That is my point. That is why some people are focusing "warmth." I'm saying it doesn't have to be warmth, but her desire to protect those she loves has to be accounted for somehow.
Some interesting things here to note, especially about Bian Ya.
Bian Ya is Green 5, and she is ranked 718
Meanwhile, Ruan Shen is 17 and has reached 627. This indicates Either that Ruan Shen is at least Green 6, or that there is a large section of Inner Sect Students at green 5. But this does give us some neat information (as long as it stays and isn't changed) on what cultivation stage people may be at specific ranks.
Pretty sure Ruan Shen is still Green 5, last time we saw him (which was at the later weeks of FoD) indicated his level being 5. Him going 6 seems like something we would've taken note of last update.
Which gives us a whole lot more information than what we previously had. There is going to be about 100 Inner sect students at Green 5 given this information. Possibly more. Which means that Green 5 seems to be the benchmark to hit in order to move into the 600's. And possibly beyond.
OK, some of this seems to be making some wild leap of logic, so let's go back to the data we are sure of. First, I'll thank @Katreus for their great inner sect ranking/data page, which helps track down how people have progressed.
Now, here are some secondary info that we have from last thread:
Ruan Shen was Green 5 around week 47, so around 4/5 months ago.
Bao Qingling was presenting herself as Green 4 around the same time, but we know she was hiding her cultivation level and that she was 'safe in low 600s'
Here are the various ranks we had at the beginning of the year:
Wen Cao, 604, unknown cultivation level
Bao Qingling, 641, showing herself as Green 4
Ruan Shen, 654, showing himself as Green 5
Bian Ya, 738, unknown cultivation level
Since then, of note is that Ruan Shen and Bian Ya only made minor jumps, while Bao Qingling made a major jump last turn to 540, and Wen Cao to 598 (next bracket). Bian Ya also is now Green 5.
We also know that 770s are where Green 3s begin to appear. It is also important to show the different reward tier the sect offers, as it can help understand why people do what they do:
Inner Sect reward tiers
951-1000: 25 yellow stones
901-950: 1 green stone
851-900: 1 green stone, Least Argent Vent
825-850: 1 green +20 yellow, basic lessons, Lesser Argent Vent
801-824: 1 green +40 yellow. Second floor access reduced to 30 points
775-800: 2 green stone +40 yellow, second floor access reduced to 20 points. Standard Argent vent
725-776: 2 green stones +40 yellow, Second floor access free, third floor available,
701-724: 2 green stones +60 yellow, intermediate lessons. Third floor points reduced
675-700: 3 green stones +60 yellow. Third floor reduced, minor elder tutoring available, Greater Argent Vent
So, from this, there are a few different possibilities:
Green 4 begins in 725 and for some reasons Bian Ya is actually really bad at challenges, and so wanted to be Green 5 before doing it. A bit strange considering she has a Violet patriarch.
Bian Ya just got to Green 5, AND wants to keep herself under-ranked for special reasons. It would be a bit strange as that means not having intermediate lessons when the year began, or not having the +1GSS/month, minor elder tutoring and Greater Argent Vent a bigger leap in rank could easily get her.
@yrsillar was Saying Bao Qingling is Green 5, not Bian Ya.
Ruan Shen showing himself at Green 5 ins mid 600s and Bao Qingling hiding herself as Green 4 in low 600s, just to jump to 540 after a few turns, means that there must be a point to hiding herself as Green 4 in low 600s. Given she was supposed to be 'safe' there, and that she is a crafter, here are a few theories:
She is actually Green 6 now, and was hiding in a 'safe spot' where her crafting speciality meant no one would want to challenge her (though she would have to be able to challenge to not drifts). Her hiding as Green 4 was to hide how big of a jump she was going to make so that she would look as someone punching above her cultivation level through planning/etc, and not someone genuinely strong enough for the 500s.
We are having some really weird data outliers with Ruan Shen and Bian Ya, and actually being Green 4 in 641 is completely normal.
So, basically it comes down to this: with Bian Ya in Green 5 in 718, and Bao Qingling using to be 641 in ''Green 4", I would say there are three major possibilities for the stage ranks of inner disciples:
It's actually a hot mess and people are all over the place, because at Green 4-6 it's more about your domain/arts/skills than cultivation levels.
770-720 Green 3, 720-650 Green 4, 650-550 Green 5, 550-500 Green 6+
770-700 Green 3, 700-600 Green 4, 600-500 Green 5+
Well, we also know from yrsillar that the top 10 or so of the inner sect is largely green 7-8, with cyan or partial cyan cropping up occasionally (and then probably going to Core). With the 500s all seeming to be green 5, that suggests that most people past the 500 mark are gonna be compressed into a fairly narrow range.
Well, I can say that I'm super excited to read about another spar between Ling Qi and Cai. It'll be interesting to see how far both of them have progressed during their time in the Inner Sect.
Ling Qi darted through a mist shrouded forest of stone trunks, her skin gleaming with emerald light from the power of the techniques coursing through her channels. The melody of the forgotten vale echoed through the cold darkness of the late evening, and red eyed phantoms stalked at her heels and prowled in the shadows.
Yet, like the night itself, she could only fall back before the rising of the sun. Stone exploded into powder and molten glass as saber forged of colorless light ripped through the space that had been occupied by the pillars, sending their tops crashing down like falling trees, and Ling Qi ducked the arc of its swing by inches, flyaway strands of her hair dissolving into shadow rather than being burned away.
Even as Ling Qi spun to face her foe, the heiress was, her eyes ablaze with radiance that scorched the very flows of qi that maintained her arts. Yet, even as Cai Renxiang drove her dainty fist in under Ling Qi's ribs and launched her backward with a muffled boom of displaced air that scattered dust in every direction, the patina of green light that shielded Ling Qi held… just long enough.
Ling Qi grimaced as she twisted in the air so that it was her feet that struck the pillar instead of her back. The impact still splintered rock, sending a spiderweb of cracks through the pillar and forcing her to bounce away, flickering through the shadows to reemerge as it collapsed atop the space where she had been.
"An interesting technique," Cai Renxiang's voice rang out as the heiress turned, raising her saber back into a strong two handed guard stance while Ling Qi repositioned herself in the shadows. Light radiated from Cai Renxiang at every angle, and the cloth of her gown rippled with hungry motion, though Ling Qi's mist surrounded her, it could not touch her, burning away as surely as any mist exposed to light. "You do truly enjoy making use of arts which force your opponents to exert themselves to exhaustion if they wish to overpower you."
Ling Qi allowed herself a quiet grin, as Sixiang exerted herself, purging the burning radiance from her meridians and allowing her to renew Deepwood Vitality. While chatting in battle was generally foolish, this was just a spar, so it was fine. Thankfully she could do so without breaking her song as well. Sixiang was helpful like that, she could imagine some other uses for the ability to fake individual voices as well. For now though, she thought and the wind vibrated as if she had spoken. "Lady Cai has been a very good teacher in showing me the need to defend myself from dispelling arts."
"The strongest shield or sharpest sword is useless if torn from its users hands," Cai Renxiang agreed. Even as she spoke however, Ling Qi tensed, layering on another armoring technique as the heiress lunged, crashing through the pillars that stood between them like a meteor. Ling Qi vanished into shadow, her limbs flickering with stop motion speed as she avoided the thrust of the girl's saber, but it was only a feint. Three criss crossing rings of light burned into existence around her and discharged countless beams of burning light only a finger wide from their inner surface.
Deepwood vitality shattered under the first ring's fire, and it was only quick reaction that allowed her to escape the cage of the second and third by slipping into insubstantiality. Despite her shift into the shadows, she emerged from the radiant cage with her qi mildly drained from holding up against the radiance that carved through her shadowy form.
It was only a distraction however. As Ling Qi reoriented herself, she found herself under relentless assault. Cai Renxiang's saber was a blur of blinding light as it swept and spun through the air, forcing her to retreat though the air, flowing around the blade or deflecting with qi armored forearms, but never meeting her head on. Because that, Ling Qi knew, was futile. Cai Renxiang's had already grown much stronger compared to their spars before the tournament, before her blows were heavy, but now they were irresistible.
Even the Thousand Ring's Unbreaking could only whether one real hit before Cai's techniques overpowered it's conceptual immovability. Ling Qi wondered briefly, what could be said of the Cai family, that one of their primary arts was a thing of such unstoppable forward momentum.
"I dunno, it's not exactly a subtle statement," Sixiang said sarcastically.
Ling Qi allowed herself a small smile, that was true enough. As she swayed to the side, avoiding a two handed upward blow, the cry of her flying sword rang out in the mist as the spiral blade shot out from storage, It's tip barely an centimeter from Cai Renxiang's face by the time it had grown solid.
The red silk splashed in stylized wings across her liege's chest rippled, and embroidered 'eyes narrowed. Then the world went white as the light around Cai Renxiang blazed. For the barest instant she saw a faceless, inhuman visage before Ling Qi snapped her eyes shut, drew in her senses and hurled herself backward. That technique, Celestial Revelation, was such a pain. It was similar to Deepwood Vitality, but it blocked even the residual on touch kind of techniques.
Ling Qi silently thanked Sixiang as a pulse a moon qi washed away the worst of the blindness, though her spiritual senses were still blurred and spotty. She drew her flying mist blade back, and it circled her head, letting out a mournful whistle
"You are growing better at wielding your domain weapon as a part of you," Cai Renxiang complemented as her vision cleared, and Ling Qi's cheeks grew pale as she caught sight of the shimmering ribbon of white silk that now fluttered over the other girls head. The six silver bells which hung from it chimed gaily, echoing through the ruined pillar forest.
Ling Qi activated Hundred Ring Armament, renewed the effects of Sable Crescent Dancer, and moved as destruction poured down from the sky. Six scintillating beams of light slammed down on the place where she had last stood. Rubble was reduced to powder and dust, pillars shattered, and deep trenches were carved into the earth as the six beams focused on one point shifted and fanned out, chasing her shadowy form through her increasingly ragged mist.
"And that technique is still unfair!" Sixiang yelled in her voicing, giving word to her thoughts. Renxiang had taken her domain weapon to the next level already, imprinting a technique into it to enhance the weapon. Now, she had to avoid the searing light of six searching beams cutting off her maneuvering room while still trying to keep away from Renxiang herself. Gritting her teeth, she sent her singing blade spiralling out, dancing through the lines of light. The weakness of Cai's domain weapon was that it was poorly suited to attacking other domain weapons, and was relatively flimsy. If she could at least punch a hole or two in it, it would disrupt the lightshow trying to box her in.
Of course, Cai Renxiang herself chose that moment to emerge from a sweeping beam of light with her saber already moving in a rising slash. Her eyes flashed with colorless light and this time the searing light and oppressive weight annihilated the anchoring flows of the Hundred Ring Armament despite her swift activation of the techniques of Storm Enduring Seedling Art. At least she felt a few shreds of the heiress' qi scraped off by the rebuking effect.
It was the only consolation she had when the searing edge of Renxiang's saber shattered Deepwood Vitality and knocked her back into a sweeping beam of light that carved across her back with a hiss like searing metal dropped into cold water. Her qi protected her however, rising like misty smoke from her back and shoulders as Ling Qi flickered and vanished.
"Looks like that art still isn't good enough to stop you though," Ling Qi, through Sixiang grumbled, already working to shore up her battered defenses. She would not be able to use Hundred Ring Armament for a time, even Sixiang could not dispel the technique Cai had used.
"It's presence forces me to spend qi more freely than I would like," Cai Renxiang replied from somewhere within the dust and dancing beams of light. "There is value in narrowing an opponent's options."
She supposed that was true, and if with the work she had done and the techniques she had learned, Ling Qi could force Cai Renxiang to break out her stronger techniques then against other peers, she should be well of indeed. Ling Qi rallied herself as the beam that had cutting it's way toward her veered off wildly, and she caught the whistling wail of her sword on the wind.
She might not be ready to win, but neither was she someone the heiress could trivially defeat. There was something to be proud of in that, even if neither of them was exactly pulling out their full bag of tricks.
***
Ling Qi lay on her back, breathing heavily as she stared up at the night sky. The smoke and dust had faded and only a few tattered shreds of mist clung to the shadows of rubble and still standing pillars. Cai Renxiang was seated a short distance away atop the perfectly smooth stump of a fallen pillar. Her saber lay across her lap, and the heiress silently polished the gleaming surface with a square of dark blue cloth. The maintenance was a purely meditative action, Ling Qi knew.
"I wonder how much the field maintenance guys hate us," Ling Qi mused.
"Not very much I should imagine. It is their duty," Cai Renxiang replied absently, not looking up. "I can imagine few third realm cultivators whose battle would not wreak some degree of destruction this place."
"I suppose," Ling Qi said, not looking away from the sky. "Why do you choose this field so often though, you might be able to bust through without trouble, but fighting here has to be annoying for you."
"There is a certain catharsis in destruction," Cai Renxiang replied quietly. "And it reminds one of the costs incurred when violence is required."
Ling Qi looked to one side and then the other. Ruin and rubble was all that met her eyes. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine for a moment that this was a stretch of woodlands, or perhaps a town. She breathed out quietly. "I can see your point, even for a couple of third realms like us, it's pretty ridiculous. I… I'm not sure I can really picture what a fight between higher cultivators must be like." Fragments of tattered memory, a black tide of fur, claw, and fang flickered across her minds eye and she shuttered.
"I was taken in my youth to observe the site of Ogodei's fall," Cai Renxiang said absently. "Even with the spirits of nature reclaiming it, the ruin was obvious. The broken mountains, canyons and craters that stretch for kilometers, the localized storms that simply never end, it is humbling, but also a warning."
"I guess that's why even your mother puts up with unruly vassals huh?" Ling Qi replied lightly.
"There is no value in ruling a wasteland," Cai Renxiang agreed.
There was silence between them for a few moments, before Ling Qi spoke up again. "Still… how does the Duchess stand it? I'm only starting to get the picture from talking and listening, but… there's so much chaos, just under the surface. I know I only saw your Mother once but, I can't imagine her standing for it, all this petty bickering, the confused chains of loyalty and conflicting borders."
Cai Renxiang was quiet for a few moments, the only sound the swish of cloth across metal. "You must understand that what exists today is already an improvement. Are you aware that Emerald Seas holds the record for the greatest number of times which it's dukedom has changed hands?"
"I haven't studied the other provinces much," Ling Qi said with a frown. "Obviously the Bai, Zheng and Xuan have only ever had one ruling family, but is emerald seas really…"
"With my Mother's ascension, that is four ducal families," Cai Renxiang replied. "The other provinces which have changed hands are on their second."
Ling Qi looked back at the sky, thinking. She wondered where the capital province fit into that. They were on the third dynasty after all. Of course, all of the dynasties had continuity, so perhaps that was different. "Still, I remember looking at the historical timelines, there were still millenia of peace between the changes."
"The Hui and Xi were… not able administrators," Cai Renxiang replied with a frown. "They rarely interfered with their vassals, and the province suffered for it. In the later Hui period, even the Imperial Peace was only sporadically enforced. To the rest of the Empire, the Emerald Seas was somewhat of a backwater."
"Nothing wrong with a little chaos," Sixiang grumbled. "But… there were a lotta nightmares back then."
That was the law that forbid clans from taking open military action against their peers. It was a basic enough bit of law that even Ling Qi remembered it. Yes, if things had gotten that bad, she could see why things were as they were now. "I guess just cutting the whole tangled knot would run into that wasteland problem, huh?"
"Quite," Cai Renxiang replied dryly.
Ling Qi sighed, a twitch of her fingers returning the gold lined envelope Bao Qingling had given her to the material world as she looked up at the broken seal. She had read it before their spar, but she had put it out of her head. The language was flowery, and it had been couched in a lot of language about trade and resources, including mention of Zhengui… but she could read between the lines. It seemed that Bao Quan had not been commenting idly when he mentioned the idea of a marriage match. He was canny enough not to make any mention of such a thing directly though. She supposed to him she was as easy to read as a mortal.
"Developing a close alliance with the Bao would probably be the most useful thing I could do to help with the whole mess, wouldn't it?" Ling Qi asked idly.
"It would not be unwelcome," Cai Renxiang asked, eyeing the letter in her hands. "Have you been officially approached for such?"
"I think so," Ling Qi said quietly, eyes tracing the broken wax seal. "It's just… even if they're not pushing for a betrothal contract now, that's the goal isn't it? How do you deal with knowing that your going to have to sell yourself like that?"
Cai Renxiang looked down at her pausing in the polishing of her saber. "I do not understand your difficulty," she admitted.
"It's kinda childish, isn't it," Ling Qi sighed, what a stupid thing to say to her liege.
"That was not my intent," Cai renxiang replied, considering her words as she raised the blade from her lap, studying the gleaming curve of the metal. "I was speaking bluntly. Marriage and betrothal are simply business contracts like any other, if generally longer in their terms."
Ling Qi sat up, eyeing the other girl with a dubious look. "...You actually believe that, don't you?"
"Of course she does, did you forget who you were talking too?" Sixiang muttered snarkily.
"If you are concerned about an imbalance of power from your mothers experiences, you should know that your talent and my backing will put paid to any such abuses. I will extend the Cai family's resources to reviewing your contract," Cai Renxiang offered, lowering the blade as pale blue threads began to weave together around it, reforming its scabbard.
Ling Qi stared at her for several long moments, it wasn't that she didn't appreciate the offer. "There is more to it than that. You're… there's supposed to be more to this kind of relationship than that," it definitely wasn't supposed to just be business. She hadn't run away from Mother just to dive right back in.
Cai Renxiang frowned at her. "It is not something to be spoken of in public, but the… emotional fulfillment you are speaking of is something to be taken care of on the side. Even Mother does so, with Minister Linqin. Though I suggest you keep such matters better hidden. You do not have the might to ignore convention as Mother does."
Ling Qi opened her mouth to respond and then closed it again as her thoughts caught up with the words she had just heard. "What?"
"I have to agree," Sixiang said faintly.
"It is hardly something to be spoken of in polite company but most…" Cai Renxiang began.
"No, the bit about the Duchess," Ling Qi said, not even caring that she interrupted her liege.
Cai Renxiang's frown deepened. "It is one of her more incomprehensible decisions. She treats the Minister as her wife in most every social situation, often with undue public affection, despite the damage the scandal does."
"Is this something you should be telling me?" Ling Qi asked with alarm.
"Normally not, but for whatever reason it is public knowledge," Cai Renxiang replied. "Obviously Mother has some plan to which I am not privy which explains the matter. Perhaps it is because Minister Linqin is effectively the Diao Matriarch, and thus much more valuable and powerful than my father. I would not speculate too much on matters clearly beyond me. The point is, if you seek… romance, there is no need for that to affect your marriage prospects."
Ling Qi stared blankly at the other girl for several seconds, attempting to process the idea of the radiant monster she had met at the tournament expressing 'undue public affection'. After a moment, she failed.
"For once, I'm not going to help you on that," Sixiang said bluntly.
Ling Qi was thankful. She supposed she should be thankful that the surreality of the words had shaken her out of her fugue. "...I will take your words under advisement," she said faintly.
The dimmed light around her liege brightened for a moment, and the other girl nodded, seeming satisfied. "Good, I hope that you can resolve the matter satisfactorily." Cai Renxiang glanced up at the sky and her lips thinned. "It is growing late however. I trust that you will look into the other matter as time allows?"
Ling Qi nodded as she stood up, brushing dust and stone powder from her hands. "...Yeah, I want to know what Sun Liling is playing at as well. I'll keep track of who she talks too."
"Very good," her liege replied, all business once more. "Thank you for the spar."
"Thank you for the spar," Ling Qi repeated, tucking the letter away. She still had a month or two until she had to worry about it. For now, she had to get back to her own plans. She had several matters of cultivation to finish and... the moon was calling, though she did not yet know to where.
Wits +1
Presence +2
Composure +2
Domain +25 (some catch up for missed bits)
Government +1
Dance +1
Art +1
Speech +2
Fade +1
Resilience +1
Sable Grace +1
AN: Alrighty, here's the end of this arc, next up will be the months cultivation and the start of moonquest. No vote here, but I hope you guys will enjoy anyway. I'll also be working to catch up the front page.
Poor LQ, she really is not in a good place regarding relationships at all. To say nothing of marriages that she seems to equate to going into prostitution.
That was some good bonding with CRX, update well spent. Good to see moments where Ling Qi has to ponder her issues with her background, this happening with CRX is just a plus. She gets fleshed out and gets to strengthen her relationship with her awesomest vassal.
Cai Renxiang frowned at her. "It is not something to be spoken of in public, but the… emotional fulfillment you are speaking of is something to be taken care of on the side. Even Mother does so, with Minister Linqin. Though I suggest you keep such matters better hidden. You do not have the might to ignore convention as Mother does."
Ling Qi opened her mouth to respond and then closed it again as her thoughts caught up with the words she had just heard. "What?"
She supposed that was true, and if with the work she had done and the techniques she had learned, Ling Qi could force Cai Renxiang to break out her stronger techniques then against other peers, she should be well of indeed. Ling Qi rallied herself as the beam that had cutting it's way toward her veered off wildly, and she caught the whistling wail of her sword on the wind.
She might not be ready to win, but neither was she someone the heiress could trivially defeat. There was something to be proud of in that, even if neither of them was exactly pulling out their full bag of tricks
"An interesting technique," Cai Renxiang's voice rang out as the heiress turned, raising her saber back into a strong two handed guard stance while Ling Qi repositioned herself in the shadows. Light radiated from Cai Renxiang at every angle, and the cloth of her gown rippled with hungry motion, though Ling Qi's mist surrounded her, it could not touch her, burning away as surely as any mist exposed to light. "You do truly enjoy making use of arts which force your opponents to exert themselves to exhaustion if they wish to overpower you."
Just imagine if we are on the same team as Meizhen or Renxiang. In order to deal with us the opponent needs to exhaust themselves, in which Meizhen or Renxiang can exploit that exhaustion.
When qi is a resource that needs to be managed in long close fights, the opponent that can make you use more of your qi is probably going to be the winner.
I'm super happy with our performance in the spar, and that was even without Hanyi or Zhengui! Once they start getting stronger, we'll have a very dangerous team just by ourselves.
I would like to turn my 12 omake points into 12 skill points.
3 points into Sable Grace
3 points into Dance
3 point into Academics
2 points into Speech
1 point into Government
This should help rank up some of the areas of focus that we have this month (specifically Academics, Speech, and Government) while also helping us speed up on some skills that I consider fairly key to Ling Qi's continued success (specifically Sable Grace and Dance).
Hopefully this is ok, but if not just tell me @yrsillar.
iirc, when thor's twin made the post above, you assigned 3 xp to Sable Grace on the frontpage. If this is intended, then EternalObserver cannot give that much points to it.
If the 2:1 conversion for advanced skills is intended (and that is perfectly reasonable) then it would need to be fixed.
Id suggest that thor's twin gets one point back and we lose 2 xp to Sable Grace. This is because both 2 points and 3 points would result in 1 xp (since we are always rounding down) and i feel that it would be unfair to invalidate a point this way
Edit: ok @yrsillar already adressed it, in the post above. But then Eternal really cant assign more than 1 point to Sable Grace given that we have a 4 xp per Skill per turn limit
