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

[occipitallobe]

Maria
Bonus: Cultivation boost
Fate: Maria spent her time on the Fearless Line boldly, and found herself outmatched several times. Despite her cultivation, the sheer numbers and boldness of the Blood Path cultivators overwhelmed her many times, and she found herself struggling to command as effectively as she might have liked. With this, she took a trip to the Qiguai Secret Realm. Unlucky at first, she fell into the sky-sea, nearly drowning. At the edge of the Secret Realm itself, she was hunted for months by a tribe of Spirit Fish who sought to eat her, slipping from air bubble to air bubble, and ended up taking refuge in a cave. In there she found the Clone-Splitting Competition Art (+16 Impact). Only usable by those who have two minds in one body, it splits the two personalities into one body each, both dependent on the other. When one clone is killed, the personality returns to the other body, and the clone can be remade. Only by slaying both clones within a short period of time can the user be truly slain. It has some weaknesses - when one clone is slain the other is debilitated for a period of nearly half an hour. However, when the dominant split personality allows the subordinate out, it strengthens - thus why it is called the Competition Art. The two personalities constantly contest for dominance, and the Art enables this contest. Both bodies are as powerful as the original that had been split, and a new clone can be generated in a matter of half an hour, making the user a truly fearsome and nigh-unkillable foe. With this, Maria returned to the Fearless Line, throwing 'herself' into impossible battles that should have crippled her, saving three large caravans of refugees. Unfortunately, her early use of the Art was incomplete, and she nearly died after her third split. Only the use of a treasure preserved her life, and the strain the Art had put on her body would take her decades to recover from before she could regain her full faculties.
Impact: 16 (+16)
Cultivation: 10th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 162 (+10)
Health: Healthy --> Dead --> LST Interrupt --> Badly Wounded --> Wounded

Theoron Strophios
Bonus: Impact
Fate: Theoron was sent to the Fearless Line along with so many others, preventing raiders from getting through. He made fast friends with a Strength Purity cultivator, Xi Li. Li died a month after meeting him, and left Theoron his Detection Bell (+1 Impact), a useful artifact that helped him detect raiders passing by. With this he was able to save the third refugee caravan from raiders, saving another thousand lives.
Impact: 3 (+1)
Cultivation: 10th Heavenstage (3 turns to FB)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 111 (+0)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

Amaranth Castellanos
Bonus: Tribulation Boost
Fate: Amaranth had a rather ordinary time at the Fearless Line, if it could be called that. Whether other men fought great battles, he was put in the rear-guard, and found himself stoically cleaning up the messes of others. Several attacks by genius talents from the Saber Palace left a great rent in their lines, and he was consequently forced to rescue mortals who should've been safeguarded many times, taking blows and moving out of position to do so. While he survived without incident, there were many close calls, and despite his work he was constantly taunted by the Saber Palace talents for not fighting in the front-line.
Impact: 8 (+0)
Cultivation: 12th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 269 (+19)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

Fierce Fang
Bonus: Lifespan treasure
Fate: Fierce Fang spent time raising his chicken. It grew and grew, and it was when a small caravan of mortals from the north fled south that Fang went to oppose several Blood Path cultivators who sought to consume them. Pinned down by one, he feared he would be slain, but from behind came a mighty spur and the first cultivator was tripped. With this advantage, Fang was able to slay them both and save hundreds of mortals. It goes to show that one should always beware the chicken.
Impact: 4 (+0)
Cultivation: 12th Heavenstage (14 turns to FB)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 221 (+0)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

Demetrius Ceres
Bonus: Tribulation Boost
Fate: When word came that Sha Yu had been overrun, Demetrius took his axe north and began killing as many raiders as he could. The people of Sha Yu were fleeing desperately, those who remained, and Demetrius was there to aid them. He hacked off the heads of seven Blood Path cultivators, and traded them on his return for a Blood Burst Pendant (+1 Impact), an item that could excite and enrage the blood, bringing out a temporary boost to strength in battle that would need to be repaid later through much rest.
Impact: 8 (+1)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 1-Pillar (Early)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 100 (+0)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

Wei Feng
Bonus: Tribulation treasure
Fate: Wei Feng was once named the Phoenix, and it was here that his regenerative abilities came into play most fiercely. Along the Fearless Line he was known for taking the most missions, sallying out again and again and again to rescue caravans of mortals fleeing from the north. Sha Yu fell, and the effort the Strength Purity Sect put in allowing the mortals to retreat was immense. Former caravans and raiders being killed, the last retreating caravan from Sha Yu held almost fifteen thousand mortals. With Fierce Fang, Amaranth, Theoren, and countless other cultivators rescuing caravans as they fled, Wei Feng was able to hold off a Foundation Establishment Blood Path cultivator for nearly three hours, rising again and again to the immense frustration of the other man. Itchy Fang, as he was known, killed hundreds of mortals as Wei Feng constantly fought him, eventually focusing on Wei Feng himself in pure fury. Wei Feng held long enough for a Foundation Expert of their own to engage him, and the last mortals from Sha Yu were saved. While the city fell, few enough lives were lost. On his retreat, he broke through to Foundation Establishment himself, and returned to the now enemy-held territory of Sha Yu. There he found Itchy Fang, and exacted revenge for killing those under his care.
Impact: 15 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 1-Pillar (Early)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 100 (+0)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

Carvos
Bonus: LST
Fate: Carvos went north, and found himself at first relegated to a role in the back lines. Beaten several times for attempting to get to the front lines, his centurion made it clear he'd only be allowed to go fight if he were able to rise into the 7th Heavenstage. A ridiculous goal, but Carvos set about it with focus never-before seen from him, and in a matter of a few years reached the 7th Heavenstage. As he reached the Fearless Line, the fight was nearly over, but he still managed to find a few likely fights, accidentally saving fifty or sixty mortals after trying to punch a Cannibal in the 9th Heavenstage. Somehow he escaped, and made his way back to the Fearless Line.
Impact: 0 (+0)
Cultivation: 7th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 53 (+32)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

Ninth Prince
Bonus: LST
Fate: The Ninth Prince was, at the last, holding He Jian. One of the last in, admittedly, but the very last out. He and his Legion fought like madmen, covering the retreat of every other Foundation cultivator and mortal they could, setting up traps and poisons and retreating only when badly wounded, allowing the city the time it needed to move south. Most of the mortals had gone when Sha Yu fell, but there were plenty left, and many Qi Condensation cultivators who would be mere prey if their retreat was not covered. He was left in the city by himself at the end, overlooking the Ten Viper Venom Array, a collaboration between the Clan's Array-Engineers and his own Spirit Beasts. He triggered it, and would have been desperately wounded without the use of a treasure. Clouds of Qi-infused poison burst out, killing thousands of Blood Path cultivators, and tens of Foundation Experts. He Jian and the area surrounding it would be impassable for weeks, and the Strength Purity Sect had won a much-needed reprieve.
Impact: 18 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 3-Pillar (Mid)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 163 (+16)
Health: Healthy --> Badly Wounded --> LST Interrupt --> Lightly Wounded --> Healthy

Aristoteles Kalokagathos
Bonus: LST
Fate: Aristoteles at first went to the Qiguai Secret Realm, and had the most perfunctory encounter anyone must have ever had there. Flung in, he landed atop a small hill storing a number of powerful ancient pills, two of which boosted his cultivation massively (+60 years). On stealing them, the hill exploded with energy, throwing him right back out the front door of the Qiguai Realm. He returned to the Song Empire. During his time there he was a butcher among butchers near He Jian City. When the fall of Sha Yu came, He Jian anchored the retreat for the entire force stationed north of the Fearless Line - holding it for sufficient time would be key to ensuring the Fearless Line could serve as a second line of defense.
Impact: 5 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 4-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 184 (+60)
Health: Healthy --> Lightly Wounded --> Crippled --> LST Interrupt --> Wounded --> Lightly Wounded

Rina Callista
Bonus: LST
Fate: Rina Callista strove mightly at the Song Empire, fighting equals, throwing back armies with her Legion and her Dao. Many deeds did she accomplish there, and during the Battle of Three Cores at He Jian City she flung back two for a time, leaving the Altar Elders frustrated and wary of her. This bought days and helped buy weeks later on. When Rina went to Sha Yu, of course, she inadvertently brought about its fall...
Impact: 12 (+0)
Cultivation: Single Pillar 2 of ??
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 333 (+0)
Health: Healthy --> Badly Wounded --> Lightly Wounded -- Healthy

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

The Fearless Line held quite well, and all the caravans of mortals that could have been expected to be saved were saved. A Moderate Success - there were still many wins we might have had in terms of defeating our enemies, but saving mortal lives is quite excellent.

As for the north, we had a Bare Success. We held the cities as long as they reasonably could be held, ensured evacuations to the south proceeded well, and ultimately managed to not lose too many troops to the madness that followed. The Song Empire lines are now ground down to the Fearless Line, and if it falls, so much for the remainder of the Song Empire. We are drawing up plans to relocate troops much further south to the next plausible defensive line, as the Fearless Line is unlikely to hold indefinitely.

 

[occipitallobe]

He fumed.

He raged, and screamed, and killed one of the Qi Condensation serving boys he had stolen from a raid south. The lad's eyes simply froze over and he collapsed, the mere emanations of Kinslaughterer's soul enough to end him entirely.

Who the fuck did Altar Lord think he was? Telling him to not kill the enemies of his Lord? The pathetic, insolent, worthless insects who chose to climb up the path his Lord had left and refused to follow his will?

Kinslaughterer calmed himself, throwing the corpse of the boy through the wall, shattering several houses. Perhaps some other ants died - it was not really his concern. Was that how Altar Lord felt about him?

He screamed in rage.

No.

He wasn't one of the ants. Altar Lord couldn't tell him what to do, couldn't prevent him from doing what he must. What his Lord demanded.

Oh, he knew Altar Lord was filth. He didn't care about the will of his Lord, didn't care for divine and endless Consumption. For a path to the truth that came through consuming all that was, to consume the world itself and thus gain the divine ability to consume the cosmos, to become one with everything by making it part of you. Only endless consumption would see you rise beyond the ability to consume, to become a serpent ever-consuming its own tail. To rise and become the universe itself, consuming yourself forever in ecstatic divine agony.

Altar Lord muttered about Heaven, and about Fate, and about other irrelevant things.

He didn't care about the path to divinity that had been laid out in front of all of them, and yet the Altar still chose him! It was infuriating. Obscene. Disgusting.

He prowled through one of the broken houses, seeing one of his granddaughters there. Hunger rose within him, and he clawed at her, tearing at her flesh, gnawing on it and gulping it down. The glorious satisfaction of consuming your kin, of consuming something so close to oneself was the nearest thing to that divine agony he could get.

Three great-granddaughters.

He looked them over, huddled together and crying in terror.

Weak.

Not worth the devouring.

He glared down at them.

"Grow up. Consume. Become strong. Devour me if you can."

He felt a pulse of desire at those words. Becoming part of his own family's rise to divinity? The truth of all things was that being devoured and devouring were both of worth, and if his own kin could rise above him into godhood, he would slide down their gullet in joy and appreciation.

He flew up, and away.

He knew now what he had to do. The Altar had not recognised him because it did not see him as truly worthy. How could he be seen as worthy when he allowed the unworthy to live? Vile creatures that were like parasites, sitting in the gut of the truth, worming away at the path his Lord had left for him and all others who had eyes.

"Lixin..."

He heard the voice come from below, a scream of rage as he flew. One of his great-granddaughters, vowing revenge. Foolish. There was no revenge, merely growth. If she could consume him then she deserved to. In time she might understand. To use his old name... even more foolish. There was no Hu Lixin, there was only Kinslaughterer. The one who consumed or was eaten, the devourer of his own flesh.

South. He could feel the pulses of their Dao, the impressions on the world they left. The lies they spread, the untruths that besmirched his Lord.

No longer.

He flew, and landed.

A forest clearing, with a small fire and a band of Heavenly Time cultivators. Three Core Formation elders sitting about the fire. He ignored them, striding towards the handsome young man.

The young man rose, and stood in front of him.

"Senior, this Wei An-"

Kinslaughterer struck.

With a single blow, he tore off the boy's legs. Another blow sent the Core Formation elders flying, weakened but otherwise fine.

Wei An screamed, and reached for a pendulum.

Foolishness.

Kinslaughterer simply exerted his will. There was no motion from Wei An's hands, and the raw power of Kinslaughterer's soul prevented any true Dao effects taking place. He tore off an arm, then another. He gnawed on them, finding them unsatisfactory. Oh, there were emanations of time and the like, and he was sure he would gain some mystical understanding of concepts he barely cared about, but he was more concerned with the terrified look on the boy's face.

"Senior, please, if this Wei An has offended you, I-"

A finger sharpened itself and excised his lips and tongue, Kinslaughterer gulping them down in a few more bites.

"Creatures like you who follow the Single Path and yet besmirch my Lord's name by disdaining his True Path need to die."

A single swift elbow, and Wei An's skull simply gave way.

A few more bites and he was done.

There.

Not enough warning for the other one. They would not suspect it, anyhow. Striking juniors like this was rare, and so while protections existed, they would not long stop a Nascent Soul in the fullness of his fury.

He could feel her, though it was a difficult thing. He suspected other Nascent Souls could not detect one another as he could, though the detection was only truly of use when he got close. He knew Altar Lord often felt like he was in many places - probably a measure to prevent him from being able to detect and betray his pathetic leader.

There was... a city there. He couldn't recall its name. The girl was somewhere within, towards the centre. Ants beneath him, scurrying about behind their little walls. Roofs of red and blue all across the city, a tower in the centre for one reason or another.

A range of arrays had been set up, protecting the city from even Core Formation assaulters.

Nothing to him. He brought down a hand, and a line of force was brought into being. The walls cracked and broke, and houses shattered. Roofs collapsed, and cultivators died, many, many, many. He felt nothing. They were nothing to him. Who cared for killing?

He flew down. The girl was there, in the centre of the city. Near a fountain of some sort.

He spoke. The Golden Devils had bought his Lord the room to open the Path, and so they were worthy of notice. It would not spare the girl, but he would explain himself. Make her see why she needed to die.

"You. Scion of Callista. Know that you have walked a path you are unworthy for. You tread the path of my Lord, and yet disdain his Truth. For this, the penalty is death."

With that, he struck.

Not a full-force blow, merely enough to separate her legs from his body. Enough to make his displeasure clear before killing her. She needed to suffer for what she had done, for the Truth she had besmirched. The filth she had tracked into the Divine Path.

He watched idly, and as the blow came from afar, she blocked it somehow. Some item? Some technique? No matter. It was only the lightest of blows.

This time, he resolved, he would strike to kill.

He brought his hand down, and-

A voice echoed out, another Nascent Soul standing in the sky but a few li from him, a ripple of force from her blocking his blow.

"Naughty, naughty."

He snarled.

"Scarletglyph. Leave the girl. Flee. For this I will spare you. She must die."

No words came from her as she struck at him.

 

[Alectai]

Rina Callista
The Fall of Sha Yu City
​

The war waged on, the tides of the Noble Devil Alliance crashing against the Three City Cordon and being turned aside--one after the other. Gambits identified, intercepted, and turned around to the cause of the defenders.

In that regard, Rina Callista could say that things seemed to be going well. Things certainly got more than a little spicy when a number of Cores from the Demonic Altar Sect took the field, diverting Azurebolt and his reserves from city to city--leaving He Jian itself relatively underprotected, trusting in its reinforced arrays to allow the elites defending it a chance to throw them back. What nobody was quite expecting was the trio bearing a powerful treasure that allowed them to bypass the outer walls and their defenses. All the better to tear through the defenders.

She winced in memory of the event--she and most of the other Chosen among the defenders sallied out to stand against them--she drove down the [Weight of the World] and pushed her body and skills to the limit, barely holding against two of the Cores while Xu Zhen of the Strength Purity Sect (Plenty of people were calling him Bladebinder all of a sudden too, which was both kind of funny but also fairly appropriate?) and Fang Tai of the Seven Divine Saber Palace joined hands to block the third. It was never a good thing to be on the receiving end of an Elder's fury--half arsed Blood Path demon or not--and if she didn't have enough of her Centurions present to form a good Hoplite and a hefty reserve of power from the internal Arrays keeping her fighting strength replenished--she likely wouldn't have lasted until their Cores started to crack.

In the end, the attack was ultimately repelled--but the writing was on the wall--several core characters in the city's defensive array were damaged, and while the 502's attached engineers were making what field repairs were possible under Scarletglyph's instructions, the city was already in the middle of being evacuated.

One, maybe two more pushes could be thrown out--and then it would be lights out for the Three City Cordon, and the front lines pushed back to the Fearless Line itself--the final location in which a stand could be made until the Strength Purity Sect's core territories. It was good that the evacuation was proceeding at a respectable pace, and the defenders were still strong--but the war just continued to be a series of mitigated defeats and steady withdrawal despite the courage of the defenders.

Because? As it so happened? When you could get virtually all of the Demonic Powers to cooperate--even in the rudimentary mummer's fashion that the Noble Devil Alliance represented? Things could get really ugly in a hurry.

Rina almost considered it to be frustrating, how despite heroism and skill at all sides--despite claiming victory in most of the major engagements--that the Coalition Forces were Still losing, were the resources of the enemy truly bottomless? Or were the Coalition Force merely biding their time, seeking to make the enemy complacent in their victory before executing a great reversal?

She didn't know--or all of her talent, Rina was just one Chosen among many--one with a rare and potentially vital talent, but far from priceless. She didn't have a seat at the table of policy yet--which is why she was here, in the middle of town, infusing the formation character underpinning a new Array that Lady Scarletglyph had devised. "I could do it myself..." She had mused at the time, using the beast-skin parchment that described Rina's part as a makeshift fan. "But... Mmm, call it a hunch, but I think they'll get the wrong idea at this moment. Besides, I've made a few interesting tweaks to the normal design here, and I'm curious as to how your own Dao might alter the function. It's only a one shot anyway, so it can't hurt to try, can it?"

Rina stifled the smile, covering it with her free hand just in case anyone witnessed and got the wrong idea. Her other hand hovered over the newly inscribed array, emitting a strange pulse of jade-green light. Her Pillar of Law had been showing signs of changing again in the great battles of the campaign, and exerting more discrete effects beyond her Emanation was growing easier--though still not what she'd call reliable outside of safe, controlled circumstances like this. Running her power through her own body helped give the focus--even if she had to keep the flow down to avoid overstraining her Meridians.

Yes, this was really just the same work she thought she'd be doing way back in the day--when she was still a young and innocent girl who had no idea she was going to be forwarded to the elites. There was probably a lesson to be hard there--returning back to your origins every so often to remind yourself of how far you've come. Was that why so many stories had experts going off and pretending to be ordinary people? Drifting around in the secular world to learn from it?

It could very well be! It worked out for her after all, after her defeat by that bandit fellow! There was still the Trials to worry about--but those were problems for future Rina, and future Rina would be stronger than today's Rina, and so it all worked out, didn't it?

Controlling her expression down to a wry grin, she gave one further pulse of Essence, filtered through the Dao contained within her Pillar, and stepped back, admiring her work. The rune flickered with a jade-green light--somewhat different from the bright azure of the traditional interpretation of Water--but no less flowing for it. She was curious as to what Scarletglyph intended with the altered Array--probably a bomb or something, her own Water was somewhat more aggressive than the traditional inter-

*The serpent bore its fangs, coils upon coils, ever hungering, ever devouring. Nostrils flared as it drew in the light of the world, and in its exhale sailed oblivion*

The defensive arrays Melted, sturdy steel reduced to glass and fading to molten sand before evaporating in the attack's wake. A sound of screams brutally stifled as the ripple of Nascent Power tore through the defensive arrays, the merest embers of the blow snuffing out hundreds of lives.

Rina's eyes widened, and she rose to her feet--Muqin Guo began to shudder from her place hooked to her belt. "Ohnono I can't block that..." The tiny cauldron sputtered through the mental link--by the time Rina had her shield out--she saw little more than a single figure landing with barely a noise, bloodstained robes and a disdainful expression on his face.

"You. Scion of Callista. Know that you have walked a path you are unworthy for. You tread the path of my Lord, and yet disdain his Truth. For this, the penalty is death."

Kinslaughterer, Nascent Soul of the Demonic Altar Sect--had come for her head.

Rina raised her shield--steeling body, mind, and soul for what would come next.

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"Your Single Pillar is a thing of great potential." Archgetes Konstantinos told her, on that shining day after her breakthrough--a private conversation with the first Golden Devil to touch that mythical power. "You have grasped an ability that is ordinarily barred to those beneath Nascent Soul--a Dao that can alter the nature of the world as we understand it. Taken to the extreme, it can be used to wield powerful magic--to pluck secrets from the minds of the unwary, or to drive even the most foul villains to flight, cowering under the weight of their own deeds." Old Gold smiled wistfully there, perhaps recalling something from his past.

"But there are many who will attempt to take that from you, for we have always been rejected by the Heavens. This will not change simply because you have the right to disagree with them. And for all of your potential, until it is realized--it is nothing."

His eyes flickered--and Rina's [Halo of the World-Lord] shuddered and shrunk, smothered by a shroud of darkness as the Dao-Projection receded back within her--the attack ceasing as Rina's own pressure collapsed.

"In the end, Power will always win out over even the most pleasant ideals--and the power of a Nascent Soul stands beyond any lesser Cultivator, understand this, internalize this--and know that your only duty in the face of a Nascent Soul seeking your death is to Survive. There is no glory in a wasted death, no victory to be found in spitting in a god's eye. Until you stand among our numbers, you cannot hope to turn us aside."

The shadows drew back, and once again was the elderly fellow that had guided the Golden Devils through history since Rina's own birth. He gave a rictus smile there--which would be intimidating if she didn't sense the warmth in his voice.

"So, know this--if you are to survive a Nascent Soul that seeks your death, you must understand that the ordinary rules of survival do not apply. You cannot reverse their attack, you cannot bind them, you cannot outrun them. Any defensive measure constructed to save your life will be futile--even if they permit you to use it, they will shatter it the moment it is no longer convenient. However, you are not entirely without recourse."

He raises a single finger. "A Nascent Soul will not lower themselves to striking a junior with their fullest strength on the first blow. For to do so would be to acknowledge that junior as a Threat. Delve deeply into that Dao of yours, and seek a mechanism that can endure such an assault. Their emanation will crush any defense formed solely of Qi, but against another Emanation, it should be sufficient to save your life."
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Rina's Meridians swelled, dumping power directly from her Pillar into them--blood veins burst throughout her body, blood spilling from her eyes, ears, and mouth as she grasped the legacy of her ancestors with both hands--offering it up to the enlightenment she had attained.

Void--ever watchful, the guardian that stands against the horrors of the cosmos!

Centered upon her shield came a ripple, barely visible as it poured outward. The [Halo of the World-Lord] manifested behind her--spinning wildly and sparking as it was forced to manifest before her Pillar was ready.

But it held--and the fifth character blazed to life for the first time.

Kinslaughterer's Emanation struck the Astral Voidguard, parting around it, and reducing streets and buildings at either side to chewed up rock and rubble.

Law Evocation--the third power of the Single Pillar Path--the ability to wield the magic arts normally reserved to Nascent Souls.

Her Cultivation hadn't advanced to the point of doing this on her own--and she felt the progress she had already made towards it crumble as a backlash--her meridians red hot and cracked throughout from their labors picking up the difference.

But it was just enough to cast a single Evocation, before Rina fell to her knees, a small patch of undamaged ground around a cataclysm of destruction.

She was smiling though, keeping her head up even as she saw Kinslaughter's brow furrow--he raised his hand again, and this time Rina felt the Nascent Power gathering in his hand.

Rookie mistake.

"The second recourse is this--a Nascent Soul does not have the privilege to act as they wish. Should one make a move recklessly, they will find themselves countered in short order. Therein lays your chance for survival"

A ripple of force was met and matched, and clattering of heels and a throaty giggle echoed across the battlespace.

"Naughty, Naughty"

Spoiler: Scarletglyph Reference Image

Clad in a black dress, slit to the waist, etched in a floral pattern. Cherry red hair tied in a short ponytail, using a garland of flowers to hold it up. A yellow fan held in one had as she took several steps forward--leather heels still clicking even as she rose in the air, carried by nothing more than her supernal will, a languid smile on her face.

Kinslaughterer snarled. "Scarletglyph. Leave the girl. Flee. For this I will spare you. She must die."

Scarletglyph's smile didn't waver though, she merely tilted her head ever so quizzically.

And then her fist was driven into his chin from below, sending him rocketing up into the sky.

"Leave this to me dearies!" Scarletglyph waved below. "Just prepare the evacuation like we drilled!" She closed her fan shut, as it vanished into her Immortal Aperture, and she rocketed up to give chase.

Rina shook her head, grimacing as she pulled herself back up to her feet. She'd be fine, probably--just a little bed rest after falling back.

She just hoped Scarletglyph would be alright...

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It was an odd tradition--one part practicality and one part habit--for battles between Nascent Souls to be held high in the air. In a battle between those standing at the peak of the Virtuous Flipper Region, even a single stray blow could slay thousands on either side--and even a Nascent Soul needed their disciples to accomplish much of anything, for all of their power.

It was just too much of a hassle to fight otherwise! Even in a place as rich with ambient Qi as the Great Battlefield was!

Kinslaughterer rubbed his jaw, infuriated gaze set upon Scarletglyph as she rose to meet him. He spat to the side. "You were warned."

"Well, yes, but I've never been good at listening to garbage talk." Scarletglyph quipped, smile unabated as she cracks her knuckles. "I have to say, we had something of a bet as to who the first to lose their patience and start murdering Juniors would be! You made me a great deal of money today Kinslaughterer!"

"Juniors?" Kinslaughterer sneered. "I'm merely cleansing the realm of heretics, you should be thanking me!" He gestured widely. "Each of those creatures represents a pretender to the Great Lord's legacy! Do you not claim to be the so-called bringers of Justice?" He barked out, his power rippling outward--the cultivation base of a Mid Nascent Soul unfurled for the first time. "And now you simply come here to die at my hands, what a tragic ending to the legend of Scarletglyph!"

"Mmm, that's the thing you know, the thing we have that you Demonic trash lack." Scarletglyph mused, her own Cultivation Base rising to the challenge--the light of the moon standing against the radiance of a fell sun. "We have standards, and we have the right to decide our own fate." She stretches out a hand in challenge, settling into a martial stance, flicking her fingers towards herself. "After all, we didn't give up on our humanity like you pieces of garbage do so eagerly."

"And what of it?!" Kinslaughterer snapped. "To be little more than cattle? Milling about in our own filth, praying we are not noticed by the uncaring Heavens? If that's humanity, than good riddance to it! The freedom to take what I desire and consume that which pleases me is the only virtue in this benighted world!"

Kinslaughterer burst into motion, a projection of hissing serpents following his fist strike--Scarletglyph gave ground, raising one hand in a circular motion and deflecting much of the force, letting the remainder sail off into the skies behind her. Her remaining hand struck out in a palm strike, only to be caught by Kinslaughterer's knee--which he chambered into a twisting roundhouse kick.

Scarletglyph was forced backwards, heels giving off sparks as she Willed the sky to firm beneath her, dispersing the force of the attack as she steadied herself--crossing her hands to parry both of Kinslaughterer's follow-up sword-hands. "Oh my..." She laughs, arms shaking under the force of holding the attack up. "I suppose it was a little arrogant of me to try and pick a fight with you like this, was it?"

"It's far too late to have regrets!" Kinslaughterer sneered, as he doubled the strength behind his attack. The sky shattered, and the solidified-sky gave way, driving Scarletglyph down towards the ground, clouds forced aside as the two Nascent Souls built up speed, descending back down to the city below. "Let the two of us lay this petty city to ruin! If you would stand against me, then know the price of your folly with the ghosts of your followers!"

Scarletglyph's amusement remained unshaken. "Well, yes, power and all that." Planes of force formed beneath the two, but shattered as the two divine bodies descended, their advance left unrestricted. "See, here's the thing about power..."

The descent halted--and Kinslaughterer's eyes widened as Scarletglyph's arms steadied--a different plane now visible beneath her--inscribed with something different.

"Power can come in a lot of forms." She muses to herself, face to face with Kinslaughterer. "Cultivation Base, Charisma, Wealth, Martial Skill, Inherited Treasures..." She added. "Knowledge--but I'm sure your Sect knows that as well as I do, don't they?"

"You... How! When!?" Kinslaughterer realized--his eyes taking in the shining points of the city below, and how they matched with the design extruded beneath Scarletglyph's feet.

"From the very instant you sent three Cores to this city" Scarletglyph explained--blue eyes flaring with light as the five shining points on the city below extended rays of light into the diagram beneath her. Across her body flashed designs of brilliant azure.

"I practiced the Dao of the Dilettante in my youth." Scarletglyph's fingers started to dig into divine flesh. "To know a little bit about everything--not the best in any one field I'll admit--but I could always pull out a little trick from time to time to turn the tides." She pulled the Demonic Nascent down then, and drove her knee into his gut, doubling him over with pain as she clasped her hands together into a maul, starting high and swinging into a full arc, clashing with his face and driving him off into the distance. Trails of light--in white, sparkling jade, green, red, and gold--followed her from the city below as she gave chase, diagrams upon her body flashing as her cultivation base surged--eclipsing the dark sun with a greater light. "I was an indecisive girl you know! But there were just so many mysteries in this place!" She flickered as Kinslaughterer recovered and sought to counterattack--only to fade back into view with an upwards ax-kick sending him sailing back into the sky. "How could I possibly commit to any one idea when the Truth was veiled from juniors!"

"Such a Dao would be powerless!" Kinslaughterer retorted, regaining his balance and catching Scarletglyph's follow up kick between them. He grunted with exertion and a small mountain off in the distance shuddered from the force passing through him--but such a blow was trivial to his divine body. "You lie!"

"Oh yeah, I was super weak for a while." Scarletglyph agreed, pivoting and delivering a storm of kick-strikes to Kinslaughterer's defenses. "Just poking and tailoring and drifting whenever the mood took me. Sure I was good at solving problems, and sure I was good at teaching kids the basics--but when it came to direct combat? Psh, I was a joke." She rolled her eyes and shrugged, backing off for a moment. "But, there's a thing I started to notice--how every discipline was linked together in some sense. Strength of the body leading to strength of arm, magnifying the effect of skill which permitted greater precision of hand and eye." She crossed her arms, letting her attack cease for a minute--and grinning. "But see, here's the thing? Everyone knows that... But I took a trip into Qiguai towards the end of my time in Foundation Establishment, and I stumbled upon a most curious little document there."

Kinslaughterer lowered his fists, and crouched into a low stance. "Who cares about your life story!" He burst into motion, flickering images and projections filling the air as he circled around her--a predator looking for an opening. "You've made a valiant effort, but this power of yours cannot last! And when it fades, I'll sink my teeth into your whore throat!"

"Ruuuude~~" Scarletglyph teased. "It was written in odd characters--but I had spent some time translating old documents of the Sea Conquering Army in the past, and understood their text. It was a document called the Codex Trismegistus--I suppose if I were to translate the title, it would be the 'Book of the Thrice-Greatest.' It speculated that all cultivator disciplines could be broken down into three categories. Power of the Body." Her arm lashed out into a clothesline, shuddering as Kinslaughterer crashed into it, flipping head over foot before he could recover his footing. "Power of the Mind" The markings across her flared--and Scarletglyph was surrounded in radiant azure flame, accelerating threefold as the draws from the city below flew open, her fists driving deep into Kinslaughterer's body, spittle flying as he was left seriously bruised by the onslaught. "And most importantly of all... Power of Discipline."

She gestured--and a sheathed sword emerged from her Immortal Aperture--clutched in one hand as she slowly drew it--a wave-pattern of Brightsteel catching in the light of the sun, revealing the countless micro-engravings and etched arrays covering every square micron of the weapon. "The willingness to devote all manner of time and effort--no matter how tedious--to achieve your goals."

"That sword..." Kinslaughterer stared for a moment--and his eyes widened. "How many arrays does it contain?" A scythe of bone emerged from his own Aperture--crackling with Nascent Power. "That's absurd! It won't survive even a single battle!"

"Well, of course it won't." Scarletglyph smiled--as the sword began to light up, the blue glow from the symbols pouring into the sword. "It doesn't need to, it just needs to be capable of being wielded by a refined body, fueled by the full Qi of millions of Spirit Stones channeled into a series of nested arrays transmitting enough power into me to fight at the Middle Nascent stage, and be capable of unleashing its power for at least three hours before breaking down." A dimming of the light--and a shadow of a dozen others briefly emerging from her. "And if that isn't enough, I've got a dozen more lying around in here, each with a new and interesting set of spells to ruin your day!"

She grins widely, teeth bright as her drawn sword lights up into a catastrophe of five elements, weaving and feeding upon each other in sequence. "I got some really good data on how to maintain a Five Element Augmentation cycle off of a little investment I made a while back, after that, it was just three thousand hours of effort per sword--easily done while I cultivate! It's a meditative strategy even!"

"You wasted that much time on a toy?!?" Kinslaughterer roared, his Nascent Power filling the air and filling his weapon--eyes upon it opening up and gazing upon the land, gathering Blood Qi from all of the fallen. "You... How can you possibly be so wasteful!"

"I dunno, one Mid Nascent Soul for three thousand hours of tedious work from an Early Nascent Soul?" Scarletglyph settled her weapon upon her shoulder, unharmed by its emissions. "I'd call that a fair trade--I think just about anyone would! It's just a matter of having the patience and discipline to do the boring grunt work... And the Codex's conclusion was that the effect of mastery in any one field was enough to create an expert... But unifying all three? The effects are exponentially greater."

Her posture shifted, lowering herself almost as if to pounce, both hands clutching the hilt of her sword. "Let me demonstrate to you, the fruits of my labor."

"Y.." Kinslaughterer begins to spit, gritting his teeth and focusing on his power. "No, I won't let you drive me to foolishness. Just die! Hungering Void Slaughter Arc!"

Blood Qi filled the air, and the bone-scythe lashed out.

"Set: Five-Star Calamity Sword" Scarletglyph muttered, fueling her aura into the weapon--and extending the blade to a length of five hundred miles--enough to scorch the earth if aimed that way. "Novaburst!"

The sword projection met the scythe-projection--and the explosion rocked the front line--the looming Demonic Siege Tower in the distance caught a fragment of the broken sword-projection.

The rest was tearing through the bone-scythe of Kinslaughterer, and gouging a red line from shoulder to hip through his body.

Blood sprayed out, and Kinslaughterer slunk back. Scarletglyph's sword gathering power for a follow-up attack. He glanced up at her, gaze flickering back down to the city below, and with a howl of rage--he vanished into a spatial rift, his aura fading.

Scarletglyph remained in her fighting stance for a moment afterwards, eyes taking in the landscape--a moment later, her Five-Star Calamity Sword shattered to dust, and the symbols upon her skin faded away. She exhaled softly, and tossing the hilt of the ruined blade aside.

"What a bloody monster..." She mumbled. "All that work, all that expense, and the best I could do was a shallow wound." She fixed her dress, and strove to make herself presentable again from her vantage point. "Smile though, smile! As long as everyone thinks I just spanked his ass, that'll buy a few more days. They don't need to know I had maybe thirty seconds of combat time left and only one more Spellsword, nosiree."

Still! Narrow and by the wire as it was, a win was a win!

And the Righteous Path Really did need a few things to start going right now, a glorious victory like this? It'd be just fine.

Still, she wondered what kind of price Kinslaughterer was going to have to pay for attacking on his own like that... It'd be too much to hope for that he'd be executed, but maybe lost a hand? A leg? Given a horrible pain creating curse that drives him insane with rage and hate, a vengeful suicide soldier that could be surrounded and destroyed?

Her lips purse and she looks briefly like she had sucked on a lemon. No, that last one was a bad thing, that had better not happen.

 

[occipitallobe]

Kinslaughterer fled, returning to the lands of the north. He had cities there under his rule, mortals and disciples enough to recover from the paltry wound Scarletglyph had given him and to return in vengeance. He would butcher the Callista girl, and then the whore who had dared stop him. Once he fulfilled his Lord's will, the Altar would turn to him, and he would be the new Altar Lord!

He flew north at speed, and stopped.

Standing in midair, looking completely unconcerned, stood Altar Lord.

He spoke.

"Kinslaughterer. Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"I return to the north. I fought Scarletglyph and was driven back by treachery, my wounds must be healed."

"Oh. I see. Well, that makes this easier."

Altar Lord waved a hand, and his Qi simply froze in his body. No matter. His Soul could propel him, and as he reached for its power, he felt... nothing. Moments later he realised he was falling from the sky like a stone, and would've plummeted to the earth had Altar Lord not caught his robes with one hand.

He could still muster speech, though it was difficult.

"...how?"

"Poison, obviously. I know you're stupid, but I thought even you could've figured that out."

"You... poisoned me? How... I would've... noticed."

Altar Lord shook his head.

"I personally don't feel like gloating is a productive use of my time, but sometimes it is satisfying. Everything has been going wrong, lately, and you are simply one more frustration I need to deal with."

The last words were only emphasised slightly, but enough that the man's anger was palpable.

Kinslaughterer blanched. He was unable to move, and in the other man's possession. Death was quite possible. If he could simply use his soul, activate one of his emergency measure... but it was no use.

"Where were we? Explaining why you were poisoned. I didn't poison you, Kinslaughterer."

Altar Lord's smile turned brilliant, his teeth gleaming in the sunlight.

"I poisoned everybody. Six hundred and fifty years of mild poison into every single mortal across the entire Demonic Altar territory. The Paralysis Bloodflower accumulates ever-so-slightly in the blood of mortals, and in fact is shaken off by cultivators entirely. Unless, of course, they eat the mortals. And then those cultivators are eaten, and so on and so forth until it accumulates in the blood more and more. For it to even be able to take effect, why, you'd need to consume enough mortals to reach Nascent Soul!"

He smiled, and it was nasty this time.

"It's not a very strong poison by itself, but it can be used to activate a rather peculiar effect. The twin flower is the Peacebond Bloodflower, and only when two people are poisoned can it truly take effect. One person is paralysed, but the other is peacebonded, and is unable to attack the paralyzed one for the duration of their paralysis. Of course, since I'm not harming you directly and merely bringing you before the Demonic Altar, the point is moot."

Kinslaughterer saw his fate, now. Altar Lord would bring him into the heart of his power, and then-

"Yes, it's exactly as you're thinking. I'm going to carve your rather agonizing death into a number of spiritual jades and send them off to pacify various allies and enemies of mine. Konstantinos needs one, for the Callista girl. Heavenly Time Shatter will want one - once they find out Wei An is dead they'll almost certainly withdraw from my Alliance if you're still alive, and one for the Wei Princess, just to remind her what I'm willing to do. Come along, now."

They flew further north, and in a matter of hours reached the Demonic Altar.

They landed, Altar Lord carrying him inside the tiny cave, right before the Altar itself.

Kinslaughterer felt the poison loosen, but it did not matter anymore. He was nothing before the Demonic Altar, nothing before the Altar Lord who commanded it.

There was.. a girl there.

He looked at her.

"Great-granddaughter?"

Altar Lord chuckled, ignoring the girl.

"...so."

Altar Lord sighed.

"Explain to me why you thought it a good idea to go kill Wei An and Rina Callista. Small words, if you would."

Kinslaughterer began to speak, and Altar Lord backhanded him casually, cracking teeth and breaking his jaw.

"Never mind. I can figure it out."

He breathed out heavily, and drove an elbow into Kinslaughterer's eye. It popped, the eyeball hanging loose and the bone around it badly cracked.

"Let me explain how frustrated I am. I have pigs for allies, and they give me shit!"

Altar Lord kicked at him, snapping his leg, bone poking out from under the skin.

"Imagine, if you will, you are a divine genius. A one-in-eternity genius, who carves a path towards freedom. Towards overthrowing a tyranny as old as time itself. You carve your way up, and realise that you should leave a path behind you. A way for others to follow, should you fail. But you are weaker than the tyrant, and you raise terrible weapons against him. Terrible, terrifying weapons, things of torture and misery and blood."

Altar Lord grinned more widely, taking on a manic tone. Another kick followed, shattering Kinslaughterer's hand. Bones were ground to powder in an instant, pulped flesh hanging off the end of his arm.

"Imagine that the imbeciles who follow after you worship the weapons. Not the rebellion against eternal tyranny. Not your struggle. The horrifying things that flay skin and flense fat from the still-breathing bodies of the innocent, that you raised up because you had to. Because you had no other choice, because every weapon that could be used must be used, because the line between defeat and victory could not be reached without using every method available. They don't see the struggle, they just worship the things you made."

He raised Kinslaughterer up, gripping his skull in his hand. The eyeball hung loosely, and Altar Lord spoke.

"That is the measure of my frustration. Every single one of you who thinks you are somehow challenging the Heavens by simply consuming mindlessly. As well as think you are rebelling against your master by hunting another mortal peasant down with a spiked whip. The whip is not the point. You worship the tools of the master, and do not see his path. Rina Callista. Wei An. They are tools, Kinslaughterer. More useful ones than you. Less pliant, perhaps, but more useful."

He shook his head.

The girl was weeping in the corner.

With a single motion, he tore the eyeball off from where it hung loosely, and tossed it gently to her.

"Eat, girl."

Horror froze her face, and she quivered.

"You wanted to gain revenge. You wanted to change things, be better than him. So eat. You have one path to power, and if you don't take it, one of the pigs will."

She closed her eyes, and bit down on the eyeball. Power flowed into her, and the little mortal girl stepped into Foundation Establishment.

Altar Lord clawed his hand, and tore the skin off Kinslaughterer's scalp.

"Eat."

She wept, and ate, and wept, and ate. Altar Lord tore her great-grandfather apart, tearing flesh and giving it to her piece by piece, every moment recorded by the jades he carried with him.

Three days later, a new Nascent Soul stepped forth from the Demonic Altar.

 

[occipitallobe]

So we had two new Good Seeds this turn that came on the sheet a bit later!

Here are their Fates.

The Builder
Bonus: Cultivation boost
Fate: The Builder advanced into the 6th Heavenstage, attempting to aid his juniors all the while. Resources that might have brought him further went to them, and only at the end of his first few decades was he sent on a mission of interest. Guarding a mortal village for five years, he spent more time with mortals, aiding them as best he could. There were no major incidents of note or attacks, however.
Impact: 0 (+0)
Cultivation: 6th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 49 (+28)
Health: Healthy

Yang Fangxu
Bonus: LST
Fate: Fangxu was a rather precocious cook - or chef. After gathering a kitchen crew, she cooked for those in the Legion, bringing excellent outcomes. Turning cooking into Contribution Points into more and rarer ingredients for recipes, her virtuous cycle continued for some time. After nearly a decade, she had garnered enough points to purchase the flesh of four beasts - the wing of a Thunder Eagle, the head of a Bitter Sand Snake, a tail from a Three-Tailed Crocodile, and the tongue of a Six-Armed Fury Ape. She worked on an experimental recipe, and succeeded, cooking her Cycle of Four Transformations Soup (+6 Impact). On drinking it, she was able to gain the attributes of the various beasts for temporary periods, taking wing briefly, spitting poison at her enemies, unhinging and expanding her jaw with the bite power of a crocodile, and even the raw punching strength of the Fury Ape. Each partial transformation lasted only five minutes, but the immense increases in strength and speed she was able to put forth made her an equal to many above her... and made her even more terrifying to her subordinates in the kitchens.
Impact: 6 (+6)
Cultivation: 4th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 38 (+17)
Health: Healthy

 

[occipitallobe]

"Lady Yao."

She leered at the young cultivator.

He was in Qi Condensation, but he was big. Not muscular, just... fat. Probably as wide across the shoulders as he was tall, and Zhihao knew how rare that was. Almost nobody was fat once you broke into Foundation Establishment, and wasn't that a shame? She usually settled for muscular and huge as a consolidation prize, but... she licked her lips. He was very fat.

No, no. It wouldn't do to dally with a Qi Condensation junior... is what someone else would've said! Still, he was from the Divine Saber Palace, and she doubted he'd sleep with her anyway. Those Sect disciples were incredibly stuffy, and she wasn't going to force anyone. He didn't look like he was even over one hundred, which was practically cradle-snatching.

"Yes, junior?"

She raised her nose into the air and spoke haughtily, sniffing as she did.

He looked at her, and worriedly began to speak. Before he could, Zhihao broke into laughter.

"Ahahaha! The look on your face! No, tell me what your Elder of Day wants. I might listen."

She knew sending a Qi Condensation cultivator was giving her no face, but she didn't really care. As soon as the Royal Demon Alliance or whatever they called themselves were thrown back, she was sneaking into the Palaces of Night and Day and looting them to the ground.

"W-well... he says we're aiming to make a push with our Saber cultivators and your bandits to the west. Kinslaughterer showed his head, so we should be able to push further up the line and reclaim some land. He wants you to serve as a distraction to lure out Fleshharrower so we can hit him two on one and gain a permanent advantage here."

Zhihao shrugged.

"Sure. He knows the price to have me move?"

"The Grand Elder has prepared the Spirit Stones, yes."

She smiled.

"Well, I agree! Maybe. Let me go talk to someone important so we can settle this."

Within the hour she was speaking to Elder Saber Defeating All Foes Mightily, which was a stupid name.

"That's a stupid name, you know?", she said.

He looked at her, anger crossing his features briefly before he controlled himself.

"I apologise if you dislike it, Lady Yao, but-"

"I don't dislike it, it just sounds stupid. Aren't you embarrassed going around repeating that? I know I would be."

"You don't even bathe!", he snapped at her.

She giggled.

"Yes, but I just smell bad. I don't smell like an idiot with a stuck up-name."

She loved this. The Saber Palace were hardly her favourite people, but being a Nascent Soul was so much fun! Oh, the cultivation was agonizing and the responsibilities were heavy, but at the end of the day antagonizing all the people who used to try and kill her and just watching them stand there and take it was one of the best things she'd ever experienced. She doubted sleeping with the fat Qi Condensation boy would even compare.

He ground his teeth, hands compulsively smoothing his robe as he got himself under control.

"Can we please stay on topic."

She yawned.

"The topic is that your name is stupid. Why don't you change it?"

"Fine! Fine. Call me Li Qiang."

She clapped her hands in delight, and then burped.

"Of course, little Qiang. Now, the payment has been prepared, and all you want is for me to go out and tangle with Fleshharrower for a bit?"

"If he doesn't show up, just kill Demonic forces until he does. Either way, we win. The Elder of Day will serve as your reserve force."

She thought about it. It was unlikely the Saber Palace would betray her Flood Dragon Gang unless they had a very good excuse, and the payment was quite high. Most of the bandits were here, and even if they were betrayed, she was comfortable knowing she could delay Fleshharrower while her gang escaped. They were probably looking to whittle her numbers down a bit for after the war, but loot was loot. With a lot of it, she could find and raise up new noble bandits anyway. Living forever was for fools.

"Fine. Let's go."

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

It was that day they set out. Seventeen Core Formation Flood Dragons, and nearly one hundred times their number in Foundation Establishment. The Qi Condensation juniors were all over, and to be honest, it was rare for those below Foundation Establishment to join the Flood Dragon Gang. Prospectives, sometimes, but righteous bandits needed speed above all things, and Qi Condensation cultivators just didn't have it.

She flew north, travelling over burned villages and blackened land heaped with corpses, keeping below the clouds as she looked for concentrations of Blood Path cultivators.

There!

She saw nearly ten thousand or so in a camp, and flew down. Other Nascents used raw will, but she preferred to transform properly. The snake that was in her eyes rose up in size, from a few inches to nearly a li to ten li. It spat poison down below, giant globs of poison pouring into the camp, searing and burning every human being there.

She flew on, finding another camp. Still no Fleshharrower. Hm.

This time she simply exerted force, striking at the ground below from away, the raw force of her blows smashing the ground and pulping everyone there. It opened up great rents in the earth, throwing trees and rocks and soil hundreds of metres into the air. The second camp almost died, and then-

Another Nascent stood in the air in front of her. She hadn't even felt him arrive, which was either a peculiar Dao-effect or incredibly dangerous.

He spoke.

"Wei Xun of the Heavenly Time Shatter Sect. You are?"

She shrugged.

"This one's name is Yao Zhihao. I am honoured to meet you, nob-"

Halfway through her syllable she launched a kick at him, the leg stretching out and becoming that of a great bear as it slammed into him.

Where he had been wavered, and he reappeared nearby.

"Good. Good. Good!", he exclaimed.

"Forcing me to use spatial arts this early in our contest. It doesn't matter, though. Honestly, I would prefer not to fight you, but you are unlucky today, Yao Zhihao."

"Why is that?", she smirked.

She threw another blow at him, and he barely deflected it. She snorted. He was weak for a Nascent Soul.

A grinding voice came up from below.

"There are two of us, fool girl. I am Fleshharrower, and my name will be made manifest upon your flesh before we are done here. Wei Xun, hold her here a moment. I wish to teach this Righteous maggot a lesson."

She cursed. Two versus one? She really hoped the Saber Palace didn't screw her on this! To the south, she saw her Core Formation elders racing along the ground, butchering Demonic stragglers in their thousands. Fleshharrower turned towards them, raising a sword that had hung idly by his side a moment before. Preparing to kill. There was no way they could escape, no-

The world shuddered.

Discontinuity.

She felt wrong, all twisted and tattered and-

Fleshharrower stood in front of her, the two Nascent Souls facing off against her. To the south, the strewn corpses of the Flood Dragon Gang.

"Time...", she whispered.

Wei Xun smiled.

"A small speciality of my Sect, to remove our enemies and ourselves from the flow of time briefly. I am glad you were able to experience it before you join the remainder of your Gang."

He bowed.

Still no movement from the Seven Divine Saber Sect.

She stretched out her will, trying to feel what was happening.

There!

A movement to the south, a flicker as the Elder of Day leapt into the sky!

...

And fled south, away from the battle.

She looked, despairing. She had expected a minor betrayal, or a little foot-dragging, but this...

She pulled out a talisman. No more words. She shattered it, and disappeared. Space tore as she did, Wei Xun's hands moving to prevent the talisman warping her away. She vomited and bled, space itself ripping at her flesh, but she was not so easily killed. She felt her toes come off one by one as the spatial tunnel narrowed, unable to contort her foot away from the warp in space that was tearing it into pieces.

Coughing blood and savaged, missing teeth and a third of her left foot, Yao Zhihao appeared in the courtyard of the Dawn Fortress, weeping in equal parts rage and sorrow.

 

[occipitallobe]

Manuel looked down on his Council, smiling openly.

Twenty years and they were in possession of much of the desert. Their population swelled, the expeditionary force to the Great Battlefield did well, and while the state of the Righteous Powers was dire to say the least, the Clan had done well. More wealth, more tariffs, more cultivators.

The Council were all bright-eyed and prepared for the years to come. Paperwork piled to the roof on desks, but less than there had been in previous decades. They were in the final stretch for planning. Soon the Trials would come. They had two more decades of pushing themselves to their very limits, and they had become more accustomed to maintain the pace required. Elders were normally primed for this, slowly brought into the inner circles and brought up so they'd find it easier to perform their duties without his input. While the new Council had been brought in quickly, they were reaching that state of true unity, where they could act without asking, simply anticipating one another's needs.

There are basically four main Mechanics in this quest.

(1) Choices. Your Clan Council will ask you to make a call on something. Mostly they won't do this - they're competent enough to handle things on their own, but sometimes they will. You'll see 0-2 of these per turn, on average. They're usually pretty straight-up binary choices.

(2) Focuses. You choose in general what the Clan should focus on for the next 20 years. Building up for war? Training new disciples? Carving more arrays? More trade? Focuses don't prevent you from doing everything else, it's more 'here's the one thing we should really get done'. Focuses are mainly mediated by your personal skill levels and specialities.

(3) Actions. What you, personally, do. Usually mediated by skills, but often by Cultivation level - especially when it comes to combat. You can always Write In Actions. In fact, writing in more complex and well-thought out Actions will positively increase your chances of success.

(4) Purchases. What wealth the Clan has, and what your Council want you to spend it on. They'll usually come to you with the thing they want most. No micromanagement, just 'here is the big-ticket item I want'. These will often (but not always) persist between turns. Wealth is expressed in terms of Years of Income Saved. You can take as many of these as you can pay for! Keep in mind, though, if you spend all your money, you won't have it in future for dire situations.

All voting is Plan Voting. Make a Plan if you want, or just vote on someone else's! You can vote on as many Plans as you like! Approval Voting, baby!

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

There is a 24 hour voting moriatorum! I'll post a threadmark when the vote opens!

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

Manuel had been in the Dawn Fortress for time. Yao Zhihao was ensconced in a room of her own, but he had left her for this. He was surrounded by thousand-year old arrays in a room with more paperwork than space, the sixty-year old tables they'd brought back to the main Council chambers still offering protection against mental effects and poisons. Over the years Destasia had idly carved notes into them, including a small but poignant poem about the romance between Manuel and Altar Lord's three clones. Underneath the desk was erotic fiction about the two of them, but she had at the very least carved it in code.

Deciphering it had been the work of one urgent afternoon where he though they might have an infiltrator she was informing him about, followed by an emotion he had gotten better at identifying as disgusted frustration.

There were many decisions to be made, and few enough years to prepare for the Trials to come. The tables made it a little easier to check his Elders for mental corruption and subtle poisons without potentially activating them, but there had been no attempts in recent years.

Around sat his Councillors, some who were skilled and valuable pieces on the gameboard. Sixty years ago, he merely hoped they'd be able to carry out their duties. Forty years ago, he had been satisfied to call them useful. Twenty years ago they worked together, administration and disciples and intrigue all still finding the perfect way to work with one another, but shared adversity had brought them some comfortable patterns. Now, they were almost a well-oiled machine. He hoped desperately that they all lived through the next few decades.

"Report."

Manuel's voice was quiet, heard only by his Council. As it left his lips, a billowing shape of shadows rose and surrounded them, spinning and expanding as it painted itself onto the walls, seeping into the floor and the ceiling. The same trick as decades before, only now it obscured them from a number of useful tricks, including the ability to peer into the past at their council session.

First was Casia Zimisce, a Great Circle Core Formation cultivator. Rail-thin and severe-faced, she looked as though she had perpetually swallowed a lemon. Her intimidating posture and expression aside, once she spoke one wouldn't pay attention to them, as she set everyone around her at ease. Casia was Stratopedarches, or in more common terms, the Elder of Administration. To her fell the duties of managing mines, herbs, cities, camps - all manner of resources flowed through her hands. In the last twenty years she had spent much time organising the economy of the Clan, preparing for the year of terror to come. She had done an admirable job, and was faced now with a short-term challenge - preparing for the Trials, no matter her other needs.

"Archegetes. In terms of wealth things have gone reasonably well. We have twenty-one million Spirit stavraton saved, though I could easily spend every single one of them. The amount of construction work, road construction, array expenditure, fortifications..."

Her voice trailed off.

"I have begun planning for the Trials. I have requests, but I will raise them a little later."

Currently the Clan has 21 Wealth (+8 from last turn. +15 from income, -1 from inefficiency penalty, -1 from Strength Purity concessions).

Second was Kleisthenes Sarantapechos, a Late Core Formation Elder. Dead Euphrosyne's twin sister, though less talented in cultivation. She cultivated a rare Yang attribute technique, and went by a male name, and wore a male body to aid in her cultivation. For her, if she had not cultivated her Yang technique - she never would have risen into Core Formation. Such a thing was uncommon among your Clan, but not unknown. She is the Hetaireiarches, or in common terms, the Elder of Diplomacy. To her fell the duties of managing external powers and other Nascent Souls. She often complained about her lack of talent, and she and Manuel were reasonable friends. This friendship had suffered with her sister's death, however. Manuel felt that the next trials would prove key. If his strategies were right, if the death of her sister had not been meaningless... perhaps their friendship could flower once more.

"Archegetes. News is dire everywhere. The Great Battlefield has stabilised, at the very least. The Song Empire suffered, but the Fearless Line held, much to my surprise. The lines are more-or-less stable, and troops were raised all across the Verdant South. The Righteous Glory Expedition was raised, and millions of Qi Condensation cultivators, tens of thousands of Foundation Establishment ones, and hundreds of Core Formation elders were sent north, along with a smattering of Nascent Souls. The Saber Palace even sent their only Nascent north to hold the line."

She shook her head ruefully.

"The Great Battlefield was stable for some time, of course. Three years ago, three Nascent Souls from the Devil Bee Sect struck the Saber Palace itself. They ruined the defensive arrays, butchered the disciples there, and even defiled the grounds surrounding the Divine Saber itself. They had some manner of ritual to weaken it, and only the return of the Elder of Day summoning the many Nascent Wills there allowed the Divine Saber to properly hold. For all we hate the Saber Sect, they have suffered greatly. The Elder of Day has been called a traitor for abandoning Yao Zhihao, but... if it were the Dawn Fortress against an ally we could barely tolerate? I can see why the decision was made. The Saber Palace have offered to make reparations once the war is ended, though I expect the exact amount will come down unless Lady Zhihao is able to continue participating to gain leverage in the war. No other Devil Bee raids have occurred, which is curious. Seeing Nascent Souls strike out on their own without support is unusual, and perhaps that is why it succeeded."

She shrugged.

"Strength Purity are offering tremendous concessions to send array masters north. Forgiving our loans in full - all the concessions we made to them wiped out. It would be a risky thing, though, before the trials."

[ ] Send the Clan's best Array-Engineers to the Great Battlefield.

Regain +1 Income per turn as the Strength Purity concessions expire. Suffer worse in the Trials, especially among Qi Condensation.

[ ] Don't

Strength Purity will have to do without you. The Trials matter more than the war in the Plains.

Third was Xie Xinya, a Late Core Formation Elder. She is beautiful, long black hair framing an oval face. Her lips glossy and eyes rouged, she was certainly the cultivator on the Council who cared most about her appearance. Manuel missed Euphrosyne - that old woman had never hesitated to argue with him or call him a fool, and there were precious few who would. But dwelling on his failures won no battles. She is the Parakoimomenos, or in common terms, the Elder of Intrigue. Previously you held her position. Hopefully, Xinya can achieve some fraction of what Nikephoros did. To her falls the duties of espionage, sabotage, and assassination.

"Archegetes. I have gained information of use. In the Verdant South Old Cannibal and his two Devil Twin Concubines have wrought havoc on the Saber Palace, but have most carefully left everyone else alone. Not a single mortal from the other powers died, and I suspect they are using that to sow dissension among the Righteous powers there. The Jingshen have decreased the price on Spirit Stones slightly, though I don't know why. Lastly, the Gao Clan have temporarily withdrawn from the front. I suspect they are wrangling for more benefits, but who can truly say?"

Fourth came Destasia Duca, an Early Core Formation Elder. She is Chartoularios Tou Kanikleiou, or in simpler terms, the Master of Disciples. She picks out good seeds, gives training and assistance, and manages the core of the Clan Contribution Board for Qi Condensation and Foundation Building disciples in times of peace. She is flighty, friendly, and happy, and is well-known for her eyes she can use to befuddle or poison her enemies with, as well as her... unique approach to both life and cultivation.

"Archegetes.", she whispered. "I hope you two find love."

Manuel winced.

"The disciples, Elder Duca?"

"Who?"

"The disciples."

She knocked her head with her fist and made a peculiar expression.

"They're fine. Training them in all sorts of fun desert survival to help with the Trials and my scorpion ranch. Nothing worth mention, nosiree!"

Manuel at least knew about the scorpion ranch. He honestly wished he hadn't read that report.

Lastly was Heraclius Staurakius, a Great Circle Core Formation Elder. He is Protostrator, leader of your armies. One of your precious Core Formation cultivators in the Great Circle, Heraclius has stalled cultivation-wise. He is an exceptional commander, but he is old. At 1000, he will only be capable of command for another 20 years or so - and this due to two Lifespan Treasures. Unless some miracle happens, however, he is the best commander available by a significant margin, and the most experienced, but taking him on as a commander will mean replacing him before too long - discontinuity of command is where the Legions are the weakest. He will command the Legions until the end of the Trials.

Heraclius speaks, a gravelled voice coming from a throat that had been cut more than once.

"Archegetes. I will prepare and be prepared. I have prepared two juniors to take my role, though I will hold off on choosing one until after the Trials. Better to keep the fire in their bellies!"

You clench your jaw, and think.

-----------
Currently the Clan has 21 Wealth.

The Clan will gain 15 Income, and lose 1 to Inefficiency, and 1 to Strength Purity Concessions for a total Income of 13 next turn.
-----------

What should the Clan focus on? (Outside of the war, which is of course your primary focus)

[ ] Building Bridges (Write-in target) - You should make more allies. Choose a target on the map and aim to have their relations with you increased. Give gifts, exchange assistance, aim for strategic marriages.

[ ] Intrigue (Write-in target) - You should learn about another clan entirely. Spend Spirit Stones like water in the plains and find out everything you can. Strengths. Weaknesses, places to strike, rebels, and so on and so forth.

[ ] Raiding (Write-in target) - Better to weaken an enemy. Send teams of cultivators to go raid an enemy for resources and to kill them where possible. Minor conflicts, with minor rewards. At best, you can seize minor territorial gains. This will worsen your relations, of course. Gains widely variable Wealth (0-10, excluding crits). May seize territory and gain Income in extreme cases. Loses Cultivators - around 5,000 Qi Condensation cultivators, 50 Foundation Establishment cultivators, and potentially 1 Core Formation Elder.

[ ] War (Write-in target) - Simply invade. Strike with all your might and seize territory. Kill cultivators. Requires your personal attention to prevent Nascent Souls simply obliterating your forces. Uses your personal Action for the turn. War will open a set of new sub-turns.

[ ] Increasing Wealth - More trade, more mines, more growth. Aim to find more Spirit Stones, tax more from traders, whatever works to increase your Clan Wealth. Increases Wealth by an average of 5.

[ ] Training Soldiers - Raising Disciples to higher Realms is all well and good, but training them to be perfect members of Formations is better. Ensure your Clan is trained and ready for war. Your readiness to go to war will increase significantly, though this fades over time.

[ ] Fortifying (Write-in territory, ally or vassal) - Spend Clan manpower and soldiers to build new fortifications against outside enemies. New Arrays, help train new cultivators in lesser Formations to defend their lands, and so on. Will also strengthen a vassal or ally if chosen, and increase relations with them. Increases defenses in the chosen territory, ally, or vassal.

[ ] Write-in

What will you do? (Note. If Old Cannibal surfaces you will need to abandon your personal Action to go deal with him.)

[ ] Hunt An Enemy (Write-In) - Why not? Hunt down enemies, see if you can kill someone. Usually used against an opposing Nascent Soul. Potentially very dangerous.

[ ] Weaken An Enemy (Write-In Faction) - Choose a faction, and use your Nascent Soul strength to simply sneak in and do damage. A little underhanded and shameful, but what do you care for the views of the Righteous Path? Potentially dangerous.

[ ] Assist A Faction (Write-in Faction) - Use your personal strength to assist an ally of some kind. Potentially dangerous.

[ ] Economic Activity - Carve arrays, scribe useful cultivation techniques onto scrolls, hunt down useful opportunities that might be dangerous to a Core Formation Elder. Make some money for the Clan.

[ ] Lecturing - You can simply lecture your many juniors on cultivation. Spend your time helping them grow, using less resources and ensuring better growth for the Clan.

[ ] Write-in

Purchases:

We have 21 Wealth saved. The Clan cannot go into debt - you can only spend what you have!

Casia Zimisce wants to...

[ ] Lay the Foundations of Recovery (10 Wealth)

"Archegetes, I have designed a number of caches which can easily be accessed by various recovering Legions. Placing them hither and thither will assist in the recovery of our forces once the Trials are over, and even assist during the Trials to some degree."

Kleisthenes Sarantapechos wants to...

[ ] Refound the Flood Dragon Gang (15 Wealth)

"Archegetes, let's siphon off a lot of our wealth and give it to Lady Yao. I know it's expensive, but with sufficient Spirit Stones she could easily refound the Gang, or at least a small part of it. A lot of them would come from people who love the Clan, and I suspect we might be able to lure her in to our orbit much more closely. I suspect she'll do so in the long-term anyway. I know you might not want to do it now, and there's certainly merit to doing it in the future, though it'd cost more simply because once she's recovered and gained some reparations from the Righteous Powers she'll need more money to be impressed."

Xie Xinya wants to...

[ ] Broadcast from the Mortal Artifact Network (6 Wealth)

"Mortals can in theory transmit information from one another if they have Spirit Stones and Arrays capable of doing so. It's normally not worth it at all, but I'm thinking of building a throwaway network for mortals for the Trials. If a few mortal spies can transmit information from occupied cities and the like, we're likely to be able to move our most valuable and talented juniors away from the brunt of the conflict. Mortals are beneath the notice of the invaders, so I think this is likely to work. It'd be an expensive and useless tool otherwise, though."

Destasia Duca wants to...

[ ] Build the Scorpion Cavalry Brigade (8 Wealth)

"Archegetes, I have a lot of scorpions. Now, I've trained them to haul caravans, but they can also haul tail! Or stinger? Haul stinger. Anyway, the point is they're very fast, and while they don't live very long, I could prepare a massive brigade for the Trials. They'd be able to move us around quicker, which would give us better chances to shatter more tokens in the Trials early on. Also, they're very cute."

Heraclius Staurakius wants to...

[ ] Prepare the Ten Million Forts (20 Wealth this turn)

"Archegetes, our fortification plan was incredibly useful against the Cannibals. I've taken a lot away from it. One crucial thing is that many small fortifications can outweigh a single big one unless your enemy outnumbers and outguns you. Being able to force people to find the fortification and crack it for relatively minor reward means many go untouched, a lesson I think that will serve us well in the Trials to come. I don't think we'll truly build ten million, but scattering similar boltholes across the land should do wonders for the survivability of our Qi Condensation juniors. With less time and manpower available it will be costlier to do this, but I truly believe it is worth it."

 

[occipitallobe]

Successful vote

Click to shrink...

Sheng Yu remembered when he had become a Golden Devil.

It was four hundred years ago.

His daughter Xiao had been sick, sicker than she had ever been. Born a weak child with a weak constitution, every illness left her coughing and miserable, and any illness would easily find its way into her body. His city had been plauged, and Xiao had been dying. She had inherited the weakness of her dead mother, who had died of a disease ten years prior. He had gone to doctors, spent Spirit Stones and stavraton like water until he had been as poor as a mere commoner, despite being at the peak of Qi Condensation. The last thing left in their household was the chessboard and pieces her mother and left for Xiao, and he could not bear to sell it.

A friend of his suggested that he try having her infused with the blood of the Golden Devils. The Blood of Bronze gave a mighty constitution, it was said, though it was cursed. Heaven hated it, and would strike down those who bore it.

Yu hadn't cared. So what if Heaven would kill Xiao'er one day? She was dying now, and he had no way to save her.

He went to the local Legate and begged on his knees. The woman had listened to him gently, and had offered the Blood of Bronze, but only if Xiao'er agreed. She had been a girl of fourteen, and so scared. Afraid of dying, but afraid to have the blood of demons in her veins as well.

Yu remembered ruffling her hair.

"There there, Xiao'er. Your father is scared too, but he'll be getting the same blood as well. You'll see how strong and powerful I look once my skin is yellow!"

In front of her he'd had the blood infused into him to ease her fears, and she had taken it thereafter. Yu had not intended to be a Golden Devil, but for saving his daughter he would pay the price a hundred times over.

Her health improved over the coming months, and while she was still a sickly child, she was further from death. She even began down the path of cultivation as he had. They had spent wonderful years together, and she had lived to grow up, Yu doting on her every day. In-between slaying bandits and protecting the city from Spirit Beasts, he would come home whenever he could to drink tea and play chess with his daughter. When she was sixteen, he started losing, and when she was eighteen, he never won again.

Yu had risen into Foundation Establishment the year after she turned eighteen, named a peak expert in Bo Dian City. Xiao had chased after him, her footsteps faster than his own. At twenty-five she had reached the fifth Heavenstage of Qi Condensation, at thirty the eighth, and at thirty-three she stood at the peak of the ninth. She had become a wonderful young woman, and Yu rose slowly through Foundation Establishment, a leisurely path took as he enjoyed his life with his daughter.

He met her first husband, and then her second. Mortal men who both died doing mortal things, flitting by in a decade like mayflies. Good men, but difficult to connect with. When the second husband died, Xiao had become distant, only spending time with her friends and with him. Tea at the end of every week as he teased her about her Centurion, a stern-looking woman who nonetheless had a string of passionate romances with men and women alike. Xiao'er had no interest in her, but it amused him to see her blush as he made up more and more outrageous stories about how they might fall in love - from being dropped into a well together to meeting through scorpion cavalry racing. They still played chess, but his handicap grew greater with each passing decade, and he made a game filching pieces off the board with his immense speed, stealing what he could not take through strategy.

He still lost.

Every year had been a blessing, and he meandered along his path, not seeking greatness, merely to preserve the happiness he had found.

Then came the Trials.

He had been in Bo Dian City when the bells rang.

He had personally shattered two tokens, and fled thereafter into the desert once the city fell. Hunted like a dog, he survived though not gloriously. The loss of three fingers and an ear were painful at first.

Then word came.

Xiao'er had been killed, and the pain of the fingers and ear meant nothing at all.

He felt many things on that day. Guilt, that he had given her the Blood of Bronze, had brought the curse down upon her. Anger in endless amounts. He had wept and screamed and cursed, and at the end of it he felt many emotions fade. The happiness that had shaped his life was gone, and now there was only a cold fury at the order of things, an order that had demanded Xiao'er's death. He couldn't overthrow the Heavens, but previously he had thought such words were merely slogans, now he lived them.

With this sense of utter hatred he faced down the tribulation for Core Formation, rising to be one of the Elders of the Optimatoi. He strode into Mid Core Formation, a peak expert among peak experts.

It was all this that had led him to today. A group of scorpion cavalry - invented by the madwoman who had somehow risen to the position of a great teacher - to strike at the Jingshen borders. The same dogshit Righteous Path that bowed and scraped to the Heavens, that accepted that Xiao'er's death was somehow good and right.

He would teach them otherwise.

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

When the Old Man had come to him, he had expected some glorious mission.

He had to admit, what he was doing was daring, but glorious? Perhaps not. He had put on the bandit's insignia, and had led his Legion to the... scorpion cavalry.

Insanity.

Within a few months they were drilled and prepared, and dressed in the strange robes. From there, they swept into Jingshen lands.

Firstly was the Yangshen Fort. The Spirit Cannon there was down for maintenance and Yu took his men, cracked an array on the wall, and shattered the cannon with his bare hands.

From there they moved towards Haoshen Fort, fortified well with strong cultivators behind it. Yet spies had been left, and the gate was opened. The cannons were in good order, and yet were not fired at all. The deep infiltration of the fort had led the commander to indolence, and the spies they had left behind managed to disable the cannon arrays temporarily. The cultivators who expected the cannons to butcher his Legions were disabled in turn, their walls brought down and their valuable cannons destroyed.

Wangshen Fort was the third Fort, and it was even easier to break. The commander there had left on discovering the fall of the Haoshen Fort, presumably to warn the Nascent Souls of what was happening. So much the better, thought Yu. The Great Spirit Cannon could not be taken, but it could be destroyed. It was the work of nearly a day for his Legion to ruin the massive cannon beyond hope of repair, and he burnt several powerful talismans the Grand Elder had given him to do it.

Striking deep into Jingshen lands, three forts had been levelled, and a great victory had been won.

With the destruction of Wangshen Fort, the cavalry turned for home, though at a great angle. One of the two Great Drills that the Jingshen protected with the fort was vulnerable, the other having been sabotaged.

Sheng Yu smiled, and shook the reigns, the scorpion speeding up. The skittering creatures moved at immense speed, and within the space of a few days reached the Great Drill. This was, perhaps, a little outside the scope of his mission, but the Old Man had told him to use his judgement. His judgement was that if they could shatter the Drill, it would be worth the death of his entire Legion. He doubted it would come to that, but the Jingshen deserved to suffer a little. Let the hypocrisy that spewed from their mouths be silenced, and if they complained to Heaven... well, so much the better. Yu had no intention of letting the Heavens off.

Sheng Yu rubbed his hands together, jumped off, and simply ran into the mine. The map of the mine had been seized from Haoshen Fort, and Sheng Yu was a powerful man. Despite the presence of two Core Formation elders defending the mine, he slipped by them, moving towards the drill itself. Reaching the bottom of the mine in mere minutes, he raised a hand, infusing his Qi into a talisman the Old Man had given him. True Dao expressions were the province of Nascent Souls and the peculiar Foundation Pillar Kings, but he could at least invoke this. He spoke, just as he had been told.

"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 Talisman!"

The talisman flared with light for a moment, and then was consumed by a piece of darkness far deeper than the mere darkness inside the cave. A piece of utter darkness that no sense could penetrate burnt around it, and reformed itself. It became a slice of pure darkness that slid through the drill, light around it becoming void. It touched the drill and shattered it in two. Around it rocks crumbled, the drill turned blood-red, and the ground itself felt empty, like it was death itself. Mushrooms shrivelled up and died, and the squeaking of bats died as they simply gasped their last breath. Their blood turned to poison and dripped on the ground, all the creatures in the cave stinking like the promise of decay and misery.

Even as other Core Formation enemies moved towards him he was gone, the talisman he had invoked distracting them as he slipped away. He jumped onto his scorpion, and the entire Legion of scorpion cavalry turned and ran for home. Racing along the desert, they were gone in a flash. As they reached the border of the Golden Devil lands once more, he felt a domineering presence arise.

There, in the sky, stood an old man, furious. Old Jingshen was short and knobbly, skinny and pasty, but the look of a Nascent Soul had never truly mattered.

"Good! Good! Good!", he shouted.

"You Golden Devils think you can simply ravage my lands like the Demonic filth you are? You have another thing coming, you dogshit trash! This old man will teach you all a lesson."

He brought his will down, raw power searing towards them. Sheng Yu winced, and held his head high. Better to die like a man.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, another old man arose, blocking the blow entirely.

"Konstantinos!", Old Jingshen spat.

"Yes, it's me.", said the other old man agreeably. Bronze-skinned and robed, he had a cleaver on his waist and carried a dagger in his hands nonchalantly, having raised it to deflect the blow slightly.

"Is this war? Are you coming into my lands to fight me? Know that-"

Manuel chuckled.

"Calm down, my friend. This is merely some hotblooded Flood Dragon Gang bandits merely overacting. The loss of all their brothers recently has made them mad with grief."

Jingshen looked as though he were about to spit blood.

"Flood Dragons? Every one of them has your bronze skin, your devil eyes! Do you think I am a fool?"

Manuel smiled.

"Of course not, my esteemed friend. But look more closely. Can you see the insignia of the Flood Dragon Gang on their robes? We Golden Devils make no demands on our Clan. If some hotblooded young men wish to join the Flood Dragon Gang, who am I to prevent them?"

Yu breathed out, ever so quietly. Honestly, robes over Legion-standard armour, bandit insignia pinned onto ten thousand raiders bearing the Blood of Bronze... there was no way the other Nascent Soul would believe it.

Old Jingshen's face went red with fury at the blatant lie.

"So if they are only Flood Dragon trash, why protect them?"

Manuel shrugged.

"Lady Yao has been distraught since the loss of her juniors. She asked me to safeguard them, as she has so few juniors left."

Old Jingshen growled.

"So you are preventing me killing bandits in my own land? Very good! Why don't I just-"

Manuel interrupted.

"Invite out your daughter? Please do, I have missed little Jiao since our last encounter. I am... most eager to continue her education. After all, she's simply hiding to the northwest, waiting for your signal, isn't she?"

Yu hugged his scorpion a little closer, urging it onwards. Two Nascent Souls? One had been hiding the entire time? Oh, death was coming for him in just a moment. He thought of Xiao'er. His daughter would be proud, he thought. What finer way to die than spitting in the eye of the dogs who served the same Heaven who had killed her?

The scorpions of his Legion continued to move, coming closer and closer to the lands of the Clan.

Jingshen smiled.

"So you know? What does it matter. If I bring both of us out-"

Manuel swept in even closer, raising his cleaver.

"Do you think I'm afraid of you? Bring out your daughter and fight me together if you want. If you want a war, then I'll bring you one. If you think you can beat me, two against one, then come. I remember when Sun Diaxing beat you into a pulp, Junjie. Do you remember what happened to Sun Diaxing?"

Manuel tossed his dagger from hand to hand, waiting.

"I will want reparations for this."

Manuel grinned.

"Of course! I guarantee all your losses will be made whole. As much as I wish to protect these young Flood Dragons, I could not in good faith let them damage you and have you suffer."

Old Jingshen's lips pursed, and he relaxed a little.

"So, less tariffs along the Scorpion Road? Spirit stones? What do you propose?"

Manuel's grin grew wider.

"Of course not! For the Clan to pay compensation would be most inappropriate. No, as you mentioned we are merely Demonic filth, and such an agreement would merely be insulting you. I spoke to Lady Yao, and she has promised to make good any losses from the compensation the Seven Divine Saber Sect pay to her. Given your Righteous Path owes her such a sum, there is no way they would ever default."

"You expect me to wait decades or centuries to be repaid?!"

Manuel shook his head.

"You have to understand, this is the most I could do. Yao'er truly wanted to wreck all your mines and even kill both of you to gain vengeance. She was most intent on destroying your Righteous Path's source of Spirit Stones to make the Saber Palace pay for their... indiscretions. I was with much begging able to talk her down to this. She said, and I apologise for the phrasing, you could either 'That old man can fuck off or fight. If he wants to make my juniors suffer than as many clansmen as he has, I'll kill.'"

Manuel's grin grew ever-wider.

Old Jingshen shook with rage.

"Do you truly expect me to-"

Manuel's grin faded, and he spoke over Old Jingshen.

"Let me explain something. My Golden Devil Clan is not easily bullied, and neither are our allies. If your Righteous Path thinks they can simply slaughter the noble Flood Dragons and leave unmolested, they are truly fools. You think your Righteous Path can slap us, but we can't slap you? Do you think we will simply sit down and take every kick like an obedient dog? I came here to tell you that there will be a substantial increase in the tariffs until the Seven Divine Saber Sect has repaid their debt, as interest on your Righteous Path misbehaviour. I of course know they will happily repay you, so do not consider this as us bullying you. We are merely transferring a debt owed, that you might collect on it at your leisure. If you dislike it, please, complain to the Saber Palace."

"What has that got to do with us? We were not the ones to betr- to fail to protect the Flood Dragons! You think just referring this to the Saber Palace means you are not slapping my face, Konstantinos? Perhaps I should bring my daughter out!"

Manuel shrugged.

"If you don't like it, you can always leave the Righteous Path. Of course, then such a debt could not be transferred, and we could simply fight about it. I won't stop you. We can see who would win, Clan facing Clan, just like Alexios wanted."

Old Jingshen trembled and looked down at the scenery. Ruined forts, a cracked cannon, and a shattered drill in a worthless mine.

"You will pay for this, Konstantinos."

Manuel smiled, and tossed his dagger lightly into his other hand.

"If you feel your neck has gotten tired, Junjie, come see me at any time. I'll lighten it by a head."

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

As the last of the scorpion raiders filtered into Clan territory, Manuel slowly retreated, overseeing them. He wouldn't put it past Old Jingshen to try something, but the man was inherently a coward. Old Cannibal had taken his arm three centuries ago, and he feared battle that wasn't overwhelmingly in his favour. Normally such a gambit wouldn't have worked, but he had good reasons to inflict what he had, and it was within allowable limits. Oh, it'd hurt the Righteous Path, but only an idiot would support the Righteous Path unconditionally even as they slaughtered his allies. Without methods for punishing betrayal, no alliance could truly hold.

So it would be accepted as an allowable retaliation. After all, this was no time for brinkmanship. If the Righteous Path chose to push further, they might see the flow of Spirit Stones cut off entirely, and that could well be fatal to the War.

A few hours later, the raiders had split up, removing their Flood Dragon insignia as soon as they were over the border. Normally he wouldn't inflict such a slap in the face, but the slap in the face was the point here.

Manuel let out a sigh.

He really didn't know what he would've done if Old Jingshen had chosen to fight.

Fled, probably.

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

10 Wealth gained.

1,500 Qi Condensation cultivators and 12 Foundation Establishment raiders dead.

 

[occipitallobe]

So, there's no Missions this turn.

There's just the Trials.

Good Seeds all get an exciting Fate roll - it's a normal Fate roll, but your chances of wounding, crippling, and death are much higher. In short, expect worse outcomes from your regular Fate roll.

Still good stuff to be had on the top end, of course.

However, for characters who want to take huge risks for no personal rewards you can still enjoy that Helping the Clan feel by...

Saving Juniors.

Instead of merely saving your own life, you work to assist the Clan, saving lives, sending more Fifth Sea cultivators back to their Sea, taking risks to help Clan members, taking fights instead of running, etc, etc.

In-game this manifests as an extra bonus roll - each Good Seed that chooses Saving Juniors gets a bonus roll.

These bonus rolls become a boost to Clan rolls when it comes to each cohort of the Clan. So Qi Condensation cultivators can only save Qi Condensation and so forth. The stronger you are relative to your Realm the better the boost - if you're a new Good Seed at the 1st Heavenstage doing this you can't help much.

If you're at the peak of Qi Condensation you can possibly save hundreds of juniors (with good enough rolls). If you're at the peak of Foundation Establishment you can save thousands - or tens of thousands if you roll absurdly well!

Personally, it manifests as worse outcomes for your Fate roll - even worse than the current bad setup! More likely to be wounded, crippled, or slain. The top end of rolls still offer cool stuff, but the bottom end of rolls are... expanded.

Not advised for those without Lifesaving Treasures.

To opt-in, put 'Saving Juniors' in the Turn Notes section of the spreadsheet.

 

[occipitallobe]

Manuel had been plagued by thoughts of how to spend his precious free time. Patrolling the Jingshen border had potential, but in the end he'd simply infused his Dao into a few tablets and had a few Foundation Establishment lads carry them up and down around the border. The sort of irritating little things that grated at one's Dao-sense, and were clearly and obviously tricks to prevent you from striking back. Of course, that was exactly the kind of trick he was known for using to disguise the fact he was lying in wait, so it as always became a contest between Old Jingshen's cowardice and his need to retaliate.

The other man likely was simply waiting to be able push one of his juniors into Nascent Soul, on which he'd come over the border no matter the justification he had at hand. Striking back and potentially losing now, or winning with certainty later? Even Manuel would've taken the latter. Biting into the Jingshen margin didn't revoke their advantage, slowing down a victory was no victory at all. The third Jingshen Nascent Soul had been something to fear before Old Cannibal had been driven out, now it was a thing that kept him perpetually on edge.

In the end, he had yielded to Destasia's exhortation to 'come see the fine disciples she was raising'.

He had been worried.

Desperately so, in fact. He had been certain he was going to see young Golden Devils with scorpion pincers replacing their hands, three or four disciples stitched together to maximise Qi, and probably a cohort of bat cavalry somewhere, despite the fact he had declined funding for bat cavalry no less than eight times over the last forty years.

Instead, when he returned to the new cohort of Aspirants at the Dawn Fortress, he found a number of young men and women he could be proud of. Worried, admittedly, but proud of taking the first step away from mortality. The first step to challenging the fate that bound them all to ruin and despair.

He smiled, and spoke.

"A fine crop of Aspirants this year. Elder Duca tells me you are some of the finest she has seen in years."

No need to let them know Destasia said that every year as a reason why she should be granted more funding for her nonsensical Legionnaire Catapult idea. Rapid deployment had its limits, after all.

It had been a very long time since he had lectured to juniors.

Still, he played the initial part. Standing imposingly in the sky, rocketing off after a few words had been said. Engraving the heights of cultivation in the eyes of the latest Aspirants, so they might one day surpass him.

As was tradition, he left tickets for a lecture that could be purchased on the Contribution Board - for the hardest-working Aspirants. A simple use of his spiritual sense to scout out the meridians of the new Aspirants, giving them assistance in cycling Qi and racing through Qi Condensation a little faster.

This year, though, he would be focusing on others.

Kinslaughterer had taught him a valuable lesson. He could not expect his juniors to simply be avoided as was tradition. With the birth of a new era and new talents rising, he had offered three new lectures to some of the greatest talents in the Clan. From Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment, those who entered his lecture had paid dearly in Contribution Points proportional to their levels, and for those who wished to enter without having shown great accomplishments already, a simple test was posed.

The Skin-Scouring Searing Fire Ants were a series of ants who simply caused pain. No more, no less. The mortals who were bitten by them tended to tear the skin and flesh off entirely, such was the pain. A plague, they were hunted down wherever they were found, though exceedingly carefully. The mission to retrieve a hundred thousand of them had been very well remunerated.

Anybody who wished to enter his series of lectures was forced to endure twelve hours in a pit of them.

In former years he might have sought to raise up every talent a little, to give all a boost across the board and see what came of it. Now, though, with the Trials coming, he felt it was better to raise the talents of the greatest.

In the end he gathered a group of eleven hundred. One thousand and forty seven in Qi Condensation, and fifty-three in Foundation Establishment.

There were tremendous talents there, and even among the untalented there were great wills.

He had gathered them before the Dawn Fortress, and spoke, sitting cross-legged in the air above them. A little ostentatious, but it ensured their attention. Besides, being lectured by a Nascent Soul... you expected to see the powers of the old monsters you only really knew about by hearsay. It would serve as a small treat to preface the misery to come.

"In a little over a decade, the Trials put before us will arrive. I do not doubt that one in five of you who stand here today will be dead after them, for all your talent. You are ill-prepared, though better prepared than we were a century ago."

He inclined his head.

"You will have heard tales. A few of you will have lived through those times. The Clan suffered, and then came the good times. Conquest and growth, new mines and new talents rising up. New relationships with the Righteous Path. Some of you have even travelled into the Great Battlefield, and not been killed on sight for the colour of your skin and hair. The Optimatoi suffered greatly that you could rise."

He alighted on the ground gently, and smiled. He had spent years working on this particular smile. It was cherubic and gentle, the sort of smile that told the onlooker all things would be all right, and they would be cared for, safe.

"Now you will suffer so that the Clan may rise."

There were three lectures, each designed to push the young cultivators to their limits.

The first began immediately.

"Body, soul, and Dao. The true trinity of things, connected by Qi. These are tiresome truths you should know already, but I lecture on them merely to frame what is to come. How are the three interlinked? Nobody I have ever met knows the full truth of things, but an old man's ramblings might shed a little light."

"Qi is of course the fundamental building block of the universe, as we all know. Heavenly tribulation is opposed by Qi, bodies are strengthened by it, souls are enhanced, Dao-arts are made possible. Qi is the energy of all things, and the motive force that drives reality. It is formless until given form, shapeless until carved into shape. Without it nothing is possible, but with Qi alone nothing can be done."

He took a breath.

"Firstly we come to the truth of the Body. The Body is the physical, the thing formed and shaped by the Law."

He felt a vague displeasure in the skies above him. His understanding of the Laws of Heaven and Earth was miniscule at best, and even cloaked as he was... No, better not to reveal more secrets.

"Each of your bodies obeys gravity, for the most part. It falls to the ground when lifted in the air. It is constantly pulled down by gravity, and obeys many other laws. You cannot simply will your body to move."

As if to refute his own words, Manuel rose up in the air again.

"There is a reason cultivation is the path that it is. First the body, then building the Dao, then forming the Dao, then discarding the Dao and then comes the soul. Other paths may differ, but no path I have ever heard of ignores that the body must come first. The ability of the body to channel and use Qi is the heart of all things. If you do not expel impurities, your meridians and dantian are full of muck and are useless. If you do not cleanse your acupoints, you cannot bear a thousandth of the Qi you will need to advance into Foundation Establishment. If you do not open your meridians in truth, you will never amount to much. Aligning the body with Qi is the first task of any cultivator."

He descended to the ground.

"I cannot solve all your problems, nor do I intend to. Still, one of the greatest problems of any cultivator is exploring where the true limits of your body lie. The hairsbreadth between where you exert the maximum power and your meridians burst, leaving you crippled and mortal. For most, they simply excavate nine-tenths of their power, and eventually another nine-tenths of what remains. Today, we will be reaching your absolute limit. It will be a small increase in power, but a real one."

This was difficult. He split his focus, feeling the Qi flood across the world. Even a Core Formation elder could not do this, except for someone in the lowest reaches of Qi Condensation. Most Nascent Souls couldn't either, but this particular exercise had been a speciality of his. When you were as weak as he had been, finding even another one percent of power had meant a lot.

"Circulate your Qi. Slowly increasing from your normal amount, you are to fill your dantian to bursting, channel as much as you can through your meridians. Continue increasing the amount. You will feel pain, you will feel as though you are about to shatter and die. If you stop before I stop you, you will be dismissed from the lecture and may not return."

It began. Slowly they increased their Qi circulation, Manuel feeling out each one. After a time, he stopped some of the Qi Condensation juniors, and after some more time several of the Foundation experts.

"Again. Once I stop you, begin again, but closer to the limit I stopped you at. If you stop before I stop you, will be dismissed from the lecture and may not return."

By the end of six hours the juniors were in agony, the constant maximum flow of Qi through their meridians enough to leave them in constant pain, but undamaged. It would not serve to widen their meridians or increase their power, but finding that little extra flow of Qi, the pain that could be safely endured without crippling oneself was an incredibly dangerous endeavour - but worthwhile. They would forevermore retain that sense, another tenth of a percent in power over the long-term compared to other experts of the same cultivation. More importantly, it was an edge that could not be sensed or known - the disciples would feel like ordinary cultivators of the same realm, but be just a little stronger. A tiny edge was not much, but a tiny secret edge could be quite worthwhile.

Three hundred had washed out, leaving him with eight hundred or so.

The next day he lectured again.

"The next lecture is simpler. The Soul is the thing that understands and comprehends, the thing that understands the Dao and pursues truth. It does not obey physical laws for the most part, and once coupled with sufficient understanding of the Dao and Qi can exert its will on the world. The thing we tend to think of as the Soul, though is the connection between Soul and Body. If broken, the body is killed and the Soul goes elsewhere, though I cannot say where. This is the truth of the Nascent Will. It snaps the connection between Soul and Body, leaning on the understanding a Nascent Soul has of that same connection."

He looked down at those who remained.

"For our second lecture, I will be strumming on that connection, as though a string on a lyre. Your job is to try and replicate that feeling after I do so. It will be unpleasant and dizzying. For those with the patience, even a Qi Condensation disciple can develop that feeling into an effective suicide art to prevent interrogation. I will disrupt the connection between soul and body three times over three weeks. At the end of the month, if you cannot replicate the feeling, my experience has taught me you are unlikely to do so. If you can succeed, we will proceed to the final lesson."

This was simpler. Unpleasant for all involved - the searing pain of removing soul from body was the entirety of Nascent Soul cultivation, and even the tiniest sliver of that tended to leave lower realm cultivators vomiting and dizzy for days afterwards.

Three times he came, and on the third week he left for a week, meditating and hoping many of the disciples could master it.

In the end, he was pleasantly surprised. Two hundred and thirteen remained, a number far larger than he had hoped for.

The third lecture was shorter.

"You now know how to manipulate the connection between your soul and body the tiniest amount. For those who have stepped through the 12th Heavenstage, your connection is many times stronger, a pure link between soul and body. This is why you mastered this art in hours instead of weeks. Some of you may have come to it on your own."

"Now we come to the simplest truth. You who remain are among our greatest talents, and recent events have shown me that you are not immune to the assault of a Nascent Soul. While you cannot hope to survive a serious attack without protection, you might preserve your life for a few key seconds, or perhaps resist a mass-scale attack on an army. To assist you with this, I will be bringing your soul-connections to the breaking point. This will challenge not only your manipulation of your soul as previously taught, but also your will. Without sufficient will to persist, your connection between body and soul will shatter, and you will die. I cannot teach you to resist such attacks without truly threatening you with death. My blows will be at the absolute limit of what you can endure, and if you are not confident in the strength of your will, simply leave. I will not hold it against you."

A hundred and fifty stayed, then.

Manuel launched an assault on them all, feeling his will coil around the tenuous links they had between Soul and Body, and clenched, bringing them all to the brink of death. To endure a tenth of the pain a Nascent Soul endured every day. He knew rising into Nascent Soul had been, in retrospect, the last truly enjoyable day of his life. Core Formation offered certainty and a path to follow. A Nascent Soul traded an absolute sense of purpose for relentless uncertainty and ceaseless pain. If it were not for the power, no fool would ever choose to advance.

They all collapsed, vomiting and screaming, one clawing at his eyes, others catatonic.

"I will return in three months. Those who truly wish to follow down this path, come see me then."

Sixty-four remained in the end. A good number, higher than he had hoped for.

Manuel strode out in front of them.

"Final chance to leave."

None of them spoke, and he exerted his will once more.

It would be worse, this time.

Much worse. The pain would be indescribable, and he suspected one or two would be driven mad by this. A few would live only to revenge themselves upon him, and would need to be put down. The first one died - a Foundation Establishment lad, his body going limp as the connection with his Soul shattered. Having your skin peeled off with a knife would be a mere pleasant tickle compared to this. He had been tortured when captured once in Qi Condensation, a sadistic Blood Path expert drawing out a nerve from under the skin and using needles and flensing knives to cut at it, and that pain paled compared to what his juniors would be feeling now.

The torture continued for three hours. Holding them on the edge of death, only their indomitable will able to prevent the dissolution of their self. The connection so tenuous they would not be able to see through their own eyes, hear with their ears, kept in a bubble of complete darkness and sensory isolation except for the relentless stabbing, carving, burning pain.

Four died, in the end. Two driven mad entirely. One spoke only of himself in the third person, unable to associate his body with his person any more. One had flung himself at Manuel, trying to kill him again and again until he had been sedated. Hopefully he would recover.

The remainder stood uneasily after a few days, waking up one by one. Some of them patted the bodies down in relief, others looked confused and dismayed, unable to properly command their legs and arms for hours or even days.

He spoke to them, as they looked on him with terror and hatred in equal parts.

"This will assist you in resisting soul attacks in future."

It would be more than that. Strengthening that connecting would make it easier for them to rise into the 12th Heavenstage, and for those who had advanced beyond it, the souls arts they could use would be strengthened as well. Another permanent boost, though one that came at a true cost. Normally he would not winnow the disciples like this, but something... something said that in coming years it would be needed.

He smiled.

"You have experienced the tiniest sliver of Nascent Soul cultivation. If you truly seek to climb the heights to immortality, this is the price you must pay."

With that, he flew off to seclude himself. To cultivate. He loathed it as much as ever, but duty demanded what it demanded. He etched a few images and names in his mind before he began, seeking to ensure he remembered every young cultivator who had endured all of his lectures. No Nascent Souls had risen after him, but if one of them were to arise from the cohort he had tempered, perhaps it would be worth doing again in future.

Despite the cost.