Nine
Right now, Ash stood at the edge of the ampitheater watching everyone move about his sect.
Just after the duel between Jia and the Nie family, Ash had drifted off to the side and watched the exhibition fights with Xiuying.
There were impressive things and demonstrated a great deal of ability and skill.
It however did remind Ash of just how limited his resources were. He didn’t have enough people at the right levels. There were enough Brides and Cultivators to fill all the upper sect positions they needed.
Just barely.
There was more than enough Brides to fill the the lower ranks of the sect and all the chores and jobs that would need to be handled.
That left Ash with almost no one extra to do any other jobs or tasks at that high level. There were no veteran high talent, high skill, Brides left to take up any other mission.
This expansion was what they needed, it was required for their growth, yet at the same time, these were growing pains that were serious. They would genuinely need more recruits on this plane. Those who likely have pre-existing connections and dispositions that might lead them to be able to cultivate a better Dao.
A more preset mentality that would allow them to make it into the Mortal cultivation range quicker.
Ash could take those from his original realm and make them great. He could build them up to the point that they would reach their peaks. The highest that they could get to.
That didn’t take away the fact that there would be those who could simply do better, go further, and faster. Individuals that just started further ahead, or had a shorter distance to go.
Pressing a hand to his head, Ash blew out a breath. It was a lot to think about.
He was genuinely a bit mentally exhausted with everything going on. His offer to teach martial arts to anyone who wished went untaken. As if martial arts lectures weren’t even worth asking him about.
Nor did anyone actually take him up on a duel or a fight.
It was as if no one wanted to actually step up and challenge him in any way.
After that, he’d come up here with Xiuying and remained.
A visible sect leader, available to be spoken to.
Waiting for his penultimate move.
Restoring Shuang’s Dantian.
It’d be done moments before the City Lord and Realm Lord’s Envoy would be welcomed to properly sign the sects commission paperwork for the ceremony.
“You’re just too strong,” Xiuying said brightly and patted him on his shoulder. “A Chosen one married to a Fortune’s Chosen is almost certainly guaranteed to be filled with lucky encounters, fortunate meetings, and trump cards.”
I… oh.
Yes.
I suppose they just don’t want to be on my radar.
That means that I need to personally seek out… debts and relationships with other people of influence.
Family Elders, Sect lords, the City Lord, and the Realm Lord’s envoy.
It’s not really just me pushing forward on my own anymore. I need to grow the wave behind me.
That’s how I establish momentum here.
“More or less. I’d agree! The auction is going well, by the way. We’re making okay money. Not great money, but okay money. We’re not able to produce things that they don’t have, but we are able to create and sell things they want. The situation might change later if transference papers become scarce but… they’re not at this time.”
Ash could only nod his head to that and watch as everyone moved around the sect.
“I wonder what family should I call upon first?” Ash asked aloud, as if he were speaking to himself. “I was considering the Fu family, or the Huzhi.”
“Nie,” Xiuyung chirped with a nod of her head. “They already left. You’ll need to go collect the daughter. After that, Fu, than Huzhi. That’s what I think at least. I’ll go to the Fu first. I think they’ll be very kind to us now. Oh, speaking of, isn’t it time to fix Shuang? You should invite sect heads, family elders, the City Lord, and Realm Lord’s Envoy to watch up close.”
With a glance at Xiuying, Ash felt he couldn’t argue with her suggestion. If she was suggesting it, it meant a great deal. An opportunity for them both.
Because at every turn, every change, Xiuying introduced herself as Ash’s Fortune’s Chosen. She was his wife. It was clear and obvious that she was attempting to leverage her own fortune as his.
“Yes, dear,” Ash allowed with a grin.
Xiuying squeaked, grinned at him, then patted him on the chest.
“I’m going to go see the Fu family, ta-ta for now darling,” Xiuying gleefully got out, kissed him, then bounced away.
Only to lightly bounce off a Bride, stumble to the side, slam into a tree, then end up stumbling away. She quickly picked herself back up and scurried off. Not even waiting for the Bride or Ash to see if she was okay.
Moving down to the amphitheater and the center of the sect, Ash tucked his left hand behind his back and came to stop at the exact position he’d been at earlier. He then looked to the side and found Shuang heading his way. She had clearly been told by someone to head toward Ash.
She was wearing nothing then a simple, nearly skin tight, long sleeved robe that would cover her from ankle to wrist. There would be no hiding anything on her person, but they could at least give her some modesty in it.
Tapping into the formations, Ash allowed his voice to be carried to the entirety of the sect.
“Good afternoon. I hope you’ve been enjoying our ceremony. We’ll now be reconstructing the shattered Dantian of Shuang Fu, followed by the ceremony itself,” Ash said. “I would welcome a family Elder from each family, sect leaders, the City Lord, and the Realm Lord’s envoy to come watch if they wish. From only a few feet away. They would be welcome to inspect Shuang Fu as well to insure that there is no chicanery or trickery going on.”
Ash had added the last part to make sure this was remembered correctly. That it wasn’t him doing something to fudge the results or starting with an already repaired Dantian.
Summoning a table of simple wood, on four simple legs, Ash gestured to it as Shuang reached him.
Without a word, she clambered up onto it and then lay still there.
Before Ash could think about how long he’d be waiting, multiple men, and even a few women, arrived. Having jumped, flew, or used mobility arts to arrive here. They’d done so with such speed, that Ash genuinely was once more reminded that he was a powerful person in many ways, but there was still those who could give him a fight.
A situation where he’d likely win eight or nine times in ten, but there was still the offchance that they had something up their sleeve that’d cause him true distress.
“Welcome,” Ash said smoothly and looked to the assembled individuals. Two more arrived and Ash turned to look around. He didn’t see anymore heading his way. Then he looked back to those who had gathered. “You are welcome to inspect Shuang Fu. You will note she does not have an active Dantian. There is clearly the remnants of one as if she had one that was destroyed.
“There is no Qi in her body, she holds no talismans or treasures, her body is unremarkable in a martial artists sense. She has all the appropriate meridians as well as their widths and depths.
“There is no acting or lingering effects of elixirs or spell-work and she is as you see her, as she was her whole life.”
Ash gestured to Shuang who was looking around nervously at all the people around her.
The Great Elder of the Fu stepped up beside Ash, watching Shuang quietly.
Many other Elder’s and Masters all gathered around her. One of the women laid a hand against Shuang’s lower abdomen.
“She does indeed have a shattered Dantian,” murmured the woman, staring off into nothing. There was an odd coiling sensation around the woman. It left Ash feeling a sensation of a serpent in a way. One that could bite an arm or coil protectively about it. “There are tiny fragments that can hold Qi for a moment but nothing longer than a moment. This is not something that can be fixed.”
The woman lifted her hand and turned to face Ash.
“You claim otherwise?” she added.
“I do. I will be able to reconstruct it,” you confirm.
“It is obliterated,” stated someone else, looking to Ash with a sharp gaze. The man felt as if he were a drawn blade. “This is not something you can just… fix.”
“Yet it is. I’m not a Qi Healer, but I am a man of many talents,” Ash answered. Answered as Lord Sheng would. “Now… shall I begin, or would you like to inspect her more? You are expected to watch and monitor as I fix it of course.”
The collective group of people all looked at Ash like he was crazy.
“Please do,” said the City Lord with a smile. He was the only non cultivator here and he seemed to be perfectly at ease at the moment. It wasn’t ‘impossible’ to him as he didn’t understand what was happening.
Ash stepped up to Shuang then laid his hands to her lower stomach. Carefully, without exposing much of her flesh, he pulled the robe back. Just enough to expose the spot her Dantian would be below.
It wasn’t actually there, of course, but being in the meta-physical location that it originated would allow him the greatest room to work.
Reaching out with his left hand he held out a pill to the gathered onlookers.
“It will put her into a deep sleep,” Ash explained. “I will be forced to cut into her and her Dantian’s reassembly will be painful. You may inspect it if you wish.”
“It’s just a sleeping pill,” grumbled the woman even as they all turned to look at her. “Potent but nothing more. Continue. Please.”
Ash dropped it into Shuang’s mouth, or more accurately beneath her tongue, when she opened it for him. He had warned her of this. Then she shifted around, closed her eyes, and laid still. The pill dissolving directly under the tongue.
Ash waited for roughly a minute then prodded at her cheek.
Shuang didn’t respond.
Hesitating no more, Ash neatly slice open her flesh, bound her flesh with Qi to not bleed, then slid his hands into her lower stomach.
He extended his awareness to her as the Lord Sheng.
At the same time he took hold of his Dao.
As Lord Sheng, the One Emperor, and the holder of the Dao of Momentum, Ash forcefully grasped at one of the many fragments of her Dantian. His hands inside of Shuang’s body. Nearly holding her womb in his hands.
“You dare defy the heavens?” asked someone.
“A frog in a well,” offered another.
Ash merely smiled, and set the first small shattered piece to the correct position.
No sooner than he did, he felt an immediate response from Shuang.
A change.
As if a very light breeze came through for only a instant.
Taking another piece, Ash settled it down next to the first, where it belonged in truth. Using his hold of his Dao as well as the his own realization of himself as Lord Sheng, he wound several Qi stitches through the shards. Binding them together.
Another hint of a wind came through his awareness.
Or perhaps it could be seen as a single drop of rain on a desert plain.
But that was how things changed.
Momentum always had to begin somewhere.
I am the snowflake coming down the mountain.
The stray thought made Ash smile. He was once again the snowflake.
Steadily.
Slowly.
He rebuilt Shuang’s Dantian.
Piece by piece, layering it atop itself, Qi stitching it, he worked in a realm that wasn’t physical.
Shuang’s momentum grew with each miniscule addition.
Ash noted that at some point, Xiuying, Jia, and Mei came, and held the formal Ceremony for the sect. The City Lord and Realm Lord’s envoy vanished only briefly, then returned.
Chalking that up to losing his track of time, Ash paid it no more mind. Working diligently on Shuang and piecing the young woman’s Dantian back together.
What had been a shattered core, was no more.
A light breeze, had become a windstorm. The momentum of the young woman growing far more so than Ash expected it to.
Even without asking, he could tell that her Dao would be linked to the Wind, or Air. Her abilities would be born of that expectation. Whatever was in her mind, whatever her belief system and understanding of the world, was founded in the concept of Air and Wind.
There was a single thought of ‘curious’ from Ash, which vanished as he slid another piece back into her Dantian.
Then, almost as if were a surprise, Ash finished. Settling the last fragment into place and sealing it there.
A click sounded from Ash’s senses and a windstorm rose up all around him. Whipping the hair and clothes of everyone about him. Sending fabric and hair ribbons tumbling about.
Only to instantly die out.
“And it’s done,” Ash croaked and looked around. He only now realized it was deep at night. The process had taken him much more time than he’d planned for.
“Th-thank you,” whimpered Shuang.
Blinking, Ash looked to the young woman. His hands were still inside of her abdomen. She was pale, and trembling softly. Her eyes were wide open and staring at him.
“Thank you, Lord Sheng,” Shuang whispered. Her words carried force as they were spoken. That the breath coming from her was empowered.
Rou smoothly slid in next to Ash and bumped him to the side with a hip. She immediately began working at closing Shuang back up.
Leaving Ash to stand there with bloody hands and wrists, looking at the wide eyed Sect leaders, Elders, and a shocked Realm Lord’s Envoy.
“As you can see,” Ash stated. “I can repair a Dantian. This was a severe case but… it is not the first time I’ve done such things. I am… I’m very tired. I will bid you all a goodnight and retire.”
“Lord Sheng,” called a voice. It sounded very much like the older woman who had put her hand to Shuang. “The Great Healer Hall welcomes you and your sect to our city. Would you please come by tomorrow to discuss sect relations?”
“Yes,” added the man who had the sword like feeling. “The Whispering Sword Pavillion would also welcome you tomorrow to discuss sect relations.”
“Yes,” Ash said, suddenly remembering Xiuying’s earlier statement. “I’m due to meet several families tomorrow, I will make time in my schedule to meet your sects as well.”
“There’s a tournament,” stated one of the other’s. They seemed to be a sect leader but Ash couldn’t get a strong feeling from them. They had and odd and soft-spoken tongue to them. “We would be pleased if you joined us, of course. It’s really just a Dragons and Phoenixes tournament, though with a caveat. Only those who have become a cultivator for less than twelve months may enter.
“It’s meant to test the ability of a sect to produce new Cultivators. How sturdy and well put together they are. It would be good to see the newest sect compete there.”
Ash couldn’t help but feel like there was more to the tournament but he also got the impression it was exactly what the man had said.
“I, Jae Muyung of the Muyung family formally invite you,” said the man who had described the tournament. His words had been well mannered but even then Ash felt there was more there. “Will you attend Lord Sheng?”
“Of course,” Ash answered easily. It would be another great opportunity to show off the Sheng Sect. That they were a viable sect and one would do well to join them. “I will participate. I thank you for the invitation. When is the tournament?”
“In roughly eight months,” answered the woman from the Great Healer Hall. “Obviously you will be at a disadvantageous so it won’t be completely outside of expectation for you to… not perform well. As well as being a new sect.”
“Yes,” the Whispering Sword Pavilion leader agreed. “Not an expectation or a concern.”
Well, those two seem to be on my side.
Though the others seem eager.
Strange.
This must be a debt and a relationship at the same time.
They most likely want to put me in my place as a Sect leader, as well as my sect. This is fine.
It’s an opportunity.
Debts and relations.
“Are we making wagers?” Ash asked with a wolfish grin. He found that this realm was challenging. Challenging and rewarding.
A test to be exploited.
“Of course,” the Realm Lord’s Envoy said. “We’ve all put in wagers on what we’re willing to bet against the other. Though, those were all wagers assuming we had twelve months. Your own wager would… either be too little, or too much.”
“That’s fine, that’s fine,” Ash said with a chuckle and a wave of his hand. “Send me a contract later with the wagers listed. I’ll suggest my own wager, and you can tell me if it’s satisfactory or not. I’m very excited to be part of this and to be part of the competition.
“Is it only newer Cultivators? I ask because if there are other competitions based on the length of cultivation, I’d love to enter those, as well.”
“Well,” began Jae, looking thoughtful. “There are other competitions but… your sect would have no time at all. There’s the five years and under Cultivators as the next bracket.”
“Ah! That could be exciting,” Ash said, grinning from ear to ear at the others. He decided to hit them with something they likely weren’t expecting. “I haven’t been cultivating for five years. I’d be delighted to join! That sounds like a lot of fun.”
All the sect leaders, the Elders, and even the Realm Lord’s Envoy were staring at Ash in a strange way now. As if he’d sprung multiple tails, painted a grin on his face, and preceded to take their coin-purses away.
“You’re not… you did not return to your youth?” asked one of the others nearby. They didn’t seem particularly old so Ash assumed they were a sect leader. “Ah, I am from the Golden Thought Sect. My name is Liang Zhuga”
“No… I have not. I am as you see me. I think I’m… twenty? Twenty one? I genuinely can’t remember. Time has flowed by quickly,” Ash admitted. “But I have not returned to youth, nor have I been cultivating for more than five years.
“Though I suspect you’re going to tell me I’m disallowed from participating in that tournament. I wouldn’t blame you. It just wouldn’t be fair to them.”
Ash said it with a wide smile. Looking around at all the shocked faces.