CC4 -CH17- (Patreon)

Ash let out a short breath and then grunted. Folding his arms in front of himself he sniffed.

Glancing to the side, he looked to Tan.

The young man, who now looked very much like a young man now instead of a boy, was stretched out on the grass.

He’d grown an entire foot, fleshed out with a considerable amount of muscle, and could only be identified as Tan by his facial features. Which while mostly the same, had shifted slightly given how much he’d grown.

Except while that was all rather shocking, it wasn’t what was most noticeable about Tan at the moment.

It was the blood-crusted carve channels that ran all over his body in every direction. Forming intricate patterns that weaved back and forth in never-ending, looping, swirling designs.

To the point that there was nothing that wasn’t covered other than anything above his clavicle and neckline. His face, head, and genitalia were free of the grotesque body modifications.

All at Tan’s request and Ash’s grueling work. It was an unpleasant experience for both of them.

From gazing at Tan and regretting what he’d done to him, Ash then looked to the golem in front of him. It had yet to activate but will still in the “wake-up” process. Far longer than he’d expected now at this point.

Rou exited from where Song was as of yet still working away. When she’d been told she’d have a limited time to purge herself of anger she’d redoubled her efforts and set up a plan of action. She was going to “maximize her time”, as she’d called it.

Flicking something off her arm Rou looked down at herself, then around. She spotted Ash, smiled, and immediately began walking towards him.

“Where’d my adorable mousey Qi-Healer go?” Ash murmured to himself with a smile.

“I had to put her aside,” Rou answered, having apparently heard him unexpectedly. Walking up to him she looked to the golem, then back to him. “Now I’m Rou Sheng, your Qi-Healer and wife. Why, are you disappointed?”

“No. Not disappointed. Just a little surprised,” Ash answered. “It was fun to have someone who wasn’t so… this realm… with me.”

“You… what? Really?” Rou asked with some surprise. “I-you… well, I guess that makes sense. You aren’t from here. I am, but I don’t look like it. You aren’t from here at all.

“Hm. Then… you wouldn’t be unhappy if I wasn’t forcing myself to be brave? To be more like Chunhua?”

“No? I have Chunhua, why would I need more of her?” Ash asked with a laugh.

“Hm. Well! I’ll keep that in mind. When I’m not feeling brave, maybe I’ll just cower behind my Cultivator, instead of trying to be someone else,” Rou stated with a wide smile. Then she looked down to Tan. “Even without checking him directly, I can sense him from here. He’s in agony.

“All the… work… you put into him is forcibly reforming him. I’m not sure everyone could survive this. In fact I can just tell you now that I think less than ten in a hundred would survive this.

“Less than five in a hundred, maybe. This is… this is turning him into a different species practically. Isn’t it?”

“I mean… maybe? I don’t know. Never done it before,” Ash confessed. “I did all I could to make sure he’d survive. What I wanted to do to him really will change him considerably. He accepted everything I told him. I told him it could kill him. He accepted it.

“I even asked Song to go talk to him. She did so, then came and told me Tan had accepted it, and to proceed. Dragging my feet any further would be insulting. Or so she said.”

“It is. It’s very insulting. He already gave you his answer,” Rou concurred. She then bent down over Tan and laid a hand to his brow. Only to immediately jerk her hand away from him as if he were a molten lump of steel. “Aiiiiiya… what… what’s wrong with him!?”

“He rejects Qi from all sources. Good, bad, neutral, doesn’t matter. He rejects it. Those pretty weapons that the Qi-Lord’s make is the opposite of him. They hold Qi and keep it. He rejects it,” Ash explained succinctly. “Those weapons will fly away from him faster than your hand did. He’ll also end up causing Cultivators distress to be around him.”

“It does feel unpleasant at the moment. I didn’t realize it was him,” Rou murmured.

“He can control that once he’s transformed. I made sure of that. I didn’t want him to never be able to approach people if he wished,” Ash said before Rou could probably worry over him. “Anyways. How’s Song doing?”

“She’s fine. Siu joined her. I didn’t realize how much further this could be taken until Siu made suggestions,” Rou said, looking away from Tan.

Ah, that’s right. It’s practically a guarantee that Siu suffered in a similar way as to Song.

Any chance or possibility you know who did it, Locke? Or if you don’t know, could you try to find out? I’d love to get a name.

“You… want to know who did it?” Locke asked. “I mean, sure, I can do that. Not a problem. I don’t know, but I can probably find out. But why? Siu will probably ask. She’s smarter than you probably suspect.”

Because if I find who harmed her, I’ll deliver them to her bound and gagged.

There’s power in being such a figure for another person. It was demonstrated to myself and Yue, and I in turn demonstrated it for Tan and Song.

I’ll do it again. This time for Siu.

She’s a high ranking Bride. Such a rank already has all those rights she quoted to me. I should put my own spin on it, too.

Shouldn’t I?

“Yes. That makes sense. And come on, those ‘rights’ weren’t that bad. It really just came down to the right of being able to be treated as a wife of Ashely Sheng. Flowers, gifts, poetry, going out to meals, affection, kind treatment. Nothing awful.”

No, nothing awful. I agree.

“Clearly since you took her to dinner,” pouted Locke.

Oh stop it. I came back and spent time with you before I went to Moira.

The golem suddenly stood upright. It’s head lifting up.

A blue light gathered in the eyes, glowed brilliant for a second, then settled down in a steady light. It wasn’t too bright, but she’d definitely be visible in the dark.

Rou had jumped when it moved. Scurrying away from it and literally posting up behind Ash. Pressing herself to his back and peering out past her arm.

“Don’t laugh, you said I don’t have to be brave,” hissed the Qi-Healer, her hands digging into his back.

For some reason, Ash actually felt grateful. Her cowering behind him made him actually feel protective, and more brave.

Because if he was being honest, he wanted to believe he’d done the work on the golem correctly. That it would obey all the “programming” he’d put into the transference papers.

There was no real guarantee of that, however.

“Ah… hi,” Ash said.

As he spoke, the golems head turned slowly toward him.

“Hello,” said the golem in a voice that was deep, warm, and smooth. It rubbed at his eardrums in a way he found distracting.

“Damn. Okay. I think I might want her to tell me erotic stories to put me to sleep,” Locke said. “Where the hell did you come up with that voice?”

I didn’t.

It selected that voice on it’s own. I gave it requirements to self select a name, voice, tone, and way of speech.

“That sounds really stupid to do.”

“You’re my maker,” said the golem. “I don’t know how I know, but I know. You’re my maker. You made me. I’m… I’m… Luan.”

“I did indeed make you, Luan. You’re the first. You’ll be the leader of my golems. The leader of the instructors,” Ash confirmed. “You’re also the most powerful so I expect you to follow the guidelines that I gave you.”

“Yes, I will do this. Though… who are you? I cannot address you as my maker, though I would like to. Given the statements you provided me, as well as the information, it’s obvious you would like to remain out of the spotlight in many ways,” Luan said.

“Ash is fine. Though my full name is Ashley Sheng.”

“Ah… I believe I will address you as Sect Leader Sheng, then. Though I appreciate the book of Bride of Sheng bylaws I was provided, I am clearly not part of the Brides. Nor am I human,” Luan stated with a small dip of her head toward him. “Though given that I am clearly… ah… clearly more than what one would expect, I look forward to my growth.”

Locke Sheng?

“Mm? Yes, husband whom I’m going to spoil apologetically and with maximum effort so long as he doens’t accuse me of something?” Locke replied. “Is there something I can do for you? By the way, did I mention I’m raiding LBA’s memories for some new things for us to try that I think you’ll like?”

Ash clicked his tongue and then sighed.

He couldn’t believe he was going to let this slide, but he really wanted to see what Locke would do.

“Fine. Then… are your meridians working?” Ash asked then stepped forward. He put his hand to the golem’s chest plate.

Luan looked down at his hand on her chest and stared at it.

“I… am operating as I believe you intended me to,” Luan stated. “I feel Qi moving throughout my body in channels that could be considered meridians. I have a Dantian that warehouses my abilities, training, and sense of self that you created from a core. My Qi-Sea is actively pulling in Qi from the surroundings, though I note it isn’t very much and seems to be circling around you.

“My joints are fully articulated and I can move them as if I were human. There are no physical limitations in my mechanical operation that seem to be present.”

As Luan spoke the last, she held up her hand and flexed it. Her individual stone fingers closed into a fist, then opened again and spread wide.

Yeah, considering how long I spent carving each and every damn one into a ball joint with enchantments to link it together like tendons, it better damn well work!

“How… did you teach it to behave in a human way, by the way?” Rou asked, still hiding behind Ash. “Err, sorry, how did Luan come out acting in such a human way?”

“Oh, that. That was kinda complicated,” Ash admitted, feeding Qi into Luan and letting it sink into her and begin working it’s way through her. “I ended up creating transference duplicates of books about life as a whole. Lots of books from different authors and different genres.”

What he didn’t say was he had picked them with help from Locke to make sure Luan was loaded with information that he wanted her to know. The rest she’d pick up on the way.

“I’ve also been actively listening to everything said around me,” Luan added, her head lifting up and looking away from Ash’s hand on her. She now looked to Rou. “Using a lot of that in conjunction with the information I was provided helped. That and that Sect Leader Sheng was studious in labeling all the books as reference only.”

“I mean, it’s probably a lot like machine learning. If I didn’t tag the prompts appropriately you’d have ended up kinda crazy. I’ve got enough crazy,” Ash commented and went silent.

He actively followed the Qi he’d inserted into Luan as it entered her Dantian. It remained there and began to circle in place, before returning to her meridians and circulating about her body.

“Everything seems good,” Ash said and took his hand away from her. “Well… Luan… what do you want to do first? I know I’ve given you tasks and rules to uphold, but the sect doesn’t exist yet. Not until I bring all the golems to life.

“That means you have time off, so to speak. So… what do you want to do?”

“I… wish to explore what I am. Who I am. I want to challenge myself and test my abilities,” Luan said with growing determination. “May we spar? I wish to fight and test myself. You’ve given me a great deal of instruction but most of it feels jumbled. Hard to… conceptualize.”

“Yeah, that’s normal for humans, too. Alright. We can do that. After I’ve given you a basic run through, and you’re comfortable, we’ll move to something more useful to test,” Ash said and then indicated Rou behind him. “Rou’s martial arts are limited and will be a formidable learning tool for you to experiment with once you have control over your body fully. As her skills would be quite similar to a new students.”

Tan groaned loudly, rolled over, and threw up into the grass.

The enchantments that ran all over his body except began to glow in a similar way that Luan’s eyes had. Convulsing, shivering, and groaning loudly, Tan looked like a man caught in a high wind.

“Is he alright?” Luan asked with genuine concern in her voice.

“Yes. He’ll likely become a guard for your sect,” Ash remarked, scratching at his chest with one hand. “Probably the head guard or guard captain, actually. I’m not sure I can commit to what I’ve done to him, to too many others. The survival rate is just abysmal.

“Honestly, I’m surprised he’s lived this long. He’s beaten the odds at every point that should’ve killed him.”

I should blame being a Fated One, right?

“Quite likely, dear. I’ll advise you if you encounter others who are likely to survive. I seem to have a better sense of those who are impacted by your status,” Locke offered. “By the way… Luan isn’t normal. She’s clearly effected by your Fated One status. All the golems will likely be since you’re constructing them.”

I figured.

I’m not really surprised by any of this, anymore. I’m just going to go with it.

She won’t magically become a person of flesh and blood in the future, will she?

“Highly unlikely,” stated Locke.

“I see,” Luan answered. Then took a wobbly step away from Tan. “I feel odd around him. Almost like I’m standing near a fire and I should move away.”

“Yeah, he repel’s Qi. He’s… going to be a real issue for cultivators. Real issue. Given as much as training as we can give him and he’ll become a menace to everyone,” Ash stated.

“Serve-you,” grunted out Tan between clenched teeth. “Serve-you. Kill-enemies!”

Tan began to scream loudly as the enchantments burned away at him. Moving to finish their progress, burning away the Qi laying in them, and finalizing it all.

“Serve-you! Serve-Ash! Serve! Serve SERVE!” screamed Tan, his hands clawing at the ground.

Grimacing, Ash winced. Then he got down on his knees, grasped Tan’s hands in his own, and held on. It felt like the Qi inside of him was being boiled and forced out of him.

Literally backing up from his hands and being pushed backward through his meridians.

Ash wasn’t going to move away, however. He wasn’t going to back up when Tan was clearly battling through all this with only one goal to meet.

That he wanted to serve Ash directly as a guard.

“I suppose we’ll need a title for people like you, Tan,” Ash remarked as Tan’s hands gripped Ash’s. Holding tight to him as if he were his only life-line. “Perhaps a Qi-Knight. Something along those lines.”

“Knights-Of-Sheng!” squeaked Tan before he started screaming unendingly.

The carvings that covered him flickered, flash, glowed, died, then grew once again.

“Knights of Sheng,” Ash agreed then glanced to Luan over his shoulder. “We’ll train later. I was mostly standing here in case Tan needed me. Second to that was you were here and waking up.

“Now that you’re done… I can’t leave Tan here.”

“That’s fine. I will… walk. I will talk. Explore the sect. Memorize the topography and plan what trees, plants, and bushes to plant. It is too barren at this time,” Luan replied with a single nod of her head. “Take care of the Knight. I will begin my tour.”

“I’ll take you!” Rou offered and then bounced over to Luan. She slipped an arm through the stone-golem’s arm and began drawing her away. “We’ll have lots to talk about. Besides, I actually can feel your Qi inside you. I want to inspect you, if you don’t mind. I feel like I could heal you and take care of any issues you have.”

“Truly? What a fascinating discovery. We’ll have to explore it,” Luan agreed as they two began walking away.

“Knight-knight-knight-knight!” Tan shouted. Each tremor that rocked his body being punctuated by the chant. “Knight!”

“Yes. A knight. A Knight of Sheng,” Ash confirmed for the young man. “I’ll even draw up the rules and regulations with you to talk it all out. Since you’ll be my first Knight and only one for a while. This isn’t something I can do to many people, Tan.”

“Knight! Knight-Tan! Special!” shrieked Tan as his carvings lit up once again.

Ash had no idea how long it would take, but he wasn’t going to leave. It was worth hanging around to be there for Tan.