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

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Well, to be honest, this is about what I was expecting considering the themes and the inspirations. So I guess we have a clear goal long term.
 
Cai Shenhua: Daughter, it is good to see that you have learned how to... vibe.

Now do so, at the resonant frequency of the Heavens, and destroy it all!
 
So Shenhua wants only emotion Ren to feel is rage, so that one day she or her sisters can overthrow their mother and repeat the cycle, yeah I think Qi when she discovers it needs to starting needling her away, the endgame of Shenhua plan for Ren is really really dark place.

Also let's try not to add anything more truth based or progression to reach the top to our way given what Shenhua looks like we don't need to become a wreck.
 
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yrsillar said:
REVOLUTION
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Ranald, Sabrina Vee and Cai Shenhua walk into an Empire. It stops Empiring.

yrsillar said:
"The thrones of heaven await, Renxiang. I shall look forward to whether it is your hands which topple them," she chuckles, and then she is gone. Somehow you know you will not come to this room again.

You do not know whether to laugh or weep.
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At least make sure to grab one of the treats.

What a chapter!
 
I feel really sorry for Ren and Tian, their mother is extremly cruel since they both will end up broken who will have to slay her and probally repeat the cycle.
 
I'm more surprised she told Renxiang so directly than anything else. It's 0% surprising that she was intentionally creating a situation where the only solution is to overthrow her.
 
While this whole interlude is mostly, ah...

This bit is really sweet:

yrsillar said:
You do not feel the divan under you any longer, nor the crackling hearthfire. Colorless radiance is your world, and her eyes burn you. Score, a hundred, a thousand of them, from faces of platinum and white jade, carved in expressions of fixed emotion, shifting in an incomprehensible pattern of divine order. Two eyes are greatest of all, light overwhelming, portals to a thing of obliteration and beginnings.

SPEAK THE QUESTION.

You are on your knees, hands pressed to nothing. Memory comes. Terrible, unwelcome memory. The loom, the needles, the shears. Scraps of fabric left on the cutting floor, each a piece of a child who saw the truth of heaven and was broken by it. More recent, fleeting, like mist in the morning came another memory, an embrace, cool and dark against the light.

And you, Cai Renxiang, spoke the question she had never dared to ask.
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The lingering memory of Ling Qi and her domain stubbornly protecting Renxiang, even from the all-obliterating voice of Cai Shenhua.

Ling Qi is cultivating immortality to give memory hugs to her friends, and it's great.
 
I really wonder what Ling Qi's Word at the center of her being will be.

REMEMBRANCE ?
GREED ?
FAMILY ?
FOYER/FIREPLACE ?
 
HEAVEN IS WRONG.

Yes. Oh yes. Also, heaven is full of lovecraftian monsters and we are insects inhabiting one of their corpses.

She is embodiment of everyone's feeling. 50 years and white realm she is posessed of cource she is.
 
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Terpsichorë said:
While this whole interlude is mostly, ah...

This bit is really sweet:



The lingering memory of Ling Qi and her domain stubbornly protecting Renxiang, even from the all-obliterating voice of Cai Shenhua.

Ling Qi is cultivating immortality to give memory hugs to her friends, and it's great.
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The spiritual hug field is real!
 
I wonder if her word being REVOLUTION is part of how Shenhua was able to reach White so quickly. Not the only reason of course, she 100% figured out a cheat, but you need to be strong to topple those above you, and having a Way built around that likely gave her an extra push. It's an interesting thought.
 
PrimalShadow said:
r as a child?

One answer I think some of the comments above suggest was that the trauma was the goal; to get the newest Cai to resent her and try to overthrow her in the future. That conclusions seems... unsatisfying to me, frankly. It doesn't feel like a good fit for what we've seen of the Duchess. It doesn't feel cunning, or ambitious; it just seems almost caricature-esque evil.
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Normally, yeah I'd agree with you that type of mustache twirling villainy would be a little much, but for me it's a bit divorced due to mostly the nature of Shenhua. It's constantly referenced that the human form we see is just a human shaped blob that functions as a filter for the cosmic horror that is Shenhua. In her fury and disgust at her families abandonment to neglect in the face of another Cloud Tribe conflict, Shenhua made herself the very concept of the Revolt in the cycle of revolution->establishment->decadence->revolution. So her torture of Renxiang is absent any cruelty because that requires some sort of malice. This isn't malicious, Shenhua gets no enjoyment from it any more than I get enjoyment from oxygen metabolizing in my blood stream. It simply is a function of her existence. She must perpetuate Revolution and in order to continue the cycle she must create something that will be better than what she is.
 
Israyum said:
VIVA LA REVOLUTION!
So this does confirm some theories about Shenhua. First I think this is the closest we have seen to the true psyche of a top cultivator. They are more a set of instructions than human. The imperial standard for cultivation is about conforming to great spirits, which are just the daemons that kinda run reality. They are powerful but inflexible in their goals. Two, I think that Shenhua is self aware. There was previously talk about how she cheated her way into white and I think that cheat comes with retention of some human traits. However the mix of human traits and Great Sprit power (cosmic corruption?) has caused her to become insane. Therefore her children are her failsafe. Now I'm much more interested in what Tianli's purpose is. CRX is the sword that will cut her down in the end when she eventually replaces heaven, but Tianli is probably a rebuilder? Lastly we get a little more insight into Shenhua as a person. I would love to see her origin story because it would make for really good Xian Xia. Core concepts such as revolution are formed under very tough conditions, usually as a response to trauma and abuse. The set up of the room is also very meaningful. Does she genuinely trying to make CRX comfortable? She clearly understands the mental trauma her daughter is going through, so is the room a continued mockery of the trauma or a attempt to fix it? Again the Kill la kill themes are running through the background but I'm always expecting a twist. Ohhh this is so exciting. DOWN WITH THE HEAVENS!
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Given what she said about being happy CRX isn't as broken as she though, I think Tianli is was intended as an alternative as she thought Cai wasn't going to be able to.
 
Well that is certainly one way to set Shenhua up as last boss material who needs to be stopped before she breaks the building blocks of reality through toppling the Thrones of Heaven, and I'm personally not at all surprised this is happening as Yrs has alluded to this being the case in the past. This certainly explains why Xin said not accepting the offer by CRX would be good for Ling Qi's cultivation as being a family cultivator that needs assist in overthrowing a White can easily warp her cultivation in a negative manner, and will in all likelihood as Shenhua wishes her replacement to continue the Revolution against Heaven in a sustainable manner.

Also for a bit of humor wouldn't this look better if Mini!Qi was sitting on Renxiang's shoulder greedily devouring the light while screaming her battle cry of [MINE] while gregariously giving out hugs? :V
yrsillar said:
You are on your knees, hands pressed to nothing. Memory comes. Terrible, unwelcome memory. The loom, the needles, the shears. Scraps of fabric left on the cutting floor, each a piece of a child who saw the truth of heaven and was broken by it. More recent, fleeting, like mist in the morning came another memory, an embrace, cool and dark against the light.
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yrsillar said:
"I will continue to break traditions. I will continue to change the world, even as my favor runs dry and the wrath of the people turns against me. Tomorrow even I will make my next step, no doubt angering many across the Empire. I am not sustainable. Something must replace me," Cai Shenhua said thoughtfully.
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Does that mean that Sun Shao will have an ugly surprise?

Edit: Well, another one I want to say ... he already had the alliance of Cai with Bai ... :"'v
 
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yrs has, in the past, referred to Shenhua as a metaphor for the industrial revolution too.

Revolution can be a process.

Also, in the context of Not!China I'd wonder about the concept of the Mandate of Heaven here. Because the Empire appears somewhat more stable than China was? There haven't been that many dynastic changes, and provinces like Thousand Lakes are absurdly stable (and I can't help but feel that one of the Bai ascended would have inscribed hierarchy and tyranny into reality, possibly one who created their caste system).

I'd wonder what impact Shenhua ascending could have on that cosmic order... would it make poor rulers more likely to lose the Mandate of Heaven? And of course part of what holds together that order is the entire cultivation system, and how much more powerful those on the top are. How would one make that order more prone to being upended? Would dramatic shounen geniuses like Shenhua become more possible?
 
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