Mana 6 Chapter 23 (Patreon)

“I appreciate the offer, but that’s not the plan.” Pushing her inside the domain in my soul space, I expected her to resist, but she didn’t. I wondered if she had figured out my escape plan, or if she truly trusted me that deeply.

Lanhua disappeared into my soul palace.

The elder snorted. “Putting her inside your soul is only a temporary solution. Even if you trust that castoff of our family, she has nowhere to go. Once I’m done with you, I’ll kill her too.”

“Try me.” I kept my sword rock steady, pointing it at him.

Edmond was going to come for me as soon as he realized that I was here in Cloud City. I needed to test my new cultivation against someone at the seventh rank before then.

“I believe she called you Isaac. The family has reports on you. Multiple bloodlines, powerful young cultivator that is a fount of potential.” His eyes raked over me, calculating something. “But your cultivation is strange. It is almost like you are at the seventh rank, but distinctly not. At your age, even mimicking the seventh rank is a feat that is unheard of, even in the many generations of the ancient families.”

I waited, keeping my sword ready for an attack.

“Not going to talk?” The elder squinted, trying to figure out what I was doing. “How about I give you an offer? You turn against the Yunpi, work for me, and I can keep Edmond off your back. You can enjoy that woman without worry.”

Snorting, I let out a small laugh. “Edmond would still come for me. He clearly has an obsession and pride that would make him die trying. I won’t join you, so you may as well fight me.” That and I had no intention of dying here.

“You want to die. But let no one say I didn’t give you another way out.” He punched out at me.

The world collapsed in, seeming to pull everything around his fist towards it, closing off any avenue of escape.

I flooded my attack with sword intent, meeting his fist with my blade and the full power of my cultivation.

Fist met sword, and the world around us exploded. The tornado grew, sending stone crashing all over the Leon family estate.

When the dust cleared, I remained standing, pushing my sword against his fist in a deadlock.

The elder withdrew his fist, jumping back a dozen feet and turning his knuckles to his face to see a small stream of blood trickling down his arm.

“You need to die.” The earth rumbled as the elder’s face went red with rage.

I wondered if Bai was going to appear as we fought openly. I had a feeling she wouldn’t be pleased with me egging on seventh rank immortals back-to-back.

But I had a plan for escape, and she’d said it herself. Edmond was only going to be gone for a few days. I needed to practice sparring with a seventh rank, and this one was conveniently placed for me.

Filling the tip of my sword with void mana, I focused and cut into the fabric of the world, slipping out into the void.

I wrapped myself in my domain to control myself within the void. Unlike before when we had escaped from the tomb, I was more than comfortable in my domain and the void.

But I started feeling a sensation that I wasn’t expecting. It was like all of my wives were waiting for me, just behind my back. They were ready to lend their strength to my battle.

The void was dark, but small sparkles of light danced off in the distance. It wasn’t entirely empty as small flecks of rock floated by.

I realized that I was surrounded by remnants of the shattered world, and many more worlds not unlike my own mortal world. The immortal world seemed to be at the crown of a tree.

I had thought that it was the pinnacle of worlds, but Bai and her mother had proven to me that there were still more powerful beings out among the void and worlds. I could only wonder where they lived.

But I only had a moment to consider it as the void rippled and the Leon family elder pulled himself into the void not far from me.

“I can’t believe you actually wish to fight me here,” he laughed. “Fools die early.”

Wind picked up where there shouldn’t have been any, and a massive swirling sphere surrounded both of us. Testing it out, I confirmed that it had trapped us together.

My sword clacked as I raised it, pointing it straight at him. With my immensely deep mana pool and my sword intent, I hoped to at least be able to match him for a single blow.

If I could, that meant a younger seventh rank like Edmond was a feasible fight for me.

I activated the heavenly dragon and the Kunpeng bloodlines to help me. Then I stopped holding back, letting loose my full strength. A boom echoed in the void as my sword became bright with sword intent.

The elder sneered, winding back his hand. As his hand moved, it was like an entire hurricane was held in his palm before he released his attack. The entire void swirled around me in a torrent of wind powerful enough to rip out mountains.

I struck with my full strength, my sword intent impossibly sharp as it pierced even the void itself.

Sword met storm, and for a moment, it was peaceful. But then the void erupted from the clash. The force of the blow crushed the rocks in the void to dust and blew them away for miles.

I braced myself as I flew backwards, pulling on my domain to stabilize myself. I’d flown back a dozen feet before I came to a stop.

My breath came out hard and heavy. That single blow had been everything that I could pull together.

The elder was there, having only taken a single step back to disperse the surrounding energy. But a hair-like, red line slashed across his cheek as his face became redder still, and a single drop of blood leaked from the scratch.

“Impressive. But you are far too young to fight me. Just that one exchange exhausted you.” The elder pulled himself up straight with a broad smile.

He thought he had won. And he would have if I didn’t have a backup option.

I smiled back at him. “Thank you for the exchange. It was a valuable lesson.” I put away my sword and rolled my shoulders. “Be seeing you.”

The void faded away, and I stood in the middle of my soul palace, surrounded by clods of dirt and herbs.

“Isaac! Master!” Shouts filled the room as my mana beasts and wives stood in my soul palace, where they had been supporting me.

“How?” Kat shouted with a frown. “You can’t enter your own soul because then there’s nothing to anchor you to the world!”

I pointed at her. “Your body, all of your bodies, are still in the Yunpi estate. Yes?”

Her eyes filled with understanding. “Because of the shared domain, your domain in the world and your soul have multiple anchor points.”

I grinned. “Correct. Now, let’s see if we can’t head over to your soul palace and remove Lanhua and I directly into the estate.”

Michelle followed, shaking her head. “You banked too much on this. You could have easily died.”

“I was fairly sure it would work. After all, a cultivator enters their soul palace all the time. They just can’t leave their body without an anchor for their exit. With our unique cultivation, I have many exits.” I grinned. “I want to hurry. There’s one more part of this I want to enjoy.”

Michelle narrowed her eyes, but let me pass.

As we arrived back at Kat’s soul palace, I felt myself pushed out of the shared soul space and standing amid our houses.

Kat grabbed my lapel and hoisted me up to kiss me. “Love you, crazy man. You might be crazier than me.”

I wisely held my tongue, but there was no way that I was crazier than Kat.

“Hold on. I need to get ready for something.” I kissed her once more, giving my other wives a moment of affection before hurrying out of the home to the front of the courtyard.

I pulled out a rocking chair from my spatial ring and sat near the entrance, lazily rocking.

“What’s this for?” Diana followed me out and frowned as she watched me.

All of my wives had followed her and were wearing questioning expressions of their own.

I smiled and held up a finger; I already felt him coming.

“We are almost there. We will see if his wives recognize you,” Terrance’s gruff voice sounded from outside the courtyard wall.

He stepped past the wall and his head swiveled right past me before it snapped back, locking onto me.

“Oh, hey there.” I waved with a friendly, casual smile.

Terrance made a strange noise, something between a cough and being strangled. “How—”

“Jonny, Steve, welcome to my courtyard.” I just slowly rocked in my rocking chair.

This was a moment to be savored.

Terrance pushed past both of my friends to stand before me. “How did you get back here? I just got a report of you causing a major disturbance in the Leon family estate.”

I blinked at him innocently. “Who? Me?” Then I pulled out the safe that Lanhua said contained the Guardian Lion core. “I have been on a little bit of an adventure. Did you know that the Leon family has a teleportation formation that goes straight to the Bishou? And the Bishou aren’t just assassins, they are also kidnapping people to work in a mine collecting tainted mana crystals?”

Terrance frowned at me. “This is what both your wives and these two said.”

I nodded, pulling out my sword. I used the razor-sharp sword intent on it to tear away at the corner of the safe.

Everyone watched me carefully as I slowly peeled back layers of the amazingly hard material. It took a few slices, but then I was able to pull out a mana beast's core the size of my head.

“That is?”

“The Leon family’s Guardian Lion beast core. They believe it helps awaken the bloodline in their young.” I tucked it away in my spatial ring; it would be my next project.

“Captain.” A guard rushed up to Terrance and then saw me and did a double take.

“Ignore him. What is it?” Terrance demanded.

The guard paused, hesitation and confusion in his voice. “We have… uh… credible reports that Isaac was spotted in the Leon family estate.”

“I know,” Terrance hurried the guard along.

“Reports say that he fought an elder of the Leon family,” the guard said while staring at me strangely.

I nodded along with him. “Graying at the temples, very cold eyes. He fought mostly with the element of wind.”

Terrance sighed. “Fengu Leon. Not their strongest elder, but he’s in the upper half. How did the fight go?”

The guard looked between me and Terrance as if one of us had gone crazy, but he didn’t know which.

“We exchanged a few blows here before going into the void. I got a single blow in, and I got a better sense of what it takes to fight a seventh rank cultivator.”

Michelle handed me a drink, and I gladly sipped at it, letting out a loud sigh as I finished.

Terrance gazed at me as if he could see through me and piece it all together. “The Bishou base. What happened there?”

“I saved Lanhua, killed a number of them, but not enough of the bastards. Edmond Leon was waiting for me, and I’m fairly sure he will be like a rabid dog in the days to come.”

Terrance raised an eyebrow in question.

“He has some hang-up with my latest wife.” I gestured to Lanhua. “That, and he’s probably embarrassed after our fight.”

“Their newest elder.” Terrance nodded. “If you could trade blows with Fengu, then you can fight Edmond,” he reasoned.

I hoped it was true, but I would have lost the previous fight if it hadn’t been for Bai’s involvement.

But I just gave Terrance a broad smile and sipped from my drink, getting cozy in the chair. “I’ve gotten my wife back and had my fun. So I’m going to relax a little, maybe try for a few kids. Speaking of, how’s Ember?”

Terrance snorted, and it turned into a slight chuckle as he shook his head. “Pantsed one of the guards earlier. Had to have two others hold him back. She’s a handful. It seems to run in your family.” He raised an eyebrow at me.

I just gave him a satisfied smile. “Well, I hope you get used to it. Don’t think I’m going anywhere.”

Terrance nodded. “Stay within the family estate; the elders will want to talk to you after my report.” He frowned. “Care to tell me how you got back in here without a single one of my guards seeing it?”

“I’d rather keep that to myself,” I answered honestly.

Terrance surprised me by respecting my secret. “Fine.” He turned to the guard that was still waiting on him. “Triple the guard around his courtyard. If what he said is true, you should expect the Leon family’s Edmond or the Bishou to make an attempt.”

“Yes, sir.” The guard beat his chest with a fist and hurried off.

“Lilly was trouble. You are trouble, and even your kids are trouble. I’m not sure about you having more,” Terrance muttered as he turned and walked away.

Jonny turned to me and waited until Terrance was gone. “That went well?” he asked, sounding not quite sure himself.

“That went fantastically,” I laughed, leaning far enough back in my chair that it would have fallen over if it wasn’t for Michelle grabbing the back.

“You really shouldn’t antagonize him or the elders,” she commented.

I waved her concern off. “Trading blows with Fengu just cemented my place in the family. If I can participate in the top level of battle between the two, then I’m infinitely more valuable than I was when I left the courtyard. I’m hoping they will see me as more than a studhorse. I’m a powerful cultivator in the family.”

Kissing Michelle’s hand on the top of my chair, I relaxed and enjoyed my drink for just another moment.

Leaning forward, I stood up. “Jonny and Steve, make yourselves at home. I’d love to spend more time with all of you, but I need to go bind myself a new mana beast.” I pulled the core out of my spatial ring.

The thing was as big as my head. It was a dark green that reminded me of the jungle, and soft, earthy swirls wound through the stone.

“We’ll help settle, Jonny and Steve,” Michelle promised me.

I turned back and squinted. “Also, Jonny is a brother, and you don’t sleep with your brother’s women. The Yunpi girls need to know that, while they are welcome to whatever their hearts’ desire, there are consequences.”

Jonny squinted at me. “Are you cock blocking me?”

“No. You have the entire Yunpi family and the entire Cloud City to skirt chase. You can even skirt chase here, but I won’t touch your women. I’d appreciate the same courtesy.”

“I’d never.” Jonny made a cross over his heart with a deathly serious face.

I knew that he was telling the truth, and I knew my women were safe with Steve.

“Okay. Now I’m really heading off.” I turned with the core, even though several of my wives looked about ready to drag me to bed for a very pleasurable welcome home.

Carrying the core under my arm, I went back into my home and closed the door behind me. I sat down cross-legged and stared into the core, running my hand along the top of it.

“Just what surprises do you have for me?” I turned it over in my hands, reaching out with my senses, trying to get a feel for the beast inside.

AN - Apologies for some of these days were I'm getting them out late. I have, however, just put the rest of this book up in the cue.