Xún (荀) Chìzǐ (赤子), Mysterious Pearl

Story

Born from a Xun main branch scion and a former chieftain-queen of the Northern tribes. Their marriage was a political surrender to avoid genocide. To the Xun clan, their child was both a prized asset and a living reminder of compromise to both sides, and to individuals among the Four territories, a curiosity and potential tool.

The child known as Chizi grew up profoundly alone. Despite possessing a peerless beauty from birth, those looks were akin to a work of art or a celestial spirit. Meant to be admired, but not touched. Playmates grew distant, their cruel whispers accusing Chizi of being an eerie doll.

The alienation turned inwards during foundational cultivation lessons. The meridians described in the manuals, the yin-yang organ balances, the very map of a human body, did not match the individual, internal reality. Where others had duality, Chizi had a swirling singularity in the Sacred Embryo within. This was the first concrete proof of being inhuman.

In private, things were not much better. The father, though frequently busy with the duties of a clan Elder, always tried to make time for the child. That blunt, sometimes bruising care was the sole pillar in Chizi's life, the only barrier preventing a complete breakdown into a shut-in lifestyle.

But even that was a temporary fire, one that left behind deeper shadows when he departed. Thus, Chizi turned to the mother, yearning for her warmth. But she was a rough barbarian, unsuited to grant it, avoiding the child and relenting her duties to servants and caretakers. Chizi persisted, making it a personal quest to earn a glance from the woman. Mimicking her stern posture, studying her dialect, all to no avail. Witnessing Chizi's quiet despair and fruitless attempts to reach his wife, the father taught his child the language he best understood: Sword Intent. He believed that by mastering it, Chizi could forge a connection to the former queen, and more importantly, build an unshakeable confidence befitting of a Xun.

To meet the world head-on, accepts the cuts, and prevail through sheer, unwavering presence.

Chizi was granted the finest tutors, unrestricted access to clan archives, legendary training swords, and the most brutal martial training.

One fateful day, a bridge was built. The Righteous Unrivaled Sword was flawlessly executed in Xun training grounds, meant as a show of inheritance. Even if her tribe had been assimilated, her prowess, her sword skills, her legacy, all would live through her child.

Her subsequent silence and withdrawal were interpreted as confirmation of Chizi's inhumanity.

However, by now, the child was already a youngster, who understood a fraction of the Sacred Embryo's nature. It is the root, and all things are its flowers. To deepen understanding of the One, its cultivator must experience the Ten Thousand Things.

Nowadays, Chizi is a benign shadow on Xun territory, following hunters to learn camaraderie and mortality, blacksmiths to understand creation and toil, warriors to embody honor and fear, poets to grasp fleeting emotion, and artisans to discover passion and charm.

An impeccable listener, a selfless helper, and a being of startling empathy.

To a grieving widow, a solemn, silent companion. To a boastful guard, an admiring audience. Universally liked, yet universally unknowable.

In the rigid focus of sword cultivation, Chizi consolidates those myriad paths to discover one's humanity. Every location, every discipline, every interaction, everything is cut down to its core principle, then offered to the Sacred Embryo, which absorbs and digests it, glowing with newfound understanding for another of its infinite facets.

Build

Origin: Great Clan (9)
Foundation: Divine Spirit, Sacred Embryo (5)

At the moment of Foundation Establishment, the cultivator's core condenses into a luminous, self-contained entity resembling a celestial infant, seated in meditation within the dantian. This "embryo" is a manifestation of Primordial Chaos Before Duality. One born with the Sacred Embryo exists in a state where yin and yang, soft and hard, cold and hot, female and male, are undivided and in perfect, dynamic balance. Their spirit resists damage that relies on disrupting balance (poisons, curses, or soul attacks). Their physical form, already born from unity, possesses malleability through temporary re-balancing of their yin-yang expression. They can absorb, cycle, and utilize any energies without harm, converting them into primordial chaos Qi, allowing them to cultivate in any environment.

Talents

Skill = 5
Intelligence = 3
Body = 2
Perception = 4

Perks

Charisma 1
Attractive 3
True Will
Insight: Sword
Innovator 2

Techniques

Earth Rank

Eight Movements Of The Dragon (Movement)

Heaven Rank

Righteous Unrivaled Sword (Attack)

[Eye Of The Moment] (Utility): With this technique, the cultivator channels Qi directly into their eyes, which take a soft, grey luminescence. This allows them to perceive the "unified template" behind all things, and the subtle threads connecting origin to present. The flow of Qi between a cultivator and their talisman, the spiritual link between a controller and a puppet, the "roots" of a formation drawing on leyline power, the cores of surrounding opponents not as "flame Qi" or "shadow Qi," but as a pattern of yin-yang balance or imbalance. The Eye reveals all surrounding elements and the inherent weaknesses in their foundations, piercing through deceit.

Hidden Rank

[Unity Sword Manual] (Cultivation): With this technique, the practitioner forges a single, lifelong bond with a Unity Sword, nourishing it with their foundation's Qi. They cultivate through the sword, and the sword cultivates through them.

The initial rite involves placing the sword within their dantian, allowing its aura to imbue the blade's very spirit. They practice simultaneous breathing cycles, inhaling worldly Qi into their own meridians while exhaling refined Qi into the sword, and vice-versa, creating a perfect, closed-loop circulation.

Following meditations have the Unity Sword placed across their lap. As Qi cycles internally, the sword hums in resonance, refining both itself and the cultivator's foundation.

Thus, the Unity Sword is not a tool, but an external projection, an extension of their will and body. It cannot be disarmed by conventional means and can be recalled from any distance, even from separate spatial realms. The blade's growth directly reinforces their cultivation base, and their breakthroughs strengthen the sword. The eventual development of a Sword Spirit will be a seamless extension of their own consciousness.

Items

[Tear Of Karanodaka] (Earth Rank Treasure): This "blade" is a sliver of Solid Causal Water. It is not ice, but liquid given form by its wielder's intent and the weight of its own infinite potential. Within its depths, momentary reflections of infinite possibilities can be seen: cities that were never built, faces of people never born, swords that were never forged.

It is an expression of "formlessness within a dedicated form." At the wielder's will, its shape can flow, lengthening into a needle-like thrust or widening into a cleaver.

Its cuts leave wounds that feel "cosmically cold" and resist healing, as if the body is remembering a state of non-existence.

Complications

Rival
Target On Your Back
Insidious Cult
Ghost Domain
Stars Of Destiny

Edit

Pub: 07 Dec 2025 20:48 UTC

Edit: 08 Dec 2025 19:26 UTC

Views: 246