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

[occipitallobe]

Sheng Yu had lived through a shocking fifteen years.

Firstly, Heraclius had recommended him as Elder of War.

Him!

The raider!

It didn't make a lot of sense, but Manuel Konstantinos had come to him and spoken.

"Sheng Yu, did you know why I agreed with Heraclius's request?"

He had mutely shook his head. He wasn't terrified of Old Gold, but this was desperately unexpected.

"We have enough foundation in defensive warfare. But a mere century ago our backs were against the wall and our deaths near-certain. We can no longer solely rely on defense, and I do not intend to. There is much to be done, and I require someone with a less traditional mind to carry out my plans."

Sheng Yu raised an eyebrow at that.

Manuel chuckled.

"I know, I know. This is not how we have done things. But we have made no pacts with the Righteous Path, and yet here we are. I have charted a different course than those who came before me out of desperation, but I think it has yielded benefits. You are part of that. Young enough to grow into your role, but with enough achievements that your appointment will not be openly opposed."

Sheng Yu shook his head.

"Many Legates will oppose this. I am not the most experienced-"

Manuel cut him off.

"You are the most experienced on the attack. As for the rest, I have given you authority. Cajole Legates if you can, but do not forget that the authority comes with my backing. Now..."

The old man smiled cruelly.

"Draw up plans for an invasion."

"Of who?"

The smile grew crueller.

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

Sheng Yu looked down at the Centurion.

He raised an eyebrow. Arched it, really. It was all in the centre of the eyebrow, the movement.

"I don't care if Legate Thanatos doesn't want to see me. I am presently deciding on the distribution of Glass Spear Tokens for deployment for the coming decade. If he does not want to see me, I can only presume he doesn't want the tokens."

The Centurion nodded and carried his message away.

Thanatos came.

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

He was growing used to this. He had largely left defensive command to each Legate, working with them to build inter-Legion communications up so they could co-ordinate with one another better. He was not the man to command a defensive war right now, and so he left that planning to others, reading proposals and learning, spending time understanding the mindsets of his Legates.

It had been nearly fifteen years in the role, but he was beginning to grasp the magnitude of the task in front of him.

Preparing an invasion was no easy feat. In truth, any 'invasion' would be an attempt to subvert enemy hardpoints and seize them before forcing that same enemy on the offensive to capture said important points. This would work to a degree in the mountains and desert, though obviously would fail over the mountains.

His Jingshen invasion plans had a first draft nearly finished, and the Devil Bee invasion plans had been thrown out several times. They didn't know enough, though Xie Xinya had promised him more intelligence. Since the Great Devilish Strike in the South six months ago it was hard to get anything concrete. He still couldn't believe the Chuan Clan hadn't seen it coming. Old Fish had been known for his slipperiness, but still...

No, better to wait. The briefing was coming up, and apparently everyone was coming. Manuel had an announcement which was rare for the old man.

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

They were all sitting there, except for Manuel and Kleisthenes.

Manuel strode in first.

He stared at them all for a moment. Sheng Yu hated the old man's stare. It felt like ants were running up and down his spine, beetles in his brain ferrying away his most precious secrets. The fact that this was more than likely actually happening to his most personal secrets didn't make it any better.

"I'm not prying, Sheng Yu."

He started and jerked his head, looking at Manuel.

"How-"

Manuel chuckled, in a rare good mood.

"Everyone thinks the same thing. Don't worry, I only look into your secrets when you're sleeping and I sneak into your room at night."

Sheng Yu resolved to not sleep for a few nights. At Core Formation it could easily be handled.

"Don't be childish, Yu. Better to sleep now in case something comes up."

He cursed under his breath. There was no way the old man wasn't reading his mind.

"No, I'm not reading your mind. But you see the same reaction a few thousand times, and... well. Human beings are remarkably predictable in the long run."

Manuel rubbed his hands together as Xie Xinya started to speak.

"Wait, Xinya. I have something to announce."

From outside, a cloak fell. A veil that had been before their eyes had been lifted, and Kleisthenes walked into the room like a font of power. It was... overwhelming. The old man never felt like that, he was restrained. Hidden. This... pulsed, demanding heir attention and filling their vision, overwhelming every way to sense Qi they possessed.

Manuel spoke, voice smug.

"I would like to introduce the Clan's new Second Elder, the second Nascent Soul in two hundred years. Kleisthenes Sarantapechos!"

Sheng Yu cursed - out loud, this time.

All his invasion plans would need to be redone.

 

[occipitallobe]

Gengxin scowled.

Mistress of the Seven Poisons, they called her.

Before the old bastard had come, they'd named her the Witch of Decay and it had been only a matter of time until the Devil Bees fell entirely into her hands.

Now, she was little better than a servant. Not even a concubine! Not that she hadn't offered, but the old bastard had just chuckled and told her to find someone else to kill. Xinyue had just laughed at her, as though she wouldn't have tried!

No, no. She calmed herself. Xinyue wouldn't have tried. She never saw the benefit of trying every possible end, even if it was likely to fail. Xinyue had been the sort of creature who commanded a legion of Devil Bees in her own right, using her pets to consume more and more of her rivals, rising rapidly through Core Formation and from there into Nascent Soul. A talent, a genius, a piece-of-shit whore she was going to kill one day.

Gengxin on the other hand had clawed her way up. She'd killed and fucked and fought, and done the most useful in each situation. Pleasure a man - or a woman, as distasteful as the thought had been a the time - for favor? She could always repay the humiliation once she stood above them, and she had done so. Thirty-two lovers, each dead now. Nobody who had thought to step on her still lived, each of them suffering a slow and gradual death, a cruel decline into nothingness. That was the price of seeing her weak, of exploiting her weakness.

It had not made her popular, of course, but who needed popularity when one could dose their subordinates with poisons and ply them with antidotes for loyalty? Only an idiot like Sun Diaxing trusted others. She relied on more certain means.

Now she feared, though. She had not truly feared Xinyue. The other woman was mighty and proud, but lacked her sense of subtlety, always feared her. After Xinyue had sent nearly a quarter of a million Devil Bees at her and seen them fall in a cloud of poison, there had been a peace between them. Xinyue sought allies, slowly encroaching on Gengxin's territory, subverting her people and stealing her bee-mounts. Gengxin poisoned Xinyue's people, ensuring they served her or died. She had controlled less territory, but more Core Formation underlings.

She had a plan, too. Poisons placed here and there, in a great array ready to face Xinyue with. It would have poisoned the other woman permanently, weakening her badly unless she found the antidote. Decades of planning gone, and Sun Diaxing came in, striding in like he hadn't just lost an entire Sect to the other old bastard across the mountains. She didn't know what he found so frightening about Konstantinos. Some old man who had a cleaver and a dagger and couldn't fight for shit? Even Gengxin would be able to kill him, to say nothing of the three of them together.

Still, she'd better focus on the present. She was sure Old Cannibal was going to kill her one day, but he wasn't going to kill her until she stopped being useful, and this... this would be useful.

"Five Soul Transformation Poison."

A vial of glimmering green at first, shifting to red, then blue, then yellow, and finally white. It shifted back to green, continuing the cycle.

She grinned. This was a masterwork. With this, surely she would gain an advantage over Xinyue. Then she'd step into Mid Nascent Soul, and then...

Well. Both of them had seen her weak, humiliated. She couldn't have that.

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

Sun Diaxing sighed.

The two girls were unruly, the Devil Bees as bad as his own Cannibals had been, except that they could more easily fly off and hide to disobey orders.

Not that he needed more than a few. He had gathered a small group of mortals, and raised them in the last years. Given them the truth of the world, that there was only competition and consumption. That only bonds between those who consumed could truly oppose the cattle who brayed so loudly when they were slaughtered, else they would end up devouring themselves as well as others.

Perhaps one in ten would truly understand the lesson, but it was a difficult one to teach.

Bringing them all to Foundation Establishment had been the matter of simply killing a few Core Formation elders of each of the girls' side to bring them into line, and to raise a small cadre loyal to him.

Now, he brought them with him, flying behind on their Devil Bees, creatures under Xinyue's command. She was quite aware he would look dimly on the death of his new disciples.

Chuan Clan.

They had raided all around it to make it obvious the blow would fall there. They flew in confidently, openly, high above the cities and under the clouds, seeking to show that they had come to kill.

Why?

If the Verdant South united against them, he was confident in their escape. And that would tell them something incredibly valuable. But if they did not, this simple impudent tactic would go unexpected.

He smiled thinly.

Enemies who could not read your very heart were so much easier to deal with.

He still wasn't sure how Konstantinos had manipulated the last series of events, but the more he thought about it the more sense it made. Get the Saber Palace to incite a rebellion in his lands, forcing him to go hat-in-hand to Konstantinos to kill his own disciple. Push him to the brink, force him to war. Even the Light Qi he had taken as his sole prize from those peculiar, terrifying Caves had been foreseen and used against him, forcing him into a battle he was unable to win. Every single move had seem planned, forcing him into a series of bad choices from which there was no coming back.

From a certain point on the board, defeat was unstoppable no matter the moves you made. He should have simply made war when Alexios died, brought every Cannibal he could find across the border and begun a slaughter great enough to end the Devils and damn the consequences. But he had wanted to wait, to see the old Elder's death had been some noxious plot planned to lure him out and kill him. Inaction had killed him, but the fact that Konstantinos had been able to plot against him had killed him even more.

If he was ever still, he would fall. Only by growing sufficiently to simply crush his enemy would he ever be free of him.

This, he thought, was a good first step.

An old man rose out of the sky. Old, like Konstantinos.

"Old Fish."

Diaxing inclined his head respectfully.

"This Sun Diaxing greets you. May I know why you are impeding our travel?"

Scales shimmered over the body of the old man, and the whiskers of a catfish poked out from his cheeks. His whiskers twitched as he spoke.

"You will find no purchase here, Devil Bees. Return to your lands or else this old man will force you out. These people and these lands are under my protection."

Diaxing chuckled.

"I of course intend no harm to your people or lands. Please, we are merely surveying the lands about us in preparation for a diplomatic... exercise."

Below them stood the Noble Koi Palace, the mirror image of the Undersea Gold Palace. A fortress of mighty power, that once closed could only be opened by Old Fish himself.

Old Fish ignored his words, lashing out.

Silver scales dispersed from his flesh, flying into the air. Each one sharp and powerful, spinning towards him, ready to slice him in half.

Diaxing simply moved - his body no longer where it had been, and Xinyue moved in to intercept the scales. She parried them, using her pair of fans to do so again and again. Gengxin drank from a vial, spitting at the scales, each blob of spit dissolving a scale in the air where it was.

From the air, Diaxing drew his bow.

The Screaming Intestine Bow had been unpleasant to draw at first, but it was a marvelous weapon. Infinitely resizeable, a series of human heads making up what would ordinarily be wood, ropy intestines forming the bowstring. When he drew it the arrows formed naturally, a storage of human Qi unlike almost any other. It could be used as a reservoir to help one cultivate in the bad years as populations recovered, or, more importantly, it could form arrows fundamentally compatible with almost any Blood Art.

The arrows formed from bone, well-fletched and well-carved.

He drew it back, and the arrow flew out. It hunted after Old Fish as the scales hunted him, and arrow after arrow went into the air.

Old Fish parried one, and another, and another, as the two girls removed scale after scale.

Panting, Old Fish spoke.

"Are you convinced of my sincerity yet?"

Sun Diaxing - no, he was Old Cannibal right now - laughed.

"Fine. I'll send the two girls away. If you can take this one strike of mine, I'll naturally leave."

Old Fish drew his remaining scales back onto his body, preparing.

Old Cannibal chuckled, drawing the bow even further back. An arrow of majestic complexity began to fashion itself, more and more Qi pouring into as the bowstring stretched, the heads screaming louder and louder in a symphony of delightful agony as he did so.

He could see the intent of Old Fish. The Palace stood behind him, sealed. He would unseal it in an instant, dodge inside the Palace, weather the blow, and return outside to continue fighting. With such a fortress he could leap in and out, striking at Diaxing and his disciples with impunity, harrying them until they went away.

What a good plan.

What a pity, he thought. Konstantinos thought in plans inside plans, and he was used to plotting against so many such. Here, the Verdant South had forgotten the true cost of war. Not the cost it levied on them, but the cost others were willing to pay to wage it. They bickered like children, unwilling to give up a scrap of power, plotting in asinine matters even as the world burned around them. It was a pleasure to bring the world to them.

He drew the arrow further, and Old Fish began to cough.

"What..."

Old Cannibal chuckled.

"Gengxin, this is your triumph. Why don't you educate our friend?"

She smiled, dimples on her cheeks, seemingly delightfully. Diaxing's own smile thinned - she usually looked like that when she was going to try and kill someone.

"Old Fish, this junior apologise for her presumption, but the Five Soul Transformation Poison works by forcing those with transformation arts to transform into a single chosen form of the poison-brewer's choice. For you, I know your old catfish form is mighty, but also know that it cannot survive above the surface of the water for long. By infusing one of your scales with this poison it can force a transformation, even it could not poison you otherwise. Your scales are a part of your catfish form, and despite not being part of your human form in truth... well, it's a simple enough thing to draw an equivalence between the two provided the owner is a soul cultivator of sorts, no?"

The old man gasped, arms and legs turning into fins, face growing longer as he flew and flopped away, moving towards the ocean at all speed.

Diaxing smiled.

"Xinyue, how many Core Formation cultivators are inside the Palace?"

She frowned.

"Almost fifty. Perhaps half of the entire Chuan Clan's core strength."

"Good. I have no interest in winnowing them out just yet. They will be needed to head north. If we denude the lands around them, Old Fish will have nothing left to defend, beyond a palace we cannot hope to take. As such, he will head north, facing the Noble Devil Alliance, knowing we will not return for many decades to come. We need to keep all of our enemies off-balance, keep every side neatly balanced as we seek to form a side of our own. For now..."

He grinned.

"Consume. Consume every mortal you can find, every misbegotten Righteous Path cultivator trapped outside a formation. Kill them and eat them and eat your fill, for there will be no easy feasts like this again. Eat and know I am no liar, disciples mine. Know that when I promised you food, promised you power I made that promise in good faith. This is only the beginning, though. Follow me and we will rise ever-higher, until we challenge the Heavens themselves."

He licked his lips.

He had not been able to feast in so long.

 

[occipitallobe]

It was, Kleisthenes thought, almost unbelievable.

She had learned all kinds of things. Manuel had become a fierce taskmaster rather than an old friend for the last few years, mercilessly chasing her to do more Nascent cultivation, to learn more, to become more.

The pain would have been unbearable without the forging of the self through Core Formation, she knew. It was obscene. Put a Qi Condensation disciple through this, and they'd go mad within hours. For her, it felt more emotional than physical - every time she tried to remove the soul from the self it was as though the soul resisted, forcing the worst experiences of her life onto her again and again as if to resist. Every moment felt like the moment where her sister had died in front of her. The betrayal, the multiple layers of guilt combined with searing white-hot pain that ran through her meridians and seared her dantian ceaselessly, as though she were burning up from the inside out.

No wonder all the Nascent Souls were old monsters. Bearing this for millennia... well, she was sure one grew accustomed to it, but it had to drive you mad. She had wondered why the old man had changed so much on reaching this level, but now she knew. Nobody sane would choose to live like this. Nobody sane could, she suspected. You either went mad in small ways or died.

Still, despite the madness and misery of the last few years, she had the power to change things. That would need to suffice.

Manuel had taught her the Thousand-Thought Qi Threading Sutra, a powerful mantra that when used repeatedly rapidly depleted one's Qi but also let you think through things with remarkable rapidity. It was an expensive mental enhancement, and he'd simply said that he rarely used it himself anymore. It was too expensive, but for someone who needed to learn all of the Clan's operations to an acceptable degree should Manuel die it was a necessity.

She was currently using her precious, tiny amount of free time per day to parse through a six-hundred page report and thirty-two spiritual jades from the spying mission on the Jingshen.

It was unbelievable. Not almost. A pack of idiots had strode into Jingshen land and somehow penetrated deeply into the Underworld Spirit Palace, that giant mine the Jingshen called a city. That was believable. They had executed good intelligence operations before, the Clan had done very well from time to time.

This, though... A man and a woman - two good Foundation-level spies - were caught infiltrating the Eighth Prince's personal chambers, got caught, and simply started having sex. What's more, this had worked, with a Core Formation Elder apparently too embarrassed to confront them and so let them out. She could only imagine the series of incredibly stupid events that had culminated in that particular event, but it wasn't even the worst one.

One of the spies had - somehow - gotten into Old Jingshen's quarters and stolen his hat. He had then used this hat as a symbol of authority to access their Noble Archive of Stone, and looted a hundred years of financial records from them. He had retrieved the hat and brought it back to the land of the Clan. It was just a hat! There was nothing special about it at all!

She strained, pumping Qi into her meridians, letting it flow into her head, her brain absorbing more and more as she thought faster.

It almost defied reason.

The third event was worse.

Somehow... somehow the strategy of dressing like a sheep and claiming to be Lady Jiao's husband had amused the Eighth Prince so much he had let the man dressed as a sheep into her chambers to consequently steal a administrative jade on their Core Formation elders.

They had also lost nearly eighty good, competent spies. All dead. It was just the bumbling fucking idiots who had come back bearing nothing but triumphs.

She had asked the old man to verify those secrets. Verification, he had said, was easier than grasping a secret from nowhere. He needed threads to attach to, relationships with the thing he was seeking out in some way. Simply, crudely bringing his power to bear on someone holding a secret to see if it was true was well within his remit. He had shaken his head and noted that they had all been true.

Unbelievable.

Well, they were Xinya's problem, not hers.

Still...

This report was exceptional. They hadn't even known which of the Jingshen Princes and Princesses were bound to try and ascend.

Each child in direct descent from Old Jingshen was a Noble Child. Those who reached Foundation Establishment were Royal Children, and those who reached Core Formation were Princes and Princesses, each numbered in the order they had reached Core Formation.

Presently the Eighth Prince, Sixth Prince, and First Princess were the three contenders for a pile of artifacts - the Jingshen had various treasures to assist their people into Nascent Soul. The report had been scant on detail, but apparently they were quite confident. She knew that shattering one's core was the hard part - or at least the harder part, though she hadn't really experienced tribulation. She had thought the Jingshen lacked artifacts, but she had been quite mistaken.

In fact, the Jingshen had nearly enough artifacts to see two Core Formation elders into Nascent Soul, provided those Elders could shatter their Cores.

The real problem the Jingshen faced, according to her analysis, was not that they lacked the ability to raise new Nascent Souls, it was the inability to shatter their Cores. There were eighteen Princes and Princesses, forty-six Outer Clan Nobles who were still of good Jingshen blood but were not descended directly from Old Jingshen, and seventeen Servant Elders - those who lacked sufficient Jingshen Blood to be considered full elders of the Jingshen, but were permitted to serve and cultivate regardless.

Of those, one Outer Clan Noble and three Servant Elders were willing to shatter their cores.

She chuckled.

Greenhouse flowers.

Old Jingshen prized his bloodline, and lavished his wealth on them alone. They were weaker and younger, though, and far enough from death that they lacked the resoluteness combined with doubt that was needed to shatter a Core.

Letting an Outer Clan Noble rise into Nascent Soul was one thing - he could marry them to his daughter and continue the bloodline that way. But Old Jingshen would never countenance a Servant Elder doing so, and that was his true problem. Two Servant Elders would let him crush the Clan, most like, but even so afterwards he would forever be watchful, paranoid of being overthrown.

Still, it clarified things. If things became desperate enough for him, no doubt the Servant Elders would rise into Nascent Soul regardless, bringing any war to a stalemate.

She tapped a finger on her lips thoughtfully. Maybe it was time to see if she could reach out to them.

She giggled, and delighted in the sound of her voice. So light and free, no longer the deepness she had suffered for centuries.

This... this opened up so many possibilities. Perhaps the Jingshen Clan simply needed a new leader.

 

[occipitallobe]

Manuel sighed.

It had been a peculiar time.

He had bent his time and effort seeking out treasures he might use to assist his Council in overcoming their Nascent Tribulations, and for this he had found remarkably little. He had carved arrays, delved into a cave and retrieved a core from a massive bat that was vastly stronger than any of his Elders - bar Kleisthenes of course - and had otherwise bent his will in absolute fashion towards trying to find treasures usable for tribulations.

Shortly after, the spies had returned from the Jingshen Clan, bearing news of a great trove of them.

He wasn't sure if he'd influenced those events at all, but it still worried him. Sometimes he felt that his effects he brought to bear with his Dao were changing... pulsing, almost. Working in ways almost outside of his knowledge and control. Perhaps it was merely his imagination, but the coincidence was too much for him to credit that notion.

-----

This is more a brief description of the economy action so people know it's not forgotten. The overall impact will be seen next turn as we transition into the Purchases system.

That does conclude everything for this turn in terms of updates and the like (I have one interlude I want to write but it just isn't working for me, so it might be interspersed between the Good Seed reports).

 

[occipitallobe]

This is a response to Aretaphilia Myia's omake here. You'll probably want to read it, or at least have an idea of what she's doing to get the context on this one.

---

Lady Yao itched. She scratched behind her ear, and then on top of her head, picking out a particularly virulent flea.

Huh.

Normally fleas couldn't survive contact with her, this one must be special. She squeezed it between two fingers, and it resisted, briefly.

"Core Formation...", she muttered.

Probably some weird side-effect of when she was transforming those scorpions to serve as breeders for Old Gold's new cavalry unit.

He winced every time she said "Glorious Scorpion Cavalry" so she had to keep working on them. Plus she had secured an agreement to buy them from him - with his own wealth, of course - over the course of a few decades and centuries for the bandits she was leaving here in the desert. Not so many, but the scorpions would do well enough in the mountains and perhaps even in the plains, and a unit of quick-moving cavalry wouldn't hurt.

She'd tried to snatch a Devil Bee last year, but something about their nature made it impossible to Transform them into something better. They just resisted it openly, and whenever she managed to make a change it either ruined them completely or killed them. Frustrating, because the Devil Bees were the best aerial cavalry in the Region by a substantial margin. If it weren't for those tamed bees and their love for mortal and cultivator blood, the Devil Bee Sect never would've become an issue. But the reality was that even Qi Condensation bee-riders could flee from Foundation Establishment and even Core Formation if they were lucky enough, and the only plausible way to kill them en masse was to either force them to commit to battle or to be a Nascent Soul and just start killing them.

Old Gold had told her not to, that the 'confluence of forces were unstable enough without her interference.". Then he'd gone back to doing that sulking thing he did whenever she picked her nose and ate it as a response to his boring lectures.

He had said he was 'peering through the threads of Fate themselves to pry the innermost secrets of their enemies from their minds', but she was pretty sure he'd been sulking.

Then had come another lecture, which she had nodded through, and at the end she'd discovered she'd agreed to guard the Myia girl for a bit. Apparently "her thread was about to snap" which made no sense - why guard her if she was doomed to die - but that would teach her for ignoring the old man. She didn't do it to annoy him, it was just too funny to let him talk and then admit she'd been thinking about fucking, fighting, or drinking.

She sighed.

He'd taken advantage of her good nature, and now she was a few hundred li north of some weird floating island, watching the girl go up in a barrel. She'd transformed into a hole in the world, the sort of thing you only noticed if you had the Nascent soul-sense to sweep over it, making her completely invisible and undetectable to other cultivators. A neat trick, though mainly useful for pranking her new juniors.

There was that one mortal lad... she chuckled. She couldn't remember his name, but gods he had big brass ones on him. Big bronze ones? She would have to try and sneak a look under the old man's robes when she got back to figure it out.

Then the tribulation began.

It was, she thought, not dissimilar in many ways to rising into Nascent Soul, that initial flash of power.

She did as she had been instructed, and didn't even look. She didn't sweep her soul-sense over, and she certainly didn't extend a poke of Qi to figure out what was going on. These were all bad ideas during normal tribulations, and during one of these special ones, the old man assumed it would mean death for the Qi Condensation junior and herself.

She sat there, waiting, but not watching.

She snorted after a moment, feeling something approaching.

A red-skinned bald woman with a look of peace on her face.

Yao jumped out of her invisible transformation, rising up in front of her in the air.

"Lady Jiao!"

The other woman didn't even bother speaking, just sweeping out a fan, collecting a huge amount of Qi on it, slamming it at her.

Yao just laughed and dodged out of the way, letting the Qi go towards the Myia girl's tribulation.

Who cared if some Qi brat died if they got a Nascent Soul in exchange? What a marvellous trade! Surely the Myia girl would think so as well, so she had no hesitation.

Unfortunately, Jiao thought the same, restraining her attack and pulling it in.

Yao scowled. The attack was far, far too early. Why even bother showing up now? It didn't make a lot of sense.

She began to transform, body lengthening, fingernails becoming claws, finding a form that would butcher this idiot.

Halfway through she felt... fine. Why bother continuing to transform. Wasn't she fine as she was? Was there any need to continue? The truth of transformation was discomfort with yourself and the way the world was, a willingness to change, but... did she really need to change.

The attack came down, smashing her into the ground. This was fine as well. She felt panic build at the back of her mind, but she couldn't reach it. Couldn't move away from this unnatural calm, this simple acceptance of all that was happening to her.

Jiao smirked.

"You're new to this. Not to mention killing a bandit who raided my lands is not the same as attacking the Golden Devils."

She raised the fan, and a wave of Qi smashed into Yao, glittering pieces of Qi evaporating in the air alongside a single blood-red slash that carved its way into her body, splitting her guts open, intestines spilling out.

She couldn't resist it.

Jiao raised the fan again, and out of nowhere, the old man simply appeared, a shadow cast by her fan in the midday sun disappearing and morphing into the Grand Elder.

"How..."

Without further fanfare, Jiao turned and fled, moving with impossible speed back to the north.

Manuel looked at Yao, and moved over to her quickly.

"Are you alright?"

Jiao continued flying north, and Lady Yao - Zhihao, she thought, in the presence of a friend - smiled.

"I... thank you. She could've killed me."

Manuel sighed, and his form wavered for a moment.

"I'm not really here. It's just an illusion, a trick spun up out of shadow. Something new I haven't mastered yet. Recover yourself, and prepare for Jiao's return. I'll send Kleisthenes down there as well, she could use some tempering and I doubt Jiao can beat two of you at once."

Zhihao grinned.

"She was frightened of an illusion?"

Manuel's shadow smiled, rays of light piercing the illusory man, making his teeth and eyes shimmer unnaturally.

"She's scared of what I did to her. And, I suppose, what I'm going to do."

Zhihao stood back up painfully, and transformed. Her guts sucked back in, her skin grew back over, a layer of scales falling off. Her previous battle-ready transformation simply ended, and she was human and healed once more. Better to fight next time without the transformations, or perhaps transform first.

"Not if I get her first, old man."

Behind them, the tribulation ended. She felt... the presence of another Nascent? The Dao? It... was nonsensical. That moment of breakthrough felt absurd and she could understand the old man's story about the Callista girl. With a wave of power, the shadow faltered and fell apart, motes of darkness dissolving into the midday sun.

She grinned. She'd babysit the Myia girl back to the Dawn Fortress, and then she'd get the true reward for doing something nearly impossible. A very long and very boring lecture from the old man.

 

[occipitallobe]

Maria
Bonus: LST
Fate: Maria went to the One-River Pass, and fought there for a number of years. Constantly retrieving mortal caravans, slaying Blood Path cultivators, and generally making a mess of her enemies. It was here she was given a reward by an old man, something that had been in his family for generations after saving them all from Blood Path raiders. The Seed of Bronze (+20 cultivation-years) allowed her to push forward her cultivation, although it was not usable by those outside of the Clan. She wondered how he had obtained it. Her cultivation advanced well, and she managed to heal fully.
Impact: 16 (+0)
Cultivation: 11th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 196 (+23)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Healthy

Aretaphila Myia
Bonus: Healing treasure
Fate: After breaking through, Aretaphilia naturally headed straight to the Great Battlefield. Rina Callista was no longer alone as one of the Single-Pillar Kings. It was here that their first difference was seen. Where Rina could strike out at enemies far above her stage in massive, destructive blows, her control over the world allowing her to savage her enemies and succour to friends to a smaller degree, Aretaphilia's Song was something else entirely.

Rina fought bravely, Aliki's charge into the breach of the First Wall saved countless lives, and Wei Feng's indomitability allowed them to save so very many.

Aris and Paulus were not inconsequential, yet it was the Song that saved the city.

The siege took years. Blood Path grinding it down, killing and eating across it, rising like a massive wave to crash upon the castle of sand they had built, Core Formation, Foundation Establishment, and innumerable Qi Condensation criminals from the Blood Path prepared to take and consume the entirety of Thousand Song City. If it fell, the war was by no means lost, but it became a great deal more difficult.

They gathered their strength many times, and struck many times, cracking the walls, weakening the defenders, and preparing for the devastating strike that would take the first wall - and perhaps all but the last.

Outnumbered nearly ten to one, the Clan's Legions that had invested the city were simply insufficient, and the defenders of the Righteous Powers grew less numerous by the day. With less medicines, less doctors, and less means of cultivation, every casualty the Clan took meant ten for their allies, who were not at all specialists in siege warfare.

Towards the end, the disparity was so great that the Noble Devil Alliance chose simply to force the issue, and, ideally, force one of the Righteous Nascent Souls out of hiding into an unfavorable engagement.

As the massive force crashed on the walls again and again, Aretaphilia came into her own. Her songs were such that as she moved across the battlefield, ailing Hoplite Formations became new again, Kataphractoi counter-charged enemies off the walls, and Qi Condensation cultivators held back enemies six or seven small realms above them with ease. Wherever she stood became a hardpoint, where the wall was about to fall became once more unassailable.

For three days and three nights of the assault she sung, and at the end the Noble Devil Alliance fell back, unable to coerce its members into more costly deaths. One-tenth of the siege force had been killed, nearly thirty thousand cultivators. To that, the Clan had lost less than two thousand. Without losing a single wall, Thousand Song City stood safe and impregnable as it had been before the war began.
Impact: 13 (+0)
Cultivation: Single Pillar 2
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 335 (+35)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

Victor Wulf
Bonus: Impact boost
Fate: Victor cultivated diligently. Madly, constantly taking missions, constantly completing tasks, entering his bloodline into experiments, and gaining Spirit Stones. Despite his lack of receptiveness and talent, he found himself with sufficient resources to push forward, reaching the 6th Heavenstage. During his time at the Battle of One-Boat Pass, he managed to save a small village by delaying an enemy who simply could not kill him, using Elemental Fire to try and do so. His resistance to the Qi spell meant he endured, and managed to evacuate a hundred and twelve villagers safely to where they could be given bicycles to go south.
Impact: 1 (+1)
Cultivation: 6th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 47 (+26)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

Katha Theodoros
Bonus: LST
Fate: Katha entered the Yuan Secret Realm, and found herself set upon multiple times. She escaped from angry Jingshen scions multiple times, fleeing into a mountain. There she saw a creature, a massive beetle with power beyond her own, beyond that of anything she could imagine. It looked her over, and stated in a grating voice "You are the only applicant to use the Array. While you are inferior, the place must be given to someone. Do you wish to enter?" With her assent, she entered, finding the true purpose of the Yuan Man-As-Mountain Array. It saved Qi within it, allowing a single person to be empowered beyond all measure. It flooded her with Qi beyond imagining. She was only able to use the smallest fraction of it to cultivate, and yet within the course of her ten years there, she rose from the 1st Heavenstage into the 12th, the Horned Scion Beetle instructing her on her cultivation, guiding her through each bottleneck with ease. A Core Formation Elder tried to break in, and the Beetle slew it with a glance, not even bothering to cease her instruction. It constantly complained about her, stating that the spot was reserved for a "Golden Core Junior", but nonetheless taught her to absorb as much Qi as possible, seeing her rise into power in a truly absurd fashion (+200 cultivation-years). It also granted her a single piece of its horn which it polished into a sword (+2 Impact). The Hornsword granted her no abilities, but was hard beyond any imagining and could slice through most lesser materials with ease. During the Battle of One River Pass, she was not yet used to her absurd power, and consequently was able to kill several enemy cultivators, but did not have overmuch impact.
Impact: 2 (+2)
Cultivation: 12th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 233 (+212)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

Abel Angelus
Bonus: LST
Fate: Abel entered the Yuan Secret Realm, and was immediately set on by a number of Jingshen scions. Despite fending them off, they managed to force him to use a treasure to prevent serious injury. There, he entered a trial, one that had been created around a natural Heavenly Treasure. The Array-Pocket Gem (+6 Impact) was gained by gleaning understanding of thirty different arrays by thirty different array-smiths. It was a spatial treasure of sorts, once capable of storing practically no depth, but an array nearly ten metres by ten metres in size, as well as a inordinate amount of Qi within the space to power it. On usage one could activate the array. In the meantime, the Array-Pocket was keyed to a small green gem set in an iron necklace, allowing it to be carried around as he pleased. A second trial he faced as well, a series of mathematical array solutions which rewarded him with a Quick Growth Pill (+20 cultivation-years). With this, Abel sought to leave, but was caught by a Jingshen Foundation Establishment cultivator who aimed to simply kill him, and only the use of his second treasure allowed him to survive, though Badly Wounded. From there, he went to the Thousand Song Siege, and was effective - not in fighting a battle, but by setting up a production-line of bicycles. They would fall apart within a few days, but the roads were sufficient to allow mortals to move with substantial speed, and he was able to help evacuate thousands of mortals pass raiding parties that would have otherwise butchered them.
Impact: 17 (+10)
Cultivation: 9th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 97 (+69)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Badly Wounded --> Lightly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST interrupt) -> Wounded

The Builder
Bonus: LST
Fate: The Second Brother entered the Yuan Secret Realm, but such realms seemed to be anathema to the heirs of the Builder. Entering, he attempted a trial, seeking a pill that could be ground up and given to many of his brothers. He reached the pill, yet the trial was one of perception - the false pill poisoned him, and left him wounded, and without the use of a precious treasure things would've been much worse. Badly wounded and unable to continue, he retired from the Yuan Secret Realm, and headed north to the Song Siege. There the Brotherhood built a small fort, and held it for nearly a week before being driven south, allowing a large number of mortal refugees to be evacuated.
Impact: 0 (+0)
Cultivation: 7th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 50 (+1)
Health: Wounded --> Crippled --> Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Lightly Wounded (End of Turn)

Wei Feng
Bonus: LST
Fate: Wei Feng entered the Yuan Secret Realm, and tried to enter a Core Formation Trial. It struck with sufficient force to kill him every time he tried to move through it, but Wei Feng was well used to dying at this point. He managed to solve a trial which largely involved enduring fire, and reached the end, finding a Cloud-Stepping Lotus (+6 Impact). It drank Qi instead of water, but one could pluck the petals and affix them to your feet, allowing you to run through the air as you did along the ground. New petals grew once a year, and only lasted for about an hour at a time, but they were an immense mobility advantage when used. He used the Lotus to escape, though he was struck down by a stream of Fate-Defying Poison Fire, nearly killing him even with the use of a treasure, and disabling his regenerative capabilities. He was badly wounded, but managed to nonetheless absorb a large amount of the Fire into his cultivation technique, pushing him forward by 30 years. During the Thousand Song Siege he slew another Foundation cultivator, but was largely ineffectual owing to his terrible wounds.
Impact: 21 (+6)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 2-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 158 (+57)
Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Wounded (End of Turn)

Aliki Floros
Bonus: LST
Fate: Aliki managed to hire a Clan cultivator who was a true array expert, building the Healing-Thrower Blood Array. A marvellous name for an array that allowed her to infuse her allies with healing at distance, keeping virtually everyone alive. She sat in the centre of the walls, her Array letting her send out healing... juices to anyone who needed or desired ti. Aretaphilia and Aliki combined kept the walls safe - Aretaphila meant the battles were won, and Aliki meant that even those who were about to die on the walls could be healed at a distance provided they could be kept from battle for ten or twenty seconds. Blood Path assaults would attack teams who were wounded in battle, and five minutes later a second wave would crash upon the walls, fighting the same Clan Legionnaires, fully healed, empowered by Aretaphilia, and as fresh as they had been the first time around. This combination was incredibly demoralizing, and made pushes into the walls harder and harder to justify.
Impact: 14 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 1-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 114 (+7)
Health: Wounded --> Lightly Wounded

Paulus
Bonus: LST
Fate: Paulus entered the Yuan Secret Realm, and found his way to the Ninety-Nine Death Caverns. Named so because ninety-nine of one hundred cultivators who went there died, simply enough, and even among those few enough came back with rewards. A series of fierce trials, from lightning, fire, poisons, and fighting an empowered clone of oneself, all guarding a single glorious pill. The Superiority Pill. Most Pills had many words describing what they did. The Superiority Pill was not widely known, but its effects were simple. Four small cultivation stages, no matter your Great Realm. It was as simple as that. Once removed from the housing inside the Death Caverns it quickly lost its power. Since it could not be carried home, Paulus ate it. In that moment, he stepped into the Fifth-Pillar Stage.

Behind it was a small note on the wall.

"Only one in ten who reach here manage to leave."

The fury of the Ninety-Nine Death Caverns vented upon him, and he should've died. The use of one of his treasures allowed him to escape with his life, nothing more. From his experiences he wrote much, and purchased a Blood-Drinking Quill (+2 Impact) from his money earned by writing on the Contribution Board. If he obtained the blood of an enemy, it could write curses in that blood that would impact them severely. He found himself using it unduly at the Thousand Song Siege, writing curses on each of his allies, cursing their blood to poison an enemy if they were consumed. Such curses were weak and lasted only a few weeks, but the inability of the Blood Path to consume the cultivators they seized without fear of being killed meant the siege itself was seen as less worthwhile.


Impact: 12 (+2)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 5-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 220 (+120)
Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Wounded (End of Turn)

Zeno Angelus
Bonus: LST
Fate: Zeno stood guard over Amaranth as he ascended, gaining many benefits. As a Dao Protector he was paid handsomely by the Clan, as Amaranth was watched over by several layers of protection as he recovered from his tribulation, none willing to unveil themselves except in direst need. The number of points he earned allowed him to purchase enough resources to skyrocket his cultivation (+40 cult-years), and his note on the Contribution Board about Single Pillar ascension earned him (+10 cultivation). Lastly, the heavenly lightning at the site of ascension formed into a peculiar object, a piece of Heavenly Iron (+4 Impact). Imbued with the power of lightning, it could be forged into a weapon of his choice and would weaken any enemy it touched with the power of tribulation lightning. However, in harvesting it, tribulation lightning almost killed him, leaving him Wounded and only surviving through the use of several treasures. Later on, he was able to masterfully repel a single strike against the Song Siege, preventing a Core Formation elder from breaking through until Rina Callista was able to intercept the Elder.
Impact: 10 (+6)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 4-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 196 (+50)
Health: Healthy --> Badly Wounded --> Lightly Wounded (LST) --> Crippled --> Wounded (LST) --> Lightly Wounded (End of Turn)

Aristoteles Kalokagathos
Bonus: Healing Treasure
Fate: Aris practiced an excellent Dao for his time in the Yuan Man-As-Mountain Array. The Dao of Snatching. Where others undertook terrible trials to achieve greatness, Aris simply looked for a number of disciples from the Divine Saber Sect, and upon realising they were well-equipped to enter these trials, waited for them to exit a number, stalking them the entire way.

He had tried a series of trials and failed, but there was something to be said for denying your enemies resources. He stalked them out of the Array, and, on their way home, stood across a road. The road was built by him and the trees planted by him, after all, so why shouldn't he collect a toll? Having spied on them in combat, he found it easy to defeat them. He seized a Pillar-Aligning Dragonfruit (+20 Cultivation), a Pure Qi Divine Pill (+10 Cultivation), and two Heavenly Absorption Great Sea Fruits (+30 cultivation total). After forging them into pills and the like when he returned home, he was able to advance his cultivation massively.

During his time in the Thousand Song Siege, he was not as impactful as some others there, but led a number of troops to repulse three breaches in the walls, each time repulsing a Foundation Establishment cultivator at a higher cultivation than him. Without his efforts early on there would've been more breaches, and while he did not slay any of these cultivators, the walls constantly came so close to falling that without anyone's efforts disaster might have struck.


Impact: 5 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 5-Pillar (Late)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 269 (+84)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

Rina Callista
Bonus: LST
Fate: As the Man-As-Mountain Array spun to life, weaving Qi in quantities unparalleled, Rina Callista had purchased her slot and entered the domains. In there many trials were brought to life, spirits and puppets and beasts guarding many treasures. She managed to snag a Infused Ancient Ginseng (+20 cultivation-years), eating it and finding her cultivation advancing immediately. From there, she descended into a Core Formation trial, the Ancient Fire of Spite. It guarded a powerful weapon-spirit, one she was eager to gain. Unfortunately, the trial seemed to judge her as even more powerful than she was, seeing her at the highest end of Core Formation. The Ancient Fire arose, burning and melting her, and would've caused her to be Wounded had she not used a treasure. With the use of a treasure she retreated, unharmed but dissuaded. Moving on, she sought a pill formed by the energies of Heaven and Earth, the array bringing it to life, the Spatial Traversal Pill. Able to take on its own life, it could be consumed to gain the powers of space, or dissolved into a solution capable of tempering and empowering weapons massively. It was again a Core Formation item, and she dodged several Yuan elders on attempting to capture it. During avoiding them, however, the Spatial Traversal Pill transformed into a rabbit briefly, and bounced away, leaving a wake of torn space as it did so. Both elders who chased it were mildly wounded and retreated, leaving an opening for Rina. She dived towards the Pill, and at the last moment it moved away, tearing space in two as it did so. She found herself torn in half just below her hips, and would've surely died had she not used a treasure to save her life. Using field medicine to attach her legs, she was Badly Wounded and could not continue on further. Previously she had stood in Thousand Song City, and using her arts had managed to face a single Core Formation elder who had broken through, preventing him from shattering a great rent in the wall with a peculiar Earth technique - and saving the city from losing the First Wall even as Aretaphilia had prevented the overwhelming of the defenders otherwise.
Impact: 14 (+2)
Cultivation: Single Pillar Foundation Establishment Stage 3
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 467 (+30)
Health: Healthy --> Wounded --> Healthy (LST) --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST)

Constantine Nikeodemos
Bonus: LST
Fate: Constantine entered the Yuan Secret Realm in the 1st Heavenstage. Remarkably uncommon for a new cultivator to do so, this particular 'choice' should've left him dead. He was ambushed by two Yuan scions - a particular trial set up hiding pills was only available to those of the 1st Heavenstage, and so they forced him inside. Solving a fairly simple logic puzzle, he obtained two Qi-Forming Pills (+10 Cultivation each, total +20), and ate them, figuring he could just lie about not obtaining anything. After eating them the trial closed its exit, and he had time to cultivate. A Qi-Gathering Formation there helped him, and he managed to reach the 9th Heavenstage in a very short time. Leaving the trial, the two Yuan scions were still there. Realising he now stood four Heavenstages above them, they apologised and offered him a Material Strengthening Scroll (+2 Impact) that could be used to infuse energy into any item in his possession as recompense. His later deeds in the Battle for One-Boat Pass were almost not worth mentioning, somehow managing to avoid every major skirmish that happened.
Impact: 2 (+2)
Cultivation: 9th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 60 (+39)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

 

[occipitallobe]

Second Elder, I know you asked for this information as often as possible as it is crucial to our interaction with the Righteous Coalition.

Firstly, some words on the Qi Condensation Juniors who were sent to the north, to relieve One-Boat, One-River Pass. They fought nobly and well, and have evacuated seventeen thousand mortals during their time there to safety. Another twenty-two thousand have been killed, but evacuating mortals in the face of a Blood Path assault is no easy thing. No major settlements in the Pass have fallen yet, but the evacuation is crucial before any proper siege lines are established. I would weigh this as a Bare Success, though our juniors fought hard.

Now to the Siege itself. I know we spoke of the power of the Single Pillar cultivators, but it is another thing entirely to see it in action. Rina Callista can go blow-for-blow with Core Formation Elders, and wherever Aretaphilia Myia is, her juniors are capable of standing against those many small realms above them. Any weakness in defence can be shored up instantly, and coupled with the somewhat unsavory - yet undeniably effective - healing powers of the Floros girl (note that our regular report on her will be coming in later, but there are no signs of fullblown Blood Path corruption as of yet. She has grown somewhat more difficult to kill, but all methods in Appendix A barring 1, 2, and 6 should still suffice in the event she must be put down) meant our losses were beyond minimal. We lost no walls, and casualties among us were in the hundreds, though of course in the thousands for our allies. It is difficult to get a full count on those dead, but I do not find it unlikely we have killed between ten and twenty thousand Blood Path cultivators during the Siege.

This was a Triumph. I can see a note from Elder Sheng saying he thinks it's a "huge success", and is very pleased. The Fearless Line is likely to be re-established, and I suspect the view any Righteous Path power might have as to invading and seizing Golden Devil cities has been set back an immense amount.

 

[occipitallobe]

I've updated the Fate penalty for those without omake for long periods of time. I think the rest speaks for itself.

Alastor Cheimos
Bonus: nan
Fate: Alastor died, a misaimed Glass Spear striking him from the Array during a minor rebellion.
Impact: 0 (+0)
Cultivation: Dead
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 100 (+0)
Health: Wounded --> Dead

Anuka Vatatzes
Bonus: nan
Fate: Anuka was killed in turn by drinking tea with an old woman whose son was killed by the Golden Devils for rebelling. Poisoned, she died gasping.
Impact: 1 (+0)
Cultivation: Dead
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 61 (+0)
Health: Wounded --> Dead

Carvos
Bonus: nan
Fate: Carvos nearly died, charging into battle against a Foundation Establishment bear. He managed to live, but was horrifically wounded.
Impact: 0 (+0)
Cultivation: 8th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 55 (+2)
Health: Wounded --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST) --> Wounded

Daedalus Khimaira
Bonus: nan
Fate: Daedalus tried and succeeded in saving Carvos, but was mauled and killed in turn/
Impact: 3 (+0)
Cultivation: Dead
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 141 (+0)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Dead

Eirene of Nowhere
Bonus: nan
Fate: Eirene attempted to mediate a conflict between two cities, but upon coming up with a treaty both could be happy with was poisoned by malcontents, and barely survived with the use of a powerful treasure.
Impact: 12 (+0)
Cultivation: 12th Heavenstage (12 turns from FB)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 209 (+0)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Badly Wounded --> Lightly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Healthy

Mograine (Leon12431)
Bonus: nan
Fate: Another of the Indomitable Thirteen who fell. Like so many, Mograine never reached his tremendous goals, dying on a simple mission to the Longevity Stork Clan. Ambushed by a Core Formation Blood Bandit, he was sucked dry and slain in an instant, a miserable end to one of the heroes of Pleuron.
Impact: 9 (+0)
Cultivation: Dead
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 134 (+0)
Health: Badly Wounded --> Lightly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Healthy (End of turn) --> Dead

Shennong
Bonus: nan
Fate: Shennong advanced apace, cultivating well but doing little else.
Impact: 2 (+0)
Cultivation: 10th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 156 (+17)
Health: Healthy --> Wounded --> Healthy (LST)

Syntyche Theophylaktos
Bonus: nan
Fate: Syntyche Theophylaktos managed to cultivate apace, finding a small Qi-Ball Beetle, a derivation of a dung beetle that rolled Qi into physical shape, leaving tiny pills that could be eaten. She discovered a great cache of these (+10 cultivation-years)
Impact: 9 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 3-Pillar (Mid)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 188 (+24)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Healthy (End of turn) --> Healthy

Tasos Basilakes
Bonus: nan
Fate: Almost dead of old age, Tasos sought a treasure to extend his lifespan. The Roulette Life Pill was a pill linked to seven others - once all were taken, one of the pill-takers gained life from the others, and the others were badly damaged. He, however, was unlucky, and found himself permanently crippled by use of the pill.
Impact: 10 (+0)
Cultivation: 12th Heavenstage (6 turns to FB)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 209 (+0)
Health: Healthy --> Crippled

Tharros Ateleioti
Bonus: nan
Fate: Killed after his breakthrough, the remainder of the Seven Great Bandits began a campaign that required the intervention of the Second Elder, butchering their way through Stork lands. Tharros was one of many sent to help stem the tide, but caught against a powerful Core Formation enemy he could only die
Impact: 6 (+0)
Cultivation: Dead
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 100 (+0)
Health: Healthy --> Dead

Theoron Strophios
Bonus: nan
Fate: Theoron used a treasure to survive his encounter with one of the Great Stork Bandits, and consequently managed to advance his cultivation to some degree, though not overmuch.
Impact: 3 (+0)
Cultivation: 10th Heavenstage (1 turns to FB)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 111 (+0)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Healthy (End of turn) --> Badly Wounded ---> Lightly Wounded (LST) --> Healthy

 

[occipitallobe]

All Fates below excepting Gaius's have been outsourced. The reading and the Fate rolls were still from me, but I gave the core information about Mission outcomes and Fate outcomes to some other longrunning Good Seed writers and let them take a crack at things. If there are any major concerns, please DM/PM me here or on Discord respectively, but know I wouldn't be posting these if I hadn't read them and felt that they were well-done.

---

Gaius Antonius
Bonus: Tribulation Boost
Fate: Gaius entered the Yuan Secret Realm, and quickly managed to solve a Trial. In truth, an earth-maze was no barrier to him, and at the end he gained a small cultivation room bursting with Qi, advancing his cultivation by 10 years. He gained also a peculiar tiny Dragon Waterfall, ever-flowing downwards. It empowered Scylla (+2 Impact), allowing her to generate a small bubble of water around her wherever she went, and by leaping across it she could gain minor dragonlike features for a few moments, empowering her in combat. However, this is where his luck ended. The Earth-Gliding Technique saw him enter another earth maze, but this was dangerous beyond measure - the earth itself had been infused with poisons to prevent this, wounding him. He was trapped in the middle of the maze, unable to escape. He resolved himself to leave, yet could not do so without passing through the walls once more, leaving him badly wounded, the poisons crippling his ability to earth-glide, and weakening his control of many techniques substantially.

Later on, this caused a major incident in the Hong Xuan, when he fought Hong Xuan Fang Tai, a rival of his new-found friend Hong Xuan Yuan Ming. Fang Tai had beaten Yuan Ming to near-death, and Gaius managed to take Yuan Ming's spot in the tourney to assist him, aiming to make friend with a potential power in the Hong Xuan Clan in future. However, the poison and lack of control meant his strike was overbearing, and ruined three of Fang Tai's meridians, making him a poor prospect for future advancement. Afterwards, the Fang family of the Hong Xuan Clan had Yuan Ming poisoned and crippled as well, and Gaius found himself suffering several assassination attempts, escaping, but infuriating a powerful Hong Xuan family.
Impact: 15 (+7)
Cultivation: 12th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 271 (+63)
Health: Healthy --> Wounded --> Badly Wounded --> Wounded

yan
Bonus: Tribulation Boost
Fate: Compared to the more ambitious Legionnaires seeking the realm of Kingship, Yan seemed to creep across the threshold unnoticed, arriving in the Thirteenth Heavenstage during his time in the Hong Xuan lands. Spending much of his time among the mortals seeking the Hong Xuan name, he accepted many a challenge among the juniors of that Sect, besting them all. However, when invited to a feast to celebrate his victory, he found himself delayed, given a lead towards a minor splinter of the former Battle Blood Cannibal Sect. While he had no difficulty destroying the cult, his hosts found his choice of priorities questionable.
Impact: 9 (+0)
Cultivation: 13th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 302 (+23)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

Lipita Delphi
Bonus: LST
Fate: Lipita Delphi is one of our newest crop of Good Seeds--bold enough to charge into Yuan shortly after completing their initial training. While normally considered a dangerous scheme, Lipita's Resonant Bronze Compass physique gave her a knack for identifying smaller--often dismissed prizes, and she was able to accumulate a great wealth of herbs and medicines capable of driving her cultivation base directly into the Great Circle of Qi Condensation (+60 Years). This did not come without cost--as her cultivation base surged, the Harrowing struck, leaving her insensate within the Man-as-World Array, blow after blow striking as her constitution tore apart, shattering her meridians and crippling her Dantian--spitting a portion out of it as an Orienting Beozar--giving her an innate sense of Qi Interactions when fashioned into a suitable tool (+2 Impact). While she escaped with her life, she was unable to contribute much to her assigned mission, and it is unclear if she will even be able to continue as a cultivator.
Impact: 2 (+2)
Cultivation: 9th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 81 (+60)
Health: Healthy --> Badly Wounded --> Dead (Overkilled!) --> Crippled (LST)

Caius Venandi
Bonus: LST
Fate: Another of the young Cultivators trying their luck in the Man-as-World Array, Caius relied on his skills in fieldcraft and stealth to preserve him in his attempts to seek opportunities passed up by the mightier cultivators of the Region. He accidentally stumbled upon a group of Noble Knowledge Juniors with a Stalker's Ruin Mirror--and employed every treasure and trap he could employ to flee. Knowing when he had pushed his luck to the limit, he left Yuan territory to focus on his primary mission, teaching and instructing the neophytes of the Hong Xuan Clan how to deal with a foe that would not face them head on. Deadfalls, nets, and trick arrows flooded the fields of our vassal territory as exercises were conducted--and he acquitted himself well, gaining no small amount of thanks from his more successful students. The ones who found themselves covered in feathers though...
Impact: 0 (+0)
Cultivation: 2nd Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 27 (+6)
Health: Healthy --> Wounded --> Healthy (LST)

Armus Hekurion
Bonus: LST
Fate: As with many cultivators who try their luck in a Secret Realm without significant preparation, Armus found himself picking along the edges of the array, competing with the minor powers who--through destiny or some small favor to the Yuan Clan--managed to gain a pass into the Man-as-World Array. There, he found himself swiftly encircled by opportunists seeking the good luck from slaying a Golden Devil--and found himself terribly wounded--and certainly slain if he did not manage to lure many into a cave and detonate the Brazen Thunder Bead he had been given by his seniors, killing many and empowering his cultivation base to the Sixth Heavenstage (+20 Years). He then limped to safety, utilizing his new cultivation to acquit himself admirably in Hong Xuan territory... Save for an accident where he crippled Hong Xuan Lei Fan in a sparring match--his muscles seizing up in a critical moment from his injuries.
Impact: 0 (+0)
Cultivation: 6th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 47 (+26)
Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST) --> Wounded

Helel Ben Sahar
Bonus: LST
Fate: Helel's ambitions were modest, and his goals reasonable--he exercised his craft on behalf of the Hong Xuan Clan and made no small amount of advances in the process, his cultivation base rapidly approaching the Tenth Heavenstage from the proceeds. Towards the end of his tour of duty, he found himself granted two private commissions from formidable branch households--but had time only to complete one before his return to the Clan's territories, selecting the task that had greater appeal to him and offending the other household in the process.
Impact: 0 (+0)
Cultivation: 9th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 96 (+30)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

Demetrius Ceres
Bonus: Healing Treasure
Fate: Demetrius went to Hong Xuan langs with a fire in his eye: the Devilpine Sap, which he harvested nearly two centuries ago and continued to reproduce to this day, would be the perfect lynchpin for a daring plan. Sallying forth to defend the Forge of Endless Manifolds and the incredibly valuable runic arrays within, Centurion Ceres slathered both his skin and his armor in a thick coating of the sap, nearly his entire supply. When the massive spirit attacked, he walked right through its attacks, then right into its body. His thousand axe strikes would have only annoyed the monster from the outside, but from within, he gravely wounded it.
Terrified, the fire spirit fled from Demetrius for hundreds of miles, thinking the Centurion was far more powerful than he was. The second part of this gamble, for which Demetrius had risked his life, involved the participation of two other reknowned experts...
Impact: 8 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment True 1-Pillar (Fortified Pillar)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 126 (+26)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy

Diomedes Cestus
Bonus: LST
Fate: In the Yuan Secret Realm, Diomedes sought to test his luck in a deadly game against a spirit; said game involving dice, cards and tiles, all at the same time. The game was intentionally convoluted, so stupidly complex that only a Core Formation Elder would have the thought-speed to grasp the rules as the game progressed. Rather than try to follow it, Diomedes simply burned a bit of his soul for some divine luck, and played with random moves. He didn't win the jackpot, but did win a huge pille of assorted cultivation materials. (+30 cultivation years)
After this, Diomedes went west, having heard rumors of a legendary axe that could control gravity itself. Unfortunately, before he could even get there he was bitten by a Life-Hating Viper, an infamously deadly Core-level serpent. Its venom was of such obscene potency that he burned through two precious treasures to purge it. Now vulnerable, the Centurion left rather than press his(very much depleted) luck. He did, however, have the foresight to bottle up the purged venom and sell it to a poison master, who traded him a Blood-Curdling Sword for it. (+2 Impact). Not exactly a legendary weapon, but quite a brutal tool against organic opponents.
Unfortunately, this did not help the poor man against the Hong Xuan fire spirit, which he fought several times to no avail, unable to deal lasting damage with any of the tools in his arsenal. Nonetheless, he still drove the monster back from priority targets on several occasions.

Impact: 8 (+2)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment True 1-Pillar (Fortified Pillar)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 130 (+30)
Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt)

Simon Euaerizo
Bonus: LST
Fate: Though no Foundation Expert can truly be called ordinary, Simon was perhaps the least exceptional of the Centurions who took the job. Like Muyi, he never fought the fire spirit, his charges simply never coming under attack. As he didn't need to exert himself much during the several years he spent on the job, he was able to funnel the pay right into his cultivation, advancing quickly.
Impact: 4 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 4-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 194 (+32)
Health: Healthy --> Wounded --> Healthy (LST)

Xiuying Ten Jiang
Bonus: LST
Fate: When Xiuying entered the Yuan Realm, she was an Early Foundation expert, with just one pillar and eyes full of hope, When she left, she was like a ragged vision of hell itself, and walked with five pillars in tow.
In the first week of her journey, Xiuying was accosted by Long Min, one of the greatest rising stars of the Seven Divine Saber Palace. Considering the very idea of a Golden Devil mastering the blade to be a joke, he challenged the heir of the Sword Law to a duel. Though both experts brought incredible powers to the clash, her opponent's cultivation was simply too far ahead, which made the difference and cost Xiuying the duel. Unwilling to kill an enemy over as simple a matter as proving a point, Long Min went on his way, though if he had realized the power of the Thousand-Year Noodle Pot he might not have been so merciful.
Left alone and humiliated in the middle of that unaturally verdant land, Xiuying was overcome with anger, as well as a burning desire to wipe away the shame she had brought to the Sword Law.
First, she cut her way through a herd of Bronze Aurochs, brewing their flank-meat into soup. (+40 cultivation years)
Next, she defeated the ghost of an ancient weapon-master that haunted a bamboo forest. The master, grateful for one last battle, flung himself into her pot, and became soup as well. (+40 cultivation years)
Finally, she found the molten slag left by a core-formation sword burnt by Dragonfire. It was useless as a weapon, but contained within it a single flash of the dragon's attack. Releasing the divine flame, she cooked one more pot of soup, ascending even higher. (+20 cultivation years)
After the year was up, Xiuying confronted Long Min once more. The Saber Palace disciple had grown stronger as well, but not as much as she had - they were evenly matched now. The second duel was far more brutal than the first, as both fighters were too prideful to give up. When Xiuying, after nearly an hour of battle, forced her opponent to surrended, she was nearly in pieces herself(Badly Wounded). As Long Min had spared her, she spared him in turn, leaving for Hong Xuan with her honor restored.
There, she took part in Demitrius' plan. He would chase the wounded spirit to her, and in a single burst of power, she would ambush it and cut it to pieces. The last step was up to Amaranth...
Impact: 10 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 5-Pillar (Late)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 225 (+103)
Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt)

Amaranth Castellanos
Bonus: Tribulation Treasure
Fate: Through some obscene stroke of luck, our Clan gained multiple Kings in a single decade. This is a statistical anomaly of such an extreme level that many believe foul play to be involved in our fate. Nevertheless, let it be known that Amaranth succeeded in his endeavors, though perhaps not as perfectly as the last two.
While he successfully endured the tribulation and forged a single unified pillar, near the end of the ordeal, Amaranth's entire right arm and his right foot were destroyed, along with a chunk of his upper chest. He survived thanks to the same sort of priceless treasures which enable anyone to take on a Thirteenth Heavenstage tribulation with a chance of victory. Fastening some hastily-forged prosthetics, Amaranth rushed to Hong Xuan to participate in the mission, having heard of how undermanned it was and wishing to test out his bizarre new powers for himself.
His role in Demitrius' plan was simple: eat. Once Xiuying cut the fire spirit into pieces, he would consume said pieces while it was unable to effectively fight back, killing the monster and feeding his eldritch appetite for a time. This almost worked, but not quite: Xiuying, badly injured as she was, didn't quite cut deep enough - not all of the pieces were cleanly separated, and Amaranth could only take in less than a quarter of the spirit's mass before it reformed and fled. From this power, he grew himself an arm and foot of living flame, useful for all sorts of fire techniques. (+2 impact)
Impact: 10 (+2)
Cultivation: Single Pillar 1 of ??
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 312 (+12)
Health: Lightly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST) --> Wounded

 

[occipitallobe]

Second Elder, this was a failure of resourcing.

Not a failure of those involved.

We sent an eclectic array of Qi Condensation juniors to the tourney, aiming to assist possible loyal scions of Hong Xuan we could turn towards the Clan in future. This array was somewhat too eclectic, unfortunately. Both too powerful and not powerful enough, the tourneys we won, we won poorly, injuring and in some cases even crippling Hong Xuan scions by mistake or through anger, and otherwise did not show a domineering enough showing to simply frighten the Hong Xuan back into line. We have made some friends, but I fear we have made more enemies.

This is a Moderate Failure in all aspects, and while we will not see the results for a century or two to come, there will certainly be some elders rising up over the coming centuries who look on us with contempt and seek to loose their bonds somewhat.

Worse was Pyre City. We underestimated the power of the spirit there, and the team we sent to capture or eliminate it was grossly undermanned. A few personal flashes of brilliance from Demetrius Ceres - a notable Foundation lad - managed to prevent an utter disaster, as the spirit would've managed to detonate a massive storage of various weapons and arrays, sufficient, Elder Hong Xuan Yi Quan noted, to probably level the city and kill anyone below Foundation Establishment in it. Pyre City hosts nearly a hundred thousand people, and the death toll would have been tremendous. Thankfully, the spirit was redirected, blazing its way out of the city through the slums. The deaths are still being tallied, but between fifteen and twenty thousand mortals died during its rampage and subsequent escape. We have won no love from the Hong Xuan Clan here, but a Moderate Failure could at least be snatched from the jaws of complete disaster.

Many of our talents have been dispatched elsewhere, and quite frankly the absurd price Hong Xuan exacted for what ended up being a completely irrelevant piece of aid has not endeared them to the Clan more generally. This failure is one in a string thereof - the expansion of Clan lands and power is leaving Hong Xuan feeling less and less relevant, and I personally hold to the view that we should find some excuse and cut them down to size, reducing their income and forcing their Elders to work for us if they wish to consistently advance. I am aware this is an unpopular view in the Office of Barbaroi but feel I must reiterate it. Why should we continue to placate a people who are so intransigent?

- Memo to the Second Elder, Foundation Expert Alexandra Sophes, Office of Barbaroi