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

[X] The Mortal (Ling Qingge)

[X] The Declining Storm (Yuan He)

[X] The Declining Storm (Yuan He)

TedBear said:

On that thought, do we know if White realm cultivators have spirit companions. It hasn't been mentioned at all whether Cai Shenhua has any and there was one line in a previous interlude about young Elder Jiao were he mentions in order to ascend to white you need to sacrifice all connections (I'm hunting for the quote but I can't find it, might be on RR). Anyways, point is, do we think you need to sacrifice spirit beast bonds as well direct familial bonds in order to ascend to White, because that would be the mother of all heart demons if so.

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I think you might be mixing the interlude where Jiao is purging the rest of the Sima clan (Settling Pains in the sidestories) where he severs all his family bonds but can't bring himself to do the same to Xin, with this conversation between Ling Qi and Elder Ying back in Forge week 24:

yrsillar said:

Ling Qi remained silent for several moments. "...If impurity came from the mixing of essences, does that mean that in order reach the pinnacle of cultivation, you have to be alone?" She asked.

Elder Ying gave her an approving look, but Ling Qi could see the hint of sadness in her eyes. "That is the contradiction of cultivation, yes. With each step taken closer to the divine, it becomes more difficult to maintain one's connections, and it grows easier to isolate oneself, as your peers grow fewer and fewer in number. After all, a great spirit is a unique existence, utterly separate from even other aspects of the same concept," the Elder shook her head, letting out a sigh. "Such things will be beyond you for some time. Instead, let us speak of how this knowledge relates to your cultivation, and the cultivation of your connection with your spirit…"

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From that it seems to me that Whites can maintain connections but only with difficulty, and that to ascend as a great spirit they might be forced to sever all connections. Even that isn't clear-cut from this quote though, just that they grow harder to maintain, and with each great spirit being unique I doubt that there are too many rules that apply to all of them. It seems that the main issue is being able to relate to those at a lower level of cultivation, like how Ling Qi had thoughts about mortals no longer seeming like real people until Sixiang called her out on it. So the issue would probably be mitigated somewhat if the spirit beast's cultivation can keep pace, though at higher levels different enough Ways might create simlar problems with being unable to relate to one another.

The only examples of White culltivators with spirit beasts I can think of are the dynasty founders like Yao the Fisher, Zhi the Conqueror and Tsu the Diviner, though I don't know how comparable those relationships were to modern Imperial spirit bonds. However, we have seen evidence of White cultivators with other connections such as Cai Shenhua and Diao Linqin. Jiao is also an interesting example since as far as we know his relationship with Emperor An was so central to his Way that it was the lack of that bond which made reaching White impossible, rather than the reverse.

[X] The Mortal (Ling Qingge)

Beast King's Savage Dirge is giving me jujutsu kaisen vibes with fushiguro megume cursed technique there are even the concept of domains and spirits
[X] The Mortal (Ling Qingge)

[X] The Mortal (Ling Qingge)

[X] The Faceless (???)
Maybe this is Li Suyin mad science experiment/child?

[X] The Mortal (Ling Qingge)

[X] The Declining Storm (Yuan He)
[X] The Faceless (???)

[X] The Declining Storm (Yuan He)

[X] The Declining Storm (Yuan He)

Phalfpipe said:

Huh, now I wonder if that noble that ruined her moms life and possibly killed her dad is still keeping tabs on them , and if so, how much pants ruining terror he must be in right now.

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If not, they probably did when CRX pulled some favors for Ling Qi's mom. Those debt collectors that got face slapped? Mom thought they answered to the noble who ruined her, and word probably got to him.

"Hey boss. You know that woman you had us harass? Well, turns out she now has enough pull to get home visits by your boss's boss."

[X] The Declining Storm (Yuan He)

[X] The Declining Storm (Yuan He)

Mephi said:

If not, they probably did when CRX pulled some favors for Ling Qi's mom. Those debt collectors that got face slapped? Mom thought they answered to the noble who ruined her, and word probably got to him.

"Hey boss. You know that woman you had us harass? Well, turns out she now has enough pull to get home visits by your boss's boss."

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You know they would be worried, but that's because they themselves have this attitude, the same thing we saw in Jaromila's story, that the least slight must be repaid 100 times over and that nobody is allowed to let anything go, ever.

Contrast to Ling Qi's feelings that she'd prefer to move on and never think about those people again. And you know what, being able to have that attitude makes Linq Qi a good emissary in ForgeLand! No wonder Renxiang started to reconsider Ling Qi's role. A shadow and sneak is great, but you know what's better? A representative you can send out on missions who doesn't have a Way that forces them to obsess over every insult. Being able to Let Shit Go is a good talent to have.

[X] The Declining Storm (Yuan He)

[X] The Mortal (Ling Qingge)