“I can’t act against them directly as it would violate oaths on my cultivation, nor can I use the resources of the sect, such as Gen and his people. However, it doesn’t violate those oaths if students were to take care of such issues for me. It could be said it’s simply the cultivator’s journey and path. Dismissed as the price we pay when we train and learn.”
“Could we perhaps discuss what we could expect for each elimination?” Yue asked. “It would help us plan on who we could take care of and in what order.”
We’re going to what now?
“Certainly. That’s not a problem,” Master Zha said. “You’re Ying Yue, yes?”
“Indeed I am, Master Zha,” Yue said with a smile and bob of her head.
“Good. I’ll be betting on you heavily in the Alchemy trial. I need you to win by a very large margin. Alright?” asked the master.
“Oh, of course. Would you make some wagers on my behalf?” Yue countered.
“Not a problem,” Master Zha said with a smile. “Regarding the targets, I can get you a list with rewards for each.”
Ah… I think… I think I drastically underestimated what this would be like.
We’re… essentially the Deng family now. Aren’t we?
“Indeed. Did you expect it to go a different way? This is the way of the world.”
Yeah! I did! This is horrifying!
“Are there any limits to how we do it?” Tala asked. “I could just break into a house and take care of it.”
“Nothing that would get the sect leader involved, or force me to investigate,” Master Zha said with a shake of her head. “It’ll have to be according to sect rules, or leave no trace at all that would alert anyone.”
“That makes sense,” Mei murmured, her hand sliding back and forth across Ash’s rear in a familiar way. “I’m sure we can accommodate that. Any concerns with us taking power otherwise?
“We have goals and we’re going to try and meet them. I’m sure we’ll come into conflict with others.”
“No, no concerns,” Master Zha said with a wide smile. “Just make sure they fall within the guidelines of the sect so I don’t have to look into it. That or rile up any important families or clans.
“If you do, I’ll have to act within the interests of the sect first, my own second, and yours last.”
“In other words,” said Moira. “If we kick off another Deng war, we’ll have to solve it without your help.”
“That’s correct. Though I imagine Gen would get involved, he’s much less beholden to the rules than I am,” Master Zha mused. “As an outsider, a new master, and someone taking over for the Deng family, I’ll need to cultivate my allies carefully. Gen, well… Gen is Gen.”
Gen would kill for me.
“He very much would. I have no doubt of that.”
At that moment, Chunhua took the opportunity to start gagging in her sleep.
Everyone turned to look over at the sleeping woman.
Rolling partially out of her blankets, Chunhua got to a semi-upright position supporting herself up by her arms. Her hair was coiled up behind her head where Ash had pinned it for her.
Beautifully naked and showing off her heavens-gifted assets, she looked amazing to Ash.
Then she promptly threw up all over the floor. The vomit was a dark color that bordered on brown, as if she were going through a second black day all over again.
Retching up everything she could, Chunhua’s back and shoulders were heaving as she gasped for breath in between.
Getting up quickly, Ash made his way over to the young woman. Using his Essence, he projected it out of his hand quickly and used it as a thin frictionless surface like a piece of paper.
Sliding it over the floor, he was able to gather up most of Chunhua’s vomit. Adding flaps to the sides allowed him to catch everything else as she kept throwing up.
After a full minute, it seemed she was empty.
“I’m sorry, Master Sheng,” Chunhua moaned. “I’m so sorry. I’ll work it off.”
Reaching over, Ash gently patted the woman on the back of the head. He knew she was in a great deal of pain, recovering from a Dantian wound, and was dealing with a drained Qi Sea.
She was in a bad place, to say the least.
Slumping into her bedroll, Chunhua passed out immediately.
Closing up his Essence around the vomit, he looked at the floor.
“I’ll take care of that and her, Master Sheng,” Na said, appearing at his side with a small pot of water. She started to scrub the floor with a wet rag.
Nodding, Ash left the Essence pod to one side. He’d dismiss it later into the grass.
“Hm,” Master Zha said, staring at Chunhua. Her eyes were calculating and it was clear her thoughts were on what she’d just seen. “Well, I think that’s everything I wished to discuss today. I’ll take my leave and let you return to… whatever it was you were doing.
“Though I will remind you that having a child at this age makes it very difficult to cultivate. You should be taking lightning vine oil, Ash.”
Turning her teacup over on the saucer, Master Zha stood up and gave Ash a polite, if shallow, bow of her head.
She was gone in moments, the door closing behind her before anyone could respond.
“She saw Chunhua’s back,” Yue said.
“Yes. She did,” Jia confirmed. “We will need to make sure Gen knows she saw it.”
“You know, originally I was glad for Gen sleeping with her. Now I fear it might actually be both a blessing and a curse,” Mei muttered.
Ash was watching Chunhua. As far as he could tell, she was healing up rather well, but in the same breath, her getting sick was outside his expectation.
Kneeling in close to the woman, he laid a hand to her cheek and tilted her face toward him. Staring hard at her face, Ash tried to push at her with his ability to scan others. To see into them and what was going on with them.
This was usually all done by Locke, but he hadn’t said anything was out of the ordinary. Which made Ash feel like maybe Locke had missed something.
Digging into Chunhua, he slid into the closed Dantian in her head.
Wedging himself into it, he forced himself in. Sliding into the Meridians he began working his way down toward her lower Dantian.
When he reached it, he found it was as empty as it should be.
No pillar, no Sea, nothing.
As dry as a bleached bone in the desert.
When he moved into her connected Meridians, he found the problem.
Her body was that of a woman who’d opened her Dantian, filled her Sea partially, and expanded her Meridians.
Whatever cultivation method she had was passively bringing in Essence in tiny amounts.
That included whatever filth was attached to it, without it being filtered or channeled through her Dantian, because she was empty of all Essence.
In digging through her, in inspecting her Dantian and Meridians, he found Locke’s earlier analysis of her correct.
She had amazingly wide Meridians and an impressively huge Dantian. Everything about Chunhua screamed out that she’d be a frightening person later.
She’d just never been given the chance to show that to anyone.
“Ah,” Ash murmured, pulling himself out of Chunhua. He knew how to fix the issue and it wouldn’t cost him that much.
Just a few compliments to Yue, maybe a smile and a head pat. Then ask her for more pills.
“I didn’t even think to look that deeply. I’m sorry, Chosen One,” Locke apologized.
When he came back to himself, Chunhua was staring up at him with wide lazy eyes. Like she was half asleep and half awake.
Pulling out a handful of pills from his inventory, Ash simply forced them into Chunhua’s mouth. They’d dissolve just fine and complete their purpose.
Flooding Chunhua with Essence and kick-starting her Dantian, so she could start processing the Essence without the filth of the world.
“Sorry, Maste
r Sheng,” Chunhua mumbled, her mouth quite full, her eyes sliding shut again.
Smiling, Ash just patted her gently on the side of her head.
She was a brave and stoic thing, who hadn’t complained in any way. He was looking forward to turning her into a monster.
Pulling the stack of transference papers out of his ring, he laid them down atop Chunhua’s face.
Instantly, the young woman passed out as her mind was literally flung into the abyss that his transference papers always caused.
“Na,” Ash said, standing up.
“Yes, Master Sheng?” Na asked, coming over to him quickly.
“Lay down on the ground,” Ash commanded, selecting the stack of papers from his storage space that Locke had prepared for Na.
“Of course, Master Sheng. How should I best service you? Should I take my dress off or just pull it up to my hips?” Na asked, reaching down for the hem of her dress.
“Shut up and lay down,” Ash demanded. He was getting tired of everyone assuming he wanted to rape them.
“Yes, Master Sheng,” Na said, dropping to the ground instantly. Grabbing her dress she hiked it up to her hips, exposing her very naked privates to Ash. “Please, enjoy me, Master Sheng.”
Rolling his eyes, he pulled the papers out and dropped them on Na’s face.
The young woman stiffened up and immediately passed out.
Picking her up under the neck and hips, Ash set her down in the bedroll next to Chunhua. He pushed the two young women together, figuring they could keep each other warm. Then he flicked the blanket up over them and turned to the rest of his group.
“If people want to use us as pawns, we’re going to have to be ready,” Ash said simply. “Master or not.”
Six
Ash had somehow managed to get out of his house, off Sheng Street, and into the sect proper without anyone accompanying him.
Na and Chunhua were still unconscious, snuggled up in the single bedroll.
Mei and Moira had gone off somewhere with Tala, leaving Jia and Yue with Ash.
That turned into a rather angry and accusatory discussion between Yue and Jia. Ash had gotten out at that point, figuring that they were grown women who could talk out their issues without him butting in.
He had something he wanted to talk about with Gen alone, so it worked out rather well.
All the information, the demands, and the requests to murder people from Master Zha had set Ash’s teeth on edge.
To the point that he really wasn’t sure if he wanted to continue in the sect at all anymore.
Master Zha was an ally, but he felt like the way she was handling things really wasn’t that different than the way the Deng had handled everything.
If the Sheng family became a puppet to Master Zha then that’d be a problem in and of itself. If she became no better than the old family head of the Deng, then it’d be depressing at the very least.
I was hoping to better the sect. Make it easier for people like… well… like Yan.
Caught up with nowhere to go, no way to get out, and slowly being ground down to the point where there’s nothing they can do.
Forced to join a family, clan, or alliance that’ll use them for little better than a shock troop or worse.
I mean… if I hadn’t taken Chunhua the way I had, how would she have ended up? Will that little alliance of theirs survive?
Or will they just be tasked to join another alliance and turned to whatever purpose that is?
“I think it’s safe to say that the alliance might have survived, but she would not have. Likely forced into a harem, killed, or turned into a ‘shock troop’ as you called it.
“Mei and Na would have been killed by Zha outright, I think.”
And that right there is the problem. Isn’t it?
Chunhua is… she’s amazing.
“She will be amazing. Right now, she’s worth very little.”
But that’s the exact problem. Exactly that.
A diamond in the rough, left sitting in the sun, and with no one noticing. Treating her as… nothing.
No one from her alliance bothered to try and stop me from taking her away. They didn’t speak on her behalf. Nothing. They just… wrote her off as if she were already gone.
Ash shook his head, rage and indignation bubbling up from deep inside him. He’d dealt with a life of never feeling like he was worthy. Like he didn’t measure or stack up.
Now he was watching others go through the same thing without any ability to change it.
I at least had martial arts to rely on. To fall back on. To work with.
What did Chunhua have?
Nothing.
“For every Chunhua, there is a Mei, Na, or Jia,” Locke said.
No. That’s not the way to look at it.
For every Mei, Na, or Jia, a talented person with the ability to move upward, there’s a number who are missed that could have been so much more.
The sect isn’t here to train anyone at all unless they own them. It’s why classes that actually teach must be purchased. Why abilities have costs.
Please, borrow from us, go into debt, and buy abilities. Then remain. Forever.
“That is an available option, though. Yan could have taken a loan out and built herself on it.”
And been forever in debt.
There’s got to be a better way. I need… I need to see more sects, I guess.
Looking at the grounds around him, Ash realized he was walking through the sections dedicated to teaching. Where classes were held.
Those classes here—near the middle of the path—were all those one could attend without paying. Discussions regarding a Dao, Qi Seas, Wells, and Meridians. All sorts of esoteric information that would help one on the path, but provide nothing in the way of strength or power.
If one wanted that, you had to pay. Classes which gave that were significantly further away from the center here. Further out where the teacher could collect payment, and make sure no one was attempting to learn for free.
I’m not against capitalism. In fact, they should get paid. But shouldn’t it be the student paying the sect, then the sect paying the teacher? Like back home?
“I’m not sure how much you can apply your own background’s systems in this case. As you saw from Zha, even the sect leaders and masters are out for themselves. Gen was very generous with you.”
Feeling ever more down about the world he was in, Ash moved on, heading for the library.
Ash was desperately hoping this conversation was going to go better than the one he’d had with Zha or Locke. Today had been a wake-up call that he really didn’t want.
Moving on quickly, Ash got to the library and went straight to the back of it. Gen kept most of the more interesting tomes back here, and he tended to show up faster if one was in this section of the library.
Before he’d even made it to a shelf, Ash felt Gen appear without hearing him. No one ever really heard Gen.
“Good afternoon, Disciple Ashley,” said Gen.
“Good afternoon, Master,” Ash said, turning in place and pressing one hand to the other in front of himself. “I come to you, seeking your counsel.”
Gen’s eyebrows shot straight up to the top of his head. Then he held a hand out toward the table.
“Please, have a seat and discuss it with me,” Gen murmured.
“Thank you, Master,” Ash said earnestly, taking the indicated seat. “Master Zha came over this morning.”
“Ah. I thought she might. It would sound as if she sought you out first,” Gen murmured, taking the seat next to Ash.
“Maybe. Maybe. I’m not sure. All I know is I’m… I’m not comfortable with what she said. At all, really,” Ash said, folding his hands in his lap. Unable to keep his calm or cool, Ash felt his thoughts rapidly spiraling outward.
“And what is it she said?” Gen asked in a gentle tone.
“She… clearly knows more about me than I’d like,” Ash said, getting to that part first. “
I assumed you told her what she needed to know, or the sect leader did. It is what it is, even if I don’t like it.”
“I did tell her what she needed to know,” Gen admitted and nodded his head. “Most of it was what she’d find out from the sect leader anyway. She knows nothing of how truly… different… you are, Ashley.”
“I’m glad to hear that. But… that wasn’t really the big problem. The issue I have is… well… she wants me and my alliance to take care of problems for her,” Ash said, lifting his head up and meeting Gen’s eyes. “She wants me to eliminate people who would make trouble for her. She’s going to give us a list and what we can earn for each… elimination.”
Gen had a momentary flicker of surprise on his face which was wiped out as quickly as it showed up.
“I see,” Gen said.
“Then… she also more or less told me to turn her niece, who apparently she thinks of as a daughter, into a member of my harem and to care for her,” Ash said, holding his hands up partially in an expression of confusion. “I mean, what do I say to that? I can say no and risk her wrath, but given that she also just asked me to murder people on her behalf, I’m not sure I can say no.”
“That’s… a very valid correlation,” Gen agreed. “And what do you think of taking her niece into your harem?”
“I mean… I don’t know her? I’d have to get to know her first, I guess. And… I don’t really have a harem,” Ash said.
“Yes. You do. Everyone in your alliance is in your harem, Ashley,” Gen said with an earnest smile. “You have power, charisma, and kindness in your heart. You will attract others. Whether they tell it to your face, hide it in their hearts, or wear it on their sleeve, they all wish to be in your harem and hold a piece of your heart.
“As to the niece… it’s not required to know her in order to take her into your harem. Do you need to know her?”
“It’d be nice,” Ash said, unsure of himself. “I mean… isn’t this kinda… well, I guess it isn’t. I was going to say isn’t this permanent or long-term.”
“No. It is neither permanent nor long-term,” Gen conceded. “Much as any marriage isn’t permanent or long-term. Meet the niece, decide from there. For all you know, she’s an amazing beauty who steals your heart away.”
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