Mana 5 Chapter 6 (Patreon)

After dinner, there was a flurry of activity as we sent Diana, Nikki, and Rachel off to the Orchid Pavilion.

I knew Madam Orchid had plans to train the Hua sisters. Something about their bloodline had excited the woman.

Then again, I knew that my mother had played with bloodlines in the mortal world. There where she was, akin to a god with her cultivation, she had set things in motion. My own bloodline included.

As they headed out, Tianxi returned with a list of jobs from the family and Wenxi brought a copied list of the city jobs.

“Well, you all must be tired from your trip. I’ll let you all discuss what jobs to take at your leisure. Wenxi, I made up your room. And Issac, I can show you to your space as well.” Tianxi tugged her daughter along, and we all followed to another building in the courtyard.

I frowned when there was obviously only one building she was leading us all towards.

“Mother, what about the other buildings?” Wenxi asked.

“Oh, without servants, I haven’t been able to keep them up. I’m afraid only your home is suitable.” Tianxi made her voice sound forlorn, but she seemed quite fine as she pushed her daughter to open the door.

Inside the home, the floor was littered with rose petals, and the place wasn’t that much bigger than the inside of the carriage. But the first thing I noticed was the single bed within the space, which was liberally dusted with rose petals.

“Mother!” Wenxi’s blush was back.

“What? You should really sleep with a man to get his measure. I didn’t know he was bringing so many wives; I’ll order a larger bed.”

“That’s not the point.” Wenxi spun around on her mother. “There’s only one bed.”

Tianxi shrugged helplessly, a smile still plastered on her face. “My dearest daughter, I’m afraid the other homes are in too poor a state for such an esteemed guest.” Her face lit up, and she slapped her fist into her open palm. “I suppose he could share my bed!”

“Not on your life.” Wenxi grabbed my arm and hauled me into her home while her mother only grinned wider.

When everyone was in, Wenxi slammed the door behind us.

The closed doors didn’t do much to mute her mother’s laughter as she walked away. Tianxi was clearly enjoying herself.

“Isaac, I’ll sleep on the couch. You all can… enjoy… the bed.” Wenxi’s face turned a deep crimson, no doubt remembering the noises from our trip into the city.

I had another bed in my spatial ring, but her home was small.

“Thank you, Wenxi, but that won’t be necessary. We will probably be busy with these jobs or cultivating. The ride here was the first time in a long while we had time to kill.”

“So many little tortuous pleasures.” Kat sighed, tracing a nail along the back of my neck in a way that made my skin pebble with excitement.

“Not now.” Michelle grabbed Kat by the ear and tugged her off me. “We can’t let you get started or none of us will get work done.”

Kat pouted playfully as she slipped from Michelle’s grip and sat down on the couch. “Fine. Let’s see these jobs.”

Wenxi put the two lists on the table in the sitting area, and we went through them as a group.

Her mother had been right; there was a massive gap in the difficulty of the missions.

There were either simple, repeatable ones like gathering herbs or skinning fairly weak mana beasts, or there were jobs to kill an incredibly violent beast in an area.

The sort of missions that involved killing a number of moderate immortal beasts were highly sought after and apparently cleaned up in record time.

“Hmm.” I poked at the two lists. “I suggest we try to multitask with these. First priority is not the value of the mission, but filling any empty rings for all of you.”

Staring at the list, I started to pair a few together. “We can also knock out a number of the rarer gathering quests around the vicious beasts. Assuming that the area they occupy is going to have not been picked over, we should try to maximize our progress by picking the areas clean of related herbs while we are there.”

Satisfied, I leaned back from the lists.

“A very good approach.” Michelle nodded in agreement. “Thea, this one is perfect for you.”

The mission was to kill a metal type rank five beast.

“Why don’t the Ancient Families take care of all of these?” Thea asked, looking at the mission with interest.

“These are seen more as opportunities for growth for those of the outer city or young cultivators from the ancient families. Candidly, someone established in a family can make many times the mana crystals safely from their home by running a business. Some of those businesses even employ these same missions to get work done.” Wenxi said.

I looked over the missions. Many of them involved a fifth rank beast. It made sense that fifth rank would be around the point cultivators would shift into running family businesses. After the fifth rank, they could form their own mana crystals in the peace and quiet of the city.

Once again, many of these immortals weren’t in nearly the rush we were.

“We’ll form pairs. With our bloodlines, we should be able to take out these beasts, especially if we pair each other to our benefit. I know you all had plans on how to split, but Michelle and Thea are both strong frontline fighters. Kat and Celina can show their strength paired with you two and focusing on attacking.”

“Makes sense.” Michelle observed. “I’ll take Celina; Thea can take Kat.” She crossed off a pair of missions, selecting one to go after a serpent type beast that was ravaging an outlying farm as well as a mission for swamp type herbs that would be where the serpent was hiding.

“Ew.” Kat turned up her nose. “I refuse to wander into a swamp. Thea, we’ll take this one.” She pointed to a less descriptive mission, but it seemed to be a brute of a monster that focused on physical strength. No doubt Kat intended to use her soul magic to tear it apart.

“What does that leave me?” Wenxi asked.

“As my partner.” I said, picking out another mission. “We’ll leave in the afternoon, after I talk to Ming Feng at lunch.”

Wenxi nodded, her lips pursed. She was clearly not happy with the fact that I’d be meeting Ming. It would seem the previously confident and scheming woman had a bit of a jealousy problem.

I hoped that it wouldn’t extend to other women in my family, but time would tell. Michelle and Kat would let me know if there was a problem.

Clapping my hands, I called an end to the family meeting. “Let’s all break up and cultivate on our own for the night. The mana in the city is far richer than Murdock, and I intend to see what progress I can make.”

Everyone split up when I finished, and I settled down into a cross-legged position, centering my mind and drawing mana into the new pocket dimension that I’d formed with my ascension to the fifth rank.

Now, in a sphere around the throne in my soul palace, the ground and air were real. Drawing mana there, I compressed the mana and solidified it, growing just a small dusting of mana crystals on the armrest of my throne.

Throughout the night, I created just enough that, if scraped off my throne, there would be enough dust to coat the surface of my palm.

It was becoming clear why cultivators focused on business to make mana crystals rather than form them themselves. It must take special circumstances or preparation to make a valuable amount in a reasonable amount of time.

I sighed, staring at the dust. If I wanted to progress through the next stage of cultivation, I’d need mana crystals. They were pure and more condensed than any form of mana I’d used so far.

And the energy requirements to expand this sphere inside of me would be based on the crystals.

I paused, wondering what the mana beasts were up to. But they’d kept to themselves while I’d been meditating. I decided to let them entertain themselves with whatever they were doing. If I went and interrupted them, I wouldn’t be able to stay long. I had a princess to meet.

At least, that’s how I thought of Ming Feng. The details I had gotten from Wenxi and her mother the night before indicated that Ming Feng was the head of the youngest generation of the Feng Family.

Cracking my eyes open, the sun was already well on its way into the sky. I glanced around; Wenxi’s home was empty. My wives had ventured onto their missions while Wenxi was likely dealing with family matters, leaving me on my own.

Sitting up and dusting myself off, I found a pump out behind the home and filled a bucket to rinse myself off. I wanted to make myself presentable for the meeting with Ming Feng.

“I thought I heard someone back here.” Tianxi peeked around the corner. I’d luckily already wrapped myself in a towel while I combed out my hair, which had gotten far too long.

“Good to see you too, mother. Do you have any advice on how I should go about meeting Ming Feng today?”

“That’s what I came to talk to you about.” A knowing smile spread across her face. “We were just warned a procession was leaving the Feng family estate and is heading this way.”

“Shit.” I couldn’t help but curse under my breath.

Ming must be eager to talk to me. “Thank you for the warning. Any last bits of advice? I am afraid that with her knowing my Jin bloodline, I’m going to misstep.”

“If you really do have two powerful bloodlines, then you’d be both hated and wanted by your families. They don’t like to let them mix.” Tianxi offered.

That was definitely a valuable piece of information. I could only imagine what they’d think of the number of bloodlines I’d amassed.

“Thank you again, mother. Now, please excuse me. I need to get dressed.” I ignored the look on her face and stepped back inside Wenxi’s home. Quickly dressing myself before Tianxi could find an excuse to enter.

Thankfully, she never did. Maybe I had misjudged her.

“Tianxi.” a voice shouted, running into the courtyard. “The Feng Family is here for your guest.” The runner had a sneer on his face.

I had a feeling he worked for Tuomo, but I couldn’t figure out why he’d sneer. I paused, wondering if the Feng family had come with a different reason than the lunch.

“I’m coming.” I called, stepping out of Wenxi’s home with my hands behind my back and my spine straight. “Lead me.”

Keeping my head high, I followed him out to the main gate of the Su Family’s compound, where a procession from the Feng family waited impatiently. An older man in the sixth rank from the Su Family stepped forward, speaking with a silver tongue to the contingent.

“Oh, there he is. Take him away, Feng Family. We knew he was no good.” The man, who I assumed was Tuomo, waved dismissively at me.

“Take me away?” I blinked. “There’s been a misunderstanding. I have lunch plans with Ming Feng.”

“These are Feng Family’s military guards. I’m afraid you are the one who is mistaken. They don’t come to pick people up for lunch.” Tuomo gave me a false smile.

I turned to the guards, who were kitted out in brilliant scalemail, layered like feathers on a phoenix. “Am I in some sort of trouble?”

Ming Feng stepped out of the formation in full armor and slammed the butt of her spear into the ground. “We’ll be hunting our own lunch.”

“Ah.” I was at a lack of words. My assessment of her might have been incorrect. Ming Feng was more of a warrior princess.

I turned back to Tuomo. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

Unfortunately, he didn’t know when to be quiet. “Miss Feng, your family’s hunting grounds are never open to outsiders.”

“The Su Family’s opinions have no bearings on my actions.” She whipped her head back to me, her bright multicolored hair flashing in the midday sun. “So? Up for it?” She turned to me, a challenge in her eyes.

“I’m afraid I’m a little underdressed. But don’t worry, I’ll make do.” I shrugged and joined Ming Feng among the dozen sixth rank cultivators who surrounded the two of us. Moving quickly, we shot off into the distance.

They weren’t so much flying as they were shifting the surrounding reality. They each exuded a domain, and within that domain, it was as if we were still standing on the ground.

“So, what are we hunting?” I asked, focusing on the task before me.

“Dragon.” She smiled viciously.

“Tasty.” I realized a moment later that she intended it as a jab towards my perceived family. I wasn’t sure how to take it. Though I was fairly certain dragons could still eat each other. And I had a feeling it would be tasty. “What kind of dragon? Azure is my favorite.”

Her smile dimmed. “My family keeps a preserve outside the city. There are a few water dragons among the beasts.”

“I guess that’ll do.” I sighed.

Being unenthused to hunt dragons was difficult, but it was necessary to throw her off her game.

“We are here.” One guard announced as we landed. When we touched down, it was as if a bubble had popped around us.

“What role do the guards play?” I asked, curious if we were really hunting.

Ming Feng waved them away, and they disappeared. “They are only here to keep anything too strong from appearing, and save me if needed.”

Nodding, I noted that their job didn’t include saving me.

I looked around. Before us was the entrance to a large forest with trees that seemed to stretch to the sky itself.

All manners of beasts lurked at the edge of the woods, peering out at us. I quickly assessed them. They were all weak, low-level beasts, not anything we would bother hunting.

But in a hundred years, that might be different. They’d either be food or something to be hunted.

“After you. I don’t know the way.” I beckoned her forward.

Ming tapped her spear against the ground and slapped it against her shoulder. “Why are you really in Blueheavens?” She asked bluntly, starting into the forest.

Both of us were using our cultivation to scan the surrounding forest for dangers. Despite the currently casual air around the two of us, we were in the middle of a dangerous environment.

“I’m here to continue to cultivate. And I’m also looking for someone.” I answered honestly, and then added, “and if somebody I don’t care for died by my hand, I’d be okay with that.” I left out actual names. She needed to earn my trust first.

“Useless words.” She snorted. “Who are you looking for?”

“A relative. I don’t know where they are; I’m just checking the city.”

“We’d know if there was someone from the Jin family in our city. There is no other at present. Who do you want to kill?”

I nodded, but the information was useless. I wasn’t looking for someone from the Jin family. But I made it look like I was processing the information, anyway.

“Someone who personally wronged me. I’d like to kill them myself. And I’d rather they not know it is coming, so I will keep it quiet for now.”

Ming narrowed her eyes at me. “I have not wronged you or your family, correct?”

“No. My anger has nothing to do with the Feng family.”

She nodded sharply before something caught her attention and her head snapped to the side; her spear going from the lazy position on her shoulder to slice a nearby tree in half. She startled a crouching big cat behind it.

The cat bolted away; it had only been a fourth rank beast.

“Do you enjoy startling harmless cats?” I joked.

She was less than amused. “It was preparing to strike.”

“So do house cats when they want to play. Doesn’t mean I nearly kill one to scare it off.”

She scowled at me. “I expected you to be more bloodthirsty.”

“Let’s say that my family and I don’t always get along.” I threw out a tidbit for her to bite onto. “Besides, you promised me a dragon for lunch. If we killed that cat, we’d have to eat it. No sense in wasting a kill.”

“Is that why you are in Blueheavens?”

I played dumb. “To eat dragon? No, there’s plenty of that elsewhere.”

“No, because of your family.”

“Sort of. My family would kill me if they found me right now.” I laughed at the sad truth of it. “Or forcibly control me.” My mother had warned me about both.

Until I was strong enough to stand up to them, they would do what they needed to preserve themselves and their power.

Ming Feng stared at me as if I would unfold like a scroll and she’d glean my secrets. “Why would your family do such a thing? You are an obvious talent. Fifth rank under fifty is rare.”

“Not so rare. Are you not so yourself? You might even be able to break into the 6th rank before fifty.” I commented, having learned some things about her from Wenxi.

My hand shot out and plucked several dozen quills out of the air as they shot towards us. I shaped them like a fan and blew a breeze over myself. “It was getting hot here.”

Ming Feng’s spear was slow and paused before killing the startled porcupine. “I don’t think he’ll be tasty.”

“Exactly. Let’s wait for this water dragon you’ve promised me.” I shifted and fanned her with the quill fan I’d made.

“Stop that. If you are strong, why not stay and train with the Jin family?”

I shrugged, continuing my act as a flippant young master. “Because I do not want to be a bird in a cage singing for the rest of my life. There’s another reason too, but you have no right to know it at the moment.”

“Understood.” I was surprised she didn’t push.

But I had a feeling I was playing into her expectations. She needed to feel like I wasn’t there to attack her or cause trouble. Fleeing meant I hadn’t brought my family’s power, and I had a reason to lay low. It let her relax around me for the trip into the forest, where we stopped at a massive waterfall.

“We’re here.”

I looked over the waterfall and the tranquil lake below it. I couldn’t see or sense any sign of a powerful beast. “Are you-”

The water behind the waterfall exploded as a massive draconic head flew out, spraying water in every direction.