Word got around Bamboo Medicine Hut quickly. By the time the tea party reached the martial practice courtyards, a sizable crowd had gathered. Hong huddled with Tian and gave him some last minute instructions.
“No matter what he says, don’t kill him, don’t cripple him, don’t destroy his cultivation, don’t castrate him. Don’t hit his face either. That’s important.” Hong was ...
2025-07-24 14:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostTian realized he was being rude about ten seconds after people started staring at him. He jolted to his feet and cupped his hands towards the new arrivals, bowing almost ninety degrees. “I am sorry! I was completely lost in my thoughts.”
“Understandable. You were just out in the desert, weren’t you?” This from a daoist of around thirty years old. Tian pegged him at the seventh l...
2025-07-23 12:00:15 +0000 UTC View Post“So you grow the Red Heartline Grass in rows for easy reaping, but the Coldeye Flowers need to be grown in an array with these other plants?” Tian asked.
“Yes! Well, no, you could kind of grow it by itself or spaced out in rows or something, with enough soil amendments and regularly applying supplements. But it grows much better and much more productively if you grow it in a sect....
2025-07-22 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe disciples started walking onto the flying cloud when Tian spotted a dreadful, expedition destroying problem.
“We never resolved the issue of seniority!” Tian exclaimed. “Quickly- which of us is the senior brother or sister? Brother Wang and Sister Su have the highest cultivation, and Brother Wang is the eldest. By default, he should be the senior. Any disagreements?”
“...
2025-07-21 14:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostTian clapped his hands together. The loud noise shocked everyone out of their argument. “We are going around in circles. We should take a br
Tian clapped his hands together. The loud noise shocked everyone out of their argument. “We are going around in circles. We should take a break here. May I trouble Sister Su to compile the notes into something readable?”
“Certainly, Bro...
2025-07-18 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThey gathered in the common room to sort through what they had put together. Tian passed around his little timeline, which got grim nods of
They gathered in the common room to sort through what they had put together. Tian passed around his little timeline, which got grim nods of appreciation from Brother Wang and Sister Su. They came with their own stacks of notes. Sister Su took the floo...
2025-07-17 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostTian had reached his limit. He hadn’t slept properly, his mind was a mess, and even bickering with Hong had lost all appeal. He would move h
Tian had reached his limit. He hadn’t slept properly, his mind was a mess, and even bickering with Hong had lost all appeal. He would move his body a bit. Tian walked out into the garden. There wasn’t any dedicated practice space, but the area ...
2025-07-16 14:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post“You two will remain in the Manor for the next little while. I plan on giving Juniors Wang and Su some more time to work down in the city. T
“You two will remain in the Manor for the next little while. I plan on giving Juniors Wang and Su some more time to work down in the city. They are digging up…” Elder Feng paused, her eyes growing a little hazy. “Painful truths. Our trip th...
2025-07-15 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post“Fairy Maiden descends from the fiery star, unafraid before ten thousand devils.” Hong swung her spear around with one hand, then collected
“Fairy Maiden descends from the fiery star, unafraid before ten thousand devils.” Hong swung her spear around with one hand, then collected it and fell into a ready stance. Power gathered, ready to lunge upwards and pierce the heavens. 2025-07-14 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Tian was lightheaded from the shimmering, twisting agony of the demon’s finger. It had reached a point of obliteration, where the pain simply overwhelmed rational thought and demanded that the panicked animal do whatever was necessary to escape. Weighed against that was the increasingly loud chant from the Hell Suppressing Sutra. As the curse qi intensified within his body, the Sutra grew lou...
2025-07-11 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostTian took a long moment to try and understand what he was seeing. The girl was dressed in rather good robes. They were a fine silk, bright g
Tian took a long moment to try and understand what he was seeing. The girl was dressed in rather good robes. They were a fine silk, bright green with gold trim and a blindingly white underrobe. All carefully tied and belted in place. Her hair was nic...
2025-07-10 14:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostThe shadows lengthened with the setting sun. Then they consumed the mercenary cultivators. “You are only level six. You are doing something
The shadows lengthened with the setting sun. Then they consumed the mercenary cultivators.
“You are only level six. You are doing something weird to your breath, but I can still tell. You are just a goddamn level six junior!” The spearman...
2025-07-09 14:00:20 +0000 UTC View PostBrother Long was Tian’s friend. Brother Long was an elegant young man who cultivated sophistication. He studied the four arts a gentleman sc
Brother Long was Tian’s friend. Brother Long was an elegant young man who cultivated sophistication. He studied the four arts a gentleman scholar should master with the grace of someone who would never be pushing a plow or digging ditches for a l...
2025-07-08 14:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostThere wasn’t a fight. The mortal swung a mallet at Tian and watched in horror as Tian stopped it with a finger, then flicked it hard enough
There wasn’t a fight. The mortal swung a mallet at Tian and watched in horror as Tian stopped it with a finger, then flicked it hard enough to send the four pound sledge through the wall.
“Your particular brand of heresy is called th...
2025-07-07 14:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostSlavery was a concept that only existed on paper for Tian. He knew it existed, something perpetrated by the heretics of the Black Iron Gorge
Slavery was a concept that only existed on paper for Tian. He knew it existed, something perpetrated by the heretics of the Black Iron Gorge or some ancient dynasty that died drowning in its own sin. It was also, apparently, about twenty miles from B...
2025-07-04 14:00:18 +0000 UTC View PostThere was a peace to moving with no expectations. Tian jogged to keep up with the returning cavalry, his black robes flapping and his straw…
There was a peace to moving with no expectations. Tian jogged to keep up with the returning cavalry, his black robes flapping and his straw… he was never quite sure what to call it. Hats didn’t usually cover the whole head, face included, in wh...
2025-07-03 14:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostTian needed a sit down after the Elder’s revelations. He wasn’t going to get one.
“We are not in a position to completely dismantle the salt trade in the Broad Sky Kingdom, even if we were to disregard the familial interests of our disciples, but this is unendurable. Junior Wang?”
“Trade with other salt producing nations. The Green Dragon kingdom has oceans, and we s...
2025-07-02 14:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostThe tea session was a modest success. While no definitive common points were identified across all four scrolls, there was a definite theme. Where, on balance, should ensuring the common good be balanced against the instinct of all people to better themselves specifically? And, following that question, to what degree did it make sense to put the cost of maintaining that public...
2025-07-01 14:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostThe scroll was written in a deceptively academic style- seemingly dry and clinical, but laced with hidden traps for the unwary reader. Tian would never want to be a scholar, but between studying medical texts, the nakedly propagandic history texts and Grandpa’s heckling, he had honed a few basic instincts. The most crucial of which was this- “What is the author choosing to write about, and ...
2025-06-30 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe atmosphere on the platform had dropped to freezing. Hong still had her spear out, but it looked like she had forgotten she was holding it. She was, instead, watching her friend carefully fill a bucket with water then adding a carefully measured portion of harsh soap to it. He pulled a mop from his ring, placed it in the bucket, agitated it gently to make sure the soap was properly combined ...
2025-06-27 14:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe room was dead silent. Elder Rui was content to let them process his words. It had been a lot. Eventually, Tian stood, bowed with clasped hands and asked “Elder Rui, if I may be so bold as to ask, why the… why are we fighting this war? What exactly do the heretics want?”
He was slightly desperate to know at this point. The semi-regular motivational speeches were long on all the t...
2025-06-26 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe Daoist Master arrived by sky barge. He didn’t deign to appear before the masses. He summoned Direct Disciple Sung, and through her, gave instructions. A few hours after the Daoist Master arrived, those instructions filtered down to Tian.
Tian gathered in a hastily reconstructed reception hall. Tian assumed it was a reconstruction, anyway. He had certainly never been here before, and...
2025-06-25 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostBrother Fu stood rooted on the ground, his voice a rolling chant. Each word landed like a graven tablet, like a bronze stele carrying the supreme law.
“The things of the world burst out everywhere, and each returns to its own root. Returning to the root is called stillness; this is called returning to destiny; returning to destiny is called constant; knowing the constant is called enlig...
2025-06-24 14:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostThe Heavenly Realm cultivators were the first to run. They were closest to the gathering clouds on their flying swords or swarms of insects or lotus platforms. They could see the clouds crackling with malevolent red and purple lightning. They could feel the heavenly fury, feel the utter violence of the coming storm. So they ran. To reach the Heavenly Person Realm required a moment of revelation...
2025-06-23 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostTL,DR:
Longer answer-
I goofed on the fingers. Finger Truthers were right. I miscounted. Somehow I got into my head that he had regrown his ring fingers, an...
2025-06-22 21:53:38 +0000 UTC View Post“A man needs a creed. Without a creed, he’s lost. So let me ask you, Daoist Kong, what’s your creed?”
“Immortality at all costs. And yours, Daoist Gobek?”
“Don’t have one. I’m lost.”
Daoist Gobek, as he was known in Stillearth Refuge, smiled thinly and took a long drink of wine. He didn’t consider himself a fussy man, but a lightless room inside of a rock...
2025-06-18 15:20:18 +0000 UTC View PostWhew! Quite the wild ride. Thank you all so much for reading and supporting Sky Pride. It is your support that lets me turn my passion into a career. I will get out that side chapter next week, and use the rest of the time to recharge and load up on new ideas for Vol. 3.
Now, long time readers of mine will know I like working with a major stockpile, as it gives me time to revise and impr...
2025-06-13 14:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Junior Tian, sit down!”
“I need to go to my brothers. I need to be there with them!”
“Tian! No!” Hong yelled.
“I have to go to them!” He lurched for the side of the platform. Elder Rui snarled and made a sharp gesture. Tian collapsed, flattened against the wood.
“You think I don’t know how you are feeling? Four hundred years ago, it was me down there...
2025-06-13 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostI don't want to leave you guys high and dry all week during my vacation, so I thought it might be fun to write a one-off Sky Pride chapter from a different POV. Something from Hong's perspective, or Elder Rui, or even the heretics. I'm not putting up a poll because I'm most interested in what ideas you guys have. Whatever sparks my interest is what I'll write about. Ideas go in the comments be...
2025-06-12 14:15:01 +0000 UTC View PostFour demonized hawks clawed at the barrier around the base. They had already dumped their payload of zombies and more demon summoners must be hidden in the desert because there were dozens of the horrors hammering away at the defenses.
Tian knew the barrier had been strengthened after the last attack. It was still holding. He didn’t believe it could possibly hold for much longer.<...
2025-06-12 14:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post