Yoshika sat on Jia’s bed in quiet meditation. With her domain restored, she no longer needed Eui and Jia to sit face to face to meditate, but it was a habit at this point and it just felt right. She wasn’t really focusing on anything in particular—just reviewing the lessons she had learned and internalizing the improvements she had made. Beyond that, she was also gathering essence in orde...
2021-07-12 20:32:08 +0000 UTC View PostWith the commission for the new cover art coming up, I've been considering how I might best take advantage of the new cover to increase discovery. As part of that, I am considering temporarily accelerating the release schedule. RoyalRoad's discovery algorithm for newer stories is almost entirely dependent on relative growth, and one of the ways to take advantage of that is more frequent chapter...
2021-07-10 22:27:26 +0000 UTC View PostOnce again, Yoshika found herself on the stone ring in the center of the training field. She wondered briefly whether the tournament would use the same space, or if they might make a new construction just for it, but quickly put the question out of her mind—she had bigger problems.
Takeda Rika—ancestors bless her mischievous heart—had decided to petition Hayakawa Kaede, of all peopl...
2021-07-09 16:33:59 +0000 UTC View PostThe training field was unusually crowded, despite the oppressive heat of the afternoon sun bearing down on them. As cultivators, the temperature didn’t bother them as much as it might have when they were mortals, but that didn’t mean it was comfortable. Most of the people present would rather be at home, out of the sun, probably meditating or something. Instead, they were here, and they wer...
2021-07-07 20:21:14 +0000 UTC View PostYoshika was feeling quite proud of herself as she arrived at the usual gazebo to await Elder Qin’s next lesson. She had finally broken free of Elder Qin’s seal and regained the use of her domain. As usual, Elder Qin was making her wait while he did whatever it was he did when not teaching lessons—probably practicing his scowl or something. Yoshika wasn’t going to let it get to her, thou...
2021-07-05 17:59:03 +0000 UTC View PostYoshika pulled back the effect of her aura in a panic. That had never happened before! The noxious aura was supposed to cause discomfort and exhaustion, not massive internal hemorrhages! She ran forward to investigate Jaehwa, being cautious of potential traps. There were none—Jaehwa had completely lost consciousness. Almost as an afterthought, Yoshika checked on Yan Yue through her domain—s...
2021-07-02 18:08:02 +0000 UTC View PostJia felt like an idiot when she heard Sun Jaehwa’s voice through Eunae’s speaking stones. They had just assumed that she would stay behind the scenes, manipulating others in order to carve out a place for herself within the academy at their expense. What neither Eui nor Jia had considered was that for Sun, it wasn’t just about status or clout—it was personal.
Eunae lent Jia her sp...
2021-06-30 18:47:28 +0000 UTC View PostLee Jia wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t what had happened. Yue fell upon the unsuspecting group of boys in a sudden and unexpected burst of violence. Her first victim didn’t even have time to realize she was there before she kicked him in the groin so hard that Jia thought she heard something crunch, and the boy collapsed to the ground, groaning.<...
2021-06-28 14:42:04 +0000 UTC View PostJia ran as fast as she could. Were they really going to try to burn her house down? That seemed more than a little extreme for just over some old grudges or attempts to gain clout. Both Eunae and Eui seemed to agree that it was possible, though, and Jia wasn’t about to take her chances. While most of her important possessions were safely stored away in her ring, that didn’t mean she wanted ...
2021-06-25 19:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostShe had been procrastinating for long enough. Too long, really. Jia had been making excuses about being too busy, or focused on other priorities, or any number of other reasons, but at some point she was forced to admit the truth—she didn’t like Do Hye. There was just something off about him that she couldn’t quite place. Something about his smug, self-assured attitude, or the wa...
2021-06-23 18:31:04 +0000 UTC View Post“You need to find the connection that links your aura to you through your awareness, you’ll find the meridian you need to open there.”
“I know, Jia! You’ve told me a dozen times already.”
“Can you sense it?”
“I’m trying, but it would be much easier to meditate without you hovering over me and bothering me every second!”
Yue shot Ji...
2021-06-21 15:51:25 +0000 UTC View PostMagus Hwang’s lab was unusually crowded with Dae and his master present. Hwang Sung had clearly only planned for enough space for himself and perhaps one assistant. The space should have been enough to fit five people comfortably, but with all the clutter it ended up being a bit cramped.
“Are all mages this messy? How do you ever find anything?”
Dae shook his head vigorously i...
2021-06-18 18:27:19 +0000 UTC View PostHyeong Daesung had a problem. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing—Dae loved problems! Moral conundrums, ethical dilemmas, logic puzzles, mathematical formulae, formation matrices—he could fill a book just describing the different kinds of problems he enjoyed. When they were written down on a piece of paper. Real life problems weren’t quite so enjoyable. They didn’t have tidy ...
2021-06-16 19:14:16 +0000 UTC View Post“That fucking bitch! I don’t care anymore. Fuck the house arrest, I don’t care if she’s Hayakawa’s roommate, I don’t care what the consequences are, I’m going to rip out her fucking—”
Jia watched Eui silently rage, kicking over furniture, throwing things, and generally making almost as much of a mess inside as they had seen outside. She was swearing curses and t...
2021-06-14 18:42:40 +0000 UTC View PostSince it had come up so often in the conversation, Elder Qin ended up having Lee Jia describe in detail the entire experience of her ‘death’. It wasn’t really something she felt all that comfortable talking about for a variety of reasons, but at this point she really didn’t have any secrets left that the Elder didn’t already know.
Jia could clearly remember the moments leading u...
2021-06-11 15:02:00 +0000 UTC View PostJia and Eui sat facing each other on Eui’s bed, hands joined and eyes closed—their expressions were twisted knots of intense concentration as beads of sweat formed on their brows. Yoshika was concentrating on her domain, as she had every night for the last week, struggling against the seal that restricted it.
Elder Qin had placed the seal as part of her punishment for engaging in dual...
2021-06-09 20:24:48 +0000 UTC View PostI've gotten a lot of feedback about the second arc, and chapter 52 in particular, and it seems like many readers are not satisfied with the way things turned out after Yue's initial betrayal and the agreement that Lee Jia made with Hayakawa to become a vassal/retainer. After a lot of consideration, I've decided that if people feel strongly enough about it, I will go back and make some changes.<...
2021-06-09 04:54:37 +0000 UTC View PostStarting with this chapter, I'll be releasing new chapters on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. This is a pretty small change to the release schedule, but I am hoping that half a chapter a week of leeway will help me to catch up, and make it easier for me to avoid falling behind on the drafts again in the future.
As always thank you all very much for reading. I appreciate your support! 2021-06-07 19:04:58 +0000 UTC View Post
The air was humid on the training field as Jia and Eui waited for Yuuko’s group to arrive. Hayakawa Kaede had asked them to meet after class so that Jia could tutor them on the development of an omnidisciplinary fighting style. It wasn’t really an order per se, but though it went unspoken, it was clear that Hayakawa expected Jia to comply in order to hold up her end of their bargai...
2021-06-07 19:04:54 +0000 UTC View PostJia was feeling a bit apprehensive about her first lesson with Ienaga in over a month. She’d neglected her martial arts training in the frantic effort to prepare for the mountain trip—for all the good it had done them against Zheng Long—and she had also forgotten to inform Master Ienaga about her arrangements with Hayakawa. Jia was not looking forward to telling her martial arts master th...
2021-06-05 16:39:16 +0000 UTC View PostMurayoshi swept his angry glare across the small assembly of students. Very few of those who had managed to make it through the first lesson had bothered to arrive for the second. Aside from Lee Jia’s immediate circle of friends, only Minami Yuuko and Guan Yi had shown up—and Guan Yi seemed to have insinuated himself into some manner of apprenticeship. Murayoshi spat off to the side.
...
2021-06-03 18:37:32 +0000 UTC View PostJia and Eui excused themselves from the laboratory and went home with a heavy silence hanging over them. Heian had returned to her soulscape, leaving the girls alone to deal with the revelation that Do Hye had given them.
On some level, Jia had known that their cultivation was leading them towards something like what the Grand Magus described—Yoshika was already evidence of that. She ha...
2021-06-01 17:26:56 +0000 UTC View PostGrand Magus Do Hye eyed Yoshika eagerly as he spoke.
“The domain, Miss Yoshika, is one of the most intriguing aspects of cultivation. Whether one gathers mana in the mind, body, or soul, all cultivators who reach the xiantian levels eventually develop one. It is the one aspect which remains the same, regardless of discipline. Indeed, the existence of the domain across all three discipli...
2021-05-30 17:59:17 +0000 UTC View PostJia had wanted to find one of the parks scattered throughout the campus so that they could enjoy the nice weather, but since they didn’t have the freedom to move around the academy at will, they had to make do with the small courtyard attached to their dorm. It was a new feature that their previous apartment didn’t have.
The courtyard was small, but well-kept, with a small garden of l...
2021-05-28 17:33:34 +0000 UTC View PostAfter nearly an entire month of rehabilitation, Lee Jia was finally well enough to return to her training. Even now, it still startled her just how much was possible with cultivation. The injuries she’d sustained should have killed her—did kill her, briefly. A mortal would never have been able to survive something like that—ancestors, most immortals wouldn’t. That was ...
2021-05-27 18:43:21 +0000 UTC View PostShe was a failure. A worthless, black stain on her family’s proud tradition. Not that Seong Eunae cared that much what her family thought. Yet, it was true what they said about her—she was a disappointment, a mistake—a failure. For as long as she could remember, her family had hated her, and she hadn’t really understood why until she got older.
It was because she...
2021-05-24 16:41:01 +0000 UTC View PostYan Ren strode through the halls of the Awakening Dragon Sect’s inner sanctum, silently fuming—though he didn’t allow his mood to reveal itself through his actions or expression. His master had awakened and returned from his closed door training, and his brother-in-craft had left on some ill-fated mission to avenge the clan’s honor.
Ostensibly, the return of his master and the dep...
2021-05-22 17:25:42 +0000 UTC View PostA demon wandered a mountain aimlessly, staring up at the sky. Not the same mountain he’d been sealed in, that would be foolish, and one wasn’t wont to linger too long after a ten thousand year nap. The week he’d spent watching over those children had already been quite a risk, but his curiosity always had been a weakness. Jianmo was surprised that nobody had tracked him down yet—it’s ...
2021-05-20 13:40:06 +0000 UTC View PostWe've just finished the second arc! Thanks you so much for reading, and all your support. It means a lot to me, and it's what keeps me going. Like last time, there will be a few interlude chapters before we get into the next arc, these will be a little bit shorter than the regular chapters, but this time I'll be releasing them at the same rate as usual.
The reason I am doing this leads in...
2021-05-18 21:00:47 +0000 UTC View PostThere was an unnatural silence around them, and through her domain, Yoshika could sense that Elder Qin had created some kind of barrier that prevented anything from getting in or out. It even stopped her domain from reaching beyond it. Qin Zhao glanced at Lee Jia’s body, still breathing weakly.
“How is Miss Lee’s condition?”
Yoshika had not stopped healing Jia’s body, but ...
2021-05-18 20:44:20 +0000 UTC View Post