Chapter 41. Groom Chu and the Duo Cultivation Technique

***

Warning: People in strictly traditional relationships are better off skipping this chapter. Also, readers risk learning that the dangers of sexual interactions without safety are not limited to AIDS. Reading at your own risk.

***

The patriarch remained standing against the wall. He made a few passes, and the air around Yee Rhys shimmered. The flickering concentrated into five silhouettes. They looked like people of varying builds and dressed in a dense darkness that made details and colours impossible to see. Only the outlines of the figures were clearly visible. They were all at the level of the two wisps.

- Let's go. - There was a resounding echo of elder's voice in the silence as the five silhouettes darted toward him.

Yee Rhys waited quietly. His hand began to form a haze of Qi, which coalesced into a short dagger, a knife in fact, long enough to pierce a heart or slit a throat.

Forming the weapon, the young man rushed to the nearest opponent without delay, dodged the oncoming technique, and slit the throat of the man. No sooner had the decapitated body begun to fall than Yee Rhys rushed toward the next silhouette. And in the distance, the air began to flicker, heralding the soon-to-be-extinct fighter's replacement.

The patriarch watched as the young man swarmed amongst the attacking figures. These were no mere puppets. Silhouettes were using techniques. And dirty tricks. Concealed weapons, poisons, invisibility... everything was in play.

Due to the high intensity of the fight, the young man's Qi ran out after a minute. For another three minutes, the boy fought with his body and mentalist's perception. Taking blows, falling down. But each time he got up and continued fighting.

At one point, the boy reached his limit. With difficulty dodging another blow, he looked at his opponent preparing another attack, and passed out. The silhouettes froze. The boy's body swayed and began to fall. But some force picked him up near the ground, keeping him from unnecessary injury.

The enemy figures blinked and disappeared.

The emotionless body flew towards the elder. He stared at the childishly innocent face for some time. He held out his hand, but stopped it halfway. As innocent as the boy looked now, the Patriarch always remembered that inside he was a clever and insolent brat.

The boy evoked too many ambivalent emotions.

With a hesitant wave of his hand, the elder sent the body through the portal.

***

Dra Jae tried to meditate, but her emotions wouldn't calm down. This cleaning, in which the Grand Elder had taken a lively part, was proving too extensive and exhausting. Of course, the gathering and verification of information was the job of others, and she had only to make a judgement. No, she enjoyed doing nasty things to others. But the stamped nastiness of so many was tiring, bringing no joy.

The youngster was still at the Master's. A special order was in the making. There weren't many ways to relax. Going through the options, the Lady remembered one invitation. Why not?

Leaving her residence, the Elder secretly made her way to the workers' camp. Very soon a humble working girl emerged at the kitchen door.

- Hello, auntie. - The newcomer smiled naively.

- Hello, darling. - The cook smiled. She had enjoyed the interest with which she had listened to her story the last time.

- I... want to hear more stories. - The guest shrugged. - You said you could tell me about the groom and the duo cultivation.

- Yes. - The kitchen maiden nodded happily. - Sit down, my dear. I'll tell you about groom Chu and how he composed the duo cultivation technique.

The lady hastily settled herself on the edge of the table and braced herself for the storyteller's talents.

- The proceedings were as follows. - Slowly the cook began, mixing the ingredients for the next course in a basin. - Chu had been a groom in a small lord's stable since he was a child. For his faithful service he was even allowed to cultivate, albeit a third-rate technique. But he was stuck on two wisps, and he was no longer talented enough.

Adding more vegetables to the mix, the narrator blew a strand out of her hair and continued.

- But there was one problem with Chu the groom. He didn't have a good face. All the girls were shying away from him, even the ugly ones. And he wanted a normal life. A house, a wife, kids. He thought and thought and remembered that he had once heard about duo cultivation techniques. And so he searched for them, asked around, and finally managed to buy an incomplete duo cultivation technique through a third party.

The cook stirred the contents of the basin with measured movements, successfully combining her work with her story.

- The groom Chu wanted to use this technique to get close to the girl. But, alas, the technique was incomplete. He didn't dare go to the girl with it. But he still wanted to get to know a girl better. So he decided to finish the technique himself.

The lady was dumbfounded. When semi-literate cultivators take it upon themselves to finish a technique, it doesn't end well.

- He thought this way and that way and another. And somehow he filled in the gaps. But he didn't risk going to the girl right away. I don't know if he got it wrong. And the girl was a pity. So groom Chu decided to check the technique first.

The cook put the bowl with the mixture aside and took out the dough, which she immediately began to roll.

- He went over to the mare and flattened her. I mean, checked the technique.

The lady froze. Wha-what had he done?

- The mare died. - Finished the storyteller. - Groom Chu thought and thought, and corrected the duo cultivation technique once more. And then went to the second mare. And he did it, again. That one died, too. And the third one died.

The listener was silent. Quite an expected result for a self-made technique. The only odd thing was that the groom himself didn't die.

- The fourth mare had survived. - The cook continued, taking out a knife and starting to cut the dough into squares. - But she went limp on all four legs. The fifth mare went blind. A sixth went bald. By about the hundredth mare, the side effects had been eliminated.

The lady sat there with her mouth open. What a zoophile groom.

- But even then, groom Chu didn't risk going to the girl. - The lord of the kitchen continued, spreading the filling on the sliced dough. - His cultivation had reached three wisps during his experimentation with the technique. So groom Chu disguised himself and went into the forest. Looked for a long time for an object and finally found some lonely youngster. And he felled him.

The cook smacked her lips thickly as she deftly made a pie.

The lady, on the other hand, noted mentally that it was better to keep the youngling away from the stable boys.

- After testing the technique on a human, the boy had gone gray, lost his voice and acquired a shaky temper. - The storyteller ruthlessly reported. - Groom Chu once more fixed the technique and went back into the woods. By the sound of it he found the lumberjack and felled him.

The pie flopped down on the tray.

- The lumberjack's legs fell off and a nervous tic began. Then Chu the groom met the hunter. And flopped. - Another pattie joined his colleagues. - During the next run he met a couple of minors under a bush. Just scared the girl off so she'd run faster, but the guy got knocked down.

The patties were made nice and smooth.

- A month later, three nearby villages were searching the forest for the perverted maniac. - The cook summed up and put the tray into the oven. - Meanwhile Chu, the groom, had made his way to the fourth wisp and decided that the technique was safe for humans. But he still felt sorry for the girls. So he went into the woods and felled the grandmother.

The lady had no time to close her mouth. At this rate was this groom going to get to the girls at all?

- The grandmother turned out to be too old and couldn't stand his passion. After burying the body, groom Chu thought about it and decided to choose a younger subject. There was a girl in their village, ugly as a mortal sin, for which she was not married even in her thirties. The groom chose his moment and dragged her under a bush.