband, we should probably discuss my rights as a Bride Champion,” Siu stated. “I brought the law book we have that lists everything out. It was updated after you left but I think you were the reason for the updates.”

Great.

Goodie.

Fantastic.

“Don’t worry about it. They’re simple things and all at your discretion. It’s just… Siu is more like me. Now that she’s made a choice she’s going to push,” Locke stated, sounding as if she were moving away from him for some reason. “Unfortunately, I don’t think she’d ease up if you started pushing at her, as I do. I’m afraid this is just how she’ll be. Perhaps even in you reject her.

“Okay! I’m off. Ta-ta!”

Yeah… as I said.

Great… goodie… fantastic.