Sects Of Shanping

  A woman stares out over a snow covered nd, her hand wrapped imperiously around a golden scepter. Her white irises look at more than the ndscape. She watches over the flow of qi and spirit, noting strange changes and occurrences. She looks no older than thirty years, but her presence and cultivation show an age far beyond that. Her hair is as white as the snow she looks at. Her red and white robes stand eerily still as the wind blows by her.

  “Matriarch Shun Mai. You called for us?”

  Twelve men and women, dressed in the colors of their sects gather in a circle on the hilltop the woman stands on.

  “I am happy to see the sects of Shanping still answer the call of the First Sect.” The woman says, her eyes lost in the flow of qi and spirit. “All of you have felt it, I’m sure.” She says, turning to face the powerful cultivators gathered. “The seals were broken, and the doors have reopened. Immortals are waking up, and qi is reaching even the most mundane of nds.”

  The matriarch taps her scepter on the ground, and the snow forms into a portal, swirling with visions of other nds. “Treasures thought long gone will be found and the demons kept from our worlds will return.” The image of a terrible beast wrapped in chains shows through the portal. As if sensing the attention of the cultivators, it lifts its head and roars. The pressure of its qi causes everyone but Shun Mai to tremble. “Many will have forgotten the sects of Shanping. And we ourselves have forgotten our purpose. World devourers, ensvers of mortals. It was once our task to defend against them. It will be so again.”

  Her eyes gaze over every cultivator present, seeing to their very core. “It seems during my own rest, I have allowed rot to fester amongst the thirteen sects.” Many of the cultivators stiffen at her words.

  ”Lung Kun,” A rge man whose eyes had stayed closed during her speech, opens his eyes when she speaks to him, revealing two glowing blue orbs instead of eyes. “I know you to be righteous. Many of those gathered here have fallen into depravity, and the sying of mortals and disciples alike for material gain. Remove the rot.”

  Lung Kun bows, “Your will be done.”

  Before any of the cultivators can react, Lung Kun stabs the man standing next to him, then brings his sword up to slice through the spirit of the stabbed immortal.

  Shun Mai shows no reaction, except for the slight nod of her head. “We will be facing demons, and we cannot afford to have demons amongst us.”

  Many of the cultivators draw their weapons, only to be sin by those loyal to Shun Mai.

  “The only thing that never changes is change itself.” Shun Mai says, turning away from the bloodshed to look at the vision of the great beast in chains.

  Old Snake

  In the forest surrounding the sect known as The Flowing River sect, an elderly woman walks, her cane crunching on the fallen leaves. The creatures of the forest, both weak and powerful, avoid her. She hums to herself as she comes upon a clearing that used to be the home of a powerful beast.

  She walks to the middle of the clearing before tapping her cane against the ground. Dirt, gravel and pnts move away from the cane, revealing a rge stone tablet twice as long as the old woman is tall.

  The stone tablet depicts a beautiful snake staring down on a massacred band of cultivators. Two cultivators stand against the snake, pooling their power to seal the creature.

  A rge crack runs down the tablet, splitting it in two.

  The old dy cackles. “I had come to help you, my daughter. But it seems you have cracked the seal on your own. You always were clever.” The old dy turns away, smiling at the men who watch her from the trees. “And look at these lovely snacks. I was feeling a mite peckish.”

  With more cackling, the old dy’s robes fall to the ground. A purple snake slithers out of the clothes, a crown of golden scales sitting on her head. As she moves, her body expands, becoming rger than the trees around her.

  Screams of men echo through the forest as Doma’s men find themselves at the mercy of a heartless hunter.

  Lai Ming

  Lai Ming removes her sword from the chest of the man she’d killed, his body freezing beneath her.

  “By this point, they know we’re coming.” Xia Jing says, holding her hand over a cut along her arm, qi flowing into the wound. “We haven’t been as subtle as I’d hoped we’d be when we started.”

  “I agree. It is strange however, we haven’t encountered anyone capable of taking on Qiu Tai in these ambushes.” Lai Ming responds, her sword melting into water at her feet.

  Xia Jing frowns, “Maybe they’re testing us? People of Qiu Tai’s strength aren’t sent to battle easily.”

  Lai Ming bites her lip as she thinks. After a moment, she speaks. “You should continue on without me. I can’t sneak around like you can, and I’ll be here to support you if you get into trouble. You can find them, figure out if anyone from the caravan is still alive, then we can decide what to do from there.”

  “I agree. Your methods are…” Xia Jing looks at the patch of forest now covered in ice. “Less than subtle.” She smiles “I’ll be counting on you to bail me out if I get into trouble.”

  “I’ll be there.” Lai Ming responds, “Just try not to get into trouble in the first pce.”

  Xia Jing smiles as she fades into the forest. “I’ll try.”