The sharp bitter tang of salt in the air was viscerally unpleasant, but at the same time served as a harsh focus to the mind. The dry, dark qi of the little saltwater pool and the subtle rustle of the fungal blooms made for a fine background to her meditations. Since neither her liege nor Gan Guangli and Xia Lin had any use for the place, she had begun to make it hers. The lessons learned with Zhengui on gardening were only of partial use, especially since this place was so out of synch with his way, but she'd begunto toy with some arrangements.
Moist rotting wood carefully buried in a two layered circle inducing the growth of blooming caps of darkness saturated fungus, marked by growing jagged salt crystals at its cardinal points were the limit of her experimentation for the moment, but it did focus the qi a little. She'd want to speak with an expert geomancer before she meddled further.
But it was a nice, relaxing way to wind down while getting work done.
"You mean while I get work done," Sixiang groused. Their image sat in midair before her, one leg crossed under the other while one bare foot dangled down. The moon spirit glared over an open letter.
"Don't give me that," Ling Qi sniffed, cracking open one eye. "I know you enjoy doing voices for each letter."
"Hardly the point, this isn't supposed to be how this bond works!"
"Are you still so flustered by that compliment?" Ling Qi snorted.
"I oughta dunk your head in the pool," Sixiang said flatly.
"You're welcome to try, I didn't know you were being so diligent about training your physical manifestations," Ling Qi said lightly.
Sixiang grumbled, and the wind kicked up sending the letter in their hands to smack Ling Qi across the face.
She laughed as she peeled the paper off, scanning the bottom half of the letter again. "It's good that things are going well for Hanyi."
"Yeah seems the squirts been well received," Sixiang said. "Though the letters that work out to 'where can I get one', kinda suck."
Ling Qi grimaced, it was to be expected. No one was as impolite as Sixiang complied but there were a lot of probes for the origins of her spirit. In a way it was good, as the southern empire had been suffering increasingly cold winters and an interest in Hanyi could drive support for their project, but… it was also probably easy to twist things around and blame the foreigners too once people got their narratives straight.
"Well lucky for me that 'clan secrets' work out in my favor for once," Ling Qi said dryly. "Still reception from the noble and professional contacts in the Foundations region have been very warm." The southwestern part of the province which the Wang called home, and the foothills that rose from the Meng swamps. They were the least developed part of the province, with only the capital of the Wang lands and few minor cities being significant on the provincial scale.
"Yeah, suppose they're just glad to have the raiding pushed further back. Some of it is a little condescending but there's a lot of well meaning advice too," Sixiang said.
Ling Qi hummed an agreement, many, many of the cultivators in the foundations only had cultivator ancestors going back four or five generations at most. That could drive even more stubborn elitism, but it could also breed camaraderie, she supposed Hou Zhuang knew how to judge character.
"Wang Lian's advice on management of subordinates was quite insightful, I admit, I've spent so much time thinking about how to work with other nobles, I've neglected to learn how to work with subordinates," Ling Qi admitted. She had some immediate experience from drills with the Sect military, but Wang Lian's advice lay in how to build up a longer term rapport with civilians. Also she was a little more proud of that correspondence, considering she'd earned it herself.
"Better news, looks like the guy in the ministry of commerce over there you've been talking too hasn't noticed too much said against you in the more capital leaning places. Just the usual grumbling about newbies," Sixiang said, examining the next letter.
That was good, it was too soon to say for certain, but Ling Qi felt that despite presentation, political support for mainstream imperial thought was fairly… squishy on the border. If there was anywhere vulnerable to her allies efforts toward change it was probably in the foothills of the wall. "People are definitely more open there. If Meng Diu makes her push for investment in the south of the Meng lands and I can make a good case to the Wang family, it should have good results."
"Although… that's probably still far away," she sighed.
+1 Rep to Foundations Region. New Professional Option unlocked.
There was a rustle of cloth behind her.
"Its very polite of you, to not startle me again," Ling Qi observed.
"It is wise of you to maintain your perceptions even at rest."
Ling Qi shivered as she felt a spindly hand close around the wisp of light left hovering near the ceiling of the grotto, pulling it down to look at a pale and androgynous face.
"Who are you…" Sixiang looked back and forth worriedly, apparently blind to what she saw
Ling Qi turned her head to peer at the thin, gangly figure crouched like a great insect over the saltwater pool at the same time that her view from the wisp turned this way and that under Shu Yue's examination. "It's Shu Yue, Sixiang, don't worry… too much."
How did they…
"You have mastered formlessness, but there are steps beyond even that. Each person is a world unto themselves, one skilled in the silent art needs only to decide which worlds they exist within," Shu Yue said softly, a whisper spoken into her wisp, before too thin finger's loosened, and Ling Qi jerked the sensory node back up to the ceiling out of reflex.
Sixiang twitched, their eyes widening as they spun around in midair, focusing on the older cultivator as they processed Ling Qi's senses. "...You're a creep, you know that?"
"Yes," said Shu Yue blandly. "Interesting, most do not let their spirits so deeply share their mind. Vulnerable, but a good defense as well. That will not be expected."
Ling Qi glanced to Sixiang, who was still squinting, their qi feeling around the room in pulses and passing through Shu Yue as if they were not there, even as they stood, pacing around the pool toward Ling Qi. Sixiang's effort to detect them adjusted a fraction of a second after each step.
Ling Qi stood as well, offering a bow of respect. "There is no need for me to be alone anymore."
Shu Yue stopped, head tilting at an angle that should have strained or even broken their neck. "...No, I suppose there is not. I have inspected this 'prison'."
"Is it an immediate danger?" Ling Qi asked.
"Given another century or further interference from the Cloud Tribe? Yes," said the spirit like cultivator, straightening into a more human posture. Their dark eyes remained fixed on her face. "But, baring that I have determined that it is a problem within your abilities to resolve."
"Then we will do so," Ling Qi said shortly, trying not to bely how unsettled she felt by Shu Yue's inspection.
"You will," agreed Shu Yue. Ling Qi saw Sixiang twitch, though she saw not a single ripple of qi. It seemed Shu Yue had stopped playing their game. "What is it you are doing here?"
Ling Qi almost asked if they did not already know, but she understood the intent of the question. "I am cultivating my senses of course, elder."
"So you are," they said thoughtfully. "You trust eyes gifted to you from the land of poisons and lakes? Trust enough to take them into your body?"
Ling QI dipped her head, acknowledging the continuation of the metaphor. "No, I trust these eyes, freely given by a father. I am not yet… free enough to cultivate my own."
"Curious formulation," said Shu Yue, the same flicker step movement, as if the world were blinking and missing steps, carried them to stand over Ling Qi. "You think yourself unfree?"
Ling Qi frowned, even as Sixiang's manifestation rippled and vanished, reappearing over her shoulders. "...Only in that my abilities don't match my responsibilities. I can still only be in one place at a time, I can still only move so fast. It's not enough."
"It will never be enough," Shu Yue said quietly.
Ling Qi frowned, rubbing her arm where it had been broken. "...If you can't break at least a few rules I don't think you can be said to walk the path of cultivation."
The thin lips of that pale face curled up, too wide grin, with nothing but darkness behind them. "A good conviction. What rule are you breaking?"
"I am not sure yet," Ling Qi admitted. "I am not alone, but I can't care for everyone. Maybe I can listen though, and pass words to those who can."
It was something she had been thinking about in her meditations on community, her place in it, and the cold that lived inside of it. Would it have made a difference if outside eyes fell on Tonghou? Once she would have said no, but now… it depending on which eyes, she supposed.
"Hm, and what do these words say?" Shu Yue asked.
"That the south is neglected. They form community among themselves, because Xiangmen and the Labyrinth city are both far away. The Wang clan works tirelessly, but in the end the future dreamt by the Builder is far away. Eyes are looking to my Lady and I, because we stand to make the province care."
Wariness and dismissal were still thick on the ground. They were too young, their accomplishments too few.
But they dangled a tantalizing promise. That the raiding could not just be pushed away, but that it could stop. And so there were those who reached out, the hopeful, the ambitious, the grasping alike.
Shu Yue, bowed their head, black hair spilling over their shoulders. "Good. All who seek change, who seek rule, must…"
"Build the Foundations," Ling Qi said lightly. Sixiang groaned.
The older cultivator paused, staring at them, Ling Qi felt the faint tickle of sweat springing up on her forehead. But Shu Yue only gave a dry, rasping cough of laughter. "Yes. Ling Qi, know that I have established myself, in the future I will be available to make good on my words. You walk a different path than I, but I still have insights."
Ling Qi bowed deeply, any hint of her slightly cheeky smile disappearing. "Honored Elder."
They were silent for a moment, tapping their fingers together. "We may explore the depths of the lonely street, the darkness of faces turned away, these are the silent arts. There are the mysteries of separation, of space and motion, the shadow and the breeze. And… there are the mysteries of sight, the eye of grudges. These are what I deem you ready for."
"You will only teach one?" Ling Qi asked carefully.
"When the lesson is finished, I will evaluate where you stand."
[ ] The Silent Arts (Opens Personal action to raise the Vanishing Trait, and gain Isolation and Want XP)
[ ] Mysteries of Separation (Opens Personal action to raise the Sable Grace Trait, and gain Motion and Freedom XP)
[ ] The Eye of Grudges (Opens personal action to raise Inquisitive Eyes, and gain Persistence and Endings XP)
AN: In addition I am opening omake points for the rollto gain a contact. Starting success is fifty percent.
