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The Path Unending (A Cultivation Quest)

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Vesvius said:
"Beware my power!" he bellows to his friends. "I- I must muster the Truth of the Moon! It is the only way to defeat the Heretic-in-Silver!"

The ringleader stiffens as if struck by lightning. "Oh no!" she calls out, horror thick in her voice. "Not the Truth of the Moon! Its light is powerful, but it cannot tell friend from foe!"

"Um, I- we… we must flee!" one of the other 'Tides' calls out, his words tripping over each other in their haste to escape. "The Truth of the Moon will surely slay the Heretic, but it will surely catch us as well if we do not run and hide!"

The ringleader swallows and glances around, looking at each of her friends. "Fare thee well," she says solemnly. "And may we reunite under the light of the sun."
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OK, so re-reading, this passage right here. This is the most important thing.

The kids are trying to send a message. Either the Heretic-in-Silver is the causer of the time loop and they are trying to tell us what to look for to stop it... Or the Truth of the Moon is the cause of the timeloop. It was called on to defeat this Heretic, but it's explicitly called out as having no IFF, so everything in the village gets hit by the time loop.

The "reunite under the light of the sun" is a signal that they'll all be back here again.
 
Holy shit. That was an incredible format screw. The way it slid back to the part of the previous update was so seamless, and I think the experience of following this quest along and then repeating a part of it you read weeks ago will be irreproducible.

This quest is peak Xianxia.
 
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So, a time-loop, with at least some people aware of it.

Hm, but why is there no dust? Due to constant repetition or because it is an illusion as well?
 
Thanatos757 said:
My initial guess is the time loop is related to the moon and the tides, as this is a coastal village and it's what the kids were talking about. And the Heretic-In-Silver, is that Zhi or whatever is causing the loop?
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No, we've heard of these before! These are historical figures:

Vesvius said:
"The Emperor-In-Silk was the first of his dynasty," I continue. Still the Sage sits quietly, so I further plumb the depths of my teachings. A dozen memories of strangely foreign lessons flash before my eyes. I can pay their oddity little heed, so desperate to sate the Sage's curiosity am I.

"He came to the Seat in troubled times after the Rule of Three Brothers. Those were the Emperor-In-Noon, Emperor-In-Grass, and the Emperor-In-Flame respectively. The Emperor-In-Flame ruled for some time before his fall, and he took the seat from the Empress-In-Feathers, who was given the seat by the Empress-In-Steam, who took it from the Emperor-In-Storms, who came after the Emperor-In-Ice, and the Emperor-In-Tides. The Emperor-In-Tides' reign was a complex one, as he was overthrown twice- once by the Emperor-In-Fear and once by the Empress-In-Silver- but regained the Dawnstone Seat each time, and-"

"Ahhhh, I see," the Sage finally interrupts me. "It has truly been some time since my contemplations have been disturbed. So the ocean came to reclaim the throne from the Shining Lady, after all. Many times she was warned that his power was not solely in the waves below, but she refused to listen. Let that stand as a lesson to you, Herald: your foes will wield power in many forms. If an Artist has walked the Path Unending for long enough, their control of anam is likely the smallest of their strengths."
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Vesvius said:
Neither the name nor the title means anything to me. But from the way Daiyu's mouth falls open, it clearly means a great deal to her. "Who is-"

This time, it is my turn to be interrupted. "The Gossamer Blade!" Daiyu almost squeals. "The one who liberated Ivory Dawn from the Laughingstar Emperor? The one who slew the shadow serpent of the Trackless March? The victor in the Duel of Dawn and Dusk?! That Gossamer Blade?!"
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The kids are playing a retelling of how the Emperor-in-Tides took back power from the Empress-in-Silver - and apparently the Gossamer Blade was an important contemporary of that time.

Look:
Vesvius said:
"Kowtow before this young master and I shall be lenient with you!" he squeaks with a dramatic flourish of his stick. "To stand against the Sun Dragon's Fang is to court death!"

Another child, this one a slightly older girl wearing pants so worn they've long since lost their knees, gestures back with a stick of her own. "You are the one who courts death!" she proclaims. "For what is the sun before the splendor of the moon! My Silkmoon Blade will slice through whatever opposes it without fail!"

The first child, the 'young master', is delighted by the response. But the other children let out a collective groan. "Do we have to play Dusk n' Dawn again?" one whines. "I don't wanna be a spect-tay-ter again!"

The girl is taken aback and shakes her head. "We don't have to?" she hazards, glancing back at the 'young master'. "We could play… I know! Let's go play Tides n' Torrents!"

The 'young master' pouts and the girl, clearly the ring leader, changes course once again. "I mean… yeah! We'll play Tides n' Torrents at Dusk n' Dawn! You be the Court of the Tide, Ren is still the Mirrored Hand, and I'll be the Gossamer Blade. We'll team up against the Torrent Raiders!"
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Vesvius said:
I trail off as the game continues, the children ignoring me completely. My heels go to Quishu's sides and I spur her forward into a trot as we keep pace with the roving game. "Hail to the…" What game were they playing? Who were they pretending to be? "...Tides, Blade, and Hand! If you enjoy playing Artist, then I've news for you! There is a chance you could soon stop playing and join a sect for real!"
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Vesvius said:
As the loamwalker easily keeps pace, one of the 'tides' glances over their shoulder at me for the first time. His eyes are nervous as they catch mine- but he stumbles as one of his companions, the young girl directing them all, digs an elbow into his side. Rather than wince in pain, the boy's face contorts into his best imitation of a determined mask. "Beware my power!" he bellows to his friends. "I- I must muster the Truth of the Moon! It is the only way to defeat the Heretic-in-Silver!"

The ringleader stiffens as if struck by lightning. "Oh no!" she calls out, horror thick in her voice. "Not the Truth of the Moon! Its light is powerful, but it cannot tell friend from foe!"

"Um, I- we… we must flee!" one of the other 'Tides' calls out, his words tripping over each other in their haste to escape. "The Truth of the Moon will surely slay the Heretic, but it will surely catch us as well if we do not run and hide!"

The ringleader swallows and glances around, looking at each of her friends. "Fare thee well," she says solemnly. "And may we reunite under the light of the sun."
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I think we may have previously speculated that the Empress-in-Silver was related to the moon, given the name theming, but now it seems confirmed.

So... Either this is actually some sort of clue as to the culprit behind this whole mess... or this was merely a popular story at the moment that the kids and the rest of the village were trapped in the time loop.

This entire village might have been trapped here sometime between several centuries to several millennia ago.
 
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Tylansimov said:
  • The villagers have free will -- the kids have enough freedom to come up with an excuse on the fly to run away from Zhi
  • Despite that, nobody seems to want to leave their "role"
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I don't think they can leave their role, I think they can only take actions they reasonably could have the first time around. Which raises an interesting parallel with the quest format, like Zhi reasonably could have decided to check the records instead of the edge of the village but probably wouldn't have screamed "Oh god it's happening again!", which wasn't offered as an option.



Tylansimov said:
  • Dog reacts unusually -- barking at the storm?
  • Unclear what triggered the reset? Was it just a time limit?
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l think that dog remembers too, I think that dog remembers the storm, I think it's the storm that does it
 
Parabola said:
I think we may have previously speculated that the Empress-in-Silver was related to the moon, given the name theming, but now it seems confirmed.
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Actually I think you have it backwards. Empress-in-Silver/Heretic-in-Silver is defeated by the Truth of the Moon. Also we know from SoHT that Emperor-in-Tides had more power than "the waves below", and I think moon powers are appropriate for a king of the tides.
 
Parabola said:
No, we've heard of these before! These are historical figures:



The kids are playing a retelling of how the Emperor-in-Tides took back power from the Empress-in-Silver - and apparently the Gossamer Blade was an important contemporary of that time.

Look:



I think we may have previously speculated that the Empress-in-Silver was related to the moon, given the name theming, but now it seems confirmed.

So... Either this is actually some sort of clue as to the culprit behind this whole mess... or this was merely a popular story at the moment that the kids and the rest of the village were trapped in the time loop.

This entire village might have been trapped here sometime between several centuries to several millennia ago.
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Absolutely stoked that we finally have proper time fuckery going on.

Hmm. I think this theory is solid and is similar enough to my own theory on the matter.

The question is really one that will be answered by time and investigation but to solidify what we must look for:

1. Identify the nature of the truth of the moon.

2. Identify what or who specifically the heretic is?

3. Is the heretic or the moon causing the loop?

4. What triggers a restart?

5. What are the consequences for breaking your "role" and why are the villagers so terrified of it?

My theory on this one is that their warning that the moon does not discriminate in its punishment may be our clue for this.

If the "moon" is causing the loop, the "truth" of it may be correlated to learning how to control the loop.

6. If villagers are forced to follow "roles" lest they be punished, how many loops do we have until we are either excised or forced to join their play?

7. The villages leader seems to have more freedom than others. This may be due to the nature of his role in the 'play' but it is also possible that he may be this silver or related to it.

8. I wonder if this effect has any effect on the testing treasure. What just happened to us could definitely be called a technique and if the treasure is as sensitive as they say, it might have been altered. Unless time fuckery be able to bypass its sensitivity.

Its def time to compile a list of clues and questions tho.
 
Evonix said:
I don't think they can leave their role, I think they can only take actions they reasonably could have the first time around. Which raises an interesting parallel with the quest format, like Zhi reasonably could have decided to check the records instead of the edge of the village but probably wouldn't have screamed "Oh god it's happening again!", which wasn't offered as an option.




l think that dog remembers too, I think that dog remembers the storm, I think it's the storm that does it
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Yes, it seems an enforced play of sorts. During the day, the pastoral idyll, during the night... well, I think we can guess who the ghosts were that warned Zhi and co.

And with the music in the background getting a sour note upon Zhi's notice of the mounting oddities, the phenomenon might have a still present architect behind it.
 
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Tylansimov said:
Actually I think you have it backwards. Empress-in-Silver/Heretic-in-Silver is defeated by the Truth of the Moon. Also we know from SoHT that Emperor-in-Tides had more power than "the waves below", and I think moon powers are appropriate for a king of the tides.
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Yeah, tides are explicitly caused by the moon irl, so it would definitely track that the emperor in tides had soom moon stuff going on.


Also hi rags, its good to see you.
 
Ahh, time shenanigans! Let the fun begin!

It'll be interesting to see just how much agency Kong Zhi has in the time loop. Out of everyone in his group, he's most likely to be the one able to identify what's going on.

And, thankfully for the villagers, Kong Zhi is the one most likely to be able to break whatever is happening.
 
Vesvius said:
"The Truth of the Moon will surely slay the Heretic, but it will surely catch us as well if we do not run and hide!"

The ringleader swallows and glances around, looking at each of her friends. "Fare thee well," she says solemnly. "And may we reunite under the light of the sun."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I believe the Truth of the Moon is carried by dark clouds, and to reunite under the light of the sun is a hope that the timeloop will finally be broken.
 
Hypothesis: This is in no way related to time anam. I have no evidence for this whatsoever. I just think Ves might find us running full tilt into this painted tunnel funny.

Maybe mind controlled locals and mind wiped team Zhi
 
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