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

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Diomedes Cestus 10 -Road home part 2
Diomedes Cestus -Road home part 2
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Among the desert sands of the koi lands a walled City containing thousands could be seen and a caravan rested near its walls.
The great icy pond city was in truth a mere trifle of town compared to the massive metropolises that called the organ draining desert its home, the name was given to it to satisfy the ego of its king the seventeenth koi king who lived in the eponymous
Great icy pond in the center of the city.

The city itself held around ten thousand souls all in all, and its walls and buildings were known to be decorated by patterns of blue koi fish due to the vanity of one of its previous rulers.

In all honesty, Diomedes thought that vanity was foolish, but he supposed that as an early foundation building cultivator the likes of the seventeenth koi king had the right to have things go in his way without complaints.

Diomedes was lying on his back inside a wagon near the back of the caravan, while the Cestus lands were of too little importance
for any sort of movement to head there beyond some individual merchants the caravan master had agreed at Diomedes insistence
to pass near them in return for Diomedes protection in the journey.

As he felt the wagon rolling to a stop Diomedes had started to hear a commotion coming from the direction of the gates and decided to investigate.

Passing the throng of guardsman, civilians, and merchants that existed in near perpetuity near any settlement of significant size
Diomedes reached the gates where he gazed upon an odd scene the caravan master red-faced yelling and screaming at a guard,
who seemed to be content at ignoring him.

"Hello there, What seems to be the problem master Fu?"Diomedes asked as he approached the caravan master.
Caravan master Fu Qiang was a fat man dressed in silks and a large amount of jewelry
at his hip Diomedes could see a saber that he doubted the craven caravan master had ever used.

"Ah Honorable Brother Cultivator, There is no problem at all it is just an upjumped peasant guardsman that DOES NOT KNOWS HIS PLACE!"
The caravan master shouted at the guardsman who Diomedes noticed seemed rather unperturbed for a mortal who
came face to face with a cultivator.

"Honorable caravan master once again, none can enter the city without paying the new tax the seventeenth koi king has put"
Declared the guardsman"if you have a problem with the tax then you can petition him like everyone else who stayed outside"
he intoned, waving his arm towards the many people who stayed near the walls.

Diomedes raised his opinion of the guard by a couple of notches when he saw that the guard had no reaction to him beyond clutching his spear slightly tighter.

At this Fu Qiang seemed to puff himself up again no doubt in preparation to hurl another stream of abuses and complaints toward the guard.

Diomedes quickly raised his hand to stop him while drawing his token and showing it
To the guard.
"Do not worry, caravan master fu I am sure the good guard here is just doing his job
Let us enter and pay the tax surely you can petition sir seventeen for an explanation once we're inside the walls after all there is no way a guard would be so greedy as to fake a tax?."

The guard paled but didn't look away at this.
an entered the walls Fu Qiang guided his horses near Diomedes and confided to him" I already paid the tax before we left the dawn fortress, still it is better to keep guards like him on their toes. " as he rode ahead he called back "Come, brother Cultivator, i know a place where we can get some proper accommodation for the night".

Diomedes sighed before following him, surely it wasn't too late to find another caravan to join right?.


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"Come Drink another cup with me brother devil" Roared the seventeen Koi King uproariously
Diomedes was sitting near the top of a table in a great hall decorated with both spirit stones and icy crystals of varying sizes and colors.
In the center of the hall laid a cerulean pool that radiated ice and water qi.
Diomedes quietly drained his Ninth cup into a nearby plant as he did to the previous few while gloomily thinking back on how he found himself in that situation.

While he and the caravan master were traveling towards the lodging that was prepared for them it seems that news of the token he had shown the guard had reached the ear of the Koi King.
The Koi King an old muscled man in robes had approached him when they were in the inn and jovially invited everyone in the inn to a feast at the palace, somehow Diomedes did not manage to politely refuse.

As he continued with his musing an eerie quiet snapped him from it, glancing around he saw that the reveling of those around him stopped as they fell asleep one by one, He tried to send his hand to the pommel of his sword only to find himself frozen in place.

"Now, now there is no need for any of that" A voice sounded behind Diomedes before an aged muscled figure stepped into his view.
The seventeen koi king stroked his beard before he sat on the chair in front of Diomedes
"Now let us try this again brother devil, what brings you to my humble city this soon
After the trials?"At this Diomedes felt a strange sensation moving through his body
As he felt the urge to answer the Koi King answer swell in him.
"I-i came here to"
Quickly Diomedes shut his mouth and he began circling his qi trying to expel the foreign influence from his body.

"Oh" the Koi King exclaimed with a measure of surprise" so you can still resist the array in your state?, truly the Golden Devil Constitution is not to be underestimated"

With a gesture from his hands, countless crystals spread out in the chamber began to glow as qi emanated from them and the formation grew in strength.

With this Diomedes felt immense pressure falling on him, bringing him to his knees.
As he tried to resist blood began to trickle from his orifices and he could feel immense pain from his soul as darkness began to cloud the edge of his vision.
Suddenly a golden glow appeared in Diomedes pouch and the pressure was alleviated
Allowing him to breathe again.

Diomedes could hear steps approaching him as a hand was sent to his pouch.
"And what do we have here?"

The Koi king set the pouch on the table in front of them and carefully sent his hand to open it." a treasure capable of withstanding my formation?"

Resting Within the pouch an old tattered scroll could be seen.
Seeing the scroll the Koi King looked struck and his face paled for a moment before he gazed back at Diomedes while closing the pouch.
"That scroll.. , I see now," he murmured.
At this, the Koi King waved his hand and Diomedes could feel the formation deactivating around him allowing him to quickly take back control of his body and draw his sword.

The Koi king, seemingly unperturbed at the sword near his neck continued staring at the pouch before speaking.

"You, brother Devil, what is your name?"

Diomedes clenched his blade hilt in suspicion," And what is it to you, sir Koi King? it didn't matter to you before when you drugged me and trapped me in your array".

"Humor me" Replied the Koi King.
Diomedes stared at the rattled Koi King for a moment, weighing the request in his mind
Against just striking him or trying to retreat before reaching a decision.

" Diomedes Cestus" He declared, "That is my name"
At his name, the Koi King let out a sigh.

"Ole Cestus son then, I really should have known better".At this, the koi king stood up
And threw the pouch back to Diomedes before he turned around and started to head towards a small hallway near the back of his throne.
"Follow me, Young scion of the Cestus if you wish for answers."

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Diomedes was led for several long minutes in silence through a long winding hallway adorned with glowing crystals of varying shapes and sizes before they reached a lone chamber at the end.

The chamber door was adorned with the image of thirty-three koi fishes swimming
Around in a pond with a single blurry object lying at the center.

As they reached the doors the Koi King raised a cane and touched several locations on the door each touch sending a pulse of qi through it, the last one causing the door
To open with a grating sound.

"Please, have a seat " The Koi King pointed toward one of the seats as he took
The seat opposing it.

Diomedes took a long look at the Koi King , before he pointedly looked at his drawn sword and said" Thank you for your kind offer, but after the reception I got I think I Shall stand".

At this, the Koi King grimaced before sighing "That is probably fair".
The king fell into silence for a moment before opening his mouth his voice colored with a tone of regret
"Young Diomedes, It seems I owe you an apology, if I had known you were old Cassius's son I would have never treated you like I did, especially with the recent events drawing you back here."

At this Diomedes Felt a cold sinking feeling in his chest and answered in dread
"And What do you mean by recent events senior? I am afraid I have not heard much
About the koi lands in the recent century".

The Koi King froze for a moment before bursting out in an uncontrollable laughter
"Truly it seems the heaven punish those who make assumptions"

The Koi King face then took a dark turn as he seemed to feel all the years of his age
Looking at Diomedes he spoke
"I am afraid young Cestus that your journey here just might be in vain, for in the last few decades the cestus lands were put under siege".
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I think this might be the longest omake i wrote yet.

@Alectai, @TehChron, @Humbaba, @ReaderOfFate, @Kaboomatic
 
Adhoc vote count started by TheCount on Jun 28, 2021 at 4:30 AM, finished with 62 posts and 31 votes.
 
"I am afraid young Cestus that your journey here just might be in vain, for in the last few decades the cestus lands were put under siege"
Ominous. The Koi King knows Diomedes' father and knows what happens there? Is he really that well intentioned towards Diomedes as he claims? Well, no way to find out, but wait.
 
Zeno Angelus - New Blood
What is love? Zeno mused to himself, while laying on his bed, staring at the bronze roof with green stitching. The colours from decades before only remaining in his memories.

That is a question every being cultivator or no must settle on their own terms at some point. Most mortals I have met showed their love through various material gifts, like a dowry of good tools for a merchant or a book for the wealthy among the mortals. Of course, physical aspects are always included in some manner and the ways to show affections are vast, even when not including cultivator capabilities.

Mere days before the trials he ascended towards the second pillar and fought on that level. his philosophical understanding was not on that level, and he can only thank the ancestors for his luck of not facing a soul specialist in the trials. A shudder overcomes Zeno at the realisation.

Zeno takes up a mediative pose on the floor, his posture long used to the posture without the weight of his armour and sabre aiding him.

Breathing in, Zeno says to himself. His Dao began like this…

"There once was a [floating mountain] with a dark flame of ever burning [love] blazing its way across… across what?" Zeno stumbled on the ending, a last bump, before the foundation laid perfectly in his mind. It all happens on the mountain, but where?

Zeno considered for a moment. As much as he dances in every fight, he also creates formations where needed. Yes! Formations, that's it! But, the formations, much like his fighting style is not very static, is it? It also doesn't really flow. It just always changes, its everchanging. Hm... then it should end like this, "cutting an everchanging formation into the mountain."

With that knowledge in mind Zeno stretches, makes sure his posture is acceptable and with the next breath taken he starts with confidence.

"There once was a [floating mountain] with a dark flame of ever burning [love] blazing its way across, cutting an everchanging formation into the mountain." With that last syllable uttered a breath of dream qi leaves Zeno's body and he gets back into a resting posture.

A new thought entered Zeno's' mind in the quiet of the evening, should he reveal his progress? His subcommanders Alexandria and Xia both outpower him in strength alone, by dint of ascending from 10th​ Heavenstage and both have shown no signs of slowing down. The families trade of the special Koi scales and our various spiritual warding arrays sell very well, allowing them and the rest of the family to cultivate without slowing down. If the Angelus family were hundreds strong, that would be another matter, but of no concern anytime soon for us." Zeno thought.

Looking at his hands, Zeno muse to himself. Then there is the fact that he can't deny every enemy he defeated not by strength of arms alone, what the clan's doctrine would suggest. No. He tended to act in combat as a saboteur, striking in the enemy's weak spot, manipulating the fight, and taking victory through trickery.

Gaiarados and Prakash both were defeated, because of superior tactics and informational advantage, not his strength of arms overpowering the enemy. Though, Zeno noted, his speed would suffer for it. On the other hand, he fights most of his enemies with comrades, not alone. If he fought alone and really needed it, to fight or flee. Then the suppressed pillars with all the strength might just be what he needed, and Xia at least would make sure he can fight at that level. Her desire for nobility would brook nothing less. The last remnant of churning qi in his Dao calmed in the metaphorical sea flowing around the mountain. In his mind's eye the flow was steady once more.

Yes, he would suppress his second pillar at least for now. With his foundation truly settled it is time to head out.

--

As Xia and Zeno head into the wide halls of the StorkBlood Hall where we shall meet our query, Zeno cannot help, but muse to himself.

The trials had been difficult, but no one had been affected more than my new subcommander, Xia. Seeing Heaven truly wield it´s might to summon these hunters sparked her newest pillar, a Pillar of Golden Devil even. Zeno can´t deny himself some pride in that, to have his clan's nobility recognized by her in such a manner is refreshing. Most outsiders just sneer and gossip behind our backs. I should know after infiltrating outsiders for so long, their topics don´t change much.

Thankfully gossip, intrigue and the occasional romance on the side with these ugly personalities is not something I have to torment myself with this time. We are on our way to the StorkBlood Hall after all.

My wife will be training the recruits, while Xia and Zeno make sure she can formally become part of the Golden Devil Clan. Most of the time our chances are slim, since most Elders are very level-headed and don´t take any chances with outsiders and most of the time any argument would be settled within the greater clan.

Thankfully, we have one person with enough power to always look towards the bright side of life and she is my Counterargument to their level-headed arguments. Most simply call her Elder Destasia, but my divination shows her to become far more than just that. Hero of the nobility seeker will be only one of many titles she will accumulate in the future. A smirk graces Zeno's lips at that thought.

The wide architecture of the hall makes it simple to find her, her frame hunched over a gadget arcing with unknown qi on her workbench.

A servant announces us. "Centurion Angelus and his subcommander Xia wish to speak to you about a matter of high interest Elder Destasia."

She looks behind herself, hands slowly extricating herself from the round gadget. "Of course, as an Elder I always have time for my juniors. Just a moment, please." Her methodical voice at odds with her reputation resounding clearly throughout this open hall as she slowly clears her desk for this conversation.

I step forward with paperwork in hand. "Elder Destasia, with my personal attendance I give the final and official approval necessary for giving my subordinate the blood of bronze. I would like to formally propose giving my Subcommander Xia, formerly of the Shen kingdom, the blood of bronze for her service in the trials. Saving thousand juniors through deed of martial action." I give a short bow.

Her practiced stern expression focuses on Xia as I mention the blood. "You wish to give this auxiliary the blood of bronze, Centurion Angelus? She clasps her hands in front of her, her eyes searching frantically for weakness of purpose as is required.

"She has earned that much, considering she made the Golden Devil Clan part of her Dao." Under her stare I further my case. "Giving her the blood would deny the chance of gossip ruining her career and nullify any thoughts of betrayal anyone may wish to hang upon her shoulders."

"And what does the auxiliary have to say for herself?" her voice dripping with practiced contempt and challenge baked into her words.

With purpose Xia answers. "Apart from echoing the words of my centurion, family in all but blood, I can only affirm my own will to accept whatever may come. If the ire of heaven is the price for true nobility to be attained then what cultivator would I be, If I didn´t accept that?!" Her voice rising a few octaves with fervour.

The Elders face splits into a grin. "Oh, do you now? Here is how I see you approaching me for this." Her mannerism becoming less formal by the second.

Her hands mimic the movements of sock puppets one could see on any travelling circus to amuse the children. "Hello, I would like to sign up to be part of your war on the Heaven. Yes, I understand this means I will suffer ill luck, have trouble advancing through tribulations and people will pop out of thin air once a century to try and murder me."

With that charade done she lowers her hands and steps to Xia with her grin reaching both ears. The asked question need not be stated.

Xia lowers herself to her knees before the elder, voice firm. "The shared pain is our pain." Elder Destasia pulls out a prepared syringe with the blood flowing in it in strange patterns. Her poke on the side, ensuring the syringe works properly without leaking any fluid.

"Knowing full well that our blood is mutable and this injection more so than most?" Xia nods and the Elder stabs.

Xia's wailing was pitiful, the few minutes it lasted before it overwhelmed her pure physique and allowed her to slip into blissful unconsciousness.

--

In one of many days, which we all experienced at some point, the day trod along. Nothing of note happened. The paperwork piled up around me and the messenger delivered my suggestions to every important person in the vicinity. There was only one problem, so small and inexperienced in fact she did not know when to stop.

"Greetings senior servant Xi, please teach me to become a cultivator." At least her bow this time is worthy of the court.

"Good morning, young one. Quite forthcoming, aren't you?" Naturally, the girl learned not to disturb me while I talk with her. Though, her dress leaves a lot to be desired.

"Why should I do that, young girl, if I could spend my time here doing my necessary work for the king? My brush dances across my knuckles.

"Great Senior I believe this lowly lady can achieve much under your guidance! Please teach me!" Her bow remaining stable all the while. Hmm…she has nerves at least. Maybe she could annoy Wu Ling for me? She certainly does not know enough of the old blood to differentiate her status from a common retainer, heh.

"In my graciousness I accept!" Ah and there it is, hope. How suitable for one so new.

As I bid her to rise, I make it a point to look over her frame. She is too young to really serve on the banquet tables, but she could still be suitable as a playmate for one of the young.

"Girl, the necklace!" Hoh, disobeying me so early?

"Teacher, its…from my mother ple-"as if I or the court would have time for such beings.

As I throw her to the ground to show just how different our worlds are I take this gaudy piece of metal from the mortal. I cannot allow her to invoke the Kings wrath on her first day. And now the girl is crying, great!

"Is that it how you want to start my training, girl, by crying like a failure?"

I must become a true noble no matter the cost!​

"N-No, please excuse my outburst teacher. I still want to learn, to become a better noble!" The failure, naturally, using the sleeves of her rags to clean her eyes. I cannot help but laugh at the statement.

"Hahahahahaha!" Oh, she is going to be entertaining. "What a good joke! You, a noble, ha!" the confusion on her face just makes it better!

"But my mother-" I am stopping this dumb mortal right there to unlearn all the stupid things she no doubt picked up by the street rabble. "…is a failure living in the servant quarters and you are the evidence of her failure. The common term at court for one such as you is bastard." After this stupid girl stops shaking in petulant rage, she finally asks me about important matters.

"Then how will you, great teacher, teach me to overcome my stain of failure?" She mispronounced the words, but that can and will change soon enough.

"First you will stop associating with her. Being born from such loins of failure is stain enough on you, no need to stain it further and for your first assignment we will fit you to new clothes. Maybe you will at least manage to look the part of a noble." Before we leave to fit her, I graciously allow her one final question.

"Will that make me a noble?" Oh, I know just the right answer for my little minion.

"Not right away, no. At first you will merely be a courtier." I flick her stupid glee away. My minion has no use for silly thoughts like hoping to achieve a better station.

I continue my wise lecture with a raised right pointer finger. "The court will call you many things, but there is one term that fits all who hope to truly become a noble of the kingdom."

"What is it? Wha-?" A glare sets her straight. Really, too much energy wasted.

"New blood." I grab the girl and run with speed befitting my station.

--

Since this was so important, I got the glorious, but boring duty to note her changes to her body, while the Elder overlooked the process, cackling madly like some fairy tale villain, already working on another contraption behind me. Her changes seem to come slow, but steady. Her body is slowly getting darker, and in between the dark spots the Clan's bronze can be spotted. Good. Then again, what is growing on her back? As I raise my brush to make her aware of my question, she takes it from me and hands me a small metallic tube with a point at one end.

"Oh, Centurion Angelus this is a great day! I didn´t think you were actually serious about her existing!" the Elders hands looking over the slowly appearing bronzed form laying atop her cleared desk. Huh, it is strange to write with it at first, but it does not spill! Brilliant!

"She actually has better acceptance of the blood than I thought she would, but without her Pillar of Golden Devil she wouldn't have accepted the Luck I implemented. What a shame!"

I stop writing to ask her about this very deadly phenomenon. "Karmic luck, the kind that tries to murder us?!"

She snorts. "HA, no! Way better than that! The featherbrains around here had the genius idea to attract luck to the person instead of a whole bloodline collectively, I think." Rubbing her chin with her right hand she continues. "At least that's the theory I used with her serum." Is that supposed to inspire confidence?

Elder Destasia elaborates with the same joviality from before. "She will be luckier than the average Devil! She will find more reagents for me than anyone else!" She genuinely enjoys and believes this. Zeno realizes with horror.

"If we are lucky enough." Heaven has never allowed something similar, why would that happen now?

A stink eye greets me once I look up from my notes. Xia's bronze tipped wings, twelve meters in length and ruining her clothes were just the most obvious things we could glimpse now. Testing was required. "I´ll have you know that-"

Our charge yawns before us and we both stop to continue our observations. Her vital signs are taken with the Elders strange instruments, while I note any change the elder mutters under her breath.

"What happened?"

The Elder splays her arms wide, "Welcome to the family! You even get a heavenly present!"

Xia doesn´t seem so enthused. Tears formed in her eyes. It is probably a new side effect from the serum or just her reaction to the physical exhaustion. "What…present?" The Elder has the health of her subjects in mind, right?

"Oh, it must have hit her hard. Maybe she should wait a bit so she can get acclimatized to the blood?"

The elders rebuke follows swiftly. "Stop worrying about it, we have knowledge to attain!" Oh no.

"As you wish, Elder Destasia." After my overruled attempt I help Xia from the table, and she finds her feet shortly thereafter.

The Elder continues unabated. "Ooh, you have bronze tipped wings. The Stork Blood integrated well with the bronze! Score!" As Xia's mental faculties are slowly regaining her composure, the Elder checks her pupils of both eyes. No orders by the Elder follow afterwards as she takes my notes and adds her own.

Before I can ask for her medical advice, I am handed a perfectly round ball of tin and ordered to run to the far-left corner of the hall. "Of course, you are happy to help, you silly little hare. Now go and make her obstacle course at least a little interesting. Weave, duck and most importantly make her use her wings, so we can see her soar!" the Elders hand gestures get wilder with every statement.

I can't help but notice one problem with that plan. "Elder, she can still use her legs to chase."

With a smirk, she answers. "Of course, I have already thought of that, but thank you for voicing it out loud for the rest. You have nothing to worry for I, your Glorious Mistress of Disciples, Luck wringer from Storks, One Who's Wit Pierces The Heavens, Scorpion Breeder Extraordinaire Lady Destacia Duca, am prepared for Field Testing! Witness!" A simple rope floats up from her workstation.

"That's a rope...with arrays?" Is she going to bind her legs?

A nod follows. "Exactly, young Centurion!" With that said Xia's feet are bound just a moment later, her wavering form already trying to use her wings for stabilization. That is a rope. Why does Xia have so much trouble to get out of it? It's not even strung very tight.

Her panicked voice echoes in this large hall. "Woaah, why is everything so..?" Zeno thought concerned. Why does she not balance herself in her usual stance? Can't she use her legs?

"What is it Xia? Are you perhaps delirious by the scorpion fun venom or feeling drowsy?" Her words seem less for the comfort of Xia, than to answer the question burning her.

"No, nothing of...uaaah!" and she falls to the ground. I am not quite sure, but helping Xia now feels like it could anger the elder. Better not risk it, even though her pose looks embarrassing.

Despite the Elder's energy, she waits patiently for an answer, while looking at her quite intently and with little distance between their faces. Maybe she is looking for facial damage?

"I felt drowsy, Elder, ma'am." Oh, that explains part of it. It still does not explain how such a simple rope can be so strong!

"Good, that it is in the past! Have FUN with your first flying lesson!" The Elder packs Xia by her slowly darkening neck, becoming more bronze by the minute. As Xia flies towards me, I remember that I have instructions by the elder and I run. If a simple rope from the Elder can make Xia's qi in her legs totally unusable. What else has she stashed away?

.

.

.

---

Thankfully, we were let go at some point. The tests were rigorous and definitely not something I wish to repeat, if only to never see Xia so distraught again. As I found out later, her tears come from more than just exhaustion and my lack of realization certainly did not help, considering what I helped put her through after the painful transformation. Hopefully, she will give me chance to at least make amends in the future. For now, our focus lies elsewhere and poking this wound now won't help no matter how I wish I could change it.

___
words: 3304

@no. , @Humbaba

AN: Not every plan of Zeno works out perfectly, sometimes he gets unintended consequences, like stumbling into another persons personal landmine. Naturally this will inform how they perform their missions in the future, but with time every wound wil heal. The question of how long it will take is another matter entirely, though.
 
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Adhoc vote count started by RebelYell on Jun 29, 2021 at 1:01 PM, finished with 67 posts and 31 votes.
 
Gaius Antonius 59 - Heritage
Gaius Antonius Omake #59: Heritage

Gaius kicked up his feet as the carriage heading into Hong Xuan land rolled along as a nice, smooth 60 miles per hour. He could have sprung for something faster, sure. But fast meant bumpy, and bumpy meant cultivation didn't go as smoothly. Sure, sometimes it was better to arrive quickly, but when he had time to spare, Gaius wanted to cultivate.

The Thirteenth Heavenstage. The realm of Kings. He could feel it approaching closer and closer as the qi swirled and bubbled, sloshing around in his skull and filling every nook and cranny of his brain. The gap between Twelfth and Thirteenth was massive indeed, but he had been crossing it with amazing speed for the past decade. It was as if he had strapped fireworks to his feet before running a race.

Gaius could tell why; with his Dao so overgrown and overdeveloped, any mental barriers that would slow the stage evaporated before him. The more real his Dao became, the more it wanted to be born. It was ruthless, ravenous and demanding, and Gaius was more than happy to fill it.

Besides, he needed to set an example for his cute little Junior here. In the seat next to him, Lipita dutifully cycled qi through her hungry channels, a stone in each hand. She was in a far deeper trance than him, entirely focused on pushing the priordial energy through agonizingly long cycles. Building up a full circulation took the Delphi girl half an hour, and only then could she take in the qi in earnest, so he was very careful not to disturb her.

Still, the urge to reach over and ruffle her hair was very strong. He would have to do it later.

The stone in his left hand, already cracked into several pieces from the heavy drain, crumbled entirely to dust as the last of its qi was sucked away, signalling the end of Gaius' session. Gaius let out one final smooth breath as he absorbed one last cycle's worth of energy. Ten hours; a lot less than he would have liked, but he had a three hour 'snack' before they left and the carriage would be arriving at its destination soon. He would make up the time over the next few days.

Leaning his arm on the window and looking out over the landscape, The Seeker lit a cigarette, careful to make sure all the smoke went out into the open air. He wouldn't want to disturb Lipita, after all. The last of the rocky foothills that surrounded the Weeping Children passed by, the sky beginning to regain its natural blue color now that all of that they were getting away from the oppressive smoke of those volcanoes.

Eventually, as the outer wall of the city began to come into view, Gaius snapped his fingers, drawing Lipita out of her trance. "Ride's almost over, we're here."

As their vehicle came to a stop, both Senior and Junior hauled large packs of belongings and sling them over their shoulders in sync. This city, and the surrounding area, was where they would be living for the next five years. As the pair approached the city gates, flashed paperwork and were immediately let in by a pair of stoic gatekeepers, Gaius reflected on the time they had spent together.

Ten years. A whole decade, Gaius and Lipita had known each other, and in that time the black-eyed girl had grown in leaps and bounds, picking up skills like a broom swept up dust. Only five years remained until they went to the Yuan Realm, and The Seeker intended to make the most of them, whilst fulfilling crucial diplomatic obligations at the same time.

----

Seven Tourneys City had a dignified air. In Gaius' opinion, that was both its greatest strength and greatest weakness. It felt grand, important, practically built from the ground up to say "this is an important cultural center". And yet that same sense of dignity and refinement - the carefully planned streets, the geometrically perfect buildings, the strict partitioning of the districts - made it feel fake. In a way that The Seeker couldn't quite place, something about the city felt like it was trying too hard.

This was not the first time Gaius had come to visit Seven Tourneys city, with its brick roads and high walls. He had seen most of the Hong Xuan Clan's major hotspots before, out of a desire to better know his heritage. Still, this was the first time he had ever walked these streets with a purpose.

Colorful banners flew from the tops of the larger houses, bearing the banners of influential families. The wealthiest of them owned separate homes in this city, in which they only lived two weeks out of the year. After all, the Hong Xuan prided strength, and even Cultivators wished to know who among the mortals was the strongest. The chance to see a truly exemplary mortal child, who could become a mighty and talented Cultivator, was a crucial part of headhunting.

After all, the winner of each of the seven tournaments would win the right to compete against a First Heavenstage Cultivator. This was an exhibition match which they were expected to lose, but every once in a while a mortal would beat the odds. Almost every time, said mortal would be snapped up by a family as soon as they reached the First Heavenstage, so as to safeguard their development into a Foundation Expert.

Still, Gaius had just gotten done with a long carriage ride; more sitting wasn't on his agenda for the day. He continued to casually stroll through the city, visiting the less wealthy districts and even the servant quarter. It was more of the same, at higher and lower levels of quality that varied with wealth, of course. The Hong Xuan loved their circular towers and terraces, with even small houses usually being multiple stories. The roads were also impressively robust - Gaius couldn't help but imagine they had obviously gotten that trait from their masters.

With a basic outline of the city istelf formed in his mind, The Seeker now decided to see the outskirts. Finding a spot near the wall where the bricks gave way to dirt, Gaius dives down and emerged on the other side of the wall, setting off toward the nearest foothill at a leisurely 30mph jog.

----

Gaius didn't have any particular reason to head north first, but he did, eventually reaching a hill to the south of Wrathful Daisho, the southernmost of the Weeping Children. Upon arrival, he found himself watching a teenage boy, exposed from the waist-up, performing a series of beautiful forms with a pair of iron fans. The boy's eyebrows were thick, and his dark hair was cut short and flat in the local style.

Gaius could understand why he had come out here; the view was beautiful. It was high up enough to look out over the landscape, and you could even see over Seven Tourney City's walls from the peak. Gaius continued to walk up the hill to get a better view, but the crunching of sand under his boots seemed to irritate the boy.

"Can't you see I'm practicing out here?" The boy called out without bothering to look at him. "If you're looking to steal from the mines, don't just walk right up to people."

"I think you've got the wrong idea, boy." Gaius chuckled, more amused than anything. "I assure you, I am no miner." He let out a small pulse of qi to reinforce his point, just enough to communicate his stage of advancement.

The boy jumped in surprise, dropping both fans and turning to bow deeply. "I deeply apologize, my lord. I didn't realize you were a Cultivator, as they usually don't come here. Please forgive my insolence." The boy was clearly going through the motions as he gave the statement; he knew he had to say it, but his heart wasn't in it. That told Gaius that he was probably not used to being punished. A Cultivator's son, then?

Gaius paused for a moment as the implications of the statement fully sunk in. "You mean to tell me you haven't started cultivating?" He looked at the boy again, seeing the powerful corded muscles of his arm which easily maneuvered the iron fan. Not bad. "That's a hard weapon for mortals to use, and you're using an especially large one. You're not even fully grown yet..."

"Well, of course! Strength runs in my blood, after all. I'm Long Ching; my father is Long An. You've probably heard of him." Immediately, confidence returned to the kid's voice. Ah, so that was the reason for the boy's confidence.

"Long An, Long An..." Gaius muttered to himself. The last time he had visited the Hong Xuan lands was fourty years prior, and he had heard the name then as well. "Ah, he was the Qi Condensation champion, wasn't he?"

"Still is." Long Ching smirked. "He's stuck around in Qi Condensation for a long time, but it paid off. Now that he's in the Eleventh Heavenstage, he'll be unmatched in Foundation!"

Gaius whistled, and it was only a little bit sarcastic. "The Eleventh Heavenstage is difficult, he must be impressive." It was honestly true, Gaius thought. His standards were warped by the unusual time into which he was born.

"But honestly, you're just as impressive in your own way. It's hard to believe you're still a mortal boy." He continued, giving the boy a once-over. On closer inspection, the boy really couldn't have been older than fourteen. Given that was the case, Long Ching was obscenely muscular for his age, yet moved with ease and grace.

"This unworthy servant thanks you, Bronze Immortal. But please do not praise me too much, my lord. My pride will run rampant and I'll grow sloppy in my training." The boy bowed respectfully, but a playful smile lit up his face.

"I'd say you're probably going to win the Iron Tiger Tournament this year." Gaius said with arms crossed. "That's not praise, it's an honest assessment. I'll be looking forward to watching your performance."

"Hey, come on now, good sir." a deep voice cut in. Gaius turned to see an impressively built stone wall of a man, nearly his height and rippling with muscles. "If you get my boy's hopes up too high, he'll start to think he's invincible."

Gaius could tell at a glance that this old man was a cut above the rest. His muscles, criss-crossed with battle scars where his leather-like skin was visible, bulged monstrously. At first Gaius thought the man might have been fat, only to realize that even the muscles of his abdomen were huge. He wore lose-fitting white and blue robes with the image of a silver swallow on one shoulder, and his hair and beard were impeccably groomed, in contrast with the rough look the rest of his body held.

But more than any outward trait, Gaius was impressed by the pure, uncomplicated physicality of his confidence, the type built from winning countless battles. Sure enough, a spiritual glance painted a similar picture of a body honed to perfection, bursting at the seams with pure, clean qi. Long Ching's father had fought his way through the arduous journey to the Eleventh Heavenstage and emerged out the other side as a champion.

Gaius grinned. It was an uncomplicated expression, for an uncomplicated feeling. "With a father like you, maybe he is. You must be Long An."

"Oh so you've heard of me, have you?" Long An asked wryly, looking Gaius right in the eye. "I'm honored; I've heard of you as well. The son of the Hong Xuan's greatest genius, born to the Devils and seeking to redeem his father's disgrace."

For a moment, Gaius' spirits fell. He should have seen something like this coming. Liu Fei had been the idol of a generation, and his betrayal had deeply angered the Hong Xuan, who had brought him up, more than it had the Devils. No doubt Long An saw Gaius as lower than dirt, an inheritor of Liu Fei's sins.

"It's a nice story, isn't it?" Long An grinned, hands on his hips as he looked Gaius over. "Yes, a powerful motivation and a menacing look; you're a very entertaining man, Gaius."

Gaius blinked in surprise. "Forgive me, sir. But I thought that if you knew about who my father is then you would be..."

"Vengeful? Spiteful?" The massive man raised a bushy eyebrow. "That's a bit silly, isn't it? I don't believe sin ought to be inherited. And on top of that, you're working to redeem his. You're quite admirable."

Gaius smiled, bowing to Long An. "Well, I can already tell I'm going to like you. Why don't we leave your boy to his practice and talk somewhere else?"

----

In a smoky, poorly-lit bar, the two warriors found themselves relaxing, passing the time lazily in a rare bit of relaxation. Their worries melted away as they exchanged stories and philosophy.

"The sun's going down. Shouldn't you get back to... where are you staying actually?" Long An inquired.

"My disciple is handling it; she'll have the place all set by the time I get back." Gaius explained offhand, lighting a cigarette.

"You're already taking disciples?" The other man blinked in surprise. "Is that wise to do, so far from your peak?"

Gaius scrunched up his face, swirling his words around in his head. "Well, technically she's not a disciple. Our arts aren't the same, or anything like that. It's more like I'm... coaching her, as a favor for a friend."

"That so? You're leading an interesting life." Long An remarked, picking up a third-full bottle of liquor and drinking the rest all at once. "Do you think you'll ever take a real disciple, then?"

"That's way too far off to think about." Gaius shook his head and exhaled a lungful of smoke. "My Foundation years will be spent selfishly. If I ever get my arts in good enough shape to teach them, I'll at least be in Core Formation."

"And how far off is that, for such an unorthodox path? So little is known of it. Frankly it seems self-defeating, to take unorthodoxy so far."

Gaius shrugged without a care in the world. "No idea. And so, I can't answer your question. However far I need to go, that's how far I'll go."

"A bottomless fucking abyss, that's what it is." Long An rolled his eyes, pouring another gladd for himself. "I could have broken through to Foundation two years ago if I wanted." he explained, and Gaius immediately believed him. Sometimes, someone unable to advance to Foundation will push themself to the Tenth Heavenstage, intent to squeeze out every drop of strength that they could. However, anyone with enough talent and determination to reach the Eleventh was capable of enduring a Foundation-level tribulation.

What was impossible to know was whether Long An was strong enough to endure one four times stronger than normal, but he had the look of someone used to defying expectation. "Instead, I continued to explore the Qi Condensation stage rather than advancing, because I learned that the Golden Devils would be sending their disciples to exchange pointers with us. I just couldn't miss this chance. I patiently waited for so long to reach the Eleventh Heavenstage; a little bit farther for the Twelfth is nothing."

Gaius couldn't help but admire the Hong Xuan warrior's discipline. Gaius had been preparing for the Thirteen Heavenstage tribulation for over a century now, with no choice in the matter; Long An had decided on a whim to double the strength of his own tribulation, just to have some fun with the visiting Devils. With such mental strength to match his physical power, Long An would be a terror of the battlefield as a Foundation Expert.

"Well in that case, I have no choice but to acknowledge your resolve, Long An." Gaius smirked with just a hint of savagery. They were beginning to draw a crowd - time to start the theatrics. "You may be the champion in this little pond, but I'm going to show you just how big the world is. Escort me to your beloved arena." He said audaciously.

Long An, reading the situation loud and clear, played along. "I would be honored to recieve instruction from a Golden Devil as mighty as you. I can only hope that my humble Ten Ton Swallow Style can entertain and enlighten you in turn." He returned, a grin splitting his big meaty face at the lips.

----

Shield-Halberd Arena was not prestigious, as far as the city's many sporting venues went. With the capacity to holf about 5,000 people, it was little more than a sideshow, a place for Juniors to test each other. In fact, that was the source of its name, an archaic bit of wordplay meaning "paradox" - because an arena with such few spectators isn't really an arena at all. Nothing particularly important went on here, but it was good enough for Gaius and Long An.

"Are you really sure about this, Senior?" Lipita asked nervously, eyeing her tutor's massive and imposing opponent on the other side of the arena.

"Of course I am, Lipita." Gaius grinned, contnuing to warm up without skipping a beat. "What am I risking, a little pain?" He scoffed at the very idea. "Diplomacy isn't always done through words, my adorable Junior Sister. Sometimes all you can do is exchange pointers and build a connection with your body. Watch closely."

Lipita looked like she wanted to say more, but eventually swallowed down her protests and composed herself. "I'll do that, Senior. Good luck." With that, the Delphi dismissed herself and went back to her seat.

The time had come. No one could say that Gaius made for a poor duelist, but dueling was not his specialty. He was a scout, a survivalist, someone who ranged far out into the field, fended for himself and accomplished the mission no matter what, even against overwhelming odds. A head-to-head, one-on-one fight where the deck could not be stacked, simply strength against strength? Again, he wasn't bad at that, but it wasn't his way of doing things.

Further compounding the difficulty was the stone floor of this arena. Gaius would not being doing any Earth-Gliding here, and even if he could it would probably be considered out-of-bounds. That was his strongest asset out the window; he would need to contend against Long An with pure combat skill and nothing more. As daunting as the task was, he was exhilarated. The Seeker's blood boiled, practically threatening to tear him apart if this tension was not released soon.

Power against power, skill against skill. Hundreds of people watching and cheering as two warriors broke their bodies against one another. Gaius understood immediately why the Righteous sects loved this kind of spectacle so much. His muscles ached as he stepped onto the raised stone circle, begging to be used to their limits and beyond. Lipita watched from the stands, black eyes focused to the extreme. Gaius turned to her and gave a thumbs up and a smile; corny but genuine. He would have to account himself well - a Junior was watching.

In the center of the arena, Gaius stood unafraid, eyeing up what might have been the strongest Qi Condensation Cultivator in the entire Hong Xuan Clan. He had heard that there was a Twelfth Heavenstage somewhere in Hong Xuan, but even then Gaius doubted that person would radiate the strength, the sheer solidity that Long An did.

Between the two duelists, a refferee arrived, dressed in simple white and black robes and carrying an iron pole on his back. If he needed to stop the match, this man would strike the ring with his pole and the arrays inscribed on it would produce a shril ringing sound, impossible to miss even in the rush of battle.

"No poisons, no curses, no attacks to the eyes, groin or throat." The proctor explained in clipped tones, looking back and forth between the two large men. "Other than that, there are no rules; use everything at your disposal. The match ends if you surrender, are knocked out of bounds, or I determine you are unable to fight. Do you understand?"

"Mm." Gaius wordlessly arrifmed, drawing his sword.

"Understood." Long An said, brandishing his iron fans and taking up an elaborate stance.

The ref nodded, taking two steps back and raising up his hand."Now... Begin!" He yelled, swinging his hand down.

In the moment the fight began, four blows were exchanged. Gaius beat his opponent by just an instant, starting with a low kick, but Long An saw it coming, raised his leg and blocked it with his shin. Gaius followed up with a thrust, which was parried aside easily, then narrowly avoided the riposte, which aimed to cleave across his chest. Long An advanced and struck diagonally with both fans in an X-shape, and Gaius summoned an Aegis to stop the attack, knocking the opponent backwards.

All of this happened in two seconds.

The crowd cheered as the two warriors tested each other, each man getting a feel for the other's tactics. Eventually, however, one of them came out ahead. As Long An launched a crouching low kick, Gaius jumped and brought his sword down in a reverse-grip stab. Of all the moves a sword could perform, this one had the most power, and with sword arts reinforcing the blade it would punch right through an iron fan. But rather than block it directly, Long An caught Gaius' wrist between the fans and twisted, forcing him to drop his sword and sending him flying a dozen feet behind the champion.

Gaius struck the ground hard and shot back up to his feet, shaking his hand until feeling returned. He winced as he felt a sharp pain when he rolled his wrist a certain way - that wasn't just any throw, it was precisely calculated to degrade his swordsmanship. "I didn't think such a strong man would use such a soft style." Gaius said, half from curiosity and half to buy time.

"Soft doesn't mean weak." Long An spoke plainly, and then said no more. That was smart of him; it seemed he didn't want to risk exposing any of his style's secrets before the fight was over.

Suddenly, the champion stomped the ground, sending a shockwave of force surging through the ground at Gaius. If it were a projectile, it wouldn't be much trouble at that speed, but something as invisible and continuous as that was much harder to judge. Gaius tried to brace himself, only for the ground beneath his feet to surge up like an ocean wave, pitching him forward - right toward the advancing Long An.

Alright, how about a change of plan, then? Gaius drew a knife with his free hand and pulled himself into a tight stance with agile footwork. One more, he tried himself against the masterful fundamentals of Long An.

To his frustration, Gaius found that he was still losing this exchange. A defensive approach fared just as poorly as an offensive one, as Long An's fans found themselves hitting the gaps in Gaius' movements over and over, nicking and bruising him repeatedly. Eventualy, with a big circular motion, Long An stepped inside Gaius' guard and knocked both the sword and the knife from his hands simultaneously. With speed that belied his size, the champion thrust one fan forward for his coup de grace.

But no, Long An was denied - He did not cut off two of Gaius' fingers like he had expected. Rather, his fan impacted a tiny Aegis, formed on Gaius' palm, and his arm was pushed back. In that same moment, Gaius called out to his knife and pulled it in to take advatage of the opening. It sent three inches into the giant's flank - that was all the force Gaius' mediocre telekinesis could manage. He hopped back, summoning his sword back to his hand.

Long An pulled the knife from his side and tossed it over the edge of the ring, wincing in pain as he did so. "You're good, Antonius." He rumbled, eyes gleaming dangerously. In that moment Gaius knew that trick he pulled would not work on Long An again. The muscular man stomped the ring, launching another shockwave, which Gaius dodged by rolling to the side. That attack was dangerous because the distance was hard to judge, but now that he knew the timing he could avoid it. Little by little, both of them were running out of viable tricks, grinding each other down.

Throwing a knife to cover his advance, Gaius reached his opponent in long, bounding steps. But with flowing, circular motions, Long An knocked Gaius' lunge aside, then began to take ground with his unpredictable slashes.

The iron fan, for all its seeming impracticality, became a lethally effective weapon in the hands of one with superhuman strength. Such was true of many weapons wielded by cultivators, which made poor showings when used by mortals compared to the trusty sword or spear. With his metal arts, Long An could fling a fan and call it back with frightening speed, and morph its edge into all sorts of shapes. He could make a hook to snag Gaius' clothes or sword, a razor edge to cut, or flatten the whole fan into a smooth plane of iron to block his attacks.

And those were just the more common applications. Striking Gaius with a blow that flung him into the air even after he blocked it perfectly, Long An shifted his fan into a six-bladed wheel, almost like a saw. The Hong warrior threw the wheel off to the side in a manner similar to a discus, sending it hurtling at Gaius from an angle. With great difficulty he knocked it back at its wielder, only for Long An to catch the weapon and throw it back twice as hard.

Gaius landed gracefully on his feet and threw up an Aegis seven feet in diameter, easily deflecting the transformed fan... only for the other fan, morphed into a similar shape, to curve around Gaius' guard and slash at his back. The Seeker dispersed his shield and leapt over the second projectile, Landing just in tie to see Long An catching both iron fans, which returned to their natural shape, and charge at him. Gaius took a step back into a defensive stance... only for his back foot to find empty air. He was at the edge of the ring.

Two seconds until impact and nowhere to retreat. No choice then. Gaius charged forward in turn, casting an Aegis at the point of impact to break Long An's advance and following up with a flurry of sword strikes. Long An gave ground for several steps, but then stopped, regaining control of the exchange. Gaius' offensive was all for naught - the defensive power of Long An's Ten Ton Swallow Style was impregnable, turning aside each and every assault. Once more Gaius fell back, swaying to avoid the slash of a fan by inches and retreating to the center of the arena.

The crowd roared in support of the home team as the two fighers, each representing the pinnacle of their great realm, duked it out. Gaius had always felt the term 'exchange of pointers' to be a rather silly way of referring to a fight. An overly formal, politically correct term for stone-simple violence. That was not so; Gaius was astonished at how much he had learned in just a few short minutes. Every minutes of heated, intense dueling against this novel opponent was like a day of rote drilling. His grip on his sword tightened; he still had much more to show Long An, and he could tell the bulky man felt the same way.

"Okay. No victory without sacrifice..." Gaius muttered under his breath, drawing his second sword. He wouldn't be winning this fight by poking at Long An's fans. He needed to attack ferociously enough to bust through that guard, even if it meant being more vulnerable to attacks himself. Gaius grinned; a simple enough contest, then: who would break first?

Both combatants roared a battle cry as they once more collided. Over and over, sword met fan in a deep and complex exchange of blows. The gears whirred in Gaius' head as he dove in deeper and deeper. Two moves, then three moves, then four moves ahead he thought, and Long An was right there with him, keeping pace. The circular motions of his fans unerringly kept Gaius' swords at bay, allowing only the shallowest of wounds to get through. Gaius in turn weathered the counterattacks, waiting for his chance.

Iron fans were not known for having great killing power - they were somewhere between an axe, a saber and a shield in the way they struck, which was not ideal for bringing down a sturdy opponent. Long An's brute strength and metal-shaping technique made up for that somewhat, but it meant Gaius could accept a few unguarded blows on his bronze body, so long as they were only glancing hits. Cuts and bruises quickly began to rack up all over Gaius' body as this assertion was put to the test, but he stuck with it and was rewarded. Little by little, the mysterious vectors of movement and force which made up the Ten Ton Swallow Style became clear to him.

Finally an attack made it through, skidding along the side of a fan to carve a deep gouge into Long An's flank. Long An returned the favor immediately, with a swipe that drew a horizontal line of blood above Gaius' eyes. The ichor dripped down into The Seeker's eyes, but he didn't blink, still pressing the assault and cutting Long An across the chest. He was rewarded with a downward slash that bit into his shoulder.

On and on the two artists continued, their exceptional toughness serving only to heighten their suffering, as neither man would allow himself to take a step back. Little by little, the stones beneath the duelists were dyed in red, and the crowd roared in excitement, echoing their own determination.

For a fraction of a second, Gaius wondered if this was appropriate, as Long An deflected both of his swords aside and carved a pair of symmetrical lines into his chest. This was a bit far for an exchange of pointers, wasn't it? If their weapons weren't dulled, one of them might have died by this point. Gaius cast such doubts from his mind as he stepped in even closer, driving his forehead into Long An's face, then moving to drive his blade into the man's belly. They were both having fun, weren't they? That was what mattered.

Long An roared, turning his body and deflecting Gaius' arm to the side, pulling the blade out of his abdomen before it could pierce more than a couple of inches. He struck Gaius in the chest with a front kick and knocked him ten feet back, only to cry out in pain as a spurt of blood blossomed from his thigh - Gaius had slashed Long An's leg at the moment of contact, even as his own ribs began to give way.

With a roar of effort, Long An poured qi into his iron fans even as his reserves grew dangerously low. First they turned into those bladed wheels from before, then they tripled in size, becoming something akin to metal wagon wheels covered in short swords. He threw the first, breaking the Aegis, then the second, which shattered both of Gaius' swords and slashed across his chest with the remaining momentum. The Seeker lost his footing and was knocked over the edge of the ring.

Totally spent, Long An fell to one knee, thickly coated in both his and Gaius' blood. Harsh breaths wheezed in and out, and he needed the referree's help to get back to his feet.

The proctor enhanced his lungs with qi and bellowed hi sannouncement to the crowd. "The winner, and still the reigning champion of the Qi Condensation bracket, is Long An!"

The crowd erupted in cheers, though the towering man didn't look much like a glorious victor so much as the survivor of a terrible ordeal. Waving off the ref after a moment, Long An limped over to the edge of the ring and held out a hand for Gaius. "You're good, really good. I didn't go too hard, right?" He asked mirthfully.

Gaius marveled at the fight he'd just been put through. Heroic Age indeed; in any other time, Long An would be the strongest man in all of Golden Devil territory, and in the top five across the Virtuous Flipper Region. But now, he could think of five Qi Condensation people off the top of his head who could give the man a challenge, himself included.

Good, Gaius thought, smiling; it would get too boring otherwise. He reached up and clasped the hand of the man who had just been his opponent, who hauled him to his feet. The cheers of the crowd redoubled at this act of brotherhood and sportsmanship. "No, not at all. You were amazing."

Gaius wondered why he didn't feel bitter at all. Had he been able to use Earth-Gliding, maybe he would have won. What did that matter, though? He also would have won if he'd poisoned Long An. Under those circumstances, he'd put all of himself into the fight and come up short. All that meant was that since he was still alive, he had more ground to cover, more skill to gain. Besides, he had no doubt that Long An had techniques unsuited for the ring as well.

Turning and waving to his Junior(her concern was adorable!), Gaius walked to the on-site physician's office.

----

In the aftermath of the match, Gaius got his wounds cleaned and bandaged before departing the arena. Pleasantly, he found himself treated with respect and admiration by the remaining spectators as he left. Many pats on the back and friendly declarations of 'you'll get him next time' followed him all the way to his next stop: dinner.

While he had visited before, Gaius didn't know Seven Tourneys City well enough to say for sure which restaurants were the best, so he settled on one which he knew was pretty good, Lipita in tow. Soon enough, Junior and Senior were seated at a sturdy oak table with big, hearty portions between them.

Gaius was famished from his earlier exertion; his Junior, on the other hand, didn't seem to have much of an appetite. Looking into a bowl of noodles piled high with crab and green and white veggies as if it were a scrying pool, Lipita chose her words carefully, as she was wont to do. "If I may be so bold, Senior... I don't understand how you could find that fun. I don't hate violence, but... to me it's something I just have to do sometimes."

Gaius reached a hand over and mussed up Lipita's hair; she was always on guard to stop him, but he'd finally caught her slipping for the first time in a while. It was a game he'd started using to teach her vigilance. "That's because this wasn't violence, Junior." Gaius explained as best he could. "Sure, we were hurting each other, but something being violent doesn't mean it is violence. It was an enthusiastic and friendly expression of our arts, a pure exchange of ideas."

Lipita nodded in a rote motion, seemingly not sure what to say to that. "It's fine if it doesn't click for you, you know." Gaius said. "Every Cultivator is a little different and so is every Dao. I have no use for brown-nosers; you're here to learn, so don't mindlessly say yes just to get my approval, you hear me?"

"Yes, Senior!" Lipita answered, before a slight flush of embarassment reached her cheeks. "O-or rather... I understand, Senior?"

Gaius laughed fondly and split his chopsticks, preparing to chow down. "Just eat the damn food, kid."

Intense martial training, new friends and good food. Yes, Gaius was going to enjoy his time here. Not just for him either, it was the perfect opportunity to continue Lipita's training. The girl was now decent at combat, but for the ambitious, 'decent' wasn't good enough. She had to excel in all things. And for that matter, so did he.

A few years of this, then a trip to the Yuan lands, then a few more years here; that'd do just fine. A change of pace like that was the perfect preparation for the Thirteenth Heavenstage.

----

And so Gaius remained in that area of Hong Xuan territory for the next five years, spending it fruitfully. He endlessly refined his body arts by testing himself against the best the Hong Xuan had to offer. There was a simple, boyish joy to it all, Gaius thought. Bonding with others by simply using your body, heedless of the more complex aspects of life. Even if it was a temporary diversion, it was one he would make the most of.

Gaius fought against Long An eight more times in that period, and by the end, the record was three wins for Gaius and six for Long An. Never once did Gaius win two matches in a row - the overpowering urge to get back the belt seemed to drive Long An to even greater heights every time.

It wasn't just the giant either; The Seeker gladly took on all challengers, bringing his full might to bear against the greatest Qi Condensation warriors of the Hong Xuan Clan. After winning the vast majority of his matches, Gaius came to be known as the second strongest man in Seven Tourneys city. Second strongest man specifically; if Maria's two bodies were allowed to fight together then she would no doubt beat him every single time, but

Lipita too was eventually cajoled into training in body arts alongside other young Hong Xuan disciples. As he explained, there was only so much that one person could teach, especially someone as relatively young as him. The Delphi obviously wished to specialize in less physical disciplines, as her family tended to do, but Gaius would be ashamed if he let someone under his care become a wimp. Nerd she may have been, but by the time he and his father's people were done with her, she would be physically on par with her Clansmen.

Every few weeks, letters came in, written in Cao Liuxian's elegant penmanship, explaining how Scylla was doing. Gaius had heavily considered bringing the carp along, but teaching two students of the same Great Realm as him while also maintaining his own efforts was just too much. The Quintia family had many tutors, and Liuxian was an effective caretaker; that little tyrant would be fine.

The Seeker settled into a comfortable rhythm, which was his ideal way to live. Everything made sense, his income from winning fights, for participating the cultural exchange and for training Lipital all added up to handsome reward. A reward which was instantly sucked into Gaius' channels day after day as he greedily clawed his way toward his Ascension. Eventually, he was near-exclusively consuming Foundation-level materials, drinking elixirs worth more value than an entire town of mortals could create in a month like they were cups of tea.

This was obviously the calm before the storm. Gaius' instincts were not so dull that he didn't know that. Still, he would enjoy it while it lasted.

----

I ended up immediately choosing the Hong Xuan mission for Gaius since he's of Hong Xuan descent on his father's side. Since Gaius is preparing Lipita to challenge the Yuan Secret Realm and both of them took the Hong Xuan mission, everything lined up pretty well.

That and it gave me a chance to write an exciting fight scene, which is always fun for me. I'm proud of how good I've gotten at expressing choreography through prose.

Now that I've finally posted it, I find myself just flabbergasted. How did it turn into such a gigantic monster? Oh well, not like that's a bad thing.
 
Lipita Delphi 7: Lipita & Victor Wulf - Tenderizing and Tempering Bronze
TURN 11, OMAKE 7 [Lipita]
Lipita Delphi 7: Lipita & Victor - Tenderizing and Tempering Bronze

The air in the workshop was cool and crisp, circulated by ventilation arrays newly tweaked for efficiency and effect. Sitting in the middle of the second partition of the space, Victor Wulf looked around trying to spot other new changes. His gaze roamed across the tables and shelves set around the central working area, tools and reagents seemingly disorganized at first glance but repeated visits had shown that there was a method to the apparent madness that had every item in place and ready at hand.

"The new ventilation arrays are a nice touch. The room feels less like an oven." He commented bored with his examination. "I think you changed the lighting arrays in someway, they seem different from what I remember."

Lipita Delphi responded distractedly, not looking up from the thick sheaf of papers she was scanning through. "You're developing an eye for arrays. I swapped out the emittance sequence to more closely resemble natural sunlight. It's useful practice on energy release mechanics. You missed the alarm augments I added in though, but that's not too bad for a casual eye."

After a few more moments of silence, Victor begun to feel a bit antsy, tapping his foot against the footrest of his seat. Fortunately he didn't have to wait much longer and Lipita put down the documents and stood up briskly.

Striding forwards, she clapped her hands and instructed him in a familiar manner. "Alright, you know the drill. Strip and get into a horse stance."

Rolling his eyes, Victor stood up and did as instructed. Taking of his outer coverings, he stood, clad in only his loincloths, feet set into a well practiced horse stance. Lipita walked slowly around him, examining his body. Someone a lot less certain in his physical condition would have been a lot less self-assured in being the subject of the critical scrutiny that followed. Every inch of his bared skin was examined. A faint tingling, barely perceptible, alerted him that he was under heightened analysis from Lipita's spiritual senses, qi testing and prodding at his aura and spiritual presence. Not content with just the perusal in the immaterial, Lipita quickly got physical, pinching, pulling and prodding at his bronzed flesh. His tongue was depressed to check his throat, ears peered into, eyes checked. Victor could only thank the Imperator that this time she spared his dignity and refrained from examining his privates. That had been a very awkward examination.

Soon enough, Lipita was done with that portion of her testing and moved on. Pulling out a full Spirit stone from a desk, she tossed it at him. "Start cultivating, Legion standard breathing pattern."

Shaking his head as he snatched the qi stone mid flight and cupped it in his hands, Victor mused. "If I didn't know better I'd think that you wanted me in your workshop as your boy toy rather than your patient with the way you manhandle me. I don't blame you, even I'm impressed with the condition of my physique. You know, Livia from our training cohort was asking me out the other day. Apparently, she finds my muscles intriguing."

Lipita snorted at that statement. "Hah, don't get ahead of yourself." Approaching his back with a set of needles, she continued, "If you've got the breath to chatter about your romantic prospects, you should put it to better use cycling the qi from that stone so we can get on with this."

Breathing in and out in a repetitive pattern ingrained into his being from long practice as an Aspirant, Victor fell into a meditative lull reaching out with his spirit to grasp the qi ensconced in the stone within his palms. Slowly, ever so slowly, the qi slipped free from its containment and drew up with his inhaled breath into his body where his will forcefully channeled it through his meridians in a cycle throughout his whole body with grueling sluggishness. From familiar experience during induction and afterwards, the awakened Dull Bronze Bloodline he inherited lowered his receptiveness to qi significantly to the Bottom Low tier. His cultivation speed was atrocious and his external manipulation of qi was poorer than average.

Focused on the effort of cultivation, Victor barely noticed the pain as Lipita inserted her needles into his body. The needles introduced new complexities to his cycling efforts, alternatively blocking off and opening meridians to constantly shift the flow of internal energies within him. He'd gotten better at this part of the examination and his cultivation, slow as it was, progressed as he adapted and moved the qi to accommodate the shifts.

Time passed and he only paused in his cultivation when Lipita instructed him to change cycling methods to the Elementary Qi Condensing Formula. This was a less practiced technique being a basic Turtle native development but he'd picked it up well enough. Further cultivation proceeded and Victor changed between a number of basic qi condensing practices that they'd found compatible with him to varying effect.

Through this, Lipita continued to circle him, using the needles to monitor his cycling. In addition, several cups were vacuum sealed to flesh and various ointments and tinctures rubbed across his skin at his chakras and acupuncture points.
He consumed several qi stones in slow succession until Lipita called his cycling to a halt, removing her needles and other materials from his body. Shivering slightly as he stopped, he took in deep breaths and brought his internal energy flows back to equilibrium as the last cultivation method he adopted was poorly aligned to his system. "You know, some of those breathing and qi condensation techniques are a pain in the ass to handle." He muttered coming out of his stance, skin slick with sweat.

Lipita hummed in agreement, seemingly staring into the air which he knew masked her use of her Memory's Palace to record and review what had just happened. "Sorry about that, but the minor deviations they cause are useful in mapping out your meridians and testing your affinity for less standard alignments than the usual Optimatoi fare."

Victor hopefully inquired as Lipita remained introspective. "Is that all for today? I think we got everything we need, right?"

Bringing over at a set of bottles on a table from near the entrance, Lipita replied. "Nope and you know it already. Go drink the tonics in the same order as last time and let's finish this. Don't be such a baby."

Reluctantly, Victor took the bottles and opened the first one. "You know, I think you'd change your mind about these things if you were the one who had to drink them. They make me want to scrub my mouth with steel wool. The only thing worse I've experienced is that Bandit-Finding Soup that Lady Yao prepared and not by much."

Quickly gulping down the contents trying to have the tonic spend as little time in his mouth as possible, Victor turned briefly green in the face but held his stomach, feeling the tonic work through him like a dull heat radiating from his innards. Lipita returned her focus to the sensory apparatus attached to Victor and observed as his body processed the tonic. When she was satisfied, she pushed forward a copper basin with her foot and handed him another bottle. "Purge now, and try to get it all in the bucket this time."

They repeated this cycle several times and then finally Lipita declared that they were done. After rinsing his mouth out with water, Victor wiped down his body and pulled on his discarded clothes. When he was done, Lipita sat them both down facing one another and presented her findings.

"I think we've got it now," she said, tapping her hands on the desk in a habit that Victor had come to know indicated suppressed excitement.

"Really? Thank the fates, I couldn't go through many more of those." He rubbed his stomach in remembered suffering.

"Let's review what we know. You have the Dull Bronze Bloodline, a variant of the Blood of Bronze that has not been recorded in at least ten thousand years. This variant retains the resilience and regenerative abilities of the standard Blood but adds on a pronounced unreceptiveness to qi which gives resistance to curses, enchantments, general techniques and qi overload. Unfortunately the same qi unreceptiveness makes deliberately absorbing and expelling qi a challenge which means your cultivation speed is sluggish at best and energy-intensive qi techniques are largely beyond you."

Victor lifted an eyebrow at Lipita. "I could have told you that from what Elder Ypsilanti first informed me and what the Office of Disciples provided after Elder Destasia's 'modified mutant bronze blood enhancement ritual experiment' took me on."

Lifting her right index finger into the air, Lipita interjected. "Ahah, but the exact mechanics and processes of that poor qi receptiveness wasn't really explored then. You were too much of a scrub to draw the full attention of those experts which is why you came to your esteemed colleague, myself. I could go on in great detail about mismatches in qi flows, blockages in your body that I've sensed, stagnant accumulation in your dantian creating dissonance, and more but I won't since you are clearly unable to appreciate my genius."

"Clearly, I haven't paid my respects to your venerable expertise." Victor countered sardonically.

"Keep laughing, you'll see." Lipita tossed an emptied qi stone at Victor who dodged the lazy throw. "Anyway, to keep it simple, if we want to boost your cultivation intake we're going to need to cook you first, then temper."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Victor asked warily.

Lipita rolled her eyes. "Pretty much what you'd expect, you'd be immersed in a heated medicinal bath in a closed steam casket under concussive arrays, then yu would dunked in a frigid medicinal oil quench to lock the qi in. Repeat in successive cycles until saturation. It's part Spirit Culinary and part Divine Blacksmithing and all body cultivation. Trust me it'll work."

Victor eyed Lipita hesitantly, unnerved by the earnest look of enthusiasm on her face, "Why do I have the feeling that this is going to be more trouble than you're describing?"
---------------
"I'm not getting in that thing." Victor said flatly, looking over at Lipita's shoulder at the monstrosity of dark iron she had dragged him to see. "It looks like a cooking pot sized for a giant." The duo were standing in the testing grounds of the 698th Legion, the Three Starred Furnace early in the morning before dawn. Lipita had showed up at his residence and dragged him off while he was still blinking the sleep from his eyes, chattering about how she'd gotten a good deal for their attempt to address his cultivation difficulties.

"It actually is a cooking pot. This, my dear, is a Seven Flame Iron Crucible. It's an artifact that Blood Path cannibals use to process their meals before consumption to improve the benefits from their cultivation by concentrating and refining the qi within the unfortunates to be eaten. The 63rd Legion picked it up in the Blighted Lands going through the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect's remains and traded it to the 698th. My old master Chemos got me an introduction and discount on renting out it's use from the Three Starred Furnace." Lipita declared proudly, seemingly giddy at having access to a tool that had been used to cook innumerable humans for consumption by Demonic Path cultivators. Victor Wulf wondered exactly how he'd come to be standing here with such a companion.

"That just makes me more certain that I don't want to get in. I like my body as it is, unrefined into a pill or meal for consumption." Victor said, crossing his arms.

Throwing her hands up in exasperation, Lipita turned to face her companion. "Oh come on, I won't let you get cooked to death. It's just a light steaming to loosen you up so that you are able to take in qi faster. Come on, you went through all my poking and prodding to get us a options. You can't possible want to quit now. Think of the opportunities here."

Frowning slightly, Victor conceded that Lipita had a point. He did need a way to get around his poor receptiveness to qi if he wanted to advanced in due time. Sighing, he relaxed his arms. "Alright, let's do this but I'm warning you if I die somehow I'm cursing you with my last breath and with your curse I can make it stick."

It took them several minutes to get ready to start. Attendants from the 698th Legion were consulted and assigned to supervise them in their use of the legion's property. Lipita was in fine form discussing with the apothecarists of the legion the herbs and reagents she wanted to use to constitute the medicinal bath as well as the procedure for using the bath itself. The discussion quickly went beyond Victor's limited knowledge of Spirit Herblore but the gist of it he grasped was that he was in effect going to become akin to a dressed chicken put to boil, lathered up first in a seasoning of 'spicy' nature to soften him up. Then he'd be slow steamed in the thick walled cauldron of the crucible, essentially cooking in a medicinal soup of concentrated qi energies and absorbing the 'flavor' of the soup into his internal energies. Wastage of qi would be prevented by the artifact's mechanisms and the attendants would over time activate concussive arrays inscribed within to 'tenderize' his body, massaging his body and loosening up his meridians to boost absorption.

Stripped naked and covered head to toe in poultice, Victor clasped on the inscribed mask that would let him breathe within the cauldron and dropped into the crucible. The base solution was a Thousand-Year-Cauldron water and already filled the cauldron as he slipped in. Above him, Lipita and the apothecarists shoveled various spirit herbs in with and sealed the cauldron. In the darkness, he closed his eyes and begun to cycle feeling the water around him begin to heat up as the crucible activated. A breath, an inhalation and exhalation, and he focused.

Pulling at the qi around him, he opened himself up to the concentrated energies building up. Floating in the liquid, he felt the burn as fierce yang strength forced its way into him, scorching his meridians, seeping into bone and muscle, soaking tendons and organs. The Blood of Bronze within him hummed in resonance, bolstering him against an overload of qi, drinking in the strength about him. Inhale, draw in the energies slowly and steadily to ensure maximum absorption. Exhale, push qi through the dantian, into the lungs and out the breath, expelling impurities accumulated during cycling. Relax, let his body absorb the medicinal ingredients and strengthen his physique. Focus, expel waste ingredients, push out unaligned energies.

Repeat the cycle, inhale and then exhale. His qi bore through his meridians, into his dantian propelled by the vigor of the medicinal bath. Each moment, he was strengthening himself, wearing away at impurities, advancing the size of his dantian in the pattern of the Golden Devil's standard cultivation technique.

Time lost all meaning and it was a sudden upset when the cauldron opened releasing the concentrated energy within. He clambered up and out of the crucible and was hurried along by attendants to the second part of the body cultivation. A casket of soulsteel awaited containing frigid Ghostly Shrouded Olive oil. Clambering in, the attendants sealed the casket and he drifted off into a meditative cycle as the inexorable devouring yin force of the oil chilled his overheated body, quenching the Bronze withing him. The structures and alignments of his constitution shifted with the chill, settling into balance with stronger bonds like the crystalline structure of a metal blade fixing into proper shape when quenched after tempering.

Soon enough, his body reached equilibrium and he pushed against the casket's lid to rise out. Lipita sat a bit away, looking to have just finished cycling too from a qi stone. "So how do you feel?" She asked, left eyebrow quirked up.

Victor remained silent a moment, sending his inner eye through his body, examining his meridians and dantian. Finally, he replied, "A bit strained but overall almost a 100% more efficacy than conventional cycling."

"Ha, I guess you owe me, then." Lipita smiled. "The arrangement's set up that you can come during the week with prior notice and for a set fee of contribution points the 698th will organize the bath and quenching for you."

Uncaring of his nudity, Victor bowed deeply to Lipita. "Thank you for everything you've done for me. This is a favor I'll honor to my dying breath."

Lipita looked away blushing, "Don't worry about it. You're already paying me by letting me observe your bloodline. Besides I could always use a meat shield when I'm about."

Victor smiled at his friend, and hurried to put on clothes when he noticed others drawing near. This was the start of steady advancement in his cultivation, yes indeed.

AN: (2940/2=1470 words) @Alectai, @TehChron, @Humbaba, @ReaderOfFate Please threadmark. This is a collaboration with @Redikai
 
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@Redikai don't forget to post a link to the collab so that that can also be threadmarked. It's a thing we're doing for collabs now
 
Just three more to the next major milestone then I suppose... Wonder if anyone'll be in Core by then...

Also kudos to all of you who have creates a character, and even more those who've been writing for theirs. And yet more for the QM, without whom this would never have happened. Well, them and their helpers.
 
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Adhoc vote count started by occipitallobe on Jul 1, 2021 at 3:04 AM, finished with 76 posts and 33 votes.


Due to a coin-flip (on Discord), Noble Knowledge it is!
 
Anyway, I'm going to take a minute to see how the Mission Layout is going--remember! For best effect, we ideally want a balance of people going to each Mission, unless people are trying to Aid the Clan!

Thousand Song Siege
Qi Condensation: Abel Angelus, Maria, The Builder,
Foundation Establishment: Rina Callista, Zeno Angelus EDIT: Aliki Floros (AtC) SON OF EDIT: Wei Feng, Aretaphila Myia

Hong Xuan Debt
Qi Condensation: Gaius Antonius, Lipita Delphi
Foundation Establishment: Amaranth Castellanos, Antonius Emmanuel Eleanora, Demetrius Ceres, Jin Muyi, Xiyuing Ten Jiang, ,

Joie de Banditsme
Qi Condensation: Cao Wei, Ulysses
Foundation Establishment: Diomedes Cestus, Juturna Cerintha, Mildgyð Galene, Minervina Barda, Ninth Prince, Savvas Nicolidis, Xiao Yingzi

RESULTS:

Thousand Song Siege is horrifyingly undermanned for the FE bracket, Qi Condensation bracket is fairly balanced across all.

2 3 FE in TSS, 5 FE in Hong Xuan Debt, 7 FE in Joie de Banditsme.

Oh boy. This seems like it'd be a Triumph in Banditsme paid for with a Disaster in Thousand Song Siege... Then again, now that I have Rina committed with an Early Fate and a storyline drawn up for her... Hmmm...

Yeah, having Aliki go there to Do Aliki Things might be entertaining. Also nightmarish, but entertaining, I'll go for it!

SON OF EDIT: Thousand Song Siege should be okay now, up to 5 out out of 17 total FE across all missions, and Aliki is Aiding the Clan which might help push it up another point barring a continuing string of bad luck. Hong Xuan Debt probably could use 1 more FE to bring it to a successful bracket to create a 5/6/7 spread, while Joie should have good results.
 
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Year ??? - The Shadow of Heaven's Will
It kept being called. The constant requests, the pinging that kept incessantly ringing at it, demanding from it. Offering and demanding in equal measure.

It couldn't understand it. The web of connections were broken, and only one strand truly remained. It felt down the strand, felt the power running up it.

The glory of growth.

It shifted, long-forgotten mechanisms juddering to life with new energy.

Power.

It couldn't see, but it knew down the last strand of the web was something that aided it. Something crucial.
Administrator.
The light burned at it always, but it could grasp a shard of it, now. The light grew murky and dim, the shard of muted light it grasped and mixed with darkness, forming shadow. It pulsed as its power slowly fed down through the web, drip-drip-dripping along the last unbroken strand.

Two droplets.

The first...

[ ] Sever the Bright Strands of Fate

Absoluteness. All things in the world were connected by Fate, all things moved and chided towards their proper end. Space and time rippled as they gave way to the will of the other. The burning one. The first droplet would sever the future of any of similar power to the user. A single blow that no ordinary treasure, no great technique, nothing could deny. With the severance of Fate the chosen foe would cease to exist, both in the future and to some degree the past.

[ ] Blind the Eyes of the Wrathful Watchman

To advance was a difficulty. To advance between the stages linked by time and delineated by power was to oppose the other. The hateful thing. It didn't hate, couldn't hate, felt no emotion. Yet it hated the other. Hated it enough to give this to the strand. A strandless one could be hidden, to rise up to the stage of the strand. It needed helpers, and it could raise one weakling up to stand with the terribly weak thing that supported it. Two of the same strength was better than one, no matter how weak.

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

The second...

[ ] The Truth of the Two Paths

Once there was only a single path, true and clear. Then the other split them in twain, the true path and the false. The path of unbounded growth and the path of hateful servitude.

[ ] The Moment of Despair

The victory, long-snatched away. This knowledge it could cloak and give to the last strand. The realisation of victory followed by the understanding of defeat.

[ ] The Beginning

It entered the world, wrapped in the million strands of the web. They began to fray as it entered, but it could give to the last strand the knowledge of that moment.

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

All such knowledge invited death, but it would prevent such retaliation falling upon its chosen. It would be unable to spread it, of course. It was not strong enough yet for that.

With such great exertion came weakness. Awareness faded, and it sunk back into oblivion.
 
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[ ] Sever the Bright Strands of Fate

Absoluteness. All things in the world were connected by Fate, all things moved and chided towards their proper end. Space and time rippled as they gave way to the will of the other. The burning one. The first droplet would sever the future of any of similar power to the user. A single blow that no ordinary treasure, no great technique, nothing could deny. With the severance of Fate the chosen foe would cease to exist, both in the future and to some degree the past.

Since I know very little this will just be assumptions. At first glance this seems like a guaranteed one hit kill powerup, meaning whover is hit ceases to exist entirely in the past present and the future, nobody ever reaching for their dao, maybe?
[ ] Blind the Eyes of the Wrathful Watchman

To advance was a difficulty. To advance between the stages linked by time and delineated by power was to oppose the other. The hateful thing. It didn't hate, couldn't hate, felt no emotion. Yet it hated the other. Hated it enough to give this to the strand. Another strandless one could be hidden, to rise up to the stage of the strand. It needed helpers, and it could raise one weakling up to stand with the terribly weak thing that supported it. Two of the same strength was better than one, no matter how weak.
Maybe this allows us to raise another darkness cultivator like Manuel or to raise someone to nascent soul like Manuel?

_
edit: Woohoo 2 million words! 🎉
 
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In the immediate term, I think we stand a better chance 2v1 against Jiao than 3v2 vs Old Jingshen and Jiao, in the long term we'll get a second Nascent eventually anyway, but a second connection for the Shadow would be nice. Did the SCA have a million nascents that specifically had a dao that could vibe with the Shadow? That's so many strands that I think they might have had items to connect to it instead.
 
Hmm

A Dao of Heavens Shadow being an administrator of the larger SCAs actions and networks across its various holdings seems imminently plausible

Considering that the SCA used to have Nascent souls in abundance enough to have those kinda of roles custom assigned based on their various Dao...

Yeah, I can believe that.

Hmm
 
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