It was impossible to know someone perfectly without being them. Shu Yue had asserted that. And on further thought, Ling Qi felt she understood that more clearly now. People hid or held thoughts back. They remained silent when they shouldn’t have. And that was the people she was closest to, let alone acquaintances and strangers.
But the right solution wasn’t to cut everything off from ...
2023-04-03 21:39:31 +0000 UTC View PostIn the beginning, there was joy.
There was a whole world to explore, infinite in possibility
But it was the nature of that world to define, to limit, to order. Solidity, stability, selfhood.
Even for those mighty defiers of Law, their purpose was to write and rewrite those laws, not to banish them entirely.
Such was the waking world.
The first link of the chain was...
2023-03-31 00:40:23 +0000 UTC View PostThe words struck her with physical force, sending her to her knees as her bubble of control collapsed. The wind swept in. Rotten leaves and snow plastered themselves across her, filling her nose with their disgusting moldy scent.
Linq Qi pressed her hands to the ground, refusing still to fully buckle under the pressure. Sixiang’s words in their brief argument came to her.
“He’...
2023-03-28 00:31:35 +0000 UTC View PostThe air around them darkened, and she saw Sixiang stiffen, something cold and cruel and alien seeping into their eyes. The threads dug into her wrist, and the binding grew tighter.
She’d known the problem coming here. Despite her deflection, despite her evasion, and despite her avoidance of the subject, Ling Qi knew the root of the problem. The problem was that her conception of intimac...
2023-03-23 21:29:28 +0000 UTC View PostLing Qi landed lightly on extended toes, surrounded by shards of glass. She stood on immaculate jade tiles, surrounded by cool mist and music. Applause greeted her, and she was met with a grand ballroom full of spirits in every shape and in every size. Beasts were strolling around on their hind legs, garbed in noble finery. Creatures of the elements, the avatars of stream and breeze and leaf an...
2023-03-13 22:56:04 +0000 UTC View Post“What you said, those were the Duchess’ words?” Ling Qi asked.
“Only the first. The rest are my thoughts.”
Ling Qi wanted to share them with Renxiang.
“You desire to question. How long until your intended descent?” Shu Yue asked plainly.
“Evening under the Dreaming Moon.”
“There is time for one question then, if you wish to train.”
“Ar...
2023-03-10 00:04:23 +0000 UTC View PostIt's that time again. Another set of arcs will be finishing next week and that means I'll be taking one week to destress and plan the next set. I hope everyone has been enjoying things, and I hope I'll see most of you when content resumes!
2023-03-08 19:26:36 +0000 UTC View Post“I’ve been ignorant,” Ling Qi said. “My world was small, barely larger than what lay before my eyes.”
She thought of scrabbling for food and shelter, never able to look up, barely able to look around. No time for anything not immediately relevant. It was an awful way to live and one which no person should have to endure.
“You didn’t stay that way for long.”
Lin...
2023-03-07 01:32:08 +0000 UTC View PostAnd here's the second chapter, with the extra commissioned, enjoy!
“Do you accept this mission, officer?”
“Naturally, I would not refuse such a vital duty,” Gu Xiulan said, unable to keep the slightly irritable twist out of her tone. “It pleases me that I am finally trusted with such.”
Major Gu Yu, regarded her over the top of his field ...
2023-03-06 22:28:56 +0000 UTC View PostLing Qi crouched by the overgrown pond that sat among the ruins of the old temple, looking down into the murky waters.
The old stones were swept and cleaned. The broken structure had been grown anew from Zhengui’s roots. A new mirror of polished silver was placed inside in a case of polished wood, anointed with the proper oils. The faint scent of incense drifted out to her.
Here w...
2023-03-03 01:23:20 +0000 UTC View PostAN: Just a little late but there will be a second chapter this week thanks to a kind commissioner.
They were harried at every step.
The ashwalkers were dogged and unrelenting. Even with a full third of their numbers cut down in the opening raid did nothing to slow them, only loosen their cohesion with the death of an officer. And it was clearly not the only one, as ...
2023-03-01 20:13:49 +0000 UTC View Post“And that is what I was able to get from our countrymen today,” Ling Qi said, bowing at the waist as she finished her recitation and returned to her seat. Together with Cai Renxiang and Gan Guangli, she was in a large warm tent set out near to the partially built embassy.
“A Zheng,” Cai Renxiang said tiredly, rubbing her fingers against her temples. “That is troublesome.”
<... 2023-02-28 00:15:57 +0000 UTC View PostThere was so much Ling Qi wished she could cover, so much information she was yet lacking. She had only two short months to prepare for the admittedly month-long summit, and so very many things to do.
This was her first meeting with these representatives of the White Sky however, and so, with much thought, she decided it would be best to focus on cultural topics. Going after material ones...
2023-02-24 01:03:42 +0000 UTC View Post“May I ask for your understanding of this summit in your own words?”
Ling Qi didn’t know enough about him. If most of her information toward Cao Chun was going to be filtered, that couldn’t stand. The Jin were the ducal clan of the Alabaster Seas. They had minimal relations with the Emerald Seas. She knew they were mercantile, somewhat like the Bao, but much more heavily invested ...
2023-02-21 02:33:12 +0000 UTC View PostThere were some unexpected circumstances this week in my life and it resulted in me losing a bit of organization. My apologies for the delay on yesterday's update everyone.
2023-02-17 14:57:19 +0000 UTC View Post<Heh, you already getting practice in, huh?> Sixiang laughed.
No reason not to, Ling Qi thought. Qi circulated in the threads of her dress and through the wind, and before her feet could touch the treetops, she was flying.
Her flight took her down into the valley proper again, descending onto the growing web of streets and robes. With the time passed, she should arrive in time...
2023-02-17 14:54:38 +0000 UTC View PostIt always annoyed Bao Qian just a little, that mortal coins were so much better designed as currency than the money of cultivators. Coins were good, round and flat, stackable. A hole punched through the center, so that they could be strung on thread or rawhide. Convenient and reasonable. Stones on the other hand, had an odd shape, could not be stacked or stored easily. He knew it didn’t matte...
2023-02-14 01:06:58 +0000 UTC View PostTraveling across the severed mountain peak and following the half-constructed road laid out by posts and string, she made her way toward the southern edge of the plateau. She had begun to feel a hole where one should be. It was the sort of deliberately amateurish masking she would do if trying to advertise her presence without giving her domain away. And indeed, as she moved round the foundatio...
2023-02-10 00:52:28 +0000 UTC View PostAN: For my patrons I decided a little late that I'll be adding the coming interlude to the main story so you guys will get it here, but Royal Road may see it placed otherwise.
The road wound ever on. Through hills and trees, around mountains, across rivers. The cool air rushed by, sharp with the incoming winter. When they had begun, the roads had been smooth, in superb ma...
2023-02-07 01:52:56 +0000 UTC View PostIt was a few hours later, the sun having passed its zenith, when Ling Qi made her way out, traveling up and over the switchback path that led toward the top of the severed mountain. It was unpleasant. The qi in the air was still disturbed and humming, the mountain all but emanating indignation and wrath but also the fear of a being wholly cowed. Ling Qi could sense the efforts being made to cal...
2023-02-03 01:17:09 +0000 UTC View PostLing Qi followed Wang Lian away from the work site, chatting about Hanyi and her tour and the work going on at the site. Wang Lian seemed tentatively approving. The woman seemed to approve of innovation as a general principle, so long as precautions were taken for safety.
Wang Lian led her to a small, mundane pavilion of wood and canvas under which there was a a table holding some refresh...
2023-01-30 22:44:35 +0000 UTC View Post“The Bountiful Earth must smile upon us!” Gan Guangli laughed. He leaned against the side of the carriage, his bulky arm resting upon the window frame.
“That is definitely the implication that I wove into the cover letter of my report on the find,” Ling Qi said. “It is very lucky.”
“Improbably so, but such is the nature of spirits,” Cai Renxiang said. She tapped her ...
2023-01-27 01:11:55 +0000 UTC View PostThe shouts of men, the clattering of bone against rusted metal, and the whistle of the wind past her ears combined into a cacophony of sound. The sound of thundering hooves combined with the hiss and snap of sparks and flames. Her heart thundered in her ears, and lightning sang in her veins.
Gu Xiulan’s cheeks ached from how fiercely she found herself grinning.
The road ahead was ...
2023-01-26 19:50:29 +0000 UTC View Post“You can leave if you like, Lao Keung. Thank you for your assistance.”
“What assistance is that? A few words on waterborne toxins? Hmph, I feel as if this expedition was only an excuse to interrogate me.”
“You were helpful. I am not the best at tracking.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“Despite my brash words, I did not want to disturb the lake spirit without cause....
2023-01-23 16:55:08 +0000 UTC View PostThere will a break to let me take care of some offline business until the above date. Thank you for your patience! I'll return with a new update and hopefully some fun announcements. See everyone then.
2023-01-12 22:21:37 +0000 UTC View PostHe nodded once and reached up, unwrapping his head scarf and vanishing it into a storage ring. His coat followed, leaving him in a sleeveless tunic. Ling Qi did not stare, obviously. Not everyone could wear a talisman as potent and mutable as hers.
As he began to wade out into the water, she followed, her gown remaining perfectly dry despite being submerged, little fractal blooms of ice g...
2023-01-12 22:19:36 +0000 UTC View PostFinal Frost’s Serenade.
The alliteration appealed, Ling Qi thought, lowering her flute. Around her was a copse of trees, dripping faintly with melted frost. There were a few shattered trunks and stumps where the impurity had run too deep, but it was largely now a clean copse, quiet and serene. She observed the dew on the grass and the faint mist curling around the roots, a product of th...
2023-01-10 02:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostHanyi began to sing, and Ling Qi listened closely. The song was light and graceful, resembling the piece Ling Qi had helped her compose some time ago for that last concert before the journey south, but this version was more strident and mature.
And as Hanyi sang, flurries of snow crystallized in the wind that whipped up around her, resulting in falling flakes and pebbles of hail. The bite...
2023-01-06 00:36:24 +0000 UTC View PostLing Qi blew out a breath. “Too much to put in good order, little sister.”
Her eyes scanned the books, the neat scrolls, and journals and collated anthologies before straying to the far messier corner of the table. That corner was filled with stacked worn and tattered pieces, single pages, scrolls with broken batons, and rolls of bamboo slats missing panels or scraped and burned.
<... 2023-01-02 23:44:13 +0000 UTC View Post“Big Sister! I bet you’ve been in all sorts of trouble without me!” Hanyi yelled gleefully, all but jumping into her arms for a hug.
“Maybe a little. “I’d like to hear what you’ve been up to though.” Ling Qi laughed, hugging her back. “Ah, and what’s this?”
She pinched a few strands of Hanyi’s hair between her fingers. On top of getting longer, the tips had d...
2022-12-30 00:25:10 +0000 UTC View Post