a post-cyberpunk xianxia epic
Chen dropped his traveling pack on the floor once he was able to stand full height, shimmying past the low ceiling in the entryway of the loft. “Ah, the wall’s gotten worse,” he said of the space where Laike’s cat slept, that small area scratched to smithereens by furious claws. “You should make her wear […]
“I brought you back some things that I found in my travels.” Chen looked aside to Laike as they strolled back toward the group of buildings the Luanshi sect called home. The morning mist long ago dissipated under the intense gaze of the sun and now the forest was clear—sepia and viridian, grey and gritty […]
2 YEARS AGO. The moon crested over Yunji at midnight. Chen’s window was cracked to the cool mountain air, a kaleidoscopic array of colored glass muted in the dim light of the boy’s half empty room. A lantern burned on his empty desk. The Luanshi sect was fitted with electricity, however the boy born of […]
2 YEARS AGO. “I’m not going to go easy on you,” Chen said as he walked into the center of the sparring ring at Laike’s side, voice hushed like the disclosure was something of a secret shared between them. This would be one of the last matches in which the older disciple would partake—in a […]
Laike was conspicuously absent from breakfast. He refrained from attending Xueyu’s morning training exercises. This wasn’t in itself alarming—occasionally Xueyu’s lead disciple needed time to himself on specific exercises—however, Laike was also absent from his studies with the Heart of the Mountain, missing his daily dose of historical transcription, calligraphy, incantation, and prayer recitation. When […]
Ren Fei took a careful pace through the Northern edges of Beichen forest, navigating the foothills that crept along the side of Yunji just a few miles shy of the mountain pass. Despite the full body ache he suffered, that water mirror boy suddenly disconnected from his ability felt confident in the day that lay […]