Turn 18 Arc 5-3
"They're quarrying them out mostly," Ji Rong said.
"Excuse me?"
"There's basically three big camps down there building up. Supposedly, Liling's gramps had his astrologers do some big ritual thing after they killed the tribes in the foothills. Then he went out and struck three different mountains along the southern border with his spear."
Ling Qi's eyebrows climbed as Ji Rong spoke. White, Eighth Realm cultivators only very rarely did such base, physical things.
"I saw one of the holes in the ground, the scattered bits of mountain everywhere, the bleeding earth. It's no damn joke."
Ji Rong's expression twisted as he described it, and she could feel an echo of his emotion, as well as the image. Of a black pit, kilometers wide, rent in the earth, the shattered roots of a mountain still jutting out along the rim. Blood oozed from the broken ground, drizzling into the hole below as if the wound were in flesh rather than the earth. Mostly she felt the irritation and fear that now clung to those images. The show of a Sovereign at the peak of power.
"They aren't showing the signs of another large campaign though?"
"They're drilling a bunch, I got put through my paces down there," Ji Rong grunted. "It's where I got these scars. Got taken out on patrol, got stuck punching arrows out of the sky guarding some work crew till my support got there."
She glanced at the spiraling lightning scars traveling up his arms. "I see, and the quarrying, what is it for, do you think?"
"I know a bunch is going north, but it looked like they were starting to build something big near the dig site too, fort or something, but they're busy below too, building walkways and framing down in the pit," Ji Rong said.
Ling Qi frowned. Were there Ith-ia under the jungle? Blasting open holes into the earth might make sense then… or maybe there were star stones buried under those mountains? She simply didn't know enough to say.
"For what it's worth… nah. I think Liling is just trying to fuck with your head. I don't know military stuff but it sure looks like they're digging in, to me. Doubt they're gonna move before you've worked out your deal here."
Ling Qi let out a breath. That was one thing off her mind, even if the potential for their campaigns in the future were worrying.
"Alright, the second thing. This pass through the mountains. It's blocked apparently, did you see it?"
"From a distance," he replied frowning. He scratched at one of his scars. "It's like the biggest thornbush I ever saw, considering it was higher than some of the mountains, and extends back a long way. Dense and black, fulla thorns….. It was fuckin cold too. I could feel the chill from a couple leagues off. According to some of the other guys, lower realms… folks without shen, can't get within a few kilometers before they start to die."
"I see," Ling Qi said. On one hand it was probably good that there wasn't a direct overland route north south just yet. On the other that was just ominous. "Have the Western Soldiers made any attempts on it?"
"Some high realms poked it, from what I heard." Ji Rong said. "Infested with spirit beasts. Big flying two headed lizards, spitting ice and lightning and black fire. I saw a skull one of the Fifth realms was showing off. Was as big as your obnoxious turtle."
"Don't talk down to my brother unless you'd like a fight yourself Baron Ji," Ling Qi replied frostily. Too which he snorted. Ling Qi considered the information. "So they are making advances?"
"Hunting the outskirts for sport," Ji Rong corrected. "You've seen these guys, out west they expect you to hunt the material for your kit yourself. I even got something being made. But nah, too many of them further in, and their wary of the hedge itself. Shao apparently took a look at it, but decided not to do anything yet. Just to set a defensive line for if the uglies came out."
It was certainly no joke, if the high realm military officers of the west had chosen to defer the challenge. And that was something to ask Dzintara about Ling Qi supposed. She had a feeling it might have something to do with their goddess' battle with 'the flower demon'. "Were you provided maps at all?" Ling Qi asked with a sigh.
"Yeah this is the bit Liling told me to be kinda straight about," Ji Rong said standing up, gesturing for her to follow him over to a table. "So look, for the deal I can tell you the bits she said I absolutely can't negotiate yeah? A bunch of the other claims are just merchant shit, you dig?"
"I understand haggling, yes," Ling Qi said dryly.
"Course you do," Ji Rong snorted. "Lets spend awhile on this. Can't give you the minimum gotta look like I'm not half assing this."
I understand," Ling said as a detailed map of the portion of the wall that extended into the jungle appeared. There were some very expansive red lines drawn on it. She didn't want to imagine arguing a more belligerent representative of the Western territories down. And this was only the preliminary action. Negotiating with the Sun for what she would later negotiate with the White Sky.
The Way was long, wasn't it?
And that was the niggle wasn't it. This was the Sun 'playing nice'. Unless the Empress descended from the throne and decreed their agreement law it really only bound anyone outside the Emerald Seas as far as they chose to indulge it. It felt strange and bad to be vaguely grateful that the Grave of the Sun served as an absolute check on any southern ambitions the Golden Fields could have.
Especially given the tenor of Xiulan's last few letters.
She shook that thought away and straightened up, accepting the map with the revised long from Ji Rong, she flicked her wrist and the thick map case dissolved into glittering fog, flowing into her storage ring.
"Hah, I'm gonna eat some shit for those concessions," Ji Rong grumbled.
"It's hardly your fault that Cai's wicked shadow witch talked around you, hm?" Ling Qi said idly. "How is your own junior brother by the way?"
"Relong? He went to visit the other dragons while we're at the Sect. He's got some stuff to do up there now that he's gotten a bit bigger," Ji Rong replied. "He'll ask me if he needs something. Where's your lot?"
"Zhengui is working with the mortals and craftsmen at our new settlement. Hanyi is rehearsing. I don't think it would be good to let her grow bored here."
Ji Rong grunted, rolling up his own copy of the map and sliding it into a second case. "Guess that just leaves the last thing."
"The Goddess of the Red Garden, sometimes called the Sunflower Goddess, the great spirit revered by the barbarians which used to live in the west," Ling Qi agreed. "I don't suppose…"
"I ain't stupid. I started noticing a giant heartbeat, that's where my thoughts went," Ji Rong grumbled.
Ling Qi inclined her head. It made her wonder. Her abilities were unusual, and very potent in their specific function, but surely Sun Liling had passed under the eyes of higher realms who could notice such things too. Did that mean that whatever was going on, people like her Grace were already aware, but everything was still operating over their heads?
It was a strong possibility. Sun Shao was…. What? Finding a way to bind some parts of the jungle and steal its power? Had he found a way to tame it finally? With their cultivation arts it wasn't impossible for something like that to happen, she supposed. Also, it didn't feel right. That heartbeat was…. joyous, not constrained or angry or sullen.
It soaked along the edges of every blade, sang in the scratches in armor and plate. A constant martial drumbeat. It was to use her own metaphor the sound of a million skittering feet and stamping hooves and pounding feet, the song of the forest roused to war, not for mere hunger but…
Competition. Striving as a purpose in and of itself. That was strange and uncomfortable to her. At odds with her thoughts in a way. You strove because you wanted, you strove to fill your belly or fulfill your spirit. Conflict as a goal in and of itself…She wanted to call it ugly, but-
There is no peace in emptiness, no content in stillness. Stagnation is death; act, change, move, think, and grow until the very end.
Maybe she was only deluding herself. Conflict was intrinsic to life, to choice. Avoiding that was disingenuous.
…She still didn't think it was something to exult in.
"I only know a cursory amount. It's the reason for the barbarians raiding, a hungry spirit that demanded endless blood sacrifice, in exchange for allowing the people there to live beneath the jungles boughs," Ling Qi said.
"That's… not exactly right? I don't think they sacrificed to protect themselves, they did it to cultivate," Ji Rong said, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "Though I guess that's the same thing. You can't protect shit if you're not strong."
Ling Qi inclined her head as they stepped away from the table, her eyes wandering over the blandly furnished room. The Westerners hadn't done anything to make it their own yet. She wondered if they ever would. "Yes. So the spirit was a central part of their cultivation then? Does that mean the Sun arts…"
"They're about harvesting the jungle. From what the soldiers I talked to say. They take from it, they don't give.They rip her power from her body, harvest her blood and crack her bones for marrow. The barbarians submitted, fed her blood for power. The Sun conquered her, and they'll fight her till she's stripped down to the bedrock, and finally dies," Ji Rong said. "They'll do what the Bai were always too cowardly to do, even if it takes a hundred generations."
Some more profound method, taking that to the next level then? Ling Qi didn't know. That still didn't feel quite right. "So the goddess is the jungle? Like a Sublime Ancestor?"
"I dunno any of that shit," Ji Rong said. "But kinda? People talk like they're taking a whack at her every time they cut down a tree or slay a beast. But then everything in there is trying to kill ya, down to the fucking grass."
Ling Qi grimaced remembering her brief jaunt in Elder Jiao's illusion worlds, the run she and Xiulan had made through that murderous jungle. "Will you escort me, asking the soldiers what they know?"
"Yeah, gotta keep an eye on you after all, you sneaky witch."
Ling Qi snorted inelegantly. But internally she was considering. What Ji Rong had told her was already useful information. What else would have value for speaking with the Twisted Pine?
[ ] Dig into the philosophy of their arts more, in relation to the Red Goddess. Not the secrets which would never be shared, but their outward purpose. If she could articulate that well and truthfully it might settle the Twisted Pine's nerves.
[ ] Use interrogations of the Jungle Goddess to seek after what the Western Territories feels like they are aiming for. Try to grasp what it is they want to build on the corpse of a slain god. Having the Sun's aim in mind can only help negotiations.
Ji Rong Bond increases to 1
"Excuse me?"
"There's basically three big camps down there building up. Supposedly, Liling's gramps had his astrologers do some big ritual thing after they killed the tribes in the foothills. Then he went out and struck three different mountains along the southern border with his spear."
Ling Qi's eyebrows climbed as Ji Rong spoke. White, Eighth Realm cultivators only very rarely did such base, physical things.
"I saw one of the holes in the ground, the scattered bits of mountain everywhere, the bleeding earth. It's no damn joke."
Ji Rong's expression twisted as he described it, and she could feel an echo of his emotion, as well as the image. Of a black pit, kilometers wide, rent in the earth, the shattered roots of a mountain still jutting out along the rim. Blood oozed from the broken ground, drizzling into the hole below as if the wound were in flesh rather than the earth. Mostly she felt the irritation and fear that now clung to those images. The show of a Sovereign at the peak of power.
"They aren't showing the signs of another large campaign though?"
"They're drilling a bunch, I got put through my paces down there," Ji Rong grunted. "It's where I got these scars. Got taken out on patrol, got stuck punching arrows out of the sky guarding some work crew till my support got there."
She glanced at the spiraling lightning scars traveling up his arms. "I see, and the quarrying, what is it for, do you think?"
"I know a bunch is going north, but it looked like they were starting to build something big near the dig site too, fort or something, but they're busy below too, building walkways and framing down in the pit," Ji Rong said.
Ling Qi frowned. Were there Ith-ia under the jungle? Blasting open holes into the earth might make sense then… or maybe there were star stones buried under those mountains? She simply didn't know enough to say.
"For what it's worth… nah. I think Liling is just trying to fuck with your head. I don't know military stuff but it sure looks like they're digging in, to me. Doubt they're gonna move before you've worked out your deal here."
Ling Qi let out a breath. That was one thing off her mind, even if the potential for their campaigns in the future were worrying.
"Alright, the second thing. This pass through the mountains. It's blocked apparently, did you see it?"
"From a distance," he replied frowning. He scratched at one of his scars. "It's like the biggest thornbush I ever saw, considering it was higher than some of the mountains, and extends back a long way. Dense and black, fulla thorns….. It was fuckin cold too. I could feel the chill from a couple leagues off. According to some of the other guys, lower realms… folks without shen, can't get within a few kilometers before they start to die."
"I see," Ling Qi said. On one hand it was probably good that there wasn't a direct overland route north south just yet. On the other that was just ominous. "Have the Western Soldiers made any attempts on it?"
"Some high realms poked it, from what I heard." Ji Rong said. "Infested with spirit beasts. Big flying two headed lizards, spitting ice and lightning and black fire. I saw a skull one of the Fifth realms was showing off. Was as big as your obnoxious turtle."
"Don't talk down to my brother unless you'd like a fight yourself Baron Ji," Ling Qi replied frostily. Too which he snorted. Ling Qi considered the information. "So they are making advances?"
"Hunting the outskirts for sport," Ji Rong corrected. "You've seen these guys, out west they expect you to hunt the material for your kit yourself. I even got something being made. But nah, too many of them further in, and their wary of the hedge itself. Shao apparently took a look at it, but decided not to do anything yet. Just to set a defensive line for if the uglies came out."
It was certainly no joke, if the high realm military officers of the west had chosen to defer the challenge. And that was something to ask Dzintara about Ling Qi supposed. She had a feeling it might have something to do with their goddess' battle with 'the flower demon'. "Were you provided maps at all?" Ling Qi asked with a sigh.
"Yeah this is the bit Liling told me to be kinda straight about," Ji Rong said standing up, gesturing for her to follow him over to a table. "So look, for the deal I can tell you the bits she said I absolutely can't negotiate yeah? A bunch of the other claims are just merchant shit, you dig?"
"I understand haggling, yes," Ling Qi said dryly.
"Course you do," Ji Rong snorted. "Lets spend awhile on this. Can't give you the minimum gotta look like I'm not half assing this."
I understand," Ling said as a detailed map of the portion of the wall that extended into the jungle appeared. There were some very expansive red lines drawn on it. She didn't want to imagine arguing a more belligerent representative of the Western territories down. And this was only the preliminary action. Negotiating with the Sun for what she would later negotiate with the White Sky.
The Way was long, wasn't it?
***
It was, amusingly, still quite a spirited debate, but more because they were arguing over what it would look believable for him to have conceded. As things stood she would begin the greater negotiations claiming a span of mountains and valleys south of the jungle for some two hundred kilometers, down to a canyon that snaked through the middle of the mountains a little way north of the line where the 'hedge' was. But Ji Rong had told her that she could get away with shedding most of that, if need be, the Sun would only object to the point of ignoring her and the Emerald Seas if they did not get the areas surrounding Sun Shao's three… projects.And that was the niggle wasn't it. This was the Sun 'playing nice'. Unless the Empress descended from the throne and decreed their agreement law it really only bound anyone outside the Emerald Seas as far as they chose to indulge it. It felt strange and bad to be vaguely grateful that the Grave of the Sun served as an absolute check on any southern ambitions the Golden Fields could have.
Especially given the tenor of Xiulan's last few letters.
She shook that thought away and straightened up, accepting the map with the revised long from Ji Rong, she flicked her wrist and the thick map case dissolved into glittering fog, flowing into her storage ring.
"Hah, I'm gonna eat some shit for those concessions," Ji Rong grumbled.
"It's hardly your fault that Cai's wicked shadow witch talked around you, hm?" Ling Qi said idly. "How is your own junior brother by the way?"
"Relong? He went to visit the other dragons while we're at the Sect. He's got some stuff to do up there now that he's gotten a bit bigger," Ji Rong replied. "He'll ask me if he needs something. Where's your lot?"
"Zhengui is working with the mortals and craftsmen at our new settlement. Hanyi is rehearsing. I don't think it would be good to let her grow bored here."
Ji Rong grunted, rolling up his own copy of the map and sliding it into a second case. "Guess that just leaves the last thing."
"The Goddess of the Red Garden, sometimes called the Sunflower Goddess, the great spirit revered by the barbarians which used to live in the west," Ling Qi agreed. "I don't suppose…"
"I ain't stupid. I started noticing a giant heartbeat, that's where my thoughts went," Ji Rong grumbled.
Ling Qi inclined her head. It made her wonder. Her abilities were unusual, and very potent in their specific function, but surely Sun Liling had passed under the eyes of higher realms who could notice such things too. Did that mean that whatever was going on, people like her Grace were already aware, but everything was still operating over their heads?
It was a strong possibility. Sun Shao was…. What? Finding a way to bind some parts of the jungle and steal its power? Had he found a way to tame it finally? With their cultivation arts it wasn't impossible for something like that to happen, she supposed. Also, it didn't feel right. That heartbeat was…. joyous, not constrained or angry or sullen.
It soaked along the edges of every blade, sang in the scratches in armor and plate. A constant martial drumbeat. It was to use her own metaphor the sound of a million skittering feet and stamping hooves and pounding feet, the song of the forest roused to war, not for mere hunger but…
Competition. Striving as a purpose in and of itself. That was strange and uncomfortable to her. At odds with her thoughts in a way. You strove because you wanted, you strove to fill your belly or fulfill your spirit. Conflict as a goal in and of itself…She wanted to call it ugly, but-
There is no peace in emptiness, no content in stillness. Stagnation is death; act, change, move, think, and grow until the very end.
Maybe she was only deluding herself. Conflict was intrinsic to life, to choice. Avoiding that was disingenuous.
…She still didn't think it was something to exult in.
"I only know a cursory amount. It's the reason for the barbarians raiding, a hungry spirit that demanded endless blood sacrifice, in exchange for allowing the people there to live beneath the jungles boughs," Ling Qi said.
"That's… not exactly right? I don't think they sacrificed to protect themselves, they did it to cultivate," Ji Rong said, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "Though I guess that's the same thing. You can't protect shit if you're not strong."
Ling Qi inclined her head as they stepped away from the table, her eyes wandering over the blandly furnished room. The Westerners hadn't done anything to make it their own yet. She wondered if they ever would. "Yes. So the spirit was a central part of their cultivation then? Does that mean the Sun arts…"
"They're about harvesting the jungle. From what the soldiers I talked to say. They take from it, they don't give.They rip her power from her body, harvest her blood and crack her bones for marrow. The barbarians submitted, fed her blood for power. The Sun conquered her, and they'll fight her till she's stripped down to the bedrock, and finally dies," Ji Rong said. "They'll do what the Bai were always too cowardly to do, even if it takes a hundred generations."
Some more profound method, taking that to the next level then? Ling Qi didn't know. That still didn't feel quite right. "So the goddess is the jungle? Like a Sublime Ancestor?"
"I dunno any of that shit," Ji Rong said. "But kinda? People talk like they're taking a whack at her every time they cut down a tree or slay a beast. But then everything in there is trying to kill ya, down to the fucking grass."
Ling Qi grimaced remembering her brief jaunt in Elder Jiao's illusion worlds, the run she and Xiulan had made through that murderous jungle. "Will you escort me, asking the soldiers what they know?"
"Yeah, gotta keep an eye on you after all, you sneaky witch."
Ling Qi snorted inelegantly. But internally she was considering. What Ji Rong had told her was already useful information. What else would have value for speaking with the Twisted Pine?
[ ] Dig into the philosophy of their arts more, in relation to the Red Goddess. Not the secrets which would never be shared, but their outward purpose. If she could articulate that well and truthfully it might settle the Twisted Pine's nerves.
[ ] Use interrogations of the Jungle Goddess to seek after what the Western Territories feels like they are aiming for. Try to grasp what it is they want to build on the corpse of a slain god. Having the Sun's aim in mind can only help negotiations.
Ji Rong Bond increases to 1
