"Your pretty persistent, you know that?" Han Jian said, leaning back against the against the railing of the balcony. They were on the second floor of the Sect town's teahouse, overlooking the gardens below.
"So I've heard on occasion," Ling Qi replied in a dry tone, taking a careful sip from the tea laid out on the table beside her. "You accepted the invitation though."
"How could I refuse, when you made the offer as a subordinate of the Cai?" He asked. "I'm not going to forgive you for that stack of correspondence and contracts I have to review and send home now, you know?"
"Sorry," Ling Qi replied, her smile giving the lie to that statement. "But, isn't this what you call, 'making connections'?" She asked guilelessly.
He shot her an unimpressed look. "I think I liked you better as a naive country girl," he said grumpily.
"Things were simpler then, weren't they?" Ling Qi mused. "Well maybe not," she added after a moment. "I'm still thankful for what you did, back then."
"Didn't we have this conversation before?" Han Jian asked, sounding a touch tired, crossing his arms over his tiger striped outer robe.
"We did, but I think we're past the point where we can interfere with each other's interests, you know?" Ling Qi shot back. "We aren't close, but I hope we can put some of the tension away at this point."
It is really unfortunate that we had to basically blackmail a final meeting out of him. He was thinking "Cut ties, clean break", but Ling Qi never lets a friend go if she can help it.
Han Jian scrubbed his hand through his hair, looking up at the sky. "Yeah… I think that'd be fine," he replied after a moment. "I'm not sure what you expect to get out of it though. We aren;t likely to see each other much next year."
Ling Qi frowned, those words were awfully fatalistic, all but outright admitting that he didn;t think he was going to make the Inner Sect. "Even so, do I need to get anything out of it? You didn't after all."
And here Ling Qi gets her first IC information on Han Jian's plans to basically forfeit the tournament in style. Its more than he's said to anyone I think.
"Fair point," he sighed. "For what it's worth, I don't regret helping you."
Even though her presence seemed to be the trigger for a whole lot of problems, Ling Qi mused silently. True, as she was now, she could see that all the cracks had already been present, but it must be difficult not to blame her, given the timing of things. "I'm glad. You're kind, I think," and wasn't that at odds with her image wealthy young masters. "I hope you can do well in the future," even if some part of her suspected that that kind of attitude would not be to his advantage.
"Thing's aren't quite so bleak as all that," Sixiang whispered. "Loyalty and admiration, honestly won, has it's own strength."
"Hmm, I can't quite tell if you're complimenting me there," Han Jian replied, reflecting her own thoughts. "In the end though, I won't compromise who I am, that is what it means to be a cultivator, after all," he said lightly. "I wish you luck in your future endeavors as well."
And indeed. A strange idea for someone Manipulation based like Ling Qi(the funny thing is her Domain runs on strong lasting bonds).
Loyalty won honestly tends to be strong and lasting even without practical advantage.
"I will graciously accept your well wishes," Ling Qi replied. "And in a few hundred years. You can say that the High Chancellor of the Emerald Seas is a friend of yours."
"Ha, you've gotten ambitious, haven't you? Isn't making a claim like that a little dangerous?"
"Maybe, but a cultivator has to take a risk now and then, you know?" Ling Qi replied with a flippant grin.
"In that case, let it be said that the Marquis of Han, will not forget his youthful ties," Han Jian replied with a snort.
"I'll hold you too that," Ling Qi laughed. "Now sit down, I can hear the server at the bottom of the stairs."
But this is good, we parted as friends, if not necessarily particularly close ones.
On the subtext, take note, Ling Qi is only this flippant with close friends. Whatever Han Jian might feel, Ling Qi will remember their past.
Loyalty honestly won indeed.
Unfortunately for the burgeoning stealth specialist, there were almost as many kinds of senses as there were cultivation methods. Some cultivators could sense the slightest stirring in the air, while others could feel through the vibrations in the earth. There were cultivators like Sun Liling, whose arts allowed her to forge a mystic connection through spilt blood, and cultivators who could feel the motion of the water in a human body, or the disturbance another cultivators qi caused in the worlds natural ebb and flow.
In the end, there was no easy way to cover every possible method, only through preparation and gathering intelligence on your targets could one be assured of their abilities to hide their presence completely when dealing with cultivators of the third realm and above. Still, Sable Crescent Step provided a good baseline to build off of, eliminating the more mundane senses from the running and giving a strong foundation in the skill of dispersing ones qi.
So in the future Stealth is going to require Investigation and Occult to know to mask the particular tells that those perception arts rely on, depending on the opponent.
Though with Sun's, the key is to avoid letting her tag you in the first place. Which is hard because she's really frigging good at tagging you.
Art wise, interesting that FVM still lacks Moon despite being a tribute to the Moon. Wonder if that comes at the very end.
However, even in the rush of this final week, Ling Qi didn't allow herself to forget her plans, and she was rather glad that she hadn't, when she reached Xiulan's training field, early on the last day of the week.
Her friend looked positively haggard, her normally immaculate appearance disheveled and smudged by ash. Though she had not reached a breakthrough in her physique, Xiulan's aura had grown significantly more potent to Ling Qi's senses. It seemed that the other girl had chosen to spend this final week building her reserves in preparation for the tournament. She had also reduced the training field to a barren, charred plain, with whole stretches of the soil glimmering like glass.
This does not bode well for Xiulan's odds in the tournament if she doesn't have a Breakthrough yet, and is going to be distracted by agonizing pain throughout.
Its very unlikely that any serious contestant would miss exploiting that.
"Xiulan, when was the last time you slept?" Ling Qi asked bluntly as she approached the other girl, picking her way through the field. "Or bathed for that matter?" she asked, wrinkling her nose a bit.
Her friend shot her a dirty look as the blazing flames leaking from the corners of her eyes and the tips of her fingers faded. "Just last evening," she sniffed. "You shall excuse me for not wishing to waste scents and cosmetics in the midst of a stretch of intense training."
As if that itself wasn't a great change from the girl she had met at the beginning of the year, Ling Qi thought wryly. "And sleeping? Xiulan, you are beginning to resemble a racoon dog."
Xiulan raised her uninjured hand for a moment, touching her cheek just below where the dark circles under her eye ended. "...Perhaps three months ago," she muttered. "What did you want Ling Qi? I cannot imagine that you took time from your own training merely to comment on my appearance?" she asked, crossing her arms indignantly.
It was a testament to the other girls tolerance for pain that she could move so naturally, given what lay under the wrapping on her arm, Ling Qi mused. Three months without sleep was also excessive, even she took a night out to rest at least once a month. "I didn't," Ling Qi admitted. "I took some time out because I wanted to speak to you about taking a break."
Ling Qi is known to be excessive in her training and she sleeps once a month
at a higher cultivation level. Xiulan is sleeping three times less when she should need more sleep than Ling Qi.
So this is the equivalent of someone chugging along on three hours of sleep a day and wondering why they aren't making any progress.
"I hardly have the time, the tournament will starting in a matter of days," Xiulan snapped irritably. "Ling Qi, we cannot all…"
"Interrupt, you can't let her get going," Sixiang murmured in her ear.
Thank you Sixiang for the much needed advice on how to manage a tsundere.
"You are more intelligent than this, Xiulan," LIng Qi replied flatly. "I do not know what it is like to have lightning on the brain," she began, eyeing her friends nigh blinding aura, and it's crackling radiant core. "But I know what the tempting whispers of the dark be like, if you don't keep clear head. Gu Xiulan, this is not you."
Xiulan scowled and opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself a moment later, her eyes narrowing. Her aura shuddered, flickering wildly, and then the blazing furnace of her spirit dimmed, grounded and banked. "Spirits," Xiulan grimaced. "I am a bit of a mess, aren't I?" she mused opening her eyes, and looking down at her charred and soot stained gown. "...Oh ancestors above, Mother is coming for the tournament, if I appear like this…"
"It will be fine," Ling Qi said, patting her friend on her good shoulder. "It's nothing a night out and a good sleep won't fix. I just wanted to make sure you got that, before you ran out of time."
So that's how Heaven overemphasis reacts. You start thinking and acting like a Shonen Protagonist. The Heaven attributes of limitless endeavor, of imagination, dreams, and ambition. Coupled to massive amounts of Fire, it says to sacrifice anything and everything for your dreams.
I suppose that might be why the Cais pair Heaven with Mountain.
"Even now, I want to refuse and resume training," Xiulan replied with a grimace. "Perhaps Sister Yanmei was correct about including a calmer element in my repertoire."
"That might not be the worst idea," Ling Qi replied agreeably. "Will you be alright now though?"
"I think I will," Xiulan replied, looking down at her good hand, flexing her fingers as sparks danced between the digits. "I should thank you."
"Think nothing of it," Ling Qi replied dismissively. "Just do the same for me, if you would."
Yanmei has a point. Xiulan went full "This is the most optimal for talismans, and drugs, why would I become less optimal?!"
Ling Qi herself is wary of the same befalling her eventually. And its what friends are for, to point out that "yo, you're freaking us out, are you sure about this?"
Xiulan does this better than most other friends, who'd be too carefully polite to imply that you might be cultivating wrongly unless asked.
"I had considered a trip to that shop with the shaved ice desserts, to cool your head," Ling Qi teased, relaxing now that her friend seemed to have come down. "But perhaps a visit to the bath house first?"
"That seems acceptable," Xiulan agreed, stepping past her, the glassed soil crunching under her shoes. "I shall have to see if I can do anything with that tangle on your head. I am not the only one who has let themselves go."
"I let my hair hang free as a choice," Ling Qi replied with a huff, easily falling back into their old rhythm.
"Ling Qi, you will be standing before half or more of the notables in the Emerald Seas next week, you cannot seriously mean to go out without even styling your hair," Xiulan replied, rolling her eyes as they exited the ruined training ground.
If her friends smirk was a bit brittle, and her playful tone a bit forced, Ling Qi chose not to notice it.
And as a bonus Ling Qi shall enter the field impeccably groomed.
If things go as expected she might not even get her hair mussed until the G16 matches.
Imperturbable Peak
Cost 6 Qi
Instant
In battle, he who maintains the wider view and a clearer head is victorious. Upon activation spiritual debuffs on allies within fifty meters of two dice or less are automatically dispelled, unless their casters cultivation equals or exceeds the users. The user may then attempt to dispel up to three other debuffing techniques at a six die bonus. In addition, for each debuff dispelled this way, the user receives a two die bonus to perception and spiritual defense for four turns.
Gotta watch out for the Second Year Greens. This would be devastating to our stacking debuff strategy considering theres no check at all for small debuffs, and it straight out reverses the tables.
"Taking it easy the last night as well?" Ling Qi asked, leaning against the doorframe. Looking at the other girl, lit by moonlight, Cui's bright green coils the only hint of color, Ling Qi idly wondered what things would have been like if she had been able to return Meizhen's feelings. She supposed that was a silly thing though, she could not be anything other than herself.
"I intend to be well rested on the morrow, yes," Bai Meizhen replied softly, idly stroking Cui's head. Her faintly glowing eyes flicked Ling Qi's way then. "And, regardless of what happens, this is the last day in which we will be living together."
All true examinees know that last minute cramming does more harm than good. Be well rested and all your work will compound. Last minute cramming only clutters the mind.
"It is," Ling Qi agreed quietly, moving to take a seat beside her friend. Cui's tongue flicked disdainfully at her. "How is Zhengui? He was cultivating in the garden when I left earlier."
"Asleep, the child," Cui hissed haughtily.
"Well, thank you for looking out for him," Ling Qi replied. "I hope he does not try your patience too much."
"Cui is always pleased to receive praise and admiration, do not let her fool you," Meizhen said dryly. Cui turned up her snout in response, not dignifying her cousins comment with a response.
*Tsunsnake*
:3
She could sense Cui's irritation, but Meizhen simply gave the tiniest of nods, her expression passive. "I know," she replied simply. "And, although I am no Zheng ruffian, to share blood oaths, I do wish you to understand that to me, you are my closest friend."
"I'm glad," Ling Qi replied, leaning back in her seat. "We'll have to seal it over a drink sometime, unless that's too coarse as well," she added teasingly.
"I suppose I could look into a vintage from home," Meizhen replied, a touch of amusement in her voice. "It is always amusing to see outsiders attempt to keep them down."
Snake venom wine I presume?
Probably quite the burn.
"I'm glad I met you."
"The feeling is mutual," Her best friend replied, looking back to the square of sky visible outside the window. "Good fortune to you, in this coming trial, Qi."
"Good fortune to you as well," Ling Qi murmured, resting her hands behind her head. This was a fine way to spend the night.
As with all schools and learning, things come to an end at last. Strife for the best and meet again.