Ten
Ash drummed the fingers of his left hand against his palm behind his back. The morning sun, just shortly after sunrirse, was beating down on his left side.
Out below him was a number of people.
They were arrayed out across the interior of the sects grounds. All of them were young people. Some that were as young as little more than ten or eleven, in fact.
Disciples to join the Sheng Sect.
There weren’t as many new disciples as Ash had wished for, though not as few as he feared there might be. It wasn’t a massive success, but it wasn’t a failure.
This was somewhere between both possibilities.
Which really, given their single exhibition for the ceremony, and recent arrival, was pretty good. Given the entirety of what the possible outcomes were, this wasn’t bad.
“Well,” Ash murmured as he looked out at all the students. He was standing atop a central building that had been dubbed ‘Administration’ and was generally viewed as the sect leaders dwelling and where all decisions came from. “Things are moving and moving well. Less than we hoped, more than we feared, and a sturdy and well placed first step.
“I suppose I’ll need to uphold my end of being sect leader and go visit people. My calendar has me visiting Nie, Fu, Huzhi. But… I don’t think I should go collect the daughter of Nie. Nor should I go see the Fu.
“I feel that I need to prioritize my time. I should go see the Huzhi, The Great Healer Hall, The WHispering Sword Pavillion, and the Muyung family.”
Turning away from the disciples, Ash looked to Jia, Na, Mei, and Xiuying. Tala and Moira were watching over things on the lower realm, and most everyone else was here getting the new sect up and running.
This sect was heavy with investment and they would need to insure it was moving in the right direction. They only had one chance to make this happen in a reasonable timeframe.
If the sect failed, they’d be pushed back from establishing a presence in this realm that was more than the norm. It’d of course push back taking over the realm even further.
The sect and all that went into it was quite literally the focus of the Sheng in a way that tied up many resources.
Like people.
“Xiu, I think you should go speak with the Fu. Jia to the Nie. I’ll go speak with the Huzhi with Na and Mei,” Ash suggested, looking around at them. “Any concerns, Locke? I’m sure you were monitoring everyone while they were in the sect. I’m sure you even shared everything with everyone already. I’m late to this because I went straight to bed after I fixed Shuang. Speaking of, is she well?”
“My sister is very well,” Jia said, her nose wrinkling in an odd way. “I must confess that her ability and mindset is greater than my own. Her talent is the same as mine, maybe a smidgen less, but her Dantian is much larger. Her willpower greater. Her mindset is… like the wind howling at a mountain. It will never stop. It will never ceased. It will eventually grind it down.
“It is frustrating but I am also glad for her. My sister has been repaired and set upon a path that was robbed from her. I worry about the fact that her Dantian was shattered.”
“Yes. That speaks to a problem in the Fu family,” agreed Ash. “Who would shatter the Dantian of a baby so soon after birth that no one would’ve even realized she had one. That she was quite literally ‘without one’. Not that she ‘had one and it was destroy’.”
Jia’s eyes went wide as Ash spoke his thoughts aloud.
Apparently she hadn’t truly considered what Shuang’s situation meant.
Someone had destroyed a child’s Dantian before the family knew it existed.
That meant whoever delivered the baby or the people who assisted while Jia’s mother was actually pregnant. There couldn’t be any other possibility given the situation as a whole.
“I… see,” whispered Jia. “Xiu would be best to send with that in mind.”
Yes, because she’ll find it without meaning to.
So long as she agrees.
If she agrees, it’ll likely happen. If not, than she’s in too much danger.
“I’ll go!” Xiu said, holding her hands up beside herself with a sharp nod of her head. Then she laughed, let her arms fall, then sighed. “If only because… because I need to do my most for you here. My most. Because I don’t think I can leave this realm to help you. I’ll be like Rou, but not even that helpful. I’m sorry.”
Ash really didn’t want to think about that statement too long right now.
Mostly because Xiu was right.
There were going to be a number of people who couldn’t climb with him.
This realm was already pushing his people to the limits of catching up to him and assisting with the Sect.
Chunhua, Hui, and you Locke, are like the three guaranteed.
Who… who else will… probably make it?
“Sweetie, I can answer you honestly, without gilding it, but it won’t be fun,” Locke answered quietly.
Na and Mei were discussing what to do about the Nie family with JIa even as Ash listened to Locke.
Please.
“Na probably won’t leave this realm if we’re being honest. Her Dao was already partially splintered by all that happened to her and her family.
“Mei and Jia… fifty fifty on both. It really comes down to if they expand upon their Dao. It’s… it’s hard. It’s not something everyone can do. Ren will make it as well, by the way.
“Rou will be able to move up by virtue of her talent as a Qi Healer but not her power.
“Xiu won’t.
“Tala and Moira won’t. They technically don’t have a Dao. This realm is the extent of where they’ll end up but… even now… it’s hard for them.”
You didn’t mention Siu.
“Oh, she’ll make it,” Locke said, followed by an immediate laugh. Then a huff. “She’s been growing faster as of late because you’re ‘Lord Sheng’ now. There’s also a whole lot of nasty thoughts a great many of Brides are flinging your way. She doesn’t collect those, but the fact that they exist, empowers her. Her and Ren, really.”
So… Hui is likely going to lose her partner in the little race to the top?
“Siu will slide in and partner with her. I was more of a temporary partner for Siu since there wasn’t anyone for her to go buddy-cop film with.”
“—find who we should take,” Na stated formally and bowed her head to Ash. “Lord Sheng, husband, I will not fail in this matter.”
Uh?
“Oh! That’s nice. You going with Jia should help!” Xiu declared. Ash had apparently missed part of the conversation. Apparently Na would be going with Jia to find the Nie daughter of their choice.
Oh. That means I’m going alone with Mei.
Looking to the beautiful ‘older sister’ to so many Brides, Ash smiled at her.
She smiled back immediately, watching him.
***
“Greetings. I’m sect master Lord Sheng, of the Sheng Sect,” Ash said to the man who had come to the door of the Huzhi family estate. “I’ve come with one of my wives, Mei Sheng. Is an Elder or the Patriarch of the Huzhi available for a discussion?”
The servant at the door seemed flustered and somewhat shocked at Ash’s arrival. As well as suspicious.
Not that Ash could blame the man.
Ash didn’t look like a “Lord Sheng” outwardly because of his age. His clothes and style matched the title though.
Ah, yes. I’m not… displaying myself accordingly.
Slowly, Ash released his death grip over his power. Something he didn’t often relinquish. He let his full power radiate outward. The truth strength he carried around with himself so that others could feel it.
He had hid it, so long, so often, that it was strange to unclench.
A breath held so long, that one had forgotten how to breathe.
“Of course,” mumbled the servant, hesitated, then pushed the door open. “Please, won’t you come in to the guest pavillion? I will of course notify them immediately of your arrival.”
“That would be lovely, thank you. I admit I have arrived unannounced and unplanned, so I am not expecting of anything,” Ash confessed and confirmed, moving past the large entry gate with Mei on his arm. “Please, lead the way.”
Nodding, the servant took Ash straight away to the side and into a pavilion that was rather rich and well appointed. No sooner than Mei had seated herself than the man scurried off.
Ash took the seat next to her and looked around.
They were here to get a feel for the city and it’s inhabitants. Part of that was understanding the families, the clans, and the sects. To figure out who was in what pecking order and at what level.
Right now, Ash and his sect was a sect that’d already made a bit of a name for themselves, but were mostly unknown. Everything came down to what Locke had said. Debts and relationships.
He needed the latter right now, which was why he was here.
The sect by itself wouldn’t be able to stand against everything or everyone. Ash needed a group to slide into and become one of.
A servant that Ash hadn’t seen yet came rushing into the pavilion.
“I’m so sorry, but… Lord Sheng, the Huzhi Elders cannot meet with you. They’re currently hosting the Orthodox assembly. However!” the servant put in quickly. “However, the Orthodox assembly has asked for you to join them. Invited and requested. Though your wife… isn’t invited.
“The spouses of anyone isn’t invited. It’s merely heads and heads alone. It is a meeting to be held in secrecy and privacy.”
Ash gave a click of his tongue and then glanced at Mei.
Who was already standing up and lightly brushing off her rather flattering robe. Then without waiting, she helped Ash to his feet, patted his rear, kissed him once, and then left.
“Have a good meeting, Lord Sheng, Husband,” called Mei as she departed.
“Well… lead me there then,”Ash murmured and looked to the servant. “I would be happy to attend the Orthodox Assembly as the sect leader of the Sheng Sect.”
The servant bowed their head once and then left. Moving away deeper into the Huzhi family grounds. They looked back only once to insure that Ash was following and then kept going once they confirmed it.
As he walked, Ash had to struggle to not hide away his power. To not sink it deep into himself and tuck it away. It needed to be front and center otherwise people wouldn’t be looking at him in the way he wished.
Any thoughts, Locke?
“Not right now. I honestly didn’t even feel anyone’s power levels,” she warned him. She sounded cautious. “This is entirely new territory for us. We’re not… as strong as we were previously. We’ve once again been set back, just as we were when you were sent to prison.”
Yes. It does seem like I’ve been bumped back again. Oh well.
We ebb and flow, such is momentum. It can’t always be forward, otherwise it wouldn’t be momentum after all.
There was a noise that sounded like agreement from the Hall. Locke not having a verbal response but still responding. Followed by a laugh.
“Everything is going well, but… it just feels like we’re so… poor? Poor is the word,” Locke stated. “I hate starting over. We’ve had to scramble up so many mountains. Over and over.”
It’s always a climb, Locke Sheng.
I’m afraid we—
Ash let his thoughts trail away even as he entered the room the servant had brought him to. It’d looked like a very simple pavilion from the outside.
Now that he was on the inside of it though, Ash felt like it was truly massive.
Massive, sprawling, filled with food, drink, and music. Music that seemed to come from nowhere, yet was everywhere. As well as a great deal of floral scents and spices that smelled quite good.
Looking around, Ash found there was a group of around fourteen people. All of them at a circular table littered with scrolls, papers, food, drink, and even an abacus.
“Greetings,” Ash said and bowed at the waist to them while also holding one hand up in a martial salute. It was a simple thing, holding to fingers up pointing toward his left shoulder with his right hand. He’d decided he needed a specific way to greet people to be different. He knew it would likely catch on with the Sheng Sect but that he was fine with that. “I am Lord Sheng, of the Sheng Sect. I’m grateful for the invitation. I did not expect to find you all here. I was attempting to meet people today now that the ceremony was concluded.”
Curiously, neither the city lord nor the realm lord’s envoy was part of the gathering.
Though ash did note he saw the woman from the Great Healer Hall, the Whispering Sword Pavillion Sect Leader, and Jae Muyung of the Muyung family.
Additionally, the Fu clan Patriarch was here.
A man in his forties came over quickly to Ash, he had a wide smile and looked somehow deeply pleased with the situation. He returned a bow Ash was unfamiliar with, but it seemed quite familiar to others he’d seen since entering this realm. It seemed every sect, family, or establishment had their own.
He was suddenly glad he’d come up with one for himself.
“Lord Sheng, I, Xi-Xan Huzhi, am pleased to welcome you into my home, and into the Orthodox Assembly. We were just discussing if we should extend you an invite when you graced me with your visit,” said the man. His hair was a pale brown that lent itself to reflecting light. His eyes were quite dark and he was smooth shaved.
“Of course,” Ash replied with an easy going smile. “Though I will confess I don’t know what the Orthodox Assembly is. It’s the first I’ve heard of it. I was one of the last people through the gate from the lower realm and things were very strange when I arrived. I fled, hid, and remained waiting for my family to arrive. Then decided to move ahead with the plan anyways.
“I have very little ‘cultural’ knowledge, of this realm. Please forgive my lack of knowledge. I can only offer my apologies, consider it a debt, and perhaps repay it with knowledge at a later time of a similar value.”
There was a moment where it felt as if they collectively blinked even as they watched Ash.
“Of course,” stated Xi-Xan with a chuckle. He put a hand to Ash and led him over to the table. “It’s very simple. We are all leaders of various Orthodox factions. Our city as a whole is part of the Orthodox faction.
“There are other cities that support the Orthodox faction. There’s cities that don’t support it and merely exist as they are. We call those Unorthodox Path cities. They don’t typically work with anyone outside their city, but our Assembly works with all cities that are part of it. This is just our personal Assembly, in a greater assembly.”
Interesting.
Alright then.
Though I do wonder if it wouldn’t be prudent to start sending out feelers. Even if they’re just low ranked people who can access the Hall and escape. To go take a look and see what the Unorthodox Path is like.
We could easily attempt to set up a sect or family in those cities and see about expanding.
Or maybe it’s more than what the Orthodox Assembly knows and it’s something more centralized.
“I definitely think we need to go look into it. You’re absolutely right, hubby,” Locke said cheerfully. “I’ll start putting together infiltration groups to go look.”
Did the Knights ever figure out how to use artifacts to teleport away? Like the Brides?
I don’t think they did.
I suppose we’ll need to send out Refiner ranks or low Mortal’s to go see what’s going on. Brides that is.
“Yes, Brides would be ideal due to their ability to use their ring and flee. Then exit elsewhere. I’ll start putting together teams and see what Siu and Hui think.”
Great, have them send me a report about it. I’ll read it over and give final approval later.
With that thought concluded, Ash smiled, dipped his head to Xi-Xan again and took the seat the man clearly wanted him to sit at.
“You have my deep thanks,” Ash began and then smiled. His sect was new and most people were thinking of them oddly so far. Mostly it was Ash’s fault considering he had his people provide strange food, abilities, and medical procedures unknown to them. It wouldn’t hurt to push that angle because it wouldn’t be a direct threat to the power of those here. “Shall I produce some of the specialty foods my sect can provide? I wouldn’t mind sharing for this situation and I feel it’s something I can provide easily without too much fuss.”
There was a flicker of looks and emotions that went through those who heard his words.
Confirmation, relief, curiosity, and a host of other things Ash couldn’t identify at all.
When he looked to each person and used Sneaky-Peeky though, he found that he was an equal match, or stronger, than every person here. He was already at a point where he could fight amongst a city’s ‘Assembly’.
Smiling, not waiting for a response, Ash began laying out things he assumed they’d want.
Pizza, sandwiches, Sushi, and soups. As well as a number of sodas.
There were a number of Brides that simply existed on the modern world to purchase food and drinks, hot and fresh, or chilled to perfection, just to store them away where they wouldn’t go bad, lose heat, or their coldness.
Truth be told, there was something to be said for this style of mercantile business. Logistics wasn’t hard when you could prepare thousands in advance and leave it there.
“Please, enjoy, and… fill me in?” Ash asked, looking around with a somewhat placid smile and picking up a sandwich for himself after loading the table in front of him with a great deal of things.
“I-thank you, Lord Sheng,” Xi-Xan stated with a wide smile and a bow of his head. He took the seat he’d vacated and then sighed. “I will summarize, and we will continue. The very short version of this story, is there’s a lot of strange things going on. We’re noticing that many people are simply vanishing in the Assemblies. Vanishing ias if they’ve been sucked into a hole.
“On top of that, there’s been a great deal of talk of people simply burning to death out of nowhere. Almost from the inside out at times. With wounds on their body as if they were slided by a fiery blade.”
Fiery blade… but… is it the Demonic Cultivators?
I mean, we found some in the lower realm but there were a great number fewer than we originally expected. Had they all fled here at some point and we were just battling the left overs?
Maybe even they hadn’t realized that they were cut off? It didn’t seem like they were panicked by the situation and fought to the death.
We didn’t get a chance to capture many, and the ones we did, seemed… bored, in a way.
“Yes. This seems entirely plausible. We did all assume they had fled before we got them. This might just be that confirmation.”
Maybe.
We’ll need to be careful of confirmation bias.
“I see,” Ash said after chewing and then swallowing the bite he’d taken. “That’s quite disconcerting. I assume it started up a few months ago after the portal to the lower and upper realm closed?”
“That’s… yes, yes it did,” said the woman from the Great Healer Hall. “The wounds are self cauterizing for the most part. They can appear anywhere on the body. I wish I could provide more details about the deaths, but they are often horribly burnt by the time we discover them and have begun to decay.”
Ash could only nod his head at that.
He didn’t offer anything further and instead looked to Xi-Xan.
“With that said, we have a mass Assembly coming to help determine the rankings. They will be held as a tournament style for all Assembly members to participate,” Xi-Xan stated. “It is in roughly a month and will take a few days to travel, provided one has the Qi to travel, or flying mounts or constructs.”
Flying mounts and constructs.
With a smile Ash nodded his head, hiding the fact that this realm was just so very much more than the one he’d come from. Things were only ever changing as he went ever further in the world of Murim.
“That’s where we were. Now… our next order of business is the city’s Qi density,” Xi-Xan declared and then gestured to the Elder of the Golden Thought Sect, Liang.
“Yes, the density has shifted,” confirmed the Zhuga family member. “There is a great deal of Qi flowing straight for the city now. Though it isn’t quite centered on it, yet a lot of it is coming to it. While I don’t know why it’s happening, I can say for certain it doesn’t seem to be temporary. It’s a boon for us, but also likely a curse.
“The nearby cities will notice soon and it’s possible we may have to defend the city if only because of the change in the density.”
Oh, uh, yeah.
I hadn’t considered that. I’ll need to shift it a bit so it centers on the city after it passes through the sect. Make it look less like we did it, but that we’re a heavier swirl than others.
“Yes. I overlooked that as well.”
“We cannot do much about it,” grunted a different person with a wave of their hand. “We will continue to research it. We also need to speak of the harvests from the fields. There will be no food shipments from lower or upper, which means we must be entirely self sufficient.”
Ash continued to eat.
Eat and listen.
This was a font of information and would help him in the future.
Mundane or otherwise.
I need to make sure I got to this… Assembly of Assemblies, too.