a post-cyberpunk xianxia epic
Jiling sat at her calligraphy desk with her brush hovering over the page when she heard Xue’s body echo into the ground, a sick thud that thundered through every tree root and weathered stone between the Great Overlook and the Priestess’ quiet enclave. The lights flickered as her concentration ruptured. To some degree, Xueyu’s pain […]
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 […]
The path from the cultivator dormitories down toward Luanshi’s inner gates was quiet. The morning rendered the compound in reality’s details instead of the dreamy phosphorescence of Jiling’s swarm. Still, their surroundings were beautiful. Nature reclaimed every old world surface: ivy on rebar, morning glory blooming on pitted slabs of cement. As they walked, Jiling […]
“I can’t believe I won.” Yuhui’s excitement from the sparring match was electric, tracing his muscles and running rampant through his bones. He looked down to his open palms suspended before him, eyed his fingers like they were not the chaos-wrapped digits that he was born with, like they were a competent man’s hands rather […]
Deep in the body of the mountain, past hall after looming hall of nascent pearls, glowing cores lighting Luanshi’s sacred tunnels with the light of past lives, Hua Jin was slack-jawed. Awe struck the poor inlayer hard, lit his wonder with the ambience of a thousand artifacts. Each one was encased in a glassy iridescent […]
The Pai’ou Tracer Pavilion was a lavishly kept building aglow with electric lights. Filled with treasures and supplies donated predominantly by the Zhenxi clan’s secretive inlayers, there was an air of quiet luxury woven through the utilitarian space making it feel calm despite the suffering that transpired within its walls. Xueyu laid Ren Li out […]
Tian Xiaoxu was the first to dismount when they came upon the two leaders of Luanshi’s hallowed halls. Immediately, he was on his knees before Jiling, hands held before him in deep respect, begging the Lady of the Mountain’s favor and aid in their deep trouble scenario. “Lady Jiling of the nascent swarm, Master Xueyu […]
Jiling barely noticed when the sun bid her farewell and sank below the horizon, only nodding a quiet greeting to the moon and stars that lovingly lit her graceful features in the silver night high above Luanshi’s compound. She took great pleasure in wandering the mist-streaked forest lining Yunji’s stone face. She climbed till she […]
Tian Yuhui’s footsteps rolled like thunder through the hallways of his family’s palace as soon as he heard his mother’s conversation with the priestess of the mountain fade into naught. Their sentences were chopped in half by the gentle song of sliding doors underscored by his frantic trampling, his drumtone gait. Without fear of chaotic […]
“Please,” Yuhui pressed again, voice depleted in the peak of his petitioning, “This would mean the world to me, Laike.” Laike bowed his head, jaw tight. He didn’t turn into Yuhui’s insistent touch. Instead, he implored him gently: “You should get dressed, my prince.” And so, Yuhui, youngest prince of the Tian clan, middle heir […]