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Sky Pride Vol. 3 Chapter 52- Who Chooses To Stand Under A Collapsing Wall?
🕑 Added 2025-09-02 14:00:12 +0000 UTCThe disciples of the courtyard didn’t seem to appreciate Tian’s motivation. Which was a shame. They looked stressed. Doughy took charge again.
“Inverse Falcon Peregrination, then Drifting Sunsparks. Earthfang Wasteland for zone control, but hold until ordered. I remain the formation eye, set South to true South.”
“SET” They chorused back.
Tian shared a quick glance with the others. Everyone just shrugged. This was a new sort of fighting for them too.
Doughy called out numbers, colors and directions, and the array masters around him would adjust arcane emblems on their compasses. Another order, and they placed tiny talismans on prepared squares or circles painted on the wood, only for the paper talismans to vanish in a puff of blue fire.
A bare moment later, a few hundred ghostly blue motes of fire appeared in the jungle, winking through the trees. They didn’t seem to be burning anything, and, Tian noticed, they did seem to be heading their way. Quickly.
“Taking your time from me,” Doughy spoke with a heavy cadence, his horse hair whisk bobbing in time to his words. “Worshiper offers his bow to the Heavenly General, offers incense and sacrifice, from the North-East enemies descend, the people wail and tremble. Worshipers bang the gong and ring the bell, calling forth the Heavenly General and his hundred thousand fire bearing archers-”
The whisk flicked in time, leading the disciples in their chanting. Little cones of incense burst into fire, then thick ribbons of smoke, on the compasses, rising and vanishing into the trees.
Tian saw Hong’s eyes fixed on a point up in the canopy. He followed her gaze, and found a twisting morass of elemental energy. Fire dominant, but there was an underlying process going on that he wasn’t understanding. The effect of the array, presumably, but why chant? Why chant together? It must be doing something, or they wouldn’t bother with it. Even Elder Rui did it. He just didn’t have the first clue why. It’s not like chanting could affect how your vital energy or qi moved. Could it?
“Accept our humble offering, sorte and crush the enemy at the gate!” Carved gems the size of Tian’s pinky nail were set into waiting receptacles, and vanished with a sun-bright burst of light. The twist of elemental energy convulsed, and streamers of fire descended.
The ten-leg horrors had reached the camp, rushing over the wide tree roots and weaving around the thick trunks, screaming and waving their too-long mandibles in insect fury. Jets of orange bile started flying towards them. They were hitting the earthwork for now, but Tian reckoned they would rush in and it would be down to hand-to-hand fighting in just a few seconds.
The Courtyard didn’t give the bugs those seconds. The streamers of fire reached for the little ghostly flames that were burning on the ten-leg horrors. The creatures burned.
Tian learned ten-leg horrors could make different sorts of screaming sounds. As the fires burned, some of them started to whistle as they screamed. With growing nausea, he realized it was steam bursting through cracks in their hard exteriors. They were burning and boiling alive, cooked in a kettle of their own shells.
He felt the Snow Grace Crane’s disgust. She was hiding up in a tree, ready to pick off any horrors that were isolated. Now she just felt revulsion. The whole scene was sickening. It took the horrors two minutes to die. It felt longer.
“And that, Daoist Tian, is how the Five Elements Courtyard goes to war. A little preparation, a good sense of timing, then two hundred and forty seven in one blow!” Doughy smiled victoriously.
“Well done.” Tian nodded. “Dead is dead, and the horrors certainly are dead. Out of curiosity, how much did that cost?”
Doughy tilted his head to one side. “Cost?”
“Yes, you used… I’d say six talismans each, a gem, and incense. How much did they cost?”
“That is none of your affair. Just be content knowing that our Five Element Courtyard can afford this little price, even if others struggle along with… are those even enchanted weapons?” Oily had stopped pretending to be polite.
Tian smiled, and did his best to project what he wanted to the Crane.
“Oh, that’s a relief.” Brother Wang patted his big chest. “I’d hate to think we’d bankrupted the younger generation. Again.”
“Well said, Brother Wang. I was worried you wouldn’t be able to afford another round of fighting, but since you can afford it, let’s clear the whole forest now. I’ve asked the Snow Grace Crane to-” Tian was cut off when a horror crashed from a hundred feet up onto the edge of the campsite. It splashed everywhere. There were a series of thuds coming from deeper in the forest, then in an arc around the campsite to the north.
“She’s already on it, it seems.” Liren nodded with easy approval.
“What, exactly, is your bird doing?!” Oily hissed.
“Well, since these consumables don’t cost too much, I figured, “Why fight through all these things in the jungle? Why risk getting ambushed?” You have a nice defensive position here. We just need to lure over all the Horrors between here and the temple, then you can clear them out. Safe and stable, a fine example of teamwork between our sects.”
Tian sounded entirely reasonable. He thought his plan was reasonable. His wallet might not stretch to expensive incense and talismans, never mind gems, but if theirs could, then they should take advantage of his support.
“Are you insane?” Oily reached towards Tian with convulsing hands.
“No?” He didn’t think he was. He was suffering with a heart demon, but it was much better these days. He only sometimes got lost in the mists and found himself back in the desert, and the times when he suddenly lost his temper for no good reason were becoming fewer. They might even be down to puberty.
Even if this cloud forest was starting to smell like the Redstone wastes. Even if he had the uncanny feeling of having been here before, or that everything that had happened since he met Elder Rui in the meeting hall had been a dream of peace.
He was quite sane, just not completely well.
“Incoming. I count five hundred horrors, incidentally, but that’s because of the limited range of my perception art.” Lin’s voice was cool as flowing water. Her tone made it plain she considered the oncoming rush of corrosive bile spitting insectoid abominations a problem for the help to solve.
Tian clapped, half smiling. “I was worried she wouldn’t understand what I was trying to communicate. After all these months, a brief flash of telepathy, just as Sister Lin promised. Alright, Doughy. Let’s do it just like last time.”
He couldn’t keep up the calm enthusiasm for very long. Five hundred turned out to be just the closest bands outside the already slaughtered horrors. The cloud forest was infested with the monsters.
Tian’s brothers and sisters were all on the same page, following his lead. Everyone had their weapons ready. No one used them. They watched, and waited, and ignored the shouted insults and threats from the Courtyard daoists. The crane kept up the pressure, leading more and more insects over. Hundreds, then thousands of the spitting things, all screaming, all hungry.
The grinding pace of the battle started to run their nerves ragged. The ten-leg horrors got within bare feet of the wall before Doughy’s nerve broke. He swore and yelled “Earthfang!” The array masters pulled long teeth from their rings- animal fangs turned into stone. They vanished into the air in a cloud of dust, burned away to fuel the next formation.
From out of the earth, a forest of teeth arose. Earthfang was well named. The horrors were ripped apart as they approached. Then the ghostfire marked them and the sunsparks burned them.
Then the next wave came, and started climbing over the bodies of the ones who died before. The legs clattering on the hard exoskeletons now and then producing hollow thuds as the insides of their former cousins were burned and boiled away.
Sister Su had her darts in bundles of twenty, tied with a thin thread, loose in her hands. Sister Lin kept her bow low, but her hand was never far from the string. Everyone was ready, in their fashion, to jump in. If necessary. But not a moment before.
“Brother Chu-” Daoist Gongsung warned.
“I know.”
“Three left.”
“I know!” Doughy snarled.
Tian looked over at the others. “Wait until the first one dies. Let’s see if the elders of the Courtyard value their juniors enough to step in. If not, we kill our way south, break contact with the bugs, regroup and complete the mission.”
“If we die, you die!” Doughy shouted, his voice rising to a scream as his fingers convulsed in rictuses of pain. Even with the sacrificial agents, Tian could see their qi was burned down to next to nothing.
“No. We won’t. We will simply kill our way out while they eat you.”
He kept his voice calm and reasonable. It was reasonable. Not nice, but reasonable.
“Our manors! My Uncle is Elder Ao, he will never, ever let you off!” Oily’s voice cracked.
“Oh. Oh well. He can sort it out with my elders, then. Nothing I can do about it.” He couldn’t deal with that level of problem. That was alright. There were others who wanted him alive, and they could deal with it.
“You look uncomfortable, fellow daoist, like you don’t know how to be in the bad place. We live here.” Tian spoke loud enough to be heard over the screams of both the insects and the cultivators from the Courtyard. They were burning even the dregs within them now. If their meridians didn’t collapse, they would need strong medicine after the battle before they could cultivate again.
Sister Lin gave him a long look. He wasn’t sure what she was seeing. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling. Nobody asked him if he was sure. Nobody asked him if this is really how he wanted to do things. Brother Wang looked sadly at Daoist Mei. Tian could see the hurt in him. It was entirely possible that his good brother would never forgive him.
Tian could bear that pain. It would hurt less than knowing he hurt everyone else.
“Two talismans left.” Tian’s voice didn’t fluctuate.
Three short minutes later, “One talisman left.”
Two and a half minutes until the next wave. “Sister Su, I will trouble you to clear us a path. Brother Wang and I will hold the rear, Sister Liren will be the vanguard while Sister Lin holds the center, attacking where needed. It won’t be long now.”
“Damn you! Damn you! DAMN YOU!” Oily was screaming now, tears running down his face. Animal terror and hate consuming him. He pulled something from his ring. It looked like a little dish, with black and white fish painted on it. Doughy went pale, and did the same. Then Daoist Gosung and the rest. Only Daoist Mei didn’t. She looked helpless and pulled out a spear and a shield.
Those with the little disks flexed them between their fingers. The discs shattered. Tian saw Oily twist towards him at the last moment. He was too slow. Heavenly Swallows drilled through Oily’s eyes, forcing him to turn away with pain and fear, aiming the disk back out into the woods as he fell.
What the disks unleashed was soft. A rolling murmur of light and sound. Heavenly person qi spread like a rushing wave into the woods, yin and yang intertwining, reducing all it touched into drifting dust. Trees, rocks, the horrors. Everything. Tian could feel subtle differences between the waves released by the discs. They felt like signatures.
Tian didn’t wait. He recalled his darts with a grunt before the light stopped flowing and silence came to the half mile arc of nothingness that surrounded the northern end of the camp. The four members from the courtyard who used their disks were surrounded by white lights. Tian was surprised to see Oily included. Perhaps he wasn’t all the way dead yet.
“It seemed you bet right, Brother Tian.” Brother Wang didn’t hide his relief.
“Bet?” Tian watched those surrounded by light slowly float up into the sky. He couldn’t see anything up there, but the Courtyard loved their illusion spells. There must be a sky barge up high, where he couldn’t feel their spells at work.
“You planned on them having some backup-”
“Brother Wang?”
“Yes, Brother Tian?”
“What, in your experience of me, would make you think I had a plan? I just knew how they would act, then made the smallest possible change. Everything that happened since we left the Courtyard was just letting things take their course.”
There was silence in the clearing. Those still capable of seeing anything stared at him. He didn’t look at their expressions.
“The Courtyard had a plan. Better than a plan, they had a strategy. They saw a defect in me, and perhaps all of us, that fit right into it. A nighttime attack, swarms of screaming enemies, a collapsing array? Surely we would panic. Surely our dao hearts would break. A brilliant Go move. What could be easier or more satisfying? The Fried Dough daoists were playing games. I wasn’t.”
“I’m so used to it that I had almost forgotten. You hate metaphors and overly complicated things. The Go playing strategists of the Courtyard must have been pissing you off since we got here.” Hong’s lips twitched up in a ghost of a smile.
“Yep. You too, I bet.”
“Yep. It seems Daoist Mei is not loved by her grandmother or remembered by her grandfather.” Hong’s voice turned dry.
The pretty daoist waved weakly at them. “No Manor would let me join, though many men promised they could get me in if I would just do a few things for them. Easy, joyful things. This Little Mei might be a bit silly, but she’s not that dumb.” She staggered over to a rock and sat hard. She pulled a calabash gourd from her ring and gulped mouthfuls of spiritual wine, spilling it over her chin and on her robe.
“I really think you would have left me to die. I really do think that.”
“Yes. I would have left you to die. Even if I had to knock out Brother Wang and drag him away. If it makes you feel any better, I’m pretty sure I would have to.” Tian nodded.
The crane came flapping in, and gently butted her head against Tian’s shoulder. He gently caressed her neck. “Then I would have asked Her Highness to transform and carry us all away. Hopefully she would have understood me. If not, oh well. We just kill our way out. Wouldn’t be the first time. Probably wouldn’t be the last time either.”
That’s just how things were in the Wasteland. Look at the devastation. Look at the corpses. Smell the burned bodies. Weren't they in the Wasteland now?
He looked back up at the spot in space where he was pretty sure a sky barge floated. “That’s the Ancient Crane Monastery, you see. We aren’t very good at anything except surviving. We are good at killing, at hiding, at running. We are good at knowing when to trade a broken bone for a life. We are good at living with pain, and memories, and the terror of immortality. Though we aren’t very good at games.”
Comments
Brian P.
> Oily was screaming now, tears running down his face. Animal terror and hate consuming him. He pulled something from his ring. It looked like a little dish, with black and white fish painted on it. Doughy went pale, and did the same. Then Daoist Gosung and the rest. Only Daoist Mei didn’t. “The rest” here is one person, so that’s a strange sentence. I think it’d be better just to give her a name a bit earlier and name her here.
P.R. Bakker
"Safe and stable a fine example of teamwork between our sects" really delicious.
Jeryd Greer
This is a really heartbreaking moment in Tian’s journey.
Veridescent
Entirely possible she may not have as much support of the others but srill be a clever girl. No faction but similar to Hong and Tian in spacing being complicated from newer parts or more isolated elements of the sects powerbases.
Jumping Flounder
what if mei is telling the truth? the courtyard does seem like the scummy type of place that would only let a woman advance through sexual favors, and if she hasn’t been playing their games they would be fine with losing her. i hope she sneaks out of the courtyard and joins our little team
Morog T Tiny
mei is pretty obviously a spy, and she never needed her life saving treasures. so why show them?
Fayhem
Couple minor typos: “Accept our humble offering, sorte and crush the enemy at the gate!” <- *sortie Then Daoist Gosung and the rest. <- *Gongsung Thanks for the chapter! Tian going pretty hard here, but hell, you play stupid games and you win stupid prizes.
Logan
OK you need to read this chapter while listing to Shinedown - Diamond Eyes.
Jaishel
She didnt use her life saving artifact because, like the gang, she too was calm. Then Tian says the thing about her not being loved, and she plays along with it.
Gardor
Uhhhhh...magic? Plot necessity? I think Mei said they eat everything and anything, just melt it down and slurp it up. So i guess rocks and trees and everything in between.
Gardor
Oily
Gardor
"If it makes you feel any better, I’m pretty sure I would have to.” -> have had to, because its not something he believes is gonna happen anymore, right?
Zenopath (AEV)
Tian threw invisible darts at Doughy's eyes. I get that was in self defense, but it feels like that's going to strain the alliance a bit. There's no clear evidence that it was self defense, and feigning innocence about popped eyeballs will test Tian's acting ability.
Vainirion
What’s cooler than being cool? ICE COLD! My boi Tian continues to impress. Actually killing them with kindness
Novruz Javadov
Have you checked if he is a human?
Andrew Simpson
I wonder if Mei knows how to use that spear. She's not dumb, so I doubt she would have a backup method she can't use, and she's obviously self motivated enough to learn how to use it. I do think she's a plant tho.
Edmund C.
The 2 talisman thing was a little confusing. I couldn’t tell if that referred to the papers, the stone fangs, or something else.
Abhi
Also, just though of this but what the heck are these things eating if there are a couple hundred every quarter mile?
Seth
Idk about that statement at the end. Unless he was lying (which would be out of character for tian), he seemed like he fully intended to watch them die, and even attack his brother if he tried to help them. Idk, seems like his fear from a few chapters ago of him turning into "a better rock thrower" is starting to come true. He did the same thing the rock thrower "allies" were trying to do...just executed better
CalamityFerret
Gotta love Tian going straight for the throat with all the emotional intensity of a broken Imperial Guardsman
Venerable Ro
Credit where credit is due, "Doughy" did an exemplary job of keeping the group together and focused. He used every single resource at his disposal at the best possible moment without hesitation. The line didn't break, nobody died, and they only had to resort to heavenly treasures because their "allies" were useless. I'd honestly put him in for a commendation, this was an impressive showing of what a handful of Courtyard initiates caught flat-footed can achieve, with the added "bonus" of the Temple initiates appearing unreliable and erratic.
Misty57
Tian and Wang were discussing several chapters ago how the whole trip was an obvious setup to injure, humiliate and potentially kill their group. How difficult it would be to counter a group of array masters on their home field, when they had had the time and opportunity to set everything up to their advantage. And the counter Tian thought up was "let the rock throwers throw rocks at themselves and each other". Which is exactly what he did - he asked them if they had the resources for a greater assault and when they told him not to worry his poor weak brain about it, he kicked off the big wave early. And I bet if the Courtyard disciples had asked the Cranes for help, they would have jumped in
Joe
I miss the days when Tian was having conversations with Grandpa over the small wonders of new cuisine options.
Ano Ano
"What would make you think I have a plan." I love this line for showing how terrifying the uncarved block can be.
Frank
Oh this is multiple layers of ptsd hitting him at once. All the trauma of his favorite experience(the wasteland) coupled with being in the environment most likely to set his survival instincts on maximum alert(the jungle). I’m pretty sure this is the worst we’ve seen tian emotionally.
Logrus
Well this was suitably terrifying. God damn Tian... <_<
Joe Brennan
Epic.
Book Worm
Did Tian overcome his fears? Or did he just turn the metaphorical PTSD mindset into a PTSD grindset?
Abhi
Wonder what the Seven Stars Elder is thinking about all this.
Steve Wright
They have failed the “joint mission of cooperation between sects showing off their juniors.” The results of the Ancient Crane mission of “show those array-makers their real place in the grand scheme of things” are yet to be revealed.
Ryan Naquin
Are you insane? No, this is Patrick.
Teach
I would like to see… some consequences for this stunt. Even if it’s as simple as them failing the mission because of the lack of knowledge required to handle an array. He very nearly killed his allies. Blatantly. And while they absolutely would have eventually turned on him at the worst possible time, there’s a reason the monastery works with them.
William Johnson
Tian once again demonstrating an absolute lack of chill. Thanks for the chapter!
Noah James
This might be one of my favorite chapters ever. Courtyard was doing okay so tian showing them that the source of their strength has hard limits. He starts thinking about chanting. He shows deeper understanding of the crane. A great fight (can’t believe I missed the bugs). Someone forms a mew grudge with him. Big character development for Mei. On top of all that, the most detailed and possibly realistic look at how array warfare would be conducted in xianxia. @warby, how do you manage to pack all of this in so naturally? Did you plan these meticulously, or did the story just lead us all here effortlessly? I am incredibly impressed
Robin Richards
If the ACM wins absolutely none, if they lose it will be another reason to heap punishment on him. Elder Ao might personally be upset but unless the Courtyard comes out on top he'll get no support for any revenge scheme and I wonder how many "nephews" he has anyway
Meowgrr
Yeah, I had to reread this whole section multiple times to try and ferret out what exactly was being described.
Lochar
Ancient Crane already has his number, it's just that the benefits outweigh the manipulations right now. Because there are a lot of benefits he's getting by letting the Monastery point him at their problems. As soon as the benefits aren't worth it anymore, Grandpa can just speak up and say "Consider carefully." and then Tian gets a hint something needs further introspection before being wielded as the Monastery's blunt weapon.
JTP
I often find myself forgetting that his compassion is born of spite for how things are.
JTP
Are you insane? No, I'm Sam Vimes Sober.
AnthraxRipple
Now, that might be the coldest thing we've seen him do in a good while. I do also have to wonder if he'll ever see the value of politics, or at the very least the necessity of properly engaging with them until he's strong enough to ignore them. Right now he's sheltered, but that won't always be the case. Also, when someone finally grasps how he functions, I suspect they'd be able to fairly easily manipulate him.
Ben Nikel
Interesting leading direction here... Tian's starting to wonder why incantation users, use incantations. (I'm kinda curious too.)
Kain
I approve of the suspicion and the possibility of her being a hidden expert does still exist. However, I feel like the possibility that she’s actually just a talented junior that has been shafted and stifled because she has no, or very weak, inner court connections and is actually looking to see if Crane Mountain is a viable landing point if she chooses to jump ship from the Courtyard has been completely discarded at this point
Ben Nikel
The dao of the 400-year-old lolita dragon? Seems possible, though "secret elder" would be a lot of resources to devote to a group of what's supposed to be 4 damaged youngsters (and Lin) ;p
João Vene
I noticed Mei didn't actually say she didn't have one of the life saving treasures, just that she didn't join any manors... while also saying something incredibly vulnerable, emotionally speaking. Almost like she's deflecting attention and trying to appear even more vulnerable and helpless. I'm guessing she actually gambled she'd either make it or the Crane disciples would actually save her once the Courtyard kids left.
Notcreepycreeper
Also shows that while perhaps virtuos he DID grow up in a trash heap and then the Wastes. Completely ruthless towards supposed rock throwers, which could be a problem, except so far he's always picked out who's really throwing rocks correctly
Steve Wright
The only downside to Warby’s strict first person practice here is that we do not get to see the POV of the elders sitting around the surveillance array, spitting out their tea and yelling at each other. Now it seems more like Mei was along because she might get close to someone, but also be sacrificial if need be, because she did not have an elder in her court. Still holding room for the “Mei is secretly an elder of some sort” play, as some have suggested. Maybe 60/40?
Marcia McGinley
Thank you for the chapter - I love seeing the flip sides of Tian - deeply compassionate and utterly ruthless as required - and it will be interesting to see where Brother Wang lands on this
Codered999
He didn't go murderhobo, that was self defense. Oily tried to throw the death disk right at him.
Gardor
I like the "whelp he'll have to fight my elders about it i guess" mentality, somehow that rarely seems to come up in xianxia. And it is a surprisingly good come back to the people hiding behind their stronger teachers.
Abhi
Pinkie toe nail maybe?
EvilLittleThing
Hmm did Wang think the Crane group was playing games like the Courtyard group? I wonder how much blowback Tian will get for needling Oily's eyes.
Codered999
I feel like Tian is burning the rulebook in petty defiance of the bullshit they keep expecting him to play along with.
Meprster
Thank you for the chapter. I do miss the MC having compassion. I was hoping he wouldn't go full murder hobo but it looks like that is his path.
Gardor
"Heavenly Swallows drilled through Oily’s eyes, forcing him to turn away with pain and fear, aiming the disk back out into the woods as he fell." Tian was surprised to see Oily included. Perhaps he wasn’t all the way dead yet." Think ya might wanna reword this, Oily turning in pain and fear and aiming the disk (even if its a passive, incidental sorta aiming) seems like a higher level of brain function than id expect "cultivator dart technique through the eyes" would allow.
Codered999
Tian just casually upending the go board because he hates being used as a pawn for the games of others. I do hope gramps can teach him about mantras properly, words have power and when said with intent and the right power sources can accomplish great things. Hell the statue inside him is basically reciting a mantra on loop using the impurities of the world as fuel.
Khanalas
> Carved gems the size of Tian’s pinky nail Does he have pinkies?
bpete
It might not be the best idea to keep playing games with someone who refuses to read the rulebook.
Nicknick
Looks like we got a heart PTSDemon rearing its ugly head. Tian giving some "You think the night is your ally?" vibes lmao.
Codered999
His fellow monastery members saw him defend himself, the courtyard members are too busy getting airlifted away from the area except for one who never cared about her fellows anyway.
Albert Ng
When Go players find out it was Checkers all along. I love how Tian leans more towards savage than noble in the trope. Maybe ascetic savage? That seems close to the Dao.
Tom C
Fuckkkkkk. Tian is just… ahh what a little legend he is growing into TFTC!
JackassofAllTrades
"Tian saw Oily twist towards him at the last moment. He was too slow. Heavenly Swallows drilled through Oily’s eyes, forcing him to turn away with pain and fear, aiming the disk back out into the woods as he fell." Am I reading this right? Tian threw a dart straight into Oily's eyes? And everyone just took it in stride?
Johan Persson
I think the word is chapter and not chaptee, and i love the bookter
KipBR
I think the word is sortie not sorte btw, and I love the chaptee
Johan Persson
Absolutely loving this arc of our protagonist starting to take off the mask a bit more and more and let the world see just how much Truth he sees in the world, and how different from all the others he is.
