Previous chapters:
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Heretic%20Cultivator%20Quest MC info Pastebin:
https://pastebin.com/x5rCdZpq Sect/ disciple info Doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A0Yghkqs4WxALnnlVJ2uPpphQk9NQ4ME32DzC1qWp7Q/edit?usp=sharing Folklore:
https://pastebin.com/AnbsrDcd _
Beneath the heavens, standing proud as both a heretic and outlawed existence atop the pinacle of the world, you are Huanliuxue (欢流血, Happy Bloodshed/ Happy to Shed Blood), Wild princess and heir to the throne of primordial wilderness, Beast of ill omens and blood moon, the greatest and most majestic house cat ever born, practitioner of the dao of ghosts and grudges, holder of pure blood qi and redeemer of carmine mysticism, Matriarch and Grand Master of the heretical Palace of Natural laws sect palace of natural laws sect (宫殿的野生彝宪, Gōngdiàndīyěshēngyíxiàn), whose rare genius, towering intellect and vast insights served as the foundations of the equally heretical cultivation technique of the Ruler of the Great Wheel's Law(统治者的这重大轮回法律, Tǒngzhìzhědīzhèzhòngdàlúnhuífǎl). And from today after, you're also the sole owner of the divinely crafted catacombs of the forgotten king's army and the bloodless war they waged, after a friendly, near lethal duel with the forgotten king himself, the talkative, inquisitive, and somewhat murderous Aodasheng (Proud Great Sage, 傲大圣), who is the wielder of the demonic tool The spear of mortal death ( 矛的会死死亡 , Máodīhuìsǐsǐwáng).
Who over the course of your battle, cursed you with Specter Starvation (幽灵饥饿, Yōulíngjī'è), a viral curse that afflicts the most monstrous of Jiangshi and hungry ghosts, through the sheer malevolence of his spiritual aura. Though he now serves as your advisor, guardian and friend, the curse of unearthly hunger for life and breath has soured the sweet taste of victory. And you know if you do not cleanse it from you soon, you'll become a living calamity yourself. Fortunately you have a few ideas of how you can cure the curse without soiling your reputation or losing face.
"Specter Starvation? That is a grim legend, and I thought it was only that, a warning for inquisitive and rebellious prodigies from straying from the orthodox arts to experiment with ghostly cultivation" Monu, your beloved adoptive mother gravely mused as she held up a napping Piao Tuzi, while Niu and Mao Yue tied ribbons in her long, unkempt moonrock grey hair "Without a known cure or counter measure, in the stories containing it, it was as good as a death sentence or the origin of monsters who were once immortals or whole cannibal cults of cultivators"
"Well it exists, and Aodasheng threw it against me in our fight, and of all the curses to stick, it was the only one to actually affect my magnificent self" You chuckle, Tuzi squeaking as Monu squeezes her on reflex, while Niu turns a shade paler and Yue...Yue just wasn't paying attention to anything being said.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 22 May 2024 19:07:57 No. 6013375 Report >>6013373 "And you didn't kill him?! That son of a bitch! We should throw him to the wolves or abandon him in hell!" Monu rages, letting the little moon rabbit down, onto a napping Chuandapo's shell, while Lei, who has for some reason, also put ribbons into his hair, preens his mustache thoughtfully, his eyes more focused and sharp than you have ever seen "How can you be so calm about this! How dare he!"
"Turns out, the legends were a pile of horseshit and the cure is pretty simple. All I have to do to save myself is eat the lifeforce of a dragon or something or someone who is the equal of one" You say with a gloomy frown, pouting as you watch the tongueless Lei's eyes light up even more, looking positively thrilled at something, probably the idea of you fighting and draining the life out of a magnificent dragon/
"Eh?" Monu gasps, falling backwards she's so stunned "That's all?"
"That's all?" Niu gasps, somehow shocked that your mother is confident you could catch a dragon like a pigeon "That's all? You're talking about hunting dragons like they were common lizards!"
"I'm known as the serpent whose venom could slay a dragon for a reason, Miss Niu" You mother cackles, eyes gleaming "We just need to find a dragon or something about as powerful as one right"
"Only if it can't be avoided, and I have another solution in my sleeve that might be more dangerous than the curse itself" You answer sternly, making it clear you don't want to hunt down a dragon, since the only ones you know are youngsters and unborn souls, and fighting someone as strong as a dragon to drain their vitality isn't something you'd be thrilled to do, even if they deserved it or were just someone you despised personally.
"Oh?" She asks as Lei leans in, just as curious as she is as you, to demonstrate, pull out a vial of the guardian deities blood.
"Part of my cultivation requires me to have a deep understanding of blood, both mine and other people's, and I should probably start teaching Qiang it as well, but suffice to say, I'm certain this drop of blood would cure me instantly. It also might injure or even kill me, so it is the last resort, in case we can't find any dragons who wouldn't be missed, Heh-Heh-Heh" You snicker as you flick the drop of blood up, Niu's eyes bulging as she feels the potency of the life and Qi inside of it, and Monu tenses, wincing as it nearly hits the ground. Mao Yue is still too busy dotting on Piao Tuzi to notice anything that's going on.
Lei grunts, groaning, clearly annoyed he can't speak to you in any way you could understand, and runs off, probably in search of ink and a brush.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 22 May 2024 19:08:58 No. 6013376 Report >>6013375 "So did you tell your poor mother all this just to toy with her poor heart, or so if I found out on my own, I wouldn't do something as foolish as picking a fight with your pet calamity?" Monu asks with an exaggerated pout "But I am relieved that you're in no real danger, should've known the stories of the curse would be exaggerated. But please, if you ever are cursed again, start with "Oh honored mother, do not fear, I know the curse" instead of just telling me you've become the victim of a surely deadly curse. My heart may be young again, but it can't take that much abuse"
"I just think no one who has been cursed with specter starvation was strong enough to fight dragons?" Niu says bleakly, rubbing her hands nervously
"Sorry, Mom" You sigh, hanging your head as you hide the vial of blood away in your sleeve again "I'll keep that in mind if I make a habit of fighting world calamity ghosts. Speaking of which"
"I was just exploring the temple you built atop my grave" Aodasheng said, as he suddenly appeared at your side, making Mao Yue and Niu both faint, the latter having enough time to yelp in surprise before she did "And gathering my men, to begin sending them back to the cycle of reincarnation"
"Ah, So that's what you were doing, I was wondering were you had wandered off to" You say happily as Monu purses her lips tightly, eyes wide open, a single bead of sweat crawling down her brow "I was just asking my beloved mother if she could search for alternative means of curing the curse YOU placed on me"
"Sorry again about that, I really should've been more discerning of the curses I spoke during the last couple of moves in our spar. But it was so exciting, I mostly abandon discretion and caution to revel in the thrill of a strong opponent" the dethroned ghost king laughs "And if my assistance would be appreciated, I could lend my own expertise on the subject of curses to her search for a cure you can, heh, stomach, besides cutting down a dragon for your own benefit. I've heard from the headless serpent, you make a habit of visiting the yellow springs"
"I wouldn't be opposed to it, so long as you wore perfume. The smell of death around you might be pleasing to my daughter's nose, but it certainly isn't to mine" Monu said sweetly, as Ao just smirked
"I do. Though I haven't gone there in awhile, since demons started drooling when I walk by, speaking of demons, we still need to cut up that one I fought on the road, and organize the medicines you made out of the Crow King" You say as you stand and pick up Piao Tuzi off of Chuandapo's shell "Also, is that piece of shit still alive?"
"I can keep a victim of my torture suffering for years, Heh-Heh" Monu cackled as Aodasheng's smirk turned toothy, remembering what you told him about the hardships you faced in getting the other local sects to have some measure of common sense.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 22 May 2024 19:09:59 No. 6013378 Report >>6013376 "Good, I might have use for them later. And my mother can search for a different means of curing me on her own, one of your jobs is to guard me, remember? Ao?" You say while petting the sleeping moon rabbit behind her springy ears
"Ao? My my, are the two of you that close already?" She says, with an arched eyebrow, looking at the former ghost king appraisingly and judgmentally
"For me at least, shortening her name is a sign of respect. It was rare to find like minded daoists who can keep up with me in a fight and who are not so narrow minded or so plain in personality they fade into the background, even in my era. And I owe your daughter a great debt, besides" He answers with a nod as you wonder why you call him Ao sometimes, since you've only recently met him and decide he'd make an interesting friend and subject. But decide it doesn't matter.
"It doesn't matter" You huff, shaking your head "Mother, if you could summon the Geges, Siwang and Yinying here? I have a lesson I want to see if they can grasp. Oh and if you run into Ruolan and Renshu, send them to me as well, after telling them to bring to me some of their stored, refined blood, I wish to check on their progress as cultivators and do some training to take my mind off of"
"Being cursed?" She said right as you were about to say it yourself
"Correct, Mama!" You chirp cheerfully, acting cutesy to make her laugh, since you can tell she is still on edge, either because of your condition or because of Aodasheng hovering around like a herald of unavoidable death.
<span class="mu-s"> roll 4d100. First two dice, teaching your fellow beasts partial transformation. Second two dice, Carmine Mysticism training. DC for first roll 165. DC for second 118. Best out of five for both </span>
Anonymous
Rolled 83, 17, 48, 94 = 242 (4d100) >>6013378 Anonymous
Quoted By:
Rolled 95, 58, 12, 84 = 249 (4d100) >>6013378 Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
Rolled 81, 7, 10, 90 = 188 (4d100) >>6013378 The time of the legendary quadruple hundo is here
Anonymous
Quoted By:
Rolled 44, 51, 21, 92 = 208 (4d100) >>6013378 Goddamn it, me
>>6013387 .
Anonymous
Rolled 92, 69, 35, 29 = 225 (4d100) >>6013378 These rolls do not bode well.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 22 May 2024 19:50:23 No. 6013414 Report >>6013404 Failure, but by less than 10, but you can use some of your total training/ Cultivation bonus of 1448 to save it if you want.
So, flash vote time!
>Minimum required for success, using 4 bonus, leaving you with a total of 1444 >1 additional DoS, using 14, leaving you with 1434 >2 additional DoS, using 24, leaving you with 1424 >3 additional DoS, using 34, leaving you with 1414 >Custom amount >Or take the failure >>6013385 However for the second roll, to refine your carmine mysticism you got a good success, 20 over DC
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013404 Damn. So close. Well we got the second set at least.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013414 >>Minimum required for success, using 4 bonus, leaving you with a total of 1444 The triple fours call to me to spend on our next training roll.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013414 >3 additional DoS, using 34, leaving you with 1414 Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013414 >Minimum required for success, using 4 bonus, leaving you with a total of 1444 Bold of you, Grandfather, to assume that we wouldn't instantly choose the option which let's us put more than a single 4 in our training pool
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013414 >3 additional DoS, using 34, leaving you with 1414 Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013414 >3 additional DoS, using 34, leaving you with 1414 Anonymous
>>6013414 >3 additional Dos Why not.
But after we can start being more frugal, we should to step through golden core in a single bound again.
Or maybe it is better to get to the cusp of golden core before applying all our strength.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013414 >Minimum required for success, using 4 bonus, leaving you with a total of 1444 Auspicious trips.
Anonymous
>>6013448 This kind of made me have a funny brain wave, what if the reason why there are so few cultivators of worth left isn't because there are no prodigies being born but because no one is actually teaching or learning properly any more. They aren't stacking the buffs. The fools.
Anonymous
My fellow disciples, I have emerged from my training in the wilds with the dao of recording most deeply sharpened and shall begin updating of our illustrious Ladies manuscripts.
>>6013454 That is. . . exactly what's happened. No, that's really what's happened. Knowledge is intentionally destroyed and obscured and kept out of reach, needing to be reinvented [which is illegal] to be good at cultivating.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 22 May 2024 21:24:25 No. 6013465 Report Quoted By:
>>6013461 Thank you junior, I hope the training was not overly harsh.
minimum: 3
34/ 3 extra Degrees of success: 4
So by a narrow margin, spending 34 of your total bonus for a total of 195 and going 30 over DC for a great success, wins
Update will arrive shortly
Anonymous
>>6013448 I say we save until 2k, since 1k was a major factor for us shooting up. Also send some disciples with that old map of Chuan to maybe find some more treasures to boost us and our sect members up.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013469 We'd only need to save up about 1500 training bonus, as our special meditation chamber provides +500 or so.
And it will provide another increase in bonus when we move it to the bottom of the mouintain, where the Qi is purest, rather than level 3-4.
However I do think that spending more time at Golden core, and getting to GC 8 before we do our mega leap is a good call. The energy and effort isn't absorbed in climbing those subordinate ranks, it's used in the much more important transformative step, solidifying our foundations in this new stage.
Otherwise, I utterly agree.
Anonymous
Right, updated the list of stuff we got, updated the character sheet, updated the minor tweaks to the sect document [which will probably need fixing with the students learning chimeric manipulation]
Anonymous
>>6013477 I think maybe adding Ruolan and Renshu would be in order (though it might have to wait until we can gauge if they've made any natural progress down cultivation), and I'd at least count the Temple of Celestial Fire as an ally, even if the terms are in their favor and we currently haven't made moves to honor our end of the deal.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013490 Ah, that does remind me. Need to update the Alliance as Tomb Mountain and Sea Alliance.
I dunno, They do need to have their progress assessed first before I do so.
And they can be allies when we uphold the end of our bargain.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 22 May 2024 23:26:03 No. 6013529 Report The four other beasts who've attained human forms through their own efforts, reflection and understanding, as well as a few that are striving to become the next ascended beast to comprehend human wisdom, are gathered in one of the forests nearest to the sect's temple. Siwang is sitting in a tree, legs and arms crossed, with a unfurled scroll hanging down off of his legs and a quill made out of one of his own wing feathers stuck behind his ear, smearing wet ink on the side of his cheek. Yinying is also wearing his human face, and armor styled and designed by Feqing's hand, his marsh green hair peeking from beneath the helmet in tufts as he marches around the perimeter of the clearing that has been made in the woodlands by some of the outer disciples or Fu's daily training. The Geges are together, Tiexingege in her ant body and Jionghuagege sitting atop her in her human one, both of them accompanied by a small force of their daughters, with Jiong-Jiong kids happily chatting together and trying to strike up conversation with the one intelligent daughter Tie-Tie brought with her. Three, who is trying her best to stand guard while being pestered by half a dozen giant bees.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 22 May 2024 23:27:04 No. 6013530 Report >>6013529 And that immediately gets the attention of every disciple present, though they remain silent as they observe, but you notice Siwang and Jionghuagege undressing their upper halves to inspect the wing markings on their back, quickly catching on that there ability to sprout wings even while in their human guises, might be connected to the partial transformation you showed them.
"As you can see, I can turn parts or all of my body into a hybrid of my two forms, my beautiful feline and gorgeous human selves" You explain as you open your mouth wide, showing your tongue as you turn it as rough as it would be in your cat mouth and sprout your sharp teeth into real fangs before lifting up your transformed arm higher and putting it through a sequence of changes, shifting it from more human to less, including simply sharpening your nails or making it as large as your paw would be in your magical beast form "There isn't really a secret trick behind it, or a complex sequence of steps to follow, or some profound mystery you must solve to do this, unlike the art of attaining a human form to begin with"
"Then how, my princess, did you realize this ability?" Yinying asks, once he's shaken himself from a stupor as you grin, watching Siwang and Jionghuagege unknowingly race to the conclusion that allowed you to perform the feat yourself, you curl your tongue but hold it behind your teeth as you change your body back to wholly human and just watch for a moment as both the owl and the bee summon and spread their wings, too close together for you to figure out which of them did it first.
But, despite having an advantage, neither of them are the ones who figure it out first. Instead it is Tiexingege, who some have dared to slander as being dull witted. She isn't. Just because she prefers the simplicity of fighting to more refined interests and hobbies and talks curtly, doesn't mean she's dumb. And like her sister, she is a master tactician. She might not prefer her human form and barely use it compared to Jionghuagege, thinking it weak and also probably because hers is oddly short and childlike, but a warrior as experience as her immediately grasped the usefulness in combining her two forms.
Jionghuagege falls flat on her bottom with a yelp, as Tiexingege, in a flash of black sparks and the sound of grinding metal, stands, clad in her carapace and with the serrated metal blades sprouting from it growing on her arms. She's even made herself a bit taller by leaving her legs mostly ant-like
"Hmm, useful, thanks for sharing this trick, Red Fur!" She declares, cupping her iron skinned fist as she bows, twin tails bobbing as they stick out of her "helmet". And while you hear Yinying muttering a quick prayer of gratitude that Siwang wasn't the one to immediately find the solution, you see his handsome, princely face contort with despair as Siwang gasps and snaps his fingers
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 22 May 2024 23:28:05 No. 6013531 Report >>6013530 "She realized that if she was capable of transforming between two states, she should be able to stop the sudden change before it was complete!" He shouts, as he thrusts his legs out and turns them into talons, after some wincing and squints of frustration and effort
"Precisely" You say as Jionghuagege frowns and rubs her cheeks, looking thoughtful as the beasts without a human form make all sorts of cries and noises of excitement "I realized, why shouldn't I be able to look however I damn well want to! Why should an empress only have two robes"
"Ah!" Jiong-Jiong shouts, snapping her fingers and turning her eyes compound as her antenna sprout from her silver grey hair "That's it! why would we ever be constrained to only having two styles. If we can change our bodies between two states, then surely, as Sir Siwang has said, the in-between is also achievable!"
"Of course! But we never dared to try, the switch between human and magical beast is so quick, seemless and easily performed, we thought it a reflex before our master tried it anyways! And that's a little strange" Siwang raves excitedly, eyes wide with the thrill of a new discovery "Perhaps it is instinctive, and by quieting the voice saying it can't be done, a new gate is opened"
"I hate that you are speaking sensibly!" Yinying roars, turning his teeth into fangs "Hahaha! You didn't leave me behind for long! Once master explained it in a more...conceptual and poetic manner, understanding the trick became leagues more easily accomplished!"
"The head guard is amazing, amazing!" The magical house cats Yinying decided were worthy of being your royal guard cry out with one voice as a deep, threatening growl travels through the forest, loud enough to shake the trees
"Enough! Enough!" Youzaiwang cries out, tantruming around the clearing, clawing trees, creating shock waves of Qi and lightning and roaring his frustration to the sky "This is an outrage! This is a slight against me! Why can't I attain a human form, when they did so so easily and excel at it so readily"
"I know, its maddening isn't it" You say, remembering that jealousy and fear of being surpassed was what made Yinying achieve his second awakening "That others surpass you as easily as stepping up stairs, that you, so mighty a beast, once praised and feared by all, are made a fool of by the kind of creatures no man fears. An ant, a Bee, an Owl, and two housecats, isn't it just shameful, Youzaiwang, that you can't figure it out, that you cannot grasp we all did so easily?"
The tiger glares at you, eyes going through a myriad of emotions as his self preservation instinct battles with his wounded pride and he looks like he's about to explode from the turmoil inside his heart before his face slackens and he falls to his side like a pampered house pet with a whimpered cry. Rather than roar out of outrage, wounded pride, or frustration, the tiger groans pitifully and closes his eyes.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 22 May 2024 23:29:07 No. 6013533 Report >>6013531 "Its true. As much as a brag and swagger around, I'm simply less talented than you all. Pride is all I have, besides this strong body, but what use is it if its the only one I have?! Brother Siwang made his own art, while I just adapted the fighting style of an ancient one to be more aggressive! The princesses are worldly and lead armies, while I boast about a harem I no longer have! Even Yinying is better than I! He has purpose and an ambition! What do I have to be proud of, if my only strength is the body I was born into! Tell me, tell me the secret, I beg of you! I must know it, so I can better myself and still be able to call myself the young king without feeling like a imitator!" He wails and pleads, with tears in his eyes "What makes me different than a man!"
"Nothing" You say, purposefully being as vague and mysterious as possible "That should be enough for you to figure it out. If not, maybe you should humble yourself further. Pride was the spark that made you Youzaiwang. Have you ever felt true humility?"
The tiger goes quiet, as Baifenchi spreads her wings, and catches onto the fact you gave him his answer long before he did.
"Master" She says in a quiet voice "I think I understand now, please, give me the honor of the sixth seat. I, and no other moth, have ever felt the fear of death, not even in the face of the Aodasheng. Please, teach me it"
You grin, and bestow it upon her, by releasing your aura and focusing your pressure and killing intent onto her as you move as if you're going to strike her down with a single claw strike. Only swerving your attack away from her head at the last moment, tearing up the forest floor and slicing apart a few trees as she stares directly into your eyes.
And then is encompassed in a pillar of bright emerald light.
Youzaiwang gasps, as Jionghuagege begins clapping her hands, and makes Tiexingege do as well after kicking her in the shin
"Seventh and eighth" Huili mutters, bowing his head as Chuandapo frowns, and squints, staring directly at the pillar of primordial beast essence shooting up into the heavens
"Ours is a strange friendship, isn't it?" She asks the wolf, the revelation Baifenchi reached slowly dawning on her "What did she say, about moths and the fear of death?"
"Want to know the secret?" Tie-Tie snickered, swaggering up to the two of them "Silver Coat is too smug for my liking, so I'll do what I can to kick him while he's down"
You smile as you see Baifenchi's human face. She has round, soft cheeks, making her look younger and more childish than she already does, with dark bags under her eyes and skin so pale it looks like a corpses. Her hair is short and cropped at her neck with bangs hanging over her pale green eyes, perfectly arranged without a hair out of place, with bands of black running through her powdery white hair, and with more black hairs forming a skull atop her scalp. She blinks tiredly, lips seeming to form naturally into a pout.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 22 May 2024 23:30:08 No. 6013534 Report >>6013533 She's scrawny, only a little taller than Tiexingege, with visible ribs and barely any muscle or fat to be found on her body. Her eyes are big and round, and what would be called the lychee shape. And just like Siwang and Jionghuagege, she has tattoo like markings on her back in the shape of her moth wings, but stylized
"Aw" She gasped quietly, barely able to be heard, and reaches up to touch and grip her cheeks "it is different. I thought I'd be more accustomed to this body, considering how acquainted I am to the insides of it, Hihihi. It is different, even though it feels natural, breathing is strange, isn't it, master"
"I wouldn't know, I've always needed to breath" You chuckle "And, that thing you said about being acquainted with human insides, Baifenchi, what have you been up to"
"Merely helping prepare the dead for their funerals" She answers "Siwang doesn't care to bury criminals, and my grandfather was interested in the insides of corpses as well, before he, died"
And as two more pillars of emerald light light up the sky, and Youzaiwang looks like he is on the verge of killing himself by chewing out his own tongue, you see that Tie-Tie and Jiong-Jiong had told Huili and Chuandapo the "trick" behind attaining a human form, the missing piece of the puzzle for them to "obtain" human wisdom.
Huili emerges from the light first, cracking his new knuckles, his skin tanned and scorched here and there, his ash grey hair the longest of any man you've seen, hanging down far enough to cover his backside, gray except for its soot black ends. And with a shot beard sprouting from his chin, and hairy eyebrows over his thuggish, triangular eyes. His face was that of a brute, hard and rough, making him look like a barbarian chief or crime lord. Very masculine, handsome but not pretty. And you also notice, his pride as a man was smaller than Siwang's.
Chuandapo just flopped to the ground, with long hair the same shade of violet as her shell, and you thought for a second she failed because of it, with the way it fell over her back. Unlike Huili's mane, which gave him the look of a wild man, Chuandapo's made it clear she didn't care enough to groom it. And she is, well there is no nice way to put it. She's fat. Chubby. In face, body, chest and leg. She's got a round, wobbling gut. Thick legs and thicker thighs, and hefty bosom and heftier pair of buttocks. She isn't unpleasant to look at, and her soft, face certainly isn't ugly, but she'd be much cuter if she shed a few pounds, but you can tell she has muscles underneath her blubber. And she has scars from were she was poked by spears when she used to terrorize the fishing ships of Chuan in search for easy meals
"That was exhausting" She complains, eyes half open, frowning as she laid, naked on the ground, while Huili rubbed his cheeks and admired his muscles "And I only feel a little lighter without that shell on my back. I feel cheated"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 22 May 2024 23:31:09 No. 6013535 Report >>6013534 Grumbling, she sat herself up, rubbing her head, not knowing how to make facial expressions as she looked around, and wrinkled her nose, trying to figure out how legs worked as Huili started cackling at her rotund appearance, but she silenced him with a glare and a wave of her hand, which sent a wave of water crashing against him.
And all three of them have pointed ears, just like you do in your human form.
"Hah! Now you'll be the ninth beast to attain a human body, if you'll even be that" Tiexingege mocked, jabbing an armored finger at the nearly comatose Youzaiwang
"Hmm, I've a lot of extra meat around my stomach" Chuandapo said with a pout, before her usual carefree smile overtook it and she sighed a half hearted chuckle "I've been eating well, even with the diet you've put me on, Master"
"That isn't something to be proud of" You growl as Youzaiwang blinks
"Pride" he says wistfully as he stands up "I...I think I know which fault of mine is getting in my way. I, I do not need to be told this secret. I, Youzaiwang, will earn the necessary insight and reach their level of enlightenment by my own effort. Hah, to think I nearly gave up my pride, just because of a minor set back. Huanliuxue. Do I have permission to go traveling"
"Sure" You say with a smirk, knowing how easy it would be for him to attain a human form if he just humbled himself, since you can't imagine a tiger would ever do so in the wild, without dying first "Be sure to write. Though, I have to say, I admire you decision to figure out how to attain a human form, by your own power"
"My very reason for being is at stake. I cannot so easily forsake my proud nature, just because I did not excell as easily as others" He answers, and with that, he's gone.
"Shall I fetch Huili, Chuandapo, and Baifench temporary robes?" Yinying helpfully asks as seeing Chuandapo happily smacking her belly is starting to piss you off, and you can tell she knows it is with how she's smirking at you.
You wave you hand in affirmation.
_
"Ruolan, Renshu, Ruolan's brother" You cheerfully greet your two carmine mystic decendants, as you lounge on a particuarly crooked grave somewhere in the catacombs, as Ruolan's hypnotized brother stares blankly and dumbly ahead "I can see the three of you have made good progress, er, well two of you have as both cultivators and carmine mystics, and so shortly after gaining the ability to cultivate at all. So you've refined your hypnotic eyes, Ruolan"
"And have grasped the basics of blood alchemy" She answers, smacking her dainty fist into her palm
"As have I, master" Renshu adds, smiling proudly "Though Ruolan has learned how to weaponize it, I've learned how to use it for healing purposes"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 22 May 2024 23:32:09 No. 6013538 Report >>6013535 "I have mastered both those uses of blood and blood Qi, but for you two, it is an achievement" You praise, nodding your head, very pleased with the progress they've made "And I trust you've been refining the blood donated to you by the other alchemists seeking the same gift I've given the two of you?"
"Of course!" The answer together while Ruolan's traitorous brother groans thoughtlessly, head lolled to the side
"Any other advancements you wish to tell me about?" You ask curiously, leaning closer to them and flashing your fangs, mostly to see if you could make them jump by revealing your new ability and talent at partial transformations, but neither the doll like girl or the flamboyant man so much as start
"I've been studying old texts detailing the reign of terror lead by one of the disgusting original breed of carmine mystics, by the coastline. And the interesting connection between water and blood" Renshu says excitedly "So far, however, I've learned nothing besides that the legendary boogeyman of the Blood Eel Swarm, did in fact once exist and was once a man"
Ruolan answers by playfully flicking out her tongue like a whip of flesh, showing she's learned a few transformation techniques of her own
"Well, I am very pleased with both of your work and your personal refinement, well done, Ruolan, Renshu" You cheer, clapping your hands as you hop onto their feet "And in fact, I'll allow you to share in the spoils you've brought me, and show you how to properly refine your carmine sorcery, and hone yourself as a living Jiangshi!"
"We are humbled, master is most generous and kind!" They shout together, smacking their fist into their open palm, which Ruolan's enchanted brother mimics.
<span class="mu-s"> Ruolan has achieved Qi Condensation rank 4 (Focuses. Alchemy and Carmine mysticism), and is practicing an undefined law of alchemy and blood. Renshu has achieved Qi Condensation rank 4 (Focuses. Alchemy and carmine mysticism) and is also practicing and undefined law of alchemy and blood </span>
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 22 May 2024 23:33:12 No. 6013539 Report >>6013538 <span class="mu-s"> Triple vote! </span>
What form does your second evolution as a carmine mystic take
>Physical improvement, strengthening your body and increasing your natural agility and speed. >Attain the Blood Mist Form transformation art (Which can be used as a movement/ avoidance technique) >Attain the basic Transformation arts of baseline carmine mysticism (Wings, rending claws, lashing tongue, monstrous fangs) >Open up the verdant path/ school of Carmine mysticism, Unlocking the first stage of Carmine Mysticism: Verdant spells and abilities >Define the Lunar Path/ School of Carmine mysticism. Creating the first stage of Carmine Mysticism: Lunar spells and abilities (leads to a second vote) >Unlock a second stage Carmine mystic magical ability (leads to another vote) >Even Further refined blood control (No longer requiring the blood to be infused with your blood Qi, and increases the intricacy of what you're able to shape out of blood, as well as expanding your blood alchemy tricks) >Write in And what evolution do you guide Ruolan and Renshu down, as thanks for their assistance (Choose one for each)
>Acquire the basic mystical abilities of baseline carmine mysticism (Hypnotic eyes (Already attained by Ruolan), paralyzing bite, Healing Blood (Already attained by Renshu), Consumed knowledge) >Physical improvement, strengthening your body and increasing your natural agility and speed. (Already attained by Renshu) >Attain the basic Transformation arts of baseline carmine mysticism (Wings, rending claws, lashing tongue(already attained by Ruolan), monstrous fangs) >Attain the Blood Mist Form transformation art (Which can be used as a movement/ avoidance technique) >Open up the Aquamarine path/ school of carmine mysticism, unlocking its first tier magic and abilities (Can only be taken by Renshu) >Teach the second stage mystical ability Lunatic Eyes (Can only be taken by Ruolan) >Write in And what do you do, once you've finished refining your carmine mystic abilities and those of Ruolan and Renshu, Huanliuxue?
>Check the costs of stocking the Garden of the Wild Empress Temple, and the tournament preparations, and start organizing and accepting applicants for its first two brackets, to start the tournament officially >Send Aodasheng out to investigate the beast stampede or search for another cure for the curse he put onto you >Be the one to teach Piao Tuzi and Yewushi how to speak, since they are capable of it, they just...don't know how to breath air and thus can't speak. >Reach out to your Buddhist friends, and also invite them to the tournament, just for fun >Oversee Aodasheng's release of those of his army who wish for peace, so you can know how much of your spectral army remains >Write in Poor Youzaiwang...
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013539 >Physical improvement. This is always useful.
>Ruolan and Renshu: Basic mystical abilities. Again, consumed knowledge is very very useful.
>Oversee the army's release. >Be the one to teach the rabbits to speak [WE ARE THEIR MOTHERS NOW] >Check the costs and start the torney. So the first one is just house keeping, the second is something to do immediately so they can start studying while we do other shit, and last bit is because we've been delaying this for a thread and a half. Lets deal with the strengthening of our sect so we can slap the Ling.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013539 >Even Further refined blood control (No longer requiring the blood to be infused with your blood Qi, and increases the intricacy of what you're able to shape out of blood, as well as expanding your blood alchemy tricks) This would probably help with assimilating god blood.
>Open up the Aquamarine path/ school of carmine mysticism, unlocking its first tier magic and abilities (Can only be taken by Renshu) >Teach the second stage mystical ability Lunatic Eyes (Can only be taken by Ruolan) Help these two down their own chosen path.
>Oversee Aodasheng's release of those of his army who wish for peace, so you can know how much of your spectral army remains This is important to him so we should be present.
Monu can dote on the two rabbits for now.
Anonymous
Probably should fulfill the promise first. Also is it possible to just send some disciples to deal with the beast wave?
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 23 May 2024 01:46:36 No. 6013606 Report >>6013599 Of course, you can always send your disciples on missions, that is your privilege as sect head. The outcome will be determined by who you send and if its a group, who is calling the shots.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013539 >Unlock a second stage Carmine mystic magical ability (leads to another vote) >Teach the second stage mystical ability Lunatic Eyes (Can only be taken by Ruolan >Open up the Aquamarine path/ school of carmine mysticism, unlocking its first tier magic and abilities (Can only be taken by Renshu)) >Send Aodasheng out to investigate the beast stampede or search for another cure for the curse he put onto you Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013539 >Unlock a second stage Carmine mystic magical ability (leads to another vote) >Teach the second stage mystical ability Lunatic Eyes (Can only be taken by Ruolan >Open up the Aquamarine path/ school of carmine mysticism, unlocking its first tier magic and abilities (Can only be taken by Renshu)) >Oversee Aodasheng's release of those of his army who wish for peace, so you can know how much of your spectral army remains >>6013606 >Send Baifenchi, the Gege's and Huili to look into a cure with Huili in charge Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013539 >Physical improvement, strengthening your body and increasing your natural agility and speed. It's hard to pass up raw stats
>Open up the Aquamarine path/ school of carmine mysticism, unlocking its first tier magic and abilities (Can only be taken by Renshu) >Teach the second stage mystical ability Lunatic Eyes (Can only be taken by Ruolan) >Check the costs of stocking the Garden of the Wild Empress Temple, and the tournament preparations, and start organizing and accepting applicants for its first two brackets, to start the tournament officially >Send Aodasheng out to investigate the beast stampede Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013539 >Physical improvement, strengthening your body and increasing your natural agility and speed. >Teach the second stage mystical ability Lunatic Eyes (Can only be taken by Ruolan >Open up the Aquamarine path/ school of carmine mysticism, unlocking its first tier magic and abilities (Can only be taken by Renshu)) >Oversee Aodasheng's release of those of his army who wish for peace, so you can know how much of your spectral army remains Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013539 >Physical improvement, strengthening your body and increasing your natural agility and speed. >Physical improvement, strengthening your body and increasing your natural agility and speed. (Already attained by Renshu) >Open up the Aquamarine path/ school of carmine mysticism, unlocking its first tier magic and abilities (Can only be taken by Renshu) >Oversee Aodasheng's release of those of his army who wish for peace, so you can know how much of your spectral army remains Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013539 >Attain the Blood Mist Form transformation art (Which can be used as a movement/ avoidance technique) >Open up the Aquamarine path/ school of carmine mysticism, unlocking its first tier magic and abilities (Can only be taken by Renshu) >Teach the second stage mystical ability Lunatic Eyes (Can only be taken by Ruolan) >Oversee Aodasheng's release of those of his army who wish for peace, so you can know how much of your spectral army remains Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013539 >>Even Further refined blood control (No longer requiring the blood to be infused with your blood Qi, and increases the intricacy of what you're able to shape out of blood, as well as expanding your blood alchemy tricks) I hope this would be the most helpful in preventing/reducing the worst side effects of the Divine Blood when we use it to refine our Carmine Mysticism
>Open up the Aquamarine path/ school of carmine mysticism, unlocking its first tier magic and abilities (Can only be taken by Renshu) Maybe he finds a way to digest sea-life, which would arguably be a socially and morally acceptable way to handle our cursed condition. Also, it is something he himself stumbled upon - we should let him achieve something with it.
>Teach the second stage mystical ability Lunatic Eyes (Can only be taken by Ruolan) >Check the costs of stocking the Garden of the Wild Empress Temple, and the tournament preparations, and start organizing and accepting applicants for its first two brackets, to start the tournament officially We should really become more involved in the upcoming tournament unless we want to risk losing face.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013539 >Attain the Blood Mist Form transformation art (Which can be used as a movement/ avoidance technique) Let them try to hit us
>Open up the Aquamarine path/ school of carmine mysticism, unlocking its first tier magic and abilities (Can only be taken by Renshu) >Acquire the basic mystical abilities of baseline carmine mysticism (Consumed knowledge) for Ruolan >Oversee Aodasheng's release of those of his army who wish for peace, so you can know how much of your spectral army remains Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013539 >Open up the verdant path/ school of Carmine mysticism, Unlocking the first stage of Carmine Mysticism: Verdant spells and abilities >Open up the Aquamarine path/ school of carmine mysticism, unlocking its first tier magic and abilities (Can only be taken by Renshu) >Teach the second stage mystical ability Lunatic Eyes (Can only be taken by Ruolan) >Check the costs of stocking the Garden of the Wild Empress Temple, and the tournament preparations, and start organizing and accepting applicants for its first two brackets, to start the tournament officially >Send Ping, Quixin, Yinying and Senlin Zheren to investigate the beast stampede Ping leads the group, Quixin has knowledge of the area as he's from there, Yinying and Senlin can be our beastly representatives.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013539 >Physical improvement, strengthening your body and increasing your natural agility and speed. >Teach the second stage mystical ability Lunatic Eyes (Can only be taken by Ruolan >Open up the Aquamarine path/ school of carmine mysticism, unlocking its first tier magic and abilities (Can only be taken by Renshu)) >Send Aodasheng out to investigate the beast stampede or search for another cure for the curse he put onto you Anonymous
>>6013539 >Attain the Blood Mist Form transformation art (Which can be used as a movement/ avoidance technique) This can be used without needing a spell, its good for avoiding attacks. It also doesn't require pre placed lights like our ghost ability does.
Transformation we are already getting via beast powers. Physical improvement kinda comes along that line. Spells and abilities is fair game, We already have lunar abilities, its better to have a bit of a broader skill set then going all in on the moon.
Second stage of magical ability is also valid, same with blood control.
>Acquire the basic mystical abilities of baseline carmine mysticism (Hypnotic eyes (Already attained by Ruolan), paralyzing bite, Healing Blood (Already attained by Renshu), Consumed knowledge) This is something they both benefit from
>Oversee Aodasheng's release of those of his army who wish for peace, so you can know how much of your spectral army remains We were going to make sure they were of sound mind, and we would bear witness to their decision's first hand.
Anonymous
>>6014574 There is always a benefit to being significantly stronger than other people at the same stage.
I like the refined bloods control. Would be really helpful and as stated might help reduce the DC of godsblood.
But blood mist is a srong third.
The rest are whatever. Lunar magic is cool to be a pioneer of, but the blood magic thing seems like its a secondary tool. A complimentary dao, rather than our focus.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6014657 I like lunar magic too, but we already spec'ed our cosmic energy to it.
Making our carmine/blood focus also be on it is a bit much imo.
Technically blood isn't really a secondary given its powered through our life source.
I'd say cosmic(lunar), life -> animal/blood(kinda all overlap desu), and ghost/curse are our main lines of power.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6013539 >Even Further refined blood control (No longer requiring the blood to be infused with your blood Qi, and increases the intricacy of what you're able to shape out of blood, as well as expanding your blood alchemy tricks) >Physical improvement, strengthening your body and increasing your natural agility and speed. (Already attained by Renshu) >Open up the Aquamarine path/ school of carmine mysticism, unlocking its first tier magic and abilities (Can only be taken by Renshu) >Oversee Aodasheng's release of those of his army who wish for peace, so you can know how much of your spectral army remains >Send Siwang, Huili and Chuangdapo to investigate the beast stampede, representing the beasts of air, land and sea respectively. No clear leader, they should run this as a proper adventure party and talk things out. Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 24 May 2024 19:51:41 No. 6015570 Report Ending the vote and tallying its result now. And may my fellow Elder, Levelman, the QM of Chaos the quest for redemption, be welcomed with great applause and praise for the art of Huanliuxue they drew in the Queen tournament!
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 24 May 2024 21:45:06 No. 6015650 Report The cultivation of carmine mysticism and that of Renshu and Ruolan, is not a feast of blood as the old style of carmine mystics strengthened themselves by glutting themselves with the lifeforce and vitality of others, filling their own veins with stolen blood until their walking corpses were near to bursting at the seems. No, way perfected, pure carmine mystics refine their sorcery and improve themselves, physically or spiritually, is a much more dignified process and elegant affair than the feeding frenzies of the original, misbegotten breed of blood drinking Jiangshi. While the imbibing and swilling of blood is still a part of the practice, it is a vital step of checking the quality of the blood and its stage of refinement and the condensation of the Qi of Life trapped within it, serving a purpose beyond satiating one's appetite. And while that alone would make even demonic cultivators certain you and your two pupils were performing a profane occult ritual, the arrays and tools used in the refining of blood, gathering of life force and extraction of purest blood Qi from both, would certainly be more fodder for your rivals to spread rumors about you being as much of blood sucker as a leech is.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 24 May 2024 21:46:07 No. 6015651 Report >>6015650 And while its hard to hear him clearly when his words are muffled beneath water and his lungs are filled with it, you're pretty certain he is reciting a ghost story about a pirate who haunted the Summer Sea, and who made a bargain with something lurking in the sunless waters deep under the waves to survive the sinking of his ship when one of the Xia Clan Ancestors tore through its hull like a shark through the shallows. His fingers are twitching, nails cutting alchemical signs and characters across his chest, writing spells into his skin as the bloodied water soaks into his wounds, the clots and streams of blood almost seem to swim into them like swarms of leeches or schools of fish. His tone changes, and you read his lips as he begins repeating a number of bloodborne diseases that can be born from an overabundance of water essence in one's bodies, all of them unpleasant. Then as he curls the fingers of one hand, he begins listing the life cycles of mosquitos and blood drinking eels, his fangs peeking from behind his lips, looking more delicate and needle like than they did before.
It takes Ruolan gasping in irritation to pry your eyes off of Renshu as he meditates and tries to connect the pathways of his veins and meridians to the "Gate at the bottom of the sea" as the two of you have dubbed the lost art of carmine mysticism performed with blood in sea water and the breath of fish. Motes of Aquamarine colored Qi, drip with the drops of blood floating out of the wounds he's freshly made with his sharpened nails.
Ruolan's eyes are blood shot, streaked with veins, bulging, enflamed and a few broken to bleed into the whites of her eyes. She's clutching the side of her head, the needle she's been using to carefully drip your moondust infused blood into her eyes held in her other hand as she slouches and shudders, trying to force herself not to blink away the moonlight rich blood in her eye as she tries to draw it in through her retina and torn open veins. The red of her eyes flickers pink as she attempts to activate her hypnotic gaze while in intense pain and surrounded by the miasma of spilt life, trying to absorb Qi that was taken from another's body and that is completely foregin to the air she breaths. Silver blue light sparking from behind her hand as she presses it over the eye, tacking deep, ragged breaths, her whole body shuddering from the potency of your blood and the stranger properties of cosmic and lunar Qi. Through the beams of moonlight escaping from her covered eye, flashes of a maddening shade of crimson escape from the space between her fingers.
"Remember Ruolan, the key is beauty so captivating it poisons and maddens the minds of all who are privileged to witness or stand in its presence.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 24 May 2024 21:47:07 No. 6015654 Report >>6015651 The moon excites the blood of all beasts, think about how energetic the light of a full one meets you" You coach, walking up to her as you pour the blood you were testing into the cauldron with the rest, performing a series of four hand signs as you inject some of your own spiritual energy into the bubbling mass to begin refining and improving it, watching the blood froth as it is pressed and crushed against itself
"I've never been excited by the moon before" She mumbles weakly, eye weeping blood that is both hers and yours "But, I remember, the village cat's used to yowl at it, when the skies were clear"
Do all cat's dream of catching the moon like you once did? A mystery to be solved later
"Then picture yourself as one of those cats, my blood and lifeforce should make that easier for you" You answer with a smile, as the doll like girl's pupil's sharpen like a cat's, as that simple suggestion becomes an epiphany for her. Her eyes narrow, now out of persistence and a deep focus rather than any irritation, as you turn your back to her and retrieve the pearl of condensed blood and flick it into a bowl of similar pills, medicinal herbs and steroids meant to improve blood flow and health. And as you walk back over to that bowl, you see Renshu holding up his hand, coated in slimy blood, forming webs between his fingers as the swirls of blood in the water around him dances around his finger tips as he begins to command the water itself to flow through the blood spread throughout it. Scales poke from beneath the skin of his hand and wrist, and his painted nails look thicker and tougher as he turns over his hand, examining the changes to it.
A new transformation technique? One intended to allow the user to adapt to surviving under water and to swim as gracefully as if they'd been born a fish. And the ability to control water as if he had followed a Water Aligned Law, through the blood spilt into it. You'll have him tell you the extent of his training and the results of meditating upon the way blood and water mixes, later. Now you need to focus on your own self improvements, since its clear your students have succeeded in their own training.
Grabbing the bowl of condensed blood and medicine, you cut your wrist and pour it over the pills you've spent hours to make, and using blood alchemy, refine all of the expensive medicines and drugs that are very complicated and costly to create, down to a single grape sized pill, that is the color of blood through every stage of drying and decay.
Plucking with two of your fingers, you lift it over your mouth, which you open wide and stick out your tongue, drooling as the dense lifeforce around you makes your cursed hunger deeper as you breath in all the aromas produced from working with and alchemically treating blood.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 24 May 2024 21:48:08 No. 6015655 Report >>6015654 And pressing it between your thumb and finger, crumble it to dust that you sprinkle atop your tongue, while circulating your blood manually, redirecting the flow of your Qi all throughout the meridians of your body, through both the eight extraordinary and twelve principle meridians as you wrap your muscles, bones and organs with Blood Qi and through blood control, tighten, stretch and compress every muscles at once, as if they were being strained through intense exercise, body training or monumental effort.
Doing every step flawlessly, when combined with the effects drug you'd just created and swallowed, instantly grants you new wells of strength and stamina, and quickens your movements. A physical improvement art that'd make career physical cultivators weep tears of blood with envy, tears you'd happily lick off their faces while mocking them for getting half the results for twice the effort you just went through, Heh-Heh.
Flexing your arms, you pinch your now tougher muscles, enjoying their firmness. And with the trick you just used to increase the baseline of all of your body's attributes and physical abilities, your muscles haven't grown greatly, the strength and swiftness they now contain being tucked away in the life essence and blood flowing through them, keeping the true extent of your physical power hidden until it is unleashed. Explosively!
"Keep practicing, but take a break if you feel close to passing out from exhaustion" You tell Ruolan and Renshu, neither of who will need to keep practicing much longer, with how quickly they're grasping and comprehending what you're teaching them with your expert guidance as a teacher. Renshu has removed the webbing from his fingers, along with the scales and claws, and is currently running his hand through gills that grow from his sides, while red light issues forth from Ruolan's eyes in an enticing swirl of colors, that could pull in the weak minded like a vortex!
Smirking, proud of your accomplishment as a teacher, you travel into the underworld, after you return to your personal quarters to switch from your usual robes into fashionable mourning attire amongst devils, which is all shades of red, like raw muscle and open wounds, with a veil hiding your face, and a ruffled, long hanging dress with slits along the side all the way up from your heels to your wait, and with similar slits along the sleeves, which are separate and made out of leather you probably should've asked Anjing the source of, tied together by red, sinewy string. And all to be worn on the front is a Dudou, with small, skull beads dangling from it with silver spider demon silk strings, colored just as red as the rest of the garment, but its position making it look like you'd been sinned alive.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 24 May 2024 21:49:09 No. 6015657 Report 'It is amazing that Anjing was able to get my measurements right before we ever met and became friends' You marvel as you run a thumb under the thin straps keeping the Dudou on your chest as you saunter into the catacombs. And find the first few levels of them quiet and somber.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 24 May 2024 21:50:10 No. 6015660 Report >>6015657 "I remembered enough to know that I should be even fucking angrier for what those bastards in the heavens did to me, and my friends" He huffs, crossing his arms churlishly "I can curse up a storm if you want me to, Huanliuxue. I'm just calm for the moment. Strangely so"
"Perhaps a curse has been lifted with Aodasheng's release, or maybe the fighting released most of the enmity keeping you at the height of your madness" You theorize as Aodasheng sends two more souls off with a slap, mentioning something about bullying a princess, so you're guessing Yujijiao was bold enough to mouth off to him when even Xuebai warned her not to.
"I'm sure I'll find something to be pissed off about soon enough" Xiongji chuckles "But its beautiful, isn't it? Seeing these bastards look at peace, even more than they'd have been if they sat down and allowed you to suck a bit of their breath"
Your stomach rumbles. No matter how much food you've eaten today, it hasn't done anything to lessen the feeling or the pangs of hunger, and the bits of vitality you snacked on while refining your carmine mysticism, and your body with it, barely did anything to appear it either. You gnaw at the back of your hand.
"Don't even mention breath" You growl, as you fasten your teeth around your knuckle, and Xiongji rubs his chin thoughtfully
"Fine" He snorts, as you glance past him, and see that few of Aodasheng's The one who also mimicked a dragon isn't around anymore, nor are any of the ones who fought beside him against Xiongji or stood guard of his prison. In fact, besides Pony and Xiongji, none of the ones you saw on the painting in the gallery before the prison are still in the land of the living. They've must've all been sent off to whatever awaits them in their next life. Loyal until death, but will they remain so in their next life?"
You ponder this, as Aodasheng's greetings to the ghosts turn into heartfelt apologies, his proud demeanor cracking as he speaks to the little people. The servants and scholars, the ones who had done nothing but serve him in their lives and really didn't deserve to share the fate of his most loyal warriors, but were entombed all the same. Its hard to watch, and makes your heart ache, but you make sure to watch each departure and brand it into your memories. One day, as a ruler, you might have to do the same, and Aodasheng is giving a good show of authority and composure you could learn from, when and if you ever find yourself in the place he is now.
And it surprises you, that the fearsome ghost king personally knew everyone of his followers, even if he wasn't afraid or ashamed to be a villain when it served his purposes and is the kind of lunatic who delights in life or death battles.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 24 May 2024 21:51:11 No. 6015661 Report >>6015660 Though, he also doesn't seem to hold a grudge against the immortal who dropped a mountain onto his head, since you've not seem any grudge miasma rise from him when he spoke of his "Honorable rival". But then again, Lei sealed a demon inside of himself, and while Ao would surely be called a demonic cultivator just like him, both of them are pleasant to be around. Really, the odd one out are the only modern demonic cultivators you've met, the seven slaughtering swords and even those sword maniacs were polite to you. But they also thought you were their kindred spirit.
'I should make an effort to remember the names of all the laborers and workers of the palace of natural laws' You think to yourself, as you place your hands on your knees, and watch Aodasheng's composure gradually chip away as the sheer price of his ambitions comes to face him with every ghost, great or small that comes before him and is offered the choice. But through his tears, you can see that he is happy, happy that he can grant them release or hear that they had found a purpose in unlife besides himself.
And eventually, it is done. Most of the army you had before you invaded the lower catacombs has remained, but most of the souls that remained loyal to Aodasheng or else turned their coats after getting beaten soundly, have left to be reborn, their bright white souls floating up through the mountain in a great cloud like cotton seeds or clouds drifting on a sunny day. It reminds you of the children you loved and who loved you, and just like back then, the sight of it makes you cry.
The most far gone and feral of the ghosts have been sent off to be reborn, as have the "peasantry" who had been put to work gathering coins made out of bones and repairing the crumbling walls and tombs, but your commoners, who've grown comfortable being ghosts, remain though you don't have much use for them besides their breath. And cursed as you are, you wouldn't dare to try and take any of it from them.
While the army of the dead you command is smaller than it was at the height of your assault, it has, in the end, grown, by the additions brought into it by Aodasheng, who have chosen to follow the woman he follows.
And they, including Pony, kneel before you with the man they still call leader and king.
"I owe you two great debts now, Huanliuxue. For freeing me and for allowing me to free my followers from their suffering" He says solemnly, down on knee, fist cupped and head bowed "I thank you for allowing me to grant them release from their earthly tethers. And am happy that you have treated those under your care well and kindly. Though we've only just become friends, you've proven yourself to be a true one. And your style of cultivating intrigues me but...alas, I think it will be sometime before I can witness your process of absorbing Qi from ghostly breath"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 24 May 2024 21:52:12 No. 6015662 Report >>6015661 And you can't help but smirk at how lightly Aodasheng is treating your condition, since it makes it feel less severe than it actually is. Even if you know you'll have a much easier time curing yourself of it than most would.
What do you do now that Aodasheng's said goodbye to his old friends, Huanliuxue?
>Send someone or a team to investigate the beast stampede, potentially asking your allies if they'd agree to organizing a combined team to look for the source of the beast wave >Hear how much the tournament has cost you, and decide which, if any, of your students besides Lian Luli will be competing in the various brackets/ rings of the tournament, and check out the list of early applicants for the first contests for any to keep an eye out on. >Have Renshu present the results of his research into the Aquamarine path of carmine mysticism, so you can see the potential of that school of mysticism. >Introduce Lian Luli to Piao Tuzi and Yewushi and have her help you teach them how to live on earth and speak >Tell Monu, Xuebai and Yujijiao about Red Dust Revival >Ask Aodasheng what he thinks should be done about the seven slaughtering swords and their attempt to curry your favor >Write in Anonymous
>>6015662 >Send someone or a team to investigate the beast stampede, potentially asking your allies if they'd agree to organizing a combined team to look for the source of the beast wave >Hear how much the tournament has cost you, and decide which, if any, of your students besides Lian Luli will be competing in the various brackets/ rings of the tournament, and check out the list of early applicants for the first contests for any to keep an eye out on. Anonymous
>>6015683 >Support Seven swords are small fry. They can wait till ling is dead.
Anonymous
>>6015570 Man that's a sweet pic
Anonymous
>>6015662 >Send someone or a team to investigate the beast stampede, potentially asking your allies if they'd agree to organizing a combined team to look for the source of the beast wave. Probably easiest to send Ao, but maybe recruit some people from the tournament?
>Hear how much the tournament has cost you, and decide which, if any, of your students besides Lian Luli will be competing in the various brackets/ rings of the tournament, and check out the list of early applicants for the first contests for any to keep an eye out on. Anonymous
>>6015725 I think we should Ao in reserve for a little while. One to keep him as a trump card in case someone does something stupid while we're away, thinking he's capital D dead now after that whole thing on the moon. And two so that he can have a little bit of time to acclimate to this very different world he finds himself in.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6015732 I also don't want to send him to the Ling who have soul killing techniques, even if he would probably end up fine he may be forced to crush them.
>>6015662 >Send someone or a team to investigate the beast stampede, potentially asking your allies if they'd agree to organizing a combined team to look for the source of the beast wave. Send Yinying, Qiang and Siwang, as the most stealthy of our temple they can mre easily discover what is going on without attracting undue attention.
>Hear how much the tournament has cost you, and decide which, if any, of your students besides Lian Luli will be competing in the various brackets/ rings of the tournament, and check out the list of early applicants for the first contests for any to keep an eye out on. Before anything else we need to finish this tournament arc, raising rabbits and reviving ghosts can wait for just a little while longer.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6015655 I love the fact that Huan can literally make something like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeR6fwi328U >>6015662 >Send someone or a team to investigate the beast stampede, potentially asking your allies if they'd agree to organizing a combined team to look for the source of the beast wave Yinying, Qiang and Siwang, and if we talk with our allies, ask for someone who can keep the pace and either be stealthy or strong enough in case of full confrontation happens. And also tell Siwang to keep an eye out for Youzaiwang, telling him to keep an eye out of he sees something or hear rumors about the stampede, maybe even nudge him a little by saying "If you wanna attain the human form, maybe try and see how strong leaders and royalty people manage their holdings while the stampede is happening/is something wrong is happening". Maybe he can see how some royalty people are cowards even for how much wealthy and powerful they are and find the courage of a lion in a low peasant. Hell, it would be hilarious if Youzaiwang just repeats our story with Fu, helping a little girl avenge her mother by killing a vengeful cat who has gone rogue from Huan divine cat mandate.
>Hear how much the tournament has cost you, and decide which, if any, of your students besides Lian Luli will be competing in the various brackets/ rings of the tournament, and check out the list of early applicants for the first contests for any to keep an eye out on. >Introduce Lian Luli to Piao Tuzi and Yewushi and have her help you teach them how to live on earth and speak And this because I wanna see what Lian Luli has been doing while we've been doing all those stuff
Some things of note we should do: Check out the Aquamarine path, make a little "Blood test" on one of Luli's daughters (The one who made us remember someone when we met her, the one who poke at our eye), check more about Baolin's heart-technique books, and finally giving chase to the Ling whore and have our rematch.
And ALSO Looking into the Red Dust Revival. We literally remade the perfect Carmine Mysticism that the other people failed to do, and were innovating shit like crazy, AND YOU'RE TELLING ME NO ONE THOUGHT OF MAKING OUR OWN VERSION OF RED DUST REVIVAL? We have the principles, the logic behind if, the process, WE HAVE EVERYTHING there's no missing part of the ritual to do so. I'm sure, SURE that if we bring Ao with us to Hell and bring enough "money", we can talk to King Yama himself, and make some kind of court case so we can use Xuebai's corpse remains (The scythe the old bastard used) and maybe even Yujijiao's one (Once we go to the Ling territories and demand it. Maybe they've been made into snake agility boots or her core was used as an object instead of consumed) and canalize their still living souls into new bodies we make. If we can make perfect meat puppets of us, are you telling me we can't take all the texts about magical and non-magical Snakes and Foxes and make perfect bodies?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6015662 >Introduce Lian Luli to Piao Tuzi and Yewushi and have her help you teach them how to live on earth and speak Wholesome and cute
>Send someone or a team to investigate the beast stampede, potentially asking your allies if they'd agree to organizing a combined team to look for the source of the beast wave A mix of our beast disciples and human disciples to look into it
>Write in >JOURNEY TO THE YELLOW SPRING AND CURE OURSELVES OF THE CURSE, OR SATE IT WITH THE BLOOD OF A 1000 DEMONS. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6015662 >Send someone or a team to investigate the beast stampede, potentially asking your allies if they'd agree to organizing a combined team to look for the source of the beast wave Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6015662 >>Hear how much the tournament has cost you, and decide which, if any, of your students besides Lian Luli will be competing in the various brackets/ rings of the tournament, and check out the list of early applicants for the first contests for any to keep an eye out on. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6015662 >Send someone or a team to investigate the beast stampede, potentially asking your allies if they'd agree to organizing a combined team to look for the source of the beast wave I half want Siwang to stay to help with tournament management (though also not married to the idea), as well as adding Quixin since we know the stampede originated on the Ling side of the border thanks to the other sect heads we talked to.
>Hear how much the tournament has cost you, and decide which, if any, of your students besides Lian Luli will be competing in the various brackets/ rings of the tournament, and check out the list of early applicants for the first contests for any to keep an eye out on. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6015662 >Ask Aodasheng what he thinks should be done about the seven slaughtering swords and their attempt to curry your favor Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6015662 >Hear how much the tournament has cost you, and decide which, if any, of your students besides Lian Luli will be competing in the various brackets/ rings of the tournament, and check out the list of early applicants for the first contests for any to keep an eye out on. Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sun 26 May 2024 01:07:54 No. 6017014 Report Terrible news. I, your grandfather was forced to perform back breaking labor beneath the scorching sun, clearing a garden of its weeds. So I just don't have it in me to tally the vote and write today.
Anonymous
>>6017014 Damn those spirit roots and their crawling guardians!
>fashion Pasties and dental floss. A voluminous forest green robe with silver highlights. To represent the primordial beast overtaking the moon. The shock of her red hair should also complement it well.
>core formation and stages names Uh. I can't really help you there. I am bad with names of all sorts.
Anonymous
>>6017033 >That spoiler I'm in but only in cat form and stars stickers.
By the way looking up on google apparently cats can have between 6 to 8 nipples, some have an uneven number so it falls on me to ask...
How many nipples does Huan have?
Anonymous
>>6017088 >How many nipples does Huan have? Another thing to keep in mind is that mammals typically have twice the number of nipples compared to the expected number of young they birth at one time.
Quadruplets.
Anonymous
>>6017014 >Dress Our high quality sect robes, demonstrate that we are who we say we are.
>Core formation I think, since the previous stage was called "enter the ghostly courtyard", this one should be "Forming the Seat of emphereal Empires" with golden core being "Imperial Mantle stage".
Because golden core is an achievement.
Even making a trash tier 8 core is an achievement.
Anonymous
>>6017014 A long translucent silk sash wrapped tightly around her body.
Anonymous
>>6017014 Our sect's robes, but modified in an unortodox way - maybe sleeveless, or with a midriff? This will show our status and signal our breaking of conventions at the same time.
Anonymous
>>6017306 Prior stage was Severing the eternal soul and mortal vessel according to the pastebin, so the royalty theme isn't baked in persay (though I do love the name for Core Formation). Maybe some more like "Dyeing the faded world in wild hues" for Golden Core since each stage is kind of a synopsis of what we did during that time (Entering the world of cultivation, figuring out how to cross between the worlds of the living and the dead, growing our sect and achieving feats last seen generations ago, forcibly leaving our mark on the worlds we inhabit)
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6017346 Go crop top? Sure
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6017372 Perhaps for golden core, which I remind you is an egg for our nacent soul, . . . "Dye the night's eye with life" to reference the founder's feat immedaitely after becoming a GC.
if we were going more feat based descriptions.
Anonymous
>>6017014 Our normal comfy sect robes from our spider friend would probably be pretty chill.
as for names
>>6017372 Given what this anon said about our previous name (where we learned ghost form)
then for core formation: (we become human, enhance our wild nature), I have two possible suggestions. "Unifying the Mortal Mind and Beastly Soul"(preferred) and H"armony of the Human Spirit and Primal Instinct". (another)
For Golden Core, we do be having a lot of fun with the moon and blood.
(at least so far)
Personally I'd wait until AFTER we get out of Golden Core to name it, but for now: Red Moon's Celestial Dominion, but to keep it in line with the trend we have so far "Aligning the Cosmic Moon and Crimson Flow" or "Channeling the Lunar Radiance and Crimson Life"
The reason I suggest we wait is because we dd just get Red Dust Revival, which may impact our abilities, and I believe we have a ways to go before ascending past golden core, which leaves plenty of room for improvement in different categories. that may change these names.
Anonymous
>>6017453 Please remember that these are names for the Cultivation law "Ruler of the Great wheel's law", so we should probably have it relate to. . . the Great wheel of reincarnation, Ghosts, grudges and rulership, like the law is about.
The people that come after us to learn this stuff should have some idea, from the name, what they have to do to progress.
Anonymous
>>6017525 I'd say that that becoming source of primordial life enrgy falls under the great wheel as much as becoming a ghost does. Same with us gaining cosmic powers as the great wheel is universal.
There is no reason the great wheel is stagnant with our standards from before core formation, and has not evolved alongside us, its creator. Especially when we've come so far and learned so much. Most of our arts still fall under the Great Wheel. At least from this Junior's understanding. There may be a better way to word the examples I gave, but I don't think they are too far off.
Anonymous
>>6017539 It does not though.
Our Dao, the thing we will teach, is about Ghosts. And Grudges.
Qiang, when she gets up here, isn't-. . Hmm. didn't she get an infusion of Blood Qi and Primordial essence?
I will willingly conceed the point if, indeed, it becomes the tradition and required part of ascending to have a grasp on Blood Qi and Primordial essence.
If it doesn't. If it is just a thing we do, because we are super and awesome and it was the best thing for US [remember that compatability is king], and the dao remains only of Ghosts and Grudges, then we should reflect this. Every learner, not just the supremely talented Us.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6017612 I can only restate my initial point. That the initial step in the Great Wheel is the same as our initial step in it. That being Ghosts, Grudges, and Rulership. It cannot be denied that our mastery of the cosmos and of blood has evolved this art (Red Dust revival connecting our source of life with our arts in death). While one may surmise that because we started this art with ghosts and grudges. The Great Wheel does not only encompass them alone. It is fair to say that our evolution alongside it is equally part of the process of the Great Wheel.
+ you dare +courting death + fail to recognize Mount Tai.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6017612 >Part of my cultivation requires me to have a deep understanding of blood, both mine and other people's, and I should probably start teaching Qiang it as well This line somewhat implies to me that Blood Qi usage is tied to our law, though I could also see this as being a privilege granted to Qiang based on their close bond.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
As I understood it, we began a ghostly, nameless Dao and then started using blood Qi. After fully integrating both types of Qi usage with each other, the new Dao with aspects of both Life (blood) and Death (ghosts) was named after the wheel of reincarnation that is common to eastern religions and would most plausably have appeared to us in a Buddhist context. Our other types of cultivation weren't as influential for our foundation which might have some consequences, even if we have the corresponsing spiritual roots.
>>6015662 >>Hear how much the tournament has cost you, and decide which, if any, of your students besides Lian Luli will be competing in the various brackets/ rings of the tournament, and check out the list of early applicants for the first contests for any to keep an eye out on. >>6015662 >>Send someone or a team to investigate the beast stampede, potentially asking your allies if they'd agree to organizing a combined team to look for the source of the beast wave Fu and Qiang. Qiang for more subtle operations and Fu for the... less subtle parts. He's even popular!
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 27 May 2024 01:37:58 No. 6018043 Report Ending the vote, tallying its result now. Loved all the discussion about fashion and naming stages, also forgot to manage because I was so tired yesterday. But I was attacked by a demonic beast while I was clearing that garden. A turkey. And don't believe what witnesses might've said, it didn't just fly over my head and scare me, it attacked fiercely!
Send someone or a team to investigate the beast stampede, potentially asking your allies if they'd agree to organizing a combined team to look for the source of the beast wave:10
-Aodasheng:2
-Yinying: 2
-Qiang:3
-Siwang:2
-Fu:1
-Qinxin:1
-A mix: 1
Hear how much the tournament has cost you, and decide which, if any, of your students besides Lian Luli will be competing in the various brackets/ rings of the tournament, and check out the list of early applicants for the first contests for any to keep an eye out on.:10
Introduce Lian Luli to Piao Tuzi and Yewushi and have her help you teach them how to live on earth and speak:2
Journey to the yellow spring and cure yourself of the curse or sate it with demon blood: 1
Ask Aodasheng what he thinks should be done about the seven slaughtering swords and their attempt to curry your favor:1
So you'll check the expenses of setting up the Garden of the wild empress temple and the tournament, and decide which of you students will be competing in it, and check out the early list of applicants
and will also choose who to send to investigate the beast stampede, and if you'll ask any of your allied/ friendly sects for assistance for the mission before it begins.
Update will arrive shortly
>>6017033 >>6017312 Juniors have been consumed by their heart demons...
>>6017119 Yuyi had four daughters, remember.
>>6015692 >Sad sword maniac noises >>6015712 It really is, isn't it?
Anonymous
>>6018043 >And don't believe what witnesses might've said, it didn't just fly over my head and scare me, it attacked fiercely! Those fools who cannot see Mt. Tai simply could not observe the sheer speed and ferocity by which you and the demonic turkey were fighting at. We must forgive both their ignorance and weakness.
>Juniors have been consumed by their heart demons... I will always be down to be disemboweled by the greatest of cat kind. In the ancient words of forgotten sages, "a cat is fine, too"!
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 27 May 2024 02:34:26 No. 6018087 Report "Yes, I would be happy to show you the ledge recording the current costs of preparing the new temple of the palace of natural laws for habitation and use, and the tournament that will be hosted there, which will surely be once in a century event, Master" Siwang says joyfully, rolling out scroll after scroll of the costs of purchasing and transporting supplies and raw materials for Feiqing to work into furniture or necessary tools and equipment, and your keen eyes notices the amount of rare and special ores the demon descendant with the unfortunate looking face requested, beside a rolling list of fine and highly sought after clays and bolts of raw silk, swan feathers. It seems the smith approached the challenge you gave him in a very organized and strict manner, going down the list of everything the new temple needed to function smoothly and without outside shipments or other kinds of help.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 27 May 2024 02:35:27 No. 6018088 Report >>6018087 <span class="mu-s"> 2506 spirit stones remain in the palace of natural laws and Huanliuxue's personal treasury and wallet </span>
"I have also gathered a list of more ordinary and mundane expenses" Siwang says with a nod, wings folded at his side "The Grand Elder had a number of contacts and old relations in various...organizations throughout Chuan, that she hired covertly to transport this wealth of goods and treasures, which cost a king's ransom in silver and gold taels, and pearls"
Which means it hasn't put a dent in the cash you have to spend in the mortal realm.
"Hmm, I'll have to ask her who these old acquaintances are and ask her to introduce me to them, when she's finished training her toxin resistance" You say, and as if she heard you, you hear your mother wail, a chill going up your spine as you try to tell yourself it is a normal part of her cultivation to condition her body by injecting herself with and drinking enough poisonous substances to kill a small army.
"A wise idea, I didn't like the look most of them had in their eyes, they looked shifty, like natural born villains and career criminals" Siwang says, clicking his beak "Who, who, who they are must be known, to trust them with anything related to our most austere and righteous temple"
"Mhm" You agree, humming as you take another look over a list scrawled in Feiqing's hand writing, that calls for things to subjugate your garden of man eating plants, which includes several specific magic tools and weapons as well as the materials necessary for him to make a imitation of them himself "Could you bring me a list of the applicants who aren't joining the tournament for glory, but the prize of joining our most regal and dignifed sect?"
"Of course master, Monu has been inspecting it daily, I suspect, she intends to figure out who each of the sectless and uninitiated to the world of cultivation applicants are and who amongst them would most benefit the sect, so she could cheat in their favor. And I do not mean to speak ill of her, but the way she cackled as she inspected the list of names..." Siwang mutters, as he hops away to fetch that
"Oh, and I'm going to assist in the effort to investigate the beast stampede, as some of our fellow daoists already are, you are on the list of my students who I may send outside of the borders of the newly formed Chuan Kingdom to check what's actually going on with this beast wave" You raise your voice, calling out to him, making him swivel his head around, with a proud look in his eye.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 27 May 2024 02:36:28 No. 6018089 Report >>6018088 "I would be overjoyed to be trusted with so vital a task and selfless a responsibility. The people weep and suffer, their fields and homes stomped flat by hordes of monsters. If I could give this one life of mine to stop their tide, I would in a heart beat, for I know, my soul would reincarnate and seek you out again, good natured master of mine!" He declares tearfully and ceremoniously as he bows, spreading his wings, before hopping away to get you the list of applicants you'd asked for. Monu screams out again, deeper in the mountain, making you shudder.
"Oh? Do you not have a servant to juggle the expenses of your sect and school?" Aodasheng asks, emerging from the wall, wreathed in darkness except his upper chest, the hole in it, and the lower half of its face "Perhaps I could be of assistance?"
"No, I trust my mother and Siwang for handling the numbers and costs of everything, usually. I'm just trying to decide who I'll have join the tournament I'm hosting, who to send to figure out what caused the random beast wave rampaging across the country, and which of these unknown and fameless names are worth keeping an eye on, when the tournament begins" You answer drolly, already feeling like you'd need to find another deadly foe to fight as a form of break from all the boring and monotonous duties of being a sect head
"Well, my job is to advise you, Lady Huan" Aodasheng smiles as he floats up to your desk and looks over the scrolls, ledgers and records scattered over it
"Siwang is bringing the list" you answer him before he can question where the list of the early tournament applicants is
"Ah" He says, giving an understanding nod, as he runs a finger across a particularly dusty portion of your bookshelf, and you start to worry about him judging you for the novels your spider demon friend lent you.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 27 May 2024 02:38:22 No. 6018093 Report >>6018089 <span class="mu-s"> QUAD VOTE!!! </span>
Which disciples do you send to investigate the beast wave
>Go with Aodasheng's suggestion (Monu, The geges, Qiang, Huili, Siwang, and Baifenchi) >Send your inner disciples (Fu, Ping, Feiqing, Lei, Qiang, Chuandapo, Huili, and Siwang) >Send the ghosts and Ping (Xuebai, Yujijiao, Xiongji, "Pony", Ao, Ping_ >Just send Aodasheng, he'll probably kill a few people, but its unlikely he'll face anything that could pose a threat to him >Write in Which sects do you ask to aid you in the mission, and send their own members to assist
>Five Colors and Five purities (Fa Jin and Fa Tang) >The Summer Sea dawn sect (Master Xia Jinse Shayu, two core formation cultivators, and four foundation establishment cultivators) >The Dusk Marsh wolves (Will only accept if Fu is on and leading the mission, Four core formation cultivatiors) >The Thousand Lotus Hall (A supply of spirit medicines, cultivation pills, anti toxins and drugs) >One of the other sects in Chuan (Write in) Who besides Lian Luli will be competing in the tournament
>Your best and brightest! Have them serve as obstacles in the brackets of the areas they're talented in >All of the beasts, to show off their potential to the world >The untalented and unproven, so they have a chance to shine for once >No one besides Luli >Write in AND which of the early applicants do you keep a close eye on, Huanliuxue
>A young man claiming to be a demon reborn. >High level cultivators no one has ever heard about before, how strange >The Ling Ogress herself?! >Some of Chuan's own noble sons and daughters >Villagers from Fu's city >The followers of your cult >Someone else (Write in) >>6018084 I am fortunate I had a magic tool on hand or I might've been cut down. ..
Meaning I had a pitchfork I was using to clear the blankets of dead grass that I dropped and tripped over.
Anonymous
>>6018093 >Go with Aodasheng's suggestion (Monu, The geges, Qiang, Huili, Siwang, and Baifenchi) Lets see if our advisor's advice is truly advisory.
>Five Colors and Five purities (Fa Jin and Fa Tang) We aren't sending fu, and I don't need summer sea paying blood on our behalf with their foundation establishment cultivators.
>The untalented and unproven, so they have a chance to shine for once Alright guys, time to see how you measure up against the chaff.
>High level cultivators no one has ever heard about before, how strange The ogress wants to kill
Tournaments like these arent her style.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6018093 >>Send your inner disciples (Fu, Ping, Feiqing, Lei, Qiang, Chuandapo, Huili, and Siwang) Just so that Fu and Qiang can just kiss already.
>Five Colors and Five purities (Fa Jin and Fa Tang) The beast wave should be relatively safe and easy. If they are just newly awakened and rampaging beasts at least. Who knows what ling fuckery is hiding within though.
>The untalented and unproven, so they have a chance to shine for once Even our least members should be above the average from an orthodox sect. This'll be good for them to get stuck in.
>A young man claiming to be a demon reborn. HHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM? Cawf cough.
>>6018097 I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually someone taking the moniker of Yaonan to look cool because this really doesn't seem like the kind of event she'd go to. She likes to fight, but she -really- likes to fight to the death. But you never know, maybe it really is her, looking for her old "rival" "grandpa".
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6018093 >Go with Aodasheng's suggestion (Monu, The geges, Qiang, Huili, Siwang, and Baifenchi) >Five Colors and Five purities (Fa Jin and Fa Tang) I think it's a good plan to let the students who have achieved human form to scope out the Beast Wave, with Monu and the 5-colors guys as insurance. We want our most loyal people on this.
>The untalented and unproven, so they have a chance to shine for once Everyone deserves a spot in the sun, especially so while our main squad is away.
This is always something to be concerned about, but...
>A young man claiming to be a demon reborn. I swear, Baoli's wife is going to be so mad, if it's him. A love story that spans multiple incarnations isn't that uncommon in wuxia, but it's only made funnier by how one-sided it is. Who would we even want to pair Huan up with, if the opportunity presented itself?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6018093 >Send our inner disciples >Request help of the five colours. >The untested and unproven. >Demon reborn, High level cultivators (Goooooods!) Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6018093 >Go with Aodasheng's suggestion (Monu, The geges, Qiang, Huili, Siwang, and Baifenchi) >Five Colors and Five purities (Fa Jin and Fa Tang) >The Thousand Lotus Hall (A supply of spirit medicines, cultivation pills, anti toxins and drugs) >The untalented and unproven, so they have a chance to shine for once >The Ling Ogress herself?! >High level cultivators no one has ever heard about before, how strange Anonymous
>>6018093 >stealth squad for investigation: Siwang, Qiang and Yinying. I want whoever is responsible for this to not even realize our disciples were there.
Also we need to establish our own assassin squad already.
Support sects?
>The Thousand Lotus Hall (A supply of spirit medicines, cultivation pills, anti toxins and drugs) Does this mean they won't actually send anybody?
>The untalented and unproven, so they have a chance to shine for once This is a growing opportunity there's little need to put our brightest in.
Though we should make it clear their position in the sect is not being questioned.
>A young man claiming to be a demon >High level cultivators no one has ever heard about before, how strange >Some of Chuan's own noble sons and daughters These are interesting, but the Ling Ogress would raise the level of the tournament too much I fear.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6018093 >Go with Aodasheng's suggestion (Monu, The geges, Qiang, Huili, Siwang, and Baifenchi) >Five Colors and Five purities (Fa Jin and Fa Tang) >The untalented and unproven, so they have a chance to shine for once >A young man claiming to be a demon reborn. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6018093 >Send your inner disciples (Fu, Ping, Lei, Qiang, Chuandapo, Huili, and Siwang) Not Feiqing though, he has to prepare for the tournament
>Five Colors and Five purities (Fa Jin and Fa Tang) >The untalented and unproven, so they have a chance to shine for once >High level cultivators no one has ever heard about before, how strange Anonymous
>>6018093 >Go with Aodasheng's suggestion (Monu, The geges, Qiang, Huili, Siwang, and Baifenchi) Testing out his ability to advise and gauge talent.
>Five Colors and Five purities (Fa Jin and Fa Tang) >The untalented and unproven, so they have a chance to shine for once We have a lot of students who haven’t made much of a mark, especially the newer human recruits (though we also have a clear bias to our beastly ones)
>A young man claiming to be a demon reborn. >Some of Chuan's own noble sons and daughters Though speaking of being reborn, I wonder where that unborn dragon we met ended up.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 28 May 2024 04:17:48 No. 6019194 Report Ending the vote and tallying its result now. Sorry to drop a Quad Vote on you juniors. Also, it seems Huan has won four contests in the Queen Tournament, and is in the one going on right now. I'd make your grandfather very happy if you supported her, if you've registered for the tournament, which I uh, kind of forgot to do myself. I was busy reading Cutsleeve literature and missed the window, I have no regrets, even if it made me too ashamed to show my face there.
Go with Aodasheng's suggestion (Monu, The geges, Qiang, Huili, Siwang, and Baifenchi):5
Send your inner disciples (Fu, Ping, Feiqing, Lei, Qiang, Chuandapo, Huili, and Siwang):3
stealth squad for investigation: Siwang, Qiang and Yinying.:1
___
Five Colors and Five purities (Fa Jin and Fa Tang):7
The Thousand Lotus Hall (A supply of spirit medicines, cultivation pills, anti toxins and drugs):2
___
The untalented and unproven, so they have a chance to shine for once:9
___
High level cultivators no one has ever heard about before, how strange:5
A young man claiming to be a demon reborn.:5
The Ling Ogress herself?!:1
Some of Chuan's own noble sons and daughters:2
So You'll listen to Ao's sage advice, and Send Monu, The Geges, Qiang, Huili, Siwang and Baifenchi to investigate the beast stampede, along with Fa Jin and Fa Tang from the 5c5p sect
And will keep a close eye on the unknown high tier cultivators and the young man claiming to be a demon.
AND IT IS A LAND SLIDE VICTORY FOR HAVING THE UNTALENTED MEMBERS OF THE SECT JOIN THE TOURNAMENT, to give them a chance to prove themselves
Update will arrive shortly
>>6018299 Yes, Thousand Lotus Hall raises healers, not fighters.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 28 May 2024 04:18:53 No. 6019196 Report Quoted By:
>>6018405 She's still in the Basin, with her new parents
Anonymous
>>6019194 >even if it made me too ashamed to show my face there. You can still show up to post if you feel like it.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 28 May 2024 05:34:40 No. 6019234 Report To prevent the cheeky ghost from noticing or mentioning your "Taste" in reading material, you clap your hands onto your desk and stand up with a smug grin.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 28 May 2024 05:35:40 No. 6019235 Report >>6019234 "Can also transform into a human" You guess, still giggling from the mistake he made earlier
"Precisely, you speak my thoughts, master" He says, chuckling himself as he says the word master in a very stilted and unnatural way "And she can raise dead bodies, as puppets or jiangshi. If the beast wave is as dangerous as those frantic messages on your desks would have me believe, she will have no trouble finding herself the fodder to raise an army of corpses"
"Well, then I'll tell them to pack their bags and prepare for a long journey, and have them leave by morning" You say happily, as Ao smiles, probably glad you've taken his advise to heart "You put a lot of thought into who to send, and I agree with your reasons. Now, I'd ask you about which allied sects I should reach out to for assistance but"
"I know them not, and wouldn't have had time to study them enough to give you any advise on that front" He answers flippantly, yawning as he runs a finger down the list of expenses "Why does black bile iron cost so much? All you need to do is chain a forge demon to a wall and force feed them ores"
"Our fellow daoists are too afraid to take day trips to hell" You say with a snicker and a smug smirk, crossing your arms as you spend a moment considering which sects would be willing to help "Well, you'll know of the five colors and five purities, they're a small but diligent sect, and close to ours. Their spring was the seed for the one whose waters flow all throughout this temple, and they've lent aid to us in battle before. They'll probably send both of the Fa twins"
"What realm and rank?" Aodasheng asked sharply, turning to you with fiercely curious eyes
"Somewhere in the middle of the foundation establishment stage, they're nothing special, but they can handle themselves in a fight" You say with a shrug, as the former king of specters frowns, almost like he was disappointed with them despite never having met them
"The grisly ghost of the evil king of centuries ago, Aodasheng!?" Siwang greets your advisor, bodyguard and friend with an owl's shriek, dropping the lists he'd just brought on your request. Aodasheng lifts a finger, and suspends them all in an ethereal teal light
"The very same!" He exclaims, quite pleased to be called such an imposing title "And what's this, Silent death? More tournament expenses"
"The list of early applicants for it" You answer, as you snatch one scroll out of Ao's claws before he can read it before you "The sect nearest to the tournament already has some of their disciples in the tournament proper, as a small favor, and I'm planning on have the...shall we call them, less talented members of the palace join the qualifiers along with the names on this list, and the others like it that are being filled with names"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 28 May 2024 05:36:41 No. 6019236 Report >>6019235 "I recognize none of these" Ao proudly answers as Siwang plucks at his chest feathers nervously, shifting from standing on one foot, then the other "So again, I cannot suggest any course of action without acting as a fool, speaking on matters he knows nothing about"
"Most who have signed have declared their membership of notable temples to the divine spirit, Huanliuxue" Siwang says quietly, hopping behind you as he stares at Aodasheng, as if he'll suddenly lash out and rip out his heart "Or else the members of the noble families of the Chuan kingdom, both from the main and branch families of the ruling Clan, and from their vassals, great and small, but one name is"
"Ling Yaonan?" You ask, smirking still, as you've already brushed that particular upsetting entrant off as some one trying to frighten away other martial artists who've heard of how many schools she's massacred and "immortals" she's slaughtered "Probably just someone trying to scare off the competition, or who thinks her name will bring them glory and renown. Besides, the Ogress may be a brute, but she isn't stupid enough to openly join a tournament between orthodox temples and one heretical sect. She'd at least switch the characters of the name or use an alias. Even if my mother befriended her, she isn't so mindless to walk up to me and turn MY event into a blood bath"
"Of course! This disciple was foolish and still has much to learn about the nature of deceit and trickery" Siwang says, sighing in relief and giving a weak laugh
"Ogress? from the Ling Clan? The holder of their blood inheritance? I killed the previous one" Ao remarks, as he looks down the list again "A demon reborn?"
"Could be a demon I know, I've killed a few" You say with a shrug "We're butchering one for its parts and organs right now, Heh-Heh. Or it could be a delusional young man who imagines himself a devil, or again a scare tactic, but considering they're calling themselves Evil Devil Prince ( 邪恶 魔王子, Xié'è Mówángzǐ), and no devil I've known has had a good naming sense, and they've listed a number of techniques and a style I know to be only practiced in the yellow springs"
"He's the real deal!" The ghost king roars in delight
"We should spy on him covertly, to see if his heart remains that of a devil in this new life" Siwang mutters under his breath, clearly already forming ideas of what to do if their heart still is like a demon's. But they could just be a kid living out childish and rebellious fantasies, but the techniques and style make that seem somewhat unlikely
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 28 May 2024 05:37:42 No. 6019239 Report >>6019236 "I'm much more concerned about these names, who've signed up for the higher realm brackets. I've made sure to learn at least the names of the strongest of the nearby sects, and have heard enough gossip to know which Rogues have managed to claw their way up to prominence without the support of a school or teacher" You say coldly as you point out five names "But I've never heard of any of these names spoken in conversation, and if they're that strong and have lived so long without any face, well, they'd have to be more cautious then I ever was"
"Star Shooter (Xīng Shèshǒu , 星射手), Martial King (Jié Wáng, 偈王 ), God Lance (Shén Máo, 神矛), The Earth Breaker (Dìqiú Làng, 地球浪 ), Immortal Fury (Xiānnù, 仙怒), These sound like art names, think they're enemies hiding their identity, want me to kill them?" Ao asks cheerfully, as he reads the list , by turning his neck into a dragons and reading it from over your head
"I think they're gods. A few of them fell when I attained my gorgeous and flawless human form" You say with a frown that deepens the longer you look at the names that might belong to a god "And when I snuck into the heavens, a divinely empowered arrow pierced through my side. Star Shooter...it might be just a coincidence, but we might need to investigate these five and the Demon kid, and at least keep an eye on them?"
"What contests is the demon brat partaking in?" Ao asked, as you looked back up the list to see and before you could find the answer
"All of them, he hasn't listed his cultivation stage or rank either" Siwang answered diligently, lifting up his head "We will need to get him to narrow down what level of opponents he can fairly face"
"Why? If they have the bad luck to face a higher realm opponent, they aren't worth much" Ao laughed heartlessly, uncaring for the prodgies who might get squashed flat by the devil reborn if he actually is one
"There is already a contest just for testing luck" You say with a glower, shaking your head "We'll get him to back out of the qualifiers for any contest he's too strong for, if he's confident enough to fight higher stage opponents well, he'll remind me of me if he does"
If he does, he might be Baoliwuyawang himself, but it hasn't been so long that he'd be a young man if he was reborn already, right? Maybe demon reincarnates mature quicker? You'd need to read your manual on demons and spirits to know if they do or not
"Oh! I might sign up for that luck contest, make it a real challenge" The former ghost king says cheerfully
"You will not, you're still my secret, Ao" You say, pinching him in the arm and he feigns being in pain
"Your secret hm?, that'd make for a nice title. The Happy Bloodshed's Secret, Heh" He snickers as he slips through the floor and vanishes to do...something? You can't be sure what he gets up to when he isn't at your side, and that does make you a little nervous he might go for a walk and kill some people to stave off boredom
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 28 May 2024 05:39:01 No. 6019240 Report >>6019239 "Siwang, once your heart has stopped pounding, get ready for a trip. You're part of the mission to investigate the beast stampede" You say chipperly, smiling delightedly as you turn to the owl, who clacks his beak excitedly and throws up his wings and scattering a few of the feathers he'd plucked off to keep calm in the face of Aodasheng as he gives a cheer
"This humble judge and daoist shall not let you down, master, I shall fulfill every expectation and with my martial brothers and sisters, find the source of the beast wave plaguing the lands, and return your rightful subjects to their right states of mind!" He shouts loudly and confidently "And, knowing that beyond Chuan, our kind are still abhorred and branded as devils, I shall do so without my wings and talons! They shall be sealed! Until my return. But may I, request to know in advance, who my companions on this journey shall be"
"Monu, Tiexingege, Jionghuagege, Qiang, Huili and Baifenchi. I expect all of the beasts amongst them to also stay human for the entire journey" You answer seriously "Tell them that, and make sure my mother doesn't encourage or indulge them to reveal themselves. Since she is the senior and strongest, she'll take the lead, and I know Qiang doesn't think highly of her or really respect her anymore, but she's a professional, so out of all the people my mother has offended, she's the least likely to cause problems"
"Who is strong enough to trust with such a important duty. Lanfen, Liu and Hong wouldn't, I am certain" He argues "But I understand what you mean, Qiang wouldn't let her feelings get in the way of her responsibility, but the rest of Fu's gang would. She may be a heroic soul, but she was once a career killer, even if she has left behind that bloody past. So she can be trusted to act logically"
"Exactly. And Hong would goof off too much, Lanfen would complain too much, and Liu would listen to Lanfen before Monu" You say, giving your reasons why Qiang, even stronger than the other three, would be the best pick of the five"
What do you do now, Huanliuxue?
>Tell the students you're placing in the tournament, which contests they will be taking part in, and have them train with Lian Luli >Tell Luli about names to look out for, and suggest she either team up with or take them down in the qualifiers for the Qi Condensation brackets of the tournament, since you expect her to win ALL or at least most of them >Meet with the disciples you're sending to investigate on the beast wave, and tell them why they're being sent on it and as their teacher, give them some sagely advise. >Covertly investigate one of the applicants you're keeping an eye on (Which one?) >Invite Master Su and the Five Colors and Five Purities sect to the tournament, like you did with the eight heavenly gates sect, as thanks for helping on the beast wave investigation >Write in Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 28 May 2024 05:40:31 No. 6019242 Report >>6019233 >>6019233 I prefer being an observer, and don't know the other characters well enough to write scenes between them and Huanliuxe, like some other QMs have been doing. And even if I did, I'd prefer to use the time I'd spend writing them writing updates for this Quest instead.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019240 >Covertly investigate one of the applicants you're keeping an eye on (Which one?) The demon. Is he a Chuuni or a Real Ni? Only one way to see.
>Invite Master Su and the Five Colors and Five Purities sect to the tournament, like you did with the eight heavenly gates sect, as thanks for helping on the beast wave investigation They don't have to come. But it's always nice to be polite.
Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019240 >Covertly investigate one of the applicants you're keeping an eye on (Star shooter Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019240 >>Covertly investigate one of the applicants you're keeping an eye on (Which one?) The demon
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019240 >Have students train with Luli >Investigate Devil Boy. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019240 >Invite Master Su and the Five Colors and Five Purities sect to the tournament, like you did with the eight heavenly gates sect, as thanks for helping on the beast wave investigation >Tell the students you're placing in the tournament, which contests they will be taking part in, and have them train with Lian Luli Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019240 >Meet with the disciples you're sending to investigate on the beast wave, and tell them why they're being sent on it and as their teacher, give them some sagely advise. We can handle things on out end
Its our team im worried about. Lets make sure they are on tip top shape.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019240 >>Tell the students you're placing in the tournament, which contests they will be taking part in, and have them train with Lian Luli Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019240 >Tell the students you're placing in the tournament, which contests they will be taking part in, and have them train with Lian Luli >Invite Master Su and the Five Colors and Five Purities sect to the tournament, like you did with the eight heavenly gates sect, as thanks for helping on the beast wave investigation Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 28 May 2024 21:15:04 No. 6019759 Report There probably isn't going to be an update today, since I'm really not feeling well (Its probably food poisoning). So the voting is going to continue, even though its slowed down a bit.
Anonymous
>>6019759 We have so much shit to do, and get more with every post...
Current todo list for after the tournament:
>Induct new people into the sect and design training regiments for them >Deal with the beast stampede >Investigate the demons' involvement in our battle with the Winter Blossom sect and the thievery of bodies >Deal with the demon assassin reportedly gunning for us (unless I'm misremembering?) >Deal with the Seven Slaughtering Swords sect >Deal with the Ogress >Remove our curse >Resurrect Xuebai and Yujijiao >Train Lian Luli >Raise the rabbits >Cultivate finally!!!!1111! Of these new member induction, dealing with the stampede, investigating the demons, removing the curse and finding a nanny for the rabbits must be done before we cultivate, IMO, because we don't know how many years it will take.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019765 Train them seems like a good plan. Build up our bonuses more.
Then we deal with the Ling first, so we can kncok out our curse too, because fuck what the rest of you say, eat that bastard's life force, most economical choice. If you are concerned for reputation, do it in secret after we kill him. or shove him in a sack on the edge of death, go to space, and eat him.
then recruit the rest of the Beast waves, and take the lands of the Ling.
Other than that. . eh, the rest is kinda unimportant? We can have people deal with that.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019765 KillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLingKillTheLing
You get the idea.
But I agree, getting some stuff figured out BEFORE going into a strength coma for a while is imperative. We don't need weird misunderstandings kicking in or anything. Getting Luli to a state where all she needs is time rather than instruction would be a good time to do our own thing. And the whole, curse thing. Probably makes it really friggin hard to meditate when your soul is screaming to FEEEEEEEEEED
>>6019759 I would actually like to see more of the demons. But the bottleneck there is obviously we're not in hell all the time. Though I am curious what the crows have been getting up to ever since they slipped the springs.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019759 >how about plans for once the tournament is finished, As far as plans are concerned, the most immediate is to get rid of this curse we have. Hunting someone strong to devour sounds like fun, but personally I'm partial to going to hell and trying to find something down there, since we've been meaning to take a look around there for a while anyway, and this would kill two birds with one stone. Besides we still have an emperor's soul to barter for something.
Either way, going to back to hell is also on the list, finally see what the crow hag has been up to. That's been a long time coming.
Other than that, we really need to just sit down and train/develop some techniques. We still have not looked into this whole blood plant business very much, and I feel like we have a very cursory understanding of our stellar powers as well. And there is no way reaching golden core hasn't unlocked us some cool new ghost/grudge powers too... if only we trained for a bit. It's just that we have had so much shit to do we have never had the time so far.
Somewhat connected, another thing I want to do is train our disciples a bit more extensively. We are the only member of our sect who has reached golden core, and our next best disciples are all Foundation establishment stage. Other sects all seem to have core formation disciples, and I would like ours to join their ranks. If only because without us, our sect is pretty weak at the moment. Aodasheng's aura was enough to send our best and brightest to their knees, and we won't always have the leeway necessary to protect them. Taking the time to strengthen everyone more seriously would go a long way to ensure that if we fuck off for a year to cultivate again, our sect wont just be wiped out by some random group of orthodox golden cores who decided that enough was enough.
Having Aodasheng on our side helps make scenarios like that unlikely, but still, I think it's worthwhile.
While killing the Ling is a defining objective of ours, I feel it's a little early to do so in earnest. Probably best to cultivate once more first, or at least develop more techniques/train our disciples. Though this depends on whether or not they leave us alone, of course.
>>6019765 I pretty much second this whole list. Some stuff is more urgent than others but that covers most of the stuff I can think of, short of details like "use the god's blood we collected somewhere finally"
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019759 >and what characters you'd like to make more appearances/ talk more. Man, there are a lot.
I feel like it's been a while since the old gang of Ping/Lei/Feiqing has had a real chance to shine. Ping has appeared pretty consistently, but Feiqing and especially Lei have mostly been in the background.
Similarly, I would like to spend some time with the two bug princesses. They are both some of our earliest and most useful disciples, and I feel like they have not had much chance to stand out in a while, on a personal level. Also I just like them both.
It's been a while since we have interacted with demons, which is a shame because it's always fun to see Huan in equally macabre company.
We haven't had much chance to work together with the Five Colors and Five purities sect, despite them being our closes allies, but we are working on that now, I suppose. Might be fun to organise some sect wide interaction though, I'm curious to see how the ex-laggards at the Five Colors are doing.
I could go on but I think I'm gonna leave it at this, I have dumped a large enough brick of text for the moment I think.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019759 I wanna see more intersect stuff
With all the other sects
Maybe some more god fumbles depending how this goes.
Buddhists are cool af especially when dabbing on orthodox cultivators.
Seeing some divine beasts like the dragon and maybe some of the others they might respect (i guess the pheonix) etc.
Lastly, my personal preference, the United States of Dao
Anonymous
>>6019765 So when we do finally sit down to cultivate, where should we do it? Our old cultivation chamber? Ao's thrown room in the lower levels? Our new retreat in the forrest? The moon?
Also thinking about the catacombs made me remember we also need to deal with these pesky golems and finally properly study the forbidden library.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019821 New cultivation chamber, made while we deal with other crap, in the lowest level of the mountain.
Which is the reason to have taken over that level at all.
Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6019240 >Tell the students you're placing in the tournament, which contests they will be taking part in, and have them train with Lian Luli >>6019759 Everyone's made good plans (besides me once again bringing up the map of Chuan that will only grow less valuable if a scramble for territory kicks off), but for characters I'd like to see more, a healthy swath of out students outside of our first few are practically background characters. It's not helped by us being away from home so often because we're either busy or doing the cat thing of vanishing and coming back with new scars and random goodies.Outside of our sect, we still haven't really interacted much with the other members of our alliance, plus the mother and daughter crows have been lurking around for a while and might be up to who knows what.
Big Mac
Quoted By:
Maybe invite the Buddhists if we still can.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 29 May 2024 21:06:29 No. 6020570 Report Quoted By:
Not feeling terribly sick anymore, so, ending the vote, tallying its results. Enjoyed the discussion/ planning. Forgive me for my frailty, juniors.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 29 May 2024 22:05:47 No. 6020604 Report "Congratulations, I've decided that you will be granted the honor of representing the resplendent Palace of Natural Laws sect in the tournament we will soon be hosting. Be grateful, juniors" You declare to the disciples you've chosen for the honor and privilege of having a chance to rise up to shine and make a name for themselves, transcending the common trash they'll be competing against. Grinning atop the lotus altar, seated on it like it were a throne, Zhurou, Houmogui, Senling Zheren, Canlan Yuanquan, Jiangliehuo, Lanfen, Liu, Hong, Niu, Mao Yue, Bo, and Wang Wencheng all gaze up at you with...mixed reactions. You'd thought to include Qinxin in their number, but decided that he is at least as skilled and respectable as Ping is, while compared to the others of your sect, these disciples are untalented and unproven. Sure they've fought a few life or death battles and all had some role to play in breaking the Winter Blossoming Sect's back, but compared to their seniors or more talented peers, well, they're lacking.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 29 May 2024 22:06:48 No. 6020607 Report >>6020604 "Did I hear you right master? I'm joining the tournament, that every martial artist in Chuan and most of its cultivation schools are partaking in?" Wencheng asks, fretfully wringing his hands as Niu frowns and hangs her head "I'm not much of a fighter, I was worthless when I was employed as a body guard"
"Mr Wang, the Pine Tree Warden Records (青松舍监档案, Qīngsōngshèjiāndàng'àn), are a cultivation method that focuses on improving one's lifespan, Yes, but the martial art for it that we've both learned is...well it means we have no excuse to give for why we can't fight, and neither of us have talents besides what the records taught us" Niu says defeatedly, as if she's already lost even though the tournament hasn't even started. Wencheng looks devestated and winces, as if he's felt all the bruises and broken bones he'll earn in the fighting all at once.
"Correct, Niu, you, Wencheng, Bo, I've signed up for the human and mixed martial tournament" You sneer and snicker, finding Wencheng and Niu's reactions kind of funny "I expect you to put in all of your effort, and not just cry uncle and forfeit when the fighting starts, if you complain, you might also find yourself in the battle royal, Heh-Heh"
"And what about me?" Mao Yue asked sweetly, not seeming to notice her two elders' looks of despair and mountain dread as they both look up to you pleadingly, but not saying a word of complaint
"You still haven't found a law that fits you, so, most of the contests. It might awaken your hidden potential" You say with a smile, before turning to a confused Lanfen, whose furrowing her brow, noticing you didn't list her, Liu or Hong with the other humans present "Lanfen, while you're strong amongst martial artists, amongst cultivators, you aren't a threat, Which is why I've placed you in the magic and alchemy tournaments to start, since your Spring Fairy Blossom Art (泉天仙 花技艺, Quántiānxiān huājìyì), but if I decide doubles battles will be a part of the tournament, you're free to join them. Liu, Hong, you're both in the human and mixed martial contests, though I've also placed Hong in the luck trials, for my own amusement"
"Good choice!" Hong cheers as Lanfen smirks, looking very pleased with the explanation you've given her
"Yuanquan, you are going to be joining Lanfen in the magic and alchemy brackets, since you've a talent for both and practice a magic focused law, like she does" You explain, lifting up and turning over your hand "Houmogui, Jiangliehuo, you're both correct, you're in the beast martial trials and if there's room, the human and mixed brackets, Zheren, you'll be in the beast martial trials, the magic contests and the crafting wings, Zhurou"
"Mmmmyes?" The horned pig asks, smiling with all the arrogance expected of royalty. You grin, and hop down to him "You'll be partaking in the tests for intellectuals, tacticians, and fighters, and like Hong, I think it'd be amusing for you to join the Luck contest"
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 29 May 2024 22:07:49 No. 6020609 Report >>6020607 "Well, I had once studied the writings of that great north eastern general, and the princesses can tell you I lent them advise during the defensive campaign while you meditated on the mysteries of ehem, death and vendettas" He answers and probably lies "And while I was pampered most my life, I have crossed this horn of mine with many a blades, and consider myself something of an erudite hog"
"Which is why you're the only one I'm placing in those brackets, I think you're witty enough to not need a second choice for them" You titter, as Zhurou makes a face that looks like he'd be sweating nervously if pigs like him could sweat "I might change my mind later, maybe, who knows. But those are the rings of the tournament I've placed you all in presently, so, all of you are going to start a harsher training regimen, starting today until the end of the tournament, probably. You're going to be in your best shape and clearest state of mind, and you're going to train with Luli, to help her prepare as well"
"Who?" Jiangliehuo barks
"The green haired brat?" Houmogui drones, trying to sound dismissive
"That poor girl as well..." Niu says sadly and pityingly
"Ain't no one harming a hair on her head" Bo grunts, eyes fierce and brow heavy
"You and her might end up on opposite sides of the contest" Wencheng mutters under his breath
"Oh yes, the little heiress followed by a gaggle of fungoid servants" Zhurou says delightedly
"Is she ready for a contest of this level?" Lanfen questioned worriedly
"I'm sure she is, you've seen the kind of rigorous training Lady Huanliuxue has put her through already" Liu says with a confident nod of his head
"She's got a strong heartbeat, and moves with the grace of willow branches in a storm, she'll be fine" Hong says, unusually perceptive for a blind man
"Oh this is going to be so fun" Mao Yue chirps happily, clapping her hands together
"Ribbit, may the best of us stand triumphant!" Yuanquan declares, trying to sound profound
"I will not question my masters wisdom" Zheren states, bowing his horned head to the floor.
"Little Miss Lian is practicing her movement techniques in the woods near our farmlands, join her now, I trust that none of you will bully her" You command with a flick of your wrist as you swagger away from your gathered students "And that all of you will excel in the tournament"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 29 May 2024 22:08:50 No. 6020610 Report >>6020609 What do you do, now that that is taken care of, Huanliuxue? <span class="mu-s"> two choices may be taken </span>
>Directly train and coach Luli and the others, putting all of your energy into their lessons to make them ready for the tournament (Training trial. DC 65. DC greatly reduced by your elite teacher trait) >Leave them to train on their own, and instead, work on teaching Piao Tuzi and Yewushi all kinds of things, and see if Moon Beasts can cultivate like ordinary magical beasts >Interrupt Renshu and Ruolan's research to tell them you've entered them into the alchemical wing of the tournament >Covertly investigate one of the applicants you're keeping an eye on (Which one?) >Check on the Garden of the wild Empress, and see how Far Feiqing has gotten crafting everything needed and why he's treating your gardens there like an invading army. >Officially invite your allied/ friendly sects to the tournament >Visit the Eight Heavenly Gates sect, and meet their beastly students >write in Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6020610 >Directly train and coach Luli and the others, putting all of your energy into their lessons to make them ready for the tournament (Training trial. DC 65. DC greatly reduced by your elite teacher trait) >Officially invite your allied/ friendly sects to the tournament Anonymous
>>6020610 >>Leave them to train on their own, and instead, work on teaching Piao Tuzi and Yewushi all kinds of things, and see if Moon Beasts can cultivate like ordinary magical beasts Guys, we have two little rabbits that got taken from their home and have 0 idea wtf is going on.
How tf yall gonna vote to take a pair of rabbits but leave em alone after.
>Officially invite your allied/ friendly sects to the tournament including that one sect that said they wouldn't join our alliance, but they did fight with us. I like and respect those guys. They have principle.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6020610 >Directly train and coach Luli and the others, putting all of your energy into their lessons to make them ready for the tournament (Training trial. DC 65. DC greatly reduced by your elite teacher trait) >Check on the Garden of the wild Empress, and see how Far Feiqing has gotten crafting everything needed and why he's treating your gardens there like an invading army. Always so much to do. Anyone not competing we could trust with
>Officially invite your allied/ friendly sects to the tournament ?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6020610 >>Leave them to train on their own, and instead, work on teaching Piao Tuzi and Yewushi all kinds of things, and see if Moon Beasts can cultivate like ordinary magical beasts Do I want to give and received more teacher/student boni? Yes. Do I want to teach the rabbits how to live on an entirely different celestial body? Also yes. And besides, what insights might be gained from studying a non-standard magical beast?
>Covertly investigate one of the applicants you're keeping an eye on (Which one?) Devil child I have come to harass you. I mean bargain.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6020623 I agree.
We need to be a decent mother for crying out loud.
>>6020610 >Teach our adorable rabbits things! >Directly train the students DC 65 We can train them all together.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6020610 >Leave them to train on their own, and instead, work on teaching Piao Tuzi and Yewushi all kinds of things, and see if Moon Beasts can cultivate like ordinary magical beasts We did kinda kidnap them and then proceed to ignore them. We ARE a busy sect head, but still, they deserve a bit of attention.
>Officially invite your allied/ friendly sects to the tournament It's high time we finally get to doing this.
I feel bad not training our students, but this is ultimately their chance to prove themselves, if they feel so inclined. Doing so despite being thrown into the deep end will only make any good showings they put on all the more impressive.
Though it's mostly because it wouldn't feel right to put off the above for any longer.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6020610 >Directly train and coach Luli and the others, putting all of your energy into their lessons to make them ready for the tournament (Training trial. DC 65. DC greatly reduced by your elite teacher trait) >Officially invite your allied/ friendly sects to the tournament Anonymous
>>6020610 >Directly train and coach Luli and the others, putting all of your energy into their lessons to make them ready for the tournament (Training trial. DC 65. DC greatly reduced by your elite teacher trait) I agree on the need to take care of the rabbits but we also need to make sure our representatives don't suck.
>Officially invite your allied/ friendly sects to the tournament I'm sure they're waiting for invitations and not sending them out would only sour relations.
>Invite the Eight Heavenly Gates sect, specifically their beastly students so youcan meet them. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6020746 We are giving them a chance to show off themselves for once. They won't have much to learn from if we just teach them what they need to do to win. This is to serve as a lesson to them as they are now. Teaching them after will serve better.
Big Mac
Quoted By:
Should probably take care of the ghost curse thing before it could potentially blow up at the worst time. Especially with a public event about to happen.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6020610 >Directly train and coach Luli and the others, putting all of your energy into their lessons to make them ready for the tournament (Training trial. DC 65. DC greatly reduced by your elite teacher trait) >Officially invite your allied/ friendly sects to the tournament Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6020610 >>Interrupt Renshu and Ruolan's research to tell them you've entered them into the alchemical wing of the tournament >Visit the Eight Heavenly Gates sect, and meet their beastly students Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6020610 >Train the rabbits and the competing students Just knock it out all at once.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6020610 >>Directly train and coach Luli and the others, putting all of your energy into their lessons to make them ready for the tournament (Training trial. DC 65. DC greatly reduced by your elite teacher trait) >>Leave them to train on their own, and instead, work on teaching Piao Tuzi and Yewushi all kinds of things, and see if Moon Beasts can cultivate like ordinary magical beasts Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 31 May 2024 04:35:32 No. 6021777 Report The vote is pretty close right now (Currently sending out invitations and training your students are in the lead, with an equal amount of votes for both), so I'm going to let it continue for a little while. And also because I'm just too tired to write anything tonight, since I once again was sent into the fields to clear weeds beneath a blazing sun and only now got back home. Forgive me juniors.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6021777 Combat or Magic as the opener, both are most likely to have the competitors we're keeping an eye on show up early if we need to squash them. As for how to open the event, maybe use our star bolts to create fireworks
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6020623 I will drop my vote for inviting if it means that the rabbits can get some damn attention before they get PTSD
im this anon
>>6020623 Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6021777 Coat the area in ghost lights and Yin darkness, have our entrence declared by Yinying, and appear in human form. Give a brief and flashy show of blood control carmine mysticism, then decalre they shall be blessed with our beauty for the tourniment and turn into a cat.
Power demonstrated, pride satisfied, point made.
First brackets, higher end cultuvators, martial or magical. Demonstrate what the younger generation can aspire to, and just exactly what we are willing to throw away for being trash.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6021777 I'd say forging first with fighting next. High end first so yah the newbies can aspire 2.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6021777 In terms of tournament.
Firs the preliminaries just to get rid of the actual garbage chaff that are there.
Everyone who gets past the initial filtering will get to see us give the signal for the start of the tournament proper (insert flashy display). Showcase primordial energy bc cat, maybe some ethereal ghost stuff as well. Hold back on overdoing blood and don't shoe our cosmic hand.
Opening match should be luck, making it so everyone thinks they have got a shot.
From there, rounds fo fighting/smithing/wisdom should be alternating throughout the day to give them all proper inbetween time and viewability. They all have their own sections, so setting up their own proper schedules should be easy.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 01 Jun 2024 03:04:28 No. 6022453 Report Slept all day, but I'm awake now, so I'll end and tally the vote. Liked the discussion as always, juniors. Also apparently Huan has taken the lead in the Queen tournament. An most auspicious sign, if I must say so myself.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6022453 >An most auspicious sign I'm starting to think people are voting explicitly against her just for existing at this point. Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 01 Jun 2024 03:31:23 No. 6022463 Report The site where you've told Luli to practice by herself, training her technique and refine her movements until they were the vision of grace, and perfect the strikes and dodges she was inspired to make by the dance like swaying of the trees in the mountain breeze, is the same one where you created your feline and ghostly martial arts. Though the wooden practice dummies are new, since you long ago made them break themselves with the torque and momentum of their own spinning. You arrive before any of the students you'd sent to train with her, with Piao Tuzi and Yewushi in tow, both of them sleeping in a basket lined with soft furs and scented with moon grasses to keep the bitey Yewushi calm and the often frightened Tuzi content and happy. Luli is exhausted already, having spent more time that you had told her to repeating her drills and pushing as close to her limits as she could. Her hair matted and dripping with sweat from its dried grass colored crown to the rest of it colored the same bright and fresh green as spring growth grass. She has forgone her usual style of two girlish buns and braids, allowing it to hang limply around her neck and face, obscuring the green lotus blossom marking her as the inheritor of her family's unfinished and defective bloodline. Her eyes, every shade of green found in nature, are half closed, flinching as beads of sweat drip into them as she continuously sways in place, dodging the swinging lumber puppet before counterattacking with a swift chop of her hand or a flick kick that looks like it was inspired by how reeds or young bamboo poles bounces back up after being bent to the ground.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 01 Jun 2024 03:32:23 No. 6022464 Report >>6022463 "Master?" She asks between Pants, pushing herself up off the ground, covered in dust and dirt clinging to her bare skin and clothes
"I was just watching" You say with a dip of your head "Impressive footwork, you're movements become more graceful every day, and you're starting to show some fighting instinct, that's good. Scrubbing off the dullness of being pampered, Hm, hm"
"Are those the moon rabbits!" She gasps excitedly, getting up much quicker and rushing to get a closer look at the peacefully napping children. You stop her, putting two fingers against her brow, just over her bloodline mark and lifting up the basket with your other hand, over your head
"Don't disturb them, they're still getting used to...well everything" You scold, as Luli pouts and has the good grace to look guilty "And you can pamper them, once your training is done. Some of your seniors will be joining you today"
"Is this a test? A trial by fire?" Luli asks plainly with a fiery look of determination in her eye and as much grit a little girl her age can muster
"No, just joint exercises and coaching, since they'll be joining the tournament with you, and they need to be put through the wringer, Heh-Heh" You cackle as you set the basket down, and pull your hand away as Yewushi raises his head, wiggles his nose and then droops over the edge of the basket, sniffing the air and throwing a glare Luli's way until her notices her hair. Then he begins moving his mouth in a chewing motion, which is enough to make the girl back away, hands covering her bangs.
"Master? What are you doing up here?" That oaf Bo gasps in delight as he stomps up to Luli "Did you and Miss Lian start without the rest of us"
You decide to start his training immediately, by testing the keenness of his sense for danger and the speed of reaction time by kicking a rock into the air and then flicking it at him
<span class="mu-s"> roll 2d100. Best out of five. DC 65 </span>
Anonymous
Quoted By:
Rolled 92, 62 = 154 (2d100) >>6022464 Anonymous
Rolled 81, 80 = 161 (2d100) >>6022464 I call a 43 and 77.
Anonymous
Rolled 45, 20 = 65 (2d100) >>6022464 Anonymous
Quoted By:
Rolled 26, 54 = 80 (2d100) >>6022464 Rollin
Anonymous
Rolled 90, 9 = 99 (2d100) >>6022464 Not bad so far.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
Almost ten degrees! These students are about to understand the meaning of Happy Bloodshed.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 01 Jun 2024 05:04:50 No. 6022521 Report Quoted By:
>>6022478 A Heaven's defying success! 90 over DC! Update will arrive shortly
>>6022495 >>6022512 Wonder what the odds of these results are.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 01 Jun 2024 06:39:39 No. 6022568 Report It of course hits its target, the spot directly between Bo's eyes. Which roll back as he teeters backwards, takes a reeling step, as his body tries to stay standing even as he's gone unconscious. Luli blinks, dumbfounded by the sudden arrival and sudden drop of Bo, who hits the ground with a thud that wakes up Tuzi and Yewushi, who both sit up alert in the basket, noses twitching and ears standing high and alert. A rock thrown up by the broad bodied young man is your next dart, and to give credit where credit is due, Luli is quicker to sense the threat behind her head and react, either through spiritual sense or her connection to the trees and grasses surrounding her. She dives and covers her head, a few stray strands of her green hair drifting in the air like dandelion seeds as the rock whistles just past her head, nearly brushing it as it soars and clips a tree branch, leaving a groove in its bark.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 01 Jun 2024 06:40:40 No. 6022570 Report >>6022568 Liu goes flying back, his arm limp at his side and steaming. He snarls and bares his teeth, holding up his hand to show he caught the stone while Lanfen stares directly at you and reaches for the sword at her side.
You hit her in the wrist, but she only recoils in pain from the fragments of the stone she cut into twain.
They both turn and run when you grab a handful of rocks,
But you're stopped from peppering them with them, or chasing off the other two still standing, since the later comers receive that privilege instead, Yuanquan leaping over their heads and the rock you tossed at him. Senlin Zheren, side stepping to avoid the next, but losing a branch of his antler to the second and stumbling to the ground.
Hong roars, launching a stone at you with his hammer as large as some of his juniors.
You plant your foot on it, slowing then stopping its spin, and then clear a bit of the trees in your way with him when you kick and launch it back into his gut.
"If any of you can make it back to the temple conscious, I'll consider giving you passing marks for the agility and speed test, lets see if any of you have reactions to match your masters, Heh-Heh!" You cackle loudly, chasing after Lanfen, Liu, Yuanquan, Zhurou and Luli, but stop by Selin Zheren, seeing the Buddhist deer is kneeling but not unconscious "Tell the others when they wake up, to pick partners and begin training their reaction time by dodging arrows or sling flung rocks. And keep an eye on the rabbits!"
"As you wish, wise sage" He says, quietly and respectfully, with his head bowed to the ground as you run past him, hooting and hollering to try and frighten or put your fleeing students of balance or make them make mistakes in the heat of the moment out of panic.
Zhurou lasts the longest, followed by Lanfen, then Liu, you catch Luli quickly, since even though she's been training and building up her stamina, she chose the worst day to push herself and do an extra few hours of rigorous training. The pig even manages to avoid a volley of rocks you scatter through the air, before being thrown to the ground on his side by one you flicked at him with your other hand.
They practice for themselves, and then you subject them to a second round of this amusing game. And they all last much longer than they did the first time, especially Hong, since he doesn't try to throw a rock of his own at you. Which is why you hit him with the biggest rocks you can find, since such arrogance deserves punishment.
And then you have them practice by themselves again, shooting blunted arrows or hurling stones with slings at each, with each successful catch or dodge reducing the distance between thrower and target. And while your battered, brusied and in some cases bleeding students practice with eachother, you teach Piao Tuzi and Yewushi how to breath in and fill their lungs with air, and it doesn't take long until you've got them talking. Only two more rounds of flicking rocks at your student.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 01 Jun 2024 06:41:41 No. 6022571 Report >>6022570 "Nwext!" Tuzi chimes, looking up to you with big, hopeful eyes as she mimics what you just said, anticipating praise and a cup of moon dew
"Dwie!" Yewushi barks at Wang Wencheng, who you've just sent rolling across the ground, and then totters over and kicks him a few times as he wheezes and shudders on the ground
And then you teach them how to walk and move around properly under normal gravity and how to say more than one word by breathing in more often than just when they need to speak, bribing them with Moon Dew and play, as they start treating you less like a predator and more like a caretaker or aunt, though it seems it make take awhile for them to grasp that they aren't on the moon anymore, since Tuzi asks and Yewushi demands why the sky is so bright and blue, both of them thinking you had something to do with the sudden change.
While you have your students improve their endurance and ability to hold their breath, by having Chuandapo create rapids in the pond they're swimming to cool off after spending a day or so running away from you and your flying stones. Both of which are just one of many of the exercises you've prepared for them. Though you have to hold Tuzi and Yewushi away from the water, since they're fascinated by it, and try to swim through the air, in both their near human and their natural states, not quite understanding that there are different rules here than there are on the moon.
Luli fastens herself to the stronger Hong and Bo, catching on that playing dirty is a viable tactic it works, while you see Mao Yue get caught in a vortex, laughing until she's dragged under and tossed back onto shore. Along with a few of Luli's mushroom puppets, water logged and "dead". Yuanquan is sitting this exercise out, because it'd be too easy for him, so instead you're having him climb trees while Fu chops them down.
Similar scenes to these two play out for the days you spend personally coaching you're students
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 01 Jun 2024 06:42:42 No. 6022572 Report >>6022571 <span class="mu-s"> Lian Luli has achieved Qi Condensation Rank 8 and has partially awakened her plant life physique, allowing her to survive off sunlight and water alone, and given her the ability to temporarily take on more plant like attributes, and has greatly refined her self taught martial art and improved her symbiosis with her mushroom minions and has revealed her "Star disciple" Talent and her "Dogged Disciple" Talent (Allowing her to keep fighting or striving to accomplish her goals, no matter the set backs or obstacles in her way. Increases her survivability and reduces her recovery time). Hong has transcended the Qi condensation stage and entered the foundation establishment stage at rank 1, and has gained the "Unavoidable Sentry" Talent (Increases the chance of him finding spies or intruders, and refines his spiritual sense to levels that match a cultivator of a stage higher). Canlan Yuanquan has transcended the Qi Condensation stage and entered the foundation establishment stage at rank 1, and has gained the "White Lotus Halo" Trait (Passively purifies and cleanses their surrounding and others of negative energies and ailments) and has gained the focus: Cleansing rituals. Lanfen has transcended the Qi condensation stage and entered the foundation establishment at rank 1 and has gained the "Miraculous Healer" Talent (Decreases the recovery time of other sect members, and increases their survivability when he joins them on missions) and has gained the Focus: Medicine. Liu has attained Qi condensation rank 9. Senlin Zheren has attained Qi Condensation rank 8 and has refined his self taught law of bones greatly. Houmogui has attained Qi Condensation rank 8 and has refined their self taught law of blood greatly and incorporated "Sonic/ Sound" into the Dao of their technique. Jiangliehuo has attained Qi Condensation rank 8 and has gained the "Calm Hearted Berserker" Talent (Allowing him to harness rage and bloodthirst without losing himself to it, increasing his overall intellect and effectiveness in battle). Niu has attained Qi Condensation Rank 7 and has gained the focus: Composure. Wang Wencheng has attained Qi Condensation rank 7 and has gained the focus: Martial: Drunken boxing and has switched his primary laws from pine warden records to The Intoxicating Lotus Flower. Bo has attained Qi condensation rank 7 and has gained the Martial: Defensive focus. Mao Yue has attained Qi condensation rank 7 created her own law, founded on the Dao of Bliss and Laughter aligned to blood Qi, and has gained the focus: Emotion control!?. Zhurou has attained Qi Condensation rank 8 and attained the "Wild Prince" evolution </span>
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 01 Jun 2024 06:43:43 No. 6022573 Report >>6022572 <span class="mu-s"> the bonds between all thirteen have strengthened greatly through the hardship they have endured together. And excellence, like a temple, begins with the first stone laid, and as your students grow and improve, so are you rewarded with new found insight and wisdom! +130 to the next training/ cultivation roll. +40 to raising a disciple to foundation establishment stage x 3, total bonus 1664 </span>
<span class="mu-s"> The hidden potential of your disciples has been revealed/ Beaten into them! </span>
And within a week or two of this special training, all of the participants have improved by leaps and bounds, and revealed hidden potential that had previously been buried inside of them, and many of them improved the self taught cultivation methods they were practicing, to make them as worthy of knowing as Fu's Way of the avenging Warrior and Siwang's mantra of the whirlwind riding judge.
And Piao Tuzi and Yewushi have opened their eyes fully and while they're still pretty strange and often have their heads in the clouds or need something ordinary explained to them, they've become rather fond of you as you continue to play with a teach them, as they live carefree and innocent lives.
"Old mother kept us warm under her fur" Tuzi explains, pulling her legs to her chest in demonstration "Brother Yewushi fought off the...other things, with the big teeth and no faces. Kept me safe
"Except the snake corpse" Yewushi snorts, crossing his arms and pouting "Other people took other brothers and sisters, with mother, but we hid well"
"I like it here much more, all the pretty colors and funny people, and these clothes are warmer than fur" Tuzi says happily as she hugs your leg "Isn't that right, Yewushi?"
"New mother Huanliuxue chases of the snake corpses and is strong, mighty! strongest...er, Doe!" Yewushi exclaims grinning ear to ear as
"Oh they're so cute!" Ju suddenly yells, as you stare at her wondering why she is so far from her village, causing Tuzi to transform back into a rabbit and burrow under your robe and Yewushi to launch himself at her in a flying leap.
She catches him by the leg and holds him up, and you notices her arms is covered in bandages, but beneath that, muscles bulge.
"LET ME GO!" Yewushi wails, trying to bite her wrist as she marvels at him and gently tugs on his rabbit ears
"Ju, what are you doing out here?" You ask sweetly "And hand over the rabbit boy, before he gets violent"
"Save him! He's going to get eaten!" Tuzi squeaks under your robes
"Oh, I was looking for bears. My brother said I couldn't join the tournament unless I can wrestle one" She says with a smirk that looks a little too much like Tie-Tie "But Tie-Tie told me where your holding it, and left her five talking daughters to show me the way"
"Does Fu..." You start
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 01 Jun 2024 06:44:52 No. 6022574 Report >>6022573 "Haha! Hell no!" She laughs as she hands over Yewushi into your arms, who grinds his teeth and glares at Ju as he clings to you for protection and safety "Is this the right direction"
For a moment, you're frozen stuff, dumb struck by the sheer audacity of this once sweet and obedient girl
"Tie Tie has been an awful influence on you" You mutter under your breath, shaking your head "Go back home, Ju"
"What are you doing out here anyway?" She asks, following you
"I was traveling to the sea to invite my underling to the tournament" You answer "And I'm serious, go home or I am dragging you back"
"I'm coming along" She says brashly, wagging her head side to side. You groan. How dare she call your bluff!
"Say can those little cuties cultivate, like the rest of you talking animals?" She asks excitedly "And why won't Luli tell me about her training!"
"They can, and that's because she's serious about it and not playing martial artist" You grumble, now actually considering grabbing her by her hair and dragging her all the way back to Fu's home
<span class="mu-s"> Double Vote </span>
Besides the Summer Sea Dawn and The five colors and five purities, which sects do you officially invite
>Dusk marsh wolves. A few of them have joined already, and you can't stop them from joining, since they always want to fight the summer sea dawn sect >Thousand Lotus Hall. They'll be happy to know Luli is doing well and excelling under your tutelage, and have a chance to show off their skills as apothecaries >The storm Shrine Sect. They are your closest neighbors, and could easily take offense to not being invited personally. >The Innocent Witch Court, since they have been asking you to visit their temple for sometime now. > White Jade Devil Opposing Army. So they'll stop apologizing through letters, and because making a show of forgiving them for their students transgressions, would surely make them feel indebted to you! >the Temple of the Celestial fire. So they don't think you've abandoned them and to renew your promise to fight the ling on their behalf >Write in And what do you do with Ju, Huanliuxue?
>Let her follow you, trying to dissuade her from entering the tournament and the world of culitvation >Drag her back, since she's being annoying and bothersome >Let her into the tournament, at the lowest level, reserved for the ordinary citizen and martial artists >Let her join, but in disguise and with a false name, so Fu doesn't get angry with you >Tell her if she can last longer than four moves in a fight with Luli, you'll let her join >Write in Also, been meaning to mention, that Yujijiao's rank is 3 lower than it should be on the sect doc, and she's lacking her ghostly evolutions as well.
Anonymous
>>6022574 >The storm Shrine Sect. They are your closest neighbors, and could easily take offense to not being invited personally. >the Temple of the Celestial fire. So they don't think you've abandoned them and to renew your promise to fight the ling on their behalf >Write-in >Ju, let me ask you a question close to what I asked when I began my path as a cultivatior. Why do you cultivate? What drives you to improve? Is this a trickle fancy? Are you trying to show your brother you're not weak? Those who cultivate seek immortality. A half baked reason won't let you reach it. >Like Luli I asked her to show me her resolve. Show me and your brother that you have what it takes. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6022574 >Dusk marsh wolves. A few of them have joined already, and you can't stop them from joining, since they always want to fight the summer sea dawn sect >Thousand Lotus Hall. They'll be happy to know Luli is doing well and excelling under your tutelage, and have a chance to show off their skills as apothecaries >The storm Shrine Sect. They are your closest neighbors, and could easily take offense to not being invited personally. > White Jade Devil Opposing Army. So they'll stop apologizing through letters, and because making a show of forgiving them for their students transgressions, would surely make them feel indebted to you! >the Temple of the Celestial fire. So they don't think you've abandoned them and to renew your promise to fight the ling on their >Tell her if she can last longer than four moves in a fight with Luli, you'll let her join Anonymous
>>6022574 >Invite all of them >Support >>6022587 Show us your resolve.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6022574 >Invite all 6 sects listed Some are our friends, others I want to get to know better. I see no real reason not to invite them all, other than that it will take a lot of time, but hey, what doesn't?
>Write in >Find a bear and make her wrestle it. Make sure to intervene if it looks like she is about to get ripped to shreds. Fu gave you his terms, you are not getting a convenient shortcut out of us, young lady.
Win and we might let you into the lowest level.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6022574 >Invite everyone >Find a bear and make her wrestle it. Make sure to intervene if it looks like she is about to get ripped to shreds. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6022574 >All of them >Drag her back, since she's being annoying and bothersome Anonymous
Quoted By:
Right. All updated again with our new disciples numbers, Yujijiao has her features ammended [My apologies princess of ghosts] and this all seems to be in order.
As a side point, would allowing the ghost snek to examine/taste the hunger curse we have, be good for her development, perchance?
After the tourniment, we should spend the time before the scouts get back developing Ling-Killer techniques. Stuff to nullify their fire spec and their soul harming spec. Maybe use Bright heart as a training dummy.
I'll also add
>Fight a bear to my vote here
>>6022614 Anonymous
>>6022573 As another notice, we have about 10 students anywhere from 7 to 9 Qi condensation. If we can get another solid training roll in, then that's +400 cultivation bonus, plus whatever we get for good training.
would be minimum 2064, and from there we would be a "mere" 383 bonus from 3000 on our next cultivation roll, outstripping our previous one, without accounting for our improved meditation chambers.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6022574 >the Temple of the Celestial fire. So they don't think you've abandoned them and to renew your promise to fight the ling on their behalf >Dusk marsh wolves. A few of them have joined already, and you can't stop them from joining, since they always want to fight the summer sea dawn sect >Let her into the tournament, at the lowest level, reserved for the ordinary citizen and martial artists Anonymous
>>6022574 >Dusk marsh wolves. A few of them have joined already, and you can't stop them from joining, since they always want to fight the summer sea dawn sect >the Temple of the Celestial fire. So they don't think you've abandoned them and to renew your promise to fight the ling on their behalf >The storm Shrine Sect. They are your closest neighbors, and could easily take offense to not being invited personally. No love for the wolves? I have mad respect for these guys.
>Tell her if she can last longer than four moves in a fight with Luli, you'll let her join Anonymous
If Zhurou is supposed to be a scholar now, how has he still not figured out that his name is a joke?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6022778 Why would you concern yourself with your own glorious name. It's Your name, and it is good.
Plus, even if he does realise that, it would be quite face damaging to reveal it aloud.
>>6022777 hell you mean, "no love"? Every vote thus far has included them.
Anonymous
Anonymous
>>6022574 >invite everybody, you built big to accomodate as many as possible and it would be a shame to have such abundance of space go to waste. Hell we could invite all the (orthodox) sects in Chuan except the Ling and Winter idiots sect.
I'm not sure it's the right cup of tea for the buddhists though.
Was Ju Fu's sister? I don't remember.
>Let her into the lowest rung in disguise so she can have her fun. Yujijiao being weak is actually good since we can test on her the red dust revival.
We could actually sacrifice the guy who offended us and probably not even suffer some karma retribution.
Anonymous
>>6022839 >Yujijiao being weak is actually good since we can test on her the red dust revival. We'd first need to find her remains. Unless Ling Yaonan took a horn as a trophy, I don't even know where to look for them.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6022614 supporting, especially the show of resolve.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6022574 >Invite all of the options >Support >>6022587 and also look out for a bear she can wrestle and interviene if it looks really rough for her. Maybe we should even look at her and see if she can actually cultivate or stand against a bear before she gets mauled and disfigured like Fu. I have the feeling something like that is going to be really damaging, specially if Fu keeps using his bandages after so many years (insecurity? Or maybe he sees them as a "personal brand"? Something he can be easily recognized)
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6022847 I think I remember that the Ogress took her head and left the rests for us to find, I don't remember if we put those into the magical gourd we found shortly after but even if we didn't the bones should still be there, hopefully.
Anonymous
>>6022574 >>Dusk marsh wolves. A few of them have joined already, and you can't stop them from joining, since they always want to fight the summer sea dawn sect >>Thousand Lotus Hall. They'll be happy to know Luli is doing well and excelling under your tutelage, and have a chance to show off their skills as apothecaries >>The storm Shrine Sect. They are your closest neighbors, and could easily take offense to not being invited personally. >>The Innocent Witch Court, since they have been asking you to visit their temple for sometime now. >> White Jade Devil Opposing Army. So they'll stop apologizing through letters, and because making a show of forgiving them for their students transgressions, would surely make them feel indebted to you! >>the Temple of the Celestial fire. So they don't think you've abandoned them and to renew your promise to fight the ling on their behalf > write in Invite any sect that wasnt strongly opposed to normalizing the status of Magical Beasts.
>>6022587 >supporting Write-in >>6022686 Our error last time was to only look for our bonus. We also need extremely capable persons to guard us while we cultivate. This means helping some of our sect members towards a Golden Core - just so that our sect can survive our next tribulations. We should consider physical cultivation before pushing for Nascent Soul to have at least some growth.
Anonymous
>>6023392 Capable guardians?
Proud sage, Golden Shark can both be called upon as primo golden core tier fighters. One or both of their presence is gonna be enough to deter anyone but mortal enemies of considerable influence like the Ling.
That said, Fu and Feiquing are at FE 4. I'd like em to get to Core formation quickly before we go under the meditation. But hey, they will get their chance when we kill the Ling bastards.
We just need proper scouting. Qiang, perchance.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
Rereading when we attained human form, I think I figured out the sect he was from.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6023392 I mean with Ao under us and the WBS crippled with heavy losses, the two major headaches from that trial are gone, if we’re at the bottom of the mountain someone would need to assault our base and break through whatever leftover ghosts plus whatever defenses we decide to add there. Conversely the moon meme idea eliminates anyone interrupting but gods, but the only reasonable options for protecting us there are Ao and maybe the rabbits if they get super strong.
In short, our last breakthrough had the stipulation of us announcing our very controversial existence at the time which our eventual once just won’t have.
Anonymous
>>6023518 >Proud sage, Golden Shark can both be called upon Only as long as they have nothing more important to do, such as protecting their own sect, meditating, or going on wild side quests just for the sake of honor. Our own own sect is lacking in the higher tiers! Even core formation members aren't going to have the necessary survivability. The Geges were rather fast in their progress and Monu is just about to break through as soon as we get her an exquisite poison, we should focus on these three.
Feiqing is helping everyone all the time, we should make more material available for his own cultivation.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6023615 Proud sage is our servant.
Golden shark is whipped by his wife but is also our underling. They will do as we tell em.
But we should meet with Sharks wife when we extend the invitation. Having her as an ally wouldnt do us any harm.
I also disagree. We should focus on raising our novices to the foundation. Then we can try and raise Fu to Core formation.
Anonymous
>>6023615 If you want the fastest growth, we need to nurture the necromancer moth and luli. Star disciples both, they get double benefit from training.
And our teaching gives them double benefits to the norm.
Its sad they get to outpace their seniors but oh well.
Agreed with feiquing.
Anonymous
>>6023636 Luli also has the time bomb activate the moment she hits GC, so she'd be a bad choice for a guardian as she'd need to spend more time working to get past that.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6023642 Our mother is a CF cultivator rank 3.
Even if Luli made it to CF 8, She still wouldnt become a GC until we woke up.
And students ought not to surpass their master.
Train our stars to the CF, our best students as close as we can, and all our juniors to FE, then we will be comfy to go into seclusion.
Anonymous
>>6023615 >Monu is just about to break through as soon as we get her an exquisite poison Wait a second, can’t we provide the poison she needs? We can make Sinner Centipede venom and if that somehow isn’t strong enough I’m sure we can mix it with her poisons to make a deadly enough cocktail
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6023669 Her Dao is about poison and ice, sure as fuck we can do that.
and if not, there's always the demons. There were some spiders who we didn't like, can try and fuck with them.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 03 Jun 2024 06:53:03 No. 6024466 Report Ending the vote and tallying the result now. Lovely discussions as per usual, enjoyed reading through it all.
Storm shrine mountain:3
Temple of celestial fire:4
Thousand lotus hall:1
White Jade Devil Opposing army:1
Duskmarsh wolves:3
Innocent witch court:0
All of them:9
Any sect who respects magical beasts:1
__
Ju, let me ask you a question...Like Luli...etc:6
Tell her if she can last longer than four moves in a fight with Luli, you'll let her join:2
Find a bear and make her wrestle it: make sure to intervene if it looks like she is about to get ripped to shreds:4
Drag her back, since she's being annoying and bothersome:1
Let her into the tournament, at the lowest level, reserved for the ordinary citizen and martial artists:1
Let her into the lowest rung in disguise so she can have her fun.:1
So you'll invite all of the sects listed, and test Ju's resolve.
So, you'll visit the Dusk Marsh Wolves before stopping by to invite your underlings at the Summer Sea Dawn, Then the Storm shrine mountain, thousand lotus hall, Innocent witch court, the white jade devil opposing army and then the temple of celestial fire for last.
This is probably gonna take at least a few updates
But the first will arrive shortly
>>6022839 She is. She's taken a shine to Tiexingege recently
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 03 Jun 2024 08:15:09 No. 6024507 Report "I am not playing!" Ju shouts impudently, balling her hands into a fist and scowling at you, which for all your fondness of the girl, she quickly realizes was a step too far as your annoyed expression hardens and grows cold like a corpse in rigor mortis as Tuzi's ears pop out of the front of your robes and Yewushi glares back at her. She's in her rebellious age quickly, she played soldier when Tiexingege and her sister left the basin, and before then she lead a gang of other rowdy youths in the city Fu built with his blood sweat and tears. She stiffens, face frozen in the intermediary look between her brazen facade of swagger and insolence and the look of a little girl who realizes she's in trouble and about to recieve a scolding she won't forget.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 03 Jun 2024 08:16:10 No. 6024508 Report >>6024507 "Why do you cultivate?" You ask, eyes wide and piercing as you peer into Ju's, seeing just as much of Shu as you do Fu, as the tears she's cried dry upon her cheeks "What drives you to improve? Is this a trickling fancy? Are you trying to show your brother you're not weak?"
You reach forward suddenly and grab her by both of her cheeks and press your forehead against hers, as Yewushi kicks his feet at her chest, trying to wiggle out from between the two of you as Tuzi docilly tilts her head, staring at Ju with a child's silent wonder
"Those who cultivate seek immortality. A half baked reason won't let you reach it!" You bark, as you let go of her and her legs give way under her, splaying out as she collapses to the ground, gasping for breath hoarsely as they shadows you command clear and race back behind you, though some of the false mouths formed in them seem to snap or lash out tongue's towards Ju's own before they're dragged back into place
Sighing, you pull the tantruming Yewushing onto your shoulders, where he grabs handfuls of your shoulders and glares as murderously as he can muster at Ju, while you ruffle the hair between Tuzi's bunny ears as she turns back into a near human and almost bursts out of your robes.
Then with both of the rabbit children calmed, you reach out a hand and pat Ju on her head, kindly and lovingly as you kneel down again and smile tenderly
"Like Luli. I asked her to show me her resolve" You say encouragingly "Show me and your brother that you have what it takes to live the way we do, in the world that we do"
"I" She starts, before nearly choking on her tongue, when she clears her throat, she defiantly and boldly declares "I will! I'll show you I'm not playing around! That I'm serious about this! I'll prove myself worthy!"
"Only time and action will tell. A king may declare himself a man of the people, but if he is idle, his words are as worth as much as pig shit" You chuckle as Tuzi and Yewushi lift their ears up straight, learning a few new words as you help Ju up onto her feet "And don't think it'll be easy even getting to the point of giving me your answer"
"Wait, weren't you just going to the sea? What's so difficult about walking on sunny beaches?" She asks, blinking rapidly as she tries to make sense of your words, before you gesture with your sleeve down in another direction of the woodlands, away from the fields and easy roads on the side Ju had walked from, away from the gentle, easy flowing rivers and streams and towards the hellish mire known as the Dusk Marsh
"We're heading to the Dusk Marsh Wolves school, deep in the marsh of the same name" You answer with a smirk and smug huff as Ju winces
"Where whole villages vanished down the belly of a monster" Ju mutters, grasping one of her bandaged wrists to stop it from trembling, before snorting and loudly shouting "How exciting"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 03 Jun 2024 08:17:11 No. 6024510 Report Quoted By:
>>6024508 And if any other cultivator of your level was afflicted by specter starvation traveled into it, that nightmare would have repeated in a few days. Luckily, you're crypt meditations have made you something close to accustomed of starving, but you can feel the weakness of it slowly creeping in, and the growing heaviness of your thoughts to serve as a reminder that you need to cure yourself of this curse before it can worsen.
Despite having the bodies of children younger than Ju or of rabbits to whom any source of heat or moisture is alien, Little Tuzi and Yewushi have a much easier time traveling through the muck and heat than Fu's sister. She doesn't give up, or ask to be taken home, and pulls herself out of the green swamp water or else slogs or crawls. She wraps her arms around herself for comfort when you travel through the abandoned villages the man eating plant cleared, and, doing a favor Baifenchi asked of you, you stop by her uncle's empty home and retrieve a bundle of finished and incomplete poetry, and a few alchemical compositions he had made before being drained and shriveled up like a raisin.
"Awful way to die isn't it?" You titter, floating in the air, covering your mouth like a gossiping noble woman as Ju bites her lip, having just been told the awful fate that many men and beasts had met before her brother and his martial siblings cut down the over ambitious weed "Your life force and blood and everything else being sucked out through roots burrowed into your skin, anchored to your bones. Haaah~, it would be one of the few ways to die that even I couldn't leave behind a beautiful corpse if I suffered it, Heh-Heh. And imagine, being alive, fully aware you were being slowly sucked out of holes in your skin the size of pinpricks, but unaware of what was eating you! Imagine the fear they must've felt! The pure terror! As their thoughts became confused and tangled as their brains were drained out of their ears!"
"Stop, you're going to scare the little kids" Ju balks, blustering to try and end your morbid reverie and musing of the fate of most of the scarce few villages that existed in the dusk marsh
"They're asleep, but you're wide awake" You cackle as you float over her head, holding the napping rabbits in a basket "And so can have these idle ponderings ooze into your own brain, so you can realize exactly the kind of monsters your brother has been fighting, and that you will face if you can give my question a meaningful answer, Heh-Heh-Heh"
"And imagining it is going to give me nightmares for a year at least!' She shouts back, hobbling through the mud and dense algae you're floating over like a fairy "But, I won't even fight that kind of monster, cause Fu killed it!"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 03 Jun 2024 08:18:11 No. 6024511 Report "He wasn't the only one, and I wouldn't be so sure of that. Besides myself, there are few "Monsters" that are truly unique in this world" You sneer, rolling over to to lounge in the muggy, swampy air, swishing a finger in the air and popping a few mosquitoes as you channel metal Qi to your finger tips and create a web of electricity between your fingers
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 03 Jun 2024 08:19:12 No. 6024512 Report >>6024511 "Why does a cat wander anywhere?" You question instead, shrugging your shoulders before getting serious and explaining "To cordially invite the dusk marsh wolves into the grand tournament of the Wild Empress' Garden Temple!"
"And who is that girl beside you?" He dares to question, thinking he has the right
"Not for you to know, I'll be introducing her to your grandmaster, however" You sneer as you flap your hand "Come on, lead us to your school, I'll personally hand over the invitation to Shidi Xiudao"
He bows reflexively, and with a face as red as the setting sun, turns on his heel and marches through the muck, setting a pace Ju can keep up with.
The temple of the dusk marsh wolves is built on the one piece of dryland in the heart of the dusk marsh, though you wouldn't be able to tell from looking at it. It is built out of stone, held together with vines and mud, disguising it with the mangroves and towering, swaying willow trees growing around it. A lonely stone road leaves out from it, lit with oil burning lanterns hanging from tree branches like fireflies. And most of the stone used to build its walls and pave the stone is amber, dulled through years of acidic swamp water, the passing of thousands of boots, and the brawls between them and the more southernly Summer Sea Dawn Sect, your underlings.
Shidi Xiudao (銹 刀, Rusted Blade), meets you at the gate, made out of rusted and pitted iron, and oxidized copper, with a lone wolf sitting like a sentry hammered into the surface of the great gates. He still looks like a mud covered homeless person, hair and beard tangled and twisted, splattered with mud and probably lice infested. He has recovered from the injuries he received in the battles against the winter blossoming sect and Xue Laohue
"Huanliuxue, the blizzard quelling cat" He greets you with a glower and creased brow "I would be lying if I said it was a pleasure to meet you again, and to welcome you into my house and home, even if you are not my enemy and are righteously minded. Your subjugation of the Summer Sea Dawn Sect, means your the lord of our hated rivals. I'd lose face if I greeted you as a fellow daoist deserves, but I welcome you into my temple, out of respect for your strength and the hardships your people have suffered"
"I don't intend to stay for long, just long enough to give you this" You say, with a roll of your eyes as you flick over a red jade slip at him, and he catches it and then smiles as he absorbs the information you stored in it
"An invitation?" He asks, fury slowly rising to color his face "The same you had Fu of the two axes refuse, to instead force us to join a conflict we had no part in? Is this your idea of a joke"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 03 Jun 2024 08:20:20 No. 6024513 Report >>6024512 "No. A gift. You wanted Fu to humiliate my new subordinates , even if they weren't my underlings at the time, so I'm giving you a chance to compete against and show them up in front of all of Chuan, and a chance to earn honor and respect from the other sects, and show why you're wolves who refuse to bow and kneel like dogs" You answer, knowing exactly how to turn his feelings around and trick him into accepting the invitation.
You know grudges and vendettas better than anyone, and a generational conflict creates a fertile ground for manipulation, Heh-Heh.
"I've been rude, and forgotten my manners. Please, join me and my family for tea" He says with a wolfish grin, eyes agleam with malice as he imagines the fantasy of his total victory over his rivals you planted in his heart with but a few honeyed and careful words "And...I wasn't aware Two axes had siblings, she looks about the age we induct our disciples"
"I am Ju!" Ju says with a hurried bow, cupping her fist "The sister of the legendary hero, two axe Fu! I am traveling with Lady Huanliuxue to...find the right way to phrase my reasons for wanting to enter the world of flying swords and man eating monsters!"
Shidi runs his hand through his mud matted beard, and you can tell what he's plotting. He couldn't have Fu. But his sister could be nearly as valuable a prize and student.
What do you do, Huanliuxue?
>Refuse the offer of tea, and leave the swamps for the sea, and enjoy the hospitality of your underlings, and relish in being in some place besides this swamp >Accept the invitation, and introduce him and his family to Tuzi and Yewushi and discuss the tournament and >Decide this could be a chance to reinforce Ju's resolve or else break her flight of fancy, and suggest a bout between her and their freshest disciples! >Leave, but not before exciting the old man with vague mentions of what he could win in the sect, since those belonging to sects are fighting for a different prize than the ones seeking to join your school >Try to squeeze out why the wolves and sea sects hate each other so much >Write in Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 03 Jun 2024 08:26:02 No. 6024514 Report Quoted By:
>>6024466 And the five colors and five purities will be invited before the white jade devil opposing army and after the innocent witch court. Forgot to mention that
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6024513 >Accept the invitation, and introduce him and his family to Tuzi and Yewushi and discuss the tournament and >Try to squeeze out why the wolves and sea sects hate each other so much Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6024513 >Suggest a bout. >Try and get the source of their generational conflict. I dont really care, its just good to know.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6024513 >Accept the invitation, and introduce him and his family to Tuzi and Yewushi and discuss the tournament and >Try to squeeze out why the wolves and sea sects hate each other so much Might as well, I am at least somewhat curious. Depending on the answer we will at least know if their relations can ever be fixed or if they are fucked beyond repair.
>Shidi plotting to take in Ju I'm... not too sure how to feel about this.
On the one hand, Ju can join whatever sect she wants, and having her there means a firm foot in the door that Shidi won't be able to ignore, firmly setting him as our ally. Besides they are one of the better sects out there in my opinion, she could do worse.
On the other hand, we don't exactly *need* to cement an alliance with him that badly, and loosing a potential student is unlikely to be worth it.
If she even ends up cultivating, of course.
And is willing to consider spending the rest of her days living in Dagobah 2.0
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6024513 >Accept the invitation, and introduce him and his family to Tuzi and Yewushi and discuss the tournament and >Decide this could be a chance to reinforce Ju's resolve or else break her flight of fancy, and suggest a bout between her and their freshest disciples! Anonymous
>>6024513 >Accept the invitation, and introduce him and his family to Tuzi and Yewushi and discuss the tournament >Try to squeeze out why the wolves and sea sects hate each other so much I guess this is going to turn into something of a sect tour trip for Ju. I doubt her meathead side will gel with the Thousand Lotus though.
Anonymous
>>6024686 Support
Anyways if we can't come up with a way to cure the curse after the tournament. I'll suggest diluting a drop of god blood by transforming water to blood and using that. With the remainder energy being used so something else like grow a blood tree.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6024788 Right, got it, I hear you.
After the tourniment, we immediately go and kill the Ling.
And the problem goes away, we get our knige and dont waste the blood
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6024513 >Accept the invitation, and introduce him and his family to Tuzi and Yewushi and discuss the tournament and >Try to squeeze out why the wolves and sea sects hate each other so much Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 04 Jun 2024 07:41:41 No. 6025414 Report Quoted By:
Ending the vote and tallying its result now.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 04 Jun 2024 09:23:25 No. 6025448 Report "And Judging from that interested look you have, I can assume Young Ju is invited as well?" You say before he can suggest adopting her into his clan or sect or propose training her as a favor to Fu, smirking as you shuffle closer to the Shidi clan Patriarch, turning your eyes more feline to make them seem more piercing "And these little ones are coming as well, they can't be left alone, one will wander off and the other will make a racket crying for me or him"
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 04 Jun 2024 09:24:26 No. 6025449 Report Quoted By:
>>6025448 You don't seen any spirit herb gardens. They probably grow them out in the swamp, or purchase all their alchemical needs from another sect. But what they do have instead is kennels and pens filled with wolves and rare breeds of dogs. All of whom cower as you walk by, their kinds transgressions against yours making your ghostly presence seem like you were a god of death and vengeance in the eyes of common hounds.
"What kind of wolves are those, they're nearly as big as Huili's packmates" Ju wonders outloud.
"Dusk Marsh Wolves. What we used to refer as magical beasts" Xiudao helpfully and politely explains, speaking with a level of refinement and gentleness you'd never expected from a man as scruffy as he looks "Until very recently. They aren't intelligent, but they possess certain magical qualities, even if they are incapable of cultivating"
"Monsters" You cut down his explanation with a shrug "I'm surprised any cultivator noticed the difference, especially with how little of a chance was given for my people to speak before they were cut down"
"A shame that all of the Shidi clan and the dusk marsh wolves sect bear heavily upon their shoulders" Xiudao says somberly, head bowed in a show of that shame
"Have you beaten up a few of these cultivators? Cause a few of them just ran for cover or flew away" Ju asks excitedly, tugging on your arm
"They can't talk?" Tuzi asks, looking up at you after she and Yewushi had been awed by the appearance of the first canines they'd ever met
"Must not be trying hard enough" Yewushi declares, kicking his feet back and forth as he holds onto your arm, as if you'd ever drop him
"Only ascended beasts can talk, and in the grand scheme of things we're pretty rare" You answer happily "And that is probably the brat I beat in the streets of Suiqi"
"It was" Xiudao states, before smiling and running up "My lovely wife! I've returned"
You frown, and narrow your eyes. The woman he is running to greet, looks older than he is, and seems weaker, being in the mid to high stage of core formation, at least rank five and at most rank seven. Her hair is greying, she has crows feet around her eyes and her laugh links fade into her wrinkles. All that can be said, is she looks to have lived a happy life, and looks younger than Monu was when she was a shriveled old hag.
"Is that the Happy Bloodshed?" One of the men surrounding the mother, who all look like younger, less mangy and wild Xiudao's ask, all of them having a lot of the features you recognize as being uniquely Shidi "She's a beauty! What is a piece of sparkling jade doing in the gloom of our swamp? And with such strange companions"
"Don't think with your lower head, Xiaodao (Small Saber,小刀)" Xiudao's wife suddenly snaps, lifting her head over her husband's shoulder as he kneels down to embrace her, loving running his hands through her grey black hair "That one is dangerous, she killed the greatest master of defensive magic in my generation"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 04 Jun 2024 09:25:27 No. 6025450 Report "Mother, little Dao was just marveling at her fairness, and was not being a letcher" A more feminine, regal looking version of Xiudao says softly, shaking his head "And is there nothing more beautiful as a honed blade? Clearly that is the truth of the world"
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 04 Jun 2024 09:26:27 No. 6025452 Report >>6025450 "And who is this smarted mouthed brat. Do they not teach manners on the moon?" He asks in a rough, irritated tone
"Yewushi, be careful, he bites. And there is nothing on the moon, and no one to teach him manners, except for me" You say sweetly, as yewushi pouts, not understanding what he did to upset the man "And the quiet, curious girl I'm wearing as a neckless is Piao Tuzi"
"Like the hare and hunting hound? My wife loves that book" Chao says, when he isn't laughing
You smile proudly, but say nothing.
"Why do you have bunny ears" Shidi Ehuang, the youngest member of the main Shidi branch, Chao's precarious and spoiled daughter asks, as she, Tuzi and Yewushi are sat near each other in a small flower bed near a lake filled with lily pads, lotuses, and the same kind of frog Yuanquang originally was
"Why do you not?" Yewushi snorts
"Because we are jade rabbits, from the moon" Tuzi boasts, puffing out her chest as Ehuang reaches for one of her ears, and Yewushi glares. Which turns into a staring contest, as Ehuang doesn't back down, and keep
"Ah, the curiosity of children~" You purr, reclining on a tree, wincing as you force another of the black colored sludge the Shidi clan calls tea
"if they start fighting, Ehuang will win" Chao says as his younger brother pours him and his wife, Shuang, another glass of tea. Shuang also, gives off an intense, and passive killing intent.
"Back to the matter at hand" Xiudao grumbles "You said the tournament is separated into different contests of various skills, divided further by the cultivation stage and ability of the contestants, and some are set aside for magical beasts alone?"
"That is what I said, yes. Including one for those who haven't started or cannot cultivate" You answer with a nod, as Ehuang suddenly breaks away from the staring match and toddles towards the lake, followed by Tuzi and Yewushi "The prize they're fighting for is the privilege of joining my sect"
"You shouldn't be climbing a tree only a cat can scale, dear" Niyu softly scolds Ju, trying to pull her down as she slides down the face of the bent and twisted willow, huffing and puffing as she tries to reach the branch far off the ground you're lounging on.
"I can do it if I try!" Ju laughs
"I see, I see. We will not be participating in the alchemist trials, or the scholarly exams" He says after a moment of pondering "We will devout our energy and manpower to the martial, magic, and battle royale":
To weigh the chance of their representatives to end up matched against their counterparts in the Summer Sea Dawn Sect. Any time they come up, the air around everyone here becomes electrified with enmity and dense with the miasma of grudges, a few older than any of the members you've met or spoken to.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 04 Jun 2024 09:27:29 No. 6025453 Report >>6025452 "Say, why does your family and the Xia Clan hate each other so much, this kind of generational spite doesn't just sprout from nowhere" You ask casually and wince as the red clay cups they were holding shatter, splattering oil thick drops of Puerh everywhere
"A generation conflict, requires refueling and refanning, every generation" Chao says, as he wipes his hands on the front of his coat and his wife nods, silent as she always is "It is an enmity we've passed down, from father to son"
"And the bastards have proven we need to" Xiaodao grumbles "Take me for instant! I found the only Innocent Witch of my age who wasn't interested in grinding mirrors, who shared my sense of humor, and that prick Xia Donghai stole her from me!"
"My father's second son was crippled in a tournament held two decades ago, by the Xia heir, Red Shark" Chao growls, showing some of his violent side for a moment "I got them back for that, beating his own younger brother within an inch of his life"
"That henpecked minnow tried to take my Niyu from me when we were boys, before he got caught in the net of his beast of a bride" Xiudao says, clearly still furious with the man "It is just how things are. When Shidi and Xia meet, their are blood and tears. They might've proven themselves to not be complete scum in the war against the Blizzard Callers, but it remains true. Fighting side by side them for a couple of days, being saved by them, does not erase generations of wrong"
"And that is carried over to the rest of the sect. To best the dogs of the Xia is to earn honor, and gain face" Niyu explains proudly "When they meet in the road, they fight, when they meet in the teahouse, they fight, when anywhere, they fight"
"Yeah, I know both you and Xia are prepared to keep the grudge going until one of you is wiped out, I can tell that from the taste of the resentment you give off" You explain dully, flicking your wrist and pouring out the foul, overstepped tea when they aren't looking "But how did it start"
they all go silent, having been still telling of why, they personally, hate the Xia and the rest of the summer sea dawn, ranging from stealing a treasure they'd fought through a legion of rogue cultivators to get, robbing them on the road, cucking them, or humiliating them, to things as petty as wearing their hair in the same manner as they were. Even the maid gets in on it, lamenting how she was denied a good education because the man in charge of the tests had connections with the Xia clan, allegedly.
They turn to Xiudao, who strokes his beard, face nearly as red as your hair.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 04 Jun 2024 09:28:30 No. 6025456 Report >>6025453 "The way it was told to me. The Shidi and Xia clans originate from two brothers, who had been rivals all their lives. They were both great talents, so great, the heavens themselves took notice, and offered them divinity, as they both succeeded in transcending their mortality, the two still the only members to have reached the stage they could be called immortals. They were called Shidi and Xia" He explains through gritted teeth "But Xia grew jealous, for he heard the gods whispering that Shidi would be read to a rain fairy, while he'd be given a goddess of the wife, to tie him to the heavens. So, that scoundrel, in a fit of pique, revealed his true face and his black belly, and sabotaged Shidi's ascension, reducing him to a crippled old man in a moment, as he shattered his Nascent soul. The gods, outraged by his treachery, chained Xia to the bottom of the sea, which is why the Xia make their lives upon it, as fickle and dangerous as it is, instead of staying someplace predictable and trustworthy, like the stagnant, unchanging swamp"
"They aren't right in the heads, their thoughts as fickle as their homes" Chao adds "All of them deceitful, treacherous, without pride or honor. It is why they've become your servants. They are all to willing to forsake honor and give up their face when it benefits them. Villains, from root to leaf"
You frown and nod along
"And what happened to the original Shidi?" You ask calmly
"The bride he denied wept, and created the dusk marsh, where he recreated a cultivation method, and passed down to his younger brother, as he was incapable of cultivating after the injuries Xia gave him" Xiudao answered with a sniffle, wiping a tear from his eye "Such a selfless sacrifice, he gave his last few years to ensure his brother could avenge the wrong done to them"
Wait...
"Did Xia have any children?" You ask slowly, a realization slowly dawning into an epiphany
"None. Until he revealed his true personality, he and Shidi were both chaste, neither having taken wives or sowing wild oats" Xiudao answers plainly, slurping tea directly from the pot, as his wife and younger son clap, encouraging him on as you hear a splash
"Ju, go get Yewushi out of the pond, he can't swim" You say as Tuzi begins crying out like only a rabbit can, and Ju takes two steps and dives into the water "Then how is there a Xia clan"
"Well, he cried out to their sister" Xiudao begins to explain, as you realize neither of the clans, if the story is even true, are descended from either of the brothers. And why were their other siblings, who hadn't cultivated before they were denied ascension, still young and alive when they were taught the ancestral techniques of either of the clans
"I see, I see" You say, knowing Xiudao is proud enough to pick a fight if you start pointing out the holes in the story
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 04 Jun 2024 09:29:31 No. 6025457 Report >>6025456 "You should watch your back around them" Chao chimes in, cracking his knuckles "They are all like their founder, you see"
'And they would say the same as you' You think, frown only deepening as Xiudao continues giving accounts of how Xia was always envious of Shidi and secretly working against him. By time he's ran out of stories, both passed down or from his own life, of the many ways his family and sect have been wronged by the summer sea dawn and the xia clan, night has fallen.
"Can't we stay the night? The swamp is eerie at night and I am so tired" Ju asks tiredly as you leave the temple, after having dinner with the family and having your ears filled with reasons you should abuse and bully your new subordinates, as the men of the family get drunk and realize you could make their rivals eat dirt if you ordered them to. And they were only half joking when they did suggest you do just that.
"I'll carry you, besides, wouldn't you rather wake up at the beach instead of being woken up the buzzing of mosquitos and wet heat?" You ask
"The beach, is where sand is" Tuzi says excitedly "I can't wait! I want to play in the sand! And see all the water"
"I wanna swim!" Yewushi sniffles, still upset that he couldn't swim, despite having only watched others do it from a distance.
The welcome you get, even on the shore miles away from the island temple of the summer sea dawn, is much more friendly and warm than the one you received in the swamp
In fact, it seems the seaside town has turned into one of the hubs of Huanliuxue worship in Chuan. And they're holding a festival in your honor, with members of the Summer Sea Dawn sect walking the streets, giving alms and charity to the adoring crowd who cheer as they see you in the sky.
"Drop me in the sea, I don't care" Ju groans, having found flying to not be to her liking
"The sea, the sea, the sea!" Tuzi cheers, bouncing up and down on your back
"There are this many people in the world?" Yewushi marvels, as one of the pink robed cultivator flies up, and you see they're one of Xia Jīnsè-shāyú (Golden shark, 金色 -鲨鱼), and judging from the red paint on his face, he must be the red shark Xiaodao told you about, who stole a girl from him.
"Greetings, honored matriarch! We heard you were traveling here, so we prepared a celebration to welcome you. My father is waiting by the shore, to give a display of his techniques" He says, so friendly its like the two of you are old friends, not at all resembling the dull witted brute Xiaodao spoke of "I, Hong-Shayu greet you, Lady Huanliuxue, and I am glad to meet your acquaintance. My bastard brother has spoke fondly of you, as has my father, which is a rare thing in deed when they both agree. Well, with that bastard brother at least"
"Is your mother there to?" You ask curiously and he nods
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 04 Jun 2024 09:31:00 No. 6025458 Report >>6025457 "She is, in the water, gathering the sharks for the ceremonial display my father will put on. Are these some of your students?" He says, still smiling, now grinning wide enough to show he's sharpened his teeth to more closely resemble a shark "I can take them down, show them around the town and festival, while you and my father discuss matters that are beyond my station to hear"
What do you do, Huanliuxue?
>Accept the offer, and tell him to keep a close eye on the rabbits, and then, instead of discussing anything important, Ask Jinse-Shayu when the Xia clan and Shidi clan became mortal enemies >Enjoy the festival being held in your honor, and grace your worshippers with your presence and meet with the few brave enough to have signed up for the tournament already, also, see if you can teach the rabbits to swim with Ju's help >Wait for the demonstration of the Xia clan's techniques to end, and then declare their official invitation to your tournament. and that you invited the Shidi clan, so they can show them up in the contests! >Fly instead to their temple, and wait for Jinse-Shayu to show up there, and while you wait, explore the surrounding sea, to see if the story the shidi clan about their founder being chained under the sea has any truth to it >Write in You will receive an update on the goings on of the applicants you're keeping an eye on, next update
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6025458 >Enjoy the festival being held in your honor, and grace your worshippers with your presence and meet with the few brave enough to have signed up for the tournament already, also, see if you can teach the rabbits to swim with Ju's help Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6025458 >Enjoy the festival >Do ask for the cause of this generational fued I'm suddenly much more interested. We knew grudges could transcend time, but to observe one that's being kept alive through active effort is worth study.
And if our followers are here. . . Oh no, the Primitivists.
Oh right
>Make the sweeping declaration, if we haven't already, about our friendship with Buddhists as sister faiths. don't remember if we did or not.
Anonymous
>>6025458 My tin foil hat goes that the rain god played both brothers to gate keep them from the heavens. Under the orders of someone and had two cripple each other.
Now why? My crack pot theory is the summer sharks and dusk wolves... Are descended from magical beasts. It's literally in the name they were sworn brothers even if they were rivals and got honey potted to injure each other.
But also they are not by blood related to the sect and each took disciples of humans to pass down their cultivation technique. Asking them to watch over their clan of unawakened beasts.
And from their ramblings, as they taught the humans felt bitter to their sworn brother and talked mad shit about them.
Creating a grudge that has lasted to this day. And to save their sects from the purge of everything awakened beasts. Changed the details a bit.
But that's just a theory. A crack pots theory.
Anonymous
>>6025458 >Enjoy the festival being held in your honor, and grace your worshippers with your presence and meet with the few brave enough to have signed up for the tournament already, also, see if you can teach the rabbits to swim with Ju's help >Ask Jinse-Shayu when the Xia clan and Shidi clan became mortal enemies Well now my interest has been piqued, We have to at least as them too.
>>6025631 >My crack pot theory is the summer sharks and dusk wolves... Are descended from magical beasts. That sounds plausible. Explains the names, really.
>Asking them to watch over their clan of unawakened beasts. We already saw that the Shidi keep literal Dusk Marsh Wolves on their sect grounds, if we can confirm that the Summer Sea Dawn Sect keep some strange pet sharks around, then that would indicate that their may be some truth to this theory. It would still be a longshot, but hey.
If we do find some strange sharks here, we need to awaken one along with a dusk marsh wolf. You know, to give both sects a mascot. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6025458 >>Accept the offer, and tell him to keep a close eye on the rabbits, and then, instead of discussing anything important, Ask Jinse-Shayu when the Xia clan and Shidi clan became mortal enemies Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6025458 >Enjoy the festival being held in your honor, and grace your worshippers with your presence and meet with the few brave enough to have signed up for the tournament already, also, see if you can teach the rabbits to swim with Ju's help >Ask for their side of the generation feud story The magical beast ancestry theory seems probable, thought this does make me want to ask the other 3 sects we know little about what their origins are (because I eat worldbuilding and lore for breakfast, but also because frankly we know little about our neighbors and knowledge is power)
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 05 Jun 2024 06:40:29 No. 6026351 Report Quoted By:
Forgive me juniors, no update today, unfortunately. So the vote is going to continue awhile longer.
>>6025631 >>6025664 Nice theories. Juniors are of clear and sagely mind
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6025458 >>Accept the offer, and tell him to keep a close eye on the rabbits, and then, instead of discussing anything important, Ask Jinse-Shayu when the Xia clan and Shidi clan became mortal enemies >>Enjoy the festival being held in your honor, and grace your worshippers with your presence and meet with the few brave enough to have signed up for the tournament already, also, see if you can teach the rabbits to swim with Ju's help Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6025458 >Accept the offer, and tell him to keep a close eye on the rabbits, and then, instead of discussing anything important, Ask Jinse-Shayu when the Xia clan and Shidi clan became mortal enemies >Enjoy the festival being held in your honor, and grace your worshippers with your presence and meet with the few brave enough to have signed up for the tournament already, also, see if you can teach the rabbits to swim with Ju's help Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 06 Jun 2024 10:51:33 No. 6027239 Report Quoted By:
Ending the vote and tallying it now, thank you for your patience.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 06 Jun 2024 12:46:47 No. 6027289 Report Quoted By:
This is a big one. Resting for a day really paid off
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 06 Jun 2024 12:47:47 No. 6027290 Report "That will not be necessary, this festival is being held to honor and praise me? A celebration of my celebrants, my cat mask wearing cultists have all gathered by the shore. It'd be unbecoming and rude of me to not make an appearance and enjoy all the treats and games they've made to worship me" You declare, grinning cheekily and flipping a hand through your hair as Red Shark frowns and scratches his chin, grimacing and grinding his faux fangs together.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 06 Jun 2024 12:48:48 No. 6027291 Report >>6027290 "That is one of the sages of the island! They were telling the truth that they were followers of The Happy Bloodshed!"
"Our alms and donations went to the right place! Worth every piece of cash!"
"Mistress Huanliuxue brought a child from the sky? Do you think she's a lost godling?"
"Hieee! The grass on the street! Its growing and changing just from being near her! Incredible"
"The air itself feels electrified, Her divine presence is clear as the back of my own hand"
"Quick! Send a boat out to the fishing trawlers! Tell them to bring back as much fresh fish as they can carry! Now!"
"There are stars in her fur! The priest never told me her coat glowed like the night sky!"
"Oh my! Two of her aids have come as well! Young rabbit eared servants of the guardian of all good children! My my! I'll need to get my kids a pet bunny or two, to honor them"
"Oi! Sea hermit! Step out of the way! You're blocking our goddess' radiant spiritual rays and polluting her pure presence"
"Your worshippers can be a bit rowdy, can't they, spirit guardian" Hong-Shayu snickers, glancing over the gathered crowd as you silently revel and relish in their worship and praise, feeling the odd substance known as faith rising up from their strong faith and belief in you, you can see it in the air, like motes of hazy, hot air, distorting your field of view like you were glimpsing into the nine heavens themselves
"I can be rather rowdy myself, when I have a taste for mischief" You declare, using your most regal and authoritarian tone, speaking with as much imperial and sagacious airs as you can conjure. And the whole crowd gasps in awe, some faint and fall over, and now everyone of them whose still conscious are on their hands and knees, offering you worship "Acting a little wild and unruly has never hurt anyone"
"It certainly has" Hong-Shayu chuckles, covering his mouth "But being carefree does little harm, especially at parties like this, Hrn-hrn"
"I need to train harder' Ju says weakly, looking more pale than green now "Oh, there's more of them here? Is the whole town going to mob us"
"Probably" You say as you notice Tuzi and Yewushi staring at the masked men and women and kids staring at them "Don't be afraid, these are my faithful followers, they're just curious about you, and to answer your question, those are masks they're wearing"
"Ah!' Both of them gasp, realizing there isn't an army of cat faced people surrounding them
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 06 Jun 2024 12:49:49 No. 6027292 Report >>6027291 "Th..the goddess herself" A pig faced man with a large, protruding belly says, trapezing his way to the front of the crowd, nearly tripping over a few of your worshippers "I..we didn't think our celebration would attract your merciful self to our humble seaside town, nor that you would appear to us in your original, divine form and bless us all with your sacred air and holy presence, forgive me...We...Us for the slight of preparing so meager a festival! We will bring all you desire in offerings and gifts, but I, we aren't certain what deities like yourself enjoy or what sort of things you find entertaining"
He reeks of fear. He truly didn't expect you to show up and probably used your worshiper's fervent faith to make a quick fortune for himself. You smirk. He pales when he sees your fangs
"You mean, you didn't prepare any games for a ox sized cat? The aromas wafting on the wind tell me the offerings you've already prepared will be pleasing enough, very well, I'll deign to walk as you do" You say, holding back a snicker or a cackle, enjoying playing the role of a beneficent and dignified goddess. Hong-Shayu and Ju's eyes pop, they know that clothes don't appear when you adopt your human form.
But you were prepared for that, and put on a show for the crowd of cat worshippers, by kicking off the ground and with a burst of impressive, but harmless light made by exhaling a bit of turbid Qi before igniting it with a pulse of freshly refined spiritual energy, you transform into your human form in the middle of it, appearing as a silhouette, and then burn a fair amount of your stamina and Qi to stop time long enough to dress yourself in attire perfect for a beach side outing, one of your summer robes you've customized by cutting the sleeves off and chopping it so only covered the upper half of your legs and thighs
The local magistrate's jaw has nearly fallen off, and the crowd is staring up in awe as you descend back down to them, transformed before their eyes, and having taken some moments of stopped time to tame your wild mane of hair into a more ornate and princess-esc style, taking the time to pull some of it through beads and stick a hair pick shaped like a blackened femur bone through the bun you gathered most of it in, the loops and subtle braids flowing in the wind, the beads and bells you tied to them chiming as you touch down and trace your hand around you face, fluttering your eyelashes as you show off your human features and the makeup you hastily though carefully applied.
Silence falls
"I...what an incredible display of power, goddess" the magistrate stammers, eyes so wide open they look like they're about to drop from his head "If I may be so honored as to show you around our humble, and meager celebration of your most righteous benevolence?"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 06 Jun 2024 12:50:50 No. 6027293 Report >>6027292 "Hmm, you do not deserve the honor, but I'd be happy if my loyal worshippers guided me and my subordinates through the venues of this earthly celebration and the street of this mortal town" You declares, as the magistrate smiles in relief and wipes his brow, nodding as he looks over the crowd, thinking he'll be allowed to pick out your guides, but you already have four in mind "Hǎimāo (Sea Cat, 海猫), Chuánmāo (Boat Cat, 船猫), Scratching Post (Māozhuābǎn, 猫抓板) Happy Maid (Huānnǚpú, 欢 女仆), you've petitioned to join my immortal temple, step forward, so I may know who you are"
Haimao, Chuanmao, are both muscled and broad shoulder men tanned by the sea, one with a mustache and the other with a beard, both having a cat's paw print tattooed on their face, one with an anchor over his shoulder and the other a chain with a grappling claw on the end of it
"We are the brothers, Haimao" Haimao begins
"And Chuanmao!" Chuanmao finishes "We were saved from a tidal wave by the cat queen's moon! and so have devoted our lives to you"
"I am scratching post" Maozhuaban says shamelessly "I've gave up my old name when I joined the local shrine, and as I am the only member who knows a few sword tricks, it is I who was sent as an emissary to your divine palace"
"One of your divine servants met me on the road, saving me from bandits, and I promised to worship you and serve you" Huannupu says breathlessly, crying just from being in your presence "I even took on the first character of your name to honor you, my guardian!"
"You'd all die from jealousy if you knew how close my big bro and her were" Ju giggles under her breath
"Oh, all of you know how to fight, judging from how you hold yourself and those muscles, and you're all armed and ready to brawl" You snicker "Well, if you prove worthy of joining my temple, I'll welcome you with open arms, for now, prove your faith by showing me a good time, and helping me entertain my young servants"
"Such a kindly soul, to think a goddess like her would take little deities on playdates, giving them tasks to make them feel important!"
"Eh, did that girl by her mention something about a big bowl? Does the cat goddess want a large offering?"
"I think she said a big bo! The empress must want to see us fight, to show off the strength we have received from our faith!"
"it is unforgiveable we did not know of her servants, come! We must construct idols and a shrine to house them beside hers immediately"
"Next to the owl judge and the insect princesses"
"Of course! These children to are her beloved servants"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 06 Jun 2024 12:51:52 No. 6027294 Report >>6027293 "Well, this is fun" Hong-Shayu chuckles, as you follow your four worshippers through the festival, and enjoy the finest dishes, teas, drinks, games, entertainment and gifts the seaside town can provide, followed all the while by a procession of your faithful followers, some of whom are bold enough to walk up and ask you to bless their child or to give their prayers to you directly, asking for their newborn babes to live happy lives and grow up as fearless and strong as yourself, while others request a strand of your hair or to be clawed across the face.
Scratching Post does, and you obliged because his handsome face would look better with a scar made from a cat scratch
And once you tired of the delights and games of the festivals, and the worship and praise of your followers turns from enjoyable to bland and annoying, you walk to the sea, and issue a "Divine mandate" To your four may be students and Ju, to teach your "Divine subordinates" how to swim in mortal waters, and sit on the shore, watching the big and strong brothers mime how to paddle like a dog, while scratching post and Happy maid carve a small inlet into the sand, making a pond as Ju splashes and pours water over the heads of a giggling Tuzi and a shouting Yewushi
"Ohoho! I was wondering what all the excitement was, mistress" Jinse-Shayu says "I didn't expect the mortal's little festival to please you so much, you've ran a riot through the port, a few of the old temples are being tore down to make new shrines for those little kids over there. You sure now how to make things exciting, my lady"
"Ah, Master Xia, I've been wondering when you'd rise up from the surf" You tease, tittering as you turn to him and see his bare, shark bitten chest blocking the sunset "Took you long enough! I expect you to greet me speedily next time I visit"
"Forgive me, forgive me, I need to coral the local sharks into one spot, so my wife and I could show off our techniques, and why we will honor the palace of natural laws in the first tournament it'll host" He says with a wink, clearly planning something dirty to try and please you in the golden core level contests "And that is why you've come down to our sea, isn't it, to invite us officially and honor us as your loyal servants"
"Of course" You say, holding out a red jade slip, but lift it out of his hands before he can grab it "However, while I've enjoyed the party you've thrown for me, I do have something to ask of you, my subordinate"
"Of course, as the head of the Tomb, Mountain and Sea, you can ask anything of me. My son Hong has told me you quite enjoyed the pearl jewelry sold in town, I could gift you a far finer set of necklaces if you asked, enchanted pearls, every color of the rainbow" He says, smile not changing at all
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 06 Jun 2024 12:52:52 No. 6027295 Report >>6027294 "Careful not to offer something like that within ear shot of your wife, and while that is kind of tempting, since pearls are fun to roll around, what I want to ask is more serious, why do the Xia and Shidi hate eachother" You ask as his smile wanes and shrinks back like the tide pulling from shore
"Must've asked those mangy dogs as well, since we saw you pass by their temple" he grunts rolling his eyes "Whatever they claimed, is a bunch of lies. The real story of why we started fighting and why we can't exist under the same heavens as them, has been passed down through the generations of my family. They like to say the Xia founder was a jealous swindle, a treacherous bastard, an envious villain and notorious cheat. And the Shidi founder is a tragic hero, brought low by treachery and cheap tricks, denied his immortality because of a simple matter of which women which of them got. The jackasses"
You could see swords and blood flying if Xia told Shidi that to his face
"So what is the truth?" You ask, frowning as you glance over, seeing Ju Hold Tuzi around her waist, as she holds her in the calm pool of water, as she thrashes her legs and arms, trying to swim, as your followers try more and more desperately to demonstrate the proper form to her. Yewushi is already swimming, though like a rabbit does. Seems his instincts are stronger than his sisters
"Well, to begin" Xia says, crossing his arms and sitting down on the sand, eyes closed as he bows his head "They forgot the actual founders! They got the order of master and disciple mixed up. But not that the true founders were courted by gods. The Xia founder, was a woman so fair she could enchant the sea itself, that her smile could stop the fiercest of storms and where she walked, the waves dared not rise so they wouldn't risk touching her fair skin. And the Shidi founder, was a swamp Yokel like all their descendants, both of them born to the same mother and the same father, but the brother was of unchanging mind and stagnant thought, who feared the unknown and couldn't think of much without being told. Time and time again, he'd try to pull his sister away from the sea and back to the swamps"
"And then what happened to stop it?" You asked, finding this story much more entertaining that Shidi's but that is probably because Xia is more of a natural entertainer than Shidi is.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 06 Jun 2024 12:53:52 No. 6027297 Report Quoted By:
>>6027295 "One day, she caught the attention of a god of the sea, who wished to take her as his bride, when she ascended. They made plans, and even pleaded for the gods to bring the dull witted Shidi to the heavens with them, as he had managed to stay close behind his sister's heel all the while, but, the original bride of the sea god, the goddess of grain and her sister the goddess of the rain, were infuriated by this, and so taught Shidi a sealing technique to trap the god on the earth and cripple Xia's cultivation, as they'd already connected their spirits to eachother" Xia explains, wiping tears from his eyes "And when her love was trapped beneath the sea, and her immortality denied, she used the last of her strength to blast and cripple her easily fooled brother and the jealous goddess who took her husband from her, and locked them away deep in the swamp. That's why the Shidi clan stays in the swamp, because they can't figure anything out without asking advice from those old crones, while we Xia maintain our founders watch over her imprisoned lover"
"And...did Xia or Shidi either have kids?" You ask slowly, realizing that Xia's story as an inverse of Shidi's, which makes everything much more complicated than you care for it to be
"Oh no. Xia gave up her divinely inspired arts to her little brother who took after her, and Shidi dragged his twin off to fill his ears and brains with mud" Xia explains, and you start grinding your teeth, furious that the only similarity shared between the two stories is that neither clan is related to their "true" founder and that they were once related
"Is something wrong, Huanliuxue?" Xia asks, fretfully, fearing your wrath
"No, just got something stuck between my teeth, when is your exhibition going to start?" You ask
"Once my wife has cleared the man eating sharks from the bay" He says, as out by the horizon you see a huge woman, brawnier than fu and nearly as big as Feiqing, with arms that could drag a ship to shore, hurl a whale sized shark into the sky, salt white hair flowing behind her. You blink, making out the scars and sunburn covering her from here
"That's your wife?" You ask, blinking
"Of course it is, we Xia prefer strong women. Which is why my bastard fell so hard for you he now lives like a wild man" He laughs "Her name is Yányù (盐玉 , Salt Jade), I met her one one of the barbarian islands out on the sea when we were young, we both nearly killed each other then"
"And she hasn't killed you, despite all your cheating?" You ask
"She's tried" He answer shamelessly.
The display of their combined technique and dance like martial arts, goes all night and well into the morning, with Ju and the rabbits falling asleep a quarter of the way through the Xia patriarch and matriarch showing off the basics of their spear and net styles in the shallows, surrounded by oddly domesticated sharks.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 06 Jun 2024 12:54:53 No. 6027298 Report It is nearly night again when the two of them show of the last of their advance techniques, which involves creating a whirlpool and creating a massive shark's jaw formed out of Qi inside of it, though you couldn't hear the name they called it over the roaring storm and crashing waves they were whipping up, expelling as much spiritual energy as they both were.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 06 Jun 2024 12:55:56 No. 6027299 Report >>6027298 And while you talk with them excitedly, and avoid the topic of why Ju is with you, you learn that Monu has built a spy ring of her old acquaintances to keep any eye on the applicants to the tournament
And the five, powerful yet unknown cultivators, are all staying at the same in in the same city, one of Suiqi and Fu's city's two sisters, Tiān'éqī (天鹅栖, Swan's Rest) and have been keeping to themselves and not interacting with the other rogues staying in the city or the city itself, outside of spending ludicrous amounts of money whenever they leave the inn.
And that Feiqing has been complaining about the Evil Devil Prince, who...has been staying at your garden.
Apparently he showed up and frightened Feiqing by waking him up as he was taking a nap in the springs, and asking him when the tournament would've started and tried to flatter him as he scrambled to get dressed. And now he's been hanging around, convinced that he and Feiqing new eachother in a past life, and that he had forged him a sword that devoured souls. And Feiqing has been desperately sending letters pleading with you to pry the younger man away from him, as he just hasn't left him alone and keeps calling him something like...the god devouring furnace and the poor blacksmith is worried his reputation is going down the gutter with how oddly the other early arrivals are looking at him now.
Monu, Tiexingege, Jionghuagege, Qiang, Siwang and Baifenchi leave after you tell them about the festival you enjoyed and want to have repeated every year if it can be, with you mother giving you a hug and kiss on the forehead before flying off.
And as you sit down, to decide what to do about the devil kid, if anything, Ju clears her throat and walks up to you
"I think I know why I want to be a cultivator, Miss Huanliuxue. I was to be strong, because I'm tired of being weak. You were right, the most danger I've ever been in, was when Fu nearly died and our father did to save me. I...I know I'm helpless. But I don't want to be. It makes me sick, being the one who needs protecting and saving. My brother, Mother, Boss Black Iron, You, no matter where or when, someone else is watching over me. I don't want to be the one protected, I want to be the protector. To be strong, so no one else has to do what Fu did, for me or anyone else, did. And if someone has to, it should be me! I won't act tough anymore, I'll be tough and strong, so everyone else can feel safe and not have to worry about tigers or demons or fuck it, even gods devouring them!"
"Hmm" You hum
"Wow, You're cooler than I thought!" Yewushi marvels "That's incredible!
"Why would gods eat people, don't they get enough food from their offerings" Tuzi wonders out loud
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 06 Jun 2024 12:56:57 No. 6027302 Report >>6027299 <span class="mu-s"> Double vote </span>
Do you accept Ju's reason for cultivating
>Yes >No >Tell her it needs a little more refining >Whole heartedly approve of it >Write in And what do you before traveling to the Thousand Lotus hall, Huanliuxue?
>Investigate the five mysterious cultivators, in disguise, so rush back and possess Yuyi to spy on them >Drop by your garden and try to get the devil kid to stop harassing Feiqing as he works >Practice some of the moves the Xia patriarch and Matriarch showed off (Martial Training Trial. DC 155) >Just travel to the hall, tell Tianhua how her sister is doing and how quickly she's progressing, and invite the hall to the tournament and then head to the next sect on the list. >Continue to be bothered and annoyed by mystery surrounding why the Xia and Shidi hate each other, and wish you could've only been there to see the start of their strife for yourself...(Unlocked by having one or more charges of Cat's Court: One of nine lives) >Write in Anonymous
>>6027302 >Try out the moves >Tell the kid to stop bothering Feiquing. >Accept the reason Can use more refinement but the important part os that she needs to earnestly believe it.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6027302 >Yes It's a good start. Her mettle will need to be tested to be sure she isn't in over her head, but it's as good a reason as any.
>Drop by your garden and try to get the devil kid to stop harassing Feiqing as he works If one of our star disciples is asking for help, it's only right that we oblige him.
Even if it's just to get some annoying brat off his back.
Anonymous
>>6027302 >Yes Write-in
>Never forget what drives you. To lose sight of it means to lose who you are. >Now that you have a reason you must figure out how you will accomplish your goal. Show your brother the resolve to become a cultivator. However, my last advice we are unorthodox cultivators. We push the boundaries to chase strength. Never forget your heart and what you consider is right.
An example being I could simply slaughter whole cities and drain them of there blood and eat there souls. I would grow far more powerful then I am now.
Practicing the most distained laws in the current era. I should be hated and hunted.. But instead I am loved and respected by many for who I am and what I do! Simply because of my character and strength.
We don't have countless assassins trying to hunt my head haha!
>Continue to be bothered and annoyed by mystery surrounding why the Xia and Shidi hate each other, and wish you could've only been there to see the start of their strife for yourself...(Unlocked by having one or more charges of Cat's Court: One of nine lives) Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6027392 I will add this to my vote here
>>6027335 Strength of the charcter and observance of our morals is the point.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6027302 >Yes >Investigate the five mysterious cultivators, in disguise, so rush back and possess Yuyi to spy on them Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6027302 >Yes >Investigate the five mysterious cultivators, in disguise, so rush back and possess Yuyi to spy on them Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6027302 >Yes >Drop by your garden and try to get the devil kid to stop harassing Feiqing as he works >Continue to be bothered and annoyed by mystery surrounding why the Xia and Shidi hate each other, and wish you could've only been there to see the start of their strife for yourself...(Unlocked by having one or more charges of Cat's Court: One of nine lives) A story about gods getting petty over each other? This sounds like an opportunity to maybe gain more powerful allies.
Anonymous
>>6027302 >>Tell her it needs a little more refining What she has is solid, but she needs a bit more thought on it to make it a dao that can truly withstand the test of time.
>Drop by your garden and try to get the devil kid to stop harassing Feiqing as he works He is organizing the tournament, go away.
>Just travel to the hall, tell Tianhua how her sister is doing and how quickly she's progressing, and invite the hall to the tournament and then head to the next sect on the list. I am very hesitant to waste one of our charges of cats court just because we want a flash back.
Grandfather, will this flashback expend one of our charges?
Unless stated otherwise, I can only assume it does given its requirement.
Anonymous
>>6027682 it does. It will consume the charge and we will never get to use it again.
we can change history though
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6027702 I'd rather save this for changing history at a later date.There are too many wrongs in history to choose to justify choosing this one.
Anonymous
Well there's also the opportunity to maybe deal with our curse in the past as well.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 07 Jun 2024 07:17:39 No. 6028045 Report Quoted By:
Ending the vote, tallying its result now. Thought I'd miss another day's update, because it is devilishly hot outside and I keep getting forced outside for one reason or chore of another. Might be because I'm in high spirits, as more divine scripture (Danmei trash) I've ordered, will arrive at my temple gate tomorrow,
Yes:6
Never forget what drives you...etc:2
Tell her it needs more refining:1
_
Drop by your garden and try to get the devil kid to stop harassing Feiqing as he works:4
Practice some of the moves the Xia patriarch and Matriarch showed off :1
Continue to be bothered and annoyed by mystery surrounding why the Xia and Shidi hate each other, and wish you could've only been there to see the start of their strife for yourself.:2
Investigate the five mysterious cultivators, in disguise, so rush back and possess Yuyi to spy on them:2
Just travel to the hall, tell Tianhua how her sister is doing and how quickly she's progressing, and invite the hall to the tournament and then head to the next sect on the list.:1
So you'll accept Ju's reasons and ambitions to become a cultivator, and then drop by your garden to try and get the rumored devil Reincarnator to stop pestering poor Feiqing. Which means I FINALLY get to write them! They're someone you've could've met awhile ago, actually, but Huan and him never crossed paths before now, unfortunately. (Also, I've got plans for a certain blackbird's return as well, don't you worry)
Update will arrive shortly
>>6027682 >>6027702 It would indeed cost you one of your 2 uses of One of Nine lives. But it wouldn't be a flash back, it'd be closer to when you stole the peach than when you had the vision of the soul-eater, recently, but not exactly the same.
>>6027731 This junior is also correct, I've at least a dozen "Time travel" mini arcs cooking, waiting for one of you to bravely make a write in to use it, or else for a reason to send Huan on another jaunt through time to present itself
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 07 Jun 2024 08:43:20 No. 6028068 Report "Well?" Ju asks wearily, wincing as she expect a reprimand or your witch like cackle you inherited from your dear mother as she glances at you from the corners of her eyes as you run a hand through Tuzi's hair, carefully and gently untangling it and undoing the knots in it.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 07 Jun 2024 08:44:21 No. 6028070 Report >>6028068 Your co conspirator in the Thousand Lotus Hall, meets you at their border. The Autumn Master Fang Ru, who gladly and happily escorts Ju, Tuzi and Yewushi to the hall itself and agrees to tell Tianhua and the other scheming elders who would've sold Luli's future for their own benefit that you'd return shortly, after you attended to some buisness in your newest holdings.
The flight over is uneventful, though you do run into a few awakened birds, who seem surprised to see a cat soaring in the sky, and curse loudly and shout expletives and profanities never spoken without a beak as they scatter at the sight of what must rank highly in the list of their worst nightmares. A giant flying house cat, heh-heh.
The Garden of the wild empress is more lively than it was when you left it, martial artists, priests, cultists, alchemists, soldiers and even farmers and nobles mill around outside of it, that they have covered with tents, not daring to borrow the housing you made for in preparation for a new swelling of your sect's ranks or even to approach the walls made out of a stone with vines and roots for veins that is warm as skin to the touch.
Except for your fellow magical beasts, and cultivators who've come to win honor and glory for their schooles and sect, or who have cut ties with them or never had any to begin with besides their equally rouge masters, who are walk the roads and pathways of your uniquely style and constructed temple. But none of them tread too far into the temple grounds, staying instead near the farms and fields in the outermost ring of the garden.
Except for two.
You can sense Evil Devil Prince. And realize the moment you perceive his presence that he, even if his claims of being a demon reborn are just a delusion or childish fantasy, that he does contain some the spiritual energy of the yellow springs within him. Like Feiqing, but the amount of demonic Qi he possess is noticeably richer, purer and more condensed. And you can sense Feiqing's tell tale Metal tinged aura beside him, in the heart of your newly built temple, near one of the forges you instructed him to build, prepare and stock.
You descend, and can hear Xie'e Mówángzǐ before you can see him. He speaks loudly, nearly shouting every word, his voice booming as he yaps and chatters about something that sounds like the rambling of a lunatic or opium addict.
"Of course you remember, Furnace, of how we battled together against impossible odds against the hordes of the Eyestealing hag, ages ago! You and I, alone, standing atop a mount of corpses! Bloody and bruised, by glorious in our defiance and ferocity!" He bellows, his voice sounding young and sharp, and if you had to guess, he's younger than Fu is now "Oh what day it was! It would've been a good day to die as any, but there is nothing so sweet as two warriors confronting an army and emerging victorious"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 07 Jun 2024 08:45:21 No. 6028071 Report >>6028070 "Mowangzi, I've told you. I'm descended from a forge demon, a fortune teller once told me in my last life I was a pond turtle, I am not who you think" Feiqing complains, sounding more exhausted than he ever has after you've given him a project that'd drive lesser smiths to their deaths from fatigue
"Oh, I just need to jog your memory old friend! Do you recall, when you and I sought out that grandest and most magnificent of atrocities! The Besouled sword! The greatest afront to the heavens since your nine lives master spat in their face, since she ran through their yards and trashed their gardens!" The supposed reborn devil laughs "Only, when we tracked down its latest wielder, the gluttonous little child had gobbled him up! Ah, it was inspiring, was it not, that old forge sage turning his back against the heavens in disgust, and performing so wicked a ritual, to curse their chosen son"
"That does sound familiar, but that is because I possess that smith's will, and have managed to read the few pages I've managed to decode since my master came into possession of" Feiqing begins, life returning to his voice as he gets excited over the prospect of learning more about the myth of sapient swords, but Mowangzi interrupts before he can get a chance to ask him about it
"See! It is destiny then! You are fated to make another! No idea what happened to the first, last I remember from my prior life, the last wielder I remember was a common bandit, if you can believe it! But I am certain, that cursed blade exists out there still, as you know, surely, why the gods wouldn't be able to bring themselves to destroy her" He continues as you sit on your haunches outside the door, curiosity fighting tooth and nail with your sense of duty and responsibility as sect head
"Her...and I do not! How many times do I have to tell you, my family just had a daliance with a demon, and I turned out like this because an artifact awoke my dormant linegage" Feiqing shouts, losing his patience the moment he manages to raise a question
"Eh? But surely you recall, the most scandalous item required for the creation of a..." Mowangzi begins to answer, before you push the door open and plod in. He turns, and you see a young man, with flawless, jade like white skin and long raven black hair that glows red in the light that falls upon it, hanging down his shoulders and back.
He has a finger held over his head and his mouth is open, frozen as he stops midsentence to look at you, his red eyes widening with delight as he sees you. And the teeth in his jaws are more like fangs. And most telling of all, he has a mark upon his brow, like Luli, but rather than a lotus blossom, his is a pair of horns between bat wings, red like a freshly cut wound.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 07 Jun 2024 08:46:22 No. 6028072 Report >>6028071 "The nine lives defiant master!" He squeals in delight, immediately ignoring Feiqing in favor of someone much more interesting "The cat that catches stars! The devourer of armies. The blood soaked funeral dirge! The Witch's heiress! Huanliuxue! OH i have waited to see you since..."
His nose twitches
"You smell so sweet" He coos, flicking his tongue over his fang "I suppose some of my old instincts remain in this squishy new body. Greetings! One of your students is an old comrade of mine"
"Master I am not" Feiqing groans, rubbing his forehead as he falls back into a chair, with marks like he'd been whipped all along his soot greyed arms, he winces as one of his finger's is jabbed by his still sprouting horns "This delusion fool won't leave me be, trying to jog memories I don't have"
"I always remember a soul, even if a soul doesn't remember me. I heard you killed one of the successors of the carrion throne. Some brat called Baoli Whodawhata" He says, brushing off poor Feiqing's protests with a shrug "Good, always hated those cowardly scavengers"
"Stop pestering my disciple, he is preparing for the tournament, the one you've joined" You say slowly, knowing simpletons need to be treated differently than sharp witted folks "So stop bothering him, can't you tell you're driving him mad?"
"Eh? Furnace and I have been friends for a dozen lifetimes, He just needs to a bit of push is all, he always does" He says as he shrugs again and then frowns "Haah? Is that carmine mysticism I smell in your veins? You've gone and ruined it! Do you no how long the greatest minds of hell worked to corrupt that? Do you have no respect for their labors! For mine!"
"Oh, so you actually are a demon reborn and not just a delusional boy" You chuckle and bare your fangs "And I improved it, again, stop annoying Feiqing, I won't warn you again"
"Another twelve cycles of reincarnation are not something I desire to suffer through again" He says, still smiling so wide you half expect the skin on his face to start ripping and tearing "And, you have. In truth, I don't care what happens with that sorcery any longer. Our work twisting it already bore the fruit we sought. But furnace, you must remember, you and I helped that old smith capture that most vital and most forbidden material when..."
You knock Mowangzi to the floor and pin him with a paw
"Do not speak to him unless he speaks to you first, leave him to his work, or I'll make sure you'll endure a hundred cycles of death and rebirth" You snarl, and he grin turns into a smirk
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 07 Jun 2024 08:47:45 No. 6028073 Report >>6028072 "Forgive my excitement, it has been so long since I've found someone who understands me" He laughs, seemingly unaware that Feiqing really doesn't understand him at all, which is clear as autumn water from the incredulous look on his face when he says he does "But my my, how beautiful you are when you bare your fangs. Hello! I am Xie'e Mowangzi. That is the name I gave myself, after the memories of my past life memories returned to me. I am here to apply to join your sect, so I may avenge my prior incarnation....eventually"
"You need to compete like the rest, you talkative loon" You grumble, lifting your paw off his chest "And to do that, you need to win and prove yourself worthy"
"And no killing? You smell sinless, so I must assume, you'd take offense if I killed my competition" He asked blithely "Well, mostly sinless. There are streaks of villainy, beneath the aroma of sweet benevolence"
"Of course" You answer, and turn to walk out of the room, and find the reincarnated demon is following you, as Feiqing sighs in relief and shouts his thanks to you as you leave him to his toil.
"And why, are you now following me?" You ask as Mowangzi answers with a shrug and cackle
"I'm curious. I've never seen a beast like you. Or a cultivator practicing a law of death while holding firmly onto the breath of life. You are interesting" he answers and lifts up a single finger, before adding "And I need to watch you for awhile to know if you and I are acquaintances in our past lives, and I wish to know my future master, as she is now. You did tell me to not pester Furnance's avatar, not yourself, Madame bloodshed"
What an annoying little prick. But technically, he isn't wrong. You threatened to kill him if he didn't stop pestering Feiqing, and no one else.
'I should've told him to stitch his mouth shut' you think, irritated by his cheekiness
What do you do with Mowangzi, before you head back to the thousand lotus hall, Huanliuxue?
>Tell him to stop bothering you, on threat of death, and to prepare for the tournament in silence >Ask him about the life he thinks he lived with "Furnace", and why he wants to join your sect in this one, >Ask him about what is the most atrocious material he keeps referring to when talking about living swords >Tell him to show off his skills and demonstrate his techniques, and inform him if he hurts a certain green haired girl during the tournament, there will be hell to pay >Write in Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6028073 >Ask him about what is the most atrocious material he keeps referring to when talking about living swords Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6028073 >Ask him about the life he thinks he lived with "Furnace", and why he wants to join your sect in this one, >Ask him about what is the most atrocious material he keeps referring to when talking about living swords Anonymous
>>6028073 >Demonstrate rechniques Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6028083 Ill amend this vote to add
>Attrocious material And clarify that I am alright with Luli getting a broken nose or such, but maiming is off the table.
We shouldnt coddle people.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6028073 >Ask him about what is the most atrocious material he keeps referring to when talking about living swords It takes a lot of balls to walk up to a master of carmine mysticism and complain to their face that they un-fucked your great corruption of it. I think I'm going to like this dude more than I probably should.
Now the real question is whether or not he is right about Feiqing. He seems to get a lot right, so he seems to be more than just a delusional teenager, but then again he might just have gone to hell for too long and some memory demons decided to fuck with him or something.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6028073 >Ask him about the life he thinks he lived with "Furnace", and why he wants to join your sect in this one, Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6028073 >Ask him about what is the most atrocious material he keeps referring to when talking about living swords Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6028073 >>Ask him about the life he thinks he lived with "Furnace", and why he wants to join your sect in this one, Anonymous
>>6028072 >Some brat called Baoli Whodawhata" Hey he was cool. Also clearly had a praise kink. Which is very funny for a demon to have.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6028073 >Ask him about the life he thinks he lived with "Furnace", and why he wants to join your sect in this one, >Write-in >I'm curious about a few things. How could you regain your memories after being reborn and how are you able to find souls you met in a previous life? Secret art or item? Know I won't steal from a junior even if they much older then me. Heh. >If your an old devil then I assume you know some of the true history of ascended beasts. Can you tell me the truth of the devil mind and ling? >As long as you follow my rules you may stay here. IF you pass the selection. However stop harassing, Feiqing so much it's fine if you wish to start a friendship. He is my friend and disciple and I wish for him to live a good life. If he remembers his past life alright if not do not force him. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6028073 >Ask him about what is the most atrocious material he keeps referring to when talking about living swords Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 08 Jun 2024 06:03:46 No. 6029028 Report Treachery! Deceit! The postal sect has wronged me, betrayed me! My scriptures did arrive today as was promised, ruining my day.
However, based Levelman has saved it by drawing art of the young mistress Muna and Huanliuxue. Which I'm hoping doesn't get me struck down by the nine heavens of the moderators. Give them my warmest regards, should you meet them on the road, and do not do to them what you should do to buddha on the road.
Anyways, ending the vote, tallying its result now.
Ask him about what is the most atrocious material he keeps referring to when talking about living swords:6
Ask him about the life he thinks he lived with "Furnace", and why he wants to join your sect in this one:4
Tell him to show off his skills and demonstrate his techniques:
I'm curious about a few things..etc:1
So you'll ask them about the "Worst Material" used in the creation of living swords
Kinda hoped there'd be a tie between that and furnace or some other reason to add it, but the rice is cooked.
Update will arrive shortly
>>6028478 He was a good boy. Can't say he didn't do nothing. Baoli brutally murdered a lot of people and committed every crime
Anonymous
>>6029028 >The postal sect has wronged me, The dao of delivery is wasted upon them. A pox upon their favored temple.
>Baoli brutally murdered a lot of people and committed every crime At least he was honest.
I'm still waiting for him to come back as a severed head stitched onto a new body. Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 08 Jun 2024 07:30:33 No. 6029103 Report "And I am curious as well, Little Xie'e, about that forbidden and scandalous thing that makes the creation of a living sword an atrocity even in the eyes of a devil" You ask, forcing your lips to form a smile, that tugs at the corners as you try to overlook and move past how annoying the talkative brat is. And then, his cheerfully, lackadaisical looking eyes sharpen, and make him seem more demonic as they harden and chill, while his smile stretches beyond what should be possible to be contained on a human face.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 08 Jun 2024 07:31:33 No. 6029105 Report >>6029103 You freeze, stiff as a corpse, feeling the life and color drain from your face the true magnitude of the crime crashes into you. You despise the nine heavens and the apathetic gods but...to go that far?!
"The old man refused, he refused, as I reminded Furnace a few days ago. He told the prince, I would make you a plow that could till leagues in a hour, I would give you a crown that sweetens your voice and makes all the world love you, I would craft you a robe that would always bring you comfort and warmth. Oh but the prince was outraged, he was offered the treasures of peace, the tools for prosperity, and he was insulted. NO. NO! he brayed, I want a sword. A sword to make the whole world kneel at my feet! A sword that could kill even the gods...or something like that. I wasn't there, and the story mutated before it was...erased" Xie'e continues, giggling as he squints and flicks his tongue over his teeth "But, the old man, who refused the gods themselves, who turned his back on divinity with a jaunty step and content smile, refused, he knew nothing good would come of giving the haughty boy what we wanted. And feared no reprisal, so refused and told the boy, He would be no warlord"
"He took it the wrong way, as a challenge. And threw away the peace to prove himself in battle, misunderstanding the old smith's warnings and wisdom?" You guess with a flick of your wrist and toss of your hair
"Oh, such a pure and righteous mind, your heart bleeds" The devil graciously answers, shaking his head "But the prince had never been refused before, and there were no armies for him to fight. All of them died when old Moxin and Rainbow Spear had their spat. There was one nation, one kingdom. And there was peace. So he turned his soldiers against the idlyic valley the smith watched over, and butchered every living thing inside of it"
You frown.
"Murderous bastard" You hiss through your teeth
"And brought their bodies to the smith, like a cat with a sparrow. See. See how I wage war! See what I can do, without an impressive sword!" He laughed and howled, throwing his head back, eyes now open and manic "And the smith lost his faith, in goodness and man. And took the bodies, and used them. But, the man wanted a sword that had never existed before, one of a kind. And he would give him what he deserved. A sword that could devour men, dragons, and gods. Oh the gods wept, grieved for him, but even his disciple, who took his place up there, could not turn him from the darkness he strode into with a broken heart. He spent years trying to make a living sword that hungered for lives and could consume the black dynasty descended from the favorite pet of the gods, he grew old, weak, but he couldn't create souls, even if his art was peerless and there has and will be no master as great as him"
"And then you and Furnace showed up?" You ask
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 08 Jun 2024 07:32:34 No. 6029107 Report >>6029105 "NO! The old bastard made a killing catching and sealing demons, used to be easier crossing between worlds. When he got desperate, he started releasing us to find him the spark of life and being. Me and Furnace were the last, the others...well they didn't find it, and were punished. But I and Furnace had an idea, see. And we gave him council, told him, the secrets of the soul. The birth of one that has lived no lives before, is a rarity, a true rarity, amongst mortals and gods, let alone lifeless steel. and he was enlightened. I shall take the seed of a deity, and plant it instead in the vessel of the blade, and all the nine heavens stood frozen in horror. And he took one. The pit of a peach, the nascent form of a daughter who would've been born between a goddess of the rice fields and a god of the hearth and home. And so, the first besouled blade was born. A god that existed as living, thirsting steel, a child that slumbered in a sword powerful enough to slay gods. The old man presented it to the prince now emperor, and snuffed out his own eternal existence, out of pure disgust and contempt for the cruelty and corruption of the world. And the little glutton woke up after chewing up and swallowing his lifeforce and immortal soul. He was gone. The emperor, was overjoyed the smith would go so far to unsure no sword like his would ever exist again"
"And he was devoured as well?" You ask
"Oh no. His hidden blood lust resonated and taught the sword, he was the last step in perfecting the blade, honing its edge. The goddess could only be seen or see when held, and he grew fond of the little girl in the corner of his eye, and treated her like his own flesh and blood, showing the kindness the old man tried to teach him. That's the irony of it. But, as he held her, and saw her weep, cry and wail, pitifully begging for any relief to her gnawing hunger, he felt pity, and obliged. And so, the blade, which was ordinary except for housing a deity, grew immensely powerful, as he started cutting and chopping up everything and one to try and relieve her pain and hunger. He went mad, became a sword maniac, too much killing will do that to you, you see, all for the benefit of his adoptive daughter. He waged a one man war on humanity, and came surprisingly close to reducing them all to scattered tribes, barely above base beastdom. So, a god of war was sent to kill him. The strongest"
You swallow, throat suddenly dry and parched
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 08 Jun 2024 07:33:48 No. 6029109 Report >>6029107 "The little girl gobbled him up as well, but the god expected to die. And used his last breath to rip the mad emperor's arm off from his body, no small feat, while the sword was in his hand, he was invincible from the amount of lifeforce she had swallowed up. And the five morons trembled, hoping their papa would appear to save them all but. Well, the emperor did it out of love, a love only he and us demons can understand, and so, he fell upon her tip. The survivors of the battle found him like that, and sealed away the sword, as the god's descendent was crowned emperor and a shrine was erected to keep the confused, scared, and starving sword locked away. And so began the next stage in the tale, when a priestess heard their sobbing and...
Wait
"I only asked about what was so bad about the final piece of the puzzle, not for the entire history of the sword itself" You reprimand, shaking your head and almost say he can tell you it some other time, but think better of it, because he'd take that as a promise "I've heard enough. Go mingle or spar with the other contestants"
"If it will better my chances!" He cheers, saluting flippantly before marching off as you sigh and collapse on your side, feeling strangely exhausted already
Once you've recovered from Mowangzi's assault, you check on Feiqing's progress, and happy with what he presents, return to the thousand lotus hall.
To Find Ju and the rabbits being doted upon by the young girls of the sect, who are weaving flowers into their hair, holding Yewushi down as they do. Tianhua is observing and keeping an eye on them
"My friend!" She cheers as she notices you as you creep behind her to surprise, making you pout that she noticed you at the last second "Ju has told me that Luli is flourishing under your care and attention, I can't wait to see her when the tournament begins"
"You can always visit" You answer
"I need to scold my subordinates and help heal the wounds that monster left behind" She says sadly, shaking her head "and I didn't want to interrupt her training. I'm glad she's made a friend. Even if Ju calls her a rival"
"Luli could fold Ju like fresh laundry" You snicker, making Tianhua giggle "So I take it I'll see your students in the contests?"
"Of course, but none of the violent ones, we don't raise warriors, we rear flowers" She answers with a delicate smile and polite nod "But if there are points for healing magics, the magic trials may be of interest to us"
"We could use a few extra medics" You answer happily, giving her a wink, having just decided to change the rules to allow just that, as a favor to a friend
"I can see why Luli left this place, its horrible! Its like all of my aunts live here!" Ju loudly complains as you and her walk away from the hall, Tuzi holding a bundle of colorful flowers that is bigger than her, her eyes glowing with delight as she hops along, while Yewushi kicks rocks and looks for something to fight to prove the manliness of a little boy.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sat 08 Jun 2024 07:34:50 No. 6029110 Report >>6029109 "Oh she left for other reasons, those flower beds hold a lot more than a few dirty secrets" You grow under your breath "Thankfully, the innocent witch sect isn't far from here! Apparently they live near the biggest lake of Chuan"
"I think I heard of them. Fu was telling jokes with Hong and Liu when they were over for dinner" Ju mumbles "Something about lilies?"
"Sounds dirty" You say with a shrug as you approach the boundary of the territory.
"Oh lady Huanliuxue! We've been expecting you! We've been waiting so long for your visit, please, come quickly, the matriarch will be pleased to know you've accepted her invitation ! She's been wanting to meet you since the trial. We're all big fans of you, daughter of the toad witch, and most beautiful princess of the wildlands! Did you kill that pervert yet? We have some legal curses that might make him suffer more!" a girl Lanfen or Qiang's age chipperly rambles as she rushes out from a nearby copse of willow trees, wearing a black hooded robe and a few rows of red prayer beads around her neck and hands, with a distant look in her eyes. And then, before you can speak, the airhead grabs you by the wrist and tries to drag you off
"Huh?!" You gasp
"We have a bath ready for you! And a change of clothes. You must be tired from the journey! Please, enjoy our hospitality! The matriarch will want to make herself presentable before you two meet! And there is so much you can do with that fluffy hair, its a shame to just leave it unstyled" she shouts and you start to wonder if she's high on something. Ju titters
"Oh I get it now! Lilies!" She shouts, confusing you more as you lift the other girl off the ground by lifting your arm, and she just kicks her legs and keeps struggling to make you move
What do you do Huanliuxue?
>Just go with the flow, this is giving you a headache. >Ask the girl if your mother is respected or if just the fact a witch raised you is what makes you popular here. >Shake the girl off, and toss her the jade slip invitation and leave, furious that she'd think to order and pull you around. >Put a hex on the girl to shut her up and seal her lips and, annoyed, walk up to the witch court and tell the head her underlings are annoying >Write in >>6029045 They will die a thousand deaths, I will not forgive them even if they break their arm, crippling their cultivation, and kowtow to me
And the evil bird will return...eventually
Anonymous
>>6029110 >Ask what they think of monu. >Write in: Carry this cultivator by the scruff of the neck, as you should for hyperactive kits. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6029110 >Ask the girl if your mother is respected or if just the fact a witch raised you is what makes you popular here. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6029110 >Ask the girl if your mother is respected or if just the fact a witch raised you is what makes you popular here. Anonymous
>>6029110 >Ask the girl if your mother is respected or if just the fact a witch raised you is what makes you popular here. >the airhead grabs you by the wrist and tries to drag you off >"We have a bath ready for you!" Is this girl trying to drag a cat into a bath? She is courting death.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6029110 >Ask the girl if your mother is respected or if just the fact a witch raised you is what makes you popular here. Anonymous
>>6029178 Supporting. As an aside, I’m not sure how to feel about Xie’e, he’s entertaining and I do want to hear the rest of his story, but I wonder how much of that demon lifestyle of subversion and corruption still lives in him.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6029110 I was thinking of allowing them but pout like only a cat can when forced through unpleasant things against their will...
But
>>6029178 Is good too so I'll support that.
Anonymous
>>6029367 Bro's a professional yapper. Even had us going for a yarn. Guy'd make a killing as a storyteller and instead he's out here kick-punching. What a fool he is.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sun 09 Jun 2024 09:37:30 No. 6030160 Report Quoted By:
Ending and tallying the vote a few hours later than I meant to. Got distracted by Mystia's izakaya. Fun game
Ask the girl if your mother is respected or if just the fact a witch raised you is what makes you popular here.:7
Carry this cultivator by the scruff of the neck, as you should for hyperactive kits.:3
So you'll ask if your mother is actually respected like you are, or if you're just popular because you were raised by a witch. And its a landslide victory
And I'll throw in the hyperactive kitten thing, cause its close enough to being included in half the votes for asking and it amuses me.
Update will arrive shortly
>>6029431 You can yap as you kick punch, dao of multi tasking
>>6029253 You can also court death simply walking by some cats while they're on their favorite perch.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sun 09 Jun 2024 11:06:33 No. 6030194 Report And that just makes her seem all the more like a kitten with a little too much energy, and once you think that, you can't shake the thought away or ignore the resemblance of this blank eyed girl flailing around while trying to lead someone much stronger than she is, all that is missing is the mewling and popping hissing. Giggling, you cover your mouth with your free hand, blushing as a whim takes you and holds you just as strongly as the witch resembles a misbehaving kitten. If she wants to act like one, she can be treated like on.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sun 09 Jun 2024 11:07:33 No. 6030199 Report >>6030194 "But then she got branded as a witch, but not the innocent kind, and your elders started acting like they always knew she was bad news?" You ask
"Yeah, pretty much, they didn't say it, but the eldest did mention having trained with her when they were girls. And a few muttered about her starting certain...rumors about us" She giggles, lifting up her arm "Its just behind that hollow in the tree, our school is in a hidden realm, the entrance is hidden there"
"Are they actually rumors?" Ju snickers and the witch glowers
"For most of us, yes" She huffs, as you follow her lead and step into the hollow of a half rotten tree the size of some of the ones growing in the primordial basin. And step into a warm, well lit courtyard in a realm of twilight and purple clouds, ponds of croaking frogs, clouds of gnats and flying dragon flies all around.
And girls, ladies, women and old hags dressed in a light, pastel colored robes with hoods or wide brimmed straw hats, splashing in the ponds with the frogs, picking mushrooms or laughing as they gossiped amongst themselves. All their heads swivel to you, a few leaping behind deeper shadows to watch you suspiciously, and a few look at you with lustful faces...OH! That's what Ju meant by Lilies!
"Is that the grandmaster of the palace of natural laws?"
"She really is my type!"
"Don't! That's a corpse eating cat under the pretty face"
"You're worse than that swamp wolf who won't leave me be!"
"Oh I can sense an aura of misfortune around her, stay away from her children, she's bad luck walking!"
"Didn't one of the elders say she used to be friends with her mother? The one who poisoned a dozen or promising cultivators before the winter blossoming wis...sect was humbled"
"Wait, who sent her out on patrol! She's always doped on opium!"
"If we needed to be sober to work, we wouldn't get anything done here, Heh"
"She was supposed to be picking mushrooms, Huanliuxue must've walked by her, what a time for her to accept our invitation"
"I'll go alert the matriarch"
"Stay back" You say dully, narrowing your eyes at one of the bolder girls whose been made stupid by just a glimpse of your beauty "I'm here for business not to visit or play"
A few of them groan and pout, trying to look cute. You roll your eyes as Ju walks a bit closer to you, while Tuzi toddles off towards a group of little girls, with the top halves of their faces hidden by their hoods
"Oh, you don't want to take a bath and have some sweets with us? I can get not wanting to grind mirrors or frolic in a flower field" the kit you're holding by the scruff snickers "But you really should relax and enjoy our hospitality. Besides, the seniors want to ask about your mother and your nasty curses, heh"
"Maybe later. If your master wants to make me wait, perhaps" You grunt as you lift up the arm holding her and drop her, and she lands on her feet, like a cat
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sun 09 Jun 2024 11:08:34 No. 6030201 Report >>6030199 "There is no need" A voice with authority and grace quites the gossiping hens, as a figure dressed in a long flowing black robe, with ruffles of sky and sea blues and greens parts the crowd, a large, drooping, cloth hat on her head "Huanliuxue, I was starting to think you were ignoring little old me, this generations wěiwūpó (Great Witch, 伟 巫婆), if you're here on business today, why not come visit on a later day, so we can gossip and share secrets?"
"And is that a title or a name or has it become both?" You ask curiously, tapping your chin as she steps closer and you see streaks of grey in her long black hair, and soft wrinkles framing her eyes and smirking lips
"Your mother might've given up her old names just to be a witch, but I'm not so vain, it is just the title given to the heads of us innocent witches. You know, my predecessor offered your mother a place here, even after what happened between her and Laohue" She says casually, as if she were on old family friend, and you wonder if that's the truth and the witches aren't as innocent as they claim or if she's just lying to get on your good side "My friends and family call me Ōu Yèsuí (Night sparrow, 夜雟), but most and you can call me Weiwupo, until we get closer. I've heard you teach one of our techniques, guessing Master Su gave it to you, considering he and you are in an alliance?"
"Well, he allowed me to take it, more than he gave it to me" You answer without a hint of shame or guilt "But I haven't come to brag about taking your signature art, I came to invite you all to my tournament"
"We were already going, but getting officially invited does get you a lot closer to calling me Yesui" The older woman cackles, but not like Monu and you kind of croak or caw when you laugh, but rather like a cricket chirps, higher pitched "We rarely compete against the other sects, but considering the waves you've made in the golden baisin, maybe its time for us witches to put on a show, eh?"
Some of the older witches mutter and look like they're trying to summon enough courage, but the younger ones all cheer and shout their agreement, a few yelling about wanting to put certain lechers into their place or show the world how even legal curses and hexes can be dangerous.
"Guess we shall. If Su participates, I'll face him" Weiwupo says with a smile "Since men aren't supposed to know about the spring fairy technique, and I should've punished him for how he got it ages ago"
"If he does, you'll have to meet him in the tournament fairly, we aren't friends, so I won't bend the rules for you. Though I'd really like to be friendly enough to call you sparrow, instead of witch, since only my mother deserves that name in my eyes, heh-heh" You answer back with a shrug
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sun 09 Jun 2024 11:09:35 No. 6030202 Report >>6030201 "Tch, you even sound like her when you laugh" She groans, rubbing her forehead "But talking about...that witch, why don't you stay awhile, tell me how she's still alive? She and I shared a master once, I might not like what she became, but I'd still like to know if she's...well, happy"
"Hmmm, well, The road to the five colors and five purities isn't far from here, and Ju and the rabbits could use a rest" You consider her offer
"Why does your name start like mine does! Give me the Ye back!" Yewushi barks, shaking his small fist at the witch, who smirks
"A little boy with rabbit ears? Is this one of your students, my, he's a cute one? Usually men aren't allowed anywhere near this retreat but...I can make an exception for such an adorable little boy"
"Cute?!" Yewushi shouts, face turning bright, cherry red. And you and the witch that isn't Monu laugh.
-
[Meanwhile, in the desert north of Chuan]
"You're one of the bloodshed's disciples, what are you doing this far from your territory, don't you know what happened to the last beast that caused a clamor up here"
The proud, young king, Youzaiwang kept walking, tracking the carriage tracks that the wind swept away, his silver fur glowing in the blazing sun.
"Yujijiao? She's doing fine for herself, besides her boughts of madness. And I'd dare you to try to take this head of mine" He laughed, glancing at the sage sitting atop a pillar of red stone
"Oh your master would avenge you? you should show respect, people get devoured by these sands every day" the sage laughed, fanning themselves
"No, I'd kill you all. Why would a dragon hunt rabbits, even my claws are too good for you. Maybe I'll grab, oh, that pig and have him do it, then again, he is royalty, proud like me. Maybe some kind of dung beetle, would be a better executioner for you pests" The tiger laughed back
"Junior, you dare!" The man shouted back, whipping his arms as he stood, commanding the sands
"You court death!" Youzainwang bellowed, rumbling like thunder in his throat, his power translated into volume "And are dooming your own flock! I'm only here because some girls were taken as merchandise from a village and I, generously, offered to follow them"
The sage kept his hands held up in front of him, in an aggressive stance
"Why didn't you lead with that?!" they yelled back
"We both want an excuse, but I don't want a reason to cut you down enough to doom the innocent girls" the tiger answered with a laugh "You stay up there, this tiger will deign to do your duty for you, and will be sure to tell everyone about it"
"Now hold on right there junior...!"
And then a sage of the shifting sands and a silver fur tiger walked the dunes together, bickering as they went
_
[Meanwhile, outside of Chuan's border]
"We are burying these bodies" Siwang shouted, throwing out his hand, swinging it like it was a blade
"Awww" Baifenchi sighed, dropping the arm she was lifted up from a mangled pile of limbs, showing signs of predation
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sun 09 Jun 2024 11:10:36 No. 6030203 Report >>6030202 "Magical beasts didn't do this, there's primordial beast essence in the air, but its different, wrong" Jionghuagege muttered
"No organization, or thought in the assault, look at the scratches and how the dead were piled" Tiexingege explained, pointing out the gashes along the walls of the abandoned town and the half eaten pile of corpses
"If they were a starving band of animals, they wouldn't have piled the dead or attacked the walls with such force, but if they were magical beasts, they wouldn't have had any reason to do any of this, even if they were starving. Too risky, and there'd be more Qi in the flesh of other magical animals" Qiang agreed, nodding her head along
"You really are perceptive for only having one eye" Huili drawled, arms crossed "The bodies are rotten, just torn apart, the best parts and tastiest and most nutritious organs are just scattered everywhere. I'd say bandits did this, and tried to frame some beasts, but the tracks tell a different story"
"Hmm, so you three would suggest that they're being controlled, at least to an extent? Following orders or being mind controlled?" Monu, the toad witch asked as she looked down sadly at a straw doll, crushed into the earth, thoughts racing in her mind, most of them bitter and hateful "That's what I think to, not because of the state of the bodies or way they attacked, but because...well, I know how beasts think. They wouldn't kill so many, even if they only preyed on humans. They'd pick of enough to survive, and leave the rest for later"
"Probably" Qiang answered with a nod
"Of course" Tiexingege yelled, trying to be heard before the swordswoman
"Could just be rabid" Huili said with a shrug
"Even the worst of us wouldn't do this" Jionghuagege whimpered
"We've found a survivor!" Fa Jin gasped, running and stumbling down the street "Tang is restraining them! They're a cultivator! Hurry, or my brother might get too rough for us to get any answers"
Huili and Qiang sprinted off, while the Geges continues investigating the marks, Siwang and Baifenchi buried the dead, and the toad witch, remorsefully, knelt down to pick up the abandoned strawdoll
_
"Of course, we'll be happy to participate beside our allies and friends in the palace of natural laws and summer sea dawn sects" Master Su said happily as he poured you a cup of tea, bouncing Tuzi on his knee like a dotting grandparent, while Yewushi and Ju trained with the younger students of the five colors and five purities, of which there were much more now, all of them being watched over by a few familiar faces. The ones you bullied and harassed into shaping up years ago.
"And I'm happy you'll join us, and think I should warn you a witch is aiming for you" You say just as happily as you try to tea, white mixed with Jasmine flowers, that Su served to you because it was called Moonlight White tea
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Sun 09 Jun 2024 11:11:37 No. 6030205 Report >>6030203 "Ah, the Weiwupo, I thought she'd have forgiven me for borrowing her school's original technique" he said with a frown, stroking his beard "and you'll travel to the white jade devil opposing army next? Then you should leave young Ju and the rabbit children here, the forge devil's furnace is a dangerous place, even for experienced warriors and cultivators, or I can have my disciples escort them back to one of your temples. They may not dwell within that wasteland, by they stay close by to it, and I've heard...unsettling rumors about corpses lacking eyes appearing on the few merchant trails that run through the accursed place"
You slurp tea, pressing the cup's rim against your lips.
What do you do about traveling to the white jade devil opposing army's school, Huanliuxue?
>Trust Su to watch the kids, and travel into the forge before inviting them. You know what kind of devil that considers eyeballs to be delicacies... >Decide there isn't a crow demon stupid enough to attack kids in your company, and take them with you >Send them back to your garden, so Feiqing can look after them while you go to the last two and most dangerous places on the trip >Summon Aodasheng and tell him to go bird hunting for you and chase away anything that'd even look at your bunnies and Ju funny in the furnace >Write in Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6030205 >Trust Su to watch the kids, and travel into the forge before inviting them. You know what kind of devil that considers eyeballs to be delicacies... I doubt anything would happen even if we brought the kids with us, but we have no reason to ignore sound advice after it has been kindly offered.
And besides, the Crow demons have been buzzing around us for a while now, I want to see what exactly they have been up to.
Anonymous
>>6030202 Yes! He finally wrote it!
>>6030205 >Send them back to your garden, so Feiqing can look after them while you go to the last two and most dangerous places on the trip Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6030205 >Trust Su to watch the kids, and travel into the forge before inviting them. You know what kind of devil that considers eyeballs to be delicacies... Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6030205 >Trust Su to watch the kids CROW QUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!
Hey, couldn't we eat a demons life force?
Anonymous
>>6030202 >"Junior, you dare!" The man shouted back, whipping his arms as he stood, commanding the sands >"You court death!" Youzainwang bellowed, rumbling like thunder in his throat, his power translated into volume THEY SAID THE THING
>>6030205 >Trust Su to watch the kids, and travel into the forge before inviting them. You know what kind of devil that considers eyeballs to be delicacies... It's been too long crows, but keep the kids back because this might get bloody.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6030205 >>Send them back to your garden, so Feiqing can look after them while you go to the last two and most dangerous places on the trip Keep the kids back, but have them sent to the garden so we don't have to fetch them later.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6030205 >Trust Su to watch the kids, and travel into the forge before inviting them. You know what kind of devil that considers eyeballs to be delicacies... Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 10 Jun 2024 08:35:55 No. 6031207 Report Quoted By:
Ending the vote, tallying its result now. Hopefully the postal sect does not court death today again.
Trust Su to watch the kids, and travel into the forge before inviting them. You know what kind of devil that considers eyeballs to be delicacies...:5
Send them back to your garden, so Feiqing can look after them while you go to the last two and most dangerous places on the trip:2
So you'll investigate the rumors by yourself, having a sneaking suspicion there are crow demons causing trouble, leaving Ju, Tuzi and Yewushi in Master Su's care while you do.
Update will arrive shortly
>>6030225 >>6030261 I like to imagine a sitcom applause round playing during that part.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 10 Jun 2024 09:42:00 No. 6031236 Report And as you set the porcelain cup down, only a thin pool of pale yellow tea settled at its bottom, you reach into your sleeve and retrieve a wineskin you've filled with Moon-Dew, specifically to keep Tuzi and Yewushi's bellies full and happy.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 10 Jun 2024 09:43:00 No. 6031237 Report >>6031236 "You're an immortal!" A country bumpkin shouts as you walk down the one road leading into the forge devil's furnace, lifting up their straw hot and nearly dropping their bottle of cheap wine. Judging from the rusted, cheap looking armor he's wearing and the sharpened stick in his hand, he was placed here by one of the nearby villages to guard the pass. Or more likely die an awful death if something came out of it "Aren't you madame?"
"You've got sharp eyes for a drunk, indeed I am a daoist hermit" You giggle, smiling pleasantly as he cautiously approaches you, eyes focused on your hair "Heard there were mysterious disappearances, people being spirited away in the night, and turning up again without eyes"
"Yes, terrible business. The warrior gods in the mountains can't find the monster doing it but, you're dressed like one of those cat worshippers...Has the king's protector sent you?" He asks, scratching his head, unaware that you are the "guardian spirit" he's talking about "A god should know where anything is anywhere, right?"
"You could say that" You say, trying not to snicker "And I at least know what kind of monster your poor people are being harrassed by"
"And what is that, miss daoist, if I could be so impudent to ask a sage so stupid a question?" He asks, shuffling closer, gaining more courage the longer you talk without striking him down for breathing the same air as you.
"Eye eating demon. A crow that's turned devil. Or a flock of them. Scavengers. Some of them have started nesting outside of the underworld" You answer with a frown, trying to look like you're troubled by this knowledge
"Think the wars and all the killing attracted them? Heard some demi gods killed each other by sparrow's rest" He asks, rubbing his chin and looking deep in thought and actually somewhat intelligent despite his ruddy cheeks and the bottle in his hand
"Probably. They are attracted by corpses, like any ordinary crow. But what they do with the eyes is much worse" You say, before looking at him from the corner of your eyes mischievously and, with a smirk, ask "Would you like to know what it is they use them for"
He winces, grimace and glances around, as if a big winged devil will leap out and tear off his head if accepts, but he, hesitatingly, nods his head.
"I don't know" You laugh "All I know is they enjoy eating them and will go to great lengths to gather as many of them as they can, maybe it lets them see the final moments of their victims, maybe it grants them knowledge or power, whatever it is, it can't be good"
"So you're going to subjugate them? Get back the folks they've spirited away?" He asks hopefully
'They're probably all dead all ready' you think, but instead say "I will, it is the duty of the strong to shield the weak from dangers, and the responsibility of cultivators to hunt devils"
He smiles. But doesn't fall to his knees in worship. Instead he tilts up his hat, lifts his bottle, and sits back down.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 10 Jun 2024 09:44:01 No. 6031238 Report >>6031237 "I'll guard this side then, Miss immortal" He says with a sloppy salute "When you come back, I...we'll all find some way to repay this kindness"
You nod and walk away, the air growing hotter with each step you take towards the outskirts of the furnace, plant life becoming scarcer and the ground drier and cracked. Spouts of earth fire erupt from the ground, scorching dead grasses black, poisonous fumes and vapors hissing out of the cracks, creating a dense, polluted blanket of smoke around halfway up your legs. Bones of animals and men with rotten strips of flesh and leather still stuck to them dot the ground, where some poor or stupid soul knelt down and was struck dead immediately by the toxic air.
And where there isn't poisonous gas, the land is still harsh and mostly devoid of life. Hot, hotter than a desert, the rust red ground stretching on as far as the eye can see, with ominous black pillars rising up from it or stones that look like they were melted into place. The sky is orange and unhealthy looking, from all of the smoke in the air, the sun sitting like a wicked red eye behind the thick clouds of soot and ash.
And then you actually reach the furnace's entrance. It is locked in at all sides by mountains, canyons and ravines. None of which seem natural. They were built to contain something inside of it. You can tell just from looking at them. Mountains don't wrap around in a ring. Ravines don't form a perfect circle or make rings, and cliffs just don't layer like this. A cultivator, of a higher stage than you, maybe even a true deity, reshape the land with their spiritual energy to form a seal out of the land itself, forming a cage of stone and dirt. And judging from the ring of awfulness outside of the furnace proper, it isn't entirely effective. Or, it is starting to leak.
Deciding that there's no point dwelling on that unpleasant thought any further, you walk on. The few petrified trees you can see having gibbets filled to bursting with human bones and fresher looking corpses hung on their branches, rattling and swaying in the wind as it whispers and moans through the cracks and crevices dotting the wasteland. There are caverns and sinkholes everywhere. And no water that isn't as black and thick as oil.
"I feel sorry for Feiqing, he spent weeks in this shithole" You grumble to yourself, as you kick a skull down the road, arms crossed as you stride up, looking for ghosts, or rather their absence. That a fresh corpse doesn't have its ghost hanging around nearby, is a sure sign a demon has made its layer somewhere nearby
Its too hot, too dry, the air too thick and smothering. You pull the upper layer of your robe off and time them around your waist and expand your aura to cool the air around you, using the red soil to write cooling spells along your shoulders and chest as you walk.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 10 Jun 2024 09:45:02 No. 6031239 Report >>6031238 There is a sudden, frantic, flapping of wings. Your eyes shoot up, and spot a single black feather smoldering in the heated air. Acting quickly, you launch a nearby skull into the air by hooking your toes under its jaws and send it rocketing up. A few moments later, you hear it shatter and something squawk as a mass of black feathers falls from the dense clouds.
"Naughty boy" You scold as you hop and pounce on the figure as it hits the ground, pinning them by the feathers under their neck, and see a giant, humanoid crow cawing and flapping its wings, trying to escape "Did you come up here all on your own? Or did someone send you"
"Wuyashashou! Wuyashashou (Crow Killer, 乌鸦杀手) ! What are you doing here!" The cry out pitifully, flapping so hard they lose a few more feathers "I swear, I wasn't stalking you. I was told to watch the hill with the broken tower"
"You changed direction when you noticed me, turning up from a dive" You say coldly "You only stopped because you noticed me"
"Your scent was intoxicating" He admits "I thought I'd found a lost priestess who I wouldn't need to share, but once I saw it was you, Wuyashashou, I corrected my behavior"
"You're hovering between life and death" You threaten "And who told you to watch the hill"
He closes his beak
"Who ordered you to keep watch?" You ask again, tightening your grip around his neck and digging your fingers into the meat of his throat, making claws just to scrape, claw and bury them against his neck
"The hag and the widow queen. We've taken the cliffs here as our outpost. We were expecting someone, but not you" He says
"Jingyu?" You ask
"Jingwho?" He replies
"The corpse thief" You explain with a frown
"Ah, him, yes, we made a deal with him, guessing you killed him to, Wuyashashou?" He asks before craning his neck up, not caring it makes your claws cut deeper into his throat "You have a scent about you...a rotting corpse, and a devil. Didn't notice it beneath the air of virtue surrounding you"
You tighten your grip
"Don't pry into my personal life" You scold gently, wagging a clawed finger in front of his bulging eyes "I have a few more questions, before I got to visit my old friend, the crow hag"
He nods, frantically.
What do you ask the lesser crow devil, Huanliuxue?
>What he thinks he'll be reborn as, as you pop his head off and toss it away. Simply because he did try to attack you, even if he didn't know it was you >When and why they started working with the corpse thief and who made the deal with him. Some of the souls they stole belonged to sects allied to you. >What they are doing outside of hell and why they've chosen to make a permanent residence up here. Why now. and Why here! surely there are better properties for sale anywhere in the world! >Does he have any idea who hired two assassins to try and take your head in hell >How have they been escaping the hunting parties already sent after them by a sect of devil hunters? >write in Anonymous
>>6031239 >Everything, then wring his neck. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6031239 >How they avoided notice. >Why are they set up topside. >When and why they worked with Jingyu >How many are you? >What animal will he be reborn as? [EXECUTE] Pathetic creature, thinking to ambush us.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6031239 >When and why they started working with the corpse thief and who made the deal with him. Some of the souls they stole belonged to sects allied to you. >What they are doing outside of hell and why they've chosen to make a permanent residence up here. Why now. and Why here! surely there are better properties for sale anywhere in the world! I seem to recall that the widow did not like us very much, but the hag was pretty friendly last we met, so I'm not inclined to kill her goons at least until we have a chat.
I doubt they would care that much, but why risk it?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6031239 >>When and why they started working with the corpse thief and who made the deal with him. Some of the souls they stole belonged to sects allied to you. >>What they are doing outside of hell and why they've chosen to make a permanent residence up here. Why now. and Why here! surely there are better properties for sale anywhere in the world! >>Does he have any idea who hired two assassins to try and take your head in hell Anonymous
>>6031239 >When and why they started working with the corpse thief and who made the deal with him. Some of the souls they stole belonged to sects allied to you. >What they are doing outside of hell and why they've chosen to make a permanent residence up here. Why now. and Why here! surely there are better properties for sale anywhere in the world! >How have they been escaping the hunting parties already sent after them by a sect of devil hunters? I'm pausing on killing him for the moment, but eating him wouldn't be an evil act right?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6031239 >When and why they started working with the corpse thief and who made the deal with him. Some of the souls they stole belonged to sects allied to you. Anonymous
>>6031255 Supporting.
All this talk of eyes made me remember we still have old icicles eye laying around. Why didn't we give it to Qiang again?
Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6031710 I think someone brought up the potential of his lingering influence on the eye or something?
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 11 Jun 2024 12:25:50 No. 6032284 Report Quoted By:
The postal sect fulfilled their obligations at last. Ending the vote, tallying its result now.
Anonymous
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 11 Jun 2024 13:17:08 No. 6032328 Report He's clearly an underling, at the bottom of the pecking order and food chain of the gang of crow demons, so there's only so much that you could ask him that he'd be able to answer accurately. If he's dumb enough to swoop down to pluck the first traveler he sees on the road, without pausing to check if they're stronger than him or the one who killed his old boss, he's probably not being trusted with anything more delicate than the basics whys and hows of what they're doing.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 11 Jun 2024 13:18:09 No. 6032330 Report >>6032328 "The old paths open, the seals crack, locks break. Simple as that. Some demons can slip between gaps narrower than others, and all the death and killing and bodies left to rot, let us even go through doors firmly shut" He answers with tears welling in his eyes "I can't tell you our method, to do so would be treachery that'd curdle even a devil's bowels. You. And all the rest of your haughty cultivators, killing each other to measure who is in the right, who is more righteous, invited us in"
"And you've chosen to stay, when it'd be safer and more profitable to go back and forth, because?" You ask as he smiles
"The world is ripe for perversion, mortal minds and mortal hearts stray, allowing the rot of corruption to seep in" He answers vaguely, but you get his point "When sheep learn to not trust their Shepard, they begin to question the threat of the wolf. Or something like that "The old farts speak of grandiose reasons, I think its just because we can scavenge and plunder unnoticed, and few remember how to deal with a demon infestation properly. Now that the world is in disorder, from toiling farmers to the wisest masters, we can flock and flourish"
"Opportunity presented itself to a race of opportunists, who'd just suffered a grievous misfortune and loss of face from their leader getting slaughtered by a young girl, weaker than he was" You drolly explain, to show you understand what he's saying to nip any thought of tricking or misleading you at the bud
"Precisely, though the elders have their own reasons I'm sure, and would tell you as such" He, says, stretching his legs to try and reach the ground
You lift him a bit higher off of it, just for being impatient
"Then why here, in this shithole? I can tell the stars aligned, so don't need to ask why now of all times, but why chose to live here of all places?! Its crap! Inhospitable. Poisoned. The only people who live here are desperate, greedy or insane" You say before you gasp as you recall Feiqing mentioning something about cultists living in the blasted plains and deep caverns of this place
"Or worship us. This place was the seat of a demon lord, the streams down to the yellow springs aren't as blocked up as they are elsewhere. And no one sane would come looking for us here. And, even demon's can get homesick, I'm sure some of my fellow youngsters feel as much at home here as they do in the underworld" He answer with a snicker as you frown, and think about crushing his throat again, before another question pushes its way to the front of your thoughts
"How have you been avoiding the hunting parties, of the sect nearby that exists to oppose your kind?" You ask, wondering why you didn't think to ask this earlier or even first, because you weren't able to sense the presence of the crow until they made the mistake of thinking you were an easy target and easier meal
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 11 Jun 2024 13:20:05 No. 6032332 Report >>6032330 "I" He starts, a flash of terror in his black, remorseless eyes "I cannot...If I tell you, death would be a distant dream and"
You squeeze his throat
"But, I'm sure they'd tell you anyways, the old hag is rather fond of you!" He laughs before you sense another presence approaching, the Aura of a cultivator, shooting through the sky like a falling star.
"Tch" You click your tongue as the demon gives you a look so smug you nearly rip his head off just to stop looking at it, but restrain yourself since it may upset the old lady and he may just spill more secrets out of cowardice and self preservation. If you could get him away from the demon hunter that's shooting towards your location like a bolt of lightning. Whose company you know the fledgling would use as an excuse to hold his tongue, and make speaking cordially with the old crone difficult to put it lightly.
Then again, those white jade devil hunters have been falling over themselves to try and make right with you and earn your forgiveness after what their disgusting disciple did to you. Maybe they could be convinced to keep their sword sheathed, or could be thrown a few fat crows to tear apart while you confront the true villains yourself
Your mind twists and turns, weighing each possibility while you try to decide what to do about the rapidly approaching exorcist and the pathetic creature squirming in your hand.
What do you decide to do, Huanliuxue?
>Let the devil go, and scold the devil hunter for letting it get away, since his arrival gave them the opening to escape!. Then track the crow down once the blundering idiot has left, and follow them to their leaders >Present the crow devil to the devil hunter and brag about surpassing them in their only field of expertise, and discuss how long they've been a problem and offer to help exterminate them >Realize the demon has every reason to stretch the truth about your past relations with devils like him, and snap his neck to stop him from saying another word. >Drag the demon to hell physically, and continue questioning him there. >Force the demon to put on a show for the new arrival and spread your title of crow killer amongst the sects of Chuan (Trickery trial. DC 120) >Write in Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6032332 >Release the bird and follow it. Our name as a crow killer will spread if we will it. Just needs a few corpses for the pile.
For now, I dont want to sever an avenue of power and reclaiming souls.
Anonymous
>>6032332 >Let the devil go, and scold the devil hunter for letting it get away, since his arrival gave them the opening to escape!. Then track the crow down once the blundering idiot has left, and follow them to their leaders This WOULD be a great opportunity to make a good impression on the White Jade Devil Opposing Army, but I want to at least touch base with the crow hag before we start to kill her grunts.
Though for what it's worth we should ask ourselves what we really want with them. If they are really just opportunistically scavenging whatever they find, then the only real question is whether we give a damn. Getting the souls of our allies back would be nice, if they still have them, but beyond that, do we really want to bother stopping them? Would be the correct thing to do I guess, but I'm not sure I feel inclined to clean up demons for acting like demons, if we start doing that there is gonna be no end to it.
Not to mention that we have worked with demons before, (our seamstress is one) and the crow demons have shown themselves to be highly skilled at information gathering. To this day, Baoliwuyawang is the only enemy we had who actually did his research on us, and frankly that was far scarier than his great strength. If we can recruit them to be our spies, that could be a seriously advantage to have in the future.
Though of course this all depends on whether or not they are willing, and what they ask in exchange. We will have to see.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6032332 >Present the crow devil to the devil hunter and brag about surpassing them in their only field of expertise, and discuss how long they've been a problem and offer to help exterminate them DEVIL HUNTER
YOU WILL TELL ALL OF CHAUN HOW GREAT HAUN IS.
NOW.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6032332 >Force the demon to put on a show for the new arrival and spread your title of crow killer amongst the sects of Chuan (Trickery trial. DC 120) Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6032362 Support solid reasoning though ground rules on who souls and eyes they can take.
No children, good mortals or allied cultivators to awakened beasts. If they can't accept such a deal I'd tell them to go back to hell.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6032332 >Present the crow devil to the devil hunter and brag about surpassing them in their only field of expertise, and discuss how long they've been a problem and offer to help exterminate them No dealing with demons. Anjing is an exception
Anonymous
>>6032332 >Drag the demon to hell physically, and continue questioning him there. I am somewhat nervous about this guy spilling the guts on us and this seems like an elegant solution.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6033215 I fear it would look like consorting with demons in the eyes of another cultivator.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6032332 >Let the devil go, and scold the devil hunter for letting it get away, since his arrival gave them the opening to escape!. Then track the crow down once the blundering idiot has left, and follow them to their leaders Anonymous
>>6032362 >Let the devil go, and scold the devil hunter for letting it get away, since his arrival gave them the opening to escape!. Then track the crow down once the blundering idiot has left, and follow them to their leaders Don't we have an irreconcilable enmity with the demon crow clan, after killing Baoli? His wife seems to hate us for capturing her husband's interest, and the older crow is, at minimum, enabling it. Diplomacy may not actually be a valid option anymore-- but we still need to gather information, and he'll probably point us in the right direction even if it's just in trying to flee.
Anonymous
>>6033428 >Don't we have an irreconcilable enmity with the demon crow clan, after killing Baoli? It's honestly really hard to gauge. On the one hand, like you said, we killed their patriarch, and the wife was definitely not a fan, which you would think this means being on their shit list.
On the other hand, the hag gave us specific advice for how to fight the crow king, indirectly helping us kill him. Regardless of her personal feelings, which could arguably be anywhere between tolerance to genuine fondness, we worked together on some level in the past, so she can't be THAT hostile. Besides, Baoli himself spend his last breath basically telling us "GG well played" so maybe some demons just don't hang on to grudges that tightly.
Bottom line, we will only find out where we stand if we talk with them. If they aren't willing to play nice, we tell them to fuck off back to hell and maybe fetch a few heads to present to the White Jade Army. But if they are more open minded, I suspect they will have some interesting things to offer us.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6033428 >>6033460 >My, my, would you look at that! I thought that little brat would've gotten herself killed before she figured out the trick behind masquerading as a human" The Crow Crone cawed, laughing as she and her daughter sat beneath a crooked tree, high atop a mountain in the depths of a desert "Oh I can see why my fool of a son in law became entranced by that little firecracker, she truly is remarkable isn't she! She's gotten the heavens so incensed by deciding to change her face, you and I were free to walk the earth" >"Don't die here, Wuyashashou, (Crow Killer, 乌鸦杀手) " The widowed Crow Queen hissed as she gnawed at her nails "No one is allowed to kill you but me" >And then her mother whacked her atop her head >"Foolish child! Grudges are that childs fool! And I won't have you die like your idiot of a husband!" The crow Crone yelled, as her daughter whimpered and covered her head, tears already in her eyes I think this is the last time we’ve heard from them. The Widow for sure wants to throw down, but the Crone might be playing the long game.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Thu 13 Jun 2024 02:58:28 No. 6033956 Report No update today, and I might miss tomorrow. Got roasted beneath the sun again. Funny how my relatives suddenly are unable to water their own garden when the temperature reaches triple digits, isn't it?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6033956 >Funny how my relatives suddenly are unable to water their own garden when the temperature reaches triple digits, isn't it? I feel that pain. I get to sweep a pool in such temperatures.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 14 Jun 2024 01:21:42 No. 6034760 Report So, as I feared, I won't be able to end the vote today, but not for the reasons I assumed I wouldn't be able to. I've spent most of the day throwing up + being dead tired from doing my family's gardening for them in the full heat of the day.
Anonymous
>>6034760 Feel better, Grandpa. But in other news that may lift your spirits,
Huan won the queen tournament. Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 14 Jun 2024 16:42:32 No. 6035303 Report Quoted By:
Not feeling well, but not bad enough that I fear throwing up on my keyboard, so ending the vote and tallying its result, much later than I'd hoped to.
Let the devil go, and scold the devil hunter for letting it get away, since his arrival gave them the opening to escape!. Then track the crow down once the blundering idiot has left, and follow them to their leaders:6
Present the crow devil to the devil hunter and brag about surpassing them in their only field of expertise, and discuss how long they've been a problem and offer to help exterminate them:2
Force the demon to put on a show for the new arrival and spread your title of crow killer amongst the sects of Chuan:1
Drag the demon to hell physically, and continue questioning him there.:1
So you will let the devil go, and act like it was the devil hunters fault, before tracking the crow down once the fool has left, right to his masters
Update will arrive shortly
>>6034804 Thanks
And hearing that does brighten my day a little, as does seeing another piece of art with Huan in it that was made the same day. Didn't think the tournament was ending so soon.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 14 Jun 2024 18:09:49 No. 6035341 Report Or you could just lie. Let the devil fly away and chase after them, following them right to their nests once you've dealt with the interloper, blaming their "escape" on his sudden appearance surprising you at precisely the wrong moment, causing your grip around the crow demon's throat to loosen just enough for the wretch to squirm out of your grasp and make his escape. The idea of it is amusing enough to consider, and when you do think on it for longer than a second and with more seriousness than a passing whim, you realize the plan could actually work. Your cultivation is refined enough and your strength is so staggering that a brief lapse of attention and loss of focus would be the only way for the crow devil to escape your hold, and being approached from behind by a stranger would be a reasonable excuse for why your concentration broke and you weren't able to finish executing the demon.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 14 Jun 2024 18:10:50 No. 6035342 Report >>6035341 He caws in distress, realizing his gamble didn't pay off as he flaps his wings desperately, but not before your hand collides with his head and sends him bowling over through the air, just as he pushes out with both of his legs to try and kick off of you to gain altitude.
He caws again, cursing, with blood seeping from his beak, before a glowing white sword whistles through the air and nearly impales him through the wing. His eyes flick up and he turns around, flapping his wings and kicking his legs in the air as if he was running, before he takes off and soars, carried by a sudden updraft of scorching hot air.
"Dogfucker" You spit, wiping the drop of blood he drew from your arm into your skin before it can dry as a few more glowing swords shoot through the air in pursuit of the cowardly devil, but he's too quick to be shot down.
There is a rush of hot air behind you, as the white robed devil hunter skips across the ground as he lands, arms held out, a glowing sword of white jade held in his hand.
"Are you alright?" He asks, breathlessly as you wheel around and swing your open hand at his face, stopping a whisker's breadth from it, retracting and turning your claws back into nails as he stiffens like a corpse, shocked that you were about to hit him and are looking at him with fury and indignation rather than relief or gratitude
"Jackass! Moron! You let them get away!" You rage, stamping your foot into the ground as he takes a step back, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck as he looks around, his face sun scorched and looking like a steamed bun from being out under the sun for who knows how long
"How so!" He shouts back, remembering his pride, his doe eyes sharpening as he glowers, his youthful face only looking imposing from the two scars carved into the flesh beneath his eyes
"You surprised me! in the heat of the moment, I thought it was another member of his flock, attacking me from behind! He slipped out of my grip the moment I turned around to defend myself!" You roar back, stepping forward and getting into his face, making one of your eyes twitch to make your faux fury seem more believable. The devil hunter winces, his anger subsiding as he realizes he is in the wrong, at least according to the lie you've sold him.
"I was rushing to your defense" He claims, trying to defend his actions, though without any real enthusiasm like he's only trying to argue his point because it is expected of him to protect his face and reputation "Even a caught devil is dangerous"
"I could've wrung his neck like a spring chicken! I was in no danger, your chivalrous attitude blinded you to reality, though I appreciate the sentiment and am grateful you would've thrown yourself into death's jaws to try and protect me. Even if I'm far stronger than you are." You growl, acting like your pretend rage is slowly simmering down and quieting, as you titter dryly and tease the young man, who you can't tell if he's blushing or not.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 14 Jun 2024 18:11:51 No. 6035344 Report >>6035342 "It is the duty of any man with a sword to protect others, even if they're capable of handling themselves" He explains, sourly, not liking at all that he is at "fault" for a demon escaping "Even if they're weaker than who they rush to defend, to do otherwise would be to embrace cowardice, like that wretch..."
He pauses, a look of suspicion sparking in his eyes as his glower deepens and he lifts up a finger as he turns to you, and rudely jabs it at you
"What are you doing here, Cat princess?" He asks, more confused than accusing "I know you practice forbidden techniques and pursue a heretical dao, but what business would you have in this accursed land? And why did you catch a demon to begin with?"
"Same reason you are, I guess. I heard of corpses without eyes showing up and lost travelers and merchants. I've been to hell before, and know only crow devils are so picky when it comes to the meals they take from their victims, so, I thought I'd check to see if my hunch was correct" You answer with a shrug, glowering back at him as his own glower softens to just a pout. The same sort of expression a scolded dog would make.
"A crow demon?" He asks, as he sheathes his blade of jade, as you nearly slap yourself across the face to make sure you were hearing him correctly
"Yes, wasn't it clear? You can see can't you? Black Wings, Crow head? Missing eyes?" You list of frantically as he rubs his chin in thought "Isn't it your job to hunt demons, shouldn't you know what a common breed of them look like"
"A demon manifesting upon earth is as rare an event as a dragon flying with a storm" He excuses, turning away from you, no longer willing to look into your eyes
"Bullshit! A wolf demon was sent for my head, an Ox demon challenged me in the road! Do you really not know the faces of your enemy?!" You shout, now actually angry that the supposed experts on demon hunting are so poorly trained and ill informed! That they're this stupid and ignorant
"We have pictures and mummified corpses, and accounts of prior encounters, and our simulated training is effective for when a demon does emerge from the yellow springs" He says, wincing and turning further away, like he expects to be smacked "I've killed demons before! Just, never a crow demon"
"Like that makes it any less pathetic" You groan, rubbing your temple as this realization of his incompetence starts to give you a migraine, before you wonder what he means by demons "Actual demons, devils. And not magical beasts like me. That's what you're talking about, yes"
"Yes" He says stiffly, like he isn't saying more because he's afraid if he does what he tells you will get him into more trouble than calming you down is worth
"What kinds?" You ask, pressing the question further, hoping to get him to slip up and tell you the secret he wants to keep so close to his chest.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 14 Jun 2024 18:12:51 No. 6035346 Report >>6035344 "Imps. Goblins. One eyed corpse defilers" He answers, furrowing his brow "I could name exactly what they were if you'd like me to, But we both have a more pressing issue on hand, the monster waylaying and devouring travelers has just narrowly avoided death and cannot be allowed to escape. We should join forces"
"After it was your incompetence and excitement to play the hero that let them get away?" You ask, hoping he'll take your irritation that he isn't just leaving you alone to talk with the devils will be mistaken for you instead doubting him and his competence
"I'll lose face if I just leave after allowing a devil to flee because I misread the situation and mistook you at a distance for a traveling priestess" He admits, slouching and almost looking like he was deflating like a rubber ball poked with a pin "And, it is my duty to subjugate evil"
You rub you forehead, tilting your head back as you pretend to be mulling over his offer, while you're actually trying to figure out how to ditch him.
"And you'd be given accolades for killing a stray devil" You say, glancing over your shoulder, tracking the path of fallen feathers the crow demon left behind in his frantic flight away from you and the glowing swords of deadly light
"I am not doing this out of vain glory!" he argues, and like a flash of lightning, you realize how you can leave him behind
"Then you won't complain about standing guard and keeping watch here. Crow Devils often return to their old roosts, when they need to rest" You say, forcing the corners of your lips down to stop yourself from grinning in delight "While I chase after them and see if I can't pull them from the sky a second time"
"I would not! This location must be purified and cleansed, if it was the lair of a devil, anyways" He answers stalwartly, chest puffed out and head held high, sheathed jade sword stabbed into the ground in front of him
"Then I'll trust you with this task, while I pursue the demon themselves, maybe we'll run back into eachother in a few minutes" You say, barely able to stop from cackling as you sprint after the crow demon, leaving the devil hunter in the dust.
And you catch the devil quickly, flying up with wings of blood Qi, mostly to look more frightening as you approach him from behind.
"You got a little too cocky there, bird brain" You snap, as he whirls around and covers his face "But I'll forgive that for now, you look too stringy to gobble up, Heh-Heh"
And your cursed hunger has decided a demon's life force looks as tasty as any other kind, so that threat is a lot more serious than they might realize.
cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 14 Jun 2024 18:13:52 No. 6035347 Report >>6035346 "I will show you to our nest" He says meekly, flying off as you follow after him, wincing as he travels through pockets of searing hot air or dense pockets of putrid smoke and smog, leading your further into the furnace towards a ruined castle, a tower about as tall as Baoli Wuyawang's palace was, even derelict and half collapsed. Skulls are hung by ropes spun out of black, human hair, and half decayed corpses are pressed around it in spikes, as red robed figures with distorted helmets shaped like beaks kneel before the citadel in a blanket of white mist, chanting gibberish mantras as crow devils walk amongst them, occasionally pausing to grab one by the face to tear out one of their eyes.
But they stop that grisly harvest as your guide swoops down, and shouts "Wuyashashou is here!". You'd have suspected him of trying to rally the others to swarm you, but instead, they all drop what they're doing, be it mutilating their worshipers or picking at the innards of bloated corpses to run inside their crumbling tower. The cultists stare up at you, and then scatter into the wastelands and eerie mists surrounding the tower, too many of them clutching a hand over a missing eye or stumbling around blindly, lead by the more fortunate of them by bands of cloth.
"Oh, I've heard you'd gotten strong, but seeing it for myself is much different than hearing it. You've grown from a fire cracker to a wild fire, haven't you, girl?" The voice of the crone says, from behind you, and you turn to find her, hands oozing with blood from a head she freshly plucked an eye out of "Oh...poor thing, you've been cursed as well. Did that happen because you peered into Baoli's head, wherever that ended up? The way your fingers are extended, are exactly how he used to keep his hands when he was expecting a fight, the form of the eye stealing grasp"
"You've been spying on me, old hag?" You drawl, stretching out all of your fingers, having not noticed that you'd pushed two out in the right way to rip out an eye or two
"We make our business in information and dirty secrets, and since you snuffed out the strongest of us, we've been strapped for cash and barely able to hold onto what influence we still have" She answers with a roll of her shoulders, her wrinkled face pleasant but her eye glittering with sadism "My son in law made a lot of enemies, and most demons agreed we crow devils had gotten too bold lately, so, I hope you don't take offense to us watching over you to try and gain back a little ground and respect"
"Is that why you've ended up here? Running from the rest of hell?" You ask and she just laughs
"We may be scavengers, but we aren't all cowards, we're taking advantage of our natural gifts, to get an early monopoly on luxury goods and local delicacies" She snaps back, wagging a finger as she cackles "But, somehow, we ended up losing our primary supplier, and have had to pick up the slack ourselves"
You smirk
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 14 Jun 2024 18:15:20 No. 6035348 Report >>6035347 "Figured you had something to do with his disappearance, I warned that idiot daughter of mine and him that straying too close to your stomping ground was courting death" She says with a pleasant, almost grandmotherly smile "But considering how hungry you look, I'm assuming you haven't eaten him, especially considering how crisp and pure your breath is, and the cleanliness of your aura"
"No surprised that one as upstanding and noble as myself can be so vicious?" You ask with a cheeky smile
"No, just wondering why you've chosen to be good when all the world was against you. But, I guess cats, fickle as they are, see the world more like men do, than devils" She says with a shake of her head "And hoping you haven't gotten so addicted to praise, that you've come here to stomp out our ambitions, when you and I got along so well when we last met"
'Actually, why did I come here' You wonder, having kind of forgotten why you came here besides to check if it was crow demons behind the disappearances. But you're not going to admit that, and will act like you had a plan besides just satisfying your curiosity, so you sharpen your gaze, narrow your eyes and make a stern look as the old crone flaps her wings, hanging in the air in front of you, her own fingers held out in a half formed eye stealing grasp
What do you tell the Crow Crone, Huanliuxue?
>That you just came here to ask them to release the souls that used to belong to those who fought on your side >You wanted to see if she was still kicking and that you're glad to see the old hag is still doing well for herself. >That, unfortunately, they've gotten too bold and made their hunting ground too close to your territory and chosen to prey on the innocent. But if they leave now, you won't kill them all >Admit you were just curious how they've been avoiding detection, and what they're doing in the neighborhood >That you want to hire them, and getting themselves killed by another sect would make that difficult >Write in Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6035348 >That you just came here to ask them to release the souls that used to belong to those who fought on your side >That, unfortunately, they've gotten too bold and made their hunting ground too close to your territory and chosen to prey on the innocent. But if they leave now, you won't kill them all Demons are not to be trusted (except Anjing, who is a cinnamon roll) and should be exterminated on sight (except Anjing, who must be protected)
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6035348 >That, unfortunately, they've gotten too bold and made their hunting ground too close to your territory and chosen to prey on the innocent. But if they leave now, you won't kill them all >That you just came here to ask them to release the souls that used to belong to those who fought on your side First gimmie back whats mine
second
go away.
>Admit you were just curious how they've been avoiding detection, and what they're doing in the neighborhood if they answer why not and finally.
>That you want to hire them, and getting themselves killed by another sect would make that difficult They can be our primary force in hell representing us.
Anonymous
>>6035348 >That you just came here to ask them to release the souls that used to belong to those who fought on your side It's a little hard to ignore. They probably don't have them all anymore, if any, but I'm willing to take the names of those they were sold to as well.
>Admit you were just curious how they've been avoiding detection, and what they're doing in the neighborhood Frankly the above is mostly true. But since we are here...
>That you want to hire them, and getting themselves killed by another sect would make that difficult >Write in >Tell her you wanted to ask if she knew of any ways to get rid of this curse you have been saddled with, and what she would want in exchange for the information, if she has it. I recall a decent chunk of people wanting to go on a daytrip to hell to figure out a way to get rid of this curse, myself included, but if we are going there blind we might as well hunt down a dragon or strong Ling. But perhaps she can give us a lead of some sort? If any demon would know, this old hag is probably it. And we just covered her ass by lying to a demon hunting cultivator, so surely she owes us enough to give us a fair deal, at least.
Besides, they are strapped for cash? We have the soul of an emperor with us, that should be more than they could ever need. Though it will take more than a one time information exchange for us to cough that one over.
I wonder what they would give for Laohue's eye? The eye of a cultivator that strong can't come around very often. Not that we should give it to them, but I'll confess I want to see their reaction to personally seeing Laohue's last moments. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6035348 >That you just came here to ask them to release the souls that used to belong to those who fought on your side Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6035348 >I want my allies souls back >how are you hiding, exactly? Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6035394 Support
>However make a sound contract mainly to be used to gather information in exchange for any souls we gather of evil people. >Allowed to call us in hell to knock some head down in hell if they are threatened. Once free each time after it costs them. I.e become my info gatherers and you'll have my protection. But cross me and I'll boil you in lava.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6035348 >That you just came here to ask them to release the souls that used to belong to those who fought on your side The little wannabe foxfucker took something he shouldn't have.
Speaking of the featherheaded little crow, where is she?
If they prove collaborative then perhaps we can decide to sponsor them as our info brokers if they return to hell, otherwise we will let them get slaughtered by the orthodox sects.
Altough Huan should look around if the crows preyed on kids too.
Anonymous
I thought she only cares about innocent children and her allies being hunted. As long as they don't come into her territory or hit children shouldn't it be ok?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6035348 >That, unfortunately, they've gotten too bold and made their hunting ground too close to your territory and chosen to prey on the innocent. But if they leave now, you won't kill them all >Admit you were just curious how they've been avoiding detection, and what they're doing in the neighborhood Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6035348 >>That, unfortunately, they've gotten too bold and made their hunting ground too close to your territory and chosen to prey on the innocent. But if they leave now, you won't kill them all >That you just came here to ask them to release the souls that used to belong to those who fought on your side >Ask if she knows any ways to get rid of the hunger curse >Admit you were just curious how they've been avoiding detection, and what they're doing in the neighborhood This order of things feel appropriate
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6035348 >That, unfortunately, they've gotten too bold and made their hunting ground too close to your territory and chosen to prey on the innocent. But if they leave now, you won't kill them all >Admit you were just curious how they've been avoiding detection, and what they're doing in the neighborhood Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 17 Jun 2024 03:54:02 No. 6037686 Report Ending the vote now, tallying the result. Guess who got volunteered to do gardening when they can barely keep down tea and crackers? This guy! Lazy bastards
That you just came here to ask them to release the souls that used to belong to those who fought on your side:7
That, unfortunately, they've gotten too bold and made their hunting ground too close to your territory and chosen to prey on the innocent. But if they leave now, you won't kill them all:5
Admit you were just curious how they've been avoiding detection, and what they're doing in the neighborhood:7
That you want to hire them, and getting themselves killed by another sect would make that difficult:3
-However, make a sound contract:1
Tell her you wanted to ask if she knew of any ways to get rid of this curse you have been saddled with, and what she would want in exchange for the information, if she has it.:2
-however make a sound contract:1
So you'll ask her to release the souls belonging to those, cultivator or not, who fought and died on your side during the conflict with the Winter blossoming wisdom sect, and admit being curious how they've been avoiding detection from a sect of supposedly trained demon hunters for so long
And mention they're straying too close to your territory for your liking
Update will arrive shortly
>>6035616 Huan does tend to act nicely and try to help others, even if she gives excuses about why she's doing it. She does have, what, 11 good karma points to 0 negative? Which is one more than enough to make demons start craving her succulent meat and is why she didn't burn from the arrow that god shot at her, and was only pierced through by the arrow itself rather than the divine energy blazing around it.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 17 Jun 2024 04:40:40 No. 6037724 Report 'Oh right' You remember as you watch her half talon nails curl as she notices your attention is on her hands barely peeking out of the sleeves of her ash and soot covered, bloodied robes 'They took something they shouldn't have, the souls of my allies, among other things of there's. None of my students died, but soldiers under my command and disciples of my allies did, and it'd be unbecoming to just let them get stolen away in the night, without at least making a little bit of effort to get them back and allow them to reborn peacefully'
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 17 Jun 2024 04:41:41 No. 6037728 Report >>6037724 "I believe you have something I'm interested in, but you've got a brightness in your eyes, you want to ask me something more. Or something more of me. Have you gotten as greedy as a bald headed Buddhist?" She answers back, making a joke to try and ease the tension in the air, lifting up and lowering a hand in a calming gesture as you huff and frown harder.
"I have a few friends who are buddhist" You idly respond, picking some dirt out of your nails
"Of course you do, but we can gossip when we aren't talking business, what else do you want to know, Crow-eater?" She presses, her chest rattling with laughter as her dark eyes gleam with a peculiar sort of amusement
"How exactly did you and the other crows avoid the attention of the devil hunters at your doorstep? The underling of yours who I caught mentioned that if he told me, he'd pray for death to come to him quickly. And while I know you devils make a hobby out of torture, I thought that seemed a bit extreme, even for cannibalistic devils like you crows" You answer with a playful smile and a flick of your hair as you move your hands to your hips.
She guffaws, spittle flying out of her mouth as she throws her head back, and feathers appear in her white, cobweb like hair.
"Is that so? He'll need a promotion for knowing to keep his mouth shut. But you've studied us demons and took my idiot son in law's body, so I figured you'd know the reason? Do you not?" She asks, half mockingly. You stretch your hands and ignore the slight because you don't want to be swarmed by vengeful devils in your nicest robes. Or they were some of your nicer robes before you trudged through the red dust and polluted air for a few hours
"Perhaps I do. Perhaps I don't. I'd still like to hear it, even if I already know it" You answer vaguely, flicking your sleeve at her as she cackles
"Hearts. We tear out the hearts of corpses, turn into crows and sit in the cavity. We lurk amongst our victims, in the discarded husks they leave behind" She answers, face wrinkling happily as she grins and casually reveals the secret of their success to you "We can do it with anyone, the best of us can even puppet the bodies before they rot to nothing. The miasma and deathly yin Qi the corpses produce hides us well, when we make an effort to be hidden"
"Interesting~" You purr, smiling a bit more warmly even as you wonder how much the white jade devil opposing army would pay for to know that "Surprised your neighbors don't know about that trick"
"Outlawing demonic cultivation also removes a lot of the traces its original teachers left behind" She snickers "And, when libraries are burning, its easier to bury knowledge that wasn't intended to be lost"
"Clever" You lightly praise smiling brightly, which leads to the crow crone taking a dramatic, theatric bow in front of you, even lifting up the edges of her robe as she curtsies. You can hear her joints cracking as she stands back up
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 17 Jun 2024 04:42:42 No. 6037729 Report >>6037728 "So, shall we discuss the price of those souls you're after or will feathers and fur fly?" She asks calmly, harboring little ill will for a demon discussing fighting to death. Especially for a fight she wouldn't win.
"I am annoyed, for reasons besides your theft of the spirits of my allies" You admit bluntly, eyes half lidded, dangerous though looking outwardly lazy as you stretch out your fingers "Considering you've been committing murders so close to my turf, and..."
You pause, wincing as you better nature nearly has you tell a demon that you're disgusted by their slaughter of innocents. You've gotten too accustomed to doing good and kindly deeds. Even if you can't lie and claim you aren't mostly benevolent, admitting as such to a devil is a mistake only a fool would make
"It reflects poorly on me. I just convinced them I'm not a man eating devil myself. And some of my students have wings and feathers, can I expect other cultivators to know the difference between owls and ravens?" You quickly change your tune, and correct the misstep before you could make it
"Will that be true for long? That is some curse you have gnawing at your gut, and I know you have nothing against eating humans, or even your own kind. Even if you've started going soft" She snickers, waving her hand, accepting the more self centered reason for why her nearness would upset you to begin with "Though I'm not sure if its in the heart or the head? Sticking your neck out for godly daoists? When they were just a season ago picking their teeth with the bones of sinless children"
"You wanna die?" You threaten coldly, air around you stopping dead still as the air of the grave rushes around you, sapping the life and vitality of everything around you. The crone just pulls her robes tighter around herself
"I'm not the one whose changed my nature. I just don't understand why you'd care if a few chumps died on your behalf, when if you'd met them earlier, they'd have been happy to wear that luxurious coat of yours as a trophy" She answers back with a shake of her head and a really baffled look in her shifty eyes "But I suppose you weren't born a demon, and can still act naive even for as ruthless as you can be, Bloodshed"
"Don't test your luck, crone, I might like you more than most demons, but there are a lot of devils down in hell" You scold with a wag of your finger "So, hurry up before I lose my temper, what's the asking price for the spirits of the slain?"
"A single soul" She says with a snicker and a wicked sneer
"Jingyu" You growl back at her
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 17 Jun 2024 04:44:12 No. 6037731 Report >>6037729 "Correct! He's a good toady, and I'd like him back. I'll even find a new roost if you think our current nest will cause problems for you and your pets" She answers back shamelessly "With proper direction, he could become a great demonic cultivator. If he stops running into people who can reduce him to a greasy smear on the ground. You did good work, corrupting that priest that blasted him to bits the first time he died, and he was a cocky jackass for thinking he could freely slip into the temple of even a wimpy sect like those flower tenders"
Somehow, that insult spoken towards the thousand lotus hall pisses you off more than any of the times the old hag made fun of or mocked you for acting as nobly as a ruler should do. And it really pisses you off that she'd ask for you to give up that trash so she could bring him back to life a third time, after all of the corpses he's mangled, the unnatural way he used to their dead flesh to strengthen his own and improve his shitty cultivation base.
After he tried to hurt Luli and killed two of her seniors in cold blood. Terrorized that poor girl and left behind the mangled bodies of the two other young cultivators.
A waste of talent and potential.
"Oh that seems to have upset you? Surely having another monster running around would do you good, no?" She cackles "Give you another chance to show how righteous you are to the old men waiting for a chance to reach for their skinning knives"
"You really are pressing your luck today" You warn darkly, as the anger at the thought of releasing Jingyu back into the world sinks its claws into you and tightens around your heart, rousing your bloodlust just thinking about that piece of shit escaping after all he's done, not just to Luli or Ping, but to others who didn't do anything wrong besides run into a cleaver happy maniac.
"I like irritating the youth, it is a game we elderly like to play, to see how long their manners will last" She sneers, leaning closer to you "Though, if that's too much, I'd ask for the head of one of your peers in the sects here. You can make your pick of them, but either I get Jingyu, you kill a righteous minded grandmaster, or you'll have to kill me to get those souls back"
What is your answer, Huanliuxue?
>Give up Jingyu's flesh soul, in return for the souls of your allies [Negative Karma] >Agree to kill another sect head in exchange for the other souls [Negative Karma] >Pretend to agree to her terms, and then tattle on her to the White Jade Devil Opposing Army (Trickery Trial. DC 135) >Refuse, and tell her you'll just wreck hell with a new friend you made >Snap and tear her head off >Make a counter offer, that you'll give her some of the souls you have in your pocket in exchange for the ones she's taken. Wouldn't an emperor's soul be more valuable to her? >Write in Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6037731 >>Refuse, and tell her you'll just wreck hell with a new friend you made Inviting us? To perform violence? Old bird you know JUST what to say. And we'll be sure to tell absolutely everyone before and after they get torn to pieces who gave us the advice to cause so much trouble in the springs.
Poor little crow demons, scavengers all and now bringers of calamity upon their only real customers. Who wants to deal with the feathered ones when they know the Happy Bloodshed will have their heads for it?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6037731 >Give up Jingyu's flesh soul, in return for the souls of your allies [Negative Karma] Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6037731 >Refuse, and tell her you'll just wreck hell with a new friend you made Oh hell no. Jingyu stays dead. Let's cause some trouble in the yellow springs.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6037686 Vomit on them to establish domination.
>>6037731 >Procure Jingyu's soul to distract the hag, then rip her head off once she thinks we're going to hand it over. The old demoness might be ready for an attack, with how she's provoking us, so we need to lull her into a false sense of security.
Anonymous
>>6037731 write-in
>"Granny Crow, I live by principals. Jingyu's crossed those principles trying to harm a child. He'll never be allowed into the wild world again." >Secondary why would I kill any sect head here when I'm in a good position? That frankly would be idiotic in the grand scheme. >Third your offer to kill you for them doesn't interest me unless you've killed children. Have you? Granny Crow? If you did I'd have reason to end our good relationship. >Now my counter offer accept trading of souls as I clearly remember the crow king I killed was going to kill you. Flash the emperor's soul that'll tempt her. >If I have enemies you are the priority buyers of those souls. I'll trade it for juicy information. >However no children will be harmed or this deal will be null in void. I expect you to make sure your subordinates never cross that line. And kill them for doing it. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6037731 >Make a counter offer, that you'll give her some of the souls you have in your pocket in exchange for the ones she's taken. Wouldn't an emperor's soul be more valuable to her? You know, we show up, tell her to give us some souls back, as her how she's even alive, (Which she answers despite having no need to do so) then tell her she might as well fuck off while she is at it? For an entrance like this she is being very civil. A single soul is not a lot to ask for given all of our demands. She giving us some harsh demonic banter too but the elderly tend to do that and she is clearly testing the limits of our patience, we have no reason to take her bait.
I believe she deserves a counter offer, since there is no way we are accepting either of her terms,
Although killing the head of the Winter Blossoming sect doesn't seem like THAT much of an ask, really... or the Ling for that matter but our other options are to kill her, which I think is stupid and I would rather not piss off the entirety of hell for acting like a goody two-shoe, or we leave with our tail between our legs without doing anything, which is hardly proper.
Besides, I still want to wring that curse knowledge out of her.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6037731 "Congratulations old hag, you pulled a cat's tail one time too many, the deal is off."
>Refuse, and tell her you'll just wreck hell with a new friend you made Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6037731 >Refuse, and tell her you'll just wreck hell with a new friend you made We have the upper hand here
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6037731 >Refuse, and tell her you'll just wreck hell with a new friend you made Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6037731 >Make a counter offer, that you'll give her some of the souls you have in your pocket in exchange for the ones she's taken. Wouldn't an emperor's soul be more valuable to her? Try the sweet before giving the bitter.
Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6037868 >Support I'm lukewarm to the old crone. So she can have a counter offer.
Refusal, and a cat's got to eat.
Anonymous
>>6037868 supporting, can't hurt to give it a shot, and frankly I can't think of another use for the Emperor's soul
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6038507 >I can't think of another use for the Emperor's soul Nightlight.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
I now realize we might be falling into the QM's trap if we enter hell with a soul so powerful and black as the forgotten king.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6037731 >Agree to kill another sect head in exchange for the other souls [Negative Karma] Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 18 Jun 2024 23:09:56 No. 6039268 Report Quoted By:
Ending the vote and tallying its result now, going to have to baby sit a few cats over the next couple of days
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 19 Jun 2024 00:21:56 No. 6039314 Report The sheer audacity and nerve of thinking she could use you like petty cutthroat for hire, or that the soul of trash like Jingyu is anywhere near worth as much as those who gave up their lives for your and other beasts benefit, is almost infuriating and insulting enough for you to refuse on reflex and thunder that you'll just go and cause some trouble down by the yellow springs, turn the underworld upside down and wreck havoc on the netherworld to spite her and the rest of the crow devils in her flock and make their standing amongst devils even more terrible than it already is. But you keep calm and composed, even if you glower turns into a scowl for a fraction of a second before you replace it with a serene yet commanding expression, a relaxed, confident smirk as you tilt up your chin and shoot an imperious look down at the crooked backed old crone.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 19 Jun 2024 00:22:57 No. 6039316 Report >>6039314 "And third and last, your suggestion that I should just kill you if I don't agree with your outrageous demands, is, laughable" You titter, covering your mouth with one of your sleeves, sneering at her from behind it as you narrow your eyes in amusement and tilt your head playfully to the side "And really doesn't interest me, unless you've killed any kids. And you haven't, right? Granny Crow? If you have, then there's cause for our cordial and beneficial relationship to be cut short as I take off that rude head of yours"
"If you aren't here to bargain and make deal, and you won't kill me, then why are you here at all? You are no stray cat, Huanliuxue, and I find it offensive that your fickleness is what's deciding if our operation here gets trashed or all of us end up subjugated and very dead" She at last snaps back, hissing between the words as her true nature reveals itself out of sheer outrage and pique at being walked around and treated like a noisy brat a fraction of her age, both her actual age and how old she looks for a human. Even though you were making every effort to be polite, if she's going to be so snappy, you might just have to go down on a trip to hell with Aodasheng and rampage around for awhile until there isn't a ghost, spirit or devil down there that doesn't hate crow demons with all their heart. But, you keep as cool of a head as you can, with this old wind bag making every effort to piss you off just to entertain herself, even though she knows how close she's teetering over the boundary between life and death.
"Whose saying I'm not here to strike a deal? Patience is supposed to come with age, or so I've been told" You sneer, lowering your hand to show off your fangless smile at her as you tilt your head the other way and lift the hand still resting on your hip up, wagging it back and forth as you speak "Here's my counter offer, I'll trade you souls, but not Jingyu's. You owe me, as I recall your daughter's late husband threatening to kill you, for talking to him much like you're talking to me right now"
"You remember correctly, guess it isn't your head that's gone soft" She bitterly remarks, pouting and leaning on her skull topped walking stick, grinding the teeth she still has before she lifts up her head and grins wickedly at you, malice burning in her eyes and flowing from that ugly smile of hers "But it will have to be a pretty valuable soul to replace a tool as useful as he was, and I'm not certain someone as saintly smelling as you has a wealth of..."
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 19 Jun 2024 00:23:57 No. 6039319 Report Quoted By:
>>6039316 You swing your hip to the side, throwing your dimensional gourd up, and with a flourish, catch it and bring it up to your mouth, where you bite onto the cork and spit it out as you turn it over and shake it once to drop out a very special container. The crow crone hisses, recoiling as she covers her face as the rotten spirit of the dog emperor, Long Tiantunri, that, even though she's reacted like you've just shoved her face into a open furnace, looks like any other soul to your eyes and spiritual sense
"The son of the heavens!" She balks, blinking rapidly and wetting her lips as she scurries closer, eyes now shining with greed "We'd heard he'd died without issue, but I didn't know you'd dirtied your hands and played a role in his death"
"Healing him and undoing the damages of not only the poison he'd been given, but his his hedonistic lifestyle as well, were acts much more sordid than helping the Dian Brothers Three to reach his throne room and cut his head from his fat neck could possibly be" You scoff, holding the soul and its prison over her head as she scrambles to grab it, completely forgetting her pride and outrage to try and snatch it out of your hands like a brat trying to steal a sweet "I was planning on selling this in hell, or using it as a nightlight while I wrote, but I think even you will agree, this soul is worth more than Jingyu's and even more than the souls I'm asking you to give back. I don't believe it but, I know you and the rest of the world do, even if Tiantunri was a worthless worm crawling through shit his whole life"
"A radiant soul hiding a miser's heart" She curses through her teeth as you keep your smile as pleasant as you can, so it doesn't look like you're bullying the old woman
"I'll even sweeten the deal further. If I can grab a hold of the souls of my enemies, you'll be the first buyer I'll approach" You continue, smile turning half into a sneer as you can't help but to lord over your triumph over the older woman "For any juicy or tantalizing secrets you have. But the moment you or any of your underlings so much as think as harming a child, I'll come to your nest, bust it up, take back every soul I traded to you and be on my merry way. So, if any of your subordinats do try to pull this cat's tail, kill them before I ever hear about their misdeeds, okay granny?"
She hangs her head, looking defeated and as gloomy as the condemned walking towards their execution, which in her case seems to be the death by a thousand cuts by how great her despair looks. Then she begins to shudder, her shoulders twitching as she starts to chuckle and then thunder with laughter, booming out of her her belly and scattering the crows and ravens that'd gathered to pick at the corpses left to rot around their roost now that the true crow devils had ran away to hide.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 19 Jun 2024 00:24:58 No. 6039322 Report "Oh my how brazen. And here I was thinking just because you'd chosen to go down a path far more righteous and benevolent than the one I'd expect you'd walk, that you'd gone soft hearted and weak, getting addled by the swill of heroism and foolish ideals. I guess I forgot, no matter how virtuous you are, you're still a cat with claws"
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 19 Jun 2024 00:26:29 No. 6039329 Report >>6039322 "Then I'll just make keeping the company of corpses, washing my hair in blood and any of the other "detestable" things I do acceptable, I already convinced them eating human flesh wasn't a crime they could convict me of" You sneer back, realizing that her warning is just another attempt to mold and manipulate you, by playing on your fears "I'm a ghostly cultivator, and my name is Happy Bloodshed, only a moron would even think I have any reason to be ashamed of what I am and have chosen to be!"
"Tch" She clicks her tongue "You unashamed and bold heretics are almost as bad as truly righteous cultivators"
"Don't think my idea of how friends should treat eachother will stop me from plucking out your tongue" You tweet back at her sweetly "I know what a demon's friendship looks like"
"You've gotten too damn clever, and become troublesome. But I can't help but to admire that spunk" She laughs, taking the threat in stride, showing that you really do know how to deal with devils "It reminds me of myself when I was young, or of Baoli-Wuyawang, back when he was just a plucky brat, a thug with a dream"
"Don't hold your breath that I'll end up the same as him, unlike him, I haven't gotten content now that I'm the strongest beneath the heavens" You brag, bidding her farewell with a friendly wave as you turn enough of your body partially ethereal to hang just above the clouds of putrid smog and choking miasma while you wait for her to hold up her end of the deal, and entertain yourself while you wait by batting Long Tiantunri's soul around like it were a mouse.
<span class="mu-s"> Double vote! </span>
What do you do with the returned souls of your allies
>Release them all immediately so they can be reborn. You bought them so they could be free [Extreme good Karma] >Hand them over to their families or sects so they can decide what will be done with them [Good Karma] >Hold onto them and ask them if they'd like to try to live as ghosts and become ghost cultivators! >Keep them for yourself, since they could be used as bargaining chips in the future or be useful some other way [Bad Karma] >Write in And what do you tell the White Jade Devil Opposing army happened with the crow devils when you invite them to your tournament, Huanliuxue?
>Just that they were dealt with and won't be a problem anymore. Which isn't a lie, technically >Lie boldly and shamelessly that you killed all of them and give them a few pointers on how to fight crow demons to make it believable >Be honest and tell them the truth, all of it , even though it is a really bad idea [good karma] >Have the Crow Crone give up a few of her subordinates, willingly or not, for the devil hunter's to slay. She's a demon, she'll understand and accept a little treachery now, since she's already reaped great benefits for herself. >Write in Anonymous
>>6039322 >and creep yourself out by how much you sound like Qiang when you talk with that tone The allegations take another win. They are truly unbeatable kek
>>6039329 >Hand them over to their families or sects so they can decide what will be done with them [Good Karma] Next of kin should always be notified of any changes to the graves, remains and belongings of all deceased family. Simple as. And hey, you never know, maybe some of them will ask them to stick around. Or won't have family to contact so we'll just ask them directly. Either or. Life is a series of choices, why shouldn't death be?
>Just that they were dealt with and won't be a problem anymore. Which isn't a lie, technically Though we SHOULD give them pointers to help deal with crow demons anyway, if we have some. Got to keep those feathery fucks honest.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6039329 I'm thinking for the souls that we could invite the sects that fought for us, gather representatives and make their release a pre-tourney special function of sorts (I think Huan can help souls manifest enough to share a few words to those who usually can't see them?).
As for the crows we could tell the devil hunters that our reputation as crowkiller was enough to chase them back to hell, if they ask politely we might also share how the crows were avoiding detection.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6039329 >>Release them all immediately so they can be reborn. You bought them so they could be free [Extreme good Karma] The Great Wheel Turns. They served us, their actions will be rewarded. They paid the highest price in this life, we shall not ask of them anymore. Return to the wheel, and march on brave soldiers.
>Just that they were dealt with and won't be a problem anymore. Which isn't a lie, technically Honesty is the best policy, we just don't need to tell them everything.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6039329 >Hand them over to their families or sects so they can decide what will be done with them [Good Karma] >Just that they were dealt with and won't be a problem anymore. Which isn't a lie, technically Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6039329 >>6039357 >Hand them over to their families or sects so they can decide what will be done with them [Good Karma] >Write-in Let them say there goodbyes before being reborn and a grand send off. Probably for the opening of the tournament if anyone asks how you got them blame the corpse stealer and you went to hell to retrieve them. The brownie points will be amazing.
>Just that they were dealt with and won't be a problem anymore. Which isn't a lie, technically Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6039329 >Release them all immediately so they can be reborn. You bought them so they could be free [Extreme good Karma] They died for us. Simple enough.
>Just that they were dealt with and won't be a problem anymore. Which isn't a lie, technically Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6039329 >Hold onto them and ask them if they'd like to try to live as ghosts and become ghost cultivators! >Have the Crow Crone give up a few of her subordinates, willingly or not, for the devil hunter's to slay. She's a demon, she'll understand and accept a little treachery now, since she's already reaped great benefits for herself. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6039329 >Hand them over to their families or sects so they can decide what will be done with them [Good Karma] >Just that they were dealt with and won't be a problem anymore. Which isn't a lie, technically Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6039329 >Hand them over to their families or sects so they can decide what will be done with them [Good Karma] They should be freed, but hey if we can get some brownie point with our allied sects in the process, then we might as well take the middle ground. Besides I'm thinking having witnesses to us going out of our way to get the souls of our allies back will serve us well.
>Just that they were dealt with and won't be a problem anymore. Which isn't a lie, technically Might as well cover their asses to a minimum.
You know, I'm happy with how this has gone, but we will need to keep a short leash on these crows if we don't want them yanking our chains. I'm most worried about the fact that they threaten to spill the beans of our collaboration to other sects, since working with demons is never going to pass as a good look, and they know that. One thing we can do though, is finally get around to reading the crow king's book and learn his techniques. We know how useful keeping our enemies in the dark regarding our techniques is, and I'm sure a demon clan dealing in information knows that as well, so threatening to teach every demon hunting sect exactly how to take on a crow demons and what techniques they have is going to be a crippling blow to any future endeavour they have in the living world. Basically, we both keep dirt on the other so neither of us wants to start shit with the other.
Should be a good start I think.
Besides we should have read that book ages ago, really Anonymous
>>6039329 >Release them immediately. >Give up a few subordinates >Still teach them a few tricks about killing Crow demons Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6039329 >Keep them for yourself, since they could be used as bargaining chips in the future or be useful some other way [Bad Karma] >Just that they were dealt with and won't be a problem anymore. Which isn't a lie, technically Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6039329 >>6039329 >Release them all immediately so they can be reborn. You bought them so they could be free [Extreme good Karma] >Hand them over to their families or sects so they can decide what will be done with them [Good Karma] I'm good with any of those two, but I also feel like maybe the ghost would want to go back to their sects and give their goodbyes before going to reincarnate (or maybe stay as Ghosts, to which we will also tell the souls that if they wish, we can show them how to cultivate as a ghost so they can keep doing it on their sects
And here's my devious plan...
>Because we have the upper hand, we demand to first collect the souls and keep them on our gourd. And at the moment we have to pay, we open our wrists and spur blood to make our Blood Grudge technique and summon every lawful spirit in our bloodline or even those who hate Demons and make a massacre out of the crow devils, make sure to crush the Granny and if there are some crow devil around, we can let them to the Devil Opposing Army with some instructions on how to identify them. After what this granny bitch was saying, I really don't feel like giving the Emperor soul to her, and even if we don't kill her, this will send a strong message of not fucking with us. But on the other side, idk what thing they might do with the soul, or if they can make some fucked up ritual that also dooms us (because as we saw, even if the Emperor was a piece of shit, his soul is valuable. And Idk if Grandfather already revealed this to us and I don't remember, but I feel that maybe the Great Wheel is an important process for a soul... My interpretation is that the souls goes to the Wheel, is judged, then with some protection goes to face judgment and torture on Hell before cleansing and reincarnating as a new life. I feel that the much we keep the soul with us, we either fuck over the world, or more like fucking over the Heavens by not having the soul start reincarnating until the next Emperor is born. And if we send the soul directly to Hell without any of the natural process, the crows might do something terrible)
Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6039329 >Hand them over to their families or sects so they can decide what will be done with them [Good Karma] Ghost students will make me more confused on keeping track of everyone, especially since we’re going to get students with the tournament >Just that they were dealt with and won't be a problem anymore. Which isn't a lie, technically >Give them pointers anyways to make the lie stronger Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6039329 >Release them all immediately so they can be reborn. You bought them so they could be free [Extreme good Karma] >Just that they were dealt with and won't be a problem anymore. Which isn't a lie, technically Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 21 Jun 2024 10:11:42 No. 6041262 Report Quoted By:
Managed to find time to run back home before the cat's I'm watching need feeding or entertaining. So I'll take advantage of it and end and tally this vote, before I need to leave my own temple to return to theirs.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 21 Jun 2024 11:01:49 No. 6041277 Report You wait for the rest of the day, until the sun is once more peeking over the horizon and banishing away the night, though through the unusual and smoke filled air of the forge devil's furnace, it looks like a bleeding red wound when it beckons in the dawn. The crow crone and several of her higher ranking subordinates, which do not include her daughter you note, frantically present to you much more souls of fallen and slain cultivators than you knew they had taken, all trapped inside of shiny and new soul cages. They must've taken the opportunity to switch them from the plain and ordinary vessels they were kept in before to flashier and more elegant looking bird cages. Each of the souls glows brighter than the other souls you've seen, the spirits of the dead daoists must be offended and outraged at their treatment, and so glow with greater fervor than any ordinary ghost flame would. That, or they're naturally more bright than mundane ghosts are, at least when they're actively trying to defend themselves in the only way they can.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 21 Jun 2024 11:02:50 No. 6041278 Report >>6041277 "Don't you worry~" You coo to them as you gather them up, while the crow devils make a lot of noise and racket, crowing in triumph over their prize as they poke their talons and prod their beaks into the cage of the dead emperor, tormenting the worm as they gather around and scabble with one another to who has the right to hold the vessel and pester the soul inside of it next
"I intend to return you all to your sects or your families, once I've finished handing out invitations to my tournament, luckily, that won't take long at all" You assure them, still cooing and purring as you push them one by one into your dimensonal storage treasure, humming as feathers and blood starts to fly as the fight for who gets to stab the emperor's soul with their talons or beak turns violent.
and by time dawn turns to morning, the crow demons have all flown away, lead by the granny and her bitch of a daughter, who looks back to make a ugly face at you as they depart, leaving behind their cult, who scurry over the ground like ants, trying to gather up any feathers or drops of blood left behind by their objects of worship. Not seeming to care at all that their masters left them to rot in this hellhole. How pathetic. Not that you care how they spend their lives, but still.
You stop to tell the disciple of the white jade devil opposing army that he doesn't need to stand guard anymore, since the crow devils have all left their nest, but instead find that he isn't alone on that now much less lonely hill, and there is a small army of his fellow students, lead by a familiar elder.
Who you learn is called Shi Li, the uncle of that piece of shit who tossed him to whatever grave you'd make for him when he heard of his actions at your trial. Though you only recognized him by his voice, since he is dressed head to toe in a crystalline armor that looks like it was made of sapphires and diamonds. Pretty...if your spider demon silk raiment ever breaks, you might have to ask Anjing to make you a new set of armor made out of blood turned into jewels!
"We had received word, from this humble junior, that you were in pursuit of the devils escaping from the furnace to harass and spirit away the denizens of the villages and communities nearby, under our protection" He explains once he introduces himself by giving you his name "It would be unthinkable for us to not lend you our aid, and join the hunt. The dastards have only carried out their raids so boldly, because they have been able to evade our pursuit, time and time again"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 21 Jun 2024 11:03:51 No. 6041279 Report >>6041278 "There is no longer any need for you to muster and march off to war, Elder Li, the demons have already been dealt with and won't be a problem anymore" You answer with a braggarts laugh, crossing your arms and stopping yourself from hiding your dimensional gourd behind your back, since that will just make you look more suspicious and like you have something to hide or are doing anything naughty with the souls you've retrieved and saved from being used like copper cash down by the yellow springs.
"All on your own? Without a scratch or even drop of blood soiling your robes?" He asks, sounding surprised rather than disbelieving "You are mighty and your cultivation profound, but to carry out so clean a slaughter, a single warrior against a pack of devils"
"I make experience killing crow demons" You answer with a confident smirk and shrug of your shoulder "And not just crows, spiders to. Being able to walk down to hell like I was opening a door and stepping into a room, gives me plenty of chances to sharpen my claws against all kinds of demons, devils and evil spirits, Heh-Heh"
"I'd ask you to share your method of traversing down to the netherworld, but no member of this army has any right to demand anything from you, Lady Huanliuxue" He states simply, as he takes of his helmet "It must've been an absolute slaughter when you subjugated them, if you've returned without any bruises or sign of exertion, not even a single bead of sweat...terrifying"
"The demons were just unlucky enough to be born one of the kinds I'm adept at dealing with" You say, having not said a single lie or mistruth during this conversation. You have killed crow demons before, and did deal with them rather professionally this time, you've just taken care to phrase what you did in a way so that it sounds like you dealt with them by murdering them all
"Clearly" Shi Li austerely praises, nodding his head once as he dips it in a partial bow "And you're certain you slew all of the ones who had crawled up from the yellow springs"
"None remain" You answer, smile tensing a bit as you silently curse the old man for making you have to think for a moment how to reply so they don't figure out you didn't kill a single devil and more or less bribed them to fuck off back to hell and as you wag your tongue, you realize how you can distract them all so they don't start asking any more trouble some questions "In fact, I was able to save the souls, including those belonging to several cultivators , that they had come into possession of, that I intend to return to their sects and next of kin, so they can decide how best to put them to rest"
"They strayed as far to the battlefield outside of Suiqi?" He asks, showing his intellect by immediately realizing how they got ahold of the spirits of slain cultivators
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 21 Jun 2024 11:04:51 No. 6041280 Report >>6041279 "They're attracted to places like it, sites of great death and suffering. Especially when their are corpses left out of the crows and maggots" You answer with a nod "And I had an inkling they were lurking around, from the state of some of the corpses and rumors I'd heard"
"Contemptible wretches" He spits, snarling as he sets his helmet down "You did an honorable thing, pursuing them here. If only we could've fought side by side. Perhaps then some of the honor lost by my vile nephew could have been regained"
"You can always visit him if you want, to scold him, he's still alive. Mother is surprisingly skilled at keeping others alive but on the brink of death, for a poisoner" You darkly remark, as the old man's expression sours, before you flick the jade slip inviting their sect to your tournament "Or, you can take my word for it, that that unimportant stain on the world is suffering, and forget about him and try to earn some glory in the wings of my tournament"
"With how hot the blood of my juniors run, I am sure the grandmaster will accept this invitation, these youngsters need to vent their energy somewhere, since you've shot down every eye stealing crow that could be found here" He says, making a show of laughing and acting good natured despite the macabre and uncomfortable turn you twisted your conversation towards "But, I see one more jade slip in your hand, to which temple will it be given to?"
"the Temple of Celestial Fire (庙的天上火, Miàodītiānshànghuǒ)" You answer, and several of the lesser white jade devil hunters gasp and turn to their elder
"This old man will escort you, those turn coats still dwell in lands that do not accept your kind as anything but demons" Shi Li jumps up, and declares, one hand over his heart, clearly looking for any chance to wipe away the stain on his family's name left by his perverted monkey of a nephew "I swear, upon my...no, upon the lives of three generations of my descent, that you will reach your destination unharmed. Be it stampeding beasts or ignorant daoist, I shall fight off any foe. It is the least I can do, to repay your heroic deed this day and to show you the Shi are an honorable clan, except for one exception"
You...actually hadn't thought of where the temple of celestial fire was until now. Ling territory. Close to the border, but far enough that you may run into trouble. And thinking about it, you may need to give them more reason besides reaffirming your deal to help them break from the main branch of the Ling family to convince them to join the tournament, since they are in open rebellion against the other Ling right now...
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 21 Jun 2024 11:07:29 No. 6041281 Report >>6041280 You pout, and curl a lock of your hair around one of your fingers as you think
<span class="mu-s"> double vote </span>
Do you accept Shi Li's offer to escort you to the other temple
>Yes, and travel in human form, so to not trouble the old man >Yes, and travel in feline form, so as to trouble the old man and make a statement >No, just have Aodasheng shadow you >No and waltz over the border alone. If they want to pick a fight, you'll make some corpses to show the Ling dogs who they've made an enemy of >Write in And how do you convince the Disi-Ling and the Temple of Celestial Fire, Huanliuxue?
>Make a show of returning the ghosts of the casualties they suffered fighting the winter blossoming sect, even though you were going to bring them back anyways. Make them think you specifically sought out THEIR heroic dead and saved them in servitude >Say if they join the tournament, you'll give them some breathing room and scare off any sect near enough to try to ransack their temple >Just give them a date for when you'll attack the main Ling branch, and mention you have disciples investigating the beast stampede right now >Mention all the prime real estate and unclaimed land the winter blossoming sect lost, and make it clear you'd back their claims on some valuable pieces of it, if they're willing to abandon their current holdings >Write in Back to cat-sitting I go. Shouldn't need to baby sit them after this coming week-end, but depending on how needy they are, I may not be able to write anything until the weekend...ends
Hopefully not
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6041281 >Yes, and travel in feline form. >Give them a date. >make a point to show their souls off >Maybe kill some of the core formations experts of nearby ling clans that are harrassing them. We also want the white jade devil killers or whoever these punks are to go as a demonstration of our respect amongst our peers and feed the Ling some. . . interesting information about who our allies are, so they overestimate and deploy wrongly to defend their flanks.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6041281 >>Yes, and travel in human form, so to not trouble the old man lets have a neat conversation as we travel.
as for convincing them
>Make a show of returning the ghosts of the casualties they suffered fighting the winter blossoming sect, even though you were going to bring them back anyways. Make them think you specifically sought out THEIR heroic dead and saved them in servitude >Just give them a date for when you'll attack the main Ling branch, and mention you have disciples investigating the beast stampede right now We made a promise of support.
We are dealing with the beast tide right now, and we did say we'd help against the ling. WE have not forgotten.
Anonymous
>>6041281 >Yes, and travel in human form, so to not trouble the old man When people rear to make amends, let them. Also make him a witness to our honorable behgavior and adept handling of the beast stampede.
>Make a show of returning the ghosts of the casualties they suffered fighting the winter blossoming sect, even though you were going to bring them back anyways. Make them think you specifically sought out THEIR heroic dead and saved them in servitude >Just give them a date for when you'll attack the main Ling branch, and mention you have disciples investigating the beast stampede right now Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6041281 >Yes, and travel in human form, so to not trouble the old man >Mention all the prime real estate and unclaimed land the winter blossoming sect lost, and make it clear you'd back their claims on some valuable pieces of it, if they're willing to abandon their current holdings Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6041281 >Yes, and travel in human form, so to not trouble the old man Making the trip in human form is probably less conspicuous, feline form may spur the Ling into taking action before it's time.
>Just give them a date for when you'll attack the main Ling branch, and mention you have disciples investigating the beast stampede right now We have the tournament and then we need to find a cure for Huan but i think deposing the Ling should come third.
Thankfully we can rely on a powerful military force with the two insect principesses to carry the initial war if personal matters take too long or something comes up.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6041281 >Yes, and travel in human form, so to not trouble the old man A good cover.
Not that we couldn't sneak in if we needed to, but hey, kind of him to offer.
>Say if they join the tournament, you'll give them some breathing room and scare off any sect near enough to try to ransack their temple I don't mind giving them a date, but I want time to at least finish the tournament, cure Huan of her curse, and train up some techniques. No clue how long all that will take, and having some time to do basic recon/prep, or dig up dirt first would be good too. Giving a hard deadline might rush things along before the ideal time comes.
I mean, it would probably be fine anyway, but I leaning towards this instead.
Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6041281 >Yes, and travel in human form, so to not trouble the old man >Make a show of returning the ghosts of the casualties they suffered fighting the winter blossoming sect, even though you were going to bring them back anyways. Make them think you specifically sought out THEIR heroic dead and saved them in servitude Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 24 Jun 2024 03:03:19 No. 6043536 Report Quoted By:
Finished cat-sitting, so I have all the time free to run this quest again, without having to worry about cats with separation anxiety. Watching them was however, much more enjoyable than battling weeds under the hot summer sun.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 24 Jun 2024 04:08:57 No. 6043558 Report But you quickly come up with a few ideas that should work. Even if you gave up on having them attended the tourney, you'd need to travel to their temple anyway to return the souls of their dead to them, and even if they figure out you're releasing the spirits of everyone who died fighting Xue Laohue's banal cruelty, the fact you chose them to be the first to receive their deceased kin and disciples would still be taken as an incredible show of gratitude on your part. And, while you still aren't sure when you'll be able to turn your full attention to dismantling or at least brutalizing the main branch of the crooked Ling family tree, with all the responsibilities and problems needing your attention currently, you're fairly confident you can give them a fairly accurate date of when you'll launch the attack and give them a chance to properly free themselves from the shackles of being related to a clan of bastards and villains like the Ling. The privilege of being the first to have their ghosts brought to them, the relief that you haven't forgotten the deal they made with you to help them break ties with their main clan, and the knowledge you're trying to find the source of the beast wave, should be enough to get them to calm down and relax enough to join and hopefully enjoy your tournament.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 24 Jun 2024 04:09:58 No. 6043559 Report >>6043558 "They haven't declared themselves kings, like the Chuan? That's odd" You muse, frowning as the old man shrugs his shoulders
"We have not gotten any news of what goes on beyond the borders of the Chuan dynasty, since the beast stampede began, and rarely heard of the goings on in the neighboring provinces during the collapse of the imperial power" He answers back simply "Forgive me for my ignorance"
"Don't be so apologetic, it'll make the time we spend traveling together awkward or painfully dull" You titter, as you begin to prance back the way you came, out of the hellish wasteland called the forge devil's furnace. Shi Li opens his mouth to apologize again, before thinking better of it and skipping to catch up and stay at your side, flicking his sleeve to dismiss the other, lower members of his sect as the two of you begin your trek into unknown lands.
Or at least, lands unknown to you.
-
[Meanwhile, outside of Chuan's border]
"It is a miracle they escaped so close a brush with death" Baifenchi marveled, leaning over the critically injured cultivator their party had found, poking them on the cheek not covered in bloodied bandages, smiling as she noted their resemblance to Fu, their idol who walked with a cemetery's worth of grudges upon their back and shoulders "Granny Monu is truly a miracle worker"
Qiang made a noise, between a snort and a click of her tongue as she and the human Huili stood guard over the half collapsed building they had dragged the survivor of the attack to, while The ant princess Tiexingege patrolled the ruined streets with Brother Siwang, who wouldn't let her pursue her scientific curiosity of the corpses filling the destroyed town.
"Don't give me all the credit, young Jionghuagege had a role to play in their survival" The witch who used to be old, or so she was told, said proudly as the silver haired, freckled face bee queen smiled shyly while the cultivator laid out before them began to rouse from his near eternal slumber. Baifenchi wondered if he'd have any keen insights of death or interesting sights beyond the boundary past life to share with them
"It was no miracle" Fa Tang muttered under his breath
"Tch, and you call me a gossip, bro" Fa Jin tittered like a woman rather than a man, fanning himself as the near dead man slowly sat up, his one functioning eyes blinking open
"W...where am I? Who are you people?" He questioned in a hoarse voice, his eyes flicking around before settling on Monu, who Baifenchi knew stood out more than even herself or Jionghuagege with their oddly patterned and colored hair
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 24 Jun 2024 04:10:59 No. 6043561 Report >>6043559 "Friends, comrades, saviors" The witch purred, reminding Baifenchi why she was her master's mother, even if she still didn't quiet understand how a toad gave birth to a cat and why she didn't claim to be the first beast to attain human form. Baifenchi frowned as she pondered this mystery, as the witch knelt down beside the wounded man, whose visible flesh flushed pink, and made the death fond moth's frown deepen. To escape death so readily when so near to it was an oddly upsetting sight, and made her heart flutter with something near to panic but not quite the same.
"And if it would not be too difficult for you, so soon after you escaped the jaws of death, to tell us what exactly happened here and how you survived so deadly an assault" Monu said, speaking not like herself at all, lacking her usual carefree and lackadaisical air, yet there was poison still on her tongue and in her words, rather than the overt venom she usually bared her fangs with, she used a more subtle toxin now, Baifenchi knew, slipping into the role of the dignified and fair faced and natured Daoist as easily as she wore her slippers.
"I..I do know, I feel faint. All I recall is the terror of the night, when glowing eyes filled with malice emerged from the dark, like a cloud of fireflies or sea of sparks. Oh the terror! The terror" The man says weakly, leaning against the witch who Baifenchi could tell wanted to do nothing more than wring his neck, rather than coddle him like a newborn babe.
"That nightmare is ended, brave warrior" The witch said through her teeth, eyes gleaming with malice of their own.
Qiang shifted, and the moth swore she heard a odd clicking noise as the swordswoman glanced back at them, watching the toad witch with a sharp look. Well, a look sharper than sister Qiang's usual piercing expression.
_
"I will admit, I am disappointed to see you accompany by one other, and not an entire army" Disi-Ling ( 第四-陵, Fourth Tomb) Huofeng (Fire Vanguard, 火锋, Art name), drawls over the cup of his amber red tea, eyes narrowed as you try to keep your eyes off of the knot tied in the sleeve of his robes, hiding the stump of his arm he lost to one of Xue Long's kids during the battle against his father and sect
He sets his cup down after taking a swig and swishing the tea around his mouth, steam rising out of his nostrils as he breathed out a ponderous sigh
"I am however, not surprised you'd be so bold to approach me in lands that consider you their mortal enemy, even in disguise" He says slowly as he glances down at his cup, a wordless accusation that you do not trust his hospitality, when you just don't want to drink tea hot enough to scald the fingers of the girl serving the cups, even when she wore gloves. You wave your hand over the cup and turn it over, showing how its palm has turned red as Shi Li struggles to drink his own cup, wincing and grimacing as he forces the boiling hot drink into his mouth and down his throat
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 24 Jun 2024 04:12:00 No. 6043562 Report Quoted By:
>>6043561 "The most venerable warrior and skillful fighter of the Shi clan was watching my back, and this pretty face of mine is more than enough to make most men forget to ask the right kind of questions when they meet me" You snicker, covering your mouth with the stinging, half scalded hand you waved over the dangerous cup of tea, before slacking your face and turning your expression grave and serious "And I had a good reason to risk my pretty coat and tail, coming here"
"Oh?" Lord Disi Ling asks, eyebrow raised in intrigue as he guzzles down another pour of tea that could boil flesh and feather off of a phoenix
"Your dead" You answer solemnly, tipping your head at an angle, as close to a bow as you'll go with anyone with Ling in their name, even if they aren't the sort of Ling you despise the most "The disciples, sect, and clan members who died on my behalf, for my benefit"
"We've buried the ones who left enough of a corpse behind to be buried" He answers sadly though with a curious twinge to his speech, eyes widening as he scrutinizes your every movement "What about our dead troubled the great heretic of Chuan to travel to lands still clinging to the laws of the nine heavens?"
"Their eternal souls and the rest they were denied. Another heretic, far more awful and far less lovely and amiable than my noble self, made a bargain with some nasty crows" You begin, glancing to Shi Li, wordlessly asking him to interject and lead credence to your claim
"Devils who evaded the most illustrious hunters of my own sect, and hid in the flames and fumes of the forge devil's furnace" he explains, nodding as he sets down his burning cup of tea, face twitching as his body tries to rebel against the boiling hot tea he forced into it. Huofeng simply nods his head, listening with an intense look on his face and in his eyes.
"I dealt with both of them. The heretic sought corpses from the gardens of the thousand lotus hall, and the crows flew too close to my own territory to escape my notice, so I dealt with both sides of that black pact" You continue, confidence swelling as you give the one armed cultivator a feisty smirk "And retrieved the souls they had taken, all of them"
"And you've come to return them to us?" He asks, sounding somewhat slow like that wasn't where you were obviously leading to, but you can't fault him for being ignorant of the ghostly daos
"Yes, and to tell you when I plan to enact our shared vengeance against the main ling clan" You answer as your smirk turns to relaxed yet bloodthirsty looking grin "And to inform you that several of my followers are already present in these lands beyond Chuan, investigating the source of the beast stampede"
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Mon 24 Jun 2024 04:13:16 No. 6043564 Report "At last" he answers with a similarly relaxed, though more conniving looking grin than your "And I will make certain no member of my temple brings harm unto them. I will gather all present in said temple currently, to witness the freeing of their deceased brethren, if you are comfortable revealing and showing the way you will free them to us, who are near strangers to you">This Coming Autumn, a season from now >This Coming Winter, Two seasons from now >Next spring, three seasons from now >When the tournament is finished >Write in >No, return and set the tournament into motion >Yes, to see how much damage the Chuan armies did to them >Of course, to cause a bit of trouble and mischief >Yes, to hear what the people here think of you >No, but you'll have Aodasheng patrol its border >Write in
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6043564 >This Coming Autumn, a season from now >No, return and set the tournament into motion Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6043564 >When the tournament is finished >Of course, to cause a bit of trouble and mischief Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6043564 >This Coming Winter, Two seasons from now >No, return and set the tournament into motion I want to say winter because that season should have less sunlight, which should make it less advantageous to the Ling techniques.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6043564 >This Coming Winter, Two seasons from now >Yes, to see how much damage the Chuan armies did to them Anonymous
>>6043564 >The coming winter >Yes to cause some.mayhem >Kidnap a Ling golden core Gives us time to train our disciples.
And by taking one of our enmies now we can be rid of our curse!
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6043714 We can even ask vanguard if there is a sect in the region with a golden core head and no others.
That would be easy pickings. Or just the lowest number of GC cultivators
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6043564 >This Coming Winter, Two seasons from now Ahem
>No, return and set the tournament into motion TOURNAMENT ARC!
LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE.
Anonymous
>>6043564 >This Coming Winter, Two seasons from now It's a gamble because they will expect us to pull something when we perceive them at their weakest.
We should probably ask which techniques the Ling might use to counter the winter climate since I'm sure their warring with the winter sect had to be harshest during the cold months.
So we can devise a method to counter their counter.
>No, return and set the tournament into motion The sooner we can finish this tournament the faster we can search for a cure for the curse.
Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6043822 Well, we can always use time travel to go to a better time for us to cure ourselves if it gets particularly perilous.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6043564 >This Coming Winter, Two seasons from now The more time, the better.
Plus fighting a fire focused sect in winter seems like a smart idea.
>No, return and set the tournament into motion We have delayed this long enough now, I think.
Anonymous
Anonymous
>>6044382 Neato, where'd that come from?
Where's the 'n'? lol Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 25 Jun 2024 06:22:43 No. 6044441 Report Quoted By:
Ending the vote now, and tallying its result.
This Coming Autumn, a season from now:1
When the tournament is finished:1
This Coming Winter, Two seasons from now:7
____
No, return and set the tournament into motion:6
Of course, to cause a bit of trouble and mischief:2
-Kidnap a Ling golden core:1
Yes, to see how much damage the Chuan armies did to them:1
So you'll promise to start fighting with the Ling clan and the Guardians of the celestial sunlight in winter, and head back to get the tournament started
Update will arrive shortly
>>6044388 Wise Master RQM'S King of /QST/ Tournament. It's the piece of bonus art they commissioned from The great sage Indonesian gentleman of Huanliuxue after she won the Queen tournament and ended it early since she had an unbeatable lead over the other contestants
Which makes me pretty happy and proud of my little quest, and even more overjoyed to see the prize she won. And RQM already fixed the typo, as seen here
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 25 Jun 2024 07:17:27 No. 6044457 Report "This coming winter" You answer cooling, interlocking your fingers and tenting your hands on the table "The days are shorter then, and with the experiences I've had with Ling techniques, I know that they will not benefit from there being less sunlight"
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 25 Jun 2024 07:18:28 No. 6044459 Report >>6044457 Hunger, gnawing and intense. You wince and clutch your stomach, doubling over and collasping, caught off guard by the sudden increase of its potency, the complaints of your stomach reaching you louder than ever before as the unnatural pit in your belly widens and deepens further than it ever did before. And the intense hunger pang makes you realize just how heavy your arms and legs feel and how weary and tired your eyes feel.
You recognize both feelings, for what they are, feelings you haven't felt since you became who you are now, since you stopped being a simple and stupid housecat living by a river with reeds.
Starvation. The beginnings of it at least
<span class="mu-s"> Until Specter starvation is cured, Huanliuxue will suffer a penalty ranging -5 to -10 on most rolls and up to -20 on certain trials, as she experiences light/ the beginnings of starvation </span>
"Lady Huanliuxue!" Shi Li yells, catching you as stars fill your eyes and your stomach roars loudly, enough for you to feel it clenching inside of you as a chill runs down your face and you feel yourself grow pallid and cold drips down the rest of your body from your face
"I'm fine, I'm fine" you mutter, shaking your head to clear the fuzz from your head, feeling like everything between your ears have been packed with cotton "Its just some stomach pain, it must've been something I ate, Heh-Heh-Heh"
Or something you didn't eat, rather
"You are not well, you nearly fainted" Shi Li scolds as he helps you stand "Please, allow me to lend you my apothecaries and physicians"
"I'm fine! Dammit! Stop fretting over me like my mother!" You snap, having even less patience than usual with how close your current cursed existence was to being uncovered and the hunger brought about by said curse for the old man's pestering "I just felt ill for a moment, I was just caught off guard by the pain"
"You are not well, your skin feels clammy" He says with a frown, hand still on your wrist "and I barely feel any fat under your skin, and with that growl from your stomach, I'd think the problem is that you haven't been eating"
"Its a part of my cultivation technique, ghosts don't eat often, unless they're hungry ghosts" You lie shamelessly, wriggling your hand out of his "I overestimated my body's resistance to starving it, usually I can go longer without it complaining to be fed"
"What a mysterious training to put yourself through, but it must have its merits, strengthening your resolve or force of will, perhaps?" Huofeng questions as Shi Li pouts like a beaten dog
"Is that so? Then I insist, allow me to pay for you to break your fast" He says as you scoff
cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 25 Jun 2024 07:19:29 No. 6044461 Report >>6044459 "You really are grandfatherly, aren't you, Master Li? It's fine, you've done enough escorting me here" You say, flicking your sleeve and refusing his offer, before giving another lie so he can't press the matter and force you to eat food that won't do any good staving off your hunger or the starvation closing in on you "And besides, I need to end it with particular herbs grown in the underworld, can you find a restaurant that serves them on its menu"
"Can't say I could, but if you asked, I'd travel and collect them myself. The Shi will show they are not a family of randy monkeys" He answers, sounding more like a bold young man than a wise old master. The way he's speaking is enough to make you giggle
"You're funny, Uncle" You laugh, hoping it doesn't sound forced or like you're trying to ease his worries for you, since they're starting to really bother you "You can walk me back over the border, then we can meet again at my tournament, unless you want to stick by my side like a lost kit for awhile longer"
He looks you down and up with concern before smirking and chuckling "That is acceptable, though I'd call myself a hound rather than a cat, I hope to meet you in the contests, Huofeng"
"I'll crush you to get at Xue" Huofeng laughs "And you, Huanliuxue, don't starve yourself before the war. We've done our part, so don't flounder your part of our pact just because you got airheaded and forgot to eat"
"Hey, don't say anything that'll make me need to kick your ass" You laugh, and the two other men laugh as well, before you realize you're being guided towards the courtyard and you remember you can't just leave immediately.
And while you can force a pleasant smile onto your face and put on a show and act like a mysterious sage carrying out a strange rite, the hunger growing stronger by the second in your stomach makes it difficult to carry out the release of the members of the temple of the celestial fire more troubling and irritating than it should otherwise be. And the way the gathered crowd of your fellow daoists gasp with every soul you release from the sleeves of your robe or the neck of your gourd, starts to piss you off before you're finished, and their weeping and crying as they greet their ghostly comrades and siblings, parents and children just tries your patience and manners further. But somehow, you maintain your composure and remain as elegant and graceful as you always are as strings of pale blue ghost flame float around you like a halo or fill the skies like lanterns tied together by strings and flit around like ghostly butterflies as they rush over to their living loved ones to give them their final wards before they depart and release themselves from their earth attachments and tethers to ascend towards the heavens
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Tue 25 Jun 2024 07:20:30 No. 6044463 Report >>6044461 Near the end of the festival of bittersweet reunions and passionate parting words, you start drooling, and hide that sign of your cursed hunger and the hungry face you must be making behind a fan, hoping your standing to the side and observing the procession of departing soul and ghosts reuniting for and thanking their living friends and family is seen as more respectful and mystical rather than awkward and creepy.
Luckily, returning the ghosts to the Five Colors and Five Purities, Dusk Marsh Wolves, Summer Sea Dawn sects is much quicker done without the air of mystery and facade of ceremony the temple of celestial fire needed, and giving the dead back to the people of Suiqi and the temples with you as their idol and buddhist sects who rallied to your cause can be done without you being present, as you just tell Fu and Ping to do it on your behalf as you rush to your garden to get the tournament started and see if it couldn't take your mind off of the curse.
"Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives" You curse, as you glance up the tree you were resting against to gather your thoughts, to see Aodasheng standing and loitering on one of its branches "That curse you left me is starting to go troublesome"
"Go eat a dragon" he says shamelessly without a hint of guilt in his tone as she rolls his head to the side "Its easily enough done, slaying one. And if you don't want to cut one of those majestic beings down, there are alternative meals whose lifeforce would be enough to free you from Specter Starvation. I would even go collect a few options, if you'd only command me to. An empress like you shouldn't look so pitiful, clutching her belly like a starving beggar"
"I know its pathetic, but I'm too busy to worry I'm starving to death, as ridiculous as that sounds" You snarl, shaking your head "Besides, I'm sure I could find a way to cleanse myself, that no one else has found or knows"
"It would be interesting to see what would cure this curse, but I must ask, why go through such an effort for the same result as just killing something as mighty as a dragon?" He asks curiously, frowning as he floats down to you
"B..because!" You shout, stomping off as he glides at your side. But you can't give him an actual reason why going to such lengths would be better than just curing the curse the usual way it is dealt with.
Do you do anything before beginning the tournament, Huanliuxue?
>No, just start it immediately once all the contestants arrive, impressing all of them and the audience with a grand display to get it started >Yes. Stop putting it off and find something or someone to use as a cure for your specter starvation >Yes, investigate the mysterious five unheard of high tier cultivators with the ridiculously pompous art names >No, but have one of your disciples oversee and run it while you search for a cure for your curse >Write in Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6044463 >Yes. Stop putting it off and find something or someone to use as a cure for your specter starvation What if we eat Jingyu?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6044463 >Yes, Kidnap a Ling golden core and EAT Jingyu is too weak. We need either core formation or golden core. Those are bound to have refined enough life force.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6044463 >Yes. Stop putting it off and find something or someone to use as a cure for your specter starvation Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6044463 >Yes. Stop putting it off and find something or someone to use as a cure for your specter starvation Quick trip to hell
I wanted to start tournament and have it overseen while we search but realized we got one too many peeps there that will fuck shit up if we let them.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6044463 >Yes. Stop putting it off and find something or someone to use as a cure for your specter starvation Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6044463 >Yes. Stop putting it off and find something or someone to use as a cure for your specter starvation Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6044463 >Yes. Stop putting it off and find something or someone to use as a cure for your specter starvation We probably should have done this earlier, but who has the time? Being a Sect head is serious business.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6044463 >Yes. Stop putting it off and find something or someone to use as a cure for your specter starvation >If can't deliute a drop of god blood in a massive basin of blood underground and drink that. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6044463 >Yes. Stop putting it off and find something or someone to use as a cure for your specter starvation The way it's going we won't last until the end of the tournament, I guess the five pompous cultivator may be fallen deities in disguise but confronting them as she is is a bit dicey.
It's easier to find an option to at least stave off the hunger and then carry on with her business.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6044463 >Yes. Stop putting it off and find something or someone to use as a cure for your specter starvation Should've eaten that crow earlier to keep the hunger at bay a bit.
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 26 Jun 2024 12:50:55 No. 6045370 Report Quoted By:
Ending the vote and tallying its result now, bit later than I meant to, Cat nap turned into a deep sleep. You know how it goes
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 26 Jun 2024 13:25:54 No. 6045380 Report "Where are you walking to, Lady Huan?" Ao asks curiously as his presence saps the life and color from the trees you walk beneath "The festival you've decreed and chosen to hold is in the opposite direction to the one you walk, is it not? Has the hunger grown so intense it has started to befuddle your senses"
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 26 Jun 2024 13:26:55 No. 6045381 Report >>6045380 "Ju has caught your eye, out of all the applicants?" You ask curiously as you clamber up a rock and lay down to sunbathe and consider what options are available to you to cure yourself of specter starvation "I'm sure that'd give her a big head if she knew"
"She was traveling with you and watching my protege night warrior" He answers cheerfully, though you aren't sure why he thinks Yewushi is his student, when all he's done is cause the poor kid to faint whenever he showed up within a mile of him "Why wouldn't she rouse my interest? Lian Luli as well, has earned my notice, as has that boy with a demon's mark on his brow, and several others, who I won't speak off so as not to deny your the same pleasant surprise I experienced when I noticed their capabilities"
"How thoughtful, while I'm suffering from a curse you placed upon me you're admiring the flowers that have sprouted up" You pout, trying to make him feel guilty for your current, sorry state, but he keeps smiling
"Not for long, we'll cure it before the moon finishes its cycle" He boasts with utmost confidence "The only reason it has become a problem, is because you've been too diligent and hardworking. Several times I nearly allowed myself, when I was caught up in my research or meditation, through simple carelessness or incaution"
"Somehow I'm not surprised about" You giggle, yawning as you stretch out and warm your fur under the sun, enjoying the contrast between its warmth and the ghostly aura Aodasheng gives off, making for a unique sensation of a cursed ground under the morning sun "But lets put our heads together, and figure out how I'll treat myself. So go on, advise me"
"I still think a dragon should be your first choice, but I've done my research of this era, and haven noted several alternative means" He begins as he crouches down next to you "And have prepared a list, of what I think are our best bets for removing that curse of mine as swiftly and efficiently as is possible, which will be quite the effort otherwise, considering how weak and pathetic most of the creatures born into this era have proven to be"
You choose to ignore that offhand comment at the end, since you can only guess Aodasheng has been taking breaks to stick his spear into things to sharpen his own skills. Why else would a fight maniac like him sound so disappointed?
"It was a refresh challenge, finding beings in this weakling era whose had the vitality or spiritual essence of a dragon" He breezily continues, the spear of mortal death appearing in his hand, shooting through a few trees and making you jump and ruining your nap before it can begin.
And then, the demonic treasure, which shot through a mountain and could kill a dragon as easily as a gnat, was used like a glorified stick as its wielder used it to write the identities of the creatures and people he's marked as medicine for your ailment. That he so carelessly inflicted upon you.
Cont
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Wed 26 Jun 2024 13:27:55 No. 6045383 Report >>6045381 Who/ What do you target as a cure for yourself first, Huanliuxue?
>A rumored dragon sighting, who is probably not the relative of your dragon friend if they exist >Just go down to hell and kill demons who try and make a meal out of you until one worthy of having their life force devoured by you shows up >Attempt to absorb one of the drops of divine blood you possess (Fortitude trial DC 180) >Pay a visit to the seven slaughtering swords, and see if any of those sword maniacs who won't be missed can become your medicine >Give a "Divine" mandate to Lord Chuan and your cult, to search for mighty monsters and powerful spirits to sacrifice to you >Travel the summer sea, knowing the depths hold secrets that may include a Levithan you could turn into grilled fish >Meditate in one of your temples, to try and uncover an alternative means of curing yourself (Wisdom/ insight trial. DC 165. -5 to roll) >Write in Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6045383 >Just go to hell and start killing demons. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6045383 >Just go down to hell and kill demons who try and make a meal out of you until one worthy of having their life force devoured by you shows up Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6045383 >Travel the summer sea, knowing the depths hold secrets that may include a Levithan you could turn into grilled fish Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6045383 >Just go down to hell and kill demons who try and make a meal out of you until one worthy of having their life force devoured by you shows up This is a stopgap measure
But I want us set for the tournament before we deal with curse permanently, and I'm not fond of leaving it to chance.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6045383 >Just go down to hell and kill demons who try and make a meal out of you until one worthy of having their life force devoured by you shows up Maybe sow a few rumors we carry an emperor's soul with us? Just a little trickery to bait the trap.
Anonymous
>>6045383 I feel like if there's a place where soul devouring is not condoned that might be hell otherwise most devils would practice it already, which doesn't seem to be the case otherwise souls wouldn't work as currency?
>Travel the summer sea, knowing the depths hold secrets that may include a Levithan you could turn into grilled fish We could probably smother the curse with our own divinity if we tried to meditate on it but as a cat I feel it thematic to go and eat a fish.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6045383 >Travel the summer sea, knowing the depths hold secrets that may include a Leviathan you could turn into grilled fish Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6045383 >Meditate in one of your temples, to try and uncover an alternative means of curing yourself (Wisdom/ insight trial. DC 165. -5 to roll) Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6045383 >Travel the summer sea, knowing the depths hold secrets that may include a Levithan you could turn into grilled fish Big fish hunting time
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6045383 >Travel the summer sea, knowing the depths hold secrets that may include a Levithan you could turn into grilled fish We went to the moon, let's become the first cat to explore the sea! I really don't want attract the attention of King Yama yet...
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6045832 Trying to cultivate on faith instead of Qi, as the gods do, should definitely be on our list once we have a quiet minute!
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 28 Jun 2024 14:05:16 No. 6046947 Report Ending the vote, tallying its result now. Had a rough day yesterday, hoping today will be better, and what better way to start it than with Shou Puerh and HCQ
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q
Our-Grandfather !!x2Y5mWD7k6q ID:A/jiWSF2 Fri 28 Jun 2024 15:01:06 No. 6046970 Report Quoted By:
