Mana 4 Chapter 4

Charles took me into a side room of the building I still considered a brothel. I expected the polished veneer of the place to vanish the moment we left the public area, but to my surprise, it continued to be a well cared for building. Even the workers’ corridors seemed well designed.

“Here’s our bunk room. Take an empty bed. And I’m sorry about this, but you are going to need to put this on.” He handed me a metal cuff covered in a glowing script of enchantments.

“My new collar?”

He let out a heavy sigh. “It won’t be as bad as the one you are wearing, at least.”

That wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement.

“How long have you been here?” I took the cuff from him and put it on my wrist. It closed with a sort of click that spoke of finality. My jaw clenched tightly at the thought of how long I’d be here.

Charles moved around behind me and started fidgeting with the collar. Whatever he was doing required a small prong shaped tool and a knife. “Not the whole time. I was sold a few times rapidly when we first got here, but I’ve been here for over twenty years. I’d rather not get sold again, if I’m honest. This one is better than many.”

Based on the timeline he’d given, it sounded like he had been enslaved from the moment he’d entered the immortal world. But they’d been brought here by Fairy Su. They should have been safe.

“Charles, did Fairy Su enslave the entire group that came from our sect?” It came out angry; I couldn’t help it. It was a complete betrayal of trust, and one I would make sure she paid for.

“No. Not all of us. Only those that weren’t aligned with Hendrick were given into slavery. Apparently, this has been going on for generations. The Hendrick and the Su family split the earnings from the sales. It was done when their father came, when Hendrick came, and will unfortunately happen again when Leo comes.”

A smirk came across my face. “I can at least say that the last part won’t happen. I killed Leo.”

“You what?” Charles’ shock made him drop what he was holding. A clatter echoing around the room as it hit the floor. “He’s dead?”

“After the ascension, I dueled him again. I won, but he then tried to kill me after the duel.”

Charles spat and picked up the tool before returning his focus to the collar on my neck. “Serves that family right. But that means they will figure it out, eventually.”

I shrugged. “That’s sixty plus years into the future. For now, I need to understand what I’m up against, Charles. I need to figure out how to get out of this place and back onto a path of cultivation.”

Charles blinked at me. “I don’t think you understand. You are in a sect right now.”

“No, we are in a brothel.”

Charles shook his head. “No, we are in a sect that practices arts of pleasure. It’s just we are the servants of said sect now.”

My jaw dropped as the collar clicked off my neck, but my next several thoughts were obliterated as immortal mana poured back into me. The collar had been draining it, keeping it from flooding my system. Now, it was overloading me.

I almost wished for a second that the collar was back in place.

“Shit, you really are fresh up here. We were in pain for a week before we could do much at all.”

Through gritted teeth, I managed to mutter, “Doesn’t matter.” My spine was like a steel rod as I forced myself to stand tall and straight. Cycling my mana in the Seven Hell’s Meridians technique, I pushed it through my body, destroying it and healing myself in rapid succession.

My chest pulsed as all three of my mana beasts pushed against their rings, feeling the tension rolling through my body. But I still couldn’t let them out. Even if I trusted the once Tiger Elder, I didn’t want to let them out while I was in a weakened state. And I wasn’t sure yet how they were reacting to the immortal mana. I didn’t want them to be injured.

“You’ve proven your point. Stop trying to force yourself.” Charles hurriedly tried to get me to stop.

“No. The sect leader of The Ferrymen does not bend.” Stubborn pride filled my voice.

Charles’ eyebrows jumped into his hairline. “Sect leader?”

“Of course. After I defeated Leo, I earned that right, and I have held it since. Even through the war with the Sun and Moon Hall.”

Charles’ eyes grew even bigger. “Well, now, it sounds like we have quite a few things to talk about. I’d like to hear what happened to those bastards.” Charles grinned like a feral tiger, and for the first time, I didn’t see him as the meek servant he had become.

***

“I can’t believe that the Frozen Mountain fell.”

The mountain falling seemed to be the most shocking thing I’d told Charles. He kept muttering about it and circling back to it.

But during our discussion, he’d also given me quite a bit of useful information about my new world.

Fairy Su, or more appropriately Quipi Su, was ‘untouchable’ as she belonged to an ancient family. Even more so, a branch of the Su family was one of the three powers in the town, along with the Orchid Pavilion. Each was led by a 5th rank cultivator. According to Charles, Murdock was an out of the way town of little note except for the Jungle of a Thousand Paths.

As to where Hendrick was located, Charles didn’t have any solid leads. Apparently, the bastard had taken his money and left for some opportunity in a larger city.

I’d come here to make space for my family, and it looked like I was going to have more work to do than I’d originally anticipated to make that happen, including weeding out a few snakes.

My meridians still burned painfully, but my three rings still provided me with the elemental mana I was used to using. Aurora’s life mana in particular had been constantly healing the injuries, and my body had been accommodating to the immense pressure of immortal mana in the air.

Still, it felt like all those years ago before my first ring, when I’d spent hours and hours of training only to be rewarded with an aching and less than adept body, at least in the short term.

The feeling was nostalgic in its own way, but I couldn’t let it slow me down.

I picked up the serving tray and followed Charles out. He’d informed me that tonight at the Orchid Pavilion, as was apparently every night, a lavish relaxing party rolled out. It would give me a good chance to get a better feel for how this place operated.

We were on the fourth floor at the moment, and the Pavilion apparently got more lavish the higher up one went. Each level had a ring of lounging areas stuffed with all manners of cushions and seats. They were simply too soft, in my opinion, but I’d also sat on a stone throne for many years.

The center of each floor had a different decorative stage. The one in front of us had water features. There was a curtain of water on one side, with fountains spraying up onto the stage, only for it to drain back out to the fountains and spray up once more. One side of the stage had a cave behind a curtain of water. I had a feeling that was where performers would come and go from, which meant they’d also be soaked.

“Drink sirs?” Charles walked up to a group of men dressed in robes embroidered richly along their edges.

“Snacks?” I offered, lowering my own platter, and putting a smile on my face. My pride would have to be set aside for the moment in the quest to collect more information and stay under the radar.

The young masters took the offerings from our platters and leaned back into their cushions. Even thinking of them as that bothered me, but it was the current state of my situation. And these young masters were no different than those I’d dealt with and surpassed before. They had that look of arrogance even as they indulged in something they didn’t quite know the value of.

“Snacks?” I bent down to offer another group.

These men were less careful, picking through the items on my platter and causing it to wobble dangerously. My body had trouble correcting it in its current weakened state.

I snatched the edge of it with my other hand to prevent the platter from tipping. But that didn’t stop one of the men from pushing further, putting the full weight of his arm on the tray as he pulled back.

My platter tipped enough that the rest of my offering flew into the air. I darted forward, snatching several out of the air. But it required moving on the surrounding cushions, and the occupants and softness made it hard to properly dodge. I felt the crunch under my heel as one of them screamed bloody murder.

“Apologies.” Charles rushed forward. “We can have some healing salve brought to you right away.”

“Sure. Right after I murder him.” The man looked at me with eyes filled with the incoherent rage that only came from having your balls stepped on. He seemed to have slipped straight into a murderous rage.

Crushed-Balls leapt from his cushion, throwing his hands forward towards my neck.

While I understood his outrage, I wasn’t about to let me get his hands on me. The platter became my shield, and I blocked him. “Calm down and I can make amends.”

“Fuck you, motherfucker.” It came out in a strangled scream as he tore the platter out of my hands and threw it to the side, hitting another group and eliciting their disgruntlement.

Ignoring newly flustered group, I focused on the mage in front of me, who was drawing his sword as he charged me again. I pulled out my bone sword to parry his hits. By the way he moved, his sword work was sloppy, clearly something he hadn’t focused enough on. Although his cultivation pulsed with power even above my own.

I parried his first swing to the side, opening him wide up for a kick to the chest that sent him stumbling back. “Again, I did my best to not tip the tray. I am sorry that it led to your balls being smashed, but if you’d give me a moment, I’d be happy to make amends.”

He swung his sword and screamed. The image of a massive tidal wave appeared behind him and rushing forward with his overly heavy overhand strike.

I didn’t call upon my cultivation. Instead, I drew upon my bloodline. Just a hint of the ferocity of the Pixiu crept out of my blade as I blocked. It was like waves striking a rocky coastline, as water sprayed into the surrounding air, soaking more than a few of the other viewers.

A smirk crept up on my face. This guy wasn’t bad at all. I might even grudgingly call him strong enough to be a leader of another sect back in the mortal world.

My blade swept into a pattern that needed no thought. It was muscle memory earned from years of practice. My blade flashed forward in a staccato of strikes that drove him back a step with each of his blocks. He couldn’t get ahead of me enough to parry the attacks. He was barely getting his blade in the way for a block.

Feeling the thrill of a half decent fight made a smile creep on my face at first. But then when he showed no variety in his attacks, it wilted. I realized he might be less of a challenge than I’d been anticipating.

I lashed a kick that broke his shin, then I threw my weight into a swing that knocked him on his ass.

He forgot about his sword and clutched at this leg, as his eyes grew red with fury.

“Interesting display of swordsmanship.” Madam Orchid’s voice floated through the room. “Everyone, please give these two actors a hand. Those of you unfortunate enough to get splashed by this display, you know this floor has a habit of doing that, anyway. Without further ado, please welcome tonight's entertainment.”

I frowned in confusion. She had just played this off as a planned performance? But as I looked around, the group seemed to either believe her or just accept the lie and move on.

Charles grabbed the young master with a scared look on his face and helped him out of the room. Unsure what to do, I let the bone blade absorb back into my core.

No one was watching me; their focus now on the center stage.

“Continue serving.” Madam Orchid’s voice floated into my ear. “We will have a talk after tonight. And I would recommend that you do not cause any further trouble.” There was a sharpness to the warning that promised I wouldn’t like what happened if there was trouble.

Grabbing another tray, I made my rounds again. This time, I would lower the tray to the floor if those taking from it were being less than careful. Wine was flowing freely, and it was becoming more common.

It wasn’t until I was on my second tray that there was a commotion on the stage.

The curtain of water split as the center came off as steam. From that center, there was a line of women in gauzy white clothing that did nothing to hide their forms. Long white sleeves and streamers came off their wrists as they danced out through the steam and onto the center stage.

Their clothes became a little more transparent as they passed through the steam, water occasionally splashing up around them and adding to the effect.

They had a sinuous, coordinated dance that started up on the stage. All the noise of the viewers stopped as they watched the dancers with rapture. The earlier episode and my food faded away from their attention as the show consumed all of their attention.

I took the opportunity to watch the girls myself. They were an impressive display of flexibility as they danced out to the edge of the stage, reaching for the viewers only to have themselves blocked by a water feature. Then they’d dance back across the stage to the other side, beckoning young masters forth with their eyes and their hands.

Steam split the main waterfall again, and a woman in red strolled forward. Her face was hidden behind a veil, with just the subtlest hint of her features underneath visible. She walked into the center of the dance and joined the other women. She however, was clearly the focus.

Her hips wound around as she danced, pulling her body around in a circle as she looked around, locking eyes with all the viewers one by one. Drawing them into the performance as her hips moved in impossible ways on stage.

When her eyes got to me, it was like I was being sucked into another world. For just a moment, that was nothing but her and me as she danced for me alone. It was a moment that was both brief and never ending in how it tantalized my mind. “Get back to work, before she notices.” The woman in red whispered before the world shattered.

Clearing my throat, I picked back up the platter and kept moving. That had been intense, and I wondered just how many of these men were getting trapped in their own little world with her. It brought a whole new level to the idea of entrancing.

But I was pleased that everybody had forgotten about me as they watched her.

A few of them were so eager that they stood just outside the water features, almost like they were hoping one of the dancers would finish the dance move of reaching through the water for them.

I continued to serve, but the show kept pulling my attention. When one woman reached through and took the hand of one of the young masters, he pulled her through the water and out the other side in a giddy hurry.

She was soaked from head to toe. Her white dress was almost completely transparent as she led him away into another area of the pavilion. The men standing by the water features made more sense. It appeared there was a phase two of the performance.

The first man being pulled away seemed to embolden the other men. They pushed their hands through the water features, hoping to claim their own prize.

But other men simply sat, completely entranced by the dancing. I continued to offer refreshments. Sometimes they seemed annoyed, but I kept at it. I had my instructions, and I was already going to have to explain my earlier actions.

The dancing continued as steam rose in the room. Oddly enough, the fountains and the water features seemed to almost buffer the steam that the red dressed dancer was putting off. She would tease the men by getting wet, only to burst the water off of her as steam. She never quite let her dress become as see through as the others.

Eventually, her dance troop was all gone, and she danced slowly in the center for a while. Her dance becoming slow and slower till she was at a standstill long enough that people’s attentions to wane. With the attention on her reduced, she left back through the cave with a waterfall. There was almost something lonely about how she departed.

All the young masters left hooted and cheered for her as her show came to a close, and I bustled through my task of giving the now more receptive audience more refreshments. I wondered if more was to come.

But a number of the men started to get up and head out, grabbing a snack for the road, so it seemed that the show had ended.

Charles had returned by now and was accompanied by two other men who were working in a team. The two men sorted through the cushions, dusting off any contents that may have fallen. Another man came and started sweeping the alcove of any refuse.

“How can I help?” I asked.

“Madam Orchid will want to see you.” Charles grimaced. “Not a good idea to get into a fight on your first day.”

Keeping my face neutral, I didn’t argue. But I wasn’t sure what they expected, putting me to work when my body was still weakened. “Got it. Where is that?”

“Ninth floor. It is where all the Pavilion’s women stay.” One of the other men provided. “You can’t miss her if you go up there.”

Deciding to take that at face value, I turned and headed to the ninth floor. It didn’t escape my realization that we slept on the first floor and apparently the women slept on the ninth. It was almost as if we were intentionally kept as far apart as possible.