Remove ads

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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Reader mode
yrsillar said:
"I… don't want to think ill of the Fan, but it seems his Father was more invested in the Gu alliance than I thought. It looks like he's going to continue negotiating for one of his other sons or nephews."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This could be awkward. I get the Han not wanting the Gu to marry into their clan and raise their status but having strong ties with the allied Fan would probably be even more effective in having them rise to equal the Han. That the Guo would benefit from such a powerful clan no longer being beneath the already powerful Han just makes the current state of Han/Gu affairs seem even more temporary. Kinda glad to not be caught in the middle of that.
 
zamin said:
Remember during the vote for the Ji Rong duel? Someone expressed worry that Ji Rong would hurt Zhengui during the fight and seemed to think that he wasn't tanky enough to take it for some reason.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Okay...? Your post seemed to suggest that it was an argument about this vote, and certainly made it seem to be more than just one person.
 
Liliet said:
Okay, so I've wanted to ask for a while: where is the idea of us "managing our fief" coming from?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
CRX's future fief, and thus ours too, is situated at the border of the Empire. Our lands are going to be untamed and constantly under risk of barbarian raiders. Basically, our fief will need frequent attention from a Green+ cultivator just to keep our mortals and mooks alive. Unless we are willing to hire a Green to do our job, which is probably pretty shameless to local sensibilities, we will have to devote a lot of our time to manage our lands once we actually get landed.

This is a bureaucracy driven issue. We are, formally, going to be assigned as "doing military service in her fief". That absolutely doesn't mean we're going to actually do anything remotely like what the Sect's forces are doing.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's a big assumption. CRX bought our debt; there's absolutely no need for her to do some political plays like that to satisfy a bureaucratic requirement that doesn't actually exist.
 
STOP said:
Now I want to see Ling Qi interacting with some mortals, maybe being too modest. With her levels in disguise she may even be able to pull off the act of being no one important. Maybe someone mistaking her mother as the head of the clan when they go to see Baron Ling.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
globalwarmth said:
more reason to get mother cutivating, we dont want to have her faint during mother-daughter tea time.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


How hurtful a domain is depends on its nature and in one's willingness and ability to supress it. Not everyone is Shenhua (who is not allowed by her Way to supress it and whose Way is harmful to most), although it is a relatively common problem. Grandpa Liling's domain never harmed Sun Liling because Liling was family, (even when she was harmed, he had to rationalise that it was for her own good in order to not break his Way too, but that is neither here not there). Our Domain will never harm people we have positive Bond with, no matter the difference in cultivation, and depending on how it develops, it may not even harm neutrals unless we want it to.

Now, being in a higher realm will mean you can talk with ALL Whites, but even mortals can interact with SOME Whites without being hurt. The fact that said Whites likely are so far removed from them they may consider their presence the same way humans consider ants or, for family members, babies is a problem that means their words likely won't matter even to a White with friendly Domain, but it does not change the fact that we will allways be able to talk to our mom, even if she stays in red.

Random Shinobi said:
CRX's future fief, and thus ours too, is situated at the border of the Empire. Our lands are going to be untamed and constantly under risk of barbarian raiders. Basically, our fief will need frequent attention from a Green+ cultivator just to keep our mortals and mooks alive. Unless we are willing to hire a Green to do our job, which is probably pretty shameless to local sensibilities, we will have to devote a lot of our time to manage our lands once we actually get landed.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Thats actually a good point I hadn't considered in my previous analysis, soldiers or no soldiers, a border fief will still require more attention than most, especially if the conflict with the Nomads has picked up by that time.
 
yrsillar said:
"Perhaps, but it is not unusual to practice some minor cultivation of lesser arts as a hobby. Simple first realm things are trivial for we of the third realm to cultivate," Alingge replied. "I am no craftsmen, but nonetheless I have mastered some minor artisanal techniques for use in times of peace. If you still feel that you require something more in common with your sibling, this may be a solution."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
So when is this happening? Is it going to be part of normal monthly cultivation planning, or will it be something done in the narrative that won't take up AP?
 
fascinating.

Han Fang cultivating perception and intervention arts makes sense. His formative experiences would drive him to want that.

Death eating Tiger, Tigers appearing to be Wind. That's an interesting one. She does not wish to be bored, and was personally interested in Han Fang's tale.

"I seek new hunts, new foods, and new amusements"
an interesting seeking of life's thrills.

maybe Dark Wind tiger? Or Death Wind?
either way I believe Han Fang is going to be a shoe in for inner goddam, Sidao seems quite powerful.

Han Fang also has an excellent build to team up with Sidao. He is very fast, quite perceptive, fairly stealthy and heavy hitting.
You know what's better than one alpha-strike tiger build?
Two alpha strike tiger builds

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Does. Does Fan Yu have friends outside of Han Jian? Like. in the outer sect? I've been rereading forge and like. I think Fan Yu is actually a well made character, he's just always been a relative antagonist. And he stubbornly refuses to back down or give up with anything . . . except Xiulan. Who he just tries to please, and cannot seem to. Mostly because he has no ambition of his own, and that's the core conflict there.

I think . . . I think if I could commission a piece I'd commission Fan Yu arranging a meeting with Gan Guangli. GG is relatively neutral, is not from a noble line, has experienced failure, is in a command-and-training position in the outer sect, is not part of the Golden Field's shenanigans. Is probably perceived as an ~equal by Fan Yu's pride (even if rationally he knows that's not true).

What is a devoted fiancee without an engagement? What is a family man without family? What is a noble without connections? What is a belligerent bull without strength, or food? What is a rough and tumble friend when all your friends leave you behind, having only ever tolerated you?

him falling to irrelevance is the least interesting thing to do with him, but I don't mind it. I think I'd prefer something dramatic happening, but it's for a commission and not main quest
 
Varder said:
Proof?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Sun Liling could interact well with her grandpa even as a kid? Dunno, I do not think it was stated definitively that she could do that, but her close relationship with him certainly implies strongly that she grew up with him. It was the example that I cited in my original post too, and the fact that as a Green she can stand within his presence just fine, even when he goes one titan mode, while Ling Qi as a green couldn't look directly at Shenhua pretty much implies that his Domain just doesn't harm family, regardless of circumstance.

Edit: Moreso, Jiao, a Prism, could talk to mortals just fine with no harm done. Sure, he wasn't a White, but this does imply its possible , because damn, he is very close to one and nothing leaked.

Second edit: so no, I do not have any absolute certain irrefutable proof, but every bit of indirect evidence we have says I am right, and only the existence of Shenhua, who is... Shenhua says otherwise, a sample size of 1 and a very specific 1 at that.
 
Last edited:
STOP said:
Now I want to see Ling Qi interacting with some mortals, maybe being too modest. With her levels in disguise she may even be able to pull off the act of being no one important. Maybe someone mistaking her mother as the head of the clan when they go to see Baron Ling.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

(Ling Qi interacting with mortals)

The hour she had to prepare flew by, between fussing with her medicine stocks explaining the situation to her mother and giving her goodbyes, the time came all too quickly. She met her liege at the center of the Sect town, and they were lead inside by an exceedingly nervous mortal man in rich dress, who to her eyes was one moment of broken discipline from openly wringing his hands, into the building's sub basements, where the Sect kept a number of emergency transport arrays.

It only occurred to her after the formation had yanked them away through the aether that the man had probably been the governor of the whole town.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

LQ: Wait, that guy was probably important or something right?
 
storryeater said:
Sun Liling could interact well with her grandpa even as a kid? Dunno, I do not think it was stated definitively that she could do that, but her close relationship with him certainly implies strongly that she grew up with him. It was the example that I cited in my original post too, and the fact that as a Green she can stand within his presence just fine, even when he goes one titan mode, while Ling Qi as a green couldn't look directly at Shenhua pretty much implies that his Domain just doesn't harm family, regardless of circumstance.

Edit: Moreso, Jiao, a Prism, could talk to mortals just fine with no harm done. Sure, he wasn't a White, but this does imply its possible , because damn, he is very close to one and nothing leaked.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
While I suspect that it depends on the Ways involved as well, it's worth noting that for all we know Shao was using a forked off low powered body to interact with Liling during her early life and Jiao just sent one of those to greet the scrubs as well.
 
Pipeman said:
While I suspect that it depends on the Ways involved as well, it's worth noting that for all we know Shao was using a forked off low powered body to interact with Liling during her early life and Jiao just sent one of those to greet the scrubs as well.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Eh, that still counts as some Whites interacting with mortals, it just requires for them to be thoughtful rather than their Domain to be nonharmful, so it doesn't really contradict the spirit of the evidence given/my point.

Also, as per my second edit, I agree, we have no absolute proof, but occam's razor actually supports my hypothesis, even though I accept it has a low probability of being wrong.
 
Briefvoice said:
(Ling Qi interacting with mortals)



LQ: Wait, that guy was probably important or something right?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That was her following CRX like a little duckling but still in line with what I was thinking of. The whole "who are these people and how important are they when I can't tell them apart by cultivation," thing or something like she pulled in the first test where she pretended to be one of the townsfolk.
 
storryeater said:
Edit: Moreso, Jiao, a Prism, could talk to mortals just fine with no harm done. Sure, he wasn't a White, but this does imply its possible , because damn, he is very close to one and nothing leaked.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Jiao specialises in hiding things. He doesn't count as an example in this case, I think.

storryeater said:
Sun Liling could interact well with her grandpa even as a kid? Dunno, I do not think it was stated definitively that she could do that, but her close relationship with him certainly implies strongly that she grew up with him. It was the example that I cited in my original post too, and the fact that as a Green she can stand within his presence just fine, even when he goes one titan mode, while Ling Qi as a green couldn't look directly at Shenhua pretty much implies that his Domain just doesn't harm family, regardless of circumstance.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That is a valid argument. Maybe using simulacrums or other things to weaken themselves can help a White talk to a mortal. But basically any emotion on their part would leave the mortal a mindless mess.
 
storryeater said:
This is why I never understood the "being kind to your enemies is being cruel to your friends" philosophy most xianxia preach. It would be more understandable in a series where power ups weren't expontential, but in xianxia, an old opponent suffers the fate of irrelevance, regardless of their intentions, as they get surpassed, and can only stew.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Because of resource scarcity. For example, I'm pretty sure Ling Qi would be willing to do just about anything short of murder for a couple of eightfold pills or something like that...
And limited time for anyone not the novel's fucking protagonist. And Xianxia authors generally being quacks that produce works barely worth the paper they are printed on.
 
Ayashi said:
Because of resource scarcity. For example, I'm pretty sure Ling Qi would be willing to do just about anything short of murder for a couple of eightfold pills or something like that...
And limited time for anyone not the novel's fucking protagonist. And Xianxia authors generally being quacks that produce works barely worth the paper they are printed on.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Paper? I thought most trashy xianxia were webserials.
 
I always found it funny when they talk about the scarcity of resources and one chapter later the protagonist stumbles over the rare herb that helps him at the exact problem he is facing.
There is luck and then there is BS.

Still worse that it glorifies being an jerk and shows that the only way to progress is to cheat, betray, steal and/or kill.

Yeah, Xianxia is a "genre" that you generally shouldn´t waste any though on. There are obvious exceptions (How surprising), but there either hybridized with another genre or buried so deep under trash you need the look of the protagonist to find then.

Sry for rambling. It kinda annoys me.
 
Wisefox said:
I always found it funny when they talk about the scarcity of resources and one chapter later the protagonist stumbles over the rare herb that helps him at the exact problem he is facing.
There is luck and then there is BS.

Still worse that it glorifies being an jerk and shows that the only way to progress is to cheat, betray, steal and/or kill.

Yeah, Xianxia is a "genre" that you generally shouldn´t waste any though on. There are obvious exceptions (How surprising), but there either hybridized with another genre or buried so deep under trash you need the look of the protagonist to find then.

Sry for rambling. It kinda annoys me.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Eh, my experience is that no genre is bad by definition, its the handling that makes it good or bad.

Case in point: this quest. This is, in all honestly, pure xianxia, not a deconstruction or a mix. Its just better written, has an actual interesting setting, has people with unique personalities (rather than having 4 personalities shared by every character "mom, its my turn on the personality" style), has a protagonist that actually makes actual mistakes rather than being either perfect or edgy but perfect or having a single humorous flaw for comic relief but otherwise perfect, makes the important fights tense rather than curbstompfests or deus ex machina fests, has the characters have some sort of behavioural code other than "edgy masked as cynically rational", "naive" and "young lord", has actual character growth along with the cultivation, has a philosophy and setting of rules that really matter rather than existing just so the protagonist can break them, has more than one culture,doesn't have extreme fanservice or a harem for the protagonist, doesn't have last century gender relations, has actual stakes for the world at large, has actual ideological conflictmakes the protagonist not be the obvious best human in existence but rather just another talented person that COULD become the best human in existence, ... but will almost certainly not be ...

Really, none of the things that make this xianxia amazing is genre defying , its just better writing. You could find fanfics of stories of any genre with all the problems the average xianxia have, its not endemic to them, but rather endemic to bad authors and Mary Sues. It has kept everything actually genre defining, its just that when it says cultivation is philosophical it means it, when it gives you rules they matter even when they are broken rather than existing to make the protagonist break them and do the impossible again and again (hell, the protagonist has yet to break any, its other people who have done so) and the setting had more than 2 seconds of thought put behind it (probably much, much more, but I am using the average xianxia setting for comparison). All the actual staples, be it cultivation as enlightened superpowers, a system ruled by clans and sects which represent superpowered groups, a tiered system of power where power increases expontentially, a world and timescales that are absurdly large compared to ours and even less important staples like spirit beasts and formations and face culture are all here. Sure, some of those were toned down, the world is smaller, the power levels have an end point, lifespan ends at 1000 years, nobody is planet busting not even Ancestors, face culture here resembles something sane people would have rather than actual toddlers... but that doesn't really make it less of the genre, it still kept all those things and incorporated them heavily in the story.

Edit: every time I think I am finished, I remember something more to add and make those walls of text even chonkier :cry:
 
Last edited:
storryeater said:
Eh, my experience is that no genre is bad by definition, its the handling that makes it good or bad.

Case in point: this quest. This is, in all honestly, pure xianxia, not a deconstruction or a mix. Its just better written, has an actual interesting setting, has people with unique personalities (rather than having 4 personalities shared by every character "mom, its my turn on the personality" style), makes the important fights tense rather than curbstompfests or deus ex machina fests, has the characters have some sort of behavioural code other than "edgy masked as cynically rational", "naive" and "young lord", has actual character growth along with the cultivation, has a philosophy and setting of rules that really matter rather than existing just so the protagonist can break them, has more than one culture, has actual stakes for the world at large, has actual ideological conflictmakes the protagonist not be the obvious best human in existence but rather just another talented person that COULD become the best human in existence, ... but will almost certainly not be ...

Really, none of the things that make this xianxia amazing is genre defying , its just better writing. It has kept everything actually genre defining, its just that when it says cultivation is philosophical it means it, when it gives you rules they matter and the setting had more than 2 seconds of thought put behind it (probably much, much more, but I am using the average xianxia setting for comparison). All the actual staples, be it cultivation as enlightened superpowers, a system ruled by clans and sects which represent superpowered groups, a tiered system of power where power increases expontentially, a world and timescales that are absurdly large compared to ours and even less important staples like spirit beasts and formations and face culture are all here. Sure, some of those were toned down, the world is smaller, the power levels have an end point, lifespan ends at 1000 years, nobody is planet busting not even Ancestors, face culture here resembles something sane people would have rather than actual toddlers... but that doesn't really make it less of the genre, it still kept all those things and incorporated them heavily in the story.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It would be extremely amusing to have someone translate this (or maybe the cleaned up RR version?) into Chinese and post it there :V
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top