“Where else would I be?” Lin Hai beckoned Renxiang out as he straightened up. “You are an odd girl at times, Baroness.”
“She is,” Cai Renxiang agreed. “But if you are here, would you like to attend the fitting? Your perspective may offer valuable critique.”
There was a...
2021-11-19 00:42:24 +0000 UTC View PostIn the end, it was hardly a choice. There was only one person who she really knew well out of the four. She doubted Cai Renxiang would be pleased to have her privacy invaded, but she was also pragmatic. Her liege would understand.
Ling Qi nodded tersely to the spirit and stepped up to the o...
2021-11-16 00:27:41 +0000 UTC View PostThe trip was slow going. The others wrapped themselves in heavy cloaks and coats lined with the warm fur of fire-aspected beasts to ward against the extreme chill and the cutting wind without constantly expending qi. The path was a narrow thing, barely more than a meter wide at its greatest exten...
2021-11-13 23:54:55 +0000 UTC View PostLing Qi smiled to herself as she alighted atop the packed snow in the bottom of the gorge. To mortal eyes, it stretched unbroken in every direction, a solid field of white. If Ling Qi didn’t know better, she would be convinced that she was alone here. Naturally, she did know better.
Focus...
2021-11-12 01:03:53 +0000 UTC View Post“So, you are saying that enough generations had passed for these spiders that stories of their exile had been mythologized almost entirely,” Ling Qi said blankly, descending the stony mountain gorge that lay beyond the forested vale.
“That is accurate,” Cai Renxiang agreed.
...
2021-11-08 23:54:23 +0000 UTC View Post“Oh, this is a shiny one. I like it,” Sixiang said, lying back on the polished surface of an antique table. They held a slip of white jade up to their face as if they could look into it with their eyes.
Ling Qi glanced up from the near empty box in front of her and the jade slips arrang...
2021-11-06 20:57:55 +0000 UTC View PostCuriosity was a funny thing, Ling Qi mused, reaching out to touch the shimmering fabric of the tapestry. She’d never cared much for any ancestors further back than her own mother, but she just couldn’t fight back the urge to know.
Beside her, Meng Dan had withdrawn his hand, flipping ra...
2021-11-05 00:08:24 +0000 UTC View PostTogether, they descended into the unnatural darkness of the stairwell.
Together, they found more confounding effects. There were places where the space of the stairwell warped, turning back on itself in a recursive loop. There were other places where the fabric of this space thinned, threat...
2021-11-02 00:08:02 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 1
The Argent Peak Sect had long vanished behind them. More than a year of battles, trials and effort, gone like the sun sinking below the horizon. It was almost hard to believe that so much had happened in so short a time. Her heart still burned with mise...
2021-10-31 19:55:47 +0000 UTC View PostLing Qi inhaled the scent of stagnant air and ancient parchment, nearly sneezing. She grimaced, restraining the urge to scrub at her nose. The air in here felt thick and heavy.
She opened her eyes to see that she stood between two tottering stacks of hastily bound books of notes, looseleaf ...
2021-10-30 23:02:52 +0000 UTC View Post“Is it actually dead?” Hanyi asked suspiciously as she peeked her head out from behind a fallen chunk of stone.
“It feels dead,” Gui said suspiciously. His scales were stained with blue and black ink, glistening wetly in the faint light cast by the cooling magma.
“I felt its...
2021-10-28 23:55:28 +0000 UTC View PostWith a mighty crack, an ash caked skull spun off over the horizon, teeth flying in every direction. Zheng Nan squinted into the distance, racing the fading arc, his staff still held outstretched. All around the soldiers of the Gu clan remained in formation, a bristling hedge of spears surrounding...
2021-10-28 00:00:46 +0000 UTC View PostA lacquered black inkbrush drew itself across a page of charred parchment, painting characters in the wild handwriting that filled every wall of the chamber, and a rattling breath emerged from the corpse’s hidden face, emitting another stream of buzzing flies to join the swarm.
Xia Lin fe...
2021-10-25 23:34:35 +0000 UTC View PostLing Qi rose from the net of dream webbing as if it were no more than air, no longer smiling. Beneath her, the solid shell of Zhengui, already aglow with volcanic light, formed and beside her was Hanyi, smiling viciously. Caught in mid-leap, the three spiders screeched in unison as she played the...
2021-10-23 23:43:11 +0000 UTC View PostLanding in a crouch, she sent the wisps spiralling out into the chamber at the bottom. It was small, only a few meters across, but three tunnels reached out. Small and cramped, they were roughly carved, most likely shaped by the quick excavation of an earth technique.
As the wisps began sen...
2021-10-21 23:42:07 +0000 UTC View PostThey left the camp within the hour, joining the outgoing scouting platoon. The platoon was composed of twenty-five soldiers, two in five of which were in the third realm with an accompanying spirit beast, led by a core disciple of the fourth realm. Their task was to survey the region, and as such...
2021-10-18 21:58:49 +0000 UTC View PostAN: Sorry guys this one was supposed to take place before the previous chapter so its a lil out of order.
This exhaustion had become unfamiliar, Cai Renxiang thought.
It was not a thing of the body, borne of a pounding heart and bruised flesh.
The blade resting ...
2021-10-16 23:04:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe marriage ceremony is past us, fraught as it was, but I find that my misgivings have not faded. Although the High King’s effort to blend our ceremonies with those of the mountain folk seemed to have not roused any spirits of ill fortune, it displeased the people.
Few have ...
2021-10-14 22:59:02 +0000 UTC View PostIt had been a relaxing afternoon, negotiating with the spirits of the valley. The Sect’s planners had easily worked her into things. As it turned out, they were quite good at wrangling highly individual volunteers. Who would have thought?
She really didn’t credit Zhengui enough sometime...
2021-10-11 22:48:08 +0000 UTC View Post“ORRRAAA!!” Gan Guangli’s bellow echoed through the valley.
From above, Ling Qi saw him wrap his enlarged arms around the trunk of a squirming pine, ignoring the lashing branches clattering against his armor. He leapt, ripping grasping roots from the earth, and slammed the canopy back...
2021-10-09 21:36:36 +0000 UTC View PostThat's right Book 3 finishing out the first thread and story with the Outer Sect tournament is coming out on November 2nd in E-book and Audiobook format. You can find it on amazon here!
Ling Qi pondered what to say. It occurred to her that the master of this old blade was an explorer.
“Honored Ancestor,” Ling Qi said, “before we leave you to your rest, might you have any wisdom on the lands beyond the Wall? Your wielder is well known for his travels.”
“...
2021-10-07 20:45:56 +0000 UTC View PostMeng Dan spent the better part of an hour examining the map, questioning Ling Qi on her feelings regarding specific sites, flipping through a regional atlas drawn from his storage ring, and scattering odd platinum coins carved with different characters across the map before he delivered his verdi...
2021-10-04 20:33:24 +0000 UTC View PostAvailable on Discord in the Interlude Spoilers Channels.
Characters: Originals. RR Friendly.
2021-10-03 21:25:40 +0000 UTC View Post“And that is a deal struck, my friend!” Bao Qian said cheerfully. He extended his hand, and Baron Fu grasped it. Their storage rings flashed, and Bao Qian felt the satisfying clatter of spirit stones spilling into his emptied storage space.
Baron Fu gave a sharp nod as he stood. An olde...
2021-10-02 21:42:47 +0000 UTC View Post“So, let us grant that I believe your studies are relevant to our task.”
“Most generous of you, Baroness,” Meng Dan said, resting his chin in his hand.
“What skills do you have to offer to my lady in the field?” Ling Qi asked, ignoring his interjection.
“Mm, I agre...
2021-09-30 18:19:47 +0000 UTC View Post“So,I’m not sure I understand this ashwalker business properly,” Zheng Nan said, his arms and legs were a blur as he jogged beside the carriage, keeping up with the trotting horses with no sign of strain. “That thing I fought wasn’t a mere corpse puppet, it was a Bai, but broken.”
... 2021-09-29 21:37:26 +0000 UTC View PostAlthough they didn’t have a proper spar, Ling Qi was glad to see her little brother was continuing to grow more adept with his terrain manipulation. His reactions were improving a great deal, as was his ability to coordinate multiple vectors of his ramparts and barriers.
Beyond that, Ling...
2021-09-28 00:03:21 +0000 UTC View PostGranting Xia Lin the lead in steering their “tour” took them away from the sect peaks themselves to inspect the terrain and climate and fauna of the surroundings outside the carefully controlled skies above the peaks. Xia Lin seemed to know a surprising amount of wilderness lore given the mor...
2021-09-25 23:54:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe Cai force’s arrival was marked by a plume of rising dust, visible from kilometers away. The northern road was cleared of traffic, commerce and civilian traffic alike coming to a halt as the cleared fields north of White Cloud Town were made ready to receive visitors.
Sect Head Yuan He...
2021-09-23 22:29:43 +0000 UTC View Post