Cultivating Chaos 2

by William D. Arand

  This wasn’t just a grab for power.

  It was a very long-term con for them, wasn’t it? Slowly whittling away at what made the sect strong enough to resist others.

  Sects, people, or otherwise.

  And then they made an attempt on the sect itself.

  When there were no more Jade Masters.

  Nodding his head as he put the pieces together, Ash realized he’d have to step out of the shadows to assist. Had to meet with the Sect Master and see how he could help rebuild.

  Especially given the fact that there were now Masters paid to eliminate him. He couldn’t wait any longer.

  Things were progressing past the point that he could reasonably cope with them. Hiding in the sect wasn’t going to work without someone being able to help discourage others from looking into him.

  More or less what Gen warned me about, isn’t it?

  The lack of response from Locke somehow came as a surprise to Ash. Once again, he’d forgotten that his companion and traveling partner was gone.

  There’d been no sign of Locke in any way, shape, or form.

  Snapping his teeth together audibly at the thought, Ash began to walk through the open door.

  On the other side of it was a green jade golem, much like the ones they’d found inside the vault.

  It was on its side, unmoving, and appeared to have been dumped here.

  “That’s odd,” Chunhua said, as she carried Na past the statue and set her on her feet.

  Ash grunted at that and then grabbed the jade golem. Dragging it past the door, he set it on the inside of the vault.

  “Best we can do, I guess,” Ash said, looking at the two women. “For now, let’s just… get up there and find Bao Jade. We need to tell him about this and what’s happened.”

  “Agreed,” Na said, and then sat down on the ground right there, her hand still pressed to her middle. “But I’m done. I can go no farther, Master Sheng. I’m sorry.”

  Shifting down onto her back, Na lay still and closed her eyes.

  She kept breathing, thankfully, but Ash didn’t need to be a Qi Healer to know she was more hurt than he suspected.

  More than likely, she was only stable at all due to the medicine running through her.

  Chunhua bent down at the waist and checked on Na. After a few seconds, she stood back up and looked at Ash.

  “As far as I can tell, she’s alright. Just very tired and run down. Everything is still blocked from me down here, though,” Chunhua offered.

  “Great,” Ash said and meant it. He felt a deep debt of gratitude for the little-handmaiden-that-could. She’d willingly given up the expectation of living in order to try and knock down the masters and give him a chance to escape. “Can we carry her up or—”

  “Let’s leave her here,” Chunhua said, interrupting him and holding up her hands. “I don’t have the strength for it and I don’t think it would help her. Let’s seek out help. Find Rou or a master we trust and come back. That way we don’t make her wound worse. She’s resting, safe, and warm for the moment.”

  Ash couldn’t argue with that assessment.

  Na was stable right where she was. Trying to carry her out of here was likely to cause more harm than good at the moment.

  Besides, we might get a hundred paces from here and find that the block on their abilities is gone.

  That’d make this whole situation quite a bit easier then. Going back for Na to carry her to that point would be reasonable.

  Nodding, Ash moved up next to Chunhua, and the two of them proceeded down the hallway.

  They needed to get help as soon as possible and then get Ash to the defensive formation.

  As if it could sense his thoughts, the immaterial bundle of anger and resentment loomed closer toward him. Practically hovering over his head.

  He could feel its desire to break him. To throw him down and conquer him. To remove his very ability to cultivate.

  Or just kill him outright.

  “I can feel that power circling you,” Chunhua said with an edge of fear to her voice. “That’s… that’s your tribulation?”

  “Yeah,” Ash got out through clenched teeth. He was having to lean on his Dao again just to be able to keep moving. “It really doesn’t like me.”

  “It wants to kill you. I’ve… never heard of a tribulation that just wanted to kill the one who summoned it. Ever.”

  “Yeah, well, mine does. He’s a dickbag. Or she. Whatever.”

  “It. It’s a dickbag,” Chunhua corrected. “It’s just Qi, though. You’re assigning it emotions that aren’t real. Feelings that it can’t have. After all, everyone always says a tribulation is bereft of any real desires and—”

  Lashing out at him, the tribulation slammed into Ash, forcing him to pull much more deeply on his Dao. Wasting large amounts of Qi to defend himself.

  After the attack passed, Ash realized he’d come to a complete stop with Chunhua staring at him.

  “Never mind. That’s… that’s a real desire,” Chunhua murmured. “It just wants you dead.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Ash grumbled. “Well aware of that, in fact.”

  Thirty-Seven

  Pushing against the wooden panel, Ash wasn’t able to make it budge.

  Taking a step back, he looked it over once again.

  As far as he could tell, it was just wooden boards slatted together. Much like how the walls of many houses looked, in fact.

  Does that mean that the Jade Vaults empty out into a basement or something?

  I mean that’s the only answer, I guess. A basement or a root cellar or… something.

  “Smells like storage,” Chunhua said and then wrinkled her nose. “And leaking cider.”

  Basement.

  Putting his hands on his hips, Ash looked away from the wooden boards to their fittings. They were practically flush with the jade-covered walls.

  Clearly, it was meant to be a hidden entrance. One that was fit to conceal itself, but still allow passage as necessary without too much hindrance.

  And that means the door should be relatively easy. Right?

  So I should be able to—

  Chunhua lifted a leg up, pivoted, and kicked out at the edge of a board where it passed over the jade wall.

  The board broke in half with a sharp crack. Half of it fell into the room beyond the wall, leaving them with a better view inside.

  Yeah. Overthinking it. Way too much thought put into something this simple.

  With a growl, Ash used Spring Step through his entire body and bull-rushed forward.

  Tucking his shoulder in and turning his head downward, he slammed straight through the wood. Stumbling through the wreckage and shattered door, Ash blew right through it.

  He finally got his feet back under himself several steps beyond, after partially losing his balance on a bottle.

  “Oh, that was quite well done, Ashley,” said Chunhua, delicately walking over the wreckage. She even went so far as to lift up the hem of her dress, preventing the edges of it from dragging.

  Acting kind of ladylike for a woman who just broke a wooden board with a kick.

  Clicking her tongue, Chunhua came over to stand next to Ash and then lightly began to brush at his shoulders and chest.

  Tilting her head to one side, her eyes moved up to his head and hair. Reaching up, she began to pick her fingers through his hair, dislodging whatever she found there.

  “There we are,” Chunhua said, giving him a smile. “Now let’s go see who’s here so we can get some help for Na. Then get to Bao Jade and finally Gen. We have to tell him about this.”

  Nodding his head at that, Ash hesitated for a moment, then turned and went for the stairs that weren’t far off.

  “Who’s down there?” called a voice from above before Ash had even gotten halfway up.

  “Ah… hello?” replied Ash, coming to a stop on the stairs. “I’m sorry, we don’t mean to be here. We… somehow… I—”

  “Ashley Sheng?” asked the
same voice. There was the firm tread of boots above as someone started coming down the stairs.

  The voice felt familiar to Ash, but he couldn’t quite place it. A face or name didn’t come to him.

  Green robes were visible before an older man stepped into view.

  It was none other than Bao Jade himself.

  “Ah! Sect Leader!” Ash said with immediate relief. “I’m so glad to see you.”

  “What… what are you doing in my basement?” Bao Jade asked, his eyes taking in Ash and then moving to Chunhua.

  “We were attacked by outside masters,” Chunhua said, bowing her head to Bao Jade and putting her hands together. “We fled them. Many people saw the attack. We ended up in a cave system beneath the sect and… and then we ended up somehow managing to enter the Jade Vaults.”

  Bao Jade’s eyebrows were raised and he had a somewhat shocked expression.

  “And the masters?” he asked.

  “Dead,” Ash said quickly. “One broke his neck and the other… was killed by a Jade Golem.”

  “The defenses are active,” Bao Jade murmured, his eyes looking down and to the side.

  “Yes. Or, at least… yes. Yes, they are,” Ash said, realizing no elaboration would be needed. It wasn’t as if the leader of the sect wasn’t aware of the golems.

  “And did you leave the doors open?” Bao Jade asked quickly, his eyebrows now slamming together over his eyes.

  Ash suddenly had an odd feeling.

  The doors had closed on their own. They hadn’t needed to do anything to shut the way behind them. Something wasn’t adding up for him here.

  “They closed on their own,” Chunhua murmured, raising her head up slightly and looking at the sect leader now. “We put the jade golem that was outside, back inside, as well.”

  Growling at that, Bao Jade shook his head, his hands clenching into fists.

  Okay. Something is not right at all here. Not right in any way.

  Taking in a quick breath, then letting it out, Bao Jade sighed and then pressed a hand to his temple.

  “I’ll need to reset the doors, the defenses, and put the golem back outside,” Bao murmured almost to himself.

  When the sect master’s eyes flicked to him, Ash had the distinct impression that this was a performance. That something truly wasn’t right in this situation.

  “Sorry, given the instructions that the vault keeper gave us, it seemed like the most prudent action,” Ash lied smoothly. As if it were the most natural thing in the world that they’d talked to the vault keeper.

  “Ah, yes. I could see how that’d be the case,” Bao said, looking considerably more at ease. Folding his arms together, he was the very picture of a sect leader. “It isn’t a problem at all.”

  Smiling, Ash nodded his head.

  He’s not who he says he is. That or… that or he’s never been in the Jade Vaults.

  But he’s the sect leader?

  That’s not possible!

  I need to talk to Gen. Right now.

  We’ll come back for Na once we have help. Once we have someone we can trust. Until then, we won’t mention her.

  Coming right back with help.

  “Yes, exactly. They mentioned they’d open the door again tomorrow for me. I left some of my belongings where we entered the vaults,” lied Ash again. “In the meantime, though, I need to go check in with Gen. I’m sure he’s expecting me. I imagine someone in my alliance has already sent a message to him about the assassins by now.”

  Bao Jade was watching Ash closely now.

  “Oh! Did Gen already reach out to you? I mean, I don’t even know how long it’s been since we vanished,” Ash said. “I was thinking maybe a day or two at most.”

  Bao Jade’s face slowly went slack. His eyes lost any energy or feeling in them, and he straightened himself up.

  Staring back at the sect leader, Ash had no idea what to do or say.

  He had the feeling that Bao Jade was no longer being fooled.

  Which was proved to be exactly the case when the older man slapped Ash across the face hard enough to knock him out.

  ***

  Feeling as if his arms and legs were tied down with thousand-pound weights, Ash struggled his way to consciousness.

  Groaning, he didn’t manage much of anything. At least not much more than twitching around on the ground a little.

  “Ashley?” Chunhua whispered.

  Grunting, Ash tried to voice a response.

  “Nnnnnnggh,” he groaned.

  That alone was too much for him, however. Moving his tongue around at all made him feel like his jaw wasn’t right. Like it was a bag full of broken glass and things were just shifting around.

  And quite painfully.

  “I think he broke your jaw with the slap,” Chunhua murmured quietly. She was practically on top of him, or so he guessed by her voice alone.

  Yeah. Pretty sure he did.

  Broke my damn jaw. Maybe more than that.

  Am I missing teeth?

  Experimentally, Ash tried to touch his molars with his tongue.

  That was also a very bad idea. He found that yes, he was indeed missing some teeth. He had also found that his jaw bone was broken up inside of his mouth.

  I’m really messed up, aren’t I?

  Damnit. I hope Rou can put me back together.

  “If I had my storage treasure, I’d give you some medicine. I bought one… after what happened in the other veil,” Chunhua apologized. “I’m sorry. Bao took it right after he knocked you out.”

  Medicine.

  Medicine!

  I don’t have to wait for Rou.

  Ash felt like his thoughts were beyond sluggish. There was definitely something wrong with his thinking beyond just the never-ending pain of his jaw.

  Hit me so hard.

  Did he take the Hall?

  Closing his hand on itself, Ash could feel the ring right where it should be.

  Didn’t take it or couldn’t see it.

  Doesn’t matter.

  Pulling out a thousand-year-old golden ginseng, Ash encouraged himself to take it. This was a perfect time to use such a rare and expensive pill.

  “How… where did… they didn’t take your storage treasure?” Chunhua asked as Ash managed to force the pill between his lips.

  When it landed on his tongue, he wanted to throw up. Wanted to spit it out and then cut his tongue off.

  The flavor was overwhelming and bordered on rotten.

  Pressing his eyes closed tighter, Ash smashed the pill up against the roof of his mouth with his tongue. It was the best he could do to limit the taste and speed up the dissolving of said abhorrent pill.

  Eventually, Ash gave up on trying to dissolve it. The taste was too unbearable.

  Wiggling the pill to the back of his mouth, he attempted to swallow it.

  Which resulted in the bag of broken glass that was his jaw wobbling around for a second. Followed by the excruciating, yet welcome, feeling of the pill moving down his throat.

  Unfortunately, this also meant that Ash was about to head into the hard part about these kinds of things.

  Pushing everything back together for the pill to work. It wasn’t as if the miraculous healing arts could know where things went.

  Pills weren’t sentient.

  Groaning, Ash turned inward to his Qi Sea.

  Settling into his Meridians from their connection to his Dantian, he began to follow them upward. Up and into his skull.

  The damage was extensive.

  Other than the broken jaw, he clearly had what was likely a concussion, his cheekbone was fractured, and his left eye’s retina had detached itself.

  Letting out a miserable whimper, Ash began the excruciating task of putting all the shattered bits of his jaw back together. Then he had to hold it all in place as the medicine did its work.

  Shivering as he laid there, he could feel tears streaming down the sides of his face.

  His entire world was one of never-endin
g pain and mind-numbing hurt. There was nothing else.

  To the point that he actually partially blacked out.

  Only to awaken again as the pain began to slowly subside.

  Even when he’d slipped into unconsciousness, he’d managed to keep everything together.

  Groaning, Ash’s mouth fell open, the strain of keeping his mouth shut no longer something he could bear.

  “Ash!” Chunhua said, practically atop him once more. “Oh! Oh… it… it doesn’t look as bad. It looks… it looks normal, actually.”

  With a grunt, Ash lifted his hands up and then tentatively felt at the outside of his face. His fingertips slid over smooth unblemished skin. There didn’t seem to be any protrusions, shifting bones, or soreness.

  Using his tongue, he carefully probed at the hinge point of his jaw.

  The teeth were still missing, unfortunately, but the damage was healed. Open sockets were now replaced with healthy gum tissue.

  Poking around with his tongue tip, he quickly tapped his teeth one after the other. Fortunately, he’d apparently only lost a wisdom tooth and a molar.

  Which wasn’t that bad when he thought of how terrible it could have been.

  Ash sat up and got his hands to the ground, bracing himself. Opening his eyes, he inspected his surroundings.

  Chunhua was beside him, and her face held clear concern. He’d bet on her having cried recently, but there was no proof of that now.

  “I think I’m okay,” Ash muttered. Then he shifted his jaw around, moving it back and forth. Everything felt alright. “Yeah. Things feel like they’re in the right places.”

  Throwing her arms around his shoulders silently, Chunhua held him.

  “I didn’t tell them about Na. I was afraid they’d just go kill her. Hopefully, they don’t go exploring before we can get out of here,” Chunhua eventually murmured, her arms still holding him tight.

  Reaching up, he awkwardly patted her on the back.

  “They made me take a pill. My Qi Sea is empty. I can’t cultivate or do anything,” mumbled Chunhua. “It feels like it’ll wear off in time, but… I can’t do anything at all.”

  Ash nodded at that.