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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Actually its the inverse.
High level cultivators are locked very closely to a certain philosophy. They'd carry out actions in line with that philosophy extremely efficiently and powerfully. But actions AGAINST that philosophy becomes physically painful to perform.

Sun Shao's philosophy's details is not well known, but the broad gist of it being anchored in familial ties means that...can you imagine Ling Qi's reaction if she was in Sun Shao's position and Qingge was killed by the Jungle tribesmen? Now amplify it further, the raids are a long term ongoing event.

At some point enough is enough.
The benefits of being extremely smart isn't enough if your fundamental policy simply cannot accomodate it.

The Sect also considers Renshu a talent and a member.
Ling Qi's status would be identical to his, if Renxiang didn't back us up, and if we broke Sect rules to cripple or kill him, she's very unlikely to back us up, the Sect is wholly in the right to expel or heavily punish us.
Yes, the Sect can inflict serious consequences on us in that case, I'm just saying his clan is probably irrelevant in anything involving cultivators. Just like Li Suyin's family or our own.
 
Yes, the Sect can inflict serious consequences on us in that case, I'm just saying his clan is probably irrelevant in anything involving cultivators. Just like Li Suyin's family or our own.

This reply seems to have been to the wrong post?

Edit: As in, it's not actually addressing Veekie's point that Ways reduce the number of choices you can make and those further along their Way must stick to their Way. It looks and reads like a complete brain fart.
 
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This reply seems to have been to the wrong post?

Edit: As in, it's not actually addressing Veekie's point that Ways reduce the number of choices you can make and those further along their Way must stick to their Way. It looks and reads like a complete brain fart.
Veekie's post has two parts to it, and the dude is clearly responding to the second part.
 
Actually its the inverse.
High level cultivators are locked very closely to a certain philosophy. They'd carry out actions in line with that philosophy extremely efficiently and powerfully. But actions AGAINST that philosophy becomes physically painful to perform.

Sun Shao's philosophy's details is not well known, but the broad gist of it being anchored in familial ties means that...can you imagine Ling Qi's reaction if she was in Sun Shao's position and Qingge was killed by the Jungle tribesmen? Now amplify it further, the raids are a long term ongoing event.

At some point enough is enough.
The benefits of being extremely smart isn't enough if your fundamental policy simply cannot accomodate it.

Honestly, if this wasn't a quest and this was a linear story, I would be certain Sun Shao was being built up as a foil to Ling Qi at the future considering that their Way is similar but that they are fundamentally opposed. But as things are going, it is far more likely that he'll die of old age before it even becomes relevant.
 
Honestly, if this wasn't a quest and this was a linear story, I would be certain Sun Shao was being built up as a foil to Ling Qi at the future considering that their Way is similar but that they are fundamentally opposed. But as things are going, it is far more likely that he'll die of old age before it even becomes relevant.
Liling is likely to inherit his way, but my impression is that Liling is too important to be Ling Qi's foil. Ling Qi isn't going to be the leader of her own faction here, but the Dragon of CRX's.
 
Liling is likely to inherit his way, but my impression is that Liling is too important to be Ling Qi's foil. Ling Qi isn't going to be the leader of her own faction here, but the Dragon of CRX's.

Assuming normalcy, which is not necessarily a good thing to assume on a story. Plus, If Cai goes the way of An (as it has implied by Jiao being another foil of ours), we may need to butt heads with Ducals as a dragon even if we stay in that position.
 
Liling is likely to inherit his way, but my impression is that Liling is too important to be Ling Qi's foil. Ling Qi isn't going to be the leader of her own faction here, but the Dragon of CRX's.

On the Ducal+* level this kinda breaks down a touch if you say look at situations like the An-Jiao relationship where in addition to being the Emperor's Shadow Jiao was "independently" heading a Ministry.

Renxiang wants us to be a diplomat. I could easily see a story arc in the future where we"re sent off to accomplish a goal with a "nuetral" faction and Liling is there herself opposing us especially if she doesnt regain her heir apparent status.

*Theres also the unrest we've seen hints of, the most overt of which being Meizhens very careful suggestion that maybe the Sects aren't the most stable long term career path, which could lead to civil war making that social hierarchy break down even more.
 
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Was just reading the Sect Promotionals and was wondering how they decide on where to send someone like Ling Qi? Does each Sect receive scholarship students from certain communities or are they divided up equally?
 
Turn 8: Arc 5-11
It only took a moment to make the decision. Ling Qi took in her enemies, blanketed in their leader's power. They were not writhing in pain as she had, as her allies had. No, if anything the set of the bodies and the sound of their battle cries had only grown more fervent. She saw, from the corner of her eye, a shishigui covered in horrible burns, hauling himself back to his feet. There was another, caught on the edge of Guan Zhi's kick, ignoring the blood pouring from his severed arm to raise his spear.

She felt the clash of power in the air above her, the power of two fully formed domains warping the world, and the way that the qi of the world bent and buckled unnaturally under their clashing wills.

She would only be a hindrance here.

Ling Qi leapt away from the Dancer that was already spinning to face her, knife raised, and blinked through the shadows, landing beside Zhengui and Ji Rong. Her dancing phantoms contracted, dancing inward and flinging away the drained enemies they had seized. Then Ling Qi took a step, and left the fortress, dragging her allies along.

The world parted like a curtain, and for just a moment, she stood in an unending field of psychedelic color, where thoughts danced and dreams bloomed like a field of flowers. Sixiang stood at her side amidst the revelers, one hand on her shoulder.

Then, they were outside, well into the fungal forest.

Ji Rong stumbled, looking around wildly, only to round on her. "The hell?! Why'd you pull us out like that?"

"Because we had no business being involved in that," Ling Qi shot back. She glanced around nervously, something was bothering her, like a fly buzzing around her ears.

"We could have fought in retreat," Relong hissed, raising his head. "Our Lords remain!"

Ji Rong glanced down at the bloodied dragon, and looked as if he had bitten into a lemon.

"Hmph, you dummys should stop arguing with Big Sis, you're just gonna waste time," Hanyi sniffed.

"Brother and I-," Relong began puffing up the scales around his neck to look bigger.

"Enough," Ji Rong said gruffly. "Let's go, choice is made. Relong, stay close."

Ling Qi shot the boy a surprised look as he turned and dashed off into the forest, but she didn't have time to ponder his actions for now. The qi maintaining the revel blooming through the forest around her quivered as she drew it in, drawing the Mist and her phantoms close as she took off after him.

Behind the noise of battle only rose. The booming of air, the thunder of crumbling stone and the cries of battle echoed after them. Through her wisps, Ling Qi could see smoke and debris rising from the fortress, and the twisting feeling of power in the air. She saw the twin points of distortion rising above the walls, and felt the wave of pressure as they clashed, splintering and bowing the trees they ran through.

But there was still something bothering her. She couldn't quite place it.Were her nerves just rattled?

"No, there's definitely something, I think," Sixiang began. The both of them focused, wisps whirling to face the greater darkness of the cavern.

Drums. There were drums in the dark.

She couldn't hear them, not really, but she could feel them. The ceaseless beating of drums, echoing through the endless night of this underworld. Dozens, scores, even hundreds. Each drum beat a pattern that echoed through the dark. It was not merely the wild beating of a tribesman's drum, or the rhythmic pounding of a drill.

No it was communicating something, there was an order to it, urgent, but regimented and disciplined. It… almost reminded her of Lady Renxiang.

Enemy movement detected- Forces gather- Zone *&^*-Advance Units launched.

"We need to move faster," Ling Qi whispered aloud.

Ji Rong barely had time to glance back at her in surprise before she twisted her sprint into a pirouette and carried them back into Dream.

The toe of her slipper touched down on a swell of portent, and Ling Qi peered through the haze of potential spying there three bright stars… and behind , she felt the threads of Other, dreams foreign and incomprehensible, welling like storm clouds on the edge of her senses.

She stepped, and they emerged amidst Xuan Shi and the others. She heard Ji Rong curse again, and Zhengui stumble. She saw her allies almost raise their weapons at their sudden intrusion.

"Pick up the pace, we have more enemies incoming," Ling Qi snapped out, hitting the ground and barely slowing her pace. They were already running, but they weren't sprinting. With a thought, she reached out through her connection to Zhengui and Hanyi and pulled in a way she rarely did. They both dematerialized immediately.

Around her, Ji Rong rolled back to his feet and shot her a dirty look. Bian Ya bounded ahead on the back of her mount, Su Ling sat behind her, clutching her back and looking mutinous. Xuan Shi flew off to her side, standing atop five linked hexagonal plates which hovered a few inches above the ground.

"Huh, Big Sister. I can still help, I'm not even hurt!" he complained, and Hanyi gave a wordless cry of protest as well.

<You'll help if we fight. We're running now,> Ling Qi thought hastily.

"What are you speaking of," Bian Ya asked, clutching tightly the silken wound around her fox's chest as the horse sized beast bounded through the dark. "Obviously there are reinforcements, but we have much distance to cover, we cannot exhaust ourselves…"

"No," Ling Qi hissed. "Not from the fortress, look behind us and listen." If anyone here could sense what she had, it would be Bian Ya.

The girl shot her a dubious look, but Ling Qi felt the thrum of energies flowing to her eyes and ears, the shift in the air as she took hold of the still underground air. Bian Ya paled behind her veil. "S-such a response to a mere raid," she murmured.

At least she understood, Ling Qi thought grimly. It was hard for her to put into context what she had felt, the reverberation of the drums, carried by hundreds of drummers, echoing to thousands of ears. There was only…

She remembered a vision of a city in the rain, consumed by a tornado.

"That's the mustering of an army," Sixiang whispered softly, alarm in their voice..

She could see something of it now, at the very edge of her vision, backlit by the strange glow of the caverns ceiling. They were nothing but tiny dots of blackness, rising into the sky, but they numbered in the thousands.

"...Commander Guan Zhi approves speeding up the timetable," Bian Ya said grimly, snapping her out of her thoughts. Far behind them now, there was a muffled boom as the clashing stars in the sky came together. "Sect forces above are moving to entrench. Brother Xuan, full defenses."

Ling Qi could see entire chunks of the fortress drifting lazily into the air around the clashing cyans and feel flashing of stabbing pain, bottomless despair, and shivers of nigh religious ecstasy wafting from their enemy, dripping across her thoughts like stray droplets from a storm. Then, the swirling sphere of warped light that was her commander crashed down, and Ling Qi felt space bend as the stars clashed only to be launched in opposite directions at terrible speed. The enemy priestess flew backward into the underworld darkness and Guan Zhi's star crashed home into the cavern wall far ahead.

It was only seconds after her passage that the shockwave hit, sending Ling Qi's hair and gown whipping, and nearly blowing Su Ling from her mount. The cavern filled with noise as ton upon ton of stone crashed down from the crater smashed into the wall.

They didn't stop running. Su Ling grimaced and grey qi shimmered as she yanked herself back up against Bian Ya as foxfire bloomed around their mounts feet, turning them into a blur, Ji Rong snarled, five lotus of burning blue on his back and lightning sparked from his heels as flesh and bone began to fade into snapping lightning. The faint sparkling lights emitted by Xuan Shi's platform flared into jets of sea green qi, launching him forward through the whipping air.

Ling Qi became one with shadow, and they ran.

The full speed of a group of third realms was a fearsome thing. Wind ripped trees and plants from the soil at their passage, and the ground crumbled beneath the force of pounding feet. The world was a blur, and still it would take them several minutes to cross the distance to the cavern wall.

They were more than halfway there before things began to go wrong.

Xuan Shi was the first to notice, in the midst of their dead run, the stocky boy suddenly turned his head to the side. "Ware!" his voice, normally quiet voice boomed. Off to their left side, there was a crack and an agonized shriek as the spindly shape of a Dancer bounced off of the flaring shield of interlinked pentagons, green energy crackling from her limbs.

Light flared again on the other side and the shield rumbled. Both figures bounced back from the wall, flowing like mist back into the shadows, only for Xuan Shi to crack the butt of his ringed staff against the platform under his feet. The creatures let out cries of surprise as vibrant white light bloomed from their silhouette, ruining their effort.

Ling Qi began to emerge from shadow, ready to take a shot, and she could see Ji Rong tensing to do the same, but Bian Ya's voice cut them off, echoing directly in their thoughts.

<Do not engage. Conserve qi, Disciple Xuan is on defense.>

Ling Qi cursed internally, she knew Bian ya was right, she knew they couldn't afford to slow down, not with the force emerging behind them. She could actually make out their shapes now, those flying things. They were black and oily, with thin humanlike bodies and the shimmering wings of moths, with heads like those of men with the features wiped off, save for twisting horns that rose from their temples and twitched like an insect's antenna. In their dangling overly large claws, each one carried a shishigui warrior, clad in armor of chitin and unknown metal. Even from here, Ling Qi could feel a worrying ratio of third realm power among them, one in five or one in eight at least, akin to the Sect's forces ast full muster.

Stripped of the shadows, the Dancer's did not retreat, weaving a wide circle around Xuan Shi's shifting barrier of light and ceramic, their knives carved skittering sparks along the barrier, leaving lines of corruption and rot in their wake, but Xuan Shi merely rang the rings of his staff and new panels rose to replace those that rotted, while broken panels whizzed out like throwing knives to impact and explode on contact with the trees and ground, forcing the Dancers to dodge and weave through a barrage of returning fire.

But, as they closed the distance to the wall, matters only grew worse. Ling Qi felt a twinge travel through the darkness. The unfamiliar and unwelcome sensation of something moving through a space that she had long considered hers. Across the blurring landscape, shadows writhed and boiled.

Ribbons of blackness, edged in searing crimson crashed down all around the perimeter of the barrier. A dozen in all, they stabbed like blades into the interlocking plates of Xuan Shi's barrier talisman, causing seafoam sparks to erupt and a horrible grinding sound like nails on glass as they shoved down. Xuan Shi grunted in effort, his shoulders hunching before the qi running through his spine doubled in density and the barrier became nearly opaque in it's brilliance.

Through a drifting wisp, Ling Qi saw their newest assailant, a pale white figure floating in the midst of a sphere of the black and red ribbons. The shishigui's pure white hide gleamed in the darkness, save for the dark hole in his chest where ribs were flayed open to bare his beating heart. On the pulsing organ, a single overlarge eye spun, run through with black veins, and the creatures spiderlike fingers twitched like a wielder of puppets as the strands of shadow and blood respun themselves for another assault. The beast was fortification stage.

But as he raised his hands for another assault, and Ling Qi felt the shadows bend under her grip, forcing her to leap out before the things vile qi could soak into her, a silver flash engulfed it.

The creature let out a warbling cry as a pool of liquid silver opened at its feet and it dropped as if it stood on the surface of a lake, and as it entere, a dark shape emerged. Senior Brother Liao, cut, bruised and burned, somersaulted away from the already rippling and bulging pool to land atop Xuan Shi's barrier. "Activate the beacon! There is too much force coming down!" he shouted, no humor in his voice.

Bian Ya paused only a moment, and Ling Qi recognized well enough the look of her listening to silent orders. She flicked her wrist and Elder Jiao's totem appeared in her hand. It was a simple thing, a black many faceted gem, but it pulsed with power.

So they ran, and the beacon charged.

But, as the beacon charged, Ling Qi could not help but feel uneasy, her skin crawled, and bumps rose on the back of her neck. Something was wrong. There was something in the air, something beyond the beat of wings and the incessant sounding drums.

There was a twisting in the air, a subtle unnatural feeling that she could not place. As Guan Zhi crashed down among them, swatting away a Dancer like so mere child's toy despite the angry red burns that covered her arms and hands.

She felt the beacon begin to activate, and finally it clicked. There was attention upon them. It reminded her of Zeqing's domicile, with it's twisting space and endless darkness. The Beacon's qi rippled out, but it was wrong. It opened a curling hole through space, but there were holes, gaping tears in the path through which a person could fall and never stop.

As the beacon's qi engulfed them, and the others cried out as they began to fall, Ling Qi desperately twisted in the broken space, and poured everything she had left into her Ephemeral Dreamlit Dancer technique. Her lungs and spine burned as she overloaded it, and ripped everyone sideways into Dream.

Dance C Upgrades to Dreamstep B

Please select your new viewpoint.

[] Zhengui
[] Hanyi
 
Welp. Sure hope that we just saved everyone. Because I could also see this as an 'out of the frying pan into the fire' moment.
 
"No, there's definitely something, I think," Sixiang began. The both of them focused, wisps whirling to face the greater darkness of the cavern.

Drums. There were drums in the dark.

She couldn't hear them, not really, but she could feel them. The ceaseless beating of drums, echoing through the endless night of this underworld. Dozens, scores, even hundreds. Each drum beat a pattern that echoed through the dark. It was not merely the wild beating of a tribesman's drum, or the rhythmic pounding of a drill.

No it was communicating something, there was an order to it, urgent, but regimented and disciplined. It… almost reminded her of Lady Renxiang.

Enemy movement detected- Forces gather- Zone *&^*-Advance Units launched.

"We need to move faster," Ling Qi whispered aloud.
"Pick up the pace, we have more enemies incoming," Ling Qi snapped out, hitting the ground and barely slowing her pace. They were already running, but they weren't sprinting. With a thought, she reached out through her connection to Zhengui and Hanyi and pulled in a way she rarely did. They both dematerialized immediately.

Around her, Ji Rong rolled back to his feet and shot her a dirty look. Bian Ya bounded ahead on the back of her mount, Su Ling sat behind her, clutching her back and looking mutinous. Xuan Shi flew off to her side, standing atop five linked hexagonal plates which hovered a few inches above the ground.
"What are you speaking of," Bian Ya asked, clutching tightly the silken wound around her fox's chest as the horse sized beast bounded through the dark. "Obviously there are reinforcements, but we have much distance to cover, we cannot exhaust ourselves…"

"No," Ling Qi hissed. "Not from the fortress, look behind us and listen." If anyone here could sense what she had, it would be Bian Ya.

The girl shot her a dubious look, but Ling Qi felt the thrum of energies flowing to her eyes and ears, the shift in the air as she took hold of the still underground air. Bian Ya paled behind her veil. "S-such a response to a mere raid," she murmured.

Ah, I love this. Qi's deep understanding of Music allowing her to interpret drum signals, leading to her being the only one to appropriately freak out and hurry everyone up. I adore this stuff, her unique talents giving her an edge in a niche situation that her peers don't share.

She felt the beacon begin to activate, and finally it clicked. There was attention upon them. It reminded her of Zeqing's domicile, with it's twisting space and endless darkness. The Beacon's qi rippled out, but it was wrong. It opened a curling hole through space, but there were holes, gaping tears in the path through which a person could fall and never stop.

As the beacon's qi engulfed them, and the others cried out as they began to fall, Ling Qi desperately twisted in the broken space, and poured everything she had left into her Ephemeral Dreamlit Dancer technique. Her lungs and spine burned as she overloaded it, and ripped everyone sideways into Dream.

Dance C Upgrades to Dreamstep B

Aaaaaaaaaah. Did Qi just basically save everyone's lives? What countermeasures are there to being sucked into an endless void? All we have to do is make it out of Dream unharmed.

I assume whatever sabotaged the Beacon is the spirit being worshipped?
 
Whatever just happened I am super glad that we had PLR up to snuff and ready to teleport people, which has certainly been a massive benefit in this situation.
 
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