Cultivating Chaos

by William D. Arand

  “The rules are what you would expect. Challenges are expected to be accepted. It promotes lesser disciples challenging greater ones without repercussions.

  “Masters are assigned to oversee the whole thing. Usually one master for every two disciples,” Jia said with a shrug of her shoulders. “It was actually rather easy to gather information this time.”

  “I wonder why,” Ash said with a glance at her clothes. She was dressed appropriately for sparring or exercising, but the clothes definitely hung on her in a flattering way.

  Catching his look, Jia gave him a smile. “You think that is what made them speak so freely? It is true that the men were more forthcoming than the women.”

  Ash didn’t bother to respond. The elder had stepped into the center of the area.

  “Welcome, one and all, to this week’s sparring event,” called the elder. “As I’m sure you’re aware, the placement tournament is coming up in seven days.

  “Your masters have logged their disciples accordingly, and the registration period has ended.”

  Oh. Shit.

  I hope Gen took care of that. Didn’t even think about it.

  “This year will be three events,” the elder said, continuing. “The first is a simple test of your Spiritual Sense. By now, your master should have solidified this for you.”

  Huh. That’ll be an issue. I didn’t even know what that was two weeks ago.

  “The second test will be an examination of your ability to see through to the truth of things.

  “This won’t be limited to abilities, but your cultivation, and whatever foundation your master has given you on your Dao path.”

  Ok. Dao path… or ability. I guess we’ll find out if Sneaky Peeky is enough to get through it.

  At this point, I doubt Gen could help me establish a Dao path.

  “As to the last test… well… that’s going to be a test of determination. How it’ll be conducted won’t be revealed,” the elder said with a laugh. “One’s determination will determine how far they’ll go!”

  Great.

  “As for now, I hope you’ll make use of every opportunity and encounter from here till the tournament,” the elder said, looking around. “Good luck!”

  The elder turned and left, and the masters who would be administering the event remained.

  “Ok!” said one of the masters. “Go ahead and break apart and begin. All the normal rules apply, and the stalls are open. Good luck.”

  “Stalls?” Ash asked, looking to Jia.

  She lifted a hand and pointed to one side of the area, where a number of wooden stalls lined a wall. Each had a placard above it with an image of what they were selling.

  “Oh. I suppose that makes sense,” Ash said. “Though I wonder what they take in payment. Might be worthwhile to stock up.”

  “Stones, coins, participation points, or trade,” Jia said, apparently having already asked the same question. “And participation points are acquired through doing quests or chores for masters or elders. We have not heard anything about it, as technically, our group arrived three weeks early.

  “In fact, we wouldn’t even normally be able to participate in the placement tournament. We should consider ourselves fortunate.

  Turning around, Ash wandered off to the back corner where he’d last seen Yan. He didn’t see any reason to not be with his friends during this event. If anything, he’d feel better for it.

  The number of people over here was increasing. In such a way that it honestly made Ash slightly nervous. This type of gathering in this world usually happened to watch spectacles, and little else.

  And if they want to watch a spectacle, that really only leaves Yan, doesn’t it?

  Tucking a shoulder in, Ash shoved his way through two people. Only after he’d passed through that press of bodies did he get his answer.

  There, in the middle of a circle, Yan was fighting against a young man.

  She’d come a long way since they’d popped open her Dantian and started rebuilding her Qi Sea.

  Yue had even been crafting medicinal pills to help her develop swiftly.

  The problem, though, was she still had a general lack of actual experience with her new skills and abilities. She knew them and how to use them, but only up to a point. She had no practical knowledge of them and how they’d turn out in actual combat.

  Yan’s hand flashed out in a palm strike that knocked the young man’s head backward.

  Grinning, Ash nodded in approval.

  He and Yan had never truly bonded as brother and sister. They were only adopted siblings, after all.

  But that didn’t stop him from feeling pride in watching her wipe the floor with her opponent, not even using abilities.

  Her opponent held up a hand and slunk away, clearly forfeiting the match.

  Yan let out a breath and then hunched over on herself, taking in a deep lungful of air.

  Walking over to Yan, Ash chuckled.

  “Good strike,” he said.

  Yan shook her head and looked up at him through her bangs.

  “Third… fight… in a row,” Yan huffed. “Targeting… you… through… me.”

  Third fight in a row? How is that even allowed?

  This must be their current tactic. Fight Yan until she can barely defend herself, then “accidentally” hurt her.

  Then it’s all downhill from there.

  Or worse than just hurting her.

  The bastards!

  Ash looked over his shoulder to the nearby master. He didn’t recognize the individual.

  “He’s carrying a badge that all the Deng family members have held,” Locke said. “It radiates a small amount of a strange Qi I’ve noticed only comes from them.”

  Damn them. Damn them all.

  “I challenge you to a duel,” said a young woman, walking up to Yan.

  Yan took in a deep breath and stood upright.

  Ash stepped in front of Yan and held up a hand in front of himself. He felt nothing but burning rage.

  This was because of him, and he would end it as quickly as he could.

  “Look. If you can just give her some time to rest, I’d appreciate it,” Ash said.

  “No, that’s now how this works,” said the woman.

  Ash snapped his teeth together with a feral smile.

  “Then remember this moment,” Ash said, his tone dropping. “Remember it and realize you could have let it be. That you could have walked away.”

  The woman stared at Ash.

  He wasn’t sure what was going on in her head, but he hoped she was reevaluating her action.

  Otherwise, she’d live to regret it.

  Turning around, he faced Yan and gave her smile.

  “Don’t worry, it will stop either after this fight or the next one,” Ash said. He pulled a pill from his storage and handed it to Yan. “Take this. It’ll give you strength. Yue made it for me.”

  Yan didn’t hesitate and took the pill from his hand, then popped it into her mouth.

  “I’ll be right back,” Ash said.

  Moving back to the crowd, Ash started to force his way out.

  “Locke, can you put a marker on those stalls? I want to buy some things but I… can’t remember which way it is,” Ash muttered.

  A green arrow flashed to life at the top of his sight.

  Thank the heavens for Locke.

  Orienting himself on the arrow, Ash started moving toward the stall.

  Once he cleared the press of bodies, he was able to move much quicker.

  Following the arrow, he found the stalls and began reading over the signs, looking for what he wanted.

  There!

  Moving at a fast walk, Ash headed straight for the stall that had the sign “Mortar and Pestle” above it.

  When he stepped up to the stall, he found a middle-aged woman tending the booth.

  “What can I do for you?” she asked him.

  “Do you need a license to operate this stall in this area?” Ash asked.<
br />
  “Ah… yes? That is, yes. All stalls need a license to operate here,” said the woman, her brows coming down over her eyes.

  “And you have one?” Ash asked.

  “Yes, of course.”

  “I want to buy your stall, your entire inventory, and the license,” Ash said. “How much?”

  The woman blinked several times, clearly not quite sure what to say to him.

  “You want to buy everything,” she repeated.

  “Yes, but only if you can sell me everything in the next ten seconds or so,” Ash said.

  “Ahh…” the woman’s eyes hardened, and she lifted her chin.

  “Three hundred thousand spirit stones, and that’s my fin—”

  Ash transferred the balance she’d asked for to his last financial card and held it out to her.

  “Here’s the money.

  “Give me the license immediately and then leave,” Ash said. “You have two seconds.”

  The woman snatched the card from him and looked at it, then pulled something out from thin air and held it out to him.

  “Thanks much!” she blurted as Ash took the license. Then she hurried away, as if afraid he’d change his mind.

  There goes most of my remaining money. I’ll need to get Yue to sell some things for me.

  Ash took the entire stall into his storage ring, then went back toward the mob.

  Repeating the process, Ash managed to get back to the ring Yan was fighting in. The other woman was just getting up from the ground.

  “I surrender,” she said, brushing herself off.

  “I challenge you!” Ash shouted, rushing forward to the woman.

  “What?” the woman asked.

  “I challenge you. Now. Right here, in this moment,” Ash said. “Fight me. Now.”

  Ash glared at the nearby master, daring him to refuse this.

  “Uh… alright… start in five seconds,” he said, seeming unsure.

  Ash rapidly activated every ability. Then he stored a truly massive amount of Qi into his Spring Step.

  The woman looked shocked that this was happening. If Ash had to guess, the standard mentality of this world applied even here.

  She got herself into a defensive stance, her hands held loosely.

  And of course, they’ll only think of themselves.

  Running along with thoughts of, ‘This doesn’t involve me, and I don’t want anything to do with it. I could be associated with them if I helped.’

  Snorting disdainfully at the whole situation, Ash was ready.

  “Begin!” the master said.

  Lunging forward, Ash brought his fist around in a rage-fueled hook. Triggering Spring Step, he landed the monstrous blow straight into the side of her gut.

  Feeling his body coiling in the opposite direction as he twisted with the blow, Ash launched a second punch forward.

  Aimed at her femur.

  Strengthening it with Spring Step as he did so, he felt her leg bone crack in two.

  Before the master could interfere or the woman surrender, Ash leapt forward with his forehead.

  Again, he used Spring Step, and his brow plowed into her nose.

  With a wet crunch, Ash’s world turned bright red.

  Letting the woman collapse to the ground, Ash stood upright and shook out his hands.

  Blood from her nose was dripping down from his brows into his face.

  The woman couldn’t even shriek, or breathe, as she lay there on the ground.

  Ash imagined the blow he gave her kidney would be enough to have caused her internal damage and steal her breath away.

  Her leg was clearly broken and her face looked as if it had hit the pavement at a hundred miles an hour. Her nose was a shapeless lump now.

  Hocking up a good mouthful of phlegm, Ash audibly cleared his throat. With an exaggerated spitting motion, he hacked the glob of nastiness into the woman’s destroyed face.

  “I told you to remember that moment. Be sure to think on it in the future.

  “And to the rest of you, I look forward to whoever challenges Yan next,” Ash said, looking to the crowd. “And when they get to remember their own moment.”

  Looking at the master, Ash kept his face neutral. He knew he’d followed the rules.

  Technically.

  The harm he’d caused her was nothing that couldn’t be healed easily with some medicinal pills.

  “So sorry about that. I didn’t know my own strength. It’s so hard to control it, being a new recruit and all,” Ash said deadpan to the master. “Would Master Deng please forgive me?”

  The master opened his mouth, his face going a pale white and then a bright red.

  “You idiot!” he ground out, seemingly not realizing that Ash had named him. “You did that on purpose.”

  “Of course not. I imagine it was no more on purpose than allowing a cultivator to fight an endless string of battles without respite. Right?” Ash asked.

  The master fell silent. He worked his jaw from one side to the other.

  “You,” the master said, pointing to someone else. “Take her to the medicinal stall and get her patched up.”

  “Ooooh…” Ash said dramatically. “The medicinal stall.

  “Sorry. I bought it. I bought the entire supply, the license, and the stall.”

  All eyes had turned to Ash now.

  This was a spectacle they all wanted to see.

  “I’m more than willing to sell medicinal pills, of course. Though prices will be dependent on my mood,” Ash said with a smile. “Among other things, that is. Can’t promise prices will remain constant.”

  ***

  Ash sat down quietly in the library.

  He’d come alone this time, and he folded his hands on the tabletop. Not even for a second did he believe Gen didn’t know he was here.

  This was practically his domain, let alone anything else.

  I bet there isn’t even a spider here Gen doesn’t know of.

  Taking in a breath, Ash thought on the sparring event earlier that day.

  The number of people challenging Yan rapidly dropped off after they carried the woman from the field.

  It’d been obvious to him at that point that the vast majority of the Outer Sect was either in the Deng family’s control or service.

  “I heard there were some happenings today.”

  Looking to where the spider-silk-soft voice had come from, Ash was surprised. Gen had sat down next to him without Ash even noticing.

  “Yes. The Deng family was attempting to harm my sister. So I harmed them,” Ash said.

  Gen gave him a wolf-like smile.

  “Yes. Elder Deng and his subordinates were quite animated over the situation. Yet the rules were followed,” Gen said. “Nothing could be done. Poor Deng family.

  “Now, what have you come for? Do you wish to begin walking on the path of your Dao?”

  Ash hadn’t expected that.

  “I could do that?”

  “Of course. A Dao isn’t something developed all at once, nor is it something you can’t begin to journey upon before you’re a cultivator,” Gen said with a smile. “A Dao is only part of a cultivator’s journey. One could be a blacksmith and have a Dao.”

  That was news to Ash. He hadn’t even considered it, in truth.

  “Now… for your Dao… it’ll take time for you to take the first step. Moreover, it’ll be even harder to make sure the first step is on the path of your true Dao,” Gen murmured.

  His voice was warm and soft. It rubbed at Ash’s senses. He found he couldn’t respond, and his thoughts were turning inward.

  “You’ll need to explore what is in your heart. What is in your mind. What is in your soul. There will be a path all three traverse.

  “Where you feel comfortable,” Gen said. “It’ll be like a well-known path to you.”

  Ash nodded his head a bit.

  “Your Dao will be where those three things converge and carry you. Where you naturally… exist.

  �
�For now, simply begin to explore what your heart feels. What it urges you to do at the heights of your passions and the lows of your despair. Where do you find yourself?”

  Ash floated in that space for a time as Gen stopped speaking. His mind slithered slowly along the words Gen had put there.

  Thoughts and ideas flitted through his mind rapidly and were checked against what he felt was right or wrong inside of himself.

  “That is enough for today,” Gen said, his words snapping Ash out of the world he was in.

  “Huh?” Ash mumbled.

  “You’ve been in a state of soul searching. It’s been several hours. You’ll need to go home soon,” Gen said.

  “Several hours? It only felt like minutes,” Ash said, confused.

  He’d never really believed in a lot of the talk cultivators spouted out.

  It’d all seemed a bit more like religious hoodoo to him.

  “Yes. Searching with one’s soul can do that. Time flows differently.”

  Ash let out a slow breath.

  He’d found a few thoughts in that space. Several that he felt were true. He’d have to explore them more later.

  “Ah… well, thank you, Master Gen. I appreciate your guidance,” Ash said, pressing his fists together and bowing his head to Gen. “Though that isn’t why I came today.”

  “Oh?” Gen asked, watching Ash curiously. “And why did you come then?”

  “I have something for you.”

  Ash pulled several pills from his storage space and laid them down on the table in front of himself.

  Yue had come through for him. She’d manufactured the pill Gen needed to re-seal his Dantian. As if nothing had been wrong with it in the first place.

  On top of that, Yue had made two pills that would restore Gen’s strength. Regain him his vigor.

  They couldn’t change his physical features, but they could give him all that he’d lost and restore his prolonged life.

  With those three pills, it would be as if Gen had lost nothing, though he would still look like an old man.

  “What’s this?” Gen asked, eying the pills.

  “This… is my and Jia’s apprentice price to you,” Ash said. “Let me tell you about them.”

  Twenty-Three

  Ash picked at his Outer Sect uniform.

  He’d made sure to have one set aside that was clean, untouched, and ready for the placement tournament.