Chapter 26 - The Edge of Control
His hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
The pain itself had faded quickly enough – just as his master had promised there were no lingering side effects. The memory, though, that 2024-08-26 00:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
K.J.Clay posts
Chapter 25 - The Crucible of Pain
Zhujiao’s walk home was thankfully uneventful, though he did notice more than a few Red Talon members walking the streets. They didn’t harass him in any way, but he was uncomfortably aware of t...
2024-08-23 00:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 24 - The Crucible of Choice
He feels vaguely like an old, wrung out dishrag by the time he’s finally finished the process of purging his Qi. Lao Yi is mildly sympathetic at best, watching him stumble to his feet with an alm...
2024-08-21 00:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 23 - The Weight of Progress
Running into Liang as he left his little apartment was awkward, to say the least. The nature of the cheap housing in which they lived meant that completely avoiding someone was all but impossible, ...
2024-08-19 00:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 22 - A Night of 'Fun'
Zhujiao’s feet dragged as he staggered through the narrow hallway towards his room. Lao Yi clearly took his choice of the quick route as something of a challenge and wasted precisely no time assi...
2024-08-16 00:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 21 - The Essence of Power
Zhujiao was becoming increasingly convinced that his master was actually a sadist in disguise.
Gone was the kindly old man who selflessly gave his time to help the less fortunate. Gone ...
2024-08-14 00:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 20 - A Fool's Fortune
Zhujiao tucked his coin pouch securely under his shirt before taking a deep breath and stepping out into the corridor outside his little apartment.
Today promised to be very interesting, or a...
2024-08-12 00:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 19 - Sneaky Investigation
Zhujiao really wasn’t sure what to make of his master.
He had been all but certain he had sensed something weird about the old man the other day, a strange sucking void of Qi that had...
2024-08-09 00:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 18 - Old Friends
Li Feng wasn’t trying particularly hard to keep the distaste from his expression as he moved through the slums towards his destination.
Why his old friend had decided to open a clinic h...
2024-08-07 00:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 17 - Mystery Afoot
Watching Lao Yi freak out over his age got old after a few minutes.
“It’s not like I look particularly old or anything, Master. How old did you think I was?” he asked amusedly....
2024-08-05 00:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 16 - Oh No! Social Interaction!
His new accommodations are incredible.
Well, no, actually, they’re not. They just feel incredible in comparison to his previous living situation.
When Madame Lu had ...
2024-08-02 00:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 15 - Bureaucratic Hell
It wasn’t a joke.
There were a lot of things he missed from the Before. The internet was highly underrated, electricity was a marvel he hadn’t appreciated enough when he had it, ...
2024-07-29 00:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 14 - Test Time
Zhujiao awoke to the soft light of dawn filtering through the orphanage’s small, grimy window. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, the stiffness from the hard bed still present in his back. The other ...
2024-07-26 00:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 13 - Strange Bedfellows
It’s been three days, and he is convinced that Lao Yi is the physical embodiment of chaos.
Oh sure, he may look like a kindly old man, spending his days caring for the poor a...
2024-07-24 00:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 12 - Silver Lining
Zhujiao sighs again, shaking off the frustration. He was no stranger to hard work, but it was hard to scrounge up motivation when the task was this disgusting.
As if to punctuate his...
2024-07-21 22:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 11 - The Old Doctor
There’s an old tree in the centre of the courtyard that he can see from the dirty, cracked window of the cramped room he calls home. It’s an ancient thing, gnarled and twisted and sagging under...
2024-07-18 22:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 10 - The Long Road to Recovery
He wakes about a week after they pull him from the rubble and immediately wishes he hadn’t.
They ask him where he’s from, but he can’t answer. He knows it’s a few days away and that i...
2024-07-16 22:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 9 - The Price of Power
He paces the length of his bedroom, eyes locked on the Beast Core sitting on his bed.
He can feel it even without touching it, and the concentrated well of fire-aspected Qi makes his own rese...
2024-07-14 22:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 8 - The Heights of Power
According to Wei, Zhujiao has now achieved a minimum level of competence when it comes to moving through the forest. Coming from the gruff older man, that’s shockingly high praise, and as he bask...
2024-07-11 22:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 7 - Too Stubborn to Quit
For all that Jin seems determined to act like a prick, Zhujiao is forced to admit he knows his stuff.
Wei, of course, moves swiftly and silently through the forest, and though he’s ab...
2024-07-09 22:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 6 - Revelation
As expected, his mother is… less than impressed with him.
She seems sweet and loving most of the time, but if he manages to cross the line, the gloves well and truly come off. His ear...
2024-07-07 22:07:30 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 5 - Breakthrough
His Qi flows smoothly in a cycle, sweeping through his body from his head to his toes. It has taken him longer than he is comfortable admitting to realise that the stupid scroll talking about the ...
2024-07-04 03:43:36 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 4 - Consequences
He’s practically floating as he makes his way back home, having banked the fire. It wasn’t even that his senses were improved that much, more that he could… pay more attention to the...
2024-07-04 01:05:46 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 3 - The Journey of a Thousand Miles
The people in this world are weirdly healthy. Part of it is probably lifestyle-related - everybody is fairly active, having to walk everywhere, and no one he’s seen so far has the wealth necessar...
2024-07-04 01:04:01 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 2 - Childish Concerns
Time passes.
He bullies his tiny, useless little body into moving, first dragging himself along the floor, then grabbing random objects and levering himself up as best he can, marvelling at t...
2024-07-04 01:01:48 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 1 - Wait, There's More?
Awareness is a fickle thing, at first.
There are a few brief moments of clarity, but even when things are fuzzy and indistinct, he feels… safe. Peaceful.
Surprising, but c...
2024-06-23 03:12:18 +0000 UTC View Post