A day has passed since you left 12th Canyon with Duan Tao, Feng Jun, and the unconscious Duan Jin. In that time you left 12th Canyon and entered Green City in preparation to leave. Apparently Horned Island and their three counterparts don't have any trouble crossing the Holy Lake because the beasts stopping most people from going too far in are descendents of the Scaled God. Scaled Palace has provided the other three clans descended from the nine gods with some sort of material that scares away their creatures, so each group has a fleet of ships which they can use to enter and exit their headquarters.
On the way to Green City you...
>found a chance to contact Zhu Chao with your sound transmission talisman and tell him what's going on. He's not as powerful as Duan Tao, but he's not much weaker so it would helpful having him here in case something happens.
>didn't contact Zhu Chao, you should be fine.
>Other
After arriving at Green City a servant was sent to retrieve the last of the things you left there, and you prepared to leave on a ship populated with specially-trained sailors loyal to the Green Tribe and Horned Island in the morning. While unpacking your things and examining your cabin, Duan Tao paid you a visit. "Well, now that we're done travelling I think this is as good a time as any to address what I've been waiting to ask. You declined to tell me what faction you were from before, but if I don't know anything it's harder for us to work together. If, for example, something called you back there and you had to leave Horned Island for several years and we didn't know where you were, that would be a headache. At the very least can I know some generalities like location and scale to plan for the future?" You...
>tell him that your faction is within Yutian Country and smaller than the Five Families. That should be enough to work off of.
>lie and tell him that you're from another country. In-case something happens it will allow you to easily leave.
>tell him you're from the Liu family, it's not like he's going to leak that info, Horned Island is a hidden faction itself. It's best he knows now so that you have the chance to build cooperation between the two groups in the future.
>lie and tell him that you're not a part of a faction.
>lie and tell him your faction was too small, so you're leaving it for Horned Island.
>Other

Only going to do a couple of updates tonight, just wanted to get the thread up now. Besides that, I have two questions:
1. Is the OP image a bit better, I increased the font and added a black layer on 25% opacity to try to make the text stand out.
2. I added a character sheet to the pastebin, have I missed anything you guys found important?/spoiler]

>>3690501
>tell him you're from the Liu family, it's not like he's going to leak that info, Horned Island is a hidden faction itself. It's best he knows now so that you have the chance to build cooperation between the two groups in the future

>>3690501
>found a chance to contact Zhu Chao with your sound transmission talisman and tell him what's going on. He's not as powerful as Duan Tao, but he's not much weaker so it would helpful having him here in case something happens.
>tell him that your faction is within Yutian Country and smaller than the Five Families. That should be enough to work off of.

>>3690674
>second

>>3690505
The pastepin doenst work

>>3690777
Fixed, my bad

I'll roll a tiebreaker on the second decision in two hours if there aren't anymore votes.

>>3690462
Oh boi a new thread

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>3690559
>>3690674

You're hesitant about telling Duan Tao which family you're a part of. Still, it's ridiculously unlikely he'll be connected to whoever tried to assassinate you, and this news won't spread out since Horned Island is a secretive faction anyways. At the most a few elders at Horned Island will know your true identity. "I belong to the Liu Family, they're in the Southwestern portion of Yutian Country."
Duan Tao blankly stares at you for a moment before he snaps his fingers. "Demon General Liu Kang! I heard he settled down in that region after the war to found a family clan, but nothing after that." "...And if you could keep this a secret..." Duan Tao replies as you trail off. "Naturally, only a few elders will know at most. We wouldn't want any jealous parties to know where you are when you're not on Horned Island, or else it would suffer. As I said before, my motives in recruiting you aren't selfless, but now that I've recruited you there's no reason to endanger you. If you die then Horned Island strength lowers.
After Duan Tao leaves the room, you read and think about things. You were able to fit in enough information to the duration of the Sound Transmission Talisman to make Zhu Chao aware of what's happening, but you wonder if he'll be coming himself. He could leave an elder in Green City to negotiate on your behalf, but that would mean revealing you're in the Northern Wastes. Therefore you think it's likely he'll come himself, but given that he's the pillar holding up the Liu family right now, you never know.
You wake up the next morning and...
>explore the ship with Feng Jun, it's pretty large and you've never seen the inside of one before yesterday.
>bother Duan Tao to inform you more what's going to happen upon your arrival at Horned Island and people you may need to watch out for.
>go fishing, you have nothing better to do.
>hole yourself up in your room and read, there's always more herbs to memorize.
>Other

>>3691260
>>bother Duan Tao to inform you more what's going to happen upon your arrival at Horned Island and people you may need to watch out for.
Ask what his granddaughter looks like and what she likes

>>3691260
>bother Duan Tao to inform you more what's going to happen upon your arrival at Horned Island and people you may need to watch out for.

Duan Tao did spend a while talking to you about Horned Island, but it honestly felt more like a sales pitch than anything else. You should approach him and try to get more information while you're travelling. You left some time early this morning and the journey is supposed to around six or seven hours, so you'll have plenty of time to talk to him.
You find Duan Tao's cabin and knock on the door. A muffled "Come in." comes from the other side, and you enter. "Highblood, what can I do for you?" "I was hoping to know more about what I'm jumping into once we arrive. Is there anyone I need to worry about?" "Anyone you need to worry about? I suppose there's Duan Jin's father and a few of the other juniors who will inevitably find a chance to challenge you. Duan Jin's father won't be able to do anything to you, but he'll try. His son is being robbed of his seat as Highblood and will be tried for attempting to kill you after all. He's on the council of elders, but he got in because of his son. Once you're inaugurated as Highblood he'll lose the position and be demoted to a normal elder. He's barely at Acupoint Opening, so he's no real threat. Just watch out for him. Besides that, find a chance to show your strength among the rest of the younger generation and you'll be fine."
"What about your granddaughter? Is there anyone's envy I'll get once you make the relationship public? I understand that will be for a while yet, but it'd be nice to know ahead of time." Duan Tao laughs in response. "No, no, she's a good catch but mostly keeps to herself. Some people will be jealous, but as far as I know no one was still courting her besides Duan Jin. He never made any progress though, and he already hates you." ...Hearing this, you'd almost feel bad for Duan Jin if he hadn't tried to get the elk to kill you. He had his position stolen, resources promised to him taken from him, he'll likely be punished by the sect, and now he's losing the woman he likes. He truly is unlucky. "What about any hobbies? Anything I should learn about to make conversation?" "Oh, already studying up? Well, she mainly focuses on cultivation, but there are some novels she reads. I pick up the new releases every time I visit the mainland, I can tell you the titles later and have someone pick them up if you really want to read them. Besides that there's not much."
Now that you've figured out any possible threats, you only have one question left. "What's happening after I meet the council of elders and they decide to make me the Highblood?" Duan Tao shrugs and answers your questions. "That's really up to you. The inauguration will take a while to be set up, but you can either have me show you around the island, train by yourself, or meet some of the other juniors. What are you interested in?" You tell Duan Tao that you'd like to...
>be shown around the island later.
>train by yourself once the meeting is over.
>meet some of the other juniors on Horned Island once you have the chance.
>Other

That's my last update for the night, heading out now. Longer session tomorrow.
Also, I made a typo in an earlier post and said you arrived on the boat in the morning, I meant for it to be night. You don't just casually sleep 24 hours.

>>3691402
>be shown around the island later.

>>3691402
>be shown around the island later.

>>3691402
>>be shown around the island later.

Starting for the day in about an hour, woke up sorta late.

You'd like to be shown around the island after arriving. It will be more convenient the earlier you have a good lay of the land there, and you don't want to deal with more people after getting out of what will likely be a very long meeting with Horned Island's council of elders. "After we're out of the meeting I'd like to look around." Duan Tao nods and tells you that he'll get someone to show you around the place while he deals with things behind the scenes.
You talk for a bit longer before returning to your room, and a few hours later you hear some noise from the deck. You go there and can faintly see land in the distance. As you look around, Feng Jun and Duan Tao both come up onto deck. "Is that Horned Island?" "Yes, it is. Once we get closer you'll be able to see the smaller side islands." Over the course of the next hour the island comes into full view, buildings being visible through the trees. A large set of docks are at the front of Horned Island, and later you see some smaller islands which also have their own docks.
The ship docks and you see people begin to gather around. Duan Tao stretches and then turns to you. "Now that we're docked it's time to start my plan. You'll walk alongside me with Feng Jun behind, and next to him will be Duan Jin, handcuffed. There will definitely be people here to greet me and Duan Jin since we should've returned around this time with the Red-Gold fruit, so that means the news about your bloodline and Duan Jin being in some sort of trouble will spread, helping force the council of elders to go along with me." After Duan Jin says this you...
>do nothing, you have no objections to this.
>ask if you're going a bit too harsh on Duan Jin, his immediate relatives are going to have an irreconcilable grudge with you at this point.
>Other

>>3692903
>>do nothing, you have no objections to this.
>Ask if he'd like for you to wear your antlers out?

Duan Jin's family will probably hate you for what's going on here, but that will be the case either way. Showing a bit of kindness now isn't going to help you. "Antlers out I assume?" "Naturally." You nod and begin to grow yours. After having them out for five weeks straight, you don't have a problem using them during the day. After a short wait everyone is ready and the four of you exit the boat. The small throng of people outside are rendered silent upon seeing your group, and you see them glancing between you and Duan Jin, confused. Duan Tao politely greets them and they greet him back. Duan Tao smiles as the two of you walk away and turns to you. "We'll wait in my home for an hour or two for the news to spread, and then we'll go to the council of elders."
Duan Tao takes you to the center of the island, which is a relatively short walk. There you see two large mansions, and around a dozen smaller, but still sizable, houses. "The one closest to us is my home, while the other one is the Highblood's mansion. Do you want to assume control now? I could always switch the staff out later, but if you'd prefer to have the staff in place stay, you can head over there." Duan Tao smirks as he says this, as if he's expecting something interesting. You...
>decline and tell him you'll wait in his house. You have little interest in whether the staff is switched or not, and you're not even the Highblood yet.
>tell him you'll head over there and inform the workers that you'll be living there from today onwards. No need to be too heavy-handed, but you may as well prepare them.
>take Duan Jin and go to tell the staff what's happening. The only way to make them understand is with evidence.
>Other

>>3693040
>>tell him you'll head over there and inform the workers that you'll be living there from today onwards. No need to be too heavy-handed, but you may as well prepare them.

May as well head over to the Highblood's mansion then. You're not going to try to make a 'show of force' by dragging Duan Jin over there, but you'd prefer if the place had the original staff. It makes sense that the staff there would already be most adept at running the place, so whoever they found to replace them would be slightly more inconvenient. To do that, you'll need to show yourself before anyone thinks to resign.
After waiting for 15 minutes, figuring that the news about Duan Jin will spread to his mansion quickly, you approach the gate. The guard at the gate has a cultivation you can't sense, but upon seeing you approach the mansion he tenses up. "I'll be taking over as Highblood soon in place of Duan Jin, can you open the gate?" The man pauses and seems to think about something before just standing still. "Didn't you hear about what happened at the docks? Wouldn't you prefer to keep your cushy position here at the Highblood's mansion?" The man stands there for a moment before reluctantly opening up the gate.
You pass through a well-maintained garden and enter the mansion. There's a small group of staff talking in the entranceway, and you greet them the same way you did the gatekeeper, telling them that you'll be taking over as Highblood. Most of them are silent, but one woman lashes out at you. "How arrogant! Your bloodline may be pure, but nothing has been confirmed yet and you're busting into the mansion and manhandling Duan Jin! You scoundrel!" She's probably closely related to Duan Jin. You'll keep that in mind, if she's this loyal then maybe it'd be best to replace her. You don't want any knives held at your back. "Isn't it more arrogant to try to kill your competitor while the High Protector is watching? If it wasn't for Duan Jin's aggressive actions, the two of us could have returned on amiable terms. I wanted nothing but to be friends when we first met."
After saying this the staff that enter the room say nothing, and the woman from before bites her lip before leaving. "Anyways, I just came here to introduce myself and look around a bit. We'll be working together from now on, so I'm looking forward to getting to know you." As you say this you begin looking around the mansion, killing time until the meeting with the council of elders.
By the time you finish looking around it's almost time to go to the council of elders, and so Duan Tao and you make the comically short walk to where they meet. Upon entering all the elders on the council are there, having heard about the matter. There are six of them, and all of them are glancing at you. Most of them are looking at you in surprise or curiosity, but one is doing so with pure, unfiltered rage. You guess he's Duan Jin's father.

The two of you seat yourself, and almost immediately Duan Jin's father demands to know what's going on. Duan Tao begins weaving a story about finding you after arriving in Green City due to the blood testing they found there and then bringing you along with them to 12th Canyon. There you saw the guardian of the Red-Gold fruit and Duan Jin tried to get it to kill you with the command seal because he feared for his position. Luckily the beast, awed by the purity of your blood, refused to. Duan Jin was locked up to prevent another incident, and the four of you came to Horned Island.
The council stays mostly silent throughout the story, and you don't chime in to correct the omissions, knowing it's to assist you. After saying this it moves to discussion of whether you should be Highblood, and with Duan Tao taking the lead half the council begins earnestly supporting you. The rest are on the fence due to your status as an outsider, while Duan Jin's father seems to be taking every opportunity he can to curse you. The discussion continues for an hour, although it seems partially feigned, and in the end they vote inaugurate you as Highblood 6-1. Naturally Duan Jin's father voted against you, and Duan Jin himself isn't here to vote.
After the voting ends you...
>take your leave and get Duan Tao to show you around the island.
>ask Duan Jin's father if he's willing to apologize to you for the hurtful things he said. He spent the past hour insulting you while you kept quiet, so you'd like some revenge.
>turn the matter to what's going to happen to Duan Jin, it's best to take care of this as quickly as possible.
>Other

>>3693275
>>take your leave and get Duan Tao to show you around the island.
Stay above the small people, our blood is so pure we can not bother with them.

You don't want to deal with Duan Jin or his father, any problems with them can be taken care of by the council of elders or Duan Tao. Duan Tao and you leave the room and pick up Feng Jun before he begins showing you around the island. "Near the center of the island we have the manors for the most important elders, the Highblood, the High Protector, the building where the council of elders meet, and other important facilities. It's the core of Horned Island. Surrounding that we have where the core disciples live, the shops, and and the square. The square is a large gathering place with a single arena for events."
Shops? Doesn't Horned Island control the entire area- why would there be shops? Curious, you inquire further, and he explains. "It's annoying to constantly go to the five cities to pick up materials constantly, so we have anything that's needed for sale on the main island. Besides that we obviously have food and other essentials stored. We make major runs every month to gather resources from the Green Tribe." Well, that makes sense. It would be annoying to make a day trip on a ship to go shopping every time you needed something. It's not like everyone here owns a ship either. "Where are the training facilities?" "They're all concentrated on their own island. It's naturally rich in wood-elemental energy, and in our heyday we paid an array master to concentrate the energy further. Now it's where our training facilities are concentrated. We have a library full of techniques and several training grounds there."
After this you go to the edge of the island, where you're shown the many docks and ships and the homes of the inner disciples. "Surrounding this we have several other islands. They're where the outer disciples and other miscellaneous people live. Feng Jun, you'll be given a position there as an outer disciple for the time being." Upon hearing this you...
>push for Feng Jun to be made an inner disciple, it shouldn't be a big matter given your new position.
>let him stay as an outer disciple and continue your tour, if Duan Tao thinks that's where he should go you're fine with it.
>Other
It's a little dead today, I'll be back in a couple of hours.

>>3693536
>>push for Feng Jun to be made an inner disciple, it shouldn't be a big matter given your new position.
He's stuck to us and has done right by us, do him a solid
And yes it's dead as hell right now

>>3693536
>>push for Feng Jun to be made an inner disciple, it shouldn't be a big matter given your new position.

I think he has earned his keep. With one last push we will insist on him being made an inner disciple.
It should give him much better cultivation resources. Thereby getting on of our guys upwards towards the ladder faster.
I say we get this new cultivation technique and our antlers powers situated first. Sooner we hit blood and viscera the sooner we take that fruit and gain a nice boost in blood purity and faster training.

>>3693661
I agree our man deserves nice things and he's going to be loyal to us, honestly I wouldn't mind staying here for the 9 months we have left, with all this nature energy and resources we could go back home on a whole other level

>>3693536
>>push for Feng Jun to be made an inner disciple, it shouldn't be a big matter given your new position.

>>3693536
>>push for Feng Jun to be made an inner disciple, it shouldn't be a big matter given your new position.

Feng Jun has helped you out quite a bit since you arrived in the Northern Wastes and it's not hard for you, so you should try to help him out and push for him to be made an inner disciple. "High Protector, don't you think outer disciple is a bit too low a position? I think Feng Jun qualifies to be made an inner disciple." Duan Tao pauses for a moment before sighing. "I suppose. Feng Jun, stay in a vacant residence for tonight and I'll have someone help you fill out the paperwork to get settled here tomorrow. If I'm to be completely honest you're lacking, but you're not too far below the worse inner disciples after consuming that. You'll catch up in time."
After this Duan Tao shows you both around the area in a bit more detail instead of giving you vague descriptions. After you're done with that it's almost sun-down, but you insist on being shown the training island before you leave. Duan Tao charters a small boat and it begins travelling the short distance between the two islands. "The main island of Horned Island is Yi, and the one we're heading to now is Er. The outer disciples live on San, Si, and Wu, and besides that we have a few minor outposts and fishing ports. There's also one more island, but it's a memorial. It's where we bury our Highbloods and High Protectors, and almost no one goes there. You'll have to some time after the inauguration, but let's not dwell on that for now."
A dozen minutes pass, and you reach Er, the training island. After stepping foot on the island your body feels more energetic, and you can only imagine the effect is more pronounced for those at Meridian Opening. "On this island there are the training grounds, the battle library, the arenas, and the closed-door cultivation rooms. You're free to use any of the facilities as you wish. Feng Jun, tomorrow you'll be told what resources you're entitled to and what areas you can use for how long." Now that you're on the training island you...
>go home for now and rest, it has been a long day.
>check out the battle library, you do need some new techniques.
>look at some of the training grounds.
>Other

>>3693894
>>check out the battle library, you do need some new techniques.

>>3693894
>>check out the battle library, you do need some new techniques.

What are you guys interested in? Obviously, any techniques that have to do with our weapon. But I am thinking of an upgrade to our dodge and speed techniques. We take the two best ones that they have in stock.

But what do you guys think about one for if we lose our weapon? like a grapple or a fist technique?

>>3693971
I'm more intrested more battle moves, our only real attack is our desires. Something to bust out in combat would be nice.

>>3693894
>>check out the battle library, you do need some new techniques.

>>3693971
>Obviously, any techniques that have to do with our weapon.
Yeah, I am sure with their history they have to have picked up/created several over the hundreds if not thousands of years the tribe has been alive.

I also think we should really only pick up the highest tier that we can find. We may even be able to find the rest of 72 desires here. Which even if it's not the highest tier we can find we should pick it up.

>>3693974
meant to link to you, and just quote myself...lol

But yeah considering how much of a deadly weapon this is, of course, we pick up a technique we can find that is compatible with our weapon. that's always a good thing. We've also got to start training sooner rather than later. I am sure there will be an upstart or two that will want to fight us and try and put us down. ;-;

>>3694058
Oh yeah I'm game to grind out on this island, we just found the holy land for our growth as a cultivator

>>3694058
>we pick up a technique we can find that is compatible with our weapon.
Not that hard honestly. Because of how a guandao is you can adapt techniques from most polearms, especially heavy ones. Also long axe stuff. A guandao is just a heavy as fuck glaive, really.

"I'd like to see the battle library first. I've been looking for some new techniques." "Mm, alright. You have open access to everything there besides what's exclusive to the elders. It's not that I mind you looking, but there are certain... follies of youth. One of them is wasting time on battle techniques you're not qualified to learn yet instead of focusing on things of your level. I was once guilty of that myself, but I digress." It's a short walk to a decently sized building roughly in the shape of a pyramid. You can see that it has four levels from the outside, and each level the walls draw inward.
You enter the battle library and mostly see a lot of books. An old man is sitting at the counter inside, and he pays his respects to the three of you when you enter. "This is the first floor, and it's where the techniques for outer disciples are held. Above that is the floor for inner disciples, and then the one for core disciples. At the very top is the elders' floor. Among the floors there are certain subdivisions, but that's the rough pattern."
Duan Tao tells Feng Jun that he's free to examine the jade slips and books on the first two floors, and then begins walking around. He walks around from one place to another, only stopping for a moment to grab jade slips and books. He goes through the first two floors before stopping, holding a handful of jade slips and a few thin books. "These are some techniques on how to use our bloodline, observations on using it from elders and Highbloods of long ago, and the two core cultivation techniques we practice. These aren't particularly exclusive techniques, but they're fundamental. Look over all of the jade slips and books, and choose one of the cultivation techniques. The first one leans towards the wood-element with a focus on using it in relation to the soft-hard laws once you reach Soul Foundation, and the other focuses on using it alone. There's not a large difference in practicing them up until them. After glancing at the two jade slips you...
>take the cultivation technique that will focus on using the wood laws in relation to soft-hard laws.
>take the cultivation technique that will focus on the wood laws alone.
After handing you the jade slips Duan Tao excuses yourself and leaves you to look around. You're free to take whatever you want for the time being, but you naturally only have limited energy to learn battle techniques.
>What do you look for?

>>3694082
Can you explain the diffrence between those two cultivations? I'm confused
Oh and I want to look for some combat techniques like our desires, something offensive.

>>3694097
Once cultivators reach Soul Foundation, or occasionally slightly earlier, they're able to begin trying to study the mysteries of the "heavenly dao", which effectively makes up the entire universe. Once one begins making insights into the laws of the heavenly dao they're able to harness various phenomena. For example, a cultivator talented in the fire laws might be able to create an inferno around themselves and resist flames, while a cultivation talented in water laws could part water or create rain. You don't understand this too deeply as it's far beyond your cultivation realm.
So yeah, one of the cultivation techniques is focuses on the wood laws with a slight lean towards hard-soft laws, which probably means that you'll have an easier time glimpsing into the basics of these laws once you reach Soul Foundation. Meanwhile the other one is focused only on wood laws, being more effective in that but not giving the cultivator any advantage in comprehending hard-soft laws. Up until then there aren't many differences.

>>3694097
i agree.
But just so you know we picked 72 desires
for its defensive purposes if I remember correctly.

>>3694125
>>take the cultivation technique that will focus on using the wood laws in relation to soft-hard laws.
Ok this one is my choice then

>>3694082
>>take the cultivation technique that will focus on the wood laws alone.
I would rather find a law that best compliments us along the way to us gaining strength. Find our own way in nature kind of thing.
>What do you look for?
I think a new top tier speed and dodge technique is in order.
Also, could you give us 2-3 options for a technique specific to our weapon?

>>3694146
Fuck I'll change my cultivation vote to yours to prevent any voting trouble. It was pretty close in my head anyway

>>3694159
Yeah, it was close for me too.

>>3694146
Sure.

>>3694159
>powerful strike that is used as an all-out finishing blow.
>unexpected, and slightly underhanded, a technique which can catch opponents by surprise.
>barrage of blows which can deflect some projectiles
And we got 72 desires via Barrage of blows. We were thinking it was more of a utility technique. And we would find something like a power move we could eventually pick up. I guess
This is our chance. and an overall upgrade to our current techniques is what I am thinking. And we focus on those things. Other things are supplementary. We should focus on getting these to a good level. Speed/dodging and attacking. We should need to train them for a while is what im thinking.

You take the cultivation technique relating wood laws to the hard-soft laws, putting the other one aside. After that you begin looking through offensive techniques and movement techniques. Minute Deftness, the technique you got from Zhu Chao, is fine, but the movement technique you bought in Border City is lacking. After looking around for a while you find a good movement technique on the third floor. As you're getting ready to pick it, you remember that there was also a technique that enhanced your speed in the jade slips relating to your bloodline that Zhu Chao gave you. There was one that focused all of the bloodline's power towards the legs, and with your bloodline's strength it would be sufficient to be a movement technique. You...
>use that instead of what you found, it's easier to learn than this one.
>take the other movement technique, if you use the one related to your bloodline it would be difficult to use anything else relating to it at the same time.
After that you look at offensive techniques and find several for polearms. One of them is a blow that uses the momentum behind the weapon to spin in circles, clearing away groups of enemies around the user. The other is similar to the blow that dislocates your shoulder that you found in Border City, but the movements are far more refined and it manages to draw out far more force from the action. The last one is a series of nine slashes that slowly build up momentum, aiming to create a series of powerful strikes. You...
>take the technique that spins the weapon in circles.
>take the technique that dislocates your shoulder.
>take the technique that's a series of blows.
>take multiple (they will take more time to learn).
After that you...
>leave
>look for more techniques (say what)
I'll be back in a while for a last update or two, currently the apocalypse is happening on another board

>>3694244
>>use that instead of what you found, it's easier to learn than this one.
I will pick this if we do not have to have our antlers out. If we don't have to have our antlers out for this bloodline technique. If not the other one.

>take the technique that's a series of blows.
I think we would be better off with this one powerful hit.
>>3694244
I thought we picked the wood laws alone cultivation technique. Over this one. But I am fine with this if no one else cares.

>>3694244
>>use that instead of what you found, it's easier to learn than this one.
>take the technique that's a series of blows.

>>3694256
You're right, I read the person changing their vote the other way around.

>>3694244
>use that instead of what you found, it's easier to learn than this one.
>take multiple (they will take more time to learn).
Just the dislocating one and the series of blows.
>look for more techniques (say what)
Maybe a defensive technique.

>>3694261
Yeah honestly I'm ok with either its along time before it matters, in another note would we be aloud to to twavmch our kids this cultivation technique? And is it better then our clans old one?

>>3694256
>>3694261
Could we get a clarification on the antlers thing?
>>3694244
>>take the technique that spins the weapon in circles
We are Lu Bu now..

>>3694283
The movement technique related to your bloodline? It effectively uses the majority of it to subtly adjust the muscles in your legs, dulling the other aspects of it but increasing your speed even more than it normally does. Anyways, I'm back and will tally the votes in a minute, I had to back up stuff.

You'll stick with the movement technique related to your bloodline for now. The antlers are... large, but there should be some sort of technique to help hide them. Or you could just wear a massive hat. Anyways, now that you're already recruited it's not like it matters much if your antlers are spotted during a fierce battle. It's not like they can refine the blood out of you- you aren't The Horned God, there's a massive amount of normal blood mixed with it.
You take the "Nine Gusts Halberd" and remember where the other two techniques were. Maybe if you have time you'll go back to them. After gathering your techniques you return to the first floor, where you see Duan Tao reading by a staircase downwards while Feng Jun glances at a few jade slips. You...
>return to your mansion, you have plenty of stuff to work on for now.
>go to see the training grounds.
>ask what's downstairs.
>Other
I'm out for now, I'll update once before I go to sleep. Thanks for voting, have a good one.
>>3694277
It is better, although it's not a huge difference on its own. The reason you're taking the effort to switch is that it complements your bloodline and the seed near your heart, as it seems related to the wood-element. You can give it to any children you have if they enter Horned Island. If they don't, there would likely be negotiations to do so.

>>3694512
>go to see the training grounds.
So do we have the plain wood laws technique, or the one relating to hard and soft laws? I'm a bit confused.

>>3694535
plain wood laws, I misread who changed their vote the first time, i'm dumb sometimes

>>3694512
>>go to see the training grounds

>>3694512
>>go to see the training grounds.

You want to check out the training grounds before you leave. Maybe you won't have time to use them now, but you'd at least like to look. You tell Duan Tao this and he begins leading the way.
The three of you exit the battle library and begin walking through well-paved paths through the constant forest. Occasionally you'll see a deacon or someone else who works for the tribe standing by a sign and a hut, and Duan Tao will explain what training ground that's the entrance to. "That training ground is for testing the abilities of one's bloodline. It tests sense of smell, the ability to see and distinguish colors in the near-complete darkness, and a few specific techniques that you'll learn later. The one up ahead is for practice fighting and moving about on horseback, although that's somewhat of a misnomer given that most of us ride elk and deer. Past that we have the waterfall, where one can resist extreme pressure to attempt to temper their body."
This continues as you go past each area, and you're surprised by how many types of training are here. "There's the target forest. We had a large amount of carpenters and blacksmiths work there a long time ago, and they created a bunch of targets that will randomly pop out for seconds at a time. The goal is to attack as many of them as possible without stopping. That big clearing over there is the entrance to the sparring grounds, that's where we hold normal spars between juniors. Tournaments and important fights are held elsewhere." Among all of these practice grounds they do have some ordinary places to test one's swordsmanship and stuff like that, but this is what stands out. After being shown around it's beginning to get dark. You...
>return home, you should make sure everything is fine there and then sleep.
>practice at one of the training grounds. (Name one)
>go back to the main island and meet some of the other juniors here, some of them should be out and about.
>Other
good night

>>3694741
>>return home, you should make sure everything is fine there and then sleep.
We should get back to our high blood house and look through all of our new training techniques.
Which does what? And what techniques will we learn with all of our blood like techniques? We should then focus on cultivating and/focusing on hiding our horns especially.

>>3694741
>>return home, you should make sure everything is fine there and then sleep.

>>3694741
>return home, you should make sure everything is fine there and then sleep.
Just to make sure Duan Jin's dad didn't or doesn't pull some shit while we were gone to make life hard for us.

>>3694741
>return home, you should make sure everything is fine there and then sleep.
If someone tried to assassinate us,I'd really hope it would be with poison.

>>3694741
>>return home, you should make sure everything is fine there and then sleep.
I'm waiting for a pissed off family to attack us. I'm also waiting for a bunch of family's to throw there daughters at us, trying to get at our sweet sweet blood

>>3695042
I wonder if poison resistance is a product of our pure blood or a coexisting benefit. If it's the former then we could rule out poisons as a method or worry about super-toxins potent enough to kill even a highblood.

>>3695252
We where poisoned before we came north. It's a benefit of our wood bloodline

>>3695252
>Don't check your food for poison
>Familie dies
eh

Now that you know more about the training grounds available, you're ready to return home. You can start looking over all of these jade slips and training. The three of you take a boat walk and Feng Jun is shown to a vacant home on the island, while Duan Tao and you return to your manors. You part and Duan Tao tells you to meet with him in a couple of days to speak about your official inauguration as Highblood.
When you approach your home, the gatekeeper walks up to you, a worried look on his face. "Er, Highblood, there's been a problem." ...Fuck, this is going to be annoying. "What problem?" "Well, some of the employees loyal to Duan Jin have left, and, er... they took some things with them." "What things?" "Paintings, vases, all the food in the pantry, basically anything that would be annoying. It can be replaced, but it will take time and money." You...
>tell the gatekeeper it's fine, if this is best revenge Duan Jin and his father can get than you're relieved.
>ask the gatekeeper why he wasn't able to stop this.
>tell him to make up a list of everything that was lost and send for it to get replaced.
>tell him to make up a list of everything that was lost and report to Duan Tao in order to arrest the servants behind this. You're not putting up with bullshit, no matter how small.
>Other

>>3695572
>ask the gatekeeper why he wasn't able to stop this.
Not in accusatory way, actually curious
>tell him to make up a list of everything that was lost and report to Duan Tao
just inform him about this and have second list ourself

>>3695572
>>tell him to make up a list of everything that was lost and report to Duan Tao in order to arrest the servants behind this. You're not putting up with bullshit, no matter how small.
Fuckers

>>3695596
You can't do nothing about this is makes us look weak, we need to save our face

>>3695252
I'm pretty sure our poison resistance is from that weird seed thing we got from falling on the twig of destiny.

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127 KB PNG

>>3695610
>twig of destiny
this amuses me

>>3695252
but yeah, it's not a secret, I said in some of the narration in Thread #1 that the itching came from tiny wounds constantly opening and then healing in your body, it's from the ridiculous vitality the seed gives you
someone would probably have to poison you with poison strong enough to kill someone in Soul Foundation or Soul Cleansing to actually kill you right now

>>3695628
That twig shall be honored forever

>>3695572
>>ask the gatekeeper why he wasn't able to stop this.
>>tell him to make up a list of everything that was lost and report to Duan Tao in order to arrest the servants behind this. You're not putting up with bullshit, no matter how small.
We will not be slighted. We should put on a strong show of force.
Sadly Feng is not strong enough to do much. But if we can offer him a job for one of the positions we lost closest to us it would be wise. If his new position as an inner disciple allows it. May even be able to get him a better salary along with his monthly allowance.

You're not dealing with this bullshit, if you let this go without any trouble now then this is going to bite you in the future. First, you need to know whether you need to replace the gatekeeper. "How'd they get past you? Were you on break or something?" The gatekeeper looks nervous, but explains. "I'm mostly here to receive visitors, so I don't really make rounds. They climbed over the wall on the other side of the yard and a few of them disappeared without anyone spotting them." Alright then, you guess it isn't really this guy's fault then. "Have the staff left draw up a list of everything that's lost and hand it over to Duan Tao. Tell him to go after the ones who left and punish them for it, I'm not letting this go."
The man hurriedly follows you in, gathering the remaining staff and briefing them on the situation, as you go up to your room. It is spacious, but notably missing a bed. There was definitely one here earlier, but it's gone. You go to the guest rooms, hoping they wouldn't have remembered, and notice that none of them have beds either. There are the staff rooms, but stealing a bed from the people working here is a bit much. You guess you'll just go without one for tonight. You begin glancing through the jade slips on bloodline techniques, getting the gist of them. One of them is for enhancing sight, another for smell, and so on and so forth. There are a couple on riding or training deer descended from The Horned God, which Horned Island has quite a few of, and various other things. Most of them aren't useful in a straight-forward fight, but they're helpful nonetheless.
You sleep on the floor after glancing through all the jade slips and books again and putting them somewhere for safe-keeping. You wake up early that morning, not wanting to sleep in when you're clothed, on the floor, without a blanket. You get up, are given breakfast from the pantry that was just now restocked, and then...
>begin practicing the movement technique related to your bloodline.
>begin practicing the miscellaneous techniques related to your bloodline.
>start practicing the 'Nine Gusts Halberd' and adapting it to the guandao.
>go to one of the training grounds (say which)
>go to the square and see if anyone else is up early.
>Other

>>3695865
>>go to one of the training grounds (say which)
The island where the wood element array is set up. And try cultivating our new cultivation technique. See see how we ad with it. Along with any subtle differences we notice.

>>3695865
>>begin practicing the miscellaneous techniques related to your bloodline
Our sexy horn hiding techniques.

>>3695926
Its training our boner hiding technique along with out smell, and darkness?

>>3695876
I'll just go with this if no one else votes QM

You guess you'll start practicing these bloodline-related techniques first. They'll take less time to start learning individually, but they add up to quite a bit. It's a both a shame and a surprise to you that there isn't anything that will hide these antlers completely. There is one technique that draws them in partially, but it also reduces the usefulness of the bloodline considerably. The antlers are a manifestation of the bloodline, and if you're trying to draw them in, then naturally the power will also be partially reigned in.
You decide to head to Er, but don't use any of the training grounds there. You'll just find a secluded spot in the woods that isn't part of a training ground and start training. First you try to draw your antlers in partially, and after several hours of mostly failing, you move onto another technique. This continues for most of the day, until your training is interrupted by a couple of other disciples of Horned Island who seem to have stumbled upon you training. One of is around a year older than you and at Middle Blood and Viscera Tempering, which probably means he's one of the most talented people here. The other is significantly less talented. The one a year older than you smiles and approaches you. "Are you the new HIghblood?" You respond with...
>"Yes, that's me." It's best to make friends.
>"It's polite to introduce yourself first." You have a feeling this isn't just a coincidence.
>Other
>>3695876
When I meant training grounds I meant the specific places on that island. You'd go there to practice either way. My bad if I wasn't clear.

>>3696037
>"It's polite to introduce yourself first." You have a feeling this isn't just a coincidence.

This probably isn't coincidental. You're going to keep your guard up talking to these two. You reply with "It's polite to introduce yourself first." as you turn around to face them. The younger boy laughs and apologizes. "My bad, I suppose it is impolite. I'm Duan Pin, a core disciple. Duan Jin used to be my rival, so I came to greet you, since you've replaced him." Well, at least he's not associated with Duan Jin then, although you probably won't get along too well.
"Anyways, do you want to have some fun?" "What do you mean?" "Well, since neither of us have an idea of the other's strength, I thought we could spar. Naturally I'll handicap myself with weights to the point where I should be equal to your cultivation. Are you interested?" Well, you guess this was going to happen eventually- someone has come out of the woodwork to try to challenge you. You...
>turn him down, you don't have time to fight him.
>accept, with his strength or speed suppressed to Late Bone and Marrow Tempering, it'll be an easy win.
>accept, and tell him that he doesn't need the handicap. To settle this you need to show him how you compare with a lower cultivation.
>Other

>>3696264
>>accept, and tell him that he doesn't need the handicap. To settle this you need to show him how you compare with a lower cultivation.

>>3696037
>>"It's polite to introduce yourself first." You have a feeling this isn't just a coincidence

>>3696264
>>accept, and tell him that he doesn't need the handicap. To settle this you need to show him how you compare with a lower cultivation.

Your best option here is to try to display your full strength and try to win some respect for something other than your bloodline. If you win against Duan Pin with a handicap you'll be known as stronger than him at the same level of cultivation, but it won't be enough. To do this properly you need to push yourself to your limits, even if you don't win. "I don't think we need to have the handicap, we're only a year apart after all. I'll fight you evenly." Duan Pin seems confused and hesitates, but then replies. "Alright then, meet me in a few hours at the arena in the main square. I'll invite a few people, a fight is no good with a crowd after all."
Duan Pin begins to walk away and you...
>continue training until it's time to fight.
>go with Duan Pin, you may as well meet some of the other juniors here while you have the chance.
>Other

>>3696453
>>go with Duan Pin, you may as well meet some of the other juniors here while you have the chance.

>>3696453
>go with Duan Pin, you may as well meet some of the other juniors here while you have the chance.

>>3696453
>>go with Duan Pin, you may as well meet some of the other juniors here while you have the chance

We need to get this stuff out of the way and start cultivating. We've to get back home after we cultivate and train our skills for a bit.

You should go with Duan Pin. This is a good chance to meet some of the other juniors on Horned Island. "Wait up, I'll be going with you. Introduce me to some people, I just got here." Duan Pin nods as you follow. "Certainly Highblood, I'll do my best to introduce you to my friends." You leave the island with Duan Pin and his friend, having a slightly awkward conversation on the boat to the main island.
After arriving at the main island Duan Pin first stops in a small shop tucked away in a obscure part of the island. "This is a lounge run by an inner elder's subordinate. It's a nice, quiet place to speak and drink tea, so I like it here. There are also a couple of places for... other groups, but I usually don't go there. It's worth noting though." As Duan Pin enters he approaches a table in the corner where a young man and woman are sitting. Both of them are around your age, and have a level of cultivation for their age only just below yours and Duan Pin's.
"Qin Mu, Qin Xinyi, I knew the two of you would be here. Are either of you interested in watching a fight today? I was going to spar with new Highblood." As he says this the two glance over to you, curiously looking at your antlers and likely trying to appraise your strength. The silence is broken as the man speaks. "Sure, that sounds interesting." As he says this he gets up and approaches you, offering a handshake. "It's nice to meet you, my name is Qin Mu, and I'm a core disciple here." You accept the handshake and introduce yourself. "My name is Zuo Shi, and I'll be inaugurated soon as the new Highblood." After this you exchange greetings with Qin Xinyi and spend about 10 minutes sitting there, trying to find a chance to hop into the conversation before everyone leaves. It's a bit difficult because you don't know about current events here, but you make an admirable effort.

You're brought around to several places after this, although most of them are homes, and within a couple of hours you've met a dozen core disciples. They probably make up the majority of the younger generation's talents here. Eventually your group heads to the main square, where you're surprised to see many, many people. Duan Pin's friend must've gone to tell the inner disciples, or maybe even the outer disciples. You guess this is meaningless to Duan Pin if he doesn't have an audience, even if it now it almost looks like he's bullying you without the handicap. Duan Pin and you enter the arena in the center of the square. It's several hundred feet by several hundred feet, and it has an impressive amount of seating built around it.
As the two of you approach the arena you hear a lot of muttering and see eyes focus on you. People quickly rush to get seats, curious to see which of you two will win a spar, and who will be seen as the top talent of this generation. Duan Pin and Duan Jin were in a harsh rivalry for this position before, and there was a small chance in the future that one of them would become Highblood and the other High Protector. However, your appearance has completely shaken this dynamic up.
The two of you step up onto the stage, and Duan Pin takes the opportunity to speak. "Hello elders and fellow disciples, I'm surprised to see that so many of you were interested in our little spar. I'll try my best today to exchange pointers with the Highblood and draw out our full strength. He insisted on no handicap despite my advantage in cultivation, so it's sure to be a memorable fight." The two of you take your positions as Duan Pin speaks, and then you hear him speak again. "Let's start on the counter of three then?" "Sure." "One, two, three." As he says this both of you charge forward, although he has a notable difference in speed. Your bloodline helps with this, but he also has a bloodline, albeit one that isn't as pure. He also has the techniques of Horned Island backing him. As he charges forward you...
>grab your guandao and wait for him to come to you, once he approaches you'll try to exchange blows with him. If it's a frontal exchange you may be able to come out on top with your defensive abilities and strength.
>continue charging forward and attempt to dodge the blow he sends at you before countering with one of your own.
>wait for him to draw near and then throw your guandao at him. Given how much strength you can muster for your cultivation, that will definitely catch him off-guard.
>Other

>>3696689
>continue charging forward and attempt to dodge the blow he sends at you before countering with one of your own.

>>3696689
>>grab your guandao and wait for him to come to you, once he approaches you'll try to exchange blows with him. If it's a frontal exchange you may be able to come out on top with your defensive abilities and strength.

>>3696689
>grab your guandao and wait for him to come to you, once he approaches you'll try to exchange blows with him. If it's a frontal exchange you may be able to come out on top with your defensive abilities and strength.
Gotta play to our strengths

>>3696738
exactly what I was thinking. We may have the same bloodline but we have an insane amount of stamina and strength higher than our class.

You'll try to exchange blows for now. You may be disadvantaged in speed, but he won't be expecting your exceptional strength and defense. You should surprise him with it and take the chance to exchange blows. You don't believe he'll be able to last longer if you fight each other with all you have. You wait for him to approach and then slice out with your guandao once he's in range, preparing to take a hit from his sword.
You see Duan Pin's muscles tense as you unleash 5 Desires, immediately trying to hit him with your strongest blow. As you do this the sword embeds itself in your side, cutting through your skin but not going much further than that. The crowd gasps at first in fear that you'll be heavily injured, and after that in surprise. As Duan Pin tries to pull his sword out your guandao lands on his side, your aim only slightly shifted after being attacked. Duan Pin's judgement isn't correct and he opts to take the blow while removing his sword from you instead of abandoning the blade and immediately retreating. His shirt is cut through, long slashes appearing on the skin underneath and blood spurting out as the exchange ends.
After taking the blow Duan Ping is sent back a few steps, taking his sword with him. The wound on his side looks nasty, but you can tell that while he's injured he can still fight. You can still fight as well. There's a deep slash in your side, but it isn't taking down your combat strength. You smile and yell "Again!" as you dash towards Duan Pin, aiming to make another exchange. He narrows his eyes before moving backwards, exiting your range. You can't do anything about it due to the difference in speed and he starts moving around you, looking for an opening to attack. You...
>prepare to try and dodge his blows, now that your element of surprise is gone that might not work again.
>hold your guandao steady and prepare to hit him with 5 Desires for a second time when he attacks, this is your path to victory.
>wait for him to approach and then use the extended blow that requires you to dislocate your shoulder next time he attacks. It's not as strong and you'll be an arm down for a second after making the blow, but now that he knows your range you need to use it to land a hit. He should draw back after you hit him a second time, giving you a chance to recover.
>wait for him to approach and then throw your guandao at it with both hands. It should surprise him and force him to deal with it while you close in and try to punch him. It is very risky though.
>Other

>>3696915
>>wait for him to approach and then use the extended blow that requires you to dislocate your shoulder next time he attacks. It's not as strong and you'll be an arm down for a second after making the blow, but now that he knows your range you need to use it to land a hit. He should draw back after you hit him a second time, giving you a chance to recover.
Might as well finally use it, and turteling isn't a good look.

>>3696915
>>wait for him to approach and then use the extended blow that requires you to dislocate your shoulder next time he attacks. It's not as strong and you'll be an arm down for a second after making the blow, but now that he knows your range you need to use it to land a hit. He should draw back after you hit him a second time, giving you a chance to recover.

>>3696927
agreed.

I am honestly surprised when he said spar I didn't think we would be using real weapons. At best I thought we would be using our real weapons, where we could actually kill each other. But hey now we know for next time...

>>3696981
Yeah but we are cultivators, it takes alot to kill us.

>>3696915
>>wait for him to approach and then use the extended blow that requires you to dislocate your shoulder next time he attacks. It's not as strong and you'll be an arm down for a second after making the blow, but now that he knows your range you need to use it to land a hit. He should draw back after you hit him a second time, giving you a chance to recover.

>>3696915
>wait for him to approach and then use the extended blow that requires you to dislocate your shoulder next time he attacks. It's not as strong and you'll be an arm down for a second after making the blow, but now that he knows your range you need to use it to land a hit. He should draw back after you hit him a second time, giving you a chance to recover.

You'll use the extended blow you got in Border City. Now that he knows your range, he might be able to land a hit and dodge with his superior speed. The work around to that is to simply extended your range. After circling for a few seconds Duan Pin charges in, sword in hand. He slices again, aiming for one of your arms, and you thrust out with your guandao. He hits one of your arms, beginning to lightly cut across the length of it from as far away as he can, aiming to dodge your blow. Most of the force behind your guandao switches to the other arm, and your shoulder pops out of its socket as it falls downward, just barely managing to cut across Duan Pin's chest. He jumps backward after it hits him, preventing a major wound, and doesn't seem to notice that your shoulder is dislocated, giving it a chance to pop back in without having to dodge further blows.
That exchange left a light wound on your left arm and a light wound on Duan Jin's chest. One blow won't be much, but if this continues a few more time it will be serious. Duan Pin stares at you, as if he's evaluating the situation, and then sighs. "You're more impressive than I expected. I admit that you're stronger then I was at your level of cultivation, but if you want to come out on top you'll have to do more than that. Duan Pin takes a deep, deep breath, closing his eyes. After a moment his eyes flash back open. He dashes towards you at a speed far faster than before, and you barely have time to react. You don't think you'll be able to land a blow here. You...
>drop your weapon and just try to hold out against his next blows, whatever he's doing can't last for long or he would've used it after the first exchange of blows.
>run, maybe if you make him run faster he'll wear out quicker. You won't be able to minimize the damage of the blows well.
>wave your guandao down and try to get some sort of counterattack, he's fast but he's not invincible.
>Other

>>3696981
yeah, the rules of "sparring" are pretty much "don't purposely maim or kill your opponent or you're getting the same back"
If it's a clear win one side can stop the blow ahead of time, and if it's not both sides spend a little while in bed.

>>3697218
>>drop your weapon and just try to hold out against his next blows, whatever he's doing can't last for long or he would've used it after the first exchange of blows.
This is expected

>>3697218
>>drop your weapon and just try to hold out against his next blows, whatever he's doing can't last for long or he would've used it after the first exchange of blows.

>>3697218
>try to surprise him by rushing forward and grabbing him. If you can pin his weapon arm you can probably win in a punching match

>>3697218
>drop your weapon and just try to hold out against his next blows, whatever he's doing can't last for long or he would've used it after the first exchange of blows.

>>3697228
as well! Specialty is our ability to withstand shit..

You can't dodge or counterattack here. Your only choice is to drop your weapon and turtle up in a bid to wear him out. He shouldn't be able to keep this speed up for long. You cross your arms in his direction and then a second later feel a deep pain in them as blood is drawn. After that there's a cut in one of your legs. Your body stings in pain as shallow sword wounds begin covering your body. God, this is way worse than trying to hold out against fists, the sword leaves much worse wounds with the same level of strength. You're not winning this, but at the same time you don't want to give up. No matter how much Duan Pin dishes out, you think you'll be able to stand up afterwards and recover after a couple of days at most. Sword wounds are clean after all. Still, this is clearly his victory. In an actual fight he could've killed you right now several times over by attacking your vitals or trying to cut off a limb (Although during an actual fight the necklace Zhu Chao gave you would save you). Maybe you're being too stubborn. You...
>concede, this is his victory. Trying to wait this out is just stubborn.
>wait until he slows down and ends these strikes, you have your pride to protect. The absolute best case scenario is that he's exhausted and you get a biased draw. The worst is that you're injured worse than you expect and spend up to a week recovering.
>Other

>>3697376
>>concede, this is his victory. Trying to wait this out is just stubborn.
I mean he's a whole level of cultivation above us no need to continue, just be graceful in defeat and tell him we should spar again some time

>>3697376
>>concede, this is his victory. Trying to wait this out is just stubborn.

>>3697390
And honestly being able to walk away after that sword storm is still not the worst look. It should be clear that if he handicapped himself we would clearly win.

>>3697376
>wait until he slows down and ends these strikes, you have your pride to protect. The absolute best case scenario is that he's exhausted and you get a biased draw. The worst is that you're injured worse than you expect and spend up to a week recovering.
Damn you all, we must stand strong until the end.

>>3697408
Yeah but he's clearly going to kick our ass and I dont want to be bed bound for a couple weeks

>>3697390
Two levels actually, in a way. Since we are at late tempering and he is at medium blood and viscera This was humbling.-
Fuck that
>>3697408
I am with this guy.

>>3697376
>wait until he slows down and ends these strikes, you have your pride to protect. The absolute best case scenario is that he's exhausted and you get a biased draw. The worst is that you're injured worse than you expect and spend up to a week recovering.

we commit to our fucking win or our loss.

>>3697423
Welp if you guys want to, I'm sure missing our inauguration because of a dumb spar won't look bad

>>3697419
Yeah even if we win we are coming out of this hurt. But >>3697408 really made me want to commit to it.

We will be known as being as stubborn as fuck. We either win or we lose but we give 100% we don't do the smart thing, we do the thing we " believe is right"
We fight for every fight like our life is on the line kind of thing.
>>3697428
Yeah, we were making friends.

>>3697433
Still not sold, best case it makes us look stubborn, worst case we look dumb. And even if we draw and save some face and if we loss we miss out on a ceremony and loss vital training time. But I am just one salty anon so here's hoping we draw

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>>3697446
>giving a shit about the customs of this place
>not expecting to have to pick between this place and home down the line
>not having a burning desire to win all of your battles or get the absolute shit kicked out of you trying

>>3697459
Yep this isnt dragon ball so I don't really see the need for us to get fucked up for a week. That's just me

>>3697462
>>3697446
I'll be honest this may not be the best decision. This is a little out of character since we are not a hothead. But since we got here people have been testing our patience. We drew the line back at the house and in a way, this is a way to draw the line. We will accept challenges, but expect your challange to be a fucking challege.

>>3697462
>xianxia isn't dragon ball
And this isn't just about winning or losing a single friendly spar, it's about the principle. If we concede now, it looks like we got cocky and pussied out at the last moment, and we'd lose a lot of face. If we manage to hold on, it looks like our confidence is justified, and we don't lose much face for missing the inauguration because they know we got injured when Pin went all-out.

Ching chong

>>3697482
This made me giggle.

>well, I'm sure their choice will be made after I read my book and take a bath
>get back
>13 new posts
I didn't expect that, time to write
>>3697482
how did you know the name of the main villain

You're not going down at this point. You accepted this spar and turned down the handicap, so you should stay standing until the end. After that your loss will be declared, but it will be on your own terms. You're not going to back down after committing to this. As you stand there the slashes begin to get deeper, likely due to Duan Pin beginning to run out of patience. You look around and see that the crowd is... surprised to say the least. Duan Tao is staring at you, but it seems like he doesn't intended to intervene for the time being.
As you're glancing from him you feel a sharp pain in your arm as the sword goes in one side and out the other. You quickly grab for him with the other arm, aiming to hit him before he can pull the sword out, but you end up missing. The next hit is in the leg, and then you feel the sword pass across your back. The pain is terrible, but you've gone through far, far worse. This continues for around 20 seconds as you hear the crowd loudly gasp and feel blood drip down your body. Eventually you feel the new flashes of pain vanish and see Duan Pin standing about 10 feet away from you, kneeling. He's breathing heavily, staring at you with wide-open eyes. You would try to counterattack now that he's weakened, but after trying to take a couple of steps towards him you stumble.
Before the fight can continue, one of the elders from the council of elders steps forward. "That's enough. This is Highblood Zuo Shi's loss and Duan Pin's victory." There may have been cheering if this had gone more normally, but the crowd remains silent, shocked by what just happened. First you displayed abilities beyond your cultivation, and after that you managed to withstand Duan Pin attacking you for the full duration of his ace in the hole: One Breath, Sudden Breeze.
Your vision is getting blurry, and you're getting the feeling that you'll be in bed for at least a few days after this. Maybe more. Duan Pin gets up at this point, staring at you. "Why didn't you just declare defeat? Are you really that stubborn?" Stubborn? Maybe you are. Still, there's something more important here. You accepted and put your all into this, so it'd be disrespectful to quit partway through when your life isn't at risk. "Never engage in a superficial fight. Whether the opponent will crush you or you'll crush them, be willing to put every drop of blood forward while fighting."
As you finish talking, you feel your vision blur. You're not in the state to be walking around right now. "...I'm going to rest now. Let's have a rematch eventually." After saying this you try to walk away, but stumble again. Duan Tao approaches and helps you return to your home, and you immediately fall asleep once you're there.

The next morning you wake up. Your wounds are healing quickly, but it will be four or five days before you're back to normal. A couple of broken bones healed in one day, so you guess after that beating this makes sense. You...
>go back to sleep, you should focus on resting.
>ask for some books to be sent to you, you may as well take advantage of the time you're incapacitated.
>get someone to send for Feng Jun, you're wondering how his first day as an inner disciple was.
>Other
We will resume tomorrow, this is a good place to stop for the night. Thanks for voting.

>>3697552
>>ask for some books to be sent to you, you may as well take advantage of the time you're incapacitated.

>>3697552
>ask for some books to be sent to you, you may as well take advantage of the time you're incapacitated.
>get someone to send for Feng Jun, you're wondering how his first day as an inner disciple was.

>>3697552
>>ask for some books to be sent to you, you may as well take advantage of the time you're incapacitated.
>>get someone to send for Feng Jun, you're wondering how his first day as an inner disciple was.
We can read before he arrives and for the days after.

>>3697552
>>ask for some books to be sent to you, you may as well take advantage of the time you're incapacitated

>>3697552
>ask for some books to be sent to you, you may as well take advantage of the time you're incapacitated.
>get someone to send for Feng Jun, you're wondering how his first day as an inner disciple was.
We'll just stay at home for today and chill out

You need to rest, but may as well stay awake and make a decent use of your time while you do so. The rate you recover will be basically the same. You call for one of the people working in the home to come to you and tell them to you grab your herbology books, get a few other things to read, and then to send for Feng Jun. As long as you have something to leave you should be able to kill time for the next few days, and you're curious how Feng Jun's first day as an inner disciple was.
The books arrive first, and you look over them. They're... really cheesy fighting novels from the look of it. The person who got them tells you that Duan Tao sent them earlier today. Uh... ok then, you're not sure why he'd do that or why he owns these, but you guess you'll start reading them. Someone arrives with your herbology books and a couple of history books later. You begin reading, but are stopped by the arrival of Feng Jun after a few minutes.
"Hey, it's nice to see you. Thought, you, er, seem to be worse for wear." "...Yes, a bit. How was your first day here?" Feng Jun shrugs in response. "It was alright, I'm still a bit out of it after all of this. I was shown to my lodgings, it's a decent place. Most of the inner disciples seem to be more talented than me, so I clearly understand by now what the High Protector meant when he said I was a bit lacking. Still, I should be able to make a breakthrough to Meridian Opening within a few months and close the gap a little. It's a major jump between Late Blood and Viscera Tempering and Meridian Opening, so shortening the time needed by a couple years and strengthening my foundations gave me some room to compete. What happened in 12th Canyon really was a lucky chance for me."
The two of you talk for around an hour before Feng Jun leaves and returns to training. After that you glance at the pile of books before you and pick up a...
>history book, some of the information should be useful.
>book on herbology, the more herbs you can identify the more solid a foundation you'll have in the field.
>cheesy fighting novel, you're not sure why Duan Tao sent these to you but there must be some reasoning behind it. Maybe it's some form of training?
>Other

>>3698815
>cheesy fighting novel, you're not sure why Duan Tao sent these to you but there must be some reasoning behind it. Maybe it's some form of training?
>Remember him saying that his granddaughter liked them
We could use some relaxation time

>>3698815
>>cheesy fighting novel, you're not sure why Duan Tao sent these to you but there must be some reasoning behind it. Maybe it's some form of training?
He's granddaughter likes em

Before you grab a box, you examine the books Duan Tao sent you. Why'd he give these to you? As you're staring at them, you suddenly come to a realization, snapping your fingers. "That's right, he said his granddaughter liked some series of novels! Maybe these are it?" You put the history and herbology books aside and begin reading through the first book of the series. It's about a cultivator who dies, and who is reincarnated in a world where there aren't any cultivators, slowly raising his cultivation with the scant energies there and performing feats that amaze the locals there. It's not objectively well written, but it is surprisingly addictive.
Many hours pass, and you're able to use your superior reading speed to get through all seven books that have been released. You are deeply dissatisfied with the cliffhanger. How could they just leave you waiting like that for the main character's faction to collide with the coalition of kingdoms?! Don't they know there are readers waiting?! You can kill vicious beasts or escape danger, but you can't figure out how the damn subplot with the other cultivator who transported there from his world is going to end by yourself! After a moment you calm down. It's just a book- not even a well-written one. You shouldn't get drawn in. ...Still, you'll keep a look out for new ones anyways. You set the books aside, thinking about the admittedly shallow plot for a moment, and then grab one of the herbology books for around an hour before going to sleep.
You wake up some time the next afternoon to a servant telling you that you have several guests. You...
>tell them you don't want to see anyone, you're tired.
>tell them to send them in one at a time.
>tell them you'll see them all at once.
>Other

>>3698881
>>tell them to send them in one at a time.

>>3698881
>>tell them to send them in one at a time.

>>3698881
>>tell them to send them in one at a time.

Well, you guess you can't just invite them in all at once. "Send them in once at a time, just start with whoever should take the least time." The servant nods, and in a couple of minutes Feng Jun is in the room, holding a basket of fruit. He pretty much just says hi and says he figured you'd enjoy the get well gift before leaving. You could get fruit at any point, but it's nice of him.
After Feng Jun Duan Pin visits you, and the situation is slightly awkward given that he's the one that injures you. He compliments you on a good fight for your level of cultivation, and says he'll be waiting for your rematch. He leaves without saying much else, but it seems like the two of you will probably get along. You don't have any major grudges, and he's amiable enough, even if he was a bit aggressive in trying to solidify his position in challenging you.
Once Duan Pin is gone Duan Tao visits you. You apologize for keeping him waiting, but he says that it's fine because he was waiting at his house. It's a walk of mere seconds for him, so he just told the servants not to mention his name and relaxed over there. "Anyways, your inauguration is set for five days for now. I would've expected to have pushed it back a week, but I heard that your wounds are recovering remarkably fast." You get a bit nervous at that remark, but luckily Duan Tao doesn't dig any deeper into why that is. "First there will be the public ceremony, which will take quite a few hours. You just have to put on some ceremonial garb, make a circuit round the island, wave to some people, and then sit through a long ceremony with a lot of incense involved. After that we'll ship you off to the island where the old Highbloods and High Protectors are buried, and you'll pay your respects over the course of a couple days. It's complex, so we'll be drilling you for a day or two beforehand"
Duan Tao takes a drag on a pipe before continuing. "Anyways, that's the gist of what will happen. After that you'll be mostly free to do what you want. Anything you need to take care of before the inauguration? It will take a few days, so I figured I'd check." You...
>tell him you'll just rest and then train up until then.
>tell him you need a pay a visit to Green City before then. Zhu Chao should be getting there in around two and a half weeks, so you should try to leave a message for him.
>say you want to visit Red City, you'll have a few days and you want to visit the Refiner's Guild.
>Other

>>3699012
>>tell him you'll just rest and then train up until then.
We should be able to finish all of these things up before Feng gets to the island. He could contact us if we need to get in touch.

>>3699050
Second

>>3699012
>>tell him you'll just rest and then train up until then.

>>3699012
>>tell him you'll just rest and then train up until then.

You'd like to visit Red City but you can do that at any time, while going to Green City is a bit of a stretch. It'd be preferable to leave a more in-depth message for Zhu Chao, but you have no way to make sure he gets it for certain. It's best to just wait for his arrival and try to meet him yourself. You tell Duan Tao you don't have anything to take care of, and he gets up to leave. "Oh, by the way, my granddaughter will be visiting tomorrow. Get along with her." Duan Tao leaves after saying this, and you return to your reading now that your guests are gone.
The next morning you wake up and begin going through the books on herbs again, taking occasional breaks with a book of rather macabre short stories for variety. Eventually you're told that Duan Tao's granddaughter has come by, and you invite her in. She's a bit shorter than you, but appears to be around three years older than you. Her cultivation is at Late Blood and Viscera Tempering, meaning she's on par with most of the other direct disciples. Only Duan Pin is a clear step ahead, having a chance to breakthrough to Meridian Opening at 17 or 18 if things line up for him. The rest will do so between 19 and 21.
She greets you in a rather flat tone. "I'm Duan Bao. I'm 17 years-old and ranked around the middle of the direct disciples. Its come to my understanding that my grandfather is trying to arrange something between us?" ...That's rather businesslike. "Yes, that's the case." The silence lingers for a few seconds before she responds. "Any hobbies?" "I'm decently talented in refining, i'm a disciple of a refiner surnamed Long. Besides that I've dabbled a bit in herbology and mostly just cultivate." She nods in response, responding after another slightly awkward pause. "I have no experience in refining, but I do know of Quasi-Master Long. He used to serve at the Refiners' Guild in Red City, but he went into the wilderness for a few decades My grandfather was looking for someone to forge a weapon and he was on the list on candidates. As for herbology, I'm aiming to become an apothecary myself, so I have some experience."

>>3699485
>>return to training, you need to increase your strength quickly.

>>3699485
>>try to meet up with some of the other direct disciples you were introduced to, you should make some friends now that you're out of bed.
As much as I would like to keep training. We need to make some connections.

Yet another palpable silence follows. You're tempted to break it, but that would disrupt the, admittedly stilted, flow of this conversation. Duan Bao clears her throat before continuing. "Have you heard of the grey root? It's not an herb used in high-level concoctions, but due to it's usage in more common medicinal powders and its odd name given the color, there have been quite a few disputes about it. I even recall an incident where two High-ranked Apprentice Apothecaries refused to speak to each other after having a heated argument over this name." ...Why does it seem the only thing people want to speak through related to herbs is grey root. Is it really that big a deal whether it's grey or not? It's almost like the spirit of the herb is haunting you through some cosmic force that wishes to make you suffer for its amusement. Immediately tiring of this topic, you try to shift the conversation. "Yes, I have heard of grey root... many times."
Remembering the novels you read the other day, you decide to bring them up. "Have you read A Yutian Cultivator In A Mortal's Court? I recently read through all seven volumes since I was in bed, and it was very entertaining." Her face shows a bit of emotion, and she nods. "Yes, I have read YCMC." "...YCMC?" "That's the abbreviation I use when speaking to my friends- it's faster to say and easier to fit into a letter. I can't exactly go over to the Scaled Palace every time I wish to talk since it's underwater, but if I use small, waterproof letters then it's easier." ..Oh, so she has a friend or two somewhere else. Well, you suppose that makes sense.
Duan Bao takes control of the conversation as she asks how you liked the book and regales you with her theories about the advancement of the plot and the side plots. Some of them are solid enough you feel like you've been spoiled for the next several books, and others are so outlandish that you want to laugh. "Have you thought of these all yourself?" "No, no, I've discussed it with a few other friends as part of what's essentially a YCMC fan club and we came up with these together. There's the Sea Princess of Scaled Palace, a few people on Winged Peak, and a couple of others." ...You didn't realize these books were so popular.
You end up spending several hours talking about the book before Duan Bao leaves. "I'll see you again some time. Rest well." She doesn't say much, but you think that went well? She doesn't show much emotion, so you can't tell, but she talked quite a bit. You return to resting, and after two more days you're fine. At that point you...
>return to training, you need to increase your strength quickly.
>try to meet up with some of the other direct disciples you were introduced to, you should make some friends now that you're out of bed.
>Other
I broke the italics tags, my bad. The votes are still the same.

>>3699513
>>try to meet up with some of the other direct disciples you were introduced to, you should make some friends now that you're out of bed.
idk if I should vote again..but I will

>>3699555
you didn't need to, I was just fixing my typo

>>3699513
>>try to meet up with some of the other direct disciples you were introduced to, you should make some friends now that you're out of bed.

>>3699513
>>return to training, you need to increase your strength quickly.

Tiebreaker from RNG in half an hour

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>3699835

You should make some connections while you have the chance. You'll be spending a lot of time training here, but it's just as important to make you're supported. Considering your position here it's unlikely anyone will hate you, but trying to hold a position of power while speaking to almost no one? That may work for a hidden elder or a sect leader, but it's not as easy for what's essentially a public figure- you. You'll try to meet up with some of the core disciples you met the other day.
You leave your home and make your way to the lounge you recall Duan Pin introducing you to Qin Mu and Qin Xinyi in. You didn't know them too well, but it seemed like they were there often, so it's a good place to start. You retrace the route from memory, and upon entering the cozy shop, you see the two sitting in the corner, chatting. "Look, I'm telling you, Bai Li HAS to be bald under that hat. He can't have just decided to wear one for no reason. Maybe he lost a bet?" "...Why are we talking about this again?" "Because this is irritating me- look, we have to find out. Why don't we invite Bai Li out and find a chance to peak under it. Hell, maybe if-"
Before Qin Mu can finish talking, he notices you and stops what he's saying. "Highblood, I didn't expect to see you here. You've already recovered? That's impressive!" Well, you guess that was what would be brought up first. "Yes, I'm fine now." Qin Mu lightly laughs before continuing. "I was really impressed by the battle between the two of you, bridging a gap like that between two geniuses was unexpected! I don't have a perfect grasp of their strength, but maybe you could match one of the Five Families' successors at the same level of cultivation. Are you taking part in the Yutian Martial Conference? Or maybe the Hiqiu Sect's bi-annual tournament?" You shake your head in response, not wanting to give them any more information that might help them determine your origins. "No, I wasn't planning to. It's a good opportunity, but I don't think i'd have the chance." "Oh? Alright then, but you could have a chance. Sometimes one of the Four God Clans will send out a junior in the slot of a small family or part of a sect to take part. They get to raise their prestige for a little while and get paid a bit, and the juniors get to experience combat against thrilling opponents. It usually happens two or three times a century for Horned Island, which averages to one person every decade. Spread across a few countries, no one really notices anything out of the ordinary." You suppose you'll keep that in mind, but you have no need of it- now that your strength has increased, you should be able to use your family's single slot in the Yutian Martial Conference.

The three of you talk for an hour, and you begin to learn more about the gossip on Horned Island. You can't really connect names to faces, but you do hear a single remark about a rather untalented inner disciple that's probably Feng Jun. You don't bring it up since they don't care much and don't really make fun him, simply noting that there's a new disciple as a side note. Hopefully everything is going fine for him. After all this gossip Qin Mu, the more talkative of the two, turns to you. "The two of us will be meeting with a few more disciples and talking about poetry. Old stuff, things we've composed ourselves, just the field as a whole- are you interested?" Well, you do have experience with poetry as you were educated well in your youth, but you'd be lying if you said it wasn't a little boring. You indirectly delay answering. "Do you do this often?" "Mmm, probably an average of five or six times a month. We have a group that gets together, although we don't need all of us to be there so it's flexible." "Oh, interesting. I didn't know there was a group like that." "Yes, there a couple. There's one for poetry among the core disciples, and there's another that involves gambling. Nothing too extreme from what I've heard, just bets to 'make things fun'. I think they're playing tonight, it should be Friday." Oh, gambling? That certainly sounds more interesting, although you're not one to often indulge in such things. "Do they play poker then?" Poker being one of the only things you've played, you ask. "No, no, it's usually majong. I don't know the rules but it's a tile game, not a card game." Oh, majong. You've heard of it, but you know very little of the rules too.
Well, you've put off answering as long as you could. You...
>accept their offer, poetry is a bit dull but fine. At least you're experienced with it.
>decline their offer, you haven't played majong but it certainly sounds more interesting than poetry. You're fine with money right now anyways, given that you're the Highblood and you had a good amount before.
>Other
I accidentally changed core disciple to direct disciple last post, dammit. Ignore that.

Another question: If I add more of my writing notes to the pastebin, which information would you want? What would be superfluous? Would you like short blurbs about countries and areas to refer to? Lists of the characters with info to keep track of these Chinese names? Is that too much?

>>3700021
>>accept their offer, poetry is a bit dull but fine. At least you're experienced with it.
We may as well talk about what we know. We could play with others later. Labeling is likely not the best thing to associate being high blood with.
>>3700044
I think that would be a great idea. Helps us flesh out ideas better if we've more information. Anything you feel comfortable writing.
I like knowing regional/area info so we know if we go which direction what we can expect. Also things about horned island with the grand protectors ranting off about in during the ride being an easy in as to why we know all these things.

>>3700021
>>accept their offer, poetry is a bit dull but fine. At least you're experienced with it.

Rolled 65 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

Writing up the update after I take a shower, excuse me while I roll the dice for something.

>>3700206
How'd we do?o_o Just fine I take it..

You'll go with Qin Mu and Qin Xinyi to their poetry meet. You're probably not as well-versed as them since they show a clear interest in the field, but you know something about it. It's better than gambling in a game where you don't even know the rules. You accept the offer and the three of you leave the building. After a short walk the three of you reach a large house that's not too far from yours. It's probably one of the core disciple's residences.
The three of you enter the building and you vaguely recognize two other core disciples you met before your match with Duan Pin. Besides that there are a few disciples you don't recognize. They're probably inner disciples. The core disciples greet you and you manage to remember their names, greeting you back. Then you introduce yourself to everyone else, and the meat of the discussion starts shortly after.
"Alright, what the topic of this meeting? War poems?" "Mm, yes, I believe so." Well, you guess you're lucky today. You're more familiar with war songs and poems than others. Due to your father, you've always had a bit of a fondness for war and the heroes that are born from it. You let the others take the lead and they begin speaking of Zhang Ye, a famous poet from across the sea. He lived nearly a thousand years ago from what you've heard, but his works managed to spread a massive distance and persevere despite his death. He was a staunch nationalist, and wrote many poems about war and supporting his country. Maybe that's why his works managed to gain so much support- they're nationalistic, but it's almost impossible to tell exactly what country he's referring to. This makes it so that many countries had a vested interest in making his work known. Which government wouldn't want to help foster a feeling of appreciation for the government among the common man?
You are familiar with Zhang Ye's works, and begin chiming in with this information as the discussion on him continues. He's a popular figure as far as ancient poetry goes, and while everyone here knows him, not many of them have read and analyzed his works as much as you. Your contributions go appreciated, and you manage to blend into the conversation without much trouble. After a couple of hours of discussion your throat is dry, and you're having more fun than you expected. At this point Qin Mu asks everyone to quiet down.
"Alright, we've been speaking for a while. Now that we've all discussed the works of our predecessors, let's move onto our own work. You'll have an hour to compose something, and then we'll go around. It doesn't have to be amazing, just make it work." You doubt they have to go over this normally, but you appreciate the explanation since you're new here. Everyone separates, beginning to furiously scribble down things, scratching them out, and spending long pauses of time thinking. You settle into this pattern as well, but you manage to think of something decent, although it's not particularly original.

Everyone begins sharing their work, and you end up going last. Qin Xinyi is a more skilled poet than you would have expected, and a couple of people are far worse than you would have expected, but it settles towards a healthy medium of mediocrity. You clear your throat and read your poem:
"Perched on watchtowers
Saddled on horses
Soldiers, wait, wearily for battle
Day to night
Season to season
Longing to use their sword and saddle"
Disclaimer: I am not a poet. Luckily this universe's laws of poetry do not apply to that universe, and in this world this poem is far better due to, uh, the nuances of their language and culture. Yeah, let's say that's why.
The poem isn't as good as Qin Xinyi's, but it' more than passable. You get a few appreciative remarks, and are proud of yourself. Another half hour of discussion passes before everyone begins parting ways, and you return to your mansion. You don't do anything in the next couple of days, needing time to settle your state of mind and prepare for your inauguration as Highblood.
Eventually it's the day before your inauguration, and Duan Tao comes to your room. With him he has a bottle of sickly looking paint, and the worst-designed outfit you've ever seen. "As per tradition, you will be wearing this tomorrow. The paint will be used to draw war symbols on your head and arms, and then you'll go into a chamber to meditate until morning. I don't particularly care, but tradition is tradition." You...
>think this tradition is stupid but give in without complaint, it's fine.
>begrudgingly let him do this as you complain, as far as suffering goes this is mild. You're getting far more out of it than the cost of wearing a dumb costume is worth.
>ask if you really have to, you'd rather not have this horrible-looking image of you burned into everyone's mind.
>Other

>>3700319
>>think this tradition is stupid but give in without complaint, it's fine.

>>3700316
>>think this tradition is stupid but give in without complaint, it's fine.

Sorry, I want some extra time to plan this out and make sure the next update doesn't fall flat, I'll update at the start of tomorrow's session. Done for the night, thanks for voting! If I had decided on that ahead of time I probably would've just left the last update without a vote, that was admittedly a bad vote if barely acceptable.

>>3700475
mhm alright. Anyways thanks for running.

>>3700475
Take all the time you need,quality is always better than quantity.

>>3700475
I just checked out the Pastebin. Some side chacters would be nice to know about. Like our brother, Chao, Feng, Duan Pin seeing as we've spoken to them enough/ seen them fighting to know at least a rough assessment of their skills and power levels.

This is by far the most idiotic outfit you've seen in your life, but there's no use complaining. Tradition is tradition. As you put it on, Duan Tao chuckles. "I've been alive for a long time, but one thing has been constant." "What's that?" "No one has ever thought this outfit was cool. Including me." Duan Tao looks down, as if he's remembering something terrible, and then sighs. "If you mind this, I pray that you never become High Protector."
You're led to a secluded chamber at the other side of the island where you'll start your circuit around the island tomorrow. It's bare of anything besides a few sticks of powerful incense, and a cushion. You're told to sit there until 9 AM, when they'll come to get you. Apparently it's an 'auspicious number', so you spend nine hours like this.
Eventually Duan Tao and a couple of other elders come to get you, and you mount an elk outside. After that you immediately begin a slow circuit around Horned Island's main island. A few people drumming some sort of war tune follow behind you, and everyone stands to the sides. They're rather silent, but the one thing you can make out are a few people suppressing their laughter from this outfit. You try to ignore it and continue moving forward.
The circuit slowly marches forward, and once you're three-fourths of the way around the island Duan Tao starts whispering to you, as he's on a deer right next to yours. "Once we end the circuit you need to recite this oath. I'll tell it to you now." Duan Tao begins going through a rather long oath that consists of things like protecting the island in times of war, preserving the bloodline, not betraying it, and ''placing it first in your interests". Given what Duan Tao told you, you didn't expect this oath to contain the last part, and you don't intend to place Horned Island interests above the Liu family's. You...
>get on with it and say the oath when it's time, it's just ceremony. You can just ignore it later.
>conveniently flub a couple words and miss the part about placing the oath first in your interests. It'll be a faux pas, but you doubt the ordinary disciples have the oath memorized and it'll just seem like you forgot a bit.
>ask Duan Tao if that last part is really needed. Maybe he won't care and will just cover for you, telling everyone that he remembered the oath wrong when he told you.
>Other

>>3702169
>>conveniently flub a couple words and miss the part about placing the oath first in your interests. It'll be a faux pas, but you doubt the ordinary disciples have the oath memorized and it'll just seem like you forgot a bit.

>>3702169
>>conveniently flub a couple words and miss the part about placing the oath first in your interests. It'll be a faux pas, but you doubt the ordinary disciples have the oath memorized and it'll just seem like you forgot a bit.
Fuck em if he wants to screw us we can play this game. Our word means something to us.

You're not saying something you don't mean. You think you can flub a few words and then pass it off as a mistake. You're sure to get some lash back from that, but hopefully it's not too bad. You finish the circuit around the island, ending up at a large wooden stage. At this point the drummers have stopped and almost everyone from Horned Island is standing in front of the stage in a massive crowd of at least a thousand people. As you stand on stage you're covered in deer blood or something similar for a tradition, and all you can do is close your eyes and deal with it. After that you begin to recite the oath.
You get most of the way through the oath, reciting it almost word by word, but fitting in a couple of very minor errors so that the final one doesn't seem as intentional. Duan Tao has thrown you a few glances when you did so, but doesn't say anything. As you're getting to the end you skip past the part that says anything about placed Horned Island first in your interests. You finish, and there's an awkward pause as you see many of the elders glance between each other. There's some confused muttering as time passes due to the pause, but eventually Duan Tao gets up and bails you out. "This is the end of the inauguration ceremony. Now the new Highblood will be brought to the Hall of Ancients, where the Highbloods and High Protectors of the past 1600 years are buried.
As you're heading to the dock to wash off and get on a boat going to the Highbloods' and High Protectors' burial grounds, Duan Tao glares at you. "You messed up." You play dumb in response. "Where? Did I forget one of the gestures?" Duan Tao sighs and shakes his head. "The oath you idiot. You'll probably be made to redo it in private with some of the elders and that will be that, but be on your best behavior. I can't have people complaining about you being an outsider. Some of them have been operating under the assumption you're from another clan related to the Horned God, and to keep your position stable until you grow I've let these rumors stay to provide extra backing. I can't let them think this is some sort of clan rivalry."

The two of you board the boat and begin tersely chatting. "Whatever happened about that furniture? I know it got replaced, but..." Duan Tao sighs as you ask. "About the servants? We were able to get a couple that went too far, but the rest were taking it all under the claim that Duan Jin purchased it himself. He, did in fact, purchase a lot of it himself, but they took quite a few things that he didn't. It's not like we have receipts though, so we had to partially let it go."
Eventually you arrive at the island where the Hall of Ancients is located, and Duan Tao hands you a pack. "This contains water, incense, and other items needed for the ceremony. You'll be fasting, so there's no food. We'll be waiting here for your return." You leave the boat and begin walking towards the only building you can see on the island- a large, stone tower covered in vines.
You near the building, travelling along a surprisingly well-maintained stone path, and as you near the tower you see that it's surrounded by graves. The gravestones lists years, ages, accomplishments, cultivation, and everything else relevant about the person. First you pass by inner disciples who died, and then core disciples. After that it's ascending ranks of elders and even patriarchs from the Green Tribe. Finally you make it to the tower, and upon entering you see that there is no path upwards- the top part is only for show. The only real path is downwards. You...
>look for some food and stay here, as long as you kill a few days here you should be fine. Ceremonies are just for show.
>begin trekking downwards, it's time to pay your respect.
>Other

>>3702675
>>begin trekking downwards, it's time to pay your respect.

>>3702675
>>begin trekking downwards, it's time to pay your respect.
We may as well show respect to their traditions. We will be one of them soon enough.

You may as well honor their traditions, it's not much of a cost to you. You begin heading down the stairs, and eventually come upon a small shrine embedded into the wall. There's a gravestone that says "First High Lord of Horned Island, ruled from 0-138. Late Soul Foundation." There's no list of achievements, just this basic information. The name is left out, although you're not sure whether it's because they don't know it or because they want to emphasize the position he held.
You open up the pack and see a slip of paper telling you what to do. First you light a stick of incense in a burner, wait for it to run out, and replace it. You repeat this several times, and then you grab a small stone token from the shrine. It's small and surprisingly isn't that old- it's maybe a decade old, if that. You can't recognize the design on it, but it's crudely made and incorporates a few designs from the gravestone. You take it and then begin carving your own with a small rock and a carving knife left in the bag. You finish this work quickly and your stone ends up looking much better than the other one given your background as a refiner. Now that you've taken the token that was there and replaced it, you bow and make a prayer wishing them good fortune in the afterlife before heading further down.
As you go down you reach a wall covering the staircase. It's similar to the one from the temple you stumbled the Horned God's bloodline in. You touch the wall, and you feel the blood within your body tremble. The wall disappears as the designs on it light up, the stone receding into holes into the wall to let you past to the next shrine.
The shrines advance in time, the cultivation quickly dropping from Late Soul Foundation to more what you expected- Early Soul Foundation and Half-Step Soul Foundation. Most of the graves are numbered "Nth Highblood" or "Nth High Protector", but there were also some "High Lords", which you vaguely recall being what it's called when the positions combine. You end up going down and down for an indistinct amount of time, repeating the ceremonies and settling into a pace. Eventually the tokens become clearly older, not being from maybe a decade ago, and instead being clearly worn. You guess that means the last person to come here didn't make it this deep- the passage to each shrine is blocked by a wall that can only be opened with one's bloodline, so it makes sense.

Eventually you begin approaching the past few hundred years worth of Highbloods and High Protectors, and you see that the tokens have suddenly become more recent. You spend awhile trying to figure out what this means, before it dawns on you- these must have been left here when they were buried. That means no one has come here since they died. In a bit of a melancholic mood, you continue to perform the ceremonies, take the tokens, leave your own, and continue downwards. You're hungry, but you ignore it. You're not sure how long has passed, but it has to have been a while.
Eventually you reach the grave of a Highblood who died 30 years ago. It's the last shrine, and past that there are walls, but the indents where the shrines are held are empty. It looks like you're finished here. You...
>head back up, you're starving and it will take a while.
>keep going down until your bloodline is too weak to continue, you're curious if there's a bottom.
>Other
By the way, it's not a plot hole that recently deceased people are buried at the bottom when almost no one can get down there relying on their bloodline. I would explain it, but it's completely useless information that would take up a lot of text. Just let it be known I already considered that.

>>3702866
>>keep going down until your bloodline is too weak to continue, you're curious if there's a bottom.
We may as well reach the bottom and see what up. Im sure it's rare for people to know as much as we will so fuck it.

>>3702866
>>keep going down until your bloodline is too weak to continue, you're curious if there's a bottom.

Commit to the things we can do. Out of respect>>3702866
>>keep going down until your bloodline is too weak to continue, you're curious if there's a bottom

You may as well try to head deeper now that you're all the way down here. It's not like you'll ever have a chance to come here again. ...Well, not unless you die on Horned Island. You continue going down, the easy process of opening the doors between empty shrines slowly growing more difficult and taking longer. After passing through god knows how many walls, eventually they take seconds to open, and at the very end nearly a minute. Just when you think you're as far down as you can go, you see that the scenery has changed slightly. The stairs continue curving downwards, but at the end of them is a massive wall covered in various symbols and inscriptions, similar to the walls you've been forcing open with your bloodline.
You approach the wall and press your hand against it as the blood within you faintly resonates with it, and while some of the symbols faintly light up in a green light, but it doesn't show any sign of opening. You stay there for the better part of an hour, and while the symbols maintain their faint light, it doesn't look like your bloodline is pure enough to get past this final wall. You wonder what could possibly be behind it, given that all the Highbloods, High Protectors, and High Lords are buried above.
After that you head back to the top of the tower, your hunger now bothering you. You went through the tower faster than most due to your speed at carving those tokens, but given the sheer distance you traveled your trip probably ended up taking longer than almost anyone else. You return to the docks, where Duan Tao is simply staring off of a boat.
"You were in there for nearly a week. I suppose you got the bottom shrines?" You nod. "Yes, and I went a bit beyond that. There were mostly just empty shrines." As you say this you...
>add on that there was one area you couldn't access. Maybe if you mention this there will be an excuse to give you more treasures that improve your bloodline.
>don't mention it, it doesn't really matter and if it does then maybe it has implications you don't know about.
>Other

>>3702993
>>add on that there was one area you couldn't access. Maybe if you mention this there will be an excuse to give you more treasures that improve your bloodline.

>>3702993
>>add on that there was one area you couldn't access. Maybe if you mention this there will be an excuse to give you more treasures that improve your bloodline.

You mention the door at the bottom, figuring that in the best case you might be able to get more support in order to open it some time in the future. Duan Tao seems confused, and notes that he's curious who's buried there, but given that you couldn't even open the door partially, it's probably not worth looking into. He says you're free to return after eating the Red-Gold fruit if you want, but it probably won't bridge the gap between what's required and your bloodline.
After the ceremony you return to a large feast with some of the elders and core disciples, and notice that some of them are less friendly than before. The core disciples you spoke to are perfectly fine with you, but a small portion of the people seem wary towards you. You ask Duan Tao what that's about privately, and he frowns. "Due to your 'mistake' during that speech, Duan Jin's father made up some story about the two of us collaborating to destroy Horned Island and betray it to outside forces. Most people get that it's just his insane ramblings, but some people do agree with the intent behind it, if not the content. Because of that Duan Jin's punishment is going to be lighter than I expected. He'll just be exiled to Green City to serve as a part of the Green Tribe, and never allowed to return to Horned Island. His father might join him after all of this." Well, you suppose your actions did backfire a bit. Still, it hasn't turned out too badly.
The feasts ends after a couple of hours, and you don't talk much due to your extreme hunger. Once it's done you're free to return home, sleep for the better part of a day, and then return to training. A couple weeks pass without much of interest as you focus on...
>the movement technique related to your bloodline.
>miscellaneous techniques related to your bloodline.
>adapting the "Nine Gusts Halbard" to the guandao.
>improving your cultivation.
>Other
You spend some time on the rest, but as you do so you don't have much time to...
>practice the movement technique related to your bloodline.
>miscellaneous techniques related to your bloodline.
>adapt the "Nine Gusts Halbard" to the guandao.
>improve your cultivation.
While a small group is still cold towards you, public opinion is mostly on your side. Duan Jin is exiled to Green City, and his father resigns from the council of elders and moves there himself. At this point Zhu Chao should have arrived and set up base in Green City himself. You...
>go to visit him, if it waits for too long then he'll probably be forced to try and contact Horned Island himself.
>continue training on the island, you're fine for the time being and the less you contact each other while you're here the better.
>Other

>>3703150
>>improving your cultivation.
With our new wood cultivation technique


>practice the movement technique related to your bloodline
So just to be sure, it still works. Just not as well as with our horns out right? With out our antlers out how much faster is it than the one we currently use?

>>3703220
>You'll stick with the movement technique related to your bloodline for now. The antlers are... large, but there should be some sort of technique to help hide them. Or you could just wear a massive hat. Anyways, now that you're already recruited it's not like it matters much if your antlers are spotted during a fierce battle. It's not like they can refine the blood out of you- you aren't The Horned God, there's a massive amount of normal blood mixed with it.
It is worthless without using your bloodline because it's the only thing that changes the muscles in your leg and makes the movements in the technique possible for you. It's less useful (but still better than the one you use) if you're using the one technique that exists to try to make your antlers smaller. You chose it because only one person cared whether the antlers were out or not while two didn't care either way and I tried to make it clear in the text afterwards.
If you guys really care that much then you can just wear a turban.

>>3703150
I'll do this instead
>>improving your cultivation.
>adapt the "Nine Gusts Halbard" to the guandao.
>go to visit him, if it waits for too long then he'll probably be forced to try and contact Horned Island himself.

>>3703354
I wantan update lol. I'll switch to this.

>>3703354
Second

You made obvious progress in your cultivation in the past few weeks, drawing closer to Blood and Viscera Tempering using the training resources of Horned Island and putting forth all of your effort. You spent a lot of time under the waterfall training grounds, withstanding the pressure evenly across your body and making sure you didn't have any weak spots that weren't tempered as well as the rest. You don't get a chance to practice with the Nine Gusts Halberd, but you'll get to eventually.
Eventually you're certain that Zhu Chao should be in Green City by now, and board one of the boats travelling between Horned Island and Green City. You're honestly surprised no one notices these boats, but given that the cities surrounding the lake have an interest in falsifying travel records and keeping the Four God Clans a secret, it's not outlandish. The next morning after you board the boat you're in Green City, and you leave the boat.
As you exit the boat you make sure you're not being tailed, and much to your relief you aren't. You hid your face under a cloak the entire time, but you thought someone may have been sent to protect you. Luckily it seems they deem Green City safe enough. You figure that Zhu Chao would make it easy for you to find him, and head to a tavern. Listening in on the news you hear about an apothecary whose cultivation isn't even at Half-Step Soul Foundation, but who's practically a master given his ridiculous skills. He arrived in the city around a week ago and took up residence in the apothecary's guild afterwards. ...Yeah, that's probably him. You knew Zhu Chao used to be an apothecary, although you didn't realize his skills would be so spectacular it would become the talk of the city within a week. In fact, there are quite a few mysterious things about him, but you don't really care about looking into his background. He's helping your family out because he owes your father a life debt, and that's that.
You head over to the apothecary's guild and ask if Zhu Chao happens to be staying there, and the receptionist seems surprised, but nods her head. "Master Apothecary Zhu Chao is staying in the upper floors. He said if anyone asked for him to send them up, so I'll lead you there." You follow the woman through several floors, moving through crowded back halls and a few staircases before being shown into a large room near the top of the guild. Inside is Zhu Chao, who's currently reading a book and messing around with a cauldron.

Upon your entry Zhu Chao looks at you, pleasant surprise in your eyes. "You're alright then. Good, I was hoping everything would be ok." As you sit down, he begins muttering, clearly annoyed. "Tsk, I haven't messed with forging pills in at least a dozen years. They're calling me a 'master' out of respect here, but that clearly doesn't fit. I'm exceptional in soul force for my cultivation, but I can still only stretch it out by using all of my skill and taking pills mid pill forging. A simple "master level" pill takes weeks for me to forge and my failure rate is far too high. Even if my technique is the best here, I'm stuck below the guild head because of my cultivation." He ignores you for a minute as he messes with the cauldron and arranges a table full of herbs. He seems to be really annoyed about this.
"Anyways, do I need to take you back? You've grown faster than I expected, so you clearly have gotten benefits here. If you leave now then we can make it just in time for the Yutian Martial Conference, although it may be a bit of a rush. There's always next year." You...
>decline, you still need to take advantage of the resources of Horned Island and stay there a bit longer. It's a bit early to be leaving.
>decline, but ask if he'd be willing to escort you back to Border City. You'd like to improve your refining with Refiner Long there since he did take you on as a disciple.
>accept, you can always return to Horned Island later, although the travel is a pain.
>Other

>>3703598
>>decline, you still need to take advantage of the resources of Horned Island and stay there a bit longer. It's a bit early to be leaving.

>>3703598
>>decline, you still need to take advantage of the resources of Horned Island and stay there a bit longer. It's a bit early to be leaving.

>>3703598
>>accept, you can always return to Horned Island later, although the travel is a pain.
We should show our brother up. Put a fire under his ass to train..

>>3703617
Nah, we've got to stick to our training here. We have got the island where our training will go faster due to the array set up. We need to get our battle techniques up to a certain standard where we can use them effortlessly in sparing. Then go back and bust ass next year.
We've just got to finish reading our herbology books. Cultivate and train. We've been feeding our red gold plant. And the bud as well.

Could we plant that branch with the bud in our garden?

Techical dfficulties, updaec delayed a wshile
o0n-screen keyboard sucks

>>3703738
mhm, I get it.

You still haven't grown enough. You should stay on Horned Island for the time being and continue growing. You tell Zhu Chao this, and he just nods in response. "Alright then. I probably should head back to the estate for the time being, but if I came out here I may as well make something out of it. I'll be practicing in the Apothecaries' Guild if you need me."
Before you leave you chat a bit with Zhu Chao and make sure the family is doing fine. After confirming this you leave and keep low until the next ship from Horned Island sets out. You're back by that night, and return to your training without interruption.
Several weeks pass, and you grow that much closer to Blood and Viscera Tempering. Hopefully this pace will keep up and you'll break through within two or three months. During this time you...
>holed yourself up completely, focusing on your cultivation.
>spoke with others a bit, attempting to increase your influence.
>prepared for a trip to Red City, wanting to see the Refiners' Guild there.
>Other
That's the last update for the night, thanks for voting. I'll update the character sheet tomorrow.

>>3703939
>>spoke with others a bit, attempting to increase your influence.

>>3703939
>>holed yourself up completely, focusing on your cultivation.
>>spoke with others a bit, attempting to increase your influence.

>>3703939
>holed yourself up completely, focusing on your cultivation.

>>3703939
>spoke with others a bit, attempting to increase your influence.

>>3703939
>holed yourself up completely, focusing on your cultivation.
>spoke with others a bit, attempting to increase your influence.
We need to get to Blood and Viscera as fast as we can and eat the fruit. Then we could go learn with Long and participate in the tournament next year.

I'll start in either 2-3 hours or 8-9 hours from now.

>>3703939
>>holed yourself up completely, focusing on your cultivation

You opt to spend most of your time cultivating, but you do make some time to speak to others. You go to a couple of Qin Mu and Qin Xinyi's poetry meetings; occasionally speak to Duan Pin, who is a bit too serious but nice enough; and talk to Duan Bao about ""fine literature"". Besides making friends with other core disciples here you do make some time to Feng Jun, who's beginning to settle in here.
Nearly an entire month passes as you stay on Horned Island, your cultivation continuing to advance. You make little progress with the Nine Gusts Halberd, but your movement technique begins to take shape and your night-vision and sense of smell are enhanced when using your bloodline. One day, while training...
>you go hunting with Duan Pin. It seems to be his only hobby, but he's pretty good at it.
>you travel with Duan Bao to chat with a few people from Winged Peak, Scaled Palace, and Clawed Island. You're not sure why you're being brought along, but you'll probably end up talking about books.
>you visit Palette City with Qin Mu and Qin Xinyi, where a major poet is holding some sort of event.
>you decide to hole yourself up completely, ignoring the outside world and focusing on your breakthrough.
>Other

>>3705128
>>you travel with Duan Bao to chat with a few people from Winged Peak, Scaled Palace, and Clawed Island. You're not sure why you're being brought along, but you'll probably end up talking about books.
Might as well talk to her if we have to marry her

>>3705128
>>you travel with Duan Bao to chat with a few people from Winged Peak, Scaled Palace, and Clawed Island. You're not sure why you're being brought along, but you'll probably end up talking about books

>>3705128
So how long are we expected to court this lady before gandpa gets us hitched?

You end up going with Duan Bao in order to chat with a few people from the rest of the Four God Clans. You're not sure why you've been brought along, but it's not like you mind. You get to speak with new people and talk with someone that you need to get acquainted with.
The location of your meeting is an island owned by Duan Bao in Holy Lake. It's tiny, and one villa takes up the entirety of the island. Honestly, it may be better to call it a rock than anything, but oh well. Duan Bao and you arrive here first, and she begins sorting through things while you're given the job of cleaning. You're glad to be given a break from nearly an hour of her almost spoiling the future plot of a novel on the boat.
Soon after you hear splashing, and two women and a man enter the house, dripping water everywhere. Upon a closer examination you can tell that their clothes are soaked, and there are scales near their eyes and several other parts of their bodies. Duan Bao turns to them, clearly displeased. "What did I tell you about swimming here." One of the women nervously laughs in response, glancing around. "Uh... that... that we should watch out for sharks?" "No. That you should dry off." The other two in her group prudently leave the house, while the woman gets chased by Duan Bao, who's trying to 'attack' her with a towel. You haven't seen her this active before, so the whole situation is surprising.
Eventually Duan Bao catches the woman, and she's forced to dry off before coming back in. It seems like a pyrrhic victory however, as their chase left water around the entire house. You begin to clean it up, and then you hear more noises outside. After that you see three men and one woman enter the building. Two of them have long, sharp fingernails and sharp teeth. You think they're from Clawed Island? The other two people seem normal on the outside, so they're probably from Winged Peak.
Once the floor is dried everyone gathers around the table, and what you assume to be an at least slightly-serious discussion of books immediately devolves into arguing about the future plot of various cheesy novels that they're reading. You were recommended a couple so you thought you could sort of follow along, but... some of these theories are nonsensical! Where are they pulling this evidence, out of their ass? You...
>just join in with the chatting where you can, maybe they're aware that what they're saying doesn't make too much sense.
>try to debunk some of the ridiculous theories flying around, discussing books is fine, but this is just silly.
>make up a few ridiculous theories on purpose and throw them into the discussion, this way you can test if they have any sort of logic behind them or if they're really just making things up.
>Other
>>3705303
He'll probably make a formal engagement before you leave, and when he forces you to get married is anyone's guess. Probably 2-3 years, you aren't even 15 yet and you're a cultivator.

>>3705303
As for courting, you could technically not talk to her at all if you wished, all he wants is the influence of his granddaughter being married to the Highblood and a pure bloodline entering his family.

>>3705326
>>make up a few ridiculous theories on purpose and throw them into the discussion, this way you can test if they have any sort of logic behind them or if they're really just making things up.
Have fun damit

>>3705328
I just figure if have to pump a handful of babies into her we should at least be acquaintances if not friendly

>>3705343
Yeah, that's preferable. I was just saying it's a preference, not a requirement.

Maybe they're doing this on purpose? You suppose you won't be a buzzkill then, you may as well make up whatever sounds amusing and then propose it as a future plot point in one of the books you've read. After a few minutes you think of something outlandish, and start proposing it as the "definitive plot" for the next novel in a series. You get some laughs out of it, and you start blending into the conversation. Some people seem to be taking this satirically, while others really just don't care enough to do any fact-checking, but either way it's amusing.
The talking like this continues for a couple hours before someone has to leave, and then people slowly trickle out after that. Later that night only you and Duan Bao are left, and you take the boat back to Horned Island. Your conversations seem to be slightly less awkward now that you've glimpsed the fun of taking some books and having fun with them.
Another week passes, and soon it'll be time for the annual "Harvest Festival" on Horned Island. It's supposed to promote the growth of greenery and ensure a good harvest and all that, and so you'll once again be dressed up in a stupid costume and forced to do a few ceremonies. You don't like that part, but there's supposed to be more festivities than just that going on, so you should have some fun. Before the festival you...
>focus on solely cultivating, that's your main focus here.
>read up on the festival and other such traditions ahead of time, you'll know what you have to do either way but knowing more background information couldn't hurt.
>visit Red City, you'd like to visit the Refiner's Guild while you have the chance.
>visit Palette City, they're the largest of the five cities as a neutral ground for the Four God Clans and you've heard quite a bit about it.
>Other

>>3705608
>focus on solely cultivating, that's your main focus here.

>>3705608
>>focus on solely cultivating, that's your main focus here.
I want that breakthrough and to eat that fruit.

>>3705608
>>focus on solely cultivating, that's your main focus here.

Over the course of the next week you hole yourself off from everything else and focus on cultivating. There is value in interacting with others and exploring the world, but that does't matter right now. You have a reason that you need to advance your cultivation right now, and you're not going to let your breakthrough be delayed.
After your week of training you're brought out of cultivation and made to help start the Harvest Festival. You do some sort of traditional dance, ring a bell, and are able to leave quickly. You do look around a bit, but it seems that it's mostly festival games and food stalls. You return to your cultivation, and end up getting a bit too into it as your breakthrough approaches. Three weeks of cultivation after the festival, you feel that your breakthrough is any day now and begin to prepare yourself. You begin to adjust your mental state and decide to take a day or tow off to do so. You...
>find somewhere without many people and enjoy nature. That's the best way to adjust yourself before a large breakthrough.
>see how Feng Jun is doing, hes been here for a couple of months now.
>visit Red City for a short time, you'd like to see the Refiner's Guild.
>visit Palette City, they're the largest of the five cities as a neutral ground for the Four God Clans and you've heard quite a bit about it.
>Other

>>3705816
>>find somewhere without many people and enjoy nature. That's the best way to adjust yourself before a large breakthrough.
Gotta take our fruit, and let it store all that excess energy in our wood core. Let is be one with nature. Zero wastage

>>3705816
>>find somewhere without many people and enjoy nature. That's the best way to adjust yourself before a large breakthrough.

>>3705816
>>find somewhere without many people and enjoy nature. That's the best way to adjust yourself before a large breakthrough.

>>3705816
>find somewhere without many people and enjoy nature. That's the best way to adjust yourself before a large breakthrough.

You'll relax somewhere quiet for one or two days and then make your breakthrough to Blood and Viscera Tempering. You leave your home to go somewhere other than the training grounds for the first time in a week, and visit Duan Tao.
"Nature? Hmmm..." Duan Tao's brows scrunch together before he seems to come to a realization. "There is a good place I can think of. It's a few hours away by boat, but it's a completely uninhabited island. No one owns it and there's nothing built there. It might just be what you're looking for." A few hours later Duan Tao and you leave Horned Island, as he steers the boat himself. Confused, you ask him why, and he smiles. "The island is small, and not too many are aware of where it is besides me. I was left there for the better part of a month training once." He laughs before happily swearing. "Fuck that old man, he really was a hardass." He doesn't speak on the topic more than that, and soon you arrive at a smile island maybe a mile across.
Duan Tao says he'll return in three days, and you're left there by yourself. You look around, admiring the light waves of the lake against the shore and the clean sand. Only the sounds of bugs and birds fill the air, and you're able to relax and clear your mind. After the better part of a day you sit up, close your eyes, and begin to concentrate. Now it's time for you to make another breakthrough.
You slowly stand up before beginning to move, switching through a series of poses. You exert your full strength, all your energy coming from the core of your body and flooding throughout it. You punch at the air and run around as a cracking noise comes from your joints. This continues for a while before your feel a deep pain throughout your body and white flecks begin rising to the surface of your skin. You don't have the time to examine them as you're in the middle of a breakthrough, and as you finish more and more flecks of white rise to the surface. Eventually they stop rising, and you feel the energy begin subsiding, but suddenly you vomit. The vomit is colored a dark red, and is full of blood. This must mean you've made it through to Blood and Viscera Tempering!
Excited, you begin wiping the white flecks off of you, although you do take the chance to examine them. They seem like... bone. You guess your bones got rid of some of their impurities and expelled it from your body somehow. It hurt a lot, but it must have been beneficial. You finish washing off and enjoy some time wandering around the island, but it seems that you took a while to break through as Duan Tao returned earlier than expected.

Duan Tao examines you closely, grabbing at your arm and pulling at the muscles and bone. You're annoyed, but don't stop him since it seems like he's doing something important. "Mmmmm... you broke through. Your foundation is shakier than I'd like, so it's a good thing you have that fruit." "Shaky? How could it be shaky when I have strength beyond my cultivation." Duan Tao scratches his head, as if he's struggling to put it into words. Eventually he snaps his fingers and looks at you. "Alright, so there are two swords. One is made of normal iron, and one is made of a stronger metal. Naturally the one made out of stronger metal will win. If you purify the iron more then it will be stronger, but it will still likely lose against a decent sword made out of stronger material." There's a slight pause before he tries to explain his metaphor, realizing it may not be obvious. "Basically, you're made out of stronger metal. Your foundation may not be as good as the core disciples of Horned Island, but due to your stronger body you can jump small cultivation stages."
"Anyways, it's not terrible. It's just not as I'd like. You're still far above those average cultivators." As you finish your talk the two of you return to the boat and it begins heading towards Horned Island. "After we arrive you should take a short break to clear your mind and then you can begin using the Red-Gold fruit." Duan Tao takes a puff from a pipe after saying this. "So, what are you planning on doing after that? I can tell that you were waiting for this given your seclusion lately." You...
>tell him you'll stay on Horned Island for a bit longer to cultivate after eating the fruit.
>say that you'll depart to travel for a bit. You'd like to visit some of the other cities near the Holy Lake.
>tell him you'll be going to Green City. You need to contact Zhu Chao and head back to Border City.
>Other

>>3706035
>>tell him you'll stay on Horned Island for a bit longer to cultivate after eating the fruit.

>>3706035
>>tell him you'll stay on Horned Island for a bit longer to cultivate after eating the fruit.
Might as well take advantage of the martial techniques here, I'd rather be here then refining or going home yet

>>3706035
Hey what level our cultivation did our dad get to? And also what level is our brother at?

>>3706203
Your father died as an Acupoint Opening cultivator (you believe he would have reached Soul Foundation eventually if he was still alive), and your brother was at Middle Blood and Viscera Tempering, but he should be at Late Blood and Viscera Tempering by now.

>>3706221
And our brother is 2 years older then us? Can you imagine if we breakthrough into meridian opening before him. He's pretty sluggish with his cultivation, but we are basically a recluse.

>>3706221
And he is supposed to have a really great cultivation speed, right?

Cultivation Technique: The 'Storm of Battle' Technique, awarded to your father in the war against Hiqui Sect
Battle Techniques: 72 Desires (5 desires); Extended Blow
Movement Techniques: Minute Deftness; Spinning Leaf, Crawling Rat
When you can could you update it? If it's not to much of an issue, could you let us know how far along we are with it? And if it is a bloodlike technique.

>>3706262
Yep but he likes to drink and fuck more then cultivate. So our dedication is out matching his skill.

>>3706262
I'll do that tonight or early tomorrow, I remember I was going to a day or two ago but didn't get around to it, my bad.
>>3706237
>>3706262
Your brother's cultivation speed is below that of important juniors form the major families but not by much. He'll probably reach Meridian Opening by 19 or 20. If he actually put forth all of his effort you honestly have no idea if he would have broken through to Meridian Opening by now, which would be a feat equal to important juniors from the Five Families.
>>3706274
>our dedication
don't forget the MC luck
anyways, update after I shower

You'll stay for Horned Island for at least a bit after eating the Red-Gold fruit. It's not time to leave yet.
Instead of returning home you're immediately brought into a private area of the island used for training. Luckily the fruit doesn't have any special way of being prepared, so you're supposed to calm your mind and then you can eat it when you're ready. You take a couple of hours to calm down and then slowly begin eating the fruit. It's amazingly sweet, and the juices fill your mouth with a taste unlike anything you've had before. You eagerly take a second bite, and a warm, gentle energy radiates throughout your body.
You wipe your mouth, licking up the juices where you can, and begin running around as fast as you can. Occasionally you stop to kick, punch, and make other movements. As you do so you feel the energy sink into your muscles, improving their durability and expelling the impurities. This continues for several hours as you slowly consume the fruit, and your foundation solidifies muscle group by muscle group.
After the muscles you feel the energy begin sinking into your flesh as you exercise. You don't really have any marks on your skin since you went through Flesh Tempering recently, but if you did they would disappear completely. Your skin becomes smoother and the color lightens slightly, making it look like you're a scholar who stays indoors most of the time.
Once the energy is done radiating through your flesh you continue eating the fruit and it sinks into your bones. You anticipate the deep pain from earlier, but much to your surprise it's still gentle, and while those white grains from earlier appear on your skin, they're smaller. You wipe your skin off but they keep appearing for around six to eight hours, and eventually you're done.
Once you're bones have been affected you're almost done. The majority of the fruit has been used up, but there's still some enough left to help with Blood and Viscera Tempering. You just broke through so it can't really help with solidifying your foundation as much, but it can help you make some progress and effectively improve your breakthrough. You eat the last of the fruit and the energy begins moving through you, jolting forward with every heartbeat. Eventually you feel a light burning sensation before you break out into a coughing fit. You spit out dark, sticky blood as your blood is purified slightly more. After that the energy begins to dissipate and your consumption of the Red-Gold fruit is done.

Curious, you grab a dagger and lightly stab at your finger. It takes slightly more force to pierce the skin, although the benefits are more related to your foundation and future cultivation than your current state. The blade just barely reaches the bone and you glance at it, curious. It's a pure white color, and you can't see any blemishes. That must be the affect of Bone and Marrow Tempering. You wait there for a bit both for your finger to heal and for you to calm down, and then return to the island. Your first order of business is to...
>continue practicing.
>contact Zhu Chao and give him a definite time for when you're leaving.
>challenge Duan Pin to a rematch. You can only pray that he hasn't made a breakthrough since then.
>speak to Feng Jun. It's been a while since you talked and you wonder if he's broken through to Meridian Opening yet.
>Other

>>3706471
>continue practicing.

>>3706471
>We should check in with the inner disciple juniors we've been secluded for some time
What's up with our blood is that normal? And do the fruit basically just improve every past break through we've made?.

>>3706527
Oh never mind we were looking at our bone. I miss read

>>3706471
>>continue practicing.

>>3706527
>>3706496
I am thinking we should check on Feng soon. Cultivate and practice sparing with him more often. It really should give us a better idea of how our strength has increased. And we get to see how he is doing more often.
Especially since we will be leaving him for next year's tournament for who knows how long.

OP Have we seen an increase in the bud's size since we've been feeding it for months now?

Well, there's nothing to do but return to practicing. Without strength nothing else is important. You return to your home and start polishing your technique now that you've broken through to Early Blood and Viscera Tempering, while news of your breakthrough spreads around Horned Island.
Two days after you breakthrough, Duan Tao comes to your home. "We'll be making your engagement with Duan Bao official soon. There will be an announcement and a celebration. Given your age the two of you will marry in around three years time." You guess this was coming eventually. You nod, and Duan Tao leaves you to your own devices after giving you a date for the announcement and celebration.
In a couple of days you get more news at the same time. Apparently Duan Pin broke through to Late Blood and Viscera Tempering, while Feng Jun broke through to Meridian Opening. The former is gossip you hear from a couple of the people working in your home, while the latter is news you get in a letter delivered by Feng Jun. After these breakthroughs you...
>return to training until the celebration of your engagement, you can just congratulate them then.
>go visit Feng Jun, you need to congratulate them and ask him how he's doing.
>go visit Duan Pin, you need to congratulate him... and possible ask for a rematch. There should still be a gap, but hopefully it's smaller than before.
>Other
Last update for the night, thanks for voting.
>>3706912
Surprisingly no. Your blood seems to be just enough to keep it from dying. Given your inquiries into the Red-Gold fruit you also found out that it around 60-70 years for that tree to yield one fruit, meaning that with nine buds it will take nearly 500 years for one particular bud to mature into a ripe fruit.

>>3706926
>>return to training until the celebration of your engagement, you can just congratulate them then.
We need to make a break through with these techniques

>>3706926
>>go visit Feng Jun, you need to congratulate them and ask him how he's doing.

Given our purer bloodline, and are now a better foundation we should easily close the gap soon. We should get to the middle stage of blood and viscera and challenge him then. We're becoming competent with our usage of speed and once we close that gap we will be just one stage away we should easily best him. And earn our way to the top.

We could likely get away with it now, with our now better techniques and filled in the foundation. Along with being the same tier now at least.

>>3706926
also by better foundation does he mean our training wasn't as suited since we didn't have all of these training ground to temper and practice with our body?

>>3706959
Yeah I'm pretty sure we just didn't have the beat tools during our previous stages, giving our families lack of amazing cultivation supplies, and that fruit just smoothed out our previous stages.

>>3700044
Generally speaking if you could fine the time to do some these it would be great. We also dont want to make it to tedious for you. So flesh out what you can about this world and the people we associate with that would be cool to have.

>>3706926
>go visit Feng Jun, you need to congratulate them and ask him how he's doing.

>>3706926
>go visit Feng Jun, you need to congratulate them and ask him how he's doing.

Updated the character sheet, I'll make an update in an hour or two.

You'll go visit Feng Jun and congratulate him on your breakthrough, its been a while since you talked. You head to the area where the inner disciples live. Quite a few people throw surprised glances at you and a couple inner disciples congratulate you on your breakthrough, but you manage to reach Feng Jun's house without many delays.
You enter Feng Jun's house, which is moderately sized. It has a bedroom, a bathroom, and a few other rooms. It's not luxurious, but it's more than good enough. Naturally if Feng Jun wanted to live the life of a mortal he could get a far larger house with the strength and money that comes from being a cultivator, but space is more limited on Horned Island, and with it the amount of property one is given is also limited.
Upon entering Feng Jun notices you and the two of you greet each other, congratulate each other on your breakthroughs, and then begin chatting. Feng Jun doesn't seem to have many friends among the inner disciples but is doing well enough here. Having broken through to Meridian Opening at 25 means he's behind most of the inner disciples, but he is "not the worst" by his own metric, which is good.
The two of you chat for a couple hours, and after a while you think about his future. Feng Jun is a good friend that you could trust. Maybe it's worth trying to move him to the Liu family? Then again, he could be better off here. You...
>ask him if he's interested in serving the Liu family once you leave Horned Island. There's plenty of places where he could work.
>ask Feng Jun if he could keep his ears to the ground on Horned Island and inform you if anything happens while you're away. You can get a couple pairs of long-distance Sound Transmission Talismans from Zhu Chao so that Feng Jun can contact you.
>say nothing about the Liu family or keeping up with news here. Feng Jun is just a friend and now hes found a good place to train, you may as well just let him practice here and try his best to become someone on Horned Island.
>Other

>>3708536
>>ask him if he's interested in serving the Liu family once you leave Horned Island. There's plenty of places where he could work.
Might as well see if he'd like to join

>>3708536
>>ask Feng Jun if he could keep his ears to the ground on Horned Island and inform you if anything happens while you're away. You can get a couple pairs of long-distance Sound Transmission Talismans from Zhu Chao so that Feng Jun can contact you.
We need some one in the north.

>>3708565
It's also better for his cultivation. Much better resources here on horned island and less a drag on resources on our family. So it's good, leaves us with a contact besides our soon to be wife. To chat and train with. When we are up here.

>>3708536
>>ask him if he's interested in serving the Liu family once you leave Horned Island. There's plenty of places where he could work.

>>3708601
Wait I'd like to change it to something else. ;-;

>ask Feng Jun if he could keep his ears to the ground on Horned Island and inform you if anything happens while you're away. You can get a couple pairs of long-distance Sound Transmission Talismans from Zhu Chao so that Feng Jun can contact you.>>3708578
Makes a good point.

You'd like someone keeping an eye out for you here. You should consider leaving some way for Duan Tao to communicate with you just in case since he has level to high-level knowledge, but you don't trust him as much. Even if it's just for major events, it'd be helpful to have Feng Jun here to keep you up to date. "Brother Feng, I was wondering if you'd do me a favor and keep watch on Horned Island for me. I'm part of another faction in Yutian Country, and I'll be leaving here soon. Once I'm gone, it will be beneficial to have someone keeping an eye out for me."
Feng Jun nods after you say this and slaps you on the shoulder. "Of course, I don't mind keeping a watch on everything happening here for you. If you give me a way to contact you I can tell you of anything that happens here." Well, that's good. Still, maybe you should consider adding more people to this. Having someone to keep you up to date of what's going on in Horned Island is all well and good, but maybe if you had Feng Jun keep in contact with some people across the cities surrounding the Holy Lake it would be more helpful? They usually spend their time on the island after all. Still, the downside would be that it creates more evidence- Feng Jun would have to leave occasionally to contact someone in charge of them, or get some outer disciple to do so for him. It's not like it's breaking any rules to do so, but if anyone knows he's feeding information to you it could affect him. You...
>leave after chatting a bit more, information on what's happening here is good enough.
>provide him with some money and ask him to hire a few people in the five cities surrounding Holy Lake to track the news there for him. It won't be a large expense for you if they're just civilians, and even if they find out, what are they going to do? Stop Feng Jun from accessing information that's publicly known on Horned Island? That's almost impossible, and if they did anything excessive they'd be risking your wrath.
>ask him to keep up on news whenever he visits one of the cities surrounding Holy Lake. it takes less effort and he might still find something useful doing that.
>Other

>>3708794
>>provide him with some money and ask him to hire a few people in the five cities surrounding Holy Lake to track the news there for him. It won't be a large expense for you if they're just civilians, and even if they find out, what are they going to do? Stop Feng Jun from accessing information that's publicly known on Horned Island? That's almost impossible, and if they did anything excessive they'd be risking your wrath.
Horned island isnt hurt by this. If anything trains Feng in a good way for us and he becomes a info merchant of sorts. Keeps him updated. Potentially helping others giving him more acess to better info.

>>3708794
>>leave after chatting a bit more, information on what's happening here is good enough.

Tiebreaker by RNG in 30 minutes.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>3709080
>>3708888

You know what, there's no harm in having Feng Jun gather more information. If anyone is actually trying to keep an eye on you and finds out then this will be a negative, but if someone was really scheming against you here, then would Feng Jun even be able to find out either way?
Before you leave you leave Feng Jun with a few thousand gold and tell him to use it to start setting up informants in the five cities surrounding the Holy Lake. He could probably do so with less money, but it's not like you're short on cash right now- you're sitting on herbs you need to sell and Horned Island will likely provide you with a sizable amount of funds when you leave.
With this new plan, if anything important came up Feng Jun will need to do the same thing as before and use one of the long-distance sound transmission talismans. If there's less important but useful news, he'll collect it all and send it to you through some sort of secure courier once per month. There will be a delay of a month in receiving the news, but oh well.
After finalizing your plans you tell Feng Jun goodbye, and he cheerfully tells you that he'll start on it in a few days. It seems like he was looking for a way to repay you for getting him into Horned Island and providing him with that Red-Gold fruit, so he's actually pretty happy about this duty.
You visit Duan Pin on the way back, but he's out so you just leave a message congratulating him. The next day your engagement is made public, and you're scheduled to have a celebration in three days. In the coming days you...
>train your battle techniques and wait.
>spar a bit and test out your new-found strength.
>visit Green City to sell of your herbs and give Zhu Chao a definite date on when you're returning to either the Liu family or Border City.
>visit one of the cities surrounding the Holy Lake, you've only seen Green City.
>visit some people, you have a few invitations for thinly-veiled parties from other juniors after your recent breakthrough. It seems like people like any excuse to celebrate.
>Other

>>3709340
>>train your battle techniques and wait.
>>spar a bit and test out your new-found strength
Train and spar..dont see why they would be mutually exclusive.

>>3709381
Second