Mana 4 Chapter 26 (Patreon)

“I see you’ve had your fun.” Kat came out from the bushes. “Took you long enough.”

Slipping on my robes, I looked over at four very satisfied mana beasts. “They make it fun.”

“They do.” Kat’s eyes roved over them. “But I think we need to get back before too long. The gates are already heavily guarded; no one is being allowed out of the city.”

“Already?” I asked. I was surprised the Ying family had been able to move so quickly.

“You’ve been at it for two hours dear husband.”

I scanned myself for injuries. They were still there, but they were much better, as if they had happened weeks ago instead of hours. “Well, I feel recovered. Let’s grab the others and head out.”

“Sleepy heads. Time to return to your rings.” I called to the cuddle puddle of mana beasts.

They all disappeared one by one, but what shocked me was Lumi took the rug and drapes with her.

Kat didn’t miss that either. “Did she just?”

“She did. I guess we have a few more questions about the fifth rank. But Wenxi was kind enough to give me a scroll on it, so we’ll find out more soon. First, I need to go buy myself from the Pavilion.”

We had gathered more than enough mana crystals in looting the auction house to pay my remaining debt, which was still the majority of the debt I’d come with from the auction house. Turns out serving food didn’t knock much off.

With the backslide caused by the fight with Guo Ying on the books, I had just under forty-four thousand mana crystals of debt. It would make a dent in my current holdings, but if I managed to sell what I was holding onto, it would be a drop in the bucket.

Kat led the way back through the woods to a blushing Rachel and Wenxi. The girls hadn’t been quiet, and they no doubt heard some of that.

“Let’s circle around to the northern gate to throw more confusion on where we were. What’s the story?”

Wenxi coughed. “I think we make up some lame excuse, and you let me hang on your arm. Like, we could say we were hunting for medical herbs.”

“Sure, just as good as another excuse.” I was missing something, though. Shouldn’t we have a stronger reason, something we could back up?

Rachel hid her face. “You were brought out into the woods with two noble girls and come back to buy out your servitude. Think on that for a moment, Isaac.”

Oh. OH!

I cleared my throat. “You know what that’s going to make people think, Wenxi.”

“Yes, I do. After my talk with Kat, I’m comfortable taking on those rumors for the family.”

‘For the family’ was like someone smashed a gong next to my head.

Wenxi continued. “Plus, something like that will be spoken about with discretion. Hide the real secret in a dirty little secret.”

“Clever.” I agreed. People would be far too focused on the gossip it presented to dig deeper. Not to mention, it lined up with the course of events in the future. Given the plans to help her climb in her family while exposing myself to the larger world,

Feeling bold, I grabbed the back of Wenxi’s head and turned her lips to me, kissing her. “Thank you. It sounds like you’ve both talked things out with Kat.” And that Kat had spoken with my other wives.

Wenxi nodded eagerly. “Yes. Though it seems we really must prepare for your family.”

“I was thinking about that.” Tapping my lips as we continued our walk, I considered going bigger. “Kat, what do you think about opening the offer to come to the immortal world early not only to our family, but to expand it to our sect. Maybe even consider opening it up to our allies as well? No doubt Steve and Jonny would jump at the opportunity.”

“Do you think that’s wise?” Kat questioned. “That would be an awful lot of people to take care of.”

I snorted a small chuckle. “Sorry, I just thought of Steve or Jonny letting me take care of them. We won’t have to worry about anything. Even just our sect could take over Murdock after we deal with the Ying family. If we bring over more cultivators, and hopefully get a few fifth ring immortals out of the group, we could expand nicely and establish ourselves. And if we don’t, they will go through the ascension and potentially end up as slaves like us.”

“How many?” Wenxi asked.

“All in, maybe three hundred fourth rank cultivators.”

Her eyes grew a bit larger as she considered that. “Add in a few fifth ranks in a few years, and you’d be considered a medium-sized force, even in a city. But without a 6th rank, you’d never be more than that.”

“We’ll tackle that as we go. I have no intention of stopping at the fifth ring.”

Wenxi rolled her eyes. “No one has the intention of stopping, but achieving it is another story.”

That comment led to a comfortable silence as we walked around the city, working to get to the other gate. Most of us were in our heads, planning our next steps.

The silence was broken when Rachel spoke up. “Isaac, what really happened when you went on the hunt with Tracey?”

I faltered in my step, but recovered. It made sense that she’d seen enough to start piecing together that more was going on.

I turned towards Rachel, deciding to put it all on the table. “She brought me out into the woods with the express purpose of selling me to Guo Ying. It was a setup. He wanted to ‘duel’ me publicly because I made his family look weak, and ultimately, to kill me. Tracey went along with it because she thought she could get into the ancient family.”

Wenxi cleared her throat. “He’s leaving out a number of important details. One, the Ying family is on the brink of collapse. When he stepped on Guo Ying during the show, Guo Ying overreacted. But in that overreaction, Isaac bested him, which put Guo Ying in an even more precarious situation. The Ying family is very defensive of their weakness. They felt they needed to make an example of him.”

“Then Beth and Claire?”

“Killed by Guo Ying and his men. Tracey was a fool. Guo Ying never planned to pay her and brought enough men that they didn’t stand a chance.”

Rachel was growing more visibly upset by the moment. “But you were supposed to protect them.”

I knew she was grieving, but the accusation still hit home. I hated that I hadn’t been able to protect them. They had been innocent in Tracey’s schemes. “I would have if I could, Rachel. I was fighting for my life as well. Tracey took an opportunity to get far enough away from me to activate my cuff. I lost.”

“It seems he has a knack for understating, Rachel.” Wenxi clarified. “Tracey activated his cuff, his thigh was torn open by a mana beast, his gut was opened, and his leg was pinned to the ground with a sword. In that condition, he somehow still managed to save himself and Tracey.”

“Why did you save her!” Rachel focused on the wrong detail.

“Because of this damn cuff. I couldn’t escape on my own, not without risking activating the enchantment on the cuff.”

Rachel ground her teeth. “Tracey wasn’t the one who deserved to live.”

“Trust me, we agree on that. But my survival required hers, unfortunately. And so we doubled down and used her to also reinforce my alibi.” I turned, nodding my head towards Kat. “She’s an expert at soul manipulation. She altered Tracey’s memories to help me sell the story.”

“Ah. Now it comes together.” Wenxi nodded. “I wondered what you did. Have you poked at my soul at all?” She looked at Kat with interest but also a bit of fear.

“I don’t go around poking at everyone’s soul.” Kat’s eyes flashed different colors. “Unless you want me to. I told you two about the technique our family practices.”

“An interesting technique, to say the least. There are spells for long distance communication, but I’ve never heard of one so… complete. That you can communicate across the barrier between this world and another is astonishing.”

Our conversation died down as the northern gates came into view. Crowds were jammed up against the gate on either side.

“I don’t want to wait in that mess. Looks like the guards have their hands full.” The guards were pushing back those that wanted to leave the city, while still trying to admit others, taking note of who was entering.

“And how do you propose we go in?” Rachel asked.

“Easy, we jump over the wall.” I offered, giving her a smile.

“You can’t really do that quietly.” Rachel argued.

“That’s the point. We’ll get caught, and we play the part of ‘we just went to go pick herbs.’” I said with a smirk.

The girls made sounds of understanding. “That should work.” Wenxi agreed.

We moved around the crowed to the wall, all four of us gathering enough mana to leap thirty feet into the air, grab the lip of the wall, and throw ourselves over.

Sure enough, it made some noise and caught the attention of the nearby guards. One of them shouted and several came running. “Halt.”

I froze, playing the part of someone being caught red-handed. “We just didn’t want to wait in line.” I tried scratching the back of my head. “What’s the deal, anyway? It’s a mess at the gate.”

One of the guards recognized Wenxi immediately. “Miss Su. Explain yourself.”

She blushed all the way to the tips of her ears and spoke without meeting his eyes. “We went to go pick herbs.” She was a pretty talented actor.

“Sure.” The guard’s eyes roved over the rest of us. “Who are you?”

Rachel spoke for the rest of us. “We are from the Pavilion. This is a servant I brought with me to pick herbs.” She gestured to me.

I could see the gears turning in the guard’s head as he took in the situation. “Uh huh. Find any good herbs?”

“Plenty.” I said quickly, playing a little stupid.

“Then why don’t you show them to me. They should be taxed with a tariff.”

The four of us exchanged guilty glances, and I spoke again. “You know, some of the flowers were too pretty, so we left them there.”

“Uh huh. I’m sure you found a pretty flower. Plucked it good too.” His eyes went to Wenxi. “I hear a pretty flower has been spending a lot of time at the pavilion lately.”

Wenxi cleared her throat and pulled out a few mana crystals. “I’d appreciate your discretion in this matter.”

The guard eyed the crystals greedily. “Of course.” He swiped them up and shared them with his fellows. “Nothing much here. Miss Su and a few guards going on a stroll outside the city. Right, boys?”

The others understood what was happening and nodded quickly, repeating the story.

“You come to us next time, Miss Su before you leave, and we can make sure there’s no embarrassing interruptions like this.” The main guard scribbled something down on a scratch piece of paper and handed it to her.

“Thank you again. I will remember you should I need discretion again.” Wenxi gave an embarrassed blush and grabbed my arm, pulling me away.

Once we were out of earshot, she grumbled. “Don’t leave me behind after that. You owe me.”

She was cute when she was grumpy.

“Your honor is safe with me.” I winked at her. “But I think it’s best if you head back to your own place, and we will return to the pavilion.” We needed to keep the plan moving.

Realizing the guards might still be watching, I pulled Wenxi in for another kiss.

She made a small gasp, touching her lips softly as I pulled away. “You keep doing that when I’m not expecting it.”

“That’s half the fun.” I teased. “Kat, why don’t you go with her, and I’ll meet you both at the Su manor after?” It was hard to not know where the massive Su family manor was in the town; it was like the crown jewel.

“Deal.” Wenxi nodded and slipped off with Kat.

That left Rachel and me heading back to the Pavilion.

Rachel had yet to say much about all she’d learned, and she’d also just had her first battle. That was a lot to process, and I was curious about what she was thinking.

“Now you know everything. What are you going to do?” I asked. She had seemed lost since I’d told her the truth about Tracey and our hunting trip.

“I don’t know.” She answered. “Tracey should die. What she did was horrible; she as good as killed Beth and Claire. But I can’t kill her without telling the world what happened, and you aren’t ready to face off against the Ying family.”

Sighing, I understood her plight. Those same thoughts had plagued me as well. “They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but it isn’t. Revenge is anger and passion, something that’s red hot. I don’t think Tracey will live too much longer, Rachel. For now, it’s best to be patient.”

“I know, but there’s going to be the urge to gut her if I see her now.” She hung her head as we approached the Pavilion.

Madam Orchid was waiting by the entrance. “Good, you two are back. The last of my lovely petals is back. We should hold ourselves up until this thing with the Ying family blows over.” She pulled Rachel and me along, herding us into the pavilion.

Her eyes passed over me with a calculating sharpness to them. “Really, it seems like every time you go out, something happens to the Ying family.”

I cleared my throat and stuck to the story. “Rachel brought me out to see Wenxi Su. Also, I have payment for my debt.”

Madam Orchid hummed to herself as she looked at me as if she could see right through to my soul.

Luckily, I had my guard up, because I could feel a subtle soul attack probing me. Rachel had done something similar the first time I’d met her.

It was a far more gentle technique that anything Kat had ever done, but the technique ended with nothing happening. She might have withdrawn it.

I knew that Madam Orchid was a fifth rank immortal, which meant she was as strong as Lumi and the Ying Family patriarch. She might have been able to slip past my defenses. I needed to make sure to keep my guard up around her.

“So be it. But as you separate from the Pavilion, remember that I protected you not once, but several times, from probing from the Ying family after your last outing. Without my protection, you may want to ensure that the Su family won’t cave to their demands.”

“Thank you for the reminder and protection. I would hate to be caught up in a misunderstanding with a grieving father.”

She gave a throaty chuckle that tugged at my core. “Misunderstanding.” Madam Orchid tasted the word slowly as we climbed the stairs to the ninth floor and her office. The whole way, she seemed to be lost in thought, only pausing to collect a few tools I recognized were for removing my cuff.

I was happy that she wasn’t going to put up a fight at letting me go. As we moved, Rachel walked with her head down, no doubt still struggling with what Tracey had done. She’d grieved her friends once, but now that she knew all the details, she was having to reprocess all of it.

As we stepped into the Madam’s room, it was as I remembered, with thick velvet curtains lining the room and a big four-poster bed dominating the back of the room. It felt like a reminder of what she was and what happened here in the Orchid Pavilion.

“I think I’d like to accept your payment, but then I’d like to give you a gift.” The madam sat down and opened her ledger. “What do you say we get the first part out of the way?”

Taking one last look at the ledger, I pulled out the required amount of mana crystals and placed them on her desk. But she didn’t have them enter her spatial ring. Instead, they seemed to enter the Madam herself.

My brow furroughed. It was the second time I’d seen a fifth rank do something like that without a spatial ring.

“You didn’t even count them.” I pointed out.

“No need. Really, that is just a formality.” She scribbled down the payment, nullifying my entire debt. “Now, let’s get that off you.”

I held out my arm, and her fingers danced around the cuff, checking it. Each time one of her fingers brushed my skin, it was like someone plucked a cord in my soul. Passion and pleasure welled up with each of those small touches.

She smirked as she watched my reaction. “A small side effect of my cultivation technique.”

“Some side effect.” I let out a sigh of relief as she rested a finger on my arm. “Is this the same one your girls cultivate?”

“Yes, though I’ve been on a long search for those with the correct aptitude to take it to my own level. Rachel was one of my better disciples recently.” The Madam sighed as she slotted a tool into the cuff and started cranking. “But it would seem I’m going to lose her to you too.”

“She’s a wonderful woman.”

The Madam hummed as she twisted two tools in tandem and the cuff cranked, gaps appearing on the side as spikes that had been pressed into me for far too long were pulled out.

I wanted to snatch my arm out, but I made myself wait for the cuff to fully open.

“What do you think, Rachel? Would you like to go with your trouble maker here?”

There was no pause in Rachel’s response, and I found myself warm at her lack of hesitation. “Yes. I would.”

My cuff clicked into the fully open position and I snatched my arm back, flicking my forearm and using life mana to remove the holes that were a reminder of what I’d just escaped. “I’d gladly take and protect her.”

“You know, I normally ask for a bride price.” The Madam locked eyes with me. I waited to see where she was going with that statement. She stared at me for a long while, as if she was trying to confirm something. “But even as much as I hate to take a loss, I think doing so for future investment right now is the right answer.”

As shrewd as Madam Orchid was, I was surprised. It seemed completely out of character for her to give something away for free.

I couldn’t help but question it. “Why?”

“Do you not want me to?” She asked, a teasing smile on her lips. “She has a bride price beyond your current means.”

“What is it you think I’ll offer you later?” I could feel she had a plan. She knew something, and I didn’t like not knowing what I was stepping into.

“Let’s just say I know more about you than you realize, little child hidden from fate.” Madam Orchid’s eyes seemed to change and become a bottomless, ageless pit for a brief moment.

I shook my head and leaned away. “What did you call me?”

“You heard me.” Madam Orchid crossed her arms under her impressive chest and pouted. “No need to repeat myself. But I’ll tell you a secret, one to pay a debt that I owe someone else.”

She had my attention, and she knew it. A smile playing on her face as she began recounting. “Long ago, maybe fifty years ago, a woman came here hoping for my help. She wanted to get pregnant in an attempt to break an engagement. But she couldn’t; her family had taken measures into place to prevent that. However, this woman was stubborn and not interested in letting her family control her life. She had issues with authority. Sound familiar?” Her eyes twinkled a bit as she winked at me before she continued.

“Instead, she fled this world to the far reaches of the world tree, where its influence was weakest, and she could undo her family’s work. And when she returned, she returned much more powerful and unbound by their rules.”

The Madam paused, clearly enjoying my rapt attention. She knew my mother. There was no doubt within me that the story she was telling was my mother’s story.

Chills ran across my skin.

“You see, not only could she fix her own issues, but she could be essentially a god in that mortal world. When she came back, she told me about my many branches of fate. She helped me understand what decisions would take me on the path I wanted.” With that, she leaned back with a satisfied sigh.

“That’s it?” I frowned, feeling like she had stopped part way through the story.

Madam Orchid shrugged. “I don’t dare risk my ultimate goal. Some things now make more sense, and I can promise you, I didn’t realize who you were until recently. Had I known when I saw you on the auction house block, I would have rolled out the welcome mat and made your initial impression of me far better.”

“I don’t understand. Who is this woman and what does she have to do with you?” Rachel looked between us. The story hadn’t made any sense to her.

“It would seem we are leaving. The Madam knew my mother, who is… complicated.” I gave her a look that promised to tell her more of my story later.

The Madam spoke up as well. “Rachel, all of my pavilions are open to you. My libraries, all of my techniques and resources. You might be leaving with him, but I do hope that you remain a disciple.”

Rachel opened and closed her mouth several times, struggling to find the words before she bowed low. “Thank you Madam, for everything.” She came back up with small tears at the corner of her eyes.

“Go, before I change my mind. We haven’t seen the last of each other, so there’s no need to say goodbye.” She dismissed us and went back to focusing on the various papers on her desk.

Rachel grabbed my hand and nearly tore my arm off as she pulled me out of the office.