"Mama, read it again, read it again!" Light laughed brilliantly, kicking her legs back and forth while nuzzling against a kind-seeming woman whose lap she was occupying. The latter chuckled helplessly, patting the top of her head and slowly pulling the pages back to the beginning.
"There
The sun had just cracked over the horizon as a chilly squall swept over the empty and hollow landscape. There where once tall mountain peaks stood proudly like giants now lay a flat so barren one couldn't even see a single blade of weed growing anywhere.
There was only dust and tiny stone p...
2025-08-12 21:50:32 +0000 UTC View PostAs soon as Xi Zhao opened his eyes, he felt a pang of nostalgia burst through him.
He found himself standing at the heart of the Sunlight Town's market, at the very crack of dawn, just as the townsfolk were starting to come out and set up their stalls.
The scent of freshly baked bread...
2025-08-11 21:53:34 +0000 UTC View PostDai Xiu stepped through a seeming nothing, yet she immediately felt her surroundings morph. The trees vanished in the blinding flash of light, and the dark, morose sensation of the orchard was replaced by a spattering of rays from the sky.
By the time she could see full shapes again, she fo...
2025-08-10 21:36:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe orchard itself was located to the back of the village, practically pressing against it, and was loosely fenced off by some scatterings of wood and stone. It was cleaved into two, as far as I could tell--on the left, they looked like plum trees, while on the right, they looked like... well, th...
2025-08-09 21:08:19 +0000 UTC View PostThe dining hall was... well, it was shoddy, to say the least.
It was barely bigger than my bathroom was back on Earth, it was stuffy yet also had a draft at the same time (somehow?), and the chairs were uncomfortable. Like, I suddenly understood that those seats back in the sect
"Okay, it's safe now!"
The veil of darkness that were Light hands finally lifted and I could see!
To hell with this!
These kids are treating me like I'm a child, too!
And, look, look at Long Tao! He looks like he's just about ready to blow his top of laughing harder than h...
2025-08-08 20:57:15 +0000 UTC View PostThe people following us?
It was actually a bit of a reunion. Well, not a reunion as we didn't know them individually, but seeing as they were the former, escaped disciples of the Fire Sun Sect, I suppose there's some karmic connection between us, no?
Obviously, they weren't w...
2025-08-08 20:56:48 +0000 UTC View PostIt was perfect.
No, it was more than perfect.
Wan Lan's hands trembled as she read through the art her forced-upon-her Master just handed her not two minutes ago.
She didn't actually think too much of it--why would she? She knew better than anyone just how restrictive h...
2025-08-07 21:40:46 +0000 UTC View PostLong Tao once again thought back at the tome his strange Master showed him. He'd never seen an art quite like it before in his life. Then again, he hadn't really seen arts like his Master's in general.
Aegis of Infinity...
It was a bold name and, yet, it still somehow felt understated...
2025-08-06 19:57:25 +0000 UTC View PostSystem is a prick, I decided on that much at least.
The same way it can give me a reward that grants another person a unique freakin' physique, it could have given me a reward that does that to me. But it chose not to.
Because it's a prick.
Okay, maybe not. It's pretty ...
2025-08-06 19:57:00 +0000 UTC View PostThankfully, she didn't stay after that embarrassing speech of mine; she bowed and then bowed out, and I near did that cringe-crouch where you just flatten against the ground trying to make yourself seem as small as possible, so as to become invisible.
I mean, I meant every word of ...
2025-08-05 21:12:34 +0000 UTC View PostTo Wan Lan's credit, she kept getting up.
And kept getting up.
She'd rush in, fists and feet flying about, and would get rebuffed within a breath and sent flying backward. The saddest bit? Long Tao never drew his sword.
No, scratch that--he never even used an actual art...
2025-08-05 21:12:06 +0000 UTC View PostWhile taking a break for kids to cultivate, I nestled myself into the isolated corner of the tent and started pondering on what art to create for Wan Lan.
It appears that will be the trend for all kids when they break through--the system will give me one 'freebie' to make an art that pretty...
2025-08-04 19:25:16 +0000 UTC View PostWas Long Tao a good cook?
No.
Did any of us dare point it out?
Actually, yeah, pretty much everyone except for me.
"Wow, Senior Brother, this piece of lettuce is somehow sharper than your sword," commented Xi Zhao.
"Chewing raw grass is tastier!" added Dai Xiu.
It was about a month into our journey, and on a particularly cold day (as they've been getting cooler by the week), that it had happened at last--the first domino fell.
Wan Lan broke through.
We hadn't actually made much physical progress, all things considered, over the past thirty d...
2025-08-03 19:50:26 +0000 UTC View PostPerhaps the neatest thing of all about the tent is how easy it was to pack--just press a button! Well, it wasn't really a button, per se, but more a spot in the central array. It 'sucked' itself inside a small bag that I could either toss into the spatial ring or hang off my belt.
...
2025-08-02 19:27:38 +0000 UTC View Post"So, uhm, there's this realm..."
Though I wanted to lie and conceal some of the truth, I ended up telling him everything. His expression remained unchanged (after calming back down, at least), and he listened patiently. Once I was done, he fell silent--and so did I.
"In three years, y...
2025-08-01 21:05:25 +0000 UTC View PostThe leaving of the hall was rather... unceremonious. Well, that's the nicest way I could put it--we were simply kicked out. There weren't any goodbyes or farewell drinks or feasts, no, just a kick in the ass (proverbial) and we were back on the ground... where, once again, we had to suffer unto t...
2025-08-01 21:04:55 +0000 UTC View PostEveryone gathered relatively quickly, though, oh boy, did they grumble. All faces were quite familiar, and there were even a few unfamiliar ones. Altogether, I counted the number of unique sects present to be eleven, I think?
Only four, I garner, would be considered 'Holy Lands', w...
2025-07-31 19:22:00 +0000 UTC View PostI have to be honest--for a little while, everyone stared at the sky... and there was nothing there. Yet, I'm pretty sure only I felt awkward about it; others seemed tense and even... scared.
It was about fifteen seconds later that it happened.
The first thing was a hum--a low vibrato ...
2025-07-31 19:21:22 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello everyone, and welcome to my weekly but not-so-weekly update on... things.
I'm almost at 150 chapters and I'm honestly kind of surprised with how well I've managed to keep up with the release schedule. I also feel like I'm moving the story at a decent pace, but that's one of those ques...
2025-07-30 21:23:14 +0000 UTC View PostStrangely, only Wan Lan agreed to come along.
Long Tao... well, he was hiding in the corner, brooding over something.
Xi Zhao said he had to 'meditate upon his heart', though he was probably just a touch too embarrassed to share a meal with that young woman.
Dai Xiu said she had...
2025-07-30 21:00:46 +0000 UTC View PostLong Tao didn't take nearly as long as I'd expected him to--rather, he was back within less than an hour, and in a decidedly foul mood. I didn't even have to ask him or interact in any way to recognize the stench of 'don't talk to me' practically bursting from every inch of his skin.
... 2025-07-30 21:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostIt wasn't her, he knew--it was a lingering image stored within the Soul Orb. She'd sapped the last of herself to create this, only on the small chance that he, one day, might remember she existed, and come to see her.
But if he hadn't died and hadn't been reborn into this part of the world,...
2025-07-29 20:27:31 +0000 UTC View PostThe world while he was using Master's created cloaking art appeared... odd. It was as though the edges were washed off, shadowy ink tearing out as if guided by the wind. It would also grow slightly desaturated, like he'd entered an entirely separate reality hidden behind an invisible membrane. 2025-07-29 20:25:45 +0000 UTC View Post
"What is your biggest fear, Master?" his question stunned me into silence for a little bit, as it was entirely unexpected.
"My... biggest fear?"
"Hm," he nodded. "Mine is darkness."
"Darkness?"
"Chained in a room with no light or sound," he said. "Sustained invisibly. Lips...
2025-07-28 20:33:40 +0000 UTC View PostJust before entering the tent arranged for us, I remembered that I had this nifty little tool called 'magic eyes'. Honestly, my memory of it comes and goes, and if I had been just a bit faster, I could have checked out that weirdo that swung by for a moment.
Alas, I was not.
Which lef...
2025-07-28 20:33:14 +0000 UTC View Post"Here we are," Old Zemin announced just as we stepped past a strangely-shaped rock that curved into an arch, as though embodying a strange, natural gate.
The world suddenly shifted, colors and shapes distorting for a brief moment before it all came back into full view. Dozens of tents sprun...
2025-07-27 20:40:44 +0000 UTC View Post"You want this? It's really sweet! How about this? Do you want the Big Sis to teach you something?"
Long Tao eyed silently the strange young woman who seemed entirely obsessed with Light--to an unhealthy degree. And yet, it was all a facade. Her eyes and Divine Sense darted over the other k...
2025-07-26 21:23:21 +0000 UTC View Post