I had retired myself before.
Disciples of Red Dew Sect (Cultivation Riot Quest)
- Thread starter Arcanestomper
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
I had retired myself before.
Oh, sorry for the ping then. I must have forgotten to take you off the disciple sheet. I did this time.
Turn 12 Preliminary Cultivation
| Hawk "Primal Monkey" Cyr | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Lung Doji | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 4/10 |
| Hanyi Huoshui | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 0/10 |
| Wu Ji Nin | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Li | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 6/10 |
| Riyadh | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Changjian Meinu | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Wuyin | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Hong Xing | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Gu Jin | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Luòtuó | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Liao Chuanli | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Feng Shou | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 2/10 |
| Xìngyùn xīng | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Pan Tingfeng | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Cai Delan | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Daiki Inoue | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Gan Jia | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Liang Xinyue | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Ding Dong | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 9/10 |
| Jang Hui | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 9/10 |
| Yu Siyuan | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 8/10 |
| Jian Ke | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Maggot Gravedirt | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Jiang Chen | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Liu Jin | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| June Peng | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 6/10 |
| Tan Bo | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 6/10 |
| Cheng Nan | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 2/10 |
| Zhōusān | Tempered Heart: 5/9 |
| Zao Zao | Tempered Heart: 7/9 |
| Lucky Dong | Tempered Heart: 3/9 |
| Do Mwin | Tempered Heart: 1/9 |
Last edited:
LinkOnScepter
The One who Strangles Concepts to death
- Location
- Interwebs
I think I rolled for my Stomach already. So, now I just need to try a Breakthrough, right?
- Location
- Israel
Yep after stomach you can try and reach soldier.
to do so you need 9 insights to craft into an enlightment.
oof.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Cultivator: has a heart attack
Also cultivator: shit, well whatever I needed to buy a new one anyway, I didn't like the shape of the left ventricle
LinkOnScepter
The One who Strangles Concepts to death
- Location
- Interwebs
Okay. Time to start getting those insights then.
Turn 12: Fortifications
- Location
- California
Its hard work to improve upon the fortifications of a sect. Materials need to be carted around, walls raised, ditches dug, so on and so forth. Doesn't get any easier even if the disciple doing it has focused most of their energy on improving their body, as Tan Bo can attest to. No, having a little extra strength just means there's a little bit more you can do. And those Inner Disciples will see that you do it.
Despite that, Tan Bo is actually enjoying himself a bit. Honestly, this is the kinda stuff he'd do even if there wasn't a mission. The fact that he's getting paid makes it all the better. He probably won't even have to fight anything, which given his track record with previous missions is probably a bit of a relief for the people working in the Healing Pavillion.
Plus, the manual labor makes him feel a little nostalgic; like he's back on his family's farm, before…
Anyways. The work needs to get done too. Tan Bo's recent forays into the forest has reminded him of how dangerous a place it is, even now that he's a cultivator. And now the dangers of the forest are coming to the sect. Every little bit done now might make all the difference when the beast tide rolls around.
Hmm, maybe he could try to replicate that formation that got the first scouting party trapped in the labyrinth. Nah, probably too far beyond his capabilities. Some of those other traps might be doable though, Tan Bo can definitely speak to their effectiveness.
Despite that, Tan Bo is actually enjoying himself a bit. Honestly, this is the kinda stuff he'd do even if there wasn't a mission. The fact that he's getting paid makes it all the better. He probably won't even have to fight anything, which given his track record with previous missions is probably a bit of a relief for the people working in the Healing Pavillion.
Plus, the manual labor makes him feel a little nostalgic; like he's back on his family's farm, before…
Anyways. The work needs to get done too. Tan Bo's recent forays into the forest has reminded him of how dangerous a place it is, even now that he's a cultivator. And now the dangers of the forest are coming to the sect. Every little bit done now might make all the difference when the beast tide rolls around.
Hmm, maybe he could try to replicate that formation that got the first scouting party trapped in the labyrinth. Nah, probably too far beyond his capabilities. Some of those other traps might be doable though, Tan Bo can definitely speak to their effectiveness.
Turn 12: Wuyin's Diary, Entry 3
- Location
- North Carolina
Wuyin's Diary, Entry 3
Another month has gone by, and it seems life at the Sect continues to advance both slowly and quickly.
Rumors circle of the Ancient Devil Forest stirring in vengeance due to the construction of the arena. Which, given that it had a large chunk of it carved out of lava, does make sense.
Regardless, it seems an attack may be coming in the next few months although the matter of when exactly it will arrive remains up in the air. Which is somewhat concerning, given that a not-insignificant amount of the Sect's strength is away from the Barony, on Elder Mei's diplomatic mission to the nearby sects in preparation for the Inter Sect Tournament.
Regardless, it seems it is time to pick up the sword once more. Strange.
I am hardly the image of what a mind may conjure of a warrior. Then again, very few of us disciples fit that image. The twins certainly seem quite graceful and delicate, and yet they are likely the deadliest among us!
And on another note, I must congratulate us Disciples! It has been one full year in our time since our introduction into the Sect proper!
How does it feel? So many of us are quite a bit stronger than when we started out! It feels like an entirely different game nowadays. Where once we scrambled about trying to increase our cultivation and gather the strength to scrape by on our missions, now, we found ourselves slowing down, to some degree, as we meditate on our experience and hone our techniques.
I for one, certainly plan to slow down a fair bit! Work on somethings I have wanted to work on, see things I have wanted to see. As ever, time remains the most valuable resource, but we found ourselves at a point where we have the strength to dedicate our time to new and different things.
Tien is one of those things. Though she is well trained now, her growth worries me. But it is not quite so urgent, though I do certainly plan to research the matter soon.
For now, with so many of us focusing on meditation or technique training, I felt it best to ensure that adequate support is given to the mission board. I was not gifted this sword to nap against! Swords make for poor pillows I'll have you know!
That, and I suspect Tien is getting restless. She is a predator at heart after all. It would not be wise to leave her claws unsharpened for long.
And of course, in the world we live in, violence is always needed somewhere. Some may regret that fact, others may relish in it. Myself... I have no idea! I suppose I shall find out as I proceed down the path of cultivation!
Still, the time has come once more to pick up the sword. And I'll admit to being excited to fight alongside my feline companion, and allow others to taste her claws for once.
I wish us all good luck, and a good year to come. May time bring us closer to our goals.
P.S: Path of the World Insights please!
Another month has gone by, and it seems life at the Sect continues to advance both slowly and quickly.
Rumors circle of the Ancient Devil Forest stirring in vengeance due to the construction of the arena. Which, given that it had a large chunk of it carved out of lava, does make sense.
Regardless, it seems an attack may be coming in the next few months although the matter of when exactly it will arrive remains up in the air. Which is somewhat concerning, given that a not-insignificant amount of the Sect's strength is away from the Barony, on Elder Mei's diplomatic mission to the nearby sects in preparation for the Inter Sect Tournament.
Regardless, it seems it is time to pick up the sword once more. Strange.
I am hardly the image of what a mind may conjure of a warrior. Then again, very few of us disciples fit that image. The twins certainly seem quite graceful and delicate, and yet they are likely the deadliest among us!
And on another note, I must congratulate us Disciples! It has been one full year in our time since our introduction into the Sect proper!
How does it feel? So many of us are quite a bit stronger than when we started out! It feels like an entirely different game nowadays. Where once we scrambled about trying to increase our cultivation and gather the strength to scrape by on our missions, now, we found ourselves slowing down, to some degree, as we meditate on our experience and hone our techniques.
I for one, certainly plan to slow down a fair bit! Work on somethings I have wanted to work on, see things I have wanted to see. As ever, time remains the most valuable resource, but we found ourselves at a point where we have the strength to dedicate our time to new and different things.
Tien is one of those things. Though she is well trained now, her growth worries me. But it is not quite so urgent, though I do certainly plan to research the matter soon.
For now, with so many of us focusing on meditation or technique training, I felt it best to ensure that adequate support is given to the mission board. I was not gifted this sword to nap against! Swords make for poor pillows I'll have you know!
That, and I suspect Tien is getting restless. She is a predator at heart after all. It would not be wise to leave her claws unsharpened for long.
And of course, in the world we live in, violence is always needed somewhere. Some may regret that fact, others may relish in it. Myself... I have no idea! I suppose I shall find out as I proceed down the path of cultivation!
Still, the time has come once more to pick up the sword. And I'll admit to being excited to fight alongside my feline companion, and allow others to taste her claws for once.
I wish us all good luck, and a good year to come. May time bring us closer to our goals.
P.S: Path of the World Insights please!
Last edited:
Turn 12: Results
@CedeTheBees
@DiscordOxymoron
@fluxeal
After leaving the Jade Claw sect the caravan heads east through fields of waving grain. This is more or less the same as when they were headed into the Jade Claw sect, but this time there is no handy river to protect their flank so the disciples are on constant guard from every direction. Fortunately the Jade Claw patrol their lands well so there is only a short section of true wilderness before the caravan approaches the Golden Harvest sect's territory.
Of course that one section sees the caravan attacked nearly a dozen times, but such is life in the hinterlands of the empire. The worst part is when a horde of harvest horrors attack from both sides in an effort to make off with some delectable morsels, or in otherwise disciples. Fortunately for the disciples, and unfortunately for the horrors Elder Mei is in the caravan and her specialty is plants. With a wave of her hand the fields come alive in a way that reminds some of the disciples uncomfortably of the ancient devil forest.
Grain stalks grow explosively and bind around the horrors in golden coils. In moments most of them are torn apart. Though not all as the Elder leaves a few for the disciples to fight. It's a good experience, though unfortunately one not without dangers as Gan Jia finds out when a horror nearly rips their leg off.
Then at last the caravan enters the lands of the Golden Harvest sect. The border is immediately apparent as on one side the golden grain grows in wild clusters, and on the side are orderly fields of well tended crops.There are mortals by the hundreds tending the fields, and an actual border station where a group of soldiers note down the caravan's details. Though they make no trouble in the face of Elder Mei's dignity and power.
Then after another few days' travel the caravan at last arrives at the capital of the Golden Harvest. At last the disciples get a look at a proper imperial city. It is massive growing up the side of the mountain where the sect makes their residence and surrounded by a towering wall. There must be millions of mortals here, and a not inconsiderable number of loose cultivators. Possibly entire minor clans.
The sect itself isn't much different from the Red Dew's own grounds and the disciples are given several pagodas to share while Elder Mei conducts her diplomacy.
The next day the disciples are freed to explore. Gan Gia's offers of smoked herbs are well received. The Golden Harvest disciples are a fairly relaxed lot and there are plenty interested in gaining insights through the use of such cultivation aides. At least that's what they tell their own elders if anyone asks.
The Changjian sisters perform their usual concerts and immediately gain a devoted following. They are invited down into the city to see the sights. Compared to the Roaring Furnace it has significantly more to do. Where the Red Dew's own capital is mostly a trade city, the Golden Harvest city has an entire theater district along with thousands of restaurants to choose from.
Meanwhile Xingyun volunteers to help Elder Mei with her efforts and as such accompanies her as an aide. He is able to see much of the inner workings of inter-sect diplomacy and finds that it involves a whole lot of polite small talk, gossip, and roundabout exchanges. Gifts are exchanged and Elder Mei commensurates with the Golden Harvest elders about their current problems while subtly bragging about the quality of her own disciples back at Red Dew.
When the Golden Harvest brings up their own young genius's Elder Mei mentions the tournament and invites them to participate. Through it all Elder Mei manages to make it sound like an exciting, but ultimately not critical event. Some place where the Golden Harvest can send their disciples to gain a little bit of combat experience in relative safety. She implies that her main reason for being at the Golden Harvest sect is to set up a trade route, and indeed she does manage to get the elders to agree to send a few merchant caravans to Red Dew.
Gan Jia: 120 Spirit Stones, +20 Merit, Injured
Changjian Meinu: 135 Spirit Stones, +20 Merit, +2 Insights Path of Poetry
Xìngyùn xīng: 105 Spirit Stones, +20 Merit
@LordEdric
@Floom
@Bylba
The disciples are no stranger to mining missions. The spirit stone mines are vitally important and making sure they stay in operation is one of the primary obligations of the sect. So once again an expedition of disciples ventures to the Azure Crack Mine.
Now that spring has come the mortal miners are hard at work hauling stones out of the depth, but fortunately the disciples don't need to wait for them. Instead they climb down the cliff side using paths far too treacherous for a regular human to reach the very depths of the mine.
The senior disciples pass out talismans to their juniors. Talismans of light, simple guide stones to keep from getting lost, and most importantly Qi filters to keep the ever present Qi miasma from poisoning the disciples. Then the expedition breaks into groups and moves beyond the last barricades. There mission is many fold. They map out the caverns and find deposits of high grade spirit stone. They fight off the cavern beasts, which fortunately seem to be suffering from the thinning Sect Mistress Ping gave them last year, and carve out new tunnels to connect distant caverns.
Ding Dong leads the work on that as his skills in crafting allow him to quickly build supports to keep the tunnels stable as the disciples dig them out. Meanwhile Wuyin ranges far ahead of the rest of the disciples. Normally that would be extremely risky, but Tien is with her and the shadow panther blends into the dark of the mines so well that even the native beasts can't see her.
Meanwhile Lung Doji consults the spirits and they tell him of a location rich in Qi. He follows their directions and finds his way to a spirit stone of immense size and purity. Unfortunately the spirits have neglected to take into account human frailties. Lung Doji's Qi filter is overloaded by the sheer power flowing out of the spirit stone and the Qi invades his meridians. He barely makes it back to the main tunnels where a few of his friends find him and carry him out of the mines. After he reports what happens the disciples reward him for the find and immediately discuss how they manage to retrieve such a potent spirit stone.
Ding Dong: 105 Spirit Stones, +20 Merit
Wuyin: 210 Spirit Stones, +20 Merit, +2 Insights Path of the World
Lung Doji: 240 Spirit Stones, +20 Merit, Injured
@LinkOnScepter
@Expecting Me
@digital2
A Beast Tide is the common name for when the local spirit beasts are agitated to the point where they assemble into a massive stampede. It is differentiated from regular spirit beast attacks by the size and intensity of the stampede, normally hundreds or even thousands of spirit beasts led by knight rank pack leaders, or even beast lords.
Needless to say, fighting them directly is beyond the capability of most disciples. Instead they work on fortifying the province. Feng Shou oversees the preparation of the local villages. Under his guidance teams of disciples build palisades around the mortal villages that don't already have them and strengthen those which already exist. The watchtowers are carefully surveyed with the guards in the most isolated ones consolidated to strategic locations that are rebuilt with warded stone walls. Tan Bo mostly concerns himself with this part of the project and helps reinforce the walls with massive slabs cut from boulders.
Meanwhile Hawk Cyr scouts the surrounding forests. Fighting the assembling beast tide is beyond him, but dealing with the occasional beast foraging ahead of the tide isn't. Not to mention the sect needs advanced warning when the beast tide starts to move. Hawk Cyr nearly pays for his scouting with his life when a trio of spirit wolves doing some scouting of their own ambush him, but fortunately his armor wards off the first wolf's bite and he is able to quickly interpose his sword between his body and the others claws. The following fight is short and vicious, but see Hawk Cy victorious.
Hawk "Primal Monkey" Cyr: 105 Spirit Stone, +20 Merits
Tan Bo: 120 Spirit Stones, +20 Merits, 2 Insights Path of Fortifications
Feng Shou: 75 Spirit Stones, +20 Merits
@Guest99
@moon-llama
@Abyssius
A select few disciples are allowed to attend Elder Cheng Nianzu's lecture on technique refinement. The elder speaks on profound things that spark something deep inside the disciples, and then he gives each one his attention to resolve the stumbling blocks they are encountering with their techniques.
He helps Jiang Chen with his mathematical technique and helps him fix a few of the flaws in the variations that were either unseen by the original creator of the technique or simply weren't working for Jiang Chen.
For Luòtuó the elder tells him how to care for a multitude of different spirit beasts and shows him how such techniques can not just be applied to multiple species, but what techniques he would use to train a new beast from first principles.
Finally for Liang Xinyue Elder Nianzu gifts him with an orb of pure fire and a selection of advanced materials he can burn to see exactly how the fire qi flows through them, and how their ashes differ based on the original material and how long they are allowed to burn.
Jiang Chen: 10,000 Mathematical Variations (Perfect), +2 Insights Failure
Luòtuó: The Ways of Wool (Perfect), +2 Insights Path of Destiny
Liang Xinyue: The Twelve Step of the Ash-Maker (Perfect)
@HousePet
Pan Tingfeng is so engrossed in butchering the spirit beasts he's been saving that he nearly butchers his own arm by mistake. Fortunately he realizes what he's doing and stops before he finds out what a human bone natural treasure looks like.
Pan Tingfeng: 15 Natural Treasures
@Uber_Fail_Dinesh
Hong Xing is allowed to look at the soldier techniques, but the senior disciples keep him from actually taking anything that is beyond him. Despite this he finds a manual pinned by the sect's own elder Tristram Maçon which describes a method of fighting with a pike in formation and alone that looks very promising. He valiantly attempts to study it in the technique pavilion, but sadly the mysteries with lurk just out of his comprehension.
Hong Xing: The Way of the Pike (Soldier) Found
@rush99999
Hanyi Huoshui spends the entire month staring at ants. He watches their ant hill and tracks individual ants as they go about their business foraging food. They are industrious little things and he finds it fascinating how they work together in large groups with no apparent need to communicate. Occasionally he thinks that one of them is watching him in turn, but such a thing is patently absurd.
Hanyi Huoshui: +2 Insights Path of the Ant, Still Injured
@Worm_that_Walks
With a bit more work Cheng Nan is able to perfect the Rainbow Eyes. As far as they can tell they now work exactly the same as any cultivator who achieved them naturally. Though if anything Cheng Nan has a far better idea of exactly how they work.
Cheng Nan: Rainbow Eyes
@Zedalb
Meanwhile Zao Zao has been meditating on Qi and how to accept it into his body. By studying accounts of those with Storm Lungs he has determined that simply expanding his own meridians should have the same effect. Every day he inhales as much Qi as he can, and then just a little more. Over and over again until each breath drags in a noticeably larger amount.
Zao Zao: Storm Lungs (2/3), +2 Insights Path of Meticulousness
@1Arthas1
@SootCube
@Poofs
@AmeliaNyoom
As always there are plenty of disciples learning the Red Dew School. They are at literally every stage of the process. From Do Mwin who is just starting out on the path, to Lucky Dong who is going over the more esoteric foot movements, to Gu Jin who is learning the last of the crafting skills. And even June Peng who has already mastered the Red Dew School but is helping out with the lecture for a bit of extra pocket money and tips from the senior disciples on his cultivation.
Lucky Dong: Red Dew School 2/3
Gu Jin: Red Dew School 3/3
June Peng: 100 Spirit Stones, +6 Cultivation
Do Mwin: Red Dew School 1/3
@Jaguar2234
Liu Jin is meditating in the cold realm again when he sinks a bit too deeply into his meditations. Ice crawls along his limbs unnoticed as he ponders the true nature of the element. He doesn't notice as his skin freezes and his heart slows. But something does.
Elder Nianzu's formation interprets the sinking vitality of its ward as an attack and dissipates in order to unleash the massive Qi reserve it has been holding back. A flood of qi rolls through Liu Jin jolting him out of his meditations as his body is reforged. From one breath to the next he goes from the peak of mortality to something superhuman.
He stands in a smooth motion shattering the ice that had been holding him. Picking up one of the shards he considers it and with a wave of his hand it expands into a crystal blue blade. It glimmers in the light and its edge is sharp enough to cut through stone.
Liu Jin: Ice Enlightenment, Soldier Breakthrough
Liu Jin: Attributes Reset, Path of the Ice Sword
@alexthealright
Meanwhile Cai Delan has been meditating on friendship and the deep bonds of comrades. He can see the path that is laid out before him. One of teamwork and camaraderie that will lead him from his current status as a mere disciple all the way to challenging the heavens themselves. He'll just need to ensure his friends are up to the challenge.
Cai Delan: Friendship Enlightenment, +2 Insights Path of Journeys
@Shadowolf235
Daiki has already fully grasped the path of the scholar so now he turns his attention to wider things. He doesn't just consider chronically ideas of deep profundity and the secrets of the natural world, but also the mundane lives and laughter of the people he comes across. The trilling of a bird in the forest, and the shape of the leaves on the ground. Surely these things are worth remembering.
Daiki Inoue: +6 Insights Path of Chronicles
@szymonmolitoris2
Li doesn't spend too much time pondering the deep nature of reality. Instead he boxes. He punches his training targets, practices his footwork, and spars with anyone who will accept his challenge. Day and night he trains. And as he trains he meditates. This is the way of the boxer, advancing with each punch.
Li: +4 Insights Path of Boxing
@wrecksalot
Jian Ke's path is very similar; he trains relentlessly with his sword. A thousand strokes is his mere morning practice and he hones his skill to a razor edge as he considers each facet and nature of his blade. From how it swings to the angle of his cuts. He lets the weight of the sword guide his hands as he considers the nature of a blade.
Jian Ke: +4 Insights Path of the Sword
@Epic Bygones
Wu Ji Nin has done many things during his career as a cultivator. He has tested his own body, helped the people in the villages and the city, and even done a bit of detective work. Recently he has meditated deeply on simply existing without worry or emotion. Such a broad study is unusual for a cultivator, but it is shaping into something more. A Path that is tailored to Wu Ji Nin himself rather than simply following the well worn paths of the cultivators who have come before.
Wu Ji Nin: +1 Insights Poison, +1 Insights Evaluation, +1 Insights Path of Community, +1 Insights Path of the Detective, +3 Insights Path of Detachment
@_Plague Doctor_
@Vanestus
Riyadh and Liao Chuanli spend their time in the infirmary being tended to by the doctors and letting their injuries fully heal. There is not much to do but meditate, though unfortunately such things are usually interrupted by the pain of their still healing injuries. Still by the end of the month they are both fully recovered and free to get back to their normal schedules.
Riyadh: Healed
Liao Chuanli: Healed
I think I got everything, but please let me know if you think I missed an action or an omake.
Final Turn 12 Cultivation Table
@DiscordOxymoron
@fluxeal
After leaving the Jade Claw sect the caravan heads east through fields of waving grain. This is more or less the same as when they were headed into the Jade Claw sect, but this time there is no handy river to protect their flank so the disciples are on constant guard from every direction. Fortunately the Jade Claw patrol their lands well so there is only a short section of true wilderness before the caravan approaches the Golden Harvest sect's territory.
Of course that one section sees the caravan attacked nearly a dozen times, but such is life in the hinterlands of the empire. The worst part is when a horde of harvest horrors attack from both sides in an effort to make off with some delectable morsels, or in otherwise disciples. Fortunately for the disciples, and unfortunately for the horrors Elder Mei is in the caravan and her specialty is plants. With a wave of her hand the fields come alive in a way that reminds some of the disciples uncomfortably of the ancient devil forest.
Grain stalks grow explosively and bind around the horrors in golden coils. In moments most of them are torn apart. Though not all as the Elder leaves a few for the disciples to fight. It's a good experience, though unfortunately one not without dangers as Gan Jia finds out when a horror nearly rips their leg off.
Then at last the caravan enters the lands of the Golden Harvest sect. The border is immediately apparent as on one side the golden grain grows in wild clusters, and on the side are orderly fields of well tended crops.There are mortals by the hundreds tending the fields, and an actual border station where a group of soldiers note down the caravan's details. Though they make no trouble in the face of Elder Mei's dignity and power.
Then after another few days' travel the caravan at last arrives at the capital of the Golden Harvest. At last the disciples get a look at a proper imperial city. It is massive growing up the side of the mountain where the sect makes their residence and surrounded by a towering wall. There must be millions of mortals here, and a not inconsiderable number of loose cultivators. Possibly entire minor clans.
The sect itself isn't much different from the Red Dew's own grounds and the disciples are given several pagodas to share while Elder Mei conducts her diplomacy.
The next day the disciples are freed to explore. Gan Gia's offers of smoked herbs are well received. The Golden Harvest disciples are a fairly relaxed lot and there are plenty interested in gaining insights through the use of such cultivation aides. At least that's what they tell their own elders if anyone asks.
The Changjian sisters perform their usual concerts and immediately gain a devoted following. They are invited down into the city to see the sights. Compared to the Roaring Furnace it has significantly more to do. Where the Red Dew's own capital is mostly a trade city, the Golden Harvest city has an entire theater district along with thousands of restaurants to choose from.
Meanwhile Xingyun volunteers to help Elder Mei with her efforts and as such accompanies her as an aide. He is able to see much of the inner workings of inter-sect diplomacy and finds that it involves a whole lot of polite small talk, gossip, and roundabout exchanges. Gifts are exchanged and Elder Mei commensurates with the Golden Harvest elders about their current problems while subtly bragging about the quality of her own disciples back at Red Dew.
When the Golden Harvest brings up their own young genius's Elder Mei mentions the tournament and invites them to participate. Through it all Elder Mei manages to make it sound like an exciting, but ultimately not critical event. Some place where the Golden Harvest can send their disciples to gain a little bit of combat experience in relative safety. She implies that her main reason for being at the Golden Harvest sect is to set up a trade route, and indeed she does manage to get the elders to agree to send a few merchant caravans to Red Dew.
Gan Jia: 120 Spirit Stones, +20 Merit, Injured
Changjian Meinu: 135 Spirit Stones, +20 Merit, +2 Insights Path of Poetry
Xìngyùn xīng: 105 Spirit Stones, +20 Merit
@LordEdric
@Floom
@Bylba
The disciples are no stranger to mining missions. The spirit stone mines are vitally important and making sure they stay in operation is one of the primary obligations of the sect. So once again an expedition of disciples ventures to the Azure Crack Mine.
Now that spring has come the mortal miners are hard at work hauling stones out of the depth, but fortunately the disciples don't need to wait for them. Instead they climb down the cliff side using paths far too treacherous for a regular human to reach the very depths of the mine.
The senior disciples pass out talismans to their juniors. Talismans of light, simple guide stones to keep from getting lost, and most importantly Qi filters to keep the ever present Qi miasma from poisoning the disciples. Then the expedition breaks into groups and moves beyond the last barricades. There mission is many fold. They map out the caverns and find deposits of high grade spirit stone. They fight off the cavern beasts, which fortunately seem to be suffering from the thinning Sect Mistress Ping gave them last year, and carve out new tunnels to connect distant caverns.
Ding Dong leads the work on that as his skills in crafting allow him to quickly build supports to keep the tunnels stable as the disciples dig them out. Meanwhile Wuyin ranges far ahead of the rest of the disciples. Normally that would be extremely risky, but Tien is with her and the shadow panther blends into the dark of the mines so well that even the native beasts can't see her.
Meanwhile Lung Doji consults the spirits and they tell him of a location rich in Qi. He follows their directions and finds his way to a spirit stone of immense size and purity. Unfortunately the spirits have neglected to take into account human frailties. Lung Doji's Qi filter is overloaded by the sheer power flowing out of the spirit stone and the Qi invades his meridians. He barely makes it back to the main tunnels where a few of his friends find him and carry him out of the mines. After he reports what happens the disciples reward him for the find and immediately discuss how they manage to retrieve such a potent spirit stone.
Ding Dong: 105 Spirit Stones, +20 Merit
Wuyin: 210 Spirit Stones, +20 Merit, +2 Insights Path of the World
Lung Doji: 240 Spirit Stones, +20 Merit, Injured
@LinkOnScepter
@Expecting Me
@digital2
A Beast Tide is the common name for when the local spirit beasts are agitated to the point where they assemble into a massive stampede. It is differentiated from regular spirit beast attacks by the size and intensity of the stampede, normally hundreds or even thousands of spirit beasts led by knight rank pack leaders, or even beast lords.
Needless to say, fighting them directly is beyond the capability of most disciples. Instead they work on fortifying the province. Feng Shou oversees the preparation of the local villages. Under his guidance teams of disciples build palisades around the mortal villages that don't already have them and strengthen those which already exist. The watchtowers are carefully surveyed with the guards in the most isolated ones consolidated to strategic locations that are rebuilt with warded stone walls. Tan Bo mostly concerns himself with this part of the project and helps reinforce the walls with massive slabs cut from boulders.
Meanwhile Hawk Cyr scouts the surrounding forests. Fighting the assembling beast tide is beyond him, but dealing with the occasional beast foraging ahead of the tide isn't. Not to mention the sect needs advanced warning when the beast tide starts to move. Hawk Cyr nearly pays for his scouting with his life when a trio of spirit wolves doing some scouting of their own ambush him, but fortunately his armor wards off the first wolf's bite and he is able to quickly interpose his sword between his body and the others claws. The following fight is short and vicious, but see Hawk Cy victorious.
Hawk "Primal Monkey" Cyr: 105 Spirit Stone, +20 Merits
Tan Bo: 120 Spirit Stones, +20 Merits, 2 Insights Path of Fortifications
Feng Shou: 75 Spirit Stones, +20 Merits
@Guest99
@moon-llama
@Abyssius
A select few disciples are allowed to attend Elder Cheng Nianzu's lecture on technique refinement. The elder speaks on profound things that spark something deep inside the disciples, and then he gives each one his attention to resolve the stumbling blocks they are encountering with their techniques.
He helps Jiang Chen with his mathematical technique and helps him fix a few of the flaws in the variations that were either unseen by the original creator of the technique or simply weren't working for Jiang Chen.
For Luòtuó the elder tells him how to care for a multitude of different spirit beasts and shows him how such techniques can not just be applied to multiple species, but what techniques he would use to train a new beast from first principles.
Finally for Liang Xinyue Elder Nianzu gifts him with an orb of pure fire and a selection of advanced materials he can burn to see exactly how the fire qi flows through them, and how their ashes differ based on the original material and how long they are allowed to burn.
Jiang Chen: 10,000 Mathematical Variations (Perfect), +2 Insights Failure
Luòtuó: The Ways of Wool (Perfect), +2 Insights Path of Destiny
Liang Xinyue: The Twelve Step of the Ash-Maker (Perfect)
@HousePet
Pan Tingfeng is so engrossed in butchering the spirit beasts he's been saving that he nearly butchers his own arm by mistake. Fortunately he realizes what he's doing and stops before he finds out what a human bone natural treasure looks like.
Pan Tingfeng: 15 Natural Treasures
@Uber_Fail_Dinesh
Hong Xing is allowed to look at the soldier techniques, but the senior disciples keep him from actually taking anything that is beyond him. Despite this he finds a manual pinned by the sect's own elder Tristram Maçon which describes a method of fighting with a pike in formation and alone that looks very promising. He valiantly attempts to study it in the technique pavilion, but sadly the mysteries with lurk just out of his comprehension.
Hong Xing: The Way of the Pike (Soldier) Found
@rush99999
Hanyi Huoshui spends the entire month staring at ants. He watches their ant hill and tracks individual ants as they go about their business foraging food. They are industrious little things and he finds it fascinating how they work together in large groups with no apparent need to communicate. Occasionally he thinks that one of them is watching him in turn, but such a thing is patently absurd.
Hanyi Huoshui: +2 Insights Path of the Ant, Still Injured
@Worm_that_Walks
With a bit more work Cheng Nan is able to perfect the Rainbow Eyes. As far as they can tell they now work exactly the same as any cultivator who achieved them naturally. Though if anything Cheng Nan has a far better idea of exactly how they work.
Cheng Nan: Rainbow Eyes
@Zedalb
Meanwhile Zao Zao has been meditating on Qi and how to accept it into his body. By studying accounts of those with Storm Lungs he has determined that simply expanding his own meridians should have the same effect. Every day he inhales as much Qi as he can, and then just a little more. Over and over again until each breath drags in a noticeably larger amount.
Zao Zao: Storm Lungs (2/3), +2 Insights Path of Meticulousness
@1Arthas1
@SootCube
@Poofs
@AmeliaNyoom
As always there are plenty of disciples learning the Red Dew School. They are at literally every stage of the process. From Do Mwin who is just starting out on the path, to Lucky Dong who is going over the more esoteric foot movements, to Gu Jin who is learning the last of the crafting skills. And even June Peng who has already mastered the Red Dew School but is helping out with the lecture for a bit of extra pocket money and tips from the senior disciples on his cultivation.
Lucky Dong: Red Dew School 2/3
Gu Jin: Red Dew School 3/3
June Peng: 100 Spirit Stones, +6 Cultivation
Do Mwin: Red Dew School 1/3
@Jaguar2234
Liu Jin is meditating in the cold realm again when he sinks a bit too deeply into his meditations. Ice crawls along his limbs unnoticed as he ponders the true nature of the element. He doesn't notice as his skin freezes and his heart slows. But something does.
Elder Nianzu's formation interprets the sinking vitality of its ward as an attack and dissipates in order to unleash the massive Qi reserve it has been holding back. A flood of qi rolls through Liu Jin jolting him out of his meditations as his body is reforged. From one breath to the next he goes from the peak of mortality to something superhuman.
He stands in a smooth motion shattering the ice that had been holding him. Picking up one of the shards he considers it and with a wave of his hand it expands into a crystal blue blade. It glimmers in the light and its edge is sharp enough to cut through stone.
Liu Jin: Ice Enlightenment, Soldier Breakthrough
Liu Jin: Attributes Reset, Path of the Ice Sword
@alexthealright
Meanwhile Cai Delan has been meditating on friendship and the deep bonds of comrades. He can see the path that is laid out before him. One of teamwork and camaraderie that will lead him from his current status as a mere disciple all the way to challenging the heavens themselves. He'll just need to ensure his friends are up to the challenge.
Cai Delan: Friendship Enlightenment, +2 Insights Path of Journeys
@Shadowolf235
Daiki has already fully grasped the path of the scholar so now he turns his attention to wider things. He doesn't just consider chronically ideas of deep profundity and the secrets of the natural world, but also the mundane lives and laughter of the people he comes across. The trilling of a bird in the forest, and the shape of the leaves on the ground. Surely these things are worth remembering.
Daiki Inoue: +6 Insights Path of Chronicles
@szymonmolitoris2
Li doesn't spend too much time pondering the deep nature of reality. Instead he boxes. He punches his training targets, practices his footwork, and spars with anyone who will accept his challenge. Day and night he trains. And as he trains he meditates. This is the way of the boxer, advancing with each punch.
Li: +4 Insights Path of Boxing
@wrecksalot
Jian Ke's path is very similar; he trains relentlessly with his sword. A thousand strokes is his mere morning practice and he hones his skill to a razor edge as he considers each facet and nature of his blade. From how it swings to the angle of his cuts. He lets the weight of the sword guide his hands as he considers the nature of a blade.
Jian Ke: +4 Insights Path of the Sword
@Epic Bygones
Wu Ji Nin has done many things during his career as a cultivator. He has tested his own body, helped the people in the villages and the city, and even done a bit of detective work. Recently he has meditated deeply on simply existing without worry or emotion. Such a broad study is unusual for a cultivator, but it is shaping into something more. A Path that is tailored to Wu Ji Nin himself rather than simply following the well worn paths of the cultivators who have come before.
Wu Ji Nin: +1 Insights Poison, +1 Insights Evaluation, +1 Insights Path of Community, +1 Insights Path of the Detective, +3 Insights Path of Detachment
@_Plague Doctor_
@Vanestus
Riyadh and Liao Chuanli spend their time in the infirmary being tended to by the doctors and letting their injuries fully heal. There is not much to do but meditate, though unfortunately such things are usually interrupted by the pain of their still healing injuries. Still by the end of the month they are both fully recovered and free to get back to their normal schedules.
Riyadh: Healed
Liao Chuanli: Healed
I think I got everything, but please let me know if you think I missed an action or an omake.
Final Turn 12 Cultivation Table
| Hawk "Primal Monkey" Cyr | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Lung Doji | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 4/10 |
| Hanyi Huoshui | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 0/10 |
| Wu Ji Nin | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Li | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 6/10 |
| Riyadh | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Changjian Meinu | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Wuyin | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Hong Xing | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Gu Jin | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Luòtuó | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Liao Chuanli | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Feng Shou | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 2/10 |
| Xìngyùn xīng | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Pan Tingfeng | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Cai Delan | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Daiki Inoue | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Gan Jia | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Liang Xinyue | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Ding Dong | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 9/10 |
| Jang Hui | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 9/10 |
| Yu Siyuan | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 8/10 |
| Jian Ke | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Maggot Gravedirt | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Jiang Chen | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| June Peng | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: Done |
| Tan Bo | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 6/10 |
| Cheng Nan | Tempered Heart: Done, Tempered Stomach: 2/10 |
| Zhōusān | Tempered Heart: 5/9 |
| Zao Zao | Tempered Heart: 7/9 |
| Lucky Dong | Tempered Heart: 3/9 |
| Do Mwin | Tempered Heart: 1/9 |
- Pronouns
- He/It/Argh!
Hrm. Pan Tingfeng needs another 5 Natural Treasures, but 75 spirit stones to get them from the market is something affordable.
A delectable aroma leads you to the Outer Disciple Noticeboard.
It seems to come from a slightly stained note.
I guess I can offer spirit stones as payment, unless an assisting Disciple is in need of a quality Spiritual Meal.
I'm fine with waiting a turn if there is something important that a helper needs to do next turn.
A delectable aroma leads you to the Outer Disciple Noticeboard.
It seems to come from a slightly stained note.
I, Disciple Pan Tingfeng, want to hear from crafting disciples who know anything about making treasured chef knives.
I can supply all the materials needed and can help with their construction. Metal seems to bend easily to me.
Want this done quickly, barring cooking or fighting emergencies.
I can supply all the materials needed and can help with their construction. Metal seems to bend easily to me.
Want this done quickly, barring cooking or fighting emergencies.
How did I get mistaken and almost chop my arm off? Lucky my knife couldn't break my skin. But that means I really need a better knife.
Don't have enough materials for a full new set. Could go hunting for more? Nah, sounds like things are getting dangerous in the wilds. Will have to get them from the Market instead. Won't be as good a fresh ingredients though.
How do I find someone to make the knives? Got smacked by an Inner Disciple when I tried shouting to find a blacksmith. Fine, I'll just write a note instead. But this seems slow.
Huh? Why did I write that I wouldn't be available if there was a 'fighting emergency'. I'm not a fighter, am I?
Don't have enough materials for a full new set. Could go hunting for more? Nah, sounds like things are getting dangerous in the wilds. Will have to get them from the Market instead. Won't be as good a fresh ingredients though.
How do I find someone to make the knives? Got smacked by an Inner Disciple when I tried shouting to find a blacksmith. Fine, I'll just write a note instead. But this seems slow.
Huh? Why did I write that I wouldn't be available if there was a 'fighting emergency'. I'm not a fighter, am I?
I guess I can offer spirit stones as payment, unless an assisting Disciple is in need of a quality Spiritual Meal.
I'm fine with waiting a turn if there is something important that a helper needs to do next turn.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
WOOO! First Soldier in the sect.
- Location
- Where I an right now
Ding Dong is willing to help with the creation of your Chef Knife. This one has recently learned new smithing techniques and would be honored to use them to create your first treasured chef knife. Please let me know when you have all your materials ready and the date to begin working on it.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
If you know how to cast bronze and are willing to teach it, it would be helpful, not for right now but it's rather important for how I want to cultivate.
- Location
- Where I an right now
Red drew technique should have some basic casting knowledge, it should have a bit of everything.
Yeah red dew is the basics of everything. Then you can spend some merit for a more advanced book or do some training in an attempt to figure it out yourself or pay a senior disciple to teach you
- Location
- Where I an right now
You can also go out and search for inheritances like I did
Edit: Elder Nianzu has advised me that going into the woods right now is likely to lead to our deaths.
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Rolling 1d20 for.. something?
Turn 13: The Journeys of the Horsemen and Associates (Part 3)
- Location
- Many Places
The Journeys of the Horsemen and Associates (Part 3)
Day 19
We're going to have to reevaluate our plans, we've discovered the Jade Claw sect lacks a central city, instead roaming around their territory in a cyclical pattern, this will make things harder for us, although it seems to indicate a lack of large defensive formations.
In other news our deception is holding up well, I am now an amateur mercenary who has come to the Jade Claw seeking wealth and glory and has been hired by a small band of mortal merchants going the same way.
It was really quite funny to watch War deceive another cultivator like that, it was also a potent lesson that one should never let down one's guard.
Day 20
We got stopped on the road by a patrol today, thankfully the leader of the caravan managed to get us through with minimal trouble, all they did was ask me some questions and none of them were difficult, the real trouble was not getting into an exchange of pointers with the commander, a fight i was sure I'd lose.
We're going to trade with a few villages as we go, which should be interesting, I look forward to seeing these places, it should be interesting to see how another Sect controls its territory.
Day 21
We've arrived in Waterfall Cave Village where War managed to get a fantastic deal on some rare herbs in exchange for an old map and compass he stumbled across the night before.
I was also asked to show off my blade work for the villagers, I made an absolute fool of myself but it seems that if you're fast enough then even the stumbling of a incompetent seems skillful if one moves fast enough.
Our wounded companions received acceptable medical care, although it was only of mortal quality.
Day 22
We left Waterfall Cave Village early this morning, crossed a bridge commemorating the victory of the previous Baron over an odd cross between a tiger, a spider and a man.
Apparently the battle had created this river and the lake that it feeds into.*
While we were crossing the river we were stopped by another patrol, as before the pair rode truly enormous dogs in full armor but unlike last time they actually payed attention to me, asking after my home, and the method by which I had obtained my gear, naturally I had an explanations for both, having found a detailed description of a small town in another province that also served as a frequent location for treasure hunters.
*It's not a very large lake to have been made in such a battle, only around perhaps a hundred miles across at the widest.
Day 23
Nothing all that interesting today, we went to another village and Death somehow stole something from the Magistrate while the rest of us were meeting him, I'm not sure how he managed that with that mauled leg of his and he won't tell us what he stole.
Day 24
We're only one day out from the Jade Claw Sect's encampment and are preparing to break from the caravan, they were nice people, I think I'll even kinda miss them.
Day 25
I had my doubts that the Jade Claw's roaming camp would match up to the splendor of my home and I have to admit they were at least somewhat misplaced, although I will refrain from going into detail for obvious reasons.
We also managed to gain the help of a doctor once we arrived and left our wounded companions with her, from her we learned something incredibly important, the Jade Claw still has a Baron!
Day 26
I finally went bar* hopping, ingratiating myself to several member of Jade claw and getting into a friendly sparring match with a novice cultivator, although it was agreed that their dog would not be involved. Though this hampered them significantly considering the no doubt vital role their companion plays in combat it was none the less a close battle due to my own lack of skill with a blade.
While there have been some setbacks things are finally going according to plan, we'll have to see how we can gain access to the secrets that the Jade Claw hide.
*while there were not taverns in the traditional sense it was not hard to find a place where drink flowed freely and begin socializing.
Turn 13: The Tale of Elder Pale Horse
- Location
- Many Places
The Tale of Elder Pale Horse
Once there was a horse, old and strong with a pearly white coat with a mind sharper than any blade and lips caked with the blood of children.
The demon was master of the forest and the great lake and was lord of all its kind, ruling from a mountain so drenched with blood that even the dew was stained by it until one day word came that a clan of humans had risen against it, slaying his greatest disciple and swearing to overthrow the Pale Horse Demon Sect.
Intrigued and amused by the news the horse left its mountain and appeared before the leaders of the rebellion, smiling, it offered power and mentorship to any willing to devour their allies and kneel before him.
None of them wavered in their loyalty to their allies, knowing of the treachery of the horse demon and his endless trickery.
When they told him this his smile faded, equine teeth flashing as his eyes burned with rage before he began to grow larger and larger, his voice echoing for miles as he raged, promising dead and unending pain to those who had defied him.
Though the battle was long and fierce eventually the horse triumphed and moved to devour the clan for its impudence when a young man stepped forward, begging for mercy with a bargain.
"Oh great one, if you grant me a meager decade I can find you a tribute worthy of your mercy, a mighty weapon created in ages past which can-"
The horse interrupted, inpatient and nearly bored of this game, "And why should I not devour your memories and take this weapon myself?" It asked as its jaws dripped with fresh blood.
"Because my bloodline is the only key, I am the only one who may even attempt the trials." He answered simply,
The horse considered the mortal's request, it registered no deception and although the demon would certainly be able to pick through this lock it it seemed more amusing to force a human to give it even greater control over his own people.
The horse chuckled at the young man's cheek, accepting the request with mocking cheer. "One decade young one, or my children will feast on your village's bones."
And so a decade passed before the horse returned to the village, asking after what it had been promised. "Well little human," It asked to the young man who stood at the gate, "Where is my weapon?"
The young man kneeled before the horse and answered in a quiet and respectful tone, "Great one, I have found the weapon for you." And with a flourish he produced a broken shard of solid fire. The horse snorted, "All you have is a broken piece of metal."
The young man kneeled even lower. "You are perceptive my lord, this might be a mere fragment of a greater weapon, broken and changed by its splintering but it is still mighty." And still kneeling he waved the fragment of fire in the air, vaguely gesturing at a nearby hill. A second later the hill and all its surroundings vanished with in flash of light and heat.
Also injured was the young man, whose body became as flame for a moment, spreading outward for a moment as he was sucked towards every torch in the village before he pulled himself back together, his body covered in sparks and his hair ablaze.
The horse extinguished the flames before the young man could even attempt to put himself out and asked him calmly. "And where would the other shards be?"
"The other four shards are in other temples, held by other bloodlines." The young man said.
"Very well then." The horse decided, "What you have is useless to me, you have 50 years to bring each of the remaining shards to me, else I will devour everyone you know."
After fifty years the horse returned to the village, where once again the man waited, although he was no longer young.
This time he was not alone, having with him four companions who each bore a shard of their own.
Each of them were of an elemental nature the same as the shard they carried and each of them knelt before the horse and presented their own shard of the weapon.
The horse held each shard in its mouth, carefully fitting each piece together into a whole, he found it an easy task, well within the reach of even his lesser children who knew of the art of making.
Still, the work was completed in moments and soon the horse held a weapon worth of his power in his mouth and waved it with a casual gesture at a great tree in the distance, in an instant the tree was gone, its essence pulled apart and fused with the fire, earth, metal, water and wood of the surrounding landscape.
But as that happened a strange thing happened to the horse, something began to pull on him, tugging his body in a hundred different directions. "What is this?" The horse asked in surprise. It reared back and grew into a mountain of pale flesh as it writhed in a futile attempt to maintain its own shape.
He pulled himself back onto his fading feet and roared with animalistic fury, launching a furious assault that lost what little strength it started with before he roared again. "What Did You Do!?" In response the man, no longer young but just as clever as he'd always been began to laugh.
"I can't claim credit for this really but to answer your question oh great king, did you ever wonder why an artifact so easily repaired never was?" He laughed again, louder now. "That talisman requires a spirit root in tune with each element, or else it does this, in a few minutes your mind and Qi will be spread throughout the whole of this land until someone proves stupid enough to shatter the each of the five shards."
He knelt again, to look the writhing beast square in the eyes as it vanished. "Goodbye Pale Horse, I hope you like the taste of your descendant's blood as much as you did ours."
I would like Fear Insights from both of these Omakes
Once there was a horse, old and strong with a pearly white coat with a mind sharper than any blade and lips caked with the blood of children.
The demon was master of the forest and the great lake and was lord of all its kind, ruling from a mountain so drenched with blood that even the dew was stained by it until one day word came that a clan of humans had risen against it, slaying his greatest disciple and swearing to overthrow the Pale Horse Demon Sect.
Intrigued and amused by the news the horse left its mountain and appeared before the leaders of the rebellion, smiling, it offered power and mentorship to any willing to devour their allies and kneel before him.
None of them wavered in their loyalty to their allies, knowing of the treachery of the horse demon and his endless trickery.
When they told him this his smile faded, equine teeth flashing as his eyes burned with rage before he began to grow larger and larger, his voice echoing for miles as he raged, promising dead and unending pain to those who had defied him.
Though the battle was long and fierce eventually the horse triumphed and moved to devour the clan for its impudence when a young man stepped forward, begging for mercy with a bargain.
"Oh great one, if you grant me a meager decade I can find you a tribute worthy of your mercy, a mighty weapon created in ages past which can-"
The horse interrupted, inpatient and nearly bored of this game, "And why should I not devour your memories and take this weapon myself?" It asked as its jaws dripped with fresh blood.
"Because my bloodline is the only key, I am the only one who may even attempt the trials." He answered simply,
The horse considered the mortal's request, it registered no deception and although the demon would certainly be able to pick through this lock it it seemed more amusing to force a human to give it even greater control over his own people.
The horse chuckled at the young man's cheek, accepting the request with mocking cheer. "One decade young one, or my children will feast on your village's bones."
And so a decade passed before the horse returned to the village, asking after what it had been promised. "Well little human," It asked to the young man who stood at the gate, "Where is my weapon?"
The young man kneeled before the horse and answered in a quiet and respectful tone, "Great one, I have found the weapon for you." And with a flourish he produced a broken shard of solid fire. The horse snorted, "All you have is a broken piece of metal."
The young man kneeled even lower. "You are perceptive my lord, this might be a mere fragment of a greater weapon, broken and changed by its splintering but it is still mighty." And still kneeling he waved the fragment of fire in the air, vaguely gesturing at a nearby hill. A second later the hill and all its surroundings vanished with in flash of light and heat.
Also injured was the young man, whose body became as flame for a moment, spreading outward for a moment as he was sucked towards every torch in the village before he pulled himself back together, his body covered in sparks and his hair ablaze.
The horse extinguished the flames before the young man could even attempt to put himself out and asked him calmly. "And where would the other shards be?"
"The other four shards are in other temples, held by other bloodlines." The young man said.
"Very well then." The horse decided, "What you have is useless to me, you have 50 years to bring each of the remaining shards to me, else I will devour everyone you know."
After fifty years the horse returned to the village, where once again the man waited, although he was no longer young.
This time he was not alone, having with him four companions who each bore a shard of their own.
Each of them were of an elemental nature the same as the shard they carried and each of them knelt before the horse and presented their own shard of the weapon.
The horse held each shard in its mouth, carefully fitting each piece together into a whole, he found it an easy task, well within the reach of even his lesser children who knew of the art of making.
Still, the work was completed in moments and soon the horse held a weapon worth of his power in his mouth and waved it with a casual gesture at a great tree in the distance, in an instant the tree was gone, its essence pulled apart and fused with the fire, earth, metal, water and wood of the surrounding landscape.
But as that happened a strange thing happened to the horse, something began to pull on him, tugging his body in a hundred different directions. "What is this?" The horse asked in surprise. It reared back and grew into a mountain of pale flesh as it writhed in a futile attempt to maintain its own shape.
He pulled himself back onto his fading feet and roared with animalistic fury, launching a furious assault that lost what little strength it started with before he roared again. "What Did You Do!?" In response the man, no longer young but just as clever as he'd always been began to laugh.
"I can't claim credit for this really but to answer your question oh great king, did you ever wonder why an artifact so easily repaired never was?" He laughed again, louder now. "That talisman requires a spirit root in tune with each element, or else it does this, in a few minutes your mind and Qi will be spread throughout the whole of this land until someone proves stupid enough to shatter the each of the five shards."
He knelt again, to look the writhing beast square in the eyes as it vanished. "Goodbye Pale Horse, I hope you like the taste of your descendant's blood as much as you did ours."
I would like Fear Insights from both of these Omakes
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