Forge of Destiny(Xianxia Quest)

"So, what have you actually been up too when you're not at the vent anyway?" Ling Qi asked as the two of them walked the path down to the base of the mountain. "Just gathering materials?"

"Mostly," Su Ling replied gruffly, scanning the path ahead. "Suyin's been teaching me some stuff, been doing some jobs so I have the points to look up recipes and methods in the archive. Been working towards some better tools too."

Ling Qi hummed in acknowledgement of the answer, arms held behind her head as she walked. "So you're definitely going for a production spot then?"

The fox eared girl snorted inelegantly. "You're pretty ridiculous, you know?"

Ling Qi frowned at her. "What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, a little annoyed.

"I don't even have my eye on the whole inner disciple thing. I'm not like you. I don't pick things up in a couple of days an' master arts in a week. I'm not arrogant enough to think I can start from nothin and a snag a spot, when I'm not some kinda prodigy," she replied matter of factly.

"Well you're definitely not going too with that kind of attitude," Ling Qi huffed. "It's not like I don't work hard you know?" She added reproachfully. "I didn't start with a single damn thing either," she continued, slipping a bit into vulgarity.

"I never said you didn't," Su Ling shot back. "Simple fact is, you're something else. I figured that out awhile ago. You've got this…. Thing," she continued, making a vague gesture in the air. "Like, you're flighty and oblivious as shit sometimes, ignoring stuff that's not right in your view, but your scary intense when you've got your focus on something. You don't take breaks or get discouraged. Ya don't fail," she sounded a bit frustrated, though Ling Qi thought it was more due to not being satisfied with how she had articulated her statements.

"I'm not oblivious," Ling Qi replied irritably. "And the rest of that isn't true either. Don't you think you're making a lot of judgements when we barely know each other personally?" She took breaks, didn't she go out with Xiulan on occasion?

Su Ling shrugged. "Probably, but that's how I see it. You got the things you focus on, and you just kinda ignore everything else. I don't have that kinda drive and focus."

"So what do you want then? If you're not gonna go for an Inner disciple position?" Ling Qi asked, still feeling a little irritable about the girl's assessment. "Are you just going to sit in the outer sect?"

"Maybe," Su Ling replied with a shrug. "I don't really give a damn about all this sect stuff you know?" she added, waving a hand dismissively. "All the stupid lil' power games and verbal knife fights. I'll survive my service, then set up out in the mountains or woods huntin' monsters, or maybe I'll just leave and go wandering," she continued, meandering a bit.

That didn't sound bad she supposed. She didn't think she would be able to ignore the drive to snatch opportunities though. Didn't she need all the strength she could get, if she really wanted to be free to do as she wished? "Well, if that's what you want," Ling Qi replied a bit dubiously. "Anyway, what do you think of the information we have on this?"

"Last disappearance was earlier this week, ten people so far, including the guard?" Su Ling replied seeming happy enough to drop the previous subject. "No blood or signs of struggle, either," she continued, ticking off points on her sharp nailed fingers. "Sounds like pretty standard spiriting away. Something is kidnapping folks alive, most like. There's dozens of spirits that do that kinda shit though."

"Yeah, I suppose so," Ling Qi said. "Still all the disappearances were during the day, so that's a little different than normal, right?"

"Not as much as you'd think," Su Ling said with a shrug. "Stories always like ta paint this kinda thing as happening at night, but fact is there ain't many people dumb enough to be out at the edge of the wards at night when they aren't even working."

"You would know better than me," Ling Qi replied simply. She had rarely ventured out into the farmlands around Tonghou, small and cramped as they were. It was far easier to be recognized where there were fewer people after all. Besides, the outskirts were where cultivator guards patrolled, and she hadn't survived on the streets by crossing their paths.

Such thoughts seemed a little strange now though.

The two of them fell into mostly companionable silence as they continued their trip, arriving out at section of the border where the disappearances had been occurring. The closest bit of settlement was the cities lumber yard, where the great bounty of wood was processed and prepared for shipment out to the rest of the empire.

There were several such yards around the city, as production of lumber was the Emerald Seas province's main export and contribution to the empire. Most of those who had disappeared had not been workers at the yard though, but rather young women and boys from the outer village nearby, the only exception had been the guard.


Ling Qi honestly felt a bit useless as she traipsed along through the woods with Su Ling, peering about for clues. She really had little idea what to look for, only able to point out the signs of human passage due to the enhanced senses that came with being a cultivator. Her companion took it in stride though, patiently examining possible trails and poking around for signs of spirit activity. Ling Qi could really only feel the general aura of natural qi in the region.

Conversation was terse and simple as well, since Su Ling was focused on tracking and Ling Qi chose to keep an eye out for potential enemies, since her abilities in that area were lacking.

Their search gradually took them deeper into the woods, following the trails of human activity that Su Ling discovered with her nose and keener sense for traces of residual qi.


"Hold up," Su Ling's gruff voice shook Ling Qi out of her thoughts as she came to a stop, peering ahead toward the sound of running water. "Do you feel that?"

Ling Qi paused herself, concentrating her senses. It was quiet and still, unnaturally so now that she focused on it. There was also a faint, unseasonable chill in the air that she had almost missed, due to how little such things meant to her anymore. "...Yeah, I think so," Ling Qi replied quietly furrowing her brows as she felt out with her less mundane senses. The natural earth and wood qi in the area felt subtly off too.

"It smells like a graveyard," Su Ling hissed, her furry ears standing straight with alarm and discomfort.

Ling Qi, felt the first stirrings of alarm herself as she picked up a steady dimming of light at the edge of her vision, it seemed like there was a little bit of a fog rolling in from the direction of the running water she could hear.

She was fairly confident in handling whatever came upon them… but was it a good idea? They didn't even know if whatever the cause was had anything to do with their investigation.

[] Retreat, you should speak with the guards and workers for more clues before you engage anything.
[] Hold where you are and deal with what comes.
[] Push forward, Su Ling had found the trails of several people leading here, coincidence was unlikely