The unfortunate thing is that even if Renxiang tries to get her mother to not break Tienli like Shenhua did Renxiang it is likely Shenhua just won't listen, and do so as further fuel to push Renxiang more. So all Renxiang might be capable of doing is picking up the pieces to help her sister find herself like Ling Qi did for her, and this is truly frustrating to be in this situation as a player imho.
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.
Unfortunately for Shenhua, Renxaing's teenage rebellion will be to run away to Khem and open up a geometrically perfect tea shop.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
I don't know if figuring out the Aurora Borealis is a good idea though. The legends of the "ice people" suggest that it breaks people's minds and turns them into monstrous killers. Sort of a cthuluish mind break issue. Just because something is enormously powerful, does not mean that it is good or useful.
LucidProp
Pocky Eating MafiaDoka
No wonder Renxiang sees Family as evil, her own Family intentionally refuses to allow her to be happy.
You cannot launch a Revolution through Happiness and Contentment. The Cai will deny their own of both of these things for the sake of revolution, and I find that utterly disgusting and evil, more so than even the Sun.
This update is great, we finally have a end goal!
You cannot launch a Revolution through Happiness and Contentment. The Cai will deny their own of both of these things for the sake of revolution, and I find that utterly disgusting and evil, more so than even the Sun.
This update is great, we finally have a end goal!
I do wonder how applicable Shenhua's view is to the rest of the Empire. She was created by the environment of the Hui, who where of course the worst. And the other province we know the most about has the Bai, who seem to be something of an outlier with regards to unpleasantness given how everyone regards them. Is life for the average person in the other provinces really so bad that Shenhua should try to overthrow it (not that she'd stop either way), or would this be one of those cases of revolution where the cure ends up than the disease?
Is the Imperial Throne/the Ministry if Integrity aware of what's going on with Shenhua? I would assume she can't exactly hide her nature and I doubt they'd look to favourably on it. Maybe a case of waiting until they have a White of their own before trying to deal with it, and until then just trying to ride the tiger and at least get some of the reforms they wanted done out of the situation.
Also, minor point, but surely we should be talking about the Aurora Australis rather than Borealis.
Is the Imperial Throne/the Ministry if Integrity aware of what's going on with Shenhua? I would assume she can't exactly hide her nature and I doubt they'd look to favourably on it. Maybe a case of waiting until they have a White of their own before trying to deal with it, and until then just trying to ride the tiger and at least get some of the reforms they wanted done out of the situation.
Also, minor point, but surely we should be talking about the Aurora Australis rather than Borealis.
Honestly this is something where I truly am grateful Ling Qi has been told how the world functions IC, and we know* the Three Moons road trip that even Great Spirits are simply the largest ripple made by humans. So this is very much so Heaven=Shenhua definition of Wrong, and it is pretty much a challenge for Renxiang to get good if she wishes Shenhua to stop making a mess of things as is inevitable if Shenhua ascends.
The reason Shenhua ascending to become a Great Spirit is bad for business is that she will become an even larger force that keeps pushing Revolution of the world something Renxiang can mitigate through becoming one as well, and is liable to require multiple Cai + friends to become GS to truly render irrelevant, which is a "check back in a 10,000 years" type of problem.
Also Shenua appears to consider many of the traditions Ling Qi is liable to grow fond of in the future as on the chopping block, and thus for the sake of Family Shenhua just has to go the way of the industrial revolution. Like she was absolutely necessary as the Hui were somehow worse than the Bai, but not something you want to keep around for obvious reasons, and while this is like at least a decade, or more early I'll merrily quote this post presuming sufficient velocity is still around when the story reaches the inevitable showdown.
Let's get ready to rumble!
*
The reason Shenhua ascending to become a Great Spirit is bad for business is that she will become an even larger force that keeps pushing Revolution of the world something Renxiang can mitigate through becoming one as well, and is liable to require multiple Cai + friends to become GS to truly render irrelevant, which is a "check back in a 10,000 years" type of problem.
Also Shenua appears to consider many of the traditions Ling Qi is liable to grow fond of in the future as on the chopping block, and thus for the sake of Family Shenhua just has to go the way of the industrial revolution. Like she was absolutely necessary as the Hui were somehow worse than the Bai, but not something you want to keep around for obvious reasons, and while this is like at least a decade, or more early I'll merrily quote this post presuming sufficient velocity is still around when the story reaches the inevitable showdown.
Let's get ready to rumble!
*
Threads 37 Three Moons 2 said:
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- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I dunno about that. Below, as far as I can tell, was the change expanded for clarification. Screams to me of a jaded past hero bitterly resentful of the sacrifice they had to make on their path to slaying the grand evil. She defeated the evil she set out to but seems it's the reality of the imperial cultivation system that's done her in, in the end.
Sure she looks to want CRX to stop her but I wouldn't dismiss some part of her raging inside at the divine laws that necessitated it. Especially with them leading to her children being likewise molded as tools to topple a greater power and her being too set in her ways to do otherwise. Something worth raising a revolution against if plans to halt her continuation and ascension fail.
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That needs some work and more definition as to what the words really mean, as looking at how the other top cultivators are, and how our mentor ended up, I can totally see WANT, ISOLATION, PROTECTION and FAMILY as backfiring 100%, and the humanoid mass of power that is Ling Qi in the White stage could totally want to keep their family isolated, all to herself to forever be with them, and prtect them from the outside world by imprisioning in an inescapable dimension of their own.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I feel like Shenhua probably also had Motion in there at some point and then cut it away. It seems to play well with the rest except maybe renewal.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Ah I'm about to double post buuuuuuuuuuuuut;
It's been fairly clearly shown that any of the words/concepts can be interpreted by the person that embodies them however they want. In LQ's case she used Isolation as part of her motivation to do everything else because its a part of her previous trauma that impacted her greatly. She's shown no tendency to force other people into isolation because of it and actually tries to make sure her friends and family don't have to experience it.
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- Location
- CA
To expand on what Audacious said: as I understand it, the loss of humanity to your concept is less about losing your context (making you an evil genie wish version of what you intended) and more about becoming consumed by your context. Shenhua is Revolution and Truth, but she isn't going around kicking over baronies as revolution for revolution's sake or rapping people on the knuckles every time they tell an untruth, she's specifically focused on Hui-like authorities in need of overthrow, because the Hui are her context. Sun Shao is Everything For Family, but because of the Bai context of his ascension, he's laser-focused on surviving rather than thriving.
So, given the context of Ling Qi's Way, her going on a context-based rampage is more likely to result in her kicking in cave doors when she decides her friends have spent too long in closed-door cultivation. "IT HAS BEEN 243.2 HOURS SINCE YOU LAST HUGGED YOUR GRANDCHILDREN," she bellows, grabbing Su Ling by the collar. "THIS CANNOT STAND."
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
Hey look guys, the headpat that you've all wanted from Shenhua
LQ being consumed by her cultivation is likely to result in her losing her ability to assert her independent will upon others. She is a yin cultivator with a bunch of insights about how other people are valuable and should be respected, at what point does her own agency come into play?
Only when things have truly gone wrong ("Branches and trunks bend and sway, but the roots must remain unyielding. Retreat only so far and then no more.")
As long as things are going well, a high realm LQ is likely to only interact in ways that either don't oppose her bonds or further the will of said bonds.
Only when things have truly gone wrong ("Branches and trunks bend and sway, but the roots must remain unyielding. Retreat only so far and then no more.")
As long as things are going well, a high realm LQ is likely to only interact in ways that either don't oppose her bonds or further the will of said bonds.
- Location
- France
Remember that yrsillar said it's possible to ascend and immediately go "splat" against a far older and bigger great Spirit. It's entirely possible she tries to ascend into something that contradicts an existing fundamental GS (say, Time?) and just gets mashed instantly, amounting to nothing.
I think Shenhua could easily ascend and make it so that even nations will eventually fall to the ravages of Time instead of the status quo of them seeming to last forever.
But is it a continuous cutting motion?
I wonder if this is part of why Shenhua's lover looks on her daughter with such distaste.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Shenhua can not be satisfied with the status quo. Any status quo. She will always rebel against it. Hopefully in a way that improve things, but that just isn't sustainable. If people can never have stability under her they will eventually rebel against her.
- Location
- Spain
I would be upset too, if my loved one spent more time talking about "oh gee, I can't wait for my daugther to overthrow me violently. It will happen any day now, and I'm so excited for it!" than about anything else, heh.
Even if Shenhua probably doesn't bring it up often, her lover surely knows that Shenhua's eventual, inevitable downfall at the hands of her daugther is always on her mind. Seeing your loved one invest a lot of effort and time plotting their own demise must be a heartwrenching experience.
Of course, Renxiang is not to blame for this, Shenhua is. But somehow, blaming the tool that will be used to do the deed, instead of the mastermind arranging the deed could be easier for the upset Diao woman. Not fair to Renxiang, but understandable.
DeusExBritannia
Red-White-Black-White
- Location
- Texas
Consider: there is no such thing as revolution.
- Location
- United States of America
So, not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but if we assume that Cai Shenhua is a purposeful anthesis to the Hui, then we can see a reflection of them in Shenhua's titles and words.
They were seekers of the status quo, inheritors of Tsu's Throne. The status quo was their objective, stagnancy their means, and deceit their tools. But most important to them, I feel, was obedience.
Well, even if I'm way off the mark, the impact of the Hui reign can still be felt in the divided Emerald Seas and the need for Cai Shenhua to have someone remover her from the thrones of heaven. And won't that be a fun end-game scenario? To ascend the Divine Tree and confront the radiance which has made its home amongst the canopy. To gather support and unite the Emerald Seas, not against the oppressive Hui but against the one who broke their chains. To topple the thrones and work on making something better from the ashes.
The end boss has been definitively revealed, and they want us to come at them.
I see now; clearly what Shenua is going to do isn't something as banal as making revolutions directly easier on ascension. She's going to target cultivation itself. After millennia of war in the heavens she reshape the primordial Law into something cold and impersonal, without the flexibility to allow immortal hyper tyrants like herself or the Hui anymore.
The resulting calamity will destroy existing human civilization as it fundamentally reshapes the world, forcing them to start over from the beginning.
We'll get to see the new world in the epilogue when one of LQ's descendants makes an SV account.
tldr: Physics is a bitch and her name is Shenua.
The resulting calamity will destroy existing human civilization as it fundamentally reshapes the world, forcing them to start over from the beginning.
We'll get to see the new world in the epilogue when one of LQ's descendants makes an SV account.
tldr: Physics is a bitch and her name is Shenua.
...Wait, is THAT why the Demon King is always in his castle?
I don't know about anyone else, but between this development and the earlier revelation that Jin Tae(scion of the Alabaster Sands ducal clan; don't get along with the Xuan) will be involved in our diplomatic project while apprenticing with the MoI rep, it feels vital to get Wind Thief's turbo-charged dimensional storage/security bypass capabilities up and running.
We're past the point we can passively react to everything. It's real spy time territory now, or very soon. Cai Renxiang has enemy interests lined up on every side, and she needs someone who can reach past the veil of (im)polite politics as usual. We don't know exactly how Renxiang is going to prioritize her, well, priorities in the wake of her meeting with her mother, but it's clear to me we need to be as ready to seize opportunities as possible.
Currently, we're very limited in how we can respond to antagonistic imperial citizens. Without access to developed political/social networks, rainy day favors held in reserve, economic levers, ministry contacts, etc our leverage is limited to incidental political alignment (like our southern diplo project) and direct intelligence action. Unfortunately, we don't currently have the tools to reliably take intelligence actions.
Fortunately, this cultivation project will give us those tools. It's a ducal-tier GS-sponsored out-of-context attack vector infiltration suit. There are better infiltrators at Ling Qi's strength in the empire, but they have specialized Domains to support their craft; it should be impossible to have a more potent infiltration art than what The Opened Vault provides, at our level of cultivation. We should be able to punch up against many security setups, and I trust Ling Qi to withdraw from what she can't beat.
tl;dr:
Renxiang's surrounded by opposition on all sides. Ling Qi doing spy shit is vital to break encirclement. Getting our thief art up and running properly is vital to not failing spy shit.
Laughing Flight of the Wind Thief said:
We're past the point we can passively react to everything. It's real spy time territory now, or very soon. Cai Renxiang has enemy interests lined up on every side, and she needs someone who can reach past the veil of (im)polite politics as usual. We don't know exactly how Renxiang is going to prioritize her, well, priorities in the wake of her meeting with her mother, but it's clear to me we need to be as ready to seize opportunities as possible.
Currently, we're very limited in how we can respond to antagonistic imperial citizens. Without access to developed political/social networks, rainy day favors held in reserve, economic levers, ministry contacts, etc our leverage is limited to incidental political alignment (like our southern diplo project) and direct intelligence action. Unfortunately, we don't currently have the tools to reliably take intelligence actions.
Fortunately, this cultivation project will give us those tools. It's a ducal-tier GS-sponsored out-of-context attack vector infiltration suit. There are better infiltrators at Ling Qi's strength in the empire, but they have specialized Domains to support their craft; it should be impossible to have a more potent infiltration art than what The Opened Vault provides, at our level of cultivation. We should be able to punch up against many security setups, and I trust Ling Qi to withdraw from what she can't beat.
tl;dr:
Renxiang's surrounded by opposition on all sides. Ling Qi doing spy shit is vital to break encirclement. Getting our thief art up and running properly is vital to not failing spy shit.
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