Mana 5 Chapter 26 (Patreon)

At the top of the stairs, I looked inside and it was a vault full of treasure. Gold, gems, and mana crystals covered the floor, forgotten in return for the real prizes resting on pedestals.

“Quinn.” I drew her from her ring. “Go tell Michelle and the rest of my women that I’m fine. I’ve gotten to the end of the tomb. She needs to fake my death and get herself out safely.”

There was no point in them risking themselves further. I’d take the loot and escape to meet up with them outside.

“At once.” Quinn disappeared back into her ring.

I noticed movement along one wall and stepped over, seeing a large hanging mirror that showed the room I had just left.

Ming was comforting Michelle as Yi Long gloated.

Jade and Tian, however, were staring oddly at the stage. There was something they were trying to figure out.

Laying on the stage was a fake me, bleeding out, my own sword stuck through my chest. It seemed the tomb had invested in making others wary to try the method to rise from the ashes.

I pinched myself, needing to confirm I was the real me, and I wasn’t actually dead. It was surreal to see yourself dead and your wife grieving.

I watched as Michelle closed her eyes and fell into meditation. She wasn’t there long before she opened her eyes. She let out a deeper wail, pretending to not find what she’d wanted, but I saw the small smile underneath all of it as she wiped away the tears.

Michelle leaned over, wrapping her arms around Ming as if seeking comfort. But I saw that she also whispered into Ming’s ear, with Ming returning a subtle nod. Ming moved Michelle slowly off of her, standing to address the rest of the room.

There was no sound, but based on the way she stepped to the side with Michelle, I could see what they intended. They were going to try to leave.

Quinn’s ring pulsed on my chest, telling me she had completed her task.

Feeling relatively safe and knowing Michelle was okay, I could focus on my next task.

I looked around the room, smiling at the treasure. Drawing in the bountiful wealth of gold, jewelry, and mana crystals, I inspected the pedestals. They stood with rich, gold and red armor placed upon them.

The design looked familiar to the armor worn by the Feng Family military guards. The layered scale male was designed to look like a coat of feathers.

I pulled it into my spatial ring as well before going down the line, plucking richly enchanted necklaces and rings that would go to my wives. A few weapons sat among the valuables, and I pulled them in as I moved quickly, most interested in what sat at the end.

I stood in front of the prize that so many lives had been lost to acquire.

A vial with rich red liquid swirling with a faint orange and gold, like it was a living flame. Without a doubt, this was the phoenix blood essence.

Tucking that away, my eyes lay on the last spot in the treasure room.

A large gold sarcophagus sat within the space.

I approached it, slowly pushing aside the lid so I could peer inside.

Bones covered in thin cloth remained, along with powerful enchantments. The enchantments seemed to be drawing power away from the mana beast core, which was the size of my head.

Even now, countless years after the phoenix had died, her massive core still powered this tomb.

Picking it up, the tomb began shaking. I’d broken the conduit of power, and nothing was holding the tomb together. Dust fell down from the ceiling and bricks began shaking their way out of the wall. Bricks fell to the floor shattering and cracking the floor tiles.

Startled, I drew the core into my spatial ring. I’d already made my move, and I wasn’t about to leave the core. For now, I just needed to get myself out alive.

A column fell, crashing to the floor in front of me as the section of the ceiling above it caved in, opening the tomb to the outside world.

Darting out of the chamber, I found myself on a steep slope. I began sliding down the exterior of the tomb, watching as it crumbled around me.

An area to the right ahead of me fell in, leaving a gaping hole. I threw my body to the side, sliding just past the opening and continuing down the side of the tomb.

I felt several other surges of mana; the other sixth rank cultivators were also making their escape, floating in the air on their domains.

If I weren’t trying to keep a low profile, I could have done the same.

I used the dust and falling rubble to hide myself. If they saw me alive, I had no doubt they’d group up to kill me and then determine how to fight for the treasure between them.

Luckily, the mass of dust in the collapse did a good job hiding me, and I tampered down my mana to hide myself from others’ senses. Amid the collapse of the massive tomb, I was just another grain of sand.

Landing, I swung a cloak over my shoulder, hiding my face with the hood. Then I ducked low, joining the mass of cultivators that had already left the tomb and were waiting outside.

I was surprised to see more than had made their way to the monolith. Apparently, groups had turned back prior to that, deciding they didn’t want to risk their lives against the other groups present.

“They finished it!” someone yelled as everyone looked up to the sixth rank cultivators floating mid air.

But based on the looks of rage on their faces, they knew something was off. None of them had the treasure, but the tomb had clearly been completed.

The group landed among the cultivators, casting about for me. I could feel each of their cultivations probing out, searching.

Using my domain, I put a paper-thin layer over my skin and brushed off their senses. Hopefully, they continued to think I was dead despite and suspicions they might have.

“You. Woman. Where is your husband.” Yi Long towered over Celina, seeming to think she would be the easiest to break. I would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so serious.

She stood firm, about to reply, when a voice spoke up nearby.

“I’m sorry. Are you saying you lost my husband?” Kat sat on the ground to the side, drawing pictures in the ash. She looked up, meeting Yi Long’s eyes.

He paused, seeming unsure how to answer.

Kat’s face grew more serious as she rose slowly, tilting her head as she licked the ash off her hands.

Yi Long’s brow creased, not sure what to do with Kat, when Michelle landed next to them with the help of Ming. “He’s dead. We all saw him die. And then you come over and threaten his wives? What kind of man are you?”

I kept myself hidden beneath my cloak, watching the show. I needed to stay hidden long enough to escape the shard. Not only did I have these sixth rank immortals to worry about, but their elders waiting just outside the shard.

“Bullshit.” Tian scowled at Michelle. “How else would the tomb have collapsed if someone hadn’t completed it? What he did on that stage was suspicious.”

“Maybe he thought he was smarter than us and tried to not fear death in a different way.” Jade commented, helping my wives’ case. “Didn’t look like it worked out too well for him, but feel free to give it a try and stab yourself through the stomach.”

“There’s a simple solution to this.” Lee stepped forward. “If we simply take his wives, he’ll be forced to come get them, if he is still alive. If not, I’m sure we can find something to do with them.” He leered at them, and if I didn’t need to stay hidden to protect us, I would have scooped his eyes from his head.

Ming let loose her cultivation, standing before Michelle and the others. “I will not stand here and watch you take them.”

Jade stepped forward, surprising me. “To do such a barbaric thing. Shame on you three.”

“What are you doing, Jade?” Lee warned her.

“Standing up for women who just lost their husband, you ass. Just because we are allies doesn’t mean I’m going to stand aside for something like this.”

Ming and Michelle looked surprised as well.

Before anything else could happen, immensely powerful auras came crashing down amid all the cultivators. The elders landed on the shard.

I hadn’t realized that when the tomb collapsed, the restriction on the shard would be lifted.

A dozen seventh rank cultivators surrounded those present.

Elder Feng landed near Ming with a broad smile on his face. “So, who managed to fly away with the prize this time?”

His question was met with silence. He grew confused at the silence, looking around at the group. All the elders tried to figure out what was going on when a cultivator finally answered.

“Elder, the tomb collapsed on us when we were in what we thought was the final room.” Yi Long bowed and spoke respectfully.

“Someone must have finished it.” The Yutu elder, that looked like a little girl, stated. She floated in the air to be at eye level with the rest.

“We suspect someone from the Feng Family’s group succeeded, but he hasn’t shown himself since the tomb collapsed.” Tian Jin said.

“Aunty, he is incredibly strong. Could you scan the tomb’s wreckage to see if he is still inside?” Jade asked the elder.

The little girl floated higher before her cultivation crushed down on the crowd like thousand pound weights. She scanned through the wreckage and pulled out three survivors. “Are any of these the one you seek?” One of those dangling in the air was Breeze, having been still working through fighting his clone.

“No.” Jade said.

Elder Feng stood beside the Yutu Elder, casting his own net through the wreckage. “There’s no sign of the blood essence or living people left inside.”

I did my best to seem inconspicuous among the crowd of cultivators. None of the elders could pick me out of a crowd. I just had to slip into Ming’s group before they left.

“Maybe it is for the best.” The Long Family elder finally spoke. “It seems many of our families have received great strength from this tomb and no doubt their own prizes. Let’s leave it at that.”

It was obvious that all the other families were simply happy for the Feng Family to miss out on the opportunity to enrich their bloodline.

“Someone had to have completed the tomb.” Elder Feng cast about the crowd. “Speak up and be rewarded. The Feng family won’t forget those who helped them.”

But he was met with silence from the crowd. To speak up now would be to doom myself, Elder Feng could not protect me from eleven of his peers.

“Before you head off, Elder Feng, I could use some exercise. Brother Jin, will you take my juniors home?” Elder Long spoke as he stepped forward, staring down Elder Feng.

Elder Feng froze, turning slowly to take in the man. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

All the other seventh rank cultivators quickly rounded up their people and carried them away, leaving me hiding among Ming’s people when the crowd dispersed. Elder Feng floating in the void, along with the Long family elder, as they crackled with fire and lightning.

A flash in the sky and a bright explosion rocked the shard, sending chunks of falling rock to the ground.

I stumbled, my hood falling off. More than one person saw my face before I got it back up, blinking in surprise.

The murmuring spread, and soon Ming spotted me. “Isaac?”

Shrugging, I pulled my hood back. “The plan was to sneak back with you, but it would seem that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.”

The two seventh rank immortals shot further into the void, clashing with such power that the shard was eroded by the shockwaves of their battle.

“We need to figure out a way off this shard.” Michelle said. “Those two are going to destroy it at this rate.”

The edge of the shard shattered, and chunks of rock floated off into the void.

Michelle was right, we needed a solution, quickly.

Elder Feng was tied up in his fight with Elder Long, but it would take another person at the seventh rank to bring that big of a group through the void back to Blueheavens.

But I did have one powerful being. Pulling out the Phoenix’s core, I sat down in meditation and absorbed it.

“Now isn’t the time to cultivate. We need to go!” Ming hissed, misunderstanding what I was doing.

Drawing the massive mana beast's core into my soul, it blossomed and burned, filling my soul with fire.

Like a living flame itself, a woman rose from the fire, wreathed in flames. She was delicate, but her features were sharp. She had the same gold and red hair as the Feng Family, yet cold, piercing blue eyes. A welcome distraction from her shapely body as I met those icy eyes.

“Who are you, and why am I here?” She demanded, her eyes pinning me to my throne.

“I am a friend of Xiaobai, and we are in my inner world. There’s much I want to discuss with you, but at the moment, our survival depends on your help to escape this shard of the shattered world.”

“You solved my tomb?” She seemed to relax slightly.

I nodded. “Stabbed myself on that stage when everyone else thought it was a martial competition.”

She laughed. “That’s one way to do it. I intended for the first loser to get it.” The phoenix turned in a slow circle. “This is your inner world?”

“I cultivate a binding of mana beasts to my body for strength. I came here to the tomb in hopes of finding your core. It was the true treasure of the tomb.”

She preened at that, running her fingers through her hair. “Of course it was. Well, let’s get on with this. The least I can do is save the one who completed my tomb. It would be unfair for you to win and then die in the same process. The only question is how I do it.”

She paused as she scanned me, then looked around my soul palace. I wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she seemed to come to a decision. Smiling, she stopped resisting as I pulled her into my fifth ring. I stood shocked for a moment before I remembered we were running out of time and snapped back to my body.

Coming out of my brief meditation, I released her, realizing I hadn’t even asked her name. I asked her as she formed.

“Phoebe.” she replied, before turning to watch the two cultivators fighting in the sky. “I’m assuming one of them was your ride in? Oh! He’s a descendent of my family.”

I nodded.

She smiled, watching him fight a bit longer before looking at the surrounding group. “My power is limited to yours, but I think I have the skill to pull this off. Everyone, gather close to me, I need to conserve mana.” Fire swirled around us, encasing the group in a flaming sphere as we all pressed together. We were lifted off the ground before it slipped under the shard and through the void, away from the two seventh rank immortals destroying everything with their fight.

Neither moved to stop us. I was relieved that they were so engrossed in their fight they hadn’t noticed our group. Then again, they thought we were stranded.

Phoebe strained, holding the sphere together as sweat dripped down her forehead. She might have the skill to travel through the void, but doing so with only the sixth rank quantity of mana was going to be hard.

“We made it.” Ming grabbed my hand. “Thank you for this adventure. A part of me didn’t want it to end.”

I turned to her, confused. I certainly was ready to get out of that tomb and back to my wives. Michelle gave me yet another knowing look, but I ignored it.

Ming looked down at her feet. “After this, I have to get married. I won’t be going on adventures like this anymore.”

“It’s not that bad.” Kat interjected. “We’ve had kids, and we still have many adventures.”

“They are grown, though.” Michelle clarified.

Ming gave me a strange look. “You have grown kids?”

I nodded. There were many, in fact.

“It doesn’t stop me from going to faraway places like this.” I tried to reassure Ming.

But Ming’s sudden melancholy wasn’t improved by our comments. Not sure how to console her, I just let the conversation lag.

“Phoebe, where are we going?”

“How the hell should I know? I’m just trying to get us out of the void.” She spoke through gritted teeth.

Even as she said it, the flame bubble popped through the void and back out into the immortal world. We were in the right world, but miles up in the air.

Her strength sagged, and the bubble of flame disappeared.

Realizing what was about to happen, I unleashed my own domain, along with Ming. Together, we managed to catch everyone and keep the group from falling thousands of feet.

Phoebe knelt on the ground of my domain, wheezing. “Did it. I’m going to rest.” She turned into a trail of little sparks, flying back into her ring.

Ming watched with awe as she disappeared. “That was the phoenix?”

“Yes, and she can still hear you.” I warned Ming.

She nodded slowly. “Does that mean you also have the phoenix essence blood?”

I pulled the vial out of my spatial ring as an answer, dangling it between my fingers.

She snatched it out of my hand, holding it close to her face. “This is it! With this, my family can continue on for another hundred generations.”

Her domain flickered in her excitement, so I quickly spoke up. “Let’s get everyone on the ground before we do too much.”

“Yes, please.” Michelle added. “I’d very much like to be back on solid ground. Not that your domains aren’t lovely and all, but I’d like my body within my own control.”

Ming blushed in embarrassment, and together we lowered everyone to the ground. The blue walls of Blueheavens weren’t too far off. We could travel there in about half a day.

Thankfully, Phoebe had returned us close to our destination and not half a world away.

I went to head towards the city, not having enough within me to use our domains with that large of a group for that distance, but Ming just sat down on the ground.

I was a bit surprised she was going to use the essence blood right then and there, but it probably wasn’t crazy to not leave anything to chance.

Pulling out a device, Ming dribbled the phoenix blood essence into it and then injected it into herself.

We all understood the importance of that moment for her and stood guard as she underwent the process of enriching her bloodline.

Ming bit down on a cord of leather, stopping herself from screaming as her own blood welled up and poured out of her as her body made new blood, richer with the power of the phoenix.

“What are you going to ask for from her in return?” Kat asked, eying the Feng family heiress as she squirmed and grimaced in pain.

“I’m not sure. Our own powers are growing at a fantastic rate. It is unlikely they would be willing to give me what I need to reach the 7th ring so easily.” I pondered aloud. “What I have might be enough for a few of you to reach the sixth rank.”

“They could give you support when you go to see your mother.” Michelle offered.

“Alliances are quite valuable.” Nikki agreed, wiggling her eyebrows at me as she shot a look at Ming.

My wives nodded around her.

“Don’t we have other things to solve first?” Wenxi asked, shifting uncomfortably.

My mood suddenly darkened as I remembered Tuomo’s face as he had choked me out. “Yes we do, Wenxi. I think that needs to take priority.”

“You won’t waste your reward from the Feng family on that, will you?” Kat seemed disappointed.

“No. I think fighting Tuomo is something I need to do on my own.” There was no way I was just going to hand Tuomo off to the Feng Family for punishment. He was mine.

“I’ll deal with the Feng Family payment later. I’m ready to settle the score with Tuomo, and then we need to focus on your cultivation. From here, we head to cloud city.”

My wives all nodded.

Breeze stepped up behind me. “I’m with you, brother.”

“Thank you, Bre… brother.” I stammered. It still felt odd saying it, but I was willing to try.

“Where is our father?” I asked him, hoping it may line up with our trip to cloud city.

“He was in Blueheavens when I traveled to the shard. He doesn’t leave much, high chance he’s still there honing his sword.”

I smiled broadly, excited that he was so close. “Then that’s where we’ll head first.” I forgot my revenge for a moment, so wrapped up in the thought of seeing my father again.