“Breathe, please,” the woman said, and Miantiao complied. Soft fingers trailed along damaged scales, and touched old wounds so lightly he could barely feel them.
He did his best to just lay there. It was quite easy, with how he was feeling since he had first entered Fa Ram. The happy laughter. The warm looks. Like his old village, as the people had come together to help each other. It was all just a bit too much.
Yin had left his side with an encouraging nod, but... she fit in...
2021-08-11 21:18:10 +0000 UTC
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Bi De sighed, as he completed the paperwork. Really, if he had known how much there would be, he never would have become what he was. He leaned back in his seat, a simple wooden thing, staring around at his office. It was an enormous room full of papers and scrolls. Outside, there was an entire wing of the palace dedicated to this.
Bi De shook his head and sighed again, fiddling with his brush. It neared the page, ready to doodle, before he remembered that it was important....
2021-08-09 19:02:30 +0000 UTC
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A creature erupted from a hole in the wall, screeching with glee and maddened hunger. Its white flesh and sightless eyes twisted grotesquely, as its long claws reached greedily for the flesh of whatever had been foolish enough to venture near its hole.
A crack of a wing splattered it against the wall. Bi De came to a stop, examining the fork in the tunnel, as it split off in two different directions.
‘Are you feeling alright?’ Yin asked, as the fire of the sun roasted...
2021-08-06 18:42:34 +0000 UTC
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Travel through the Howling Fang Mountains was a dangerous task. Between the local Spirit Beast, the unpredictable, often Qi-charged weather, and the Mountains themselves, going without a guide was generally foolhardy.
It was a bracing climate, Lu Ri Decided. The fridgidness in the air nearly matched his Senior Sister’s gaze.
He brushed some of the snow off his hat, and fingered the hole where a an icicle the size of a spear had managed to strike true.
Unfortunate. He liked...
2021-08-04 21:23:57 +0000 UTC
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Meiling sat upon a cushioned bench, as it swung back and forth. Ropes attached it to the ceiling, keeping it stable. The entire thing creaked gently to the rhythmic rocking.
Sitting in the shade, listening to the sounds of nature, and curled up next to another warm body. Jin was quiet and contemplative, his brow slightly furrowed, but he still smelled normal, so he wasn’t too distressed. Ri Zu sat in her lap, and Meiling’s fingers drifted through soft fur. The rat had been ...
2021-08-02 19:44:08 +0000 UTC
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The walls of the tomb were covered in multi-coloured splotches, like somebody had taken entire buckets of paint and thrown them against grey stone.
Yun Ren’s eyes were unfocused, distorted colours and bands of mist swirling around his hands.
His Qi churned and twisted. There was a brief flash of light.
The Guardian’s tail slapped against the back of Yun Ren’s head, nearly bowling him over.
“None of that, boy,” the fox scolded. “Distraction while training is...
2021-08-02 19:41:15 +0000 UTC
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Okay. Just going to state it outright.
I fucked up.
After a weekend to think about the direction the last chapter went, and speaking with a few other authors who have been helping me bounce Ideas, I can safely say that I did not fully think through the repercussions of the interlude ending.
But the simple fact is that this has knock-on effects that I did not fully think through while tunnel-vision writing the sequence of events. I got stuck on making something...
2021-08-02 19:35:36 +0000 UTC
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Okay, after some sleep, and reading through the feedback, I got to work again. There were some parts that I read again, after I woke up, that did seem to be quite rushed, and some parts of the scene that did not read how I intended them.
This is the second version of the chapter. While the beginning part does not have changes to it, The ending is massively re-vamped, to better get across what I wanted to get across. So if you don't feel like re-reading the entire thing, that's where you...
2021-07-31 02:16:01 +0000 UTC
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Just a bit of a prescript.
The Fox is now going to be referred to as male, for that POV, and is going to be changed in the previous chapter. Sorry to anybody who enjoyed this aspect, but it made things a bit more clear that the fox was screwing with Yun Ren, and made things flow just a bit better.
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The walls of the tomb were covered in multi-coloured splotches, like somebody had ta...
2021-07-30 21:46:59 +0000 UTC
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“Read this scroll well, and comprehend it’s teachings” the fox declared to the boy, as they were seated in the library. “It shall teach you the foundations to this technique.”
Xong Yun Ren nodded. “Thank you, Guardian.” He said appropriately, bowing respectfully. The fox nodded. He should be thankful. The Befuddling Mist of Da Ji wa a powerful technique, probably too powerful for the boy’s current strength, but he did not need to comprehend all of it.
Really, had t...
2021-07-28 20:20:10 +0000 UTC
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Nezin Han was excited. He was going to see his grandson for the first time in four years. Four years of ranging far and wide across the north, and taking the bounty at the edges of the Sea of Snow.
To think that his grandson wished to learn the ways of his ancestors, instead of just the Imperial stuff. To learn the traditions of the Nezin, to learn how to herd the yaks, perhaps to break and ride a fine horse!
The men often rotated through the southern villages, living mostly nomad...
2021-07-26 19:37:32 +0000 UTC
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“Again! Again, Big Sister Tigu!” Mistress’s brother shouted, eagerly bouncing in front of her. She raised an eyebrow at the small boy. Tigu grabbed the child underneath his armpits, and threw him.
The boy whooped as he sailed through the air, before landing with a splash in the river. Other children cheered at the height, as he paddled out to the massive form of Chun Ke, sitting like an island in the water.
A curious technique, to grow larger when he pleases. The children di...
2021-07-23 19:46:24 +0000 UTC
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More Art From Tsuu-- We're going to be getting quite a bit of art this month, actually. Lots of character portraits, and some bigger renders, with some colour pieces.
Hopefully everybody enjoys!
2021-07-22 17:22:10 +0000 UTC
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“Thanks, Pops.” I said as I took the waterskin from him. Hong Xian smiled and nodded his head at me as I took a few gulps of the nice and cool drink. I leaned on my shovel, and looked back at our work.
“Comin’ along good, isn’t it?” I asked my father-in-law.
“Coming along good?” He snorted. “It's coming along a bit better than good.” He declared, looking at the road, and the work gang that was with us. What had started as a few people coming to bring us water a...
2021-07-21 22:13:29 +0000 UTC
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Another image of Tigu, though this time her being a bit more relaxed, and not in "combat mode"
As always, the art is by Tsuu
2021-07-20 17:24:29 +0000 UTC
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Xi Bohai, of the Plum Blossom’s Shadow approached the town as he had been requested. Verdant Hill, if his maps were correct. He was tired, and sweaty from his long, hard ride, and yet he stayed the course. Trading horses every town when the beasts had started to exhaust themselves was a novel experience. For the first time, he had the coin to do so, and this was a priority.
A rather novel priority, to be sent this far north, but Master Scribe’s Mission took priority.
He knew n...
2021-07-19 20:36:14 +0000 UTC
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There will be no post this Friday, July 16. I'm getting my vaccine today (in less than half an hour) so I'm just going to put this out here, instead of will I won't I, I'm just going to err on the side of caution.
Thank you for your patience.
2021-07-14 17:38:02 +0000 UTC
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Gou Ren frowned at his reflection in the burnished disk, as the blade carefully scraped along his cheeks. It was an annoying morning ritual. People had asked why he didn’t shave his sideburns down before, and this was the reason. Overnight they would just grow up and puff out again, reverting him to his previous look. Shave them off completely? They’d be back in two days. So it was every morning. It was annoying. In Hong Yaowu there weren’t actually that many reflective surfaces, and ge...
2021-07-14 17:36:14 +0000 UTC
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Full version of Tigger's human form. You can't see it because of the twist in her body, but she is packing a set of abs.
Shes supposed to look tomboy-ish, and is supposed to have quite a bit more muscle compared to average. Shes a bit closer to Jin's "built like a bull" than your standard cultivator girl.
The shirt shes wearing is still Jin's. Shes stolen it. It's now hers.
Credit once more to Tsuu for the artwork
2021-07-13 00:18:39 +0000 UTC
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“I shall become a farmer, Senior Brother.”
Those were the words Lu Ri had once more structured his search around. After his wonderful meal in Pale Moon Lake City, he had decided to continue to scour the Azure Hills until he found a lead. He had a feeling about this province. A hunch told him he was missing something, and so he would follow it. It could be the heavens guiding him, for long he had toiled already. It had been merely a few months, so it was not too desperate of a search...
2021-07-12 17:56:51 +0000 UTC
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Okay, on friday's post, I actually screwed some things up. Rather major things, namely the position of Ash Forest, and the shape of the formation. This has been fixed, as well as fleshing out the chapter a bit more. The Main Major Change is that Ash Forest is now Wood Instead of Fire, and located to the south west. So Jin doesn't live near a forest known to be dangerous as well. instead, things are slightly safer. There will be a chapter released as normal today as well.
The chapter is ...
2021-07-12 17:00:37 +0000 UTC
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There is a reason I why I pay people for drawings. Here are some intensely bad images of what this looks like with no topography, and no sense of scale.
Hong Yaowu would be the north western tip on the sub assembly. There would also be criss-crossing lines, but I can't do those properly without it looking like a complete mess. The spirals also all connect. In the center of the spirals there are rocks.
2021-07-09 21:53:34 +0000 UTC
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‘Is this it?’ Yin asked, as she stared around at the granite hills and rocky spires. She dipped a foot into the spring they were near, which occasionally belched out water. It was crystal clear and quite lovely.
They were in the center of the five points. The center of five smaller spiral formations, each with its own rock.
Bi De had expected to find something here. Something that could perhaps shed light upon this phenomenon. The hills here were certainly large, and ...
2021-07-09 20:49:33 +0000 UTC
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I ran my fingers over strands of gold. I took a deep breath in, and let the scent fill my nostrils. The wheat was a bit taller than I was used to, but then again, modern wheat was mostly a dwarf breed. There were advantages to this, as it wouldn’t bow over as much in heavy rain. If the stalks snapped during a storm, well, you could lose the harvest, and modern wheat was bred to help prevent that. This kind would get to about four to five feet tall by the time it was done growing.
It a...
2021-07-07 19:45:36 +0000 UTC
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‘Now, focus your intent. You must center yourself,’ Wa Shi lectured, entirely too smug for Tigu’s taste, but she did as she was instructed. She sat in a meditative pose, with Master and Mistress watching on.
“As this Wa Shi is your teacher, if you comprehend this technique swiftly, it is due to my overwhelming skill. If you fail to comprehend it, it is obviously because of your inferiority,’ he continued happily.
Tigu’s eyes snapped open, foc...
2021-07-05 17:46:15 +0000 UTC
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What do you do when a mostly naked girl who was previously your cat jumps into your bed with you and your wife?
Because I certainly didn’t know, other than make her comfortable, and try to figure out what exactly my reaction should be.
Okay, talking animals, I had come to peace with it. They had honestly improved my life, and I was glad that they were here. Washy turning into a dragon? Strange, but there was the story of the carp jumping over a waterfall. Another easy deal.
<...
2021-07-02 17:36:40 +0000 UTC
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There was a crack of thunder. The sound of droplets hitting the ground.
For the first time in a while, I was happy for rain. It had been hot and dry for a couple of weeks. The grass had even started to go a bit brown, far away from the house, as the heatwave intensified, but everything near the house was still good, with our specialized Dragon sprinkler system firing at full blast.
I was quite leery to ask him to actively control the weather, if he even could, but water from the r...
2021-06-30 17:51:44 +0000 UTC
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Bi De, First Disciple of Fa Ram, greets his Great Master, the Great Healing Sage, Sister Ri Zu, Brother Chun Ke, Sister Pi Pa, Sister Tigu, Brother Wa Shi, Disciple Xiulan and Disciple Gou Ren.
He prays that this message finds all in good health. This Bi De wishes to inform his Great Master and fellow disciples of his journeys thus far…
==================================
“An’ that's the big still Elder Hong was talkin’ about!” Yun Ren declared, as...
2021-06-28 17:41:30 +0000 UTC
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‘Now, we spread the lacquer. This will protect it from the elements, and give it the proper colour.’ Bi De instructed. Both regal rabbit and burned snake looked curiously at it. It had been two days since that encounter, and Bi De was still unsure of how to broach the subject. Should he just bluntly confront it? Should he never tell them? He did not know. Both of them were warming to him, however. Sharing meals had a way of bringing people together.
‘Smells like shit....
2021-06-25 20:13:13 +0000 UTC
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Bi De raised an eyebrow at the rude question. The rabbit's voice was far harsher than her appearance, filled with heat at his presence. Even now, he could feel her Qi focused upon him, and he could see the tenseness in her muscles.
He nearly rose to the harsh words and implied threat. Insead, he took a step backwards from the grave, and raised his wings in greeting. He was trespassing, and in resting places of the honoured dead at that. Some hostility was only natural.
And it woul...
2021-06-23 19:22:19 +0000 UTC
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