Turn 19: Arc 9-3
The crows wings fluttered once, a loose feather drifting down, clinging to Liming's fabric even as she accelerated away, crossing the compound to the cleave the twitching head from a locust-like nightmare gnawing and ripping at a crack formed in the barrier of warding energies. Then straight back down amidst shrieking wind. Cifeng is swung out in a wide arc, trailing radiance, the light coalescing into glowing spheres of power that rip outward raining down on the nightmares out the walls to the soft chiming of bells, heard even over the din of battle.
But the feather remains. Unthreatening, a fragile power, nothing more than a conduit for words and intentions.
She feels the cold thrum rippling back up the connection. "Lady Wang, reinforcement incoming from our guests. Inform Lord Luo."
The words are barely even spoken, imprinted mostly on the qi pulsing down into the formations embedded in the fortifications.
The stolid, earthy qi of the Wang noblewoman, spread so thinly over the defenses of the valley, paused for a moment in its motion, the energies of the barriers stilling and crackling… and then resumed their circulation. Agreement. Wang Lian would not question her, here and now.
The sky shuddered, and flame gouted forth, mingling with acrid white smoke and boiling ichor. To her eyes it almost seemed as if the sky was bulging outward cracks spreading, as if the heavens themselves would burst with the pressure on the other side.
She heard a song, low and melancholic, interwoven with another strident and firm. The vibration of it, she could feel deep in her bones.
In the cracked sky, a vast flock of ravens took flight, and the weeping sentinel, the woman shaped tree that had stood over the foreigners camp throughout the summit, spread creaking wooden limbs wide.
Crimson dripped from curling branchlike fingers, trails whisps of material like skin or thin, soft bark, ruddy with dripping sap.
The face of the creature, the cultivator was revealed. Empty knothole eyes, weeping, weeping blood, a face of stripped bark, like a flayed human visage, the lines and curves of muscle and tendon exposed and wet.
The Weeping Sentinels mouth opened, revealing teeth of dull and rusted iron, and her voice became the song.
Light rippled out, a ring of dancing runes writ in stark and primal crimson light in the air. The pulse reached the distending sky, and it shattered into fragments of light. The second pulse came, and shattered too.
And the bulging sky shuddered and retreated, spreading cracks stitching shut on threads of crimson, that blackened under the burning flames, but held strong.
And flocking, circling swarming crows joined the howling hounds in the sky in their feast upon nightmare flesh. Locust-men and writhing many limbed things fell from the sky screaming, blanketed in clawing, pecking bodies and screaming birds. Other cracks in the sky halted expansion and creaked, shuddering and closing by milimeters under the cawing song of circling crows.
And as her people fought, as they pushed the nightmares from the makeshift walls, as Gan Guangli forged an open path as her light shone brighter, drawing the reeling nightmares back onto their spears… The sky erupted.
The pressure that had been building, the fury and power of something unseen straining against the skien of reality, exploded behind the cracks in the sky.
And was contained.
The treesong grew in force, rings of unbreakable runes lighting the sky, swarming crows blotted out the burning clouds, and beneath them, a dozen mighty white hounds raised their heads and howled, silver fire erupting in a spreading circle, filling the vault of heaven… And on the earth, the meridians of the earth lit up, a zig zagging network of light, even those under the cloven mountain.
And the ripple of power passed. Windows shattered, trees were stripped of their leaves and needles, but that was the end of it.
The nightmares began to boil away, as the cracks in the sky dissolved into ashen smoke.
All around her, men let out cheers of relief, lead by Gan Guangli's thunderous cry of victory.
Cai Renxiang sunk back to the earth, not allowing a single hint of fatigue in her posture.
"Emissary Jaromila would speak with you at earliest convenience."
"She will have it. I must first ask after my subordinates."
"We understand. Shall this feather remain?"
Cai Renxiang considered it. The black feather was graying and crumbling at its edges already.
"You may. I will communicate when a meeting is possible."
She was going to be very cross with Ling Qi if she was conscious.
A deep, aching pain, throbbing from her core outward, fading to a fuzzy numbness. For a long time there was nothing else, not even a notion of who she was, where she was.
Only the certainty that she had been right to do what had done this to her.
Pressure came next. She was lying on something, a thin sheet lay over her. Cold and heat, the pulse of qi… of acerbic medicinal energy scrubbing away at her insides, pushing back against the numbness and the pain alike.
"Told you she'd wake up. Ling Qi is tough. Aren't ya?"
Right, she was Ling Qi. Cultivator, Baroness, Diplomat, Emissary, Thief. There were many facets and all of them were her.
Her eyes cracked open, and she looked up to see Sixiang seated by her bedside, backward on a chair arms crossed on the backrest.
"Obviously! I was just worried you old jerk, a Lady is allowed to fret," Hanyi huffed.
She painstakingly turned her gaze, nothing felt right, she was so heavy, so stiff. Hanyi was sitting on the foot of her bed looking up at her, arms crossed kicking her legs fretfully. She looked at Ling Qi and her little sister flinched, looking away.
"You were correct, the physician underestimated her resilience."
Cai Renxiang stood with her back to them looking out the wide window on the wall of the recovery room.
Ling Qi tried to raise her hand, sent the command down her nerves. She felt only the distant fuzzy sensation of a twitch. She reached inward, cycled her qi, found it barely flowing, like porridge hardened into the bowl.
"Ling Qi, do not. You will damage yourself further. The physicians have already informed me that you will recover… in time."
The panic starting to flutter in her chest receded, Cai Renxiang's calm proving infectious. "How bad…?"
To her surprise, her words came out clearly, no scratchy undertone, no broken or labored breathing. But then her lips nor tongue nor throat had moved at all. She had thought and the words came, imprinting themselves on the air.
"Well, you're gonna need to grow your hair back out at least," Sixiang said. "We managed to protect your head, mostly but that was kind of a no go."
"Most of your meridians are too damaged for use, particularly in your extremities. The physical flesh is the same," Cai Renxiang said. "You will require… significant assistance until you can recover. It will be some months until you are fully mobile again, by the physicians estimates."
"My cultivation?"
Hanyi puffed out her cheeks. "Siiis, is that really the first thing you worry about, you can feel all the bits are still there, right?"
Cai Renxiang looked back over her shoulder. "You have not lost a stage, however most of the qi you were building your next breakthrough has been lost, too tainted by the energies you were immersed in, it had to be flushed from your body."
Ling Qi squeezed her eyes shut, even the lids ached. Slowly, she worked her tongue across the back of her teeth, swallowed once and flexed her jaw. Feeling was coming back, even if she still felt like her body was made of stone. That was… better than she had any right to expect. But even then…
"I can still feel my dantian… my domain, it's… I'm speaking with it."
"You held onto yourself real well in there. Through the flames and the muck and the forgetting dark alike," Sixiang said wryly. "Course you can. You looked worse till you popped out, then your spirit tried to correct your look all at once…. You just didn't have the energy for it."
"The solidity of your cultivation foundation prevented worse complications," Cai Renxiang said. "It is still suggested that you not strain yourself or cultivate further until the physicians have cleared you."
"Understood." It itched at her, made her heart flutter, made her want to squirm and shed her own skin… but she would only hurt herself more trying to pick up and resume running on her path right now.
She felt something deeper too, her domain was shifting internally, it wasn't turmoil so much as… a feeling of consolidation.
Maybe she would have something to work on, after all.
"How bad was it out here?" Ling Qi wondered. She managed to tilt her head slightly. She looked down saw her arms resting on top of the blanket, wrapped every inch in silken bandages and formation talismans. She couldn't see an inch of her own skin.
"It got really scary but… nothing important got wrecked," Hanyi said with a shrug. "They're fixing a bunch of stuff though."
Cai Renxiang shot a neutral look at Hanyi. "There were casualties, but they were light. Cooperation and planning carried the day."
"...And the White Sky?" Ling Qi asked. She dreaded the answer. She had glimpsed it, the battle outside. It had surely confirmed some of their factions worst assumptions about the Empire.
"Is willing to complete the talks. We chose to break for two weeks, in order to assess damage and reorganize. Four days remain of that," Cai Renxiang replied.
"Miss Cai helped me commission a chair I can wheel you around in!" Hanyi chirped. "So you can still do your talky stuff!"
Ling Qi struggled to raise probably nonexistent eyebrow, slightly rolling her head toward Cai Renxiang. "Is that really alright, like… this?"
"The Empire is a martial realm at its core. Ling Qi this is damage you took in taking on a… monumental task. I do not know of the White Sky, but who will dare look down on your wounds among us?" Cai Renxiang said blandly. "When the Heron General deposited you with the physicians herself?"
"I mean, I think she should rest longer, but I also know you'd have to shackle her to the bed," Sixiang grumbled.
Ling Qi turned her head toward Sixiang, it was easier this time, even if the feeling of the pillow against her bare scalp felt odd. "...What about you Sixiang? I can't feel right now but you… I know you were hurting too, so…"
Sixiang squirmed, evading her eyes. They looked fine but…
"...So look I can't be buzzing around for awhile. The anchor you gave me is fine to rest in, but I uh… if I dematerialize or leave it right now I'm not coming back," Sixiang said, scratching their cheek. "I'm still a little on fire."
"Renxiang..?" Ling Qi said.
"There is no one on site qualified to deal with the matter. Those whose expertise is closest have pointed to this situation as the best case," Cai Renxiang replied.
"Guess, I might need a chat with Grandmother," Sixiang chuckled weakly.
"I may be able to ask something of the Meng," Ling Qi said quietly. A new panic rose. "Unless…"
"A rogue faction, tainted by a faltering and rotted elder. Even the General attests to this," Cai Renxiang said. "I believe this truth will hold to Mother's scrutiny. Though… even I cannot fully predict the repercussions of this."
Of course, Ling Qi thought. She felt so tired, even trying to think of all the possibilities. Her head raised very slightly, fell back to the pillows.
Cai Renxiang fell silent, as did she. Her liege turned back, looking out the window once again.
"Ling Qi."
"Yes?"
"You have performed beyond all expectations. I am most pleased to have your service."
Cai Renxiang's posture was stiff, and she remained staring out the window.
"Your loss would do incalculable damage at this juncture… please consider that, in the future."
She laughed, physically even, it hurt her throat. "I understand."
"I will allow you to privacy to speak with your spirits now. You have a number of well wishers though. Have your junior sister inform the medical assistants when you are ready for visitors."
And with that, her liege turned, marching out and taking her leave. It left her alone, looking down at Hanyi, whose composure was already crumpling, icy tears forming in her eyes.
AN: Sorry for the lack of voting guys, there's just a lot to get through here.
But the feather remains. Unthreatening, a fragile power, nothing more than a conduit for words and intentions.
She feels the cold thrum rippling back up the connection. "Lady Wang, reinforcement incoming from our guests. Inform Lord Luo."
The words are barely even spoken, imprinted mostly on the qi pulsing down into the formations embedded in the fortifications.
The stolid, earthy qi of the Wang noblewoman, spread so thinly over the defenses of the valley, paused for a moment in its motion, the energies of the barriers stilling and crackling… and then resumed their circulation. Agreement. Wang Lian would not question her, here and now.
The sky shuddered, and flame gouted forth, mingling with acrid white smoke and boiling ichor. To her eyes it almost seemed as if the sky was bulging outward cracks spreading, as if the heavens themselves would burst with the pressure on the other side.
She heard a song, low and melancholic, interwoven with another strident and firm. The vibration of it, she could feel deep in her bones.
In the cracked sky, a vast flock of ravens took flight, and the weeping sentinel, the woman shaped tree that had stood over the foreigners camp throughout the summit, spread creaking wooden limbs wide.
Crimson dripped from curling branchlike fingers, trails whisps of material like skin or thin, soft bark, ruddy with dripping sap.
The face of the creature, the cultivator was revealed. Empty knothole eyes, weeping, weeping blood, a face of stripped bark, like a flayed human visage, the lines and curves of muscle and tendon exposed and wet.
The Weeping Sentinels mouth opened, revealing teeth of dull and rusted iron, and her voice became the song.
Light rippled out, a ring of dancing runes writ in stark and primal crimson light in the air. The pulse reached the distending sky, and it shattered into fragments of light. The second pulse came, and shattered too.
And the bulging sky shuddered and retreated, spreading cracks stitching shut on threads of crimson, that blackened under the burning flames, but held strong.
And flocking, circling swarming crows joined the howling hounds in the sky in their feast upon nightmare flesh. Locust-men and writhing many limbed things fell from the sky screaming, blanketed in clawing, pecking bodies and screaming birds. Other cracks in the sky halted expansion and creaked, shuddering and closing by milimeters under the cawing song of circling crows.
And as her people fought, as they pushed the nightmares from the makeshift walls, as Gan Guangli forged an open path as her light shone brighter, drawing the reeling nightmares back onto their spears… The sky erupted.
The pressure that had been building, the fury and power of something unseen straining against the skien of reality, exploded behind the cracks in the sky.
And was contained.
The treesong grew in force, rings of unbreakable runes lighting the sky, swarming crows blotted out the burning clouds, and beneath them, a dozen mighty white hounds raised their heads and howled, silver fire erupting in a spreading circle, filling the vault of heaven… And on the earth, the meridians of the earth lit up, a zig zagging network of light, even those under the cloven mountain.
And the ripple of power passed. Windows shattered, trees were stripped of their leaves and needles, but that was the end of it.
The nightmares began to boil away, as the cracks in the sky dissolved into ashen smoke.
All around her, men let out cheers of relief, lead by Gan Guangli's thunderous cry of victory.
Cai Renxiang sunk back to the earth, not allowing a single hint of fatigue in her posture.
"Emissary Jaromila would speak with you at earliest convenience."
"She will have it. I must first ask after my subordinates."
"We understand. Shall this feather remain?"
Cai Renxiang considered it. The black feather was graying and crumbling at its edges already.
"You may. I will communicate when a meeting is possible."
She was going to be very cross with Ling Qi if she was conscious.
***
Pain.A deep, aching pain, throbbing from her core outward, fading to a fuzzy numbness. For a long time there was nothing else, not even a notion of who she was, where she was.
Only the certainty that she had been right to do what had done this to her.
Pressure came next. She was lying on something, a thin sheet lay over her. Cold and heat, the pulse of qi… of acerbic medicinal energy scrubbing away at her insides, pushing back against the numbness and the pain alike.
"Told you she'd wake up. Ling Qi is tough. Aren't ya?"
Right, she was Ling Qi. Cultivator, Baroness, Diplomat, Emissary, Thief. There were many facets and all of them were her.
Her eyes cracked open, and she looked up to see Sixiang seated by her bedside, backward on a chair arms crossed on the backrest.
"Obviously! I was just worried you old jerk, a Lady is allowed to fret," Hanyi huffed.
She painstakingly turned her gaze, nothing felt right, she was so heavy, so stiff. Hanyi was sitting on the foot of her bed looking up at her, arms crossed kicking her legs fretfully. She looked at Ling Qi and her little sister flinched, looking away.
"You were correct, the physician underestimated her resilience."
Cai Renxiang stood with her back to them looking out the wide window on the wall of the recovery room.
Ling Qi tried to raise her hand, sent the command down her nerves. She felt only the distant fuzzy sensation of a twitch. She reached inward, cycled her qi, found it barely flowing, like porridge hardened into the bowl.
"Ling Qi, do not. You will damage yourself further. The physicians have already informed me that you will recover… in time."
The panic starting to flutter in her chest receded, Cai Renxiang's calm proving infectious. "How bad…?"
To her surprise, her words came out clearly, no scratchy undertone, no broken or labored breathing. But then her lips nor tongue nor throat had moved at all. She had thought and the words came, imprinting themselves on the air.
"Well, you're gonna need to grow your hair back out at least," Sixiang said. "We managed to protect your head, mostly but that was kind of a no go."
"Most of your meridians are too damaged for use, particularly in your extremities. The physical flesh is the same," Cai Renxiang said. "You will require… significant assistance until you can recover. It will be some months until you are fully mobile again, by the physicians estimates."
"My cultivation?"
Hanyi puffed out her cheeks. "Siiis, is that really the first thing you worry about, you can feel all the bits are still there, right?"
Cai Renxiang looked back over her shoulder. "You have not lost a stage, however most of the qi you were building your next breakthrough has been lost, too tainted by the energies you were immersed in, it had to be flushed from your body."
Ling Qi squeezed her eyes shut, even the lids ached. Slowly, she worked her tongue across the back of her teeth, swallowed once and flexed her jaw. Feeling was coming back, even if she still felt like her body was made of stone. That was… better than she had any right to expect. But even then…
"I can still feel my dantian… my domain, it's… I'm speaking with it."
"You held onto yourself real well in there. Through the flames and the muck and the forgetting dark alike," Sixiang said wryly. "Course you can. You looked worse till you popped out, then your spirit tried to correct your look all at once…. You just didn't have the energy for it."
"The solidity of your cultivation foundation prevented worse complications," Cai Renxiang said. "It is still suggested that you not strain yourself or cultivate further until the physicians have cleared you."
"Understood." It itched at her, made her heart flutter, made her want to squirm and shed her own skin… but she would only hurt herself more trying to pick up and resume running on her path right now.
She felt something deeper too, her domain was shifting internally, it wasn't turmoil so much as… a feeling of consolidation.
Maybe she would have something to work on, after all.
Physical Cultivation XP set to 600. Spiritual Cultivation XP set to 600
Domain Currently in flux. New Ability added.
You may be heard and understood by any being you are aware of, regardless of language, cultivation, obstacles or techniques. You hear and understand any being attempting to consciously communicate with you, if you so choose. This ability may be bypassed by effects which use Shen.
Domain Currently in flux. New Ability added.
You may be heard and understood by any being you are aware of, regardless of language, cultivation, obstacles or techniques. You hear and understand any being attempting to consciously communicate with you, if you so choose. This ability may be bypassed by effects which use Shen.
"How bad was it out here?" Ling Qi wondered. She managed to tilt her head slightly. She looked down saw her arms resting on top of the blanket, wrapped every inch in silken bandages and formation talismans. She couldn't see an inch of her own skin.
"It got really scary but… nothing important got wrecked," Hanyi said with a shrug. "They're fixing a bunch of stuff though."
Cai Renxiang shot a neutral look at Hanyi. "There were casualties, but they were light. Cooperation and planning carried the day."
"...And the White Sky?" Ling Qi asked. She dreaded the answer. She had glimpsed it, the battle outside. It had surely confirmed some of their factions worst assumptions about the Empire.
"Is willing to complete the talks. We chose to break for two weeks, in order to assess damage and reorganize. Four days remain of that," Cai Renxiang replied.
"Miss Cai helped me commission a chair I can wheel you around in!" Hanyi chirped. "So you can still do your talky stuff!"
Ling Qi struggled to raise probably nonexistent eyebrow, slightly rolling her head toward Cai Renxiang. "Is that really alright, like… this?"
"The Empire is a martial realm at its core. Ling Qi this is damage you took in taking on a… monumental task. I do not know of the White Sky, but who will dare look down on your wounds among us?" Cai Renxiang said blandly. "When the Heron General deposited you with the physicians herself?"
"I mean, I think she should rest longer, but I also know you'd have to shackle her to the bed," Sixiang grumbled.
Ling Qi turned her head toward Sixiang, it was easier this time, even if the feeling of the pillow against her bare scalp felt odd. "...What about you Sixiang? I can't feel right now but you… I know you were hurting too, so…"
Sixiang squirmed, evading her eyes. They looked fine but…
"...So look I can't be buzzing around for awhile. The anchor you gave me is fine to rest in, but I uh… if I dematerialize or leave it right now I'm not coming back," Sixiang said, scratching their cheek. "I'm still a little on fire."
"Renxiang..?" Ling Qi said.
"There is no one on site qualified to deal with the matter. Those whose expertise is closest have pointed to this situation as the best case," Cai Renxiang replied.
"Guess, I might need a chat with Grandmother," Sixiang chuckled weakly.
"I may be able to ask something of the Meng," Ling Qi said quietly. A new panic rose. "Unless…"
"A rogue faction, tainted by a faltering and rotted elder. Even the General attests to this," Cai Renxiang said. "I believe this truth will hold to Mother's scrutiny. Though… even I cannot fully predict the repercussions of this."
Of course, Ling Qi thought. She felt so tired, even trying to think of all the possibilities. Her head raised very slightly, fell back to the pillows.
Cai Renxiang fell silent, as did she. Her liege turned back, looking out the window once again.
"Ling Qi."
"Yes?"
"You have performed beyond all expectations. I am most pleased to have your service."
Cai Renxiang's posture was stiff, and she remained staring out the window.
"Your loss would do incalculable damage at this juncture… please consider that, in the future."
She laughed, physically even, it hurt her throat. "I understand."
"I will allow you to privacy to speak with your spirits now. You have a number of well wishers though. Have your junior sister inform the medical assistants when you are ready for visitors."
And with that, her liege turned, marching out and taking her leave. It left her alone, looking down at Hanyi, whose composure was already crumpling, icy tears forming in her eyes.
AN: Sorry for the lack of voting guys, there's just a lot to get through here.
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