>>5976698

Lounging on your throne, dressed in your demon spider silk armor, you listen to all of your generals, allowing them each and audience and chance to put forward their own plan of attack and strategy to pull down the rule of the forgotten king. The beetle generals do so with their miniscule "Soldiers", using them to detail how they expect the enemy formations to move and how you should counter them, a very passive strategy that sounds both boring and ineffective. The warrioress with axes suggests to throw their peasants into an uproar with multiple raids, exhausting the forgotten king's men by retreating whenever they try and fend off your aggression. Which isn't your style or to your taste at all. It isn't the commoners fault they have a shitty lord. The general who forgot his name, along with other ghosts of older gentlemen, suggest a more intricate and well thought out plan of attack, striking from multiple entrances into the lower levels of the catacombs that does sound sound.

However before they can explain how the multi pronged assault would be sustained, A certain greedy pig spirit is sent rocketing into the chamber, thrown bodily through the door. Yi Zhu squeals as he gets back onto his wobbly trotters, and sees Fu bedecked in his morbid, skull styled armor, the evolved form of Yujijiao, and Huili chomping down on the leg bone of one of your guards, which is still attached to the rest of the fiery skeleton.

He stammers, blubbering as he scuttles past the generals and clings to your thigh pathetically. Qinxin moves to draw his blade, but Ping stops him

"That is one of her creatures, Bright heart" He explains as Qiang glowers menacingly at the fat headed pig as your stare down disdainfully at him, before kicking him half way back to the door with a flick of your foot. All you understood in his blubbering and crying was that he "tried to stop him". And the booming footsteps that shake the foundation of your graveside palace makes it blindily clear who is the He he tried to stop.

"Xiongji! If it isn't my favorite absolute lunatic and bloodthirsty dog!" You declare happily, sitting up straight and energetically greeting the broken skulled general as he boots the door to the throne room open, and trailed by some trouble makers you recognize as the most violent amongst your ghostly servants besides the rooster general himself, swaggers in, his dull axe dragging behind him spitting up parks.

Your ladies in waiting, scribes, scholars, tax collectors and guards all turn into ghost lights and flee as the infamous rampaging monster casually strides up to you. The nameless general remains, glowering at him, looking truly offended he interrupted his tactical discussion and proposition. He only runs away behind you when one of the other hungry ghosts following Xiongji like a duckling flicks out a long, split tongue and howls, his face turning into a demonic mask as he bounds up to kneel at Xiongji's side.
Cont

>>5976699

"Cur! Impudent dog!" The ghost that forgot his name shouts as Fu stands firm before the taller ghost, his chest pushed out and shoulders lifted imposingly

"Nice axe" Fu says to the mad ghost, who only then notices his presence and flashes a toothy, blood grin beneath his dented helmet

"Nice axes. You one of our descendants, boy?" He chuckles, politely kneeling down "You certainly smell like you've got a bit of ghost in you, brat! Out of my way, need to talk to the princess"

Qiang's scabbard rattles as she grips the hilt of her sword

"Xiongji, don't pick a fight with him" Ping warns "He's about as difficult to kill as you restless dead"

"Ohoho? Sounds fun!" Xiongji exclaims "Wanna tear each other apart, boy! Come on, you only have your life to lose, you piece of"

"Stop" You command with a lazy wave of your hand "You seem calmer than usual Xiongji, which must mean you're about to blow your lid and go berserk, so lets be quick about this. You want to attack the forgotten king head on, without any concern for any strategy besides pummeling and mauling anything or one that gets in your way, am I correct?"

"My my, you speak what I think!" He laughs, his cheerfulness and well spoken demeanor starting to creep you out "Let me kick down the gate and teach those dogfuckers a lesson! That shit eating piece of shit has kept me trapped down here for generations! It was his damnable pride that ended my glorious life and cut my family tree short! I'll rip them all apart, from asshole to skull! What are we doing just standing here! Vengeance! Blood! I will have both! I'll kill those fuckers for what they did to me, dammit!"

"Ah, he's going berserk already" You chuckle tenderly, nodding your head as he starts swing his axe around and stomp craters into the floor of your throne room, shouting profanity that curdles the bowls and curses that start to actually manifest and fly about searching for victims to latch onto "Hmm. You know, old geezer, this rampaging moron has given me a genius idea. A really wonderful one. Qiang"

"Yes, Master?" Qiang asks, leaning closer to you as she watches Xiongji's usual ramage warily. Yi Zhu is stepped on and gives a sound like a deflated balloon as he runs away with a boot print on his back, and one of the hungry ghosts that was following Xiongji gets its head lopped off mid laugh as the general rages and howls madly, lost to his all consuming rage against...well pretty much everything beneath the heavens

"Take command of the quietest and most somber of my soldiers, and scout ahead into the layer of crypts directly beneath the last floor under our control" You say coolly and completely calm as a pillar is sent flying across the chamber and crashes against the wall with a loud bang, causing the black horned skull you were palming to hop up and start chattering, which sets all of the other clattering and jaw snappy skulls to start yapping and yipping like over excited lap dogs
Cont

>>5976700

"And?" She dully question as she bows her head lower, as Fu starts clapping half heartedly in mocking approval of Xiongji's violent temper

"Pick out your targets, prioritize officers and generals of course, weaken their defenses in preparation for my arrival" You gleefully answer, gesturing with your thumb towards Xiongji "And then we'll send this strutting rooster ahead, to soften them up a little more and create a distract for you, if you need one"

Qiang's eye turns to a chip of ice as a cold gleam overflowing with killing intent flashes inside of it as she grips her sword and completely serious, answers "I will not"

"I didn't think you would" You sneer, lounging back in your throne of star jade, kicking one leg over the other "Now, get going and bring me some spectral heads and skulls, Mm?"

Underling stealth trial. DC 65. Best out of three

Rolled 55 (1d100)

>>5976701

Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>5976701

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>5976701
Go Qiang, Kill

>>5976711
Fine success. 10 over DC, Update will arrive shortly

https://youtu.be/hG6ZNNWLb6U
__
In the land of the cursed souls bound to their own moldering bones, all was silent and still, as the ethereal prisoners caged beneath the god placed mountain wallowed in their misery and anguish, those with enough of themselves left cursing the gods as they stalked the crypts, caroling and herding those who had completely lost their minds to the arduous passage of time, beating bone gnawing ghouls back and directing the harmless lunatics away from vaults of burial offerings or parchments and scrolls so old the language written upon them had been forgotten. Soldiers, bones wearing armor and towering monstrous spirits, marched and patrolled the few entrances to from the upper levels of the catacombs down, keeping any of the weaker phantoms from sneaking through and opening the gateway to the usurper above or her traitorous servants.

The silence was broken.

Four clashes of two swords and a sigh of relief, of decades and centuries of torment and madness released all at once as a soul corrupted by resentment and hate was given reprieve and returned to the great wheel of transmigration. Spectral soldiers ran back to their barracks, furious and jealous at being denied the chance to escape this hellish existence, trapped in their own graves. Only to find a helmet split down the middle, resting atop the breastplate of their commanding officer. An alarm was sent down the line, security were raised, guards were stationed.

Four more times, steel striking steel rang out like a funerary bell. The officer leading the effort was found, fading away with a smile on his face, a red slash of light across his torso as his soul disintegrated and returned to the cycle of reincarnation. The organized response turned panicked and frantic. The officers and their men remembered what had happened the last time their king had ordered them to advance on the cat's lair. One of her disciples, who should've died from their malevolent energy and curses, was making a tally of their leaders heads.

Guards were pulled from their station by the order of the general assigned to the floor, a search was conducted deeper into the catacomb, starved phantoms were used as scent hounds, heretical sages chanted and performed profane rites to draw out or strike dead the intruder.

The silence was broken. By a knocking at his door.

"We've found the assassin!" A voice called out, frantic and wild, excited yet regretful. In winning, they'd lost the chance to escape their confinement and be reborn in a better life than this half existence.

"Bring them to me, I shall present her head to her mother" The general relished, tapping his blackened talons of bone the table, tearing the map laying out the defenses he'd been prepared and a missive sent to him from one of that fool Yin Zhao's spies, pleading with him to launch an attack to free him from the new prisoner he found himself in.

The door opened with a shimmer of green flame.
Cont

>>5976750

The general gasped, and drew his dao.

A flash of red hair ducked under the arm of a stranger, holding to their mouth the lower jaw of one of his soldiers.

One, two, three. The girl assassin struck with the speed of falling lighting strikes, moving like a blur, though her heart beat slowly and her expression remained as still as a corpse's. The only sign of life was the flickering black flame of killing intent flaring in the empty pit where one of her eyes had been before.

Four, five, six. Sparks flew, lightening up the long dark chamber, revealing the earthly remains of the general, lain across the wall where his legs had been crushed by the mountain collapsing on top of him. His pale skull glowed in the light of unearthly grey flames as the general roared and poured his ghostly essence into the saber in his hand and struck back, forcing his would be banished on the defensive, pushing her back

Seven, eight. Their blades sung as he forced her against the wall, grinding the edge of his blade down the edge of her blade, catching it at the hilt.

Nine.

The girl slumped backwards. The flame in her eye flying out, the grave cold air growing colder as her blade pulled itself from her hands, paper talismans waving along its edge like carp streamers as a spectral copy of her appeared at the general's side.

"Ten moves" She said bitterly, brow creased as the air whistled. The general blinked and looked down, a silver white light was traveling up from his midsection, where his spider like bundle of legs had been cut from his bleeding body.

"How sloppy. It should've ended in one less" She sulks, as she grabs onto the plum of his helm, and plunges her blade through the back of it

Silence.
Chaos

"I'VE COME TO BUTCHER ALL OF YOU! YOU BLACK BELLIED CURS! YOU TWO FACED BASTARDS! ARROGANT WHORESONS! FACE ME! FACE MY FURY"

Xiongji had arrived. There was no silence. Chaos had turned to anarchy and desperate combat against the most crazed and wild of the hungry ghosts that had once been noble and honorable men.

Qiang frowned, and made her escape silently, only turning back to watch spectral arrows pin two guards who had been drawn by the sound of her duel with their leader. She smiled, seeing her underlings float down from the ceiling, and pin the other ghosts against the wall with another volley of ghost flame lined arrows.
_

"Xiongji and the other rampaging spirits have broken through the enemies' defensive line, their forces are in utter disarray" The old, nameless general exclaims, as his peers and fellow military advisors cheer and shout with joy "They've been scattered and crushed, and one of their four walls has completely crumbled. Surely the other three will support the remaining defenders to oust the rooster general and his men, but their commander is nowhere to be seen"
Cont

>>5976752

"And I don't need to hear your report to know why that is" You snicker, as a breathless scout, whose resentment had turned partially beastial, giving them the upper head of a wolf and long sickle like talons appears, their old face appearing through their monstrous guise as they grin ear to ear, their face split into two from a sword strike that killed them centuries ago, black blood dripping down their lips

"Qiang!" You shout, and as you do, Qiang walks forward, her sword levitating in front of her as she puppets it with one ghostly hand as she keeps the rest of her soul inside of her body. She's showing off? That's a rare sight.

"It took three kills, and eighteen strikes" She answers dryly, pouting as she shrugged her shoulders and sighed "Unfortunately, they didn't leave any heads for me to bring to you, master. And I only succeeded in reaching the last target because one of the scouts knew how to mimic voices"

"Good, you're a terrible liar, but you certainly knew what qualities to look for in your assitants" You praise, clapping your hands as Qiang bows hers, looking rather sheepish and adorable.

"It should've only taken one execution to finish the job, It took three because of my inexperience. Ghosts are harder to sneak around than living men" She says sourly , clearly ashamed even though she'd succeeded beyond your expectations "My blood ran too hot, I guess"

"We ghost can sense the presence of life, that you overcame that obstacle, even with medicinal aid is...incredible" One of the scouts you sent with her praises, smacking her on the back with a boney hand wrapped in ethereal fire.

"You, excited?" Ping asked curiously "How peculiar for such a brooding soul."

The short, red haired swordswoman kicked the exorcist with the cursed arm in the shin.

"It can happen. Qiang usually doesn't get a chance to fight past the first four steps" Fu says with a smile, as Qiang beamed with pride, which, hey! you can actually see a resemblance between that smile and your own! Is that why people keep mistaking your for mother and daughter? It isn't just because both of you are red furred or haired or have a similar ghastly presence and ghostly aura.

"Hmm" You sigh through your nose, pushing the thought of why exactly people keep mistaking her for your kid into the back of your mind, as the fun was about to begin, as you now had an open route to push into the forgotten king's territory.
Cont

>>5976754

And how do you do that, Huanliuxue?

>Wait until something that can stall or beat Xiongji appears, saving your and your disciples energy for as long as you're able to.

>Order Fu to take your ghostly guard and ferocious hungry ghosts to attack the defenders from their flank as Xiongji brutalize their front, to complete crush any resistance on that floor (Underling Command/ Martial trial. DC 55)

>Send Baifenchi and Yujijiao down, entrusting them with Ghost Empress Melody, to support the charge of the rooster general and gather "Local support" (Underling Magic/ Necromancy trial. DC 72)

>Allow Ping and Qinxin to lead the actual, organized march into enemy territory (Underling Command/ Magic trial. DC 55)

>Enter the field yourself and start subjugating spirits

>Write in

>>5976755
>Order Fu forward
>Allow Ping and Qinxin to lead the actual march forwards

This is for their training. The actual fight is when WE get to show off.

>>5976755
>Allow Ping and Qinxin to lead the actual, organized march into enemy territory (Underling Command/ Magic trial. DC 55)

>>5976755
>>Send Baifenchi and Yujijiao down, entrusting them with Ghost Empress Melody, to support the charge of the rooster general and gather "Local support" (Underling Magic/ Necromancy trial. DC 72)

>>5976755
>>5976760
I'll support this, I predict the dead king has a plan to divert the rooster general away from the fight so sending our own forces will throw a wrench too large into their plans for them to deal with.

Baifenchi and Yujijiao can stay at our side , maybe try to see how well we can empower our ghost friend with ghost empress melody and Baifenchi aid?
We could even have them fight some strong ghosts for exp, if not the ghost king himself.

>>5976755
>>Send Baifenchi and Yujijiao down, entrusting them with Ghost Empress Melody, to support the charge of the rooster general and gather "Local support" (Underling Magic/ Necromancy trial. DC 72)

>>5976760
Support. Let's see what the ling dog is capable of.

>>5976760
Supporting

>>5976755
>Send Baifenchi and Yujijiao down, entrusting them with Ghost Empress Melody, to support the charge of the rooster general and gather "Local support" (Underling Magic/ Necromancy trial. DC 72)
While their forces aren't concentrated, we should start growing our own for the greater confrontation to follow.

>>5976975
I like the general strategy of this but I really don't want to give GEM to anyone, even temporarily to our underlings.

>>5976755
>Send Baifenchi and Yujijiao down, entrusting them with Ghost Empress Melody, to support the charge of the rooster general and gather "Local support" (Underling Magic/ Necromancy trial. DC 72)

>Allow Ping and Qinxin to lead the actual, organized march into enemy territory (Underling Command/ Magic trial. DC 55)

>>5977407
I don't see why not, it's a powerful tool.


Also, these updates are making me feel like we're playing a strategy RPG, very nice writing there, Grandfather.

>>5976755
>>Allow Ping and Qinxin to lead the actual, organized march into enemy territory (Underling Command/ Magic trial. DC 55)
Show us your fangs, Ex-Ling dog.
>>5977415
I think it might be due to the sentimental value it carries.

Ending the vote and tallying its result now.

Order Fu to take your ghostly guard and ferocious hungry ghosts to attack the defenders from their flank as Xiongji brutalize their front, to complete crush any resistance on that floor:4

Allow Ping and Qinxin to lead the actual, organized march into enemy territory:7

Send Baifenchi and Yujijiao down, entrusting them with Ghost Empress Melody, to support the charge of the rooster general and gather "Local support":4

So you'll order Ping and Qinxin to lead the organized march into enemy territory, while having Fu lead a smaller force to act as the hammer to their anvil.

Update will arrive shortly

>>5977415
Your praise is like an injection of chicken blood to my veins, junior. I am very happy you enjoyed it

"Ping" You command, voice low and resounding with imperial authority as you lift your half lidded eyes and gesture with your hand as you sprawl out atop your throne, a confident and clever grin on your face, with moon and star light glittering in your eyes as your white haired exorcist lifts up his head, eyes stony with determination yet lively and bold. His eyes meet yours and the air between the two of you becomes dense with ghostly yin qi as he stands at attention, waiting to hear your orders. He blinks, stunned and baffled as you break the lock of your gazes and glance over to Qinxin, who has been kneeling obediently since he had been allowed entrance to your throne room, constantly circulating Qi through his meridians and pulsing internal energy through his body to remain comfortable and at ease in the center of such potent energies of death

"Qinxin. The two of you shall lead the real march into the forgotten king's territory, following the path made by the rooster general's disorganized rabble" You order sternly and powerfully, voice booming and echoing in the hollowed silence of the grave as you sit up straight and rest your head against the knuckles of your fist as you droop your head to the side and drawl, a flicker of amusement passing over the ethereal beauty of your features as you add "Heh-heh, this is a chance for you to show me your fangs, former dog of the Ling! Don't disappoint me by showing me they've dulled. I know, Haaah, what do you call him? Rejungui? Right? Can fight like a tiger when cornered, but you? You're an unknown quality, Heh-Heh. I wonder, will you force me to pay attention to you, or prove my indifference was well given, pup"

Flames flicker in Qinxin's eyes as Ping shuts his eyes and gnashes his teeth.

"I will not squander this opportunity, nor waste the chance to distinguish myself" He says with an unwavering conviction "I'll prove the conviction that lead me to your door, and reaffirm my purpose for choosing real righteousness over the false heroism preached by my former masters"

"A dog that barks loud doesn't necessarily know how to bite" You snicker, testing his composure to see if the insult will provoke him, but he remains respectfully kneeling, eyes affixed to you still aflame with resolve. You lean back and adjust your posture, shifting your chin to rest on the back of your hand

"Heh, Well, we'll see the quality of your fangs soon enough" You chuckle as he nods and Ping sighs in relief, shoulders slacking and head hanging limply "Fu! Take my guard and what soldiers Ping and Qinxin can spare. You'll strike the defenders from their flank, as they and Xiongji's forces attack from the front. We'll crush the resistance of the first floor with a single move! Sweeping them aside like dust with a brush of our hands, Heh-heh!"
Cont

>>5977572

"As you command!" The three men shout in response, all of them fired up and eager to prove themselves. Qiang clicks her tongue.

Roll 2d100. 1st dice is for Ping/ Qinxin's march, 2nd is for Fu's flank. DC for both is 55. Best out of three for both

Rolled 12, 87 = 99 (2d100)

>>5977575

Rolled 50, 58 = 108 (2d100)

>>5977575

Rolled 63, 23 = 86 (2d100)

>>5977575
Godspeed

>>5977590
Ah clutch save for the first two

>>5977590
Success for ping and Qinxin

>>5977582
Great success for Fu, 30 over DC,

Update will arrive shortly

https://youtu.be/qLu9KQ5rWvs
__
Graves were burst open, Tombs were sundered, where air had been allowed to grow stagnant long ago and fill with dust and mold spores, movement and chaos reigned. Fires, ghostly and real, were lit and consumed all in their path, burning ancient tapestries and old bones together as the movement of two spectral armies lifted the ash into the air that experienced for the first time in living memory and the fragmented recollections of the dead movement and activity. Sparks flew from rusted swords and stones covered in the grime of corpse crease, now further sullied by black soot and dense, burning smoke.

And through this storm of spectral swords and monstrous spirits clashing in a festival of violence, walked two living men, who walked fearlessly into the smoke and the flame, leading a much more professional force of phantoms than the rampaging wraiths and starved, hungry ghosts. One walked with a dead arm, wrapped in prayer beads fashioned from bones and yellowed teeth, with mantras written and spells taught to him by the dead winding along the pale flesh of that cursed arm, issuing forth black smoke and other signs of malevolent energy while in his other hand he held aloft a lantern formed out of fire and filled with butterflies born from embers.

And ahead of him, bellowing, shouting and crying out to tell all of the hateful and vengeful dead that he was a live, that his heart beat and the blood in his veins flowed and burned, was the other man, who faced all challengers without fear, his saber shrouded in bright red fire that roared and spat in defiance to the malevolent energies and deadly miasma and cursed air that surrounded him. In the center of his chest, the heart of Qinxin burned like the name he had taken first as a mask and then embraced as his true self, a single bright red star blazing in the gloom and lifelessness of the crypt.

The two of them could not have looked more different than the other, the ghoulish monk with billowing white hair and a corpse's arm attached to him at the shoulder, muttering prayers that were half mantra and half curse, and the hero wreathed in light, his cloak fluttering like an army's standard as he stood atop a mound of defeated enemies, his saber shining brightly as he struck back against the evil that rallied to smother his flame and the life it embodied.

And ahead of them, crowed a rooster that rampaged and stomped every crypt or building that got in his way, leading a host of foul tempered ghosts and berserk spirits ahead, breaking open the defenses that the ghostly monk and shining hero crushed as they marched through the battered and scattered phantoms.

But they fought for every step they took, side by side, ethereal butterflies gliding around the bright blade like a cloud of blossoms as its wielder cut through any monster or demonic specter that opposed him.
Cont

>>5977659

Soon, already overwhelmed by the fierceness of Xiongji, the defenders began to retreat and run away from the exorcist and swordsman, as the soldiers they lead began to chant their names like a funeral dirge

"Rejungui!"
"Qinxin!"
"SMILING GHOST"
"BRIGHT HEART"

Their art names they had given to the other warily as strangers, that they embraced as friends and sworn brothers, became a battle cry, as Qinxin fell to one knee, gasping and wheezing, as the burning star in his chest began to fade as he released the technique he'd been using to strengthen himself, having expended a large portion of both his life force and inner energy to empower himself and blaze as brilliantly as the sun against the darkness before him, fueling both his strikes and exorcist arts. Ping leaned against a wall, wincing as he clenched at his ghoul arm, black veins bulging against its skin as he fought to expel the Deathly Yin Qi he'd absorbed to empower his spells and exorcising techniques. Qinxin smiled, pride, joy and relief intermingling as he propped himself up, lungs burning and head swimming as his whole body felt as though it had been immersed in the warmth of the sun. The pain and exhaustion was proof he was alive, and lived as brightly as the morning sun. This fight, felt real, felt like it had purpose unlike so many others. Panting, he turned to see Rejungui looking his way, proudly, amazed by his performance, to see him fight against the type of opponents he was meant to fight. Not fellow daoists or cultivators from other sects, but remorseless evil souls and demons. Qinxin smiled back, tears in his eyes. But he couldn't find the right thing to say. He'd fought so hard and risked death at least a dozen times, he could only hope it was enough, that the two of them had succeeded together.

Their soldiers ran past and in some cases through them as they chased after their enemies who retreated for a more defendible location, away from the existence hating Xiongji and the frighten duo of exorcists from two different schools.

However...
__
https://youtu.be/xzohNwQ4rgs
__
As the dead fled in fear of death, pursued by their fellow resentful souls who've chosen to vent all of their bottomless rage and undying enmity upon them. There were walls that were still intact, forces that still hold against the rampage of the most crazed of all the calamities chained beneath the earth here, and the terrifying combination of ghostly magic and righteous conviction, the breath of the dead and unbearable warmth of life working in tandem to destroy them

But there was no sanctuary to be found, no walls to hide upon. They found their reinforcements scattered, reduced to flickering ghost flames or fading away as they were exorcised and freed from their long interment.
Cont

They did not find salvation, only a single warrior who wore the grudges and spite of dozens of ghosts like the crow feather cloak he had fastened to his soldiers, he stood, the eye of a storm of pure enmity and resentment spite and rancor roiling off of him like waves of heat from a furnace, an avatar of malice

A demon of vengeance and retribution

Manifested grudges poured from the breathing holes of his skull shaped helmet, his eyes cold be seen, bulging and half insane as spectral hands lifted from the shadows he wore on his back, their boney fingers pointing the way of the retreating army, dragging an pulling at his shoulders, face and the bandages that rose in the air from his arm as he growled, spat and panted like a rabid animal

He turned, a wave of killing intent formed from the combined murderous urges of violent and vengeful ghosts that he had willingly allowed to possess him and his battle-instincts washed over the ghosts and for a moment, their hundreds remembered what it was to be mortal and afraid.

With a voice made from many, that reverberated through the ground and darkened the already gloomy tomb, the twin axed wielding warrior snarled "You who dare stand in my master's way, I'll grind your bones to powder and drag your worthless, ragged souls to hell with my own two hands!"

His wrathful promise become a roar of rage that shook the ground as he hefted up his axes and flew down from the broken wall, followed a wall formed of the very essence of abyss and ghosts that did not join their hands in wielding his two axes

"I am her hammer! Her will! Her punishment!" He cried out, showing that even though he looked completely insane from being possessed by several willful and strong spirits, he was in complete control of himself and his temper.

And he fell like an axe upon a tree, cleaving through the spectral army and trapping them between himself and the other ghosts they had fled from, and the two strong men who lead them.

They chose to run, back towards the exorcists

But that was a choice they made far too late.

As crow feathers fell to the ground, Two Axe Fu finished off the army with his axes forged in hell.
__

"See how quickly your old king's kingdom falls? We've only just started this battle and he's already losing ground!" You howl with laughter, slapping your knee and grinning ear to ear as you hear of Ping, Qinxin, and Fu's victory. Turns out that ling dog still had fangs to bare, and guts to! He used himself, his own lifeforce, as kindling for his attacks and nearly burnt himself up doing it. But the results speak for themselves. He and Ping forced the remaining defenders of the floor in a full retreat, right into Fu, who had just crushed their backline and then finished them off himself with a little help from the soldiers who the two exorcists had lead into battle behind Xiongji

Every ghost in your court was cheering, congratulating you for your brilliance and your students for their martial skill.Morale was high

>>5977664

There was a little issue with Xiongji's rampage heading towards the pockets of resistance that had surrendered soon after seeing how Fu demolished their former comrades in arms, but that was a minor problem. Xiongji beats the crap out of the rest of your court regularly anyways, so it could be considered a kind of an initiation.

With three assassinations and one charge, you'd taken an entire floor from the forgotten king's unworthy hands. To say you were in high spirits would be a ridiculous understatement, you were almost drunk on the rush of easy victory.

But you knew better than to get cocky, even if you had half a mind to roll out a carpet and gloat directly in the rotten face of the forgotten king.

"Your orders, empress?" one of your generals asks giddily.

What do you command, Huanliuxue?

>Order Fu, Ping and Qinxin to corral Xiongji and direct him away from your prisoners/ new subjects and use him as a unliving battering ram to proceed to the next layer of graves (Underling martial trial. DC 80)

>Take advantage of this momentum, and have Yujijiao and Baifenchi "re-invigorate" the ghosts that would otherwise fade away from their injuries, and add them to your forces in a show of mercy, and flood the next floor's defenders with their own former allies (Underling magic/ necromancy trial. DC 65)

>Use the windfall of your victory and confusion in the enemies ranks, to send Qiang head hunting again (Stealth trial. DC 70)

>Give Huili the task of leading the next wave, and order him to strike like lightning and blitz through the enemy positions (Underling Command/martial trial. DC 65)

>Decide to join the fun yourself

>Write in

Had a lot of fun writing both parts of this update.

>>5977667
It was very fun to read.

Using your lifeforce is a bit dumb Bright heart, but eh, we've got medicines. Maybe we'll start calling you by a name.

>Take advantage of the momentum, Reinvigorate the 'wounded ghosts' and add them to our army.
>Huili, Attack.

>>5977667
>Take advantage of this momentum, and have Yujijiao and Baifenchi "re-invigorate" the ghosts that would otherwise fade away from their injuries, and add them to your forces in a show of mercy, and flood the next floor's defenders with their own former allies (Underling magic/ necromancy trial. DC 65)
We are here to take his kingdom.
>Give Huili the task of leading the next wave, and order him to strike like lightning and blitz through the enemy positions (Underling Command/martial trial. DC 65)
Huili, I choose you!

>>5977664
>"I am her hammer! Her will! Her punishment!"
The Empress protects.
>>5977667
>Take advantage of this momentum, and have Yujijiao and Baifenchi "re-invigorate" the ghosts that would otherwise fade away from their injuries, and add them to your forces in a show of mercy, and flood the next floor's defenders with their own former allies (Underling magic/ necromancy trial. DC 65)
>Give Huili the task of leading the next wave, and order him to strike like lightning and blitz through the enemy positions (Underling Command/martial trial. DC 65)

>>5977667
Good job Qinxin, you've impressed us. Though you probably should learn some vitality boosting (or stealing) techniques for longer fights.
>Take advantage of this momentum, and have Yujijiao and Baifenchi "re-invigorate" the ghosts that would otherwise fade away from their injuries, and add them to your forces in a show of mercy, and flood the next floor's defenders with their own former allies (Underling magic/ necromancy trial. DC 65)
Time to increase our forces

>>5977690
We shall call him "Shiny Organ". If he does really good in the future it may be upgraded to "Glowing Blood Pump".

>>5977667
>Take advantage of this momentum, and have Yujijiao and Baifenchi "re-invigorate" the ghosts that would otherwise fade away from their injuries, and add them to your forces in a show of mercy, and flood the next floor's defenders with their own former allies (Underling magic/ necromancy trial. DC 65)
>Give Huili the task of leading the next wave, and order him to strike like lightning and blitz through the enemy positions (Underling Command/martial trial. DC 65)

>>5977667
>>Take advantage of this momentum, and have Yujijiao and Baifenchi "re-invigorate" the ghosts that would otherwise fade away from their injuries, and add them to your forces in a show of mercy, and flood the next floor's defenders with their own former allies (Underling magic/ necromancy trial. DC 65)

Bright Heart is probably a good candidate to learn Pure Blood Qi I say that should be our reward to him. Craft him a cultivation camber for it as well as a bonus. I wouldn't want to turn him into a mystic tho I feel a different pathway would suit him better.

Ping wants muscles so research the pill and give that as a reward.

Qing... Hm New eye?

For Yujijiao and Baifenchi no idea. Maybe giving them each a floor of the the temple lower floors.

>>5977667
Brothers I may be an idiot, but how long has Ping and Qinxin been a Yin/Yang duo? Enh anyway.
>Take advantage of this momentum, and have Yujijiao and Baifenchi "re-invigorate" the ghosts that would otherwise fade away from their injuries, and add them to your forces in a show of mercy, and flood the next floor's defenders with their own former allies (Underling magic/ necromancy trial. DC 65)
No sense in Risking our best fighters dealing with Xiongji. Though I do worry having him behind us won't cause.. troubles.

>>5978143
Always have been.

>>5978129
I still think we should use the drug ourselves. Muscles are always useful.

anyway, Bright heart with pure blood? I don't think so, but some varient of blood Qi, aye. Something aspected to living qi, rather than pure blood qi.

>>5978149
We should give all of our disciples that show proper discipline for training the muscle pills. But for that we'd need to figure out how to make them ourselves. Reward those who reward themselves with their own diligence.

>>5977667
>>Take advantage of this momentum, and have Yujijiao and Baifenchi "re-invigorate" the ghosts that would otherwise fade away from their injuries, and add them to your forces in a show of mercy, and flood the next floor's defenders with their own former allies (Underling magic/ necromancy trial. DC 65)

>>5978149
Well, I say pure blood Qi because it's profound in life energy. I know Huanliuxue touched on it in the past that is basically what it is.
Blood Qi is Life Qi, but I get what you are saying. Wanting to not add the blood aspect.

It's just that Huan usually burns blood to make explosions and this guy is burning his life energy, if he's going on that path then he needs ways to recover it hence the blood qi that the old Sanguine Blood Peach Sect method was before Carmine Mystisim took over.

The demons(Or is it devils) corrupted all known sources of pure blood Qi I assume fearing Cultivators knowing of its true meaning as Life energy. We can consider the ancient past that there might have been more then one Sanguine Blood Peach Tree as we found a second and life qi might have been a more common type of cultivation at the time. Before something happened(Demons) and Corrupted Blood Qi became known as a Demonic technique. It's just that Life Qi is addicting you feel as if a shot of adrenaline hit the heart from the short examples of Huan using it. Those without a strong will, will be controlled by their desires because of it.

We can also consider that blood and wood qi are quite similar in life energy from that old man who turned himself into a tree. Take that as you will

>>5978190
yeah, it's that I want to give him a more suitable but less broad Qi so that he isn't troubled with "devil magics". Giving him some aspected qi like. . Recovery breath Qi or something. Something which won't trouble his Dao heart.

Also yeah, we've backdoored our way into the Wuxing. Unlike old five colours, we handle Yin/Yang directly and work backwards onto the wuxing.

I think we've got everything except earth on lock?

>>5977667
>Take advantage of this momentum, and have Yujijiao and Baifenchi "re-invigorate" the ghosts that would otherwise fade away from their injuries, and add them to your forces in a show of mercy, and flood the next floor's defenders with their own former allies (Underling magic/ necromancy trial. DC 65)

>>5977667
>Use the windfall of your victory and confusion in the enemies ranks, to send Qiang head hunting again (Stealth trial. DC 70)
>Give Huili the task of leading the next wave, and order him to strike like lightning and blitz through the enemy positions (Underling Command/martial trial. DC 65)

I think these can be combined for maximum terror. I'm somewhat hesitant to enlist turncoats into our ranks, they'll turn right back on us if they see an opportunity.

>>5977667
>Take advantage of this momentum, and have Yujijiao and Baifenchi "re-invigorate" the ghosts that would otherwise fade away from their injuries, and add them to your forces in a show of mercy, and flood the next floor's defenders with their own former allies (Underling magic/ necromancy trial. DC 65)
>Give Huili the task of leading the next wave, and order him to strike like lightning and blitz through the enemy positions (Underling Command/martial trial. DC 65)

Ending the vote and tallying its result now.

Take advantage of this momentum, and have Yujijiao and Baifenchi "re-invigorate" the ghosts that would otherwise fade away from their injuries, and add them to your forces in a show of mercy, and flood the next floor's defenders with their own former allies:10

Give Huili the task of leading the next wave, and order him to strike like lightning and blitz through the enemy positions:6

Use the windfall of your victory and confusion in the enemies ranks, to send Qiang head hunting again:1

So you'll have Yujijiao and Baifenchi heal/ re-invigorate the ghosts that would otherwise be reduced to ghost flames, adding them to your forces in preparation for your assault on the next floor

Which Huili will lead in a wildfire fast assault.

Update will arrive shortly

"Yujijiao, it is time for a royal presence to grace the battlefield" You answer, leaning forward and flashing a cat's smile as all of the triumph swells as pride in your chest and the starlight in your eyes and trapped within your hair glimmers in the dark, a delighted chuckle rising to fill the still air of the chamber as you turn from your ghostly generals to address the slain serpent, who is wearing a slit mouthed smile, stretching the cuts along her lips to the point the string and nails holding her jaws together begin to stretch and groan "And Baifenchi?"

The white moth with skulls on her wings appears, fluttering from behind one of the urns containing the soul and cremated remains of one of the toadies of the forgotten king, who has gone oddly silent when they had been raging and spitting all manner of hurtful and crude insults, curses and slurs. Odd. She lifts up her head with a quiet curiosity

"You finally have a chance to play around with corpses, and mingle with the dead. Follow Yujijiao's lead, even though you're stronger than she is" You command bluntly, leaning back and kicking one leg over the other as Yujijiao's smile shrinks and dies at hearing your candid words. But them being hurtful doesn't change that they're true.

"And" Your dead junior starts, before twitching as the muscles in her body and in her head fire out of synch with eachother "And what am I leading the little creepy brat to do?"

"Battlefield medicine! raise morale and bolster the spirts of our stalwart spirit soldiers" You snicker, tapping your nails against the arm of your star made throne "Re-invigorate them, give them all an injection of deathly or ghostly yin Qi, re-empower them. And extend this care to our fallen foes, show them my mercy and beneficence. I have a feeling the next floor is going to be harder to take and we need every cold body we can find on the front, the flood and drown them in a sea of phantoms, Heh-Heh"

"Oh! We'll be altering their essence, refining their ghostly existences and strengthening their tethers to this bleak illusionary world!" Baifenchi cheers, far too cheerfully for what she said. Well to most, you find her enthusiasm for such macabre work to be endearing, though you don't know where she got the last bit about an illusionary world from. It'd be best if she stuck to skulls and gloomy decor, instead of whatever that is. Though it did sound kind of buddhist, maybe you'd need to introduce her to Shoushan and Yongzheng?

"You don't need to speak something so obvious outloud!" Yujijiao snaps and blusters, holding her head up proud "Of course that is what we're going to be doing. Huanliuxue obviously is counting on my ability to transform ordinary souls into hungry ghosts to turn the fodder into elite troops"

"But that would be so simple, is that all we're expected to do?" Baifenchi ponders outload "A ghost can be transformed many ways, if one knows which tethers to pull and which to allow to fall slack?"
Cont

>>5978420

"Hah?! Of course we'll need to do more than make a few hungry ghosts! It just didn't need to be said you dull girl!" Yujijiao shouts to try and cover for the fact that the moth knows more about ghosts than she does, when she has spent most of her "Life" as one and is practicing a ghostly cultivation centered around evolving and transforming ghosts.

Though how Baifenchi came to learn the maturation of earthbound souls, is a mystery to you. You're certain she couldn't have read that crummy diary. You keep that particular cursed book under lock and key and heavy surveillance.

"And who will lead these newly raised regiments?" A general with an arrow through his eye and skull asks, flicking out his split tongue like a snake

"Huili" You say plainly, lifting up your eyes to see the wolf is still terrorizing your guards who chose to puppet around their moldering bones "You'll go, and lead them on a lightning raid, blitz through their defenses before they can fortify. Put that speed of yours to good use"

"Hmph, as if I need to be instructed! I'll show you how skilled I am. Just a shame my pal couldn't be here to share the glory!" He all but brags, like his victory is certain and all that's left to do is gloat.

'Well, we'll soon see if that cockiness is earned' You decided, tenting your fingers as you slouch back in your throne, allowing your legs to slip off it and splay out as you watch your three disciples leave to carry out their orders

"What an unseemly posture" Qiang teases, smirking as she crouches at the bottom of your throne, tapping her sheathed sword on the ground

"Fu, Ping, and Qinxin can retreat if they wish" You raise your voice to add to your commands, ignoring her comment "Or they can join up with Huili's assault if they still have energy to fight"

roll 2d100. 1st dice is for Yujijiao/ Baifenchi, 2nd is for Huili.. DC for both is 65

>>5978421
best out of 3, of course

Rolled 57, 85 = 142 (2d100)

>>5978421

Rolled 29, 94 = 123 (2d100)

>>5978421

Rolled 1, 80 = 81 (2d100)

>>5978421
Gather the hoards

>>5978435
>>5978451
Failure + a crit fail, oof for Baifenchi and Yujijiao

>>5978436
But Huili succeeds with 20 over dc, nearly 30.

Update will arrive shortly

>>5978453
This Junior shall commit self-annihiliation

The process of regenerating two armies worth of bested and beaten down ghosts is an arduous and lengthy one. Bolstering and strengthening ties to a world they are constantly being pulled from and drawn away, to return to the cycle of rebirth, even when they are cursed to remain and suffer for their crimes by the god's themselves beneath a mountain they placed to seal them beneath the earth, hastening their recovery from figments and flickering, false balls of fire floating listlessly in the gloom takes either living breath, time or a surplus of negative energy and deathly yin Qi. And when half of the spirits needing treatment run away from their would be saviors, the process is slowed even further and quickly turns irritating. And it is further delayed by a brute smashing and beating the ghosts back into the dreary, weakened state they were found in.

And while a moth that is attracted more to the scent of decay than she is light of any kind, has the patience to deal with these numerous troubles and obstacles in her way, blithely enjoying the time she gets to spend amongst the dead and their decay without a care that the task she was given is expected to be completed on schedule for the next offensive against their enemies lurking beneath their feet, her partner and leader has less patience. Royal pride is easily wounded and in haste to prove herself superior to the morbidly cheerful and careless moth, the slain princess of the oasis tries to make up for lost time and force the problems they face to fix themselves, abandoning Baifenchi in her haste to get the work done and flawlessly to show up the demure, death obsessed moth. And this proves to be a mistake that would've been fatal if she had not been already dead. As Yujijiao flies through the cramped corridors between crypts and connecting tombs, pouring out her excess ghostly energies and the Qi she stole from weaker ghosts outside of the catacomb, blanketing everything and infusing it all with malevolent Qi, she is caught unaware

"Isn't that the stray cat's regent?"

The scuffle is fierce, though it is over in a matter of seconds, as the scouts the boss of the lower floor came prepared to capture prisoners of their own. And had the good fortune of finding the one disciple who could be sealed like any other ghost, away from any help or fellow cultivators.

Yujijiao has been captured!
__

"Hah? That stupid worm wandered off and you haven't been able to find her? Did she let her ego get to her head or something?" Huili growled, circlets of flame ringing his legs as he sat, waiting for the horde of hungry ghosts and monstrous spirits he'd been promised

"She was getting impatient and wouldn't listen when I said it was delicate work" Baifenchi sighed, antenna shifting awkwardly "I was sure she was just storming off in a huff, but, I found this red string"
Cont

>>5978484

Huili frowned, tail curled around his side as he sat on his haunches

"This is one of the one's keeping her head attached? I can still smell her rotting flesh on it" He said with a grimace "Did she run into that maniac ghost? the one master calls chicken"

"No" The moth answered plainly "She slithered through the walls towards where the last of the fighting took place. Uncle Xiongji wandered off in the direction our elder brothers were"

Huili closed his eyes and sighed.

"And her presence grew dim, not long before I discovered this string" Baifenchi continued "I think..."

"She's been captured because her pride got her because master told her to obvious, that you, a stage higher than her, were stronger in spite of her transformation" Huili groaned "And, I'm guessing, she left you to try and do all the work herself, to prove our master "Wrong". When she has that uncanny ability to tell exactly where you are in your cultivation?"

"That is what I'm guessing, yes, though I could be incorrect, Yujijiao is prone to sulking. Maybe her death trauma gripped her and she thrashed around?" She said chipperly as Huili gnashed his fangs

"Unlikely, and master will skin me if she finds out" He whimpered, flames flaring up "She'll go easy on you, because you and her are the same kinda freak"

"I'm going to tell her you said that"

"Tch! Do what you want, I need to get what soldiers I have and get that idiot out the mess she made for herself" Huili raged, running off and turning into a blur, the only sign of his presence an echoing howl, a wordless call to arms

"I should tell master" Baifenchi mused outloud, head tilted to the side and wings pressed flush against her body as she skittered back towards the surface.
__
https://youtu.be/RvYJfqs_TJo
__

A light like a torch or lantern burned in the black expanse of the lightless kingdom of the cursed dead. The smell of ash filled the stagnant air, as two more lights joined the larger one, two beads of amber flecked red and gold like sparks spitting from a hungry flame. A blur of grey singed and charred black at the edges flew through the bleakness, followed by mindless phantoms and bestial ghouls that lopped and sprinted after him, some carrying their more sane counterparts.

While his soldiers fought and scuffled with the forces they encountered, who'd been sent to fortify the new border and prepare for the inevitable attack, their leader, a wolf the size of an ox with an ashen hide and an ethereal lantern held betwixt his jaws, didn't pause or join in the fighting, leading one group of ghosts to another and then flying past them as his side began fighting and kept the other from catching him or grabbing hold of his tail.
Cont

With a steely glint in his eyes and smoke curling around his saber like fangs, the ash gale flew into the lifeless realm, weaving a trail of discord as his army, separated from him and occupied the would be defenders, allowing him and his remaining soldiers to thrust deeper into enemy territory, causing more isolated scuffles and battles away from the would be front line.

But instead of turning around and encircling these pockets of resistance or rushing to fight the reinforcements sent to break up the zig zagging web of raids and strikes that made no sense even the most lucid or deranged amongst the officers present at this staging ground, he ran in the direction of the governor of this layer.

"I'd kill you myself, Yujijiao, if you weren't already dead!" Huili snarled through his teeth, as he leapt over the heads and spears of the latest speed bumps between him and his idiot of a martial sister "No wonder you were the only one of us to die! Stupid, stupid girl!"

Paws touching back to the ground, her lifted his head, caught her scent again and dashed after it, a few flaming butterflies escaping his lantern and igniting as the touched the spectral hands reaching out towards him. A cocky grin bared his fangs, as he realized, how much prestige he'd gain, saving this foolish snake from her own arrogance. If only Chuandapo was here to share in the glory!

With spirits high and blazing, the ash gale howled and resumed pursuit of his martial sister's kidnappers
__

"Where the hell is that mutt running off to!" You rage, slamming a fist into your throne, making Ping, who knows how much work went into making it and the rarity of its materials, wince as Fu shrugs as if you thought he knew and Qinxin shakes his head "He was supposed to wait for reinforcements! Now the battle's started before we could replenish our forces!"

"Xiongji's been spotted moving deeper down the catacombs, and whatever that dog is doing, he's caused quite the stir and disrupted their defensive line, even if he took most of our men down with him to raise hell"
"He's a hot headed youth, shouldn't have been given command, glory seekers like him are always trouble makers"
"Maybe he misunderstood her orders, he is an animal who hasn't learned human wisdom yet?"
"We'll need to divert our other forces to support his troops..."
"I forgot how irksome war can be, I forgot the luxury of obedience..."

"Want me to go scold the haughty hound?" Fu asked curiously "I think his spine needs weakening, if he's gone wild like this"

"Calm yourself, brother Fu, Huili might be proud but he isn't a fool" Ping tempered, eyes closed as he counted his prayer beads

"He isn't like the otter" Qiang agreed. Qinxin remained silent

"Master" Baifenchi said meekly, fluttering into the chamber as you tapped your foot impatiently, having half a mind to go and grab Huili by the scruff of his neck and drag him back yourself "Yujijiao, she was...taken while we were separated, to more quickly raise you new soldiers"

>>5978490

the silence that falls cannot be called deathly or grave like. There is far too much fury and wrath radiating from you for it be so, the air becomes crazed and crackled with bolts and lances of spiritual energy, as your irritation with Huili peaks, twists and becomes a dense and murderous rage that travels out and cracks the floor and shakes the ceiling, pulling the air towards you like the moon does the tide as destructive energies roil from your finger tips and begin to buckle and crack the walls around you

"She's been what!?" You roar, spitting and rising from your throne, snarling furiously as you clench your hand into a fist and pound it into the nearest solid object.

Fu's flight is stopped by a particularly sturdy pillar, after he broke through four other, less well constructed supports.

"That is what Huili thought!" Baifenchi cries as Fu curses and picks himself back up, no worse for having been struck besides a large dent in the breastplate of his armor "And before I could stop him, he ran off, without considering she could've been having a mood swing"

You sigh heavily and collapse back into your throne, hand pressed firmly over your eyes

"Fu, get up so I can hit you again, you're more durable than my throne room!" You snap angrily, needing to vent your rage at something.

It had all been going so well, dammit!

Now you had one student rushing off to save the other!

"L..look on the bright side my liege, the enemies' defenses are currently overwhelmed dealing with the wolf's run through them, and he did obey your command, they are entirely unprepared to repel a more organized and better prepared assault!" One of your officials says to try and calm your temper

And you perk up, smiling as Fu loyally takes a defensive stance and prepares himself to get smacked across the room again.

"That's right" You mutter, rubbing your chin in thought "Hm"

What do you do, Huanliuxue?

>Send Fu with the rest of your forces to stop the enemy from rallying and get a foothold on the next floor before they can oust Huili's forces (Underling command/ martial trial. DC 65)

>Send Baifenchi back to do the job you gave her, and have Ping help her while you bide your time to see if Huili succeeds or not (Underling magic trial. DC 65)

>Give Qiang the task of saving Yuijiao, with or without Huili's help (Stealth trial. DC 70)

>Enraged by this offense, get off your throne and go save Yujijiao yourself.

> send Qiang to recruit some mercenaries from the underworld, using your wealth of souls to hire them

>Write in

>>5978491
>Send Fu with the rest of your forces to stop the enemy from rallying and get a foothold on the next floor before they can oust Huili's forces (Underling command/ martial trial. DC 65)

>Send Baifenchi back to do the job you gave her, and have Ping help her while you bide your time to see if Huili succeeds or not (Underling magic trial. DC 65)
attempt #2 + Fu Boogaloo

>>5978491
>Send Fu to secure the floor.
>Entrust Baifen to finish the job you gave her.

You get one shot at redemption Baifen.
And Huli gets to have his shot at glory or failure. We should be securing the 6th floor of 9, I think.
After this point, it might be the time for us to enter directly.

>>5978491
>Send Baifenchi back to do the job you gave her, and have Ping help her while you bide your time to see if Huili succeeds or not (Underling magic trial. DC 65)

>>5978491
>>5978507
>>5978516
I'll support this, no need to smack our boy through when he did nothing wrong.

Also we should really need to find a solution to reincarnate Yujijiao because being a hungry ghost clearly doesn't suit her regal self...
At the very least she needs a puppet body made of gold.

As for Quixin we should look if his dao would mix well with cosmic to turn into sun or a star to our moon, I feel he may be the one we could try this on.

>>5978491
>Send Fu with the rest of your forces to stop the enemy from rallying and get a foothold on the next floor before they can oust Huili's forces (Underling command/ martial trial. DC 65)

>Send Baifenchi back to do the job you gave her, and have Ping help her while you bide your time to see if Huili succeeds or not (Underling magic trial. DC 65)

>>5978491
>Send Baifenchi back to do the job you gave her, and have Ping help her while you bide your time to see if Huili succeeds or not (Underling magic trial. DC 65)
Yeah it's about time for our entrance onto the battlefield.

>>5978491
>Send Fu with the rest of your forces to stop the enemy from rallying and get a foothold on the next floor before they can oust Huili's forces (Underling command/ martial trial. DC 65)
No use letting the breach Huili made go to waste, might as well capitalise on their weakness.
>Send Baifenchi back to do the job you gave her, and have Ping help her while you bide your time to see if Huili succeeds or not (Underling magic trial. DC 65)
Normally I would advocate to run in and rescue our disciple, but Yujijiao is kinda dead already so they can't really do much to her besides holding her captive.
She is unlikely to have a fun time of course, but I doubt her captors can eat/destroy ghosts.
With that in mind, I'm fine with waiting to see if Huili can rescue her. On paper, he rushed ahead like an idiot, but if he can salvage this, then let him reap the rewards. Otherwise he will be wearing the dunce hat along with Yujijiao once we are done here.
Besides I feel like it's been ages since Huili has had a chance to shine

>>5978491
>Send Fu with the rest of your forces to stop the enemy from rallying and get a foothold on the next floor before they can oust Huili's forces (Underling command/ martial trial. DC 65)

>Send Baifenchi back to do the job you gave her, and have Ping help her while you bide your time to see if Huili succeeds or not (Underling magic trial. DC 65)

>>5978675
>spoiler
Honestly we stop at our base so infrequently (mostly due to having large threats to deal with and general MC shenanigans) that a lot of our disciples haven't had a time to shine outside of our main lot.

Ending and tallying the vote now.

Send Fu with the rest of your forces to stop the enemy from rallying and get a foothold on the next floor before they can oust Huili's forces:6

Send Baifenchi back to do the job you gave her, and have Ping help her while you bide your time to see if Huili succeeds or not:8

So its a landslide victory for having Baifenchi and Ping continue the re-invigorating work, and also having Fu go with the ghosts who didn't follow Huili to prevent the enemy from linking up and pushing back your forces that are already fighting on the currently contested floor.

Update will arrive shortly

>>5978491
>Send Fu with the rest of your forces to stop the enemy from rallying and get a foothold on the next floor before they can oust Huili's forces (Underling command/ martial trial. DC 65)
We wanna do the shock and awe thing we really need to keep on pressing. I don't know why we ever called back Qiang either, she should just keep doing what she does best behind enemy lines until we're at our target.

Snapping your fingers, you jab a finger towards Fu, who lets out a great sigh at seeing you've calmed down enough to no longer need to use him as a punching bag to vent your frustrations.

"Fu, take the soldiers that didn't follow Huili in his rush to save Yujijiao and support the ones who did, prevent our enemies from rallying and pushing us back, you'll be acting as the reinforcements for the isolated ghosts, just follow the path he made and join in on the fighting that's already going on" You command quickly, hand still raised in the air as Fu nods, punching the side of his armor to force the demon spider silk to reform and remove the dent you made in his breastplate with one, wild swing mid tantrum.

"Understood. Should I try to help him save Yujijiao or focus on getting a foothold on the contested floor and conquering it completely?" He asks just as quickly, one axe resting over his shoulder and the other held to the ground, his eyes shining with confidence as he speaks to you. He probably could outright take the floor himself, with how big of a boost all of the grudges and Qi of the ghosts down here have given him, plus the steroid he took early this morning

"Let Huili claim his glory, if he can. If he can't and fails, well that'll temper his pride. However we can't let the breach he created go to waste" You explain with a nod and frown, impatiently tapping a finger on the arm of your throne as you circle around it, still too incensed to even think about sitting down and relaxing "Strike when they're weak, don't allow them the chance to recover their strength and organize. Mercilessly slaughter them, Fu, drink deep their grudges and turn their own spite against them. Go. Do not delay, the opening won't remain for long"

And with that, Fu takes his leave, rubbing his back with one hand as he marches out of the room.

"At least you didn't rip his head off this time" Qiang comments taciturnly, still crouched by the side of your throne, regluing the paper talismans and exorcist slips she wrapped around her sword to fight ghosts with

"That poor boy" Qinxin mutters under his breath, laid out a top of coffin to recover from using so much of his life as fuel to impress you, which is actually a pretty nice gesture even if it was stupidly suicidal.

"Fu can take a lot of abuse" Ping idly muses, stroke his chin where a beard would grow if he had one "Honestly it is a little frightening how much damage he can take before showing any signs of slowly down or weakening. I stopped my heart, and I'm not certain I could survive some of the punishment he's taken without so much as flinching"

"Besides his strength and ferocity, his durability is his greatest quality in a fight" Qiang butts in, leaning against your throne as you pace around the other side in deep contemplation

"I wonder if his body thinks its already a corpse" Baifenchi ponders outload, sounding excited by the idea, which is admittedly a very fun idea.
Cont

>>5979228

"Baifenchi. Get back to work. Take your senior martial brother Ping with you to oversee and assist you. We'll wait and see if Huili succeeds or not and if Fu needs any backup himself" You declare, clenching a fist while staring into the palm of your hand, drawing two drops of blood with your nails and willing them to dance and spiral from the small scratches like two dragons in flight "The rest of you, remain here, depending on how the tides of battle shift, I may need to send any of you three back into the fray unexpectedly..."

roll 2d100. 1st dice Baifenchi/ Ping, 2nd Fu. DC for both 65

>>5979229
best out of three, of course, second time I've forgotten to put that in. if there's a third I'll kowtow and break my arm as penance

Rolled 76, 77 = 153 (2d100)

>>5979229
>>5979230
Don't worry, as both with pass on the first roll anyway!

Rolled 19, 81 = 100 (2d100)

>>5979228
COMMAND, RIIIISE

Rolled 68, 61 = 129 (2d100)

>>5979229

>>5979235
A most skilful display, senior

>>5979235
>>5979246
Fair success for both, 10 over DC. Update will arrive shortly

Also what are the chances of that second set rolling exactly 100?

>>5979248
Fu puts up with so much shit.

Is he our favorite because he can endure the most fickle whims of ours? Or can he endure the most fickle whims of ours because he is our favorite?

Either way we take good care of the second best boy, so nobody can complain.

https://youtu.be/O9eHRiaTuL4
__

Moth and Monk both dance through the ruin sepulchers and vaults, rousing the masters of the old bones that spill out from them and waking the sleep souls reduced to mere flickering flames in the gloom, they move close together, with the thankful spirits escorting them from crypt to crypt, speaking words of encouragement to the next patients, praising the two of them for their work in revitalizing the dead and increasing their essence and grip on the living world with injections of ghostly and deathly yin qi in its purest forms, and rituals and chants that had been outlawed and branded as apostasy most foul generations past. With the work already partially done and with some ghosts already energized and soothed by the rotting breath of the serpent princess, the second duo to attempt the task had a far easier time completing it. Not only because the spirits they tended were more open to their care and tender mercies, but also because the two worked together and the disparity between their magical power and cultivation bases were much shorter than they had been when Yujijiao was leading the effort.

Forbidden rites and heretical spells were performed and casted as the battlefield of the dead became lively, and a troupe of ghostly dancers followed the white haired monk and the white winged moth.

And experiencing the relief of having their excess negative energy drained away the turmoil of their bitter and poison emotions released even momentarily, convinced many of those ghosts who fought back against the invader sent into their still lands by Huanliuxue to switch their allegiances and offer their services to her army, joining the supply lines marching into the deeper portions of the catacombs held by their forgotten king, singing songs about saving snakes from traps and freeing princesses from unwanted arranged weddings.

Their marching tunes clashed with the severe and somewhat frightening silence of the specters that they joined, following the relentless march of the man who earned his fame with his two axe style and the villains he chopped down like so much old timber. What once had been a grim procession turns into a cheerful festival and dance of the dead, whose boisterous and bawdy songs were only silenced by the grinding of axe heads across stone floor as Fu of the two axes stomped forward and lead their charge into the lower crypts, knowing failure was not an option nor a possibility with him leading the march.
__
https://youtu.be/BgQ8sa0HPtQ
__

The second wave arrived with cheerful songs and lively faces that shouldn't be worn by the dead. Instead of war horns and mournful cries, the arrival of the skull faced general came with stomping feet and lively music as the axe wielding whirlwind moved from battleground to battleground.
Cont

>>5979310

Fu swung his axes in time and rhythm with his back up dancers and musicians who had seemed to realize they'd only get in his way and instead served by feeding him their ghostly breath and resentment, pouring their grudges on his back and drenching him in their deathly essence and rotten Qi, each drop of spiritual dripped into his shadow growing his power and making him fight more and more ferociously as spirits fought for the right to possess him and lend him their strength in a more direct and dangerous way.

No matter how many opponents were in his way or what kinds of monsters were sent against them, the skull helmeted menace cut them down like dried lumber, leading his lively dead troops in literally stomping over their enemies as they surged from one scuffle to the next, pushing aside the defenses that had been constructed in time and slamming into the next encampment of enemy forces while they were occupied battling the isolated pockets of the first, blitzing assault through their territories and the fortifications they'd placed throughout it. He moved like a whirlwind, destroying like a wildfire and conquering like a dragon.

And having heard reports of his massacre on the upper floor, the sight of the crow feather cloak wearing, axe wielding warrior cloaked in grudges and draped in shadow was enough to terrify the monsterous spirits and twisted ghosts that existed in the lower levels of the catacombs of the bloodless war. And no matter how many of his troops they subjugated, sealed or beat back, Fu did not stop fighting or take a single step back. And the army behind his back never did seem to shrink, only growing more and more the longer he fought and the longer the ethereal performers behind him sang and danced jovially to the drum beat of the ruthless beating her gave to the hungry ghosts who still served the forgotten king.

Butterflies made of embers and spark fluttered through the air the deeper the advance pushed. Fires, real fires, rather than ghost lights bobbing in the air, began to scorch the air as they used the old bones and rags as kindling. Fu paused, and smiled, resting his axes in the back of a towering, bull headed ghost as he stood atop it.

The fires were growing larger and higher the further ahead they burned.

And in the distance, there was loud roar as a great conflagration erupted with an explosion of hot air and whipping flames.

"Seems your bark isn't worse than your bite after all, Huili" He remarked, before stomping the head of the bull headed spirit beneath him through the floor and continued pummeling the struggling ghost into the ground of the floor he broke into using his own body like a hammer.
Cont

>>5979311
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https://youtu.be/62lpLoCX4aI
__

An ash hued bolt of lighting illuminated the bleak abyss of the catacombs that have never been touched by the warmth of the sun, a bolt of flame that pounced, ran and flew, surrounded by a flock of burning butterflies as he fought against the fiercest rival he'd met since he foolishly thought to bare his fangs towards the cat who'd become his master.

The ghost, terrible and ancient, bellowed with laughter, the scouts who'd brought him back his prize floating around him as dim balls of pale white fire, having already had their throats torn out by the wolf whose fangs glowed from within as spiritual flame burned, like the red hot embers of smoldering wood or the glow of freshly heated metal. With a night lantern held firmly between his slavering jaws, the wolf who ran along an ash gale snarled, as cinder butterflies flew from his mouth and burst, becoming gouts of flame beneath his feet as he put everything he had into his speed.

A bladed whip struck, a serpent hissed inside of the bird cage she was trapped in and the two opponents became a blur of motion so quick, the wind they churned up cut through stone and gouged in the floor

"It has been too long since I've hunted wolf! How hot the meat was, as the blood steamed on my tongue, torn from the fresh kill" The ghost general brayed with laughter, long fangs dripping with cursed energy and raw malice as Huili padded in front of him, eyes focused on the cage he held in one hand, spreading a mist of famine around himself.

"I can say the same of human flesh, nothing tastes quite as good as the meat of another predator" He spat back, smashing his latest lantern on the ground, creating a cloud of ghost butterflies beneath him, that exploded into a pillar of flame that sent him soaring.

The bladed whip cackled as its wielder twitch his wrist, pulling the spine that served as its grip, the skull that the whip sprung from laughing as it moved around unnaturally and struck like a scorpion tail at the back of the ashen wolf. But Huili drifted through the air, using the flames at his paw as propulsion to fly past the jagged edges of metal and tusk like teeth that jutted from the whip. Blood wept in the air and then was set on fire as he used the larger of the butterflies as stepping stones as he zigged and zagged through the air like red lightning.

The ghost general was still laughing as his saber like teeth cut through and crushed the armor on his shoulder. Planting his paws on his chest and digging his claws in, he bit down harder as the ghost grabbed hold of his head with his third arm and began to apply pressure to crush his skull.

His teeth, sanctified with fire from the night lantern and blessed with its sutra, sliced through the ghost's armor and shoulder blade, chomping through the "meat" of his arm and severing it in a gush of oil black blood, as he felt his own skull crack and blood dribbled out of his eyes.
Cont

>>5979313

He dropped to the ground, and grabbed the severed limb in his mouth, bounding away as the ghost general roared and gave pursuit, lashing out with his thirsting whip as Huili tried to rapidly plan his next move. Escape? Flight? Battle? Fight? His bestial instincts fought against his pride and the vicious urge to take revenge for the deep, bleeding gashes marring his fur across his side, back and haunches.

He turned on his heel, leaping in the air and smashing the arm and cage on the ground

"BROTHER HUILI!" Yujijiao wailed, with oil black tears streaking down her serpentine face as she appeared in a puff of smoke, patches of snake skin torn off and bruised "YOU SAVED ME~"

"Off me!" He barked as she coiled around him "Can you fight?"

"My hero, my savior! I knew you weren't someone to look down on, even when you were meek, you have a warrior's heart!" She cried out, blubbering as she slithered around him, weeping

"Enough! Can you defend yourself or not?" He snarled, not liking the way the deranged snake spirit was looking at him, it almost looked hungry "There's no time for your foolish bleating"

"They only captured me because I was taken off guard!" The ghost blustered, spitting and barring her fangs

"Then fight with me!" Huili roared, and gone in a flash as sudden as the spark of lightning in the night sky, he charged his opponent and leapt for his throat

And was followed by a hissing serpent large enough to swallow a man whole. A vortex formed in her maw, drawing on the ghostly energy from the general, devouring them as he stood, defiant and with whip whirling through the air.

He was the second general to fall in battle that day, bested by a ill tempered wolf and his swift movements, as well as the surprise assistance his new admirer...

Huili has been injured, but has reached Foundation establishment rank 2 after emerging victorious against a strong foe
__

"The floor was taken? Already?! Wasn't the general still well behind enemy lines? Was Fu truly that frightening, or did our recruitment drive really give us that big of an advantage" You marvel, laid out on your back, strumming ghost empress melody as it hangs in the above your head

"Apparently, according to reports, fires were lit deep in enemy territory, and there was an explosive conflagration that scorched the ceiling. Something about cinder butterflies?" The breathless and lifeless scout says as Ping laughs, one arm tucked in his robe

"Seems Huili knew what he was doing, he must've tracked Yujijiao's presence or scent or something right to the general's hiding hole!" He exclaims

"He did mention smelling her rot on the piece of string I showed him" Baifenchi said sweetly, sucking on a bit of water from a severed skull, donated to her by one of your treasurers

"Too flashy to be called an assassination, but still, that pup had guts to pull off something like that" Qiang chuckled, still fiddling with her sword and writing new talismans to place on it.

Cont

>>5979314

"Then he must've saved Yujijiao as well" You say happily, shoulders relaxing as relief washes over you "I'll admit, I underestimated him. I'll have to congratulate him when he returns. But first"

'What are my next orders?' you wondered, pouting as you played a tune Qiang called "Depressing"

And what were your next orders, Huanliuxue?

>For Fu to continue leading your forces, including Xiongji if he could find him and break through into the next layer of the tomb (Underling Command/ martial trial. DC 80)

>Have Qiang slip into the next floor and see if she exorcise a few officials and officers (Underling Stealth trial DC 75)

>With Yujijiao back, use her abilities as a Hunger Incarnate ghost to soften up the next floor's defenders (Underling Magic trial 85)

>Whittle away at the next floor by continuously assaulting it with wave after wave of ghostly soldiers, waiting for an opportunity to arrive to break the stalemate

>The next floor might be too much for your disciples to handle on their own, so enter the stage and show the forgotten king's men the majesty and terror of a true monarch!

>Write in

>>5979290
Hehehe, He really does. This makes me want to see a picture of Fu going "Nah I'd win"

>>5979315
All our disciples have had their chance to shine and their chance to glow.
Only ONE needs a chance to redeem herself before we stop playing and take to the stage ourselves.

>Use hunger incarnate ghost to soften up the defenders.
>Wave tactics.

>>5979315
>The next floor might be too much for your disciples to handle on their own, so enter the stage and show the forgotten king's men the majesty and terror of a true monarch!

>>5979315
>>For Fu to continue leading your forces, including Xiongji if he could find him and break through into the next layer of the tomb (Underling Command/ martial trial. DC 80)

>>5979315
>Have Qiang slip into the next floor and see if she exorcise a few officials and officers (Underling Stealth trial DC 75)
>>5979328
I do think letting her redeem herself is great but an 85 DC is not an easy thing to beat in a 1d100
>The next floor might be too much for your disciples to handle on their own, so enter the stage and show the forgotten king's men the majesty and terror of a true monarch!
No need to waste manpower needlessly.
Our disciples had the chance to shine, but who says we can't shine alongside them?

>>5979315
>The next floor might be too much for your disciples to handle on their own, so enter the stage and show the forgotten king's men the majesty and terror of a true monarch!
Our disciples have all had a good showing. *cough*exceptYujijiao*cough*
I think this is a good time to step up ourselves. For the most part I expected us alone to be enough to crush everything down here anyway, but we managed to conquer two floors without revealing what we could do, I would say that is pretty good. I imagine that from now on we would be throwing our disciples in the face of even stronger enemies who were probably busy plotting countermeasures to them, so I would rather we start getting our hands dirty.

Huili did a very good job, we will need to heal and reward him with something. Ideally he would tell us what he wants, but I'm also curious on how well the mountain bending rose drug works on animals.

>>5979315
>Have Qiang slip into the next floor and see if she exorcise a few officials and officers (Underling Stealth trial DC 75)

>>5979315
>The next floor might be too much for your disciples to handle on their own, so enter the stage and show the forgotten king's men the majesty and terror of a true monarch!
Sorry Yuji, you can get your honor back in a moment, it is time we flex. Probably can get some Cosmic Qi practice down here since no one would detect it.
Also, really enjoying the musical accompaniments. Did you have these preselected or were they simply what you were listening to while writing.

>>5979315
>With Yujijiao back, use her abilities as a Hunger Incarnate ghost to soften up the next floor's defenders (Underling Magic trial 85)

>>5979315
>The next floor might be too much for your disciples to handle on their own, so enter the stage and show the forgotten king's men the majesty and terror of a true monarch!

Write-in
>Show our disciples the power of Ghost melody and empower the ghosts with our playing and our qi. as we take the stage

>>5979315
>>5979615
+1

>>5979615
Supporting the write-in. This should boost not only Fu, but Yujijiao as well once she's in range of our music.

Martial brothers and sisters, the qst contest thread conducts IP registration for voting. If you didn't stake an IP before, please produce an art of Huan (of any quality or absence thereof) and post there, to avoid our Empress being disgraced by a lack of votes.

>>5979315
>>The next floor might be too much for your disciples to handle on their own, so enter the stage and show the forgotten king's men the majesty and terror of a true monarch!

>>5979315
HUILI getting a ghost snake admirer gonna be funny.

At least Yujijiao will have a new reason to become stronger.

Oh right, are those two ghosts still following our newest disiple?

Also been thinking about if we should heal our disiple who is blind. I'm sure we can create some medicine ya know. Or train him to see the world in qi.

>>5979315
>With Yujijiao back, use her abilities as a Hunger Incarnate ghost to soften up the next floor's defenders (Underling Magic trial 85)

Ending the vote, tallying the result now. Had another dream I was running a touhou quest, if I was more superstitious, I might've taken it as a sign lol.

With Yujijiao back, use her abilities as a Hunger Incarnate ghost to soften up the next floor's defenders:3

Whittle away at the next floor by continuously assaulting it with wave after wave of ghostly soldiers, waiting for an opportunity to arrive to break the stalemate:1

The next floor might be too much for your disciples to handle on their own, so enter the stage and show the forgotten king's men the majesty and terror of a true monarch!:7
-Show our disciples the power of Ghost melody and empower the ghosts with our playing and our qi. as we take the stage:3

For Fu to continue leading your forces, including Xiongji if he could find him and break through into the next layer of the tomb:1

Have Qiang slip into the next floor and see if she exorcise a few officials and officers:2

So realizing the trials ahead might be too much for your disciples to handle, you'll enter the battlefield and show the forgotten king's man the terror and majesty of a real ruler.

Update will arrive shortly

>>5979435
I am glad junior is enjoying them, and sometimes I pick them out, or spend a little while looking for the right song, but I always listen to them while I'm writing the part they're connected to, so the writing and music synchronize better.

>>5979972
I expect it to be, lol

Yes

Hong? remember one of his focuses is perception, but you can heal him if you want to of course

>>5980543
Darn, the GEM write-in came too late to get backers.

>>5980543
If you were to run a Touhou quest once Huan's adventures come to an end, Grandfather, I would gladly play it. Touhou already operates on wuxia/xianxia principles anyway, so it would kind of fit.

But the next thought that rises unbidden from the multitude of them that fill your mind, is brilliant in how simple it is

'Do I really need to give another order?' You ask yourself, your pout turning extra cat like as you lean forward 'It was a surprise we were able to take the second floor so easily, and desperation was part of the reason we did. Huili is a bit weaker than Fu, Qiang, Ping and Qinxin, and while he won the fight he had with the ghost general, I can sense he took quite the beating, judging from the off rhythm beating of his heart, so far below this throne of mine'

Leaning back, you cross your arms and close your eyes, deep in thought as you weigh all the options and consider what to do, but once again, the nagging thought pushes itself to the front of the line and demands your attention

'Is this really the time to be lounging on my throne? My beloved students might not be able to handle the monsters beyond the next set of seals' You worry balks and forces your eyes open as quickly as you shut them 'The ghosts we've been facing have only been getting tougher with every step deeper we take into the catacombs'

Brow creased, nose scrunched and lips parted in half a scowl, you adjust your posture in your throne of star fallen jade and groan angrily, as flashes of what could happen to your disciples, some of whom you count amongst your favorite people, if you command them to march into the deeper darkness of the crypts. Fu might be able to survive a decapitation, Ping may be half a ghost, and Qiang might be the heiress of your personal cultivation technique, but the things powerful ghosts are capable of unleashing, their dread powers and vile curses, might be too much even for them to endure and fight back against.

'Besides, all of them besides Yuji have had their chance to shine brilliantly and stand proud' You tell yourself as you push yourself out of the throne 'it's time that their teacher takes the stage to dazzle our audience, and to show the forgotten king's troops the majesty and terror only possessed by true royalty, such as myself'

"But first it is time for this seat to make her entrance!" You declare, to loud and approving cheering of your toadies, underlings, peons and officials, officers, logicians, mystics and generals. The reactions of your students are more mixed, though they're all positive and supportive of your choice to enter the fray personally and start hunting the mice they were struggling so hard against

"Time for a slaughter" Fu bellows loudly, a vicious grin beneath the bandages wrapped around his face "They've gone too far kidnapping one of our own!"

"They won't survive, even if they're dead" Qiang says with a sagely nod

"I've caught my breath, I can fight by your side, sect head!" Qinxin protests, lifting himself up with his dao as a crutch
Cont

>>5980634
"I'll support you from here, master!" Baifenchi promises, and she doesn't need to say how she'll support you, since it is pretty obvious how she would.

"I shall, if it is not presumptuous of me, take command of the ghostly army" Ping says excitedly, though you're uncertain if his excitement is for the chance to command his own underlings or to see you let loose and glimpse the full, unrestrained power of a peerless golden core stage cultivator.

Grinning excitedly, you grab the helmet of your armor and place it atop your head like the crown it resembles, the skeletal hands on its sides pushing forward to cover your face, as the rubies set in the eyes carved in along the band glittering like wet blood in the ghostly glow cast by your court of the dead. The fine polish of your silver armor shines, its mirror like surface catching shadow and making the images bones, crow feathers and cats etched into its surface seem alive as the fur skirt shifts with your stride. If it wasn't for the helmet, breastplate, clawed gauntlets, vambraces, shoulder pads, and armored leggings and boots, your armor would appear to be extravagant imperial dress.

The perfect outfit for facing a rival noble in any kind of contest.

Gliding out of your throne room, moving ethereally like your ghostly subjects, the moment you reach the entrance of the chamber and step out, you release your spiritual pressure and allow your aura to be fully revealed in all of its grandeur.

And the moment you do, in your mind's eye, in a darkened throne room with a thousand blades stuck in the ground and walls, and with a throne made out of fused, black skeletons, the shadow of a man lounging atop the pile of corpse's flashes an enthused grin, matching your own excited expression. And though he's leagues further beneath the ground, for a moment, it feel as if your eyes meet with his. Two spheres of blood red malevolence with swirls of black and gold and pale white pupils, meeting your amber hued and star filled eyes from across the battlefield. You cannot see his face, just his smile and eyes floating in the darkness, and the ancient, rust spotted armor he wears, with a massive hole in the place his heart would be. That feral smile, those wild eyes, that broken armor.

Without speaking a word, the illusion of the forgotten king issues a challenge and with a gesture of his hand, bids you to try to reach him to fight him in the way only ghosts can.

-
https://youtu.be/3wUvLJkxjDI
-

Your immense auras clash, and your excited smile turns twisted and crooked as you realize the forgotten king is able to match your spiritual pressure. He isn't a weakling, but why would he be? When he was alive, the gods themselves intercede to stop his conquest.
Cont

>>5980636

The meeting of two mass graves, their boundaries spilling over and the corpses beneath their soil blurring the line as they rot together, with a blood moon floating forebodingly over one side of the battlefield and fresh corpses and the soon to be dead bleeding out their lives into the soil, the steam of their final breathes rising to become mist in the night air, and on the other, Chrysanthemums of white and red sprout across the long abandoned graveyard, the colors of grief and of celebration and the flower of longevity.

That is what you envision it as, at the line where your ghostly, bloody and moonlit aura meets his dread and deathly aura.

The ground buckles, black lightning arcs through the air, as a sea of grudges pours out from your finger tips, crackling with enmity and choking the air, the sickly sweet aroma of decay and blood fills every space and the mysterious twinkling and unknown feeling of space blankets the darkness that surrounds you.

"Come. Face me" The very stones beneath your feet whisper.

And then you take your second step out, the sound of chattering teeth, vomiting and wailing breaking the silence as your disciples get hit by edge of the forgotten king's pulse of Qi, and even just that brief glancing blow is enough to put them on their knees and knock them out completely.

Now more excited than ever, you rush through your newly attained territories, switching between forms when it suits you and to get to the frontline quicker, skipping as a human girl, bounding as giant cat, you rush past your soldiers marching to join the fight, and leap over the heads of the ones standing guard at chokepoints and entrances leading further down into the catacombs. And judging from how they've changed, and the ethereal fire burning in the walking skeletons and rotting corpses is raging like they've been doused in oil, your and the forgotten king's initial clash has invigorated all of the prisoners here as much as it is has thrilled you. And with your aura subsuming and spreading to fill the catacombs, it is long before there is another clash and spark between the king's presence and your own.

The mountain itself trembles, and the air becomes hazy with miasma and stardust as pure death strikes against the mysterious and tantalizing blend of grave dirt, spilled blood and moonlight. Some ghosts scream in agony from being crushed beneath such pure life essence, others stand like opium addicts with guileless smiles as they're washed with your and the king's ghostly breath, and other's stand frozen, eyes filled with star light as you run past and in a few instances right through them.

The fires lit by Huili, still burning before you stepped on the second new floor to your kingdom, are snuffed out with a gust of cold, shivering wind and their light is replaced with the crimson glow of the blood moon.
Cont

>>5980639

Each step you take becomes a splash as the dripping water filtering through the mountain through the roots that break into the crypts are transmuted to blood that begins to crawl after you, clinging to your legs as you run, faster and faster. But soon that light is blotted out by billowing clouds of grudge energy, that flow out of your mouth like smoke from a funerary pyre as the excitement for the fateful meeting to come grows and grows in your heart, turning the rush before a fight into a heat like a fever as you relish the chance to prove your superiority against a rival.

Something that is instinctive for both beasts and nobility.

Standing atop a pool of blood, darkened by the miasma of resentment, you reach the entrance to the level below the lowest layer of your kingdom. One of the gateways that prevents stronger ghosts from crawling up closer to the surface. Something that never really was an obstacle in your way, due to have refined your Qi control was, you could masquerade as a weaker spirit and slip back up through, where as the actual ghosts down here would be trapped. Except Xiongji, who has at some point in your excited run down into the crypt found you and joined you, though you never figured out how a ghost as vengeful and strong as him managed it as well.

"No matter" You scoff, and raise up a foot. The gateways have never troubled you, even when you were much weaker than you are now.

Now

They're just like any other door, even if they were carved by the gods and enchanted by them.

And as you lift your leg up, your realize exactly how Xiongji moved so freely through the catacombs, without ever getting stuck or trapped, to rampage to his hateful heart's content

He just forced the gates open. Like you're about to break this one to pieces.

"YES!" The rooster general roars, as you stomp sheathed with destructive yin Qi, shatters the divine barrier, and a rush of malevolent Qi washes out against you. He...waits

He doesn't push his way past you, he just stands there, staring into the open space, politely waiting for you to go in first.

Which you do with gusto, and the moment you do, your rooster and all of the other ghosts who've pledged themselves to you rush in like water through a crack, lifting you up and carrying you on an ethereal tide.

"IMPOSSIBLE! SHE'S BROKEN THE SEAL!" One of the unfortunate soldiers sent to guard the frontline of the forgotten king's territory cries out, before they're dragged under the tide of ghosts and mauled by the ravenous dead as you laugh and laugh, eyes set and focused on the gloom in front of you, where you can, from the pressure you feel behind your temple, sense where the forgotten king is sitting, even though he's still far away from you.
Cont

>>5980642


Now that you've entered the fight, what do you do, Huanliuxue?

>Leap off from the backs of your soldiers, and cut a bloody swathe through the fleeing soldiers with Moon Collapse and your claws, shifting between forms like a shadow in fire light (Martial trial. DC 85)

>Lay back on the tide of the wrathful dead, and play for them while breathing out as much grudge smoke as you can to drown the tombs with your gathered resentment (Magic trial DC 95)

>Perform the demon art: Blood Rain, Chaos Mist, and see how effective it is against the dead (Magic trial. DC 120)

>Unleash a barrage of destructive yin spheres, and shooting star darts and blast apart and destroy anything in your way! (Magic trial DC 90)

>write in

>>5980645
>>Lay back on the tide of the wrathful dead, and play for them while breathing out as much grudge smoke as you can to drown the tombs with your gathered resentment (Magic trial DC 95)

>>5980645
>Blood rain

Lets see what this does.

>>5980645
>Lay back on the tide of the wrathful dead, and play for them while breathing out as much grudge smoke as you can to drown the tombs with your gathered resentment (Magic trial DC 95)

>>5980645
>Lay back on the tide of the wrathful dead, and play for them while breathing out as much grudge smoke as you can to drown the tombs with your gathered resentment (Magic trial DC 95)
I am starting to see why Grandfather was looking forward to us challenging the forgotten king. He seems... fun.
In retrospect I should have suspected that a man who makes Xiongji into his general instead of locking him up like a rational person would is going to be some shade of badass.

>>5980645
>>Lay back on the tide of the wrathful dead, and play for them while breathing out as much grudge smoke as you can to drown the tombs with your gathered resentment (Magic trial DC 95)

>>5980645
>Leap off from the backs of your soldiers, and cut a bloody swathe through the fleeing soldiers with Moon Collapse and your claws, shifting between forms like a shadow in fire light (Martial trial. DC 85)

>>5980766
If we play our cards right, we might be able to recruit this guy. We've had our differences, but if his main beef is with the gods, we might not be that different on a fundamental level.

>>5980838
Personally I would definitely like to try and recruit him.
Between us both being royalty, both having a strong affinity with the dead, and both of us hating the gods, we have a lot in common. Hell, judging by this short exchange we just had we are both pretty hot-headed so that's another plus.
The only question is whether or not his pride will allow him to serve under someone else, or if his hatred of the gods is even stronger. I like our odds personally, considering all the shit the gods put him through, but you never know.
Ultimately we will need to meet him first anyway, for all we know he enjoyed murdering kids for fun, so we may not want him at all.

>>5980645
>Perform the demon art: Blood Rain, Chaos Mist, and see how effective it is against the dead (Magic trial. DC 120)

>>5980645
>Perform the demon art: Blood Rain, Chaos Mist, and see how effective it is against the dead (Magic trial. DC 120)

>>5980645
>Lay back on the tide of the wrathful dead, and play for them while breathing out as much grudge smoke as you can to drown the tombs with your gathered resentment (Magic trial DC 95)

I am curious about Blood Rain Chaos Mist, but I gotta keep my loyalty to good music.

>>5980645
>>Lay back on the tide of the wrathful dead, and play for them while breathing out as much grudge smoke as you can to drown the tombs with your gathered resentment (Magic trial DC 95)

>>5980645
>>Perform the demon art: Blood Rain, Chaos Mist, and see how effective it is against the dead (Magic trial. DC 120)

>>5980645
>Lay back on the tide of the wrathful dead, and play for them while breathing out as much grudge smoke as you can to drown the tombs with your gathered resentment (Magic trial DC 95)

>>5980645
>>Lay back on the tide of the wrathful dead, and play for them while breathing out as much grudge smoke as you can to drown the tombs with your gathered resentment (Magic trial DC 95)
The Huan special of opening up with a buff. Also,
>and on the other, Chrysanthemums of white and red sprout across the long abandoned graveyard, the colors of grief and of celebration and the flower of longevity.
I'm guessing a wood Qi for our eventual fight with the nameless king?

Ending the vote and tallying its result now

Lay back on the tide of the wrathful dead, and play for them while breathing out as much grudge smoke as you can to drown the tombs with your gathered resentment :8

Perform the demon art: Blood Rain, Chaos Mist, and see how effective it is against the dead:4

Leap off from the backs of your soldiers, and cut a bloody swathe through the fleeing soldiers with Moon Collapse and your claws, shifting between forms like a shadow in fire light:1

So you'll lay back and play ghost empress melody, and expel as many grudges as you can, strengthening your frenzied ghosts and drowning the lower tombs with your collected resentment

Update will arrive shortly

The flow of the ghostly warriors beneath you, in their frenzied charge, bucks you and throws you back as if you were an unbroken and wild stallion. Laughing now from both how fun it is being thrown around so wildly and the rush at seeing the terrified faces of hungry and monstrous ghosts fleeing before you like rats and mice scattering from piled game, the clashing of ethereal blades and the bellowed roar cries reverberate through you, shaking you to the marrow of your bones your silver armor rings while the folds of your imperial dress ruffle in the stagnant air as you're carried atop the flowing river of vengeful spirits that have lifted you nearly as high as your own spirits are soaring! Throwing your head back, you summon ghost empress melody from the air above your head, tugging on the unseen, intangible strings to pull the floating Guqin down to your finger tips, as billows and gouts of grudge energy and raw enmity and resentment burst from your lips with your cackling howls of laughter, painting all before you in deep shades of black like some unseen hand has, in a childish tantrum, splashed all of the world with writing ink!

Leaning back, you allow yourself to be carried on top of your army, some of your soldiers lifting up their hands to hold you aloft and all that's missing from the scene is a litter made of femurs and ribcages for you to sit in as they lift you and bring you closer to your rival for the dominion of the dead.

Branding that mental image into your thoughts, holding onto it tightly and jealously, you swing one leg over the other as you swing your head side to side, throwing and spilling your collected grudges everywhere, little voices muttering and whispering inside the clouds black as pitch, repeating their curses and animosity as the air begins to sting from just how much condensed spite has been released into it. The air itself has become venomous with resentment~ Heh-Heh! How fitting an atmosphere for your arrival to the battle.

Composing yourself, calming your heart, you swing one leg over the other, adjust and stiffen your posture to sit like a proper noble lady, serene, distant and mysterious as you close your eyes, stretch out your fingers and using the clawed ends of your armored gloves, test the tuning of your enchanted Guqin by running two fingers from each hand over the strings, hearing almost hiss like tone shrilly cry out and pierce through the deafening sounds of the battle raging between two armies of vicious and hungry spirits.

Satisfied with the sound your dearest treasure made, you take a deep breath, puff out your chest, settle your hands on either side of the Guqin, and start strumming a song that is compose from both your heart and the most potent and enduring of your collection of grudges.

roll 2d100. Best out of five. DC 95

Rolled 19, 41 = 60 (2d100)

>>5981810

Rolled 34, 68 = 102 (2d100)

>>5981810
You wanna see a magic trick? 14 and 71.

Rolled 79, 28 = 107 (2d100)

>>5981810
Fellow Juniors, please allow me.

>>5981836
This Junior is now on suicide watch

Rolled 35, 21 = 56 (2d100)

>>5981810

Rolled 4, 27 = 31 (2d100)

>>5981810

>>5981836
Nice success. 10 over DC. Update will arrive shortly

https://youtu.be/oiSS5ML6y3s
-
The music flows with the streams of resentment, the bitterness that has preserved these wrathful spirits for so long after their death, the spiteful grudges that have driven them crazy and turned them deranged, it issues forth from the nigh imperceptible space between Ghost Empress Melody's strings and your finger tips, a sorrowful lament that travels through the air, its vibrations visible through the dust and fog of undying enmity that spills out over your carefully painted lips to seep through the skeletal face guard hiding your beautiful face from the denizens and serfs of the forgotten king's unchanging and maddened kingdom. The cursed that has sealed the spirits here reacts to the music, just as the ghosts carrying you are empowered and strengthened by its melody and tune and the spirits they clash against are weighed down by the resentment crackling and crazing through the black clouds of manifested grudges you vomit out over all of them.

The air turns sour, bitter, spicy, the flavors of life intermingling with the aromas of death as the accompaniment you provide acts as the procession for a funeral and the welcoming of a new monarch. You roll your head, back and forth, purposefully making your sitting self look like a hanged corpse propped up with a Guqin set over her legs, in a form of mockery or perhaps a show of mourning and respect. The waves of sound ripple out as your hands dart, moving up and down the body of the magic Guqin, as the roars of the berserk specters beneath you become horn blows and trumpet blares to your ears, and their charge into the enemy formation becomes the heady beat of a drum.

With your mouth hanging open, more and more of your store of grudges spills out, lending their own unique bodies and flavors to the atmosphere of this lamenting song, the sort that should be played in graveyards as the ethereal bodies of your soldiers, sane or not, human looking or twisted and disgusting to behold change, as they become more terrifying kinds of spirits and all of them grow more powerful from both the grudge energy you unleash upon them as they sally forth by your command to crush your enemies and from the sorrowful music you play, mourning their distant passing and their senseless torture here for centuries beneath the soil, wailing and raging at distant, apathetic gods in the darkness, their agony and descent into mindless rage and lunacy all overseen by their forgotten king, whose name was stripped from history until only his arrogance and defeat were remembered.

The fate the gods would gladly deliver to you if you do not surpass them and rewrite the mandate of heaven yourself. Tears crawl down your cold cheeks, as your roll your neck and allow your head to hang forward as you hands move faster and faster, drawing ever more of your power and Qi to imbue into the music, strengthening the ties and tethers and the hate that keep your army bound to this world
Cont

>>5981965

And bolstering its numbers as you rouse and wake up those unfortunate souls who have gone so far as to burn away and expend as much of themselves and their essence as they can to try and create a false oblivion just to escape the torment of their cursed existence, as well as those who were predated upon and beaten until they willingly gave up their own Ghostly Qi to empower their bullies and subjugators.

Opening your eyes a sliver, looking half dead or half asleep, you lift up your head just enough to observe the progress of your army and smile, as you see the foes that were foolish enough to stand against you are falling back, fleeing away from the clouds of concentrated resentment and the raving ghosts that stalk through it, looking for victims to vent their frustrations and centuries of built up anger.

Seeing now reason to do much more than lift a finger, you lay back, relax and continue playing, passively empowering your army so they can crush your enemies so you don't have to do anything tiring or waste energy that's better spent against actual worthy opponents.

Until, a curious whistling sound interrupts the mournful melody, and screams pierce through the silence as you pause your strumming for a moment to wait and see what exactly is ruining your music. Arrows, fletched with phoenix feathers and the plumage of some ghostly bird, rain down from the skies, burning with pale blue flames whose tongues shift from white to black as they fall and scatter amongst you army. The ghosts that are struck by the strange, burning arrows begin writhing, mutating and transforming as they are overwhelmed with ghostly essence and deathly yin Qi and seem to loose their human sense and reason, turning to the same kinds of mindless feral ghosts that like gnawing on bones that make their dens throughout the catacomb. Except these unfortunate transformed souls look, terrible, made of mismatched body parts and stitched together skin, like they've been changed to feel more agony than their true forms would allow.

You frown, and flick your eyes up to see the ghost strong enough to harness such a cruel curse, and spot them on galloping atop a line of stone graves, their hooves wreathed in the same ethereal flames they light their arrows with. Their lower half is a skeletal horse, and their upper half is a woman with her guts spilling out of her belly and a metal mask covering the upper half of her face. Her mouth has been sliced open from ear to ear, and she has four arms, three of which are holding the gargantuan and oversized bow, while the forth which has been turned into blackened bone, draws the string of guts and sinew back as she notches another dozen or so arrows.

You rise to stand on one knee and lift ghost empress melody up sideways as she unleashes her barrage.
Cont

>>5981967

Kicking your Guqin, you stride forward, hands held behind your back. And with feline and ghostly grace, slither through the hail of arrows, and shoot out your left arm to catch the last arrow between two fingers, snapping its shafter with a twitch of your hand.

"And whose the arrogant bitch who dares step in my way, Huuh~?" You ask as you crush the rest of the arrow in your fist and lean forward, glowering at the half horse ghost as she stands atop a tomb large enough to hold a giant, three of her arms flicking behind her back to grab bushels of arrows from the three quiver lashed to her back with hooks and nails "Don't you know who I am? I'd ask if you have a death wish but, Heh-Heh, well, we both know how foolish that'd be, don't we?"

"Happy Bloodshed" She says calmly, lifting up her head "Though this wretched place erodes my sanity and robs me of my wits, I am under no illusion that I can stop you from intruding into my king's throne room. But, while I know you will defeat me, I believe I can stall you, and keep you from interrupting his meditation for some time"

"For a few moments?" You tease, crumbling the arrow in your hand, before spreading it open and blowing away the ashes

"For however long I am able to retain this form. The King must not be disturbed" She replies with gritted teeth "Hopefully, you'll be stopped at the gate and will not have to long relish the satisfaction of taking this section of crypt as your own"

"That's quite the vain hope you're cherishing there, pony" You cackle, as you pull Ghost Empress Melody back to your side, and take up a fighting stance as the woman with the lower half of a horse bowers her head, and notching one arrow, gallops towards you as you stand amongst the mewling and crying mutated phantoms she created "Though, I guess I have be mean and crush it anyways, Heh-Heh"

How do you attack the half horse archer, Huanliuxue?

>Take a step back, and hurl Ghost Empress Melody at her head, using her speed against her to try and crush her skull [Strength/ Accuracy trial DC 155]

>Close the distance between her, with the blood red lightning cat step and try to cripple her with the Shooting Star Stampede [Martial Trial. DC 165]

>Disdainfully send her next volley of arrows away, by tearing a rift in the space in front of yourself with one hand, and use the other to cast the Phantom Cat Waltz [Magic Trial DC 135]

>Transfix her with Hypnotic Eyes and lovingly rip out her heart [Blood Sorcery: Carmine Mysticism Trial DC 108]

>Write in

>>5981970
>Transfix her with Hypnotic Eyes and lovingly rip out her heart [Blood Sorcery: Carmine Mysticism Trial DC 108]
Vampire tricks lets go.

>>5981970
>Transfix her with Hypnotic Eyes and lovingly rip out her heart [Blood Sorcery: Carmine Mysticism Trial DC 108]

>>5981970
>>Take a step back, and hurl Ghost Empress Melody at her head, using her speed against her to try and crush her skull [Strength/ Accuracy trial DC 155]

>>5981970
>Transfix her with Hypnotic Eyes and lovingly rip out her heart [Blood Sorcery: Carmine Mysticism Trial DC 108]
Time to use our new carmine moves.

>>5981970
>Disdainfully send her next volley of arrows away, by tearing a rift in the space in front of yourself with one hand, and use the other to cast the Phantom Cat Waltz [Magic Trial DC 135]

>>5981970
>Disdainfully send her next volley of arrows away, by tearing a rift in the space in front of yourself with one hand, and use the other to cast the Phantom Cat Waltz [Magic Trial DC 135]

>>5981970
>Transfix her with Hypnotic Eyes and lovingly rip out her heart [Blood Sorcery: Carmine Mysticism Trial DC 108]
Pretty cool that our vampire shit works on ghosts? Not sure how effective the heart-ripper will be, but... it's worth a try.

>>5981970
>Transfix

>>5981970
>Transfix her with Hypnotic Eyes and lovingly rip out her heart [Blood Sorcery: Carmine Mysticism Trial DC 108]

Rolled 74, 77 = 151 (2d100)

>>5981970
>Transfix her with Hypnotic Eyes and lovingly rip out her heart [Blood Sorcery: Carmine Mysticism Trial DC 108]

>>5982465
(ignore the dice)

>>5981970
>Transfix her with Hypnotic Eyes and lovingly rip out her heart [Blood Sorcery: Carmine Mysticism Trial DC 108]
Shame you chose to fight for the wrong ruler horse girl

>>5981970
>Transfix her with Hypnotic Eyes and lovingly rip out her heart [Blood Sorcery: Carmine Mysticism Trial DC 108]

Ending the vote and tallying its results now.

Transfix her with Hypnotic Eyes and lovingly rip out her heart :9

Take a step back, and hurl Ghost Empress Melody at her head, using her speed against her to try and crush her skull:1

Disdainfully send her next volley of arrows away, by tearing a rift in the space in front of yourself with one hand, and use the other to cast the Phantom Cat Waltz:2

So You'll attempt to transfix the half horse archer ghost with your mystical eyes, so you can tear out her heart at your leisure.

Update will arrive shortly.

>>5983567
The blue flame wrapped hooves thunder over the stone floor strewn with bones, the ground shaking as the half horse archer charges you head on, drawing and pulling the string of her bow further and further back, her three fleshy arms straining as her gruesome skeletal arm creaks and cracks as the bow itself, massive beyond reason, bends like it was a reed rather than a fossilized hunk of wood nearly thicker around than you were. The guts and sinew begin to tear, and wisps of ghostly blue light escape them. But you do not make a move to defend yourself or get out of the way or even to attack, instead you stand them, the very image of a proper and well raised beauty.

With pouted lips and half lidded eyes, you demurely tilt your head, frowning sadly as you draw upon the natural weapon of women as transcendentally beautiful as yourself, even though you're surrounded by ugliness and suffering. Fluttering your eyes lashes, you part your pouty lips to sigh sadly while wearing a disappointed and judging look on your gorgeous face, even as the ground trembles and you can feel the air peeling apart as it is burdened with the strong essence of this impudent girl's ghostly qi as she, as loyal as a well trained horse should be, does not stray or hesitate in trying to trample over you or allow her bowstring to slacken so as not to launch an arrow that could shoot straight through you and continue piercing through the gravestones at your back for sometime. Sharpening your eyes, lifting your shoulders, straightening you back, you lift the back of your hand in front of your mouth and turn disappointment to disdain as you focus the mystical energy in your alchemically altered blood to surge into the veins of your amber eyes, performing carmine mysticism, an unspoken hex whispered created within the roiling of your blood.

You can see the veins glowing in your eyes, as they burn at the edges of your vision as the whole world takes on a blush like, pink hue as you concentrate the magic inherent to your enchanted blood into your eyes. Their polished amber turns the same hue of pink that can be found in sunsets, as you lift up your chin and settle your gaze directly where the half horse archer's eyes would be behind her helmet. And parting your lips, cast the spell glowing in your eyes with a handful of hurting words.

"How can you be so heartless, threatening the beautiful me so brutishly? I'm frightened! I'm frightened~" You cry out, your voice sounding even to your ears alluring as your eyes flare with mystical light, as you try to hypnotize the ghost and force them to stop from guilt alone so you can make them well and truly heartless with you own bare hands, Heh-Heh.

roll 2d100. Best out of five. DC 108

Rolled 14, 63 = 77 (2d100)

>>5983590

Rolled 43, 23 = 66 (2d100)

>>5983590

Rolled 50, 44 = 94 (2d100)

>>5983590
Die

Rolled 22, 67 = 89 (2d100)

>>5983590
Look into my eyes. Tell me, what do you see?

>>5983629
Well shit thats a failure of ovwr 10.

Can none of us roll fucking decent.

Is this ghost truly without any guilt?

>>5983633
We still have 1 more roll, but I am half blaming >>5982465 for stealing our luck

Rolled 70, 58 = 128 (2d100)

>>5983590

>>5983699
Truly this was a trial of our faith in our and Huan's luck.

>>5983699
Good Success. Exactly 20 over DC. Had me scared for a second, but Huan succeeds by a whisker's breadth!

Update will arrive shortly

https://youtu.be/ewkDZfoodZE
_
Behind that iron mask, two pits of cold fire blaze as the hungry ghost's will lashes out and fights back against your own and the hypnotic suggestion to feel a heart crushing guilt for daring to threaten an existence as beautiful and resplendent as yourself. You do not take a step back, break eye contact or tremble as she lowers her head like she was a charging bull and had horns to gore you, and instead of moving to avoid being trampled beneath her hooves or struck with that barbed and hooked arrow notched on her bow, you stand firm and unmoving with the posture and elegance of a flower of the imperial court, sedated and calm as if you were not staring down a giant skeletal horse with metal hooves wreathed in cursed flames.

The veins at the edge of your vision swirl as the pink sunset haze grows heavier and thicker, blotting out the rest of your vision until only the blank expression the half ghost archer remains, and the turmoil in her expression, the doubt, the self hatred, the slowly rising disgust and guilt. A bead of grey sweat bubbles out from where her helmet has been fastened and locked over her skull. Her hands, even the one made out of bone, tremble as your eyes lock and remain locked, hers transfixed with the unearthly beauty that stands before her, like a delicate porcelain doll and the mind numbing tenderness of your eyes. But she is fighting you for every string your worm through her already rotten brain, struggling to throw off your will and the oppressiveness of your beauty and the illusion of a harmless, frightened maiden you've planted like a seed in the holes of her musty brain.

She thunders closer, smile split down the middle between a determined snarl and a weeping grimace as she lowers her bows and lifts up the arrow she had notched to use it instead like a spear. You do not move and just lift your head up a little higher, with a little more authority, acting like you were looking down at her even though she easily towered over you. Narrowing your eyes, you take a single step forward, all softness, delicateness and gentleness vanishing from your expression as you stamp down hard on her defiant will and push the illusion and enchantment burning in your eyes through her skull by turning your frightened stare into a commanding glare, exchanging the mask of a princess for that of an empress and demanding she bend to your will.

She reels, rearing up on her hind legs as if you'd just slapped her across the face. Xiongj, you can hear, stomping forward over his broken and twisted comrades as you take another step forward and tilt your head to the other side, looking up at the ghostly warrioress with a pleading look.

Her ethereal flames flicker. the hands holding her bow slacken, while the one gripping the arrow trembles and holds it against your neck. You press your neck against it, feeling the cold steel against your warm flesh, with a pleasant smile beneath hypnotic and dominant eyes.
Cont

>>5983745

"Frr" She struggles, voice raspy and dry as she lowers her front legs, upper body drooping as she goes slack like a puppet who has had its strings cut "For...give..me. My L..lady, I.."

She kneels, bending her front legs as she forfeits her will and is drawn into the false world promised by your mystical eyes, drooling as her mind buckles under your assault.

"I...what was I doing?" She drones, bowed like a horse waiting to accept a ride onto its back as you clear the remaining distance between you in a single stride and place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You were offering your heart to me" You cheerfully answer, grinning wickedly from ear to ear as you duck closer to her and press the fingers of you right hand as tightly together as you can "Don't you remember?"

"Of course" She mutters to herself in a trance, unbuckling the armor covering her chest "of course, if you desire my heart, I'll give it to you, My lady"

"Then, I graciously accept this offering" You purr softly, tightening your grip on her shoulder as you thrust the claws of your gauntlet through her moldy skin and through her decaying flesh. She cries out, just as much out of pleasure as in pain as black, coagulated blood spurts over your arm as you hum and purr, digging your hand through her bosom and under her ribs to lovingly wrap your fingers around her heart.

The ghost general gasps, the trance breaking as you reach further into her chest. But its too late for her to struggle and escape. Mustering all your strength, you hold her giant body down and hold onto her with a vice grip as her delighted moans turn to gasps of confused panic and agony, as her thrashing splatters your face with her ink black blood. How striking you must look, your delicately affectionate expression marred with black blood dripping down your chin and arm as you viciously bury your claws in her torso, snapping her ribs as you reach up and grasp her heart.

"My my~" You coo sweetly, savoring her struggles as you smile exactly like your mother, eyes half open as you rub your thumb over her still heart, which weakly beats even though she's been dead for centuries due to how terrified she's become "How adorable~ You were so welcoming of my touch a moment ago, so confident in giving yourself over to me, now you're squirming and whimpering so much~, How Cuuuute!"

"Let go!" She cries out, spitting blood in your face as her boney hand grips your wrist and tries to force your arm out of her chest as she leans against you, not out of choice, but because her powerful legs have given out. Probably because you've just tightened your grip and started crushing and squeezing her heart.

"Hey? Didn't you offer this to me? It's rude to take back a gift, and its a death sentence to refuse my whims" You cackle cruelly as you push your arm deeper and rub your cheek against hers.
Cont

>>5983747

She slips for a moment, the trance washing over her and lulling her towards obedience, before she suddenly roars in rage, and with her helmet breaking as two antlers erupt from her skull, she pulls her head back and hammers it against yours. The headbutt stuns you long enough for her to get another hand around your wrist, and she actually manages force and wrench your arm an inch and a half out of her body.

"You naughty girl" You titter and tease, thrilled that she's managing to fight back. You might not play with your prey as often as other cats do, but you still can delight in their squirming beneath your paw!

roll 2d100. Best out of five. Strength Trial DC 145

Rolled 19, 85 = 104 (2d100)

>>5983748

Rolled 4, 85 = 89 (2d100)

>>5983748
whew boy, here we go

Rolled 7, 53 = 60 (2d100)

>>5983748
Silly ghost, pulling our hand out won't save your fluttering little heart. If anything it'll just make this whole thing hurt a lot more. Gotta hand it to her for determination though.

Rolled 97, 28 = 125 (2d100)

>>5983748
Gonna Steal her heart with our cat like charm

>>5983779
can another junior please roll a perfect 100 100 to save us from our hubris?

>>5983803
I mean technically this one is Huan's hubris, not ours. She should have just crushed it but she's being extremely kinky and damn.

Rolled 53, 72 = 125 (2d100)

>>5983748

>>5983779
>>5983814
Dub 125 is pretty cool though. Ow

>>5983779
>>5983814
Oof, failure by exactly 20. What are the odds of rolling exactly over or under 20 of the DC and rolling the exact same result as well? Weird

Anyways

Update will arrive shortly

The ghostly general struggles to free your arm from her chest, but you stubbornly refuse to cede any more ground, digging the claws of your gauntlet into the meat and veins of her fluttering heart. The muscles and veins in your arm bulge as you pour as much blood Qi as you can to increase how much strength you can possibly muster, straining as they scream in pain and start to burn from the effort of just holding on. With her eyes revealed, blazing blue again, the half horse ghost snarls, and wraps a third hand around your wrist, but she isn't trying to pull you arm out anymore. You tug you hand back, and don't feel it move beneath her rotting flesh as the ribs you just punched it under jab and poke into the parts of your arm that are currently stuck inside of her torso. She grins, a glint of determination flashing in her malevolent blue eyes as you stare up at her, eyes widening as you realize what she's trying to do as you shake, wiggle and squirm your arm to try and pull it out of her chest before its too late.

"Detonating yourself? You know you don't have enough resentment or deathly yin Qi to do much damage, all you'll do is blast this body of yours to bits, I'll still be standing here while pieces of you rain down! Perfectly intact!" You shout up at her, gnashing your teeth in frustration as you plant a foot on the part of her where her human body meets the neck of the skeletal horse, pushing and kicking as hard as you can to try and get a little extra pull on your side to pop your arm out from her sucking flesh and stabbing bones. If her grip was just a little looser, you could crush her heart, but with how tightly she's holding on, the muscles of your hand just can't move, leaving it locked around the organ, unable to squeeze harder or release it so you can flee.

"Perhaps or perhaps not, I won't know unless I try. And you have no reason to tell the truth. Judging from that look in your eyes, you're less durable than you'd want me to believe" She sputters, black blood oozing from her knife widened mouth as more and more of the stinking liquid oozes out of the hole in her chest that your arm is stuck in.

Your eyes meet hers again, but with your redirection of blood Qi to your arm, which you now need to keep up to prevent her from crushing and pulping the limb out right, the hypnotic gaze that had subdued her is begin to fade away as the mystical blood in the veins of your eyes drains down to your rigid arm.

"Is that a chance you want to gamble on? If this was a game of dice I wouldn't trust those odds. Think about how foolish you'll look when I walk away from you, barely even smoking!" You spit back, furious now, as you put your other foot against her and start pushing with both of your legs and your other arm
Cont

>>5983921

"Self sacrifice is something to be applauded. Even if it fails, a suicidal attack is always praiseworthy" She says, closing her eyes with a satisfied expression, relaxing as the fear, panic and rage at being humiliated fade away.

"You're fucking crazy!" You shout, making one last effort to pull yourself free from the trap she's made in her own body.

"NO I'M FUCKING CRAZY" Xiongji bellows, as both you and the ghost general look up, she looking just as surprised by his entrance as you are, meaning she forgot he was standing nearby just watching your struggle play out.

"You?!" She growls, as the towering mass of rage, hate and lunacy sprints towards her, grinning sadistically as black plumes of smoke and blood red flames wreath his outstretched hands

"HOW DARE YOU MAKE A MOCKERY OF HER, AND TRY TO TAKE BACK WHAT YOU GAVE EVER SO WILLINGLY TO HER HAND! DON'T YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING RUDE THAT IS, YOU PIECE OF SHIT DOGFUCKER?!" Xiongji rages as he lunges, becoming a blur as with her last hand, the ghost general flips around her arrow and stabs it towards him.

The moment of impact moves in slow motion, and you're not certain if that's because of adrenaline filling your veins and coursing through every part of you, or because you instinctively activated your Youling-Qinggong. The arrow drags across Xiongji's smiling face, blood blossoming across his cheek and revealing his fang like teeth as his burning hand wraps around the ghost general's throat as all of him slams into her side.

Your arm is freed with a wet pop, and you fall to the ground, rolling around to land on your hands and feet, heart hammering in your chest as you push off of the ground and launch yourself up onto your feet. Shaking your numb and trembling hand, you watch as Xiongji lifts and carries the half horse ghost and lifts her from the ground as she grabs hold of the arrow stuck in his face with all four of her hands and pulls it down his neck until it gets stuck half way through his battle-scarred breastplate. Kicking him with her hooves, she presses it down and into his torso, but he's laughing as he swings his arm and slams her bodily into a stone coffin, falling to one knee as both of them disappear in a cloud of dust.

And a moment later, a sphere of writhing blue flames erupts with a deafening boom, as a wave of force spreads out and knocks over anyone and anything that is standing and isn't you. As strong as the explosion was, it only forces you to take a step back and shield your eyes.

Stepping to the side, you avoid Xiongji's axe by a hair as it is sent rocketing into the air, as pieces of debris fall all around you as the dust begins to settle and your teeth stop rattling around in your mouth.

"Ow" Xiongji groans from the newly formed crater, torched black and with most of his armor either blown off or evaporating into tendrils of ghostly smoke "That really hurt"
Cont

>>5983923

"Idiot! What are you doing fighting for her?!" The ghost general, who is looking a lot smaller now, with most of her horse half splintered and spread across the floor and walls as boney shrapnel, the gaping hole in her chest as well as her bare chest exposed for all to see as she wheezes and hacks up a cloud of smoke and fire "That attack took most of the breath I had collected to unleash!"

"Which means you can't even get in my way anymore" You say, stepping through the clouds of smoke and bones reduced to dust "And crushing you will be as easy as turning over my hand now. Surprised to see you in so few pieces, Pony, guess you were more durable than I anticipated you to be, Heh-Heh"

"Har har" Xiongji laughs mockingly from the pit you're standing on the edge of, as the now much more human looking ghost general glares up at you and smirks

"Wipe that smug smile off of your face, you were scared" She says with a vicious look as a pulse of killing intent "I can still act as an obstacle in your way, for a few moments longer at least"

"Tch" You click your tongue, glaring down at her as you buckle and crush the ghosts who rushed to see what had happened with a wave of your own killing intent. That little stunt she tried to pull has really, truly pissed you off.

The black heart in her chest beats, the print of your hand bruised onto its surface and four deep scratches cut through its surface. You wiggle the fingers of your aching hand, rubbing its wrist as you look down at the insolent bitch in front of you, as she presses two fingers together on each of her hands and draws them through the air, blue fire sprouting from her finger tips, as she forms two bows out of the same flames and notches them with the index and middle fingers of her upper hands.

'She's too stubborn for her own good' You think annoyedly tapping your heel on the ground 'She's far weaker than I am, but she's putting up more of a fight than I expected her to'

Groaning, you close your eyes and sigh.

How do you deal with this stubborn worm who refuses to be squashed, Huanliuxue

>"Xiongji, I know you can still stand. Keep her from getting in my way, I'm tired of playing around with her"

>Show her what a real explosion looks like and respond to her defiant stringing of her bows by creating a super massive destructive yin sphere, and teleporting directly in her face with a bit of Cosmic Qi (Magic trial. DC 135)

>See if your blood control works on ghostly organs and attempt to pop her ghostly heart from a distance (Magic trial. DC 160)

>Flick Moon Collapse out of its sheath and send it flying into her heart (Martial Trial. DC 120)

>Leap out her, change forms mid pound and crush her neck between your fangs (Martial trial. DC 175)

>Write in

>>5983924
>Show her what a real explosion looks like and respond to her defiant stringing of her bows by creating a super massive destructive yin sphere, and teleporting directly in her face with a bit of Cosmic Qi (Magic trial. DC 135)

>>5983924
>>Show her what a real explosion looks like and respond to her defiant stringing of her bows by creating a super massive destructive yin sphere, and teleporting directly in her face with a bit of Cosmic Qi (Magic trial. DC 135)
Thank you for keeping her from damaging our clothes, Xiongji, you're a real one. Now please vacate the crater for your own safety. And so no one tries to steal your axe.

>>5983924
>Show her what a real explosion looks like and respond to her defiant stringing of her bows by creating a super massive destructive yin sphere, and teleporting directly in her face with a bit of Cosmic Qi (Magic trial. DC 135)

>>5983924
>Flick Moon Collapse out of its sheath and send it flying into her heart (Martial Trial. DC 120)

>>5983924
>>Flick Moon Collapse out of its sheath and send it flying into her heart (Martial Trial. DC 120)

>>5983924
>Show her what a real explosion looks like and respond to her defiant stringing of her bows by creating a super massive destructive yin sphere, and teleporting directly in her face with a bit of Cosmic Qi (Magic trial. DC 135)
I think this is a good time to bust out the heavy ordnance. We should probably hurry, given how desperate this ghost is to buy time, I'm assuming being quick is in our best interest.

>"That attack took most of the breath I had collected to unleash!"
This is interesting info. I'm assuming the king has also been gathering "breath" for a good while, which might explains his strength. But does it also mean we could theoretically bait him into wasting his power and beat him via attrition? Maybe not, but worth considering.

>>5983924
>Flick Moon Collapse out of its sheath and send it flying into her heart (Martial Trial. DC 120)

>>5983747
What the fuck
This is horrifying
>>5983874
Aaand we get the karmic punishment. Deserved.
>>5983924
>Flick Moon Collapse out of its sheath and send it flying into her heart (Martial Trial. DC 120)

>>5983924
>Flick Moon Collapse out of its sheath and send it flying into her heart (Martial Trial. DC 120)

>>5983924
>Show her what a real explosion looks like and respond to her defiant stringing of her bows by creating a super massive destructive yin sphere, and teleporting directly in her face with a bit of Cosmic Qi (Magic trial. DC 135)

>>5984140
>What the fuck
>This is horrifying
You telling me you didn't need a pillow to cover your lap?

File: 1662716794913100.jpg (329 KB, 1164x1174)

329 KB JPG

Rolled 2 (1d2)

Ending and tallying the vote now. Somehow I still have enough vigor to despite their being three parts of last nights update

Show her what a real explosion looks like and respond to her defiant stringing of her bows by creating a super massive destructive yin sphere, and teleporting directly in her face with a bit of Cosmic Qi:5

Flick Moon Collapse out of its sheath and send it flying into her heart:5

Oh hey a perfect tie! How rare. I'll tie break for once, and the one who loses the coin flip will be Huan's second attack if the first flounders. That seems fair to this old master.

1: Super Massive Destructive Yin Sphere.

2: Moon Collapse Heart Shot.

>>5984245
Junior has been consumed by his heart demons...

>>5984613
So you'll throw Moon Collapse at the ghost general's exposed heart. Nice. Update will arrive shortly

But you concentration is broken before you can think up how to approach the defiant ghost general as you don't expect the high ground advantage to last long enough for you to actually make use of it. That attack she is charging looks troublesome, even if it isn't enough dent, scratch or unravel your spider demons silk armor. But your planning is interrupted, however brief it might've been, from a distinct chime at your hip. Moon Collapse (Yuèqiú tāxiàn, 月球塌陷) is singing to you, humming in the sheath you stuck it in to keep it hidden from prying eyes. It is humming so loudly it is vibrating, its blood red edge shimmering through the leather you had Feiqing cut and shape to fit it.

Reaching down, you stick a finger through the ring at the bottom of its pommel, stretching your hand over its rabbit fur grip and with a flick of your wrist, free it from its sheath. You pull your hand back, allowing the dagger to float freely, unconstrained by the gravity of the world as it hovers over your open palm, bathing you and the rest of this lightless place in the carmine glow of a full blood moon. The Ghost general takes a step back, sensing the brief flicker of your aura roaring and blazing higher than its already massive and oppressive size as the moondust in your veins reacts to the light stored in the moon glass dagger and the ill omen power of the blood moon surges from your twin cores. With the red glow washing over your face, the pupils in your eyes turn to crescent slivers as a hail of starlight falls within them as the moonlight rippling through your hair glows dimly through the gaps of your helmet and armor as the moonlight escaping the straight and serrated edges of your knife spread out in thin, unnatural beams of light that illuminating the tombs with their first touch of moonlight.

"A treasure? Another artifact?" The ghost general says, voice wavering as their eyes focus intently on the dagger rotating slowly above and orbiting around your outstretched hand "How many weapons have you brought, you who was born with sharp claws and sharper fangs"

"Why should I tell a corpse anything?" You ask in response, flicking your other hand to brush a stray lock of hair away from your eyes "And some tools are simply better than what nature has provided. I'm sure moles would prefer to use shovels than their paws, if they were given the chance"

"You won't be able to hit me from there, not before I loose my arrows" The no longer half horse ghost boasts, but the tremble in her voice tells you that is a bluff.

Probably. No reason to give her a chance to prove it.

Grabbing hold of Moon Collapse, you pull you arm back and wish you had whiskers in the moment before you throw it, to help you with aiming the dagger.

roll 2d100. Best out of five. DC 120

Rolled 75, 70 = 145 (2d100)

>>5984625

>>5984634
>145
Someone's laughing at us.

Rolled 85, 15 = 100 (2d100)

>>5984613
>Junior has been consumed by his heart demons...
I must admit, I love a woman that will actually brutally murder me.

>>5984625


>>5984636
The dao itself is laughing. Dang Dao.

Rolled 14, 85 = 99 (2d100)

>>5984625

Rolled 85, 73 = 158 (2d100)

>>5984625

>>5983924
>Flick Moon Collapse out of its sheath and send it flying into her heart (Martial Trial. DC 120)

Rolled 86, 11 = 97 (2d100)

>>5984625

>>5984660
Nice success. 30 over DC and nearly 40 over. Update will arrive shortly

>>5984647
>>5984651
>>5984660
Though it is pretty weird three out of the five rolls all had 85 as one of their die.

On a whim, and for a reason you don't really know yourself, you bent your knees and lower your shoulders, half crouching as you adopted the stance Qiang tends to use when she's about to quick draw her sword from her side and cut whatever was in front of her into several pieces. The air was silent except from the crackling flames and the sound of breaking ice, and Xiongji's pained coughing. You locked eyes with the ghost general, who was looking much less confident that her boast of being able to shoot her bows before you launch Moon Collapse into her heart than she was a few mere moments ago. Flashing a confident grin of your own, challenging her to test her reaction time against your own feline reflexes, time seemed to grow sluggish as if you had expanded your specter lightness skill to encompass the whole layer of crypts and collection of tombs that made up this layer of the catacombs. You'd never seen a ghost sweat so much, or shiver as if they to could feel the cooling of the air their presence caused.

It become a staring contest, who would twitch and make the first move, giving the other an opening to counter with a fraction of a second longer to line up their shot and steady their arms.

Her composure broke before yours did, and with a defiant shout, she loosed four burning arrows. The flames spread out, taking on the shape of wings as a keening cry pierced through the silence as the four burning arrows began to move oddly, three spinning around one like their bird shape fire's were in a mating dance. The flames from the three dancers fed into the arrow in the center of the flock of four, and burned to nothing as its fire bloomed and became a skull shaped conflagration of icy fire infused with a curse you could almost see written in the darkness that eclipsed its halo of light.

Turning one foot to the side, you bowed lower and flicked out your hand, copying the motion of Qiang's draw as you sent Moon Collapse soaring. It's humming song became an unearthly wail, as the blood red moon light pouring from it snapped and formed a aurora like river of light for it to travel across and slice through.

The blue flame skull evaporated, as the flying dagger pierced through its forehead and cleanly split the arrow that was its core, and as if the only thing that had gotten in its way was cold air, it continued its flight unimpeded, picking up more speed as its chiming turned into a shriek as it moved so quickly its edge began to spit out silver, pink and crimson sparks.

The Archer lifted up her head, eyes shining in the moonlight as her jaw dropped open in blatant despair at seeing her defiant last shot so easily overwhelmed.

She stood still, not able to react beyond realizing her defeat

Moon Collapse shot through the hole you tore in her chest, just beneath her exposed breasts and into her blackened heart,burying itself to the hilt inside one of the claw marks your gauntlets left behind before Xiongji so helpfully tore you and her apart
Cont

>>5984711

The ghost general stumbled back, before growing rigid as her physical body started to crystalize and turn into the same sort of glass that dagger in her heart was made out of. Her eyes became black pits, windows into the astral chaos that you'd made your stomping ground.

"The view is beautiful isn't it?" You snicker, taunting her as you skip down to her and reach into her chest cavity as her body turns into a prison for her soul, the physical form she'd managed to create being reduced to a sculpture of moonglass with a pale blue flame trapped in its breast, flickering weakly as it realized it was trapped and caged like a pretty little song bird "The view of the stars from the surface of the moon I mean"

The soul inside the glass statue doesn't answer as you flick the black blood stinking of decay off of your knife

"A bit overly theatric. Want me to shatter the arrogant bitch?" Xiongji coughs, hacking up a cloud of black smoke as he sits up, already recovering from being at the center of an explosion that must've shaken the whole mountain "Or should we drag her back up to join the other stupid bastards who remained loyal to that lowest of shit-eaters, Uh...Can't remember his name"

"No one can, that's the point of your shared punishment. You don't remember your own name, remember" You snort, amused as Xiongji smacks both sides of his head and vomits out more thick smoke

"Xiongji is who I am, who I was doesn't fucking matter" He says sagely despite the profanity "All that matters is making them pay for my suffering"

Them being everyone and thing besides a very select group of people the ghost who hates everything is, for one reason or another known only to him, was fond of. Smiling, you nodded your head and leapt out of the crater, to find to your relief your soldier's forced transformation had been undone with the defeat of the ghost general, and where they're had been squirming mounds of flesh and stitched together limbs, were once again ghostly soldiers, who would still look rather frightening to most but who were once more their usual ghastly selves.

Smiling a bit more, you started giving orders and directing them as Xiongji crawled his way out of the pit.

And what were your orders, Huanliuxue?

>To march on the next layer of the catacombs, you weren't going to waste any time or momentum in claiming what was rightfully yours

>To secure this level and search it for anything useful and to garrison the defenses they'd just overwhelmed

>To wait for your signal as you confront the first defenders of the next portion of the catacombs by yourself.

>To parade the general turned to moon glass in front of the entrance to the next part of the crypts you'll be taking, just for fun.

>Write in

>>5984712
>March army forwards
>Have our students secure this level and search it for useful shit.

>>5984712
>To wait for your signal as you confront the first defenders of the next portion of the catacombs by yourself.

I don't want to lose momentum but I want to test the waters before we send in the grunts. Would also like to again send Qiang ahead for espionage and sabotage.

>>5984712
>To secure this level and search it for anything useful and to garrison the defenses they'd just overwhelmed

>>5984743
This and parade the general too.

>>5984712
>>To march on the next layer of the catacombs, you weren't going to waste any time or momentum in claiming what was rightfully yours

>>5984712
>>5984743
+1
If the king is plotting something time sensitive, it only makes sense to hurry down there. It seems he has some dangerous generals under him, but if this is roughly the level we can expect, then he is the only real threat here.
It's possible that the general's comments were a plot to make us rush forward and expose ourselves, but if I had to guess whether or not the general/king had the guile to execute such a plan, I am willing to bet on no.

>>5984712
>To parade the general turned to moon glass in front of the entrance to the next part of the crypts you'll be taking, just for fun.
She was a fine foe, and will be an excellent murder present.

>>5984743
Supporting

>>5984712
>To march on the next layer of the catacombs, you weren't going to waste any time or momentum in claiming what was rightfully yours

Also maybe pat Xiongji in the back to replenish a bit of his yin qi, he spared us from having to scrub horse entrails from our armor.

>>5984712
>>To parade the general turned to moon glass in front of the entrance to the next part of the crypts you'll be taking, just for fun.

>>5984712
>>To parade the general turned to moon glass in front of the entrance to the next part of the crypts you'll be taking, just for fun

>>5984712
Supporting >>5984743. Letting the ghost-king complete his breakthrough, or whatever he's doing will likely tilt the scales hard in his favor. The difference between a low Nascent Soul and a peak Golden Core is much bigger than the gap between Qi-condensation and Foundation Establishment cultivators. Necessity compels us to be swift.

>>5984712
>To parade the general turned to moon glass in front of the entrance to the next part of the crypts you'll be taking, just for fun.

Ending the vote and tallying its result now,

To march on the next layer of the catacombs, you weren't going to waste any time or momentum in claiming what was rightfully yours:7

Have our students secure this level and search it for useful things:5

To wait for your signal as you confront the first defenders of the next portion of the catacombs by yourself.:1

To parade the general turned to moon glass in front of the entrance to the next part of the crypts you'll be taking, just for fun.:5

So you'll order your army to march forwards, and have your students secure and search this part of the catacombs for heavenly treasures, divine tier artifacts, forbidden manuals and demonic scriptures and other useful things.

"March on! Don't waste any time looting or torturing, we've got them reeling!" You shout boisterously and regally, the helmet you're wearing adding a tinny quality to your voice as it lifts up and grows louder and more booming "You, rooster, you to! I know you're slavering at the chance to get back to the thick of it! One more push should be all it will take to get them stumbling and falling over! Don't waste any of MY time taking what is rightfully Mine! Our momentum can't be stopped, so lets act like a landslide and crash and rumble over them all!"

Taking in a deep breath, you puff out your chest and raise up Moon Collapse above your head, fracturing the blade so it appears vaguely like a shattered sword whose pieces are held together an invisible force, like magnetism or unusual gravity, its pale red glow illuminating your silver armor and making it glow like a passing falling star or mist of blood sprayed from a wound as it is made.

"That is my command! March and crush them beneath your feet! Lift them up upon your spears and hold them aloft like they were standards, don't hesitate, do not delay. March! And March quickly!" You shout joyfully, commanding them all with a flick of your blade "We'll break into the next layer like a bolt of divine retribution cracking the earth, splitting open the graves and scattering their ashes to the four winds! Come on! Rally to your queen's lovely voice and obey her will, and march! MARCH!"

Grinning beneath your crowned helmet, you cross you arms and tuck your hands under your armpits as you watch the newly reinvigorated army of specters, phantoms, cursed spirits and hungry ghosts move like a rapid river through the spaces between the tombs and burial chambers, some of them shouting orders, others singing a macabre and gloomy marching song, and the craziest and stupidest amongst them repeating the word march like a Mantra as they lop and gallop after their more mentally balanced comrades.

Xiongji wrenches himself up over the lip of the pit, snapping his jaw that had been blown to wisps of smoke back to place and adjusting his helmet with a gross, sloshing sound as the dented metal dug into his broken skull.

"Out of my way! You plodding curs! You're marching too slow! Let me through or I'll trample you all! Get out of my way dammit!" He roars, whipping his head back and forth as he stomps of and makes good of his threat a couple of times before the other soldiers of your army of the dead wise up and part to let him pass. Which doesn't stop him from taking a swing at a few of them who drew his ire for reasons only known to the rooster general.

Reaching out, you catch a straggler who'd been fighting further up this layer of crypt and had only just heard your command and rushed to join the others in their lightning quick march to the next layer.
Cont

>>5986236

"You. I have a different use for" You say excitedly, patting him hard on the shoulder and causing his misty form to dissipate briefly as your hand swings through him "Return to my throne room, inform my generals and advisors of what's going on, and tell my disciples to travel to this area and begin searching through it and turning it upside down for any treasures the forgotten king might have ferreted away here"

"Understood, your deathly majesty!" He barks back like a loyal dog, and turning to a sickly green ghost light, zips back through the wall he was passing through when you caught him.

And wasting no time yourself, you bite down onto the fur wrapping of Moon Collapse, and shift your form, holding it tightly between as you sprint on four legs again with Ghost Empress Melody lazily drifting behind you as you pull on your connection to the Guqin with your claws. Sheathing your muscles in blood Qi and making good use of both the Blood Torrent Rush and the Blood Red Lightning Cat Step, you zoom past you army and reach its head, to take your rightful position as a good ruler at its front, further inspiring your already near frenzied with zeal troops with your imperial presence at the front lines.

Flicking your tail, you gather destructive Yin Qi at its tip, and after running ahead of the rest of your army a short ways, clearing the remaining levels of this level of the catacombs, you run into another, more imposing sealed gate preventing all but the strongest and most monsterous of ghosts and spirits from passing.

'But I've broken through a heavenly gate before, this might as well be a curtain of beads to me, Heh-Heh' Is the only thought you have as you disdainfully approach the entrance to the next layer of tombs, which must be the not so final resting places of the Forgotten King's most loyal and valuable underlings and servants, and with a few flicks of your tail and a few more oversized destructive Yin spheres, the doorway to this graveyard of the honored is blasted to pieces, leaving only dust behind.

With a yell, Xiongji leaps over your head, nearly clipping your ears as he bounds and clears the distance to the next layer of the catacombs in a single jump and lifts his axe high over his head. The ghosts who were insane or confident enough to be close behind him, cry out with their own warcries, most of them unintelligible, but a few can be understood.

"For the rightful empress of us ghosts!"
"For the wild grave jumping princess!"
"For the queen of crows and cicadas!"
"For the Happy Bloodshed!"
"For Huanliuxue of the four titles!"
"I'M COMING TO KILL YOU AGAIN YOU RAT FACED FUCK!"
"MURDER! DEATH! KILL!"

And so the assault on the next layer of the catacombs of the bloodless war begins!
Cont

>>5986239

And in the deeper darkness of these lower crypts, you can see ghosts on the other side of the battlefield, clashing with Xiongji on equal terms and tossing your lesser soldiers aside like handfuls of funeral ash, that look closer to demons than human souls, even twisted and grudge drowned ones!

What do you do as the fighting starts up again, Huanliuxue?

>Fly off to assist Xiongji in fighting those particularly scary looking spirits, and try to ambush one of them from behind while they're distracted with fighting him [Stealth/ Martial trial. DC 120]

>Keep your distance and launch volley after volley and barrage after barrage of Destructive Yin Spheres and Chasing Stars [Magic trial. DC 110]

>Turn human again and lazily drift through the air, playing ghost empress melody to strengthen your troops, and also to attack any ghost impudent enough to try and attack you [Magic Trial. DC 135)

>Do not participate in the fighting, and just sneak by and attempt to slip deeper into the catacombs while you army keeps its defenders occupied [Stealth Trial. DC 85]

>Write in

>>5986241
>Turn human again and lazily drift through the air, playing ghost empress melody to strengthen your troops, and also to attack any ghost impudent enough to try and attack you [Magic Trial. DC 135)

>>5986241
>Do not participate in the fighting, and just sneak by and attempt to slip deeper into the catacombs while you army keeps its defenders occupied [Stealth Trial. DC 85]
The fighting rages on outside,
but our duel is with the king alone.
Monarch Vs Monarch

>>5986239
>"I'M COMING TO KILL YOU AGAIN YOU RAT FACED FUCK!"
Keep an eye out for a rat-faced-fuck. Someone called dibs.

>>5986241
>>Do not participate in the fighting, and just sneak by and attempt to slip deeper into the catacombs while you army keeps its defenders occupied [Stealth Trial. DC 85]
C'mere you old bag.

>>5986241
>Turn human again and lazily drift through the air, playing ghost empress melody to strengthen your troops, and also to attack any ghost impudent enough to try and attack you [Magic Trial. DC 135)

>>5986241
>Keep your distance and launch volley after volley and barrage after barrage of Destructive Yin Spheres and Chasing Stars [Magic trial. DC 110]

Pew! Pew!

>>5986241
>urn human again and lazily drift through the air, playing ghost empress melody to strengthen your troops, and also to attack any ghost impudent enough to try and attack you [Magic Trial. DC 135)

>>5986241
>Launch volly

Fire!

>>5986241
>Keep your distance and launch volley after volley and barrage after barrage of Destructive Yin Spheres and Chasing Stars [Magic trial. DC 110]

>>5986241
>Keep your distance and launch volley after volley and barrage after barrage of Destructive Yin Spheres and Chasing Stars [Magic trial. DC 110]
Let's keep up the momentum.
What better way to do that then mobile cat artillery?

>>5986241
>Turn human again and lazily drift through the air, playing ghost empress melody to strengthen your troops, and also to attack any ghost impudent enough to try and attack you [Magic Trial. DC 135)

>>5986241
>Keep your distance and launch volley after volley and barrage after barrage of Destructive Yin Spheres and Chasing Stars [Magic trial. DC 110]

Kinda torn on this one. On one hand I kinda see our ghost army as expendable cannon fodder, on the other hand that kinda clashes with our whole bleeding heart ruler persona...

>>5986678
Seems like being a ghost is a tortured existence who isn't easily extinguished unless one uses forbidden techniques.
So think of them as online players who will eventually respawn.

>>5986241
>Turn human again and lazily drift through the air, playing ghost empress melody to strengthen your troops, and also to attack any ghost impudent enough to try and attack you [Magic Trial. DC 135)

>>5986241
>Keep your distance and launch volley after volley and barrage after barrage of Destructive Yin Spheres and Chasing Stars [Magic trial. DC 110]
FIRE EVERYTHING

>>5986241
>>Keep your distance and launch volley after volley and barrage after barrage of Destructive Yin Spheres and Chasing Stars [Magic trial. DC 110]

Ending the vote, tallying the result now.

Turn human again and lazily drift through the air, playing ghost empress melody to strengthen your troops, and also to attack any ghost impudent enough to try and attack you:5

Do not participate in the fighting, and just sneak by and attempt to slip deeper into the catacombs while you army keeps its defenders occupied:2

Keep your distance and launch volley after volley and barrage after barrage of Destructive Yin Spheres and Chasing Stars:7

So you'll send volleys of spells and barrages of magic at the enemy army, while keeping your distances

Update will arrive shortly

Though you recognized their exact breed of monstrosity and horror, from the pages of the record wraiths and phantoms, even though you hadn't studied that particular manual for sometime, your memory was sharp. Especially when concerned with potential threats that may be faced. And while the not so living night-terrors you could glimpse through the dark that even your feline eyes adapted for night had difficulty piercing were something that might've frightened you if you'd met them without a golden core nestled beside your beast core, and while their might and deadly and deathly powers were still not something to be trifled with lightly, you were confident your the magic you've taught yourself and learned and the mystical and spiritual powers you've cultivated would be more than their match if you were to face them one on one in single combat or all together by yourself. And they were busy dealing with a particularly rowdy and terrifyingly powerful ghost themselves. Though Xiongji was closer to their equal, the sight of him facing all those ghastly and ghostly monsters head on and actually managing to fend them off and put up a decent fight, did make you wonder for a moment why he had evolved into so advance a form of hungry ghost and remained, while shockingly dangerous when his mind was in the right place and his rampage was directed with purpose, a more or less standard Hungry Ghost even taking into account his bulk, literally raging fire and inhuman amount of strength.

But that curiosity did not linger long, as you watched the rooster general get tossed into the air by a spade of a hand and whacked against the wall by a spectral dragons tail. Shaken from such idle wonderings, you shackle your more whimsical thoughts and focus, narrowing your eyes as your tail flicks behind your back.

Breathing in, you gather the negative spiritual energies and refine the dense yin qi surrounding you and permeating everything around you into its most destructive aspect, creating the essence of pure destruction. One of your favorite types of Qi and best weapons, it rings and surges from the tip of your tail down to your spine in barely contained rings of crackling, lightless lightning. And breathing out, the vapor your breath forms sparkles, as you also draw up the cosmic qi sleeping in your meridians and twinkling within the moondust resting in your blood, and begin to channel it as well to cast an array of spells, a barrage of magic that would make siege artillery and comet showers seem small and pitiful in comparison!

roll 2d100. Best out of five. DC 110

Rolled 16, 7 = 23 (2d100)

>>5987063
Nin! Nin! Wait, no I mean, Yin! Yin!

Rolled 60, 16 = 76 (2d100)

>>5987063

Rolled 17, 14 = 31 (2d100)

>>5987063

Rolled 20, 36 = 56 (2d100)

>>5987063
This doesnt look good.

Rolled 75, 82 = 157 (2d100)

>>5987063
In the interest of getting an update out soon, and 3 hours having passed, I elect to roll again.
You may call me a fag at your own leisure.

>>5987105
Decent roll though.
4 dos.

>>5987105
Junior is no cut-sleeve. Fantastic Success. 40 over DC. Update will arrive shortly

https://youtu.be/aR_hqv_V2QU
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With a twitch of your whiskers, a raising of your ears and many flicks of your tail that would appear random to an observer that stood in for complex sequences of hand signs, you summoned your Qi and began to cast the first spells signaling the beginning of your mystical barrage. But as you applied the finishing touches and last preparations to will the first handful of attacks into being, an idea as cruel as it was whimsical and cunning as it was amusing wormed its way into your mind like a worm through a corpse. Seeing the ancient and archaic armor worn by the both the ghosts marching under your banner and those crypt sealed monsters they fought against by your command, brought a passing thought to the forefront of your mind. A sympathetic and stray musing as the fact of how long these souls had been trapped here was once more thrust in front of your eyes.

'How long has it been since any of them have seen starlight?'

Biting down hard on the thought, the idea grew and became rather wicked and underhanded as you realized you had the order of your spells all wrong in the ground arrangement you'd mentally prepared for you most probably unwilling audience! Sure destructive yin spheres had a way of demanding attention and tossing anyone they didn't disintegrate high into the air, in one piece or many, but that kind of attack, as devastating as it was basic, wouldn't do anything besides reduce whatever it hit to dust or pieces so miniscule it might as well be dust. Certainly the perfect offensive spell to begin a barrage, but you weren't flinging the spheres at flesh and blood targets, ghosts are intangible unless they're possessing something or are strong enough to create a new vessel for their wandering spirit to inhabit. Sure the ones Xiongji was scrapping with were probably mostly solid when they wanted to be, but many of those fighting under them were not or at least not quite to the point the archer ghost general had reached before you trapped her in a cage of your own design. Or maybe they just thought it was more effective to fight as mist and ethereal light? Didn't matter

They'd be easily able to avoid the opening volley of destructive yin spheres, even if you poured enough Qi into them to make them too massive to avoid. Not only that, but they might've been from a time when movement techniques were much more commonly taught, trained and used in battle. The initial surprise would knock a few of them out of the fight, but it wouldn't decimate them. At least not as much as you wanted them to be.

But if you lead with the chasing stars, the only spell you've really made that uses cosmic Qi, the sight of them alone will get them so stand still from the sight of the stars so long taken from them? Or at least that's the plan.

Swiftly reorganizing your thoughts and motions, redirecting the flow of Qi through your meridians, a rainbow sea of miniaturized stars twinkles into existence arounds you.
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>>5987121

A massive cluster of Qi bolts.


Then, prancing forward, you send the first row of star-light summoned in the gloom to fly forward like shooting stars. Which is something you do not only to provide an eye catching light show, but to send them out in search of targets while keeping an array of exactly sixteen stars floating around you, to serve as protection as you saunter forward through the fighting with casual feline apathy, waiting for the first of your homing attacks to become the center of attention, as you continiously cast the chasing star spell over and over again, while whipping and swinging your tail, keeping the destructive Yin Qi gathered in its end in preparation for the the real barrage to begin.

It doesn't take long at all for the rainbow colored lights to catch the attention of the dead, who have become so used to the dank and gloom of the catacombs, that they freeze as they spot so much color and light, and several of your own soldiers join their former comrades in picking up their jaws from their ground as they gape and star at the brilliant lights plucked from their long faded memories of night skies.

"Are those....stars?" One of the towering brutes Xiongji has been keeping occupied by selflessly using himself, mostly his face, as a shield towards their aggression asked ponderously to no one in particular, his tusked lips parting in a frown a second away from a whimper that would've been heart wrenching if it weren't so terribly pathetic.

And, by lifting his head up to admire the false stars, he put it directly in the radius of the invisible sphere that the chasing stars used to decide if something was within range for them to give chase and cut to pieces with their tails of sparkling and twinkling light.

All you had to do was focus. His eye seemed like the perfect target.

A orange star followed by a pink trail of even smaller stars turn, and locked onto the target you set for it, as all the others in its flight picked out their own victims.

Reaching towards it, with a longing look in his tearful eyes, the half boar mouthed brute's wonder and wistfulness turned into screaming agony and howls of pain as the star shot straight through his eye socket and out the back of his skull, the trail of qi it leaves behind slicing off half of his face as he howls and moves to shield his face

"FUCKER! PIECE OF SHIT COWARD. LET ME STAND AND FIGHT YOU DAMMIT!" Xiongji rages, spewing a gout of fire into his face as he leapt up, and wreathed by predatory stars, slammed the squealing pig ghost to the ground, slamming his head against his as more and more stars chose a portion of the hungry ghost and sliced him up like he was on a butcher's block. Besides Xiongji's howled profanity, ever soul in the high walled chamber of stacked tombs went deathly quiet.
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>>5987123

And then the screaming started, as sixteen beams of cutting light shoot out from your entourage of floating stars, and the hundreds of more mobile star light you've sent flying through the mass burial site shoot off, moving faster than anything that flies in the sky, ruthlessly seeking out and pursuing their prey that had been admiring their beauty and twinkling light just a few short moments ago.

Waltzing serenely through the havoc, beams of rainbow light creating a suitably impressive light show around you as Xiongji's cursing drowns out some of the screams of fright and confusion as he begins chopping the star-light cut apart bodies of his opponents before they can pull their ghostly bodies back together between his assault and the hounding of his chasing stars. Whose number only grows as you create more of them, while flicking arrays that shoot out a stream of Yin Spheres, to direct fire and pummel any placement of enemies that looks fortified and sturdy enough to endure a few stars slicing their way through their positions.

Humming one of the jauntiest and most merry songs you know how to play with a Guqin, you rain destruction and ruin all about you, plumes of smoke and ethereal mist and ghost lights shooting up where ever your toss a large yin sphere Qi, direct a pack of chasing stars, focus your sixteen guardian's wrath upon, or just set down a destructive yin sphere shower producing array right in front and wait a second for it to be reduced to atoms or less.

You spot one of the mean ghosts who were bullying Xiongji, who had somehow crawled out of the pit they were all in, being ponded by angry stars or the angrier general himself. The one with the dragon tail attached to their spine, stitched in place and secured with iron plates and bolt, dressed in a princely raiment and wearing antlers on their helmet with a long flowing white mustache further aping the look of the elegance of dragon kind.

Wheezing, flickering and twitching as they struggled to maintain their imposing form between breaths, they heard your humming and turned, silver flecked ice blue eyes wide with dread.

"Please no" they gasp, raising one hand in a plea of mercy, holding a chunk of axe stuck in their side, straight into where their lungs would be if they still had their living body "Mercy"

"Hmmm, No" You purr, smiling as you tilt your head and your sixteen sentries and about a dozen more stars unleash themselves upon the shambling ghost general as he cries out in pain, hunks of his chest being lopped off by the beams of light, limbs being blasted off by stray yin sphere explosions, as his ghostly body miraculously and impressively regenerates and stitches itself back together again and again after you tear it apart.
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>>5987124

When you get bored of pounding him with spells, he's twitching on the ground, one arm scaled and tipped with a claw larger enough to wrap around your whole body in either forms, the other a wispy stream of light vaguely in the form of an arm, and his legs twitching and splayed, spread out over a wide area, their cuts glowing the same color as the stars the cut them apart.


Sitting on your haunches, you daintily lift up a paw and begin grooming it, as the explosions rocking the floor and the screams echoing beneath their booms begin to die out as the massive barrage of your destructive and cosmic Qi begins to take its toll, along with Xiongji, who made good use of the distraction of dangerous star light to fight dirtier than you thought possible to overcome the generals who ganged up on him. Who judging from the beating they were meting out to him, where each about as strong if not a little stronger than he was. But encountering an unknown type of spell fueled by an unknown type of Qi made them misstep and get their asses beat. Though being in several pieces by time Xiongji was standing over them with axe in hand, probably also helped to secure the rooster's victory over the mighty and monstrous spirts.

"I probably shouldn't use anymore force, if I want to make any use of these floors" You sigh, slowly setting down you paw as the dragon mocking ghost in front of you groans and whimpers, half their face silvery fire as they struggle to retain their humanoid shape and not return to being a particularly dazzling ghost light.

"I yield, I yield" He cries out, tears dripping down his cheeks and turning to smoke before they drop "You have my surrender, star witch! I speak for my fellows, cease your attack, call off your war-dogs, we surrender and throw down our swords"

"Are you trying to order me around or something, Huh?" You snap and snarl, plodding over and placing a paw upon his neck, before cackling and lifting your paw off of his back with a smug smirk "But very well, I accept your surrender, though I think a few more of your troops could use a battering, just to be certain..."

"The king would have audience with you" He hisses through his teeth, one eye that isn't ethereal flame blazing with shame and hatred "There is no reason to continue your rampage, beast"

"There is one" You snicker, patting your paw on his head a few times to tease him "It is really fun to let loose and rampage around every now and again, isn't it?"

"Hrrrn"He snarls, eyes shut firmly and brow furrowing with impotent anger "My master waits for you in the final chamber, the final tomb in this inverted tower of graves. We shall not attack or otherwise harass you along the path that leads to it. No one has opened the seal since he was struck down by the spiteful heavens"
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>>5987125

You frown, considering the offer before the ghost beneath your paw chuckled.

"Though, where you dug that raging idiot out of, is a mystery I'd like to hear" He cackles, smiling viciously up at you "That is, if the king leaves any fragment of you behind after he's finished with you, you arrogant bi..."

A crack of lightning, infused with blood Qi shoots through his back, making him scream louder than he ever did while being cut apart by your chasing stars. Lifting you smoking paw, leaving him to suffer for his impudence at threatening you on his king's behalf, you trot over him, still contemplating the words before he had the incredibly stupid idea to try and intimidate you.

"You...this...was...a show of..ressspect" The batter ghost hisses, crawling after you. But his babbling annoys you, so you shut him up with another bolt of life infused lightning

What do you do about the Forgotten King's offer of an audience, Huanliuxue?

>Accept it and cut to the chase, you came down here to steal his crown, so this will just make it happen quicker.

>Not trusting it for a moment, tell your soldiers to finish up capturing the floor and lead them forward

>Dragon the dragon mocking general down with you, to use as a hostage in case it is a trick.

>Send Xiongji ahead of you, the protection should also apply to your followers, and it'd only be polite to send a messenger of your own back to the forgotten king,

>Write in