Hmmph... this junior is a good seed [Cultivation Management Quest]

[occipitallobe]

Good Seed and Omake Spreadsheet Rules:

Firstly, if you have questions about Good Seeds and the like please read here. If that doesn't answer your question please ping me in thread, or on Discord.

If you write a new Good Seed, or write an omake, please update the spreadsheet if you have access.

If you do not have access, please ping a collaborator (Swordomatic, Alectai, Quest, TehChron, Insane-Not-Crazy, Humbaba, ReaderOfFate, Kaboomatic, no., BungieONI) letting them know what you want and they will update the spreadsheet here. To gain access, you will need a gmail account of some kind. Throwaway emails are fine (I'm using one for the spreadsheet), but to gain access it's as simple as sending me either your email via PM, via DM in Discord, or just in Discord's #spreadsheet-requests channel.

This is mandatory. If a Good Seed does not record their omake by pinging collabs (or just requesting access and editing things themselves - this is the preferred option), I won't give out awards. If a new Good Seed is not recorded here, they won't advance. By doing this it makes the whole thing manageable for me - it's gotten pretty unwieldy!

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Omake Writer Instructions:

There are four fields you need to fill out.

Omake Link, which is just a link to your first omake for the turn. This makes it easier for me to read them as I do the update - without this it's tough to know off the bat which omake were written this turn, and to properly

Requested Bonus, which is your requested bonus for your omake. You can leave it up to me if you like. You can see more info in the Good Seed infopost here.

Cultivation Aims. For those following unorthodox paths - higher than 9th Heavenstage or later than 7th Dao Pillar paths. Please put in what you are aiming for before you break through. I have left it as 'default'. If you do not edit it, I'll go with that.

Turn Notes - Do you want to do something specific? Enter a Secret Realm? Help the Clan out in some way? If you have something specific you want to accomplish on this turn, put it in turn notes so I can adjust your Fate around it.

All other fields are for QM use to record character information to properly run the flow of the game.

 

[Garlak]

If one of our Good Seeds reaches Core Formation -- or even just the Great Circle stage of Foundation Establishment -- could they go on quests to try to get more Life-Extending Treasures for Heraclius?

Went away for Christmas holidays, got Subnautica afterwards (I know, I'm late), sunk far too many hours into that game.

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Ah, Subnautica. Watched people play it, it was fun.

However, it's apparently way more tense to play rather than just watch. Exploration and building in a survival game can be fun, sure, but it's surprisingly spooky or tense under water.

The Simmering Soup Sect had won the ability to trade away some of their more vital soups (especially the rare ones they made that could expand lifespan), but in return

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Paragraph just cuts off here.

To shatter your Core you needed to be able to acknowledge that you were wrong, or at least likely wrong. To reach the point of utmost certitude, to be utterly sure in every way of your beliefs. That was the way to reach the Great Circle. Such surety granted great power, and once you had established all your beliefs, had held onto all the things that made you you, you needed to be willing to abandon them at a moment's notice. To throw them aside like so much trash, your morals mere fuel for the fire that would rocket you forward towards greater power. To admit raw and potent doubt into your soul and adulterate the purest truth with it.

There was a reason Nascent Souls tended to be somewhat amoral, Heraclius thought. To violate yourself like that... no, it was not for him. He suspected that more flexible Dao inherently had an easier time reaching Nascent Soul - Manuel was a prime example. The old man held a bizarre belief in the reflection of Heaven itself, a Shadow that could aid but was imperfect in and of itself. To hold a perfect belief in imperfection, he thought, would make the shattering easier. Make the letting go possible.

For him... he had always been a man who had followed the Dao of the Bull. His beliefs saw him strongheaded, able to throw himself at any problem and smash through it. Once he had chosen a direction he did not stop until he was stopped, but only a fool would think that made him foolish. One could charge in many ways.

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... I like this guy. Just... I kinda like him. I wish I had more words to say on this character, rather than most of my words in this post being devoted to speculating on Core Formation and Nascent Soul, but... Yeah. He sounds like an interesting or good fellow. (Well. Good fellow to the Golden Devils at least, anyway.)

Also: hmm... his musings on Nascent Soul, and... hmm...
*looks at description of single-pillar/core stuff*

Foundation Establishment: (NB: Number of pillars varies. This is merely an average number of Dao Pillars for worldbuilding purposes. Usually speaking, though, more than 7 is incredibly rare. Some truly focused cultivators manage to form one immutable Pillar into a Core, but the certainty in one's Dao-Heart this requires is heaven-defying)

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... And then the fact that Heraclius noting things like "There was a reason Nascent Souls tended to be somewhat amoral" and "He suspected that more flexible Dao inherently had an easier time reaching Nascent Soul".

Which, okay -- two different things to pursue here.

One. 'Difficulty of a thing' and 'amount of pay-off in terms of power or gain' for it. That's always been a theme. So... Flexible Daos have an easier time, but -- I bet that this might also mean or result in less power too, no?

And yet. Somebody who is inflexible... is also more likely to break and be made amoral or insane or unstable. (Or die or fail of course.)

Which brings me to... Two. Ascension into Nascent Soul is heavily biased towards making you amoral.


Though, then again... Somebody who was already amoral, and was super greedy for power... They, too, would be punished or scourged much. Because if they go for a lot of certainty and surety and a lot of power in the realms before Nascent Soul, then... Then it will be all the harder to toss away their beliefs and ambitions, come time to ascend to Nascent Soul.

So Nascent Soul ascension isn't easy on the gambler or the power-hungry either, is it? Because if all you value is power and ambition... well. Nascent Soul tells you, 'Okay, now toss all of that away.'

What exactly is going on here.

On the one hand, it sounds like a system that's a constant trial by fire of doubt and belief and certainty and philosophy. On the other hand... it's just kind of a crapshoot. Not even necessarily a malevolent or intelligently malignant crapshoot. Just a crapshoot.

 

[Alratan]

What exactly is going on here.

On the one hand, it sounds like a system that's a constant trial by fire of doubt and belief and certainty and philosophy. On the other hand... it's just kind of a crapshoot. Not even necessarily a malevolent or intelligently malignant crapshoot. Just a crapshoot.

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Well, I could see a malevolent heaven creating a system where, to quote Yeats:

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is lost. The best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity.​

Not perfectly appropriate, but there do seem to be some parallels.

 

[atrophy]

Welcome back from the small break . Very interested how the conflict with the cannibals goes.

Also you seemed to forgot a endign to a sentence about the soup simmering sect.

 

[Garlak]

Now that I'm not double-posting, I can post my idea for a gambit I thought!

Namely: Euphrosyne Sarantapechos didn't die after all. She merely failed to break into Nascent Soul, and became a False Nascent Soul. And so the Golden Devils put her into sleep/stasis/ensorcellment/whatever, to use her as a one-shot guided living weapon against Old Cannibal when he came to invade when the truce wore out.

That mountain? Full of the chromatic tribulation lightning that Manuel shucked off and sealed? That's not mere tribulation lightning. That's just a cover or camouflage for Euphrosyne's holding place.

(And then, of course, Manuel pulls the bait and switch; sucker, it really is tribulation lightning, not a Euphrosyne whose death we faked!)

 

[Falconis]

What exactly is going on here.

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Seems to me to be a case where you take all your beliefs and break them on the floor and the people who had very flexible forms of beliefs in the first place would find it easier to find familiar pieces and make something out of it after all is said and done.

Based on what has been said here, and being aware of the knowledge that no one around here knows how to get higher than Nascent Soul, I wouldn't say that amoral people necessarily have an actual easier time making it to Nascent Soul, they just end up having a larger pool of pieces to pick from and can kludge together something that works even if it isn't pretty or won't advance any further.

Rather than incentivizing any which way it feels more like a challenge that is simply terribly understood. Like being asked to build a bridge out of toothpicks and most people just piling stuff up until you can walk across without it collapsing if you're careful where you step. While that is certainly a solution you approached the challenge without the requisite knowledge and as a result cannot even dream of handling the future challenges that require the bridge to bear more weight.

As to the truth of the challenge itself I'd wager its...mostly introspective. Being able to form a core from a single flawless pillar implies that it is possible to gain the required insights at any time but it is simply vanishingly unlikely due to a lack of information at lower levels(about the nature of the Dao). Sort of a 'knowing what you know now, can this be built better' combined with eventual separation from the question itself and embodying the Dao.

 

[Humbaba]

So, uh.

Went away for Christmas holidays, got Subnautica afterwards (I know, I'm late), sunk far too many hours into that game.

Going back to work in a bit, so I'm going to wrap up the turn shortly. A minor update now, and I'll start on Good Seeds tomorrow.

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TOMORROW

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*Terrified squark*
My Christmas omake plans didn't go to plan. Have this instead.

First was Casia Zimisce, a Late Core Formation cultivator. Rail-thin and severe-faced, she looked as though she had perpetually swallowed a lemon.

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Casia Zimisce Interlude or Why does Casia look like she's constantly swallowed a lemon, anyway?

Casia Zimisce did not like her new job.

Oh, she appreciated how much trust the clan had shown her of course. She was happy about the good that she could do with her position. She was even grateful that Xie Xinya had not been allowed within three li of the keys to the treasury (while being privately horrified that she was instead being handed the keys to the secrets cabinet). But she didn't like her new job. It asked that she consider not if someone deserved to be helped but whether they'd pay it back. Whether something was profitable over whether it was right.

Casia had long since become accustomed to the fact that she could not help everyone. She followed the Dao of Kindness, and could never have reached core formation had such a demon still dwelt within her heart. She was more than aware that the position allowed her to do so much more than she could alone. Yet that did not mean she enjoyed making decisions that could wound and condemn so many clans members and innocent mortals who had done nothing to deserve it.

Casia did not like her new job. And she especially did not like Augustus Nepos.

Augustus was the most senior of her officials still living. A late foundation building veteran bureaucrat who had worked his way up through the clan's treasurers over centuries, and knew the systems as close to back to front as anyone now living. He was one of the greatest assets she could have had… as she frequently reminded herself when the urge to strangle him came on too strong.

She could say that it was many things about him. He was often smug. He acted far too familiar with her despite his low cultivation, and he was callous to the point of ruthlessness.

In truth, it was perhaps simply that their Dao's clashed. Casia followed the Dao of Peace. Augustus followed the Dao of Figures. She believed in kindness to all. Augustus believed that kindness should have a rate of return. To him, everything was a game of numbers. She was kind, and loved to be so. He was cold, thoroughly ruthless but rarely cruel.

It was not a friendly relationship. But it was professional, and if Casia took pleasure in paying out a tiny amount more than needed for exterminating a tribe of Bridestealer beetles, or Augustus' eyes gleamed with the tiniest hint of schadenfreude when he went over the list of managers who had been promoted past their point of competence and needed demotion, that was simply the grease that helped the wheels of leadership spin, and no-one mentioned it.

One thing she and Augustus did agree on however, was the absolute agony of trying to fix the broken mess of a system that had been designed for a clan that had many more members. It was a gaping wound at the centre of the clan, reminding them all of the grandparents, grandchildren, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers that were missing.

But the worst agony shared between Augustus and Casia was that they could fix the system. The gaping wound could be closed and heal over. The great machine could once again work for everyone. Even better than before. Except…

They couldn't. The answer was there, the ability staring them in the face. In 60 years they could build a machine of administration that would output as much wealth as the clan had before the last trial with a fraction of the core formations.

Yet they could not take it.

For the Clan's enemies were circling. The Oathbound treaty with the Blood Cannibals would soon expire. Jingshen watched the Clan's lands with envious eyes, forever grasping at any hint of weakness.

To fix the administration, the job boards, the logistics, they would need to spend and spend hard. It would pay off, and strongly… but too late.

It wrenched at Augustus's ordered heart to see the problems and leave them unfixed. It tore at Kasia's soul and Dao, knowing that to leave it unfixed would make the system measurably worse for the majority of the clan's cultivators, struggling through the Qi Condensation phase.

But the numbers didn't lie. Over the short term, it gave them a much greater cushion. And with how weakened the clan was, they could not afford to grow long term economic strength at the cost of short-term military power. So instead the wound was sewn shut, permitted to scar over. It could still be healed true, but it would take more pain and effort and money and time.

It gnawed at them, and both Casia and Augustus threw themselves into their work. Together they worked miracles, finding a long-lost cache hidden by some ancient ancestor of the Golden Devils and leveraging the spoils into enough infrastructure to eke out enough wealth to improve the output of the whole clan by another fraction. It was a triumph of will and logistical might.

But still Casia was unhappy. She knew that all her efforts would vanish into the grand war machine of the clan, feeding their survival for a little while longer. Victory against the cannibals would surely be a great balm to their poor victims, but all Kasia could see were more years of hard choices ahead. Of more empty bunk halls and absent comrades. Of looking at men and women who have sacrificed arms and legs for the clan and telling them that healing their wounds would simply cost too much.

There would be hard years ahead. And beyond that, the trials loomed, as merciless and inevitable as the noonday sun.

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AN: It feels like an unpleasant time to be a kindness cultivator in the clan right now. Casia and Augustus's excellent economic adventure is a reference to the fact we had slightly more money last turn than originally expected due to GM generosity when streamlining the income numbers so we aren't all banging our heads against them every turn. I just thought it was a cool in universe explanation.

 

[Juugo]

Legionary cantina
​

There are many things a cultivators must do in the service of the Legion. Some tend to the garden of the clan and others forge our iconic spears, which complement our hoplite formation so much. One thing all of us have in common is eating a specific diet, specifically eating a mish-mash of lentils, beans, legumes and lupines. It´s supposedly a remnant of the days when we walked the turtles backs as heavens equal. According to myths and legends everyone learns when everyone is too deep in their cups anyway. As a spoonfull lays there I can´t help but think...

"What are you doing, Fleetfeet!? Stop resting your head on the table and eat. The food is getting old!" Even though Dereks voice is grating, with his unusually high pitched voice that never seemed to have left puberty, I raise my spoon for our hard earned reward for todays work.

"Yeah, yeah. I will, once you finally hand over the salt!"

"And do what? Torture poor Katsuya, like you did last week?!" Is he seriously still raw over his dumb snail not recognizing the correct cup for her treats on the food table?

"What? No! We went over this already. I simply gave you the wrong container. Salt and Sugar were literally right next to each other!" I never knew that slimy ass could get this red.


"SHUT UP!"


Taking the following silence as a signal to continue her actions, our legate made her opinion known to all in the hall by lifting Derek up from his seat and seating him right next me. Why is she smirking?

"Now you two can´t shout at each other like enemies!" Really, that is your reason?!

"We aren´t enemies!/ We aren´t enemies!" Did her smirk just widen? No, She is back to her resting face that screams `I am too tired to deal with this.`

"And now, because the rest of you giggled like children instead of using this chance to mend your relationship with the person you have a grudge with in our squad, you will all pay for my wine bill tonight!" And that smile is back!

"Uggghh, nooo!"

"While finding the guy you have a grudge with and feed them their meal!

"Ugh. noo."
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Words: 400

Turn: 7

This idea didn´t leave me alone. I hope you had fun reading this. The dishes everyone eats in the clan must be delicious!

@Mochinator , @Alectai

 

[uri]

Yan-8: losing and winning (somewhere between 820-822)

"come on, man, I already told you that you don't need to be afraid" Xu Heng told his friend "the lord cultivator won't do anything, they have rules about harming people that aren't cultivators"

"I know, I know it's just… " Han Song said as he looked at the entrance to the gambling hall "my mom always told not to gamble or I will end up like my father"

"but it's not gambling, not if you are practically guaranteed to win anyway" Xu Heng told his friend and lined in to continue " and I already told ya' that this lord cultivator has shit luck"

"I'm still worried, what if we anger him and he decides to kill us?" Han Song asked

"you really shouldn't believe all those stories your grandpa tells you, no san cultivator goes around killing people besides nothing happened to me last time and I won ten years' worth of salary " Xu Heng answered and started walking to the gambling hall "any way I'm going to make a fortune, you can come with or go back home"

Han song looked at Xu Heng walking to the gambling hall and after some hesitation ran to catch up to him as he entered the gambling hall.

The gambling hall itself was fairly large, Han Song could see at least thirty tables in the room but only ten or so were occupied –as it was still early for gambling- and as such Han Song had no difficulty in finding the lord cultivator.

The lord cultivator was sitting alone besides one of the tables at the back of the room, probably in an attempt to not scare the other patrons and considering the looks that are being sent to his table by the other pterions every so often, not succeeding.

anxiety began to build in Han Song and his former hesitation resurfaced, unfortunately for him the first place Xu Heng went to was the lord cultivator tables and not wishing to leave his friend alone Han Song reluctantly followed.

When they reached the lords cultivator table he opened his eyes and looked at them both "ah… you're back… and you brought a friend, have you explained to him the rules?"

"no lord cultivator" Xu Heng answered.

"very well, then I will explain the rules, all three of us decide on the number of coins we bet and then we will roll two dice if one of you rolls higher than me I will pay him the amount we decided upon, if both of you roll higher than me I will pay each one of you the amount we decided upon, of course the reverse is true if you roll lower than me, on ties nothing happens and most importantly I roll first, is that understood?"

"y-yes" Han Song hurried to answer while under the gaze of the cultivator.

"good then let us begin"

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////​

Yan watched as the two mortals left his table to go back to their home, in the course of their game they made a good amount of money -for mortals- Yan himself didn't really care for the money he lost –it barley amounted for a day work for him- and he gained something far greater.

Yan begun to gamble wit mortals about four years ago when he realized that he could use it to get rid of the bad luck he accrued for using his ability to get luckier for a time, it worked for the first cupule of times and stopped.

When he tried to figure out why it stopped Yan after many games came to the conclusion that it was a matter perspective, he stopped losing his bad luck through gambling with mortals when he started viewing the bad luck he lost as more valuable then the coins he lost in gambling.

It was an easy matter to fix all he had to do is convince himself that the coins were worth more then the bad luck he lost for the duration of the game.

It took him a month to relies that if it was a matter of perspective then could lose more bad luck if he thought that he lost something worse and so he started experimenting and over the years he found out that thinking that losing to mortals is hurting his reputation or "really wanting" to buy an "awesome" spear and losing just enough money to not be able to afford it, would allowed to loose even more bad luck.

Yan was broken from his thoughts when another regroup of mortals approached his table, they were all new so they probably waited to see if he would do something to the last pair before approaching him.

In the end it didn't matter to Yan why they approached his table, only that they did, as he had more bad luck to get rid of and more than enough money to do so.

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[BadAtScreenNames]

...Hooo boy. Okay. Um... Pinging @Alectai for a new Good Seed. Because... Well, I like this quest a lot, basically.

Maria

Spoiler: Here she is as a teenager.

Spoiler: And also here, in her legionnaire armour!

Spoiler: And here she is again, rocking her new post-three masters look!

Spoiler: In which Maria loses her temper.

Spoiler: And here's Lyssa, Maria's split personality slash sister slash clone

Gender: Female.
Age: 97 (at start of turn 11)

Lifespan: 200 years​

Cultivation: 10th Heavenstage of Qi Condensation

Cultivation-Year Equivalent: 173 years​

Cultivation-Years to next stage: 15 years​

Impact: 0
Health: Lightly Wounded (at start of turn 11)
Treasures:

None​

Former Treasures:

Mask of Kuei Shin Tensei (Lifesaving treasure, Turn 8 omake bonus). A simple full-face mask made of black lacquered wood, with a stylised moon rising above a hill carved on the forehead. Maria took it from a blood path cultivator she encountered on the way to Three Frogs. It contains what's left of his cultivation, and the crystallised lives of the people he killed to forge it. Should she take a life threatening wound, the mask will feed her its qi to heal her. As it cannot be replenished or repaired, it's single use only. (USED IN TURN 9)​

Appearance: Deeply, unhealthily, inhumanly pale, and doesn't know why. Medical scans suggest it's something to do with her mix of turtle and Golden Devil heritage, but even that's a guess. Short, stocky, well-muscled. Slim, delicate features; she'd probably be pretty if she didn't have the worst case of resting bitch face on the entirety of the Turtle. Missing her right eye, and does not wear an eye-patch. Takes any suggestion she should as a challenge. Wears her hair shaggy and loose around her shoulders – she takes care of it, but doesn't really know how to and just *refuses* any help on the subject, so it tends to matte a bit until she essentially has dreads and just dunks her head in water until it's fixed. Basically lives out of her legionnaire's armour.

Background: The vast majority of Golden Devil clan members stay amongst their own. It's simpler. Most clans, sects and cultivators will happily murder them for heaven's favour, after all, and those are the kinder ones. And yet, for all that, somewhere in a slave pen, far away from the desert, a slave child was born with golden hair. That she wasn't immediately hacked apart for the favour of the Righteous is, in itself, a miracle. Her mother, desperate to save her daughter, dulled her hair with mud and dirt. It worked for a while, but good luck runs out for everyone – the children of the Lost Ones, most of all. When the child was found out, she was six years old.

But her owner was the exact right combination of stupid, clever, cruel, and calculating. He also owned a grubby, secret little arena where he'd make his property fight, and kill, and die. The child made for a fine draw. After all, it's not every day you get to see a Golden Devil bleed out in front of you. Except she didn't bleed out. She survived. Over and over again, alone in that place, the child survived. She won bout after bout, against impossible odds, and when she couldn't win, she walked away alive. It was a bad way for a child to grow up. But it was better than a pauper's grave.

Then, at fourteen, a chance to escape presented itself; she found herself suddenly overcome with a deep and blinding rage. When it cleared, she was free. To this day, she doesn't know what happened, or what she did to get out. Part of her wanted to go back and ensure her owner was dead. Instead, she fled. She knew she was a monster, born of a clan of monsters. Seemed as good a place as any to go. It took her three years to cross the many territories between her and the desert. But when she finally made it, she found herself surrounded by people who saw her, first and foremost, as family. They taught her to read. They gave her a name. They told her the truth of who she really was; not a monster, but a scion of a great and ancient legacy. A force for cosmic justice, against a cruel and savage heaven.

Cool Thing(s) (I may have gotten carried away)

• Stubborn like WOAH. Maria has basically survived this far by just refusing to die. That has not made her particularly good at things like compromising, listening to other people's opinions, or changing her mind, but hey, do what you can.
• Berserker. There is a button, somewhere deep inside Maria's brain, marked "NUCLEAR OPTION – DO NOT PRESS." Sometimes it gets pressed anyway, and Maria goes batshit. She'll attack any hostile in sight, heedless of her own wounds or any tactical disadvantage that "KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKIIIIIIILL" might incur. Bit of a mixed bag for a cultivator, but we make do.
• Awkwardly affectionate. Maria loves her clan. No, seriously, she LOOOOOOVES them. Her idea of affection, however, was mainly derived from watching other slaves in the pit she grew up in occasionally cuddle or fall asleep on each other, or her mother putting mud in her hair. Other Golden Devils will occasionally find themselves on the receiving end of really awkward hugs, or head pats, or, on particularly bad moments, mud pies on their pillows. This has made her surprisingly popular with the clan's kids.

EVENTS IN-PLAY​

Turn 7: Reached Golden Devil territory and defended a peddler (Lu Xu) who was being mugged on the Scorpion Road. This attracted the attention of Captain Ajax, who decided to send her to the Dawn Fortress for training.

Turn 7 Fate: To reach the 8th Heavenstage in under twenty years.. A century ago this was unknown for the Clan, but it seems such talents are as common as wheat stalks nowadays. Maria found herself on a whirlwind tour, the Clan's preparations for war meaning everyone was busy. Vaults of Spirit Stones were cracked open, and techniques often sold for Contribution Points were simply given out. Maria took full advantage, deployed to the Scorpion Road. There she worked diligently, and advanced far, stepping into the 8th Heavenstage on the eve of war.​

Turn 8: Maria had expected to be transferred to the border in preparation for the war. Instead, Captain Ajax informed her that she had been assigned to Three Frogs city, to assist in the training of soldiers. She was furious, but realised that orders were orders, and left. Along the route, she travelled with six clanmates and Oyster, a cultivator of the Cursed Mushroom clan. After a difficult journey, when they found themselves trapped by flooded roads, she engaged in a sparring match against her fellows - and triggered her berserk rages. While no-one was hurt, it separated her from the group. Only Oyster seemed unfazed. In time, the group found themselves in a small town not far outside Three Frogs that had been attacked by Kuei, a cultivator of the True Mask blood path. They investigated to find the place deserted and coated in a strange, dead, meaty substance that clung to the walls and floor. After deciding the find the perpetrator, Kuei attacked, and managed to disable all but Maria and her clanmate Adonia. They fled to get reinforcements from Three Frogs, with Oyster buying time for them. After a carefully managed cat-and-mouse game, Kuei's monsters forced drained enough Qi from the two that they had to hide and rest up. They managed it, but Adonia plunged into Qi exhaustion to achieve it. Sadly, Kuei still found them, and proceeded to attack. Maria was forced to confront her own dark side, but managed to take control of herself and defeat her attacker, walking away with his petrified mask. After finally arriving at Three Frogs, she found herself embroiled in a dark conspiracy of traitors and cannibal infiltrators; only with the help of Zeno Angelus, Commander of the Divination Platoon, was she able to unmask the town's commander, Gaiarados, as a traitor. Afterwards as things settled down again, she started taking occasional shifts with the city's garrison on the wall, and found herself caught in an attack on the wall by the Cannibals.

Turn 8 Fate: Maria entered the siege of Three Frog City in the 8th Heavenstage, and left it in the 10th. Innate talent goes so far, but coupled with luck goes far further. Instrumental in the defense of a falling wall, she managed to kill six Cannibals, maim three, and wound almost ten, pushing back an attack until the Foundation cultivators were able to arrive. From the corpse of a Cannibal she found something absurd. An Iron Advancement Worm, a creature that one could fuse into a meridian and see dramatic advancement. Such worms could not be absorbed by Blood Path cultivators, however, and was no doubt held to be sold. Fusing it into her meridians, she leapt forward dramatically (+60 cultivation-years), her own innate talent pushing what was an immense gain even further. Now in the 10th Heavenstage, she managed to push back a major attack on the walls working in tandem with Edric, serving as a distraction as he poisoned the second wave of a nearly-successful attack.​

Turn 9: After distinguishing herself at the Siege of Three Frogs, and witnessing the historic battle of Rina Callista and Ling Dan the butcher, Maria and her legion returned to the headquarters of the 263rd. There (over the misgivings of her legate) she was promoted to captain, sponsored by the centurion who had brought her into the clan, Ajax. She and her new squad were then deployed as an escort for her old friend Letha, heading up to join the Adamantine Bracers as a tactical consultant. They joined a Righteous Coalition group of various sects and clans caught outside the line, who were forced to wait to deploy to the Fearless Line until the destruction of the Abyssal tower. Frustrations built up amongst the allies, getting worse and worse until a tournament was declared to soothe tensions. Maria, angry after a fight with Letha, entered, and successfully beat her first and second matches. She was exposed, briefly, to a vision of her Dao, a bloody and violent thing, and in horror with what she saw she fled from it, running out of the tournament. Before her friends could help her understand what she saw, marching orders finally came in, and the group made it to the line. Maria and her squad patrolled the line, over and over, until they came to the attention of Shu Cangquiong, the infamous Mother of Mists of the Noble Knowledge sect. After a carefully executed trap, she drugged the squad with potent hallucinogens and then used telepathy to attempt to discern what of Maria's dao she could. Maria and the Red Place eventually broke free after confronting her own darkest secrets, and drove her out of her mind. After she and the squad were rescued, Maria at last realised what she wanted- to reach the Thirteenth Heavenstage, and forge a single pillar.

Turn 9 Fate: Maria spent her time on the Fearless Line boldly, and found herself outmatched several times. Despite her cultivation, the sheer numbers and boldness of the Blood Path cultivators overwhelmed her many times, and she found herself struggling to command as effectively as she might have liked. With this, she took a trip to the Qiguai Secret Realm. Unlucky at first, she fell into the sky-sea, nearly drowning. At the edge of the Secret Realm itself, she was hunted for months by a tribe of Spirit Fish who sought to eat her, slipping from air bubble to air bubble, and ended up taking refuge in a cave. In there she found the Clone-Splitting Competition Art (+16 Impact). Only usable by those who have two minds in one body, it splits the two personalities into one body each, both dependent on the other. When one clone is killed, the personality returns to the other body, and the clone can be remade. Only by slaying both clones within a short period of time can the user be truly slain. It has some weaknesses - when one clone is slain the other is debilitated for a period of nearly half an hour. However, when the dominant split personality allows the subordinate out, it strengthens - thus why it is called the Competition Art. The two personalities constantly contest for dominance, and the Art enables this contest. Both bodies are as powerful as the original that had been split, and a new clone can be generated in a matter of half an hour, making the user a truly fearsome and nigh-unkillable foe. With this, Maria returned to the Fearless Line, throwing 'herself' into impossible battles that should have crippled her, saving three large caravans of refugees. Unfortunately, her early use of the Art was incomplete, and she nearly died after her third split. Only the use of a treasure preserved her life, and the strain the Art had put on her body would take her decades to recover from before she could regain her full faculties.​

Omake (121889 words overall total)

Turn 7 (2737 words total)
Arrival Part 1 (1628 words)
Arrival Part 2 (1109 words)

Turn 8 (24815 words total)
Belonging (1245 words)
The Mirror, Part 1 (1941 words)
The Mirror, Part 2 (5105 words)
The Mirror, Part 3 (3083 words)
The Mirror, Part 4 (2122 words)
The Mirror, Part 5 (2080 words)
The Mirror, Part 6 (1632 words)
The Mirror, Part 7 (3037 words)
Lethal Hustle: The Blitzkriegue Case (9293 words, collaboration with @Juugo , not included in wordcount)
Gravebronze (2542 words)
Wall Duty (2028 words)

Turn 9 (28732 words total)
Ending the Siege (3342 words)
Captain's Pins (779 words)
Promotion Day (990 words)
First Assignment, Part 1 (1421 words)
First Assignment, Part 2 (2277 words)
First Assignment, Part 3 (3797 words)
First Assignment, Part 4 (5836 words)
First Assignment, Part 5 (7844 words)
A Private Correspondence, Part 1 (668 words, collab with @no. )
A Private Correspondence, Part 2 (@no. 's response, not counted in wordcount.)
A Private Correspondence, Part 3 (565 words.)
Mortals (1222 words)

Turn 10 (52066 words total)
In a Yellow Wood (3037 words)
A Private Correspondence, Part 4 (@no. 's response, not counted in wordcount.)
A Private Correspondence, Part 5 (526 words.)
A Private Correspondence, Part 6 (@no. 's response, not counted in wordcount.)
Dodging Echoes, Part 1 (2584 words.)
Dodging Echoes, Part 2 (1752 words.)
Dodging Echoes, Part 3 (2845 words.)
Dodging Echoes, Part 4 (1027 words.)
Dodging Echoes, Part 5 (2015 words.)
Dodging Echoes, Part 6 (2085 words.)
Dodging Echoes, Part 7 (5103 words.)
Dodging Echoes, Part 8 (713 words.)
Seven Conversations (1173 words.)
These Boots Are Made For Knockin' (1873 words.)
Maria and the Three Masters, Part 1 (4176 words.)
Maria and the Three Masters, Part 2 (5332 words.)
Maria and the Three Masters, Part 3 (3169 words.)
Maria and the Three Masters, Part 4 (4192 words.)
Maria and the Three Masters, Part 5 (4703 words.)
Maria and the Three Masters, Part 6 (5761 words.)

Turn 11 (12820 words total)
Contribution Board: On Wrathful Cultivation (1173 words.)
Price and Balance, Part 1 (1811 words.)
Price and Balance, Part 2 (2265 words.)
Price and Balance, Part 3 (689 words.)
Price and Balance, Part 4 (1385 words.)
Price and Balance, Part 5 (2592 words.)
Price and Balance, Part 6 (2905 words.)

Epilogue (719 words.)

 

[Kaboomatic]

...Hooo boy. Okay. Um... Pinging @Alectai for a new Good Seed. Because... Well, I like this quest a lot, basically. Hope this works for you guys. Picture incoming.

Click to shrink...

Right
Took care of that for you, you should be good to go

 

[Tarro]

Syntyche Theophylaktos

Mortality

Syntyche watched the extravagant funeral rites for her clan's head, and felt nothing. The late Nikephoros had a dozen mourners wailing for him, and dozens more with red-rimmed eyes, and she doubted more than a couple of them felt anything either.

The leadership of Nikephoros could best be described as distant. Perhaps it had not always been the case, but within Syntyche's lifetime not a single clan member had entered his piercing eyes. Perhaps it was that none were talented enough to garner his attention, his focus ever on the enemies nipping at their borders. Perhaps he simply did not want anyone attempting to supplant the place of his late nephew. Such was not uncommon within the family, a perennial fear that the empathy they sought from others was as fake as the skin they wore.

The corpse enshrined within the gilded hearse Syntyche knelt before was an effigy, meticulously crafted in Nikephoros' image, down to the last corroded bronze hair of his beard. But that was all it was, an imitation. There was none of the overwhelming presence that one of core formation exuded, none of the sovereignty of a being centuries old.

Syntyche had met the late Theophylaktos head before, introduced to him alongside the rest of her generation's promising talents. His power was restrained then, aura almost like but unmistakable from one in Foundation. He carried the gravity of his position, and the power of one in core formation, but never let it fully display. Looking at what represented him now, not a wisp of qi fluctuating from the body of metal and clay, she wondered if this was how he would've wanted to be memorialized.

Wouldn't it have been nicer to show off more? To be remembered as a resplendent figure of renown, rather than just a loyal subordinate?

Syntyche heard Ioannes approaching, and slid over to give him space to kneel at the bed's base. Where most family members sought to minimize their appearance and extravagance in a place of mourning, Ioannes chose to be nothing less than himself. His royal purple brocade would have had him chased out of the room if anyone in the room was of high enough cultivation to enforce such. But Ioannes was Foundation, and the overseer of the vigil wasn't willing to take his chances. She'd have considered it scandalous, but the word lost its meaning when applied to him long ago. In the cultivation world, talent mollified the most egregious of social sins, and Ioannes had talent in spades.

"Here early to beat the crowds?" he whispered, bowing his head in deference to the imitation corpse.

"I expected more," she admitted, rising back to allow someone else to take her space. Ioannes bowed once more, giving a single kowtow to Nikephoros before standing up as well.

"Well, if it's the burial then maybe Lord Konstantinos will have a few words to say." He said. His eyes lingered on the shrine entrance for a few moments more as they walked away, winding through the shifting corridors of the main family villa. They passed a number of enhanced interrogation rooms, meticulously cleaned and maintained but unused for the last few decades. Xie Xinya preferred to do things in-house, and the Xie family did not lack for real estate.

Ioannes caught where her eyes wandered. "Already raring to go back to work?"

"Maybe," Syntyche responded, stretching her arms over her head. "This place is so stiff."

He chuckled, thoughts obvious but not voiced. After a half hour of walking they'd found themselves at the entrance of the labyrinthine building. Pushing open the door into the rain, Syntyche reached for the satchel at her side for her parasol. Ioannes forestalled her, casting a shield against the rain with a wave of his hand.

"Look at that, Heaven itself weeping at the loss of such a resplendent figure," He intoned.

Syntyche laughed. "Don't even joke about that."

They both knew the rains were artificial. It was as simple as flipping a switch on the habitation arrays to have the rain pour over the family lands for a week or more. Just another way to show how much they cared.

"It's not as outlandish as it used to be," Ioannes commented. "If by Heaven's luck you survived the Trials, why not accept the partiality?"

Syntyche lapsed into thought. "If someone bows to a tyrant from a single act of kindness, they have no spine, nor any memory."

The pattering of rain upon the invisible field above their heads became distant as they stepped under the eaved roof of a local bar. Although its fixtures were classical, it had the sleekness of a place that was more new, perhaps within the last half-century. 'Fresh and Intense', Ioannes had called it, with all the flavors of a retired Legate's storied history of alcohol collection.

Ioannes pulled open the door, gesturing for her to enter. "Cultivation is cultivation, survival is survival."

A quick cultivation check got them through the door. Ioannes revealing more of his cultivation got them a private room on the second floor. Syntyche ordered a flavor of saber-wine recently taken from the conflicts with the devil bees. For Ioannes, some sparkling sensation that somehow still burned the throat.

For a while, they sat there, enjoying spirits and small snacks while watching the bright midday rain. They discussed the Dao and trivialities like how the changes in Qi saturation could affect cultivation gains.

As night approached, Ioannes took one last sip, and then set his cup down. "But you know, I'm not here entirely for pleasure. I got a job for you, and it's from pretty high up."

Syntyche brightened up, like she hadn't downed enough wine to kill a mortal. "Let's hear it."

--

Cultivation is generally considered a torturous act. Whether from the pain or the boredom, few enjoyed the process of cultivating. Therefore, work should not also be an act of misery.

If you didn't enjoy what you did, why make it your eternal life?

Syntyche narrowly slid past the silhouette of a bat ghost, leaving it to its much less ethereal meal, and delved further into the cursed mine shaft. Ghosts, like many other man-eaters, tended to track their food by Qi. Specifically, deviations from ever-present Qi fluctuations in the environment. Given their lack of light reflecting eyes, one did not have to fear proximity nor line of sight from a ghost, though such had its own risks. It was easy to assume that something couldn't find you just because it couldn't see you.

It was also a rush, to be in a constant state of fear that your imminent death was a misstep away. Luckily, the much larger and more pertinent fear was more obvious: the ghosts were corralling them deeper inside. Perhaps it was a random chance that had more powerful ghosts wrapping around the expedition from the moment they'd stepped within the new vein of the mine. Or perhaps it was a more powerful ghost, one that'd developed the faculties to do more than rush the first adventurer to brave the Eight-Nine Ghost Mine depths.

She pondered the idea as she caught the edge of a stalactite, swinging herself up and above the detection of a ghost spider. Below her, she could see the cavern open up, a yawning gulf which she couldn't see the bottom of. Even if the cave wasn't bottomless, it could be considered highly lethal, from unseeable ghosts if nothing else. Behind her, she could hear the keening of a not-quite-alive bat that had just been satisfied with its meal. Certain death on one side, near-certain death on the other. Taking the plunge was easy.

Syntyche rappelled into the darkness, minimizing her Qi signature as completely as she could even as it left her in absolute darkness. Although the childhood idea of 'if I can't see the monster, it can't see me' wasn't entirely correct, cultivating beings tended to be very sensitive to being scanned by Qi sensing.

The first thing she noticed, as her feet touched down on wet rock, was the warmth. Larger caverns tended to be cold, and she felt like she was in the most temperate of desert villas. The second thing was the absolute lack of light. Even far down in a cave system, small amounts of light tended to poke through. And although this vein was newly discovered, it was somewhat closer to the surface than a pitch-black cave would usually be.

The third thing she felt was moving air. There was an exit somewhere nearby.

When groping about in the darkness, there was really only one system that anyone used. They found a wall and hugged it for dear life, hoping that they went out rather than further in. To the highly developed senses of a cultivator, though, knowing the origin of the wind's position was a simpler affair. What was not so simple to calculate, however, was when the wind changed direction.

Syntyche waited, for a moment, feeling the wind going from her left to her right. She took a step forward, and its direction switched, now blowing from her left shoulder towards the right side of her back. She took a third step, and the wind was blowing from head-on. She took eight steps forward in total, and the wind blew from eight different directions. In her ninth step, it was back to her left side.

Eight and Nine are classically numbers of good fortune. Eight was prosperity, and nine immortality. It was why there were nine primary levels of Qi condensation, and theoretically nine pillars in Foundation Building. Eight was also the number of trigrams in classical cosmology, likely corresponding to the eight directions the wind could blow in.

There were three ways to interpret the puzzle that Syntyche had found herself in. The first, and the most simple, was that of wind. The fifth trigram, and thus heading towards her right. While she couldn't deny the possibility that simplicity was the essence of the puzzle, it was also the most incomplete. What did wind have to do with nine, or with ghosts?

The second interpretation was Heaven, the first trigram. It corresponded to spirit and had indubitable ties to immortality. Ghosts could also be considered immortals in a sense, and nine was the immortal number. But that made the answer obvious, and if there was anything immortal legacies loved, it was subverting expectations.

Ghosts chased after immortals for sustenance. It was why her squad leader was pursued far more harshly than Syntyche was. The Eight-Nine Ghost Mine could be considered a death trap, but if it was a legacy it was one most easily acquired by a mortal. A mortal, with a touch of luck and good instincts, would be able to navigate the mine nearly unhindered by ghosts. And for a mortal, the first legacy they would find would begin their path of cultivation. Eight-Nine. Luck begetting immortality.

Syntyche walked backwards, and felt the wind shift for one cycle. One round of eight steps, and then it stopped moving, ushering her forwards. She couldn't see, but she didn't need to. The wind was a path, and through it she could see the cavern around her, slight eddies indicating where the cave twisted and turned, and where she should turn in kind.

One hundred and eight steps later, the wind ceased, caught against a cloth shawl. Syntyche reached out and caught it, and her Qi senses found nothing. It was, to all appearances, completely mundane. She put it on, and felt completely normal as well. But as she put it on and the darkness receded, she realized just how meaningful it was.

The cavern teemed with ghosts, bugs and rats and ethereal soldiers and more, the smallest of them exuding even stronger and more potent auras than the most powerful ghost she fled from near the surface. And not a single one felt her presence, even as they brushed up against the cloak itself. She could feel the wind whisper in her ear as she stood stock still, frozen in fear.

"This is mortality. Not even the most lofty of Immortals ever truly is."

--

It's amazing what deadlines do to my productivity. Procrastination is bad.

 

[Raron]

Chrysanthos Krimta

Market at Mogui

Chrysanthos had a headache. It was not because of the merchant currently arguing with. It was not because he had a bit too much flower wine during last night. No it was almost certainly due to the the sun sharing its fairly bright radiance on his head. The caravan he was escorting was currently in Mogui city, with orders to transport supplies and men to Xin Kingdom. With everything moving to war footing for the coming decade, the Sect and the Clan have agreed on bigger expeditions to Ingredient Lands and Southern Green, to quickly fill the depleting stocks. This has led to a lot of resources coming in and out of Mogui city, which connects the Golden Devil Core Clan lands and the Simmering Soup Sect. This meant that the usually profitable trade routes where buzzing with activity which meant more guards. His current assignment for the Legion was a simple escort mission, which ended as they arrived, and he would need to accept new one or continue on North. The

The Market in Mogui was rather large, though most was covered by the mortal stalls, and only the underground held cultivation treasures of some values. Considering this was indeed a mostly cultivation city, this has led to a underground market being far bigger then the mortal one. Still even then, there was a high mortal presence in the city, and as such the market stretched for at least several lǐ. While mostly full of mortal daily supplies and goods, sometimes a treasure was hidden. For a good quarter of the market was full of mortals and low Qi condensation cultivators peddling goods, hoping to get some money from wandering cultivators. Many tried their luck, and Chrysanthos was among them. His only find so far in the mortal part was a fossil with bamboo pieces in it. While he had no idea how such a thing came to be, the fossil sealed off all the Qi of the bamboo rendering it invisible to any passing cultivators. Even he would have missed it if he did not notice the fossilized bamboo and injected the rock slowly with his Qi, which caused a minor reaction. It seemed to hold fairly few minor pieces, which could net a decent profit when resold.

The pieces of Bamboo could be extracted, refined and merged. While losing in quality, it could be refined into a larger usable item. Not a weapon, since the pieces would be too small, and broken as they are, any forged weapon would be quickly destroyed by more sturdy, yet less powerful weapons. A talisman of sorts would probably need to be forged, or it could be sold as a ingredient to the Simmering Soup Sect. Spirit Bamboo was always a premium material, with its usability stretching well into Foundation Establishment. Chrysanthos would need to give his options a bit of a thought, but the mortal market was a profit so far. Along with some rarer dyes, for which he secured a decennial contract, it was a rather sounding success. It was time to check the Immortal market, for its levels where gated by the cultivation level of the guests. The first three levels where for Qi condensation only, the deeper one went, the better the treasures. Only the fourth level had any Foundation Establishment treasures, but such places where off limits for him. A 8th Heavenstage would be limited to the first three floors only. His hopes of finding a heaven defying treasures for few silvers in the mortal market have been dashed. A unexpected profit was made, but it would not be enough, since his cultivation has stalled. He would need to go further into the depths of the market, where bigger more expensive treasures could be found, but with far bigger competition.

Even without the unfortunate accident during the Trials which saw his knees shattered, he was still falling behind. During his youth, he tested an unprecedented amount of talent, with only a few in the history of the clan having his starting potential. But unlike the legendary figures, his luck made sure he did not rise above his peers. This showed both during his starting years, when he managed to reach only 5th​ Stage in a few decades, which was normal progress for just normally talented ones, but during the trials, it seemed no amount of treasures was enough then, for the cultivators of the Fifth Sea where nothing if not persistent into seeing him die. It took him years to recover from the wounds, and the debt accumulated took a even longer time. Maybe things would have been different if he was a higher stage during the trials or did not hesitate in using his life saving treasures.

Still what is done is done, his cultivation of 8th​ Heavenstage was decent for his current job, and with further preparation he could advance to Foundation Establishment with time. He was even considering going to the Qiguai Clan Secret Realm, for his stock of lifesaving items has replenished, and surely his luck would turn around one day. If nothing else, he was sure to survive it.

As Chrysanthos neared the second level, one reserved for middle Qi Condensation experts and goods, and stopped as a stall had a rather peculiar setup. At a stall a merchant was selling some failed soups, mostly from Kitchenhands, and certain soup was far away from others. In fact, it actually had a modified containment formation around it, with not even a wisp of Qi from the soup. The soup in question seemed to be devouring Qi from the surrounding area, which considering how thin the Qi was, was impressive. The formation was probably there to not rob the other soups of their Qi, rendering them almost useless.

Intrigued by the sight, Chrysanthos managed to acquire a small sample of the soup, and upon infusing it with a small portion of his Qi, it turned into a mote of black gaseous substance, which seemed to stay around and blind both sight, hearing and smell. Useless for cultivation, and with the amount of Qi required it would be a useless weapon. Which explained why nobody had bought it so far. Still, it gave him a idea.

Spiritual bamboo, refined and merged with desert salt, had a capability of absorbing a large amounts of Qi, and then realising it in a comically harmless manner, while disintegrating itself. It could be used for a quick increase in concentration of Qi in a area. It was very rarely used considering that a Clan formation and some spirit stones could do the same job far more efficiently, and the Spiritual Bamboo itself was far more precious than to be wasted in such manner.

But if the Spiritual Bamboo was shaped in a cylinder, refined with desert salt and filled with this substance, while inscribed with a stabilization formation, it would enable the substance to receive a large amount of Qi, turning itself into the smoky gaseous form at a moment's notice, when one would disable the formation. This would in turn cloud everybodies senses and enable a prepared Cultivator to escape notice.

Refining the bamboo, condensing the substance and inscribing the formations would take a pretty high toll on his savings, but it should more than make up for it by several lifesaving treasures which would be produced, especially with the incoming war.

Well, with the upcoming trial Chrysanthos needed all the help he can get, and even though it would cost him a bit, his life was far more profitable than some spirit stones.

While the caravan would be going southeast, his path led north. Towards the Qiguai Clan Secret Realm.

Spoiler

Turns out I can give my cultivator a smoke bomb. I just need to be creative about it. I planned to get this our earlier, but life got in the way.

 

[Nordlending]

Demetrius Ceres - Surrounded by Sand
​

Demetrius Ceres was sitting on the sand. Some might ask, why is that man sitting on sand? and not something more comfortable like a chair or a carpet. A giant sandworm had eaten his chair. A Quicksand Slime had destroyed his rug. The chair, crafted by a mortal artisan at his peak and was one of the last projects he had created before he retired. Now gone, its legs firmly stabbed into the creature's brain. The rug was the last gift given by a master weaver before her passing.

Wonderful things created by mortals. Now those things, like them, had deteriorated. All because nature destroys and destroys until nothing remains. Demetrius was sitting on the sand because nature is a genuine pain.

The rumors of the 100-year struggle had reached his ears. There had been casualties. The oldie in charge had bungled things up, and everything was spiraling downwards from there. The so-called 13 (The bear didn't count) had prevailed despite the variable levels of impalement they had suffered. The legendary Lady Barda had turned from an old hag in a young body to an old hag in a matching body. Then there was that thing he had met, who had claimed to be the honorable Xiao Yi. A dangerous being who's own words didn't match its intention. Then there was that odd fellow Damian Silver, who had finally bitten the dust after his century-long losing streak.

No matter. The 13 may be Indomitable, but the 13 weren't unsurpassable. Demetrius would soon reach their level and surpass it.

______

Demetrius was sitting on the sand, attempting to figure out how cultivation works. He was not successful. Every time he felt like he was figuring out something, a beast attacked him. Giant grows, storms, boars, scorpions, and so on. The beasties didn't survive long. They never did, and their remains soon joined his ever-growing collections of corpses. He wished he could do some jobs, but the contribution board was still in shambles, and it insisted he had died during the trials.

Things changed when he met a new kind of being. His first clue that the being wasn't a monster, was that it hadn't charged him with murder in its eyes yet. Strange. The eleven previous encounters he had faced today hadn't hesitated. They had gone straight for his throat.

The second clue was its intelligent eyes. The third clue was that it could speak.
"Fear me, you puny death god of the sandy dunes, for I, Homet Bap, am here to defeat you."
The demihuman (what else could it be?) had the lower body of a goat and the upper body of a man. It also had two goat heads. The Goatman raised its spear and attempted to strike an imposing figure, and it might have succeeded if it wasn't so short. The Goatman stood at four feet tall at its highest.
"Tremble demi-god, for this, is the day you die," the tiny thing yelled as it charged towards him.
The Goatmen, known for their weak cultivation, shouldn't have been able to get to this location. The desert was a dangerous place, and that thing, currently running around him, poking him with its spear, was only at the second stage.
"You are tough, but how long do you think you can survive my onslaught? Seconds? Minutes? PERHAPS even THREE WHOLE minutes.
How should he deal with it? Should he rip its heads off? No, the being was sentient, and it was not like it was hostile. It was something he had to ponder.
"Still standing huh? Impressive. I will let you live death-god but remember. Your days are numbered.
Then he left. What a funny little thing. A curious little thing. He wondered if the rare creature would appear later. Goats like bones right? Demetrius looked at the graveyard surrounding him. There had to be something useful here.


Rewards
Tribulation Bonus

 

[Sol Zagato]

For One to Live, Another Must Die
Simon Euaerizo #3, Turn 7 Omake​

The worm and Qirong flew over dead lands. Not merely desert, this was an expanse that had been killed, and relatively recently. Deep desert was empty of Qi, water, or any signs of life. At its worst even the air would get difficult to breathe. This place was deep desert now, but had been ordinary desert before. Shrubs and spines had grown over even the devastation of Child-Corpse-Eater's futile last stand, even encouraged where the chaotic landscape trapped the air by chance. Now the skeletons of the plants testified to what had been, some even white like bone. Here and there, there were signs of water erosion from storms and seasonal streambeds filling with drifting silt.

Qirong kept his eyes peeled for the murder instrument. The law of the Organ Meat Desert was inscribed in the heavens themselves, obvious to even unthinking monsters. For one to live, another must die. Here wind with traces of Qi and moisture was being manipulated, stretched upward and thinned, only to be drawn back down and concentrated elsewhere. That elsewhere was where the Bronze settlers were living, where they drew life from the world. Like in the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect, murdered land was a sign of new civilization nearby.

As they progressed, he could not see the Qi concentration array itself, but the signs were apparent. Here, an unnaturally flat stretch of ground. There, a series of cold iron spikes. Now that he was in the outer infrastructure it was time to walk. A defense array could decide that a mounted mortal was a Battle Blood Cannibal scout and kill him in a heartbeat. In a war-cut ravine half-filled with sand and debrits, he landed the wingworm and jumped off. The beast stared at him with unmoving compound eyes, then went aloft, winging for the south. For freedom and its kin. Qirong walked north.

The actual settlements and ranches would be past where he could reach today. But the orderly, predictable Bronze would have regular patrols here, and failing that, fixed fortifications and alarm arrays. He planned on being caught before sunset. After that he had no idea what to expect.

It wasn't as if he didn't know anything about the Bronze, but he was sure most of what he'd been taught or heard was wrong in some way or another. Most of his information was hearsay and rumor. If forced to describe them, he would say they were bronze-haired, of course. That was their name. Some more gold, some more red. Otherwise; goblin-nosed, red-skinned, round-eyed, yellow-blooded, servile, forsaken by Heaven. Alien. Vigilant. Idiotic.

The last four were probably perjorative, because the Bronze were his people's greatest foe. They blocked the path to the green lands. They raised and shepherded empires-worth of mortals only to leave them unharvested, out of reach. He understood that harvesting just wasn't what they did, but from what he knew, other sects and clans at least had the sense to ignore their mortals if they weren't eating them.

The law of the Organ Meat Desert, no, the logic of the world, argued against the Bronze. Any sustenance must be seized, any resource taken, every advantage pressed. Otherwise would be insanity, inviting death. Yet the Bronze were not dead. He'd had the best of educations, but clearly something was missing. The Bronze were alive for a reason, not just because they were stubborn or treated their own princes like slaves. Cultivation was meant to free people, break their bonds, bring them victory. As his mother asked, he would turn his back on the sweet liberties due the Transcendant. The Dao of the Bronze would have to suffice, to satisfy him enough to accept the chains.

How presumptuous, that he would come to the Bronze with nothing and be made a cultivator. Achieve that first, then worry.

Hours later, in a wide, boulder-jumbled valley, the hairs on his arms stood up as he crossed array lines. He didn't know this pattern, couldn't have scribed it himself, but he could get the gist. Lethal to Heavenstage, harmful to Foundation-Builders, with a parallel pattern tied in for raising the alarm against stronger cultivators. Completely inactive against mortals, maybe. What really bothered him is that he couldn't even see the lockpass. Another treat for later.

He heard someone speaking a foreign language, a woman or child. An ordinary mortal wouldn't have heard it, but Qirong's senses were exceptional. The giant boulders made locating the voice difficult, but it was to the left of his path somewhere. Then suddenly, there it was in the open, a solitary shrouded figure, gleaming armor underneath a hooded cape, ten yards away. The lean figure had a long spear and and oval shield on its back. It held a bone-and-silver canteen in its free hand.

Qirong swallowed hard. He'd deliberately stayed thirsty today, and had poured out his own water sack hours ago. He'd also rolled on the ground and walked through a few bushes. He didn't have to pretend how bad he wanted that water. It should help sell the act.

"Hey kid, long journey, eh?" she asked in the desert dialect. The woman held out the canteen and sloshed it a little. "It's okay, we have plenty." He rushed her, took the vessel and drank greedily. The canteen was a treasure, the bone from humans or great beasts. It kept the water cold, but maybe had other properties too.

"Were any others with you? Anyone that couldn't keep up or got separated?" The woman looked normal. Her attire had a drab functionality that confirmed his expectations of the Bronze. Battle Blood Cannibal cultivators wore their trophies proudly, to proclaim their strength. The only ostentatious thing on the Bronze woman was the canteen. He couldn't see her hair, but her skin was a normal tan, and her nose was only a little proud. That was one 'fact' down.

Qirong shook his head. "Just me" he croaked out. "My master was dying. I would have been put with the cattle or, or worse. She gave me a sooth-singer so I could fly away. Is it safe here? There's enough to eat and drink?"

"Mortal child walker is lone escape. Healthy, no abnormalities. Turnover on estate, will brief further," she spoke into her helmet. "I'm Petra. What's your name?"

"Lao," he lied. One of his deceased siblings.

"It's safe here Lao. We have plenty." She glared at him a little. "Don't use that word for people here."

"What word?"

"Cattle. Say people." She had no further guidance on the matter.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Not everything I wanted to get in, but I'd done this much already. I think I'll move forward to his current story next, and get back to more of his backstory later- I really want to get his whole backstory in eventually.

@occipitallobe @Alectai @BungieONI please index this omake for turn 7. Thanks!

Edit: Reward requested is lifesaving treasure.

 

[Humbaba]

Not everything I wanted to get in, but I'd done this much already. I think I'll move forward to his current story next, and get back to more of his backstory later- I really want to get his whole backstory in eventually.

@occipitallobe @Alectai @BungieONI please index this omake for turn 7. Thanks!

Edit: Reward requested is lifesaving treasure.

Click to shrink...

Threadmarked and added.

I know how you feel. Wei Feng's story is currently a whole turn behind due to a busy Christmas and the muse being uncooperative.

 

[occipitallobe]

As an aside, I planned to do this earlier, but this turn is only slightly longer than the last, and the holiday season is the holiday season. I'll try and get those with omake done first, and I'll work on the rest of the update as it comes to give people a little more of a chance to get back into the swing of things and dash one off if they want. I don't have a set timetable yet, but at least a week.

---------------------------

Ninth Prince
Omake Reward - Trib Treasure (as in omake)
Fate - Where other men ventured, Anush Naag studied, following clues towards a treasure to let him transcend the tribulations to come. For nearly ten years he studied, cultivating along the way, convinced he had discovered a long-forgotten treasure in an ancient cultivator's tomb. After the first decade he ventured in, and after exploring the tomb found only traps and ashes. Most frustratingly, someone had taken the treasure he sought a mere five or six years before he had arrived.
Impact - 13 (+0)
Cultivation - 12th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 232 years (+21)
Health - Healthy -> Healthy

Anuka Vatatzes
Omake Reward - Cultivation Boost
Fate - Anuka sought out her own strength in the form of boosted bloodlines. It was a single piece of Cursed Bronze, a peculiar piece struck by the Heavens during a tribulation that allowed her to incorporate a piece of the Cursed Bronze Bloodline (+1 Impact). Not a true bloodline, but a mere sliver of one. However, it allowed her to strengthen her own blood of bronze in peculiar ways, the most obvious being the ability for her strikes to be imbued with minor curses that could slow or sap enemies. She leapt from the 2nd Heavenstage to the 6th on the back of this ability, being deployed to hunt down several bandits above her own level with other squads in preparation for the war to come.
Impact - 1 (+1)
Cultivation - 6th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 47 years (+19)
Health - Healthy -> Healthy

Eirene of Nowhere
Omake Reward - Cultivation Boost
Fate - From nowhere did she come, yet it was not nowhere she was sent. Eirene wandered north and south, and west and east, and into the Qiguai Secret Realm. There she found herself flung into peculiarity, like so many others. Into the sky she went, and was hunted by a massive sea-serpent, a fanged mouth with grasping hands reaching out from it, gorging itself on those around her. Although she found the method to kill it, she chose not to, and attempted to bring Peace to a creature of consumption. For a year she was hunted, and for a year she tried to get through to the serpent. She failed every time. Yet even as a tooth punctured her stomach, and only a treasure kept her alive, leaving her Badly Wounded, the snake seemed to understand. It took her far into the sea-sky, further than any other cultivator of her realm could get without absurd risks. There in the deep sea above the sky of a shattered world lived a great family of such serpents,, ten in number. These she befriended, and despite their desire to eat her, they understood one another. Where they had once hunted the cultivators who had come in, they now sat with her and contemplated. One of them returned with a Ten Venoms, Thousand Steps of the Journey Pill (+60 cultivation-years), something the creatures had hoarded since long ago. Over time, she learned they fought a war with great monster sharks, and Eirene attempted to mediate. After learning their languages, she was able to broker a hundred-year truce, both the greatest of the sharks and her friend among the serpents fusing two teeth together into a magical Truce Talisman (+6 Impact), the power of the mediated peace able to force others to listen to her words and consider her cries for peace, no matter their original intentions.
Lastly as she returned, she was gifted a Seaweed Meridian Tea (+10 cultivation-years), boiled from Spiritual Seaweed. With this, she stepped into the 12th Heavenstage.
Impact - 6 (+12)
Cultivation - 12th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 209 years (+80 years)
Health - Healthy -> Dead -> (LST used) -> Badly Wounded

Yan
Omake Reward - Healing
Fate - Yan spent his time in places of ill repute, doing little enough for much of his time. He cultivated with immense diligence, and while he was sent on several missions, he failed many. Many of his friends joked about him deliberately failing unimportant missions to store up his luck for the war to come - he would save villages but not kill the bandits entirely, or lose parts of the shipments he was sent to guard - failures that did not impact his allies unduly, but still cost him a great number of Contribution Points. Despite this, he made excellent progress, stepping closer to the 11th Heavenstage. As for the luck scheme... only time would tell if this was true...
Impact - 8 (+0)
Cultivation - 10th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 174 years (+26 years)
Health - Wounded -> Healthy (Healed!)

Rina Callista
Omake Reward - Lifespan Treasure
Fate - Rina found herself buoyed by an unlikely source. A friendly tournament between the Strength Purity Sect and the Golden Devils meant that suddenly improving the strength of their youngest talents could earn considerable prestige and have use in the war ahead. Word came down from the Elder of Administration, and resources were poured into her - her relations with the Sect meaning she would be a perfect diplomat to defeat them in battle. In the course of twenty years she made decades of progress, and in the tournament she managed to win handily, gaining a Self-Scrying Pearl (+20 cultivation-years) from Strength Purity, allowing her to properly see herself from the perspective of someone else - someone with no emotional attachment to her at all. Gaining another perspective on onself so objectively allows one to make great gains in their Dao, and it was with this final push that Rina broke through to the 13th Heavenstage, the first Clan talent in over a few millennia to do so.
Impact - 12 (+0)
Cultivation - 13th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 288 years (+57 years)
Health - Healthy -> Healthy

- - - - -

Just a couple tonight to get us started!

 

[uri]

Yan
Omake Reward - Healing
Fate - snip

Click to shrink...

I was hoping for more, as Yan needs to catch up from 60 years of not cultivating but I can't complain about him not dying when he doesn't have a lifesaving treasure and probably won't have one next turn (unless the war rises the chance of death significantly).

 

[BadAtScreenNames]

Arrival
Part 1
Maria Turn 7 First Omake
​

She woke with a pounding headache and a litany of low, grumbling pains riddling her every inch. She ignored them. Scrubbed a palm over her bleary eye. Sat up. Sunlight was clawing at the mouth of the cave; looking at it, she'd judge it was early morning, an hour after dawn at the latest. Later than she'd meant; deserts were crueller under the sun, or so she'd heard.

"Fuuuuuuck."

Growled the curse at the back of her throat, mingled with the dust of long travel. Her waterskin was wrapped up in her blankets; half-empty now. She drank a little, washed it around her mouth before swallowing to wet her parched tongue. Better to ration the rest. She'd need it soon enough. Next was her hair. The closest she had to a mirror were her blades. It'd be wrong to call them swords. Cleavers, even, was pushing it; they were rough, jagged things, two feet each from crossguard to tip, with crude handles nailed into the tang. Any swordsmith would take one look and weep. Still, they held an edge, and they were shiny. That's all she really needed.

The girl tilted one of the blades to catch the sunlight, and eyed herself critically. No real change. Short. Broad shoulders and a strong frame, cut down to scrawniness by food snatched or stolen on the move. A dozen scars from lucky fights and older, darker things. Sharp, glaring grey eyes set into an exhausted face. One grey eye, one gaping socket.

Hair a matted mess of muddy dreadlocks. Skin wrapped up in rough, ragged cloth and smeared with dust. Hidden, still. She looked like any other child of the Jianghu. No sign of the mad gold that marked her out, or the inhuman whiteness of her skin. It had been better that way, as she'd travelled the last few years. Too much of a risk for anything else.

She nodded sharply. Rose.

The blades she thrust roughly through travel-beaten sheathes she'd cobbled together out of scrap leather and fur. The waterskin went into her torn layers of robes. The blankets were quickly swung up over her shoulders like a poncho. It'd keep the sun off at least. Then at last, the nameless girl started out of the cave in the foothills of the mountains, and down towards the rolling gold desert.

---

Yu Xu hadn't expected today to get worse, but then again he never did. Optimism seemed to be immune to experience, in his case.

"Honourable masters, I thank you again for your offers," he gabbled, trying not to keep his eyes off of their knives as they pressed against his throat, "and truly it would be an eternal honour for two such great warriors to guide this humble peddler along the Scorpion road, but-"

"But is a bad word, worm," growled the larger of his assailants. There were cliff faces less imposing, and foetid pools that smelt better. "But makes me take offence."

"Here we are, off'ring our services out of the goodness of our hearts," said the second, sneering, a thin line of a man packed with malice and sadism and far, far too many yellow teeth in his cruel grin, "askin' nothing for this kindness but a look inside your big old pack back there, and what do you say but no? Impugning our honour, are you?"

"Implying we're thieves?"

"Robbers?"

"Bandits?"

"Keepin' you safe, we are. Golden Devil territory, this is. Worst demons in the world."

"Went to war with heaven I'sself. You know what that makes this place?"

"Hell," said the little one, drawing the word out with hideous glee.

"'S'right. Be a bad, baaaaad idea to be here alone. So stop. Being. Rude -"

"-And open your fucking bag."

Yu Xu shut his eyes. His mind danced. Either he opened his bag, they took his wares, and maybe he lived long enough to starve to death a pauper, or they killed him now and took it after. The latter was more honourable. The former he might recover from.

Life or face. What a choice.

"Leave him be."

A new voice. The pressure of the knife-blades on his neck lessened a little. He opened his eyes again. Both of his assailants were looking away from him, towards a… a…

Girl. It had to be a girl. There probably wasn't such a thing as a sentient grime monkey, and even if there was it wouldn't be wearing most of a pile of laundry. She was staring back at them, face blank. Not angry or cruel, just… empty. Bored, almost.

"Didn't you fucking here me?" she said again. Her voice was rough, haggard from disuse. "Put your knives away. Leave him be."

He watched his assailants glance at each other. Then back at her. Then at each other again.

And start to laugh. Huge, rolling guffaws from the big one, a staccato cackle from his partner. It went on for a few seconds. The girl reddened.

"Or what?" gasped the little one, eventually. "You a martial hero, brat?"

"Didn't know there was any ragpile fist stylists left," said the big one, and they fell back laughing again.

"Oh gods," said the little one. "Ragpile fists. You're funny, Ma. You really are."

"Thank you."

They finally calmed again. "Good laugh you gave us, little one," said the little one. "Very good laugh. For that, do you a favour. Fuck off, and we won't kill you."

The girl didn't look bored any more. Instead, she was angry. Really angry, if her bared teeth and staring eye were any judge. She wasn't going to fuck off. She was going to try and intervene, and then she'd just die too. A girl, barely more than a child. Yu Xu found, suddenly, here on the edge of death, that he didn't want that.

"All is well, honourable niece," he said, pasting on a smile he knew would look desperate at best. "The fine masters here merely wished to offer their services. I am humbled by their honour, and your valour too! Truly, the next generation have found their virtue early! But let us not-"

"They're robbing you," said the girl. "Not offering anything."

"Ah- A mere misunderstanding! I had sadly-"

"What, you want to be robbed?"

"Robbing him," said the skinny one, quietly. He wasn't laughing now. "Yet another insult to our honour."

Lu Xu's voice stilled. So they were dead then. The two of them. Gods, he should have stayed on the plains.

"From a knee-high little bitch doesn't know she's been born, Ping," said Ma.

"Insults her elders."

"Sticks her nose where it ain't wanted."

"Rude, Ma."

"Very rude, Ping."

Ping turned back to glare at Lu Xu. "Move and we'll take it personal," he grated. Then the two turned back to the girl.

"I think," he said slowly, face locking into a rictus-snarl, "that it behooves us, to teach a lesson."

"In manners?"

"And life-skills. Picking battles. Learning one's place."

And the two began, slowly, to advance.

Lu Xu looked back at the girl again. "Run," he gasped. "Run, for Heaven's sake, now."

She looked at him. Smiled a little. "You're nice," she muttered.

Then the smile went. She seemed to still, somehow; like her breath had left her, and her flesh had turned to stone. Like a blank slate, almost, empty and clean.

Ma snorted. "Waste of my time," he grumbled.

As last words go, not great.

The girl exploded. Lu Xu didn't see her move – one moment she was there, the next Ma's arm was spiraling lazily into the sand, and the air was thick with screams. Ping was staring, face blanched white, but he didn't have long. Ma had flung himself backwards, lashing out with his knife, but the girl was on him, swinging two savage-looking hunks of edged steel with mad speed. She was screaming, Lu Xu realised. Screaming and snarling and gasping with fury, her voice contorted into a grating bellow. Who *was* this girl? *What* was she?

Ping had shaken himself from his shock by now, and lunged at the girl's back, his knife flickering like light on rippling water. He was good for a bandit, but it didn't matter. She brought the second blade back around in a blistering arc and drove him back. Then she was back on Ma. He lasted half a second before she cut/tore his head from his shoulders.

"Oh fuck," gasped Ping. She roared in fury, and scissored her blades through his waist. He fell, in two halves, onto the road. The whole thing had lasted less than ten seconds.

The girl snarled again, still clutching her swords. Struck down at the sand once, twice, three times. Howled her fury. Calmed, slowly. The rage gave way to an almost serene stillness, marred only by deep, lung-shattering breaths.

Lu Xu didn't move. Didn't dare to.

After a long moment, she turned to look at him. "You alright?"

He nodded.

"Good. S'better that way."

Light gleamed in the distance. Lu Xu managed to find his voice again. "Legionnaire."

"What?"

"Legionnaire. Of the Golden Devils." He took a shuddering breath. "They keep the roads safe."

Something complicated happened to her face. She turned to follow his gaze.

"I… I cannot pay you-"

"Hush. S'alright. No charge."

The legionnaire, running at inhuman speeds, skidded to a halt from them.

"Who are you?" He thundered. "Who dares disrupt the peace of the Scorpion Road?"

Lu Xu went to speak, but the girl got there first.

"I don't have a name," she muttered, eyes suddenly fixed on the paving stones. "But I'm… I'm…"

She stopped. Growled.

"I was born in a slave pen, and my hair grew in gold. I am a Golden Devil. And I've come to meet my clan."

 

[LordEdric]

Magnus Centenius​

Magnus Pt. 17 Getting ready for another War

Magnus sighed to himself as he rebuild his combat puppets. He was still injured from the last war and now a new war against the Blood Cannibals was set to go off as soon as the truce ended. To top it all off, he had barely finished wrestling control of his body back from an infant puppet soul. Magnus's body and soul were still damaged and needed many more years of recovery. He needed was an advantage, something to push him ahead of his enemies what the fighting began. Magnus decided to head for the Qiguai Secret Realm. This was a trip Magnus had put off for decades. There was always another line of research to pursue or a battle to fight. He didn't have a chance to do and test his luck like the others of his generation. He didn't expect heavens breaking luck like what Rina had, but he hoped to find the last push he needed to safely cross the tribulation and enter FB.

Magnus moved to the window and looked over his base. The Dark Gold Restaurant was doing good business as many cultivators wanted to get a few last good meals before they went off to fight. The tea and wine shops were also doing well and many wanted to treat themselves. Magnus also treated himself, he took the money his base had made while he was "detained" to build a new building for his base.

He got the foundations of a grand Pill Forge Complex started. It would have one central furnace able to make high grade Foundation Establishment Pills. That would connect to 6 lesser furnaces, that were still at Early Foundation level, in a Hexagon formation, with ever expanding rings of lesser furnaces all the way to apprentice level. The Complex would for a large hexagon building with an array set into the base to suppress explosions and strengthen the walls. It would still take years for the building to finish, and Magnus promised himself he would survive to see the base be finished.

Magnus sighed to himself again, and left his home to head for he sect. He need to report in and get his assignment. If he was lucky, the Confusing Illusion Talisman he has his eye one would still be there. It should confuse any beast trying to eat him in the secret realm.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@Kaboomatic @TehChron @Mochinator I had this up to about here for the last 2 weeks, but with deadlines looming I just put this out.

 

[Humbaba]

Threadmarked both.

@BadAtScreenNames What do you want in the spreadsheet for your omake reward this turn?

 

[BadAtScreenNames]

Threadmarked both.

@BadAtScreenNames What do you want in the spreadsheet for your omake reward this turn?

Click to shrink...

Cultivation boost, please!

 

[shibosho]

Xiuying Ten Jiang 10 - Early Years Of Legion Life(?)

"Next!" The recruitment officer called out after finishing putting down the details of the latest prospective legionnaire. With how much damage the legions had taken in the last trials, new blood was needed to staunch the wounds the clan had suffered. Most of those who signed up to join the legion would have to go through a special test to see whether or not they at least had the basic capabilities to be a legionnaire. Those that past would go on to undergo legionnaire training. Many would drop out and those that stayed would become proper soldiers of the Golden Devil Clan's legions and perhaps survive long enough to see the next trials.

Still, it was his job to find and sign up prospective soldiers, even if he'd missed breakfast. He'd missed dinner last night as well and it was looking like he was going to be missing today's lunch too. As a Foundation Establishment expert, the officer could sustain themselves on their Qi for a time but the mortal needs were still very much part of his life. The officer would just have to treat the hunger as a test of willpower.

The recruitment officer was brought out of their thoughts when something blocked his light. Rolling their eyes in exasperation, the officer turned their head up only to stare blankly at the strange-looking wagon that had managed to roll up to the large open tent. The officer's confusion only grew as the side of the strange wagon opened up to reveal a large window from which the officer could see two cheerful-looking young ladies.

Both were pretty and pleasing to the eyes, albeit in different ways. The taller and more blessed in terms of figure had a fiery beauty and more spirited air to her, especially with their bright red hair, while the other had a more subdued beauty, that was more approachable to her friend's exuberant charm, and a much more calmer temperament as well.

"Is this the recruitment tent?" The shorter of the two girls asked. The officer nodded and took a deep breath, noticing idly a fragrant aroma that tickled his appetite that he tried to suppress to no avail as his stomach rebelled against his will and let out a loud grumble of discontent. "Sir, would you like a bowl of noodles before you begin? Your stomach sounds very hungry."

The officer blinked as the girl ducked back into their strange wagon before bringing out a nice hot bowl of noodle soup. The officer grimaced but could not stop themselves from swallowing their saliva. It was quite common for people trying to join the legions to try and bribe every officer in charge of recruitment just for a slightly better chance at joining. Usually, they offered currency or small objects of monetary value.

This was the first time someone was bribing him with food.

Usually, the officer would do a quick interview before giving out details on where the prospective soldier would have to go. Most would have to go through a number of tests to see whether or not they were both mentally and physically fit to join the legions. Those that showed promise or had offered good bribes would be allowed to bypass some of the more tedious and troublesome tests and skip the first initiation tests.



"Alright then, ladies, I humbly accept this bowl of noodle soup." The officer said, giving the girls a sincere smile. After taking their first bite of the noodle soup, the officer decided to let them go through the accelerated course of promising hopefuls. The price of the food being offered to him was much less than the usual bribes, as clearly seen on the menu written on the side of the wagon, the officer was starving for something both tasty and filling.

And this bowl of noodle soup was the best damn noodle soup that they had ever eaten.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Xiuying and Huoying had breezed through basic training with little difficulty. Xiuying had problems with formations, what with her cultivation being hyper-focused on the art of cutting, but she managed to pull through basic formations 101, though it was admittedly not something that she would willingly do in the future unless it was vital to the mission. Huoying had some problems as well, mostly with following orders and dealing with authority figures. Fortunately for the fiery red-head, Xiuying was able to keep her from exploding and punching an officer.

After their basic training had finished, Xiuying and Huoying had been recommended for several of the clan's many legions. Upon gathering more information about their prospective legions, however, it turned out that a number of the legions that had been recommended for them to join were in fact full of weirdos, lone wolves, and other troublesome people that were hard to integrate into other legions. These "ghost" legions were mostly for appearance and conveniences, though when push came to shove, their members would do their part as well as any other legion.

It suited the pair just fine. Xiuying wanted to focus on mastering the principle art of cutting and contemplating Sword Law while Huoying hated being bossed around and liked the freedom that these ghost legions provided. There were issues though such as lack of proper legion structure meant that it was hard to find anyone who could help out a pair of new legionnaires as well as figure out what they were actually meant to do.

Thankfully, a free bowl of noodles helped win the benevolence of veteran legionnaires who help guide the girls through legion life. They would take missions from the contribution board, get their contribution points, and spend those points for resources that would help their training and cultivation. Huoying would focus mainly on combat-orientated missions while Xiuying would take on more mundane tasks.

As the years went by, it soon became clear that Xiuying was an inefficient idiot who while making progress on mastering Sword Law was behind in her cultivation, something that Huoying didn't notice until a recent spar where Huoying swept the floor with Xiuying.

"Xiuying, you need to stop doing all these catering missions," Huoying said bluntly to her best friend.

"Eh? But isn't it good that all these people want to eat my noodles?" Indeed, over the last few years, Xiuying's noodles were quickly becoming well known throughout the legions. Not only were the noodles cheap, they often received rave reviews about how they were the best noodles that many had ever eaten in their entire life.

"Don't get me wrong, Xiu-Xiu. Your noodles will always and forever will be the best noodles in the lands but your cultivation speed has slowed to a crawl because you're wasting too much time cooking noodles for barely enough contribution points." Huoying explained. She'd had enough of watching her friend wasting her potential and was determined to help her in the best way she could. "You need to do more rewarding missions! How about we take one together? There's this mission that I've been thinking about taking, something about protecting this village festival from demonic beasts and blood bandits, and it sounds like it would also be a good match for you as well. How about it?"

"Okay," Xiuying said immediately. Xiuying wasn't one to think too hard about stuff, especially when she was used to emptying her mind and setting her body on autopilot while training Sword Law. She was an idiot and idiots didn't need to think too hard about stuff. "When do we leave?"

Huoying grinned. "If you can, now."

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Mai Fan Teng Village or Rice Noodle Peak Village in the old tongue was larger than Xiuying's old home. Despite its name, the village was nowhere near any mountains. It was actually most well-known for the many rock formations surrounding the village that were arranged in such a way that it was obvious some cultivator in the past had set them up like that and made sure that they wouldn't be easily broken.

Legends has it that a Wandering chef had once stopped by these rock formations and had found some way of creating "unparallel" noodles. With these noodles, the chef was able to defeat powerful demons and save the founders of the village. Naturally, as with all legends, nobody knew what the recipe of these unparallel noodles was, or if the legend was true or not for that matter.

Still, every year there was a festival dedicated to this legend and every year, there would be chefs from nearby villages that would make an attempt at recreating these unparallel noodles in a huge cooking contest. The winner of the contest would be gifted with a magnificent trophy (by mortal and low-level cultivator standards), and their names engraved on a plaque set within the rock formation that was said to have been where the legendary chef cooked their noodles.

Xiuying and Huoying had taken a mission to clear out the surrounding areas of bandits and dangerous beasts, so that travellers could visit the village unmolested for the noodle festival. Though things got a little dicey when Xiuying was ambushed, Huoying had saved Xiuying, and the two girls were able to successfully complete their mission without any further trouble.

When Xiuying found out about this contest, she initially didn't care to enter it since noodles were something of a hobby for her since she stepped onto the path of Sword Law. Huoying on the other hand wanted to see how Xiuying's noodles matched up to the best noodle chefs in the area. After much begging and pleading with puppy-dog eyes, Xiuying relented and joined the competition.

There had been several rounds, each of which Xiuying easily passed with flying colours. Despite being victim to multiple sabotages and rigged matchmaking, Xiuying overcame each challenge with the same bright and cheerful smile that hid a will of steel behind it. In the semi-finals, Xiuying had successfully fended off an assassination attempt shortly after her opponent had tried to bribe her into throwing the match. Being an adherent to an ugly piece of metal that was more commonly known as a sword, she refused as money didn't mean much to her and she was much more interested in the grand prize. She won with hardly any trouble, even as her opponent swore that she would regret beating him.

Xiuying's opponent in the finals had given her the most trouble due to them being a master chef from the simmering soup sect. There had been no sabotage or assassination attempts for the cooking cultivator had both faith and pride in their skills. Their experience and knowledge for outweighed that of Xiuying and it was only through instinct and a great love of noodles (as well as Jiang's special noodle recipe #14), that Xiuying was able to defeat such a master.

After receiving the trophy, there was much celebration to be had. The plaque engraving would be held in private after the celebrations. However, no one suspected that Xiuying's semi-final opponent was in fact a cultivator who had infiltrated Mai Fan Teng Village in order to obtain the secret hidden within. Their loss to Xiuying had forced the cultivator to use plan B, sending a group of blood bandits to attack the village while they stole the secret.

Huoying and several guest cultivators who were visiting to enjoy the festivities took care of the bandits while Xiuying confronted the villain behind the attack.

In a hidden cave carved into a large rock formation that was hidden from plain sight through the use of an ancient array, Xiuying faced off against her semi-final opponent in a different matter from cooking.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

"You damn whores ruined everything!" The cultivator screamed out, spit flying everywhere in front of them. "For years I have studied the ancient text and for years I had pretended to be a mortal in hopes of gaining entry to this place without a fuss! And when the day finally came, I made sure that victory would be mine. I bribed, sabotaged, and even killed and yet near the end, some fucking Golden Devil whore was too stupid to do the smart thing and accept my bribe!"

"Hey! I'm not a whore! I'm still a virgin!" Xiuying protested without shame, causing the village elder and her opponent in the finals who had joined her in taking down the true mastermind of the attack to look at her oddly. "Also, cheating in a noodle contest is super bad!"

"Ah! Who the hell would care for worthless things like ethics or morals when true power is within their grasps! And now, thanks to my allies, I have finally found them, the true treasure of Rice Noodle Peaks!" Without warning, the cultivator stabbed their blade into one of the funny looking boulders that were nearby and cut off its top as if it was nothing. A fragrant and appetising smell immediately filled the cave as the man revealed to all that the boulder was in fact hollow and filled to the brim with noodles the likes that Xiuying had never seen before. "Behold The Thousand-Year Noodles! With their power, I shall rise to heights never before seen in my sect! Thank you for the meal, ancient legendary chef Mao!"

"My god! Stop him!" Xiuying's opponent in the grand finals cried out in horror but it was too late. Pulling out a pair of chopsticks, the mastermind began slurping noodles. Almost immediately their body seemed to fill with immense vitality and power. "No! Die, you villain!"

The cultivator from the simmering soup sect charged at the mastermind but despite being close to breaking through to Foundation Establishment realm, one swing from the mastermind's arm immediately sent cultivator crashing into the wall where they dropped to the ground motionlessly, with a pool of blood growing out from them. The mastermind looked at their arms in surprise before cackling crazily in excitement

"GAHAHAHAHAHA! Do you see little girl! With the Thousand Years Noodles, I am unparalleled! Now it is time for you to suffer for obstructing my plans, Golden Devil Whore!" Almost without warning, the mastermind lunged at Xiuying, their eyes brimming with murderous intent. Xiuying on instinct, immediately emptied her mind and her body moved, drawing her sword. If Xiuying had been aware, she would have seen the mastermind's body suddenly lose the glow of vitality that the Thousand Year Noodles had bestowed upon them in mid-air, much to the mastermind's shock and horror. Instead, she didn't and she cut. "NOOOOOO!"

"Eh? I'm alive?" Xiuying asked in confusion, having not yet seen the bisected body of the mastermind behind her rolling to a stop.

"Im-impossible! What happened?! Where did the power go!?" Thanks to being a cultivator, the mastermind did not die immediately after being cut in half at the waist. The mastermind could only flail their arms helplessly as they tried to understand what happened.

"I remember now! The legend said that the unparalleled noodles were served fresh." The village elder suddenly exclaimed. "Even though these are those same noodles, there's no telling how long they have been here for. Their potency must have faded away over time!"

"No! It can't be! That means everything I've done was completely in vain!" The mastermind cried out in despair.

Curious, Xiuying walked over to the small boulder that had held the Thousand-Year Noodles. While most had been devoured by the mastermind, there were still a little bit left. Grabbing a strand, Xiuying slurped it up and chewed, taking in its texture and flavour. As the Elder had suspected, despite their appetising aroma, the flavour and texture of these noodles felt off. Though Xiuying couldn't quite pin down what was wrong with the noodles, she understood that whatever powers these noodles once contained, had long since faded away into almost nothing. She could feel a momentary warm flood her body before disappearing almost as fast as it had appeared.

"Yep! These noodles have gone a bit off!" Xiuying declared, eliciting a dying wail of despair from the mastermind.

"Damn it damn it damn it!" The mastermind cursed before turning their eyes on Xiuying. "Y-You may have defeated me but mark my dying words, the Dark Star Kitchen Sect shall avenge me! For my name is…" Without anyone actually learning their true name, the mastermind dies unceremoniously in a backwater village.

"Urgh, it seems that one should not forget that food is best when freshly-made." The Simmering Soup Sect cultivator had gotten back up, though they were badly injured. Shaking their head at the corpse of the mastermind, they turned their eyes to Xiuying before giving her a nod of approval. "You have done well, young Xiuying. Let us have another contest one day. Now then, Village Elder, help me get medical attention please."

"Ah! At once, lord cultivator!" The village elder said before going to the cultivator's aid and helping them out of the kitchen.

After she was left alone, Xiuying then noticed that the inside of the boulder did not match the outside of the boulder. Frowning, Xiuying punched the boulder, shattering the stone layer, revealing a magnificent pot with an elaborate design on it.

"Huh, neat," Xiuying said before putting the pot away in her pouch of holding. Not only did it look nice but the pot looked like it was made out of some fancy material. It also looked good for cooking noodles, not surprising since it was holding the Thousand-Year Noodles for god knows how long. With the pot stored away, Xiuying set out to finish what she had come to do. With her sword, Xiuying carefully engraved her name and a message on the plaque of noodle champions. "Xiuying...Was...Here...There, done!"

Leaving the cave, Xiuying could hear the villagers cheering at having survived another blood bandit attack. The celebrations were already resuming and Xiuying wouldn't miss them for the world.

It would be some time before Xiuying learnt that she had in fact obtained the true treasure of Rice Noodle Peak Village without realising it.

But that was future Xiuying's problem and not present Xiuying's concern.

 

[LordEdric]

Nothing like the first good seed report to get all of us to release Omakes

 

[Alectai]

Yes!

Hahaha!

YES!

Now to start generating content, I've got four more days of night shift! Plenty of time to get a good deal done! The sooner Rina breaks through, the sooner she can contribute!

 

[LordEdric]

Yes!

Hahaha!

YES!

Now to start generating content, I've got four more days of night shift! Plenty of time to get a good deal done! The sooner Rina breaks through, the sooner she can contribute!

Click to shrink...

Rina is already stupidly Overgeared, and Heaven blessed I shudder to think the kind of power Rina will have after making it to the next level