Cultivating Chaos 4 -Ch29- (Patreon)

Ash, grunted, sighed, then leaned his head back and looked up to the sky above him. He was disappointed and felt incredibly stupid, if he was being honest.

He’d spent days trying to figure out how to make a Knight that would have a better success rate. One that wouldn’t more likely kill the person it was converting.

Of the one-hundred volunteers he accepted into the Knighthood all one-hundred declined the new version. It only had a thirty percent power difference but it was nearly a ninety-percent survival rate he estimated.

I… underestimated them.

Again.

They just don’t care. They want all the power they can get even if it costs them their lives. It just… it’s stupid.

Stupid.

“Master Sheng,” Na murmured, one of her hands coming up to pat the back of his shoulder. “Its time to wish them well and let the golem do it’s work. Rou is here as are the medical golems.”

Nodding his head, he then shook it, the nodded it again.

“This is an Outlander way of thinking, Husband of mine,” Mei purred and hugged his arm tightly to her side. “Don’t worry. Even if they die, they’ll get a reward for the attempt. It’ll feed their family even in the event of it going wrong. They benefit regardless. Now, do as my darling cousin bid you.”

Ash clicked his tongue and looked out to the young men and women assembled in front of him. They’d all been given medicine similar to what he’d given Tan.

They’d all been reformed to their perfect state and were now ready to be carved up. Naked as the day they were born, at the peak of their health, and quite possibly flushing their life away.

Who was he to stop them from their own choices.

Instead, Ash had gone ahead and created an unthinking golem to do the work of carving the Knight with their patterns

It would only ever respond to Luan and himself. Even if someone took it and tried to dissect it, it wouldn’t do any good as it would cease to function if taken out of the sect.

Even if questioned, it wouldn’t respond.

It was a true golem.

A number of thinking golems with personalities had also been created to tend to the sect and knights in a medical capacity. They weren’t Qi-Healers, but they could treat and handle many things and would often work with Rou or around her.

The last golem he’d made recently, and kept it a secret to everyone he could, was an alchemist, apothecary, and blacksmith in one. It was below his workshop and the entrance was hidden.

The only people who knew it existed were those women close to him. It was a secret existence that could never be acknowledge for any reason.

If it ever left the work-cell Ash had built it in, it would self destruct. It was a mindless golem that did whatever job he gave it. Mei and Jia had both thought it was too much of a risk, but he needed an alchemist.

An apothecary.

He had a great deal of ingredients and no one to make medicines.

“Alright. Ah… Knights of Sheng… I’ll see you when you wake up, or carry your corpse back on your shield to your family,” Ash stated and then performed the Knight salute he’d created with Tan. Each of them had already been issued basic gear as part of their induction. “Along with your expiry gold if you… cannot complete your service. I hope you all make it to the other side and can perform your duties.

“Please lay down on the platforms and prepare yourselves. This is just the inscription part of the process. This will be excruciating and I’m sorry for it. If gives you any solace, every Bride here has undergone a similar process. You will all share that pain communally.”

All the newly appointed Knights began getting down onto the benches that’d been prepared for them. Getting down on their bare chests.

“It’s rather exciting. I never thought we’d be able to turn citizens into a type of cultivator. Tan was hard to get used to at first but I’m learning,” Mei admitted, tilting her head and setting it on Ash’s shoulder. “It’s rather fun to learn new things. I think it’ll help the Brides to fight with the Knights.”

“And vice versa,” Na added. “It’ll be beneficial to both sides. Especially when they begin to work together.”

“Ghast is approaching,” Locke warned.

Ash had been scanning constantly and attempting to feel if anything happened around the city, but he hadn’t noticed Ghast. Looking up, he couldn’t even see her in fact.

“I’m… the Hall is responding to me more and more. I feel like I’m only a little away from being able to return to it. Though… if I’m being honest, I’m not sure I want to. I’m enjoying just being a flesh and blood woman,” Lock explained, apparently sensing his thoughts.

And such a fine flesh and blood woman, my wife is.

Whether she goes into the Hall or not, I think I’ll have to track her down. Often.

She’s far too cuddly and snuggly lately.

Especially when I catch her unaware and alone in her bed. Such a cute thing.

The overwhelming emotion of embarrassment and excitement flooded into Ash from the Hall. Not to mention a fair amount of sexual desire about him, directed at him, and for him.

Then it was all strangled into non-existence.

“Be nice My Chosen One. I was very giving last night. Be nice,” whined Locke.

“Time to go, Ghast is coming,” Ash explained and looked to Mei on his shoulder, then Na at his side. Jia wasn’t far off instructing a number of the new sect disciplines. Chunhua, Tala, and Moira were all doing the same. Siu and Hui were on patrols.

“Before you ask, everyone is quite happy to be here,” Na interjected, watching him. “This has been an enjoyable excursion. It’s not very prison like at all.”

“Really isn’t, is it,” muttered Ash, looking up again. He needed to be ready for Ghast and where she’d land.

He wasn’t looking forward to this.

***

Ghast took some time to arrive. She wasn’t in a hurry this time and her air-ship was descending at a reasonable speed. Moving down through the air in a sedate way as if it were a ship carving through the ocean.

Ash, Mei, Hui, and Chunhua were attending him. Between those three he felt he could pierce through any plots the Qi-Lord threw at him.

“Have I mentioned I’m having a lot of fun?” Chunhua asked before leaning to one side and bumping her shoulder into his. “While the Qi isn’t so great here, it’s growing by the day. Not to mention I get to let loose in the fields. This is so much more fun than our old realm.

“Not to mention I have a number of little sect brothers and sisters I get to train in sorcery.”

“You’re… really okay going to prison?” Ash asked, looking to the beautiful white eyed woman who’d given herself to him for power.

She’d changed considerably and softened in many ways, but remained exactly who she was in other ways.

“I am. Is that so strange?” Chunhua asked, meeting his eyes and grinning at him. He made sure to hold her gaze and not look away. Even now he knew her white eyes still gave her some insecurity.

“No. You look really pretty lately by the way. Something about your eyes,” Ash confessed, staring at her now.

“Oh, ah… why thank you,” Chunhua mumbled and quickly looked to the front, staring up at Ghast’s ship.

“I taught her how to use makeup. She complained that her eyes didn’t hold you like they used to,” Mei confided in a near non-existent whisper. Her lips were against his ear. “Good of you to notice. You’re such an observant man.”

Mei grabbed his rear end, then looked to Ghast’s ship.

“Locke told me she could win any and every beauty contest that’s ever been held,” Mei remarked, then glanced at Hui. As if daring the other beautiful woman to say something.

“She outclasses myself and Siu as if we were frogs in wells. Nothing more than ugly toads,” Hui answered quickly. She and Na had apparently formed quite a firm and strong bond already. The two working in tandem to quickly be known as “The Hands of Sheng”. “It will be humbling Lady Sheng, but bear with it. It is something we all have had to deal with.”

Mei clicked her tongue and then sighed, only to look at the ship as well.

They waited in silence as it descended.

Much like the previous time, it touched down completely and came to a rest on the ground. The bottom exit point of the ship resting on the stones of the large receiving platform of the sect.

It’d been used to test new recruits and was now apparently where Ghast wanted to land. Ash didn’t quite care for that. He wasn’t in a position to complain about it either, though.

Right now he was on the receiving end of this relationship.

He hoped to change that eventually, but that moment wasn’t now.

The door to the ship opened and Ghast appeared in the frame.

As ever, he was instantly struck by her beauty, sexuality, and grace. Swaying out of the air-ship she took several steps straight toward him.

Ash quickly offered her a deferential bow and martial salute, lowering himself to her. There was no mistaking the power of the cultivators in the ship with her, which was the source of her power in a way.

“Ah! My Hand! As diligent and prompt as ever. You know, it’s rather nice that you’ve been here to greet me so frequently,” Ghast purred at him and closed the distance quickly.

“Welcome, my Lady Ghast,” Ash said while still bowed down.

“Yes, thank you, please. Rise,” Ghast said quickly.

She looked to Mei, then Chunhua, and back to Ash. Then her head snapped to the side and she began to look around at all the Brides.

They were all training, working out, or preparing for something.

Many veiled heads were turned their way and openly watching as well.

“That’s… quite a significant change, my Hand,” Ghast murmured, her eyes returning back to Ash.

“Yes. My Brides arrived. The Emperor sent them all to me,” Ash explained in a single sentence. Keeping it brief and to the point was best. It’d also allow for Ghast to make some wrong assumptions if he did it like this. “Only a hundred or so were left behind in the realm we came from to recruit more. There will be more coming, of course.”

Ghast’s delicate eyebrows shifted upward as she stared at him.

“Are… you conquering prison?” she asked in a curious and light tone. If he didn’t know her as a predator that feared other predators, he would’ve been trapped by the way she’d asked.

“No. I’m planning on holding Wahst to the best of my ability and making it my home base. All while giving you the diferential respect you deserve as a Qi-Lord, my Lady Ghast,” answered Ash politely. “As I’ve said before. My interest is solely my city and providing you what’s owed to you.”

Ghast took in a slow breath, her mouth parted and her tongue hanging between her teeth. As if it were a moment away from pushing words out physically toward him.

Then she snorted, snapped her mouth shut, and shrugged her shoulders.

“Well you’re just a wonderful man, my Hand,” Ghast said and reached out to touch his face. It left him with an obvious and distinct tingling in his pants. “I’m not sure how I got so lucky as to have such a devoted Hand but I’m thankful for it.”

“As am I, my Lady Ghast,” Ash replied quickly. “Having a place to call home and serve my sentence in is ideal. As all my Brides would agree. We’re already setting up our sect and starting all over again.”

“I see that. I’d be interested to learn what your core tennents and beliefs are but that can wait for another time,” Ghast stated and then met his eyes once again. “I’m here to reward you, but also for business I’m afraid. I need your help.

“One of my cities has come under attack. The Hand that ran the city was murdered and the culprit fled. I don’t have the time to devote myself to fixing the situation as I’m currently running Si’Sha down. I’ve already taken a great deal from her and want to take more. Heights, that’s the city name by the ways, is important to me, but taking more from that arrogant bitch is more important. Taking her resources for myself has a great deal of benefit for everyone apart of my realm.”

“That makes sense, my Lady Ghast,” Ash agreed with a curious look. He’d honestly assumed that there hadn’t been any other cities in her control since no one had come over to speak with him and Kyle. Nor had Kyle known of any other cities. “I was unaware there were other cities. I would have made myself available to them if I had at the meeting.”

Ghast clicked her tongue and waved a hand dismissively.

“They’re almost not worth holding if I’m being honest. The more I intervene with them, the less they get done,” Ghast elaborated. “I force rules and laws into place so that they have to treat their people with a modicum of respect, they hire gangs to extort everyone and shake them down, then claim no knowledge. I force them to not turn their citizens into slaves for debts owed, they write up contracts so that it’s a legally binding oath.

“They’ve chased out most of their population and it’s little more than a hell-hole I just haven’t had time to stomp out. I’ve been somewhat busy defending my territory. As soon as my little offensive endeavor ends with Shi’Sha I’m going to go cleanse Heights out with fire.”

There was a growl to Ghast’s voice that gave Ash pause. He’d seen her as someone who didn’t give a damn for anyone or anything. That she lived only for her own ends and goals.

While that might be true for many things, it seemed as if she genuinely gave a crap about her cities. Or at least, enough of a care that she resented the rulers who were holding the city for her.

“I will provide what assistance I can for them, my Lady Ghast,” offered Ash. “Were you hoping for me to stabilize the situation? Commit it to martial law? Correct a wrong?”

“Ah… just go there and do what you feel is best. I trust you with it,” Ghast drawled with a flick of a delicate hand. “You’re my Hand of Hand’s at this point. My poor Champion was rather taken aback that you did his job for him. And did it well.

“A number of other Qi-Lord’s are contemplating their own uses of their hands.

“So… no, I have no direct orders for you. Just go there and do what you can, to the best of your ability, in whatever way you see fit. I’d like to see Heights succeed so… use that as your general directive.”

“I can do that,” Ash promised and then bowed to her.

“Wonderful. Now… as to the other part of my visit, I have rewards for you. Or more accurately, for your services,” Ghast acknowledged as she changed the subject. “As well as some bonus bits just for your performance as well. I really was quite pleased with you, My Hand.

“On top of that, I brought a number of my cultivators who were harmed and need aid. Your Qi-Healer’s assistance would be greatly appreciated and I’ve brought payment for that as well.”

Ash only nodded his head and indicated the medical ward that was to one side. Rou was in there more often than not when she didn’t have other work to do.

She was practicing her Qi usage.

Or so Ash realized when he’d snuck in to see her once. She was juggling all the Elemental Qi’s in tandem. Tossing them from hand to hand and back again.

She was experimenting with a secret. He hoped she’d share it with him soon, though he was certainly patient enough to wait as well.

“Ah, splendid. Thank you, my Hand. You’ve been a true boon to me,” Ghast chuckled as she said. Then she reached out and laid a hand to his side. She made a small pulling gesture and drew him closer to herself. “Ash… could you please make sure you solve the Heights issue for me while praising my name? The previous Hand and city-lord didn’t do me any favors and blamed me for much of the wrongs.

“I admit I’m a bad woman, but I’m not that bad a woman. I want my cities to succeed, not fail. While I may have some harsh laws for those who disobey, and I may not pay as much attention as I should, I do care for my people.

“Help me? Please? I could really use your assistance to the best of your efforts, my Hand.”

Being so close to this intoxicatingly beautiful woman Ash could only nod his head stupidly. Staring into her mesmerizing eyes. Gazing at her as if he wanted to lean in and kiss her.

He almost did in fact.

The only reason he didn’t was Ghast had done it for him and left him with a peck on the lips. A chaste thing that lit his insides on fire and left him wishing for a great deal more.

“Thank you, Ash. My Hand. I’ll reward you personally when you return,” Ghast promised. “I’ll be back in five days. I have to go hunt down Shi’Sha again, then I’ll be back here. Try to meet me here? I’m sure there’s lots for us to… to discuss.”

She’d said the last while glancing down at his pants. To what was likely a very noticeable bulge in his pants.

“Much to discuss. I’ll be eager to speak with you at… length,” Ghast said, her hand fluttering up to draw a finger along the noticable change in Ash’s pants. It was a brief touch, no more than a brush of her fingers. But he’d felt it like lightning.

Then she smiled at him warmly, her eyes glittering with heat, and walked toward where he’d indicated. Moving off to Rou’s medical ward.

Cultivators began to slowly file out of the ship behind her. A great many of them maimed, wounded, or unable to walk at all. Those were carried by comrades or other walking wounded.

“I want to hate her, but I can’t,” Mei whispered. “She is only utilizing her power that she herself gathered. Also while taking care of her people and using resources effectively.

“I want to hate her… to loathe her… but I just can’t. It’s a mentality I have to respect as if I was in her position, I’d likely do the same. That’s just how a cultivator lives.”

“As I said… we must all endure it,” Hui grumbled. “At least she didn’t look at me like a treat this time.”

A treat? To Hui?

How does that even make sense?

“There’s a lot about Ghast that doesn’t make sense. But yes… she did look at Hui and myself in a way that was odd. Not sexually, not as if she were attracted to us, but… envious in a way. Like a treat that should be eaten, as Hui said,” Locke offered. “It’s… something to be aware of. I suspect that maybe it has to do with her ability to provide Qi to others. That’s not a normal ability. Maybe it’s an artifact, maybe an ability, maybe using women as a channel, I don’t know. It’s something to consider though.”