I dunno, every indication seems to be that he's a scrub, an unimportant nephew, in Xuan-land. Probably has a half dozen tragic backstory direct family deaths or something.
More seriously, Meizhen said she expected the sect to actually exert authority over her now, and she's in a better place diplomatically than he is. Favourite niece of the presumed heir and all.
I dunno, every indication seems to be that he's a scrub, an unimportant nephew, in Xuan-land. Probably has a half dozen tragic backstory direct family deaths or something.
More seriously, Meizhen said she expected the sect to actually exert authority over her now, and she's in a better place diplomatically than he is. Favourite niece of the presumed heir and all.
I really don't buy that he's a scrub. I don't believe that the Xuan wouldn't try to capitalize on the fact that the Argent Sect is in the Emerald Seas. The Emerald Seas is the biggest exporter of wood to the Savage Seas. It makes sense to me that the Xuan would send people with some connections into the Emerald Seas sects in order to try and build up more connections there.
Also the Savage Seas is on the complete opposite end from the Argent sect. If I wanted to stash a nobody somewhere I wouldn't spend the money to send them safely across an entire death world. They just wouldn't be worth the investment. There are likely perfectly good places to stash nobodies for much cheaper.
I am not prepared to say how important he is but I am willing to say that he was likely thought to be worth the investment of sending him across the world. Which just adds more context to the Twin Admirals statement that of disappointment in him.
Yeah, its not that he's a nobody, but any ducal member would make priority of orders sticky for simple reasons. I expect him to be used and to great effect, but its more likely to be used through his chosen career of producing talismans and wards than as a scouting or recon unit.
I dunno, every indication seems to be that he's a scrub, an unimportant nephew, in Xuan-land. Probably has a half dozen tragic backstory direct family deaths or something.
More seriously, Meizhen said she expected the sect to actually exert authority over her now, and she's in a better place diplomatically than he is. Favourite niece of the presumed heir and all.
I suppose his status in the clan partly depends on whether or not Meilin was still alive when the talks were ongoing w.r.t. his potential betrothal to Meizhen.
I really don't buy that he's a scrub. I don't believe that the Xuan wouldn't try to capitalize on the fact that the Argent Sect is in the Emerald Seas. The Emerald Seas is the biggest exporter of wood to the Savage Seas. It makes sense to me that the Xuan would send people with some connections into the Emerald Seas sects in order to try and build up more connections there.
Also the Savage Seas is on the complete opposite end from the Argent sect. If I wanted to stash a nobody somewhere I wouldn't spend the money to send them safely across an entire death world. They just wouldn't be worth the investment. There are likely perfectly good places to stash nobodies for much cheaper.
I am not prepared to say how important he is but I am willing to say that he was likely thought to be worth the investment of sending him across the world. Which just adds more context to the Twin Admirals statement that of disappointment in him.
If I spent a fortune getting someone across the world I would have high exceptions for him too.
Nah, I didn't mean scrub as in just some random dude. He's a member of the Xuan ruling clan. I meant scrub like how Meizhen was on first entering the sect: of low internal political standing. Hers was about as low as it goes without also being a scrub at cultivation.
The admiral also speaks on Xuan Shi's status in the clan. It's vague but suggests to me that the estimation was a before/after sect thing, and considering his talent, lower status in the past implies lesser backing. Could be a weird hangup we aren't yet privy to though, of course.
"The hatchling," The older man chuckled, his laughter little more than a rasp. "Yes, mine grand nephew has exceeded the measure laid for him by elder eyes," there was a twinkle of amusement in his storm grey eyes.
I suppose his status in the clan partly depends on whether or not Meilin was still alive when the talks were ongoing w.r.t. his potential betrothal to Meizhen.
Basically this. The info we do have suggests it was after her death, I think, but it's not conclusive.
Anyway, the reason I'm harping on Xuan Shi showing up is because he's a neat character. He's genuinely nice and believes in acting uprightly and such, but we've seen him err there. There's a certain disconnect that he maintains with others, partly his adopted persona of riddle-spekaing northern turtle man, but that doesn't feel like the whole of it, which is interesting. Xuan Shi also shares being something of an outsider to Imperial court culture with Ling Qi, and his perspective could be really interesting and useful for her working out her own take on things.
He's a cool dude and he deserves to be teased and harassed just as much as the rest of Ling Qi's friends.
I really don't buy that he's a scrub. I don't believe that the Xuan wouldn't try to capitalize on the fact that the Argent Sect is in the Emerald Seas. The Emerald Seas is the biggest exporter of wood to the Savage Seas. It makes sense to me that the Xuan would send people with some connections into the Emerald Seas sects in order to try and build up more connections there.
The job slot of "build ties with the major wood exporter" was sufficiently unimportant that they went with the guy who volunteered because he was a fan of a porn series written there rather than anyone politically important to the Xuan or skilled at building diplomatic connections.
The reason the Xuan elder was mildly disappointed in him is because a brand new talent bonding a super-rare spirit beast that's practically synonymous with your clan is a total gimme for forging diplomatic connections. It's the equivalent of walking into a job interview with a signed handwritten letter of recommendation from the CEO and still not getting the job.
The job slot of "build ties with the major wood exporter" was sufficiently unimportant that they went with the guy who volunteered because he was a fan of a porn series written there rather than anyone politically important to the Xuan or skilled at building diplomatic connections.
The reason the Xuan elder was mildly disappointed in him is because a brand new talent bonding a super-rare spirit beast that's practically synonymous with your clan is a total gimme for forging diplomatic connections. It's the equivalent of walking into a job interview with a signed handwritten letter of recommendation from the CEO and still not getting the job.
Actually, what we've seen of the Xuan is that they seem to be passively isolationist, they are busy with their own matters and while they wouldn't turn down an outstretched hand, they got a perpetual Late To The Party thing going on where they happen to show up too late to be fucked up by big disasters.
Xuan Diviners: "Funny how that happens".
I suppose if things go bad they could literally walk away from the Empire with all their land
I like the reading that Xuan Shi is awkward and was supposed to be here making friends while working on his talents. And his elders being like "well you know he's doing more than expected. And yet, where are his friends"
we should see more of Xuan Shi and I agree with placing him in the underground raid, prep phase at least. He might have funny interactions with Su Ling given the divination, spiritblood and general awkward@social they are
The twisting metal blade in her hands began to soften around the edges, the definition between metal and mist fading as Ling Qi began to attach the first meridian to the empty vessel. In her mind, a single high note rang as she began to forge the connection. It wasn't very hard, the 'free' end of her meridian seemed eager for something to connect to, and seal off the flow of music qi spilling raw into the world.
Really, could there be any other answer? It was loneliness that had made her what she was, the had shaped the foundations of her worldview and wants. It was not a happy thing, but Ling Qi thought that she would lose something if she ever forgot. If memories of cold streets and lonely crowd, of cold winters and empty bellies faded away, what would she become? She breathed out, and the sensation of her flesh and blood, of the room around her faded. Her hands were tangles of ice blue and matte black cords and the dagger floating between them was beginning to shine. Before, she could direct the weapon with a thought, now she was beginning to feel it, like a third hand.
It tingled uncomfortably like a limb that had been slept on, the sensation growing and fading as she carefully affixed the opening of the meridian to its new home. The music flowing through the meridian began to change slowing and growing melancholy as she focused her thoughts on the feelings she wanted to pour into the blade, and in her hands, the physical form began to pulse and twist.
A second meridian came loose at her coaxing, cold and thrashing, liquid in the grip of her mind, and through it flowed memories she would not allow herself to forget. Days and nights alone, furtive days spent scrabbling like a beast just to survive, not for the sake of happiness or satisfaction, but merely to live. The blade thinned and wavered, growing narrow.
Next came darkness, the unmoored meridian clung to her, curling like a serpent around her wrist as she plucked it free. Her first real personal connections had been like water in a drought, healing cracked and parched earth. They had lead her to discard old instincts, old necessities, and change. Images of scurrying bodies and sharp teeth flashed through her thoughts, and bloody red tinged her fingertips.
...It hadn't been easy. She had fallen back, given in to fear and helplessness. The moment of decision as the knife plunged toward her neck returned to her, and she felt again what she had there. She would not struggle with that decision again. The third meridian connected, and she felt her blade as if it were her own arm. She flexed new muscle and the blade twirled. She breathed, and the soft sound of the Forgotten Vale Melody played.
Ling Qi opened her eyes and looked upon the change her cultivation had wrought in the dark and twisted blade. It's profile was simpler now; a long, thin double edged blade. It was still hollow, but the gaps in the metal had narrowed until they were no more than the holes on a flute, faint wisps of mist leaking from the darkened openings. The handle was now more a mouthpiece of dark lacquered wood whose grain shifted like liquid.
Active domain effects retain a qi cost but may be used without expending the users actions
Active Effects
-Dissonance of the Lonely Street: C
This effect infuses area effects of lung based arts, subtly changing their tenor and expression to a darker and more violent one. This effect may only infuse one art at a time. Infused arts deal E rank damage to enemies within in addition to their other effects. If the effect would already deal damage, the damage is instead increased by one rank(Max C).
-Lost Child's Elegy: B
An elegy to things lost and unattainable, left behind in the mists of time; of hearths that will never be warmed and happiness forgotten. The blade circles foes, thickening the mist and cutting them off from the world and their allies. Enemies within the mist are affected by D rank qi drain and a slow lethargy that drags at their limbs, penalizing hit, speed and initiative for each action spent in The Mist, this penalty stacks up to five times. Any enemy with two or more stacks may be focused on under the effect, and if they fail an automatic dispel test they become isolated, neither providing effects to other enemies or benefitting from effects from other enemies. The weapon may only target one enemy at a time with this effect. Enemies under this effect suffer C rank Qi drain. Enemies under this effect only perceive Ling Qi and her domain weapon. Ling Qi may affect a number of targets this way equal to her cultivation potency.
Alternatively Ling Qi may target an ally within the mist, granting them a stacking buff to Physical and Spiritual Armor as well as Resist. Allies targeted this way cannot be affected by area of effect debuffs unless the effects rank exceeds her domain rank, adjusted for potency.
Bond 3 Effects
The Mist is an ally and companion, as much as Ling Qi herself, spawning phantoms and swirling protectively around the ally.
+15 to Spiritual Armor and Physical Avoid, +10 to Spiritual Avoid
E Rank Qi regeneration while Lost Child's Elegy is active
Bond 4 Effects
The Mist is warm and inviting, it embraces and bolsters, it soaks up harmful effects into itself. Most of all, it reminds your friends that they are not alone.
+20 to Spiritual Armor, Physical and Spiritual Avoid
+15 to Resist
D Rank Qi regeneration while Lost Child's Elegy is active
For a time, Ling Qi remained seated, idly manipulating her Singing Mist Blade through the air, altering the tone and beat of the faint melody it played. It felt like stretching a cramped limb, muscles tingling and blood flowing in response to her exertion. It was… alien, because the blade was her, but it was not flesh and blood, it was wood and metal. When she grasped the handle, she could feel it like she was holding her own hand. When she played the Forgotten Vale Melody it felt the same as if she were playing it with her own lips and breath.
It felt foreign and disorienting, her body had changed, she wasn't quite the same anymore. It helped though, to close her eyes and recall how she had gotten here. It was her choice, and her change. She was going to keep growing, and she would change on the way, but that was fine. That was the price of cultivation. Ling Qi stood, and her blade twirled in the air, whistling faintly as it rose to hover over her shoulder. Ling Qi looked down at her hand, flexing it open and closed for a moment. Then she took a deep breath, and Awoke.
Loose stone stones on the cavern floor rattled and shook, and the air thrummed. All around her, the world went white and grey. It wasn't like before, the mist didn't pour forth or flow. With an action no more strenuous than opening a closed fist, The Mist simply was. Her blade keened softly, and the phantoms formed. Gaunt and desperate faces and ragged knives formed in the mist, alongside stalking beasts, while mocking spirits whirled overhead. Their eyes were no longer crimson but pools of black, empty and accusing. Through her blade, she played her song, and the mist went colder still, growing thick and clinging, she could feel it's hunger, it's loneliness and want. She could feel it, because it was her. Fuzzy and faint it was still, but Ling Qi felt the disorientation of being in every part of the room at once.
"You'll get used to it," Sixiang chuckled. "Congrats, Ling Qi."
Then, the door opened, unsealing the meditation room. Cai Renxiang stood in the doorway, and the mist rushed out into the unoccupied hall, suffusing the air and surrounding her. Ling Qi felt the difference then. The Mist around her was still cool, but it was a spring mornings chill and not winters harsh bite. Around her, the phantoms faced outward, menacing with fang and blade, and the coldness of the lonely street was replaced by the warmth of a friends arm round the shoulders.
"It is good that your efforts have borne fruit," Cai Renxiang said mildly, briefly glancing around. "However, please reign yourself in. You are leaking."
Ling Qi blinked and flushed slightly in embarrassment. Cai renxiang was right, leaving the open door aside, the sealing on the room was imperfect and she could feel streamers of herself leaking through the cracks into the rest of the house. With a feeling like sucking in her stomach, the mist shrank condensing into the area right around her and Cai. She would have shrunken it further, but… it actually felt a little good to have a friend within it.
"Sorry about that," Ling Qi apologized, smiling. "I guess I got a little lost in the sensation."
"Understandable," Cai Renxiang replied. She reached out to prod one of the shifting phantoms near to her, frowning thoughtfully as it dispersed into smoke. "Your domain is a somewhat…. Unique sensation."
Somehow, that statement just made her feel more anxious, Ling Qi thought irritably. "Well, what is your like then?"
"Inwardly focused," Cai Renxiang replied.
"That's a little unexpected," Ling Qi admitted, looking at her curiously, as she struggled to shrink the Mist further. "I guess that makes sense with what you told me."
Her liege merely nodded agreeably. "I have prepared tea, a new blend from Ebon Rivers stock. Since you have been in meditation for a day and a half, you should join me. You can begin practicing restraining yourself."
"Sure," Ling Qi said, taking a step forward only to pause. She was curious. "Do you think you could show me again? I've seen your weapon, but I think it might be different now."
Cai Renxiang paused as well when she spoke, and for a second, Ling Qi thought she had overstepped herself again. Then, there was the faint ringing of bells, and Cai Renxiang was bathed in light. Her face an imperious and featureless mask of liquid metal and light and her gown empyreal armor forged from radiance. She looked daunting, inhuman, perfect, and serene.
She was so very alone.
"Hmm?" Cai Renxiang murmured in surprise and glanced down to see a child formed from mist and fog gently grasp her fingers. The child had familiar dark features, hair that could not be tamed, and ice blue eyes.
Ling Qi let out a squeak of morbid embarrassment, and like that she pulled her domain back in, the Mist vanishing in an instant. Cai Renxiang armor and radiance flashed away as well, leaving only two girls staring awkwardly at each other.
…The tea was easily the most uncomfortable time she had experienced in awhile.
Congratulations on completing integration! You have taken another of many steps beyond simple grinding required to ascend. Please Vote for which arc you would like to begin next. In this case, both arcs will play out, but the order in which they are chosen will affect how they progress.
[] Family Ties (Qingge, Biyu, Household, Su Ling)
[] Work Out (Zhengui, Hanyi, Bao Qian)
Guess we've now seen what that looks like, and it's goddamn adorable.
Anyway, I think Work Out might make sense to do first, now that we have our domain awakened? Qian is ahead of us in cultivation and may bring a unique perspective, and our spirits are Bond 4 and Bond 3 with us. I want to see what Zhengui can do.
Well, I really like our domain! The thematics are on point and imagine what will happen to the mist ghost if we integrate PLR or BKSD! I'm just so excited!
Then, there was the faint ringing of bells, and Cai Renxiang was bathed in light. Her face an imperious and featureless mask of liquid metal and light and her gown empyreal armor forged from radiance. She looked daunting, inhuman, perfect, and serene.
She was so very alone.
"Hmm?" Cai Renxiang murmured in surprise and glanced down to see a child formed from mist and fog gently grasp her fingers. The child had familiar dark features, hair that could not be tamed, and ice blue eyes.
Ling Qi let out a squeak of morbid embarrassment, and like that she pulled her domain back in, the Mist vanishing in an instant. Cai Renxiang armor and radiance flashed away as well, leaving only two girls staring awkwardly at each other.
…The tea was easily the most uncomfortable time she had experienced in awhile.
Her Domain beliefs literally make her think that Renxiang has no home and no family, looking on that awful domain of lonely perfection only reinforces it, and everything she's shaping herself into makes her want to give her friend love and comfort. She has gone full cinnamon roll.
"Hmm?" Cai Renxiang murmured in surprise and glanced down to see a child formed from mist and fog gently grasp her fingers. The child had familiar dark features, hair that could not be tamed, and ice blue eyes.
Ling Qi let out a squeak of morbid embarrassment, and like that she pulled her domain back in, the Mist vanishing in an instant. Cai Renxiang armor and radiance flashed away as well, leaving only two girls staring awkwardly at each other.
…The tea was easily the most uncomfortable time she had experienced in awhile.
This is pretty heartwarming, sad, and awkward all at once. Ling Qi's domain is pretty neat overall.
I'm wondering how this:
The moment of decision as the knife plunged toward her neck returned to her, and she felt again what she had there. She would not struggle with that decision again.
"Understandable," Cai Renxiang replied. She reached out to prod one of the shifting phantoms near to her, frowning thoughtfully as it dispersed into smoke. "Your domain is a somewhat…. Unique sensation."
The Mist is warm and inviting, it embraces and bolsters, it soaks up harmful effects into itself. Most of all, it reminds your friends that they are not alone.
Cai Renxiang stood in the doorway, and the mist rushed out into the unoccupied hall, suffusing the air and surrounding her. Ling Qi felt the difference then. The Mist around her was still cool, but it was a spring mornings chill and not winters harsh bite. Around her, the phantoms faced outward, menacing with fang and blade, and the coldness of the lonely street was replaced by the warmth of a friends arm round the shoulders.
Cai Renxiang paused as well when she spoke, and for a second, Ling Qi thought she had overstepped herself again. Then, there was the faint ringing of bells, and Cai Renxiang was bathed in light. Her face an imperious and featureless mask of liquid metal and light and her gown empyreal armor forged from radiance. She looked daunting, inhuman, perfect, and serene.
She was so very alone.
"Hmm?" Cai Renxiang murmured in surprise and glanced down to see a child formed from mist and fog gently grasp her fingers. The child had familiar dark features, hair that could not be tamed, and ice blue eyes.
I like that the mist is cold and unwelcoming not just to enemies but everyone who isn't a close friend or who Ling Qi isn't actively expressing as an ally. I mean, we have ways to go on socializing but I wouldn't change it if I had the choice.
She reached out to prod one of the shifting phantoms near to her, frowning thoughtfully as it dispersed into smoke. "Your domain is a somewhat…. Unique sensation."
Somehow, that statement just made her feel more anxious, Ling Qi thought irritably. "Well, what is your like then?"
So now LQ become more perceptive to 'loneliness'. 'Want' in that regard would have been good too, if you know what someone want then you can understand them better.
Also mist-child Ling Qi is adorable, at least to her friends, I guess not so to her enemies.
The Mist is warm and inviting, it embraces and bolsters, it soaks up harmful effects into itself. Most of all, it reminds your friends that they are not alone.
"Hmm?" Cai Renxiang murmured in surprise and glanced down to see a child formed from mist and fog gently grasp her fingers. The child had familiar dark features, hair that could not be tamed, and ice blue eyes.
.
