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[LP CYOA] 傳
- Thread starter treave
- Start date
Nevill
Arcane
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I wonder what the exact mechanics behind this is. How long does it take, what happens to the victim, what does it feel like for them, do we need to grab them by the pressure points, does it require conscious effort or are we draining them simply by touching them? Is qi replenisheable, and does absorbing the qi of others increase our own reserves?
If infusing someone with our own qi makes them feel uncomfortable, what effect does absorbing the qi of others have on us?
If infusing someone with our own qi makes them feel uncomfortable, what effect does absorbing the qi of others have on us?
a cut of domestic sheep prime
Guest
We'll probably find out in the next update when we accidentally suck the life out of Qilin while feeding her and turn her into a shriveled husk. 
Nevill
Arcane
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- Joined
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Chains in the Deep
I am Yang Xue of Zhejiang. I write this not out of hope but in despair. There is no longer anything left for me but madness.
***
I leave my techniques here, so that they will not be lost. They are all that I can impart from my days in the jianghu.
***
I am here in the depths, bound by chains, my trusty spear sealed underneath the rock, my qi suppressed by the needles that are locked into my pressure points. I have not been more helpless in all my life, but I will survive.
***
I will curse his name for every day I live. He considered me a traitor when I fled from the massacre he bid me commit, but I can not be loyal to such a man. I have found that the Tujue have proven to be more honourable than my people ever were.
***
I was told that it was for the good of the country. That the flow of the ley lines needed to be disturbed by a terrible calamity to bring about fortune and prosperity. I was willing to take on that role. But not like this.
***
I served him for thirty years. We grew up together as children, but adulthood has driven us apart. I do not know him anymore.
***
I wonder what has become of my children. I can only hope he has not gotten his hands on them. I entrusted my daughter to young Bulun, but…
***
I remember that the man who I regarded as my sworn brother, my trusted liege, took away the woman I loved in front of my eyes. He violated her and made me watch, and with his own hands he sewed my eyes shut. He cut her and made me hear her scream, and with his own hands he sealed my ears. He raised her body to my lips and made me smell her death, and with his own hands he cut off my nose.
***
I will live, and escape, and make Li Ming pay for what he has done. He thinks he can leave me here to starve and rot and I will die, but he is mistaken. My dear Yumen had left behind herself as her final gift, the strength I needed to tear the chains from the boulder, and as the means by which I will record my words.
***
Concentrating on the flow of your internal energy, you slowly but surely counteract Yang Xue’s technique, reversing the ebb of qi and drawing it away from him. What he is doing comes almost trivially to you now that you are aware of it: using Yuanshi Hundun, you begin consuming his energy slowly, transforming whatever you can leech into your own chaotic qi. Before you can go any further, the old man realizes what is happening and breaks away, releasing his grip on you. You leap up, but a swift backhand from him sends you flying. You crash against the wall painfully and crumple to the ground. Even with your new understanding of your internal energy, there is no way you can defeat this man at your current strength.
As you crawl to your feet, you see that Yang Xue has turned his attention back towards Qilin. She is awake, and is backing up against the walls. You quickly dart in, putting yourself in between her and the old man yet again. He stops, his posture utterly still.
Tilting his head, the disfigured general lets out a long, terrible laugh that echoes off the walls. “You… care for this girl, don’t you?” he says, his voice hoarse from years of disuse. He seems rather more lucid now, compared to when you met him in the tunnels above.
“Not at all!” you shout back, “It’s because I don’t like you. I’m just not letting you have the meal you want, old man.” He arches his back backwards, a horrible grin on his face. “Youngsters nowadays. You will see. Oh. A year or a month or a week later you will either die to save her, or her to save you. I will sit and watch which will happen. Food… it tastes all the better if you wait for it.”
“Is that all you have left, General?” you ask, challenging the old man. “Just the desire to eat? What about your vengeance?”
He begins shaking violently. It takes a while for you to realize that Yang Xue is giggling silently. “Of course… not. I would rain down a storm of blood on the pugilistic world, if I could! I… and… Li Ming… him too…” His brow furrows, his expression darkens, and you can feel the air beginning to swirl about the chamber. “Why not escape together with us, then, General?” you try, though you are not sure whether setting this mad man loose on the surface world is the brightest idea. Still, you do not think you can find a way out if he gets in your way. Yang Xue titters lightly. “There is no way out. No way out of this madness. I do not need to leave anyway. I will wait for Li Ming to return and to kill him. He will be here one day. He cannot forget me. He cannot have forgotten me. No.”
It sounds like he is a little too far gone to be easily reasoned with. As the old man continues muttering to himself, he wanders into the entrance passageway, half-concealed in the shadows. “But there is one way out,” he says, looking up. “I can throw you up to the bottom of the bottomless pit. Haha. Bottom of the bottomless pit. In fact I can teach you everything, young one. Everything I know. You can be my spear, my weapon to strike at the twisted world of the jianghu. All I need is an offering.”
“Let me guess,” you say, “food?”
“Oh, how did you know?” chuckles Yang Xue.
“Just a hunch,” you sigh. “Do you need me to capture rats for you, old man?”
“Rats?” he spits. “Why would I want to eat that right now? You need to show your sincerity, youngster. An arm will do. Take it from the girl, it is not like she has any use for her limbs right now. It does… more good inside my belly. More purpose. It is only right.” You try to find some words in response to his ludicrous request, but as the chains rattle you realize the old man has already wandered off.
***
As you pondered what steps to take next, you took some time to master the fundamentals of the kicking technique that Yang Xue had inscribed on the walls. The name of the technique was Wuying Leipo Kick (无影雷破脚, Shadowless Thunder-Breaking Kick): true to its name, the moves were fast and powerful, reliant on strong, soaring leaps to attack the opponent with your legs in mid-air without touching ground even once.
“So, are we really going to have to give him an arm?” asks Qilin. In the span of a week she has recovered on schedule, but the both of you were facing another problem. Yang Xue had been coming by and slaughtering the rats for his own consumption. He had made no moves to eat you or Qilin for now, apparently having forgotten his own words, but you were forced to fight him for rats whenever he arrived. Most of the time you lost, though sometimes you managed to steal a rat or two from the old man, to his screaming protests. He never ventured far into the chamber, however, preferring to just suck in the rats physically with his internal energy from afar. The first time you saw a squeaking rat flying through the air, drawn to the man’s palm as if by magic, you could not believe your eyes.
You had been left relatively unmolested besides that, but you could not find a way out no matter how hard you searched. The passages in the caves seemed to be endless – you dared not venture too far lest you found yourself lost. At least you had managed to get a fire going in the chamber, making it a bit more hospitable.
The fish in the waterfall cavern had been too difficult for you to catch in the end; it seems that the pool extends a lot deeper and further underground than you had expected, and any careless attempts to capture them would only send the fish hiding deep beyond your reach. The stream, however, must be flowing somewhere – perhaps it would lead to the outside of the caverns eventually.
***
A. You attempt to approach Yang Xue again for aid in leaving the caverns. If you submit to his request for an arm, whoever gives it would be too weak to escape, even if Yang Xue were to throw them up.
1. You will sacrifice Qilin’s arm, learn what you can from Yang Xue, and escape the cave. You will return for her later.
2. You will sacrifice your own arm and ask to have Qilin escape. You will not have her die down here. Besides, you will then have plenty of time to absorb Yang Xue’s knowledge.
B. You refuse to submit to the old man’s mad request. There has to be a way out of here, since he managed to make it to the upper tunnels previously.
1. You will just have to improve your rat-catching skills in order to survive; you will continue searching for a way out from the tunnels in the meantime.
2. You will take the plunge and jump into the stream, allowing the flow to take you where it will and hoping for the best.
I am Yang Xue of Zhejiang. I write this not out of hope but in despair. There is no longer anything left for me but madness.
***
I leave my techniques here, so that they will not be lost. They are all that I can impart from my days in the jianghu.
***
I am here in the depths, bound by chains, my trusty spear sealed underneath the rock, my qi suppressed by the needles that are locked into my pressure points. I have not been more helpless in all my life, but I will survive.
***
I will curse his name for every day I live. He considered me a traitor when I fled from the massacre he bid me commit, but I can not be loyal to such a man. I have found that the Tujue have proven to be more honourable than my people ever were.
***
I was told that it was for the good of the country. That the flow of the ley lines needed to be disturbed by a terrible calamity to bring about fortune and prosperity. I was willing to take on that role. But not like this.
***
I served him for thirty years. We grew up together as children, but adulthood has driven us apart. I do not know him anymore.
***
I wonder what has become of my children. I can only hope he has not gotten his hands on them. I entrusted my daughter to young Bulun, but…
***
I remember that the man who I regarded as my sworn brother, my trusted liege, took away the woman I loved in front of my eyes. He violated her and made me watch, and with his own hands he sewed my eyes shut. He cut her and made me hear her scream, and with his own hands he sealed my ears. He raised her body to my lips and made me smell her death, and with his own hands he cut off my nose.
***
I will live, and escape, and make Li Ming pay for what he has done. He thinks he can leave me here to starve and rot and I will die, but he is mistaken. My dear Yumen had left behind herself as her final gift, the strength I needed to tear the chains from the boulder, and as the means by which I will record my words.
***
Concentrating on the flow of your internal energy, you slowly but surely counteract Yang Xue’s technique, reversing the ebb of qi and drawing it away from him. What he is doing comes almost trivially to you now that you are aware of it: using Yuanshi Hundun, you begin consuming his energy slowly, transforming whatever you can leech into your own chaotic qi. Before you can go any further, the old man realizes what is happening and breaks away, releasing his grip on you. You leap up, but a swift backhand from him sends you flying. You crash against the wall painfully and crumple to the ground. Even with your new understanding of your internal energy, there is no way you can defeat this man at your current strength.
As you crawl to your feet, you see that Yang Xue has turned his attention back towards Qilin. She is awake, and is backing up against the walls. You quickly dart in, putting yourself in between her and the old man yet again. He stops, his posture utterly still.
Tilting his head, the disfigured general lets out a long, terrible laugh that echoes off the walls. “You… care for this girl, don’t you?” he says, his voice hoarse from years of disuse. He seems rather more lucid now, compared to when you met him in the tunnels above.
“Not at all!” you shout back, “It’s because I don’t like you. I’m just not letting you have the meal you want, old man.” He arches his back backwards, a horrible grin on his face. “Youngsters nowadays. You will see. Oh. A year or a month or a week later you will either die to save her, or her to save you. I will sit and watch which will happen. Food… it tastes all the better if you wait for it.”
“Is that all you have left, General?” you ask, challenging the old man. “Just the desire to eat? What about your vengeance?”
He begins shaking violently. It takes a while for you to realize that Yang Xue is giggling silently. “Of course… not. I would rain down a storm of blood on the pugilistic world, if I could! I… and… Li Ming… him too…” His brow furrows, his expression darkens, and you can feel the air beginning to swirl about the chamber. “Why not escape together with us, then, General?” you try, though you are not sure whether setting this mad man loose on the surface world is the brightest idea. Still, you do not think you can find a way out if he gets in your way. Yang Xue titters lightly. “There is no way out. No way out of this madness. I do not need to leave anyway. I will wait for Li Ming to return and to kill him. He will be here one day. He cannot forget me. He cannot have forgotten me. No.”
It sounds like he is a little too far gone to be easily reasoned with. As the old man continues muttering to himself, he wanders into the entrance passageway, half-concealed in the shadows. “But there is one way out,” he says, looking up. “I can throw you up to the bottom of the bottomless pit. Haha. Bottom of the bottomless pit. In fact I can teach you everything, young one. Everything I know. You can be my spear, my weapon to strike at the twisted world of the jianghu. All I need is an offering.”
“Let me guess,” you say, “food?”
“Oh, how did you know?” chuckles Yang Xue.
“Just a hunch,” you sigh. “Do you need me to capture rats for you, old man?”
“Rats?” he spits. “Why would I want to eat that right now? You need to show your sincerity, youngster. An arm will do. Take it from the girl, it is not like she has any use for her limbs right now. It does… more good inside my belly. More purpose. It is only right.” You try to find some words in response to his ludicrous request, but as the chains rattle you realize the old man has already wandered off.
***
As you pondered what steps to take next, you took some time to master the fundamentals of the kicking technique that Yang Xue had inscribed on the walls. The name of the technique was Wuying Leipo Kick (无影雷破脚, Shadowless Thunder-Breaking Kick): true to its name, the moves were fast and powerful, reliant on strong, soaring leaps to attack the opponent with your legs in mid-air without touching ground even once.
“So, are we really going to have to give him an arm?” asks Qilin. In the span of a week she has recovered on schedule, but the both of you were facing another problem. Yang Xue had been coming by and slaughtering the rats for his own consumption. He had made no moves to eat you or Qilin for now, apparently having forgotten his own words, but you were forced to fight him for rats whenever he arrived. Most of the time you lost, though sometimes you managed to steal a rat or two from the old man, to his screaming protests. He never ventured far into the chamber, however, preferring to just suck in the rats physically with his internal energy from afar. The first time you saw a squeaking rat flying through the air, drawn to the man’s palm as if by magic, you could not believe your eyes.
You had been left relatively unmolested besides that, but you could not find a way out no matter how hard you searched. The passages in the caves seemed to be endless – you dared not venture too far lest you found yourself lost. At least you had managed to get a fire going in the chamber, making it a bit more hospitable.
The fish in the waterfall cavern had been too difficult for you to catch in the end; it seems that the pool extends a lot deeper and further underground than you had expected, and any careless attempts to capture them would only send the fish hiding deep beyond your reach. The stream, however, must be flowing somewhere – perhaps it would lead to the outside of the caverns eventually.
***
A. You attempt to approach Yang Xue again for aid in leaving the caverns. If you submit to his request for an arm, whoever gives it would be too weak to escape, even if Yang Xue were to throw them up.
1. You will sacrifice Qilin’s arm, learn what you can from Yang Xue, and escape the cave. You will return for her later.
2. You will sacrifice your own arm and ask to have Qilin escape. You will not have her die down here. Besides, you will then have plenty of time to absorb Yang Xue’s knowledge.
B. You refuse to submit to the old man’s mad request. There has to be a way out of here, since he managed to make it to the upper tunnels previously.
1. You will just have to improve your rat-catching skills in order to survive; you will continue searching for a way out from the tunnels in the meantime.
2. You will take the plunge and jump into the stream, allowing the flow to take you where it will and hoping for the best.
Last edited:
Anabanana
Augur
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Waaaait a second. Does that imply that Yunzi is Yang Xue's kid? How about us? ARE WE HIS CHILD TOO? IS YUNZI OUR SISTER?! Man I can imagine that Li Ming would twistedly use Yang Xue's son as his own son's companion. You know, since he's unlucky and is supposed to die for the prince at some point.
Also no way in hell are we cutting off Qilin's arm.
A2. Let's make like Yang Guo; with the techniques we learn from Yang Xue, we should be able to beat up the rest of our generation no problem. One-handed One-Eyed Jing will become one of jianghu's greats, FUCK YEAH.
Also no way in hell are we cutting off Qilin's arm.
A2. Let's make like Yang Guo; with the techniques we learn from Yang Xue, we should be able to beat up the rest of our generation no problem. One-handed One-Eyed Jing will become one of jianghu's greats, FUCK YEAH.
Nevill
Arcane
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All that is left is for Zhang to tear our leg out, and our transformation into the most dangerous gimp ever lived will be complete.
Also, Shun needs to listen to his buddy Gao Ying more about what is good for the country. I bet it will end well.treave said:
XenomorphII
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B2
Esquilax
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Wow, so Yang Xue is Yunzi's grandfather.
This is a very tough choice. We lost an eye already, so at this rate, we'll end up like the soldier from Metallica - One right now. I'm aware that this guy possesses some of the most dangerous techniques ever conceived, but this is one hell of a price. I'm not even considering selling out on Qilin here.
B1 just seems to be a way of postponing the inevitable, while B2 seems to be taking a big gamble. For all we know, jumping into the stream could be a DEAD END. I'll have to think about this one.
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You managed to get some practice in on Yang Xue while fighting over rats, and your training with Zhang Jue already gave you strong basics, so you don't need a lot of time to become passable at a technique nowadays if you get the chance.
As for details of the qi absorption, I'll delve into that a little later.
As for details of the qi absorption, I'll delve into that a little later.
Nevill
Arcane
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Maybe this is what we need to do. Bide our time until either the help comes, or we figure out how he climbed all the way back to the tunnels to assault us.Esquilax said:
I bet you are glad we have gone for the kicking technique.
treave, is Yang Xue too far gone to recognize the symbol of the Ashina tribe? He seemed to care about his children enough to write about them in blood.
Last edited:
Anabanana
Augur
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Yeah. Who cares if we lose an arm if we already have that kicking technique. Looking over our current skillset, all of them could be pretty easily modified to accommodate someone with just one arm. The new techniques we learn should be enough to make up for that - however, spears are a dual-wielded weapon, so that's something to bear in mind.
Rex Feral
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I meant I'd be expecting that degree of cruelty and sadism in one of root's CYOA.
About the votes now.
The A choices sound rather tough. A1, I ain't even considering. A2 seems to come at too high a price. Sure, we will learn a lot from him, but losing an arm, without the guarantee that it will grow back (like we had with Ean), is something I'd avoid.
Now if one of the B updates could get us out that would be great. We won't learn too much, but I'm not all that bent on power anyway. B1 seems like the safe choice, though I have a feeling we won't get out anytime soon with it. And the madman's predictions about eating each other might come true after a while of staying here with this lunatic and eating rats. B2 is a risk, though I think it might work. For us at least, because I'm not sure about Qilin I ain't voting this yet.
I am rather torn between A2 and B2. I'll have to think about it.
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He seems to have his moments of lucidity, but it is unsure whether the symbol will have any effect or work the way you expect it to. Probably I'll have to roll some dice for the results, if you want to try reminding him about the tribe. Results may range from murderous rage to increased friendliness.
Esquilax
Arcane
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No, Yang Xue's involvement was in the Tujue War was ten years before the civil war where Li Ming killed off the rival Princes and ascended to power. I suspect that Yang Xue served a function to Li Ming that was similar to ours for Li Shun.
Help probably isn't coming. With our mediocre perception, I'm not sure if we'll be able to find a way out so easily. We can't catch really catch the fish around the caves and this place is a labyrinth that is difficult to navigate through. The reason Yang Xue hasn't simply taken us and Qilin out by force is probably because he knows this and wants to see us squirm. Our best bet is either to give up our arm in exchange for Qilin's freedom and some lessons, or to YOLOTIGER our way out and plunge into the stream.
treave, if Zhang Jue were to find out that we gave up our arm in exchange for Yang Xue's tutelage, would he find such a thing to be very amusing or would he be very disappointed?
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Depends on the results of your training. If you don't impress him even after sacrificing an arm, he will be very disappointed.
Baltika9
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That's what's holding me back, it will be awesome, but how can we use the Conqueror's Spear after that? treave, spoil me a little for such a difficult choice, will there be a way in the end? Also, would Qilin's parents still think us sexy enough for their little girl?
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