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

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If Truth-synonymous-with-perfection is a key part of Cai Shenhua's Domain, then she isn't just focused on creating a system that works well, she's concerned with creating the Best System, which means absolutely everything has to be in its Correct Place rather than one that's just good enough. Which was always likely to be the case, given that she's a White, but it also makes conflict inevitable instead of merely very likely.
There's more to Shenhua than that, considering her lover, dress standard, and flouting of social conventions etc.

Plus I suspect that even at White level there can be a divide between your Way and what portions of your Way you use for Arts. And between what Arts you have/use, vs what Arts others can detect you using.
 
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There's more to Shenhua than that, considering her lover, dress standard, and flouting of social conventions etc.

Plus I suspect that even at White level there can be a divide between your Way and what portions of your Way you use for Arts. And between what Arts you have/use, vs what Arts others can detect you using.
We know that at least one fragment of Shenhua's domain includes "Be True to yourself." Which partially contributes to how she refuses to abide by norms that would require she not be who she has chosen to be. But the system is well designed to accept the eccentricies of high realm cultivators, so it doesn't matter as much.

Shenhua has a major thing with regards to the naked, unvarnished, and pure Truth. Some, potentially Shenhua, see the idea of things being what they are without pretense or unnecessary nuance as closer to Perfect representations of themselves hence why it seems like so many of her major initiatives and followers are so relentless, blunt, and honest.

It is an interesting process that still lends itself to being something one can work with as long as one remains honest and knows that they are unlikely to get more than what was promised without doing more than what was asked, and that failure is entirely unacceptable.
 
We know that at least one fragment of Shenhua's domain includes "Be True to yourself." Which partially contributes to how she refuses to abide by norms that would require she not be who she has chosen to be. But the system is well designed to accept the eccentricies of high realm cultivators, so it doesn't matter as much.
What I was more getting at was that she's unlikely to want to stamp out all emotion and embrace a perfect ordered world of robots or anything like that.

Hell, this update even validated my suspicion that Ling Qi and Sixiang being unable to detect the emotions/dreams of the soldiers was a matter of being unable to pierce White level protective gear, not a matter of them not having such things.
She watched the men and women performing their duties with confidence and pride, recognizable to her even through her Mother's artifice.
 
None can resist our Ling Qiness
It is interesting, as CRX has become used to being given not only honest, but full and intended answers from Ling Qi to any and all questions. Ling Qi is open to a fault with CRX, such that apparently it bothers CRX when she is denied the full truth from someone she wants to hear the opinions of.
I want to note that Gan is very open and very VERY vocal about his opinions. So that didn't started with LQ.

PS. Which also means that CRX can trust Gan and LQ. She know where they stand and she knows that she would know where they stand in the future. Girl just failed test that may make a difference between being A retainer and THE retainer.
 
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Gan is very open, but his opinions are usually affected by those of CRX to the point of almost mirroring her. This is certainly genuine, but different from Ling Qi saying her opinion and criticizing CRX
I can't agree with that. Gan is waaaay more direct than CRX. And CRX is politician. So I can easily see them disagreeing on issues of "does this demand immediate attention".

Not that Gan wouldn't follow order in such case. But so would LQ.
 
I agree wit the posters above. Gan and CRX share the same ideology but with CRX being forced to be more political in her pursuit of that ideal, it is Gan who is a lot purer and uncompromising in following it.

This gives CRX an important baseline. She can see how far her actions and thought processes have deviated from the ideal and judge if that is still within the acceptable margins. This prevents her from salamiying her worldview into an atrocious abomination due to political pressure.
 
Its just that I have SERIOUS doubts of Liling still having 100% autonomy, especially since the spirit bonding was forced upon her.
Why? It has not been even hinted that sublime ancestors can mind-control their human descendants. Sure, the adoption process will likely alter Sun Liling's thoughts and feelings a bit (or potentially more than a bit), but that doesn't mean she loses any of her autonomy.
 
So if Liling wants to run away and have nothing to do with the Sun anymore, do you think she would just be able to leave?

Not allowed, but able.
Eh, why not? Becoming a spirit-blooded will undoubtedly align her goals more closely to that of the Yandere Goddess, but there's simply no evidence that it will turn her into a mindless drone. Her grandfather would never allow the adoption if that was the case.
 
Why? It has not been even hinted that sublime ancestors can mind-control their human descendants. Sure, the adoption process will likely alter Sun Liling's thoughts and feelings a bit (or potentially more than a bit), but that doesn't mean she loses any of her autonomy.
Mind, when a higher cultivation entity puts the pressure on, regular diplomacy can be very hard to discern from mind control.
Just that they usually wouldn't even care, what you tend to get is their passive, undirected influence.
 
Mind, when a higher cultivation entity puts the pressure on, regular diplomacy can be very hard to discern from mind control.
Just that they usually wouldn't even care, what you tend to get is their passive, undirected influence.

The Sunflower Goddess doesn't give a shit about Liling. Adopting her was a favor paid to Sun Shao. As such I don't see how the adoption would change anything.
 
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Yeah...I don't think it'd overwrite her like some fear, but the Flower is Interested and the Interest of a White tier entity is going to be kind of rough on a Green
 
It's the other way around. Giving her leave to adopt Liling was the favour Shao owed to the Goddess, in exchange for her hand in marriage.
No, Johnnie got it right.

Shao basically sold himself to save his family. I suppose we shall see whether that will work out or not.

"You accepted my proposal," Sun Shao, King of the Western Territories ground out, and the earth trembled. "I am yours, but my granddaughter is your granddaughter. The bargain was struck."
 
Well, I guess it depends on the case. I don't think Xin is anything less than white level, and Ling Qi had not suffered from her interest
I think Xin is a prism level entity, but regardless she is a fragment of the Hidden Moon which is itself just a part of the Moon as a whole. Everything we've seen of her is on a much more 'human' level than a lot of environment spirits.
 
Well, I guess it depends on the case. I don't think Xin is anything less than white level, and Ling Qi had not suffered from her interest
Xin's level is almost certainly dependent on how much attention the Moon is paying to her situation at any given time. When the Hidden Moon hijack'd her during Zhou's test, for instance, she was almost certainly higher level than she usually is.
 
Xin is a fragment of a Great Spirit, which is above white, but as she is but a fragment, she is effectively much lower unless her greater self manifests through her.
I think Prism seems like a good bet.
 
Xin is a prism spirit on her own power/growth; she is, in addition, connected to the greater moon conglomerate and can act as a medium for the hidden moon to act through her.

What we know about greater spirit activity on the mortal plane is that they can pretty freely manifest essentially independent power at ~Violet, and can scale up to White when needed. Drawing on power beyond White does happen but comes with costs they have to pay in the higher planes.

With that said, the moon's been around for a while, and acting though intermediates that are also fragments of your self left to grow as independent entities probably allows the moon an unusual degree of freedom as far as great spirits go. We've seen and interacted with aspects of the bloody, grinning, hidden and dreaming moon so far, presumably acting through similarly powerful ES/empire-local ~Prism-level moon spirits like Xin and Sixiang's grandmother.
 
Moon spirits are likely unusually gentle for their power when interacting with humans. The Grinning Moon intervenes on behalf of individual mortal thieves while the Bloody Moon almost certainly intervenes near Red and Yellow soldiers and neither has anyone explode.
 
Moon spirits are likely unusually gentle for their power when interacting with humans. The Grinning Moon intervenes on behalf of individual mortal thieves while the Bloody Moon almost certainly intervenes near Red and Yellow soldiers and neither has anyone explode.
They can probably do stuff like that because smaller moon spirits like Xin and Sixiang are fragments of them that return to them at the end of their 'life.' The Great Spirit probably isn't interfering 'personally,' but rather breaking off a much smaller part of itself that can do what needs to be done for a week or two that is reabsorbed when it 'dies.' Heck even the different phases are just fragments of the even greater Great Spirit of the Moon.
 
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