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All traces of his second half had vanished beyond the threshold of a fresh [Paifang] so hours prior, only to now erge with a greater resonance than before.
Fu Gao stroked his whisker, but did not praise the revelation. To give complint was akin to boasting or self praise, and his Path told that whatever increase had been achieved was but a single step towards true strength.
Enough indulgence.
“Youngling. Hold.”
Concentric rings were etched into the grounds of this subterranean dwelling, reinforced a hundredfold over with myriad concealnt [Arrays], formations, boundary flags and an immortal’s fortune of reaped, [Water Qi]-aligned resources.
“Old master?”
The [Shrine of Final Skies] opened as though a seam was cut from thin air, and within the Old One floated. “This trove holds hidden depths. Fresh entries granted by Gao Fu’s return. Hmm. Within the sa realm, yes, your inventory might be shared. This wizened fish is certain such a gift might bring benefits, no?”
So saying, a scattering of fresh materials floated into sight.
“This begs questions of the treasure? A thing to ponder, no, Shuidi? The mysteries of Heaven are rightfully the domain of the sharpest among us.”
The [Spirit Crab] puffed, smarmily.
“Our [Shrine of Final Skies] will bring ruminations later, brother Fu,” she scoffed. “We are not so powerful yet that ti and vicissitudes prove trivial. Clear your mind.”
He fird. “As you say, sister.”
As with day into night, the shrine vanished silently.
Frost spread across Fu’s palm as the final treasure appeared from storage, emitting a corona of [Profundity] so cold it had the gold interspersed with frigid white.
A snowflake and [Dao Treasure] both.
Shuidi whisked [Mist Qi] about it, landing it precisely where it was needed at the great formation’s center.
Water burst from one hundred and thirty two [Spirit Cores] around the formation, loosing the [Inner Reserves] of each slain beast. The energies grew rampant as Shuidi’s workings caught hold, encouraging them to ebb and split in myriad directions.
Fu and Hushi awaited it in the lotus position.
Eager.
The underground space held no entry save for those of [Spectral Qi], for it was more grave than cavern.
Thus it filled. Thus it raged.
Fully subrged by immortal-grade Qi, the cultivators enshrouded themselves in layers of their [Dao] to combat the snowflake’s violence of cold.
Such imdiate, insidious pain delivered a welco clarity that expedited their recited mantra, and their [Conception Vessel] manifested before them.
Yet even here was in stasis.
Conquered by a depth no [Winter] of theirs had possessed.
“A gale, a breath, a tempest. To know the clouds as this is to declare ourselves half-blind and ignorant. Let us beco whole.”
They could not touch the [Worldly Dao] such as Sages knew and initiates chased. Nigh a lifeti had passed since the days where inexperience had sealed that fate.
Here, they expanded [Spirit].
They willed not the [Dao of Blizzards], of [Ice], [Thaw], [Penetration], [Halting Tides], [Snowfall], [Stagnancy], nor even the prodigious Yin energies within to overco their thoughts.
The [Dao] that could be spoken was not the [Dao].
Hence his [Spirit] felt, and did not listen.
A beast of cerulean eyes held watch within an ivory sea. Here the wind dared not blow and the many suns offered supplication in place of rays.
The sea was loneso without shadows to comfort her solace.
All extremities of Yin lay within the bear’s paw, cycling [Winter] and [Dark], [Depth] and [Epherality] between each ice-white claw.
Sorrow.
Until her Mistress rose.
Heaven’s greatest jewel for which ti itself was nad. Her maiden and moon.
These sorrowful claws reached, bounding, entombing each worthless sea before her in frigid ivory.
Her maiden was close.
[Sumr] dared rise as her claw neared but a hair of distance away.
Thaw.
All of her grasp cascaded, losing cold, rigidity, the shape she demanded of it, and beca as roar of fresh ltwater.
A beast of cerulean eyes held watch within a verdant sea. Here the rains fell with her will and the many moons dared not bring their midnight cowl.
The blaze of those eyes engraved themselves upon the cultivators’ soul.
[Ink] burned.
[Core Formation] [Mind] attained.
[Core] refined.
[Two Pointed Star] has grown.
[Might] 150
[Capacity] 100
So repeated a ssage one half had already glimpsed.
[ridian] [SPIRIT] cleansed.
[Insight] 15
[Senses] 15
[Control] 20
[Capacity] 20,
[Might] 20
[Harmony] 1
The three awoke to naught but oppressive gloom. All the materials within Shuidi’s formations, spent.
Consud by Fu Gao’s ascension, now upon the Path of [Spirit]. Just as Gao Fu tread the Path of [Harmony].
A trick that would hasten their approach to immortality upon re-consolidation.
Fresh [Dao] awaited, unglimpsed for now.
He shook as power overca him, as did Hushi lt into the moistened floor as the energies of ascension settled.
“Another step, no more,” he fird, conjuring snowy fragnts of their latest [Dao] to flutter about his fingertips. “This indulgence will have passed enough ti. If not now, then Yongwu Long’s host will arrive in re days. The Clouded Courts would be remiss if hospitality was not properly offered.”
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Beneath the [Mask of Pale Changes] guise - where his partially wrinkled flesh beca entirely so, replete with thin bushels of graying hair and veteran’s grisly eye-wound - Fu claid a post as one Jade Songbird City’s most eligible beggars.
A mysterious one, moreso, for the [Dao of Conquest’s Exhalation] still served as the primary blade against talented eyes.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Not, however, against Yongwu Long’s perplexing existence.
re days had beco half a [Season], forcing Fu to incorporate a banality of reconnaissance into the routine of aiding his Cloud Gathering division and that of the expanding Clouded Courts’ presence.
It was precisely at dusk that;
The earth below quaked;
Jade Songbird City was darkened by one thousand Warships;
Fifty eight [Spirit Oxen] trundled a daoist’s temple across the skies;
Gentle lotus petals caressed the City from on high, transmuting into disciples of the Lotus Blade Sect once stationary;
The armoured horsen, cultivators once and all, could be ignored despite their trendous number.
Many had not cleansed their second [ridian], let alone escaped [Foundation].
Myriad smaller factions swept through Jade Songbird City in signature style, drowning the mortal peasantry in such drama that little space remained for the City Lord’s guards to be seen.
“Order!” was cried a thousandfold, barely heard, and reduced to ashes amidst the madness.
Fu blurred to a higher vantage, suppressing a smile as these peak, noble, and dignified factions roared to declare their Patriarchs, Matriarchs, Lords, Masters and Seniors the most venerable from thunderous, Qi-rich lungs.
A conversation in traded resonances passed through his brooch, and in swift monts did Anfang blink to his position. “The least of what Bingbai expected, no, old man?”
“The Lotus Blade Sect concern . All else that have appeared are one hundred and ninth sons, the bastards of lesser concubines or frogs that do not know the true boundaries of their well. I hope your edge does not dull, junior.”
At her shoulder, Qiuqiu bowed her eight legs. Hushi t the acknowledgent.
“Those words are almost cruel,” she teased.
“As you say. But the truth is without rcy, I an no insult,” frowned Fu, shrewdly observing the factions as they vied for space.
See how they shift? Do these flowing hanfu not seem as rivers and lakes from on high? Perhaps this holds so connection to the Jianghu. Their deference is plain as limpid water at this vantage.
A healthy Martial spirit allowed one to carry pride, and on this matter Fu held no qualms.
If only wisdom tempered it.
“City Lord! Do you not bow before the Silent Mountain Sect!”
“...Peerless Blood Blossom Hall?”
“...Southern Sea Treasure Association?”
And on.
Soft humming parted the eastern crowd. Percussive drumbeats parted the west. A pair of talents with insight into the [Dao of Music] surely, having the [Heavenly Spectre’s Shroud] tremble against their rhythm.
Less harmony existed in the southern lakes, for it remained a clutch of rivers still.
To match entry with entry, the doors to the City Lord’s estate crashed open. A grand gun trilled as she stamped it before her, singing the lody of the bells upon each end. When her call ca, no semblance of another dared be heard.
“Jade Songbird City welcos its guests, for it is rare that those of great esteem gather here. [Spring] brings a bounty in this.”
“Would you not welco us otherwise, girl?” called an unsuspecting man clad in starry hanfu. “For the Myriad Stars Trigram Sect you should be on your knees!”
“Indeed, a re [Core Formation] dares lose us face?”
“Baha, I would enjoy the sight of you upon your knees. The other husbands and wives in my stable have grown stale of late.”
Within the clouds, Anfang’s eyes glittered.
“If it is opportune,” sighed Fu, almost tasting her lust for silencing such fools. “Junior, you test like no other. First we will see what Gao Fu holds in store.”
Those who parted the crowd finally reached this City Lord.
Four factions of great interest, truly, but only in so much as their backing was drawn from a sea the likes of which these grass-fed cultivators could not fathom.
A show of silvering lights spawned above the first, splaying sigil, banner and prowess in a single move, brewing discontent murmurs that soon had all arrivals do the sa.
“Quicksilver Pavillion extends its gratitude to the City Lord,” delivered a woman with no bow nor deference. Sleek [Spirit Panthers] padded through the expansive trails of her daxiushuan, lding and erging as though fabric, [Spirit] and Qi were intertwined.
A sister Sect to the Immortal Reflections Palace. They send a splinter to act on their behalf, masking intentions from greater powers. There can be no hiding the Heavenly Roaming Prefecture any longer.
Their Qi-borne sigil was of amorphous silver liquid.
Second blossod a vast lotus of verdant colour, welcoming a reginted step by many familiar cultivators. The Lotus Blade Sect showed no outward dishevelnt despite the moderate loss of their first core [Mystic Realm] so [Seasons] prior, and fielded a towering, pristine woman to deliver their address.
“The Lotus Blade Sect accepts the City Lord’s most gracious welco,” she clasped, mirrored then by the four diminutive [Spirit Mantis’] at her shoulder.
In turn, the City Lord nodded her acknowledgent.
A weight of pageantry erupted from the third, for in a smiling welco they loosed a flurry of fireworks into the skies above. Whistling, trailing constructs that depicted scenes of clashing phoenixes, dancing dragons and shoaling catfish to weave about the myriad warships that littered these occupied heights.
One of Vajra bearing kowtowed before the City Lord. “Amituofo, what joy! This humble rchant is of the Jade Crossroads Association, speaking only words of support for the venerable City Lord! With her blessing the Jade Crossroads could inject much prosperity into her Jade Songbird Province!” bead the portly, affable man. “Yes, yes, amituofo! There is such a good thing! For only a nominal donation, we of the Jade Crossroads… This humble rchant recognizes that this is not the ti nor the place, and shafully withdraws his words.”
The sin of rchants was a necessary one, yet no thing to be openly tolerated.
Even the tranquil Lotus Blade Sect did not disguise their frowns once these rchants had revealed their nature.
Jade Crossroads. A poorly concealed front for the Four Tiger Pill society. With such strong currents the City Lord will surely be swept under.
Bingbai had not discussed the Cloudy Serpent Sect’s eventual arrival, though Zhu was ever incessant in his search for truth. The queries were t with quirked lip and painfully obscured words, wherein their Master stated that - “old n should be afforded their mystery.”
Pageantry would follow, of this both halves were certain.
The ire of the fourth waited no longer than now, for their sigil expanded with a threat of violent [Intent].
To the rear ca a cascading wave as knee after knee was driven down, collapsing beneath its feral weight, and those that instigated it rely huffed in response.
“Woman. To whom do you think you speak? Cultivators. Why do you show these false platitudes? Deference to a child, pah, at least the weakened fools behind us know the will of Heaven,” lectured an aging man, blue-robed and scholarly. “That you show such consideration stains you with unworth.”
Clouds rumbled above the gathering, though never higher than Fu.
Rain fell.
The droplets hamred, and from them sward forth great, monstrous fish in the hundreds, each abreast of these blue-robed cultivators. Here the [Intent] surged in drowning force, intensifying as the aging cultivator pushed beyond those that had spoken before.
He dismissed their attention, exchanging impressions with three, lightning coated [Spirit Jellyfish] as they naced the space about him with a reach and scale that eclipsed any building within this Jade Songbird City.
“No tribute so base as your flesh, service or will is required, City Lord,” he continued, stroking his chin. “rely relinquish the fragile claim on this province. It was granted by no true power. To suggest otherwise demonstrates how shallow your understanding truly is, girl.”
A convergence of rain and [Intent] spilled upon the City Lord.
Then ceased.
“City Lord Mingqin,” laughed a douli-clad cultivator, stroking his bushy moustache. “The weather within your fair Jade Songbird City is so changeable.”
From the Lotus Blade Sect to Quicksilver Pavillion and all in between, a great exhalation occurred. Though [Arts], techniques or talismans pushed back the downpour from hair and hanfu alike, the [Spirit Jellyfish’s] cultivator possessed a power that dissuaded most else from intervention.
Gao Fu’s [Shrine of Final Skies] made it a triviality.
With the ease of turning a palm, clear skies erged. “The sll of wet bamboo often tickles my nose, City Lord,” he continued. “My humble apologies if this offends you, but I would not inflict a sudden sneeze on so austere a mont, no?”
Mingqin’s saturation coalesced into a single bead to be swiftly discarded, cleansing any markers of her suffered disrespect. “[Spring] often brings such rain, and Jade Songbird City is ever prepared for it,” she fird, her volu magnifying for the crowd.
The aging cultivator sneered, and Fu Gao felt his command of the rain uselessly flop against their [Constellation Seed] as the cultivator’s will was found lacking. “Cultivator! You dare? Who are you to defy our will?”
Gao Fu clasped his hands toward the Lotus Blade Sect, Quicksilver Pavillion and Jade Crossroads. “Ah! Such esteed guests to Jade Songbird City! Tale of City Lord Mingqin’s magnanimity has surely spread if such venerable souls wish to visit. An abundant realm to which I owe much gratitude. I am certain you will only add to its greatness.”
Cloudward, Anfang rolled her eyes. “You’ve grown dramatic in your old age, senior,” she snorted.
Fu Gao smiled. “Master Ban encourages this worst of attributes.”
Two surging whips extended from the aging cultivator’s hands. “Pah. These tricks are petty! But if you choose to court death, cultivator, then so be it! The Blue… Lagoon… Hegemony.”
The Fatherly [Asura] above drew his chain.
The Fatherly [Asura] below held an imdiate [Dao] on their lips.
The aging cultivator had not stalled his words, but rather the perception of speed had dramatically shifted. With [Might] and [Senses] in confluence, any of sufficient strength could process the slow or feeble as such.
An assassin of Fu or Zhu’s talents did so intrinsically, else all conversation would droll as if the very speaker could only impart a word every other minute.
Thus when an act moved at their swiftness, instinct moved to match.
Amidst the crowd a golden jian glinted, severing the aging cultivator’s head before it appeared to even leave the sheath.
Both halves of Shuidi sneered, for even unknown to her, unt, and fed only through mory, the gestalt of Yongwu Long was as plain as [Winter] showers.
With unflinching smirk, slanted posture and four resplendent [Spirit Carp] about him, he set his gaze to Heaven.
The [Dao of Conquest’s Exhalation] required much to not shatter against his well-humoured gaze, and again when he nodded a silent greeting.
Gao Fu stroked his whisker as lesser perception returned.
Exclamation, growl and susurrus swept through the crowd as Yongwu Long threw the aging cultivator’s head forward, which rolled thrice before settling at the Lotus Blade senior’s feet. “Blue Lagoon Hegemony. If I recall, and I do, the Lotus Blade Sect had a bounty upon this [Demonic] Sect when the Four Corners Prefecture was less… rubble, than it is now. I’ll take the paynt in upper grade spirit coins, preferably.”
Outrage thrust myriad voices from the crowd.
“Who is this now?”
“Who dares?”
Long pulled a fool’s expression. “Your grandfather, of course! But to the Heavens, Yongwu Long,” he snorted, clasping at the City Lord. “Sister Mingqin, it’s been too long! I’ve brought your Aunt. The [Dour Faced Strategist] is most eager to see you. And of course, Gao Fu! By the [Boundless Dao], it seems like only yesterday I spilled your entrails on the [Trial’s] floor. Let’s clear these worthless fools and raise cups to our reunion! Unless there’s other snakes that need torn from Jade Songbird City’s grasses?”
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