Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

Ling Qi had long decided that she would not stop walking the path forward. Even when obstacles presented themselves. Even when things grew difficult. She had decided that on some matters there could be no compromise or retreat, that small endings were both acceptable and inevitable. But she did not want to be alone again.

The words and emotions of her family stung, and the pain in her dantian, that grinding feeling of something broken was real.

She needed to race forward without slowing.

She did not want to be alone.

Her melody faltered as her breath hitched, a sharp pain traveling up her spine. The distress arose from her, but its source was elsewhere. It came from the faint strands that stretched back into the house, away over the hills, where Zhengui rested and Hanyi composed. It came from up in the mountains, where her friends resided.

In moving forward blindly, she hurt others. Through others, she hurt herself. By hurting herself, she had slowed down. This thought circled in her mind, chasing its own tail. She half expected Sixiang to comment, but the moon spirit was silent, respecting her need for introspection.

There was something to that thought, Ling Qi mused, even if it did not soothe the pain in her spirit. It wasn't an answer, just an observation. It was a good one though, she thought. Yes, it might not solve her current problem, but if she wished to avoid further wounds in the future then she could not afford to let her vision be so narrow.

Insight Slotted: Even walking alone, footfalls echo beyond your hearing

"Where are we going, Big Sis?" Zhengui asked curiously, his thoughts echoing in her mind as she soared between mountains, heading for the peak that contained many of the Inner Sect training grounds.

"We're going out to do a little training, hopefully" Ling Qi said. With no one to hear, she felt no need to keep her dialogue with her little brother silent. Of course, she had some more specific reasons for taking Zhengui along other than getting him out of Hanyi's hair while she composed.

"Finally done putting it off, huh?" Sixiang murmured.

She was, with the imminent arrival of what might be Cai Renxiang's last big gathering in a while she really had no excuse not to act on her liege's commands. It wasn't like she had been slacking off; she had spent time looking into Wang Chao and the Wang clan in general, searching for a good way to approach them. What she had found surprised her a little. They had been a viscount clan focused on architecture of all things before the rise of their current patriarch to the Sixth realm at Cai Shenhua's side.

Wang Chao was that patriarch's grandson, but wasn't particularly high in considerations of succession. One of his aunts was the head of the clan, and one of her adult sons was the heir. His father was one of their generals, and his mother was a courtier from the Celestial Peaks. He wasn't the least talented of his siblings and cousins, he was just kind of… middle of the pack.

Something he was a bit prickly about, going by what she had picked up. Which wasn't surprising, he was eighteen years old and she was already swiftly catching up to his cultivation. However, she did have an opening, though she would have to be careful not to prick his pride too much.

With the Sect at war, she really could use some more pointers on tactics and battlefield planning, particularly around Zhengui. She had promised to work harder to include him in her plans, and she meant to keep that promise. Which was where Wang Chao came in. After all, the Wang family's warriors specialized in tactics centered around fortresses and hardpoints.

Asking someone for a favor was a good way of making them well inclined toward you, and if she could get some more practical use out of it as well… that was just a bonus.

Ling Qi descended onto the mountain, banking toward the lower side she had tracked the young man to. She kept her qi restrained and peered down, her eyes flashing silver as she studied the training grounds. It was a public one, rather than a private one, and there were a handful of disciples about. Most she didn't recognize, but a few…

She spotted Wang Chao, the stout young man armed with a heavy pike balanced on his shoulder, and armored in a suit that was enameled in dark green. It wasn't quite the full plate that Gan Guangli liked to thunder around in, but it was relatively heavy by the looks of it. He was laughing about something in one of the training rings, reaching down to help up his downed opponent. She glanced at the other boy, only to furrow her brow. Did she recognize him from somewhere…?

"It's sword boy. You know, the one I peeked at… under the hood for you?" Sixiang reminded her.

Ling Qi's eyebrow twitched. "You did that on your own."

She shook her head as Sixiang chuckled, deliberately ignoring the flash of well exercised pectoral muscles that the spirit flashed in her thoughts. Liang He, that was the name. If Wang Chao knew him, she supposed his grumpiness at the party made more sense. Her eyes wandered over the rest of the field, and blinked in surprise as she spotted a third person she recognized. Alingge, the girl from the hunting party was at the other end of the field, squinting down range at the targets, a long bow of white wood in her hands.

That was an interesting opportunity. Maybe she could make the approach more natural…


[] Approach Alingge first with a friendly greeting. You did say you would introduce her to Zhengui after all. Make a point to discuss what you're trying to work on within hearing of Wang Chao, and then greet him as if you weren't expecting him.
[] Stick to the original plan, you can chat with Alingge when she inevitably comes to see Zhengui, but there's really no need to complicate things. Approach Wang Chao, greet and chat politely, ask for his help.