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Clouded Soul Vol 1 Outline Part 3

Added 2023-09-05 07:38:54 +0000 UTC

Reupload. I published it a little too soon and had to cut and reorganize a few things as well as adjust the timespan. It's better now.

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Sasei Setup

This little segment is positioned from the POV of Sasei Xiusho, Li's little brother and his defacto right hand man. Whereas Li is powerful, Xiusho is cunning and stealthy, if a little cowardly, and that will be reflected in his character. We hear about the months following the defeat of the Jileng and how apparently pleased the main branch is with their actions, but it's been half a year and they've not received much in the way of rewards, recognition, or further instructions on what to do with themselves. It's left a pervasive unease throughout the clan, but they've busied themselves with their usual accumulation of power.
They've been divided in two forces, half staying with the young master at Frostflow Peak, and the rest returning to their home in Glimmering Bay. Li is too powerful to gain much benefit from the cave so he was fine leaving it to his son, but others are less than happy with the arrangement where Shan has sole access to the cave until he reaches Clouded Master.
One of the greatest gets from the raid was the sacred liquor, and Li personally tasked Xiusho with information gathering to find any worthwhile spirits for Shan. Xiusho is not unkind to his nephew, and he does feel bad that he can't marry that snake he loves so much, but Xiusho takes his job seriously and one of his men brought news to him that Li is going to be very pleased with. He ascends the pagoda and is about to open the door to Li's study but he stops after feeling a sickening power from the other end.
Xiusho admires his brother for what he's done to himself, even if it terrifies him. He would never have the courage to do what he did, but Li's condition has been another great cause for concern among the men. No one dared defy the patriarch but many things were said about him in hushed whispers. Things that weren't entirely undeserved.
Xiusho knocks on his brother's door and is given permission to enter. The power recedes as he says this. Xiusho is relieved, not wanting to speak to Li when he's using it. Even he's terrified when thinking back to his actions on the night of the massacre. When Xiusho enters and apologizes for interrupting his brother's meditation. Li hurries him to get on with it and deliver the news so that he can go back to his business. Xiusho tries to make small talk with his brother at first but is put down harshly and gets to the point.
His agents have scoured Little Haven for any news of a suitable spirit bride for Shan. Li is annoyed, says he told Xiusho to search outside the island as there was unlikely to be anything special here, but Xiusho corrects him and reveals that his men have located a young ascended white tigress. This gets Li's full attention. Truly? Where?
Xiusho explains Cat's Paw Mountain, a small mountain southwest of Glimmering Bay near an overlooked little village. Conducting an operation to secure the tigress should prove easy, he believes. The tigress is estimated to be at the level of Clouded Apprentice, Adept at best. Li presumes his men have had skirmishes with the tigress already and that she can't be tempted to join them of her own volition. Correct. You know how they are. Fierce, independent, and full of herself. Xiusho's men couldn't even get a word in before she attacked, but Xiusho assures Li they have ways of controlling her once she's in their custody.
Excellent. Li Praises his brother for this find and speculates on how strong this will make his son, especially if they can increase the tigress enough so that her offspring would become fully fledged spiritborne. That would truly be an asset to the clan which the main branch would surely praise them for. Xiusho asks if there's been any developments on the main branch but is met with cold annoyance instead. Nothing yet.
Xiusho wonders if the cave really meant all that much to them if they haven't even come to inspect it yet, but he keeps these thoughts to himself. No doubt Li has already thought of them. Instead, he has a favor to ask of his brother. Li says you will be rewarded appropriately for apprehending the tigress once it's been completed, but Xiusho petitions Li for Paoshi to lead the capture team and reward him instead.
Li is visibly unreceptive to the idea and dismissive of Paoshi in general. The heavenly whole saw fit to bless you with wits while saving none for your son. Xiusho says that it's been a year since Paoshi's mistake and it should be high time for him to redeem himself- but Li thinks this is a matter that's above his station. He thinks the lustful fool is likely to try something with the tigress himself before handing her over to Shan. Xiusho petitions his brother harder saying Paoshi made the one mistake and has learned from it, then plays the he's my only son angle, which as monstrous as Li now is, still works on him.
If Paoshi fails at this, Xiusho will be lucky that Li doesn't end him himself. Xiusho is afraid of that being true but he asks if Paoshi might be granted access to the cave upon his mission's success. Li praises Xiusho for his fatherly dedication and says he'll allow it once Shan has broken through to Master.
Xiusho is elated at having successfully convinced his brother and praises him repeatedly, but Li only says he will not tolerate failure.

Traveling and Lowclaw Village

We hear about how the first few weeks of Jun's wandering has gone as he treks across the island of Little Haven on foot. Despite the name, the island is plenty big to someone who's only ever known a small slice of it. Jun takes a leisurely pace on his travels despite the urge to rush ahead and look for his first big adventure, living off the lands while he trains for a good portion of the day. It was hard to say that he took Ren for granted given how much he appreciated the Sage, but Jun was realizing how good he had it.
Without Ren's resources, his rapid improvement had slowed to a dramatic halt and now Jun only felt a slight increase in his abilities after every training session. That was fine, he was determined to improve himself regardless and at least he had the ring to keep him able to work harder than most anyone else. The next step of his advancement was to become a Clouded Adept, which meant mastering the two affinities he'd chosen for himself. He knew from his reading what that entailed and roughly how to do it, but the problem he was facing came down to power and protection.
He has to shape his thoughts and chi to take on these affinities and then eventually create a crux for them both inside his soul which would generate power to draw from, but both of them are abstract and hard to engage with. It's not like he can meditate in a power-rich environment because where would he even find such a place? Perhaps at an old battlefield or a historic site where a feat of immense power took place, but Jun doesn't know any.
In other words he was totally aimless, but that wasn't the worst thing in the world. Day by day he could feel his soul scratching the surface of these affinities, and there was no use rushing what he couldn't help.
After a few weeks of travel, Jun looks from atop a hill into a small farmland/village. A small, four peaked mountain looms in the distance with a forest at its base. Jun is excited to come across his first sign of civilization in his wanderings and makes his way to the village, where he notices immediately something is off. The fields have been all torn up. The people there are tired and thin, and Jun witnesses lots of little rats scampering about the place. These rats aren't normal, and he can tell they're chaos spirits (better name in final draft).
Some of the villagers lazily chase the rats around, while others have given up entirely and Jun can't help noticing that the rats are eying some of the slower villagers hungrily. He tries to greet some of the villagers but they're all despondent and no one says much when he tries to ask about what's going on. Jun keeps trying his luck but he comes across someone who's fallen asleep and a rat is about to nibble them. His first instinct is to protect them, and by stomping the spirit he feels his connection to the protection affinity increase a microscopic amount. Acting in a way that befits your mantra or affinity is a good way to boost them and develop them in the first place, but that's not why Jun did it. It was just a nice bonus. The person he awakens thanks him and is the first one to point him towards the elder's house saying he can explain. Jun sees this person home and makes sure they're going to be ok if he leaves for a bit and then knocks on the elder's door.
Jun is greeted by an old man, Ye Gui/Elder Gui, who invites the traveling soul refiner inside after learning Jun wants to know what's going on and more importantly if there's a way he can help. Gui is grateful for Jun's kindness and would've offered tea if the damn rats hadn't eaten the leaves. Not that it was anything good anyway, being tea grown out in the country and all that. Jun is told that a month ago this plague of rat spirits has set upon their village and eaten away their fields and food stores until they have little to nothing left. Gui is old and barely eats much these days anyway so he's mostly unaffected but he's terrified for what will happen at this rate.
Jun has seen how bad things are and knows Gui's fears aren't unfounded. He asks if they tried rooting out the rats. He doesn't know much about spirits but he killed one just fine a few moments ago. Gui says the land itself is tainted by chaos for some reason. They've found and destroyed multiple rat nests, but every time they do, another pops up somewhere else the next day. It would take a very powerful soul refiner to fix the land itself and Jun thinks that's very out of his wheelhouse, revealing himself as a Clouded Apprentice. Gui says he is too, but he only made it far enough to get the Ingenuity mantra like Wo Manlai. His family has always had it to lead their village, but he didn't possess talent for it beyond that. He can sense the gigantic power different between he and Jun, though, thinking the kid must have insane foundational training and wonders why he isn't more advanced yet. Circumstances.
Jun thinks of solutions and one is obvious. He asks if the rats have picked the forest clean as well. No, but they leave it alone for much the same reason we do. At first we tried to increase our hunting but they were met with a fearsome beast, the guardian of Cat's Paw Mountain. Thankfully the beast hasn't claimed any lives, but it won't suffer humans taking more than they need and won't hear it when they try to say they need more. Troubling. Jun wonders if they'd be able to relocate to another village, but already knows the answer. No one is in a condition to do so.
Jun makes the old man an offer. He has a lot of rations stored up- he used his chi blasts to fish in a river and smoked tons of fish in advance so he didn't have to bother. He'll feed everyone in the village and escort them somewhere else on the way if they'd like. Gui is moved by the offer but can't afford to pay him for this, but Jun obviously just wants to do the right thing. Gui has a selfish request. If Jun is willing to go that far, perhaps he could try reasoning with the beast instead? Someone of his strength has a much better chance of success, and this is their home. No one wants to leave if they don't have to. The beast might be able to help with the rat problem permanently, too.
Jun considers this and thinks it might be possible, but spirits are notoriously difficult and depending on one they don't even know is unwise. When he sees how much it means to Gui, Jun ends up accepting. Gui is thankful and he promises a reward that might be of interest to a soul refiner as a token of their gratitude even if he's unsuccessful. Jun insists it's not necessary, but it won't benefit anyone in the village and Gui has been safekeeping it incase they ever needed it. Jun accepts and says he'll check out the mountain in a bit.
Gui is like of course you probably need some rest first weary traveler, but Jun smiles and says no, I have a lot of smoked fish to hand out first.

Beast of the Forest

Jun gave out plenty of fish to the needy townsfolk and still had enough to keep them fed for a few days. If this took too long, the nearest river was only a few hours away using his top speed and he could refill his stocks. Realistically he doesn't see the spirit being of any help, but if it really hadn't killed any of the villagers there was a chance he could be proven wrong.
Jun enters the forest and immediately feels like he's being watched. He notices cats here and there, but those aren't it. Some of them regarded him while others didn't, but even the ones who did really didn't care about him. Whatever was watching was staring at him with intent. Jun tries to scan the area with his senses but whoever is here has a strong veil. He decides to address his watcher, assuming it to be the beast.
A feminine growling voice answers him, asking who he is. He's not one of the villagers and not one of those thugs who's been harassing her mountain. Something about the voice makes Jun feel small and docile, like it tests his willpower. He fights back and doesn't falter, answering he's here because of the village. Voice is amused at his attempt to resist her dominance, but puts even more authority into her voice as she commands him to kneel. Jun is shocked to find his body instantly comply.
It's humiliating and a reminder of the way things used to be and Jun isn't having it. It takes even more willpower but he's able to break the hold the enemy has over him and stand again. The unseen threat is offended but intrigued. A human has never resisted her power before, prompting her to want to see what else is special about him. Jun is suddenly attacked by a fully grown white tiger that jumps from a nearby treetop. All of his training didn't prepare him for this, and he's startled by it and barely manages to dodge.
He gets a good look at the beast in its majesty, and just looking at it brings back the test of will. She taunts him about how it must pain him to look upon such radiant perfection and goes on the offensive, taking several swipes at him. The tiger is very powerful, but Jun manages to deliver a counter to its face. This actually shocks the beast. It's never been hurt before and it's offended.
Jun is a little weirded out by all this. He thought his first fight as a traveling refiner would be against another person, but instead he's stuck with this strange tiger. It announces it's going to get serious now, but Jun reminds the tiger he's not here to fight and that he would prefer to talk about the situation in the village. A back and forth combat exchange develops as Jun fends the beast off while taking little jabs back when he can. Unlike before, the tiger is no longer underestimating him and it takes everything he has not to be mauled. He's fairly sure all the training in the world couldn't have prepared him for the full force of a tiger's claw and he doesn't want to find out.
The tiger speeds up and starts using ambush tactics, and Jun finally starts taking some scratches. The tiger gets bored and disinterested. Thought he had potential to prove amusing but she's yet to find a worthy foe. Jun senses some depression behind this and he points out that he's still standing. The tiger says you've yet to realize the gap between us, haven't you? Jun knows they're at the level of Clouded Adept at least, but he won't give in until she's willing to discuss the village.
The tiger descends from a tree and says she's going to end this and show him how much stronger she really is. Chi begins radiating from her and she takes her true form, surprising Jun deeply by how beautiful the exotic petite wild woman is. Before he can appreciate it, she's on him with amazing speed. Jun recognizes the agility affinity when he sees it. Ren had it, too, and he sparred with Ren at the level of Clouded Master. This is nothing. Now that his opponent has a human form he can better analyze the movements and he manages to evade and counterattack, stunning the girl again.
Annoyed yet seemingly amused, she starts a new tirade on him and Jun is only barely able to keep up and it's draining his chi at a rapid rate. This wasn't like his special training grounds where he healed faster and regained stamina quick. He'd only be able to keep this up for a few minutes at most, but as they continue fighting, he notices a marked difference in the tiger's attitude. She is increasingly enthusiastic and into the fight in a way he can only think of as cute, but as his stamina starts to dwindle, she gets annoyed again. Annoyed at him for getting her hopes up. She thought she'd finally found a challenge but it's time to end this.
She lands a massive strike on him fueled by her mantra- Superiority. Getting hit by it makes him able to identify it, as the aftereffects are very unique. Though in pain, he reflexively submits to the tigress and begs her forgiveness. These words come out of his mouth unprompted, and the effects of the Superiority mantra are explained. You can easily boss around those weaker than you and strikes contain the user's willpower, which attacks the victim's very mind and makes them docile. It's a very rare and demanding mantra, but befitting of a white tiger.
She's frustrated and asks why he did so much better fighting her as a human than as a tiger. He's fought humans, has no experience fighting tigers. Jun goes out on a limb to guess that the tiger had fun fighting him, which she gets defensive about. He's still a fly buzzing around her ear- she barely used her affinities... but that's still more than she's ever had to do before.
Jun tries to use this. I'll fight you more if you let the villagers hunt in these woods. She's obviously interested but pretends not to be, saying what happens to the humans and their rat problem is none of her concern. They can all starve for all she cares. Jun asks would she still be open to it if he could defeat her? She laughs this notion off completely as impossible, but can't help telling him to try his best and that she'll sense it if he's foolish enough to approach her mountain again. She retreats into the forest and some of the cats go with her while others continue lazing about.
Jun is in pain but he drags himself back to Elder Gui's house and reports on everything he's learned. He thinks he might be able to get somewhere with the tiger and tells the elder about her. She comes off as harsh but potentially not entirely unreasonable. She wants a challenging fight and she might be more amenable if Jun is able to provide one. Gui provides salve and bandages for Jun's cuts but his defenses stopped the worst of it and they should heal overnight.
Elder makes sure Jun didn't push himself too hard for them but Jun says she was careful not to actually hurt him too badly, another sign he thinks is good. Elder reiterates that they've never had much trouble with this spirit before. A warning here and there when they've taken too much from her territory, but she's never harmed anyone. He has his doubts on if Jun can defeat a sacred beast, though.
Jun isn't sure he has to. He just needs some time to get closer to her and find out more about her. Elder gets the wrong idea and reminds him that his villagers are on death's door and now isn't the best time to go chasing skirts. Jun is embarrassed but does admit while flustered that she was very pretty, but says he misunderstood. He'll stay with them and make sure they have enough food as long as he's in town while he tries befriending the tigress.
Elder still thinks Jun is covering his ass but says well as long as you're feeding us I can't exactly object. The prospect of contracting a mighty white tiger spirit must be pretty enticing for a soul refiner, and he can respect that. Jun hadn't even thought about that but thinks that's very unlikely she's the type that can be tamed. Gui jokes that he'd best make his best attempt as the village is riding on it.
Later on that night, Jun is doing some image training after his one hour of sleep. He relives the fight in his mind's eye and reacts accordingly, analyzing her style while mixing in transformations into the tiger form. That's where he always gets tripped up. He might be able to do something about it if he could use either of his chosen affinities, but it would take a long time to get there. She seemed pretty powerful, though. Maybe he could learn by her example?
Jun tries mimicking some of the wild and savage moves she made and is unable to pull them off. They were too dramatic and sudden for his human body, wildly different from anything Ren ever taught him. It was clear she had no actual training and was making it up as she went along, but there was merit in that and you could get away with it if you were just that dominant, which clearly she was.
With Jun's body only needing the one hour of sleep, he's free to spend the night polishing his skills and mimicking the tiger's style all in the name of developing his power affinity until it's time for the next round. This village was depending on him, and that's more than enough motivation to keep him going.

Round 2

(Just going to start calling her Miao early for ease of typing.) Miao is hanging out on a tree in her tiger form as Jun approaches. She didn't think he'd actually be back. He jokes on if she's pleasantly surprised but she puts his casual humor down. She comments that he reeks of sweat. Afraid, are we? Jun is weirdly self conscious about this but says it's because he's been training nonstop for their battle.
Miao is amused, as if a few hours of training will radically alter his chances of victory. Jun knows better than anyone she's right but he's here anyway. She seems somewhat pleased by that fact, though it's hard to tell since she is still a tiger. Miao supposes since she has nothing better to do that she'll play with him again, but don't expect her to change her mind about the humans.
Jun tells her not to worry about that for now and to just focus on their fight, so she does. She engages him immediately, leaping at him from the tree. Jun knew what to expect this time so he's able to counter it, but Miao throws him off by rapidly morphing to human to reposition and then back to tiger to lunge. This wasn't something he accounted for at all and he almost loses right then and there were it not for a rather dramatic dodge that looks rather like one of Miao's own lunges.
She thinks he has a lot of nerve copying her moves like that but Jun has a read on her personality by now. He flatters her, saying of course he would want to copy the best. Her ego is appeased and it grants him a momentary advantage which leads him to a good strike with more power behind it than he's used to. She almost felt that one and assumes he's trying to tap into the power affinity, right? She reveals it's one of hers and Jun now means it when he says he has a lot to learn from her.
Her ego is stroked but it has a negative effect this time, as now she wants to show off. She punches him from a distance with power- the resulting air blast hitting him hard. He can't imagine what it would feel like to get his by that point blank, but it makes him hungry for the power himself. He's staggered but he recalls Miao's image from his memory and predicts her approach, landing a downwards kick to her back that pins her in place. This seems to really embarrass her after he points out her flaw, yelling at him for daring to pin a mighty white tiger. Her tail wraps around his ankle and he realizes this was a bad move.
It's essentially a third arm and she throws him effortlessly into a tree. Some cats fall out of it and scatter. Jun is again staggered but using agility she's right up in his face again. She attacks his face but he ducks as her hand gets stuck in the wood. he's inches from her tummy which he has some thoughts on but delivers a quick one two palm strike to her while he's there. She staggers back, winded, and Jun is starting to piece together that the tiger is so offensive and fast that she doesn't have much defenses. He can use this, he thinks.
He's about to land a strike on her chin but Miao pulls out a very weird move. She purposefully falls to her back while coiling her tail, allowing her to dodge and propel herself upright for a headbutt. He can't believe it and then he learns what taking one of those power punches feels like. It's a lot less powerful than the demonstration one she used, but it still nearly knocks him out. It doesn't help that she tries mixing in Superiority, yelling 'submit to me!' but that part of the attack doesn't land.
Miao isn't at the peak of Clouded Adept. She can't color her affinities with her mantra reliably yet. This visibly annoys her when it doesn't work and Jun pieces it together in his head but although he knows he can push forward here, he's too pained to make use of her irritation. His attempt falls flat and she strikes him with a normal powered hit with her superiority mixed in which he's unable to resist. He yields, though he's mentally able to resist saying something embarrassing again.
Miao is in a very good mood after her victory. Much more than yesterday. She actually has some kind words for him now that it's over, surprising him by the gap. She recognizes him as stronger than most humans, while still not comparable to herself, is still worthy of a degree of her respect. He tries to use this to bring up the village but she cuts him off. Respect doesn't extend that far. She sits down and decompresses after the fight, and is soon surrounded by cats. She is their master, and there's even more on the mountain. She doesn't want the humans taking too much as there won't be anything left for her cats, this is their hunting ground.
Jun's tune changes after he learns this, but she doesn’t get what he’s ultimately after. She wants to know his story. He tries to offer it for helping the village, but she gets annoyed and uppity saying she has a personal interest in him and he should be honored to regale her what led to where he is now. Jun gives her a very truncated version of events. He was crippled, it drove his family to death, and the heavens granted him a chance to make things right and now it's his goal to help others and build a more fair world.
She calls him out on just wanting revenge. Jun can't deny that's a part of it, but it goes beyond that. Miao doesn't understand the concept of justice as no such thing exists in the wild, but she does think it sounds like a good goal. A stupid one that he'll never pull off, but good nonetheless. Miao feigns disinterest and says she's growing bored of this and bids him to return tomorrow. Fighting her is good for his development is her excuse and if he's to get his justice he'll need to be stronger, so he'd best be thankful for her volunteering her time.
Jun finds this sweet and says he'll be here but don't expect him to give up on the village. She dismisses the notion and says maybe she'll think about helping if he manages to win one of these days. Before she goes, Jun introduces himself by name. She is confused, saying okay and? He's expecting her name. She says she doesn't have one. That's a human thing. He says it would be easier if he had something to call her and she dismissively says whatever give me any name you want.
Jun thinks about it before going with Miao. He feels stupid but can't come up with anything better. Miao changes her mind, offended, saying call me anything but that one. It's too late, he's kind of into it. But that's just the sound that cats make! Tigers don't even make that sound! She demonstrates and he finds it very odd seeing tiger noises coming out of a cute girl, but he keeps it up and flustered she ultimately storms off saying whatever it's not like it matters.
Jun is full of optimism for his progress today. Miao is a good girl, and he's convinced he can break through to her now more than ever. It might take some time though so he decides to go and get more fish before his training tonight, and he is full of determination. Beneath that, he's also very excited about spending more time with her but isn't at a level where he's conscious of why yet.

Round 3 and Sasei stuff

This time, we cut straight into the fight. More cats are in attendance and Jun is keeping up better than before, despite that he hadn't been able to train as much as he would've liked. Miao was right, and sparring against stronger opponents was an amazing way to grow. She offered an entirely different experience from sparring against his master, and though she talked herself up a lot, he really was grateful for the chance to fight her. And now more than ever, he could tell Miao was feeling the same.
She comes to life in their battle, feeling a rush she's unused to. Jun keeps up with her despite his lack of affinities, and she thinks there's a lot of promise in him. She taunts him as they fight, but it's motivational and teasing. She wants him to do better and calls out his mistakes and praises him when he lands a blow or temporarily outwits her.
Miao is making much greater use of her chi today, giving him the impression she's toying with him like cats are known to do. It pushes him harder and harder, but he gets a firsthand view of how the chi of a sacred beast differs from a humans. It's rougher and unrefined but shockingly powerful, making her faster and stronger and sturdier when she bothers to remember to guard. Even if she's holding back, Jun takes comfort in the fact that she really is putting an effort in as opposed to Ren.
Miao actually breaks a sweat today and her breathing is occasionally thrown off, and all in all the battle lasts a lot longer before Jun is knocked down and pinned to the ground underneath her in a suggestive way. She seems very pleased with herself, and the expression causes Jun's heart to throb. Miao notices his reaction after smelling it but aside from looking a little awkward she gets off of him and doesn't comment on it, merely telling him he's done a good job today and she could feel him licking at the power affinity a few times.
Jun recovers from being flustered and asks what their audience thinks. Some of the cats come and surround Miao, who reveals she's been telling them about him and they were interested in seeing what the human worthy of her attention is like. One or two of the cats approach him and allow Jun to pet them, which she says he hasn't impressed many of them yet. Jun enjoys this, hanging out with Miao after their fight. Though she was essentially a wild animal, it makes him feel like an ordinary teen hanging out with a girl. Something he missed out on. It's a shame it couldn't last.
Miao says that maybe in a few months he might actually be able to get strong enough to stand up to her and really give her a challenge, but Jun sadly puts he's not hoping to stay around for that long. Miao is blindsided and demands to know why not. If she won't budge and help the humans, he volunteered to go and help them relocate somewhere else. She supposes that can't be helped but he can always come back when he's done.
Jun is receptive but points out that she'll likely be even stronger when he gets back. This triggers a moment of irritation from Miao, who opens up to Jun that she actually hasn't progressed in her soul refinement in quite a long time and she's not getting stronger from their battles at all. Jun might know the problem and he has her explain the situation, much to her excitement.
We get the lore about how advancing is an uphill battle with most sacred beasts. Their chi is more raw and unrefined, and prone to lots of bottleneck issues. Miao doesn't know any of this but is nodding along saying how all of this sounds dead on to her. She asks him what she can do about it and there are plenty of resources out there to help beasts advance but he doesn't have any. Other than that her best option is just time and practice, though there's one method that would work best.
Miao is up in his business, eagerly demanding he tell her what it is. He sets the expectation that he doesn't mean anything weird by this but sacred beasts can contract themselves to humans via an ancient art. Some of the mechanics are explained and the important part is that her partner can draw from her chi reserves like they were their own and the chi gets returned in a filtered, more refined state making it easier for the beast to process.
Despite him trying to not sound like he's implying anything, Miao gets on his case about it obviously being where he was going with this. She praises him for coveting her- she's a great white tiger and all- and she notices his attraction to her (which he downplays) but she won't agree to anything like that even if it makes her stronger. Jun is nice and all, but her mother told her never to bother with humans and that hasn’t ever steered her wrong.
Jun also calls her out on not wanting to leave. He gets the sense she's a big fish in a very small pond and what she wants most is to journey the world and fight even stronger people, pointing out how her body language perks up at the sheer suggestion, which she denies. Jun politely offers her a place by his side on his journey, saying there doesn't have to be a contract or anything if she doesn't there to be one.
He brings up some of Ren's concerns about his motivation to Miao. Jun is on a rough path, but Ren beat it into him that he shouldn't let that solely define him. He likes being around Miao and admires a lot about her. He thinks that if they went on this journey together, he'd have a better chance of creating the kind of world he'd like to- without losing himself in the process.
Miao is overcome with emotions and is very conflicted. She asks him what would happen to defenseless cats in his world, and they would be cared for and always fed. Miao thinks this is childish and naive and stupid, but her words don't match her expression. She's imagining it, but ultimately dismisses it and is steadfast that she can't leave her people.
Jun already has an idea brewing but knows better than to push it. He has to check with the elder, and a few more days bonding with Miao before propositioning her would probably go a long way. He gets up to leave and Miao says she didn't give him permission to go yet. She was enjoying his company and gets pouty when he brings up needing to return to the village. She suggests he comes back later in the day and they can go another round but he keeps her wanting by declining, saying he has to train after that if he wants to keep himself sharp for her.
Miao supposes this can't be helped and makes it sound like him going was her plan all along, which amuses him. Jun leaves and she's frustrated as she sits there with her cats.
Cut. We pov swap to a new, mostly one off minor character by the name of Cuihei Yong. He's a clouded adept in the employ of the Sasei clan and is Xiusho's trusted aide and is supervising this whole operation so that Paoshi succeeds. With a mantra of obfuscation and shadow affinity, what he lacks in combat potential he makes up for in concealment and trickery. He's been monitoring the tigress for over a week now, putting together a profile of sorts before he reports back to Paoshi, but it's taken a lot of his willpower not to go back to camp early after the last three days.
He has been present this entire time, watching their battles under a powerful veil with them none the wiser. It takes great concentration not to slip up for even a second, especially when Miao uses her superiority mantra, but he's grown sick and tired of watching this unfold. The awkward romantic and sexual tension between the two was getting groan inducing, and it's only been three days. If things develop much further it might be difficult to execute their plans.
Yong returns to the Sasei camp some miles away. It's also hidden under a concealment formation but admittedly a shoddy one. You can see the camp if you get close enough. He makes his way to Paoshi's tent where we see the man practicing his knife control. He makes a show of launching a knife at the intruder which he merely did to act tough, but is apologetic when he realizes the man is his father's aide an essentially an uncle to him. Yong internally bemoans this stupid child, thinking how Xiusho lets his love blind him to Paoshi's many faults.
Yong explains the situation to Paoshi. Paoshi finds amusement and thinks they should wait so as to deliver Shan used goods, that and it would be fun to kill the refiner and make him watch as the tigress is taken away, but Yong reminds him how bad an idea that would be and even threatens him on top of it. Cruelty is a weapon that must be wielded with precision, not swung around like a club. Taking away her new friend will only make her harder to control, so this is why they must strike now.
Paoshi suggests they wait a few more days. If this refiner is improving by the day, then it stands to reason they could make use of that fact and attack on a day where their spar has the tigress especially drained. Says Yong can just interfere if things start to head in an explicit direction. Yong really doesn't want to have to watch more of this and his life could be at stake if he interferes, since he's not a fighter, but Paoshi reminds him he's in charge of this operation and father said you have to listen to me. That he did, regrettably.
Paoshi asks for information on the refiner and there's a moment where the name Fangzhi Jun snaps into place for him. He dismisses it. The brother of that prostitute he killed was supposed to have been a cripple, right? Yong recalls some of what Jun said and is pretty sure it's the same person and he's after vengeance against the Sasei clan. Paoshi is very tempted to come and give it to him, but Yong is surprised he fights back these urges and sticks to the plan. Paoshi is genuinely trying to be better in some ways since his big fuck up, and even though it would be 'fun' to cripple him all over again, he knows its beneath him and it's better if they just abduct the tigress when they're separated.
Yong credits him for that much, but doesn't like the look on Paoshi's face.

Elder on Day 3 and then Day 14

Jun hands out more smoked fish to the villagers when he returns in time for lunch and it brings him joy to see everyone in much higher spirits than when he first arrived. He returns to elder Gui after that and offers the old man a fish as well, which he takes and nibbles on before asking how things are coming along with the tigress. Jun applies the medicine again today and thinks there's been major progress, and the more he waxes on about Miao, the more the elder finds amusement in his obvious crush. Jun opens up to the old man a bit about his problems and how he's not used to interacting with girls. His sister had a lot of pretty friends who would visit, but aside from that, he's never had a connection with someone else before. Elder thinks that no wonder his feelings are developing so fast.
Jun still maintains his goal is to help the village though, not tame a tigress. He has a plan that he wants to run by him, and we don't hear the specifics of the plan, but the elder thinks that might actually work. He'll have to talk to the villagers about it and see if anyone has any objections, but he doubts they will. Elder can't help but think this plan would coincidentally free the tigress of her responsibilities, and Jun says yes, because he wants to help her, too. Even if she doesn't want to come along with me, she's not happy with her life. No one knows the pain of being stuck in one place all your life more than Jun does, so he knows it when he sees it.
The elder thinks he's a really good kid and hopes things work out for him. Mentions a personal anecdote about how he hard to fight an uphill battle to win over his own wife once upon a time, though she's gone now. Gui asks when he's planning to spring this on Miao. Jun wants a few more days since every day they end up closer than they were before, and he'll have a better chance convincing her after that. Elder can't complain since he's keeping the village fed in the meantime, and Jun excuses himself to go and train.
We cut to the 14th day. It has taken Jun longer than he thought, and Miao has severely misjudged Jun's potential for growth. She was physically stronger by many times over and faster, too, but Jun was growing smarter and more efficient the longer their fighting went on. He's good at exploiting her openings, getting better at baiting her into mistakes, and using his chi more efficiently so that their battles last longer, turning the flow on and off when he needed it most. Sure, Miao could win at any second if she tried hard enough, but this had never been about winning for her. It was always a form of playing, like she were indulging a cub.
But today, the cub actually manages to pull one over on her, delivering a strike with a hint of power affinity behind it- his first one. Jun ends up knocking her on her back faster than she knew it was coming and mimicking her victory on the third day, he quickly pins her to the ground. It's a symbolic gesture. She can get out from under him anytime she wants, but when she looks up at him and her heart beats as he says 'I win', she lingers. Before eventually pushing him off and going on a tirade about white tiger superiority and the nerve of him mounting her like a perverse beast. Jun points out she's just pouty she lost.
Still maintains she didn't lose, but then she surprises him by saying she's very proud of him about his affinity. To show their closeness, she takes a catlike position by his side on the forest floor, even nudging her forehead against his side. They have a quiet moment where Jun contemplates petting her but reminds himself that cats are fickle and even when they seemed like they were open to it, they weren't always and he didn't want to risk it. This is contrasted with Miao staring at him wondering why he hell he isn't petting me.
There are a lot more cats crowding around them in the post battle. Jun has essentially won over them all. One tries sitting in his lap but Miao glares at it and makes it scamper off before he can pet it. She comments on how well-liked he is by her subjects now and Jun says I like them a lot, too. We hear a bit about the last three days and how the blossoming bond has only grown stronger, and Jun thinks today is the perfect time to finally make his move. On the village plan, of course.
He's just waiting for the right moment. But it doesn't come. Miao is just chilling in his presence, creepily maintaining eye contact without blinking barely. It's another affectionate cat thing. He asks her for her thoughts, and she mentions that he brought her down to about half power today. Even if she's not going all out, that's really impressive, but it's also making her a little confused in regards to her mantra.
She's never felt quite like this before towards anyone in that she doesn't view herself as superior to Jun, (even though she is, she purposefully mentions). Jun stares at her and she stares back, leaving him to wonder what's behind those big cat eyes. He summons enough bravery to reach out and pet her, which she commends him for though saying it took him long enough.
He forces the courage further and says there's something they need to talk about, but she stops her hopes from getting up and asks if it's about the village again. Yes. She's hesitant, but not against talking about it. She's mostly just annoyed it kills the mood. Miao tries to say she's not so shallow as to change her mind just because she has a fondness for one particular human, but Jun asks her to hear him out. She's catty and says that's what I'm doing right now, isn't it? Go on.
Jun mentions that the spirit rats avoid the forest and her mountain because her cats like to eat them, right. Miao confirms saying they're quite tasty. He tries and fails not to imagine his crush eating a rat but blames himself for falling in love with a tiger. Jun asks if she knows where he's going with this and she is silent on the matter. He says the village could take in her cats and they'd always have something to eat/hunt since the rats won't go away, and then everyone would be happy.
As a bonus, Miao would be free to go wherever she wants knowing her loyal subjects were well taken care of. Miao sits up and stares at him, conflicted. She says you want me to trust an entire village worth of humans with my cats? I can trust one human, max, and I've already found him. Jun says she knows the villagers aren't bad people. No, she only knows they’ve never done anything that warrants her to take action against them.They still could.
Jun says by that logic he could do something bad, but she argues that's impossible and Jun would never. He says she only came to that conclusion because she got to know him and if she gave others a chance, they might surprise her like he did. She grumpily counters that no one could surprise her the way Jun did, which he appreciates, but she doesn't get why he doesn't see it her way. After everything he's been through, he should be like her.
Jun admits he's struggled with seeing the good in others, but no matter how bad his life got, there was always someone there for him that reminded him of the goodness of others. His family. His sister, her friends, the madame, his master. Not everyone is as lucky as he is. He understands why Miao is the way that she is, but he hopes that she can learn she doesn't *have* to be that way. He can be that person for her, if she'll let him. She can come with him and they'll discover the world together, the good and the bad, and she can see for herself.
Miao gets emotional now. She's picturing it. The world outside her mountain. The strong opponents out there waiting for her, the strange things she's never seen before, the chance to advance her soul further, and all of it while never having to leave Jun's side. She struggles with her emotions and some of her cats try to comfort her. She picks one up and hugs it to her chest, which it very much does not like.
Miao deflects. She points out that he's still hoping to use her, isn't he? You made me trust you because you want a contract with me so you can get stronger. She doesn't actually believe any of this and she's just rambling, but Jun lets her get it out of her system. Instead, she goes harder on him and brings up the elephant in the room. No, that's not it. You're just saying all of this because you want me to become your mate. Every day she smells his pheremones and they've only been getting heavier and heavier.
Jun surprisingly admits to it semi-casually. It takes her a second to process that, but he praises all of her best features (which does wonders for her worship kink) and he doesn't see a point in denying it if she already knows blatantly. He also wouldn't mind a contract, no, but he's able to get her to understand that all he really wants is for her to come with him when he leaves this village. He takes her hands and looks her in the eyes. They can do it as friends, contracted partners, mates, whatever she wants.
Or she can stay here and he'll help the village the other way, and he'll come see her again, but he'll eventually have to leave her. He can't stop his journey for anything and will have to go with or without her, and he's trying his hardest to make damn sure she knows how much he wants it to be with her.
Miao can't take much more of this and dismisses him as this being enough for today, but after composing herself enough she tells him she's going to think about things and will have an answer for him tomorrow. She needs to speak with her most trusted advisors. A few of her cats do something derpy right after she says this, but they all get up to leave with her. Miao lingers before turning back to him and issuing a command with superiority reinforcing that he should thank her for even entertaining this outlandish possibility.
Jun smiles and tells her he is thankful of his own volition. The command doesn't effect him if its something he already would've done, and they stare at each other for a moment before she runs away. Jun stands there with his heart beating, beginning to believe that his master was onto something when he said that there was nothing in life better than a good woman.
Small cut back to Cuihei Yong, who is now on the outskirts of the forest after having witnessed all of that crap. He throws up. All that love and romance and youthful innocence really did make him sick and it was a miracle he didn't blow his cover sooner. Once he's done, he resolves to inform Paoshi. This is their best chance. She's down to half power she said, and if they wait any longer she'll end up contracted to Jun. Miao is heading back up to her mountain and she'll be alone, so the time is now.
Despite how annoyed it all made him, he has to admit that Jun is rather smooth and that young Paoshi could learn a thing or two about women from him.