The Path Unending (A Cultivation Quest)
- Thread starter Vesvius
- Start date
- Original
-
- Tags
- original xianxia cultivation quest
Jog my memory, what protection are you referencing here? Kongzhi's core of time? Not sure how it applies here, since we're implicitly on our last chance, and failure presumably means the kukuni tries to erase Kongzhi to prevent further meddling.
I interpret it as the opposite, the inverse of an inverse if you will. The loop is continuing not because the kukuni is forcing it, but because Liyu can't accept her father's death. The kukuni is bound to the 2 aspects that defined it when it was born, the Perfect Day and its subversion by Liyu observing Liren's death. It has effectively near-infinite power to (eventually) subsume anything that interferes with the Perfect Day. But it can't go against its own nature, which means it also can't interfere with Liren's death. The kukuni may be incentivized to continue the loop due to its desire to grow, but at the end of the day its still bound by its defining aspects. As such, while the kukuni is perpetuating the loop, it's Liyu's inability to let her father go that's actually driving it.
I do agree that Liyu has had many, many chances to process Liren's death including the loop 2 conversation, but the nature of the loop is shaped to prevent her from processing this. I'm hoping that Kong Zhi setting the scene, combined with her understanding from previous loops, is enough to have her take the first step to break the cycle. Sometimes a small push from the outside is needed to break the cycle of grief.
From a pragmatic standpoint, I'm still not convinced that simply lying or preventing Liyu from seeing Liren's death is sufficient. Liyu's a child, but that doesn't mean she's dumb, especially with the wisdom accumulated over so much time. Also if just not seeing the body was sufficient, she could have had a sleepover at a friend's house or something in one of the earlier loops. From a narrative standpoint, this entire situation was started by Liren, the village chief, and Fenhua "lying" to Liyu, so further lies feel like they'll just dig us deeper instead of helping solve the problem.
I do admit a good chunk of my analysis is driven by narrative intuition though, so perhaps that's biasing me. But I do believe the loop is perpetuated by Liyu's inability to accept her father will/has died, and the way to break it is to have her accept it.
- Location
- Here and there
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So, people seem to be approaching the same point here from 2 different angles: create a literal perfect day where Liren doesn't die, or an emotionally perfect day where Liyu comes to terms with her dad's death.
I'm wondering if there isn't another approach we could go for. Could we arrange things so it becomes impossible for there to be a perfect day altogether?
Basically doing something that would not only mess up this loop, but every subsequent loop right from the outset?
Something along the lines of corrupting a save file, or accidentally quicksaving right before a game over.
Given that there are certain things that carry over between loops, it might be an approach to consider.
I'm wondering if there isn't another approach we could go for. Could we arrange things so it becomes impossible for there to be a perfect day altogether?
Basically doing something that would not only mess up this loop, but every subsequent loop right from the outset?
Something along the lines of corrupting a save file, or accidentally quicksaving right before a game over.
Given that there are certain things that carry over between loops, it might be an approach to consider.
Last edited:
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Personally, I think burning Liren's body with the Everdistant Flame could hopefully destroy it permanently, and thus prevent him from being revived. If we do that, then the new loop can't ever start, because it would start as an instantly imperfect day when Liyu doesn't have her father.
[X] Plan A Perfect Ending
Vesvius
The Wicked God
Quick heads up: currently, the vote is scheduled to close at midnight tomorrow. However, it seems like everyone's pretty much said what they wanted to, and discussion and voting have tapered off. Considering that, and considering that I'm kinda hyped to get on with it, I'm debating closing the vote a bit early.
So I'm changing the tally to close at midnight tonight instead. If there's an outpouring of rage, any real objections, or discussion picks up, I'll be happy to change it back. But in lieu of that, you have a bit under six hours left!
So I'm changing the tally to close at midnight tonight instead. If there's an outpouring of rage, any real objections, or discussion picks up, I'll be happy to change it back. But in lieu of that, you have a bit under six hours left!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[x] Hold an impromptu funeral for Liren. Say a prayer to usher him to the ancestors, use the Everdistant Flame to burn his corpse and hopefully erase him from the loop through use of Time, and then scatter the ashes with the Worldstream, so he can never be called back.
I think this is the most important bit, all the extra add-ons are going in the wrong direction. We just need to short-circuit the loop and make sure it can't continue.
I think this is the most important bit, all the extra add-ons are going in the wrong direction. We just need to short-circuit the loop and make sure it can't continue.
- Location
- United States of America
[X] Plan A Perfect Ending
I myself am always excited when the author is hyped to keep writing, so I give my wholehearted support!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan A Perfect Ending
-[X] Remove the body from the home. Hold an impromptu funeral for Liren. Say a prayer to usher him to the ancestors, use the Everdistant Flame to burn his corpse and hopefully erase him from the loop through use of Time, and then scatter the ashes with the Worldstream, so he can never be called back.
-[X] Tidy up the house as best you can so when Liyu comes home everything looks good. Most importantly, make Liyu's bed so it looks as inviting as possible.
-[X] If possible, wrangle the dog to be at the home when Liyu returns. Friendly dogs bring joy and comfort.
-[X] Remove the body from the home. Hold an impromptu funeral for Liren. Say a prayer to usher him to the ancestors, use the Everdistant Flame to burn his corpse and hopefully erase him from the loop through use of Time, and then scatter the ashes with the Worldstream, so he can never be called back.
-[X] Tidy up the house as best you can so when Liyu comes home everything looks good. Most importantly, make Liyu's bed so it looks as inviting as possible.
-[X] If possible, wrangle the dog to be at the home when Liyu returns. Friendly dogs bring joy and comfort.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I really think that 'A Perfect Ending', while not going to fail, is just barking up the wrong tree. The only part that actually matters is destroying Liren's body. Closure isn't the answer here, the answer is stopping the loop from happening again because the day will suck from the moment it starts.
And besides, Liyu isn't even going to make it home! The loop is going to reset when she gets tested, so there's not actually any chance for the last two bullets to matter. There's no mechanical loss from doing all that, but fundamentally I would also like to get the right solution for the right reason, in order to show Kong Zhi actually having figured it out.
And besides, Liyu isn't even going to make it home! The loop is going to reset when she gets tested, so there's not actually any chance for the last two bullets to matter. There's no mechanical loss from doing all that, but fundamentally I would also like to get the right solution for the right reason, in order to show Kong Zhi actually having figured it out.
- Location
- Vermont
So really, I'm almost sorry to correct you here, but you've forgotten we have a core discount and this is actually four anam for Zhi. Isn't that great?
The plan isn't about closure. The kukuni doesn't actually care about sentiment and emotion in a way that matters. While burning Liren's body with Time fire might close the loop on its own, it also might not. So the other part of the plan is to complete the Perfect Day. If there's no dead Liren when Liyu gets home, then there's no glaring imperfection in the Perfect Day, which means that it can't trigger a reset, which in turn means the day just ends when Liyu goes to sleep and the kukuni has lost. So we prepare Liyu's home to be as nice as possible, giving a "perfect" ending to the day where she goes to sleep soundly.
Also, the loop reset last time was apparently because we got near Liyu, not because of the testing itself. All the resets that have happened for Zhi have entirely been because Zhi has been interfering with Liyu or the villagers. The kukuni is angry at us because we cause it to need to reset things earlier in the day, rather than at the end when Liyu goes home. Rather than getting nearly the full day to farm power from its moment, it has to waste power to reset the loop early.
Is it possible to use the evolved NAO on the body first before we burn it to see what happens?
This is copium but hopefully we can somehow slug Liren back into being alive temporarily by punching him backwards in time, for some living on horrowed time (badumtish). And if it doesn't work at least we'll figure out a bit more of the mystery?
This is copium but hopefully we can somehow slug Liren back into being alive temporarily by punching him backwards in time, for some living on horrowed time (badumtish). And if it doesn't work at least we'll figure out a bit more of the mystery?
Last edited:
The loop isn't going to reset because she gets tested. We're the one that broke the treasure last time by barging in. And it reset the first time she tested because the Kukuni was still integrating us and the testing into the loop, so it probably messed up and broke the treasure itself.
In addition the point of cleaning up the house is to erase Lirens presence from the home, so that his death doesn't ruin the day and induce a reset. Just removing him, but leaving the house still a mess with his death bed right there may be enough to trigger the loop.
But, if he's just straight up gone as though he was never there, then his existence, or lack thereof, is less likely to trigger the loop.
- Location
- USA
This seems to be the key. If the Perfect Day is finished then It has no more reason to exist. Moments are everything to Kukuni. And the most important moment for this Kukuni's was Liyu returning home from her day and finding her father dead. That moment twisted everything else. If we can have it so she returns home and she doesn't find her father's dead body, I think that will break the loop.
[X] Plan A Perfect Ending
Seems like the perfect plan. We know we can't interact with the villagers because that will cause the loop to reset and not so nice things to happen to Zhi. The villagers are also on the lookout for Zhi, so interacting with any of them at all isn't the answer. The solution is in the house and Liren basically told us what causes the loop to repeat on end when it isn't forcibly reset. Every loop Liyu returns home to her father's dead body which ruins the day. That is the point that the loop ends and the next one begins. If that doesn't happen, the loop closes.
Essentially, to close the loop we must make sure that Liyu doesn't discover Liren's body. What makes me more convinced that this is the answer is that that is likely also the Kukuni's moment.
"Kukuni are born from moments."
Moments are important for Kukuni. What happens when we basically erase this Kukuni's moment? Certainly nothing good for it I'm sure.
- Location
- Space between realms
- Pronouns
- He
[X] Plan A Perfect Ending
[X] Plan A Perfect Ending
Best idea we have.
The Kukuni approaches what Zhi remembers as perfect moments with utter and sheer disdain. Emotions mean nothing to it. So we can't use those against it. So we look at this with cold hearted calculating logic instead.
Best idea we have.
The Kukuni approaches what Zhi remembers as perfect moments with utter and sheer disdain. Emotions mean nothing to it. So we can't use those against it. So we look at this with cold hearted calculating logic instead.
- Pronouns
- He/It/Argh!
The kukuni is changing events so that Liyu will pass the testing, as what could be more joyous than discovering that she is going to have to leave the Village?
The first time she was tested, she was upset about not passing. Reset.
The second time she was tested, Zhi burst into the room and overloaded the Treasure. Reset.
This time, she will pass the test. No reset needed.
And what should someone who passes the test do immediately upon learning that they have the Spark and will be going away to learn to be an Artist?
Tell their family.
[X] Plan A Perfect Ending
-[X] Remove the body from the home. Hold an impromptu funeral for Liren. Say a prayer to usher him to the ancestors, use the Everdistant Flame to burn his corpse and hopefully erase him from the loop through use of Time, and then scatter the ashes with the Worldstream, so he can never be called back.
-[X] Tidy up the house as best you can so when Liyu comes home everything looks good. Most importantly, make Liyu's bed so it looks as inviting as possible.
-[X] If possible, wrangle the dog to be at the home when Liyu returns. Friendly dogs bring joy and comfort.
-[X] Remove the body from the home. Hold an impromptu funeral for Liren. Say a prayer to usher him to the ancestors, use the Everdistant Flame to burn his corpse and hopefully erase him from the loop through use of Time, and then scatter the ashes with the Worldstream, so he can never be called back.
-[X] Tidy up the house as best you can so when Liyu comes home everything looks good. Most importantly, make Liyu's bed so it looks as inviting as possible.
-[X] If possible, wrangle the dog to be at the home when Liyu returns. Friendly dogs bring joy and comfort.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan A Perfect Ending
I guess I can support this plan, though I'm still leery on whether this is even the right answer. Ves sure isn't making this an easy stop in the journey. After this is over, I hope we don't get any more crazy hijinks until Twelve Fields.
I guess I can support this plan, though I'm still leery on whether this is even the right answer. Ves sure isn't making this an easy stop in the journey. After this is over, I hope we don't get any more crazy hijinks until Twelve Fields.
DangerKitty
shoddy writter
- Location
- lala land
Cleary we need the extra voting time