Forge of Destiny(Xianxia Quest)

Sundancer · Sep 3, 2018

A speedy update, and cool one, too! Great work, Yrs! Didn't expect this so soon at all, even if it wasn't long. Not that it has to be.
I liked the interactions shown here, and the return to 'proper Cultivation scenes'. And the politics continue to be hilarious. Poor Liling, really.

yrsillar said:
Ling Qi let her eyes drift shut, relaxing into the comfortable softness of the bed beneath her. She had been doing her duty thus far, meeting people, attending events, and acting like a proper lady… or something close anyway.

"You don't give yourself enough credit, you've held up pretty well," Sixiang teased.

Hmm, unreliable narrator reminder. Yes, Ling Qi has her hang-ups and issues; it's good that Sixiang takes the voice of Argent Mirror here, or so I'd think. We especially put that Art into our Domain to be more honest with ourselves, no?

yrsillar said:
"Yes! Big Sister is great!" Zhengui agreed, though it was clear he didn't really understand what she was thinking about.

Cutest lilttle bro being cute and supportive. Yay!

yrsillar said:
Ling Qi let out a small laugh under her breath. "The point is, I think I've earned an afternoon off, you know?" She mused aloud. "No one can blame me for getting a little cultivation in."

I am... not sure if many, or any, other Cultivators see things that way. Isn't Cultivation supposed to be a chore, and 'work'? Ling Qi is seeing Cultivation as relaxing, and free time. From an outside perspective, that is somewhere between scary and insane. Unless Ling Qi is in your camp, I suppose.

yrsillar said:
"Sure," Sixiang said, amused. "You shut in."

Ling Qi simply let out a huff. "Quiet you, I'm diligent is all."

"Zhengui will cultivate too, so he can protect Big Sister tomorrow!" Her little brother cut in excitedly.

We are being a bad influence on Zhengui. Is this child abuse? Oh wells. At least he'll grow stronger. Totally worth it.

yrsillar said:
Ling Qi did her best to mask the spike of worry at the thought, instead surrounding the young spirit with a feeling of encouragement. No matter what, they were going to be going through a lot of pain tomorrow.

And she doesn't even know how much yet... ouch. But awww, happy-cuddle feely time for Zhengui <3

yrsillar said:
"Well, I'll leave you two workaholics too it," Sixiang replied faintly, fading back into the back of her thoughts.

Weren't you sorry that you couldn't do more last update, scrub? Go and think about that, hard. And by that, I mean Cultivate!

yrsillar said:
Giving only a slight nod in response, Ling Qi quieted her thoughts, and turned her mind inward, toward the flows of her qi, and the cycles of energy within her body. Slowly awareness of the outside world faded away, sequestered to a corner of her thoughts, and taking with it her sense of time. It was no wonder, Ling Qi thought that older cultivators could vanish into meditation for years, decades or even centuries.

Even back in the second realm, hours could vanish in a flash, and even whole days could go by if one wasn't careful. She suspected that feeling of distorted time would only grow with her cultivation. These thoughts were but distraction though. Slowly, she began to cycle the energy in her dantian, sending her thoughts racing along her opened meridians with the flow of her spirit. She could feel the marks left by her injuries still, faded by the power of the Sect's medicine as they were. A feeling of jaggedness, halfway up her forearm, where the bone had broken, and a messy snarl in her abdomen, where lightning had surged through her still fragile organs.

Mhh, interesting perspective regarding the flow of time and Cultivation. Makes higher Realm Cultivators being in seclusion and not supposed to be disturbed feel a lot more 'natural'. I like it. Also, I like that we get another Cultivation-scene. I can believe that they are hard to write, but I like the imagery and seeing how it 'works'. Maybe because Xianxia is still 'new' to me.

yrsillar said:
She understood now why Elder Jiao had mentioned the possibility of her going into shock. Her stomach and viscera had received ruinous electrical burns, and though reflexive qi flows had allowed the damage to be ignored, it likely would have grown worse with time. She might have been unconscious for the rest of the day. Thinking of her wounds turned her thoughts to her defense, and her actions in her last fight. She had stood her ground against Ji Rong, accepting blows instead of retreating and dodging, as was usual for her, changing her tempo in an effort to throw off whatever counters he might have devised.

Ouch. Sounds as if we dodged a bullet there with not tryint to tough it out. Guess we need to be more careful, I didn't really see that as a possible consequence from the choice.

yrsillar said:
Thousand Ring Fortress had allowed her to do so, if at cost. Ling Qi had somewhat conflicted feelings on the art, if she was honest. It was powerful for certain, it's quality something she could not contest, and yet… it was at odds with so much of skillset. No, rather, the personal portion was, the ability to toughen her allies so greatly would be a potent tool in her usual tactics. Briefly, she wondered how Gan Guangli would have fared, with such an art bolstering everyone. Perhaps she would have faced him instead of Ji Rong today.

I think the brackets would have 'mysteriously' been set another way if Gan Flexington had won over Ji Rong, but having to face him... Well, I believe Gan Flexington would have tried to make it a good match while Ling Qi would have been a greedy girl and gone for the win. Would have been an interesting dilemma and twenty+ pages of flame war in-thread. Welps, we dodged another bullet there.

yrsillar said:
Letting that thread of thought drift away, Ling Qi turned her thoughts back to the simmering channels of vital qi that flowed through her spine and spread outward from her heart, and changed the cycling of her qi from the basic exercise of the Eightfold Ceremony to the more rigid and regimented practice demanded by the Fortress. Subsuming her thoughts into the pulses of qi, Ling QI allowed all other thoughts to fade.

Unyielding Vitality. That was the core of the Thousand Ring Fortress, a defense that would grow back more quickly than it could be damaged, that could weather any storm or assault. Even if it broke under siege, so long as a single drop remained, the fortress could return to full strength in time, just as a forest could regrow from a single seed. She had not fully mastered it yet, and so some portions of that power were missing.

Yet its defense was rigid and unbending, it belonged to the sort of stout arboreal guardians which would shatter before bending… and that was not her. She had played at such, today and in previous training, but in the end, that mindset, of holding ones ground no matter what and refusing to fall back… it was just too alien. Ground could be surrendered, and people could retreat. It was better to let an enemy push you back and in doing overextend themselves, than to repulse them with sheer force.

Or so she thought anyway.

To truly change an masterful art such as the Thousand Rings Fortress was beyond her but… perhaps applying its lessons elsewhere was not. In the opening rounds of a battle, she had to choose whether to put her effort into becoming one with shadow and slipping away, risking great damage, or channeling her effort into armor, trading on the certainty of a weakened attack… if that could be solved...

With a new focus, Ling Qi concentrated her thoughts on that idea.

By the time Ling Qi opened her eyes night had fallen, but she had succeeded. The ability to defend from more potent arts had been etched into the very core of her spirit. It was sloppy, lacking the structure granted by a full art, less efficient than her Ten Ring Defense art, but, with this, she could improve her early defense, without having to sacrifice her opening offense to as great a degree.

Sitting up in bed, Ling Qi stretched her arms overhead, feeling invigorated, the last soreness from her wounds having faded. Peering around her temporary room, Ling Qi could not help but smile. On the stand by her bed was a little basket, full of flowers, sweets and distinctly wood scented pills. The note laying in the center confirmed her thought. Li Suyin had seen that she was deep in cultivation, and elected not to disturb her, leaving instead her congratulations and a little victory present.

Ling Qi grinned as she let the first of the pills dissolve on her tongue, the rich flavor spreading as quickly as the vital warmth of the medicinal energy. Perhaps she could improve her efficiency even more by morning like this.

Ling Qi may expend three qi to gain a point of semi perfect defense, up to a maximum of three points

Hey, nothing says we can't be a nimble, flexible dodgy-thing and also an utterly hard and immovable object. It's Xianxia. The sky isn't even the limit.
Anyway. Mechanically, it's a great bonus from what I understand, so... yay!

It's also an interesting look at the future of Arts. Their development, or adaption, and how Domain or understanding can change them. We'll see more of it in the future, I am sure. ((Assuming Liling doesn't murder Ling Qi x-x)) It seems even more flexible and prone to changes even early in Green than described previously although that's maybe just story-bonus.

I other matters, Li Suyin is cute and knows Ling Qi so well. Who in their right mind brings Cultivation medicine to the bed of someone recovering from grave injuries? ... Someone who is visiting a grieviously injured Ling Qi, that's who! ... Let's hope the Production Competition takes place together with the upcoming fight, else Suyin is going to gain far more *insights* into Ling Qi than she ever wanted.

yrsillar said:
Morning came before she knew it, and once again, Ling Qi found herself standing before a great crowd of the Empires nobility, the weight of their combined spiritual power leaving the air heavy, even without the pitiless light of the Duchess Cai shining down from the very highest box.

One day, the Duchess Cai will transcend her understanding and begin to comprehend modesty. That day is not today. (It's probably what's holding her back from ascending to Greater Spirit status!)

yrsillar said:
She stood now on the opposite side of the arena from Sun Liling, who had just lightly hopped onto the stone platform, skipping the stairs entirely. The red haired girl was smiling a friendly, easy going smile that absolutely did not reach her eyes. It set Ling Qi on edge immediately. Nonetheless she offered a proper bow of respect toward her opponent.

I am glad that Ling Qi is taking the proper and respectful route here. There is nothing to gain by showing that there are two uncouth barbarians in this fight. *cough, cough*

yrsillar said:
Sun Liling's smile didn't fade as she returned a much more perfunctory bow. "I really have to praise you, you know?" She said brightly as she raised her head.

And you totally enjoy it, too! ... Yeah, this is going to hurt.

yrsillar said:
"... You are too kind, Princess Sun," Ling Qi replied warily, eyeing the dangerous girl across from her. "I can't imagine what one of your stature would praise one such as me for."

Ling Qi, bracing for impact.

yrsillar said:
"You're too modest, Ling Qi," Sun Liling said, her smile growing sharp. "Why, you're practically a living example of what the Sect's are supposed to do you know? Someone as talented as you woulda been wasted as a mortal."

"Don't get put off balance," Sixiang whispered.

Prepping the trap... and giving face to the Sect, Renxiang and quite a bit to Ling Qi. So far, so good.

yrsillar said:
"Thank you very much for your kind words, Princess," Ling Qi replied somewhat mechanically, not quite able to keep all of the bewilderment out of her voice. "I am more than honored to here so praise." Something wasn't right. By now she was sure that the story of the years events had spread to everyone watching. Sun Liling so openly praising an enemy who had caused her so much trouble would make her look bad surely. Was she just trying to seem generous, and clean up her tarnished reputation? Ling Qi doubted it, but…

Nothing quite so kind, I fear...

yrsillar said:
The other girl nodded amicably, not breaking eye contact for a moment. "Right. I just wanted you to be sure you know?"

A bad feeling began to stir in Ling Qi's thoughts. "Of what Princess Sun?"

"That I would be taking you seriously, from the start. I think you've earned that," she replied lightly.

Yeeeeeeah.

yrsillar said:
Oh.

Exactly my thoughts here!
So... yeah. Smart of Liling, really.

She's establishing Ling Qi as something akin to a fourth Monster, or close to being the peer of a ducal heir. That gives a lot of face to Ling Qi, and some to Renxiang (for spotting her early), but also gives some face back to Ji Crushed. Erm, Rong. And Chu Blown-Away. Erm, Song, was it? As well as playing up Abs Hu a bit, whom she just crushed. Furthermore, it enables her to take out the serious guns for Ling Qi or to play for time and make it hurt. And if Ling QI looks 'pathetic' enough, she can downgrade her again with a pithy remark and take away a lot of the face just granted to her.

Of course, that stategy relies on her not losing which is a more then fair assumption to make. By default, it also does cost her some personal face to admit such things. Admitting that an upraised commoner can be close to her peer after a year of training. If Ling Qi does not keel over in the first few turns, I believe it's a serious win for Ling Qi, face-wise, I believe.

It probably also banks on Sun Liling mitigating any personal face loss from such an admission by winning, and then going on to beating Bai Meizhen and making first place. Showing the strength of the Sun and establishing it once again as a fact. This part is a lot more risky, because the fight with Bai Meizhen should at least be contested, even if Liling believes to have a trump card for it. (Maybe?) But Sun Liling has always responded by raising the stakes and escalating further and shooting herself more in the foot after the first hit. It's her whole thing.

Anyway, short term this means for Ling Qi things are going to hurt. A lot. And by a lot, I mean... [censored].

yrsillar said:
As the formations mists rose, and and solidified, forming a maze of roots beneath her feet and a sweltering sun above her head, shining through the high tropical canopy of a thick jungle landscape, so overgrown that a man might hardly be able to pass through between any given pair of tree trunks, Ling Qi could only stare at her grinning opponent.

Lulz. No way Liling set this up. Or if she did, she had a blackout in that moment.

Aside from how others (especially Veekie) have already pointed out that the jungle isn't quite the nightmare scenario for Ling Qi that it should be, it also implies that Liling rigged the deck in her favour. In an absolute obvious and in-your-face way that must seem brutish and entirely without subtletly or good manners to the onlookers. It erases any gain she can make from a decisive victory here, so she can't recover any of the face she offered with her remark. Ling Qi losing to a ducal heir, who takes her serious, in the heir's favoured terrain is just to be expected and it does barely matter if at all how badly Ling Qi loses here.

If Ling Qi manages to seriously inconvenience Liling here, taking out Dharitri or forcing her to pull anything unusual, it will be major egg on Liling's 'face'. Liling's damage mitigation scenario has just become a no-win scenario.

I can only imagine that either Shenhua or Elder Jiao did pull a fast one on the Suns here. Or that Liling really had a bluescreen moment when she arranged this.

yrsillar said:
She needed a plan.

(x)Try not to die
---(x)Try not to die, lots

Yeah, we have other posts for plans. This isn't it.

AbeoLogos · Sep 3, 2018

veekie said:
To elaborate a bit, these are completely different environments:
-Big Cai City view
--Strong central government. Fines are state resources, and independent use of state resources is stealing from the state. The law enforcement receives funding exclusively from the state.
--Large, dense population of strangers. Order is maintained through enforcement of the law. You cannot trust the guards without checks and balances, if they are allowed to profit from law enforcement, they're liable to start trumping up charges.

-Small Rong Town view
--Weak central government. Areas are largely self governing, with guards mainly focused on the security of the city perimeters over law enforcement. Law enforcement such as it is, is mostly self funded, or literally funded by local protection rackets. Think medieval law enforcement, the city guards are not going to intervene short of a riot unless a noble or merchant is pissed enough to pay for it.
--Sparse, low population of familiar faces. Order is maintained through reputation and personal relationships. When everyone knows each other, flagrant abuse is difficult, but bribery and nepotism would be endemic and natural.

From Renxiang's perspective, it was making an example to prevent corruption from taking root. When she said "the fines go to the community piggy bank" she meant ALL the fines. When she gave the council the authority to impose and collect fines, she was granting vassal lords the authority to enforce the law in their fiefs. When said vassals are inflating the fines and punishing criminals excessively, thats violating her law and causing injustice.

From Ji Rong's perspective, it was simply how things work. He's spending his precious time enforcing her law instead of hunting, she's not really paying anything for the task. He levies the appropriate fine, then tosses on a ten or twenty percent charge on top for the idiots wasting his time. Nothing's wrong, the boss got her fine right?

Wrong. So very, very wrong.

You mean...those little root things that Zhengui uses for his Wood arts?

Its very nearly the best possible terrain for us AND Liling.
Ling Qi's arts love being in a jungle MORE than being on a snowy mountain.

Funny how that works.
Its basically ideal for her to show off stealth and skirmishing capabilities.

Oh right the vote:

[X] Plan Penultimate Boss Fight

Looks good. Granted we've been working on this four updates ago

We really don't know the precise details. Probably best we don't speculate.

Sirrocco said:
...except that I'm saying there's no real reason to care about Ji Rong at all. It's not about squaring things with him. It's about helping CRX be the person she wants to be, and correctly honor the principles she wants to embody. Either it clears a regret that might otherwise have blocked her, or it gives her more insight into the Way she is working towards. For cultivators, that sort of thing seriously matters. If that involves her quietly making some reparations or acknowledgements or whatever? Okay. Sure. If that improves Ji Rong's attitude, then it's certainly no bad thing... but it's totally not the point.

The reason to poke her nose into it is that it's potentially an injustice that used CRX's own authority, and that matters. By my read, CRX's justice is the only one that Ling Qi has any confidence in (or respect for) at all. Her confidence in it isn't perfect, but that makes this whole thing matter twice. On the one side, she's trying to help. On the other side, it's a bit of a test for her new liege. How far *does* her sense of justice go, and what does it really mean? That's potentially important information.

WRT Ji Rong being chummy... well, that's true. That would be the whole point of the "on the one side" part of the post you responded to. WRT not caring about justice, that's not quite as true, or taken another way, is true, but not applicable. Consider:

We don't care about "justice" as a vague thing everywhere. If random cultivators are being unjust, then as long as it's not hitting family, that's just life as normal. Oh well. Not Ling Qi's problem. This is about Cai Renxiang specifically, though. It matters to her, and it might be an issue for her in the future, and that sort of regret is exactly the sort of thing that Ling Qi cares about. Also, we intend to live under her justice. We intend to have much of our family living under her justice. It behooves us to help her in refining it. Do we *want* the Justice we live under to be one that can never acknowledge fault, or seek to fix it? That sounds brittle to me.

I look forward to your plan to turn in Fu Xiang and Ling Qi, while exonerating Yan Renshu for the false charges brought against him in their pursuit of selfish conspiracy.

BungieONI · Sep 3, 2018

Sundancer said:
Hey, nothing says we can't be a nimble, flexible dodgy-thing and also an utterly hard and immovable object. It's Xianxia. The sky isn't even the limit.
Anyway. Mechanically, it's a great bonus from what I understand, so... yay!

I've been pondering something like a gourd. A shadowy thing wrapped up in a tough shell or hide which bends and then tears, letting the shadow spill out and disperse, before the shadow and wood reform.

SoothingCoffee · Sep 3, 2018

[X] Plan Penultimate Boss Fight

veekie · Sep 3, 2018

AbeoLogos said:
We really don't know the precise details. Probably best we don't speculate

We do actually have some scraps of info here to use.
-Shenhua's city is almost certainly a bastion of top-down centralized power, we saw her domain. If it wasn't like that when she started it's hammered into her shape now.

-Ji Rong's town is conversely packing looser law enforcement, if he has a successful street gang, in an environment when city guards are Reds, they necessarily come into conflict rarely, if ever, or they would swiftly cease existing.

Enough detail to say that Shenhua's idea of a police force is more like uniformed jackboots and Ji Rong's idea of a police force is more like a yakuza protection racket.

Its notable that Cai Renxiang at no point thought she was wrong about the judgment, only the punishment was considered afterwards to be too harsh(likely because she just did what Shenhua would)

PrimalShadow · Sep 3, 2018

Sundancer said:
Let's hope the Production Competition takes place together with the upcoming fight, else Suyin is going to gain far more *insights* into Ling Qi than she ever wanted.

The Production Competition is done already.

yrsillar said:
"I am still feeling a little sluggish," Ling Qi sighed. Her arm, which had been broken still felt kind of numb, and her whole midsection felt tingly. "Are any of my other friends here?" She asked, only to wince at her slip.

Cai Renxiang did not respond to it though, her expression not changing a bit, though the light radiating from her did shift, sending the shadows in the room dancing. "Gu Xiulan is recovering as you are. The other two girls went to attend the ceremony for the winners of the production tournament."

Asael · Sep 3, 2018

Sundancer said:
I am... not sure if many, or any, other Cultivators see things that way. Isn't Cultivation supposed to be a chore, and 'work'? Ling Qi is seeing Cultivation as relaxing, and free time. From an outside perspective, that is somewhere between scary and insane. Unless Ling Qi is in your camp, I suppose.

It's like exercise. some people do it just to stay in shape, LQ does it because she likes it.

I don't want to make comparisons to a young Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it's the only example that springs to mind <_< >_>

AbeoLogos · Sep 3, 2018

veekie said:
We do actually have some scraps of info here to use.
-Shenhua's city is almost certainly a bastion of top-down centralized power, we saw her domain. If it wasn't like that when she started it's hammered into her shape now.

-Ji Rong's town is conversely packing looser law enforcement, if he has a successful street gang, in an environment when city guards are Reds, they necessarily come into conflict rarely, if ever, or they would swiftly cease existing.

Enough detail to say that Shenhua's idea of a police force is more like uniformed jackboots and Ji Rong's idea of a police force is more like a yakuza protection racket.

Its notable that Cai Renxiang at no point thought she was wrong about the judgment, only the punishment was considered afterwards to be too harsh(likely because she just did what Shenhua would)

We don't know the particulars of the actual case, and I'm honestly a little impressed and horrified that you'd go to these absurd extremes of circumstantial. We don't know the instruction he received, the precise nature of the complaint against him, the evidence or circumstance of the alleged encounter, or, really, anything else that would actually allow us to reasonably construct an opinion worth having. And whether Cai thinks she might have been wrong is totally irrelevant to the question of whether her judgement was materially or factually correct, especially not with the high degree of delegation to teens with agendas she's demonstrated.

I don't care if he was guilty or not. I don't think it matters, and I wish people would let it drop until and unless it becomes relevant again. If people have to though, at least it could be better than this kind of weird insinuation over the character of people's home towns, which is disturbing.

Jensaarai · Sep 3, 2018

veekie said:
You mean...those little root things that Zhengui uses for his Wood arts?

I don't know what exactly Zhengui uses for those techs, but taproots are those central ones that can potentially go down several feet in saplings and plants.

Instead of some incredible tree that can survive centuries, should TRF become a weed that you have to pull out root and branch, or it'll just keep coming back with vim and vigour?

Nightfire · Sep 3, 2018

yrsillar said:
"Who'da thunk that I'd find myself agreein with a Huang," Ji Rong drawled. "Sure. I guess you want us to smack around anyone who breaks the rules?"

"It would be best to give them a warning to cease first," Cai Renxiang replied. "Though yes. If need be, perpetrators are to be subdued," she added. Her expression then grew cold. "However, should I find any of you abusing such privilege, I will see it as an assault upon my person."

Ling Qi relaxed a little as conversation went on. It looked like Cai Renxiang was focused on curbing the most obvious chaos first and foremost, though from further comments the girl made it was obvious she intended to expand her authority and control from there. It was… refreshingly honest, all things considered. There was a lot of dickering over what exactly the punishments would entail and how they would be enforced. It was eventually decided that the initial fine would be thirty five spirit stones, doubling on each subsequent offense, until the fourth, when the perpetrator would find themselves confined for two weeks.

Doing so would apparently be the Xuan guy's job, since formation barriers were apparently his focus. The actual fines, it was agreed would be in Cai Renxiang's care, to avoid the temptation to abuse the authority being granted. The only other thing agreed too was that there would be another meeting in a month's time. Until then, she found herself bemused to think, it seemed she had the authority to levy fines. It was a strange feeling.

I thought I'd bring out the actual meeting. It's possible that Ji Rong misunderstood, but it sure looks like Cai/the council was pretty clear.

Sirrocco · Sep 3, 2018

AbeoLogos said:
I look forward to your plan to turn in Fu Xiang and Ling Qi, while exonerating Yan Renshu for the false charges brought against him in their pursuit of selfish conspiracy.

Eh... fair point. I'd forgotten that bit. We *did* feel somewhat guilty about it, but... well, the Ling Qi morality is a work in progress. Respect for the Cai Justice is perhaps a bit aspirational at the moment.

veekie said:
Its notable that Cai Renxiang at no point thought she was wrong about the judgment, only the punishment was considered afterwards to be too harsh(likely because she just did what Shenhua would)

That was *really* unclear, by my reading at the time... especially since I was under the impression that she didn't necessarily choose the punishment. I don't really remember where the quote was to go dig it up, though. You have any ideas?

Given the point @AbeoLogos made, if CRX really is convinced he was guilty, I suppose I'm happy enough with Ling Qi just shrugging and figuring that what she doesn't know won't hurt her... if there's anything to know at all. If she suspects he might not have been guilty, however, that's still something that might be worth clearing up... especially if it winds up further marginalizing Yan Renshu.

fictionfan · Sep 3, 2018

Sirrocco said:
Eh... fair point. I'd forgotten that bit. We *did* feel somewhat guilty about it, but... well, the Ling Qi morality is a work in progress. Respect for the Cai Justice is perhaps a bit aspirational at the moment.

We might want to confess to that soon just to short circuit the blackmail episode before it happens.

Arkeus · Sep 3, 2018

yrsillar said:
Letting that thread of thought drift away, Ling Qi turned her thoughts back to the simmering channels of vital qi that flowed through her spine and spread outward from her heart, and changed the cycling of her qi from the basic exercise of the Eightfold Ceremony to the more rigid and regimented practice demanded by the Fortress.

Eight Phase Ceremony got a name change?

Thor's Twin said:
I mean... two arts are not a pattern, but let's take FSS first.

If we want to use an art as what should be expected in green, then FSS should most definitely not be it. An art crafted by a Cyan level spirit and what seems to be a specific aspect of herself is not indicative of what other barons should or even could have.

An art crafted by a Cyan level spirit is definitely indicative of what other barons should or even could have. "New barons" are 'get to green under 20yo'.... but your house is still a barronial house until you get people to Indigo. Most established barronial houses will have multiple cyans, and most barronial houses are established barronial houses. Said Cyans? A good part of their duties would have been to create and gather arts for their juniors.

Given how FSS is, well, explicitly an exotic art that gets its damage from an exotic source, and pure semiperfect seems like the norm for peak late yellow people that are preparing to breakthrough.

If there is a special thing about FSS, it's how it is a spiritual art doing pure semi perfect damage which also does pure semiperfect AoE damage.

veekie said:
Liling did what she always does, when it gets hot, raise the stakes.
What she did here
-She (sort of) recognizes Ling Qi as a Fourth Monster
--This means Renxiang gets face by proxy, as her judgment was recognized by a rival.
--This means Ling Qi's opponents so far all recover some face by proxy, after all, Ji Rong fought valiantly but could not be expected to beat someone Liling took seriously, and Chu Song was set up to fail.
--This means Ling Qi going down like a bitch or conceding after the first good hit is going to look poorly on Liling for being the one making the statement, she needs to actually put up a fight after being accorded such respect.
---Which, yes, means Liling is sort of obligated to drag this out into the closest thing to a torture session. She's looking forward to it.
--This means Liling taking her time winning isn't a face loss anymore.
--This means Liling winning gains her face(which she sorely needs after the total assbeating her faction took)
--This means Liling losing costs less face.

I mean, I don't see anything there recognising Ling Qi as a Fourth Monster. She takes her seriously as a "success story of a newcomer", not as "an equal to a ducal prodigy".

"You're too modest, Ling Qi," Sun Liling said, her smile growing sharp. "Why, you're practically a living example of what the Sect's are supposed to do you know? Someone as talented as you woulda been wasted as a mortal."

"Don't get put off balance," Sixiang whispered.

"Thank you very much for your kind words, Princess," Ling Qi replied somewhat mechanically, not quite able to keep all of the bewilderment out of her voice. "I am more than honored to here so praise." Something wasn't right. By now she was sure that the story of the years events had spread to everyone watching. Sun Liling so openly praising an enemy who had caused her so much trouble would make her look bad surely. Was she just trying to seem generous, and clean up her tarnished reputation? Ling Qi doubted it, but…

The other girl nodded amicably, not breaking eye contact for a moment. "Right. I just wanted you to be sure you know?"

A bad feeling began to stir in Ling Qi's thoughts. "Of what Princess Sun?"

"That I would be taking you seriously, from the start. I think you've earned that," she replied lightly.

She is saying "You have earned me going all out", but she isn't saying "you are a threat to me". She is publicly declaring her intent to make this a spectacle, rather than declaring that Ling Qi is her equal. This is basically putting Ling Qi in the same space as, say, Kang Zihao was to Meizhen.

If Ling Qi actually manage to bloody Liling's nose? This would mean that Liling, as a Princess and heir to a King, does not have pure superiority when she is going full out against a commoner. Liling's declaration makes the loss of face if she doesn't get a one sided victory worse, because there is no "I was giving the girl face" excuse like there could have been against Shen Hu.

tricholysis · Sep 3, 2018

The_Knowing said:
Instead of some incredible tree that can survive centuries, should TRF become a weed that you have to pull out root and branch, or it'll just keep coming back with vim and vigour?

That's more like what Zhengui's Wood is like. Regeneration and healing, instead of being too tough to scratch. So IF Ling Qi does continue cultivating Wood, that seems like a better direction, even if being an 'evasive weed' is a lot less prestigious than being 'centuries-old and indomitable spire.' Too thematically far for TRF to 'become' that (and since TRF is all about rigidity, I bet it's harder to change and manipulate than stuff like FVM, AE, or SCS, which are about emptinesses or formlessness), but the next art in that element should be pointed in that direction, maybe.

Vikram · Sep 3, 2018

What the jungle does compromise is the objective of information gathering. Not only do I not expect Liling to use anything other than her typical stuff, she can offload a lot of the work to Dharitri and the jungle, making anything new unlikely.

While Sun Shao does his best to keep Liling away from the jungle, Dharitri is very much in her native environment. Who knows how much she can draw from it?

While the consequences of loss have been blunted further, the secondary objectives seem to have gone further out of reach.

Edit: There's gotta be some stuff the spirit can pull off specifically in a jungle, which is irrelevant for Meizhen's fight.

NaanContributor · Sep 3, 2018

[X] Plan Penultimate Boss Fight

Arkeus · Sep 3, 2018

So, there is already a somewhat solid plan that has a good chance to net us what we want from @TehChron and it has a solid lead. I guess now is a good chance for me to make a completely insane plan that has no chance of working but amuses me.

[X] Plan Destroying armours and constructs with a 1 in 10 000 000 chance silver bullet
-[X] First establish your and Zhengui's unbreakable defences by both using the more potent fortress techniques and dancing like the shadows you are, helped by the beauty of twilight, the horror and your new pin's ability. Once that is accomplished, switch to our strategy of hopefully destroying our opponent's constructs and succeed in an attrition strategy. Between the Breath of the Stygian Depths, Dissonance of Night's Terror, Ashfall, Hoarfross Caress and CRX's granted tech it could be possible deconstruct our opponents weapons and armour as quickly as she can summon them, especially if we bring down Liling's defences low enough for Thunderous Retort to be applicable. If possible, tag Dhartiri with Elegy of the lost so that she cannot empower Liling any more and complete Traveller's End, though CRX's tech might be needed for that. If it succeeds, Zhengui being on healing duty, the horror refreshing deepwood vitality early on and then Ling Qi doing the same as well as adding to our defences could turn this into an attrition game where our opponent will never be able to leverage their own abilities, especially as the Jungle should be an optimal terrain for our dance.

Basically, this is dumb, and this gamble that Liling's armour and spear have durability, and that it's not too high. Ling Qi can at most cause Breath 2 + Dissonance 1 + Hoarfross 2 + Ashfall 1 = 6 durability damage per turns assuming no counters (each counter cause 2 durability damage thanks to AC). If Liling's constructs have less than 12 durability, it could be possible for them to be destroyed every couple turns, forcing Liling in a position where she can never truly leverage them and constantly bleed Qi. Elegy of the Lost, if it can be used, basically negate Dhartiri's danger.

Honestly, TehChron's plan is much better than mine, but I wanted to do a silly plan.

Erebeal · Sep 3, 2018

Arkeus said:
Basically, this is dumb, and this gamble that Liling's armour and spear have durability, and that it's not too high. Ling Qi can at most cause Breath 2 + Dissonance 1 + Hoarfross 2 + Ashfall 1 = 6 durability damage per turns assuming no counters (each counter cause 2 durability damage thanks to AC). If Liling's constructs have less than 12 durability, it could be possible for them to be destroyed every couple turns, forcing Liling in a position where she can never truly leverage them and constantly bleed Qi. Elegy of the Lost, if it can be used, basically negate Dhartiri's danger.

Point of order: Ashfall's dice are way too low to hit Sun. You can't do that much durability damage.

FallenPears · Sep 3, 2018

[X] Plan Penultimate Boss Fight

Well, now that we've got this in the bag, let's get onto more important things. The finals.

Now I did see some people on Discord briefly speak about fighting off either CRX or Meizhen. These people are obviously idiots who haven't been paying enough attention. Let me explain.

Now, Meizhen might be the obvious winner verses Kang with the dog only being a side character, however both LanLan and CRX have similar narrative weights, so we must consider them both. Now normally CRX would win due to superior cultivation and arts, however as we all know Xuilan is really good at punching up, giving her an auto-resolve win verses CRXs Green 2 cultivation. This is obviously a chekhov's gun placed by Yrsillar foreshadowing this upset.

Why did CRX say she won in our discussion with her? Well we are about to fight Sun and anyone who's ever met LQ knows she would take this chance to cultivate. She obviously didn't want to worry us to let us get maximum insights. Why do you think Suyin gave us sweets? We've never had sweets with her, they were for CRX to sooth her metaphorical and literal burns.

Now Meizhen vs LanLan is a closer fight with Meizhen's slightly greater narrative wieght and top of the line combat skill verses LanLan's punch upping. However, we saw from LanLan's earlier fight that she incorporates kicks fairly frequently into her combat style, and with Meizhen's critical weakness to ankles this gives LanLan a dangerous and eventually decisive advantage.

So, the finally is us verses LanLan.

Now luckily for us we're only Green 1, so LanLan's punch up bonus won't apply here. Unfortunately she's still got plasma slinging bullshit, which as we just saw from the Ji Rong fight is a big deal. Our only chance is to dodge, the Zhengui fire resist buff and TRF, even with our newest insight, just aren't going to cut it. LanLan is also capable of wide sweeping attacks against our mist from the outside which inevitably leads to her victory.

The only chance we have is to catch her in our mists, which is easier said then done considering she can probably pull a Firelord Ozai and rocket away.

So, we are going to need some way to lure LanLan in from range. As such, I propose this plan:

[] Plan Defeating Upperpunching Maiden Brilliantly
-[] Prior to the battle instead of cultivating on insights from the Sun Liling match, immediate head off to Zeqing. Agree to anything needed to get her to teach us the Lonely Winter Maiden art; winning this tournament is of absolutely paramount importance, and Zeqing is harmless and wouldn't ask for too much anyway. Next, go talk to Xin and do whatever it takes to get her to agree to let us use her Hyperbolic Time Chamber so long as it doesn't conflict with the agreement with our new ~~Owner~~ ~~Mother~~ Teacher Zeqing. Enter the chamber with Zeqing and learn Lonely Winter Maiden to perfection. Do NOT break through to Green 2. Zhengui can be permitted to break through to Green 1 but no further. Sixiang doesn't matter; she's useless anyway. Once complete, emerge from chamber and wing it back to tournament. Don't bother bringing the CRX technique; LanLan has no buffs to target and so it is entirely useless. Open the fight with usual defensives, quickly set up FVM and use our newly learned LWM to lure in LanLan. Once LanLan is inside keep moving to minimise chance of a stray plasma kick hitting us whilst slowly whittling her down until she falls.

I know it's not perfect like our previous fights but best I could come up with first draft. Thoughts?

Killer_Whale · Sep 3, 2018

[X] Plan Penultimate Boss Fight

tenchifew · Sep 3, 2018

[X] Plan Penultimate Boss Fight

lendary · Sep 3, 2018

[X] Plan Penultimate Boss Fight

Octol · Sep 3, 2018

[X] Plan Penultimate Boss Fight

Mr.rodent · Sep 3, 2018

[X] Plan Penultimate Boss Fight

Xepheria · Sep 3, 2018

[X] Plan Penultimate Boss Fight

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