Remove ads

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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Reader mode
Review of the Yao the Fisher sidestory, but since it was impossible to avoid spoilers, here instead of Royal Road:

yrsillar said:
Long ago, before man dreamed of empire, the world was in chaos.

When the Dragon Gods fell, so too did the great cities of stone which their human servants had built. In the ruins that remained, beasts and spirits ran rampant, and men huddled in squalid settlements of mud, brick, and dried reed and called themselves kings.

In the lands of the Heavenly Peaks, humankind crouched in the tattered shadows of dying dragons and prayed for succor from their old masters. In the land of Ebon Rivers, the survivors hid in the earth, where beasts feared to tread, but in the land of Thousand Lakes, there was nowhere to hide from the dominion of beasts and so men grew to resemble beasts themselves.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Interesting background hints.
The Ancient Weilu rejection of stone built cities might stem from memories of the Dragon Age and ancestral oppressors.

That humanity reverted to mud huts in the wake of the Dragons falling surprising, stone is hard to work in the amounts needed to build structures, but the dragons cheated by dint of being big and strong enough to move vast amounts of stone. On the other hand stone is DURABLE, barring the cities becoming vast cursed lands from dragon ghosts they should have been usable for thousands of years yet.

We know they were the progenitors of Formations as used by the Empire today, so they could even cheat and ignore engineering needs. But formations need to be powered and maintained, anything relying on dragon based recharging would collapse after they die, like giant load bearing bosses.

We don't QUITE see said stone cities mentioned anywhere, but I wonder at the geography, the Heavenly Peaks seem geographically weird for mountains, to stick out of nowhere, in high density, with little vulcanism and a weird layout.

...ARE the Heavenly Peaks the collapsed ruins of dragon cities?
And that little footnote about how people hid underground to avoid the beasts because the beasts feared the underground. Kind of suggests once upon a time the underworld wasn't a Vermintide.
yrsillar said:
From north to south and from east to west, in river, valley, and fetid marsh, there was only one lake of the thousand which knew peace. Lake Hei, the greatest lake in the land with depths beyond the knowledge of man, knew no war between beasts. All knew that to claim it was futile, for Lake Hei was the domain of the White Serpent.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Lake Black, containing White Serpent. Nice contrast
yrsillar said:
Daughter of the Mother of Still Waters and the Dragon God of Rain, the White Serpent was mightier than any base beast. Her whim was the storm, her gaze was fear, and her venom death. Her lashing coils could break cities as easily as ships.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Grandmother Serpent was half dragon? Thats news to me. And whats the Mother of Still Waters?
yrsillar said:
However, the White Serpent was not wrathful by nature, and so, over the centuries, eight human cities came to grow on her shore, rising from mud-brick hovel to great edifices of stone and wood. To the White Serpent however, this was a distant happening. The beasts of the jungle and marsh feared to approach the shores of Lake Hei, and so long as the human's boats remained in the shallows, there was naught to fear from the White Serpent. Though some gave offerings to her in tribute, she gave no blessings in return. Gradually, the people of the eight cities ceased to give offerings and kept only to the old boundaries. The White Serpent lived for centuries in unchanging content among the deep waters.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That is a nice and chill snake. Very Lake.

I suspect this might have been a bit edited for imparting a Bai style moral lesson about letting familiarity breed contempt.
yrsillar said:
One day, something new occurred. It was a bright day, devoid of rain, and she had taken to her favorite island. Once, it had been a mountainous crag rising from the lake's center, but she had since smashed it flat, leaving only a rough platform barely rising above the waters for the White Serpent to sun herself on.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
"I not fit. I sit. I fit now."

yrsillar said:
However, today, when she tasted the air, she caught the scent of man, not drifting from their cities but rather out upon her waters. Curious, the spirit turned her gaze to the north and saw a little boat. On it was a single human, pushing his way through the water with an oar of driftwood. Bemused, she watched the man as he rowed his way to deeper water. She could not remember when last a human had been so foolish.

Rather than being angered however, she was amused. She wondered which would devour the man first: one of her lesser kin, or perhaps, one of the great rainbow carp that she dined upon. Yet, as time ticked by, the little boat continued to cut a quiet path through the waters toward the center of the lake. The White Serpent saw the ripples of her younger kin's passage in the water and the flash of multi-hued scales, and yet, none rose to devour the little boat. The man rowed on and the beasts of the lake ignored him as if he were not there.

Feeling the first hint of annoyance, the White Serpent's coils, walls of white scales, shifted atop one another as she dipped the very tip of her tail in the water and flicked it once. Immediately, the waters churned, and the wind began to blow. Soft white clouds overhead grew dark with rain and swelled to cover the sky. In moments, a great storm had brewed, and the placid surface of Lake Hei was broken by white crested waves, high enough to swamp a ship at sea.

And still the little boat sailed on, heedless of the danger. The boat cut through the waves, sailing on their crests even as howling winds tore strips of bark from its sides. But no matter how skilled the boatman, in the end, a little ship such as this could not withstand the storm. A mighty wave crashed down, and only scraps and driftwood bobbed to the surface. Satisfied, the White Serpent began to lower her head back to her coils.

She stopped when she saw the man still whole. Stripped of his boat, he swam instead, his course unadjusted. The currents of Lake Hei lashed him, but he swam on. The howling wind forced his head beneath the waters, and still, he swam on. The White Serpent's irritation slowly faded as she watched him. It was such an absurdity that she could not remain angry at his intrusion.

That was not to say that she allowed the storm to fade, even as it became increasingly clear that the man was swimming toward her island.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This sounds familiar.
First, haughty snek disdain, then when the apparently invulnerable airhead continues undeterred, scare them a bit.
But don't actually swat them.

yrsillar said:
"From where do you hail fisherman?" The White Serpent asked.

"From the Skittering Fens far to the north, O princess," replied the fisherman.

Humble fisherman indeed, the White Serpent thought. As if one who could make such a trip could be called such. She cared not for the petty realms of beasts, but if she recalled that land was claimed by the Face Eating God, a miserable parasite. Again her tongue flicked out, and this time it's forked tip drew a bloody gash just under the man's eye. He did not flinch. She peered at him with the eyes of spirit, and though she found a surprising strength for a human, there was naught of that creatures sludge to found. "Why should I allow you to live fisherman?" She asked.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Hmm, Skittering Fen north of Lake Hei, so closer to the coast. Bug type zone.
Face Eating should be self explanatory, likely one of those who like to use people as meatpuppets.
yrsillar said:
Once again the man bowed his head. "O Princess, your deadliness is legend. This humble fisherman asks only to be allowed to observe you for a time. In exchange, I would serve your whims so long as I remained in your waters."

What an odd creature this human was, the White Serpent thought. So presumptuous as to believe that he was of any use to her. "Then hear your first task fisherman," the White Serpent said, in a voice like steel sheathed in silk. She opened her mouth and fangs fit to impale a man from head to groin emerged. On their tips glistened a single droplet of clear venom so potent that the air itself smoked and melted around it. "Remain in your seat until the next morning. Should you make a sound, I shall devour you whole."

The venom fell, and splashed across the fisherman's bared back. To his credit, he did not scream even as muscles suddenly strained with tension around the smoking red patch of skin. Foolish man, the White Serpent thought as she slid back into the waters, hundreds of meters of white scales slipping beneath the now calm lake. At least it would be entertaining to watch him try.

For now though, perchance a snack?

***

She would not be so impetuous the next time a human came to her, the White Serpent decided. The odd little creature had actually followed her instructions. Despite his veins burning red and inflamed beneath his skin, he had not made a single sound for the entire afternoon and night. When she rose from the waters with the morning sun, and grudgingly called his task complete, he had thanked her for the opportunity.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Meanwhile on Yao!Quest "Man, so many tribulations at one place, we're getting some great Insights! "

yrsillar said:
Now she had sent him off to catch her the fattest, most juicy carp in the lake. He had dived into the near black waters at the center of the lake without complaint. The White Serpent found herself of mixed feelings in regards to the humans success. She was annoyed that her privacy would continue to intruded upon, but despite herself, she found the fisherman's resolve impressive.

The White Serpent turned her gaze back to the water and set her thoughts aside, she sensed him rising through the waters even now. Peering through the dark water, her golden eyes came upon a comical sight. A glittering rainbow carp rose swiftly toward the surface, but's motion was wrong, not forward, nor backward, the beast rose sideways through the waters, it's fins and its tail thrashed feebly against the force pushing it up, and it's spirit spasmed similarly, grasping at the lakes currents in futility.

It was, the White Serpent could admit, a worthy catch, fifteen meters from head to tail. She chuckled as her eyes met the beasts own and its spirit shrieked in terror. Beneath the fat fish was the fisherman. He looked the worse for the previous nights wear, but his expression did not waver as he climbed up upon the rock where he had sat, his catch thrashing on the tip of his upraised spear.

The human's fang was well placed, she noted with some amusement, piercing scale and spirit to puncture the beasts core and steal its strength. The beast could do little but thrash and babble out worthless pleas for freedom from its captor. As if she would let such a delicious meal escape from before her eyes even if the fisherman released it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Nice spearfishing.
Wait...we did this too at Lakegate didn't we?

yrsillar said:
Bemused once again, the White Serpent stared back down at the little creature, though she felt his qi and blood running cold under her gaze, he showed no outward signs of the terror which afflicted those who dared her presence.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
And this too...


yrsillar said:
On some days she commanded the fisherman to perform other tasks for her amusement, calling on long distant memories of observing her father's court from the outside. When she commanded the fisherman to compose poetry in her honor, his clumsy compositions and stilted deliveries amused her, and she took secret pleasure in his earnest praise. When she commanded him to clean barnacles and parasites from her scales, he did so with admirable alacrity and dexterity.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
And this...

Did Ling Qi completely accidentally reenact the scenes from the Thousand Lakes' oldest love story there? I could see how Meizhen picked up the wrong signals...
yrsillar said:
As days and weeks became months and years, she even deigned to converse with him on occasion, and if certain meditations on the nature of the worlds rains and waters were the topics on occasion, then what of it? If, in moments of boredom, the White Serpent offered a word or two of advice toward improving the fisherman's little limb waving rituals to capture a tiny fraction more of her inimitable lethality, then what of it?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Interesting look at how people made Arts in the truly ancient days. Either get a spirit to codify their arts in a form you can learn, or painstakingly work your way there by experimentation with lots of examples.
yrsillar said:
Ten full years passed this way, until one morning the White Serpent rose from the abyssal depths of lake Hei in the morning to find an unusual sight. The fisherman sat atop his rock, and next to him bobbed a little boat, carved from the bones of beasts she had deigned allow him for his own meals, and wrapped in the glittering scales from her favorite meals.

"What are you doing fisherman," the White Serpent asked, looming over him and his ship both.

"I am preparing to leave, O princess," the fisherman replied calmly, scraping a length of driftwood flat with the side of his hand. "The time has come for me to move on. Let this humble fisherman thank you for your patience."

"Why are you leaving fisherman," the White Serpent asked flatly, irritation causing her tail to flick, stirring up white capped waves on the other side of the island.

"I must seek other inspirations, in other lands," he replied evenly, examining the newly carved oar.

"Is that so," the White Serpent scoffed. "And just what do you expect to find?" She asked as clouds began to gather and rain began to fall.

"Perhaps nothing," he admitted. "It is difficult to imagine that another might exceed the perfection of your venom, or the beauty of your striking fangs, but I must seek such possibilities all the same."

"Hmph, at least you acknowledge that it is a fool's errand," the White Serpent said.

Slowly, the fisherman looked up, regarding her with a furrowed brow. The scarred man reached up, pushing rain soaked hair that had grown long in his time here from his face. "O princess, could it be that you do not wish for me to leave?"

"Obviously not," the White Serpent replied imperiously. "You think too highly of yourself, fisherman."

"I apologize for my impertinence," the man said, bowing his head once more. "Allow me to thank you once again for your magnanimity."

And so it was that the fisherman left as he had came, rowing away to the lakes western shore as the rain poured down. It had been an amusing diversion, supposed the White Serpent, but now it was done and life could return to normal.

...Perhaps she might even allow it to stop raining, in a week or two.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Grandma Bai is surprisingly cute(too bad for the collateral damage though).
And that boat is FABULOUS, considering the entire outer surface is made from rainbow carp scales.

yrsillar said:
In time the White Serpent returned to the routine that had marked her life in the days before, the unfocused frustration at the fisherman's absence fading with the march of time. Years once again passed by blurring into one another. Yet the White Serpent found that the peace of bygone days did not return. The humans on her shore were changing. Their cities were growing. It seemed that every decade brought more boats to her shallows and more noise to her shores. The Humans began to quarrel with one another on and off, polluting her waters with the dead of their little wars and wrecks of ships. They clangor of their activities shattered the peace of her mornings and evenings.

Despite all this, the humans kept to the agreement that their ancestors had first made when their ancestors had arrived on her shores, and so the White Serpent merely grumbled. However as the century which had begun with the fishermans departure closed, this changed. The city dwellers were having another of their intermittent wars, and two fleets had clashed. Through illusions, mists, and guile the smaller fleet tricked their foes into sailing into the deep waters.

Sunning herself on her favorite island, the White Serpent had watched it happen, at first with incredulity, and then with rising fury. Even as the waters whirled, dragging the intruding fleet down like a hungry gullet, the White Serpent could hardly believe her senses. These creatures that she had so generously allowed to live on her shores, they dared wield their agreement as a weapon, dared to treat her as a dumb obstacle, a reef on which to dash their foes boats. Before the last ship had even been dragged down, her tail flicked in the lakes black waters and the whole of Lake Hei roared and shook at the cataclysmic wave that came forth.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
And thus you see the other side of the appeasement rituals. To remind the humans that there is something that must be appeased there, and that should not be disrespected.

Not that I think it'd have changed things, the smaller fleet could lose doing nothing or it could risk offending the Serpent and potentially win.
yrsillar said:
The fleet that directed the insult met the wave first and were reduced to splinters in an instant by the onrushing wall of water. However, when the wave crashed to shore, the White Serpent found herself shocked for the second time that day. From the cities rose eight masses of humans, dozens of little lights swarming around eight greater ones. At first she was unbothered, tasting the panic and terror that spread like miasma as the creatures faced their doom.

No, her shock came, when in the minute before her wave could fall upon the shore, the eight groups came together and stopped it. She felt many of the little lights fade and die in the doing, but all the same, the crushing wave stopped, having hardly harmed the cities at all. The White Serpent was both displeased and mildly concerned. The wave had been no more than a momentary expression of anger, yet still the humans had stopped it. What had she allowed to grow upon her shores?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Proto-Imperial army strategies. The powerful act as the core of an army of lessers, which allows them to do more collectively than any one could achieve.
yrsillar said:
So it was that the White Serpent was in an inauspicious mood indeed when a certain presence came once again to her shores. Indeed, when a mere few days after the incident, she senses a little boat intruding upon her waters, she very nearly responded to the intrusion with the full force of her power. Yet, in the moment it took for her power to rise, a sense of familiarity stayed her fury. A century had passed, but to the White Serpent, solitary princess of still waters, the presence of her one time companion was not so easily forgotten.

The fisherman had changed. His hide was darkened by the sun, and marked by even more scars, thick ridges of ill repaired flesh running across his arms and chest. Streaks and speckles of silver marked his hair, improving his dull coloration. Instead of rags, he now wore a loose and roughspun tunic and shaded his eyes with a wide hat of woven straw.

Despite her ill mood, the White Serpent could not find it in herself to direct her anger at this human. Indeed, for the moment at least she found herself pleased, forgetting her wrath for a moment. The human's of the cities had earned a brief reprieve while she dealt with something more interesting.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
How sweet :3
yrsillar said:
By the time his little boat bumped up against the stone he had first settled on, she had risen and placed herself upon the island to greet him. "Has your foolish quest ended then, fisherman?" She asked, a trifle smugly.

"It has, O princess," the skinny man replied as he stepped onto the stone and bowed low. "In the end there was only one place to which I could return."

"Obviously," the White Serpent preened. "Though I should chastise you for your foolishness. I suppose I may generously allow you to serve me once more."

"No, princess. I do not wish to renew our arrangement," the man said calmly not raising his head.

For a second or two, she stared down at the man from atop her coils, and felt the sparks of wrath rekindled. "No? You would return here just to reject my kindness? Have you gone mad fisherman?"

"If I am mad, I have always been so," the fisherman replied, slowly straightening up. "Princess, I seek permission to court you, not to serve."

The White Serpent's thoughts stalled at the sheer absurdity of the humans statement. "Your japes, poor as they were in the past have sunk lower still in quality, fisherman," she said flatly.

"I do not jape, O princess. There are none in all the world which can match your beauty. I wish to make myself your husband," he said, removing his hat and bowing once again. The mad humans voice was perfectly earnest and perfectly unafraid.

"It is madness then," the White Serpent scoffed, her anger dulled only by bafflement. "Foolish man, I am no thirsting dragon maiden, eager to squeeze my majesty into your kinds pathetic frame and rut. It is only for your past service that I do not strike you down for such an insult. Apologize, and perhaps you may serve again."

"I will not recant, Princess," said the fisherman. "Your burning gaze and deadly venom entice more than any painted face. Your graceful coils are more alluring than any comely silhouette. I care not for the human frame, only for the beauty of your unrestrained self."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
And thus Yao the Fisher became known as someone who had an eye for fine tail, and curves that go for miles.

yrsillar said:
"You speak truth, O Princess," he admitted. "This humble man has little to offer, and yet… should you name a thing which I can offer as my price I will give it to you. Please, if you doubt my worth, allow me to prove it to you."

He really had become addled, the White Serpent thought grumpily. She really could not do anything but kill him for this insult, especially after having so generously offered him an out not once but multiple times. Still some part of her balked at devouring him.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
*Tsuns*
yrsillar said:
The White Serpent silently scoffed as he took his leave. Fool, if he had simply come back to her and served he could have lived well. The darkening storm clouds overhead marked a further deterioration of her mood.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
"I just wanted a servant, not a lover"
yrsillar said:
The week that followed was marked by a great deal of noise indeed, the White Serpent found. Though she could not fully sense the happenings in the cities, they were clearly in chaos. Her plan had at least worked properly, giving her time to prepare for her own chastisement. By the time the noise died down and descended into sullen silence, the clouds had been fully envenomed and her qi had begun to soak into the groundwater, spreading beyond the shore of the lake. She was readying herself to unleash the torrential venomous rain that would be the first of the plagues visited upon them, when she again felt something that baffled her.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Okay, so thats Grandmother Serpent's finishing move...and while she slept the waters of the Empire had been carrying her qi everywhere hadn't it?
yrsillar said:
He let out a rattling breath, considering his answer. "I am Yao of the Skittering Fen, where the Face Eater gathered the sons of men and left them in squalor and privation to strive against one another, with only enticing visions and voices of her encouragement to drive them on and keep them from despair. I am Yao, who emerged from the pit and found my promised reward to be a bloated and indolent grub, and so slew it and made its power my own," he said, looking up at her. "...I am Yao, who sought the deadliest spirits in all the land, seeking the promises that had been made to me. Who found, from the blood mad flowers in the west, to the fallen dragons in the east, from the horrors of the northern sea to the warring gods of the south, none who made his heart beat as you do, Princess of Still Waters."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yao's opinions on the many waifu candidates he had found in his journey:
-Face Eater's spawn - Was going to eat him(presumably), was eaten instead.
-Dryads of the Red Garden - Meh
-Dragons of the Celestial Peaks - Meh
-Cthullu of the Savage Seas - Meh
-Beast Kings of the Emerald Sea - Meh
-Snek of the Thousand Lakes - YES!

He has traveled across the land, searching far and wide for the perfect wife.
yrsillar said:
The White Serpent peered down at the fisherman and focused, and for a moment, she glimpsed what lay beyond the still lake of the fisherman's spirit. She sighed. "Foolish man, sit down and heal. You will be very busy in the coming days."

He blinked slowly, even as he moved to follow her command. "What is your intention princess?" he asked a note a cautious hope entering his flat voice.

"If you are going to court a princess, you will have to be a king," she said haughtily. "Luckily for you a find myself bored, and so I will help you with that."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Hmm, he never DID seek Kingship to begin with.
 
yrs writes side-stories as a patreon bonus and posts them later here:

www.royalroad.com

Tales of Destiny | Royal Road

A collection of short stories set in the same world as Forge of Destiny. Some are in universe stories or fairy tales, same are more traditional short stories. All of them are topics chosen by my patrons. Stories in progress can be found on my Discord, which can be found at the end of any chapter...
www.royalroad.com www.royalroad.com
 
If Ling Qi wants to arch there's nothing stopping her. We actually have the arm meridians available right now anyway, so she doesn't even need to retune their elemental alignment.

And I think we can readily assume she'd have brought.her bow along here.
 
Wait a second...

Girl who is pretty robotic and likes order.
Big buff right hand boy who is super loyal.
Sexual mother who is blinding white.

Isn't that just... That's just Kill La Kill. Though the similarities end there. I can't think of anyone else that would match any of the other characters.

Edit: What's the rules on double posting?
 
Last edited:
NZPIEFACE said:
Wait a second...

Girl who is pretty robotic and likes order.
Big buff right hand boy who is super loyal.
Sexual mother who is blinding white.

Isn't that just... That's just Kill La Kill. Though the similarities end there. I can't think of anyone else that would match any of the other characters.

Edit: What's the rules on double posting?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

you forgot about the left hand girl who specializes in Music and can fly
 
NZPIEFACE said:
Wait a second...

Girl who is pretty robotic and likes order.
Big buff right hand boy who is super loyal.
Sexual mother who is blinding white.

Isn't that just... That's just Kill La Kill. Though the similarities end there. I can't think of anyone else that would match any of the other characters.

Edit: What's the rules on double posting?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Well, normally you shouldn't double post but it's sometimes overlooked if the posts aren't useless arguing, low quality shitposting/Spaghetti posting, or anything bizar disturbing the flow of the thread. Just merge the Posts if a mod tells you too.

As for the Kill La Kill refrence, we have WoG that that is indeed an intended reference and shoot out but that it the resemblance of the chars is limited to some optics and a few design Features. We have been reassured several times and very specifically that Cai Shenhua does NOT plan to take over the world with thread based object spirits. Also the Characters personality are definitely diverging from their Kill La Kill equivalents and treating them as those characters will not result in an outcome we want to have.
 
NZPIEFACE said:
.... Man, the author was being really obvious about this, wasn't he.

Actually, this got me thinking, is LQ's sister and mother also dark-skinned?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Nah, they're apparently classic imperial beauties, meaning short delicate and fair. Ling Qi inherited her height and skin from her dad
 
Remove ads
Turn 6 Arc 1-2
  • Threadmarks
    • "I think I find the appeal of a more challenging hunt greater," Ling Qi replied carefully. She kept her eyes on Luo Zhong, but she didn't miss some of the frowns her answer brought among the disciples on the other side.

    "Then as my honored guest, I will defer to you," the young man replied with a faint grin. Ling Qi's had to restrain herself from showing her irritation. There was no need to place that kind of responsibility on her! She had just agreed with half of his own party.

    "Mm, I think it's meant as a challenge," Sixiang muttered.

    "Hm, but how to organize things," he continued tapping his chin thoughtfully. Beneath him, his hound let out a rumbling chuff, and he glanced down. "Ah perhaps you are right. Alingge, Miss Ling will you do us the favor of scouting ahead? I will organize the rest."

    She glanced at the other girl, who nodded cheerfully nodded. "It would be my honor Sir Luo," Alingge said, clapping her fists together.

    "I do not mind at all," Ling Qi replied, offering a bow.

    She and the other girl left the pavilion with only a few more pleasantries. While Ling Qi took to the tree branches for her path, Alingge chose to ride on the back of one of the gathered beasts, a black and silver furred doe that stood a bit over two meters at the shoulder. She suspected it was of a kind with the fourth grade beast she had once encountered in the forest.

    "Did you have a plan in mind?" Ling Qi asked as the pavilion faded into the greenery behind them. "We will have to be careful not to pick out anything too dangerous I think, anything that would threaten one of us, or Sir Luo could very deadly for the rest." Alingge and Wu Jing were both roughly at her own level of cultivation, but they were the only ones.

    Alingge looked up at her when she spoke. The girl rode bareback on her doe, but did make use of a set of reigns. "Do not misunderstand," she replied. "I seek cunning prey, not a great battle. It would be wasteful and destructive to enact such a thing merely for play."

    Ling Qi thought of the ruin that she and Cai Renxiang made of the sparring fields and could only dip her head in acknowledgement. "Agreed, something in the middle of the third realm then?"

    The other girl hummed in agreement. "That would be best," she agreed. For a moment there was silence between them, but then Alingge glanced up. "Would you answer me a question?"

    "I may," Ling Qi replied carefully. "If the answer is something which I can freely speak of."

    "What occured on the peak of the Outer Mountain? What happened to the peak guardian?" Alingge asked. "Rumors flow like water, but the truth is unclear."

    Ling Qi blinked as she leaped ahead to the next branch. It shouldn't have been a surprising question, but it was actually the first time someone aside from her friends had directly asked. "I had been learning from the spirit at the peak for the better part of a year," Ling Qi answered after a moment. "Between teaching me and some other complications in her Way…"

    "The ice child," Alingge murmured as she guided her mount through the tangle of trees and brush.

    "...Yes," Ling Qi admitted. "She wanted her daughter to be able to leave and live," Ling Qi felt a surge of melancholy as she thought back to those final moments on the peak. She remembered Zeqing's cracked face and Hanyi's tears. "Even if it was for a short time, as her student I wanted to respect her wishes."

    "You're doing as fine a job of it as can be expected," Sixiang whispered silently and for a moment, Ling Qi felt pressure on her shoulder, as if a hand was resting there

    "I admire your integrity," Alingge said frankly. She did seem distracted though glancing over Ling Qi's shoulder, she must have been able to sense Sixiang to an extent. "Few would value their connection to a spirit so highly in these days."

    "Thank you for your kind words," Ling Qi replied automatically. "If you do not mind me asking a question in turn… What is your situation? I had thought the people of the Southern Emerald Seas were… integrated? I am sorry if it is rude, but I'm unsure of your position."

    Alingge let out a wry chuckle, turning her eyes back to the forest ahead. "The Daigiya are viscounts by your measure. We are descended from the clans which joined with imperial settlers in the early days of the Hui. For our cooperation, we were granted privileges."

    "I wonder if it was really that simple," Sixiang hummed.

    Ling Qi did not voice their doubts and simply nodded in understanding. "Still, I had thought I was doing well in studying the clans of Emerald Seas. I somehow managed to miss something so large is a little disturbing."

    "Do not be disturbed," Alingge replied. "Of the four clans two have taken to imperial names and ways. My people and the Gi in the west do not seek for attention in the wider world."

    "...It's a little dangerous to isolate yourself isn't it?" Ling Qi commented, looking at the girl out of the corner of her eye.

    "And so I am here," the other girl replied. "To learn and ingratiate. However, the heavens are high and the capital far. We do not step beyond our bounds. We are not an important piece in the games of the greater clans. It is the duty of the Luo to see to that."

    Ling Qi wasn't sure that was a good attitude. In her experience, living quietly and wanting to be left alone were poor protections. However, she wouldn't be rude enough to say so. "As you say. So, what are we searching for?"

    Alingge seemed happy enough to change the subject. "A predator, I should think, a beast who hunts with ambush and mobility that we might hunt and be hunted in turn."

    "I might suggest finding a potent enough wolf pack, but I am not sure if that would offend our host," she said half jokingly.

    "Yes, that would be a poor choice," Alingge laughed. "Perhaps we should seek out mountain cats?"

    "That seems like a likely choice," Ling Qi agreed, she allowed herself to relax a little. Perhaps this would not be so bad.

    As she was the more mobile of the two, it fell to Ling Qi to move back and forth between scouting and reporting to the main party as they moved south, seeking the signs of a sufficiently potent beast. This role left her little time to actually socialize with the other disciples, but she was able to observe them as she came and went, making reports on their progress. The main party remained in a relaxed mood, and it seemed to her that most of them really were genuinely enjoying themselves.

    With the practice she had gotten over the last few months attending her liege's parties and cultivating the Harmony of Dancing Wind art, she could see the lines that ran through the group. Who was actually friends and who was simply tolerating who. There was less division than she might have expected. There were clear cliques, the largest was Wu Jing and the other noble born disciples, a cluster of five brightly dressed young men and women who very much seemed to be trying at being exemplars of imperial nobility. The other cliques were much smaller, a pair of young men with fur cloaks and silver jewelry with the scent of the moon about them. A trio of disciples with modern but much less ostentatious clothing, and one or two others who seemed to drift from one group to another as if unsure of where they belonged.

    Luo was at the center of it all, of course, but it was difficult to see how he leaned. He seemed amicable with everyone, and the deference they all showed toward him made it impossible to pick out what, if any inclinations they had. Without spending more time speaking with them, anything more than surface level observations were impossible. She did not have too much time to ponder on it anyway since most of her effort had to be put into the tracking.

    Their efforts did pay off. It was not long before Alingge and Ling Qi found the trail of a beast which met the conditions they had set for themselves, sussing out the edges of its territory by the marks, physical and spiritual, that it left on the world. It was down to Ling Qi to report back and let Luo Zhong make the decision.

    ***​

    "A Mirage Lion you say," Luo Zhong mused as he considered her words. She stood at the center of the group. "The two of you were certainly swift in finding such valuable prey."

    "So Alingge has said," Ling Qi replied. The girl had rejected appellations like 'Miss' so Ling Qi was left to just use her name. "She believes the one we are tracking to be of the high third grade, equivalent to a cultivator of the Threshold Stage."

    "Mm, a deadly creature," Wu Jing said dubiously, standing beside Luo Zhong. The others were arrayed in a loose group around them. "Are we certain we wish to push for such a trophy? It is difficult for those of lower cultivation to see through their manipulations of wind and light, and their claws are deadly to the unguarded."

    "It is an enemy well within our grasp, I think," Ling Qi replied. "I do not see any weak or unready cultivators around me. Even limiting ourselves to less destructive arts, I do not see any real trouble finding us."

    "Agreed," Wu Jing replied evenly. "We will succeed for certain, if nothing else, Sir Luo might intervene. I simply wonder at the need for taking such risks for a bit of sport."

    "Well he's not exactly wrong. If it gets the jump on one of these guys they'll be going to the medicine hall at best," Sixiang mused.

    "Contrary as always my friend," Luo Zhong chuckled. "Your words have merit. A beast of the threshold stage is quite the terror for many here. However, it is unseemly to be too cautious," he added, slightly chiding. "I did make the decision to hunt something more difficult this afternoon."

    "As you say," Wu Jing replied, dipping a short bow. "I suppose Miss Ling has a plan then?" He asked turning his gaze back to her.

    "Alingge and I have some ideas, yes," Ling Qi replied. Her first choice in a real fight would have been blanketing the territory in mist and then freezing the creature with a well placed refrain, but they were trying to be restrained here. "However, we would not be so bold as to plan without consulting Sir Luo or the rest of you."

    "Of course not, but I would hear your ideas all the same," Luo Zhong replied with a thin smile.

    "Man every conversation is twice as long when you gotta spend half of it dancing around," Sixiang murmured in her thoughts, giving the impression of shaking their head.

    "We believe that the best plan is one in which we bait the beast out and strike it when it's own attempted ambush has failed. Once it has been wounded, tracking it will be much easier," Ling Qi answered.

    The Luo scion rubbed his chin in thought, leaning against the side of his giant hound, who still regarded her with a sort of faint distrust. "A workable outline," he mused. "What role would you prefer then, Miss Ling. That of bait or a striker?"

    Ling Qi considered the question, she did not doubt that she could suppress her qi and appear much weaker than she was. On the other hand it was a more isolated role. However in the realms of offense… she had brought her long neglected bow and even attuned the Falling Stars art, but by this point it was hardly impressive. On the other hand it would give her some time to actually interact more with the main group.

    "Showing a little flaw here and there can be an icebreaker, you can be kinda unapproachable at times," Sixiang pointed out idly.

    Sixiang was exaggerating. She didn't like the idea much, but perhaps…

    [] Ling Qi would take the role of bait, it was the best use of her abilities within the limitations of the hunt. It would be more impressive and she was suited to protecting the other 'bait' cultivators.
    [] Ling Qi would stay and hide herself with the other archers, she had already showed off in helping Alingge quickly isolate their target. Now was the time to catch up on her original goals.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top