The next morning a giant rotting bird slammed to the ground outside Depot Number Four. It lowered its long beak to the ground and vomited out a mass of wretched people. They were covered in boils and tumors, some bigger than their heads. Tian watched them come screaming out.
“Save us, save us!”
“Please, it hurts so much! Medicine! Please, medicine!”
“Immortals,...
2025-03-26 14:00:14 +0000 UTC
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It wasn’t a rope dart. It was some ancient wasteland monster disguised as a rope dart. That was Tian’s immediate impression. The rope had doubled in length, now some twenty feet long and made of a fiber that flexed like silk but was harder than steel. A ripple of vital energy along the length raised sharp fibers that angled away from the head. He could control where they emerged with Snake ...
2025-03-25 14:00:16 +0000 UTC
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Tian wished he knew a concealment art. Theoretically, they were available. Practically, however, they weren’t much better than understanding how to shape your body along contours, how to blend your colors with the world around you, how to eliminate shine, and how to still your breathing. In other words, according to his senior brothers, they really weren’t worth it at the Earthly Person Rea...
2025-03-24 14:00:14 +0000 UTC
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Tian tossed another pair of heads onto the pile. One of the seniors was going around incinerating the bodies. Tian just wanted to save him an extra stop. That senior was busy enough.
These heretics, even the Earthly Realm ones, had all sorts of vile tricks. Poison was the least of it- some cultivated gu inside their bodies, or plagues. Burning was the best way to deal with their cor...
2025-03-23 22:43:40 +0000 UTC
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Tian conferred with some of the senior brothers before he started his return journey to Forward Camp Redknife. It was one thing to know that he was running into the tail end of a heretical raid and fighting the sacrificial food for the demonized bird along the way. It was quite another to assume the route back would be clear. He had a rough route plotted when a Senior Sister called his name, an...
2025-03-23 16:00:13 +0000 UTC
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There was something awful about watching acid freeze and corrode flesh. The demonized hawk certainly thought it was awful. It screamed and thrashed wildly. Tian had to wedge himself into the widening wound to avoid being thrown away. He didn’t want to leave the stomach just yet. The acid was doing wonderful work for him. He’d let it work on the muscles and other organs for him first. <...
2025-03-22 18:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Tian fell towards the burning lake of acid, doing his best to go slow. His best wasn’t very good. He made his body as light as he could manage, but it was a long way from being as light as a feather. He fell belly first, stretching out his arms and legs like a bat, hoping his robes might catch a little of the air and slow his fall. It didn’t really work.
His mind raced as he tho...
2025-03-22 16:00:14 +0000 UTC
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The tongue was covered with spines, all pointing down towards the throat. The centipedes writhed and twisted, thrashing and biting each other as they fell. Tian had a good look at them passing. The bird was so huge, he was thirty feet above them. Only a desperate stretch of his arms, a violent gust of inhaled wind, and the full extension of his rope dart let him barely hang from the back of the...
2025-03-22 14:00:13 +0000 UTC
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By the time most of you see this, Sky Pride will have cracked 2,600 followers on Royal Road. Despite a couple of .5 star ratings, the rating is still holding at a very respectable 4.85 stars, and is currently ranked #25 overall on the site. Which is, to be clear, phenomenal. I had no expectation of staying in the top ten. The churn there is crazy. You know what else is crazy? This momentum. Thi...
2025-03-22 02:43:13 +0000 UTC
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Tian whipped his rope dart up and into the bug’s face. His expression didn’t even flicker when the centipede shifted slightly and the dart bounced off the hard shell. He had gotten very used to fighting all kinds of insects in the Wasteland. Centipedes were new to him, but he’d killed so many scorpions that he was sick of seeing them. Armored and venomous was now standard for the things h...
2025-03-21 14:00:16 +0000 UTC
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It was a plum mission. Two days after he returned from his last disastrous patrol, Tian was assigned a courier job moving between Forward Base Redknife and Resupply Depot 4. It was essentially long runs in the desert, which wasn’t fun, but it was an opportunity to earn Military Merits while being, technically, behind the front lines. The ‘technically’ was important- he was filling a dead ...
2025-03-20 14:00:16 +0000 UTC
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Tian didn’t plan on introducing himself. He could see a lot of Outer Court disciples just ‘hanging around’ Hong Liren and her True Disciple grandmother. He immediately thought of dogs waiting to come forward and wag their tails, hoping to please the human and be fed. The thought was revolting. So he turned sharply for the barracks and left them chatting on the road. He got about two steps...
2025-03-19 14:00:19 +0000 UTC
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The battlefront was only eight hundred miles away. That was only a few hours travel, at most, for a Heavenly Person Relm cultivator with a flying artifact. The Inner Court was up to its elbows in blood, but the heretics were sending endless waves of demons to meet them. They sent swarms of insects so large, they blotted out the sun. Sinister curses that could freeze your bones and turn your blo...
2025-03-18 14:35:08 +0000 UTC
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Tian was out on patrol with nine of the senior brothers. It sounded somewhat casual- patrol. Like he was just walking around on a tidy path with his battle hardened seniors. Those same seniors quickly set him straight. Before they left the base, they carefully checked him over. His protective clothing was carefully examined, with serious care taken to make sure everything fit and nothing chafed...
2025-03-17 15:04:09 +0000 UTC
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“Senior Brother… was I kicked in the head secretly?”
“Nope. That’s real.”
The West Town Outer Court had assembled in a field outside the town. Their duties had been assumed by mortal servants overseen by cripples and seniors who had stepped back from the front lines in the Inner Court. Every fit Earthly Realm lay brother and sister had left. No exceptions.
Ti...
2025-03-16 16:00:18 +0000 UTC
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Tian was in better control of his emotions by the time the Sisters left the Temple. He went directly to his cozy cell with its rat-proof walls and rain-proof roof and the bed that had a mattress stuffed with cotton and a blanket with no holes in it. Where nothing smelled rotten or sick. Where he was safe, warm, and clean. Where he first met people that wanted him. That went out of their way for...
2025-03-16 14:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Hong Liren was even taller than she was before. Tian had grown a few inches in the last year, and felt that he was shooting up. Hong Liren still managed to expand her vertical lead. She was starting to change, growing into a more adult face. Tian scratched his chin. Was he also growing into a more adult face?
Hong Liren bowed. He returned the bow immediately. “I didn’t bow last time. ...
2025-03-15 16:28:15 +0000 UTC
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Tian scrubbed the flagstone pathways with some senior brothers. It was a point of pride for the Temple. Years ago, maybe two centuries ago or more, the then most Senior Brother and Sister had a huge argument which devolved into calling each other sloppy and messy and the kind of person that lived in a pig pen. Therefore, the annual exchanges had become cleaning competitions as well as martial a...
2025-03-15 16:26:38 +0000 UTC
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Brother Tang lived. His body was ruined, but his cultivation was intact. He wouldn’t be leaving the Temple for many years, if he ever left it again. Tian never got the whole story. It was just “Heretics.” And that was that. Tian found himself drifting back into the shadows. His brothers pulled him out again. If he was scared, he should get stronger. If he wanted to get stronger, fight!
2025-03-15 16:23:31 +0000 UTC
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Same as last time- there will be a break, then I will come back to it. I don't have specific dates lined up at the moment. Right now, I'm focused on Sky Pride and as I have mentioned before, Weeaboo takes it out of me. Vol. 2 is really vol. 2 and 3- Vol. 2 should have ended when they conquered Hungry Moon Mountain. So I'm taking a break from the story for a little while to recharge, physically ...
2025-03-15 16:04:53 +0000 UTC
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Sky Pride hit the front page of Rising Stars in Six. Days. Six. That's crazy. That's absolutely nuts. I want to particularly thank those of you who posted reviews- it's a big, big help, especially in the early days. To celebrate, I'll be releasing an extra five chapters- three today, and two tomorrow. It also is a good reminder to me that I need to be jumping straight into writing more chapters...
2025-03-15 15:57:55 +0000 UTC
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Congratulations! You have successfully acquired the Verton/Wastet Ruin Site. Mercenary Guild Unlocked. Merchant Guild Unlocked. Caravan System Unlocked. Monster Suppression System Unlocked. Special Recruitment Banner Unlocked. Genudian specialty weapons, equipment, armor and outfits now available for purchase.
City Hero Bonus- No C...
2025-03-15 02:50:22 +0000 UTC
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Not relevant to anything, really. Definitely some Internet points nonsense. Once upon a time, for a hot second, To The Far Shore was a Top Ten ranked book. Not long enough for me to get the badge, but it was. Still. Pretty cool that I have two top 100 ranked stories on Royal Road. Thank you all so much for your support. It's what lets me keep writing. Now- fingers crossed for that Rising Stars ...
2025-03-14 21:12:39 +0000 UTC
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Brother Fu wasn’t subtle in the aftermath of the hawk attack. He handed Tian a head-sized stack of books on how to conduct oneself as a gentleman (which also happened to double as a library of ethics), then invited Wong around to discuss the dao. Their conversation resulted in a dust plume visible over the walls of Brother Fu’s courtyard.
Once the dust settled and Brother Wong...
2025-03-14 14:00:19 +0000 UTC
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The arrow fell with a whistle and landed with a sharp crack! It bit into the raptor’s back, drilling towards its heart. It must have caught on a bone, because the bird screamed and tried to limp into the sky.
“Tch!” A second arrow pierced the bird’s neck. It fell limply on the ground. Tian saw that it was dead before it touched dirt.
A woman flew in on a sword...
2025-03-13 14:00:13 +0000 UTC
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The boss monster had become temporarily immobilized. I say temporarily, because there is no chance in hell something that big and nasty would just sit still and let itself get hit. It would have some kind of leaping attack, or run around using a few of its arms to lift the whole damn wagon off the ground or something. And until it was ready to do that, it was in full defense mode.
The
2025-03-13 03:50:38 +0000 UTC
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“Blackwater Willow is an excellent source for Earthly tier medicines. Why is that, Junior Brother?” Senior Brother Wong was reclining on a blanket, happily eating a small bowl of lychees. There was a calabash of peach blossom tea by his hand, and a small selection of nuts. He had picked the perfect spot where he was shaded by the willow but not laying directly on roots.
“Becau...
2025-03-12 14:00:14 +0000 UTC
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The monster rumbled across the field towards us, a whirling barge of limbs psychological torment.
“Pomoro, shoot the oxen things out front. Let’s see how far those maces stretch.”
Othai was marshaling her troops into a defensive formation, trying to balance pinning the critter in place and maximizing DPS. It practically screamed OP melee with a charge attack and mental d...
2025-03-11 17:25:36 +0000 UTC
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The competition had been fierce to deliver the goods. Tian had posted the delivery job with one merit point and one spirit crystal, reckoning it was fair enough to carry a few items and a bit of paper across town. What he hadn’t expected was a dozen senior brothers swooping in to snatch the job, resulting in an all out brawl in the Mission Hall. It was highly instructive, Tian felt. He though...
2025-03-11 14:00:15 +0000 UTC
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The current cover for Sky Pride is some F Tier AI slop. So I went and ordered one on Fivver. I went for fast and cheap, as I figured I needed it in a hurry. I erred. But hey, I'll put it up to a vote- slap a title on the new picture and make it the cover, or keep the current cover for now? Either way, I will be getting a cover made that is better.
Current Cover:
2025-03-10 18:49:37 +0000 UTC
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