Mana 6 Chapter 18 (Patreon)

My sword blurred before me as I let out a flurry of sword strokes, focusing on the tower rather than the assassin.

The rickety structure exploded with my dozen cuts, and the assassins lingering in it shot into the air, spraying poison needles down upon us as they escaped.

Jonny’s dual elements swirled before us like a shield, blocking and knocking the needles off to the side.

His fighting suddenly ceased as a domain came to life and wrapped itself around him.

Jonny’s techniques were blown away as another volley of needles flew towards us.

I swirled my blade, catching the flying needles as I searched through the assassins for the sixth rank assassin that had targeted Jonny.

The assassin dropped his domain, jumping back even as my sword intent split off my sword, slicing a tree that had been just behind him.

I doggedly pursued, knowing that Jonny and Steve could handle themselves against a group of lower rank assassins. They needed me to take care of this sixth rank assassin.

The assassin came at me with daggers as he swayed in the darkness erratically, like a leaf in the wind.

I growled. My sword intent did no good if I couldn’t hit him.

Blocking his attacks, droplets of poison splattered against my cheeks before I shoved him off of me and leapt up into the air, weaving my sword back and forth. I created a net of sword intent, sending it flying down over him.

My Yin Harmony Bird bloodline activated as well, working to eliminate the small stinging sensation on my cheek from the poison.

The Bishou disappeared again, only to reappear to my right. But this time, he was missing a chunk from his shoulder.

The assassin had rage on his face as he charged me recklessly.

I caught one of his daggers with my sword and grabbed his other wrist with my hand.

But he wasn’t going to give up that easily. He laughed a garbled laugh, a glint appeared in the back of his throat.

I’d seen this before, though, and I knew what to expect. My timing was perfect as I snapped my head to the side and bit down on the needle that had come out of his throat.

With the Yin Harmony bloodline, I breathed deep and then exhaled a miasma-like breath onto his face.

The assassin screamed, flinging himself back.

But it was too late. The veins on his face bulged and turned black as he clutched his throat and writhed on the ground.

It only took seconds before he stilled, and the poison stopped spreading. His heart had stopped beating.

Rising from the fight, I cast my senses out, looking for the next threat.

There were many of them, and most were clustered around my friends.

Several dozen assassins were still alive, and Jonny and Steve were engaged in fighting a force of fifth rank while some of the lower ranks lurked nearby. They were hoping to stay out of the fight, they would surely die within.

I ran back through the jungle, clearing my path with my sword in time to reach Jonny and Steve, holding off nearly a dozen fifth rank assassins.

My domain came to life. I expanded it until it was a ten meter bubble, trapping each of the fifth rank assassins like a fly in amber.

It only took a few moments for me to kill all of them now that I was using my full strength and wasn’t defending against a sixth rank cultivator.

“Damn, we need to hit the sixth rank.” Jonny clutched at his shoulder with a wince.

“You okay?” I asked, before I charged toward another remaining assassin.

“Fine,” Jonny waved me away, but Steve stepped up next to him and ripped off his sleeve.

The skin around the cut was purple, with dark veins trailing off of it. He was poisoned.

“You are not fine.” I growled, angry at Jonny for shrugging it off.

Steve set his face in a hard line. “Isaac, search them for the poison. I need to know what this is.” Steve sat down with his alchemical cauldron and started to prepare several ingredients.

The lower rank assassins were scattering. I had that moment to make the choice of chasing them down to protect us from reinforcements or saving Jonny.

The choice was obvious, but it meant we needed to move quickly.

I started collecting the spatial rings of each of the fifth rank assassins that I’d killed and sifting through them for all the vials I could find.

Unfortunately, there was more than one poison within them. In fact, there were a number of poisons. I wondered if I should put them together like a bouquet for Celina once we got out of the mess we were in.

“Steve, have any idea which one it is?” I held up eight vials that all seemed to have unique contents.

I wasn’t an alchemist, but Steve seemed to be able to sense something as he checked each before forcefully sitting Jonny down and squeezing the wound until some of the poison surfaced with his blood.

Steve did that several times before selecting one of the vials with a shake of his head and giving me a nod.

“You got it. Jonny, if you move an inch, Steve wants me to cut your balls off. The poison will spread slower if you don’t move, and apparently it targets balls.”

Jonny’s mouth fell open. “Steve, not my balls! Those are critical.”

Steve made a few gestures and a snipping motion with two fingers.

Jonny’s face went pale. “What an insidious poison. The Bishou should all die for making a poison that does that.”

I was pretty sure Steve was just getting him to hold still. And it worked. Jonny sat like a statue waiting for Steve to finish his work while I kept watch around us. So far, no reinforcements had come, but we were going to run out of time soon.

The cauldron filled with ingredients as Steve concentrated and flamed spilled out the lid, giving puffs of aromatic scents.

Letting him do his work, I moved away, starting to scout around our area. Soon the Bishou would know a sixth rank cultivator was fighting them.

We’d lose our edge of surprise, but that was going to fade sooner or later.

If Jonny recovered quickly enough, our best bet was to get in and through the mine before they had too much time to organize. Because the mine was hidden, I was hoping they wouldn’t look there in their initial searches.

I started heading back towards my friends as my mana rings started to pulse. My mana beasts wanted to speak with me.

I summoned Quinn in front of me. “What’s wrong?”

“Thea is in your soul palace waiting to talk to you.” Quinn said.

I cast my senses out again, feeling no one. I nodded, walking and sitting near Steve and Jonny. “Phoebe, Lumi.” I summoned both of them. “You three protect us while I go see what Thea wants.”

Sitting down in the jungle while Jonny held himself still and Steve worked on creating an antidote, I fell into meditation.

Blinking my eyes open in my soul palace, I saw Aurora and Mei chatting with a nervous Thea.

“Thea? What’s wrong?” Thea rarely came to get me.

She bit her lip, stepping up to the throne. “Michelle and Kat are going to be mad that I told you this, but I didn’t think hiding it was a good idea.”

I frowned. Michelle and Kat hiding information from me was a bad sign. The last time they’d done that was when Caitlyn was being bullied in the sect. They knew I’d have my own way of taking care of that problem.

And if they were holding information back from me now, it was because they thought that it would make me do something rash.

“What is it?” I growled, squeezing the arms of my throne.

“The Yunpi family has started discussing when they should consider you dead.” Thea couldn’t meet my eyes.

“And?” That didn’t worry me. When I returned, it would be fixed.

Thea lifted her head to look me in the eye. “Their protection over us and our children would end once they believed you to be dead.”

I slammed my hand onto the armrest. “What?!”

It was coldhearted, but their logic was clear. They were likely getting attacks and taking losses daily by the Bishou and the Leon family. My potential to add to their bloodline made those losses worth it. But should I be lost, protecting my wives and children who did not bear the bloodline was a waste of resources for them.

“How long do I have?” I asked.

“Two days.” Thea said, swallowing. “I told Tabitha that you were still alive, but they think it is just a wife’s wishful thinking.”

I nodded. The fact that we could talk to each other and connect our soul palaces was not something we easily shared.

I rubbed at my forehead, feeling a headache coming. “We are trapped outside of Cloud City. But I will do my best to get back to the city in two days’ time and make a large enough splash that the Yunpi family cannot deny that I am still alive.”

I cursed, not needing the extra complication at the moment.

“Michelle and Kat didn’t want me to know this?” I opened my arms for Thea to join me on the throne.

She happily came up and sat in my lap, seeking physical comfort. “Yeah. They know you are in the middle of dealing with the Bishou, and they don’t want to make you risk yourself to hurry back. We know you’ll get back to us as fast as you can. And we are not defenseless.”

I nodded, understanding why Kat and Michelle had done what they did, but not liking the secrecy. “Can you come up with a lie about how I was able to secretly get you a message?”

Pausing, she nodded. “Yeah, I think the family might buy something about us using our mana beasts to pass a message.”

“Tell them that I’ve found a teleportation enchantment in the middle of the Leon family that leads to the Bishou. There is evidence that the Bishou is run by the Leon family, and I’m currently working on destroying the Bishou’s training operations. Also, tell them about this.” I pulled one of the tainted crystals into my soul palace, carefully making sure it was contained.

“A mana crystal?” She looked closer.

“It has a tainted vein in it, see?” I pointed to the hair-like black streak in the crystal.

She leaned forward, nodding. “What is it?”

“It is what the Bishou are protecting and mining out here. Tell the Yunpi clan to start inspecting mana crystals. These have the ability to damage cultivation.”

I paused, “Then when you are done telling them that, stare them down and tell them that if me working on this isn’t enough to protect my family, then when I return, I am no longer part of the Yunpi.” My jaw was set in a hard line.

Thea searched my face before nodding. “Okay. I’ll bring Kat for that last part.”

“Good girl.” I wrapped my arms around Thea and held her close. With how large my harem has been getting, she hasn’t gotten the time she deserved.

“You know, when this is all done, Kat is going to strap you to a bed. She’ll probably lock you away in a room for a very long time. She doesn’t show it, but she’s struggling with you being gone.”

“Really?”

Thea giggled. “You don’t see it, but you are the glue that holds her together. Or maybe it’s your semen.”

“Now you are just asking for a spanking.” I slapped her ass playfully.

“Don’t make jokes to avoid it. She needs you back; we all do.” Thea playfully bit my lip, before starting to kiss along my chin and down my neck.

I groaned as I had to push her away, despite the ideas her touch was giving me. “I’m in a jungle filled with assassins right now.”

“Your mana beasts are on lookout, aren’t they? Just one round?” She ground her hips into me, and I relented, knowing there wasn’t any danger at present. The release was just what I needed, too.

I figured it would help me restore my mana. Or at least that was the excuse I was telling myself.

I parted my robes and pushed my pants down.

Thea untied her robe, throwing it off to the side, and started to unwind the strip of cloth she used to hold her otherwise large chest from getting in her way.

Her two pale mounds spilled out, and I cupped them both, sinking my fingers into the soft flesh.

“Harder?” I asked, knowing she’d want more.

“Squeeze them. Please!” Thea groaned as she slipped a hand between her legs and started to play with herself while she rocked on my lap.

I obliged her, squeezing and mauling her wonderful peaks.

She gasped as her breasts spilled out through my fingers, and I brought her nipple to my lips to bite it. “Yes.”

I licked the bite marks I left on her breast before I moved to the other side, doing the same.

When I finished, she was gasping for breath and lifting herself over me, poised to sink herself down on my shaft.

Thea was flush in the face, with heavy wanton breath. I never got tired of seeing her eyes hazy with lust.

As she sank down on me, I could feel that she was more than ready. She slid tightly around me, taking all of me in her first stroke.

I sighed, leaning my head back as I felt her slick, smooth walls wrap around my sensitive head.

She braced herself on my shoulders and slid herself up and down over my cock. “I love you.”

The way she said it put me a little on edge.

“I love you too. But don’t say it like this is the last time.” I growled as I held her hips, changing her angle for my pleasure. “I’ll finish this mission, and then we’ll be able to enjoy a long, relaxing break from adventure.”

Thea slammed her lips into mine, her warm breath washing over my lips as she groaned and started pumping her hips while kissing me.

Her silken vice ran up and down me.

I snaked a hand down to our union, finding her clit and circling it as she bounced on me.

Thea’s voice picked up an octave as she started riding the edge of her orgasm.

I stopped playing with her clit, and she used her cultivation to speed up, bouncing on me like crazy until my resistance burst and I came inside of her.

Her sex twitch and clamped down on me. She shivered with her own release and then leaned down onto me. “Yes. I need more of this, much more.”

“You’ll get it.” I stroked her back and let her lay on me for a moment longer.

“Tell the Yunpi what I told you. Bring Kat if you need to. I will be back.”

“Eh.” She grunted in agreement, not yet capable of full words.

“I have to go.” I pushed her off me.

Thea leaned back in for one last passionate kiss. “You better come back to all of us or I’ll unleash Kat into whatever afterlife there is, and you don’t want that.”

Smirking, I kissed her on the cheek and pulled her off of me with a slap on her ass. “Go get into trouble with the Yunpi. I have more assassins to kill tonight, so I can get home early.”

Thea sashayed away naked with her robe thrown over her shoulder.

As tempting as it was to watch, I needed to get back to Jonny and Steve.

Sinking into my own mind, I returned to the real world.

Phoebe had a knowing grin on her face when I surfaced. “Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed yourself.”

I grunted, not wanting to acknowledge that I had taken a break from watching over my friends for sex. I knew they were safe, but they still might not take it very well.

“I’ve got it from here. Thea had some news from the Yunpi family; they are going to kick my wives and children out in two days because they think I’m dead.”

Quinn wrinkled her nose. “Damn bastards. Why are we even giving them a chance?”

“Because they are as valuable to me as I am to them. We’ll just have to remind them.” My eyes darted over to Steve, who was still working on his alchemy.

But from what I could tell, Jonny’s poison had stopped spreading. I was relieved, although his arm still looked terrible.

A white ring of mana circled the darkening purple patch; I assumed that was Jonny’s efforts to keep it contained.

Steve’s cauldron rumbled, and he slapped the lid, blowing out the fire. “Done.”

He lifted the lid and pulled out a green pill before shoving it into Jonny’s mouth.

Jonny chewed it with a grimace. “Couldn’t have made it taste better?”

“No, you deserve a bitter lesson.” Steve crossed his arms as he watched Jonny carefully.

The effect was immediate; Jonny’s arm started to return to his normal bronze skin tone.

“Feeling better?”

Jonny rolled his arm. “Much. Give this a few minutes to work, and then I’ll heal the wound.” He looked around. “We should find a place to rest for the night.”

I shook my head. “No, we need to push through the mine shafts tonight and find their base.”

Jonny watched my face for a moment before conceding. “Fine. Give me ten, and I’ll be ready to go.”

Steve nodded sharply.

My mana beasts returned to their rings as I scanned the surroundings, waiting for an attack.

Thankfully, none of the assassins had returned to investigate us or attack us again. I was ready to push forward hard and get back to my wives.