Cultivating Chaos 6 -ch 1-

One

Ash let out a low sigh, grinned, and shook his head.

They’d come down from the hill from which they’d entered the realm.

Standing at exit of the blocked off dirt road and where it met the intersection, he really felt strange. Strange and yet also almost at home in a way.

When they had escaped the prison he had genuinely felt better.

There had been warm sunshine on his skin that was actual sunshine.

A breeze that cleansed the air and offered actual weather along with it.

There had even come a point where being able to travel back and forth from the Bridal Manse, the Castle, and the Hall, had all been quite possible for everyone. The only ones who couldn’t were those in the original realm, in fact.

Yet all that compared to breaking free of the realm in which the prison had been ensconced.

Knocking down an actual Deity, stealing a piece of it for himself, and truly breaking free.

It’d unfortunately cost him Mei, Jia, and Na’s company. All three women were unconscious in the Hall and under the ministrations of Rou, their Qi-Healer.

Locke was helping as best as she could.

Most of her bandwidth was being directed to digesting the new dimensions to Scrivening and Carving that they’d discovered. The Lord of Graves had gifted them with a lot of information.

Now though everything was dependent on Ash leading his group through a world that was just like his own.

Which, really, wasn’t going to be easy given the extreme number of eyes on them at the moment.

“They stare,” murmured Hui in Kingdom.

Standing around Ash right now was Hui, Siu, and Xiuying.

“You’re all beautiful and our clothes stand out,” explained Ash also in Kingdom, still smiling as he looked around.

Chunhua, Locke, Tala, and Moira were all hiding in the Hall as they would stand out. More so than even the group he was with despite their clothes.

“It’s fine. For now,” he continued with a small snort. He glanced to Xiuying beside him.

The young and pretty Fortune’s chosen had hair so light brown in color that it was bordering on being blonde.

Paired to that, her extremely light-brown eyes were nearly hazel that made them glitter. She had a figure that supported a large bust and wide waist.

“As long as my beloved Xiu is here and doesn’t seem bothered, I don’t think we’re in any real difficulty,” Ash stated with absolute conviction. “I mean, she fell haflway down the mountain and ended up on the only path that led us here.”

Xiuying laughed nervously at that, took up Ash’s arm, and pushed it into her side. As Mei often did she had it smooshed into her breast. Though she leaned tight and in close to him her other hand coming over to grasp at his wrist.

“Oooh, I’m always so flattered you all give me credit for every good thing and ignore all the bad,” she whimpered. “But I always feel so conflicted. As if I somehow need to do more.”

“No, Sister. No,” Siu stated with absolute sincerity and stepped up to Ash’s other side. “You need only be yourself. That’s all we ask.”

Siu’s black hair was loose and fluttering about her head in the light breeze. They had all ditched their weimao hats as soon as they arrived. Her dark-brown eyes were slowly moving across the intersection, cars as they moved past,  and the stores that were sat there.

Her beautiful face that held a mature woman’s grace was full of curiosity and mirth.

She, Hui, Locke, and Ren held a slightly “mature” type of feel to Ash and he couldn’t deny he was attracted to it.

As if realizing he was thinking of her, Siu glanced at him, smiled, and then lifted her fan up. Pressing it to her chin. Then flicked it open and covered the lower part of her face with it, slowly fluttering it.

“Well, uhm, what do we do?” Xiuying asked, chewing at her lip. Watching him with a somewhat nervous but eager gaze. “I feel like staying here is perfectly fine, but so is leaving.”

Thinking on that, Ash realized he had his answer already.

“Are you hungry? Thirsty? Do you feel warm or cold? Do you have a need right now, my dear wife? Anything at all?” Ash asked.

“Oh! I uh… yes! Yes. I do have a want,” she said, her eyes brightening and gazing at him with extreme excitement. “You-you-you mentioned that there were big stores with lots of-of-of women’s clothing. Pretty women’s clothing. That’s what I want!”

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Ash confirmed, grinned, and began moving toward the quite familiar stop-light pole. He reached out with his free hand and thumped the button on it that was most certainly for the cross walk.

For all intents and purposes, this place seemed like an odd strange mirror to his original world. In many ways it was nearly exactly the same and he felt quite comfortable with it already.

“Ah? What… what is the button for?” Hui asked, stepping up to the pole and tapping at the metallic button. It didn’t depress much though it did audibly click at her fingerpush.

“It’s to turn on the cross-walk that’ll alert us when to go over to the other side of the road,” Ash explained. “Those cars weigh a great deal and normally kill people when they hit them.”

Ash paused and thought on that.

“Well, normal people. I’m not sure what it’d do to a Cultivator,” he murmured as he stared at Hui.

Her rich and dark hair was quite long and had grown back in where he’d been forced to shave it away. Deep, wide, and dark eyes that seemed like liquid catching the moon’s reflection stared with full attention at the button.

Unfortunately, or perhaps thankfully, her Bride uniform did an amazing job of hiding away her impressive and eyecatching figure. She, Locke, Chunhua, Siu, and Hui often shared clothes back and forth given that their sizes were abnormal compared to most women.

The crosswalk began beeping and Ash led his group across it. A number of cars had stopped and every single driver or passenger in them were all staring at the Sheng.

To which Hui clicked her tongue and adjusted her uniform. As if to make sure that her impressive features were quite muted.

“The Qi here is dead,” said the Cultivator, moving in to walk behind Ash. As if to protect him from harm, in fact. “This isn’t like the prison where it was limited. It just… isn’t here. Without your Dao, or the chain, I would already be empty. As if it were a veil-overlap.”

“Hm, a valid point,” Ash said and nodded his head. He took them past the corner and began walking them down the street. He was looking into the windows of the stores to try and find one that dealt in women’s clothes. He was fairly certain he’d find one on this road unless Xiuying suddenly wanted to go a different direction.

Would my beloved dear wife have anything to add at this juncture?

“No, not particularly. It’s dead. Really dead. There isn’t a spec of Qi that I can feel in any way shape or form,” Locke confirmed for him. “Before you ask, I’ve made a lot of progress. A lot. I’m almost ready to provide you with a new book of carvings.

“Bone carvings.

“The Knights have been quite instrumental in testing. I’ve finally gotten it to the point that a Knight will just cause a Bride to feel rather unwell if they touch, but only if the Knight wishes to make them feel unwell.

“No more bone explodey-ness.

“Which really made a mess if I have to be honest. I kept finding bits of arm bone’s everywhere and I couldn’t just sweep it into the Hall, since most of it occurred at the Castle.

“The Knights found a bunch of them and then stuck them in a shadow-box and put them in a classroom. Apparently Templar is utilizing it as a lesson for them.”

Ahhh, thanks, Locke Sheng. My precious wife. The woman who wants to hold my Dao’s pillar upon her shoulders, then receive my pillar and provide me with my first true Sheng heir.

Did you manage to sweet talk the others into that by the way? I wouldn’t be surprised if you had by this point.

“Ah… ahahaha? Ha…? I uh… ah… uh… yeah. Yes! I did. Yes,” Locke said with a nervous laugh. “Oopsie? Slipped my mind? Oh dear me? The head wife is second so don’t be surprised if they get a bit more aggressive with their bouts.

“Chunhua is… she’s going to be the lead wife at this point just by virtue of planting everyone in the ground, fixing them up, and caring for them. She even mends their damn clothes and re-dyes them if she bloodied them.

“Hui is gaining ground quickly but Chunhua is just… she’s Chunhua. Our precious Chu is a monster in battle yet such a tame little house-cat around you.”

Ash came to a stop as he stared into what could only be a big-box store with a great deal of women’s clothing.

Especially so considering the ten or twelve mannequins in various clothes standing in the window.

“We don’t have any currency, mind you, so we can’t purchase anything,” Ash stated as all the women turned and looked at what he was gazing at. “However, we can certainly try everything on. Try it on, send it to the Hall, and have your dear Sister Locke Sheng make you hordes of pretty clothes.

“Because I bet she’s going to appear at some point in the next several seconds just to make sure every scrap of clothing in there is sent to the Hall. Even if only for a few seconds.”

“Yes! I’m here, I’m here,” Locke said as if she’d just rushed here. She had quite literally appeared between himself and Siu, in a way that made it seem like she was trying to make it look less as if she had just been teleported into the world. “Yes, all the clothes. You’ll all help me, right? We can have so many clothes!”

All the women were eagerly nodding now. Staring at the clothes in the window without looking away.

“I love the colors,” whispered Hui. “I want to wear beautiful and bright clothes. They all look amazing compared to our drab uniforms and the clothes from our realm.”

Ash looked to Locke and grinned at her.

Locke had fashioned this body atop a woman who had already been blessed repeatedly with great looks and a figure that highlighted an extremely well endowed figure with a narrow waist and wide hips.

Additionally to that, her delicate brown hair was almost always immaculately styled.

Her perfectly green eyes were like crystals and he had wondered more than once if they’d been like that or if Locke had fashioned them to be like that.

“Don’t you dare say anything stupid like, ‘women and clothes’. Alright? Don’t. These poor girls have no idea how deprived they’ve been, working with clothes that almost never fit, were scratchy, badly dyed, or just not that pretty,” warned the living artist rendition of beauty made real. Only Ren or Siu could truly compare to Locke. Hui came close but not quite. “They’re going to get experience a great many things now.

“Don’t be surprised when every Bride that can also raids the Manse and Hall as I begin making new clothes.”

I will be sure to compliment anyone and everyone who’s daring enough to wear it around me.

Ash promised it and meant it.

Cultivators were slow to change, if he could encourage them to be daring with accepting new things, he would do so.

“Then… in we go,” Ash said and pulled open the door.

He idly wondered what was going to happen in here.

Because if this was Xiuying’s whim, than most certainly it was a whim for her own personal good luck.

Which she always focused at Ash and his well being, to which he was grateful for.

Laying his free hand atop Xiuying’s he closed his fingers into her own and held onto her.

Grateful and protective.

Xiuying was someone he would put his body on the line for to guard, because as long as she threw herself back at him, he didn’t think they would ever suffer a true loss that they couldn’t come back from.

To which Xiuying met his eyes, grinned at him, then darted in and gave him a kiss.

Then she squeaked, let out a squeal, and skipped away. Moving straight for a very large section of brightly colored blouses.

“I can’t wait for a perfectly fit bra. Oh my word I need a really good one,” complained Locke.

“Ah?” asked Hui, looking at the other woman as they went after Xiuying.

“Trust me, you’ll love them,” Locke promised. “Adore them. You’ll never look back.”

***

“I refuse to leave without owning one,” Hui stated in no uncertain terms. Her eyes were cold, flat, and dead. Her posture rigid, her arms held like weapons at her sides, and he got the impression she would battle him to the death. “I… need these. All of them. Every single one.”

“I like them a great deal, too,” Xiuying said from beside Hui.

The two women were in street clothes that gave Ash a deep and uncomfortable cognitive dissonance.

That and the underwear they’d found, which they refused to leave without, had been chosen by locke to help emphasize their body-type, rather than downplay it.

Ash was doing a good job of keeping his eyes northward, but it was hard.

Siu then stepped out of the dressing room and took a few steps toward him. She was wearing short shorts that barely made it past her mid thighs, a comfy looking blouse with collars that was loose at the shoulders, but tight at the bust and down, as well as a shawl that rested against her inner elbows.

Locke had picked out a dangerous bra for her as well.

“This is lovely,” purred Siu and lifted up her foot to indicate her ankle boots. “These are fun, too! You were absolutely right Locke.”

“I know, I know. I’m amazing,” she said from another dressing room.

Ash had already gone around and simply taken away hordes of men’s clothes, put them in the Hall, and brought them back. He had done it all while waiting for them and without them even noticing he’d left.

He would just hafve to have Locke help him out later since she could replicate nearly anything pattern and style wise.

Color and fabric would be a different matter, since she didn’t have the means to make the fabrics or dyes.

It’d do for now though and help them stand out less.

At least, until Xiuying’s natural luck kicked in.

“Ash, uhm, help me? My zipper got stuck and it’s in my hair and… and… help?” begged Xiuying.

Unable to help himself, Ash chuckled, got up, and went to assist.

Stepping into the dressing room he found Xiuying had a very lovely bright blue sun-dress on and the zipper was indeed stuck in her hair.

Somehow.

“I know, I know. I can’t help it,” she apologized. “You don’t care. You think it’s funny and cute in a way.”

“I do. I admit I’m rather fond of rescuing my Fortune’s Chosen wife,” Ash said and reached for the zipper. He delicately freed her hair, dislodging it from the zipper, and gently pulled it down and away.

It wasn’t even a problem.

“Ooh! Thank you. I’m so grateful for my family,” gushed Xiuying and she quickly shimmied out of the dress, giving Ash a great view of her back and rear.

Ash gently pulled the curtain away, just enough to slip out, and let it settle back in place.

Only for Xiuying to be surprised by the sudden movement and bumped into the wall of the dressing room.

Which knocked a hanging decoration off the wall. A strange glass globe with twine wrapped around the bottom and filled with marbles.

Upon hitting the ground it shattered and marbles scattered out across the ground, rattling and clacking as they went in a flood.

Straight toward three people who had no idea what was coming for them and kept walking. Not even noticing Ash or the others.

Well.

Here it goes.

It’s like… like watching a Rube Goldberg machine.

You never know how it’ll end.

The three men in coats stepped on the marbles at nearly the same time. All three of them slipping against the glass spheres.

One man went straight down onto his face with a crunch of bone.

The second did a sideways shuffle, grabbed a coat-rack, fell to his knees, and ended up pulling the damn thing down on his back.

Third, and most dramatic, the last man had his feet shoot out from under him. His feet coming up to where his head had been as the man landed on the ground with a boom on his shoulders and neck.

A moment after the three men fell, weapons clattered out of their coats.

Or to be more precise, what looked to be a pump action shotgun, a pipe of some sort, and a big knife.

Ash walked over, gathered up the weapons, set them to the side, and then pushed the man hanging on the coat rack down to the ground.

Hui had come over and was standing near the other two men.

“What’s that?” she asked, indicating the shotgun in particular

“A type of weapon. Like a bow but different,” Ash murmured, snorted, then laughed. “It’s a very dangerous weapon. It seems our dear Xiu really needed to stop this from happening. Looks like it was going to be a robbery. Or that’s what I’d guess.

“I wonder why, though. I can’t imagine trying to rob a clothing store. Unless this place is more than meets the eye or there’s something else going on.”

“It’s always a mystery with our sister,” Siu stated with a chuckle as she drew up next to Ash. Her fan was fluttering in front of her face, her pink bubble wrapped tightly around him at the moment.

A moment after he realized she was there then he felt his sexual tension drain away in a flash.

He had been experiencing a great deal of it after having seen such lovely women trying on clothes.

Unfortunately, especially Siu and the outfit she’d shown off.

The same woman who’s Dao seemed to be bending her body ever closer to his ideal woman without him ever giving her input on whether he wanted that or not. It was something she had done to herself of her own volition.

“Oh me, oh my. Ashley, my darling Husband, I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist on taking all these clothes with us,” purred the monster made flesh. “I had no idea you liked it all so much and how I look.”

Ash shook his head and just stood there.

Waiting.

At some point, whatever it was that Xiuying’s fortune wanted would appear. All he had to do was follow it’s direction.

Always accept her luck as luck, never blame her for anything that goes wrong.

Let Xiu be Xiu and ever who she is.

“Shouldn’t we just kill them?” Hui, looking to him with a curious lift to her eyebrows. “Clearly they meant to do terrible things here, such violent crime should be punished violently.”

Cultivators are cultivators.

Rather than hoping if they survive their brush with this realm, I should be hoping this realm survives their brush with cultivators.