A second before he killed the Golden Immortal, Hui froze. Hold on. Let’s think this through!
I needed to wait for the other Hui to proc this moment, so I could see the Golden Immortal’s formation and know it was destroyed before making my move. After all, even if I fully turned back time, if I did it without understanding ...
2023-12-12 15:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostOz stiffened. He looked around. “What was that?”
Another screech rattled through the air.
The wind blew through the grasses, a lonely whisper. The four of them stood still, completely motionless, lone trees amidst the sea of grass. Heavy heads of grain beat their hips as the grass swayed.
A dozen meters away, the grass dart...
2023-12-11 17:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostAgain, time accelerated in a blur. They saw moments. The past Hui forged a silver mask and left it in the realm, found the ruins, absorbed the bits and pieces of the realm that the Golden Immortal rejected, and quietly existed. Much of his time he spent as the Elusive Ghost, only emerging as his usual form for brief moments.
“It was hard...
2023-12-11 15:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostOz led the way to the World Door. Halfway there, he paused and looked at Linnea. “The dorms?”
Linnea nodded. She ran off, vanishing.
He looked at Roan. “Go after her. Use your pressure to kill any bugs that remain.”
“Bugs…?” Roan asked.
Oz shook his head. “You don’t want to know.”
“Wait, there ...
2023-12-10 17:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe Elusive Ghost closed his eyes. His form shifted, and Hui stood before them. Hui as he had arrived in the Immortal Realm, all those loops ago, his robes still slightly ragged, holes burned here and there and the sleeves singed, built of mortal fabric. He smiled gently and laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I suppose this is a bit of a ...
2023-12-10 15:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostAisling stumbled forward. She put a hand on the doorframe, staring out into the distance, then retracted her head, examining the doorframe instead. “A World Door!”
“A whatsit huh?” Oz asked, tilting his head.
Her eyes wide with excitement, Aisling rounded on Oz. “This door. It’s a World Door!”
Oz nodded slowly.
The sword stabbed down toward Hui’s heart. He watched it come, thinking. I shouldn’t let him know that I’m using this as an opportunity. And that includes looking accurate. My heart… let’s cycle it back to normal. It’ll hurt like shit, but it’s better that I bleed red than green. Plus, the formation might count on my blood to e...
2023-12-09 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostWandering the library, Oz ferried the books he’d pulled from the shelf back to the desk, wielding a broom and a sack in his other hand. As he picked up the books, he brushed the dead worms, eggs, and moths into the sack, steadily filling it with mushy bug corpses. Better get them all up before they start rotting. I don’t want the library...
2023-12-08 17:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostLocked in the formation, Hui shifted a little, trying to sit up, but the weight locked his shoulders down and held him flat against the altar. As I thought, I can’t just sit up and walk away. Well, it would be a shitty formation if the victim could just walk out of it.
Hui quietly probed the spell around him, searching it for an...
2023-12-08 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe two of them worked their way through the library. Oz spritzed the books that Aisling pointed out. Worms fell to the ground at their feet.
As he worked, he read the bestiary in his mind, using the reading-meditative state and the repetitive nature of the deworming work to absorb more qi out of the air. Whenever he gathered enough qi, he...
2023-12-07 17:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostThey flew down toward the ancient Immortal Realm. Its time reversal slowed as the end approached, as the Immortal Realm itself grew smaller and smaller.
“Senior, how long did you rule the Immortal Realm?” Hui asked, no longer able to stop himself. Master only lasted a few hundred years in the mortal realm, at best. So why does this...
2023-12-07 15:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostOz opened the door. Aisling and Roan stood there, hugging large brown jugs. Roan scowled at the sight of him. “Here. The girl and the vinegar. Now let me in.”
Oz lifted one finger. “What did I say?”
Roan frowned deeper. “What? I brought the vinegar, and Aisling. What else do you want?”
Clicking his tongue, Oz waggle...
2023-12-06 17:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostTime raced forward. The Immortal Realm crumbled a double-speed. The Immortals fled, hiding at last in Heart Lotus City as the last scraps of the Immortal Realm crumbled away. Heart Lotus City floated in the void for a time, then began to fall apart itself. Soon nothing remained, except Hui’s cardinal beasts, the white-robed Hui, and the Golden...
2023-12-06 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostLoud knocking burrowed into Oz’s brain early the next morning, startling him from his slumber. Groaning, he rolled over and covered his head with his pillow. “Ten more minutes…”
Maybe I’ll just call in today. They don’t need me, anyways. There’s a million drones just like me.
Ugh, but that’s exactly why I...
2023-12-05 17:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe realm crumbled, on and on. The most far-flung of the villages met the edge of the crumbling space, and its bubble dissipated. The cultivators within flew away as fast as they could, picking up those who couldn’t fly and carrying them along with them. They stared up at Hui with horror and fear, shock and disbelief. One or two flew toward hi...
2023-12-05 15:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostAs Oz set off into the library, the shallow dish of mercury caught his eye. He paused, backtracking to it until he caught sight of himself in its reflection.
A smooth-chinned face stared back at him, about the fifteen years old he’d guessed himself to be, maybe as old as sixteen or seventeen, but no eighteen. Reasonably handsome, though ...
2023-12-04 17:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe earth quaked. The sky began to tremble. Qi ran riot, flowing wildly out of the dragon veins and surging through it. Hui grinned. Excellent. It’s working! As I expected, a qi deviation is, fundamentally, qi flowing incorrectly. By reversing the direction of the four cardinal dragon veins, we’re essentially creating a qi deviation for ...
2023-12-04 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostOn and on, endlessly wandering through the shelves. Oz’s eyes blurred. It’s been so long since I set off. Can I ever return? Am I lost for the rest of my life? Am I going to be found centuries from now, no more than a skeleton amidst the stacks?
The large desk appeared around the corner of the shelves at last. Oz fell...
2023-12-03 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostZhubi’s eyes snapped open. Black qi stopped pouring into him. He let out a little breath, exhausted.
“Are you done?” Hui asked, a little hopeful, a little relived. Phew. I only had to wait for a few minutes! That isn’t that long, surely?
Zhubi nodded. He tilted his head, giving Hui a confused look.
“Ah… no....
2023-12-03 15:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostOz knelt at the magic circle and picked up the letter. Spidery text crawled over parchment. For a moment, the letters appeared strange, unreadable, but then he blinked, and the words fell into place.
Hello.
Master is gone, and I’m still unable to sense magic. Did I ever deserve to call myself her disciple?
<...
2023-12-02 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostHui closed his eyes, drawing on the Vermillion Bird bloodline he’d absorbed into his body. Red feathers fluttered at his neck, and his robes flickered, changing from blue to shining red feathers, flowing with the motion of his body. Fire burned in a halo around him, arcing high above his head.
He waved his hand. If I can establish a ...
2023-12-02 15:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Hello everyone! Welcome to the novel that will take MTPDDAT's slot in the lineup. I'm hoping you'll enjoy it as much as MTPDDAT. Or at least give it a try! It's a cultivation novel set in a European-esque fantasy setting about a librarian scholarly cultivator. Well, don't let me keep you any longer. Here we are!
--
He coug...
2023-12-01 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostHui flew on his own. The blue sky stretched overhead, the sun beaming down. A gentle breeze rustled his hair. The Immortal Realm panned by below, placid lakes and wild forests, beautiful villas and the small, mortal-esque towns.
The Immortal Realm should be enormous, larger than the mortal realm, but… even from here, I can still see ...
2023-12-01 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostIn a blast of bright sword light, Li Xiang flew through the window. Hui caught himself seconds before he fell backward. Good, good. I don’t need to play dead.
Around his neck, Zhubi rolled belly-up. Tian Lan peeked up, nosing at his body, then flopped over herself. She snuck a look at Zhubi again, adjusting her claws and jaw, an...
2023-11-30 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post“Ying Lin!”
Hui pulled with all his might, yanking Ying Lin out of the gap in the barrier. Ying Lin leaped at him, throwing herself forward at the same time. Hui fell backward, pulling Ying Lin with him. The barrier slammed shut.
They struck the ground. Hui bounced, holding Ying Lin close so she wouldn’t hit the floor. He let o...
2023-11-29 15:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostSong Wei slammed the doors open. “I’ve brought your statue!”
Hui quickly fixed his robes and climbed off the throne. “Yes, yes. Thank you!”
Still sitting on the throne, Bai Xue clicked her tongue. “We barely even had time to get started.”
Song Wei glared at her, the silver mask hiding his face.
Without a wor...
2023-11-28 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostSwooping through the sky, Song Wei paused, hovering high in the sky over the city. He gazed down on the lotus, a thoughtful expression on his face. Acquire the statue… hmm. Stealthily. That isn’t going to be easy. I—
A small pale snake head poked out from around his neck.
Song Wei startled. “You—Master’s snake?...
2023-11-27 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostSong Wei led the way. Li Xiang and Hui followed, Hui nudging Tian Lan deeper into his sleeve as they entered the brothel. I don’t need her getting any bad influences. Her father will have my head if she learns anything naughty from this!
Tian Lan struggled against his hand. “What? It smells funny. What’s going on?”
...
2023-11-26 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post“Where to now?” Li Xiang asked.
You’re the one who flew off. You don’t know? Hui shook his head, then nodded. In any case, I do have somewhere I want to go, so I won’t complain. “Let’s go check on Bai Xue. From there… well, I like this loop, so I want to go as far as I can during it. If the loop is still g...
2023-11-25 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThree beams of gold light landed beside Li Xiang. A moment later, they resolved into familiar faces. Xi Muchen, Cho Haoli, and Sa Zhangli stood before Li Xiang. Xi Muchen looked at her with an amused expression, his arms crossed, Cho Haoli leaned on his back foot, bored, and Sa Zhangli glared, obviously tired of disturbances.
“Is there u...
2023-11-24 16:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post