PowerLeca
Rapidly aging
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Gan Guangli joked about preparing himself for tribulation, but now he senses the real thing. ;p
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.
Ah but I've some
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- Location
- Canada
An interesting way to look at it
As I recall the decision not to invite Su Ling to the Wang club was in fact made in a deliberate attempt to not be controlling or "toxic" as it were
The vote was
And the general line of thought was that Su Ling has issues with meeting with new people, so it'd be considerate to let her settle into the Inner Sect first rather than pressure her into uncomfortable social experiences
Whatever the opinion on how things turned out, I don't think I can agree with the idea that letting Su Ling approach things like this at her own pace is babying her, and certainly not controlling or toxic
Allowing people to pursue their own interests at their own pace separate from you rather than trying to pressure them to participate in your projects "for their own good" is the opposite of controlling surely
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Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
Urgh, and I told myself I wouldn't talk about old votes.
Inviting someone isn't in any way, shape or form forcing her to not pursue their own interest at their own path. Su Ling is a big girl, and she has told Ling Qi 'no' before. If Su Ling didn't like being having a invitation sprung on her, she wouldn't hesitate to tell Ling Qi she doesn't like it.
- Location
- Canada
Sure
I wouldn't be in a rush to call inviting her to the sparring club to be forcing her to do anything, though feeling pressured to accept such invitations is a thing even if the inviter doesn't intend it
I'm just noting that I find it odd to call holding off from springing any potentially stressful social situations on Su Ling while she's getting situated (which is what that vote option literally says) as being "controlling" or "toxic"
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Big nickel is my favorite defensive package against a pass heavy offense.
Indeed. It basically gives an obligation to attend, whether or not you liked it, because your friend burned some social credit to get you an invitation, and rejecting it would hurt them while attending would merely be personally uncomfortable.
Whether she'd take it that way is another matter but we legitimately don't know well enough to be sure
- Location
- the internet
Yes we do. Su Ling knows us well enough to know that it didn't cost us anything to invite her. I mean, the only hesitation LQ had was whether or not bringing her to the club so soon would be tossing her in the deep end.
Su Ling also is very aware of Qi to be absurdly generous to her friends yes, since she knows Suyin.
She'd attend at least once, whether or not she liked the idea initially, since theres no way to reject it without putting Qi on the spot.
Doesn't help that Qi was still finding her feet with regards to social scenes at the time.
Snow
Doka
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I'm curious, what's the other one?"If I had a nickel every time the MC of a really good Xianxia lived in Xianxia Canada, I'd have two nickels.
Which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice!"
Beware of Chicken. It's really good though it's more of a slice of life parody of the genre.
The MC is an isekai'ed Canadian, and the land he lives on is full of sugar maple trees and has moose. Though it's still a Chinese-based setting.
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Ok, that was interesting. Thanks for the explanation on that vote.
Changing the topic to something more relevant in the immediate future, we have this:
If we had to choose between advancing one of these quests, which one would you prefer? Or would you rather acquire the Houndmasters-Luo if given the chance? Maybe the Glittering Halls-Bao?
I admit that my previous "meh" assessment of the Luo was significantly due to how little contact we have had with them. They are the second count clan where the Weilu traditions have the most presence, and that's relevant. Getting their support for the diplomatic project can only be good.
The problem, IMO, is how they follow those traditions. Let me start with the other clans.
This in an extract from when we talked with Wang Chao's sister
Furthering this connection could grant us help when we build fortresses and other defenses. Besides, if there are some Cloud Nomad/Underworld big scale attack, the Wang are going to be our more direct alies, together with the Sect and Cai's forces.
Now, the Meng and the Diao are who I want to compare the Luo with.
The Meng has a group of Reformes who want to adapt the old traditions to keep them relevant nowdays, and groups of Conservatives/Reactionaries who are strongly isolationists.
The Diao are firmly Imperialists as a legacy of the Hui, but there are a Revival group who wants to bring back the old ways: traditions, arts and even bloodline.
That polarization is what allows Ling Qi to step in, to be relevant and useful for those factions thanks to her connection to Renxiang. And to get benefits out of it.
As I see it, the Luo have 3 problems.
The first is that the way they deal with the whole Imperialism vs Weilu is pretty mild. In their breakdown, the majority are Moderates from one side or the other. They don't have strong movements to protect/adapt their traditions nor to impose the imperial way.
What little there is due to the Luo's county shape. And that's their second problem. The Luo's land is really enlogated, and that affects their cohesion. The people of the north are mostly Empire-aligned. The people of the south are the Old Tribes. Meanwhile, the Luo do their own thing, wandering the plains.
Which brings me to the last problem. The Luo, even within Emerald Seas's diversity, have an unique culture and way of life.
We know from Meng Dan and a couple of other sources that the Meng and Diao are related to each other.
Their traditions have common roots, which Linq Qi's style share: music, spirit seeker, the new fief and so on.
The Luo are completely different and unrelated. That, together with the previous problems, makes it harder to make them feel like our project can also be their project.
Sure, they can support as in defense of the old ways, in general, but it's not the same.
Changing the topic to something more relevant in the immediate future, we have this:
If we had to choose between advancing one of these quests, which one would you prefer? Or would you rather acquire the Houndmasters-Luo if given the chance? Maybe the Glittering Halls-Bao?
I admit that my previous "meh" assessment of the Luo was significantly due to how little contact we have had with them. They are the second count clan where the Weilu traditions have the most presence, and that's relevant. Getting their support for the diplomatic project can only be good.
The problem, IMO, is how they follow those traditions. Let me start with the other clans.
This in an extract from when we talked with Wang Chao's sister
Damn, doesn't that sound just like the Neo-Weilu movement that we want to implement in our fief. With Wang's roads and Meng's geomancy, we are in the rigth way to it.
Furthering this connection could grant us help when we build fortresses and other defenses. Besides, if there are some Cloud Nomad/Underworld big scale attack, the Wang are going to be our more direct alies, together with the Sect and Cai's forces.
Now, the Meng and the Diao are who I want to compare the Luo with.
The Meng has a group of Reformes who want to adapt the old traditions to keep them relevant nowdays, and groups of Conservatives/Reactionaries who are strongly isolationists.
The Diao are firmly Imperialists as a legacy of the Hui, but there are a Revival group who wants to bring back the old ways: traditions, arts and even bloodline.
That polarization is what allows Ling Qi to step in, to be relevant and useful for those factions thanks to her connection to Renxiang. And to get benefits out of it.
As I see it, the Luo have 3 problems.
The first is that the way they deal with the whole Imperialism vs Weilu is pretty mild. In their breakdown, the majority are Moderates from one side or the other. They don't have strong movements to protect/adapt their traditions nor to impose the imperial way.
What little there is due to the Luo's county shape. And that's their second problem. The Luo's land is really enlogated, and that affects their cohesion. The people of the north are mostly Empire-aligned. The people of the south are the Old Tribes. Meanwhile, the Luo do their own thing, wandering the plains.
Which brings me to the last problem. The Luo, even within Emerald Seas's diversity, have an unique culture and way of life.
We know from Meng Dan and a couple of other sources that the Meng and Diao are related to each other.
Their traditions have common roots, which Linq Qi's style share: music, spirit seeker, the new fief and so on.
The Luo are completely different and unrelated. That, together with the previous problems, makes it harder to make them feel like our project can also be their project.
Sure, they can support as in defense of the old ways, in general, but it's not the same.
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Oliver_Twister
Idea-Man, He Who Shits Ideas
- Location
- West Africa
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yes! This is what I crave! The aesthetic!!! I hope our bond with GG increases so that we can have more stand-offs like this.
Honestly, Six is a bad influence. I love them.
I love that GG is one of the few guys that LQ is comfortable with stuff like this. I also really love that both of them have a reputation. Gan is...Guangli in everything he does, and LQ is....well, there's a reason why her friends coined the term "LQ adventure".
They both acknowledge that they'll have to marry for politics. Good thing LQ is there to help Su Ling and GG!!! And poor, poor Gan. A LQ adventure takes many, many forms to give you the best tribulations.
Again, I'm glad we chose Gan. I hop we can learn more about his backstory.
So it seems we have some neighbours who are very good at sustainable logging and forestry. And our fief's primary trade will logging...how auspicious.
And they're also skilled with geomancy? Even better. Seriously though, I hope the beavers would be willing to do some terraforming projects for us.
I really love this. Sun and Moon!!! Apart from the aesthetic, I think the fact that we had to reveal our domains just shows how Gan was the better choice. And this is just our nascent domain too. I can't wait for Cyan when it'll be fully formed!!!
- Location
- the internet
TOTALLY agree on the aesthetics.
In general, just regarding everything everyone has said since this arc has started...I find it so funny that people are now assuming beavers are deff what's waiting for us. Or some sort of spirit-beaver equivalent.
Its just funny.
Oliver_Twister
Idea-Man, He Who Shits Ideas
- Location
- West Africa
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I want beavers. I prefer otters (because otters are the best and no one can tell me otherwise), but I have been convinced that geoengineer beavers are better for our fief. And to be honest, I'm just glad that we have a cool spirit court well-versed in geomancy, logging, and forestry that we can trade with and hopefully learn from.TOTALLY agree on the aesthetics.
In general, just regarding everything everyone has said since this arc has started...I find it so funny that people are now assuming beavers are deff what's waiting for us. Or some sort of spirit-beaver equivalent.
Its just funny.
I mean, it definitely *sounds* like it's beavers from all the clues in this update. But I would find some weird twist equally entertaining.TOTALLY agree on the aesthetics.
In general, just regarding everything everyone has said since this arc has started...I find it so funny that people are now assuming beavers are deff what's waiting for us. Or some sort of spirit-beaver equivalent.
Its just funny.
- Location
- USA
Or sustainable logging with coppicing!
The Reveler's Seventy Two Earthly Transformations
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The Reveler's 72 Earthly Transformations
The first steps in transformation lay not in formlessness of water or wind but in the rigidity of mountain and metal. This was the first lesson Zheng Wujing had learned when he had started down the path of the Reveler's Seventy-Two Earthly Transformations. It was a counterintuitive lesson but perhaps the most important. For before you could change the self you had to understand yourself completely and know what you had to return to. He recalled his Master's warnings and horror stories of foolish cultivators that reached too far too fast. How one may become a bird and simply fly away to never return, others stuck halfway between man and beast screaming in a pain that would not end. He held back the shiver that wanted to run down his spine, barely. He had learned his lessons very well, he would not become another story of warning.
Zheng Wujing took a deep breath, his first one in an hour, drinking deep of the life and animalistic qi that permeated the area. He had just recently broken into Cyan and was finally ready to begin learning the later thirty-six transformations. As he cultivated Zheng Wujing reminisced over all he had learned from the arts he had honed over the years.
The first sixteen techniques one learned in the Red and Yellow realms could barely be called transformations, in fact the first two were debated to be not transformations at all. The Return to Body and the Return to Mind, deceptively simple techniques in the beginning to center one's thoughts and actions but as you progressed and advanced they were used to defend and repel any form of compulsion or curse. He cycled his qi in those oh so familiar patterns as easily as one breathed or walked, no thought but just willing it to be.
With another breath Zheng Wujing leapt from his resting place, he needed to move. He began going through the next six transformations, closer to martial arts with enhanced qi techniques, imitation only, as the body in the Gold stage was far from ready to actually change form. He circled the clearing he had been mediating in and began with the Mantis Style. Quick strikes and hooks, deflecting imagined attacks and then countering with whip-like speed. From one step to the next he changed tactics. No longer grasping with the Mantis Hook but now striking with the Leopard Fist. Zheng Wujing was still acting with speed and precision but became more aggressive, overwhelming his perceived opponents with attack after attack. Again he changed his stance and Leopard Fist became the Tiger Claw. Precision was lost but more power gained. Clawing, striking, and throwing, each movement quick and strong.
Then came the style of the Dragon, learned from watching the movements of those old enemies that the Conqueror had broken. Each block and kick and punch became like a river, fluid but with overwhelming power. Evade where you could but meet strength with strength. Yet Zheng Wujing continued to change his style, moving to one learned from the snakes, actual snakes, not the Bai. The Bai did hate the Snake style the Zheng practiced though, claiming it was a watered down copy that the Zheng tried to make. The flowing movements and quick strikes had been developed and passed down by the Reveler long before meeting the Bai though.
Once again Zheng Wujing changed stances, no longer grounding himself but leaping and kicking through the air like the Crane on the wing. Circular movements to redirect attacks, light on the feet, the Crane style favored mobility and distance. Finally came the Drunken Monkey perhaps the hardest to learn of the Red realm techniques. Full of false openings, chaotic movements, and tumbling around it was made to confuse the opponent before striking out. Going through the forms was a good warm up but simple and easy to Zheng Wujing at this point.
Zheng Wujing began to cycle his qi in more difficult patterns through his meridians. The transformations one could do once they had a body of the Silver stage was more than just imitation but actual changes. Small things at first and for short periods of time but the body started to become malleable at this level. Zheng Wujing's sense became boosted with the Eyes of the Owl, Ears of the Rabbit, and Nose of the Dog. These brought subtle changes with them but made one look ridiculous. Larger than normal ears, eyes bulging out to gather in more light, nostrils flaring open to take in more air. Still these were the beginnings of transformation one built from. Next was the Skin of Bark, Cat's Claws, and Gorilla's Strength. Zheng Wujing felt a small strain as muscles bulged, skin hardened and nails grew into claws. These qi patterns were not meant to be held for long or all together at once but he continued anyways. Rage of the Boar was next, letting the user ignore pain and narrowed their focus. Finally Flight of the Eagle which made one lighter allowing for great leaps and quicker movements.
With an exhale Zheng Wujing let go of all the techniques and Returned to Body and Mind. With the warm ups done it was time to really start pushing himself.
First the Eagle's Screech emanated from his throat, the vegetation in front of him shuddering and shifting from the pressure while he heard the nearby animals flee from the sudden terrifying sound. Change he thought to himself as his legs coiled like springs before launching him well above the canopy of the forest with the Rabbit Leaps to the Moon technique. Zheng Wujing looked down at the dense foliage spread out beneath him and the clearing in the center he had been meditating in and was just as awestruck at the life he could see thriving there as the first time he had seen it. Feeling the tug of the law of earth on him, Zheng Wujing once again thought the word Change. The Silent Owl's Descent sprung feathers from his back and arms allowing Zheng Wujing to silently and safely descend back into the clearing.
Change. As feathers fell away to be replaced by the Porcupine's Quills Zheng Wujing began to reminisce on that little word that had come to be such a core of himself. Nothing stayed the same. Change. The Elephant's Stampede allowed Zheng Wujing to plow through a tree with hardly a care and a loud crack! Change. Fast or slow, large or small, nothing was the same moment to moment, Time made sure of that. With the Sprinting Horse technique Zheng Wujing moved himself to be under the path of the falling tree. Change. With an earth shattering boom the tree fell on him but Zheng Wujing was unmoved and unhurt thanks to the Tortoise Shell Defense he had put in place. You could fight Change all you wanted but it would eventually win out.
Change. Even as Zheng Wujing centered himself once again with the Return to Body and Return to Mind techniques he knew he was not the same person as when he started. He was different, not by much and perhaps if you asked anyone else they would say that he was the same as before. That was how a lot of change was though. Small, subtle, hardly noticeable but they eventually added up. Moment to moment, day by day it all changed.
Taking another breath Zheng Wujing prepared for the first transformation technique of the Cyan realm. He began running and then threw his arms out and lept. From one moment to the next, what had been Zheng Wujing's body transformed from that of a man to that of a sparrow. Marveling at the change of perspective and scale the sparrow Wujing flew twice around the mediation clearing before alighting on a branch. It was exhilarating! Both freeing and constrictive. He could spend hours like this and still not be tired of it.
He was still in control though, still considered himself Zheng Wujing and he simply wore the costume of a sparrow. With a soft tweet sparrow Wujing Returned to Body and Mind and was once again the two armed and two legged thing called human. He smiled to himself. He could get used to this.
That was when the branch he was on snapped under the weight of the man Wujing and the Law of Earth pulled him back to the ground.
He would have to be more mindful of his transformations going forward.
A.N
@yrsillar Another omake for the throne. I've slowly been making my way through Journey to the West recently and came to a realization, we haven't seen a lot of actual transformation techniques in Destiny. Then I remembered that it's probably next to impossible to do actual transformations in Red/Yellow so what if there was an art suite that was all about prepping you to do transformations later. Made it a Zheng because of Journey to the West and who else would be crazy enough to actually transform themselves into different animals and trees and stuff like that. Hope you guys enjoy!
TimEd
Meteor maker
Also known as the 'Zheng cheat to hold all the liquor'.
Secret bonus points for 'Horse c*ck' transformation.
Funny thing is I think the original Journey to the West does staggered Transformations as standard. Wukong is a master of 72 transformations, allowing him to change every single attribute. Bajie only reached 36, allowing him to change only within the range of Fat Humanoid(since he cannot change number of limbs and mass, most animal forms are out of reach for him ).
By implication, 18 and 9 transformations are for rookies
By implication, 18 and 9 transformations are for rookies
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Didn't Bajie turn into a tornado that one time?
Old Sights/New Sights
Old Sights/New Sights
The morning mists were slowly dissipating as the morning sun started to warm up the land. As it always did. Tao Lushen roused up his men, preparing to depart in just a few minutes time. As he always did. The sight of soldiers breaking camp was one that Tao Lushen had seen many times since he had joined the army. Too many to count.
Tao Lushen still remembered when he had arrived for the first time at the Argent Sect, over 50 years ago. He had burned with an ambition and determintion that now felt so distant and alien. His middling talent had soon made itself evident, but he hadn't let that stop him. After all, as long as there was a small chance for change, what's lost in trying.
But he had failed to make it into the inner sect, and was eventually transferred to the army. There, Tao Lushen had chosen to specialize in scouting and long reach operations deep in the Wall. All in the hope of finding new experiences and challenges that would spur his growth. He managed to finally breakthrough to the 3rd realm and clawed his way to the peak of the Foundation Stage, where he had now remained stagnated at for decades. He simply lacked any true insights of his own.
However, that still granted him a post as captain of a small unit dedicated to reconnaissance and deep incursions. Despite what Tao Lushen had expected, what followed was a string of trite duties and repetitive tasks. The sights that had once marveled him were now just mundane scenary. The daring acts that garnered praise nothing more that routine. Even cycling his own Qi gave that feeling, always the same patterns giving the same results.
Tao Lushen was supposedly surrounded by change. The environment around him changed with each season, yet it would always return to it's previous state, just to change in the same way again. The people at his service changed with relative frequency: retiring, transferring to another unit, or simply never coming back from a mission. Yet, even the new people that came always followed a set numbers of patterns, indistinguishable from the previous members. Continuous change, a cycle, was just another form of stagnation. That was the shape of the Heart Demon that had plagued his cultivation for so long.
Even right now, it was still the same. Despite the fabled unprecedentedness of the situation, Tao Lushen was doing the same as always, tasked with scouting the area around the summit location the Cai heiress had claimed for herself. Once everyone was ready, they departed immediately, toward new and yet well known sights.
A few hours into the journey, they encountered a disturbance. Cloud Nomad tribes fighting each other. Another sight Tao Lushen had seen many times. Few of the higher ups would admit it, but the Emerald Seas were lucky that the different tribes spent so much time at each other throats instead of working together. Ogodei was a grim remainder of that truth.
Tao Lushen started to signal his men to remain hidden and circumvent the battle, as he usually did in such situations. But that was when he noticed a crucial difference. His second in command was quick to voice his own thoughts outloud.
"Sir, those are one of the tribes reported to be allied with the White Sky", said Nan Yue from inside her metallic helmet. How could she move so quickly and stealthly while wearing such heavy plate armour was something that eluded Tao Lushen to this day.
"So it seems", responded Tao Lushen. "Get into lightning strike formation, we are going to assist them", he said, addressing the whole unit.
"Are you sure, sir?" Nan Yue asked uncertainly. She usually didn't question direct orders, but Tao Lushen didn't blame her. The idea of helping barbarians sounded strange indeed.
"We were instructed to assist this so called White Sky as long as we don't endanger Sect's operations, and so we will. Now, move on my signal". Tao Lushen responded crisply, and immediately the unit advanced as one. The lightning strike formation was meant to quickly overhelm a group of Cloud Nomads before they could settle into their aerial formations, maybe even before they could take off. It would work just fine against a distracted enemy.
They broke out of their vantage point a quickly closed the distance. Before any of the riders could react, Tao Lushen threw his blade against the closest beast. It sunk deep into it's side, and then he used the attached rope to launch himself into the midst of the battle. Nan Yue remained behind, her role was to defend the people at the ground from the projectiles coming from above.
Surprise and confusion swept in quick sucession through both sides of the conflict, giving Tao Lushen a few precious instants of advantage. There were a few moments of tension when the tribe allied with the White Sky, mounted in some manner of condors, looked like they were going to attack Tao Lushen; until they realized he and the others were focusing exclusively in the group riding the two-headed horses.
The battle was swift and confusing, even more so than usual due the awkward cooperation between Tao Lushen's unit and their new allies. However, while Tao Lushen was jerking himself from one rider to the next, he saw how one of his archers was jerked off the ground by a gust of wind and thrown into a nearby cliff. Tao Lushen had thought that was the end for the young man, but then he was intercepted by one of the condor riders. Both the soldier and the barbarian looked lost about what to do next, until an arrow zipped beside their heads and they shifted back into battle.
With the advantage gained form their initial strike, the battle didn't last long, with only a handful of enemies managing to fly away, though clearly wounded. Now on the ground, both groups standed apart, unsurely staring at each other. Before anyone could do something stupid, Tao Lushen approached who seemed to be the leader of the group.
"We have come to help in the name of Lady Cai and the Argent Sect. We have medicine and other supplies should you need them". Tao Lushen said this in the most southern Cloud Tribe dialect he knew of the many he had learnt during his service.
The answer came in a rough and clipped voice. It seemed as if the man was struggling a bit with the tongue Tao Lushen had used. "We have a camp nearby. You can come with us".
Tao Lushen felt apprehensive, but still nodded his head. What awaited them after a couple hours march was a small settlement, with improvised huts lying next to a shallow river running along the face of a mountain. They were allowed in, but Tao Lushen didn't miss the distrustful looks from the other adults of the tribe, as well as the scared yet curious glances from the children hidding behind their mothers.
This kind of settlement wasn't a new sight for Tao Lushen either, though he had to admit it was the first time he had just walked in from the front. The tribe chief brought them to the biggest hut, which turned out to be a mix of lounge and stable. The wounded tribesmen and beast were laid in fur rugs, and Tao Lushen ordered his men to take out the supplies. Much to the assorted tribemen's awe and alarm, as the medicines were taken out of storage devices and appeared out of thin air.
While everyone was occupied, a particularly brash child ducked under his mother grasp and rushed straigth for Nan Yue, probably curious about her appearance, so rare among the Cloud Tribes. Nan Yue froze in place, unable to respond to a barrage of questions she couldn't understand from the boy. Uncertainly, she took out a wraped candy from her storage ring, she had always had a sweet tooth, and handed it to kid. Grave mistake, as she was immediately surrounded by a swarm of children begging for their share.
Now, that was a sight that Tao Lushen had never seen before. He turned his gaze down, watching injured men laid in pain, their wounds being treated. That, on the other hand, was a too familiar sight, despite the stark differences. Tao Lushen was sure about which of those sights he preferred.
That made Tao Lushen think, could this be the beginning of true change? Or was it just part of another cycle, until all these people became enemies once again? Could he even know for certain? That was when realization hit him.
Change without purpose is meaningless, an endless cycle. Seize change with your own hands, turn the sights of the world into the ones you want to see.
Tao Lushen felt the snarl in his cultivation unfold itslef. A constrainment in his chest that he no longer felt, but was ever present, vanishied. He breathed in, truly breathing for the first time since he had stagnated, and brokethrough.
Everyone in the camp turned to look at him. Tao Lushen just smiled and set into motion, there was still much to do. Much to change.
A/N:
@yrsillar here you have an Omake for Omake throne.
I know we have barely begun with our diplomatic effort, but I like to think about how we may already be changing the lives of Emerald Seas cultivators and Cloud Tribes alike. I know that the mechanics of breakthrough don't quite work like that, but it fitted the situation too well. Hope you all liked it.
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Turn 15: Arc 2-3
The short journey through the wood proved pleasant, there was no rising hostility or pressure in the air, and their only watchers were circling birds and small beasts skittering away at their passage. There was however a tension in the air, a feeling like the earth and the wind and the water holding its breath.
"This place is contested," Ling Qi said quietly.
"Like a much sieged castle," Gan Guangli agreed.
She saw their greeters long before Gan Guangli and she reached the open meadow at the base of a larger hill, a rocky thing, around which the shallow river flowed. They were odd little beasts. There were about a half dozen of them, most of which were about a meter long. They had long haired pelts in colors ranging from brown to black, and blunt but rodent like heads. They also had strange tails, half the length of their own bodies, which were wide and flat like a boat oar, which had a rough scaly texture.
Five of them sat on the haunches, waving their front paws and seemingly chattering to the sixth member, who sat in the center, it was about twice as large as the other beasts, as tall as a short human while sat on its haunches, and had a shimmering white pelt. Strangely, for a beast, it had something like a harness on its body, from which dangled what looked like little stone tools.
"Six, five attendants, one leader," Ling Qi said lowly.
"Cultivation?" Gan Guangli replied.
"First and second realm. Leader is low third, second stage or thereabout,` Ling Qi replied back.
"Displaying submission then," Gan Guangli said, raising his brows.
"Maybe, they're not imperial spirits, might have different conventions," Ling Qi shot back.
"True, still seeking to avoid violent confrontation," Gan Guangli replied.
"Agreed, coming up quickly now," Ling Qi finished, any closer and continuing to whisper might be rude.
She saw the moment when the beasts sensed their approach, the smaller ones fanning out behind the larger, white furred beast, and falling back onto all fours. She felt a pang of pity, the small ones were terrified. However the only feeling she sensed from their leader was acceptance and resolve.
The beast did not try to bow as they entered the clearing, instead only lowering its eyes. "Changin, son of Chalun greets the Lord and Lady of the Peaks in grandfather's stead. Have you come at last to complete the pact?"
The voice she heard in her mind had a youthful and brash texture too it, but subdued. She considered her answer, eyes scanning across the rest, feeling their trepidation. She considered the possibility of leading them around the truth, that she had no idea what they were talking about, but… no, that wasn't what she wanted here.
"You have mistaken us, we come with greetings as new neighbors.I know nothing of preexisting pacts. Are there others of the human tribes in this area?"
Confusion, fear lessened glances and chattering noises. Even the leader, Changin seemed a little at a loss.
"There are the cloud people, and storm walkers, who chased them from these land, which are you?" he asked.
"The stormwalkers you call us. We are the people of the Emerald Sea and the Celestial Empire. We are at war with the cloud men," Ling Qi replied. ""We are the deputies of Lady Cai who is the heir of…"
She paused thinking about how to frame it, and so she sang a few bars, a melody of harsh light and unyielding bark. Of a star crowning a great tree which pierced the heavens.
The beasts shivered and even the white pelted Changin recoiled a little.
"Forest People…" "The horned men…" Forest…" "Burning North…"
"Our forefathers have told stories of the forest people. You are here to claim these lands?" Changin asked. There was a bitterness in his voice.
"These are our lands now, but men and beasts need not trample each other, we may each have our place," Ling Qi said.
"We come as neighbors, not conquerors," Gan Guangli agreed.
There were shades of a lie there, in the end, they had claimed this land, its conquest was already complete, but this, Ling Qi thought, was an acceptable softening of the truth, where its harshest edge would only do harm.
The third realm spirit before them seemed to consider this, a loud thwack of his strange tail silencing the less self controlled beasts behind him. "If so, pledge no bloodshed in the Falling Waters Palace with true words, and I will show you to grandfather who may decide such things."
Ling Qi nodded, it was a little impertinent to demand a serious vow, given their relative positions, but her pride wasn't so stiff as to be offended. At the same time she couldn't show herself to be easily pushed. So, it was once again, that she allowed her hold on her domain to loosen.
The gleam of stars in her hair intensified and when her lips parted to speak, a cold mist billowed out, and when she spoke it was not with human words.
"We envoys will shed no bloodnor take lives in the Falling Waters Palace, save in our defense. So I bind us, until we speak with our Lady again. This I swear upon my power." She swore as a freezing wind.
"So I swear upon my power," Gan Guangli agreed, in a voice of grinding rock.
A temporary promise with a sharp cut off. She didn't hold any antipathy for these beasts, but she was not a fool to make lengthy promises to unknown spirits. Similarly she would only swear on something simple and obvious, which even the dimmest beasts and spirits would recognize.
Changin bowed his head, having already pressed them there was nothing more he could say. "Then please, guests, follow me."
They followed Changin and his attendants further up the river in silence, and soon the true span of the beasts workings became clear. Ling Qi sensed the change in the air as they crossed the threshold of the spirit courts holding, the way the whirling chaos of natural qi straightened and hardened, taking on an artificial feel. The first physical sign was a rough span of cut wood and branches woven and wedged together into a dam holding back some of the rivers flow. Clear white capped water sprayed from beneath in a miniature waterfall that gurgled over the stones below and behind it lay a small artificial lake, as clear and clean as the water of Snowblossom lake.
And there were many of them, as they proceeded upstream Ling Qi saw that the beasts diverted the waters flow many times, forming pools and ponds of varying size and in great number. The trees were much more spaced here and bright sunlight shone on the sparkling falling waters. A river that would have been a single great span instead become a widely spread wetland full of flowing shallow waters. And from those waters she saw many beasts watching them, not just the odd plump and flat tailed rodents they had met, but many others. She saw the slim shapes of river otters flashing beneath the surface and peaking from the ponds, and other smaller furred rodents in various shapes and sizes as well as frogs and toads, some of which were quite large.
It had a scenic beauty too it, but at the same time it was damaged. She saw many of the strange dams and nests half washed away, and busy crews of the flat tailed beasts working hard dragging logs and breaking them down, pulling things back into place. When she considered the way the Sect Heads domain worked…
Changin, caught her watching such a crew as they proceeded, and confirmed her suspicion. "The rains have been harsh."
Understandable enmity, but even leaving that aside, she had another less charitable thought. This spirit court seemed terribly weak. There were a scattering of third realms about, a few even quite advanced, but the vast majority were beasts of red and yellow, not all of which even showed the signs of intelligence. She still did not sense a more powerful lord.
How did they persist with such a lack of strength? There was a denser qi emanating from further up, but it did not have the feel of an active spirit.
Her curiosity at the source was soon answered as they climbed a narrow switchback trail up a cliff some twenty meters in height. Even at the bottom she could see the high walls of another dam, another nest, this one more akin to a palace in truth. Even the reduced flow of water bursting from beneath it formed a curtain of crashing, falling water into the wetlands below.
What she saw at the top was familiar from her journey further south. Here at the far southern end of their land was the retreating remains of a great great glacier, From her vantage it was a glittering wall of blue and white in the distance, at the top of a loose stony slope. But it was not the ice which drew her eyes, but rather the dark shadow in its depths.
It was dead, she was certain. But then, so was the ancient skeleton to which she took her stories.
She pulled her eyes from the rippled wall of ice and looked below to the grow of trees which grew at the mouth of the chasm of rock which contained the glacial wall. Here were stout trees almost barrel like in proportion, with ice blue bark short, twisted branches from which grew pale white leaves. They were not particularly tall, the largest she could see poking out from the rest of the groves canopy looked no more than five meters tall, but the air was noticeably colder up here, such that the faint mist that sprayed up from the flowing river came back down as gentle snow.
And then there was the ground they grew from. At first she thought it snow, but a second look revealed that the soil itself was oddly pale, and the then there was the odd shape of the boulders. Ling Qi briefly thought back to the quarry in the underworld, which had revealed a great spinal column, taller than a tree and half buried.
The unsettling feeling only increased as she focused on what seemed like a small hill, but was in fact the top half of a humanlike skull of titanic size. Its soil and stone choked sockets staring blankly.
"Grandfather, I bring the visitors," Their guides silent voice rang out, drawing her attention away from the grove and back to the manor sized dam built over the river. There at the riverside waited a procession. Some four sturdy young examples of the flat tailed beasts, each of the third realm, but in darker colors than their guide walked with a sort of platform on their back, what could only be a thin cross section of an entire tree. On that platform was piled a swaddling nest, a mix of woven water plants, bird down, leaves, scraps of cloth and other soft things. In that nest rested the most visibly decrepit spirit beast Ling Qi had ever seen. His fur was gray and patchy in places, the twitching whiskers the others bore were long on the elder beast, so long that they drooped under their own weight. The beast was much thinner than his kin as well, without the sleek plump silhouette. One eye was rheumy and clearly blind, but the other still shone with intelligence. To Ling Qi he felt weaker than their guide, but there was an echo of lost power. In his prime this beast had probably touched the fourth realm, if only barely.
It was the first time she had seen the results of such a badly failed breakthrough.
"The higher realms are no joke. Don't approach them lightly," Sixiang whispered morosely.
"I told you they were not the pactmakers," even the beasts spiritual voice was a whistling wheeze. "Visitors, this elder apologizes."
"It is no trouble. I would be curious to know something of this pact you mention," Ling Qi said politely.
"Grandfather…" the younger beast said warily.
But Ling Qi felt the old beast focus on her, his good eye searching. Obligingly, Ling Qi made no effort to screen the perception art she felt skittering over her skin.
"Guide the waters, shape the stone, shelter life, revive the land, maintain the prison, when I return, I will raise thee to the heavens," The old beast spoke. "Such were the words given to our great ancestor."
"And how long ago was this?" Gan Guangli asked carefully.
"Too many tablets of history broken, I cannot say, it was before the ice retreated, when humans still lived in the mountaintops," the wizened beast wheezed. "But it does not matter, we have failed."
"We have not," the younger beast cried. "Grandfather we can repair the great work if…"
"Not with the strength we have," the Elder said harshly. He raised a withered paw and tapped it on the wood, and Ling Qi felt a pulse of qi ripple through the earth, she felt Gan Guangli shift beside her no doubt sensing the same thing.
There was a vast working under their feet, something in the earth and the trees and the stones and even the sky. A pattern that was not merely the natural flow of the world, but it was broken. The beasts release of qi was little more than a simple ping, lightning it up for all to see.
"You are very candid," Ling Qi said.
"You have the strength to take what you wish," the old beast whispered, twitching.
But Ling Qi heard the undercurrent there. Such a desperation for a solution was not common. "Where is your lord Elder. You and your kin cannot have held this land alone."
"...She sleeps, since the evils from the sky infested her body, and the prisoner stirred."
Ling Qi followed his gaze toward the wall of ice. The thing within… No the glacier itself, and… through it the river? Yes, that seemed right."
"You mentioned a prison, your lord only has that power remaining?" She guessed.
"The visitor is wise."
"Two hundred years ago, the stars began to stir, the demons came and the ruin began," Changin muttered. "Your warring has made it harder but…"
"The stars?" Ling Qi began only to cut herself off as she felt a pulse of something in the air, a feeling of distortion.
Then a wailing cry from the direction of the ice, like some miserable fusion of an infants cry and and an eagles shriek. All around her the sound of those flat tails began to beat against the water.
"One of them is coming again, we must shelter, guests please…"
Ling Qi held up a hand, and looked to Gan Guangli. The power she sensed there the flickering light in the sky. It was strong, perhaps stronger than her in raw cultivation, if only just, but she was not alone, was she?
And this was an opportunity in many ways. If more came… they could retreat, but if these foes were even a little related to that terrible thing she had seen so briefly at the caldera, this could be valuable indeed. If it was related to the demons the White Sky spoke of, it could be another point of connection. If both were the same…
Gan Guangli slammed his fists together, grinning confidently.
"Please shelter neighbors. It is not in our interests to let such an infestation persist,``Ling Qi said calmly.
The young beast regarded her in shock, the old one with consideration. "Be wary, their power crumbles artifice and severs law. They devour the breath and souls of the living."
"If their appetites are like others of that kind, I may appear most appetizing," Gan Guangli considered as the beasts fled for their manor-dam.
"But I do not think we are dealing with typical spirits of darkness and want," Ling Qi said. "It flies, you'll be at a disadvantage."
"True, but I trust Miss Ling to bring it down. However I have my counters, if Miss Ling prefers to hold its attention for a time, I may chain it to the earth and perhaps capture it."
Ling Qi frowned, eyeing the glint in the sky that had taken off from the top of the distant glacier, they had a minute or two at most, especially if they were to move to avoid damaging the dam. If the beast was right trying to hold it might be very difficult."
[ ] Allow Gan Guangli to play the bait, while you play the deadly wraith, trapping and killing it once it engages him. (70% success. Beast slain, low risks of collateral damage. Less intelligence on similar creatures.)
[ ] Take point yourself soaring up to meet in in the sky. Trapping its attentions in your mist and illusions, give Gan Guangli the time to set up his technique. (50% success. Beast captured or slain depending on degree of success. Higher risk of damage. More intelligence on similar creatures)
"This place is contested," Ling Qi said quietly.
"Like a much sieged castle," Gan Guangli agreed.
She saw their greeters long before Gan Guangli and she reached the open meadow at the base of a larger hill, a rocky thing, around which the shallow river flowed. They were odd little beasts. There were about a half dozen of them, most of which were about a meter long. They had long haired pelts in colors ranging from brown to black, and blunt but rodent like heads. They also had strange tails, half the length of their own bodies, which were wide and flat like a boat oar, which had a rough scaly texture.
Five of them sat on the haunches, waving their front paws and seemingly chattering to the sixth member, who sat in the center, it was about twice as large as the other beasts, as tall as a short human while sat on its haunches, and had a shimmering white pelt. Strangely, for a beast, it had something like a harness on its body, from which dangled what looked like little stone tools.
"Six, five attendants, one leader," Ling Qi said lowly.
"Cultivation?" Gan Guangli replied.
"First and second realm. Leader is low third, second stage or thereabout,` Ling Qi replied back.
"Displaying submission then," Gan Guangli said, raising his brows.
"Maybe, they're not imperial spirits, might have different conventions," Ling Qi shot back.
"True, still seeking to avoid violent confrontation," Gan Guangli replied.
"Agreed, coming up quickly now," Ling Qi finished, any closer and continuing to whisper might be rude.
She saw the moment when the beasts sensed their approach, the smaller ones fanning out behind the larger, white furred beast, and falling back onto all fours. She felt a pang of pity, the small ones were terrified. However the only feeling she sensed from their leader was acceptance and resolve.
The beast did not try to bow as they entered the clearing, instead only lowering its eyes. "Changin, son of Chalun greets the Lord and Lady of the Peaks in grandfather's stead. Have you come at last to complete the pact?"
The voice she heard in her mind had a youthful and brash texture too it, but subdued. She considered her answer, eyes scanning across the rest, feeling their trepidation. She considered the possibility of leading them around the truth, that she had no idea what they were talking about, but… no, that wasn't what she wanted here.
"You have mistaken us, we come with greetings as new neighbors.I know nothing of preexisting pacts. Are there others of the human tribes in this area?"
Confusion, fear lessened glances and chattering noises. Even the leader, Changin seemed a little at a loss.
"There are the cloud people, and storm walkers, who chased them from these land, which are you?" he asked.
"The stormwalkers you call us. We are the people of the Emerald Sea and the Celestial Empire. We are at war with the cloud men," Ling Qi replied. ""We are the deputies of Lady Cai who is the heir of…"
She paused thinking about how to frame it, and so she sang a few bars, a melody of harsh light and unyielding bark. Of a star crowning a great tree which pierced the heavens.
The beasts shivered and even the white pelted Changin recoiled a little.
"Forest People…" "The horned men…" Forest…" "Burning North…"
"Our forefathers have told stories of the forest people. You are here to claim these lands?" Changin asked. There was a bitterness in his voice.
"These are our lands now, but men and beasts need not trample each other, we may each have our place," Ling Qi said.
"We come as neighbors, not conquerors," Gan Guangli agreed.
There were shades of a lie there, in the end, they had claimed this land, its conquest was already complete, but this, Ling Qi thought, was an acceptable softening of the truth, where its harshest edge would only do harm.
The third realm spirit before them seemed to consider this, a loud thwack of his strange tail silencing the less self controlled beasts behind him. "If so, pledge no bloodshed in the Falling Waters Palace with true words, and I will show you to grandfather who may decide such things."
Ling Qi nodded, it was a little impertinent to demand a serious vow, given their relative positions, but her pride wasn't so stiff as to be offended. At the same time she couldn't show herself to be easily pushed. So, it was once again, that she allowed her hold on her domain to loosen.
The gleam of stars in her hair intensified and when her lips parted to speak, a cold mist billowed out, and when she spoke it was not with human words.
"We envoys will shed no bloodnor take lives in the Falling Waters Palace, save in our defense. So I bind us, until we speak with our Lady again. This I swear upon my power." She swore as a freezing wind.
"So I swear upon my power," Gan Guangli agreed, in a voice of grinding rock.
A temporary promise with a sharp cut off. She didn't hold any antipathy for these beasts, but she was not a fool to make lengthy promises to unknown spirits. Similarly she would only swear on something simple and obvious, which even the dimmest beasts and spirits would recognize.
Changin bowed his head, having already pressed them there was nothing more he could say. "Then please, guests, follow me."
+2 XP to Water, Wood or Ice related projects cultivated here
-Other effects locked
-Other effects locked
They followed Changin and his attendants further up the river in silence, and soon the true span of the beasts workings became clear. Ling Qi sensed the change in the air as they crossed the threshold of the spirit courts holding, the way the whirling chaos of natural qi straightened and hardened, taking on an artificial feel. The first physical sign was a rough span of cut wood and branches woven and wedged together into a dam holding back some of the rivers flow. Clear white capped water sprayed from beneath in a miniature waterfall that gurgled over the stones below and behind it lay a small artificial lake, as clear and clean as the water of Snowblossom lake.
And there were many of them, as they proceeded upstream Ling Qi saw that the beasts diverted the waters flow many times, forming pools and ponds of varying size and in great number. The trees were much more spaced here and bright sunlight shone on the sparkling falling waters. A river that would have been a single great span instead become a widely spread wetland full of flowing shallow waters. And from those waters she saw many beasts watching them, not just the odd plump and flat tailed rodents they had met, but many others. She saw the slim shapes of river otters flashing beneath the surface and peaking from the ponds, and other smaller furred rodents in various shapes and sizes as well as frogs and toads, some of which were quite large.
It had a scenic beauty too it, but at the same time it was damaged. She saw many of the strange dams and nests half washed away, and busy crews of the flat tailed beasts working hard dragging logs and breaking them down, pulling things back into place. When she considered the way the Sect Heads domain worked…
Changin, caught her watching such a crew as they proceeded, and confirmed her suspicion. "The rains have been harsh."
Understandable enmity, but even leaving that aside, she had another less charitable thought. This spirit court seemed terribly weak. There were a scattering of third realms about, a few even quite advanced, but the vast majority were beasts of red and yellow, not all of which even showed the signs of intelligence. She still did not sense a more powerful lord.
How did they persist with such a lack of strength? There was a denser qi emanating from further up, but it did not have the feel of an active spirit.
Her curiosity at the source was soon answered as they climbed a narrow switchback trail up a cliff some twenty meters in height. Even at the bottom she could see the high walls of another dam, another nest, this one more akin to a palace in truth. Even the reduced flow of water bursting from beneath it formed a curtain of crashing, falling water into the wetlands below.
What she saw at the top was familiar from her journey further south. Here at the far southern end of their land was the retreating remains of a great great glacier, From her vantage it was a glittering wall of blue and white in the distance, at the top of a loose stony slope. But it was not the ice which drew her eyes, but rather the dark shadow in its depths.
It was dead, she was certain. But then, so was the ancient skeleton to which she took her stories.
She pulled her eyes from the rippled wall of ice and looked below to the grow of trees which grew at the mouth of the chasm of rock which contained the glacial wall. Here were stout trees almost barrel like in proportion, with ice blue bark short, twisted branches from which grew pale white leaves. They were not particularly tall, the largest she could see poking out from the rest of the groves canopy looked no more than five meters tall, but the air was noticeably colder up here, such that the faint mist that sprayed up from the flowing river came back down as gentle snow.
And then there was the ground they grew from. At first she thought it snow, but a second look revealed that the soil itself was oddly pale, and the then there was the odd shape of the boulders. Ling Qi briefly thought back to the quarry in the underworld, which had revealed a great spinal column, taller than a tree and half buried.
The unsettling feeling only increased as she focused on what seemed like a small hill, but was in fact the top half of a humanlike skull of titanic size. Its soil and stone choked sockets staring blankly.
"Grandfather, I bring the visitors," Their guides silent voice rang out, drawing her attention away from the grove and back to the manor sized dam built over the river. There at the riverside waited a procession. Some four sturdy young examples of the flat tailed beasts, each of the third realm, but in darker colors than their guide walked with a sort of platform on their back, what could only be a thin cross section of an entire tree. On that platform was piled a swaddling nest, a mix of woven water plants, bird down, leaves, scraps of cloth and other soft things. In that nest rested the most visibly decrepit spirit beast Ling Qi had ever seen. His fur was gray and patchy in places, the twitching whiskers the others bore were long on the elder beast, so long that they drooped under their own weight. The beast was much thinner than his kin as well, without the sleek plump silhouette. One eye was rheumy and clearly blind, but the other still shone with intelligence. To Ling Qi he felt weaker than their guide, but there was an echo of lost power. In his prime this beast had probably touched the fourth realm, if only barely.
It was the first time she had seen the results of such a badly failed breakthrough.
"The higher realms are no joke. Don't approach them lightly," Sixiang whispered morosely.
"I told you they were not the pactmakers," even the beasts spiritual voice was a whistling wheeze. "Visitors, this elder apologizes."
"It is no trouble. I would be curious to know something of this pact you mention," Ling Qi said politely.
"Grandfather…" the younger beast said warily.
But Ling Qi felt the old beast focus on her, his good eye searching. Obligingly, Ling Qi made no effort to screen the perception art she felt skittering over her skin.
"Guide the waters, shape the stone, shelter life, revive the land, maintain the prison, when I return, I will raise thee to the heavens," The old beast spoke. "Such were the words given to our great ancestor."
"And how long ago was this?" Gan Guangli asked carefully.
"Too many tablets of history broken, I cannot say, it was before the ice retreated, when humans still lived in the mountaintops," the wizened beast wheezed. "But it does not matter, we have failed."
"We have not," the younger beast cried. "Grandfather we can repair the great work if…"
"Not with the strength we have," the Elder said harshly. He raised a withered paw and tapped it on the wood, and Ling Qi felt a pulse of qi ripple through the earth, she felt Gan Guangli shift beside her no doubt sensing the same thing.
There was a vast working under their feet, something in the earth and the trees and the stones and even the sky. A pattern that was not merely the natural flow of the world, but it was broken. The beasts release of qi was little more than a simple ping, lightning it up for all to see.
"You are very candid," Ling Qi said.
"You have the strength to take what you wish," the old beast whispered, twitching.
But Ling Qi heard the undercurrent there. Such a desperation for a solution was not common. "Where is your lord Elder. You and your kin cannot have held this land alone."
"...She sleeps, since the evils from the sky infested her body, and the prisoner stirred."
Ling Qi followed his gaze toward the wall of ice. The thing within… No the glacier itself, and… through it the river? Yes, that seemed right."
"You mentioned a prison, your lord only has that power remaining?" She guessed.
"The visitor is wise."
"Two hundred years ago, the stars began to stir, the demons came and the ruin began," Changin muttered. "Your warring has made it harder but…"
"The stars?" Ling Qi began only to cut herself off as she felt a pulse of something in the air, a feeling of distortion.
Then a wailing cry from the direction of the ice, like some miserable fusion of an infants cry and and an eagles shriek. All around her the sound of those flat tails began to beat against the water.
"One of them is coming again, we must shelter, guests please…"
Ling Qi held up a hand, and looked to Gan Guangli. The power she sensed there the flickering light in the sky. It was strong, perhaps stronger than her in raw cultivation, if only just, but she was not alone, was she?
And this was an opportunity in many ways. If more came… they could retreat, but if these foes were even a little related to that terrible thing she had seen so briefly at the caldera, this could be valuable indeed. If it was related to the demons the White Sky spoke of, it could be another point of connection. If both were the same…
Gan Guangli slammed his fists together, grinning confidently.
"Please shelter neighbors. It is not in our interests to let such an infestation persist,``Ling Qi said calmly.
The young beast regarded her in shock, the old one with consideration. "Be wary, their power crumbles artifice and severs law. They devour the breath and souls of the living."
"If their appetites are like others of that kind, I may appear most appetizing," Gan Guangli considered as the beasts fled for their manor-dam.
"But I do not think we are dealing with typical spirits of darkness and want," Ling Qi said. "It flies, you'll be at a disadvantage."
"True, but I trust Miss Ling to bring it down. However I have my counters, if Miss Ling prefers to hold its attention for a time, I may chain it to the earth and perhaps capture it."
Ling Qi frowned, eyeing the glint in the sky that had taken off from the top of the distant glacier, they had a minute or two at most, especially if they were to move to avoid damaging the dam. If the beast was right trying to hold it might be very difficult."
[ ] Allow Gan Guangli to play the bait, while you play the deadly wraith, trapping and killing it once it engages him. (70% success. Beast slain, low risks of collateral damage. Less intelligence on similar creatures.)
[ ] Take point yourself soaring up to meet in in the sky. Trapping its attentions in your mist and illusions, give Gan Guangli the time to set up his technique. (50% success. Beast captured or slain depending on degree of success. Higher risk of damage. More intelligence on similar creatures)
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