Let’s follow it up.
Bowing deeply at the waist, Ashley spoke toward Li-Yong’s feet.
“Master, there is a man in the sect who I must see the demise of. His death must occur and I must make it happen in any way I can,” Ash explained. “I came to you to ask for assistance, guidance, or otherwise.”
“See the demise of? Stand up. Explain yourself,” Li-Yong demanded.
Standing upright, Ash met Li-Yong’s eyes.
“His name is Jie. He is staying at the Horse’s Kick. He killed Yue’s parents, and orphaned her and her brother. Her parents were citizens, and he is a cultivator,” Ash said, gesturing at Yue who stood beside him. “Yue is my alchemist, and has supported me in all things. I must see this man die because of what he’s done to her.”
Li-Yong’s nostrils flared widely at that and he took in a sharp inhalation.
While everyone who’d been retrieved from the Open Hand knew that Ash was responsible for their return, they also knew where the medicine he’d given them originally came from.
That source was Ying Yue, the unlikely master alchemist with little cultivating skills, who was kind to all the older men from the Open Hand and was bound to Ash.
“There’s no one else I could confide in this to, Master Li-Yong,” Ash murmured. “Ying Yue is extremely important to me, and I must see this through. Regardless of what the cost is to me.”
“I will see to this personally,” Li-Yong said with a small smile. “And I’m deeply gratified you sought me out personally and paid me such respect, Ashley Sheng. This… Jie… will not live through the evening. I guarantee you that.”
Then Li-Yong paused and looked at Ying Yue.
“My compliments, Master Alchemist. I will deliver his head to you personally,” Li-Yong murmured and then bowed his head to the young woman.
“Thank you, Master Li-Yong,” Yue said with a wide-eyed look. Then she quickly bowed deeply in return to the older man.
Smirking, Li-Yong walked away with determined steps. He had the look of a man on a mission.
He… was complimented.
“Of course, he was. You didn’t ask him where Gen was, or how to reach Gen. You asked for him personally. You paid him respect, not Gen,” Locke said. “In that entire ordeal, you paid all of that deference to him personally. In front of others.
“Then you admitted it was for Yue. The Master Alchemist of the Sheng Alliance. Found, supported, and nurtured by you. The very same woman who gave him back his cultivation. All that respect paid, a chance to pay back some of his own debt, and a form of revenge that is entirely righteous. The type that will make for stories in the future.
“He’ll kill Jie. In front of anyone who will watch, and carry the head back through the streets to Yue.”
Before Ash could respond or think of what to say, Yue pushed herself against his side, pressed her face to his neck, and hung onto him.
“Thank you, Ashley,” she mumbled against him. “Thank you.”
“Course, Yue. Of course,” Ash said with a soft sigh, laying his arms around her shoulders. “I said I’d do anything to solve it, after all.”
Several hours later, Li-Yong did indeed go to Yue’s home. Ash had decided to hang around Yue’s place just to see what would happen.
The master presented Yue with Jie’s head in an enhanced glass box that would preserve the trophy, and thanked her for allowing him to handle such a thing for her.
To which Yue had broken from what was likely tradition and expectation, and proceeded to hug the older master. Much like a young girl would hug her grandfather.
Looking slightly embarrassed, though gratified, the master had left after being subjected to a long tear-filled hug.
The story of what Li-Yong had done followed him by a few minutes as others came to tell Yue what they’d seen.
Li-Yong had gone straight to the inn from the marketplace, having only stopped at one other stall on his way to purchase the glass box.
He’d found Jie, loudly proclaimed he was going to die for his transgressions against Ying Yue and her family, and then beat him to death.
Then and there in the inn.
There was no challenge beyond that, no allowance, no boasting.
The master had followed through with his statement and killed him. In front of everyone who watched or cared to. In a cold, calm, and calculated way.
As if he were nothing more than a side of beef to be tenderized.
Leaving with the body, he’d casually tossed a few spirit stones into the bloody pool left behind as repayment for the mess.
In its simplicity, it was an ugly story that had little flare in the way of retelling. Direct and bloody punishment for a crime.
When one heard the circumstances around it however, the story took on an aura of righteous justice.
Ash had left once it was obvious Yue was emotionally spent. She’d fallen asleep upright on her couch, the severed head sitting on her coffee table not far away.
Stepping out of Yue’s house, Ash was somewhat surprised to see that the sun was just hitting the horizon. Long shadows were being cast across the street.
The patrols and guards that were ever-present during the day were being replaced by sentries and smaller-numbered groups who would work overnight.
Feels more and more like a defensive fortification.
“Given what happened to Biyu, that’s not incorrect. Now is it, Chosen One? ” Locke asked.
Ash had to concede that point. It wasn’t wrong. They were in somewhat of a locked-down siege situation.
They were more or less at war with the Inner Sect.
“Good evening, Ashley.”
The voice shocked him momentarily out of his thoughts. Looking at the speaker, Ash found Jia standing not far away.
She was dressed in a blue dress that flattered her and would have been awkward at best to move quickly in, let alone spar or train in.
Her hair was pulled up behind her head, and she was even wearing some small pieces of jewelry, as well as eye makeup.
“I… believe you’ve been ambushed. This should be interesting, ” Locke murmured.
You find my love life far too interesting.
“I mean… I don’t have one. I can only live through yours.”
Staring at Jia—a woman who had had his back when he knew her as a man and he was but a citizen—Ash finally came to a conclusion.
“Good evening, Jia Sheng,” replied Ash, placing his hands behind his back and turning toward her. “You look… lovely.”
Smiling, Jia looked down at herself and shifted her hip to one side. Then she turned her gaze back to Ash.
“Why thank you, Ashley Sheng,” Jia murmured. “Would you care to join me for dinner?”
“Indeed. I shall. We could also use this opportunity to speak with your brother, if you like. Or… would you rather see him?” Ash asked. This might be the perfect time to let her see him.
Privately.
Where no one else could eavesdrop on the situation. She could speak to him without anyone judging her for her words.
Jia took in a small sharp breath, then nodded her head.
“Could we?” Jia asked, one hand coming up to touch lightly at the neckline of her dress.
Toss us in. Be ready to pull us back out if they do anything at all.
“As you wish, Chosen One,” Locke mumbled.
And then they were in the Hall. Tai and the Dokkalfar woman were sitting side by side not far away in the grass. They were talking to each other.
Completely unaware of Jia and Ash having just joined them.
“I…” Jia’s voice trailed off as the Dokkalfar woman laid her head on Tai’s shoulder.
To which her brother casually laid an arm around her and said something which made the woman laugh.
“Take us out,” Jia whispered. “Please. Quickly.”
The Dokkalfar woman twitched once and she tilted her head partially to one side.
Then before Ash cou
ld even think to ask Locke to do so, Tai’s head spun around toward them.
His gaze fell on Jia and Ash, and he froze.
“Jia?” Tai asked, not moving away from the Dokkalfar.
The woman slowly turned her head completely toward Ash and Jia. Her dark eyes took in both of them, then dismissed them.
Instead, she leaned back into Tai and laid her head back down upon his shoulder.
“I… wanted to come see you,” Jia said, with a small flutter of her hands in front of herself. Then she began to walk toward Tai and where he sat. “I see the Hall has been treating you well.”
“The Hall. That’s what this place is called?” Tai asked. He hadn’t pulled away from the Dokkalfar at all. In fact, he seemed unashamed in the least to be where he was.
Not that Ash could actually fault the man.
Even he personally couldn’t deny that the woman was impressive to look at.
“Yes, that is what we call it. We have used it as refuge before. As well as storage, training, things of that nature,” Jia said as she came within a normal speaking distance with Tai. “And as a prison, recently.”
“So I’ve come to find out,” Tai murmured and then looked at the Dokkalfar. “This is Ehrinis. Ehrinis, this is my sister Jia.”
“Hello,” grunted the Dokkalfar, not lifting her head from Tai’s shoulder. She seemed unimpressed and unwilling to participate.
“Don’t be grumpy,” Tai said softly, pressing his mouth to the Dokkalfar’s ear.
“Not. Just liked alone,” grumbled Ehrinis. “No leave.”
“Ah,” Tai said, then responded in a few halting words in what sounded like Ehrinis’ own language. To which the woman responded with a small hand chop.
“Ash and I were going to have dinner… would you care to join us?” Jia asked.
Tai looked taken aback at that, but then slowly nodded his head.
“Alright. I would be happy to accept,” Tai said before his eyes turned to his companion. Then he asked her a question in her language.
To which she once more responded with a hand chop and a single word. After a few seconds though, she made a different hand gesture and said a different word that sounded a lot more accepting and neutral.
“She’s angry. She thinks you’re going to free him but not her, or vice versa,” Locke explained. “Then they’ll separate and go their own ways. Him back to his family, her back to her own Veil, or turned into a slave.”
I see.
I see… well. Is it possible for her to cultivate? Does she have a Dantian? Or something that could function in the place of?
Locke was silent even as Jia and Tai began to talk about casual subjects. Ash was only paying attention in a general sense.
“She does actually have a Dantian. It’s similar to Yue’s. It’d need to be widened but it’d function well enough. Her talent is even decent,” Locke answered. “Nothing that would shake the heavens like Chunhua, but… not bad.”
Great… prepare the papers for me on what I need to do to her, and how we train her.
I have a feeling we’ll need the leverage with Tai later.
Because I can’t keep playing the nice guy anymore.
Nice Ash really needs to die. For good this time. No more mercy. No more second chances. No more whatever I was before.
“Conservative, reserved, and lazy. That’d be my description,” Locke said happily.
And how would you feel if I just started singing the same song over and over in my head for the next six hours?
“You’re… a wonderful human being, Chosen One,” Locke amended.
Ash kept a smile on his face and determined he would do his best to enjoy the evening.
Or at least, tolerate it and do so while looking like he was enjoying it.
Because when he looked at Jia, he saw she was ecstatic to talk to her brother. That was likely due to the fact that he wasn’t trying to force her into anything at the moment.
But Tai was still her brother and Ash understood what that meant.
All too well, given what’d happened with his family.
Thirty-One
Groaning, Ash woke up.
His chest ached. Ached like someone was pushing down right in the middle of his sternum.
Wincing, he shifted around under the covers. Inadvertently, he ended up jostling Mei and causing the leg she’d laid over his hip to slide off.
With a soft snore, Mei shifted around in the bed next to him, then grew still again. The shirt she wore to sleep in had slipped partly down her shoulder.
Unfortunately, Ash couldn’t appreciate the beauty that was Mei at the moment.
Feeling like he was having a heart attack, Ash put a hand to his chest and crawled out of the bed.
Locke, what the fuck is going on?
Ash winced and kept his hand to his chest, slowly hobbling out of the bedroom and into the darkened living room.
He was trying to be as quiet as he could. Tala and Moira both had excellent hearing, after all.
“Nothing. There is nothing physically wrong with you,” Locke replied. He sounded frustrated if Ash had to pinpoint the tone. “The closest this resembles to anything is when you first felt your tribulation.”
This is part of the tribulation? Damn.
This is… this is awful.
Shaking his head and trying to get past the feeling of something squeezing his heart in a vise, Ash sat down on the couch.
Groaning, he tilted to one side and slumped over the raised arm, draping himself over it like a blanket. The pressure had turned into a sudden, sharp pain.
As if someone was crushing his heart even as it laid in his chest.
“Dip into your Qi Sea. Now! You need to harden your organs and cultivate as if you were in the middle of a fight!” Locke demanded.
Trying to sit back upright, Ash slid into his Dantian.
The absolute army of statues there in the swirling Sea of Qi was disconcerting to Ash.
But for right now, he was glad they were there. He didn’t feel quite as alone in his living room at this moment.
Pushing down hard on one side of his Qi Sea, Ash forced it into a much faster spin. Ramping it up to where he’d have it swirling if he were in mid-fight.
Immediately, the pain in his chest eased a touch.
Spinning up his Battle Cultivation to full force, Ash began to actively cultivate. Pulling at the surrounding Qi and drawing it inward.
As soon as he felt the crash of unrefined Qi splashing into him, Ash began to cycle everything from his Qi Sea into his Meridians. Then from there into his organs and muscles.
With all of the Qi rushing into him, Ash quickly felt full. Beyond full. As if he would burst.
Clenching his teeth together, he did his best to not consider what he was about to do. Then he tapped into his Dao and the effect it had.
He focused on the idea that he was momentum and, right now, he needed to crash. Crash hard and fast, shattering everything and anything that stood before him.
Focusing on that thought, he shoved up on the bottom of his Qi Sea. Much as the ocean would respond, there was a roar and shudder as a chunk of his Qi rose up into a towering tsunami.
With nowhere to go, however, it crashed into the side of his Dantian and began to curl around the edges. A whirlpool formed that went from the very top to the absolute bottom.
The force being generated began to simply rip the very Qi out of the air and shove it down that vortex.
The crushing, debilitating pain in his chest slowly began to recede. As his Qi Sea burned away with the use of his Dao and was almost instantly replenished by the ambient Qi he was drawing in, Ash could see further and further into the flow of time.
What began with five seconds stretched into ten.
Except, in looking forward, Ash could see the tribulation was going to push back on him. To try and end him right now because of his disregard for the rules of the heavens.
If that is your response to me crashing
, then I shall recede as you engage. I will simply not be there to receive your blow.
Cutting himself free of the force he’d been using to whip up his Qi Sea, Ash watched as the whirlpool faded. The insane force it was generating easily slid into a flat, if swiftly moving, ocean. A far cry from the raging natural wonder it had been.
The next blow from his tribulation was unlike anything Ash had ever felt before. It struck his Qi Sea like a mountain made flat and had been intended to shatter his Dantian to pieces.
But it did nothing.
More like a paddle dipping into water, all it did was make his Qi Sea spin in the opposite direction. None of the force was dissipated and, in fact, it simply allowed Ash to ramp his Qi Sea right back into the vortex once more.
I am momentum.
That is my Dao. I will flow with all things and measure my response.
Now… receive my return.
Feeling a smile curl his lips, Ash did exactly as he did in any fight. He took the attack and redirected it back to where it’d come from.
Aiming it for the vague sense above him where the attack had originated, Ash flung it back. Using his Qi Sea and its spin to impart more force than the blow had come in with.
There was a flash of what felt like tremendous force flying away from him, followed by a detonation he could feel throughout every fiber of his being.
A second after that, a massive backlash of Qi came roaring toward him. The tribulation had been reduced to little more than what it’d been made from.
Qi and elemental energy in equal measure.
Unable to resist what was about to happen, Ash simply didn’t try. Instead, he emptied his Qi Sea. Drained it dry and built a mass of Qi bricks out of it all. Storing them in the Hall the instant they were formed.
Ash felt like he was being washed away. A flood of Qi rushed in even as he pushed more out, but Ash could do nothing else. He was moving with the flow and attempting to compensate.
Then it was over. No further Qi came to him, the pain was gone, and Ash no longer felt in danger.
Letting his Dao drop, he exhaled a shuddering breath, and his head slowly dipped forward.
He was exhausted and worn out. As if he were a washcloth that’d been wrung out by a titan with steel hands.
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