Jin Muyi:_______________The War-Brave and The Stranger_________________
It was the greatest upheaval not just in living memory but also in Desert History.
The Blood Cannibals removed as a power of the Desert, their lands divided and portioned off to the Golden Devils and their ilk,
Old Cannibal being forced to flee the desert and into other areas to re-carve his kingdom of blood and corpses.
Forbidden lands which had only known the presence of Blood path cultivators turned to lands of treasure and fortune,
it's past threats ensuring the bounty within ripe for anyone to discover and prosper.
For some though, this was the moment that they had been waiting for.
The golden opportunity that members of their tribe had bled and die for.
The reward for untold generations of slavery and servitude to Old Cannibal that brought a one mighty Nation to a Tribe eking out it's existence by being too insignificant. "HAVOC" they cried as they reclaimed their ancestral lands with tooth an claw...
War-brave Mourning Shepherd looked upon the Braves of his Tribe and found that it was good. This was the greatest strength the Tribe had been able to assemble in generations with more then half of them being able to manifest an aspect of The Great Beetle and ten of them even able to manifest two or more aspects.
Yes, we would have to thank the Golden Devils.. If it wasn't for the two wars they had against the Cannibals, we won't have been able to build up such strength without being noticed. Now, we just need them to aid us once more, just once more....
Mourning Shepherd's half prayer-like thoughts were broken by the sound of running feet before a messenger darted through the war-tent's entrance.
"It's done! Old Cannibal has left the desert with the strongest of his subordinates! "
The news of the best hoped for outcome coming true sent a wave of adrenaline down Mourning Shepherd's spine. Unknown to him, his lips started to form a vicious grin that sent fire blazing down the veins of his Braves.
"Excellent! Come my Braves and follow me! Just like the tales of our forefathers, i call for a Great Coup! Join me as we show these growers on our lands what it it means to offend the BeetleKin!"
They came out of the sunset not like the Beetle they were named as and instead like the locusts that could ravage a town in a single day. And just like the locusts, so did the BeetleKin ravage the towns build on their ancestral lands with an orgy of bloodshed and violence.
Some of these towns knew the BeetleKin. They traded with them, had marriages with them and even went to war with them against others seeking their water. None of these facts and long history spared them, for with a given signal the BeetleKin within struck down the warding arrays, slayed the guards while they were unwary and even cut-down their Kin who resisted.
Not all the towns fell smoothly for as words of the Great Coup spread, the BeetleKin within were cut down without mercy forcing the Tribe to confront the townsfolk head on. It was in these battles that Mourning Shepherd proved why he was the War-Brave of the tribe, for the Shell of the Great Beetle allowed him to take blows that would have killed any other cultivator while the Sickles of the Great Beetle were the sharpest blade that allowed him to cut his foe in twain. The humming wings of the Great Beetle allowed him to move in a unpredictable fashion while Eyes of the Great Beetle allowed him to gaze all around him.
Many were the famous cultivators that he slew. Tie Gua the Iron Hammer. Yin Sa of the Horned Spear. Quan Xue of the Water Palm. Seven Blade Tou. Serpent Whip Cui were some of the famed names that fell beneath his claws, their bodies used to feed the beetles of the Tribe and their souls given over to the Great Beetle.
Not all of the names were unknown to Mourning Shepherd. In better times, he had dueled with some, gone adventuring with some and even made love to some. But like the BeetleKin of the Towns, he was Tribe and they were not. That was all that mattered in the end, in this time of great upheaval regardless of how much it hurt to do so.
With their champions slain, town after town fell to the Beetlekin. The Wings of the Great Beetle allowing the BeetleKin to strike with great speed and power as Mourning Shepherd lead the way as the spearhead of the Great Coup. In the span of a single year the lands of the BeetleKin had tripled in size and would have grown even bigger if the Great Beetle had not warn the tribe to stop.
Now as he looked out at all that he achieved, the words of the dying sounded out once more in the confines of his head.
"Shepherd? Why....?"
"YOU MONSTER, I'M GONNA WIPE-OUT YOUR ENTIRE STINKING TRIBE FOR THIS."
"I thought we were friends...."
"We don't have to do this, surely we can come to an agreement!"
"SHEEEEPHERD!!!"
"Oh? You think your new trick would allow you to finally beat me?"
"Shepherd... Was this all worth it?"
Looking out at the wide open desert and the tribesmen as they lead the Beetles out to graze, Mourning Shepherd found himself answering the dead out loud.
"Aye, it was all worth it. This was our land and not yours."
It was the 5th anniversary of the success of the Great Coup. Just like the previous years, the BeetleKin had celebrated their victory by hosting a great party with all of the tribe gathered from their wanderings to enjoy wine and song.
For Mourning Shepherd, each year had proved that he made the right choice. The Tribe had grown in both strength and wealth, their beetles growing fat and big with their carapace shining like a cluster of stars. Without needing to fear the Cannibals consuming their young talents, most of the tribe had become able to manifest two aspects of the Great Beetle something that in the years goneby would have been cause for great celebration.
It was in this merriment that the Stranger came by mounted on a Jade Qilin. Moving carefully, the duo steered their way through the drunken crowd, side-stepping the ones passed out on the ground and dodging the enthusiastic attempts to drag them into the dance around the bonfire.
Finally making his way to Mourning Shepherd, the Stranger found that unlike the rest the man was sober and watching him with a expression of both resignation and determination. Before the Stranger could open his mouth, he found himself halted by a raised palm as Mourning Shepherd spoke.
" The Stranger aye? I heard of you. I can guess why you're here. The stories said that you're one of the Golden Devils and mayhaps here to bring Law and Order to this land. Great Beetle knows that it could use it. There's been no such thing here since the Cannibals took over the land from my ancestors.
You're probably here for my head? For what i did to help my people reclaim our lands?"
At The Stranger's nod, Mourning Shepherd continued on.
"I knew this day would come. I'm not that inclined to just turn it over to you. I'm all that's stopping the foes of my tribe from taking vengeance on them. Ain't no one within the Tribe strong enough to take my role as War-brave just yet. You either have to wait till my tribe has someone who can do so, or you'll have to use some of that Golden Devil Authority to confirm my tribe's ownership of our lands if you wanna take me in now."
"That can be arranged. Your tribe will need to pay reparations to the survivors of the towns and release from chattel-hood all that want to leave the Tribe. Do that and i'll confirm ownership of the lands to your Tribe on behalf of the Golden Devils."
"Well then Mr Stranger, it strikes me that we have a deal! Now where do you wanna do this? We have a nice flat cliff over yonder..."
None of the tribe knew of the deal till they woke up from their drunken stupor to the babbling of one of the tribe orphans. He had been serving Mourning Shepherd wine and was brought along as witness to the duel between the two.
They stood before each other and yet their actions were the same.
Lord Shepherd called on the full blessing of the Great Beetle, manifesting it's Carapace, it's Wings, it's Sickles and it's Eyes. The Stranger had to have a totem of his own for i saw upon him jade green scales, claws of a great beast and horns that sparkled with lightning.
They did not trade a single word before clashing with each other in a thunderous slam.
From what i could see they were naught but a fist apart and both struck at each other without any attempt to dodge
with Sickles scrapping away at scales in a shower of sparks and claws scratching lines into the Lord's Carapace.
I can't tell how long they struck at each other, only they got faster and faster
before turning into a blur of black and green colliding in a shower of sparks.
All i knew was that at the end when they came to a halt, there was a claw through Lord Shepherd
and his Sickle was buried in one of the Stranger's horns.
The Stranger just took Lord Shepherd away before telling me to inform the Tribe of Lord Shepherd's last act.
Extract from the Lay Of Mourning Shepherd. (PUB 5 years after the Great Coup)
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[1654 words]
This one is my attempt at writing from the Native American POV for my XIanxia Western. Not a really good job, but i hoped it conveyed the idea of one of the Great Bandit being one not from greed or for power but instead from fanaticism to his Tribe.
I actually thought up quite a bit on the Totem system and how it came to be for the BeetleKin but could not found an organic way to insert it in. If anyone would wants to use them and would like more details, feel free to ping me.
Jin Muyi:____________________ The Stranger and The Weird West_________________________
It was the greatest upheaval not just in living memory but also in Desert History.
The Blood Cannibals removed as a power of the Desert, their lands divided and portioned off to the Golden Devils and their ilk,
Old Cannibal being forced to flee the desert and into other areas to re-carve his kingdom of blood and corpses.
Forbidden lands which had only known the presence of Blood path cultivators turned to lands of treasure and fortune,
it's past threats ensuring the bounty within ripe for anyone to discover and prosper.
But all good times come to an end, with Steel and Fire the Golden Devils carved out order from chaos,
building towns and cities in the wildness as well as the roads to connect trade between them.
The arrays of the rising towns and the resources to build them flowed like water into the lands,
and sometimes on a moonless night they never make it to their destination. Shattered carts and desiccated bodies drained of blood
were all that could be found when the sun rose...
"Cosis, Lucen and Roise, the three of you will be delivering the prepared materials for the Morning, Noon and Night casting of the array. For the Midnight delivery, let me see who it's going to be......"
Please don't let me be chosen. Please don't let me be chosen. Please don't let me be chosen. Please don't let me be chosen.
"..... according to the chart, looks like it's going to be Marcus!"
FUCK!
Making sure that none of the fear at being chosen showed on his face, Marcus ran to catch the Foreman before he left the waystation. Pulling out a pouch of spirit stones, Marcus called out to the man in a harsh whisper.
"Sir! I can't take that shift tonight, i have something going on. Please assign someone else to it!" Marcus watched as the Foreman's face darken in anger and just as he seemed to be on the verge of shouting out his refusal, Marcus lifted the pouch and dangled it before the Foreman. " I'm more then willing to pay you for the trouble." The offer of payment changed the irritation on the Foreman's face to joy, in a smooth and flowing movement the Foreman plucked the pouch from Marcus' hand tucked it into his robe before focusing his attention on Marcus.
"The donation is appreciated. But i'm afraid that i won't be able to assigned someone else to do the job because there is no one else. Your refusal to do the Midnight Delivery and the lack of manpower have the same source. Namely that our last four Midnight deliveries failed due to attacks on the shipment. But since you did provide me with a donation, i'll make sure one of the wandering cultivators our organisation keeps on retainer will join you in the Delivery. That's the best i can do for you."
Before Marcus could react to that unwelcome news or demand his money back, the Foreman strolled away from him with a spring in his step and a whistle on his lips leaving Marcus to gradually crumble to the ground as his legs gave way.
The rest of the day seemed to pass in a daze. Sooner then he was ready for, midnight arrived and Marcus found himself watching as the stevedores loaded the wagon with crates of rare materials and Qi Reactive Ink. The moment was here, there was no other way Marcus could continue stalling or delay the delivery any further. Swinging himself onto the driver seat of the wagon and giving the horses a light flick, the wagon begun rolling out of the warehouse and towards the open gates of the waystation.
As the wagon rolled out of the gates, Marcus heard the sound of a cloak fluttering in the wind before feeling the wagon sink lower towards the ground. A quick look at the back showed that among the packed supplies there was now a MysteriousStranger holding one of the fancy SixShots that had started to spread among the frontier.
Before he could speak, a brusque "Drive." convinced Marcus that it was best to just do his job and hope that the cloaked Stranger was the hired help and not a bandit waiting to get to a hidden spot before murdering him. Hours passed in complete silence besides the clopping of the horses hooves and creaking from the wagon wheels on the uneven ground before it was interrupted by a sharp statement from the Stranger.
"If you want to live, stay near the wagon no matter what."
Just as he finished speaking, the world turned crimson red as streaks of blood qi flew towards the wagon in a wave of red. Before Marcus could even open his mouth in shock at the attack, the blood Qi struck what appeared to be a invisible shield protruding from the wagon causing them to smear in a manner reminiscent of blood hitting a wall.
"AYYYYYY!" Letting out a shriek of terror, Marcus leapt to follow the Mysterious Stranger's orders. Throwing himself into the wagon and burying his body among the many crates as the thunderous booms of Qi blasts exploding rang out around him. After minutes of nothing happening beyond the sound of combat intensifying, Marcus mustered what little remained of his courage and peek over the edge of the wagon to observe the combat around him.
He found the Mysterious Stranger firing away at what appeared to be two cultivators. Two cultivators that he recognized from the Bounty posters from the Waystation. The one that seemed to be preparing a ritual of some sort based on the ominous glowing symbols hovering around him that intercept any Qi blasts fired that way was Big Xiaomen a noted Blood Array Master. While the other who was beast-like in his movement as he darted to and froth in a manner reminiscent of the Gale-Racing Lion causing the fired Qi blasts to land at where he was the deadly Carnivore Cuiling who was moving ever so closer to the Stranger.
The stalemate suddenly ended with a thunderous boom as the SixShot in the Mysterious Stranger's hands blew up midshot. Almost simultaneously before the light from the explosion could even fade, Carnivore Cuiling blurred into motion as he leapt from his position towards the Mysterious Stranger burying his fangs into the Stranger's throat.
The world seemed to come to a halt. It all happened so close to him that he could see Carnivore Cuiling's throat swallowing the blood from the Stranger and somehow Marcus knew that when Carnivore Cuiling was done, he would be next. As he watched in stupefied horror, Marcus noticed that something seemed to be different from what he was expecting.
Carnivore Cuiling seemed to be trying to break free from his pounce and his face was a rictus of pain instead of the pleasure that consuming blood would have brought to a Blood Path cultivator. The Stranger on the other end seemed to ignore Carnivore Cuiling's fangs in his throat as he tore him away in a single smooth action before flinging Carnivore Cuiling with a toss.
As Marcus watched on, the Mysterious Stranger strolled towards Big Xiaomen whose chanting and gestures start taking on a frantic and desperate feel. His observation of the coming confrontation was interrupted by the sound of a high pitched shriek from Carnivore Cuiling who was now frantically tearing at his chest with his claws as his body started to bubble and melt.
In a manner of seconds, the shrieking came to a crescendo before coming to a sudden halt as Carnivore Cuiling collapsed in a boneless heap which was caught by a sudden gust of wind that sent it fluttering into the air. And as it moved like a flag in the wind, Marcus realized to his horror that all of Carnivore Cuiling that remained was his skin, with all that was inside him removed by the blood he drank from the Stranger.
Turning his attention back to the Stranger and Big Xiaomen, Marcus found himself confronted by yet another horrifying sight. In the short interval that he wasn't watching, the "battle" appeared to have taken a macabre twist as the path the Stranger took to get to Big Xiaomen was littered with dismembered limbs and even a head or two.
Even as Marcus watched, Big Xiaomen made a sharp gesture that sent the Stranger's left arm darting towards his own throat only for the limb to be lobbed off by the Ji held in the Stranger's right hand before it could even come close. Within seconds of the limb falling to the ground, vines burst out from the stump and knotted themselves into a new arm for the Stranger in a blink of an eye.
And that was it. There were no sudden twists to the battle unlike the one with Carnivore Cuiling. The Stranger continued lopping off parts of his body the moment they came under Big Xiaomen's control while making his way towards him before piercing the glyphs with a strike from his Ji that sent it darting froth like a shooting star the moment Big Xiaomen attention faltered when he reached into his robe.
At this point, the stress of the entire battle caught up to Marcus and his body decided it was safe for him to faint and promptly did so for him.
FOUND REASON FOR MISSING SHIPMENTS STOP DONE BY TWO OF THE GREAT BANDITS STOP CARNIVORE CUILING BIG XIAOMEN NOW DECEASED STOP SHIPMENTS USED TO MAKE A QI CANNON STOP CLAIMED CANNON FOR PERSONAL USE STOP SEND MORE SUPPLIES TO WAYSTATION STOP
Got inspired by Muyi's Fate for this turn and decided i could end off the Westerns with a BANG. Since the Fate Results mentioned that Muyi beat them because their arts were not as effective on a plant-man, i racked my brains to think of a way that could be done while keeping it Westernish in theme.
So introducing:
Carnivore Cuiling = Weird Western Vampire/Werewolf analogue
Big Xiaomen = Weird Western Voodoo/body jacking analogue
Except draining blood is kinda useless when the other party has acidic sap running through their veins and taking control of limbs is useless if they can just be chopped off and regrown. Also, in keeping with the Western theme, i thought it be neat to end the Omake with a Telegram message.
@Humbaba Threadmark please. Now time to see how i can do my Main omake for trial turn....
Jin Muyi:_________________________________君子一言 [A Gentleman's Word]_________________________
As i made my way towards the small home i shared with Qing Yun and Gui Hua, i found myself confronted with the fact that for the first time in a long while i was not needed by the Clan.
Even when i first joined the Clan, there was always a crisis to do. Ranging from the first Cannibal War i was involved in to the Devil Bees invasion and then the brutal war to the knife that was the Trial, i spent my years as a Qi Condensation cultivator plunging into conflict after conflict, battle after battle where both my Dao and body was forged by the anvil of war.
After the trial, the Clan was so lacking in manpower that we few Foundation Establishment Cultivators found ourselves tasked with the duties of our seniors. Leading Legions and missions to stabilize the Clan lands and it's vassals before we were hit by the 2nd Cannibal war. And now after my last mission, it's all over. The cannibals are no longer a power in the Desert, the Jingshen are unlikely to resort to open war at this moment and the new lands have been brought to peace under the boots of the Clan's Legions.
And so i find myself a soldier without a mission and a warrior without a battle, the only instructions being to cultivate for the Trials. To ensure that the results of the next trial were better then the one before.
It is Peace for a time and as i see the way my daughter's face lights up at my presence and as i feel her arms around me. It is something i think i can learn to love.
Living with my daughter without a deadline of when we must part is a interesting experience. She had always been the perfect daughter for me. Polite, understanding and more then glad to spend her time with me during the few furloughs i took in the years before.
Now after a year or so of me remaining at home with her, she seems to have finally realized that like what i promised, i was here for a long time. She started to throw tantrums, act out and misbehave exactly like how kids should be according to my comrades when i asked. Yet, i can't shake the doubt that she was going through the motions of what a Kid should be instead of what she truly felt.
When i confronted her with that, i saw my polite, understanding and inhuman daughter appear once more. It's hard sometimes to remember that despite her body and mind being stuck at a young age, she has lived for almost a 100 years as well and sometimes? Things stick and life experiences tell.
We agreed in the end that what i want was my daughter to be able to be her true self, that i want to know who my daughter is over what who the Clan think's Jin Muyi's daughter should be. I think i shocked her with that since she burst into tears before giving me a brief hug and running off to Qing Yun who has been serving the role of both playmate and Nanny to her since we got back from the Front.
Things very easily fell into a routine between the 3 of us. For me the day starts with looking deep into myself to truly comprehend the Dao i choose to walk as well as work on improving my control over the Darkness something that sometimes fails and ensures that we now have a verdant lush grove of emerald vines and bamboo stalks on our estate. Gui Hua in turn has her own studies to work on as well as her own training in the Saber Art her mother left for her whereas Qing Yun enjoyed his leisure by exploring and hunting the lands around us from dawn to dusk.
It is among this homely atmosphere that i truly learned how little i knew my daughter. Her favorite foods, her hobbies and even the effort she puts into her training were all revealed to me for the first time. And after some assurance that i truly wanted to, she started coming to me for help with her studies and Martial training until without realizing our two different schedules merged into one.
And as Gui Hua started to study and train within the lush grove created by the Darkness, i found to my surprise that her presence provided great aid in my cultivation. It revealed to me the underlying core of my Dao, of why i Duel.
I found that there is a quiet joy in teaching my daughter. The joy i feel when i see her successfully demonstrate a move thanks to my teaching is only eclipsed by the joy bought by her shy thanks or the awe in which she looks at me when i demonstrate the move to her.
I find myself intentionally browsing the Clan library for manuals for Saber Arts, of the philosophy behind the weapon and even the history of the Seven Saber Palace to be better able to assist Gui Hua in her studies of the Ghost Painting Saber Art.
It is a experience that is new to me. My mastery of my Ji came via combat, the philosophy and little tricks behind my understanding of it was all done through personal experience. But now in teaching my daughter, i learn a thousand different philosophies behind the Saber, a myriad of tricks ranging from the dirty to the surprising, a distillation of the words and styles of countless Saber styles.
And i realize to my pleasant surprise that the consumption of such knowledge left it's mark on me. I find myself using the blades of my Ji more then the Tip, the blades starting to take on a curved exterior when i bring it forth. Even without a fight, i can tell that my skill with polearms has increased from where it was before.
I feel proud of my daughter. It took me till now to realize that she had been doing her best to aid me in preparing for the Trials. Her constant requests for my help with the Ghost Painting Saber Art was for me to gradually pick up some of the moves and philosophy behind a Nascent Soul level Saber manual and work it into my own purely my own.
This was something i should perhaps have noticed sooner considering that most of the Moves she asked for my help with were about the Intent and Spiritual Understanding needed to draw forth lifelike plants with the Saber Art.
If it wasn't for the Saber Intent and Spiritual Understanding temporarily bursting forth through one of my katas today, i would have probably not realized her plan. However, now that i know, i can state without hesitation that the Saber Intent and Spiritual Understanding i picked up lands a certain lethality and finality to my strikes.
I no longer truly sleep. Ever since my integration with the Darkness, all my "sleep" does is give over control to the Darkness for it to work on gathering the Qi needed to keep our body running. I myself remain conscious within the Darkness and can feel the Qi in the air being drawn in to nourish our body, it is in fact a calming sensation that aids me greatly during my ruminations on my Dao.
As such, it was a great surprise to me that i had a Dream. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it selected Memories or a Vision Of What Might Be, for i recognize the images within it to be scenes that i saw during the last trial. The burning homes of the few Clan Cultivators that choose to live alone, bodies lying in the dirt as if they were refuse, the clinical way each Clan member was dispatched regardless of their cultivation levels.
The small mountain of bones that were all that was left of our Kin when we answered a call for aid, the smoke smell of burning ashes that coated everything during that year and beneath them all were the flashes of Gui Hua being in that position. Her favorite Qilin doll left mockingly on a mountain of bones, the burnt ruins of our small home, her small body lying discarded on the ground as if it was just some TRASH.
I knew that these scenes were not true, that Gui Hua was right now sleeping peacefully in her room, that Qing Yun would have died before he let anything happen to her. But yet, i feel my control over the Darkness slipping, my agitation feeding into it so that the air hisses with the sound of lashing vines and the trees in my emerald grove start growing thorns that were sharp and wickedly curved.
And as i force myself to full consciousness and once more regain control over the Darkness, and as i move to calm my panicking daughter down from the pressure of my Qi as it continues to thrum with my anger, i feel a pang of muted terror in my heart that tells me now I truly understand what the Trial is to the Clan.
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Ever since that night where she found herself forced awake by the anger in Father's Qi, Gui Hua noticed a difference in their daily routine. While things remain the same with Father working on his Dao while she did her schoolwork, there was a sense of intensity whenever he worked on his katas, even the Saber moves he demonstrated for her all now contained a vicious twist that would kill or disemboweled a unwary foe.
Even as she watched Father move through his katas in a slow unhurried fashion, she could see that he had given up on the artistry of his strokes. Moves that could have come straight out of the Training manuals now took on a vicious twist as Father made full use of his inhuman nature to make them land at impossible angles that would have broken the wrists of any other cultivator who attempted to replicate them. She could tell that the pride in his skill with the Ji had been traded for improved efficiency in killing as the polearm in Father's hands shift mid moves between the stab of a spear to the slash of a glaive and then to a sudden yank that would have beheaded any unwary foe the scythe blade that appeared midway.
She knew that Father didn't need to sleep, but he used to pretend to do so just so that she could feel normal about his inhuman nature. However, after whatever happened That Night, he no longer attempted to do so. Instead, after bidding her good night, Father and Uncle QIng Yun would launched into duels with each other, a series of non-stop duels till the Sun rose once more.
Once out of curiosity, she got one of her little ghosts to spy on them throughout the night and the report it brought back was puzzling. According to it, no two duels were the same. In one duel, Father and Uncle Qing Yun clashed with each other with Fist against Claw, in another they stood at a distance and traded Qi blasts and Lightning Roars, and in yet another they dueled with her Father's Ji clashing against her Uncle's horns. They were all Duels but none of them were the same and they ranged from physical crashes to esoteric attempts to trap each other in labyrinths of their own creation.
And as the time passed, Gui Hua found that her Father's presence had changed. Sometimes when his focus on his Qi faltered, any statement from him appeared to come in the form of a challenge that rang with a sort of Impact hinting that if accepted would be enforced till the Challenge was met and completed. While watching Uncle Qing Yun agree to yet another Duel for the victory prize of extra meat from the loser's Dinner, Gui Hua realized with a start that It was as if her Father through his Dao was offering the other party only visions of victory with his Challenge Offers while insidiously downplaying their fears before then enforcing the agreed upon terms and conditions when the Duel was accepted.
If her Father was a rusty and chipped blade with a worn handle when he came back home from the Wars a decade ago, he was now a polished and sharpened blade with a elaborate hilt. The decade of rest with her had appeared to have allowed him to both recover and polish himself, to give the blade the full servicing it needed to regain it's ability to cut.
That gave her mixed feelings. The decade she spent with Father was something new to her as well, Father wasn't Jin Muyi the Devouring Willow Of the Golden Devils that songs and tales mentioned. Father was a horrible Cook, a lousy teacher in anything beyond Fighting or Cultivating, a kind person who react to her little pranks with a quirked eyebrow. But as she watched him re-hone himself and as she felt him put on the layers and layers of Jin Muyi, she couldn't help but mourn that Father was once more being subsumed by the Duty focused Jin Muyi that was all the world saw and who was all she knew of in the years before.
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I am a fool. I was so focused about preparing for the trials, so obsessed about being able to Gui Hua safe that i forgot to consider how all my actions appear to someone who doesn't know my thoughts. I am thankful that Qing Yun is around to make up for my lackings as a father. It was he who pointed out to me that Gui Hua had returned back to her polite, quiet behavior instead of the bright and intelligent person i knew she was, It was he who pointed out that i only confided in him my fears and my reasons for working so hard and it was he who pointed out that perhaps i could treat her like the intelligent person she was by explaining my actions.
And as i see the tears flow from her eyes and the relief on her face once i explained to her my actions and more importantly who i'm doing this for, i feel once more the fool for not seeing how badly hurt she was by my actions as well as for not taking the time before to understand who she truly is. I am indeed a poor father if all my daughter knows of me is from the troubadour tales and the brief visits between the wars.
Though there are still preparations i need to make for the Trials, i have decided that i have wasted enough time. I will bring Gui Hua with me and show her who her Father is and what drives him. If this trial is to be my last, i would leave her with fond memories of the time we spent together as a family.
My first order of business was to bring Gui Hua along with me when i head towards my Legion Encampment. Despite what i had planned to do, my Legion and my position as Legate still represents a side of me that she had no knowledge of. I must confess that despite the trepidation of what her reaction to them might be, her reaction to me in my Dress Armor did make me smile. Even though she did followed up with "Shiny" and many other jokes about disposing of all our mirrors and puns about my "shining" reputation.
Qing Yun's continued refusal to put on the Dress Armor made specifically for him did not help matters, nor did his constant horrible attempts at humor via staring at me and then intentionally walking into a nearby tree or rock to the sound of my daughter's laughter.
Gui Hua's gasp of amazement as we walked through the open gate and past the yellow sandstone walls of the Legion Encampment sent a pang of pride tingling through me. Even for someone like me who had build the Legion to it's current point, what was presented upon stepping past the gate was a site to behold. Being the Legion that pioneered the Mounted Infantry concept, the first thing that could be seen was the menagerie of Spirit Beasts roaming the camp clad in Gravebronze barding.
While most of the Spirit Beast used in the Legion were the common Pangolin Horses that could be found throughout the entire desert, the regimen of Qi exercises, Qi enhanced fodder and the Spirit Bond ritual that was my legacy from my Father's line had turned them into aggressive muscular behemoths that more then fulfill their roles as Chargers.
In addition to them, some of the other legionaries had their own Spirit Beasts that benefited greatly from the same regimen allowing these Spirit Beast become exemplars of their species. In fact with the refinement the Clan did on the Secret Arts so that the Spirit Beasts nurtured by them are better able to support the Clan's formations, the Arts used by my Legion were more like the Original Art left to my family then the bastardized one they were using before my former clan got destroyed.
Gently nudging Gui Hua from her stunned state, i took the liberty to introduce her to selected legionaries and their Spirit Beasts partners. A more discerning eye would have noticed that strangely all of the Spirit Beasts introduced to Gui Hua were suspiciously fluffy as well as possessing a good enough nature to let my daughter hug and tug their fur and manes. While Qing Yun could very well "persuade" some of the more recalcitrant Spirit Beasts to play nice for Gui Hua, i saw no need to damage my relationship with my legionaries considering what i was going to do would likely leave a bad enough impression on them.
It took me some time to convince Gui Hua we should continue the tour, but eventually i succeeded with Qing Yun's aid via his sacrifice of allowing her to braid his mane. Now seated on Qing Yun, i escorted her past the drilling grounds where sections of the newer recruits were practicing the Kataphraktoi Formation to achieve the precise controlled state that i demanded from my men.
As we watched, the men moved in a simple three beat drill drummed out by the Company's Centurion.
- First Beat, Move together at the Canter and call up the Formation
- Second Beat, Work together with their Spirit Beasts and their fellows to regulate the formation's power
- Third Beat, Charge the target ensuring that most of the Formation's Qi is concentrated on the Lance while the Spirit Beast provide the Qi for the Speed that makes the formation so devastating.
It might seemed simple, but regulating and assigning juggling the Qi flows of a Formation wasn't a easy task. Casting the Formation a beat too fast or a beat too slow could cause the ratio to be off and the Formation to lack the punch that made the Legion's words of "We Ride" such a implicit threat.
My familiarity with the Kataphraktoi Formation allowed me to see the flaws of the troops before us, but to Gui Hua they must have been a incredible spectacle of Golden Calvary charging on sunkissed sands to hit the prepared target with a crack of lighting and thunder.
I noticed that we had been supported when the Centurion's drumming suddenly changed from the Three Beat of Charge to the more impressive Six Beat of Skirmish. Before our very eyes, the legionaries rearranged themselves from a line to a column as they activated the Kataphraktoi Formation in turns as they used the Lance Charge to cover a surprising distance before firing a Qi arrow with a Parthian shot with the remainder of the Formation's Qi and falling to the back of the column.
It was a very flashy maneuver that used the Charge aspect of the Kataphraktoi to allow for sudden changes of direction as the Legion chip away at the foe with their arrows. It was also a maneuver that we only managed to use once during the early stages of the 2nd Cannibal war where we had to lure a group towards the prepared battlefield.
Them doing it now left me feeling a surge of pride because nothing better summed up the élan of the current Legion then that maneuver and it's sheer disregard of how dangerous performing it on the battlefield is. It was in a way a salute to me and the acknowledgement of my efforts in reforming the Legion to what it is now. Before i took over the 99th and turned them into the 1st Mobile Infantry, the 99th were an auxiliary legion.
It was a legion consisting of Spirit Beast Cultivators whose main role was to serve as the couriers and messengers between Legions on the field and for information deemed to sensitive to be handled in any way beyond that of physical means. When i took over the legion and with the permission given by the Elder Council, i was able to put the Arts of my Father's Clan to good use and built what is essentially a Rapid Response force from Cultivators who thought that all they could serve the Clan with was as auxiliaries.
In a way, i gave them their pride back as Spirit Beast Cultivators. I showed them that there was way for them to serve the Clan in a fashion similar to their peers in the other Combat Focused Legions and gave them the Arts to do so. And now, on what is about to be the greatest trial for the Legion, a challenge that when overcome would earn them the Battle Honors that would allow them to be enshrine into Clan History as a full-fledged Combat Legion, I was going to resign as Legate. Something that would revoke the 1st MI's status as a Legion until another Legate can be found before the Trials, in essence pushing their Trial by Fire back by another century.
I'll count it as a miracle if none of the men attempt to stab me before i leave the Legion's Encampment.
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Gui Hua could hear the shouts even from the Legion's Stables where Father had left her at.
"Commander, you can't do this!"
"Sir, we've been preparing for this for the past 20 years! Hell, this was the goal you gave to us when you were introduced as our Legate!"
"None of the Men will accept this. How do you think they will react when they're told that all their training is for naught and that the Legion will be split-up?"
While she knew that Father would be more then glad to inform her of what the argument between him and his officers were about, curiosity compelled her to get the information now. Sneaking closer towards the building with a golden roof that Father informed her was the Legion's Headquarters, she made her way towards the raised voices taking care to ensure she remained unseen as she called upon one of her little ghosts to assist her in her attempts at spying on Father.
"...I understand you made a vow sir, but you can do so much more as a Legate! With you leading our Legion we would be able to pounce on the Invaders and flee before some of their stronger Cultivators appear to face us. Mathematically speaking, we'll save more of the Clan by acting in this fashion compared to your attempt to recreate the Miracle At Pleuron on your lonesome!"
" Alexios- No, Tribunus Alexios. I agree with the points you raised. They're all points that have occurred to me before i made my decision. Yes, while i can achieve more for the Clan by acting in that fashion, it won't change the fact that such hit-and-run Tactics come at a price. And unlike the more conventional tactics, the butcher bill for it will fall not on the Legion that is no longer there, but on the populace that the Legion has abandoned.
I saw that with my own two eyes during the last trial. The ruined homes and the mutilated corpses dotting our lands due to the fits of pique from the invaders after a detachment got away from them. Aye, it was a price that needed to be paid last Trial for us to stand a chance, but not This Trial. Not after all we done as a Clan for the past century!
We stung them hard last trial with what happened at Pleuron. To them we're their inferiors and they need to CRUSH us overwhelmingly in the upcoming Trial to ensure the Status Quo to them remains the same. Giving them the chance to do by using myself as bait? That's a small price to pay. My Dao is well-suited to delaying actions and buying time for the Clan, not to mention the potential value of my head to them. Every Invader that stops to fight me is one more that isn't besieging our walls or hunting our people."
The cold and calm way Father planned for his death reminded her once again that there was a kernel of truth in all the tales of Jin Muyi and his focus on duty. Gui Hua knew that Father didn't intend to die, especially not after their heart-to-heart talk. But the way he was presenting his argument to his officers had a ring of truth to it, that some part of him had calculated what he was proposing with the exact same odds and found the numbers that came up to be good.
Returning her attention back to the argument, Gui Hua said a word that would have disappointed Father if he heard it as she found herself once more tuning it midway through an argument.
"... doesn't need to be Pleuron! If you're insistent on doing this, the Clan has many Cities where funds have been invested in their defenses. Surely it will aid your plan if the Cities involved are well-defended instead of the backwater that Pleuron is now?
The last time it was involved in a war was the last Trial! No new funds have been allocated to rebuild the ones last from the last trial, most of the key industries within the City from the last trial have long been moved to the newer cities, you're the one that told us how important it is that the new cities are protected during the 2nd Cannibal war! That they're our new manufacturing hubs and provide the Clan with the resources needed to maintain our war machine. "
" Yes..You are of course right in your analysis of the situation. But i would still have to do it at Pleuron. Did you know? I wasn't the only cultivator tasked to delay the Invaders from getting to Pleuron, I was only a freshly ascended Foundation Building Cultivator after all. No, there was a group of cultivators who volunteered to delay the invaders, i just tagged along with them because i thought that was where my death could do the most good for the Clan.
Do you know the one thing they all had in common? They all had kin at Pleuron. Pleuron was their home, their city where their ancestors were laid to rest and where their children dream of a brighter future. The last words on their lips was Pleuron Stands. It was all that mattered to them and with those words they did great things. It was both a vow and a promise, that those of us standing will ensure Pleuron Stands for their own kin and for the kin of those who have already paid the blood price for the city.
Now a hundred years later, that vow still holds true for me. I may be the last member left of our forlorn hope, but as long as i live i will ensure that Pleuron Stands in honor of them who gave their everything for it, in accordance with the vow we all swore."
" I disagree with your plan sir. It lacks the application of any of the the tactical and strategic assessments you've been drumming into us from Day One. You let that all fall to side to keep a vow that only you remember. I don't know if you genuinely believe your motivations behind your plan are what you told us or if you have a death wish. Which ever it is, i hope you survive your folly."
" Thank you Tribunus Alexios. I've submitted my resignation notice to the Elders and have strongly recommended you for my position. I do hope you get the role Alexios, you have the ability to lead the Legion well. But do work on your Cultivation as well, you know that it's a key factor in deciding the choosing of a new Legate. I hope to see you all again after the Trial. "
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Honored Council Members,
I write to you to submit my resignation from the position of Legate to the 1st Mobile Infantry Legion. It has been a great honor to lead the 1st Mobile Infantry over the past 80 years especially since I have been shown great trust in being made Legate despite only being a Foundation Building Cultivator. The support and resources given to me by the Council to refine my Father's Arts for the Legion has been greatly appreciated and I hope the Legion's achievements so far have been worth the Council's investment.
Over the past 80 years, the 1st Mobile Infantry have grown beyond their roots as couriers and messengers from the 99th Auxiliaries into a Combat Legion of in their own right. Their lists of battle honors so far include participating in the 2nd Cannibal War as well as serving as a Rapid Response Force to raids and inclusions from our hostile neighbors and I am sure that if given the chance to do so, they would be able to do the same in the upcoming Trial.
Unfortunately, they will have to do so without me and is in part why I am submitting my resignation as Legate. I recall my experiences during the last Trial and the sheer butchery done to our Clan by the Invaders as a result of our strategy in consolidating the Clan's talents into detachments for Hit-and-run strikes. While i know that it is an acceptable price to pay to ensure the future of our Clan, my recent experience acting as a Father to my daughter has given me new thought.
Now when i think of the upcoming Trial and the 1st Mobile Infantry doing the same acts as before, what comes to my mind is my daughter suffering the repercussions, my daughter paying the blood price for my acts. As such, i can no longer be part of such tactics where our dependents pay the price for our actions, instead i would prefer that the actions taken by the Invaders falls on me, a Cultivator of the Clan who has a decent shot against them.
I've checked our records and i noticed that the best thing any of the Clan can do is cost the Invaders time. Time spent dealing with a stubborn Clan Cultivator is time not spent hunting down one who cannot face them. As such, i plan to re-enact my stand at Pleuron once more. With my Cultivation level and the aid of my Dao, i believe i can buy time by forcing the Invaders to duel me to be able to pass.
And while i do not wish to toot my own horn, i believe that news of my deeds last trial should have been brought back by the Invaders of the last trial who survived. I intent to leverage my reputation as a prize by exposing my location to the Invaders when they arrive. My presence should draw upon the kin and juniors of those slain by me last trial as well as those who seek to earn a reputation by taking me head. My body would also allow me to face them without the need of any logistical support and i would be able to buy time as long as i win.
The time i buy can hopefully help in ensuring more members of our Clan reach a safe location and allow for more defenses to be put up. I apologize for going against the Clan's Operating Procedure during the Trials, but I find myself compelled to act in this manner with or without the Council's approval. This is the only way i can live as Gui Hua's Father, the only way i can answer to the clansmen who died so that i could live last trial and the only way I can ensure Pleuron remains Standing.
The fault of this lies all on me and the 1st Mobile Infantry remains as loyal to the Council as any other Combat Legion. I sincerely plead that the Council allows the Legion to remain and earn their Battle Honors in the Trial. They are more then ready to take their place on the Clan Rolls. In addition, I nominate Tribunus Alexios of the 1st Mobile Infantry to take my role as it's Legate. While his cultivation might be lacking, he has a solid understanding of the tactics used by the Legion and would be more then able to use them against the Invaders.
With deepest apologies, Jin Muyi - Renegade.
When i told Gui Hua where i was planning to go, she insisted on coming along. Considering her affinity with the Dead, i had no worries about her being disrespectful to the Honored Dead. My main worry was if the the Clan Catacombs and the millennia of Yin Qi from the dead would to overpower her sensitive Qi sense and hurt her with the backlash . But part of the agreement we had was that i had to trust her to know her own limits and treat her as the young but intelligent girl she is.
This however, lead to me learning something new about my daughter. She doesn't have a set of white robes. That admittedly might not sound like something important for someone raised in the Clan, but the roots of my Father's Clan are rooted deep in me and like other cultivators of the Third Sea, White is the color for mourning. Wearing white robes upon visiting a grave allows us to both pay our respects and mourn for the departed.
Gui Hua by virtue of being born to two Third Sea Cultivators had the same cultural roots, yet when i asked her about her lack of such robes her answer was a surprising one. Due to her innate nature and close ties with the Dead, she didn't see the need to mourn the departed. For her, most of them were just a thought away and even the remnant Qi from those long gone was enough to give her a impression of the Dead in question and thus judge them based on that, so why mourn?
I found myself unable to answer her question, and allowed her to wear she thought was suitable to visit the Dead. In the end, wearing White Robes was for my own Third World Sensibilities which in turn might not be what the Honored Dead are expecting.
Walking through the entrance to the Catacombs was an experience. Unlike what one might be expecting, the Catacombs contained a sea of clansmen entering and leaving without pause. With the trials coming up once more, many other clansmen like me are making their way into it to pay their respects to the comrades who fell last trial. I'm sure that the one thought in common between all of us was that of if this trial would be our turn? If a century hence it would be the kin and juniors accompanying us today would would be paying their respects?
None know how deep the Catacombs are nor how space within it is handled, all that is known is that there is a classification system based on the conflicts the Clan was involved in, with the Honored Dead for that conflict being sequestered away in their own tombs. Considering the fallout from the last trial, the tomb the transportation array bought us to was incredibly big consisting of multiple sub-wings that split the dead by the battles that lead to their deaths, laying them to rest with their comrades in battle.
Ushering Gui Hua away from the Array, i led her towards a sub-wing bustling with visitors all paying their respects to the heroes who died at Pleuron. They who gave their lives for the Thirteenth to pull off the Hail Mary that wrote them into legend. And then i led her past the sub-wing and into a little alcove next to it. Gui Hua's puzzled face made me chuckle as i ushered her into the alcove.
The difference between the sub-wing and the alcove were night and day. While the memorial to those who died at Pleuron were brightly lit with candles and contained offerings of jugs of wine, Perfume scents and fine silk the alcove contained naught but dust trekked in by the visitors to the tomb. Handing Gui Hua a dust cloth, i worked with her to clean the alcove, removing the smudges, dirt and dust that were sullying the memorial to my comrades.
As my fingers brush over the names on the memorial, i find to my mild sorrow that nothing had changed. There was no spark of recognition, no flash of a face or snippets of a voice that pop up in my head about the people behind the names. It was one of my greatest regret, the inability to pair the names of these clansmen who had gave their lives in the same sacrificial manner as I did to keep Pleuron Standing, the only difference between us was that I came back.
Oh, I came back with a cost. The cost of no longer being human, the inability to enjoy any human sensations beyond taste and most importantly the blurred memories of what happened before i pierced my chest with my Ji. The shocking aspects of what i saw remain such as the devastation wrecked by the Invaders, but my comrades remain a indistinct blur who my only memories of were of them dying with the words Pleuron Stands on their lips.
One of the more peaceful moments that i was able to recall was a conversation where i mentioned i knew Magnus and was then buried by claims of lying and to prove myself innocent by bring a jug of his famed wine for all of us to share. That fell by the wayside as our numbers dwindled and as we got more and more desperate in stopping the invaders and buying time for the Clan. When the Trial ended, i was recovering from my wounds and then tasked with duties from the Clan, and now standing before them with the promised jug so close to the Trial once more, i couldn't help but wonder if any of them had pictured us sharing the wine in this fashion?
Perhaps they did, there had always been a sense of grimness to the memories, a fatalistic approach in how they shared their stories with each other as if to ensure that those of us who survive would remember their words and convey it to their kin. Alas, that i was the only survivor and that the best i could do was bring this jug of wine for them.
Most of the deaths had been gruesome affairs, i had memories of some of them using themselves to bait the invaders into traps before activating a sacrificial array that rip all within it the shreds. One of them who had a voice burdened with age had even use his knowledge of arrays to disrupt a ritual the Invaders were using to take out one of their more prominent trackers. Even those who did not dabble in the more esoteric arts made sure to sell their life dearly by first blowing themselves up by agitating their Qi but later changing to grappling the Invaders so that my Ji could pierce through and kill them, using themselves as living restraints all with the shout of Pleuron Stands on their dying lips.
Their sheer recklessness and willingness to sacrifice themselves to take out just one more Invader was a big factor in our ability to stall the Invaders. Not only did it ensure that the Invaders had split into small groups to prevent large numbers from dying at once, it allowed for us to stall them further by just leaving one cultivator behind as the rearguard. The time they needed to take-down someone on a last stand was time we used to flee ahead and prepare the next ambush. And while I never saw any of those who volunteered to stay behind, i knew what the last words on their lips was and that their deaths would have been horrible.
Now thinking back on their actions with my new perspective, i could see the motivations behind their actions. That it was for their Families that compelled them to go to such extents and not their loyalty to the Clan like what i thought before. A light tug on my robes broke me from my dark thoughts, looking at Gui Hua's worried face made me force a slight smile on mine as i handed over joss sticks for her to use as she paid her respects to them.
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Gui Hua could tell that Father was just putting on the smile to reassure her, but to ensure he stopped thinking about whatever put that dark look on his face, she pretended to be fooled as she accepted the offered joss sticks and lit them up. With the aid of her innate body, she conveyed her emotions to the remnant Qi that were all that was left of Father's comrades as she bowed to them. Her respect for them and their deeds, Her sympathy at what they gave up to keep their Kin safe and a promise to visit and ensure their alcove never falls back into the state it was before.
In the interval between her bow and her getting back upright, she felt their response resonate through her. Gratefulness for being remembered, Sorrow at what they lost, Pride at what they achieved, laughter that Father actually brought the wine.
Backing away from the small altar that had been setup, Gui Hua made sure to remain within the alcove and thus within earshot as Father took her place. She watched as Father popped open the Jar of wine he was carrying and poured it's contents into a cup which he threw down his throat. Filling it to the brim again, Father saluted the memorial with it before splashing it's contents in a horizontal arc before the names of his comrades, offering the wine that he had promised them. The heady smell of the wine containing within a spicy tang and fruity aroma that marked it as one of Uncle Magnus' famed Poisonous Fruit Wines.
"How was it? Like I promised, here is a jar of Magnus' famed wine. He gave it to me freshly brewed just before the last trial started and i had it maturing till now. I thought it would be appropriate for us to share a drink before the next trial, a toast to the Clan's upcoming triumph against the Invaders and a toast to you all who gave your lives for the last one.
I'm not sure if you all were aware, but i got most of the force pursuing us in the last trial. They let their guard down seeing that i was the only one left and forgot the lessons you lot taught them about how a Golden Devil with nothing to lose is a dangerous thing. I channeled my everything in my Ji and got it to expand into a forest aimed at them before they could react. You think they would have remembered how lethal my Ji was and our disregard towards our own lives as long as we could kill them considering the number of them that died to you lot grappling them so i can pierce you both.
I never really knew why you all were willing to go to such extends to ensure Pleuron Stands before, but i think i know now. That little one paying her respects is my daughter, Jin Gui Hua. She came as a surprise to me as well, i only knew of her after recovering from my wounds from the last trial. Even then duties to the Clan have taken me far from her for most of the past century, it was only within the past twenty years that i was truly able to be a Family with her.
And i think i get it now. The thought of losing her to the Invaders, of her encountering what we saw as we rode to stop the Invaders during the last trials fills me with dread. If I needed to pay the ultimate price to keep her safe? I would without a doubt. Considering the tales you all told me about Pleuron and it's ties to your families, I can now understand why you all were so desperate and so willing to use your lives to stall them. It's about a century to late, but as a Father, I salute you all once more for what you did to keep your families safe!"
It had been the first time she heard Father outright proclaim his love for her and what he would do to keep her safe. Gui Hua watched with a red face as Father threw back another cup of wine before once again splashing another dram of wine as a salute to the dead.
" The Clan has been doing well this past century, the cannibals are gone and we managed to take substantial portions of their land. Their focus on the Blood Path ensures that the natural resources of the land remain untouched and thus ripe for our clan to expand to. But our manpower is still recovering from the last trials the and wars we were involved in after it, so not all of our cities would be defended with a Legion.
Unfortunately, Pleuron isn't one of the selected cities. Most of the key industries within it have long been spread out among the new cities and even it's position as a trading hub has started to fall since merchants can now cut through former Cannibal lands. Sad to say, i'm unable to confirm if all of your relatives have made it out of Pleuron for brighter horizons, nor can i find out if any of them feel as strongly as Pleuron as you all did. My recovery from the last trial wasn't perfect and i have issues with the memories of the trial, but some of the strongest memories that remain are the last stands with the word Pleuron Stands as a battle-cry.
I'm the last surviving member of our little suicide squad. All i can do for the upcoming trial is to ensure Pleuron Stands, and if i need to do so in the footsteps that you all have walked before me? I'll do it willingly for my daughter like how you all did for your kin. But I'll win. I'll make sure i win so decisively that Pleuron turns into a symbol of fear to the Invaders. And the next time i visit you guys, it's not just wine i'll bring but also the blood of the Invaders who dared to threaten our kin. Farewell for now, I'll leave the jar here. Enjoy the wine. "
With those words, Gui Hua observed as Father placed the cup and open jar of wine before the small altar, allowing the smell emitting from it to spread and give the alcove a new and pleasant fragrance. And as she walked away from the alcove, a breeze blew where there should be none and her ear seemed to hear the sounds of laughter and the clinking of cups. The last thing she heard before the transportation array took her away from the tomb was the sounds of toasts proclaiming Pleuron Stands, a little fact that put a smile on her lips.
It wasn't easy saying farewell to Gui Hua. I could see that she tried to remain stoic for my sake, but there were tears welling in her eyes and the hug she gave me was the strongest one yet. With the trials being what they were, there was no way i was going to allow her to remain anywhere near the vicinity of Pleuron or even any of the newer cities.
Although it was unlikely that she would be attacked by the Invaders since she hasn't been able to cultivate, their cruelty was known and i had no idea if my reputation and what i planned to do would paint a target on her. Disobeying the Council and resigning from my position as Legate meant that Gui Hua wasn't able to stay with the families of the other Legates, but i had enough favors to ensure that space would be made for her in the Clan's Headquarters which had never been breached.
In addition, i asked Qing Yun to accompany and guard her throughout the Trial. With what i had planned, having him with me would only be more disadvantageous since the main gist of my plan required me to stall for as much time as i could via one on one duels.
And as we reached the fork where we had to part, i gave Gui Hua one last hug and my solemn promise to return to her before entrusting her to Qing Yun and watching as they made their way away from me and towards safety.
Now that Gui Hua had been safely sent away, i allowed my full war-form to show. The armor provided to me by the clan had always been more ceremonial then practical and with my resignation, it had been returned to the Clan Stores as well. Loosing the reins on the Darkness allowed it to writhe freely beneath my skin, and a slight push allowed me to force it out and around my body, allowing me to be clad with what appears to be an armor made out of vines and leaves.
To my surprise, instead of the usual green the War-form appear in shades of Blood Red. The choice of Blood Red and what it implies shook me for a moment. The Darkness always had a close bond to me, but i had not expected it to be intelligent enough to understand the repercussions of my plan. That I would be involved in nonstop fights that would lead to blood being shed and where the image of strength and appearing as unwounded was important.
It is chilling to wonder if the Darkness would ever grow intelligent enough to take control over Me, to become Jin Muyi and banish me to take it's place in the recesses of our mind. We have been so entwined since my recovery that i cannot differentiate between the Darkness and I or if "I" even exist beyond the last thoughts of Xiao Yi as he laid dying among the vines.
As i moved along the Scorpion road i spot the signs of the Clan preparing for the trials. Convoys of wagon heavily laden with resources being driven to the cities to reinforce the defensive arrays, Engineers setting up small fortress and way-posts where the Legion and the Headhunting squads can rest and re-provision throughout the Trial period.
Clansmen marching in cohort after cohort as they head towards where the Clan needed them the most. The jerky way some of the Clansmen moved caught my eye and a quick brush of my Qi sense told me i was correct. The Clansmen in question all their years on their face and all appeared to be recently ascended in the 10th Stage of Qi Condensation, so recent that they haven't regain fine control over their new strength and reflexes before being mustered out to do their duty.
I knew from bitter experience that most of them won't make it through the trial. These were the Cultivators who were unable to ascend to Foundation Building, who felt that the best way they could assist the Clan was to force themselves into the 10th Heavenstage and use themselves as shields for the more talented juniors. Even if they survived, their actions of forcing themselves to the 10th had a price to pay in terms of lifespan and i knew none who managed to survive more then 10 years past the trial.
I find myself approaching familial grounds. Without noticing, i have entered the areas where we set up ambushes for the Invaders in an attempt to slow them down during the last trial and walking upon the lands once more, the memories of the sacrifice of my comrades flares up in my head.
Over there one of us bought a day by causing a bridge collapse. There we laid a trap that took out their scouts before they could report back. In those woods we snuck up and slit the throats of their sentries with the aid of a poison that put the camp to sleep. One of us gave their life to turn that river into a flood that washed away the invader's supplies.
Everything just so that one little bit of time could be bought repeatedly though a thousand and one desperate ambushes. And yet now a hundred years later, who remembers the sacrifices and blood split but me? Even then, with my memories being what they are, there are likely more moments that i forgot about. All I could do is pour a jar of wine on these sites in memory of my dead comrades and their last stands.
It is appropriate that the place where i choose to enact my plan was the same as the place where i made my stand last Trial. The advantages of the place remains the same, it's far enough from Pleuron and it blocks of an entire approach to the City. In a fit of black humor, i find myself toasting the me from a century ago with my last jar of wine.
The ice cold wine reminded me of the ice cold feeling of my Ji sliding between my ribs and spicy kick of the poison in the wine brought me back once more to the excruciating pain of the Darkness growing within and then out of me as they strove to consume the Invaders.
The ringing of the bells broke me from my mood and back into the now. It signified to all of us that the Trials had begun, to run, to hide and to followed the plan refined from past experiences to survive the Trial.
For me however, it meant that the time was now. It was time for me to enact my plan and fufil my vows to Gui Hua, to the slain i was unable to protect, to my comrades who died and to myself to prove that this time would be different. A deep breath to finish off the last of the wine, i let the jar fall out of my hands as i flare my Qi so that it shone like a beacon to all, doing my best to ensure that it drowned out the faint Qi dots that were the other clansmen so that all that could be sensed was Me and my Qi.
I laced it with as much of myself as I could. My Cultivation Level, my achievements, my deeds as well as the impression that i am waiting to face any who dare to face me. Anyone of the invaders willing to face me to avenge their siblings and seniors that i slew in the last trial.
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All it took was the time needed for the empty jar to fall from Muyi's hand and shatter on the ground for the challenge to be answered. Flare after flare of Qi shone as one after another the Invaders appeared around Muyi in response to his challenge. They stood before him clad in attires ranging from the strange to the outrageous, wielding nothing but their fists to the most elaborate of weapons. But yet, as the crowd grew and grew, none seemed to be willing to make the first move in accepting his challenge.
Taking the imitative, Muyi allowed the little trick with his Dao that he practiced against QIng Yun to take effect as he called out to the crowd.
" Is there none of you willing to face me? I who have slain your fellows a century ago, does the spirits of your slain families nor seniors cry out for vengeance? Here, I am making no attempts to run, to hide and challenging one of you to take my head. Is there no one bold enough to do so?"
As his Dao laced voice worked it's magic on the crowd promising them victory and showing them visions of returning home as heroes, Muyi watched as a noticeable shudder ran through the crowd. They were very much on the breaking point and one more push should be all that was needed.
" I see there are none bold enough to face me as I am. In this case, I'm willing to let each member i'm facing pick if we're fighting close, at a distance or with our bare fists. Is this enough of a concession to make you all find your courage? "
This time Muyi's voice rang out with contempt, treating the watching crowd as if they were juniors who needed to be coaxed with handicaps before they were willing to participate in a training spar against a senior. An attempt in stoking their pride and driving them into a rage to accept the duel with him, making it a matter of pride for them to crush him over seeking out the rest of the Golden Devils.
The effects of this was even more pronounced, he could feel the stares of the crowd intensified as if they were attempting to rip and tear him into shreds with their eyes. He watched as the crowd broke into murmurs as what seemed to be an argument on who would face him broke out among some of the more agitated looking invaders.
And as the murmurs came to a halt and the first challenger stepped forward to face him, as the rest of the crowd formed a circle around him without attempting to leave, and as he felt the bloodlust from the other invaders, Muyi knew that the first part of his plan had succeeded.
He had drew the Invaders in and challenged them successfully, now all he needed to do was win. Win and keep winning. The more victories he could earn before he fell, the more time he could buy the Clan, the more he could stall this group of invaders and prevent them from attacking the other Golden Devils, the more unlikely the massacres and slaughters of the past trials would be committed.
Drawing his Blood Qi Cannon with his left hand and holding a portion of the Darkness in his right as it took the shape of a Kwandao, Muyi readied himself for what would be the first of the many many duels needed to achieve his goal.
Whew, that took a while. the Title is based on the following chinese saying: 君子一言, 驷马难追 (jūnzǐ yī yán, sìmǎ nán zhuī) which means once a gentleman gives his word, not even four horses can catch it/make him take it back. I used the first portion because it can also be interpreted as a Gentlemen giving his word which itself can be used with " A Gentleman's word is his bond "
This is my attempt at a Wuxia influenced Omake, namely Jet Li's Hero where the colors of each portion of the film were a way of presenting different truths of the same event. Similarly, the Heroforge images used and the color in them are meant to convey the different interpretations of the " vow/word" in question and how they all lead him to make a Stand at Pleuron
Green = Is Muyi's vow to Gui Hua as a Father to keep her safe, to prevent what he saw last trial from affecting her
Yellow = Is about Muyi's vow as a Legate of the Clan to the Slain populace of the last trial, to ensure that what happens to them will not happen again
White = Is about Muyi's vow to his departed comrades to ensure that their sacrifices and the price they paid to keep Pleuron Standing persists, even if he has to do it all on his own.
Red = Is beyond leading to the Duel, also about Muyi's vow to himself that this time, he'll do better then the last.
It might not have been conveyed well, but i tried my best. @Humbaba Threadmark please.
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Jin Muyi Interlude: Gui Ha 2 - The Case of the Traitor's Greed
"Hello Small One! Take care of this for me will you? I'll take it back later! Maybe! If I remember! "
"Huh?" Was all Gui Hua could react with before the boulder size ball of Gravebronze the woman pulled out of nowhere and flung reached her. Just as it was about to hit, the pillar started to shrink in size until it reached the size of a pea which then bounced lightly off her forehead and fell to the ground before she could catch it.
Hey what gives? Why didn't you catch me?
The sound of a voice berating her made her jump in surprise. It seemed to have come from within her head and there was no one else around her speaking, the man who had tossed the pillar at her had disappeared without a trace.
Down here, i just bounced off your head. Pick me up!
Looking around once again and still finding no one, Gui Hua reluctantly picked up the pea-sized ball only to leap back in fright as at her touch the ball expanded in size before it start hovering around her.
That's much better! Now, i'm able to move thanks to tapping into your innate Qi and Oooo, YIN BODY! SCORE!! Well, nice meeting you partner! I am the Ninth Generation Artificial Spirit User Interface, you can call me Nau. I have been entrusted into your care by her Ladyship, the Glorious Mistress Of Disciples, One Who's Wit Pierces The Heavens, Scorpion Breeder Extraordinaire Lady Destasia Duca for Field Testing! How lucky you are!"
Gui Hua knew that name. It was the name of one of the Elders on the council, although most of the times she heard the name was in a form of a curse. Still, she was one of the Elders trusted by the Grand Elder to give him advice and aid in his governance of the Clan, her Father's Boss's Boss's Boss's to whoever knows how many Boss. And now, on a stroll in the Dawn Fortress, she had been pelted by said Elder and then entrusted with what seemed to be a experiment done by a Core Foundation Cultivator!
There was really only one possible response to that, which was to faint in shock and so she proceeded to do that.
Hey, hey hey! Wait, don't faint here! Cmon, show me around this place!I'll be stuck waiting for you to wake.....
Despite their rather rough start, Gui Hua found herself soon getting used to Nau and his curiosity. Answering his questions was in a way a nice distraction from worrying about the ongoing Trials. Her nature meant that the friends she had made had long since grew up into cultivators who were now facing the invaders like Father and she wasn't in the mood to make new friends among the other kids in the Fortress who might soon be losing their parents.
Nau's presence beyond serving as a distraction via annoying her also had one other side effect. He made the Dead Speak. Now, that was nothing new to Gui Hua, with her innate Yin body and her affinity to ghosts, she had run into speaking ghosts before although most of the time the Dead came across to her as remnant thoughts and wisps of emotion.
Nau however changed that. He somehow served as a way of empowering the Dead so that even Mortals could take shape and speak to her. Which was something she had always thought impossible since the Qi needed to empower a ghost beyond the status of remnant thoughts and wisps of emotions were usually only available to Cultivators who had built and refined their QI through their lives. Even then, the ghosts generally could only retain the Qi within them for about 10 to 20 years before dissipating into fragments.
Oh ghosts of cultivators with better cultivation could last longer, but she never ran into any such ghosts. The few cultivator ghosts she did speak to were interesting, most of them were forcing themselves to stay because of their legacies with the Cultivators with a grudge generally using their Qi to launch a curse on their killers instead of turning into a ghost. Now, all these cultivator ghosts wanted to do was pass their legacies on to the deserving or ensure that it didn't get lost with their deaths.
While most of their legacies were just small tricks or refinements of already known arts, there were so many of them that when she decided to aid them with passing on via writing their life's work down and submitting it to the Clan it took her months even with enlisting the aid of some of the 1st and 2nd Heavestage Qi Cultivators as scribes.
Nau did not help matters by constantly critiquing each of the "legacies" and offhandedly making it better which she could also do! She had been educated by the best tutors in the Clan and her Father had been a Late Foundation Establishment cultivator, she knew how they could be improved, thank you very much.
Still he did help, namely via using his knowledge of Lady's Destasia Duca Qi signature and her position as a Council Elder to forge a document allowing her to "requisition some of the 1st and 2nd Heavenstage Qi cultivators to aid in a important task".
Nau however, somehow made it so that ghosts from mortals more then a century dead were appearing to speak to her and unlike the Cultivator ghosts, most of them died with a grudge which they were more then willing to share with her. Nau of course immediately agreed to assist them in resolving the grudges, and being tied to Gui Hua's innate Qi, dragged her into the mess as well.
That lead her to adventures that she was really not looking forward to telling Father about. Oh it wasn't that she was totally unwilling, most of the mortals had died in manners that she found distasteful and mostly for common reasons like:
Greed " ...is where you buried the body. you covered it with cobblestones and petitioned the town to build a road there to cover up for the killing. How ruthless of you. She took you in when you had nothing and treat you like a son, and the moment she got old you killed her so that you can claim the inn belong to you instead of her own children."
Gui Hua watched in satisfaction as the face of the wastrel changed from the fake politeness he showed her once she displayed the legion insignia Nau had imitated to anger and then chalk whiteness as she revealed his murder and what he did to the body. That was why she was caught by surprise when he pounced at her with hands aiming for her neck in an physical attempt to silence her.
Instinct took over and with a roll backwards she dodged his grasp before drawing her saber from her side and sweeping it upwards to cut nothing? Blinking in surprise, Gui Hua got back up on her feet only to find Nau bouncing on her assailant's face. She could tell that unlike when he did it with her, he was not changing into silk and was instead pounding the guy with his metal body and as much as she enjoyed watching this, she really had to stop him before the scum's skull caved in.
Then again, he did try to kill a young child like her..Maybe getting Nau to stop could wait for another few minutes...
Rage "...that's when you snapped and bashed them over the head with your axe. It seems that you didn't snap out of it until they both laid dead before you, where you then broke down into tears. It looks like you still cared for your wife despite your actions, you chopped up the body of Mr Basil and disposed of it by feeding it to your pigs while you buried her under her favorite tree."
As the man's face turned white with his deeds being exposed, she looked at the female ghost standing next to him and with her nod of sad approval said the words that would compound the guilt he must be feeling.
" What you didn't know was that Mr Basil and your Wife wasn't having an affair. Mr Basil which i'm sure you know, was the chef of the Town's inn who made your favorite baked trout, and you Wife was in fact asking for his aid in teaching her how to prepare the dish as a gift for your birthday. The many secret meetings at your home between the two was to ensure it remained a surprise to you as well as for Mr Basil to show her the exact steps needed to replicate his dish.
You killed them both out of misplaced jealousy. Mr Basil was dying from a disease and wanted to ensure his dish would live on while your Wife just wanted to surprise you with a gift. Even now, her ghost is begging me to tell you that she forgives you and that she loves you. You're lucky that none of them want to press charges against you, so you get to live with what you did. "
Despite the Wife's request to spare him, Gui Hua couldn't help but feel a sense of cold satisfaction at the Murderer's reaction as he fell to his knees. Turning away to leave the scene, she made sure to grab Nau who was adding insult to injury by pestering the regretful killer with cries of "How do you feel? Does the Truth Hurt? Why didn't you investigate?"
Nau could be such a brat sometimes.
Passion "...and you decided that if you can't have her no one would. I have to say that it's really creepy of you to stab her over twenty times while chanting that you love her, which is also not helped by the fact that you then proceed to have second thoughts about the Suicide aspect of your Murder-Suicide and instead chose to make it look like she ran away. So. not only did you take her away from a fiance that loved her, a family of which she was helping to support, her dreams of becoming something more then a waitress, you also ruined her reputation in the eyes of the village by making her come across as ungrateful woman who left for the city by forgoing her roots."
Looking down at the cowering kneeling scum before her, Gui Hua tossed out the puppet that she had wheedled away from the Clan's stores with Nau's aid. A light push with her Qi was all that was needed for the man's victim to merge into the Ghostly battle puppet, and a moment was all that was needed for her to take full control of the puppet and it's bladed limbs.
Gui Hua smiled in triumph as the puppet made it's way to the coward and as his muffled pleas around his Nau gag increase in volume and number.
" And now after a decade of lies, the truth comes out. It looks like someone wants to have stern words with you. Yes, Nau i did the pun you insisted i do. Now would you tell me why i needed to say those words in particular? Look at the blades? Oh no you didn't! WE HAVE TO RETURN THE PUPPET YOU ASS!"
Even as Gui Hua argued with Nau, the puppet moved closer before lifting the arm with the word "Stern" engraved on it to join "Word" in carving off pieces of the stalker that killed her slowly and painfully.
Despair "...the entire village's water supply. Not only killing the entire village but also ruining a oasis that had fed generations before you were even born! And for what? Campfire tales about the Trial leaving all mortals dead in bloody rituals? Did you even bother checking on if there was any truth to the claim? Or check with the elders in the village who's grandfathers lived through the last trial?
If you had even bother to check or ask before doing the deed, you would have learn that the Invaders only target Cultivators from the Clan. NO! Shut up Nau! I will not calm down! I'm the one having to explain to children why they're dead and need to move on! This nihilistic asshole choose to kill them all instead of having the decency to just do it to himself!
In addition, where did we catch him? ON THE VERGE OF DOING THE SAME THING TO ANOTHER OASIS!" As Gui Hua howled with rage, Nau found to his surprise that this time he was the one preventing Gui Hua from going to extremes. Who knew that a young girl with access to the dead and the gruesome ways they died would be able to amass such a repertoire of torture and execution techniques?
But those were mainly small Cases, easily deduced and resolved with minimal effort on their part. The big case however, that affected things on a bigger scale reaching even the Clan and the legions. It all began with what seemed to be a normal audience to a Mortal Ghost.
It was a dark and stormy night when our dynamic duo was approached by a ghost with a grud-
"Nau!"
What? It's night and there's a storm. And they always approach us about a grudge they had!
"Tha- That's not the point! I'm trying to make!"
Fine, the point in this case would be?
"Nev- nevermind, can we just please hear what he's approaching us about?"
Oh very well, if you insist. Takes all the fun out of it.
"I heard that! You speak telepathically to me, I CAN HEAR YOU EVEN IF YOU SPEAK SOFTLY!"
Desperately ignoring the chuckle coming from Nau, Gui Hua focused her attention on the approaching ghost and attempted to coaxed it to speak, to explain why it had sought them for aid.
The ghost was leaking Yin Qi to the point that it looked threadbare and only vaguely human in shape. All it's attempts to speak came out in the form of wails filled with Yin Qi that conveyed a sense of anger, desperation and a need for revenge. Exchanging looks with Nau, Gui Hua mustered her courage before pushing through the wails and touched the ghost, allowing her to get a grasp of the images stored in the Yin Qi of the ghost via her innate Yin Body.
What little she had been able grasp from the wails hinted that it would not be a good story. Reaching out and touching it, brought a shock
A flash of images sped through her. Kneeling and watching a cultivator in gold look down on them. Being marched to a forest.FLASH. The cultivator standing next to someone in a distance. A wave of the cultivator's hand that cut most of his fellow villagers into two and left a deep cut on his chest. FLASH.Being surrounded by the dead and crawling to seek justice. Looking down on his own corpse and then moving forward to seek justice.
It was only thanks to Nau acting as a convenient ledge that prevented Gui Hua from falling flat on her face after she let go of the ghost.
"Thanks Nau, but we gotta go."
What.
"What i saw was really bad news Nau. It seems like a Golden Devil was killing the mortals under his care. We need to check and obtain proof on if this is true or if it's some other party tying to ruin the Clan's relationship with the mortals under their care."
Oh Okay then. Let's go! Adventure awaits!
"You don't really care do you?"
Na, I do care! i just leave the big brainy stuff to you, i just hear the siren call of ADVENTURE!
They rode through Fire and Shadow, over hills and along rivers towards where destiny called them. Yes, with steel-eyed glares and a grip of-
"What are you talking about? We're riding on the Scorpion Road which is nicely paved and we live in a desert. There are no hills and rivers."
You have no sense of appreciation for the old tales. Fine, they rode past dunes and oasis on their mission to find the truth. Happy?
"Ecstatic. Now shush! We're near the place and i need to be focused."
Oh sure, blame the one talking and not your inability to pay attention.
Rolling her eyes at Nau's wounded tone, Gui Hua dismounted from Uncle Qing Yun's back and tug her sheathed saber loose from his saddle before belting it on her waist as she strode towards where the memories had indicated was the entrance of the village. The change was sudden, one moment desert dunes and the next a village lying in ruins with vines and weeds growing among the shattered houses.
The presence of greenery proved at least that the Arrays that made living in the village possible still worked, which in turn meant that what ever happened to the village did so before the centennial visit by Array Engineers after each Trial. It took her less then an hour to check each house, with each showing signs of people living within but a lack of any corpses that should be present based on how the houses were ruined.
Hey Gui Hua, come out. I found something that supports what that ghost told you.
Dashing out in response to Nau's call, Gui Hua found herself presented with a faded footprint leading out of the village. A footprint that was only preserved because some of the rubble from the ruins fell over it and shaded it from the elements.
"Well, let's head towards the direction it was pointing at. If the memories are accurate, they were mortals so they won't have been able to go far especially if they were tied up in the same fashion as what the memories showed."
It took them about 30 minutes or so before another element from the memories made an appearance, a forest far off in the distance. Exchanging a glance with Nau (or where he's eyes would have been if he wasn't a featureless metal hovering ball) the duo made their way to the forest with every sense heighten and ready for combat.
To their mild disappointment, nothing occurred when they reached the forest. Besides the floor of the forest being littered with the bones of the dead and being haunted by multiple ghosts, something which was absolutely no threat for Gui Hua with her Yin Body. Instead, what happened was the ghosts telling Gui Hua about a lack of others within the forest as well as giving the full story of the memories.
What happened was that the village's assigned Golden Devil had hosted a feast for the entire village, claiming that he had gotten a new source of wealth and wanted to share it with them.
Ooooh That did not sound good. I bet the new wealth was the villagers!
"Nau!"
Right sorry. I let them continue.
The feast was a trap and upon consuming the prepared food, the villagers all fell into a deep sleep. When they woke up, they had all be bound and by some strange cultivator art was then forced to marched to this forest and made to kneel as the Golden Devil waited for someone.
Ominous. I don't see this ending well for the villagers.
"Nau. I'm talking to their ghosts who are explaining their deaths to us while standing in a bone pile. IT'S OBVIOUS THAT IT DID NOT END WELL!"
Okay, Okay. I'll keep quiet and let them finish!
They weren't sure how long they waited before the person the Golden Devil was waiting for showed up. The Golden Devil engaged in conversation with the other party before a pouch was handed over to him. Upon receiving the pouch, the Golden Devil turned to them and thanked them for aiding in his cultivation by being the source of the new wealth he-
YES! CALLED IT!
"NAU!!"
Okay, okay. i'm shutting up.
The source of the new wealth that he was claiming to have. Thanks to the tales, no one would questioned the resources obtained from selling them to the very nice Blood Cannibal over there who had a hankering for Mortals seasoned with the blood of bronze. Unfortunately, it turned out that mortals with such taste was a rarity and the Blood Cannibal didn't need that many bodies, as such most of them were now no use to him. With a single wave of his hand, he killed all the adults of the town leaving their spirits to watch as their children were taken away to a horrible fate. Was it any surprise that they turned into ghosts?
Yeeah... This is bad. If news of a Golden Devil selling the people under his protection to the Cannibals for spirit stones gets out, we're gonna have chaos.
"Yes. We need to head back straight away and report this to the clan! They'll be able to find who he is and punish him!"
Erm...Not to burst your bubble.. but that might be harder that you think. We have no proof of this happening and i know no one in the Clan who can interact with ghosts in the same manner as you have been doing. In addition, i'm technically not a Clan Cultivator and you're just a child. They're not going to take our words as fact without any evidence to support it.
"Then we'll find the proof! The Clan Archives should have records of which cultivator was in charge of this village! We should be able to find who he is from that. Once we know, we can probably search his room for evidence or something."
Uh huh. That's the plan?
"Oh shut up. I'll come up with a better one when we know who he is. For now, WE RIDE!"
You've been waiting a long time to say that huh. I mean i know it's the motto for your Dad's Legion, but it's kinda cringy in this situation y'know?
"This is impossible. Look at all those stacks of un-filed documents! There's no way we're going to be able to find that information by...ourselves...."
Forgot about the document allowing us to "requisition some of the 1st and 2nd Heavenstage Qi cultivators to aid in a important task" huh.
"Shut up Nau. Let's get them on this."
With the aid of the requisitioned cultivators, the document stating the cultivator assigned to the village was found in less then an hour. Something that led to Gui Hua going into a sulk on the time she wasted searching for it on her lonesome. Regardless, they had the scum's name. Brutus. A Foundation Establishment Cultivator who reported the village has having been struck by plague that wiped out all the mortals before he could contact the clan for aid.
In the document, Brutus claimed that the plague's origins were unknown and that it only appeared to affect mortals. He suggested that "...as we do not know if the plague remains active, i suggest letting no one near the village for the next hundred years and also suggest that in memorial to those who lost their lives to it, i think their village should not be repopulated. "
That's pretty smart.
"Nau!"
What? It's a evil and diabolical plan. But it's smart. It ensures no one visits the village and discovers what happens. If it wasn't for the ghost and us, a hundred years later after the arrays fail. It will just appear as a ruin from some bygone age.
"We can't let him get away with it. If he's willing to sink to such depths for Spirit Stones, who knows what else he will do!"
Look at the end of the document. It mentions his new posting. It seems to be Outpost number One. That's stationed pretty near the Dawn Fortress, it's a deserted area but distance-wise is quite close to the fortress.
"Hmm, it is close enough for me to send ghosts to scout on the camp and allow me to tap into what they see..." Well then, it looks like we have a plan!
"Shush you. I'm concentrating. It's not easy getting a ghost there."
This is really boring Gui Hua. Let's just go there ourselves.
"No! We had a plan, it's a good plan. I'll give you a play-by-play on what i see if you shush."
Okay, fine.
" Alright, my ghost is within sight of the Outpost now, tapping into his view... Okay, i'm IN! Huh, it's a pretty small outpost. I can see about ten people in total there most of them seem to be legionaries which makes the centurion Brutus.
Seems pretty normal so far... Can see Brutus doing centuriony stuff like making the legionaries salute and do drills. Oh wait. This is interesting. He's been sending the legionaries away from the Arrays' wardstone. HE'S CUTTING THE WARDSTONE!"
Wait what? He's damaging the wardstone that is maintaining the Arrays used to alert the clan of the Invader's presence while protecting those within the Outpost till the Clan can send aid to extract them?
"YES!"
I suddenly have a very chilling thought. We know he has no scruples in selling mortals for personal gain. Would he be heartless enough to sell fellow cultivators placed under his charge to the greatest enemy known to the Clan?
"I...I think he is. I just saw him putting something in their stew pot! I think we need to go Nau. We got to stop them from eating the stew and get their assigned Array Engineer to fix the Wardstone."
Way ahead of you, i told your uncle and he's making his way from the stables with your stuff waiting. Let's go and this time you can use the motto. The situation calls for it.
"WE RIDE?!"
That's the spirit! Now lets go now. We have SAVING TO DO!
They did not make it in time. Despite Uncle Qing Yun's speed, Gui Hua found herself still on the road towards the Outpost when the members of the detachment begun their meal. Even as they got closer, she could only watch in horror as one by one the cultivators drop into deep slumber, with Brutus' malicious grin growing in size as they dropped.
Just as they were about to reach the Outpost, Gui Hua watched as a Invader materialized from the dark and made his way to the gates of the Outpost which opened wide as if he was an honored guest and not a foe. This was all to much for her, and without realizing Gui Hua let the link to her scout fade leaving them only with a troubled heart as they made their way towards stopping a Traitor.
Upon reaching the open gates, the trio did not waste time by coming to a halt. Instead they burst through it in a clash of thunder that caught the Traitor and the Foe off guard, allowing them to hear the tail-end of the conversation between the duo.
"...just like the deal i struck with your brother a hundred years ago, here are the karma points all wrapped up for you. My reward plea-"
The mention of there being more cases of the Traitor selling his own people for personal gain filled Gui Hua with such rage that she leapt off Qing Yun with Saber drawn and Nau in tow and without caring about the difference in cultivation between the two of them slashed at him with a mighty slash. Even as she did so, a part of her noticed Uncle Qing Yun charging towards the Foe and forcing him into a no-holds barred melee.
Unfortunately, her attack was easily dodged by the Traitor who pirouetted past her slash as he taunted her.
"Well well, if it isn't the Devouring Willow's daughter? You might not be worth any points to my friend over there, but i'm sure he could find a way to use you against your Father. I thank you for your donation to the Aid Brutus' Future fund, i'll make sure to mention your contribution to the Clan!"
So saying, he lashed out at her with his gladius. Striking hard enough to send her stumbling backwards, her child body unable to generate enough strength for her to block his blows. However, the fact that she was able to survive one of his blows was surprising. Considering his Foundation Establishment Cultivation, she should have been squashed like a bug with his first stroke.
Noticing the confusion on her face, the Traitor gloated out-loud at her.
"Confused? My little powder that put all my merchandise to bed has an antidote that i took earlier since i had to eat the same food as them to deter suspicion. It has a little side effect that temporarily disperses my Qi for about 2 hours. But don't you worry your pretty little head about it, i have more then enough skill to beat you!"
At the end of his speech, the Traitor launched into a flurry of strikes that Gui Hua could barely parry away even with stepping back to negate the force of the hits. The world for Gui Hua narrowed down into the clash of Saber against Gladius, as she stove desperately to stay alive for just one moment more when she suddenly felt her back collide with a hard surface.
A quick look backwards revealed that she had collided with one of the walls of the Outpost and turning back to the front revealed the Traitor grinning sadistically as he moved towards her with Gladius held high.
Father, i'm sorry.
Despite her attempt to be brave, Gui Hua couldn't help but close her eyes to her imminent death. When a shout of screeching steel brought things to a standstill.
"Hey Traitor! You mentioned that you have no Qi in your body? THEN SAY HELLO TO MY LAZERFACE!"
Gui Hua could only watched in awe as the spirits of the dead filled the air with howls of joy as they gathered within Nau, faintly she could tell that the majority of the spirits seem to have came from the direction of the haunted forest they had visited before. Although the presence of other spirits coming from other directions indicated that the Traitor's Crimes were more then what they had discovered. However, the prospects of achieving vengeance for their unjust death due to the base greed of the one who should be their protector was the equalizing factor that allowed them all to fuse into a ball of Ghostly Yin Qi so compact that it showed up in the real.
Without hesitation, Nau fired the souls of the dead in a unceasing continuous stream that grasped at the Traitor with hungry hands that contain enough corrosive Qi to start melting him inch by inch with their touch. It was only the need to present him to the Clan that forced Nau to make the vengeful dead come to a halt. So many was the slain that despite the Traitor dissolving into a creature of half melted flesh and bone, the ball of Ghostly Yin QI had barely shrunk in size.
"Erm, thanks for saving me Nau. But what the heck was that? And what's a lazerface?"
You're welcome! Can't let my best buddy be killed right? Oh and i have no idea what a lazer is either. When i was following my Glorious Creator around, I just heard one of the Qi Condensation minions muttering about using the Sun and Mirrors to make a lazer that will melt the Invaders. I mean, i got something that can melt people and it fires from my face. Lazerface works.
"Huh. I guess it does. I wonder if Father can do the same thing. He can do melty stuff with his weapon as well."
Oooh, that's interesting! So he has a Lazer weapon?
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(5400 words)
This started as something different, but i made some changes to turn it into a Destasia Duca Experiment thereby driving Gui Hua into Buddy Cops Shenanigans.
I was inspired to make it a Detective Conan style mystery with a villain that is outright evil with no redeeming traits. Gui Hua's ability to speak to ghosts allowed me to just jump straight to the reveal + Takedown. Part of the inspiration is definitely from the latest GS report where we have a example of a Golden Devil that went full Evil. this is another one where he turns traitor for personal gain.
Somehow in the process of writing, Nau became this weird combination of Guilty Spark, Claptrap and Lazerface Church from RVB. I'm not sure if i ever bring him back, but the Buddy Cop back-and-forth does let the words flow and help make Gui Hua more interesting to write about.
Homage to @fictionfan because Abel existence allows me to use Lazerface in the Omake in a semi legit manner. @Humbaba for Threadmark, though i'm not sure if you'll get it.
Smiling fondly at her daughter as she clapped in glee at the conclusion of the song, Gui Xing brushed her little flower's raven locks back from the mess it was currently in. A slight tingle at the edge of her sense made her give a slight frown that was instantly wiped away before her daughter could notice it.
" My little flower, Grandfather is coming to pay mother a visit for important matters. So mother needs your help! Can you go to our Cave Residence and find your comb? Mother forgot where she placed it last time and was going to do a search. But i'm sure my cute and smart daughter can find it for me! "
" Leave it to me Mama! Hua'er will find it! "
As her daughter sprinted into the cave, Gui Xing directed her attention to her father who's immediate appearance the moment her daughter went out-of-sight was no coincidence.
" What do you want father? It doesn't appear that you're here to visit your granddaughter. "
" That thing is no kin of mine. "
Clenching her fists at her father's instant rejection of the bloodties between him and her daughter, Gui Xing forced herself to remain calm and remember the Confucian rule to Respect Your Father. Putting a smile on her face that had more similarity to a beast baring it's teeth, Gui Xing continued questioning her Father.
" Then what is father here for? I have followed all the rules you and mother have laid before me. I have kept my daughter out-of-sight from the other sect members and no one beyond our family knows that i had a child. "
" Yes. And the family has given you enough time with your bastard. Send her to her Father's demonic clan and cut of all ties with the creature. The world has been informed that the Mirage Sword Maiden Gui Xing is leaving Closed Cultivation after 5 years, and she is ready to fulfill the duties demanded for one of her status. "
The cruel order to abandon her daughter hit Gui Xing like as if a spear had gone through her once more. Dropping to her knees and throwing her arms around her father's legs, she let go of all pride and begged as fervently as she could.
" Please Father, for the love you bear for me, don't send my daughter away! I do anything, i'll won't reject any missions placed before me, i'll go hunting for any materials Sister needs for her training. I'll marry anyone you choose as long as i can keep my daughter with me. I'll just say that she's a disciple i picked up. Please Father? "
" GET UP! How can you be so utterly lacking in pride as a talent of the Divine Saber Palace? Kneeling and begging for a brat with dirty blood? And if that wasn't bad enough, she also has a Yin Constitution that attracts ghosts and spirits. She should have been killed at birth! It was the love i had for you that i allowed her to live till now and that i give her this road to survival now.
I tell you now Gui Xing, do not think you can defy me by hiding her in the Sect. I have eyes everywhere and your brat might suffer a sudden fall or be hit by a random slash. Take my mercy while it's still there.
You have until the end of this year to remove her from further dirtying my Divine Saber Place. "
As her father left without turning back with those parting words, Gui Xing couldn't help but continue to weep on the ground at what her father's ultimatum meant for her poor daughter.
" Mama? I found the comb. Was Grandfather mad because of what me and Little Lu did ? "
Hastily wiping away her tears and forcing a wobbly smile on her face, Gui Xing turned towards her little flower and held her arms wide for a hug. As her daughter ran into her arms carrying a silver comb in her right hand and a stuffed Qilin doll in the other, she couldn't help but bury her face into her daughter's hair in a attempt to take in as much of her daughter's scent as she could to burn the smell into her memory.
" Nononono, it's not your fault. Didn't Mother tell you that your Yin Constitution is because Mother was lacking and that Yin Qi infected you due to how Mother was brought back after the duel with your Father? And who is Little Lu? What trouble did you cause ? "
" I hate Father. He hurt Mother. "
Smiling sadly at her daughter's brief tantrum, Gui Xing took the silver comb from her unresisting hands and started brushing Gui Hua's hair with smooth slow strokes while gently coaxing her.
" I told you before little flower, your Father was as trapped by his duty as i was. It's as much Mother's fault as your father's. We didn't know Mother was pregnant with you, if we did we would have cast it all aside for you. Don't blame you father alright? Would you tell me who is Little Lu and what trouble you caused now? "
" Little Lu is this small ghost that i found, he's really nice and he was playing hide and seek with me when he accidentally knock ink over one of Grandfather's calligraphy scrolls. We ran away and i had him hide here. "
So saying, Gui Hua placed her stuffed Qilin doll on the ground where to Gui Xing's surprise it started moving as if it was alive. Letting out a brief laugh, Gui Xing tightened her arms around her daughter enjoying what could be the last embrace she could give her before they part.
" Haha my clever little flower. Take good care of him alright ? Now let's go pack your things, Mother and Hua'er will be going on a trip together. "
Gui Hua gazed out in awe at the rolling golden dunes from the window of the carriage she was in. The past year had been amazing! Mother had brought her out of the stuffy Cave and away from all the bad people that liked to pretend they couldn't see her.
After leaving the Divine Saber Palace, they had roamed the Central Plains visiting lush forests, glimmering lakes and climbed tall mountains together. For meals, they had visited mortal towns and ate from the fanciest looking restaurants to the cheapest food stall. Any bandits or evil-doers that attempted to steal or rob from them were settled with a single slash from her fierce mother, even now remembering the bandit kneeling and begging her mother for mercy filled Gui Hua with pride!
The carriage slowing down and coming to a stop broke Gui Hua from her musings. Clutching her mother's dainty hand, she stepped out of the carriage and onto the dusty street. Looking around at what seemed to be a mortal town built out of sandstone with only one or two palm trees, Gui Hua couldn't help but wonder why they had come here. Unlike their previous stops, there seemed to be nothing of interest nor was there any fun stuff to do. She had expected more considering her mother had mentioned that this was the last place they would be going to.
"Hua'er, Mother is feeling thirsty. Can you head to that food stall and buy three cups of juice? One for Mother, one for a friend Mother is meeting, and one for Hua'er."
Throwing her mother a mock salute and grabbing the offered silver, Gui Hua approached the food stall and made the purchase without much trouble. Carefully holding the cups and making her way back, the effort needed to make sure she didn't drop the cups ensured that she was surprised when upon returning she found herself confronted with a metal lady looming over her. The faint scent of cinnamon wafted in the air.
Stumbling back in surprise, her foot rolled over a small stone and her hands sent the cups flying up. To Gui Hua's shock, the metal lady's hand moved with a brief blur, catching the cups deftly and then presented her with the sight of three cups of juice resting casually on the tips of the metal lady's fingers. Carefully, she handed one to Gui Hua, and one to Mother while keeping another for herself.
"Careful little one." The stranger's voice was soft, rough like sand on metal.
Feeling shy at the presence of this stranger, Gui Hua quickly darted behind her mother, hiding herself from view. Chuckling slightly at her daughter, Gui Xing dragged out and introduced her to her Father's friend.
"Hua'er, this is Ferenike a friend of your father. Go on and say hi. "
"Hi.."
"This girl. Oh well, you'll get used to it. Gui Hua, listen to what Mother is about to say, this is very very important ok?"
Gui Xing waited until her daughter gave a brief nod before continuing.
"Gui Hua, from now on you cannot no longer follow mother around anymore, you have to follow Ferenike ok? Mother has no choice but to leave you here with her and your father's clan. They'll take care of you from now on."
"Mother doesn't want Hua'er anymore? Mother don't go!! Hua'er will be good. Hua'er will listen to grandfather, grandmother and Auntie back at home! Don't leave Hua'er!"
The sight of her daughter sobbing brought tears to Gui Xing's eyes, forcing them back down with sheer will, she continued giving her final words to her daughter.
"Mother doesn't have any choice Hua'er. Make sure to keep warm, eat regularly and listen to whatever Ferenike says ok? Mother will do her best to try and meet you again so Hua'er has to stay safe until that happens alright? Remember that Mother will always love you."
Forcing herself to ignore her crying daughter clinging to her robes, she turned towards Ferenike and took out a jade slip from her robe.
"Please help me pass this to her when you both get back to the Clan Lands and after she settles down. This is all I can leave for her. I entrust to you my and Xiao Yi's daughter."
Ferenike took the offered slip, her brown eyes which had a faint red flame in them somehow, slid between Mother and Gui Hua. "Don't die and leave your child Mother-less Gui Xing." She said, voice calm and seeming to echo from a pit.
Dropping the slip into Ferenike's hand, Gui Xing nodded and with careful hands removed her daughter's hands and then leapt into the air with a flare of Qi and landed on a flying sword. Steeling her heart, she gave the command for the sword to go leaving behind her sobbing daughter and her heart. Taking only with her the pain of a broken heart.
It had been over a week since they returned to the Clan Lands, Gui Hua had spent that entire week hiding in the rooms granted to her by Ferenike as they traveled toward her estate, at first. She had been further introduced to another two of her deceased father's friends, a man smelling of wine and a scary lady who had a snakelike creature moving on her skin.
The man had gave her a small silver hedgehog puppet that could totter around and when commanded could spew out flames over a range of twenty five feet. Before leaving, he had promised to bring her some of her father's favorite wine the moment she came of age.
The lady had been cool and calm but gave off a impression that she was nice to those she knew. The snakelike creature had even managed to distract her slightly with it's antics as her Yin constitution informed Gui Hua of it's Yin oriented roots. Before leaving, the lady had slipped her a vial of Yin poison saying that it would keep her safe without any risk since her Yin constitution meant that it would act as a tonic for her and a toxin for others.
All of this left her confused and upset. Angry at Mother and Father, scared of these strangers but curious all the same. That changed when Ferenike took her to her Father's grave in an oasis deep within the desert.
There they'd paid respects to her Father. As incense burned for him Ferenike spoke.
"Your Father would have been glad he didn't kill your Mother, Gui Hua. He regretted that to his dying day. In the end, I think his grief is what slew him." The tall woman said, her face shaded from the sun by her wide hat. She had gotten Gui Hua a hat of her own to shade her eyes from the burning desert sun.
"Perhaps you are all that remains of him in this world. Keep your head high girl." She said quietly, encouragingly.
Gui Hua remained silent, turmoil in her soul over the lady's words.
Ferenike had being understanding about the whole situation and beyond bringing her to visit her father's grave, did not force her to do anything. All of which made Gui Hua feel even more guilty because for all of the goodwill and gifts from her father's friends, she missed her mother and wanted to be with her.
They left his grave and moved to a quiet manor hidden away in a lee of three dunes that had calcified into sandstone rises a hundred meters high millennia in the past. Around a small gourd shaped pool a thick field of purple flowers grew. There Gui Hua met Ferenike's staff, one very old man serving as the head servant, and a few others. Maids and a cook, gardeners. She was given a room which lay beyond a herb solar, the large room seeming to have been shaped to provide her a space of her own.
Ferenike simply told her to ask Ales or the other servants for anything she needed.
Whenever the memories of the time spent with her mother hit her, Gui Hua couldn't help but burst into tears at how the memories were all she had left. Now, after her latest bout of tears, Gui Hua found herself clutching her stuffed Qilin doll to her chest and feeling the little ghost within controlling the doll's felt limbs to wipe her tears in what was fast becoming a routine.
However, this time Little Lu paused mid-wipe before causing the doll to leap out of Gui Hua's arms and out of the room. Blinking slightly in shock at the sudden departure, Gui Hua got to her feet and followed the doll out of her room. The speed the doll was moving forced Gui Hua to move fast to keep up, paying full attention to the doll her surroundings passed in a blur of motion and by the time they came to a stop, she found to her surprise that they have left the confines of the estate and were now approaching the stables.
Moving towards the stall Little Lu had stop at, Gui Hua found herself confronted with her doll writ large. Freezing in surprise at the huge Qilin before her, Gui Hua would have remained in that position if it wasn't for Little Lu hitting her on the back causing her to stumble into the Qilin's chest.
To her surprise, Gui Hua found that she wasn't scared at all. Instead a sense of warmth and comfort filled her body, the same feeling from whenever her mother had hugged her. Feeling the Qilin breath blowing on the top of her head gently brought to mind the memories of her mother brushing her hair and in the Qilin's presence, she found herself able to look back on the memories of the days spent with her mother and bring out the same sense of comfort and warmth that suffused those moments.
Leaning against the Qilin until dusk arrived and the sky started to fade to the darkness of night, she found herself gently shoved out of the stall and directed back towards the estate by the Qilin with an imperious shake of it's head.
"I understand, thank you Uncle Qing Yun. I'll head back now and come see you again tomorrow."
Leaving the stables with a noticeable spring, Gui Hua made her way into the dining room of the estate where she found Ferenike eating dinner. At her appearance, Ferenike looked up from her meal and gave a brief smile before taking a Jade Slip out of her pocket and sliding it to her.
"Your Mother asked me to hand this over to you, it is the legacy she left you so do her proud little one."
Closing her fist around the slip, Gui Hua felt a sense of determination fill her.
I'll make sure to grow big and strong until I meet you again Mother, so you stay safe as well alright?
Thanks goes to @BungieONI for the Ferenike bits, and this is basically a What_IF on if Xiao Yi died in Turn 5 since before the Story Post came out, it seems to have been building up to his Death.
I'll probably still use it if Muyi does die since i made things fluid enough that it could theoretically fit in at anytime. Just gotta make some changes for Muyi's new Tree status. Ironically, i probably have more trouble using this if Ferenike dies since she's being setup for a Mentor role.
For now, just posting it here for people to read on Gui Hua and her start. I might aim to do more for her when i get Writer's block since i actually have a pretty decent layout for her future unlike Muyi's YOLO approach that was dependent on Dice Rolls.
Collaborators, Please kindly threadmark it as " Turn 5 What_IF: Gui Hua (Bud) " hopefully i don't need to be moved to the Sidestory threadmarks until much much later lol.
Now on to preparing the 2nd Omake, which is more on a Martial Arts Book
EDIT: Muyi survived pretty well to the point that this is being moved to his Turn 11 Fate. Not bad considering what he went through
Forgive Mother for not being able to do more for you. Your Grandfather kept a close eye on me and this is all i could sneak away from Sect's Library. The Heavens have not given up on us, for this Saber Art seems to be a perfect fit for you. Work hard at it and make a name for yourself, Mother will do her best as well!
The Saber as a Brush. The Ghosts as Ink. The World as Canvas
This is a Saber Art created by a Sect Member who went down the Demonic Path. It is a complete cultivation Saber Art created by one of our geniuses that a Cultivator can use from Qi Condensation to Core Formation, the heretic was captured before he could finish the building the path to Nascent Soul.
To prevent the knowledge from spreading out and ruining our name, it shall be sealed in the Forbidden Archive and accessible only to those of Core Formation. Sect Members are to only use the Art to expand their knowledge in the Dao of the Saber and it's many manifestations.
Practicing the Art is strictly forbidden and discovery will lead to the crippling of the practitioner's cultivation!
[Figure Painting - Introductory Stage]
As i traded blows with Senior Brother Lin i knew i was not his match with the Sabre.
Reaching out to the familiars bound on my skin, i struck. Making a opening that Senior
Brother seized only for his Sabre to be intercept by the ghostly claws of the Tiger tattoo
resting on my chest. In that moment of surprise, i struck and with a single slash achieved
My Destiny.
Before one can paint the world, one must first learn what painting is. This is the introductory stage of the Art and it calls on letting the practitioner being painted on by the world and their actions. By serving as a subject being painted by the world's perception, one can amass the truest essence of the Dao of Painting.
Nature is the best teacher and the practitioner should always pay attention to the works it paints on their body regardless of how high their cultivation goes. Practitioners who take heed of Nature's lessons will find the Paintings they bring out vivid and lifelike.
The truest way to allow Nature access to yourself is to seek out Lost Ghosts and Souls, befriend and bind them as Sealed Familiars allowing the tattoos that formed to be purely of Nature's intent without any influence from you.
However, such a method is slow and unreliable unless one has a Yin constitution that attracts ghost. The easiest way is to obtain and suppress the souls by force. Foes and Beasts killed by the Ghost Painting Saber Technique can be easily captured and bound to the Practitioner, however the act of suppression will add a dash of the practitioner's killing will to the tattoos formed muddling the insights that can be gained from it.
It is recommended that practitioners start by suppressing with force before befriending wandering ghosts and souls. When such a soul is befriended, one can feed the suppressed soul to the Sealed Familiars increasing their strength and the amount of aid they can lend to the Cultivator's painting.
Practitioners will find that the Ghost Tattoos painted by nature will grant them increased defenses as well as additional improvements regardless of if they're obtained by Force or Friendship. It is highly recommended that practitioners do not intentionally go on a slaying spree to obtain more Ghost Tattoos as the more suppressed souls there are on the practitioner, the easier it is for the ghosts to combine their strength and break free of the Practitioner's control. The practitioner will not be able to survive such a outburst.
Practitioners who have mastered this stage find themselves able to manifest the Ghost Tattoos as spectral combatants, allowing them to choose to send the tattoos out as independent entities or use the tattoos as hidden weapons or tools.
The trio of bandits charged at me. The way they approached told me that fighting as a team
was nothing new to them. Conventional wisdom tells me to flee, to draw them into a chase
and pick them off one by one. I counter-charged them instead. Slashing my sabre to my left
and right as i moved, i paint two mountains and turn the open plains into a canyon. Now only
facing one bandit and before he can react to being alone, I attack and find myself victorious.
Two left to go.
Upon reaching the 5th Heavenstage, the practitioner should have amass enough understanding of the Dao of Painting to be able to express it to the eyes of the world. Like all painters, the practitioner will start with Landscape painting and paint the scenes of nature that can be found among them.
While painting, the practitioner should make sure to always reference the examples already created by nature and imitate them to their best efforts. It is recommended that the practitioner starts with easy subjects such as a river stream or a jutting rock.
By channeling the energy of the sealed ghost tattoos into their saber and painting the subjects, the practitioner will grant the subject a semi-will that will direct it to attack the foes of the practitioner before the painting dissipates as the will within is consumed.
Painters at this stage will have the ability to shape the terrain throughout the battle, mixing up Saber strikes with grasping vines, mudslides or pointed rocks seeking to impale the foe. Practitioners have to constantly keep in mind that their greatest advantage is the lack of knowledge the foe will have on how the terrain will be manipulated, allowing for openings to be formed that the practitioner can take advantage of with their saber.
However, good enough mastery of this painting style will allow for the practitioner to strengthen the semi-will placed in the paintings, allowing for grasping vines to choke the foe, flying thorns to bleed and inject Ghost Qi, water hitting like a flood.
[Beast Painting - Foundation Establishment]
I take cover behind a huge boulder as the bombardment of fireballs rained down on my position.
I had been cocky and allowed for the Seven Flames clansman to spot me before i could get him
within the range of my sabre. The lack of further movement from the clansman tells me that he wants
to stall me till reinforcements arrive. I stab my sabre downwards and with a twist of my wrist paint forth a serpent made of water and a brief flick causes it to slither towards the foe. One second, two seconds,
Three seconds. I dashed out of cover and with a overhead slash quickly paint a waterfall that blocks
the fireballs that were launched. A brief scream. The sound of gurgling. Then silence. Looking at the Clansman,
i spot my water serpent curled around his head and in his throat.
A brief command causes it to turn into ice and explode, shredding the upper body of the Clansman into pieces.
I flee.
Upon reaching Foundation Establishment, the practitioner should move on from Landscape painting and towards the painting of Beasts. The painted beast should contain the liveliness of the animal and if done right should have behaviors exactly like the subject. It is recommended for the practitioner to have at least one Sealed Familiar that originates from a Spirit Beast so that the wild nature of the subject can be fully conveyed.
The painted beasts will seek out the practitioner's foe in accordance with their natural instinct. This means that a painted tiger will sneak and do it's best to attack from ambush while a painted dog will launch itself directly at the foe. Depending on what Ghost tattoo is used to give life to these painted beasts, their attacks might contain additional effects such as a curse if a graveyard ghost is used, poison from a Serpent Ghost or even flames or Ice if the ghost used has developed the ability to use elemental Qi.
Such versatility ensures that even if only one type of Painted Beast is drawn, a foe will have no way of knowing what the effects of the beast are. Forcing them to treat all the painted beasts as a dangerous foe and wearing down their stamina. Depending on the area of the Ghost Painting Saber the practitioner chooses to focus their attention on, there are two combat styles to emulate.
The practitioner that focuses on the Painting aspect of the art will be wise to utilize both the Landscape and Beast painting styles in combat. The practitioner can use the Nature Paintings to trap and slow the foe down while the Beast Paintings attack and kill. To maximize the style, it is suggested that the practitioner focuses on painting bigger beast such as bears and tigers while the Nature paintings ties the foe down. Traplike effects can also be exploited such as combing a Nature painting of grasping vines with a Tiger Beast painting made of fire.
That practitioner that focuses on the Saber aspect of the art will be wise to focus more on pursing speed and mastering the ability to draw smaller beasts. The nature of attacking mainly with the Saber means that chances to paint will be short and infrequent, as such the painting must be done before the foe re-engages. It is suggested that beasts such as snakes or birds be used as they can be quickly launched at the foe as projectiles. This style would also benefit more from using Sealed Familiars with Elemental Qi as it will turn the Beasts into miniature bombs.
[Flower Painting - Core Formation]
The disciplinary squad surrounds me. They call for me to drop my sabre and surrender,
to return to the sect to face punishment for my crimes. I look and can tell that they are
already in the Dragon Subduing Sabre formation ready to call forth the Dragon chains
to bind me if i make any movement. I smile and bring my sabre down slowly,
so slowly that they think i've given up and lowered my sabre. As they visibly relaxes,
my painting takes form and a shower of petals rain down on us. In unison they freeze.
My Sabre comes back up and by the time the petals finish falling, they land in puddles of red.
Upon reaching Core Formation, the practitioner would have master the macro aspects of Painting and should now focused on the micro aspects. Through Flower Painting, they should be able to convey the expression of " the world in a grain of sand ", adding detail, shades, life to their drawing of flowers and petals.
When used in combat, the petals drawn can done while trading blows so that it rains down in a shower of petals overhead. Each petal should be able to at a glance capture the attention of the foe and stop them in their tracks. Practitioners who focus on the painting aspect of the art can seek to improve the level of details they can imbue into the petal, so that it can stop the foe for longer periods of time and even cause the weaker minded foes to fall into a illusory world.
Practitioners who focus on the Saber aspect of the Art can shape the petals they draw into weapons, imbuing their understanding of the Saber Path into each petal so that they act as mini sabers that can cut the foe to shreds while simultaneously stunning them for brief moments.
[Scene Painting - Nascent Core]
I remember the incident. After the slaughter of five disciplinary squads, the Sect Leader himself set forth with a group of elders.
I was one of the disciples who found the Heretic and shadowed him
till the Elders could arrive. I think he noticed my presence but
ignored me, perhaps he did not find me worthy of his blade.
Regardless, i saw the whole fight. As the Heretic start trading
blows with the Elders, a sense of pressure started building up.
Each stroke of his blade caused the pressure to intensify, as if
it was forcing certain actions to happen. I don't know what the
Heretic intended, but before he could complete it, the Sect Leader
slashed out with a single stroke that shattered whatever was being done and the backlash hit the Heretic hard enough that he spat out blood and collapsed. I still remembered what Sect Leader said after making his move. " Hrmph! What Painting can stop a Sabre Slash ? "
Information on this stage is faint. In the notes found after the heretic was killed, there are mentions of the practitioner using their nascent soul to focus on one aspect while the practitioner's Will focuses on the other allowing both Painting and Saber to merge together into One Harmonious Whole.
It is written that at that stage, each strike of the Saber would be the stroke of a brush. And as the battle goes on, the strikes will add up to form a painting of the battle showing the practitioner victorious. In accordance with the art, the painting will treat the world as it's canvas and the world will twist to ensure the painting happens.
However, as there are no records of this happening, this is only a theory by the heretic and should only be treated as evidence of his mad assumptions to go against the Heavens with his art.
I mentioned before, but her name and her unique thing came solely so i can do a pun which pop up after i considered could Gui Xing's daughter be called? Point here is that as a bastard child, the Gui in Gui Hua is different.
So the pun her entire existence would be revolving around would be the name of the good seed is Guihua (Osmanthus) and i want her alias/demonic name among the righteous side to be Guihua (Ghost Flower)
So i can go:
Guihua (Osmanthus) wields the Guihua (Ghost Painting) Saber Technique and has achieve notoriety among the Righteous side as the dread Guihua (Ghost Flower)
Thanks here goes to @FixerUpper who basically sparked all this with Gui Xing. The snip that changed everything is something i'm still grateful about.
The painting styles mentioned here were partially borrowed from what Google had to say about Chinese Paintings, and was influenced from Sai of Naruto and the idea of using Ghosts to go full Yin/Demonic cultivator.
Also, the short burbs before each section are suppose to be musings of the Creator of the style expect for the last one which was a report because the dude is dead.
EDIT: Like the Omake before "Bud", this is moved to Turn 11 Fate rolls. Unlike that one, this is canon as it's the Saber Manuel Gui Hua is learning. Because it's a forbidden manual, it's hard to learn and master which was why Muyi needed to read up about the Saber in the Clan archives before he could help her with it. Basically the Xianxia version of cramming so you can teach your Kid.
The interrogation had been exhausting. By virtue of being the only Human around, Gui Hua found herself dragged into a series of meetings and reports on how they discovered the Traitor, step by step accounting of what they did upon finding out and stern lectures on not bringing the information to the Clan's Internal Affairs division.
Her one minor attempt to defend herself via claiming that she didn't know if she would be believed was immediately countered by the counter-point of how she would have been believed purely based on the fact that Uncle Qing Yun would have vouched for her. And considering he was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator in his own right, while he might not have been immediately believed, it was still grounds for a investigation to be conducted and in which case the proof would be found.
The entire experience left her totally drained to the point that the moment she got back to the room assigned to her in the Fortress, she threw herself facedown on the bed and just enjoyed letting her body go limp. From the corner of her eye, she could see Nau that traitor enjoying his hobby of reading the scandalous Bucephalus Times and it's attention grabbing headlines. Oh the articles were good. That she would reluctantly agreed all though nothing would ever make her say it out-loud.. And she did enjoy the few articles of Father's exploits that were printed....
Her tired musing on the validity and trustworthiness of The Bucephalus Times was interrupted by a call from Nau who sounded strangely bemused.
Hey Gui Hua? I know you don't really like The Bucephalus Times, but i think you need to read the latest Edition.
"i'm too tired to move now Nau, no news in that Rag would be worth the effort of me getting up from this very comfortable position on my nice soft bed."
Yeah....I think this Edition would do that. You really need to read it, it has mentions of you and your Father.
"Me? Almost no one among the Clan knows of me. I done nothing that would attract any attention beyond our latest adventure and considering how sensitive the whole thing is, i don't think the Clan would let the news be spread."
No, it isn't about what we did. It's mainly a piece about how 3 Qi Condensation Cultivators stopped a Mid-Foundation Establishment Beast from destroying a town till reinforcements could arrive to put it down. The Bucephalus Times interviewed each of them separately and they kinda all mentioned you and your Father.
"What. Aargh, Hand me the Rag." Groaning slightly from the effort, Gui Hua rolled herself on her back before slowly lifting her heavy body up and stretching out her hands to catch the paper Nau threw at her. To the lack of surprise of both of them, Gui Hua exhausted body missed her catch by a beat and only caught it after it bounced off her face.
"Now, lemme see what's all this about." Opening the paper, Gui Hua found her attention caught by the big picture showing a Giant Sandstorm Dragonfly being pelted by streaking balls of light launched by a Cultvator from what she recognized as the Bow constructed by the Kataphraktoi Formation while another cultivator seemed to be somehow flying towards it with his sword slashing up on wings of what she recognized as identical as the wings used by the Two-Headed Eagle Formation. Below on the ground, a lone cultivator stood clad in the Hoplite Formation which was drenched with the blood of what appeared to be larvae among a sea of blood.
A summary of the entire thing was like what Nau had mentioned to her. The Sandstorm Dragonfly had attacked a Town and 3 Cultivators that were within it's boundaries at the time stood up to face it in accordance with their duty and while doing so earned epitaphs from the act and from the way they did so. The usage of the Clan's Formations as Enhancement Spells but yet with enough power as if they were in a Formation. A aspiring poet from the Town even included a catchy little poem to immortalize their deeds.
Damage done to the dragon shaped beast, too massive to compare.
Balmung of the Thunderous Sky,
Orca of the Bloody Sea,
Albireo of the Shooting Stars
together they faced the Calamity as duty bid
In the depths of our despair,
your deeds brought us life. You are none other than the descendants of Fianna.
"Huh. I recognize those names. Balmung, Orca and Albireo. I played with all of them till they grew big enough to enlist in the Legions. Wow, that takes me back, especially for Albireo. I played with him about 80 years ago, with Balmung about 60 years and with Orca about 40 years ago. Nice to see they're doing well and achieving great things especially considering the lack of support they had being Orphans, Belonging to a Fallen Clan or being descended from a mortal family with no active Cultivators."
Wait. You knew all of them and played with them when they were kids?
"Yep! I even showed them some of Father's notes and musings on the Clan's Formation once i knew they wanted to join the Legions! Looks like they helped if they were able to achieved so much stuff with just the Formations. Especially since they ran them as Enchantment Spells which according to Father are when they're the least efficient in terms of Power to Qi Cost."
Oooh. Some of the Interviews are starting to make more sense now.
"They interviewed each of them? And what did they say to make you go all smug. That is never a good thing. NAU, TELL ME!"
Hmmm, i don't think i will. Why don't you go read the Interviews instead? It'll give you the answer because I sure won't!
"Grrr..." Growling in frustration, Gui Hua quickly flipped through the paper, skipping past the damage reports of the Town, the interviews with the townspeople and even the glowing praises from the Centurion who lead the Century that took the Beast down. In a manner of seconds, she found what she was looking for. The start of the interviews with her childhood friends which The Bucephalus Times had helpfully captioned as THE HEROES SPEAK.
Thank you for taking the time to speak to us Mr Orca!
- No worries! With the amount of Spirit Stones you guys are offering me, i'll be a fool to turn down the request! That's enough Spirit Stones to last me till i hit Foundation Establishment if i encounter no bottlenecks in my Cultivation.
We at The Bucephalus Times are always more then willing to aid the young talents of our Clan achieve their full potential! Now to get down to business. Have you seen the poem composed in you and your fellow heroes' honor? And the title they gave to you of " Orca of The Bloody Sea" ?
- Oh yeah! I saw that memorial they put up with the poem inscribed on it. It makes me blush a bit since i was mainly doing what every Cultivator should be doing and what my Teacher would have done. The name is really cool, but i think might give people the wrong impression of me. Calling me "The Bloody Sea" makes it sound like i killed enough foes to make a sea out of their blood when it's really more of me stopping the larvaes from reaching the town.
They're weren't that dangerous to any cultivator, only Mortals could be harmed by them. It was mainly just killing them nonstop on my part to prevent them from reaching the Town. I'm just thankful that there was someway i could help especially since i lack any methods to reach the Giant Sandstorm Dragonfly.
You mentioned a Teacher, did he only teach you the Hoplite Formation? Wasn't that taught to all Clansmen? Did he teach you a trick to make the Hoplite viable as a Enhancement Spell?
- Oh no. I call him Teacher but i doubt he knows of me! I was friends with his Daughter as a child and she generously allowed me to take a look at her Dad's notes on the Hoplite Formation and how it works. The notes helped me greatly with my practice of the Spell and allowed me to fine-tuned it so that it works as a Enchantment spell fitted for me. You could say that it allowed me to obtain Mastery of the Spell.
Mastery Of the Hoplite Formation is a very bold claim, could you perhaps tell us what you meant by that and what counts as Mastery?
- Oh sure! But just to note, the Mastery here is based on what's mentioned in my Teacher's notes. Basically, on the base level a Hoplite Formation will without a doubt summon a Shield and a Spear right? Further refinement of the Formation allows the Cultivator to turn the indistinct silhouette into a full construct clad in armor of Gravebronze.
Most Cultivators stop at this point, but my Teacher noticed that when the Hoplite Formation is done by a Storied Legion, something interesting happens. Beyond the Construct clad in Gravebronze, fine details also appear on it. The shield, Spear and Armor it wears is engraved with fine designs with each one pointing to a particular storied moment of the Legion's history.
Teacher theorized that part of what makes the Hoplites of the Storied Legions so strong is these history. Each mark is a act of glory for the Legion that each member learns of upon entrance to the Legion. That lends weight when they help in calling up the Hoplite because they want to make their own mark on it's it for the later generations. This belief in turn strengths the Hoplite by ensuring that all within it are of one mind and one intent.
Based on this, Teacher theorized that to master the Hoplite Formation, the Cultivator should be able to do the same thing. To trust and believe in the Hoplite Formation at a strong enough level that their achievements are written on their panoply, allowing them to become so in tune with the Hoplite Formation that usage of it is as easy as breathing and requires just as much effort. Where a cultivator's first reaction to danger is to instantly call up the Hoplite Formation and not let it fall until the threat is gone or when they return to a place of refuge.
That's incredible, and it sure does sound like Mastery! Have you already achieved that stage? And as a Qi Condensation Cultivator to boot? What a achievement!
- No no no. That's just Teacher's theory, i haven't achieve such instinctual usage of the Hoplite Formation yet. My usage of the Hoplite Formation as a Enhancement Spell is more or less due to a trick. Namely that the most important thing behind having the Hoplite Formation is having the Will and Intent to remain focused, the sheer act of belief so to say.
That's confusing Mr Orca, you're using it as a Enhancement Spell. How much can you increase your Faith in the Formation? Did you hypnotize yourself?
- Not exactly, It's more along the lines of me making used of the traits of Gravebronze. As i'm sure you know, Gravebronze is the final gift a Clansmen can give to the Clan and how the Clansmen died can affect it's properties to a certain extent. So what i did is make use of that. I sought out the Seniors who were dying of old age after retiring from a career of frontline service and paid for a small bar of the Gravebronze made from them.
I used all that Gravebronze to forge my Shield and Spear! And that's mainly how i did it!
I'm not sure i understand? How does that help?
- Oh okay, i'll break things down for you. Firstly, most of these Seniors retire after a career of combat to die at home right? And what is mainly used by our Legions in Combat?
The Hoplite!
- Exactly, so these Seniors have great faith in the Hoplite, it never let them down and ensured that they lived long enough to retire and die peacefully, something which is rare for a Cultivator. To them, the Hoplite was both the best Shield and Spear and this intense Faith in it is all collected in the Gravebronze made from them. Now, most of the Gravebronze used for the Equipment issued to us is made from a mix of cultivators. There are those who died from old age and those who died on the battlefield as well as a million other causes.
What i did was ensured that my Spear and Shield remains pure in terms of the belief instilled in the Gravebronze. The Faith of all the seniors in the Hoplite Formation, it's Shield and Spear and how it can and will protect those within it from harm empowers my Faith when i call upon the Hoplite. It's a combination of the belief of thousands and thousands of seniors aiding me when i Call Up the Hoplite Formation.
My goal is to constantly refine my spear and shield with such Gravebronze and let the faith of all my Seniors lend me the strength to protect the Clan and achieve my Dream! And if i ever do reach Mastery, i'm sure the Faith and Will of the seniors will aid in ensuring my Shield remains like a mountain and my Spear strikes like a rockslide.
That was very inspiring! Before we end the interview, could you tell us your Dream as well as the name of your Teacher and friend?
- No problem! My Dream is grow strong enough to be able to aid and protect my Childhood Friend from all who seeks to harm her! I will then confess my love to her and ask her Father for her hand in marriage!
My Teacher is the esteemed Jin Muyi whose theories on the Hoplite Formation aided me in all my endeavours thus far and his daughter Gui Hua is my best friend who supported me in my cultivation and allowed me to achieve such heights with her generosity! One of the reasons i agreed to this interview beyond the Spirit Stones is to tell her that i'm working hard and that i won't let her down!
"Huh that brat. I mean he's right that it was neat to know he's working hard and that i didn't snuck out Father's notes in vain. Although i did already do so before for Balmung and Aibero so i guess i got used to it. Still, he really grew up well! To think that when i first met him he was snivelling after being bullied by some of the other Clan Kids for his goal to become a Cultivator.
I hope remembers to invite me to the wedding when he grows strong enough to confess and protect his Love! Might be akward though considering i'll likely still be a child among all his friends. But i bet i'll make a pretty awesome Flower Girl! What do you think Nau?"
I...I got no words. Do you genuinely not see it?
"Not see what?"
You know what? I'm not going to say anything till you're done with all the interviews, i mean you might as well finish reading them all right?
"Oh good point Nau! Let's see... Looks like Balmung's interview is up next! This would be interesting."
- Ser Balmung. It is the custom of my House, and i hope you respect what little of it is left.
Very well, Ser Balmung thank you for taking the time to participate in our Interview!
- It was no trouble. I remain stuck here until the Centurion gives me permission to depart. I might as well use my time in a productive manner such as being paid Spirit Stones for participating in this interview.
Regardless of your reasons, we are still pleased that you are willing to speak to us! Have you seen the poem composed in you and your fellow heroes' honor? And the title they gave to you of " Balmung Of The Thunderous Sky" ?
- Yes, i saw the poem and i feel proud that they deemed my deeds worthy enough to chisel in stones as well as giving me a rather fitting Epitaph. I feel challenged by it and will do my best to ensure that i remain true to those words, to always strike like Thunder.
We have to say that it was incredible watching you fight against the Giant Sandstorm Dragon. The way you dodge it's blow before countering with a thunderous strike was mesmerizing.
- Thank you for noticing, there was no way i could trade blows with it. The Beast's greater size and cultivation meant that any blow it struck me with would have been fatal. My only solution was to stay close to it and turn it's size into weakness by dodging it's telegraphed hits and countering at the few spots i could reach.
I am thankful that the Centurion arrived when he did, i was unsure on how long i could drag the fight out.
That brings us to the Giant Scorpion in the room. You were flying as a Qi Condensation Cultivator, an act that is usually only possible thanks to powerful artifacts like Lady Rina's Cauldron or special spells that are usually only good for short spurts and not the prolonged combat you were involved in.
- Ah, i now see why you were so generous with the offered remuneration. Very well, since i have accepted the Spirit Stones, i will answer your question the best that i could.
Firstly, it is not exactly a unknown spell that i was using. It is the one known spell available to all of the Clan as long as they have a strong enough connection to our bloodline. I am of course talking about the Twin-Eagle Formation.
The Twin-Eagle Formation? As far as we know, it comes under the category of Special Spells mentioned earlier about only being good for short spurts of flight? Just enough for the Clansmen in question to flee.
- Ah, yes. That is a misunderstanding of the Formation, but a understandable one. I myself only know more due to my Master's notes that Milady was willing to share with me.
Let me share the information as it was shared with me. Firstly, what is known about the Twin-Eagle Formation is that it requires the Blood Of Bronze for it to function, that without it a Cultivator would be unable to get it to work correct? Some have deemed it to be due to the Formation being too proud to allow non Clan to use it, but my Master has another theory.
To explain it, I need to diverge a bit, i do hope your readers bear with me. It has long been known that for Cultivators to be able to persist in high-speed combat, they need a body firm enough that it can cope with the speed and vigor of such combat, which is why the stronger a Cultivator is the faster they get. Shortcuts can be taken to obtain a body capable of such burst via Physical Cultivation, to forge a body able to withstand the vigor of such speed.
But no matter how much a Body Cultivator works, it's rare for them to be able to maintain such speed constantly until they advance their cultivation where their limit increases. Now why is that so? My Master theorizes that this is because most Body Cultivation works on strengthening just the body of the Cultivator and not their Internals.
While there are a few Body Cultivation techniques that do so, they generally are rarer and harder to train. Whereas when a Cultivator advances, their entire body is made stronger, including their insides hence allowing them to withstand better the vigor of high-speed Combat.
This has been interesting, but how does this apply to what you did?
- Patience, i'm just about to explain my Master's theory and how it all connects. The main gist of my Master's Theory is that the Twin-Eagle Formation does not work for the non-Clan because their bodies are physically unable to handle the sheer speed of the Formation and the stresses it will put on their bodies.
While as members with the Blood of Bronze, our internals are just as fortified as our bodies allowing us to handle the stresses of such speed. Even then those with weak traces of the blood are able to use the Twin-Eagle Formation for a shorter period of time then those from the Houses whose veins flow pure with the Blood Of Bronze.
In my case, i'm the last member of my House. A House who can trace their roots to when our ancestors first arrived here. The Blood Of Bronze is strong within me and reading my Teacher's notes brought a thought to my head. Namely, does this mean i could use the Twin-Eagle Formation for a longer period of time then the majority of me peers?
AH! So that's how you did it! But won't it drain all your Qi to maintain the Twin-Eagle Formation for such a long duration?
- That was very insightful of you. But let me first continue my last point, which is that yes, i was able to use it for a longer period of time. So I found myself using it as often as i could and training my self to be able to function with the heighten speed and reflexes that the Formation grants me.
That however brought me to a new problem the limiting factor to my usage of the Formation wasn't due to my body being unable to handle the speed and sharp turns i put on it, it was due to my Qi being unable to fuel it.
So i practiced. I found myself following in my Master's footsteps in learning how to direct my Qi to certain parts of the Formation and gradually i found myself refining it such that i only called froth the part of the Twin-Eagle Formation that i needed, which was the wings.
Still doesn't that require the majority of your Qi and concentration? How were you able to land such heavy blows on the Giant Sandstorm Dragonfly?
- My House has it's roots in Sword Cultivation. Even before we start cultivating, we practice the Sword. That was how i met Milady, she was willing to pit her Sabre against my Sword and help me in refining the Swordplay i learned from my Clan's manuels.
I had no one left to teach me since all my Kin fell to either the Trials or the many conflicts we were involved in. Without her aid and generosity in showing me Master's notes on the Twin-Eagle Formation, my House as a Cultivator Bloodline would have died due to my failure in being a cultivator. I am forever grateful to her for her help in preventing that.
That is incredible information that we're please you're willing to share! But it still doesn't answer the question of how you were able to land such blows?
- Ah yes, That was due to muscle memory as well as my Ancestral Blade.
Could you perhaps elaborate on that?
- Very Well. Part of Sword Cultivation and swordplay in general is the repetition of moves to build muscle memory in wielding the sword. It's something that i have literally being doing since i can walk and allows me to use those moves on a instinctual level. In short, i require no concentration to use my sword and can instead focus my attention on using the Twin-Eagle Formation.
The downside of such swordplay of course is that the cuts are "light" since the muscle memory for those moves were on cutting training posts or the air as i practiced. My Ancestral Blade however aids me with that problem. I won't reveal to much of it beyond that it is forged of Gravebronze and is able to store and release Qi.
Thank you for what you gave, we understand your position, lets bring things to a close with one last question. Could you tell us your Dream as well as the name of your Master and the friend who aided you with your Swordplay?
- Of course, My Master is Commander Jin Muyi who stood against the Invaders to defend Pleuron before the 13 arrived. I had members of my Clan who rode with him when they sought to delay the Invaders. Running to his daughter, Milady Gui Hua was a fortuitous encounter and the notes of his she kindly showed me aided me on my Quest to rebuild my House.
As for a dream? I don't have one. Instead i have a Vow i must fulfill. Milady has given me her Favor indicating my Status as her Knight and Champion, as such it is my Duty to save her from her Curse with my Blade. This Ribbon she bestowed on me is her Favor and the sign of the Vow between us of a Lady and Her Knight.
"Oh wow, that's kinda embarrassing! To think he prized that Ribbon i gave him when he asked for a token so highly! I never knew he thought that it was a charge to save me from my curse. I should write to him and tell him that there's no need to do so. In fact, he should take a page from Orca's book and find a nice girl he can romance and marry to rebuild his House."
Wow Gui Hua, you want to kill the poor guy?
"Why would telling him to marry and rebuild his House be killing him? I have you know that the dream he didn't tell the Interviewer was to rebuild his House and strengthen it so that none will fall to the Trials. I'm just encouraging him to get started on that instead of wasting his time on his Quest. After all, Father is still searching for a cure and Father has vastly more resources as a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. It's just common sense.
Damn. Gui Hua that's cold. I'm not a living thing but i can feel the chills from your words.
"Haha. Very funny Nau. Don't make fun of my friend and his dream please, I know the effort he put in for it. I was the one who helped him in practicing his Swordplay and the one he confided his fears in."
Oof, those poor chaps. Erm, VERY WELL! I shall stop my mockery! Why not read that last interview?
We greatly appreciate you doing this for us Mr Albireo!
- It was no trouble. I would have done so even without your generous payment. I'm a big fan of The Bucephalus Times and how it helps greatly in providing news to the Qi Condensation Cultivators. Reports on the Contribution Board are generally emotionless affairs and do not help as much as the Times does in terms of giving an understanding of the situation.
We're very grateful for the praise! But this Interview is about you, so let's start things off with have you seen the poem composed in you and your fellow heroes' honor? And the title they gave to you of "Albireo Of The Shooting Stars" ?
- Haha yes, i have seen it and I am very flattered by the high regard the Town sees me in when i just did my duty as a Clansman and as a Cultivator. I feel that greater praise should go to my Juniors who stood up to assist me without hesitation even though Clan Rules state that only the Strongest Cultivator in the area is needed to defend the populace.
They could have fled under the excuse of gathering aid, but they stayed with me and honestly? Without their aid i don't think I could have lasted long enough for the reinforcements to arrive. And while being being known as The Shooting Stars is neat, i'm more honored to be labeled as a descendant of Fianna.
Is that suppose to mean something? I must confess we've never run into that name before.
- Haha! No worries, let me give a little history lesson for you and your readers. this Town has only ever produced 1 group of talented cultivators. They cultivated extremely quickly and make their way into Foundation Establishment in 50 years and was on the verge of breaking into a Core in a mere 200 years.
Unfortunately, before they could do so, the Town came under attack by a horde of Spirit Beasts and they all gave their lives defending the Town, sacrificing their promising future for the sake of Mortals. They were known as the Fianna, and no matter how talented any future cultivator of the Town was, none were deemed worthy of being bestowed with that title.
It could have been due to the parallels between the end of the Fianna and our fight, but for them to be willing to grant it us? I sure am proud of it!
Astonishing! How did you know that? It sounds like a local tradition or legend.
- Well, it's no big news, but my parents came from this Town and the Saga of the Fianna was one of the last few memories i had of them. In fact, my main reason for visiting the Town was to see if i had any kin left here who could tell me of my parents.
Ah..That sounds like a incredibly personal event, so We'll bring things back to the fight against the Giant Sandstorm Dragonfly. What little we caught had you sending balls of light streaking towards the beast from your Bow which appears remarkably like the Qi Construct bow the Kataphraktoi Formation calls up?
- Well yes, it represents the Bow used by the Kataphraktoi Formation mainly because i was using it to launch attacks at the Beast.
That is shocking news. The Kataphraktoi Formation is known for the devastation behind it's charge, the arrows it can fire are generally not used at all or used to facilitate a disengagement from the foe. Currently all usage of the Kataphraktoi Formation focus on the Charge, even the variants used by the 1st Mobile Infantry Legion work in the same fashion.
- Funny that you would mention the 1st MI. The roots behind my take on the Kataphraktoi Formation are the same as that of the 1st MI, all thanks to Senior Muyi and the nosy scamp he calls a Daughter. Upon learning that i was an orphan, she befriended me and forced me to show her around Pleuron and when i mentioned i wanted to be a Cultivator like my Parents she snuck away Senior's notes on the Kataphraktoi Formation and showed it to me
Looking back, i can see how the theories in the notes could lead to the variants the 1st MI are using> But at that time, i had more trouble with trying to absorb as much of the notes as i could in the span of a single day while copying as much as i could do. Gui Hua's reaction when i was doing so was pretty funny, she looked like she was on the verge of crying and jumped at every little noise as if it was Senior out to catch her.
Still, i'm thankful for what she did.
That..was both unexpected and expected. Both of your Juniors appeared to have similar interactions with the Legate's daughter and his notes. Still could you expand more on how those theories aided you in doing what you did?
- HA! So that's why i thought they felt familiar! I mean yeah, the way they were using the Hoplite and Twin-Eagle Formations were new and at the same time eerily familiar to what i was doing. I just wasn't able to ask them in the midst of battle. But if the roots of the techniques to turn the Formations into effective Self-Enhancement spells are all are from Senior's notes and theories, it would all make sense.
Okay, getting back on track on on your question. So the main thing mentioned in Senior's notes about the Kataphraktoi Formation is the division of Qi. The Qi used on the Formation is split into many parts. We have the Qi used for the armor, the Qi used for the Mount, the Qi for the Lance and the Qi for the Bow. The Power behind the devastating Charge is very much due to the Qi for the Mount interacting with the Qi for the Lance in a explosive reaction at the moment of impact.
So the less Qi needed for any of these parts, the more can be directed to the other parts. And what the 1st MI does so well is outsourced most of the Qi needed for the Mount to their Spirit Beasts who are already used to using Qi to enhance their movement. This allows the Cultivators in the 1st MI to focus their Qi on the Lance, the armor or the Bow depending on the situation.
Erm...Is it ok to be outright revealing the Legion's trick to everyone?
- No worries, I'll take the blame if Senior needs a target! I'll rely on my good buddy Gui Hua to save me from her Father! On a more serious level, i hope that this explanation might aid our Clansmen during the Trial be it via making it easier to flee or enhancing a final blow.
Getting back on topic, my focus on the Kataphraktoi Formation differs in that i'm using it mostly as a lone Cultivator and so i don't really need the power of a massed Calvary charge. So, the parts of the Kataphraktoi Formation useful to me are the Qi used for the Mount, the Qi used for the Lance and the Qi used for the bow, and instead of making a Formation that can activate all 3, i decide instead to make 2 Formations, 1 for when i'm in Melee combat and the other for when i need a Ranged option.
Using just the Qi for the Mount and the Qi for the Lance, i have a Self Enhancement Spell that allows me to move in short brief bursts via small Charges all of which build up momentum that combines with the Qi for the Lance channeled through my Halberd allowing me to crack armor and cleave rocks with a single blow. When i choose to swing that Heavy Blow is up to me, so even while trading blows, i can wait for the perfect moment to blow pass the enemy's guard and bury my halberd in their sides.
Using just the Qi for the Mount and the Qi for the Bow, i have a Self Enhancement Spell that allows me to keep away from my foe while firing arrows backed by the amount of Qi used in the Lance. In fact, while i can use that Qi to fire multiple arrows, I had much better success with using all of the Qi on a single arrow each time, allowing me to overload the arrows so that they fly like comets!
That was what i was doing against the Giant Sandstorm Dragonfly. I was prepared to go in close with my Melee enhancement to prevent the beast from hitting the town, but thankfully little Balmung did that job!
That was enlightening! But we do have reports of you firing multiple arrows at the Beast? Does this mean you decided that it was more important to keep attacking it over having intervals where it could attack while you were reapplying the Spell?
- Nope. I was using all of the Qi in a single arrow for each shot. I just am able to call up my take on the Kataphrakoi Formation in the brief intervals between each shot. I've being working on the 2 Spells for the last 60 or so years, i have them pretty much ingrained in me now.
Ah Mastery! Like what Mr Orca said during his interview!
- I won't really call it Mastery honestly. I can feel that there is more i can do with my spells. Not to mention on how they can be used when i hit Foundation Establishment and so on. For now, i'll just say that it's usable in a combat scenario.
Well then, thank you again for participating in our interview! Do you have any final words you like to say?
- Yeah, i do have some. It's to my good buddy Gui Hua and it's about the promise we made. Hey Gui Hua! I hope you're reading this interview of mine! What do you think? Not too shabby for a orphan from the backstreets right? I still remember our promise to go traveling together when you're healed! I have a whole list of interesting places in the desert I can show you!
And when we're done, you can take me to the plains and show me all the nice places your mother took you too! So do you're best to get your pesky problem resolved! I'm ready anytime to do my part of our promise!
"Albireo that cocky punk! That was the first time i was sneaking stuff out of the house! And i just met Father at that point, of course i was worried i would get caught! That jerk! Instead of praising me as a super excellent friend he only remembers how funny i look! JERKFACE."
Oh come on Gui Hua! You cannot be this dense about the whole thing
"Yeah yeah Nau, I know. Albireo was just joking with me like he did way back. He was always ready to step in to protect me from the bullies when i first moved in with Father. It was what he did for me that inspired me to do my best to do the same for Orca and Balmung."
Not really what i was talking about you dense noodle! Haha yeah, i can tell he's a jokester from the Interview! Still there were traces of his true self buried within it like when he mentioned aiding the Juniors for the Trial.
"Exactly! He's nice and caring like that. Still it's pretty incredible that he understood Father's notes well enough to create to customized variants of the Kataphrakoi Formation considering he only had 1 night compared to the other two...It was also nice that he remembered our promise and my stories about the memories i had with Mama.
He only mentioned showing him the places i went with her, but i could tell that he still remembered how i burst into tears at the mention of her during our time together and that was his attempt to console me like he did back then by making me remember the good times. Stupid caring jerk. I hope he stays safe. I hope all 3 of them stay safe in the Trials."
So erm Gui Hua. From what i can tell from the interviews, you snuck out your Father's notes on the Clan Formations for all 3 of them. Doesn't that kinda make them his disciples? Since they achieved what they had due to his teachings?
"Yeah kinda. But it's fine, i told them each before they left to enlist in the Legions that my Father was Ok with them learning from his notes and to not mention it to him if they see him since he doesn't want to be pestered by other juniors begging to see the notes."
Ah, so he knows of the 3 of them and is ok with them using his notes then. That's pretty nice of him considering how they could be the foundation to a whole new cultivation spell series based around the formations...Gui Hua, why is your face turning white.
"I kinda lied to them. My Father definitely did not know i did that and he might kill them if he ever finds out? He's really Plainslike in some things and i have no idea if Cultivation Arts are one of them?"
Ooooh, that's gonna cause some big trouble. They just announced to everyone in the Clan via this paper that your Father's theories were the main reason behind why they were able to do what they did. If he ever reads this, won't he know what you did?
"I gotta go! There is only 1 way out of this for me now! I need to bribe Uncle Qing Yun onto my side so that he can help convince Father not to hurt them and maybe even take them in as official disciples! BYE NAU, I GOTTA GO!"
With those parting words, Gui Hua dashed out of the room despite her tired body leaving both the paper and Nau flying in her wake. With a grumble, Nau righted himself and with a light flare of Qi had the scattered paper gathered together once more before placing them securely on the desk in the room.
A younger junior working to become stronger to better protect her. A Knight who she gave a Token of Affection to without knowing what it meant and A Childhood friend who help her fit in and listened to her sorrows. Man oh man, this is gonna be a big mess since i'm sure they all thought at this point that they were the only ones seeking her affection when she got cured from her current status.
It is going to be pretty exciting for me to watch though! And based on what she told me about her Father, he'll probably spot what I did as well. His interactions with his 3 disciples all purusing his daughter's hand would be amusing as well especially since he would do his best to make sure she doesn't realizes the whole thing...
This was the Omake i had in mind before i requested for the Early Fate. So i guess this will go to Turn 11's rolls. Pretty shocked that i did in in a day. This whole thing started life as a expansion on the 3 Clan Formations and my theorizing on how they work and how they could be improved as a Self Buff over that of being a Formation.
As i wrote the cool stuff i thought up on how they could be used, i realized i needed a way to explain it without being too dry hence i decided to turn it into a series of interviews. Which in turn needed me to come up with a Why for the Interview and at that point i remembered my childhood and dragged .hack characters into this.
I've never played the .hack series, but i did consume alot of the media for it such as the LNs and Mangas. And the one thing i remembered the most strongly from it was the phrase " Orca of the Azure Sea and Balmung of the Azure Sky"
So i started from there and added in the Warrior with the Eyes of Stars Albireo to make my third. Next i needed a way to introduce the subject, so i brought in Gui Hua and somehow it turned into a Romcom starring Gui Hua and her childhood friends who she all met when young and who all grew up into cultivators at different intervals. One of the curses of being a unaging child.
This also allowed me to tie stuff back to Muyi's skill with Formations, so i'm pretty satisfied with it as a whole. @Humbaba can i have a threadmark for this?
Jin Muyi:_________________________Let Darkness Reign, Part 1____________________________
Observe the approaching Invader. Male, Looks young. Is likely to be over confident in achieving Foundation Establishment as such a age. Weapon, seems to be wielding a sword. Conclusion, Should be a young confident Invader reliant on his speed with the sword to dart past the arc of his polearm and reach him.
As predicted, Muyi observed coolly as the Invader suddenly burst into a sudden bound with sword thrust aimed at his throat in a blur of blinding speed. In a smooth flowing motion, he tilted his head just slightly to ensure the blade miss him by the slimmest of margins while simultaneously countering with a vicious stab from the dagger his polearm had shape-shift into dropping what had been mere moments ago a prodigious talent into nothing more but a corpse.
Twenty.
Invader, Muscular Body filled with battle scars. Likely to be a Body Focused Cultivator and is used to trading hits with his enemy. Weapon, Greataxe that he's hefting without any noticeable strain, likely to be able to swing it faster then most would assume. Conclusion, Should be a experienced Body cultivator who relies on using his body to fend off attacks while overwhelming his foe with rapid strikes from his axe.
As the whirlwind of axe blows descended upon him, Muyi kept his cool. Twirling up his polearm now in the shape of a staff he moved into a series of continuous Figure Eights that simultaneously deflected the axes blows away from him while using the momentum from doing to so to land rib cracking strikes with the other end of the staff. And as the hits added up and stole the Invader's ability to maintain his whirlwind of blows, Muyi took advantage of the gaps that appeared within the Invader's whirlwind and thrust the now bladed spear into the eye of his foe, dropping the giant with a crash.
Fifty.
Female Invader, moving in a flowing dancelike fashion with flowery gestures. Suspected to be a Cultivator focusing on illusion and misdirection. No obvious weapon spotted, Foe is either proficient with Body Focused Techniques as well or has a weapon hidden somewhere to use in conjunction with her illusions. Her plan is likely to kill with a thousand cuts.
In keeping to his expectation, the Invader behaved exactly as predicted. After taking a few steps towards Muyi, she dissolved into what seemed to be a wave of silk ribbons that fluttered around him, trapping Muyi in a sphere of everchanging colors. In mere moments after trapping him, Muyi could feel the sting of a slash as well as the burning sensation that indicate poison on his back. Reacting quickly, he swiftly changed the weapon at hand into a Sabre and sent out a sharp slash at the direction of the attack only to feel his slash cleaving through a ribbon with ease.
At the same time, another dagger wound appeared on his outstretched arm indicating that the Invader's plan was to use illusions and poison to slowly kill him. That would not do, while drawing out the fights would buy time for his juniors, it also ensured that he would fight less Invaders and hence allow for more of them to hunt his juniors down. Steeling his resolve, Muyi allowed his grip on the chains binding the Darknessto loosen slightly and built it within him while waiting for the perfect moment to strike as he maintained a defensive guard allowing her to only strike at non-vital areas.
Muyi could feel her getting impatient, his posture ensure that her dagger had not been able to strike him deeply and spread the poison to his internals. And for a Cultivator of their level, using Qi to force blood to flow out was not hard at all, ensuring that even the few doses of poison she managed to applied had the majority of it's toxicity forced out of him. He could feel from the increase in slashes that she had began greedy, the desire to kill him and his lack of rebuttal had tricked her into forgoing all but the most basic defenses as she use her Art to swirl faster and faster around him to increase the number of slashes she could land.
His moment had arrived. She slipped up and had accidentally swung her dagger to deep allowing it to be caught by one of his bones. For a single second her technique came to a halt as the flowing motions were interrupted by the impact of dagger hitting bone. For a single second Muyi could tell where she was. He made sure to not waste it.
With a loud exhale, Muyi allowed the prepared technique to break free. In that same second, a wave of dark green Saber shaped leaves burst out from Muyi's body and landed on the Invader, the Saber Qi coating the blades ensured that upon impact the area around it was minced by a thousand cuts of Saber Qi. Instantly cutting apart both the technique and the Invader. Hearing the cheers for his foe coming to a immediate halt at his blow, Muyi looked at the crowd of Invaders and smiled.
Beating the Illusion user must have meant something to the Invaders. Without fail, the next few challengers that came forward were tough, just as tough as her ensuring that unlike the previous challengers where he slew them without being wounded using purely his skills with his weapon, he now had to use all of his skills such as his inhuman body as well as his Qi techniques. Even then, Muyi still found himself frequently wounded in the exchanges forcing him to rely more and more on the Darkness's ability to siphon blood and bone before converting it into Qi that could be used to heal and replenish his Qi reserves.
This was the first time since his recovery from his wounds that he had used the Darkness so heavily and for such a prolonged period. In all the fights and battles Muyi had been involved in before the current Trial, the Darkness had been a Trump Card, something that allowed him to enhance his abilities to the levels of some of the Talents of the Clan. Even during those times, such usage came at a cost of having to fight to regain control over the Darkness after the battle.
Now with the non-stop challenges from the Invaders and the heavy usage of the Darkness to gain the power to slay them quickly, Muyi found that he did not have the time to reinforce his control over it. It wasn't as if this had not been expected, he knew that when the fight got desperate, he would have to loosen some of the chains he had binded it with for the power. But Muyi had not been expecting it to happen so soon and to be breaking the chains of his control so quickly especially since his plan had been to alternate usage of the Darkness in the Duels, to forge new chains and reinforce existing ones to deal with the greater strength the Darkness would have gain from the blood and Qi of the slain.
The intensity of the duels had forced him to give up that, in fact Muyi had to break more of the chains keeping it under control then what he had expected to gain the strength needed to survive. Not using it would have allowed him to easily fall to attrition due to the wounds from the duels, ensuring that each fight got harder and harder as time progress. For the price of loosening the reins on the Darkness, he had gain the ability to constantly fight at his best with each usage to return to his peak coming at the cost of the chains that was his control over it, loosening the restraint that was all that prevented the Darkness from going wild.
Muyi found himself panting slightly as he leaned against the spear thrust into the corpse of his last opponent. As the last bits of Qi left in the corpse was drained by the Darkness and funneled into him, Muyi felt his exhaustion recede as his Qi reserves were once more filled to the brim. The fight with the Invader had been a tough one, with the Invader's usage of a bow sealing off the majority of Muyi's arsenal forcing him to rely solely on the Blood Qi Cannon as his only avenue to fight back.
If he haven't gotten it during his adventures in the Wildlands, Muyi would have been forced to use either the Darkness as a bow or the Philocrates Formation, both of which would drain his Qi reserves even faster. Even with the aid of the Blood-Qi Cannon and the sea of blood Qi stored within it by it's previous owners, Muyi still required the usage of his own Qi to be able to fire enough shots to prevent the Invader's arrows from hitting him.
The Invader had very clearly been one with a talent and Dao for the Bow and would have tilted the stalemate they were in if he had been given time. Thankfully, that pride in his abilities blinded him to other avenues of attack such as Muyi's weapon being as much a part of him as his Limbs thanks to the Darkness. Muyi's earlier throw of his spear had missed the Invader with space to spare, giving the impression that Muyi had done so to buy the scant few seconds needed to draw and fire the Blood-QI Cannon.
As they exchanged fire, a part of Muyi's attention had been manipulating the Invader into position. To make it so that he was in a close enough radius to the discarded spear so that when Muyi sprung the ambush, he would not been able to react. That had been harder then expected and required a enormous drain of Qi to both exchange fire as well as control the pace of the battle.
But the gamble had paid off for Muyi. The trap had worked and the Invader had died without even realizing how. And from the amount of Qi he got from the corpse even after it had been converted into Blood Qi and back, Muyi had gotten lucky that the trap had worked before the Invader pulled off what he had kept so much Qi in reserve for...
Two hundred and sixty-four.
A thunderous roar heralded the arrival of his next opponent. A Invader accompanied by three tigers of different shades strolled within reach of the arena his Dao set up indicating that he was ready anytime Muyi was. Tugging the spear out of the corpse of his former foe, Muyi got into a ready stance while shape-shifting the spearhead into that of a Kwandao in an attempt to use wide swings to keep the beasts from pouncing at him.
In an instant all parties involved in the Duel moved. Muyi swung the Kwandao to intercept the closest tiger as it leapt at him only for the blade and the Saber Qi coated around it to glance off the tiger's now stony coat in a shower of sparks. At the same time, the other two tigers moved to strike his open back and side, darting forward like flashes of lightning with traces of Wind Qi around their paws lending them speed.
Even if Muyi had cleaved the first tiger with his strike, there was no way for him to react in time to the other two tigers. Now, with his weapon trapped by the Earth Qi imbued in the tiger's coat Muyi had no choice but to once more let another few of the chains holding the Darkness back shatter, allowing more of the raw uncontrollable power blaze through his veins. With a sharp crack, the skin on his back split in twain allowing for a mass of thorn vines to burst out towards the tiger aiming for his back.
The beast in question was by no means slow in reacting to the sudden threat the vines presented to it. In a flash, the Wind Qi assisting it's movement was converted into flying blades and sent to counter the vines all who seemed to be targeting it regardless of how many vines were chopped off by it's Wind Blades. With the Tiger aiming for his back now halted, it meant that all that was left was the sole tiger aiming for Muyi's throat via his unguarded side as well as the Master of the beasts who was chanting in a low voice what seemed to be a mantra that was coordinating the simultaneous attacks the tigers had launched.
Having no other choice, Muyi resolved himself to make a trade and seize the battlefield advantage. In a blink of an eye the weapon held in his hand changed, shrinking into that of a saber that let out a rasphy screech as Muyi drew the blade back in a vicious cut along the tiger's stony coat while his other arm flung itself towards the grasping jaws of the tiger targeting his throat. In a brief clash between the two opposing foes, the tiger aiming for Muyi's throat bit off the intercepted arm while the vines from his back suddenly shrunk in volume as a series of dark green Saber shaped leaves burst out from the wrist of the hand holding the saber and into the soft unprotected belly of the tiger intercepting Muyi's blade.
For any other cultivator, this would have been a bad trade. Losing an arm and exposing your back to another foe was not a worthwhile exchange, especially since the slain foe in question was already being suppressed by the blade held in the other hand. However, for Muyi and his inhuman constitution the trade was worthwhile. With the aid of the Darkness, the leaves buried in the body of the slain tiger start to pulse in rhythm as they worked at draining both the Qi and Blood of the deceased foe, turning it into Qi that Muyi could used for his own purpose. All of which was sent towards his crippled arm causing Vines to burst out from his stump and weave themselves into a semblance of a hand which gradually turn into the exact same hand that had been used as bait.
Taking advantage of his foes being shocked motionless at the rapid regeneration he had just displayed. Muyi activated the second part of his plan and commanded the little bit of Darkness still held in the mouth of the tiger to explode into a wave of vines that pierced through the tiger's throat and into it's internal organs before it could react as he whirled to defend his now open back from the tiger seeking revenge for it's slain brethren. While losing an arm and exposing your back to kill one foe was a bad trade, killing two made it worth the cost especially since Muyi could use them to recover from the 'cost'.
Sparks flew once more as the saber in his hand batted away at the Wind blades the last tiger was still launching at him. From the corner of his eye, Muyi was able to see that the Beast Cultivator had also halted his chanting, the Mantra now useless since only one Tiger was left. Instead, the Invader had chosen to dash towards him with whip held high as tears rolled down his face, as he sought vengeance for his slain partners and friends. The way the cultivator swung the whip indicate to Muyi that he had almost no knowledge on using it as a weapon, as such a slight command to one of the vines still protruding from his back was all that was needed to get it to draw the blood-qi cannon holstered on his waist and fire it at the approaching cultivator with a series of Qi blasts that forced the Invader to roll and work to parry away the blasts of Qi that were seeking his life.
Another vine found itself dispatched towards the corpse of the second tiger where it quickly connected with the little bit of Darkness buried in it's throat before obeying Muyi's command to drain and convert the blood and qi left in this tiger into the Qi needed to fire the blood-qi cannon at it's master. The sheer desecration of the act involved causing the grief on the Beast Cultivator to turn into rage as he switched from all attempts to dodged the shots just so that he could remain standing and force his way to Muyi step by step, parry by parry.
Regardless of the Invader's intent, Muyi found himself now able to focus his attention on the lone threat left in the Dao Arena. The sole remaining tiger who was launching both feigned attempts at pouncing as well as Wind Blades at him, Muyi had the saber once more take the shape of a spear which he soon used to launch a flurry of Spear Qi bursts that not only intercepted the Wind Blades but also pierced through them and towards the tiger forcing it to focus more attention on dodging over it's attempts to get within biting range.
Things seemed to once more be in a stalemate when suddenly a vine burst out from the ground and impaled the tiger through it's chest and back. For despite the pace of the combat and the dramatic turns involved, a observant watcher would have noticed that Muyi had not moved a single step from where he stood since the Duel begun. All of it had been for this, giving up the initiative to the Beast Cultivator and his pets, making no attempts to dodge and choosing to face them directly as a group without any attempts to handle them individually had all been to buy the time needed to let a tendril dig it's way from Muyi's foot into the ground and under the tigers before springing the trap when they were to distracted by the rigors of combat.
Alas, the Invader had not been that observant or cautious, and so with all the beasts now removed from the battlefield, Muyi found himself taking a moment to catch his breath from the intensive Qi usage he just put himself through. Controlling the Darkness had never been easy, and now with so much of the chains restraining it shattered for the power needed to survive, Muyi had to use his Qi to brute force his Will over it so that it would do his bidding during the fight instead of lashing out at any Qi source within reach as per it's instinct.
As the cultivator himself was no threat, Muyi devoted most of his Qi and will towards repairing the few remaining chains still holding the Darkness back, in hopes of gaining back some sense of control over the frenzy it was writhing in within his body. The rest of his Qi was used to call up a personalized variant of the Hoplite Formation, one that allowed the created Hoplite to fight without Muyi's input via puppeting his armored clad body as if it was a Golem using prepared easy routines such as GUARD, DEFEND and in this case KILL. While it would have been the height of foolishness to use such a formation and fight in such a robotic manner against most of the Invaders, for this cultivator who relied solely on his beasts, it was more then sufficient.
Focusing within himself, Muyi reinforced the chains on the Darkness link by link as the Hoplite finish the fight, it's armor and shield easily deflecting the blows from the enemy's whip before closing in and impaling him through with a single thrust of the Qi created spear. Making sure to pull out of his meditative state the moment the enemy's death rattle was heard, Muyi prepared himself for the next challenger while recovering as much QI as he could.
He was the Elephant-Lord of the Fallen Mountain Southern Temple. With a single word he could determine the fate of millions. With a single gesture he could command his Diamond Body Elephant to raze a sect to the ground. While the Fallen Mountain Southern Temple might not have been from one of the powerhouses of the 5th Sea, they still had enough backing to secure a spot in the legendary Hunting grounds for their juniors after paying a ruinous cost. He had been tasked to watch over his juniors, to make sure that no harm came to them during the trials even if he had to strike down at those beneath him and pay the forfeit the Hunting Grounds demanded.
He was now watching one of the juniors in question get impaled by a Golden Devil as if said junior was nothing more then a training target. Oh the junior had work well with his Spirits Beasts and had dealt wounds that would have won the fight or at least bleed the Golden Devil out if he was any normal cultivator. Except as proven by the multiple bodies of the slain, this was no normal cultivator.
He could see how the Golden Devil had prepared for this encounter. How he made sure to turn what could have been victory with the aid of numbers into a battle of attrition with the usage of his inhuman body and the Arena that contained wisps of his Dao.
Elephant-Lord had to admit that it was a impressive technique. Creating an arena to enforce the rules in his Dao and using Qi to sustain it, something that usually would have drained the Qi of any normal cultivator after just a few battles was now being sustained indefinitely and used to face-off against hundreds thanks to the Golden Devil's strange ability to rapidly convert the Blood and Qi of his Opponents into his own Qi and using it for healing and keeping the Arena running.
The rules in the Golden Devil's Dao help tilt the odds even further, perhaps this entire plan was only thought up and made possible by the Golden Devil because of his Dao. It was clearly a Dao of Combat, and likely had ties to Honor, Reward and even Glory with how it only allowed for singular combat between Cultivators and how Junior after junior remained willing to challenge the Golden Devil despite the many he had slain. The Hunts despite the claim of facing Devils for Rewards had remarkably low fatality rates and yet in the few days Elephant-Lord had spent watching the farce before him, more then double the usual casualties had been slain by the Golden Devil.
Elephant-Lord couldn't help but suspect that the offered Reward for victory proclaimed by the Dao Area for beating the Golden Devil was what was tempting the Juniors. Just the Golden Devil's body was valuable to them considering how it allowed him to heal without any price beyond the blood of his foes. No more need to be said about the Karma he was worth as well as the Bounty that would be paid by the families of those slain by him. However, said ability to heal rapidly with just the blood of his foes remained the main factor towards why the Golden Devil was undefeated.
It had long been established that any fight between the Golden Devils and the juniors where they were not slain in the first encounter was usually turned into battle of attrition where the Golden Devil's Qi and body would be drained and exhausted by attack after attack that left them weaker and weaker with each clash until they fell. But for this Golden Devil, his body ensured that any wound he took in a fight was healed by the next, and the sheer speed of the healing meant that none of the Juniors could land enough consecutive blows to kill him before the first wound healed up.
Any attempts to prepare a powerful enough strike to kill the Golden Devil with a single blow and thus bypassing his healing by ensuring that there was nothing for the Golden Devil to heal from found itself stopped by the plain fact that such a skill could only be prepared if all of their attention and Qi were on the strike, leaving the Junior in question open and undefended to the Golden Devil. With how the arena had been set-up for singular combat, that left any attempts to implement it all but impossible for all but the few Beast Cultivators most of who were Fallen Mountain Southern Temple disciples.
It spoke to how desperate his Juniors must be feeling for them to be willing to attempt to break through the Golden Devil's healing with brute force, especially since since most of the arts they cultivated were Beast Taming Arts instead of Offensive Qi Techniques. If things continued proceeding like this, all of the Fallen Mountain Southern Temple Disciples would be lost to this Golden Devil due to misguided hope and an overestimation of their own abilities...
Elephant-Lord had no choice, breaking the Dao arena would be counted as striking those beneath him and he would be forced to pay the forfeit demanded by the Heavnes and be kicked out of the Hunting Grounds without being sure of the Golden Devil's death. The only way to guarantee the Golden Devil's death would be to kill him personally while suppressing his cultivation to the same Realm as the Golden Devil to prevent himself from being kicked out on the first blow. Oh, he would still be thrown out after killing the Golden Devil, Heaven would not be fooled that easily, but it would still meant that this menace was dead and his Juniors could actually reap the gains their Temple had paid such a heavy price for..
The heavy pressure in the air was the first indicator of the danger he was about to face. Muyi could only grit his teeth as he felt the sudden pressure on him and the Dao Arena increase in weight, first doubling and then tripling his body weight to the point that he had to focus some of his Qi on assisting him with keeping his body upright.
The pressure must have meant something to the Invaders, since it's sudden appearance on the battlefield not a single Invader had stepped into the arena to face him. Instead they seemed to be frozen with fear as they awaited the arrival of the source of the pressure. The source in question appeared without much fanfare, easily walking through the path the Invaders had opened up for him before stepping foot into the Dao arena.
Looking at the Cultivator in front of him, Muyi could tell that this was a Core Formation Cultivator, and his presence in front of him meant that he had failed in his attempt to halt the Invaders' progress towards Pleuron. Oh while the rules for the Trials might have decreed that only Cultivators of the Same Realm could face each other, the penalties for not doing so differ greatly between the Clan and the Invaders.
For the Clan, striking at Invaders below the Clansman's Great Realm meant death dispatched by the Ancestors the Invaders had overseeing the Trial. For the Invaders, striking at Clansmen below their Great Realm meant being kicked out of the Trials without any further repercussions. Clan History was rife with records of a Invader with higher Cultivation taking out a Golden Devil before disappearing in a flash.
Never in his wildest dreams did Muyi think that he would be the next entry in the Clan's records of such a incident. The last trial where he had slaughtered most of the Invading Foundation Establishment cultivators at great personal cost had not brought down such a response, but this time it seems that the price he had paid thus for against the Invaders was not enough to balance the scales in their eyes. Perhaps it could even be seen as a matter of pride that stopping him was worth removing a Core Formation cultivator from the Trials?
The Invader in question looked perfectly normal, just a Cultivator wearing a helm fashioned in the like of a strange beast with a long nose and sharp tusks. Yet his every step increased the pressure weighing Muyi down, the closer he approached the harder the Dao Arena start to shake and crack. Gazing down at Muyi, the Invader spoke.
"A Qi technique created based on your Dao by someone of your level actually managed to remain impact in my sheer presence... You have my praise Golden Devil. I can see why you managed to deal with my Juniors, your insight in your Dao is commendable.
You can feel proud. Your actions so far has likely saved hundreds of your peers from my Juniors. Even more incredible is that by making me come out to deal with you, you have lower the threat to your Elders by 1 Cultivator. As a reward, I will suppress my Cultivation to within the same realm as yours and play along with your little Dao Arena. Do try to survive at least one blow."
At the end of his speech, the Invader disappeared in a blur before appearing right in front of Muyi and landing a punch hard enough to send him flying. Despite Muyi's defensive stance, he had not been fast enough to dodge the blow nor defend against it. Now, getting up from the crater he was in, Muyi knew that even that punch was the Invader toying with him and not his full might.
Left with no recourse, Muyi could only reach deep within and loosen the chains laid on the Darkness. Chain after chain of control, rules and will forged over the last hundred years to keep it in check shattered and discarded save but the one chain forged when he regain his Self after the events of the last trial. In an attempt to prevent the freed Darkness from overpowering him, Muyi convert it into Power. Enough power to take the hits the Invader would deal to him, enough power to remain standing against the hits and enough power to recover instantaneously from the hits.
With a loud roar, vines burst out of Muyi's body and allowed his the full breadth of his inhumanity to show. His feet were now roots digging deep into the ground to maintain their grip. His body was now layered with layers and layers of bark to keep his core safe beneath layers of armor. His arms split open to reveal multiple vine tendrils each ending with the head of a weapon, threatening the Invader with the full arsenal of Weapons Muyi had access to.
The Blood-Qi Cannon was in turn crushed and absorbed into Muyi's body, it's addition causing flower buds to sprout up all over the Demon Tree Muyi had become. With a single thought, the flowers blossomed opening up their petals to reveal a compressed spheres of Qi that fired at the Invader in beams consisting of different types of Qi.
In the span of a second the beams of Qi approached the Invader whose's only action was to allow the beams of Qi to strike him before revealing that he remained unharmed with only his skin taking on a gray shade indicating that he had activated a Body Cultivation Technique. Before Muyi could fire another wave of Qi Beams at the Invader, the Invader moved once more with astonishing speed and appeared in front of Muyi before he began pounding away with fists adorned with tusks that rip and gouge at the bark protecting Muyi's Core.
Despite his best attempts at retaliating, Muyi could feel the futility of the act. The sheer confidence the Invader had in his Body Cultivation Technique as blow after blow of his vines slash and stab on the Invader's hide to no avail. The Qi Beams fired from the flower blossoms glancing off and not even leaving a mark. All the while the Invader landed blow after blow as he dug his way toward's Muyi's core, turning the whole thing into a contest on if Muyi could replace the layers of bark protecting his core faster then the Invader could tear them away.
If things continued proceeding in this fashion, the outcome would be predictable. Left with no other choice, Muyi decided to take a gamble. Instead of constantly regenerating what would soon be destroyed, Muyi converted all the Qi he had left into a singular vine, leaving naught but his body with layers of bark and a vine that took the shape of a drill with flowers blooming all along it's side.
There was a certain nostalgia in the act, in taking this gamble. Of trading away everything just to last long enough to deal a blow with all of his might just like he did a century ago. Muyi could tell from the Invader's widening eyes that he realized what was going to happen, that Muyi had been pushed to the brink and was no using a suicidal attack in a attempt to take out the foe before him. He found that fear comforting. It meant that even the Invader thought what he was about to do could hurt him.
A quick thought at the bark in his body change to vines that lashed out and held the Invader as he sought to withdraw. Chuckling weakly at the sight of the Invader now attempting to flee, Muyi felt the Qi in the drill come to a peak as the Vine Drill start to spin, the flowers on it releasing bursts of corrosive Qi that sheath the spinning drill in a cocoon of bloody red. The Invader in turn upon seeing the drill start to spin had given up on getting away and was instead redoubling his efforts in gouging his way to Muyi's core, seeking to kill crush it and stop the Drill before it could break his technique, his Qi rising and rising as he sought to break the limitations he had placed on his Qi and strike Muyi down with his full Core Formation Cultivation.
Letting the nostalgia fill him once more, Muyi found himself chanting aloud words last said a century ago to another Invader. " Protect the weak against the evil strong, Giving up IS FOR LESSER MEN!" as he thrust the drill at the Invader, letting it bit deep into his chest and seek out his heart as all the Qi within the drill was released in a flash of brilliant red that blinded all who was watching the duel.
Muyi could tell. He had won the bet, and that the Core Formation Invader had been slain before he could return to his full Cultivation. A feat only possible due to the underestimation from the Invader and the raw power contained within the Darknessfrom the Blood and Qi of those slain by it. Still things had gone better then he thought despite him currently having minimal control over the Darkness.
Considering there were more foes to face, Muyi had no choice but to use the Darkness to consume the Qi and Blood of the Core Formation Invader so that he could fight once more. It was an experience, the quantity of the Qi flowing through him from the Invader's Blood and Qi was astonishing and healed the many wounds from the duel in the blink of an eye before moving on and filling up his Qi reserves to the brim, leaving Muyi to feel as if Qi was about to burst from his body.
In an attempt to get it to stop, Muyi attempt to withdraw his vine only to find to his horror that it remained stuck in the corpse. The Darkness refusing to let go and in fact draining the remaining Qi into itself causing it to grow and swell, causing it to strain against the one remaining chain of control Muyi had left restraining it. Even as Muyi watched, the chain strained to hold the growing Darkness back, with cracks starting to appear in it's links and Muyi's control of his body start to recede once more...
"Ah, this feels familiar.. how amusing that in the end everything happened as it did before..." was the last coherent thought Muyi had as the Darkness broke the last chain and send him spiralling down into it's depths.
This is the first part of Muyi's stand based on his Fate. I was going to write everything, but got worried i would lose my draft when the vote is opened. Since i managed to get to a decent stopping point, i'm gonna split it for now.
I got a rough plan already on Part 2 that would finish things up + work in some more stuff about the Darkness since it's going to affect Muyi with how it's the source of his strength. And in Xianxia, great strength comes at a price, so going to try and explore that along some conventional xianxia tropes.
Jin Muyi:_________________________Let Darkness Reign, Part 2____________________________
The abyss filled with stars that Muyi saw upon opening his eyes was a familiar sight, one benefit of the Darkness' sensitivity to Qi allowing him to see the Qi signatures of those around him. It had taken him time to refine the crude sensing into a actual usable technique after his recovery from the last Trial, and that knowledge of it served him well now when he was once more forcefully exposed to the Qi sense the Darkness had naturally.
Yet even as he gazed on the galaxy of stars before him, Muyi couldn't help but notice something different. Near the center of the "galaxy" there appeared to be a Dark Star that was somehow even darker then the abyss, appearing to draw in the stars around it within it's body. However, a closer observation revealed that it wasn't drawing in the Qi signatures around it, instead the Dark Star's shape was constantly changing into a series of spikes that landed on the Qi signatures and made them "disappear"
Even as Muyi watched, the Dark Star grow bigger and bigger, it's spikes reaching further and further consuming those around it to fuel it's growth. Curiosity now aroused, Muyi focused his attention on the Dark Star, in a attempt to figure out what was radiating that greedy Qi signature. Instead of finding the answer to his query, Muyi SAW:
A humanoid beast made of writing vines bellowing out a roar as it swiped at cultivators with gigantic bladed limbs, the clothes of the slain indicating that they were the Invaders hunting down the Clan. The blades cutting such a wide swathe around it that the beast remain standing in an open space littered with the dead while surrounded by a mob of Invaders raining down a variety of Qi attacks on it from a distance.
Yet all the attacks seemed to be to no avail as the any wounds on the beasts were quickly healed by the writhing vines that made up part of it's body as they grew over holes and replaced dismembered limbs. Any attempts the beast made to get closer to those tormenting it failed with the crowd stepping back to any step it took forward ensuring the open circle around it remained no matter how far it moved.
The bloodprice to maintain the circle around the beast was still paid by those slow to react to the Beast's unpredictable movement. Ensuring that regardless of how far it moved, there remain a constant of a open circle filled with nothing but slain bodies...
Breaking free from the vision, Muyi found himself once more back in the abyss watching as the Dark Star continued to lash out. Except now he knew, the Dark Star was his body turned into a rampaging beast by the Darkness being baited and worn down by the Invaders as if they were hounds taking down a bear.
If only i was in control! Why continue following what the Invaders have planned instead of paying them with their own coin? I should be able to retaliate with blasts from the Qi Flowers that the absorbed Blood-Qi Cannon turned to.
No sooner was the thought made that Muyi noticed a dramatic change to the Dark Star that was his body. The spikes launched from the Dark Star suddenly tripled in length while shrinking in size, each spike wiping out a single Qi signature before withdrawing into the core. Compelled to figure out what caused the sudden change, Muyi braced himself and once more SAW:
The humanoid beast standing still and flowers blooming on it. Each flower letting out a blast of QI as they blossomed that stuck at a cultivator before withering. with a new bud appearing the moment the previous one disappeared. Making the Beast the center of a storm of Qi blasts firing outwards and single-handly suppressing the previous wave of ranged Qi attacks launched by the Invaders.
Under the cover of the beams, vines stealthily stretched out of the Beast's body to grab the corpses of those slain by the beams to absorb them for the Qi needed to heal and continue retaliating.
The Invaders were no fools and soon noticed what was going on. Hastily gathering in groups, they work together to stop the fired beams by layering their defensive Arts turning the earlier all encompassing mob into a few groups spread out around the Beast. Yet while that might have prevented the beams from slaying them, it also stopped their earlier strategy of pinning the beast and wearing it down to death.
Taking advantage of the situation, the Beast moved towards the group of Invaders closest to it and shapeshift from it's humanoid shape into a massive jaw that slammed down on the group and bit through all their defenses leaving nothing behind but sets of legs standing upright that begun to fall as the wind blew. Even as the last pair of legs fell onto the corpse littered battleground, the Beast had already moved on towards the next group and repeat the act, it's jaws easily breaking through the many layers of defenses that were put up on it's approach.
Drawing back once more from the vision, Muyi found himself feeling faint despite knowing that he had no body at the moment. The gruesome kills by his body and the outright Blood Path act of consuming the living for power exposing the lie he had been telling himself of still being a decent cultivator who only use such arts when he had "no choice"
Don't you like it master? The wish i fulfilled as thanks for my freedom? For letting me lose to indulge in the Hunt and show the Invaders what it feels like to be Hunted and slain by something you cannot stop or kill?
Turning his "head" towards the direction of the thought, Muyi found himself confronted by the Humanoid Beast made of vines as it appeared without a sign in the abyss of stars.
After all, I am the loyal artifact spirit of the Darkness that has been nurtured by the blood and Qi Master has bestowed on me. Isn't it my duty to fulfill your wishes and desires? Master has no need to fear me or what i do, for it is my privilege to Serve and Obey.
"Do not lie to me. You're no artifact spirit. A newly born Artifact Spirit can only happen if there is a Spirit Nucleus within the artifact that is fed with sufficient Qi. Even then, it's a matter of luck on if the Nucleus can gain a sense of Self. While it is possible that the Blood and Qi i drained could lead to a Artifact Spirit being born via the slow accumulations of the Qi dregs left behind after i absorb the majority of the Qi into my body, i know for sure that the amount of Qi from that is not enough."
Master, did you not count the number of cultivators you slain since the Trials begun? Or the fact that you used me to drain the Qi and Blood of a Core Formation Cultivator? The purity of the Qi from him is more then enough to push me to becoming sentient.
"I told you not to lie to me. I know how much Qi i got from the Invaders during this Trial and I know how much i used to keep myself at full Combat Capability. But even ignoring that, the simple reason why you cannot be a Artifact Spirit is that even before one forms, a contract is established between the Spirit Nucleus and the Cultivator where loyalty is given for the chance to evolve. Even if the Spirit Nucleus is unable to become a Artifact Spirit, the contract ensures that using the Item gets easier and easier for the Cultivator.
You the Artifact Spirit for the Darkness? Hah! Getting it to do my bidding has never gotten easier and the more power i require from it the harder it is to get it to do what I want. If you were the Artifact Spirit for it, that travesty of taking control over my body and using it to indulge in wanton slaughter would never have happened! For the third time i ask you, WHO ARE YOU?"
The creature seemed to freeze at Muyi's harsh rebuttal. A strange crackling that sounded as if dry twigs were being snapped start coming from it, a sound that Muyi realized was the creature laughing. Without stopping it's laughter, it's form shifted into a exact mirror of Muyi except clad in robes of the darkest green.
You truly want to know who i am? I am the rage Xiao Yi felt when he came out of his hiding spot and saw the extermination of his Clan. I am the vengeance that fueled him to walk the Scorpion Road to the Golden Devils as a Mortal for a chance to Cultivate. I am the part of Xiao Yi that wanted to accept Gui Xing's offer to leave with her and be her husband. I am the Father that mourns being unable to provide his Daughter with the full amount of resources she deserved.
If you are Jin Muyi, the Golden Tree. I am the Heart buried within it, the one that fueled the tree's growth. I am Xin, the Desires, Dreams and Hopes that Jin Muyi buried under his duty to the Golden Devils, the True Essence of who he is as a Cultivator! Count yourself lucky JIN MUYI! If it wasn't for me displacing the Spirit Nucleus of the Darkness and residing in it, i would have been a Heart Tribulation that crushes all hopes of your advancement to Core Formation.
Still, this is our first meeting so let me give you a little gift to show how lucky you are that i remained content to reside in your Weapon. Observe.
As if hypnotized, Muyi found himself looking towards the Dark Star once more only to find it now confronted with a glowing Sun whose mere presence caused the many stars that were originally surrounding the Dark Star to make way for it to approach. The interval between the two started to shrink until clashed in a contest of bright light against total darkness, the contest showing the two to be equal in strength at the start of the conflict.
Yet as time passed, the Dark Star started to diminish in size, appearing as if it was going to be consumed by the unchanging Sun before it....
Ah, it looks like it's still soon to face a Core Formation cultivator head-on. The amount of Qi they have access to as well as the purity of their Qi is definitely something no mere Foundation Establishment Cultivator can match. Looks like to prevent my Gift from being ruined, i have to step in personally. You're welcome to view the scene of me doing so. Treat it as another example of why you should feel glad of my presence.
At the end of his speech, the entity that called itself Xin disappeared as abruptly as it came while simultaneously a change fell over the Dark Star. Muyi watched as the Dark Star suddenly changed it's shape, voluntarily shrinking in size and using the mass to grow sharp tendrils that targeted and pierce the small stars around it wiping them out before moving to another target in a brief efficient manner.
In the time it took a heart to beat twice, the Dark Star started to gradually grow as it once more approach the size it was before the confrontation with the Sun. Despite his best attempts to do so, Muyi found himself incredibly curious about what Xin had done to reverse the situation in such a dramatic fashion, and so let himself SEE:
The beast had once more taken a humanoid shape and was lashing out at the Core Formation Invader with giant bladed limbs rippling with Saber Qi. Yet, despite the Saber Qi coating the bladed limbs, they could only last one to two clashes against the Invader's sword before they shattered from the stress of his attacks. Creating a situation where new limbs were constantly been grown and shattered as the beast faced off against the Invader while spear tipped vines launched themselves from it's back, piercing the nearby foes and draining them of their Blood and Qi to fuel the constant regeneration the Beast needed to fight.
Even as the beast traded mighty blows with the Invader, it constantly sought to tilt the odds in it's favor by launching a plethora of tricks such as changing the shape of it's limbs mid-swing to target a different area, create Qi flowers to fire blasts of Qi meant to force the Invader to make a disadvantageous move or fire spear-tipped vines from it's front as a ambush. Yet all these petty tricks seemed to meant nothing to the Invader's sword which moved with neither haste nor speed but somehow was always in position to parry or deflect the beast's attempt to launch an offensive.
Despite the failure of it's attacks the Beast persisted with it's attempts, even increasing the speed of it's attacks until things quickly descended into a blur. Gradually, attacks started to slip through the Invader's guard. First a slash that left a small cut, a blast of QI that pounded the thigh. Then a vine that was deflected from the Invader's chest to their forearms. The attacks that landed start to increase and escalate, dealing more and more deadly blows on the Invader, with each one already landed assisting the next by pounding away at the Invader paltry attempts to set up his defensive stance once more.
Things soon culminated with the Invader losing enough ground to the Beast's unfaltering assault until he left his sword arm open. A opportunity the Beast quickly seized with swift swings of his blades that took the arm clean off with the first stroke and buried the second deep within the Invader's skull.
Pulling himself back now that the Sun was dead, Muyi found himself once more confronted with Xin who had once more took his shape and was looking at him with a sardonic smirk that look foreign on a face that was identical to Muyi's.
What do you think of the gift? Did you like it? Doesn't it show you how useful i can be? With me in control over the Darkness, I'm able to easily take out a Core Formation Invader unlike your substandard usage of it that relied on a gamble.
"So this was a showcase? A way to display how useful you can be to me? Why? What do you want? Considering what you just did, why not consume me and become Jin Muyi? Isn't that what most Heart Devils desire?"
You wrong me Master. Upon residing in the Darkness, i changed from being your Heart Devil and into something different. Instead, i would like to establish a deal with you where we both benefit. If you swear to only use the Darkness as your weapon and ensure that i will get a part of the Blood and Qi of those slain by it, I will aid you with controlling it. You just need to tell me what you want done, and I will get the Darkness to do it. I'll even take the initiative to swear that i will only preemptively act only in defense and will stop any such acts if you demand it.
"This sounds like it benefits me more then it does you. What's your angle for seeking such a deal?"
Like you said, i'm no artifact spirit as such i don't benefit from a constant influx of Qi that i can use to grow and cultivate. Instead i have to rely on the Blood and Qi obtained when you kill with the Darkness to be able to do the same. With the deal, i hope to get more then the dregs i had before. Of course i will ensure that in a fight the majority goes to keeping you alive since we're bound to each other, but getting more on my end during less dangerous situations is to my advantage.
"Very well... We have an accord. I don't trust you considering the core of your essence is from my Heart Devil, but i'm willing to give you the chance to prove me wrong."
Excellent...Let the deal be struck! Now, awaken Master and see the effects of your last stand.
With those parting words, Muyi found the Abyss and it's stars seemed to sink as his "body" started to soar up and up towards a light greenish light that seemed to be beckoning him. As Muyi's presence faded from the Abyss, the smile on Xin's face reversed itself into a sneer.
Fool. Does he think that i'm foolish enough to reside in a body which has the Blood of Bronze flowing within? The disadvantages of having it include dealing with Heaven's Wrath as well as the inability to stay anywhere but within the Golden Devil Clan. Why should I risk extermination from either Heaven or Old Gold upon getting the chance to LIVE?
No, I can sense it. The potential to turn the Darkness into a Spiritual Plant Body in it's own right given enough Blood and Qi to nourish it. Use me for now, Jin Muyi. Feed me and let me grow. Seek out the bloodiest battles and conflict under the guise of fulfilling your Duty! With each kill i get stronger, and with each kill i get closer to my freedom.
But one day, when i accumulate enough to grow the Darkness into a body and kill all traces of your will from it, when you least expect it, I will strike and LIVE. I can already imagine the heights i could reach upon feasting on the Human cattle roaming in the plains!
The greenish light surrounding Muyi grew brighter and brighter before it faded. Showing Muyi a scene that was an exact mirror of the vision he had while observing Xin take control of the Darkness. A field of slain Invaders, and a almost cleaved in twain Core Formation Cultivator holding a shattered sword lying before him.
Looking around, Muyi found that he was nowhere near Pleuron. That in the interval between him falling into the Abyss of Stars and coming out of it, Xin had over the course of their hunt for blood and Qi moved his body deep into the desert and away from the Scorpion Road.
Just as he was about to reach out with his Qi to sense the nearest Waycastle, a voice whispered to him in his head.
Master, let me. The Scorpion Road is 4 miles that way, Pleuron itself seems to have disappeared. I am unable to detect it's Qi signature at all. It might have been destroyed.
The news struck Muyi like a hammer, the chance that Pleuron was destroyed, that the vow he made to his dead comrades failed because he was too weak to hold till the Trial was over. He moved, flaring what QI he could spare to speed his legs as he ran towards the direction Xin had indicate the Scorpion Road was in.
Stepping onto the Scorpion Road and using his Clan Insignia token, he accessed the Qi Map of the Road and felt a chill run through him as the Qi Map's detection of the road failed miles before where Pleuron was. The only thing showing up was the emptiness that indicate the desert, no sign at all of what should have been a prosperous city connected to the Scorpion Road.
Desperation filling his veins, it took but a single glance to determine his current position on the Scorpion Road and the directions he needed to take to get to Pleuron. It took a week of non-stop running for Muyi to reach the area that was no showing up as uncharted on the Qi Map, without any hesitation he flung himself into it's depths using what few landmarks that remained to help him navigate the rest of the way to Pleuron.
It wasn't long before Muyi spotted a group of refugees heading towards the direction he came from. Just as he was about to approach them to seek out news about Pleuron and those residing in it resolved to beg and bribe if necessarily, Xin whispered to him once more.
Master there's no need to do that. Getting them to tell us the news would still require time to be spent to calm them down as well as negotiate with them. I have a better solution in mind. I can use my Qi create some pollen that will lower their suspicions as well as compel them to speak to us to get the news instead. This would allow us to quickly get the news we need and continue on our journey to Pleuron.
The thought of taking the choice away from the mortals was repugnant to Muyi, yet the desperation flowing within him proved superior and crushed the half-formed thoughts of refusing the offer. With a heavy nod of his head, Muyi gestured to Xin to proceed.
"Told to flee Pleuron..."
"no time to take anything but flee...."
"separated from my daughter...."
"lost my child to the desert heat while fleeing..."
"was promised that the Devouring Willow would protect our homes..."
"my ancestors gave his life to defend Pleuron a hundred years ago, to think we have to flee now...."
"disgrace to the sacrifice the Thirteen paid to keep the city safe..."
"FAILURE"
"WORTHLESS"
"Should not have put our faith in him.."
"Heard from one the cultivators who stayed behind that they saw him fleeing after killing a Invader..."
"Left the moment his own life was in danger...."
Each and every statement spoken by the Mortals who were compelled to tell the truth felt like a stab to his heart. His betrayal to his vow wrote large by the ones who suffered it the most. Staggering and stumbling heavily from the words, it took all the strength Muyi could muster to remain standing and not fall to his knees in despair.
Fools! They don't know what you sacrificed and what you did when you "fled". Should i kill them for badmouthing your deeds Masters? Such rumors should not be allowed to spread.
"N...No, Xin. Leave them be. And please withdraw your presence, i need to be alone for now..."
As you request, Master.
Sinking back into the Abyss that was his home where Muyi could never reach without his assistance, Xin crackled with glee at how fortune shone on him allowing him to so easily chip another chink into Muyi's will with the presence of the refugees.
Truly, Heaven must be assisting me! To think he gave the words of mere mortals such importance! And that he had so much trust in the words i said! Ah Jin Muyi you fool, despite your friendship with two renown poison cultivators did it not occur to you that i could be using using a hallucinogenic pollen instead?
I wonder how you react when you reach the ruins of Pleuron?
Muyi could barely recognize the ruins before him to be the bustling city that was Pleuron. It had been razed to the ground, it's towers knocked flat and it's streets leveled with craters and holes. Yet the cruelest part was that for all the devastation on it, with some effort Muyi could still see traces of the areas that his comrades had described to him with pride.
The Park of a Thousand Flowers
The Shop by the Square that sold the tastiest pastries
The tailsman shop owned by a family of cultivators whose's last heir gave his life during the last trial
A thousand and one memories that he swore to the tombstones of his Comrades that he would defend and preserve as long as he lived. Yet, now all that remained was a mockery of the vow. He lived, but Pleuron didn't....
Oh a new city would be build, new families, new cultivators will make their homes on this land and turn the ruins back into something prosperous. But the places he swore to protect, that contain the last traces of his comrades remained gone.
No matter what i do, I can't save anyone
But there's nothing I can do but try to change
What is to come
(I do anything within my power
I give everything I've got
But the dream we had is lost to me now
Brothers, I let you down
You trusted me, believed in me
And I let you down)
Of all the things I tried
I cannot stop the tide
And I pray that someday, somehow I can
Force away the tide.
There's nothing left of Pleuron
No hopes, no future...
Come Master, there's nothing you can do for the place now. Let's head back and see if we could assist in any other fashion...
[30 Impact] The Darkness (The Spirit of his Ji given life by the blood of Muyi's slain foes fueled by a Primal need to KILL/HURT/PROTECT that was his last thoughts during the first Stand at Pleuron. Both have fused into a parasitical Weapon that reacts to Muyi's conscious and unconscious thoughts, allowing it to change it shape freely as well as burst out from within his Human form at a mere thought. The Second Stand at Pleuron has fed it to the point that it consumed and sublimate both the remnants of his Ji and of the Blood-Qi Cannon while gaining a rudimentary will that piloted Muyi into taking down an army on his lonesome.
The second part of Muyi's Stand based on his Fate. It's also where is start to bring in my plans of "Darkness Reigning" beyond the physical. Although there are some aspects to show how Xin as a whole is superior in controlling the Darkness and using it in a fight.
The aim is to go standard Xianxia and have a good old-fashion Heart Devil/Inner Devil working against the MC while residing in them. It might not have been conveyed clearly, but Xin (which is Heart, as in Heart Devil) is manipulating and twisting the info he presents to Muyi in the worst possible light.
I got plans to work on that in a Part 3 based around choosing the mission and how Xin is going to twist and convey information to drive Muyi to make reckless choices to prove himself. Also, 40% of this is so i can do a ver of Phil Collins' No Way Out as a lament, which i was inspired to do by that Mulan adaption we're messing around with.
Also, since Occi didn't provide a summary for the Darkness, thought i give it a shot in doing a summary in that style. I think it came out pretty OK.
Jin Muyi:_________________________Let Darkness Reign, Part 3____________________________
Ironically, it was the low casualties from the Trials that allowed the rumors to begin. Cultivators who should have been busy with missions to hold the Clan's Territories together, who should have been vastly overworked during to being thrown into a position way above their skill-sets now find themselves remaining in the duties they had long been accustomed to.
That amount of "free-time" and the Clan's good fortune soon lead the idle to talk about how it all happened. It started out with the tales of the Heroes who confronted the Invaders. Lady Rina who seized Power from the Heavens to smite down the Invader that destroyed Pleuron, The Diviner Zeno who gathered a group and led them in stalling a genius among the Invaders and his retinue. The 'Undying' Wei Feng. Lady Aretaphila last of an Old Line who found enlightenment among the Trials, Magnus who proved himself more then equal to Minervina in his Mastery Of Poison.
Yet in an unspoken agreement, nothing was spoke of the Devourer, Jin Muyi who had somehow consume the blood and flesh of the Invaders. Deep in the dark night, stories spread among the few juniors tasked to gather the corpses of the Invaders. Of how those slain by him were found with not a single drop of blood left if they were fortunate, if they were unfortunate their bodies were not only drained of blood but also marred with huge gaping toothmarks.
Those sensitive to Qi found themselves adding their own insights to the stories, of how in the entire duration of the trials not once did Jin Muyi run out of Qi. Of how they could even sense it recover to it's peak whenever it dropped low, with some of the best even mentioning that they could sense the Qi of the Invaders near him flowing into him. That little addition to the stories was all that was needed for rumors to spread of Jin Muyi using a dark Bloodpath Art to drain the Qi of the Invaders to grant him enough might to slay 2 Core Formation Cultivators, and that done once can be done again, perhaps even to fellow Clansmen if there were no foes around for him to Devour.
Those from his former Legion and those who went on missions with him attempted to speak up in his defense. On how, while he might have some bloodpath techniques he had used them solely on the foes and remained in full control the entire time. That it was usually used as a last resort, with Jin Muyi preferring to use his Martial Skills or his ability with Formations in a pinch over the taboo that was Bloodpath. Yet, all that did was spread the message among the Clan of "Jin Muyi had been practicing the Blood Arts for a long time without even attempting to conceal it" that he used his appointment as Legate to force his subordinates to ignore his acts till he could convince them that he did it for the Clan.
So prevalent were such rumors that even some of the Cultivators of the 1st Mobile Infantry couldn't help but wonder if there was any truth to it. After all, each and every time he used his ability to consume a cultivator, it was during a time of crisis such as the 2nd Cannibal War. Was his claim of leaving the Legion to make a Stand at Pleuron not as heroic as it seemed? Could it be that he choose to do that because he knew that he could reap a ripe crop from the Invaders and gorge himself on their blood and qi before presenting his improved strength to the Clan as a fait accompli?
After all, there were reports of Jin Muyi leaving the spot he had fought to defend to pursue and chase down Invaders to drain them of their Qi. For all his grand claims of not letting Pleuron fall till he did, he was nowhere near when the shockingly powerful Foundation Invader made an appearance. Another piece of evidence that lent credence to that theory was shared among the masses by the few observant cultivators who were stationed near the room Jin Muyi was assigned with, and how sometimes when he slept he would start talking out loud to himself, a potential sign that he was so deep within the Blood Arts that he had amass enough impure Qi for a Blood Devil to form within his heart, one that appeared to be instigating him to Kill, to Hurt and to Consume based on his fervent denials.
The man himself seemed to have become more short-tempered, constantly on the verge of lashing out and sometimes looking on the juniors as if they were food. His melancholic state a drastic contrast to the rest of the Clan that were celebrating the low casualties of the Trials, rumors of that being due to there no longer being any Invaders he could consume being the cause. There were reports on how he seemed to be attempting to work off most of his mood by destroying the training fields available to Clan members, the juniors sent to clean up after him reporting that the damage done to the field was consistent with that done on the corpses of those he slain, a series of large holes, giant slashes and bite marks.
To say Jin Muyi was shunned would be inaccurate, for he was still a Foundation Establishment Cultivator of some standing who had achieved great deeds during the Trials. Yet to say that he was applauded with praise was not right as well, for the rumors and evidence of his deeds during the trials found fertile soil among the Clan and no one was willing to associate with a Bloodpath Cannibal especially since the Clan had just driven out the last of Old Cannibal's brood in the last war before the Trials.
The more Clansmen who reacted in this fashion, the more clansmen believed that there was some truth to the rumors. And like ripples in a pond, Jin Muyi became a pariah that was interacted with only when Duty demanded it, his lack of attempts in changing the situation tilting the balance even more towards there being Truth to the rumors that were spread among the Clan...
For Muyi, life with Xin residing in the Darkness was different. Instead of having to constantly deal with the urges of letting loose and lashing out at those around him, Muyi now only had to deal with Xin and his suggestions. While admittedly most of the suggestions were taboo in nature, all that was needed for Muyi to explain the reasoning behind his rejection of it for Xin to drop the idea.
Oh there were still times where some of the urges would escape Xin's grasp and rack Muyi with tremors to Act, to Do Something. But the frequency of such cases only dwindled as Xin got better and better at handling the Darkness. Thankfully, Muyi had been assigned a room of his own where he could work in private with Xin on how to fully mesh Xin's control with his thoughts so that things happen near instantaneously.
It was something that require work, to slowly shave off seconds one by one between Muyi's thoughts and the Darkness acting under Xin's commands. The training fields were a godsend, a place where he could focus purely on speed via giving simple commands to Stab, Slash or Tear. And while Muyi felt sorry for the Juniors who had to repair the fields whenever he was done with a training session, there was nothing else he could do but work harder at working with Xin.
This overwhelming desire to once more gain Mastery over the Darkness and what it can do, to be able to wield it once more as part of his body helped Muyi with the demons of the last Trial. His broken vows and even the guilt from his rampant feeding orgy all put aside till he could gain the strength needed to ensure that it would never happen again.
His world had narrowed down towards that goal, and Muyi found the rest of the outside world just passing by as if it was a leaf in the wind. He could only feel a sense of relief that the Clan celebrations remain mild despite the overwhelming success of the Trials, only a few ceremonies he had to show up to and no invitations to any decadent parties or celebrations he had half expected to be invited to. Even the Juniors seemed to be focusing purely on their duties, reaching out to him solely for Official Work and not to hear his accounts of the Trials.
This self-delusion Muyi was in would have remained if it wasn't for the announcement of the 3 Great Expeditions the Clan was about to dispatch and the recruitment of members for them.
Grinding to a halt, the siege in the Great Battlefield was a mere formality that the Noble Devil Alliance would be pushed back until the raids in the south happened. With massive withdrawals of elders and experts, the power that had been painstakingly built up by the Righteous Path for a second counterblow evaporated, leaving a defensive triangle in the north, as well as another grinding siege line in the south. The Fearless Line that had been retaken suddenly fell, the massive exodus of forces to the south making it no longer tenable to hold. With a huge number of Righteous forces having broken through to relieve the north, the Song Empire suddenly found itself becoming a main battlefront once more.
The plains around have been denuded of mortals, refugees pouring into Thousand Song City. Almost four and a half million mortals are in the city, with no way out. A column of relief troops - including array-masters and formations from the Golden Devils have been sent, two Legions in their entirety deployed to hold the city alongside the various Righteous forces. If the city falls, it will mean the death of millions as Blood Path cultivators gorge themselves on the human qi of the mortals.
It must be held.
Qi Condensation cultivators will be deployed to the One-Boat, One-River Pass, working to evacuate these two towns. Both are under attack, but only sporadically - the main Blood Path forces sits at Thousand Song City. Success would mean an evacuation of one or both cities, saving nearly a hundred thousand mortals per city. A Failure would see the destruction of both cities, and few enough mortals would escape.
Foundation Establishment cultivators will be deployed to the Thousand Song Siege, their status as Experts making them crucial in the various sallies that must come out of the city if supplies and reinforcements are to be brought in. Success would mean an extension to the time that Thousand Song City can hold, perhaps enough to let the Righteous Path reorganise their forces and retake the Fearless Line. Failure would mean that the city would begin to fall. While it has seven walls, one or more might fall, depending on how poorly those defending the city perform.
Joie De Banditisme:
While Lady Yao seeks out new bandits, many among the Golden Devils seek to help her, both as recruiters and as part-time bandits themselves. Her temporary bandits will look to recruit new experts and the like, seeking out those in surrounding territories of the Golden Devils to let new Flood Dragon Gang members rise and grow. In agreement with Manuel, this mission will take place primarily in the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms - a group of rebels who already are righteous bandits in their own right, and also stand against the Jingshen, a double advantage.
Qi Condensation cultivators will attempt to raise up cultivators of their own level, and will raise cells in various nearby powers. Success would mean a major cell of bandits will be raised in the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms. In time, that cell will develop into a larger group, and in a few centuries might offer bonuses to the Clan. Failure will mean none are.
Foundation Establishment cultivators will attempt do the same, raising up a group of bandits in a nearby power. Success would mean a major cell of bandits will be raised in the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, with said cell offering bonuses to future Clan intrigue actions there. Failure would mean the attempt fails, and no new groups of bandits are raised.
The Hong Xuan Debt:
Much of the Hong Xuan repayment is not happening in simple coin, but much is in contributions in-kind. Labour and assistance from Clan cultivators makes up a substantial portion of that repayment, and those cultivators willing to go south to assist the Hong Xuan will earn Contribution Points for their labours.
Qi Condensation cultivators will go to Seven Tourneys City, as part of those that the Hong Xuan must test themselves against. Success would mean closer relationships with many Hong Xuan juniors - in a few centuries, this will trickle up, and we will find ourselves with more loyal Hong Xuan scions in positions of power, though only a few - most of course will never reach Foundation Establishment. Failure would mean we insult or even cripple such juniors during their tests, damaging our relationship with our vassal directly.
Foundation Establishment cultivators will be deployed to Pyre City, where they will be tasked in hunting down a powerful rogue Fire Spirit, a creature that has taken the life of three Hong Xuan Foundation experts already, and wounded a Core Formation elder. It ravages various forces and consumes Qi from arrays, causing huge amounts of damage. Such spirits are far weaker against the Clan with their Blood of Bronze, and so hunting this creature down will be an important matter. A Success would mean the thanks of a Core Formation Hong Xuan elder directly, strengthening our alliance with the Hong Xuan and guaranteeing us an additional Core Formation elder in our next conflict to repay a debt of gratitude. Failure would mean the Hong Xuan face a drop in economic activity as Pyre City faces a Spirit weakening it, and the Hong Xuan are likely to look on us with some contempt as we are unable to resolve a matter as simple as this.
It was the first time in a long while since Muyi had broken his Closed Door Cultivation to mingle with the rest of the Clan. While on the surface picking which of the three Expeditions to join could be done from the privacy of his room via the Contribution Board within in, it was an unspoken custom to do it among fellow Clansmen if possible. Not only to ensure that the Clan's renowned camaraderie could get a early head-start among the fellow Clansmates who had picked the same Expedition, hereby increasing both the odds of success as well as the safety of those involved, but also to ensure that if there were any personality conflicts among the members, they could then seek out a expedition consisting of members they can work with instead.
Muyi had fond memories of meeting fellow Clansmates and meshing together into a competent enough team that the Expedition was conducted successfully. Admittedly, he had usually done this Expeditions with the 1st Mobile Infantry hereby ensuring that regardless of the other Cultivators involved he had a decent enough chance of success with just them by his side. Now however was the first time since his Qi Condensation days to join a Expedition without any comrades by his side, thus making it even more important that he found a group he could truly work with to ensure the Expedition would be a success.
The Warrior part of Muyi was also anticipating the dangers of the Expedition, a way to compare how much stronger he now was with Xin's aid over his previous state of having to constantly hold back to keep the Darkness under control. The Legate in him couldn't help but murmur that this was also the perfect chance to show the Clan's strength to the vultures that came in after each trial, to show them that this time the Clan had no weak spots they could chip away at. And the part of him that was in grief over Pleuron couldn't help but wonder if he could atone by succeeding with the Expeditions and with their success perhaps help rebuild the lives of those who had lost everything when Pleuron fell as they fled it with naught but the clothes on their backs.
It was with this mixture of emotions churning inside of him that Muyi stepped into the Training Field that had been set aside for recruitment. He had chosen to arrive early, past experience teaching him that the earlier he went, the easier it would be to gather like-minded compatriots who he could easily work with. Yet unlike the times before, the Training Field went utterly silent as he stepped into it, the many juniors within it staring at him with what looked to be fear on their faces.
Their faces were all new to Muyi. New juniors who had just started on the Path of Cultivation and who should be brimming with enthusiasm towards getting a Senior Cultivator to join their groups for the Expedition. Their reaction towards him was telling, a sign of what was to come if only Muyi had paid attention to the many rumors swirling around him since the Trial ended....
"I believe that i will like to sign up as a member of the Expedition helping with Lady Yao's recruitment efforts for the Flood Dragons. Please hand over the Communication Jade for it so that i can register my Qi signature."
"I'm...I'm sorry Sir Muyi. I have to reject your application! You have been assigned to the Expedition helping our Hong Xuan Allies with the Fire Spirit dwelling in their land, please acknowledge and sign the Communication Jade for it! I have to inform you that this order came all the way from the top and that failure to do so will lead to a Court Martial as well as punishment as listed in the regulations for disobeying a Military Order! "
The words from the Junior manning the Contribution Board booth threw Muyi into confusion, for not once in the last 200 hundred years had he ever been forcefully assigned to a Expedition. Oh the Clan would give orders and assign Cultivators to duties and missions that help kept the Clan running, but Expeditions were a different matter where the participants voluntarily took greater risks to obtain better resources or to serve the Clan.
It was the Clan's ethos of Duty and Loyalty that led to the constant influx of volunteers whenever a Expedition was planned, the underlying meaning being that all Clan Members need not be forced to do their Duty. Yet here was a junior telling him that He, Jin Muyi had been conscripted to a expedition by the Higher Ups utterly ignoring his own personal choice in that matter!
Half in a daze from the shock, Muyi found himself moving like a automaton as he took the offered Communication Jade and registered his Qi Signature on it, hereby "volunteering" to join the Expedition to aid the Hong Xuan.
Master, from the memories i got from you, are Expeditions a voluntary matter? Yet, they're forcing you to do a specific one now? Could it be that they no longer trust that you will join one of the Expeditions? That in their eyes, you're not a Golden Devil who could be trusted to do his duty without the threat of martial law?
No, don't be overly paranoid Xin. It's likely due to my betrayal of the the trust put in me when i left my post to conduct my own personal war against the Invaders. It is understandable that the Elders feel that they need to use Military Law to prevent me from doing the same again.
If you say so master... Just that it's not the impression the rest of the Juniors are getting from it. Here listen.
As if a switch was turned, the indistinct murmurs Muyi had been healing since he approached the Contribution Board Booth became clear:
"Look, the Devourer is being forced to do the only Expedition in Clan Territory. Probably so he can be easily subdued by the Elders if he goes full Bloodpath."
"Whew that's a relief, can you imagine if he was in the Expeditions to the Great War or to the Flood Dragons? What will they think of us if they see him devouring a Cultivator?"
"Crap crap crap! I was going to join that Expedition! Luckily this happened before i signed up! I better join one of the other two."
"I have family there! I better go along to make sure he stays away from where they live. He hasn't sunk to the point of consuming fellow Clansmen right?"
"Do you think the Elders wanted to take this chance to eliminate him? He's Wood nature and being sent to deal with a Fire Spirit, the results of a confrontation seemed to be obvious."
"It might be better to quickly sign up for a Expedition and leave before we get forced into the Hong Xuan one. I don't want to be a unfortunate statistic."
Each and every single whisper struck Muyi like a spear. The idea that he would be so distrusted by his juniors, that he would be treated as a bloodpath cultivator in the making due to his actions in the Trials had never occurred to him. Yet putting himself in their shoes, he could understand their fear and caution towards him. After all they had been drilled during their days in Basics on the excesses of the Blood Path, excesses that fit exactly with what he had done with the Darkness with no worthwhile results to show for it.
Looking once more at the Juniors in the Training field with his new insight, Muyi could see how they shunned his presence. Gathering in groups here and there but making sure to not come close to him, inadvertently recreating the same empty circle around him as the Invaders did during the last trial. Deciding to not spoil the mood and ruin the experience for the Juniors who had not arrived, Muyi moved to leave the Training Field now that he had no business left within it. Just as he was about to leave, Xin brought him to a sudden halt with a message.
Master, i think you should listen to this. It might help you with your current reputation.
"...you undergone the Strengthening Ritual? I just did mine and when it was over, i could feel the improvement! My speed with using the Hoplite Formation increased twofold!"
"Same! You know, i heard rumors that the Editor of the Times, Konstantinos was the source of the Ritual? He found something after being taken away by Old Gold to a secret location."
"Wow, can you imagine the rewards they must have given him for finding it? Just the contribution points amount must be huge!"
"Contribution points? If he's really the source of this, the Merit he did to the Clan would be immeasurable! My guess is that they're not announcing it yet because not all the Qi Condensation cultivators have gotten the chance to undergo the ritual."
"Hmm, you think i should volunteer to go to that location as well? If i bring back something like the ritual, i'll be lauded as well right?"
"Don't be stupid. I heard that he almost died getting out of the place. And he's a rich SOB who can afford to buy items and talisman to ensure his safety. You think you have the same amount of resources to do the same..."
As the words of the juniors faded off in the distance, Muyi couldn't help but ponder what he had overheard. Xin was right, if he went to the same secret location and managed to get something that would benefit the Clan, the Merit could make up for the insubordination he did during the Trials. Not to mention, how volunteering to go into even greater danger for the Clan's sake will help in convincing the other clansmen that he remain true to the Clan's Ethos of Duty.
And if the worse should come to past, him losing his life while seeking out opportunities to improve the Clan's Fate should at least meant that Gui Hua would be well taken care off.
Thank you Xin, you were right. This was very helpful. I will volunteer to head to the secret location when we return from the Expedition.
Even as the idiot thank him for his help, Xin couldn't help but salivate at what the idiot did not realize. Namely that the Secret Location was likely some sort of Secret Realm filled with Danger and Treasure and hence a prime opportunity for him to hasten his plan by more then a few centuries if he could absorb enough blood and QI from the realm as well as acquire enough fortune from it.
It had not been easy manipulating matters to drive the idiot into a corner and make him think that he had to redeem himself, thankfully the idiot's lack of guile meant that he did not realize Xin had only conveyed certain murmurs to him. Although the conscription by the Elders had not been expected, it had more then help Xin in selling his narrative to his fool of a owner.
Yessss, Things are looking up for me. I wonder if i can tilt things so that he gets badly hurt dealing with the Fire Spirit? I could gain more freedom in that way....No, better not. They might claim he's too wounded to go to the Secret Realm. More Opportunities will come....
Third and Final part of Muyi's Stand at Pleuron, where he has to deal with the consequences of going full Blood Path with his weapon. As mentioned, i had the rumors be mainly be among the new cultivators, those who had no personal experience with him. With matters not help by how Xin is manipulating events to make things seemed worse then they are to Muyi.
Based on the last Official Story Post about Manuel keeping an eye on Muyi, it makes sense that to do that he'll make sure Muyi stays within Clan Lands where he has eyes and ears to help. So basically, Muyi's take on things is the reasoning on why the orders were given. Xin just manipulate stuff so that it comes across as being untrusted by the Clan as a whole.
I made sure to remain vague about the Ascension blood since it's a biggo secret. Just sticking to Good Shit was found by Konstantinos and that it came from a secret location that is dangerous. The reasoning behind Muyi choosing to go Cloud is a bit simplistic, but please treat it as due to being manipulated into a corner by Xin basically shoving him into darkness and then showing a way out before he could take the time to really analysis the situation.
@Humbaba or anyone i guess, Threadmark please. I think i'm pretty much done in terms of Omake for this turn.
