WilliamDArand
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Cultivating Chaos 5 -ch 17-
🕑 Added 2024-03-22 02:54:20 +0000 UTCIn the two days after they’d taken over the facility, they’d had very few visitors.
The other ships that’d come up to the portal had left.
Ren had also left and was currently spreading the news about the new changes that were coming, as well as the goal to make the whole prison theirs.
She also had begun telling everyone about the formations, and that the Qi would go to where-ever the Sheng Alliance wished.
That it was best for everyone to take the resettlement offer and to be sent to the realm outside of the prison. Otherwise they might find that all the Qi that was in the prison simply ceased to exist.
Ash had contacted Liu and made an arrangement for a small contingent of Brides to transfer over to the prison. They’d recently hit the ceiling on their training and cultivation that was allowed in the realm, but they were being held until they reached an appropriate size.
Someone had mentioned that it was called a “Bridal Party” but he didn’t know the numbers for that or what it meant.
The Brides were coming with the Bridal Manse and a number of artifacts.
A number of the stores in the realm had been cleaned out of everything just in case it was needed.
“I… can not even begin to state how lovely it is to feel the sun on my skin,” Rou whispered from his left. She was sitting next to him and enjoying a sandwich as he was.
Right now everyone was laid out on the top of the facility on a number of blankets, rugs, and floor mats. They were currently having a picnic lunch in the open air.
The breeze was cool this high up, but the sun was beating down on them and keeping them quite warm.
Tala grunted, then rolled over onto her stomach. Stretching herself out across the blanket she was on.
She was quite literally nude.
“I didn’t realize how much I missed it,” Moira agreed. She was sat down on the edge of the facility and looking to the world below.
Chunhua, Jia, Hui, Siu, and Xiuying were all sat together under an umbrella made out of earth from Chunhua. They enjoyed the sun, but didn’t want their skin to brown at all.
Given their cultural beliefs, he couldn’t blame them. They wanted their skin to be as lightly colored as possible.
There was a gentle tug on one of Ash’s chains. One that led off and away to Ren, of all people.
Her chain was special as it was a bond she’d created which let her have a bit more control than everyone else.
Reaching out to her chain Ash threw a pulse of Qi at her that was a question like feeling. Though it wouldn’t do much for her anymore.
Ren was always at maximum capacity.
She was more or less a secondary storage facility for him now.
Upon reciept she sent one right back to him.
The feeling he received was one of yearning to meet up and for him to greet her. Almost as if she were standing in the doorway and knocking.
“Ren’s coming. Or is here. She wants me to come to the portal,” Ash murmured.
A second pulse of emotion came from Ren. One that felt combative.
To fight.
Anger.
“And I think she wants to fight, or expects a fight,” Ash continued as he stood up. There was no way he would ever not respond to a Bride telling him he was needed to fight.
“Oh! Yes, do you think it’s the other Qi-Lord’s coming through?” Xiuying chirped and bounced to her feet.
She inadvertently smacked her head on the stone umbrella as she stood up.
“Oowie,” she groaned and took two steps away from it, only to trip over her own feet and slam to the ground. “Oowwwwie. This is awful. Today is not a good day. I just wanted—”
Xiuying petulantly hit her hand against the ground, followed by a pop of something clicking.
Not far from her a large section of the roof swung inward and down.
“As ever, my dearest Sister, you are someone who must never leave Ashley’s side,” stated Hui, standing up as well.
“I don’t know about that,” grumbled Xiuying.
Before she could complain any further, she was helped up by Rou, Jia, and Siu. All of them fussing over her and Rou even going so far as to quickly use Qi-Healing on her.
Siu had brushed off Xiuying’s rear end quickly as Jia inspected her head.
For her part, Xiuying looked embarrassed but had a beautiful smile on her face that went from ear to ear.
“Ahhh… thank you, Sisters. I love you all,” she murmured, looking incredibly embarassed.
“We all view her as our favored Sister in the Sheng. The happier she is, the more well cared for she is, the better the Sheng will propser.”
Hm.
Makes sense.
Ash walked over to the new hole that’d appeared.
Once more, it seemed to be some type of secret hatch.
This one led into a room he hadn’t seen before.
“Xiuying, my beautiful darling, would you go into that room and explore it for me with one of your Sisters?” Ash asked, looking over to the Fortune’s Chosen. “I’ll take everyone else to the entry area.”
“Yes, Husband. I can do that,” mumbled Xiuying as the other three continued to fuss over her. “Sister Jia, will you help me?”
“Of course I will,” answered Jia, gently rearranging Xiuying’s hair now.
Everyone else moved quickly and left, entering the facility and making their way to the entry portal.
It was closed shut unless they were expecting someone to arrive.
Over the last two days a number of Brides and Knights had arrived to keep the area secure. There was a Bride and a Knight on duty at the portal right now.
“Ren’s coming,” Ash said as the two looked to him.
“Ah! That’s good. Perhaps they will bring more Knights?” the Knight said cheerfully with a laugh. “I crave more people to spar with.”
The Bride next to him laughed at that and then sighed, her veil twitching as she did so.
“I admit that it’s a lot harder to find as many sparing partners up here versus the sect,” the Bride said.
Ash grinned at that and then went to the portal.
Putting his hand to it he quickly pulled it back into it’s frame.
Below, Ren’s airship was docking.
A number of Brides and Knights stood on the perimeter of it but they didn’t seem to be looking to disembark.
“Hello, husband!” called Ren from the hatch. She’d just clambered out only a moment previous. She quickly adjusted the dress she was wearing and then looked to him. “I have two Qi-Lord’s who are looking to transit through along with their entire households.
“Also… ah… I killed one on accident and took another’s lands. All the Qi-Lord’s that remain are currently considering my offer. I decided to give them a few days to consider what’s happened before I come calling again.”
Ash raised his eyebrows at the killing of a Qi-Lord. He had been under the assumption that wasn’t actually possible.
“They foolishly attacked me without declaring who they were and I ended up killing them,” Ren explained. “My oath didn’t preclude me from accidentally killing a Qi-Lord, only purposefully doing so.”
“I understand. Then let’s start moving these Qi-Lord’s through. I’ll have a corridor made so that they understand where to go,” Ash murmured, then glanced backward to Chunhua who nodded her head. Ash looked back to Ren. “Great, good work, Ren.”
Behind her ship there were a great many other ships lining up.
“Looks like I’ll need more ports,” Ash stated with a nod of his head. “Be good to have more ports. It’s a bottleneck as it is right now.”
***
Another group of cultivators sworn to the Qi-Lord who’d gone through already began trooping through the facility towards the square.
Ash was standing here to send them down as soon as they arrived.
His eyes immediately flicked to a somewhat attractive young woman.
If there was a strikezone for Ash she fit it.
In a weird way, in fact.
It was as if she were an accumulation of all the best features of a number of women. All put together specifically as if his personal preferences were a checklist.
He was immediately on guard and wary.
No such woman should exist in any realm and the fact that she did left Ash questioning who would put such a person in front of him.
Then he realized there was a great deal of Life-Qi inside of her as well.
A very large amount of it, in fact.
Locke, you paying attention to this right now?
“Hm? What? Oh. Oh my… that’s… hm. Hm. That’s just almost so blatant that I don’t know what to say.
“She’s a walking bomb just looking for somewhere to blow up.”
Not to mention her looks.
“Her… looks? I don’t know, she seems quite plain to me. Very plain, in fact. Somewhat ordinary.”
Really? To me she looks like she’s been cobbled together from everyone I have a desire for.
“Wait, really? That doesn’t… she’s as flat as a board. You like them heavy in the chest, don’t you?”
Yeah, I do, but… she’s not flat. She’s bigger than Hui or you, even.
“Bigger? You want them bigger? I never— wait, if you see her as that, and I see her as flat, than there’s something more here. Some type of Qi ability to disguise her, or to bend her appearance toward you personally.”
Alright.
Trap then.
But do I spring it? Do I let it go by? Do I activate it?
Wait, is it actually a trap for me?
Ash dipped into his Dao and spun it up slowly.
The woman walking toward him amongst the group didn’t seem to be going in a contra momentum to him at the moment.
In fact, she was passively moving along with the flow.
More akin to a leaf on a river than anything else.
It made Ash feel like she wasn’t here for him.
Watching the group move to the platform, he kept his eyes on the woman.
Intent on her.
She noticed, blushed prettily, and looked away from him. In a way that seemed almost manufactured to induce more attention.
Her momentum didn’t shift or change.
Ash smiled faintly, then acted out of character momentarily. He approached her and gently laid a hand to her shoulder.
“Are you alright?” he asked, watching as the small chain form.
“Oh I’m fine, thank you for asking,” she purred in a voice that felt oddly heavy given her appearance.
With a smile Ash moved away, then activated the square as soon as they were on it. He casually attached the chain after she vanished.
There are Demonic Cultivators working in the prison. They’re here but she didn’t make a move to attack me.
We also have all those people who killed themselves when they were losing the fight.
I begin to wonder if the two are connected.
Perhaps even along with whatever is going on in this realm, or what happened to it, I suppose.
“Yes. It’s something to inspect. Mei, myself, and Na are coming up to the facility. Liu’s Brides arrived. We’re escorting them. They brought the Bridal Manse.
“I forgot that it’s so big. I think we might be able to expand it as well given the expansion of your abilities. In fact… I wonder if we could unhinge the center and add more rooms?”
Something to think about.
Ash looked to the next group of people.
Another Demonic Cultivator filled with Life-Qi was there.
Having held his Dao as long as he had, he could feel the deep resonance of everyone that pledged to him. There was a strange counterpoint to the booms of all the Brides now though.
A higher-pitched chime.
Metal on metal type of striking chime.
Beautiful but sharp.
Then he realized what it was.
When did the Knights all pledge to me? The chains won’t work with them so I didn’t even notice the change.
“When the Brides explained how it was done to them. They did so immediately, then somehow word spread down to the aspirants.
“The moment they wake up on the other side as a Knight they swear to you under the instruction of Templar.”
The Dao was building now, only passively feeding on the Qi around him. The response from all those who worked with him was in concert with it.
Deciding to let it keep going, Ash looked to the Demonic Cultivator.
Smiling, Ash walked up to the man and patted him on the back.
He’d tag every single one of them as they came through.
In the next six hours as the two Qi-Lord’s were relocated, Ash tagged a handful of Demonic Cultivators. The drain on them was slight, but it would tell him where they were.
Nearly six hours later and the Qi-Lord’s transfers were complete.
There had been several more Demonic Cultivators.
“Surprising,” Ash murmured, peering down the edge of the square.
Distantly, far below, he could see there was what looked to be a camp of some type. It didn’t look as if it had any permanence to it, but Ash wasn’t sure.
He was pretty high up.
Lifting his gaze, he looked to a city that was nearby.
He had considered sending Moira out to it several times.
The risk was something he didn’t like, though.
If the plague remained than she would be at risk of contracting it by going there.
“Husband!” shouted a voice.
Looking over he saw Na, Mei, and Locke and heading toward him.
Though the latter was now moving at a jog that gave Ash pause.
Locke desperately needed a sports-bra.
Several of them.
As if sensing his thoughts, Locke slowed to a quick walk instead. Her face becoming a deep red.
Then, realizing what she did, Locke then began running at him full out. Her body responding in eye catching way that was even more so than her original jog.
Moving away from the edge, Ash caught Locke up in a hug.
“Ahhh, my timid housewife who also is as sexually aggressive as could be. I have no idea how you manage to be both at the same time,” Ash teased, hugging her tightly.
“It’s honestly kinda hard. But I enjoy it cause I can change gears really hard and fast and keep you wanting more of either,” Locke admitted, then kissed him.
It lasted a few seconds before she released him, spun him around behind her, and moved him forward for Na and Mei.
“Kiss both of them. Hug them tight,” whispered Locke urgently. “I forced them to stay with me. Please… please reward them for me? I love you? I’ll do anything you want, and do everything I can, to make you so happy that you pass out?”
Ash was never one to turn away Locke when she offered herself up as the prize.
Beyond even that though, he genuinely missed the two of them.
Moving away from Locke at a trot, literally leaving her there, Ash ran down Mei and Na. He wrapped both of them up in a hug at the same time. Crushing them to himself.
Na let out a wheeze as her face was tipped into her neck and Mei hugged him back just as forcefully. To the point that he actually had to work a bit harder than normal to breathe.
“I missed you two,” Ash admitted, then kissed Mei. When he broke the kiss he laid his cheek to Na’s head. She didn’t seem to want to remove her face from where she’d burried it. “Thank you for helping your Sister so much when I know you wanted to race back off to be with me.”
“What’s the Mistress of the Sheng to do, other than be the Mistress?” Mei allowed with a rich and warm laugh. “Though I did miss you. I love you.”
“Love you, too,” grumped Na, her hands pressing into his back. “The Handmaiden must do all she can for her Lord and Master.”
Grinning, Ash just stood there.
“I love you both, too,” he said finally and gave them another squeeze.
“I think we should move forward,” Mei said, laying her cheek to his. “We can let Ren handle the rest of the Qi-Lord’s and others who would wish to exit. We only need to make sure we’re here to transport them down, from my understanding.
“Otherwise… we should begin to explore this realm. Because you mentioned that the exit is out there somewhere. Is it not?”
Ash nodded his head. He tilted his head fractionally and looked out into the distance.
Many chains stretched out and then down.
Down to somewhere in the realm.
At what felt like a great distance.
Surprisingly, the chains had pointed up while in the prison and facility, but then pointed outward when here.
One of the reasons he thought that perhaps the Bridal Manse would work here.
As if on cue, several Brides walked up to him and set down the artifact.
Pulling several rings out of the Hall, Ash held them out.
Na already had one, as did Locke, but Mei and the others did not.
As if realizing what he was asking, Na touched her wedding ring and simply vanished.
“Oh!” came a distant and soft voice from the artifact. “It worked! It’s a shame it doesn’t work in the prison or facility though.”
“Ah, I might have an answer to that?” Xiuying called from above them.
Far above them.
She was on the roof.
“I think I found the control room, haha,” said the Fortune’s Chosen, followed by her gently pressing a closed fist to her head. “Silly me, I’m sorry. I should have came and told you immediately but we were reading the manual.
“Jia thinks we can turn off most of the limitations on the prison! That’d make it far easier for us, wouldn’t it? Though she said we should wait for everyone to be escorted out first.”
“That’s my Xiuying,” Ash remarked, staring up at the pretty woman.
“Oh, ah… yes,” she said, clearly having heard him. “Hahaha, I suppose I am. Ahh… I should move away from the edge.”
Taking several steps away she moved away and likely back to wherever Jia was.
“I like her,” Mei said with a laugh. “I’m going to go join her and Jia. Na… please attend our husband? Give him a quick wash and a shave. It’s nice that he’ll be able to grow a nice beard in the future but right now it’s just stubbly.”
Mei had said the last while looking at her cousin.
“Of course, mistress,” promised Na, her head down-turned but her eyes flicking up to stare at Ash through her bangs. “I appreciate you giving me such an order.”
“Of course, Na. I know you missed him more than you want to admit,” Mei said and then began moving toward where Xiuying had been. “I’ll start preparing a group to make a trip into the realm out there. This’ll be exciting.”
Na cleared her throat, then tilted her head to the side.
“Locke… join me?” Na asked.
“Gladly,” answered the woman who had snuck up behind him.
