🀁
Fu Gao spent brief monts in observation, for his second self had proven absent in these past few days. To maintain their connection- imparting mories and talents - this technique was surely peerless.
But unnecessary to do so daily.
All notions went to posterity, to generations and the establishnt of roots. Once per [Season] would suffice.
Bingbai had suggested as much.
Disciples, aides or alchemists of the Four Tiger Pill Society were at work within Gao Fu’s domain, erecting small structures and foundations in the space adjacent to Aunty Quan’s orphanage. A great working was underway, and immodest to see the scale.
Shuidi’s [Senses] found many peak [Core Formation] carpenters at work there, effecting their craft with adaptations from the [Dao of Cutting], [Dao of Growth] and [Dao of Symtry] with the sa precision a mortal might use an abacus or rule.
The sun-facing side of our soul will flourish with this. A Sect.
Hushi tapped an arm, impressing his reservation.
They knew well the depths of their own heart. Across a span of [Seasons] or moons, how easy it would be to sink into what they wished to be.
Kind.
The notion amused Shuidi. “We are the thunder within clouds and promise of rain. Such history cannot be wiped clean.”
Fu dipped his head, seeing how orphan and [Spirit Hare] alike had gathered to gawk and pester these unrivalled craftsn.
Perhaps.
🀨🀁
[Moonlit Diaspora]
[Winter]
[Core Formation Realm] [Beast Realm] [Lunar Qi Abundance] [Spatial Qi Abundance]
Outwardly righteous fools held no talent in the dark.
Not in this chasm of starlight and shattered earth, nor any stretch beneath the Heavens.
Shuidi mused that those below would survive longer should they sacrifice pride to advance their own cultivation.
A grand moon illuminated this realm with cold, unfeeling light, and its oddity was that it did not hang above. No, it shone as a core, holding a thousand, thousand islands in orbit about it.
The Lotus Blade Sect moved among them.
Yellow clad strangers lay in wait, expectant.
Fu Gao observed from the wind’s shadow, demanding the [Dao of Conquest’s Exhalation] make use of this anemic air.
Thin, despite [Winter’s] bolstering.
First among a litany of mistakes was that no [Array] masked their words, not had any effort been put forth to hide their presence.
Upon the most stagnant island these forces t, bathed in sporadic moonlit as myriad more sped and tumbled above them.
“Amitabha. This tallest blade extends greeting to the Lotus Blade Sect,” t one, the head of so hundred strong.
Slight in number, the Lotus Blade Sect’s senior glanced at those gathered. “Amitabha. A foreign greeting. Those that walk the daoist’s way within our Clear Sky call amituofo. Yet, if it holds the sa sentint then I will return it. Well t, cousins.”
Fu had brought enough ends to the Imperials of [Spring] to know this force was not of the Yellow castes.
“[Spring’s] bounty upon you. Beneath the [Boundless Dao], surely such a eting must be fateful. Peace-seekers and peace-gifters. Amitabha. These humble blades of yellow are overjoyed such a benefactor exists.”
The Lotus Blade senior was contemplative. “The lotus is tall, yet unbending. Our values are righteous, thus any that seek refuge are welco in our lands. It is Patriarch [Lotus That Sleep’s] will to offer guidance in these abundant lands.”
A susurrus passed through these Imperials.
Abundant. Poor words.
Where outrage and blades were expected by Fu, he saw none appear. rely the poor pageantry of what Shuidi’s [Senses] revealed to be Imperials of Green. That they had lowered themselves to masks of a lower Caste…
Three ghosts grinned.
Our kin have surely shown them the gulf between [Spring] fools and true serpents.
“Amitabha, abundant, a kindness. These humble souls are willing to serve, please, we will follow the benefactor.”
A palm was raised. “There is one matter, cousin,” said the Lotus Blade senior. “Our customs are as different as Heaven and Earth. A [Dao Oath] must be sworn by both parties, and doubly so in these chaotic tis. Our Jade Songbird Province grows more turbulent than an alchemist’s cauldron. If we are to aid you in a claim beneath the Lotus Blade Sect’s banner, we must do so with a unified heart!”
The deal was poor and transparent.
Desperation showed on both sides.
“[Dao Oaths]. Amitabha. These humble souls are unfamiliar,” lied the Imperial.
“rely swear upon the [Dao] these words I offer you, and the Lotus Blade Sect will match it. Be at peace cousin, it is a triviality.”
[Mask of Pale Changes].
At a whim the [Heavenly Spectre’s Shroud] morphed, changing Fu Gao’s appearance into that of a mask-clad woman, shawled in dark grey.
An illusion and no more.
Old One.
[Insight] had grown since last this technique was used.
“Immortal Reflections Palace. [Crystal Phoenix Folds Her Wings]. This old master will guide you.”
Fu Gao nodded, readying his mind for the flow.
Then ca his fresh [Dao].
[Dao of Frostfall]. [Dao of Snow].
Great plus of breath rose from the gathered Imperials as the temperature plumted, and the lesser among their number shivered.
“Cousin?” remarked the Lotus Blade senior.
“Amitabha. This is not of our making. A facet of this [Imperial Realm]?”
These [Dao] were juvenile. Ill-practiced and in need of refinent. But such was his purpose here - to advance the Path of [Spirit].
Snow blew from Fu Gao, the epicenter of a [Winter’s] coming storm, blinding Imperial and Lotus Blade disciple alike.
Twin jian appeared from within the [Shrine of Final Skies].
He blurred.
[Crystal Phoenix Folds Her Wings].
With the Old One’s aid these twin jian tore into the first Imperial, birthing an icy corruption from the [Dao of Frostfall] to coldly burn these fatal wounds.
The Imperials were uniform, as ever, and their myriad [Spirit Bear] partners roared out in defiance of the danger in their midst. Possessing of a soft and charming appearance at first, threat had them loose the reflections of their true cultivation.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Malicious claws sprouted aside elongating fangs, and a muscular build erased the rotund appearance as inscriptions of green manifested upon their fur.
Swift.
A deluge of bladed tong-fa erged across the Imperials, thrusting where Fu Gao had just leapt so heartbeats before.
“You possessed such arms?” called the Lotus Blade senior, unsheathing a vast podao aside his growing [Spirit Mantis]. “[First Step of the Lotus Blade]. Sun Stirs the Lotus!”
Ten thousand petals erupted from the senior’s blade, displacing Fu Gao’s snow.
[Dao of Snow].
It rushed back.
Thus began a cycle.
That of rushing tides and ascending bladework, for each passing minute this senior graduated to the next step of his impressive art.
Petals coalesced. Snow rushed. Great projected edges flew from the blade, rushing in arcs of razor-sharp petals. These began narrow dodges in the flurry. Near things, if hampered by the senior’s will to strike none but the hidden figure amongst them.
Fu Gao’s lips twitched from so cold a thrill.
“[Third Step of the Lotus Blade]. In Wind, We Choose To Scatter.”
Under moonlight and snow the Lotus Blade senior gave chase. His [Might] and that of the [Spirit Mantis] waxed, blurring him between the floating islands above.
The pair danced in pursuit.
Between colliding rocks, neatly through folds of closing space, underside, above, below, threading the point between gaps - petal and blade flew.
Yet snow rushed.
Jian, pincer, arm and frost struck.
“[Fifth Step of the Lotus Blade]. Tranquility in Stillness!”
As if a mirror of the [Dao of the Epheral Cascade], all motion ceased. The senior’s petals had propagated to such a degree that the realm’s entirety was held in stasis beneath a coating of his will.
Such revelation demanded Fu Gao stall.
The [Spirit Mantis] was poised above, sleek and bladed. It hung inverted upon a suspended island, patient upon the underside.
“Black-hearted woman. What have you wrought?” cried the senior’s declaration.
Moonlight glinted.
Refracted and winked throughout myriad frozen effigies.
Greens were a simplicity to end, and the Lotus Blade Sect could hold no trouble for one of the Clouded Courts.
Horror flashed upon the senior’s features. “My juniors. My Sect… You dare. Ten thousand deaths are not enough for you!”
Fu Gao had the [Mask of Pale Changes] smirk.
[Dao of Four Horizons].
🀨🀁
Three more visits transpired that night.
These worthless factions were relentless, desperate to clutch any grip on the Sect’s rightful lands.
Fools.
Without pride, Fu Gao thrust blades into their plans. Amidst myriad allegiances and factions it was as simple as overturning a palm to spread violent seeds of doubt and misdirection. Within the Empire of Abundant [Spring], one’s allegiance was that of Castes or Clear Sky.
Here, ten thousand souls might bear exploitable grudges.
Thus the Lotus Blade was attacked by Immortal Reflections Palace.
Alchemists of the Four Tiger Pill Society succumbed to maladies of near-Beggar Sect origin.
City Lord Mingqin’s guards were easy to dispatch with tiger’s claws stolen from the Bronze TIger Sect.
If these factions chose to believe the attacks were genuine, all the better, but Fu Gao knew that simplicity was often the undoing of those that believed themselves profound.
Rainclouds ford above, threatening the Chis of Black Serendipity with an [Autumn] shower.
[Half Cloud Step].
The three entered this distasteful, barren cloud, and ruminated on all they had gained.
Understanding gained.
[Dao of Snow], [Peak] attained.
[Insight] 20
Understanding gained.
[Dao of Frostfall], [Late] attained.
[Push] 15
Minor gains.
The growth to his attributes consolidated swiftly, and yet this slight feat was almost inconsequential.
[Spirit] was an awkward path indeed.
A thing of half steps.
Qi arrived not from the Heavens, nor the ambient forces - irregardless that his current [Tyranny] would have made such a task impossible - it ca by force of [Profundity], mingled as if an alchemist’s elixir.
If it held a na other than Qi, Fu Gao had not chanced upon it. But only insight birthed it, and thus only insight fuelled these strange [ridians].
Shuidi felt an intrinsic connection with these… taphysical, [Spiritual] chambers, and cleansed each [Channel] with a preternatural ease. As the Qi rushed and circulated to rid [Impurities] of the soul, Fu felt a force grow outwith himself.
A density of [Spirit], akin to his [Heavenly Spectre’s Shroud].
[RIDIAN CLEANSED}
[Insight] 20
[Senses] 20
[Control] 25
[Capacity] 25,
[Might] 40
[Harmony] 10
The clouds had passed by the ti these changes were consolidated. Cultivation was its own rejuvenation, and so the three wasted no further ti.
Their descent was swift through the stone below.
[Senses] revealed strength in these blackened passages, bolstered by the rising density of this land’s Qi.
Within the Chis of Black Serendipity, it neared middle [Core Formation]. It served the House of Ma well, revealing that they were no ignorant fools. The [Paifang] here had been doctored, much like Gao Fu’s domain.
To place a hand against the shifting stone revealed hampering quantities of [Earth Qi].
Fu went by wind, his [Spectral Qi] unable to pierce its suppressive elent.
His Cloud Gathering brooch resonated.
Anfang is ahead, though she does not move. We must discover why these villains of the House of Ma have not yet been cleansed from Bingbai’s prefecture.
The three blurred through these moving passages until once more they entered the curious chamber seen in their first visit, though the myriad [Spirit Birds] and their partners were now absent. At the furthest end the great, intricate seal remained, aglow with a plethora of inscriptions and [Profundity].
Anfang’s brooch pulsed from behind it.
She is within? A bold junior indeed.
“Tread lightly. This old master has not digested what inscriptions reside here.”
Fu shared gratitude for the Old One’s words.
Patterns of oscillating light thrumd in myriad intersecting lines at the hall’s far end, and they ranged closer to put it under scrutiny.
Shreds of his [Heavenly Spectre’s Shroud] were drawn to the seal. Vapors of his ethereal flesh that moved as if fresh steam from a [Winter’s] tea.
Shuidi impressed a sudden, glaring sense of caution as the [Pull] dramatically mounted, drawing copious amounts after the first minor taste. Indeed, the three lurched back with all their speed, but the draw of this seal only intensified.
[Dao of Four Horizons].
An oddity occurred.
The wind he sought to dance through was held in stasis, suffused by a bloody red glow.
It promises no harm, but what is this? The force is not unlike [Spatial Qi], but dense in [Spirituality].
No assassin would panic at so slight a situation, but the strength of this oddity-
Red flared across their vision.
Fu blinked, finding that he now stood on a vast pool of crimson liquid at the base of a darkened chasm. Instinct held him aloft but a finger above it.
This presence…
An [Inner Realm] spread before them.
Old master.
The catfish impressed his deep rumination as Hushi sought signs of the seal, finding it inscribed deep below the great pool of blood below them.
“This master’s knowledge of [Inner Realms] is limited. Hmm. Yes. Elents of [Spirit] are unlike an [Array]. All that is known is their uniqueness. Each root, droplet and breath are the fundants of the bearer’s cultivation. Reveal to its [Core], that I might glean more.”
[Air Qi] was not in abundance here.
[Blood Qi] reigned.
A leap from [Half Cloud Step] blurred them from the pool, bypassing the odd marble path that ringed its ascent. Each thing here held a taint of crimson, and varying pignts were reflected across the desolate flatness they observed upon moving.
Indeed, a barren expanse stretched between all horizons, artificially so. Only one monunt proved different - a grand and flourishing tree, the boughs of which were stark and leafless.
Yet fruit hung from its limbs, handled by a figure beneath it that caressed each as they were plucked.
She was crimson-clad… but as [Senses] expanded Shuidi revealed that the fabrics were not of silk or finest cotton. Her flowing sleeves were of liquid form, and unmistakably a purity of [Blood Qi].
Fu dared not test her realm of cultivation, for there were few below [True Lord Realm] that could sustain an [Inner Realm].
rely, he watched as another fruit was plucked. A peach, perhaps, for the form seed inconsequential. Of true regard was the spectacle of [Profundity] and [Spirituality] as she stole a bite from its sopping flesh.
Akin to a bloody, golden storm.
“Novel,” noted the Old One.
Another resonance passed through his brooch, and was returned in short order. Anfang blurred to him within heartbeats.
Her [Dao] had grown and as such she was well masked.
“Report, junior,” said Fu, silent beneath his own.
The youth unearthed a stolen crimson fruit. “[Bloodlines],” she smirked. “Myriad.”
User Comments
0 comments from readers