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

@yrsillar Omakke for the Omakke throne

Weird Snakes and Cursed Spring


Shetong was getting used to glaring at her schedule. She'd learned from her more well-connected charges that the grinning man who got her in the Sect was a Core Disciple, not the glorified administrator she'd thought he was. The man -his name was Meng Diuho- had taken an interest in her, and instead of letting her cultivate in peace, he'd found the most incompetent of the library rats of Blue Mountain's Outer Sect and charged her with getting them up to the level of competency of a village guard -that is, able to track and identify local first-grade spirit beasts and neutralize it with a group of three. That last part looked like it would be the greatest problem -some of them didn't even own weapons, nor know offensive spirit arts.

"Damnit!" She swore, dismissing her technique. The Scales of Verdant Copper were serviceable both as camouflage and as protection, but she wasn't done mastering it yet, and the rigidity it gave to her limb got in the way. Opening her mouth, she let her fang out, pushed on the five venom sacs on her palate with her tongue, and exhaled, unleashing her Red Poison Breath at the Cloud-Pawed Puma that had ambushed one of her group before it could bite off his head. The beast was at the peak of Red, but it was a relatively weak species when it failed to ambush its prey, and she'd told the pampered noble kids to watch out for its characteristic pawprints on trees because she'd detected its presence while scouting the small forest the day before. As punishment, instead of giving them the Core of the beast, she took it from the sizzling and smoking remnants and gulped it down before the trio of dismayed young masters.

That was the only time she had to save someone today. Two other groups had listened to her instructions and managed to kill a few beasts. The last group for the day impressed her. They managed to overturn and capture a breeding pair of Ironjaw Tortoises with only a basic movement art, a well-placed tree trunk, and the uncommon ability to imitate reptilian distress cries. She rewarded the trio's ingenuity by sedating the beasts so they could move them to the village and see how they would use their good fortune.

---

With her schedule clear for the day, Shetong set about looking for another cultivation site. She wasn't allowed to use those reserved for members of the Outer Sect, and a few unkind words from a third-realm Inner Disciple had scared her away from sites too close to the Temple and the Sect's attendant village, but her mother had taught her the basics of half a dozen arts and fang-carved jade pieces to learn the rest. She hoped she'd find good places to cultivate them all. Only by attaining satisfying mastery in multiple Arts and the heights of Sin Shedding - the Yellow Soul realm, as the "modern empire" called it- would she be able to convince any Elder to even consider letting her attempt the Pagoda or the Tower. Realistically, Shetong had to admit it would be safer to wait until she was a third realm cultivator, but the limitations her status as a scholastic student placed upon her chafed badly. She didn't mind teaching as much as she thought however, Shetong thought as she concentrated, hoping to sense elemental qi in the air. She thought she got a whiff of Water qi, but it was already the evening, and she had to attend her lessons.


Apparently, Mother had taught Shetong to read and write with characters three-quarters of a millennium out of date, and her etiquette was impeccable... If she were trying to treat every sentient being she met like a spirit beast slightly stronger than her. Shetong thought her teacher -another young Meng clan member who taught decorum, including calligraphy to Outer and promising scholastic disciples as a long-term task for the Sect- had initially not believed that she was not a member of the Bai clan, eying her white scales very skeptically until the lesson had started. On the bright side, she was told that her brushwork was exemplary once she corrected for the natural drift of the language over time. She even painted her Mother while her would-be teacher was occupied with some poor former urchin who had been entirely illiterate at his arrival.

The next morning, Shetong thought she'd finish her Mother's painting. She'd found the exercise relaxing, but she seemed to have forgotten her work in the lecture hall. Irritated, she went back to her search for a site instead.

There was something like a site there. A circle of trees had died on the slope of a hill facing the southern face of the Temple's mountain. At the center of the tree circle lay a broken crescent-shaped mirror that emanated a black mist. Shetong stopped dead at that sight and took cover behind a tree, hiding from whatever was killing what was obviously a minor temple to one of the Moon's Great Spirits, though a haphazard one if she judged by the amount of odd knick-knack placed around it.

Shetong refocused and gravely looked at the dead tree she was hiding behind. Whatever had caused the rise of the strange mist had killed the trees and desecrated a temple, so even she would probably not be a match for it, unless... She stabbed at its bark and smirked. It oozed a mixture of sap and water, and now that she looked at it closer, the whole tree's shape was bloated. She recognized the signs. Whatever had killed the trees had done it with water qi-based poison, leaching within the wood and bloating and eroding and drowning it root by root and leaf by leaf. Her own Blue Poison Breath worked on the same principles, though it was formulated for quicker penetration at the cost of lesser effectiveness -it would knock out one of her peers, but its effect would never be fatal, except on a mortal. She smelled something unsettling about this poison, that added to its lethality, but it was nothing a concern. Probably something specific to the person -or spirit- that had desecrated the place.

"Well, nothing better to dispel poison than another poison, as Mother would say." Sheton thought. She prepared a Core, ready to devour it to restore her qi reserves, and she exhaled her Green Poison Breath, channeling her reserves into the poison art until even the lungs of a silver-realm cultivator were empty.

The mist from the mirror became denser when she revealed herself, forming a wave that surged toward her before hitting her own airborne toxic cloud. Wood qi was the natural counter to Water, and her poison was parasitic in nature, robbing affected organisms of their qi to reinforce itself. The green cloud amalgamated itself with the mist, Wood greedily drinking in Water, immobilizing the mist. Shetong grimaced. Even with her elemental advantage, she was struggling. Whoever or whatever the originator of that poison was, it had at least a realm on her, if it could deny the elemental wheel that was the heart of the Great Serpent's Five Color Breaths.

As she opened her mouth to devour her Core, she caught a movement in the corner of her eyes, a silver glint touching something near the mirror. Whatever it was, it stopped the mirror from generating more mist. That was the opening she needed. A fiery Red Breath burned out all the Wood qi accumulated in the air and evaporated the Water, revealing the shrine's initial form. The mirror had been part of a basin, with a spring at its center. As the mist dissipated, Shetong found the corpses of the shrine's worshippers -a small group of monkey spirit beasts. Shetong shook her head sadly. She would report the event later, but even after all this, the site hadn't been broken, only weakened, and she had yet to master the Blue Breath or her arts of movement and sword fighting. This place would do, she'd just have to bury the poor beasts. She considered keeping their Cores, but they were meager First Grade beasts, and her Mother had taught her predators were no scavengers. Maybe they would smile at being buried under the moon.

Among the canopy of dead trees, branches rustled. The filth blade had to be destroyed. Maybe the galloping prancer up north would know how.

There were drums, Ji Rong had said. Drums beating always. Ling Qi pondered that as she soared in the sky, over mountain and valley, river and cliff. She was going a little ahead of the carriage, to arrive in time to arrange things for Renxiang and to give herself time to think and cultivate. She'd not had much time in awhile, and it was making her anxious. Her meeting with Ji Rong and Sun Liling would come soon after her arrival. And it had left her wondering on the nature of what Ji Rong spoke of.

She considered what she had felt the surface level impressions of Sun Liling since had returned. The fertile, bloody earth, the claws bared at the world. But… there was a bitterness in it too, buried deep beneath blood and earth, under blade and claw. Bitterness, resentment, rage.

…It had a familiar tint. Ling Qi was loathe to turn over the memory of her first nightmare tribulation. The memory of the mason war, of the King of the Wild Hunt. When her newfound resolve to be better had met reality and failed. She had recovered. She was better now. That fragile Ling Qi could not have faced the Emerald Mourner and stole Sixiang, refusing to follow his will.

But she remembered it. Remembered it down in the shard of her soul that she had etched into isolation. She remembered being a rat, with bloody teeth and not the slightest shred of kinship. Merely a blood hungry beast that devoured whatever fell in its path.

Sun Liling radiated a different sort of hunger, a different sort of desperation and rage. As a rat, she had been a weak and cowardly thing, that could only move as she was told lest she die. Sun Liling reminded her far more of the hunter, whose shadow was the beasts of the emerald seas.

Ling Qi wondered now, at that cloak of beasts at the hunter that was. The other phantom Weilu had recognized her Thousand Rings art. If she went now, would the Hunter recognize the Dirge of the Beast Kings?

She could see the cut mountain and the observatory rising high ahead. Ling Qi spiraled down toward it, and contemplated blood and hunger, rats and hunters, jungles and forests.

Unfortunately, what awaited her were not simple procedures.


"I'm sorry, what happened?" Ling Qi asked, with dawning horror.

"My, Lady Ling should listen more closely," Jin Tae said, stroking his chin.

Inside the Imperial Embassy, now fully built out over the Hui bunker, Ling Qi had arrived to very disturbing news. She had been less than impressed at her arrival when she had been ushered into a dim office lit only by a single paper lantern, not even fully furnished yet. But its security was complete, which was what mattered she supposed.

Jin Tae had been waiting for her there, garbed in his dark Ministry robes, his white mask tied up to the side of his head. He was entirely too cheerful.

"As I said, during daily work upon the meeting hall, our methods came in conflict with the foreigners and as a result of the flaws in such… experimental construction, the geomancy of the site was undermined. When an argument broke out over this, one of the foreign guards struck an imperial artisan with her fist. There were some further fisticuffs, but your Xia Lin stopped steel from being drawn, but this is quite grave no? It's unacceptable behavior."

Thanks the moon for Xia Lin, if steel was drawn, she doubted the general would have restrained herself. Ling Qi narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes, we cannot allow violence between us. Where are the people involved now?"

"The foreigner was rushed off to their redoubt," Jin Tae said, studying his fingernails. "The poor artisan was taken to the medical pavilion. I am told she is having a tooth regrown."

"I see," Ling Qi sighed. "I don't suppose you know more details, do you, agent of the Ministry?"

"Did I not say everything that needs to be known? These barbarians will need to tender an apology at minimum," Jin Tae said.

She gave him a hard look, and he sighed. "This happened but a few hours ago. Things were occupied preventing conflict from spreading."

"A simple fight triggered so much chaos?" Ling Qi wondered.

"Tensions are high."

"Ruined geomancy can fray tempers and damage inhibition," Ling Qi retorted.

"It was considered," Jin tae allowed. "Will you accompany my investigation then?"

"I will," Ling Qi said with a frown, I need to speak with everyone and determine the circumstances."

"My you are meticulous," Jin Tae said. "Shall we Lady Ling?"

"Are the Jin prone to assuming things without seeing all angles?" Ling Qi said, following him out of the office as the silencing seals on the doorframe deactivated, letting them out into the Embassy."

"We choose to be efficient, and seek advantage. Circumstances can matter, but the results of this are clear no? We must demand a formal apology and punishment of the instigator. To do otherwise would show us as feeble indeed."

"Most likely," Ling Qi said grumpily. She understood that. Even if there were complicating factors, letting this pass would infuriate quite a lot of her own side. "But we need to understand the whys of it if further incidents are to be prevented."

"True," Jin Tae allowed. "Though the better method is to eliminate uncertainty before enacting one's plans."

"What wonderful advice, for the perfect realm where problems arise at your leisure," Ling Qi said dryly. "Where is Lady Wang, by the by?"

"In consultation with her clan, receiving the last materials needed to complete construction," Jin Tae answered. "And while I admire your quick flippancy, Lady Ling, one cannot blame the currents when one chooses to sail for the rocks."

Ling Qi sighed, slightly annoyed that he was right. There were always going to be risks with the joint building project, and in the end, one could not expect fortune to fall your way every time. "I won't engage the metaphor, but the benefits of this still outweigh. I am certain this will be resolved with minimal trouble."

"I certainly hope so. It would be terrible if such a vast investment could be undone by a single moment of passion," Jin Tae said dryly.

"You are remarkably… snippy today, Sir Jin," Ling Qi replied.

"Lady Ling is observant."

She gave him a flat look as they left the embassy. "Do you have an eye for formations and geomancy?"

"Only to the level of a hobbyist," Ling Qi admitted. They would need someone uninvolved who could help on short notice. The less time there was for rumor to build up over this the better off they were. "Though I know one who might be available."

Jin Tae's smile crumpled for a moment, turning into a scowl. "The Xuan?"

"Yes."

"...Very well, send a message, we will speak with the victim first."

The medical pavilion for the construction staff was a small structure sized to hold perhaps twenty people comfortably, it showed the major incidents and injuries were not expected Ling Qi supposed. By the time they arrived Ling Qi had sent off a request to Xuan Shi on a piece of messenger paper borrowed from Jin Tae.

Inside the tent were two rows of carefully arranged beds, divided from each other by cloth 'walls' and the cabinets full of medicines and physicians tools needed for the staff. There were only a handful of people resting in the beds, and a pair of staff on duty. They briefly spoke with one of the physicians as they entered, and were swiftly directed toward the right bed.

The woman in question was a late second realm, who looked to be in her mid twenties physically, but was certainly some sixty or seventy years by the feel of her spirit. She sat atop her cot, cradling her jaw as they arrived, angrily scribbling into a sketchbook open across her lap. Her jaw and cheek still showed signs of swelling, and deep bruising. And her cheek bulged with medical packing. Ling Qi supposed that was to keep her jaw still while the tooth grew back.

The woman paused as they entered, looking up, her hand jerked, drawing a sharp line across the array sketch on the page with her brush.

"Please do not be alarmed madam," Jin Tae said and she was surprised how kind he managed to sound. "This one is only here to collect your account of today's unfortunate events. As is the baroness. Though I understand you might still be in pain, are you able to communicate?"

The woman glanced between them, her anxiety still clear. She gestured to her mouth, and then glanced down to her brush, giving a small shrug.

"Taking it in writing would be acceptable. Do you agree Lady Ling?" Jin Tae asked.

"That would be fine. I might be able to communicate her memory if she allowed, but I understand if that might be uncomfortable," Ling Qi said, tipping her head.

The woman looked at her and back to Jin Tae. She shook her head just a little and held up her brush. Ling Qi supposed that was fair. She found herself a seat on a camp chair beside the bed, so as not to loom. While Jin Tae stood near the entrance, and the woman flipped to a clear page.

The story that came out was fairly simple. Construction had been difficult. The need to communicate through a handful of translators made things slow and cumbersome. Disagreements over a number of basic geomantic principles made it more so. The rapidly ticking time limit had made the stress worse. When she had realized that one of the combined designs was hopelessly compromised, she had tried to warn her partnered white sky artisan, a young man to cease placing the component tiles

Things had risen to the level of shouting, and the man had tried to ignore her continuing to place the tile anyway. She'd grabbed his wrist to stop him. The next thing she had known, she was laying on the floor bleeding. One of those 'Brute women' snarling at her with a fist raised. There was shouting and Xia Lin darting in between people, shouting over everyone to force a calm.

Ling Qi grimaced as she traced her fingers just above the characters on the page. It was a honest account she could feel. She could see the shadows of the events in the womans intent. Feel the pressure of her stress and frustration in the characters. See the silhouette of the slim young man in white robes as she seized his wrist and jerked his hand away from the array.

And the explosion of pain as a bulky woman in armored furs, who had to be at the early third realm smashed a fist into her jaw.

"Thank you for your time Madam," Jin Tae said. "Do rest now. Unless Madam Ling has further questions?"

"No that will be enough," Ling Qi said, standing and inclining her head. "Let us not trouble you anymore."

They left, and Jin Tae glanced her way. "Still seeking complications?"

"We're not done yet."

AN: Splitting here for length