a post-cyberpunk xianxia epic
“Oh, sad. I guess it’ll be good news for him that Laike’s not afraid of ghosts. I don’t think Laike’s afraid of anything.” Chongwei elbowed her pale-haired sister. “Have you ever seen Lai scared? I mean, if someone surprises him he will straight up murder them but that’s not really fear so much as it’s […]
Just as Xueyu was stepping away from the pair of doctors attending the wounded men to scan the alleyway for any sign of the missing prince and his prized pupil, it seemed he found what he was looking for. The swordmaster’s eyes immediately snapped to the boys suddenly materialized before him, wide and then impossibly […]
“You’ve tilted my world in the very best way, Laike.” No matter how contented either boy felt in that moment, how much they wanted to persist as they were until infinity claimed them, time always had other motives. Yuhui watched the way his arms fit around that boy’s neck, watched the shifting beauty of his […]
“If everyone else dies too, I would probably be rushing to bring sweets back to the youngest orphans on the mountain, to be there with them so they’re not scared when the sky goes dark.” After a thoughtful moment, the shadowscape boy looked to the river of chaos at his side and smiled, coy and […]
The path from the Tian’s estate to Zhongxin market was tightly coiled with street vendor clogged veins. Observant as he was, Laike found the environment overstimulating—too many sounds, too many sights, too many people. Voices overlapped voices until Laike couldn’t concentrate on a single story; the prince had so many memories to convey it seemed […]
“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 […]
With his amber eyes still caught on every dip and curve of Yuhui’s nonsense markings, Laike made a single innocent request: “Take off your clothes.” “Um… why?” Yu’s eyes were wide even as his fingers indicated he was not opposed to following the order. The boy’s hands moved to fuss with the sash looped around […]
A month before Xueyu proposed Laike come to the Tian family complex, Jiling posed the young disciple a riddle at the tail end of prayers: “Laike,” she said. “Orphan of the deluge, my castaway child of the endless sword, tell me: if you stand at the epicenter of a flood spirit’s anguish, how do you […]
Fanxing city, separated from the hollow mountain that lurked distant in its periphery by a long shadow over the landscape, was just beginning to stir to life in the swell of morning. The Tian clan’s manor functioned as the sprawling heart of that land over which they ruled, perfectly sectioned between matters public and private. […]
Xueyu’s steps were brisk on the sliver-stone salvaged hallways leading him away from Jiling’s private chamber. He made quick work of the angled corridors, followed all their twisting and turning around sacred spaces until he hit the day in full. The large man stood in the main doorway of the mountain’s deeper recesses for a […]