yrsillar

Future Direction

Hello everyone, long time subscribers and new entrants alike. I want to thank you for your support for however long that you've given it. There are going to be a few changes coming up, and I want to inform everyone in a clear way.

The first item is a scheduling change. The Destiny series has been running for a long time now, and my backlog is finally thinning. To make sure there's never a full break in the content the schedule will be changing a bit. The first full week of every month, ...

Threads Patron preview Chapter 328 (Red+)

A cresting gust of wind yanked at her hair and the hems of her dress. Light flashed, and the scream of something viciously sharp being dragged along the stone followed. Ling Qi parted the wave of dust and dirt that followed around herself and the Bai.

Xuan Shi stood a little ways off the platform, a hovering swarm of his hexagonal talisman shields forming half of a sphere in front of him, rippling and sparking with blue-gray qi. He was unruffled, and he stood with his feet and the butt ...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 327(Red+)

Outside, heading down the stairs, Ling Qi glanced at her companion. “So, as one more informed about the celestial spheres, how concerned should I be?”

“You should be quite terrified. It is likely that the sky will fall, clawed to ribbons from below as well as above,” Meng Dan said pleasantly.

Ling Qi gave him an unimpressed look.

“Ah, you doubt I would hold my composure if it were so? Lady Ling wounds me.”

“I would think less of you if I thought you were ...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 326(Red+)

“I do hope that analysis was helpful.”

“It was,” Ling Qi acknowledged. “It will give me another lens to view my counterpart’s actions through. Now, where are we meeting?”

“At the top in the telescope chamber. The meeting rooms do not have their full security formations in place yet.”

Ling Qi nodded, following him as they mounted the stairs, winding their way to the top of the observatory. At the top was a strange and luxurious room with a floor of black mar...

Threads Patron preview Chapter 325 (Red+)

The rumble and crack of moving, grinding stones was a discordant symphony of noise. It was chaotic and unintelligible, but deeply, deeply angry.

There should have been no room for words here, no room for communication. But not for Ling Qi. Fangs of living limestone, so close to crushing the soft humans within, slowed and ground down to a halt among ribbons of mist and the piping of a flute.

Ling Qi descended into the crumbled sinkhole on steps of glittering light and mist. A great...

July 1st-8th Hiatus Announcement

Its about time for me to take a small break and recharge again, so from the 1st to the 8th there will be no updates.

Threads Patron preview Chapter 324(Red+)

“There are methods for better dispersing greater powers. But the method I think you might find useful as a cornerstone for priestly rites in grounding spiritual power and pressure is one that is used for leading lower realms and even mortals,” Xin said thoughtfully.

“Spirit and world are one in understanding,” Ling Qi recited from the meditative koan of the art int question. “The spirit is merely an element of the world you walk in and may allow its intent to be bled back when...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 323 (Red+)

Ling Qi blew away the steam rising from the cup in her hand. She sat by a low table on a thick woolen cushion.

This was the least visually offensive room in Elder Jiao’s manor thus far. The table was surrounded by dense shelves, interspersed with little silver and glass tables which each held a lantern lit by a pale blue, ghostly flame. The table she sat by was polished ebony, topped with dark green, nearly black, jade. She could almost see her reflection in the shine.

“Yes, I...

Threads Patron preview Chapter 322 (Red+)

Back in the Outer Sect, Elder Jiao had implied through Xin that he was considering her for apprenticeship in the Inner Sect. In the end, she had chosen to follow Cai Renxiang. She didn’t regret that choice, but she wished it were possible to grasp both opportunities.

As if sensing her thoughts, Elder Jiao snorted. “You’ve gotten yourself into exactly what I warned you of. Between that woman and these foreigners, you’ve filled your plate to overflowing. And that’s leaving aside...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 321(Red+)

“You mean Elder Jiao’s—”

“Our home,” Xin corrected. “I have as much right to guests as he.”

Ling Qi inclined her head. Of course she did. Ling Qi doubted Elder Jiao would even contest that, for all he might grouse about it.

Turning a corner on the starlit path, the silhouette of a manor came into view in the mist. It was a sprawling, two-story complex set against the base of a low slumping mountain among the trees. The ominous air of dense qi around it made L...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 320 (Red+)

“Ah. You’ve learned how to refine arts by now.”

“It’s been very recent,” Ling Qi acknowledged. “Elder, if I may I ask, what were the beasts bound in your trial? The tortoise? The rotting dragon?”

Those two were the two spirits who could be said to be Zhengui’s parents, one dead and eternally regenerating, the other chained and bound, powering the Sect’s formations.

Elder Ying pursed her lips. “Old sins. You aren’t the first to make friends with foreig...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 319 (Red+)

Ling Qi took a deep breath.

Li Suyin chuckled, scratching her cheek with a golden claw. “That ended up being very serious.”

“So, hey,” Hanyi interrupted. “I wanted to know, can you make me a cool skeleton handmaid? ‘Cause I have, like, a bunch of money now.”

Ling Qi blinked. Li Suyin blinked.

“Hwah?” Her friend made a confused noise.

“You know, like the ones you have, but, like, with ice instead of icky spider stuff!” Hanyi explained happily...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 318(Red+)

“You’re good, Fang. You can do everything I need ya too,” Han Jian comforted. “I guess you were probably always meant for crazy stuff though, huh?”

“Fortune and talent are intertwined.” Ling Qi observed as Hanyi put her hands on her hips and stuck out her tongue at Heijin, the two spirits bickering. She dug her fingers in behind the big cat’s ears and turned the angry rumble into a purr. “I’m going to be busy with all this for a long time.”

“You’ve got a ...

Journey to the East 19(May)

Steam curled from the brush in her hand, flames licking at the bristles as she ran it through the dark red mane. She was silent as she observed the camp outside of the stables. The rush of men moving back and forth, the chatter and constant noise washing over her ever here.

“Refeng”

Gu Xiulan raised an eyebrow as the stallion tossed his head, shaking out the smoldering mane she had been brushing. “Oh, so simple as that, no ceremony at all?”

The stallion, Refeng, look...

No update on Thursday the 25th

Sorry everyone! Some things came up recently, and this is needed to keep the update schedule balanced between formats.

Threads Patron preview Chapter 317(Red+)

Liao Zhu blinked out of existence, rematerializing on the outcropping below. Well, if he wanted to be boring about it. Ling Qi stopped being on the gravel and started being on the cliff. It was as simple as that.

It was funny how flying, or flaunting the law of the earth, had become instinct. There really wasn’t much difference between one location and another, so close together. Greater distance, greater disparity, and the natural lines of qi and human warding were still walls and se...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 316 (Red+)

All things come to their end. She knew that better than most.

With the others in the music club needing to return to duties or other appointments, Ling Qi was left to walk the sect in thought. Her steps brought her back to White Cloud Mountain in the Outer Sect. She followed the path she’d taken so long ago up toward the icy peak. She could have simply flown to the top, but walking again and feeling the icy bite of the wind and the slick icy cliffside paths under her feet felt right. ...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 315(Red+)

“You have my approval to focus your efforts there.”

“Thank you, Lady Renxiang. You will not regret it.”

“I won’t,” her liege said. The brush in her hand tapped thoughtfully against the ink pot. “It is your ability to form unlikely connections which has made this possible at all.”

“I accept your compliment.” Ling Qi smiled.

Renxiang considered her from behind the desk. “I do not fully understand your ease, but at this moment, I will be glad for i...

Threads Patron preview Chapter 314(Red+)

Ling Qi hummed to herself, folding her hands into her sleeves as she stood across from Jaromilla over the hearthfire. She met the woman’s eyes as her hum took on a tune, becoming the first bar of her song. Tendrils of frost spread from under her gown, and the brightly burning fire guttered lower, the merry glow turning a sullen red.

Cold and darkness were intertwined in her mind. They were different manifestations of the same fundamental principle of consumption and want. They were bo...

Threads Patron preview Chapter 313(Red+)

“May I have a question of you, Emissary Jaromila?”

“You may,” the older woman sighed.

“It is only a small one. I am trying to understand the relations within the polar nation. I believe I see what the Seared Lands and the Twisted Pines does for the Polar Nation, but what of the White Sky itself? What is its claim to influence?” Ling Qi asked. “My own Emerald Seas is a great producer of raw resources to the rest of our empire, as I suspect of the Twisted Pines is in y...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 312(Red+)

“And I, her emissary, apologize that we have not been able to speak with you sooner.” Ling Qi bowed from her position, exactly one step behind Cai Renxiang.

Jaromila slipped gracefully down from horseback, her fine black boots soundlessly touching the stone tiles. She drew back her hood, revealing her pale golden hair drawn up in a tight braid, coiled and pinned in place along the back of her head. Her lips were icy blue today, and her complexion was more akin to Ling Qi’s old Mas...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 311 (Red+)

“This one questions, honored hosts. It seems to this one that thy words paint a picture of roads and ships and trade in thy lands. Is this truth?”

“Not wrong. Treasures lie deep in the mud, buried in the bog. Yet it is difficult to live there. Near to where these treasures are dredged up is where the bog is at its most hostile,” Inzha answered.

“Carving roads and taming the land is an honored activity, and it keeps us from having to resort to harsher ways,” Rostam adde...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 310(Red+)

They’d decided to begin partitioning some of the farmland next, having the temporary workers prepare lots for incoming settlers. One of the largest draws to new settlements was the easy access to land. There were always second and third children who didn’t stand to inherit. Besides, the sooner they began preparing the relatively poor soil and making use of the veins of fire under the earth, the sooner they would see a return. She’d have to go back for a while next month to work with Zhe...

Journey to the East Chapter 18(April)

It was said in the journals of some of her ancestors that it was inevitable for the mind to feel hollow in the wake of a battle’s burning. To feel an emptiness where once the light of the sun had burned. For Gu Xiulan, this could not be more untrue. The fading of her fire that came with the battle's end left her feeling jittery and anxious, an electric charge that would not leave her nerves, even now after the medic’s ministrations, after the debriefing, and speaking with her company and ...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 309(Red+)

Ling Qi let out a breath as a few more small pleasantries were shared, and the White Sky left, along with Wang Lian. Jin Tae said his goodbyes, managing to never once drop his smile, as if she’d not irritated the ministry at all.

It left her and Xia Lin with the general still standing there, stock still. She waited another beat, not wishing to leave first, but that blank mask of a helm remained fixed on some point in the distance.

Finally, Ling Qi nodded to Xia Lin, and they tur...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 308(Red+)

Ling Qi’s suggestion was a gamble, but a gamble she thought she knew the odds on. Better for the general to be a looming threat, but one step in the background, than a threat immediately on stage. And for the White Sky, it would hopefully be a step toward safer familiarity. Even if Imperial high realms were terribly mobile and active, they could still be approached and appeased through intermediaries.

This hinged on the general not immediately shooting her down though.

Also… 2023-04-21 00:07:35 +0000 UTC View Post

Threads Patron preview Chapter 307 (Red+)

The meeting came early the next day and took place in the neutral land where Ling Qi had held her luncheon with the emissaries. A proper pavilion had been erected with a solid stone foundation and a roof of wood and clay tile. It had a large rounded table with plentiful seating, as requested by Renxiang. There were some perfunctory refreshments, in deferment to custom, though she expected they would remain mostly untouched.

Already there when she had arrived was Wang Lian, who had at le...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 306(Red+)

“I received your paper messenger,” Xia Lin said to her, walking beside her with her arms behind her back.

“Good. Then I don’t have to spend time explaining.”

They walked along the sun-dappled path of a freshly laid Wang road, leaving behind the stables and receiving area at the opening of the valley. She suspected that the slightly winding nature of it swaying around hillocks and old growth was an influence of the Meng and Luo delegations.

“Do you think your pres...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 305(Red+)

Cai Renxiang held up a hand. “I do not wish to know the details of your personal tribulation. I would not ask that of you or any other. Simply tell me, are you fit for duty? And will there be effects on our project?”

Ling Qi looked around the little work room Cai Renxiang had set up in the rapidly completing embassy. Though she could sense the reverberations of construction happening, such were the formations built into the room that there was no noise. It was as spartan as she had ...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 304(Red+)

Sixiang brushed the surface of her thoughts, tentative, unwilling to reach any deeper as they were now.

“That’s nutty, Qi, not gonna lie. You don’t even know the guy’s whole story. And this, you ain’t got a technique for this.”

“You’re right. You’re completely right,” Ling Qi whispered back in the soundless nothing they occupied, the scattered cloud of being they had made of themselves to hide from the Nightmare. They were, for a moment at least, alone. “This...