Threads 425-Shenglu 4
Whispering Thoughts. Soul Shield. Kin?
"They are." Ling Qi smoothed the now glittering silks and watched the snow embroidery move like a living panorama over black silk. She could feel her bond with her gown spirit settling back into place, a firm connection, but more complex now. It was the difference between a single spun cord and a braided rope.
Her link with her gown went down into the foundations of her dantian where a cord of energy that glittered with an adamant white thread had anchored deep in her cultivation. It had anchored to the concepts she had been cultivating to build her nascent domain.
It was power.
Threads, the cord binding her dress into the system of her qi, instinctively sought the flows which circulated with her meditations on the nature of power. It made sense. Her dress, the most powerful talisman she owned even now, had always filled her with a sense of security. It was armor fit to turn aside blades and blows and to deflect fire or lightning. In it, she was always prepared for a fight. And if needed, it was her wings, which could carry her away from any threat.
Reality was never so absolute, but for her time in the outer and inner sect, that was the feeling that wearing this dress had given her. So, she understood how those ideas would resonate. Choice, and its corresponding concept, agency, was rooted in power.
Gu Xiulan, her friend, had been the one to force her to see that appearance was another weapon in one’s arsenal. The way she chose to appear was an act of communication. And in changing how she was perceived, she opened or closed doors. This, too, was an act rooted in power.
She really needed to write another letter to the other girl. She was aware there was some kind of disruption going on in the Golden Fields, but she was still worried about the gap in correspondence.
Secure. Secure.