CC4 -ch27-

As they grew ever closer to their destination the sound of fighting grew louder and louder. To the point that it sounded my similar to a trash-compactor going at a box full of lightbulbs.

“When we came through, they were waiting for us outside,” Siu stated. “Our first squad of Brides went through and secured the area. There were no guards waiting for us when we came through, despite the fact that there were supposed to be.”

Ash frowned at that statement

Now that she’d said it aloud, he realized there was more going on than he thought there was. The Qi-Lord’s had mentioned they’d spoken to the guards and were more or less ignored.

Additional to that, Ghast had warned him to not cause problems, or guards tended to show up. No such thing had happened when Moira and Siu arrived, despite it being the prison entrance.

“It would seem the prison is being turned over to the prisoners. Where did the guards go, and their charges?” Hui asked. She’d apparently discovered the same thing he had, and was once again, ahead of him. “We should determine where they went and if they’re still here. If they’re not… if they’re not here, that is a concern.

“That means they were either turned into slaves and hidden, killed, or left the prison. The last of which being particularly interesting.

“Things are changing. Rapidly. Some of it doesn’t even have to do with anything we did. Or… or does it? Is the Emperor pulling out his guards deliberately? Is he attempting to pull whatever he cares about, out of the way? Does he expect you to do something?

“It seems like he might be. That maybe he’s expecting you to tear through them? If he knows you at all, he might suspect that. That’d line up with how oddly he’s treated you.

“The stories of him decimating cities and obliterating families simply for offending him fly against the way he’s acted toward you. He didn’t kill you. He brought you back to your allies. He seemingly… brought Moira back from the brink of death with an artifact that was a one time use.”

Blinking Ash realized that Hui was right.

Everything she said about the emperor was true. That his actions regarding Ash were completely out of the ordinary. They flew in the face of his normal everyday actions and were beyond “out of character”.

“Yes, he did heal me with some type of gourd. It broke apart after he used it. Into hundreds of pieces,” Moira confirmed. “I won’t lie and say I would have survived if he hadn’t. It felt like my entire body had been shattered. I’m positive I would’ve died in a short time after I was struck.

“Him healing me, a Refiner of no value to him, with an artifact is very much outside of normal. Even if he wasn’t the emperor.”

“I suspect there’s far more to this. Far more to Ash, in fact,” Hui stated as they turned down the street heading toward the prisoner intake area. “The question becomes, is it him, him being a fated one, or his clan? There’s something different about Ash that the emperor is interested in.”

Coming at it from this angle, Ash really couldn’t quite piece together where he, Rou, and Locke had dove into a sewer previously.

Seeing it during the day was quite literally a night and day difference. That viewing it in this way was as if it were two different areas entirely.

A sudden and stray thought struck Ash as they walked on.

That it wasn’t Ash, that made the emperor interested in him.

That the interest and curiosity in Ash had nothing to do with him at all. Not in any way. He as a person had nothing to do at all with the emperors interest.

It was the Hall.

“Oh… oh. I see,” Locke remarked quietly. “That’d make sense. Almost too much sense. Or maybe the fact that it’s the Hall and it fell into the hands of a Fate One.

“On top of that, I’m fairly certain that the Hall will self destruct on your death. If you don’t hand it over of your own free will, that is.

“After all… it was from the ‘Imperial Clan’ of the Grassy Vale. Which, by the way, I have no idea what or where that is. In all the books I’ve scoured through, which were many, the Grassy Vale has never once come up.

“Never. There’s only one imperial family per realm and that’s the citizens. The emperor himself isn’t born into his name but took it by force from a distant cousin. Who stole it from a stranger. There is no cultivator royal line and never has been as far as I can tell.”

That means… the Grassy Vale is another realm, doesn’t it? Is that why it works here as well? That it doesn’t belong here so it isn’t beholden to the same rules in the same way.

A royal family from another realm that ended up being supplanted or lost.

That’d be my guess. That or—

Ash missed a step and nearly fell forward on his face.

“Are you okay?” Moira asked, having grabbed him in mid-fall. Her hands were clamped to his shoulder and steadying him.

“Hui, my weapon, run ahead and kill all who oppose us,” hissed Ash. He grasped the Qi-chain that was attached to her and wrenched it open. Qi was waiting to flood into her the moment she could hold more. “The prisoners are all Brides and wives. Go.”

Hui was an ugly and brutal weapon. Throwing her into a situation with an excess of Qi where she could feed on death, empowering herself further, she’d become a whirlwind of destruction.

She was best used in a crowd and against multiple people. An okay substitute for Chunhua.

“What? They are?” Siu asked. “There wasn’t going to be another force sent for a month or two. This is far too soon.”

Siu pulled her fan free and extended it.

Moira and Locke had readied themselves as well, bringing forth weapons and readying abilities.

Hui was long gone. Off at a dead sprint and leaving them behind. She was running as if hell was behind her and catching up to her. Her arms and legs pumping furiously in similar way to how Ash ran.

Ash, Locke, Moira, and Siu started moving at a smooth and swift run, though nowhere near as fast as Hui.

Who now had a black sphere appearing around her as she went. As if she were in a smoky globe.

Ash could feel her starting to use up the Qi in her Dantian. To which he simply pushed harder on the chain attached to her. Forcefully filling her Dantian.

“She’s going to slaughter everyone,” Siu remarked quietly. “It’s the first dire order you’ve given her and called her by her preferred title. The very first time where it mattered. She’ll not forget this any time soon, you know.”

“It’s better this way… we can protect Ash while figuring out what’s going on,” Locke murmured. “And you’re certain of it? I can’t… my ability to sense around you isn’t as strong as it used to be.”

“I can feel their Qi. All your Qi is very unique. It’s as simple as looking at a color for me since I worked on you all,” Ash explained. “It’s Mei, Jia, Chunhua, Tala, and Na,” he explained. “And hundreds of Brides. So many Brides. I don’t know how many we have but there’s a lot here.”

“We were actively recruiting from other sects,” Moira admitted. “The name ‘Sheng’ has traveled far and wide given that Gen is the realm lord now. Nor is it a secret that the heir to the throne is pregnant with a child of the Sheng clan.”

“Until Hu get’s one of his women pregnant,” Ash argued.

“Yes, until your brother-in-law gets someone pregnant,” Siu remarked, pointing back to the fact that even that relation is still rather unique.

Hui vanished around a slight bend in the road. Having outpaced Ash and everyone else as if they were standing still.

At that point in the street she wouldn’t be far from where the prison building entrance was. Which was obviously where the enemy.

Or so Ash figured since he felt a massive drop in Qi from Hui. Followed by a giant flare of black Qi roaring up into the sky above that area.

Fresh Qi began to flood into Hui from two sources. One was Ash of course, and the second was most certainly a great number of dead people.

Either those she killed directly or those that died in the fight as it already existed.

“The hell did she just do?” demanded Locke.

“Her job,” Siu reported and then she reached out and laid a hand to Ash’s rear end even as they ran. She squeezed him openly, as the Pink Bubble he’d been inside of suddenly constricted around him. He felt himself immediately respond awkwardly inside his pants.

Then it was all gone in a flash, drained away as if it’d never been there. Siu’s hand slipped away and she ran on as if nothing had happened at all.

“Thank you,” Ash blurted out. He had a cool and refreshed feeling right now after Siu had given him sexual urges then stripped it from him. He felt far more rational and logical in this moment than he had been.

“It’s my pleasure,” Siu responded and then began running faster than the others. Gaining distance on them and leaving them behind.

“We’ll play bodyguards then, Locke?” Moira asked.

“Best we do that. We can do something if we need to but it’s better if we hang back,” agreed Locke. Ahead of them Siu turned the corner and vanished. “Most cultivators just aren’t great at group fights. We’re more specialized in general for one on ones. Hui and Chunhua are different. And speaking of Chunhua, is she over there? If she is she’s being awfully quiet.”

“Saving mana, I imagine,” Ash offered. “She blows through her entire Dantian in seconds if she isn’t careful and gets twitchy.”

“Good point,” Moira offered.

Then they rounded the corner.

“Though now that she knows we’re here with Siu showing up, she might let loose,” Ash said as he laid eyes on the scene.

The front of the prison was before him and it was swarming with people. Swarming with citizens and cultivators both.

A mass of angry, screaming, writhing flesh all hell bent on forcing their way into the prison. The narrow entry of the front of the building restricted to the possibility of the windows and a single door made it impossible for that group to push in.

There were obvious shields of elemental Qi keeping the windows from being a form of entry. Everything was being funneled to the door itself it seemed.

At the back of the crowd was Hui. She was decimating their ranks from twenty feet away. Tearing into them with dark slashes and golden projectiles.

Citizens and Cultivators alike were melting as she struck them. Their bodies being blown apart or limbs being torn free.

A continual stream of Black-Qi was being funneled to her and she wasn’t drawing on his Qi anymore. The amount of death she was throwing about was making a noticeable impact.

There was a boom from the front of the prison door that knocked people flying away from it. As if a condensed jet of air had been shot through it.

A second afterward and Mei and Jia came storming through it.

They were a picture in similarities and opposites.

Jia had black eyes and hair as dark as midnight. She was willow and athletic and would be a perceived beauty in the realms of the emperor.

Mei was just as pretty in her features. Her blue-black hair was pulled back. He couldn’t see it from here but he imagined her light brown eyes were flat and cold.

She didn’t value the lives of others.

The difference was where Jia was slim, Mei was built more towards having a curvy frame with a body-type Ash preferred given his background.

The former was encased in a pool of water Qi while the latter had twin earthen swords in her hands and earth-Qi covering her body in an armor like appearance.

Na came out and came over to Jia’s side. She held up her jade spear loosely and looked ready to fight. She was on the prettier side and outclassed almost everyone but Siu and Hui. Her body type didn’t match her cousin Mei’s but Jias.

Tala followed her out and came to stand next to Mei. The tall Rabbit warrior woman held a two-handed sword loosely over her shoulder.

Her head was tilted back and her green eyes were flashing even from this distance. Dark black furred ears were angled at the scrum before them.

Then Chunhua burst out of the door and stood between the four other women. She had both hands up and her pure white eyes looked out over the masses.

She was built more like Mei in body shape but not quite as so.

Holding her hands up in front of her she let loose with a torrent of lightning bolts. Many of them streaking out of her palms and crashing into the enemies.

Closer to him, Siu was working as a bodyguard for Hui and utilizing her fans to great effect as defensive weapons. Slashing arms and feet that came for Hui for the few who escaped her deadly attacks and approached her.

“Moira, go assist Siu and Hui,” Ash asked, then began walking to one side. He was putting himself out of the line of combat. If he did so, Moira was more likely to do as he asked.

Glancing at him as he moved away, she dipped her head once and then moved off. Her wings spread out and he could see the gleam of metal on her feathers.

“Oh look at that. Alone with my husband,” Locke whispered and then took up his left arm. She dragged it up between her breasts and hung onto him. They were now in a position where they could see the fight but weren’t a concern to anyone. “Just as it should be. And likely will be when it’s all said and done. Your end is my end, my Chosen One. Team Loshley to the end.”

“Stop throwing out Death Flags, you idiot,” growled Ash. He seriously didn’t want to consider anyone dying right now. That was the furthest thing from his mind.

“Such a sweetie. You get heart-sick at the very idea of me leaving,” Locke teased and reached up with her right hand to pet his cheek. “I love youuuuu, Ashley Sheng.”

“I… love you, too, Locke,” Ash admitted with only a slight hesitation.

Watching, Ash couldn’t look away as his people truly settled in for something that belonged in a slaughterhouse. Brides began to move out of the prison and start cutting into the enemy forces. Working in squad level elements and operating at the behest of Jia and Mei verbally providing directions.

Ash couldn’t help but watch Hui, Siu, and Moira though.

Mostly because Hui was doing a workload equivalent to everyone else combined, and then more. The only other person who could compare was Chunhua, but she was also working defensively.

If she wasn’t, it was quite likely they’d be competing with one each other more evenly.

In no time at all, people were attempting to surrender. Trying to throw themselves to the ground in front of either set of women.

Neither grouping gave them any mercy.

Anyone who made themselves an easy target by laying down, were quick to die. Hui often simply smashing someone’s head with a boot heel, or Mei skewering them with one of her swords.

Eventually, the field cleared and there was no one left standing that wasn’t someone in the Sheng alliance.

“Any injured?” Ash asked, moving over to stand amongst the Brides? He didn’t stop though, but kept moving.

He reached Mei and Jia who were standing near one another and wrapped his arms around both of them. He moved in close to them, and pulled hard. Drawing both women into himself and hanging onto them.

Not waiting for them to answer him, he quickly gave each a kiss, then turned to Mei and kissed her much more deeply.

He didn’t let go of Jia though and hung onto her.

A few seconds of kissing Mei was enough before he turned and then kissed Jia in the same way.

Only to break it after a similar amount of time.

Then he hugged both women again, pressing them against himself.

He heard Mei let out a soft wheeze this time and Jia wasn’t even breathing. Realizing he was hugging them too hard he eased up.

“Minor injuries, one severe. She’s already taken an appropriate pill,” reported Na. “I… master… it’s… it’s good to see you. Your Hand Maiden awaits to serve you.”

Mei and Jia were hugging him tight in return.

“It’s good to see you Na,” Ash murmured. Then he gently turned Jia and Mei loose, then moved forward toward Na. He managed to catch up Chunhua as he went by. Grabbing up the sorceress and then Na, hugging both of them.

“You may hug my Elegant Self by myself,” Tala offered, standing not far away even as Ash began to press the same types of kisses to Na and Chunhua. “I missed you… Ashley. It’s good to see you.”

“I missed you as well,” Jia stated, then he felt a hand press to the center of his back.

“As if I need to say how much I missed you, dearest,” Mei said with a laugh.

Chunhua didn’t let him pull away as he tried to disengage from their kiss after he’d kissed Na. The sorceresses hand had curled into his hair and held his head there. Her tongue snuck into his mouth briefly, then she finally let him go.

Ash released them, then hugged Tala. Doing his best to crush the big Bunny warrior to himself.

She grunted, let out a soft groan, and hugged him back just as firmly. Enough to actually make him struggle to breathe.

“Before you ask, we’re here because we had a choice,” Mei explained as Ash and Tala tried to kill one another with a hug. “Move to the next realm since we’re all Empowered Mortals, or go to prison. We took the prison route.

“Liu… Liu volunteered to be the Sheng Bride and and Alliance leader in the lower realm. She’ll be our contact there and recruit, manage, and maintain everything. Everyone who had to choose was brought here. Her Cultivation was permanently crippled. She’ll rise to a power equivalent to Gen Sheng in the fullness of time, but she’ll never move beyond a Spirit Refiner.

“She volunteered for the job. Stating that it was part of who she was. That her Dao was you, and that part of you should remain on the realm. The Emperor himself performed the Cultivation break, just as he had done for Gen Sheng.

“Which approved of it and stated that if he should die or pass on, he’d want Liu to be the next Realm Lord. That he and her could work in concert since there was no good hand off from the previous Realm Lord. The Emperor didn’t like it but approved on it eventually.

“And… and we don’t know where Yue is. We were never able to get ahold of her. Or even talk to her. We have no idea what’s going on with her.”

Ash finally gave up on his attempt to kill Tala by hugging her. In the end he’d lost the ability to take a breath and she seemed fine.

His grip on her slackened quickly.

“Oh, does my Elegant Self win? Have you given up on our game?” Tala asked and eased up on her hug, the wide smile on her face could probably be seen for miles. Then she leaned in and kissed him hotly. Her hands sliding down his back. Kissing him for several seconds she finally lightened up an inch and pressed her forehead to his instead. “I love you, Ashley. Desperately. I don’t think I can handle being separated again. Please… recognize me forever forward as Tala-Tala Sheng.

“Or… as you’ve called my Elegant Self before… your favorite Bunny Warrior. Maybe even your Bunny Wife?”

The beautiful smile that made Tala’s face light up after that statement made him kiss her. Ignoring everyone else, even if it was rude.

“This is Hui. Jian Hui Sheng. You’ve all heard of her,” Locke said, introducing Hui while Ash busied himself with Tala. “Ashley’s living weapon.”

“Hello, Brides of Sheng,” Hui said, sounding out of breath. “Hui is Ashley’s— Ashley’s weapon. Hui is all for Ashley. Hui is Ashl… Ashley… Hui… strategist for… I’m Ashley’s… I’m his alone… and I’m also hi-his… weapon.”

There was a thump that caused Ash to break his kiss with Tala and look behind him. Hui was laid out on the ground. Breathing hard and unmoving otherwise on the ground.

She’d passed out due to over-usage of Qi.