Torsten Hewson
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v3c25.2 How a Monkey Joined part 2
🕑 Added 2022-07-01 09:04:58 +0000 UTCBi De was walking along a road of churned dirt, a ribbon that stretched haphazardly over the hills, just wide enough for two carts to pass side by side. The breeze that gently flowed over him held the sweet scent of flowers and wild grass that grew along the roadside. At the end of the road was his destination. He anticipated no problems, and was rather enjoying himself on his jaunt out of the office. It was about time he got away from all the paperwork.
Looking down at the tilled soil he was walking on, the highway of the realm, he smiled in satisfaction. For a moment Bi De paused to feel the warmth of the warm sun, high in the sky, and the breeze on his face.
…wait. Sun?
Bi De kept walking, letting his worries melt away. He knew his friend had to be around here somewhere—
Ah. Near here. Bi De smiled as he stepped forwards just slightly, his foot pressing down on the road.
The churned earth gave away, revealing a pit trap. Bi De fell, landing on his feet easily. Those little rascals. They dared? He thought with amusement.
Immediately, a child and a small Roadspinner burst from some bushes and poked their heads down into the pit. The armadillo-like creature looked as eager as the child, hopping up and down with glee. The little, wild looking boy was grinning widely, but his blank, milky eyes were looking too far to the left. The blind boy was not really seeing him.
Roadspinner? This felt odd. Familiar.
“Ha! I told you we’d get him!” the child, Dulou, enthused. His companion, Dizhou, tapped his thick claws on the side of the pit in agreement.
Bi De chuckled at the enthusiastic children.
“Yes, yes, you got me. A very good pit! I give it an eight out of ten!”
Doulu laughed happily and held out his fist for his companion to bump… pointing it in the complete wrong direction. Dizhou scrambled over himself to get to the other side of the boy and headbutted his hand.
“Mission successful!” The boy boasted.
“You do realise that I must retaliate now, no?” Bi De proclaimed, and with a single leap, he was out of the pit. He landed in front of the two. The boy and the Roadspinner fell on their asses in surprise.
Then they looked at each other and nodded. The Roadspinner curled up into a ball and shot off in one direction, the boy racing along after him… looking entirely too coordinated and sure of himself for a blind boy.
Bi De rolled his eyes and gave chase.
The children shrieked as he did so, herding them in the direction he wanted them to go before finally catching the two grubby little beasts.
“So how is old Rumblin’ Yao, anyway?” He asked.
“He's good! He's not far now!” Doulu said even as he hung from his ankle. The Roadspinner in his other hand waved at Bi De and he rolled his eyes.
Bi De smiled, hoisting the child and the Spirit Beast onto his back. The boy giggled in delight while the spinner vibrated in pleasure. He always liked children.“Then let's get going you little Wreckerballs!”
That was… not right at all. Children were… strange. He wasn’t good with children.
Things suddenly snapped into clarity. Bi De metaphorically shook his head as the images, the memory, fuzzed and frayed slightly. Suddenly he wasn’t in the man’s body anymore.
He had felt this before. He had been this man before, when he first touched the crystal.
He was inside a memory.
Unlike last time though, the memory did not just eject him once he recognized it for what it was. Instead he was an observer now. The man, not Bi De, was walking down the churned earth path, carrying both a child and what looked like a Wreckerball without the spines.
There was a spike of unpleasant worry. He… he honestly had no clue what to do in this moment. But the feeling of being this man was… Intense. If he hadn’t felt it before, he likely wouldn’t have been able to tell for hours yet. Hours. Hours he did not know if he had.
His worry deepened as something within him twinged, the crystal drawing out some of his Qi. It was subtle, very subtle, but the small drain was there.
His thoughts and concerns were not for himself, but for his Great Master, Miantiao, Yin, and the monkeys. His Master was in some manner of trance, while his companions were weaker than he. He could only pray that their lives were not snuffed out by this crystal.
If they were hurt in any way, he would have his vengeance upon this wicked crystal, and the witch who had given him its location.
Assuming he survived, of course.
He had no body, just a mass of Qi trapped in a recording. He took a metaphorical breath and spread his awareness out. The memory fuzzed slightly. It twinged as his Qi quested through it, the colours melting like wax and running. The recording itself began to skip, moving forward and back oddly. Bi De caught a glimpse of a giant, curled up Roadspinner, its shell big enough to house most of a village within, before the memory stuttered again, leaping back in time, and replaying what Bi De had just seen.
Bi De hit the confining edges of the memory. His Qi felt forwards carefully.
It was like a bubble. A thin film surrounding the memory.
He pressed up against it, probing for a weakness, searching for anything that would let him escape.
The walls of the bubble resisted, pressing back, but Bi De would not be denied.The walls of the memory shuddered and rumbled as he bore down on it. For a moment, it felt as if he would not succeed but his will was stronger than the walls of this prison. A breach formed and Bi De pushed free.
Immediately, he was assaulted.
Colours assaulted his eyes and a hundred thousand voices and the clash of weapons rang in his ears. A cacophony of scents filled his nose, causing him to grimace. One moment, the sweet smell of flowers, another the scent of death so powerful it made his eyes water. Tastes, from delicious food the equal of blessed Fa Ram, to things so foul that they had no description, making him want to void his stomach. Even his own feelings were not spared as the crystal forced him to feel the heights of triumph and the depths of despair.
Bi De’s questing Qi recoiled from the sundered gap in the memories wall. He was slammed back into the bottom of the memory as the entire thing warped and twisted like a nightmare, as more and more of the sheer, raw emotion from the void outside flowed towards him through the tear.
The first disciple of Fa Ram would not be defeated. Bi De charged back into it, gathering his will, and pushed against the encroaching darkness that was attempting to tear this memory bubble apart. His silver Qi grew like a net and captured it, holding it at bay. He knew not what to do, only that he had to hold it still. The rent in the sky, exposing the howling darkness, pressed against him… until it started to close.
Slowly, inch by inch, the rent sealed shut, and the memory stabilized.
Bi De managed a sigh of relief as the memory stabilized and restarted, this time, deep into the night.
===============
Bi De pondered his failure. Brute force had not worked in favour but he was undeterred. He would experiment.
The words of the Great Master were clear in regards to experimentation. One must study the world carefully, and form a hypothesis.
He may be able to leap into the maelstrom of memories, but if he did that he could not find his companions. Or if he could find them, what could he do, peirce into their memory bubbles and then leap back into the void with them? No, that was unfeasible. He could attempt to find his Great Master, but he too had been held in some manner of trance. Bi De doubted his ability to wake his lord if whatever was happening was strong enough to affect him.
Bi De pondered his predicament as he turned his contemplations to the contents of the bubble. The man drew what looked like a rough map in the dirt, and the blind boy nodded happily as he pointed something out.
The slight twinge in his Qi occurred again.
He had to escape. But how to collect everybody? He pondered, searching for an answer, and observed as the man accepted some herbs from the Roadspinner The little creature's nose twitched in a way that reminded of Sister Ri Zu.
Bi De paused. Ri Zu.
Sister Ri Zu used a needle as her tool of choice. A needle that could pierce, that was hardened and durable… designed to be precise.
Bi De, inspired, once more gathered his Qi. He compressed it like his blades, but concentrating it to a point instead of a line, forging silver light into a needle.
Slowly, he approached the walls of the memory. A tiny needle of silver Qi pressed into the edges of the memory. Slowly, carefully, Bi De pressed against the walls. A tiny part of himself, attached to a thread.
He pierced the side of the bubble. Immediately, he was struck by the void, but his will was strong and he was prepared for it this time. The little silver needle ventured into the void.
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Yin’s day had been going alright. She got started on her rounds early, sweeping the streets. Pale Moon was beautiful early in the morning, before the forges started belching smoke into the air. The town was completely geared towards its mining operations, supplying the Emperor of the Azure’s soldiers with weapons and finished goods. After the discovery of what was being called Pale Moon ore, her little town was growing fast.
It was strange to watch so many people come in, but they had such neat stories!
After she was done sweeping, she would be off to the Overseer’s Palace for her martial training. She had managed to complete the first form of the Iron Skin technique last night, and she had been looking forward to perhaps moving up a rank.
Then, of course, everything had been ruined, because Wu had to be an ass.
“You court death, boy.” Wu Feng snarled. Yin grimaced, as the older boy advanced on her. “Look at you, dirt sweeper. How dare you even exist in my presence, let alone accost me with your foul smell?”
All she had done was bump into this bastard! And she had tried to avoid him too! He had been the one who changed direction!
Fuck off, asshole, Yin wanted to say, but instead she kept backing up, waving her hands in a conciliatory manner. This was a fight she couldn't win.
“I’m sorry, Master Wu! A thousand apologies!” She knew how it was going to end, though. Wu was in the Spiritual Realm, while she was only into the Profound. The son of Pale Moon’s Overseer would utterly flatten her.
But she had to try anyway.
“Take your guard, peasant.” the man demanded. Yin swallowed, as she got into her form. It felt a bit strange, but not completely off.
Wu smirked at her. The first blow landed on her, slamming her to the side. She felt her ribs creak.
But the fight was on. Her strikes were slow and halting. Defensive. Like she wanted to retreat.
Fight, damn it! She had to fight! What use was a weapon that didn't fight?! She was getting her ass kicked!
The sun in her chest burned. It pulsed angrily, thrumming and reverberating against something, like a beating heart.
Something was off about that, but Yin didn’t spare it any thought. She had to fight. So she fought.
The first time, she lost. Fists slammed her into the dirt. They smashed her, and broke her bones. It was agony. It hurt so much, so much she wanted to give up.
But Yin wouldn’t give up. She glared up at her tormentor. The sun rose like a crescendo. The world twisted, as Wu started to age rapidly. The world bled, as something pulled on her Qi, bringing up another version of Wu.
Yin snarled at him, as the world wobbled strangely. Like it was moments from destabilizing.
Emotions poured into her as she felt something break, the world grasping for something outside it, and tearing itself to pieces.
And then there was a silver light. It pierced into the destabilizing world, and threaded through it, tying off any rents, and calming the storm that raged at its ragged edges.
Yin blinked, as Bi De, or at least a part of him was suddenly there. The world stopped breaking, and the older version of Wu faded away leaving her staring at an unfamiliar ceiling.
‘It is only a memory. Hold fast. I will find the others.’ She heard Bi De’s voice and intentions as they were transmitted to her.
She let his memories explain what he had done. The link he had forged. Yin understood he could not take her with him, not without tearing a massive hole, and disturbing every memory within this place… and then he didn’t know if he could find everyone afterwards.
But a needle and thread, tying each separate memory together? Slowly pulling them together until they touched, and then extracting everybody into one place?
‘Let's do this!’ she demanded, thumping her feet against the floor.
Sun and moon touched, holding fast. Their Qi threaded together. One band of silver light connected two memories.
Yin closed her eyes, as the memory kept playing.
=======================
Miantiao was seated in a place of honour. The merchants came to him with wine and gifts, plying him and begging for his patronage. Beautiful flowers poured him his drinks, and whispered about the kind of wares their noble fathers had.
The room was beautifully appointed with silk and gold, the food was scrumptious, and it was a truly fantastic evening.
The final merchant of the night came in, his men carrying a hundred cloth covered wares. Miantiao leaned forward, interested.
“My Lord, behold!” the merchant began. “I bring you the finest glasswares in the Azure Mountains!”
With a flourish, he took the cover off the first of his pieces. It was a bright green vessel.
The world around Miantiao cracked, as he took in all the minor imperfections, and the inexpertly applied colour.
You dare? Maintiao wanted to demand, as everything twisted oddly. There was no way any maker worth their salt would have dared to peddle this refuse. Miantiao would have plucked out his other eye before he tried to sell glass of this quality. Impure copper oxide colouring?!
“This is fantastic. How did you get it so pure?” Miantiao said instead, feeling impressed.
Miantiao froze. There was something wrong here. What….?
And then he realised it. It hit him, slamming into his mind.
He felt happy, and at peace with the world. He felt fulfilled.
The illusion cracked like so much cheap glass.
The guilt and the hurt touched his mind once more, and he clung to them. The memories of his Master and Yin, so bittersweet, brought him back to his senses.
Miantiao’s eyes narrowed. His senses expanded, disregarding the fools in front of them, and their glass. Hells thay had figured out how to fix the greening issue centuries ago.
Yet.. this palace was strange. His senses ghosted along the edges of the bubble, and the void outside.
He frowned. It was too thick for him to even attempt to get out. His Qi formed into a lens, and he gazed into the void, trying to find something, anything that could aid him. Perhaps he would see Yin’s sun?
Instead, he found a silver needle, it sliced through the void, searching, and Miantiao angled his Qi.
He caught the rooster’s attention.
Bi De was surprised, as the needle entered the memory. ‘Glass? I would have thought that this would have consumed your attention, yet you broke out?’’ he sounded impressed as he caught hold of Miantiao’s Qi.
‘The method they use is inferior to my Master’ssss’ he said dismissively.
Some of the tenseness in his body faded, as he felt the warmth of Yin’s Qi.
‘Are we to attempt to leave together then?’ Miantiao questioned. They had the three of them. It was time to leave, in his opinion. Or at least attempt to.
‘No. Not yet. I will not leave any behind.’ Bi De replied.
Maintiao paused at the words. They owed the monkeys little. Sure it was the crystal they had brought at fault but it would be smarter to leave them to their fates, and take care of themselves.
He nearly voiced his concern. But Bi De’s convictions were clear. His eyes were pure.
And Miantiao had had enough of hurting others, so that he could benefit.
‘Do not spread yourself too thin.’
The rooster smiled. ‘Fear not. I shall return triumphant.’
==========================
Back into the maelstrom, Bi De went. A single silver needle, backed up by the sun, and magnified by a pane of glass.
Still further Bi De pushed his Qi, pushing through the jumbled chaos of assorted memories. Now... it wasn’t as clear. He could not feel the monkey’s’ Qi as well as his companions.
But he would not give up on them, not one.
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Hooray for rewrites! this one needed it! It looks so much better now than its original incarnation. More memory stuff, and Lore Wreckerballs were once called Roadspinners.
Like always, 3 chapters this week! sorry for the scuff!
Editors: Massgamer, Brandon “Philosophysics” Zhang-Leong, Ayje, Oshi
Comments
Thunderhoof
I want them to have a big shaggy dog. A good swimmer and will out bark Bi De in the morning.
Akki
I remember reading a Green Lantern comic ages ago which touched on this basically saying something like how fantasy worlds have intelligence engines which inhibit the technological advancements of these worlds. There was even an article which talked about the comic: https://screenrant.com/green-lantern-fantasy-medieval-plot-hole-explained/
Epsilon Rose
True, but that's just an example of making the best of a bad hand, not actually surpassing anyone. The glass is an example where the ancient version is definably worse.
Eilluna
I'm really enjoying this story arc. I know others aren't. But I like getting a closer look into the lore and history of the world.
Vector
Yes but fantasy civilisations are a bit weird as they often have the tools to advance science and the large urban centres that help with progress, but seem to get stuck in the Middle Ages. For example they seem to have reasonably advanced glass working and metallurgy. I would have thought cannons would be a logical step for them. Especially as there is a need to fight spirit beasts.
Svein Ove Aas
The notion of progress over time is actually fairly recent. For most of human history, progress was so negligible as to be nonexistent; and it was a three steps forward, two steps back process. Combine that with the human tendency to forget bad things, and it’s no wonder the past would be looked at as better. These days our progression is much too fast for any reasonable person to see it that way.
Vector
That trope has always bugged me as well. Though it has been noted in other places especially by the Cloudy sect guy that the province has been ingenious in adapting to the low qi levels.
BlueMage_VT
I love his absolute disdain for their works too. Long boi has venom in him after all lol
Epsilon Rose
Noodle's chapter had an interesting detail. Generally, when ancient works are brought up, they are unequivocally, and unattainablely, better than anything in the present, especially in the Azure Hills—the human living with the monkeys explicitly said present craftsmen could never live up to their ancestors and everything gets worse over time. However, in this chapter, Noodle rejected ancient glass where because techniques that were centuries out if date were inferior to the ones he used. For all that his story is tragic, he's also the clearest example of the world continuing to advance after the fall, rather than just stagnating or regressing.
Imspinnennetz
Second delay to chapter in an attempt to fix sleeping schedule issues from the late chapter last time.
John Pratt
The system wasn't charged with just wood qi, it was an array of all the elements arranged in a virtuous cycle. An overflow of qi from one node flooded the node behind it, causing a chain reaction that destroyed all of the nodes and choking them with a destructive element. Hence the Misty Lake (old water node) being choked by reeds(wood aligned qi) and the creation of Pale Moon Lake (Old metal node choked by water) Ash Forrest(Old wood node choked by fire qi) and the point at the center of the fire qi formation was a volcanic hot spring choked by mineral deposits. We haven't seen the old earth qi node yet, but the Young Master that's crushing on Tigu is from right by there and does blacksmithing, so there's probably a bunch of metal there.
Arin Storm
Neglect wouldn't have caused a system charged solely with wood qi, and most likely fully lacking the ability to hold non-wood qi, to suddenly be filled with nothing but fire qi. It was the facts that the Ash Forest formation was only made to channel wood qi, and that fire qi is inimical to wood qi that caused the explosion. It was the equivalent of throwing a molotov into a room full of gas. Along with that, the mother bear, while likely meant to act mainly a guardian, probably would have been taught how to do up keep on the wood cycle focal point, meaning there's no reasonable way it would have fallen to neglect.
John Pratt
The Cycle of Elements might have been sabotaged, or it might have just been neglected, either would be enough to lead to disaster. We know that at some point demons attacked, and all the Azure Hills Sects pivoted to being Martial Sects. Maybe the demons sabotaged the Cycle, or maybe the people who were supposed to keep an eye on it got busy and forgot about it.
Sabrina Fite
Love your writing and honestly wish you wrote fast enough for a release every couple of hours. But… I think you should only post a new chapter twice per week. If you write at the same speed, it’ll give you a cushion for editing and lazy days.
Arin Storm
But to try to clarify, the first emperor created The Cycle of The Elements to, in theory, empower someone or something by using five formations within one larger formation to concentrate the five main types of qi and funnel them into said someone or something. He had the different versions of the dance taught taught to groups of people, then sent those groups out to establish town that would act as the key points in the formations. However it seems like only the emperor's inner circle knew about the formations or what the dances did, as is exampled by the story of The Eighth Correct Place. They had no idea why they were sent to colonise a flood plain, and they only stayed because they had such strong faith that the emperor knew what he was doing in sending them there. A belief they had been sent there for a purpose, but no knowledge of what that purpose what. Then the formations were sabotaged, resulting in the deaths of the mother bear and her cubs, the burning of Ash Forest, the creation of the scorch bears, and probably the shattering of Tianlan.
Arin Storm
You're fine, I was responding to John's thing about narrative proximity.
mag28
No that makes sense
Arin Storm
Do you mean me saying the root might be connected to the Ash Forest? It seems reasonable, given that it's been the place in the azure hills with the highest concentration of fire qi since probably shortly after the first emperor's reign. Before then it was a place sopping with wood qi, then it burned, and created an entire race of fire aligned spirit beasts. Plus the highly fire aligned root was found on Jin's land, right on top of a shard of Tianlan, who, within the first emperor's inner circle, was the one tasked with performing The Cycle of Wood. That seems like a reasonable connection.
mag28
Yeah thats what I thought happened. That the almost blowing up was done on purpose, and that bi de is looking into the crystal to learn more about it. But now people got me got me a little confused
Arin Storm
They don't know what they're doing. There have been two plots running parallel since early in book two: Bi De's journey, which is now culminating in the Crystal Arc, and the re-emergence of The Cycle of The Elements (the dance/ritual that activates the formation), which began when Tianlan started teaching Xiulan The Cycle of Wood. One has been gathering the knowledge behind The Cycle, and the harm it can cause, while the other has come frighteningly close to performing the full Cycle, without know it. The burning of the Ash Forest wasn't caused by a flaw in an over loaded formation, it was actively sabotaged. During the vision of the past in the forest, Bi De said he could feel the wood qi being focused there suddenly turn into fire qi, and the mother bear specifically thought that she had been betrayed.
John Pratt
Y'all really need to catch up on narrative proximity. The root is the bulb of an intensely Qi filled plant that's all about fire, we know that because MeiMei can't be around it for all the the smell of cinders it gives off. When Jin went to research it, he coincidentally read about a legendary fire flower that gives off a complex weave of fire qi. There's also a region that used be be fire aligned because of (presumably, based on how the threads of gold work for Tianlan) a complex weave of fire qi, but now looks like it's just a little bit of heat away from being a mineral hot spring.
mag28
Okay then I misunstood the purpose of the dance then. I thought they they were preformed to stop the blowing up in the past and they just keep repeating it but didn't know why they were doing. That's my bad so thank you
John Pratt
Yes, it is true, and you aren't wrong, their were circumstances putting lives in immediate risk in most of those instances(except for many of the beats of his character arc as it relates to LanLan). This is the central character arc for Jin, in which he chooses to go from reactively heading off disaster to actively making the world a better place. From simply defending his slice of Heaven, to actively building a better world. Also, the festival dances aren't about preventing a new disaster, in fact they probably caused the disaster. Consider the Cloudy Sword Sect, the entire point of them is that they are following good advice without understanding it, leading to bad outcomes. The dances were about giving qi to the land, and the land blew up because there was too much qi hitting a place at the same time.
Arin Storm
That had no connection to the root. It was a cultivator fable about how the right thing to do when you find something magical is crush it up and snort it (a near quote of Jin's take on the story), the story never mentioned a root in any way, and nothing was specified about the flower, other than that it was magical (I think it was phrased as being "attuned to the universe").
mag28
Okay that answers all the questions that listed. Except I also don't remember him finding anything in the archives. Doesn't he find the pot it's in when he's cleaning a room out and is like "hmm that's still grow anyways whatever" and leaves it where he found it again? You clearly have a better memory than me so thanks for clear that up
John Pratt
He doesn't find anything about the root, but he does read a story about a legendary fire flower and two different cultivators encountering it. It's from the chapter right before he punches the imposter.
Arin Storm
Do you know what chapter he checked the Archives in? I remember him looking, but not finding anything about the root.
John Pratt
1) I'll happen, but probably not for a while. 2)We got two different chapters of her thoughts on it, she concluded that it doesn't actually change anything. We'll probably get a some mention of her pumping him for medical info, but it won't be a whole chapter, that thread is resolved. 3)He still has around 3 months until birth, most of that will be in closer proximity to the birth, I imagine the most in-depth discussion of it will happen with the child in his arms. 4)It's big, but it's not much beyond that. Hootin the monkey is already finding some stuff, and the old Whirling Demon Bandit hideout is probably around here, but just exploring the land doesn't actually offer up much narrative satisfaction, since anything of particular note he finds on it will be something of a butt-pull. 5)Babe development is proximate to this stuff happening right now. He uses metal qi, so that'll be important later. 6)Jin is learning fighting, we had a whole 3 chapter run about it, it needs to rest for a while before it goes back on to cook if it's going to come out fresh when Jin actually needs it. 7)The Magistrate chapters are like candy, I love them, but I'd be sick of too much too fast 8)The last time we saw anything about them it was in the form of a lady who was using poison. It seems like MeiMei needs to be fighting fit before we go back to that well. 9)He's never actually stopped trying, he and Jin still give them cognitive tests and he still gives them lots of Spirtual Herbs, this is brought up fairly often in Bi Di POV chapters. 10)This was largely resolved in the lead up to [Break the Rocks] it probably isn't going to come up again until Jin's past comes to visit him again. 11)I'm pretty sure CasualFarmer has straight up said no to this, and I agree with him. 12)We, the audience, already know what the herb is, Jin read a story about it in the Archives the first time he went. It also folds into the stuff that is happening right now.
mag28
That is true. And I may be wrong about this but if recall everyone of those situation somebody was in immediate danger right? So it's kinda different then what I was saying
John Pratt
Jin has, more then once in each volume of this story, been confronted with the opportunity to either do the right thing in a loud way or stay quiet to preserve his peace, and at every juncture Jin has chosen to do the right thing rather then the smart thing.
mag28
I'm not complaining I wanted to have a discussion and clear up something that I might have misunderstood. And well somethings have been discussed before they haven't been resolved. A good half of them haven't. I think the things I pointed out could be considered constructive criticism not complaining
Imspinnennetz
Chapter is delayed to tomorrow.
Notcreepycreeper
So you worded this like it's not just. Complaint. But it kinda is. Almost everything else u mentioned were very obviously mentioned in a way that showed them as resolved or fun/interesting side quests. The mystery of learning about Big Little Sister, and fixing her has been the basic plot from day 1. Even we, the audience have a bit of an idea of how that went down, but no specifics and nothing that would necessarily lead to a complete fix, we just know that what Jin in doing helps, but she's still VERY broken. I might be reading too much into it, but it also feels like eventually there's going to be an arc to redo whatever the initial ritual was meant to achieve but got messed up/corrupted. The memory crystal arc has been central to that for like 40 chapters or so. I have a love/annoyance relationship with it, bc some of it feels like it's dragging and other times its a chapter like this one, but either way it's very obviously central to the plot.
mag28
But Jin very specifically came to this land because it was so mana less that nobody wanted. So fixing it while good and nice would defeat the purpose of living there and honestly probably hurt him in the long run because rich/powerful people would become interest in his land. So doesn't make sense for him do really. You know like painting a big bullseye on his back which wouldn't be smart
John Pratt
The answer is that, WE THE AUDIENCE know some of what specifically is wrong with the land, but Jin and company don't know very much about any of that. And yes, once they learn specifically what happened, they'll have firmer ideas about how to fix it, and then they will do that. I even already know some of what they're going to do to fix it, because CasualFarmer has been foreshadowing this since very about a third of the way into the first book.
Overclocked
Here here. I find I just don't care for this latest arc.
mag28
But theyre not actively doing anything other than feeding there energy into the land. And arguably Jin does it without realizing hes even doing it. And if they stop doing that there farm doesn't grow things as well so that wouldn't make sense. Maybe I'm not understand the meaning the dances that all the villages do but isn't that to prevent the explosion again. And if thats the case then the crystal can only be what caused the explosion, which is better left unknown. Also if they stop doing what they are doing then the weak and child like earth spirit is left hurt/dying. So yeah that doesn't make sense really. The only think they can from it was how/why it was blown up in the pass. And sense they want nothing to do with that and aren't planning on seeking out people that do plan on doing it again. Then the crystal is just a pandora box waiting to be opened by somebody else
Georgius De Saltu
It's super important? Knowing whether or not their actions are going to blow up the entire province(again) is a very good reason to see what the crystal holds. It's contents could define the direction of the story from here on out, or merely validate what Jin and Co. have been doing.
Arin Storm
12) you're right! That fire root herb showed up twice, seemed like it would be important, then was never brought up again. When are we getting a resolution to that? Given context clues, it's maybe supposed to be connected to the Ash Forest, and the death of the mother bear/creation of the scorch bears. But we learned about those in the second book, and the herb stopped existing after it was shown to Xiulan in the first book.
1) up to the whims of Gramps and military obligations to happen 2) That was it. She simply accepted it as is as it made all his 'weirdness' make sense. In the end for her, he is still Jin so its not that big a deal for her. 3) There are worries but he's taking things as they go and his kid isn't born yet. 4) Its huge but its mostly known about. He even went and walked it during the home video chapter even though that part was skipped over from our pov. Tigu also patrolled the border of it when she was younger and even passed over it challenging any would be enemies to fight her for it. 5) Babe is entirely content to sit down and do nothing or go and use a plow and doesn't need much of anything else. While yes seeing more of Sunny (the blade) would be neat, Babe as is, is simply chilling with life. 6) Jin's Cultivation straight up rejects the way of the blade. He's learning to 'spar' with his disciples. It could be delved into more but, as evident by this list you made, a LOT of plot points to cover and some things take priority. Jin's fighting isn't really one of them. 7) This one I can't refute. I love his pov's as well. 8) Also a legitimate plot point though it's not an immediately relevant one so far. 9) He and Jin tried to give them the 'spark' but they couldn't. Both of em have accepted it and moved on. 10) I believe he only chats with him when he's dreaming and forgets when he wakes up save for the single time when he punched that guy. Could be expanded on I agree. 11) Not likely ever going to be brought up in detail. He's Canadian with a constructor-ish background and a weeb who got in a few scuffles. More than that prolly isn't gonna come up. Jin's life in the Before isn't technically relevant to now. 12) Definitely a Checkov's Gun sorta thing but nobody knows what it is. I'm betting its a very late game reveal.
Zygardegodslayer
I kinda love it. Big D is great.
mag28
Like Jin is fixing the land as it is right now just by caring for his farm. What could we possible learn from the crystal that we don't already know. Like the earth spirit has told us this already right? Am I missing something here? Because off the told of my head I can think of 3-5 other things/plot threads that are more interesting. And I'm not trying to tell them how to write but I'm just giving my honest feed back. And seriously I'm gonna make a list of the plot threads right now just so se them all(and it won't be all of them because I know I'm not a writer and I'm kinda dumb but I'm gonna do it anyways) 1. Gramps comes and visits 2. Meimei pov about finding out Jin from other world(because there's got to be more there) 3. Jin general thoughts/worries about becoming a dad(there's got to be more of that than we've seen) 4. Exploring more of his land because it's fuck huge right? 5. Babe and the plough made from that evil sword(that talked if I'm remembering right) 6. Jin learning fighting 7. Jin learning manners from that poor poor city lord(btw love when we experience his pov) 8. Evil organization that knows about Jin killing there member it the city. 9. Bi de kinda just gave up on trying to get the other animal/chicken on fa ram to become thinking beings(also does that still bother him?) 10. Jin talking to the other soul/being that was in his current body(I know he did briefly acouple of times but like is he okay with it now? Does he hate Jin? Idk) 11. Jin's background before being reborn(I know its hint at as being bad and ending badly) but I want to know more 12. That spiritual herd that Jin found day one of the farm(like 2 years and still doesn't know)
mag28
You know what fuck it, I want to ask a serious question and it's gonna sound like I'm trying to argue but I'm not so I want a response please. I genuinely don't get where this is going. Like great I get it the land use to be better then something happened.(we already knew that's good worldbuilding I guess) But does actually knowing what happened gonna change anything? Like is Jin or bi de gonna go try to fix it? Because I don't think they are but maybe they will if thats possibly.
Scout Mills
It’s sad that the thing that that kicked noodle out of the vision was him being happy.
Artur Vogt
"You filthy peasant are only in the prfound realm..." Well that puts the past level of cultivation into a perspective!
Patrick McCuller
It's difficult to guide readers through events of an alien nature, that they can't really experience themselves. I think you handled it expertly!
