Cultivating Chaos 4 -ch18- (Patreon)

Ash let out a loud sigh and then leaned back in his chair. He looked at the work-table in front of him and the various bits of left-over golem parts and pieces.

Tan had managed to push through his ordeal and survived. It’d ended up taking the rest of the day, however. Ash hadn’t been sure if it’d been a coincidence or directly related, but he’d moved through that painful stage of development when the sun vanished over the horizon.

Last he’d seen of the young man, he was sleeping peacefully in his bed.

Picking up a hunk of stone that would have been a hand, Ash contemplated it. It’d broken while he’d been carving it. Ruining the work and making it worthless.

I need to make a golem that makes golems. So that I can go pick one out and then bring it to life.

Nodding his head, Ash picked up his head and began to run it along the broken piece of stone. Creating two new ball joints and moving the fingers into them.

All the while he worked, he let his thoughts run along the line of making a golem to make other golems. What kind of papers he’d have to put together and push into a core for that to happen.

Without Locke in the Hall, these types of tasks took much longer for him to do on his own. They were still doable, however.

Without realizing it, Ash had carved down the hand till it was just a bit larger than the size of his palm. It also had a tail where the middle finger would have been. There was also a neck, head, and mouse ears where the wrist should have been.

“I made a mouse,” mumbled Ash, surprised. “Why did I make a mouse?”

“I don’t know. But it’s a cute mouse,” Siu offered from where she sat at the end of the workdesk. She’d been quietly fiddling with the wrapped handle of her saber. She was now leaning forward and peering at the object in his hand. “Honestly, small golem animals sounds kinda nice. They’d be good as scouts, assistants, or just pets. Could… I have a ferret?”

Ash blinked several times, looking at the mouse in his hand. Then he shrugged.

“Sure. I need to make a golem that makes golems first. Then I’ll make one that makes animals. We can get a golem pet for everyone of their choosing,” Ash murmured.

“I… would love to have that mouse. Please? Husband? My Chosen One? My love? Beloved? I love you? Please?” begged Locke.

I… sure. Okay. That’s fine.

“By the way, the hunting group is getting together. The one of Brides you were going to send out to hunt. They’re taking a few guides with them just to make sure they know where they’re going,” Locke relayed. “I think Tan woke up, too. I can feel a deep disturbance coming from the training yard.”

Raising his eyebrows, Ash set down the half-finished mouse on his desk.

“Sure, I’ll make you a ferret, Bride Siu,” Ash said, smiling at her. “Tan woke up.”

“Good timing. He should go with my Brides who are going hunting. It would be good for him to get some practical experience. He’ll be unlikely to be harmed with them,” Siu suggested. Then she smiled at him, slowly tilting her head to one side. “It’s still odd to hear you say my name like that but I enjoy it. Especially when I hear you say my name.”

Feeling somewhat strange at that Ash only bobbed his head at her words. Then he left his workshop and headed out to the training area quickly.

“If you keep acting like that, she’s just going to pursue you. Remember? This is how you are to everyone before you resolve yourself. Just tell her no. Don’t be ambiguous about it,” Locke advised.

Ash made a non-committal noise but did make a mental note to firmly reject Siu’s advances. Talented or not, he didn’t want to have to deal with another Locke or Mei. Siu looked at him in a way that reminded him of those two.

Getting outside he moved quickly to the training yard. He could feel the Qi-Disruption of what he’d done to Tan long before he got there. It was as if what Qi was there was forcibly being bumped out around him.

He was a pocket of nothing at all.

Siu caught up to him swiftly and was sauntering along beside him in moments. Then Hui was there. Jumping off the roof of the building and landing next to him.

Hui appeared as well, moving up to Ash’s left and dislodging Siu a few steps further. She snapped up Ash’s arm with her left, and put her right hand on his right hip.

No sooner than she had, then she began cultivating through him.

“Where’re we going?” asked Moira, taking his right arm between her hands.

“To get Tan. Uhm… I’m very appreciative of you both. But it’s rather strange to walk like this,” Ash murmured.

“It’ll be fine,” Moira said.

“Hui needs honing,” Hui replied at the exact same moment.

The two women glanced at each other, then both looked away. As if acknowledging one another and then deciding they were both correct.

Sighing, Ash walked along. Feeling odd about having both of his arms taken up, but not having an alternative.

I miss Mei. She kept them all in line.

Ash reached Tan who was standing in front of a headless dummy. The wooden sword in his hand looked to be crooked.

Tan looked up to Ash at his approach. His eyes flicked to Hui, then Moira, and back to Ash. Apparently them being there wasn’t outside of expectations for him.

“Lord Ash I… you weren’t wrong. I’m not who I was at all,” Tan said. Even his voice had changed somewhat though Ash couldn’t place how or even why. “I’m not even close to what I once was. Now I just need training.”

“And experience,” Ash challenged him with a smile. “The Brides will be leaving to go on a hunt. It might be good for you to go. Even without training, combat experience is combat experience. It’d likely be good for you.”

Tan contemplated that, then nodded his head swiftly.

“I will gladly go with your Brides,” Tan answered.

“I’ll be going too,” Ash added.

A broad smile creased Tan’s face. What reluctance he’d had vanished in a flash.

“Yes, that’s good to hear, lord Ash,” Tan stated.

“I as well,” Moira said.

“Hui, too,” added Hui.

Siu said nothing though Ash did hear her make a curious humming noise.

I guess everyone’s going but you, Locke.

“Yes. I’m afraid I’m taking on the role of house wife today. I plan on tidying up, doing chores, and putting some plans into action. I don’t need to be there anyways. Besides, today is the day the rapists go back to their families. I’ll be handling that with Song,” Locke explained. “That and Siu went to town on them. Truly went to town. In a way that I actually pity them to a degree. I’ll need to be there to make sure those fellows can even move.

“But yeah… just… taking care of things the wife of Ashley Sheng should.”

Thank you for being a house wife today, Locke Sheng. I do appreciate you doing the things no one else steps up to do.

A warm and flustered feeling came back to him from Locke. She was delighted.

***

Standing amongst the low grass in the open fields, Ash felt rather good.

Very good, in fact. Being outside of the city, away from all the ruins and mess, left him feeling refreshed. There was even a breeze here for some reason.

A light wind that washed over him and pulled his hair back from his face.

Lifting his head up he faced the direction of th ewind and just stood there.

“This is rather nice,” Hui remarked. She was standing not far off with her arms spread. Facing the wind just as Ash was. She’d finally relented on cultivating through him when they set out.

“Yes. My feathers feel much cleaner out here,” Moira added, still holding his arm. Hui had relented, Moira had not. “We’ll need to set up some time of hunting lodge out of here. So we can visit and take time away from the city.”

“I agree. This is much nicer,” Siu confirmed. “I’ll have a group of Brides begin working on this. By the way, Husband, everyone reports that they’re not losing any Qi. Your single… chain… is empowering them suitably.”

Ash was rather glad to hear that. He felt somewhat stretched thing with how much Qi he was sending out to everyone. What he was storing into the Hall was significantly smaller now.

“Yes, thank you, Husband,” said a Bride behind Siu.

Ash recognized her voice immediately. It was Biyu. Veil or not, he knew her voice now.

“You’re most welcome, Bride Biyu,” Ash replied.

The veiled head tilted to one side but she didn’t move to part it.

“I appreciate you, Husband,” said the other Bride standing behind Siu.

Ash looked to that Bride and thought on the voice for a moment. Then he realized who it was and smiled.

“I appreciate you as well, Bride Lifen,” stated Ash, grinning ear to ear. “You two testing to see if I remember you? How could I not given how much time we spent together.”

Siu made a shooing motion with one hand though she had a smile on her face. The other two women laughed, then moved away to join the rest of the Brides.

“Hui likes the Brides. Hui finds them friendly. More so than she expected,” said Hui, turning to look at Siu. “Hui… I want to join the Brides. Formally. In a similar position to that of Moira, but I’ll respect you as the Bride’s leader of course.

“Also, I’m curious. I know very little of Ash and the Sheng alliance. He’s very guarded about information. Locke shares more with me but she’s been very busy.

“How many women of the Sheng Alliance are in the Brides? How large is the Brides faction?”

“That’s perfectly fine. You’re welcome as a Bride,” Siu said with a shake of her head and a smile. “There’s only a handful of women who chose not to become a Bride in the Sheng alliance. They… ah… they sought companionship amongst those in the Alliance. They couldn’t take the same oaths that the Brides do.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Then I would like__ ” Hui stopped midsentence and turned to look out into the fields. “Something is coming. I can feel the life of it. It burns brightly.”

Everyone turned to look at what Hui had.

Moira leapt into the sky and began beating her wings. She quickly gained altitude and banked off, moving along the direction indicated.

“Bride Xah, Bride Ting, scout, come back,” ordered Siu.

Two Brides jumped out of formation and set off at a dead sprint. They were running in that odd way most people from their realm did. Head down, arms back, and looking very odd to Ash.

“Tan, looks like it might be time for you to get some experience,” Ash warned, turning to look to the young man.

He’d been looking confused, excited, and unsure of himself in these open fields. Ash imagined the man had never been in anything other than the cities and slums he’d been found in.

This was also quite likely the furthest from home he’d ever been.

“I-yes, lord Ash. I’m ready. Should… should I use the sword? I’m not… I’ve never really been trained,” Tan said, coming over to stand near Ash.

The aura of Qi repulsion around him gave Ash pause. An odd feeling settled over Ash. Like pushing two magnets at one another with the wrong polarities.

It wasn’t overwhelming, but he could already see such a thing would bother anyone in the Refiner rankings. Body, Mortal, and Spirit Refiner’s wouldn’t want to be near him at all or suffer physically, he imagined.

“I’d say focus more on not being hit by whatever it is. You can learn the sword after. This is just to get you a little bit of fight experience and to see how your body responds,” Ash advised. “A fight is very different than training. Very different. Best we test now, rather than later.”

“Okay. Yes. Don’t be hit. Dodge. Don’t be hit. Test the body,” Tan muttered, walking out to stand beyond where Hui was.

A loud noise reached their ears. It sounded like a squeal of sorts.

Tan looked to Ash.

“Don’t worry about it,” he soothed with a smile. “We’re all here to make sure even if you screw up, it’ll be fine. This is why we’re doing it like this.”

Tan nodded his head and looked back the way the two Brides had gone.

Then those very same two Brides came back. Moira was moving further away now though. Something else had caught her attention it seemed.

“A Boar,” called one of the Brides.

“Easily the size of a bear,” said the other. “It’s got some type of flag sticking out of it’s side.”

A flag? That’s odd.

Well, this works. A large animal should be something Tan can handle.

“Alright. Spread out and be prepared to support Tan. He’ll be the primary in this fight. He needs to build up some experience.”

The Brides fanned out in a horse-shoe formation. All of them fingering weapons and readying Qi. Ash immediately could feel Qi bleeding out of them as they readied for this.

Most of that Qi all sped from them, back to him, and then back out to everyone else.

Ash was finding his ability to gather Qi was growing significantly faster in this prison, than home. That Qi was winding into his Dantian faster and faster, seemingly coming from further away as well.

“Ashley, I’ll remain with you,” Hui stated, moving to stand beside him. “Hui is your weapon. Hui belongs in your hand and ready to be wielded.”

Without even realizing what he was doing, Ash put his hand on Hui’s head and carded his fingers through her hair. His attention was so divided on what was going to happen that he didn’t notice his actions until a few seconds had passed.

Doing his best to not look awkward, he patted Hui on the head once, then let his hand fall back down to his side. Acting as if it were intentional and not at all him just spacing out.

“I’ll also remain at your side, Husband. I should always be at your side. As your Bride. Your wife,” Siu interjected, standing beside Ash on the other side. “I have all the respect for your weapon, but am I not at least equal to her?”

“She wants you to pet her head. If you pet her, it’ll reinforce her demanding attention. If you don’t, she’ll push harder. You need to tell her not or this will only escalate,”warned Locke.

“I think it’s about time we talked about that, Siu,” Ash said, looking to the attractive young woman.

“Oh? Please do. I’m all ears for you Husband,” breathed Siu, watching him closely.

“That’s a boar!?” shouted Tan, tearing Ash’s attention away from Siu.

Remind me later to shoot her down!

A moment after he had that thought, a gigantic boar came rushing toward them. It had come out of a small uneven spot in the land that they couldn’t even see. Rising up quickly as if it were levitating.

Easily a thousand pounds of angry bacon, black hair, and vicious looking tusks.

Then it was on Tan.

Ash was able to clearly follow Tan’s movements, though they felt jerky to his eyes. As if he were catching a glimpse of it through a spinning door, rather than watching him.

Tan slipped off to one side as the boar came at him. Dodging past with the slimmest of margins, but without a look of worry on the face of the young man.

If anything, he had a look of wonder that didn’t match the situation at all.

The board shot past him in a rush. The Brides calmly side-stepped the creature and quickly reformed around Tan. Once more putting him in the center of a U-shape.

“It was so slow,” Tan remarked almost to himself. Looking down at the sword in his hand.

“Keep dodging it. Don’t get distracted. Learn how you move. I remember when I opened my Dantian it was like suddenly having a different body altogether.”

Flinching, Tan looked to Ash, nodded his head, and then got back into position. Readying himself where he stood.

“Yes, lord Ash!” called the young man.

“Lord Ash,” Siu whispered with a chuckle. “I like him. He’ll be good to recruit others into this new… Sheng Knight order. They’ll be a perfect addition to work with Brides on long term assignments. We’ll have to figure out a way to raise their survival rates. You mentioned they were low.”

“Yes, Hui agrees. She will want to command Brides and Knights both,” added Hui.

Err… what?

The boar had wheeled about and was rushing toward Tan once again. This time it had slowed down some and centered in on Tan directly. Moving toward him it lined it’s tusks up to spear him.

Tan once again waited, and then moved aside at the last second. His movements were even more akin to a flickering flash than before. His movement was hard to discern.

The boar had expected it and attempted to follow the movement with his tusks. His head twisting around and it’s back-legs coming up off the turf.

Planting a foot down, Tan ceased his movement completely. The boar’s head snapping out in a flash at the point Tan would have been, missing him entirely.

Standing there, Tan stared at the boar from only a foot away. He put both hands on it’s head and then pushed down. With a heavy and loud thud the boar’s jaw smacked into the ground.

It squealed as it’s bounced off the ground and then backed up away from Tan. Glaring at him.

“I… ah… lord Ash, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I just… I didn’t even…” Tan’s words died out as he stared at the boar. The sword in his hand had been unused and his response had seemed automatic rather than thought out.

“It’s fine. You’re doing great Tan. This is exactly why such battle experience is needed. Let’s let it take a few more passes before we dispatch it. We can collect the corpse for Ghast,” Ash ordered.

Moira landed with a bang next to him.

“A group of people are coming,” she warned and pointed a hand outward. She sounded calm yet excited. “From that way. A group of twenty cultivators and fifty citizens. They’re heading straight for us.”

“Great,” Ash murmured.

“There’s another group over that way, from where the boar came from,” Moira continued, her tone picking up in energy as she went. “They’re hiding and remaining out of sight. They numbered sixty cultivators and ten citizens.”

“I… ah… great, yeah. Great. Great,” repeated Ash.

“Hui is excited. They are on both sides of us. There’s no way that they can escape us. This will be a wonderful chance to cultivate,” she gushed, striking one hand into the other. Life and Death Qi crackling loudly at the impact of one into the other in her palms.

“Yes, they cannot escape us,” Moira agreed and formed a sword out of thin air. The Qi roiling off of it was fairly intense. She’d clearly increased her abilities since he’d seen her last.

Siu said nothing, though she did laugh and pull a long rectangle out of a belt loop. She held it up to her chin and pressed it there. Her eyes narrowed and she glanced over at Ash. He could tell she was contemplating something.

Not for the first time, Ash realized he really did miss Na, Mei, and Jia. They were limiting and controlling forces in his life. Even if they were absolutely far too cultivator lifestyle at times for him.

“Hi, I’m here to interview for the sexy kitten house wife position. My name is Locke Sheng and I’m skilled, if personally inexperienced, in all matters concerning the bedroom. I can also manage a household and tame other wives,” Locke declared boldly. “If I get this position, I will work hard to bring order to your life.”

Hired, please start immediately.

Do whatever you need to.

“Yes… husband,” promised Locke.