- Location
- Staring into the void
Can you please send me those too? I'm also getting art of Su Ling commissioned.
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.
- Location
- FR
- Pronouns
- He/Him
She got a second when she broke through to yellow, IIRC. I kinda expected her to have a third last time we saw her, but she will probably sprout one sometime in early to mid green... Maybe when one of her concept levels get high enough ?
I just got really confused for a moment thinking she was already G4-5. Its easy to forget not everyone is as fast as LQ
Actually do we know what stage CRX other retainers are?
Didn't she have a third tail after the whole event with her mama? Mentioned while in the hospital before Gan blundered in screaming
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Shu Yue did a vibe check of it, and according to them we should be entirely capable of dealing with whatever is in there. If it was a Sovereign or some such, then I'm sure they would have mentioned it, if not dealt with it themself.
Yeah, she got a third tail after the incident with her birth giver (or closest approximation thereof), I think its also a different color then her other two tails, but could be misremembering that part.
Not until mid green so not yet iirc.
When Su Ling and Ling Qi faced Madam Grey in the Liminal, Su Ling had an immaterial third tail made of darkness and starlight or something like that.
She had also commented feeling "itchy" in that spot, so the real tail can't be too far off.
Unless she is consiously or otherwise repressing it.
She had also commented feeling "itchy" in that spot, so the real tail can't be too far off.
Unless she is consiously or otherwise repressing it.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This post was borderline omake quality lmao. If you showed it to someone who had never heard of Love is War they might think it was a real panel.The canonical events in the upcoming chapter (according to the rumours)
(original pages from Kaguya-sama: Love is War - chapter 74)
Year 46, Month 1 Arc 7-2
New
The shrine of the full moon, the Guiding Moon, was only marginally dimmer than the great complex dedicated to the sun. Round, perfect mirrors of silvered glass were affixed at every corner, catching filtered light from further up in the pagoda to cast their ethereally luminous rays down on the core of the shrine, a raised platform of midnight blue wood, against the temple's rear wall. A wall set with a massive slab of solid silver some five meters high, shaped into a frieze depicting numerous legends, the feats of the many students the Guiding Moon was said to have mentored since times immemorial. From the base where the stylized and simple art shaped by the raw strength of cultivators molding metal like clay to the intricate scenes of more modern art… and above plenty of blank space in shimmering silver still.
The ceremony here had been simple enough. The head priest of the pagoda spoke the blessing of the guiding moon over the kneeling bridal duo–a good thing, as the elderly man would certainly not have been able to reach the Duchess' head to sprinkle moon-blessed dew on her hair if she had been standing. Most of the ceremonies were relatively brief, a necessity given how many there were going to be.
But Ling Qi had a reason to linger here herself, looking up at the wall of sculpture. Down here at the base of the platform, the light was dim, and the filtering light cast through the beams of the shrine platform was almost like starlight. Down here, she could look at the very earliest carvings.
Well, carvings, the imprints of human fingers in the meta,l were clear, shaping the relatively crude outlines of both leaping deer and men. Even across the ages, she could read its intent, a son of Tsu leading processions of their brethren and kin back out into the devastated province under the moon's guidance, reclaiming the lands in the wake of the Beast Gods.
She felt the approach of the ones she was here to meet long before she felt their shadows fall across her back, not just from their own weighty presences, like the prows of ships parting silent seas in an onrushing rumble of moving waters, but in the whispers that rippled out as more and more people noticed their intent and direction.
The faint tap of a staff against the floor behind her was just the punctuation on it. She turned politely, clasped her hands, and bowed almost horizontally from her waist. "Admiral Xuan, Admiral Xuan. What can this humble baroness do for our esteemed guests of the far flung north?" She asked politely.
The two men looked much the same as she had seen them last, broad shouldered beneath their heavy woven robes adorned with geometric embroidery, wide brimmed turtleshell hats shadowing their faces. The twin admirals of the Xuan inclined their heads slightly, and the one on the left gestured for her to raise her head.
"Wraith of the Moon, this one named after the last words were traded. A role taken too with great eagerness."
"Herald rather, silver singer flying proud before the prow, guiding to calmer waters," his brother said. "We are well welcome on Emerald shores."
"Your praise humbles me, great lords," Ling Qi said. "Shall I ask if your question is the same one you presented when last we met."
"Well seen, indeed, or hatcling, far from homely shores…"
"... presents a difficulty, though the nest stifles the young, those left behind might yearn for news."
"Young Sir Xuan Shi has been in excellent humor and of great aid to me. Though it has taken some time for us to understand each other properly, he is always stalwart," Ling Qi replied, fully straightening up. "In my Summit and in the times before, he has always been quick to aid me and help me in guarding my kin."
"And so one sets sail, even among mountains high," one Admiral said. It was a testament to their ability and the intertwined nature of their cultivation that even now she had a very difficult time discerning which was which. "From the shell the hatchling emerges with confidence anew?"
"I would say so, yes," She had her disagreements with him… Kongyou was definitely a bad influence.
The worst influence.
But she was hardly going to say that here. And… even if she disliked it, she did trust Xuan Shi to handle it. If he felt he needed to be able to change a nightmare to grow, she'd only wish him fortune.
"A fine thing, a fine thing. The words of the baroness explain and confirm the whispers that have reached these ears…
"...and the fall of the coins upon the table. A missive was received, a most shocking request."
"But one we are inclined to consider, for the sake of many, for shared heritage, for a seeker of shores far from ours."
"To the lady Ling the hand of our scion, our nephew, the steady Xuan Shi, who has carved a nest in cold lands far from any sea,"
They spoke, one voice rising as another fell. Ling Qi felt a ripple of shock go out through the other attendees, and one or two ongoing conversations and proposals even faltered mid-word.
She inhaled deeply, steeling her nerves. The rumor mills really were going to be insufferable.
Can't wait to help you write dozens and dozens of letters deflecting requests for you to spill the tea! Sixiang chirped in her head.
"I can hardly know how to respond to such a greatly generous offer," Ling Qi said, extending her hands out her head bowed to accept the scroll that the Admiral on the right had extracted from his sleeve. "Only that I accept. The young sir Xuan is already a good friend of mine. With your blessing we will see if there is yet more to be explored."
"Fewer words are oft stronger than more, this is known. Let root and wave weave together, through generations and more," one said gravely. "And see fresh charts of stone and ice be delivered unto the sleeping sanctum, a saga of the south."
"Compass and fair wind the Xuan clan grants to thy vessel, though the mapping be yours to do," One admiral said, amused. 'Fortune and calm seas to thee, Wraith of the Moon."
They were definitely entertained by the mild furor they had caused, that much she could read.
"Good fortune and calm seas. I only hope that the time Xuan Shi and I spend together here ties the isles and the forests together well and long," Ling Qi replied, bowing a final time.
The big feast at the end of this gonna be a free for all. Sixiang laughed.
It was. Ling Qi agreed, holding in her groan.
And the hall of secrets, the shrine of the Hidden Moon, was utterly lightless, filled with a darkness that devoured light and dampened sound, even to senses like hers. To mortals, it would indeed have been utterly impenetrable… but this was the Cloud district, where a mortal could not even breathe unassisted.
To her, to the procession, the contours of the temple halls appeared in their senses as something like lines of white chalk drawn on a board. Likewise, those who surrounded her were outlined in stark, harsh lines, like they were all existing within something like an inverted ink painting.
The procession came through whispering halls filled with the suggestion of towering shelves of tomes and coyly hidden vault doors, until at last they came to the center of the shrine, where four bridges crossed over what sounded like a gently lapping pool of unseen water. At its center, the brides vanished, stepping through the unseen doors with the temple's priest to its innermost sanctum, where the rites would be performed.
Which left the rest of the procession to proceed with their own business, of course. While she did not know precisely when she would receive the last out her suits, simple logic said it would be here. If the Dreaming Temple were open, the Meng would make their case there, among the trappings of the pure way. But as it was, the Hidden Moon was where the best connection was laid. She was a patron to both Meng Dan and herself, and the Meng were hardly averse to secrets.
Grandmother still woulda been way better, gonna be all dour and formal and stuff. You could done something cute like share a drink from the same cup or something with us!
Sixiang! She thought. Honestly, her spirit was just too shameless.
She had taken up a station by the edge of the pool to wait, assured that it would come here. If she listened closely, the unseen waters below seemed to whisper, soft and breathy things, the promise of knowledge lost, but she knew better than to be tempted. Even if the offer was real, going off on an adventure right now would be very rude.
You're so jittery you're thinking of it.
She was not- not seriously anyway.
In the strange perception of the Hidden Moon's temple, Meng Diu stood out starkly, more white than black, the inky lines that differentiated her robes and intricate cosmetics shifting constantly, painting chaotic patterns across her silhouette. And unlike with the others, her actual suitor was here as well, walking behind his grandmother, a jittering outline of white strokes.
"Baroness Ling."
"Lady Meng," ling Qi greeted respectfully, bowing low once again, drifting sparks of light dripped from the hems of her gown like fireflies before winking out. "It is pleasing to see you yet in good health."
"I am not to be worn down by dealing with miscreants," Meng Diu replied. "But, it is appreciated."
"However, this humble one is here to make a request of you, Lady Ling," Meng Dan said, his smile a flashing crescent of white in the dark.
The ceremony here had been simple enough. The head priest of the pagoda spoke the blessing of the guiding moon over the kneeling bridal duo–a good thing, as the elderly man would certainly not have been able to reach the Duchess' head to sprinkle moon-blessed dew on her hair if she had been standing. Most of the ceremonies were relatively brief, a necessity given how many there were going to be.
But Ling Qi had a reason to linger here herself, looking up at the wall of sculpture. Down here at the base of the platform, the light was dim, and the filtering light cast through the beams of the shrine platform was almost like starlight. Down here, she could look at the very earliest carvings.
Well, carvings, the imprints of human fingers in the meta,l were clear, shaping the relatively crude outlines of both leaping deer and men. Even across the ages, she could read its intent, a son of Tsu leading processions of their brethren and kin back out into the devastated province under the moon's guidance, reclaiming the lands in the wake of the Beast Gods.
She felt the approach of the ones she was here to meet long before she felt their shadows fall across her back, not just from their own weighty presences, like the prows of ships parting silent seas in an onrushing rumble of moving waters, but in the whispers that rippled out as more and more people noticed their intent and direction.
The faint tap of a staff against the floor behind her was just the punctuation on it. She turned politely, clasped her hands, and bowed almost horizontally from her waist. "Admiral Xuan, Admiral Xuan. What can this humble baroness do for our esteemed guests of the far flung north?" She asked politely.
The two men looked much the same as she had seen them last, broad shouldered beneath their heavy woven robes adorned with geometric embroidery, wide brimmed turtleshell hats shadowing their faces. The twin admirals of the Xuan inclined their heads slightly, and the one on the left gestured for her to raise her head.
"Wraith of the Moon, this one named after the last words were traded. A role taken too with great eagerness."
"Herald rather, silver singer flying proud before the prow, guiding to calmer waters," his brother said. "We are well welcome on Emerald shores."
"Your praise humbles me, great lords," Ling Qi said. "Shall I ask if your question is the same one you presented when last we met."
"Well seen, indeed, or hatcling, far from homely shores…"
"... presents a difficulty, though the nest stifles the young, those left behind might yearn for news."
"Young Sir Xuan Shi has been in excellent humor and of great aid to me. Though it has taken some time for us to understand each other properly, he is always stalwart," Ling Qi replied, fully straightening up. "In my Summit and in the times before, he has always been quick to aid me and help me in guarding my kin."
"And so one sets sail, even among mountains high," one Admiral said. It was a testament to their ability and the intertwined nature of their cultivation that even now she had a very difficult time discerning which was which. "From the shell the hatchling emerges with confidence anew?"
"I would say so, yes," She had her disagreements with him… Kongyou was definitely a bad influence.
The worst influence.
But she was hardly going to say that here. And… even if she disliked it, she did trust Xuan Shi to handle it. If he felt he needed to be able to change a nightmare to grow, she'd only wish him fortune.
"A fine thing, a fine thing. The words of the baroness explain and confirm the whispers that have reached these ears…
"...and the fall of the coins upon the table. A missive was received, a most shocking request."
"But one we are inclined to consider, for the sake of many, for shared heritage, for a seeker of shores far from ours."
"To the lady Ling the hand of our scion, our nephew, the steady Xuan Shi, who has carved a nest in cold lands far from any sea,"
They spoke, one voice rising as another fell. Ling Qi felt a ripple of shock go out through the other attendees, and one or two ongoing conversations and proposals even faltered mid-word.
She inhaled deeply, steeling her nerves. The rumor mills really were going to be insufferable.
Can't wait to help you write dozens and dozens of letters deflecting requests for you to spill the tea! Sixiang chirped in her head.
"I can hardly know how to respond to such a greatly generous offer," Ling Qi said, extending her hands out her head bowed to accept the scroll that the Admiral on the right had extracted from his sleeve. "Only that I accept. The young sir Xuan is already a good friend of mine. With your blessing we will see if there is yet more to be explored."
"Fewer words are oft stronger than more, this is known. Let root and wave weave together, through generations and more," one said gravely. "And see fresh charts of stone and ice be delivered unto the sleeping sanctum, a saga of the south."
"Compass and fair wind the Xuan clan grants to thy vessel, though the mapping be yours to do," One admiral said, amused. 'Fortune and calm seas to thee, Wraith of the Moon."
They were definitely entertained by the mild furor they had caused, that much she could read.
"Good fortune and calm seas. I only hope that the time Xuan Shi and I spend together here ties the isles and the forests together well and long," Ling Qi replied, bowing a final time.
The big feast at the end of this gonna be a free for all. Sixiang laughed.
It was. Ling Qi agreed, holding in her groan.
***
Around the shrines the procession went, from the flower bedecked interior of the Mother Moon's shrine, to the perfect symmetry of the hall of gates in the reflecting moon's sanctum. Some were far different than the others; the Grinning Moon's shrine was almost bare and spartan enough for her to think it proscribed as well, but open halls and labyrinthine halls that channeled the winds to howling speeds were really all her patron needed. The Bloody Moons was a dark tower of tired roofs, black on red, where a grim faced priestess in an iron mask daubed blessed blood on the cheeks of the brides, warding away retributions.And the hall of secrets, the shrine of the Hidden Moon, was utterly lightless, filled with a darkness that devoured light and dampened sound, even to senses like hers. To mortals, it would indeed have been utterly impenetrable… but this was the Cloud district, where a mortal could not even breathe unassisted.
To her, to the procession, the contours of the temple halls appeared in their senses as something like lines of white chalk drawn on a board. Likewise, those who surrounded her were outlined in stark, harsh lines, like they were all existing within something like an inverted ink painting.
The procession came through whispering halls filled with the suggestion of towering shelves of tomes and coyly hidden vault doors, until at last they came to the center of the shrine, where four bridges crossed over what sounded like a gently lapping pool of unseen water. At its center, the brides vanished, stepping through the unseen doors with the temple's priest to its innermost sanctum, where the rites would be performed.
Which left the rest of the procession to proceed with their own business, of course. While she did not know precisely when she would receive the last out her suits, simple logic said it would be here. If the Dreaming Temple were open, the Meng would make their case there, among the trappings of the pure way. But as it was, the Hidden Moon was where the best connection was laid. She was a patron to both Meng Dan and herself, and the Meng were hardly averse to secrets.
Grandmother still woulda been way better, gonna be all dour and formal and stuff. You could done something cute like share a drink from the same cup or something with us!
Sixiang! She thought. Honestly, her spirit was just too shameless.
She had taken up a station by the edge of the pool to wait, assured that it would come here. If she listened closely, the unseen waters below seemed to whisper, soft and breathy things, the promise of knowledge lost, but she knew better than to be tempted. Even if the offer was real, going off on an adventure right now would be very rude.
You're so jittery you're thinking of it.
She was not- not seriously anyway.
In the strange perception of the Hidden Moon's temple, Meng Diu stood out starkly, more white than black, the inky lines that differentiated her robes and intricate cosmetics shifting constantly, painting chaotic patterns across her silhouette. And unlike with the others, her actual suitor was here as well, walking behind his grandmother, a jittering outline of white strokes.
"Baroness Ling."
"Lady Meng," ling Qi greeted respectfully, bowing low once again, drifting sparks of light dripped from the hems of her gown like fireflies before winking out. "It is pleasing to see you yet in good health."
"I am not to be worn down by dealing with miscreants," Meng Diu replied. "But, it is appreciated."
"However, this humble one is here to make a request of you, Lady Ling," Meng Dan said, his smile a flashing crescent of white in the dark.
- Location
- United States of America
Nooooooo I am being edged , I gotta wait till Tuesday for meng boy to show why he's best boy againnnn aghhhh and aunty meng is here too prob all smug and shit for setting this up I love it .
Aghhhh a proposal in person , prob gonna be romantic as fuck and lq is gonna feel his feelings with her domain aghhhhhhhh . More forehead touchessss.
Rings aren't a thing here but a necklace would be cute .
Aghhhhh meng Dan keeps lapping the competition
Aghhhh a proposal in person , prob gonna be romantic as fuck and lq is gonna feel his feelings with her domain aghhhhhhhh . More forehead touchessss.
Rings aren't a thing here but a necklace would be cute .
Aghhhhh meng Dan keeps lapping the competition
- Location
- Washington
I mean, even from this little bit we've got "Some sort of clan functionary"* vs "highly placed relatives of the suitor" vs "highly placed relative of the suitor + the suitor themself."
Somewhere in the East, astride a noble steed Lan Lan grins, a reminder that at the end of the day a smile is just a way to show teeth.
Hmm it does make me wonder if Shi was even able to attend or at least attend in the parts we need to be at due to our status as a retain of the heir. Meng Dui is the sister to the current sect head if I remember correctly and Dan is also now a retainer so makes sense for him being able to do this in person.
I see a problem brewing: with Meng Dan as Renxiang's retainer there's a risk he'll win simply because he'll be present in the main story more often than the competition. We're gonna need to muscle in Xuan Shi in every scene we can.
- Location
- Washington
On the other hand he's got the equivalent of "first boy" advantage. The only suitor the structure of things is truly unfair to is Bao Qian.
- Location
- United States of America
It's been talked about in discord but I know not everyone on the forum is in the discord , the issue is that xuan shi frankly does not have too many ties to the current plotlines or arcs .
He's limited in what he can due becuase of his status in a similar way to meizhen as a foreigner . Hes honestly mostly around becuase he's such a popular character with the readers but also can't really shine outside of maybe white sky plotlines which won't happen to later on . Which is damaging to him becuase he's already a passive individual , without plotlines he actually fits in there won't be much progression in that front . And squeezing him into other arcs where he doesn't fit just comes across as awkward .
The only consolation I can give is that meng Dan while true has a bigger emerald seas connection to work with in plotlines and arcs , also has a job now . He's a retainer for crx and will be needed to work with her thus not giving him all the free time to go on adventures or arcs as other individuals .
If first boy won we'd be tomb raiding in the Fields
- Location
- scrabbling
In yesteryears I ranted about that, re: route choices at the end of part 1.
- Location
- United States of America
If first boy won we'd be tomb raiding in the Fields
That funny reminder that xuan shi actually wasn't popular until his fight scene in early forge . Gu tai and moon senpai were the big cuties .
I'm a big meng Dan fan but man Shen hu and Liao zhu could have been cuteeee. Those were more sect routes though I suppose
Unlike Meizhen his clan doesn't mind if he throws himself into the fighting, so hopefully we'll get to see lots of turtle-fu during the war arc.