Gleam [Karma Cultivator Isekai] - Chapter 116: Bad Idea

Chance strode downstairs, stepping over a piece of fallen rubble and down onto the ground floor. Everyone turned to look at him. It was clear by the shifty looks in their eyes and the bright red blush in Bella’s cheeks that everyone had heard at least some of the conversation upstairs.

At least I whispered when I was speaking the important bits to Ocie.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Chance grumbled. “We’ve got work to do, you know.”

“You mean you aren’t going to finish what you were talking about with Bella?” Quinn demanded. “I mean, I don’t think I should care, but for some reason, I’m–”

Jie slapped Quinn gently on the back of the head. She snapped her mouth shut and sent a glare at him, but crossed her arms in a silent pout.

“Not with you lot watching,” Chance said dryly. “We unfortunately have considerably less fun matters to deal with. I’ve got a plan to deal with the Brackern sect. All of them.”

“Seriously?” Jade asked, squinting at Chance doubtfully. “Does it involve returning to Gleam to get reinforcements?”

“No. We aren’t going back to Gleam yet,” Chance said with a shake of his head. “And, even if you do yourself, we aren’t going to be here when you get back. The Shikari aren’t our friends.”

Jade pressed her lips together, then shrugged one shoulder. “What’s your plan, then?”

“My companion is already working on it, but we’ll all have to help. I need to make as much noise and gather as much attention as we possibly can.”

This time, the looks Chance got were closer to the worried gaze of a doctor that had started to expect that their patient had hit their head just a little too hard.

“That sounds like a great way for all of us to get killed really quickly,” Quinn said. “Do you realize they’re Rank Five and Six cultivators? We are going to get killed. Painfully.”

“The reason I think this should work is precisely because they’re that powerful. There’s no way they’d actually use their full strength against us, right?”

“I don’t think you understand,” Quinn said. “They don’t need their full strength. A finger would be enough.”

“Which is why it’ll be important that they never actually land a finger on us. Powerful cultivators are pretty egotistical from what I’ve seen of them. I’ve dealt with someone that’s probably well past Rank Six, and he was the same.”

Bella’s gaze darkened at the reference to Vex. Chance’s words technically included Yamish as well, but Yamish was a special case and not one he wanted to think too much about right now.

“You’re going to bet on them being so arrogant that they – what, just let us walk out?” Quinn asked. “I’m not sure that’s a very reliable strategy.”

Chance shook his head. “No. They won’t let us walk out, but they’ll almost certainly want to make a show of things, just like you said. You escaped them. They’ll want to show that doing something like that isn’t possible to anyone else that might be having thoughts of rebellion.”

“You want to get tortured?”

“I want them to think that we’re playing into their hands,” Chance corrected. “But, more importantly, I want them grouped up. After that, Ocie will handle everything.”

Bella tilted her head to the side, but she seemed to be the only one taking Chance’s words with any degree of actual consideration. Everyone else didn’t even look slightly convinced.

“You’re just going to stop there? Where’s the part of your plan where we actually deal justice?” Jade asked. “You’re leaving out the most important part.”

“No. I’m leaving the most important part to Karma,” Chance corrected. “The more locked in this plan is, the worse my Essence will work. And I don’t want them to somehow overhear what we’re talking about. Who knows what kind of Essences they have. Maybe they’ve got a way to hear what we’ve said.”

“If they do, then you’ve already said too much,” Quinn said.

“No, I haven’t. I can say what I want, but they’re Rank Five and Six cultivators, just like you said. There’s absolutely nothing that I, as a Rank Three, could possibly do to them. No matter how much they may or may not know about the plan, it doesn’t matter. Nothing changes. Well, if they were able to tell where we were, then that would be a problem – but it’s also clear they can’t, or we would have been found by now, so that’s a moot point.”

Quinn shook her head and stood up, scratching at her side with a frown on her lips. “I’m not a fan of following a plan that you won’t tell us when it sounds this dubious already. It seems like a death sentence.”

“Have you thought of any better ideas?” Bella asked.

“I’m pretty sure doing absolutely nothing would be better,” Quinn muttered, but her eyes fell and her shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. But… how is this supposed to work? Bringing all of them together so we can beat to paste even easier? I’m not seeing it.”

“You’re going to have to trust me,” Chance said. “My Essence works better when there’s more luck involved, and for this plan, it doesn’t actually matter much what all of us do. We just need to draw the Brackern sect out to the front of the city.”

“Can we run afterward?” Jie asked.

Chance shrugged. “Once the important part is over, then yes. If we time it right, we won’t have to be waiting out there long at all. Everything will happen in an hour from a few minutes ago – or in about a little over fifty five minutes.”

“Let’s assume you’ve got some way to actually deal with the cultivators,” Jade said, drumming her fingers on the hilt of her sword. “How do we survive? I’m willing to fight for a cause I believe in, but I don’t want to throw my life away. It’s a waste of resources.”

That really is the question, isn’t it?

“I’ll handle it,” Chance said. It was one thing to ask the others to help, but for the final stage of his plan, the only person whose life he was willing to completely bet on his trust in Ocie was his own. “The important part will be getting all the important Brackern sect members to the front. As soon as you get them there, I’ll keep their attention. The rest of you can run.”

“You really think you can hold off multiple high ranked cultivators?” Jade’s brow furrowed. “Are you hiding some sort of strength that I haven’t seen? There’s no possible way a Rank 3–”

“I’ll be fine,” Chance repeated. “I know I’m asking all of you for a lot, but I’m convinced this will work.”

“Then I’ll stand with you,” Bella said, inclining her head. “I don’t know what good I’m going to do against a Rank Six, but my specialty is defense. If anyone can hold them back for even a few seconds longer, it would be me.”

Chance nodded in appreciation. Having Bella beside him would go a long way to help tip the scales in his favor. He was still confident that Ocie would pull through on her end, but even a few seconds could make a world of difference.

Quinn pursed her lips. Then she let out a huff. “I’ll help make noise and draw the bastards over to you, but I’m not going to stand around outside the city like a chicken waiting to be plucked. Is that enough?”

“More than,” Chance said with a grin.

“You’re absolutely sure of this?” Jade asked.

Chance nodded.

“Then I’ll help Quinn in luring the cultivators to the front of the city,” Jade decided. “If things look like they’re going well enough, I might throw in with you and Bella, but I won’t just toss my life away unless it’s for a good cause.”

“You know, you probably shouldn’t throw your life away for any reason,” Jie muttered. “I’m not sure I’ll be much help in any of this. I’m not a cultivator. I might be able to make sure there aren’t any normal citizens in the area, though. I take it that if Chance’s plan works, there’s going to be a lot of damage?”

Chance nodded. “Yeah. That would be perfect. Thank you, everyone.”

“Thank us if you manage to survive this,” Quinn said. “You said we’ve got a bit less than an hour. When do we want everyone to show up at the front of the city? How long can you hold them off?”

“Not long,” Chance admitted. “My strategy isn’t going to work for more than a few minutes, so the closer we are to the perfect timing, the better. And, once we’re there, if you’re going to run, make sure you run really hard. Don’t be anywhere close.”

The others all exchanged nervous glances.

“That’s… reassuring,” Jade said under her breath. “The groups will be Bella and Chance together, then the rest of us on our own, right? Let’s spread out to the corners of the city and start causing a commotion after about forty five minutes. That should leave everyone enough time to run back to the front of the city – the cultivators are unlikely to want to destroy their own town, so stick close to buildings.”

“And make sure to avoid anyone you pass by,” Quinn added. “We don’t want to injure anyone that’s just being controlled.”

Everyone nodded. With that, their plan – as secretive as Chance was – had been set. They all chose a direction and broke off, leaving the safe house behind as they set off to dropkick a bee hive and hope that Chance’s Essence was enough to keep them from paying the price.