Cultivating Chaos 5 -ch 2- (Patreon)

Ash watched Ghast’s air-ship move off into the sky quickly.

She’d lingered only long enough to get another cup of tea, had a side discussion with Siu about their similar abilities, and then left.

It’d honestly been rather pleasant which had been somewhat shocking.

“I actually like her,” Siu murmured, laying a hand on Ash’s back. “I understand her at a level I hadn’t expected.”

With a grunt, Ash nodded his head.

He could certainly believe that given what Ghast had said.

“Now… I’m going to go run down Rou and then Luan,” stated Siu, her fingers tightening on Ash’s shoulder. “What’re your plans?”

“Yes, what is your next goal, Master Sheng?” Na asked.

Given that they were in public, he wasn’t surprised that she’d reverted to that tone of address.

“I wanted to go check on the knights,” Ash murmured and looked back toward the road that’d take him to the sect. “After that… I need to go somewhere else.”

Reaching up he gently pulled Siu’s arm down, hesitated, then put his arm around the beautiful woman’s shoulders. Not waiting, he began walking back toward the sect.

“Oh me, oh my,” purred Siu, her fan snapping open and covering the lower part of her mouth. Her eyes had turned to the side and she was gazing at him. “Ashley Sheng, just what are you doing?”

“Walking. With my Bride. Na doesn’t like it when I do things like this to her so you’re it,” Ash said.

“Yes, Master Sheng is correct,” agreed Na, taking up his left side.

“Well, who am I to decline my husband. I shall stay with you as long as I can,” whispered Siu, her eyes lingering on him for a moment before turning away. Her fan fluttered slowly in front of her face.

He hadn’t missed how most men viewed Siu.

Stared at her, really.

For some reason, Ash was feeling possessive at the moment.

A momentary flicker of thought toward that chalked this all up to their brief conversation about her wanting to be what essentially amounted to being an actual wife.

“Ah… oh… oh my,” Siu whispered, sounding actually surprised.

Glancing over at her, he saw that his hand had reflexively curled up around Siu. His hand was resting atop her neck in a way he often did with Mei when he put his arm around her.

Siu’s eyes were wide and round, her fan moving a bit faster now.

“Uh, sorry,” Ash said.

Before he could pull his hand away Siu’s hand tipped backward and pressed to his wrist. Stopping him from pulling it away.

After a second, and Ash understanding that she didn’t want his hand to move away, Siu pulled her fan away and kept looking forward.

They entered the sect without incident.

The Knights were still laid out as they had been when they began their transformation. There were a number of people going about and offering what they could for those attempting the change.

Rou, the red-haired, blue-eyed beautiful Qi Healer was among their number. She stood out in the veil they originally came from as an Outlander, or someone born from one.

Here, in this prison, there was a great many more people that shared coloring of hair and eye with Ash and Rou. They didn’t stand out so badly.

Walking over, Ash came to a stop was Rou worked on an aspirant with a grimace on her face. He knew first hand that it was somewhat disorienting to be around the Knights.

Even ones who were just starting out.

They rejected all Qi around them. Especially Qi from cultivators.

What she looked to be doing was treating their physical ailments with physical means. More akin to a doctor or a nurse than a Qi-healer.

Finishing with a gentle pat on the Knight aspirant’s chest, which Ash only realized was a woman belatedly, Rou stood up.

On turning she realized Ash was standing there.

“Oh! Ash, hello,” Rou murmured with a tired smile. Followed by a sigh and her looking to the young woman suffering beside them. “Before you ask, seven have died out of a hundred.”

Ash felt the wince on his face forming.

“Which is amazing,” Rou stated, causing Ash’s emotions to freeze up as well as his grimace. “We were only expecting perhaps ten to survive. Once again it’s… just… Ashley Sheng the Fated One.

“This’ll be right up there with a story that starts with ‘and the first generation of Knights survived despite all the odds’. Or something of that nature.”

Slowly, Ash nodded his head.

“Of course,” Na stated with absolute belief. “These people will all form the absolute center of the Knight-hood. They must be above and beyond the rest.”

In that moment Ash’s Dao reared up and spun wildly for several seconds before settling again. It seemed to agree with Na’s statement.

“I’m glad they’re surviving,” Ash said, disregarding everything else that was said. “Is there anything else you or they need from me?”

“No, nothing,” Rou murmured and glanced at him. She gave him a smile, dipped her head fractionally, and then moved to the next aspirant.

“Ah… are you leaving now, then?” Siu asked, her head tilting fractionally to one side and looking at him. “And where to?”

“The Hall,” answered Ash.

Rou’s head snapped around and looked at him.

He felt Na tighten up behind him as well as Siu’s arm tense.

“The Hall is open?” asked Na in a tight voice.

“Yeah? It fixed itself when the thing happened,” Ash admitted. “Locke’s sleeping there.”

“I… will… return, Master Sheng, please… please wait-wait for me,” Na pleaded and then set off at a sprint.

Siu’s fan was fluttering rapidly while looking around, her eyes picking over everyone nearby. Then she settled in one direction.

“Ah… Ashley?” she asked quietly. “There are several of my top-ranking Brides that I would like to bring to the Hall. Do you mind?”

“No, not at all,” he agreed easily. “Would you like to go fetch them? I assume Na went to go get people as well.”

“Yes, she did. Thank you, Husband,” Siu said and snapped her fan shut. She gently eased herself out from under his arm and took off at a very swift walk.

Ash was unable to help himself and watch Siu as she went. She wasn’t walking in a provocative way, but she had a natural fluid grace to her that felt mature.

Womanly.

Siu just about stopped midstep and looked back at him over her shoulder. Her brows bunched up, her lip caught between her teeth, and she watched him for several seconds.

Then she started moving again.

She quickly turned the corner and vanished.

Standing there, amongst the Knight-aspirants of Sheng, Ash hesitated for only a moment before he decided to focus on cultivating.

Moving away from the aspirants, Ash moved some distance away. Once he found a section of grass that looked quite nice, he sat down upon it.

He crossed his legs, put his hands palm up atop his knees, and closed his eyes. Easing his awareness into himself, then out to everything around him.

In a single second he connected to the city of Wahst without meaning to.

A breath after that and his Dao rose up once again and linked into Ash as well as Wahst. His lower Dantian, his Qi-Sea, was swollen with Qi at the moment. Nearly filled from top to bottom with solid Qi the likes of which was akin to cement.

Circling about the golden pillar of his Dao in it’s traditional whirlpool.

The statues, however, were missing.

Statues in various materials and poses all spread about his Qi-Sea of those who had pledged to him. They were all gone.

Before he could process that, Ash felt his Dao essentially eject him from the lower-Dantian and into the middle one.

Where every single statue was.

They were all here in the empty white space of it.

All the statues that were in the inner-circles were made of gold. At about the halfway mark out they turned to silver and that held to the very ends of the statues.

Those at the extreme edges were bronze or even stone.

Ah… those who have pledged to me, but are hesitant.

As they grow closer to the pledge and the belief, they receive more in return.

They join my momentum.

This is probably why Hui could feel a change the moment she did so. Because… because the pledge, my Dao, and who I am, are lined up.

My Dao now influences the pledges. They receive power in accordance with their pledge.

That… means… I should put a chain on every single Bride I can.

Doesn’t it?

I’ll have Mei, Locke, and Siu arrange that.

At the center of the statues was no longer his Dao.

Now, it was a statue of himself.

It was no bigger, less defined, or more defined, than the other statues, though it was wrought in gold. There was also a great deal of power emanating off of it.

Suddenly, golden chains burst out of the statue and began pushing out to the statues. They attached within the blink of an eye to all of those he already was feeding Qi to.

With only a slight delay, the chains sunk into every other statue as well. Even stretching out all the way to the stone-ones at the perimeter.

Even as the chains touched statues, a number of the silver-ones suddenly turned gold. A handful of the stone statues similarly changed to a silver color.

Chains between Ash and every single pledge now existed.

There was an outflow of Qi to nearly every single one of them, though, from several, there was an inflow. As if they couldn’t receive any Qi from him.

The feed from them was very slow, but it was happening.

Ash felt his Qi gain from the world around him slow down to a crawl. He was still bringing in extra which was being transmitted to the Hall, but it was very slow.

Thankfully the line to Ghast was shut right now. He didn’t want to provide her any or take any unless he had to.

Just as he was starting to get a handle on this, that his wish to put a chain to every Bride had simply happened, then he was ejected again. This time out of either Dantian and instead into the sense of Wahst.

Wahst was clean and clear of unwished for Qi. The whole of it, as one entity, was fit and ready.

As Ash put his awareness to it, the city began to cultivate. Qi was being drawn in from the surroundings and much further away, then into the city.

The Sect, or more accurately Ash, was the focal point of this cultivation. Qi was swept up and brought through the city.

As with any cultivation, unwanted elements of Qi were swept up

Though as it was previously, it was ejected forcefully from the city.

Some of the fresh-Qi that moved through the city was incorporated into people. Those who perhaps had a Dantian that could accept Qi.

Just as cells, or body parts, would absorb some, though most of it continued on to Ash. When it arrived it washed him in a wave of Qi.

All the excess that the city couldn’t store in the Sect grounds washed into Ash.

Which was quickly fed back into the chains he had made.

The vast majority of his Brides suddenly being pumped to full with Qi and the remainder being dumped into the Hall.

In no time at all, the Brides were filled to bursting and could receive no more. The chains no longer providing them with anything and instead all of it pushing into the Hall.

Once the first cycle was complete, Ash felt sure of it now.

His Dantian, the city, and his Dao, were all linked.

The whole of Wahst moved with his momentum by choice.

Those citizens in the city who wanted no part of this, had long since left.

Abandoning the city to go elsewhere.

Satisfied, Ash let himself cultivate fully. Cycling his body and Wahst at the same time. With each pass he felt everything settle more correctly into place.

As if he were giving rice a shake through a strainer as he washed it. The water going clear with relative ease with only a few passes.

Running a rake through freshly churned earth and finding no rocks to pull free at all and only smooth soil.

Things felt right.

Both his body and the city, were in a great condition.

Everything was moving with his momentum.

There was a change he had noted though as he continued to cultivate.

A great many points of momentum settled into place around him. With each he felt the power of his cultivation, for both him and the city, increase.

Feeling a waning of the Qi coming to the edges of the city, as well as the fact that the city wasn’t able to absorb any more at all and it was all going to Ash, he let it all come to a stop as the current cycle ended.

Letting out a breath Ash felt greatly refreshed.

Opening his eyes he was surprised for all of a microsecond.

His Brides were all arrayed out around him in every direction.

Each of them were cultivating and seemed to be deep into themselves.

Or he’d thought they were.

Collectively their eyes all opened and heads turned toward him.

“That was… Hui is… I’m amazed,” breathed Hui, from behind him. Her hands, which’d been lightly resting atop his own, flexed briefly. “Fated One amongst Fated One’s.”

He hadn’t even realized she was pressed up to his best and holding his hands with her own. Much as she always tried to, she’d been using him as a focussing device for her own cultivation.

Directly in front of him was Mei, sharing so many features and details with her cousin Na, though considerably more developed in the chest.

Next to her was Jia, her brown eyes locked to his now. Her hair the color of midnight was loose and trailed down her shoulders.

Jia was a willowy and athletic woman, a beauty in the realms of the emperor.

“I did not realize how true it was when you said… the city could cultivate,” mumbled Jia. “I suddenly found myself cultivating despite being in the middle of eating a snack.”

“It came on so suddenly,” breathed a Bride from somewhere behind Jia. “I felt Master Sheng… touch me… then Qi began to fill me. Then Qi was everywhere.”

Heads nodded all over at that.

“It would seem, my beloved Ashley, that your momentum ever grows,” purred Mei. “I take it all the Brides are… connected, now?”

Ash nodded his head at that.

Chains sped out from him to every single person here. There were also a number that shot straight off toward the distant sky above him.

Frowning, Ash peered up at those chains. Not quite understanding what they were. The only chain he had here that could be going that way, was the man who nearly killed Tala, Chunhua, and Hui.

Tentatively, Ash turned his attention to those chains.

Immediately he could feel Brides on the other end of them. Brides who were suddenly cultivating frantically and using the abundance of Qi to push themselves onward.

As well as a determined and warm Liu who could feel him in return on the other end of the chain.

“I can feel them,” Ash whispered, staring up at the chains.

They’d never steered him wrong previously. They had always led straight to wherever his target was.

“You can what?” Siu asked from somewhere behind him.

“Brides. I can feel… Brides. The… connection… leads that way,” Ash said and reached out to lightly touch Liu’s chain.

She responded by blindly reaching out to him from the other end. He could feel her calling his name, though not hear it.

“There is something up there. Something that leads back to our realm,” Ash said, coming to a final thought on why the chains were going that way.

Somewhere, somehow, above him, a point existed that traveled back to his own veil.

His own realm.

“Then that’s where we’ll go,” Hui affirmed and rubbed her cheek back and forth against his shoulder. Causing his awareness of the extremely beautiful woman plastered against his back to scramble his thoughts. He could most certainly feel her heavily endowed chest crushed to his back now. “While they all scramble down to chase the Qi, the Sheng shall go up. Conquer them all as we go and take over this veil.

“Take it over and convert it to the Sheng stronghold. What better place to keep people out than a prison? It isn’t as if the Emperor cares. All his guards have been removed.

“There have been no prisoners sent here other than by Gen or Hu. We can request that they no longer do so either. In fact… we should see if we can inspect the device that let’s them send people here.

“Perhaps we could learn ever more secrets with it. A way to seal our stronghold off from the outside world.

“That or we seal off the entrance to our stronghold. So that the Emperor or anyone else couldn’t just arrive here.

“I would suggest we use formations to trap anyone who steps through into that building and be subjected to whatever we wish.”

Ash glanced up again, to where the chains continued off into the distancde.

He didn’t like it, but he thought he might need to wake up Locke after all.

“Is it time to go to the hall?” Jia asked curiously. “I admit I am eager to return to it. It is as if it were a home away from home to a degree.”

“Ah, yeah. The Hall,” answered Ash.

“You were cultivating for a while, Ashley. The sun is setting,” Siu advised. “Locke would likely be happy to be woken up at this point. She has been able to sleep for at least seven hours. This is news she would want to hear.”

“Alright. Then… who’s all going?” asked Ash, looking to Mei and Jia.

“As many as you can take,” Mei responded with a grin. “This’ll be a good opportunity for the Brides to see just how deep their Fated One’s presence goes.”

Unable to refute that, doubly so that he had seen a number of statues become golden and that they were deeply part of his Dao, Ash did so.

He grabbed all the Brides in the area who had been cultivating with him, and took them to the Hall.

One moment everyone sitting in the sect, the next, everyone now inside of the Hall.

It was a shocking transition for many of them, but for Ash, what he felt and saw was far more shocking compared to how it had once been.

Before it’d been repaired, that was.

Now Ash didn’t even know what to say.

“It’s… changed,” whispered Mei, standing next to him.