Superstes

Wine Flowing Like A River (City Lord Zhang Theme)

Intrepid Explorer (Jiang Yue's Theme)

Overdue Explanations

The black, resilient surface of the sparring platform seemed to drink the afternoon light, a stark, unnatural circle against the almost aggressively vibrant green of the Grove clearing. Across its expanse, I watched Lae'zel allow Shadowheart—Jen now, I supposed—to help her to her feet.

The contact was brief, almost clinically formal, a fleeting touch of hands that nonetheless...

Chapter 13: Family Matters

The morning after the 'admirer's' potent gift arrived dawned bright and clear over Fallen Star City, the light possessing a crispness absent

The morning after the 'admirer's' potent gift arrived dawned bright and clear over Fallen Star City, the light possessing a crispness absent in Qingshan's perpetually dusty, hazy air. Sunlight streamed through the large, clarified crystal windows of ...

Su Family Ancestor

A little foreshadowing never hurt anyone.

Darkest Minute

The God Of Frost (Jiang Li's Theme)

A Patreon-exclusive (for now) theme song for Jiang Li, composed specifically for the story "Immortality Starts With Face."

Chapter 12: Auction and Admirer

The artifact, appearing as a small, intricately

Chapter 11: An Agreeable Arrangement

The private room on the second floor of the newly acquired 'Jade Wind Teahouse' – swiftly repurposed by Jin Bao into an exclusive dining pav

The private room on the second floor of the newly acquired 'Jade Wind Teahouse' – swiftly repurposed by Jin Bao into an exclusive dining pavilion suitable for entertaining Qingshan Town's elite – was a masterpiece of calculated luxury. Unlike t...

10: Personas and Fighting Pits

Two days had passed since the intense, reality-shattering confrontation with City Lord Zhang and Lin Ruolan’s subsequent emotional breakdown

Two days had passed since the intense, reality-shattering confrontation with City Lord Zhang and Lin Ruolan’s subsequent emotional breakdown and pledge of absolute loyalty. Two days during which the undercurrents of Qingshan Town began to shift s...

9: Interlude; A Matter Of Trust

+++ Lin Ruolan POV +++ I walked silently a few steps behind him, as protocol dictated, my hand automatically ensuring the simple cloth sword

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Lin Ruolan POV

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I walked silently a few steps behind him, as protocol dictated, my hand automatically ensuring the simple cloth sword bag containing the impossible Spirit Sword didn't bump against my side. The weight of it fe...

Versus

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Lae’zel POV

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The air here hung thick and cloying, heavy with the scent of damp earth, decaying leaves, and the offensively sweet perfume of wildflowers – a repulsive miasma compared to the clean, sharp void of the Astral Plane or the disciplined sterility of the crèche. It coated the back of my throat, a taste of rot and mundane, fragile life.

Desperate Performance

An original (unpublished) metal song from the album "The Last Hero."

Chapter 8: The Price Of Justice

... "...and while the safety of all residents, especially esteemed guests like yourself, Young Master Jiang, is naturally my highest priorit

...

"...and while the safety of all residents, especially esteemed guests like yourself, Young Master Jiang, is naturally my highest priority," City Lord Zhang droned on, his voice attempting a veneer of official concern that was thoro...

7: Of Perfumes And Poisons

Entering the Serene Phoenix Pavilion again, this time with a purpose other than drunken debauchery, felt like stepping through an invisible,

Entering the Serene Phoenix Pavilion again, this time with a purpose other than drunken debauchery, felt like stepping through an invisible, shimmering veil into another reality entirely – one meticulously crafted for pleasure, discretion, and the ...

Apocrypha: What May Have Been -- Shadowheart

The enchanted brazier hissed and crackled, its embers pulsing like a living heart, casting fleeting shadows that danced across Shadowheart’s … Jen’s… form as she sat before me. Her silhouette was framed by the firelight, her dark hair tumbling in soft waves, her green eyes still glistening with the remnants of tears—tears born not of despair, but of a soul laid bare, fragile yet fierc...

Chapter 6: The Steward And The Swindler

The heavy wooden gates of the Jiang residence groaned shut behind us once more, the solid, reverberating thump sealing us back inside the co

The heavy wooden gates of the Jiang residence groaned shut behind us once more, the solid, reverberating thump sealing us back inside the compound's relative tranquility like a portcullis dropping decisively into place. The contrast with the...

Chapter 5: Shopping Spree

The heavy wooden gates of the Jiang residence g

No More Lies

AN: If you like this story, I encourage y'all to also check out my new story: Immortality Starts With Face. It's about an actor transmigrated into a cultivation world with a very... compatible system based on bluffing and performance. It will be a much faster-paced story than this one as well; lots more action scenes too!

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Rise Like A Phoenix

An unreleased song from my upcoming Album: The Last Hero

Chapter 4: Gold and Gossip

The main courtyard of the Jiang residence, usually a place of quiet, ordered diligence or, more often, solitary, resentful contemplation for

The main courtyard of the Jiang residence, usually a place of quiet, ordered diligence or, more often, solitary, resentful contemplation for its exiled young master, was now buzzing with an unprecedented, palpable, nervous energy. Under the warm, des...

Chapter 3: Ripples of Belief

The soft, definitive click of the heavy wooden door closing echoed in the sudden, profound silence of the room, a sound that seemed to seal

The soft, definitive click of the heavy wooden door closing echoed in the sudden, profound silence of the room, a sound that seemed to seal my fate within these four walls, at least for the moment. Alchemist Chen’s weighty presence, the al...

Chapter 2: First Impressions

Just as I was about to stand again, perhaps to hide the incriminating English notes or simply to test the limits of this weak body further,

Just as I was about to stand again, perhaps to hide the incriminating English notes or simply to test the limits of this weak body further, the oppressive silence that had resettled in the room was violently shattered. I heard hurried footsteps, ligh...

Chapter 1: The Gilded Cage

Darkness. And then, not darkness, but a smothering softness. My first returning sensation wasn't sight or sound, but touch. An overwhelming,

Darkness.

And then, not darkness, but a smothering softness.

My first returning sensation wasn't sight or sound, but touch. An overwhelming, alien comfort that felt utterly wrong. The hard, unforgiving kiss of dusty stage floorboards agai...

Prologue: The Final Bow

The heat was the first thing, always the first.

Not the gentle, life-affirming warmth of a distant sun, but the immediate, invasive, almost personal heat of the stage lights. A relentless battery of hot, miniature suns, they beat down from the rigging high above, invisible behind their blinding glare. They sucked the moisture from the air, baked the dust into the atmosphere, and ...

Kagha's Shame

I knew I shouldn't have come.

The thought gnawed at me, sharp and insistent, as my bare feet pressed into the cool, damp moss, guiding me toward the riverbank. Yet my body moved as if possessed, drawn inexorably to Harald—to the enigma of his presence, to the power that radiated from him like a storm on the horizon. I'd felt it back at the Grove, the moment he'd stepped into the range ...

Limitless

The quiet hum of the Grove settled around me, a stark contrast to the sensory overload of the Feywild Revel. Kagha had departed, leaving our group to settle into the tranquil space she'd chosen for us by the river. Karlach and Sylvie were off exploring downstream, their laughter echoing faintly. Gale was engrossed in a book, Astarion observing with detached amusement. Lae'zel was pacing like a ...

Meet the Druids

The world dissolved around me as I stepped through the portal, and the experience was… unexpectedly smooth. One moment, I was drowning in the riotous, overwhelming color and scent of the Feywild. The next? I was in blessed, mundane reality, though tinged now with the lingering memories and echoes of that vibrant otherworld.

We emerged out onto the rocky soil of a riverside cli...

Re(ve)lations

What the hell is happening to me?

The thought hit me like a slap.

I had expected my illusions to be just that – mere visual flourishes, special effects to enhance the performance. I hadn't consciously willed each clone to have its own sentience, its own musicality. They should have been mere animations. Mirages without substan...

Heavy Metal Therapy

(Gale's POV)

A hush fell over the crowd, thick and heavy with anticipation. It was a silence that crackled with unspoken energy, a void into which Harald stepped with an almost unnerving calm.

I watched him from my vantage point near the edge of the stage, my senses heightened by the stress of the situation we found ourselves in. Harald moved with a deliberate grace, his footsteps...