>>6046965

The territory of your subordinate sect the Summer Sea Dawn (夏季海黎明, Xiàjìhǎilímíng), who you had just recently visited to return to them the kidnap souls of their fallen brothers in arms and sect mates. Which makes your sudden return to their lands, quite the shock and surprise to the sect, the majority of which, including their senior members, elders and heads have left to join the tournament you're hosting. Jinse-Shayu (Golden shark, 金色 -鲨鱼) and his kind of scary and taciturn wife, the whale tossing Yanyu (盐玉 , Salt Jade), have already left to travel to your garden to witness and partake in the event. And you caught their members who chose to stay behind in the middle of putting their dead to rest along with the main port city under their sway, whose blubbery mayor hides behind the head of the local shrine of your cult as you waltz down the street, like you own the place

Because you do, even if you don't know the name of the city itself. You notice the adherents you met the last two times you cam here, Haimao, Chuanmao, Maozhuaban, and Huannupu are nowhere to be seen. But you aren't worried for their well being, they've probably traveled to the tournament as well. As has the next lord Xia, Red Shark. But not his bastard little brother...or siblings, considering the notable flock of Jinse-Shayu looking youths flocking around the wild man with salt clinging to his wild braids and eye obscuring hair.

"Xia Xiaosi?" You say, smiling the way a cat would when they greet a mouse as you flick your tail and hop down to the beach, lifting your ears and one paw, treating it like a coyly positioned fan partially obscuring your smile as you walk up to your fellow writer, who you note is also tending to a few magical beasts who gawk at you like you were the sun descended from the sky, blinding them with your majesty

"Lady Huanliuxue?!" He gasps, looking around for a more senior and respected sect member to defer to, but falling on one knee when he realizes he is the most senior of the sect left behind "What...What is the meaning for you to visit our humble holdings again so soon?"

"So it is you! Even though you grew a little wild and strange while acting as ambassador, you look like a mountain hermit that's gone savage as a" You exclaim, acting like you hadn't recognized him by his peculiar, beastly and unwashed scent he acquired when you made him babysit all the magical beasts in Suiqi, but stop your tongue before it can spit out the word wolf "Well, a monkey, Heh-Heh"

Xia Xiaosi frowns, like he heard wolf instead of monkey, and you wonder if you'd just imagined saying monkey. Your head is feeling fuzzy enough from hunger that you might have. You wait to see if anyone will reprimand your rudeness, and decide when no one speaks up, that you did in fact say monkey even if their ears heard something different.
Cont

>>6046966

"Seaside air and salty water isn't kind to tangled hair" He answers simply "And this vagrant look makes the critters I watch over feel at ease in my company"

"Its your scent" You explain with a nod "Younger beasts tend to find the changing smells around humans unnerving, with all the soaps and perfumes they use to mask their natural scent which for some creatures is like constantly exchanging their faces for someone elses, so, while looking more like a wild animal yourself probably helped, its your constant and unique aroma that makes your presence so comforting to them, primarily, probably"

"I figured as much, but I don't even notice the smell myself anymore" He laughs nervously, glancing waywardly up to the sky, begging for someone else to fall from it to take his place as the representative of his sect "So...what brings you back here so soon, Grand-Master? Princess of all that is wild in pure? Did you change your mind about wanting to see off our fallen comrades? My father said you seemed oddly distracted and ill mannered when you returned them? Has whatever that was troubling been, uh, dealt with?"

'No, that's why I'm here' You think to yourself, dropping your paw to the ground as you plod up to him, his younger siblings pointing and the braver amongst them reaching out their hands to pet you before pulling them back when you look down at them.

"Oh, I was just caught by a certain flight of whimsy when I thought about the view of the sea from this very beach" You lie, looking past him over the horizon "And with all the stress of preparing for my grand, regal tournament, I though to take a little stroll across it, towards the horizon"

Xia Xiaosi scratches his neck, eyes narrowed in a wince he managed to catch and stop

"Our most experience sailors would be at your disposal, my master, but, unfortunately" He says ashamedly, bowing his head as a normal seagull lands on top of his head and pecks at his sand peppered hair "They're already busy traveling to collect our more distant members, who were cultivating upon remote islands or searching for any sign of the beast wave out at the sea, and while any member of the summer sea dawn could take their place, Of our membership and the Xia clan both, I am the best that was left behind...Once word spread the dusk marsh wolves were heading to your tournament in force, we had to respond in equal measure, it is the way things are"

"Of course" You sigh, pouting in the way only cat face can as you lay down onto the sand and gaze morosely out at the sea, and as you'd hoped, just a sad look is enough to make Xiaosi scramble to mitigate your disappointment and indulge your whim

"Of course we can send word for one of my betters to return to guide you across the sea or summon back the best captains under our employ" He hastily explains, kneeling next to you and all but kowtowing and pressing his face into the sea wetted sands

You smirk. Too Easy.
Cont

>>6046967

What do you decide to do, Huanliuxue?

>Take Xia Xiaosi to captain the ship and show you to the most dangerous waters in his family's sea-bound territory

>Just laugh and fly across the sea, having just wanted to mess with the poor boy, and find a sea monster on your own. How hard could finding one in the uncharted sea be?

>Explain that you're alright with charting a ship of lower quality than you deserve, and while you're shown around the summer sea, have Aodasheng, Renshu of the river, and Chuandapo plunge the depths covertly in search of your Levithan

>Admit that you've come wanting to hunt a sea monster, so you'll be willing to wait a day or two for him to call his father or mother back to help you find one.

>Tease Xiaosi, and threaten to reveal his double life as a writer to his family and sect and get him to admit he reads Hare and Hunting hound

>Write in

>>6046969
>Take Xia Xiaosi to captain the ship and show you to the most dangerous waters in his family's sea-bound territory

>>6046969
>>Explain that you're alright with charting a ship of lower quality than you deserve, and while you're shown around the summer sea, have Aodasheng, Renshu of the river, and Chuandapo plunge the depths covertly in search of your Levithan
If we do the best of both worlds, we are more then likely to finish our goal and get the monster, and they can help us too.
We explore and have help exploring so we can find something as fast as possible.

>>6046975
>Support.

>Tease him about seeing if he has any more novels. Maybe we should trade notes!

>>6046969
>Explain that you're alright with charting a ship of lower quality than you deserve, and while you're shown around the summer sea, have Aodasheng, Renshu of the river, and Chuandapo plunge the depths covertly in search of your Levithan

>>6046975
I'll support this, Aodasheng doesn't need to breathe so he can help us fix the mess he left us, and I'm sure he can think of some trick to taunt a leviathan into taking the bait.

>>6047011
>Support

>>6046969
>Explain that you're alright with charting a ship of lower quality than you deserve, and while you're shown around the summer sea, have Aodasheng, Renshu of the river, and Chuandapo plunge the depths covertly in search of your Levithan

Ending the vote, tallying its result now.

Take Xia Xiaosi to captain the ship and show you to the most dangerous waters in his family's sea-bound territory:1

Explain that you're alright with charting a ship of lower quality than you deserve, and while you're shown around the summer sea, have Aodasheng, Renshu of the river, and Chuandapo plunge the depths covertly in search of your Levithan:6

Tease him about seeing if he has any more novels. Maybe we should trade notes!:1


Landslide victory for simply taking the ship that's available and having your aquatic disciples and Aodasheng combs the depths while you enjoy the sights of the summer sea.

Update will arrive shortly

"Oh there is no need to go to such lengths, I'm perfectly fine with hiring a ship and captain of lower quality, your sect may be subordinate to mine, but I won't interrupt your activities to favor my whims, at least I won't today" You snicker as you stand up and flick your tail, lifting a paw to pat it on his back before turning your back to him and walking back up the beach "Even if it means I'll be passenger to a ship beneath my station and undeserving of my presence upon it. But I'm sure whoever you find to show me the sea will be honored to have me as their passenger, please take your time, no reason to act and run around like you've been injected with chicken blood. Especially when the mood is as somber as it is today, give my regards to the dead before they're carried off out to sea"

You sit down and giggle, glancing back as you see Xiaosi looking greatly relieved that you aren't being demanding and spoiled as you could be, almost looking like he'll fall to grains and be pulled out to the sea like the sand of the shore.

"Though I suppose that might mean I may run into them while I'm sailing, won't it?" You titter as you lay down and lounge on the beach, basking in the setting sun as the mortal inhabitants of the city watch you from a distance, few of them daring to step down onto the shore while "immortal" sages send off their fallen and their dead, and while a "Goddess" over sees their final seaside rights.

It doesn't take the youngsters and novices of the Xia clan the night to find you the best ship still in harbor or near enough to shore to be fetched, which is just long enough for you to set into motion your plans for flushing out a monster while acting like you were simply enjoying the beauty of the summer sea and exploring its vastness and appreciating the waves and waters tended to by your subordinate temple.

Aodasheng moves as quickly as death, a ghost of his calamitous power can swiftly move from the seaside back to your subterranean temple with a message informing the only two disciples you can think of who could plunge deep into the abyssal waters of the sea without problem, Renshu of the river the founder of the rediscovered Aquamarine path of carmine mysticism, and Chuandapo the terror of Chuan's countless waterways and wrecker of nearly as many boats. While you don't expect either of them to fight a sea monster and win, at least not without great effort and difficulty on their part, they can at least track one for you to pull to shore or tear apart under the water in its own lair if it proves too stubborn or cunning to be lured or hooked and brought to surface.

Aodasheng however, you're going to send where you're confident sea monsters can be found, where even the alchemist and turtle can't swim due to the pressure or cold.
Cont

>>6047772

It feels a little unfair for them to have to stay in the cold and lightless water while you bask in the sun, but if they do a good job, they can take a break on whatever island they choose to!
_
[Meanwhile, deep in the desert in northern Chuan, in a badland between two wind torn canyons]

"Rogue cultivators!?" The sand sage who wouldn't give his name to Youzaiwang out of misplaced pride howled, more outraged by this revelation than any of the tiger's best attempts to draw his ire and rouse his fury through insults and demeaning words

"Are you truly so surprised sage? Has the glare of the sun blinded your eyes? This is a time where laws are broken and peace is squandered, a time to grab for power and seek ambitions none would dare to dream until now" Youzaiwang laughed, leaping behind a pillar of stone as a whip of wind cut through the bodies of the rogue's toadies, the slavers he'd been chasing since he'd left on his journey to hammer out the flaws of his character and beliefs

"The audacity! To use our own sands against us, to hide in plain view!" The sage rages, standing like a simpleton as more whips of wind ripped his robes and scoured his flesh. Youzaiwang decided if he wanted to die like a fool, he'd let him, and instead crouched and stalked around the side as the sage trembled with rage, his blood spraying on the hot desert sands.

"Silver fur?" A wavering, weak voice asked, and Youzaiwang turned, and saw a girl dressed in rags. His heart, calm before then, began to race as it felt like plummeted down in his chest. Scars. Visible Ribs. Eyes reddened with tears. A look of disapointment, waning hope.

"You were hoping for my master" He released and spoke outload as he, against his better judgement and warrior's instinct, approached the cage the girl and the other children were kept in, drawn to them by a strange power emerged from their pitiable expressions and pitiful state.

The winds wailed, and Youzaiwang acted before they could cut through the cage and the captives.

"Huh?" He grunted, unsure as to why his body moved the way it did, intercepting the cutting blade of air, pain shooting through his chest as blood seeped through and stained his silver fur

"Tiger!" The sage cried out, as if they were comrades or even, perhaps friends

"TO DARE TO RAISE YOUR HAND AGAINST THOSE WITHOUT FANGS OR CLAWS TO FIGHT BACK!" Youzaiwang's confusion turned to rage, as lightning crackled through his fur and raised it, melting the sand particles flying around him and sparking through the air as his eyes glowed a searing blue white!

"YOU WILL FACE US TOGETHER, VILLAIN!" The sage roared as well, and Youzaiwang wondered why he reacted after he was injured, when they had done nothing but pester and degrade eachother as they traveled together...

Cont

>>6047773
_
[Meanwhile, beyond Chuan's border]

"I've never heard of your sect, and you seem to be of an eclectic and peculiar band of cultivators, though I mean no offense" The armored warrior said to Siwang as he greeted him, having been chosen to speak to the brother of the sole survivor they had found in the village they had passed through days before, who was being tended to by Monu and Jionghuagege "But I am grateful you've saved my cousin and brought word of their failure to protect the poor people of that village from those rampaging demons"

Because he could keep a cooler head than the likes of tiexingege and Monu, was more personable and charismatic than Baifenchi or Qiang, and didn't look like a thug like Huili.

"We arrived to late to prevent the tragedy we found upon our arrival" Siwang answered with the composure and carefully balanced and measured tone of a judge standing trial and listening to the defense of the accused and the crimes leveled against them "That we preserved a single life is a blessing"

"Our friend here is right, it is a shame we were not able to arrive sooner, but our journey was long and fraught with peril" Fa Jin said, glancing over Siwang and the wounded warrior in front of him, looking at the ragged and despairing defenders of the fort they had found, hastily erected in the ruins of another town

"It is not a shame on your part, but a shame of us all" The cultivator answered as the other Fa twin marched forward brazenly "The world is in shambles, and ill rumors are spoken of every province, that Bao refuses any request for aid. That Chuan alone is unharmed by this stampede of devils... but we cannot know the truth. You speak with accents like you're from Chuan, if it is not impertinent to ask, I would like to know what is going on. Last we heard, the winter blossoming wisdom sect was crushed, fighting something after they stopped their squabble with the Ling Sects"

"Squabble? Is that what you call bloodshed over years?" Siwang asked coldly, and Qiang moved to save him from himself

"I misspoke" The man said sadly, bowing his head and looking ashamed of his words "it must've been a difficult time, and I insult the comrades and friends you lost to the pointless conflict caused by pride and arrogance. But there have been worrying signs, strange waves of Qi and pillars of light. The border temples claim all of Chuan is haunted, overwhelmed with freely roaming beasts and strange and twisted plant life, that the winds coming from it reek of blood and decay. And some sort of demonic beast royalty succeeded in a great breakthrough and survived a heavenly tribulation sent to put an end its wretched life. And travelers from the west say that is why the beast wave doesn't reach Chuan, and why their sects have not sent aid to us"
Cont

>>6047774

"Rumors and hearsay, no demon reigns in Chuan" Siwang said plainly as he followed the cultivator towards the defensive line Fa Tang was already whipping into shape, moving him expertly away from the seething Monu before she could open her mouth or snap at the libel and slander spoken about her daughter and her accomplishments, though Siwang found himself offended by the ignorance of his fellow daost "And I have heard other sects have sent groups over to investigate the goings on across the border, but considering an external and internal war have just been waged and ended, these efforts are delayed and meager, unfortunately. We are, we believe, the largest of such efforts such far, sent by our master to investigate the source of this stampede"

"And who is this master you speak of, I've never heard of any sect calling itself a palace, least in Chuan" The cultivator asks and Siwang wracks his brains to try and think up a believable alias

"Only the most lovely and kindly hearted of cultivators, a local star of Chuan, but one who isn't well known outside of it" Fa Jin provides "She came to prominence during the war of Ling aggression, though she is not my master, my own teacher is also unknown to you, only gaining renown during the humbling of the winter storm. Neither of their name matters in this moment, wouldn't you agree"

"My companion is right, our duty is to find the source of the rampaging beasts" Siwang answered before the other, foreign cultivator could object or demand a name "Please, show us the state of this fort and its defenders, and tell us all you know. Your cousin will be brough to your healers, as I know you have no reason to trust strangers with his well being"

"It is a sorry state of affairs, we barely held out against the last wave. That damn building trampling bull appeared again and broke the back of one of my fellows and gored another on their horns, I'm the last cultivator above Qi condensation stage present in this watch tower" The cultivator explained and complained, as Siwang and Qiang kept a close eye on Monu and Tiexingege, as they both were gnashing their teeth while Huili waltz passed them and snarled at one of the traumatized soldiers, laughing as he winced and tumbled onto the ground out of fright

This was going to be difficult, thought Siwang
_

"I doubt a cat has ever been this far out at sea" The one legged captain, who you get along surprisingly well with, exclaims as the rough and thuggish crew he keeps attend your every need, which presently means brushing your hair to keep it from frizzying up or getting tangled and knotted with salt water as he guides his humble fishing trawler around the calm currents and gentle waves, showing you some reef or another, and telling you folklore. The voices he uses as he tells them, makes the stories much more entertaining, especially when he gets the one eyed whaler and the hook handed net thrower to join in and act out other roles.
Cont

>>6047775

Apparently they were all part of a failed traveling troupe of actors who were washed up in port and mistaken for actual sailors one day

"I can't think why I would be, any house cat would enjoy a trip like this" You exclaim happily as he guides his ship through a row of pink and orange coral, grinning as he goes back to rambling about it being the meeting place of two lovers from differing island tribes and also a place of a naval battle waged against pirates and oddly intelligent octopuses

"Though, Madame, I can't understand why you'd choose this boring stretch of sea over the tropical islands, they're perfectly safe to traverse" The one eyed whaler pouts as he works the tangles out of your hair "And this is their blooming season, you've never seen flowers of so many colors, even up into the grotos of your mountains!"

"Oh I'm sure she has, and you have to remember, the beast queen is a cat first and a lady second, of course she'd better like being shown where all the exotic and colorful fish are a-swimming" The hooked hand net thrower laughs, as he leans over the railing "Look, just there, a jade browed pike! A delicacy if you can catch it! and there, a steel spined eastern sea tuna! It must've migrated here or be pulled in by the storm, oh what a sight! You can turn its spine into a spear, if you can catch and hoist it onto deck, though the fact it is as large as a rowboat..."

You smile pleasantly but fakely, since you don't want to admit the reason you avoided the islands they were so excited to show you, were because they were out of the way from the places Aodasheng, Renshu and Chuandapo told you they saw signs of sea monster activity. Or at least Renshu and Chuandapo did...well only Chuandapo really. Renshu mentioned spotting what looked like a temple deep in a crevice so far under the sea even he couldn't dive to it with his transformation technique. And Chuandapo pulled herself onto the ship , shivering all over and in her human form, nude except for her violet hair, having been scared out of the sea when she saw a "Graveyard of ships" and "Giant bones" and ran away before she could see what made them.

And Aodasheng? Well that ghost has been chasing something under the sea, but hasn't surfaced to say what it is he's pursuing.

Your ears twitch, and you sit up from the hammock you were laying in, glancing to the horizon.

The air had just go cold as you felt a twinge of something that felt oddly like killing intent, thrown in your direction, from a jungle covered island off in the distance. Watching it, a pair of burning eyes brands themselves in your minds eyes.

"Is something wrong, most beneficent one?" The captain asks as you glare at the island, arms crossed over your chest as the feeling of aggression and hostility fades away with the whistling winds over the winds. How strange~
Cont

>>6047776

Which lead do you investigate, Huanliuxue?

>The creepy underwater temple

>The graveyard of ships and whales

>Aodasheng and whatever he's been hunting

>That mysterious island just up ahead

>Write in

>>6047777
>>Aodasheng and whatever he's been hunting
The graveyard of ships and whales is so damn tempting.
But I have a feeling if he's chasing something and hasn't stopped to tell us, its because its something he CAN'T surface to tell us without losing. So TO HIM WE GO!
Aodasheng hasn't failed us yet.

>>6047777
>To adosheng

>>6047777
>That mysterious island just up ahead
No one intends to kill us and gets away with it.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>6047777
First I want to acknowledge the lucky quads of this post.
>The graveyard of ships and whales
>That mysterious island just up ahead
Split too much between these two, leaving this to chance.

>>6047777
>The creepy underwater temple

>>6047777
>That mysterious island just up ahead
A fallen god perhaps? I for one would like to reduce our tally of rivals, whoever this latest asshole is.

>>6048016
>yfw it really is a fallen god and the reason he is there is because he cannot swim and as he is rejected from the heavens he is not allowed to fly
Bad luck

>>6047777
Checked.

>That mysterious island just up ahead
Picking this because >>6048323 and spending part of this thread teaching someone how to swim would be funny.

>>6047777
>Aodasheng and whatever he's been hunting

>>6047777
>That mysterious island just up ahead

>>6047788
>Support

Also fun fact sailors of old would take cats with them to sea. Simply to sense the danger of the weather because of there whiskers. Also that killing intent I bet is a fallen god.

>>6048396
And here I thought it was to catch rats, seems cats have more than one use!

>>6047777
Nice quads grampa!
Anyway to Aodasheng we go!

(He's harrassing a sea dragon isn't he?)

>>6047777
>The creepy underwater temple

I want that forbidden lovecraftian lore

>>6048443
>words a lovecraft fan has never said
kek

Ending the vote, tallying its result.

Aodasheng and whatever he's been hunting:5

That mysterious island just up ahead:4

The graveyard of ships and whales:1

The creepy underwater temple:2

So you'll head to Aodasheng's and whatever he's hunting's location

update will arrive shortly

The tattooed captain worriedly wrings his hand as you gaze out past the island where something with a bone to pick with you lurks, and out towards the dark vortex of malevolence and deathly yin qi shooting through the sea like a patch of spilled oil, blackening anything that approaches it. You can't see where the former ghost king is, exactly, just that its beyond the horizon and you can sense his unmistakable presence as he very clearly chases after something like a scent hound gone rabid with the smell of warm blood.

"Oh nothing, just out of curiosity, how far out to sea did you say this ship could sail?" You ask with a pleasant smile, and if you had a tail in that very moment you're certain it'd be flicking back and forth playfully. The captain glances out, at the space he thinks your gazing out at and are interested in visiting and goes a shade of pale usually only found amongst the dead, particularly the drowned and bloated.

"Not much father out, unfortunately. The tides become tempestuous beyond these reefs, and I would not anchor my ship near any of the islands beyond these teal and clear waters" He answers meekly but with a certain iron in his soft, doe eyes as he takes his formless hat and crumples its edges in his hands, looking very worriedly at the island that caught your interest from the bloodlust and sword intent bleeding off of it "But, I could make an exception for the merciful goddess, surely they pose no danger to a divinity such as yourself, but I will not set foot on any of them. Hear ill tales of every island surrounded by darker waters"

"Perhaps Lady Huanliuxue could shed some blood on them and make them more pleasant and safe for us mortal men to tread upon?" The net thrower suggests, a bead of sweat trailing down his sun scorched brow as you rub your chin, pretending to be in thought just to watch these sailors who have proven to be good or at least amusing company to squirm a little before tittering like a little girl and shaking your head, red hair dancing behind you, sparkling like the ocean spray as the star light caught in your hair is lit aflame in the bright and sunny day

"Oh I wasn't planning on exploring any islands, I was just asking how far out you could take me. I just had a flight of fancy to swim in deeper waters and enjoy the cold of the depths, if this is as far as you can safely go, then drop anchor and wait for me to get back, and make sure to wake my disciple up and remind her to exercise, and keep away from my other student as they study their deeper alchemical mysteries" You giggle as you lean back and dive off of the ship, the captain yelping and leaning over, and sighing in relief as he sees you swimming with as much ease as the fish you scattered with your splash into the sea.
Cont

>>6048837
And you soon find out, that Aodasheng has swam far out to see, farther than any of the maps of spiritual energy Xiaosi drew for you or the shimmering map of water created by one of their sect's unique magical tools. The ghost has gone out too truly uncharted territories, that even the haughty summer sea dawn sect hasn't claimed as their domain, waters they don't swim and islands they haven't set foot on

An ocean no one on Chuan, to your knowledge, has ever seen until you paddle out into it, chasing after the shadow cast by your advisor. The waters become choppy and wild, and it takes effort for you to swim through them as the ink black sea turns white as waves rise and vortex forms and the vast emptiness becomes like a boiling cauldron, no calm patch of sea to be found as it becomes a chaotic mess of clashing rapids and smashing squalls.

And judging from the pillars and spirals of water shooting out across the swelling sea and ripping waters, whatever Aodasheng is chasing is massive. If you hadn't ran through the heavens and looked down at them from above, you'd have trouble believe something so massive to create towers and tunnels of white rapids waters that dominate the horizon and shoot through the sky beyond the limits of your boundless and peerless vision could exist.

You get thrown and tossed around by the water, struggling to catch a glimpse of whatever it is your ghostly bodyguard is hunting, but luckily find a chain of rusted iron to grab onto and pull yourself along as the waters become even more difficult to traverse through, fighting against an increasingly violent current that nearly tears off your robe as it laps and pulls against you.

With your wet hair covering your face, you at last catch site of Aodasheng's quarry.

A massive tentacle, covered in hooks and barbs with suckers large enough to pull up buildings, that looks like it could swing and crush a city beneath it.

A giant squid or octopus. And as you watch in wonder as the rubbery indigo limb lashes up, you spot a familiar glint and a gout of teal and turquoise fire as Aodasheng dives through thunder, lightning and a storm cloud and sprints down a geyser of boiling hot sea water as in the dark of the sea, a massive head that clearly does not belong to any kind of octopus and squid rises up. It looks like a mixture of a boar and a turtle.

You have no idea what it is he's fighting, but it is huge and powerful enough to churn the sea itself. And it is clearly ancient and powerful, and as you hang onto the piece of rippling, whipping chain, you realize the storm and sea surrounding it, that you've swam into, is composed almost entirely of its aura.

An Aura that contains both heavenly and primordial Qi.

This thing has a few drops of divinity. It is a spirit or perhaps heavenly monster! Or at least, thats your best guess for what it could be. It might also be an avatar of the seas wrath, that Aodasheng awoke by killing its descendants for a light work out!
Cont

>>6048839

A shriek that sounds like a hurricane mixed with the sound of metal grinding together reaches your ears, and a pearlescent beam of blinding light erupts out of the sea from the tusked maw of the sea monster, and you spot Aodasheng and the spear of mortal death cutting through the sky, narrowly avoid the radiant ray of death shot out at him from the depths of the sea, that slices cleanly through the black storm clouds as the beast turns its head and tries to shoot him out of the air. Much like some fish spit water to knock flies into their mouths.

What do you do now that you've reached the hunting ground, Huanliuxue?

>Watch from a safe distance and wait until Ao or the boar turtle land a blow and then fly into the fight once that opening has been made.

>Try to meditate in the choppy waters, and summoning upon your cosmic nature, attempt to turn as much of the sea around you as you can into blood (Concentration+ Magic Trial. DC 135. -10 to roll)

>Set up the phantom cat waltz along key spots of the array of chains that the one you're hanging onto is part of, and catch lightning to redirect it directly into the behemoth beast (Timing Martial trial. DC 120. - 5 to roll)

>Absorb as much Qi from the waters surrounding you and convert them into cosmic Qi to create a lance of starlight and ice you can throw at and ride to the beast (Magic+Strength trial. DC 145. -5 to roll)

>Write in

>>6048840
>Try to meditate in the choppy waters, and summoning upon your cosmic nature, attempt to turn as much of the sea around you as you can into blood (Concentration+ Magic Trial. DC 135. -10 to roll)
An abyssal god lies before us.
Turn the sea into blood and let us become a greater lovecraftian horror that shall end it.
Happy "Godslaying" Bloodshed.

>>6048840
>Set up the phantom cat waltz along key spots of the array of chains that the one you're hanging onto is part of, and catch lightning to redirect it directly into the behemoth beast (Timing Martial trial. DC 120. - 5 to roll)

>>6048840
>Absorb as much Qi from the waters surrounding you and convert them into cosmic Qi to create a lance of starlight and ice you can throw at and ride to the beast (Magic+Strength trial. DC 145. -5 to roll)

>>6048840
>Meditate to turn the sea to blood

This one goes out to my cultivator brothers. May Heaven smile on you
https://nhentai.net/g/510519/

>>6048840
>Try to meditate in the choppy waters, and summoning upon your cosmic nature, attempt to turn as much of the sea around you as you can into blood (Concentration+ Magic Trial. DC 135. -10 to roll)

>>6048840
>Try to meditate in the choppy waters, and summoning upon your cosmic nature, attempt to turn as much of the sea around you as you can into blood (Concentration+ Magic Trial. DC 135. -10 to roll)
We are very much in this thing's turf. Let's make that not the case.

>>6048840
>Set up the phantom cat waltz along key spots of the array of chains that the one you're hanging onto is part of, and catch lightning to redirect it directly into the behemoth beast (Timing Martial trial. DC 120. - 5 to roll)

>>6048840
>Try to meditate in the choppy waters, and summoning upon your cosmic nature, attempt to turn as much of the sea around you as you can into blood (Concentration+ Magic Trial. DC 135. -10 to roll)

No sea creature is safe from a cat!

>>6048840
>>Set up the phantom cat waltz along key spots of the array of chains that the one you're hanging onto is part of, and catch lightning to redirect it directly into the behemoth beast (Timing Martial trial. DC 120. - 5 to roll)
We effectively need to hit 145 for the blood ocean to go through. Our last fight has me spooked still.

>>6049438
You aren't wrong, but the consequences for failure aren't major.
We arent in direct combat yet, nor are we facing a killing/fatal blow. We are choosing how we do our entrance. And while it is 145 to setup, we have a debuff applied to us already. If we nail this buff now we can have a significantly easier time with all other rolls hereafter. You arent wrongn in that it may be a higher roll, I just find the risk low enough and the benefits great enough to warrant going for it.

>>6049545
>>6049438
Yeah we might be against a scary monster but for once we have a powerful ally in our corner which has never been the case before.

Ending and tallying the vote now

Try to meditate in the choppy waters, and summoning upon your cosmic nature, attempt to turn as much of the sea around you as you can into blood:5

Set up the phantom cat waltz along key spots of the array of chains that the one you're hanging onto is part of, and catch lightning to redirect it directly into the behemoth beast :3

Absorb as much Qi from the waters surrounding you and convert them into cosmic Qi to create a lance of starlight and ice you can throw at and ride to the beast:1

So you will attempt to meditate in the raging sea and turn as much of as you can into blood under your control

Update will arrive shortly


>>6048942
Junior your heart demons have gone out of control

You watch, amazed by the light show and display of overwhelming power and the aerial acrobatics and agility of movement used by Aodasheng to avoid being glanced by the beam of roaring, storm cutting light as he flies above the still submerged head of the titan of the sea, fighting just to approach near enough to it to let his spear fly or land even a minor blow against the behemoth. Shaking yourself out of your reverie of the waltz of destruction and the expertise of the one dodging it, you puff out your cheeks and struggling against the waters and their currents trying to suck you down into the briny abyss of the sea, pull yourself atop the chain and balance on it, one foot in front of the other as you hold out your arms to keep balanced, and sprout a cat tail deciding adopting a mixture of feline and human traits would be the best and most efficient way of staying standing on the chain and out of the roiling sea. Even if the movement of the ocean and the waves whipped up by the monstrosity Aodasheng has engaged makes the rope move about as much as the water beneath it.

Wincing, closing your eyes as stingy sea water pelts your face like a storm of needles and razors and the winds threaten to rip you bodily off the chain, you focus inwards and try to meditate as you stick your toes between the chains and transform your nails into claws to have a better grip on the slick surface as you try to center and clear your mind. Which is incredibly difficult, not just because the chain your balanced on is bucking and you're only barely holding onto it enough to stop yourself from being tossed off or slipping and sinking into the depths of the ferocious sea, but because the hunger for the life of another or the sweet dew of their immortal soul has only been growing stronger and more demanding and gnawing harder and faster against you on every front it is assaulting you from.

And being so close to a meal that could fill this seemingly bottomless and unrelenting need to snuff out other lives or sup on their spirits, makes the hunger even more unforgiving and painful.

But, if such an obstacle could stop you, you wouldn't have gotten as far or flown as high as you have! So stubbornly, you persist in trying to meditate, circulating your meridians and emptying your mind of all thoughts and desires. The most stubborn and difficult to remove being hunger, as you pace your breathing and slow your racing heart, pouring out the predator excitement of closing in on your prey as you use the relative serene state you've achieved in the eye of the storm to anchor your mind and dao heart and focus your Qi and the spell you're casting as you summon up the moonlight glittering in your veins and drawing it to the surface to perform a transmutation without a furnace or sorcerous away

A spell to transform the sea into a massive pool of blood, under your control and command rather than shackled to the sea monster's will!

roll 2d100 - 10. Best out of 5. DC 135

Rolled 86, 19 = 105 (2d100)

>>6049673

Rolled 23, 57 - 10 = 70 (2d100 - 10)

>>6049673

Rolled 82, 25 = 107 (2d100)

>>6049673
We claim this ocean in the name of CAT

>>6049695
Just realized I forgot the modifier. Whoops. Not that it makes a difference kek

Remember kids, it's +- not -

Rolled 96, 26 - 10 = 112 (2d100 - 10)

>>6049673
Welp, we're done for

Rolled 50, 47 + 10 = 107 (2d100 + 10)

>>6049673

Rolled 47, 30 + 10 = 87 (2d100 + 10)

>>6049673

Well at least I can rest easy knowing that we would not have passed the lower DC either.
kill me

>>6049733
Failure, 20 under DC, update will arrive shortly

>>6049748
To be fair, this is a HUGE fish. It was never gonna be easy. Even though I doubt it presents a gigantic threat to us. We are in its turf, too. So it's not surprising, really. Don't sweat it methinks.

But the moment the scent of blood hits your nostrils and rushes down to fill your lung, it spreads and blossoms, filling every available nook, cranny and wrinkle of your brain and wrapping around your heart like barbed chains, digging deeply as the aroma of the freshly transmuted blood awakens the animal instincts already stoked and fanned by the hunger you've been afflicted with. It happens in a flash, like a bolt of lightning crashing to earth and illuminating the night. Your empty mind, serene and ready for meditation is swallowed and submerged beneath the screaming, wailing hunger that has been haunting you. The fear of starvation, the desperation of hunger, the ghoulish yearning that you dare not face, the call of the scavenger, pawing at the soil piled atop freshly dug graves.

It happens before you can realize it. The civilized, intelligent mind is subverted and switched out with the purely feral and instinctual one that you've stomped down and quieted since it would quiet and shut up about being hungry and the terror any wild animal knows , that every being with a stomach to feel has lurking in the darkest, most primal corners of their minds. Instead of achieving peace of mind, you descend into maddened hunger. The ringing resonance of a struck bell, the screaming void of space, replaces the pure white of concentration and emptiness in a single second. As you jaws crack, teeth turning to fangs as the hunger for life is joined by the curse of carmine mystics, and opening your mouth, you nearly choke yourself on the blood you've created, the spell fizzling out and failing as, acting on instinct and out of desperate and terrified hunger, you nearly break off your jaw, burst open your throat and explode your stomach trying to glut yourself on the closest source of living energy and vitality within reach, The blood you just created. But it isn't enough, it can't be enough. Its barely a drop. Not even a morsel!

"More. More! MORE! I DEMAND MORE!" You voice wails and screams, breaking the din of the storm as the lunatic ravings of a starving beast roars over the screeches of the sea beast, the shockwave of its sky scorching breath, and the whistling of a spear and ghost in flight.

Claws digging through the skin and flesh of your face, your eyes shoot open, blood red and weeping as crimson streams, scarlet rivulets and pink froth ooze out of your mouth with fangs too large to fit in a human skull tearing through your gums as you tear through your cheek, tongue flicking out to catch the small drops of sea spray and blood. And through the water, small motes of white light rise up to fulfill your need, beckoned by your call for sustenance and any relief that can be found for your aching tummy as the blood swirled waters around you become empty of life as every living being beneath you is drawn up to you, torn out of their original vessels and lifted up through the sea.

Cont

>>6049764

And one by one, the pearls of life energy, stolen from whatever may swim through this sea, disappear behing your lips and vanish down your gullet as you stuff yourself with as many of them as you can grab in your hands and keep caged between your fingers as you bite, tear and swallow desperately, frantic to fill your greedy belly, so hungry and messy that you don't concern yourself with missing your fingers or the meat of the palms of your hands when you bring your gnashing teeth down to grind up the meager offerings of the fish and sea plants.

Lapping and sticking your tongue over your hands, sticky with blood and dripping with sea water, sense, reason and something besides crazed hunger slowly fill your head as you realize you've standing in a bleak stretch of water, the only living thing above or under the sea.

And the great sea beast who reigns over this patch of the world has turned to face you, not heeding the ghost burying the tip of his spear through the length of one of its tentacles, skewering it from tip and pinning it in a taught curl. However intelligent the sea monster is, it has taken offense at you stretching open your mouth and drawing in and devouring the still living essence and lively lifebloods of its subjects.

Snarling, flicking the blood and stray ribbons of torn flesh and skin off of your hands you take in a deep breath and answer its attention with a rattling scream of indignation and rage, mostly focused towards yourself, for lapsing and acting so brutish and deplorably. And because there weren't enough fish in this stretch of sea to even quite the gnawing in the depths of your stomach and barely enough to clear the haze of hunger and blind animal panic that took control of you for a...for however longer you were blindly and mindlessly bingeing on and chomping down on and swallowing up any stray lifeforce, no matter how meager or tiny that drew close enough to be torn out of their bodies by just the lashing tendrils of you manic spiritual energy and hunger deranged soul.

'At least it didn't happen anywhere populated, and the only victims of my bender were fish and the only witnesses a ghost and a monster' you try to encourage yourself as you take up a fighting stance as the sea is split into two giant, cresting waves as the sea monster shoots through the expanse of rapid waters, deciding you are more of a threat than the ghost stabbing its tentacle with the rhythm and enthusiasm of a insane butcher. But your heart feels as empty as your stomach, even after it was filled with enough fish to feed a city for a day.
Cont

>>6049765

What do you do, to face the sea monster charging to confront you, Huanliuxue?

>Try to create a pool of blood again, maybe the snack has cleared enough of the fog in your head to make it easier? (Concentration trial. DC 135. - 8 to roll)

>Attempt to weaponize the...ability, specter starvation has given you, to rip out the still living essence and lifeforce of other beings (Magic+Instinct trial. DC 111. No negative modifier)

>Thinking about your indulgence like a session of binge drinking, become the incarnation of Monu's frigid enmity and freeze the still bloody water around you (Magic trial. DC 120. -5 to roll)

>Unsheathe moon collapse and use it and the movement of the chains to fling yourself onto the monster's back (Agility+timing trial. DC 115 - 5 to roll)

>Write in

>>6049766
>weaponise the hunger.

REDUCE THE DEBUFFS.

>>6049766
>Attempt to weaponize the...ability, specter starvation has given you, to rip out the still living essence and lifeforce of other beings (Magic+Instinct trial. DC 111. No negative modifier)

>>6049766
>>Unsheathe moon collapse and use it and the movement of the chains to fling yourself onto the monster's back (Agility+timing trial. DC 115 - 5 to roll)
Ah yes, that old feeling, shame. Disappointment. Don't worry Huan it's only your pride being wounded. I do feel bad for those poor fishies though. They didn't even know what was going on and they got got. We made it really far without falling to temptation, it was good while it lasted. I do however want nothing to do with this accursed hunger.

>>6049766
>Attempt to weaponize the...ability, specter starvation has given you, to rip out the still living essence and lifeforce of other beings (Magic+Instinct trial. DC 111. No negative modifier)
TURN OUR CURSE
INTO STRENGTH

>>6049766
>Attempt to weaponize the...ability, specter starvation has given you, to rip out the still living essence and lifeforce of other beings (Magic+Instinct trial. DC 111. No negative modifier)

If working against the hunger didn't work then maybe leaning into it will.

Also a cat never apologizes and neither does an empress.

>>6049766
>>Attempt to weaponize the...ability, specter starvation has given you, to rip out the still living essence and lifeforce of other beings (Magic+Instinct trial. DC 111. No negative modifier)

>>6049766
>Unsheathe moon collapse and use it and the movement of the chains to fling yourself onto the monster's back (Agility+timing trial. DC 115 - 5 to roll)

Man let's never get cursed again

>>6050040
Mah it was worth
We just need to reap the benefits of it being gone.

>>6049766
>>Attempt to weaponize the...ability, specter starvation has given you, to rip out the still living essence and lifeforce of other beings (Magic+Instinct trial. DC 111. No negative modifier)
Let's turn this ghastly tribulation into our benefit!

>>6049766
>Unsheathe moon collapse and use it and the movement of the chains to fling yourself onto the monster's back (Agility+timing trial. DC 115 - 5 to roll)

I feel like old-fashioned combat is the way to go here

>>6049766
>Attempt to weaponize the...ability, specter starvation has given you, to rip out the still living essence and lifeforce of other beings (Magic+Instinct trial. DC 111. No negative modifier)

>>6049766
>Attempt to weaponize the...ability, specter starvation has given you, to rip out the still living essence and lifeforce of other beings (Magic+Instinct trial. DC 111. No negative modifier)
Hopefully this is where we learn something about curses.