Ling Qi was quiet, sipping her tea as she watched her friends converse. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched her mother. She saw Ling Qingge's careful, practiced poise, and the stewing concern under the facade as she answered a question of Xiao Fen's in a polite and demure voice. Though this had been an unexpected and sudden visit, her mother had been preparing herself very rigorously, had she not?
Wonder if this meeting will give Qinnge a bit of confidence. She hosted a small get-together with a freaking Bai, and it all went well and said Bai was courteous and respectful.
Xiao Fen arched a scaly eyebrow. "Oh, I am not speaking of any still extant individuals. How bold of you to presume that I would make such a gaffe," she replied coolly.
I do really like Xiao Fen's style of speech. She's proud and persnickety.
She glanced over at her friends, she could probably save them some trouble, it wasn't like this was some official meeting. "Would either of you be bothered if my little sister came out to play in the garden while we have our tea?"
"The hell kinda snob do you think I am," Su Ling snorted. "Just about done anyway, got stuff to do."
A thousand curses that we missed the scene of Biyu encountering Su Ling of the fluffy tails. Especially given that whilst she's a grump she's a good person and wouldn't have the heart to resist the ball of energy that is Biyu.
"Is she teethed?" Xiao Fen asked.
Ling Qi paused, caught short by the bizarre question from Xiao Fen. "...Yes?" Ling Qi answered.
"Then it is no trouble," Xiao Fen replied as if the question was totally normal.
I mean...given the eight Bai clans and various non-clan descendants are so numerous that they constitute an ethnicity in and of itself that's probably an entirely normal concern across the whole of Thousand Lakes.
Ling Qi was in a good mood by the next morning. After her friends had left, she had spent more time with her Mother and sister and discussed what they were going to do. The offer to fund a trip back to a settlement of their choice had been extended to the staff, and Ling Qi's mild surprise, no one had taken it. Given what the women had been doing before, Ling Qi wasn't too surprised though.
Yeah, it might be scary a bit, but what they have here? Worth facing a bit of fear for. They have safe and mundane work, primarily under the authority of an old friend, and they're safe from dodgy clients.
Well, she would work out the details with Li Suyin tomorrow. She had already sent a message to the other girl and received a reply, she would be happy to help. Ling Qi had even haggled her up to accepting more than cost for her work. Ling Qi chuckled to herself as she remembered the fierce battle of words against her friends generosity.
Right, well then, we have a scene for the omake writers to work on. Li Suyin dropping by the house and interacting solely with Qingge. Li Suyin is from a bit of a hybrid background, not a noble family but with cultivator ancestors, and her father is a Ministry official that has done very well for a mortal.
So, sort of a middle class background effectively, quite a safe meeting for Qingge to further cut her teeth on, plus another of her daughters friends she can meet.
Meizhen was, Ling Qi noted clinically, walking a bit closer to her side than was strictly appropriate, and the prickly Bao did not seem to find this objectionable.
Cute. Cute. Cute.
. "It might have saved you, but your body reacted to the sun qi about as well as it did to the poison.
Really not surprising given how deep into Moon LQ is.
"Manufactured for certain," Bao Qingling said. "Similar enough compositional traces that I suspect a master alchemist somewhere in the enemies supply chain."
Ah, Clan Pestilens is involved.
"And I cannot fully understand your reticence," Meizhen replied sadly. "However, perhaps life in Emerald Seas has made me soft, but… I find myself looking forward to a little youthful indiscretion. Life is to be lived, after all."
Wow. Gods Meizhen has grown and changed so much, I love it. She's not so curled in on herself.
[] What was known about the enemies that had attacked them
We don't know much, but we do know a little.
The Skaven (and by extension the other residents of the Under-Empire) are based on an utterly different and incompatible form of Cultivation. Surface air is inimical to them (and vice versa), and they don't have Beast Cores. They have some weird anti-cores that absorb and concentrate impurity. Which let Li Suyin develop her really cool Meridian tech, but nonetheless the Anti-cores are useless for the normal methods you'd use cores for.
Utter devastation. I wanted so desperately to read that scene.
If you want to read it you should write it
Another interesting detail. So there is a repel effect in sun and moon qi.
I'd guess it's
possible to build a Way using both, but the themes are so antithetical it would be very difficult and very narrow. So you could do an Eclipse thing, but otherwise you'd be using only one or the other. Maybe you could use both if you only used them cyclically?
a/w
[X] What was known about the enemies that had attacked them
