Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- At the end of the world
Just great...
- Location
- United States of America
You know what would be interesting? The results of geomantic investigations in the Liminal Realm. Like, it would be unlikely that there would be permanent geomantic lines in the Liminal Realm, since it is chaotic, but what if you could create a large enough stable space that you could employ some geomantic principles?
Or, in the inverse, are there geomantic principles that when sufficiently employed in the Material Realm affect the Liminal Realm and stabilize it to a degree?
Just how much research has been done regarding the intersection of geomantic principles and the Liminal Realm?
Or, in the inverse, are there geomantic principles that when sufficiently employed in the Material Realm affect the Liminal Realm and stabilize it to a degree?
Just how much research has been done regarding the intersection of geomantic principles and the Liminal Realm?
Narratively, it's Boundaries that was the established tipping point of Ling Qi's selection of the art, vis-a-vis Ruan Shen's advice. Boundaries is pretty much the key to the art's identity in the story, as written.
Hearth doesn't even get a mention, besides arguably as part of the 'duality' chasing Zhengui understanding, which has been debunked as not how the art or Zhengui works(or there'd have been any scenes to that effect). WHR as a whole has not had an impressive showing, but the Hearth aspects specifically have failed to further any of the stated reasons to explore with the art. It's confusing people are still clinging to it when it's done nothing for us besides add a bit of flavor/metaphor to one scene where we practiced a, different, social/perception art. A scene that bore no relation to any of the personal issues Ling Qi highlighted in the above quote. Plus, it delved into exploring Boundaries, and their intersections between groups and individuals, more prominently.
However, that's not my main concern. I'm not trying to just shoot you down for the sake of it, but there's a big issue with the way you're approaching the concepts of the art and any theoretical changes, imo.
Renewal. Stubbornly refusing to succumb to a harsh environment/grow anyway is not Renewal, or at least doesn't fit Zhengui's Renewal aspect, from what we've seen of it. Not by itself. And we know this is the case because we already had a Wood/Music/Resist art themed around resisting suppression in a harsh environment. It was Storm Enduring Seedling, and we abandoned it specifically because its themes were not what we wanted, including having no real relation to Zhengui's themes. From what we've seen of Renewal, it would be the process of hardship or destruction itself transforming something, or being transformed, into strength or success. They can't be entirely parallel processes, one needs to feed into the other.
And in that case, it's really not clear to me what purpose Hearth representing family has within the metaphor of Renewal. It gains nothing from the Cold. It looks like a distraction, or an additional pole pulling the art in another direction I'd argue we already have covered by our core character concept. Especially when the art itself hasn't managed to actually further family narratives meaningfully. Weaving a Zhengui-compliant narrative into WHR's confines is already difficult without preserving elements that don't bear any relation to him or Ling Qi. Neither's a hearth. Neither requires hearth imagery to represent family. It's gratuitous. And I'm grumpy!
Seriously, even without the distraction, coming up with a Zhengui-Renewal narrative for an WHR alteration is hard. I'm blanking, besides taking the lazy route and throwing Spring in there to patch the holes. That'd be a dissatisfying route, though.
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The Cold represents Zhengui's endless appetite. The Hearth provides warmth but the fuel comes from somewhere. Think of how the Xuan fleet has caused the fish people to experience a famine. Not that the world is zero-sum exactly (Xuan Wu provide more than they take) but that your own prosperity nonetheless causes suffering along the way.
So, lose the shields and make it so that the Resist techs depend on one's enemies lives getting worse. Maybe the Cold field generates some sort of Resist buff if an enemy takes damage from it? Perhaps even allowing us to burn a bunch of those stacks to instantly replenish a Dispelled tech?
Edit: So we lose Security in favor of something like Hunger or Darkness.
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I'd second this, Hearth was picked out of a wild guess at how Zhengui could fit, but his fire aspect isn't the tame hearth fires. Its the wildfire that burns away old growth and rot to make room for the new.
- Location
- United States of America
I agree with you on the difficulties of having the keyword "Hearth" in "Winter Hearth Resounding" if we try and alter the art to fit more into Zhengui themes. I think we can alter the art, but it will require a bit more work than switching one keyword out to make it into something special, interesting and tying into Zhengui's themes. I have ideas, and here is the art for reference.
Assuming, for the moment, that this is a long process that will take substantial effort and significant time. Here is my idea.
Gut the art.
Boundaries and Balanced are a nice framework that we can work around, and Resist and Composure help with the role this art is attempting to fill (Dispel resist), but pretty much the rest should go. Which are only three keywords, admittedly, Hearth and Security and Cold, but that is still significant. Maybe even get rid of music. Essentially, the more we cut away the more leeway we would have in actually changing and altering the art into something that is A) useable, and B) themed around Zhengui.
(Sidenote, which is kind of nice if we are destroying major parts of this art to grow new parts that fit with what we want better. The process would literally be an example of renewal and growth.)
This scorched earth tactic would allow us to really hone in on Zhengui's themes and build an art from a useable framework that exemplifies Zhengui's core concepts, renewal and growth. Switch "Cold" for the element "Wood" and then, the simplest and, I believe, most basic substitution would be switching "Hearth" for "Renewal" and "Security" for "Growth."
The story of the art, of course, would have to change dramatically. Possibly feed into the idea of the boundaries between the wild, where renewal and growth are unfettered, and human settlements where renewal and growth are controlled and limited? Same kind of insight that Zhengui is working through right now after leaving the sect grounds on this mission.
Alternatively, if we go even more destructive we could fit even more interesting keywords, like taking out music and setting in connections to work with the duality and connection that Renewal and Growth have with Zhengui. Or possibly limiting the Renewal and Growth keywords and only choosing one to focus on while strongly implying the other. There is just a lot more room to work with this art if we clear cut the thing, burn the remnants to the ground, and then work within the framework the rest provide.
This idea would, of course, hinge on our ability to modify multiple keywords in an art and modify it to such an extent that the original art would only be recognizable if one knew what we had done while still keeping the art useable as well as potent.
For whatever reason, the core underlying "must have" of the vote WHR came from was "Music", so that seems unlikely to go anywhere. Possibly because yrsillar thought we were ditching SES chiefly because it was an awkward Music art, instead of the other reasons. I wouldn't really mind if it did stop being Music, though I will note the art is both explicitly focused on being music, with music-specific effects, and having arts that aren't related to our core competencies is increasingly awkward, even if they're something weird like Resist which skips out on having to rely on our skills due to weird system design.
But other than that, I'm kind of iffy on dropping Cold. If we want a Fire/Wood Zhengui art, we might as well go "Oops I misread the scroll on Burning Glade Restoration, it was a Resist art all along, silly me!" or turn it into a Resist art or something instead of completely recreating an ill-fitting art. I'm totally fine with gutting WHR, but it doesn't make much sense to me to start a project from materials that are further from our intended goal than we need to. Plus, the idea of the effort seems to be for Ling Qi and Zhengui to get into each other's heads; coming out with an art that incorporates themes from both Zhengui and Ling Qi in a context that pays homage to his themes at the highest level is as, if not more, ideal as coming out of it with a copycat art.
It is a real challenge though. We don't have the best materials to work with, period. Like, maybe SNR is the other art we've got free to mess with because it's not caught up in other narratives or fundamentally unsuitable as a vessel for Zhenguification?
Toss Lake at minimum, but keep the overall theme of an unending body with infinite capacity to take assaults. Cribbing from Zhengui's innate geomantic prominence as inspiration, and pushing it through the lens of his elemental makeup and Renewal themes, the user and their allies embody an environment, a biosphere. The user, the system, cannot be destroyed in part, because any partial destruction of the system is only an opportunity and fuel for other components to thrive and sink their roots into the space created. Damage caused is a temporary inconvenience at worst, and possibly only strengthens the whole.
Edit: The idea is to maintain the spooky abstractness of SNR's defence which we all like, but spice it up with Zhengui themes. I think it's pretty friendly with our insights too, like SCS's. And there's lessons that could be applied from TRF, without the rigid defence we weren't fans of. Aaand its function seems like it would be more overtly supportive/recuperative for allies than TRF ever managed to be.
This is in no way part of a scheme to make us gradually more and more like the forest king who bullied Ling Qi, to her eventual horror once she realizes it.
Edit2: The theme of my proposal would have a decent chance of having a technique which responds to allied injury by increasing everyone's defenses, or something similar, which I think speaks to all of Ling Qi's past on the streets, some of her approach to Darkness/Cold and her FSS insight, and as a nice thematic nod to her dedication to her growing empathy. She'd literally be turning a shared pain into/towards collective growth/aid. Very spook support.
But other than that, I'm kind of iffy on dropping Cold. If we want a Fire/Wood Zhengui art, we might as well go "Oops I misread the scroll on Burning Glade Restoration, it was a Resist art all along, silly me!" or turn it into a Resist art or something instead of completely recreating an ill-fitting art. I'm totally fine with gutting WHR, but it doesn't make much sense to me to start a project from materials that are further from our intended goal than we need to. Plus, the idea of the effort seems to be for Ling Qi and Zhengui to get into each other's heads; coming out with an art that incorporates themes from both Zhengui and Ling Qi in a context that pays homage to his themes at the highest level is as, if not more, ideal as coming out of it with a copycat art.
It is a real challenge though. We don't have the best materials to work with, period. Like, maybe SNR is the other art we've got free to mess with because it's not caught up in other narratives or fundamentally unsuitable as a vessel for Zhenguification?
Toss Lake at minimum, but keep the overall theme of an unending body with infinite capacity to take assaults. Cribbing from Zhengui's innate geomantic prominence as inspiration, and pushing it through the lens of his elemental makeup and Renewal themes, the user and their allies embody an environment, a biosphere. The user, the system, cannot be destroyed in part, because any partial destruction of the system is only an opportunity and fuel for other components to thrive and sink their roots into the space created. Damage caused is a temporary inconvenience at worst, and possibly only strengthens the whole.
Edit: The idea is to maintain the spooky abstractness of SNR's defence which we all like, but spice it up with Zhengui themes. I think it's pretty friendly with our insights too, like SCS's. And there's lessons that could be applied from TRF, without the rigid defence we weren't fans of. Aaand its function seems like it would be more overtly supportive/recuperative for allies than TRF ever managed to be.
This is in no way part of a scheme to make us gradually more and more like the forest king who bullied Ling Qi, to her eventual horror once she realizes it.
Edit2: The theme of my proposal would have a decent chance of having a technique which responds to allied injury by increasing everyone's defenses, or something similar, which I think speaks to all of Ling Qi's past on the streets, some of her approach to Darkness/Cold and her FSS insight, and as a nice thematic nod to her dedication to her growing empathy. She'd literally be turning a shared pain into/towards collective growth/aid. Very spook support.
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Wonder how that would play off of the underground people themes. Last time we saw them they used shared pain as a buff, more or less.
In general I think that Lifedrain makes a lot of sense for LQ's overlap with Zhengui. Ling Qi wants to hoard fire for her allies on a thematic level and is something of a thief and this has a fair bit of compatibility with how Zhengui burns things to aid his allies and the world in general.
Brainstorming random thoughs:
1. Zhen has a counterattack. The Bai are known for counterattacks. SNR, despite being a Bai art, does not have a counterattack. We should fix that.
2. Frozen Soul Serenade punishes people for attacking people. Maybe we add a small health boost to nearby allies if an attack on us fails.
3. WHR presumably creates snow. Ash is often compared to snow and Zhengui's ash stacks with applications. Maybe Frozen Walls becomes a stacking field, for both its positive and negative effects.
4. Zhen can spit venom and the melee range of Hoarfrost Refrain has been annoying, maybe we learn how to get a ranged Hoarfrost Refrain (potentially at a significant drop in effectiveness).
5. Zhengui wants to protect people and we want to protect people. It is, however, counterproductive to have two tanks on the same team. Maybe we get the ability to direct attacks towards Zhengui in some fashion.
6. We have no ability to create hard barriers but Ice Ladies show that it makes sense for us. Maybe Zhengui's use of Wood inspires us to add Ice to one of our techniques?
Brainstorming random thoughs:
1. Zhen has a counterattack. The Bai are known for counterattacks. SNR, despite being a Bai art, does not have a counterattack. We should fix that.
2. Frozen Soul Serenade punishes people for attacking people. Maybe we add a small health boost to nearby allies if an attack on us fails.
3. WHR presumably creates snow. Ash is often compared to snow and Zhengui's ash stacks with applications. Maybe Frozen Walls becomes a stacking field, for both its positive and negative effects.
4. Zhen can spit venom and the melee range of Hoarfrost Refrain has been annoying, maybe we learn how to get a ranged Hoarfrost Refrain (potentially at a significant drop in effectiveness).
5. Zhengui wants to protect people and we want to protect people. It is, however, counterproductive to have two tanks on the same team. Maybe we get the ability to direct attacks towards Zhengui in some fashion.
6. We have no ability to create hard barriers but Ice Ladies show that it makes sense for us. Maybe Zhengui's use of Wood inspires us to add Ice to one of our techniques?
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Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
So I am reading the Royal Road version of the story. And I got to the part where Liling and CRX fall out.
And...
AAAAAAAAAAA! CRX IS THE GODDAMN MOTH! AAAAAAAAAAAAA!
And...
AAAAAAAAAAA! CRX IS THE GODDAMN MOTH! AAAAAAAAAAAAA!
- Location
- United States of America
I like the idea more than I thought I would, but I still think it would require some extensive gutting of SNR to make work. Lake, Reflections, and Stillness would likely have to be removed, and maybe Silence and Void would as well. So I think the idea runs into the same problems that have been expressed regarding starting with materials that are further away than what they need to be.
Another thought I had, though, is taking away Cold and Hearth from WHR and replacing them with Darkness and Renewal. The art would turn the focus away from a general mediation on family and attempt to really focus on Ling Qi's struggles with family and the duality she experiences between her desire to grow as fast as possible and her desire to engage and protect her family. The art would try to engage with the renewal of her desires to grow as fast as possible when she tries to focus on her family and the renewal of her desires to focus on her family when she tries to focus on growing as fast as possible.
This modification of WHR would try to tie a bunch of problems Ling Qi is having and attempt to provide a proactive means of beginning to address them. Tying Zhengui's themes of growth to her own desire to grow strong and then tying Zhengui's theme of renewal to her own internal struggles. I don't think such modifications will provide an answer, but it will at least be an intentional way to work towards a solution than hoping for something to fall into our lap.
I think some of these have some potential, such as the creation of hard barriers and redirecting damage. However, I do agree that Lifedrain would be a fun way for Zhengui to alter some of his techs to point towards us a bit more. His Ashfield, for example, could do some interesting things as a life/qi drain transition from straight damage. Might work well with his own regen affects to make him tankier.
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Hm. I'm not sure that's really what Renewal means in the context of Zhengui. Here, you have it as two things that crop up in opposing contexts, but that's not quite the same laundering of substance Zhengui engages in. Seems borderline. I'm also not sure codifying, uh, cyclically persistent dissatisfaction with her family interactions is the healthiest philosophical pursuit. It's basically making an art out of the current state of heart demon we're trying to resolve, which seems counterproductive.
As for the SNR tweaks, Lake -> Wood, Reflections -> Renewal, and Stillness -> Growth would actually be surprisingly analogous swaps in terms of their function for the art. As in, I'm actually surprised, looking at it. You've got a point with Silence and Void, but honestly I think that partly just shows SNR has an unusually large number of keywords, and it's not making amazing use of all of them. Reflections is an abstract component of the title metaphor, but you could get away with just Lake for it if you really wanted to, and none of the techniques really Reflect anything anywhere. Stillness and Silence are redundant with Void, and Silence especially doesn't really come through in the techs.
SNR is a silly art. The Bai are silly.
I think such an art focusing on that duality would be better with both Growth and Renewal terms. Ling Qi's desire to grow as fast as possible (Growth) and her renewed focus on her family (Renewal), and how they feed into each other.
Renewal is more about rebuilding after something has been destroyed (with an emphasis on the destruction).
We were experiencing Renewal in the Zhengui sense when we ran away from home.
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- Location
- United States of America
The art idea is meant to take a look at our heart demon, but I don't think it is counter productive. It stands to reason that if arts can give insights and additions to our domain, then being proactive in trying to examine and meditate on our heart demon would give answers on how to reconcile it. In that way I'm hoping to actually have some agency in how we approach our heart demon rather than relying on answers to creep into our lap. But that is diverting into ways of resolving our heart demon which seems far outside the scope of the conversation.
Moving to SNR, for while I love the aethstetic of SNR, I know some disagree and I love Weilu aethstetics more, and I do think that there is a ton of potential. Unfortunately, if we want to change it we'll need to deal with the excessive amount of keywords that don't lend very well to the idea. And that is going to be tricky to replace the keywords with keywords that work well with what the modification is going for. Currently, I don't think that we can simply remove keywords that would be redundant or superfluous.
wonder if voting happens in threadverse, somewhere
- Location
- Finland
Almost certainly.
Democratic decision making is not actually that new, or rare.
Translating it from single village to nation is the difficult part, but it has been happening as long as there has been beings smart enough to form complex societies.
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Turn 11: Arc 2-5
"This is something that makes you happy, and I want to be part of that," Ling Qi said firmly. There really didn't need to be any more to it than that.
It took a second for Zhengui to answer as they walked along the shore. When he did though, it was in two voices. "Okay."
But, despite the fact that she had her answer, Ling Qi still felt dissatisfaction. Because whatever her intentions were, Ling Qi knew that she had fumbled things many times, causing pain where she hadn't intended. In the end, were good intentions really enough? "You said something earlier, about not having a place. Is that why you want to do this?"
"Gui wants to make a pretty place for everyone," he replied, and flowers bloomed in the dark loam around his feet.
It wasn't a lie exactly, but it wasn't the whole truth either. "Zhengui, it's fine to have some selfish motivations to you know?" Ling Qi said gently.
The flowers withered, replaced by creeping vines spreading in a quick mat through the dirt. "The sect is too small," Gui muttered.
"I, Zhen am meant to reign," Zhen hissed. "But I am also too small. There are many big kings and no room for Zhen."
Ling Qi frowned. Even once she had her fief, she was still going to be subordinate to the Cai. She didn't see that changing. Even if she fantasized a scenario where she had the power, she would be a terrible duchess. Mostly because she didn't even want to be one. "We're never going to be the ones completely in charge of things."
Zhen shook his head as they turned back toward the core of the island. "No, Sister does not understand. It is not about human things."
"Gui isn't renewing anything," he said, his voice tinged with frustration. Yet some part of his words resonated in the Dream, an echo of something more than mere sound.
Ling Qi was silent for some minutes as they both regarded the dark soil. From her thoughts grew slender pines, resilient and green even in the depths of cold. Around their roots bloomed flowers of spring quick to live and quick to die.
...Maybe she had been misunderstanding Zhengui.
"Hey, little brother," Ling Qi said thoughtfully. "Will you explain what you mean?"
Gui looked up from his flowers in confusion. "What does Big Sister mean?"
"Renewal, what does that mean to you?" Ling Qi asked. She watched silvery ice spread across the branches, making the eaves hang low.
Gui's eyes scrunched shut in thought. "It's new things growing from old things."
"It's not about recovery and endurance?" Ling Qi asked.
"That is part of it," Gui said. "But Gui thinks it is more important for things to grow back even after they are ash."
"Old things choke new things, with hungry roots and heavy leaves," Zhen said. "Without destruction comes stagnation."
"Without renewal, destruction is stagnation too," Gui said huffily.
Ling Qi nodded absently as the two of them stared each other down. It did come down to that didn't it. Zhengui was very hard to hurt, it was true, but the real thing that had allowed him to endure enemies so much above him was his regeneration.
Really, had she been thinking too hard all this time? She knew well the nature of the world, a chain of endings, each followed by a beginning. A forest fire cleared old growth and made room for new, and a glacier crushed all beneath in their advance, but left behind clear land in their retreat. It was the same concept, expressed through different elements and frames of time.
Ling Qi eyed the trees she had crafted, and let them wither away into dream mist.
"Sister?" Gui asked, looking up at her.
"Sorry, I was just thinking that I'd like to try something a little different is all," Ling Qi replied. "If I mess up, I'll apologize in advance."
"No apologies," Zhen insisted. "We practice now, so we don't break real things."
"I suppose we do," Ling Qi mused.
In the end, they didn't make much progress that first night. Ling Qi wasn't sure what she was doing, toying with meltwater and moving ice, but she felt like she was on to something, even if she wasn't quite sure what yet.
As the days passed, Ling Qi cultivated where she could as the Sect's forces moved on, stealing moments to meditate on cliffsides and trees under the light of the moon. It felt strange, after so long using her Argent Vent and other cultivation sites, the cycling of her qi felt almost sluggish. Still, with focus and some help from Li Suyin's meridian wand, she managed to painstakingly clear three more meridians, giving her more avenues to channel the increasingly complex patterns of her arts.
Hanyi often joined her at night, if not to cultivate than at least to compose. Although, Ling Qi found herself musing for Hanyi and in the future, Ling Qi those two things might not be so different.
During the day, she mostly continued assisting Gan Guangli and Zhengui. As the first week of travel passed, here and there they ran into conflict, hostile spirits, minor groups of barbarians trying to slip around and sabotage their lines and such, but nothing truly worrying.
Well, unless you counted the continued tension in the roiling clouds overhead. The Sect Head was clearly at full alert, and yet those small problems slipped through. His attention was obviously elsewhere, and that was at least a little worrying.
Still, they had reached the site of the new fort, and in the morning, she would be meeting Cai Renxiang and the others before they split off from the main force.
The easy part was over.
Please Vote for the arc end interlude. The character listed first is the viewpoint
[] Clockwork Blades (Cai Renxiang, Xia Lin, Xia Ren)
[] Worth of the Pen (Meng Dan, Cai Renxiang)
[] Heroes and Soldiers (Xia Lin, Gan Guangli)
AN: Not... wholly satisfied with the length here. I won't make excuses but yeah, shitty week.
It took a second for Zhengui to answer as they walked along the shore. When he did though, it was in two voices. "Okay."
But, despite the fact that she had her answer, Ling Qi still felt dissatisfaction. Because whatever her intentions were, Ling Qi knew that she had fumbled things many times, causing pain where she hadn't intended. In the end, were good intentions really enough? "You said something earlier, about not having a place. Is that why you want to do this?"
"Gui wants to make a pretty place for everyone," he replied, and flowers bloomed in the dark loam around his feet.
It wasn't a lie exactly, but it wasn't the whole truth either. "Zhengui, it's fine to have some selfish motivations to you know?" Ling Qi said gently.
The flowers withered, replaced by creeping vines spreading in a quick mat through the dirt. "The sect is too small," Gui muttered.
"I, Zhen am meant to reign," Zhen hissed. "But I am also too small. There are many big kings and no room for Zhen."
Ling Qi frowned. Even once she had her fief, she was still going to be subordinate to the Cai. She didn't see that changing. Even if she fantasized a scenario where she had the power, she would be a terrible duchess. Mostly because she didn't even want to be one. "We're never going to be the ones completely in charge of things."
Zhen shook his head as they turned back toward the core of the island. "No, Sister does not understand. It is not about human things."
"Gui isn't renewing anything," he said, his voice tinged with frustration. Yet some part of his words resonated in the Dream, an echo of something more than mere sound.
Ling Qi was silent for some minutes as they both regarded the dark soil. From her thoughts grew slender pines, resilient and green even in the depths of cold. Around their roots bloomed flowers of spring quick to live and quick to die.
...Maybe she had been misunderstanding Zhengui.
"Hey, little brother," Ling Qi said thoughtfully. "Will you explain what you mean?"
Gui looked up from his flowers in confusion. "What does Big Sister mean?"
"Renewal, what does that mean to you?" Ling Qi asked. She watched silvery ice spread across the branches, making the eaves hang low.
Gui's eyes scrunched shut in thought. "It's new things growing from old things."
"It's not about recovery and endurance?" Ling Qi asked.
"That is part of it," Gui said. "But Gui thinks it is more important for things to grow back even after they are ash."
"Old things choke new things, with hungry roots and heavy leaves," Zhen said. "Without destruction comes stagnation."
"Without renewal, destruction is stagnation too," Gui said huffily.
Ling Qi nodded absently as the two of them stared each other down. It did come down to that didn't it. Zhengui was very hard to hurt, it was true, but the real thing that had allowed him to endure enemies so much above him was his regeneration.
Really, had she been thinking too hard all this time? She knew well the nature of the world, a chain of endings, each followed by a beginning. A forest fire cleared old growth and made room for new, and a glacier crushed all beneath in their advance, but left behind clear land in their retreat. It was the same concept, expressed through different elements and frames of time.
Ling Qi eyed the trees she had crafted, and let them wither away into dream mist.
"Sister?" Gui asked, looking up at her.
"Sorry, I was just thinking that I'd like to try something a little different is all," Ling Qi replied. "If I mess up, I'll apologize in advance."
"No apologies," Zhen insisted. "We practice now, so we don't break real things."
"I suppose we do," Ling Qi mused.
***
In the end, they didn't make much progress that first night. Ling Qi wasn't sure what she was doing, toying with meltwater and moving ice, but she felt like she was on to something, even if she wasn't quite sure what yet.
As the days passed, Ling Qi cultivated where she could as the Sect's forces moved on, stealing moments to meditate on cliffsides and trees under the light of the moon. It felt strange, after so long using her Argent Vent and other cultivation sites, the cycling of her qi felt almost sluggish. Still, with focus and some help from Li Suyin's meridian wand, she managed to painstakingly clear three more meridians, giving her more avenues to channel the increasingly complex patterns of her arts.
Hanyi often joined her at night, if not to cultivate than at least to compose. Although, Ling Qi found herself musing for Hanyi and in the future, Ling Qi those two things might not be so different.
During the day, she mostly continued assisting Gan Guangli and Zhengui. As the first week of travel passed, here and there they ran into conflict, hostile spirits, minor groups of barbarians trying to slip around and sabotage their lines and such, but nothing truly worrying.
Well, unless you counted the continued tension in the roiling clouds overhead. The Sect Head was clearly at full alert, and yet those small problems slipped through. His attention was obviously elsewhere, and that was at least a little worrying.
Still, they had reached the site of the new fort, and in the morning, she would be meeting Cai Renxiang and the others before they split off from the main force.
The easy part was over.
Spiritual Cultivation | 1556 Dice
3 7 2 1 6 5 8 9 4 8 4 9 8 9 6 4 3 8 1 4 8 3 1 8 7 1 5 8 1 9 8 1 2 5 1 10 4 5 8 1 8 5 3 4 4 10 2 9 1 2 3 8 1 10 5 2 2 2 7 3 6 8 4 3 2 8 5 7 5 8 5 4 3 10 3 1 6 3 3 9 9 1 3 4 1 2 8 5 3 10 5 5 5 3 8 3 1 9 5 10 2 4 6 5 1 8 3 5 1 9 3 2 7 1 2 4 4 7 7 4 4 9 5 5 3 10 6 7 1 9 10 4 9 7 3 5 2 9 1 1 10 1 10 9 2 9 1 1 6 2 5 7 5 2 4 10 6 1 9 8 4 1 9 3 7 4 1 1 10 6 7 8 10 6 9 2 9 10 4 2 4 3 3 1 1 9 6 10 4 3 5 3 3 5 6 8 9 5 10 8 6 10 9 2 9 1 8 10 8 7 2 7 4 1 4 6 8 4 3 6 10 9 10 8 10 3 10 5 10 8 3 9 3 6 4 1 3 2 8 2 10 9 7 10 4 2 4 9 1 8 2 2 5 3 5 3 6 7 5 10 7 9 3 5 7 5 4 7 3 2 5 5 4 5 2 4 4 10 2 9 7 7 4 3 9 2 2 6 6 1 7 5 6 8 10 7 7 6 5 6 1 5 3 6 2 9 4 2 8 5 10 10 7 4 5 5 3 3 10 8 5 3 4 1 7 9 4 6 10 10 2 4 1 8 4 5 10 2 5 10 8 5 4 8 1 4 9 6 3 8 4 2 7 10 7 10 2 6 5 10 5 1 1 5 2 9 5 7 4 3 10 10 4 3 9 8 10 2 10 4 1 10 5 7 7 6 3 2 9 8 6 8 2 3 9 1 9 9 10 3 1 8 6 6 10 6 6 7 1 8 1 3 9 4 4 7 3 1 2 3 1 9 10 4 10 2 6 8 3 2 6 2 6 1 2 4 4 5 7 2 5 8 3 8 9 6 2 8 4 2 3 4 6 8 1 10 2 1 7 4 4 8 1 5 3 2 1 10 8 4 3 9 2 4 9 9 6 4 3 3 4 5 1 1 1 3 6 4 1 6 6 5 8 9 9 7 4 5 9 5 9 8 10 1 6 10 1 6 6 5 4 9 9 9 3 4 9 7 6 1 4 9 4 1 10 9 3 9 8 2 5 10 2 4 10 5 6 7 6 6 5 8 5 6 5 6 3 6 3 3 9 3 7 6 4 7 4 8 7 5 4 7 4 8 7 6 4 7 4 8 9 8 5 4 9 7 7 3 7 9 9 8 8 8 9 10 2 7 4 6 5 3 7 10 4 3 10 8 6 5 9 7 10 6 3 8 8 3 4 7 2 10 8 10 8 3 7 3 1 7 4 3 2 1 3 8 4 2 7 8 9 9 7 2 4 5 8 2 1 1 1 1 6 6 4 5 9 7 6 2 7 8 6 6 7 6 9 9 4 1 7 2 4 6 5 2 1 6 4 2 8 2 3 10 4 7 9 9 7 1 8 2 4 2 9 10 7 3 6 2 5 9 4 7 10 2 7 4 5 7 6 1 1 7 8 10 5 8 3 9 2 7 3 2 5 8 10 8 3 5 3 4 9 10 4 5 1 5 7 3 1 5 5 5 8 4 4 6 1 5 5 8 4 4 5 2 5 6 9 4 7 6 9 4 9 4 1 1 2 3 8 6 3 2 2 3 4 4 9 7 9 7 4 5 5 4 7 1 7 8 6 5 9 8 6 1 3 4 3 8 9 9 5 1 6 8 10 6 5 2 5 4 7 4 8 3 1 2 1 8 3 2 10 1 6 2 3 4 4 3 5 7 3 2 3 2 8 7 4 9 8 5 10 2 8 7 8 8 3 3 6 9 4 10 10 1 1 5 6 3 7 6 7 2 9 8 6 4 10 1 2 8 3 9 6 9 5 1 10 4 4 8 7 5 10 1 6 10 8 9 6 9 9 9 5 1 1 8 1 5 2 8 10 8 9 8 5 10 8 1 5 1 2 2 2 6 5 7 10 8 3 9 4 4 3 8 3 1 6 2 7 10 10 9 10 2 2 2 5 5 6 6 10 1 10 4 10 10 8 3 2 1 4 5 9 2 9 9 2 5 6 6 8 6 2 3 1 10 8 9 7 5 8 10 10 5 5 6 6 6 4 2 8 3 1 5 5 7 3 1 8 5 3 10 4 10 8 10 3 2 10 6 3 5 3 1 6 2 9 8 5 5 8 7 2 6 3 6 3 5 6 4 6 1 4 8 4 4 5 6 4 8 8 7 6 8 6 5 10 10 2 6 3 6 2 9 5 9 3 3 4 10 2 9 7 2 6 2 8 1 9 10 10 4 3 8 6 2 7 9 2 4 7 1 1 3 7 8 3 3 3 3 2 5 1 6 8 6 5 10 9 6 5 5 10 1 2 1 2 7 2 7 6 9 1 8 10 4 1 3 4 5 8 8 1 3 4 10 8 5 8 2 8 3 6 8 10 9 9 5 6 6 4 5 5 7 8 2 8 10 7 3 8 6 1 8 9 9 10 10 10 4 2 5 6 5 1 9 7 8 4 9 10 9 10 1 6 6 2 9 1 8 7 4 2 7 6 9 2 2 7 1 4 1 6 9 9 4 6 9 3 8 8 3 9 3 3 9 3 8 1 4 8 6 8 3 1 4 7 5 6 7 4 8 3 6 6 5 2 3 7 9 2 2 7 5 3 10 1 7 9 7 5 1 1 3 6 5 5 6 10 10 9 2 7 9 7 6 3 4 8 1 4 1 7 4 4 10 7 7 10 1 10 6 10 5 6 3 3 3 3 9 5 9 2 8 4 10 1 5 6 7 9 8 6 1 8 1 9 3 4 7 10 6 9 1 7 9 8 9 6 3 1 10 10 7 10 4 6 5 9 3 10 5 9 3 1 10 2 2 9 3 5 2 6 5 1 6 1 1 3 7 9 7 1 10 10 10 10 1 3 5 1 4 8 9 8 3 7 2 1 10 9 1 7 7 4 4 7 10 10 9 4 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 6 9 10 4 9 1 6 5 6 4 6 10 3 4 4 2 6 2 4 7 2 6 8 5 10 5 2 3 6 5 7 2 9 8 1 6 10 5 9 7 9 3 1 1 3 3 5 8 4 2 8 1 7 1 7 3 3 5 6 4 7 6 1 5 9 1 9 4 6 7 10 6 4 9 5 10 8 1 6 4 8 4 6 7 8 8 5 4 2 8 5 7 6 1 1 6 2 3 1 3 7 2 5 9 3 5 2 10 8 8 5 1 7 10 4 4 1 8 8 2 1 8 3 6 9 6 2 4 1 6 7 2 2 1 9 6 7 5 7 5 5 10 6 9 3 7 2 3 2 2 5 2 1 2 10 6 6 4 9 5 10 9 10 7 1 2 2 6 10 1 9 8 5 7 6 10 5 1 7 7 6 1 6 4 7 7 5 9 7 3 3 9 2 10 4 2 | 798 Successes mean: 778 standard deviation: 19.72
Rerolling 161 mean: 155.60000000000002 standard deviation: 11.83
6 6 1 3 4 10 8 6 7 5 6 2 8 5 1 5 7 7 7 7 2 4 9 2 4 7 4 7 5 10 2 7 2 10 8 2 10 9 7 2 6 8 1 10 4 2 10 4 8 10 5 1 6 6 8 7 2 1 5 9 5 5 2 6 8 2 7 5 2 7 9 2 1 2 10 3 5 4 9 7 4 2 3 2 2 2 4 4 1 1 3 3 4 5 3 7 7 6 2 5 7 2 10 7 1 9 3 8 10 3 2 7 5 7 9 5 4 7 8 10 5 10 7 3 6 1 2 8 10 6 9 6 7 10 10 7 9 6 6 3 4 9 9 8 2 4 6 4 7 5 3 4 9 9 7 3 2 8 10 4 3 | 80x2=160 Successes mean: 161 standard deviation: 12.69
958 Successes mean: 933.5999999999999 standard deviation: 28.99
1871/6000
+2 Spine Meridians, +1 Head Meridian
3 7 2 1 6 5 8 9 4 8 4 9 8 9 6 4 3 8 1 4 8 3 1 8 7 1 5 8 1 9 8 1 2 5 1 10 4 5 8 1 8 5 3 4 4 10 2 9 1 2 3 8 1 10 5 2 2 2 7 3 6 8 4 3 2 8 5 7 5 8 5 4 3 10 3 1 6 3 3 9 9 1 3 4 1 2 8 5 3 10 5 5 5 3 8 3 1 9 5 10 2 4 6 5 1 8 3 5 1 9 3 2 7 1 2 4 4 7 7 4 4 9 5 5 3 10 6 7 1 9 10 4 9 7 3 5 2 9 1 1 10 1 10 9 2 9 1 1 6 2 5 7 5 2 4 10 6 1 9 8 4 1 9 3 7 4 1 1 10 6 7 8 10 6 9 2 9 10 4 2 4 3 3 1 1 9 6 10 4 3 5 3 3 5 6 8 9 5 10 8 6 10 9 2 9 1 8 10 8 7 2 7 4 1 4 6 8 4 3 6 10 9 10 8 10 3 10 5 10 8 3 9 3 6 4 1 3 2 8 2 10 9 7 10 4 2 4 9 1 8 2 2 5 3 5 3 6 7 5 10 7 9 3 5 7 5 4 7 3 2 5 5 4 5 2 4 4 10 2 9 7 7 4 3 9 2 2 6 6 1 7 5 6 8 10 7 7 6 5 6 1 5 3 6 2 9 4 2 8 5 10 10 7 4 5 5 3 3 10 8 5 3 4 1 7 9 4 6 10 10 2 4 1 8 4 5 10 2 5 10 8 5 4 8 1 4 9 6 3 8 4 2 7 10 7 10 2 6 5 10 5 1 1 5 2 9 5 7 4 3 10 10 4 3 9 8 10 2 10 4 1 10 5 7 7 6 3 2 9 8 6 8 2 3 9 1 9 9 10 3 1 8 6 6 10 6 6 7 1 8 1 3 9 4 4 7 3 1 2 3 1 9 10 4 10 2 6 8 3 2 6 2 6 1 2 4 4 5 7 2 5 8 3 8 9 6 2 8 4 2 3 4 6 8 1 10 2 1 7 4 4 8 1 5 3 2 1 10 8 4 3 9 2 4 9 9 6 4 3 3 4 5 1 1 1 3 6 4 1 6 6 5 8 9 9 7 4 5 9 5 9 8 10 1 6 10 1 6 6 5 4 9 9 9 3 4 9 7 6 1 4 9 4 1 10 9 3 9 8 2 5 10 2 4 10 5 6 7 6 6 5 8 5 6 5 6 3 6 3 3 9 3 7 6 4 7 4 8 7 5 4 7 4 8 7 6 4 7 4 8 9 8 5 4 9 7 7 3 7 9 9 8 8 8 9 10 2 7 4 6 5 3 7 10 4 3 10 8 6 5 9 7 10 6 3 8 8 3 4 7 2 10 8 10 8 3 7 3 1 7 4 3 2 1 3 8 4 2 7 8 9 9 7 2 4 5 8 2 1 1 1 1 6 6 4 5 9 7 6 2 7 8 6 6 7 6 9 9 4 1 7 2 4 6 5 2 1 6 4 2 8 2 3 10 4 7 9 9 7 1 8 2 4 2 9 10 7 3 6 2 5 9 4 7 10 2 7 4 5 7 6 1 1 7 8 10 5 8 3 9 2 7 3 2 5 8 10 8 3 5 3 4 9 10 4 5 1 5 7 3 1 5 5 5 8 4 4 6 1 5 5 8 4 4 5 2 5 6 9 4 7 6 9 4 9 4 1 1 2 3 8 6 3 2 2 3 4 4 9 7 9 7 4 5 5 4 7 1 7 8 6 5 9 8 6 1 3 4 3 8 9 9 5 1 6 8 10 6 5 2 5 4 7 4 8 3 1 2 1 8 3 2 10 1 6 2 3 4 4 3 5 7 3 2 3 2 8 7 4 9 8 5 10 2 8 7 8 8 3 3 6 9 4 10 10 1 1 5 6 3 7 6 7 2 9 8 6 4 10 1 2 8 3 9 6 9 5 1 10 4 4 8 7 5 10 1 6 10 8 9 6 9 9 9 5 1 1 8 1 5 2 8 10 8 9 8 5 10 8 1 5 1 2 2 2 6 5 7 10 8 3 9 4 4 3 8 3 1 6 2 7 10 10 9 10 2 2 2 5 5 6 6 10 1 10 4 10 10 8 3 2 1 4 5 9 2 9 9 2 5 6 6 8 6 2 3 1 10 8 9 7 5 8 10 10 5 5 6 6 6 4 2 8 3 1 5 5 7 3 1 8 5 3 10 4 10 8 10 3 2 10 6 3 5 3 1 6 2 9 8 5 5 8 7 2 6 3 6 3 5 6 4 6 1 4 8 4 4 5 6 4 8 8 7 6 8 6 5 10 10 2 6 3 6 2 9 5 9 3 3 4 10 2 9 7 2 6 2 8 1 9 10 10 4 3 8 6 2 7 9 2 4 7 1 1 3 7 8 3 3 3 3 2 5 1 6 8 6 5 10 9 6 5 5 10 1 2 1 2 7 2 7 6 9 1 8 10 4 1 3 4 5 8 8 1 3 4 10 8 5 8 2 8 3 6 8 10 9 9 5 6 6 4 5 5 7 8 2 8 10 7 3 8 6 1 8 9 9 10 10 10 4 2 5 6 5 1 9 7 8 4 9 10 9 10 1 6 6 2 9 1 8 7 4 2 7 6 9 2 2 7 1 4 1 6 9 9 4 6 9 3 8 8 3 9 3 3 9 3 8 1 4 8 6 8 3 1 4 7 5 6 7 4 8 3 6 6 5 2 3 7 9 2 2 7 5 3 10 1 7 9 7 5 1 1 3 6 5 5 6 10 10 9 2 7 9 7 6 3 4 8 1 4 1 7 4 4 10 7 7 10 1 10 6 10 5 6 3 3 3 3 9 5 9 2 8 4 10 1 5 6 7 9 8 6 1 8 1 9 3 4 7 10 6 9 1 7 9 8 9 6 3 1 10 10 7 10 4 6 5 9 3 10 5 9 3 1 10 2 2 9 3 5 2 6 5 1 6 1 1 3 7 9 7 1 10 10 10 10 1 3 5 1 4 8 9 8 3 7 2 1 10 9 1 7 7 4 4 7 10 10 9 4 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 6 9 10 4 9 1 6 5 6 4 6 10 3 4 4 2 6 2 4 7 2 6 8 5 10 5 2 3 6 5 7 2 9 8 1 6 10 5 9 7 9 3 1 1 3 3 5 8 4 2 8 1 7 1 7 3 3 5 6 4 7 6 1 5 9 1 9 4 6 7 10 6 4 9 5 10 8 1 6 4 8 4 6 7 8 8 5 4 2 8 5 7 6 1 1 6 2 3 1 3 7 2 5 9 3 5 2 10 8 8 5 1 7 10 4 4 1 8 8 2 1 8 3 6 9 6 2 4 1 6 7 2 2 1 9 6 7 5 7 5 5 10 6 9 3 7 2 3 2 2 5 2 1 2 10 6 6 4 9 5 10 9 10 7 1 2 2 6 10 1 9 8 5 7 6 10 5 1 7 7 6 1 6 4 7 7 5 9 7 3 3 9 2 10 4 2 | 798 Successes mean: 778 standard deviation: 19.72
Rerolling 161 mean: 155.60000000000002 standard deviation: 11.83
6 6 1 3 4 10 8 6 7 5 6 2 8 5 1 5 7 7 7 7 2 4 9 2 4 7 4 7 5 10 2 7 2 10 8 2 10 9 7 2 6 8 1 10 4 2 10 4 8 10 5 1 6 6 8 7 2 1 5 9 5 5 2 6 8 2 7 5 2 7 9 2 1 2 10 3 5 4 9 7 4 2 3 2 2 2 4 4 1 1 3 3 4 5 3 7 7 6 2 5 7 2 10 7 1 9 3 8 10 3 2 7 5 7 9 5 4 7 8 10 5 10 7 3 6 1 2 8 10 6 9 6 7 10 10 7 9 6 6 3 4 9 9 8 2 4 6 4 7 5 3 4 9 9 7 3 2 8 10 4 3 | 80x2=160 Successes mean: 161 standard deviation: 12.69
958 Successes mean: 933.5999999999999 standard deviation: 28.99
1871/6000
+2 Spine Meridians, +1 Head Meridian
Please Vote for the arc end interlude. The character listed first is the viewpoint
[] Clockwork Blades (Cai Renxiang, Xia Lin, Xia Ren)
[] Worth of the Pen (Meng Dan, Cai Renxiang)
[] Heroes and Soldiers (Xia Lin, Gan Guangli)
AN: Not... wholly satisfied with the length here. I won't make excuses but yeah, shitty week.
Last edited:
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
Sorry for the tough week. But! You had some really cool lines. I really enjoyed the thoughts about renewal that Ling Qi had.