Where Sen had set a brisk pace before, he set a brutal pace now. He wanted as much physical and psychological distance from that fight as he could get. Although, he wanted those distances for very different reasons. The physical distance was practicality at work. Someone sent those people, and Se...
2023-07-16 18:01:05 +0000 UTC View Post“That’s just how things are done here,” said Melody.
William Barnes was normally the sort of kind-hearted man that wraps up a stray puppy in his coat on a cold day, but Melody’s words made him want to do violence. He imagined himself seizing the heavy-duty, high-capacity, Swingline ...
2023-07-15 17:33:45 +0000 UTC View Post1
They were waiting in the silence and darkness. He felt their cold, smooth lifelessness and thought of gargoyles, although they were not gargoyles. Gargoyles, at least, were made by human hands. What waited for him in the dark had known no human craft, human compassion, human love or none ...
2023-07-15 17:29:46 +0000 UTC View PostHey guys, I woke up today with a pretty vicious headache that is swiftly turning into a migraine. I took my medication for it and, hopefully, that will take care of it. But, it's made writing almost impossible so far today. I don't want to promise I'll post chapters later, so, here's what's up fo...
2023-07-15 17:26:41 +0000 UTC View PostFalling Leaf glared across the table at the Caihong and resisted the urge to smash the teapot. No, she reminded herself for the hundredth time, Ma Caihong. She was so frustrated with the woman, with the situation, with the countless, stupid human rules that she had to learn. The...
2023-07-15 01:30:03 +0000 UTC View PostControl. So much in cultivation depended on it. Without it, strikes would not find their mark, or be turned aside with ease. Without it, one could shred their qi channels to uselessness. Without control, techniques could run out of control. That was a lesson Sen had learned the hard way. Seeing t...
2023-07-14 16:20:54 +0000 UTC View PostIt seemed that no one was expecting the offensive formation or the ruinous, charred remains of the first person to find it, which was lucky for Sen. The second or two it took him to engage his brain with the idea that it was time to fight were seconds he might not have otherwise gotten without th...
2023-07-14 01:16:52 +0000 UTC View PostTraveling with Lo Meifeng again was both more and less frustrating than Sen expected. It was much more frustrating because she insisted on keeping up the farce that he was in charge. He loathed that extra responsibility. Sen didn’t want to wonder if every campsite he picked was going to be the ...
2023-07-13 16:22:47 +0000 UTC View PostSen was so startled by the familiar but long-absent sensation that he completely lost track of everything around him. He focused on that tugging sensation, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. That proved to be a somewhat useless exercise, since he didn’t glean anything except that it w...
2023-07-13 04:07:51 +0000 UTC View PostBanjin Colle stared at the remains of the planet below on the viewscreen and felt a pang. He’d visited the place a few times before the idiots in research apparently mangled the planet’s magnetic field. Not that he’d known at the time that his government had a serious presence on the planet...
2023-07-12 17:57:13 +0000 UTC View PostFor a few moments, Sen didn’t know how to feel as vying emotions went to war inside his chest. A small part of him rankled at the knowledge that he was, once more, under the watchful eyes of a minder. Even though he’d suspected all of those bodies had been Lo Meifeng’s work, he was still sh...
2023-07-12 16:41:27 +0000 UTC View PostAfter their short break, during which Lifen slept almost non-stop, Sen had pushed hard for a few more days. Then, he started noticing the bodies. He didn’t point them out to Lifen because there was no benefit to that, but he’d formed a working theory about what was happening. He hoped that he...
2023-07-12 01:17:47 +0000 UTC View PostLo Meifeng was tired. No, she thought, I’m exhausted. She hadn’t been this worn out since before she’d become a core formation cultivator. It wasn’t that she hadn’t slept in six days, although that was wearing on her a little. It was that she’d spent most of...
2023-07-11 14:32:15 +0000 UTC View PostSen kept them traveling at night. At first, it was simply to avoid other travelers, but things changed on the third day. While Lifen was sleeping the afternoon away in the tent, Sen felt a potent spiritual sense sweep over the entire area. It wasn’t enough to penetrate or collapse the obscuring...
2023-07-11 01:09:01 +0000 UTC View PostEven though he expected it, the fury of the weather still staggered Kalan as they stepped off the ship. A particularly violent gust of wind combined with the standing water on the pad slid Kalan sideways the better part of a foot. Temera slid past him, her lighter body providing less resistance, ...
2023-07-10 16:47:42 +0000 UTC View PostSen and Lifen left the inn quietly, only taking a moment to return their room key. The inn owners seemed startled but weren’t given a chance to protest before the two young guests vanished out the door. Once they got outside, Lifen turned a questioning gaze on Sen.
“Where will we go?”...
2023-07-10 16:01:55 +0000 UTC View PostThe next morning, Sen woke up early. He’d noticed it more and more since his body cultivation advancement. He needed less sleep, a lot less sleep. Even knowing that moving between major stages meant substantial changes, he’d been a bit hazier about what that meant for body cultivators. With s...
2023-07-09 22:17:28 +0000 UTC View PostOnce they were out of the city proper, Lo Meifeng seemed to relax a little. At least, Sen thought she did. Her answers to the occasional questions that Sen or Lifen asked were less sharp and terse. It wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but Sen liked to take his victories where he found ...
2023-07-09 17:45:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe next two weeks fell into something of a routine for Sen and Lifen. They’d get up each morning and cultivate for an hour on deck. Then, Sen began the grueling process of teaching and drilling Lifen on unarmed combat. It didn’t take long for the question Sen had been expecting to come up. 2023-07-09 06:30:33 +0000 UTC View Post
It turned out that Sen had spent almost two full days on that beach. Once the captain figured out that nobody was getting on or off the boat for a while, he just put his crew back to work on repairing the ship. So, the ship was underway again almost immediately after Sen and Lo Meifeng were back ...
2023-07-08 16:34:41 +0000 UTC View PostSen tried to get what rest he could while Lo Meifeng’s boat approached, because he suspected there would be little enough rest after she arrived. He made a point to commit the name Elder Bo had given him for the body cultivation technique he’d, almost accidentally, used. Five-Fold Body Transf...
2023-07-08 04:41:34 +0000 UTC View PostKalan glared at Temera. “Don’t speak to her.”
The spy gave him an unamused look. “I was just saying hello to the girl.”
Fresia looked deeply uncomfortable at the minor battle of wills going on between Kalan and the Ikaren spy.
“Don’t,” Kalan repeated. “I won’...
2023-07-07 14:12:23 +0000 UTC View PostSen’s first thought after the elixir went to work on him was, “I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
No matter how powerful he’d thought those extra ingredients were, it had been a pale, pale shadow of the truth. His previous body advanced had refined the tissues, the organs, even the bo...
2023-07-07 13:27:38 +0000 UTC View PostOkay, this should put us back on track. ~Eric
***
Sen found that the water stepping technique came easier to him than ever as he dashed from the side of the ship toward the beach. He didn’t think he’d broken through in any meaningful way, but it was still...
2023-07-07 05:19:03 +0000 UTC View PostOf course, it wasn’t that simple. No sooner had the captain walked away than Lifen appeared. She smiled at him, clearly happy to see him up and about, but there was a line of worry between her eyes. Sen gave a quick, longing glance at the beach before giving Lifen his full attention.
“I...
2023-07-06 15:39:49 +0000 UTC View PostThere were blurry spots of semi-conscious, semi-lucid understanding in Sen’s memory. He vaguely remembered being thrown over a shoulder. He recalled someone throwing him into a bunk. Then, it was just intermittent flashes of storm noises and people yelling about things. Mostly, though, it was d...
2023-07-06 09:10:11 +0000 UTC View PostSen sat cross-legged on the deck of the ship with his senses and qi extended. The ship had many excellent qualities, or so Sen had told himself, but speed wasn’t one of them. Lo Meifeng admitted that the journey was moving slowly, even by the standards of sea travel. She also assured him that w...
2023-07-05 14:38:36 +0000 UTC View PostAs soon as they exited the wormhole, Kalan turned to Tessan. The man stood on the bridge and looked outwardly calm. Kalan felt an irrational urge to do something to break that calm, but he pushed it down. It wasn’t the time or place for that kind of personal foolishness.
“Tessan, double...
2023-07-05 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
I realized I haven't done one of these in a while. I made this for myself the other night and, despite some initial misgivings on my part, it was delicious. It's also got a fairly short list of ingredients. Most of them are things that people will have in their kitchens. Also, this recipe works w...
2023-07-04 16:11:45 +0000 UTC View PostAs promised, and hopefully early enough not to disrupt family/holiday events on America's birthday. ~Eric
***
I woke up early the next day, but then I always wake up early. I don’t know if it’s hardwired into my nature or a byproduct of my pa...
2023-07-04 14:24:38 +0000 UTC View Post