Fang Hua’s eyes faded, from black to gray, from gray to white. Her shoulders relaxed, and her expression turned blank once more. The green lines faded from her fingers, and the black blood vanished as well. She stepped toward Hui silently.
Hui took another step back, then stood, waiting. Casually, he tucked his hands into his sleeves. Though he looked relaxed, internally, he tensed. Inside his sleeves, he touched a few talismans, ready to throw them at the slightest provocation.
2022-03-20 22:18:18 +0000 UTC
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The scraps drifted to the ground. The puppets drew back. Xi Guanxi stepped forward, then hesitated. “No… blood?”
Green threads lashed out at Xi Guanxi’s back. He leaped forward, then flicked a finger. A pair of puppets rushed toward Jin Xian. Snarling, she sprouted fangs and claws. Startling power erupted from her, temporarily forcing the puppets back. Using the gap, she launched at one of the puppets.
“Fourth stage? Since when?” Xi Guanxi gaped. He furrowed his brows....
2022-03-19 00:29:00 +0000 UTC
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Their feet touched the ground. In the same instant, the power that held them dissipated.
Xi Guanxi charged. His sword lashed out, a blaze of silver. In his far hand, he gestured, throwing out strands of glowing green.
Hui stared, eyes wide. He jumped back.
“Too slow.” Xi Guanxi struck Hui in two. Hui staggered back. His body slid apart, then separated, falling apart at the waist. His upper half thumped to the earth.
Xi Guanxi’s brows furrowed. He turned.
Ro...
2022-03-18 22:56:11 +0000 UTC
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Arthur led the way down around the corner, into the shade of the hill. Thick bushes crawled in horizontal lines along the hillside. Red, ripe berries hung under dark green leaves. A sweet smell wafted their way.
A basket dropped into Gale’s hands. Beside him, Kino jumped and caught his basket out of the air. Arthur gave them both a little shove. “Go on. Have at it.”
Gale narrowed his eyes at Arthur suspiciously. There’s something fishy. I smell it.
“Berrie...
2022-03-18 22:47:58 +0000 UTC
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Dawn light filtered through the windows, playing over a pair of blankets tucked under the large table. Kino snored away. He rolled in his sleep, throwing out an arm. The arm struck Gale in the gut.
Gale let out a quiet oof. He blinked awake, then scowled and pushed the arm off of him. Kino rolled over again, leaving him alone. For a moment, Gale considered rolling over and going back to sleep, as well, but then he tucked his arms under his head instead. Lying there quietly, he ...
2022-03-18 22:47:12 +0000 UTC
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The day passed slowly. Kino led Gale on a roundabout route toward Arthur’s house, darting from stand of trees to stand of trees. In ermine form, he slipped through the tall crops, occasionally peeking up for a moment only to drop down again and bounce ahead. Gale followed him at a crouch. Whenever they could see the road, Kino paused and waited until no one could be seen before bounding ahead again. Gale followed, yawning.
At last, Arthur’s farmhouse appeared on the horizon. Kino ma...
2022-03-18 22:46:31 +0000 UTC
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At the top of the hill, Gale put his hands on his hips. He cast his gaze across the farm as the wind caught his hair, stirring it around his face. The oversized jacket streamed from his shoulders, almost a cloak. “Where to start?”
Kino stared around, on-edge. “What if that human comes back?”
“He’s not going to hurt us. Besides, we’re helping him. What’s he going to do, chase us off for doing good work?” Gale slung his jacket over the railing and rolled up his sle...
2022-03-18 22:45:48 +0000 UTC
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The further they emerged from the forest, the more populated the road became. The forest thinned, then vanished, replaced by rolling farmland. Pastoral farm houses sat back from the road, scattered amidst big red barns and wandering cattle. Humans drove laden oxcarts toward the village and rushed out of it on shiny black carriages. They tossed smiles and greetings toward Kino and Gale, too busy with their work to pay the boys any mind.
Kino hunched over, eyes darting around, grasping hi...
2022-03-18 22:44:47 +0000 UTC
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Gale hustled along, waddling on his squat limbs. He lifted his nose and sniffed the air, peering around. “Everything looks really big from down here… I need a bigger body.”
Heavy crashes caught his ear. Branches snapped. Brambles snagged. He stopped and stared off into the distance. The badger urged him to turn and run, but he resisted the creature’s instincts. Its heart raced, loud in his ears, but he steadied it. Holding his breath, he listened.
Footsteps. One set light,...
2022-03-18 22:44:04 +0000 UTC
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(Author note): Hey everyone! I've started working on a second novel, once again. Here's the first few chapters! At the end of the month, I plan to split off another two tiers, one for everything (at about +$2) and one for TLHASO (at the same price). I've got some feedback that people don't like having the streams crossed/seeing my secondary novels in the main patreon, so this is in response to that. If you only want one book, you're still good! If you want it all, it's not a huge increase. LM...
2022-03-18 22:43:09 +0000 UTC
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Hui stepped through the door and into light. He stood in a small room, boxed in on all sides by glowing walls.
A sword instantly thrust at his neck.
Startled, Hui toppled backward. He didn’t fall very far; only into Jin Xian’s arms. She caught him numbly, face blank.
Oh, shit! Hui’s eyes widened. The blade slashed through his neck.
Motes of light burst around him. The blade passed through harmlessly through his body.
“Eh?” Hui asked, looking at...
2022-03-17 01:42:59 +0000 UTC
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Hui gestured Jin Xian back. She hopped back and stood where he’d sat, gazing blankly at the ghouls around them. Hui drew a deep breath and looked out at the ghouls rising through the earth.
How many are there? Ten… twenty… thirty… fifty? Fifty fourth-stage ghouls? Grandpa trial realm, please… this small cultivator only just reached the fourth realm, and you’re already telling me to take out fifty ghouls?
He glanced at Jin Xian, but sighed immediately and shook...
2022-03-17 01:42:03 +0000 UTC
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Jin Xian stood in front of Hui. Green light flickered over her eyes. The green threads coiled in her palms, almost invisible from the outside. Only a faint green glow against her robes stood out in the darkness.
Ghouls circled around them, lurching closer step by step. Fluctuations at the third realm boiled off them, surging on the air. Closer and closer, one step at a time. A hundred meters. Fifty. Ten.
Still Jin Xian stood, eyes darting. Her fingers twitched, clenching with bare...
2022-03-14 01:25:04 +0000 UTC
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As he fell, he crossed his arms, thinking to himself. This realm… I wonder if it’s physically inside the remains of the snake ancestor? We gathered a snake, then passed through its blood and bones. Where are we headed next, I wonder?
Ahead, a light blazed out. He smiled and hurtled toward the light, excited to see what awaited him.
The light rushed up. A great wind rushed into his face. He squinted his eyes shut and burst through into the next part of the trials realm...
2022-03-14 01:24:14 +0000 UTC
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So determined, Hui buried himself deeper into his meditation. This time, he focused on the two auras. Although one aura emanated from each dantian, the two dantians had their own sets of pathways that independently curved through his body, meaning his whole body emanated both a death aura and an aura of qi. With his life qi split into the red gem, and so little of it in comparison to the qi and death qi, it couldn’t be relied upon to suppress the death aura.
Separate… like with ...
2022-03-12 22:01:56 +0000 UTC
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As soon as the idea to absorb the entire ocean passed into his head, Hui’s eyes widened. He smiled. I have to. I must! To do any less would be to turn down this heavenly opportunity. If I turn it down, when will I come across an opportunity like this again?
I’m not even in danger! I can sit here and quietly absorb this entire ocean, gain an ocean of qi into the red gem! No one can attack me. No one can stop me. I’m locked away in a realm of my own! I couldn’t be saf...
2022-03-12 22:01:14 +0000 UTC
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The sea trembled. It reached toward the gem, drawn by its immense powers of suction, but couldn’t break the seal.
Hui furrowed his brows. He grabbed the snake and pressed it against the gem, then fed his qi into the gem to strengthen its power of suction.
Still nothing.
No, no. This should work. This gem was created by the Sect Leader of the Black Asp Sect. There’s no way it doesn’t…
He blinked. He mumbled aloud, “The reversal spell!”
Hui pro...
2022-03-12 04:03:20 +0000 UTC
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Far below, a glitter of white caught his eye. Hui blasted off another two, three talismans and zoomed toward it. The snake in his hand diminished, growing even smaller.
Using qi… uses the snake up? Hui’s eyes widened. He measured the distance to the white with his eye and fired one last talisman. The snake let out a quiet cry and shrunk down to the size of his index finger.
The white loomed up. As he grew closer, he made out shapes in the white. Not sand, but bones, h...
2022-03-12 04:02:37 +0000 UTC
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Black burst around Hui. He rushed into the darkness. A force shoved him away from Bai Xue, but he didn’t slow down or fall. Instead, he raced off in a different direction.
“Bai Xue!” he shouted.
His voice faded into the void. Hui frowned, then shook his head. Bai Xue will be fine. I should worry about myself.
White light burst out all around him. Hui flew out into a void and plummeted backward, unable to continue flying without Bai Xue’s assistance. Down, do...
2022-03-10 01:46:07 +0000 UTC
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As Hui slept, Jin Xian sat silently beside him. The ghoul’s body began to change, quietly but surely. Her teeth grew into fangs, and her finger and toenails became razor-sharp claws. The black blood and the puppet qi inside her swirled, growing stronger as well. Within the milky-white that coated her eyes, black and green lights chased one another, showing signs of life.
For a split second, her eyes cleared. A girl sat there, not a ghoul. She looked at Hui, her eyes cold, then turned ...
2022-03-10 01:45:19 +0000 UTC
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Hui passed by Xixing on his way out. She hacked away at the large cicada, happily butchering it for parts. Translucent and purple ichor splattered over the ground around her. He walked up beside her. “Elder Sister, I’m heading out now. Will you be safe here?”
Yi Ping gave him a fierce glare, which he ignored.
“Mmm. It’s more relaxing to concoct pills here, without those imbeciles breathing down my back,” she said. “I told them I’d make their pill faster here, so th...
2022-03-07 00:35:10 +0000 UTC
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Hui drew out the segment of gold wire he’d cut earlier and the lighter of the two pieces of amber. He circulated them above the corpse, injecting his qi into them. They began to resonate, fluctuations merging into the corpse. The corpse resonated back, the remnant scraps of qi calling out to the materials. Hui pressed his hands down, and the materials passed through the corpse’s chest and entered its empty qi passages. As they passed, they melted, and the materials began to merge with the...
2022-03-07 00:33:45 +0000 UTC
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Hui stared. He looked at Zhubi, and Zhubi looked at him. He cleared his throat. “Ah… Zhubi is…”
“He’s always been with you, hasn’t he? Actually, I’ve been curious about him, too. Is he your spirit beast, or…?” Bai Xue asked, frowning.
Hui hesitated another few seconds, then nodded. “Ah… that’s…more or less.”
It doesn’t hurt if Fa Chuyou knows Zhubi is mine. Neither she nor Yi Ping has ever seen me outside of this sect. Gu Tian might be a p...
2022-03-05 19:02:46 +0000 UTC
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Stepping forward, Xixing spat out a small, dark pill. She held it up in the air and crushed it. Immediately, black smoke rushed out of her fist and coiled toward the cicadas.
The cicadas fluttered their wings. Hui lifted a talisman, expecting them to attack, but instead they rushed at the smoke. Crawling and flying, they fought one another to get to the smoke. The biggest one pushed the smaller ones away and breathed deep, sucking the black smoke deep into its body. The little ones shov...
2022-03-05 19:01:54 +0000 UTC
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The swarm of cicadas buzzed all around Hui. He backed away slowly, his dagger out in front of him.
One of the smaller ones hurtled at him. He slashed. Black energy traced after the dagger. It slashed into the cicada. The cicada paled and withered. It fell to the ground, color drained from its body, its plump abdomen shriveled and dry. No more than a husk, it bounced over the floor.
Hui flicked his sleeve, drawing the wisp of death qi toward him. He narrowed his eyes at the other c...
2022-03-03 01:23:06 +0000 UTC
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Swooping in, Bai Xue led the way directly to the base of the crystal. Twice as tall as Bai Xue and three times as wide, the crystal towered over them. A thick gold wire wound thrice around its base, easily as wide as Hui’s index finger at its thickest, though it tapered to a hair’s width at its ends. “Here.”
“That’s the right material, I think. Xixing, take a look?” Hui asked, still distracted. He turned his head away, searching the geode. Something keeps moving. Those...
2022-03-03 01:22:23 +0000 UTC
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They wound deeper into the geode. The further they progressed, the denser and larger the crystals grew. Every so often, Hui stooped to check for materials, but each time he found one, it was either too low level, or Xixing dismissed it for being too impure. The deeper they went, the purer and higher-level the materials became. Eventually, the crystals coated the ground too thickly to walk. Bai Xue mounted his fan and held an arm out to Xixing and Hui each. Hui stepped in, already used to it.<...
2022-02-28 04:18:40 +0000 UTC
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At the very edge of the sect’s boundaries, far beyond the valleys, so far away the skeleton was only a blur in the distance, the shuttle finally slowed. It circled down to earth, looping through the air. Fa Chuyou hopped off, landing delicately on the ground. Moss-covered boulders climbed all around them, softened by the green growths. Dampness hung on the air from a nearby waterfall, a narrow but deep stream of water pouring down from the peak high above to slam into a rocky basin below. T...
2022-02-27 23:34:58 +0000 UTC
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Ghouls wandered around them, groaning and muttering. Fa Chuyou wandered between them, occasionally pausing to tweak something. Distinctly uncomfortable, Yi Ping shied away every time one wandered near.
On the other end of the spectrum, Bai Xue peered at the ghouls, poking at their faces and turning his head to get a better look at Fa Chuyou’s embellishments. He nodded a few times, looking the ghouls up and down as if he stood in a fine robes store rather than in the midst of a bunch o...
2022-02-26 16:17:08 +0000 UTC
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Had a pic commissioned for Xiao Hui. What do you guys think? He's a handsome cultivator. Next time, should I get him kowtowing? XD
Zhubi doesn't have his patterns... but they added Hui's cute snek for free, so I wasn't going to complain!
2022-02-25 02:23:03 +0000 UTC
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