Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

[yrsillar]

"And that is a deal struck my friend!" Bao Qian said cheerfully. He extended his hand, and the Baron Fu grasped it. Their storage rings flashed, and Bao Qian felt the satisfying clatter of spirit stones spilling into his emptied storage space.

Baron Fu gave a sharp nod as he stood. An older gentlemen, just getting into his second century, with a short well kept beard and topknot shot through with grey, he was the first customer Bao Qian had on the agenda today. The sale couldn't have gone better. The crate the baron had been examining lay open, filled with soft gray ash that still smelled faintly of burning wood.

"You were not exaggerating about the potency of the material young man," the baron said gruffly, releasing his hand. "This will serve my clan's fields well in the spring."

Bao Qian nodded enthusiastically. This would boost business significantly. So far he'd dealt with intermediaries and lesser clan members, gaining the baron as a customer was quite a coup. The Fu family were among the more prosperous southern farming clans, providing elixir and pill materials for all manner of staple mixtures.

More importantly, the man's clan competitors would not wish to leave him with an advantage for long. "I certainly wish you the greatest prosperity, so that you might be inclined to purchase in higher bulk next time," Bao Qian said easily. His clan had a reputation, and he found that things worked out better when he leaned into it.

The baron let out a huff of laughter. "Naturally, we will have to see how the testing with our crops proceeds," he grunted, stroking his beard. There was a faint rumble of thunder then, and Baron Fu glanced to the south, good humor draining from his gaze.

The clouds on the horizon were dark, as they had been for weeks now. Bao Qian had seen the people of the Ganshu valley preparing the floodworks throughout his journey.

"Assuming we have a next year," Baron Fu said.

"Worry not my friend," Bao Qian said. While some might look to emergency as a chance for a quick profit, he was of the mind that customers looking to the future were better for business. "Have you not heard? Her grace intends to come south herself. The tribes won't know what hit them!"

The older man slowly shook his head. "Oh I don't expect another Ogodei, and my great grandfather lived through that too. But that doesn't mean my fields will be here afterward."

Bao Qian felt his smile dim a bit, and nodded more gravely. "Well, if it comes to that, I will put a word in for you with my Father. I am certain a little loan will get things running smoothly again in short order."

He disliked trading on his Father's name, but pride had no place when speaking of the devastation warring high realms could bring.

"I am not so certain my own liege would appreciate the interference," Baron Fu said dryly.

"I am certain the Wang would be reasonable," Bao Qian said humbly. "We are all folk of the Emerald Seas."

The baron gave him the sort of look which only an old man could give to a young man spouting foolishness, but nodded. "Perhaps. I'm afraid I have other business to attend to today, young lord, as do you I am sure. We will meet in three months to discuss the next sale?"

Bao Qian agreed, and they traded a few more customary pleasantries. Unfortunately the sour subject matter had removed his chance to improve the man's disposition much. Strolling back toward his wagon, Bao Qian manifested a single red stone in his hand, to idly flip between his fingers. It didn't help that the Baron was not wrong. The other counts had many reasons to distrust Bao deals.

His Grandfather had seen to that, with his predatory practices during the time of Ogodei and after. Although his own father and uncles had ousted the man before he could complete his attempt to join the Celestial Peaks during the Duchess' rise, too many had known for it to remain secret.

It was a shame though, Bao Qian mused, listening to the sound of the stone clicking against his rings. The seed that the Duchess had planted, and his Uncle, Count Bao was tending, was such a fragile thing. The idea of an Emerald Seas as a thing beyond a location and a collection of squabbling clans was so very fragile.

Reaching his wagon, Bao Qian flipped the stone up and caught it, letting it vanish back into storage. Well, plans were plans, but he had three more meetings before it was time to return to the Sect and indulge in his little… passion project.

***​

"You're late," the corpse-child huffed, tapping her bare foot impatiently.

"I," Bao Qian said with great dignity, letting his wagon roll to a stop in the yard he had rented. Meeting her dead white eyes was no longer unsettling. "Am exactly on time. You were early young miss."

She huffed, the very picture of a young girl trying far too hard to be an arrogant young miss. It reminded him of his own younger sister, trailing after his mother like a duckling. Beside her, the snoozing lump of a legendary beast, shrunk to the size of a large boulder, let out a rumbling snore. Because naturally it would be inappropriate for a young lady to meet an unrelated man alone. "That's the same thing, you shouldn't make ladies wait."

Bao Qian let out a chuckle as he climbed down from the driver's seat. Dealing with Miss Ling's… siblings, was always a touch surreal. It presented an interesting puzzle though, that he could admit.

Yes, an interesting puzzle was the best way to describe the Baroness Ling Qi. "Ah, but a polite young lady does not put herself in a situation in which she must wait," he chided. "Both sides must play their parts you know."

She narrowed her eyes at him, clearly wondering if she was being humored, made fun of, or given legitimate advice. The answer was all three, naturally. "Whatever," she huffed. "You wanted to talk about new songs? Big Sis is busy with her Boss."

"I had wondered why she was not present," Bao Qian said shrewdly. He had made the offer to speak with her spirits on their own, but he'd never expected her to take him up on it. It was so difficult to tell where the lines of her trust lay. "The expedition I suppose."

"Yeah," Hanyi said, hopping up onto the shell of the Xuan wu to sit down, her chin in her hands. "She's super busy."

"Well, no trouble," Bao Qian said breezily, it was unfortunate, he'd have liked more time to work on her. Especially as she would be gone for a month. "I'd wanted to discuss some theming for future performances. You see, I've gathered information, and I believe that your appeal could be improved during the winter, if you present yourself as a ward against its ills for those places which host you. Do you think that within your sphere?"

The south Emerald Seas was still a deeply religious place, there was a strong benefit to playing into that market.

Hanyi frowned in thought. "I guess. I don't really understand spirit stuff. I think I could probably bully little spirits and stuff into being nice though. Do you think people will like that? Won't it make bigger spirits mad?"

"I wouldn't present it as bullying," Bao Qian said with a straight face. This girl was really not half as elegant as she liked to pretend. It was amusing in its way. "We would be careful not to intrude into larger spirits territories, but there are few major spirits of winter in the lowlands. Besides, would their adoration not make you the 'bigger' spirit?"

"Huh, that sounds pretty cool," Hanyi said with a grin. "Like this doofus and the village."
Bao Qian nodded, having little idea of what she was speaking, but context gave him a guess. He had noticed that Hanyi had little direction to her domain, an oddity for a spirit at her level. He may as well help out. "Because of that, I-"

She held up her hand. "Wait, before I forget, there's something I wanted to ask since Big Sis isn't here."

Bao Qian raised an eyebrow, curious at what made the young girl sound so grave. "And what is that?"

"Are you actually pursuing Sis or not?" Hanyi asked bluntly.

He frowned in consternation. "I would not think of it as a pursuit exactly. I am seeking an amicable agreement between us."

Bao Qian could admit, he had in some ways been disappointed with the baroness. As a lover of music, he had thought that they would have something in common, but as that…. Interesting dinner had shown, she was not precisely interested in the field as a whole. As an artist, she was very isolated.

However, he did find her playing enchanting, on those rare occasions he had caught snippets coming to a meeting. The bleak loneliness spoke to something in him. The drive that had seen him leave the halls of the Bao behind, seeking fortune in the margins.

"Yeah, whatever, that's nice and polite and all, but you're losing your chance being all passive and stuff," Hanyi said dismissively.

"Excuse me?" Bao Qian asked, bemused. "I will be honest, young miss, but I do not think your Senior Sister would appreciate an aggressive approach."

Hanyi's expression screwed up. "...Okay, you're not wrong. But like, you're still not doing enough. Sis is more like Momma than she likes to admit. She'll totally just leave things as they are forever unless something gives her a kick."

"A kick?" Bao Qian asked, morbidly curious where she was going with this. He had not planned for this turn of conversation. But that was what happened, when dealing with these people.

"I dunno, I'm not a guy, and like you said, Sis doesn't like aggressive guys. But you need to keep putting yourself in front of her, you know? Sis is kind of a blockhead sometimes, if you let her, she'll just dismiss you as that guy she talks money with," Hanyi said authoritatively, crossing her arms.

"I… will take that under advisement," Bao Qian said. Receiving romantic advice from a spirit of winter and desire was not in the itinerary for today. "If we might turn things back to your performances?"

He supposed that there might be something in it though. His spirit beast would soon be returning from her scouting. Perhaps, when the baroness returned, he could invite her again. This time to a site guaranteed to have something of interest.

AN:With the holidays over commissions are back

 

[yrsillar]

AN: And here we have a short and fun little commission taking place back in Forge

"Ho there Senior Brother Shen!"

A booming voice rang out, scattering birds and stirring the leaves. Atop a fallen log in the midst of a swampy field, Shen Hu jerked awake. All around him mud vibrated with the vibration of Lanhua's warning growl. Blinking groggily, Shen Hu turned his head, with a wet sucking sound as he pushed his neck free of the mud.

There at the edge of the field was a guy in fancy white and gold armor. His metal boots sunk deep into the wet earth, and his hands were clad in imposing gauntlets of thick metal that looked more like the business end of a battering ram. He was also grinning like a kid and waving jauntily with one of them, and that kinda ruined the threat.

Shen Hu frowned, this was the second time in as many weeks somebody had interrupted his meditation. "Who're you? I moved off from the farms."

That had been kinda embarrassing. Lanhua burbled an apology, but he dismissed it. His girl didn't sense people like humans did, it was his fault for letting himself sleep for so long. His frown deepened then though. "And how d'you know my name?"

He didn't recognize this guy, and he'd called him Senior Brother, so he must be a rookie disciple.

The boy brought his fist against his chest with a loud crash that made Shen Hu wince as Lanhua 'stood' forming legs under her mass to raise them from the log. Even then he was just eye level with the other guy. What a giant. Just like that girl, what were they feeding this year's disciples?

"I am Gan Guangli! Attendant and retainer to Lady Cai! Miss Ling, my associate mentioned you to our Lady!" the boy, Gan Guangli boomed, grinning brightly.

Shen Hu's eyes widened a little. Cai, that was a big deal. The Duchess' daughter was here? Crap, crap, had he offended her somehow? Attention from the bosses was usually bad. Taxmen and inspectors. He could imagine his father's exasperated sigh. He'd never had a head for fancy stuff. "Oh, uh, greetings then, Sir Gan," he said stiffly, stepping forward out of Lanhua's bulk and dropping to the ground to awkwardly bow. "Uh, what did her ladyship need with me?"

Gan Guangli laughed cheerfully. "You misunderstand Senior Brother, I am here on my own business, I merely overheard my colleague speak of you."

"Oh," Shen Hu felt relief. "What's the problem then?"

"No problem at all! I had merely hoped that you would be interested in a friendly duel! There are few enough fellows of the third realm to spar with in the Outer Sect," Gan Guangli said, spreading his arms wide.

Shen hu blinked and straightened up, already feeling a grin crawl onto his face. Thought of propriety and heiresses vanished before the promise of a good duel. "Yeah, I'm up for a fight," he said immediately, studying this Gan guy closer now. He was third realm, but he was fresh to it, Shen hu could tell, didn't even have an attuned domain weapon yet. Still, not exactly a push over, metal and mountain, he'd be a tough nut to crack. "Did you want to do this now?" he asked eagerly.

Now it was Gan Guangli who blinked in surprise, his smile briefly shrinking. It returned full force a bare second later as the boy brought his gauntlets together with a crash and let out a booming laugh. "So eager! How could I turn down such manly spirit! Certainly we can duel now if you like."

Lanhua rumbled above him, and Shen Hu's grin widened. This was great, he hadn't had a good duel in nearly a year, he needed to shake the rust off for the tournament. In his dantian, a lazy swirl of energy swirled and he felt eyes open behind his own, awoken by the beat of his heart "Alright then! I'll leave out the domain weapon. You gonna bring out your spirit, or is it a stealthy type?"

It'd be weird if so, but he'd seen stranger contrasting partners.

Something behind Gan Guangli's smile changed. "I am afraid I do not have a bound spirit, Senior Brother, but by all means the both of you can come at me!"

Shen Hu frowned though, and raised his hand, gesturing Lanhua back. She rumbled in disappointment. "Nah, that wouldn't be fair and this is friendly. You should really get a spirit though, it's not good to fight alone."

Gan Guangli frowned for a second, looking like he wanted to say something. Shen Hu wondered what the problem was. The other boy shook his head, falling into a fighting stance. "I will take your advice Senior Brother," he said solemnly.

Shen Hu shrugged, spreading his feet and raising his hands into his own stance. It was no skin off his nose either way. "Three count?"

His opponent chuckled. "Very well. One."

"Two," they said together as Lanhua ambled back.

"Three."

Shen Hu exploded into motion, his bare feet hardly touching the mucky ground as he rushed the armored boy, bearskin loincloth flapping and black crystals forming across his hands and forearms. Gan Guangli shifted his stance, squaring his shoulders and bracing himself as a white half helm shimmered into existence, leaving his face in shadow.

A dozen probing strikes by diamond talons thrust out in the blink of an eye, reaching for gaps in gleaming armor, and met with wide sweeping blocks by thick arms clad in multiple kilograms of enhanced steel. The wind whipped up in the wake of their blows sending water rippling and leaves rustling. The clearing filled with the screech of diamond on steel and glowing sparks erupted and fell to die in the mud at their feet.

A battering ram fist swung for his temple and Shen Hu bent backwards, letting it whistle past his nose, and a column of earth ripped up from between his feet to crash into Gan Guangli's stomach and shove him back. Shen Hu straightened up, resetting his stance as the two of them sized one another up.

Shen Hu caught the gathering glow between plates of polished steel and raised his arms defensively as Gan Guangli barrelled forward, aglow with metallic qi. He was growing, already he'd put on another half meter of height. Shen Hu swept a leg across the ground and muddy earth rippled outward, a half meter high roil up mud rising up under thundering feet to trip and obstruct as he fell back. His opponents feet crashed through splashing through mud, but Shen Hu caught the tiny slip where one foot fell behind the other, disrupting the charge for just a moment.

His backward momentum vanished as the mud under his feet sunk inward and then popped upward, launching him forward in a low crouch. Shen Hu grit his teeth as his shoulders struck the leg guards wrapping his arms around the giants knees and heaved.

Gan Guangli let out a startled shout, his arms windmilling in the air as his own momentum combined with Shen Hu's lift sent him toppling forward, face down in the muddy field. He struck with a wet crash as ShenHu hit the ground rolling and bounced back to his feet.

To his credit Gan was already rolling over, mud dripping from his glowing armor. Shen Hu wasn't going to make it easy for him though, sliding forward on flows of mud, Shen Hu brought his foot down on the other boy's gut with a muffled boom as the ground beneath cratered, and metal screamed on diamond as he caught the boy's fists on his forearms with a grunt of effort. He could feel bruises forming under his armor as the impacts rippled through his body, ringing in his ears like the shockwaves of an explosion.

Shen Hu raised his foot again for another stomp as the sucking mud dragged Gan Guangli deeper into the field, only for his vision to explode into stars as his meditation log struck him full across the body, bark gleaming like white adamant. Skidding backward from the impact and blinking away stars Shen Hu saw the spike embedded in the log, attached to one of his opponent's gauntlets by a gleaming chain.

He gathered qi in his arms as it flew toward him, his claws lengthening into meter long swords of crystal that carved through enhanced bark and left the bisected log to hurtle past him and crash to earth.

Across from him Gan Guangli stood, metal armor gleaming despite the stains of mud.

Shen Hu grinned, tasting a touch of iron on his lips. "Heh, good shot."

"You as well," Gan Guangli chuckled, flicking his wrist to draw the spiked chain back into his gauntlet. "You are a more tricky foe than I anticipated, Senior Brother!"

This was what Sect life was supposed to be like, Shen Hu mused wistfully. Testing wits and mettle against your fellow disciples. Improving. Growing.

He was looking forward to the tournament.

 

[yrsillar]

"Hm, these sapphires would match you well," Gu Xiulan mused, letting the intricate silver necklace dangle from her fingers.

"Oh, I'm not sure, it seems much too extravagant for me," Li Suyin demurred.

Gu Xiulan shot her an unimpressed look as the smaller girl twiddled her fingers. The motion only drew attention to the gleaming monstrosity she wore on one hand, capping her fingers with metallic talons held together by a webwork of chains and a dark glove. "I am beginning to think that you are merely being contrary, Sect Sister," Xiulan drawled, replacing the necklace on the vendor's stand. She ignored the crestfallen look on the face of the disciple running it. It wasn't her fault he was a poor salesman.

"Oh, I would never, Sect Sister," Li Suyin replied pleasantly. "Particularly when you so suddenly and generously chose to grace me with your presence on a mere reagent run."

Gu Xiulan gave a haughty sniff, ignoring the ill concealed implication. "Well, it isn't as if Ling Qi is going to keep you out of your cave for long. Someone has too."

"My apologies for concerning you, Sect Sister," Li Suyin replied blandly. "It hurts me to know that I have inconvenienced you so."

Gu Xiulan huffed. When had this girl gotten so sassy? There was nary a sign of the shrinking mouse who had trembled under her gaze last year. It still irked her that Ling Qi had shown up her judgement of character. "Oh do stop that. It's not as if you haven't benefited you know. You certainly purchased enough gowns from the tailor I showed to you."

Li Suyin pursed her lips. "I am not ungrateful. I did need to expand my wardrobe for all of these business meetings that keep cropping up," she sighed. "I'm just a little unsure of your motive, Sect Sister."

"Can I not simply enjoy the process?" Gu Xiulan replied. "Goodness knows getting Ling Qi to consider anything not made for cultivation is like pulling teeth. At least you change your clothes on occasion."

Li Suyin laughed, only to swiftly cover her mouth. As they moved through the market crowd. "She is like that, isn't she?"

"I could be more unkind, but as we are friends, I will restrain myself," Gu Xiulan replied airily.

"How kind and generous of you Sect Sister," Li Suyin replied. She began to drift to one side of the market.

Gu Xiulan grimaced as she saw that they were going to another reagent stand. "It is quite generous of me," she said with a put upon sigh. "How I manage, given my friends lack of taste is beyond me."

Li Suyin let out a put out huff. Xiulan was proud of her, she sounded almost lady-like. "There is nothing wrong with minimalism as a style."

"What you do is not minimalism," Gu Xiulan replied flatly as the other girl began to sort through a selection of beast bones and bottled bloods. "I worry for your mental state if you think it is Sect Sister."

She glanced behind them, toward the looming presence of the girl's construct. The skeleton of a bear warped into a man's shape and clad in silk and polished steel, it's motions were eerily silent and ever so slightly off kilter. Hideous thing. At least it made for a good porter.

"Hm, haven't we had this conversation before Sect Sister?" Li Suyin mused, examining a crystal vial of lilac blood. "Ah sir, how much would it be for these…"

Gu Xiulan glowered at her as she finished up her purchase. "We have, and you remain wrong. Skeletons are not minimalism. Not at all."

"How ridiculous," Li Suyin sniffed, passing her package to the looming construct behind them. "Skeletons are the most minimal of all."

Gu Xiulan pinched the bridge of her nose as they left the stand. "Honestly, I know perfectly well what you are doing."

"I haven't the faintest idea what you are talking about Sect Sister," Li Suyin replied, but Xiulan did not miss the smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. Infuriating girl. Gu Xiulan was almost proud.

"We are, at the very least stopping at a stylist," Gu Xiulan said stubbornly, falling back in beside her. "For goodness sake you have actual split ends. What are you, a mortal?"

Li Suyin frowned, reaching up to tug at a strand of her hair. It was at least growing to a respectable length. She'd stopped the ridiculous girl from cutting it again. It still lacked proper volume however, to Gu Xiulan's frustration.

"Ah, I suppose i have been forgetting the treatments you recommended. I've just had so much work to do…" Li Suyin said.

"Of course you have," Gu Xiulan sighed. "Even Ling Qi was not so lax once I taught her good habits."

"My work is very important you know," Li Suyin shot back. "I can hardly neglect my products and still maintain my clients interest."

"And you will lose clients if you start looking like a vagabond," Gu Xiulan shot back. "Eccentricities are fine, but lack of hygiene is not."

Li Suyin pursed her lips, if she were being unladylike, Gu Xiulan might have called it a pout. "...Very well, we can make a stop at a stylist."

"And you will listen to my words when I recommend ornaments for your hair?" Gu Xiulan said with a sly smile.

"I will listen to your advice, Sect Sister," Li Suyin sighed.

"And something new to replace those tatty things you call shoes?" Gu Xiulan asked playfully.

"I am working on something with Du Feng already," Li Suyin replied stiffly, crossing her arms.

"Ah, how could I forget," Gu Xiulan laughed. "Far be it for me to break up your… intellectual courting."

"Our collaboration is nothing of the sort," Li Suyin replied, her cheeks darkening.

"Of course, of course," Xiulan dismissed. It was fine to let these stubborn girls think that they had won a victory, so Gu Xiulan would let it go. She clapped her hands in satisfaction. "Regardless, to the stylist. My sister actually helped me book a session with one of the newer core disciples, a year mate of hers…"

Her friends were always so very stubborn about the most foolish things. When would they accept that when they came to such matters, she simply knew best?

AN: Almost forgot the public commission release, enjoy you guys!

 

[yrsillar]

It was a pretty nice afternoon for a nap, Shen Hu thought, sliding through the last few moves of his newest technique. It was a new art, so he was still perfecting the physical motions. Shen Hu found that things worked best for him when he divided them up like that. Practice each piece a thousand times, and only then fit the whole thing together.

It was too bad his concentration was kind of shot right now. He doubted that he'd have time for that nap. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied the figure perched on the fence post of his training ground as he fell into a series of stretches, warming down from his exercise.

It was that Gu girl.

She kinda unsettled him. Popping up to chat out of nowhere, asking for physical cultivation tips, and always just… looking at him. He felt like a deer being stalked by a wolf sometimes, or at least what he imagined that would feel like. He'd been stalked by wolves, but he'd never felt this weirdly helpless. But she wasn't really being rude or anything, and she was the daughter of some eastern big shot, so he really wasn't sure how to deal with it.

Shen Hu let out a deep breath as he finished stretching. Straightening up, he pressed his hands together and inclined his head, thanking the mountain spirit for the qi he'd taken in his cultivation. If he wanted to get anything done today, especially that nap, he needed to figure out what she wanted today.

The air was really chilly today, he should probably be wearing a shirt, but he'd kinda gotten out of the habit. They didn't let his pecs breath.

"Finished already sir Shen?" the girl, Gu Xiulan. "You need not stop early on my account."

"It's fine," he said, turning around to face her. "I was due for a cool down anyway."

She was pretty striking. The bright red and gold of her gown stood out brightly from the fall morning mist, and the air around her was clear, dried by an invisible ripple of heat. As usual, he found his gaze drawn to her face. Gu Xiulan's brown eyes were striking, dancing with inner embers.

"How thoughtful," she laughed, covering her mouth with her sleeve. "I do hope I wasn't distracting you."

"You were, kinda, but it's good practice too," Shen Hu replied evenly. It was hard to focus with someone's eyes on your back.

She stared at him for a second, and then smiled cockily "Of course, how could you not be! My apologies then."

"Like I said, it's fine," Shen Hu replied, crossing his arms. "So, what did you want to ask me about? I doubt you'd sit around watching me for nothing."

"You might be surprised," Gu Xiulan replied haughtily, twirling a strand of hair around her finger as she glanced down at him. He blinked at her. She frowned as she looked back to his face. "...I came with an invitation to an event, Sir Shen."

He cocked his head to the side curiously, wondering just where this was going. "Well, I'm not really one for fancy stuff," he said warily. He'd probably just fall asleep at a play or performance a high class lady like her would enjoy. "I wouldn't want your kindness to be wasted."

Gu Xiulan stared at him for a long moment, a curl of smoke rising from her hair. "Well, if you are too simple to accompany me to Storm's Crown peak, I wonder that you can even speak and walk at the same time," she snapped waspishly.

Shen Hu's eyes widened. Storm's Crown was the mountain where the Sect Heads spirit companion held court. Disciples weren't generally allowed there, even when the Dragons were elsewhere. It was supposed to be incredibly rich in cultivation materials and lucky opportunities though. "How'd you get a pass to enter the peak?"

She sniffed, tossing her hair. "I have my ways. Though I wonder if I should even offer, if you want to see me so little."

Shen Hu grimaced, scrubbing a hand through his sweaty hair. "I'm ah… sorry? I guess it was thoughtless of me to assume."

"It was," Gu Xiulan said archly. Turning away, she began to leave the field. "I had thought you would be pleased to accompany a young lady on so dangerous a trial."

"Hey, wait," Shen Hu said, following after her with unusual energy. He wasn't exactly in a great place material wise right now. His disciple stipend and family funding were falling behind his cultivation needs. "I really didn't mean to be rude, you know?"

"So you do wish to accompany me?" Gu Xiulan asked, not quite looking over her shoulder. "No, I suppose you are only interested in the mountain."

Shen Hu bit his tongue to cut off the immediate affirmative response. Even he knew better than that. He looked helplessly at her back for a moment. It wasn't like he disliked her, she just made him uncomfortable. She looks she'd give him kinda reminded him of the way his mother would look at his father when he came home from a long lumber slaying expedition.

Which was weird. She was way out his league. They were never gonna get married, so why would she look at him like that?

"No, really, I want to come," he said desperately, hurrying to catch up. "I bet the two of us can handle any trial. If I'm holding them down, I bet you can blast anything in the third realm to ashes."

Compliments were good, right? She knew she had a lot of pride in how strong she was. From what he'd seen it wasn't even exactly misplaced.

Gu Xiulan hummed to herself, still not looking at him. "Maybe so, that was my original thought."

Shen Hu nodded, smiling in relief. "Yeah! So please let me accept your invitation, okay?"

Gu Xiulan smirked. "I suppose I shall allow it."

 

[yrsillar]

"Junior Brother Yan you are in charge of completing the stabilization arrays," the core disciple said distractedly. "I have been called to assist the front line."

"Yes Senior Brother," Yan Renshu grunted, keeping his eyes fixed on the smoothed stone in front of him, where already tens of thousands of characters had been carved, inked and etched. The formation arrays being established here were of staggering complexity. Even his own intellect could only begin to truly decipher them.

Resentment stewed in his gut. He would have understood them better, been able to complete this working already, if he had received the instruction he deserved.

"Very good Junior Brother, I will trust in your abilities," the core disciple said, wearing an infuriatingly patronizing smile as he clapped Yan Renshu on his good shoulder, and vanished in a rainbow streak through the floor. How hasty.

Not that Yan Renshu did not understand, the clash was escalating.

Tens of Kilometers of flesh rose through the tunnels, marching feet and scrabbling claws beyond counting. The World-Corpse spasmed and vomited forth power from her wound womb into the waiting hands of the Weavers. Those Who Crawled rallied to the call of the Incarnate Assembly, and their Corpse Champion, the Prince of Millions, crawled forth to make war upon the intruding sky.

Cruel Virtue met his advance, and ten thousand eyes of judgement slashed away one hundred thousand hands with their gaze, even as the breath of the World-Corpse ate his flesh. Yet from each hand rose a warrior, bearers of the word Pain, and the prince spoke from countless mouths…

Yan Renshu grimaced as he took a tighter hold of his senses, feeling the trickle of wetness on his upper lip. Yes, escalating indeed.

"Sect Brother Yan?" a voice spoke up to his side.

He glanced to the three others in the chamber, one of five like it laid out exactly around the central array of this sector. Each sector was than a point on the larger pentagon surrounding the central camp. Shaped from the surrounding stone, each chamber was an exact cylinder, three meters in height, connected to the others by narrow passages, intersecting and punching through the many natural caverns and tunnels.

"Continue your task," he replied, barely looking at the speaker. The three others were disciples in the nine hundreds, and he felt little but contempt for them, each was many times his age but a fraction of his cultivation. Ambitionless creatures, broken to the boot, happy to wag their tails for their masters.

Yan Renshu held in the sneer that wanted to form as he carved a new stroke with each movement of his chisel, rapidly forming the next character in the chain that would stabilize the arrays in this sector.

This situation was a microcosm of everything wrong with the Sect and the Empire it was a part of. He, an unparalleled genius, reduced to scutwork on the front lines of a petty battle, his education and cultivation stunted, all because those above him had decided that he offended them.

His chisel struck the stone fiercely. That was not entirely true. His final ruin had come at that girl's hands. A genius as well, he might have considered her a peer. Sadly his effort to separate her from the fat noble leeches had ended in failure. She certainly would not have understood it as a favor. He would give the Cai and the Bai that, they were quite good at taming their pets.

Even the elders, whose approval he had assumed when his operations had been allowed to run for a full year unchecked had turned against him in the end. He had been used. Left alone to serve as an obstacle, and when it all came down around his ears, he had been the one admonished, chided like a child. Only his value as a craftsmen had given him this 'second chance'.

A new character carved, Yan Renshu took to the left to begin the next. It carried him within arms reach of the central array, already glowing fiercely with the energies of the vast formation flowing through it.

Yes, the Sect had only been another oppressor, a pet of the Duchess and her nobles, Yan Renshu thought scornfully, all their vaunted independence from petty local politics a lie. His sleeve slid down as he reached high to begin chiseling the next character, revealing a bangle of bone on his wrist. A talisman like any other to any senses.

A welcome gift, from the being he had met in the deep caverns, where he had been forced to go harvesting with his own hands, he knew in his shielded thoughts hidden from prying elders and Senior Disciples alike by the talisman. The Empire was not the only polity in this region, whatever it claimed.

How arrogant the empire was, never considering those who dwelled below, those who had watched their squabbles and their infighting for millenia. Those whose lands the Sect callously poisoned with their vents.

Yes, Yan Renshu could understand how that would feel. His contact too, understood his situation. Understood how he had been wronged. Gutou as the being called himself for ease of communication, had been watching the Sect for a very long time, and he inhuman as he was had been the one to notice Yan Renshu's talent.

Yan Renshu eyed the central array as he shuffled further to the left, and felt in his bones the spiritual rumble of a battle far beyond his ability below. He could feel the Elder and the Core disciples, their power burning in his mind's eye. All of it focused on the Spirit wrought by the Deep Dwellers.

Yes, this array was beyond his ability to construct, but as that insolent girl had shown last year, one did not need to fully understand something to break it. Especially when it was only half finished, the stabilization array unfinished.

When his chisel came down, severing the seventh stroke of the eighth power storing character, the stone began to crumble, spewing toxic underground air.

When portions of the array throughout the room began to erupt, unable to contain unrouted power. He relished the screams.

He would get the recognition he deserved one way or another.

 

[yrsillar]

The boughs overhead groaned under the weight as the tremendous lump of rock and snow struck the web of emerald light woven between them. The web strained and stretched, and Nie Ai grit her teeth as she pumped more of her fading qi into the defensive art, and with a flex of her spirit, flung the missile back.

The great white furred ape that had flung it let out an enraged scream as it's own missile forced it off of the hilltop it had claimed. It's bright red face twisted in rage as it rose on it slammed it's fists into the ground, already raising new missiles from the frosted earth. Nie Ai felt a little worry in her heart, she had been at this for hours now and she couldn't catch the beasts herself, just defend the village perimeter behind her, little more than a camp really. She had slain three of these mountain apes already, catching them with her counters when they overextended, but with the previous waves of beast attacks, her qi was beginning to wane.

The apes fists slammed the ground again and the missiles rose and began to rotate. The beast was intelligent it had started to figure out that she would not let it hit anything behind her. Nie Ai tightened her grip on the staff in her hand and reinforced the qi she had poured into the artificial tree line she had raised around the camp. She would just have to hold until the soldiers returned.

The ape raised his fists, and the wind screamed. Nie Ai caught a shadow out of the corner of her eye. Then, there were a pair of heavy thumps as two keg sized fists tumbled to the ground, and the beast stared dumbfounded at the severed stumps of its arms. It screamed again as the missiles it had raised flew wildly toward the darting shadow in the air, but it flitted between them all, resolving into a figure as it landed upon one of Nie Ai's branches.

Hou Min's elegantly caught her spinning iron fans as they returned, and the ape stumbled drunkenly once and fell, brought down by bloodloss.

"You can be at ease, the rest of the troop is scattering," Hou Min said. "They have no stomach for a confrontation with an organized defense."

Nie Ai sagged a little, leaning on her staff. "Oh thank goodness. You've all returned then?"

"Sir Wang was successful in escorting the priests to the deep groves," Hou Min said with a frown as she descended to the ground like a floating leaf. "He is still there, but he sensed something amiss, and sent half of us back to reinforce the settlements."

"O-oh, then the attacks won't be ending then," Nie Ai murmured looking down, ever since Sir Wang had left, beast attacks had been happening like clockwork, multiple times per day. This region was not meant to be like this. Even with the Sect's expansion efforts things should not have been so wild.

"They've ended for now," Hou Min sniffed. "Get into the camp then, you look as if you are about to drop."

"I really shouldn't," Nie Ai hedged. "The perimeter…"

"I will order you if I must," the other girl said harshly. "I know your craft well enough to know that they will persist for a few hours without you. The soldiers can hold that long."

"I'm sorry," Nie Ai sighed, her shoulders drooping as she turned to obey. Inside the ring of her artificial trees, she saw the frightened and awestruck eyes of the mortals peering out of their temporary homes.

It still felt unsettling to be looked at that way. She was the daughter of a mason for goodness sake. She hunched her shoulders a little as they entered the camp. That was wrong, since her Lifewreathe Barricade formations had earned her entry into the Inner Sect two years ago, and the resources had allowed her to reach the third realm, she was nobility now.

"Stand up straight," Hou Min muttered out of the corner of her mouth. "We are their hope. And stop apologizing."

Nie Ai winced but straightened up as they approached the command tent, she could hear the soldiers tramping out from the surrounding woods, and felt a flutter of relief. "I really have not done anything worthy of recognition."

"You have the strangest pride," Hou Min said with exasperation as they entered the command tent. It was a sparse thing, holding only the table on which the communication array was carved, and a pair of padded meditation benches. "This is unprecedented you silly girl. Why do you think Sir Wang is still at the groves? The spirits are inordinately hostile right now."

Nie Ai frowned as she lowered herself onto the bench. It felt good to sit, she had been dashing around the camp for the better part of three days now with barely a moment to recover beyond the restorative effect of her barricades. "I'm sorry," she sighed. "I just… I thought I would be able to perform this task on my own."

Hou Min sighed, leaning back on her own bench. "My, I liked this sort of thing more when it was just exercises at Lord Wang and Lady Ling's parties you know? I'm not meant for this sort of wilderness nonsense."

"It was less stressful," Nie Ai murmured. That was the rub wasn't it. Lady Ling, a girl two years younger was capable of so much more. She could forget defending a village, she was hardly capable of taking care of a logging camp. She admired Lady Ling, but it was disheartening all the same.

"I saw no graves, nor sensed death. You held without casualties. I am sure the Sect will be pleased with that. The new village construction will not be delayed much," Hou Min pointed out, cutting through her gloom. "I am certain that is worth a few ranks."

Nie Ai silently began to cycle her qi, beginning the second breathing exercise of the Argnt Genesis art. "It may be," she allowed. She wasn't sure that changed how she felt. "Have you been successful Hou Min?"

Hou Min smirked, and Nie Ai knew her deflection had been successful. "Naturally. Lord Wang himself praised me for my work maintaining the convoy's tactical awareness."

She put on an encouraging smile for her friend. She knew the girl fancied the young lord, so she must have been very pleased. "It's good that your skill is being recognized," she said quietly.

"If you stopped apologizing for everything, I am sure you would receive recognition too," Hou Min sniffed, returning to the original subject. It seemed that she was not so easily deflected in full. "Really Nie Ai, I don't understand your reticence. Do you wish to rise or not?"

Fidgeting with her gown, Nie Ai didn't reply at first. She did not have an easy answer. She had been no one in the Outer Sect. She had not been involved in the factional clashes, or that terrible business between Yan Renshu and Wen Cao. She had just been another crafter, just barely squeaking through to the Inner Sect.

She suspected that it was only the destructive conflicts of her year to allow even that much. Then, with access to the resources of the Inner Sect she had reached third realm, and found herself far over her head. She was just a daughter of a craftsmen, she had been taught the skills to make a good wife, not… any of the things that were expected of her as a noble.

And somehow, the idea of just accepting one of the offers to marry into another clan pricked the pride she had. She knew it was silly, but she had earned her rank, giving it up just to be someone's wife was…

That was why she admired Lady Ling in the end. She was always so sure of herself, unaffected by the people who wished to tear her down, and she had accomplished so much. Already become the left hand of the provinces heir. She was sure that Lady Ling did not receive any letters implying that her station was unsustainable.

Even her friendship with Hou Min was something of Lady Ling's doing. While she was fond of her friend now, she knew that without her prodding the proud girl would probably have never even given her a second look.

But Nie Ai was not lady Ling, and she was afraid of what would happen if even half of the attention that fell on Lady Ling came to her. She remembered well what had happened to Yan Renshu, when his work had showed up a real noble.

Nie Ai let out a startled squeak as a knuckle was rapped against her forhead. Hou Min stood over her with a frown. "You are spinning off into your own head again, and not as a matter of cultivation."

She frowned back. "...I just do not want to attract too much attention."

Hou Min sniffed. "I am going to ask Lord Wang to commend you for your defense. So that is too bad."

Nie Ai looked away, still fidgeting with her gown. She had to wonder if Lady Ling had planned this when she introduced them. Had she already drawn too much attention?

 

[yrsillar]

AN: One special rush commission bought to you by a particular fan. Also vote will be closing in two hours.

The rain had not stopped for a week now.

The garden had been churned to muck by the pounding rain and the unpaved paths and roads in the town had become impassable. All industry had shut down as people huddled inside. The immortals were going to war against the barbarians, it was said. The storm was the wrath of the Sect's lord as he marched against their foes. Fields would be ruined, streets and homes damaged, but that was better than suffering under the hands of the Cloud.

The Sects protection had given them many prosperous years, they could suffer one poor one. Besides, folk of the Sect had ensured the harvest was in before they began their march. What was a little winter flooding? Especially when the worst of the water flowed unnaturally out of the town, filling the deep reservoirs that the townsfolk had been frantically digging in place of other labors.

Ling Qingge had to admit, she still did not understand the minds of her neighbors. She almost spilled the tea in her hands as a tremendous boom of thunder shook the window panes, a blinding flash lightning the far silhouettes of the mountains.

"Hoh, that was a big one. I hope Lord Yuan is giving the scum a good drubbing," the elderly woman across from her said. She smiled a toothless smile, peering out the window at the driving rain.

"I pray it is so," Ling Qingge said, holding her cup all the tighter. Even in the warmth of their dining room, the moist chill of the air seemed to penetrate. "Please excuse my nerves, Madam Fong."

The older woman chuckled. "You're excused, Madam Ling. First time experiencing the Lords at work?"

Ling Qingge nodded shallowly. Since her daughter had given her reign over the household, she had begun tentatively reaching out to other households. A lowly woman such as herself could not show her face to true nobles, but here in White Cloud Town, there were many households like her own. The families of disciples who had reached the third realm, as well as the families of soldiers.

Madam Fong was one of these, the Grandmother of an officer in the Sect army, her son had brought her here, and now his son had taken his father's place. Unlike Qingge, the old woman had fully achieved her awakening and others in the district said that she was nearly a hundred years old.

"I've experienced some measure of what my daughter is capable of, but it is not the same," Ling Qingge admitted. It was simply accepted that this terrible storm, spanning the whole region was the work of one man.

"They feel so far above us, but they're just striplings themselves," Madam Fong agreed absently, still watching the rain. "It'll drive you to distraction if you think too hard about it."

"I am not certain how one can avoid doing so," Ling Qingge replied, the wind gusted and the rafters above their heads shook, creaking ominously. If she did not know that Biyu was napping in the 'panic' room her daughter had commissioned, she was sure that she would not be able to sit still at all. Somehow, the expense did not seem so absurd any more.

"It takes practice," Madam Fong said. Light flashed in the sky outside again and the old woman didn't so much as flinch as the house rattled. "Let me thank you again for letting me in. I told that woman last year that she shouldn't have put off reinforcing the roof."

"You're speaking of your late son's wife?" Ling Qingge asked cautiously, happy enough to have a distraction. "Will she be fine in these conditions?"

"She's a realm higher than me, so I'd hope so. That boy didn't choose so badly, but now and then her frugality gets us in trouble. I hear your house has a bit of a problem in the other way though," Madam Fong said thoughtfully, taking up her cup in a trembling hand.

"My daughter is very generous," Ling Qingge allowed. When a member of a ducal clan was coming to their home so regularly, rumors were bound to fly. In this case, the truth had been the best remedy.

"I don't envy you, Madam Ling," the old woman said. "I have enough trouble with my grandson, and the Immortal guests he brings about. Your girl, is it true that she's got the Duchess' ear?"

"She is sworn to her grace's daughter, no more," Ling Qingge replied quickly.

"I see why you worry after your nerves then, Madam Ling," she chuckled.

Ling Qingge sighed, restraining the flinch that tried to come as outside the thunder roared again. "Do you have any wisdom on the matter, Madam Fong."

"Don't think about it," the old woman said pleasantly, savoring her tea. She raised her cup as if to toast as the wind gusted again. She seemed to ignore Ling Qingge's flat look. "If I'm being less pithy Madam, do you go about your day worrying about whether you've offended the spirits?"

"I suppose not, I know the proper rituals well enough and the temple is kind enough to instruct new residents on the local ones," Ling Qingge replied. "I'm not sure your insinuation is correct."

"Isn't it though?" Madam Fong huffed. "We make offerings and obesience, and in return, we get protection, prosperity, and but sometimes…"

She trailed off, gesturing to the storm.
Ling Qingge was silent as well, listening to the wail of the wind and the pounding of the rain. Once, when she had first arrived here, she had christened her daughter a 'little god' in her thoughts. It was a whimsical thing, but sometimes it seemed she was not wrong. In the tales Ling Qi told her and in the things she left out, Ling Qingge had begun to have an idea of just how high the heavens were.

The Sect's mobilization had simply made it obvious.

She hoped that Ling Qi was safe. Her daughter had told her that she was not going to fight, but to meet with some strange foreigners. Was that better, or worse, she wondered. At least if she was fighting, she would be under the protection of her Sect's elders.

"All we can do is pray, for safety, triumph, and homecomings," her guest murmured. "Because even gods can die."

Ling Qingge silently observed the unrelenting storm as thunder boomed again and lightning tore the sky. In her heart she prayed, that her daughter would find her way home again.

 

[yrsillar]

There has been no greater time of woe in our Empire than the Strife of Twin Emperors. At no other time, not even the death of the Sage Emperor himself wrought such chaos and death, for his children had the wisdom not to turn the weapons and might of the Empire against itself. Not even the great sages and ministers are capable of tallying the true number of the dead in that millennium of terror, nor calculate the damage wrought.

Already, much is being made of Shang Tsung and his son Shang Cao's sorcery. That they bound the minds of men, and brought to service their followers through mere coercion. This, I spit upon as a lie. A necessary lie perhaps, to bury the blood that has been shed, but a lie all the same. The armies of the Thousand Lakes and the Ebon Rivers needed no such things to march and battle anew. I, a son of Jing, laugh at the notion that the soulwrights of the Sands needed more than Shang Tsung's acknowledgement and funding to turn their arts to his cause.

In seeking to bury this truth, I fear that the seeds of our ultimate dissolution are being sowed as we speak. My countrymen, now unprotected by their ancestor, groan under the reparations demanded of them, though they were no more guilty than any others in this madness. The Horned Lords vanished, and those of a mind to hear can feel the Father's Hearth convulse with whatever madness took them. Then men of the south tear into each other still, their own strife unending. The brutal Xi rise on conquest and death, and I see no peace coming from the emperor's enthronement of such folk.

Shang Tsung was no beast or demon. He was merely a man. The younger of the brothers by mere minutes, his talent shook the heavens. Whatever he may have done, it must be remembered that he was a genius, whose works could have transformed the empire. The great cisterns and waterworks, which transformed so much of the Celestial Peaks into livable land were his works. The new construction techniques, which saw roads pushed deeper into the wilderness than ever before were his works.

Now they burn and crumble, just as the libraries and archives do. The new imperial decrees which demand security and protection for 'dangerous knowledge' have seen dozens of Sects shuttered. The Bai have stripepd their bondsmen of great swathes of their libraries, and locked away what has not been burned in their vaults. Even proud Zheng has submitted and enforced the new law upon their wild lands.

This is a mistake. Shang Cao wrought atrocities with his Father's knowledge, when at last the war turned against him, but this is not a good reason for what was done. A curse upon those who would rather bind us to ignorance rather than face the true causes of this.

Even should it cost my life, I will put this to paper, and cast it into the realm of mind and dream. Shang Tsung should have been emperor. The Bai and the Lu, whose voices ultimately drowned out those who pointed out Hu Shou's unfitness for the throne, bear the weight for beginning the madness. When the Emperor ascended so suddenly, their insistence upon the right of first birth, even in the face of obvious incapability showed their hand.

When the people of the Celestial Peaks rose against the fool emperor and cast him down in favor of Shang Tsung, it was made obvious. Yet the Bai are ever mighty, and the foolish mercy which spared Hu Shou's life became Shang Tsung's greatest mistake. When the armies of the Lakes marched through the passes to 'restore order' it was mere prelude.

When Shang Tsung's artifice saw the White Serpent and her armies thrown back by the then pitiful and disorganized forces of the Celestial Peaks, the Strife began. The Zheng, previously silent, set themselves at his side, and my own countrymen, drawn by the promise of prominence for their arts, joined as well. Then came the Lu , striking the flank of their hated foes, the Zheng. The Savage Seas surged forth, their beasts falling upon the Sands, and the Horned Lords dithered with agents of both, refusing commitment.

War ravaged the Empire for the first time since the unification. Brutal and glorious both, the armies of the Emperor's marched and burned their own lands. The crafts of Shang Tsung, once spent upon infrastructure, turned to death. The great Throne palaces, defunct since the age of the Sage, thrummed with new life, and hurled back the serpent's warrior and assassin alike. So many wonders came from the workshops of Shang. Who now knows the makings of the Heavenforge Titans, whose footsteps pressed new lakes into the land, and whose mouths birthed a thousand iron soldiers in a day? Who can say that they could build again the Eight Winds Engine, which commanded the sky against the weather sorcery of the Lu?

Yet it would amiss to not speak of the horrors as well. The Soul Crumbler, taking in blood and lives and emitting terrible rays which shattered the cultivation and souls of their targets, unleashing wailing hordes of broken ghosts in the wake of their shots. The Nightmare Walkers, whose skittering steps warped and tore the realm of dream and split open bleeding wounds from which spilled the darkest nightmares.

More horrors than wonders came as the centuries passed, and the lines moved ever against him. The Bai's generals were too canny, and even in loss, inflicted great pain. The Xuan's beasts raided endlessly, and our people starved under the appetite of their beasts. The Zheng fought bravely, but without organization, and each fell alone.

The ending was inevitable, even the people of the Peaks turned from Shang Tsung as his mind rotted, and the revenant that had been a great man became more and more a puppet of his crueler son, nothing more than a tinker of atrocities. The Zheng turned as well, unable to countenance the new strategies issuing from the Dragon Throne.

Then came the end, the burning of the Imperial City, mythologized already a bare century later. They say that the mad Shang, knowing defeat was nigh wished to burn the palace and deny it to their foes. This too is a lie. My masters sought no such things, dreaming of victory even at the end. No, they sought instead the foundations of the Imperial Palace, the great work of the Sage and his son.

For their meddling, she awoke. They say the Celestial Dragon hurled down ten thousand bolts of lightning, slaying every supporter of the vile Shang. I saw no such mercy. When the second sun lit in the sky, and the lightning fell, there was no mercy or distinction. A city of million souls emptied and burned in an instant, with only a random scattering of survivors throughout the palace, which stood unmarked, save for the ashen shadow of Shang Tsung, imprinted upon the wall of the Imperial Throne Hall.

It is a distressing thing, to see reality changed before your eyes by rumor and stories.

--Excerpt from the papers of Sage Jing Sungho, held in the restricted section of the Imperial archive.

 

[yrsillar]

AN: And here's a new public commission

Once, the worlds of man and spirit were far less separate. Before the lords of the forest turned to the north, before the temples were fractured and humbled, the people of the Emerald Seas worked much more closely with their spirit neighbors. It was common, in those long ago days for spirits to manifest themselves at their festivals, not merely for the lords, but the people as well. Once the powers to communicate and bargain with spirits were far more widely spread among the many priesthoods, whose power existed separately from the warriors and chiefs who would become lords and magistrates.

In those days, there were those who were called the Spirit Seekers. Initiates from many temples followed this path. They were the trailblazers, those with too much wanderlust in their hearts to spend their days conducting rituals and bargains in already settled land. Many were simply young men and women, unable to yet settle, but among some grew old under the title, their desires never fading.

It was the role of these Seekers to travel the deadly paths of beasts and spirits, and walk the most ancient groves. It was their role to speak and treat with the beings who had never accepted human kinship nor dealmaking. They acted to keep the malice of the old growth and the star tainted from rising to the point of the unstoppable flood. And, where they were most successful, their role gave way to new settlement, where old and hoary spirits could be made amenable to human worship.

It was a deadly path, for the spirits of the world are unpredictable and often unkind, yet it was an honored one, providing a path for those who could not live well performing more toilsome tasks. Yet it was an honorable path, and happy would be the people when a Spirit Seeker came home, to spin tales of their travels and bargains, like the King of old come again. Of the new paths available to the people, who yet wandered, and the new resources available to the people who tilled.

But the lords grew cruel and proud as the Horned Lords withdrew. Control, was their demand. They began to call the wanderers thieves and bandits. Many were put to the sword for daring wander the same roads that they had taken for generations, made criminal by inked paper and men who had never walked them. The northern men came to the people who tilled and demanded their grain for protection, protection we did not need.

The northern men came south in ever growing number, unmindful of pacts and bargains, and began to make their own with fire and axe. Some among the Seekers confronted them in this, and were at best ignored, and at worst cast in chains for defiance of the lords.

Then the lords of the forest realized that the Horned Lords had vanished and all restraint left them.

Order. Control. This was the beat laid out by their wardrums. This was the song of the fires that burned the groves and our temples. This was the demand of their priests who said that our rituals were wrong, though they had worked for a thousand generations and more. This was the crack of the whip as the last of the wanders were collared and sent to toil under the earth for the metals that the north men loved.

It was in this time that the Spirit Seekers turned to war. The voices of those who had long sought peace instead rose in wrath and with blood and spirit stirred the forest to wakefulness. How the north men fled when millennial groves tore apart their carts and wagons, and the rivers drowned their cruel soldiers! For a time, the people who remained found reprieve, guarded by those who sought.

But the Xi rose, and with them came the dragon men, who ruled them in the cursed lands of farthest north. These came in gleaming mail, with weapons far beyond the Xi and the north men. With terrible weapons and more terrible spirits at their call. The golden eyed serpents took the rivers, and the laughing killers shattered grove and hill under their staves.

And all the while the dragon men and the Xi marched south, ever south, and one by one the Seekers died. Let it nod be said that they did not exact their blood price! That they did not die heroes one and all!

For many decades, whole generations we did resist them, fighting for every hill and grove. But the north men were too many and too strong. The will of some among the peoples wills grew weak. The traitor tribes turned against us, and all was lost. The dragon men and their kin went back to the lands beyond, and only the cruel Xi remained.

Their priests replaced ours, their rituals replaced ours, and no more did the spirits come among the people. Only the lords and their chosen priests could speak to the spirits they said. All else would bring misfortune. Misfortune for them. Of the Spirit Seekers, some fled, some resisted. All who fought were slain.

Who knows then where the last of them have gone? We know that some survived, but do they still live in the deep groves, alive from their bargains? Do they still fight on against the north men and their blades of iron? Rarely still news reaches us of mines broken and north men vanishing into the woods. But is this merely the act of angered spirits or something more?

We cannot say, but we must hope. We must hope that they remain, and that one day, we will find the strength to be free of the north men once more.

--The words of a forgotten elder, preserved on the wind and the flame.

***

The recovered techniques of the rebels do contain some interesting insights which may be useful even to more civilized speakers. Should my lord give the word, the archive will begin studying the ways in which their insights might be distilled into an art fit for use by our scouts and speakers.

Highest regards to the honorable Duke Xi Hung, Master of the Wild.

 

[yrsillar]

Gu Xiulan wondered when her chambers had become so dull.

Her bed took up most of the floor space, an edifice of expensive silk with a mattress and pillows stuffed with the finest down, harvested from the birds of the great aviary meticulously cared for by the Gu's servant families. Yet she found herself no more comfortable laying upon it than she did the stone benches and pallets of the Sect. Her wardrobe, carved from rich red wood imported from the ebon rivers, held countless gowns and accessories. Yet they seemed dull to her eyes, less desirable than the relative handful of gowns she had commissioned herself.

On her writing desk, there sat a half finished letter to Ling Qi, the characters written on it slashed out by messy smudges of ink. She still wasn't sure what word to put to paper, and the crumbled balls of paper strewn across the desk marked her previous attempts. But, that was not really what was bothering her.

Gu Xiulan looked into the full length mirror set against her wall and frowned.

The person who stared back at her frowned as well. She wore a gleaming breastplate, lacquered in burnished red and gilt. The weight of the mail backed shirt beneath hung strangely on her shoulders. Uncomfortably, she adjusted the gleaming gold armguards on her wrists. Each one was a talisman far stronger than her old gloves, the sparkling clear jewels that rested over the back of her hands promised to enhance any heaven or fire qi that passed through her arms.

It was even a little soothing, feeling some amount of the lightning that crackled eternally in her ruined arm drawn off into the jewel. They cinched the mail backed cloth of her sleeves tight around her wrists as well, ensuring the cloth wouldn't get in the way.

A sturdy belt of black leather cinched her mail shirt tight around her hips and from it hung red and black tassets of hardened leather, shaped and painted like the feathers of a phoenix. It was the pants she wore beneath, tucked into high riding boots that discomfited her the most. If she put on the plumed helm that sat on the table beside her and wiped away her cosmetics, she could probably pass for an effeminate man. Armor was hardly made to accentuate the figure after all.

It was a gift from her father, to mark her first campaign beside him. She was thankful, still so thankful for his understanding, and his desire to help her. So why did she feel so uncomfortable in this armor?

"Xiulan, are you really still standing around in your room?" A voice startled her, and Gu Xiulan's eyes darted to the side.

There in the mirror, she saw her sister reflected. Gu Huifen was the next youngest daughter of the Gu family after Yanmei. She was almost a perfect reflection of their mother. She was small and graceful, and wore a many layered gown of shimmering blue and white silks. Unlike Yanmei whose sharper features took more after their father, Huifen's soft features and wide eyes were the image of feminine delicacy.

"Elder Sister, I'm sorry for the delay," Gu Xiulan said turning away from the troubling reflection.

Her older sister smiled indulgently. "It's fine. I imagine it must have been troubling strapping all of that on yourself."

It wasn't as if any of the maids had any experience with this kind of garb, Xiulan thought grumpily. "I still shouldn't have made you wait," she dismissed airily. "Shall we be off then?"

"Certainly," Gu Huifen tittered, stepping out of her doorway.

As they left her room, Gu Xiulan had to stop herself from toying with the straps of her bracers again. "Who has arrived then?"

Gu Huifen's smile narrowed her eyes. "Mother is still quite cross with you and father."

"I see," Gu Xiulan murmured. She had hoped Mother would at least come to this little seeing off party.

"But, Daiyu and Xiurong have made the time for it," Huifen continued. "Naturally, Wenling and Xiuying have sent their regards, but the Tong clan's route has them in the north and Father Fortress is well out east at the moment."

She hadn't expected her eldest sisters to return from their homes, so Gu Xiulan wasn't surprised. They had their husbands and families to tend too. "Naturally so. How is your engagement going, Sister?"

"Very well!" Huifen replied. "Did you know Shang slew a full grown Ashwyrm just last winter? His prowess continues to impress."

Gu Xiulan nodded along. Huifen's fiance had been a mere soldier, but like Ling Qi he had risen swiftly to a rank beyond his birth. Unlike Ling Qi he had not turned down the offer to marry into the Gu clan. The pulse of warmth from the pendant hidden under her armor stopped her irritation from growing too much. "Hm, he must be nearing the peak of the third realm then."

Her sister nodded cheerfully. She herself was only two stages above Xiulan, despite being twenty years her elder. How could she be satisfied with that? Especially with her husband to be growing so quickly?

"Ah, it really is a shame that Fan boy turned out to be such a disappointment for you though," Huifen sighed. They were passing through the well appointed halls now, the ceiling of glittering glass bathing them in rays of comforting heat.
"A shame indeed," Xiulan replied tersely.

"Still, you could have lived in the luxury of Fanjian sister," Huifen sighed, shaking her head. "I really don't understand how you could give such a thing up."

"There are things more valuable than luxury sister," Gu Xiulan sniffed. Things like not being bound to an insufferable weakling with no ambition.

"You always were an odd one Xiulan," Huifen laughed. "I still remember you being dragged before mother all covered in stable muck and made to explain yourself."

Gu Xiulan felt her cheeks heat with remembered embarrassment and looked away. "It is not unladylike to have an interest in riding."

"Riding is one thing, playing in the stables is another," Huifen replied.

She felt a warm breeze from ahead as they approached the open doors to the balcony where they were gathering. It opened to the air, overlooking the city below. The polished glass of the exterior rose into a waist high wall which cupped the balcony floor, flowers and vines were planted in beds atop the wall, dangling over the edge. Around the space were set plush couches and seats which could fit a dozen odd people. Right now there were only two.

Her sisters were almost polar opposites of each other in appearance. Gu Daiyu was a tall, whip thin woman in a deep red gown, and her midnight black hair jangled with the elaborate ornamentation woven into it. Her expression and posture were stern and impeccable. Gu Xiurong on the other hand, was no taller than Huifen or their mother, and had the same soft, pretty features. Unlike them however, Xiurong's figure was a touch more plush. Her pale green gown was a simpler affair with only a few layers and her hair was a dark brown, bound in a simple braid.

She also had a baby cradled in her arms, and was cooing soothingly to him.

"Xiulan," Daiyu greeted her with a small tip of her head. "It is good to see you again, little sister."

Before she could say anything Xiurong had looked up as well. "It is! And don't you look dashing."

Xiulan smiled, despite the condescending feel of those words. She was hardly some child playing dress up. "Greetings to you as well sisters. I see that your delivery went well Xiurong. What is his name?"

Coming out onto the balcony, she peered down at the child. If she was honest he looked like a pink wriggling lump like any other baby. Only his dark hair and the red band of silk around his belly marked with formations to help endure the heat of Phoenixhome marked him a Gu. She had known that her fourth elder sister was expecting when she had left for the Sect, but it still felt strange to see it.

"I've named him Jinhai. Say hello to your little Auntie Jinhai!" Xiurong cooed, shifting her hold to let the child look up at her.

Jinhai made an incoherent little noise, a bubble of spit popping on his lips. Xiulan supposed that would have to count.

Xiulan smiled awkwardly, and offered the fingers of her good hand for him to grasp at. "Hello nephew."

At her side Huifen covered her mouth with her sleeve and laughed. Xiulan shot her a dirty look. It wasn't as if she knew what to do with a baby.

"Your health is better than I expected, given everything I have heard," Daiyu's even tone broke through the little tableau, dimming the mood.

Gu Xiulan straightened her shoulders as she looked up her third eldest sister. She could feel the faint static of her perception arts as Daiyu traced the lines of her scars and lightning filled meridians. Gu Daiyu was both a physician and pillmaker, fully licensed at the age of thirty. She was the next highest in cultivation after Yanmei and their eldest sister, but had no interest in competing to be their father's heir.

"I have adjusted well enough to my condition, and the gains were worth what small pain I have suffered," Gu Xiulan replied waspishly.

Xiurong's smile faded. "Oh Xiulan, you don't have to put on a strong face."

"I'm not," Gu Xiulan replied hotly.

Daiyu raised her hands in surrender. "Let us not argue sisters. I apologize for bringing the matter up. Xiulan, I am pleased to see you in passing good health."

Gu Xiulan forced the defensive words that wanted to spill out down. "I appreciate your concern sister, but I am happy with my choice."

Was she though? Gu Xiulan had to wonder as their talk turned to lighter things. It felt strange, standing here with her sisters discussing fashions and gossip from court, catching up on events at home. It came back to the armor Gu Xiulan thought, contrasting against their colorful gowns. Her sisters discussed their husbands, fiances and children and she had nothing at all to say.

She had gotten everything she wanted, so why did she still feel so discontent?