"Well, what is his wife like?" Ling Qi asked, considering.
"The Dianmu? She's…sharp, a lot more critical than the Leigong, she still kinda likes me, I think?" Yu Nuan said, trailing off into mild uncertainty. "You thinking the scavenger hunt then?"
"Maybe," Ling Qi considered. "The chase sounds fun, but I feel like it'll probably devolve into big moving brawl. The hunt sounds a little more considered."
"There's still gonna be some brawling," Yu Nuan warned, glancing down to where numerous fights had broken out among the revelers to the laughter and cheers of the other spirits
"Not afraid of that, just thinking of what would be better for cultivation," Ling Qi said seriously. "These kind of things are opportunities, you know? Technique insights come a lot easier in a place like this."
"You're not wrong," Yu Nuan grimaced.
"Did you prefer the chase?" Ling Qi asked.
"No, I just," Yu Nuan shifted from foot to foot. "Ah well, she kinda intimidates me, you know?"
"All the more reason," Ling Qi said piously. "Intimidating spirits have the best loot and arts."
Yu Nuan squinted at her. "You're joking right."
"Of course." Mostly.
"Can you still control this thing?" Ling Qi asked, not leaving herself open for interrogation. SHe gestured down to the cloud of soot under their feet.
"Oh yeah," Yu Nuan replied, resuming her strumming. It was a calmer but still energetic metre. "The big banquet table is usually up in the storm clouds."
Ling Qi nodded, glancing out to the revel. 'Any thoughts Sixiang?'
"Oh, I'm good either way, I think this is gonna be fun," Sixiang chuckled. Their tone reminded Ling Qi of the muses earlier days.
They rose, carried upward toward the rumbling belly of the clouds. Passing through the air was warm and damp, charged with a buzzing static that made strands of her hair jump and the hems of her gown dance, and there in the center was a great banquet table. It was a slab of solid rock, roughly hewn flat and all around it more spirits, people with the features of birds and bats, bulls and horses, and not a one missing a pair of wings in some shape. At the center of the table was the Leigong, seated on a cloud, laughing uproriously at something that had just been said by one of the many lesser spirits that shared his features. And at his side was a woman. Like Zeqing, she could have been mistaken for a human at distance and a glance. But she did not sit much lower than the Leigong on her cloud, towering some four meters high. Her hair snapped and frizzed and sparked, living lightning bound through a diadem of copper wire and sparkling jewels. Her face had an artificial feel, like a theatre mask placed over a bonfire, and when she turned to speak to the Leigong heat and sparks washed out. In her hands, she cradled a wide mirror of polished silver with an ornate rim, and her gown was resplendent in white and blue.
"Hoh, made your decision then?" The Leigong crowed as they rose close, voice rising over the chatter of the table.
"We have," Yu Nuan said. "And thank you for your invitation."
Ling Qi quietly scanned the rest of the rowdy table, they'd quieted with the Leigong's words, but there were still tussles and arguments and japes going on. These were their children most likely, Ling Qi thought, the little gods of clouds and rain.
"Well don't keep us in suspense then!" The Leigong boomed cheerfully.
"My companion and I'd like to join the scavenger hunt," Yu Nuan said. "If it wouldn't bother the Lady Dianmu."
"Never, my games are ever the less popular," spoke the diamu raising a hand to cover her mouth as she laughed. The sound crackled with electricity. "Perhaps the pair of you might give my sons some actual challenge in this round."
Two of the nearest spirits puffed out their chests. One resembled a smaller leaner variation of the Leigong, and one who took more after the mother with a hook nosed human face but wings that were arcs of snapping lightning, his whole body seemed to be made of hollow glass, filled with churning clouds.
"This Yun Long welcomes the challenge," said the lightning winged one, surveying them with crimson eyes.
"Mm, hm. It gets dull brother," the birdlike one said with a nod, crossing his arms over his slim chest. "Yun Sho also welcomes you, if you can keep up."
"That won't be a problem," Ling Qi said, smiling. Neither spirit seemed much above them in cultivation, if at all. Yun Sho matched her, Yun Long matched Yu Nuan.
"Ha, jolly competition, as is proper," Said the Leigong. "Well then, why don't you go along with my wife then.You were about to announce the list, weren't you dear?"
"So I was," the Dianmu. "Let all participants meet upon the floor of the great hall."
The mirror held in her hands flashed, and the greater spirit vanished a bolt of lightning. The lesser spirits shot them a smirk before their wings began to beat and they dove down through the belly of the cloud.
Ling Qi allowed herself a small smile at her companions frown, and bowed to the Leigong as the strumming picked up and their little soot cloud descended.
What awaited below in the main hall was a riot on pause. The drum beating of the ogres had risen to a new crescendo, playing a pulsing rhythmic beat, but the other sounds had died down. The winged spirits flocked in a great black ring above and the ground bound ones stood still, some in mid dance step or thrown punch. And in the center was the Dianmu standing at her full height, a crackling light that cast long shadows throughout the room
"Friends. Guests! The time for the days games has come. My husband will be down shortly for the merry chase, but for those who might like a different game I offer a hunt!" the Dianmu announced to raucous approval. "The rules are simple. The game shall be played in pairs, and betrayal of your partner is verboten. I shall make a list of things hints toward items to be found and collected. The pair which brings me the items that match most closely what I had in mind, in the greatest quantity shall earn of me one favor. The time limit shall be an hour!"
Even as she spoke, her hand rose and from it sparks and lines of lightning rained shaping themselves into characters, and sentences.
- The breath of a dragon, fresh and encased
- A flower born of mountain stone, sparkling and hot
- The sharpest blade, wielded by no hand
- The light of the sun, captured and radiant
- A Lady's laughter, bright and pure.
"These shall be your targets, hunters. Stand now with your partner, if you wish to play, that my eyes may mark you," the Dianmu continued as the list resolved in burning form, remaining unmoving in the air.
Ling Qi hummed to herself scanning the list and concocting ideas on what they could mean. "Any immediate ideas," she asked lowly, glancing toward Yu Nuan.
She sucked a breath through her teeth, brow furrowed. "I think I know what she means by the flower and the breath."
"That's good," Ling Qi said."You know this cloud is too slow, right?"
"What do you-" Yu Nuan began, turning her frown at Ling Qi.
"I have seen you hunters. Begin!" The Dianmu said brightly.
And then they were in the air as Ling Qi grasped Yu Nuan's hand and flew. The girl let out a startled yelp as they left even a hint of the firmament behind, and flew from the great hall.
"What the hell," Yu Nuan shouted, holding tight to the neck of her lute with her free hand. "Where are we going!"
"Don't know yet," Sixiang laughed silently, though Ling Qi knew Yu nuan could hear too.
"But look half a dozen teams zoomed right after thinking we do. Give my girl some quick directions and let these zoom off the wrong way."
Yu Nuan muttered a string of curses, glancing around wildly at the palatial hall Ling Qi had flown down. Filled with rough hewn column and hanging ivy.
"She says right, then left, then down and down again, through a red arch carved like a flame," Sixiang whispered.
She immediately darted down the passage to the right, the air shimmering as the image of their party shot off down the left passage, an illusion made by Sixiang's twisting of the air, imbued with a hint of reality by dream qi.
Enough to split their pursuers at the very least.
"There's gonna be a locked door at the second stair," Yu Nuan shouted. "I don't have an escort this time."
"Got it!" Ling Qi replied. "Can you picture it really clearly for a second?"
"I…guess?" Yu Nuan shouted back.
Sixiang conveyed to her the image, a marble door inlaid with intricate scrollwork and carvings of the leigong and other spirits in court.
Another image of them shot off ahead, and they stepped ever so briefly into dream. It was a technicolor kaleidoscope of energy, blindingly bright and screaming with tearing wind. And it only last a handful of seconds before they emerged on the other side of the door.
"Neat trick eh?" Ling Qi chuckled.
"Something like that," Yu Nuan grumbled nouseously
"So, what's our target?" Ling Qi said, flying down the shadowed stairs, as Yu nuan collected herself, a bolt of lightning struck a stair ahead and she reappeared there with a crack, soon following Ling Qi under her own power.
"There's a crystal farm below, pretty sure that fits the flower thing," Yu Nuan shouted back
Well, that would be one down, Ling Qi thought. This was going to be fun.
AN: Going to need two parts for this look forward to the rest of the hunt on friday
