Sea of Grass

Making Dao pots was soothing, but to Chún's surprise he finished shaping out all the clay much quicker than he remembered completing last time. Tai pointed out that this was not all that surprising as his Essence shaping and manipulation abilities had progressed substantially since his last effort at making pottery. A shi before highest flight, he had all the pots arranged in the recreated drying pit that Tai had provided and started looking around for something else to do.

"Any suggestions, friend?" he directed at his locus, in some surprise at the idea of having free time - something that had become an increasing rarity of late.

"I would suggest taking the opportunity to go exploring, relax - maybe some hunting or gathering if you spot anything good," responded Tai, "if I may suggest, heading further deeper in - the more distance you put between yourself and the stable rift connection to Golden Crow, the more time will shift towards my Mountain 'universe'."

Chún blinked, confused, "Meaning…?"

The young teen got the distinct impression of a shrug from the link, "The days will stretch. It will give you a longer respite than you might otherwise expect."

"Why would your days be longer than Golden Crow's?" asked Chún, "and why do you think I will need a longer rest?"

"Just a sense of things… changing. Some crisis coming - you have felt it yourself," answered the mountain/planet, "as for why my days are longer - it has to do with the concentration of Essence in such a small area - relatively speaking of course. As the 'universe' I am in slowly grows, time will speed up - unless more Essence is added of course - but for now, my overall level of Essence is much higher than on Golden Crow."

"Why does the level of Essence make a difference?" asked the teeen, rubbing his forehead to try and stave off a headache forming from the concepts that he was sensing through his link to his locus.

The flow of half-grasped concepts and strange characters seemed to rush into his head even faster at that question and Chún winced as Tai replied, "Essence has impact on time and space - the more of it there is the more likely that the fabric of time and space will become 'heavy', 'slow' and 'stretched'. Of course, if there is more than the fabric can hold it will snap - and thus time and space will move swiftly through the resulting rent - which is what rifts are - a place where time and space moves very quickly from one place to another."

"OK, forget I asked," muttered Chún shaking his head as his temples pulsed with pain, "I will accept your words. Even though I have no idea what that means - except the more Essence a place has the slower the days pass - unless it has even more Essence and then they go really fast instead."

"A terrible summary, that while not inaccurate, manages to completely miss almost the entire meaning - truly, True Cultivator, that takes talent," responded Tai in bemusement, almost 'sounding' as if it had its own headache.

"I am only thirteen summers, Tai," replied Chún with a slight whine, "any other child my age would be playing Cultivators and Bandits not pondering… time and space. I even talk and think like an old scholar now - that is purely you. I would probably be a screaming wreck, if it was not that your connection makes it that a child acting like someone who has seen a hundred summers seems normal."

"You have not spent any time around the Genius prodigies that some Sects and Clans foster, then," replied Tai, with what Chún thought was an obvious statement, "some of them would have no problem understanding what I just said."

"What you said - maybe. The rest? I doubt it very much," responded Chún with a put upon air, "sometimes I wonder if I should not be more concerned."

"If you were really thinking like a scholar, your calligraphy would have improved by now," retorted his locus as Chún called for the Cloak and World Tree Staff, striding off into the woods as the Artifacts flew into his hand and formed around him in a billow of Essence Mist respectively, "and do you suppose a Mountain acting and thinking in such haste and recklessness is normal?"

"A fair point. I suppose we both affect each other," Chún considered as he moved through the forest, "it would be frustrating if it took a year for you to communicate a word or concept."

He looked up at the trees then shrugged and bounced into the branches with the Monkey Movement, "alright then, Holiday time it is!"

He moved very quickly through the forest, bounding from tree to tree with what would have been impossible ease, agility and speed only a month ago, while using his Essence Sense combined with the Essence Illusion map and pictograms that he was now so used to having floating in his vision, that he rarely even found himself consciously aware of the information he now processed and responded to instinctively as a regular person used sight and smell.

He drew in a deep breath and took a moment to enjoy the scents and sights of the luxuriant plant growth around him, pulling in the fresh air into his lungs as his muscles moved him through the trees. He had been through this area of the forest a lot in the past month, so there was nothing worth harvesting or any Essence springs ready for ignition.

Chún hummed to himself indecisively as he leapt from branch to branch, "any suggestions where I should head - I am thinking... maybe an area I have not explored yet - maybe I can find a part of you that needs more Essence - or some shaping, ignition, or work on its Dao patterns? Maybe some good fishing?" he asked, remembering the last time he had just simply explored - winding up with Jade and Gold Carp to eat and scales to harvest, to say nothing of sparring with a Crystal Lord.

"North is as good a direction as any," answered Tai, "it is rather barren out there compared to this area - the relatively close proximity of your regular presence, the Heaven and Earth Vine and the World Tree to each other means this area has recovered faster than the rest of the Planet to the Tribulation that accompanied my advancement."

"En, I have been wondering about how fast everything seemed to grow back, I suppose that explains it, especially if as you say, it has not grown as fast everywhere else. Come to think of it, that mountain range I met the White Tiger prince in was barren too, compared to around here. It will be interesting to see if it is the same elsewhere - OK! North sounds good to me," responded Chún as he propelled himself out of the trees and into the air with his Essence, "time to fly!"

Tai gave off a feeling of amusement and long-suffering through the link as the young teen whooped joyfully as he began moving through the air, "you may as well do something productive while you travel - work on compressing further layers of Essence into the Essence Seeds that you have begun to develop - you have a long way to go before they compare to naturally forming Elemental Essence Seeds."

"That will make flying a lot harder," pointed out Chún with mild annoyance at being asked to work during his 'holiday' time, "if I am concentrating on separating the types of Essence and concentrating them, on top of maintaining a steady force to move me through the air."

"I suggest looping the Essence you draw in through all six Elemental Seeds and then generate your force of flight from the remainder. If you set the loop in the correct order, the force from each subsequent division and compression will actually give you a much more powerful and controlled power to fly with," instructed his locus slyly.

Chún blinked and halted in mid-air, "The right order… wait, you mean…" thinking furiously out loud, the young True Cultivator started ticking off the Elements on his fingers, "Celestial/Creation first - because it contains parts of all the others, then Wood/Life/Wind Essence because Celestial/Creation is closest to Life of all the Elemental types… then, Fire, grows from wood - then Fire to Earth, Earth to Metal, Metal to Water..."

"Except you are trying to purify each Element away from the others, not build up on each element in the cycle," pointed out his locus carefully, "the cycle you describe would stoke each element by feeding each one with the combination of the previous. You want to control and purify so you need to invert your proposed cycle - Celestial is correct, but then Metal to Wood, Wood to Earth, Earth to Water, Water to Fire and finally Fire to Metal. The remaining Essence should be unaligned - use that to support your flight."

Chún nodded and took a moment to drop carefully back to the ground and then establish the flow of Essence through each of his nascent Essence seeds in the order directed, before wobbling carefully back into the air and then resuming his flight.

---

After several kè of careful practice in a northerly direction away from the World Tree, Chún's flight was strong and was proceeding almost automatically - he barely had to think about adding to the Essence Seeds - as each seed took what it wanted and passed it to the next naturally rather than feeding on it. The unaligned Essence that remained from each cycle was much more stable when it came to providing a force for his flight and he had more than enough attention to spare to examine the landscape passing below him.

The thick jungle-like forest that Chún was used to exploring had given way to rolling grassland - he remembered seeing landscapes like this the first time he traveled from the World Tree back to the Heaven and Earth Vine's clearing.

"The Jungle has spread out considerably since then," rumbled his locus through the link and Chún nodded at the explanation as he surveyed the plains of golden grass shifting beneath him, the winds of his passage pushing the grass out and away from his path in billows resembling the waves of the sea, "will the jungle eventually cover all of this grasslands?"

"The jungle will spread over a larger area than it currently does, but further North it will be too dry for the jungle to spread, even with the Life Essence that lends toward promulgating growth which so much powerful flora in one area tends to generate," responded his locus.

"It is strange," remarked the young teen as he looked around, seeing some areas of Essence that indicated some grass that was more advanced than others. The True Cultivator took a moment to consider what would happen if he advanced a grass plant here to Thousand Year Grass.

"What is strange?" inquired Tai as Chún thoughtfully dropped down to the endless grass below, near one of the largest stands of grass he had passed over. It stood out several chǐ above the rest of the sea of grass around it - three of four chǐ across, or maybe six hand spans.

"Well, usually the North is colder, right? Not warmer…" he studied the huge clump of elephant grass, that stood near double his not inconsiderable - but average for a strong Cultivator of teen age years - five chǐ.

"Well, from my perspective, your Immortal's cavern is much further South on the new planet I have become, than the original Mountain Site is on Golden Crow Planet," explained his locus, "so you are traveling up from the equator away from the wetter areas but not far North enough that it is close enough to the pole to start becoming cold again."

"I see… hey, Tai? Would it be a bad thing if I added Essence to this stand of grass? It is the closest to Advancing I have seen so far," Chún questioned as he placed a hand on the almost tree-thick stalks.

"It would be very welcome," replied his friend, "as I told you before this area is less recovered from my tribulation than the areas you are familiar with - although this particular stand is sited on minor Essence Spring, which is why it has grown to primacy over the other grass in the area. A warning and a suggestion, if I may?"

"Of course - it is part of you after all," responded the young teen agreeably.

"Well, first of all, all of the grass here is interconnected - it is - very much like a sea in that sense; and you have seen what happens when there is an Essence Ignition to Advancement - it affects the plants and animals around it?"

"Yes, the excess Essence given off by the ignition often pushes enough Essence into nearby plants and animals that they also advance if they are close to it themselves - or at least increases their Rank… oh," Chún looked around at the endless sea of grass around him with new eyes, "you said they are all interconnected?"

"Their roots meet and intertwine under the soil and share nutrients - it makes grass a lot hardier than other plants," agreed Tai, "and yes, I would say that it would cause a chain reaction that could spread for a considerable distance - it could be quite… energetic."

The mountain paused, "incidentally, it is more correct to say that their Dao Patterns would grow in complexity towards perfection, than to use the Consumer terms. I am glad you have been learning from our discussions, but be careful that you do not absorb too much of the Consumer rigid habits of categorizing and labeling everything."

"En. Advancement and Rank are simpler to say," admitted Chún with slight sheepishness, "but I know that the way Consumers perceive Cultivation is incomplete." He eyed the stand of elephant grass carefully after listening to his locus' caution, "so would it be a bad thing to add Essence here?"

"No, it would be good for the grasslands and help this area greatly," Tai reassured him, "I am just thinking that you should be prepared for a strong reaction - and also, rather than pulsing your own Essence into the patterns I recommend that you purify the Wild Essence that is present and send that into the Dao Pattern of the grass - again, this area has a lot of Wild Essence left over from the tribulation floating about that needs to be returned to the cycle"

"En," Chún paused as an odd thought occurred to him, "I wonder what that weird death cult would think about all this grass… eh..." he shrugged as he looked around at the plains of waving grass that stretched as far as his eyes could see in all directions, "...this is a celebration of life, not death." He grounded the World Tree Staff into the mat of roots and grass at his feet and slipped deeper into Essence Sense and a working meditation.

The Wild Essence that floated around in thick, angry, snarls of rough, tangled power resisted at first but as over a Kè passed, thin strands of Essence of all Elements gradually untangled and drifted into the World Tree Staff.

As the Essence flowing into the staff from the environment increased, the glyphs and Dao patterns within the staff began to come alive, glittering within the black 'lacquer' body of the World Staff, glowing gold, silver, red, green, blue, mother-of-pearl and violet-black.

The free floating threads of Essence began to wind faster and faster into the Staff as pure white, unaligned Essence began pulsing out of the grounded base of the Staff into the ground beneath it in time with the heartbeat of the planet; motes of pure Essence of every elemental color began drifting off the length of the Staff, floating into the breeze like a war banner.

Within the next Kè, the breeze roaming over the grass stiffened into a wind; it scattered the trails of colorful Essence motes streaming off the staff across the sea of grass, which soaked them up like a reviving rain as they fell. Long swathes of grass grew taller and greener as the winds pushed the motes of Essence to and fro across the plain.

Mirroring the flows of Essence gathering momentum, the sky rapidly darkened with spontaneously forming clouds, which swirled together to obscure the light of the Golden Crow over the young teen and the now almost blindingly glowing staff.

The process kept accelerating until a veritable tornado of Essence was being pulled into the World Staff; the fountain of Essence Motes erupting from the World Tree Staff was thrown out wildly by gales whipping over the grass in wider and longer patterns. The unaligned Essence that was pulsing into the ground likewise speeding up until it was a constant deep hum instead of steady beats.Overhead the tightly rotating, ominously black clouds flickered and rumbled with lightning, reaching a spout of screaming vapor and wind down towards the staff into a physical mirror of the Essence spiral.

Suddenly, the air fell absolutely still, the clouds freezing in mid twist as the Staff flashed brightly. For a Miǎo, an intense pressure spread out from the spot where the World Tree Staff glowed like a star fallen to the earth, flattening the grass as if an invisible, immense, circular foot pressed downward.

Between shùn, the brilliant shard of light rocketed skyward with blinding speed, arcing away from the black frozen clouds, even as a titanic bolt of lightning connected the clouds with the ground; the accompanying rumbling-crash was more like the strumming of a deep bass string or a massive heart beat felt throughout the sea of grass than any simple thunder…

...and flying away at a frankly dangerous speed, pulled along by the World Tree Staff as it bled off the excess Essence and buffeted by the shockwave caused by the lightning strike, Chún looked down to see an absolutely massive Essence ignition light up the sea of grass below, completely dwarfing the lightning's flash.

A massive wave of Essence raced out across the grasslands as all the plants below him ignited into their own pulses of Essence ignitions, pulling in even more Wild Essence and setting off more and more ignitions of their own. To the young teen's senses, it almost seemed as the lightning was spreading outward from the point it had struck and racing across the grasslands in all directions simultaneously faster than the eyes could track.

"By all the gods…" the teen laughed in exhilaration as he was pulled across the sky, "Tai, you… all you could think to say to warn me was to say 'it could be Energetic?' You are absolutely mad!"

---

The clouds dissipated rapidly; within a Kè, Chún was flying again in bright late-morning crow-light, over a much more vibrant, greener, grass sea. Billows of green and blue Essence motes surged back and forth over the tops of grass stalks with the breeze, giving the illusion of foam on ocean waves from above.

Hearing, smelling seeing and sensing the much more healthy grasslands below him as he flew, the True Cultivator smiled - it was after he had completed a large change to the world like this - that he really felt that the Heavens had granted him great fortune with the opportunity to be more than an average mortal or even one of the Consumers that everyone admired.

The Essence ignitions had raced out of Chún's sight very quickly, but from what he could tell, they had affected all of the grasslands as far as he could see.

"It did," confirmed Tai in the link, feelings of satisfaction clear, "the chain reaction of Essence ignitions only stopped at the edges of the grasslands - in every direction. You just helped rehabilitate around five million square lǐ - about an area the size of a small continent. This will make a big difference in the long run to my overall health."

"It was definitely exhilarating," admitted the teen, "and the cycle I had running siphoned off a lot of the excess Essence during the purification - my Essence seeds have doubled in complexity, capacity and potency."

"That... is a... fortunate... gain," replied Tai slowly, but Chún noticed that the Mountain/planet's sense in the link was distracted.

"Something wrong?" he inquired, slowing and looking warily about.

"That... display attracted some... attention. You should descend," suggested Tai tersely even as Chún started feeling a pressure that was matched with a familiar smothering of his link to the planet.

"Prince Bái?" he questioned softly, touching softly down onto the tips of the grass that waved below him, his toes balancing on the stalks with his Essence as he turned slowly on the spot. Cautiously, he dropped the Cultivation cycle between his Essence Seeds and fell into a defensive stance, his cloak billowing gently around him as he searched for whomever or whatever was affecting him.

A sharp whistling of air was his only warning; he threw himself to one side as a black blur struck through the place where he had been standing. A sharp reflection of crow-light against the dark streak betrayed a long blade wielded by whomever had attacked him - even as a large swathe of grass was cut down like wheat before a scythe, stretching back from the grass he had just been standing on.

"Black…? Tai! You did not tell me about any of those Grass idiots getting in!"

"Not…" The familiar, frustrating sensation of the muffling of his link to his locus, smothered Tai's reply and Chún felt a stab of fear. Tai had said before it would take a World Level Cultivator to detect and enter the hidden universe that the Mountain Planet was now existing in - and he had already experienced what happened when a powerful Cultivator that was not suppressing their Essence Aura was nearby, it tended to suppress his link to his locus.

But Tai had said it was - not - something? Not a Grass cult member? Who else would attack him without warning?

Another whistling of wind gave him a shùn's warning; he hastily lightened his body with Essence, pushed off the grass stalks to fly backwards with the direction of the incoming strike - bringing his Staff diagonally across his body just in time - to deflect another flashing blow that sent fierce vibrations through its length and numbing his hands and wrists. He caught a glimpse of pale skin and the momentary impression of large, dark eyes focused on him, but whomever or whatever they were moved too fast for him to register any details besides slashes of color.

Letting the blow push him across the surface of the grass like a feather blown by the wind, he called out the Cloak. Since he could not tell what was happening, he had to slow whomever this was down. He was betting it was probably not an assassin, or they would have concealed the sound of their strikes - unless his opponent was unaware he could hear the sounds made by their blade as it cut the air…

...another sharp whistle and Chún directed the Cloak in the direction of the sound, sending thick Essence Mists billowing out like an instant fogbank which instantly obscured the entire area. Immediately Chún could sense something speeding towards him - with the thicker mist adding water vapor to the air as well as increasing the density of Essence - there was a faint flapping sound audible as well…

"Yí? Zé… your father can play with you," after a first note of interested surprise and the click of the tongue, the voice which came out of the mist was a light alto with very little inflection. The flapping sound, which Chún belatedly recognised as the sound of cloth rapidly shifting in high wind, stilled and a sharp crackling sound replaced it, reminding him of the sound of cracking ice - an impression rapidly reinforced by a precipitous plunge in temperature.

Even with a Sky level Cultivation and a body tempered to the level of an immortal treasure from the high levels of Essence it had been subjected to, Chún felt a more than physical bone-cramping chill, that seemed almost to reach into his soul. At the same time, that pressure that had been stifling his link faded away.

"...Hiding their presence! Chún, you must…!

Chún did not know why he moved just then, but even as his body seemed to shift of its own accord a pinpoint of - absence - appeared where he had been, exuding a heart stopping cold. It was not a beam, strike, explosion of any sort of Essence - just a dust mote of nothingness.

It was only there for a fraction of a niàn, but that was enough for the Essence Mists of his cloak to instantly freeze and shatter, falling from the air like a blizzard. The grass for a lǐ in all directions withered into dust in a shùnqǐng, exposing bare, frozen soil as a wave of bitterly frozen air rolled outward, snapping all the moisture out of everything instantly.

"It is Yin. Purest Yin!" Tai's voice in the link was shading towards panic even as a restoring flush of warmth flooded Chún's body from the link to his locus, shaking him from the shock caused by suddenly feeling deathly frozen, after being unaffected by temperatures in the last month. He had been hit by tribulation lightning that was less painful and deadly than whatever that was.

A prickle at the back of his neck had him frantically striking in a modified monkey movement, through snake patterns, into a White Tiger overhand staff strike feint that let him pivot the base of the staff outward in defense, to catch another shuddering blow.

Expecting that, he let his arms unlock and the momentum from the strike transferred his body around the staff to fling him at speeds only a high-level Cultivator could match; he chambered his hip and kicked out with the force of his entire body as he pivoted, rewarded with a soft grunt as he hit something.

A figure dressed in an unrelieved black robe, hood and mask appeared, with only their eyes and a strip of pale skin visible. They stepped back solidly two steps, heavy indentations appearing where they placed their feet.

"No human Cultivator can control pure Yin," Tai stated flatly and rapidly in the link to Chún, "Unless they are an Immortal. This person is not - I would be able to feel the presence of an Immortal and the World Tree would not allow one to enter without a very obvious amount of energy expended."

"Who are you?" demanded Chún, crouching defensively, "Why have you attacked me?"

The figure tilted their head and large dark eyes blinked at Chún over a black mask that crossed over the bridge of their nose, "You know Tiger Style… and Dragon? No, something lesser - snake style. There is something else, though…"

Despite himself, Chún snorted softly at the thought of Shé Yin hearing Snake movement, Dao being described as lesser.

Their eyes narrowed as the person straightened their head, shifting what Chún suddenly realised was long, night-black hair, held back by a wide black cloth that covered the forehead, rather than a hood, "You find my comment amusing?" the light alto from the other person cooled.

Chún held out a hand palm outward, glad this person was willing to talk and shook his head vigorously, "no… I was just imagining the reaction of someone I know if he heard someone describe the snake movement dao as lesser - although he might accept it reluctantly in comparison to Dragon style, it is true," he bowed respectfully, "I am just a beginner in the art - my achievements in the past month only amount to this much, despite the skill of my teachers," he hesitated as he saw the person's eyes widen, then sighed, unwilling to take the chance that to stop the dialogue would signal a resumption of hostilities, "may I ask Senior's intentions?"

The person's eyebrows drew down and Chún noted they were finely arched and remarkably delicate. "Tai," he thought into the link, noticing a slim breath of shoulders, despite the slight swell of chest he had initially thought to indicate heavy musculature, "is this a woman?"

"Why does that matter?" questioned his locus, "although it might explain the usage of Yin… but it is too pure."

"I have been travelling over this land for the past day. I saw the great change in Essence," the woman, Chún was certain the more she listened to her, stated cooly, "so I went to see what treasure had been born. Since you are the first... Cultivator I have sensed for quite some time, I assumed your presence so close was no coincidence…" she hesitated slightly, "I had thought to defeat you easily, and take the treasure…"

Chún blinked in surprise, "Do you normally attack random Cultivators?"

"Hmph, Human… Cultivators are weak," she paused and her right hand went to her side and curled around a hilt. A sharp ringing of metal was audible and the bottom fraction of a Dao became visible as she pulled her weapon slightly from its sheath, causing Chún to stiffen in alarm, "hand it over, or I will not hold back this time."

"She is a Essence Beast!" exclaimed his locus, "Wait…"

The woman blurred forward, but prepared, Chún met her charge with one of his own, the World Tree Staff lengthening and widening into a massive shield that he used to great effect to block her sword strike. The staff reappeared, as she pushed back against the shield causing her to over commit and Chún struck with a snake movement, past her extended block.

There was a sharp explosion as a ball of dark Yin rocketed out of her left hand, pushing the staff away from its target. Despite not being as cold as the previous nothingness, Chún still felt the chill and he leaped skyward to avoid being caught in its wake.

The woman snorted coldly and Chún felt a ripple of pressure pulse out from the sound, attempting to drag him downward as she leapt upwards to meet him, the black robes and hair fluttering behind her like some sort of ghost. His temper flared at the dismissive sound and he executed the midar pounce from the White Tiger style, the Essence illusion of the Guardian of the West flaring out behind him in brilliant blue-white lightning Essence.

The roar of the White Tiger echoed across the plains, blasting the grass below them flat for several li, even as the Word Tree Staff transformed into liquid and formed a pair of tiger claw gauntlets on his arms and over his hands as both sets of the illusion's claws came out to rend this insignificant prey who dared to challenge the king of the mountain.

An equally massive Essence illusion of an enormous black tortoise shell flashed into existence and Chún slammed against its unyielding surface, the shock of impact breaking the White Tiger illusion and driving the wind out of Chún. He rolled desperately in mid-air as a massive snake seemingly made of black fog or smoke rose from the rear of the Tortoise shell illusion and struck down towards him, pupiless voids staring emotionlessly down at him as a sensation of bitter cold swept from the rushing column of mist.

"Éi! Shit!" Chún rolled in midair and struck out frantically with the reformed Staff even as the Cloak burst out of him again in a billows of white mist and sought to drown out the black mists of the snake.

The Staff smashed the black snake across the mouth, vibrating as the weapon impacted something unyielding; the snake of black smoke exploded into threads of dark mist even as Chún spotted the woman flying backward from the blow; her cloak was wrapped around her like a shield - looking solid rather than cloth, curved and segmented faintly in a tortoise-shell pattern.

"Xuánwǔ," concluded his locus in satisfaction, even as the woman's weapon came striking out from behind the shield - and the young teen barely managed to interpose his staff in the way of the heavy black whip that curled around its length rather than being hit directly. The force traveling down the whip stunned him and threw him to the earth in a massive cloud of dirt, blasting away the protective mists of the Cloak.

Before he had a chance to gather himself, a foot like iron was on his chest. It felt like a mountain was pining him to the ground.

"Who taught you the one of the Sacred Four styles, human?" demanded the woman, her eyes glaring at him coldly even as her whip weapon slithered like a snake and the tip reared threateningly at his face. For a second, Chún thought he saw the head of a snake poised to strike.

"Tai, a little help here, please?" Chún thought into the link, "I do not think she is going to actually listen to anything I try to say."

The ground rumbled beneath him as Tai's voice boomed out around them, "Lady Xuánwǔ, stand down."