58-61

Chapter 58-Tag 1

Over the course of the next few days, she continued training hard.

Her efforts pushed her through to Mid Silver Physique, further strengthening and tempering her body, as well as clearing a meridian to channel qi through her arms. Between her increased physical ability, Su Ling's advice, and the passing of the initial awkwardness, her hunts with Han Jian and his group began to bear fruit. They weren't hunting anything difficult, mostly just the white deer native to the surrounding forest which provided the ingredients for many basic pills and elixirs. It was still nice to profit, if barely, even after splitting the proceeds with everyone. She was even able to get that rabbit she had promised Cui.

Su Ling came through for her as well, delivering a stack of fragrant, qi-infused, pre-cut wood for use as fuel and earth qi-infused clay to use for her hatching kiln. Lacking any safer place to do so, she set up the construction in the little garden that lay in the center of the home she shared with Meizhen.

She had had to spend a lot of time pouring over the books in the archive about building kilns, but she managed to construct something approximating the illustrations she was using for reference. It took a long day's labor in her old disciple's robes that left her covered in mud and clay up to her forearms, but in the end, it was complete, and she was able to light it. She had been nervous about actually putting the egg into the flame, but she had tested the egg's safety with a smaller fire first, and the egg's qi did seem to react favorably to the heat.

She even managed her first real formation, a simple string of characters inscribed around the base of the kiln to keep it heated for several hours after the fire had gone out. This should mean she would not need to constantly attend to the fire.

It was in the aftermath of setting up the kiln that she finally got the chance to talk to Bai Meizhen again. The other girl had been incredibly busy between her lessons with Elder Ying and preparations for breakthrough.

"You are filthy, Ling Qi, and tracking mud on the carpets." Bai Meizhen's first words to her this week were hardly welcoming, nor was her expression. "You will not come any further inside until you have cleaned yourself," she added flatly, pointing back outside.

Ling Qi grinned sheepishly, still riding the high from seeing the egg's qi flare up, drinking in the energy from the flames and wood like a hungry whirlpool. She was pretty filthy, she could admit, and her disciple's gown hung heavily with the mud caking the lower hem. "I suppose I could go rinse off in the pond first." She sighed. She really wanted a good soak in the bath.

"You will not use our garden pond to wash either," Bai Meizhen continued. "There is a public well. Use it."

Ling Qi raised a hand to brush through her hair but managed to stop herself before she smeared more dirt on herself. "I'm surprised you aren't against me doing something so plebeian as washing my feet in public," she said wryly. "Haven't you and Gu Xiulan been trying to get me to act more ladylike?"

"A futile effort indeed," Bai Meizhen said, not budging an inch. "However, your current state is your own fault. No one forced you to do such peasant work yourself. I would have lent you a few stones to hire a craftsperson if you needed it."

"I wanted to do this myself," Ling Qi said firmly. "This egg was entrusted to me, you know? I don't want to risk some random guy from the crafting hall knowing what I'm doing, and the spirit deserves my personal attention and care."

Her friend's expression softened, and she thought she heard an approving murmur from Cui brushing her thoughts. "You will clean everything you touch, including the bath," she said flatly, stepping aside. "And it will not be 'later'."

"Of course not," Ling Qi said a bit nervously, remembering the one and only time she had left dirty dishes out in the kitchen. She paused as she began to move past her housemate though, recalling that she had wanted to ask Meizhen something. "Before I go though, do you want to try training together some time? I could use the practice against mental stuff from someone friendly now that I have Argent Mirror worked out. Ah - I'm not sure how it would help you though," Ling Qi admitted. "I guess I could demonstrate my movement art for you. I remember you mentioning some interest awhile back."

"I suppose I can consider it. Now that I think about it, I never had the chance to ask. Did your meeting with Lady Cai go well?" Bai Meizhen asked.

"It went… pretty well, I think?" Ling Qi responded with uncertainty. "She asked me some weird questions and requested that I take care of somebody breaking the rules at night. She seems fair, I guess. She even mentioned that she didn't have any enmity toward you."

"I see. Perhaps I shall have to speak with her about that spar after all," Bai Meizhen mused. "I owe her that much, and I really should speak with her again."

"Let me know if you do. I think I'd like to see that," Ling Qi said. "Now, I'm pretty sure I should move before I drip any more."

Bai Meizhen blinked and glanced down, wrinkling her nose at the sight of the mud on the floor. "...Yes, quite."

Ling Qi passed her friend by, only briefly noting the thoughtful expression on her face as she headed off to clean up. She wasn't done for the day after all. With the sun falling, she needed to continue cultivating the Eight Phase Ceremony.

Unfortunately, it remained slow going. Even perched on a high cliff under a clear sky, it was incredibly difficult to sense stellar and lunar qi and parse it from the other energies in the environment. Actually trying to absorb it was even more difficult; it was like trying to grasp a cloud.

She hadn't entirely failed though. By the time the end of the week neared, she had felt a few precious, tiny drops of qi seeping into her dantian. With just a little more work, she would master the first phase and finally learn some portion of the last of her arts from the Moon.

However, earlier this week, she had taken down the notice for the 'Moonfill' mission and accepted it. She would need to start working her way up to the mountain peak if she wanted to make it in good time.

According to the instructions she had been given, there was an artificial tunnel that started two thirds of the way up the mountain that would allow her to reach the glade where she could gather nectar from the moon lily. Ling Qi was wary about using it. She had noticed a few other disciples lingering in her peripheral vision when she had taken down the notice and gotten it stamped, and she was pretty sure one of the lingering disciples had been with Kang Zihao at the meeting.

She could just choose to climb the mountain. It would be more difficult and tiring than the tunnel, but it would also be harder to track her through the winding cliffs and crevices. She would probably need to deal with spirit beasts though, and the higher up she went, the stronger they would be.

In the end, Ling Qi decided that avoiding the tunnel was a better choice. Climbing the mountain would likely be safer. Just because she had managed to avoid serious trouble in fights so far didn't mean she should get cocky. She wouldn't have any allies with her this time, and while her fight with the worm had gone well enough, Ling Qi also knew that her fellow cultivators would be prepared for her if they were choosing to attack.

Besides, she had been meaning to explore the mountain more, and she had all night to climb. It might even be refreshing to have some time to herself to clear her head. With that in mind, Ling Qi prepared herself for the trip ahead, first by borrowing a few harvesting tools from Su Ling and secondly, by rearranging the contents of her storage ring for more space.

She left her qi cards at home since she could never seem to decide what technique was worth putting in them, and they didn't do her much good when empty. Likewise, her spirit stones and archive pass followed them out. Bai Meizhen would be home tonight so it was pretty unlikely that their home would be robbed. The chances of running into misfortune herself seemed higher.

That done, she dropped by the market to acquire a training bow and a quiver of arrows. While her knives were better for actual fights, her growing archery skills had proved invaluable for hunting, and she figured it couldn't hurt. It wasn't as if the bow weighed anything significant.

Feeling more prepared, Ling Qi set out as the colors of sunset began to paint the sky, circling the mountain to approach the peak from an entirely different angle than where the tunnel would lead.

Ling Qi often had trouble recognizing just how much she had changed. It was easy to forget the newfound power in her body when she was surrounded by peers, but here, alone with her thoughts, Ling Qi couldn't help but think about it. It was perhaps the first time she had lightly jumped across a ten meter gap to proceed. She found herself scrambling up a sheer cliff without any trouble at all, her hands digging easily into cracks in the stone to haul herself up. As a mortal, she would expect to be aching and probably nursing cuts and torn fingernails, but now, she just had to dust her hands off before she continued up the mountain.

It was still tiring, but even as she entered her second hour of climbing, she felt only a slight fatigue, easily dispelled by a few minutes rest. Even periodically cycling her qi to activate trackless escape to break her trail did not tire her much.

Things began to grow more difficult as she ascended. The wind around her took on a frigid chill, and she left the last scraggly bits of plant life behind. The cliffs grew higher and sheerer, and yet, the peak still lay ahead of her. She was no longer alone; dark shapes flapped in the blackening sky above her, only to be scattered by well aimed shots from her bow when they grew too close or bold. It got her a handful of low grade beast cores too.

Soon, the mountain slope grew slippery with ice and snow, slowing her even further, and winds whipped violently around her as it began to snow. She found herself forging upward, her vision obscured by falling sheets of white. The sudden fierceness of it all surprised her. For so long as she had been in the sect, the weather had been calm; the worst weather she had previously seen on the mountain had been a few light rain showers.

Still, she didn't worry too much. Even with snow crusting her hair and soaking her dress, she only felt mildly uncomfortable. The poor light didn't affect her either, only the opacity of the driving snow. She continued her progress, careful not to slip.

As Ling Qi trudged and climbed on, she began to get a suspicious prickling sensation on the back of her neck. Something was wrong about this sudden snowstorm. It took more time to figure out just exactly what was happening. She was being guided, an unnatural tint of qi in the wind that kicked up now and then, forcing her to choose different paths.

Likewise, the ice slicks seemed to be growing in frequency and not always in positions that made sense. Ling Qi was becoming increasingly sure that someone was messing with her. This suspicion was only confirmed when she caught the sound of someone laughing under the howling of the wind and caught a shadow out of the corner of her eye on a cliff above.

Ling Qi didn't waste any time responding appropriately.

A white flash flew from her sleeve, blending with the falling snow as the dagger streaked toward the shadow on the cliff above her. Ling Qi's eyes narrowed as she summoned her flute to her hand, preparing to dance backward and throw up her mist, only to come up short as the figure gave a high-pitched yelp of surprise. As the knife struck, a dazzling burst of icy blue-white qi appeared… right before the figure tumbled from the ledge it had been on, flailing and landing headfirst in a snowbank.

"Owie, owie," the short, slight figure moaned, further throwing her off at its childish voice. She didn't allow her guard to go down entirely. Even if she couldn't quite bring herself to attack what she could now clearly see looked like a small child of eight or nine years, the 'child' was a second realm like her.

The 'little girl' pouted as she pulled herself out of the snow, snowflakes seeming to avoid her entirely. She had short, messy silver hair and unsettling white eyes, devoid of iris or pupil; her unnaturally pale skin was nearly blue in places. She wore a dark blue child's dress that came down to her knees but was entirely barefoot.

"Such a mean big sister! You threw a knife at Hanyi!" The child stamped her foot angrily in the snow, pointing an accusing finger at Ling Qi.

Ling Qi glared right back, despite the slightly foolish way it made her feel despite herself. This child was pretty clearly a spirit given the way she ignored the weather around her entirely.

"If you don't want to be attacked, you shouldn't lurk around dangerous paths," Ling Qi said unapologetically. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing. I can feel your qi in the wind and the ice." Ling Qi couldn't read qi so accurately yet, but her gut told her she was right.

'Hanyi' scowled, crossing her arms. "I was just playing," she said petulantly. "Mama said to go play in the storm 'cause she had things to do so I did! This place belongs to Mama anyway. Mean and ugly humans shouldn't be here!" She stamped her foot again, kicking up a burst of icy wind.

Ling Qi could not help but feel a spike of irritation at the childish insults, but she wasn't foolish enough to snap back. She didn't think the spirit was lying about having a parent or that this area was its territory.

"Well, your mother should mark her property then," Ling Qi said, not backing down. "I just need to pass through here." Ling Qi wished she could share whatever effect was letting the spirit ignore the weather to converse clearly; her eyes stung from the driving snow. Still, she had to be the mature one here. "... I'm sorry for attacking you, but I do need to be on my way. Can you please stop interfering?"

"No!" Ling Qi's eye twitched at the defiant reply. "Even if Big Sister has good eyes, I won't make it easy. You'll pay for being mean!" the child spirit yelled.

Ling Qi grit her teeth, considering whether she should just knock the obnoxious little spirit out. That ran the risk of drawing the ire of her 'Mother' though, and Ling Qi didn't know how strong that spirit would be.

"I said that I was sorry," she said with all the patience that she could muster. "What can I do to make it up to you?" Maybe Ling Qi could bribe the spirit with sweets or something; she had packed some food for the trip. Or maybe the cores would work better?

Hanyi's angry expression faded, and her round face screwed up in thought. "Since you ruined my first game, you gotta play a different one with me!" she decided, seemingly pleased with her conclusion. "I wanna play tag! If you can catch me twice, I'll let you go through mama's yard."

Ling Qi did her best to disguise her disgruntlement. It was already fairly late, and if she wanted to fulfill the mission, she needed to be at the glade at midnight. Despite Hanyi's game, Ling Qi was still roughly aware of where she was on the mountain and how far she had to go. Would she make it in time if she stopped to play a game with this annoying child?

Ling Qi sighed. She had a feeling the spirit would become a much bigger problem if ignored or snubbed; she still had several hours before the collection deadline would pass so it seemed like playing along was her best option. Ling Qi briefly considered countering Hanyi's offer with one of her own, such as to play the little spirit some songs instead, but decided that Hanyi probably wouldn't agree.

That didn't mean she would just go off blindly though. While spirits weren't always malicious, they were still often tricky, and she expected that in this case, her opponent was probably fickle too.

"I'll play with you," Ling Qi agreed. "But I want to know the rules first. I'm going to be mad if I catch you and you call it cheating or something."

Hanyi crossed her arms and pouted. "It's tag! I run away and you chase me, silly human. Are you dumb too?"

Ling restrained her urge to glare at the child. "So you won't complain if I use arts?" she asked in a sickly-sweet voice. "I won't go easy on you just because you're small."

"You'd better use them or you'll never catch me on those skinny crane legs, big sister." The snow child stuck out her tongue rudely. "Are you gonna play or just complain all night?"

Ling Qi's eye twitched, and she dashed forward at full speed, drawing on the dark around her. She felt gratified as the spirit's milky white eyes widened in surprise as she crossed the distance between them in an eyeblink. Ling Qi was less enthused when her hands closed on the girl's shoulders and went right through, Hanyi's figure exploding in a shower of snow, leaving her holding nothing but quickly melting slush.

"Haha! This will be fun! Big Sister is fast!" She heard the girl's childish, mocking laughter from atop the ridge and looked up in time to see a shadow vanishing into the snowstorm. Ling Qi leaped upward, landing on the ridge, only to feel the the hidden ice slick beneath the snow at the last moment. She kept herself from falling off the cliff, but she couldn't avoid tumbling through the snow, leaving her already damp dress soaked.

... This was going to be a long game.

Chapter 59-Tag 2

Ling Qi thanked the moon above for Sable Crescent Step. It was only by drawing on the speed granted by the art that made keeping up with the laughing child remotely possible. Hanyi was little more than a blue blur between snowflakes at times, and it didn't help that she clearly knew this area like the back of her hand, leading Ling Qi on a merry chase through the often vertical terrain. Ling Qi's irritation grew when it became clear the girl could run straight up a cliff as easily as Ling Qi could down a flat path.

The task was made worse by the way Hanyi seemed to be able to vanish in a flurry of snowflakes when Ling Qi got close or the way Hanyi would trip her up with ice. Ling Qi took more than one nasty tumble that might have been fatal if she were a mortal. Once, the girl had even given her a shove after Ling Qi had barely steadied herself at the top of a ridge.

The little spirit either had no concept of the idea that Ling Qi might be hurt by falling or simply didn't care. Ling Qi wasn't sure which she hoped it was. She was not an amateur when it came to chases though; although she hadn't taken the role of the chaser before, she knew well the various tricks one could use to escape and good tricks for countering them.

She could also tell after a good half hour of 'tag' that the little snow spirit needed a moment's concentration to do her vanishing trick. So after she chased Hanyi into a ravine, she broke off and changed direction, silently dashing up the angled slope while activating Crescent's Grace.

Ling Qi blurred into the dark of the snowstorm, barely a black streak as she rushed suddenly unimpeded along the difficult slope. This time, Hanyi didn't even have a chance to notice her before she dove down from above and tackled the spirit into the snow, snaking her arms around the little girl's waist.

"That's one!" Ling Qi couldn't help but crow as she felt Hanyi squirming and trying to escape her grip.

The girl was as cold as a block of ice, and her hands and arms burned where she touched the girl. But Ling Qi had caught her; the child in her grip was solid. She sat up from the bank the two of them had landed in, shaking off the snow, and grinned victoriously at the obnoxious child pouting up at her. After that annoying chase, she didn't care if gloating was childish.

"Ah, no fair! Big Sister is way too fast," Hanyi grumbled, squirming free of Ling Qi's grip and dancing away, her bare feet not even leaving a mark in the snow. "It must be because she's so tall, just like a mountain ogre! Hanyi will have to play more seriously now!"

What followed was probably the most miserable hour in Ling Qi's recent memory. If chasing Hanyi down had been irritating before, it was infuriating now. She found herself buffeted by heavy winds, tripped by ice, and scrabbling up high rock faces; all the while, she had to deal with the little brat laughing at her every time she made a misstep.

Several times, she went for a tag only to end up with nothing but snow in her hands, and she found her nerves beginning to fray. She didn't want to spend all of her qi chasing Hanyi down, which meant she didn't want to simply chain together Crescent's Grace, but the girl was too canny to be caught out the same way twice.

Ling Qi had other options though. She allowed her pace to flag and deliberately began breathing harder, playing at being tired. Sure enough, the snow spirit picked up on this, and after a time, Hanyi began to play around instead of keeping as much distance as she could. Ling Qi had to wait a little, but soon, the girl got close enough in the process of pelting Ling Qi with snowballs that she could strike.

Her flute, palmed in the time that she had spent waiting for Hanyi to lower her guard, was whipped up as she began to play, interlacing the first two melodies she had learned. Mist rolled out rapidly, mingling with the snowstorm to white out all vision.

"Eh… Mama!?" Hanyi's head jerked back and forth as she was engulfed in mist on her snowbank perch, an expression of childish panic on her face. Ling Qi, being able to see through the mist, saw Hanyi's expression of panic morph into a pout. "Hey! What do you think you're doing, Big Sister? Trying to trick me won't work!"

Ling Qi would have smiled if she wasn't busy playing. A few graceful steps had carried her behind a boulder and out of the girl's immediate sight. She could hear the snow child whining in frustration as Hanyi found herself getting turned around in the mist.

With her movement so limited and Ling Qi's ability to hide, it was almost too simple to find a higher place and leap down in ambush, landing feet first on the annoying girl's back and leaving her facedown in the snow. Normally, Ling Qi would feel terrible about sitting on the back of a child, but the chase had not inclined her fondly toward the spirit.

"Got you," Ling Qi said a trifle smugly as she lowered her flute. "That makes two."

She clamped a hand on the little girl's shoulder even as she moved to let her up. Unsurprisingly, Hanyi didn't look very happy. A dark blue, nearly purple flush of exertion and anger colored her childish face.

"No fair! You cheated! How could I run away like that? You're just being mean cause you don't want to play anymore!"

"You said there weren't any rules," Ling Qi replied unsympathetically, not releasing the girl's shoulder despite the way her fingers were starting to feel numb. "I played with you. Now you have to do what you promised and let me through."

"I don't wanna!" Hanyi said, stamping her foot. "I want Big Sister to stay and keep playing. It was fun until you cheated!"

If she hadn't just spent an hour and a half chasing down the little hellion, Ling Qi might have been affected by the little spirit's quivering lower lip and wide eyes. As the snow child opened her mouth to speak again though, a frigid burst of wind screamed over them, blasting away Ling Qi's mist and leaving the air briefly free of snow.

"Enough, Hanyi."

Ling Qi looked up and paled as she caught sight of the figure standing atop a half-buried boulder. She had heard the term "fatal beauty" bandied about in stories and poems, but this was the first time she had seen it. The spirit stood more than two meters tall and yet retained the sort of graceful, feminine look that Ling Qi often envied. Long, unbound silver hair fluttered in the wind like a cloak of silk, partially obscuring deathly pale and sharp features. Unlike Hanyi, the older spirit's eyes seemed lit from within by a frigid light, and her full lips were the color of fresh blood.

Hanyi's mother wore a gown of stark black, fully concealing her below her neck. Ling Qi wasn't even certain that there was a full body under the gown given the unnatural way the lower part rippled as the spirit moved. Most importantly, Ling Qi could perceive the weight and power of her qi. The spirit was fourth grade.

"Cease troubling this disciple," the older spirit chastised, making the little girl lower her head, pout still present. Then Hanyi's mother turned her frigid gaze to Ling Qi. "Disciple of Argent Sect, release my daughter." Her voice was as harsh as a winter gale.

Ling Qi released the younger spirit as if burned and hastily stood up to offer a respectful bow, scrabbling for memory of talks with Bai Meizhen.

"Of course, honored guardian of the peak." She nearly tripped over the words. "I apologize for the trespass and meant no offense."

The older spirit made a sharp gesture, briefly revealing the formless void of cold darkness beneath her sleeve, and Hanyi scurried to her side looking… Well - she looked like she was trying to look contrite.

"These passes are free for your kind. My home does not lie here. My daughter was simply playing mischief while out of bounds." The older spirit turned her stern expression on her daughter, causing the young spirit to wilt under her judgement.

"Sorry, mama. The yard was boring," Hanyi mumbled, scuffing her bare foot through the snow.

"Thank you for your patience, Disciple," the mother said, and Ling Qi noticed now that her lips weren't even really moving when she spoke. "I will clear the storm in your path. I assume your destination is the glade of the moon lily?"

"Yes, honored spirit," Ling Qi replied, clasping her hands in front of her, relief coloring her thoughts as she offered another bow. "It was… no trouble at all." She wasn't sure how sincere that had sounded. Going by the slight twitch of the older spirit's lips, the answer was not very.

"Is that so?" the spirit said, managing to sound dubious without changing her tone at all. "Regardless, you have my thanks for entertaining my daughter. Be on your way, and perhaps we will speak again when your melody has matured."

Ling Qi blinked, throwing up her hands to shield her eyes as the snowstorm intensified. When she lowered them, the spirits were gone, and the snowfall had begun to slow. As she looked down, she saw at her feet something bright and glittering. Picking it up, she found a fine silver hairpin, the attached ornament in the shape of a snowflake. If she squinted, she could make out the tiny characters etched into the metal.

Ling Qi called out a few times, offering to return the pin in case it had been left behind by mistake but received no response. Eventually, she stored it away and moved on, taking a few moments to get her bearings. The way was now largely clear of snow, swept clean as if by a giant's brush.

With that help, it only took another half hour to reach the glade, especially since the other denizens of the mountain seemed to be avoiding her. Every beast she spotted scampered away as soon as she spotted it.

The glade itself was almost anticlimactic. It was a simple hollow behind a narrow crack in the rock, unnaturally warm compared to the outside. A clear pond filled most of the space, but it was surrounded by out of place greenery. The moon Iily was a faintly glowing white flower that grew from the center of the pond. Silver nectar pooled in the cup formed by its petals.

Ling Qi followed the instruction provided in the mission packet carefully so as not to tear the delicate petals, draining the nectar into the provided container before sealing it.

It was at that point that she noticed the dozens of eyes peering at her from the darkness of the cranny-ridden walls of the glade. She didn't know how she had missed them coming in, but she was certainly aware now of the many, many white furred, red-eyed rabbits watching her from their rocky burrows, noses twitching and eyes glowing. Thankfully, they seemed content to just watch as she backed out of the glade, sweating under their regard. She was pretty sure at least one of those rabbits had been grade three too.

Ling Qi wasn't sure of the reason behind their behavior, but she was glad the rabbits hadn't been hostile. She had the nectar, and now, it was time to head back. The snowstorm was already beginning to fill in her cleared path though. Should she return the same way, brave the tunnel, or pick a new path down?

Well, she didn't really feel like dealing with a possible ambush from her fellow disciples tonight. So after sending the nectar into her ring, Ling Qi began to pick her way down the cliffs in the opposite direction of her original path. She had to assume any potential attackers weren't incompetent; it was likely that they would at least find the start of her trail. The tunnel was out for obvious reasons as well. Besides, the new path would allow her to poke around the mountain for interesting things.

Ling Qi began her meandering descent, her sense of urgency having faded with the acquisition of the nectar. As long as she delivered it by noon, she would be fine. The walk was actually rather relaxing now that the snow was no longer coming down so hard and the wind no longer so driven. That wasn't to say she found her path completely unimpeded, but there was nothing that troubled her too much. She managed to shoot down a few more minor buzzards and once found herself standing off with a silvery white mountain lion, who eventually seemed to decide that she was too tough a bone to chew.

She noted a few interesting things like a herd of shaggy, grade one mountain goats that might make for good hunting with Han Jian and the others and a few places where plants she vaguely remembered hearing Su Ling talk about grew. She didn't bother collecting them. Even if she managed to harvest them correctly, she would probably just forget about them before she could make use of them.

She really was a greedy girl, feeling put out that she hadn't managed to find anything of real interest when she had already had a fortuitous encounter tonight. Ling Qi shook her head in bemusement at her thoughts as she carefully hopped across another ravine, her dress fluttering in the mountain winds.

It was beginning to warm up a little as she worked her way back down toward the treeline, and Ling Qi was glad for it. Even if she wasn't harmed by the temperature, she was still soaked and cold and was looking forward to a nice warm bath when she got home. However, as she descended back into the frosted conifers that grew in this part of the mountain, she found that she still had some luck after all.

Working her way through the trees, she found a wide clearing atop a raised plateau where soft grass and hardy wildflowers grew. The light of the moon and stars seemed especially bright here. It might make for a good place to cultivate her Eight Phase Ceremony.

Unfortunately, it also seemed she wasn't the only one here. While she was exploring the meadow, her instincts and senses picked up the approach of heavy and numerous footfalls, allowing her to slip away and hide in time. What she saw chilled her joy at the find.

It seemed the meadow was home to a rather large pack of Rimefur wolves. She counted at least fifteen of them, all grade two, in the group that entered the clearing. There was also a rather large pair, closer to the size of a horse than a wolf, among them. One was a heavily scarred and thickly muscled beast with blue white fur, and the other was a slightly smaller and sleeker wolf with black fur flecked with white. Her art could not read the exact stage of their cultivation, but she got the impression that they were not far from grade three.

She didn't think she could take this group - not alone - and that was only confirmed when she found herself locking eyes with the smaller of the alpha pair. She fled at top speed, blending with the darkness as the incensed howls of the wolfpack followed her down the mountain. Thankfully, Ling Qi was as fleet as a mountain wind, and she was able to escape successfully with the aid of her Sable Crescent Step art, even if it was rather taxing on her qi.

It was the better part of an hour before they finally stopped chasing her, and her legs burned from the exertion. She had definitely been put through her paces when it came to speed tonight.

She was glad to return to the more civilized part of the mountain and head home for that bath. She exchanged greetings with Bai Meizhen, who was seated at their table staring at a block of clay as if it had personally offended her somehow, and then settled in for what remained of the night.

In the morning, she took the time to cash in the common cores she had picked up. They were fairly low quality, and she still wasn't great at harvesting so she only managed to get five stones for each. Better than nothing.

Strangely, there seemed to be a rumor going around that a dozen odd disciples had come limping into the Medicine Hall in the early morning with nasty, badly bleeding wounds. What was up with that, she wondered with a slight smirk.

Well, it had nothing to do with her anymore. It was time to start preparing for the next week.

Interlude: Bai Meizhen

'This is boring, Sister Meizhen.' Cui complained. 'Why do we need to do such a thing?'

"We are hardly doing anything," Bai Meizhen replied sourly. "I am the only one capable of performing this task. You need not stay for this." She stared hard at the block of grayish brown clay in front of her, mocking her with its mundane and inert nature.

'Where else would I go?' Cui grumbled childishly, and Bai Meizhen felt her coils shifting around her neck. 'It is cold outside, and Sister Meizhen has forbidden me from doing anything fun.'

"I have forbidden you from playing tricks or eating pets and familiars, yes," Bai Meizhen said dryly. "Now hush. I must concentrate."

'Hmph. If Sister Meizhen wants to play in the mud so much, Cui will just be silent then,' Cui said in a tone that Meizhen knew meant she would have to placate her with something tasty later.

Bai Meizhen returned her attention to the clay, narrowing her eyes. She did not even disagree with her cousin. She felt that this was a pointless waste of time, but it was also a task assigned by an Elder. She just wasn't certain whether the insufferably cheerful woman was mocking her by giving out meaningless tasks instead of real training.

Elder Ying confused her, and it was not a feeling she enjoyed. The woman was far too informal and behaved more familiarly with her than was appropriate. She had certainly not been condescended to so blatantly in… ever, really.

Cool, dry hands brushed affectionately through the soft fuzz of hair that had just begun to grow out, and a cold voice was tinged with rare warmth as Mother chided her for some childish misdeed.

Bai Meizhen pushed away that fragment of memory; such sentimentality was pointless. Even if it was mere pettiness, she would not fail her lessons. She had been given a block of qi-absorbing clay and told to tease out the true shape hidden within it as she meditated on her relationships and connections with the world. Bai Meizhen had never learned to sculpt as it was not among the artistic endeavors considered necessary for her station. As a cultivator, her work would outstrip all but the best mortal craftsmen, even without tools, but that was hardly the point.

What did the woman even mean? What did she want her to shape from the clay? Bai Meizhen was aware that earth was the element of acceptance and community, but she already knew her place in the world. What did she have to consider here? Was she meant to create some pro-Empire image then? An offer of loyalty and solidarity from a treacherous Bai to prove that their program was working?

She felt her lips curling in disdain and Cui's coils tightening in response to her emotions but calmed herself. It was beneath her to react so. She would simply perform the task as instructed.

Closing her eyes, she considered where to begin. Family was the single most important connection a cultivator had. So who among her clan did she feel connection and 'affection' for?

Her thoughts turned first to her grandfather, and his cold and pitiless eyes flashed through her thoughts, disapproving as they always were. Grandfather had trained her - as he had the rest of the youngest generation of the Bai in the hopes of teasing out outstanding talent. No, that was simply the bond of familial duty; instinctively, she felt that it wasn't what Elder Ying was looking for. Grandfather had rarely ever even spoken to her directly, save for an occasional correction or word of grudging praise at success.

Should she consider Father then? She felt a twist of bitterness at even considering the thought. Father was an embarrassment to the clan, a rabbit in the den of serpents and a concession in the name of financial concerns.

Bai Meizhen breathed out, clearing her thoughts of such unfilial musings. That was unfair. Father was an outsider, married into the clan. It was unreasonable to expect more of him. She wished he could manage a simple family dinner without looking as if he were going to faint though.

Should she consider her cousins then? She allowed memories of familiar faces and rivalries to pass through her thoughts one at a time. No, they were rivals for position in the clan. There might be a degree of polite cordiality and the acknowledgement that they would back one another against outsiders but little else. She had been too busy with her cultivation to engage with the little cliques that had formed among them, and she was aware of the various minor resentments many in the clan held toward her for one reason or another.

Aunt Suzhen then, the hope of the clan, said to have the greatest chance of breaking through to White and restoring a degree of the Bai's honor. It was thanks to her Aunt that she had Cui, had been awakened, and had mastered the Abyssal Mantle art so well. It had disappointed her in her earliest days that she had little talent for the metal arts which her Aunt made such prominent use of. Despite that Aunt Suzhen, of all her family, had shown her the most kindness and consideration, but her aunt was incredibly busy with the business of the clan and her provincial government duties. Meizhen could count the times she had spoken to her aunt on the fingers of one hand.

Cui was the obvious answer, and she unconsciously raised her hand to run her fingers along her cousin's cool emerald scales. Cui, for all her gluttony and sloth, was a good sister. Her lips quirked up in amusement as she felt Cui's tongue flick against her throat irritably. It seemed she had been thinking a little too loudly there.

Meizhen traced her fingers over the clay thoughtfully. Was that the answer then? She scowled at the block, feeling like she was still missing something.

Her hands jerked slightly as the door banged open, and she quickly raised her head, ready to stare down an intruder. Likely, it was that vulgar Sun witch, back for another round. She had been focused too hard on her task if she had failed to notice the approach of a rival. Her gathering qi scattered a moment later when she found herself looking upon Ling Qi instead.

Her housemate currently resembled a wet cat, soaked to the bone as she was. Meizhen pursed her lips as she examined the skinny girl. Really, it had taken long enough for Ling Qi to start dressing properly, but the other girl still showed little care for her dignity, appearing with brambles caught on her dress and twigs in her flyaway hair. It was frustrating.

"What happened to you?" Meizhen found herself asking, distracted from her task.

"Played tag with a snow spirit, then had to run from a pack of wolves," Ling Qi muttered tiredly, absently kicking the door closed behind her.

Bai Meizhen glanced away, not wishing to take advantage of the girl's slovenly state to stare. Ling Qi was practically indecent right now. Meizhen hoped that Ling Qi at least had the presence of mind to stay out of sight and avoid scandal on the way back. The other girl was so oblivious to the importance of appearance and presentation.

"... I see," she said, returning her gaze to her project. "Were you able to complete your mission regardless?"

Ling Qi was unhurt so there was not much reason for concern. She had worried that the other girl would find trouble, going out alone among her fellow disciples, but she had not voiced it. She would not stunt Ling Qi's growth by coddling her.

"Yeah. It went fine honestly," Ling Qi said, glancing briefly at her as she passed through the room, idly brushing strands of hair from her face. Ling Qi's braid had come loose, and her hair was now clinging distractingly to the curve of her neck. "I really want a hot bath and a nap though so I'm going to turn in. G'night Bai Meizhen."

"Good night," Meizhen replied as the girl slumped off into the hall leading to the baths. Ling Qi… She did not know what to make of the girl at times. The girl had bouts of incredible good fortune and was clearly talented, but she simply refused to fit into Bai Meizhen's understanding of things.

'The mouse is getting in trouble again. Perhaps I, Cui, should accompany her next time she goes out to play. Better than poking at mud,' her cousin suggested.

"Do as you will," Bai Meizhen said. "I doubt Ling Qi will have any patience for your gluttony either."

'Sister Meizhen is cruel,' Cui sulked. 'Maybe I should tell the mouse that you find her legs distracting.'

"You will be hunting for yourself for the foreseeable future then," Bai Meizhen hissed quietly. She did not think of Ling Qi in that sense, but the girl was simply so indiscreet. It didn't help that she had been growing more distracted by such things since coming to the Sect. It was frustrating, but she was aware that it was simply a foible of her age and development.

No, Ling Qi was complicated.

She called Ling Qi her friend, and the other girl seemed to return the feeling. Friendship with outsiders was a matter of convenience though, favors offered for favors owed. That was how their relationship began. She had not been so foolish and conceited as the lesser nobles. She knew that an unawakened commoner brought to the Sect would obviously be of high talent. The Ministry would not bother taking her in and bringing her here otherwise.

It had cost her little to offer Ling Qi some minor favors at first, explaining simple things as one would to a child. The girl would likely rise to some degree of prominence and be a useful contact when she left the Sect, provided that Ling Qi made it through her tour of service.

Meizhen had even toyed with the idea of offering her vassalage. The Bai were certainly short on vassals still, lands lying fallow and abandoned by the treasonous scum who chose to serve the barbarian Sun. She suspected Ling Qi would not have asked for much if she had brought it up in the beginning.

Something had held her back though. The casual way the girl interacted with her was refreshing in a way. Meizhen enjoyed it and hadn't wanted to end it by placing a clear and obvious delineation in rank between them.

Ling Qi's vulgar behavior was also frustrating. Meizhen wondered sometimes if the other girl had been raised by wolves like some barbarian legend, but it was not her place to pry into personal matters. Things changed gradually, and she grew comfortable with the status quo between them. She grew complacent.

Then they had attempted the trial together, and she had been faced with the betrayal of the thing wearing the girl's face and the subsequent revelation of the girl's apparent death.

Her rage had been unseemly. The Bai were a clan famed for their self control - and for good reason. A Bai's fury was as cruel and destructive as the great storms spawned by the dreams of Grandmother Serpent. She did not regret making that creature beg pitifully for death, but she did regret the weakness it represented in her.

She had grown too attached to an outsider, too invested in her well being. The Bai had been shown time and again that they could only rely on themselves. Outsiders would fall to the siren call of power, whether it be to the Imperial Throne that had used them for so long or the murderous drumbeats of the Red Garden. Grandfather would be so disappointed in her if he knew.

She could not say she loved Ling Qi as she did Cui, who was her sister in all the ways that mattered, but she would be lying to herself if she said that Ling Qi was not important to her. Lying to herself was a greater sin than even the existence of a bond; lies would stifle and slow her cultivation if left to fester.

It was fine. Ling Qi could stand on her own and had gained the attention of the Cai heiress. They could remain in contact even after parting ways, and Bai Meizhen would not have to show such a glaring weakness to her family. She shuddered to imagine Ling Qi behaving with her usual Ling Qi-ness in front of her clan or, ancestors forbid, Grandfather.

Still, perhaps these thoughts were what she was meant to think of for this project. She turned her attention back to the clay, focusing on finishing the task. She would need to complete it by sunrise, for her next lesson with Elder Ying.

Chapter 60-Simmering 1

Ling Qi had not been focusing as heavily on cultivation in the past few weeks, but she felt that it was time for that to change, at least temporarily. As much as she was growing quickly, there was still so much she needed to do.

To that end, she began her week by heading to the archive. This week, she wanted to obtain a dedicated offensive art. Zephyr's Breath was good, especially when she was with Han Jian and the others, but she wanted something useful for when she was on her own, something that she could use to end battles more quickly. She wouldn't always have the time to dance around an enemy while they were worn down by a thousand cuts after all.

Ling Qi found several interesting possibilities during her search. The Falling Stars and Ashen Shadow arts were both great for different fighting styles, and she spent quite a while reviewing the arts and agonizing over which of them she wanted to learn. She ended up spending several hours longer in the archive than she intended actually, paralyzed by indecision as she was.

It turned out for the best as she turned up a lucky find while researching elements and combat tactics to help her make her decision. Buried behind a pile of scrolls on archery theory, she found a small, dusty clay container still sealed by wax. Inside was a single, dull white pill with a very strong medicinal scent. Hurriedly, she tucked it into her storage ring for later identification.

In the end, she chose the Falling Stars art. Ling Qi felt that she was rapidly getting better with a bow, and having an art to actually make use of the weapon could only improve her hunting ability, which was her best way of making money at the moment. She thought she might come back for the other art later, but for now, she had to focus on learning her new art, or rather, opening the meridians needed for it and Sable Crescent Step.

It turned out her fortune had been particularly good. The dull white pill she had found, although on the verge of expiration, greatly aided in the opening of new meridians. The Medicine Hall disciple said it was still safe to use for a few more weeks as the wax seal she had broken had kept it preserved.

In any case, she found herself rapidly clearing a new pair of meridians in the spine and arm with the medicinally-induced surge. Her body once again tingled with energy and drive from the quantity of cultivation drugs she had taken.

Sadly, with everything else she needed to do, she didn't have time to train the art itself despite her desire to get in more practice with her archery. Ling Qi was able to continue improving her mundane skills with simple practice though.

Her burgeoning archery skills were a great help when she joined Han Jian and the others for their weekly hunt; she still wasn't good enough to outright kill the beasts they hunted with a single shot, but she was more than able to slow or cripple them for her companions to finish. It was enjoyable, sighting a target from dozens of meters away and allowing all but her target and her arrow to fade from her mind. It was almost like meditation.

That feeling had only grown when she punched an arrow through the shoulder of a Black Steel Bear, causing the powerful grade two beast to stumble and crash to the ground rather than bowl over Fan Yu and Han Jian. It hadn't put the beast down, but it had given her friends the opportunity they needed to finish the fight.

Perhaps it was because of her own good mood that she noticed that Gu Xiulan seemed withdrawn compared to her usual boisterous and outgoing self. So after parting ways with the boys, she broached the subject on the way back home.

"Did you want to go to the springs together?" Ling Qi asked as she fell in beside Gu Xiulan. "It's been some time since we've had an opportunity to relax together."

The shorter girl cocked her head to the side slightly, giving Ling Qi an appraising look. "Oh? I had thought you would be busy this week. You are practically giving off medicinal fumes, you know," she teased.

Ling Qi surreptitiously glanced down at herself, just to make sure the other girl wasn't being literal. "Is it really that obvious?" she asked. "I didn't think I was behaving strangely."

Gu Xiulan laughed into her sleeve at Ling Qi's reaction. "No, no. Worry not. You have not had another little episode like the days after Elder Zhou's test. You are running rather warm though," she said lightly. Ling Qi shot her a confused look, and Gu Xiulan smirked, showing a bit of her usual arrogant pride. "You are not the only one who has been mastering new arts. Father sent me instruction for several family techniques inside my new storage ring."

"Oh," Ling Qi said. She supposed it made sense that a perception art of the Gu clan would involve some kind of heat-based sensing. "I'm glad you're progressing well then," she offered, noting the minute twitch of displeasure in the other girl's expression. "I am training hard this week, but that's no excuse to ignore other people entirely. I'd like to think I'm getting better at that," she added self-deprecatingly, offering the other girl a lopsided smile.

Gu Xiulan shook her head, a slightly bitter twist on her lips. "I suppose not. You may just become civilized yet," she said airily. "If only others could remember the same," she grumbled under her breath, looking to the path ahead.

Ling Qi gave her friend a sidelong look as she walked beside her, gown fluttering around her legs. She really did need to consider getting some wrappings or something. It was hard to remember to control the thing at all times. That, too, was training, she supposed.

"Has something been bothering you lately?" Ling Qi asked bluntly. "It must be tricky if you haven't confronted it head-on yet."

The fiery girl shot her a heated look, which Ling Qi met with a calm and cool one of her own. They paused in their walk before Gu Xiulan snorted in a distinctly unladylike fashion and looked away.

"What happened to the Ling Qi who flinched at the first sign of my displeasure?" Gu Xiulan wondered. "Perfectly happy to follow along in my shadow and allow me the lead in our interactions."

Ling Qi narrowed her eyes, irritated at the other girl's insinuations. "Well, I got stronger," she said flatly. "As for the second, she never existed. I might have found you intimidating at first, but I'd like to think we're past that. I just want to know what is bothering you."

"I suppose we are," the haughty girl responded, crossing her arms under her chest as she looked up at Ling Qi. "I had imagined I might hire you on as a handmaiden, you know, in the aftermath of the test. How foolish that notion seems now." A slight wave of heat around her betrayed Gu Xiulan's irritation. "I am trapped on the cusp of breaking through to Silver," she admitted, anger coloring her tone as she looked away from Ling Qi. "It is infuriating to see you overtake me further every day. Is that what you wished me to say?"

"I didn't wish for anything," Ling Qi said simply, giving the other girl a hard look. "We're friends, right? Gu Xiulan, you said you had my back that first day the truce ended, and I have yours, but I'm not going to slow down. Not for anyone. I'd think you would approve of that."

"I do," the girl responded grudgingly. "I might have thought you a potential servant at first, but I cannot deny that you are a peer now. I apologize. It seems my composure is more frayed than I thought."

"It's fine," Ling Qi dismissed. "I don't doubt that you'll be able to manage soon." She thought it best not to mention that Han Fang had broken through to Yellow Soul, evening out his cultivation, if her new sense for qi was correct. "Do you want to soak for a bit then and maybe get something to eat? You may just need some time to relax and reflect to clear things up."

"Perhaps," Gu Xiulan allowed. "In fact, yes, that may be wise. Taking my mind off things for an afternoon may be what I need to center myself properly."

Ling Qi nodded in satisfaction. "So that aside, how have things been with you and the others? We don't have much time to chat when we're hunting."

Gu Xiulan frowned. "It has been… well enough, I suppose," she said. "I do wish Han Jian would stop avoiding me. It is becoming irksome."

Ling Qi gave her a curious look as she caught up. "He's been avoiding you? I didn't notice anything weird during training."

"Of course not. I would not so undermine his authority as to question him on personal matters during such exercises," Gu Xiulan said dismissively, even as her gaze drifted to the ground. "He has been avoiding me outside of them though, and it is not merely due to a busy cultivation schedule. I know it."

Ling Qi made a sound of agreement as she walked beside her friend and allowed the girl to vent. It seemed that Gu Xiulan was feeling ignored by Han Jian, and she got hints that there were other pressures involved as well. Her comments on Fan Yu had a particular edge to them that hadn't been there before, and she seemed reluctant to speak further on the sister in Inner Sect.

Ling Qi simply went with the flow, offering an attentive ear and occasionally interjecting her own grumbles, such as her creeping concern at how quiet Huang Da was being and her worries over the mission Cai had asked her to perform. In the end though, their chat turned to lighter things. Gu Xiulan complimented her new talisman and expressed relief that Ling Qi had finally ditched the 'tacky' bracers, and Ling Qi recounted a slightly altered story of her game of tag with the spirit Hanyi.

Once they were finished with their bath, the two girls strolled down to the market to continue chatting. They ended up purchasing some kind of flavored powdered ice served in a bowl that had intrigued Xiulan. It was as they were sitting together at one of the tables set up near the market stalls that the subject turned to something more serious.

"We need to make more of a name for ourselves, I think," Gu Xiulan declared haughtily, only to ruin the moment as she shivered, closing her eyes and scrunching her nose as she took a slightly too large bite of her odd, icy treat.

Ling Qi was rather more careful, taking only a small spoonful of the dark blue powder. The treat satisfied her sweet tooth quite well, but it wasn't something to eat quickly.

"What do you mean?" Ling Qi inquired after the icy flakes had melted on her tongue. "We're already doing pretty good, aren't we?" The number of second stage cultivators was increasing in a steady trickle by the week, but they were still among the first.

"Pretty good is hardly good enough," Gu Xiulan said, prodding her own red dyed ice with her spoon, seemingly hesitant to take another bite. "No, we both deserve more glory and renown. What do you say - once I complete my breakthrough, shall we find some older Outer Disciples to challenge?" she asked, taking the plunge and furrowing her brows as she took another bite.

Ling Qi's eyebrows climbed high. "What in the world makes you think that is a good idea?" she asked incredulously.

"Well, there is hardly anyone in our year to challenge, is there?" Xiulan explained haughtily, waving her spoon for emphasis. "Crushing some of those who have recently straggled into the second realm will hardly be looked upon well, and I am not quite proud enough to consider challenging the Sun princess or the Cai heiress. I suppose we could make an attempt on that Kang fellow…"

"Alright, granted," Ling Qi hurried on, not wanting the other girl to talk herself into thinking that challenging Kang Zihao directly was a good idea. "Why do that at all though?"

"I need a proper challenge. My Sister said as much," Gu Xiulan replied. "Hunting beasts is all well and good, but it is not the same as fighting a fellow cultivator. I think that is why I have slowed down of late. Nothing has brought my blood to boil since that first day after the truce ended."

Ling Qi was silent as she eyed the other girl continuing to daintily eat her powdered ice. "... Won't older disciples be even stronger than the top of our year though?"

"Of course not," Gu Xiulan said dismissively. "Some certainly, but not all. I am certain I could find us an appropriate challenge or two, and once we defeat a few, the challenges will come to us, and we can stand in our own glory rather than playing second."

Ling Qi wasn't sure that Gu Xiulan's plan was a good idea, but she didn't reject the idea outright. She still made an effort to steer Xiulan back to safer topics for the remainder of their meal though.

The two girls parted ways around sunset with Ling Qi heading off to cultivate Eight Phase Ceremony on the high cliffs and Gu Xiulan heading home to begin preparations for her next breakthrough attempt.

Bonus 10: Death of the Sage

… and so the brute Qin, supported by his own mountain savages, the monstrous bandits of Zheng, and the peerless blades of the Bai, struck down the last of the Sea Kings of Jin, and as had become his custom, took his slain foe's daughters as his own. Long did our mourners weep for the people of Jin, erstwhile friends of the Golden Kingdom, just as they wept for our kind and beauteous Princess Bluesun, who offered herself to be caged rather than incite the great fires of the Purifying Sun and reduce the land and people to ash.

The brute, now ruler of six kingdoms, grew more arrogant still, styling himself "Sagacious and Divine Emperor of the Celestial Empire." Yet even then, the brute's pride and lust were not satisfied.

His lascivious eyes turned west and fell upon the Kingdom of the Red Sun and the Great Priestess of their people, said to be an incarnation of the Great Mother herself. To the rutting brute Qin, such a temptation could not be resisted. When his demand for submission was rejected by the Priestess and Kings of the Red Sun, he once again called his armies to war.

However, the Red Sun Kingdom was mighty and gave pause to even the bellicose Bai. The Red Sun Kingdom knew the secrets of the sacred metal from which the Bai forged their weapons and armor. A fierce and proud people, they bent their necks to no one, and unlike the similarly proud Horned Lords, their people were not a collection of barely connected enclaves, grown unused to war.

In the far past, in the days of the Legendary Yao and his daughter, the first White Serpent Queen, even the Bai's conquests had ground to a halt against them. In the courts of the brute, the serpents advised caution.

However, the brute Qin showed his true nature, and with the support of the barbarous Zheng, he overruled all objections and mustered his armies. How many of our sons and daughters were sent to die for a conqueror's pride and lust? How many fields lie fallow and dead without their guardians to safeguard the people in their labor? Too many! The Golden Kingdom starved and withered in the face of this feckless and unending war!

How weary then, must have been the Jin, whose harbors still lay shattered and whose ships still lay at the bottom of the sea from the brute Qin's recent conquest? Or the Horned Lords of the South, whose redoubts and trails had been salted and burned, their council of chiefs dragged through the streets of the brute's capital in chains like mere beasts?

The armies of Qin clashed with the Red Sun, and men died in thousands, gaining nothing. When the man himself rode forth with his advisors, the Kings and the Priestess met him, and though the world shook with their warring, neither side could slay the other. The people of the Red Sun were not numerous; their harsh land and poor soil had never allowed for fields as great as ours, their rivers were not rich with fish as the Bai's lakes were, and their cities lacked the unbreakable fortresses of Zheng. The brute cared not for his losses for there were always more men to pull from the fields of the six kingdoms, but the people of the Red Sun mourned each and every loss.

Despite this, for fifty years, the people of the Red Sun resisted with a fervor that shames this son of the Golden Kingdom. Infuriated by the lengthy resistance, the brute's tactics grew harsher and more cruel with every day. Drenched in blood, the jungle grew red in truth, and it is said by those who survived that the very earth and the jungle itself began to fight the armies of Qin. Crippled veterans of the Red Sun began to return to war, changed and twisted, merged with spirits to replace missing limbs and shattered channels.

In the end, it was not enough. No matter the sacrifices made, no matter the valor of the people of the Red Sun, the brute's armies ground on. When a city was captured, the brute would build a great pyre and burned their inhabitants, one and all, without regard to age or mortality. The air of the Red Sun choked with ash, the rivers ran red, and the jungle grew bloated and monstrous.

At last, it seemed the people of the Red Sun had enough. In the hall of their most holy temple, the Great Priestess supplicated herself in submission before Qin. His greed and arrogance having only grown in the face of defiance, the brute quickly claimed his prize. But in the end, the brute's lust proved his undoing.

By morning, the brute lay thrashing in his bed. The empty streets of the temple city quaked with his choked screams as his own blood burned in his veins and melted his flesh and his own qi seared his soul to ash. Assured of his invincibility, the brute had given the seed of his downfall to the one who could most use it.

Hail to the Great Priestess of the Red Sun, weaver of blood, weaver of life! The blood of the mother and unborn the focus and the blood of a city - all given to end his menace forevermore.

How the brute's monstrous mother did rage! Lightning rained like water from the skies and wiped the temple city from existence. The dragon's rampage fell upon the jungles, and the people of the Red Sun suffered another great reaping.

The people were not without hope however. The spirit of the Great Priestess lived on. Born of sacrifice and rivers of blood, a new Goddess was born, and her thorns struck the brute's dragon mother harshly, piercing scale and organ. Wounded, the beast fled back to the capital.

Without the brute at its helm, his court fell into disarray. The Bai glared across the empty throne at the Zheng, each seeking to place their own blood upon the Dragon Throne. The loyalists of the other kingdoms schemed and maneuvered, each seeking to gain their own power in the chaos.The children of the brute squabble and fight like savages. Already, tales of kinslaying spread through the land. It saddens me to know that the children of our princess are among their number; it seems that even our radiant blood cannot withstand the foul corruption of the brute. Cowards, all of them, seeking only personal power rather than freedom!

This is not a time for mourning or petty politics! The brute is dead, his beastly mother sleeping off terrible wounds; the Celestial Peaks lie in disarray. The snake and the ape feud and fight! Now is the time to throw off the conquerors! At last, the Golden Kingdom will rise again. From ashes, just like our great Matriarch, the Purifying Sun, we will emerge stronger than ever before! No more will we bow to mountain savages! We will free our princess, and once more, be ruled by a true Golden Queen! The foul edifice of this accursed empire will be brought tumbling down, its name erased from history!

- Surviving fragment of an unnamed text, translated into modern imperial, banned under the first imperial dynasty, the Qin

Chapter 61-Simmering 2

Ling Qi's week only grew busier as time went on. She had managed to get Meizhen to agree to train with her, but she almost immediately regretted it. The other girl was absolutely pitiless in training, pushing her to the edge of her ability to keep improving her movement art. Ling Qi found herself coming up short, unable to fully sheath her body in dark-aligned qi as the next step demanded.

The fact that she had asked Meizhen to help her train her mental defenses just made the spars worse. Several times, Ling Qi had been nearly reduced to tears by Bai Meizhen's powerful, fear-inducing techniques, cracking her newfound confidence.

Meizhen had somewhat awkwardly offered her salves to heal the wounds inflicted during their training sessions, but when Ling Qi found herself having a hard time trying not to flinch in the other girl's presence, she couldn't help but wonder if the training was really worth it. Meizhen's stiff expression and posture in the aftermath seemed to display similar thoughts on her part.

Ling Qi's cultivation at the vent was more relaxing, the simple steady feeling of progress as her spirit expanded to catch up with her physique. Her practice with Suyin also went well; the other girl had improved a great deal over the previous weeks and had now reached Late Gold. Su Ling, on the other hand, had withdrawn into the woods this week to attempt her breakthrough into Yellow Soul.

Despite Suyin's focus on cultivation, it had been pretty trivial to convince Li Suyin to continue studying formations with her, which lead to them breaking off training a bit early to settle in for a study session at the pair's cave home.

"Next week then?" Ling Qi asked casually as she found a seat in the cluttered cave, withdrawing the stack of copied notes she had made from some of the archive texts in preparation for this. "I've noticed that you stopped cultivating your spirit this week."

Li Suyin blinked, pausing before nodding sheepishly and finding her own seat at the battered table the pair had found to furnish their cave. "Ah, yes. I've actually begun already. One more push should do it. I just wanted to master the next stage of my new art before I fully broke through."

"I'm happy for you," Ling Qi said brightly, examining her friend's face. "What do you want to do after you've kicked that girl's ass?"

Li Suyin looked briefly uncomfortable at the use of vulgar language but shrugged awkwardly. "I will keep trying to grow stronger I suppose," she said with uncertainty. "That is what cultivators are meant to do, right?"

"Well, yeah," Ling Qi said, paging through her scribbled copies to search for the ones which should have been on top; the pages had gotten jumbled up in her ring somehow. "What do you want to do though? Are you going to try for the end of year tournament? If you try, you can probably be in late second realm by the end of the year."

"Ah, I don't think so. I could never keep up with you, let alone the others at the top." Li Suyin fidgeted with her sleeves. "What do you think I should do, Ling Qi?"

Ling Qi did her best not to frown. "I think you should do what makes you happy. Your cultivation should be about the path you want to walk," she said, stressing her words. "Anything else is just going to hinder you. If you really still don't know, you might not want to break through yet."

"O-oh," Li Suyin replied, sounding a little discouraged. "I suppose I will need to think on it then. Um - Anyway, which part did you want my help with?"

Ling Qi decided to let it lie for the moment and slid a page across the table to Li Suyin. "This part right here, talking about the linking and layering of characters. Can you try to explain more clearly?"

Li Suyin furrowed her brows, squinting at the markings on the paper. "Ah, just a moment. I can hardly make out the hanzi on this," she murmured in consternation.

"Ah-ha, I don't really have much practice with my calligraphy," Ling Qi admitted with a slightly sheepish laugh. She probably could have done a decent job if she had slowed down, but she had been in a hurry too.

Li Suyin stilled, and Ling Qi started to worry that she had said something wrong.

"... You shouldn't be practicing formations if you aren't in practice with your brush." Ling Qi blinked as the one-eyed girl actually scolded her. "It's dangerous. Do you know what could happen if you mix up your strokes like this with formations characters?" Li Suyin asked, gesturing to some of the more ill-formed characters on the page.

"It won't work?" Ling Qi responded, not entirely sure where the heat in her friend's voice had come from.

"It could explode, damage your channels with the qi backlash, or plenty of other bad things!" Li Suyin exclaimed. "It's very important not to be lax about your brushwork. You could get hurt badly otherwise!"

Well, thus far, Ling Qi's focus had been on simply identifying and possibly breaking formations, not actually creating them, barring the simple bit of utility work on her kiln.

"Sorry," she said, holding up her hands defensively. "I'll be more careful in the future." She thought Li Suyin was blowing problems out of proportion, but it was nice to see her speaking up so Ling Qi kept those thoughts to herself. "So, the passage?"

Li Suyin continued to look at her sternly but then flushed, hunching her shoulders and looking down. "U-um, right. My apologies for getting heated. The meaning of this passage is quite simple. You just have to…"

Ling Qi rested her chin on her palm, following her friend's more concise explanation. Formations were a bit of a pain, but she felt like it would be a good skill to have in the future. Li Suyin was pretty good at explaining things so they worked through her notes pretty easily over the course of the next few days.

She even managed to learn the basics of a few common anti theft arrays. The Alarm and Thieves' Bane formations weren't too useful for her personally, but they did give her an idea of what to expect if she ever found herself having to find her way past security formations, as well as give her a foundation to learn more useful formations.

In the end, Ling Qi felt that something more important had been accomplished. She had let Li Suyin take the lead and act as the teacher in their studies, and it seemed to have restored some of the girl's self-confidence. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but when she left their last study session for the week, she felt like Li Suyin's posture and body language had improved significantly.

"Ling Qi." Li Suyin's words shook her from her thoughts and caused her to look over her shoulder, pausing on her way out of Li Suyin and Su Ling's shared abode. "I know I haven't been… I have not been the best friend, and I apologize for that," Li Suyin said, bowing her head.

Ling Qi gave her an incredulous look. "Li Suyin, you haven't done anything wrong. If anything, I should be thanking you," she said with slight frustration, turning to face the other girl.

"I have been very needy," Li Suyin plowed on, more firmly than Ling Qi was used to, seemingly ignoring her interjection. "I am glad that you were willing to support me, but I - I do need to learn to stand on my own. So, I want you to promise that when I challenge that girl, you won't interfere, even if I lose."

Ling Qi scowled at her friend's words but grudgingly nodded. "That's - I can do that. I still want to be there in case she tries something dirty though."

"That is fine," Li Suyin replied, smiling slightly. "And when this is over, I would like to take the exam to join the Medicine Hall as an apprentice."

What could she do but smile back? Ling Qi was still worried for her friend, but it seemed Li Suyin had found her path again.

With that weight no longer pressing down on her, Ling Qi found her cultivation of Eight Phase Ceremony proceeding smoothly. Soon, she found herself breathing in the celestial energies, letting it mingle with the qi in her dantian. It was difficult to process the more diffuse energy at first, but she could feel the qi cycling in and out of her core beginning to take on the more ephemeral qualities of lunar qi. If her Argent Foundation, which had firmly settled in her bones and muscles, was the 'earth' of her cultivation, then the light, misty qi formed by the cultivation of the Ceremony would be the sky, floating free above her denser qi.

There was something missing though, a part of the information in the jade slip that remained a cipher to her. Even that was progress though as before her mastery of this first phase, she hadn't even been able to perceive that she was missing something. Ling Qi felt confident that she would get it with time.

Leaving aside the mystery of Eight Phase Ceremony, she still had other things that needed to be done. First, her egg needed tending. It had shifted a few times in the last week, the green veins pulsing as it drank in the heat. Once she had adjusted the fire for the egg, Cai's mission beckoned.

Ling Qi had learned more about the attacker's patterns by speaking to previous victims and those who had found them in the aftermath. It was weird having people treat her as if she had authority; she even recognized a handful as girls who had laughed behind their hands at her when she had been weaker, but now, they spoke with wary respect. Ling Qi had known things had changed, but it was her first time having the change put so obviously in front of her face..

It seemed the attacker only struck in the outermost two streets and on the road leading into the residential area. It also only struck after midnight and only if the target was alone. Everything else was as Cai said. The attacker struck from out of sight and took its victim down with a single paralyzing blow. The attacker was either using their fists or a blunt weapon because the victims had no cuts or puncture wounds. A couple of the ones she spoke to noted something else that Cai hadn't mentioned though. They remembered hearing flute music before they blacked out.

There was little detail to be had further than that so Ling Qi began to plan to take the attacker down. They had struck three nights ago; it was about time for an ambush to happen again. She managed to convince a friend of a victim to play bait for her. She would shadow the girl as she arrived home 'running late' from training.

Ling Qi was confident that no one would see her. She had been good at sneaking before becoming a cultivator; now, she could practically become one with the shadows, flitting from one piece of cover to another with nary a sound as little more than a blur. She followed the girl she had asked to be her bait home from training, silent and out of sight, remaining tense and ready to move at a moment's notice.

It was a dark night with the narrow sliver of the moon concealed by clouds, but that didn't affect Ling Qi, who saw every rustle in the trees lining the path with perfect clarity. Still, it was nerve-wracking, trailing the girl's slow trudge back toward her house, and Ling Qi nearly jumped out every time a bird took off from the trees.

It paid off in the end though. As the girl was approaching the top of the slope that would lead down into the residential area, Ling Qi spotted something amiss. A shift in the stone ridge on the right side of the path preceded a tall, dark figure seeming to melt out of the rock. It was shrouded from head to toe in dark clothes, including a face-concealing veil, but Ling Qi saw a long, dark braid of hair trailing behind the figure as it rushed the victim, flickering and vanishing from one step to the next.

Ling Qi was ready, and one of her knives flashed out from her hiding place in a streak of light. It struck home, stabbing into the attacker's lower back and causing the figure to stumble and let out a feminine gasp of pain. The noise was enough for her bait to spin around, spot the figure, and let out an alarmed shriek before dashing off toward the houses.

She couldn't blame the girl really, and frankly, she was glad to keep potential complications to a minimum. Ling Qi drew her flute and moved cautiously forward, only to pause as the figure did the same. The figure straightened up with an instrument in her hands and called forth a mist with the first notes played.

Ling Qi narrowed her eyes in consternation. The tune was light and reedy and worst of all, slightly off-key. It also wasn't her Melody, and although the mist was thick and difficult to see through, it was easily engulfed by her own mist.

The figure seemed confused and hesitant as Diapason took hold, huddled in her own pocket of mist, and Ling Qi noted with some alarm that despite the knife in her back, the figure wasn't bleeding. On instinct, she activated Argent Mirror, qi flooding into her eyes as she sought the truth of what lay before her. Argent Mirror's Discerning Gaze seemed to have no effect though, aside from letting her see clearly though the enemy's mist.

The figure turned and rushed away from her, clearly seeking escape, but the attempt was futile. Ling Qi watched as the attacker was turned around at the edge of the mist. This was… not impressive.

Ling Qi lowered her flute, and another knife flew from her hand, this time striking the back of the target's knee, causing her to crumble to the ground. Even a weaker cultivator should have more tricks than this. She stalked forward through the mist until she stood over the huddled figure on the ground. Her target was tall and thin and was struggling to get up, but the movements seemed jerky and uneven. Ling Qi was beginning to get a bad feeling as she saw some sort of fine black dust leaking from the target's wounds.

"Stop and surrender. Now," Ling Qi commanded flatly, voice distorted oddly from the mist. "Or the next one takes out your other leg."

Unsurprisingly, the figure did not stop, managing to shakily regain its feet in an attempt to run. Ling Qi made good on her promise, and the target crashed to the ground again, twitching weirdly. Ling Qi strode over and reached down, snatching away the girl's - no, the thing's - veil. It was as she expected given the thing's fighting style. She looked down at her own face, locked in a grimace of pain, eyes blank and glassy.

The thing jerked, and its hand rose, crackling with electric qi, but Ling Qi batted the slow movement aside and drove her palm into her doppelganger's throat. It twitched once more and let out a soft hissing sound before it crumbled. Literally. The facsimile of her appearance collapsed into a mound of black earth and dust, and laying half-buried in the center of the mound was an eerie little china doll with a cartoonish caricature of her face painted on its ceramic visage.

Ling Qi wasn't happy at all. Someone had tried to set her up. She picked the thing up and put it in her storage ring, dusting her hands off as she stood up. It seemed she owed Cai Renxiang a visit.

The other girl's appearance was as impeccable as ever despite the late hour that Ling Qi made her visit, but her expression grew stony as Ling Qi explained what had happened and showed her the doll. Ling Qi winced as one of its legs cracked and fell to shatter on the stone tiles of the path in Cai Renxiang's front garden.

"Unacceptable," the heiress' voice cut through the quiet night air like a whip as she glared at the doll in Ling Qi's hands. "It seems some foolish person intended to use my justice for their own ends." Cai Renxiang sounded more than unhappy at that fact.

"I can't say I'm happy to have my face stolen either," Ling Qi said stiffly, feeling more than a little irritated herself. "I want to know who did this," she added, deference forgotten.

Cai Renxiang looked up, expression stern and light glimmering in a corona behind her head. "As do I. You have my word that this will be investigated. Thoroughly. If I may?" she asked, gesturing to the doll. Ling Qi handed it over, wanting nothing to do with the creepy thing. "You have done well. I will have you informed when the culprit is found."

Ling Qi nodded, accepting the small handful of glittering stones in payment before leaving the heiress' home. She was certainly glad that she hadn't ignored Cai's request. While the doll hadn't been able to escape her, she suspected that it was never intended for actual combat. It would have been all too easy for the doll to allow a victim to catch sight of its face by 'accident' with time, and then she would have been in a tight spot.

It seemed she would need to watch her back in coming weeks.