Mana 6 Chapter 19 (Patreon)

The sun was set, leaving only moonlight to guide our route as we crept into the mineshaft.

The area was quiet; there were no rhythmic sounds of picks hammering into the ground. But as I reached my senses out, I found Bishou patrolling the area.

I held up my hand for the three of us to stop. Signing with my hands, I told them that there were two assassins ahead, and I’d take the left one.

After a nod from them, I continued down the passage. When the assassins came into sight, I used void mana to blink forward and cut down one as an arrow buried itself into the throat of the other.

The one with an arrow in his throat struggled for a second, but I ended his suffering.

“Hurry.” I motioned them forward.

The other patrol was going to be within range to sense us shortly. We only had a small window, by my best estimate.

But so far, I hadn’t been able to sense any sixth rank cultivators. My cultivation was above those on duty, so I could sense further than they could.

We slipped through, avoiding the other patrol, but then I paused. “Should we just kill all the guards here?”

“Less to deal with later.” Jonny grinned while Steve shrugged in agreement.

“This way.” I changed directions. The main chamber was surrounded by a maze of shafts. Without it being so crowded, we could move easily around the patrols. It helped that I could sense them without letting them sense me.

We took each group down smoothly, one after the other. We perfected our work, speeding up as we rid the mine of any Bishou, finding ourselves at the tunnel where I’d seen the Bishou coming and going.

Peering up, the exit of the shaft led to moonlit buildings amid the jungle.

“Holy crap.” Jonny hissed, still in the mine shaft. “That’s… that’s a lot more than I was expecting.”

Even before we exited, we could see several dozen militaristic barracks laid out in a grid structure. The space they provided was enough to fit thousands of assassins, and those in training. It wasn’t just a base of operations; it was a small city.

“How did they build this out here?” I frowned before I remembered the teleportation circles would have made it easy to transfer goods back and forth. If this was a real jungle, it was so remote that it would have taken hundreds of spatial rings to bring out the materials, not to mention the manual labor.

“Are we still doing this, or are we going back and working out a different plan?” Jonny asked. The slight hesitation in his tone told me which one he’d prefer.

But I couldn’t turn back and wait. I needed to get through this and make a commotion in Cloud City. At least enough that the Yunpi family knew I was alive.

“We push through. Quietly for now. Let’s try to kill as many assassins as we can while looking for their teleportation circle. This is big enough that it has to be their main base, and if my hunch is right, the circle must be here.” I stared out into the large collection of buildings.

Something told me the fortress was probably built up around the teleportation circle itself.

“Come on.” I waved both of them to come with me as I snuck out of the mine entrance, using my domain to silence two low-level guards and execute them before taking their bodies into my spatial ring.

Soon, the Bishou would know someone was hunting them, but the longer I could keep them guessing the better.

The base was roughly circular in shape, with large communal housing near the mine. The communal housing would be the easiest to work through, but I had a feeling it was filled with low-ranking members and mine workers like the one I’d met earlier. They posed very little of a threat to us.

It followed a similar circular shape to the cities in the immortal worlds, so it made sense that the more powerful cultivators would be near the middle.

I listened, sensing out. The base was quiet, with only a few Bishou walking at night; the guard towers focused outwards. The mine had gotten us past their vigil. But there were still other bodies out and about who could alert the base to our presence.

Two fifth rank assassins walked by our alley, and I wrapped them both in my domain, drawing them into the darkness before killing them cleanly and stripping them.

“Get dressed. I think it is time we use their camouflage against them.” I pulled out one of the dead from before and stripped him, slipping on the mottled gray and black robes.

Steve got into his decently, but then we looked at Jonny. His round belly was struggling to fit into the robes.

He looked nothing like the lanky assassins we’d seen so far. “I’m sure at least one of the Bishou cares to have a little reserve on his body.” Jonny rubbed his belly with pride.

“Sure.” It would have to do.

Stepping out of the alley, we hid in the open as we walked down the streets of the base, looking for any sign that a building was important.

Steve nudged me and pointed with his chin at a large building that still had activity late at night.

None of the Bishou’s buildings were particularly expressive; most of them being utilitarian square buildings.

Walking past and peering in the window, it was clear the place was some sort of bar or tavern.

Those inside were all at least at the fifth rank.

It meant we were getting deeper in the base if we were seeing that level of strength.

Jonny nudged me and pointed out another building.

It took me a moment before I realized what was wrong with it. It was a low squat building, but there were bars on the lower level windows.

“Prison.” I whispered.

Jonny nodded, thinking the same thing.

If Lanhua were being kept in the Bishou fort, a prison was a likely holding place.

Walking up to the building, I looked both ways before opening the door and stepping inside.

A Bishou guard started rapidly jerked his hands in their hand language.

Unfortunately, he turned to paste under my palm. It was the only nonverbal communication I knew.

“Guess they don’t need to lock their doors.” Jonny joked as he darted across the room and killed another guard.

“Talking?” Chains rattled from down the hall. “Do I hear actual words?”

I walked down the row of cells. Many of them were empty, but a fourth rank man was clinging to the bars, peering through at me.

“I’ve never heard of talking assassins here.” He said, suspicion in his eyes.

“We aren’t Bishou. We are enemies, stranded in this jungle, and are trying to find a way out.” I lifted the hood and showed him my throat.

He smiled. “I can get you out and back to Junli. I know my way through the jungle.”

“Junli?” Jonny asked.

“Junli City; it’s maybe a two week’s trip.” He pointed off in a direction.

I frowned. “How far are we from Cloud City?”

The man looked at us incredulously. “You got lost all the way from Cloud City? I don’t know; that’s at least several month trip for someone of your cultivation.”

Rubbing my forehead, I felt another headache coming. “How were you caught?”

“I was hunting through the jungle, ranging far from the city, for good herbs. Close to the city, too many people—”

Holding my hand up, I stopped him from jabbering on. “Got it. There’s a few pieces of information I need from you. Have you seen a teleportation circle, or a woman being held?”

“Woman?” He frowned. “There was this lady in a white dress that was here for a few days, but they took her away earlier.”

My hands grabbed the bars of his cell, and the metal groaned under the pressure of my grip. “What was her name?”

“She didn’t talk.” He hurried to describe her. “Tall, white dress, black hair, but it was silver at the roots.”

I ripped open the cell. “That’s her. Show us where they took her.”

He raised his hands in the air. “I don’t know. It isn’t like those bastards talk. I’m going crazy with all the silence.”

“I’d suggest you tell me everything you do know.” I grabbed him by the lepel. Part of me knew that he likely didn’t know much, but it was my first real lead.

I wanted so desperately for there to be answers.

“Um, I don’t know. She said something about an elder from the Leon Family when they took her away.”

“I thought she didn’t talk?” I was getting impatient.

He held up his hands. “She didn’t talk until then. That’s all I heard.”

I dropped him back on his feet. “Stay quiet, and stay with us.” Pulling another corpse out of my spatial ring, I put it on the ground. “Put this on.” He still likely knew more about how to get around than we did. And while the city he knew was too far away for my timeline, having somebody who could navigate the jungle might be useful.

“But he’s dead.” The man spoke.

I didn’t have time for his delays. I motioned that it was either the dead man or back into his cell, and he decided to join us. He hurried to get dressed in the dark robes.

“Stay quiet and follow us.” I couldn’t allow him to try and escape just yet. If he set off the alarm, it would be too much work. “Have you seen anything about workers or enchantments with teleportation?” I asked.

He shook his head. “There was a guy in here before me, but they took him away the next morning. I’ve been in a cell with no one to talk to for four days.”

I wasn’t sure why this guy hadn’t been put to work in the mine yet, but I imagined that was the fate of most of the cultivators they captured.

They must be using the Junli city for their labor. Anybody found out wandering the jungle would go missing, and they would enslave them in the mines.

Back out on the street with the four of us dressed in Bishou robes, I continued toward the center of the city, figuring it was still the most likely place for the enchantment.

Walking down the street, we were nearing the center of the city when a fire-lit balcony caught my eye.

Lanhua was there, sitting on the balcony with chains wrapped around her neck and limbs.

I wasn’t the only one to see it. Jonny and Steve stopped beside me. But the prisoner kept walking forward for a couple more steps before turning.

“Why’d we stop?”

Steve chopped at the top of his head for speaking, while Jonny covered his mouth to prevent another outburst.

I looked around quickly to make sure no one heard him.

No Bishou had, but Lanhua was now focused down on us.

I wanted to encourage her, give her some hope, so I lifted my mask to show her my face.

Lanhua gasped, covering her mouth as her eyes started to water.

I put a finger to my lips, telling her to be quiet. She rapidly shook her head and waved her hands for me to leave.

It was sweet, but that wasn’t about to happen. I circled around to the side of the building, pressing up against it as I cast out my senses.

I could feel several sixth rank Bishou on the first floor.

I weighed my options. I could successfully fly up to her and break her chains, but then they’d be alerted, and I’d be dealing with them head-on. I could also try to take them by surprise, taking out as many as I could and keeping the fight indoors, with the hope we wouldn’t alert others nearby.

While smash and grab was more my style, ambushing them made more sense.

Waving Jonny and Steve over, I spoke softly. “If things go poorly, we retreat back to the mine. There are too many Bishou here; we’ll get bogged down if we fight in the open.”

“What about the teleportation enchantment?” Jonny asked.

“I’m hoping Lanhua knows more about it.” Now that I had her in my sights, I wasn’t going to let her go. But I felt bad wrapping Steve and Jonny up in my mess.

Steve nudged me. “They did this for you. It’s a trap.”

His words made me stop and take a breath, considering what he’d said. And I realized he was right. Seeing her in chains had lit a fire in me, but that was what they’d intended. I had tunnel visioned on saving her the second I saw her.

The Bishou had learned that I’d escaped the Yunpi Family, and they’d positioned her like this on the off chance I did manage to find their base.

I kicked at the ground.

But even knowing it was a trap, my body refused to walk away. Lanhua was so close.

I could only sense the sixth rank cultivators, but if they thought I might come here, they would have positioned somebody who would be able to take me down. There was likely a seventh rank nearby, waiting.

I looked back up at Lanhua; she wore a sad smile as she continued to watch me. She gave a slight nod, understanding on her face.

But I wasn’t going to walk away. I couldn’t. “Steve, Jonny, go back to the mine and get ready to collapse the entrance.” I told them.

There was no way that I was leaving Lanhua to the Bishou or the Leon family, but we needed to prepare.

“What are you going to do?”

“Trigger the trap. But I need to spend some time preparing.” I gave Lanhua a thumbs up and moved back from the building.

“What about me?” The prisoner asked.

I looked at him. “You are free. Go home. But if you tell any of the Bishou where we are, I will hunt your entire family down for betraying my help.”

He stiffened, his eyes wide as he nodded. And then he bolted.

I hoped he would make it, but if he didn’t, he might also serve as a good distraction. I could use any help I could get.

“Good luck.” Steve patted my shoulder and gave me a firm nod before taking Jonny in tow and hurrying back the way we’d come.

Once everyone was gone, I summoned Phoebe. While I couldn’t walk away from saving her, I recognized that I could use help. “Can you help, or do you know how I can communicate with Xiaobai?” If there was a 7th rank waiting for me this was going to get dangerous.

Phoebe appeared in muted reds that were nearly black. Pausing, she stared at Lanhua for a moment. “Those chains are enchanted.”

“I assumed. They’d need to hold a sixth rank immortal.”

“No, it’s more than that. I’m pretty sure if you break those chains, the entire area will know.” Phoebe replied.

I cursed. It wasn’t ideal, but it did help explain why there wasn’t a seventh rank cultivator on watch. They were waiting for the chains to alert them if I made a move for Lanhua.

I turned to Phoebe. “Can you disable it?”

She shook her head, sorrow in her eyes as she looked at Lanhua. Phoebe knew what it was like to be trapped.

She turned to me. “I’m sorry. I’m not that talented with enchantments. Xiaobai’s father was known for the creative enchantments he made, though.”

I grunted. “That does me no good if I can’t communicate with her. It isn’t like she left me a flare.”

“But you’ve dual cultivated with her daughter, right? Can you use Kat’s technique to reach out to her?”

“No, she never practiced the same technique.” I frowned at the question, feeling like Phoebe was leading me to something.

Phoebe turned to look back at me. “Because you practice it, even if Bai doesn’t know Kat’s technique, in theory there should still be a connection. It may not be as strong as you are used to, but you may be able to follow it. It’s worth a try, at least.”

I nodded, willing to try if it meant I could get Lanhua out without sounding an alarm.

Reachin within my soul, I searched around the edges of the shared place. I looked for some hidden connection, some hidden door I could use.

I circled it a few times, nothing standing out to me. Frustrated, I took a deep breath and dove back in, trying another approach.

This time, I pushed rapid pulses of mana at the edges of the soul space, trying to blanket the areas not yet occupied by one of my wives. I wasn’t sure where our connection was formed, so I liberally sent waves all over. I hoped Bai would get the message.

I waited a few minutes, but there was no response. “Nothing.”

Phoebe narrowed her eyes. “Nothing yet. But they also have not crossed into this world, and there’s likely a reason. They would avoid doing anything rash.”

“Well, plan A, B and C are toast. Then it is onto plan D.” I sighed. “Go back into your ring and prepare the other mana beasts. If I call you out, I need you all ready to kill immediately. I’m going to start with the guards.”

Concern crossed Phoebe’s face, and she gave me a quick kiss before darting into her ring.

Taking a breath, I marched right up to the building that Lanhua was being kept in and opened the door.

Four Bishou were playing with dice inside, unaware that the cultivators lurking outside were enemies and not allies. As I walked in, they ignored me for a brief moment because of my robes, and that was all the hesitation I needed.

I burst forward, slashing out at the closest with my sword intent while my five mana beasts appeared next to the others.

Phoebe’s hand came down on the head of one, burning sword intent cleaving right through his skull.

The other beasts worked in pairs.

Aurora and Quinn appeared behind their targets as Mei and Lumi struck out with lightning-fast attacks. The hits penetrated the assassins’ throats.

My own foe barely managed to get his arm up before my sword intent sliced right through a guard on his wrist and continued through his throat.

The use of our cultivations to attack would definitely draw attention, so the timer had officially begun.

I moved immediately to the stairs I hoped led to Lanhua.

Moving to the balcony, her chains clanked against the stone as she turned. “Isaac. This is a trap.”

Lanhua’s face was pale with concern as she breathed heavily. Her clothes were skewed, her pale cleavage lit in the moonlight.

I ignored her statement. “Are you injured?” I hoped she’d be able to help fight.

“No; he won’t touch me until he catches you.” She choked on her words with a small sob. “Isaac—”

“Don’t worry about that. I know it’s a trap. There’s a plan.” It was a less solid plan than I’d like, but it still counted as a plan.

I lifted her chains and inspected them. They were complex, and I found myself regretting that I hadn’t studied enchantments more.

Phoebe’s hand glowed with sword intent. “I’ll cut these, and then we run.”

“Isaac, you aren’t a match for him.” Lanhua tried again. “You need to go, before they sound the alarm. These chains will scream once you break the enchantment.”

“I understand. But this is likely the best shot we will have. They won’t underestimate me again, and soon my wives and children will be at risk. We need to get moving, and I need you with me.” I turned to Phoebe, “Cut the left side. I’ll take the right. And then we move.”

We counted down together, timing our attack.

My sword swung with sword intent riding my blade, cutting right through the chains.

A moment later, the chains started what I could only describe as someone screaming. High pitched human sounding wails sounded, making me cover my ears on reflex.

But Aurora pushed me forward; we had no time.

I grabbed Lanhua, launching myself off of the balcony.

Doors were slamming open all up and down the street as the Bishou base leapt into action.