If Bao Quan knows what he's doing, then he'll surely know that the best way is to ease in and not just be direct about it. It's of course within expectation that this could take years, decades even. But those decades can be very precious as it gives them time for Ling Qi to get to know the dude she's being hooked up with. It's no guarantee as LQ will still look over her other prospects, but it's still something that's going for them.
Besides, when the time comes, yrs will have to write the fucking romance portion of the story one day, and depending on how it's handled (i.e. Ling Qi slowly getting over her hang-ups, find ideal husbando, that husbando completely triumphs over the rest, true love is born), with all the set-up he's making, it's guaranteed to become really beautiful to read when we find what we want.
If Bao Quan knows what he's doing, then he'll surely know that the best way is to ease in and not just be direct about it. It's of course within expectation that this could take years, decades even. But those decades can be very precious as it gives them time for Ling Qi to get to know the dude she's being hooked up with. It's no guarantee as LQ will still look over her other prospects, but it's still something that's going for them.
Besides, when the time comes, yrs will have to write the fucking romance portion of the story one day, and depending on how it's handled (i.e. Ling Qi slowly getting over her hang-ups, find ideal husbando, that husbando completely triumphs over the rest, true love is born), with all the set-up he's making, it's guaranteed to become really beautiful to read when we find what we want.
And she's kinda getting culturally railroaded into an arranged marriage. It's not that she doesn't like boys- but it kinda isn't a choice anymore? The problem is accepting a framing that says 'because we are Cai's retainer we now need to fit the traditional mould'. We don't, that's bs. All we need are power and decent personal (not even really political) relationships with the big players in the ES. Given how big a role personal power and long lifespans play here, we can expect that having the people in charge know you personally matters a lot more than adhering to mid-level norms.
So Qi feels uncomfortable with something? Don't do it. Trust her IC instincts here.
It would be nice if Ling Qi dated a bit, though, outside of raiding hidden temples. Not that hidden temple raiding dates aren't great, but it's an area for her to work on.
I am in favor of dates. Especially explicit romance dates without worrying about marriage baggage.
(Because marriage will still be there later and purity culture for women is BS we don't need, and Qi probably has both non-traditional understanding of and a TON of baggage from her mom's path. Including a very explicit understanding of abusive men as a thing that she needs to worry about.)
Final point- I do agree that the similarities between marriage contract negotiations and sex work are real and definitely skeeving Qi out about a lot of avenues of thought. But I'd argue that the healthy way of dealing with it would be to get over the stigma of sex work, probably by talking more to her mom and the other women of her household. If she can come to a place (maybe where Cai is now, tbh?) where she sees the pain and exploitation and classism around prostitution as the bad thing about it rather than the actual job, she'd be in a place to see an arranged marriage as a business deal with a good chance for love and romance.
But I don't think she's in either of those places yet.
Typically betrothals aren't finalized into marriage until people are in their twenties since teenagerhood is prime cultivation time and parents don't want their sons and daughters focusing on other stuff that early. It's not unusual for a cultivation family to not have their first kid until their thirties or even later for stronger and more talented people. They have a lot of time after all. Even a second realm can expect to live comfortably for 170-200 years if they don't get done in by violence.
Add in medicine that renders the survival rate of children and infants to be equal or superior to a modern country, and the drive for reproduction is reduced a fair bit.
But yeah, for the older/permanent outer disciples they tend to have households elsewhere, like the market or simply in freestanding areas.
It is nice to see the two of them talk a bit more.
How does marriage actually work here? Maybe I am stupid, but exactly what does it mean under imperial law?
I doubt the husband gets control over the wives possession or something stupid like that, but maybe the more powerful one in rank or cultivation?
Would Ling Qi lose her name, if she married? Or would we have to write a mile long scroll of a marriage contract to cover all possibilities?
It is nice to see the two of them talk a bit more.
How does marriage actually work here? Maybe I am stupid, but exactly what does it mean under imperial law?
I doubt the husband gets control over the wives possession or something stupid like that, but maybe the more powerful one in rank or cultivation?
Would Ling Qi lose her name, if she married? Or would we have to write a mile long scroll of a marriage contract to cover all possibilities?
Mile long scroll is definitely possible if we ask CRX for help.
But no, the husband does not get control over the wives, unless it is part of the marriage contract or something like part of the culture and that differs from region to region and down to individual clans. Usually the one with the highest cultivation is the patriarch/matriarch of the family, and spends most their time cultivating with the head being someone from a younger generation doing the day to day ruling. In LQ's case she is still and probably will be both for a very long time. If the husband that marries into the clan is higher in cultivation then it probably gets complicated though, but there is where CRX offering her help comes in probably.
Anyway, we asked @yrsillar before and where told that this is the Bao marrying a lesser member into the Ling clan. Usually a baron rank would be the ones marrying into the higher ranked clan (one of the reasons really for why there is a high turn rate on Baron houses). In this case though, LQ being a direct vassal to the Cai heir, the political situation is different and anyone that LQ marries would end up in the Ling clan. Probably keep their name though, kinda how Xiulan's mom is still Ai Xiaoli even when married to the Gu head. Any kids would be of the Ling though.
I wonder if Ling Qi's inner policy of "not be hit" instead of tanking blows weakens conceptually alien arts like TRU as she grows away from being a mortal. We were told that each cultivator performs same arts in a slightly different way, surely it's not always benefitial.
I believe we were told that Golden Fields was the breadbasket of the empire before it got turned into a radioactive desert? It going down likely produced food shortages throughout the empire. Moreover, if we look at the different provinces for who could take up the slack, we see pretty limited options. Savage Seas is obviously out. Alabaster Sands doesn't sound great for agriculture, and neither does Heavenly Peaks. Ebon Rivers? Also apparently very mountainous and rocky, not great either. That leaves Thousand Lakes and Emerald Sea.
And here we've just heard that Emerald Sea has historically been fairly underdeveloped, even before everything went bad under the Hui. This all suggests that a) Emerald Sea is probably one of the major agricultural producers of the Empire, and b) it likely has a lot of scope for further development, which would greatly benefit the Empire.
I guess what I'm saying here is that I imagine Shenhua should be hitting up the Empress for farm subsidies.
First, CRX being able to completely no-sell FVM is a bit bitter given that FVM is as strong as it gets and our strongest control art. OTOH, it is also anti-group, and CRX's counter seems personal-only, and she is almost certainly foundation. If her aura of light is a A rank tech of a foundation art than that could work, I guess. Or maybe I am misreading how much of a 'no sell' it is, and it's just a contest she is winning rather than flat out immunity.
Second, we have been able to see a bit of Ling Qi's ability to resist her dispels. Sadly we aren't sure what would happen if she tries to dispel our dark arts, or FVM, but we did see that she could still directly dispel C rank wood techs if she put in significant effort, thus overriding Intractable Roots. For the record, HRA (the tech she dispelled) would have C20 native resist currently, so with Intractable root she would need A rank dispel to instantly dispel it. Techs like MotV OTOH have B15 native, so she would need something like A30, which is quite a bit harder.
Now, CRX is likely much better at dispels than anyone else we are going to go against for a while. Not only does she likely have Int A, but she is foundation her arts are just better. Likewise, we should be getting Resolve B soon. However, that still means we aren't quite sure how techs like IPF or MotV would fare against dispels given we didn't see her trying to dispel those. With Resolve B though, MotV would need S rank dispel derived attribute to reliably be put down, and IPF likely would need A50 or more if Sixiang helps.
Still, offhand I think this fight shows why we would probably prefer MNO to SES for Resist purposes. Beside it having 2 resist techs to SES' one, "Making the enemy dispel the wrong tech" is more important when a lot of our strategy rests on IPF/MotV being active.
I believe we were told that Golden Fields was the breadbasket of the empire before it got turned into a radioactive desert? It going down likely produced food shortages throughout the empire. Moreover, if we look at the different provinces for who could take up the slack, we see pretty limited options. Savage Seas is obviously out. Alabaster Sands doesn't sound great for agriculture, and neither does Heavenly Peaks. Ebon Rivers? Also apparently very mountainous and rocky, not great either. That leaves Thousand Lakes and Emerald Sea.
And here we've just heard that Emerald Sea has historically been fairly underdeveloped, even before everything went bad under the Hui. This all suggests that a) Emerald Sea is probably one of the major agricultural producers of the Empire, and b) it likely has a lot of scope for further development, which would greatly benefit the Empire.
I guess what I'm saying here is that I imagine Shenhua should be hitting up the Empress for farm subsidies.
And here we've just heard that Emerald Sea has historically been fairly underdeveloped, even before everything went bad under the Hui. This all suggests that a) Emerald Sea is probably one of the major agricultural producers of the Empire, and b) it likely has a lot of scope for further development, which would greatly benefit the Empire.
I guess what I'm saying here is that I imagine Shenhua should be hitting up the Empress for farm subsidies.
We have a giant walking fertilizer fortress. We're going to be rich!
Also on Shenhua's plans, should war come the Cai will be able to cause starvation and unrest. Cultivator armies won't need as much supplies as mortal ones but Emerald Seas and their allies will have time in their favor.
This exchange pretty firmly pushes me away from any marriage for anything but love. What's the point of running away and getting all this power if we end up the same
I mean the guy that they are interested in setting up with us might be a super likable and funny guy. We don't know if Ling Qi will like the person but she might. Simply writing him off because of the political nature of the offer seems a little silly.
I think the people who are worried (or excited) about Ling Qi making a marriage decision are entirely missing the point of the current character arc. It's not about what she's going to do in the next year or so (we have WoG that marriage is a long way off), but it's about her forming her way which involves things like forming her opinion on romance, marriage, and sex.
Right now, she has so many hang-ups and conflicting desires surrounding the issues there (She is attracted to men. She fears men. She doesn't want to flirt. She's jealous at the ease with which Bian Ya can flirt. The idea of a companion/partner kinda naturally slots in to her desires about family and friends. The idea of a husband who is both intimate and kept at arms length seems antithetical to how her domain is forming. Is it?) and I think resolving some of them is what the current character arc is about. We're not going to resolve everything, just like we don't just suddenly gain all our insights at once, but Ling Qi working out the basic foundation of her views and wants is natural.
She is both a girl in puberty, and a cultivator (which can totally be a metaphor for growing up and maturing). If she wasn't thinking about these things at all, even in a "nope, still don't like them. Gonna just cut that bit of humanity and trauma out" way, it would be much weirder.
I mean the guy that they are interested in setting up with us might be a super likable and funny guy. We don't know if Ling Qi will like the person but she might. Simply writing him off because of the political nature of the offer seems a little silly.
We are likely to find a future husband in the nobility anyway so talking with Bao Quan and entertaining the idea of marriage is fine. However Ling Qi must choose her future husband herself and not just be 'bought' for any version of the word and that means we have to get to know some of the candidates. Getting a level four relationship with a possible husband should be fairly easy to manage with almost any character if we put in the time and at that point all that stands in her way will be Ling Qi's own hangups.
The choice is how Ling Qi will see relationships in the future. What does she value more in a husband? Will she see him as a soulmate or as that friend that will be the father of her children? Is she only be happy having a husband at relationship level three, four or six? What will be their role in her life?
Personally I'm hesitant spending too much time diving into getting to know any one pursuer yet. Keep our options open for a few more years while we get to know the people around us and then Ling Qi can choose among those that has left the strongest impression on her.
I mean the guy that they are interested in setting up with us might be a super likable and funny guy. We don't know if Ling Qi will like the person but she might. Simply writing him off because of the political nature of the offer seems a little silly.
For the thread yes, but only if we are treating Qi as a pure puppet without motive or backstory. The issues she has with the marriage would be more... institutional than personal, so the guy is actually kinda irrelevant to the problem?
Here's a funny thought I just had - the power dynamics are unclear enough that in some situations she could consider it buying a husband/husband shopping, with her as the dominant/central party.
I think it might break her brain a bit, possibly in a good way.
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."
That looks like a defensive passive dispeller...and Liming seems to have dispels too. Makes sense, your intangible or object spirits would be most useful in that role, since they have limited fuel tanks but you simply can't afford to break the flow of battle to cancel your opponent's move. Still, the Cai arts seem to pack an absurdly large number of dispels.
And exhausting the enemy is good prey strategy, it makes you less desirable to hunt if only because whoever hunts you would be easy prey themselves.
"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.
She has remote options?!
Wait, duh, of course she does, she's training group support stuff prior to the tournament, of course her arts have their own summoned effects, however transient.
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.
That sounds like an Old Testament Angel type thing. Hmm. Perfect defense and counterattack in one.
Still, we got a good jumpscare there if she popped that.
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.
Okay so types of dispels Renxiang is packing:
-Perception dispel. If something hinders her sight, it no longer does.
-Reactive dispel. If something would affect her, it does not(does not break the overall effect, just keeps it from reaching her)
-Regular dispel
-Double Tap dispel. If the dispel is blocked by an effect, it will hit with another dispel immediately as a counterattack.
-Persistent dispel. If it dispels something the opponent cannot recast the effect for a duration until the dispel is dispelled. This is probably around A rank if Sixiang couldn't get rid of it despite multiple tries, and Renxiang commented its expensive to use.
Seems like the Cai strategy is casting Humble and then applying spanking to the now owned opponent.
"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.
Hmm...never one purpose alone huh?
On one hand, it feels GOOD to just smash things.
On another, this is practice for fighting in the Emerald Seas, where the forests would offer similar geography to fight through.
On the domain weapon, this is a reminder of how much the human costs of even a light skirmish would be.
"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 Mothers 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?"
So the Hui were basically ruling over a domain of bandits at that point.
You know, this sounds a lot to me like the Weilu were doing some kind of administration method that their successors simply couldn't keep up after they vanished.
Like, I dunno, Divination based government? Every faction balanced through arcane divination juggling that made all these people work together without any of the traditional management methods and social concepts.
So when they went and their super divinations went with them...boom.
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?"
Had to happen. And its interesting that Renxiang considers this to be potentially a good idea, despite her prior motions about waiting for higher cultivation to listen to offers.
I suppose a tentative acceptance early also means more resources early, which compounds. And the Bao are important enough that even at the peak of Ling Qi's projected growth it'd be a reasonable deal.
Their approach is like trying to tame a skittish horse. Avoid being too direct, or too much commitment. Incremental promises, exchanges of services, leading up to sealing the deal more strongly for generations to come.
"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 families 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.
With Ling Qi's Home domain, I don't think a purely businesslike relationship is ever in the charts. It'd eat into her Way unless she twists herself to fit.
Any relationship must be heartfelt or not at all, though she would probably be able to tolerate someone who's a friend with benefits, provided theres none better.
Meanwhile Renxiang makes people wonder if she is a robot. The noble ideal of course, is that you do the necessary for the family, but the nobles we've seen, Meizhen, Xiulan, Han Jian, etc, all do not treat things so clinically.
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.
I believe we were told that Golden Fields was the breadbasket of the empire before it got turned into a radioactive desert? It going down likely produced food shortages throughout the empire. Moreover, if we look at the different provinces for who could take up the slack, we see pretty limited options. Savage Seas is obviously out. Alabaster Sands doesn't sound great for agriculture, and neither does Heavenly Peaks. Ebon Rivers? Also apparently very mountainous and rocky, not great either. That leaves Thousand Lakes and Emerald Sea.
And here we've just heard that Emerald Sea has historically been fairly underdeveloped, even before everything went bad under the Hui. This all suggests that a) Emerald Sea is probably one of the major agricultural producers of the Empire, and b) it likely has a lot of scope for further development, which would greatly benefit the Empire.
I guess what I'm saying here is that I imagine Shenhua should be hitting up the Empress for farm subsidies.
I'd note that the Emerald Seas agriculture was probably a MESS after the Weilu vanished and took their spirit pacts with them. Intensive agriculture would require a strong hand on the spirits, which the local barons are unlikely to want to upset the table on their ancient family friend spirits.
When we first learned about advanced insights, I thought about joking that CRX's dad got one on his wedding night. Now I... Wait! What if Shenhua does it on purpose to give him opportunities for advanced insights? Poor guy.
Alright I think the front page is done. Feel free to point out the inevitable errors now. Also if you've allocated omake points for this turn and they aren't put in, please remind me
For all their social perception, I think Six is missing something here.
It's natural for them to do so, it's in their nature as a muse to speak Truth to Power, and no surprise that her impression of the Cai would be colored by the collective Dreaming of man, but consider for a moment what it must be like to be the perfectly woven civilization which presents Herself to her lessers as Cai Shenhua.
Though she cannot now accept it, when she was a Cyan forging her Way she surely knew that the world was a chaotic place full to the brim with bickering, corruption, and inefficiency.
After all, the only people who walk such a path are those intimately familiar with and disgusted by such chaos.
Yet despite the fact that she rules a province that comes nowhere near meeting the standards one would expect from a being Woven of Light in Perfect Order, she does not purge the land of corruption to the point that cities are ruled by Greens, nor does she stamp her feet innefectually.
How? Let's consider the perspective of someone close to her.
"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.[/QUOTE
You see, I don't think that this Unstoppable Force at the core of her offensive arts is a Tyrannous Imposition on the world around her, but rather the greatest mercy that she built into herself.
I think it's the Inexorable March of Progress, which allows Shenhua to satisfy the need for Perfect Order her Way demands with each incremental step forward.
After all, she can afford to make the long plays. She doesn't quite have forever, just more time than any other White in history.
Alright I think the front page is done. Feel free to point out the inevitable errors now. Also if you've allocated omake points for this turn and they aren't put in, please remind me
All this earlier talk of marriage and children has made me wonder something.
Is childbirth still a painful issue to cultivators?
Or does a body that would require anti-material rounds to pierce (Green level+) make the physical stresses of giving birth non-existent?
Do cultivators still suffer mood swings and hormone issues, or is that also bypassed by being more spirit than matter?
All this earlier talk of marriage and children has made me wonder something.
Is childbirth still a painful issue to cultivators?
Or does a body that would require anti-material rounds to pierce (Green level+) make the physical stresses of giving birth non-existent?
Do cultivators still suffer mood swings and hormone issues, or is that also bypassed by being more spirit than matter?
Childbirth and pregnancy is slightly metaphysical here. Yrsillar's comments that making a kid requires some metaphysical male and some metaphysical female point that way, at least. So I wouldn't be surprised that having a kid is hard on the cultivator no matter how self-realized they are.
