As she raised her head and began to turn away, her eyes fell on her liege again, sitting stiff in her chair. She considered the last subject they had spoken of, everything that had happened, and the frayed feeling of Renxiang’s spirit.
“We’ll be having tea later,” Ling Qi said. “Meizhen and I, that is. You should come.”
Cai Renxiang had stood as well, moving to seat hers...
2021-04-01 23:32:22 +0000 UTC View PostLing Qi was in a good mood by the next morning. After her friends had left, she had spent more time with her mother and sister and discussed what they were going to do.
The offer to fund a trip back to a settlement of their choice had been extended to the staff, and to Ling Qi’s mild surprise, no one had taken it. Given what the women had been doing before, Ling Qi wasn’t too surprise...
2021-03-29 21:51:00 +0000 UTC View PostType: Worldbuilding. RR Friendly
Found in the Interlude-Spoilers channel on Discord
2021-03-27 19:13:55 +0000 UTC View Post“So that’s the situation,” Ling Qi finished, standing beside her mother near the fireplace. She had told her mother everything important of the battles she had fought, what was happening at the Sect, and why Ling Qi had not come sooner. Ling Qi had brought her here; she deserved to know.
Beside her, Ling Qingge hugged herself tightly, a faint tremble in her shoulders, and Ling Qi lo...
2021-03-27 19:11:35 +0000 UTC View Post“Are you sure you want to be doing this now?” Yu Nuan asked.
“Would you prefer that I forget the favor I owe to you for another month?” Ling Qi asked back tiredly as they walked the steep mountain path, ascending toward the peak and the clouds.
“No, just…” the girl began awkwardly before shaking her head, her piercings jingling in the wind. “Y’know what, fine. Not ...
2021-03-25 22:56:49 +0000 UTC View PostEnemies surrounded Heizui, thick as water weeds. Pikes came down, and the young dragon roared, his water shadow frothing white as they rebounded from it. Hooked blades snatched at his limbs, and Heizui coiled his body and launched forward. The river roared, and trees toppled as he emerged, snakelike, from the waters.
They were still all around him, moonlight glinting off of scale-patterne...
2021-03-22 19:46:31 +0000 UTC View PostIt was weird how something as grating as stone scraping across metal could seem tranquil. Then again, thought Su Ling, before today, she’d never really thought about what higher cultivation meant.
She breathed in time with the scrape of the whetstone across the blade laid across her lap and glanced up at the tremendous barrier of stone a few meters beyond the border fence she had parked...
2021-03-20 21:15:33 +0000 UTC View PostThere were no caskets at the funeral service.
Some families had requested the remains be sent back to their estates, but those who remained in the Sect’s care had been given the usual treatment. Their bodies had been destroyed. The foul things that could be done with a cultivator’s corpse were more than enough reason for tradition to reign. For those who could see the spirit, there we...
2021-03-18 20:32:34 +0000 UTC View PostCharacters: Bao Qian and Bao Bao QIngling
RR Friendly. Found in Interlude Spoilers on Discord
2021-03-18 20:22:55 +0000 UTC View PostLing Qi jerked her head back, buying herself bare millimeters of space, and the knife sparked where it met the threads of her gown. Uncaring for the expense, she flooded her spine with vital wood qi, and her aura flared violently as it rippled out over everyone nearby. Ancient strength seeped into her skin and flesh, the strength of One Thousand Rings Unbroken.
But it would not be enough ...
2021-03-15 19:04:22 +0000 UTC View PostChaos awaited her return.
In the flight south, she had seen the first signs. Great flocks of birds had been rising from the forest, raptors and songbirds flying side by side to escape the growing weight in the air. Beneath the canopy, beasts howled and yowled in fright as the earth shook and the wind gusted, and the pounding of a multitude of paws and hooves against the dirt added to the ...
2021-03-14 00:56:59 +0000 UTC View Post“What happened here?” Ling Qi asked bluntly as her feet touched the ground in the village square in front of the bowing second realm wearing the marks of a lower officer. “Where are my fellow disciples?”
With her qi ebbing a little low from the use of so many powerful techniques in quick succession and the events of the day churning in her thoughts, Ling Qi’s grip on her power w...
2021-03-11 21:36:45 +0000 UTC View PostLing Qi’s eyes snapped upward, a familiar feeling of pure expression grabbing her attention. Rain began to pour, and deep within the darkening clouds, thunder rumbled, indistinguishable from the beat of drums. Above, the cloud-wracked sky tore open, unleashing a torrential downpour.
None of that noise succeeded in muffling her mournful and lethal melody. However, the song that echoed do...
2021-03-09 00:21:22 +0000 UTC View PostCharacter: Gu Tai
RR Friendly
Found on interlude spoilers in Discord
2021-03-07 18:34:25 +0000 UTC View PostLing Qi flew, clouds streaking by overhead and the earth blurring away beneath. The wind did not touch her, did not tug at her hair or snap the hems of her gown, and the fur-lined cloak that hung about her shoulders did not so much as ripple in the breeze. She flew in utter silence, a streak of grey and black across the sky, no more than a passing shadow.
Where her passage was silent and ...
2021-03-07 00:57:23 +0000 UTC View PostHeyo everyone sorry I wasn't able to do one of these last month. I'm in the midst of a move to a new home and so my schedule has been a bit tough. We're back on track now though!
2021-03-04 23:37:30 +0000 UTC View Post“I believe I could serve best in the defense of the river valley,” Ling Qi said as her turn to speak came around. “Given the wide area of effect which my arts have and my mobility, I will be able to effectively screen the outskirts of the valley for threats, and my spirits are more effective on the defense.”
She spoke as confidently as she could manage and felt a twinge of relief ...
2021-03-04 23:31:29 +0000 UTC View Post“To think, you finally choose to change your style, and I am left out of it,” Xiulan said, aggrieved. “Ling Qi, am I truly so poor a friend that you would not even ask my advice?”
Ling Qi rolled her eyes at Xiulan’s dramatics. “And I told you that it was something that got sprung on me suddenly. Who am I to refuse the advice of an apprentice to the Duchess?”
“You cou...
2021-03-01 21:36:20 +0000 UTC View PostLing Qi looked down at their destination, tucked away at the end of a winding river valley. Trees grew thickly at the riverside, and the branches hung heavy with cocoons. The silken wrappings were a riot of colors and glittered like jewels under the morning sun. Some were tiny, barely the length of a finger, while others were large enough to hold a small child. In the dark shadows of thick cano...
2021-02-27 17:38:13 +0000 UTC View PostSoon, they arrived on Cai Renxiang’s doorstep, and the door swung open on its own as they arrived. Heading inside, they followed the beacon that was the other girl’s qi toward her study. Inside, Ling Qi found her liege seated not at her desk as was usual but in the more comfortable chair on the other side of the room. She was putting aside a rather thin volume bound in blue leather.
...
2021-02-26 00:06:29 +0000 UTC View PostThe Lord of Heavens Peaks and the Horned Lords of the South.
Both worldbuilding, both RR friendly. Foun in the interlude Spoilers channel of the Discord.
2021-02-25 20:45:56 +0000 UTC View PostNow that she had settled into her routine, Ling Qi began each morning at her family's home, helping her mother take the first fitful steps with a cultivation art. Following that, she lingered long enough to have breakfast with her mother and sister, though she rarely had more than a few bites. Then it was time for a spot of private cultivation working on her arts, and after, it was either off t...
2021-02-22 21:38:03 +0000 UTC View Post“Your support was invaluable as always, Miss Ma.”
“You really are too kind, Sir Gun,” Ma Jun replied, twisting a strand of her hair between her fingers. Gun Jun, Lord Gan’s second, was very handsome; it was difficult to look him in the eye from so close. “I am but a poor replacement for Lady Ling.”
Walking beside her under the dappled light that fell through the canopy...
2021-02-20 18:35:53 +0000 UTC View PostThere was no hurry in her search so when Ling Qi took to the air, she flew at a lazy pace, rising up past the tree tops with the hems of her gown gently fluttering in the wind. Soaring up into the sky, she took a moment to enjoy the feeling of the wind on her face and the sound of Hanyi’s joyous laughter in her ears. The young spirit was light on her shoulders, a far cry from the immense weig...
2021-02-19 01:41:06 +0000 UTC View Post“So, with the correct arts and knowledge, metals and minerals can be induced to grow, restoring themselves in a time useful to humans,” Bao Quan explained.
They had been traveling for some time and at last, polite small talk had turned into something a little more interesting, that is, a discussion of why they were out here and what Bao Qian was doing.
“Secret family arts, I a...
2021-02-15 22:22:40 +0000 UTC View PostCharacters: Gu Xiulan and Siblings
Not RR Friendly
Found on Discord in the Interlude Spoilers Channel
2021-02-14 18:38:30 +0000 UTC View PostThe days passed quickly with Ling Qi splitting her time between home, cultivation, and time with her spirits. She spoke with her mother about the trip, and the lessening of the older woman’s worry when she spoke of going along with her friend as well as the Bao scion made her feel better about her somewhat selfish choice. Zhengui was happy to come along anywhere she went, and Hanyi was just g...
2021-02-14 01:40:20 +0000 UTC View PostAN: Sorry guys, fixed the mistake!
Landing outside the town’s walls, Ling Qi took a moment to smooth her gown then entered town, briskly moving through the outermost sections. It was a little ironic, Ling Qi could admit to herself, but she wasn’t doing it out of disdain, but rather because she did not want to hold on to her qi suppression so tightly for lon...
2021-02-12 01:03:38 +0000 UTC View PostLing Qi felt as if she were on the cusp of a realization. Meizhen used her mannerisms as a nigh invulnerable armor to deflect unwanted social advances, and for a time, emulating her had been helpful. But just as she had found her own combat style, Meizhen’s social style was not hers, and continuing to cling to that false face was only doing her harm in her interactions with others. She would ...
2021-02-09 00:10:44 +0000 UTC View Post“I think I find the appeal of a more challenging hunt greater,” Ling Qi answered carefully. She kept her eyes on Luo Zhong, but she didn’t miss some of the frowns that her answer brought among the disciples on the other side.
“Then, as my honored guest, I will defer to you,” the young man replied with a faint grin. Ling Qi had to restrain herself from showing her irritation. The...
2021-02-07 04:50:38 +0000 UTC View Post