>>5771373

Whom you had stolen from a couple of times in the past, and also whipped most of their worthless disciples into halfway respectable cultivators.

You'd focus on the more dangerous guest first. Even if they'd be little better than any other cannon fodder, it wouldn't hurt to have an army backing you up that you weren't afraid to have decimated. And with how wildly popular and beloved you are in the region of Chuan under your control, it wasn't hard to find volunteers and willing subjects to subject to the process that would transform them into that army. And it wasn't like you were sending them out to die to protect your students, you'd cut off your own tail if Laohue wasn't bringing with him enough chaff, trash and fodder to bury you like an avalanche. And with your blood refinement and alchemical knowledge, you could easily turn ordinary men and women, the mortals most cultivators look down on and sneer at as worthless than the dirt on their shoes, into soldiers that could potentially hold their own against the winter blossoming wisdom sect's own disposable mooks.

In fact, there are so many applicants hoping to receive this blessing, that you have to thin their numbers with a few rigorous physical exams and health check ups to weed out the ones who would be at risk of dying from the shock of the changes their blood will wrought on their body or the pain of them. Alchemically transforming blood while its still in its owner veins can be painless, but you just don't have time to waste being gentle, and anyone who would die at the starting line would be worthless to you as a fighter anyways.

But still, Suiqi is a big place and overpopulated even before your students led a massive train of pilgrims and refugees to it, and it becomes more crowded every day with newly awakened beasts and those who have gained a few beastly attributes themselves due to your heaven's defying roar or the curious primordial beast essence rich air that was stuck over and around Suiqi until you bid the spell that made it to end and the ancient weather to dissipate, so you in no way lacked in volunteers even after putting several series of hurdles in places to weed out the weaker and more pathetic hopefuls.

Funnily enough, you have exactly four thousand, four hundred and forty four volunteers who you are confident won't die from having their blood refined and their bodies changed into new and far superior forms. Most would balk at the number and shave off or add more bodies until it was four fours, a truly unlucky number. But four has always been a lucky number for you, and you've never shied or turned away from death, so you keep their numbers as they are and begin your work improving their physiques

While you could turn their blood acidic, or make them explode when they die or hide any number of nasty surprises in their bodies, you stick to the basics, and just improve their strength, durability, stamina and speed to start with which is done simply enough

>>5771374

Then you move onto include a few basic attributes and features enjoyed by most physical cultivators into their bones, muscles and a few key organs, without even having to raise a finger or touch any of them. Some of them even remain standing, but most of them fall to the ground screaming, writhing in agony or clawing at their flesh as their veins bulge and glow an eerie crimson.

But while few of them faint for days, none of them drop dead, and sure a few are ill from the stressed induced onto their bodies, but that is no reason to stop or halt the procedure. Making not of the ones who endured the pain the longest, you heighten their vision, improve their reflexes by playing with their brain chemistry and nervous system and continue to build on the strength, durability and speed you'd already granted them, to try and make them at least stand a chance against Qi condensation level cultivators when they outnumber them, but even for a genius like yourself that is difficult. Their bodies simply can't match even the lowest of cultivators, without active meridians and with wilted spiritual roots and thus no Qi beyond what they were born with or you have put into their body, they can't ever hope to equal even the weakest trash of the cultivation world. But they don't have to, since they'll have numbers on their side. And you've already made them strong, durable and fast enough that to an ignorant or untrained eye or lacking spiritual or fighting sense, they'd look close close enough at a glance to be mistaken for talentless trash.

But doing anything more than that will kill them, you're already pushing their bodies to the limits of what they can handle and doing anything more will begin to rapidly decrease their lifespans or outright kill them as their muscles crush their bones or organs are put under too much stress and fail. They're probably stronger than the Dian brothers were when you fed them a bunch of pills, but only by a little. Still, in packs, they could give Qi cultivation tier cultivators some trouble, maybe even kill them, and from a distance make it seem like you have a lot more cultivators under your banner than you do. A trick that'll be quickly revealed, but it might make a few cowards on the enemies flee the field before the fighting starts. And if enough of them survive, they could conqueror the martial world easily! Heh-Heh

Well that's as far as most of them will go, but a few of them have stronger bodies and more pain tolerance, so you can push their boundaries a bit further, which pushes their limits a step or two more and give them a few hidden organs and internal weapons and make them the leaders of your blood refined warriors, and give them the positions of officers directly under your command. And they decide to wear masks designed after your beautiful feline face, like Lei does, and all of them paint their armor lurid shades of red and pink.
Cont

>>5771375

And while you're doing that, you also capture a few of the animals that have been transformed beneath the primeval sky you conjured, and turn them into true monsters. And since they're more disposable, you can have a little more fun with them. So you turn them into true monsters, that most cultivators would mistake for demonic beasts. But they're closer to the wildlife in the primordial basin, just being much larger than the rest of their kind and having a few mutations to make them more dangerous. Like acidic blood, sticky tongues, larger claws and more fangs, bladed tails, horns, venom sacs and the like, and with a couple of spirit stones implanted inside of the marrow of their bones, you can "Store" a couple of spells inside of them. And to make sure they don't become a problem, you make sure none of these traits will be inheritable. The changes on your human soldiers shouldn't pass down to their descendants either, but having someone be born who can naturally break rock with with fists is less dangerous than a rat the size of a large dog that can spit acid, has venomous fangs that secret a paralyzing and blinding poison, and also has a prehensile tail that can break a man's legs.

And after you have enough monsters, not under your control but trained enough to be pointed and unleashed on the enemy and You dispose of the failures of those experiments by way of Huili's packmates stomaches, since the humans living in Suiqi for some reason don't want to eat the meat of mutated beasts. Which you don't understand, it might be a little green or purple, but it tastes fine. A little tough and gamey, but its totally edible.

And since your guests from the five colors and five purities sects, their head Su Zhe'xínglǚ and their elders Fa jin and Fa Tang, haven't arrived yet, you decided to wile away the time you'd otherwise spend waiting doing a little more experimenting. But with a purpose rather than just to keep from being bored.

You start by trying something that, even for you, is ambitious. And that's trying to forcefully open the meridians of those who have no potential to absorb and cultivate Qi from the world. It doesn't work, it might be possible, but you don't have the knowledge, experience, or understanding to do it. You might be able to force enough Qi into someone's body to make an Artificial cultivator, but they'd be lucky not to explode and would rely on others to cultivate any further after that initial Injection, or maybe if they spend enough time in a place with plentiful and rich ambient Qi, that could happen, but you have no luck creating cultivators. Maybe Lei has some demonic technique or secret passed down by his family that could do it, since he can suck spiritual energy out of others and steal it from them, but you don't want to ask him right now, especially since after trying and failing everything you can think that could work.
Cont

>>5771376

Maybe taking what you know about demonic beast creation could work on humans, but you can't shake the image of a "Magical Human" out of your head, and are unwilling to give humanity even more of an advantage over the rest of the world's animals than thy already do. Even if its by accident.

And anyways, you lose interest in all of it quickly. Quick enough that your guests are no closer to reaching Suiqi when you've abandoned it entirely in the interest of doing something else. Something more interesting, exciting and entertaining. Namely in spreading Perfected Carmine Mysticism into the world. Not seriously of course, or with any real goal. You just want to see if you can make a few others inherit the improved version of it, and turn them into creatures like you. Well, creatures that also possess true carmine mysticism, and not the demonic trash that it was before you got your hands onto it and made it better in everyway.

Since those blood drinkers were cultivators of a kind, they just cultivated blood and lifeforce rather than Qi. And you know they could spread their accursed techniques to those who had no potential to cultivate the regular way. And that others could be "Infected" with your strain of Carmine mysticism, or the original kind if you so choose to, with a little of your blood and spiritual energy. But you didn't want a horde of blood hungry Jiangshi on your hands, even though it'd be hilarious to see the looks of horror on Laohue and his follower's face when they see the Peerless Sanguine Jade Shrine Sect reborn into the world, that would be...well an atrocity and affront against nature. More so than creating a dozen new breeds of monsters to mate and sire across Chuan, or making a blood sucking forest as you fancied for a moment or two before deciding that it'd do more harm than good, especially to your reputation and even more so the people living around and inside of Suiqi.

So you grab a few of the alchemists who flocked to Suiqi, hoping to be trained by a daoist master or be inducted to your sect as understudies, and offer them the chance to have their blood turned into a treasure and the secrets of Blood refinement (血精炼,Xuèjīngliàn) . Of course, you don't approach them without figuring out HOW to make a carmine mystic like yourself. Sure you turned that Ling bitch into one of the old kind. And you wouldn't want to waste the lives of these, your fellow alchemists and daoists with actual ambition, even if they are little more than peddlers of parlor tricks and magician's tricks. So you try on a few criminals condemned to death first.

How there's even any villains left in Suiqi after your and Siwang's hunt and the owl's constant vigilance, is a mystery that even alludes your mind as clear as unstirred waters. But there's enough that you find out it isn't difficult to not accidentally make a mutant Jiangshi while trying to make someone into an inheritor of the true carmine mysticism.
Cont

>>5771377

However, the results are not what you expected. It'd seem starting with a normal mortal makes...well something that isn't much different from one in terms of their physical abilities or mystical powers. Of course, you aren't much of a carmine mystic yourself, despite your name and have barely scratched the surface of the arts secrets, but it does prove that the legendary plague of Carmine mysticism was not some kind of exaggeration or tall tale told by the orthodoxy to excuse their massacre of its original practitioners or mixed up with the destruction of a sect of Jiangshi makers. From the one member you've met of the degenerated and demonic peerless sanguine jade shrine sect, the practitioners of the corrupt form would've not been anywhere near as discerning as you were spreading their "gift". Especially before its drawbacks made themselves known.

Just to be safe, even if your version of Carmine mysticism doesn't induce a thirst for blood or the other unpleasant side effects, you still cull your initial test subjects, Since criminals like them would abuse its power and become indulgent in their pursuit of it. And you have to kill one of the handful of alchemists you decided are worthy of becoming the first amongst the new generation of carmine mystics, leaving you with only two, since the would be forth got cold feet at the last second. And the one you had to kill, well, the moment he got a mote of Blood Qi and Ghostly Yin Qi in his system, to complete his transformation and turn his heart into a cauldron he decided to try and run off to abuse his new found "power", without understanding anything about cultivation or refining blood. And while having a Jiangshi that sucked blood and breath running around, who wasn't actually a corpse, wouldn't be that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, he was your mess to clean up and you refused to allow the old kind of carmine mysticism to endure through the ignorance and greed of one selfish old bastard who thought he could take a gift from Huanliuxue and flee with it to make himself young on virgin blood. Such delinquency and villainy would reflect poorly on you and your ART.

Luckily, despite being a venerable alchemist, the traitor was an idiot. He accepted your blood into his veins, and thought he could escape you.

You have the other two watch as you pop him like an overfilled balloon with a glance, causing his blood to explode out of him before he can even claim his first victim, leaving no trace of him in the world besides a puddle of blood. And once he's been dealt with, you realize that just turning people into Carmine Mysticsisn't a shortcut to being able to turn anyone into a cultivator. Since just like how very, very few people are born with the ability cultivate Qi, there are very, very few people have the strength of character and self control to not go wild with the power it grants them, to be able to cheat the fate of the heavens and become immortal.
Cont

>>5771378

Maybe that is why the ability to cultivate is a blessing few receive.

Come to think of it, there were more cultivators in the past, before the heavens were usurped. At least, you assume there were, considering how many methods and techniques there were for the usurper sages to outlaw and forbid.

Fortunately, the two alchemists that remain and have been turned into pure carmine mystics like yourself, are worthy of the burden of being amongst the first of the school of mysticism's practitioners, unlike the man you popped like an egg.

One is a middled aged man, his hair greying and with the hawk like eyes, whose thin and frail body has become brawny from his initial change and nicely muscular. He calls himself Renshu of the river, and before you found him he was a traveling apothecary who made his way through chuan on a boat he turned into a shop. He has become a bit flamboyant and vain since the chance to increase his longevity fell onto his head like a meatpie, and wears his once wild and scraggly hair in a pony tail.

The other is a young woman, looking around your age when you're a human, an albino who was given over to a temple by her parents and raised by the daoist sages there along with her brother. She was going to be given to the Winter blossoming wisdom sect as a disciple, but was found to not have shared her brothers aptitude for cultivation and was thrown out to the forest. She's quiet and somber, but not like Qiang can be, more like a lost doll or orphan is. Her name is Ruolan.

And while you could make all of your students into stronger Carmine mystics than these two have become, you also, like them, know next to nothing of Perfected carmine mysticism. Even though you're it's creator. And they are the only two in the world who can help you expand and explore and further refine it. You should've had three assistants. Hell you should've have four. But the rice has been cooked, and the other two proved themselves undeserving of your art. Maybe you'll ask your disciples if they'd like to be able to heal by drinking blood or if they'd be willing to start practicing carmine mysticism to help you comprehend its mysteries quicker.

But you no longer have the time to ask them and start studying with them, since your guests arrive, the morning after you smear that arrogant fool on the streets, walls and rooftops of Suiqi.

You're tired from all your army building and experimentations with blood sorcery, so you have to take a cat nap and freshen up before you meet them. And also you need to wash your hair and change your clothes, since you still had bits of that shit-heel who tried to steal your carmine mysticism out of it in your hair and on your clothes. But once you've washed and gotten dressed, you march out the city gates, with Yinying at your side and a few other stray cats whom he has judged worthy of approaching within ten feet of your radiant presence.
Cont

>>5771381

Ping, Feiqing, Lie and Jionghuagege knelt down, Ping sweeping back his white hair and clapping his hands together as if in prayer, Feiqing cupping his hand and bowing deeply, Lei lifting his mask and waving happily, and Jionghuagege curtseying and lowering her head as they walked towards the gates while Yinying put himself in front of you and Fu, dressed in his full armor, emerged from your shadow where Qiang still lurked, her one eye watching the three elders from another sect warily.

Who were wearing white robes with the five colors of the wuxing somewhere on them. Su Zhe'xínglǚ lead them, stroking his long white beard and marveling at all the strange sights before his eyes, namely the ancient plant life and oddly colored birds singing on their branches, while Fa Tang glared at Yinying and the cats around you, grinding his teeth as he uneasily reaching for the blade sheathed at his hip. And his golden haired brother, Fa Jin, who had a very pretty face, wore a relaxed smile and swaggered beside his rougher, red haired twin.

"Hmm, more beasts here than there were in all of chuan a month ago" Fa Jin whistles, clapping his hands as if impressed

"This is a mistake" Fa Tang warned "We're risking our sect's future coming here. Can't you feel that pressure emanating from that girl, if she wanted to, slaughtering us would be as easy as turning over her hand"

"My fellow princess would not act so rashly or crudely, Sir Fa" Jionghuagege tried to assure him, but Tang clicked his tongue and turned away from her. You wanted to slap him for that

"My my" is all Su Zhe'xinglu said as he, ignoring Fu, Yinyin and Qiang, walked past the kneeling Ping, Feiqing, Lei and Jionghuagege and marched directly up to you. Yinying hissed, his fur standing on end as you stood as still as a corpse, your hands in front of you and a pleasant, demure smile on your face

"What power" He exclaimed, clapping his hands jubilantly as he looked up at your face, grinning brightly, like a little boy "What incredible power. You must be the Huanliuxue everyone has been talking about, lately"

"Lately? There's been shrines of her in chuan for years, master Su" Tang growls, trying to be intimidating

"That is a recent event for us" Su huffs, crossing his arms as he looked deeply into your eyes "And they've been talking more about you, much more recently. You've stirred up quite the storm. Heh-Heh, those old, conservative fools have really gotten their balls into a twist about you, huh, young lady. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Su Zhe'xinglu, and you must be Huanliuxue, the graveyard cat who devours the bones and souls of men"

"Ohoho! Now that's a nickname I haven't heard yet!" You exclaim, laughing and nearly causing Fa Tang to trip backwards from shock, he probably expected anything but that to come out of your mouth "And we've met before, I've even wandered around your temple once or twice"
Cont

>>5771383

"What!?" Tang shouts, infuriated, but his master raises his hand and stops him before he can do anything rash. Or maybe it was Fu glaring murderously at him that made him stop from unsheathing his blade

"I am aware, I never forget the light in someone's eyes. Its different for everyone, even if they're in another body" He cackles, winking at you "Yuyi"

"WHAT!?" Tang shouts again before Ping sighs

"A friend of hers" He assures "She learned to look like that via possessing her"

"My my, she's been inside another woman" Jin giggles, covering his mouth. And Tang is the one who shuts him up with a slap

"Yes yes" The old man casually reacts, waving his hand carelessly

"And I also took quite a few liberties while I visited. Using it as the site of my first breakthrough, stealing a barrel of your enchanted spring water to make my own, and stealing your laws while I was there as Yuyi so I could teach my own students" You rapidly explains Tang looks like he's about to cough up blood while his golden haired twin laughs and laughs

"Yes, yes" he repeats, nodding his head

"You knew I was there the whole time?!" You ask, and are surprised by how loud you said it, nearly shouting.

"Cats are rarely as sneaky as they imagine themselves to be" He laughs as you feel your cheeks burning, flushing redder than your hair as your world spins as you remember every time you visited his temple, how worried and fearful you and your interference were you'd be found out, your heart flutters and your stomach twists from sheer embarrassment in hindsight "and your visits have only been beneficial. Your mischief made my disciples proper daoists, a little magic water is a worthy exchange for all the good you've done my sect and students. And even when you were weaker, you had a unique presence about you. Similar to a powerful earthbound ghost but...different"

"Then why would you risk everything to help a demon like me, going so far as to not only allow me stealing from your sect's only treasure and rob you of your cultivation techniques" You ask angrily, glaring so you don't cry from remembering how proud you were to outwit him in the past "And further to entertain allying with a bunch of heretics and monsters"

He frowns

"I knew a little fox once" He says, and you understand his reasons immediately , beyond acting virtuous or moral "A mischievous, playful little thing. She thought she was sneaky to. So did the girl who raised her. Her tricks were harmless at first, like the ones you played on my students were. But she grew bold and careless, and her caretaker was...never cautious. They were found, and you know the rest of that story, I assume. Where others saw a crime, I saw potential, like a certain witch. So I watched curiously, but did nothing to stop them or"

"Help them" You growl

He hangs his head
Cont

>>5771385

"One of my few regrets in a life well lived. I lost two friends that day, and broke from my sect" He hastily explains, sensing your fury in the air like the scent of freshly spilt blood "And chose to make a place where anyone could learn but well, only those thrown out of their sects wished to learn from a washed up old fool without any face"

"That isn't true" The two Fa twins shout

"Well, some believed I'd be a good teacher, despite my past" He chuckles "That is why I've come here, to make certain I do not make the same mistake twice"

"And you two are okay with this?" You ask, pointing at Fa Tang and Fa Jin

"We owe him everything, and would follow him to our graves" Fa Tang answer proudly "Besides, we know you're not a demon. One reason our sect is poor is because we don't take beast extermination requests"

"And I heard you were pretty" Jin titters like a woman "And that is the understatement of a generation, you took my breath away the moment I set my eyes on you and those magnificent..."

Fa Jin shuts up when he notices he is on the receiving end of several murderous glares

"So, now that it has been mutually agreed upon the Palace of natural laws and five colors and five purities will ally, how about this old man gives you some advice" His master quickly offers, before his student gets murdered by either Fu, Qiang, Yinying or a horde of pissed off cat demons "In dealing with his former friend or if you'd prefer, a lesson in making friends"

Double vote

How do you react to Su Zhe'xinglu's offer

>Decide to Punch Su Zhe'xinglu. Even if he regrets not doing anything to help Monu and Xuebai, he still didn't help them and that pisses you off. And ask why he never helped your mother afterwards

>Accept both of his offers, since you will need some help earning the trust of the other sects and learning Xue Laohue's weaknesses is vital to your survival

>Ask if he'd like to meet with your mother, to see if that bridge could be mended. And tell him you don't really mind your sister being a ghost, since there's little difference to you if someone is alive or dead

>Turn to your true form to discuss the details of your alliance in uh, detail

>Write in

And what do you do next, Huanliuxue?

>Send Fu to the dusk marsh wolves to try and get them on your side

>Welcome Xia Xiaosi and try to figure out what to do with him and what his sect wants to happen to him

>Travel to the lair of the seven slaughtering swords

>put aside your anti Ling prejudices and reach out to the Temple of Celestial Fire to see if you can turn their coats

>Continue your experiments with carmine mysticism and alchemy (Mental/ Magic/ Alchemical Training DC 180. +46 bonus )

>write in

>>5771386
>Ask if he'd like to meet with your mother, to see if that bridge could be mended. And tell him you don't really mind your sister being a ghost, since there's little difference to you if someone is alive or dead

>Send Fu to the dusk marsh wolves to try and get them on your side
>Welcome Xia Xiaosi and try to figure out what to do with him and what his sect wants to happen to him
I think we could do these two at the same time, since one is for Fu and the other for us.

>>5771386
>>Accept both of his offers, since you will need some help earning the trust of the other sects and learning Xue Laohue's weaknesses is vital to your survival
>Send Fu to the dusk marsh wolves to try and get them on your side

>Honestly those strengthened are a good police force that'll lessen the activity of criminals and a good force for our disciples to manage. Even if they aren't cultivatiors such hale and hearty people will be good in farming and exploration and even spies honestly. As they are mortals and have no Qi cultivators won't be able to sense them.

>>5771386
>Accept both offers.
>And offer him the chance to mend the bridge with Monu.

I dont really hold it against him. And his kindness is done with genuine nature.

>Send Fu to the dusk wolves
>Accept Xiaxiosi and figure out what to do with him.

Whatever we want to happen, will probably be opposite what his sect wants

Gamps, did you archive the last quest? I don't see it on the list>>5771386
>Accept both of his offers, since you will need some help earning the trust of the other sects and learning Xue Laohue's weaknesses is vital to your survival
>Send Fu to the dusk marsh wolves to try and get them on your side

>>5771386
>Accept both of his offers, since you will need some help earning the trust of the other sects and learning Xue Laohue's weaknesses is vital to your survival

>Continue your experiments with carmine mysticism and alchemy (Mental/ Magic/ Alchemical Training DC 180. +46 bonus )

We need more prep time to weather the storm.

But we can also direct our students to familiarize themselves to lead our new army as this fellow cultivator said.
>>5771422


I would prefer not to send Fu away right now as he could be needed to fend off the winter sect.

>>5771386
>Accept both of his offers, since you will need some help earning the trust of the other sects and learning Xue Laohue's weaknesses is vital to your survival


>Send Fu to the dusk marsh wolves to try and get them on your side

>Welcome Xia Xiaosi and try to figure out what to do with him and what his sect wants to happen to him

>>5771386
>Accept both of his offers, since you will need some help earning the trust of the other sects and learning Xue Laohue's weaknesses is vital to your survival


>Send Fu to the dusk marsh wolves to try and get them on your side

>Welcome Xia Xiaosi and try to figure out what to do with him and what his sect wants to happen to him

Who are the 7 slaughtering swords again?

>>5771501
I just archived it.

>>5771589
I still can't see it on the search list, and even in the general list. Nonetheless, the direct link in the OP works. It seems like suptg glitched or something.

>>5771602
Apparently it's already archived? And when I tried to archive it again it ended up archiving this one instead?
I'm confused

Also Grandfather, you might want to contact Lord Licorice to undo this mistake I have done. If it was a mistake or not a glitch.
Sorry about it by the way, I think I'll just stick to trying to help by tallying instead of archiving

>>5771386
>Accept both of his offers, since you will need some help earning the trust of the other sects and learning Xue Laohue's weaknesses is vital to your survival
>Send Fu to the dusk marsh wolves to try and get them on your side

>>5771386
>Accept both of his offers, since you will need some help earning the trust of the other sects and learning Xue Laohue's weaknesses is vital to your survival
>Send Fu to the dusk marsh wolves to try and get them on your side
>put aside your anti Ling prejudices and reach out to the Temple of Celestial Fire to see if you can turn their coats
I know it's a losing fight, but pulling an enemy of my enemy is always satisfying.
>>5771555
One of the sects who replied to us, presumably a true heretic one seeing as they called us a "Fellow rebel against the blind heavens". The other new cult introduced was the Sages of Shifting Sands who just insulted us and will probably get a "fun" visit from us at some point/

>>5771386
>Accept both of his offers, since you will need some help earning the trust of the other sects and learning Xue Laohue's weaknesses is vital to your survival

>Welcome Xia Xiaosi and try to figure out what to do with him and what his sect wants to happen to him

>>5771386
>Accept both of his offers, since you will need some help earning the trust of the other sects and learning Xue Laohue's weaknesses is vital to your survival
>Welcome Xia Xiaosi and try to figure out what to do with him and what his sect wants to happen to him

>>5771386
>Accept both of his offers, since you will need some help earning the trust of the other sects and learning Xue Laohue's weaknesses is vital to your survival
>Welcome Xia Xiaosi and try to figure out what to do with him and what his sect wants to happen to him

>Votes:12
ubT1kJ8i
JRCr/BAf
lAbVlcL9
OrFTbynO
4Pr3VLxX
GSJg6wCM
qla0kTBp
UNK8Wbbe
R6bIUwi1
Ca6q0Nx5
xFrjWaQe
n6D+lJ6k
>Ask if he'd like to meet with your mother:2
ubT1kJ8i
lAbVlcL9
>Accept both of his offers:11
JRCr/BAf
lAbVlcL9
OrFTbynO
4Pr3VLxX
GSJg6wCM
qla0kTBp
UNK8Wbbe
R6bIUwi1
Ca6q0Nx5
xFrjWaQe
n6D+lJ6k
>Send Fu to the Dusk Marsh Wolves:8
ubT1kJ8i
JRCr/BAf
lAbVlcL9
OrFTbynO
GSJg6wCM
qla0kTBp
UNK8Wbbe
R6bIUwi1
>Welcome Xia Xiaosi:7
ubT1kJ8i
lAbVlcL9
GSJg6wCM
qla0kTBp
Ca6q0Nx5
xFrjWaQe
n6D+lJ6k
>Reach out to the Temple of Celestial Fire:1
R6bIUwi1
>Continue your experiments with carmine mysticism and alchemy:1
4Pr3VLxX
>Turn the strengthened mortals into a police force:2(?)
JRCr/BAf
4Pr3VLxX(?)
Not really sure if 4Pr is supporting the write-in or not.

File: zhbi7r96so861.jpg (201 KB, 1505x1443)

201 KB JPG

Ending the vote now, was sick over the weekend but I've conquered that stomach bug

>>5772940
And very much appreciate your efforts tally anon, you'll receive a dozen commendations at least for this

So You'll accept both of Master Su's offers, and send Fu to the dusk marsh wolves while you welcome Xia Xiaosi to suiqi and try to figure out what fate his sect wishes to befall him there.

Update will arrive shortly

"Only a fool would ignore the wisdom of their elders" You answer with a smirk and flick of your wrist, turning on your heel and waving your hair in a similar wave as your tail would flick if you were in your natural form, as with your other hand you bid Su Zhe'xínglǚ and his two disciples to follow after you, thus granting them entrance to Suiqi as honored guests. Ping, Feiqing, Lei and Jionghuagege fall in behind them, though the queen of bees rushes up to your side with a perky smile and bounce to her step while Fu and Yinying stand like stone sentinels, each trying to glare to rambunctious and lewd eyed Fa Jin into the dirt while they march behind him, keep his neck within reach in case he risks his life to make another smart assed remark or worse, start openly and outright flirting with you. And just thinking about that makes your skin crawl.

"What a curious physique you have, far beyond the ordinary and even past the horizon of abnormal, every breath you take is laced with Primordial Beast Essence" The old master ponders out loud, scratching deep inside his lengthy beard as he shuffles behind you, focusing on your back intensely "And a curious type of spiritual energy I've never sensed before. You're a walking well spring of Qi, a living idol. What exactly are you, young lady? The Salvation of Beasts? An avatar of the wilderness?"

"I am me, and that is an honor greater than any title that can be thrust onto me" You proudly proclaim, wagging your head back and forth as you lead the old man and his students through a crowd of curious on lookers and demonic cats "And weren't you going to give the venerated me some advice, uncle?"

Fa Tang clenches his jaw as his master smiles warmly and easily, nodding his head as his half lidded eyes flick here and then over there, studying all of Suiqi and the people gathered around him with a cunning glint.

"Oh, men begin to ramble in their old age. Our thoughts become astray and easily wander from their train of thought" He chuckles, clapping his hands together and giving a half hearted but full sincere bow "And any daoist with any amount of belief, could be forgiven for becoming curious when a natural wonder in the shape of a beautiful girl is sashaying in front of their eyes. Being in your presence, is like happening upon a fallen star. It is easy to be lost in reverence in your radiance, Lady Huanliuxue"

You lift your chin up and hope the vividness of your hair will hide the reddening of your cheeks. You glance down at Jionghuagege, who seems enamored from the old man's sweet talking.

"I'm not as weak to flattery as I might seem, uncle" You cackle amusedly, tracing a hand through the air and leaving a streamer of blood qi flowing from your finger tips, like a carmine hued aurora or ethereal band of red silk, or a river of ghostly blood "But I appreciate the compliment nonetheless, its certainly more pleasing to my ears than your golden haired acolytes attempt"
Cont

>>5773864

"Jin is a fool easily bewitched by women, despite acting like one himself" Fa Tang growls, glancing back as if to make certain Fu hasn't chopped off his twin brother's head, who you've only now noticed is in fact covered in make up, applied in a very sultry and womanly style

"The only flaw in my character, and why shouldn't a beautiful man enshrine and draw attention to his good looks" Jin scoffs in defense of himself "Its not like I slack off pruning my eyebrows or painting my face, you'd do well to put in some effort yourself, big bro, like little Jiao used to"

"Like wine, a man is better when aged" Su Zhe'xinglu says sagely as if it is some great cosmic wisdom "Youth is wasted on the young, especially those who indulge freely in their passions and the heat of their blood. Too easily will they indulge in the joys of life, and so they will sink deeply into its sorrows, never realizing it is that same hot blood that leads them to both the sweet and bitter waters of existence"

You nod, considering those words a bit more seriously and contemplatively than the first bit of his musings about men being like wine. If your mother would be believed, the opposite is true but you don't have any experience let alone as much as she does in that field. And you doubt old Su does either, considering your mother's appetites and hedonism.

"And that isn't all the advise you'd said you'd give to me. If I wanted romantic advice, I'd ask my mother" You begin before the old man chuckled and shook his head

"A poor choice" He joked, grinning ear to ear and by then you realize that boasting about using fanciful and indulgent stories for a basis on such matters would be a shockingly embarrassing thing to do

"You've got me there, uncle" You laugh instead, realizing how close your wagging tongue was to leading you to utter humiliation. You might write and know a good romance novel when you read one, but all but bragging about using their teachings in the real world would be a fate worse than death. You need to change the subject quickly before you pride and gossiping tongue betray you.

"So" You sigh breathily as you lead your fellow daoists deeper into Suiqi, without any destination in mind though your feet are pulling you towards a certain tea house, one which was probably owned by one of the richest women in the city now. Where you beat up those two rival young masters and humilated them in front of mere mortals. That was a fun day

"No no, I am Su" The old master jokes, earning a rare giggle from Qiang, who was still hiding within your shadow using her Yin Qi to draw it in around herself. You shoot a withering glare his way, before continuining

"How should I deal with your former friend, that son of a bitch who crippled my mother and killed my sister?" You ask through your teeth with half a hiss "If you could sense me when I was trying to hide myself, surely you can feel his blood lust chilling the air"
Cont

>>5773865

"Snow Tiger has always been a hot head, despite his name and technique" He says, immediately switching from jovial and casual joking to dangerously serious and severe "Despite being half a frozen corpse, his blood is still burning. He is easily controlled by his rage and it easily becomes murderous. He will, like a drunk bull, charge head long at any threat he sees until it is battered to dust or he is. He will not relent in his aggression or turn away. The moment he sets his mind to killing someone, anyone, no matter their age, allegiance or their relationship to him, he will devout every drop of blood in his veins to destroying them. He is stubborn, with an unbreakable will and the worse case of zealotry born into this stagnant world"

You nod along. Reminds you of a certain crow you plucked, who signed his death certificate the moment he allowed his fury to swallow him up and make him go berserk. Maybe purposefully pissing off an enraging this frosty piece of shit would be the winning strategy, make him so angry he can't see anything but red. The perfect camouflage for a coat like yours, Heh-Heh.

"But that just means he is overflowing with conviction. The man shrugged off a crippling cultivation injury and a spiteful curse spat at him by a powerful earthbound spirit with a stronger grudge, all because he opened his eyes long enough to see the face of the woman who broke his heart, and turned his blood to ice" The old master continues on "He will die to uphold his beliefs and he will gladly give his life to ensure those beliefs remain dominant. His conviction lead to him mutilating a childhood friend, his own wife, and the mother of his only son"

Wait what? The words hit you on the back of the head like a whip crack. Monu never once mentioned siring a brat with him! Or called him anything besides an Old lover or repertoire of insults and curses.

"There is nothing he will not stoop to to protect the edicts of the nine heavens" The old man continues on, ignoring your gnashing teeth and shocked expression "Except Demonic cultivation. He is the embodiment of the laws that govern the world. Your mere existence as a beast that can speak and now can walk in the guise of a human girl, is enough for him to consider you anathema to his own existence. Just like seeing your mother still drawing breath was enough for him to ward off the underworld's pull on his soul. He only practices orthodox and approved techniques and methods, this makes him more predictable than a heretic like yourself, but he has mastered his sect's martial style and their prized Law of Sacred Winter Breath Accord, more profoundly than Miss Hao ever attained, but she also dabbled outside of it. He is, even wounded as he is, one of the great modern masters of defensive magic. His guard is nigh impenetrable.
Cont

>>5773866

Su Zhe'xínglǚ suddenly stamps his walking stick to the ground, shattering it to splinters with a vicious grin on his otherwise kindly, wrinkled face

"But he has weaknesses, while his single minded focus and controlled rage grant him with an indomitable force of will, it also distracts him from threats beyond his tunnel vision. If you and your mother were to enter the field together, he would turn his back to you" He declared, fists still clenched on the pulp that remains of his staff

"Or he would have, until I gutted his grandson" You answer quietly, trying to process who Xue Ming was to Monu, your beloved mother, and if she even knew he existed

"Oh" He meekly squeaks, plucking a few strands out of his beard "Well, then I am uncertain how Tiger will react or whose throat he will lunge for first. But I know he will insist on landing the killing blow himself and will ignore any damage he causes to the world in pursuit of ending both of your lives. Then, his physical weaknesses. He might have survived his injuries, but he is only surviving them, only enduring them. He is freezing to death, slowly and even ascending to a new realm of cultivation will not save him. He could be outlasted or..."

"The shock of suddenly unfreezing will kill him" You gasp, the answer finding you like a divine revelation, like a bolt of lighting bounced into your skull or illuminated

"Oh, I was suggesting to simply speed up his freezing rather than thawing him out, but that would work to" Master Su exclaims, wide eyed "Or you can chip parts off of him to slow him down, he might be able to move his limbs still, but they are frozen solid from what I have heart. But, besides his character and weaknesses, I'd suggest leading him to a battlefield that is disadvantageous to him or else empowers your own techniques. He is a guiless man, he will follow you to either if he is incensed enough to do so"

"Understood, and about making friends amongst my fellow daoists?" You ask without missing a beat, sliding up to and leaning against him with the cutest smile and most adorable look in your eyes you can muster

"Ah" The old man says, entirely unaffected by the beauty pressing against him and looking up at him with bright eyes "Well, that's simple. You just need to give them a reason to like you. We cultivators like to think ourselves wise, but our hearts are still ruled by the desires that afflict all mortal men and our beliefs and three views are just as similar to those of the mundane folk. They expect you to be a demon, a man eating wretch, a great evil. And some will always think you to be such, but others, who don't have their heads stuck deeply in the sands of ignorance, will change their view of you if you give them reason to. Especially now that peace has long vanished between the sects and chaos reigns in the martial, cultivation and mundane realms. These are the times traditions can be torn down"
Cont

>>5773867

You snap your fingers

"Either for their own ends or for the greater good. Both the self serving and truly righteous will have reason to rebel against the status quo, if I give them a justification. You are, because you know I am not a devil by heart" You surmise as the old man smile's coyly while Jionghuagege looks completely lost in the conversation

"And, Master, a knife in the back can put into power those who are more amiable to us and our ends" Qiang whispers into your ear, half emerging from the gloom she cloaked herself in to lean over your shoulder "Though I may have left my old profession behind me in disgust, I never lost my talent for it"

"And I would give my life to bring you the head of any you command me to" Yinying says solemnly

"Assassination wouldn't win me many friends" You muse, tapping your chin

"And if its found out, it'd make her look even more villainous, if such a thing was possible" Jionghuagege chimes in

"Just offering an expert's advise" Qiang says blasély, shrugging her shoulders as she stops hiding herself "A ruler should consider every tool at their disposal, right?"

"You must consider you reputation in the eyes of the wider world" Fu counters, lifting up his chin and at the mention of reputation you remember what you were planning to do after meeting the heads of the five colors and five purities

"Fu, I'll be giving you the honor of acting as my messenger, herald and intermediary . Travel to the Dusk Marsh Wolves Sect's temple and speak with them, you may bring a few of your sect mates with you, if you deem it necessary. And I would if I were in your shoes, since their request could well be a trap"

"I'd like to see them try" He boasts with a near feral grin "I haven't met a man who can put me down, and I am uncertain if one exists"

Man. the way he worded that specifically excluded that mad ogress from the list of those who could, theoretically, make Fu take a permanent dirt nap.

"Still, better safe than sorry" You state with a shrug "No reason to get cocky and gamble with your life. Take...I don't know, Hong, Liu and Niu with you for backup"

"I won't need it, but I'll obey your command" Fu snorted, seems having his head ripped off has done wonders for his pride.

"Guessing you want to keep me at your side" Qiang asks curiously as Master Su and his disciples slowly migrate over to the tea house you unconsciously brought them to "Just in case"

"Maybe" You titter, bounding after the old man and his underlings "better safe than sorry, right?"

"I will be paying, if you are joining us for lunch" The old man declares, loud enough for the whole street to here "And I will continue to offer what little wisdom I have, if you'd like"

"Well, I can't refuse a free meal" You happily reply, but you don't accept or deny his second offer of advice.

Since you're worried you might change his opinion of you and scare him away if you voice some of your thoughts on the other matter at hand
Cont

>>5773868

What to do with Xia Xiaosi and what his sect wants and is hoping will be done to him. The guy is a trouble making buffoon and an actual, literal bastard. But would his own father want him dead? The idea makes your stomach twist into knots, and you have no issue meditating or sleeping beside rotting corpses or eating human flesh. Indeed, most of the things you like would terrify or at least unsettle most other people. The macabre interests and enchants you, but a father betraying their own child. Is such a thing possible? You know the reverse scenario to be and it stands to reason that there are men in the world who could commit such an unthinkable crime. And beasts do it all the time, some even eat their young if times are harsh. A lot of them do actually. Cats do.

But could a civilized mind do the same. Beasts do it for rational reasons, like nutrition or to protect the litter from disease or predators, not just because they can. Would a man really see the loss of face and shame of an illegitimate womanizer son as a logical cause for sending the boy to his death?

Maybe. Men's hearts can be blackened and their minds warped more than any beast. It is possible, though contemptible.

But then again, you did write them specifically asking for Xia Xiaosi, and all but threatened them with the public disgrace of using your likeness in his novels without his permission. Hell, writing novels to sell to a mortal audience could be more humiliating than the shame of being dragged to the courts over a fictional character's behavior and depiction in those stories. You requested a friendly meeting, to give Xiaosi a chance to make up for the disgrace he's caused his clan and learn how to act as a diplomat. Maybe they aren't sending him out to die for a reason to declare war or just to be rid of him. Maybe his father is honestly hoping he will reform and become a better man. Since it would be a grave faux pas to kill someone at a friendly and non violent meeting without any excuses besides the fact he is an annoying pest. And they don't know who you or the palace of natural laws sect are.

Maybe Xia Jīnsè-shāyú (金色 -鲨鱼, Golden Shark) would be happy with either out come, maybe he's rolling the dice praying for one or the other. Maybe. Maybe

"What kind of tea would you like, Miss? even our finest leaf will be on the house" One of the serving girls says happily, drawing you out of the swamp of your ruminations and you see it is the girl whose face you saved from having a horrid scar, when Xia Xiaosi and Shidi Liu had their fight outside of this very building. Why is she still working the tables?

"Give me a sample of everything" You cheerfully answer "And why are you still a waitress? I thought your family would have enough money to hire people to do that job now that you're ridiculously wealthy! I mean look at this place! We're sitting on solid jade chairs and drinking from silver cups!"

She shrugs
Cont

>>5773869

"I wanted to meet you again" She replies sweetly, bowing her head "Is something wrong, miss? You look lost in thought"

"Trouble with a man" You off handedly answer as she sets a premium bottle of wine down on the table, much to the Fa twins shock

"I'm assuming beating him like you did those two brutes is out of the question, Miss immortal?" She asked curiously, pouting and looking deeply concerned

"It might not be, actually" You muse, rapping your knuckles on the table.

What do you decide to do about Xia Xiaosi, Huanliuxue?

>Decide there's nothing to lose meeting him and giving him a chance to work out an alliance or some kind of deal with his family and sect.

>Well if you kill him, you either get a third sect baying for your blood or you appease them. But doing so would make the dusk marsh wolves joining your cause a certainty. So kill him and send his head as a gift with Fu! (Bad Karma)

>Wait for him to arrive before making up your mind and judge the situation by seeing what orders his father gave him and how he acts while acting as a diplomat.

>Give him and his sect a test, by meeting him in your natural form and seeing how he'll react to being the guest to a menagerie of beasts.

>write in

>>5773871
>Give him and his sect a test, by meeting him in your natural form and seeing how he'll react to being the guest to a menagerie of beasts.

When in doubt, troll.

>>5773871
>Give him and his sect a test, by meeting him in your natural form and seeing how he'll react to being the guest to a menagerie of beasts.

>>5773871
>>5773976
Support, trolling is certainly the wisest option.

>>5773871
>Give him and his sect a test, by meeting him in your natural form and seeing how he'll react to being the guest to a menagerie of beasts.

>>5773871
>Give him and his sect a test, by meeting him in your natural form and seeing how he'll react to being the guest to a menagerie of beasts.
>But give him a small hint somehow. It wouldn't be a far game otherwise.

>>5774074
>Support the motion of trolling and giving a hint

File: 30e.jpg (118 KB, 505x512)

118 KB JPG

>>5773871
>Give him and his sect a test, by meeting him in your natural form and seeing how he'll react to being the guest to a menagerie of beasts.
>inb4 he reacts like pic related

No wonder the drunk was so strong, he was our nephew.
What a shame he likely would never listen to reason, like golden hair. What a waste of potential the orthodox cause.

>>5773871
>Give him and his sect a test, by meeting him in your natural form and seeing how he'll react to being the guest to a menagerie of beasts.
IIRC, he's only met Huan in her Human Form. His sect is also Orthodox. This might turn into a preliminary bloodbath that we don't need before fighting Snow Tiger. Soooo...
>Reveal yourself as the woman who beat him and his rival if/when he reacts poorly
>Or when it's sufficiently amusing

>>5774074
Supporting.

>>5774173
Just want to point out that I mentioned during the fight that there might be a connection between him and Monu, fighting style and general alignment are too similar (and also different from the usual ice schtick that sect does)

>>5773871
>Give him and his sect a test, by meeting him in your natural form and seeing how he'll react to being the guest to a menagerie of beasts.

Ending the vote now.

Give him and his sect a test, by meeting him in your natural form and seeing how he'll react to being the guest to a menagerie of beasts.:10
-But give him a small hint somehow. It wouldn't be a far game otherwise.:3
-Reveal yourself as the woman who beat him and his rival if/when he reacts poorly: 1

Landslide victory for giving the boy and his sect as a whole a test by meeting him in your natural form and seeing how he'll react to being guest to a tribe of beasts, and finding himself in the middle of their den

Update will arrive shortly

>>5774173
Nearly fried my keyboard cause I spat out some nice black tea when I saw this. Lol

Big update coming in, had way too much fun writing blondie again

The girl gives an understanding nod and with a pleasant, yet weary smile, she pours steaming water into a fist sized teapot shaped like a cat made from a deep red clay speckled with flecks of gold and black, with the spout being its mouth and the handle being its tail.

"Only the finest yixing vessel for our divine guardian" She says with a voice as sweet as a cool summer night, her lips parting as she wafts the tea pot over the table, fragrant steam rising from the leaves as she rolls and washes them in the noiling water "And only the most choice of teas are suitable to be served to her. This is a treat! My mother says it is a graded imperial quality black tea, harvested early in the spring and rolled like Bi Luo Chun green tea. It is a very sweet tea when young, but when it is aged it becomes even sweeter, like honey"

The steam rising from the pot smelled of flowers, with a dark cherry aroma acidic aroma and something else entirely foreign to your senses, you tilted your head, politely lifting up the silver cup placed in front of you as she poured off the wash and then filled the pot with fresh water, that she swirled for a handful of seconds before pouring into a glass fairness cup. Your eyes popped and you saw exactly why she chose to start the tea flight with this tea. It's liquor was a deep, ruby red. Not nearly as beautiful as your fur but still an attractive shade of red nonetheless. Master Su gasped, his eyes opening nearly as wide as yours with awe as he saw the tea.

"That is a very high quality tea" He remarked in amazement, nodding to her as she filled your cup first as the private room began to reek of the freshly brewed tea as the steam clouds traveled up words and dispersed in the air like dandelion fluff "Worthy of a royal palate, what a lovely perfume it has"

You looked at your red hued reflection in your cup, no longer distracted by the showmanship of serving tea, and looking upon your distorted mirror in the rippling tea water, your thoughts turned once more to Xia Xiaosi and the wishes of the Summer Sea Dawn sect. Or more specifically his father, the tenth head of that sect, Xia Jīnsè-shāyú (金色 -鲨鱼, Golden Shark). He could be using him as a sacrificial pawn to incite a war between your sects, or just be sending him here to die. He might even think doing so will appease you, since his bastard wrote of a member of your sect without permission, and men who'd sire a bastard on a butcher's widow probably don't have to worry about finding an heir to take their place as clan patriarch and sect head. Or, just as likely, he's hoping he'll succeed and make up for his childish and thuggish actions and misdeeds and will make something of himself as a man and earn some life experience acting as his lackey...er diplomat.

But as you ponder this, and take your first sip of imperial grade black tea, after you've made certain it wouldn't scald your tongue by casting a quick and simple temperature lowering spell.
Cont

>>5775713

A whimsical thought suddenly crosses your mind right as you put the now cooled cup to your lips and flick your tongue out to test if the tea was still too hot for your liking.

The lovely girl wasn't lying, it was eye openingly sweet. And if you hadn't watched her prepare it, you'd suspect she had snuck a handful of sugar in with the dry leaf. The tea is just that natural sweet? That's ridiculous. You roll your tongue around, trying to pick through the flavors, floral, malty and sweet, trying to pick out specific tastes while Old man Su and the Fa twins sip and sample the tea in austere and polite silence. The tea itself is thick and lingers on the tongue, not like static but more like the warmth of blood, sticky and sweet. And there is a taste you can't quite place amongst all the roasty and floral notes in it. You decided to stop focusing so hard on the tea, as you realize you've gotten distracted again when you've gone in for your third sip, smacking your lips to try and figure out what that something is that you're tasting.

And again, that same whimsical though crosses and practically cartwheels across your mind as a very cattish smile spreads across your lips. Why not play and mess with him a little? It's also fun to be mischievous and provocative and toying with others is probably your biggest hobby! And the prank wouldn't just be for your own amusement, no it wouldn't be just a pointless game to keep away boredom or laugh at the poor boy's reaction, it'd be a test! A test for the tolerance of the summer sea dawn sect and their chosen emissary! To see how they will react to a demonic beast. They can't ally with the palace of natural laws if they can't play nice and refuse to go along with a cat's fickle desires. And just thinking about the face blondie would make when he sees that the beauty he's been pining for to the point of making a copy of her in ink to place into his stories is in actuality a fearsome man eating cat makes you nearly cackle with glee. The thought of his shocked expression is just too irresistible to resist. How can you not go through with this plan? It's going to be absolutely hilarious! You might die of laughter and the more you think about it and imagine Xiaosi reacting more and more dramatically to the revelation of your true nature, the stronger your desire to freak him out for no real reason becomes. And the bigger the smile you wear grows.

"She's planning something devious, just look at the face she's making. Its putting a chill into the very marrow of my bones" Fa Tang sighed, as tiny titer escaped your lips and you made a very gross and devilishly playful face as you leaned over the table, holding your cup of tea in both your hands. Without realizing it, you've pulled your legs up onto the chair and are crouching on top of it now, sneering in very monu- like manner
cont

>>5775715

"I've seen that exact expression many times before, Hao wore it all the time. She's planning mischief, not murder...I hope" Su Zhe'xínglǚ helpfully pointed out, lifting his eyes from his own cup of tea

"You're right, you're right uncle! I've just figured out the answer to my problem! I'll test the boy by playing a trick on him, if he doesn't find it as funny as I do, or runs for the hills in fear of his life, I'll know his sect can't be trusted to be friends with us beasts!" You cackle, leaning back and thrusting your legs out to keep from tipping over the chair carved out of pure white jade, since you really don't want to damage such a fine work of art nor look like an idiot by falling over out sheer excitement

"Ah that's the boy trouble you were mentioning earlier" Fa Jin airily sighed, fluttering his eye lashes and pouting "And here I thought it was something scandalous and exciting"

"Life isn't a romance novel, girl-boy" You huff, sticking your tongue out at him playfully , still coming coming down from the high of your near manic scheming "They're just sending someone I find really annoying as a diplomat. And sure, that is only because I requested they do, but still, having to be in his company can only be tiresome. So why not have a little fun testing his mettle, hm, hm?"

"Girl boy?" Fa Tang said, trying to restrain a laugh while Fa Jin's pout deepened as he did his best to look like an offended maiden

"I'm almost envious of the bastard" He laughs, letting the insult roll off his back like water on a duck's feathers as he flicks back his hair with the back of his hand "So come on, gossip, how do you plan to toy with this annoying boy, hmm?"

"Well, I'm going to meet him in my natural form and see if he still finds me beautiful" You say, grinning so much its starting to be painful "From just that one meeting, that initial reaction, I'll know if his sect and mine can be friends"

"You're meeting an orthodox cultivator, in your demonic beast form?" Fa Tang chokes, spitting up tea on his twin, having swiftly turned away to not spray you in the face with his mouthwash. And Jin looks ready to skin his other half alive for that.

"Of course, it'd be impossible to keep it a secret anyways, but this way I'll know if their sect can join our alliance!" You declare brazenly, wagging your head side to side as Master Su gives a low chuckle

"I see, I see, well, since I am the second leader of this alliance, I should be their to meet this envoy as well" He says with a crooked smile, showing off his pearly whites like he was bearing his fangs, and with a mischievous glimmer in his old eyes. And so you and him begin conspiring together to perfect this test of tolerance and make sure the punchline will land once Xia Xiaosi sees the true face of his crush in all its wild and untamed glory!
-
Cont

>>5775720

[Meanwhile, on the river towards Suiqi]
Xia Xiaosi's heart was thumping in his chest, his nerves were frayed and threatening to snap completely and his ears were still ringing from the scolding his father gave him out of nowhere. It was only after he calmed enough to stop insulting him that he understood why he was so displeased with him, and he realized the severity of his mistake in indulging in fantasy and expressing himself creatively by writing down his daydreams. Maybe it was a bit brazen to decide to publish those daydreams and mid-afternoon fantasies and sell them to help bolster his personal funds, but he was barely given an allowance and their were no well paying jobs or missions since all of Chuan went crazy. First it seemed like every grave in the region spat out two dozens ghosts, and every sect was panicking thinking some seal had been broken, then word spread that the warring Sun and Winter sects were trashed by a horde of demonic insects and there were people turning into demonic beasts, and last he had heard the north half of Chuan was frozen solid to try and keep all of that at bay while the elders argued and debated what to do.

His father had only come back from the latest meeting to yell at him and send him out to "make amends for his childish indiscretion and lustful ways" which he was worried was the politest way of saying "Offer your head before this mess gets any worse". And he was terrified he'd be torn apart by the rampaging insect devils or frozen into stiff sea ice, but surprisingly he didn't march into the hellish landscape he expected from all the rumors and hearsay he had heard.

Firstly, while there were legions of giant insects, they seemed to be tamed, perhaps ensorcelled by some spell. And while there seemed to be more people worshipping cats than he remembered there being the last time he passed through those parts of the world, they seemed harmless enough. He even met a few of the unfortunates turned into beasts, and found they were just intoxicated with an excess of primordial beast essence. He didn't stick around to find out how that happened to them, since he was worried whoever was controlling the giant ants would send them after him, and those fears only grew when he found the battlefields were they had clashed with his fellow daoists and eradicated them. That and rumors of a infamous sword demoness kept him on his toes and too afraid to wait around in any one town or village for too long, lest he have the misfortune of finding her or one of the demons that were terrorizing the land.

Which is why he also made most of the trip by boat, just to be safe. But that still did nothing to sooth his nerves and calm his heart. He had seen the pillar of emerald light from the shores of the temple in the sea, and had been able to spot a truly massive true practically glowing with primordial beast essence for several days now.
Cont

>>5775722

He had an inkling how there were so many half beasts and were the giant insects came from, but an idiot could draw a connection between those mysterious happenings to the massive fucking tree sprouted in one of the four sister cities that were the pride of Chuan.

He grinded his teeth, keeping his hand close to his sword as he departed from the fishing ship he'd pay to transport him to Suiqi, and nearly drew it when he saw there were at least a dozen demon cats lounging by the river side. They all lifted their heads and stared at him with malevolently glowing eyes as the pieces in the mystery of exactly the what the hell was going on past the walls of thorns and towering flowers and the once frigid wasteland began to fit together in his mind. He realized there was no way in hell he could fight off that many demonic beasts. Yet despite his mortal terror, he could only think 'And Shidi Liu said there were wolves devouring villages, hah, figures that idiot would mistake cats for dogs"

But, the cats didn't move to rip him apart, neither did the other demon that emerged from the waters of the boat he had just stepped off of, a massive turtle with a violet shell. And the moment they emerge, the feline gang turned away from him and crowded around the other beast.

Perhaps he was lucky after all. He'd slip away while the demons were fighting and...he paused when he didn't hear sounds of violence or yowls or panicked screams. He glanced around, and tilted his head in confusion as all of the river folk walked up, unafraid, to the demonic beasts. Who weren't fighting at all, in fact, from where he stood, it looked like they were just trying to get the attention of the overgrown turtle. And if his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, so were the people.

He blinked, hand still on his sheathed sword's pommel as he tried to figure out what to do. 'Well maybe these beasts are tamed like those insects were'. That sounded reasonable. There was no sane reason for them to gather around demonic beasts otherwise.

He looked around, and frowned. He had expected at least a welcoming party, and had hoped for that beautiful girl that beat the shit out of him the last time he visited Suiqi would've been a part of it. His father said she was furious about his homage to her, but was hoping that was just him trying to scare him to behaving.

Then an unpleasant thought crossed his mind.

"Wait, are you here to welcome me?" He asked loudly, and one of the demon cats, slightly larger than the rest with colors like swamp foliage and mud and the pattern of a leopard walked up to him and gave him a hard look. And then trotted away, like it had a job it was late to.

He looked around, and decide it was best to wait and watch rather than follow a demon into a city that seemed to have been half consumed by a jungle.

Cont

>>5775724


"Ah, you must be the messenger sent by the summer sea dawn sect, I am Su Zhe'xínglǚ , sect head of the five colors and five purities" An old man who Xiaosi had seen once or twice before during tournaments or auction said, cupping his hand and bowing politely, a gesture he hestitantly returned "I was here on business with the palace of natural laws myself, and heard an envoy would be sent to this city to discuss...personal matters with a member of that sect"

"Old man, can you still see? Can't you see this place is infested with demons?" He asked frantically, wondering if perhaps he or the world itself had gone mad

"The head of the palace of natural laws is fond of them" He answered bluntly, shrugging his shoulders as if he was talking about simply a strange choice in pet or favorite snack "Though they are aware the sight of them is intimidating to most cultivators, which is why she requested I lead you to person whom you've caused some trouble for, for a private meeting, before you begin you work as a diplomat in this city"

"Is this all just a display of power?" Xiaosi sighed in relief "That is rather eccentric, most would think keeping demonic beasts as pets to be heretical behavior, but there's nothing more intimidating than enslaving so many monsters to your will. Still, for a sect with no history or reputation to be able to tame so many monsters, that head must be an old hermit of terrifying power"

The older cultivator only smiled as he lead him into the city, which, as he now expected, was swarming with demonic beasts

"Truly terrifying" Xiaosi muttered, his eyes boggling as he tried to comprehend how much Qi and personal force of will someone would have to expend to subjugate so many demons to their will and be so confident in their control they allow them to wander a city filled with innocent lives. Confident or careless, but he didn't dare speak that in front of what was probably the scary old geezer's only friend in the world that walked on two legs

"I've heard the girl your meeting was driven nearly to her wits ends by your advances to her" Master Su suddenly spoke up as he lead him to the richer, more well to do districts of the city, drawing his attention away from a girl with cat ears and tail who was dancing and singing a song in the middle of a crowd of monks pruning cattails by one of the many waterways running through the city "And that she beat you senseless, many times, because of them. So why are you..."

"The most attractive kind of woman is one who is stronger than I am" He answered without any shame or regret

"Ah. So you're a weirdo" The old man said plainly, turning away from him in disgust as he lead him into one of the many estates standing above the rest of the city, that were now shaded with the rest of it by the heavens' breeching tree in the center of it.
Cont

>>5775726

Maybe if he could get into her good graces, that fiery girl could convince her master to allow his sect rights to cultivate beneath that tree. It had to be filled to bursting with spiritual energy.

"Is my crimson haired fairy waiting for me here?" He asked with a confident sneer as he followed the ancient sage into the estate's garden

"Yes, poor girl" He sighed, shaking his head

"Oh my big sis enjoyed my company, even if she wouldn't admit it" He laughed, swaggering forward with his chest puffed up, noticing the old geezer had stopped at the bottom of the stair's leading into the mansion "Eh? you aren't coming"

"She wishes to meet you alone, to properly hammer through that thick skull of yours she has no interest in you" Master Su said sharply, glaring through him so fiercely that Xiaosi felt he had been run through with a knife "I'm certain the letter her master sent made that clear enough already"

"I didn't read it, but my father did say she..." he began before the old man guffawed and spat "Ah you poor idiot" and walked away howling with laughter. Uneasy once again, Xiaosi opened the door and walked into a darkened room, covered in hanging silks dyed scarlet and paper lanterns panting violet shadows and flicker gold orange lights across the stuffy space, a parlor of sorts like you'd fine in an opium den or pleasure house. A shive crawled up his spine and down his arms as he tried to quickly groom his hair and regain his composure.

He tried to call out, but found his tongue stuck in his throat. There was someone else in the parlor, he hoped dearly it was the red jade beauty he'd met before and not a god of death coming to claim his soul.

"I..I've come as you requested" He sputtered, finally able to speak as he saw a shadow move behind one of the silk screens, a familiar silhouette "I've heard there's been a misunderstanding, and you've heard about the novels I wrote and mistook my well meaning homage f..for something far more unpleasant and distorted. I've come to apologize, I've should've asked for permission"

There was no reply from her besides an idle, bored sounding hum.

"To use your likeness" He continued, sweating and trembling all over as he knelt down on his knees before the screen, not daring to look behind it "Did that swamp dog tell you and exaggerate about the character you inspired...I was told your sect has some troubles, my father is the head of the summer sea dawn, I could put in a good word if you'd like...I know you're furious with me, but at least let me hear your voice! This is torture! I've come all this way to hear your sonorous voice and gaze upon your winsome face, and you won't even speak to me! Was my writing really that bad?"

"Well, if you insist" The voice tingled in his ears, curling around him like smoke and making him shiver for an entirely different reason than before. And it was enough to make him miss the shifting of the shadow, until it was to late to run
Cont

>>5775727

"And yes! You've never not annoyed me, blondie!" A ox sized cat demon, with fur as red as blood and with markings unlike any he had seen before roared, emerging from behind the screen to pounce on him. He froze, and recognized the eyes leering at him in the dark and the voice it was speaking with, how could he when she was speaking with just as much disgust and annoyance as when he teased her before. And in the moment before he fainted from sheer fright, his mind caught up enough to connect that beauty he was hoping to meet, the scary monster ontop of him, and the cat deity the peasants had taken to worshiping the last couple of years
_

"S...s..s" Xiaosi stammered as he tried not to look at you as you lay on your side in licked your paw, lounging atop a pile of silk cushions

"Spit it out, boy" You growl, annoyed that he fainted rather than doing something amusing "I don't have all day, and I regret not killing you more by the second"

"So" He began, nearly swallowing his tongue as he looked away as you tried to force him to look at you as you glowered at him, a growl rumbling in your throat "I uh, would prefer if you looked like you did when"

"I beat the every loving crap out of you and your rival in public?" You snicker "Why? Aren't I as beautiful like this? This is how I was born, am I not lovely? Does looking upon me not still your heart and steal away you breath, Heh-Heh-Heh"

"I.." he began, drenched in sweat as more of it beaded on his brow and he shut his eyes "Just...that's your natural form, you didn't turn into a...this"

"Yes" You answer, wondering if he'll faint again and getting giddy with anticipation to see if he will

"Why did you interrupt my and Liu's fight if you've always been a demon cat, even back then?" He asked, opening his eyes, and you saw they were practically swirling around. His brain must've been fried with how confused he is, or he's gone mad with fear

"I told you already, or did you forget my scolding already, shitty brat?" You snap, biting close to his ear to make him jump, giggling as he did, and nearly leapt straight out of his skin

"But..but" He stammered, before slapping his cheeks and taking a deep breath "Aren't your kind supposed to eat people, not noodles? And terrorize them rather than protect them?"

"Hmm, you didn't answer my question first" You pout, extending a claw and dragging it across the floor, giggling as he shivered from the sound "Am I not beautiful? No matter the shape I take?"

He scrunched his face, furrowing his brow and barring his teeth

"Y..yesh" He said through his teeth

"Be honest, ladies don't like to be toyed with" You cackled as he groaned and slouched, looking like half a corpse already as you pestered and prodded him to make him say humiliating things and compliment you while he was shaking from scalp to toe with fear

Cont

>>5775729

"Your coat is finer than any silk, your tail fluffier than any cloud in the sky, and your eyes glitter like polished agates" He says after taking a long, painful looking pause to weigh his options "You're a fairy amongst fairies, as fair a feline as you are a woman. Is that enough"

"Hmm, for now" You cackle as you flick your claw and walk away from him "And No, my diet is varied and I don't make a habit of terrorizing people. Most of us beasts don't"

"Are you something besides a demonic beast?" He asked then, demandingly

"I mean, I am royalty and a beautiful young lady" You giggle, prancing around him and flicking your tail as he grinds his teeth, clearly struggling to understand so simple even a child could figure it out, why you didn't act like a demonic beast "Should"

"Hah! Are you just toying with me! playing with my heart to drench me in fear and confusion to make me taste better?!" he shouted, standing up and pointing rudely at you. You sat him back down with a pointed glare

"Are you an idiot?" You asked dully, rolling your eyes "Wait, don't answer that, I know you're an idiot, you lustful monkey!"

"Th..then why did you bring me here! To hold me captive, to torture me?" He asks, biting his finger nails

"Because you designed a character after me, and I don't like how you wrote her, I'm nowhere near that sadistic and cold!" You huffed as a look of enlightenment crossed his face "Its just plain insulting! It hurts every time I imagine my face saying those cliche and infantile lines!"

"Cliche?" he asked, wilting and looking like he was about to faint again

"And infantile" You sneer, sitting back down and returning to your grooming

"Then...your master must've taught you well and tamed your wild nature" He gasps "Like all the other beasts in Suiqi! What an amazing man he must be"

"Oh, I'm the head and founder of the palace of natural laws. I just wrote the letter that way to keep my identity a secret awhile longer" You titter, leaning close enough for him to feel the heat of your breath and see his reflection on your fangs "And they're well behaved because they aren't scared for their life and are well fed"

"On people?" He ventured, lifting an eye brow

"Why does everyone think we have a taste for human flesh!" You roar, outraged, making him cower beneath the table you set up, knocking over the plates of food and cups of tea on it as he hid "Is it a pride thing!? No! I haven't been feeding them people! They're just children, dammit!"

"Ch..children" he repeated as you placed your front paws on top of the table and pressed it down, making it buckle as you growled and put your weight down onto it

"Yes, children" You mockingly praise him, which makes him look a little too happy for your liking

"And the people you tri..who worship you, call you the protector of children" He continues, slowly, which makes sense considering how slow witted he is
Cont

>>5775731

"I am, I hate seeing them hurt or scared" You angrily answer "Why is it so hard for you people to understand, I have no ill will against humanity, I don't lust for your flesh, and all the people I've killed either attacked me first or pissed me off! I'm not a monster"

"You're a beautiful young lady!' He shouts, with tears in his eyes and terror in his voice "The most gorgeous in the world! Goddesses look plain compared to you"

"Stop freaking out, I won't kill you if you stop complimenting me! I am not an enemy of humanity, I'm just a daoist housecat" You huff, now annoyed with him for an entirely different reason than before "Whose tired of being kicked around and looked down on, or leered out by jackasses like you"

"I don't understand what you want me to say!" He blubbers , covering his head and weeping openly as you sigh in frustration and roll your eyes "and how can't I be frightened when there's an ox sized man eating cat yelling at me with the voice of a pretty girl?"

"I don't know, maybe start acting like a man, my students handle it pretty handidly" You jeer as he hesitantly pokes his head out, looking hopeful "And no, I won't transform into a human if you ask nicely, I only change my shape when I desire it"

"We...well, uh" He says weakly "If..If I write your character better, will you forgive me"

"I'd prefer you not to use my likeness at all" You bluntly state

"Then I can leave if I promise to not make her character less offensive to you?" He asks pleadingly

"You're here for a reasons besides annoying me, Xiaosi" You grumble

"You remember my name" He says with a nervous chuckle "I..I can't write if you eat me"

You slam a paw near his head and glare down at him

"it was a joke, I was joking it, it was just a bad joke!" He frets with stilted laughter and tears in his eyes

"You would waste a golden opportunity to earn some renown and face to scurry back under your daddy's robe?" You tease, purring as you lift your paw and swagger away from him "and to risk my ire running away when I still have use of you"

"Oh right, your sect is in some trouble, but what does that have to do with me?" He asked meekly, covering his head as he glanced up at you

"Are you really so stupid you thought you were sent here just to apologize" You ask slowly so he can understand you

"Oh" he defeatedly mutters "I'm supposed to work out a deal between you and my father, right?"

"Yeeees~" you coo as he winces and weeps

"I'm going to die!" He wails, crying on the floor and soaking it with his tears.
Cont

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>>5775732

Double vote

What kind of deal do you try to strike with the summer sea dawn sect,

>Just acclimate Xiaosi to the presence of beasts, since he's more scared of them than violent towards them, and use him as a puppet to try and pull his sect into your alliance, which really needs a name

>Well, if his reaction is an indication of the rest of his sect, an outright alliance is unlikely, so just use this chance to establish trade between your sect and his, which will be nearly as good as allying with them

>Since he's been behaving, reward him by talking to him in your human form and filling his (and thus his father's) head with dreams of the wealth and glory he'd attain if you owe them a favor or two, betting on the father being like the son and being weak to temptation and the allure of powers.

>You know, you could probably take over ALL of the summer sea dawn sect if you kill just a few of its elders, and there's a perfect figure head in front of you, who you could feed pills and cultivation aids to quickly bump up his cultivation...What was it Qiang said about knives in backs? [bad karma]

>Write in

And what else do you do, Huanliuxue?

>Ask Monu and Feiqing to help you strengthen ghost empress melody

>Reach out to Xuebai and ask her to sacrifice her pet monstrosity to buy you more time

>Try and track down the ogress to see if she could be any help

>Train your students with Master Su's disciples, and have Tie-Tie drill your strengthened mortals and her kids in preparation for the fight to come

>Find a third type of Qi to dye your spiritual roots, even if only temporarily, you'll need every advantage you can against your mother's ex

>Try and evolve as a magical beast again, while there's still time to before the blizzard arrives

>write in

Huan was not the kind of cat girl Xiaosi was hoping for, lol

>>5775736
>Just acclimate Xiaosi to the presence of beasts, since he's more scared of them than violent towards them, and use him as a puppet to try and pull his sect into your alliance, which really needs a name

>Find a third type of Qi to dye your spiritual roots, even if only temporarily, you'll need every advantage you can against your mother's ex
We have an open slot afterall.

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And here's a diagram I found on wikipedia about the five elements

Since Ice is water, and probably has influences of Ying, Wood might be a good bet for this upcoming fight, use his attacks to empower us. And our primordial qi might eve strengthen it as well.
But going for earth for it to destroy the water qi could work too. Trying to overwhelm his water qi with so much fire qi that it starts insulting instead of being destroyed is a possible tactic, but I don't think it would be viable for us.

>>5775736
>Just acclimate Xiaosi to the presence of beasts, since he's more scared of them than violent towards them, and use him as a puppet to try and pull his sect into your alliance, which really needs a name
>Make him feed the newly awakened beasts and be supervised by another disciple to help with with his slow witted ness. Basically make the boy do hard labor to build character and make him a better cultivator. Aka make him a butler his father will thank you honestly.
>Try and evolve as a magical beast again, while there's still time to before the blizzard arrives

Also can we just ask them this as we go evolve? If not ignore this.
>Ask Monu and Feiqing to help you strengthen ghost empress melody

>>5775736
>Just acclimate Xiaosi to the presence of beasts, since he's more scared of them than violent towards them, and use him as a puppet to try and pull his sect into your alliance, which really needs a name
He amuses me.

>Try and evolve as a magical beast again, while there's still time to before the blizzard arrives.

Amping up our base stats feels like a good move.

>>5775736
>>Just acclimate Xiaosi to the presence of beasts, since he's more scared of them than violent towards them, and use him as a puppet to try and pull his sect into your alliance, which really needs a name
>Try and evolve as a magical beast again, while there's still time to before the blizzard arrives
Sometimes all you need is one billion dollars. Or in this case, just really high raw stats.

>>5775736
>Just acclimate Xiaosi to the presence of beasts, since he's more scared of them than violent towards them, and use him as a puppet to try and pull his sect into your alliance, which really needs a name
>Train your students with Master Su's disciples, and have Tie-Tie drill your strengthened mortals and her kids in preparation for the fight to come

>>5775767
>Support

I really like the beast idea.

>>5775758
>Metal
>Creates: Water
China what are you doing?
>>5775736
>Just acclimate Xiaosi to the presence of beasts, since he's more scared of them than violent towards them, and use him as a puppet to try and pull his sect into your alliance, which really needs a name
>Train your students with Master Su's disciples, and have Tie-Tie drill your strengthened mortals and her kids in preparation for the fight to come

>>5775928
>China what are you doing?
Drinking mercury. Literally.

>>5775736
>Since he's been behaving, reward him by talking to him in your human form and filling his (and thus his father's) head with dreams of the wealth and glory he'd attain if you owe them a favor or two, betting on the father being like the son and being weak to temptation and the allure of powers.

>Find a third type of Qi to dye your spiritual roots, even if only temporarily, you'll need every advantage you can against your mother's ex

>>5775736
>Well, if his reaction is an indication of the rest of his sect, an outright alliance is unlikely, so just use this chance to establish trade between your sect and his, which will be nearly as good as allying with them
>Find a third type of Qi to dye your spiritual roots, even if only temporarily, you'll need every advantage you can against your mother's ex

>>5775736
>>You know, you could probably take over ALL of the summer sea dawn sect if you kill just a few of its elders, and there's a perfect figure head in front of you, who you could feed pills and cultivation aids to quickly bump up his cultivation...What was it Qiang said about knives in backs? [bad karma]

>Try and evolve as a magical beast again, while there's still time to before the blizzard arrives

>>5775736
>Since he's been behaving, reward him by talking to him in your human form and filling his (and thus his father's) head with dreams of the wealth and glory he'd attain if you owe them a favor or two, betting on the father being like the son and being weak to temptation and the allure of powers

>Try and evolve as a magical beast again, while there's still time to before the blizzard arrives

>>5775736
"I saw my crush after a long time and she turned out to be a giant cat" The story of Xiaosi
>Just acclimate Xiaosi to the presence of beasts, since he's more scared of them than violent towards them, and use him as a puppet to try and pull his sect into your alliance, which really needs a name
Jiong would be the natural choice, but given his... preferences I wonder how he'd take to Tietie
>Make him feed the newly awakened beasts and be supervised by another disciple to help with with his slow witted ness.
>Try and evolve as a magical beast again, while there's still time to before the blizzard arrives
Evolution before we really kick off the beast revolution.
>>5775758
If memory serves the logic is something like: wood feeds fire, which cools to form earth, earth produces metal, metal carries water (think a bucket or pipes), and water gives nutrient to wood to complete the cycle.

>>5776150
Metal has associations with lightning and storms too doesn't it?

>>5776150
A cat is fine too.

>>5775736
>Just acclimate Xiaosi to the presence of beasts, since he's more scared of them than violent towards them, and use him as a puppet to try and pull his sect into your alliance, which really needs a name
"The Protectors"?

>Find a third type of Qi to dye your spiritual roots, even if only temporarily, you'll need every advantage you can against your mother's ex

>>5775736
>Since he's been behaving, reward him by talking to him in your human form and filling his (and thus his father's) head with dreams of the wealth and glory he'd attain if you owe them a favor or two, betting on the father being like the son and being weak to temptation and the allure of powers.
>Find a third type of Qi to dye your spiritual roots, even if only temporarily, you'll need every advantage you can against your mother's ex

>>5775736
>your alliance, which really needs a name

"Inverted heavens"?
I think i read this name in a wuxia manwha about a conspiracy beyond orthodox and unhortodox sects.


>>5775767
And i'll support these choices.

>>5775736
>Just acclimate Xiaosi to the presence of beasts, since he's more scared of them than violent towards them, and use him as a puppet to try and pull his sect into your alliance, which really needs a name
>Train your students with Master Su's disciples, and have Tie-Tie drill your strengthened mortals and her kids in preparation for the fight to come

>>5775736
>Just acclimate Xiaosi to the presence of beasts, since he's more scared of them than violent towards them, and use him as a puppet to try and pull his sect into your alliance, which really needs a name
>Try and evolve as a magical beast again, while there's still time to before the blizzard arrives

>>5775940
I might have guessed.

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Ending the vote, tallying the result now. Meant to do so earlier, but I had a lot of chores and errands to run the last twoish days

Just acclimate Xiaosi to the presence of beasts, since he's more scared of them than violent towards them, and use him as a puppet to try and pull his sect into your alliance, which really needs a name:12
-Make him feed the newly awakened beasts and be supervised by another disciple to help with with his slow witted ness:4

Since he's been behaving, reward him by talking to him in your human form and filling his (and thus his father's) head with dreams of the wealth and glory he'd attain if you owe them a favor or two, betting on the father being like the son and being weak to temptation and the allure of powers.:3

Well, if his reaction is an indication of the rest of his sect, an outright alliance is unlikely, so just use this chance to establish trade between your sect and his, which will be nearly as good as allying with them:1

You know, you could probably take over ALL of the summer sea dawn sect if you kill just a few of its elders, and there's a perfect figure head in front of you, who you could feed pills and cultivation aids to quickly bump up his cultivation...What was it Qiang said about knives in backs?:1

_

Find a third type of Qi to dye your spiritual roots, even if only temporarily, you'll need every advantage you can against your mother's ex:5

Try and evolve as a magical beast again, while there's still time to before the blizzard arrives:9

Ask Monu and Feiqing to help you strengthen ghost empress melody:3

Train your students with Master Su's disciples, and have Tie-Tie drill your strengthened mortals and her kids in preparation for the fight to come: 3

So you'll acclimate xiaosi to the presence of beasts through various means, and use him as a puppet to try and lure his sect into your budding alliance, which really needs a name

And while he learns to stop trembling at the sight of demonic beasts, you'll attempt to attain further evolution as a magical beast while you still can (Of which you have quite a few options already unlocked/ the requirements for them known)


Update will arrive shortly

"Beg my pardon, most radiant and illustrious divine beast" Xiaosi mutters, eyes fixed stubbornly on the candle flame lighting the room you've been tormenting him inside, rather than you or the completely unfazed master Su, who as befitting his position and seat as the head of the other half of your budding alliance, is seated right beside you and given the rare privilege of being allowed to run his finger's through your finer than silk hide as you sit on your haunches, towering over and covering the lesser cultivator in your shadow, while your fellow leader sits besides you, surround by false ghost flames.

You flick your tail, as the grandmaster of the five colors and five purities holds his brush an inch above the well of ink, pausing his writing of the various and incredibly boring legal contracts and formal oaths meant to make the alliance between his sect and the palace of natural laws official beyond just shaking hands and sharing tea

"But what exactly am I supposed to do, as diplomat, my father didn't explain my official duties or what is expected of me, and it'll be much easier for me to fulfill these expectations if I knew what they were" He continues on, wincing as he is burdened by the full attention of two much stronger daoists than himself, something that can make even brave men tremble and whimper like pups "If it would not be troublesome to the great Huanliuxue and sagacious Zhe'xínglǚ to enlighten this idiot boy of the nature of his duties"

"Haah? Only great, am I not the very image of a sage with an illuminated mind? Is my towering intellect not without peer? Surely I should be referred to as the great, sagacious and regal Huanliuxue" You scoff, mocking offense just to mess with him while Su chuckles and returns to busy himself with the mind numbingly dull task of penning the written declaration of brotherhood of the coalition between his sect and yours

"You do not need to amend your address to the founder of this alliance between heathens and the downtrodden" The older man informs, flicking his brush like a knife, cutting off your game and ending your fun before it could begin as well as splattering Xiaosi's face with ink "At least in this instance, though I expect the list of praising descriptions and complimentary characteristics she'll demand will only grow, so do not concern yourself with learning them all when you have more important duties to see to, as a diplomat"

Xiaosi grinds his teeth in frustration, but knows it'd be the height of stupidity to snap at his elder for not answer his question. With a sigh, you deign to answer his question. He does need to know his job if he's going to get anything done, let alone do any meaningful work towards pulling his sect into the newly formed alliance or at least getting them to swear not to interfere in it's coming battles or stab you while your backs are turned.

Cont

>>5779547

"You're the summer sea dawn temple's representative here in Suiqi, an emissary, an envoy. Your job is to help improve relations between your temple and ours and find a mutually beneficial agreement your papa and I and Uncle Su are happy with" You cheerfully answer "I, personally, desire your sect to join with the alliance between the palace of natural laws and the five colors and five purities"

"As do I" Su Zhe'xínglǚ chimes though he doesn't tear his eyes away from his work and is writing so faster that his hands have become a blur of color and flying ink "The summer sea dawn's inclusion would strengthen the alliance greatly, at least in the eyes of our fellow daoist, as most of them have yet to realize the threat Lady Huanliuxue poses, nor the wealth two Harmonious elemental springs could provide"

"And if you can strike a deal that makes all three of us elders happy, you'll gain quite a bit of renown as a savvy diplomat and earn your family back the face your stupidity has cost it" You cackle as Xiaosi reflexively covers his bottom and balls, remembering all to well the punishment you meted out on him and his equally haughty rival "And that shouldn't be too hard, even for an idiot boy like you, I'll admit, your father has the upper hand in negotiations. We really don't have much to offer him."

Xiaosi ticks his jaw, the wheels in his head turning, though sluggishly.

"And no, a wealth of beast cores is not on the table. Spring water might be, but not the lives of those under MY protection" You snarl, protective instincts flaring as you preemptively cut off that branch before it can cause issues

"I wouldn't dream of demanding so extreme a price, I was just...wondering how I could convince my father and the rest of our clan to strong arm the rest of the sect into accepting what they believe to be demons as our friends" He quickly blabbers, waving his hands in the air "Especially since you're so crazily strong, Big Sis! I mean, look what you've done to Suiqi"

"Look what she's done to everyone who thought taking her head would be as easy as trampling dried grass" Master Su chortles, shaking his head as Xiaosi nods furiously in agreement

"Well, you can just write them praising their upright and laudable characters" You suggest, as the embers of an idea begin to stoke the fires of your intellect. Xiaosi is terrified of beasts, and a first hand account of them not being man eating monsters and acting like the good children they are is sure to sway at least a handful of ignorant minds. His bond of blood might be watered down, but at least its there. And connected to the head of their sect
Cont

>>5779548

"So, you'll need to spend time around the magical beasts here, be they official members of the palace of natural laws or merely under its protection, become used to their presence and meditate on what is praisable about their personalities and make it clear to daddy dearest they aren't a threat to mankind, and certainly aren't sin driven demons" You coolly explain, as the straw haired boy nods along, with a sharp look in his usually bored and arrogant eyes, though you can tell from how he cringes that he really doesn't want to do the job you've just forced on to him

"You can start by helping keep those without care takers or means of procuring food for themselves fed" Master Su adds, wagging his ink drenched brush in the air

"And you'll be monitored by one of my trusted disciples, for your both your safety and that of your charges" You say, already making up your mind that Qiang will be put on baby sitting duty to make sure Xiaosi doesn't lash out in fear or run away, nor that any of the beasts decides his Qi rich flesh would make a lovely treat, since while you are loathe to admit it, that is also a possibility.

"You'll figure out the rest of your duties once you've fallen into the rhythm of its more banal chores" You add with a flippant wag of your paw as you rise and yawn, stretching out as you make to leave the meeting "Just start by putting in a good word for and convincing your father of our good intentions, don't try and make him into a beast lover with one letter. If you do, he might think you've fallen under my spell"

Xiaosi pouts

"But I have, at least when you don't have fangs that look like they can tear my fair head from its shoulders" He whimpers, his lip trembling as you leave him with Master Su. You have more important things to do than hold an idiots hand and teach him how to do a simple job and messing with him has gotten a bit stale already. More important things like, say, attaining further refinement and evolving as a magical beast. Getting stronger and deadlier before facing down the blizzard and its master can only be a good move. Its common sense to train and better one's self, but this kind of improvement requires more thought than your daily exercises and practices. The blizzard is still far enough away that you feel you can risk attempting to undergo a second evolution, but you'll have to be quick about it and decide which one to pursue with haste. Your deep understanding of demonic beasts has revealed to you several paths you can take to improve yourself as one, but in the wild there are mysteries that are still lost and in need of being rediscovered.

'What to do, what to do' You ponder as you sit outside of the mansion you were gifted from its owner, the mother of the cannibal girl you mutilated a few years ago, whose ghost is glaring daggers at you from the courtyard, trying to curse you with all her pitiful spiritual might.
Cont

>>5779549

'besides choosing my path forward as demonic beast, I should also think of a few names for the newly founded alliance. I'll have to pass them by uncle Su first, but having a few ideas will make it easier for us to come up with a name we can enjoy calling ourselves' you muse, tilting your head and sneering at the phantom to let her know you can see her as you unsheathe your claws and cut them through the air, sending her running as she turns into a ghost light and flickers towards her grave
_
[Meanwhile, in the marshland temple of the Dusk marsh Wolves sect]

"What is the meaning of this! Why has a hero like you sworn himself to a rampaging demon!" The wild bearded Shidi Xiudao (銹 刀, Rusted Blade), roared, sending the cup of wine he'd been drinking from careening towards the wall of his private, and well appointed quarters. Two axe Fu remained still, his expression hidden behind his many bandages, but his eyes narrowed hatefully as the elder cultivator raged.

"Please, boy, tell me you've been enchanted! Tricked! That the loathsome beast is forcing you to serve her through some underhanded trick!" He shouted, his eyes wide as his grey flecked hair fell over them, wine dripping down his impressive beard as his honored guest stood as silent as a corpse, showing no outward signs of mind control or cursing

"Huanliuxue is the one who commanded me to investigate the disappearances within these swamps, who is to thank for the lives I saved in leading my martial brothers and sisters into battle for the benefit of these lands. It was her will that freed them from the flower that devoured villages" Fu explained, a dark fire smoldering in his eyes "You will hold your tongue, unless you mean to apologize for your flagrant disrespect of my master. I will tolerate no libel against her, nor hear any more of your baseless accusation"

Xiudao gnashed his teeth and towered over the younger man, whose eyes followed him with a look of barely restrained disdain, a far cry of his polite and respectful behavior when he was first welcomed into the temple after he dragged one of its disciples half dead from the swamps. One of Xiudao's own nephews, though the name escaped his mind at the moment.

"You've got guts for a country punk" He praised in low, threatening growl "Tell me, Two axes, how long has the hero of the common folk been serving a man eater"

"Since she found me and helped me get my revenge against an actual man eater" Fu answered, hands reaching for his twin axes, entirely unafraid of the looming death before him "This is your last warning, master Shidi. You've lived your whole life in this world of honor, you of all men should know what badmouthing a teacher to the student whose life they saved will result in"
Cont

>>5779550

"Some back-bone you have, can't recall a heretic with half the bravery you're showing" Xiudao snorted, crouching down to glare directly in the bandage mummy's eyes "That's true loyalty burning inside you. I'll let you off with a warning for being an impertinent little shit, I'll even keep your allegiances a secret out of respect of the sheer ballsiness of admitting them to me, the head of a righteous sect, But"

"Kill me then. I came here to make you join my master's cause, if I cannot, there's no reason for me to return her" The younger man said with a dismissive wave of his hand "You know my mind is my own, it is not addled or befuddled by a hex. Huanliuxue has earned my loyalty and reverence, not just because she gave me my revenge, not just because she saved my family, but because she's the only daoist with the tenacity and will to challenge the heavens. Isn't it fucked up?"

Lord Shidi blinked in disbelief. He had underestimated just how ballsy this young man was, to speak of the heavens like a hated foe.

"They don't do shit for us mortals anymore! Where were the gods when my father was devoured alive by a tiger? Where were they when the Ling charged over the border, or when that shitty excuse for an emperor ran wild indulging his every whim and desire!" He raged, his eyes turning bloodshot as a strange black mist rose out of his lips, crackling like thunder "Where were they when entire villages were sucked dry by an abomination? Or when our fellow daoists completely abandoned their duties to murder eachother and rampage wantonly!

"Boy" Shidi warned, more out of fear for the brazen boy's well being than out of outrage for what he was saying. He agreed with most of it. Why were the gods so distant and careless. He'd never thought of it before, but wasn't their apathy strange? He'd never heard from any of his ancestors of a single case of divine intervention. So why did they still honor them if they got nothing done. He tried to push the treasonous thoughts away, but they rose anew and with more vigor.

"I didn't believe in gods until I was given proof they exist, by way of them attempting to strike down my master twice for the audacity of rising above the fate they gave her, from the muddy puddle she was born into, wailing about children they watched die!" Fu raged and raged, spit flying from his torn lips as he raised his voice to a feverish bellow of anger that could be heard for miles "And again, when she did nothing but cultivate, they attempted to smite her, while their "righteous" followers left countless men, women and children to freeze or starve to death, just to protect their own skins after they started to lose a fight THEY started!

Shidi Xiudao bowed his head shamefully

"My offer still stands, no one has to know of this" He muttered weakly, some how cowed by the zeal of the young man in front of him. No, the young dragon! This boy would've gone far, if he just didn't tie himself to a master abhorred by the heavens.

>>5779551

But if he wasn't repeating lies and half truths, why was she abhorred, the only person they knew for sure she devoured was an overly ambitious little prick

"That the dusk marsh wolves refused to repay a debt and went back on their word?" He smoothly threatened, a stab going through Shidi's heart as he winced and nearly back handed the impudent bastard, but he was cornered. Killing him or even letting him leave without repaying the debt they owed him for exterminating that demonic plant. It had been repaid before with the token to enter the tournament, a permanent invitation to it, but the cunning cat had returned it with her demand for assistance. The head of the dusk marsh wolves respected nothing more than brazenness

"Damn you, two axes" He snarled, slamming a fist into the wall and collapsing a wing of his temple as he unleashed his rage with a surge of Qi, cracking stone and sundering wood "Fine. You'll go back home with your head still on your shoulders. I can't take back what I said, what I promised to you. For services rendered, since the first prize didn't satisfy you, I'll repay our debt to you with blood and steel. We dusk marsh wolves will lend our fangs and ferocity in protecting your master, but only until our debts are equal"

"Until you save a life belonging to the palace of natural laws, and shield their land from danger" Fu said with a nod "That is enough, that is all I ask of you"

"But don't think we'll stay allies once those terms are fulfilled, honor alone demands I take this action" Shidi Xiudao warns, kicking the shards of his broken cup out of his room "Once I am no longer bound by my oath, you and your master cannot trust that I will remain a friend"

Fu smiled knowingly. If he hadn't been able to force the Shidi clan and their underlings into an alliance, he would've just offered to "kill" himself and escape enemy lands by faking his death through way of his body's ridiculous even for a cultivator level of durability

Result: A leashed wolf. Outcome: Success. The dusk marsh wolves have, Temporarily? allied themselves with the palace of natural laws
_
Cont

Which beast evolution do you attempt to attain, Huanliuxue? [Choose one]

Basic evolutions: All unlocked. Tier 1 to 3

>Continue down the primordial beast line, and attempt to reach its second level (Current stage, 1st. Wild princess, improves the attributes of the evolution and adds new benefits, makes you larger and stronger )

>Become a true guardian spirit (Different options for the variation of the Guardian spirit line, based of your worshipper's belief, primary Qi types...etc, with different effects depending on your choice, more variations unlocked due to Huanliuxue's current karmic balance)

>Infuse your beast core with a raw element (Elemental line Choice of the five elements, effects dependent on element chosen, improves chosen affinity and alters body to suit it )

>Meditate within the ancient tree, and become a wild sage/ Or a feral warrior (Wild sage or Feral warrior line, Nature magic focused or Beastial martial arts focused evolutions, increases your connection to nature, choice of preferred terrain/ landscape alter effects, more effects unlocked due to Huan's Living source: Primordial beast essence)

>Refine your blood Qi rich blood and alter your body with elixirs (Alchemical bloodline, effects vary depending on elixirs infused into your blood and physical cultivation undergone. Toad-blooded (poison) bloodline variation, is unlocked)

>Alter your beast core and physical body by adding the parts of other beasts to it (Chimeric bloodline, changes your species to chimera, alters the effects of your wild princess evolution, effects depend on the body parts used, more variations unlocked by living source: Primordial beast essence )

>Visit the dragons, and ask the parents of the little soul to allow you to become her oath sister (Draconic bloodline. Grants you draconic heritage, privilege and all the abilities and benefits of it, you will be equivalent to a newly hatched dragon in terms of draconic traits/ powers)

>[True devil line is locked to Huanliuxue, due to her current karmic balance]

advance beast evolutions. 3 unlocked. Tier 2 or higher

>use your perfected carmine mysticism to transform your body with your pure blood and Ghostly Yin Qi (Sanguine predator line, improves carmine mysticism and greatly improves physical stats and further improves your ability to control blood and affinity with blood qi, improved and altered by living source: Blood Qi.)

>Study with the old mystics in hell and immerse yourself in their energies of its lower levels to master the magics of the dead (Crypt sorcerer line, makes weaker ghost subservient to you and grants a greater affinity to ghostly yin qi and necromancy, as well as granting you ghostly abilities, improved and new effects due to secret art: Severing of the Eternal soul and Mortal vessel )

>Break through the sky and swim in the cosmic energies of the stars (Cosmic nature line. The cosmos beckons to your spirit, the deepest abyss welcomes you)

>Try to find a different path

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>>5779555
Couldn't fit in complete descriptions due to the amount of options you have open to you.

But two things need to be explained (I'll explain the other choices in detail if asked, as well as the variations/ sub evolutions huan has for each, I just can't list them all without breaking up the options into multiple posts and making it a pain to read)

1: the Cosmic nature line is a mystery box, since there is no record of that evolution in any of the histories/ records Huan has read. She is the first to have access to it

2: attempting to unlock different advance evolutions can either be a write in choice, which if you correctly "Guess" one of the hidden evolutions, you'll unlock it for free but if you don't, you'll waste time

or you can do a luck trial to try and stumble onto one of the evolutions Huan unlocked if you succeed it

>>5779556
*Huan hasn't unlocked

And also, nearly forgot to remind you, the highest known "tier" of evolution any ascended beast has reached has been 8 total evolutions, 9 being the theoretical limit. Huanliuxue is, after this vote, will be a tier 2 demonic beast, no matter what is chosen.

>>5779555
>Break through the sky and swim in the cosmic energies of the stars (Cosmic nature line. The cosmos beckons to your spirit, the deepest abyss welcomes you)

A magical cat girl is fine too. Also thanks for throwing in the lines of him taking care of cats. I figured it would be funny when he meets up with his dad.
>Son! have you redeemed our name?! What did the devil cat do to you!"
>"She... She made me take care of cats! Fed them fish! Groom there fur! The horror! I even had to teach them... Letters!"
>"Ghas... Honestly son, that doesn't sound bad."

>>5779555
>Break through the sky and swim in the cosmic energies of the stars (Cosmic nature line. The cosmos beckons to your spirit, the deepest abyss welcomes you)

Those who can walk the void between stars fear no cold!

>>5779555
>Break through the sky and swim in the cosmic energies of the stars (Cosmic nature line. The cosmos beckons to your spirit, the deepest abyss welcomes you)

Mistery box AND the chance to stare at the heavens from above their hateful heads? Sign me up for eldritch fuckery!

>>5779555
>Break through the sky and swim in the cosmic energies of the stars (Cosmic nature line. The cosmos beckons to your spirit, the deepest abyss welcomes you)

>>5779555
>Break through the sky and swim in the cosmic energies of the stars (Cosmic nature line. The cosmos beckons to your spirit, the deepest abyss welcomes you)
To be the first of a kind? No way Huan would choose anything else.

>>5779555
>>Continue down the primordial beast line, and attempt to reach its second level (Current stage, 1st. Wild princess, improves the attributes of the evolution and adds new benefits, makes you larger and stronger )
I'll buck the mystery box curse.

>>5779555
>Become a true guardian spirit (Different options for the variation of the Guardian spirit line, based of your worshipper's belief, primary Qi types...etc, with different effects depending on your choice, more variations unlocked due to Huanliuxue's current karmic balance)

>>5779555
>Cosmic nature line

Yeah no, this is absolutely something I wanna figure. What the HEEEEEELL is it?

>>5779555
>>Refine your blood Qi rich blood and alter your body with elixirs (Alchemical bloodline, effects vary depending on elixirs infused into your blood and physical cultivation undergone. Toad-blooded (poison) bloodline variation, is unlocked)

>>5779555
>Continue down the primordial beast line, and attempt to reach its second level (Current stage, 1st. Wild princess, improves the attributes of the evolution and adds new benefits, makes you larger and stronger )

>>5779555
>Break through the sky and swim in the cosmic energies of the stars (Cosmic nature line. The cosmos beckons to your spirit, the deepest abyss welcomes you)
I haven't read too many wuxia, but if this is going where I think it's going, I would accept no substitute.

>>5779555
>Break through the sky and swim in the cosmic energies of the stars (Cosmic nature line. The cosmos beckons to your spirit, the deepest abyss welcomes you)
I'm remembering the story of how the Zodiac was created and the cat was tricked into missing the heavenly banquet. This is our time to get revenge for all cats.

>>5779555
>Break through the sky and swim in the cosmic energies of the stars (Cosmic nature line. The cosmos beckons to your spirit, the deepest abyss welcomes you)

Gathering up all the fringe energies of life and death, alpha and omega, heh.

>>5779555
>Become a true guardian spirit (Different options for the variation of the Guardian spirit line, based of your worshipper's belief, primary Qi types...etc, with different effects depending on your choice, more variations unlocked due to Huanliuxue's current karmic balance)

>>5779555
>>Become a true guardian spirit (Different options for the variation of the Guardian spirit line, based of your worshipper's belief, primary Qi types...etc, with different effects depending on your choice, more variations unlocked due to Huanliuxue's current karmic balance)

>>5779555
>Break through the sky and swim in the cosmic energies of the stars (Cosmic nature line. The cosmos beckons to your spirit, the deepest abyss welcomes you)

Since cosmic is winning, will we get powers from stars and constellations?
Rat gang may have died, but cat gang lives on.

>>5779940
Cosmic is clearly the PHASING option. Or at least, it would be if it didn't win.

>>5779555
>Break through the sky and swim in the cosmic energies of the stars (Cosmic nature line. The cosmos beckons to your spirit, the deepest abyss welcomes you)

I was torn between wild sage and crypt sorcerer but I cannot resist a mystery box

>>5780210
There are a lot of really cool options! Guardian Spirit, Cosmic and Draconic are probably my favorites, but Sanguine Predator definitely has a very cool edge to it.

>>5779555
>Become a true guardian spirit (Different options for the variation of the Guardian spirit line, based of your worshipper's belief, primary Qi types...etc, with different effects depending on your choice, more variations unlocked due to Huanliuxue's current karmic balance)

The idea of an invading force rapidly approaching and Huan being like "Hold my beer I'm off to the fucking MOON, BRB" is pretty hilarious

>>5780755
>suddenly radahn meteor action
>crow king cries in fight boner

>>5779555
>Break through the sky and swim in the cosmic energies of the stars (Cosmic nature line. The cosmos beckons to your spirit, the deepest abyss welcomes you)
Something no one has ever become before? Sounds right up our alley.

Also, can't help but to see a pattern of sorts here.
>Ghosts & Grudges -> Blood -> Primordial Beast -> Cosmic
>Death -> Life -> Birth -> Non-existence

>>5780778
Yeah maybe we can get some inspiration for our next dao up there as well. Like, the dao of the laws of cosmos (Physics)? Become Catenheimer?

>>5780792
>Become Catenheimer?
Schrödinger would be a better fit.
We are both dead and alive, after all

>Break through the sky and swim in the cosmic energies of the stars (Cosmic nature line. The cosmos beckons to your spirit, the deepest abyss welcomes you)

I am required by Law to vote for SPACE CATTE

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Let this vote run a bit since it was important, but I'm ending and tallying it now (pretty sure it is also the most votes we've gotten thus far, but I could be wrong). Also the praises for HCQ I saw in /qtg/ while I was wandering through it hoping for some heroic QM to announce they'd run a Xianxia quest of their own, really did brighten this old man's heart.

Cosmic nature:13

2nd stage primordial beast:2

Guardian spirit:4

Alchemical Bloodline:1

So you will go where no Cat, or magical beast for that matter, has gone before. The one place that hasn't been corrupted by the orthodoxy, SPACE!

And attempt to attain your 2nd beastial evolution along the cosmic nature line

The mystery box is torn open, ready to be plundered

Update will arrive shortly

>>5779568
>>5780755
>>5780760
My sides

>>5779940
I miss the rat. And also the gamer, ring, Muscle man and even the short lived americana cultivator. So many fellow daoists, lost to the ebbs and flow of time

>>5781943
To be fair, the ring ended because we died.
But we were likely to die sooner or later, the combat and consequences of it seemed to be on the ruthless side

>>5781946
Yeah, I get what he was going for but the "low level" nature of it made it a fucking slog.

Partly why at the end of it we said "fuck it, I've had enough of being helpless and pushed around, we'll take on a problem directly" and once that wound happened [which being low power was going to be a major hinderance for months] it was best to just have at it for death or for success.

Huan avoided this by not being something that men could just cut in half, like a child born without claws.

There is a poem, at the edge of your consciousness, that is begging to be written. The exact words escape you, at least they evade capture this night like a particularly cunning field mouse, but as you sit atop the highest branch of the newly grown ancient tree bathed in moonlight, you feel as though you should pen a poem to immortalize the beauty of the proud moon washing down upon an equally proud beauty, yourself of course. Where Amber eyes meet silver blue light? Could that work? You frown, lifting up your head and breathing deep the hot air washing above Suiqi, pure and clean from the mountains like a whisper of burning sands. You've started to enjoy the heat this primordial weather has brought to this once humble sparrow's nest. But, beside simply not being able to pin down your creative impulse and find the poet within this pleasant night, you can't justify spending hours trying your hand at poetry as you did when you wrote Hare and Hunting Hound. You've climbed this tree not to nap or bathe in the moonlight while you preen your ego and flaunt your love for yourself.

No, you've scaled the sky piercing tree for a purpose beyond indulging pride. Beyond the clouds and the sky, past all nine of the heavens and the gaudy courts of the worthless lay about gods inside them, lies a realm mysterious and unknown even to one as wise and worldly as yourself. There are legends of old masters escaping to wander the stars and you're certain you've heard folkstories of certain divinities whose entire purpose revolves around herding those same stars like livestock. But no one has written about what lies beyond the domain of the divine or at least no one who has come back. But you feel drawn to it, not only because the bragging rights of running past watchful and oh so murderous gazes of your natural and sworn enemies would be amazing, but because there is something up in the night sky that is pulling upon your heart.

Like a fishing hook has been buried deep in the skin of your chest and it is being tugged, harder and more frequently with each day that passes. You recall, when you saw the moon bright in one of the first nights you could open your eyes this tugging, urging you forward and enflaming the curiosity even in the dull, simple mind of a mundane house cat. And while you still shiver when you recall your foray into the astral plane when you stumbled into a hidden realm of a sorts and the presence that could even unnerve someone who delights in the macabre and ghastly, the alure of the moon and stars grew only strong when you walked within a vision of their true grandeur and witnessed bizarre and alien vistas on a ink blot canvas. And when you cultivated and formed your peerless golden core, filling your meridians and cultivation base partially with the spiritual energy of star jade, the Qi that exists only within the nothing between stars, the tugging became almost painful.

Something is awaiting you up there.
Cont

>>5782006

and you think you know what it is. No mortal man or beast has ever walked through the stars, but you've tasted and brought in the energy of the cosmos, vast and unknown within yourself, absorbed it and made it yours. And now you have a theory that the cosmos is as untamed as it is unknown. A place of astral chaos and wild, untapped energies. The pull you feel, must be the moon beckoning you to swim within them and wash your body and fill your soul with its pale light and the fire of the stars, to dirty your fur with stardust and sleep in the void. Like you did when you saturated your soul with the breath of damned souls and wretched devils. Surely you'll transform and attain a new form, refine yourself in a way no one else has before. You don't know what you'll become or what powers will be granted to you, but you are certain you and you alone have the mindset to grasp the nature of the cosmic wilds. And with comprehension, comes insight. Cosmic insights. Fragments of the universal dao that are truly universal, and completely unknown to even the few daoists who remember that the dao is within everything and everything is within the Dao.

But, but, but, there is one problem. Well, you refer to it as such, but its more like the problem. Maybe the biggest problem you've ever encounter. See, the heavens are between you and the moon and its sea of stars. And that's a problem. A very big and dangerous problem. Sure you could cry to old five colors and beg him to open up a bath for you by beating up all the arrogant godlings in your way, but while that is the safest way of reaching space safe, sound and in one piece, your pride refuses to allow you to accept to be so cowardly. Which is strange, because normally you'd have absolutely no issue with cheating, especially when something as valuable as your life is on the line. But, there is a feeling, that you won't reach the stars if you rely on others to take you there. And also it'd be rather pathetic for someone who refers to herself as princess, queen, empress and the rightful ruler of all she looks upon, to crawl and prostrate herself at the feet of another, rolling onto her back and exposing her belly to plead them for help

And that you'd be pleading for assistance in attaining power that has never been possessed before, it'd be even more pathetic and humiliating to go crying to the elder god.

Which means that unless you get supremely lucky again to stumble upon a door that leads into the night sky, like you did with the hidden realm or the hunk of stellar jade that was carved into your imperial throne, you'll have to take the simplest and most direct way forward

Straight past and through the heavens. Something their inhabitants frown upon even when its one of their pet dogs trying to join them and claim divinity for themselves.
Cont

>>5782008

And the gods have tried to directly murder you with their own hands twice, hell you're pretty certain some of them are still trapped down here in the red dust of mortality when they fell when they failed to end your life in their first attempt. You repress a giggle at the thought, this is no time to be laughing and making merry. This is going to be so difficult that even the great Huanliuxue requires a little assistance

'Like when I fought that pervert crow' You think cheerfully, before the weight of the risks you're willingly facing come crashing down upon you again and make you wince. Doing something so outrageous as sprinting through the celestial court, as a mortal, as a demonic beast no less, could prove a lethal offence even for a prodigy like yourself.

Which is why you've come prepared, with every performance enhancing pill, drug, medicine and technique and trick you've learned throughout your life as a cultivator.

You breath in, and breath out, tempering your heart beat and easing yourself into the idea of what you're about to do, battling with your nerves. It takes a few attempts to really calm yourself, and you begin panting and whimpering out of both panic and aversion towards risking your hide so fragrantly and boldly before you take a deep breath and release it, forcing a serenity onto yourself and enter a half meditative trance just to keep from halving second thoughts right before you leap.

"Okay, lets prove all of my bluster and stick my tongue out at those shitty gods a third time" You sneer, licking your lips and grinning as you gather the various pills into your mouth, including the flickering wind pellet (闪烁风 丹, Shǎnshuòfēng Dān), Hare's fleetness drug, and Tireless stamina drug and swallow them down as you activate The Blood Torrent Rush (衁急流奔,Huāngjíliúbēn), wrapping your heart and lungs with blood Qi as you also sheath your muscles and sinews, and as your veins bulge, you use your heart to constantly energize and refine the blood flowing through them to give you an extra edge besides the extreme rapidity already granted to you by your doping and body strengthening technique.

All that's left to do, is begin your ascent and prove that cats can catch stars! Twitching, shaking all over and sweating, a manic energy possesses you, but you refuse to let it distal into confidence. Because you simply aren't confident at all, for once!

DEFY OF THE NINE HEAVENS AND THE RULE OF THE CELESTIAL COURT
DC lowered by element of surprise and self buffs!
Roll 2d100. DC 180. Best out of five. Combined trial. All of this cat's cunning is on display this moonlit night

https://youtu.be/PoO6Xn78MFI

Rolled 21, 90 = 111 (2d100)

>>5782010
Jesus christ that's a high dc...

Rolled 76, 96 = 172 (2d100)

>>5782010
Fuckin'. . .
I hope we still have some buffs here. I hope they still apply here. . . AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

>>5782012
Fuck, short by 8. . . Forgive me brothers.

>>5782012
Can we spend some points here or is that not allowed in training rolls? I remember there being some leftovers from the breakthrough.

>>5782016
it is allowed in training rolls, but this says combined. I'm just. . not sure if combined includes training or not.

Rolled 43, 92 = 135 (2d100)

>>5782010
oi vey 0.0021 chance of success !

Rolled 88, 78 = 166 (2d100)

>>5782010
Is the DC that high because cosmic was the hardest option?

>>5782024
>>5782012
88 and 96, ye!

>>5782028
That. . . isn't how I remember it working.
I think it's the best of the combined totals my guy.

>>5782032
permit my cope good anon

Rolled 83, 42 = 125 (2d100)

>>5782010
I hope we don't get smote...

>>5782012
A close failure, eight steps from success, kind of ironic considering eight is the number of luck in china. Anyways, update will arrive shortly.

Now the FUN begins

>>5782046
Well, Huan had to learn some humility eventually.
It's been a long time since the puppets, she might have forgotten it.

It's over, catsisters...

>>5782051
No, this is where it finally starts.

>>5782046
So we'll have to slap some bitch deity on our way up

File: Huan moon landing.png (1.08 MB, 616x1216)

1.08 MB PNG

>>5782046
Huanliuxue launches herself like a dragon and surpasses the heavens but hits the moon instead colorized

>>5782046
Grandfather, don't we have any cultivation bonuses left? I thought we had gained some since the last big breakthrough? Or does that not apply to evolution, specifically?

>>5782083
This isn't a training or cultivation roll, its a trial of literally every kind wrapped into one, reflecting that Huan is using everything in her bag of tricks to try and slip into space unnoticed

>>5782105
I see, so we failed to sneak by, and will have to pull a Monkey King and fight the gods in heaven.

But you can't think about that. That fear. That uncertainty. It'll lead to hesitation. And hesitation will lead to death, or something even more final. And how sad of an end to your story would that be? Arrogance the downfall of the prideful beast? That can't happen, you wont all it to be. You need to empty your mind, embrace nothing, wash away all doubt, all conviction and silence all of the boisterous and whimpering thoughts in your head. Silence. Void. Pour everything out, quiet the hear to calm it, unburdened and free. Wild. Released from earthly attachments and affairs. A white field, unsullied by mortal fears and desires. Cleansed of desire and dread. Empty. Empty. Embrace and become the void. Remember the lessons of the buddhas and their earthly disciples. Forsake Daoist common sense and the pursuit of immortality for a scarce few moments and sink into nothing.

Breathing out, you bow your head, your body wracked by the effects of the drugs surging in your veins and the techniques unleashed upon your body to bolster its abilities and push as far as its mortal limits will allow. No hesitation. No fear. No confidence. No arrogance. All that's left is to leap. To fly.

And so you do. With a body half ethereal, the branch doesn't even tremble as you leave it. You soar, wings of Carmine and black Qi erupting from your back, Moonlight Ascent (月华上升, Yuèhuáshàngshēng), the variation of the lightness skill devised by Yuehuajian (Moonlight Orchid, 月华蕳), the first insect to ascend, the ancestor of the Geges. Your sweet little sisters. Thinking on those whose legacies you stand atop is soothing beyond words. In conjunction with your own, Specter Lightness skill [幽灵-轻工, Yōulíng-Qīnggōng], you soar through the blue sky against the wind, not allowing it to toss you around like a wayward dandelion seed or fallen leaf.

Using clouds as stepping stones, you begin your ascent towards the heavens, barely noticing as the air grow colder and colder and the sunlight becomes more intense and fierce as you break out of the sphere of primordial heat and ancient air, leaving the array you stole and stepping outside of your territory. There is only the wailing, whistling wind, the beating of your heart, and the surging of your blood in your veins roaring like a river in your ears. Your hushed breathes sound like a hurricane, your sense of direction fades except for down and up. The clouds begin to change, the air things, the color of the sky lightens. Lightheaded. You pace your breathing before you run out of air. There's too little oxygen to waste any. You take direct control of your blood, to keep the little breathable air is left cycling inside of your lungs for as long as you possibly can without poisoning yourself. Your heart races, and it can't be soothed or made to calm. Your close, very close to the den of the only things you'd consider a predator, your natural enemy.

Daoist gods. Ascended cultivators. Real deal immortals.
Cont

>>5782129

So why. Why aren't they striking you? You have to be within reach by now? They can't have missed you. The clouds are thickening again, the air is saturating with heavenly Qi, so potent and thick you can barely move through the air. Just being on the outermost edge of the heavens feels like you'll be burned away like an ember in the air, dashed to pieces and squashed until their isn't even dust left of you. But unlike when you made your golden core, or attained your human form, there is no grand display, no array covering the heavens, no declaration of murderous hate or demands for your death. There is just silence, except for the thumping of your heart and flowing of your blood. Just the bone biting cold and the burning in your abused lungs. Nothing. Nothing. But beyond the sky above earth, you can see on the horizon a heavenly vision. The lowest level of the Celestial realm, across a vast distance. How many leagues is that? Is it further than the world you left behind? More vast than the distance between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead? Your mind boggles trying to comprehend the sight before you, the separation between sky and heaven. And instinctively, you know what you're seeing is merely the best your brain can come up with to describe the unknowable, the incomprehensible. Where white clouds turn to gold and jade and the sun is replaced with a pure white blanket of light, where the blue sky turns the myriad of shades of five colors and the air is replaced with the breath of the heavens and celestial dew.

Your panting, when did you start panting? How long have you been hopping between clouds? How far have you flown? You don't know. Your lungs feel like they've been filled with coals. Your running out of breath and stamina, despite all the medicine you've taken. You need to use your own blood as a healing salve, absorbing it in your veins and bleeding it back out in an act of auto cannibalism, as you coat yourself in the scarlet healing armor and with a pain groan, dare to step into the aura of the nine heavens.

You've managed to keep your presence hidden so far, and sneak up to the door of the celestial court. A cat knows how to sneak into a home. If you can just pass by this last hurdle, sprint across the vast open space before any god notices you're there or feels you defiling their pure lands, you can catch your breath, and make for the cosmos beyond even the heavenly realms. Just a little longer, you just need to hold on a little longer, to keep your composure and calm for a little longer, and you'll make it. The goal is in sight, focus. Don't panic. Don't gloat. Just keep running. Keep leaping. Keep flying. Its in sight, you can see the heavens, you can reach the heavens. Just a little...

You gasp, as innumerable miles beneath you, a flicker of killing intent pierces through the sky and makes your heart skip a beat as a chill colder than death seeps into you.
Cont

>>5782132
-
[ Meanwhile, on one of the tallest mountains allowed to stand beneath the heavens ]

https://youtu.be/Kk8YzHeE7Sg

An exiled martial god stood poised, having not moved from where he stood since he pulled himself out of the hole he found himself in after he had been thrown out of heaven for his failure, his white hair flowing behind him in a wild mane, matted with mud, soaked with sweat and tangled with branches and thorns. His heavenly regalia had been charred from his decent, soiled by mortal earth, and soaked in sweat, blood and tears. While the others were content, certain their seniors would forgive them soon and they'd be brought back to the heavens, this particular deity's grudge against the demon whose slyness had lead to their banishment was stronger.

So he stood, with the divine weapon tied to his station in the celestial bureaucracy in hand, a bow made out of the horns of Qilin and Dragon older than nations, strung with their whiskers, drew back the last of the arrows in his quiver, fletched with a phoenix feather and tipped with Celestial silver. The antlers creaked, cracking as he held onto the last of his divinely granted strength, pushing the last of drops of Qi that hadn't been torn from him when he was thrown from the heavens into the arrow as it splintered and buckled. With sharp eyes, he gazed into the sun.

And countless leagues away, on the border of the lands he had been exiled from, a pant reached his strained ears. And in the moment before he lost the power and immortality he stubbornly held onto and fainted to awake as a mere mortal, he loosed his arrow and snarled "Here's your long overdue divine punishment, you prideful bitch!"

And as he fell, his hair turned a rusty red brown, the last of his divinity fade as golden motes of light like fireflies from his hair.
_

And the very moment you feel the killing intent, and turn around on instinct to try and see the danger swiftly approaching, at the very edge of the grey bleakness you've left behind, rising from what looks like an ant hill, a star flashes, red and gold.

You turned around to look for the enemy your spiritual senses and instincts screamed about not even a fraction of a fraction of a second before, with your body bent into a crescent as your hair raised and your eyes widen in frightened shock. That slight shift, the subtle movement, saved your life.

As an arrow tipped with a star and tailed by a comet, pierced through the skies and into the heavens, an aura of a roaring dragon surrounding it. Your fur was set ablaze, burning with ghostly teal fires just from being surrounded by the aura.
Cont

>>5782135

But you only screamed when the rapidly melting arrow head cut through your side, biting deep into your flesh and spilling your blood across the heavens, drops of it soaking into the gold and jade clouds as the dragon aura and arrow cut a straight tunnel through them, lined with teal fire. By turning around, you moved to the very edge of the attack's radius, and were thus not disintegrated by its Heavenly Qi.

But, the pain is so intense, you forget everything for a moment, and yet out a loud yowl that echoes through the once silent heavens, disturbing them like a stone tossed into a still pond.

And then you scream, in frustration and rage

"SHIT!" You roar, as gathering your wits, you make a mad dash for the gates of the celestial court, abandoning discretion and stealth and ignoring the deep, bleeding gaze from your shoulder to your hind legs. Your guts haven't fallen out, and they aren't tangling up your feet, that's enough. You can heal quickly. You have a dozen ways to mend your wounds. Run. Run! Just make it to the border of the nine heavens. You can scurry away and find some shadow to hide in, or scale the wall and...and do something!

"Shit! Shit!" You chant, like the mantra of a curse, to keep from praying since that would send up the alarm quicker than your scream and the arrow that elicited its landing will. There goes the element of surprise. Now you just have your speed to rely on. Well that and your cunning! But how cruddy of bad luck is that! That arrow had to have been shot by one of the assholes who failed to kill you in your home village! To think they'd wait all this time to attack you when your back was turned, while you were on the precipice of success! The asshole!

And sure enough, a moment later, a horn is blasted, and white energy ripples through the air like the wakes of a wave as a dozen suns alight on the horizon. Screaming, you can hear screaming besides your own. Shouting. Calls to arms. More suns burn the horizon. More sea tossing and earth shattering horns are blown.

And then you nearly faceplant directly into grey white, jade veined marble as your next step doesn't touch open "air" or Heavenly clouds, but solid stone stairs. Stumbling and nearly falling off them again, you manage to collect your frantic thoughts just long enough to realize your standing on a stairway reaching down from the heavenly realm and to the very edge the heavens, just above the boundary between it and the mortal world.

And there is a long trail of blood and teal fire leading up to this particular set of stairs. The blood pooling beneath your shaking feet is burning. Well that isn't going to help at all! Damn all the gods but especially that prick who shot you! You were hoping that lot had all starved to death or died from their fall! Son of bitch! You realize you're cursing up a storm of profanity and spewing out such thick clouds of enmity and grudge energy to make it even easier to find you than the blood trail will!
Cont

File: a40d9d4e34bdbea1a8b5163ce(...).jpg (274 KB, 1800x1096)

274 KB JPG

>>5782136

So you bite your tongue, and clench your jaws tightly together to keep from letting any more noises slip out of them as you, limping, stagger up the first few steps of the stairway. You need a plan, and quickly. You can hear footsteps, and the shouting voices are near enough to be comprehensible, and with an upward glance you can see the shadows cast by the gods who sounded the alarm and lit the beacons, stretched out across the clouds like giants.

Quickly. Quickly. You don't call yourself a genius prodigy for no reason. You need a plan. Even a pitiful exiled god nearly killed you. Unlike in hell, you can't possibly fight your way out of this mess you've gotten into. All you can do is keep reaching towards the moon and moving forward. But you can't stumble forward blindly. You need a plan. A good plan of action will keep you from getting skinned today. And while it isn't as brag worthy as slipping beneath the noses of every god, but tricking a few is still a feat worthy of being boasted about, right?

Walking up the stairs at a steady, though staggered pace because of all the pain having your side ripped open and losing what feels like gallons of blood, you devout all of your mental energy, exert all of your brainpower and squeeze every drop of genius that you can to come up with a plan in the seconds it'll take for the guardian gods to track and hone in on your position.

All DCs are hidden while you are in the nine heavens. At your current level, the power of gods is beyond comprehension

How do you try to escape your pursues and slip into the lowest of the nine heavens, Huanliuxue?

>Create a blood puppet and transfer the Teal fires onto it, Smothering the flames on your fur out with Ice magic, and use it as a diversion as you limp beneath a bush to stop your bleeding and heal quickly (Magic/ Stealth trial. DC Unknown)

>Focus inwards and eclipse your Yin with your yang and rely on the unknown powers of your eclipsed Yang physique (Magic/ Focus trial. DC Unknown)

>Wait. Most of the people in Chuan worship you. They pray to you, instead of other gods, real or imagined. Maybe they have enough faith in you for you to use it as a disguise. Slip away into a stream, and transform yourself into your human form. Clothes can wait until after you've hoodwinked the first gods to reach you (Trickery/ Deception trial. DC unknown, lowered by current Karma and having worshippers)

>FUCK IT! Your bleeding out your miraculous drugs! Nothing ventured nothing gained! Just sprint as fast as you can and make a break for it! (Haste trial. DC unknown. Increased by your wounds)

>Write in

https://youtu.be/a6qMW-6KZT0

>>5782128
Precisely. If you had succeeded, You'd have gotten through without issue. Now its more complicated.

>>5782140
Oh no, not a stairway to heaven. I still have trauma from the one in Tale of Immortal, it was the first difficulty wall that I had to stop and grind for days to be able to pass through.
>Wait. Most of the people in Chuan worship you. They pray to you, instead of other gods, real or imagined. Maybe they have enough faith in you for you to use it as a disguise. Slip away into a stream, and transform yourself into your human form. Clothes can wait until after you've hoodwinked the first gods to reach you (Trickery/ Deception trial. DC unknown, lowered by current Karma and having worshippers)
I bet guardian deity would have helped with this plan as well.

>>5782140
>Create a blood puppet and transfer the Teal fires onto it, Smothering the flames on your fur out with Ice magic, and use it as a diversion as you limp beneath a bush to stop your bleeding and heal quickly (Magic/ Stealth trial. DC Unknown)
Stealth is our strong side.

>>5782140

Oh mother fucker.

>Create a blood puppet and transfer the Teal fires onto it, Smothering the flames on your fur out with Ice magic, and use it as a diversion as you limp beneath a bush to stop your bleeding and heal quickly (Magic/ Stealth trial. DC Unknown)

Oh shit oh fuck oh shit

>>5782140
The alarms already sounded, lesser true gods will be sent to investigate at min. I'm uncertain we can count on one regions worth of worship fooling those fools when Chuan's worship is known as heresy. It would be like us explaining we're a new regional god from Chuan and relying on their ignorance of mortal affairs, and them looking between reach other knowing there's few to none candidates for that outside of their own descendants, which we're clearly not even in human form.
Human form Huan piques more mysteries than it resolves, we can't necessarily count on a down bad lesser god to ignore the situation's inherent weirdness to protect an injured peerless beauty in distress. ..can we?

Changing our apparent nature of Ghostly Yin to empowered Yang doesn't bury the elephant, only curtains it. Although it will enhance our healing and aid negating the fire of the wound, on its own it's only an accessory that can't flip the core situation. What's being relied on, really? That our genius will provide an option within power we haven't fully explored?

A blood puppet is like the first demonic trick we pulled against Heaven, they certainly haven't forgotten it. Even if it works, the existence of a diversion betrays its truth. Supposing it succeeds they'll destroy the puppet then at once start looking around for us, and we'll still have left a blood trail to the bush. There are a few methods to extend the use of our trick, and erase our traces, though its core strategy will still require continual supreme stealth.

Gonna eat and think of combos and drastics.

>>5782140
>Focus inwards and eclipse your Yin with your yang and rely on the unknown powers of your eclipsed Yang physique (Magic/ Focus trial. DC Unknown)
Trying to trick them implies letting them catch up, which means that if it doesn't work we are FUCKED.
And hiding in a bush to heal means that if we fail to hide, we are also equally screwed.
I dislike gambling on an unknown, but against opponents we don't stand a chance against, distance is our greatest advantage, so keeping it up is crucial.
Also, does anyone in heaven even know who the intruder is? If they do not, a blood puppet diversion will let them know very quickly who they are dealing with, while our Yang physique might not, whatever it does.
Though we DO need to heal as well, so I'm tempted to hide in a bush anyway.
Hopefully our Yang physique helps us close our wounds somehow.

Man, we are in some deep shit this time, huh?

>>5782140
>Wait. Most of the people in Chuan worship you. They pray to you, instead of other gods, real or imagined. Maybe they have enough faith in you for you to use it as a disguise. Slip away into a stream, and transform yourself into your human form. Clothes can wait until after you've hoodwinked the first gods to reach you (Trickery/ Deception trial. DC unknown, lowered by current Karma and having worshippers)


truthfully i won't go for this but then i thought it up a little

Huan already looks above the average jade beauty by a factor of ten
(unless all heavenly gods all have silver hair like the god that fell do we can pass by looks alone)

no one would ever imagine a heretic cultivator to have the balls to enter heaven alone.
(and they won't look so virtuous anyway)

the god that fell is a perfect scapegoat of a resentful moron with a grudge for heaven
and if they get confused even for a minute more we can just escape safely.

in short: Huan needs to play the part of the shamed maiden hurt by the vengeful disgraced god long enough to give them the slip.

ready the crocodile tears anons, time to put them womanly wiles at work.

>>5782140
>Wait. Most of the people in Chuan worship you. They pray to you, instead of other gods, real or imagined. Maybe they have enough faith in you for you to use it as a disguise. Slip away into a stream, and transform yourself into your human form. Clothes can wait until after you've hoodwinked the first gods to reach you (Trickery/ Deception trial. DC unknown, lowered by current Karma and having worshippers)

>>5782201
What if instead of blaming it on the fallen god we blame it on that most dastardly of fiends Huanlixue!

The best lies are mostly true, we claim the following true statements:

- She took credit for our achievements as a protector of Chuan! We're the real protector of Chuan!
- Her scheming machinations led to us being injured by an arrow meant for her!
- If you follow this trail of blood it should lead straight to her!

Then let the gods assume the pure hearted naked injured maiden is the victim and that Huan is somewhere else. Bonus points if we get the gods to heal our wounds!


> switching my vote from the Blood Puppet plan to the False Goddess plan.

After some thought I'm caught between two potentials.

One was suping up the blood puppet with carmine mysticism, perhaps part of our soul too, but it doesn't stop them from knowing exactly who's invaded Heaven.

Using Chuan's faith as a disguise, if we also maintain yang physique and remain in human form we can entirely cover our ghostly yin, but that still leaves traces of our beastly blood. Given there's an extended trail of it removing it all before the area is investigated is unlikely, which means we should include it as part of our plan before any discoveries can be made.

So what if there's a bullshit third option!

>>5782140
>Wait. Most of the people in Chuan worship you. They pray to you, instead of other gods, real or imagined. Maybe they have enough faith in you for you to use it as a disguise. Slip away into a stream, and transform yourself into your human form. Clothes can wait until after you've hoodwinked the first gods to reach you (Trickery/ Deception trial. DC unknown, lowered by current Karma and having worshipers)
+
We change our nature using Eclipsed Yang but instead of relying on only it or Chuan's faith we pretend we're one of the Daoist's who were trying to stop a beast from rising up to heaven. We don't need to know who saved us by firing that arrow, but we do need to act well, and altering our blood AND our injury so that it doesn't look like a sweeping arrow wound will make deceiving them easier.

Although it's more complex, even if we transition to human form we'll still reek of ghostly yin and there's still plenty of a blood trail around that we shouldn't bet they have no methods to test, that's why I think we'll need to keep eclipsed Yang active and come up with a deception addressing the trail of our ascension.

No matter what we do, as long as that long trail of blood remains they'll still know it was us eventually. We can't hide it all while doing the other stuff. When they investigate the arrow they'll know who fired it, after that it's not much of a logical leap then. That's why our deception should be consistent with these factors and make use of them.

>>5782228
anon, I love you.

>>5782228
your plan would have merit if Huan was more than just a local nuisance.

she escaped once yes but that they think she's insane enough to sneak into heaven away from 5 colors protection is unthinkable for them

besides why aim their hatred at ourselves while we can say the truth that a fallen god shot an arrow towards heaven?

The think I'm not taken in by these votes is that they rely on the gods who would find us being ignorant of the situation up in the heavens enough that they'd just believe us outright. It's playing with molten lava and hoping you wont burn down your house.

>>5782250
the lying option is less of us pointing out our ignorance but exploiting their arrogance instead.

for who could strike at heaven but another disgraced god?

>>5782237
Supporting this option of Human shape + Yang Physique + bullshit story

>>5782250
It's pretty much all playing with lava at this point.

>>5782250
It's true we don't know the extent of their knowledge. That's why we should mask our nature and make use of the present traces which we can't cover up fully.

They don't have to believe us outright, in fact I don't think it's best for us if they do, if they suspect us and test our karma that's good. They should be suspicious towards what would be a hugely rare event.

The thing I'm concerned about most is that it's Heaven that knows we achieved human form. Certainly not all of them were watching, but without modification I doubt the base strategy can fool them long enough.
Further, we only need to fool them long enough to get away uninjured.

>>5782242
Actually, should we (in pretend) know it was a fallen god? Our explaining that might provide too much insight into our perspective. How would we know it was a fallen god firing that arrow? That's why I suggested we assume the stance that they were saving us.

>>5782143
I bet anything would have helped. You can't exactly jump into the deepest end if you barely know how to swim, my friend. Next time let's not act on a whim for something so important, temperance.

>>5782263
To explain, though this lie does make modifying the nature of our injury a big priority (or we could claim we're alive because we weren't its main target), the alternative requires reasoning out to who we're deceiving that the fallen god attacked out of pettiness. They may simply know the individual in question isn't that kind of person, and we don't, given that they're one of the god's previously charged with protecting the heavens via tribulations.

The idea they fired out of spite, regret, etc, collides with the essence of the mission they held previously a bit hard.

How about just doing everything?

>Use blood qi to create a dummy that keeps on sprinting up, leaving a trail of smoke and blood. Hide in a bush, change into human shape, heal our wounds and switch to Yang alignment.

>>5782140
>Create a blood puppet and transfer the Teal fires onto it, Smothering the flames on your fur out with Ice magic, and use it as a diversion as you limp beneath a bush to stop your bleeding and heal quickly (Magic/ Stealth trial. DC Unknown)

>>5782257
This anon
>>5782274
makes a good point about clashing with personalities. They may have been exiled, but they were still gods, and would probably want to return, and firing upon the heavens would basically ensure they'd remain crippled for the rest of their mortal life, so it may be a difficult swallow.

But beyond that, how would we even attempt to slip away once we make face-to-face contact with one of these gods? They'll most likely be on high alert, and want our testimony, and if we slip away from them while they have these considerations then they're most likely to focus their entire efforts on finding the maiden who gave them the slip, which would make escaping into the cosmos far more difficult.

It may be a mistake to try and just escape into the cosmos, but it doesn't give them time to widen their net wide enough to catch us were we to fail in any of our deceptions, so that's seeming more appealing to me.

>>5782304
Point behind their heads and Joseph them.
..claim we'll marry one of the gods saving us and then skedaddle out the ceremony? this is a joke

It's something we'll have to play by notch, which we should cover up because our human form still has it. As for what can get us away it ultimately depends on who we manage to deceive. ..Once we're healed, with the drugs still active, I'm not worried about being unable to get away. If they cuff us, well, whoops. I see hiding in plain sight as more reliable than sneaking, as delaying them with a puppet or vanishing will force their investigation while we'll be healing.

>>5782304

those would be good point but it hinges on the fact that:


1) all the gods know each other and can vouch for each other immovable virtue.
(doubtful that they even care beyond their immediate superior, rivals or their crush/family)


2) all gods are on good terms and rivalries from the mortal realm don't carry over
(lol, this is xanxia)


3) they are rational people
(a simple failure to strike down a heretic caused banishment for a couple gods.)


besides we (disguised as a wounded maiden) are the only witness and clearly the wronged part.

the sentinels who missed Huan stealthy ascent probably saw the screaming comet like arrow come from below.

simple truth is the name of the game.

even a lie detecting spell won't catch us lying, the fallen has shot an arrow to heaven and hit us, plain and simple, let them draw conclusions.

besides this is ancient not!china, word of mouth is as good as irrefutable proof
especially against a banished good for nothing disgrace.


then we can use some demure bullshit like feeling faint or too embarrassed to testimony right now to give them the slip long enough to disappear while they hound the culprit.

>>5782375
If it comes up that we seem weak or something, we can just chalk it up to having to expend most of our strength to endure that desperate final attack.

>>5782375
now that i think about it if we bullshit enough and get them to get us to an apothecary to heal we can rob them blind and turn trouble into the steal of the century monkey king style indeed

>>5782393
>the heavens: cat burgled

>>5782140
Watch some god cover for our girl as he's fallen in love with her.
Also grandfather can I write a otamake for a bonus to roll? I was thinking one about that guy at the shrine who first saw Huanliuxue human form?

>>5782446
Just write it anyway. Do not barter your goods for unfair gains like a greedy merchant.

if you wish to write, write. If not, don't. Do not pollute the pool.

I support the duel options of
>Alter our body with our Physique
and
>Adopt the mein of a god

Also guys uh. . . I think we may have bit off a bit more than we could chew with this scheme.

>>5782484
>>5782140
fuckin' link it.

>>5782140
>>5782201
Alright, I'll vote for this deception.
I truly hope we can turn this bad fortune into some of the greatest luck Huanliuxue has ever known. Burgling the heavens sounds fantastic

>>5782500

Plundering heaven's apothecary does seem very us, though pushing our luck seems exceptionally unwise.

>>5782768
Obviously if there's an opportunity to go straight to space then we take it, but if they get exceptionally lax...

>>5782778
A mouth too full cannot close its jaws anon.

>>5782794
But the wise squirrel stuffs his cheeks!

>>5782140
>>FUCK IT! Your bleeding out your miraculous drugs! Nothing ventured nothing gained! Just sprint as fast as you can and make a break for it! (Haste trial. DC unknown. Increased by your wounds)

>>5782140
>Wait. Most of the people in Chuan worship you. They pray to you, instead of other gods, real or imagined. Maybe they have enough faith in you for you to use it as a disguise. Slip away into a stream, and transform yourself into your human form. Clothes can wait until after you've hoodwinked the first gods to reach you (Trickery/ Deception trial. DC unknown, lowered by current Karma and having worshippers)

>>5782140
>Wait. Most of the people in Chuan worship you. They pray to you, instead of other gods, real or imagined. Maybe they have enough faith in you for you to use it as a disguise. Slip away into a stream, and transform yourself into your human form. Clothes can wait until after you've hoodwinked the first gods to reach you (Trickery/ Deception trial. DC unknown, lowered by current Karma and having worshippers)
>>5782484
If push comes to shove we do have a one time reset, but I hope it doesn’t come to that point because it’d leave a sore point for the story.

>>5782140
>Wait. Most of the people in Chuan worship you. They pray to you, instead of other gods, real or imagined. Maybe they have enough faith in you for you to use it as a disguise. Slip away into a stream, and transform yourself into your human form. Clothes can wait until after you've hoodwinked the first gods to reach you (Trickery/ Deception trial. DC unknown, lowered by current Karma and having worshippers)

>>5782140
>Wait. Most of the people in Chuan worship you. They pray to you, instead of other gods, real or imagined. Maybe they have enough faith in you for you to use it as a disguise. Slip away into a stream, and transform yourself into your human form. Clothes can wait until after you've hoodwinked the first gods to reach you (Trickery/ Deception trial. DC unknown, lowered by current Karma and having worshippers)

I just wanted Space Catte :( Curse those salty dogs for waiting for us to try that!

>>5782140
>Wait. Most of the people in Chuan worship you. They pray to you, instead of other gods, real or imagined. Maybe they have enough faith in you for you to use it as a disguise. Slip away into a stream, and transform yourself into your human form. Clothes can wait until after you've hoodwinked the first gods to reach you (Trickery/ Deception trial. DC unknown, lowered by current Karma and having worshippers)

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WELL, This is embarrassing! I had an incredibly vivid dream of updating the quest, and didn't realize I hadn't actually written anything until I woke today and went to check to see if there were any new votes. Whoops

Anyways, ending and tallying the vote outside of dreamland now.

Wait. Most of the people in Chuan worship you. They pray to you, instead of other gods, real or imagined. Maybe they have enough faith in you for you to use it as a disguise. Slip away into a stream, and transform yourself into your human form. Clothes can wait until after you've hoodwinked the first gods to reach you :13
-play the part of the shamed maiden hurt by the vengeful disgraced god long enough to give them the slip.:2
- Blame the dastardly fiend Huanliuxue!: 2
-Use Eclipse Yang Physique's power and weave a fanciful tale:3

Create a blood puppet and transfer the Teal fires onto it, Smothering the flames on your fur out with Ice magic, and use it as a diversion as you limp beneath a bush to stop your bleeding and heal quickly:2

Focus inwards and eclipse your Yin with your yang and rely on the unknown powers of your eclipsed Yang physique:1

Use blood qi to create a dummy that keeps on sprinting up, leaving a trail of smoke and blood. Hide in a bush, change into human shape, heal our wounds and switch to Yang alignment.: 1

FUCK IT! Your bleeding out your miraculous drugs! Nothing ventured nothing gained! Just sprint as fast as you can and make a break for it! :1

So You'll gamble that the prayers and faith of the people of the Chuan region will be enough for you to disguise yourself as a minor goddess, a slip away into a stream and switch forms to try and trick the first gods to reach you.

A shame the write in schemes/ cover stories didn't get enough support, they were really clever

anyways, update will arrive shortly

>>5784055
Why does every daoist want to bully poor, innocent Huanliuxue!?

>>5784855
I doubt that at this point I can vote for any of the write-ins so maybe the one with 3 votes wins, right?

>>5784855
I’ll back the Yang and tall tale write in if it’ll make a difference

>>5784855
I didn't think we would need to vote for the cover.
I would support the blame Huan and Yang qi to cover our ghost one

>>5784875
Much the same as I.

But when that count post is done, the tallying is done, so further votes dont get counted. Hiding our physique wpuld have been good, but cest la vie

>>5784885
I think gramps accepted it once before
We need to get back into the groove of tallying before he does, just to make sure.
Although in this case it wouldn't make much of a difference because we though the ideas on how to do it didn't needed to be voted on.

>>5784869
>>5784872
>>5784875
I'll be generous and include some Eclipse Yang Physique trickery. Fortunately I checked back on the thread before finishing writing

>>5784890
That I have

>>5784885
It is usually the case, yes

>>5784895
You continue to be based.

Pain provides clarity through the haze of exhaustion and bloodloss. Every breath is a struggle that burns your throat even as a familiar coolness seeps past your fur and soaks into your flesh. You need to lick your wounds and mend them before your body becomes to weak or parts of it begin to die, which will make healing all the more difficult. As if you didn't have enough problems on your plate, being injured deep in enemy territory and already having a hunting party chasing after your tail. Wincing, you step forward, splashing blood that oozes out of the fur on your paw that its soaked into. There is a moment, as a drop of blood jumps up in front of your eyes, glowing from the strange fires that you've noticed don't seem to burn you now that you've walked or in reality stumbled a few paces, where you see your haggared and worn reflection and meet your own eyes. Suddenly, inspiration strikes you, but nowhere near as hard as the heavens sent arrow did. More like a flash of lightning in the night sky rather than being struck by that same bolt of lightning.

'Wait, I'm the idol of most of Chuan. One of the more populated and fertile region of what was once the Celestial Empire' You realize, jaw gaping in awe as that realization as brings the dawning realization of how simple it will be to evade your would be killers, with just a bit of feline cunning and graceful trickery. A lesser mind might not have grasped it, but faith is a real force in the world. You didn't understand it until you sought human wisdom, but faith has power beyond just belief and easing ones worries and the hardships of life. Gods grow on worship like plants do water. Why else would they command their faithful to build temples to leave them offerings and give their pleas within? They certainly don't have them built to hear those prayers, so they must be there to receive and channel them to them. For food, currency or some other reason, like a higher level of cultivation? You wince, the meandering of your curiosity cut short by the pang of agony shooting through your side. Seems the bowman got lucky a knicked something important. You aren't certain what and checking will waste more time than pondering why gods need worship. Beside whichever organ was cut it'll be healed with the rest of your injuries.

But if deities gain something from the worship of their mortal followers, the respect and veneration given to their shrine and earthbound idols, than have you gained it as well. Faith? Most of Chuan worships you now, at least on the level of lip service or leaving offerings in the form of scraps to the local stray cats of their villages. Worship and faith given unto you instead of apathetic and distant gods. So it stands to reason that in believing you to be a divine beast and guardian spirit, has granted you some of the privileges of a true deity, or at the very least "altered your scent" enough to fool at a glance.
Cont

>>5784912

Its only logical, right? If belief has power and worth to gods, then it must also have an effect on false divinities, like yourself, who has been named the patron and protector of Chuan, both the family and the region they rule over.

A wicked grin rips its way through your winces of pain as a solid, trustworthy plan begins to take form in your head. But you'll have to act quickly and put on a good show to hoodwink the first gods to find you, or else it'll all go up in smoke and you'll find yourself in a far worse position than simply bleeding out on the stairway to the heavens. Hmm, hmm. There certainly are a lot of waterfalls spilling out into the empty space beneath the golden clouds holding up the nine heavens. The story of the carp jumping over the dragon's gate comes to mind. You still have enough energy to swim upstream, especially with all the spirit medicines surging through your veins. That'll take care of the blood trail and the tracks being left in it. And it'll also wash off the teal flames clinging of so stubbornly to your fur, licking at it without burning it. Which is important for the next stage of your plan.

Forcing yourself not to limp, you make a dash for the nearest celestial waterfall, as clear as polished jade, from its green waters to its white foam. Allowing the gentle breeze murming through the clouds to carry you there, having turned partially ethereal and lightened your body with the Youling Qinggong, you splash into the water, and find it relaxingly cool. And it would've relieved the extreme pain in your side, however its crushing weight and surging force prevent you from finding anything about the water soothing. Biting down and shutting your nostrils, you shield your eyes from being torn out by the water with two tiny protection spells over them, and then with great difficulty, swim your way up the water, kicking all four of your legs inelegantly, treading clumsily through the crashing waters. Stubbornness quickly wins out, and soon you're pulling yourself over the edge of the falls.

You'd like to take your time to catch your breath, but if you did you know it'd be heard. Survival instincts screaming, paranoia creeping, you continue your battle against the current and your lung's screaming demands for air. Even for someone who likes to so often straddle the line between the living and dead, there are limits to how long they can hold their breath. Forcefully oxygenating your blood has helped prolong it, but you're running out of air and time.

But you keep swimming, even as bubbles drip out of your jaws and your head begins to feel like it was filled with hot air. The second the waters feel calm enough that sitting still won't pull and push you back towards the edge, you lift your head above the water and take a big gulp of air before diving back down and swimming a bit further, scared that someone had heard you and desperate to put distance between yourself and the sound of the splash and gasp.
Cont

>>5784913

Eventually, you've calmed enough to be confident to raise your head, having shifted into your human form some distance back and breast stroking your way towards the shallower waters of the stream. Which is easier said than done as the stream is vast! Larger than any you've seen in Chuan, that's for certain. And Chuan is famous for its rivers! It has to be several leagues across.

With your blood red hair flowing behind, you kick your way through the water until its low enough for you to stand in. But, as you approach the shore, and paper lanterns and torches come into view, as well as the shadowy figures holding them, you realize there's more that can be done to make your divine disguise a little more convincing.

Your presence is like a graveyard, everyone who has even a sliver of spiritual sense comments on it or praises you for it. You've spent so much time amongst ghosts you reek of them and tend to send chills down the spine of anyone who isn't expecting or accustomed to the ghostly air surrounding you and oozing out of your body. You may think the gods are a bunch of morons, but you'd be dumber if you'd think for an instant they would not notice one of your key, and most attractive in your opinion at least, features.

So, you take a risk. Your body possesses to physiques, a rarity and another charm point of yours, your Supreme Yin Physique and your Eclipsed Yang Physique. And its the latter that you're trusting your life into and betting it all. Ever sense it awakened within your body, you've felt its power, mysterious and otherworldly, like a solar eclipse. And while you haven't had a chance to experiment with what those powers exactly are and learn how to wield them, you have enough of an inkling of what some of them might do considering the name of the physique to take a chance and leap into the void, grasping for the unknown to grab a hold of and keep from plummeting to a humiliating demise.

A complete solar eclipse, looks like a ring of fire around a black sphere. A ring of blindingly white fire. Yang is represented as white. So its obvious that one function of this physique would be to shroud one's self with pure Yang energy. And that should be enough to mask the corpse stench you so proudly wear. Or it hopefully will be enough to trick the noses of the dogs hunting you.

Furrowing your brow and screwing your eyes, you blindly grope around within yourself to figure out how to "Turn on" the "Ring of Yang" while you stand on the tips of your toes and try your best not to slip and fall back under water. Eventually, you feel it, like a spark being struck in front of your eyes directly onto a mound of kindly. Warmth spreads around you, and the scent of sun radiates from your wet hair, which rapidly begins to dry.
Cont

>>5784914

You think it's worked! You aren't certain of all its effects, but you've created a ring of Yang energies around your very Yin dominated body and soul. And it doesn't seem to reek of blood, but the smells of the river and your hair are making it a bit hard for you to certain if it gives of the feeling of pure blood Qi or not.

With a hand on your torn open side, you begin to wade closer to shore, thinking up all kinds of excuses, tall tales and outright lies to feed the gods who have gathered at the shore, having spotted you struggling your way to it. Hopefully. Because if they haven't come to the aid of an injured goddess, they've saw you before you transformed and have come here to end your life!

Roll 2d100. DC 120. Best out of five. DC further lowered by improving your disguise and masking your true presence

Rolled 70, 7 = 77 (2d100)

>>5784915

Rolled 95, 44 = 139 (2d100)

>>5784915

Rolled 7, 81 = 88 (2d100)

>>5784915
AAAAAA

Rolled 79, 18 = 97 (2d100)

>>5784915

Rolled 56, 45 = 101 (2d100)

>>5784915
Shitshitshit

>>5784923
Nice, we passed

>>5784923
Success. 10 over DC. Update will arrive shortly

>>5784919
>>5784926
What are the odds of this?

>>5784935
We nearly got a 99 too
>>5784928

>>5784935
We didn't pass the first roll by 8, both anons roll a 7... Maybe being so high on the sky let's some of the western mysticism and folklore mix on this realm. Have an eye out for a trebol and a gold pot at the end of rainbows.

Anons I have a serious questions, does Huanliuxue have an opportunity against a Leprechaun?

The gods made us get our luxurious fur wet. Forcing a cat to swim is an indignity that shall not be forgotten!!

>>5784940
They live on large, flying disks in the sky.

Several expensive vases and treasures shall be knocked off the edge in retaliation!

>>5784938
And yeah, I think we do. They are lucky creatures but caoable of being bested with Wit.

>>5784855
>WELL, This is embarrassing! I had an incredibly vivid dream of updating the quest
Dao! Dao increased! Grandfather has gained a fortuitous encounter.

>>5784940
bet they have statues too..

>>5784940
>>5784942
>>5784944
I suggest, maybe play with their most expensive and beautiful robes as a simple kitty would play with the curtains of it's home...

>>5784954
>>"Huanliexue has been here."
>"How can you tell?"

>All the celestial tables have their bounty cast across the lower world
>All the divine quality robes and cushioms have been clawed to thin shreds
>Heaven flipping techniques have been stolen and defaced
>glorious red fur has been shed across all the prestine white fields
>the statues of our founders have been defaced and pissed on.
>"Huanlieaxue was here, fuckers." Stenciled across the qi stone mines.

>>"I don't know, but I can sense it."

But either way, hesitation now means death. Either you're marching up to your own execution or you're not. Running away with an obvious injury would be suspicious as hell, turning your back and ignoring them would also be suspicious as hell. Hell, just a bathing beauty oozing blood in a river is suspicious isn't it? You didn't notice any fish that looked fierce enough to leave a wound as grievous as the one on your side, beneath your ribs and few inches above your waist. Nor were there any rocks jagged enough to rip through a swimmer's side. But it isn't as suspicious as hesitating to seek help or turning your nose up to would be saviors and ignoring them outright. You'll have to choose your words carefully, but approaching this search party is your best chance at survival, doing anything else will make them more suspicious of you than if your ears turned furry again and your tail sprouted out of the base of your spine again.

Getting closer, you see that luck is in your favor. There isn't a single woman amongst the eight hunters crowding around the shores. In fact, it seems that getting struck by an arrow ate up all of your bad luck. These guys all look young and you don't see a single ring glinting on any of their fingers. Their looks place them around your human self's apparent age, and you can see that all but two of them are blushing furiously, and the two who aren't are staring at the wound in your side, covering their mouths in silent horror. One looks away, three cover their eyes with hands, Another pretends to cover his eyes to ogle your nude body and the last is their apparent leader, who is struggling to keep his eyes focused on yours as you wade closer, making a show of being in pain and holding both your hands to the wound torn out of your side trying your best to look pitiful and distressed as you stumble closer to him as he kneels in the water.

And unclasps his flowing golden cloak, that sat atop his shoulders. Its styled to look like the wings of a phoenix's wrapped around him, and it shimmers in the light of day giving off all of the colors of a rainbow as sunlight strikes it. Beneath it, he is dressed in silk so fine and white it seems ethereal, like morning mists taken and woven into cloth, a fine daoist robe that is covered with polished gold armor that is so gaudy it makes your eyes water.

His hair is a dull black, but that may just be because compared to the luster of his armor it seems dull, and tied into a prim and proper not atop his head, adorned with a small crown of iron formed into the shape of clashing blades. His gentle, willow shaped eyes are iron ringed with red. And his scent is tinged with blood. In a way that only killers are. You expected the martial gods would be sent to hunt you down, but this guy has to be an absolutely pathetic war god. Cause Qiang reeks more of blood than he does. His scent is more peachy and perfumed. That strange? Isn't that strange? He must be a minor god.
Cont

>>5785030

"Stop staring at her, can't you see the lady is in distress! What would your mother think if she saw you ogling a wounded girl instead of helping her!" He snaps angrily as you stagger forward, heart racing in your chest and cheeks draining of color as you get within a pace of him, expecting disaster to strike at any moment and for one of the young deities to discover your ruse, and it nearly rips out of chest as the handsome god kneeling in the mud and offering you his cloak swoops up to you and wraps it arounds your shoulders, shielding you from the lurid gazes of his friend peeking through his fingers. The suddenness of his approach makes you tremble involuntarily as he snarls and bares his teeth like fangs

"Young Master Xiōngtiěxiá (Fierce Iron Hero, 凶铁侠), is correct to scold you, you horny monkey!" One of the two who were focused on your wound rather than your beauty shouts, rushing towards the peeper to strike him with an iron fan over the head viciously, as he, cover his head and tries to run away "You worthless twit! Do not run away! Face your punishment"

"How couldn't I! You saw her face and body as well as I! A man can be forgiven for forgetting himself and the whole world in the face of such a dangerous double threat!" He cries out as Xiongtiexia, who you are certain now is the leader of these eight boyish gods considering how the oldest looking of them referred to him in such a respectful manner, sighs and wraps his cloak around you more tightly, soiling it with mud and your blood as he looks into your eyes compassionately and fearful

"Are you alright?" He asks, as the five gods who aren't busy chasing or being chased gather around you, their cheeks still nearly as red as your hair with blush as you look around at their faces and realize all of them are unbelievably handsome, and with how close the young master they're following is to you, that'll be an easy reason to give to excuse the racing of your heart if they ask. Because it is beating faster than it ever has before, now that you stuck between five gods. But how pathetic of gods do the rest of them have to be if they're following a martial god who barely smells of blood and calling him young master? What's more, Xiongtiexia has no fierceness in his eyes and his face is flawless, lacking any kind of scars and his hands...his hands are as soft and delicate as a highborn girl! What is up with that?

"Uh..uh" You stammer, realizing you should say something and answer the womanly god before your silence becomes a reason for suspicion, but how couldn't you be surprised to see a martial god whose so boyish and innocent looking! He doesn't match the image of a warrior deity you had at all, or that the rest of the world had either? he looks nothing like the fierce statues of ogreish brutes or chivalrous, handsome men with rugged features and powerful jaws and broad shoulders. If he wasn't dressed like a man, you'd have mistaken him for a pretty girl! What the hell?!

>>5785032

He leans closer, pouting as you struggle not to cackle at his pretty face, when you compare it to what a martial god should look like in your mind.

"Forgive me" You whimper weakly, lowering your eye lids to look drowsy and faint, leaning into his chest and causing his entire face to flush red, so red in fact that it could be camouflaged in your hair, throwing your arms over his neck for good measure. You swear you saw steam shooting out of his ears and nose after your second assault on his composure, Heh-heh

"I'm so weak and terrified I was still frozen with fear when you pulled me from the water" You moan, weeping and crying faint tears as you bury your head against his neck, keeping your eyes just open enough to watch the other five deities and gauge their reactions to know if you'll need to bite his throat and kick him in the groan to distract them as you run away or if they're buying your teary damsel act

"Thank you, thank you! You've saved my life!" You wail, clinging onto his armor as he bites his lip and looks up, clenching his shaking fists as he struggles with his natural urges as you press your beautiful body closer to his own "I was certain this day was my last! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Whu..wha..what happened?" He asks, his voices squeaking as he becomes the subject of five jealous stares that feel ready to set him alight or run him through like sharpened knives "To you I mean, how were you injured is what I mean"

And you've gotten your claws into him. Making your lip tremble and making certain to keep from allowing your exhilaration at not being found out and making this god fall hook line and sinker for your trick, you flutter your eyelashes and look up to him with a pitiful expression, looking as meek and harmless as you can stomach to.

"Well" you purr, running a finger down from the nape of his neck to his chest "Before a handsome hero pulled me from the cold, cold stream, I was attacked!"

"Buh, Buh by what?" He stammers, fighting a battle with himself to not at least throw a glance down at your breasts as you bounce and press them against him, using every ounce of your womanly charms to distract him from any flaws in your disguise. The others are jealous enough of his good fortune to miss those same flaws, if there even are any.

"A terrible red furred beast! I think it wanted to steal my skin and face, or else eat me down to my bones" You cry, clinging as tightly as you can to him as his expression screws and becomes a grimace of frustration as sweat beads down his stricken face as he tries to pull away. As if you hadn't noticed the effect your body was having on him. Really making him fall for you and become blinded by arousal was the easy part of this deception, the hard part was not clawing and biting him for it! But you restrain you rage and your shame and keep up the act of the grateful maiden and trembling, delicate flower, even though you hate it.
Cont

>>5785034

So long as you can tell yourself it is the hilt of his sword poking your stomach, you think you can hold back from mauling him for at least a few seconds longer.

And the moment the description of your "Attacker" leaves your lips, the look on Xiongtiexia's face turns from restrained lust and gentle concern to outright terror. Wait, terror? Shouldn't that be anger or righteous fury? Shouldn't he be declaring vengeance against the "demon" who "attacked" this fair maiden clinging to him for dear life? Did you make a mistake? Was his armor and crown just a fashion statement and not a symbol of office. Is this guy really a martial god. Why is his lip trembling and face turning pale. Hah?!

"It was awful! Hideous and monstrous!" You cry, pushing aside your confusion to keep playing your role of injured and frightened goddess, even as your "hero" winces and trembles as best as he tries to hide it and the thing between his legs "I'm just lucky it was struck by an arrow and scared off long enough for me to flee into this river and swim away, or else I would be a bloodied skeleton by now. And if you weren't here to fish me out, I might've died of fright"

"Or blood loss" One of the other older looking gods remarks, looking with worryingly at the spreading crimson circle in the cape wrapped around you, wincing as he does

"Ran off...it wasn't killed?" Xiongtiexia asks sharply, eyes wide as you nod and pout, holding onto him as he tries to keep you apart from the hips down "Did you see where the brute ran off to hide then?"

"Yes! Don't worry little sister, we brave warriors will seek out the demon who attacked you and put an end to them!" One of the other gods, a boy with spiked up hair and freckles on his face declares, struggling to. You expression falls in disbelief as you see a supposed martial god struggling to unsheathe their sword. And was that a cloud of dust that came out when they managed to draw it? You stiffen out of sheer shock. You knew the gods were worthless, but you didn't think them so incompentent. These eight have to be the least amongst the martial deities, surely. Surely!

Xiongtiexia shakes his head so hard and fast that it shakes you around as two of the other gods cover the freckled faced boy's mouth.

"What he means to say, is we heroic men will lead you to safety!" He shouts, loud enough for any other search parties to hear and to make certain his own companions understand him and don't do something as stupid as swearing to look for a demonic beast. That they, mighty gods, are apparently scared of. What? Whaaaat? You..it might be the bloodloss, but somehow you're more confused than panicked now. Why are they acting like that? Just from approaching them you could tell any one of these eight could squash you like an ant under their fingers, so why are they such huge pussies? They really have to be the bottom of the barrel, the weakest of the warrior gods.
Cont

>>5785036

"And then help you get the medicinal attention and care you need!" Another one, this one a man with long, free flowing rust red hair declares just as loudly

Xiongtiexia gives him a thumbs up when he thinks you aren't looking.

"And stay by your side to protect you and hear your story in detail, so none of it is forgotten in your shock and panic" He says, smiling comfortingly as he scoops you up while your still stunned by how shameless and cowardly these eight gods are "And swiftly! With more haste than the northern wind! Lets get out of here before the demon catches the scent of her blood again. Such a bold monster won't end its pursuit of its prey just because it was injured!"

"Prey!? Oh how awful!" You cry out in fake fright as you look around at the faces of the other seven supposed martial gods for any sign however subtle that they've figured out your deception and are leading you into a trap of their own but...There isn't any. They all look relieved and worried for you, earnestly so. Did it actually work? Were you able to trick real deities into believe you were one as well? Even if they were eight foolish young boys?!

You give a sigh of relief and lay your head back against Xiongtiexia's chest as you allow yourself to relax, your heart still racing as you lower your guard for just a moment to catch your breath and plan your next move.

Your divine disguise is currently at 2 points of integrity. Acting suspiciously will cost one or more points of integrity depending on the severity of the act, and when it reaches zero or lower, your true identity will be discovered. 1 is from succeeding in the trickery/ deception trial, and 1 is from getting a 2nd degree of success (10 over dc)

What do you do now that you've tricked a couple of gods into believe you are a goddess, Huanliuxue?

>Try and throw the search parties off of your trail by giving Xiongtiexia and his toadies false information as you "remember" what happened

>Sternly ask them to put you down, you aren't so injured you can't walk and want to take the chance to get away from them as quickly as you can (Stealth trial. DC unknown)

>Play up the severity of your injury and pain, so they'll take you to a healer rather than Xiongtiexia's family home. Which will be easier to slip away from than eight boys fretting over you AND a household of divine servants

>Realize even an incompetent god could probably heal themselves, and do so once the eight idiots have brought you to "Safety", with your internal energy, rather than your Blood Qi's healing properties or blood itself (Concentration trial DC Unknown)

>Just see where they're taking you and stay on guard and ready to make a run for it

>Write in

>>5785041
>Try and throw the search parties off of your trail by giving Xiongtiexia and his toadies false information as you "remember" what happened

>>5785041
>Play up the severity
>Give them false information to throw them off the scent.

Lets gobble their medicine.
But. . . fucking hell. Were they born in the heavens?
One thing I do like about Xianxia, is that the one's from the bottom are generally more competent than those at the top once they get there, due to the hunger and experience

>>5785041
>>Play up the severity of your injury and pain, so they'll take you to a healer rather than Xiongtiexia's family home. Which will be easier to slip away from than eight boys fretting over you AND a household of divine servants

>>5785041
>Realize even an incompetent god could probably heal themselves, and do so once the eight idiots have brought you to "Safety", with your internal energy, rather than your Blood Qi's healing properties or blood itself (Concentration trial DC Unknown)

>>5785065
I'm kinda hoping that the impurities will be cleansed with these medicines.
Make our cultivation progression skyrocket. Skyrocket our skyrocket tier process.

>>5785077
I'm worried that a doctor would be more competent and notice that Huan isn't what she claims to be.

>>5785041
>Play up the severity of your injury and pain, so they'll take you to a healer rather than Xiongtiexia's family home. Which will be easier to slip away from than eight boys fretting over you AND a household of divine servants

A little concerned about dealing with a competent god level healer as well, hoping that it's just servant and not an actual god level healer. The family home might have a family elder though, not just his silver spoon kids.

>>5785041

>Play up the severity of your injury and pain, so they'll take you to a healer rather than Xiongtiexia's family home. Which will be easier to slip away from than eight boys fretting over you AND a household of divine servants

>>5785041
Anons... Hold up... I might have an idea of what we should do.

>Act frightened and paranoid, looking at everywhere from time to time to keep them at the edge.
>"Valiant gentlemens, please, I don't wanna stay out in the open... The beast might be already on us, prowling, stalking us... I never saw it coming. First was the Shadows acting strange, then the smell of blood oozing in, and then the silent steps of the beast..."
>"I might have enough strength to heal myself, but we need to keep moving... I-If the beast is coming for me then we need to keep walking, we can't stay too long in here... "

My logic here is that we can make them paranoid, enough so they can make mistake, and with our body and beauty already playing with their minds, the threat of the demon might cloud their minds so they don't think about going with their superiors.

We can heal a bit, keep poisoning their minds... And then make them have the biggest scare of their Inmortal lives. We either make a blood/meat puppet to present as the beast, or we can just make the beautiful Huanliuxue turn into the most terrifying and poor creature... Perhaps the redhead beauty was "poisoned" by her attack and she starts to bleed, have spams and rot in front of their eyes while clouds of miasma rolls in trying to claim the young gods... and in all the panic they make we make a run for the final step of the heavens. Maybe with out mind tricks they even move us closer to our destiny. And tell them to not speak or scream, the beast might hear us.

>>5785308
I'll support this

>>5785308
Switching to the psychological warfare option as well

>>5785041
>>5785308
+1

File: 8765765765.gif (1.25 MB, 500x250)

1.25 MB GIF

>tfw the only competent killers in all of the heavens are the ones that got kicked out for being tricked by huan's cunning blood-pool-ruse

>>5785041
>and throw the search parties off of your trail by giving Xiongtiexia and his toadies false information as you "remember" what happened
If the Doctor's of any use whatsoever (humor me), he won't just examine the wound but us as a whole. This carries the risk of discovery. Something to think about, Brothers.

>>5785388
At least one of your brothers has thought of it

>>5785065
>Changing the severity vote for >>5785308

But keep lying to them

>>5785388
Also disguising an arrow wound for a beast attack won't fly with any doctor worth a pinch of salt

>>5785308
I'll vote for this too but with the added caveat that we would heal ourselves because we are too shy frightened and ashamed to let a healer check our body.

>>5785565
If caught on that we can say we didn't want to implicate any god and that shifting the blame on the only troublemaker worth a smiting who also survived was an obivious culprit.

>>5785608
I'm not sure playing up their paranoia and then trying to shift the identity of our attacker like that will keep us in their good graces.

>>5785041
>>5785608
Whops, forgot to link the vote to the post

Anyway the robbing heaven's apothecary thing was mostly if we get the chance.
The fact that this patrol is made up of clueless fools is a godsend (heh) but our luck may not hold and we should count anybody here as a mortal danger.

Especially kids who pull the tail of cats.