Cultivating Chaos

by William D. Arand

  “Fine, have it your way. As an elder, I can’t interfere in matters beneath my rank.

  “So, Bo, break her arms and capture the slaves,” said the old man, gesturing behind himself.

  Stepping further into the store, Ash saw two men standing off to one side.

  He recognized one of them.

  It was the little runt he’d thrashed outside Yan’s house. He’d taken two steps forward toward Yue at the older man’s command.

  His name is Bo. A good thing to know.

  “Break her arms? Capture my friends?” Ash said, tapping the spine of one butterfly sword against the other. It made a lovely chime like noise that belied the threat of violence. “I’ll break everything from your shoulders to your fingers, then sell you to a mill so you can work like a donkey.

  “And I’m surprised to see you up and moving, Bo. Last time I saw you, I turned your knee and elbow inside out.”

  The three men turned to look at Ash.

  “You?” asked the elder. “You’re the one who harmed Bo?”

  “Yes, Elder. I am. I defeated him in a challenge fairly,” Ash said. He immediately disliked this man, who reminded him intensely of Elder Shin. “Though I’m curious why you’re attempting to interfere in a citizen’s store?”

  “That doesn’t concern you,” said the elder. He folded his arms in front of himself, seeming to try and radiate the persona of an elder.

  “It most certainly does. I’m her friend, and she came here with me. I’ll make sure her business is my business.

  “Honored Elder, how would you like to proceed?” Ash asked.

  The elder, Bo, and the unnamed man realized the whole situation was at an impasse.

  There were only a few paths forward. Most of them required the elder and his party to back down, and the last was to get into a full-on fight to the death.

  And how would you cover up murdering three students, two slaves, and a merchant, all with an audience outside?

  Snorting derisively, the elder waved a hand dismissively at Ash.

  “Stay then. I’ll make sure no one comes to buy anything here. The Deng family markets will crush you until there is nothing left.

  “I care not. It’ll take slightly more effort, but the end result is the same.

  “Consider yourself an enemy of the Deng family, young man,” Elder Deng said.

  “Likewise, Elder Deng,” Ash said, unwilling to back down in the slightest.

  Saying nothing further, the three intruders left the store.

  When the door clicked, Yue slumped into herself, her small shoulders drooping.

  “Goodness, that was terrifying,” she said.

  Chuckling, Ash sheathed his blades and walked over to her.

  “Could have fooled me. You were fairly impressive,” he said.

  Shrugging, she peered up at him. “In the streets, a lot of it came down to bluster and bravado.

  “Fight for what you have, bluff your way out, or get killed or raped. Or both,” she said. “Fat lot of good all that will do me, though. If he truly can control the markets, I’ll be driven out fairly quickly.”

  Smiling confidently, Ash dropped a hand on her shoulder.

  “You’re an impressive little lady. I have no doubt in your ability to overcome this. Besides, I think I have a few ideas we can use to make your store unique. So unique that they can’t simply run you over.

  “But that’s for another time. I have a different proposition for you now.”

  “Proposition?” Yue asked, her tone puzzled.

  “Would you like to be a cultivator?”

  “I… I can’t. In the evaluation, they determined my Dantian isn’t big enough. By the time I got it open, I’d be past my childbearing days,” Yue said, her brows drawing down over her eyes.

  “I can open your Dantian. Here and now. And then provide you with everything you’d need to know to get moving.

  “I don’t think you’ll be that far behind, from what I can gather. It really is just a smidgen too small. I know you’ll be better than the average cultivator just based on who you are, and that’s without some high-class abilities,” Ash said, still smiling at her.

  “Will… will it hurt? Do you have to go inside me or…?”

  “A small cut on your stomach. No bigger than your thumb. It will scar you permanently, but it’ll pop your Dantian open as if it’d been open for years.”

  “And… you can give me abilities? Like what you did with Jia?”

  “I already have them written up for you.”

  “Alright. What should I do?”

  “Wait for a second,” Ash said and patted her shoulder. Turning his head, he looked to Tala.

  The Rabbit woman’s shoulders squared up as his eyes landed on her.

  “What do you want? Going to demand something of me now? Tell me to join you in your bed?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest. “I’ll kill you first.”

  “Uh… no. I was going to offer to have your powers restored. That and even offer you some new abilities that would work with your power and source,” Ash said.

  “Ah, somewhat like my own situation?” Moira asked.

  “Exactly. I’d have to do the same thing to her that I did to you, though. I’ll let you talk to her about what that entails.”

  “I’m right here. Talk to me, not her,” Tala grumped, shaking her head, black hair fluttering around her.

  She’d be lovely if she wasn’t awful.

  “Ok, Tala, ask Moira about what it entails to get your power back. It isn’t fun, but I can do it in a day. Today, in fact.

  “Considering I’ll be working on Yue, I’d prefer to do it today anyways.”

  Tala sniffed, her nose twitching. One of her tall ears swiveled one way and then back toward him.

  She didn’t seem like she was going to even ask what was going on. Probably due to her pride.

  “Fine. I’ll let you do this thing to me as a service,” she said.

  “Great, last but not least,” Ash said and then turned his head the other way, looking back to Yan. “Yan, have you decided? I can puncture your Dantian at the same time I work on the others if you like. Yours won’t leave any scar tissue, since it’s not meant to last.”

  “Ash, are you sure this’ll work? If you tell me it’ll work, I’ll do it. I trust you,” she said. “You’ve always done right, even if your anger gets the best of you when your friends and family are involved.”

  Always managing to slip in an older sister’s correction.

  “It’ll work, Yan.”

  “Then yes.”

  Ash pulled his hand from Yue’s shoulder and then pulled out his sleeping bag from his ring. He set it flat into the middle of the store.

  “Yan, go ahead and ah… you’ll need to expose your midriff. Please then lie down on the bed once you’re ready for me,” Ash said.

  Turning his back to the other women, he started to pull out all his tools.

  “Locke, could we create a sheet to teach Yue everything in alchemy? She already meets the prerequisite of having Wood elemental Qi,” Ash said, as softly as he could manage.

  “Yes. In truth this would be ideal for her, to offset her smaller Dantian. Pills and elixirs would greatly improve her strengths and cover her weaknesses.”

  “Do it,” Ash whispered and pulled out several sheets of paper.

  Under Locke’s guidance, the Hall’s knowledge on alchemy was transferred. And it only took two minutes.

  After shifting the alchemy work into the pile of papers for Yue, he turned around.

  Everyone was standing around Yan, who was lying on the bedroll.

  Her face was red and she looked slightly embarrassed. Her body was bare from the waist to just below her breasts.

  “Pervert,” Tala said as Ash looked at Yan.

  Rolling his eyes, Ash picked up his chisel and moved over to his sister.

  He got down on his knees next to her and pulled her tunic down to just above her belly button.
>
  “This’ll hurt, and you’ll probably feel sick. My understanding is that you’ll be well by tonight, and you can begin anew tomorrow morning after the moon sets and the new dawn comes,” Ash said. “I’d say we’ll all be sleeping here at Yue’s house tonight for safety.”

  “Ok,” Yan said, her hands clutched at her sides.

  “I’m sorry, Yan. I don’t want to hurt you,” Ash said, looking at her with a grimace.

  “I know,” she said, giving him a smile.

  Leaning in over her stomach, Ash split the edge of her Dantian with his chisel.

  Then she started screaming.

  ***

  Ash was sitting in his bedroll in the middle of Yue’s shop front.

  Jia had gone home to sleep in her own house.

  Yue, Tala, and Yan were all recovering in Yue’s room.

  Yan really had become as sick as death. She’d ended up looking like a recovering crack addict who was suffering from food poisoning at the same time. But she’d managed to stay coherent long enough to wait for the moon to set before she utilized the transference papers.

  Tala had passed out during her procedure, which had made it easier to work on her, since he didn’t have to hear her whimpering in pain.

  She wasn’t exactly the most pleasant person in the world, but he didn’t want to harm her any more than he already had.

  Yue’s had gone the best. As soon as the carving had linked together, her Dantian had snapped open. Snapped open and then ferociously began devouring all the Essence around them.

  All three of them were unconscious now, learning from the transference papers.

  Blinking rapidly to clear his thoughts, Ash looked down to the kitchen knife in his hand.

  Pulling his chisel across the surface, he rapidly finished up the pattern and then set it to one side.

  “What are you doing?”

  Looking toward the bedroom door, he saw Moira standing there. The door behind her was closed.

  “Making extremely sharp kitchen knives that will take a long time to dull,” Ash said. Looking to the pile of knives on his left, he picked up another one.

  “Why? That seems rather odd.”

  Ash began to scratch along the pattern Locke had put in place over the metal.

  “So Yue can sell them. It’ll be hard for citizens to resist buying something like this, at a good price. Even if the Deng clan really can undercut and outsell her, if she has unique products, it’ll keep her afloat,” Ash explained.

  Moira sat down beside him, shoving the pile of knives further in front of him. Shifting around, she ended up pressed up to his side, her knee touching his.

  “You care deeply for those you deem as part of your group,” Moira said.

  “I do. As an outlander, people who can see past my hair and eyes are rare. I treasure them.” Ash finished the blade and set it atop the finished pile.

  Moira picked up a blade and handed it over to him.

  “Can I help in some way with this?” she asked.

  “Not really. I have to make sure the pattern is exactly the same each time.”

  “Then teach me, just as if it were an ability.”

  “Maybe later. I’m not sure it’d work the same way.”

  “Ah… the spirit you talk to helps, then?”

  Ash froze for a second, then nodded.

  “Yeah. It isn’t a lack of talent on your part. It’s that I have something I can’t give you.”

  Moira sighed and then smiled at him. “I wish to be more useful. I’d like to go through what you can teach me later and find out what your goals are.

  “The last we spoke of it, you were simply wishing to find your brother and sister and help them.”

  Ash clicked his tongue and finished up the blade Moira had handed him.

  “Yeah. Plans have changed, I suppose. Honestly… I really don’t know.

  “I mean, what do I do after joining a sect? Most people live in it. Stay there and become part of it.

  “It becomes an almost city-like generational thing. It eats clans and families and turns them into sect families.”

  “Are there no other options?” Moira asked, handing him another knife.

  “I could just the leave the sect. Find a wife and settle down somewhere. Though most cities wouldn’t want me around as an outlander.

  “Finding a wife would be equally problematic for the same reason,” Ash said. “Or if I really wanted to go deeper into the cultivator world, I could aim to join an even higher sect. I’m young enough that for the next ten years I could easily go from sect to sect.”

  “How would you do that? Join another sect?”

  “Tournaments, tests, exhibitions. Sects hold them frequently against other sects. It’s a matter of gaining face. So throwing their disciples at one another is fairly normal.

  “Those who excel tend to get recruited by stronger sects. Doesn’t happen often, but often enough that you’ll almost always find recruiters at each event.”

  “Which way do you think suits you best right now? Leaving the sect? Moving deeper?”

  “Honestly, Moira, I’m not sure. I also have to make sure I take care of you and Tala. Which means whatever woman I find that will take me has to be comfortable with a total of three outlanders in her home.

  “It might be easier to get recruited into other sects.”

  “Ah, that’s true,” Moira said. “Well, I’m sure we’ll figure out what to do soon enough. I believe you’re meeting with your brother tomorrow, no?”

  She stretched her wings out behind her and let them settle back down. Then her right wing began to stretch out behind Ash.

  He watched her move it out of the corner of his eyes as he worked.

  Slowly, it draped around his shoulders and curled around him.

  Acting as if she hadn’t done anything, Moira waited for him to finish with the current knife and then handed him the next.

  “Jing sent a letter back to Yan, yeah. It just said yes, and a time for tomorrow. That was it,” Ash said. “It’s really starting to seem like he stole the stones I sent them and left Yan behind.”

  Ash was trying not to think on the fact that Moira was next to him. That her wing was around him in a strange and casual way.

  Mostly because he didn’t quite understand what she was doing. It felt odd, and almost awkward.

  Then it struck him.

  Did she just… make a move? Instead of putting an arm around me, she used her wing?

  I think that’s what it is.

  But what does that mean?

  Does she want to move this deeper into a possible relationship?

  “If he stole them, we’ll know what his worth was. It’ll let us separate from him before he can cause us lasting harm,” Moira said. “Regardless, I suppose we’ll have a better idea of what to do after that.”

  Ash nodded, setting the next knife down beside him.

  He wasn’t quite sure what he felt about Moira. His thoughts on her were tied up with what she was—a slave—and with the fact that he held her life in his hands.

  How much of this is what she feels she must do, and how much is what she wants to do?

  Ash looked up to Moira’s face.

  Her large yellow eyes were gazing at him. She didn’t look away when his eyes met hers.

  Instead, she smiled at him, then blinked slowly.

  She held out the next knife to him wordlessly.

  Fuck it. That’s a lot of worrying that doesn’t matter. Let’s just… take this as we go.

  Besides… she’s actually really nice to look at.

  Ash took the knife and started to carve into it.

  “Your wing is rather soft and warm. Is that why you don’t use a blanket at night more often than not?” Ash asked.

  “Indeed,” Moira said, her wing tightening around him slightly.

  “I wonder if you could make a pillow out of them,” Ash mused.

  “I’m unsure. I think they would have a strong scent if on
e tried, though.”

  “Suppose it’s a good thing you have a nice smell then,” Ash said, and he set down the knife.

  So damn tedious.

  Moira tilted her head to one side in that way that seemed part of who she was.

  “I’ll start collecting my feathers then, and make a pillow for you.”

  “Thanks. I don’t have a nice one right now,” Ash said honestly.

  Twenty

  Ash walked along quietly with Yan.

  The meeting with Jing was only a short time from now, and they were on the way to the location.

  He imagined she was having an internal war over this whole situation.

  On one hand, the adopted brother had claimed he’d sent her spirit stones. Then he’d performed a number of activities that showed it was very likely he’d sent the stones.

  On the other hand was her blood relative, whom she’d grown up with and joined the same school with. Suffered with.

  And who very likely had robbed her and left her for dead when she became truly inconvenient. Because the simple reality was, the one hundred spirit stones would have reversed Yan’s plight in a single day.

  That’s the really ugly part about all this. If he had shared with her, she wouldn’t have suffered as dearly as she had.

  “I trust you,” Yan said suddenly.

  “Oh… alright. I’m glad to hear that,” Ash said.

  Looking around, he realized the place they were heading was off the beaten path. The number of citizens and cultivators around in these parts was falling quickly with every step.

  Suddenly, he felt quite glad for the fact that he’d asked Moira to tail them. He didn’t want to believe this would become violent, but someone who would willingly steal from his blood sister wasn’t to be believed.

  “I trusted you before this, too. You never wanted to put in the effort. Not really, at least. But you were always sincere.

  “If you decided to do something, it almost always happened,” Yan said.

  Ash didn’t respond immediately. He let his thoughts carry him along for a few steps.

  “There was that time when I tried to open my Dantian by eating a spirit stone,” Ash said instead. “I’d decided that was how it would open.”

  Yan snorted, then started to laugh softly.

  “Mother was so mad at you. She had no idea how you’d gotten a spirit stone, let alone decided that you would ‘absorb’ it.