Also I wonder who else is gonna be on the mission. I assume there will be plenty of people Ling Qi doesnt know, but hopefully there will be more familiar faces besides Su Ling. Shen Hu probably could do great in the tunnels, so hopefully we see him down there with us.
Ling Qi let out a huff, she still didn't much like getting ganged up on, even if it did feel a little nostalgic. She stole a glance at the back of Su Ling's head. Xiulan might have left, but that had just shown her that she needed to keep her friends close while she could.
I wonder if delving deep under the earth will get us something nice for Darkness Month.
Speaking of, did we ever learn what the dagger we took to the throat and then looted did? The Inventory page hasn't been updated recently with the exception of the Cai Resist talisman.
I wonder if delving deep under the earth will get us something nice for Darkness Month.
Speaking of, did we ever learn what the dagger we took to the throat and then looted did? The Inventory page hasn't been updated recently with the exception of the Cai Resist talisman.
I wonder if delving deep under the earth will get us something nice for Darkness Month.
Speaking of, did we ever learn what the dagger we took to the throat and then looted did? The Inventory page hasn't been updated recently with the exception of the Cai Resist talisman.
It oneshot us then left us life threateningly poisoned. That's overkill if anything. Sun Liling oneshot us when she was an entire realm above us and all she had to show for it was a broken flute. A mundane, wooden flute. Not even a talisman!
It oneshot us then left us life threateningly poisoned. That's overkill if anything. Sun Liling oneshot us when she was an entire realm above us and all she had to show for it was a broken flute.
Ooh, details. Li Suyin sitting this one out is interesting, but kinda welcome. Means the actual mission is probably not actively engaging in super science, which should make it more accessible to our efforts, narratively. If we're going deep, stealth stuff probably has more value too. Also, just putting this out there but Dream-porting allies through walls with us is very valuable. Main question on team composition I have now is whether Yan Renshu is coming along. I think he probably is. Shen Hu is also an earth guy, but he's shown a strong interest in defence; I don't think he's as likely to appear on forward excursions.
On Su Ling and her discomfort with Ling Qi's mother, I wonder if it's related to her internal thoughts about "stupid instincts" or whatever it was, from her interlude. There, it looks like she's unfortunately internally rationalized totally normal teenage (and otherwise) attraction as being an artifact of her heritage. Her literally man-eating heritage. It's kind of interesting that Su Ling has her own issues with intimacy, just from the opposite direction as Ling Qi, while still being linked to the occupation of her mother. Iirc, Su Ling was present when Ling Qi mentioned her mother was a prostitute to Li Suyin. The discomfort could be Su Ling failing to square her negative associations with female 'promiscuity' with the reality of Ling Qingge, though obviously not with an appreciation to the huge differences in circumstance involved.
Ah that was a sweet chapter, the news that Thousand Lakes love dance is fun too I can imagine the must've been partying after Meizhen won the Tournament, if we ever do have time for the party inviting all of Ling's friends we need their to be a dance contest.
As for the Gnawing Critters I'd still like to bag a few of them with Zengui hogtying them, and if they resist well its not like they Need that limb attached, after all we could always give them to Li Suyin for Research Purposes. Plus I'm still holding out we could get someone to dive into whatever these things call a brain for info.
Ling Qingge frowned. "I cannot object then, assuming my daughter remembers her words."
Ling Qi sighed, she was really never going to live that down was she? Well, she supposed that it wasn't really a big deal, given the maneuvers success. "I'm not quite that flighty Mother. I won't be gone long I'm sure."
What was with Ling Qingge looking to Su Ling for confirmation!
"Probably not more than a week," the other girl grudgingly confirmed.
"Sis-y be good," Biyu added gravely.
Ling Qi huffed, she was being attacked here. "Should we really be loitering like this?" she asked with great dignity, gesturing to the man whose stall they stood in front of. He was looking a little nervous.
You know if Ling Qi doesn't live this down, her fief is going to be confused every time people gang up on the Baroness like this and her response is to act like a small child who doesn't appreciate being scolded.
Biyu had continued chattering away while she had been thinking, and the little girl hadn't even noticed her distraction. Not that Ling Qi had really shown it. It was surprisingly easy to split her attention and answer her little sisters endless stream of questions about birds and flowers and garden fish while simultaneously debating with Sixiang on the pros and cons of gifts.
Nobody seems to have remarked on this yet but...Biyu's got a nice little interest in nature and Ling Qi is just absentmindedly answering, which given this is Qi here probably means she's actually giving the academic readups because she doesn't know any of the stuff that a small child would normally have learned, until she started raising her academics with cultivation.
Biyu's going to be a veritable little font of weird factoids after this.
"Momma! Morning! Sis-y is here!" Biyu announced happily, seeing their Mother.
"She is," Ling Qingge agreed, taking in the room at a glance. Biyu's empty bowl, the nanny standing quietly by the wall, even Ling Qi's own plate, with one slice of apple left. "Good morning Biyu."
Ling Qi dipped her head toward her mother, savoring the crisp flavor of the last slice of fruit. "Feeling a little better Mother?"
"I am," Qingge agreed, taking a seat at the table. She gave Biyu's Nanny a thankful nod, and the other older woman offered a bow and quietly sidled out of the room. "My recovery was surprisingly quick."
"And just think, you're only getting started," Ling Qi said with a smile. "Ah, what are your plans for today anyway? I have some extra time, but I also don't want to be a bother."
Her mother gave her a curious look as she reached out to begin carefully cleaning Biyu up. The little girl squirmed under her attention, but didn't complain aloud.
Ling Qi nodded in understanding, making yourself part of the community was important. Not for her perhaps, but for her Mother, who obviously didn't want to isolate herself in the house. "Hm, why don't I go along today then."
Ling Qingge gave her a surprised look, but seemed hesitant. She didn't look like she wanted to voice it though. For a moment, Ling Qi didn't understand, but…
"I get it," Sixiang chuckled.
Ling Qi winced, she really did… stand out. "Don't worry Mother, I like to relax at home, but I can restrain myself."
"No, I did not mean to imply…" Her Mother began but Ling Qi waved her off.
She took a single deep breath and took hold of herself, dispersing the thick invisible manifestation of her aura. The room immediately grew a touch brighter, a touch warmer. The faint twinkling light in her hair went out, and the music that followed her at the edge of hearing went silent.
Biyu was the first to respond, staring at Ling Qi with wide eyes. "Sis-y is different, why?"
Ling Qingge merely looked at her in surprise. "...Well if it doesn't trouble you. That is fine. Just allow me to get a bite to eat before we set out."
The Sect's war footing was not immediately obvious, here at the foot of White Cloud mountain. At least, not if you weren't looking for it. The guards, typically old men and young men had been supplemented by soldiers, and their equipment while seeming the same to mortal eyes had clearly seen recent upgrades and refitting. Beneath the paved streets of the inner district, dormant formation work hummed with new life, and on the walls, the squads on duty had been subtly reinforced.
As for the people themselves, they seemed remarkably unworried, the general atmosphere was one of wary cheer. It made Ling Qi wonder how much information the mortals in town really got from the Sect. Ling Qi didn't say anything about it to her Mother though, she already knew more than most, Ling Qi suspected.
Hmm...paving the whole town shouldn't be too difficult for the Sect would it? Given the presence of a burrowing enemy, getting the flooring converted to stone would be a priority at some point, though its tough enough labor that you'd need quite a few Yellows to pull it off, and Greens are a little in short supply.
It had its differences though, and she did not think it merely one of perspective. Whatever the reason, Argent Sect's town was a happier place than the outer ring of Tonghou. It certainly seemed to have done her Mother good. She watched her Mother engage with people, both customers and vendors, and what she saw was encouraging. Ling Qingge seemed more confident in her dealings, less withdrawn and bowed than she had been when she had first arrived from Tonghou. It felt good to see.
While Tonghou is a shithole, this town IS basically the 'capital' of the Argent Sect's territory. And as with any territory under the direct authority of its lord, the systematic abuses are curtailed: the worst abusers tend to be the middle-tier authorities far from scrutiny.
Top level authorities gain too little from petty abuse to bother, while the mid level authorities abuse is effectively, damaging the stuff of the top.
For her part, Ling Qi kept her own peace, using subtle flows of qi to downplay her presence and appearance so that she didn't cause too much of a stir as she followed her Mother, holding Biyu's hand.
She was content with that, at least until she spotted a familiar head of shaggy dark hair through the crowd.
"Su Ling!" she called, and her friends furred ears twitched. She wasn't the only one. Ling Qi noted sheepishly that several people near her had startled, her greeting having overridden her effort to remain inconspicuous.
"Some things just don't change," Sixiang chuckled.
"...Hi," Su Ling replied. Visibly unsure of how to deal with the little girls attention. Around them traffic was resuming. Surprisingly, it seemed that Su Ling's friendly greeting had cause the townspeople to relax.
Heroic defense of the town does that, but I think its more down to her evident care for mortals. Su Ling cares for the smallfolk, and with her breakthrough you can likely feel that care.
"...Yeah," Su Ling said, she hid it well enough from mortal eyes, but Ling Qi was increasingly certain that Su Ling was very uncomfortable with Ling Qi's mother. She wouldn't speculate as to why.
"Well, since we're both out, why not walk together? You can help reassure everyone that I'm not too scary," she said self deprecatingly. While she was keeping her qi suppressed, she knew the richness of her garb was a little alarming still.
Well now, thats nice for Suyin, if she's already being considered an unexpendable asset at Green.
But also that sounds like we're going to be on a smash and grab raid.
"I hope it is one you are well prepared for," Her Mother said warily, returning.
"I think I am," Ling Qi replied confidently, meeting her Mother's eyes.
"And you, Miss Su?" Ling Qingge asked, breaking eye contact after a tense second.
"Ling Qi's more capable than I am," Su Ling grumbled, looking unhappy at the question. "S'pose I'd be glad to have her along."
Ling Qingge frowned. "I cannot object then, assuming my daughter remembers her words."
Ling Qi sighed, she was really never going to live that down was she? Well, she supposed that it wasn't really a big deal, given the maneuvers success. "I'm not quite that flighty Mother. I won't be gone long I'm sure."
What was with Ling Qingge looking to Su Ling for confirmation!
"Probably not more than a week," the other girl grudgingly confirmed.
Mortals cant really tell the cai robe is power armor. They can merely see that to own a dress of that high quality, you'd have to be extraordinarily wealthy, thus a cultivator.
Mortals cant really tell the cai robe is power armor. They can merely see that to own a dress of that high quality, you'd have to be extraordinarily wealthy, thus a cultivator.
The cultivators can tell, the mortals merely can tell she's wearing this inhumanly resplendent robe thats probably magical. Its intimidating in its own right, beyond being a cultivator who dresses more sedately/ordinarily(Su Ling preferred hunting garb IIRC)
This is partially because for a while, Ling Qi didn't know how to do it. There's a scene much earlier in Threads when she's visiting town and reflecting she doesn't know how to get to a middle between drawing everyone's attention and using stealth so they literally don't notice her. She wonders how the Elders manage it.
I suppose she learned how to do it off-screen at some point, probably when she began to better understand how to manipulate her domain.
Well now, thats nice for Suyin, if she's already being considered an unexpendable asset at Green.
But also that sounds like we're going to be on a smash and grab raid.
I'm getting Divided Loyalties flashbacks here. It's like the good old days when Mathilde would drop by the skaven warrens to terrorize them and hit them until they dropped bags of delicious loot.
Let's hope the gnawing ones drop some top quality treasures when we punch them.
I'm getting Divided Loyalties flashbacks here. It's like the good old days when Mathilde would drop by the skaven warrens to terrorize them and hit them until they dropped bags of delicious loot.
Let's hope the gnawing ones drop some top quality treasures when we punch them.
Su Ling had felt it coming. They had prepared their defences, their resources, their contingencies. It wasn't enough.
The wall of teeth and eyes and misshapen limbs had burst through their lines. An unceasing chorus of pain, fear, and fury poured from its hundreds of mouths as the thing's massive frame broke and bled in pursuit of them through narrow, twisting tunnels. The pieces shed twitched and tumbled in their own tide of pursuit. Though easily dispatched, the cultivators soon stopped any effort to slay them, seeing the greater body take in the corpses and them to stir to unnatural life once more with the tortured mass.
It was one of these lesser forms which had corned Su Ling. She could parry the strike, but delay would be too large. The next monstrocity would reach her too, and the next, and the next; she resolved to make them pay dearly for her hide anyway, channeling enough qi through her arms to obliterate the first attacker the moment flesh met blade. Only, it didn't.
Standing in front of Su Ling with her weapon sticking through its chest was a living hole in the world with no features save familiar ice blue eyes and a slight grin. She only had time to reflect on the fact her pushy friend had definitely stepped out of thin air into the blade's path before the world fell away. A familiar sense of unreality washed over Su Ling as she drowned in a universe made of the same illusions she had once used, only different, tinged with nightmare and insanity. When she found herself on solid ground again, she didn't even have the time to curse before the taller girl gripped her sleeve and tore them both through to a world that never existed and back again, again. It was three more hops into madness before they stopped and scurried into the closest, safest cranny they could find.
So they sat in meditation in a dank dark crevice in the wall recovering what energy they could in this disgusting place while their spirits kept watch. Cracking an eye open, she glanced at her ally. Even that normally airheaded girl who could practically meditate upside down while on fire was wearing a troubled expression and giving off an air of tension. Her eyes opened to meet Su Ling's, concern colouring the gaze. Su Ling opened her mouth to apologize; the other girl was probably going to do most of the work getting out of here, she didn't need interruptions.
"So," the taller girl spoke first with great seriousness, "What's your problem with my mother anyway?"
For the first time that day, Su Ling felt true fear.
On Su Ling and her discomfort with her mother, I wonder if it's related to her internal thoughts about "stupid instincts" or whatever it was, from her interlude.
Nah it's nothing like that. It's just...Su Ling kind of despises her mother, what with her being a serial killer spirit and all. And here she can see a positive mother figure and it's bringing up uncomfortable feelings.
No need to worry though, once it's revealed that she's secret half-siblings with Ling Qi, Qingge will adopt her into the family and Ling Ling will get to enjoy a positive familial relationship.
Well now, thats nice for Suyin, if she's already being considered an unexpendable asset at Green.
But also that sounds like we're going to be on a smash and grab raid.
Eh, too valuable to risk =/= unexpendable. There are tiers and tiers of value and stuff of the same value with different uses, not everything is either chum or gold.
A chess player would not sacrifice a rook for a pawn lest it secures him checkmate. That does not make a rook unexpendable, just less expendable than the pawns. Yet they would give even a queen for victory, ecause only the king is truly unexpendale if the reward is high enough.
It also, on a different note, makes sense for any Sect to have a rule 253 paragraph 3 that states that still growing production assets should not be sent in any mission that is too perilous unless there is an extreme emergency. After all, production students wouldn't be as useful in this kind of situation, it makes no sense for their life to be squandered when the benefit won't even be that great. Moreso because, since they are not face punchers, they are in more danger than everyone else.
So if I was a Sect, even if I had a face puncher with a value of 15 and a production student with a value of 10, I would probably still risk the face puncher, because their speciality means there is lesser risk of me losing anything at all (and even a chance my asset may grow), as even if they fail their objective (which they have a bigger chance to achieve anyway) they have a better capability to survive the fallout. On the other hand, with a production student, it is more likely the result will be loss of an asset, loss of objective, and not much growth even if victory is achieved, a result not coming from incompetence of the production asset, but rather a result stemming solely from mismanagement of human resources.
Nah it's nothing like that. It's just...Su Ling kind of despises her mother, what with her being a serial killer spirit and all. And here she can see a positive mother figure and it's bringing up uncomfortable feelings.
She was raised by her grandmother so she does know what a non serial killer mother looks like. My guess is that that is exactly what makes her so nervous. Su Ling was a feral child and the one person that could handle her was the maternal figure that raised her. And here is another mother to one of her friends acting all... mother like in a way Su Ling responds to.
Eh, too valuable to risk =/= unexpendable. There are tiers and tiers of value and stuff of the same value with different uses, not everything is either chum or gold.
A chess player would not sacrifice a rook for a pawn lest it secures him checkmate. That does not make a rook unexpendable, just less expendable than the pawns. Yet they would give even a queen for victory, ecause only the king is truly unexpendale if the reward is high enough.
It also, on a different note, makes sense for any Sect to have a rule 253 paragraph 3 that states that still growing production assets should not be sent in any mission that is too perilous unless there is an extreme emergency. After all, production students wouldn't be as useful in this kind of situation, it makes no sense for their life to be squandered when the benefit won't even be that great. Moreso because, since they are not face punchers, they are in more danger than everyone else.
So if I was a Sect, even if I had a face puncher with a value of 15 and a production student with a value of 10, I would probably still risk the face puncher, because their speciality means there is lesser risk of me losing anything at all (and even a chance my asset may grow), as even if they fail their objective (which they have a bigger chance to achieve anyway) they have a better capability to survive the fallout. On the other hand, with a production student, it is more likely the result will be loss of an asset, loss of objective, and not much growth even if victory is achieved, a result not coming from incompetence of the production asset, but rather a result stemming solely from mismanagement of human resources.
The issue here being that Suyin is an Impurity specialist and she is vastly better equipped at understanding things happening Below. But they aren't sending her because she's pretty much the only Impurity Specialist at the moment.
The issue here being that Suyin is an Impurity specialist and she is vastly better equipped at understanding things happening Below. But they aren't sending her because she's pretty much the only Impurity Specialist at the moment.
She was raised by her grandmother so she does know what a non serial killer mother looks like. My guess is that that is exactly what makes her so nervous. Su Ling was a feral child and the one person that could handle her was the maternal figure that raised her. And here is another mother to one of her friends acting all... mother like in a way Su Ling responds to.
Given how feral she was I'd guess that she spent most of her time in the wilds hunting down spirit beasts for their cores so she had something to eat. I'd extend from that that her grandmother wasn't so much a mother figure so much as a point of intermittent contact and her connection to civilisation as a whole. Someone she could interact with every other week when she came in from the wilds and got her clothes that fit, that sort of thing.
So seeing Ling Qingge interacting with LQ and Biyu and just being a Mother and being polite to her...it's not something she's equipped to deal with. She doesn't have a pre-existing mental toolkit to deal with Mother-Figure acting like a Mother should. Probably a degree of longing in there as well.
But as I said it'll all be resolved when she is adopted into Ling clan.
Ah but wouldn't that put her in even more turmoil? I can see her being invited with Li Suyin to have a home away from home when we start managing our little slice of land and offer them some of it, but getting into the Ling clan?
Be real guys Biyu would never let go of She Who Is Fluffy.
Ah but wouldn't that put her in even more turmoil? I can see her being invited with Li Suyin to have a home away from home when we start managing our little slice of land and offer them some of it, but getting into the Ling clan?
Be real guys Biyu would never let go of She Who Is Fluffy.
] Touch Fluffy Tail
