Mana 4 Chapter 21 (Patreon)

The next week went by in a blur. Rachel was progressing slowly on incorporating the forms into practice, but on the third day we moved to slow sparring.

I would attack, pausing part way through and let her find the correct move to counter. Then I would complete the attack.

Though it might sound slow, in reality it was a fast cadence to the attack. I would only pause for a moment if she fumbled.

This meant we were still on defensive work and she had yet to start putting the forms to proper use on offense.

However, it seemed my life was full of new women at present. Wenxi was at the pavilion for every breakfast and every lunch. She turned away all servers save for me and insisted on conversation while I worked.

Not that anyone begrudged me. By now the rumor mill among the servants picked up Wenxi’s actions and some were already calling me her fiance.

I let out a sigh as I stroked Lumi’s head. Yesterday I hadn’t gone to her soul palace at night and today, in a brief meditation before the show, I had found her laying on a pile of furs in my soul palace. A huge grand fireplace in the corner that I had admittedly never imaged was full of fire was now lit as I pet Lumi curled up next to it.

“You know, the others are going to get jealous.”

“Let them.” Lumi pushed her head into my hand as I paused. “I’m better, anyway.”

On that note, I lifted my hand and waited for her to look up. “We aren’t going to talk about the veracity of that statement, but that’s beyond the point. No one who shares this soul space is above another.”

“What about you? Aurora calls you Master.”

I grinned. “She relies on me and insists on calling me that. But I don’t treat anyone below me. It is important we all function as equals.”

“What about the redhead that you use the chains on to—”

I put a hand over Lumi’s mouth. “Let’s not go into detail on that. Best you don’t tell her you peeked on that either. She asks for that. I’d never force it on her or do it unwillingly.”

Lumi’s tongue started licking the inside of my hand, but I didn’t let her win that easily and stared at her till she nodded.

“Good. Now I wanted to talk to you about how you went from 4th rank to 5th rank.”

“I don’t know. Only your best mana beast would be 5th rank, the rest would be 4th rank.” She huffed and crossed her arms.

It would seem she wasn’t going to let this go, so I gave her partial credit. “Well, you are at least the best in terms of cultivation.”

“The best!” Lumi declared.

“But there are so many aspects to being the best at. Quinn is the best leader among them, Mei is the most adorable and Aurora has the biggest heart.” I love all of them dearly.

“Which one has the best sex?” Lumi asked with wide eyes. “I know you sleep with all of them, which is best?”

I made a noise of pure non-commitment. There was no correct answer to that. No, there were only wrong answers for that. “Each of them is different and special in their own way.”

“But one has to be better.” Lumi pushed.

“Nope. Can’t think of one that really rises above the rest. They are all great in their own way. Mei is energetic and bubbly. Aurora is so full of love she makes my heart melt and Quinn makes it a fun game of dominance. You just can’t compare those things against each other well.”

Lumi nodded. “Then I’ll do all of those and be better than each of them.”

“Wait what?”

“When we have sex. I’ll make sure I’m the best.” Lumi nodded to herself, looking into the fire. “That just means I have to study up.”

This change in topic caught me off guard. “Who said anything about us having sex?”

Lumi turned slowly towards me with wide eyes. “We aren’t?”

“I mean, we can. But I figured you weren’t ready for it.” Then I realized we’d gotten so far off topic. “We were talking about breaking through from 4th rank to 5th rank.”

Lumi rolled her eyes. “Really, talking about cultivation over sex with me? I’m hurt.”

I was starting to not be quite so amused with her antics and reminded her of that with a glare.

“Fine, fine. You get a bunch of mana crystals together and absorb them rapidly, pushing and controlling enough mana into the world that you make the world angry. It tries to zap you with lightning and then you eat said lightning. Really not too bad.”

Sigh. I knew it would be too simple coming from a mana beast. Cultivation came naturally to them in a way that a cultivator would have trouble mimicking. But there were two hints in there.

One lined up with what Tracey said. You called a heavenly tribulation upon yourself and take a piece of the power of heaven within yourself.

The second was the idea of using so much mana that you made the world angry. I thought back to the mortal world when I would push my limits and how the world seemed to revolt against me for that.

I’d bet double or nothing with Madam Orchid that doing the same thing in the immortal world was how you called down a heavenly tribulation. The only question was how many mana crystals would I need to make this happen.

“Well, you aren’t the best at explaining cultivation.” I teased Lumi.

She blew me a raspberry. “Learning to be the best at sex will be more fun. You need to get back to work at the pavilion. I’m going to go play ‘the game’ with Aurora and the girls. Maybe get some sex tips.”

“One of these days I’m going to crash a game of ‘the game’.”

“Aurora would be so embarrassed. She made it up by the way.”

I slapped Lumi’s ass. “Don’t go giving away her secrets. Now go, you are right. Pretty sure I’m late.”

Lumi got up in a flash and kissed my cheek, causing her own to blush bright red before she zipped away in a flash of lightning.

“Silly woman. You might just spark a war among the girls if they heard you were on a quest to be the best in bed.” I shook my head as I left my soul palace and reentered the real world where I was cross-legged on my bunk.

It had been over two weeks since I arrived here. Half of that was spent on the fruitless quest turned ambush with Tracey. Now, this second half, I had made progress on several fronts.

The big one to work out was getting Rachel to let me loose for a few days so I could work with Kat to hit the auction house. It needed to be tactical. No doubt there were backers among the three powers in the town.

That meant the auction house needed to be a clean hit, with us scooping everything up in short order. Not to mention, we needed to minimize any non-employee casualties. I’d rather not end up pissing off another ancient family now.

But I wouldn’t get this freedom just yet. First, I was still under house arrest per the Madam after our trip to the foothills. Second, I needed to finish training Rachel and convince her to take me out as a guard.

Slipping back up to the 4th floor for the show, the entire place was buzzing with excitement as the young masters gossiped as if there was big news in town. At least that one was one perk. I had my ear to the ground when it came to the town's gossip.

Stepping up to one of the alcoves with four young men gossiping quietly before the show, I offered food as I listened.

“Did you hear about the new ancient family moving in?” One young master whispered to another.

All of them were someone in this small town with a few fourth rank immortals among their family, but in the grand scope of the immortal world, they were ants scurrying about. I didn’t put much stock in their gossip, but the news of a new ancient family? That was big enough to ruin my plans.

“New ancient family?” I deviated from my normal attitude and asked.

“Yeah. A young woman from the family showed up in town this week and has been causing quite a stir.” The young master couldn’t help but enjoy sharing the news with me, even if I was just a servant. He wanted someone to tell it to.

“Interesting. If Guo Ying was still here he’d snatch her up, but if he’s not here, who could catch her interest.” I goaded the young master with a wink that sent him blushing.

“Anyway, she’s a firecracker, too. Apparently she got in some big fight with the auction house today.”

“Poor Brent, his family just lost all hope with her. She almost torched the place down.”

I chuckled to myself. She sounded like Kat. Yikes. The idea of two Kat like people in town was a scary one. I wasn’t sure the town would survive that sort of inhibition.

“What did she fight over?” I asked again.

“Someone said they denied her a house.”

“No, it was a loan.”

“I heard one of the young men hit on her and she almost killed him. The auction house paid her till she dropped it.”

They continued to babble excitedly about what they perceived as the new potential romantic interest in town. But one last piece of information caught my ears before I walked away.

“Brent told me she was going to be here tonight.”

That would be different. We rarely got female guests. But the rumor would explain why the 4th floor was packed with young masters practically vibrating in their alcoves.

If this new woman in town was coming, she’d ignited a few hundred young men’s dreams.

The main attraction wasn’t the dance tonight, it was the guests.

So when young masters got loud and then very quiet as they all came out of their alcoves as if they were going to watch the dance before it even started, I wasn’t surprised.

“Is that Wenxi Su?” someone asked, and I looked up from my task and sure enough, Wenxi stepped onto the fourth floor with a guard in tow as she looked around every which way.

Fuck. I ducked my head low and turned my back, using some young masters still in their booth as an excuse.

“That’s the Su daughter.” One of them said, pushing past me. I barely kept the tray from tipping over as the rest of them jumped up to get out and lay eyes on her.

You would have thought these guys hadn’t ever seen a woman before. Though Wenxi had dressed up tonight. Normally she went with a natural look with minimal makeup and adornments. But tonight she had enhanced her beauty with makeup and earrings that dangled shining like two glittering moons.

If I didn’t miss my guess, she was trying to impress someone here tonight.

My observation didn’t go unnoticed as Wenxi turned my way with a smile.

“Oh, my god. She smiled at me. What do I do?” the young master next to me became a flustered mess with that one look that wasn’t even meant for him.

Because of course Wenxi had been smiling at me. I guess she was going to increase the pressure now. Not that I minded. Over the course of the week, the conversations had at least been stimulating.

I had learned she was quite the intellectual and that the Su family had politics that ran deep. With how well she thought through everything, I was shocked that she was out in what equated to a poor country town with its only significant resource being the Jungle of a Thousand Paths.

The Su family encouraged strife and struggle among its generations. Sadly, it would seem that Wenxi, despite her intelligence, had been on a losing trajectory.

There must be another reason she wasn’t doing well, and the most likely answer was personal power. Her agreement with the Ying family and now why she chased after me made sense.

She wanted power to stand behind her so she could make headway and push back into a higher position in her family.

I liked ambitious women, and she was steadily growing on me.

While I’d been lost in thought, the young master who mistook her attention was puffed up and strutting over to her after a fresh round of priming and shotgunning a drink. He looked like a mating peacock walking over there.

I winced as the conversation on the other side of the stage was short and abrupt. The poor young master deflated before my eyes.

Oh well, it is good for them to learn they can’t have everything they want.

Another servant came up and cut the crowd around Wenxi, directing her towards her own private booth. She cast about and found me again, giving me a pleading look.

I didn’t love that she’d come here dressed to impress, yet wanting to speak to me. The young masters were going to be a pain after today, but I’d just have to deal with it. She did take the effort, and I wanted to know what she had to say.

Just as the crowd settled down from Wenxi’s visit, they stirred up again, and it wasn’t the dancers.

“That’s her!” A young master shouted and suddenly the walkway around the stage was packed with every young master jostling for a position to see the new woman in town.

I sighed, a good time as any to go refill my tray.

Slipping away, I went back to the kitchen.

“Hey, Isaac. Even back here I’m hearing there’s the loveliest of women showing up in your area.” Hank, one of the chefs, fished for gossip.

“Yes, Wenxi Su showed up and now this new girl is all the gossip is about.” I said.

Hank leaned over the grill, ignoring the heat and splatter on his apron. “What does she look like? I hear she has the most beautiful red hair, like a fire on her head.”

“Uh.” I didn’t know what to say to that. “I didn’t look, used the distraction to take a break and grab more food.” Truthfully, I didn’t care. I already had nine beautiful wives. Lumi wasn’t far behind and now Rachel and Wenxi had both made a pass at me.

Honestly, the last thing I needed was to attract the attention of another beautiful lady right before I brought the rest of my wives to this world. They wouldn’t mind, some of them would even encourage it. But I could only juggle so much at once.

Hank looked at me over the grill, frozen, his face full of disbelief. “You don’t care?”

“No, it’s just another pretty woman. There are hundreds of them in the pavilion. Unless you are about to tell me she’s a cultivation genius and a brilliant conversationalist, I couldn’t care less.”

Charles came up behind me and grabbed a jug of wine, filling glasses and his platter. “Don’t listen to him, Hank. He already has Wenxi’s eyes, the bastard. No wonder he’s not interested. By the way, Isaac, Wenxi invited the new lady and then asked for you in particular.”

It was well known about her preference for breakfast and lunch. Neither of the other men were surprised that she’d asked for me.

“Got it. Make sure these are your best, Hank. Who knows, maybe you could win the new girl's heart through her stomach.” I held my platter out for him to fill.

He was always one of those slow plodding workers, but that put a haste in his motions I would have never imagined from his round frame. Hank was an expert in the midst of his craft for the next few moments as he produced plate after plate of drizzled sauce and perfectly placed morsels.

“Tell them I’m honored to cook for them.” Hank bowed at the waist, almost forgetting the grill top and bashing his head into it, only aborting his bow part way with wide eyes and a few new beads of sweat.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to nudge them into coming to thank the chef if I can.”

I left Hank nodding vigorously.

The dancers had taken the stage, and I caught Rachel’s eyes as I walked out. We both gave each other a friendly nod and went back to work.

Young masters still crowded the space, and I had to hold my tray high while bracing my feet to not lose Hank’s precious cooking. Tonight was lively as all of them tried to put on a show not only for the dancers but for Wenxi and the new woman.

“I can’t believe they went into their booth and haven’t come out.” One complained.

“Could they not be into men?” Another scoffed.

My eyes couldn’t help but do a small roll. Were they so self absorbed that Wenxi must be gay if she wasn’t interested in them?

Pushing through the crowd, now more eager to get out of the gossiping young masters, I found myself at Wenxi’s booth and the guard stopped me with a hand to my chest. “No one enters.”

“Fine. I was told she asked for me specifically. Please, at least pass along that I came by.” The guard, who I’d never seen before, squinted at me once before turning and parting the curtains to address Wenxi.

His head was only gone for a moment before it popped back. “Sorry about that. You're good.” He stepped aside and parted the curtain wide enough for my tray. We like him.

It was a small detail, but for being surrounded by people who treated me like I was invisible, it was nice.

“Hello Wenxi, our chef heard you were here and made his best.” I bowed low and offered her the tray, only now realizing who was next to her.

It took everything I had to school my face.