“Fifty thousand gold,” I call out, raising the current bid of forty thousand by double the minimum increment.
“Fifty thousand gold,” the auctioneer notes. “Do I have fifty-five thousand?” she asks, sharp eyes scanning the crowd.
A woman sitting farther back with a group of...
2024-11-30 09:32:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe huge pavilion rises at least two stories up at its highest point, its thick, purple cloth billowing gently in the morning breeze.
It’s been erected out on an open field a bit of a walk from town, and cultivators mill about in small groups, talking about cultivator things, I imagine. 2024-11-28 13:18:04 +0000 UTC View Post
A/N:: this chapter was supposed to be the auction, but then I remembered that I promised one of you that I would write out a scene with Qigang drinking the noble rank tea.
This is the result.
Enjoy.
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Finished the chapter sooner than I thought so here you go.
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There’s something about being out in town at night that makes it nigh impossible to want to go home.
Maybe it’s the night air, or the fac...
2024-11-16 17:36:07 +0000 UTC View Post
This is Tao Jin, the guy we met in Xiuying's recent interlude.
He is a doting husband and father, and, most of you might not remember, but we've actually met him once before, right after Qigang "enlightened" Xiuying back in chapter eleven.
Chapter 28, 'Meet the Mengs' should be out Su...
2024-11-15 21:22:22 +0000 UTC View PostShe took his hand.
Qigang’s eyes were dry, but he squeezed her hand gently, and for some time, they stood on the silent hilltop and watched the cherry blossoms fall.
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The sun sinks beneath the horizon, taking with it its dazzling orange lighting and the a...
2024-11-13 18:49:08 +0000 UTC View PostXiuying
No one chased, but Xiuying ran, box of rich, sturdy iron-oak clasped tightly under an arm.
She did not know why she ran, but she didn’t stop, couldn’t stop. Because if she did… well, she didn’t know what she would...
2024-11-08 22:21:52 +0000 UTC View PostMeng Yi
It takes her a minute, but finally, Xiuying carefully puts the book inside the box and seals it with her qi, marking her as its new owner.
Meng Yi had known, probably even before Xian Qigang himself did, that the manual would be ending up in Xiuyi...
2024-11-05 14:25:15 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:: slight retcon. So, I don't know how many of you remember, but the tiger cultivation manual is not part of the auction anymore, I changed it. I feel like it means more this way.
Sorry for any inconvenience caused.
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2024-10-28 13:10:57 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:: the problem isn't gone, but my head is in a better place now.
Thank you all for being patient with me.
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Awareness comes slowly, like fog lifting before the morning sun.
The first sense to c...
2024-10-22 20:20:00 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:: so I recently discovered that my father has been cheating on my Mom for about seventeen years.
And apparently, he has three children with this other woman, the oldest of which is a fifteen or so year old boy.
So, yeah, that's what I've b...
2024-10-09 17:41:46 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: so, after some thought, I've decided to post this as the completion of chapter 22, hence the 22.5 in its title.
Chapter 23 should be out by Sunday. I don't want to rush it because there's some things in there that I want to come out looking their best so... hol...
2024-09-18 12:50:22 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:: so, uh, after a few rereads, quite a few edits were made to the previous chapter, i.e. chapter 21.
Now, you don't have to go back and reread it. But, it might not be a terrible idea, seeing as it's now almost 400 words longer.
Sorry for ...
2024-09-15 16:03:20 +0000 UTC View Post“Young Master, are you okay?” Meng Yi asks, staring at me oddly.
I sigh, an excuse ready at the tip of my tongue.
But then, right before I say it, I just don’t.
If I really can’t trust Meng Yi with this, then I’m several shades of screwed.
“I’m okay,” I say...
2024-09-07 20:01:32 +0000 UTC View PostFor all of Meng Yi’s teasing and ribbing, Xiuying is actually a pretty good teacher.
She does the anime beat-me-black-and-blue-in-the-name-of-learning-martial-arts thing of course, but it’s clearly more than just a sadist getting her fix by smacking me around.
She’s methodical a...
2024-08-31 18:57:59 +0000 UTC View PostTomorrow, I will freak out over what having the power to force my will onto others, limited as it is, means, but for tonight… my sinfully soft bed is calling my name.
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“You have a subjugation technique?” Xiuying asks flatly, giving me a steady look.
“Is th...
2024-08-23 08:35:54 +0000 UTC View PostFan Hai
Fan Hai was many things, but a spy was not one of them, and in a perfect world, or maybe even just a better one, the job of spy would never have been one she needed to do.
Unfortunately for Fan Hai though, this was not a perfect world, or even a par...
2024-08-19 15:10:03 +0000 UTC View Post“Come,” Xiuying says after a moment, we’ve done enough talking. And with that she leads the way out onto the training ground.
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“Faster!” Xiuying commands, swinging her training spear at my head so fast it’s a blur.
I duck, nearly collapsing to the ground. 2024-08-13 18:08:36 +0000 UTC View Post
God, the last week has been ridiculous.
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The training ground is a wide patch of cobblestoned dirt behind the manor that’s about half the size of a football field.
And by football I mean the ball game...
2024-08-08 19:47:10 +0000 UTC View PostThis week has not been productive writing-wise. And I'm traveling tomorrow, so the next chapter will likely be on Tuesday.
I apologize for all this.
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“So, I want you to train me. And...
2024-08-02 10:07:51 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:: this chapter was three bitches and a half to write.
There were numerous stretches of several hours where I just stared at my screen trying to figure out how making my brain do wording.
This chapter was not fun experience.
...
2024-07-30 16:13:25 +0000 UTC View Post…because I have no idea what else to do, I sing the song, not even needing to read the lyrics on the paper in my hand.
~Fly me to the moon~
~Let me play among the stars~
“I don’t understand,” Magistrate Qin says, his confusion clear. “Is that the lang...
2024-07-26 10:35:26 +0000 UTC View Post
I don't know why the art generator decided to put him in a forest, but there you go.
This is why we shouldn't trust machines.
2024-07-23 11:13:44 +0000 UTC View Post
God, my fingers hurt.
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We walk out of the restaurant, eyes on our backs the whole way out.
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“What happened to her?” I ask immediately we’re out on the streets once again. “The th...
2024-07-23 11:11:09 +0000 UTC View PostSorry for the short chapter. It's actually just the first thousand words of what was chapter twelve.
But it was taking too much time due to the length and I need to post something to help engagement on RoyalRoad so...
Hope you like it at least...
2024-07-21 14:00:40 +0000 UTC View PostMuch like it was when I came in, the room goes silent, and all heads turn to observe the newcomer.
The person standing at the door is either a very pretty man, or a boyish looking woman.
They’re tall, six foot at least, and dressed in fancy blue armour with gold accents and a red sa...
2024-07-18 13:14:48 +0000 UTC View PostIt takes a while for Meng Yi to pick a restaurant for us to eat, and I don’t know if it’s because she likes this place, thinks I’ll like this place, knows he liked this place, or, and this is probably way more likely than I’m comfortable with, if it just took this long for us to ...
2024-07-18 13:10:27 +0000 UTC View PostI stare at myself in the gold-framed full-length mirror of my bedroom, as Meng Yi finishes dressing me in fine, blue (no doubt, stupidly expensive) silky robes.
You know, an asshole he may be, but Xian Qigang is an asshole who’s chromosomes are arranged like a… a thing with impeccable a...
2024-07-16 14:49:02 +0000 UTC View PostMeng Yi smiles. “As is your privilege…” a deliberate pause. “…Young Master Xian Qigang.”
I sigh once more. “Heaven give me strength,” I mutter dramatically.
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Meng Yi titters, and I roll my eyes at her, then roll out of bed with a grace and fluid...
2024-07-14 15:07:43 +0000 UTC View Post… then, with the ease of practice, I open the cultivation manual, focus on the words, and, after what is either a minute or a century, I become the sun.
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I open my eyes to a familiar ceiling, my body spread out on a sinfully soft bed that I’ve come to cherish deeply in th...
2024-07-13 10:32:59 +0000 UTC View Post