Torsten Hewson
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v4c10 Boundaries
🕑 Added 2023-05-16 02:42:21 +0000 UTCAlright, there was a little bit of confusion about my break last week. I'll need to update some things to keep it transparent, because as I'm thinking about it, it is kinda weird.
When I say I take a break on the second week of the month, What I mean is that I take the week off after I have given you at least a full week of updates. You get at least 3 posts before I take a break. what this realistically means is that unless the month starts on a monday, I'm more than likely taking the third week off, and not the second. I'll try to make this less confusing, and tell people better in advance of when I do stuff.
TL;DR you get a minimum of 3 updates before I take my monthly break. If the month starts on a we or a friday I go through the next week before stopping.
Now, on to the chapter!
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Vajra the Boozemaster, Queen of the Emperor’s Hives and Commander of the Prince’s Guard, was immensely satisfied with her entrance. The awe shone in the lesser guests’ eyes as her mighty host descended upon them and an Empress graced them with her presence.
It did sting that she had not been assigned a proper place in the Emperor’s procession—but it was not his fault. He had commanded the servants to prepare, and they had forgotten to inform her!
She had only learned that the Prince was about to receive his name when they were leaving! When Pi Pa, the fat, graceless majordomo, was making sure the rest of the servants had their gifts prepared. Vajra had nearly missed it, so out of sorts had she been from her morning bath with the Emperor.
It made her want to spit blood. She had no gift for the Prince! Such a thing was absolutely unacceptable, even if she had not been informed. How could she ever dare to show her face before her Emperor again for offering him such an insult?!
But when trials found Vajra, she rose to meet them head on! Her hive immediately burst into action. Her mind and Qi worked so much she felt her fortress begin to get hotter as her guards wove masterpieces. They depicted the Prince leading the warriors to glorious victory over the Black Lances which had dared try to sully his flesh with their obscene noses. They showed him at his proper place, in the Emperor’s arms, as they toiled below him.
Enemies, awaiting disposal, had been swiftly butchered, and more offerings had been gathered as raiding parties pillaged the forests between the Emperor’s hive and his subordinate fortress. The Black Lances, the Giant Flesh Tearers, and the Bone Pickers of Ohn Ta Rai Oh (a most formidable name, for such small villains) were purged with extreme prejudice.
Even though it was to be a rushed job, Vajra made sure everything was perfect before assembling her host. Their carapaces gleamed. Flowers, laden with nectar, were plucked and woven into a crown, their rich bounty unharvested to show the absolute wealth of their august Lord.
She might, she thought, have to actually thank the pink one for not informing her. It made Vajra’s entrance all the more glorious. All the servants’ eyes turned to regard her in shock and awe. The Prince reached his hands out and giggled as the Bane of the Black Lances took her guard position—and then his attention fell on Vajra herself.
She personally danced for him, her movements fast and sure, as she sung of his glories and his mighty name. Zhuye, the advance scouts had informed her. The rest of her host laid down the offerings to the Prince.
Her appearance was sure to curry favour with the Emperor. His enemies destroyed, a golden bounty to his son’s name, and an army assembled to be commanded at his leisure!
… even if they were a minor power, compared to the overwhelming might even Pi Pa could bring to bear. Still, numbers counted for something!
She finished her dance and turned her eyes to her Emperor. He had a tapestry in his hand, and was showing it to the Empress. She made an approving noise, and Vajra’s hearts pumped faster.
“Thank you, Vajra.” His voice was deep, and a wellspring of might. “I’m very happy that you hold us in such high regard. Your gifts are amazing.”
Vajra immediately launched into the dance of supplication, her emotions nearly getting the better of her. She had the Emperor’s thanks once more! She, who held the title of Boozemaster! Would she receive another? Would he make her the permanent captain of the Guard? Taking the position from Tigu would certainly be a boon!
“I was wondering what was killing all the mosquitoes, but now I know…” the Empress muttered, before shaking her head. “Excellent job in… culling the pests, Vajra— but now allow your soldiers their rest, and join us. We have much to speak about.”
Vajra nodded and dismissed her soldiers, all but the Prince’s Guard dropping out of their ranks and dispersing. Vajra made to fly up to the Empress, but instead, the Emperor lowered his hand for her to climb up on instead. Truly, she received honour after honour!
Vajra strutted up and onto his enormous, powerful hand as the peasants got over their shock and began once more greeting the Prince.
Vajra was taken to the Emperor’s table. “Are you hungry?” her Master asked as he pulled out a spoon and served her some of his delicious, Qi-filled syrup. She bowed her head in thanks, for only a fool dared to deny the Emperor.
After she took her fill, the Emperor addressed her. “How long have you been awake, Vajra?” he asked her directly. To have enough favour that she had her Master’s personal attention? It was a dream come true!
Vajra launched into an explanation. Her behind wiggled as she wove her tale for her Great Lord, who gazed upon her with an inscrutable eye, along with the pink servant and Handsome Chun Ke.
She completed her explanation and stilled. All remained staring at her. Then, Chun Ke coughed.
‘Verily, this Queen has been awake for years—yet the time between her old life and the time this Queen was rescued by noble Bi De, most magnificent of her Master’s servants, is like two differing lives,’ he narrated.
Varja froze as understanding dawned in the rest of their eyes.
Her Emperor had not understood her dances?!
And yet, it made sense! Oh, heavens above, why would the Emperor know how her kind communicated? She was but an insect before him! How arrogant had she been, that she thought he understood her pitiful waggling behind?!
She chastised herself, even as the Emperor gave her face by apologising for not understanding her! Vajra panicked, and called some of her servants. They immediately formed ranks, pulling themselves together into writing. It felt like a horrid waste of resources, to use servants for this instead of gathering nectar, and it felt incredibly strange—but Vajra persevered as her servants formed the characters for apology.
And yet… Vajra’s faux pas was forgiven, her Emperor a magnanimous soul. He invited her to sit at his table and eat with him, and when they returned he would make a place for her. A place of her own, directly at the table!
Such a joyous day!
Vajra, of course, immediately accepted her elevation. She must have been promoted two ranks—no, three! She had attained the rank of favoured servant!
Everything, absolutely everything, had worked out for her.
It was then that the Prince made a noise of discomfort, and the Emperor’s eyes rose from Vajra to his son. The child looked upset, and the Emperor rose to attend him, along with Chun Ke and Pi Pa. Vajra rose as well, her wings buzzing so she could curry more favour—but gentile, dainty fingers plucked Vajra out of the air.
“So… all this time you’ve been completely aware… what have you been doing in my husband’s bath?” the Empress asked lightly, and Vajra froze. Two purple orbs speared her.
Her mind raced, and her swarm trembled as she realized she had no excuse ready.
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It turned out Zhuye had a bit of an accident. So I took him aside and cleaned him up, before heading back out. The party had restarted in my absence. The people of Hong Yaowu were rather used to animals suddenly acting like people by this point, so the swarm of sentient bees was more a passing curiosity rather than a cause for alarm.
Especially since most of them seemed to have dispersed and gone back to doing bee things.
A couple of people were looking over one of the little tapestries the bees had brought. They were really good. They looked kind of like neolithic cave paintings in woven form; giants stood above the bees, who were arrayed in ranks. In another, they did battle with giant mosquitoes, hunting them down.
It was an insight into a microculture I had no idea even existed. I sighed. How had I not clued in? I mean… I know why I didn’t think she was a Spirit Beast. She kept getting caught in the bath! How was I supposed to know that she had intelligence comparable to a human when she kept doing that?!
I sighed and shook my head as I finished getting Zhuye situated—and then I groaned.
“Son. We do not slobber on the bees,” I chastised, and gently extracted the two-inch long… well, was it a Spirit Beast? Or was only Vajra the Spirit Beast and she simply influenced the rest, sort of like the situation with the monkeys of Crystal Hill? I had no idea.
“Sorry you have to deal with that,” I said anyway to the very wet trooper. The bee buzzed as I set her down, then resolutely marched back towards my son… standing just outside the range of his grasping fingers this time.
I saluted the brave soldier and turned back to where Meimei was talking to Vajra still.
At least the bee didn’t seem to be too annoyed that I hadn’t noticed. Vajra… well, aside from the bath thing, she seemed fairly well adjusted. I think. She hadn't killed anybody so far, but she apparently had declared war on the native mosquitos and enacted a purge, so the jury was still out on that front.
I sighed. I thought I was through with surprises on the Spirit Beast front, but more fool was me. Meimei seemed to have finished saying her piece, and Vajra flew off the table. My wife nodded and then stood up as well, grabbing some snacks from the main table and walking towards me.
“What was that about?” I asked my wife.
“Oh, we had a wonderful conversation on boundaries,” Meimei said with a smile.
I raised an eyebrow at her, but she was not any more forthcoming.
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And Thus Meimei talks o the bee about her... proclivities. Next up... The man, the myth, the Legend.. the Senior Disciple Himself.
Editors: Ayje, Massgamer, Aaron “Pastafarian” Sofaer
Comments
Jack Everitt
11/10.
Thiemo Guenther
All hail Rou Zhuye! "the Bone Pickers of Ohn Ta Rai Oh (a most formidable name, for such small villains)" https://youtu.be/qjLBXb1kgMo
PaulRovinsky
Eh, they are regular, just usually Tues, Thurs, sat or sun. I'd rather Casual takes his time and puts out something he's happy with than rush things and end up losing motivation. Do keep in mind he takes off one week a month, and one month after the end of each book to prevent burnout.
Moaz Khan
I love this series, but buddy you got to be more regular with the updates
WolfKnight22
Can't wait to see what's next
Truedragon5374
I swear, Vajra would have a heart attack of joy of she was told her name basically means "Golden Weapon of the Heavenly King". Though I wonder... she seems ... less sentient without her swarm. Is she something of a hive mind? And if so, if she ascends, will it just be her or will her whole swarm bond together before taking human form?
Z H
If you don't think Mei is going to talk to Jin about this you haven't been paying attention
Z H
It's also a hallmark of the human supremacy, some might even say bigotry, innate to much of Buddhist fables and mythology. The whole higher and lower "levels" of reincarnation and the "evil nature" of demons are examples that come to mind.
Joshua Flowers
It was stated that Bi De feels more comfortable in his Rooster form still. I imagine he’ll still do most of the serious fighting in his rooster form and will either use the human form when necessary or whatever the none arrogant version of “This isn’t even my true form!” is.
Michael Zalesny
Now i kinda wanna see what Vajras human form will look like.
Nicholas Grey
Be funny if she did gain a human form, but had no real conception scale, so she basically turns into Tinkerbell
Purple Floof
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7gvotoVFlI The reference to the Bone Pickers of Ohn Ta Rai Oh is for this song
Nicholas Grey
It’s clear from last chapter that Mei was not actually sure that Vajra was Awake, though she may have *suspected*. “So, she *was* Awake!” when the Swarm arrives.
Old Dog
An (U.S. Army) Captain I knew explained to me many years ago about the villians of "Ohn Ta Rai Oh (a most formidable name, for such small villains)". I couldn't read any further for a long while.
JustAUser
Why is Mei hiding it? Both Mei and Jin have the exact same information. The difference is that Mei and Jin treat spirit beasts very differently. Jin has just brushed it off, because Jin (while very accepting) still considers Vajra a bee (and often seems to be overly generous to the Spirit Beasts to compensate, it's apparent in a lot of his POVs he's unsure about how to treat them). Whereas Mei, in all her interactions seems to consider the Spirit Beasts the same as humans, including in discipline.
Aune
i share the opinion of grandpa, the most amazing, shocking thing at the farm was the Chicken, a true cultivator in the flesh, but the from of a rooster. i just hope the spirit of first book carries through until the end. Xulan's character arc was amazingly well written, she felt alive.
Aune
Not sure what you mean? Mei was indecisive until this moment about her nature as an awake spirit beast. you mean, the fact she didn't tell him about her doubts?
Xultanis
Doesnt seem like any hiding going on. He knows the bee kept going into the bathhouse with him, and she has been aware for a while. If anything he is unconcerned because he doesnt think a bee would be interested in a human, unless it was a human-shifted bee. Plus even as dense as Jin can be, I'm sure he picked up on what Meimei meant by boundaries. He will likely have a conversation with Vajra about it, but later, in a more private setting.
Argivian
I love the story but I didn't like this chapter and it makes me think less of Mei. Hiding that he was getting peeped on is a shitty thing to do to anyone. I get that a lot of the humor comes from Jin being oblivious to things, but there's a difference between humorous cultural misunderstandings and this kind of violation.
Timothy Dana
Mad honey!
BlueMage_VT
Thank you, I was so confused by this section
Featherweight
Well I think it has a lot to do with how the nature of awakening seems to work in the story. For the most part ( with some exceptions like washi ) They don’t just become a Sapient version of their species, they are getting a Cognitive overlay of a human mind cobbled together from some kind of Collective unconscious. So it makes sense that its pretty common that a human form would be a natural path of progression to match their already human Psyche. That said I do hope some of them chose animals as thier primary form becuase it does give the story alot of character.
James Squibb
While I agree, I don't believe we will see them stay in human form. My thought is it is based on the necessity of the situation. At least in the case of Bi De and Ri Zu. Then again, I could be dead wrong.
Featherweight
Living in northern Ontario is in Farmers Author bio. Black flies and horse flies are both very much a going Concern.
Garrett
Bees in tiny hazmat suits…
LBNoSc
Nice chapter. But a bee that thinks of spitting blood? Shouldn't it be hemolymph? On a more general note, with the plot direction for the rabbit, chicken and the rat, it seems that the story is inclined towards the standard humanocentrism in cultivation novels and goes further towards transforming the animals to humans (a cultivation landmark for beasts and plants in such novels is when they can transform to humans, something that simply does not make any sense at all - except for the ego of writing primates). While this enables new types of story development, this also risks the story to loose some of its originality.
Rehan
It's true! The Black Flies can get genuinely terrifying up there, at Algonquin Park one summer, I once accidently misread the warnings and went at the height of black fly season, they take literal chunks out of you.
Rehan
Definitely Ontario, the most populous province in Canada if you didn't know, potentially also where the author lives though that has not yet been specified as far as I know. The bone eaters part is a reference to a song. Fun fact: Ontario has both the most populated city in Canada (Toronto) and the national Capital (Ottawa).
carebear90
Considering how Meimei acts with Xiulan, I'm not sure if she'd be okay with Varja's behaviour if only she had a human form. :D
Demian Buckle
Thank you for the Chapter.
Nef Mccrimmon
Ty for the chappy abd loved the pov shift for the bees lol
SilasDrekken
Chapters until break week:X At the beginning or end of chapters would do the trick
Anzer'ke
I do wonder if, knowing that she has sentient bees to work with, Meiling might start looking into poisonous honeys. That seems right up her hobby street, if unlikely to yield any truly potent results. Sentient bees being important since it means she can direct them to enact strict quarantines and keep those honeys and workers working on them entirely separate from the rest.
Caerold
I gotta say, the title combined with how the authors note start had me worried you were being harassed about your schedule. Glad it was just a perception issue
DrSkillz
Vajra a whole pervert haha, peeping and wanting to lick off the bath water from Jin’s body. Human form Vajra fixing to be a complete MENACE lol
Nicholas Grey
I did mention that Chunky seems to know more than he should…
Jeff Petkau
Black fly, the little black fly Always the black fly no matter where ya go I'll die with the black fly pickin' my bones In north Ontar-i-o-i-o, In north Ontar-i-o
Inquigor
Black flies are biters, and are all over the place in ontario especially up north. Think horsefly bites, but smaller, and thousands of them.
Katarak
I believe she might mean normal flies as they are often carrion eaters(picking bones)
Cole Norman
I'm going to be honestly I'm even more confused now when you are taking a break, it's probably just easier to say there will be no releases from xx/yy/zz to xx/yy/zz
Chichi son
Nor do I
PaulRovinsky
I think it's Ontario, but I have no idea what the bone pickers are.
Ontario, I believe.
Patrick Ferguson
It's talking about black flies. And it's from a line from an old song from the days of the beaver fur trade. There is a line that goes "black flies no matter where you go. I'll die with a black fly picking my bones. In north Ontario in north Ontario."
Chichi son
Ohn Ta Rai Oh ??? what's that
BargleNawdleZouss
Chun Ke, the Universal Multi-Dimensional Translator...and cunning linguist.
Doctor Xerox
Ontario, though I’m not sure why Jin would have mentioned it in relation to the different pests. Maybe it was mentioned in a previous chapter? Edit: Oops, should have refreshed before replying. Lol
Moonspike
Ah gotcha. I was thinking it was a name for a pest not a place.
JFitz
But, if that’s the case, what are the “Bone Pickers” of Ontario?
LenoraeKB
Pretty sure its Ontario
JFitz
Ontario, maybe? I can’t think of anything else. Jin is from Canada, now that I think about it.
Sriad
Haha, it sounds like trying to explain how Easter works. Maybe a simple, recurring message like "This chapter starts my Monthly Week Of Less Work; next chapter will be a week from today."
Moonspike
I must be dense cause I can't figure out what Ohn Ta Rai Oh is.
