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

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New Good Seed and Omake Rule Updates
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    • Good Seed and Omake Spreadsheet Rules:

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

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

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

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

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

    Omake Writer Instructions:

    There are four fields you need to fill out.

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

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

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

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

    All other fields are for QM use to record character information to properly run the flow of the game.
     
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    • Year 41 - Blood Battlefield
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    • "Flense'.

    Manuel spoke easily, and the first technique left his hand. The Skin-Flensing Knife Swipe was a useless art to kill with, but it attacked from many angles, and any successful strike drained Qi. A simple matter of attrition.

    Not that he would fight such a battle alone.

    Child Corpse Gulper laughed, and struck the knife aside. As he did, Old Cannibal shot up, a spear of obsidian striking at Child Corpse Gulper's arm.

    Corpse Gulper dodged, and struck back. The two panted for a moment, and shot apart.

    They had found him, and had come to put an end to him.

    Not that things would be that simple. They had been hunting him for two months, now, setting poisons down, defending cities, drawing Corpse Gulper into traps - forcing him to expend as much Qi as the traps took each time. A slow grinding-down, each time hoping to exchange Qi for Qi. Ideally, they would spend less, but they had more resources, so they were able to expend some resources of their own to prevent Corpse Gulper fleeing.

    This was was the first battle. There would be others, unless they were lucky. One did not kill a prepared Nascent Soul in days or weeks, not without significantly more power.

    The last few blows had been difficult - Corpse Gulper had been moving closer and closer to a town of mortals. Forty thousand people in the territory of the Clan, and one blow insufficiently blocked would see it ended. In other circumstances Manuel would have abandoned them to their fate and fought on, but he believed he had the power to protect them and win. If one had the power, the responsibility came with it. That was in the nature of the Clan.

    Still, it was proving difficult.

    He moved into position to protect the town, hovering between it and Corpse Gulper.

    Better to play this simply. Grind the man down. Leave him no room to maneuver, slowly but surely. Take one treasure, one art, one protective item off at a time. Eventually, find the kill. No need to be clever when preparedness would suffice.

    Corpse Gulper spoke.

    "You know, old man."

    Both Manuel and Old Cannibal looked up at him. After a moment, Manuel concluded he was speaking to them both.

    "You're pathetic. You see a world and think you can simply refrain from power? To see a path of immense strength and to abandon it? You call it 'morals', or perhaps 'intelligence', but those things are meaningless in the face of raw power."

    Corpse Gulper smiled, his face a mass of scars and tattoos.

    "Let me begin to demonstrate."

    He shimmered, and was gone, his body disintegrating in a spray of blood.

    "Blood Clone!", Manuel yelled.

    Corpse Gulper was already in the town. He saw streams of blood rising up, and realised that in moments the population would be dead, fueling Corpse Gulper. Old Cannibal couldn't use the Clan for Qi, so fighting in Clan territory was obvious for Corpse Gulper. It was to their disadvantage, but...

    He sighed.

    'Never any time for guilt.", he muttered.

    With that, he raised his knife, and spoke, the mantra empowering his strike to come.

    "That which is uncut, be cut. That which is food, become poison. That which is life, become death. The wheel turns and thou wilt be broken upon it. Heaven-Cursing Reversal Art!"

    A slice of pure darkness slid through the world, light becoming void. It touched the town, extinguishing everything. Bodies withered, buildings crumbled, and the ground itself grew black. Grass died and animals bleated one last sound as they died. The blood rising up turned to a sickening black, a thrumming promise of poison running through it.

    It hadn't harmed Corpse Gulper at all, of course.

    Manuel had been a fool to fight like this. If one protected a town, one would need to protect every town. He had believed himself and Old Cannibal strong enough, but by showing his hand in protecting his people it would be exploitable. No. By killing them - and by poisoning their very selves to make them unable to be consumed, there would be no advantage for Corpse Gulper to attack towns and cities. He should have been better than this. Had he been more decisively early on such an act would never have become necessary.

    A chuckle came out.

    "I see the reports on you were accurate. Honestly, Manuel. Old Monster. Devil of Cunning, I heard you called. But you're just all secrets in the dark, aren't you? But if the dark could defeat the light, night would not give way to daybreak."

    They flew towards Corpse Gulper, who was fleeing quickly. Where? Why?

    He wasn't sure, and it made him uneasy.

    "Old Cannibal!", he yelled.

    He had understood. A moment too late.

    Corpse Gulper's words echoed around them.

    "So headstrong. Old Cannibal, you always urged patience. Cleverness. Intrigue. But... let me show you why those things don't matter. Not really."

    They had flown into the centre of seven mountains.

    Corpse Gulper was sitting there, flows of blood pouring into him. Manuel didn't know when he had set this up, or how. Frustrating. He wouldn't die here, of course, but a loss of sorts was possible.

    "Old Cannibal. Go in. If you're wounded you can recover more easily through Blood Path. I'll back you up."

    The other man nodded. What choice did he have? If they left here, months of wearing Corpse Gulper would go to waste and they'd be back to where they were months ago, only without his location.

    Old Cannibal flew towards Corpse Gulper, and struck. The blow was true, and Corpse Gulper's skull was caved in.

    A sardonic smile sat on his face, and in moments the skull was good as new, brain and bone regrowing to form a new, scarless face.

    "You know, Old Cannibal, you're a simple man. But you've always been weak. Always needed your arrays, always needed your preferred battlefields, always needed to keep an eye on me to keep me down. Let me show you what happens when you don't have those things."

    A haze of blood covered the area, nearly a hundred li in every direction.

    "Blood Battlefield. Increases my speed."

    Manuel struck as Old Cannibal did, but Corpse Gulper simply dodged.

    "With speed alone I can hardly kill you two old men. You're tough, and the Golden Devils are renowned for their toughness. Of course... there is one Sect who knows all about how to cut through them."

    Corpse Gulper laughed, spitting blood and teeth as he did so.

    "Seven mountains become seven sabers, seven sabers in the service of blood. Let the saber drink its fill. Divine Blood Saber!"

    He raised an arm, and a massive saber appeared. It cast seven shadows, each the colour of bright red. From tip to base it was dripping blood, and the blood mist swirled away from it fearfully, giving it a wide berth. Nearly one li long, he swiped it at Manuel with all the quickness of a smaller weapon. He dodged, barely, and Corpse Gulper chuckled.

    "You hide in the shadows, old man. You creep around, hoping you can hide from the eye of the Heavens. But what happens once you're seen?"

    Old Cannibal rushed at Corpse Gulper, and the sword reversed in moments, hitting Old Cannibal with the flat of the blade. It sent him plummeting into the mountains below, crashing into the ground. He would be back in a few breaths, but...

    "A few breaths. I won't need that to finish you."

    Corpse Gulper slashed, faster than Manuel could see. How was he doing this? The blade came down, and Manuel felt his Qi burning, spending everything he had to defend against one desperate strike. He was flung to the ground, slamming into a hillock, thrown unconscious.

    Moments later, he awoke. Corpse Gulper was in the sky, holding Old Cannibal by the throat with a single hand, Corpse Gulper's massive sword floating next to them.

    "You pathetic old corpse. Worthless coward of a creature. You thought you had beheld the Heavens and looked down upon me, but the truth is... even though you have eyes, you couldn't see Mt. Tai."

    The sword ran Old Cannibal through.
     
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    • Well, that just happened, have to admit, did not see that coming. So, I'm guessing he got some help from the saber sect, but he should be burning something for this boost in strength
     
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    Tasos Basilakes 3 - Sticks and Stones
  • Sidestory
    • Sticks and Stones
    A Tasos Basilakes Omake
    ​

    Adjusting to the new rhythm of his life was difficult for Tasos. For one, he'd never had much issue finding away to circumvent his responsibilities back at the family holdings - but under the strict military structure expected of the Clan, such was simply not possible anymore. Another big struggle was getting used to the fact that ten-or-so hours of his day were now to be dedicated solely to the cultivation of his Qi - something that for the most part required him to stay still. Tasos had always been full of restless energy - his biggest problem had always been finding something to channel it towards. Now he had an objective - but having that objective didn't make it any easier to deal with the restlessness.

    Concentration wasn't the problem - as an archer, he'd already developed it. In fact, he'd been trying to develop a way to mix his archery into his cultivation - some Turtle World sects successfully used ritual archery as a way of meditation, he'd been told, and learning or developing such a method should speed up his own cultivation significantly if he managed it. Progress in the technique was slow-going at the moment, however - so he'd had to test the limits of his patience instead.

    Another big struggle came from being attached to the Vanguard, because such meant that he was expected to match Vanguard standards despite being primarily an Akrites - a rate meant for harrying, scouting, and maintaining presence over long borders. A large amount of the recruits he was being stacked against had already begun to show signs of development in the Blood of Bronze, something that Tasos himself hadn't - and the Vanguard recruits were far more focused on physical conditioning, hand-to-hand and close weapon training than he had been ever, much less now. It had made sparring sessions and group training... difficult, to say the least.

    In fact, that's what brought Tasos to a training room in the middle of the night, despite the fact that he should be getting rest to try and make his body feel a little less like it'd been ran through a wood chipper three times, come tomorrow. And it also explained why he wasn't alone.

    Across from Tasos stood two other Qi Cultivation initiates. The first was Zhang En - one of the few Vanguard recruits without a drop of Bronze in him. Zhang more than made up for it with his own bloodline, however - one he'd inherited from his unknown Wandering Cultivator father, which allowed him to harden his skin into callus-like armor. Was it pretty? no - but Zhang had shown during Tasos's first spar that it was effective, easily allowing the youth to shrug off hits and impose himself. Odds were he'd be outpaced by other recruits once the Bronze manifested further, however - which was why Zhang offered Tasos to help him with his hand-to-hand in exchange for lessons in tracking and archery.

    The second was Theodora Macednus - who had become the instructors' favourite choice of partner to throw at Tasos. She was tall, lean, and had long arms for her frame - which made her have essentially Tasos's exact build with a little more range. Most importantly, however - Theodora had been raised for the Vanguard, and her Bronze was well-and-truly active as well. She was an experienced fighter who had distinguished herself as a pankration champion throughout her youth - and yet, for some reason, she had decided to fixate on Tasos as an opponent despite flooring him easily every single time.

    Tasos and Zhang had set this appointment. Theodora had invited herself in - and insisted on taking first crack.

    "Tasos, are you sure this is a good idea?" Zhang asked, running a hand through his hair. "We get little enough rest as is, and putting yourself through the gauntlet before training is just going to get you in trouble when you drop mid-calisthenics"

    "They'll just assign me more calisthenics and I'll do them - and it'll suck, but if I plan on surviving enough to at least die out there in the world, I have to get better at this" Tasos answered, squaring against Theodora. "I can't hope to focus on Body Cultivation and yet get floored by every other fighter that gets close to me. I can't rely on my bow all the time. 'sides, it's not like we're banned from training at night - I heard the Elders train at the most bizarre hours"

    "I'm still not certain why you want to focus on Body Cultivation" Zhang admitted. "Wouldn't a variant of Sword Cultivation related to your bow work better?"

    "From what I understand, that fancy bow of his doesn't work like that" Theodora interrupted. "It matches the strength of his body - so strengthening his body is the only path available to him"

    "Bluntly put, yes" Tasos admitted. Theodora grinned, and stepped into her stance - making Tasos grimace. "You're way too happy about this"

    "If I have your bow to thank for giving me such an interesting sparring partner, then I'll gladly polish it every day and build it a shrine" the woman admitted. "Now, no more trying to fight standard - I know you're trained in something else"

    Tasos sighed, but nodded - and got into his own stance. Theodora took no time diving in with a sweeping kick that advanced her pivot foot, which Tasos parried with his left and spun for an elbow just to find his opponent not there anymore. Cursing, Tasos ducked - and the spinning heel kick that Theodora had somehow thrown with the other leg, using Tasos's own arm as support, whistled just above his head. The archer pushed off, forcing Theodora to somersault back to neutral - and Tasos to get back into his stance.

    This time, he'd be ready. One arm went long in front of him with the other was held closer, around the chest area. Theodora raised an eyebrow.

    "You're going to get a finger knocked off with your hands like that" She said. Tasos did not respond - his hands were not closed into a fist, and he instead held his fingers curled at the first phalanx, forming a flat from the palm of his hand to his nails which would occasionally relax and open into a looser, claw-like form.

    Theodora stepped quickly and swung with a couple of jabs which Tasos matched with his outstretched hand. Still curious, the woman took a couple more probing strikes before feinting a one-two and committing to a head strike - which prompted Tasos to strike. Both hands moved at the same time, his outstretched left lifting to lock around and deflect the strike by forcing it down, while the right moved over it to rake at the eyes.

    It was a cross-body attack, completely out of tempo - and thus, Theodora only barely managed to avoid it on pure reflex. She stumbled back - and Tasos did not relent, pushing into full offense with both hands, striking at the body and face simultaneously and constantly. Theodora went into full defense, back-stepping and enduring all of the attacks to the best of her ability - and ended up taking a kick to the side when Tasos suddenly shifted patterns and leapt to add a third attack to his strike pattern. She grunted, enduring the blow - then quickly wrapped her arm around the offending leg and spun her hips, using the added leverage to power her lariat and swing Tasos around, throwing him into the ground. The archer crashed down painfully and rolled over with a pained groan - slowly climbing to his feet.

    "Did you have to hit me that hard?" He complained, holding at his back - and noticed his opponent was shooting him an utterly murderous glare.

    "Tasos" She spat out. "If I ever see you fight standard and try to learn the Pankration kickboxing that most of the clan uses again, I will hurt you. Why have you been allowing everyone to run you through? You could have picked a couple wins if you did that, at least"

    "You say that but you didn't even flinch" Tasos pointed out. "I have to commit a lot to get anything out of that"

    "I'm supposed to be one of the best at this, you utter idiot - that's like Zhang measuring his archery against you and deciding it's not worth using" Theodora countered, stepping back into her stance. "Again, and against Zhang straight after. Maybe you'll get it if we beat it into you"

    "Yes, Drill Kentarchos" Tasos mocked - but he did as Theodora asked. The trio spent the better part of two hours - and by the twentieth or so time was thrown at the ground, he landed with a smile on his face.

    Maybe this'd work out after all.


    This scene was heavily influenced by my own experiences in fighting sports - I've been training for a little over 19 years now. Tasos's style is heavily influenced by Fanzi and the parent style of Fanzi which was Baoquan or Leopard Boxing - of which the trademark was the hand position here described - while the more 'standard' style used by Thea here draws heavily from hard-striking arm-styles such as greek Pankration and Kyokushin and Gojuryu Karate with some Capoeria for the kicks. This should be the last piece of the Tasos Beginnings mini-arc - which seems to have landed well in line with chapter, so I guess it's also the last Tasos Omake for this turn.

    As usual, do let me know if I did the dumb with the genre and such!
     
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  • Sidestory
    • And Heaven slaps down the Devils once again...Ooor Manuel's got a Plan.
    I'm guessing it's the latter.
    But if it's the former...Sudden scrambling Quest-wise could happen.
     
    Oh fuck
    This is either gonna be an effective quest ender or the best thing to happen to us
     
    Hmm, that does fuck things up a bit since it potentially leaves the Blood Cannibals entire territory open to be taken by the other power in the region.

    How annoying lol

    Barring Old Cannibal burning a trump card ofc. One of the benefits of being an Old Monster is knowing when to take a blow in order to land something far, far more ruinous in the exchange.
     
    Aight, so this
    occipitallobe said:
    Corpse Gulper was sitting there, flows of blood pouring into him. Manuel didn't know when he had set this up, or how. Frustrating. He wouldn't die here, of course, but a loss of sorts was possible.
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    and this
    occipitallobe said:
    "With speed alone I can hardly kill you two old men. You're tough, and the Golden Devils are renowned for their toughness. Of course... there is one Sect who knows all about how to cut through them."

    Corpse Gulper laughed, spitting blood and teeth as he did so.

    "Seven mountains become seven sabers, seven sabers in the service of blood. Let the saber drink its fill. Divine Blood Saber!"

    He raised an arm, and a massive saber appeared. It cast seven shadows, each the colour of bright red. From tip to base it was dripping blood, and the blood mist swirled away from it fearfully, giving it a wide berth. Nearly one li long, he swiped it at Manuel with all the quickness of a smaller weapon. He dodged, barely, and Corpse Gulper chuckled.
    Click to expand...
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    So what we've got here is that either Child Corpse Gulper managed to traverse to the Seven Divine Saber Pavilion and make his way back before Nascent Soul and also picked up an eclectic bunch of skills in the past few turns including the ability to pull one over two Old Monsters gunning for him directly when he lacked the judgement and skill to avoid Manuel baiting the fuck out of him only a few turns ago

    Or

    Whomever has been backing Child Corpse Gulper up has the ability to raid the Seven Divine Saber Pavilion for Techniques, integrate those Techniques into Nascent Soul scaled Blood Path techniques, and then have the Intrigue Game necessary to help set up an array at an advantageous position for a counter-ambush on two erstwhile older and more skilled/experienced near-peers. And the speed to manage that while said Nascent Souls are all distracted by a single fight?

    And who is known to have access to the time and resources to accrue all those conditions, as well as have the motivation to expend them to our detriment?

    After all, so long as the a Demonic Bee Cultivator can get a guaranteed supply of Spirit Stones to supply themselves, then there's no reason they can't handle the attrition of the desert, so long as it's just the one or two.

    We've got a Demonic Bee Sect interloper in the AoO, probably an Early Nascent Soul to boot.
     
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    occipitallobe said:
    "You pathetic old corpse. Worthless coward of a creature. You thought you had beheld the Heavens and looked down upon me, but the truth is... even though you have eyes, you couldn't see Mt. Tai."
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    i was NOT expecting this when Mt Tai was mentioned. This does show how useful having a prepped battlefield is though... Here's hoping we can pull the same during the Great Raid via luring them into prepped formations of our Qi Condensation Cultivators to rain hell on them.

    I'm awaiting the comeback about how we don't believe in Mt Tai but Mount Olympus :D
     
    occipitallobe said:
    This is technically one-half of a larger update.

    So wait till tomorrow and see!
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    Eh, if we manage to get both of them dead somehow it is basically ideal. for us. There is no way that he is doing this sort of thing without some sort of backlash to himself. You don't jump up in power levels like this unless you are a protagonist without some sort of drawback or forbidden technique.
     
    TehChron said:
    So what we've got here is that either Child Corpse Gulper managed to traverse to the Seven Divine Saber Pavilion and make his way back before Nascent Soul and also picked up an eclectic bunch of skills in the past few turns including the ability to pull one over two Old Monsters gunning for him directly when he lacked the judgement and skill to avoid Manuel baiting the fuck out of him only a few turns ago
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    EH... my suspicions are more along the line of he's a Ex Seven Divine Saber Pavillion who swapped to the Blood Path for power. Considering his ability to merge Blood Path with Saber Path in both array + martial skills.

    I'm wondering if he's a deniable weapon prepared by the Divine Saber since our grudge with them is pretty big. I see it as either he left genuinely, and now when he needed help they offered support OR it was a long term plan for them to take down us. Especially if we considered the fact that his first introduction here was for raiding us for resources.
     
    TehChron said:
    That's...not really how cultivation works in this setting, I don't think.
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    Well...in most Xianxia. Blood path is the avenue for power because of how easy it is to gain power along it. Trade lives = More power. So going by common tropes, i think it's possible that a power seeking disciple chooses to cultivate Blood Path for power.

    And it's another common trope that the secret weapon you pull at the end is what you are most proficient in, so i think its possible that he does have knowledge of the arts and techs for Saber Path within him. Rereading the update, my interpretation is that he was pushed all the way to end leading him to go all out, which if my idea about him being a deniable asset is right, is a last resort cus they won't want any links to be exposed between Divine saber and a Blood Path.

    One of the reasons i'm leaning to this is because of exactly how powerful a Nascent Art is as shown. It's something that i doubt will be left anyway but in the main HQ of the Divine Saber and probably heavily protected, so i doubt any exposure of it can be done by 3rd parties. If it was a unrelated art, then yeah it makes sense since it could be loot from a target they wiped out, but an Art from one of the Big Good Sects seems impossible without some secret approval or backing from said sect.
     
    Robotninja said:
    Eh, if we manage to get both of them dead somehow it is basically ideal. for us. There is no way that he is doing this sort of thing without some sort of backlash to himself. You don't jump up in power levels like this unless you are a protagonist without some sort of drawback or forbidden technique.
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    Perhaps Child Corpse Gulper is the protagonist of another xianxia quest that occipitallobe is running on another forum.
     
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