[Drowned Fathoms Peak] is of enormous use, burdened only by the threat of myriad roaming [Spirit Beasts] that near or have overco immortality. The resources there are rich in my own [Affinities], although the purity of Qi will need to be addressed.
[Imperial Realm 31] requires more maintenance.
Separate entrances exist in three directions, and the implication of its na alongside the Imperial presence there show that it still stands within [Sixth Under Heaven’s] own [True Orchid Path].
S and H have done much work to severing and redying the main faults of these realms, though the difficulty of this will only grow when disciples begin to enter.
We should petition the other halves for aid.
“Notes: Sect Mystic Realms.”
[PROWESS] attained.
[Wind Phantom Strides] [Earthly Ascension] [Middle] attained.
Control 120, Push 90, Might 120
The growth of their [Wind Phantom Strides] had risen dramatically in a single bout.
[PROWESS] attained.
[Three Wisps From Breath] [Earthly Ascension] [Early] attained.
Capacity 65, Push 65
As had their [Three Wisps From Breath].
“This Gao Shuidi recomnds we attack Long once more,” suggested the [Spirit Crab]. “Golden [Demon]. If one cannot learn such a technique, it is best to understand it.”
Fu stroked his whisker contemplatively. “The future will hold many more opportunities, sister. I too am keen for another bout. First we must reap the fruits of our labour.”
A masterwork of ink parted as he spread wide a bi-fold screen, allowing the exterior mists to flow inward. The scene would take a keen eye to discern between what was painted and what lay beyond, so detailed was the work.
So served the entrance to Fu’s chambers. To his Patriarch’s abode.
Then on a grey-stone bridge extended from the lake’s close shore, and he crossed this at a leisurely gait to enter the main grounds of his Sect.
Bojin could indeed spin marvels from naught.
The fabric-concealed cultivator proved observant and discerning, for the design - the feel and aesthetic - was of modest practicality. It wove nature into its design in much the sa way as the adjoining orphanage, now nestled in a far corner of his sprawling courtyard.
An assassin put stock in bare practicality.
Had he been consulted further, Fu might have neglected necessities such as kitchens, janitorial stores, spaces for mortal provisions and addendums of this ilk, but the Four Tiger Pill Society proved prudent.
More important were the facilities.
The jewel of a reaching pagoda, eight strata high and the sparse buildings of which he could na below. A Scroll Hall, the training platforms, lodgings for various classes of his future disciples and guest quarters for visiting emissaries.
Low mist hung upon the ground, encircling the ankles of victorious beast and cultivator alike. There ca a low, unified bow at Fu’s approach as he took his place beneath the pagoda’s watch for address.
“Cultivators, I am Gao Fu. I extend congratulations to all that have passed the City-Lord’s trials.”
They hung on every word, these five hundred strong.
“These lands upon which you stand welco all that chase the Path of mists, of winds, of clouds and their motions. Our [Heritage] stands upon this. That of change. Thus I will say that all you have done before, all that you are, matters not. Only that you must possess the heart of one that can embrace this. To that end-”
A burst of [Air Qi] flung wide the pagoda’s main doors, unveiling the twin [Paifang] residing within.
Interest broke the reverence of each gathered cultivator. Greed, perhaps, or a sense of prestige through association.
Profound were the Sects in possession of a [Mystic Realm].
To hold two…
However, Fu had yet to accept any disciples. Of these five hundred he did not know a single heart among them. “Cultivators. If this is the Path you wish, I task one thing of you. No matter your realm, talent or history - enter here. Retrieve [Spirit Cores], [Spiritual Herbs] and treasures befitting this Sect to prove your worth. Know that all contributions shall be rewarded tenfold upon your return one week hence.”
He stood aside as the eager set forth, gesturing to the second, violet-rich archway.
One hundred passed, two hundred, and on to five. Those rearward, slower souls gave much face in the way of bows and clasped hands, and their cultivations presented as those fresh or low upon the Path.
Fledgling talents that had surpassed each of Mingqin’s enlistnt trials.
Hushi enjoyed the prospects of so fresh a canvas.
The last soul passed through the [Paifang], and Fu nodded. “You have grown, juniors.”
A flock of ghosts erged at the pagoda’s base, their heads dipped in supplication. One among them spoke for the masses, a milky serpent entwined on her wrist. “These shallow serpents are unworthy of such praise. We stand ready to do Senior Gao’s bidding.”
“Five hundred of these disciples are set to wander. I would know which among them are righteous. Observe each. Bring the nas of those that cheat, lie and bully, for they hold no place within these halls.”
Correspondence with Twenty Sunrises City had afforded him a stable of ghosts. As Bingbai’s personal disciple or as the Fatherly [Asura], such a small contribution could not be denied.
A lesser mirror to these potential sun-facing disciples, he wished only for those of [Mist Qi] and its composites.
“As you say, Senior,” said the mass, vanishing through the [Paifang].
Violet faded in the coming seconds, leaving a screen of flowing white as the morning’s last task was concluded. He could not have these potential disciples fall to the strength of a [True Lord Grade] realm, and so he had anded their first trial with… tily aid.
The [Shaving of the First Gate] faded, and Udvah stepped out from behind it. “Amituofo. Brother Fu is cruel, setting this penniless seeker to work so swiftly after arrival. It might be said that he was not missed at all.”
Mangalam croaked upon the now-portly Vajra’s shoulder.
Fu smiled thinly. “That could not be further from the truth, brother,” he said, clasping Udvah’s wrist. “Welco to Cloud Dragon Hall.”
🀨
Hushi felt their duties were fragnted across a thousand fronts.
While the accrued ghosts and potential disciples would aid in this, these were roots yet unplanted, and the trio felt themselves pulled in myriad directions.
[Primordial Law]. Phoenix lody Coalition. Cloud Gathering. [Constellation Seeds]. Cultivation. [Dao] attainnt.
To focus on one neglected what remained.
The tis were as rare as phoenix feathers when any goal would align, though perhaps [Karma] conspired to deliver that this day.
On the border of Jade Songbird flatland and the jagged beginnings of Wisteria Peaks, a brooch resonated, and the [Dao of Four Horizons] brought them swiftly.
A midday sun hung low under [Autumn’s] reach, and mottled leaves fell thick beneath the extended canopies of the peak’s nasake.
Laughter and blood mingled as richly as this leafy spectrum of colours.
A [Paifang] glistened amongst it all.
“Another outsider sent to quell the beasts,” thundered a jovial brute, fur-clad and hulking. Blood stained his knuckles, near a mirror for the [Spirit Bear] upon its hind legs aside him. “Co! Co!”
Warring Tribes. It is our first encounter.
About the [Paifang] were five dozen Warriors Association cultivators, treading a bloody line between life and death.
Pumled and broken.
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More of their respective factions held back at distance, though the scene seed one less of outrage and more of contest. This mirthful breaking of bones continued until a familiar Warrior swaggered forth.
Tu Yuanji flourished her vermillion hair, stepping light between the ailing mbers of her faction. “My, the Yang flows well in you,” she purred, disarming the brute with a wave.
His smile faltered. “Begone foul thing. You reek of taint and tal.”
The woman and her [Spirit Ostrich] broke his guard with a lithe finger, tracing the curvature of his engorged chest and bulging muscles. Another fell on his [Spirit Bear], stroking its dense fur. “Oh I’m certain you could grow accustod to it.”
“Temptress. Do not touch-”
[Force Qi] erupted where each finger touched, shattering what stood behind it and barrelling the pair far across the ground.
“Mistress Tu!” exclaid the standing warriors, prideful to the last.
The tribes did not rush to aid their fellow, laughing in place of it. They seed ill-concerned with the fate of the brute, though several ca close to take up his position.
“These are sacred lands, outsiders, and the beasts send us a gift in this treasure,” called a leaner woman, half-snarling. “Co no closer.”
Fu made himself known. “Noble tribeswoman, I offer apologies for this trespass. We only co to inspect this [Paifang].”
Many of the [Spirit Beasts] protested at his appearance.
“What is this? A strange thing. A cultivator of hidden sin. Who are you to demand such of the beasts’ gifts?” she spat, disgust evident. “Do not touch the Qi here, stranger, any more is an affront.”
This woman is not far in her cultivation. I do not know what she speaks of.
Tu looked up in interest. “Hidden sin? Oh, Gao Fu, you grow more alluring by the day.”
“The [Boundless Dao] show favor to the One Hundred and Eight. It is the sa for true Tribals where Qi is concerned. Shaful, Gao Fu, for your readings have lapsed.”
Fu agreed, knowing little of the Warring Tribes.
That could be rectified.
A great bone club was drawn from the woman’s back, so severe this affront appeared. She moved closer. “Release your hold.”
It was not [Qi Suppression] she detected, for she could surely not sense that. An assassin was not one to underestimate any opponent, though certain conclusions might be drawn given the gulf in their respective realms.
“I am Gao Fu, and I an no offense,” he said, hedging a guess. “A facet of my Path purifies the Qi where I walk. If this is an insult, it will cease.”
Will had the [Shrine of Final Skies] slow to a crawl, no longer ridding the ambient [Air Qi], [Water Qi] and [Lightning Qi] of [Impurities].
The tribal woman grunted. “Your lands are your own, outsider. It takes no cunning to know that is not where you stand.”
“Then I extend my apologies. I have no intention of being cunning. All that I ask is for access to this [Paifang] and the realm beyond,” Fu asked, clasping his hands.
She frowned amongst a chorus of her snorting fellows. “That is-” Sothing dense appeared on the wisteria-thick hills above, radiating danger. A figure that had the woman’s tongue cease and her head dip the lower it ca.
Zhu leapt from the cliff, landing without trouble. The sa open furs shawled his shoulders, though he held smaller effects of bone and plum feathers strewn about his flowing hair. His strut was that of a feral king- of [Spirit Lions] awaiting a haul from their pride.
“That man is the seat,” he said.
“Chieftain,” she nodded, offering neither bow nor clasp. “These outsiders do as they please.”
“These outsiders are ignorant. As I was. I’ve arrived to a scene of broken n and bloodied earth, this is lesson enough. Beasts take not more than their fill,” Zhu said coldly. “All this is a waste of breath.”
His authority chid as a gong might, clear, cowing beast and tribesman alike.
“Chieftain Zhu,” clasped Fu.
Zhu barely acknowledged him. “You’re here for the [Paifang]. Co then. Leave the weak behind,” he said, broaching the glittering archway until he stopped before Tu. “I’d welco a sunrise with you, outsider. Consider it.”
The threshold was crossed.
Fu entered after, an inner grin widening.
[Matriarchy of the Immortal Brood]
[Spring]
[True Lord Grade] [Beast Realm] [Life Qi Abundance] [Martial Profundity]
A return to familiarity, no?
🀦
The trunk was lush in luminous growth, trailing to three horizons. A sky-spanning tree, warped and grand, spreading with such vast reach that it might have held aloft the very Heavens.
Fortune did not place the [Paifang] at its base, but higher, amidst troubled seas.
And yet-
“Was it not always my [Karma] that was in question?” laughed Fu.
Zhu’s [Intent] pulsed out once more, flaying the scuttling larvae of these [Spirit Beetles] as they swept across the trunk’s exterior in their thousands. “I rely sat.”
Again Fu laughed. “You rely sat.”
“From the onset,” said Zhu. “I sat upon a rock, cultivated, and when I awoke to reach for my wine there was a tribe about .”
“And now you are chieftain.”
His brother sighed. “And now I’m a chieftain. Had these tribals any talent they wouldn’t attach themselves to the first genius they stumbled across. It’s more akin to having feral servants than disciples, and that I appreciate.”
A subtle shift overca Zhu as his [Breath of Diurnal Sublimations] overca him. His [Light Qi], and all facets, flipping to that of [Dark Qi].
The [Intent] no longer flayed, but bore dark holes in the horde.
“You are no lover of pageantry,” noted Fu.
“I don’t need it. The tribes aren’t as vexing as Sects and their formalities. They asked my history, and I said I was a wanderer from lands I care not for the na of. Propriety isn’t of their concern. None pry and all things are direct.”
Fu smirked. “You enjoy it then?”
“To dress as a poor peasant? No. Their fashion leaves much to be desired- bah, these furs and bones. The openness, however, I’ve no qualms over. It takes no effort to think as they do. Reject the unnatural and refined. If there are mysteries to their culture, my tribe is too weak to display them.”
[Divine Sense] revealed their desired [Reliquary] so vast distance above.
Neither man rushed.
Words flew over small things, great things, and smaller things once more. Talk of their brief history apart was only a half priority as Fu spoke on subjects like Yongwu Long, Coalitions, Bingbai’s masterful [Array] and the reports from their Cloud Gathering division.
Zhu asked for news on the Gao clan first, offering a smile before he explained the details of Grandmother Hau’s aid and tribal workings. “An [Inheritance],” he said, and bid Fu search him with [Divine Sense].
Plum light emanated from two fresh [Constellation Seeds] within his body.
The lesser ca first, highlighting a sheen upon his skin. “[Troubled Hermit’s Moondew]. The treasure to fill my [Foundation Realm] hole within the [Primordial Constellation Gate]. It’s not your equal, old fish, as it holds only a singular use.”
As though a loose thread, Zhu plucked this liquid [Constellation Seed] from his wrist. His will directed the shape, surprising Fu with a flawless plum douli.
It quivered, morphing further.
A gem. A bottle of spirit wine. A tong fa’s haft.
“I favour the bottle,” he noted, offering it to Fu.
Currents akin to [Pull] tugged his palm as it landed upon the haft. “It reaps.”
“The highest source of pure Qi enters. Be it blood upon a blade’s edge, a chalice, chopsticks or a plum-hued sack. It accumulates, transmuting into a reserve of what I already hold.” Zhu reford the moondew into that of a bottle, drinking deep. “[Primordial Qi] is an acquired taste, but I’ll woefully bear it.”
Fu blinked as his brother’s [Clouded Ghost Arts] lapsed. “Leaps and bounds. Are you certain the Heavens will not view it as cheating?”
His cultivation neared that of peak [Core Formation’s] beginning already. The fourth and final Path was not so distant.
“Cheating? Spoken from one that harvested an immortal’s [Origin Qi]? Recall my words at ho, I said that I wouldn’t fall behind. Perhaps you should try harder brother, instead of relying on your ridiculous [Karma]. Your dangerous wind seems more a breathy gust.”
Insult was not intended, but Fu, Hushi and Shuidi ignored all for a singular word.
Ho.
The [Three Eyed Spying Array] was no longer inscribed in his flesh, and yet it would have flensed a hole there at such words.
Shuidi snorted. “Sister Tanshuai and brother Zhu know not the imnsity of our burden. To bandy words and foster relations with the unworthy takes much ti. Gao Fu, we will show them the error of this insult.”
Mirth passed between all gathered- save, perhaps, for the ravening horde of [Spirit Larvae] that sward into Zhu’s [Intent]. Indeed, the ghosts had yet to reach a single branch after many li of - admittedly, casual travel - and the realm’s inhabitants were little more than ashen stains in their wake.
Still, they amounted to single droplets amongst the sea of scuttling legs that approached from rooty crevice, underside and protruding leaf.
Fu moved ahead, three commands announced in unison. “[Shrine of Final Skies].”
Ribbon-thick pillars rushed not from the trunk, but upon a burst of myriad clouds that orbited the air about their step. A teal arm rose as [Sky’s Authority] transmuted the realm’s immortal-grade energies into that of [Mist Qi], [Spectral Qi] and their composites, birthing a gale of rushing fog.
“[Three Wisps From Breath],” impressed Shuidi.
Wind and water solidified into chains, shredding all within their sphere.
Tanshuai landed on the douli’s brim, impressing more mirth as she moved to the underside. As with Hushi, she preferred silence.
But mischief fluttered in her wake.
“[Shrine of Final Skies]. Hua is of a singular mind,” said Zhu, receiving the [Spirit Butterfly] on his palm. “[Waters of Perennial Twilight].”
As if withered leaves, Fu’s [Shrine of Final Skies] fluttered away. Half in force, half by the three’s own curious will.
Pillar and mist receded to a widening expanse of black.
Night ca forth.
The waters of this [Constellation Seed] arrived as a perfect sphere, seeming endless in its spreading range. It consud the world in ultimate black, tolling an imnse pressure on Fu’s [Spirit] as he stopped in observation.
All their own shrine had wrought slowly fled, extinguishing [Mist] and [Spectral Qi] alike to propagate forces of [Shadow Qi] and…
Brilliant white winked into the sphere’s center, extending in two directions. A bisected trunk that grew both above and below a dividing line. Plum spirals ringed both, and yet the highest trunk could not be seen for its matching darkness as the abyss behind.
It seed an island, reflected in tranquil, blackened waters.
The swarm was growing increasingly obsolete, for Shuidi sensed none within the boundary of Zhu and Tanshuai’s domain.
“Hmm,” offered Fu. “My own was taken from a dragon.”
“Oh, only one?” returned Zhu. “Bah, I’ve chosen a coward for a brother. Though I care so little for their thoughts, our juniors will be ashad.”
Shuidi grew incensed at the nullification of their own [Constellation Seed], and demanded its return.
Strain had her approximate a cough.
Yet, a clutch of pillars appeared.
Hushi jetted forward to lend his aid, retrieving Tanshuai as he passed. Small, teasing impressions passed between the three as they strove to test for equilibrium.
“Two?” chuckled Fu.
“Ugly beings. Conjoined at the tail,” said Zhu.
“Truth in all lights, and this one seems tainted. Surely if they are conjoined then they cannot be considered a pair.”
A grin spread on the plum-eyed cultivator’s mouth. “We slew two dragons,” he said. “I would swear it on the [Dao] were it of consequence.”
Fu stroked his whisker. “We entered the [Primordial Realm].”
“We have selected our [Primordial Law], all that remains is to take it.”
Legs erged to pierce the outer shell of Zhu’s domain, shown in their thousands. Grand, vastly more [Resilient] appendages that brought a tide of vicious mandibles aside.
The larvae had called their seniors.
Both ghosts were untroubled.
“Has it only been a handful of [Seasons]?” asked Fu.
His brother’s lips thinned. “Whatever the count, it’s been too long.”
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