Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
"This is why I will not do as she wishes. To tear this down with sword and flame could never be a worthy act.

Whatever was done to me pales in comparison to what she has done for the Emerald Seas."
Very mature and empathetic stance to take. Glad we chose to get to know her. Looking forward to seeing her exceed both her own and her mother's expectations in winning the hearts of the province.

Meng Dan bowed low as they all filed out from the carriage. In robes of pale green and light tan, and long hair falling in brown curls around his shoulders, he looked every inch the imperial scholar, save for the woven circlet of living wood on his brow, holding back his hair, thin twigs studded with budding flowers giving the mild suggestion of horns.
I'm sure his hair colour must have been mentioned before but I always picture him with white hair. Kinda looking like Kabuto Yakushi...

Glad to see him officially recruited though!
 
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I like Meng Dan, but I'm not going to consider him officially part of the husbands wars unless he forms a deeper relationship with Sixiang and/or Qiyi. Bao boy has Hanyi as his in, and turtle boy is working one Zhengui, so Meng boy needs to step it up.
 
I like Meng Dan, but I'm not going to consider him officially part of the husbands wars unless he forms a deeper relationship with Sixiang and/or Qiyi. Bao boy has Hanyi as his in, and turtle boy is working one Zhengui, so Meng boy needs to step it up.
I think having our dress as his wing...dress? Would be absolute cheating...

ALSO ALSO NO QIYI IS TOO YOUNG, NO DATING UNTIL SHES AT LEAST 300 AND THEN ONLY A FROCK OF GOOD STANDING!
 
"It's spiritual infrastructure. Shrine sites and rites being well established will allow for more effective expansion planning, and with little mortal infrastructure already in place it grants us flexibility in the establishment of norms which avoids the costly and disruptive methods that come from trying to do this after more expansion," Cai Renxiang said crisply. "While this method is impossible for most barons given the material costs, there is no use in not making full use of the advantage my heir's allowance gives us."
The Boiling Deep Shrine and the Snowblossom Shrine are going to be really useful, also looking forward to the story trigger.

"We will face scrutiny and scorn for waste if we continue in this manner without rapidly growing the settlement for too long, but our accomplishments and the clear favor for southern expansion give us more leeway here," Xia Lin said

"And we can afford a little bit of scrutiny. I am certain I can smooth things over for a long time coming… particularly if we perform well on the offensive. Success gives much allowance for eccentricity."

"It does," Cai Renxiang said. "And in the end, as our own cultivation grows, there will be less available for projects such as this. By the time we are all fourth realm we will need to reassess. So self sufficiency will need to be addressed within a few years."
They can focus on their own cultivation given they've earned enough respect.

…And it was not forced, or at least not much. To the inhabitants of the roots, to the inhabitants of the trunk, Cai Shenhua was a legendary existence, one who had freed them all from the nightmares their grandparents and great grandparents had known, who had torn away the choking nightmare of corruption which the city had lived under for centuries uncounted to mortals.

She was reminded uncomfortably well that it would be no easy thing for Renxiang to surpass her mother in the way that she wished. That as things stood, to defy Cai Shenhua was to defy the world.

She could see by her expression looking out at the thronging crowds that her liege was thinking similar thoughts.

She didn't need to speak for Cai Renxiang to know what she was thinking. "This is why I will not do as she wishes. To tear this down with sword and flame could never be a worthy act.

Whatever was done to me pales in comparison to what she has done for the Emerald Seas."
Shenhua for all of her faults has done a lot of good.

Cai Renxiang gestured for her to join them. "Sir Meng. I see the strain these past months have put upon you, and know that the Meng wish to cleanse any remaining taint from their name. Speak the words I can see you holding back."

Meng Dan's smile widened, eyes twinkling in amusement behind his glasses. "Of course. I would not dare waste Lady Cai's time. The meng clan would offer one of our own to your direct service, to be used as you will, for whatever task or role you might require. As you might guess, I have volunteered myself for this role. I can only hope my past merits can make up for this pride on my part."
"Your aid in deciphering the old texts, and in seeing the exposure of the plot among your treacherous kin is more than enough merit for such an offer, " Cai Renxiang replied.

"I don't believe I could think of a Meng better suited to working in our circle," Ling Qi said.
The Meng kinda really need this in and Meng Dan is the best one for it.
 
....It occurs to me that given no obvious attractions been shown, it would be hilarious if there is such a big push for Meng Dan....Only for it to be revealed that hes in fact gay.
Doubly so if Ling Qi takes her shot at voters urging :rofl:
 
....It occurs to me that given no obvious attractions been shown, it would be hilarious if there is such a big push for Meng Dan....Only for it to be revealed that hes in fact gay.
Doubly so if Ling Qi takes her shot at voters urging :rofl:
...no obvious attraction...?
"I suppose that would be a more normal pre-courting sort of question," Ling Qi said dryly.

His eyebrows climbed. "Ah- I am sorry, I didn't mean to imply…"

"It's fine, though I won't pretend to understand your interest," Ling Qi said with a wan smile.

"You are fascinating," Meng Dan said.

She blinked, words dying.
"Curious, determined, and irrepressible. Secret paths seem to open readily for you, and you do not fear to tread them. Nor can I easily guess what is going on behind your eyes, the way I can with most. I won't say I am smitten but… I have never met a woman of my age who is quite like you."
I'd ask if you needed signed paperwork as proof of his attraction, but we're probably getting that pretty soon anyway.
 
if voters want to genuibely give Meng Dan a chance to connect with Ling Qi; you have to, y'know, vote for the options to spend time with him.
are there enough ppl willing to vote that way for a long enough stretch of time? because the author did a great job of convincing us of Xuan Shi 😅 (I genuinely don't know, I think there's a Discord but I'm not in it)
i do like and would be happy with Xuan Shi, i'm curious
 
"This is why I will not do as she wishes. To tear this down with sword and flame could never be a worthy act.

Whatever was done to me pales in comparison to what she has done for the Emerald Seas."
Man, that got me real sad. Just because your mom is a great national leader doesn't make her abuse and neglect at home justified. Those are two entirely different things. :(
 
Man, that got me real sad. Just because your mom is a great national leader doesn't make her abuse and neglect at home justified. Those are two entirely different things. :(

Ah, that's not what she's saying. Shenhua's plan is for Renxiang to eventually overthrow her much like Shenhua overthrew the previous Dukes. This is Renxiang saying, essentially, "Shenhua might be a shitty parent, but it doesn't mean that violently overthrowing her, which by it's nature would wreck the good Shenhua has done, is justified."

IOW, it's that if Shenhua needs removing, then doing it at swordpoint like Shenhua did is not the way to go about it, you would need to either find some way to convince her to step aside like most Dukes that break through to White do (the Empress and Shenhua are the only reigning Whites, even though the Bai are the only Ducal Clan without at least one White. This is because most Whites concentrate on making the attempt to ascend into a Great Spirit (which may be why roughly 50% succeed) rather than ruling, it's custom for the actual Dukes (and Clan Heads - the White usually abdicates as Clan Head upon ascension) to be Prism) or to find some other way of forcing the issue.

Or TLDR: It's more that her shitty parenting skills don't justify plunging the Emerald Seas back into disorder. They're still shitty parenting skills.
 
Meng Dan bowed low as they all filed out from the carriage. In robes of pale green and light tan, and long hair falling in brown curls around his shoulders, he looked every inch the imperial scholar, save for the woven circlet of living wood on his brow, holding back his hair, thin twigs studded with budding flowers giving the mild suggestion of horns.
We gotta get bigger horns than Meng Dan. Huisheng, give us your poowweeeeeeer!
 
Are Xia Lin and Meng Dan really part of the inner circle now? I mean, being trusted that their eventual is to overthrow Cai Shenhua and everything? Seems odd to me that Cai Renxiang would even speak about herself being mutilated as a child in the presence of Xia Lin.
 
Honestly Xia Lin and Cai Renxiang is probably one of the closest relationships proximate to us that we've seen nothing of it works. Like, the dynamic just between the two of them. How does it flow?

A guess is that they fit together like smooth gears, both shaped and self aware of it but comforted to be around someone that just fit with them?
 
The road to the Husbando Wars may be long and entertaining yet, and there will be a lot of YRINMRATO

It's gonna be a couple years in-story! Why thin the field so much so early? Build up the Brotherhood of Husbandos!

Meng Dan and Xuan Shi, official founders

We gotta get Xia Anxi, Lao Keung, and Bao Qian to save Meng Dan's bacon now, too.
 
Meng Dan is a CRX retainer now. Same as GG, & LQ.
There's a difference between 'on paper' and 'in practice.' All the counts are technically at the same place in Shenhua's hierarchy, but only half of them are truly inner circle, maybe 4 of them if the Bao guy counts. Not saying Dan and Lin are excluded from our inner circle, just that being a retainer isn't necessarily the same thing.
 
There's a difference between 'on paper' and 'in practice.' All the counts are technically at the same place in Shenhua's hierarchy, but only half of them are truly inner circle, maybe 4 of them if the Bao guy counts. Not saying Dan and Lin are excluded from our inner circle, just that being a retainer isn't necessarily the same thing.
It's a good point. I don't imagine plots against the Duchess are mentioned casually and I wonder at what point does the Menu Scion brought in, in such a performative way, to prove the loyalty of the clan gets told something like that. Sure it's what Shenhua wants but can't imagine the optics would be good and a much scarier proposition for those who have already brushed so close to annihilation
 
There's a difference between 'on paper' and 'in practice.' All the counts are technically at the same place in Shenhua's hierarchy, but only half of them are truly inner circle, maybe 4 of them if the Bao guy counts. Not saying Dan and Lin are excluded from our inner circle, just that being a retainer isn't necessarily the same thing.
technically, the counts clans are sworn to the Duke of the Emerald Seas, while Xia Ren, Jia Hong and Wang Jun are sworn to Cai Shenhua. Meanwhile, the Ling clan and the Gan clans are both sworn the the Dukes of the Emerald Seas, while Ling Qi and Gan Guangli are sworn to Cai Renxiang.
 
Are Xia Lin and Meng Dan really part of the inner circle now? I mean, being trusted that their eventual is to overthrow Cai Shenhua and everything? Seems odd to me that Cai Renxiang would even speak about herself being mutilated as a child in the presence of Xia Lin.
No, that's still just Gan Flexington and Ling Qi (and I guess Six and Sun Genie since they live in their respective partners heads.) Ling Qi and Gan were hand picked by CRX as commoners who had no real ties outside of the ones they made in the Sect. They both have been with Ren Ren long enough to know some of what was done to her by Shenhua. Lin and Dan both were foisted on Ren Ren by outside forces and while she gave final approval, they both come with outside loyalties (White Plumes and the Meng) which Ling Qi and Gan don't have. Until Renxiang can trust that they are more personally loyal to her than their respective origins it can't be trusted they won't go and squeel and let the cat out of the bag and that will be a while if ever.
 
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