Cultivating Chaos 2

by William D. Arand

  We’ve got nothing?

  “Nothing that would matter. The pills Yue gave you are working to stabilize everything but by the time you’re actually ready to fight, it’s likely to be over,” Locke said.

  Shaking his head, Ash looked out to Mr. Stupid directly across from him.

  Both he and the referee seemed rather pleased with the situation.

  “To be sure. You sacrificed the king for a pawn. I’d be delighted if I were them.”

  And that’s the problem with this place. That’s the problem with all of it.

  Standing up a bit straighter, Ash contemplated his options.

  Fine.

  Fine. This is fine. I can do this.

  Because… because what I am, is momentum. What I am is the flow of things.

  To be formless and shapeless.

  Letting his hands open, Ash emptied his mind and let himself relax. To the point where he felt as loose as he could be.

  “Are both contestants ready?” the referee asked.

  “Yes!” shouted Mr. Stupid.

  Ash didn’t respond. Instead, he stood there waiting.

  He would be flowing water and take control of the fight one incremental change at a time.

  The referee glared at Ash for several seconds before he held up a hand.

  “Begin!” he shouted.

  Mr. Stupid walked over to Ash with a big grin on his face. He wasn’t taking this seriously at all and it was apparent to everyone watching.

  Standing there, Ash waited. He didn’t act, didn’t move, and didn’t twitch.

  His goal was to control the momentum and flow.

  And bend it to his will.

  Mr. Stupid launched a punch at Ash which felt like it could set the air on fire with the speed and force of it.

  Using as little Essence as required, Ash used Spring Step to guide the blow away from himself. Redirecting the whole attack exactly as Ash’s ability allowed him to.

  Moving with the attack, he took a step to the left. Touching his hand to his chest, he set the Qi Chain there. Instantly, he felt Qi begin to wash into him from Mr. Stupid.

  Ash went still again, his hands up in front of himself.

  Mr. Stupid apparently thought that was funny and swung out with another wild punch with a laugh.

  Stepping into the blow, Ash brought his wrists up and sent the blow searing through the air just above his shoulder.

  Reaching out, Ash tapped Mr. Stupid in the middle of the chest with an unpowered blow and then moved to the right. Passing his foe and moving into a defense pose once again.

  Tapping his hands to his own chest, Ash felt the flow of Qi increasing.

  Dumping endlessly into his very empty and hungry Dantian.

  We will flow, like water. And curve—

  Mr. Stupid grunted and threw out a heavy kick aimed at Ash’s head.

  Or bend.

  Moving his waist, Ash went under the leg, redirecting it a bit higher with a casual brush of his forearm. As Mr. Stupid went by, Ash simply returned to his stance and stood there.

  Waiting.

  And as we focus on the whole…

  Taking a step back, Mr. Stupid brought his arm back and flung out a pure deluge of force at Ash.

  We can take in the individual pieces as they come and change them.

  Making a slow and almost lazy attack against the wave of energy with his left hand, Ash took a step back and threw out his right hand. He took in the entirety of the attack and simply diverted it right back.

  Nothing lost, nothing gained—an equal exchange.

  Preserving the momentum.

  Though, there was a rather large Qi Chain dangling off the back of it.

  Mr. Stupid smashed the entire attack to one side as if it were little more than a flimsy cardboard box.

  Touching the chain to his waist, Ash stood there, waiting once more.

  Qi was flowing into him steadily, giving him power that he sorely needed right now. Even if it wasn’t as dense as he was used to, it was working just fine for his needs.

  Letting out a slow breath, Ash shook out the tension he’d built up and then looked at Mr. Stupid.

  Roaring at the top of his lungs, Mr. Stupid charged forward again.

  Receiving him, Ash took the first heavy blow and let it glide by him. Then deflected the second, the third, and the fourth.

  Attack after attack sped at him with increasing speed as Mr. Stupid worked through whatever series of blows he’d put together into a combination.

  Ash flowed around them, tapped them to one side, and never allowed anything to actually hit him. Nor did he block anything that was thrown his way.

  Everything was altered but allowed to continue.

  I am momentum. I am the tide that can flow or crash.

  Unexpectedly, Mr. Stupid launched a close-range Qi attack that was very similar to his blast wave.

  Ash couldn’t dodge it, and so he didn’t.

  He struck it dead center with a blow from his palm.

  Detonating into Mr. Stupid’s gut, the blow knocked the man’s feet out from under him. Landing face first in the dirt, Mr. Stupid bounced once and then rolled to the side several times.

  And so we crash.

  Once more, Ash merely patted himself gently, attaching all the chains he’d gained. The amount of Qi that was splashing into his Dantian was massive now.

  No one was reacting to the mass of chains that were streaming out of Mr. Stupid. As if they didn’t exist at all.

  As if no one could see them.

  You’re going to die today, Mr. Stupid. And not even know how or why.

  Allowing himself a small smile, Ash pulled down on his uniform, adjusting it, and went into a defensive stance once more.

  To flow as inevitably as the ocean. To be what can’t be stopped.

  Inevitable as the future. To flow like… like…

  To flow… to flow like time?

  Ash felt like the entire world came to a heart-wrenching stop in that exact moment. His skin prickled, his sweat went ice cold, and his middle Dantian shuddered inside him.

  Time flows.

  Gasping softly, Ash took in a shuddering breath.

  In his mind’s eye, he could see Mr. Stupid getting up and rushing him with an attack that was more like a blade of energy. Aimed for Ash’s stomach.

  Moving ahead of that shadow, Ash reacted without thinking or considering what was happening.

  Stepping to the side, he struck Mr. Stupid’s arm several times in rapid succession.

  Ash watched the blade dip away. Mr. Stupid then prepared to bring his rear leg up in a roundhouse kick, so Ash shifted again.

  Before his opponent had moved, Ash was positioned next to him. Using almost no force, Ash simply raised his arm and angled it.

  There was an ugly crunch as Mr. Stupid’s nose was almost impaled on Ash’s elbow.

  Ash saw Mr. Stupid stumble backward, throwing out both hands in a massive Qi blast attack. A blast identical to the one he’d used on Mei.

  Following him as he went, Ash reached out with both hands and slapped them into Mr. Stupid’s. Like he was giving him a double high five.

  At the moment he’d done so, Ash had reversed the entire flow of Qi that Mr. Stupid had built up. Sending it right back into his body.

  In a massive detonation of Essence, Mr. Stupid’s arms vanished up to the elbow. A bloody ruin of meat, blood, and bone fell to the ground around him in a semi-circle.

  Screeching at the top of his lungs, Mr. Stupid fell to the ground, his ruined stumps coming up in front of himself as if he were trying to touch his hands to one another.

  “And now that the moment has come, I hope you reflect on it,” Ash said during the screaming. Bowing his head incrementally, Ash tapped the newest Qi Chains to his chest and then slowly began to walk away from his defeated opponent.

  Looking up to the crowd, Ash cleared his throat.

  “Everyone remember this moment,” Ash said loudly. “Because th
is is the moment I’m telling all of you to not get in my way. You may assist me, or be neutral, but do not get in my way. Remember this moment.”

  Letting his eyes fall back to the arena, Ash kept walking.

  He didn’t dismiss his Qi Chains.

  Walking over to where Rou was tending to her patient, Ash gave Mei a quick once-over. She was still unconscious, but she definitely appeared to be considerably better.

  Sitting down next to her, Ash leaned into her partially and then looked towards the arena.

  The referee—and several older men and women Ash didn’t know—were working on Mr. Stupid. Putting his arms back together as if there’d been nothing wrong at all.

  “Too bad for you,” Ash said, the mass of chains almost blocking his view of the situation, “that you didn’t listen.”

  “Ten seconds before he runs out of Qi,” Locke said suddenly.

  Ash nodded his head and did nothing.

  “Three seconds,” Locke prompted.

  Watching, Ash was curious if he could see what death would look like coming his way on the Qi Chains.

  Mr. Stupid went completely empty. He let out a slow breath, then collapsed forward into the ground.

  Unmoving.

  The Qi Chains slowly turned golden in color for several seconds and then cut off abruptly.

  “Processing gains. This’ll take a while. He was a lot stronger than one would expect,” Locke said, the death of their opponent meaning about as much to him as an interesting math problem.

  Ash sniffed once, closed his eyes, and laid his head down on Mei’s shoulder.

  Thirteen

  The sounds of raised voices jolted Ash awake. Voices that sounded extremely angry and seemed to be almost directly over his head.

  Soft hands were pressed to his forehead and his shoulder. He could feel warmth traveling in through his head and leaving through his shoulder.

  Cracking his eyes open, he managed to peer upward. He found Rou hovering over him a few inches away.

  Her eyes were closed and she seemed entirely dedicated to her task. Which was apparently healing him.

  Rou’s eyes flicked open and met his own. Staring at him as he stared at her.

  “Oh, hello. I’m afraid the breaks are… well… re-broken,” Rou murmured. “I’ve got them back together again, but you’ll need to be very careful for a while. I can’t do much more than what I’ve done already.”

  “Got it. Thank—”

  “Move, little girl, before I remove your head,” shouted a voice beyond Rou.

  “If you so much as lay a hand on me, I will simply go to the sect leader to discuss this. I believe I am still owed a trip to the treasury to pick an item for my assistance,” shouted Jia. “I will be certain to discuss this matter with him at that time. Though I think Master Gen will want to discuss it first.”

  “As if I care. You’ve brought this upon yourself. Golden Fl—”

  “That’s enough,” came a firm, papery-thin voice. Following along with it was a sharp whip-crack, like sound that detonated through the air.

  A yelp in response, followed by cursing, was quite audible.

  Leaning to the side, away from Mei, Ash tried to peer around Rou, who was still working on him.

  “Stop moving,” Rou commanded.

  Just beyond Rou, stood Jia in front of the referee. The man was shaking his hands out as if they’d been burned by something. Walking quickly toward them, and not even bothering to use his cane, was Gen.

  There was an evil glint in his eyes and black smudges on his face that looked like soot.

  “I do not believe I gave permission for this bout to commence, yet here I see not only has one fight happened, but two, and now a disciple is dead,” Gen declared, marching straight for the referee. “I believe you’ll need to be punished for breaking Outer Sect commands while visiting.”

  Growling, the referee looked up at Gen and was clearly contemplating attacking the older man.

  “Do be so kind as to try it,” Gen said, coming to a stop next to Jia. “It would make it easier for me to justify tearing one of your arms off as payment for a treasured disciple dying.”

  Treasured, my asshole.

  “Admittedly. But Gen plays the game rather well,” Locke said. “Certainly far better than you could ever manage, Chosen One. You can’t even figure out your own harem. I think I’ll have grown it accidentally by another twenty women by the time you choose who to allow into your bed next.”

  What? Why!?

  I don’t want any more women in my life. Or need any more.

  Harems are dumb and seem like a lot of work.

  “Yes, but—”

  Another detonation of sound broke Ash out of his thoughts. The referee was now lying on the ground and standing over him was Gen, who peered down at the fallen man as if he were a bug to be inspected.

  “That it, then?” Gen asked, using his cane to poke at the back of the referee’s head twice. “So it seems.”

  Lifting his cane up, he slammed the tip of it through the back of the man’s left shoulder joint. With a wet squelching noise, Gen wrenched it to the side.

  “Ah, success. It came out mostly intact,” Gen said. Reaching down, the older man jerked at the man’s sleeve, tearing the arm the rest of the way free. “I believe I shall hang this on the entrance from the Inner Sect to the Outer Sect. A lovely reminder.

  “Position does not dictate strength, strength dictates position. And in this case… you shouldn’t have come here.”

  Peering at the arm, Gen seemed to be considering something.

  “Or perhaps I could use your arm bones to fashion a new cane. This one seems to have suffered some harm,” Gen said, turning his eyes to his cane. “Then again, who knows? Someone as weak as you are might not have the bones required to hold me up.”

  “What have you done!?” screamed a male voice from the other side of the arena.

  “Mmm? Meted out justice according to my rules here in the Outer Sect,” Gen said, turning his head and eyes toward the voice. “Especially for one who disobeyed a master and then attempted to strike them. Why?”

  Sitting up straight, Ash tried to see who was talking. He thought it was Peng, but he wasn’t sure.

  “Stop moving,” Rou hissed at him, pulling her hand off his forehead to lightly smack the side of his cheek. “Stop it, now.”

  Suitably chastised, Ash frowned and sunk into himself.

  “Sorry, Rou,” Ash muttered, letting his eyes move back to Gen. He honestly wasn’t trying to make her job any harder than it already was.

  Shaking her head, Rou looked rather annoyed but didn’t seem to want to press the subject.

  “—not your place to do such a thing!” shouted Master Peng, coming into view.

  “Of course, it is. I’m Gen, and this is the Outer Sect. Not the Inner. Out here, you are but a guest. You do not hold any special privileges with Master Zha, and I am in charge. Do you think my name is Gen Deng? It’s not. It’s Gen Sheng,” Gen stated rather calmly. “Unless you’d care to test me as your crony did. Maybe I could make a cane out of your arm bone instead. I think it would be suitably stronger than his.”

  The Inner Sect master was glaring at Gen as though he were the only thing in Peng’s entire life that he’d fought against and lost.

  “As I warned your little puppet here,” Gen said, tapping the side of his fractured cane against the head of the downed master. “You’re welcome to try me. It’d make it much easier to justify. Ah… yes. A perfect time for the Sheng battle cry. Remember this moment.”

  Smiling with a wolf-like grin, Gen stood there. Waiting.

  More and more masters of the Inner Sect were joining Peng. All the guests who’d come to the Outer Sect to witness the tournament were filling in the ranks behind him.

  “Don’t fret, Chosen One,” Locke said. “The Open Hand security members are spreading out in every direction. More are coming, as well.

  “Gen will not be alone if something we
re to occur.”

  That’s not really the issue, though. Ya know? If something did kick off, Gen could get hurt. Or we could be killed out of hand.

  “Can I stand up?” Ash asked.

  “I’d rather you didn’t,” Rou muttered. “I’m almost certain that you’d end up breaking something. Must you?”

  “Pretty sure we’re about to get drenched in a bloodbath. Need to get out of here,” Ash explained.

  “What? We—” Rou paused to look over her shoulder. Looking back to Ash, she nodded her head. Then she pressed in close to him, wrapped an arm around his hips, and dragged him up to his feet. “Okay. Lean on me.”

  “What about Me—”

  “I have her,” Jia said, standing up. Mei was being carried over her shoulders in what Ash would call a fireman’s carry.

  “You! Stop right there,” Peng called. “You must stay and pay for your crimes.”

  “What crimes?” Gen asked. “An Outer Sect disciple was killed by another Outer Sect disciple in an Outer Sect tournament.

  “The only crime here is this lump of pig shit at my feet that failed as a referee. I have two injured disciples and a dead one. Or are you saying… that… Bartek was of some relation to you that I did not know of?”

  Peng didn’t respond to that. Instead, he stood there, watching Ash as a predator would prey.

  “Say… Peng… Where were you during the Deng uprising?” Gen asked suddenly. “We didn’t see much of the Inner Sect during the ordeal. Even though there were problems all over the Outer Sect and even in the Sacred Halls.”

  Peng’s brows shot down at that and his eyes moved back to Gen.

  Didn’t we talk about that? That there was no way this could have happened without the Inner Sect knowing?

  “Indeed, and it was correct. But it is one thing to suppose it, it’s another to say it. Aloud. To someone’s face,” Locke said.

  Yeah. Time to… time to leave.

  Turning, Ash began to hobble away, Rou holding tight to him and forcing him to stay at her side.

  An older woman stepped out of the crowd, directly in front of Ash, and blocked his way.

  “I think we should discuss this at length,” Peng said.

  “Perhaps we should at that,” said Master Zha, stepping up to the woman in front of Ash and shoving her bodily out of the way. “Though I think there are a few disciples who should be returning home first.