Mana 6 Chapter 15 (Patreon)

The next few days followed similarly.

I’d go to the greenhouse with Jonny and Steve to clear out the plants that had evolved into mana beasts.

Because of my sixth rank cultivation, I was not only able to steal many herbs from the Leon Family, but I used my domain in my soul palace to keep them alive.

Unfortunately, given the size of my domain, that meant they had to stay very close to my throne. I looked like I was trying to become some sort of jungle prince with all the potted plants around the throne.

“Isaac? I love what you’ve done with the place.” Kat chuckled as she walked into my soul palace.

Celina had been hunting the Bishou, and now that Kat was here to talk, I wondered if they had finally caught one.

“Here I was, saving them to bring home for you.” I teased her right back as Kat slipped into my embrace. Her body molded to mine, and I lost my train of thought as my body reacted to hers.

She purred into my ear as her nails danced along my neck and down my back. “I’ve missed you, Husband.”

I bit her lower lip and crushed her hips to mine as my traitorous cock twitched excitedly. I thought about it for a moment, always tempted by Kat, but it wasn’t the time for sex.

Pushing her off my chest, I stared into her eyes, captivated once again by the swirling colors within them. “Have you found someone from the Bishou?”

“Really? You aren’t even tempted? I must be losing my touch.” She ground her hips on mine, and my lower brain slammed itself against her thigh, begging for me to reconsider. She saw the internal fight I had to not react, and she smiled in victory. “Good. At least someone is happy to see me.” She pouted playfully.

“Kat.” I tried to infuse a warning into my tone.

“Fine.” She held the word out. “Yes, we caught one of the little black-robed jerks. Celina was unable to take the first two she found alive. And after that, they seemed to be on guard.” Kat was seeking praise.

I rubbed the top of her head. “Good girl. You were able to get into the one you captured’s mind?”

“Snapped it like a little twig and looked through the pieces.” She smiled, rubbing her head into my hand like an actual cat.

“What did you find out?” I continued to push her forward.

She sighed. “Michelle doesn’t want me to tell you.”

That immediately made me stiffen. “But you will anyway.”

Nodding, Kat curling up on my lap again. “The Leon family has her. But that’s not a surprise. What we didn’t know is that the Bishou is made up of Leon family members that didn’t produce the bloodline. They surgically remove their voice box if it doesn’t awaken, and they are then put into a different path of training.”

I shivered. “That’s horrible.”

“They think of it more as pruning their branches so new healthy growth can thrive. The Bishou think of themselves like the shadow of a tree that prevents other growth from rising up and competing with the roots of the tree. Their minds aren’t warped by magic, but they are definitely warped. Their minds are being shaped at a young age to truly believe in what they’re doing.” She was purposely holding me on my throne at that point.

Lanhua had once been one of them, and while she had a bloodline, it wasn’t the family bloodline. I wondered if her leaving had saved her from a life as a mute. Had she known and chosen to leave to avoid that fate?

“Husband, calm down. Speak your concerns.” Kat patted my chest.

“Lanhua. How did she not know?” I voiced my thoughts.

Kat frowned at me. “She was banished as a child. Do you expect her to have known the entire workings of an ancient family at that age? I imagine they made up some reason why people left and didn’t come back.”

Her words were rational, and I nodded, stopping my thoughts from swirling out of control any further. “You’re right. But now the Leon family has her, and I have to figure out how to get her out of there. My job at the Leon family is going well, but I haven’t had a lot of time to gather intel outside of the greenhouse.”

I tapped my chin in thought. “Did they have any information about their location? Or how they interact with the Leon Family?”

“I don’t know.” Kat shook her head, and her vibrant red hair spilled over me. “They are removed from the Leon Family early and live out their training and their lives in this wild overgrown forest. I’m not sure how they got there; there’s no memory of them traveling off the mountain.”

A smile bloomed on my face from my fortune. “A wild forest. Is it tropical?”

“Very. And they seem to travel directly from it to the city.” Kat nodded.

I smiled, beginning to understand why nobody ventured deeper into the greenhouse. It held secrets, specifically their own personal assassins.

“What about Lanhua? Any further details you can tell me on where she’s being held?”

“The assassin knew she was held with the Leon Family, but not exactly where. Why?” She scowled at me, watching me closely.

Kissing her as a distraction, I let my hands wander down her waist and grabbed her hips.

“Not fair. I’m the one who gets to use sex as a distraction.” She whined, but her body rubbed against me.

“Uh, huh.” I teased her as my fingers quested up and under the hem of her dress. “We can talk later.”

“Later.” She agreed, jerking her dress up and over her head.

***

The next day, I kept my eyes peeled as I headed back towards the greenhouse. Part of me was chilled knowing that Lanhua might very well be held deeper in the greenhouse, where they trained their army of assassins.

I shook my head. The Leon family was ruthless. I had no doubt that the Bishou had been tools picking away at the Yunpi family, without them releasing the direct threat.

The Leon family was a hungry lion that wouldn’t be satisfied until they controlled the entire mountain. Their bloodline already waned from the great Guardian Lions, but they’d found a way to pass their bloodline down onto their members.

I did my best to smooth out my face as we talked to Derrick and he gave Jonny another piece of paper, not giving away my thoughts.

“You three have been some of my best weed pickers in a long time. Take a little extra today.” He handed Jonny a bag that tinkled with mana crystals.

“Given we are doing so well, would you ever consider sending us deeper into the greenhouse? There have to be plenty of monstrous plants there we could help remove.” I kept my voice innocent, pretending we just wanted the work.

Derrick paused, regarding me carefully. “Not today. But I’ll think about it.”

Jonny gave me a questioning look as he tucked their list into his robes.

“We’ll talk on the way; I’m sure we need to get going.” I said quickly.

It was a short walk across the Leon Family estate to the greenhouse, but once we were inside, Steve gave me a look asking me to spill.

“Kat got ahold of one of the assassins and used her abilities to get inside his mind. She found out that their hideout was a dense jungle near the city, but she couldn’t figure out how to get there. I think it might be the greenhouse. Also, she uncovered that the Bishou are Leon family members who don’t have bloodlines.”

Steve blinked several times in surprise, but then cupped his chin in thought before nodding once.

“Agreed, it makes a certain sort of sense.” Jonny continued down the path. “But we can worry about that in a minute. I can’t believe you broke the rule and stuck your dick in crazy. I mean, aren’t you worried that she’s just going to cut it off one day?”

I rolled my eyes. “Kat would never cut off my dick. She loves it too much.”

“Okay, but you have to admit, she’s a little psycho.” Jonny wasn’t careful about his words at all.

I was just glad that he never said that around Kat. “Yes, she has her eccentricities, but she’s mine.”

Steve shook his head, much preferring his mana beasts. Then he tilted his head at Jonny.

“Oh, of course, I wasn’t going to keep it all for myself.” Jonny pulled out the sack of mana crystals and gave each of us a share. “I can’t believe it; this is a fantastic bonus.”

Seeing the quantity of the mana crystals, I had to agree. It was almost too generous. “Don’t you feel like this is too much?”

“Ha. We are doing two times the work of their other teams, I’d bet. They are just trying to keep us working hard.” Jonny reassured me.

But my instincts were rarely wrong. Something about this bonus felt off. I scanned the mana crystals, but I couldn’t find anything off with them. Deciding they were safe, I took them into my spatial ring.

“What’s our first target of the day?” I asked.

Jonny held up the sheet, and I got a glance at it for the first time. It had numbers and letters for the quadrant that the problem was reported within. “We’ll take the right path today, I think, and loop around the lake before heading back out.”

At this point, we knew the greenhouse fairly well.

His route made sense, so we hurried off to the first monster.

Steve kept the beast distracted while Jonny and I swooped in and scooped up as many of the pricey cultivation herbs as we could.

Once we were done, I drew my sword, charging it. I struck out with sword intent laced with lighting.

It was a simple strike that stretched my sword intent out over two meters, cleaving the monster in two with a single stroke.

Jonny let out an appreciative whistle. “As amazing as that was, now we need to make a mess and fake a fight.”

“How about a duel? I’ll bet you are just itching for another rematch.” I beckoned Jonny towards me.

“Hell no. You are a rank above me. It just wouldn’t be fair.” Jonny tried to weasel his way out of a fight.

I was going to egg him on further when a movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention. I pointed my sword at Jonny as an excuse to keep it at the ready.

“Come on, just block a single strike.” I taunted him, but I cast out my senses around us. Remembering how the Bishou hid in the shadows in the shantytown, I used that reference to scan the surrounding area more carefully.

My senses latched onto the five assassins surrounding us. Four of the assassins were fifth rank, with sixth rank further behind them.

The bonus all of a sudden made sense. The mana crystals weren’t for us. They were the assassins’ reward.

“Isaac, I’m not playing.” Jonny and Steve had no idea we were surrounded, and I couldn’t warn them without setting off the ambush.

“Prepare to receive my blade.” I glared at Jonny, hoping he’d realize something was wrong, but it wasn’t working.

So, I struck out at him.

Jonny back pedaled and threw up his false domain to protect himself from my attack, as I’d hoped he would.

Bursting past Jonny, I shot into the surrounding trees, my sword cleaving a tree and the Bishou hiding in its leaves.

The assassin cried out, and I spun around in time to block another assassin’s poison needle. I followed up the block by shooting a bolt of lightning to stun him.

It all happened so quickly; the other two fifth rank assassins were on top of Steve and Jonny before I could get to them.

Luckily, Jonny’s false domain was up. He was able to keep his attacker off of him, defending himself with a hard face.

He might be a jester most of the time, but from the war we’d fought together, I knew Jonny could be a cold-hearted fighter.

Steve, bless his heart, knew something was up and mounted a large blond mare, bolting out of the way before the assassin targeting him was able to strike.

From horseback, Steve drew back his bow, firing off a hail of arrows at Jonny’s assassin, while Jonny turned and fired off a black and white swirling ball that detonated, flinging Steve’s assassin off into the jungle.

The entire sequence happened in the blink of an eye while I closed the distance on the stunned assassin, my sword flashing out and ending him.

We’d succeeded in stopping their ambush, but the sixth rank assassin suddenly closed the distance in a blink of an eye.

“Jonny, watch out.” I cried.

Steve didn’t hesitate, firing off exploding arrows to cover Jonny.

Dust filled the air for just a moment before it was blown away.

Jonny had slipped his attacker’s first strike and landed a magnificent blow on his face.

I was there in an instant, my sword flashing out and pushing the assassin back.

But he was a sixth rank immortal, and therefore not easy to kill. He dodged my first strike before he slammed his own domain down on all three of us.

His eyes locked with mine as his lips curled up in a sneer.

I could free myself from his domain with my own, but I wanted his focus to be elsewhere before I did so. If this escalated to a long battle between the two of us, it would attract too much attention. Based on the forces they’d sent, I didn’t think they’d identified me fully. I didn’t need others coming into the fight.

One of the fifth rank assassins came crawling out of the jungle, holding his bleeding abdomen.

The sixth rank immortal spat at him and jerked his head to the side before communicating with sharp motions of his hand. It felt like a student teacher relationship, and everything became clear.

And I also saw my opportunity.

My domain wrapped around myself, and my blade was pushing through his throat before he even knew what was happening.

I kicked off the ground, accelerating my movement with lighting mana. I skidded to a stop after the other assassin, the fifth rank immortal, turning just in time to see his body slide apart.

“You two okay? Check yourselves for poison.” I was pissed.

Jonny patted himself down, a firm expression fixed on his face. “You saw that coming.”

“And you didn’t get my hint. When have I ever said something like ‘prepare to receive my blade’?” I glowered at him.

Steve chuckled.

“Shut up, Steve.” Jonny grumbled. “You didn’t get it either.”

Steve gave a look that said he did.

“Okay, maybe I just wasn’t expecting an assassin attack. We are just simple weed pickers.” Jonny crossed his arms before he took out his frustration on a nearby assassin’s corpse, kicking it off into the trees.

Picking the spatial ring off the sixth rank assassin, I decided to fill him in on what I’d just pieced together. “We aren’t weed pickers, Jonny. We are target practice.”

“What?” His eyes opened wide before his brow pressed down in thought. “Shit. Fuck. Fucking. Fuckers!” Jonny kicked at the ground. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.” I turned the body into paste and scattered some dirt over it. “Think about it, Jonny. This guy is sixth rank and using his domain, unlike what you were told could be done within his space. The Leon Family is only taking fifth rank immortals and keeping them separate from a larger group.”

Steve nodded and added his own thoughts.

“Exactly.” I agreed with Steve. “The mana crystals were likely some sort of reward for them, not for us.”

“They are going to pay.” Jonny spat.

I looked back the way we came. “The sixth rank assassin was there to insure we would die if the fifth rank assassins failed. That means there is probably a guard or two outside that will try to kill us the moment we leave.”

“We’re trapped?” Jonny asked.

“No. From what Kat said about the Bishou they captured, I have to believe they have their own entrance somewhere. They aren’t coming in the way we entered.” I elaborated on the rapidly growing plan in my mind.

Jonny gave me a flat stare. “So, what you’re saying is that we are currently between a den of assassins and the guard of an elite ancient family. Yeah, why the hell would I call that ‘trapped’?” His voice dripped with sarcasm.

“Yes, we are in a pinch, but we can get through this. I think going through the Bishou is going to be the easier route.” I kept playing out various scenarios, trying to determine which was our safest option.

“Or, hear me out. What if we just set the whole greenhouse on fire?” A wicked smile spread on Jonny’s face. “Fuck ‘em.”

Steve was far less amused; we all knew it was a terrible idea. We could easily get trapped, and Lanhua might be inside, unable to escape.

He wanted my logic.

“So, if the Bishou are the castoffs of the Leon family, they probably get subpar resources. It’s unlikely they have a seventh rank cultivator. Pair that with the fact that they’re not alert and standing guard near entrances, and they seem like a far better choice than the guards. We might even be able to sneak out and avoid a battle altogether.”

Jonny was about to argue, but I held up a hand.

“On the way, we can raid their entire green house and break our spatial rings if we can’t get out.”

Jonny’s lips curled into a wicked grin as he rubbed his hands together. “Oh. I like that part.”

“I thought you might. We can raid as much as we can as long as we keep moving. We should be able to secure a lot of resources to help you push further in your cultivation. When we get to the other side of this jungle, we’ll need all the strength we can get.”

Steve pulled out the mana crystals we’d received as payment earlier, dangling them suggestively.

“Sure, we can start now.” I agreed. “We can move through this forest as slowly as we want, eat their mana beasts, and use the herbs like candy. They think we’re dead, so as long as we steer clear of anybody, we should be okay. You two get started, and I’ll keep a lookout.”

The moment felt reminiscent of times we’d had back in the mortal world, going on our first trip through the forest. Once again, we were cultivating off the land.

In a strange way, it made me excited.