Tian and Hong exchanged looks. There was no breath of immortality coming from the lake, so it wasn’t a cultivator or cultivating animal. Though, the whole area was saturated with wood and water qi, to the point where it almost overwhelmed their senses. The crane crouched slightly and drew in her neck, ready to attack or run.
Tian got his...
2025-10-16 14:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe immortals immediately vanished from mortal sight. They had a lot of practice moving very quickly between the gaps in a mortal’s perception. Hong and Tian weren’t doing anything too creative- they were just running in circles trying to feel where the greatest concentration of qi and brainpower was.
Tian returned to the group wearing...
2025-10-15 14:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostLiren found Tian with his feet in the river, sitting on a tan and purple striped rock in the shade of a willow tree. The scent of lotuses seemed at home, drifting over the water. She sat down next to him, kicking off her own shoes and putting her feet in the water. She was wearing her big hat and veil, but had taken off the gloves.
T...
2025-10-14 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post“It’s less of a choice than it looks. I’m not going to be fit to fight for weeks.” Tian smiled awkwardly. “Although, I do have some medicine you could use. It’s water qi aligned, and I think it would work well in healing any damage you took to your meridians.”
Liren gave him a cool look. “Let's talk about that later. For no...
2025-10-13 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post“If you are angry, blame yourselves for being too high profile. We are merely solving the problems of others for money.” Tian’s eyes narrowed. Five Poisons Cult sounded like assassins, not the kind of people who stand around in the middle of the street to challenge you to a fight. But they weren’t lying in ambush, unless concealment arra...
2025-10-10 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post“This is a deathtrap!”
“It’s a pond, Brother Tian. A shallow one. Look, the crane is only up to her knees.”
“You wouldn’t believe the danger that lurks under the surface of ponds…” Tian muttered.
“In this case, I can see the bottom. So. You know. Get in the damn water.” Hong said, with sisterly warmth and ...
2025-10-09 14:00:37 +0000 UTC View Post“The two seniors are benevolent in the extreme to be considering such a humane course as conferring an honorable post upon a ghost! But surely this is a matter for the Ministry of Rites?” Censor Hanshen clasped his hands and saluted the two soaking in the tub.
“Mmm, our first thought as well. But old Qin kicked it over to us, claimin...
2025-10-08 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post“This is a death trap!”
“It’s a hot spring complex, Brother Zihao. One with an attached hotel, restaurant, gardens and recreation pavilions. You know the mortals are getting whiffy. They need a bath.”
“Yes. The mortals.” Tian gave Liren a pointed look.
“Oh don’t you start this again! Leaving aside that i...
2025-10-07 14:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostTian knew Grandpa Jun loved him. Sometimes, he would feel grandpa embracing him for no reason, or caressing the back of his head, or simply resting his hand against Tian’s back as encouragement or support. And sometimes, he was a malicious old ghost with an evil sense of humor. Who, Tian silently demanded of the universe, who would ever think ...
2025-10-06 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe kids weren’t okay, but they weren’t dead either. Tian could feel the recoil of the spell flushing away whatever foulness was done to them. Something broke inside the tall wine jugs. It was the oddest feeling, like trying to step on a stair that wasn’t there. Somehow, something he was certain of without consciously thinking about it, wa...
2025-10-03 14:00:22 +0000 UTC View PostTian and Hong didn’t wait around for a demonstration of what the waiters were going to do with their pig butchering knives. Hong slapped the blades out of their hands, unfortunately breaking quite a few of the hands in the process. Once they were all herded together and restrained, the immortals conferred. It was agreed that the waiters were e...
2025-10-02 14:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostSabers and wide knives dashed in and out. Shadowless kicks struck from odd angles, breaking knees and ribs with equal contempt. Hands flashed out, blocked by iron bar arms or dodged with footwork polished on endless trodden corpses. This was the battlefield of mortal experts, the desperate men and women who wandered the rivers and lakes, unable ...
2025-10-01 14:00:18 +0000 UTC View Post“Senior Tian, why does it seem like everyone is talking, but I can’t really hear anyone? Or, I can, but I can’t hear the words. Everyone is talking too quietly.” Little Treasure complained. Tian could see his eyes drooping, and his vital energy felt a little weak. Tired and hungry, probably.
“Have a little tea. The reason i...
2025-09-30 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostHong stood on the stern of the weathered wooden rowboat, working the oar as she drove the boat up the river. Her motions were casual, almost effortless, but the boat was going fast enough to make passers-by blink and narrow their eyes before they determinedly looked away. Tian was sitting up in the bow, keeping a casual eye on the crane and answ...
2025-09-29 14:00:15 +0000 UTC View Post[SORRY! Somehow I goofed on the scheduling.- Warby]
Their party gathered down by the docks. The nobles were alternately looking at the old fishing boat and the Censor. Censor Hanshen didn’t look much more comfortable than the nobles, though Tian noticed he was now wearing a sword and moving like he knew how to use it. Tian felt a little ...
2025-09-26 14:16:35 +0000 UTC View Post“You are an easy man to find, Censor Henshen.” Liren loomed over the pale man. The Censor was slim, and dressed in a floor length dark blue silk robe. The hems were white, with green circles and stars, decorating them. His bun, Tian noticed, was hidden inside the most useless hat imaginable- it only covered his bun, and appeared to be made o...
2025-09-25 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostI'm still not sure what I'm calling this volume, so no title on it, just the picture. Also... Tian is not that short. In the reference picture I sent the artist, the martial artist had their knees deeply bent for the pose. Looked fine in trousers, looks like he is three feet tall in robes. Somehow, it didn't really strike me until I saw...
2025-09-24 15:08:41 +0000 UTC View PostTian collapsed backwards, gasping in air. Advent of Spring howled into action, dragging in great gulps of qi with every breath and desperately trying to replace the overdrawn vital energy.
Oh. Oh my very good grandson! You have done something remarkable here.
Tian didn’t have the energy to respond. Everything h...
2025-09-24 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe two daoists rushed up the cobblestone road like a flash flood. The monsters attacking the city were hideous things, slobbering venom, their spines coated in yet more venom, their claws carrying more venom still. Their qi was a twisted, horrible thing. Not the same as Gu, but close enough to make Tian grimace. He speared one with his rope dar...
2025-09-23 14:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostTian and Hong went down to the riverbank. The crane was sleeping the reeds, happily full from a productive day of hunting. She didn’t like whatever was going on in the Water Fortress, but it was the instinctive dislike of an animal avoiding a wildfire. She couldn’t explain why it was bad. It just was.
The moonlight was thin tonig...
2025-09-22 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostTian’s hand flew out, three invisible darts twisting through the air. The yin dart hadn’t taken too long to cultivate, and it made controlling the formation easy. Two yang darts pierced through the brush-wielder's eyes and buried into his brain. The yin dart pinned his throat shut. Just in case.
Hong was taking a life with every step, ...
2025-09-19 14:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostLiren was back in forty five minutes. The doctor was wearing a blindfold and curled up on the bottom of the cart. Liren had picked up the cart and carried it over her head to make travel quicker, but it didn’t make the journey a pleasant one. Neither she, nor Tian, cared. Tian had already lost four more villagers in the time she was gone. He n...
2025-09-18 14:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe little village didn’t have a name on their map. It was just another little farming village off the Pebble River, a safer tributary of the Agate. They grew rice, kept ducks and chickens, had vegetable plots behind their houses, and some lucky few grew fruits on stumpy trees. Many lived to adulthood, and most of those who lived had a lot of ...
2025-09-17 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe Agate River got its name from the layers of multicolored rock that lined the many canyons and deep riverbanks along its length. It was an exciting river to live next to. You could either live near a canyon and go whistle for water, or you could be near a rare stretch of reasonably shallow banks and enjoy brutal floods.
If you
“Where does the self reside? In your body? But you grow and change all the time. Are you a different person every time you trim your nails? Not in a meaningful sense. Your thoughts, then. Mind should be the essence of self, should it not? But you change your thoughts too. What is truly ‘you’ is what is unchangeable. The Pre-Heaven soul, th...
2025-09-15 14:00:29 +0000 UTC View PostIn just a few hours, Sister Su and Daoist Mei had gone from desperate rivals to firmest allies. At least as far as Sister Su was concerned. She would no longer hear a single bad, or even cautionary, word about her new sister.
“It is quite obvious. She chose the most optimal outcome for the greatest number of people. It relied on he...
2025-09-06 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostTian picked a nice tree near a river for his tea service. The tree chimed every time the wind blew the leaves, making gentle and flowing harmonies. Whoever had made the enchantment had carefully tuned the sound so that it enhanced the serenity brought by the little river rushing over a shallow bed of stones....
2025-09-05 14:00:21 +0000 UTC View PostThe return to the Courtyard went smoothly. They stopped for the night again, but this time, they were undisturbed. Something had changed in the relationship between Brother Wang and Daoist Mei. It was less boisterous, less giggly, but there was something truer to it. Hands that sought each other as they walked. A head resting on a big shoulder, ...
2025-09-04 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThey took an hour to collect themselves. There was nothing worth looting from the battlefield. The reason there were so many horrors, according to daoist Mei, was that they were bred by the Five Elements Courtyard. They only lived for about a year, and for most of that year, they were quite helpful to the forest. They ate mostly dead wood and fa...
2025-09-03 14:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe disciples of the courtyard didn’t seem to appreciate Tian’s motivation. Which was a shame. They looked stressed. Doughy took charge again.
“Inverse Falcon Peregrination, then Drifting Sunsparks. Earthfang Wasteland for zone control, but hold until ordered. I remain the formation eye, set South to true South.”
“SET...
2025-09-02 14:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post