Threads Chapter 1-New Settings

Ling Qi stood at the edge of the grassy cliff and looked over her new home. Mountains and hills stretched in every direction, blanketed by the mists of an early fall morning, not yet chased away by the sun’s rays. In the distance the mighty slopes of the Outer Sect’s White Cloud Mountain, as she now knew it to be called, pierced the clouds, almost a third of the vast peak rising high above into the heavens.

She wondered how her mentor Zeqing was faring, and Hanyi as well. She hadn’t had a chance to speak to the ice spirits that lived upon the frozen summit since before the qualifying tournament. She would find out soon enough, she mused – as soon as the application to continue visiting Zeqing’s home cleared the Sect’s bureaucracy. It was going to be strange, to lose access to many of the sites she had so freely used over the last year – in the interests of competition, Inner Sect disciples were restricted from visiting sites belonging to the Outer Sect, barring special circumstances. It wouldn’t do to have the more tenured students monopolise the most potent sites for years on end, or so it had been explained to her. An inconvenience, yes, but Ling Qi had no doubt that she’d be more than able to find suitable replacements.

Scanning the rest of the horizon, the rest of the peaks were mere hills by comparison to White Cloud Mountain, barely tickling the underbelly of the cloudline. The mountain she now stood upon was no exception. Storm’s Repose, a grand name for a rather modest mountain, was the least of those belonging to the Inner Sect. Others, deeper within the titanic mountain range of the Wall, equalled or even surpassed White Cloud in altitude, with some rising so high that their peaks were deadly to cultivators of the third realm like her.

<The view is pretty great,> Sixiang murmured in her thoughts, the insubstantial moon spirit’s essence tingling in her thoughts as they peered out through Ling Qi’s eyes. <The house is a bit small though, isn’t it?>

<It is,> Ling Qi thought, turning away from the cliff with a swish of silk. Her dark gown swayed around her ankles, and the winglike half-cloak which hung from her back flared out, fluttering in the wind a moment too long to be natural. She couldn’t stand here all morning. She had to settle into her new abode.

The grassy cliff she stood upon was a narrow thing, the vibrant green grass contrasting with protruding grey stone all around despite the chill of encroaching winter. Her disciple’s home was built directly into the side of the mountain, visible only by the perfectly set and framed door of darkly lacquered wood which formed its entrance.

<You’re gonna have a hard time fitting the little big guy in here, aren’t you?> Sixiang asked.

Pausing at the door, Ling Qi grimaced. That was true, but…

<Zhengui isn’t little anymore! … But I miss the garden,> her other spirit, Zhengui, muttered sleepily from her dantian. The tortoise-snake had been slipping into lengthy naps more and more since the end of the tournament.

<I put in the paperwork for a space in the large spirit environment. Weren’t you paying attention?> Ling Qi thought back grumpily to Sixiang.

<Not really!> the spirit replied cheerfully.

<Of course you weren’t,> Ling Qi thought, sighing. Sixiang’s attention wandered at the best of times.

“Zhengui, hang on. I’ll have a space for you soon,” she murmured aloud. She was thankful that Lady Cai had helped her expedite matters.

<Zhengui trusts Big Sister,> Zhengui yawned in her thoughts, sinking back into slumber.

The last few days had been an exhausting slog, most of her time spent dealing with all the set-up for entering the Inner Sect. Between paperwork for a living and cultivating space for Zhengui, then another stack of forms for permission to visit Zeqing, and yet another allowing her to spar with Meizhen, Lady Cai, and Gu Xiulan, she’d hardly had a moment to focus on anything else. She had no idea how her liege managed it.

Stepping inside, Ling Qi found herself in a warm room of polished gray stone. A paper lantern hung from the ceiling overhead, casting the simple furniture set around the chamber in a soft and welcoming light. The lantern hung a bit low, Ling Qi noted with mild annoyance, ducking under it as she swept toward the hall that lead to the other rooms. The door closed with a quiet click behind her.

Continuing her exploration, Ling Qi found a small kitchen and a pantry well stocked for simple meals and tea. She lingered for a moment, studying the formations on the shelves and walls meant to preserve the ingredients, clean the space, and repel pests. They were more complex than what she could compose herself; such utility had never been the focus of her formations studies.

Next, she found an empty room full of workbenches and cupboards. This was a space meant for craftwork. It wasn’t much use to her, but poking through the cupboards turned up numerous mundane but high quality tools, from carving knives to needles to tongs and a hammer laid by a small forge in the far corner.

Leaving the workshop behind, she next came upon a heavy wooden door banded with formation-reinforced iron. Swinging the heavy door open, Ling Qi sucked in a surprised breath as potent qi washed over her.

<Now that’s a good feel,> Sixiang sighed happily as Ling Qi stepped past the threshold. The room beyond was rough. Unlike the other rooms, it seemed like a natural cavern. A glittering reverse forest of limestone stalactites hung from its high ceiling, and the floor was smooth and flat, sloping gently downward until it reached a simmering pool of liquid silver. In the center of the pool rose an outcropping of glittering yellow crystal shot through with streaks of pale green.

This must be the lesser Argent Vent she had been assigned. Already, it felt stronger than the Argent Vent she and her friends had discovered last year, which had greatly helped them in cultivating their base cultivation. The qi in the room was potent, and Ling Qi allowed herself a few minutes to luxuriate in the mist which rose steadily from the cracks in the crystal outcropping before moving on.

At the very back, she found a bedroom. Appointed with a simple, if comfortable, bed, a polished writing desk, and mirror, as well as a wardrobe, it wasn’t exactly a step down from her previous accommodations.

It was hard to imagine that barely more than a year ago, Ling Qi had been sleeping in whatever warm alleyways or corners she could find. Having a real blanket would have been a luxury, she mused, patting the comforter on her new bed.

She shouldn’t get too attached though; if she successfully ranked up to the next tier, she’d be moving into another residence. If anything, the residence that her mother and half-sister lived in in the Sect village would be more stable during her stay in the Inner Sect before she took up her duties on the Emerald Seas border for Cai Renxiang. The Sect village was more distant now, but she would make sure to make regular visits. She was determined not to abandon her mother again now that they’d reconnected once more.

Ling Qi began to put away her few possessions, materializing them one by one from her storage ring. The dress Xiulan had gifted her went into her wardrobe. She hadn’t worn it in months, thanks to the masterpiece of talisman-craft she had earned in defending her now-liege, Cai Renxiang, but she couldn’t help but feel a little attached to it. It had been the first nice outfit she had owned in years.

<You should change things up more often,> Sixiang suggested as she closed the wardrobe.

“Where am I going to find a dress as powerful as this one?” Ling Qi scoffed.

<You can wear things for other reasons you know,> the spirit replied dully.

Now that was just silly, Ling Qi thought. What if she were attacked while wearing something less potent?

Sixiang had no response to that, and Ling Qi moved on.

One of her newest possessions, a deep green jade badge, came next. Its flat surface held two numbers picked out in silver. First was her current rank in the Sect, Eight Hundred and Thirty. The second was her current contribution points. Thanks to the formations embedded in the jade, the numbers changed on their own. As she only needed to wear the badge for official functions, so she tucked it into the topmost drawer of her desk for now.

<You really have to tell me about the adventure that got you those extra points sometime,> Sixiang whispered. Unlike her peers, whose badges had started with a tiny “ten” for their contribution points, Ling Qi had a “twenty.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t already picked it out,” Ling Qi said aloud. She had dreamed of that basement and chilling altar more than once. She was glad that she and Su Ling had stopped that crazed barbarian from unleashing a plague, and it seemed the Sect was as well.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

<Stingy,> Sixiang murmured, unable to hear thoughts not directed at them.

Ling Qi laughed under her breath as she put down the last of her new possessions, a slip of jade containing the secrets of the Argent Genesis art. Like the rest of the Argent arts, it had been created by the ancestors of Sect Head Yuan He and polished to perfection under his eye. As the successor cultivation art to Argent Soul, which had been given to all incoming Outer Sect members, Argent Genesis was given to all incoming Inner Sect members, and focused on assisting cultivators in building a strong foundation for future growth. As was usual for Argent arts, it was a balanced art, designed to mingle with almost every form of Imperial cultivation, and in particular for Genesis, a fine secondary cultivation art.