a post-cyberpunk xianxia epic
4 MONTHS AGO. Lin’ai leaned forward, arms crossed on the table as he watched his brother pour another glass of wine. “—and he says to me, he says I love you Lin but he won’t let me take him home, he won’t give me any straight answers when I ask about him and his life, […]
Ma Xushu heard his brother and Feng Quan’s perpetual bickering in the courtyard of his family’s manor before they ever came into view. He sat beneath a small overhang of juniper carpet, an emerald umbrella made from sharp foliage attached to two gnarled trunks twisted by nature and the slow progression of time. In his […]
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 […]
Gao Suilian was rarely ever up before half past eight and always rose with the unapologetic insistence of her militant father. He, trained by a life lived between Yunji and the conflicts Luanshi raised him for, always rose at dawn and banged around their shared home with little consideration for things like beauty sleep or […]
“Are you excited to see the Fengs, Lin?” Gui Ao looked over to his younger brother with a fondness that narrowed his eyes. His sun bleached hair fell just above his chin, framed his face in wavy lines that shook with the movement of their wagon pulled by a pair of horses. Its construction creaked […]
There was blood splattered on the pavement leading up to the mansion in which the Feng clan made their home. Afternoon rolled in and now the courtyard was quiet, peaceful in the hours after so much noise and a night’s worth of ragged howling. It was bare except for that tell-tale evidence of lashings left […]
Head tilting back, Yila was all scarlet grin, all carmine smile—she settled astride Quan’s lap, layers of red silk riding up her thighs, warm like the memory of the sun in the cold comfort of night. “I beg your every golden word,” she taunted, lithe arms draped over his shoulders, snaking about his neck. When […]
Feng Quan’s failure didn’t go without reprimand. When they arrived home, Swordmaster Feng Ban forced the defeated Quan to his knees below the old dove tree’s sea of ghost blossoms and placed a bowl of water in his pupil’s outstretched hands. “Meditate on this for twenty-four hours, Quan, so you remember,” the long-haired swordmaster said […]
“Fei—” Xiao stepped back into Fei as Li advanced. He held Boon aloft before him glinting mercury warnings in the light. “Fei—do it back, do it fucking back—!” “Okay okay!!” Fei stammered, focusing hard on his brother. He closed the space between himself and Quan in his mind, adorned himself in his posture, his predator […]
Most of Fanxing City’s vendors were already set up by the time Xueyu turned onto the street at the top of Zhongxin Market with his entourage. It was a convoluted and bustling place, full of old men whose dealings only centered around digging up discounts, merchants hungry for the back and forth of a haggle, […]