North Winds Fall (Xianxia - Survive the Protagonist)

Autumn walked over, to pick up her Dao blade after it had cut through. She said nothing, her fighting spirit, which had been so fiery in the middle of the battle, seemed absent now.

She wouldn't even get to fight Tooth again. She had hated him so much, but that made the fight so much more interesting, both sides elevating their battle strength to the utmost.

She slowly walked out of the arena. So she had caused the first confirmed fatality, although Bull didn't look good when he was pulled off the stage. She felt sick to her stomach.

Only once she left the arena did Lin Hai speak again.

"The Battle Resumes!" he shouted, and the crowd once again was full of shouting, howling, hooting and excited chatter.

No one shouted for Tooth's revenge against her, however.

Now that the battle was over, she couldn't believe her own thoughts. She had blade stepped dozens and dozens of times, and even learned a new technique in mid-battle.

What. Was. Going. On! She was excited and also dismayed. She didn't have any hate for Thunderbolt, could she summon the heart to fight the woman who had shown incredible might?

Her staff of cheating was one thing, but not something she could hate too much.

"Sweet Sis, Thunderbolt, Fist! Remember, anyone not involved in another round, or eliminated can fill our missing spots, what do you think Rieff?"

The boy she had fought before at the Food stand with Tuan and Sang Tia, now joined the fight ganging up on Sweet Sis.

"What, do you need to make up new rules just to take on Sweet Sis? Is anyone willing to help her?" Autumn shouted.

She had totally forgotten about the Family guards that she and Wei follo-- oh wait, where was Wei?

She had remembered seeing her just before she went up to face her first fight, but she had forgotten to look for her again until just now.

Two of the family guards went up to fight alongside Sweet Sis, but Autumn asked the other guards to try to find Wei.

"Cursed of the Heavens!" Lin Hai shouted for a second time, and she vomited, hunched over immediately, but still spraying several bystanders.

Wei was probably even sicker, and she couldn't do anything about it, because she had to win this stupid fight, find out every root and branch behind Lin Hai, tear him away from that Card set, and defeat this Rieff Chan.

After all that, find Ho Junko and place her in front of the Emperor and let his mighty strength be impressed upon her.

Every time Lin Hai used that curse, she felt horrible, and then she felt even more powerful. Ladyreaper had never felt so strong before, and now she felt as if she could tear a horse in two with a thought.

There were enemies, and it didn't matter if they hid behind the heavens, the heavens would be shaken! The Clouds where First brother snatched treasure after treasure would be subdued by her blade.

She could only think of her next chance to get in the arena, and she didn't pay any attention to the ongoing fight until Lin Hai spoke up again.

"Ladies and Gentlemen: This is the main event, and yours truly must step down to join the fight. I, Lin Hai, will join my brothers and sisters in fulfilling Heaven's Duty. We will take down the haughty Fourth Princess, Xue Thu, Autumn, aka Ladyreaper. Will anyone else be foolish enough to support the Emperor, or will this matter end now? WELL, WHAT DO YOU SAY BROTHERS AND SISTERS?"

Sweet Sis and the guards were already pulled off the arena stage, and Thunderbolt was still standing in the arena, alongside Rieff.

"The Family defends its own!"

Autumn had already stepped into the arena, but she turned when she heard Tuan's voice.

"Third Prince will always help his Sister!" Xue Chi said.
Fighting alongside her brothers! Autumn couldn't help but be confident and comfortable. Blade brothers for life!

"Don't hold back, brothers. These guys are super crazy."

"I've got the food stand creep," Tuan said, having faced him before.

"I've got you, Foul Princess!" Lin Hai shouted as he ran into the ring.

"So I guess, I've got the staff lady," Xue Chi said. "Heaven doesn't seem to have any rules, since you make them up by the minute, Lin Hai."

"Paper Shield!" Xue Chi said, holding his card box in his hand. A whirling wall of paper rotated and spun in the air around Chi. Her third brother had a longsword, but he wasn't much of a physical fighter.

Tuan was wielding his curved blade shotel, which had only ever seen real blood against his opponent, Rieff Chan.

Lin Hai was now holding a wooden garden shovel in his hands, but she had no confidence of what exactly the fight against him would look like. If they could 2 on 1 against Thunderbolt, or Rieff, that would be best.

"Do you trust me, Tuan?" she asked.

"Of course," he said.

"Are you overflowing with all kinds of Essence, Chi?" she asked.

"So much. Is this happening or what?!" he yelled.

Thunderbolt dashed towards Xue Chi, and Autumn was forced to protect him, putting her own blade in the way of the longstaff.

"You face Garden boy," she shouted to Chi.

"Just for that! Stumbling Roots!" Lin Hai shouted, and she stumbled and roots sprang up from the Gym mat. She teleported out of the way of one root, only to be snagged by another.

She had to teleport again to get in between Chi and Thunderbolt.

Rieff Chan was pressing Tuan, but she couldn't protect everyone, could she? Could she?

First she teleported away from Thunderbolt, then using her blade teleport, she launched the Dao blade at Rieff Chan. He still, somehow managed to respond at impossible speed, while also fighting Tuan.

She quickly teleported to the blade, picked it up, and moved elsewhere, trying to distract both Thunderbolt and Rieff with her attacks. She tried the same Dao blade teleport against Thunderbolt, and managed to successfully strike her on her right side.
Teleporting to the blade, she was forced to weave away from the Staff's strike before she could take up her blade again.

She switched back to Rieff, appearing at Tuan's side. She forced Rieff to stop his strike against Tuan and pull back the two-hand sword to defend against them both.

Tuan struck left, and she struck right, and for a few seconds they forced Rieff's precognitive strength to it's outer limits, but then Lin Hai threw a potted plant at her, so she teleported in front of him, then slashed at him quickly, finding he had a thick bark-like durability, and her strike barely penetrated his skin.

Appearing behind Thunderbolt, she took a heavy hit, as the traitorous woman anticipated her move. The heavystaff bashed her across the face, causing her to fall, and for once, she couldn't blade step for a moment.

Recovering her strength, she planned to teleport behind Rieff, attack him, and then return to Thunderbolt, but her essence seemed to be truly tapped out, although she didn't feel the sense of thirst and exhaustion that she would normally feel.

This was bad. Rieff and Thunderbolt were too much for her brothers.

"The Heavens could not afford to extend your credit anymore. You thought you were just that awesome, Xue Thu?" Lin Hai said, rushing towards her.

"Why did you harass me and steal money from my poor family, Xue Thu. I once loved you, and you threw me into the dirt, and then you had to get your revenge. Why Thu? Why? My family is barely left. It's just my sister and I. You killed my mother, as surely as if you had plunged that stupid blade into her neck!"

She didn't love him, so she had betrayed him in that way, but she never cared about his money. What was Second brother doing, what were the Sang family doing? They had made Lin Hai despise her. At this point, she had no hope but to face the once peaceful gardener.

Whatever his cultivation tricks were, he managed to throw garden pots at her one after another rapid fire. They simply came into being in his hands.

She frantically sliced through pots, dodged others, and didn't have a chance to turn to see how her brothers were doing.

Finally, one of the endless storm of flying pots got her, sending her sprawling onto the mat.

She wasn't aware of what happened next, except that Lin Hai spoke up.

"You can't come in here! It's three on three! Violation! Violation!" Lin Hai said.

"Do you think your own pathetic understanding of the Cards surpasses my own." Second brother spoke in his quiet intensity.

"You can't come in here! It's three on three! Violation! Violation!" Lin Hai said.

"Do you think your own pathetic understanding of the Cards surpasses my own." Second brother spoke in his quiet intensity.

Second Prince mastered the silent Card cultivation. He was not one for the boastful shouting of Cards.

As she stood up, Xue Son tossed her a potion, much like the one she had drank the night before. "You'll need this."

She was worried about Rieff Chan, but a quick look sold her on Thunderbolt being scarier. In fact, she'd already won.

Chi was surrounded by a glowing field of essence which seemed to keep him alive and prevent Thunderbolt from striking him. But he had collapsed after casting the spell.

"Heavenly Card Annihilator!" Lin Hai shouted.

Autumn drank the potion in one long pull, suddenly teleporting to the side of Thunderbolt. Using the teleports First brother's potion had given her sparingly, she grunted, taking on the incredible ferocity of Thunderbolt's strikes, resisting the lightning trying to shut her down.

"You just signed your death warrant!" Second Prince shouted. One of his favorite cards must have been destroyed. From that moment on he started shouting out his Card attacks.

"One Million Divine Papercuts!

For every two staff strikes she had to agonizingly bob weave and dodge around, she gained an advantage in position, even faking out her opponent because she wasn't teleporting.

After seven exchanges, she finally surprised Thunderbolt, swinging her sword, teleporting the blade past the guard of her staff, teleporting herself behind Thunderbolt, grabbing the sword around the Thunderbolts sides, while it was still in mid-air, and carving a massive gouging wound from abdomen down through to hips.

Thunderbolt was down for the count. She had no choice if she was going to save Tuan, she had to incapacitate.

Tuan was faring slightly better than Chi had, his arms, hands, feet and face were gouged and cut by the frantic fighting. Instead of going for the predictable teleport, she simply teleported the Dao blade from a great distance, forcing Rieff to do the impossible, guard two strikes. Instead, he rapidly leapt twenty feet backwards.

Autumn teleported to her blade, picking it up, and then teleported two feet into the air, swinging her blade down tomahawk style.

Rieff Chan deflected the blow and forced her to roll overtop, swiftly landing, turning and blocking his blade.

She was out of position as RIeff went for a low strike. Her fighting shoes were designed for a friendly tournament spar so the strike easily cut through, drawing blood as it cut into the middle of her right foot.

She blade stepped away, noticing that Lin Hai was burbling in the corner, muttering. She cursed, the was a sensitive place to cut. She tried to focus.

Xue Son appeared beside Tuan, and said, "Requisition Failed!" and as Tuan struck, Rieff didn't dare to deflect with the blade, leaping backwards instead.

There was something in the sky, she noticed. Something falling fast!

"It's a meteor or something?!" Second brother said, gazing at the object which was falling in a perfect straight line.

Straight lines are not the way things fall. "Brothers! We have to get away from here!"

Son was transfixed by the falling object, but Autumn managed to pull Tuan away, and They both picked up Third brother, passing him through the ropes, but the falling object was already upon them.

It sounded like a rockslide combined with a thunderstorm. An incredible wave of pressure and sound assaulted them outside of the ring.

Turning back, she realized with a shock, that the object had fallen straight into Second brother, and even more shocking, it wasn't an object at all, but a person. It was Ho Junko.

How did she get here, or, how did she get into the sky? There were too many questions.

Tuan was hurt, and Chi was out cold. She was the only person who could stop Ho Junko. It was her servant who had gone crazy, and she would had to deal with it.
She went back into the arena.

Whatever heavenly treasures the girl had stolen, they were enough for her to do this sky fall manuever, and escape First Brother's pursuit.

In the Arena, Ho Junko was standing overtop of Xue Son. She never felt more appreciative of Second brother than in the instant he came to help. But now he was either horribly wounded and unconscious, or dead. She had somehow aimed her fall to crash straight into first brother, but she didn't have even a little bit of dirt or blood on her.

She was wearing silver-plated chainmail with blue-dyed leather padding. She seemed to have treasures and jewels around her neck, hands and arms, and she carried a black sheath like Autumn's own. She was dressed more gaudily than First Princess Tia at a dinner party.

Ho Junko was standing overtop of Xue Son. She never felt more appreciative of Second brother than in the instant he came to help. But now he was either horribly wounded and unconscious, or dead.

She shook. "When did you turn into completely insane evil woman!? You just killed my brother! Why would you work with these people? Please tell me, if its for some stupid treasures, then why wouldn't you say something first? Maybe ask for some extra help, before going on some crazy insane crusade without thinking? What's the aftermath if you win, and what if I win? I will be crippled in grief, even if I end you now! I will borrow every scrap of power, ascend to the very heavens just to end this madness. Tooth, Lin Hai, Rieff, Thunderbolt, and now you!"

Ho Junko didn't seem to hear anything she had just said.

"Oh sorry, I was busy fighting your insane Eldest brother. Do you think the Heavens ever strike wrong? No, never. Now that Heaven is against Xue, the Xue family must die, so that Heaven can bring new life. Lee is dead, Son will be soon, Chi I have no doubts. Now I come to the peculiar case of my 'mistress' Xue Thu.

"Your family is a parasite on the people of North Winds, and I have been called by the Heavens to end it. It's ironic isn't it? Your own servant surpasses you in the very blade you've treasured and trained. I even got the Master Weaponsmith to make me a better Dao blade. He only fears you, but he likes me."

Ho Junko wielded her own blade, almost identical from a distance. Autumn prepared for the fight to come. Her anger over Ho Junko was deathly cold.

"If you represent the heavens, then I represent Divinity! The Divine Will of the Emperor! I am not merely above the clouds, but I reside above the highest heaven, even if I die, I will live again in the Emperor's family honored dead."

She fought without thought, channeling something more primal and divine than human will and thinking. The Emperor's Blood!

Ho Junko's every strike had lightning in it. Sometimes hidden, sometimes on the surface. She couldn't bear to deflect her servant's blade, instead being forced to rely on her teleports and blade teleports.

She didn't dare to be predictable against Ho Junkout, instead they battled on a field of deception. Fakeouts within fakeouts. The Trueblooded Blade step against the Treacherous Heaven's Lightning blade.

She had positioning, but her vile once-servant had the power to seize up her muscles on contact with her blade or body. This required a quick, incredibly agile style. She was fighting Heavensent, and she didn't dare back down from the heavens.

She continuously affirmed that the very heavens above were the foulest of enemies. It was only with the Emperor's blood flowing, and continuous use of blade step and weapon teleport that she realized the existence of and unleashed her third and most potent Divine technique.

Her Dao blade turned into a divine silver dragon, and she laughed, she howled as the dragon flew towards the enemy. What use were words in the clash of Emperor's blood against Heavensent?

Heavensent's own body and blade shifted, shimmering out of reality and into shadow, and in an instant, she could only see the reflections Ho Junko left.

The Dragon was swallowed up as the Shadow itself became filled with Heavenly lightning. What hit her next was not a blade but a tornado, it could be nothing else as time skipped a beat.

At her next blink, she could barely breathe, her heart and every muscle writhing under the pulsating wrath of lightning.

Ho Junko reappeared, standing before her, able to kill her in an instant. The Blood of the Emperor had failed in her, and only the Emperor himself could take her place.

"Of all of the princes and princesses, you were the most deluded, Xue Thu. The Emperors past and present had concocted a plan to steal all of the treasures which Heaven had delivered to the people of the North Winds. Saving vast storehouses of Heavenly cultivation aids, potions, medicines, and even techniques and guides in cultivation, the Emperor and Crown Prince wanted no one to have these things, even you Xue Thu.

While West Winds has thousands of Fourth Grade cultivators, and hundreds of Fifth Grade cultivators who have left this world in the past century, North Winds has had only a handful of fourth grade cultivators, and only each Emperor has the chance to leave this world behind.

"Second Prince had his own scams, extorting struggling so-called Registered families like my own. You were part of that, but you didn't realize it, because you were always the naive one. Lin Hai and his mother were driven to the poor house, while families like Rieff didn't even have a chance to be poor because of your Emperor's registration system.

"Xue Chi, sweet Xue Chi, the eyes and ears of Second Prince and the Emperor. He tracked down the families that didn't pay so the Sang dogs could pound them.

"And Tuan, most innocent sword boy, he's got a secret life too, he's more interested in men than women. I, as a mere servant, was aware of all of this, we all were, but we had no opportunity to do something about, until now. You have been completely unaware of everything going on around you. From your perspective, life is just one fun dinner party and swordfight at a time. It's all a game to you Autumn, while we die, you laugh and remain clueless.

"I have to just laugh, thinking about you trying to take over Xue Son's job. You have no clue about how to lead anything, even your own servant staff. I was the one who got everyone to show up to work. I act as their personal wake up. I act as the clue-by-four for your life, Autumn. And what do you pay me? 60 a week! I could go work for the Conner family and make 600. And oh, well it's impolite and against the rules to quit working for the Family. My own mother forced me to keep working for you."

"I just picked what Second brother told me to pay," she said, stumbling through her thoughts, amid the pain. At least the lightning had stopped flowing through her.

"You've never had any idea," Ho Junko said. "I'm not even going to kill you, Autumn. Your own actions will do that for me. The Heaven's Judgment deck used by Lin Hai has a simple two-layer Card effect. It masks your own perception of how much essence you have left, and it allows you to go into debt, but the payback process is incredibly painful. So the Heavens will force you to pay back every bit of essence with your life. It should start hurting, about--- now"

Like acid dissolving into her veins, Heavensent Ho Junko was right. Agony upon agony, pain upon pain.

"Like everyone who goes up against the Heavens, you were fooled, and you grasped at what you thought was power, finding instead more folly. I admit, I was surprised at just how little you overdosed on Essence. But still, you've overtaxed your essence by five-thousand percent."

Whatever Ho Junko did or said after that, Autumn's world was internal, as the pain crowded out all thought and perception.

Why was it him, who faced the catastrophe of his family's ruin, rather than his father's generation? He was ready to step into true cultivation in a mere two weeks, leaving the Empire in Xue Lee's hands. He had prepared for twenty years to ascend and travel in the outer world. The first steps of Qi Condensation involved building simple structures within the emerging Internal Celestial space of a new Fifth Stage pre-cultivator.

With his Eldest son dead, this servant of Xue Thu .. ruined .. it .. all! He could still ascend, but the Empire needed his attention if it was going to survive. If future generations were to ascend as well, he needed to personally quell this rebellion of Registered Families. The Ho family needed to be eliminated wholesale, starting with Junko.

He was impressed and surprised that Xue Thu was the last of his children standing against the Heavensent.

He had been groveling before the face of the Port Authority's High Magistrate, when it all went down. Heaven itself had arranged that he was far away from family at that time. His grandfather had faced a lesser blow, and managed to endure it by strategically expelling his own first son from the family. His father was a second son.

He would have to apologize to the High Magistrate for his rash exit, but the Empire was lost if he did not make a move.

This blow was against the entire family. He had been taught from his father, as he had taught his first-born son. They all knew that this day would come, but their strategy had saved the catastrophe of coup and revolt from within. Giving resources to powerful families was something one must do gingerly.

The intentions of Heaven to make a small correction would result in a great worldwide tumult, not just a small surgical strike.

He had spent ten years before the Magistrate, who allowed no one less than himself, Xue Lee Sr, to be present at court. He had been forced to leave the serious business of Empire to his eldest son, and the Family trifles to his second son.

With the Magistrate in his corner, as much as possible, he could trade local goods and treasures for off-world goods of unparalleled value. Such goods which prepared him to take the steps into the wider world beyond.

His father had sent one of his assistants years ago, and provided him all the instructions he needed to ensure Xue Lee in each generation would be ready to make their mark outside.

Father's most significant message was: "Don't leave the birth pool until everything has been prepared for your hatching."

So he stole the Heavensent's own trick, streaking down from the Clouds, landing beside his daughter, who had collapsed in pain. Fool, yet beloved was she. She had grasped the Divine blood of the Xue, in the moments before it was wrested from her.

The Dao blade of a Heavenly augmented Fourth Grade fighter could harm even one like him who had prepared for the unfathomable heights of the outer world.

He picked up his daughter's blade, not intending to fight like a Blade cultivator, but infusing the blade with the harrowing cold of the North Winds. He was a rare two-path cultivator, using all the treasures, native and imported, to make it possible to both please the Magistrate and have true fighting prowess.

The Heavensent's blade struck against the Dao blade in his hands. Heaven's lightning surged and clashed with the Cold North Winds, neither clearly winning..

Heavensent's blade was turned away, and he breathed the cold North Winds, chopping down, preparing to spend all of his power to hope for a victory.

This insane fool was ascending in the middle of a fight? She had ascended just to repel this warm up attack?

Shall we fight in the outer world, where I have the insight of decades, against you who knows nothing of the place you go?

The Heavenly blade not only stopped his attack, but it pushed back, forcing him back a dozen steps. In such a battle, their blades may be only the thickness of a fraction of an inch, but the force surrounding them made such blades like large columns of force several yards wide.

He could not contend against the Heavensent's Fifth Grade might, he had to Rise to the Fifth Step.. The birthing of his Qi structures would forcibly exile him from the world in half a minute or less.

It was time to ascend and destroy this foe in the Outer World. Where had this threat to the Empire been hiding? But then again, the Heavens did provide a ridiculous amplification of power.

He hoped for one of his sons to survive and continue Empire. If not them, then his Fourth daughter.

Unleashing the power of Cold space which he had sealed for his journey, he struck back, and watched as Heaven's chosen one was tossed like a warm weather bird in a blizzard, she flew backwards from the impact of his vast power reserves.

She was shaken up, but not defeated. Heavensent flew towards him now, coming on quickly, but he would be gone from this world before her strike could make any impact.

He dropped the blade, which was useless to him now. Everything: blood, dirt, mats, people, they faded away, until his surroundings were as black as deep night, but behind him, there was an intense spiritual pressure.

He took the first step of outer cultivation, Qi structures forming in the Celestial space contained within him. He began to unleash the endless reserves of the Cold he had preserved, propelling the North Winds behind him and jetting away from that incomparably powerful cultivator.

Even before his father told him, he knew they had belonged to an Administrative world. One with a primary Qi elemental Wind. Which was why it was so easy to hold onto and track an endless flood of divine treasures, and why Administrative cultivators could also easily tap into powers like Million Divine Papercuts.

Even as a brand new Outer World cultivator, it began to dawn upon him. The Heavensent had tricked him! She had somehow surged up to Fifth grade power, and then receded. Did she have any clue what a Qi structure or the Internal Celestial was, or did she plan on a random path of Cultivation?

Just a few days of Cold propulsion would have Xue Lee Sr reaching the city which his own father had mentioned. There, he could gain badly needed street smarts. He had food that was suitable for a true cultivator, supplies of every type to fix simple maladies in his celestial.

His thoughts about North Winds Empire receded with his own distance from it.

Her first thought on waking up, after dealing with the agonizing pain and horrible weakness, was Wei!

Xue Wei was standing before her bed. But, well, it wasn't her bed.

"I can explain sister. I didn't mean to scare you. Snow Chau saw what was going on, and her family, they told me it was too dangerous, and they took me here, to their home. I was really scared! Don't do that, sisy! Don't scare me."

She coughed, again and again. Wei gave her a glass of water and she tried to drink it, spilling half. She felt awful, horrible, bad. Finally composed enough to ask Wei, "What is going on outside?"

"Junko took over the Palace and everything else. And then she left. They say she took the Emperor's highway. She's gone."


"Who is in control now?" she asked. How much could Wei remember of what the Snow family told her?

"Snow Bea says it's still jumbly. There's going to be more fighting!" Wei said, and she started to cry.

"It's ok, Wei. Just tell me, is Lin Hai trying to take over?"

Another voice entered the room. She didn't know the Snow family that well. It must be Snow Chau's mom.

"That Rieff's Young Master and Hejl Young Mistress are working together. That's one faction. Some of the first families have come out in different ways. Of course, the Sang have turned completely, and they are trying to claim the throne, and then you have the Conner family, trying to allow foreign "observers" to monitor some kind of election.

Snow Chau's mom continued, "We haven't decided. We believe that between Snow, Park and Chan families together, we can present a credible change, but still maintain an Empire. Between our families, we are discussing this. Even putting Tuan on the throne is a possibility, but there is too much hate towards your family Autumn. It's a liability to have you here."

"Thank you for at least taking in Wei and helping me recover. Tuan's okay then? What about Lee, or Son or Chi?" Autumn said frantically.

"You saw what happened to Xue Son. We are mourning him as one of our own. As for Chi, Tuan managed to carry Chi away, but he didn't know about us, or who he could trust. Xue Chi was already passed on before we could make contact with Tuan.

"I am sorry for all your losses, Autumn. But you must leave this house in three days. If you stay in North Winds, you may be able to make an impact, and get Tuan put on the throne, but your life will be in constant danger. We will help you if you want to go to West Winds or South Winds."

"Sisy, I don't want any more fighting, but I miss your house already."

"You need to take Xue Wei with you. It's truly sad, but there are people who see any Xue as someone to be killed. Maybe someday things will settle down, especially if our coalition gains control. Tuan already is hiding out somewhere, so you'll have to hope for the best for him. I think he's going to stay and try to take the Throne."


Vote where Autumn and Wei will go:
(I'll give this vote a couple days since this will have a huge effect on what comes next)

[ ] West Winds Federation

West Winds is a nominally democratic nation, with a federal system of nation and states. Wealthy and known for its advanced cultivation training and both local and off-world treasures, it is also a country of political instability, and an unchecked military that's truly in control. You will have to navigate the government and military systems, and deal with anti-Foreigner attitudes, while the system itself is in rapid change.

{West Winds Federation is a Japan-ish nation, with a similar instability and military control to the pre-World War 2 era Japanese government. Your social influence is minimized here, but your path to Cultivation and income is best here.}

[ ] South Winds Democratic Republic

The South Winds is a democracy being torn apart by the divisions between three religious factions. The Samsarrans believe that their souls are reincarnated again after death, and that certain people in the past and present are the reincarnation of Gods. The Anattanists, who deny the existence of an eternal reincarnating soul but believe there is a unified pan-existence beyond the self that exists eternally. The followers of Tawhid-i-Ilāhī (Divine Monotheism) are newest to the region and constitute a small but growing group that believes in one God. The Divine Monotheists are influenced by the North Winds Empire, and may be sympathetic to you, but they belong to a minority faction, with only 5% of the population claiming to be believers. 55% are Samsarrans, 25% are Anattanists, with the remaining 15% not answering or having multiple traditions in their background.

{South Winds Federation is an India-ish nation, heavily divided between three religious factions. Less wealthy than West Winds, but more stable. You can gain significant social power here because the Divine Monotheists see you as representing them, but you don't have to affiliate with that faction, you can try a more difficult road, or avoid affiliating at all. }

[ ] Remain in the North Winds

The North Winds Empire is now at the start of Epochal changes, and even the loyalist factions such as the Snow, Park and Chan families are only neutral concerning the Xue family. The rest of the powers are in favor of hunting down any Xue family survivors, including Rieff Chan and Hejl Yaeko (Thunderbolt)'s Heavensent faction, and a popular revolt led by sympathizers of the Lin family.

Autumn will be on the run, in hiding, but in her home Empire, to the extent she truly knew it. This will be an extra hard option, with the highest likelihood of Quest over. They will face the possibility of invasion from the other two nations, even if the rule of North Winds is stabilized itself.

{North Winds Empire is in the crossroads of multiple internal factions, as well as the interest of the other two powers. Hatred towards the Xue family will be very difficult to deal with, and you will be spending much of your time in outlying areas to avoid capture. With a careful approach and plenty of luck, you could cause people to remember the Family more fondly, and try to maneuver for control of the Empire, either for yourself or for Tuan.)