Cultivating Chaos

by William D. Arand

  Mei frowned, her cracked and scabbed lips making it look gruesome.

  “Because the further I could get from the clan, the better off I would be. And the furthest I can go is practically next door to you,” Mei said. “I’m not asking anything of you.”

  The silence immediately afterward was heavy. Everyone was watching either Mei or Ash.

  Mei’s head drooped a fraction.

  “Though I truly appreciate what you did for me. I would have fought them. Fought them all,” Mei said.

  “You would have died,” Tala said firmly.

  Mei didn’t argue that point.

  “I didn’t think my chances of surviving the week were very high to begin with,” Mei said.

  “Everything I’m sensing, and what I can determine, is telling me she’s speaking the truth.

  “It seems that the Deng clan is using her as an example of what happens to failures,” Locke said. “Though corporal punishment has never been that effective when attempting to ensure obedience in a situation where the outcome is out of their hands.”

  “We cannot let you remain here on Sheng Street in house three,” Jia said. “Given your previous allegiance, it would not do well for us.”

  Mei’s lips pressed together tightly. Then she bobbed her head, closing her one good eye.

  “I thought that might be the case,” she said.

  “Just have her swear herself to Ash’s alliance,” Moira interjected. “We wanted to build one, did we not? Start with her. Have her swear on her own cultivation.”

  “Swear to an alliance?” Mei asked. “What’s the goal?”

  “Destroy the Deng clan,” Yue said. “Destroy them at every level. Our master wishes the same. Master Gen.”

  “Gen… yes, I could easily see that. What would be required of me?” Mei asked, her single eye focusing in on Ash again.

  “Nothing outside of the ordinary. Support the alliance and its members in our goals. Don’t speak of what goes on in our alliance to others. Don’t betray us or seek to subvert our goals in any way,” Ash said. “And… I think I could accept an oath from you on your own cultivation to join the alliance.”

  At least, I think I can.

  It’s a rather deep-seated ruse if they went so far as to kick the crap out of her just to get her close to me.

  I might be a problem for them, but I doubt they’d go this far. And an oath on her cultivation would bind her quite firmly.

  “Nothing perverse would be required?” Mei asked suddenly. “You seemed quite intent to… to see my petals, as you called them.”

  Suddenly all eyes were on Ash.

  Shit.

  “Hah. That’s what you get, Chosen One,” Locke gloated.

  “I said all that as a ploy to anger you,” Ash said, holding his hands up in front of himself. “I had no designs on you otherwise.”

  Mei licked her lips and then smiled with one side of her mouth.

  “I assumed so, since you turned down that man’s offer. Then I’ll swear to your alliance then,” Mei said.

  Ash reached into his storage ring and pulled out several high-grade medicinal pills. Enough to bring her back to full health in a day.

  “Then take these, and let’s get your oath squared away. Can’t have you bleeding all over my house. I just had all the furniture replaced recently.”

  Twenty-Nine

  Ash sat down at a table, laying the book in front of himself.

  Looking around at the library’s interior, he took in a slow breath.

  As usual, no one was here. The library was almost always abandoned.

  Forgotten, even.

  Most everyone in the sect was so determined to get things done that few seemed to take any pleasure in reading.

  Cracking open the book, Ash got comfortable and started to read. He had some time before anyone was supposed to show up.

  “What’re you reading?” asked a smooth and aristocratic voice.

  Glancing up from the pages, he found Mei leaning over his shoulder.

  “Oh, just a book of fairy tales. As an outlander, much of the culture is still lost on me.

  “Stuff like children’s books, fairy tales, and legends help me understand it better,” Ash said.

  Leaning back in his chair to get a better look at Mei, he checked her out head to toe.

  Her face was completely healed. All traces of the dreadful attack she had suffered were gone.

  Reaching out, he took the arm she’d broken in hand and gently pressed at the bone. She didn’t flinch away, nor did anything seem to shift at his touch.

  “Scan shows that while her liver and kidneys still have quite a bit of extra work to do, all functions are normal.

  “She is in prime condition, all biometrics normal,” Locke said.

  “What are you doing?” Mei asked. She looked startled at his sudden touch, but she didn’t pull away from him.

  “Sorry, was checking your arm. It was broken yesterday; today it isn’t. And your face is back to normal,” Ash said, peering at her face intently for a second. “I’m glad. It would have been a shame for you to have suffered anything permanent.”

  Mei blinked several times, her cheeks slowly turning red.

  “Your words are not without meaning. You should watch them, or you’ll give your women the wrong impression,” Mei said.

  “What, that you’re beautiful?” Ash asked, releasing her arm. “Even a dead man would admit that. If they’re too blind to see that then I don’t know what to tell ya.”

  Turning back to his book, Ash tried to find where he’d left off.

  “Thank you for the compliment,” Mei said softly, then sat down next to him. “So, are they?”

  “Mm? Are they what?” Ash said, finding his place.

  “Your women,” Mei clarified, crossing one leg over the other and leaning her side into the table.

  Frowning for a second, Ash looked to Mei. “Why?”

  “The dynamics are… odd,” Mei said after a second. “Merely trying to figure out where things stand. It’s not as if having multiple spouses is abnormal.

  “My mother has five husbands, and my grandmother six.”

  “Hm. My understanding is one tends to need a significant amount of influence or power to have that many,” Ash said.

  Mei gave him a sweet smile and tapped the table with one long fingernail. “Are they your women?”

  Ash sighed at being unable to change the subject. Maybe if he laid everything out for her, she could be a sounding board for him.

  Maybe even help me figure some things out.

  “Moira and I seek companionship in one another, but that’s all. Yue worships me to a degree. I think she sees me as some type of savior,” Ash said with a small shake of his head. “Tala is… I don’t know what she is. She just stays away from me so far. Jia tests me. She likes to push and see where I’ll go with it, and sometimes I flirt with her. It’s fun, but nothing more than that.”

  “Ah… so… one is your woman, two will become so eventually, and the third is a question mark,” Mei said, looking thoughtful. One finger was tapping lightly at her chin. “That puts things into perspective.”

  “How so?” Ash asked, curious now.

  “Never you mind,” Mei said, giving him a wide smile. “Though it’s a bit refreshing to find someone who is well aware of what’s going on around him. And isn’t too interested in being a cultivator to care.”

  “Huh… well, yeah. I mean, yeah, I want to become stronger, but in the same breath… what’s the damn point if I don’t enjoy myself? Sure, stronger—great. But that’s a treadmill,” Ash said, putting his elbow on the table and turning to face Mei completely. “At what point I get off the treadmill really comes down to who’s with me, doesn’t it? I’m not in it to become the greatest, the peak of humanity. Just enough so I don’t have to worry about me and mine.”

  “That’s… incredibly rational. My mother would call you a fool. It’s obvious you have great potential.


  “And after my brief chat with Moira, it would seem you’re a Fated One,” Mei said, her eyes focused intently on him.

  Moira trusted her rather easily, didn’t she?

  “I actually have no idea about that. I’m an outlander for sure, and I’m not part of this veil,” Ash said.

  “But you have a Dantian. You can cultivate.”

  “Ah, yes. That’s true. I do and I can.”

  “And you activated Moira’s mana pools,” Mei said, her eyes locked tight on him.

  “Ah… yes.”

  “You popped open Tala’s ability in this veil as well.”

  “Yes.”

  “You cracked Yue’s Dantian and it’s now active, despite it not having been large enough to open on its own.”

  “Yeah.”

  “All of Jia’s, Yue’s, and Tala’s abilities were given to them by you. Including Yue’s extraordinary alchemist’s knowledge.”

  “Uh… yeah.”

  Mei nodded slowly, watching him with a predator’s gaze.

  “What would you say if I told you I’m beginning to consider this the greatest turning point in my life, instead of the lowest point?” Mei asked.

  Before Ash could answer, Moira dropped down in the chair on the other side of him. She gave him a smile and then looked to Mei.

  “I’d say you were smart and fortunate,” said the Owl woman. “Though best you keep that talk to yourself for now. The others will trust you in time because Ash does, but not yet.”

  Mei finally broke eye contact with Ash and looked to Moira. Then she nodded.

  “Thank you for the advice. Your eyes are rather lovely—did you know that?”

  Moira grinned and gently pushed Ash back into his seat.

  “I’m pleased that you like them. They were admired far and wide back in my own veil.”

  “If you don’t mind, could you tell me about it? Precious few outlanders seem willing to talk about their life before.”

  Ash tuned himself out of their conversation. It had nothing to do with him.

  Besides, he wanted to read his book.

  ***

  “It would seem the number of disciples I’m going to have has increased again,” Gen said, once again materializing from thin air. As if he’d always been there.

  “Ah… yes,” Ash said, taking the lead. “Mei Ling is no longer of the Deng clan; she’s one of us. She’s sworn herself to my cause on her own cultivation. Voluntarily.”

  Gen raised his eyebrows at that, looking to Mei.

  “Truly? Given your background, that seems… unlikely,” Gen said, his tone gentle but firm.

  “Yes, Master Gen. I would ask you to take me in as your disciple,” Mei said, standing up and pressing her fists together. She bowed her head over her hands toward him. “Everything Ash has said is true. I’ve been disinherited. Completely.”

  “My, my. They were quite cross with you for not stopping him,” Gen said after a second. “Yes, I’ll take you on. That isn’t a problem.

  “It’ll make the very souls of the Deng clan itch that I’ve done it, and for that alone I’ll say yes.”

  Mei dipped her head further toward Gen, then sat back down next to Ash.

  There’s clearly more to that. I should ask her later if I get the opportunity.

  Gen looked to Moira and Tala, and then to Ash.

  “I take it you did something to them?” Gen asked. “They radiate power. They are not unpowered outlanders.”

  “Ah… yes,” Ash said.

  “We should register them as weapons. You’re allowed three as an Outer Sect disciple. I registered your butterfly swords for you earlier. If you register those two in the same way, they can fight with you,” Gen said. “If that’s what they want you to do? It would seem you treat them as equals rather than property.”

  “Yes, register me,” Moira said immediately.

  “I will deign to allow you to claim me as your weapon,” Tala said at the same time.

  Gen nodded at their responses. “I’ll take care of it, then.

  “Now, on to the business at hand. You seem like a smart bunch of kids. Have you figured out just how far this is going to go?”

  Everyone looked around at each other for a second.

  “We assumed this would not end until either we or the Deng clan is eliminated, or the power of one party is completely neutralized,” Jia said.

  “And when one breaks the other financially,” Yue added. “It won’t just be a simple matter of conquest.”

  “Let’s not forget that the Inner Sect and the elder’s circle also all have their Deng family members’ support,” Mei said. “From what I could see of their plans… this has been a long time in the making, and it’s unlikely a simple setback will stop them.”

  Gen had been following along with his eyes as each person spoke.

  Finally, after Mei finished, he nodded his head once.

  “Only too true. All of that. This isn’t a simple tiff between clans. This is a full-on war to the death now. We need allies,” Gen said.

  “We were thinking about that,” Ash said. “We’ve been considering who to ally with in the Outer Sect itself amongst the disciples.”

  Gen grimaced but nodded at Ash’s words. “A good idea, but not enough, honestly.

  “There is nothing we can possibly do in the Outer Sect at this time that could change their momentum immediately.”

  Gen said it as gently as he could, but the sting was clearly felt by everyone there. It was honest, but it still hurt.

  “We can play the long game and frustrate their plans. Exam by exam, tournament by tournament, and slowly collect power. Developing our foundation and working toward ending the Deng problem. Or…” Gen paused in his speech, holding his hands out to the others. “We go for an early knock-out blow.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Jia asked. “I do not think you would say such a thing without a firm plan to back it up.”

  Gen smiled at Jia and tapped his thumb against his cane.

  “Yes. Yes indeed. I do have a plan, but it involves taking you all out with me on a journey. A journey that will take some time and will have a number of dangers associated with it,” Gen said. “Least of which being that if the Deng family uncovers our plans before we can execute them, we could end up facing down a number of their spirit refiners out in the wilds between cities.

  “I do not think we’d have any chance of surviving that.”

  Mei sucked in a breath, then opened her mouth and let it out in a slow exhalation.

  “I want to argue with you that they wouldn’t do that,” Mei said. “But… I think they would, given how they treated me for failing in my duties.

  “This isn’t a simple grudge for them. This seems to be a life-and-death task to someone seated high in the clan.”

  “That’s our risk, then?” Yue asked, looking to Ash. “If that’s the risk, we can simply disguise ourselves as a merchant train. I have more than enough favors owed to me already that I could manage an anonymous merchant train with us on board.

  “We could slip out of the sect before anyone even noticed we were gone.”

  “Mmm, I like the sound of it,” Moira said. “It’d also be a chance to move some of Ash’s papers, would it not?”

  “Ah! That’s a very good idea. We could drop by in a city on the way and take care of a few matters and restock,” Yue said, smiling at Moira. “That’d help us greatly.”

  Tala grunted, her blade rattling as she grabbed it with one hand and shifted it around. “I agree that I like the idea as a whole, but I feel as if we’re missing something. If they find us no longer here the next day, won’t they simply go looking for us?

  “They are not fools, as much as we’d wish them to be. Could we perhaps leave a hidden trail that is easier to find than the real one? Something they’d have to dig a bit for, but could still find?

  “When laying a trap, or false information, the best way is when they have to work to get it. It makes them feel
like it’s that much less likely to be false, since they had to earn it.”

  Heads around the room began to bob at that.

  “Ah… I could…” Mei said, licking her lips. “I could… leak some false information at a dead-drop location. Make it seem as if I’m trying to worm my way back into the clan.”

  Ash looked to Mei and raised his eyebrows at her. “You’d be willing to do that? I won’t lie that I was hoping to pump you for information about the Deng family, but I wasn’t going to ask either.”

  Mei smirked at him, as if he’d said something amusing. “Yes, well, you’ll not have to try too hard. I’m more than willing to share, and I’ll give you whatever I have.

  “The only problem is there is no guarantee they’ll trust the info I give them. It’s quite possible they could take it as exactly what it is—a diversion.”

  “What if we combined it with something else?” Jia said. “Something they would have to dig to find, as Tala said, that would in some way corroborate the story without directly saying so.”

  Yue sighed and pressed a hand to her head.

  “I could act the innocent young merchant role, which seems to go far here, and buy some maps to whatever location Mei has us pegged for. Maps, route guides, information about what to expect.

  “It’d cost some coin, but it’d lay a decent trail of misinformation, I think.”

  Gen thumped his cane once to the ground. “I personally like that line of thinking. Having it come from two locations—one a leak, the other scrounged information—would be more likely to sell it to them. Just make sure you make it seem that we’re traveling as a party rather than a merchant caravan for the false direction. No sense in giving them a real clue if we don’t have to.”

  Yue nodded her head at that, scratching at her temple. “I hate acting the part. It demeans me.”

  “And enriches the rest of us,” Ash said, smiling at her. “Thank you for that.”

  Yue ducked her head, her eyes flitting away from Ash. “Of course.”

  “Ah… this is all a bit of a moot issue, though. I need to confirm a few things first,” Gen said, getting their attention again.

  “The pills you gave me were from you, Yue. Would those be hard to procure again?”