And it's Hi! Hi! Hey! The Slime is on it's Way! [Private/Ulv]

The gift of life and process of birth with the new age of integrating the spiritual and magical into the world can be discerned down to almost a tee with the cycle of souls becoming a more well-known natural world system as time persists. Almost. Even now, there are some details--small and specific as they may be--shrouded by a veil of the unknown. Perhaps select few have grasped these specifics considering the existence of manmade life, from mod-souls to artificial hollows. All things said, there still are those occasions where the world itself brings something into existence in an inexplicable, unexplainable manner.

Several thousand years prior to the 25th century, during the expansion of cultures and beliefs across asia, along the surfacing of spirituality assimilating into these belief systems, a taoist temple was built at the top of a downhill ravine which provided a perfect location in line with feng shui topography. A rainy day filled this ravine, and a stream was made. Even after the rainy day had passed, the stream persisted.

A young disciple of this taoist temple, adapted walking through the ravine in the spirit of adventure, vented a complaint to his senior. “First Brother, why does this stream persist? It’s rather irritating; I used to freely venture the ravine with dry feet, but that’s no longer possible.” The senior gave a smile with wisdom in his eyes. “Do you perhaps wish for the stream to be no more?” The young disciple looked up with anticipation and nodded, as if expecting his senior to somehow rid the stream. Most people at his rank were capable of transformative feats.

“Silly Junior, that would be disharmonious. The stream exists, so naturally it has purpose--so decides the heavens and the earth.” The young disciple returned an inquisitive gaze, “But First Brother--it’s just a stream; what purpose can be so grand for a stream?”

“Who knows? I’m just a senior disciple. The heavens’ intentions are beyond me. Perhaps it will one day be the stream to carry an important message to an important person; maybe it will be the stream to fill this whole ravine. I wouldn’t be surprised if this stream could lead a nation to great success. If luck shines upon it and the heavens smile, the stream could even gain life and cultivate, finding greater enlightenment than even our patriarch.”

“First Brother, you’re being awfully silly. Let’s go already, we’re going to be late for a sermon on the Grand Dao.”

The two disciples departed from the stream and entered the temple. This particular school, just as many other schools, integrated the practice of Chi into their curriculum. In particular, it followed the popular method of “duóqǔ tiān qì (奪取天氣)”, to “Wrest the Heaven’s Graces”. While most alternative methods involved developing the Chi in one’s body to grow in strength via self-dependence, Duoqu schools developed a meditating technique that absorbed the energies of the heaven and earth into oneself, convert into chi, and adopt as one’s own energy--thus, the importance of feng shui, that is to have a location dense in latent Tian Chi (Heaven’s Chi). Of course, unbeknownst to the civilisations at this time, this was in truth a method of taking in latent reishi), and turning it into Chi to adopt.

Many years passed, and the school atop the ravine had long since vanished, as the Yin energies became particularly dense in this area, thus making it impossible to practice duoqu cultivation due to the chaotic imbalance in the Tian Chi. Another sect replaced the top of the ravine, one which practiced a form of duoqu dependent on taking heavy levels of yin energy. The reason behind this ravine becoming dense in yin energy was the combination of a monsoon arriving, followed by a seldom-seen winter. The top of the ravine quickly transformed from pleasant spring scenery to a winter wonderland. As the feng shui was amiable in this location, the transition to a yin energy location maintained its beauty, to include the once trickling stream that persisted until now. In thanks to the added water from the monsoon, and the expanding winter which gave it rise, the stream now turned to a small river.

“What purpose is there to me cultivating with a yang-meridian body? My body burns in the cold and feeds off the day’s blessings; don’t patronise me! I’ll never be able to cultivate here, so why force me to even try!”

A young girl adorned in silk robes and golden accessories ran alongside the river in rebellion to her following senior disciple.

“Don’t be this way. The Matriarch--your mother has made it clear that she wants you to give this your all, no matter what. At the very least, strive to reach a level where she won’t worry if you are in a dangerous situation.”

“If it’s for my health and wellbeing, that should be no issue; the boy I met from when we went down to the city said he would care for me; I’m assured that includes to protect me as well!”

“The boy from the city? The orphan with dust and ash on his face? How will he protect you? He doesn’t even cultivate, don’t even mention being able to protect you!”

“Then take him in! We’re a school, are we not? Teach him, then! Then he will be able to protect me.”

“That’s… that’s not possible. Males cannot cultivate our techniques; the yang energy in them is naturally too high, just like your bo--err… Just, come on. At least talk to your mother directly, young mistress; I grow weary of being the messenger between you two.”

With a hand-gesture and turn, the maid turned to go back to the school. The young girl frowned in response and took a bottle with a paper inside and tossed it to the river before following after her caretaker. In her heart she prayed, “If the heavens allow it, let this bottle reach that boy. Should he come for me, then we were destined, and if not, I’ll follow my mother’s wishes after all. In the bottle details the cultivation techniques of our school, and a map to this ravine. Heavens, if you would allow!”

Many years passed, and the girl turned to an adult, and then a senior, and then a corpse, buried alone beneath the ruins of her school. She never heard again from the boy she thought of even until her peaceful death, denying all those suitors all those years ago, in hopes that he would come for her. She did however hear of an astounding tale; that, the prince consort to the emperor’s daughter was a man of unprecedented talent, who cultivated with a yin duoqu technique and rivaled even the greatest generals of the empire.

For her hand in marriage, this prince consort offered her a magical treasure, imbued into it what was referred to as a “Yin Heart”: an artifact capable of producing a constant flow of Yin-energy like a beating heart. It was an artifact desirable even to the highest of the empire, as a Yin Heart could only be created through the combination of an intense desire, pure and innocent in thought. Most of all, the Yin Heart represented a portion of the owner’s potential, and that without the Yin Heart returned to them, their cultivation would forever be stinted. The artifact, strangely enough, wasn’t something flashy or conspicuous. It was a simple bottle.

After the young girl’s death, the small nation the ravine was held in lived prosperously for a time before being thrust into war. The cause was the death of the late emperor, beloved by the nation as a man of great power and honour, who rose from the orphaned urchin life in a small city, to husband of the Empress. The perpetrators of his death were men from a rival nation, and the publicised information easily set the nation ablaze. Their Empress particularly, who was the now reigning authority and the extremely vindictive type. Without hesitation, she declared war, and at times even personally participated in battle--a type of leader that easily garnered loyalty and thus feverently bloodthirsty soldiers that should have quickly ended the war.

The driving factor behind their failure was the enemy’s successful capture of the mountain tops that led to a large ravine. Luring the empress’s forces to be pinned by the ranged fire at the top of the ravine and the closing forces from behind at its base, as well as many explosives being sent down the river to meet their target, the moral blow to the empress’s fighting forces were immense. It was far too embarrassing to have lost to another nation’s strategic use of their own nation’s land and topography. In response, the campaigns launched to recapture the final holding-point of their enemies, that being the mountain tops behind the ravine, grew intensively, all ending in failure. Especially since the only avenue large enough for military forces to scale the ravine to the top was the uphill-river, now large enough to fit entire ships on it. The only other viable paths to the top were narrow and chaotic, some thin enough to only allow for a single file to pass through.

The result was a well-established enemy encampment which persisted til the end of the long and weary war, eventually becoming land of the other nation as a part of a peace treaty. During the war, the Empress was successfully killed in battle, and without any proven family members, the Minister of Council succeeded, prompting to end the bloody war that persisted for nearly fifty years.

This new sovereign held many similar cultures and beliefs as the previous, to include daoism, and within it, the practice of duoqu cultivation. So, for the nation who captured the ravine, to pair with its historical value, the density of tian chi and perfect feng shui on the top of the ravine was incredibly attractive; unfortunately, it was also still very attractive to the rogue duoqu cultivators of the previous sovereign. On top of literally being on the border of the two nations, the entire area--though under a new name in legal binding--was a neutral killzone, with several clashing forces no longer even on the international scale.

A full millennium passed before the top of the ravine became a mythical land for young and brave cultivators to test their mettle. A high-risk high-reward location, where the rumoured treasures of previous generations who had fallen lay, the attraction of daoists from all over the land were drawn to the ravine. In particular, a long-since deceased spirit, interestingly enough bound by their soul to a young and brave daoist, come to prove their mettle.

The youth on more than one occasion met fatal circumstances, only to be saved by their “guardian angel” in the last minute. With the youth--what would now be known as a ‘ziamichi’--seemingly invincible, their confidence rose enough to reach the top of the ravine after tempering his skills along the way, where the true rewards were. Yet to the spirit, the biggest reward was to be back to the nostalgic lands of his school, which moved due to terrible winter and increase of yin energy all those years ago.

Seeing the high and wide river, large enough to swallow a dragon, calmly running down the ravine, the old spirit spoke to himself.

“First Brother said all those years ago, you may be the stream to fill the whole ravine, and behold--you are. And I hear that you’ve been one to relay an important message on occasion, and lead a nation to victory. So, with all things said, there should only be one thing First Brother mentioned that’s left for you to do. Indeed, it is all too hard for a stream--river, now--to gain life and cultivate. So, allow me to help you.”

The youth who made it to the top of the ravine came down without his guardian spirit, who had taught and advised the youth his whole way up the riverbank. After reaching a certain level of strength through the continuous struggle to make it up the ravine through the span of several years, both parties thought his strength to be sufficient now, and as if they had some sort of contract to bind them to one another, the bindings were severed.

“I wished to see my homeland once more, before I had to dissipate. I’ve been holding onto the smallest vestiges of my life, despite having long since passed away. With all my strength, I stayed on earth, wishing I could reach the apex of cultivation--Wanshan Chuxian. Alas, it wasn’t enough. And now, here I am, speaking to a body of water. It’s a pleasing scene to be my last, though. Thus, before I depart, have this gift of mine. After giving everything for the sake of longevity, to include my physical form, it’s really all that I have left--so, excuse me for the lacking glamor. Whether it helps in any way, it would be nice to have seen the result.”

Through a daoist magic, a bright wispy light flowed from the old spirit and into the river, dissipating through the force of the flowing water. The whole time this was happening, the already transparent figure of the old spirit faded away.

As the years, centuries, millenniums passed, even the massive river that filled the ravine could not stand the test of time. It was a feat in itself that it had lasted all the way til the modern age of 2417. And now, the river which returned to a stream, and then to a simple puddle, began to move. Though the body of water shrank, final result of a puddle wasn’t very aqueous. In fact, it seemed gelatinous, and incredibly dense. Without warning, the puddle jumped--hopped, seemed more accurate a term. The puddle hopped, over and over, before speaking, even.

“It took a while to succeed. No wonder that old boy couldn’t reach the apex; it really ain’t easy cultivating. Just to condense my entire body into this one form, before moving about, took eons. Yet, here I am, finally.”