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

"Perhaps you could spar with him a bit? Zhengui rarely gets to face enemies other than myself," Ling Qi suggested. That would be changing in the future. She wanted Zhengui and Hanyi to join her next time she sparred Cai Renxiang.

Wang Chao eyed her little brother up and down. "Not a bad idea," he said glancing back at her and the others. "If I'm to give you proper instruction I'll need to see the two of you together though."
Ling Qi really did not want to risk embarrassing the older boy. He was a step above her in cultivation of course, and as a count scion his arts were surely high quality… but she was aware of just how frustrating she was to fight. It might be better to do that with proper sparring license worked out in a private training ground. "That is fair, but I was hoping that you could assess his abilities individually first?"

"I too wish to see the great beasts abilities in action," Alingge agreed, her eyes not leaving Zhengui. "The mists and ice are not good for spectation."

"I, Zhen will face whoever Big Sister likes," Zhen hissed haughtily.

"Gui too," his other half agreed. "Are we gonna fight Mister Avalanche?"

"It seems so," Wang Chao seemed fairly chuffed, rolling his shoulders as he surveyed the Xuan Wu. "Let it not be said that Wang Chao would ignore a ladies request. Liang, will you see to the field settings. Then you can join the ladies."

The other boy chuckled, glancing over at the two of them nervously. "Of Course, Lord Wang, I hope you enjoy your spar."

"It should be good fun. I assume your spirit does not need to be coddled, Miss Ling?" Wang Chao asked.

"...I will trust your discretion," Ling Qi replied, and the words were difficult to force out. She felt a pang of pain at the thought of leaving Zhengui to fight a stronger opponent unsupported, but it was only a spar. She couldn't baby him, if he was going to keep up with her. "Zhengui, fight hard, okay?"

"Yes, Big Sister!" They both announced in unison.

Together with Alingge, Ling Qi withdrew to the edge of the training field as the air around it shimmered, not cutting them off from the outside, but just preventing any stray qi or objects from flying out and disrupting the rest of the training grounds. Ling Qi glanced to the fur clad girl at her side. "...Do you actually have trouble seeing through my mist?"

"It is an effort," Alingge replied shortly, watching as Wang Chao and Zhengui walked apart, giving each other some starting distance. "Effort better spent elsewhere. Though it was amusing to watch you hunt in the tournament."

Ling Qi hummed, noting the faint circulation of qi through the girl's eyes, ears and nose. She was activating some kind of perception art. "And I have improved quite a lot since then," she mused.

"Yes," the other girl agreed.
Out in the field, Wang Chao had leveled his pike at Zhengui. "Let us begin then! Sir Ling, I will give you a five count to prepare yourself!"

Ling Qi blinked, referring to Zhengui that way… Wang Chao was taking her claim of him as her little brother kind of seriously wasn't he. She wondered, was that actually a thing she could do, legally speaking?

"Oh, you better not look down on Gui," her little brother grumbled, even as his shell flared with volcanic light, and Ling Qi felt his root system spreading under the field. The air around Zhen distorted with heat.

"He's surprisingly earnest," Ling Qi said idly.

"Lord Wang is very straightforward," She glanced over to see Liang He approaching them. She took a moment to study his face. All playfulness aside, he really did seem slightly afraid of her.

"I am glad I came to him for help with this then," Ling Qi said, dipping her head politely. "...And I am sorry for injuring you so badly. It only seemed respectful to use my finisher after you used yours."

Wang Chao had begun to move toward Zhengui, ripples of qi echoing from his feet with each step. Every pulse pinged out and reverberated back, flooding back into his meridians. Each pulse was weak, but with every step they were growing slowly stronger. The earth between him and Zhengui erupted with crawling surging branches and vines, a fortress wall rising from the earth as Zhen's throat swelled with superheated qi.

"I understood," he said with a weak chuckle, turning his eyes to the battle. Ling Qi considered the way he regarded Wang Chao's back as he charged into the teeth of Zhengui's defenses. Her earlier musing had been off base. Taking things seriously, that seemed more like the way Han Fang had looked at Han Jian. There was nothing romantic there, just loyalty, and something vaguely familial.

"Not a bad barrier!" Wang Chao announced. "But the foundation is unstable!" Ling Qi blinked as he thrust his pike right into the grasping, regenerating vines with no sign of a more powerful technique, but she blinked as the qi of Zhengui's Paradise Rampart cracked and violently shattered around the point of impact, taking its physical manifestation with it.

Of course, her little brother was alert, and before the debris had even struck the ground, a massive glob of molten glass and liquid fire struck Wang Chao full on.

"Your Zhengui has considerable power for his cultivation," Alingge observed. She stood with her arms crossed under her fur cloak, wholly still except for her eyes. Her composure had obviously recovered. "Is that natural, or have you used some technique to bolster him?"
"...Elder Ying gave me some lessons on spirit bonding, and aiding growth, but nothing like an art," Ling Qi replied. "Is that a thing?" If so, some parts of the Songseekers Ceremony made more sense

The other girl glanced at her. "There are cultivation arts for this, yes."

Laughter rang out from the clearing smoke as Wang Chao barreled through, glowing molten droplets flying from his armor. It was a deep belly laugh too. It seemed that he was that type of fighter. It was too bad that Gan Guangli was not here, he would probably be better at this, Ling Qi lamented.

He crossed the remaining distance to her little brother in barely a moment, grasping roots torn wholesale from the earth when they tried to hinder his feet. His pike swung out, and Zhengui's head pulled back into his shell as he stamped forward, presenting his shelled shoulder to the blow. There was a ring like a temple gong being struck as metal met shell, and the hard packed earth beneath them shattered in a shower of grit and stony shrapnel.

...At least Zhengui seemed to be having fun, going by the excitement ringing through their bond.

"It's probably not a bad idea to let him play around with some other folks. You are kind of an ass to fight," Sixiang chuckled.

"He's holding back though," Ling Qi said absently, only realizing that he had spoken aloud a moment later.

"It is not typically the point of a spar to immediately crush your opponent," Liang He said.

"I know that," Ling Qi replied. All the same, the ugly feeling that sometimes rose up after a spar with Meizhen or Cai Renxiang stirred in her stomach. It seemed watching her little brother be on the other end of it was no less disatisfying.

Wang Chao skidded back, catching Zhen's striking fangs on his forearm, as her little brother pushed him away, the crack in his shell left by their clash already sealing up with oozing liquid green qi drawn from the earth under his feet. She clenched her fists as Wang Chao punched Zhen directly in the snout with a boulder like crash, with such force that the serpent's head flew backward, molten spittle flying from his jaws.

"It is not so uneven as it looks. He is ramping up now that he has tested your Zhengui's toughness," Alingge said. "...What a strange beast qi."

"What do you mean by that anyway?" Ling Qi asked, not looking away from the fight. The hole in the Paradise Rampart technique had sealed itself, cutting off retreat as Gui hunkered down, drawing vitality from his roots and Wang Chao was trading blows with Zhen, liquid fire going everywhere and setting the grass alight.

"It is the way of my clan to cultivate through observation and study of beasts and plants," Alingge replied. "This is why I thank you for the opportunity. Beast Qi are the energies which make up a beasts' natural functions."

"Ah, so it's all beast qi, even if it's fire or wood or whatever else," Ling Qi caught on easily.

"Yes," Alingge agreed.

The earth roiled as spearing stabbing roots erupted, shattering on Wang Chao's armor as he charged back into melee with Zhengui, the ripples echoing from his footfalls were growing quite dense and potent now, and his armor and flesh were taking on a stony texture. The ground shook when he walked now. Stone peeled away and burned as he took another Volcanic Shot directly to the chest.

The difference in potency between the arts of a cultivator at the fourth stage of green and a beast at the second was telling it seemed.

...And she had underestimated Wang Chao a little, it seemed.

Wang Chao leaped, the force of his jump cracking the already ruined field, and a dark grey shell of qi that had been building with each pulse exploded off of him, forming a spheroid shell as he fell back to earth on a collision course with Zhengui.

To his credit, Gui let out his own earthshaking below of challenge as he hardened his stance, preparing for impact. The resulting blast sent a powerful gust outward, sending her hair and gown fluttering.

"It looks like he needs a little more work," Ling Qi said with a wry chuckle. "I might have to cut back on cultivation to train him a little more."

"That is a strange conclusion," Alingge replied, peering into the rising cloud of smoke and grit that consumed both combatants. "Empowering clan and companions is cultivation."

"And he hardly showed himself poorly," Liang He said tentatively, finally speaking up again.

"You're being kinda unreasonable again," Sixiang pointed out.

"Hoho, you are a sturdy one!" Wang Chao's voice interrupted the conversation as the smoke began to clear. The field was cratered inward several meters, and Zhengui lay at the bottom of the crater. Well, lay had the wrong implications. He was embedded in the bottom of the crater, only the top of his shell sticking out of the dirt. Several spikes were cracked or broken, and a spiderweb of fractures spread across the whole structure, but she forced herself to acknowledge that Zhengui was fine. He was already beginning to regenerate the damage.

Zhen wormed his head out of the earth, emerging from the shell covered in dust and grit. He looked distinctly displeased. "I, Zhen am not defeated!"

"Perhaps not, Sir Ling, but there is nothing more to be gained. I have your measure. Anything more will need to involve Miss Ling," Wang Chao called down from the top of the crater. He was dusty and a bit scorched, but otherwise unharmed.

"Looks like that's my cue," Ling Qi chuckled. She took a step, and appeared at the lip of the crater. "You did a very good job little brother!" She called down.

Gui's head emerged from the dirt next as he continued to dig himself out. "But Big Sister, I can still fight!" he complained.

"I know how tough you are Zhengui. But you have to save some energy for when we fight together later, okay?" Ling Qi said

He grumbled, but began to climb out of the dirt.

"It seems you had quite the good fortune in finding this one, Miss Ling," Wang Chao said.

"Thank you, I am very proud of Zhengui," she replied. "Do you think you can help me?"

"Defenses have certainly been built on worse foundations," the stout boy chuckled, looking back over his shoulder at the approaching Alingge and Liang He. "I think I can manage some advice. It will give me something to do until those crawling cowards and barbarians show themselves again!"

It seemed that he was in a pretty good mood.

[] Try to arrange weekly training sessions for the next month with just Zhengui, Wang Chao and yourself. (More focused training, higher but more narrow skill bonuses, Zhengui gets better martial training.)
[] You have been trying to improve your social game. Keep pushing it. See if you can arrange something with not only Wang Chao, but also Alingge, Liang He and possibly others. (Social Benefits. Less focused training. Lower but wider skill bonuses. Zhengui gets more experience with other cultivators.)